Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning Jannette and Sam style. That doesn't necessarily mean that we clean anything. It just means that we rearrange all our furniture. It is also reading days and that means that I am supposed to be studying for my finals that I have coming up but that didn't happen either. I found out though that moving furniture in 4 rooms is tiring and I would not be a good moving person.
So this is my new arrangement. That thing under the window is actually the top part of my desk but I decided that I didn't like it like that so it is now my new window table. It's great for pictures and flowers in front of an open window.

bridal shower

Jess, Linds, Kierstin and Me at Kierstin's bridal shower tonight. It was so much fun to see Linds again... it's been too long. We'll get the opportunity to see eachother again together at the Draper temple when Kierstin gets married at the end of this month.

The bridal shower was fun as well. We played games and Kierstin opened presents.

It made me want to get married as well. Out of the 8 girls that lived in Kensington my sophomore year... all but 3 of us are married. Sad day. Saying the word 'EVENTUALLY' won't help.

Oreos anyone?

Since Christmas, Jennifer and I have been looking for this oreo cookie cake mold. The mold came seperately from the cake and frosting mixtures. It was supposed to come out looking like an oreo and taste like one as well.

It sorta worked. The lady at Williams Sonoma told us that in order for it to work then you had to liberally grease the molds. I thought I had done that well enough... apparently not. The cakes came out in about 2 or 3 different pieces. I tried to reassemble them and it worked well enough for this picture. It was very crumbly but it tasted so good. I think it tasted better as it sat and hardened a little. I think that after a day or so it did actually taste like an oreo. Just sweeter. But it's a cake, what can you expect. I think I will try it again in a couple of months after I have lost the pounds that this cake made me gain. I will do like the lady at Williams Sonoma said though- "Throughly grease the molds."

That was my excitement of this past weekend.

your mind and your thoughts

Last night we had our own FHE at our apartment because Sam and Charlie's mom is in town and I think it has been one of the best FHE's we've had. By having their mom here this past week I have learned where they get their humor, spiritualness, personality and love from. It's from the example of their mother.

Our lesson at FHE was on the mind and how our thoughts make or break our days. I have had a very hard last couple of months not knowing what I should do and August will be here before I know it and it terrifies me to no end. But, if I have trust in the Lord then I know that things will be alright and everything will fall into its place at the proper time. I don't know when things will happen for me but the Lord does. I can only change the things that are in my grasp not the things that I can't control. I need to stop focusing on those things and focus on the things that I can change.

Now if anyone knows we at all, they know that I love celebrity gossip and watching what celebrities do on a daily basis. I always look at people mag online. But I am trying to refocus on things that are important and will now be taking a break from that website. It might seem small but it will be hard for me. Maybe I'll get more time in my day and get more things accomplished. I was orginially going to take a break from facebook but I decided that that would have to wait until a later time.

I am also trying to read more books. A lot of them lately have been from General Authorities. I am currently reading The Promised Messiah and Change your Questions Change your Life. Both are so good! I would recommend both to you.

salsa or pico de gallo?

Here's my first post to this blog with what I actually wanted to do with the blog. Food! I used to like salsa until I was introduced to the wonderfulness of pico de gallo. I like it so much better because it isn't as watery as salsa and it has big hunks of tomato and onion. To make my own I did bigger chunks then I should have but what can I say. All that is it is roma tomatoes, jalapeno, 1/2 of a huge onion, a bunch of cilantro, lime juice and salt. I have to say myself that it is tasty. I got it from the pioneer woman. She's a genius.

weddings

so Char wanted to sit down and watch a hopeless romantic movie...

i pulled out all of the good romances that i had here in utah and we ended up choosing "Father of the Bride"

i love this movie, i could probably say that it is my favorite movie

i can see my father reacting the same way as steve martin's character when i tell my parents when i get engaged.

however, as much as i love this movie- i want to hate it right now because i am no where close to getting married and i want to

i want to get married- I DO!!!

but somehow i can't seem to make it happen.

ahh love, romance, weddings, and marriage... how i long for it.

a decade in the making

Because I have nothing else to post about thus far in this new year. I have come up with some very good highlights of my past 10 years (2000-2009). This does not include everything... if it did- you would not be reading it anymore.

2000: It was the freak out of Y2K. I was in the 6th grade- my first year out at Space Coast Middle School. I was the low man on the very small todum pole of middle school. I started band class and enjoyed playing the flute. At the end of 1999- Jennifer was gone off to college out at BYU for her first year so that means that I had the room at the house to myself for the very first time. I was a beehive and one of a few girls in my class. My 13th birthday happened in this year and I officially became a teenager. I finished the year in the 7th grade.

