California Gurls we're UnFoRgEtTaBlE...

I love being home!  It feels soooo great!  It might feel a little greater if I was going back to school on Sunday though, just because I love it there so much.  Oh well, I'll get my turn in April I guess.  Now I just get to work on my online classes and hunt for a job.  This warm weather in December is AMAZING!  I've missed that a lot!  I definitely love living in and being from California.  Eighties at this time of year is the complete opposite of what I just came from.  It makes me realize that I think I really do like the beach over the snow.  Something else I love about being in California around Christmastime is that Annie and Jordan come to visit.  Not that I've had a shortage of Marsden visits lately. :)  I'm going to be so sad when they go back home tomorrow and I won't be going with them!  They make such good Tuesday lunch dates!  I'm jealous Blake gets to go!  So lucky!  But I also can't wait to take advantage of the time I have at home.  We've already done so much that makes me glad to be here.  I've missed my family tons and I'm so glad to be back in the same ward with all the rest of them.  They are the BEST company and I'm so grateful that I'm able to spend Christmas with them.  I love them so much!

It's the MOST WONDERFUL Time of The Year...

Thanksgiving makes me feel really thankful, like it's supposed to.  I'm thankful for school, which I'm not sure that I've ever said (I'm also very thankful for the internet BECAUSE OF school); I'm thankful for my family, especially now that I don't see them very much; I'm thankful for my friends that are both old and new; I'm thankful for where I live; I'm thankful for church; I'm thankful that I can now listen to Christmas music without being criticized; and I'm thankful for DECEMBER!  I love having a Christmas tree up, looking at Christmas lights, and watching A Christmas Story.  And thanks to Joan for all the Christmas stuff. :)  Thanksgiving was awesome!  We got to spend it with Dad's family, which we don't get to do very often so it was tons of fun.  It the first home cooked meal I've had in 3 months and it tasted so good.  Unfortunately, it was a HUGE home cooked meal, after which I stayed up till 7 in the morning Black Friday shopping with Mom, didn't get much sleep the rest of the day, then the next time I ate was dinner Friday night.  It didn't stay down.  I promise.  BUT luckily, I didn't have to take the shuttle home.  Grandma was nice enough to drive me all the way to Rexburg, then all the way back.  SUPER CONVENIENT!  Thanks so much!  I'm glad to be back, but excited to go home.  17 days...

Halloween!

The Midnight 5K was SO fun! And let me just make it VERY clear that it is much harder to run up here than it is at home.  I was so tired!  I don't know why I'm so motivated to do these things when I'm not as motivated to train for them.  I need to work on that, because it is definitely one of the most rewarding things EVER!  I love that it's something I'm able to do.  Halloween was so much fun!  It might not have been the best idea for our apartment to run out of candy BEFORE Halloween.  We weren't thinking much of the trick-or-treaters that came to our door before we left for our ward's dance.  So instead, I handed out Ramen.  I've got way to much of that junk anyway.  And I don't even really like it that much!  Either way, they loved it!  So I didn't feel so bad after that. :)

It's been snowing this weekend and it's so pretty!  It's not like stormy snow like last month.  It's more like drifty snow.  So I like it a lot better.  It's SUPER cold!  Tori and Chelsea get here on Thursday so I'm excited to see what they think because I live here and I don't even have enough clothes!

...

Tori and Chelsea left yesterday! :( So SAD! But it was so much fun with them here! We trekked up to the temple a couple times, made it to Idaho Falls for the mall, SUPER Wal-Mart, and Olive Garden, had sleepovers with Liz :), Cocoa Bean, and a movie.  And I'm sure we did lots of other stuff, but Rexburg is just way too exciting and I can't remember it all. :)

Rexburg is so exciting that even Stan and Ian came to visit! Thanks for lunch! :)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

Okay, I know it's only October, but seriously, we play Christmas music nonstop here and there has already been SNOW!  The fall has been really nice and it's not even supposed to snow for the next week at least.  That couple days of snow at the beginning of the month was a weird fluke.  Anywaysss...these last couple of weeks have been super fun and full of midterms! Gross.  BUT It's also included Guitars Unplugged, a dance, McDonalds, the gas station, Psych, Skypeing with Alex, letters, and running into fellow BALD students.  It's pretty crazy.

I am SO excited because Tori and Chelsea get to come here and visit me in TWO weeks! I. Can't. Wait.  Blake and I going to rent a car and go pick them up from IF and then they get to spend the long weekend living like I do! :)

I'm not sure when this is going to happen, but I'm pretty sure this apartment is going to drive to Star Valley,  and chop down a Christmas tree!  I am so excited for Christmas and I don't even know why!  It might be all the new Justin Bieber Christmas songs, but who knows.

