We made it!

Nearly fourty eight hours after departing from Salt Lake City, a cheerful albeit numb faced family of six arrived in the suburbs of Calgary, Alberta!
It was one of the more treacherous drives they had undertaken. Snow plows with seemingly malicious intents blew buckets of snow across the front windshield. The van tires skidded to and fro on the slick Idaho country roads. Winding through the mountains, they cruised through Montana's pitch black outback at a breezy 10 mph.
In the dark of night, they crawled into a cheap trucker motel to rest. It was not a resort sought out in intimidation of the elements but a...

Well yes it was. The roads were terrible, and I feel blessed to have made it here safely.
But we are here, and I love it here. It is my second home, and my true escape from the monotony of Utah.

Here's what my sched is looking like so far:
10:00- Wake up
10:30- get out of bed
11:00- Brunch, Nana's cooking!
11-6:00- Browse through my grandparents library,
eat, sleep, ski, a little violin, no homework,
chill with cousins, own at rock band, watch batman begins,
ski, facebook, watch dark knight, go for a run, have a nap.
6:00- Dinner
7-1:00- Whatever the heck I feel like.
1:30- Asleep before I hit the pillow.

I'll get my ski pictures uploaded when I can. I hope you guys are having a wonderful break!

To my lovely friend HIllary

I love your uniqueness, and your inspiring photography! Thanks for being a great friend.

She was...

the valedictorian at her high school, she has a Master's degree, she runs a business, she is a personal trainer, she passed a law, she accompanies me on the piano, she's writing a book, she home schools while managing an unruly three year old.
She's my mom, and it's not only the accomplishments I admire but the character behind them.
I love my mother, and I feel so lucky to be her daughter. Half the time she is exasperated with me, and the other half I am exasperated with her. But then there are those sweet moments in between.
In those moments I know I wouldn't make a trade for the world.
I feel such a great weight to live up to her.
I know she truly understands the meaning of service, and I see how she sacrifices herself every day for me and others. As I watch her grinding through the daily hurricane of events, I know that I can be better, kinder, more focused, and a little more selfless.

Did you forget about this color?

Ice and icecream

Borrowed Dad's boots :)

Gave up on that.

I have a view outside from my bed.
The first thing I saw when I woke up was the wonderful powdery whiteness.

So I hopped up and took a walk.
Nothing could make me come back inside.
Only the headache from the powerfully pounding flakes,
Would make me consider it.
Everything was beautiful.
Don't care about summer.

When the roads get icy we know it's the time to make our annual trip up to Calgary, Alberta. It's quite an adventure- a 16 hour drive stuffed into a mini van with a family of six (five of whom are outfitted with skis). I'm so excited to go and visit my cousins and grandparents! I rarely see them, and Christmas is so happy with all of us together. I must admit, a big part of my excitement is coming from the fact that we are spending some serious time on the slopes! There's nothing like Canadian snow...and skiiers.

Oh, and one more great thing about winter? Cold Stone Creamery has amazing seasonal flavors!

Tonight I got pumpkin icecream with caramel, whipped cream, cinnamon, and graham cracker crumbs.

It was quite tasty.

I love my family!

Can you guess which member of the family had a temper tantrum and didn't want to wear his brown sweater or have his hair combed?

Irrationally happy

A good day for no reason
7:15 I crawled out of bed
My mind a blur
7:20 blaring honking sounded from the driveway
My hair a mess
I laughed all the way to school
Peanut butter sandwich in AP
Plus a witch DBQ
That I'll never see again
Slogged through Chem test just to find
Hot chocolate waiting for me
Sat on the heater and chatted through lunch
Warm through and through
And so much SNOW!
Dying for that stiff legged
Painfully numb fingered
Ruddy faced
Been-on-the-slopes-all-day
Feel
Peer pressure in seminary
Led to my first taste of shrimp
Chewed twice and swallowed whole
Never doing that again
Chemistry lab after school
Grapefruits and apples and limes and lemons
2 hours for 10 EC points
Mullins' idea of fair
Hopped on TRAX so utterly tired
Dozed despite the old man's stare
"Gallivan Center", the smooth voice called
Woke with a start
Tripped out of the train
With all the grace
Of a herd of stampeding turtles
Trekked two blocks in the blizzarding snow
Only to find
A disheveled violin teacher
Suited up in a stately tux
Bearing the news of a last minute concert
A cancelled lesson
Back home a sugary scone and a cozy fire
Listened to my new favorite song
With prospects of missing
Every single B day
For the rest of the week
Running through my head
:)

Newport II

Can I just grow to be a mermaid and live forever at Newport beach?! After two hardcore days at Disneyland, it was nice to just relax at the beach. Everything was so picturesque, my camera was snapping nonstop!

The happiest place on earth

I spent Thanksgiving weekend hanging out at Disneyland for the first time! I absolutely loved it there...the word running through my head over and over was AMBIANCE. Everything was so completely overdone, it was perfect. My favorite ride was the Indiana Jones one. I went on it about five times and still wasn't sick of it. Pirates of the Carribbean was pretty incredible too. We met up with my lovely Aunt Meredith and her boyfriend Aaron and spent the evening in California Adventure. I got shamed into riding the Tower of Terror, so I'm on my way to conquering the Rocket at Lagoon I guess. Here are a few pictures I managed to get when I wasn't too busy going on every single ride!WE ARE COOL.

