Making Christmas "cute"

I really struggle with making Christmas cute. I don't decorate. My idea of decorations is a little mini Christmas tree that comes with lights already on it. I suck at wrapping presents. Really, they're just going to rip off the paper and throw it in the garbage. What's the big idea behind trying to find the biggest bow on this continent to put on it? And don't even get me started on curling ribbon. The sound used to make me cry as a baby and I get pretty close sometimes as an adult. Well, gracing my family room right now is a lovely fake Christmas tree held up by a plasic stand. Last night we noticed it was leaning to the left ever so slightly. I stood up to straighten it and heard a loud "pop". It turns out that the stand had completely cracked, thus requiring me to hold the tree up. We were able to lift it and unhook the stand but the only option was to lean it up against the window. Blast these cute Christmases!! Maybe things will change once I'm married and have a house of my own but most likely I'll hire Jillian to do my decorating every year.

Ian and Dad's idea of fixed.

Taking a moment to brag...

I'm kind of excited about this story, I won't lie. In Ian's mission it's kind of a rule that missionaries don't baptize investigators. Either the bishop or the ward mission leader will do it because they want the new members to have some connection to their ward. That way, when the missionaries get transferred, they still have friends in their ward and a reason to go to church. The only way missionaries ever have the chance to baptize someone, is when they specifically request it. Such was the case with Lidia Ferreyra (don't ask me how to say that because I have no clue). She's 80 years old and, according to Ian, has been going to church longer than some of the members in the ward. Because he's been in his current area so long, he's had the opportunity to get to know her really well. She even threw a birthday party for him back in October. She wanted to wait until the summer to be baptised because she gets sick really easily so Ian got to baptize her last Saturday. I know, cool huh?! He's such a great missionary and I'm so proud and blessed to have such an amazing person in my life.

With his companion, Lidia, and her family.

This is just a picture I thought I'd add for kicks and giggles.

This is one of the only times he's smiling in a picture. Usually

he's making some weird face. It's a soccer field in his area that

they broke into (not really, someone left a door unlocked).

I think maybe I want to go to a game here sometime.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm so thankful for my family. Most people go to movies or go bowling on Thanksgiving but our family has a new tradition as of last year where we all dress up like pilgrims and indians for the Thanksgiving feast. I know, who would do something so strange? We didn't have a costume for my dad so we dressed him up as the turkey! I love that my family is so weird and does stuff like this. It was one of the best Thanksgivings I can remember.


Danielle painting my face. We put and envelope there so she could get it straight.


The indians getting ready to sacrifice the turkey for the feast.



With my cousin and one of my best friends, Danielle.




The Sanderson indian children

Our cute family.

Inter-racial marriage

The whole famdamily

Ah, high school

I feel really old now that I've been out of high school for about a year and a half. I know, imagine what it'll be like in 10 years! I was looking through some pictures on my lap top and I found this one this morning. It was from senior sluff day up at Aspen Grove. I really can't even tell you what was going on but it made me laugh so hard! It's so great to have such good memories!

Movie weekend

Friday morning at 12:02 AM

TWILIGHT

I really loved this movie! I was one of the late ones to read the book and I was sure I would hate it but ended up finishing it in like 3 days or something like that. I was nervous, like most, to see the movie. I was hoping they wouldn't ruin the book and thankfully it didn't! If anyone wants to go see it, give me a call. I'll totally go with you!

My favorite: Carlisle... mmmmm.... :)

Friday night 8:45 PM
QUANTUM OF SOLACE

Screw the "just okay" reviews. This movie ROCKED! The opening scene was a high speed chase involving a bunch of Mercedes and an Aston Martin... enough said! I love James Bond!

Saturday 9:15 PM

THE DARK KNIGHT

This is the 2nd time I've seen it and I'll admit, it wasn't as good as the first time I saw it. Keep in mind, it could be because I waited for 5 hours to see it the first time so I was so bored anything would entertain. I still really liked it though. RIP Heath. No one could possibly have played the role better.

