Grateful for Experience

      It being the season of gratitude, I decided I might share a few thoughts. When people ask me what I'm most grateful for, I usually say I am grateful for my experiences. This might kind of be cheating, but I feel it is the best way to sum up all my many blessings. I'm so grateful for each and every person I've had the opportunity to work with and get to know in my athletics, dancing, performing arts, debate, different jobs I've had, church callings and activities, high school, college, family experiences, and many more. I'm so grateful for the talents I've been blessed with, as well as the ones I've not been blessed with but that I've been able to obtain. I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had to share those talents with others. I'm grateful for my parents allowing me to have so many of these experiences. I'm grateful that I've been able to travel and see different parts of the country and the world. I'm grateful for the education I have and am receiving. I'm grateful for Snow Canyon High School. I'm grateful for Southern Virginia University. I'm grateful for America and the founding fathers. I'm grateful for the gospel and for the many people who have suffered in its defense.
      Since it's been a while, here are some recent adventures and experiences I am grateful for:

I voted! For the first time ever. :) 11.06.2012

The USCAA Nationals Cross Country meet was held in Lake Placid, NY.
This is the view of  Mirror Lake from our hotel window.
Lake Placid is an "Olympic Village" where many train for the Winter Olympics.

Some of my teammates eating dinner at the banquet the night before the race.
Ashley, Shelbi, Kera, Elle and Tori.

Amanda dared me to drink the entire container of cream...

I felt this photo was necessary to properly record the banquet - we spent
at least 20 minutes doing the balance-spoon-on-nose trick!

Academic Honors! We've all kept a GPA of 3.5 or above in college.

The ladies team :)
[Me], Elle, Tori, Leah, Jacey, Katelyn, Kera, Shelbi and Ashley.
The twins were MIA.

One of the least snowy parts of our snowy course.
I used to hate hate hate running in the cold. But now I only kind of dislike it
a little bit.

It was a close race, but WE DID IT! We won the USCAA National Championship!

Go Lady Knights! Second National Championship in a row.
11th Women's Cross Country National Championship in 15 years for SVU.
I love this team so much. Katelyn, Ashley, [Me], Leah, Shelbi, Tori, Jacey,
Kelli, Kera, Elle and Nicole.
We laughed together, cried together, ran together, grew together and
WON TOGETHER.

Yeah. It was that cold. Brrrrr.

A few of us (me, Jacey, Amanda [the athletic trainer], and Leah) sneaked away
during our free time to watch the Bobsledding World Cup!

National's took place on November 9, 2012. It was one of those experiences that will always stick out in my memory, one that I will always treasure.

Muffins, Movies and More

      Wow, it hasn't even been a week and I'm blogging again! Can you believe it? Haha. This weekend has been really wonderful, especially Saturday. I started the morning out by doing a service project. I gathered with a group of about twelve other SVU students and we raked leaves all around campus and in a couple yards. Of course we did take some time to have some fun and jump into the piles of leaves.

Rachel and Lindsay.

Alli.

Ali, Mindy, Linea, [Me] jumping in a giant leaf pile!

Raquel.

      After spending an hour and a half raking leaves, I gathered with a group of friends at Kent's house. Since it was one of my few free Saturday's that I didn't have a cross country meet, we decided to have a Muffin and Movie party. Kent lives in an apartment all alone, but he isn't usually alone because there are almost always people over there. He is very generous with inviting people to his apartment. So Kent and I started making strawberry and chocolate muffins until the rest of our friends showed up - Caitlyn, Kailey, Joanna, Nic, Daria, and Caity. We ate the scrumptious muffins and then snuggled up in blankets to watch "Brother Bear." When it was over, most of us fell asleep, but I had to get up so I could leave to work. Ah, but I felt so warm and comfy! Haha but it's okay, because work was really great too and it went well. I talked to quite a few prospective students and their parents!

Mmmm yummy, warm muffins!

      When I got home for work, I did homework for a little while and then went over to Kailey's room because she offered to do my hair for the Fall Ball. She did a great job!

Yay for curly hair! Ha, I rarely actually do my hair, so
this was nice for a change.

      We all had fun getting ready together, and of course the dance was a blast! I only attended the last hour however because the rest of the time I was skyping my wonderful family because my beautiful sister Brittney got married to Christian Anderson! Since I couldn't attend in real life, skyping the reception was about as good as I could get. The dance was great though. It was in Chandler Hall where our performances are and on the stage was a live jazz band, which was really cool! Even though I went really late, I got the chance to dance with a few different guys. I wish I would have gotten there earlier, but at the same time it was good to skype my family.

Reeva, Kailey, Daria, Caity, Caitlyn, Joanna, [Me], Raquel, Elise, Lexi and
Anneli. Beautiful girls, all of them! 

[Me] and Caitlyn, redhead buddies. :)

Caitlyn and Kailey live across the hall from me and are some of my best
friends. They help me in many ways. I love these girls so much. :)

      I hope the weekend treated you all well! Keep on keepin' on everybody. :)