It's Official

So I've decided to make it official and tell everyone that I am planning on leaving in June to serve a full-time mission. I don't have my call yet, and I'm starting on my papers now, but I am planning on going about 3 months after Brett leaves. Mom and Dad are a little worried about how to pay for two at once, but since we're both paying for at least half, it shouldn't be that big a deal. Anyway, I'm really excited about this opportunity. I prayed about it a year ago and it wasn't right then, but I got the "ok" now and I'm probably more excited than ever!!!

Ha! I haven't posted anything since Thanksgiving and its even January now! Yay for the new year!!! Anyway, Christmas was wonderful! It was so nice after a crazy hectic semester to just chill with the fam and enjoy getting dumped on with snow while playing games and enjoying hot chocolate (this christmas my mom got a cocoa-motion and I got an insulated cup that you can plug into your car to keep it warm so it was a cocoa-y christmas). Brett, Emma and I made a snow cave in the front yard but due to warm weather followed by super heavy snow it collapsed :'( Ryan and Cec came up and bopped back and forth with the Bennetts and us but we got them Christmas morning, and Kalia flew in from LA. We were all together and that hasn't happened since April (which isn't all that long ago but it seems like ages ago) and we won't all be together for a couple years while Brett's on a mission. I'm gonna miss that kid like crazy!!!

Skimming the weeks...

This is gonna be a long post since I haven't done any in Ages! The Last Couple weeks have been crazy!! A group of friends and I went to High School Musical 3 and the School's semi-formal dance and it was a great night which finished with chocolate fondue and Mormon games like the Ant and the Aardvark and the Tie game. On Halloween a couple friends and I went to Utah for an audition to be Disney characters at Disney World. The audition involved some pantomiming to see how well we could tell a story without talking; making it larger than life for the little kids (and the adults I guess). We also got to learn a dance and then we would perform in groups of five for the casting director. They also measured our height and looked at our faces to see if we could be princesses, but none of us will know if there's a possibility for that until we get down there. There were about 120 mostly girls with a few guys thrown in there. The trick with Disney characters is you have to either be really tall or really short. I don't think I've EVER found myself trying to shrink when they took my height before. When we found out we had to be there on Friday morning and would have nothing else to do the rest of the weekend we decided just to stay and play until Saturday night. Mandi aunt let us stay with her and fed us a lot too, so Saturday morning we raked up her leaves. Then we went and saw forever strong and to end the day we hiked Y Mountain. Having done EFY done there I saw it a lot but never had a chance to climb. It was listed as an "Easy" hike online but it wasn't so easy, switchbacks and steepness the Whole way! But it was worth it just to say you made it to the Y and sit on the white concrete covered rocks. Plus now if anyone asks how the Y and white, I know.
So it's official, I'm excited for classes to be over. I'm trying to tell myself not to wish my time away and I know as soon as this semester is over I'll be sad and miss everything about it (well...maybe not Everything). But I'm really looking forward to Christmas break and not having to worry about history research and how far behind I am on case briefs. I'm also looking forward to the family all being together for a while. With Ryan and Cec in Utah, Kalia in LA, and Brett getting ready to go on a mission soon I am excited for a traditional Christmas season! And Christmas break will probably be the next time I'm able to post something so until then...

Well, my fear of never getting on here and updating it has come to pass. Which is probably the lesser of two evils. Anyway, my schedule is literally the definition of life in the fast lane! I think they even added my name to it in the dictionary. I get up real nice and early and try to get some studying in before I go to class. Then after classes I'm at work until I can tear myself away from all my friends! Then i go home, grab a bite to eat, and it's off to the library until bedtime. I get some social activities in there; for example, I was on a grass volleyball team and that was so fun and sometimes I go country dancing for a bit, but the majority of my social life is either hanging out with all my SSE friends outside the office or seeing all my friends at the library. I found the perfect spot where I can study for a while, and every once in a while someone comes along and it keeps me awake. I don't really have a favorite class this semester. There's none that I dread going to, but there's none that I get stoked for, although the two I probably like the most are Intro to teaching Seminary or Constitution. Then again my Education Psychology class is fascinating too. I don't know, I'm just very happy with my major. Anyway...I should get back to life now.

Well, at least I'm not posting too often! The only problem is that I haven't really posted at all.
But a lot has happened that I really should post about.
First let me finish off all-things-EFY: I spent a total of six weeks this summer playing and working with youth between the ages of 14 and 18. They were such a blast and I loved every single one of them. By the end I had more than 100 hundred participants in my companies (boys and girls) and 57 of my own amazing girls. Not a day goes by that I don't think about my girls and miss them. We had fun times and we had REALLY fun times! I still get letters from many of them and, thought I'm not the best letter writer, I think I'm pretty good at responding. Except when I'm not in a position to send mail for days!
I loved my EFY days and I hope I can do it again next summer, but if not I am so glad for my days of EFY this summer.