It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....joy to the world

*Random thought of the day: "Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then discover once a year is way too often" ~Johnny Carson

Isn't that the truth!*

Ok-so I didn't go completely crazy in good ol Show Low...I repeat...not COMPLETELY crazy(: But it is true that some families are just insane. I had to convince my best friend Emily that she really did want to come home and spend time with her family instead of spending it alone...all because of her large family and all the cooking she would have to help with(: Love you Ema!

It was rather nice being home. I arrived Wednesday afternoon and hung out and practiced and started a little bit of homework. Yep-had to bring the work home with me.

Thursday I decided was to be a lazy day! Yep...I got up and began to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade which I love. Then...it somewhat sadly began snowing. It had been raining all morning, but then turned to snow, which caused our satellite TV to lose signal, until basically the last half hour-ish of the parade. Oh well. After that, I watched some more TV and hung out with the fam and played on the computer a bit. I then decided to break down and watch my favorite Christmas movie EVER....The Polar Express. Oh how I love that movie. It makes me feel like a kid and its just cute! I usually wait til at least December 1st to watch it...then again I also usually wait til the day after Thanksgiving to listen to Christmas music..I did it the day before this time(: So, I watched that movie and then took a power nap. I'm really not used to taking naps so I don't know that that was a good idea!

After my nap, it was finally...CHOW TIME! Oh how I'm thankful for food and especially Thanksgiving food. It was awesome. My mom's boyfriend and his daughter joined us for Thanksgiving so we all ate and enjoyed each others company. It was wonderful food! YUM! Leftovers are especially good the next day! And my mom made her cherry pie which I absolutely LOVE! It was amazing.

After the food was more chill time. Then Thurs night, I went over to hang out with my friend Jourdan McNiel. She just started at BYU-Idaho this semester and was home for a break as well. So I went with her to the Parkers house and played our famous game of Scum! This is what I used to do when I was in high school. The Parkers was totally the place to hang out-so it was fun for old times sake! And I had more pie there too....guilty! Sorry but I just gotta take advantage of this goodness because I am a really pretty healthy eater normally! We had fun!

Friday, my mom and I got up around 8ish and for some "stupid" reason, we went out shopping. It's official-I've become a scrooge when it comes to Christmas shopping. No longer am I good at it, but I hate the crowds as well. Too many people pushing their way around each other for sale items. Now-dont' get me wrong, I am A CHEAP SHOPPER! I LOVE SALES! Especially when it comes to buying gifts, because I'm a terribly poor college student(:. But, the crowds...oh the crowds. Annoying. And all the cashiers and managers are completely stressed out and grouchy, especially if something goes wrong. Trust me I know, I was a cashier for a year...bleh....Take this picture for example...I mean seriously....that is what the electronics at our Walmart REALLY did look like on Friday morning.

and so on and so forth....

It's kinda been making me realize more and more the true meaning of Christmas. It's great to get gifts for loved ones and have lots of junk to eat, and have parties and celebrate and such, but honestly-the rushed crowds and gifts are not what its all about. More about that as it gets closer to the holiday......for now I have my Christmas Music-especially my good friend Josh Groban, who should be the only famous person allowed to ever sing my favorite song "O Holy Night". *Side note to Curtis-take me seriously. Just do it! (:

Saturday, was......TWILIGHT DAY!

Here is my personal review: I was very impressed! It wasn't completely amazing...and they didnt' go into alot of detail on certain parts of the movie but I still absolutely LOVED it! I give it a B+ grading! See, when I read a book and then I see the movie, I generally like the movie better, for the sake of seeing it in real life. I guess I"m not always very imaginative(: I like to see it all really happen too! Anyway-it really was pretty awesome! And shockingly, Kristin Stewart did a better job playing Bella than I thought she would. And pretty much every guy in the movie was flippin hott! Even James, the bad guy vampire. And it was kinda cool that the bad girl vampire is a redhead and her real life name is Rachelle. Sounds familiar eh haha! I thoroughly enjoyed Twilight and am hoping to see it again and very soon! I reccomend it mainly to those who have read the books and are female(:

Saturday night, my Grandma and Great-Grandma came into town. Dallas, the baby of the family is actually growing up and turned 12 last weekend. And so he got ordained to the Aaronic Preisthood! Crazy crazy stuff! My Aunt and Uncle, Kathi and Ray, along with their two youngest boys, came as well on Sunday! It was really neat to see Dallas on his special day! Can't believe he is growing up so fast....(: So, Saturday we went out for Mexican food, and boy do I need to get back on a healthy streak again after all that I ate the last few days! It was nice though.

