1st Valentines

The day before Valentines, Valentines day, and the day after were good days. 

All incorporated something doing with the holiday so I must blog :) 

1. Wednesday Feb. 13th, 2013 - Amanda's Birthday party, I ate food for the first time after having food
                                                  poisoning
2. Thursday Feb. 14th, 2013 - Valentines day.... Jeff was an amazing boyfriend!
3. Friday Feb. 15th, 2013 - Jeff bought the tickets and I won the bet :)

#1

After classes we all met at Brick Oven Pizza to celebrate Amanda's 24th birthday!!! We had them sing to her and everything. The best part was when Jeff ordered his pizza and the waiter placed it on the table it was heart shaped. Just the thing to get us in the Valentines mood :)

#2

Jeff is great at many things, but being creative with surprises, those I just have not seen before. I won't complain. He is a great sport. If I have some crazy off the wall fun idea he is usually game. Which is pretty impressive, because be honest, how many guys would wear matching footy pjs with you? On Valentines morning I was not expecting anything. We had plans for him to pick me up in the evening and he was being very secretive about those plans. I woke up late and was rushing to get to work on time. Right before running out the door at about 8:55 my roommate Marilyn asked, "Have you looked in the kitchen yet?" Being caught off guard it took me a minute to think why she would ask such a thing. I reached for her arm and exclaimed, "No he didn't?" She responded with a smile. I went into the kitchen and this is what I found:

On the table were these flowers, orange roses (haha.. we have a history with orange flowers) mixed with pink flowers. A box of chocolates, a yummy fresh green juice, a box of delicious bran muffins (which was also very creative of him because we have history with them as well) and a card! As I left my door there were chocolate kisses leading from my door, down the two flights of stairs to my car. Jeff swears the chocolate kisses were not him. Someone was just helping him look good ;) The Yukon was covered in pink hearts that he cut out and a Valentines balloon was tied to the drivers door. 

This was both of our first Valentines having a significant other. With no further practice I was excited with the way he started out the day!!

After work and school I wrapped Jeff's presents. Buying gifts for Jeff is kinda hard. He is a picky man! These are the things I know he wants: a new car and a Mac laptop. The card I found him was hilarious :) I went with Amanda card shopping a few days earlier. She is in a new relationship and most cards dealt with "I Love you" or "I am so grateful that I married my best friend". My selection was larger with I Love you cards than Amanda who had to find something with the "I Like you" options. They were all so cheesy though and or scandalous. Well I found a scandalous innocent card. On the cover it said something like "Hey Babe, We should try a new position tonight." Inside the card it showed a guy and girl on a couch with their feet up in the air and their heads where their feet should be all while eating popcorn and watching a movie! I thought it was perfectly hilarious for a couple who has been dating for a year!

His other gifts included the funny game "The Game of Things." I always want this man to play games with me, but he is so picky with what games he likes. I knew he liked this game. So fun for both of us :)

Also I saw an add for zip line tickets through the Provo Canyon. My roommate used to work for the zip line and said that it is a blast. 

At 5:00 pm Jeff picked me up and the first stage of the surprise evening began. As he drove I would guess in my mind what the destination might be. As he turned down the street that our favorite Thai food restaurant I knew what the first part of the evening held. 

It was DELICIOUS as always. We both ordered Massaman Curry, the usual! But we spiced things up with cream cheese wantons :) On my seat was something sticky that must have spilled earlier that day. It was also on the edge of the table. I could feel that the butt of my pants had already begun to stick to the chair. To save myself from worse damage I took my napkin and sat on it, trying to separate myself from the stickiness.

Later that night when I was back home and undressing I found a large piece of a white napkin stuck to my bum. Who knows how many people saw it and thought I have toilet paper hanging from my butt? Haha.. oh the laughs I hope I gave people. When I asked Jeff if he had seen it, he said no. Thank goodness for that :) I told him it was his job to keep me from embarrassing myself too often :) so if anything on my personage was out of place it was his job to make me presentable before showing it to the public eye!

 When we were leaving I saw a couple that I knew. I went over to say hello. I can only imagine that at that point I probably still had the entire napkin hanging from my lovely back side :)

Jeff told me that he next stop of the evening was going to start at 7:00 pm. I tried to guess what it might be, but then we began driving towards Salt Lake. I stopped guessing at this point. Too many options were ahead of me now. 

