A New Year's Kiss

Dec. 31st, 2004: We danced at a stake dance

Dec. 31st, 2005-Jan 1st, 2006: We both kissed someone else

Dec. 31st, 2006: He and I went to Salt Lake with our other friends for some sort of celebration. I tried desperately all night to get him to touch me in some way, shape, or form. He never did, so I kissed him on the cheek sometime around midnight.

2007: I kissed someone else at a party (someone else who I don't think I even know his name??) We were hanging out before I left for that party.

2008: This New Year's Eve was just after I had talked to him on the phone. He called from the airport and was headed out to serve. I partied with his friends and missed him a lot.

2009-2010: Celibacy for us both.

2010-2011: We hung out with each other all night.... just me and him... no kiss.

"New year's eve is like the kiss cam. It's only cool if you are dating someone or happen to be next to a cute boy you don't even know."

2011, ready to celebrate the coming of 2012: He's on a freaking cruise!!!!!!!!!

There's always next year....

(or is there?)

Still in the Holiday Spirit?

I couldn't post these before Christmas, or people would see what presents were headed their way. I had to post these gifts eventually though.

My mom did some vinyl lettering Christmas boards for some friends, and family boards for some cousins. I didn't get pictures, but they looked like these.

She also did Guess Who games for some family members and some neighbors.

(Yeah we included Jimmer... bottom right.)

Another fun, personal gift she gave to a few people were these stars. She has saved Christmas cards from close family friends through the years, copied them, and modge podged them onto some metal stars she got from Tai Pan. She also made one for our family, I love it.

Sometimes my mom sets the bar too high! ;)

Coming Home for Christmas

My mom is awesome when it comes to Christmas! I came home to decked halls, homemade gifts in process, and candles burning. I love my house!

This isn't even half,

Merry Christmas!

With She & Him Christmas Background Music

Just because we are devout Mormons doesn't mean we don't want to wear sequins and mix some drinks.

With help from our friends, Brent and I pulled off this:

Due to some recent events, I was surprised how much Mrs. Devey supported us.

She ended up adding a lot of class to the party.

The Girls

The Drinks

(Thanks Gav!)

The Party

Contrary to popular belief, we did not get this idea from my sister.

"Sorry he just had a dream he was going to live in Logan the rest of his life!"

"Hate to break it to you but if those shots don't contain alcohol, all you are doing is taking a little swig of something nasty."

Quotes from Jordan

Cool

Christmas is probably the only thing that ever gets me in the mood to cook,

bake more like it.

A Christmas breakfast back home left my parents with tons of left over bananas,

so I snatched them hoping I could make banana bread at my apartment.

Because I'd made it before under the supervision of my mom and it was pretty easy and turned out delicious, I thought just maybe I could do it by myself.

I followed the recipe and directions perfectly and the dough tasted great.

After the ingredients and mixing instructions, the recipe read:

Bake at 325 for 1 hr, 10 min.

Cook for 10 min in pan, then turn on to rack.

Like a pro, I put the bread in the oven and set the timer for 10 minutes so I would know when to flip the bread on to the rack and cook it outside of the pan.

After 10 minutes the bread was no where near solid enough to take out of the pan and put it on the rack.

After a confused debate with my roommates, we put it in the oven for another 10 minutes... still not solid enough.

I was panicked because I didn't want the edges of the bread to burn.

Gavin, being the creative man that he is, flipped the bread from the pan onto a cookie tray, so we could cook it upside down on the tray instead of the rack.

No, the bread didn't rise.

It looked really funny, but tasted good so we were satisfied.

The next day, I asked my mom what I should have done. I didn't remember how I had gotten the bread from the pan to the rack the last time I made the bread.

She just laughed.

There is a MAJOR typo in that recipe.

COOL for 10 minutes, then turn on to the rack.

After you COOK the bread for 1 hr, 10 min, the bread needs to COOL.

If your banana bread ends up looking like a brick,

you did it wrong.

Creative

Guy: I really like your nails, they are awesome!

