Night on Temple Square
A couple of weekends ago, my mom and dad came down for dinner and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert, to celebrate Grandma Kay's birthday with her. So Eliza and I met them in Salt Lake to hang out with Joelle and we had a party of our own. We walked around and saw the nativities and listened to a high school choir in one of the visitor's centers. Then we went to dinner at the Lion House and finished the night off watching the concert from the Tabernacle. It was a great night!

THANKSGIVING

I had such a great thanksgiving and it was so fun to have Eliza come home and spend the week in Idaho! We did so many fun things it is hard to pick the best part. Here are just some of the highlights:

On Tuesday night we went to Les Mis is Sugar City and Wednesday we put Christmas lights up and went bowling. Thurday was the great day of Thanksgiving! Eliza and I went and ran the Mini-Cassia Turkey Trot 5K in Paul and then there was lunch, ping pong, football and lots of pie! Friday, Eliza and I went to Twilight while Joelle and Mom went to Bolt and then that night we went out and played games at Ben and Robbie's.

A trip home is never complete without going out to the dairy so Saturday morning we put on the coveralls and paid a little visit to the cows. Satuday night we went over to the ISU vs. BYU men's basketball and I found out it is more fun to watch when you can see the players and you aren't sitting on the top row of the Marriott Center! Sunday we went out to Arobon Valley listen to Austin Hayden speak. He just returned from his mission and will be coming down to BYU in January. As you can see it was an exciting trip! Only a few weeks left in the semester! We couldn't help but stop to take a picture of Arbon.

On Wednesday we picked Joelle up from school and went to the Schoolhouse Grill for ice cream and a few games of connect four.

Mission Call and Halloween!

My roommate Amy Alletto recieved her mission call a couple of weeks ago and she can't stop smiling. She is going to Kyiv, Ukraine! She leaves the middle of January. I am going to miss her so much but I know she is going to be an amazing missionary. The day before Halloween Ann and I made dinner and carved a pumpkin. I forgot how fun it is to scrape out the insides of a pumpkin!

On Halloween night Eliza and I drove up to South Salt Lake with a few friends in the ward to a Halloween Party John Hoyt and a couple of his friends had at their little house. They had a fire and lots of treats.

I finally ran my 5K!
On Saturday I did a fun run in Orem for Make a Wish Foundation. After running all summer and was wishing I would have ran a 5K but I finally did it. I ran the whole thing and it was a lot of fun. I ran with my roommates Eliza and Kristen and Jeremy and Josh who are in our ward.

Jeremy, Heather, Eliza, Kristen, and Josh

We made it to the Elite 8!
Our flag football team is in the elite 8 in the second division. We had a bye the first round of the tournament and then won our game on Thursday. The tournament is now double elimination so there isn't quite as much pressure but we are hoping to make it all the way to the championship!
We will play this Wednesday and Thursday.

Steve Merrill (our coach), Stacie, Eliza, Kayla, Emily, Amy, Kristen, Heather, and Annika This is our team and fans from from the ward who came out in the cold to cheer us on.

My wonderful roommates!

School is going well and I am loving my ward and my apartment. At first I was a little apprehensive about living in the same place for a second year but it has turned out to be wonderful and I am grateful to be here. This week was Homecoming! The game was cold but a lot of fun. I just have to say that I love BYU! And these are my wonderful roommates...

Melanie, Kristen, Amy, Emily, Eliza, and Me

Amy, Kristen, Eliza, Emily, and Me sporting our quest shirts after the game

Kara (Kristen's friend), Kristen, Me, and Eliza at the football game

A challenge to all the women...

So a couple of weeks ago my roommate Kristen and I decided to spend a little time memorizing The Relief Society Declaration. This has brought new meaning to Relief Society for me. It is a great reminder of what we are striving for and what we can work on. So my challenge to all of you is to memorize the declaration before Thanksgiving. Good Luck!

We are beloved spirit daughters of God, and our lives have meaning, purpose, and direction. As a worldwide sisterhood, we are united in our devotion to Jesus Christ, our Savior and Exemplar. We are women of faith, virtue, vision, and charity who:

Increase our testimonies of Jesus Christ through prayer and scripture study.

Seek spiritual strength by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

Dedicate ourselves to strengthening marriages, families, and homes.

Find nobility in motherhood and joy in womanhood.

Delight in service and good works.

Love life and learning.

Stand for truth and righteousness.

