End of a big year.....

Alrighty, I'm going to TRY to keep this short, so bear with me and enjoy the pictures!

 Halloween came and went in a flash- Bekah and I hosted a Murder at Mardi Gras Mystery Party and everyone came in character.  Soooo much fun!  I totally recommend doing any sort of version of this.  Let your other sides shine out!  You'll be surprised how well people become their character.  

 

 Thanksgiving went by just as fast, but my amazing parents gave me the opportunity to spend it with my sister, Traci and her family in Seattle while they went with Cassi to DC and the little Smiths.  The family couldn't be together at home, so those at home went to those elsewhere.  We had such a great time!  Brad and Traci were such good sports about me hanging around.  There were wonderful adventures and just great times relaxing at home.  
           Does this sign look familiar....think movies...  Famous outdoor market that's huge and has fabulous mini donuts and so many other things, including flying fish stand.  The pic on the left is from a great observatory that's in a building twice as high as the Space Needle and not nearly as cheap or crowded (we had it practically to ourselves!) 

 Ahhhh....Salty's....home of the HUGE Nutcrackers and the most amazing melt-in-your-mouth white chocolate mousse cake you could ever imagine.....seriously

 Brad and I also tried crab legs for the first time.  Our waiter almost fell over when he realized it was our first time, and they were actually way good!
 

After Salty's we took a ferry ride to Vashon Island, home of a famous "Treed" Bicycle from the children's Christmas story, The Red Ranger Came Calling.  If you haven't read it, you're missing out!  This was a big highlight of the whole trip, aside from seeing my fabulous family!

Sweet guitar sculpture...or whatever you'd call it, was at the Experience Music Project.  It's basically like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with memorabilia and stuff, but has tons of hands-on things that teach you to play the guitar or drums, give you culture lessons on different music, or be your own band, or even make your own cd cover.  Below is America's TV Family....which later included me too and played an awesome show for screaming fans who'd been sleeping on the sidewalk for days before the concert.  Definitely something you can't pass up if you're ever in Seattle, and so much better than Rock Band.  

Then there's a picture of the outside of the building and my growing Lainy girl sporting the sweet fleece leggings we got her when Trace went on a shopping spree the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Fabulous deals and didn't have to get up super early on black Friday!

I had such a great time with this little Hansen family!  I love the spirit that's in their home all the time and especially as little Lainy says her prayers.  I'm grateful for their examples of hard work and play, always with smiles on their faces and suppressing giggles as they talk.  Trace, Brad and Lainy, thank you so much for letting me spend the time with you!  I love you dearly!  and to Mom and Dad, thanks for teaching us the importance of family in everything you do and making it possible for us to grow even closer as we spend time together, no matter how many miles apart!  Love you too!

Christmas time is a special time, but also super super crazy!  In the midst of the craziness of finals, busyness of work and preparing for Christmas and a big move I was able to get in a few things with some dear friends.  I love Christmas lights!  Christmas cookies and a girls night of movies, cooking and crocheting was made possible as well with Delfina and Bekah.  One last trip to the Pita Pit, Emma's Kitchen (our weekly lunch spot courtesy of the culinary arts students), and the Cocoa Bean also made for fun memories and nice breaks from the craziness.  And finally, Bekah graduated and my dear friend left Rexburg and the campus of BYUI, as a student, forever.  Bitter sweet, but Congrats Bekah!!
There's no pictures of this, but I also got to enjoy a fabulous breakfast with amazing friends, Wendy and Tiffany, who brought little Kylee as well. 

Once the craziness of finals settled down (and I'll have you know I aced them all, and finally finished a huge project as I designed the floorplans, design themes, activities and programs, staff objective and goals, financial plan and marketing agenda of a Family Recreation Center.  Woo Hoo!!) I was already in the midst of the craziness at Great Harvest and was baking through the night, every night.  My family and Chole (from my ward) celebrated Nazareth Night as we dressed up in ancient garb and ate "ancient" style food on the floor of our living room by candlelight.  We were able to tone things down and focus on the birth of Christ and what it truly meant for the Savior to be born.  We are so incredibly loved! 

6 p.m. Christmas Eve I got home from work to a busy household and preparations for an incredible Christmas Eve dinner.  Incredible it was too!  We had stuffed figs, caper soup, citrus salad, and cornish hens with green beans and sweet potatoes.,,,mmmmmm!  It was quite the meal!