We stopped at Cabelas to waste time because dinner took less time than planned. I have been mentioning how I wanted to see the river they had in the building. It was awesome.  They not only had a river but a mountain  waterfalls with real fish, and tons of real animals stuffed. But still, like always, Jeff and I had to leave because we fall in love with exercise, backpacking comfy clothes way to easy. 

When it was almost 7:00 pm we drove to the Megaplex at Thanksgiving Point. The theater was HUGE! We watched Safe Haven. It was so Good!!!!! Chickflicky enough for me to enjoy and scary enough for Jeff to enjoy! The funny part was that the theater was at least 75% female. With each tender moment all the females would let out an "ahh" and then the entire audience would laugh at how girly we all were :)

Driving back home Jeff gave me my last gift. It was tickets to go watch the second half of the last Twilight movie for the following night. 

#3

The Twilight bet!!! I am going to let facebook do most of the describing for me. When the movie was about to start Jeff posted that we were there and these are the comments that we got:

                         

haha... He was a good sport. I will give him that. But I must add that he was the one that made the bet. Yes he had to suffer for two hours, but I did too. They are not my favorite movies either. I just wanted to see how they were going to end things. The other thing. I know it may be silly to some, BUT I LOVE my genie pants. It was an incredibly hard three months going with out them. So suffering was on both ends... I was just the one who happened to win the bet :)

Food Poisoning

February 11,12,&13,2012

My Lovely Food Poisoning

Jeff suggested I write this post. According to him this experience needed to be shared with the same wording and graphics that I gave while still sick and in the heat of it all (apparently it was entertaining)...

