Its Christmas time again!

This year was our year to have everyone home, and everyone was able to come! We found out that Garret is deploying again in March/April and I should be leaving a little bit after that for my mission, who knows where Stuart and Lindy will be after school so we might not be together again for another four years, and it was our first Christmas without Dad so needless to say it was a special one for us.

Well our festivities started when the baby girl arrived! Mornings are now a little more... lively?
This little girl has more energy than any of us at that  
                                                                                    time that's for sure!

 

Mornings also require a little more accessorizing than I am used to. Clara picked up my necklace and asked Lindy to put it on her, then she brought it over and helped me wear it too.

Clara tried to help Grandma wrap a few more presents, which means she played with the ribbon of course. You gotta make sure your ribbons are
                                                                            organized just right,
                                                                         see Gma they belong
                                                                          on the floor like this!

                                                                         

Clara loves playing with daddy, she was not 

quite as sure about Uncle Garret's games. But she was 

a good sport and played along anyways!

                     She is such a little diva! But she sure is dang cute!

Wow I havent been here in a while...

So I realized that I havent posted a blog in quite some time, so I thought to myself what a better time to start than now? I figure if you really want to know about my life you can come here and read all of the boring details that I dont care to post all over facebook for everyone to read, plus 99% of those people dont care. So I guess I will just start up again here.
Im going to upload some of my pictures from my trip to Texas and Boston on my way to school this semester and explain the awesome adventures that took place, because they were pretty spectacular not going to lie :) But I thought maybe I should catch you up on the basics of what has happened since the last time I blogged.

Dad and Mom's engagement pictures

Well I decided to hold off on the mission thing right when I turned twenty-one which was good because then I was home when dad lost his battle to cancer on March 14th, 2012. Its been hard, some days more than others but everyone is pretty strong and I think we all realized that in the end, it needed to happen and there were so many blessings when he did die that I would not have changed a thing about how it happened. Did I want dad to die? Of course not! But I would not change how things played out.
First off it was my off track so I was home and working at the law firm, where pretty much everyone is LDS or knows about them, and all of the Latter-Day Saints somehow know my family and have worked with either mom or dad. So the night after I came home from the hospital I called and left Julie a voicemail and I tried to go to work I think a week after but my body was not allowing me to do so without getting super dizzy and nauseous but im glad I was working at VF because I called in when that did happen and they didnt question my judgment at all which was very nice because I was not taking advantage of it, im too stubborn to stay home just because, so im glad they knew that.

Grandma and the first grandbaby

Garrets travels from Afghan

Anyhow the timing was just right so that we were all able to be home. Garret flew in just in time to get a nice suit for the service, Stuart & Lindy and Clara all drove out and can I just say that having a baby at the lodge all week was one of the best 'medicines'. The fact that she was still happy as ever and still needed a schedule kinda kept everyone else happy when they were around her. You cant hold a giggly smiley baby and not smile back at that darling little girl! It was nice because we had so much family there and it kinda release some of the tension when there was any and I think that was a great blessing to have her there with all of us.

Flowers from my roommates :)

We were so blessed by the members of our ward, our employers, our friends, our family and even our neighbors brought flowers over to us. Were still not quite sure how they found out, we think that the spanish branch learned of dad's passing and we have several families at Jefferson Square that are in the branch that probably spread the word.
We had so many flowers that our house smelt of them all week long, sister Olson came over and volunteered to host and doctor the flowers to keep them all looking nice and we used them for the service. Our table was covered in food, along with our fridge and our freezer and it was all pretty good. Some must haves at a funeral are: tissues, advil or something for headaches, water and such to keep you hydrated. Things that are nice to have are fruit, everyone brings over cookies and desserts which are nice and you pretty much just want to eat junk but having fruit sliced up and ready to munch on was great because we ate that a lot. Granola bars, fruit snacks, extra tooth brushes for out of town last minute packing guests, the lodge was awesome! The vials let us use the Lodge and it was first of all beautiful and second of all perfect for having everyone together and still being able to go off and be on your own when needed.

At the service

We had Tish & Jeff, Patty, Lori, Michael & Jocelyn all come up and stay with us. It was really nice to have some family there from both moms side and to be able to have all of dads family there as well. Apparently Lori's kids wanted to come up really bad but they couldnt which is unfortunate, it would have been nice to see everyone but life is life and you cant do everything that you want all the time.
Our house was bombarded with people starting the morning after. I remember waking up to Sister Thelin (the RS President) and Sister Whitnaw in our living room, and that was just the beginning. One of my favorite things that we received was a book from the primary. They had each drawn a picture for dad and the made it into a book. They also all wrote their name on a heat and taped it to the piano in the primary room that sunday, and they took a picture and sister Ball and sister Danes brought that out to the lodge that afternoon. I saw the picture and just started crying, those kids will never know music the same way they did when dad played, I wish I could have heard him play for them at least once, but I know he is up in Heaven playing like he has never played before!
Anyways, thats just some of my thoughts and biggest memories of the events. I hope it wasnt too sad or boring to read, just some things to summarize and give my view point on the funeral and such activities.

