Here we GO!!!!

Lets just start with this photo :) (Kat you know you love it) This is Katherin in our kitchen after declaring everything is going wrong that could go wrong before she leaves on her mission. I found it quite ironic that when she went to get the tin foil out it completely unrolled!! I laughed its okay for you to laugh too, pretty sure Kat laughed shortly after shoving it back into the drawer :)

We can go here: To my IFA work christmas party. Yes, I took Kat. It was a free meal so neither of us had to put out. Bonus- we do look great together!

And then lets go here: Sam and Kat moving! Well, this is all Kat's belongings that we took home to Payson. 3 of us 4 roommates all moving out in December. Laura was the first one the first weekend of December, then Kat and I two weeks later.

Dont really wanna go here...... Kitty Kats Mission Farewell: Here we are best friends coming to a detour in our road. This is just the beginning of the fun we had at her Moms house after church.

Reunions!!! Laura Wilson, Samantha, Katherin Caldwell(Sister Caldwell) and Jennie Merback! Look at us go- we all managed to make it for a final hoorah! I love these girls so much and they each have a special place in my heart. I wont forget any of our cedar city memories we had together!

Jennie: OH my dear Jennie! How she can light up a room with her smile and quick witty comments! How I miss rooming with her and her drive to do EVERYTHING!

Seth and I continuing making memories at Kat's farewell. Haven't met a soul so generous as he. I even have proof, this photo... not many would smile for the camera standing next to me :) He was a wonderful friend for supporting Katherin in not only her mission decision but the last three years they have been friends. And bonus- We look great together too! :)

Ohhh how I will miss little big brothers! So glad I got the opportunity to become part of the Caldwell Family! They are the funnest people I have meet! I love being there with them even if it means dyeing by knife point and loosing at the Great Down Booty(sp?) :)

VICTORY: What a crew! Lovely people, lovely times! Yay Kat going on a mission, Yay all of us for supporting her, Yay for all the good times we have had together, Yay for continuing being great friends, Yay for this wonderful photo we will treasure forever!

Seth Julian, Samantha, Laura Wilson, Katherin Caldwell, Colby Irons, Amber Hone, Shelby Millet, Jennie Merback (Just in case one day when I am old and I forget everything I wont be able to forget you guys)

Snow can only mean one thing:

CHRISTMAS!!! Oh, wait... its not christmas yet- so who is going to tell the snow its a bit early?

We (those who live in Cedar Town) have been lucky(?) to have snow make a visit... and over stayed visit if you ask me. Well, no I take it back. Snow is awfully pretty and I guess can be fun to play in if your neighbors would pick up their dog poop so you could make a snowman and if it stayed off the roads so we could drive without having a panic attack :)

But while all this snow is happening around me here are a few highlights of no snow moments:

Jubilee of Trees:

Of course the "western" themed tree. I loved the color scheme and most of all the awesome "Yippie ki yi yo yay" license plate sign in the back.

The Phantom of the opera organ. Its like identical to the one on the goonies! Funny how its suppose to be about the "trees" but I do not remember the tree on this theme :)

Bowling:

Yes, I only have ONE photo, no cool shoes, no lanes, no bowling balls, just us which I thought was enough....(apparently not) Me, Katherin, and Amanda. There was lots of us there this time around, just figured we were the only cool ones (apparently I am right). GOAL: next bowling adventure take more photos!

Wichita Scottish Rite:

The auditorium mimics the worlds finest opera houses and provides stage, scenery, and lighting opportunities since 1887!!!

The building is home of the Masons (http://www.wichitascottishrite.org/) and it is a beautiful building.

These are two photos I snapped before rehearsal of Celebrate! Love the carpet, balcony boxes, $300,000 or more dollar backdrops (which they have like 100 different ones!) and the shows they put on in the theater.

We had the opportunity to help down stairs with Deb, in costumes while we were their helping with Josh's show. Down on level 2 of the Scottish Rites are these storage cabinets on two walls. Each door opens up and a bar pulls out storing multiple costumes in each space. Some are a bit newer, but some were dated way, way back! I couldnt believe all the props and accessories they had from long ago!