NOW...I have arrived back in Thatcher. Its Monday and I already have a stress headache...grrr....It's overwhelming all the things I have to do this week. Mainly all in prep for finals. Plus I have 2, not 1, but TWO concerts this week. Tomorrow is our Festival of Carols which is choirs, band, AND Orchestra. Yup. Should be a good one. Mom's coming for it and bringing the stuff I left at home this weekend(: Then on Sunday is the annual "Messiah" performance. That should be pretty awesome too. I'm sure I'll blog about it.

So, its quite the week ahead of me. I hope I can handle it! I'm sure if I do whats right and prioritize my time, the Lord will truly bless me and help me to do well in finishing out this semester! He's helped me thus far, so I have faith that He won't let me down!

Have a fantastic week everyone....pray for us poor, hard working, stressed out, sleepless, wild college students!

Without Love, Life is like the seasons without summer

*Random Thought of the Day: Since I really enjoy The Office, this reminded me of it so I thought I'd share

Things to say if you get caught sleeping at your desk....

Number 5: They told me at the Blood Bank this might happen.

Number 4: This is just at 15 minute power nap they raved about in the time-management course you sent to me.

Number 3: Whew! I guess I lfet the top off the white-out. You probably got here just in time.

Number 2: Did you ever notice sound coming out of your keyboards when you put your ear down real close?

Number 1: (Raising your head slowly)"...in Jesus' name, Amen'.

LOL right????!!!!*

Hey all you friends and family! Another busy 'heptagon" of my life has gone by...and thank goodness! I like that time is going by fast. I'm ready for the semester to be over. In more ways than one! I'm glad this semester has been going decent, but it will be nice to have a break/refresher. Thanksgiving is however coming up this week! I'm excited. I will blog more about that next weekend.....

This week started out with a fun little ward Family Home Evening. It was a FIESTA! We have a lot of students here that are from the Colonies in Mexico. Some who are in my ward, and a few of their friends made some amazing tamales! Very good food of course! Then they taught us some basic mexican dances! It was so much fun! I love that style of dancing! It was fun to learn a thing or two.

The rest of the week is slightly a blur...as happens so often! Just doing the school thing I suppose. I am doing a lot better in Music Theory so I think things will turn out well there!

I'm loving choir though the most. We have 2 more performances coming up. Our Festival of Carols on December 2nd, and then we perform the 72nd Annual "Messiah" on December 7th. I'm excited for both! I love performing with the Acapella choir-its one of the best experiences to have, being in this choir!

Last night, I got to see Madagascar 2! The first Madagascar is my favorite animated movie ever. This one was...cute, but not gonna lie-1st one was better! I laughed my head off in the 2nd one, but it was sorta silly in some parts! Good though. Everyone loves the penguins! I went to see it on a date with my good buddy Tucker Brown and a couple of his friends. We had meant to go see Twilight....but due to EXTREME long lines, it didn't happen. Oh well-I plan to go see it with my mom and a couple friends at home next weekend!

Today is a Saturday and I suppose I should get some cleaning and homework done. Joy. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend of love. Because without love, Life is like the seasons without summer, without love, life is rock-n-roll without a drummer......

Have a good one ya'll!

What's Yours is Mine, and What's Mine is Mine

*Random thought of the day: I hate excercise. To me, getting up in the morning is a moving violation. The only exercise I get is pushing my luck, stretching the truth, and jumping to conclusions, although, I have been known to carry a grudge. (: Ok-so I didn't make that up, but I thought it was funny, and its how I really am and feel sometimes! I have "funny luck" rather, as Alex would say; I am a terrible liar but I try!; and heck yes I jump to conclusions-bad habit really; and I try not to carry grudges but I do get annoyed with people easily sometimes! Thats it for randomness!*

Its been AGES since I've blogged...I know....quit freaking out everyone! My life was stolen by aliens. I mean...my 10 page english paper, which could be very similary truth be told. Which by the way is DONE! Done and out of my life FOREEEEVER! What a load off my shoulders. Though, I have learned much about Islam and politics, I hope it will be a while before I have to write another paper like that....oh how I hope!