Dads Grave

 p.s. Funeral potatoes are my favorite way to eat spuds, covered in cheese :) 

Spring, spring... spring? when is it going to get here officially?

So this semester is turning out to be like the best one yet. I wish Estrella were still here and that I could call and talk to Lynsi but as it turns out Estrella is being single and fabulous and Lynsi is serving the Lord, and I support them both.

So room mates. My room room mate is Brittany Polatis and she is a doll! She just turned 20 on this past mothers day and she is an art major, she is fantabulous and has helped Marnie with many a project thus far. Oh and she is from Pingaree Idaho so we call her Pingaree (and I know thats not how you spell it but shes from black foot area)
Then there is Katrina who is 22 and this is her last semester here! She is going to do her student teaching in Utah next term and then graduate, how scary! I wouldnt want to trade places to be quite honest.
Next is Melanie she is adorable! I love her to pieces! She turned in her mission papers like last week so we are still waiting anxiously to see where she goes, and I am SO JEALOUS of her! haha. But she is dating Shilo and one of her best friends is Shilos room mate Danny, we call him Aunt Jamimma and its hillarious. Love those boys. They are always at our apt or were over there and its so much fun.
Then there is Emily who is an RM, she served in California a mission right next to Lynsis but I cant remember which one. Shes really cool, she works early morning custodial so she goes to bed at like 8. Props, I could never sleep at 8 pm with as many people as we usually have in our living room.
And of course last but not least is Marnie Mo. I love this girl. We are basically together unless we are doing a study group, classes or well ya.... were basically always together and I love it. Its the greatest.

So classes. There are so fun! Im taking a Middle East class and I love it! Brother Whoolery actually lived in the Middle East so he has stories and pictures and its awesome! I just love that class :) I walk out everyday and I just feel better about life, weird I know. But it also is strengthening my testimony because I can see parts of the gospel in their life style that I know its because they have portions of the truth and it makes me so great full that I have the whole truth in my life.
And im taking an intro to interior design/architecture class and I love it! We have projects and such almost every week and they are kinda monotonus because a big part of the grade is how it looks so you have to put a lot of time and effort into it like one saturday I spent 10 hours on a single project, and it was only the first half. Awesome huh! But im really liking it!
What else, oh im taking D&C from Brother Black and I absolutely love his class! I have had a lot of questions I have been pondering on answered through reading and preparing for this class and its just been awesome! I love it.
oh and im taking the capstone class which is like the last generals class thats basically a critical thinking class. And I love it and its part of the reason my questions were answered as well. Its fun, other than stupid loud mouth, know-it-all, try to teach the class 'better' than the teacher Joe... hes interesting.
and Im also taking spanish with Sierra which is fun, but a lot of work and teaching me to be consistent with studying it.
OH! And im taking Piano! Its super fun! And I love it :) even if it is super easy cause I can read music, and Im getting pretty good at bass clef which is handy. Good thing too! for practicing for like an hour every day! You think it would happen! But I like it a lot.

What else, oh on fridays I only have one class Interior Design at 7:45! And then I walk home and Marnie and I go to the Temple, then we work out, then shower and eat lunch and then BAM all of a sudden its only noon! And we spend the rest doing home work trying to make 5 o'clock friday (which means get all your homework done before 5 so we can play all weekend!)

So its pretty much an awesome start to every weekend! Whether or not we make 5 o'clock or not.

And I have an awesome FHE group this term, Skylar is always at our apt, were waiting for him and Britt to start dating... but hes super funny! And hes the one that initiated the attack Kindra with bow&arrows and throwing knifes! Hes super fun, I approve, he can date Brit.

And Betsy is still insisting that she stays inside of Lindy... she was due over a week ago! She was due last tuesday and its friday now!!!! So we sing to her
"Its time to come out, ts time to come out, its time to come out of the belly!" and she doesnt listen.... stubborn little girl she is.... but were excited for her to get here! We'll keep y'all posted.

IM BACK IN REXBURG!!!

So this post is LONG overdue! But basically during the off track...

