It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Rachel Marie was going to blog, but then forgot. So then she decided to update once more since it's Christmas time :)

So, things have been pretty fantastic. It's been a bit crazy trying to get everything together for Christmas, bt it's all been so great! For the past few days, my mama and I have been baking so much for presents! I feel as if I have been in my kitchen all day today. We have been baking cookies, including sugar, oatmeal, chocolate chip, etc, fudge, chex mixes, brownies, and much more.


About half of what we have made. Yum!

 Now it's time to travel back in time:

We had a party in Student Gov to get ready for Christmas!



Making paper snowflakes



decorating cookies







and you can't go wrong with writing letters to Santa :)





And so the next day we delivered the cookies to the Wentworth place and sang carols

And the next day was our Christmas dance, which was loads of fun! And for our after activity, we went ice skating. And guess what? I really can't believe it was my first time ice skating. I'm so glad my date was very patient with me that night because I took a while learning how to skate haha

The next week we had our seminary assembly, so the rest of the Seminary council and I taught lessons about the nativity. I had to speak about the wise men in an 8 minute lesson, and it was a little frightening at first trying to teach by myself, but luckily the other two students came later on to help teach. My cousin Kara came from BYU, so my mom, sister, her and I headed over to temple square to see David Archuleta perform with the Mormon Tabernacle choir. It was such an incredible performacnce!

I really felt the true spirit of Christmas that day.

To come to a conclusion for now, I absolutely love Christmas time. Even though there is so much that takes place, it's important to remember the true meaning of Christmas: the spirit of Christ and all that he has done for us. I love spending time with friends and family at this time of year, and taking the time to remember our savior and give back to him because he has given us so much. I know he has given me great health this year, but has given me the ability to push through hard times and changes in my life. I feel as if my testimony has grown this year as I have read the Book of Mormon for the first time (finished it last night), and as I have realized and worked towards goals I have for my future in many aspects. I am just so grateful for this wonderful year and love my Savior so much :)

Thanksgiving!!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, even though it was a few days ago haha. I absolutely love the holiday. I loved spending time with my family. I loved eating food, watching movies football, and just sleeping. I am so grateful for such a wonderful family and friends. I also just started thinking about how grateful I am for what I have learned by having CF in my life. I know that most people my age feel they fit their age, but for all I have gone through I really feel like I am around 25 or 30, because I have felt I have been through a lot. I just finished this antibiotic minutes ago, and was thinking how grateful I am that I'm done with it! It was only for a few days, but I was terrified once my pharmacy sent me a two inch long needle and iv fluid. Luckily the doc said I didn't have to inject it into me and just had to drink it! Whew! That is why I made a smoothie every morning and night to put the med into. I know I am rambling, but I am grateful it's done because the medicine would make me so so tired!

Anyway, school starts again tomorrow after the long break. I am glad I am able to see my friends again and start some new classes. Creative writing starts tomorrow, and I have literally been waiting about 5 years for this. I am also ready to join choir and start on our Christmas tour soon.

Yes! I am a Harry Potter Nerd!

Last night I was able to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. I had been waiting so long for this! The book was incredible, and I was hoping the movie would stick with it, and it did! I was a very emotional person during the movie and could not stop tearing up and crying! haha. It really was a great film and I cannot wait for part 2!

This was a few years back when the book came out. What a good memory :)

Dobby, Tonks, and Ginny

Bad Dobby!

my friend really looks like Emma Watson!!

Hagrid was huge!!!

Halloween

Happy Halloween!! I love this time of year!! I love seeing the gorgeous fall colors and carving pumpkins. I love hot soups and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I love lounging in sweats,watching tv and dancing around my room when I have nothing else to do since it's cold outside. Don't you love fall??

My Halloween was a little different this year. That's right, no trick or treating for me this year :( But that's alright because I'm really not the biggest fan of candy. I did end up going with a few friends who graduated last year to a single adult ward Halloween dance. We then headed over to a friend's house and ate homemade donuts. Yum yum

Today, I also attended a mission farewell for a friend of mine who is leaving soon for Rome (cool, huh?!). I am so glad for missionary work so that the gospel can be spread throughout the world and so that families can be together forever. The missionary who is leaving soon said something in his talk that inspired me. He mentioned a song Valient Faith by Jenny Phillips. In the song it mentions being a warrior of light as we strive to be a good example by living with honor and faith.This phrase Warrior of Light really stood out to me. To me, it means that we need to be a good example and knows that we can do great things and know where we stand, and have a firm foundation. It also means to me that we face trials in our lives in which sometimes may make us feel like we have to be warriors, and it can be difficult to fight our battles. By hearing this song after he suggested it, I learned that being a warrior of light means that we must not only avoid sin and fight our battles by striving to get by, but to fight Valiantly, Fearlessly, Fighting for the Mighty King. By hearing this phrase a warrior of light, I knew that I could find the strength in me to be a good example to others and not let my light dim as I face challenges in my life, especially pertaining to having CF.

