When I Grow Up

I wanna be famous. I wanna be a star. I wanna be in movies.

Ok, so not really. But I sing that song all the time and I feel like the title of it fits my life right now.

Guess what? In 3 months time I really do have to grow up. Well sorta. That's when I graduate and can no longer use the "poor college student" excuse on everything. Eh, I will still use the poor part, but the college student part will no longer be applicable. Now is the time when I am having to make decisions about my life. Gross. How scary is that?! It's no longer just decisions about the next couple of weeks or months, but about my life. Where do I want to live? What do I want to do? Do I want to do some traveling first? Get a good job and save and then do some traveling? The options are endless!

I am still not making any set in stone decisions at this point, although I do have ideas. But in doing this and just through some things that have happened recently I have realized something about myself. I am completely a goal oriented person. It's a fact. For example, here is a confession: I have not gone running since Ragnar. Why, you ask? Because I am not registered for a race and life is too busy (and too cold) to run outside for the heck of it and I loathe treadmills. Moral of all of this is that I have recently set some goals for myself for 2012 and in order to really accomplish those goals I need to be accountable somewhere. And lucky for you guys that somewhere is going to be here!

I don't know that this list is completely finished yet, but here is what I got so far and if any changes need to be made (or things added) I will do so at some future date. So here they are:

1. Leave the United States at some point.
2. Get a "real" job
3. Go to a concert (preferably iHeartRadio Festival, but we'll see what can be done on that one)
4. Go to the Temple monthly
5. Run a marathon
6. Be more aware (my family should enjoy that one - but not just of my surroundings, of people and how they are doing)
7. Visit one state I haven't been to before
8. Read a "new" book each month (I read all the time, but these books have to be ones that I haven't read before)
9. Graduate college (this was put as an afterthought, but I guess I am working on it right now so it might as well be a goal. Maybe this will motivate me to study instead of blog.)

So that's all I got so far, but hopefully it will get me motivated to do different things and get out of my comfort zone a little bit!

Top 11

So the year is coming to an end and looking back, I have had a pretty amazing year! It was an expensive year, but well worth all of it. I loved all of the experiences that I had and, let's be honest, I think this next year is going to be even better! But before jumping into 2012, I wanted to document the top 11 things of 2011 - and I am doing it in chronological order, so the ones at the top aren't necessarily at "the top" of my list, just keep that in mind :]

1. Auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance

Us at the audition - the only pic I have since cameras were not allowed

2. Got my first speeding ticket

3. Ran a half marathon

Finishing! I look gross.

4. I went skydiving!

5. In the studio audience (again) of SYTYCD

6. Chopped my hair OFF

Before and After

7. I turned 20! No longer a teenager :]

8. Ran a Ragnar Relay

Our whole team - we're pretty cool

9. Went to San Francisco/Napa Valley (I think this deserves it's own number separate from Ragnar)

10. Finished my second to last semester of college!

11. Went to Disney World in Florida!

Yep, it was a big year! But this next year is going to be even bigger. I will graduate from BYU with a B.S. in Mathematics (minor in Sociology), turn 21, and so much more! :] It is going to be a fantastic year - I just have to figure out what to do with my life!

Oh and just any case any of you 2 hard core dedicated readers of mine care, I officially finished my 20 before 20 list - it was just a couple months late :]

3 1/2 Months in the Making

After 3 1/2 months of planning, waiting, and wishing the time finally came! The semester came to an end (I survived...barely - and only one more semester to go!) and off we headed to Walt Disney World!! Emily, Kenzie, and I all headed off last Thursday and met up with Kaitlyn in Orlando for a long weekend of fun! 

We started off Friday by going to Magic Kingdom and seeing Fantasmic in Hollywood Studios. Saturday was spent doing everything else in Hollywood Studios and then the future part of Epcot (with a stop in England for some fantastic Fish and Chips). Sunday was our "lazy" day and we went to Blizzard Beach (yep, I have officially been on the tallest water slide in America - 120 feet tall and a near vertical drop, someone may have peed their pants at the top) and we went to Downtown Disney for dinner and some shopping. Monday was our last park day and we started it off with Animal Kingdom (which was surprisingly really cool - I loved Expedition Everest and our African Safari) and ended the trip with a tour around the world in Epcot, including England, France, Italy, Mexico, and a bunch of others I can't think of! 

Tuesday we slept in and hung around the hotel until it was time to head for the airport. It was a super fun trip and I am so glad we got to go and spend time with Kaitlyn (who comes home in 8 days!!) Thanks for the fun Kaitlyn! There is no way we could have done this without you!

Magic Kingdom! This castle was so pretty all lit up for Christmas!

Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride in Magic Kingdom - if you want to be thoroughly entertained on this ride make sure you ride it with Emmas and she is serenading you with "A Whole New World"

Tigger and Eeyore in Hollywood Studios!

I think Kenzie slightly questioned all of our sanity by how much we love this movie and MJ - well, mainly MJ.

Tower of Terror! If you can't see our faces find this pic on facebook and blow it up - Kenzie's and Emmas' expressions are priceless!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E! Yep we were happy to be there!

Tree of Life! It was pretty legit with all of the carvings on the trunk

Jungle Book! We were the first ones in line to see these characters and had a lot of fun with them - yes we were 5 years old half the trip

England!

Sorry for the picture overload but this trip was seriously so much fun! We all had a blast!

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!