Gpa was living with us for the first part, well until valentines day. Then Kelli came up and we spent the weekend at the beach and showed Kelli around Oregon. Then they flew back to Texas and I started my job at the lawfirm, VialFotheringham. And I love it! I think it is the perfect summer/college break job for me!
I get to hang out and listen to music while I scan papers... which is super boring but I get to listen to whatever I want all day long haha. And when I left I had made office friends!
I was there from valentines day till the middle of april. And Frannie and I were great lunch buddies, like both ok with silence and both ok with talking. It was great :) And Matt! Oh Matt was so fun, whenever I walked into his office to get the mail in the morning he would always stop what he was doing and ask how I was doing and more so than just a hows it going like I felt like he actually cared. And then cute Linda! She is Rob Fothinghams wife and she would always sit at the front desk of Varns 3 and she would always talk to me about school and work and life and her daughter Sara leave for school this fall and so we would talk about that a lot and it was a ton of fun!
and lets see oh I thought that Amanda hated me because of the candy incident with Tristan... but on my last day there she told me a story in the middle of a crowded lunch room, and it was like a just to me story so I know that she doesnt hate me at least! And lets see oh Julie loves me im pretty sure, she told me like 5 times on my last day to not forget to email her to get my job back this summer and then again in the winter, so im excited to get back.

OH BEST NEWS EVER! I thought I was going to have to go home and work for a year to pay off my student loans after this fall semester, but I figured out that I can pay my loans of in a matter of 5 months!!!! THATS LESS THAN HALF A YEAR!!!! I was so ecstatic when I figured that out :) Best news ever!

Anyways now I am back in Rexburg and Marnie and I are in the same apartment and its the best ever :) Plus we have awesome room mates which helps! and ya I thought this semester was going to be an easy peezy lemon squeezy kinda semester... but no. Its going to be a kick my trash semester... so I probably wont be posting very often this term. But well see...

day 07

 

My most treasured ‘item’ would be my family. I know they have my back and I can go to them first for whatever I need. Stuart has been a life saver up in Rexburg, I don’t know what my college life would be like without him and Lindy up there with me. I cannot wait to meet their little girl this spring! All I know is that my life would be completely different without those 2 in my life!

Garret, what can I say? He is my favorite little brother, not just because he is my only little brother. He is an example to me and I am so proud of his decision to join the Marines and the fact that his heart is in it 100%! I cant imagine my life without him in it, nor do I want to.

Keira, if you say she is so quiet and sweet… wow you are mistaken. She is one of the funniest ‘watchers’ I have ever met. She is one of those people who sit and watch, but she sees everything! I will never forget her face when she threw her cards down on the table since seeing Dave play hand and foot out of both his hand and foot! But she didn’t rat him out, what a twit! She is hilarious and I have loved spending time together while im home for a while, and I only see our relationship getting stronger. Got your back lil stupid

life comes at you fast!

Man I am home on break and it took me a month or so to find the right job for me but I am so blessed and I found it! I am working at VialFotheringham Law offices and I am kinda loving it. There is a lot of papers, staples, scanning, mail and errands to run but that is honestly my favorite part of the day, getting to go say hi to everyone and see them all in the other buildings. I am not friends with Linda Fotheringham and she is such a cute little lady! She is the receptionist in one of the other buildings and I get to stop and talk to her everyday because I see her before lunch so I can talk as long as I want! haha I know how to work the system :)

I FINALLY got my schedule figured out and as perfect as I can make it with the classes that I want to take, but I get to take piano! spanish! intro to arch: interior design! which I will love all of I am thinking, D&C from my FAV teacher, the middle east and capstone... so I am quite happy to say the least. Even if  start at 7:45 mwf! haha.

and are you ready for this?! drum roll please.... FOUR WEEKS! and then I get back to rexburg and school and life and such! I am quite excited to say the least :)

Oh and I taught staci's new member lesson on wednesday which was kinda nerve wracking but I think it went really well and it was definitely more of a discussion which I wanted! and we only get to meet 3 more times :( but I will take as many as I get cause I get to see bro and sis Bleak! (one of my FAVORITE women in the whole wide world!) and bro and sis Steel who are so adorable! and we always have the best discussions.

Oh and Garret has been home for a week now and leaves next saturday. Its been so fun to have him home and be able to see and hang out with him. We've gone out to eat a few times and watched movies and oh we went to mongolian grill and Lance got the perfect fortune: 'you lack self confidence, and it shows' wow Lance would be the guy to get that one! Poor kid. He will never live that one down! sad day for him, but that is the first negative fortune I have ever come across. It was fun.

hum what else? nothing much for now, thats about it. Work 8-5 monday through friday! fun huh? Im grateful for it! hopefully I can come back come summertime when Im home! Or I will go stir crazy the whole summer and wont be able to stay home!

Day 6

A picture of someone I would want to trade places with for the day... honestly I cant think of anyone I would want to trade places with. I have amazing friends, a great family, a job that I am kinda loving, I have an entire ward family that I love and I know I could go to if I needed ANYTHING! I get to go to BYUI and have a great group of friends that I get to hang out with all the time. I get to take classes that I want to take now, and well how else can I say it, I am so blessed! So instead I am going to post a picture of a place that I love and I will be soon....