Sustain the priesthood as the authority of God on earth.

Rejoice in the blessings of the temple, understand our divine destiny, and strive for exaltation.

From TEMPLE SQUARE...
Caroline, Abbey, Eliza, Amy and I took the trax into Salt Lake on Saturday morning to attend General Conference. We stood in the standby line for about 45 minutes before we sent Amy and Abbey to try to get tickets. It only took about 10 minutes before they had four tickets and we were on our way in. I love going to Salt Lake for Conference and was glad that Caroline and Abbey came down.
After the morning session we got back on the trax and met Brandon, Lindsay, Gracie, Hillary, and Carter for lunch in Sandy. It was a great morning!

Intramurals have begun!

Last night we had our first flag football game as well as our first co-ed basketball game and we came out with two wins! It is fun to be back playing intramurals and I am excited for the season. I will try and keep you updated how we are doing.

I'm back at BYU!

Well I got back to Provo in time for the 1st football game and the excitement has begun. After the game on Saturday we (Kristen, Eliza, Whitney, Jordan, and a couple of Jordan's roommates) went to Erin (Mower) Harris's and had pizza and ice cream. Then this evening Jordan rode to salt lake with me to switch the Navigator for my car and we went to Whitney's apartment and played a game. I've been here less than two days and had a social overload!

I am moved into my apartment and excited for the new semester. First Sunday back and I already had a meeting with the Bishop. I am the new 2nd councelor in the Relief Society Presidency. They get things going pretty quick around here. Me and Whitney

Kristen, Melanie, and Me

Brandon and Linsday were married 8-8-08 in the Mesa, Arizona Temple! Here are some pictures from the great event. Joelle, Hilary, Rachel, Abbey, Amy, Gracie, and Kaitlyn outside the Mesa Temple during the wedding.

Joelle and Heather

Lindsay and Brandon coming out of the temple.

Joelle with Lindsay and Brandon

Yes, I was a bridesmaid!

The sisters

The grandmas with the bride and groom

With the lucky kids who got to go to Arizona.

The Brothers holding the bride...Brandon's face is my favorite in this picture. :)

Rachel and Abbey

The girls watching Brandon and Lindsay dance

Brandon dancing with his mother

I'm HOME...
Well I got home a couple of weeks ago. I am loving the river and having a good time attending singles branch activities. I also bought a new bike a couple of days ago and Joelle and I like to goes for rides in the evening around the neighborhood.

John, Caroline, and the kids came over last Friday to go out in the boat.

Joelle played a lot of softball the past few weeks. Her team beat the number one seed in the second round of the tournament and they ended up taking 3rd place.

Lydia and Wyatt had a great time pretending Brandon's leg was a horse during Joelle's softball game.

Brandon is playing on a city leauge softball team. It is fun to watch and is a nice way to spend a summer evening.

My last morning in Provo I played basketball and then went swimming some people in my ward. It was a fun morning and I was able to test out my new swimming suit!

I got THE shirt!

After playing on 9 intramural teams this past year, I finally won the prized intramural champion shirt with my ward's womens softball team! As many of you know the shirt is very coveted on this campus. I was very excited to win a championship! I played 3rd base most of the time and then pitched a little bit in the last few games.

Afternoon with Ann:
Ann and I went to the family day at the Museum of Art on campus and then went back to my apartment to hang out. I taught her a few chords and we had a good time trying to play the guitar. When I went to pick Ann up at her house she had a plastic cup in her hand with some flowers. She cut a couple of roses off the rosebush in front of her house for me. It was so nice for her to think of me and the roses smelled wonderful!

My friend AMY...
This is a picture of me and Amy at the outdoor movie at the baseball field. Amy is not only an awesome friend but also an amazing basketball player and I love playing with her. On Saturday she set me up on a blind date with her friend's roommate. We went to a nearby church and played two on two basketball and then went to a fun Mexican restaurant for lunch. It was a fun afternoon date. Amy is planning to go on a mission after fall semester so she is going to redshirt this year for basketball which means she can play intramurals! She will be a great addition to all of our teams:)

Aspen Grove reunion and Cross-country skiing
I know that this post is about 5 months late but I just got these pictures from my Annika. In January we went up to Aspen Grove for a little reunion and went cross country skiing. It was so much fun!

This is me coming down a hill....and this is about 5 seconds later! Luckily I fell over before I ran into the cabin:)