CELEBRATE!! :

Here is the cast of Celebrate! 2011. We had loads of fun going to Kansas and trying to help Josh with his last touches. I always look forwards to visiting Josh and friends in Wichita. Cassidy always takes LOTS of photos and we video the performances and he makes a video that the cast members can buy. Its just overall a neat experience for the kids as well as families involved.

National Finals Rodeo:

Remember the whole bad photo taker... I only have ONE!!! And of course I look horrendous!

Katherin and I at the finals on tuesday night. There is this long story about how I lent my car to Kat so she could come get down to Vegas to pick me up and so we could spend a few days shopping and drooling over all the cowboy hats we saw walking around town but.... we know not to gamble in vegas cause our luck is shot! The clutch went out in the gorge with her after dark. Good thing she is amazing and handled it very well. Being in Kansas at the time, I didnt feel really helpful to her but we got a tow, got it fixed but not in time.. they gave us a free rental we cruised vegas with. I flew in Monday and was ever so lucky to have Seth pick me up! We had lots of fun in vegas and we wish we didnt have to come back to reality, like... ever. We stretched it out as long as we could trust me :) However, I need to learn to be quicker on my toes because Tyson and Seth together is double the trouble, never met any two people that feed off each other as much as they do! And boy, do they enjoy it! We made lots of memories, and had lots and lots of laughs. Only down fall is that I didnt get a souvenir cowboy to come home with me. Maybe next trip :)

Life story:

I now know why I would NEVER have anyone write about my life with detail. One because its depressing, and not in the inspirational depressing way, just boring depressing. Two because no one should have to relive the things I do, or say for that matter and Three because once is totally enough for all us lucky enough to be involved :)

My 1st and Last......

BLACK FRIDAY:

Watch this video that was actually videoed at the bloomington walmart but picture cardboard and wii games being thrown in the air to the people at the back....

Now, let me tell you my story :)