Ok I gotta go get ready to run a 5K at midnight.  Happy late birthday, Abby and happy birthday, Grandma! :)

Idaho Falls = Panda Express

General Conference was the best!  I loved all the talks (that I heard) and I've never seen facial expressions better than President Monson's.  We laughed over that. A lot.  While watching GC, we saw a commercial in between sessions for Dieter F. Uchtdorf's book: Your Happily Ever After.  I got SO excited!  That is my favorite talk of all time!  We knew we'd have to go to Idaho Falls and pay a visit to Barnes & Noble. :)

Friday was by far the hardest day of the week.  From 3:15 to 5:15, I have a Chemistry lab.  Sometimes we don't always get along with our lab partners...

BUT I felt much better by Saturday.  We woke up, made french toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash browns for breakfast, got ready, and drove to Idaho Falls to run some errands and spend a while in Barnes & Noble to get President Uchtdorf's book.  Which, by the way, is one of the best purchases I have ever made!  The cashier that checked me out was a girl that obviously was not a member of the church but super nice.  She saw what I was buying and asked me what it was.  When I told her what it was about and that it was actually a talk that was given and that it is MY FAVORITE, she got so excited and wrote down the title and author.  She told me how she had just come out of a bad five year relationship with someone that had no religion in his life and that she was looking for something Christian.  She said "Is it like, a God thing?"  "Umm yes.  And I promise it's worth reading." :)  I left feeling good.  Maybe it's true when people say that Idaho and Utah missions really are the most successful.  Anywaysss, Hanna and I got Panda Express for lunch since I haven't had it in MONTHS and I LOVE it!  We took it to Cafe Rio where everyone else ate.  Our last stop in IF was SUPER WALMART!  We got a few movies to watch when we got home.  One of them was Singles 2nd Ward. All I have to say is: I have a brand new appreciation for those movies actually being in a singles ward.  It was great. :)

Your Happily Ever After:

http://www.theideadoor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1784&Itemid=2438

Applebees

I LOVE Applebees, I think I'm the only person in my family that does so I sad when it went out of business at home.  BUT I was so excited when I learned that there was one HERE! :) And that the roommates like it as much as I do.  Last night we went to Applebees and waited 3966394739 hours for a table.  But it was so worth it!  Then we came home and watch 4 hours of Criminal Minds, fell asleep out in the living room, woke up in the middle of the night, and went to bed.  I love Fridays. :)

This morning we watch the first session of General Conference and how cool was it that they announced FIVE new temples!? Especially that the Provo temple is being used so much that they need another one!?  I think it is so amazing that it's being built on the grounds of the old tabernacle  There isn't a spot more perfect.  I think Paris is going to be gorgeous and STAR VALLEY, WYOMING!  I've never seen President Monson make a better face than he did when he announced that one.  We almost went there this weekend to spend conference at Hanna's cabin.  I can't wait to see all these temples and how pretty they're going to be.

I'm leaving in a few minutes to spend the rest of today and tomorrow at Annie's.  Enjoy your conference weekend... :)

Daughters In My Kingdom

Today marks my first Relief Society broadcast.  I've been a little reluctant to go to relief society.  I just feel like its not where I'm supposed to be yet.  So, while getting ready to walk up to the I-Center today, I was thinking about how I did NOT want to go.  I'm fresh out of YW, so I still think anything that is going to be said is completely unrelated to me and my life right now.  Of course, the first talk, given by the Relief Society General President, was titled "Daughters In My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society."  It was all about the purpose of Relief Society and what Heavenly Father has in mind for this organization.  She explained how special it is and how Heavenly Father needed faithful women to help run the church.  She also talked about all the contributions they have given since the start and how much they mean to the church.  That talk was so much more personal since Sister Beck talked about all the things she wanted her granddaughters to know about what she does in her calling in the church and how amazing she finds Relief Society.  Now, I feel like it's something to look forward to and that it actually is something that Heavenly Father has set up for so many reasons.  And what meeting is complete without President Uchtdorf?!  I don't know how right it is to say this but he is just the coolest!  And his talks are my FAVORITE!  In case you missed it....

https://lds.org/study/prophets-speak-today/unto-all-the-world/president-uchtdorf-reminds-sisters-of-five-things-to-forget-not?lang=eng