Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Turkey Day everyone!!!! I hope it's been a marvelous day for all of you!
I just wanted to write some of the many things that I have been blessed with in my life!

• My incredibly awesome family! I would be nothing without you all!
• My amazing friends (you know who you are! :) )
• The Gospel
• Education (my opportunities to go to both Snow and BYU)
• My functioning body
• Music
• Books
• My talents
• This beautiful country
• Everyday blessings: a roof over my head, electricity, a working car, food.

May we each look for the blessings that we receive each and every day. There is so much that we have to be grateful for that we all take for granted. Please, remember to give thanks, because gratitude never spoken is like a gift never given.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

P.S. Now I can listen to ALL the Christmas music I want and NO ONE can say anything!!! haha

:) :) :)

This is such an exciting post for me!!! After a year and five months of hard work and changing my life, as of Friday I have officially lost

50 pounds!!!

While at times it's been really frustrating and hard, it has been one incredible journey,one that I hope will continue in the future. It's so different than any other times I've attempted to lose weight before: I'm not on a diet, that is my number one rule; I am making a lifestyle change. I am going to have to keep an eye on my weight for my entire life, I know that. That is why I am making changes in my life that will always help me to stay on top of it. Being healthy is the main point!!! That's when I feel my best, when I can run up the stairs and not have to stop and catch my breath, when I go looking for fruit instead of candy, when want to be outside doing something active instead of sitting and watching TV.

I want to thank everyone who has helped me get to this point: My roommates last year and this year, for always supporting me in my endeavors. Makayle, for randomly telling me that I look good (major boost in my self-esteem!) and for making me get off my butt several days over the last year when I didn't want to go work out. Most of all, my mom, for always telling me that I can do this and much more and for always being there to comfort and encourage me when times are hard. I love you! Thank you to all!!!! :)

Together we can all continue our own health journeys. I want to so much to tell others that there is no magic, easy way for it to happen, but that it takes a long time! But IT IS SO WORTH IT!!!! I want to shout all of my knowledge from the rooftops and help others feel as good as I do!

Ready or not. . . Here I come!

Well my friends, the time has finally come. I load up my computer, get online, head to besmart.com and click on "check application status." I wait impatiently as the page loads (Is anyone thinking of You've Got Mail besides me at the moment? haha). and it brings me glorious news!!!

I'VE BEEN ACCEPTED TO BYU!!!!!!!

I couldn't be more excited! I have been anxiously waiting for this news for the past month, and have been depending on it and I'm just so glad that I made it in! No 100% decision whether I'm going to change my major yet, but I hear that BYU has a really good nutrition program.....very tempting. haha. I'm also excited because I get to come back home!!! I don't have to be hours away from my family and friends anymore! Plus, I can still have the college experience. I am really glad that I went to Snow first, to experience what being away would be like, and I think that I have grown a lot from my experiences down there, but I'm ready to be home. :)

Provo, I'll see you in January!!!

Best Friend and Worst Enemy

Over the past week I think I have spent a full 24 hours in the library. It has been one crazy week, although there weren't any really large projects to stress over, it's just my normal load. It's been pretty crazy because I have had some really great times in the library this week. My next door neighbor, Trevor Berry, and I probably have received more glares than have ever been given to people before in our lovely new library. Let's just say we like to laugh... especially after watching the "Double Rainbow" video on YouTube. hehe. You can never laugh softly during something like that, so the glares fly our way. haha It's all good! We laugh anyway.

I've been able to concentrate a lot on my homework this week, even getting ahead on some things! Yay! I really want to get rid of the stress in my life and get lots of things done ahead of time so I can actually spend time with my roommates!

But all in all, dear library, I have a love-hate relationship with you. You help me concentrate and get things done, yet drive me crazy with your ability to do so for hours on end! We'll just have to agree to disagree and we'll get along fine. :)

True Inspiration

One of my life dreams is to be a part of the show

This show is so incredible! I love that there is this kind of show that is out there in the world, helping people who really need help. I have watched so many episodes that have left me feeling a desire to go out and do something to help change the world. I would love to be a part of the staff, working behnd the scenes, experiencing all these amazing stories and helping incredible people. Go Extreme Makeover! :) :) :)

Quelf

For many, including me before last night, who have never heard of or played Quelf, you're missing out! It is an incredibly fun, incredibly random game.

I had to wear a necktie for the whole game.

Kiersten had to be a dog and learn tricks, like play dead.

Amanda's brother had to put the bowl ofver his head and bang it with a spoon, calling out, "Billy are you there?! Let me in!" haha.

Dallin and Amanda had to share the card of wearing some sort of neck strap (we improvised since we didn't have any helmets or anything).

It was a game full of laughter and lots of fun! :)

A Truly Remarkable Woman

In Memory of Louie Mae Jordan

May 15, 1913-September 11,2010

This morning, one of my favorite people on Earth passed on from this life. She was 97 years old, and lived a full life. I just want to write down some of the things that I remember most about her, so I can always remember, and maybe share some of the inspiration that I felt from her with you.

• She would make the best cheese spaghetti in the world when we all went over to her house to spend the night.
• She also made the best ice cream cones, with vanilla ice cream and a cake cone. Nothing has ever compared.
• She and I would drive to Macey's to get groceries, and always get ice cream.
• Whenever I had money, like $5, she would get all excited for me and say, "You've got enough money to pain the town red!"
• She kept a journal every single day.
• She always had her scriptures open and she read them often.
• She survived breast cancer.
• We loved doing puzzles together.
• We would go watch the last session of General Conference at her house and I would sit in front of her and she would rub my back until I was almost asleep.
• We loved watching The Price Is Right.
• She loved Everyone Loves Raymond.
• She loved hearing anyone play the piano, especially her grandkids.
• She would give us a dollar if we gave her a foot massage.
• We would garden in the backyard, followed by many games of soccer that she would watch us kids play.
• She always made homemade grape juice.
• She loved her rosebushes, and her apricot tree.
• She and I read Work and the Glory together every Sunday for several years.
• She would come to our soccer games and cheer us on.
• We would go to her house every Halloween and find the hidden candy in her house and then watch a movie.
• Every Christmas we would decorate the three-foot-tree and decorate (the the random Haunaka candlestick). And she would give us a paper sack Christmas Eve with peanuts and oranges and popcorn.
• Every Christmas Eve we would go over to her house and listen to "The Little Clockmaker"
• New Year's Eve we celebrated by banging pots and pans outside at midnight.
• She said she would never catch up to President Hinckley's age; well, she finally did. :)
• She loved her family so much! (2 sons, 14 grandkids and even more great-grandkids!)

She will be missed by all that knew her. She always was a bright person, and loved to make people laugh. But she is walking with God and with her husband now. She is pain free. She has peace.