MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I absolutely love Christmas! Everyone is in such a happy mood on this day!! I also love our family's Christmas traditions... On Christmas Eve we all watch the Luke 2 video and then open up our Christmas pjs. Then all of the kids sleep downstairs on the family room floor. When we are all up and looking cute (haha) we line up on the stairs so we can break through wrapping paper as we run to see our Christmas presents :) First we open up our Secret Santa gifts from our siblings and then take turns opening the rest of our gifts. And every Christmas morning we have Sticky Buns for breakfast! mmm... We noticed this year how most of our gifts were clothes, and we couldn't be happier! haha there was always more games and toys when we were littler :) I also wanted to try and recreate this picture from when I was fifteen and sydney was 2 :)

I looked for a long time, but I couldn't find the reindeer antlers, and sydney wasn't really cooperating haha but it was fun to recreate this picture :) I'm now 19 and my sydney is 6 :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! :)

FINALS!!!

I'm pretty sure I'm one of the few people on campus who is excited for finals this semester... ok maybe the only one :) Don't get me wrong, I also love when finals are over and I can relax and spend time with my family, but finals can be exciting for me. I love knowing that I've worked hard all semester to do well in a class, and it's even better when I get the grade I'm hoping for! Currently I have two of my finals complete and soon I'm heading to the testing center to take a third. I might have all of my tests done by wednesday! :) what can I say, I just love working hard and trying my best, even when it is exhausting or doesn't always pay off.. I'm trying my hardest and that's all I can do! Wish me luck!

love always, karina

life is good

I have to say that yesterday was one of the best days I've had in a long time!! ever since I've been back from thanksgiving break I've been in the best mood! I can't explain how happy I am!! I was not excited to leave my house after such an awesome thanksgiving break, but being back at school, going to classes, working, going on crazy adventures with my roommates, and everything else that comes with college is so awesome for me! I'm so happy where I am in my life and everyday I'm thankful for all that I have.

Ok so back to yesterday being... well I would call it perfect :) the day started normally with classes and I was just in the best mood! I get so much out of my classes and everything I learn continues to amaze me.

After classes and working on homework I worked for both of my jobs. I'm so grateful for my jobs, yes some days they are hectic and stressful and sometimes it feels unfair for me to have to work so hard to earn money while I'm doing school too, but I feel so accomplished everyday that I work my hardest. So working yesterday definitely added to my good mood :)

So after that, my roommate Kelsey and I decided to go for a run outside!! I absolutely love running outside! Especially with Kelsey because she pushes me to run faster and farther :)

Following running we were very hungry, so Kelsey and I made and ate dinner together :) we had pigs in a blanket and tater tots :) haha so good! Then we had fun listening to our ipods and making a pumpkin torte together! Random I know, but it sure smells wonderful!!

Keep in mind that this was some point after ten :) ok so Kelsey and I have been wanting to go hiking for awhile now before the weather gets really bad, so we made plans with some friends to go hiking to the hot springs in spanish fork! after getting ready and making plans we finally left to go hiking around midnight :) the hike was two miles long to get to the hot springs and the trail was often covered in snow or ice which made walking difficult, yet hilarious! :) haha we had many spills and laughs! The moon was full so it was pretty light outside and everything looked gorgeous covered in snow! Such pretty trees and mountains and the trail followed along side a river :) I can't even describe how amazing it was!

The hot springs felt wonderful after hiking in 13 degree weather! We stayed in them for awhile just sharing stories and enjoying the water :) then we all changed into some warm clothes and headed back! Kelsey and I were laughing so hard because our hair that we got wet in the hot springs had turned into icicles when we got out of the water!!

We hiked back to our cars and realized that it was now five in the morning so we decided to get breakfast at Dennys :) The food was so good after being so cold and hiking for so long!! I really wish I had pictures of this adventure to show you, maybe I will get some from my roommate...

I finally went to bed at 7 in the morning after showering so I wouldn't smell like sulfur anymore! haha so today I'm going off of two hours of sleep and being extremely sore, but it was so worth it :)

Yesterday really was perfect :) I was able to make some great memories while still keeping up on school and work. I'm so blessed to be able to enjoy life while the stress of finals is approaching, and yesterday was just a reminder of how crazy and wonderful life can be :)

Life is good.

things i miss when i'm down at school

don't get me wrong, i absolutely love being down at school, but i am so ready for thanksgiving break!! so here is my list of stuff i am looking forward to/miss when i'm not at home:

• sleeping on our couches with landon
• watching ace of cakes
• eating amazing food that my mom makes and i don't have to pay for
• driving a car
• reading in our front room (sometimes the only "quiet" place in the house)
• wrestling with my sisters/having hair pulling fights with kelsey
• joking around with my dad
• working on random craft projects
• walking my dog sydney... man i miss her
• helping make dinner or dessert with my mom
• talking about boys/life with my sisters really late at night
• laughing so hard and acting like such a dork that my siblings tell me how embarassing i am
• having free time to do nothing
• going running with brynn
• family home evening, family scripture study, and family prayer (i never realized how much i loved these when i lived at home... but not having it at school makes it that much more special to me)
• shopping with my sisters
• playing mario kart with landon
• watching random videos my dad loves
• sharing clothes with my sisters (i definately love this because my sisters dress so cute!!)
• dancing and singing to the radio with my sisters
• having my mom scratch my head... so relaxing...
• family meals where we sit and talk and laugh
• getting hugs from my family

i'm so glad i will be home next week and i hope i can do some of these things on my list! i'm in a very miss my family mood, but making this list just makes me smile. i'm so blessed to have the relationships i do with my family and i'm so thankful to have them in my life. i love you guys so much!

