Another Year Over

January:

• My 6th semester at Utah State University
• Undergraduate Teaching Fellow for Creative Arts
• Old friend came home from mission (nervous) and we started talking again
• We threw the most EPIC Vegas Party

February:

• IWA Formal Dance
• Started the Mariposa Program at Mount Logan Middle

March:

• Clinicals at Orion Junior HighDate with Travis to the Jazz game (Marrie meets her future husband!)
• Festival of Colors!

April:

• Amazing General Conference
• Another fantastic Recycle, Redesign Fashion Show
• Dad falls out of a tree, spends 9 days in the hospital 
• Old friend starts talking to me again (Chris)
• Reunite my friendship with Cameron.

May:

• 6th time taking finals
• Move home for the summer
• Spend A LOT of time with my new best friend Cameron

June:

• Join a flash mob
• Watch Nathan graduate
• Go to the premiere of Kid History 5 with Cam

July:

• Do the flash mob
• Introduce Shantel to Chris 
• Janelle and Brad get married
• Marrie and Jordan get married
• Take the PRAXIS!!!

August:

• Vacation in Las Vegas
• Jaimie and Daniel's wedding in Arizona
• Move back to Logan

September:

• Meet Landon
• Imagine Dragons Concert
• Overnight Ward Retreat
• Another great Fashion Show

October:

• General Conference!
• Start dating Landon
• My BIRTHDAY!! 
• Travis comes to visit (incident)
• Meet Lauren and Jerrica

November:

• Best friend Jamie leaves on her mission
• Spend every day with Lauren and Jerrica
• Stop dating Landon (Cry my eyes out to Cam)
• Clinicals at Ogden High
• Wonderful Thanksgiving

December:

• 7th finals week (last one ever)
• Move home from Logan for good
• Christmas
• Shantel and Chris get married

All the Little Things

Sometimes I am sent little reminders about how important I am. They are always little but they always mean a lot to me. First, I had a study group yesterday. You wouldn't think anything happy would come out of that. I mean, let's be honest... studying is never really a happy occasion. Well wrong this time. The group I was studying with is so fantastic. We work together so well. I actually enjoyed it! Who woulda thunk? This class I was studying for has rekindled an old friendship. Some friends just brighten your day every time you see them. Well this kid is one of those friends. Even better, we were assigned to the same group! What luck we have! Two of my very best friends just happened to decide to go to the library at the same time I had my study group. Imagine my delight when I found them there! Nothing better than a few friendly faces. IWA has always brought some really great "little things" to my life. Last night it brought me food and laughter. Possibly the two best things this world has to offer... Waking up in the morning on my own without an alarm clock giving me a heart attack is so great. I loved not having class until 1:30. Having time to get a ton of my projects done before class ROCKS! When a friend you haven't seen for a couple weeks texts you to see if you want to go get lunch jump on the opportunity. MMMMMM Wendy's. Getting to class and finding that my instructor has provided each of us with a yogurt parfait is a MAGICAL experience. (Fresh fruit and all) Meeting some of my best friends on the bus and just sitting with them at their apartment for a little while is one thing I really value. Setting up for a ward Christmas party can be a lot of work, but not when their are many hands. It also feels good when people compliment the work I have done... Getting to be with one of the greatest guys in the world at the party made it so GOOD. Having a chance to talk to Lando one-on-one is even BETTER. Knowing that he cares about you is the BEST! Hearing my mom's voice on the phone brought me peace. Getting an email from my best friend since birth was so FANTASTIC! I love you Jamie Katherine Beal. The people in Armenia are so lucky.

Well people, little things add up to big things. The little things are what bring me warmth. I love you all! (Seriously my heart burns with love for everyone on this earth) Quote of the day: "Just make it a whole fruit salad!" -Jerrica

Words Unspoken

Sometimes in my life there are a lot of things I want to say to people that I can't.  SO I am going to say them now... (these are fake names just so you know :) )  I am kinda borrowing this idea from my friend Elise at Elise's Pieces http://eliseypants.blogspot.com and her Dear Boys posts...



Mr. Fisherman,
I love roller coasters... I don't like this roller coaster... make up your mind!

Laverne and Shirley,
Lets stop over thinking every little thing and enjoy life!  Boys are dumb but I submit so are we.

Larry, Moe and Curly,
What are you guys going to do without me?  Good thing I have a cell phone ;)

Gloria,
Leaving you is going to be bitter sweet...

Howard,
Let them be! They are adults and can take care of themselves.

