BFF's

My sister and her best friends call themselves the Musketeers. They are a core group of friends that have stayed close over many years, schooling and career changes, moves, marriages, kids, and life's many curve balls. I love how close they have remained, and am grateful to have an equally amazing group of friends myself. My best friends and I don't have a name for our group, but we sure do have fun together. Tonight we were actually talking about how we as a group came to be. Some of us remember exactly how and when we met, while others only know that at some point they all entered the same group, and eventually got to know each other. We have several mutual friends, but throughout middle school and high school, as several of the others got involved in different activities throughout the school, and everyone went their separate ways, the 6 of us stayed constant. College has separated us, and made it more difficult for us to all get together, but between facebook, texting, and other technologies we stay close, even when we can't be together. It doesn't matter how long it's been since the last time we got together, we always settle right back in to our group.

This was a special get together. We gathered at our friend Britney's new house, which she and her husband just moved into a few weeks ago. She is the first to buy a place. She was also the first to get married, and is now the first to be expecting a baby. Kind of funny that she is the second youngest in our group, but awesome. We celebrated by kicking back, relaxing, and laughing so hard over every thing. I loved every second of it.

Out of the 6 of us 4 have graduated from college, and the other 2 (myself and Alesha) will both be graduated by the end of summer, 2 are married, and 1 is expecting her first baby. Most of us are in a transitional stage trying to figure out jobs, living arrangements, post graduation plans, or planning for a new baby, and it's insane, but I don't think any of us would want to be going through this without the support of each other. I know I wouldn't and couldn't be where I am or who I am without them. We're just beginning our adventures, but it amazes me just how close we've stayed over the years, and I just can't see that changing anytime soon, no matter what the future has in store for any of us.

Here's to my amazing group of friends, Love you guys!

(Me, Lindsey, Chelsie, Alesha, Dawn, and Britney)

Spring is here (for now)!

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ~Charles Dickens

This quote nearly perfectly describes the weather here in Logan today. I have been thrilled with the mild winter we've had this year, but even so, I am even more excited for Spring. Today is technically the second day of Spring, but yesterday there was still snow on the ground from this weekend's snow storm, so I waited until today to take some lovely Spring pictures. I love the beginning of Spring. I love opening up the windows and getting the cross ventilation going, and feeling the great warm air. I have no disillusions that Winter is done and over with, this is Utah after all where it has snowed every finals week since I've been up here, but I am grateful for any reprieve I can get, and will take full advantage of it when it comes.

These are the view from my front door.

The gorgeous Logan Temple

The Wellsville Mountains

The park area in front of my complex. Can you see the green starting to show!?

View up to campus. You can see Old Main through the trees and a little bit of green on the hill.

It is a gorgeous day!

No Soup for You!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

I have had the most amazing luck today. Actually, I've had the best luck this whole week. As I may have mentioned before, I spend so many weekends in Salt Lake that I keep my records in my singles ward in West Jordan, despite living in Logan for school during the week. This has worked so well, and I've actually gotten to know my ward, hold a callings, and be a part of a ward. I have loved it, but the one thing I have missed is being able to be involved during the week as well. This being Spring Break, I finally have gotten to do just that. Since my friend Alesha has complained that by not having a car, she hasn't been able to be as involved in her ward as she would like either, I dragged her along to all of my stuff this week too.

Monday was Family Home Evening. We had a blast learning to index names from censuses and other documents. It was so much fun. Alesha is about the biggest reader I know, and she has had so much fun, she's been indexing instead of reading this week.

Friday was Ward temple Night. My ward has never had the best luck at getting people out. Usually 7 people is considered a good turn out. This time we did a big dinner beforehand, and we had a great turn out, 20 continued on to the temple from there. It was such a neat experience. Seriously, we laughed so hard we nearly cried as we were eating dinner. The people in my ward have such a great sense of humor. Especially my nephew Ben, and niece Chelsea. Laughter is great.

