Final post of the year

WHELP!!! Here it is!! The last post of the year! I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to say in this... I just feel like I should probably get one more post in before the year is out.

Break has been good. I've been awful at taking pictures though... The whole family is here! Cept Andrew... I love being with family. It's been different this year... but I guess that's how things go. haha

Shar is expecting her 4th baby!!!!! Due on July 24th. :D :D :D I'm so so so so so excited!!! Kayda wants a sister SO bad! I hope it's a girl. That's been one of the most exciting parts of this whole break. haha Anyways... I've had some good time to sit and relax and sleep and watch awesome movies. Ramona and Beezus is possibly the best movie EVER made. I LOVE it. Seriously. Definitely a new favorite!! haha I've had some good times with the kids and some good times with the siblings and parents. :) Jen is in my room and so we're staying up wayyyyy too late every single night talking! haha I LOVE IT.

Here are some cute pictures from the break so far... again, I've not been very good at getting pictures, but these are my favorites. Kayda was throwing a party, so after I took a shower, she took a bath, then we brushed her hair, put on her favorite clothes, and put on lipstick and earrings. We also painted her fingernails. :) She is the cutest girl EVER. I absolutely adore her. I gave her a locket for Christmas and she said "I want your picture on this side, and my picture on this side. That way, we can always be together." AWWWH!!! hehe I totally almost cried. I love her.

Payson is talking so so much now. Shar took the cheese away from him and he ran away from her crying. I picked him up and was like "Payson, what's wrong?!" he pointed at Shar and just babbled away, totally tattle tailing on her! hahah!! Today he was sitting down and Tucker ran up and took the ball away from Payson. He screamed "OW!! BIT!!" haha I have a feeling he can talk a lot more than he lets us know he can. He said "A PUZZLE!!" when he opened a puzzle from Aaron and "WOAH! Big tree!" when he came in. haha!! He's so cute.

Also, on Christmas day, Jen gave me a poster wrapped like this:

She cut out the letters on the white side... but realized they were backwards. So she did the whole thing backwards so it would look good in the mirror! hahahahahahaha Oh man, I love my family. :P

AAALLLSOOOO!!!! SO EXCITING. OK one night I was checking to see how many minutes I had left and LOOK AT HOW MANY TEXT MESSAGES I HAD!!! ::::

1234!!!! hahaha yeah. I made a wish. hhh... that kind of made my day. lol

Anyways... Here's to a Happy New Year!! :D This year, I hope to get good grades, make wise choices, cook good food, and dance a lot. :P hmmm... I think I need to do some serious thinking about my actual new years resolutions... Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. haha!! anyways!! GOODNIGHT!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Mahh dang...

Daaaang... I wish I was better at blogging. haha Things just get so busy! But, its been a good busy. :) All I can think about right now is that FINALS ARE OVERRR! :D haha They actually went surprisingly well and I'm super stoked about my grades. I did better than I've ever done before. :) Happy day. :) Ok, before we get there... let us start before. lol

So, Thanksgiving was wonderful. It was so good to see Shar and Tom and the kids again! I adore those kids. Kayda and I painted finger nails, braided hair, tried on pretty dresses, and even made necklaces! Well, Shar and I made necklaces for Kayda. It was so fun though!!

On Thanksgiving, we went around the table saying things we were thankful for. :) We each said as many as our age. So we started with Payson and we were like "Payson! What are you thankful for?" and he grinned and said "Cheese!" hahaha SO CUTE! That's pretty much all he can say. Then we asked Kayda and the first one she said was "Prayer." I thought that was so adorable. And of course, all of Jarom's had something to do with the potty. haha!! oh boy... Bring it on 7 years old!

Hehe we tried to have fun outside, but it was FREEEEZING cold! The kids' school got cancelled which was exciting for them. :) And me! haha The roads were pretty bad coming up...  but yeah. It snowed a lot and one morning was like 6 degrees outside. whooo! COLD. I loved the time with Tom and Shar and the kids. They had fun playing with my camera... some of our cooler shots:

haha anyways. After Thanksgiving was pretty much straight shot to finish finals. Things got kind of insane... ASL drove me up the WALL. haha I was supposed to go to 8 labs and I hadn't gone to any. haha we needed two deaf activities and I hadn't done anything. YAY PROCRASTINATION!! All the labs were full and there were only a few more activities we could go to. Long story short, I was able to finish EVERYTHING!!! Seriously, it all just worked out. :) hhh... my final was really funny. I only had to do half of it!! WOOOT! :D The department didn't print out the rest of it. And, my class was too late and the department was already closed. So, I only took half!! WOOT! hahaa my other classes went pretty well. MCom was a nightmare... but that was expected! haha one night, I stayed up ALLLLL night long working on papers. I was writing the final paper for MCom and it just took me wayyy too long. I was in the library till 2 am,  but then came home and wrote mah paper. I finally went to sleep at 7:30, but was up again at 9:30 to turn in the paper... UGH! haha love finals.

