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I'm out till saturday backpacking through the palisades of wyoming.
YES it is cold, actually below freezing, it's snow camping.
WISH ME LUCK!!!!!!!!!!

highlights

i must have had a really exciting thanksgiving break to give up blogging for so long right??
not really but i did have a good trip. i'll just do a little highlight of events and catch up.
THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY- My family picked me up from the airport and we went straight there. It was the perfect little way to welcome me back to California, and good food.
JEFFREY GOT BRACES- What a cute little surprise it was for me to see Jeffrey for the first time in months, open his mouth and see a nice little set of metal! He says he hates them, but i think he secretly likes them, i did. I think they actually look cute on him, so much so, i made it a highlight of my trip.
MY DAD'S 50TH BIRTHDAY! - it seems so crazy to me that my dad is 50!! We surprised him with 5o reasons why we love byron/dad posted all over our house when he woke up. It was fun for him to walk around the house and see all these nice/funny things people had to say about him. Then the family came over for a little birthday dinner consisting of hot dogs and hamburgers, my dad's favorite's!! He's the best dad and i am glad i got to be there for his birthday!
FAMILY PICTURES- The most recent family pictures that we have, Scotty is about 2 or 3 years old. We have been meaning to take family pictures for years but i think everyone has been avoiding it due to the dysfunctional experience all family pictures turn out to be. But my mom finally scheduled them and the experience wasn't a bad one at all. We all worked together really well and made getting a good picture of my sister the priority. The only problem is making my sister smile consists of sneezing and saying all kinds of silly things. I think half the pictures are going to turn out with my dad fake sneezing, or my mom talking, trying to make rachel laugh. But i think we got a few good ones and a good little family experience out of it.
MY SISTER AND I's MATCHING FOOTIE PJ's - Though i am used to living in FREEZING weather i am used to my apartment being very toasty. We have heated floors and a heater that runs 24/7 [we don't pay the electric bill]. So when i was at home i was FREEZING in our house which has a thermostat set at 68 degrees. I brought very little warm clothes cause i expected warm weather in california and was not expecting to be shivering around the house. So one night i couldn't take it anymore and had to go buy some warm pajamas. I found some footies at target and thought they would do the job just perfect, funny thing is, my sister had a matching pair!
MY NEW LITTLE BUDDY- Thanksgiving was at our house this year, so all of my mom's side of the family came up to visit. I hadn't seen my cousins on that side of the family for about a year, and when they are young, they grow so much in just a year! So this year i bonded with my little cousin evan who is now 3 years old. When my cousins arrived, he immediately started to play with me and we played the whole day! He wouldn't give me 2 seconds to myself but i didn't even mind. I adore kids and don't get to play with too many when i am up in Idaho so it was a special treat for me to come home and get to play!!
MY MOMMA REDECORATED MY ROOM- I walked in the door exhausted from a loooong day of traveling and went straight up to my room. I walked in and it was completely different. New rug, bedspread, wall frames, seat cover, pillows and just EVERYTHING was different and i actually like it ALOT. i don't usually trust other people to do my decorating but my mom did a real good job! It was nice to have something new and not have to do all the work. THANKS MOM!
speaking of my mom, her favorite child is still the hamster. After walking into my new room, i was shortly after greeted by that dang hamster. Somethings just don't change..

pinnacle parties

if you are going to get a job doing summer sales, pinnacle is the company to go for around here. they always throw all kinds of parties to promote their company and get college students to work for them. well these promotional parties have in the past years turned into the big events in Rexburg, when pinnacle throws a party EVERYONE goes. So now they have started to make them themed and people go all out. They are some of the best dance parties around here because they are so well publicized. last night pinnacle threw a party and the theme was camo.
WHY I LOVE PINNACLE PARTIES
1. they always have all kinds of free stuff. and if you don't win anything they have pizza and soda. [the staple of a college students diet]
2. it's an excuse to get dressed up.
3. such a bonding time for you and all your friends when you are getting ready.
4. i LOVE to dance.
5. the only way new music gets to rexburg. you always here it first at pinnacle.
6. the after parties which consist of all kinds of snacks and a movie.
7. always a fun time.
8. i love to meet new people, and this is a pretty good way to do so.
9. if you have a group project due on monday and you forgot to get the people in your groups number, you can almost ALWAYS find them all the party.

