January Birthdays

January is a busy month for birthdays in my family. We have Daddy's, Brookie's and Campbell's all in just a few weeks. Unfortunately I missed both Brookie's and Campbell's, but I can't miss out on doing a birthday shoutout. And since there are three of them, this is going to be one long post :)

Let's start with Daddy. I know I already did a post about him for Father's Day, but I truly can't say enough how much I love this man. He is one of the most hardworking, humble, patient, kind, loving and selfless men I know. Even when I call him at work and he's really busy he still makes me feel like he has all the time in the world for me. He makes me feel so good about myself every time I talk to him. He's one of the most outgoing people I know and people everywhere can't help but love him. I swear, it's impossible to go anywhere with him without him running into another friend. He's such a good example of truly caring for others.

Daddy and me in the grounds of the Jerusalem Center

Next, Brookie. She is absolutely the most loyal person I have ever met. She's one of the first people I call when anything happens because I know that whether the news is good or not, she will support me 100%. I can always count on her to cheer me up with I'm down. I can't even count the number of times I called her crying when I was applying to grad school, convinced that I'd never get accepted. She such a way of calming me down that few people possess. She's always there for people when they need her, even when it's not convenient. She's always so much fun to be around. We can go from having really deep intellectual conversations to singing at the top of our lungs to Prince - regardless of what we're doing, I love spending time with her.

Don't mind the fact that I look like an idiot...

And finally, Campbell. It has been so much fun to see her personality develop over the last 2 years. She is so strong, independent and determined. She always makes me feel so loved when I see her. She loves being with people and playing with them. She's also a major dare-devil and way more brave than I will ever be, and she may be as accident-prone as I am, though that's still up for debate.

Campbell and Bapa (kinda...)

I have such a great family! And I'm so glad I got to spend so much time with all of them over the break.

Now back to that paper I was writing. Come to find out, writing birthday blog posts is much more fun than writing papers. Who knew?

There's no place like home

During my almost 4 week break from school (can I get a Hallelujah?!) I've had the most wonderful time. Due to my camera being broken I have very little photographic evidence, but here's a list of some of my favorite things I've done over the break, in no particular order:

• Spent all of my time with family and friends. How glorious.
• Had a get-together with freshman friends

photo courtesy of Courtney's blog

• Went to a mini-Jerusalem reunion
• Had hilarious dating conversations with some Provo friends
• Knitted an infinity scarf that I've wanted to do for ages and two other scarfs that my mom introduced me to
• Slept in every.single.day. (Don't judge me. I was making up for lost sleep from the semester.)
• Celebrated three family birthdays and one friend birthday
• Went to St. George and basked in the warmth
• Played TONS of games
• Went blonde
• Ate ridiculously good food (this deserves a post of its own)
• Went to the movie theater for the first time in 5 months
• Had a girls night out to go shopping
• Played with my cute nieces and nephew

There were other things as well, but if I wrote them all down I'd be here for days. Needless to say, it was a perfect and much-needed break. It's never long enough when I go back home because there are still people I didn't get to see and things I didn't get to do, but I'm so grateful that I was able to do and see as much as I did. There really is no place like home.

Those people

I've come to the sad realization that I've become one of "those people," something I really wanted to avoid when I started this thing. You know the ones I'm talking about: those people who start a blog with really good intentions and then go for months on end without posting, so much that you start to forget that they even have a blog in the first place. 
There are all sorts of reasons I could give for it. In the beginning I was too swamped with school and had nothing interesting to post about. Then I was having too much fun playing to bother posting. It's been so long I doubt that even my family is still reading this thing. But here I am, in the calm before the storm and I decided that there's no better time than now to give it another shot. School starts next week so this may not last, but I'm going to try. Here's to hoping I'll be better in 2012 than I was in 2011.

Sharing the love

I have been in love with this song for the last few weeks. My roommates are sick of hearing it, I know, but I just love it. I don't know what it is about it that I like so much, but every time I hear it I can't help but smile. And that's a necessity when you're studying for finals. So I thought it was time to share the love. I hope you like it as much as I do :)

A birthday!

My sister's birthday is coming up and so I just wanted to talk a little about how grateful I am for her in my life. So Bri, here's a {very limited} list of some of the reasons why I love having you as my sister:

• I've always had a hard time with decisions (but only the inconsequential ones. With the big ones I seem to do just fine. What's up with that?) and I could never choose what to wear. So she would pick out my outfit pretty much every day. Something so small, but it really meant a lot to me

At a girls photo shoot.

• Growing up whenever I was upset and crying she would take me and let me lay down and just play with my hair while I cried and told her about my woes. She's always been so good at taking care of me.

Bri and Andy in Bear Lake this summer.

• Speaking of taking care of me, just this weekend she spent a few hours on the phone with me helping me study for my exam on Monday. I know that she had better things to do with her time on a Saturday night, but she took time to listen and help me understand. So thoughtful.

I love this photo of Bri and Daner in St. George.

• She's such a peacemaker. I've never in my life heard her even raise her voice. She's so even-tempered and patient. I've always admired that in her.

Bri and Andy in Jackson Hole.

• Bri is always willing to share her time and talents. Whenever she has a fun project she always shows me how to do it so I can share in the creativity that I lack :)

Bri's graduation from Nursing School.

• She's always so good at making people feel loved and included. Even from our childhood, she has always asked me how I'm doing and what she can do to help and would do little things without me asking to show she cared. 

Basically, she's the best. Bri, I've always looked up to you and I am so grateful for you in my life. I can't wait to see you so soon! Happy Birthday honey!

Positive Affirmations

My classmates and I have a Boston College Master's Entry group on Facebook where we can post activities, ask questions, and just generally connect outside of class. Yesterday my classmate posted this:

Told you my classmates were awesome :)

iLove

It's November! Hooray! That means I get to go home in 15 days......not like I've already been counting for 2 weeks or anything.....

And going home means I get to FINALLY meet the two newest additions to my family: Lucy (my adorable new niece) and Arya (my sister's gorgeous new puppy). Yay for family!

I've decided to dedicate this post to some of the things I am lovin' right now.

That being said, I am in love with New England in the fall.

Campus was already beautiful, but I think the changing trees make it even more so.

More things iLove:

• Hot cocoa
• My mom for letting me call her and "teach" her the material I've been studying to help me remember it better
• My space heater
• Spontaneous stress-relieving dance parties with my roommates
• The fact that I got a 98 on my last Pharmacology exam
• My classmates
• Did I mention I get to see my family this month?
• My favorite pair of red boots
• The fact that today I got an extra hour of sleep. Thank you daylight savings.
• Skype. Such a wonderful invention.