Later, I went to the Hill's to make gingerbread houses!! It was SO much fun!! :D Chris was there too... so that was fun. 

Well, between movie nights and a lot of junk food, I made it through finals!! haha I watched the entire 10th season of The Apprentice!! YESSS! love it. On my last day before the break I stayed up pretty much all night cleaning for cleaning checks. I totally passed out on my floor by my heater. haha! oh dear, back to the homestyle ways of falling asleep by the heater! :P At least it's not in the bathroom here. hahaha!!

Then it was off to the airport for hometime... (: 

I'm here now!! I love Sequim. Jen gets here tomorrow, so that should be good! I've gotten to go to a few classes of hula and I LOVE IT! I forgot how much I missed dancing. I love Mahina. I've missed the class so much. hhh... I've learned like 2 new dances and we're learning a Tahitian one!! I can't wait to learn all of that one. It's SO much fun. Anyways... I'm sure I've missed a lot. So, I'll probably be back on to fill in the gaps. hhh... well, that's about it for now. :)

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, Zip-A-Dee-Ay!

WOW!!! What is this for another AMAZING week!!! Haha! I can't even believe how happy I've felt now for exactly two weeks. I mean, I've always been a fairly happy person. But now I think I'm going crazy insane I am so happy. I'm afraid everyone is going to think I'm a crazy immature girl because I'm just SO jump around crazy happy ALLL the time!! haha seriously though. I'm SO happy. And, in this one paragraph I've said "crazy" way too many times. lol It must be true!!

Anyways - we'll start at the top. :) So, Sunday the 17th, my sweet adorable roommate, Paige gave a beautiful relief society lesson on Faith. :) I just adore Paige. She is such a wonderful example to me of what I want to be. She is a very fluent and eloquent teacher. She talked about acting courageously on promptings we are given, and not just hoping for an easier one next time. She talked about not worrying about things, but having trust in the Lord that he will always take care of us. There was a story told about a child who needed to take enzymes every time he ate anything. The parents of this child couldn't give any food to the child until he ate his enzymes, and they often had a hard time getting him to do this. She likened this story to how Heavenly Father is with us. Oftentimes he is up there looking down on us, asking us to do certain things (obey His commandments, follow His promptings, etc.) before we can get the blessings from them (the food). He is begging us to do what is right, and often has a hard time getting us to obey, but he knows what is best for us and knows that we HAVE to follow him before we can get what we want. Just like the parents know that the kid HAS to take his enzymes before he can get food. He knows what is best for us.

On Monday, Emily came and visited me!! We went to the Halloween store and played a bit, and then we went to PetCo and I got to see the ADORABLE doggie they are helping out, Sarge. He is a Great Pyrenees doggie, white. He got hit by a car, so Emily and her group are raising money to get him a surgery. I'm so completely in love with that dog! He's SO cute!! :D I pet him for like 2 hours and he kept laying his head on my lap, and putting his paws on my legs. :) He's so cute. I love Sarge. Aaron picked me up from there and we finally went SHOPPING!! I LOVE FOOD!!! hahah successful trip. I was late to FHE, but that's totally cool. 

Tuesday was pure ... goodness. lol I woke up early and went to campus. I met up with my ComD buddy, Katelin and her friend Paul. We studied together and for a bit and then went to the BYU forum... I only went cuz Katelin wanted me to, it was about whether or not the British could have won the war, so it was kind of boring. lol But he said "Blast those idiots to pieces!" in a sweet British accent, so it was good! haha everyone laughed... and then I finally got my all sports pass. Anyway, then I went a took my Language Development midterm. I studied SO HARD for it... I did alright. I passed at least! lol Then later Tuesday I had my ASL midterm. I forgot a couple things that I wish I hadn't have, but I still got a 91! haha woot! 

Wednesday I went to the temple! :) Then went home... I should have studied for Clinical Phonetics, but I didn't. I went to Halloween City with Paige and we got some stuff for our halloween costumes. :) Thursday I went to Die Zauberfloete with Jeni!!! I LOVE DIE ZAUBERFLOETE!!!! BYU did such an amazing job with it too. Papageno was, once again my absolute favorite. He was AMAZING! :D Their subtitles were a little off... they put an interesting Mormon twist on a lot of things which I thought was really funny... they even said "Magnify your calling!!" at one point and I burst out laughing. HAH! It was funny, but really really really well done. I'm so glad Jeni went with me... I'm glad SOMEONE went with me. lol We had second row seats. :) It was sweet. Front and center.

