Giving Thanks

"Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American." ~O. Henry

I enjoy this time of year to reflect on what I am thankful for. Granted, I'm trying to be better about "living in thanksgiving daily" but it's also nice to have a day to celebrate those things that we're specifically thankful for. I also love being with family to celebrate the holidays.

Here are a few things that I'm thankful for this year:

*My family. I really don't know what I would do with out them. I am grateful for their love and patience. I am so happy I was able to spend the majority of this week with them! But, right now, I'm also sad it's coming to a close. Did this week seem to go by faster than usual, or was it just me that noticed it?

*The gospel. The gospel means everything to me and I honestly don't know where I would be without it in my life. I love the gospel!

*My Savior. I am so grateful to Christ for His love for us and the ability that we have to draw closer to Him.

A few of the other things I am thankful for:

*Warm house
*Job
*Down comforter :)
*Pets
*The opportunity to live in this country and all the freedoms that go along with it
*Food to eat
*Money
*A car that runs
*Temples where families can be sealed for eternity

What are you thankful for this year?

My family has a tradition of going out the Saturday after Thanksgiving to cut down our Christmas tree. Usually we have a specific place we go but last year and this year my mom and I went to a new place to cut it down. Growing up our whole family would go to cut it, but both years my dad was working and my sister was in Idaho so my mom and I just went. Honestly, it takes a while to find the perfect tree, and this year was no different...but I think we found one in record time. It only took a little over an hour! We started out looking at the trees in the front of the farm and wound our way to the back. We would see one that we thought might work from a distance, but when we got up close it was either too bare or had a twisted trunk or was too short. (The poor trees, they're probably thinking to themselves "gosh, humans are so picky!")

After looking at many trees and not really finding one that was "perfect", we decided that we needed to pick one from the ones we had looked at. We narrowed our choices to about three from the front of the farm that we thought would be fine. Unfortunately, we just remembered them in our heads, but forgot to tag or identify them in some way. When we went up front to look at them again, we realized we had built them up to be "the" tree but couldn't actually remember which ones they were! Luckily there was one that we put a stick in (from the back of the farm) and we decided to go back to that one. After looking it over one last time, we decided it would work and cut it down. They had a little tractor that the tree was put on, so we wouldn't have to carry it, and it was driven up to the front of the farm. A little elf was even driving the tractor! He was so cute. After they shook it to get all the dead needles off, they put netting over it, put it in the car, and we drove it home. Now comes the fun part of setting it up and putting the lights and decorations on it. Such memories we have (and will have) of cutting down the Christmas tree! I love this time of year!

Worth it?

I love free food! I went with my roommates and donated blood for the first time today here in Lexington. Honestly, I was impressed. Despite the uncomfort of the actual needle, I got a free t-shirt, card for a free meal at McDonald's, and a card for free chips and guacamole at Chipotle. Pretty sweet deal, huh? A little blood for almost two meals and another shirt! Plus, they had Little Debbie snack cakes and pop and juice machines for refreshment after donating. I think I will definitely go back. Incidentally, I used to be afraid of needles! I was so afraid that I even cried when they tried to give me the MMR vaccine in 7th grade. My parents had to drag me into the room so the nurse could give it to me. Needless to say, I'm not so afraid anymore, thankfully.

Tag, I'm it!

A while ago my friend tagged me. Here goes: (some of them I edited because I didn't have 9 things)

9 TV SHOWS I WATCH:
-Law and Order: SVU
-Law and Order: CI
-Seinfeld
-Bones
-24
-CSI: New York
-As Time Goes By
-The Office (sometimes)
-House M.D.

9 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS:
-Olive Garden
-Outback Steakhouse (they have great rolls)
-IHop (just went there for the first time yesterday!)
-Josiah's (since closed)
-Mongolian BBQ
-Golden Corral
-Coldstone Creamery (does that count?)

9 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY:
-Went with a friend while she had her car repaired
-Went to the library and checked out books
-Ate at IHop
-Went to the store
-Had friends over and watched movies
-Checked Facebook
-Read my email
-Chatted with a friend
-Breathed in and out (pretty important!)

9 THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO:
-Thanksgiving with my family
-Christmas with my family
-Getting married
-Meeting new people
-The day I won't have to worry about money so much
-Having children
-Going to NYC (someday it will happen!)
-A new (to me) car

9 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST:
-A husband
-Children
-A dog
-Egg cups
-Phantom of the Opera movie
-More money :-)
-Being able to make better use of my time

9 THINGS I AM SCARED OF:
-Being alone
-Having something bad happen to my family
-Dark alleys
-Heights
-Getting lost (happens to me a lot though, I should be used to it by now!)
-Pushy people
-Speaking my mind
-Scary movies
-Haunted halloween parks

9 PEOPLE I TAG:
-Becky F.
-Sam C.
-Tara
-Jeanette B.
-Holly S.
-Rebecca A.
-Anyone else who
-wants to tag themselves...

Sad, but true

In honor of Halloween coming up and the current economic crisis, enjoy...

The O'Reilly Factor

Wow, this is an interesting news broadcast. Quite funny if you ask me. I won't go into how I feel about the bailout or the financial crisis. I'll just suffice it to say that the American people need to be more responsible for their own spending and financial affairs.

I am...