Finals are upon us

There's one word that will send every college student into a mad frenzy: finals. Use it with caution, for you may not be able to handle the reaction. I figure if I don't sleep for the rest of the semester, I'll be able to pass all my classes with A's. As if the semester didn't spread us all thin enough, we have one grueling week of studying until the wee hours of the morning, attempting to conjure up every minor detail that our professors may've mentioned over the course of the previous four months. Times this stress by 4 or more, depending on how many classes you're taking, and you have finals week. The silver lining however, is that after months of trying to grasp the concept of DNA replication, Shakespeare, or whatever our chosen careers require us to do, we have a blissful 3 weeks of December to enjoy, completely college-free. So endure well my friends and then snuggle up with a good book (because you know you'll have no time to read once spring semester starts) and enjoy the holidays.

stylin' oldies

L to R Aunt Vicky, Uncle Jim, Mom

Thank goodness for myfamily.com! My cousin Bret posted this on our family's website and truly it's a keeper. The jeep was my uncle's pride and joy in high school. Weren't the 60's so awesome?!

Oh how I love it!

"He put my stuff in Jello again!"

Oh you guys! I bought all the seasons of the office on Friday and have since spent my life watching episodes over and over. I'm driving my family nuts because I keep quoting it after anyone says anything. (Yes. It is true. I, Michael Scott, am signing up with an online dating service. Thousands of people have done it, and I am going to do it. I need a username, and... I have a great one. "Little Kid Lover". That way people will know exactly where my priorities are at.)

Let me just say that I'm so glad I got into it during season 3 when the whole Jim/Pam drama was on pause because I would've been so mad watching season 2 without knowing they were going to end up together in the end. Who ever thought you could have such a vested interest in fictional characters? I'm so addicted it's not even funny! In fact, I think I'm gonna go watch an episode right now.

Took me by surprise

Wow! I don't even know what to say to this...

Sick to my stomach

Life is fragile. I think it's something that we all take for granted sometimes. And it seems like when we do, the Lord sends reminders that shock us back into reality. My Mom and I were driving home from Kohl's last night and we passed by the scene of what we were both positive was a fatal accident. I didn't see much but what I did see shook me up pretty bad for the rest of the night. My sister called this morning and told us that one of her best friends was in the accident. I've heard a bunch of different versions of what actually happened so I'm not quite sure about the details. She was life-flighted to U of U hospital (which is not a good sign, her injuries must've been extensive) but her little sister was pronounced dead at the scene. My heart is just aching for her family right now! But the silver lining to these horribly gray clouds is my testimony of the atonement and the plan of salvation. How grateful I am to have that knowledge and for a deeply loving Heavenly Father who takes an awful tragedy like this one and turns it into a growing experience for all who are involved. Buckle up and drive safe guys, this is one experience I would hate to relive.

Yeah, I'm jealous

So, I'm not meaning for this to turn into a blog just about Ian but he told me a cool story and I was pretty excited so I thought I'd share it will the three of you who take the time to read this blog (you know who you are!). Here it is in his words:


"I met a rather amazing fellow last Friday. I think you might be familiar with him. His name is Russel M. Nelson. He´s kinda old and is a retired Surgeon, but super cool. If you´ve not figured it out by now, he´s an Apostle of the Lord. One of the 12. He came to our mission to talk to us and it was way super cool. Because unlike when Elder Holland came, there was few enough of us that it was a lot more of a relaxed environment. (I have no idea how to spell things in english anymore...) We all got to shake his hand and everything. It is really really special, when an Apostle of the Lord is shaking your hand, and then looks you in the eyes and thanks you for your work. I´m the one that should be thanking him. Not the other way around. It really was pretty amazing."


I'm really glad he takes the time to share experiences like this. I don't know if he realizes how much it helps me. Missions are so cool! I love being a missionary slut!



I'm not exactly sure who's all in this picture. All I know is Elder Jardine's on the far right and Elder Anderson is the guy in the back on the left (you can only see his eyes). And of course, Elder Nelson and Elder Harwell are in the middle, just in case you missed that one.

Old Year's resolutions

Elder Marion G. Romney said in a talk awhile ago that the key to being successful while you're single is to set goals for yourself and reevaluate as necessary. So you know how people make New Year's resolutions every year but then forget about them in February? Well, this year I decided to make a list of goals I want to accomplish before the end of this year. Hopefully if I give myself a deadline, it'll be a little more effective. Here's the list:

1. Run a 7-minute mile (don't laugh!)

2. Eat more vegetables than I do junk food every day.

3. Have $2,000 in the bank

That's about all for now. I'll keep you updated as I set more.

