Christmas and then Some

It has been a while since I last posted anything with finals and the holidays things have been really busy the last few weeks. But here it is and I hope you all enjoy reading 'bout my Christmas at home with my family.

During finals week my family drove to Provo because Sammy was getting her name and blessing on December 21st. She was so cute and sweet in her blessing dress. Actually, it was my dressing that my mom (Sammy's grandma) made for me when I was a baby. It was a really special time. Jacob got to bless his little girl in his apartment. It was really cramped in their little living room but it was such a special occasion. During that weekend I also went sledding with Jacob and two of my younger brothers and it was super fun.

The day after Sammy's blessing I drove home to Ridgecrest with the rest of my family except for Jacob and Nicole because they were going to Idaho for Christmas. It was a long drive but the roads were pretty clear. Which was really good because it didn't add any extra time to the trip.

Christmas day was pretty fun. My brothers woke me up too early of course. Maybe one day the will learn that sleeping in is a good thing. We spent the day playing games and just being together. And I ate way too much but I guess that's what happens on holidays.

I've been mostly playing games and lounging around the house doing not much of anything. I also had to do driving school because of the ticket I got back in August. It took forever!!! I did it online which was faster and cheaper then doing it at an actual school. I'm glad it's over though.

Today at church was pretty interesting. I got to see one of my good friends from when I was younger. Steven got back from his mission while I was at school this semester. It was so nice to see him and catch up a little. I can't believe it has been 2 years already!! Talk about crazy. Now I feel old......

Not much else has happened on my break but I might go out of town to do some shopping with the money I got for Christmas so we shall see if anything interesting happens. New Years Eve might be fun too. But we will see. Stay tuned for updates......

Birthday/End of Semester

The one on the top is from last night when we went out to dinner to celebrate the end of the semester. Yay! We had such a good time.The one on the bottom is from my birthday. My roommates and I went to a basket ball game for my birthday (BYU v BSU).

This one is right after me and Megan at a couple of red chili peppers. They were alot hotter then I thought they were going to be. My mouth still burned after a while.

My roommies were so cool for my birthday. They made me breakfast and decorated the apartment with streamers and a sign that said "Happy Birthday Briana". It was a pretty good birthday overall. Fall semester is over now. It was a long hard semester so I'm glad it's over. It went by pretty fast. I think I'll get pretty good grades so everything will work out in the end. My family is coming tomorrow and I am so excited to see them and go home for Christmas. We don't have snow but it's still home.

Birthday Post

In honor of my birthday which was yesterday I think I shall post 21 things that are uniquely me. They say that when you have your birthday you are a little bit older and a little bit wiser. Older yes, wiser I'm not so sure about.

21 Things that Are Unique to Briana
~I have an eye that twitches when I chew and swallow
~I have never had a boyfriend or been kissed by a boy
~I have the best roommates in the whole world!
~I have the cutest niece ever!
~I act pretty much crazy all the time
~I love snow even though I am from sunny southern California
~I love Cougar sports - I'm a Cougar for life
~I like serving others
~I can manage stress somewhat well
~By January, I will have watched the Joseph Smith movie 3 times all within a months time
~I share my birthday with my mom
~I love to wear scarfs when it is cold outside
~I like to clean - the apartment just feels so much better after it has been cleaned
~I enjoy reading in my spare time (usually when on breaks from school)
~I heart people watching but not in a stalkerish way
~I love yogurt and granola any time of the day or night
~I love walking around in the snow when it is lightly falling - not to hard and not to light. In the middle
~I like making new friends and catching up with old ones
~I love snuggling up in a blanket when it is cold out
~I love to bake when I have the time
~I also love to stay up late and talk with my roommates because the crazyest things get said in the middle of the night

Well there you go. 21 things about me. Once I take my birthday pictures of my camera I'll fill you in on what I did for my birthday.

Thanksgiving

This year my thanksgiving was interesting. It was the first year that I haven't spent it with my family. But I got to spend it with another family. I went with Jacob and Nicole to have thanksgiving with her family in Logan, Ut and Preston, Id. It was lots of fun and it was nice not to have to travel so far for the holiday.