Friday was our ward Halloween party!!! I was a ninja kitty. It was lawwgit!! The party was pretty cool, Paige was the Cinderella from "A Cinderella Story" and was SO GORGEOUS. WOW. Laree was a nerd. :) haha she is so darling!! Shelby had a test, so she couldn't go. :( But the party was cool. It was mostly a lot of candy... dancing, pumpkin painting, etc. There was a dance off/ costume show off. When I went on the walk way I did a SWEET ninja backwards summer sault!! I felt pretty cool. I had this AMAZING sword that all the guys kept stealing! lol Adam McKell came and stole it from me and was like "Wow, I bet all the guys come and steal your sword!" and I was like "I KNOW!! I should have started wearing a sword around a long time ago!!" hahaha then later he was like "But really, all the guys love you!" and I was like "nah... they only love me for my sword!" haha it was cool. The best part of the night was room 203. lol they all dressed up as black men with huge afros! They had memorized a whole dance to this jackson 5 song! It was FANTASTIC! :D 

Anyways, party was good. After the party, we went to a haunted house that is right next to Enclave and only $1. It was pretty sweet! It was a freakishly long line, but fun. I talked to one of the "black" guys named Nathan. In the haunted house, he got wayyy more freaked than I did and totally almost like broke my arm! haha He was screaming louder than me! I just laughed the whole time cuz I thought it was funny... and that's how I cope with fear... and Nathan was screaming enough for all of us. lol 

Saturday, I woke up early (like 10:30 lol) and went to a BYU tailgate party in the POURING RAIN! lol I just went to get a free T-Shirt. I got it and left. lol Then I waited for Aaron to get home from a test and we went to a BYU game. :) WE WON!! But barely... we're doing so bad this year. It's sad! lol I also went babysitting at the Squire's!!!! YAYYY!!! I love babysitting! :D Those kids seriously make my life a wonderful one. I love those kids so much. I got to see the new baby, Rachel, and she is SO precious!! While there, I became a new member of Isaac's super secret agency. I'm a field agent. :) I even have an ID card! lol Daniel got a bloody nose and the poor kid was like "uuuummmm!!!! Andrea! I don't know what happened!" and he's just dripping blood. lol I didn't get squemish at all!! That's an accomplishment.

Sunday was Paige's birthday!!!! We made her crepes - well, Laree made the crepes and I made a sign. haha! Then we sang to her and ate breakfast together. :)

It was fun. We went to church in the pouring rain and came back and I baked an Angel Food Cake! While it was baking, it overflowed onto the bottom of the oven and smoke attacked our entire house! lol it stunk... but the cake still turned out good!

 

Then, we went puddle jumping!!! It was lawwwgit! My idea of course. I just can't stay away from those puddles. 

We're so freaking cool. lol I love my roommates. 

Later, Aaron and I went to the Squire's for dinner. :) It was SO nice to have real food again!! haha They cooked on the grill and DANG. It was SO good! :D Pro status. Isaac was sad cuz I was doing more talking than playing. So, I skipped town and partied with the boys upstairs! lol Daniel was wearing my shoes and so Isaac started pretending to kiss him saying "We kiss girls!" lol so Daniel threw off the shoes... then they turned to me... like kissing zombies. lol I screamed and ran away! lol they weren't actually gonna kiss me... it was just more a chasing game. When they finally caught me, they were like "ahhh! we're gonna kiss you!!" and Daniel was like "Yeah! And then we're gonna marry you!" haha it was so cute. I love those kids. Matthew didn't really get what was going on, so he was on my side and Daniel and Isaac were kiss attacking him. lol 

Ward prayer was a kick in the hiney! We finally had it in the clubhouse. After ward prayer, we pulled out the Angel Food Cake and sang, once again, to Paige and lit the candles! Then partied some more. lol

Anyways, this week was SO much fun. And, I have a feeling this coming week will be even better. :) I. LOVE. LIFE.

Best I've felt in a long time...

