'tis the season

Right after Thanksgiving I had a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit.  It still didn't seem like November had started since this year has flown by, and yet Thanksgiving was already over.  Luckily I have awesome friends who wanted to go to Temple Square a few days ago to see all the beautiful nativity sets and lights.  It was really, really cold and afterwards we drank hot chocolate.  What else would you do after seeing Christmas lights?  I think everyone has that tradition... but anyways, it helped me get into the Christmas spirit and ready for this Christmas season.  It truly is the happiest season of all. 

I also had the opportunity to go to the Christmas Devotional at the Conference Center with my roommate and some friends.  It was great listening to the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I felt the spirit so strongly and I realized which gifts I have truly matter the most (immortality, forgiveness, eternal life, just to name a few).  Christmas is about JESUS CHRIST, and we should not get caught up in the stress and chaos of trying to find the perfect gift for someone, or thinking about what gifts we want to have.  I love Christmas, and I'm very excited that it's already this time of year.  19 days and counting...

Here are the pictures of the Devotional.

thankful...

I have so much to be thankful for.  What I'm most grateful for this year are my family, my education and attending the University of Utah, being a few weeks away from graduation, my good health, all my true friends and all the good people I have met in Salt Lake City.  I'm beyond grateful for my knowledge of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, my savior Jesus Christ and my Heavenly parents, and my testimony of the Atonement.  I love this time of year and the joy this season brings. 

Now, here are some fun pictures of my Thanksgiving Day.

Fun Finds

1. Google 'do a barrel roll'.
2. Google 'tilt'.
3. Google 'Google gravity' and hit "I'm feeling lucky".  

Do it now.  You will not be disappointed.

Special Olympics

Today I got a call from my aunt and she told me that my cousin would be participating in Special Olympics basketball games here in Salt Lake City.  He plays with the BYU team and they won all three games today.  I was there for the last two and watched the award ceremony.  It was so heartwarming and just enjoyable to watch.   I loved how everyone just played their best and had so much fun doing so.  The Special Olympic community is really awesome.  Here is a picture of my cousin's team.  He is the one laying on the floor. 

Fall Break

I needed a break from school and work and Salt Lake City, and that's exactly what I got this past week.  I went home for five wonderful days.  It was really great being home.  On the drive back up, my sister and her roommate came back up with me.  It was awesome rockin' out on the road with them.  We listened to awesome tunes and it was like blast from the past when we used to go on vacation when we were little.  Oh how I wish fall break wasn't almost over, but I just keep telling myself in 9 weeks I will have a bachelor's degree.  :)  Then it will be like a permanent break until I go back for a Masters Degree.

Pictures, as promised.

Here is the newest member of the Whatcott Family. McKay Robert Whatcott was born on Thursday, September 1, at 2:12am to Logan and Whitney Whatcott.  He was 20.5 inches long and 7 lbs 14 oz.  He is super adorable and I wish we didn't live four hours away from each other.  Being an aunt is the best. 

The happy family

Here are some pictures from Florida.  The temple is the Orlando, FL temple. I realized I don't have nearly as many pictures as I thought I did.  I will have to download and upload more.  However, they are all on Facebook.

Beautiful sunset at my cousin's baseball game.  I know, pictures never do sunsets justice.

My sister was really excited to see palm trees.  Don't know why, St. George has palm trees too.

On the plane, going to Florida

My laptop was chosen to be randomly searched in Las Vegas for weapons or something. 

She took a Dramamine and was completely out of it.

Well there you have it!  More will be added soon. 

So I haven't updated this thing in a long time...

1. School.
It's my last semester EVER (as an undergrad student).  GO ME.  I'm taking some cool classes, and not so cool classes but it's still going to be a good semester.  I'm taking a jazz dance class, it's super great to be back in my element.  (get it? SUPER GREAT?!) haha
Other classes I'm taking involve Stress Management, Psychology of Gender, Personality Theory, Child and Infant Development and Parables of Jesus.  I love my Institute class.  I love the University of Utah.  I am a true UTE.

