Laboring to the T

On Labor Day, some of my brother's family and I hiked to the Tooele T. It was a fun, exhausting adventure! We parked in the wrong area, so it was a longer hike than we expected. I almost didn't make it all the way, but I am so glad I did. I really needed to accomplish something so challenging to prove to myself that I can do anything I put my mind and effort to!

I was SO sore after that hike! I will admit that I fell a few times on the way down, resulting in bruises where I sit! Ah, sitting at work  the next day was quite the task!

Below is a picture of my nieces and nephew with me sitting on the T, and a picture of the view from the T.

Here's to the new adventures ahead!

Valentine's Day Creations

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day with some close friends. I wanted to share some fun pictures and projects I made for the holiday. Enjoy!

First, I made this Valentine's Day/ Springtime wreath out of cupcake liners of all things! It was pretty simple to make, and I think it looks like carnations!

These are Pie Pops! I used a cookie cutter to cut out hearts from pie crust, added some Nutella inside, and included a stick in the middle. This bouquet turned out splendid. I had an interesting time gluing the red hots candies to cover the foam, but it was a hit with the family to which I presented it.

While at my friends' house, we decorated cookies! I just love the blank canvas a sugar cookie provides. Here are some of the impressive cookies.

 "Sunshine in My Soul" decorated by myself.

 American Flag decorated by the little brother.

 My "Too Pretty to Eat" cookie.

"A Growing Flower" by me. 

"Chocolate Covered Strawberries" by the mom. 

This next Valentine is something I made because they were such a fun idea with suckers! As you will see in the following pictures, we enjoyed them!

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Paka.

P.S. Be on the lookout for this week's Tasty Tuesday post on Thursday.

Christmas Ships Come Sailing In

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season! One of my favorite activities was going down to the river to watch the Christmas Ships with my nieces and nephew. I really missed the Christmas Ships last year. Going to see them has been a tradition ever since I can remember, and somehow, the Christmas season just doesn't seem complete without them.

(L-R Pixie, Myself, Bookworm, Noodle and Roadrunner in front)

It was a cold, cold, cold night- especially down at the river. We bundled up and played school-yard games to stay warm. Among the games, we played Follow the Leader and Red Light, Green Light. According to my nieces and nephew, I learned the wrong way to play Red Light, Green Light! For all they know, they could be playing the game wrong!

After what seemed like a frozen forever, the ships finally came downriver. They were so beautiful and were definitely worth the wait. Here are the few pictures that turned out not too blurry. Combine night with moving lights and you just have a picture nightmare! I never can seem to use the correct setting on my camera! Does anyone else have this problem?

That last one is a fire engine complete with a loud siren! It was so fun to shout "Merry Christmas" to the ships and wave as they went by. Some of the ships even had Christmas songs playing for us to enjoy!

I absolutely love Christmas!

Birthday Celebrations Part 2

When I got home after school on my birthday, I discovered my bedroom had been birthday-ified by my roommate, Utes.

That night, my visiting teacher treated me to a movie! It was such an amazing movie. We went to see Invictus, and I haven't enjoyed a movie so much in a long time. It's a really uplifting movie about the South African Rugby team and their win in the 1995 World Cup. The story is very powerful and moving, showing that people can move past differences and come together. I highly recommend it to everyone!

What movie would be complete without treats to enjoy during the movie? None. I felt so loved by my visiting teacher because she payed for the movie and for our treats. She even bought me my favorite movie snack: chocolate covered pretzels!

Friday, my sister-in-law and I celebrated our birthday by going out to eat. We chose eat at one of the only Outback Steakhouses in Utah. I'd never eaten there, and the food was FABULOUS!! Outback Steakhouse is my new favorite restaurant as of that meal. Here is a picture of our amazing salads and the Bloomin' Onion.

 That was honestly one of the best salads and steak dinners I have ever had. They can expect my business again!

My last birthday activity was a movie marathon with another of my friends. We watched The 10th Kingdom, or at least most of it. That movie is one of the best epic fairy tales. I enjoyed having WinCo muffins, hot chocolate, and pizza during the five hours that we watched of the movie. We haven't finished it yet, but I already know the ending. I'm not chomping at the bit to find out what happened.

All in all, my birthday this year was quite a birthday! I don't think I could have asked for more. Thank you to all who were involved in celebrating my birthday!

Love you all!

Birthday Celebrations Part 1

Wednesday was my birthday. The celebrations started Tuesday when I picked up my flute from the shop. Such a good birthday present. Tuesday night, I was invited to Hagmoth's house after school, and I was pleasantly surprised when I stepped inside the door to find a plate of cupcakes and a beautiful card waiting for me on the table. The birthday serenade from Hagmoth and her husband is something I encourage everyone to experience in their lifetime. Thanks!

Wednesday morning arrived, along with me accidentally sleeping in a little later than I intended. I got a shock of the morning when Hungry gave me a birthday hug with her cold, wet hair. If that doesn't wake a person up, I don't know what will! It was fun to eat breakfast with Hungry and get ready for the day. I even got to start my birthday service early by dropping her off at school on my way north.

Speaking of birthday service, I began a birthday tradition last year that I hope to continue for the rest of my life. On my birthday, I do some kind of service. It is my gift to myself and to my Heavenly Father. Last year, I went on exchanges with the Sister Missionaries. For this year, I discovered a service I have wanted to do for a while was available at my school on my birthday! I was so excited about it!! I decided to give blood for the first time as my birthday service.


I will admit that I was a little nervous to give blood for my first time, but the experience was wonderful. I answered some questions, had my finger pricked, sat down in a chair, watched my arm be covered in iodine and then felt the small stick of the needle. Other than the sting from the iodine, giving blood wasn't bad at all! I will definitely make it a regular occurrence in my life. I even go to drink one of my favorite kinds of juices after I was done. Here is a picture of me with my bandage of honor!