                 Christmas Eve also included some other activities, but I'll let you speculate on what Suz and I were doing playing dress up. 

 On the Monday after Christmas my Mom and I headed out to Utah, where we got to see my cousin Lacey and her husband and new baby.  Her baby has had some problems since before she was born, but seems to be getting better all the time.  Then my Mom dropped me off to meet up with Taylor and Bekah, who'd just ran into a few families from my mission, the Olson's and Zenger's.  It was so fun catching up!  I love how the opportunities in our lives widen our family circle with such wonderful people!
The next day Tay took me to the airport, where I flew out and spent the day flying (or sitting on the runway in the plane) on my way to Washington DC!  There I met my brother and his little family to finish out the year and begin another one full of adventures.  

A few things...

Lately I have been blessed with some pretty profound and also not so profound moments that have caused me to think about the things I love and am grateful for. Hardly ever do I record or even decide on favorite things or specific loves, but I probably should more often. Here's a list of a few things I love and have learned lately, but in no particular order.

It may sound odd, but I love physical labor. I love getting up early and working hard by myself, where I can use lots of energy and either think or just work mindlessly. It's therapeutic.Along with work, I love to do dishes, the old way by hand-washing them in the sink. That doesn't mean I want to do that for my occupation or anything, but there's just something I love about it.
Most who know me would know that sweets are a passion or maybe just a weakness of mine, but I do love them (particularly brownies and lemon bars)
What you may not know, is that I could eat any kind of fruit all day everyday if allowed and my fridge supplied.As most would say, I love family, and I really do. I love the blessings of having people who know, understand and want to understand you better. Who are the ultimate examples in their lives and push you harder to be all you can be, and who love you without restraint. I love being able to be there for them too. I love my family for being all of this and so much more.I love music, but moreso I love the quiet or the soft sound of waves, allowing you complete freedom to think or talk without distraction.One thing I've always deeply loved, that has been growing particularly strong lately is the temple. I love the peace and happiness you feel and see on everyone's faces, the opportunity to serve with all your heart and soul, and all the comfort and love, as well as answers you receive there.
I find the sky fascinating. The incredible colors in the sunsets, uniquely shaped clouds, and amazing stars (and I love the mountains)
I heard a poem once that talked about being grateful for our "thorns". This may sound odd, but I love pressure and expectations, as well as trials. They're always hard, and it's their nature to be. But I love trusting and being trusted with things that will test and try me, pushing me to my limits and thensome, but molding me into something better in the process.
I love people. This is something I have been taught and felt, and hope I'm able to show it.I love to listen. In the busyness of the day I love taking the time to feel and listen, to the yearnings and feelings of others as well as my own.In the end I am so blessed to love all of these things and so much more, and I'm grateful for them. And even with all the little quirks and things that I have in my life, I love to be me, the goobery one that I am, and I love it when others can be themselves, without hesitation.

Conferences, Friendships and Mardi Gras

Mid-October Bekah and I headed to Utah for a week-long National Parks and Recreation Association Conference. While there we went to some great classes and saw amazing exhibits. Everything you can imagine that has to do with play was there, including an amazing Viking helmet of sorts that I was given and privileged to wear around for a day. You wouldn't believe the looks I got... until people realized I got it there and hadn't brought it with me just to wear, and then they wanted one too!

After the Conference we met up with Tay and did baptisms in the Salt Lake City Temple! It was my first time there and was incredible! Oh my word, the history and detail in that building is incredible, not to mention the amazing work that goes on as well. Then we went to pick up Jeanie at the airport, who was flying in from Florida to visit. Tay and I taught Jeanie on the mission. We had a great weekend together and with Tay's family!

The next weekend was Halloween. Bekah and I hosted a Murder Mystery Dinner Party at my house. Tay and her sister, Tanna, came up and others came as well. It was an awesome group who really acted their parts, accents, personalities and all. We had quite the investigative discussion and eventually the murderer was revealed....

It was quite the two weeks, all the while being in school and working, but was so much fun! I'm so glad to have friends that are willing to work hard and then let loose and have a good time!

(I know there's a lot of pictures, but they are some pretty great ones)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Amazingness....

Take a look: No, I'm not showing off my earrings. Take a closer look... I could claim it's from the HUGE oven at Great Harvest that I practically have to climb in to take the bread out of, but....that would not be entirely true. It is what you think it is. Moral of the story: don't try to curl your hair when it's 4 o'clock in the morning and you're still half-asleep...