New friend,
I think I like you... do you like me?

Kiss and Run,
Thank you for not making our encounters awkward...

Best friend,
I love you more than words can describe...

Mr. Band Guy,
Sorry about your head... :)

Hey you,
You want to be a teacher because...???

Old Friend,
How are you going to justify this choice?

Boy Best Friend,
You are too picky for your own good.

Teach,
I like you as a person but your class has been a waste of time...

Love birds,
You are welcome.  You owe me.

Okay I said it all.  It is kinda refreshing to let it all out.  (I promise I am not a mean person.  Just sometimes I don't understand people and feel like I can't give it to them straight.  New Year's Resolution maybe?)

Well, time to study!

I DID IT! I DID IT! I REALLY REALLY DID IT!

Dear World!
I FINALLY finished my Interior Design Portfolio.  Yep, it took me what felt like my whole life but I finished it! I wish this meant I could have an exciting life again, but alas, it does not.  Now I move to my Secondary Education Portfolio.... luckily I have part of that done already.

One day life will be easy again... but until that day I will just be grateful for this education I am getting.

Want a glance at some of the stuff I have done for Interior Design?

The Pink Bible

Sometimes your best friends surprise you with a girls night.  Best. Thing. Ever.  It gets even better when the Pink Bible is involved.  Don't know what that is?  Well let me tell you about it!

Yep! It's the Mormon version of Pride and Prejudice!  I don't know how you can get more chicky-flicky then this :)


Some great advice from the Pink Bible (my favorite quotes from the movie):


"The clever huntress always looks her best. She never knows when big game will pass her way"


"Triple Choc-choc-choc-chocolate chunk or Uncle Bubba's Big Belly Butter Brickle?  Both." (Do these ice cream flavors exist?)


"Oh, this is just great girls. Here we've just spent 20 minutes picking out the perfect array of romantic items, and what do we come back to find? Two kegs of ice cream, pills for cramping, pills for bloating, and six super size boxes of Tampax? Why don't we just put up a big neon sign that says, 'Men, run for your lives! Menstruating monsters approaching!'"


Thanks Jer and Laur for making my night so much better!


Now to make some paper snowflakes! 

Thursdays with Jerrica and check out ENDLESSphotography!

So basically it is the BEST day ever because we got two men to join Pinterest!  Yep! Pinterest isn't just for bored women :)

Wanna know what some of the best food ever is? Lasagna!  That is what!

So MAJOR disappointment!  We went to Chick-fil-a to get free milkshakes and they ran out of cups!  They gave us cards that say we can come back and get a free one another day but still! I wanted one TODAY!

So my friend Mike is a photographer!  You should check out his page.

http://www.wix.com/endlessphotographymj/endlessphotography#!

There is a picture of me on there! Yep I'm that cool!

Hey I'm Screamin Atcho!

So, basically sometimes life is hard.  My solution for that is Mitchel Musso!  What a stud!  The splashing of color in this music video always brightens my day! Sploosh Splash!

One of my favorite parts of the week is Home Evening!  Tonight we talked about being grateful and happy.  We went around the room and each said one thing we were grateful for that day.  Some things mentioned were Hulu, waking up with energy, washing machines, and heat fans in the bathroom.  There are so many things we can be grateful for!

Meet Hank my thankful turkey!

I'm really grateful for all my friends, and today I decided to be thankful for Lauren!

What are you thankful for today?  Take a minute and write it down :) If you are thankful for someone let them know!  Make their day!

My Life Rocks!

So a lot happened this weekend, really too much to blog about so I will stick to a thankful list for the past few days :)

• The testimonies of my friends
• warm coats
• food
• the sacrament
• being able to pay tithing
• my patriarchal blessing
• Mormon Messages
• modern day prophets
• fast offerings
• CES firesides
• modern technology
• fresh snow
• Sardine canyon in the winter
• day light savings
• day light savings cake
• the health of my family
• Andes mints
• church callings
• awesome roommates
• Aggie Basketball!!
• Kid History
• my brother Ben

Thankfulness

November.

I love this month.  The season of thankfulness

I am going to start posting all of the things I can think of that I am thankful for this month.  The list will be long (hopefully) but bear with me and get yourself in the thankful spirit because it makes life so good.  Someone once asked me what I would do if I woke up one morning and only had the things I thanked God for in my prayers the night before.  I don't say thank you near enough so what better time then November for me to work on that, right?

