It's About That Time!!!

... and I'm SO EXCITED!!!

Home Sweet Home...

Wish I was in ATL for many reasons... This is one!

Gimme a Break Pt. 2

The end of my break was ALSO quite spectacular!

I spent New Year's Eve at one of my great high school friend's house... Mandee has thrown a N.Y.E. party every year since high school, and it is ALWAYS a pleasure to catch up with old friends!

Jillian, Mandee, & I

Kelli & I

Apparently, I'm afraid of sparklers... Hmmm.

On New Year's Day, I flew back to Vegas and Peter picked me up.  We spent a few hours shopping and eating and enjoying the town!

We were super spontaneous and went on the roller coaster at New York, NY.

And then, finally, I got to use my Christmas present and we went to Mandalay Bay to see "The Lion King!"

I was SO tired by the time we drove 2 hours back to St. George!  That made it extra fun to find out that there were more surprises waiting for me!

Now it's time to get back to work and focus on my musical!  6 1/2 weeks and counting!

Gimme a Break Pt. 1

I had a WONDERFUL Christmas Break!  LOTS happened!  So here's the Reader's Digest version!

I took Friday, the last day of school, off and went up to Salt Lake to go to a friend's work Christmas party!  When I got up there, Peter gave me my Christmas present:

Art supplies for my classroom AND

TICKETS TO "THE LION KING!!!"

Then we went to the party... and saw Cali!

Then we left the party a little early and went to see the lights at Temple Square.  SO PRETTY!  While there, we saw one of my other cousins, Emily, or shall I say Sis. Sorenson... she's a missionary serving on Temple Square!

SO good to run into this lady!

The next day, it was back to St. George to finish packing for my big trip and then 2 plane rides to Tampa where I met my family for our cruise!!  It was awesome!  FUN, FRIENDS, FAMILY, AND FOOD!  (And did I mention we're all super tan now!?!)

Feel free to check out my slideshow in the previous post, or for the avid reader, CLICK HERE to read the details on my sister's blog!

The next week was spent at home recovering from the massive amounts of food we ate the previous week!

One highlight was going out to lunch with the Wilcox ladies!  I've known this family since before I can remember, and spending time with them is a rare pleasure!

Me & "Headow"

Erin, Claire, Me, Jennifer, & Heather

Our Darling Mamas!

We also went up to see my Aunt Lisa for a day!  It was great to spend time with her!  She's one amazing lady!

Claire loved Lisa's dog!

Me... not so much.

Us & Aunt Lisa

It was a great vacation!  Stay tuned for more to come!

I Love Cruises! They're So Delicious!!!

If you want a play-by-play of our cruise, CLICK HERE to see my sister, Erin's blog!  She did SUCH a good job, I feel that I have been excused from my duties of blogging about it...

But I will post some pictures here... so sit back, and instead of reading, check out this fun slide show!

Word of Focus - 2011

My cousin, Lindsey, chooses a word to focus on every year, and inspired me last year to do the same.

I picked "hope" as my Word of the Year for 2010.  It was something I felt like I needed some help with, and that would be good for me to work on.  I had no idea just how much that word would shape my year!  Both choices I made and events outside of my control either strengthened my hope or challenged it.

I've always been a fairly optimistic person, and I came to realize that "looking on the bright side" is more than just waking up with a smile or seeing the glass as half full.  Being hopeful requires you to actively choose a better attitude.  It requires that optimism to be deeply rooted inside you.  Like faith, it serves as a foundation for your thoughts, words, and actions.

This year, I've picked a word that is a weakness for me, hoping that by focusing on it throughout the coming year, I can make it a strength.  These past two years have been so wonderful for me in so many ways, but they have also been difficult as I've worked to undo damage done the previous year.  I am proud of myself for many things!  I've come SO FAR, and most of the time, that tough year of my life just seems like a bad dream!

The past month or so, though, I've realized that I still have some work to to really get rid of some baggage (hopefully) once and for all!

I have a hard time with trust.

I think once you've really had your heart broken and your trust violated, that's a natural consequence.  So is being terrified of being hurt (aren't we all, though).  But being afraid is the opposite of having trust.  Hence the need for me to focus on trust.

trust:

1. confident expectation of something; hope

2. to believe, have faith

3. reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, or surety of a person or thing

I think trust is tied closely to hope, and this year will give me the opportunity to build on what I learned last year, and I think will be really good for me!!

I hope to improve my ability to trust other people, and especially to increase my trust (and faith) in my Heavenly Father.

To that end, here is a quote from a talk that President Hinckley gave at his wife's funeral:

"Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us.  If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers" (Ensign, Feb 2006, p. 63).

And one from Elder Holland:

"Some of you may wonder: Is there any future for me?  What does a new year or a new semester, a new major or a new romancs, a new job or a new home hold for me?  Will I be safe?  Will like be sound?  Can I trust in the Lord and in the future?  Or would it be better to look back, to go back, to stay in the past?  To all such of every generation, I call out, 'Remember Lot's wife.'  Faith is for the future.  Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there.  Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the high priest of good things to come (Hebrews 9:11).  Keep your eyes on your dreams, however distant and far away.  Live to see the miracles of repentance and forgiveness, of trust and divine love that will transfrom your life today, tomorrow, and forever.  That is a New Year's resolution I ask you to keep" (Ensign, Jan 2010, p. 22-27).

So here's to 2011!  May it be a year of growth, goodness, and greater trust!!