A Regis Christmas

On Friday night we had our Regis Family Christmas Party! We started off the night by doing some Christmas shopping for a family in need. Last Christmas our grandma gave each family a glass jar that we were to put all our spare change in throughout the entire year. At Thanksgiving we brought all our coins together and counted it all up. We used this money to do the Secret Santa. We split up into teams and raced through the stores finding what was on our team's list. We had such a good time.

After we finished up shopping we went into Salt Lake to the Gallivan Center to go ice skating in the outdoor rink. It felt so Christmasy skating in the chilly air all bundled up in our scarves and mittens. It was an adventure helping the little cousins skate. Even Grandma got out on the ice!

After some delicious hot cocoa, the adults headed home and all the grandkids went to Grandma's house for a giant sleepover! We made mini pizzas, played games, and watched a movie. Although most of my cousins are a lot younger than me I'll admit that most of them stayed up later than I did. Not only did they stay up late, but they also got up quite early! So I was up a bit earlier than I would have liked but Grandma's delicious breakfast made up for the lost sleep. Our parents rejoined us during breakfast and we wrapped all the gifts purchased from the night before. This was definitely a Christmas party to remember!!!

Temple Square

Every year my ward goes into Salt Lake and walks around Temple Square to look at the pretty lights. This was the first activity with our new young women's presidency and it was fun to have my mom their with me (new 2nd counselor). I forgot to take my camera so all these pictures are via google images. If you haven't yet, make sure you go and see the lights. They are amazing!!!

Blood Drive

Today at school there was the semi-annual blood drive. Last year I donated both times and actually had fun doing it. So this year I signed up thinking I would have a similar experience. I was wrong. I think the nice man sticking the needle in my arm was new or had poor eyesight. He missed my vein and spent the next few minutes trying to move it around in my arm to find it. Well he was unsuccessful. Then he asked a lady for some help and after a few more minutes she finally got it into my vein. So all was good, or at least I thought so. As I was being laid back in my chair, this same guy accidentally moved the needle and I had to go through searching for my vein a second time by both him and the lady. After the needle was finally in the right spot I was informed that because of all this moving around I probably wouldn't meet the time requirements to fill the bag. They took what they had and let me go. Needless to say, this was not the best experience. Although, I did get a pretty cool t-shirt and lots of goodies and juice out of it. And they did put a cute bow on my arm wrap. So I guess that does make things a bit better.

December Challenge

Who: Brother Preece's 6th Period Seminary
What: Read the entire Book of Mormon in one month
When: December 1 -31
Why: Why not??
How: Lots of determination and prayer :)

I'm looking forward to this challenge and I think it will really help me feel the real spirit of Christmas. Feel free to join in on the challenge. I promise it'll be worth it :)

Yikes...college

So I finished my college applications today. A part of me feels I'm not old enough to go to college, or to even apply for college. The other part of me is ready for college and really excited. I'm sorta torn. I'm also torn between schools. I've always wanted to go to BYU for as long as I can remember. Both my parents graduated from BYU and I have two sisters currently attending BYU. But then as I was looking around at other schools, I discovered at USU I qualified for a scholarship. A good scholarship. A scholarship that I would never be able to get at BYU. So the question is should I go to school for free or pay to go to my dream school. BYU is still my first choice but its hard to just turn my head at free school at a really good university. I've got people pulling me in both directions, but ultimately I know its not their choice, it's mine. And I think that makes it a bit scarier. This is the first major decision I've had to make in my life. My choice will affect who, the friends I'll meet, the career I'll have, and who I'll marry. This seems a lot for an 18 year old to decide, especially one who just wrote her college application essay about ice cream. Neither choice is bad; it comes down to good and better. I just have to decide which is which. Wish me luck and I'll let you know when I pick!

Christmas Time Is Here

Usually we have a fake tree downstairs and a real tree upstairs. My favorite part is that we always get a Charlie Brown Christmas tree because as my mom informs me, all trees need to be loved. We always decorate it super cute and it is the most loved tree in the world. Unfortunately, we aren't getting a real tree for our house because we will be spending Christmas at our cabin in Fish Lake. So the fake tree is upstairs, but I still think it looks fabulous!!

