O Christmas Tree

Having a truck definitely has its advantages. When I go home for holidays, I am not limited in what I can take back and forth. For example, this year I packed to go home in garbage bags and I took only dirty clothes. I hadn't done laundry in about 3 weeks. Free laundry. Thank you parentals. Coming back up gave me a different advantage: I had room in the back to bring up an extra 7 foot, pre-lit Christmas tree and two boxes of ornaments. Merry Christmas to my apartment. This is the first Christmas tree I have had in college and let me tell you it is pretty legit. 

I have been so excited for the day when I would have my own Christmas tree because I have so many ornaments. I was curious to see whether or not I would be able to fill a tree with just my ornaments. Yep. I most definitely can. And it was so fun to be able to tell my roommates the story behind a lot of the ornaments. The biggest shocker to me though was that no one had heard of the pickle ornament! I was so surprised! One of the best Christmas traditions. But anyways, I love Christmas and love that I have a tree. Makes me happy!

In Memory

Literally the day after my high school graduation I was able to fly out to New York with my parents, Kaitlyn, and a number of my family members on my dad's side of the family. This was a very special trip for a couple of reasons. First of all, I was able to see one of my older cousins graduate from West Point Military Academy. That experience in and of itself was amazing. To see all of the cadets assembled together and their dedication to their country was just amazing. I am so grateful that I was able to witness that and have that experience.

Following his graduation we all made our way down to Washington DC and met in Arlington National Cemetery on Sunday evening. This was probably the best part of the whole trip. I loved seeing the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and walking the grounds of that sacred memorial. But the best part of Arlington, and the reason we all chose to meet there, was to see Grandpa Rogers' headstone. I had never seen his headstone before, and neither had my dad nor a lot of the rest of the family that was on this trip. It was such a special experience to be there with so many descendants of this amazing man, whom most of us have not even met in this life. 

I am so grateful for my grandpa and his willingness to serve his country. I look up to him so much and am so grateful for the example he has left behind. A couple of weeks ago I was sitting in stake conference and the thought came to me that I have never seen anything related to my grandpa's funeral. I know that is kind of a weird thought, but since then I have really been wanting to see pictures of it or read the talks that were given or listen to the talks or just be able to have access to whatever might be available. I want to get to know this man who I love so very much, but I know so little about. 

11 of the 25 grandchildren of Russell Rogers

I am so grateful to all of those who are currently serving or have served this country in the armed forces. They are the true American heroes. 

La Cucaracha

I think I just might have the best roommates ever. Seriously.

Peeing Your Pants

A couple of weekends ago it was one of my wonderful roommate's birthdays.  To celebrate we went out as roommates to dinner at Thai Ruby (one of our most favorite restaurants in Provo and it is conveniently right around the corner from us) and then a bunch of friends joined us for cake and an adventure to the Haunted Forest. I wasn't going to go to the Haunted Forest for two reasons: 1) It cost $20 bucks and in my experience that did not seem worth it for a haunted house and 2) I had been in a horrible mood that day and wanted to sit home and cry (not really but kind of - it was a watch Charly sort of day). At the very last minute I said forget it, lets have fun tonight and I joined in the fun. And honestly I am so glad I did!

At Thai Ruby!

The Haunted Forest is in American Fork and it is legit! There are people out in front in character already scaring the crap out of you before you even get inside! One of my friends called my name and this creepy girl heard it and was following behind me saying my name. Great fun. So we get inside the first house and it wasn't too horrible. I was smashed between two of my friends (they were my protectors) but most stuff really didn't scare me in there because it was machines and machines just remind me of Disney. So then we get out of the house and stand in another line while music is playing and we just have a good time. Then we got to the Haunted Forest. And that's when the night became fantastic.

So the Haunted Forest is literally a forest of trees (or at least as close to that as you can get in Utah) and it is seriously a mile long. From the time we started the first house to the time we left the forest we had been there over 2 1/2 hours. A lot of the people in our group were really jumpy. Including me. So at first I wasn't too bad off. I was holding onto one of my roommates and had a guy in front of me and it was okay, I could get past things. But then the chainsaws came. I don't know why but I cannot handle chainsaws. I honestly do not know when I have ever screamed so loud and high pitched in my life. It got to the point where one of my guy friends was like holding me because I couldn't take it (but then he turned on me and scared me himself at any chance he got). At one point in the forest they have a bunch of scenes from different scary movies (ie Friday the 13th, The Ring, etc) and Freddy Krueger would not leave me alone. Seriously. I could not escape him and that man is scary! We finally made it through the forest, after getting chased out by yet another chainsaw, and I realized I had had so much fun in there. I was near tears a time or two, one of my roomies may or may not have peed her pants, another roommate punched our friend in the face when he came up behind her, but it really was a fun experience.