Man, this week has been wonderful!! It all started with a wonderful lesson given by Katie Ruefenacht in Relief Society. She is such an amazing girl. I can't even begin to describe her amazingness. She reminds me a TON of Bailey. I miss Bailey. Anyways, her lesson was about how our worth is completely absolute. It cannot change. It doesn't matter what we do, we will never do anything to make ourselves worth anything less to Him. It doesn't matter who we are, we are not of more worth to Him than anyone else is. No one is of more worth than we are. This really illustrated to me the fact that any time I may judge someone for something, I am really being stupid. They are of the exact same worth as I am. My putting them down will not raise me up in any way - I can not be raised up! I can not gain any worth. I can't lose it either. And that knowledge is SO amazing to me. It's really changed the way I think about myself. Nothing I do will ever make me worth less. I love that.
Anyways. Katie's lesson really made me think about my life. Sunday night was this amazing footie pajama party. The Kiser's came and got me right after ward prayer and made me change into footie pajamas! lol we had so much fun!!! The Kiser's are so cool. We were SO cool:

Tuesday was SUCH a good day. I'll explain elsewhere... But after Tuesday, I feel like a completely different person. Wednesday I walked to the temple and loved every second. I decided I'm going to walk to the temple on Wednesdays as long as I possibly can. I am totally scared for when it gets super cold out, but hopefully I still be able to walk there. :) Walking there just gives the whole experience something special. It's like 40 minutes of pondering on the way there, and 40 minutes back... but it's an easy walk. It's just nice to have the time to myself and the time outside. It really was amazing. :)
 There were some things that I could have let bring me down, but I was SO happy ALL week long. I absolutely adore my life. And, that is SUCH a good feeling. I can't even explain how wonderful it feels to... feel this way. lol AHHH!!! It's so exciting!!! hahaha good gracious.
Friday I went to Cornbelly's with a bunch of friends. SO fun!! I hung on to Jeni for dear life while going thru the haunted parts. I screamed enough for all 10 of us!! haha
We went thru the haunted corn maze, the haunted critter, the little kids haunted maze, we jumped on the big jumpolines, and got pictures in the big cinderella carriage! There was also this really cute little train ride that took us thru the corn maze. :) It was so fun!

Saturday I went to Nightmare on 13th. It's this crazy haunted house!! It was SO fun!! I - once again - hung on to Jeni for dear life. lol there was a part with the Bates Motel that Jeni and I both screamed the whole way thru! LOL bad memories from watching Psycho last year. =/ SCARY!!! hahaha anyways, then we went to The Pie and got some PIZZA!!! hehe I love pizza. We walked around the U of U campus a tiny bit too - I pretended to be a gargoyle on a post thing. :) it was fun! And... then I daydreamed the entire way home. haha I just really really love life right now. I know exactly why, and that makes it even better! lol hhh... LIFE!!! I haven't felt this good - seriously - in like four years. Happy day. :)

And so it begins!

Well, here I am at the arrival of the modern age. I'm getting lazy in my handwritten journaling... so I thought I'd finally switch over to the online journal where anyone and everyone can see exactly what is going on in my life. I have a pretty cool life, so I suppose I don't mind everyone knowing all about it! Anyways... I'll start with introductions.
I am Andrea. In case you didn't know, I love things random and fun. I love to laugh and could never get by in a day without laughing. Sometimes, if I haven't laughed in a while, I'll randomly combust into unquenchable fits of laughter - undoubtedly accompanied by tears and silence. Yeah, if I laugh really hard I don't make any sound at all... I just leak out of my eyes and shake. It's great. But anyways, yeah. I love laughing. And I also love... elephants, the circus, kitties, hula, flowers, footie pajamas, thunder/lightening/rain, SUNSHINE, cookie dough, eeyore, making music videos, blizzards, rocking out to music, chocolate mint cups, potatoes, talking muffins, the helidoctor, Horton Hears a Who, pretty much every pixar movie, Mater, my Taurus, breakfast, fishie crackers, ballroom dancing, edelweiss, June 3, BYU, Boy Meets World, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Harry Potter... hmmm... aaaaand the wicked witch of the west. yep.
My family. I have the COOOOLEST family EVER. I have amazing parents who support me in everything I do. And, by everything? I mean EVERYTHING. My siblings are THE best siblings anyone could ever have. They're my best friends and I don't think I could survive without them. They're always there for me, and always have been. I don't know what I ever did to be blessed with such an amazing family. I love them all so, so much.

Also, I have a friend... her name is Katelyn Turner. She's my BFFFFE. Basically, we have the coolest times EVER known to mankind, and yeah... we rock. She's my best friend in the whole world, and if you want to see some proof of how incredibly awesome we are, here ya go:


TiK ToK Genius
Be Ridiculous

Yeah. We're THAT cool. Pretty awesome huh? I think so. Sad to see only two links up there? Oh, don't worry. There WILL be more. Anyways... she's back at home. But, she'll always be my best friend.

 Anyways, that's about it for me. There's school in the morning! lol buuut - goodnight world.