The list for today:

• my Savior Jesus Christ
• my testimony of Jesus Christ
• my cell phone
• coats
• socks
• nail polish
• caring professors
• my opportunity to go to school
• My best friend in the entire world: Momma
• my whole family
• My friends: specifically today Cameron, Mike, Jerrica, Lauren, Jamie, Travis, Ally, Stephanie, Rachel, Davin, Jaymie, and Cullen
• IWA and the girls I get to hangout with every week
• The Carpenters music
• iTunes
• the conference edition of the Ensign
• the Standard Works
• sunsets
• CVTD
• peanut butter
• couches
• blankets, blankets, and more blankets
• toilet paper
• warm water
• clean clothes
• my tooth brush

Okay, that is my list for today.  More to come because I am thankful for so much in my life! 

Peace out girl scouts :)

Costumes are great!

Nothing is better then making new friends.  Sometimes life changes and you see a shift in your friends.  I have been watching that happen these past few weeks.  Every friend has brought amazing blessings to my life and I am excited to see what is to come.

This weekend has been pretty fantastic.  One of the best this school year.  On Friday I went to the Aggie Men's Basketball game!  It was pretty good.  I am excited to see where this set of Aggies takes our basketball team.  The best part about basketball games is being there with friends.  I had a great time with Cam, Jerrica, Lauren, Mike and many others.

Saturdays are the best.  I love being lazy once in a while.  I was supposed to do some homework but Cam came over and distracted me... and then Jerrica and Lauren invited me to go to Walmart with them.  Don't worry though I did eventually get some homework done.  We had a regional conference this weekend, so Saturday night I went to a session.  After that a group of us went to Angie's and cleaned the sink for Eric's birthday.  It was a lot of fun.  Then we watched the Corpse Bride.  Basically one of the best movies to watch to celebrate Halloween.

Speaking of Halloween, I have been reminiscing on the costumes I have worn throughout my life.  Here is what I can remember:

• Little Bo Peep
• Tigger (When I was the tallest in my group of friends...)
• a Pumpkin
• a Clown
• a Fairy
• Pebbles from the Flintstones 
• a Star Bellied Sneetch 
• a Hick (black tooth and all)
• a Witch
• an Old Lady carrying a Baby (it was creepy)

These are a few of the ones I can remember.  What have you dressed up as?  What have your all time favorite costumes been?  

A Post Just for Cam

So it has come to my attention that I do not blog enough.  I will work on being better at this.

Today I am going to dedicate this post to my bestest friend Cameron James Decker.  Ladies he is the man.  I might be convinced to give out his number ;)

Here is a little poem I wrote just for him:

Cameron is the coolest cat

he doesn't often wear a hat

cause he has spikey hair

His nose is never in the air

He is a friend to one and all

little, skinny, fat or tall

He has a red jacket he wears everyday

He brings to my life many a sunny ray

If you invite him into your life it will be enriched

especially with all the jokes he has pitched.

I call it Ode to Cameroon

So what brings on this blog subject you ask?  Well I have had a pretty hard week and Cam has been here for me through thick and thin.  He really is the best friend a girl could ask for.  Tonight we made brownies and had some laughs.  I even ate a Corn Dawg just for him (not the good turkey kind but the chicken, pork and a little added beef kind).  

Well here is a toast to a day that started out really stinky and ended really great!

One Year Older and Wiser Too!

So yesterday was my birthday!  It was one of my best ones ever!

Timeline:
 Wednesday night Steph gets home from work and we go to Walmart to buy food stuffs.
Midnight in Walmart Steph sings "Happy Birthday" to me.  Super awkward but hilarious at the same time cause random Walmart employees were staring.  Guess we were just their entertainment for the night :)
Come home and make delicious cake and ricekrispies even though it is 1 in the morning.
Watch Hitch with Steph and Ally, we all fall asleep :)
I get a phone call in the morning from my mom's kindergarten class.  They sang to me.  It was super cute :)
Get a zillion birthday texts and phone calls (I always feel really popular on my birthday)
At noon my best friend since birth, Jamie, and new friend Colin come and make me breakfast for lunch!  They are the best!
I went to class for a bit, it was super boring...
I got to walk home from class with Shalise.  She is the best.
I came home and watched an episode of "New Girl" and then my friend Cullen came over to chat for a bit.  (He was going on a date later)
Heard some bird calls from the parking lot and get a visit from my favorite Trevor.
At about 5 p.m. Landon came and got me and we went on a date to Hamilton's.  It was super delicious.  Landon is so good to me :)
We went to Smiths to get some soda for my party.  We love Smiths a lot.
When we got back Rachel was watching Eclipse and we got sucked in to that lovely movie.  Landon only liked it cause there was fighting.  (boys and violence....)
Then people came over and sang to me and we ate cake and chatted and had  a lots of fun.  I love being 22.