  This may get a little graphic, because that is what makes this post so epic. I warn you now. If vomit stories make you nauseous stop reading. Also I will preface this post by telling y'all that I will only be using the word diarrhea once. There I used it. From now on it will be written in the Chinese pinyin wording, “laduze”. It just seems less awkward and gross in Chinese. It may be due to the fact that in Asia talking about having laduze is very common. Daily in class, in shopping settings, at home, and at work a person will openly say “excess me I have laduze” for all to hear. No embarrassment is accompanied with the term! Unlike in America, everything about the term laduze makes the cheeks go red, including the one who said the word and the ones listening. Right now I am stepping out on a limb and combing the two cultures. This is my experience with laduze, vomit, moans in pain, and fainting. My cheeks have not turned red yet, hehe... have yours?
      The story begins back during the superbowl, about a week and a half ago. Jeff made really yummy salsa. It was a hit. A little yummy secret ingredient was the cilantro. We made a almost midnight run on Saturday night to buy cilantro. It must have been a very popular item because the cilantro produce shelves were completely bare. Being desperate we used my roommates bundle of cilantro that she bought a few days earlier. Lets put a little tad bit of info in here. I was the one that pushed using her cilantro. I washed the cilantro and picked out the bad parts. Yes, even back then it was beginning to go bad. NEVER again am I using cilantro that has begun to go bad, not even if the salsa desperately needs it :)
  Now we fast forward eight days to Monday February 11, 2013. At about 4:00 in the afternoon I sit down and enjoy a yummy bowl of beans, sausage, sour cream, chips, and covering the top the last of the salsa. Eight hours later I wake in the middle of the night with a rumbling stomach that continued to push pressure up into my throat. I held in the nauseous pressure until 7am. A mighty feat if you ask me. After that I was not so mighty! From 7:00am until about 3:00pm I was making visits to the restroom every twenty minutes. This is where it gets lovely. I was told by a good source that a couple ways you know you have food poisoning rather than the stomach flu because it has a quick on set and when you vomit you can taste the food that made you sick. Did I taste that salsa meal now during these toilet visits. Yes Sir and M'am I did! It was NASTY! After eating that meal the day before I ate Krispy Kream doughnuts and and barbeque chicken. Did I taste them, not at all. 
As I vomited up very chunky beans, meat, and salsa the chunks were so thick I felt like I would choke because they would get stuck coming up and then, prepare yourself. This is the number two worst experience of the entire sickness. As I threw up it came up with such force and pressure it would hit the toilet water and just as fast fly back and hit me in the face. I couldn't do anything. The vomit just kept coming so I could not move away. My clothes and face continued to be showered with lovely up chuck. It was disgusting guys! After the rush ended I undressed and showered off. It was very needed :(
A little plug in that I am going to give so that the next few hours of my life do not seem so whiny to me are: when a person is nauseous, it is one of the worst feelings ever. Especially when the nauseousness feeling doesn't leave for hours on end and you do not see an end in sight, acting like a baby is perfectly allowed. There is this soft moaning sound that just seems to escape my lips during this time. I am pretty certain that this sound can not be stopped! It kind of goes like this: (soft crying sound) “Please go away”, “No, No, No”, “It hurts” whimper, whimper... Pathetic I know. It just does not feel good!
By this point in the day I was so weak. Every time I visited the restroom both ends worked too well. It was those visits when you have to sit on the toilet due to laduze and hold the trash bag for the vomit. Each time I tried to drink it would come up and or out within twenty minutes. I was sooooo thirsty. All I wanted to do was chug water down!! But I wouldn't because I knew it would cause ample amounts of pain. I even began dreaming of delicious beverages. I named them off in my head and made shopping lists of all the ingredients I needed to make these yummy drinks! If you had mentioned food though at this time all my anger would have been pointed toward you because of the large amounts of nauseous pain you caused me. 
One little secret I discovered is that holding a tea bag in front of your nose and breathing in it's fragrance when you are nauseous helps quite a bit. I rested in bed for a few hours just holding the tea bag in front of my nose. At one point I must have been able to fall asleep for a short time because I awoke with the tea bag suctioned up to my nostrils and my mouth laying open due to my nose passage being blocked :) It was one of those lovely moments when you find a circle of wetness on your pillow. Oh yes, such a good time in my life (full sarcasticness here!!!).
Now onto the scariest part of the whole ordeal. At about 7:30pm I needed a change. I felt a bath would be perfect. In a way it did feel good, in a way it was horrible! After laying in the bath for a little bit I began to feel the urge once again. When laduze hits you have no control. Wet and naked I went to the toilet. Moving fast when your body is completely empty of any minerals and nutrients and is very dehydrated I must add is not a good idea. As soon as I sat on the toilet I felt the zoning in vision that occurs when you are about to faint. The next moment was terrifying. I must have reached up to gain balance, but as I fainted my hand had slid down the wall turning off the light. Next the top half of my body fell into the 6 or so inch space between the toilet and wall. On the fall I busted my ear on the toilet flusher. I guess this fall can be seen as an accomplishment of my flexibility, if we are looking for up sides to this experience. Other than that there are none. I do not know how long I was out, but I woke to the intense feeling of needing to vomit and quickly I began. By this time there was nothing left in my system so what came up was dark green; which I later learned is bile.
Waking up was terrifying!!! It was pitch black, I was wet,naked,vomiting, I had no idea where I was, and I was in a horribly uncomfortable position. With my weakness it was hard to find the light and get up. After sitting for about twenty minutes letting my body regain its balance I emerged from the restroom. My roommate saw me then and had a mini freak out to see me looking like a ghost. I can only imagine what I had looked like 30 minutes earlier. 

(Fainting in my experience is not this glamours.. according to Google images it is)

Jeff showed up about 15 minutes later with DELICIOUS pedialyte and ginger ale; that I may have drank too much off because I was so excited even though I had strict rules! Jeff cuddled me later that night. I may have moaned, but it was nice not to be alone with the pain. I only vomited one more time during the evening. That night my muscles were so achy that my legs couldn't stop moving. These movements caused my dreams to be full of races which constantly awoke me because I would get tangled in my sheets. Wednesday felt like I had been hit by a truck. My Mom calling though out the day to make sure I was still alive was sweet! Today is Friday and my stomach is still tender and I feel weak, but I am not nauseous!!!! 

LIFE IS A SUCCESS! 

One more food poisoning down! 

