Bravery

Last night, I was thinking about NieNie and Lindsey at therhouse and how brave I think they are. But, I think that they would say they are not brave, that they're just as scared as anyone else. And, I think, that is what makes them brave. Of course they are a little scared, or frustrated, and some days wish it wasn't them, but they keep on trucking, they go through every day even they don't want to.
That to me is what bravery is.

New Years Resolution?

Start using my camera and start taking pictures of Kyle and I, dangit!

Christmastime

It just so happens that I had the best Christmas ever. It was super busy, but a lot of fun.
Christmas Eve -
After Kyle got off work, we met up with his mom and dad and the four of us went down to my mom's in Spanish Fork. We spent a few hours down there, eating, chatting and watching a couple of Christmas movies. Mom and Dad headed back up to Nate and Mel's, and Kyle and I went back to our apartments.
Christmas Day -
Kyle came over at 6:30 am and we opened our gifts from each other. Kyle is amazing, and got me HP movies 1-6, the first season of Glee, new headphones for my iPod, and a calendar with pictures of Paris. I got him the book "What I Love About You" and I'm also going to get him a wallet and a conscerated oil holder.
We left for Nate and Mel's a little after 7 and got there about 8 am. We opened presents with them and the kids, and Mom and Dad Hanson, and later Alan and Jess came over. I got a great recipe file with family recipes from Mom and Dad, and .... my favorite present - a leopard print Snuggie. Kyle and I got matching ones from Alan and Jess. I was in that thing the whole weekend, it's so warm and fuzzy, I love it.
Around 2 we left and went down to my mom's and ate dinner, and watched Christmas movies, and opened a few more presents. We stayed over at my mom that night.
Boxing Day -
Alan and Jess came to pick us up and we went down to Price to stay at Gpa and Gma Hanson's house. The aunts and uncles and cousins came over, and we had a lot of fun eating, and playing with kids, and being with family. We stayed over night there, and did the same thing on Sunday, and then headed home around 5 pm.

We had a busy weekend, but it was so much fun.
I love my family.

Now I'm back to work... Yay. I get way bored working 8 1/2 hours, but that's ok. It's still fun. I work with the greatest people ever.

Full Time at Independent Study

Today, I entertained myself at work doing numerous things.
Namely,....
-eating pancakes and drinking milk at our pancake breakfast.
-watching SNL clips on hulu.
**my coworkers and I are the coolest ever. Rich was literally about to burst into tears from laughing so hard. So was Audrey.
-talking to a crazy old man who came in today.
** examples of things he said: "before I take my test, do any of you girls have daddy issues and want to run off with me? if you do, I won't have to take my final. We won't have a lot of money, but it will get me out of taking my test." OR "I told my wife if I don't come home today it's because I failed and I killed myself. She said that was good because if I came home and failed she would kill me." Lisa and I were not quite sure how to take his humor.
-reading Mormon Bachelor Pad.
-reading MLIA.
-trying to finish a super lame book that I checked out of the library, whose title I won't even mention here because it was so dumb.
-now, I am blogging.


Here are a few favorite gems from hulu... which all happen to be from SNL.

6 months!

Yesterday was mine and Kyle's six month anniversary of dating. It was a pretty busy day for Kyle, and semi-busy for me, but by 7:00 we were both done with all our finals, and everything else we had to do. Kyle came and picked me up from work, and surprised me with flowers and a card. We went out to eat at Chili's, yum!! And then we went back to his apartment and watched Zoolander. Greatest 6 month anniversary ever. I'm so incredibly grateful for him, only 4 1/2 months until we get married!! ... And there are no pictures, sorry. We're really bad at taking pictures together, we need to work on that.

Also, I am DONE with finals. Finals weren't too awful this semester, which I am grateful for. However, next semesters finals might be beastly, so we'll see how that goes. Plus my booklist totals like $700, yuck.

