The Spirit of Christmas

http://www.youtube.com/mormonmessages#p/a/1/tXXwtFWpAI8

Christmas Delights

So sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. The semester is winding down and things are getting pretty hectic. I absolutely LOVE christmas time though. My roommates joke about how I'm so obsessed with Christmas music cuz that's all I ever listen to these days. Since the last post, I've been to Long Beach, California for a swim meet and have had some pretty exciting weekends. I'm so excited for Christmas!

Happenin' Heber

A couple of weekends ago my roommates and some of my FHE sisters all went up to Grandma's house in Heber, UT. First, of course, we hit up the famously delicious Dairy Keen. We were welcomed at Grandma's house with big hugs and lots of love. Randomly, we decided to play dress up cuz we're really not grown up yet at all. :) There were plenty of old prom and bridesmaid dresses to adventure through. Jill, my cousin who is living at Grandma's house right now, was a marvelous photographer as we hit the runway...all decked out in boas, capes, and sexy slits.

Grandpa was then kind enough to take all 6 of us for a ride in his old Ford pickup so Chelsey could practice her photography skills. We found a field, pond, and great view in the middle of nowhere, and Chelsey's magic came to life. The pictures turned out very cute! The most unusual part was probably finding parts of a dead deer...more specifically, all four legs! Eww!

We ended the evening with a movie, ice cream, pizza, girl talk, and an awesome sleepover! Grandma and Grandpa's house is the best! We love them so much!

This past weekend was pretty chill, nothing as exciting as Grandma's house. The BYU basketball team won their home opener against Berkley. The best poster we saw said, "Hi Mom! This is how I study!" haha loved it! The rest of the night consisted of trying to learn the Bye Bye Bye dance by N*Sync and eating ice cream. :)

Saturday was a very creative night as we created an amazing fort in the living room equipped with christmas lights, pillows galore, and plenty of movies. I really have embraced the fact that I'm not grown up yet and I can still do fun things like all the little kids!

Sppoookkyyy

On Halloween night, my roommates and I went to my Aunt and Uncle's house in Salt Lake to help with their Spook Ally/Haunted House in their basement. It was sooo much fun! We dressed up as scary creatures to enhance the spook ally experience. Chelsey was a little girl scared in her bed because there was a monster, me, underneath it! Aubrey and Makena also helped in the tunnel by grabbing ankles and just being scary. I loved being around little kids again. You miss the young'ins when you're in college, so it's always a special treat to be around them.

Kayla Echols, a friend from back home, visited this past weekend from BYU-I. We put all our mattresses together to make one giant bed and had a sleepover in our front room! It was a genius idea, if I do say so myself. Great view for the TV and everything. I love roommate sleepovers :) It was a pretty bomb weekend!

Halloween Extravaganza!

This past weekend was AMAZING. On Friday night, after a swim meet, we had a ward Halloween party (even though Halloween isn't for another week). I just have to say--BYU has some pretty impressive Halloween costumes! It varied from crayons to skyscrapers to superheros. Super Karalee and Super Chelsey were the sweetest superheros out there. All it took was a DI/Walmart run, some inspiration from So You Think You Can Dance (season 5), and Grandma's unitard, and our costumes were complete! Needless to say, our costumes were the bomb. Aubrey was a genie and Makena was a nerd. We love dressing up!

After the party we went and hung out with some friends who were camping out for the ESPN Game Day...tent and all. I'm pretty sure they got on TV the next morning.  Side note: I've never been honked at so much in my life. That's how cool our costumes were :)

Saturday was just as fun with the Homecoming Parade that I was in for swimming, and the football game later that night...even though we lost to TCU. I even got to go up into the box seats to visit my Dad, who got tickets from his friend! (He came for a quick visit this weekend). Best quote from Dad recently? "In life, all you need to do is make rich friends. It doesn't matter if you're rich. It just matters if your friends are rich." haha love ya Dad!

Pacific Invitational in Stockton, CA

I just got back from the Pacific Invitational in Stockton, CA with the BYU swim team! We had such a fun time soakin' in the sun and swimmin' fast. We had lots of fun adventures on the way, including (but not limited to)...

Getting up at 4:30 a.m. to make our flight from Salt Lake at 7:00

Trying to keep up with Tim as he sped through the Oakland Airport, just expecting that everyone else knew where to go!

Having the Hotel we were staying at lose reservations for fifty people

Going to San Fran and Pier 39

Eating LOTS of yummy food

Having bubble fights in the hotel bathroom

We had a blast!!! I love my teammates, and wouldn't change any of these experiences that come with being a part of this team. I feel honored to wear BYU blue and white.

Quick Update

Here's how my life has been going lately...

• School is always a struggle, but so far so good! I'm applying to the Elementary Education program in January and I'm super excited to be done with all my GE's. I've already started taking some classes for my major and absolutely LOVE it.
• Swimming is hard, as usual, but soo much fun! We've had two meets so far, the Blue and White meet and the Freshmen/Sophomore meet vs. Utah. This season is going to be very exciting! The girls are really hoping to be repeat Mountain West Conference champs this year.
• My friends are awesome :) They make me laugh everyday...usually at something ridiculous  Chelsey says or does! Weekends are a blast
• Right now I'm in Irvine, California for the weekend visiting Cheley's brother, sister-in-law, and niece. We've had a really fun afternoon, just hanging at the beach, window shopping, and visiting the temple. We took some really fun pictures on the Newport Beach Pier. I absolutely love California and dream of living here someday!