Couple things

I don't know what it is but I always seem to post on here late at night. Anyways Christmas ended up being wonderful, very relaxed. I got to be Santa's helper, and it made Christmas morning a little bit more fun.

This past week, I've thought about weddings and New Years. Two random subjects, right? There have just been a couple receptions this week and a lot of talk about getting married and dating and such, plus New Year's Eve, so it just seemed like two natural things to think about. I'm not gonna write that much about marriage right now cause that's a little far off in the future for me, and I'm not into dwelling on it quite yet. But New Years, that's a different story.

This past year has gone by so quickly it's almost unfair and amazing at the same time. There are times in life where you want time to go by swiftly and others to go by slow, and this year has been one of both. Coming home from my mission and just hanging out at home, working, taking a few classes, has not been the most exciting portion of my life. in fact, there were times this year that I could have done without! But on the same token, I wouldn't have traded this time for anything. It's said that Heavenly Father gives us times of trial to strengthen us, to make us happy. I think, "A trial?? Make me happy?" But I look back on this time and I realize that the trials are necessary to make us happy, to help us appreciate the good a little bit more. They stretch us, cause us to reach certain potential that we couldn't unlock without them. I'm just grateful to my Heavenly Father for this past year, if not for the trials themselves, then the lessons learned and happiness gained from them.

Oh and just want to say a quick thank you to those few who read my blog. I wasn't expecting comments and when I got some I was pleasantly surprised. Again thanks!

Tis the season

So after church today I had to go drop off some keys from work that I had accidentally taken home with me last night. Get down to the mall area and cars are backed up down the ramp and onto the highway about a half a mile down. I have to go down one exit, get off, turn around, go back down the highway, get off at that exit which thankfully had less people. If it hadn't, I would have just gone home! Anyway, I get to the mall entrance and cars are going in and out, lines forming behind stop signs, parking lot filling up really quickly. I get to Dick's parking lot and it is PACKED! I had to drive around a couple times to find a space to park. Go inside and the register lines are all full, people packing the store. I'm in shock..

You see, up till this point I really have never been shopping the week of Christmas; I try to get all my stuff done before then. Plus this year, I'm looking through the new perspective of working in retail myself. These past couple weeks I've almost been wishing that Christmas would just get itself over with. And that just makes me sad. All the time as I was driving through the hustle and bustle today, I felt no Christmas spirit. None. Zero. Zilch. How do we get ourselves so wrapped up in the shopping, in the material part of the season. I know that people say this all the time, but then we go right back out there and keep doing it.

But then I got home, I pulled up to my house and I just felt right. I went inside and started laughing and joking with my family, just enjoying being together and I think, "this is it!" The differences in the two feelings were so far apart it wasn't even funny. The two greatest gifts that have ever been given to me is my wonderful family, and especially my Savior. Christmas is a celebration of both of these gifts. And that makes me look forward to the rest of this week!

A little late..

Okay so I'm a couple days late, but we threw her family party tonight so I'm saying it's on time. Happy Birthday Becca! She turned 13 on the 8th.

Cheesecake for her party tonight! Yum.

Rovin in the Rover

My dad's test driving a 2006 Range Rover to see if he wants to get it and he let me take it out tonight when I went to the movies! Dustin and I felt kinda big-headed the whole night (well at least I know I did). Definitely go with the Rover, Dad! You'll get no complaints from me.

And here's the interior, except in Dad's car it's black. Sooo nice!

What to write...

Well, I haven't been at this blogging thing for a while and I've already run out of stuff to write about. I don't know if that says anything about my life, I'm hoping that it doesn't.

I'm sitting here watching Julie and Julia, and I just decided that Paris would be an amazing place to visit. I mean, who doesn't think that? But it just made me think, "hey, I really want to go to Paris." The food, the sights, the experience, traveling. I'm gonna do it some day. I don't know when, but I'll do it. That's one of the things I'm liking about this movie. It's about following things you love, doing things that you enjoy, a concept that people don't do as much as they should. No matter how crazy it may seem, anything can be possible. Wow, that sounded really cliche. But true! Cliche is really just another word for true. Wow, philosophical moment at 2 in the morning. Enough for one night I guess, time for bed. Guess I found something to write about after all.

