December (and some) Fun!!!

Ok, I can't believe that I'm finally sitting down to do some blogging, this is amazing to me, this could be a long one, so all of you should be prepared. First off, finals went great for me. I got a 92% on my comprehensive nursing final and didn't even study, boy was I proud of myself since that will probably never happen again as long as I live. I really just have some pics that I really want to get put up because I love them. So first of all, I just love this picture so I have to post it. i was watching my friends kids over night and we had a little fun with the camera.

These are my adopted niece and nephew Ella and Dylan, and I love Dylans face in this, it makes me crack up everytime I see it, so classic, I just had to post it. This is me and ella sporting our piggy tails that we are so proud of, aren't we so cute.

So now really getting into December up at the Tuacahn theater they have a nativity and santa and lights, so me and some friends went on up to see. Brittany, lindsey and I missed the nativity, but got to sit on santa's lap that made the whole trip well worth the drive.

Lindsey and I in front of the lit up wagon

Brittany and I sportin' our stuff!
And Santa's lap, no worries, we asked him for world peace!

Next we had a little stop at panda express for dinner and Brittany and I were very impressed with the huge panda panted on the wall, if you haven't seen him, you should definitely check him out, he's huge!

Brittany and I made a new friend this day! (PS, brittany please forgive me for my delay in getting these pics up especially since I pressured you to get them to me so speedily, I still love you)!

Another new thing that has occured is that yes, I am domestic and I am so proud of myself.....

Exhibit one(and the only one as a matter of fact), the beanie that I crochetted myself, yes my friends, I did that and you could not even imagine how proud of myself I was to do it. My friend Hailie at work showed me, and I went crazy. It was so much fun so now I can call myself domestic.

Next on the list are my cute friends. We had a friends party at a hotel, which I was so tired for, but it was so good to see my cute little friends who I hardly ever get to see.

Sarah and I taking our own picture in the hotel lobby. Us in front of the fireplace in the lobby. It was snowing out of control up in Salt Lake this night it was crazy!

You can barely see sarah and melissa because of all the snow! This is when we were leaving the restaurant and going to our hotel room.

And Lisa in her beautiful wedding dress! You look beautiful Lisa!

So now, on to christmas! I drove home from the Friday before christmas and spent a bunch of time with my family which was awesome. Christmas eve was fun, we played games, laughed a lot about appropriate and inappropriate things as my family tends to do, Jeneece with razor will be one of my great highlighted memories, feel free to ask anyone who really wants to know, but really, i'm not sure you want to. Christmas morning was great, same as the norm, front room with all the presents and the tree. I got some really good things, gift cards, clothes, jewelry box, new robe, lots of new movies, overall is was great to be with the family!

Chillin with the stockings, don't we look good in the morning!
The tree!

The Loot!!

Me and garrin (I mean lets be honest, this blog is partially dedicated to me showing off my cute nieces and nephews)!

Joe trying to stay warm under garrins tiny blanket and Joe is not the smallest of people.

When you are hungry, your hungry! Isn't he just so adorable!!!!

So Christmas afternoon we all took off. My parents to Alabama (which actually ended up getting delayed until the nexgt day) Me to my vacation in sunny california for five days and Jeneece and joe down to delta to see the in-laws.

So on to my California adventure! It was so great, I got there Christmas night and spend the evening with my adopted family the Evans. We played games and ate lots of food and just enjoyed the day. The next day we hung out with the family again and just chilled. Saturday we went to San Francisco, and It was so awesome. First we went to Alcatraz.

The sea lions down at fishermans wharf, they were super cute!



Me at alcatraz looking at the city, isn't it so beautiful!

Alcatraz, it was pretty awesome to go throught the jail, it was amazing to see, it sure made me never want to go to jail. They even put me in solitary confinement and shut the door, it was very dark and I was a little scared, but I luckily get out in a couple seconds, I couldn't imagine being in there for days!

A view of San Fran from Alcatraz

On the boat on our way to alcatraz.

I got to ride the cable cars around, which actually was a long wait to get on, but it was super fun to ride. We went to cheesecake factory that sits on like the 13th floor of Macey's department store in the middle of downtown San Fran. The wait was forever, but the food was delicious and the view was amazing. Anyone who goes there get the avocado egg rolls, they are to die for!!!