How I Spent My Thanksgving

One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving is the fantastic nap that always follows. I don't know whether it is the triptophan or the full stomach, but whatever it is but the best nap of the entire year happens on Thanksgiving. Luckily my uncle snapped a shot of my sisters and I enjoying this great event :)

Happy Turkey Day

This day has been so full with fun, family, and lots of yummy food! I am extremely grateful and aware of how blessed I am. I could just go on and on about everything I am thankful but for sake of time I've cut it down to three things.

1) My family- I know how cliche this sounds but it couldn't be more true. My family is awesome. Not only do I love them but I like them too! This includes my extended family especially my cousins. My siblings and cousins are my best friends and we all get along so well and have an insanely amount of fun when we are together. I also have the most selfless parents and grandparents. They are the best examples to me.

2) Opportunities- I have been so blessed in my life with great opportunities. A lot of the time I take them for granted and I'm working on being more aware of them. So many people to do not have the opportunities I do and a lot of the time I focus so much
on what I don't have I forget about all I do have.

3) The Gospel- Having the gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest blessing in my life. The sense of comfort and peace the gospel brings is amazing. The knowledge it brings me helps me everyday and in all I do. I'm so thankful for that.

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving!!!

Reviews

Harry Potter 7 and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
-AMAZING!!!! I saw it at midnight and I LOVED it!
-It followed the book really well
-I wished it would have been a bit longer; it felt a little rushed especially the Malfoy Manor part
-They should have included the scene where Harry says goodbye to the Dursleys and there is that moment with Dudley...I love that part
-The best of all the movies so far


Hunger Games
-Finished all three books in 3 days, yeah they're that good
-The first book is definitely the best out of the the three
-I'm a Peeta fan all the way
-Best series I've read in a long time
-Last book...ugh what was Susanne thinking. I was really mad how it played out and it seemed really rushed

Confession

I think that it is absolutely ridiculous that stores have all their Christmas items out before Halloween. I think its dumb that Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays, gets practically skipped over with all the commercialization (I might have just made that word up) of Christmas. And although the fact that Christmas music is already being played on the radio is stupid, I can't help but listen to it. I LOVE Christmas music. Ok that is probably an understatement. Christmas music is my favorite part of the holidays, along with all the yummy food :). I can't help but smile when I hear it and sing along, usually too loud and out of tune. But I have held strong and haven't broken out all our Christmas CD's to listen to at home...yet. I haven't forgotten about Thanksgiving but all I can say is THIS IS THIS THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!!!!

STATE VOLLEYBALL

This weekend was State Volleyball down at UVU. It was a weekend of mixed emotions. I was so excited to finally be at state; what we had been working towards the entire season. I was a bit nervous also as this was my first year actually playing at the state tournament. And as hard as I tried not to feel sad, I couldn't help it. This weekend was the last time I would be playing volleyball competitively. It was hard to imagine not playing volleyball and not being with my team. I love all those girls so much and have made some of my best friends because of volleyball. It was weird to think that after that weekend I wouldn't be playing with them anymore. We had high expectations and had been preparing ourselves hard.

We started off the weekend a little rough. Our first game was in the morning and apparently we were not awake yet. We lost our first game which automatically meant we were no longer contenders for the state title. The best we could take now was 6th place. It was hard at first but I realized that no matter how much I wanted to change what happened I couldn't. I just needed to focus on doing my best for the rest of the weekend.

We took a break and got some lunch at the mall and headed to our coach's sister's house to relax until our next game. Our second game ended better as we got the win but I felt we had not played our best. It was nice to come off with a win which meant we got to come back Saturday, but I knew that I didn't want to end my volleyball career playing as we had been. You can read about the first two games here

After a good nights rest, we returned Saturday with a tough two games ahead of us. We played hard and had so much fun. We played our best and the kind of volleyball that I can't help but smile when I'm playing. We really came together as a team and battled hard. It paid off and we took 6th place!! It was a great ending to a memorable weekend.

Another great blessing was my back. It didn't bother me at all while playing and I graduated from physical therapy on Wednesday!!