Happy Birthday Ian!

So it's my best friend in the entire world's birthday today. Actually, it's not anymore for him because Argentina is 3 hours ahead of us but it's still his birthday here so I thought just to try something new I'd write a post about him. I suppose I just wanted to let everyone know how truly grateful I am for such a great friend. It's funny how he's gone from being "that one guy I see at school sometimes" to my best friend. I remember specific nights when I lived in St. George where I would call him bawling about something that totally wasn't worth all the tears (I'm a little dramatic sometimes) and he would drop everything to talk to me, whether it was for a few minutes, an hour or all night. It made the transition and all the stressful stuff that comes with being an adult so much easier to handle. I can tell him anything and I'm pretty sure he can too and it doesn't seem to matter that we're 5,818 miles apart. I found that out on google maps by the way, it's pretty much the coolest website ever. So thanks, Ian, for being such a stud and always taking such good care of me. You're the best!

PS I thought it would be kind of cool to post pictures from his actual mission just because it's something I've never done before.

Just doin some tracting. :)

With his bishop and family

My Birthday

I'm a few days late getting these posted but my birthday was on Saturday. The fam and I went up to Snowbird to play. It was a great day!! I had so much fun! It's hard to believe I'm actually 20 now though. I'm like, "hey, wait. I'm all grown up!"

4 more days!

My favorite show in the whole wide world, The Office, premiers on Thursday. I'm SO excited. I watched all the previews on nbc.com and I just can't even stand it I'm so anxious. The season finale was the ultimate cliffhanger (Kudos to the writers, you came back strong!) so I'm interested to see how things are going to play out this season. If y'all need to get in touch with me on Thursday night, don't bother because I'm going to be planted in front of the TV watching The Office.

Dear Mr. Obama

Ok so I haven't quite figured out how to post the actual video from youtube so you'll have to click on the link for it. It's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4fe9GlWS8 This is a video that was sent to me in an email and I think it carries with it a powerful message. I'm certain there have been times for us all when we've either publicly or privately cursed the war. Whatever our motives are, we would do well to remember that it's not just another political battle. Sons and daughters of our friends and neighbors are out there fighting for the freedom of this country, as well as the Iraqi people. I think the text at the end sums it up best

"The day we lose our will to fight is the day we lose our freedom."

I'm going to Peru!

So here's the story. I talked to Dr. Rollings, the anatomy and physiology teacher at SLCC, who happens to be the president of the Tropical Pathology and Infectious Disease Association (TPIDA for short). He takes students on medical trips to Peru five times a year. Students who go get to participate in actual medical procedures. Things as varied as treating Malaria to delivering babies. Dr. Rollings called me yesterday and invited me to go on the trip with him in June! Are you kidding me? I can't even believe it! I'm a little nervous about it at this point but SO excited! Doing humanitarian service is something I've always been looking forward to once I become a nurse but I never thought I would be able to go now. I'm so so so thankful for this amazing opportunity I've been given to have this adventure. I can't wait!

My obsession with the mail

Ok, so this is WAY pathetic but I'm going to write about it anyway. Like I've mentioned before, five of my best friends are on missions right now (the fifth one just left today). So naturally, mail is kind of a big deal for me. Sometimes I'll check it three or four times a day before the mailman will actually get there. Last Wednesday I was waiting on a letter from one of my friends and I saw the mailman pull up from the kitchen window. I waited for him to drive away and then sprinted out to the mailbox. Seriously, you think Usain Bolt is fast? I totally would've creamed him. There sitting on the stack of junk mail were 2 letters! It was like Christmas morning when Santa Claus brings you exactly what you asked for. It was great. It's so sad on the days when I don't get anything because I'll walk out to the mailbox with an elevated heartrate (I told you this was pathetic) and then I'll find nothing but junk mail and I'll walk back to the house all dejected. I really hope the neighbors don't make a habit out of staring out their windows. I'm sure I'm a sight to behold.

opening the windows of heaven

Ok, I'm not one to sit and write publicly but about the blessings I receive, I save that for my journal but I just wanted to share with you how some things really do work out perfectly. It might be a bit cheesy to some of you but if I cared about that I wouldn't be writing this right now. I got paid today. The list of things I needed to get with my paycheck is as follows:

Tithing- $57
Gas- $90
Books for school- $359
Car payment- $200
Grand total- $706

That list was a bit scary to me because my paychecks normally work out to be about $550. I really had no idea where I was going to get the extra $150 I needed. I opened my paycheck today and it was $706.81. Yeah. I had an extra 81 cents. It is another witness to me of the fact that Heavenly Father truly is aware of our circumstances and watches over us. It's also amazing to me how deducting 10% from a paycheck makes it multiply so much more. Things work out if we put our trust in the Lord and move forward with faith.

