New Years 2012

On New Year's Eve I was invited to join Ryker and his family on his mom's side to go to Lewistown where some of his cousins and their bands were playing at the fairgrounds. We had so much fun and were able to do a lot of dancing! The above picture is of Ryk's Aunt Erica, Uncle Brett, and beautiful cousin Paige.
These two stunning gals are some more of Ryker's cousins, Haelie and Kenzie
Ryks and Me. We did some jitterbugging and he taught, well tried to teach me the waltz and texas two step!
Paige, Ryker's mom Libby (sp?) and Creighton.
These two were a lot of fun and Creighton, who claimed he can't dance was able to pick up on things so fast! They were all so much fun to be around and to bring the new year in with!

Pictures 12-15

January 12--This was a stressful day for me for a couple reasons and it just was one of those days where you just feel like blah with things going on. I was looking for another scripture and stopped at this one in Doctrine and Covenants. It is D&C 78:17-19,22 and it one of my favorites when times of discouragement come because it reminds me how small our perspective really is. We can have those days where we are frustrated, but we have to remember that Heavenly Father has a plan for us and he WANTS to BLESS us and although we may not see how our trials or how things that don't necessarily go our way, can be a blessing we can rest assured that He is in control and as we continue to do what is right, it will all work out for our good, just the way it is supposed to. I also love how it reminds us that it is in the Lord's time and to trust in Him because He is there to guide us and give us strength through those bumps in the road. Anyway it was a scripture I needed for today.
January 13: While everybody at my house went to Pocatello, Idaho for Benny's race, I stayed back home to try to get caught up and get some things accomplished. One of my goals was to do some major cleaning so that took up most of my day. I hate to admit it but I kind of find cleaning slightly relaxing and I love that you can see your progress!
January 14: So on the 13th Ryker and I had a date night. We were out late to begin with but he also has about a 40 (?) minute drive home afterwards, anyway the next day his brother Creighton sent me this picture with the caption "Look what you have done to him lol :)" It definitely put a smile on my face. Haha poor Ryks!
January 15: How could this NOT be the picture of the day! She is so precious and such a character! She has just fallen in love with this bear that belongs to dad and she will go to it and stroke its head and say it is "soft" and then she gives it hugs and kisses, even with a melted chocolate mouth! She was posing for pictures with this bear and before she even saw the picture she said, "Awww cute!" I guess she is pretty confident that all her pictures will turn out good. Love this girl!

HEADBANZ!!!!!

So Jeff and Katie had a game that was new for us to try. It is called HeadBanz and it is such a fun game. You wear a headband and have a card that has something written on it. The goal is to ask yes and no questions to be able to guess what your card says! Several of them were very fitting for the players and some of them we told them they had to pose a certain way for the photo.

Jeff's was perfect for him!
Katie narrowing it down, "Okay so I am a place. . . Can Devin go to this place?" Everybody: No and she guessed it!


Benny: She is a black woman okay. . . is she fat?
Everybody: Yes
Benny: Is she hott?
Everybody: NOOOOOO!


Cheater dad: Am I a bottle?

Other fun quotes from the game:

Mom pulled a new card and it was bedroom,
Mom: Am I a person?
Everybody: No
Mom: Am I a place?
Everybody: Yes
Mom: Am I a fun place?
Everybody: Yes
Mom: Am I the bedroom?

Jarom's card reads John Wayne. He has narrowed it down to it being a famous cowboy and he is stumped! He then says in frustration, "I don't know any famous cowboys! The only one I know is Indiana Jones." Haha wrong!

Then his card is Sylvester Stallone. He has to toss his card in because he has had it for so long so then Katie and Mom make sure he knew who the actor was, expecting him to say Rocky I am sure.
Katie and Mom: Do you even know who Sylvester Stallone is?
Jarom: Yeah he is the cat.
Haha wrong again!

