The Start of Holidays...

I am home in Boise for the Holidays. So far, it has been pretty quiet. Lots of hanging out, shopping, cooking and playing. My roommate, Becca Beecher, makes the best cookies ever. So today my niece, Morgan, and I decided to try and make them ourselves. They, actually, turned out good. So I can keep that recipe in mind.

The Horne family got her this afternoon and have been adding some excitement to the day. I am sure there will be lots of stories to come. Amos is already running wild. More stories to come...

Snowman Pictures.

Three Dead Ends and a Turn Signal.

This weekend, I headed off to Provo, Utah to see the Horne family and some mission friends. I was only there Friday night to Sunday afternoon. It was a quick trip, but was a lot of fun.

Friday night, I went straight to the Horne family in Springville. We watched Blades of Glory on TV. I had never seen it before. There were funny

parts and ridiculous parts. Overall, I laughed.

Saturday morning, I woke up to Amos and had a quick tickling match. He is probably the most ticklish little boy ever. You pretend like you are going to "get him" and he starts to laugh. It is pretty cute.

After Amos helped me wake up, I went to Laura's church building

to help decorate for a friend's birthday party. We got there in time to help tie the last few balloons and then we headed back home.

We decided to go spend the morning/afternoon shopping. We went to the mall. I think we went into maybe two stores. The only purchases were made at The Children's Place. But it was still fun. Then after that, we went to lunch at PF Changs. I love PF Changs! It is really good- kind of reminds me of the food I ate for 18 months in Taiwan. Except Taiwan was probably a little better.

Then we headed back home and I got ready to go out with two mission friends, Hannah McKinley and Russell Francom. We all met up in Provo and went from there.

Hannah McKinley was my companion in Xinzhu. Xinzhu was one of my favorite areas and I loved Sis McKinley. She was an awesome hardworking companion and we had a lot of fun together. As we were hanging out, we kept remembering all these different things that happened on the mission. I am glad Hannah McKinley was so patient with me! We did some crazy things- she reminded me of how we rode through a flooded tunnel during a typhoon. The water came up to our waste and the current was so strong we had to get off of our bikes and walk the rest of the way through. Probably not the smartest thing we did. Good thing we didn't get stuck.

The other mission friend I saw was Russell David Francom. He served with my in Xinzhu for a couple of transfers. He was my district leader

and really was an amazing leader. I struggled quite often with the zone

leaders and Francom was always there to be the mediator. I remember one time when he sang High School Musical to me so I would cheer up and realize "we're all in this together." I learned a lot about righteous

leaders from him. I am sure he got tired of our nightly follow-ups, but they really kept me going and allowed me to be successful. While

I was hanging out with Francom, I learned something new about him. He doesn't use his turn signal when he turns. And that is like one of my major pet peeves. The other thing is he runs into dead ends a lot- especially when it doesn't makesense for him to go that way ;)

The three of us ended up having a lot of fun. We went and got ice cream, ran around campus taking pictures and then ended up at Denny's for some catching up and cheese fries!

Sunday morning, I woke up and packed up to head home. I had a goal to be on the road by noon, but that didn't happen! Laura knows my weaknesses! Food and playing! Laura made some yummy salmon for lunch. And then after lunch, we decided to build a snowman.

I am glad I stayed to build the snowman. It ended up being pretty sweet. Laura had gotten a free snowman kit- it came with plastic charcoal eyes, a carrot nose, a mouth, a pipe, coal buttons and a red scarf. We bundled Amos up and headed out to make the snow man. Eric doesn't like snowman because they make the yard "ugly." So we tried to be careful and keep the rest of the snow pretty. We made a huge snowman who ended up being bigger than us. It was pretty entertaining trying to pick up the different sections and stack him up. He ended up pretty sweet. I am just going to post a bunch of the pictures from the building of the snowman. Poor little Maggie slept through the whole thing. Next time.

Happy Thanksgiving :)

Happy Thanksgiving. This Thanksgiving, I went home to Boise to spend it with my mom and dad. My little sister, Meg, was going to stay in Salt Lake. She ended up getting sick in Salt Lake and headed home. So I spent the week with mom, dad, Meg, and Liz and co. We had lots of fun- shopping, playing croquet, eating, watching movies, BSU basketball, etc.

We saw the movie The Blind Side. It was so good. I think it is one of the best sports movies ever. It might even be better than Remember the Titans. We, also, saw New Moon. Not quite up to the same level as The Blind Side, but was good. Jacob is hot. Edward is not. We had fun taking some pictures and jumping on the trampoline.

Overall, it was an awesome Thanksgiving. I love getting to go home and spend time with my family. I miss them a lot when I am at school. I can't wait to graduate and hopefully teach close to home.

The Lady Bruins

This last semester, I decided to be a coach for one of the Women's competitive soccer teams here at BYU-Idaho. I learned a lot from coaching and especially a lot about coaching girls. It made me have a greater respect for the coaches that I have had throughout my soccer career. They were so patient and understanding. My team made it to the finals and lost in penalty kicks. It was a heartbreak of a season, but was really a growing experience. I couldn't be at the tournament because I was in Florida. It was really hard to not be there to support the girls and play, but I am proud of them. I loved the girls on my team and look forward to playing soccer in the summer. I probably won't be a coach, but love playing too much to not play. Plus it is fun to be on a team. The picture is of my team at the end of the season banquet.