Here are the lyrics:


To many people are just sliding by

Plugged into the world and missing the meaning of life

But I was born to be a warrior of light

With faith to move mountains and the power of God filling my life


I wanna life my life with honor and faith

I wanna return to His arms unashamed

It’s not enough for me to live it halfway

I’ll follow Him fearlessly all of my days

I will live with valiant faith


I've lived for ages

I've prepared for this life

I won’t be confused or cross to the enemy’s side

I am guarded with power and truth

Siding with God, He’s pouring out blessings in all that I do



Valiantly, fearlessly, fighting for the Mighty King

Valiantly, fearlessly, fighting for the Mighty King - Jenny Phillips

Sunday Pun

And I almost forgot this as well. At our cross country region meet, my besties Brooklyn and Kate decided to stop by to support us. Kate was surprised at how close the temple was to us, and pointed out how, from the view we saw, the temple was right in-between the football goal posts. Brooklyn cried out "The temple is our goal!" It was definitely the best pun I had ever heard hahaha. But it is true. We have to have the temple as our goal and keep our covenants and stay worthy to go there.

Cool picture, huh? ;)

Run Your Own Race

     I cannot believe how fast this cross country season went by, and I cannot believe I actually ran it!! It was very difficult to run 3 to 6 miles every day after long hours of school, but I can say it was worth it. I met so many new friends and actually got in shape. But I realized how important it is to run at your own pace and not compare your abilities to other students. I think this was the hardest part for me. It was hard to run with having CF and sometimes feeling like I had a brick on my lungs, and there were some students who did much better than I. But what mattered was when I improved my scores. During this cross country season, I also learned how there are others around me who faced very difficult challenges who were also running as well! There was one who had a very hard time breathing because she was born with about 1/2 the normal lung capacity as a normal person (she didn't have asthma or CF). There was also one with stomach cancer as well (I was very surprised to find out myself that she was running with it). It was a great comfort to know there were others with serious challenges who were running as well,and we were able to help each other out :)

     Oh, and I almost forgot. I finally got pictures of my sister's new puppy Cody. He is so energetic and precious. My other dog Oscar has had a huge jealousy problem with him, so hopefully his attitude will eventually go away.

                                               

                                                               Oh how he loves to play

                                               

Homecoming, 18, and Robotisa

     I figured I might as well start a new post since I haven't in a while. Anyways, homecoming was amazing!!! I definitely had a great time and such nice, fun date. We first met up with others in our group and played miniature golf. It's the best when you don't even take miniature golf seriously and just try to have fun :) We then got slurpees, and you definitely can't go wrong with them! :) Later on we met up with the rest of our group (17 couples) and had a lovely dinner at a golf course nearby. The dance was so much fun, and I was able to wear my grandma's dress that was sixty years old!! I absolutely loved it, and can you believe it fit perfectly?? After the dance we headed over to a gymnastics place where we all wore ourselves out by jumping on the bouncy floor, climbing ropes, doing cartwheels, watching the boys wrestle, diving into a foam pit, and much more. It was defintitely a great day!!


     And for this week, I was able to enjoy turning eighteen (can you believe it?) on Wednesday. Yes, it is a little weird to think that I am now 18. I am so grateful for such good friends and family members who helped make it a great one. I was able to hop around and get free food from some of the best places in Salt Lake City, such as Iceburg and Smokey Mountain Pizza. My mom made such a delicious cake that tasted like a chocolate cake from costco, and we enjoyed a small family party. It was a good birthday :)



Blowing out 18 candles :)


     And finally, I had to take a robot baby home with me for my child development class just for this weekend. I really wasn't sure what to name her, so I came up with the name Robotisa :) It has definitely been a challenge because she cries all the time. Very very loudly. And on top of that, I admit that I was very stupid enough to go to the football game last night, where I lost the baby's diaper. So now when she needs a diaper change, I can't do anything and am just getting points docked. I sure hope I will be able to laugh at this whole situtation with Robotisa later on, because right now I am not enjoying it. I came home last night, and was so thrilled to see my cousin Kara at the door because she loves this stuff!!! Luckily she has been able to help me out a little bit with Robotisa. Unfortunately, we both have a strong feeling that Robotisa will have to come home with me for another weekend so I can get a better grade.