new year.

Happy New Year! With a new year comes a new post, and it's about time, isn't it?

Last night was celebrated at Erin's and Autumn's apartment (just the next building over!), playing loud games, eating way too much food, and, when the clock struck 12 o'clock, banging on pots and pans with giant spoons and throwing snow balls into the cold night air.

After we danced for the first time in 2010, Autumn, Kelsey, Skot, Sam, Asian Dave and I went back to my apartment and played card games until 4 o'clock in the morning, but not before Kory from downstairs came over and told us of how he went streaking just moments before.

This morning I woke up to an energized roommate named Kelsey jumping on top of me. I vaguely remember this, but I think I might have tackled her in between the wall and my own body. When I finally got out of bed at noon, I walked out into the living room and was sucked into the movie Mean Girls. When the movie was finished, I got ready for the day! About an hour later, it started to get dark (what the heck?!). The semi-dark, cloudy sky was looking amazingly beautiful when I went out to get the mail, so I decided to put on my coat and boots, grab my camera, and venture out into the chili, January air and take some night-time pictures. My first photo shoot of the year!




These past few days as I've been focusing on my New Year's Resolutions, I've decided to take it seriously. Not that I haven't taken my new year's resolutions seriously in the past, but I've decided to put a lot of thought into my goals this year. Here are some of the things I would like to do at this year.

• Continue the goal of saying my prayers and reading my scriptures every night, plus say my prayers every morning, too.
• Serve at least one person at least once a day.
• Buy a new book each week (I want to have a library full of books when I'm older!).
• Take more pictures.
• Smile more often.
• Write in my journal once a week, if not more.
• Become comfortable OUT of my shell.
• Live to develop a greater love of and gain a greater relationship with Heavenly Father, and strive to gain a testimony of His love for me.

We are constantly changing, whether we want to think we are or not. The new year gives us an opportunity to take control of how we change, and decide who we want to become. It's a time for gaining things that are necessary for our future growth, and putting away the things that have taught us in the past, that we no longer need to carry around anymore. But we will always keep the memories, no matter how many new years we live to see. And that's one thing I like to think life is about.

Happy 2010 everyone!

goodbye, november.

December 2009 is only a few hours away, and I am beginning to become amazed at how fast this semester has flown by! It seems like just last week that I was moving into my apartment and starting school, wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirts. Oh how I miss you, summer. Although it's not too chilly outside (I can walk outside with an unbuttoned coat and be just fine) and it hasn't snowed yet, but I still love the summer much more than the winter, and I'm already looking forward to next summer. I love the warm.
Finals are in two weeks, and I can't even believe it. I'm taking Math 1050, English 2010, Philosophy 2050, and Photography 1050. Oh, and we can't forget Institute! Thankfully, I don't have a final exam for my English class, and the other three finals are on three different days. That way I don't need to be stressed out about rushing to my next final. I am looking forward to this.
Thanksgiving break was awesome. I loved the time I got to spend with my family, and I loved stuffing my face with Thanksgiving dinner. Rachel and Dylan were telling us about how, at Dylan's aunt's house earlier that day, they had to go around the table and tell everyone what they were thankful for. I said, "That's a great idea! Daniel, we'll start with you." Daniel went on telling what he was thankful for. The reasoning behind my insisting that everyone say what they were thankful for was only to get Daniel to do it. I didn't expect everyone else to go along with it, but, surely enough, they did. If you know my family, you'll know that we don't do things like that. Ever. We are not the type of family who hugs each other and looks for the best in each other. We are rarely bottom-of-the-heart nice to each other. Instead, we got blessed with the sarcastic genes. Sarcasm times a million. Really. So for my family to be serious about something like saying what we're thankful for rarely turns out as something serious. We make it cheesy and awkward and hilarious. I'll let your mind do the wandering of what we said we were thankful for... I will add that Sara's was the best one.

I AM SO EXCITED FOR THE HOLIDAYS. Here, I'll show you how excited I am. I will extrapolate to you in list-form.

