year in review

I've been thinking a lot about this past year and how fast it has gone. I've been trying to remember all that happened to me; all that I experienced that was life-changing, difficult, or just plain silly. Here is my run-down of the past year--2009--let's see how much I remember.

JANUARY--
I almost got in a car accident on Bangerter Highway (I hate that road). It was on the stretch between 10600 and 11400. To sum it up, road covered in ice...tons of break lights all of a sudden...cars sliding all over the place (including mine). I fishtailed and came really close to hitting the car in front of me. Luckily I didn't hit anyone and no one hit me. I was so shaky the rest of the drive home.

Also, my best friend Alicia left on her mission for Virginia. Sad to see her go.

FEBRUARY--
Nothing too significant here. It was my junior year in college. I was still dead set on finishing my communication major instead of switching back to psychology.

MARCH--
Nothing too interesting here except it was still snowing.

APRIL--
Easter was great. This year I got to play the Easter Bunny and hide all the eggs. I did a horrible job remembering where I put them all, though. Sadly, my brother-in-law's sister wasn't able to find all of hers (again, my horrible memory). However, we did find her egg a couple months later...it was way rotten.

MAY--
Mother's Day was the first day that my niece (who was a premie) could go out and mingle with other people. So we took her to church for the first time in her life. Everyone thought she was just a cutie (and she is a cutie!). I also learned about what it means to be a Daughter of God...good talks in Sacrament meetings.

I also found out that my best friend Candice got engaged. We had played phone tag for a while and she left me a message saying that she had something to tell me. I had guessed right away that she was engaged. Now she is happily married.

JUNE--
I started my first internship at USEE. I was a graphic design intern working on creating documents for USEE (a nonprofit). They had a small staff, but they were fun to work with. I just loved working with my supervisor, Autumn. I learned and accomplished a lot working there. I designed mail-outs and their 2008-2009 annual report. Here is a link for the annual report: http://usee.org/images/stories/Annual_Report_Design-CS4M.pdf

JULY--
The highlight of July was my trip to Maui, Hawaii. I went with my aunt Wendy and her family and my grandparents. They pretty much bought my ticket before even asking me if I wanted to go. They said I needed a vacation...desperately needed one, so they forced me to take one. I was glad to go...it was so much fun spending time with my cousins. You can read all about the trip in my Hawaii posts.

AUGUST--
I successfully finished my internship. Hooray!

I also bore my testimony for the first time in over a year. I've been struggling a lot with taht for the past year.

My friend, Jared, got married. Sheesh, all my friends are getting married all of a sudden.

One night I went to a Young Single Adult Summit Fireside. It was at the Tabernacle. Alex Boye' was the speaker there. He is a singer and the only black member of the Tabernacle Choir. He talked about his life and what we need to learn in life...and he was really funny, too...I mean really funny.

SEPTEMBER--Nothing much in September other than I turned 22. Let me think...nope, I've got nothing.

OCTOBER--October had some interesting things happening. I talked with someone I had been afraid of approaching for a while and it went well.

My best friend Candice had her wedding. She looked so beautiful. Some day I will get married...maybe...

I went over to my aunt Wendy's house to carve pumpkins and eat carmel apples (kind of a new tradition). It was fun. The next day wasn't fun. I ended up getting sick with the flu and was out for nearly two weeks after. It was sad...I didn't get to dress up for Halloween. :(

However, a highlight of October was my interview with a member of one of my favorite bands, Flyleaf. I got to do a phone interview with Sameer Bhattacharya...it was way cool!!!

NOVEMBER--November I was pretty much swamped with school. It was getting to the point where I really had to pace myself and manage my time so I could get all my school projects done.

Another great phone interview with another person from a band I like, Switchfoot. I got to interview the drummer, Chad Butler. He was pretty cool and very polite. I didn't expect that in either interview where I was just a writer from a school newspaper.

Thanksgiving was pretty good. I ate TONS of food...more than I usually eat. What can I say, I love turkey and pie, and both were present.