It was so cute seeing Sammy with her cousin Landon--he's 3 months old.





It was really nice of Nicole's family to take me in for Thanksgiving since technically I'm not a part of their family. I am really grateful for them.

I finally got to see Twilight! I pretty much loved it. We had a girl's night out after thanksgiving dinner. I went with Nicole, Angela (Nicole's sister), Nicole's mom, and Nicole's grandma. It was super fun and I am totally buying that movie when it comes out on DVD.

On Friday I got to go to temple square and see all the lights and watch the Joseph Smith movie and it was pretty much amazing. I had a pretty full weekend overall. Oh! And I also got to help Jacob and Nicole set up their Christmas tree. It was so much fun. It was cute when Sammy was playing with the Christmas lights.

Being Grateful

My wonderful roommate (well former roommate) Becky inspired me to blog on being thankful. I have so many blessings to be thankful for this holiday season.

~Baby Samantha--the cutest baby ever!
~Wonderful roomies--Anna, Megan, and Brittany
~An internship that I just got accepted to
~A wonderful brother and sister-in-law who let me do my laundry at their apartment and who I'm spending Thanksgiving with
~The opportunity to go to BYU and learn so many things
~Having conversations with my sister
~Living prophets and apostles
~Beautiful weather--especially since it's November!!
~Hanging out with Nicole--we have such fun times together
~Birthdays to celebrate--not just mine
~Food to put on the table
~A roof over my head
~Facebook--to keep in touch with old friends

There are many more things that I could list that I am grateful for but these are just a few things that I have been thinking of the last little while. I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful holiday season. Just think a little bit about what your grateful for this week and always. Be safe if you're traveling this week

Exciting News!

So, a couple of weeks ago I interviewed for an internship that would take place in the upcoming summer (I know summer's forever away but thinking about the future never hurt a girl) and I thought I did horrible in the interview. But yesterday I got an email saying that I was accepted for one of the internship positions working in the Provo area. I was so excited when I got that email and I'm still super excited. I'm going to be working on the Flourishing Families Project which is a study that looks at average families and tries to see what makes good families good families. I will mostly be collecting data and putting that information on a computer. It'll be super good experience and I'll get a chance to work in the real world. Plus it pays $200 a week.

On other fronts, I took my last test before finals come around this weekend and I did better on it then I thought I was going to do. Mostly because I did not feel motivated to study for it at all. I tried my best and I guess that proved to be enough to get me a good grade.

That's about it for now. This school week should be cake walk for me because I just have one class because of Friday classes and Thanksgiving. Yay for holidays!!

Tag!!

Nicole tagged me so here goes...

10 years ago I . . .
1. thought I was so grown up...very false
2. was almost 11
3. was holding my youngest brother as a new born
4. thought that NSYNC was the greatest boy band.
5. happy to help my mom do anything

5 things on my "to do list" today . . .
1. wok on my research project
2. buy decorations for ward dance
3. Read for class
4. Make a decision about Thanksgiving
5. Stop stressing

5 snacks I like . . .
1. Popcorn
2. Fruit Snacks
3. Chocolate anything!
4. Anything sweet
5. Crackers

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire . . .
1. Buy a nice house
2. Give money to the Romanian orphanages
3. Invest
4. Set up a scholarship fund at BYU
5. Travel the world

5 places I have lived . . .
1. Oriville, CA
2. Yucca Valley, CA
3. Herlong, CA
4. Ridgecrest, CA
5. Provo, UT

5 jobs that I have had . . .
1. Gardener
2. Cashier at Wienerschnitzel, twice
3. Student Ambassador at Cerro Coso Community College
4. Front Counter help at Legends Grille
5. Babysitter

8 favorite TV shows I love to watch
1. Gilmore Girls
2. CSI
3. What Not to Wear
4. Scrubs
5. Numb3rs
6. America's Next Top Model
7. Paris Hilton's My New BFF
8. Without a Trace

