Equal Parts Nostalgia, Cheese, and Gratitude!

Four years ago in May, four best friends graduated from high school:

Chelsea headed out to BYU the summer after high school, so we organized our last hoorah:

We spent on last night together:

What you can't see is the broom Chels has hidden in her bed for protection!

And we began the next phase of our lives: College!!!

Then after three short years, we slowly began entering the next new phases of our lives.

Darcee got married:

 And we were there:

Then Alexa got married:

And we were there:

And, the newest development and the reason for my current reflection, Chelsea is going on a mission:

Sister Akin of the DC South Mission!

And we'll be there via prayer and letters!!

And I'm re-realizing how blessed I am and have been to have these girls as best friends through those (and these) critical years in my life! They each have become examples to me in their own way.  They support me and love me and make me feel like a real person who matters!  I'm just so excited for all of us to start on our next adventures which keep getting bigger and better with age!

MY MOM WAS BORN TODAY!

My mom was born on this day not too many years ago, 

and she's great, so she gets a whole blog post to herself!!

Isn't she lovely? 

And out-doorsy?

And happy?

And adventurous?

And still as in love as she was as a brand new bride?

Of all the mom's in the world - I'm so glad I got mine! I can not begin to spell out all the ways she's made my life better, but they have been numerous! She's the most supportive, kindest, funniest lady I know! What a blessing she is! Happy Birthday Mom! 

I'm an Intern!

Remember when I told you my life was stressful and boring and I'd need your prayers?  Well folks... the prayers have been answered:

I am the new 

Intern 

at the 

Craig Hospital

in 

Denver, CO.

So I'll be spending my summer in Denver, Colorado at this place:

And I'll be doing things like:

and

and

and so much more with people with spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries.

I have so blessed to get this opportunity, and I am so excited to learn to become the best Recreation Therapist in the world! 

Chronicles of Christmas

I'm a senior and it feels like it! I'm so busy busy busy! Which is why I have not been documenting my life here on this blog.  If I was busy with interesting things... I may have let you all hear about it, but at the moment all my business is rather lame and stressful: just know I would love getting an extra prayers you sent my way!

But I still wanted to update my blog with something so I thought I'd throw up some pictures with short descriptions about Christmas Break. (graphic pictures included at the bottom!)

Our cute Christmas Tree!

I got Miss Aubrey some nail-polish for Christmas!

In an effort to recreate effectively, we decided to do what everyone wanted to do.  That meant we went on a winter time drive/picnic.  It was so fun, we drove for a few hours and then pulled over for our picnic.  We never got out of the car once! 

Miss Aubrey so excited for the picnic!

One of the sights of our picnic!

 We took pictures of our cute-o parents, which turned out to be funny, because Aubrey was walking by and thought the picture was of her.. So funny!

 We also decided to go to Burlington and find the Brumbies! (Man from Snowy River reference anyone?) Or rather the wild mustangs! I didn't even know there were any till we packed up our car and headed out to the wide open spaces of Wyoming! We drove forever on a crappy rode, and I thought we'd never find them. Just as we started to give up hope, my fearless father spotted them while he was glassing around!

They kept getting closer and closer!

 We also did a lot of things surrounding the great elk hunt of 2012! Including:

• Ty and Dad glassing around, hunting, and killing an elk!
• My mom dad and I processing said elk for consumption.
• And a family walk-about to recreate the hunting experience for those of us who didn't go:

You know I love to include shocking pictures from my real life so here's a bunch from the processing:

The elk sits in our garage for about a week!

Then we bring it in...

Sit it down on the counter!

and start cutting it up...

to make steaks, roasts, and hamburger!

Pictures from our walk about:

We made our way up to the exact spot the elk was shot, killed, and gutted!

The stomach contents (pictured here) was all that was left!

The camera fell so we adjusted!

My cute family!!

This is just what I've got time for right now-- but you can probably expect another post on Christmas or from my birthday real soon-- so stay close!! 

I have a brand new hobby!

I KNIT!

That's my new skill. And it's not really that developed, but no worries -- I've got BIG dreams! 

HUGE even. Someday.. I'll even be fast! I'll knit blankets. It'll be awesome!  

Anyway.. I thought I'd show off my projects!

My Scarf For Aubrey:

This girl know how to work it!

My Identical Scarf for Camilla

This girl also knows how to work it!

I sort of feel bad about the color of the scarf, but I thought it would work for my sweet nieces.  Of course the girls apparently only wear the scarfs with their pajamas (see pictures above) so no one really cares about the color! 

My sister Toni is crocheting master and she has taken it upon herself to crochet baby-blankets for the newly arriving babies in our family.  She asked me the other day if she's that weird aunt who's always making unwanted things.  I told her of course not -- she's making useful things.  No 1 or 3 year old really NEEDS a scarf so apparently I'm that THAT aunt. 

But each scarf I make makes me feel great and crafty, so I'll keep purling along. And the more I practice the closer I get to knitting even cooler things. So in 5 years when all you ever get from me is something knitted -- just know it was made with love and it brought me joy to give it to you. 

I apologize in advance!

Also.. a quick display of my other crafting talents (A PINTEREST PROJECT no less):

I made these headbands for my nieces for Christmas -- Camilla got one too, but it's not pictured.

Unfortunately this was also an unwanted gift because none of nieces really like to wear headbands.. Too bad.. Someday I'll make them something they love! 

I will say that one day over Christmas break Miss Aubrey was saying goodbye and of her one accord said: "Thank you for making me a scarf.  You're a great aunt!" And gave me a giant (as giant as her little arms can give) hug! I felt so valued! So maybe they do like them after all! :) 

I do feel like I've prepared myself well for spinsterhood though - every Friday night I spend at home with a rom-com playing while I knit makes me feel a little old, but to be honest I super love getting a chance to hang-out in p.j.'s AND do something productive at the same time! 

So here's to elite-crafting!

Dorm Chronicles

One of those right-of-passage type things we pass through in college is living with somebody you've never even met... and sometimes wouldn't want to.  Sometimes the differences are minimal.. other times differences are extreme.

For example, Todd has some friends on his hall that are extremely different.

Roommate One is a member of ROTC.

Roommate Two, a thespian from Ohio, is a hipster at his core.

You can imagine how well they get along. Their relationship has grown even stronger since Christmas because Mr. Hipster got a didgeridoo.

Yes. Folks a didgeridoo. As in:

(This is not roommate two in case there was any confusion)

Mr. Hipster is very proud of his didgeridoo (click here for a Youtube clip of how great you can become on this thing), and he practices it often.  During the day, during ward prayer, and of course, while his roommate is trying to sleep.

Yup. Match made in heaven.

LAST SEMESTER

Hey folks! My last semester at college has started off and in true TR form... we've started off with a bang! Today in class my professor walked in and said: We're going to take a field trip!!!! .. of the mind.   He proceeded to take the class back to third grade by telling us to make two hats out of paper, tape, staples, and markers.

We spent at least 50 minutes making and explaining these beauties:

Administration Bonnet

Therapist Crown

The discussion that went with the hats was good, but still my inner hard-core student thought it was a little ridiculous to spend soooo much time on the hats.  I kept reminding myself -- "It's all about the process -- you learn more through EXPERIENCING than just talking...." So hopefully I'll never forget about my multiple roles as a recreation therapist and administrator!

So basically it's been a great year so far ---  I hope this New Year is going great for all of you as well!