i love my roomies

just incase i haven't said it latley...
I LOVE MY ROOMMATES!!
this year has been so amazing and living with them has been half the experience. they are my best friends and living with them is perfect. We all get along and can talk things out when they get in the way. Tonight we all were cooking dinner together and just laughing and i just realized how much i adore every one of them for their own unique qualities.

top ten

So i have been TOTALLY slacking when it comes to blogging.
i'll catch you up a little
TOP TEN EVENTS OF THE LAST 2 WEEKS?
10. SNOW!! I will hate the snow in about a week or 2 but last weekend when it snowed i was SO excited. It was such a little thing that totally made my day THAT much brighter.
9. SNAKE BITE! Snake bite is a little restraunt that a little bird told my friend about. So a group of us got together and thought that we would try it out. THIS IS THE BEST PLACE I HAVE EVER EATEN! i am not a burger person AT ALL but the burgers there are amazing. If anyone ever comes to visit here i would recommend this place in a heart beat. It is just alittle place in down town Idaho Falls but the food, just amazing.
8. Over night trip to Utah. Candy had a hard few couple of days and i was supposed to be going down to Utah anyways so i drove down to stay with her and try to help her through a few things. The plans for everyone coming to Utah fell through but it was still nice to go down to utah for just a day. I got to see dani lewis, brady, candy, and chase all in one trip. I felt good about myself because i was able to be there for candy when she needed it and still had such a good time.
7. HALLOWEEN! I LOVE HALLOWEEN! Everyone just seems so happy and i love it when people get all dressed up. If you knew me in high school you know how much i LOVED school spirit days and dressing up. So know that i am out of high school and in college i feel like halloween kinda is that day where i get to go all out like i used to. It's so nerdy of me but halloween was such a blast. We went to a big dance party and just had a ton of fun. Before hand we had a little get together up stairs with halloween cookies and all kinds of halloween snacks. I love getting into the spirit of a holiday no matter what it is! This year, i was a spice girl.
6. Twin day with Sara! Sara is one of my closest friends up here and i just absolutely ADORE her. She is one of the funniest people you will ever meet but is a good talker too. One day i had to go to Idaho Falls to pick something up and she came with me. When we were there we go matching outfits and decided to have a twin day. It was fun to be alittle twin and just laugh with her all day long.
5. MEG MEG IS ENGAGED!!! There is no cute story, he just asked her at his house but i am SO HAPPY for her. Meg and Dan have been dating for a little over year and are one of the cutest little couples i know. I am so happy for her and i know that this is something she truely deserves and is ready for. I just can't wait for the wedding. It's gonna be a fun one!
4. GIRLS NIGHT! All of us girls around here date alot and always seem to be busy with something so we don't really have too many nights with just the girls. So this last friday we decided that we were going to do something as just girls and leave the boys at home. WE went out for a night in IF and had SO much fun. There's something being with just a big group of girls that is always fun!
3. I ATE AT THE GALLEY!! For most students freshman year consists of the dorms and the galley for dinner every night. But my experience was a little different cause i never did the dorms so i never really experienced the galley. What is the galley? It the big cafeteria on campus that serves breakfast lunch and dinner buffet style. All you can eat. The other night some friends and i were talking and none of us had been before. SO we thought it would be the perfect way to all break our fast. So we all went, let's just say it was an interesting experience!
2. The baby crib. Living in Rexburg you have to be real creative and come up with things to do to entertain yourself cause there isn't too much to do. Many nights you resort to going to hollywood video and renting a movie. The problem with that is all we have is 2 small couches in our apartments. SO we came up with a little something that we call the baby crib. We put both couches together and all lay in the middle of them. This way you can fit 5 people instead of one or 2 people per couch. You just get a bunch of blankets and it is real comfortable, SO comfortable we all fell asleep and slept in it saturday night!
1. I WENT TO EVERY SINGLE ON OF MY CLASSES FOR 2 WEEKS IN A ROW. I know that this doesn't seem like too big of a deal but for me, it is. It is so hard to get out of bed and walk to class, uphill, in 20 degree weather. So many mornings i am tempted to just not go to class and many of those mornings i give in. But i've made a goal to miss no more classes and i am SO proud that i have been keeping with that goal!