We got so much snow the whole week of Christmas. It was definitely a white Christmas!! Here are a few fun pictures of my Dad and brothers building a giant snowman in our front yard the day after Christmas.
14 foot snowman!! Jordan is about 6'6" just for a comparison...

Gotta love the canoe paddles as arms!

Sledding through the neighborhood!

Blogging Accident :(

I am sad to say that I was changing my blog settings the other day and messed the whole thing up...my format, background, and links to other blogs somehow disappeared with one click. It was late and after that I just got frustrated with it and gave up. I just wanted to put that out there so you don't judge me by my blog...or lack of blog :) Someday I will get around to fixing it, somehow I will find all your links again and re-add them one by one. Unless somebody knows of an easier way to get them back--do tell!

Just 9 Inches!

Yes, I did it...I have talked about it for long enough...what you ask? About a month ago I chopped 9 inches off my hair!! Ahh, I didn't know it was even that long until I saw it lying on the floor and it was too late!! Its been a fun change!

Before

After

PS- for those of you wondering...Yes, I am dating the cute boy (Mike) in the pictures!!! :)

Happy LATE Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving this year I had the chance to go to Las Vegas with my family to visit relatives. It was a fun weekend full of good food and family! I am so THANKFUL for my family! The day after Thanksgiving we went to see Hoover Dam. It was quite impressive, and I learned a lot. Here are a few pictures I took...

Birthdays and Babies!!!

I have decided my blogging comes in spurts....usually I get around to posting on my blog way after the event is over. By that time more has happened and I just wonder which one I should put up now? Life is good but so busy all the time so I guess that's what my blogging will have to be...spurts of updates all at once!! :) Birthdays and new baby nephews are just a few of the exciting things going on in the last month!

Dad's Birthday was September 21. Mom and Dad were in Idaho for the weekend, when they walked in the door we had a mini surprise birthday party for dad. We (all 6 of us) hid in the pantry and jumped out to surprise dad! It was a lot of fun...I think the most fun I had was getting ready for it and helping/watching Janelle make this awesome 2 layer yellow and chocolate cake late the night before!

We decided to decorate dad's chair with his birthday present instead of wrapping it!! Brandon's birthday was October 10th, and Josh's 15th birthday is October 19th! I cant believe my little brother is 15!! Happy Birthday guys!
Hadley Lynn was born on September 13th!!! This last Saturday and Sunday I had the chance to go to Rexburg to see my new nephew Hadley be blessed on Sunday. I had a great weekend in Rexburg visiting my family, old roomates, and roomates who recently returned from missions. It is always a strange feeling being back in Rexburg-but not as a student...makes me miss it a little...then I saw the poor students walking around in the freezing cold. Ohh I do remember and do not miss those days!!!

Saturday afternoon my family went to the straw maze. Because Brandon works with the people who run the maze it was just our family running all over in the maze before it opened. We had a lot of fun! here are a few pictures to show how much fun we had!! Maura, Janelle, and I! I LOVE fall!
Brandon, Sandra, Bryson and baby Hadley after the baby blessing on Sunday. Bryson was being a cute older brother and trying to give Hadley kisses for the picture! Thanks for the great weekend guys-we had so much fun visiting you!!

The View From Up Here...

Many of you have reminded me that I still needed to post a picture of the "view from the top" of my office in the Key Bank building. Below is a picture from my office as an Intern with Intermountain Healthcare on the 21 floor. This picture was taken while standing at my desk....Amazing huh?

I had a great experience and learned so much from the people I worked with. I learned so much about healthcare from writing articles and radio scripts. My favorite projects were always the web related ones...to create a new promo or news announcement, then post it and be able to see my work online!! They treated me so well and I really did enjoy the time and the work I did there. However, I am sad to say this is no longer my view....BUT I am excited to tell you I found a job working in the HR department of Young Living, an essential oils company. http://www.youngliving.com/index.faces This is a company I was looking into before my internship that had an opening in HR and asked me if I would be interested. My first day will be this coming Monday. I am really excited and know I will learn a lot about HR....not to mention it will now take me 5 minutes to get to work compared to the hour I spent before!!!