For dessert we went to good old Ghiradelli Square, yummy yummy, I ate good!

Down on fishermans wharf I got to open up my own pearls right out of the oysters and make my own jewelry, I made a beautiful necklace that I don't have a picture of but will try to post one cause it's pretty.

This is me and the lady helping me open up my oysters to get my beautiful pearls. I have one more that I think I want to put in a ring or something. The weather was a little cold, but it was so beautiful. That night we headed down to monterey to hit the aquarium the next day The sea otters were my favorite, they were so freaking adorable! They are so playful and cute!
The views of the bay were so incredible!

The jellyfish exhitbit was so cool to watch. It was a trip to watch them all swimming around.

This is just a quick snap of downtown monterey, it's such a fun, cute little town in the bay. we then went and ate at the monterey fish house which had amazing food, super yummy clam chowder and creme brulee....like i said, i ate good all weekend!
Next was Carmel, and the 17 mile drive around pebble beach, and it was so amazingly beautiful. I have so many pictures, but I'm only posting some, but it was beautiful, the beaches, the waves, and even the cute little city of Carmel was adorable.


Pebble Beach baby!

We were walking on the beach and we set our sandles down and the water came up so high so fast Daryl had to pick me up to keep from getting taken out from the water and his leather sandles got soaked, and the water was not warm just for the record. I love the beach and now want to live in california!
I was so excited when I convince Daryl to take a picture with me since he is anti camera cause I was getting tired of it being only me in all the pictures, we needed a little variety! We stopped at a bunch of the little places and ate yummy, and super expensive, sandwiches at the pebble beach market, it must be were all the pro's eat, i felt pretty cool. The houses there were so huge and unique, it was like driving through a movie set.

Next was Santa Cruz, which I had never been to and fell completely in love with it. I got like 3 shirts there and ate clam chowder on the pier, and it was to die for....LOVE IT!!!
This is my favorite picture from off the pier because of the amazing colors from the sunset in the water, this is my current screen saver on my computer!

Me on the pier at sunset!

The boardwalk, doesn't it just look fun!

The bay!

More of the boardwalk.

The last day in california I just ate good food yet again at BJ's pizza, slept in, shopped a little and hopped on my plane. I didn't want to leave though, it felt like I was leaving a dream and going back to real life, which really is what it was. The flight back was late at night and the dumb airline sent my bag to burbank california, so I had to wait til the next day to drive back up to the airport and get it, it was such a pain, because then I had to turn around and drive right back to St. George to make it back in time for work. But one good thing came out of it, I got to see some friends from my mission at the airport when I went back to get my bag the next day.

Brittany, Ruthann, and mee, and I had nothing that morning to get ready so I was in jammies and whatever I could find to go to the airport in and get my bag. Ruthann was a fellow sister from the mish and Brittany was one of my super cute little converts (on the left).

Ok, so now that I have loaded up on lots of pictures and random details, all is well on the homefront. My next semester starts next tuesday and I'll be doing maternal newborn, pharmacology, peds, and b-med, definitely enough to keep me busy. I may be going to to vegas this weekend with some friends for some fun, but other than that you all have just seen what I have been up to this month. I will try really hard to blog more often so I don't jam it all in at once. HAPPY NEW YEARS to all of you, can you believe it's 2009....what happened to 2008! Love you all!

FYI...

Ok, not that a ton of you follow my blog but I have a whole bunch of things to blog about and put pictures up, I just haven't yet because I didn't have internet for a while, i was busy with finals, holidays, being on vacation, etc....now I'm at work and just wanting to send a quick shout out to say soon following will be post with a great deal of catch up....sorry for such a wait, I know all of you are so excited....that's all...