2001: 7th grade… I finally knew my way around Space Coast and wasn’t at the bottom nor the top of the food chain there. I went to my first concert with Jennifer and her friend Heather- it was the *NSYNC PopOdsessy Tour. We drove up to Jacksonville, FL to see it. Twin towers got hit and it was all over the news. I started the year off in Beehives and finally made it to Mia Maids on my 14th birthday. There was the excitement of Youth Conferences, EFY and stake dances. I had the biggest crush on Chase Hill and little did I know then that it would last several years. Started the 8th grade in this year.

2002: 8th grade and all the glory that surrounds being at the top of your school. This was also the year that they announced that they would be turning our middle school into a Junior/ Senior High School and adding one grade each year. This was the year of my very first EFY and Youth Conference. The theme for EFY was We Believe. For Youth Conference we went over to Orlando and helped out parents with children who had spina bifida. It was my 15th birthday. I got my drivers permit and started to learn how to drive on my dad’s mustang which was a stick shift. I quickly gave up and declared that I would not be driving any more. My mom quickly came to my rescue and told me I could use her car. Started my first year out at Space Coast as a high schooler… as a freshman but the highest grade in the school.

2003: Made the decision to stay at Space Coast This was the first year we had marching band- but it was small and we didn’t compete, just went to the competition and played the Star Spangled Banner. Jennifer graduated from BYU and the whole family came out to see it. I remember that I felt so sick as we circled the Great Salt Lake. For the other semester of school in this year I was in my 10th grade year… and as I’ve said- still on top. I finally turned 16 on my birthday and was so excited that I could start to date- I was legal. Nothing different happened… and still hasn’t on that front, but I have come to some sort of terms with it. I got my driver’s license and didn’t have to have the driver’s test for 2 reasons… I had taken driver’s ed and my dad took me to get my license in his TPD patrol car. I moved on up to the Laurel’s.

2004: I was in the 10th and 11th grades and still on top at school. For our first competition in marching band- we did a Movie themes themed half-time show (Jaws, Superman, Star Wars, Jurassic Park). We got a superior. Competetion was held in Palm Bay, FL. I was still attending youth conferences, EFY and pretty much all the stake dances. Started the 11th grade and was taking dual enrollment courses. It was my 17th birthday.

2005: Went to my very first Josh Groban concert. It was up in Louisville, KY and dad was so good to drive Jennifer and I up there and spend time in the hotel room as we went to the concert. Was in the 11th and 12th grades and already knew that I was starting to feel like I wanted to get out of Space Coast (or senior-itis as it is called). I turned 18 on my birthday. It was my last year competing in marching band and we did a pretty good half time show. The judges thought it was too fun and gave us an excellent. It was a Latin themed show. It was held in the Orange Bowl in Orlando, FL. Girls camp, youth conference and EFY were all still pretty good and I enjoyed being at them.

2006: I was a senior and would graduate in May. I was taking dual enrollment type classes in order to get my C.N.A. license. We were the first graduating class from our school and it felt so good to get out. I was able to attend girls camp as a youth leader and was able to go to my last EFY and youth conference. In the fall I headed out to the wild west- to Rexburg, ID to be exact. Where I would start my college education in the frigid cold. In the fall would be my one and only semester at being a college freshman because I came into college with so many credits because of dual enrollment. It was this semester that I had the roommates of Dafni, Heather, Larissa, Mandi and Carrie. We lived in Chapman Hall. I turned 19 on my birthday. It was this year that I was able to see my first official fall and my first snow fall. I spent Thanksgiving break with Mandi and her family. I was able to go home to FL for Christmas.

2007: This was my sophomore year in college. For the winter semester I moved across the parking lot to a cooking dorm… Barnes Hall. Here I would live with Mandi again and meet two girls named Katelyn and Kaitlyn (or Katelyn squared). Jennifer came out and picked me up (after quitting Target) and she had a surprise for me. She wouldn’t tell me where we were flying to and why we were going. We ended up in Vegas and we stayed at the Aladdin/ Planet Hollywood hotel. And we went to a Josh Groban concert in the MGM Grand hotel. It was pretty much a-maz-ing!!! For the summer I went home and worked with Kelly Home Services. I went to visit Jennifer up in Baltimore before I was to fly out to school out west and because we had bought tickets to see another Josh concert from the 2nd row. We couldn’t pass up those tickets. This time the concert was in Pittsburgh, PA. We drove up there in Jennifer’s car. It was the Pittsburgh concert that I was able to touch the hand of Josh 4 times. Not only that but I was able stand at his knee when he sat down on the stage and sang “NWIA”. That is the 1st C.I.A. trip that no one knows about. The following weekend we drove all the way up to Toronto, Canada. That also was a fun trip. Jennifer and I had a huge timetable because we were due on a plane in a couple of hours after we arrived back in Maryland. The weekend before BYU-Idaho started dad drove me up to North Carolina to meet Jennifer for our 3rd Josh concert that year. We stayed at the same hotel as Josh and Jennifer swears that she walked past him in the hall as she was going to the elevator. After all those wonderful trips, I went back out to school and this time lived off campus in Kensington. I lived with Katelyn and my new roommates were Lindsey, Jessie, Kierstin, and Kelsie. Jessie ended up moving out and we got Becki. It was a very nice apartment and I loved everything about it. Jared was now gone on his mission to India. That Thanksgiving I flew out to Baltimore, MD to be with Jennifer. Christmas we were both able to go home to Florida.

