My heart is in Texas

On December tenth I faced my fear of flying all by myself and flew to Texas to visit my boyfriend. He is so sweet and came to the airport with roses in hand.

I stayed the first night with some of our family friends. The next day they took me to the Dallas Temple. It is such a beautiful temple! But before I went with them we went to his family's ward party. They had a photographer there that took pictures of families dressed in nativity attire. Don't we make a great Mary and Joseph?

Unfortunately, on the way to pick me up at the temple my boyfriend, Daven, totaled his car. :( The steering completely locked up when he tried to exit, so he ran into a median. Luckily he is ok!

That night we went to a musical/dinner that his little brother was in. It was seriously entertaining! Then, we went to a University of Northern Texas basketball game. They really know how to play a good game! Plus, I didn't mind the extra time with Daven.

The last three nights I stayed at a ward familiy's house. They were so kind to take me in. The next day we had way too much fun! We went to cracker barrell and played the little how smart are you game, and then we headed to the historic stalkyards. It was fun to see the arenas and things they have that are so huge in Texas! We went to a candy store and played around in there for a while. My favorite part of the day was going to Cabela's. He'd never been, so it was super fun to look at the fish and other animals. It was also way fun to learn how to shoot from a little kids target practice game. He is such a good teacher! After that he took me to his high school football stadium. That place is so huge! I'm talking like two times WSU's stadium! When we got back to his house we read scriptures with his family, and watched "It's a Wonderful Life." When his siblings went to bed we played a couple games of pool. He totally cheated and put balls in the pockets for me while I wasn't watching! I had a blast! I love my boyfriend!

A sad farewell

As many of you know, and some of you don't Kristy and Clint are moving to Monticello soon. All the girl cousins on my mom's side decided to throw her a little farewell breakfast. We got up early this morning and went to the Cracker Barrell. It was a fun time to get together with all of us and Grandma too. However, it is still very surreal that they will be leaving soon. Kristy and Taylynn have been such an amazing addition to our family. Kristy is so fun to hang out with and has become a true sister to me and Kaylee. Taylynn constantly keeps our family laughing and happy, and of course Clint has always been a fun and strong part of our family. They will be greatly missed, and their visits up here will be counted down to! :) Love you guys!

My awesome cousins with the exception of Shay (she's on the other side of the table:))

Me and Kristy

Heidi and her Hot Cocoa mustache

Birthday Surprises!

Yesterday was my birthday! It started early as me and my two friends woke up at five thirty to get to our institute committee meeting by seven. My friends surprised me with this cute dessert. But, before that my sweet little sister woke up at five thirty and made me breakfast. How amazing is she?

I went through school and then my great friend Megan took me to Subway for lunch on my request. We then ended up going to the mall and went to Icing and Bath & Body Works. It was a blast! When I got home my dad gave me some hot pink safety glasses that I've wanted for my Chemistry lab. My Mom gave me a beautiful quilt that she had worked tirelessly on. I received so many gifts, but the best is knowing that I have friends and family who love me! When I came home from the mall we headed to dinner. When we got to Village Inn, who happen to have an amazing chocolate silk pie :), we walked into the party room and there were all my friends screaming "Surprise!" My sister and sister-in-law had set all of this up! Needless to say, some of them had to tell little white lies to me so I didn't figure out. I am so blessed!



The Party!

Casey and Taylynn


Taylynn loved my princess crown that Kristy made for me:)

Taylynn also loved my balloons, and ended up getting tangled in them.
The After Party! My friend Karlee got me the movie Letters to Juliet, which I love, so we decided to stay up late and watch it.
Me and Kaylin
We loved the movie! We stayed up until one talking and watching it. It was really late for me,but such a good way to start as a nineteen year old! :)

I tell everyone that I'm okay with being one year older, and nineteen; it's the one year away from being twenty that scares me!
Kaylin and Karlee ready for a long night. It was the best day ever!

Moving Up

I am feeling so much better after my surgery. I still can't lift people at work, but they've been great to work with me. I love college! It is so much better than High School! I feel so much more independant, and in charge of my life and my career now. I love that I get to be an adult for once. I also love the social life; I must admit it has been so much fun to hang out with all of my friends inbetween classes.
Along with the new school year brought more changes, and now Clint and Kristy are moving to Monticello, Utah. Kristy's dad owns a pest control business down there and has hired Clint to work for him. I'm sad to see my favorite little person go, but I know that they will grow as a family from this move up in life.
Kaylee is a junior in High School now, and I think she likes it. She doesn't like school, but she has good friends that she enjoys being with. Dad is just trying to get into his new calling as bishop. Mom is trying to get used to hearing Bishop Moore all the time. Casey is working hard at both of his jobs, but Trailhead Customs has really grown, and I think it's been good for him. Thanks everyone for your support in his new business. I will have to post pictures next time. I'm going to a Skills USA conference this weekend, so there should be some fun pictures from that. Overall life is good, and I'm having a blast! My birthday is coming up and I'm not sure I'm ready for that! Everyone tells me I'm not old, but it sure feels like I'm getting there awfully fast. Maybe that's because most of my friends are nearly a year younger than me. :)
I forgot to say that I joined an institute committee. I'm so excited for it! It's called the outreach committee. We try and reach out to returned missionaries and get them to participate in institute! I love reaching out to people, and RM's so it fit perfectly! :)

Out of Order

Well, not too much to report. I'm trying to get ready for my first year of college, because it starts on Monday. However, I had my gallbladder out on Tuesday and now I'm just hoping I'll be able to walk around campus. Other than that life is good and we're all just chugging along! I'll write more when I'm in order again! :)

Is there ever time to slow down?