2012 a picture a day: choose one picture that helps to remind you of that day

JANUARY 1 We had our Christmas party for the beach and Ryker was my date. While he was in town we invited him to join our pre-planned Pirates of the Caribbean movie marathon. Benny had also invited some of his friends over Logan, Jake, Will, I think there was somebody else, and Jarom. After each of the movies we would have snacks, but in this particular picture we went to Taco Bell. One of Benny's friends wanted cinnamon sticks but Benny asked for "Slytherin sticks." We also learned they were out of nacho cheese. Ben asked if they had sour cream and then asked them to hold the sour cream on his order. It was a longer event than we had planned. Jarom, Ryker, and I were the only ones who made it through all four movies and it ended 7:30AM!
JANUARY 2: We got together at Jeff and Katie's house for our New Year's tradition of breakfast burritos and games. The game we played was HeadBanz--so fun! However despite all the fun we had I decided this would be my picture of the day. Aren't those beautiful toe nails! They belong to none other my BOY cousin Parker. He was pretty proud of them and put them up so I could see them.
JANUARY 3: One of the things that had worried me with serving a mission was that I would have problems with the endometriosis. There was always one day every month where it would flare up and I was worried it would affect the work. The blessing and miracle was from January 2010 to July 2011 I never had one flare up! It was such a blessing and I was grateful that Heavenly Father took care of that for me while I was out serving. It was a reassurance to me that I was exactly where he needed me to be. Since being home I had had some pain, but it wasn't anything like it had been prior to my mission and I was hopeful I had lucked out, however this day was a reminder to me that it is still there and it made it a memorable day haha.
JANUARY 4: Due to the pain from above I had had not a good night's rest, but when I woke up I found a wrapped piece of banana bread from Mom. She had made homemade banana bread and saved me a slice. It was delicious and still one of my favorites! The other thing about this day was when I went to work that night it was 61 degrees outside! What is with this weather! It has been quite interesting, but I am enjoying it none the less.
JANUARY 5: So I was too lazy to wash my face upstairs in the bathroom that night and realized I hadn't taken a picture for that day. I took a picture of the baby wipe I used to remove my eye make up because I will tell you that although I love makeup and think it is so much fun, I also love the feeling of right before bed when I take out my contacts and wash off my makeup and floss and brush my teeth. It is my winding down routine and it feels wonderful!
JANUARY 6: Mom made her yummy orange rolls! It has been forever since I have had one and they are still just as delicious as I remember! We also had an allnighter where we were scrapbooking! We watched Red Riding Hood and Dinner with Schmucks as we worked!
JANUARY 7: Ryks invited me to go to a movie. When I got to the theater I got a nice surprise to see Grant and Creighton were joining us. We watched Mission Impossible 4 and then got tacos at Taco Treat (lesson learned on the 99 cent special haha) and went to Walmart where Grant kept hinting about his Snickers icecream. They came over to our house and we all had icecream. It was a good night and I always enjoy hanging out with all the brothers, mine included!

JANUARY 8: So this one has two pictures to go with it. Mom and I came home from church and wanted a fire so out we went to get the wood and Mom chopped some wood. The best part was we were still in skirts and heels.
JANUARY 9: My shoes arrived! Aren't they gorgeous! They are part of a gift from Grandma and Grandpa and I already love them! They are a champagne color, with black lace over the top, they are 5 inch heels and have a peeptoe front with a bow.

JANUARY 10: The things I wanted to remember from this day would have to be 1.Going to Sherlock Holmes 2 with Creighton and Ryker, 2. We actually got snow! and 3. That Ryker and I wore our matching coats!
JANUARY 11: This was a day where I looked forward to coming home and putting on my pjs that night. I wore my VS pjs that I got for Christmas this year and you can see my new bag that holds my scriptures and manuals (it is a perfect fit!), but it is also because this was a night I had a lot of reading before bed. I had my chapters for institute to finish, 7 chapters to read so I am staying with Holly (still think it is so great you read so much!), my chapters with Ryks, and then a few topics I had been studying. It was great to be in my scriptures for all that though.

I will try to stay on top of posting new pictures each day so you can stay updated and also so that I will do better about blogging! Love you all and hope you have a fantastic day!

Finally Back with a bit of an update!

So I am finally getting around to starting to blog today and obviously it has been awhile as some of my photos are out of order so just bear with me :) The first pictures here are of my final time as a missionary and the flight home. August 11th was the day I came home and what a day of mixed feelings it was! I was so happy to be reunited with family and yet heartbroken that I was no longer a full time missionary. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to serve in the Maryland Baltimore Mission. I absolutely loved it!! Below is a picture with me and some of the elders at the mission home. The gap between elders and sisters still makes me laugh. Glad those days are over :)
Below is a picture of our MTC group and the missionaries who came out with me, minus one who wasn't at that transfer meeting.