So some life lessons from this birthday:

• Never let Landon light a match... he will drop it on Steph's foot and then light the carpet on fire...
• I have some of the best friends ever to walk this earth.  Its the truth!  They are the best!
• Sometimes you can feel about 10 different emotions in one day.  
• Some friends are always going to be there for you no matter what and when.  
• Eric, Cam, and Mike can really provide some great entertainment in such strange ways.  
• My Heavenly Father loves me :)

Of Friends and Flirting :)

So basically I have had some fun experiences the last few days.  


First of all...boy who can't get a clue...GET A CLUE!!  It didn't happen in May, it won't happen now.


Secondly, I am getting very frustrated with Katniss in Catching Fire...


Lastly, going to bed at 8:30 really messes with my body's schedule.


Ok, now for the important stuff.  So Tuesday two ladies from National FCCLA did a workshop for us future FACS teachers.  They were really fun to work with and gave us some great tips about how to include FCCLA in the classroom.  We then walked them to Aggie Icecream and indulged in some of the best ice cream in the world.  Basically that made my day the best!


Today has been great too!  Classes have been fun.  Lets just say I LOVE INSTITUTE!!  I learned some great things about how I can better prepare myself for upcoming general conference.  I also have been learning some great things about Joseph Smith's life that I didn't really know before.  It has been a great testimony builder.


Its Wednesday! Wednesday means IWA!  This particular one was so much fun!  Sister Dymock did a lecture called "Flirting 101."  Basically I have not laughed this much in months!  She really understands how the dating process works and she really had some great tips on how we can make dating better, especially the flirting process.   My favorite part was when she explained the 5 stages of dating.  
1. The approach
2. The "talk"
3. Swivel & turn
4. The touch
5. Synchronization


If you want more detail about these stages just come talk to me :) I will explain.




Well I am off to keep reading this book.  Hopefully I will move past this frustration...

My Fantabulous Life!

Mondays are not usually my favorite day of the week but this one is going to be hard to top!


So my day started with going to class at 8 am.  As far as Secondary Education classes go, mine is pretty bomb diggity.  Basically I am really learning how I can be the best teacher in the world!  This brings me much excitement!  Can't you guys picture me as your favorite high school teacher ever?  This is my new goal in life. Be the favorite teacher!


The rest of my day was devoted to FCS and all the fun that comes along with it.  SOO, every semester we put on a fashion show with the Dress and Humanities class on campus.  The theme is recycle.  Recycle but fashion show equals EPIC!  When I have pictures from last night I will make sure I put them up!  So right after my class I went to the Family Life building and started preparing for this awesome day!  Lets just say carrying a bunch of stuff across campus really gives you a great workout!  I am sore today!


At noon a group of FCCLA high school students from around Utah came up to participate in a Leadership Conference we put on for them!  This got me totally pumped to teach!  I love high school kids.  Sure they can push your buttons but for the most part they are really fun to be around!  The best part is I am a cool college girl and became an instant role model to them.  I love the chance I get to mold young minds!  As part of the workshop, the students were given a challenge.  They were given a garbage bag full of... well garbage.  They had 40 minutes to come up with an outfit with the materials they were given.  Lets just say high school kids are really creative!  They came up with some sweet designs.  They had the opportunity to models those designs in our fashion show!  Basically those models were struttin their stuff, showin off to the college boys.  It was hilarious!  


So now that I have told you about the fashion show I will tell you some actual details.  So we set up for the show throughout the day.  The setup this year was by far the best we have ever had.  We were able to have around 940 chairs set up in the TSC Ballroom.  We filled all of them!!  We are always successful in our shows, but this one really raised the bar.  Our judges this year were Dean Noelle Cockett, the dean of the College of Ag, her daughter Shantal, Troy Chilcott, the only male member of our major, two of the national FCCLA representatives and Joel Dewberry and his lovely wife!  If you have not heard of Joel Dewberry you are missing out.  He is basically my favorite fabric designer ever!  The best part is that he is local!  He lives in Perry!  Here is just a sample of his wonderful work!