Have you ever felt like this?

The other night as we were getting ready to eat dinner, Ian put a bushel of grapes onto his plate. Attached to this bushel of red, juicy grapes whas a lone little green one. I took a picture of it first because I thought it was cool but also because there are a lot of times in our lives where we become that little green grape. All alone in a sea of people and circumstances with no real insight as to how we got there in the first place or how to escape. We spend so much time trying to be a red grape, we forget how cool it is to be a green one. I've been trying really hard lately to accept my green-ness. One of the ways I do it, that really sounds way too easy but I promise it works, is to simply tell myself that I accept it. You see, your mind and your body don't like to be in opposition with each other. If you start telling yourself something, eventually it will be true simply because you said it is. So be that green grape! Love the person who stares back at you in the mirror (with or without makeup) and remember that you were created to be you, not just another red grape.

Sigh! The frustration...

Have you ever felt like you were totally on the verge of something amazing and then nothing happened? That's pretty much exactly how I'm feeling right now. In a previous post, I mentioned a melody on the piano that I've been messing around with for quite some time now. Well, I sat down for an hour tonight and messed around with it. I changed the key and started humming the melody and singing stupid words like "I have no idea where this is going... I'm sick of playing this over and over" stuff like that. Suddenly things just clicked in my head and lyrics flowed out onto the paper. Just a chorus but that's better than nothing right? I wrote the verses after another half an hour of mulling it over in my head. I came to the computer to transfer the chicken scratch that is my handwriting when I'm songwriting into something more legible. Well, to make a long story short, in the process of, what I considered, making the finished product better than the original, the fourteen lines of text I had written over the course of the last hour were slowly whittled down to two. That's right, I ditched all but two lines of the chorus. What I want to know is HOW IN THE WORLD DO PEOPLE DO THIS FOR A LIVING??!! and why in the world did was that my dream as a child? On the bright side of things (because we know that I'm a glass-half-full kinda girl), I do have a pretty outstanding couplet. I do believe it's time I find an adequate muse, because whatever's on my brain right now simply won't suffice any longer.

My favorite TV show

My sisters and I are obsessed with The Secret Life of the American Teenager. What I've heard from most people is that they don't like it because it's all about sex. Well, I won't disagree that there is a lot of sex in that show (not like you actually watch people have sex, just rumors that float around school and stuff) but there's more to it than that.

The show is about a 15-year-old girl, Amy Juergens, who finds out she got pregnant by a boy named Ricky while they were at band camp. Meanwhile, she's falling in love with another boy, Ben who is the most awkward, cute, funny kid I've ever seen. He knows she's pregnant and is willing to do whatever it takes to make her happy, even if it includes not seeing her for awhile as she plans to go away to have the baby. Her parents are also in the middle of a nasty seperation because her Dad cheated on her Mom. It's full of drama but hey, such is life.

The show is really about how to handle life when it doesn't turn out the way you plan. I think that's a good lesson to learn because let's face it, life never turns out the way you plan. It's also about accepting people for who they are and not judging them by the mistakes they've made. If you haven't seen it, watch it. Tuesday nights at 6, MST of course, on abcfamily.

A little bit of patriotism

A lot of people rag on the United States. I guess that's to be expected when you're the #1 country in the world and have been for centuries, people get a little jealous. I can't really say I'm bothered by the misconceived notions of people from other countries. Yes most of them are untrue and generally brought about by rumors, but really, who hasn't assumed the worst of someone or some place without first getting all the facts? The issue I have here, which is the topic of this post, is the lack of patriotism in our country. I can't count the number of times I've heard Americans bad-mouthing their homeland. It's sick. Of course America isn't but let's do a little comparison shall we?