Oh how I missed these!
So a few updates on the transition home:
FIRST DATE: Holten
My first date back was with Holten. He was a great one to go with and we had a lot of fun! We had dinner and went minigolfing and got his icecream and then we were able to talk. Holten was a great one to help as he had gotten home from his mission in June and understood some of the weird transitions you experience!
I have to mention this date because it was so fun and such a nice surprise. Chris has been a friend of mine from young men's, young women's and if anybody could've just asked it was Chris and yet he had fun with it and created a fun surprise one morning as he had lined the kisses up to my car and had a little card on my windshield. We went to dinner, then got frozen yogurt, and went to Gibson Pond (first time I'd visited it since being home) and TRIED to feed the ducks. It was also great to talk to Chris who got home from his mission in December.
The month of September I hung out with Holten before he went to Idaho for work. He is a fun guy and he has a charming personality, and there is never a dull moment with Holten! That includes one memory when we went to Institute and he came out to this tire.
He was a little distracted because while we were at institute who should we run into but a mission buddy of Holten's, Ryker. They had served in the same mission and both live in Montana so that was pretty sweet. Ryker got home in February and Holten in June. They were catching up while everybody was working on the tire and I was taking pictures!
We had several guys, two of who did most the work, Holten had snacks, and we had three cars to provide light.
In September we went to the Sluice boxes--great idea Sam! It was so nice to be in the beauty of Montana for a little hike!
Then in October I was lucky enough to get the invitation from Ryker to go dancing. It had been 6 years since I have been dancing and I didn't realize how much I had missed it! I had a blast! Here are our little wristbands from the dance.
Here we are the night we went dancing, and it has been Ryker since then!
This was when we joined Creighton (Ryker's little bro) and Lil Lizer and we watched Wall-E. Such a cute movie! Momma Whitney offered to get blizzards and since DQ was closed, she made us each the blizzard we requested! Loved it!

FIRST MOVIE POST MISSION: RIO
FIRST MOVIE ALL NIGHTER: THOR WITH BENNY AND JAROM
In October I got my feather extensions. I loved them!
FIRST ROAD TRIP: IDAHO TO VISIT SOME MISSION BUDS AND GO TO THE ROCK OPERA
Here we are at the Rock Opera, Deep Love. It was awesome! The above photo is me with (from L to R) Krystyna (also known as Sister Hales from my mission letters), Trina and Bryce (Brother and Sister Kunz from Odenton-my last area)
As you already know we had a great weekend and then while driving to get Ryker in Rexburg I hit a deer. We were very blessed though thanks to all the rescue parties:

**Zach and Sara, Ryker's cousins who let us stay at their apartment for a couple days
**Richard Paul who brought my car back to Montana
**Dad who helped me with the decisions of what to do next
**Ken (Ryker's companion), Josh, and Lonny who came with Ryker to help me with my car and tow it to town
**Brother Davison and Creighton (Ryker's dad and brother) who drove us back home
**Ryker for being such a good sport and so flexible with everything

FIRST HEELS PURCHASED: I ended up not buying any for a couple months, but here were the ones that caught my eye!

The next morning it was pretty cute as I laid in bed because Roo opened the door and came inside. I figured there wasn't anything she could get into so I wasn't worried. Then I heard, "Ooohhh!" and opened my eyes to see her pulling the shoes out of the box and trying them on! So cute!
This is also out of order, but here is Krystyna and me when i was in Idaho!
One of my highlights with being home is that I have been able to get to know Lil Roo better and to bond with her. I am so grateful Holly and Barrett got her acquainted with my face so she would know who I was before I got home and let me tell you I have loved being with family and expecially to be Aunt Jessica! It has been such a joy thus far and I am so pleased with Barrett and Holly's little family. They are doing such a wonderful job and I love them dearly!

WORK AND SCHOOL: So I am working at the beach with Mom and I love it! School is currently pending as I am researching and trying to figure out where I want to be.
This was a little good luck wish from Mom and Dad. Isn't it beautiful!
Here is the note that went with it. It was when I was getting my license back by taking the test, and I passed! So now I am headed back to the hospital, waiting to get some hours!