• Festival of Trees (I'm hoping I can find time to go).
• Going to Temple Square (Seeing the lights is one of my oldest memories of the Chirstmas season).
• The Forgotten Carols (That play makes me cry everytime).
• First day of snow (Even though I hate the cold, I do love the snow. Just not the ice in the roads).
• Going to Las Vegas with my whole family (We do this every year. Even my sister from California goes with us).
• CHRISTMAS (I just love that day).
• New Year's Eve (Doesn't everyone love this holiday?).

It seems like the things I have to look forward to keep me going. Then, when those things run out, I find more things to look forward to. It's one big round. That's life, and I love it.

time.

My life as a college student is not as busy as I thought it would be. I'm taking 13 credits, and working on average about 14 hours a week. Minus about 7 hours of sleep each night, that leaves me with about 82 extra hours in the week to study, eat, clean, go to the store, and do stupid things that waste my time.
Here is a list of things I do when I'm bored that I'd like to think are productive, but really aren't productive at all. They just get you even more bored, which I hate.

• Facebook. My number one url I type into the search engine, and the biggest waste of my time.
• Reading blogs. Namely, my sister's blog. It's way too funny to give up entirely, but when I visit her blog, I find myself reading all her posts over and over again. You'll know what I mean when you read them.
• Watching The Office. I'm really not a TV-watching person. I rarely turn on the TV and start watching. This action usually only happens when someone else is watching TV, and I'm interested in what they're watching. My roommate is a big fan of The Office, and has a few seasons on DVD. This is probably not a good thing, but I love it.
• Checking the fridge. It's become a habit of mine to check to see what kind of food is in the fridge whenever I'm bored, although I rarely eat anything when I do. I'm not realizing how weird that really is.
• Pacing. If you find me walking aimlessly and redundantly around my apartment, you can know for certain that I am bored.
• Texting my friends. They probably get so annoyed that I text them with nothing to talk about. I should be considerate and stop.

As ashamed I am at this list, I am also proud to admit that I do things that are somewhat productive with my time, too. They are as follows.

• Writing in my journal. My only motivation for this is knowing that hopefully when I'm dead (or at least older), my kids will read it and get a feel for who I really am.
• Reading my scriptures/saying my prayers. I was raised and taught to do this every night, and so I try my hardest to do it every night. Out of everything I do in a day, I think this is the most beneficial.
• Homework. Believe it or not, I do do my homework! And as a result, I just got a 93% on my math test, which made my day. Homework, although boring and frustrating, is important to me.
• Spending time with friends. I've got to develop good, lasting relationships, right?!

Okay, so I need a longer list...

i stole this from brynn.

Where I am: In my apartment, in my bedroom, at my desk. It seems to be my favorite place lately. I don't mind! Sometimes I need some alone time where I can think to myself.

Where I am going after this: To the bathroom to get ready for bed! It;s past midnight, and I am tired from the Love You Long Time show I just came home from!

Currently reading: I'm always reading the scriptures! I really wanted to finish Press Forward With Faith (I think that's what it's called...) but I was just way too busy. I kind of gave up on it a few months ago, but I plan to start it up again when I have time.

Currently watching: Nothing! But my roommates are watching The Office in the front room. Love that show!

What I did yesterday: I was a horrible student and skipped my Photography class. Instead, I wrote a paper for my English class, and went out to lunch with my friends. My dad stopped by, too!

What I am doing tonight: I already did what I was going to do tonight! I went to Love You Long Time's 3rd to last show EVER! It was delightful, but now I'm sad.

What I am doing tomorrow: I am going to Math, hopefully getting my test score back, and going to a devotional. I'm planning on spending some [more] alone time with myself, and writing some letters to some lovely missionaries! I never realized how much I like to be alone sometimes until I moved out.

The background on my phone is: A picture of a tree I took at the park. Pretty artsy. What can I say? I'm a Photography major.

The background on my laptop is: a super cute picture of my two little sisters, Rachel and Sara. I love them!

