Favorite Moments of 2012:

• Driving to Metz, France for Sephora with the Amanda.
• Finding an egg in my calzone. Darn French.
• Going to London with my mother.
• Going to Florida with Papa Bear.
• Stealing oranges from the neighbor's orange trees in the dark with the cousin. Bringing them home and realizing they were all rotten. All that sneaking around for nothing.
• Getting stranded at sea, or, in this case, river, and having Eva pull us back to shore.
• Getting videos like this one from Jana:
  
  
• Going to New York for Spring Break and seeing the Crandalls. Minus one.
• Eating my first panini, drinking pear juice for the first time, laying in Central Park, walking through Times Square at night.
• Bringing my mom to experience Rexburg.
• "Deep Talk" with the roommate every night before bed.
• Driving to Jackson Hole with Amanda.
• Going to Nauvoo and all the places in between.
• New York for the 4th of July and surviving the firetruck sirens during the parade.
• Having study sessions with this kid and having it go more like this. But with pizza, of course.
  
  
• Going with Parker and Jana to their grandparents home in Wyoming. First time canoeing, roasting starbursts and riding on a four wheeler.
• Rigby lake with Clarice, Spencer and Jana. I made Clarice swim across it with me since she was getting married. It made sense then.
• Visiting Amanda and her grandparents.
• Daily City Creek runs in Utah with Amanda.
• Almost falling in the fountain in Temple Square.
• Visiting Papa Bear in New York and learning how to drive.
• Visiting Kayla at her home in Park City, Utah. Wedding dress hunting!
• Staying with Jana for three weeks in August/September. So thankful.
• Road tripping with Jana to Virginia and visiting Lindsay.
• Giving myself a black eye as a nine year old watched.
• Labor Day celebration at West Point.
• Giving my first talk ever in church. I'll write it out next time.
• Going to Prague with the Cherringtons.
• Watching these dorks chant with an "indian" homeless man.
  
  

• My dad brought home two cute kittens. George and Wincy.
• Seeing President Monson's talk in Frankfurt then seeing him at the temple!
• Going to the Christmas market in Cologne.
• Getting Taylor Swift tickets.
• Christmas morning with the fam bam.
• Getting my new camera!

Pictures:

The closest Sephora is here. It's a blessing in disguise. 

There were tears 'cause ew.

Momma Bear at Buckingham Palace. Attractive.

Beautiful Florida!

Shipwrecked. Eva stepped on a few stingrays. That's why I'm in the boat.

Rotten orange thieves.

Walking in the footsteps of Chris Evans.

Chillin' in Central Park where the thugs tell me I have a cute smile.

I like it here. It's fun. I miss them terribly. Btw, we're in the same house. : )

Yeah, I stole Kayla's hoodie. I'm doing an excellent job canoeing. About to crash. Like the Titanic.

We sent pictures to Parker 'cause we missed him. And I have a black eye.

George and Winston napping. Such cute kittens.

 We like to take pictures from the car. While it's moving. Sometimes it works.

Cherringtons & I in Prague.

Alison and I at the Hard Rock. We have a tease/laugh/love relationship.

President Monson at the Frankfurt Temple.

Momma and I at the temple.

Christmas Market food!

Christmas Market in Cologne!

New Year's Eve party food!

Bringing in the New Year!

It's Christmas Time in the City!

Yes, it is! I love when the city is all decked out in Christmas decorations. The city has such a great feel to it during this time of the year. It's so cheerful and welcoming. I don't want to leave!

My mom, aunt, and I went down to the city on Tuesday. None of us really knew where we wanted to go or what we wanted to do so we just walked around. Here's some of the pictures I took:

The ice skating rink in Bryant Park. "Put a positive spin on your life." Yeah, okay.

Love, love, love.

The only tree with it's own security guards.

It's too hard to hold a camera the right way. Come at me, bro.

These ginormous soldiers surround the skating rink in Rockefeller Plaza.

Like the headlines? New York news is never boring.

Union Square Christmas market!! Almost as good as a German one.

A little German street : )

Overall, it was a great trip. We didn't do much besides walk but it was good to spend time together. Some funny things happened liiiike my aunt getting hunted down by Elmo, my aunt saying she found the "Jewish Christmas Tree" and my mom kicking a random lady on the train.