I thank Ginger Ale for my recovery... I am madly in Love with you :)

Fun Turn of Events

Jeff's first time swimming laps :)

      I should start this blog out by emphasizing that Jeff has basically no body fat, I do, I am not the biggest fan of running, but I try!!!! Jeff loves running and I love swimming! Ok, got that? Last summer and last semester I was an amazing runner! That doesn't mean that I could run 5 miles with out dying or run anything faster than an 8 mile run.... no, it means that I did it!!! I went running at least 3 times a week. And it felt good! When I run, do I feel like dying  YES. I get so tired that I gasp for air and feel like fainting. Jeff and I have tried running a couple times together. This is what happens. After a few minutes I start to slow down and he does slow down to run with me at my pace. I begin breathing really heavy. He tries to tell me how to improve my run so I can go longer and faster. Inside I feel like I am dying. Sometimes I get desperate and ask him to pull me, but he wont :) Then feeling bad I tell him to go ahead; run the two mile distance while I run the half mile and meet him at the same time at the same destination :) And I swear on these runs that I burned two thousand calories while he burned 100 because he is barely out of breath!!

     Well, like I have said before, this man shows me in many ways that he loves me. Last night it was swimming laps with me :) Everything that I just explained about running can be explained about our swimming  work out :) BUT it had a 180 degree turn, I was not out of breath. Just enjoying myself swimming my laps. Jeff on the other hand was looking so attractive as he rested heaving after each lap!! NOT that I want to see him suffering  I never want that, but I have to admit it was real nice to have a turn of events. 

     During one lap he stops and so I stop too. He reaches out to me and asks me to pull him!!! Haha... I love  him!!!.... Such a turn of events, that boy does not pull me when running, so I did not give in. It may have turned into a little water fight tantrum ;)

      The best part was when I look up from my swimming and noticed the girl in the next lane try and flirt with Jeff. I had to smile :) She was complementing him on swimming without goggles and apparently my out of breath man managed to say, "This is my first time ever." Then pointing at me says, "She wanted to swim." Her smile was priceless. We girls understand :) He was there for the girl, but he was dying, but trying so hard!

I think this is going to be a weekly event!!!

Ice Boy

Thursday January 24, 2013

    This is a little entry from a couple of week ago, but I just had to type it out because it was such an experience that the day could not be forgotten :)

    So for all you lucky individuals living in the warm Southern California sun you want to be introduced to what you are missing out on by not living the land of ice? Here you go:

As I walked around I saw many individuals rubbing their knees and bums. We called it “freezing rain.” It usually snows when it is this cold. And yes I do not understand the weather so I am just going off of my observations, but because it “chose” to rain and not snow what ever the rain touched immediately turned into ice. The roads, steps, railings, etc. were all covered in layers of ice. It was a land of sliding!! Some enjoyed the experience by ice skating for free. I saw a video of one boy who literally put on his ice skates and had a very enjoyable time up on BYU's campus. Here is a great video that was taken on campus as well:

(just to show the craziness!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwbFWq2YLb4

    The best experience for me during the day had to do with a young man I met walking through the snow and ice. I was slowly making my way home. I live on the other side of the University Ave. ,the main street that kinda divides up Provo. I was about to cross it when a young man ran up to walk across the cross walk with me. He was rubbing his bum while making conversation with me. He was nice. It was one of those conversations that you know he is trying really hard to make a good impression. As we got to the other side of the street there was the long way around ice to get to the sidewalk or you could cut through the ice quickly, but you had the risk of falling. I had had enough near misses today. Not trying to get away from this young man I went the safe longer way while he took the short cut. He was ahead of me so he did not see me take the other route. As soon as he turned to talk to me, thinking I was right behind him, finding I was a good ten feet behind me I saw the frustration build. He began talking to himself while hitting his forehead, “Man, you are stupid. Why did you take the short cut? You were going to ask her out! Gosh darnit, you should have walked next to her. Stupid, stupid, stupid.” He would occasionally take a peak back and then start hitting and talking to himself again. I tried so hard not to let him notice that I could hear him perfectly. I also tried really hard not to laugh when he would turn back for a peak.

