This weekend was so much fun and there is so much to tell!

Friday we had a murder mystery dinner date. Sounds crazy right? Yes. It was crazy. But it was SO MUCH FUN. Basically we were playing clue but we were all dressed like a character from the 20’s and all had goals and items that would help us get our goals. There was lying and cheating and alliances and backstabbing and a little bit of romance here and there. Fun right? It was.

Me and my girls, all dressed up and ready to go:)

I went with Hunter Fowers which was a blast! All in all, one of the best dates I’ve ever been on.

For our murder mystery dinner we had twice baked potatoes, barbecue chicken, and chocolate cake. It was quite delicious!

Twice Baked Potato Recipe

Ingredients:
As many potatoes as you want to have
Sour Cream
Cheese
Milk

Bake your potatoes on 350 in the oven for about one hour. Once the potatoes are soft when pricked with a fork, pull them out of the oven. Cut the potatoes in half and then scoop out all the white. Don’t rip the peel when doing this, just get as much of the potato out as you can. Mash the potatoes with milk and sour cream (a splashes of milk and a few spoonfuls of sour cream). Whip or mash until smooth and not lumpy. Don’t add too much milk and sour cream or it will be too thin! Should be the consistency of mashed potatoes. Top with cheese and put back in the oven until cheese is melty and potatoes are warm through.

And VOILA. Twice baked potatoes!

Last thing of the weekend! I got to spend time with my family playing volleyball and badminton and everything, and that was so fun! I got to see my cousins and grandparents which is always a treat. I got to spend some time with Randy’s family, which is always so much fun. I got to watch General Conference which was AMAZING! There were so many talks that were exactly what I needed to hear, and I love that we get to hear from our prophet’s every six months. I am so lucky to know what I know, to have heard what I heard this weekend, and to continue to getting to learn and grow in the gospel every day.

Happy Monday everyone!

I love rain. It’s probably a toss up whether I love rain or sun more. Today the rain made me miss Germany. It rained every single day while we were there. But the soft, feather comforters on our bed made it ok. And the warm soup with every single meal. And walking through the big, spacious castles with the rain on the windows was so perfect. So yes, I am missing dear little Oberammergau today.

Also, I was walking today and this guy was walking weirdly close to me. I had my umbrella up and I seriously thought he was going to run into me. Then, he peaked his head around my umbrella to see my face, made a sound like “oomphhh” and quickly walked away. It was probably the funniest thing that has ever happened to me.

Also I had the weirdest dreams. I was watching two girls have a double wedding and suddenly I was the bride, to a guy with a long braid and braces. Then the RA got mad at us for having our door open. Too many scary things for one dream, right?

Happy, rainy Friday all.

Yesterday was a day full of sweet things. The sweetest of all? A letter from Japan. It took two and a half weeks to get here, which was expected, but it was still so nice to FINALLY get more than a paragraph email. Japan stamps are really cute, P.S. Also, that best friend of mine is amazing. He somehow knows EXACTLY what I’m going to need to hear….and he wrote it two weeks ago, thousands of miles away. I don’t know how he does it, but he’s the best.

Another sweet thing? Driving my new car, Edna, around:) I am basically IN LOVE WITH IT and SO THANKFUL to my parents for getting it for me. They are also the best:)

Another sweet thing that happened was doing crazy fun things with my friends, as well as doing homework (we do good in school sometimes.) A trip to JoAnn’s to get stuff for me for Relief Society resulted in fabric paint for Lauren’s pants, Rachel and Alli running around taking pictures and blowing off steam, and all of us car dancing at stop lights. Good times:)

Another sweet thing that happened was my mama’s DELICIOUS cake for breakfast:) Sue me for eating chocolate cake for breakfast. I had strawberries and milk with it. I feel no shame. But seriously it was really good. Chocolate cake with chocolate cool whip frosting? Divine. Maybe one day I’ll post the recipe.

Another sweet thing was having a good, Gospel talk with two of my very good friends. I love that I have so many close friends that I can have these deep, good talks with. It’s the best:)

So yes, yesterday was full of sweet things. And today will be too:)

No this isn’t Edna…camera broken remember? But she looks just like this:)

This is where Randy is…the Hawaii of Japan. Yes, I’m super jealous. Aren’t you?

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Sorry there was no news yesterday or today! I’ve had a crazy weekend but it’s been so much fun! I loved getting to spend time with my family and some friends that I haven’t seen in a while. And after spending time with my family and these friends, and celebrating Easter, I learned a few things.

• Changing who you are when you’re around different people is really ridiculous. Stay true to yourself, whoever you’re with.
• Complaining about literally everything will get you nowhere, and you’ll have no friends while you’re there.
• Four kids ranging from 21-12 can still go crazy over a bottle of bubbles.
• Hunger Games Easter egg hunts are the way to go.
• My mom is the best cook in the world.
• Cars from this century are so nice.
• My family is the best and I love spending time with them.