I made a couple of great purchases this week.
First, St Ives Whipped Silk body moisturizer. My skin has been super dry and itchy, but I hate using lotion. I knew I had to suck it up though, and I grabbed this kind to try. After using it for two days... I love it! On the bottle it said it was fast absorbing and non greasy, so that's why I decided to get it. And, it was totally right. Most labels lie to you when they say that, but not this one. Big fan.
I also got new toothpaste, it's Crest extra white with Scope! I think.... Anyway, I'm also a big fan of this, it leaves your mouth feeling very clean.
Isn't it funny the kind of purchases college students are so excited about??

Brandon comes home today for Leanna... Right about now, actually. I'm so happy for her, I love her to pieces, she's the greatest friend ever... Love you, Lea!

Aaaaand, it's almost the weekend. And there's no school for two weeks. And it's Christmas and family time. Love, love, love this time of year :)

NieNie

I just met her today.
I was in the Wilk by the Jamba Juice, waiting for Kyle, when I saw her, her husband and two boys. I debated a minute about going up to her, but I knew that if I missed out on this opportunity I would regret it.
I spoke to her for a few minutes, and probably sounded like a fool.
She was the nicest person, and I am so glad our paths crossed for at least a moment.

Click here to read the article about her by Jaimee Rose.
Click here to read her blog.

She really is the biggest inspiration.

And Now...

My weekend was awesome.
However, sadly, no pictures were taken.
Kyle and I watched HP #6.
On Saturday, we went on a couple of shopping trips, which both left us empty handed.
We went out to eat at Zupa's, and then made our way up to SLC where we met up with Nathan and Melanie, and we went to the MoTab Christmas Concert with Natalie Cole and David McCoullough. We had a parking ticked to park under the Church Office Building, and we ended up deep in the center of the earth under Trax somewhere, haha. We made it though, and the concert was amazing.
After the concert, we walked around Temple Square a bit (I was so excited to see our temple!) and waited in line to get some Lion House rolls, except they were all out. We dropped Melanie and Nathan back at their car, and then we (Kyle and I) met up with Alan and Jess and we went to In n Out in Draper. Kyle slept over at Alan's and I slept over at Jess's.
In the morning, we ate breakfast and hung around watching football, until it was time for Alan and Jess's ward. We went to sacrament, then we headed up to Nate and Mel's for dinner.
We played with the kids, ate a delicious ham dinner, and watched Claymations Christmas, and Garfield's Christmas, Hanson family traditions!!!

So, that was the weekend. And now it's back to reality.
I have a final today.
I'll take one tomorrow, as well as read a book and write about it for my SFL 100 final.
Then I'll take one on Wednesday, and one on Thursday.
Thursday just happens to be mine and Kyle's 6 month anniversary, so we're going out to dinner to celebrate that, and celebrate being done with the semester!

Oh, and you know that rumor that's been going around forever about the SLC temple closing down?? FALSE! Go here and read the news post about it from the Church. http://newsroom.lds.org/blog/

Previously...

I have so many things I want to blog about.

First, Sarah posted a trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1. I can't find it anywhere for the life of me, and I'm at work and can't get on facebook anyway, but let me tell you.

I. AM. SO. EXCITED.

I am a HP fanatic. I'll admit it. I can't get enough of HP gear. I get chills watching the trailers. Kyle surprised me and rented HP and the Half Blood Prince last night, and I was so excited I told him it was the best decision he had ever made, haha.

Second, today is Ugly Sweater day at work. And our Christmas party. I will post pictures later.

Third, classes are finished. I can handle finals, hopefully. I was so stressed out with all my last final papers, but now, I am relaxed, mostly. I can get through this.

Fourth, OMG, GLEE! For real, the finale was amazing.

I missed...

A whole group of friends that I am thankful for.

The MG's

Hands down, the greatest girls ever. Some of us waited the whole time, some of us didn't. Some of us are married to our missionaries, some of us are married to someone else. Some of us are single. It doesn't matter. Waiting for a missionary brought us together, no matter if it was right or wrong or didn't work out.