8 things I did yesterday...
1. Went to FHE dinner fireside
2. Went to class
3. Emailed a DJ
4. Planned decorations for a dance
5. Added friends on facebook
6. Wrote a paper
7. Reconnected with an old friend
8. Checked email

8 favorite places to eat . . .
1. Sub Way
2. Taco Bell
3. Olive Garden
4. Costa Vida
5. any good Mexican food
6. Brick Oven
7. Jason's Deli
8. In 'N Out

8 things I am looking forward to . . .
1. Finals being over
2. Twilight the movie
3. Starting new classes
4. My Birthday!!!
5. Christmas with my family
6. Seeing friends I haven't seen for 2 years
7. Life in general
8. Love....when it happens

8 things on my wish list . . .
1. Graduation
2. Boyfriend
3. Lots of money to go shopping with!
4. Haircut
5. More time
6. Internship
7. A car. Period.
8. Patience

5 people I tag . . .
1. Yari
2. Matt
3. Megan
4. Becky
5. Crystal

Ya'll better do this cuz I took the time to. Love you guys!

Recent Thoughts

I have come to the realization that I really should get more sleep. Staying up until 12:00 am or 1:00 am is really not in my best interest. Even if I am doing homework or something else that is important. Especially if I need to get up at 6:30 am or so the next morning. I am making it a personal goal this week to try and go to bed by 11:00 pm. I don't know if that will happen but I am going to try really hard to make it so.

I was really glad when Proposition 8 passed in California. The results were really close. Way too close for comfort. I was really upset when people started making petitions to reopen the voting or some nonsense like that. If it was any other thing that was being voted on people would just deal with the results. The people of California have spoken that marriage is defined as being between a man and a woman and everybody should just deal with that. The crazyness got so out of control that the LA temple had to be shut down because of all the protesters. That is just a crying shame.

On the bright side, I get to spend Thanksgiving with my cute little niece, Samantha. I'm going to Preston, Idaho with Jacob and Nicole to spend the holiday with her family and then that weekend my family from California is coming to Utah for the baby blessing of little Samantha.

Hopefully, I can get everything that I need to get done by Thanksgiving. Most of my major projects and papers are due before Thanksgiving so I pretty just have to go to class until finals and that is another story of crazyness on it's own.

Drowning

I feel like I'm drowning in school right now. I've been told that there are only 7 weeks left in the semester and that is kinda scary because most of my big projects for my classes are due before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is only about a month a way. Yikes!

Right now I'm trying to get ahead on readings and everything because my parents are coming to town this weekend to visit their granddaughter so I wanted to get ahead so I can see them without having to worry about homework. It's kinda crazy. I also put off a paper that's due on Thursday that i really need to write. It won't be that hard but I just keep putting it off. And I have a major test this week that I have to take too. It's for my adolescent development class which are my hardest tests of the semester.

On the bright side, I get to see my niece tomorrow afternoon. She is so cute. Such a precious little girl. She is so spoiled already.

Baby Samantha

My first niece was born at 10:43 pm last night. She is the cutest little girl there ever was! She is so tiny. She was born 6 lbs. 11 oz. and 19 inches long. I am so excited to be an aunt! I got to hold her for the first time this morning and it was really special. I'm the first one in the family besides Jacob and Nicole that got to hold her. It was really special and someday I'll get to tell that little girl that. I love her so much!! She's amazing!!

Update from P-Town

Nicole is really into this whole blogging thing so I thought I'd give it a try since facebook doesn't have blogging. School is really hard right now but that is life. I'm working really hard and trying to get good grades. I think I'll do alright.

I love my roommates. They are the best ever!! We get along super great and we always find little ways to serve each other.

I'm going to be an aunt soon which I'm a little surprised about. Nicole is having her baby sooner than expected so any prayers on her behalf would be appreciated. Everything will work out the way it's supposed to. We just have to pray and have faith.

No boys for me to speak of. The BYU get married quick sterotype isn't always true. At least not for me. :) Good thing too. I don't think I could handle being married just yet. Single life is good. Hang out and have fun is what it's about right now.

That's about all thats new with me and I'll keep things updated as much as I can.