Always Something to Be Thankful for

Now that I am back into the full swing of school, work, my calling in my ward, and other things I'm involved in, I am so busy. Most days I feel like I'm drowning. It's hard to stay on top of everything, especially when my only time to do homework is at night since I work all day. Working twenty hours a week is a lot harder than you would think. However, I am not blogging to complain or whine about my life. In my room I have a quote that says, "There is always something to be thankful for." So here I am, expressing gratitude for a couple of things in my life.

First off, my family. They are so wonderful! I would be nothing without my family. No matter what I do, they will always be there and will always love me. How great is that?! Not only that, but I consider all of them my best friends. I can easily say that I have a special relationship with every person in my family. Since goodbyes are so hard with my family, I think it's safe to say we love each other.

Next is the Gospel. I am a Mormon and forever will be! Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is WHO I AM. I know who I am, where I'm going, and where I've been. What a comfort that is. I know that through all my trials and hardships, my Savior and my Heavenly Father are always there. They help me go that extra mile. I am nothing without Them.

Obviously I am grateful for countless more things in my life, but I think these are easily the most important to me. I am so glad I have the life I do. Even though I go through hard things and life seems impossible sometimes, I will ALWAYS make it through.

thattallgirl:)

Return to the Blogging World

Well I never thought I would say this, but I'm officially back into the blogging world. I'm only here because I have to. It's actually one of my assignments for my MCom 320 class at BYU--the BEST university known to man. I love this place. I just finished my first week of school of my third year! I cannot believe it. I'm getting so old. I'm no longer one of the young people on campus. I'm also officially in the Marriott School of Management studying Marketing! How cool is that?! One of my life goals and dreams has come true. All of my hard work thus far has finally paid off. But it also means that now it's all business...no pun intended :)

So get excited everyone! You once again get to hear about the details of my life: the people I love, my passions, random stories, and anything else I feel like writing about. It's good to be back.

thattallgirl :)

Latest UP-to-the-DATE

Ella & Emma

Ally & Nicole

Ash & Me

I am currently lying on the bottom bunk at my cousin Laura's house in St. Louis. Yes. I am in St. Louis! But no, we have not moved yet. My family and I are just trying to find a place to live!! Sheesh. It's quite aggravating. From the business standpoint, this is definitely a seller's market right now. Definitely not a buyer's market. So to say the least...it is basically impossible to find a place to live. Real fun.

BUT I am trying to enjoy myself at least a little while I am here visiting. Today my mom, Sarah, my cousin Laura, and I went shopping at the mall. Of course I had to buy something. It's not a shopping trip unless you buy something. I think the highlight was us buying matching pants from H&M. They are black Aladdin-like pants. They are sick. Probably the comfiest things I've ever put on. Pretty remarkable. I was hoping to spend some time poolside while I'm here and not having to work, but it's been cloudy and rainy...so probably not. Oh well.

Tomorrow night I'm pretty stoked because I'm going to this sweet ice cream place called Fritz's with my family. So dang excited. It has become a tradition between our two families to always go there when we are in town. Now that we are going to live here though...I wonder if we will go often???

Other than these few days in MO my life is not all that exciting. I work a lot at good ole Orange Leaf with the lovely frozen yogurt. Not much excitement there. I do get to be with my adorable nieces and nephew a lot, so that's fun (my four nieces in Kansas are in the pictures). And my beautiful sister Ashley (who is pregnant with her own little girl) just visited and her husband Pierre came later. That was wwaaayyy fun to be with them.

Until next time..

thattallgirl:)

Confessions of an almost 20-year-old

Since there's not a ton going on in my life, I don't have a ton to update on. However, I thought I would start up my confessions yet again. Today my confession is on movies. I love corny movies. Cheesy movies. Whatever you wanna call them. I love them.

My little sister and I love watching them together. We tend to find random movies on Netflix, and we start watching it. Then we realize it's kinda lame and horrible acting...but we can't stop watching. We are mesmerized. Don't ask me why...I have no idea why.

Disney channel movies fit this description quite perfectly. I know, I know...I'm embarrassing. I don't blame you if you wanna stop being my friend...it's understandable. But anyways! Sarah and my's latest addition to our corny movie list? It's called Radio Rebel. paha....it's a Disney movie. Check it out if you want something to do. It's a classic. Corny movie lovers unite!