The other day Leslie called and was all you planning on doing any black friday shopping, I replied "eh, I don't really know... maybe I will look at the ads" So.... when I get home wednesday night I start looking through ALL the ads and decided there are some things I 'thought' I couldn't live without. So, we make our game plan.... scout the ads the times stores open and what we really wanted. First on the list is Walmart, they now have deals starting at 10 (woot woot, lucky us huh!) We get there 9:15 ish and have to park at Dickies BBQ and trek all the way in find the line for DVD's and change our mind on that... Go down to the seafood isle where all the nintendo games were (we had three mario ones the boys needed) and find a mob.. no line just a mob of people. We work our way up a little to find there are three cardboard displays one supposedly had Wii, one PS and on Xbox. By now its around 9:30 and we start thinking about this set up... there is no exit... how are people once they get their games going to leave this MOB of people already inching forward like there is some place to go. We sorta chit chat with the few people next to us, invading out personal bubbles. One guy asks hesitantly which game we are going for.. he lets out a breath of relief when its not the same one as him.. and the sweet lady behind us just keeps questioning why she was there and if its all going to be worth it and the two guys behind us joke about hoping the people up front just start throwing the games they don't want towards the back sense we will probably never make it up there. There is no space between the seafood freezers and the boxes and no space between the boxes and the people... 9:45....uh this is when I start to change my mind. Questioning if this is a good idea or not. Well by the time Leslie and I look at each other and agree this is going to be madness and debate whether or not to start slipping back its 9:53 and they start pulling the plastic covers off the displays. Its too late, people start shoving forward like its their last dying day! I am sure the look on my face was priceless, as it is many times in my life. I am now worried, not about the Wii games the boys wanted but about my life! Worried I am going to get tripped and trampled because heaven forbid someone misses out on the $20 Wii games. Then about this time I sort of laugh out loud because here they come nintendo games coming from the front.. being hoisted, being rejected by the few in front that can get their hands on some. Luckily for most of us our heads were saved because mister 6'6 with arms for days caught the majority of them and nicely handed them back. I am now weaseling my way back and try just standing out of the way for a moment but I get pushed that way, then ran into by someone else, then shoved another way and so forth. I look around and see card board on the floor, games flyin, people videoing and laughing, people seriously angry they cant get up to the front. I kinda make my way to the front, not sure it was really by choice or not and I see Walmart workers picking up stacks of games that are on the floor and handing them out to pass back to the people in front. Well, I guess I made the mistake of asking one ASSociate if she had mario, "like I know" in the most cattiest voice I have ever heard... "wanna pass some out so we can look" I asked her pretty innocently I thought, I just saw the other workers doing it.... "NO, DO YOU WANNA BACK UP SO WE CAN CLEAN THIS MESS YOU MADE UP" uh... biotch, you obviously cant handle retail or handle planning a safe way to do this so why the hell you here? Okay, I didn't say that to her face but I sorta wanted to, What is she going to do with that stack of games in her hands once she cleans up the broken cardboard display... stack them on the ground... no, so hand them out! And, like I could back up I only had 100 people behind me pushing me forward! Anyways... crowd sorta dies down once they know there aren't many games left, I find my way to leslie who has somehow gathered two games (not the original ones we wanted but they will do). When we start to turn to leave it was like a spot light shown the waves parted and we see this box on the other side of the sea of people and its practically untouched.... Low and behold, MARIO WII !!!! Just what we wanted... we go and grab out three games and bolt. Enough of the nintendo games in the seafood dept. We had other things on our list so we try to make out way to the toys.... finally finally, we make it and our things are gone. Leslie looks at a few more things when I go try to get in line to check out. Well........................... we waited and waited like 15 minuets in line and didn't move a inch. I am not lying I even asked the guy in front of me if we moved at all. He just laughed and said don't believe we have. Thats when we again look at each other (me and leslie) and think why are we here! Leslie says, lets just be done I replied "BUT WE GOT WHAT WE WANTED!" "I know but we will be standing in this line for EVER and I just don't think its worth it" So we decided to stash the games (clever, I know) and come back in a while and get them so out we go, empty handed and a hour later.

But... get this, as we trek the way to dickies parking lot to leave, the guy parked next to us was unloading his shopping cart of goodies when we asked if he got all he wanted. He sorta shrugged and was all sure. Well, as we get into are car and start to pull out he lifts the shopping cart and loads it into his car as well as the goodies inside it!!!! We sorta hesitate... like is he really stealing the shopping cart?! Yes, yes indeed he stole the cart as well.

I suppose the saying is very much true that ANYTHING can and will happen on Black Friday...

ps- I will never EVER do that again... I am not much of a shopper in the first place, don't know what possessed me to try it on the busiest day of the year.

Redneck has New Meaning...

You might be a redneck if: It never occurred to you to be offended by the phrase, 'One nation, under God..'

You might be a redneck if: You've never protested about seeing the 10 Commandments posted in public places.

You might be a redneck if: You still say ' Christmas' instead of 'Winter Festival.'

You might be a redneck if: You bow your head when someone prays.

You might be a redneck if: You stand and place your hand over your heart when they play the National Anthem

You might be a redneck if: You treat our armed forces veterans with great respect, and always have.

You might be a redneck if: You've never burned an American flag, nor intend to.

You might be a redneck if: You know what you believe and you aren't afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.

You might be a redneck if: You respect your elders and raised your kids to do the same. Some of you are so old you don't have elders to respect.

You might be a redneck if: You'd give your last dollar to a friend.

IF YOU DON'T STAND BEHIND OUR TROOPS FEEL FREE TO STAND IN FRONT OF THEM.

Goodbye October

I have only been saving this post for about a month now... I really really need to get internet!!!! Dont worry I am slow at work so I figured I would hurry very sneekily and at least get the photos up! October was a GREAT month, we had lots of fun for sure! November... I am not to sure what to say about November just yet.. we still have thanksgiving this week!