What made things even better was the great cheering section I had. My parents, grandparents, sisters Katie and Amy, brother Thomas, future brother-in-law Garrett, Aunt Stephanie, cousin Cameron all came to support and watch. I have the best family :)

I miss volleyball a lot even though we've only been done for less than a week. It's so weird coming home from school while its still light outside and I don't know what to do with all my extra time. I miss seeing my teammates everyday even though most of us have conditioning class together every other day. Tomorrow night we are having a team sleepover and I cannot wait!!!

Heres some pictures from the weekend

Halloween Dance

Check out our Dance pictures here!!! They turned out super cute thanks to Parker's mom!

For mutual one week we made wedding time capsules. I wasn't able to go because of mutual but my little sis picked one up for me. It worked out perfectly because Amy and my mom had just attended a bridal fair and we had lots of bride and wedding magazines at my house. I took about a 30 minutes and cut out the things I liked. It was pretty fun and I can't wait to open this capsule again (but not for awhile though)!

Just Lately

So life's been pretty crazy lately and I haven't been able to blog. I've got a few minutes to spare before I need to crack down on the homework but I thought I'd just briefly tell what has been going on the past few weeks.

My sister got the chance to help with BYU's homecoming week and put on the Mr. BYU pageant. She put in a lot of hard work and it really payed off. Emily and I got to go down to Provo to watch. It was hysterical, especially the talent portion. The guy who won did impressions of different characters like Captain Jack Sparrow, Timon and Pumba, Kronk and Esma and lots more. They were spot on! It was so impressive!!

We had UEA a few weeks ago and headed down to Fish Lake with Lisa. It was absolutely gorgeous there and we did some pretty fun stuff. We stopped at a petting zoo on the drive down, canoed in the lake, and chopped wood (or tried to) in preparation for winter. We ate a lot of yummy food and took a nice nap :) It was really relaxing and good break from everything.





There was the Halloween Dance and school which was tons of fun. We had a volleyball game that same day so we decided the varsity team would all go together. I went with my friend Dan Prawitt. He was a great date and had me laughing all night. We dressed up as nerds, and I got to say, we looked good!! Pictures of that to come.

Good news, my volleyball team is doing really well and we are heading into state next week with only 1 region game left. Bad news, I hurt my back and have been slowly recovering. I go to physical therapy 3 times a week and luckily I only had to sit out one game. It was the hardest game ever to just sit there! I get to play now but its just not the same. I've lost a lot of power and range of motion because of this injury. Its hard to deal with and most games I get so frustrated that my body doesn't cooperate I want to cry (and sometimes do). I know this is just something I have to go through and my dad keeps reminding me that everything happens for a reason. So I just keep doing all I can and pushing through. Hopefully I will be healed and 100% by state...fingers crossed!!!

Picture by Annie Leishman

Our football team at school took the region title and we have our first playoff game on saturday! I love football season and going to all the games. It a huge part of the high school experience and I'm so proud of our boys and how well they are doing. Good luck Saturday!!

I started my application for BYU, so weird! I can't believe I'm old enough for this. I get excited and nervous every time I think about what's coming up in life and the changes that will be happening.

That's about all...life is good and busy :)

Welcome Home

Here are some of the pictures from Homecoming. We were really lucky and Parker's wonderful mom took them for us. She decided that the best place to take Homecoming pictures were right at BHS. It was such a good idea and they turned out really cute.

Ours Forever

~Bountiful High Homecoming 2010~

Game: Friday, October 1st
Opponent: The Undefeated East High
Score: 21-0
Victor: BRAVES!!!

Dance: Saturday, October 2nd
Date: Parker Evans
Day Activity: Finger Painting turned Epic Paint War
Hair: Jessica's, Madi's and my own :)
Dress: Pretty and Purple
Highlight: Being the first ones on the dance floor!!!
Conclusion: Amazing night and lots of fun! Thanks Parker for being an awesome date :)










Pictures of Parker and me coming soon!

The Ultimate Weekend

Sister Got Engaged (I set up that lovely picnic...and almost ruined the day, details to come)



Turned 18 and went SKYDIVING...with my mommy!