The whole group at the Haunted Forest!

After this trip to the Haunted Forest though, we have all become extremely jumpy. Case in point: On Saturday I was standing by my bed with my back to the door, I turned slightly and all of a sudden my roommate was standing on top of me. I hadn't heard her come in at all and she scared me so bad I screamed, which scared her and she screamed back at me. The following day, walking home from church, I had left slightly after my roommate but caught up to her. I thought she had seen me though so I got right up behind her. Apparently she hadn't seen me because she screamed and pushed me into the street (she's the same one that punched our friend). Yep. We are all a little jumpy right now - but it's Halloween, so bring on the scare!

Motivation

This summer my family became addicted to Friday Night Lights. best. show. ever. It was a bad addiction. I remember one Saturday in particular at the beginning of this craze where I told Taya she could watch one show and then I would watch one show, and we literally did that the entire day (6 episodes in one day). Little did she know that my show was more than twice as long as her show. I'm gonna be so great at deceiving my children when the time comes. Anyways, only seasons 1-4 were on Netflix this summer. Today my day was made. I discovered that Season 5 (aka the FINAL season) is available on Netflix. I now have new motivation to do homework:

Tim Riggins. Only problem: he is currently in prison. BUT only because he is a good person. Not gonna lie, I find him really attractive - my mother is concerned about this. Now I have a reason to write my paper this weekend...but let's see how many episodes I watch before then.

Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat.

For the past 3 nights I have slept in a suburban. It's been great fun but I am so looking forward to my bed tonight! Thursday night I headed off with my team to San Francisco to run in the Napa Valley Ragnar Relay. (If you don't know what it is, look it up. Just kidding - it is a 12 person 200 mile relay race. Yep.)

I would go into tons of detail about it, but I am tired and in all honesty....who really cares? People just want to see pictures. I will share the highlights and if you want to know more about it, ask me! I will gladly give you all the details! But for now, enjoy the pictures and my favorite moments! :]

Highlights:

• Running 16.5 miles total (in 3 legs - 7.3, 5.6, 3.6)
• Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge (twice!)
• Driving/running through wine country (gorgeous!)
• Sleeping in a suburban for 3.5 hours and calling it a good night's rest
• Eating real food in a bakery in Napa Valley Saturday morning (best oatmeal ever)
• Showering at a member's home in Calistoga (The Church is true. Even complete strangers take you into their home)
• Driving through the night (twice)
• Chinatown!
• Fisherman's Wharf (I LOVE shrimp.)
• Ghiradelli's Square
• Being up since 3:30 am this morning
• Fun people and new friends!

Kenzie and I before the race...if you squint you can see the bridge in the background.

During the race - at this point I think we had each run once

Beautiful wine country where the race ended. This does not even capture how beautiful and amazing it was!

Back in San Fran we hit up China town!

Where I got my delicious shrimp

Alcatraz...aka my view while eating my shrimp

Walking along the bay to Ghiradelli's Square

Best friends in San Francisco!

Yep. I was happy to be there!

M-I-C-K-E-Y...

...M-O-U-S-E!! Oh how I love that mouse and the magic of his home. My family used to go to Disneyland literally every single year. I feel like it started out being at the end of April to celebrate the end of tax season but then it got to the point where we were going 6+ times a year. Yeah, I know. We were addicted. But in the last couple years we haven't gone nearly as often. In the last year and a half I have been for one day. I haven't gone on the new Star Tours or the new Little Mermaid ride nor seen the new show in California Adventures that is on the water. I still do not know when I will be able to make it back to Disneyland, but I do know this - come December 15th I am headed to Orlando, Florida and going to DisneyWORLD!!

Kaitlyn is working at Walt Disney World this semester as part of the college work program (check out her blog here to see what she is up to - although she very well may kill me for putting that link) and as of this afternoon I officially have a flight booked to spend 5 glorious days in Florida going to the parks! Not only will she be able to get me into the parks for free (and two people who will hopefully be coming with me) but we also get 50% off at the amazing resort she works at! Seriously, when will I ever get to do a trip like this again? It might be pricey for my poor college student budget, but it's FLORIDA and DISNEYWORLD and I am getting an amazing deal!

This is also our first time ever not living right there together though and not gonna lie it is kinda weird. I am super excited to go spend a week with her and have fun over on the other side of the country. Well, that's my big news. Oh and since I will have a layover in Denver, I can count this as going to two states that I have never been to before.

Now if only there was a way to make 31/2 months go faster...