Aside from that, I got a job! It's only temporary of course since my family is moving next month. My good friend CHRISTINA WILEY is the manager at two Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurts in my hometown...so she so kindly gave me my job back that I had about two years ago. So now I'm back to making yogurts and cash register-ing. I also get free yogurt every time I work...so that's a plus. Yum.

Anyways...if you have any ideas of what I should write about, feel free to comment!

thattallgirl:)

Just My Thoughts

As I said before, moving from Provo and coming back home was a hard thing for me to do. My friends literally became my family. When you are at home you live with your family. At college, your friends are your family. These last few days have been really hard for me. They have helped me realize how great of a "family" I had out in Provo. It's crazy how much you can miss people. Even doing every day, petty things makes me sad. Like eating guacamole and chips, playing card games, or even listening to the Bruno Mars song "When I Was Your Man" just kills me. I literally whine out loud to my mom and sister about how much I miss my friends (in which I am sure they are very annoyed). I don't even need to name names. You guys know who you are.

All I gotta say is, the people I got to know this past year have no idea the impact they made on my life. Some of them I knew the whole year and now are literally the closest people I have besides my legitimate family. Others of which I just recently became close to. Either way, I miss you guys.

On a happier note...I saw Iron Man 3 today! Freaking awesome. It is definitely a must see. You will be on the edge of your seat the whole time...and laughing of course. Gotta love Tony Stark. AND I got my old job at Orange Leaf (a frozen yogurt place) back. So in a few days I will be back to the old job and eating as much frozen yogurt as I wish :)

Well, that's all for today. Hopefully I have more exciting things to tell you next time!

thattallgirl:)

Spiced Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

As I promised, I am posting a new find! This is a recipe that I found on Pinterest that sounded delicious! And guess what? They were!!! Please make them because you will just love them I am sure. That is assuming you like pumpkin just as I do.
The original website is this: http://www.reciperoll.com/2012/10/spiced-pumpkin-muffins-fall-recipes.html....have to give credit!

HOWEVER, I had to add chocolate in some way...so here is MY version of the muffins :)

Don't they look delicious?!?!?...Well, they were!

SPICED PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
•  1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup cooked or canned pumpkin puree
• chocolate chips--as much as desired :)

directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients. In another bowl whisk

together eggs, milk, oil, sugar and pumpkin puree. Add this to the dry ingredients, stir until well blended. Do not over mix. Stir in your desired amount of chocolate chips. Divide the batter among the muffin tin(s), bake about 15 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Let them cool and enjoy them!!!! They go great with a glass of milk. 

Pause on College Life

Last time I posted I was still in the midst of my adventurous BYU life. Now I am sitting at my kitchen table back home in good old KANSAS. Having my mom close to me again makes me a lot more productive. I mowed the lawn, vacuumed and washed the van, babysat 4 of my nieces (2 of which are newborn twin girls!), turned in a job application, did some laundry, and now I'm wasting time on my computer. Phew. I am tired.

Aside from that my freshman year at BYU was absolutely fabulous. College is something that cannot be put into words. It is seriously a totally different world. It's so great. Those who are at a college or have been, you know what I'm talking about.

So now I am living at home for the summer and putting my college life on pause. Definitely weird to be back home and back to my other life. It was way more difficult to say goodbye than I thought. I cried my eyes out when I had to say goodbye to EMILY ATWOOD and RYAN HAMMAR. Especially since I won't be seeing Ryan for a couple of years since he's going to NEW ZEALAND for his church mission! Allie Jensen is also in that group...but we live like a mile away from each other. :)

On our last night together...ever :(

So now I'm just living it up...at home. My family is moving to St.Louis at the end of June so I will be helping out a ton with that! I am excited though. This summer will be a nice break from all the school and crazy stuff. But with all this free time now I plan on making new recipes and crafts and things, so I will make sure to post  my new finds and discoveries. 

But in closing, here is a video from our last night together. We thought it would be fun to record the crazy things we do...haha. Basically this video defines my freshman year (not!) of boys chasing after me. What can I say??? All the boys love me ;)

thattallgirl:)