I also made another huge accomplishment-that being my voice recital. Yes lucky me-it was also yesterday/last night. And it went awesome-not gonna lie! I felt really good about it. The piece was a german song and its a very happy/chipper/cute song. So, all semester my voice teacher has been saying to sing it like Jazelle from Enchanted! Anyone who knows me well-knows that Enchanted is practically my favorite movie! [I'm the one who saw it 3 times in theatres and then bought it on DVD the day it came out(:] Anyway-I also just happen to have red hair like Jazelle and I can sing. So-I put on an adorable dress of Emily's and did my hair all cute, with a flower and everything, and I sang as though I were Jazelle! It was awesome! Kaleb, my accompanist was even "threatening" to make me be in character (I was a little nervous...), by saying he was going to throw little birds at me(: No worries-the performance went great!

In other quick news....I guess I should say Congrats to Barrack Obama, our new President of the United States. So, since I decided I"m officially Republican, it should be interesting to see what happens the next little while. Honestly-I was a little "upset" when he won. As you all know-half my jokes on my blog are about Obama. Well-I'm over it. Because obviously, he was meant to have won, and who knows-maybe he can bring SOME good to this country. There must be some hope right? At least Proposition 102 passed and that is at least some good for now. Only time will tell the things to come. Hey-thats a good quote!

So you want to know whats been going on in my life do ya? Let me think.......well I kinda said already about my english paper/recital-which has taken up alot of my time. BUT.....PS-Simon says hi! Anyway......last weekend, I took a little trip. To the valley. I suppose it was an ok trip. We did family pictures, which i'm sure most of you will see in Christmas cards. So-I went down on Friday with Whitney and stayed at Kris and Jessica's. They took me to a lovely dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. Very good food!

I luckily had time to work on and get a lot of my english paper done! Lovely I must say. It was good to see my mom and my brothers though! I just miss Thatcher whenever I leave. I will probably go through withdrawels when I leave for good.

Anyway, now that life has settled down a bit...ish....my new project is oh-passing music theory and Aurel Perception. Of course I'm failing my music classes, that being my major. Its ok though. Promise! My MT teacher, is seriously the best! I will owe him big time when I leave here. And even when I get through this semester I will owe him. He has pretty much been going out of his way to help me out. I have been going in to work with him one on one so that I can review the things I've learned thus far in the semester, and really understand them better and work on my short term memory issues. [apparently my short term memory is not very good]. But yeah, he has been a big help this week and I have a lot of faith that I can pass and do well this semester. My instructor is LDS and so he is just way cool! So....good luck to me!

Life is good. I'm looking forward to buying Jenn a puppy! [Don't ask] Life is life as I know it. Now its another joyful weekend of relaxing and doing extra music theory homework!

I'm singing in church on Sunday. I love performing! Should go well.

Hope you all have a nice weekend...remember-don't do anything I wouldn't help you with!

TATA!

Life can be...Enchanted!

Pirates! Thats right-I've been wanting to be one forever and since college students go all out for Halloween, I just had to be part of the crowd(; So me, Emily and Derek dressed as such! And I must say-we looked pretty great! I have better pictures on my digital camera, but I haven't printed those yet so this one's from my phone! Lots of fun!


Me and my favorite kids! My niece and [2] of my nephews(: It was fun to see them last weekend! My Show Low Choir buddies! Kyle Pratt, Me, Sharla Norton! Good times!










John Schmidt-Yes, I was in the front row, center seat. I'm just that lucky...and we got there really early.





Random Thought of the Day: This is one of my favorite jokes ever! It takes me back to memories of doing Beauty and the Beast in high school!
So there were these two muffins in the microwave. Suddenly, one of the muffins says, "Man, its hot in here!"
The other muffin exclaims, "AHHH! A talking muffin!"
LOL. Thought I'd share some enlightment for the day!