So here it is.... THRILLER at Tuachan with Laura Ameila Katherin and Bundy.. Cassidy was there too, he is the one who donated tickets to us poor college kids. (I will forever call my self a college kid, even though I have not been in school a year) But try ever getting him to cooperate to take a photo. It will just have to be enough to know he was there :)


I had the opportunity to work at the Las Vegas IFA store halloween/PBR weekend to help with their inventory! Lucky me I have a great friend that is living down there and happens to love the PBR and sharing it with ME!!! We went to the PBR saturday night and of course took the tour of Fremont street on halloween weekend! I was sure glad to have an arm to hold onto there!

More thriller......



and.. The westerner!!! Katherin Shae and I went while we were in the SLC area to the Club called the Westerner, the only response I have to that night was I dont think I have never trusted so many drunk people in my life... But drunk men means more DANCING! It was a balst for sure, and we will be doing it again! Plus it was an added bounus to have Shae with us, its always forever inbetween our hangouts, too long for sure!!!!!
Here is to October, not to much snow (which is a perk) more cold wind than I would hoped for but great friends, great times, and great laughs. Memories I will hopefully never forget!!!

October in Cedar City

Drives up the mountain....

leads to many.. many.. many... self time photos!
A GREAT fireman to keep the cabin warm enough that I dont get cold! He succeeded even though it was a task to keep me warm in Cedar :)
A warm cabin leads to happy campers! Kat and I just loved our time camping and playing catch phrase!

While staying warm I noticed some visitors that wanted to stay warm in the cabin too.... Kat on the hunt

Seth on the hunt.....
Setting traps and bait to aid in the hunt......
Seth with a VICTORY!!!!!

Seth tryin to convince me to kill it.........
Me freaking out because I heard a crunch.... I really couldnt do it......

But dead mouse means happy campers!!!

Laura even survived driving her car in the mud! GO KIA!!!

Yay, for a camping trip to get us out of town for a couple days... Thanks to Kats determination to go camping before it was too late, and a BIG BIG BIG thanks to Seth for making it happen and taking care of us girls! Oh, thanks to the Hones for letting us use their cabin it was really nice of them (even if they didnt know till now) haha. So glad for the memories we made and the great time we could have with our good friends! Hope we can do it again soon! But maybe with out the mice friends this time :)

Kansas Comes to Utah!!!

Where to start.... We have had so much fun the past few days while friends from Kansas (The Ottaways and Sarah Quinn and Joshie) came to potentially run the marathon, but we lucked out and got the whole weekend to show off wonders! We started well, I started Thursday night when I got to head down after work, Josh and Sarah didnt show up till noon Friday. But, that didnt stop Jan from showing the Ottaways a good time all day Thursday ie Brigham Young home, Temple Visitor Center. How about the Little Mermaid at Tuachan on Friday night!

We found our selves getting photos with some of the actors here be KING TRITON

One of our few hikes we did in ZIONS this Josh is explaining the route and as you can tell, we are intently listening :)

Another thing on our "to do" was family photos, we made it up Sunday to the mountain, Papas pride and Joy and had TOOO much fun. Ridding horse, shooting clay piegions, ridding fourwheelers, hiking to Navajo Rock (lovers rock) and Eating YUMMY dutch oven dinner!

Here is the Sam and Jan Larson family photo of 2011, on the porch of Sam's Cabin. We might not be the biggest family out there but we are competing for the best looking :)

Its only tradition the trio photo! -Sammi-Sarah- Joshie- I just love them even if they do challenge me to a Nertz game every time we are together :)

We took a day and toured Zions, we spent a lot of the time actually in rockville and Springdale, we watched a movie on the big Imax theater ate a yummy late lunch and finally made it into the park to hike a few hikes even while the sun was down!

The Ottaway family... Luther Emily and Abby! They are just about the nicest, smartest family I have met! Loved every minute they were here in Utah! Cant wait to see them in December!

Papa Sam showing Abby how to rope the dummy at the cabin Sunday, she went home with A LOT of new experiences for sure! So, glad Abby loved Utah!!!!