This concludes Part 1 of the celebrations. Please stay tuned for our next episode.

Christmas Spirit

I had the opportunity to spend Christmas with my brother and his family this year. It was a wonderful holiday full of love and the Spirit. On Christmas Eve, it is their tradition to look at Christmas lights on houses. I loved it! We drove around town looking at the light displays while singing along to the Little People Christmas Songs nearly at the top of our lungs! After we finished, we read the Christmas Story out of Luke 2.

I would attribute how much of the Spirit I felt this Christmas to reading the Book of Mormon. My stake president issued a challenge to finish the Book of Mormon before the end of the year, so I decided to try my best to do so. The only thing is I started last week! I have felt my testimony in the Savior grow exponentially in the last few days as I have feasted on the scriptures. The increase of the Spirit in my life is without a doubt the best Christmas gift I could ever receive. In light of that thought, I wanted to share a video with you even though it is after Christmas. Enjoy!

May the spirit of Christmas be with you all year long.

The Wizard of Christmas

You know you have an amazing friend when he spontaneously dresses up like this while decorating a Christmas tree! Behold, the Wizard of Christmas*!

I sure enjoyed my time with JoJo this week. We talked and talked about everything. It's really wonderful to have a friend who can explain gospel topics to me and who can help me see where I need to improve. JoJo is amazing from his silliness to his devotion to the Lord. I'm so glad he is my friend.

Have a wonderful Christmas. May the Wizard of Christmas bring a bit of holiday laughter into your home!

* According to JoJo, this is what would happen if Santa Claus and Harry Potter were to run into each other at a very high speed.

Decorations of Red

It's Christmas time!!! That means decorations come out of storage and dusted off for another Christmas Season! Or it means decorations need to be purchased at the store so that next year they can be pulled out of storage! :)

This is my first Christmas away from home, and I noticed my apartment drastically needed some Christmas Cheer. So, I went to ShopKo (a fabulous store by the way) and purchased decorations for our fireplace.




I am quite pleased with how things turned out. What do you think?

What's next on my list? There's finish studying for my finals, see the Lights on Temple Square, obtain a stocking for Santa to fill, buy a few presents, make a few cards, listen to Cinnamon Bear, practice my flute solo for the Ward Christmas program, and enjoy the Christmas Season!

22 days till Christmas!

P.S. I'd like your opinion about the new background. Please answer in the poll to the right. Thanks ever so much!

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Nothing says "Happy Halloween" like carving pumpkins! That's right, my friends! For FHE on Monday, we carved pumpkins for our ward Pumpkin Carving Contest- to be judged at our Halloween Party on Friday.

Hungry and I spent some time Sunday night looking up stencils for something cool to carve. We found one we liked, but the printer had other ideas for us when we tried to print on Monday. Once at FHE, Hungry picked the perfect pumpkin for our design. One of the FHE dads cleaned out our pumpkin, and we started carving!



Despite not having a stencil, I think our pumpkin turned out rather amazing! Of course, with two amazing gals carving it, our pumpkin couldn't help but be amazing!

Here it is! Our amazing Americana Jack o' Lantern!!

Now, I have to put the finishing touches on my costume for Friday. It's going to be awesome!

Steppin' Out With My Honey

Memorial Day Weekend: A time for sun, food, family, friends, and usually some traveling.

This weekend was a lot of fun! I almost wish it hadn't ended. I visited Mister E's family with him. We drove over Saturday afternoon, stopping for milkshakes at a great diner that I know of on the way! As we were nearing town, we caught a glorious sunset.


On Sunday, I experienced my first bonfire. Alright, alright... It wasn't really my first bonfire, but it was the first one I can remember in a backyard! All of us enjoyed roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the coals of the first fire and the flames of the second fire!


Boy, were those coals hot. The longer the stick, the less heat you had to endure! But the food was really good. I have to admit that I ate more than my fair share of s'mores! In my defense, Mister E was trying to roast the marshmallow the way I prefer, which took several attempts and sampling.


While the entire weekend was wonderful, I especially enjoyed hanging out with his family without having to "share" them with others. We went to the river on Monday to go swimming... rather wading in the freezing cold water! Swimming was just not an option in that temperature. We did manage to get a little wet, though.


Mister E's house is very lovely. The yard is full of fruit trees and nut trees. There are trees everywhere! I absolutely fell in love with all the apple, pear, cherry, plum, peach, and walnut trees strewn about the property. By suggestion from his mom, we posed for pictures at one of the walnut trees. The pictures where he is smiling just happen to be the ones that aren't clear. Ah, the irony.


It was such a beautiful weekend, and the beauty of the land grows on you. Many beautiful sunsets are seen as well.

Proposals 101

When proposing to a lady, there are several factors to take into consideration.

1) There must be a girl.


2) There must be a guy.


3) There must be a ring (a proper fit is helpful).


4) It's all about location, location, location!!!
Here are a few examples.

The beach is always a nice setting, with the waves providing soothing natural music.

A deserted parking lot provides a secluded spot for dancing after she says yes.

A converted railroad bridge can enhance the sweet moment of surprise.

The hilltop overlooking the city is the perfect place to enjoy a post-proposal kiss.

The ideal place to propose is a place where the girl is least likely to suspect it- such as, my personal favorite...

The Ice Cream Aisle in Safeway!!!

Caution: If choosing to propose in a store...

choose your aisle carefully. Some aisles are more photogenic than others!

(I.E. Not the toilet seat aisle.)

However you choose to propose, remember to have fun!

Many thanks to my fellow Joy School Alum for enjoying such a fun and proposal-filled St. Valentine's Day!

***No proposals were accepted in the making of this post. ***