2.  I'm quitting Fortis College.
I have absolutely hated not having my nights or weekends anymore and what I've hated even more is having worked 32 hours a week plus going to school full-time.  Let's just say I've been pretty busy the last two weeks.  I'm excited to start a new job that will only be ten hours a week and continue working at my other job, that is also only ten hours a week.  Life is looking up again.

3.  I went to Florida 8/19/2011-8/21/2011.
My mom and sister accompanied me on my journey.  We mainly went because when I turned 23, I would no longer be able to fly free on SkyWest/Delta and we did cool things.  Here is a copy of the itinerary so I won't forget it in 50 years.  Feel free to skip ahead if you so desire.
Thursday:  Skipped work and flew to St. George, UT.  Hung with the family for a few hours and then drove to Las Vegas to catch our plane that was leaving at 10:40pm.  Flew to Orlando, FL.
Friday:  Arrived at 6:05am although it was only a 3.5 hour flight.  Went to Breakfast at Denny's.  Went to the Orlando Florida Temple where we saw lizards mating (haha gross).  Went shopping and bought some fun clothes.  Drove to Lakeland, FL where we ate dinner at an amazing Mexican food restaurant and had the sweetest waitress.  Went to Walgreen's where we got a polka-dot umbrella (it was kinda rainy)... the umbrella went flying when I tried to open it.  It was hilarious.  We also got coconut Twix.  Delicious.  Went to my cousin's baseball game.  He is a "Clearwater Thresher" and they won 1-0 in an extra inning.  Go Jordan!  Went to bed... we were dead tired.
Saturday:  Woke up and drove to Tampa, FL and went to MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry).  Jacee and I did a ropes course that was super intense.  Got smoothies and Subway on our way to Siesta Key Beach that is ranked number one in the United States.  Yeah, only the best for us ;) At the beach, we only had one towel and we all sat on the sand and used the towel as a tablecloth.  I'm sure it was a hilarious sight.  Decided to feed a bird, and unbeknownst to us, a whole flock surrounded us.  We didn't feed any more after that.  Swam some more and then a huge storm came in and we left to our hotel.  For dinner that night, we went to a ghetto pizzeria that gave us these free mini breadsticks that were burnt and disgusting.  We had a good laugh about that. 
Sunday:  Stayed at the airport in Tampa for four hours.  Flew to Miami, FL.  Froze to death in Miami inside the airport for 30 minutes or so until we flew to Memphis, TN.  We flew first class.  I love first class, it was amazing and it was free.  Once in Memphis,  we also froze for about 30 minutes before flying to Las Vegas, NV.  Once in Las Vegas, we ate dinner and hung out until my flight left to Salt Lake City.  That was such a long and exhausting^2 day.  We started off the day at 5:30am and I arrived in Salt Lake City at 8:30pm.  I was in an airplane for 7 hours overall that day.  And I started school the next day at 8:05am.
I'm grateful my mom and sister could do that with me.  It was a blast with all three of us. 

4.  I had a good Birthday.
I turned 23 years old.  I feel kinda old now.  I didn't do anything special on my actual birthday because I had to go to school and Fortis, but I did go to Florida beforehand and will celebrate this weekend in St. George.  My roommates surprised me with decorating my chalk wall in my bedroom with chalk and a Justin Beiber poster, the movie "Step Up" to complete my collection and a whole slew of candy.  Overall, it was a good day.


5.  I became an Aunt today. 
My brother and sister in law had an adorable little boy this morning around 2:15am.  Poor Whitney was in labor for about 15 hours.  They named him McKay Robert Whatcott.  I cannot wait to meet him this weekend.  He is a cutie for sure, and seriously, I'm not even biased at all.  For reals, he really is that cute.  The due date was actually on my birthday (August 30th) but I'm quite glad he was born on September 1, 2011 because birthdays are (mine) 8/30. (Mom) 8/31, and now (McKay) 9/1.  It will always be such a fun birthday celebration time for us.

Well that about sums it all up!  Get ready for pictures in the near future.  Yeah I have a lot of posting I need to do still.