Abby Josh and I on one of our hikes in Snow Canyon on Saturday. It defiantly proved its desert heat with 90 degrees for a few days.

It was a great break from work for a few days, and it was a full schedule trying to fit everything we could into the time we had! Thank you friends for coming to UTAH, I cant wait for you to come back again to do all the things we didnt fit into our time! Cant believe how much fun we had running around southern utah!

Kats Mission Call!!!!

Katherine held her excitement more than Laura and I did- I think we asked her 10 times a day if she got her mission call. Finally Wednesday she text us saying ITS HERE!!!! We had already had a plan to drive to Payson if it ever got here, so six o'clock I pulled up to the house with Laura and Kat sitting on the grass waiting for me to pick them up. Off we were to Payson to meet her family to open the letter! It was a long drive with three excited girls, we couldnt get there fast enough!!!

Leave it to us to document every step of the way... I didnt even upload the photos I had of Kat walking up to the house! :)
Part of the group gathered around while Kat opens her letter!!! There are three phones sitting on the edge of the couch with out of state listeners!!!

Here is the video of Katherine reading her letter from the prophet him self! Woot Woot to Kat for finally getting her call! and WOOT WOOT to me for learning how to upload a video to my blog!

ELDER JOHN K. CARMACK

Sometimes people and relationships will disappoint you. When that happens, be resilient enough to remain open and trusting. It may be painful to overcome the hurt, and it surely can be frightening to risk having that kind of pain again. But shutting other people out—building barriers to prevent someone from crossing into the tender territory of your heart—means locking yourself inside a shell. Be realistic, be judicious, be prayerful, but be willing to trust the right someone.

If it begins to appear that you will not have the opportunity to marry, continue to be active in good causes, to develop your talents, to improve your mind, to love and serve your friends, and to stay strong and secure in your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Try not to beat yourself with undue concern for your own problems. Thoughtless people may make hurtful comments about you, give judgmental opinions about why you are single, or identify your supposed mistakes. If you take all of these comments to heart, you can become mentally and spiritually depressed.

Think of your blessings, your talents, and your strengths, rather than your problems. I used to teach missionaries serving under me to awaken a little early and thank the Lord for their wonderful blessings. It was a good start to what was often another day of pointed rejection. We have much for which we can be grateful. Let us focus upward and outward to blessings, contributions, and service.

College Rodeo!!

Rodeo seams to be the topic of most of my post lately.. which I just so happen to be a-ok with! Kat and I are partners in crime when it comes to holding down a rodeo event. This weekend it was the Great American Stampede Rodeo- a college rodeo that is put on buy the SUU college team. We of course made appearances both Friday and Saturday nights

We even tapped our toes Friday night at the "dance" they held afterwards.... pretty sure if the 8 of us were not standing there and halfway into dancing the other 10 people would have left :) But it was a good time for all, a little line dancing, a little swing dancing, and even a little polka dancing! We headed to dennys to feed our bellies sense it is pretty much a tradition and the only place open that late in Cedar :)

Good food, good times, good memories, good lookin cowboys :) What more could a girl ask for!

Kitty Kats Birthday!!!!

Kat is finally 21!!! woot woot! Unfortuantly it was a thursday and we both had to work all day but.. we tried to make the most of it. First by a surprise cake at work!

She did really good blowing out them candles. Note to self: Don't buy the cheep dollar candles, they burn out faster then we could light all of them!
Second by a present waiting at home! (ps: there is a map on the wall, Kat turned in her mission papers, gotta come make a guess!!)
She really did love it, her sweatshirt that says "I love my Kitty Kat"
We had weekend plans of a vegas trip to dance out little hearts out, but who knew that some clubs were iffy on taking temporary id's so we postponed and stayed and played in Cedar at the rodeos instead of chancing vegas clubs. Hope you had a good birthday Kitty Kat! I am so glad that you are my roommate and best friend! I think I am lost now, I dont know where I would be with out you! So glad your 21, so glad your my rommie, so glad we can finally go dancing!!! woot woot!