I am....tired.
I think....finding a job shouldn't be this hard.
I know....the church is true.
I want....to find some friends.
I have....the best family.
I miss....my family.
I fear....heights.
I feel....a little depressed.
I hear....Josh Groban singing.
I smell....nothing.
I crave....Brenna's chocolate chip pancakes.
I cry....more often than I should.
I search...for a friend and a job.
I wonder....if I will ever find something I enjoy doing.
I regret....not writing to my grandmother more often.
I wish....I had more money.
I love....my family.
I care....sometimes, more often than I should about what other people think.
I always....call my mom.
I worry....that I won't have enough money.
I am not....married.
I remember....being young and carefree. Being a grown-up is hard!
I believe....deep down inside, that everything will work out for the best.
I sing...in the shower.
I don't always....think before I speak.
I argue....sometimes.
I write....in my journal, not as often as I should.
I lose....my temper.
I listen....to music.
I don't understand...a lot of things.
I can usually be found....at the apartment.
I need....to find a job.
I forget....but I'm working on it...
I am happy....not right now, but hopefully I will be.

Play list

I added a play list of music to the bottom of the blog. It is kind of hard to access down there but, it doesn't really fit on the side... So, if you want to listen to music you'll just have to scroll down. It includes a variety of different songs and artists and I hope you find something you like.

Nightmares

I have nightmares about these things. We have killed at least 20 of them so far in the apartment, and they are fast. We have a designated shoe to kill them and we keep it out just in case. Every night we see a new one (or two or three). Along with a spider and mosquitoes. Will it ever end? Until you have actually seen one in person I don't think you have an idea of the fear they induce. We can't walk anywhere with out the thought (and fear) of seeing one of them. They blend in with the carpets which makes it even worse. At least they aren't upstairs in the bedrooms. I have shivers just thinking about them. Gross!

Innocent until proven guilty

We thought Hannah looked a little too innocent and sweet... and cool for her own good.
She showed us her paws and we didn't see anything, we were a little suspicious though, but then...

we saw her nose and we knew,

sure enough, she had been digging!

Those are the Terriers for you!

Time and Change

This is belated but I wanted to post pictures from my graduation. I graduated from The Ohio State University on June 8, 2008! The following are pictures starting on the Friday before graduation.

This is graduation rehearsal as we are walking into the stadium. We had been in the French Field House for about 45 minutes before we actually started walking to the stadium. Needless to say, it was quite hot that day in the the field house with so many graduates and no fans.

We finally make it into the stadium.

Taking our seats.

Block O!

The graduates sat in the upper levels of the lower seating (if that makes sense) and all the guests sat elsewhere.

Architecture from the outside of the stadium.

These few pictures are from the Commencement Eve Candlelight Ceremony which was held on Saturday, the day before graduation. This is a picture of Mirror Lake.

Carmen Ohio:

Oh come let's sing Ohio's praise

And songs to Alma Mater raise

While our hearts rebounding thrill

With joy which death alone can still

Summer's heat or winter's cold

The seasons pass the years will roll

Time and change will surely show

How firm thy friendship... O-H-I-O!

(Sorry the pictures are so blurry...it was hard to get a good one).

Candles held up during O-H-I-O.

My mom and me. I love this picture.

My mom, my sister, and me.

All of our candles together. This is such a cool picture! President Gee spoke at the ceremony as well as a student that was chosen to represent OSU. This was the first year for the candle ceremony, but it was a big success.

Ohio State congratulates the class of 2008

This is my father, my sister and me on the day of graduation in the French Field House.

Getting ready. Exciting times!

My mom, me, and my dad.

My mom looks so happy in this picture! We always tease each other about our heights. (I'm actually taller) but my mom thinks she is so I was obliging her in this picture and look, I am shorter!

PhD students walking into the stadium before the ceremony. All of the names of the PhD students were read and they actually went up to the stand and received their diploma. It took forever, but if I had worked that hard I would want my name read too!

ROTC members preparing to raise the flag. Don't they look nice?

Table after table of diplomas. Each of the graduates had a number and we went into our rows by number. They actually handed out real diplomas during graduation. For 7,857 students graduating, I'd say that was a pretty good feat of coordination!

Raising the flag.

Going....

Up!

Brian Williams, the anchor of NBC Nightly News, was the speaker. He spoke about going out and helping the world and making a difference in the lives of others.

Receiving my diploma!! (I'm in the lower right hand corner...)

I was searching for my family while I was sitting in the stands and wasn't able to find them. As I went down to receive my diploma, I saw my family waving and they caught a picture of me.

After the ceremony. My face is all sun burnt. And I was sooo hot and sweaty. I had to go home and take a shower.

My family after graduation. My dad had worked the night before and did not get much sleep as we had to be on campus around 11 am and the ceremony went until after 4 pm. Thank you to my family for supporting me and for encouraging me to keep going. It was well worth it. I love you!!

With President Gee (he's LDS too!) Don't you just love his hat? I think it's so cute.

O-H-I-O with President Gee! So fun!

After meeting President Gee. It was so nice of him to take the time for pictures with the graduates. He is so great!

My sister and I on the way home!

My yummy celebration cookie!

Me and my diploma! Even though it's not really a big deal I wore honor cords for being a member of Phi Upsilon Omicron, a Human Ecology honor society. It was fun to see all the other members wearing them. A lot of people asked what they were for because the cords were yellow and purple, not scarlet and grey.

OSU grad. Finally!!

They do what?!?

Mosquitoes would be so much more useful if they gave us something in return for just sucking our blood. Something like a quicker metabolism or the power to be invisible or, I don't know, something else cool. Instead, they just leave us with itchy red bites that swell up and last for days. Ugh.