Updates in 2013

Okay okay..... I KNOW it's been a LONG time since I've last blogged. Kind of crazy really because I love it but life just kind of got busy ya know? That's still no excuse.... I need to blog and write down my thoughts and life so my friends and family can keep in touch ;)

So anyways....here's what is happening or has happened in the past months since I last blogged.....warning...it might be a lot to read but there are pictures to keep you entertained as well :)



October 2012:

Had to work on Halloween.... don't worry it wasn't too exciting. I did stop by my adopted family afterwards to see the kids all dressed up. Nothing really to report other than spending time with friends and working a ton ;)

 I've been blessed to be able to go to the temple at least once a month now and it's just so great that I can actually go!!! It's hard moving from having the temple 10 minutes from your house to 3 hours away. But it definitely makes me appreciate the temple more and the blessings that come from going!

I spent Thanksgiving with the Hathenbrucks. They are my adopted family here and I just love them! I wasn't able to go home for the holidays so it was nice to be able to have somewhere to go.

I also spent Christmas with them and I just love these two! Not going to lie....Thanksgiving was hard not being with family...my first time ever by the way away from family (extended included) for the holidays and it was rough but I felt so loved. They made me feel right at home. Christmas was even harder but I am so grateful for the love and kindness this family has show me.

Also spent New Years with them....surprised don't be haha. This isn't the greatest picture but it shows you we like to have a good time ;)

It's always nice to feel appreciated and that's exactly what the Elders Quorum in our Branch did for us! We had a women's appreciation night it was awesome. Of course with friends like Brittney it always is a blast! I just love her!

 This guy is still going strong on the mission and I just love hearing from him and getting pictures!!! I had to add one just so you know he is doing well and having a good time. I just sent him a care package and I'm dying to hear how he liked it. According to Auntie he loved it though so that's good ;)

 I hit my one year mark at work. Weird how fast time has flown by.... I miss these lovely ladies though! I think a little reunion is much needed and soon!

 We've gotten snow... not as much as other places but enough for this Cali girl! This was at work one day.... the most I've ever seen at work and it was falling hard. It was pretty though...just didn't like driving in it!

Okay I hate to admit it but I was sick ALOT this winter. First I got a cold, then got over it and would get another one. Then....got even sicker before I got better. And then something else hit and it was like a never ending process of bad health. Don't worry though I'm doing ALOT better! Minus the allergies but they are under control for the time being. :)

 Got to go tubing with the Branch and it was loads of fun. Next time though I need to remember to bring gloves!! That was a mistake haha but it was fun!

 Went shooting and had a blast!!! Shot my first shot gun ever and it was so cool!!! I'm a newbie at it but it was a blast! I want to go again!

 This lovely lady got her mission call to the Birmingham Alabama mission. I just love her she is fantastic! Our good friend Alissa took pictures of us and we had a blast! Steph kept saying the camera loved her more than me but we all know it was pretty much equal ;)

 I FINALLY got to see my mom and Bret!! They came out for like two days and it was so great just to have them here to visit!! We went to the Four Corners Monument and Bret thought that was pretty neat to stand in 4 places at once!

 I just love this kid! He makes me smile!! I miss him....BUT I get to see him soon so it will be awesome!!

 Breakfast at IHOP before Steph left to report to the MTC. I miss her ALOT but I hear from her weekly so it's good :) I just love her so much!! And I'm so proud of her decision to serve and teach others the Gospel!

 Had a lovely girls night down in Albuquerque. I had a blast with these two. And of course I loved doing two temple sessions while we were there :)

 Okay....I just can't believe my little brother is 18 and his papers are IN! We are just waiting for a call! How crazy is that?! I just love him and he is going to be an awesome missionary!

 I recently went to my first carnival ever.... I know I know. Crazy right?! We have them in Cali all the time and I have never gone!! It was so much fun though! We had a blast!! And I caught some fish!!  It was a blast and of course I was with some pretty awesome people which made it so much fun!!

 That's pretty much the happenings right now. I am in the works of moving into another place with two friends of mine. It's a work in progress only because I may not be able to get out of my lease early but I'm trying to....so we will see what happens :)


In less than 3 weeks I will be going home for a week and a half and I'm SO excited!!! It's been 9 months since I've been home and seen my family all together so I'm EXCITED!!! It will be awesome!!! And I will try to be better at blogging. This blog is probably still going to go private so make sure I know you read this so I can add you to the list when I do make it private! Now it's time for me to clean and get ready for the rest of my day :)

Utah!!! :)

With my new schedule (which sadly is changing again supposedly :/ ) I work six days in a row and have six days off. So what better to do then go to Utah on my days off?! Yes!!! It actually wasn't planned that my mom and brothers were also going to be in Utah but it was great to be with the whole family for Father's day weekend :) Chad had baseball camp so he drove up with Jeri and then my mom and Bret drove up Wednesday and I drove up Thursday :)