Can't top that!!!

Music of the Heart

This Sunday we had an amazing stake conference. The best part of all was the music. The fabulous Mike Huff (musical genius) conducted the choir for the last time, as he has moved up to Logan. Our whole stake will miss him terribly but luckily we got him one last time. For the closing song the choir sang I Know That My Savior Loves Me and was accompanied by a small orchestra of talented musicians living within our stake. It was absolutely beautiful and the spirit was so strong. Our stake president, President Hanks, said that music is the fastest way to bring the spirit; the best connection we can get. I'm so grateful for music in my life!!

We Will Not Forget

Now, we have inscribed a new memory alongside those others. It’s a memory of tragedy and shock, of loss and mourning. But not only of loss and mourning. It’s also a memory of bravery and self-sacrifice, and the love that lays down its life for a friend–even a friend whose name it never knew. “
- President George W. Bush

Food, glorious food

You know how you go through food phases? Like you are so obsessed with this certain food you could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For a while I was obsessed with grapefruits. Next, it was hash-browns. I'm pretty much a pro at those now. Right now it's Nutella...I mean this stuff is good!! I eat it pretty much everyday and with everything. Too bad it's not that healthy for you :(



Oh, and I got my birthday card from Tucanos with a free meal coupon!!! Yeah, pretty much can't wait to use that :)

2-0

My absolutely favorite thing about school starting is volleyball. We have had two games so far this year (both pre-season) and we won both!! I have loved starting varsity and hearing my name announced over the microphone...it makes me feel so grown up :) We had our first home game yesterday and although there wasn't much of a crowd (there never really is for volleyball), it was fun playing in front of my peers and friends. I think it made me play better because I didn't want to mess up in front of people I had to see the next day! We practice a lot and my body feels like it's falling to pieces, but I wouldn't trade this experience for anything!!


~Best Friends~


They Made Us Signs :)

Silver Lining

When posting about the first day of school I could talk about how I came home tired, hungry, and looking on the calendar for the next break. Or how I have no friends in my english class. Maybe even I could post about how the school is hot and there are a million sophomores running around looking lost beyond belief. But I have decided to be an optimist. So here are all the good things about today

- It was my last first day of school (at least in public school)
- I have the best advisory class, seriously it is stacked!
- I got to wear my new clothes that I had to stare at the last month just waiting
- I rule the school as a senior
- In foods we were treated to yummy ice cream sandwiches (not to mention my awesome foods group...so excited)
- There are so many new faces, which means new friends
- I get to see my friends a lot with all the classes we have together
- I didn't go to the wrong class room (quite a contrast from sophomore year)
- I received absolutely no homework today :)
- I have several classes with *wink wink* (Jessica you know who)
- I got a prime parking space right next to Lisa

Well only 179 more to go!!

Movie Under the Stars

Every week this summer the Salt Lake Capitol hosted a Movie Under the Stars. Not only is the movie free but also they have free popcorn, yum! Unfortunately I didn't hear about these weekly movies until this week...the last week of summer. At least I got one is right? Anyway, a bunch of us got together, grabbed some blankets (or snuggies :) hehe), and headed down to the capitol. We scoped out a spot on the lawn, which was soaking wet from the earlier rain, and snuggled up to watch the movie. We watched Monsters verses Aliens which was hilarious and had me laughing nonstop. It was so fun! I hope they do this next summer!


And because I always forget to bring my camera, once again I'm stealing pictures from Lisa! Thanks :)

The Perfect Ending

I can't believe that in one week I will be starting my senior year in high school. This summer has flown by and I have loved every moment. This week was especially great. To start it off volleyball tryouts were on Monday followed by two a day practices for the rest of the week. Sounds like a lot of volleyball right? I won't lie and say I wasn't sore or tired or extremely happy when Coach decided there would be no practice on Friday, but I did love playing hours and hours everyday and being with some of my favorite girls in the world. We have a great team and all the new girls are adjusting quite nicely to our whacky sense of humor. Can't wait for the season to start!!