Kellie, Leanna, Steph, Sarah, Cassie, Nikki, Lindsay, Danielle, Emily, Kellie, Annika, Natali, Jenny, Adrianne, Sarah, Dani, Bonnie, Dawn, Cassee, Natalie, etc.

I love you girls, SO much.

I wouldn't have gotten through July 2008 to June 2009 without you.

And I still need you all.

EMG's.

Forever.

(These are just the first 10 group photos I found on my computer. And I was maybe a third of the way through the MG's file. We love each other.)

Makin' a List

In no particular order....
These are things I am thankful for.

1. Kyle "my love" Hanson.

Everyday I find more and more things about Kyle that I absolutely adore, and that make me love him more, and that make me realize again why he is so perfect for me.
Can you believe I get to be with him forever? I can hardly comprehend that. It sounds rather nice to me though.
Plus, he's cute.

2. My family, namely Mom and Charity.
Mom raised me, Charity taught me. And I love them both. I will miss them both so much when Kyle and I move to our unknown future location.
They're always there for me

3. My [future] in-laws.
I love them all already, and it's just the beginning of a long life of fun and family.
I'm especially grateful for Mel and Nathan for feeding us at least once a month, and letting us hang out at their house, and play with Whitney and Liam, and for just being there to talk and laugh and play games with.
I'm especially grateful for Whitney for teaching me how to be happy.
I'm especially grateful for Liam for letting me have a cute, loving, mischievous toddler in my life.
I'm especially grateful to Alan (and Jess) for letting Kyle and I hang with them and go on fun adventures with them.
I'm especially grateful for Blaine and Brooke and Allie for letting us know they're thinking about us even from a distance.
And I'm especially grateful for Mom and Dad Hanson for being there for us, and loving us, and being excited with us about our future.

4. The Gospel
My life would be a mess without the Gospel.
Without the Gospel I wouldn't be able to be sealed for time and all eternity to the love of my life.
I wouldn't be who I am today.
I wouldn't have a testimony of Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.
I wouldn't know about Joseph and Emma Smith and their family.
I wouldn't know about the Atonement.
I wouldn't be able to use it in my life.
As I said, my life would be a mess.
(Also, shout out to my awesome Bishop and his wife who inspire me and make my life awesome.)

5. School and work: BYU and BYU IS
Sure, school is hard. But, I love it, and that I have the opportunity to receive more education.
I'm grateful for government pell grants who pay for my education.
I'm grateful to BYU heath insurance.
I'm grateful to have a job in this time of economic crisis.
I'm grateful that my job allows me work on campus, and do to homework in my downtime.
Another reason I'm grateful for school: It introduced me to Kyle (via our singles ward).

6. The Internet.
Without this I wouldn't know the joy of blogging.
And facebook.
And wikipedia.
And that if you go to the address googlegooglegooglegoogle.com, you get four google screens.

7. My friends.

I have way too many friends that have made a difference to list here.

Some names: Ayisha, Dani, Emily, Lexi, Mallory, Kaylie, Aaron, Collin, Mckall....

The list could go on.

If you're not listed, I still love you.

8.Burt's Bees chapstick.

and life, in general.

and the four seasons.

and everyone else who's influenced my life in some way.

That Person

Why can some people put what they are thinking into words without even trying and it sounds like music? sometimes I wish I was that person.
Why can some people craft and craft and craft and everything looks beautiful and put together? sometimes I wish I was that person.
Why can some people always dress like they're models and look so well put together even if their hair is in a messy ponytail? sometimes I wish I was that person.
Why can some people get straight A's in classes, sometimes without even trying, as well as be involved in things like choir, clubs, drama? sometimes I wish I was that person.
But then.
I remember who I am.
And I remember what I have been and what my potential is.
And I remember that He and he loves me.
And I don't wish that anymore.