Well, I hoped you have enjoyed the above pictures! Time to explain!
It's been a splendid week. Up and down all over the place really. On Monday and Tuesday, for pretty much the first time this semester, I accomplished TONS! I actually looked at my schedule and to do list at the end of the day and realized that everything had been accomplished. Not to say that I never do anything, its just that I don't always do everything. So, it was quite a wonderful feeling. As shown above, Tuesday night was AWESOME! Those of you who know the LDS pianist, John Schmidt-he is amazing! I have seen two of his concerts previous to Tues. [He came to Show Low...I actually got to meet him the 2nd time(: No lies.] and I always love hearing and seeing him play. He is quite the entertainer! And it was awesome to be able to sit in the front row, center seat where I could see very well. He put on a good show as always and I wish I could play as good as him! Very amazing talent!
Bad news, I began catching a cold on Tuesday and was officially dead by Wednesday for a few days infact. But you know me-I kept going on with the things I needed to do! The cold also didnt' stop me from going on a date Wednesday night to see...HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3!!!!!! Oh my gosh it made me happy! It was flippin AWESOME! Yes yes, I am a huge fan of High School Musical, but this one topped them all! It had a good ending to all the movies, with better music and dancing and it was just kinda cute! I reccomend it to all ages, unless you're my roommates who just make fun of it...WHATEVER! I like it! Yeah-its cheesy but its still fun and this one really was good! I went with my mighty "Protector", which would be Simon. Hee hee-he's one of my choir buddies and really-he protects me. Even from flies at 1 in the morning....we did a double date with our other friend Kaleb and another girl. It was very entertaining. Especially when Simon kept getting excited and hitting me during the movie because he wanted to know what was going to happen next. It was like being with a child lol!



















So that was Wednesday. Thursday...still sick...bleh...and high on drugs(: Meaning nyquil and stuff. Luckily I was still able to get some things done, though practing my voice music was hard, and I was able to relax that night. Friday..thanks to my Jenn who gave me tylanol cold medicine, I slept very well and felt much better Fri morning! Still a bit stuffy but feeling fantastic! PS-Happy Halloween two days ago(: I know I certainly had a great day, and mostly night. As above picture, I just couldn't resist dressing as a female version of Jack Sparrow! Emily and I did the works-the dark makeup, beads, whatever. It was so much fun! That night there was an institute carnival and dance so we enjoyed ourselves on the dance floor all night! And boy are people creative around here! There were some awesome costumes including a tie rack, grapes, hippis, trashcans, and all sorts of other crazy things! I took some pictures but of course, they're still on my camera(: After the dance, me, Ema, Derek, and Simon watched Muppet Treasure Island. I was hoping to watch Monster House, or something more Halloween-ish, but well-I lost that one! Oh well-it was fun!
Yesterday, I got some homework and practicing done-yay-and then went to the EAC football game, where we sadly lost against one of our biggest rivals, Snow College from Utah. Man-we tried to "snowplow" them, but no such luck. Good Job EA-season's over and life goes on.
After much cheering and cold feelings[...literally-it was cold outside], I tagged along with Jenn and Abby[Jenn's roommate and my RS Pres(:] to Abby's bf's house. Hector, lives with a bunch of guys from the Colonies in Mexico! So they invited us over for some enchiladas! Oh my gosh--pretty much the best meal I have had in a long time! You gotta love REAL mexican food! Those guys could cook! Rice, beans, the works! I can't believe I ate all of it too! After that, we played a couple rounds of BS, and then went home! Quite the entertainment really!
Today, was Stake Conference of course, for everyone in Arizona! I personally really enjoyed it. Boyd K. Packer and a couple others spoke some wonderful words of wisdom and I learned alot! All the speakers truly brought the spirit. I hope those of you who are also in AZ enjoyed it as well(:
Now, the weekend is near being over...again! I hate it when that happens! I have tons more things to do this week. And to think-I'll be taking 18 credits next semester....i'll be lucky to ever be home then! And life continues.....Have a wonderful week everyone!