Family "Chopped"

We were impressed they set up so quickly since

we only had an hour. It's got a cookie crust.

Our fearless team + Dad

Over the MLK weekend I went home and it was so much fun. I got a ride with A's friend K and she stayed with us for the weekend. Saturday night we held our own "Chopped" competition. It was so much fun. Mom and Dad put together baskets of food and we had to use all the ingredients in the basket plus we were given $10 extra to get extra things from WinCo. A lot of the ingredients pointed to Mexican food. C and M and I were on a team. S, A, and K were on another team. Mom, Dad, and T were the judges. My team made guacamole stuffed chicken with bean dip and homemade tortilla chips. I got to make mini cheesecakes. Oh heavens, they were so good. I made berry topping and made Nutella whipped cream. Our team won! It was really fun.

Every Step of the Way

I have a testimony that Jesus Christ lives. He is always there for me. It doesn't matter if it's good times or rough times I know that whenever I pray, my Father in Heaven listens and is there. I know that because of the atonement, I can become a better disciple of Him. "I know that he (the Lord) loveth His children." (1 Nephi 11:17) I know that he sent us to earth to grow and to learn through experiences. I won't say that trials aren't hard because we all know that they can be. I just know that He won't give us anything we can't handle. He won't abandon us. Trials are really there to strengthen and stretch us. I love this quote, "On particularly rough days when I'm sure I can't possibly endure, I like to remind myself that my track record for getting through bad days so far is 100% and that's pretty good." I know that I can't get through those days alone. I know that the Lord knows exactly what to bless me with when I need it because I know He has perfect timing. He has blessed me with wonderful people around me. He has blessed me with wonderful experiences. I know that He is mindful of me. I remember a time when I was feeling low and I was in a store and overhead the music came on and it was a John Mayer song and it cheered me up. It may have been just another song for anyone else but I really believe it was more than just a coincidence. If we look around we can find evidence of His love for us. Consider your blessings. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above..." (James 1:17) We are each divine sons or daughters of a Heavenly Father. The gospel of Jesus Christ strengthens and calms by soul. It brings me happiness and peace. You can learn more about what I believe here: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints(I love this picture)

It's Incredible

I am extremely blessed. I'll tell you why. I am surrounded by incredible examples. I have incredible friends. They support me when I don't feel like I deserve it. They listen when I am down or I just want to talk. They have strengthened my testimony so many times. One such time I was feeling pretty down and I got a text during the day that simply said "How are you Jess?" These days, this particular text has been my favorite. This tells me a couple things, the Lord is mindful of me and watches over me, I am blessed to have such caring friends, and I am not alone. I can't thank them enough for their support. I can be entirely too stubborn sometimes in asking for help but I am working on inviting help when I need it. One of my great friends reminded me that the Lord has blessed me with tools like my roommates, them, family and others to help me and support me. I love spending time with them. It boosts me and I only hope I can be there for them like they are for me.

New Years

As tradition for New Years, we always get take out Chinese food. We play games. At the old house we would go outside and run around banging pots and pans at the corner. This year M's friend B came and played games and ate with us. We went outside and lit sparklers. It was sooo cold. It was hard to start the lighter when we couldn't feel our fingers. It was 10 degrees outside!! 2015 was a great year and I hope 2016 is even better. Happy New Years!!

"Be of good cheer, the future is as bright as your faith." - Thomas S. Monson

Us Girls

I was ready to take the picture and Mom joined in. These are my sisters. From left to right we have C, A, and M. (and mom on the right in the top one) M is the oldest. She loves to travel and is super skilled at sewing and loves to plan (and is great at planning) parties. She just graduated from BYU-I a couple of weeks ago. We sew together and watch movies like North and South, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and Persuasion. A is going into graphic design, she is super talented at drawing and lettering and cute things like that. She is my "Adventure Time" buddy. We watch it together and anytime I'm in the car with her going anywhere, (D.I.s) it is always an adventure. We usually rely on the gps, sing to the radio and then laugh when we realize the signal was lost and we try to figure out how to get home. C is the youngest. She loves playing games (especially Ticket to Ride these days). She loves doing hair and wants to go into Cosmetology. Definitely more put together than me. She enjoys hanging out with her friends. Love my siblings to pieces!