Me: Thanks! hehe

Guy: Did you do them yourself?

Me: No, actually my boyfriend did them for me.

Guy: Hmm he must be... creative?

We were attempting this, but in holiday colors

Not bad, eh?

P.S. so what if I have ugly hands?

I Don't Know What All These Lights Are For

Talk about knocking on wood.

When I wrote my post, "Deprived,"

I didn't know I was about to have one of the best nights of my life!

Gavin had the idea.

I had the car.

Patrick had the directions.

Hillary had the courage.

I can't tell you exactly what I did for fear of someone turning us in,

but it was a night full of my favorite things:

Hot springs, stupidity, and not getting caught.

Little looksy...

Sunday Best: A Christmas Story

Take 1-2 minutes to read this.

You won't regret it.

Merry Christmas!

Deprived

It's been a while since I have done something crazy.

Given I spend 60 hours a week with school, homework, work, and lacrosse,

but now I am feeling deprived and the cold weather doesn't help.

I miss swinging on a rope with a Costa Rican I've never talked to before then landing in a waterfall,

getting lost trying to find hot springs,

being the only sober one to jump 50 feet off a bridge,

and blowing all my money.

Maybe it has something to do with maturity.

Nah...

Any suggestions?

For the Sake of Lacrosse

See you in 2 hours!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was great!

Started off with the Muppet movie. Really, I don't know why we still see G rated shows when 25/30 people we go with are over the age of 15. Yeah we go with 30 ish people. My family is huge, I love it. This was with my mom's side of the family. All I know is when these little kids are over the age of 16 they better come to cartoons and musicals with my future little ones. It is a fun tradition though.

I may of gained five pounds Thursday because after the movie, we ran to Gavin's grandparents house for our first Thanksgiving meal. We filled our plates, watched a lot of football then headed to my grandma's house for a second meal. That was with my dad's side of the family. There was at least 30 people there too, poor Gav. At my grandma's we just joked about how we are all too stupid to be going to BYU (except for AJ, maybe that's why Grandma let him sit with the grown-ups?) and we watched more football there.

We went to Walmart at ten to see if there was any good deals but we had to park far away and even if we did find good deals, it wasn't worth waiting in line for. Freaking mad house! I made up for it though with all the shopping we did on Friday :) Thanks Santa!

In seminary in 9th grade, my teacher challenged us to give a prayer of only thanks on Thanksgiving. I have kept up that tradition and did it again this year. If you missed it on Thanksgiving, try it tonight! Just pray and thank our Heavenly Father for everything He has given us! It is perfectly fine to ask God for things, but just try saying one prayer without it because it helps (me) realize how much we have and how much we ask for and receive on a daily basis. I have so much to be grateful for! My life has been bliss! And unlike Alex on Modern Family, I'm not mad at my parents for it.

Jordan (to Jake): What should we do tonight?

Jake: We could find a good lookout spot.

Breaking Dawn

I wouldn't say I am a Twilight junkie...

but I have enjoyed the series.

Every year I have gone to the midnight show with my mom, sisters, aunts, girl cousins, my mom's friends, and their teenage and older daughters.

It is so fun to get this group together and root for our teams!

(I have known most of these girls since I was 4!)

So here is what I thought:

The movie was done really well, it was as appropriate as a movie about a honeymoon and pregnancy could be!

Bella's pretty, Jacob's hot.

Edward, not so much, but he did good.

Yes, I would recommend it.

But more than recommending the movie, I suggest going to the midnight show with family and friends and a bunch of crazy people!

Slacking

There is plenty I could be doing...

Plenty I should be doing...

But none of it has to be done right this instant.

Am I going to do it?

I'll let you figure that out.

Here's my deepest thoughts and emotions of the moment, since it has been a while since I have filled you in.

Footloose is inspiring. From Julianne's body to the music. I will be watching some of those scenes over and over again. Possibly while standing up, wearing cowboy boots and a sweat band.