Poor young man! Part of me wanted so bad to run to him and ask him on a date just to put him out of his misery and to help his confidence!! Poor young man! He was trying so hard :)

The First Three Days of February 2013 = EPIC

2-3-13
An Epic Weekend

     We really did know how to live up this past weekend. It started off slow and relaxing and soon became a whirlwind of entertainment, friends, and family! It started for me on Friday. I love my schedule this semester. I have a three day weekend every week! Yep, I have not classes on Friday. I do have a couple hours of internship in the morning, but it is very enjoyable so I will not complain. I still get to sleep in. After being at the internship for a couple hours I come home, usually by noon and then my weekend begins!! This past Friday I stayed in bed doing homework loving every minute of the accomplishing feeling as I completed lots of homework and the lazy feeling of just sitting in bed in my PJs. Later in the afternoon I took a nice long shower, amazing, and got a little dressed up for the night activities! Jeff, his roommate Austin, my roommate Aubrey, a couple other friends from Jeff and Austin's ward, and I drove up to Salt Lake to eat at the delicious MAZA. I ate yummy Chicken Shawarma and falafel! After the cozy little whole in the wall we partied it up by watching a movie with Aubrey and Mav, Jeff's cousins and my good friends.  We left around midnight, if I am remembering right. All I can remember is getting home super late, but fully enjoying myself.
     Saturday started off similar to Friday morning, lots of PJ's and laziness  but sadly it differed in the amount of homework I did not do. Sadness. But I did take a LONG enjoyable shower!! At lunch time Jeff picked me up to go and see the show I have been waiting for: BYU's Contemporary Dance Team performing in The Thing About Love! I feel in love soon after it began.

     As the performance went on I felt a since of peace to see others performing life the way that I feel I see it. To me life in a way really is a dance. Not always bright and spunky, sometimes dark and confusing, but still a dance! A couple of the main points that stood out to me during the different dances is first that I wished that people expressed more of what they felt. How we move and what we feel is beautiful and it is emotional and gorgeous to see that in others and to feel it with them. The second is that a man and a woman are truly meant to carry each other. I do not know where I have been taught this, but I feel like I have learned that the man has the responsibility to carry the woman, but what I loved is that it is equal. At times during the dance she would carry him and lift him, hold his head when he was tired and he would do the same to her. I want that! I want to be needed as much as I need the man I love! And third, that we do not have to be who we see in the mirror. We live in a world where looks define a lot of what we can do or how we feel about ourselves. We are capable to break free and discover who we really are and who we want to be. It takes courage to not stick to the norm, do what you love, and do what you want to do. Don't just follow the motions of the reflection in the mirror!
     I felt so grateful to have Jeff there with me, and not just there but enjoying the performance too. No, he most deffinently was not geeting the same things out of it as I, but do I expect that? No! He saw beautiful lines and talent. But he was supporting me going to what I love. Would he have bought tickets to go if I had not wanted to, probably never. But, I never would have ever gone to an International Car show a couple weeks ago if Jeff didn't LOVE cars, and I really enjoy it. I love what we learn from being in relationships and respecting and loving the other person so much that you will participate in things you do not have interest in just to make the other happy, but after you realize it made you happy too!!    
     The afternoon did not end after the performance though. We made our monthly trip to Costco, which is always a BLAST :) Full of yummy free snacks and good food to bring home! After shopping we got to go to Emmy and Christina's apartment to celebrate their birthdays. I love those two girls, they always make me laugh and their oh so yummy Asian food and movie watching NEVER gets old!! We watched What To Expect When You Are Expecting!! Once again I cried and laughed while watching it and Jeff loved it even though it was his third time watching it. The first time he watched it was over over the summer and he had text-ed me saying that he wanted to kiss me. This time after watching it he did sneak in a little kiss ;)
     The weekend was not even close to ending here! After getting home late from the birthday festivities late on Saturday we got up early and Jeff and I drove to Salt Lake to go to church with his mom who is in town visiting. It is always a peaceful exciting time with her and Janneke and her adorable family! After enjoying their company we headed back to P-Town around three and prepared for the Super Bowl. At 4:30 the coin toss occurred, I won a free Papa- Johns pizza, and the party began. We had tons of good food, I quickly became nauseas from stuffing myself, but it was worth it! Mavanee and Aubrey made some oh so good cookie dough that I just didn't want to stop eating.. you know how that goes :) The Ravens and the 49ers were playing and we all were on the Ravens team and they ended up winning, but not before the lights in the stadium had gone out a little after half time, quite the adventure! Oh and the cutest part was seeing a big Ravens football player make snow angels in the purple confetti that had fallen from above!

      So fun!!! I really do love my busy good life. Now tomorrow back to homework and the likes, but I just need to remember that the few days in the middle of week are good, too enjoy it!! But you know that things will come up that stink a little every now and then, no worries, because the weekend is soon approaching, and they are always GREAT!!

