friendsgiving, thanksgiving, & black friday

Oh man, where do I begin?! This week has been THE BEST! It all started with celebrating Friendsgiving as roommates on Sunday. We bought apple cider, stuffing, potatoes, and a rotisserie chicken to celebrate. We had so much fun just laughing and talking about some of our favorite moments with each other. Afterwards, we watched Just Friends and hung out while doing homework.

On Tuesday, Jenna joined me as we drove with my Papa, Syd, and Bryn to St. George for Thanksgiving. We celebrated with my Mom's side of the family on Wednesday and ended the night by playing so games and challenging each other in leg wrestling competitions. It was so fun to just laugh and be together the whole night. I definitely found this to be one of the best Thanksgiving's we've ever had.

On Thursday, we went and celebrated with my Dad's side of the family. We went to his brother's house and had fun playing games, and just sharing funny stories. It was so good to catch up with everyone. We haven't all been together in about 5 years or so! I think one of the best moments was when we almost burnt the house down when the sweet potatoes caught on fire in the oven!

After we finished eating and visiting, we went back to my grandparent's house where we met up with the cousins. We had to have our annual "fall photoshoot", and then ate some leftovers and snacks. We ended up hanging out again until that night, then we went Black Friday shopping. We didn't get to many stores since they were packed! But it was a lot of fun just waiting and laughing in line.

Overall this Thanksgiving has been SO much fun. We all partied and laughed till we cried. It was also really fun to have Jenna come with me. It feels good to have a friend who fits right in and has become more like my sister. She was a trooper throughout the crazy week, and made this Thanksgiving one to remember. I am so grateful for all the tender mercies that I have had in my life this past year, and for my sweet family. I don't know what I would do without them. I feel so fortunate to be so close to all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. They are truly the best, and I wouldn't want to have this Thanksgiving go any other way.

new friends, old friends, & the Cedar City temple

This week has been a lot of fun! It all started with Bai bringing home our new friend for Christmas- a HUGE dog! At first I didn't know what to think, but in all honesty it's been fun to have something comfy to sit on when we watch movies all together :) 

Yesterday Jenna, Ash, and I had gone to the temple Open House in Cedar City. It's about a 3 hour drive from us and it was actually a blast! We jammed out to throwback songs the whole drive down. Once we got to Cedar, we parked at a church where we took a bus to the temple. We were surprised that we were able to go through the line so quickly! It was so beautiful inside, and we all felt the Spirit so strongly. There were so many beautiful little details- such as a native flower, juniper berries, and feathers to honor the Native American culture in the area. One of my favorite things was it really captured Southern Utah in it's paintings. The baptismal font had a beautiful painting of pioneers baptizing Native Americans as they shared the gospel. It was very neat to see all of the thought and hard work that goes into building a temple. Another thing that I learned was that they individually clean every diamond on these huge chandeliers! Can you believe that?!

After the temple, we went to the SUU Chick-fil-A. We were so happy, since it's been so long since any of us have eaten there. While we were there I ran into LeighAnne, one of my old friends from high school! It was so much fun to catch up with her before she left to watch the football game. 

This week was unbelievable. I'm so glad that I am able to have such great roommates. I feel like we all care so much for each other, and have such a desire to do great things. I loved being able to have the reminder of what I could do better in my life to prepare to enter the temple again, later in my life. I loved being able to visit with LeighAnne and hear all about how college is treating her. All in all this week was a lot of fun and I have been filled with gratitude.

adulthood, aquariums, & funerals

This week has been so much fun! To start it off I turned 18, making me "an adult". To celebrate my roommates surprised me and drove us 2 hours to the aquarium so that I could see my favorite animal- the sloth! It was so much fun and we were probably somewhat annoying. But we couldn't help it! It was such a cool experience! I also got to touch a stingray and a starfish which was really cool! After the aquarium, we went and got dinner at In-N-Out. It was such a great birthday, and it's all because of my cute roommates!

Yesterday we had a funeral for my Grandpa's sister. It was really hard to see my Grandpa so sad, but it was also a great time for us all to support him and let him know we are here for him. We loved celebrating the life of his sister and getting to visit with each other. After the funeral we went out for brunch at the Original Pancake House, where we shared memories of my Grandpa's sister and really looked at her life story. I've become really happy for my belief in life after death and knowing that she is still here with us in spirit. It brings comfort into my life, and I love to think about what life will be like when we meet up with our loved ones again.

corn maze, scary movies, & halloween

Oh man. Where do I begin with this week?! To kick it off, my roommates have scared me so bad this whole past week. I guess they find scaring me fun, since I jump and freak out at basically everything. So on Monday night I told them I just wanted to relax. But that DID NOT happen. We decided we would go out to a neighboring small town to do a corn maze. We pulled up to someone's backyard, and they were the ones running the corn maze. This sort of made me giggle and freak out, because it was not your typical corn maze. As we started the corn maze we were just goofing of when all of a sudden we started being chased by monsters with machetes machetes and monkeys with guns. We were so scared. We were running around like crazy and were very relieved to find the exit!

That wasn't all though. Just when I thought I had been all "scared out" my roommates got me to watch the Boy. It is a very scary movie about a doll that looks like a young boy who passed away. The parents of this "boy" hire a nanny to take care of him. But when she doesn't follow the rules they left her, things start to go wrong. It's basically a creepy movie that takes you on an emotional roller coaster. But to top it all off, I was getting ready for bed and got a call from someone with no caller id. I was terrified! I told Jenna "It's the boy! He's calling me!" Turns out that it was the police and they had a wrong number. But I was too scared to go to bed and ended up staying awake until 3 am.

On a happier note, Jenna and I had dressed up as each other for our ward's Halloween party on Monday BEFORE all the creepy madness. It was actually a lot of fun and we felt like we captured each other somewhat perfectly. 

On Halloween, all of us roommates (plus Taylor) went to the school Halloween party. We had so much fun and enjoyed hanging out and making some fun memories. This Halloween was definitely one that I will never forget. Especially since I had experienced a lot of "firsts".