UPDATES...

There has been a lot of excitement and a lot has happened in the last week! Last Friday we had a birthday party for my nephew Bryson's 2nd Birthday! It was a fun day and a blast to see him slowly open his presents piece by piece!! I forgot how exciting it is to see little kids open gifts!

Saturday my brothers Jordan and Garrett received their Eagle Scout Awards. Their Court of Honor was a lot of fun and we had a great family dinner afterwards. At the Court of Honor the boys put on a very entertaining musical number. Jordan played the guitar, Garrett sang and played the piano, and the third boy sang. It was a lot of fun! Here are a few pictures from the day!

Rodeo Time!

Last night I witnessed my first real rodeo...I don't think you cant get more real than a Spanish Fork Rodeo! It was quite the event! I wasn't able to get too many cool pictures but they do some crazy dangerous things. We saw some bull riders, I am amazed that someone can do something like that for a living. Just watching them made me hurt more than I already do from my first attempts at wake boarding Saturday with the YSA branch (I did get up though:). My favorite event was the 'muttin-bustin' where the little kids ride the sheep to see how long they can hold on. I didn't get a picture of this either...it seemed that every time I pulled my camera out to take a picture the event was over! Here are a few I did get!

This clown was crazy...I missed the action shot but he rode the dirt bike off the ramp over the top of that trailer and truck!

Happy 4th of JULY!

I love the 4th of July! This year was a lot of fun, I realized that this is the first year since 2003 that I have been home on the 4th of July! Since 2004 I have been in Idaho at school for the 4th of July and always go to Idaho Falls for the day and watch their fireworks on the Snake River. It was fun to be back with my family for the day but I also miss the good old summer days in Idaho!

On the 4th my family went four-wheeling in the Fariview mountains! The weather was perfect and I had a blast with my family!

Janelle and Maura glossing their lips so the dirt will stick better! :) and the boys playing horse-shoes...

Me and my mom just getting back from a ride!

Janelle, Maura, and I waiting for the fireworks to start!
Mom, Janelle and I at the fireworks! I had fun with Janelle that night, it was the last time I will see her before her and Logan head off to Europe tomorrow!!

I have an OFFICE!!!

Well to update you all on my job...I love it! I have been working for IHC just over a week now and am really liking it. On my first day I was given an office...YES, I know that's what I thought too! I have an office with a key and nameplate and everything. The best part about it is that I have an amazing view of the capital and corner of temple square all from my window on the 21 floor. I was so excited and amazed they were giving me the office. I'm expecting to get kicked out any day now...I was actually expecting some corner cubicle or something, so I will just enjoy it while it lasts, its so beautiful! My first day was great, it was a lot of information to take in, lots of people to meet, and 8 elevators going to different floors to get lost in, but overall I left excited. I even got to go online to choose what artwok I wanted to order for my bare office walls!! They took me to lunch on my first day and I was able to get to know the people I will be working with better. I feel like they really trust my work and just let me do my thing. I like that! This week I have been writing welcome messages for all their many clinics and posting them online. Here is the link for one I wrote this week. Its the message below "Welcome to South Sandy Clinic". http://intermountainclinics.org/southsandy/home.html I feel like I am learning a lot about writing for the internet, like what words to use to make your site come up more frequently in searches. The only downside to this job is the drive. Because its downtown it does take some time to get there in rush hour traffic. Good thing I drive an economy car! Other than the drive things are going great!! I will have to take a picture of my office with the view so you'll all believe me! For now you'll have to take my word for it...and check out the link!

A new JOB!

I haven't written on my blog much lately because I haven't felt like there was much exciting going on in my life to write about. If I did write about what I did every day for the last month and a half I'm sure I'd bore all of you with my lame job hunting stories of strange Internet recruiters, job frustrations, and my boredom. But within one day that all changed. I feel like all my hard work and searching is finally paying off. Ya, sure I could have taken any random job but I wanted to stick it out and wait for something I really wanted, something I would enjoy, and use my degree. So, with that being said...I have a JOB!