The postal service in Argentina went on strike this last week. Before that it was the dairy farmers, before that the cow herders. Riots broke out on the streets over a raise in the price of a bus token. I'm not trying to say anything against Argentina, the comparison I want to make here is when was the last time The United States had a group of people go on strike. Yep, it was the writer's strike. Pales in comparison a little bit, does it not?

Let's take a trip across the Atlantic a little further to Africa. Very few people in Africa even have a solid roof over their head. They have no access to adequate medical care and millions die from diseases that are unheard of in the US. While we're tossing out pounds of leftovers that have gone bad in the fridge, they're wondering how their children are going to survive the week.

It's time to get rid of the negative attitudes and start expressing gratitude for the blessing it is to live in this country. If you have a problem with how things are here, take a look past your nose and see how bad things really could be for you. Which one do you really prefer? As for me, I am and always will be proud to be an American.

The best part of summer

There's nothing like sitting around the campfire in AF canyon. I love it! My family and I all like to get together for family night once or twice a month up there and just have a good time. Tonight we kept scaring people away because we were so loud and weird... oh well! What you see is what you get with my family.

cynical? maybe... therepeutic? You bet!

Ian wrote to me today and, as usual, ended his email with "burn something for me," followed by a request for some pictures because I haven't sent some in awhile. I decided to combine the two. I was going through some piles in my room today and I found a few old pictures of Ian and Melissa. Any normal person would probably just throw them away but I am definitely not normal so I decided to burn them. With the help of my little brother, I made a nice firepit out of an ice cream bucket, which quickly melted, (I knew that would happen, it was part of the effect) and we burned all the pictures of them I had. Well, the ones in print anyway.

writer's block

Have you ever had one of those times where you want so desperately to put your thoughts into words but every time you open your mouth the makings of your brain turn to putty and leak out your ears? Ok, so that was a bad visual but I'm kind of in that position right now. I've been playing with a melody/accompaniment that's been dancing around in my head for almost a year now. I wrote it sitting in the Eccles music building at Dixie in September of '07. It has extreme potential and it's one of the only melodies that I've written that I really truly like but I cannot think of any words. Every time I sit down to write words, my mind betrays me and I forget how to speak English. Now I know how a toddler feels.

The ER

Ever since I decided I wanted to be a nurse, which was about halfway through my senior year of high school, I've been toying with the idea of working in the ER. I like the fast-paced environment and I like helping people. It seems to be a good combination right? The only thing that is a bit of a deterrent is being surrounded by death on a pretty consistent basis. Despite the fact that you do everything in your power to save lives, people still die. I'm a big time Daddy's girl so sometimes when my Dad works at the hospital, I'll go follow him around for few hours and see what there is to see. My Dad's been a respiratory therapist for 20 years now and he's really good at what he does all over the hospital and it's really beneficial for me to watch him. He teaches me a lot about being a good health care provider. The nurses that he works with are also amazingly welcoming and eager to teach me things. Well, the other night just happened to be one of those nights and the ER at AF hospital was totally slammed. Almost every one of the rooms was full. There was everything from a three-year-old that needed stitches (poor guy was screamin' his little lungs out) to a 55-year-old woman with a broken wrist. Right around midnight, the paramedics brought a man in who was in full cardiac arrest. I watched as a million things went on, my Dad in the middle of it all. Everyone fought to bring this guy back to life. Despite their best efforts, he didn't make it. Although I felt sorry for the family standing outside, I myself really wasn't all that sad. I walked away from that night in the hospital, for the first time in a long time, not overwhelmed by being a nurse. I really feel like this is what I should be doing in my life.

Missionary Slut

One of my friends at work nicknamed me missionary slut. It sounds kind of derogatory but I really like it. If anything, it's a funny thing to tell people about me. Four of my best friends are on missions right now. Curtis is in Paris, France, Ian's in Cordoba, Argentina, Cory's in Toronto, Canada, and Dan's in Washington DC. I love to write letters. Getting responses is even better. I got a letter from Ian about a week and a half ago that gave me all sorts of warm fuzzies. Apparently Argentina has Friend day. It's a national holiday like Mother's day in the United States. He wrote me a letter expressing his gratitude for my friendship and reminded me of a few memories that made me laugh. I've probably read it like 30 times since then. That's just one example though. I've gotten letters/emails like that from all of them. I love being a missionary slut!