Family Ties...

But by far the best part of the trip was spending time with family. Three little cuties made the trip quite entertaining! Reagan was so adorable in her little knit dress, and she only got a little spit up on it!
These people make my world go 'round!

Las Vegas Celebrations!

This April was a month of celebration. Of my Nana's 75th birthday and of Reagan's baby blessing. The whole family, including Nana, was able to gather in Nevada and we were joined by Nana's friends of 62 years, Lollie and Hal Stivers. We saw Donny and Marie Osmond's show, which was absolutely hilarious! Here are the outfits from their Dancing with the Stars performances, including the Mirror Ball trophy that Donny won last year. Then here's mom and I with the famous duo:



Okay, that's not really them, but I was in the very front and got to touch both of their hands. Mom was jealous!!!

The next day, I checked two things off my bucket list at one hotel: the Venetian. I rode in a gondola with mom and dad (I told them it was a lot cheaper than flying me to Venice) and visited a wax museum like I always wanted to! Thumbs up, 2 down in one day. When I asked myself if it was possible, if I could really pull it off, our friend the Pres here said, "Yes you can!"



When in Vegas, you do as the Vegans do :) Not really...at all...it's kind of a scary place. Reminds me of the Capitol in the Hunger Games--all fake, all counterfeit. So I decided to join in and have a fake wedding...I picked a good guy don't you think? Maybe he's a little old for me...but he's pretty dashing all the same!


Dad got to tell off some of the politicians he doesn't like and Mom and I finally got to show Simon Cowel what we really think of him!



We got to pose with some famous actors and actresses. Nana and Lolly even got to hang with the Rat Pack and Judy Garland!

The chest hair was very realistic!
Pretend that's facing the other way...
Is that thing real???




Thought Laurel would enjoy this one...this is the LV mayor, very true to life posed with a Playboy bunny! Oh brother!


And this one's just for Beka...I know she'll be pretty jealous! (Don't worry, this one was taken before I married George...I'm no playa' like the maya'!)

Overall it was a marvelous day, made even more magnificant by some gelato (can't forget that, right Pepe?)

Idaho Adventures!

This President's Day weekend, my friend Giuseppe (aka Gipetto, Luigi, Jose) came along with me to Rexburg, ID to keep me company and have some awesome snow adventures. It was great to get out of Provo and see the beautiful Idaho sky once again.

We hung out with Rachey (pronounced Raa-chee) and Lucas and their little adorable Lincy-poo. We taught Giuseppe how to play Killer Bunnies and he won his very first game (beginner's luck...I wooped him and Luke in the second roung). We had Italian food every night, including an authentic recipe that is quick and easy but I don't quite know how to spell it. Most of the weekend was watching the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and watching two Koreans take each other out so that Apollo Ohno and J.R. Selski could take the silver and bronze in the 1500. So intense!

While it wasn't exactly an intense round of Nordic Skiing fit for the Olympics, we did have a lot of fun snowshoeing up in the mountains near Rexburg. The snow was softly coming down and it made for some beautiful sights. We had a jolly good time out there in nature.

Baby enjoyed being carried around and watching certain people push other certain people in the snow...

But he loved running amuck and sliding down snowbanks even more. Here is our sledding excursion on Saturday...

This boy does LOVE to be on the move! And so do we!!! But sometimes, it's also fun to simply sit there and play in the snow!

My semester thus far in a nutshell (or a nubby cap)

Whoa, I'm really bad at this whole blogging thing...it's been a LONG time since October. Maybe I need a blogging butler...(Lucas, hint hint...actually work on YOUR own first...i miss your cute lil guy!!!) Anyway, it's February. And I'm back in P-town. YAY!!! Tonight I officially feel like a legit college student (the slacker kind anyway) because I stayed out at some friends' apartments killing bunnies (and winning), planning to ride an Italian's Vespa, and being serenaded "Who's Line is it anyway" style. When I returned at 11:35, I realized that my Spanish hmwk was due at 11:55 este noche!!! I did non-religion hmwk on a Sunday for the first time in my 3 years here, and finished just in the nick of time (fortunately Someone up there decided to bless me anyway). So it's official, I am now worthy to retire my nerd status...tho I still don't know if that qualifies me as 'normal'. Ah well, normal's overrated. Squirrel!

Anywho, here's a few updates on my life this semester. I have a new good pal who travels all over the place with me. Her name is Lucy. I seem to have a lot of Lucy's in my life, it's prolly because everytime I give something a name, it always happens to be Lucy. Lucy Belle Blue and I have many great adventures together, and this weekend we're preparing for the best one of all, to go to Idaho and Wyoming for some awesome Valentines/President's Day/Mardi Gras/I wanna see my nephew celebrations! Will post more pics when that time comes.

And here's the HUGE announcement of this month: I have a niece!!!