I know that it has taken me forever to get on here, but it's been a crazy month! I now have two jobs. I work for the pharmacies delivering, and now as a CNA as well. I love both, but one is way more taxing than the other. The last month found me working one job and driving straight to the other for a shift, working one job and then going to the other for the graveyard shift. It has been crazy! I'd like to say that it should slow down now that school is over, but I'm crazy and took chemistry and bio med core the same semester!
I'm now in the single adult ward. It's hard to enjoy church this way, but I really am trying. It's new and very interesting. I'm excited for the new school year. I'm excited for what my future holds. As far as I know I have never been so excited for so many unknown things, but this is different. I've got great friends and family who support me in everything I do. Thanks for all of your love and support!
This weekend I'm going to Logan with my friend that I went to San Fransisco with. I'm so excited to get away for a while! When I come back we're going camping as a whole family! We haven't done that in who knows how long. Then, after that I'm going to ropes course for Skills USA state office. I love being this busy. It sure stresses me out, but at the same time keeps me going. Does anyone know why that is? anyways, I'm just a lovin' life!

Welcome to life! Welcome to San Francisco!

My friend K, her mom, and her grandma invited me to go on a senior trip to San Francisco, California. We left on Monday morning and five in the morning, and came home Sunday at seven in the evening. It was a long drive, but so worth it! We had the time of our lives! What a fun way to be welcomed into life!

Me and K infront of a cool art sculpture on our way to the ferry. We got to stay down town for two nights. It was definately an eye opener! About two blocks from our condo was China town, so we had fun there twice!

Us on the ferry infront of the Golden Gate Bridge on our way to Sausalito

The view of the city from the ferry

Coit Tower from the ferry

The Golden Gate Bridge across the Bay

We got to have lunch in this awesome place that was actually extended out into the Bay!

Pier 39 on the Warff. We had a lot of fun watching all of the sea lions, and shopping down on the Warff.

One of my favorite things we did was ride the cable cars around town. Just the way they work is amazing! K's Mom, our tour guide, insisted that the only way to ride them was hanging on the outside. I was a little skeptical at first but i soon came to find that she was right and that it was incredibly fun going full speed down all of the hills in SF!

This is the Boudin Sourdough factory. We had soup bowls, and then pizza here.

We had the fantastic opportunity to see the production "Wicked" at the Orpheum Theater. It was by far the best I have ever seen and made the perfect ending to our fun day! After the show we took the subway back to the condo we were staying in.

Me and K in the cable car museum that explained just how they work!

We got to go inside Coit tower, and got up to the top windows to see the view.

The view from 180 something up in Coit tower. I was just about hyperventalating up there, and it doesn't help that the tower is on the tallest hill in the city as well!

Us up in Coit Tower

Me in the Queen's garden in the Golden Gate Park

Us at the top of a waterfall in the park

We met K's great aunt at a Mexican restaurant to eat one night. It was going to be K's birthday when we got home and we wanted fried ice cream so I decided to embarrass her a little and told our waiter!

K's great aunt took us to see the gorgeous Oakland, California Temple

We had to opportunity to go to the huge Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was so much fun! It was also very interesting, because all the animals in the aquarium are animals of the Bay.

We had a motel on the beach in Monterey. It was the most beautiful night of my life!

I think this one speaks for itself
The next day we drove around the coast and saw the beach. K and I loved going Tide pool spying.

The night before we got our pants wet playing in the ocean, so we dried them like this!

We had someone take this picture of us in our p.j.s at the beach.

This was a gorgeous look out along 17 mile drive.

We got to do the paddle boats in Golden Gate Park

After the paddle boats we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. It is 4200 feet long.
Oh, and very high!
An amazing view coming across the brigde on a foggy day.

A lookout to see the bridge.

The last thing we did was go to Muir Woods. What an amazing Park!

These trees are huge!

I felt like I was in a Sacred Grove of sorts.

This trip was fantastic! It truely helped me to see the beauty that God's hands have created. From the sunsets, to the ocean, to the animals, to the gorgeous trees. What a blessing it is that we get to live on this beautiful world! However, it also taught me that there is truely no where like home. I am so grateful for where I live, and for my family and friends. K and I discussed several reasons why we couldn't live in SF and why we were so grateful for home! I truely am so happy with where we live! It was also a learning experience from riding new transportation in public transit, from our car getting robbed, and living in the city for two days. We truely were taken care of and kept safe on this trip!