This morning I had an interview downtown with Intermountian Health Care (IHC) Communications Department. I felt like it went really well, and it was a pretty long interview, about an hour. After the interview I was put in an office and given a writing assignment...ya know, just to test my skills! Talk about pressure! I left the interview feeling pretty confident and excited to hear back. Only two hours later they called me back wanting references to contact. I gave them 3 references and decided I better call my references too just to give them a heads up someone may be calling about me. I called one of my references and she said..."oh I just hung up with them". They beat me to it, not even 5 minutes had passed- man they move quick! They then called me back about an hour after that asking for my social security number to do some "checks". I missed that call and had to call them back later. Within 15 min of giving it to them they called me back and offered me the job!! I am pretty excited! Things literally changed overnight!

So you are curious what my new job is? I will be working for Intermountian Health Care's Web Development team writing welcome messages for specific clinics and each physician. There are many clinics, physicians, and events that happen and the web is the first place everyone looks for information. I get to help update that information, coordinate pictures, and other projects in the Communications Department. I will start as a full time intern and hopefully things will work into a full time position at the end of summer after we have all tested the waters a bit!

I am really excited and plan to actually enjoy being unemployed for the next few days, now that I have a job. I officially start next Thursday but go in tomorrow for a drug test and Wednesday all day for training. I will keep you posted on how it all goes!!

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Last week I went to Disneyland-The Happiest Place on Earth! I had a blast with my whole family. It was a pretty happy place and great to just play and relax. All 11 of us from my family, including spouses and my nephew were there. There is always quite a bit going on around my house so we celebrated a few events with this trip- The last family vacation before Jordan leaves on his mission, my brother-in-law Logan and I graduating from college, and my mom's birthday! We even had a surprise birthday cake Thursday night thanks to Janelle and Logan!

We spent Wednesday night in Vegas at my Grandparents house and drove to California Thursday morning. Thursday we spent in Disneyland and Friday in California Adventure. Saturday we went swimming in the awesome pool at our place in Newport Beach and then went to Disneyland. It was so hot with the heat and humidity walking around all day really wore us out! I learned I NEVER want to drive in California! There are so many roads and changes every few feet...oh and not to mention toll roads!! Those were a ride in itself!

My favorite part was just being all together with my family, watching my cute nephew, and great- but overpriced food!!! I loved the parades and awesome show on the water. My favorite rides were Space Mountain (when its not closed), Tower of Terror, and Soaring over California.

I had a blast and Im glad I got to go to the happiest place on earth with the people I love!

Make your MARK in the world!

As you may know I recently graduated from BYU-Idaho....the best school ever!!! I absolutely loved my four years there and will miss being in such a great place. I had so many great experiences and learned so much about myself. The Rexburg temple has become one of my favorite temples as I was able to watch it be built, serve there, and even attend in the celestial room for the dedication. The dedication was truly a highlight of my days in Rexburg...along with the many snowy days, blistering cold, library naps, daily peanut butter sandwiches, and the many summer adventures! :) As I now move on to a new phase in life I'll admit...its exciting and scary!Elder Ballard spoke to the BYU-I graduates at commencement about making our mark in the world. Elder Ballard's whole talk was directed towards how we can be an influence in the media and digital world. I was excited because it relates directly to my major, Communications-Public Relations! Looks like I choose right! Elder Ballard talked about speaking up in the world, making our standards known, being a voice for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He told graduates to use their knowledge and testimony to influence those seeking for the truth through the digital world. "Today I want to encourage you to reach out to others in the world to help change the perception and even the hearts of millions of our Heavenly Father's children by correcting misunderstandings by sharing with them the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ," he said. "Elder Ballard suggested that graduates join in conversations on the Internet to share the gospel and to explain the message of the Restoration in simple, clear terms."Elder Ballard encouraged graduates to participate in new media and always remember that they are followers of the Savior Jesus Christ. It was a great talk and something we can all remember to make our mark in the world!

To cure the BOREDOM

I am new at this whole blogging thing so you will have to be patient while I figure it out. I'm not sure how frequently ill even update it but I wanted to at least get one started...that and I am bored out of my mind job hunting today. I figured I had 2 interviews today, that was productive, now I can do something fun! So here we go...I hope this is fun!