2008: The winter semester of 2008 was still up in Rexburg, ID. I was a junior now. Now the roommates were Lindsey, Kierstin, April, and Katelyn. I decided to reapply to BYU in Provo, UT along with Kierstin. She got in, I did not. Mom came out this time to pick me up from school and we were flying into Maryland to see Jennifer around her birthday. While in Baltimore, Jennifer got an email about this special PBS taping concert with Josh up in New York City. Being the hacker that I am I hacked into Jennifer’s email and sent an email saying that we could go. This concert was on a Thursday night I think. Jennifer got a call from someone on Josh’s team and said that we would be there. She started freaking out because she had clinicals that day and didn’t think she was going to be able to get out of them. We thought of so many possibilities on how to get up there. Jennifer skipped her clinical to go to New York. I bought Amtrak tickets and we headed up to New York, it was probably the fastest trip we’ve ever been on. It was a good concert and now that concert is out on DVD. It was my first time to New York. (2nd C.I.A. trip) Mom flew out and I followed a couple days later. I went home to FL for the summer and worked at SeaWorld Orlando and lived with my half brother and his wife so I wouldn’t have to commute as far every day. I got my first car- a Toyota Camry and I named him Fred. I checked my email and got one from BYU in Provo, UT that said that they had reevaluated my application and that they would see me in the fall. So the decision was made to head down to Provo in the fall and to defer that semester up in Rexburg, ID. For the fall semester I felt like a freshman all over again. I had no clue where things were in Provo. I moved into Moon Apartments and my roommates were Hailey, Charleah and Symantha. Thanksgiving was spent up in Salt Lake City with Jennifer. Christmas was also spent up in Salt Lake City and it was my very first Christmas away from home. I made my first huge snowman that was about 3 feet tall. We headed down to Vegas again to go to the Las Vegas Bowl Game to see BYU play Arizona… and because Jennifer was there we didn’t win. I decorated my car and that was fun when the bus full of BYU football wives saw and starting pointing at it.

2009: I started the year in Utah. I was declared a senior at BYU due to credit hours I had. I was still living with Sam, Char and Hailey at Moon. In April, Jennifer and I went out to California!! It was so much fun. We went to San Diego, Los Angeles, Anaheim (Disneyland and California Adventure), Manhattan Beach, San Francisco, San Jose, Sonoma, Napa, Malibu, Santa Barbara and others. We got to see the Golden Gate Bridge, vineyards, LA temple, Oakland temple, San Diego temple, LA live and a “house”. I got a job as a nanny for a family in Draper, UT. They had 4 kids and they were lots of fun. Started my 2nd semester as a senior and was taking lots of fun classes and ended up with a 4.0 GPA for the first time in college. Jennifer and I went to Boston one weekend. We were able to go to Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts. I was again not selected for the nursing program at BYU so I changed my major to Family Life. I decided to apply to Duke for their accelerated program and found out that I was selected to get an interview. I was able to go home for Christmas break and it was cold in Florida the entire time I was there. We put off having Christmas until Jennifer got there on the 28th and it got further put off until New Years Eve. Jennifer and I went to Disney for part of our Christmas presents to ourselves and we were able to upgrade them so we’ll be back in 2010. That is when I saw my hot rugby boy from Durham, England. Ah, good memories! We celebrated the New Year with Chinese food and something that resembled Welsh’s sparkling grape juice (kinda). My parents were also awake to bring in the New Year, which is very unlike them. We didn’t last very long in the New Year- as we only stayed up until 1am or so.

With reading this... you would think that a) I like Josh Groban, b) I like to travel c) I've been in school way too long and d) my life has become a lot more interesting once I started college.

I can't wait to see how much my next 10 years will change. Hopefully lots of exciting things are going to come my way.