"Mom..did you just step on that lady?" -Me

"No...I kicked her." -Mom

We even got to go to lunch with my cousin, David. He made reservations at this amazing Italian restaurant in Times Square. Amazing. They had the best pasta with olive oil, garlic & broccoli. I loved it. 

Must I leave this incredible place? Why? WHY? WHY?!

The Day We Switched Coats.

My mom and I are like best friends. We have the same personality and we know exactly what each other is thinking without saying any words at all. We can share our clothes, our shoes...but not our shampoo. Apparently Paul Mitchell is too expensive for my hair. Excuse me. Otherwise, we are practically the same person just 26 years apart. We keep each other out of trouble. Actually, I keep her out of trouble. I'm too sneaky to keep out of trouble. She tells people that I act more mature than her at times. I like to think that it's true but, if that's true, it's kind of sad.

Today, my mom and I spent the whole day together. Well, we have spent the last week together but today was different. There wasn't any shopping or errand running involved. It was just my mom and I out for the day. We went to West Point and walked ALL over post. Seriously...I have the blisters to prove it. We got lost in the Military Academy and panicked when the guards saw us. My mom said, "Do you see a way to escape?!" and, sure enough, we managed to find a way. We then lost the car and ended up hitting the panic button to find it. We started driving home over the mountain. We took this road, 218, that's pretty curvy and narrow. My mom asked if I wanted to drive. Of course, I said yes. She pulled over and I got in the driver's seat. We weren't even on the road five seconds and she's bracing herself yelling at me about not turning the steering wheel when I'm supposed to or something. Chill out, man. Then she says she's getting sick and to slow down. I had to pull over. She made me get out after that and I had to sit in the passenger's seat for the rest of the car trips. She was telling the story over dinner and told my grandma that I only lasted three minutes driving. I told her it would have been even less if she at least let me drive the speed limit. Anyway, from that horrible driving experience, we went to Dunkin' Donuts because my mom was complaining that she needed a coffee. From there, we went to the trestle. It's one of my favorite places here. It's a place that my dad used to take me all the time when I was younger. You can see deer and turkeys on the hills and I used to love watching them when I was little. Today, I wanted to take pictures of it. I was taking pictures of the trestle when I heard my mom walking away from me. I turned around and just started taking a bunch of pictures because I knew she was up to something. I was right:

She walks away.

She heads to the tree.

She puts down her drink.

Pulls up her pants.

Pulls on a loose branch.

Pulls on the whole tree.

She catches me taking pictures.

And down she goes.

*Insert break where I'm dying of laughter*

She picks up her coffee.

And walks back smiling all proud of herself.

My mom isn't super weird, I promise. She just likes to have a good laugh once in a while and she's definitely not afraid to be goofy. She knew I was upset about her freaking out while I was driving so she gave me something good to laugh at. I love my mom. I can't imagine spending this beautiful day with anyone else. Today, minus the driving incident, was perfect. It was the day we switched coats.

 

 

The Post that Searches for the Silver Lining

"I had a dream I was dating Jon Hamm."

"Oh yeah? How was he?"

"How was he?....ohmygosh."

I've been in New York for a full week now and I must admit that I'm bored. I knew this trip wasn't going to be a "fun" trip but sometimes the boredom gets to be a bit much. I keep thinking, "what would I do if I were home?" which has led to many Friends & Pretty Little Liars marathons on my computer. I'm really excited to find out who 'A' is. I'm so close to that episode. Don't ruin it for me.

I really do enjoy being here with family. Really, really. I love that I can walk down to my aunt's house or go visit my uncle and his wife for the day (they saved me on Saturday and we went to Barnes and Noble where we drank steamers and looked at photography books for two hours). What I don't like is when I get home and my mom and grandma insist on watching some TV show that advertises a bunch of products that you can buy in "four easy payments." QVC it's called. As baby mama would say, not to be dramatic but I would rather shoot myself in the face than watch that channel.