Semester Happenings: Potato Land

Wow, apparently I'm quite the slacker when it comes to blogging and journal writing. Sooooo much has been happening that I haven't recorded! But, you'll be happy to know that I do have pictures for a lot of the big stuff, so it should be a fun update.

September was the month school started again, and also marked the annual East Idaho State Fair! I love fairs because they're packed full of crazy-good and fattening foods and tons of interesting people. We went down twice and definitely had our share of both and had a great time. The first night we found the most amazing thing...The Idaho Potato Museum!! My life was complete after this moment...okay so not really, and the museum was closed so the guys climbed on the HUGE potato for a fun picture.

Then we headed for the real fair and a BMX dirt-bike trick show. I haven't ever been into dirt bikes and everything they do with them, but this show was pretty awesome. There were backflips, full-extensions and even "captain" tricks pulled time after time. Their final trick was jumping a snowmobile on dirt, and doing a backflip with the snowmobile....turns out he didn't make the full rotation and the machine landed on him on the ramp. The whole place went completely silent! It was so scary but he ended up walking off, painfully. Check out the video to see it.

After the show we got some funnel cakes, which I'd never tried before. Shocking, I know. Everyone else was shocked too, but it turned out neither Jake or Scott had either, so we all got a fabulous taste of the fried goodness. And it was so good! The next time I got it with fruit though and would totally recommend the fruit. We were a little crazy excited, can ya tell?

We had fun looking at the animals, especially the HUGE horses for Bekah, and trying on some fun hats. What do you think? :)

Big Stuff...

So, I've been back-blogging a bit lately and forgetting to give updates on what's going on now. PS, my black-blog posts show up as being posted earlier for some reason, so if you're interested in hearing about some summer events then check the so-called, "older" posts.

Big stuff has been happening lately so I'll do a quick re-cap:
1) NIH: National Institute of Health Recreation and Welfare Association
I've been searching for internships in Seattle, Washington DC, and Utah and have talked to a lot of people but have had a lot of headaches, as no one knows about internship or recreational job opportunities. However, I contacted NIH one Tuesday, had a phone interview on Friday and after communication over the next week and a half, I was informed I had the internship if I wanted it!
The recreation program at NIH is the 3rd largest and best in the country. They plan recreation and leisure activities for the employees (many who are Doctors), cancer patients and others in their hospitals, families of patients, and other organizations like NBC, etc. Their events range in all sorts of areas, like relays, trips to cultural events, rooftop balls, carnivals, crafts, ski trips, etc. I'll be there from January through April and one of my first weekends I'll get to take kids with cancer out to the "slopes" and teach them how to ski! I can do that! This is the best opportunity I've looked at, and the one I actually got! So, I'm really excited, nervous cuz it's the big leagues, but excited! My Dad isn't very keen on the fact that I'll be moving across the country, but he's excited about the experience it'll provide me. Scott and Kristen with their girls are living there now, and Tiff, Kurt and Kylee live out there as well, so it'll be great to be around family also! I just wish Trace, Brad, Lainy, and new baby girl on the way, could be out there as well.
I'm headed to a National Recreation and Parks conference in Salt Lake this next week, and unless some grand opportunity for an internship presents itself there then it looks like I'm headed to DC! My friend Bekah and I went to I.F. the day I found out and ate at Five Guys in honor of DC! Love it!

2) I woke up Monday morning and my mom said, "Merry Christmas!!" I was so confused and then it hit me...I ran to pull the drapes back from the windows....SNOW!!!! It was October 5th!! Even though it was snowing when we should be enjoying the new crispness of fall weather and leaves changing on the trees, I was so excited all day long! I'm not hoping it stays, not right now. But there's something magical about the first snowfall that just brings out the little girl in me. :) The memories of snowforts and late night walks as the snow softly falls, snow angels, catching it on your tongue or looking closely at the crystals in one small flake. Memories of Christmas movies, and singing Christmas carols from October through May, or watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (Jim Carrey style) every first snow while Trace and I sing along with little Cindy LooHoo. I know the magic wears off after the snow has stayed for a long time and is hard on the ground, but then it snows again and it's back! Particularly the first snow, whenever they're big flakes falling softly it seems to blanket our little neck of the world in peace and quiet for a small moment, causing everyone who allows it to take a moment and smile at the sound, beauty and amazing memories. (This is the first winter snow as a missionary in St. Louis 2007)