Besides that, I love my church, family, friends, roommates, boyfriend, team, and my new sweaters (if you look at the link, look at the white sweater and gold necklace behind the weird shirt).

So despite the fact that nothing too new is happening and I am just hanging in there until Thanksgiving break, I'm doin good!

A Beautiful Lady

The last few weeks I have been a little frustrated with the graduation process. Yeah I brought it on myself by deciding 2 weeks before graduation applications were due that I wanted a minor. The plan was to graduate in April with a degree is psychology. In hopes and small chances that I will go to grad school, I decided a minor in statistics will be helpful.

I made the decision to go for it and the next day I was running from this building to that building to another building and back to this building. I finally got papers signed and the minor cleared. The negotiation was if I could get a minor by August, I would do it; if I couldn't get the minor by August, I would just graduate in April without it.

The next step was to get cleared for a bunch of classes. So after lots of frustration and even more emails, I finally talked to this lady today who helped me out. It was all over computer. She added more sections of a class I need, cleared my name for some classes, and switched one class around for me. I never saw her but I'm assuming she's beautiful.

So guess what the plan is now!

Graduating in APRIL, WITH a minor!!

This will consist of 13 credits of stats next semester plus a 3 credit internship for psychology. This may not get updated between the months of January and April and I am truly sorry if I put any sort of social contact on hold for a little while. But I feel great about it!

So here's to passing 5 stats classes next semester! Anyone know of a good tutor?

Expectations vs. Reality

I could go really deep with this title but due to the 2 week long hilarious Facebook chain message between my lacrosse teammates, here is what you're getting:

It started with this...

And evolved to this...

Then went to this...

And I just found this...

Raindrops on Roses

A while ago, I was wandering through Urban Outfitters,

I came across this little treasure:

It's just a feel good book with lists of things that everyone loves and no one acknowledges.

So in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I've written down my own list of awesome...

Happy little moments that make life that much better.

• Finding money in your pocket
• Running in the rain
• Perfectly toasted toast
• Mail- real mail, not spam
• Reading cute texts that you have locked in your phone
• Winning- games, contests, luck, or skill. Winning is awesome!
• When it stays light at night because of the snow
• Serving someone
• Inside jokes
• Hearing from an old friend
• Prayers
• Cooking something all the way through without burning it
• Songs you loved as a kid/teenager
• Waking up to no alarm
• Laughing until you cry

"Sometimes the littlest things take up the most room in your heart" -Pooh

Taking it Personally

Technology hates me.

1. My laptop crashed a couple weeks ago, so I have been in the process of getting a new one, setting it up, copying all my documents, and that sort of fun stuff.

2. My DVD player responds to everyone but me. I press the play button and the DVD pauses. For everyone else it plays.

But last night I conquered it!

Or so I thought.

Turns out all I did was push my luck of electronics for the week.

Today...

I woke up and my phone wouldn't turn on or charge. I took it to the AT&T store, told them my dilemma, and the guy turned it right on. Embarrassing.

Every Monday and Wednesday morning class, we have an iclicker quiz. (An iclicker is a little remote with options A-D to click the answer to the quiz question that appears on the screen.) I pressed the power button on my iclicker and it wouldn't turn on. I double pressed it, it wouldn't turn on. I pressed it hard. No go. I pressed it soft. No luck. I looked at the guy next to me, asked him to turn my iclicker on, he pressed the power button and handed it back to me.

Thanks man.

At what point is this no longer funny?

(This isn't me but it looks like I may not be the only one???)

The Howl

The Howl is the biggest halloween party in Utah, held at USU. So for the past 4 years, after our last-saturday-of-the-month game against West Minster, I have headed up to Logan.

But do I go to the Howl?

Nope!

I love Halloween!

This year, Matt got us free skating and bowling at the fun center.

Then we followed up with the tradish we started last year... scaring people.

I don't know how it started. But basically what we do is put our hair in our faces, hang over a rail by campus, walk with a limp, and jump out at kids walking home from the party.

Freaking blast and a half!

