Recent Happenings

First U of U football game, the Utes lost big time, but it was still a blast

Blackout game! It was so crazy, packed, and loud, loved it!

What's better on Thanksgiving morning than some cupcakes with your cousins...and brother :)

My beautiful mom

Fun in the car with the cousins

Enjoying time with my sister when she flew into Salt Lake for Christmas

We also got to take Ethan out to eat in between his volleyball games

Love my Brother and Sister!

I have really been able to tell a difference in my days as I am working to serve others and find myself constantly asking, "What can I do to serve today?" I feel closer to my Savior as I'm working to serve others and I love this Christmas season and I'm so happy I will be able to go home for a couple days. I have to work Christmas Eve, but come Christmas morning I will be driving home to be with my family:) We will miss Jonathan and Mindi and their kids but luckily I will get to fly out to visit them in a few weeks :)

There's So Much to be Thankful For

In the spirit of Thanksgiving and the Holiday season I thought I would list a few things I'm thankful for:

A healthy body so that I can run

My amazing parents who have taught and given me more than I could ever ask for

My wonderful brothers and sister, they have always been there for me and continue to be an example to me...

As well as my sister-in-law Mindi. I am so grateful she is part of our family, I hope I can be as good of a mother as her someday.

To be a college graduate and have a nursing degree where I get to go to work and help others. I absolutely love my job and feel blessed everyday to be doing what I am doing.

The blessing and opportunity I have to attend the SLC temple every week

The beautiful valley I grew up in, as well as beautiful sunsets:)

To live in a free country as well as those who gave their lives for that freedom

My experience in Tonga. Even though it was one of the most difficult experiences I have ever had it was also one of the most spiritual experiences I have faced in my life. I will always cherish my memories of Tonga as well as the people I grew to love and serve

Last of all my family. I know I wouldn't be where I am today without their constant love and support. I'm so grateful to be part of an eternal family.

I love this song by Josh Groban: "Somedays we forget to look around us somedays we can't see the joy that surrounds us. So caught up inside ourselves we take when we should give, so for tonight we pray for, what we know can be and on this day we hope for, what we still can't see it's up to us to be the change and even though we all can still do more, there's so much to be thankful for. Look beyond ourselves there's so much sorrow. It's way too late to say "i'll cry tomorrow." Each of us must find our truth, it's so long overdo. So for tonight we pray for what we know can be and everyday we hope for what we still can't see It's up to us to be the change and even though we all can still do more there's so much to be thankful for."

Each of us have so much to be thankful for and I am going to work more on being thankful all year round. I have set the goal to find ways to serve people in any little way I can everyday until Christmas. I hope if I can do it until Christmas it will become a habit and I will serve others all year round, which will help me to continue to see how blessed I am each and everyday. :)

What I'm Missing

Today I was looking at pictures from this summer and though I'd post a little something about what I'm missing the most today.

Seriously, how can you not love a face as cute as that?

I'm so grateful to have such cute nieces and nephews. I love them so much and miss them like crazy. I've decided that now that I am going to be having a set schedule with work, (Yes, I got placed on a floor! I will be working on the surgical floor at the Huntsman and I'm so excited!) I need to make a visit to Las Vegas. I mean....why shouldn't I? I have a good job, and when I have nieces and nephews this cute I need to visit them as much as I can! :)

"Ok Go" A dream come true..

So my roommates and I performed in our ward talent show. When I heard we were having one I knew exactly what I wanted us to do for our talent. It has been a dream of mine to perform this dance with my roommates, but it was never completely fulfilled...until now. Here is the link to our video on youtube, enjoy! We had a blast doing the dance:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKZ4-uL-aIQ&feature=share

Nerdaween

For Halloween my roommates and I dressed up as nerds. Now these are some incredibly good-looking pictures, so don't be too jealous.

Notice our cool "nerd" badges..

These glasses were pretty much the craziest things I have ever worn, I loved it!

Some fellow nerds we met at the party that night

It was an incredibly fun Halloween, however I think the funnest part was dressing up and taking pictures if you can't tell :)

Epic

Ten days ago we experienced a monumental day in history. Me and my roommates decided we needed to document and take some pictures. If you are confused about why it was a monumental day and the pictures are a monumental....thing, then please continue reading. Sunday, October 10, 2010 at 10:10 am and 10:10 pm we took some pictures because this date and time will never happen again, so our pictures were taken on 10-10-10 at the time of 10:10, it was a beautiful thing as you can see.

We are pretty much hot at 10:10 am on a Sunday morning when church isn't until 1:00 pm

10:10 AM!!!

That night we all got together with some friends in the ward to play the card game "bang" I was exposed to this game in Washington D.C and now I finally understand it and love playing it! PS Eli has awesome glasses, that's why i'm wearing them...even though I couldn't see a thing.

Then, of course, at 10:10 PM we all had to get together for a group picture, and to top it off there were 10 of us there playing games that night! Can you say coincidence? I think not!

Happy 10-10-10 10:10am/pm day exactly 10 days ago!!!!

My new place

Basically I have been a horrible blogger as of lately. So after much persuasion from my family I have decided to update my blog. The main thing everyone seems to want to know is what my apartment looks like, so here it is:)

This is the view from my balcony

The cute living room

Me and my roommate Erica just put these pics up on the wall today, we both think we did an excellent job, and I think my brother Jon would approve :) We still need some more decorations, but that will come with time I think.

The dog under the chair protects us from burglars, and he doesn't shed or bark, it's wonderful:)

The amazing entertainment center, thanks to my sister Amanda!

The Kitchen

We have so much cupboard space, it's wonderful

The bathroom.....obviously

My side of the room. It is very plain I know, i'm working on saving up my wonderful pay checks I get twice a month to get a desk and some other decor.

While in Salt Lake I have had many wonderful opportunities and experiences. This picture was taken after going to the General Relief Society meeting in the conference center. It definitely was a fun/amazing experience. I also have been able to attend an institute fireside where Elder Anderson was the speaker, and shake his hand after word. Also, on my way out of the hospital the other day guess who I walked past?! That's right, Elder Scott! It was pretty neat, I already have shaken his hand and he was busy talking to some intense looking security guards next to him so I figured I would just let him be. I absolutely love my job! I feel seriously so blessed to be doing what I am doing. I also am starting to feel like a real nurse, yesterday I took care of 3 patients all by myself, for the most part, my preceptor helped me out a little bit. It's pretty cool though, the nurses carry these cell phones around so that people can get a hold of you, I talked to pharmacy, respiratory therapists, x-ray, as well as a Doctor (which was incredibly intimidating, i'm not going to lie about that). Pretty much I felt like a legit nurse, which is awesome! I love taking care of my patients and helping them out in any way I can. Life is so wonderful and as I care for these people who are facing cancer it makes me realize how many of us take life and our health for granted. We need to remember to enjoy everyday and live life to the fullest. :)