Thanksgiving Catch Up

So, the holidays are here upon us once again as they tend to be every year that goes by. I can't believe the year is coming to an end. 2008 is almost over and I swear it seems like it has just begun. Where has all the time gone. So, in thinking back through the past year my life has changed a lot. The beginning of this year I was at BYU, planning on attending nursing school there and working at the hospital and also in a serious relationship that I had been in for over a year. Now, just a short 10 months later I'm living in St. George going to nursing school here and single (for those of you who didn't know, yes Jeremy and I broke up). Life has thrown a couple curve balls for me this year. It's amazing how much can change in such a short time. One year seems like so little time, yet so much can happen. I haven't updated in a while but not much has happened. For a while my St. George family (the Evans, the house I lived in when I first moved down here) were here over Halloween time. I went to a halloween/birthday party for Lindsey and dressed up as an olympic badmitton player with my friend Daryl. I spent a lot of time with their family while they were here, but worked Halloween night and so I missed all the dressing up. I missed seeing all my cute little nieces and nephews dressed up but enjoyed their cute pictures. Also, about 2 weeks ago I watched Derek and Lindsey's kids (ella and dylan) for 2 days while they went on a cruise. I have some cute pictures of them that I need to post since they are now my adopted niece and nephew, but I'm at work so I will have to post them later when I can hook up my camera. I've mainly just worked and gone to school and studied. Sadly, but truly, I still don't have some super fun social life, but to be honest, I never really have. My hobbies lately are looking at plane tickets all over the place because I feel a very needed vacation, sad isn't it. Life has been pretty stressful down here. The past 2 days have been really rainy and hazy, which seems weird for St. George since the one really good thing I've found down here is that I've still been wearing my shorts and capris and it's almost december, kinda cool, gotta admit. Life always throws curve balls, but eventually they straighten out and all things work out for the best. Today was such a interesting day, since it was Thanksgiving and I was away from my family since I had to work. Derek and Lindsey were kind enough to invite me to spend it with Lindsey's family in Cedar City. The food was delicious, and their family was wonderful and inviting and so kind to have me there, I was very very grateful. I missed my dear family though, especially since I never see any of them being down here.
Even though life has thrown a lot of twists and turns my way I feel that I need to express my gratitude, since it is Thanksgiving and all. I am so grateful for my family, I don't even have words to express my love for each one of them. I miss seeing them so very much. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. I'm so very grateful for the friends I have made down here thus far, cause there are some in particular that have been such a blessing in my life. I'm grateful for the whole Evans family that have helped me feel like I do have family close by, it has helped me so much. I'm grateful for all my friends and I look at their pictures everyday (along with those of my family) and look at the smiles and our faces, and how happiness just radiates from those pictures and savor so many fond and wonderful memories. When life gets rough, I look at how happy I look in those pictures and know it's in me to get through. I have great friends and I love them dearly. I am so very blessed for the gospel in my life. Words cannot express how I feel about the gospel and my Savior and Heavenly Father. Ya know when you just have those days when it seems like everything is crumbling around you....well, since being down here it has seemed to be a more regular theme in my life. Yesterday was one of those glorious days and so I went and read my mission journal, and some talks from the church website and ensign. In my mission journal one of my dear investigators wrote and bore one of the most beautiful testimonies I have ever read and it just reminded me how amazing this gospel is, not just for me, but for so many others. When she wrote it she hadn't even been baptized yet but had felt so much allready that she knew it was true and had an amazing testimony. I read about specific days when it was so hard to serve and have faith to continue on but as I would read on I would see just how much the Savior was helping me out day by day. I'm so grateful for so many of my experiences that I have gone through, it has made me who I am, and is continuing to mold and shape me, which turns out to be a pretty painful experience at times. The Atonement is what I am most grateful for in my life, for the fact that without it I don't know where I would be, or what I would be doing. I have purpose and meaning in my life and I know the church is true and has blessed my life and changed me forever. I think I am very ungrateful at times and just felt that I needed to express my gratitude outloud for some of these specific things since Thanksgiving is all about being thankful, which I really need to be more often. This last sunday it was obviously the main theme and I really knew I needed to be better at it(oh and PS I finally got a calling in my ward, Relief Society teacher, little bit of a change from teaching primary, but I still plan on using lots of candy =-)! I really do have so many amazing and wonderful blessings in my life and I know I need to be more grateful for them, not just on good ol' Turkey Day! I know I could go on and express so many things I'm grateful for, but this post is allready getting a little on the rambling side so I will end it here. I love you all so much and am grateful for you all. I'm so grateful for this time of year and the reminders it brings into my life of how many blessing I've been given. Know I think fo somany of you so often and am grateful for the part you play in my life. I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner. I hope to see as many of you as possible when I finally get to go home in a couple weeks, but until then I will try to post some pictures and keep you updated. Nursing school is a little boring to keep you updated on but I did score a 93% on my last test, so things are going good, just busy!! Well, love you all!