Thursday I got in around 3ish and then we all went and picked up Chad and Brad from baseball camp. We went to the new City Creek Mall in Salt Lake and it is FANTASTIC!!! LOVED IT! I can't wait to go again!!! We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory which was bomb! Then Jeri and Aaron dropped Brad off at the airport while my mom, boys and I shopped :) 

Friday we went to Seven Peaks Water Park! It was super busy but not too bad. All the slides were awesome and I loved going on a double tube with Bret. Haha he cracks me up! Chad was pretty funny too screaming for fun on some of the slides and dumping my mom out at the end lol. It was nice to soak up the Sun even though it wasn't in Cali ;) Afterwards we went back to Jeri's and showered then headed over to Aaron's for pizza and movie night. We had some yummy Papa John's pizza (I haven't had ANY Papa John's since I moved which is CRAZY) and watched the Dark Knight. Now I can't wait for the Dark Knight Rises movie in July ;) 

Saturday was kind of a chill day. In the morning us girls went to this cute store Jeri showed us that has all sorts of fun decor and crafts. Of course I got stuff to decorate my house with.... maybe I should take pictures haha ;) Then we went and got groceries for our BBQ. We had a BBQ with Drew and Taylor at a park near Jeri's. It was totally so much fun!!! Bret was so excited to see Drew and was such a good helper with Collin. He loved playing with him :) After Drew and Taylor headed home, Chad and I went and saw Men In Black 3. It was so great!! haha I laughed alot it was cute but maybe it was late so I just liked it more who knows lol

Sunday we went to Jeri's ward for church. To be honest....the past three Father's Day I haven't really wanted to go to Sacrament and hear all the talks about how great people's Father's are and all that Jazz. The first year we were in San Diego but the past two we haven't been. A year ago was super tough in my singles ward Sacrament meeting hearing all the talks and it just made me miss Dad that much more. So honestly I wasn't totally thrilled about going through that again but church is important and the Sacrament is VERY important and I was with family so of course I was going. Drew and Taylor had actually invited me up to their ward but since Mom and the boys were leaving after church, I decided we should all go together to Jeri's ward. It was actually a great sacrament meeting and didn't make me all emotional haha. I loved it. Afterwards we all drove back to Jeri's and Mom and the boys packed up the car and left. I was sad to see them leave but I knew I would see them in just a few short weeks so it was okay :) A few hours later I headed up to Drew and Taylor's for dinner and to spend the night. It was totally awesome! We had shish kabobs (I hope that's spelled right lol) and some rootbeer and trifle! It was awesome! Drew is such a great Dad and I am so thankful Drew and Taylor let me come spend Father's Day evening with them. It was great to just spend time with them. Taylor actually went upstairs to put Melia to bed and so Drew and I were playing legos with Collin. After like ten minutes though Collin decided he was done but Drew and I still were playing with them haha. We had a good much needed chat that night so I don't mind that we were playing with toys with no kid around ;)

The next morning I headed over to the SLC airport to pick up my cousin Brad and his friend Jeremy to take them to EFY. We drove back to Provo and Brad was craving some Cafe Rio. It was almost ten in the morning and check in was at 11. We found one in Provo and got there around 10:25. We had to wait for five minutes before they were officially open but the boys got their Cafe Rio and were all set to go :) We then attempted to try and find where they were supposed to check in. Mind you, I am not familiar with BYU campus at ALL so a good text to Aaron really helped and guided me in the right direction. After what seemed like forever standing in the hot sun in line the boys were checked in. The next thing was to take them to the dorms. That was pretty easy and simple with the map they gave me :) After I dropped them off and said good bye to Brad I headed back to Jeri's to do some much needed laundry. I had told Taylor I would be back in in the afternoon but I was much later than I thought ;/ Funny thing is when you do laundry at the laundromat you are done in an hour with three loads. With one washer and dryer it takes longer but silly me I forgot that! haha. It was all good though. I headed back up to Drew and Taylor's and then we all headed over to Paula and Alan's while Drew gave the kids piano lessons. Afterwards Drew, Taylor and I and the kids went to this place called the PIE. I hope that's right but whatev... it was so GREAT!!! I'm actually craving the pizza Taylor and I had it was SO good! Next time I'm in Utah we have to go again! We headed back to the house and then chatted with Drew and Taylor until late. Then I drove back to Provo. I'll admit I was sad to leave :( I really love talking with Drew and Taylor and I hope that I can be in Utah more so I can all the time!!! And of course see some of my other cousins too!!!

I had debated leaving Tuesday after I did a session at the Provo temple but....my sister kind of was sad that the past two days I hadn't been with her so I stayed another night. Tuesday morning I went to Provo in attempts to do a session and did sealings instead! I was stoked! I love doing them! I was really overwhelmed with how large the Provo temple is and got lost but thankfully there were kind people everywhere to help me! After the session I went back to Jeri's and took a nap. Then decided to do some grocery shopping since the next day I was driving home and after that working six days. First though I made a stop at a scrub store and bought me some new scrubs. I absolutely love them! I need to get more! After shopping Jeri was home was I went home and then we caught up with life then went to dinner at this Mexican restaurant in Provo. It was really good. I loved their salsa. Afterwards we went next door (not really...like a block down but that's what Aaron said ;) ) to get some Gelato. We got some then walked around a bit. It was cool. Then we headed back to Jeri's and I packed up my car. Then Jeri and I talked for like an hour before falling asleep.