Raegan Nicholle Dodds was born on Jan 24th, 2010, one week after I willed her to come on my birthday, but now she can have her own. She is absolutely ADORABLE and I can't wait to meet her in May to dress her up and spoil her even more than I do those boys (if that's possible). Now Hunter has a lil sister, and he just keeps getting cuter and cuter with that skater-boy hair. This is my current desktop background. Now you understand how lucky I am to see this every day!

Yes so January was my birthday month (along with everyone and their sister, and dad, and brother-in-laws, and neice) so we had a big party at my apartment. About 25 ppl came that night it was a jolly good time. Great to see everyone again!

That Monday (for they always so generously give a three-day weekend for my celebrations to be extended) I went with my friends Hillary and Russell to visit their cute cousins in Lehi. We went sledding with them, mostly on mud, but it was still fun. Built a snowgal with three Californians, they did a great job actually, I was impressed. Lucky for Sarah Bickford (another cool chica who I just have started to get to know), they shared the three cuties w/ us that day. It was cold but fun.

Two of my really good friends got engaged on January 24th so this past weekend I went to two girls nights and got to hear the whole romantic process, giggling and lots of "Ahhhh"s included. Really made me excited and very willing to be patient for my own love story. As Emmaleigh so profoundly pointed out, "Love is wanting to be the reason for the happiness in somebody else's voice." Ahhhh, that's a good pre-Valentine thought, I'll leave it at that.

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

What I'm Doing Here...

So it's official...I'm now a resident of New Mexico once again. Why, you may ask, would a girl who is so obviously a Cougar and has so lovingly come to call Provo her home, nestled up against the mountains and the temple and the Missionary Training Center, would she return to that "desert wasteland." First of all, it is no wasteland, it is a Land of Enchantment, thank you very much! And secondly, I'm quite sick, and have been for a while, and I need time and a place to recover and heal before I can respond to the rigors of university life. It's nothing life-threatening and can be treated and helped...but for now, the place where this best happens is here, with my family, in New Mexico.

So what exactly will I be doing here?

1) Healing, getting the treatment I need, where I need to receive it.
2) Reading...already finished 4 books on my "To Read" List and I've only been here a week!
3) Spending Time with my Family
4) Getting to know my ancestral family (Lots and lots of genelogy and family history work)
5) Preparing for a Mission (Best case scenario, I'll be able to go out next winter, if the Lord wills it)
6) Finally having time to apprendar Espanol!!! (I just ordered the new LDS version of the Santa Biblia, which is so amazing!)
7) Missing my Friends, but knowing that even with the separation, our "heartstrings are double-knotted around" (phrase courtesy of Miss Josephine, a true wordsmith), and our friendship cannot be quelled)
8) Making new Friends here in the Santa Fe Ward, and doing as much missionary work as I can, now that I'm out of "the bubble"
9) Keeping the Albuquerque Temple busy with the names I'm finding and the baptisms that need to be done.

So really, what am I doing here? Exactly what the Lord requires of me right now. As my Mom has often told me based on her life experience, "Life does not always turn out the way we plan it, but in the end, we receive all that we ever wanted, just not in the way we expect it.

So last on this list would have to be:

10) Trusting in the Lord, with all my heart, and pressing forward with a perfect brightness of hope to see the salvation of God, and for His arm to be revealed.

An Extra bonus, I get to go to the Balloon Fiesta next weekend, for the first time in many many years...An International October event for which Albuquerque is famous! YAY! (Check in Next Week for pictures from the great event!)

Conference (aka Almost-Like-Christmas) Weekend

A much appreciated trip back to Utah was wonderfully-timed with the 179th Annual Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (imagine these last words spoken in Lloyd K. Newell's voice). Two of my best friends came to Salt Lake to join my Nana, my sister Maggie, and my brother-in-law Nate in the enjoyment of this semi-annual event.

We went for Chinese food during the Priesthood Session in a restaurant filled mostly with women :). Later we had much shoe success at the mall, where Hillary and I both came away with great shoes, thanks to our fashionable advisor, Miss Bethany Daniel. We topped it all off with some Coldstone Ice Cream (Cake Batter is now officially the new favorite flavor) and Oreos at home. As justification for our slight over-indulgence that evening, we decided that we would start in our application of Temperance (so beautifully described by Elder Kent D. Watson in the Saturday Afternoon Session) as an attainable virtue on the following Monday, since certainly it can't be applied on such a celebratory weekend, which the three of us consider close to Christmas.:)


Sunday afternoon, we headed for Temple Square to take part in the joy first-hand.

Being in the presence of prophets and apostles of God was truly an outstanding experience. Even though I had entered this awe-inspiring Conference Center many times before, the Spirit penetrating there never ceases to amaze me. We were blessed enough to have tickets for the Sunday Afternoon session, where we heard Elder Jeffrey R. Holland boldly proclaim is unshakable testimony before all the world, followed by many edifying and inspired sermons. Follow this link to hear or read (starting this Thursday) these important prophetic messages, which should be our walk and talk for the next 6 months.