John Schmitt

Waterfall

Institute is amazing! They managed to get John Schmitt to come give us our own little concert. I haven't ever been to one of his before and I almost didn't go to this one, but I'm glad I decided to go with Jess and Clint. Lets just say that I know what I want for my birthday and it includes a couple of his CDs.

Sorry dad, I ran out the door before grabbing my camera so the quality of these pictures isn't what it should be.

Just An Update

Because I haven't posted anything for a couple weeks I wanted to let everyone know that 1- I'm not dead and 2- life is really good right now. A lot has been going on. Chann's birthday was last friday, I went skiing with Verdon, Jon Daniels and their friend Stuart on saturday and 2 farewells on sunday. It was a really good weekend. Classes are going great. I love all of my classes... except for Statistics, but that's to be expected. Yoga is really pushing me and kicking my trash, but I love every minute of it. My psychology class is fun especially with the upcoming "mess with your roommates" assignment. They don't know about it yet, so let's keep that on the DL. I've applied for the job in Alaska again so I'm just waiting to hear back from them. My newest dream however, has to do with a little place in Mexico. Charity Anywhere is a non-profit service organization and they're going to Tijuana in March. I really want to go with them to build houses for the people down there. It would be an amazing opportunity and I want to serve with all my heart. It feels right, but I'm still praying that everything will work out and that I can have the chance to go. I would really appreciate it if you all could pray a couple times for me. Last semester was very lonely for me and this semester isn't much of an improvement, but as I was sitting in my bed being pathetic and sad for myself it hit me that I'm tired of being sad for myself. It's lame and overrated. If I'm going to be sad, I may as well serve someone and be sad for what they don't have, not what I don't have. Especially because I have everything. I want to serve people, I want to love them in a way I never have before. And I'm being completely selfish when I say this, but I think serving them is exactly what I need in my life. Now, on the unselfish side, I love these people already and I don't even know them. Life is hard for them and they need help. I want to help them because they are unable to do it themselves, while I am perfectly fit and able. I realize I can't save the entire continent, but if I can bring peace and joy to just one person, it will be worth it. I'm sorry that I rambled, I tend to do that when I feel strongly about something. I just feel like this would be an incredible opportunity and if I didn't do everything in my power to go, I would be missing out. The world today is lacking love. Especially here in the country of opportunity and dreams. We've become selfish and cold hearted, but it shouldn't be that way. We have EVERYTHING we need, while many people are barely scrapping by, and some who can't scrape and are left behind, forgotten. I may be a poor college student with barely 10 dollars to my name, but at least I have the chance to make money and get an education. The people of Tijuana need help and they need service. And I am trying to do everything I can to go give them what they need.

Sunset

As I left work this last week I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I've seen in a long time. It opened my eyes and made me remember how much Heavenly Father loves us to give us something so breath taking. The small things like this really help my testimony grow. I had a similar experience on Wednesday morning after leaving the temple. Seeing the sunrise gave me new hope and peace. The world is such a beautiful place and I definitely need to work on appreciating that more.

Merry New Year

Cambrie's cute Christmas cap

Jessica, me and Natalie and the breakfast making funny faces...

don't worry, we don't normally look like this.

It all started as a nice, pleasant Christmas Eve. We played a game of Mad Gab, during which I heard my dad giggle for the first time in a long time. He got such a kick out of the crazy words written on the cards. Grandma Stratford spent the night and morning with us and it was a lot of fun to be with her. After playing elf and getting to bed at a crazy hour, it was time to wake up bright and early. It was here! Christmas! Santa had come once again. I got some pretty amazing gifts. Starting with a beautiful Christ calendar, an amazing camera (a Nikon, D60, SLR), hot boots, a long red coat, a new scripture bag, 2 Willowtree figurines, the new David Archuletta CD and comfy SUU sweats (complimentary of my best friend Mo). It was a really good Christmas. Poor Dad spent about 1 million dollars this year, but that's ok, because I certainly appreciated it. After opening presents and playing with the new electronic battle helicopters, we had all the neighbors over for the traditional Christmas morning breakfast. The Majors, Neibaurs, Howells and Bauwerbanks all graced us with their presence. It was really fun to spend the entire day with family and friends.

A week later another holiday occurred. The one called New Years Eve, you know which one I'm talking about. Mo and I crashed 5 parties, ate food from each and parked in every one's drive way. We spent most of our time at Jessica's and Chantelle's party. It was very well planned out. There was Rockband upstairs, food on the main level and Skip BO poker downstairs. I spent the majority of the evening with 2 new people, Spencer and Tait, and then of course my girls Mo and Tanika. We had a lot of fun and I was super hyper like I haven't been in a very long time. I even made up New Year Resolutions for everyone. Spencer's was to go on a hot date... or any date (that was Tait's contribution) at least once a month. Tait's was to kiss a sea turtle while scuba diving in the Caribbean. Tanika has to sky dive with an Italian man in Europe and Mo gets to find true love. For all the girls, including Jessica and Chann, we resolved to learn how to say "Kiss me baby!" in at least 5 languages... and if possible, use our new knowledge to our advantage. *wink wink*. We counted down in the basement and then BAM! It was midnight. A new day, a new month, a new year. After listening and dancing to our theme song ("Time of Our Lives") we decided to go crash a YSA dance by the temple. It was AWESOME! I saw some friends I hadn't seen in a long time and this super cute guy asked me to dance. He was really funny. Too bad I'm only 18 and he was 24. That's ok, I like older guys anyway. :) After the dance finished, Verdon, Dalin, Nate, Tanika, Jessica, Chann, Mo, Spencer, Tait and I all went to IHOP where we found our favorite waiter Isaac. He's been the waiter the last few times I've been there so he's kind of a tradition now. Even though I didn't get my midnight kiss, or any kiss at all for that matter, this New Year celebration has been one of the best in a long time. The last time it was this good was a few years ago when Annette told me she was officially engaged. I'm so glad that I have such good friends I can spend my time with. Next New Year will hopefully be just as good, especially because Chann, Jess and I made a resolution to spend New Years Eve in New York, watching the ball drop. What a perfect event for 3 beautiful 19 year old girls. Happy New Year everyone!!

As I got ready I realized that I looked strangely like some little monster in some little book. Can you see the resemblance? Give us a kiss and take a look.

Me and Mo. 2 Best good friends.

• Chann, me and Jessica, all super excited to usher in the brand new year. ... oh man! I'm going to be 19 this year! I'm getting so old!