Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Amarillo! Its been a wonderful couple of days here so far, I have so much to be grateful for. I've been spending time with my adorable cousins and family and been eating yummy food.

I am so blessed with an amazing family, a knowledge of the gospel, the best best friend in the whole world, a chance to go to BYU, awesome friends, a beautiful home, a free and great country to live in, food in my tummy and a warm bed to sleep in every night. We went black Friday shopping tonight. It can be so easy to quickly forget all of your blessings you counted on Thanksgiving when you start the craziness of Christmas lists and Christmas shopping. I hope I can remember the real meaning of the season and instead of looking for what I don't have, focus on all that I do have.

Life is good when you are thankful!

Amarillo by Mornin!

I'm heading off to Amarillo for Thanksgiving! I'm so excited to see this little girl (: She's seriously probably one of my favorite people to hang out with. It's gonna be crazy because Skip and Pele and all of their 4 kids, my Aunt J plus her 5 kids, plus me and my Marmee and Grandpa will all be crammed into one house! But I don't even care because I am just so pumped to get to be with family this week.

This past weekend has been pretty fun! I spent the night in Taylore's dorm and we made a megabed and watched NewGirl on netflix. We also hung out with Brittany and ordered pasta, pizza, and wings. (Again the freshman 15 is a real thing...)

Life is good when you'll be in Amarillo by morning!

I'm 19!

Wow, happy birthday to me! I seriously have the great friends and especially best friend in the whole world.  It was seriously a total party for 2 days straight in honor of my 19th birthday! On my birthday, I came back from dance aerobics to decorations that my mom had sent Erica in my room!! Then we went to Kneader's for breakfast and had the best french toast ever.  Then when I came back from class Taylore was waiting outside my door with more decorations and presents.. She spoils me WAY too much. Then I opened all like 20 cards from all of my awesome cousins and grandparents and brothers and mom and dad (:  That part was really great.. It made me feel like I wasn't really that far from all my family! Later that night Tay insisted that I go to her intramural volleyball game, and it turns out because she was planning for all of my friends to surprise me when we got back! We walked into the lobby with so many of my friends from my ward and the cutest birthday cake that she had made (: It was seriously the best day.  Then last night we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner where I got to ride on the saddle for my birthday and then WE WENT TO 80's NIGHT. Jaylee, Libby, Liz and Tay all came. I seriously would go 80s dancing every week if I could.  Its so much fun.  So overall it was an amazing birthday.  I have the best friends out here at BYU, and I'm especially so glad that Taylore is out here with me.  Thanks to everyone I wasn't homesick or anything and had the most amazing couple of days!

19 is kind of a weird age but it'll actually be a pretty big year for me! I'm planning on serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and 19 is that age that girls get to go know! I'll start my papers here pretty soon and in just a couple months I'll know where I'll be going! I'll also finish out my freshman year here at BYU. It's crazy how fast time is flying.

Life is so good on my 19th birthday!

Shopping, Shushi, & Backflips

This weekend was actually pretty monumental for me.  On Friday me and Cady took the bus to the mall and went shopping! Taking the bus is always a little bit of an adventure. We got some cute stuff and the mall gets me excited for CHRISTMAS!  Some decorations are already up and some stores are playing Christmas music! Woo! Then Friday night, I tried sushi for the first time. We went for Hunter and Liz's birthday because they both love sushi.. Let's just say that's probably the first and last time I'll ever be having it. Then on Saturday night we went to a trampoline place called hang time and I DID A BLACKFLIP ON THE TRAMPOLINE! I literally have been trying to learn how to do a backflip since like middle school.  Me and Gabes spent an entire summer trying to build up the courage but never could, and me and T.J. would sit outside and watch YouTube videos trying to learn how and I finally did it!  So now I can mark sushi and backflips off the bucket list (: 

Life is good when you're partying on the weekends!

I love birthdays.