The next day I headed out and said goodbye to Jeri and Utah. I miss it already! I'll be back in Utah in August but in Park City. I'm excited for that. Anyways... here are pictures from my fun trip!! I figured you got all the reading out of the way now time to look at pretty pictures ;) I didn't take as many as I should have though...oh well it's all documented in writing :)

The temple from the City Creek Mall

Chillin at City Creek 

Soakin up the sun at Seven Peaks!

After church on campus... Bret really liked the desks at each seat he kept trying to pull his up during Sacrament haha

Provo Temple

The view from the temple... pretty!

Bret being such a great helper with Collin!

Ohana Means Family :)

I absolutely LOVE spending time with my family. Not just my immediate family but extended family as well!!

What I love most is that we all love each other no matter what. Sure there are times when things planned don't go the right way and it gets stressful but hey that's life. We sure have a lot of laughs too which always makes my day. I love spending time with family.

We had the opportunity to go to Canada for Christmas. Let me tell you, I was nervous/excited! The last time I was in Canada for Christmas I was five. So yeah....long time ago! Plus I was worried I would freeze but it actually wasn't too bad. I still wore my down coat to like everywhere but it was so much fun to spend time with the Stouffer side of the family.  Here are pictures of our fun filled week :) Sorry it is a lot but I didn't want to do a million posts lol

*At the Airport

Bret and Mom waiting for our food (we were starving!)

Chad and I.... he smiled :) 

*On the Plane

Bret ready to go!

Chad and Mom

Me and Bret

*Hockey (I'm only posting one picture here b/c Hockey deserves it's own post :) )

Tanner's Team...don't worry I'm working on a post for all our hockey adventures :) 

*Nativity- We went to this really cool Nativity where they did the Christmas story and had real animals and everything!! It was fun!

Jeri and Mom before we left. Haha we had to gear up for the coldness

Mom, Grandpa and Jeri

Jeri and Chad

Me and Jeri.... I have a cheesy smile but I was kind of cold and didn't really want to admit that lol 

Me and my bro sporting our awesome hats Ian gave us! Love them! 

Gregory and Bret 

Tanner and Bret-- Bret LOVED spending time with Tanner!

Carissa, Tanner and Bret sporting their boots lol

Part of the group <3

More of the group! I LOVE this photo except Kenzie's eyes are closed

Jeri, Chad and I after the Nativity

Me and Auntie Jill

*Christmas Eve Dinner, Christmas Day and Dinner :)

 I didn't get a lot of pictures both days. Mainly because I was enjoying the moments. And sadly I didn't capture everyone either but it was great spending time with Family. On Christmas eve we had appetizers and soup. Sadly the Singletons couldn't join us because they had another family dinner but at least we were able to spend Christmas day with them!! :) Christmas day Bret woke me up and I felt like it was 430 in the morning. No joke. I was SO tired! It was actually 730. Needless to say I went back to bed after stockings and presents before church at 1 p.m. We went to church then came back home and got ready to go to Shauna and Ryan's. We spend the evening there and had an awesome Christmas dinner with Turkey and all that goes with it! After dinner we sang some Christmas songs and just had a wonderful time with all the family that was there. It was great!

Kiki making the punch with Poppy on Christmas Eve

Mom, Jeri and Jill hard at work

Our Fam on Christmas :) 

Table for Christmas dinner 

Mom and Auntie Jill

Ian! So glad I met him he is awesome!! 

Sweet Kenzie! Love her!

Auntie Erin and Audrey! Love!

Bret playing the piano

*Heritage Park-- So one of the days we went to Heritage Park. Apparently during the summer it's really fun with lot's to do but sadly during the winter the only thing open is Gasoline Alley. This place had a bunch of old cars and gasoline pumps. It was kind of cool but after about 10 minutes, you are kind of done. Bret of course had to do their hockey challenge and get this ball into the circle of this board. After like a million tries he finally got it and his name was announced. I didn't get a picture of that... he was with Auntie Shauna but at least he had some fun :)

Bret on.... PLASTIC...ice. Yep that's fake ice which I thought was kind of funny because it's Canada haha. 

Here are some other pictures and things we did during our fun stay as well:

One of our first nights there... Bret tasting snow lol 

View from Grandma's

Mom of course reading 

Bret wrapping gifts

Jeri being a goof ;) 

So so tired taking a little snooze 

Pretty skies at Grandmas

*Movies (Mission Impossible and Sherlock Holmes)
*Reading, crocheting, blogging and FB in what little spare time I had :)

We had a lot of fun but Christmas went by WAY too fast and I was really sad when it was over and we flew home. Loved the good times with the Stouffer side. Hopefully soon I can visit some of the Thompson families as well. I love family!! :)