So I've been looking for ways to entertain myself. I take an extra-long time getting ready in the morning. I wake up at 6:30 every day. While listening to Usher tell me how I've got it bad and Taylor Swift remind me how I remember everything all too well, I begin the process. My hair is almost dead from the curling and straightening its been through over the past few days. Oh, and I've tried new mascara and new eyeliner. I also learned that it's important to make sure you have make-up remover if you're going to try new things. Whoops : ). But it's all okay because I turn out gorgeous by 9:00. If I'm lucky, we go run errands until lunchtime. Then we come home and QVC comes on and I go upstairs. I should really do homework but the motivation is never there. I always say that. Maybe something is wrong with me. OR they need to let me take my major classes and forget about foundation class requirements. Just saying. My uncle asked me today why I knew so much about genetic mutations. I told him I took an Understanding DNA class. He asked my major. I said Psychology. Silence.

I do love the opportunities I have had to Skype with Amanda though. Today we Skyped for a few hours. I miss that girl tons. That little quote at the top of this post was from that conversation. Nobody else gets our jokes and that's okay because we just crack ourselves up. Papa Cherrington came over to say hello, too. He wants to know why I traveled halfway around the world to sit in a closet and do homework. When I come up with a good answer, I'll let him know. By the way, I'm not in a closet but the best wireless signal is in the small room upstairs.

I feel like I need to mention that good times have occurred on this trip. It probably looks like I just complained minutes on end but I'm just having one of those "bored" moments. I really have had some good times! I finally got over the worst cold I've had since October 2009. I had an amazing Thanksgiving with the family. I had a great experience down in the city at Grand Central Station (and with that I'm thankful to be alive, too). I love the laughs that have happened with my grandma, aunts and uncles. I'm thankful I got to catch up with my two cousins that I never get to see. I had a great Black Friday (and Sunday) with my mother and aunt. And, today, I had a great time going out to lunch with my mother and making cookies into the late hours of the night. Mint chocolate chip cookies, yuuum!

I have a feeling this week and the next will be a lot better. Like I said, I was really sick last week and the only times I got to leave the house were when I had something important to do. Now that I'm better, we are planning on getting me driving and going down to the city. I'm just in love with that city. Let me live there forever and I'll be happy. With my Channing Tatum clone of a husband, of course.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been back in New York for a week now. I've been having a good time minus the fact that I've been  dealing with the worst cold I've had in forever. No joke. I think it's almost gone though. Fingers crossed.

Since I've been back, I've already navigated through Grand Central Station during rush hour, braved the pre-holiday madness at the grocery stores, ate my favorite New York pizza, and walked all through Cornwall taking pictures. I just love it here.

My absolute favorite part about being back in New York right now is the fact that I get to spend time with the ENTIRE family. This almost never happens. One of the cousins is always off at school or working in the city or just off living life away from the safety of the Cornwall bubble. Holidays are the only times my family is ever fully together. It's the best.

Thanksgiving was yesterday and we all had a great time. I'd list all the many things I'm grateful for here but the list would be too long and I don't think anyone would actually read it. Instead, I'll just say that I'm thankful for my many friends and family members that are always there for me. I don't tell them enough how much I love and appreciate them but they really are what's most important. No matter how far apart we are, I know I can always count on them to be there. Even if it is via Skype : )

Summer 2012

Hellllooo! It's been a while since I've written anything on here and I'm feeling kind of lazy so I'm still not going to write anything :). Instead I'll post some pictures that explain my last few weeks. Oh & for all of you out there going, "She didn't take these pictures!"...No, I didn't. But remember how I said I'm feeling kind of lazy? 

Finished my 3rd semester of college!

Road trip with Jan through Pennsylvania! 

Best thing about traffic jams? Making friends with the guy in the car next to you :)

One of my favorite places. Temple Square.

Museum of Modern Art: MoMA. "Where did you go?" "Momma."

Wedding dress shopping with Kayla! Love her!

Is it weird that a view of a bridge makes me feel safe & happy?

I danced on the stage with Allie :)

I learned to drive! 

Central Park. Leave me here all day & I'm content.

I braved the city alone. Twice. 

Newburgh Waterfront. So pretty & has the best gelato!

First time flying with a friend :) Off to NY!

City Creek Center. Loove this place!

Papa taught me the history of West Point.

I saw the Olympic Ski Jump in Park City, UT :)

I learned to sew a tie!

Biggest Plane I've ever been on!

I went here with my Papa. A lot. It's the best.

I took Jana (though she drove) to her first Dunkin' Donuts!

Labor Day @ Trophy Point = Amazing!

Loved the cobblestone street in Old Town Alexandria, VA

Labor Day sales at the Woodbury Commons!

Times Square at nighttime :)