Jeff and Amber's Funny Awkward Adventures

1-28-2013

          Two very funny situations occurred today. They might be the kind of thing that you need to be there to find so hilarious, or not... I guess you will decide :)
          The first was when, once again I lost or better yet "miss placed" my cell phone. Jeff knowing this might happen made me download this app a while back called Find My I-Phone. It is essential if you are like me! I would suggest downloading it for moments such as these. After watching the new Top Gear episode, which was HILARIOUS by the way, and I am not really into cars but yet I find this show thrilling, we got up to leave. It was about 10 pm at this point in the evening. I reach into my pocket and my phone is not there. I usually start getting anxious at this point, but with modern technology and Find My I-Phone I knew it would be all right. Jeff pulled out his I-phone and located my phone. Apparently I left it at the girls apartment that we went to FHE (Family Home Evening) at a couple hours earlier.
         Jeff thinking that it would be funny to play with modern technology finds the gadgets within this app and  tells my phone to start making very loud siren noises. I think this is meant to help me find the phone if I was in close proximity. At this moment in time it was being used to startle the girls in the apartment. We stood in Jeff's apartment laughing at the events that were probably taking place three blocks down in apartment 108. Little did we know what was really taking place. By the way I should mention we understand that if this was not a college town environment but a "real" life town environment we would have respected the after 9 pm rule!!
         I get to their door and after knocking I hear "come in." I open the door and what do I find? This will make more since if you are aware of LDS culture, if you are not I will explain. One of the roommates who was sick was sitting on a chair in the middle of the room with two young men standing behind her as if they had just given her a blessing. This is one of the comforts and miracles of the gospel. We believe young men that are worthy have been given power from God to bless his children. We often use this power when we are sick or are in need of comfort. Well, as you can imagine these moments are usually moments of personal time and quietness, not a time of me barging in or making a phone that is located in the apartment start yelling siring noises at them. Everyone started bursting into laughter. They explained that luckily they had not began the blessing yet when the sirens started, but were just about to. I am so grateful!!!! That would have been extremely embarrassing!! The girls did play back though. They thought the phone was Jeff's, so trying to call me to let him know they had it they could not find my name but called many that had a name close to my spelling. They talked to many and had a good time. They also pretended to call and order 12 pizzas to Jeff's address :)

Second funny experience of the evening:
          I should start this one by saying that Yes, Jeff and I know that we have a lot of fun in weird ways. I guess that makes us weird, but I am perfectly ok with that! But really who isn't!?!
          After the phone situation Jeff drives me home. At about this point it is 10:25 pm. As we say our good nights sitting in his warm car with snow all around us, I know that this sounds like I have made this sound all romantic and stuff :) I mentioned this fact to help you understand that when you sit in a warm car you really do not look forward to getting out and running through the cold to get home. So, to avoid this you distract yourselves with things that keep you from the cold! Well, at this particular time we entertained our selves, extremely well actually, by turning up the radio and singing loudly and dancing, in a very talented manner I might add for being in a car! I can only imagine how we must have looked by those that might pass by. Did Jeff and I care? Not at all :)
          After three songs, a rap song that Jeff and I came to realize was not so good when you actually dissected the lyrics, So Call Me Maybe... which I find so ridiculous, but in these situations energetic, and You Don't Know You are Beautiful. During the last song a group of 4 roommates walked past us. They must be girls in my Relief Society because they lived in the apartment right below mine. They were all staring at us. One girl particularly was in a kind of trance watching the two crazies in the car who were having a blast. Our eyes met and I just began to laugh, but I did not stop dancing. I think she was amused but also caught off guard so her eyes wouldn't leave mine. In the mist of this she didn't see herself tripping on her roommate and as the entire fall occurred our eyes never left each other. That poor girl!!! I send out a Sorry for laughing. It was just so awkward and funny. I am glad you laughed too and were all right!!