Since coming to BYU, I've realized that I am almost obsessed with birthdays. Your birthday is the one day of the year that its allowed to be all about you. When you think about it, it is the coolest holiday ever! Everyone deserves a day of the year to be recognized for how amazing they are.  Even though I totally love my own birthday, I honestly love everyone else's birthday even more.  Like this year for Taylore's birthday, I was thinking to myself that it is literally one of my favorite days of the whole year. I get to plan surprises and gifts and good food!  Nothing beats the feeling of planning cute things for someone's birthday and watching them be happy on their day.

So, one of the best parts about living in a dorm is that its someone's birthday like all the time!! Today is Liz's birthday.  Liz lives across the hall from me and she's become a great friend to me over the past few months.  She's so easy and fun to talk to, I feel like I could tell her anything.  She's always up for a party and is so giving of all of her things and her time.   I LOVE liz and I'm so happy that we get to celebrate her today! 

This is what we do to decorate for birthdays here!! Totally reminds me of how Mom would decorate our doors at home on our birthdays (: She's definitely where I get this affinity for birthdays. Well everyone wish Liz a happy birthday tomorrow!! (:

Life is good when it's someone else's birthday!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

So my mother has been on to me because I haven't blogged in like a week! Things have been so crazy. There are so many tests and papers due these next few weeks as the semester comes to an end.  I can't even believe how fast time is flying! But this weekend we decided to have a girls night with our hall to de-stress a little bit. We did nails, facials, drank sparkling cider, ate junk food, danced and watched movies.  I seriously love all the girls in my hall.  We have so much fun together, they have become some of my best and closest friends.  One of my professors was telling us a story about a group of grown women who were best friends their freshman year in the dorms and they get together every year for a girls weekend.  I seriously hope that I can do that and stay close with these friends forever! 

Well only 2 weeks until I leave for Marmee's house!! Woo woo! I am crazy excited to get to be at Marmee's house and get into the Christmas spirit and spend time with all my cousins.  Then after that only a few weeks until CHRISTMAS! The anticipation to see my parents and brothers gets greater everyday.  Oh yeah, and I turn 19 a week from tomorrow! 

Life is good when you're laughing with your girlfriends!

Looking for Blessings

On any given day, I think, people have a number of good things happen and a number of bad things.  They also just have a whole lot of pretty neutral happenings that aren't necessarily good or bad.  So on one of these merely average days, what do you say? Was it a good day? Or bad day? I think human nature tells the average man it was a bad day.  It's easy to remember the bad things that happened, but sometimes it is not as easy to remember the good.  

Today was a pretty average day for me I'd say.  But for some reason sitting here in my dorm tonight, I'm finding myself focusing on the bad things.  My mom always told me, "thoughts control emotions." So instead of remembering the bad and making myself sad, I'm going to choose to turn my mood around and look for the blessings in today! Here are 10 things today that made me happy:

1. I said a prayer on my knees as soon as I woke up this morning.  How lucky am I to have the knowledge that my Heavenly Father listens to me and I can start my day off with a conversation with Him?

2. I taught a dance in my dance aerobics class with my friend Cady! Woo!

3. Today my physical science teacher made a joke about unsaturated fats being kinky. Hahaha I laughed out loud in class and like nobody else did.  Then he said, "Awe that was funny! I know this is BYU but come on- lighten up people!" Hahaha it was great.

4. My dogs back at home stunk up my whole house like skunk today, and I just get to laugh about it because I'm 2,000 miles away!

5. I ate some M&M's (:

6. I talked to my friend Lauren who I miss so much )))):

7. I took a nap.

8. I drank a Dr. Pepper. (Disclaimer: I also had 2 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruit and worked out! Those just aren't on my list of things that made me happy for the day (; )

9. I talked to my brothers on the phone about their day! T.J. actually had a lot to say which made me SO happy. He has basketball tryouts this week!

10. I watched a video about a middle school football team that planned a play for a special needs boy to score a touchdown.