Saturday morning we got up and went to go help clean our church building. There weren't all that many of us that showed up, but we worked through it pretty quickly, and it looked really nice when we were done. We had a short break afterwards, and we got to play card with my daddy and Maile. It was a blast.

My favorite part of the day though had to be our afternoon service project. Our ward was assigned to go and help down at the local soup kitchen downtown. Although not a lot of people from our ward showed up, I was impressed to see just how many people were there to volunteer. I was a little nervous about this one. I hold a lot of my emotions close to me, and seeing people who are suffering is really hard on me psychologically. I was grateful to say that it went really well, and I met some people who really helped me laugh, and enjoy the experience. We were filling trays at one point, and the woman filling bowls with soup missed a tray. I am so glad that I got to have this experience, and I am really thankful that Alesha got to go with me for some moral support.

To finish off the day we met up with our friend Britney and her husband for dinner at Zupas. It was mostly just a get together, but also a celebration because they just moved into their first house, after closing yesterday, and announced this week that they are expecting their first kid in September.

I feel so much closer to my ward. It is made up of some pretty amazing people. I was skeptical when they first formed the ward. I went the first time just to support my brother who had been put in the bishopric, but have since found so many reasons to stay. I have enjoyed getting to help out and serve this week, and am glad to have such good friends as Alesha who are willing to let me drag them along to everything. Not the Spring Break you might expect from me. It's not the Spring Break I intended to have, but I couldn't imagine a better way to spend it.

Book Club

Tonight we had the opportunity to host the Lindsay Women's Book Club. It was such a blast. We had a whole bunch of us laughing, and enjoying. Now you might hear book club and think that we actually have a book we discuss. You'd be half right. We did have a book. I can't for the life of me tell you what it was. I did learn it tonight, and I do remember the author, if that makes you feel any better. You'd be wrong to think that we got into a whole discussion about the book though. It did come up at one point. It was at least an hour after we got started, and after we had been around the room to get updates from everyone there. The mention of the book took a grand total of 2 minutes, and basically consisted of those who had read it saying that they had been skeptical about it being JF, but that they had actually enjoyed it. I was thrilled to see so many of my cousins, and get to hear whats going on in their lives. One was was there with her little 2 month old baby, who was adorable. I got to hold him for a while, and that was exciting. My cousins are the best, and we were laughing, and talking, and really just loving catching up for several hours. It was perfect

Both Lisa and Lori came with their girls so I got hugs from my blondies and my redheads. Olivia was adorable. She just started saying "Luh oo" (Love you). I laughed so hard when Lori rolled down the window of her car as they were leaving so I could hear Olivia (and Hannah, who didn't want to be out done) saying quite loudly "Luh oo" over and over again. It was so much fun. I think my favorite time with the girls tonight was playing "gravity" with Hannah. Gravity, for those of you who don't know is when Hannah (or Chloe, Kelsea, Olivia, etc.) sits on my lap and I hold her hands while she leans as far back as she can so her head is almost to the ground. She decided that it would be funny if every time I pulled her back up she made a silly face. Needless to say I nearly busted a gut laughing. That girl is hysterical.

Final thought of the night: My family ROCKS! Looking forward to the next book club in May.

Saturday at the Temple

Blogging is definitely not happening as often as I would have liked, but it's Spring Break, so I finally have some time on my hands.

What better way to spend the first day of Spring Break than at the temple? I got a text from my friend Marisa while I was at work Thursday night to say she, and a few of our friends were going to do a session at the Draper temple Saturday morning, and wondered if I wanted to come too. Sure! Despite it being way too early in the morning, and running on 3 hours of sleep, I had an awesome time. It was the first time any of us had been to the Draper temple since it's open house 3 years ago. It's GORGEOUS!!! I have said many times that it's my favorite architecturally of all the temples in Utah, but being inside confirmed it. The best part was being with my friends. Regina got back from her mission to the Philippines last summer, and Marisa returned from hers to South Dakota in December. Grace is leaving for the MTC on Wednesday, heading to Toronto. This was such a cool trip.