Saturday was GAMEDAY! And Gator gameday to be exact! Mom, Dad, Liz, Josh, Ali, Carrie, Kate, Meg, and I went to the game. The Gators played Vanderbilt. They beat Vandy, but it wasn't pretty. Before the game, we went to the Gator walk- this is where the players walk from the bus to the stadium. It was packed and we had to elbow and fight for our space. As the players were walking by, people shouted and took tons of pictures. It was pretty cool to get to see all the different players- including Tim Tebow. After the Gator walk, we went to my dad's medical alumni BBQ. We ate some food and got our Gator tattoos so we could be ready for the game. (Carrie and Ali even sprayed their hair blue and orange.) After the BBQ, we walked up to the game. We were in the second to very top row. The Swamp is huge and is quite the amazing atmosphere. The Gator game was a success. As was the trip to Florida.

Sunday, we all just lounged around the house and took it easy. It was a nice day for naps and swimming in the swimming pool. The next day was Monday and we headed home. Mom and Dad were my ride to the airport. Their flight left five hours before mine, so I was to the airport in plenty of time. The time actually went really quickly and before I knew it. I was back in Rexburg.

Family, Florida, and Fun!

This last weekend, I had the chance to go to Florida. I left on a Thursday afternoon. Traveling there was no problem at all. I thought there might be some troubles so I only took a carry-on, but everything worked out fine. I got into Florida late. Mom, Liz, Laura, Meg, Carrie, and Ali picked me up. They had been at a concert and stopped at the airport on their way home. They even brought Pita Pit with them. It doesn't get much better than that. Meg even remembered everything I like on my pitas. We drove from the airport to our house- it was about half an hour drive (if I remember right.) We stayed in nice rental house- it was great fun. It had a swimming pool and game room- plus a thousand bedrooms.

On Friday, Kate, Laura, Meg, Liz, Josh, Ali, Carrie and I went to Disney World. It was rather entertaining. As we were driving to Disney World, Liz told Ali and Carrie that this was an adult trip to Disney World and that we were going to go on every ride and there was no whining allowed. How funny is that? An adult trip to Disney World? But that is what it was. And it was a lot of fun. And there was no whining. I was really impressed with Carrie and Ali. We were able to go on every ride that we wanted to. Some of my favorites were The Monsters Inc. interactive show, Splash Mountain, and Thunder Mountain. However, Space Mountain was closed. We were at Disney World for twelve hours. We wanted to make sure we got our moneys worth. I had never seen the fireworks at night, so it was really neat to see them. After the fireworks, Disney had pretty much cleared out e

xcept for the die hards. So we went on Splash Mountain one more time and thought that would be it. But there was no line so we ran right on. We, then, proceeded to go on Thunder Railroad at least three more times. I know because we asked to sit in the front, middle and end. The end was best!

Waiting in line for the Monorail. As Laura says, "Disney's fastest ride." Laura remembered all the times we had been as little kids and reminded us all of things we had forgotten. It was fun to have her along.

Meg was, also, a trooper and got stuck with me a lot. We had fun on the rides and eating our ice cream. P.S. I didn't scream on the rides like I did at Lagoon so I think Meg enjoyed it better this time and still had her hearing when we were done. Maybe not though- we'd have to ask her. But in my book, I had a fun time!

It's great to be a....

Florida Gator. I am just in the airport on my way home from visiting Florida. It was a great trip... pictures and stories to come.

Happy Halloween...

It is almost time for Halloween and it feels that way. It has been pretty cold here in Rexburg. No real snow yet so I am still happy. And there are days here and there where my bike leaves my bedroom, so I really can't complain. So just to get us in the Halloween spirit... enjoy.

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/STD3q55IljL1Fd8j

Starring... Kate Sookhoo, Cindy Shaver, Mason Iverson, Amos Horne and Meg Shaver.

Tetons and Yellowstone.

This past week, I had a field trip for Geology 250 class. We went to the Tetons and then to Yellowstone.

One of the benefits of going to school in Rexburg is that there are some really awesome places to visit so close. We left on Thursday morning and came home on Friday night. There were about forty or so students and one professor, Brother Moore. It seemed a lot to handle for one professor, but everything went really smoothly.

We went to the Tetons and collected some really neat rock samples. We found obsidian, garnet, and lots of tuff. There was a spot where you could find green, red and black obsidian so that was really cool. But nowhere near as neat as the garnet- I think I like the garnet so much because it is shaped like a soccer ball. Doesn't get much cooler than that.

In Yellowstone, we went and visited some of the mud pots, hot pots, and geysers. We learned all about the differences in them due to the water table. We got to see Old Faithful and many of the can't miss sites in Yellowstone. It was a really fun field trip... I love my major.