The End of 2012 and the Start of 2013

The past few months with the Exciting 

Christmas and New Years Adventures of 2012 

       I have not written in a journal in a long time. I thought it would be a smart thing that I would appreciate later if I wrote a little of what has been happening lately. Last semester I lived in Miller Apartments with five fun girls. Two of them, Shayn and Anna, I traveled to China with in 2011 and Beckha who was Anna's friend. The other two were Ashley Rackham and Cait, both are great friends that I had when I lived at Belmont Apartments. We were all so busy with the lives that we had. I was in my second to last semester of college and I had a great boyfriend, to say the least I was not home much. I began to feel distant from these girls that I so enjoyed. I do not blame it on any one person, I think we were all maturing differently. I felt like the partying I use to enjoy just didn't excited me anymore. I felt uncomfortable. I would have to be the "annoying" roommate when they would bring boys to their bedroom and hide out when R movies were being watched. I felt bad but I needed a change. I felt like my emotions were everywhere and not being happy to go home was too much on top of all that. I needed the comfort of the spirit. I needed a place that I could better focus on my personal improvement. 
        During all this I began hanging out with Amanda, a really good friend that I met when I was at BYU- Hawaii. We both went on missions to Taiwan, but at separate times, and both transferred to BYU Provo. One of her roommates was getting married and needed to sell her contract. It was miracle and I was able to sell my contract. With the new announcement that sisters could go on missions at the age of 19 there are thousands that are leaving and trying to sell their contracts. With all the competition I feel blessed that I was able to sell mine!! Right before we all parted for Christmas break my new roommates, Jeff, and I had fun making our own photo shoot :) Some of those pictures:

 Me, Amanda, Marilyn

 Marilyn, Amanda, Me

 "Cheesy family Photo"

 Me, Amanda

 Jeff and I being Rockstars

Yep I am trying to be strong. P.S. we are standing on a picnic table ;)

 Jeff and I

 "Just Precious"

 He was scaring me

        Since that time I finished the semester with B's and A's, drove home to California for a week during Christmas break. At home it felt so good to see my mom and friends. Katherine and I had great talks like usuall :) and with the help of her family and friends we made yummy home made tamales! I got to see Ann and her adorable family and George and my grandparents. The seek went by quick and before I knew it I was flying to Florida/Alabama for about a week to visit my Mom and Chad. Christmas day was interesting, I was exhausted from my flight the night before, we had a tornado warning, and finding Christmas dinner. It was an adventure!!! My mom and I had a really good time driving around and exploring. One day we drove out to Dolphine Island. It was a little island off of the Alabama coast. It had beautiful homes and pretty white sand. We ate gumbo... I was not a fan :)

We also had a blast shopping all of the good sells at the famous Mobile Alabama outlet malls. Oh and I also discovered the TV show "Once Upon A Time" SOOO good :)

 I then finished off the break by flying back to Utah where I stayed with Jeff and his family. His family is so sweet! Janneke, Jeff's sister lives in the Salt Lake area with husband and two kids. We all celebrated by having a belated Christmas dinner!! I especially enjoyed playing with Jannek's adorable little boys :)

 Benjamin 

                        Benjamin, Me, Janet, Christopher, Janneke

     For New Years Jeff and I went to down town Salt Lake for all the celebrations. We went to a comedy club, live bands, enjoyed outdoor fire places, Temple Christmas lights, hot chocolate, dancing, and fireworks!!! 

     
          We drove back to Provo on January 3rd and my last semester of college started on the 7th of January. It felt great to relax and just hang out with Jeff. From what I can remember one of my favorite things we did was go to two movies in one day. Thank you dollar theaters  five dollars total for both of us!!! Plus popcorn and sour patch kids of course ;) We saw Perks of Being a Wall Flower, which is very thought provoking and makes you feel like you are on top of the world and anything is possible with a mix of life is hard and sad and I am so grateful that we are here to help each other through it. We both found it amazing if you can not tell!!! The other movie we saw was Taken 2, which was also really good!! 

Perfect Quotes!!!

My new all time favorite Quote:

‎"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." 
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I see numbers on digital clocks and love seeing the fun math problems within them. When I notice a cool one I always tell those around me. When I see a cute outfit I will compliment the person and if I do not tell them than I feel I must tell the person that I am walking with. To me everything that can make you happy should be shared. We only have one life here and I want embrace all the opportunities and joys that are out there, sorry if you are not one who wants to embrace these things too, but I will most likely still share them :) We each notice different things. I notice odd things I know, but so do you. I would love for all to share them with me that way there is more to embrace and less that is missed out on!