This week was also my family's annual trip to Park City. I was really bummed that I had to miss going up with them because of volleyball. I'm so lucky that I have family close by (literally a few houses away) and wasn't left alone. Plus I had Marco with me! I got to see my cute cousin Jenn and her baby Nora who live in Maryland. The rest of the time I spent with my cousins who live right around the corner. On Monday we went to the Salt Lake Bees Game and had a great time. Not only did the Bees win with a home run in the 10th inning but I also won FIFTY DOLLARS!! Yeah!! On the big screen it showed a number to text for a chance to win so all of my cousins and myself decided to give it a try not thinking that any of us would actually win but then I got the Congratulations Text! After the game my cousin Wade offered to help me spend my winnings, so we took a midnight trip to Beto's.

On Tuesday after practice I decided to drive up to Park City for the rest of the day. It was fun to go be with family for the afternoon. Who knew I would miss them after only 3 days? We played lots of games, barbecued by the pool and watched UP. Unfortunately I had to head back to Bountiful that night. The next day at practice I got some great news that we would not be practicing on Friday! So on Thursday after volleyball I hurried right up to Park City to spend the rest of my weekend there.

The first thing we did was go boating. My cousins came with us and we just had a blast! The water was a bit chilly but that did not stop any of us for jumping right in. I tried water skiing for the first time and much to my surprise I got up just fine but we'll be waiting a while before I break out the 360 or any flips. We finished off the night with another barbecue and hot tubbing back at the condo. The rest of the week was spent laying by the pool (which despite all the sunscreen I put on I got fried), shopping at the outlets, card games, and just spending time with family.

This week was just perfect. It's not often that the whole family gets to be together as we are growing up, but the time we do spend together is amazing. I wish I had pictures but we were having too much fun we forgot! I couldn't think of a better way to end the summer!

The RM

WELCOME HOME ELDER YOUNG!!!!

July in Review

Busy, busy, busy...

UVU Volleyball Camp -
14 silly girls
11th place out of 50 teams
7 peaks water park
10 hilarious car rides (drove back and forth everyday)

Dixie Volleyball Camp
5 hour car ride
3 hotel rooms
8 friends and teammates
1 theater all to ourselves during Despicable Me (great movie by the way)
107 degree weather

Last Girls Camp
14 Doobners
3 neon windbreakers
4 days of constant laughter, good food, and friendship
2 a.m. talks
1 bald mountain climbed
1000s of memories made

Unexpected Trip to Las Vegas
1 Cousin who is worth driving 6 hours to pick up
1 Cousin willing to drive with me
6 hours filled with dance parties and laughing
5 hours in the pool
6 boxes of candy and 4 drinks snuck into the movie theater (saw Karate Kid, another great one)
1 crazy TV watching dog...silly Glinda

Fun with Family
4 of us in the championship beach volleyball match (Mom's work party)
2 movies at the drive-in
100s of out of state license plates (my poor arm)
1 unsuccessful boating trip (but still fun)
6 sunburned Dilleys
4 more days until Cameron is home!!!!

In My Ward...

In my ward...
-we stay hours after mutual just to hang out with each other
-we have inside jokes that only the 20th ward would get
-we know just how to make each other smile and laugh
-we have our own gang sign
-on occasion we commit grand theft auto
-5 pizzas can disappear in less than 2 minutes
- nobody is left out
-age doesn't matter, laurels hang with deacons, and priests with beehives
-WE ARE THE BEST

Celebrating the Fourth

For the first time in three years I was home for the fourth of July. It was fun to be here for a family BBQ and the fireworks up at Eaglewood. Being with my friends at the fireworks was definitely a highlight of the weekend. It had been a awhile since we had all been able to see each other but it only took minutes to fall back into our habits of laughing so hard we couldn't breathe and acting like little kids instead of seniors in high school. One of the best parts on the night was riding in the tilt-a-whirl with McCall and Lisa. I'm pretty sure it was meant for children under the age or 10 but the nice man let us ride!! Mitch was kind enough to be our photographer so we got some pretty good pics :) I have the best friends ever! We laughed, got super dizzy, stayed on the ride even after it has been stopped for about 5 minutes and thought it's still going, fell on the ground sick, and made the best memories! It was a night to remember :)





Photo credit Lisa

To finish off an already great weekend I went and spent Sunday and Monday down at Fish Lake. It was absolutely beautiful and the weather was perfect. Dad, Thomas, Auntie Stephie, Uncle Faron, and I came from Bountiful and coming the other direction from Las Vegas Mutti, Papa, and Claire met us there. It was fun to all be together and we even got to take the new boat out on the lake. It was the perfect ending to the perfect weekend.