I made some fun new friends on the trip too and get to spend some time with old friends that I hadn't seen in a while. It was a lot of fun to get outside and look at the beautiful things in nature. It was a little mind boggling looking at some of the rocks and realizing that they were millions of years old... how it all comes together blows my mind. I am glad that Heavenly Father has everything in control and I don't have to worry about it. I can just study it and enjoy it.

Five Things I am Grateful for...

These last couple of weeks have been a little bit rough on me. And of course, when things go bad, I call home. I was talking to my mom and she suggested that I tried writing down five things each day that I am grateful for. I have been pretty good about it and I have noticed a big difference. It makes me realize how many blessings I really have in my life. It has helped me change my attitude. So here are a couple of the things that have made me smile and realize that I am grateful for them...

The number one thing was My Family! They are always there for me and are always willing to listen to me no matter what. Plus they always make me feel better! I hadn't called home for a couple days because I didn't want to call home upset (didn't want to be the downer), but then my mom called me. I told her why I hadn't called home and she reassured me that I can call home no matter what. And then she told me exactly what I needed to hear. Oh how I love my mom! Plus my little sister, Meg, has been a life saver. She has cleaned up some of the mess that I needed to clean up. So I am thankful for that. Plus she makes me realize that I am not the only one going through these things. There are others things going on out there.

The second one is pretty much the same as family, but more specific my nieces and nephews. There is nothing like being sad and hearing a good "Morgan story" or "Amos story." One of my favorite Morgan stories happened on the same day she got shocked by the electric fence, so she was already having a rough day. She loves to jump on the trampoline and has recently learned how to do bum jumps. My mom was washing her car on the cement drive while Morgan was jumping on the tramp. Morgan ran over to mom and said "Grammie, me bum jump. Watch, me bum jump." Morgan proceeded to do a bum jump on the cement. As she hit the ground, her bottom lip began to quiver and she said, "me bum hurt." But she did learn she can only do bum jumps on the trampoline. It is the little stories like that that make me laugh and make me realize life is good!

The third one is that the Zhou family in Taiwan got their package from my family. I think this package was watched over by angels. We went to the post office in Eagle Idaho and the women was really concerned about our package not making it. We didn't have the English address and she thought there was no way possible it would make it if I wrote it in characters. My mom and I just laughed about that since people in Taiwan don't speak English and read characters, but oh well. The package made it and I am so happy to see that the Zhou family appreciated it so much. They are an amazing family and do amazing things for the missionaries in Taiwan. If I have a son who goes on a mission, I hope he meets a family half as good as they are in his mission. Plus then, I would know he was in great hands!

I am so grateful for all the great things in my life. I really do have it good. I love my family. I love life. I am just loving things.

We are the Titans... Mighty mighty Titans.

We had soccer tryouts Saturday. And let's just say I think my team is ready to dominate. We have a lot of young girls on our team, but I think we will have a pretty successful season. I am a little worried about the number of girls we have on our team. 21 seems like a lot to me- that is almost two teams. The substitutions should be interesting... we have our first practice tomorrow and then our first game on Saturday... Let's get ready to play!

Soccer Tryouts...

Well, I got tricked... not really, but kind of. I went to the mandatory soccer meeting on Thursday night. One of the coaches told me that there were not enough coaches for the women's teams. So I gave in and said that I would coach a team. So tomorrow (Saturday) is tryouts and the "draft". I am really nervous for the "draft." It should be interesting. If my team is bad, it is because I picked them. That's a lot of pressure :) So till tomorrow...

All Brit Field Meet

Nothing Like A British Car

This last weekend, I went to the All British Field Meet with my mom and dad in Portland Oregon. Of course, it was typical Oregon weather and rained the whole time, but that didn't stop me from checking out the "Rovers." They had some really neat old Rovers- the kind that you would picture going on an African safari in. Most of my friends when they get into mine say they feel like they are on a safari, but mine was nothing compared to these. They were so cool. I, also, fell in love with the tents on top of the Rovers. They make these tents that you put on top of your car and then sleep up there on top of your car. They had neat ladders that folded down so that you could climb up there. The tents are pre designed so you just unfold them and your mattress and sleeping bag are already inside. I have decided if I ever have one of those, I will make up excuses to go camping just so I can sleep on top of my car. How cool is that?

My dad collects and restores old MG's- mainly MGB's. But just recently, he has decided to restore a Magnette. (See picture to the left.) The Magnettes are pretty neat. They usually are two toned (dad's will be a rich red and ivory) and are a little better for longer trips vs the MG's with their leaking tops. I am excited to see my dad's when he gets it done... that is if he gets it done. There were only two Magnettes at the car show so maybe my dad's will take third place next year if he is done in time.

New to Blogging.

My sisters, Laura and Meg, both have blogs and I am always harassing them for blog updates so I decided to try it myself.

I am home from BYU Idaho right now for summer break. I am studying Earth Science Education and am looking at a year and a half left. I am getting excited for school to start back up and to head back to Rexburg.

So while I have been home, I have been playing with my Boise nieces, Carrie, Ali, and Morgan, and nephew, Mason, a lot. We've seen movies, floated the river, swam in the swimming pool, gone for bikes rides, and recently played in the river everyday. It has been lots of fun and I am getting into the swing of playing :)

Well, off to go swimming...