YEA....PICTURES AT LAST....

I'm so excited that I finally have internet regularly and can now post some pictures. So I will update on the last couple of weeks. First, since I have never been too upbeat about moving to St. George, one thing that I really loved is in the first place I lived down here there was an amazing view of the sunset every night, so here is some pictures, though, it doesn't do it justice, it truly is beautiful.

Ok, so last week was semester break, which was really exciting for me because for some reason BYU never had it and it was a very needed break from work and school. One of the main reasons I went home though was for a wedding for my MTC comp, Alese up in Logan, which I have come to fall in love with.

P.S. Those sunglasses I'm wearing are from my mission and are totally broken and hanging on their last legs so I broke down and went and bought a new pair inbetween the sealing and the luncheon but they are still hanging in my car, I couldn't throw them away, total memorabilla(not sure how to spell that word).

So here I am at the logan temple which looks out over the whole city, it really is one of the most beautiful cities in Utah, I totally fell in love.

Here I am with the happy bride. The sealer was one of the most amazing sealers I have ever heard. He seemed to know exactly what to say that perfectly applied to them. It was such a wonderful ceremony and so full of the spirit.

Next I was lucky to be able to have a little breakfast with the pals! It may look like I had just gotten up, but it was 10 o'clock in the morning and I was still in my PJ's, and I spent the whole rest of the day in my PJ's, It was wonderful since I haven't done that for who knows how long. I love being able to get together with my friends, I miss seeing you girls, I LOVE YOU!!!

We also had a little birthday celebration for my little nephew Trevin. He turned 9 and boy is he getting old way too fast. He got some good gifts, including the cool game battleship.

He didn't want a cake so he got moon pies, which are pretty much huge, glorified oreos, which are pretty yummy. Here we are playing a pretty intense game of battleship which I of course won and then he was teased by the other nieces and nephews that he lost to a girl, poor little guy!!

Here we are having a little cuddle time in the recliner!

Such a kissable, little, bony face!! Isn't he so cute!

Here is little Garrin wanting to help me win Trevin at battleship, not much of helper though!

Hangin with the nieces and nephews is my fav!!

Cuddlin' with little hunt man!

So that was pretty much my week at home, hanging with the fam and seeing friends. I don't have any pictures, but I did go and visit my little friends on the 5th floor and many of them weren't there, but some were and boy do I miss you guys!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!

So, I will have another picture or two of this but this morning I did this thing for the nursing program called "The Flu Shoot Out." I think they do this since so many retired folk live down here. We gather at a huge parking lot and people just pull up and we give them there flu vaccinations in their cars, they don't even have to get out, roadside service. It was pretty fun. I did it out in Hurricane, which until this morning I had never had the privilege of visiting that cute little town. So here are a couple of us holding our syringes ready to shoot!! =-) It was kind of weird to finally be doing something nurses really do, even though it's just giving shots it was almost like it made me realize that I'm moving down the path and even getting somewhere doing it! Oh it makes me so happy to be able to post pictures again, I felt like my blog was getting so boring. Not that it's the most exciting thing ever, but I always enjoy pictures. I am finally settled in my apartment, bed, dresser, bookcase, and all(thanks to my daddy, he's the best). It's a great feeling. Next post I'll try to get a picture of my cute room and apartment for you all to see. Just so all my friends and fam know I spent hours updating all my picture frames and pictures in my room today since all my pics are like 5 years or more outdated. Now all my pictures are mainly from the past year. I'm keeping busy with school and work. We pretty much have a test every week for nursing which means constant studying that makes my head want to explode sometimes. I've had some ups and downs in the past couple weeks that have been pretty trying, but overall I'm chugging along and doing well. I miss you all so much and am excited to keep posting!!! Love you all!