Girl's Camp Kick-off!!

In 3 weeks I leave for Girls Camp...my last one :( That means I have to make it the best right? And yes making it the best means dressing up as the Little Mermaid to introduce the theme to the rest of the young women! The stake theme is What Songs of the Heart and each ward is a different musical. My ward chose the Little Mermaid and are using the theme Part of His World. We have a great camp director who I absolutely love. She was in young women's with me as a beehive and miamaid; now she is back again as I am a laurel and I couldn't be happier. As a youth leader I get special priviledges such as helping plan the kick-off party. Not only did we dress up as Little Mermaid characters but then played "mermaid games" with the other young women. It was a super fun and very silly night. I can't wait for camp!!


Sebastian, Ariel and Urusla


Floppin' like Mermaids

Only the Beginning

Volleyball has begun. On monday the first of three camps started. It was fun seeing my team after such a long break and it was fun to play again. Although club volleyball has only been over for about six weeks, it seems like forever since I've played. And it definitely shows. Even with doing my summer conditioning, fter the first day I was so sore I couldn't stand up without groaning like an old women...scary. I'm just glad that I was not the only one feeling that way and today we had a Icy Hot party! Lets hope I am still alive at the end of these three weeks...

Playing Catch Up

This summer has been filled with so much fun I haven't really found time to blog about it. Instead of doing a post for each event I'm just going to combine them into one long one. So you've been warned now...

Starting with July 13, I went to Coyote Gulch with the laurels in my ward. We had so much fun! There were only four us (Jessica, Beth, Cassidy, and I) and we were outnumbered by our leaders. We began our trip by heading to my family's cabin where we spent the night. I guess I should clarify that the night wasn't spent sleeping but rather talking and giggling as 17 year olds tend to do. Then early the next morning we set out for Escalante where our hike was. The first part of the trip was along sand and slick rock. My shoes were filled to the brim with sand within 10 minutes of hiking. But everything got better once we hit what was called the Crack in the Wall. We had to lower our backpacks with rope and climb down the a thin crack. The rest of the trip was filled with river running, rock scrambling over boulder jams, pretty waterfalls, and lots of laughs.

The last day we had to rock climb out of the gulch and hike back to the cars. Instead or driving straight home we made a stop at some slot canyons and did a little day hike. The nature and landforms we saw throughout the whole trip were absolutely breathtaking. It was nice to be able to have a break from our busy lives and enjoy the great our doors.






The next week I headed off to Youth Conference held at snow college. It was fantastic! I had so much fun and made so many new friends as we went with the whole stake. We were only there for three days but every second was packed full of fun. We did a ropes course the first day which I came away with many new bruises and feeling like I could conquer anything. I climbed walls, jumped from a balance beam 30 feet off the ground, and many other obstacles. We also had a dance, a gigantic water fight (which the 20th ward dominated), got blasted by a fire truck hose held by our stake president, played field games and went to the Manti pageant. We also ate very well. Youth conference ended with great morningside and another delicious breakfast.

On Sunday we had a fireside about our Youth Conference experience. There was slideshow full of pictures taken throughout our trip, talks by leaders in the stake, and then four youth were called out of the congregation to share their testimonies. Guess who got called out?? That's right...me! It was super scary but I am glad I got to share my testimony with the youth of my stake and share what a great experience I had.




The days I am home are filled with just as much fun. I spend lots of time with my cousin Denali and we always find something fun to do. I am so lucky that she lives so close! We have become pro smoothie makers and have one almost every night. Some of our adventures include a drive in movie, sleepovers on the trampoline, doing my horrid volleyball summer conditioning (yuck), and spending as much time as possible in the sun :)

Glad to be all caught up and I'm gonna try really hard to stay on top!