You're probably thinking this is so cheesy, but I honestly can feel a difference in my mood from when I started writing this post.  So, in honor of being thankful this month, look for the blessings at the end of everyday.  They really are everywhere and when you do see them, you'll find yourself so much happier than you did before! 

Life is good when you count your blessings.

A Time to be Thankful

Happy November!  This month is so exciting because I get to go to Amarillo for Thanksgiving and see Marmee and Grandpa and all my favorite cousins and its my birthday month!  But, I want to really try hard to look for things to be thankful for everyday since it is Thanksgiving. I really have been so blessed and I have SO much to be grateful for. So since the biggest blessing in my life is my family, I'll start of the month telling you about them (:

This is T.J.  He is the sweetest 12 year old you may ever meet.  He's a total rockstar basketball and baseball player and seriously just a great all around kid.  Even though he's 6 years younger than me, he's been such a great example.  He always does his homework right after school, and he's out shooting hoops almost everyday. Every night I would walk past his room and see him reading his scriptures before bed.  His desire to do what's right all the time is something I admire so much. Since coming to BYU I miss kissing him and loving on him all the time.  I also miss hearing him quote movies in random conversations all the time. I can't wait until Christmas when I can see him balling it on the basketball court! I am so thankful for T.J!

Nafennnn!  Nathan is one of my best friends.  Even though he kicks my butt on the tennis court, I still love him to death.  Any time I'm having a bad day, Nate knows how to make me smile.  I miss taking him to Taco Bell or to Bid's all the time, or coming home late at night and waking him up when's he's asleep on the couch (;  Hearing his laugh can turn anyone's day into a great one. Anybody that knows Nathan would tell you he's the kindest guy around and would never do anything to even hurt a fly.  Since he was just a little kid, he was always looking out for the people around him. He's a total lover, but he also loves adventure.  Nathan has always been down to do stuff like ride the front row of the top thrill dragster with me, or parasail over the ocean. I love Nathan SO much!

Meet my momma! She is absolutely wonderful.  She's my best friend and I don't know where or who I would be without her.  She's taught me so much and done so much for me.  I miss being able to come home and talk to her after a hard day, or just tagging along when she goes to Wal Mart, but she's still such a strength to me even when I live across the country. I call her everytime I'm leaving the testing center, because I know that if I did poorly on a test, she'll be the one to make me feel better, and if I've done well on a test, she'll be the most excited for me. I've always wanted to be just like my mom, and I  hope one day I'll be half as good of a Mom as she is.  I'm so thankful for my mom.

My dad kinda rocks.  I have so many great memories with him I wouldn't trade for the world.  He's the biggest kid at heart and he truly loves the people around him.  I miss going to the dances where he would DJ or going out and playing tennis with him.  One time he took me to go see Weird Al in concert and we dressed up like nerds. What dad is that cool? My relationship with my dad has helped me grow and learn so much. He has always tried so hard to show me how much he loves me.  Now that I'm at college I find myself doing things I know I totally inherited from him like signing up for a spinning class, or jamming out to 80's music while I clean my dorm room. He's an amazing Dad and person, I am so thankful for him.

Well now that I am totally bawling...that's my family! I miss them everyday but I love them to death and I am so thankful for them.  I CANNOT WAIT to see them in just a month and a half!!  Being apart from them has really showed me how much they mean to me. They are definitely the biggest blessing I have to be thankful for in this Thanksgiving month.

Life is good when I'm thankful for my family!

Halloween Part 2!

Woo! There is so much fun stuff that happens around Halloween.  We went to a place called Cornbelly's with a bunch of friends and went through a haunted house on Wednesday.  Then on Halloween campus was so funny.  So many people were dressed up to go to class. At one point I walked next to this girl on the phone and she goes, "It's a total geek fest up here!" I thought the funniest one was the guy with the horse mask on so I snuck a picture (;  And then we dressed up and went to a dance party! Tay was Sandy from Grease and I was an 80's workout girl. Then we ended the night with In-N-Out!

Life is good with friends and Halloween!