Done!

Holy cow! Got my sociology project in with minutes to spare, after staying up all night working on it. I had to use a lot of pictures for it, and these two I thought were the best. (My topic was the effect of religion in society) It was kinda fun, ya know besides the staying up all night and stuff.

My favorite part about the first one is the boy in the blue overalls. Who doesn't feel like that when they're on their way to school!? His face MAKES that picture. The second pic is basically my thought process. If I had enough room for a ginormous sign in my room that's what it would say.

Gift of a Friend

Ever since I was little, I've loved reading. Any kind of book I can get my hands on, I'll greedily pore over for hours on end. I often got/get in trouble for reading when I should be doing other things. There's just something about immersing yourself in another life and time, and becoming completely engrossed with their exciting adventures. Movies are the same way, but I think books do it better. Over the past couple days I've been reading more than I have for a while, and got reminded about something that I realize every time I get caught up in a book. In each novel, at least the good ones, the protagonist has a host of characters that support them and help them in the travels or whatever they point of the story. Many times before the end of the book, you see these characters passing out of the story, leaving behind friendships and memories. And of course with the end of the book, I always wonder if they ever see these people again, if they ever get together and talk about the good times and make some more, or if they'll be seperated forever and all they have are memories. It always makes me sad to consider the latter. I mean who think its great to say goodbye to people you come to care about.
And then I remember, that even though its a sad event and no one ever looks forward to it, it makes you cherish the times with those people even more. Those memories that you have will become some of your favorite things to think and talk about. Each person that becomes a part of our lives in special ways change us some for the good, some for the worse. But we need every one of them to reach where we're heading, who we're gonna become.

O Christmas Tree

Today the family went out and bought a Christmas tree, which has me excited for this next month. This is one of my favorite times of the year, with the music and traditions and just the overall feel of the holiday. Abby, my 2 year old sis, was so cute (as she always is) when we went to go pick it out. We asked her which one she liked and every time she would point to the one closest to her. She soon lost interest though, the kids started going crazy and running around in between the rows of trees. I'll admit, I got annoyed with it after a while cause our family just can't act normal out in public, but I gotta love them anyway. When we got home we got the tree up, got ready for bed, drank some hot chocolate and just talked. It's nice now that alot of us are older and we can carry on conversations about different things. We started to put some lights on the tree but then realized that we couldn't find most of our lights, so we just were lazy the rest of the night listening and laughing at some Brian Regan stuff. I love the fact that my family is so close and that we get along so well (most of the time). It makes being home wonderful!

Falling way behind on the only class I have this semester, Sociology. It's an online class too! Need to get crackin. There's just never enough time in the day to get things done...

New Experience

Alright, blogging... never done it before. I guess I had to start sometime, though really I had never thought about doing it before. I'm not very good with keeping up with things, I can't remember the last time I wrote in a journal or kept a notebook or day planner. So I figure this would be a neat thing. It's a little bit harder to lose things on the Internet.

With this past weekend being Thanksgiving, I think I'll start off my blogging career taking in the blessings I have in my life. It's so hard in the daily grind to be grateful for the things we have in this life. I mean sure we say thank you but do we show in our actions that we really are? I know a lot of the times I don't and I know I need to work on it. It may be a lifelong process but I suppose I'll get it down eventually

I'm thankful for my life, the opportunity to be on this earth and to have this mortal experience. It get's rough sometimes but that just makes the good times all the sweeter. I'm thankful for music. Goodness, I don't know where I would be without music! Or books! Those two things help to keep me sane sometimes. They take me to another place, where I can see things in a different light and learn from different perspectives. I'm thankful for the beauty of the earth and the joy I get from it. I'm grateful for the wonderful friends that I have, that make me laugh and cry and inspire me to become better. I'm extremely thankful for my family. In the last few months, I've really come to understand the true meaning of family and I wouldn't trade mine for the world. My parents and truly amazing people, and I've come to greatly rely on their insights and love. If I could list all the things I'm grateful for it would take quite a bit, but most of all I'm thankful for the love of Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Without them all the rest of it would have not been so I have them to thank for everything.

So far I'm enjoying this blogging experience, I hope ya'll enjoy what I share and that everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!