All of us in front of the temple.

A close up of our faces. (Well most of our faces. Sorry Marisa!)

My friend Marisa and me. I love all of these pics! Thanks to Grace for taking them, and posting them on facebook for me to steal :)

If one session weren't enough for one day, how about 2? My stake was having Stake Temple night at the Jordan River Temple. I don't know that I would do two sessions in one day again, especially running on empty, but I had a blast. My stake was awesome. It was a great session, and afterward we had ice cream at the church building next door.

In between the two sessions I got to spend time with a couple of my sisters, and my little niece Olivia, so all in all there isn't much that could have made the day any better. I loved it. I started and ended the day with sessions at the temple, and in between, girly fun. It was fabulous.

Life is full of Drama!

I know I've been absent for a while. I have little excuse other than the dreaded H word. No, not hell. Homework. It's a kicker. I'm hoping to get myself together, and start posting again though, so be prepared. It'll either be another long break between posts, or a post overload.

For now I'll start with just one. As I've said many times, my favorite thing in life is being an aunt. I love to support my nieces and nephews in whatever they do be it sports, drama, music, or what have you.

Last Friday my niece Chelsea was in a presentation of the opera Don Giovanni at the U. Chelsea is a senior in Vocal Performance, and amazing. She was the most talented one up there (though I may be a bit prejudice on that point.) I don't speak Italian, but between my French, and the fabulous narrator they had, I followed along pretty well. I had a wonderful time. It was long, but really well done, and fun. Ben lost interest about an hour in, but after years of going to concerts with him, that was to be expected. Love him, but his attention span isn't always the best. Thats probably why Bob and Carrie gave him the job of running the video camera.

Chelsea getting seduced by the womanizer Don Giovanni

Tonight was a performance of a different sort. My niece Chloe, 9, and her 3rd grade class put on a play about the middle ages. I have to admit, I went in expecting to love Chloe, but to see something slightly stilted, slow, and of a fairly low caliber. Boy was I wrong. The play was actually really cute. It was a set of monologues and a dialogue that told the stories of children from many different families and stations in life set in Medieval England. Chloe was Isobel, the Lords daughter. I was impressed with how well each of the kids had memorized their lines, and how well they all presented their parts. It was cute, and we all laughed a lot.

Chloe in costume, with her flowers. I forgot my camera, so this is what my phone produced.

The performances were very different, but the girls were both amazing, and I had so much fun supporting them in what they do. They're adorable, and I love both of them so much. It's been a great couple of weekends.

A Brutal Slaughter

I am a typical girl. I love shopping, shoes, and...hockey? Yep, thats right. I am a huge hockey fan. It's random, and weird, but I love it. I follow the NHL online, and have favorite teams (Vancouver Canucks) that I keep track of. My love of hockey all started with attending USU hockey games. I love my school and routing for them, and I went planning to have a good time, but I had no clue I'd fall in love with the sport like I have. It amazes me how quickly, and agilely they move on their skates. I've taken several semesters of figure skating, and I can honestly say I'd but on my butt most of the time if I tried to do half the things they do on the ice.

(See my cute USU blanket my mother made for me?)

This is the first weekend I've been in Logan in a year, and when I realized there was a game tonight, I knew I was going. I had a blast, although I wouldn't call what I attended a game. It was more of a showcase (show off) really. For a quick lesson in the game, one should know that while it is common in Basketball to get scores in the 60's and sometimes over 100, in Hockey scores are usually considered high if one team scores 5 points in a game. Now that you know that I can tell you tonights final score. USU 20, opponent 0. Yep thats no typo. The other team got no points. Nada. Zero. USU scored 5 points within about the last 3 minutes of the game, and at that point the girl I was sitting next to and I were literally holding our heads in our hands and praying the other team would get one point for their own sanity. By the time they hit 19 with 53 seconds to go, I jokingly said "come on, lets go for an even 20." Well with 4.3 seconds left on the clock, they got that even twenty. I actually feel bad for the other team, and I don't even like BYU.