Dear Maddy, you're the coolest person I know!

Person: They're drunk!

Maddy: Funny thing is, we're not.

Person: Are you ok?

Madi: Eeeeeh! Eeeeeh!

Halloween Ideas

Hillary's Idea

Needed: lots of hair coloring and hair spray. I am confident in her ability to make this happen.

Gavin's Idea

I have a pink prom dress, I'm sure I could find white gloves and blue earrings. All Gavin would need is some overalls, a mustache, and a red or green shirt. Pretty doable, right?

My Idea

No it's not scary. I just want an excuse to be as close to her as I can get. I already have a fake ring that looks just like hers (yes I was that fanatic)! Anyone have a long sleeved wedding dress and baby breath flowers I could use??

Black pants, red shirt, blue sash, brown belt. How hard could it be?

Why is She Not Married?

If you catch the flowers, you're soon to go...

Isn't that how it works?

"Bree's bouquet"

Xanni's bouquet

Emily's bouquet

Charolette's bouquet

Maybe she's not married yet because,

Despite all our plans, plots, and practice,

She has never actually really caught a real boquet at a real wedding.

C'mon Mad, Be Aggressive!

Recently

I wish I had more time to blog but there is this thing called college life I got caught up in. So as of October 3rd...

• Went to Colorado for lacrosse. Played in the snow. Nuff said.
• My lap top crashed. A.K.A. the motherboard died
• I have been sick with a cough and cold
• Went to Maddy Jack's lacrosse game (USU vs U of U)
• Got caught up on Modern Family!
• Cassie is engaged! (Cassie! The girl I spent hundreds of hours with doing gymnastics, eating Ben & Jerry's, talking about life at the silo's she got proposed to at, sitting on the roof of the bathroom at Riverton Park, playing lacrosse with, rafting with; the girl who would do my hair and pop my back and drive me home from school almost every day.) I must admit I was a little choked up when she was showing me her ring and telling me the story. I am so happy for her!

Laying down with your eyes closed

Artificial Energy

I have needed a lot of this stuff all week. In the last 55 hours, I have had less than six hours of bed time. 2 4-page papers, 1 test, lacrosse every day, work every day, a yard sale, and am bridal shower tonight. I love being busy! and I can't wait to... what's the word again?.. oh yah! sleep!

Rivalry

The BYU vs U of U is one of the biggest rivalries in the nation! It's true- I heard someone say it on t.v. once. The football game brings out everyone from fair-weather fans to true blue's and babies to grandparents. Most of all though, it brings out some pumped students ready to cheer for their team.

And now that I'm over the heartache of it, I'll post some pictures :)

Old friends, new friends

Red friends, blue friends

It got a little heated, but I'm glad we could have fun at the game together!

When the Poop Hit the Fan

I was going to post about that awesome BYU-Utah game (the word awesome was a sarcastic one). Lucky for you, now I have something else that will probably be a little more exciting to read.

Most of you know I have kind of been dating two guys. In a very little nutshell, I was dating one guy and writing another on his mission. The missionary came home about a month ago and I have been spending time with both the guys to see what could happen. It wasn't fair but it wasn't dishonest either because they have both known about each other.

Needless to say they don't necessarily like each other.

So today I was just chillin on the couch with G and guess what happened!

R came walking through my door.

Most awkward situation of my life. Hands down.

I introduced them, and it was civil. R showed me some pictures of his weekend trip then left and G was not too happy.

That's my story.

Good times.

Our true character shows when unexpected situations arise (the quote Brent posted on my wall in light of the situation).

Neature Walk

The cousin date! Here we have the McCleary quad- Megan, Me, Lexi, Adam. Adam had one of his friends take each of us on a little neature walk after watching the football game.

Here's the whole group!

Our picture inside Hogwarts.

You can tell it's an Oak tree because of the way that it is.

Hide your kids, hide your wives, and hide your husbands cuz they raping everybody out here.

Thanks guys for a fun night! and thanks Rick for carrying me up all those stairs!