Happy Birthday!

On Sunday evening we invited some of our neighbors over for cake and my mom's delicious home-made ice cream and a few founds of the "name game." I had a great time celebrating my birthday with my neighborhood family! It has been a wonderful blessing to move into this neigborhood and become friends with such amazing people.

JENNIFER GARRARD

Here is a little shout out to one of my best friends who is getting married in 4 DAYS!

It is hard to believe that it has almost been five years since my family moved to the Burley area. I remember the first Sunday I was home I went to church with the attitude that I didn't need to make friends because I already had friends in American Falls. Well, it didn't take very long for that to change. I quickly made friends of all ages and they have been a huge blessing in my life. Lucky for me Jenni was "assigned" to be my friend. She didn't tell me this until a few years ago :) Jenni and I have been best friends ever since! With birthdays just 11 days apart we have had a special birthday celebration together every year which. We have enjoyed time on the river, summer bike rides, late night movies, double dates, long talks, family game nights, and plenty of popcorn! I just love this girl and I am so excited for her and Scott. He is a lucky man!My mom, Jenni, Julie Gararrd, Julie Breshears, and Me at Jenni's bridal shower

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It has been so fun to be home for the Christmas break. I love the holiday season. I have found much joy in being with family and friends. On Monday Dec. 21 we had Andersen Family Christmas Party #2. We celebrated on Thanksgiving while Katie and Eric were here but Holly's family wasn't able to come so we just had another party. Santa made a special visit, we had a program, sang, ate great food, and went caroling! One of my favorite memories of Christmas growing up is when we would invite the neighbors over and we would all pile into the back of suburbans and go caroling. It is a little different now that we can just walk around the neighborhood but I still love it!

Favorite Christmas tradition #2...going to Grandma Robert's house for Christmas Eve and then driving around to see Christmas lights before going home to wait for Santa to come. This year we went and visited Grandma in the afternoon and then went out to Greg and Gwen's for the evening. Wyatt and Lydia love grandma's rocking horse.It was fun to be with Greg's family for Christmas Eve. We had a great dinner and then Lydia sang for us, we acted out the nativity, and we sang with candles (a Christensen tradition that Katie and Eric have shared with us). We played a few games of "don't eat Pete" and Lydia and I played dominos. By then it was time for magic coco to help the kids sleep through the night. It kicked in pretty fast! As soon as Lydia finished her coco she was so sleepy she could hardly stand up on her own :) Now that is what I call MAGIC! Christmas Morning...
In the past 21 years that I have experienced Christmas I believe that this is the quietest Christmas morning I have ever experienced! This was the first time that it was just Joelle and I with our parents. There was no rush and we did all we could to drag out the unwrapping. It was kind of fun to only have to share the spotlight with one other person ;) Greg and Gwen came over for lunch and we spent the afternoon playing games, just as every Christmas day should be spent!

Sledding...
Despite the fact that I had not yet finished all of my finals, I took a break on Thursday night to enjoy the snow. Brian Hoyt and I doubled with Jeff and Tammy and we headed up Provo Canyon. I think this picture is so funny because it makes Brian and I look really short. In reality Jeff and Tammy are just tall :)

Elise is finally married! On Thursday night I went to Elise and Dustin Call's reception. Elise got engaged just before spending 4 months in Jerusalem with me. I am so happy for her and I had a great time getting together with so many of my Jerusalem friends. Below (Monica, Katie, Elise, and Heather)



Women in Business Dinner: This past Thursday we had a big dinner that was sponsored by the Undergraduate Advisory Board. I conducted the meeting and wore my purple suit! I love being in the business program and it has been really fun to get involved this year.

We had about 120 female students come for a nice dinner and then we had a member of the advisory board speak to us. Her name in Michelle Linford. She spoke on the important role we have as women. We are needed and we can do great things. As she shared her story she made the point that no matter how hard we try to plan out our lives, things are not going to go exactly like we want them to. We need to rely on the Lord and trust that the He can plan our lives better than we can. What a great reminder!

It was so fun to see so many women gathered together in the Marriott school and be reminded that we are not alone in the program. We had about 20 people sign up for the club and I talked to a lot of students that want to get involved. I am so excited for this club and as I talked to people following the event I started to see how much this club is needed and the great impact it can have on individuals.