Thanks for the Gift!

Thank you everyone for the package sent by Aunt Emily! I got this morning and it made me happy to read the letters you guys wrote at the Halloween party. The blanket is fuzzy, though I have yet to open it.I am enjoying the candy especially =).  It was very thoughtful, and I am so grateful to have such a wonderful extended family. A thanks especially to Emily for sending it! =D
Merry 18 days until Christmas!

Grateful for Thanksgiving

I am so happy to be able to be home for Thanksgiving! I have been missing my family and looking forward to it for weeks. Pie Day was a lot of fun, Aunt Kim came and joined us this year, and we also ended up with about 30 pies total. I will write the count-up later of the pies we made.
For Thanksgiving this year, we had two new people join in the feast, my two older sisters' husband and soon-to-be husband. It was wonderful to have our whole family together for a few days, and I at least enjoyed myself.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Off To College

Hello everyone! I am doing great, and I love being here at BYU-Idaho! The campus is absolutely beautiful, and I have some really nice roommates. All six of us are freshmen, and hopefully we become good friends by the end of the semester. I have actually been here for over a week, but what a crazy week it was! So many classes and so much homework to keep track of, I have been working hard to keep up on it so I do not fall behind. Sometimes there is so much information to take in and my brain feels stuffed, and sometimes I'll stare at my reading (math especially) at not understand a word of it. I am enjoying my classes though, and I like the teachers that I have.
It it so strange though to have a prayer at the beginning of class, as well as church principles taught alongside academic information. The Spirit of the Lord is here, and it is a wonderful thing. I hope that by being here I can become more spiritual and a better person.
How is it back home? I love being here, but there is a huge difference between Home and my apartment, and I wonder how my family is doing. And, I keep forgetting to call them, oops (I'll do better I promise!). I miss you all, and I hope you are all doing well!

My Bed: It's so yellow!

The shelf with my stuff on it, my roommates made a comment on how many books I had. What are they talking about? This isn't even 10% of all the books I own!

The living room: the couches are quite comfy, and that's a stack of my homework on the table.

The kitchen (while clean): on the far left there are some flowers my dad got me, if you can see the leaves poking out.

Sushiiiiiiii!

I love sushi, and I love eating sushi with my dad and sister! I did both today, and I really enjoyed it! My favorite ingredients in Sushi is shrimp, crab, avocado, sweet potatoes, and this yummy sweet sauce they put on top. (I also like these things outside of Sushi too) Sushi is so pretty, and so tasty. It's one of the few foods I acutally will close my eyes while I eat it to focus more on the flavor. I've been craving it for weeks, and I finally got to eat some. Mmmmm, sushi.
Sorry Aunt Kim, I feel bad that you can't enjoy sushi at the moment because of allergies ( among other foods), so here's some digital sushi for your eyes to feast on. =)

I think there are many different types of love, like love for friends, love for books, the places we love, our favorite foods, love for our family, and love for that "special someone." I have found that with true love is always accompanied by gratitude. For example, I might think, "I love this sushi place. I'm so glad I could come with my sister and dad."
There are so many things and people to love! (It sounds cheesey, but it's true)
 It's sad that there are people out there who can't recognize the many wonders of life.
So, whether it's a favorite food or your spouse, be grateful for the love you have, and cherish it. I promise it will make you happier (though it's not good to become obbsessive - that's not actual love, and goes way beyond the mark).

Happy Easter Everyone!

Enjoying Pie Day

My family, as well as my aunt, some cousins, and some friends made pies for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun, and it has been a tradition for all us girls to enjoy cooking together every year the day before Thanksgiving. I think Thanksgiving is an important holiday to spend with those important to us, and be thankful for them. We ended up making 21 pies total! There were: 7 chocolate pudding pies, 6 pumpkin pies, 2 french apple crust pies, 3 apple pies, 1 lemon meringue, and 2 cherry pies.

My Cousin and her college roommate rolling out pie dough

My younger sister artistically decorating the chocolate pies

Me rolling out pie dough
My aunt and my little sister working on apple pie filling

Gratitude and "Thanksgiving"

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope everyone is having a good day, with family and food! =)
So then, some things I'm grateful for:

• Family (I truly enjoy spending time with my wonderful family)
• A Home
• Good Friends
• An Education/School
• My Teachers ( I really do have great teachers)
• My Church
• The Scriptures
• The Temples
• Good Music
• Good Art
  
• A Cheerful Attitude (It takes effort, but I'm still grateful for it)
• Talents
• My Neighbors
• The Internet (there are so many things you can do for the good)
• This Beautiful Earth
• The Sky and Weather
  
• Good Health
• This Time I Live In (there will always be the good along with the bad)
  
• Having Time
• Generous people (to all those who give away time, money, and effort)
• Kind people (they make this world a better place)
• My Country
• Good Books
• My Mind and Body
• A Car (doesn't it make life so much easier?)
• Food (I also like to help cook)
• Clothing
• Clean Air
• Fun Games
  
• My Readers =)
  
• Emotions/Feelings
• Having Life
  

There are many other things I could list, these are just the things that come to mind, and that I feel would be okay to post online. There is a particular being that I feel especially grateful to, but perhaps this isn't the best place to write about it. =) I hope that each person has a wonderful Thanksgiving, and gives "thanksgiving" for the many blessings they have.

Gratitude to soldiers

My friend showed me the music video below, and I could not help but feel grateful! I am no lover of war and violence, but I think that those who fight for the freedom of this country or, at the very least for friends and family, are people who should be respected. I think this video captures some of that, and my hope is that someday armies will not be necessary because everyone can get along! =D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJRthpxDM10

Click on this link to see "Citizen Soldier"

Thanks For Family and Food

I'm thankful for family and good food.
I think I"ll put these two things together. Without family I would not have my optimistic attitude. =( As for food, cooking with others is the best. I especially like trying new things that others even though I myself am not the best of cooks.Today all of my sisters were home for Thanksgiving. With our cousins, we made 19 pies at my house: 8 pumpkin, 5 apple, 2 cherry, and 4 chocolate pies. It was fun, loud, and everyone was talking and laughing with one another. As we worked, Rachel had brought the "David Archuleta" CD, so we listened to it. I am so excited for tommorow!

Thanks For Music

I'm thankful for music.

Where would we be if the world had none? I personally, would go crazy. As I go through my days, I have found that there are songs for EVERYTHING! Weddings, Work, School, Running, Painting, Dancing(of course), Daydreaming, Sleeping, Chilling out, Playing, and the list is endless. However, each has a different message, a different... feeling or emotion. Whereas "Eternal Snow" makes me feel peaceful, "All around the World" makes me want to get up and dance. Even if I'm feeling icky inside, there is certain music that makes me happy. Oh yeah, just because someone says something is "good" that doesn't mean that I will like it. My personal favorites are ones that have a definite beat that I can sing to and yet not feel like I"m spouting garbage. Other than that, I'm not very picky as to what I listen to. Some of the music videos I like to see are in the bottom-right corner of my blog so check them out if you already haven't. =D