Isn't his work just so wonderful???  We were so privileged to have him attend our event.  Here is a link to his webpage! http://www.joeldewberry.com/


So after the fashion show, Liz and I went to the paint dance!  It. Was. Awesome!  We got covered, and I mean covered in the watery paint.  We pushed our way to the front and danced the night away.  It really was a blast.  I will post pictures when Liz sends them to me.  


Basically yesterday is going to be really hard to top! I love my life :)

Life Lessons on a Sunday!!

1. Hymns sung in Spanish are so amazing.  There is just something about knowing that all people all over the world, no matter what language they speak, can participate in worship of our Savior and Heavenly Father.
2. Girls wearing big ugly glasses without lenses make no sense...
3. Stephanie cries while watching Mulan.  I guess it is a pretty touching movie...
4. Cheap rings from Walmart turn your finger green.
5. Sleeping on the couch hurts.
6. I have the best parents on this earth!!
7. Don't jump ship!
8. Things that bring happiness:
          Circumstance (10%)
          Thoughts and Attitudes (45%)
          Choices (45%)
So 90% of our happiness is caused by things I control.  I resolve to be happy much more often now.
9. Stumbling blocks can sometimes be stepping stones.
10. No matter how dumb my love situation is Megan's is worse...(I love you Meg)

Final words of wisdom:

I wish I was a glowworm

A glowworms never glum

Cause how you can be grumpy 

when the sun shines out your bum? 

Fantastic Friday

Fridays can really be the best!  Tonight I had a great time with my friend Megan!


We started the night at Hobby Lobby.  One day when I am rich I will be able to buy lots and lots of stuff from there and make my home so cute!  It also inspired me that I need to craft more.


After that we went to Deseret Book and looked around at all the great things that store has to offer...like beehives!!


Next we went to Walmart.  Typical activity for two lame college students.  I bought a new ring!! We got stuff to make the most delicious treat ever!


We made smoothies and watched a Lindsey Lohan movie while we waited for our treat!  A Friday night is never complete without Lindsey :)  


Then we made browniecicles!!! THEY ROCK THIS WORLD!!!

Life lessons for the day:  
Cooling brownies down with ice-cubes on tinfoil is not always the smartest idea.  Maybe we should learn patience. It is a virtue...


If you can't wink use this pickup line:

Hey, you know what, I like you so much I'm gonna wink at you twice!!

(A Megan Mckee Original)

Wednesday....

So Wednesdays would totally be my least favorite day of the week if it weren't for one thing. IWA!!  I love the chance I have to get to hangout with my sisters in the gospel.  Tonight we had a swim party bbq.  That is one great thing about IWA, lots of good food.  Tonight was really fun, except one thing.  I realized how old I am.  All of these girls in my group are so young!  Today a girl said "you have been in IWA for four years and you aren't married yet?!!" Yep I am a failure at the dating scene so marriage is a far way off.  






The IWA Naomi chapter!  












So my friend Cam convinced me to read The Hunger Games.  Pretty much I got hooked way fast... like I am having a hard time doing my homework because I just want to read.  So if you can't get a hold of me chances are I am sucked into this book.

The Weekend!!

Well thanks to my neighbor Melanie I have the Rebecca Black "Friday" song stuck in my head!!


So there is nothing better than a Logan weekend!  Mine has be fantabulous so far!  My YSA ward had a ward retreat this weekend.  We went to a lake in Tremonton that one of the bishopric owns.  We ate some great food, played in the water, played volleyball, had a great fireside, watch "Princess Bride," and of course shamelessly flirted.  Some people slept out under the stars but my friends and I had a tent to snuggle up in.  Thank goodness, last night was cold!  


Aggie Football!!! Woot!  So we are playing Weber State tonight at 6.  This game is going to rock.  The Aggies have been stepping up their game so we should be able to win tonight!  Winning the Wild Cats would rock because I have tons of friends that "bleed purple."  They need to see who really rules the football field.  Can't wait for the rest of this fantastic weekend!  I sure do love all my friends!!

Stress with a capital S

So sometimes I get really stressed, not very often, but when I do its pretty bad.

To do list:

Student teaching application

Distance placement application

Graduation application

Teaching certificate application

30 page readings for 2 classes

Lesson plans

House cleaning

This may not seem like a very long list of things to do, but each thing is going to take a lot of time, time that I am pretty short on...

Thank goodness I have friends to help me keep my cool

Realizations for the day:

Crying for about 2 minutes can be very therapeutic...

Doing a puzzle does not relieve stress, in fact it increases it

A Cinderella Story is till one of my favorite movies to relax to

There is nothing better than reading the Ensign :)

Kid History gets better every time you watch it