Thanksgiving in Utah

This was my first year away from the fam for Thanksgiving. I had to stay in Utah if I wanted to keep my job at the Lobster... So here I am!

I woke up early yesterday morning and drove home so I could get started on my sweet potatoes. I tried some new recipes and made things I've never made before. I loaded up my car and headed to Grandma Nixon's house where I ate meal #1.

Please note the side pony.

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Bon apetite!

When that was over, I took the rest of it to the girls' house so we could have round 2 :) I have to say, Thanksgiving on my own was really fun, and pretty dang extravagent (compliments of Bree, Kelsey, and myself. Emily helped in Spirit!)

When the girls and I sat down to eat, we listed some things we were thankful for.

This Thanksgiving I am very grateful for friends.

Family who loves me

School and a job

Support and blessings from God

A life full of purpose

To know what I want, where I'm going, and what I believe in

And last but not least, my health

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I almost forgot! At the end of the night, we were driving to see a movie and we saw a UFO!!! We pulled over and stared at it for a few minutes and I still have NO idea what it was. It landed in a little field off of University Avenue and we all jumped out and ran to go find it. I said to my friends "this is the part in a scary movie when the whole audience is thinking 'Don't get out of your car!'" We weren't able to find it. so it will forever be a mystery. Here it is in all its glory:

ahem...

"as your belief and trust in God increase, your fear of man and what he may say or do will decrease in direct proportion."

alright just take a deep breath

I miss thee Arizona
I miss Becca dear, and my family.
I hope everyone has a beautiful Thanksgiving week!!

In the mean time, you know where to find me.
That's right, Red Lobster in Orem.

A testimony of tithing

I procrastinate many things, and tithing is one of them. Each year, instead of taking ten percent of each paycheck and giving it to my bishop at the time, I tallie up my paychecks all year and make one large tithing check at the end of the year.

Yes, it is MUCH harder this way and I don't know why I insist on doing it every year.

This year was particularly difficult, because I'm broke as a joke. I reluctantly paid my tithing on Sunday at my tithing settlement appointment.

Now here is where it gets interesting. I was nervous about where I would come up with money I needed before I would get my next paycheck, and the Lord blessed me.

Do you guys remember when I did Junior Miss? A completely embarrassing scholarship pageant that takes place your senior year of high school? Well, my friends, when I competed in this pageant, I won a scholarship in the Academic portion. I procrastinated submitting my winning certificate, and completely forgot to obtain the money I won. About a year later, I remembered and tried to get the money. Didn't happen.

Well two and a half years later, what do you know but Junior Miss sent me a check in the mail. Two days after I had paid my tithing. Wow.

Some experiences are simply undeniable. I know God lives.

improper karma

Are you KIDDING me.

You would think that, since I don't eat meat/kill animals, they would do me a favor by leaving me alone.

Well that just isnt the case. You all remember the gopher from the summer. You remember the bat that lived in my chimney and somehow got out into my room. You even remember the time Woody (the dog) brought a dead bird inside. The trend has continued.

I was being a good girl and cleaning my room/filing a million papers that have been sitting on my desk this semester. When I opened my filing box to put some things in, I noticed some mouse poop inside. "Ew" I thought, and decided to pull all of the files out to dump any mouse poop into a trash can. Well guess what? Where there is mouse poop, there is also a mouse. Yep, a dead smashed mouse at the bottom of my cute brown suede filing box that I ended up throwing away.

I didn't scream, I didn't cry, but I freaked out for a good ten minutes and kept saying "I don't know what to do". Boy, do I love animals.

Bradley David Cluff

Today is Bradley's birthday and I want to give him a special tribute. Maybe in the form of a eulogy? Okay.

Bradley David Cluff (middle name after his father) was born on November 20th, 1989 to Kathi and David Cluff. He is the 6th of 8 children, with 5 older sisters and one younger brother. I'm sure his childhood was great... but lets fastforward to when I met him.

It was a beautiful summer day in Provo, Utah. We were both at EFY (cute right?), in the same group. As our group gathered for the first time, we played a get-to-know-you game in which you stand in a circle looking at the ground, and on the count of three you look up; you pair off and talk to the first person you make eye contact with.

I remember looking up and instantly finding Bradley's eyes and we went and talked. And this was the beginning of a long journey.

Throughout high school I'm pretty sure Bradley and I only hung out twice when it wasn't a school function. But when we went on choir trips or talked in our seminary class, we were besties. We helped each other through hard stuff. We also drew a lot of pictures to keep us occupied in seminary.

It wasn't until I moved to Utah that we became really close. We were great pen pal's, and still hang out when I come home.

These are the things I love and appreciate so much about Bradley:

-he has been my friend through a lot of crap

-he listens to my complaints, and then bluntly tells me I need to stop my self-pity

-he is hilarious

-he can be the biggest sweet pea of them all

-he can write awe-inspiring words and beautiful music

-no matter how much he changes, he is still that little 14 year old boy I met so many years ago

LOVEEEEEEE YOU BRADLEY BEAR HOPE YOUR DAY IS FABULOUS

I wonder if she knows

that she is the most unique 50 year old woman ever?? Panda turned 50 on Monday, but don't worry it's not going to slow her down.

I'm sure she'll be having dance parties and staying up/out all night till she's 90.

LOVE YOU MOTHER DEAR

I thank God-

I love you all so much :) You make me who I am.

Watch out, I'm crafting.

Look at the oneder-ful (That Thing You Do reference) things that can be made at relief society activities? Who knew I was Martha Stewart's prodigy.

Baby I got style

You know how some girls post pictures daily of the cute things they wore? {http://megisblogolicious.blogspot.com/}I decided I should become a part of that world.

I am pretty sure, however, that I have failed in my attempt. I look so gross every day and it really gets me down! haha

First I wore these super cute blue scrubs, froms scrubsrus.com. That's a terrible name for a company in my opinion.

I paired those sexy blue scrubs with some white vans. Classy right?

I was clearly in a better mood by this point after school, and I put on a tank top and spandex to go to power kick boxing at the gym. (I'll spare you the picture of the spandex, for your benefit)

This lovely combo I paired with nike's. So trendy, right?

After the gym, I came home and showered. I immediately got into sweats, and will wear those to bed.

My question is, when did I become such a fashion icon? Lady got styyyyle