Who I miss: My dear family! I can't wait until Thanksgiving break when I can spend three days with them!

How I feel right now: Tired, above anything else. Kind of bummed, but getting over it.

What I am thinking about: How someone could come up with something as funny as The Office. Really. Who thinks of those things?! I'm also thinking about what I'm going to do tomorrow. I've been wanting to do it for a couple of days now. Shhh! It's a secret!

two months later...

I feel like I need a huge banner that says, "WELCOME BACK." I haven't posted for about 2 months, and that just boggles my mind. Where has the time gone? I'll tell you where the time has gone! One, I started working over full-time at work, and two, I moved out with my friends. Those are my excuses; deal with them.
Really though, I can't believe I've let so much time pass by without recording it somewhere! So, in a fast manner, I'm going to list everything that has happened to me in the past month or two. Ready?

• I'm writing (or at least trying to write) more missionaries than I can count on two hands.
• I haven't written back my missionaries for about a month now. Maybe even longer than that.
• My niece is getting old!
• My nephew was born on September 2nd. (I'll post about him later)
• I moved out!
• I made friends with a lot of people after I moved out, but mostly my across-the-porch neighbors.
• I started school. Thirteen credits!
• I am considering just majoring in Photography, and not having a double major in Photography and Math.
• My brother comes home on October 15th, and that's where all my excitement has gone.
• I quit Rise and am now looking for a new job.
• I was an EFY counselor this last summer and made a lot of new friends. I am looking forward to going back next year.
• I went on a few dates in the summer.
• I went to the hot pots on Midway with my college buddies and got more than enough misquito bites.I joined a lot of clubs at school, such as the Hip Hop Club, the Disney Club, the Special Olympics Club, the Ultimate Frizbee Club, and the Music Appreciation Club. I also joined the Institute Service Counsel.

I've lived here in my apartment for 3 week now, and I love it. The people here are amazing, and I'm excited to meet even more. Stay tuned for more college experiences.

summer 2009.

1/24/10
I found this today while I was going through all my drafts of posts I never posted (this is the only one, ha). I think the reason I never posted it was because the pictures weren't lining up well, and the video never uploaded. So, here I am, posting it without fixing the lining of the pictures. I'm still not sure whether or not the video will work. This is from the end of summer 2009, or somewhere around there...

I've come to the conclusion that I am absolutely horrible at posting consistent posts lately. I've got a lot to mention, so I'm going to take the road Celeste often takes and post pictures with descriptions. Here's what I've been up to!

6/29-7/3 & 7/13-7/17

I went to EFY! But, as a counselor and not as a participant. I did 2 weeks, and it was my first time being a counselor, and it was amazing. My companies got along really well, which was awesome! I made a lot of new friends, and I plan on being an EFY counselor next summer!

7/20

Emily and I decided to go to the lake and eat some Ben & Jerry's ice cream there. While enjoying the view of the lake from the bridge, Emily decided to call Jeremy and ask him to go boating with her and her family. He later texted her and said he could go.

7/24

We started the day off by going to the 24th of July parade with a couple of my EFY counselor friends. Later that night, my family had a BBQ.

7/29

JP, a fellow EFY counselor, celebrated her 21st birthday and invited us to have a Mexican Fiesta with her. We ate at Beto's, broke a pinata, and watched Nacho Libre.

brooke marie.

Last night at 8:29pm, I became an aunt to a beautiful baby girl named Brooke Marie. She was 7 pounds, 6 ounces, and 19 1/2 inches long. We visited her in the hospital, where both her and her mom, my sister-in-law, are doing fine.

I am now officially an aunt, and she's my niece. I also have a nephew on the way, due at the end of August.

It was fun to watch my brother, Jake, with his brand new baby daughter. He's not one to show his emotions that often, and it was the cutest thing to see how much he loved his daughter, and how soft and gentle he was with her. I saw him staring at her while he was holding her, and I think it set in for him. It was adorable.