21st Birthday Bash!!

For mine and Kristals 21st birthdays we had a slumber party at a hotel in Salt Lake!! Kristal had only been home from Hawaii for a few days, so it was fun to spend time with the 4 of us!! :)
We took the frontrunner down with all of our bags and backpacks and looked slightly like hobos!! :DAfter traveling around on public transportation and wandering the streets lost we finally found our hotel and went out for dinner!!


The best part of the night was going to the Gallivan Center! None of us had been there before and it was a blast!! :) I now LOVE the idea of ice skating in the snow!
It has been awhile since any of us have been iceskating, we were a little rusty... Surprisingly nobody fell!!

Checking out the lights after and just happy to be with eachother!!


We heard there was hot chocolate in the lobby... Kristal and I were on this fast. This is us being goofs on our way to get some!!


Hot Chocolate is one of the best things ever, especially when it is in a mug! Even better when that mug is orange!! :)

The rest of the night was just crazy!

We told each others fortunes!

We had pillow fights!

And even became professionals at doing flips! :) Brittany's face at the end is the best!

I Love my friends and had such a fun time!

My Venturing Court of Honor!

December 5th I had my court of honor for receiving three of the top venturing awards :) My Ranger, which is the outdoors award- I had to do wilderness campouts, go rockclimbing, learn CPR, catch a fish and many more exciting adventures!! The Silver is the very top award and then right under is the gold- I had to do conservation projects, service hours, serve as a venturing leader and much more!!
My Court of Honor was a very fun night and turned out better than anything I could have asked for!
Jeremy Bell spoke, and did an amazing job. I have worked with him since I was 14 and he has been a very big part of my scouting experience.

Philip Eborn was my first director at Camp Bartlett, however, he was unable to attend that night. He did send a letter and had my brother read it to me! Philip Eborn and my brother are both influences in my life and have helped make me the person I am today.
Lloyd Peterson is my Venturing Advisor and helped push and encourage me to earn my awards. I definitely could not have done this without him!
My dad pinning my award on me, he helped me with almost every requirement. He taught me to rockclimb, took me fishing, went on a wilderness campout with me! I am thankful that my parents encouraged me to work at Camp Bartlett and become a more well rounded individual!
My dad conducting the ceremony!

I am thankful for all my friends and family who came, I could not have done it without you!!







My Display and Awards!!

I miss my Tina!

Every once in awhile.. probably more often than not, I REALLY miss China!! I miss my friends, the people, the culture, the experiences and even my Crazy guard friend Seth!!
Friday afternoon some friends took me to this authentic restaurant in Salt Lake that had food from the same providence I was in... I was so content eating all the foods I have missed- Rice rolls, duck, lotus fruit, egg plant, fried green beans. It was wonderful- first place I have found that has real Chinese food!!
Today I got to talk with my friend Tina!! Because of the huge time difference it doesn't happen very often. She is a teacher at the school I volunteered at, she lived across the hall from me and speaks very good English! Tina made my experience in China wonderful- she invited me over to room at least twice a week to just chat and giggle, or she would cook me food and bring me wonderful leeche and mangoes!! She also would take us shopping, out to get the most delicious desert ever and play badminton with me!! :)





It is difficult to know I may never see her again, but I can not wait for the church to enter China, because I know she is ready to accept it. She realizes something is missing in her life and I can not wait for her to truly understand this gospel and feel of the happiness it brings!!

Happy Days!!

Today was one of the Best Days Ever! :) While Michelle and I were at Walmart at 1 am this morning, we decided it would be fun to go meet Kristal at the airport, so we bought poster board and I went home and made some signs till about 2 am!! :) Then we were up and off at 5:30 am!! Needless to say...Michelle, Brittany and I were pretty crazy all morning!!

While patiently waiting for Kristal not knowing if we had the right flight or not, we were all shocked to look at the stairs and see Elder L. Tom Perry coming down! We were all pretty stunned and he was nice enough to come over and talk to us and shake our hands!! It was so wonderful!!

Kristal was nice enough to take her sweet time coming down, but when she did we went completely crazy!! We had our posters and screamed as loud as we could... everyone in the airport knew she was home! :) Kristal left to Hawaii last December and I was only able to see her for a week this summer... that is a long time without your Best Friend! It was a good reunion!

After we tried to leave the airport we had some slight difficulties getting out... the gate wouldn't open for us so we had to get special help... but no worries we got suckers

This evening my Amazing Grandmother who recently turned 81 went through the Temple for the first time!! :) She is my role model and helps remind me that everything good in this life is worth doing... I'm so happy and proud of you Grandma!!

The rest of the evening was supposed to be a fun ending to a great day... however, everything can't always go perfectly!! Brittany and I headed to Molly Hills wedding reception, unfortunately we got caught in nasty snow storm and made it there later than planned and the reception ended earlier than planned :( We even had a few traumatic moments as we went sliding all over the road nearly getting caught in oncoming traffic then sliding to the other side and almost falling into a ditch... it was pretty dramatic! :) Luckily we were being protected and made it home safely!

I have slept a total of three hours today and should be sleeping... but no, instead I blog :)

The Most Wonderful Time of The Year....EVER!! :)

I don't believe there has ever been a week as exciting as this wonderful week!! :) 2 years ago I had THREE friends leave on their missions the exact same day!! However, with every good-bye I said I knew in 2 years I would be seeing them again!!
One of my Best Friends comes home on WEDNESDAY!! I'm pretty sure everyone is excited for Kyle to come home... especially a close friend of mine (aka Amanda!!) Kyle is a friend to everyone and has the most contagious laugh!! We have had some very silly times together!

Another wonderful friend who comes home this week is Spencer... I'm not sure the exact date, I think it's Thursday!! Spencer and I worked two summers at Camp Bartlett- Spencer, Emily, Lance and I were Best Friends Summer 2007 and had some crazy times together! We went on a fun trip horsebacking riding and frog catching, we went on several bear hunts and had a wonderful time that summer and luckily we are all still friends!!


And the Third missionary to return home this week is Kendell!! He comes home this Friday evening! Kendell is an amazing friend!! He is fun to tease... especially when him and Jordan wear twin outfits! Senior year we had a prank war; Michelle, Kristal and I vs. Kendell and Jordan!! It was fun and very innocent! I loved that they thought they were so funny for putting gummy bears all over our windows!! We had to play nice with those guys!!

Not going to lie though... I am probably(definitely) most excited to see MY BEST FRIEND Kristal Sabaitis!! Who left to Hawaii about a year ago and I was only able to see her for a week this summer! Kristal is one of the most amazing people I have ever met and is such a wonderful friend!! She amazes me with everything she does and is so creative!! We have had sooo many good times together- trying to go to a foam dance and getting rained on, acting like ninjas while dropping off clues to Jon, crashing HARD on every sledding run we went down, SEEING THE JONAS BROTHERS together!!!! And so many more adventures- I Can't wait to see you Kristal and all of my friends this week!! :)