This week is the week leading up to Easter. In some religions it’s called the Holy Week, in others it’s not mentioned at all. Yesterday was Holy Thursday. Yesterday was the day of the week, that thousands of years ago, Christ held the Last Supper. And then went to the Garden of Gethsemane. In the past this hasn’t really had that much of an effect on me. So I decided earlier this year, that I wanted Holy Week to have more meaning for me. And folks, it’s made all the difference.

Yesterday I decided to get my sorry behind off the couch and go to the temple with my FHE family. PAUSE STORY. My FHE family ROCKS. That is all. Carry on. UNPAUSE. So we went to the temple. And there isn’t a better way I could’ve spent Holy Thursday than by being at the temple. I read scriptures from the four gospels about Christ and his life, and his death. I spent time looking at paintings of him teaching, and got to be baptized for people that can now accept him as their savior and redeemer. It was a wonderful, amazing day.

So, yes this blog post is more religious than most, but I would feel very ungrateful if I didn’t tell people what I know.

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church on the Earth. I know that more than anything else. And this week especially, I am so grateful for the Atonement. I know that Christ has felt absolutely everything I have ever felt, and will ever feel. He chose to die for me, and he also chose to live for me. He could’ve given up, had the cup removed from him. But he didn’t. He thought I was worth living for in that moment. And that’s something pretty amazing. So today I am rededicating myself and my life to him. I don’t want to cause him any more pain than I have to. So I’m going to try and be better, so maybe he didn’t have to suffer as much for me.

Happy Friday everyone!

All I have time for today is a few major news headlines, a birthday shout-out, and my two-cents. So here we go!

Kurtis Gilliat. What a guy. It’s his birthday today or something like that. Kurtis is himself no matter what the situation. Kurtis wants everyone to get along, be loving and kind, and he always wants the people around him to be happy. Kurtis is a very smart guy, who loves having fun. He’s an incredible person and an amazing FHE brother! He’s one of those people that you can completely be yourself around, and he’ll still love you. He never gets mad, even when I call him a specific name that he thinks sounds baby-ish, and he’s a loyal friend. So here’s to you Kurtis! Happy birthday, and thanks for being one of my best friends (with no benefits.) Love you!!

Yup…..that’s him folks!

And lastly. I’m not going to be posting my opinion about all the gay marriage stuff on this blog. If you really want to know my opinion, you can ask me. But please know that whether you agree or disagree with me, we can still be friends. I try to have love for everyone and my opinion on the matter doesn’t change that at all.

Also. My blog just got approved for ads!!! We’re slowly but surely moving up in the world. You could help by recommending this blog to your friends, family, enemies…whatever;) Love you all! Happy Wednesday!

So I’m not going to do Gabe’s big farewell post yet. I’ll either do it when he moves back home or actually leaves. I just can’t do that big goodbye post when he’s still got a few weeks of dealing with us all:)

But we did go to Gabe’s farewell this weekend which was super fun! We drove for several hours to Tremonton and then to Morgan to watch our friends give their farewells (Nick and Gabe both gave excellent talks) and then we ate way too much food and got some quality friend time. We didn’t have time to stop by Kaysville though, which I was sad about:( I wanted to see my mom. But this weekend I will get to see my family which I’m really excited about!! The farewells were great. I got to do a lot of thinking during our long car rides, and came to a few brief conclusions about life in general.

• It’s the best feeling in the world when your friends have your back.
• You are as happy as you make yourself.
• When you spend 30 minutes listing things you love, you find more things that you do love.
• Utah is one of the prettiest places in the world.
• You can be happy, having the time of your life, and still feel like you’re missing something.
• It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, if you have the gospel, you have everything you need.
• I have some of the best friends in the world.
• You have no idea what the future holds, but there’s someone who does!

So this weekend has been crazy and fun and weird and interesting and a million other adjectives that I am too tired to think of right now. The overarching word that describes this weekend is….good. It was good. I don’t even have any other things to say about the weekend. I could describe all the things we did and how late we stayed up and what we talked about, but it seems semi-irrelevant at the moment.

The moral of the story is that sometimes you’ll have legendary days that make everything wonderful and make you want to have a million other memories just like that. And some days are a blur of how many hours you’ve been awake and what time it is in other countries and humanities and physical science terms. But when you have good friends and awesome people to miss, those blur days are still good blurs.

There is one moment of perfection I wanted to mention from this weekend. I went to the RB and found an empty studio yesterday. And I spent an hour and a half dancing. I did barre work, a grand allegro, an adagio (which is a feat because I literally hate doing adagio,) the Sugar Plum Fairy variation, and a dance that’s been choreographed in my brain, but never actually done. I have barely danced in the past year. It was too painful. I think that I’m past the point where dancing is painful, and it’s started to become just about me again. It’s still such a huge part of who I am and I still love it. And it’s time for me to get back to it. I’m not as good as I used to be, but I’m not anywhere near as bad as I was worried I would be. So no, I’m not changing my major to dance or joining any team, but I’m back to ballet. Even if it’s just for me.