love always, karina

halloween

better late than never! :) halloween this year was so much fun! although we did more the night before than we actually did on Halloween :) my roommates and i had a few parties we wanted to go to on the 30th... haha i sound so popular right? we went to our stake dance and then to a party at our apartment complex. my roommate holly and i wanted to dress up together this year so we ended up having holly dress up as a cowgirl (which is perfect because her boyfriend scott is on a mission in texas) :) and i went as an indian! we found stuff for holly's costume at the d.i. and at walmart, and luckily i found some really cheap fabric to make my costume! i probably paid about ten dollars for my whole costume :) yay for cheapness!! i threw it all together one night with my Aunt Kerri's sewing machine (thank you so much kerri for helping me out!! i wouldn't have my costume without you!!) and it was so sweet of them to let me come over and hang out with their adorable family while i sewed :)

this halloween was one of the funnest (if that's a word) i've had!! we got a group of friends together and spent the night at the two different parties. we had a blast dancing and singing songs the whole night.

roommates!! :) kelsey on the left went as a superhero with world peace as her power :) holly in the middle as a cowgirl, and me on the right as an indian!! :) dressing up was so fun!

close-up of the cowgirl and indian :) and yes those are our dirty dishes in the sink haha :)

the purple teletubbie is our good friend jud. so many people loved his costume that night :) you can also see my full outfit in this picture :)

i mentioned the second party that we went to at our apartment complex... well it wasn't as fun as we thought it would be. we felt totally out of place because we were dressed modestly. but i must say that i am totally impressed with the guy friends that we have. many of them were uncomfortable being in that environment, so we all left and insteaded watched hocus pocus :) a very good alternative!!

halloween morning i got to go see my little sister Brynn run a half marathon! this is her second one and she is totally my hero!! my family and i had so much fun cheering her on :) it was also so nice to be with my family and they even took me out to lunch!

that night my roommates and i were all halloweened out, but we went to a small party and hung out with some friends that night. can't wait for next year's halloween!

love always, karina

this school year so far...

has been quite an adventure! so much has changed from freshman year this new school year that i can't believe it. i will try to fill you in on everything that has happened... starting out this year, my roommates Dani, Holly, Kelsey, and i lived in an apartment complex south of campus for the first couple of weeks. things were a little sketchy with management and we were released from our contracts... which is a good thing, but we had to find a new place to live in one day... extremely difficult in provo! but everything worked out :) we moved into a very nice apartment complex that day and a few days later i got a job that allows me to make enough money for rent! my roommates and i truly recognized how blessed we were in all of this and we are so thankful! the three of us work for our apartment complex- my job is to clean the workout room and the clubhouse- for 20 hours a month. i also got a job at the Spencer W. Kimball tower on campus working custodial in the afternoons, so i check bathrooms, change lights, take out recycling, that kind of stuff :)

so i wanted to post a few pictures from this year so you can actually see what i'm up to :)

this is me and my roommates holly and kelsey. we had a roommate photoshoot one night and this was definately my favorite picure of all that we took!

while my roommates and i were out grocery shopping one day, we saw Mario and Luigi on the side of the road! we had to stop and get a picture with them :)

Conference weekend my older sister alyssa and i got to go home to watch the sessions with our family :) this picture is right before my little brother landon and i took my dog sydney for a walk in the rain :)

my little sister brynn and her friend jaden came down for a weekend to experience "mini college" these girls crack me up and were so fun to have around! they had fun walking around campus, getting game day shirts, and hanging out, shopping, eating pizza and watching movies with me and my roommates :)

this picture is of holly and i when we went shopping at forever 21 with brynn and jaden :) we love trying on their hats :)

one weekend holly and i hiked to the "Y" :) we love this hike and we got up to the top right before sunset! holly and i sat on the Y, listened to some of our favorite songs on our ipods, and watched the sun go down... so gorgeous!!

yay for hiking!!

sitting on the Y and eating wheat thins :)

our shoes!!

amazing sunset!! i told you it was gorgeous!

the other weekend, holly and i went to the opera for an assignment in her humanities class, so we decided to get all dressed up and go out to eat before the opera! zupas is one of our favorite places to go out to! it's pretty cheap and you get chocolate strawberries with your meal!! :) mmm...

it was so fun to get all cute for a night out :)

we loved wearing heels with our jeans that night too :)

we love making faces :) can't be serious all the time!!

well that's a brief overview of what's been going on so far! i've already had a pretty fun school year and i can't wait for all of the other adventures i will have!! i will keep you updated!

love always, karina

here we go!

my first blog post! woo hoo!

quick thank you to my roommate holly :) she made my background and helped me got all of this blog stuff started! you are amazing!!

so i've always wanted to blog about my life, and this year in school seems like a good time to do it! lately i've been so busy with school and work and having somewhat of a social life, so this blog is perfect for me to be able to share some of my adventures, pictures, or random things i want to talk about. :) i promise i will add more very soon!

love always, karina