Um someone tell me why there is a tuba coming out of my head!

Anne's on sugar overload...

Just repping :)
"The most important picture on that camera!"
-Gramps


Stany!

The Quest

Last summer I set a goal to visit every single temple in Utah. Thanks to a couple good friends with some driver's licenses I'm getting closer!

Loved:

Salt Lake, Bountiful, Jordan River, Manti, Provo, and Saint George temples.

Needs some love:

Mt. Timp, Logan, Monticello, Ogden and Vernal temples.

I've enjoyed every single one I've visited, and found them all to be unique in sometimes surprising ways. I love the clean and peaceful feeling after leaving the temple and nothing tastes quite as good as lunch afterwards!

Hopefully I can make it to them all.

Engrish

My Canadian cousin Danielle came down for a surprise visit from BYU today, and we completed our traditional late-night visit to engrish.com
Engrish is a collection of photos of English language mistakes found in Asian countries. Go check it out for yourself!

These were a few of our favorites:

Dictate dominate!

Today I was called down to Hillcrest's SBO room to record my thoughts about the past volleyball season.

I immediately was trying to think of a way to get around the obvious fact that we weren't very successful and make it sound like I had gained something. While we didn't gain very many wins, I found that I have recieved some experiences that really changed me.

Through the past few years I have been lucky enough to have some incredible leadership opportunities presiding over a club, chairing meetings, and competing with speeches. This year however, participating in volleyball offered me a role that I had never played (ha) before. It helped me to have a completely new take on what my idea of leadership is.

At the beginning of the season I was extremely excited when Coaches Dondero and Peterson announced that Natalie Rudd and I would be this year's Sophomore captains.

It was...A LOT..harder than I thought.

Volleyball is a hugely emotional sport. When everyone is up so is our game, and vice versa.

For example, it was the big game day at Alta. We were down and just bombed the game-probably 15 points behind. Before the next match my team gathered in a circle. We all knew what was wrong. We took a deep breath and then just screamed and jumped around like complete idiots. We were pumped up. Guess what? We came back and beat the Hawks by nearly 20 points.

After one really bad practice I knew I needed to have a talk with the coaches. I had been feeling horrible and was just out of it. Dondero and Peterson reminded me what I had forgotten- there were seven other girls who were depending on me and who's playing was affected by my own attitude. Knowing how much the game revolves around the player's intensity I felt a huge responsibility. Even if I was having the worst day in the world, or was dead sick and tired I had to pick myself up and keep going. I told myself that if I couldn't do it for me, then I could at least do it for every other girl.

The big thing that I knew deep down but had never really recognized was the fact that leadership is not a title. It's not always the position you are placed in. It's the difference you make no matter what situation you are in. Isn't it funny that when you are putting others first, that is the only time you are really leading?

"A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion not position."

--John Maxwell

Recently I was called to the Stake Youth Conference committee. We are planning and carrying out the entire Youth Conference for our stake next summer without a leading adult. I'm really starting to feel the weight of this responsibility but I hope I can take what I've learned and make it a great experience for everyone!

Paige and Quinci

I couldn't live without you

This is a little early for Americans, but Canadian Thanksgiving was a month ago so...I would like to mention the poorly recognized pieces of my life that I couldn't do without.
I started thinking about this last night when my family did their annual "Thankful tree". Basically this consists of taping up a paper tree with the objects of our gratitude on each leaf.

My leaves?

-Fast-ish internet
-Muh bunny
-Mom the chauffer
- Mr. Math Dad
- Hunter the violist alarm clock (wakes me up with his playing at 6:30 without fail)
-Freckles
- Curly hair
-Seminary
-Scriptures
-Best friends
-Apples
-Bobby pins!
-Camera
-Calls from Nana
-New violin teacher
- Lockers that open the first time
-Inspiring mentors
- TRAX
-Google
-Hugs on bad days
-Candy bowls

Murrayite Terrors

Three girls + a lott of makeup + an 80's ski jacket + some freaky hair + a car and loud stereo =



Me, Ky, and Megs!

An apple a day keeps the doctor away...

But what about three? Anyone that knows me well (or eats lunch with me) readily rolls their eyes at my typical snack and lunch side dish: an apple. Red delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji, Gala, and Golden Declicious, I've taste-tested-and loved- them all. They are the perfect size to throw into a bag before a tough run or volleyball workout, and taste soo good. Before you tell me to try some oranges and bananas, check this out.

Apples can increase your bone density, protect from Alzheimers, lower your cholesteral by as much as 16%, protect from Cancer (Lung, Breast, Liver, Colon, you name it), aid in diabetes management, AND help with asthma.

With so many flavors, colors, sizes, and benefits I'm still not tired of my daily apple. Or three :)

Newport Beach