Sleepover

Just missing A

M, C, and I went to S and T's place for a sleepover. It was probably the only and last time in that place since they will be moving here soon. Jack was there and boy is he a cutie. We picked out the movie "Princess Bride" but it was more background noise while we played games. The best game we played was Wackee Six. I love this game now. Most of the time while playing I kept thinking how fun it would be to play at my apartment back at school. As the game went on, it usually ended up with all of us standing hovering over the table. It was pretty fun and pretty intense. We ate brownies and had so much fun.

That's Christmas to Me

I love Christmas! These are pictures of Christmas at our house. Last night was of course Christmas Eve. My grandparents are here. It may sound super cheesy but we turned off the lights and sat in the glow of the Christmas tree. We talked about our most memorable Christmas. Grandpa remembers getting a train set and a bike another year. Grandma remembers her mother giving her a radio. Dad remembers putting a big piece of plywood on top of their pool table downstairs and setting up trains on them with his Dad. His Dad would fill the trains with liquid smoke so when it went, it looked real with smoke. Mom remembers getting baby dolls with her sisters. It was beautiful because the curtains were open and snow was falling outside. Then we were listening to the 12 days of Christmas and we spontaneously decided to each get a number or two of the days and when it said our number we would act it out. I got 2 (turtle doves) and 9 (ladies dancing). Mom and Grandpa and Grandma joined in. Grandpa was THE BEST partridge in a pear tree. It was hilarious! We ate pizza for dinner and made Christmas cookies and Mom made the traditional Carrot Pudding dessert. (It sounds worse than it is) It's one of my favorite things. We wrapped presents and Mom, Dad, Grandpa, and Grandma watched "A Christmas Carol". M and I wore our matching Batman pajamas that we got on Black Friday. We normally get Christmas jammies but this year is different. I didn't realize I was so tired but I guess I fell asleep on the couch by the tree and Mom woke me up at 3 am to head to bed. This morning we slept in and at 10, C came in to wake me up to go open presents. It didn't take long for her to come back down and tell me I didn't need to hustle because we were waiting for Dad. He got called into work. So instead, we ate breakfast first and he headed out. He'll come back and we'll have a good time. I'm excited about how much snow we have. I remember last year we didn't have any until Christmas Day.

My most memorable Christmas isn't something I got, it's just times that I remember. I remember in our small old house A, C, and I ran up the stairs averting our eyes from the things in the living room. We went up to S's room and we played games, talked, and laughed as siblings. Mom and Dad weren't up yet and we stayed in his room for what felt like hours. We were in our pajamas that we got the night before. We would get so excited when we heard Mom and Dad walking down the stairs. The bathroom was right at the top of the stairs and so we would say that we needed to use the bathroom but really, we just wanted to pass through the hallway to peak down the stairs to look at the presents. We were inside S's room and Mom and Dad were setting up the camcorder. No one was aloud to come down until it was set up. When it was ready, we would walk down and see what we got in our stockings. At the bottom of the stockings there was always an orange and peanuts still in the shells. After stockings were open, us kids always wanted to keep unwrapping but Mom and Dad always had us eat breakfast first. We usually had breakfast casserole and Dad would make omelets. Then we would resume unwrapping the rest after breakfast was cleaned up. Grandma B would join us. Later that night was Dad's side of the family party at Grandma's house.

You always hear everyone's version of what Christmas means to them. Christmas is full of love. The love we have for our family, for our friends, for our neighbors and most importantly the love for our Savior and Father in Heaven. The "Christmas Spirit" can strive with us all year long. It's the love and kindness that is from God. Christ came into this world and his birth spread joy, peace, and hope to everyone. He came into the world to be our Savior. On earth he blessed, healed, guided, atoned and so much more. Because of Him I can live again, be with my family forever, learn and grow through experiences I face. It's incredible how much he really does for us. I have a testimony that He lives. He hears us as we pray. He knows about everything we go through and he understands us. He blesses us and we are His children.

I don't know who reads my blog (if anyone :) ) but I wish you a very merry Christmas. My aunt S would read it but earlier this year, she joined our Father in Heaven. It's really different. I really miss her and even though Grandma left us 3 years ago, it's still never the same without her. Merry Christmas!

Carrot Pudding

Snow in the backyard