DECEMBER--The first of December was pretty much me finishing final projects and preparing for finals. I was so busy then. I did manage to get everything finished and turned in on time. I found out that I got all A's for that semester...Yay!!!

Christmas was fun. I wasn't sick this year for Christmas, but I did manage to get a little sick for New Year's. Oh well.

Well, that's my year in review. It's been one heck of a year and I hope next year is a lot better. Here we go 2010.

christmas

This is a continuation from my last post. Christmas was also great...probably even more fun than Christmas Eve (it sure wore me out, though).

Every year me and my grandparents get up really early and go see what my younger cousins got from Santa. It's hard to see some of them because they get up so early (as was the case with Hunter and McKenna this year...so we didn't get to see what they got until later...they got up at 5:30!!!).

I did get to see what my adorable niece got for Christmas. It is her second Christmas, but the first one where she somewhat understands what is going on. She was so cute when she woke up. Her hair was sticking straight up. In our family we have all the gifts from Santa spread out over the couches and chairs in the living room, then the kids walk out and get to see all they got. Well, when Karynne walked out she ran straight for my grandpa...kind of cute. Then we pointed to the toys and then she got the hint. She kept going for the books...none of the other stuff until we pointed it out to her.

Next we went to my aunt Tiffany's house to see what her girls got. They got a Wii game set! Fun. My youngest cousin, Morgan, got this baby doll crib/carrier thing--not sure what to call it. As usual she handed me all her toys that needed to be put together (I do it every year). After playing with some of their toys we went over to my aunt Denise's house for Christmas morning breakfast. We do egg casseroles and cinnamon rolls. So yummy!!!

Usually after breakfast I go home and put away gifts and such. But this year I stayed at my aunt Tiffany's house and played the Wii all day with my cousins. It was fun. I did bowling, basketball, and boxing. I think I did 10 boxing matches...I won every time. Man, was that a workout, though. It wore me out (my arms were even sore the next day).

That night we had Christmas dinner at my aunt Denise's house. We had turkey, rolls, jello, salads...just a ton of good food. Then I played some more Wii...this time bowling and sword fighting. I was the champ of the night. Not bad for not touching a video game in over a year. ;)

Well, that was my Christmas. Thanks goodness we weren't snowed in this year (like last year). I hope everyone else had a good Christmas too!

christmas eve

Sorry, I have been slacking this past month. It's just been crazy with finals and then Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, I had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was tons of fun.

Every year it is tradition for our family (aunts, uncles, cousins on my mother's side) to get together at one of my aunt's house for Christmas Eve dinner. This dinner consists of spaghetti noodles and my grandma's famous homemade spaghetti sauce. We also have salad and garlic bread. This year we had a special treat for dessert...CHEESECAKE!!! I love cheesecake, if you couldn't tell. It was way yummy, too. So smooth.

One reason why we hold Christmas Eve at my aunt's house is because every year Santa Claus comes to visit. We have no idea who the guy is that dresses up as him, but he goes around the neighborhood every year and just walks into people's houses. He hands out candy canes to the kids and, of course, we have to get a picture of all the kids with him. He has no set time he comes around, he just shows up whenever.

I spent the evening watching movies on my aunt's big screen TV downstairs. We watched Miracle on 34th Street and While You Were Sleeping (it's not a Christmas movie, but we all love it in my family).

Every year we also do a pinata for the kids. To make sure everyone gets the same amount of candy we divide it up into ziploc bags and then stuff them in the pinata. It's always fun to watch my cousins beat the pinata. This year it was a snowman. My little niece took a whack at it this year. She was really cute. Also, my 2nd cousin (who is 5 months old) got to try with her daddy...she is just a darling little thing. Of course, my older cousins really beat the snowman up (they've got quite a swing). It eventually broke and the kids dashed for their candy.

For some reason we didn't leave that night until about midnight. I was half asleep on the couch wondering why we hadn't left yet (we usually leave when the kids go to sleep).

This post got so long...it looks like I will have to write about Christmas day in another post.