Everything You've Missed...

How am I ringing in the New Year? 

Reading a good book, in my sweats, while roasting in front of a fireplace. :) 

Tomorrow I will head back down to school, but tonight I'm doing nothing and loving it. And I thought, hey, I should blog before life gets crazy again. I know I've neglected this blog this last semester, so I guess I should briefly fill you in on some fun things I did....

 Girls Night at Olive Garden

 Built a Giant Fort in Our Living Room

 Made Fruit Pizzas for FHE. Yeah, I think I'm a pretty cool mom :)

Free Bagels Every Friday Morning!!!

Waffle Night with friends

Dressed up as cavewomen for Halloween :)

 BYU Basketball Games

Ugly Sweater Day on campus

 Later used our Ugly Sweaters for our family Chirstmas Card

Applebees with my family

 Dinner with some of Holly's relatives

 SNOWMOBILING!!

I really should take more pictures this next semester... I don't think a single one of these photos is from my camera haha yep i just checked. none. I will be better :)

and now I'm feeling lazy again... back to doing nothing!

Fortune Cookies

are scary good.

Seriously every fortune cookie I ever get is perfect for me and what's going on in my life right then.

Right at the beginning of this break I went to Panda Express with a good friend and I was super excited to open up my fortune cookie and read:

"Allow yourself time. You will reach success." 


I've had a crazy semester and I have needed this Christmas break to clear my head, make some decisions, and just relax a bit. So it was very nice to hear from my fortune cookie that everything will work out if I just give myself some time.

I also happened to get another fortune cookie the other night when some of our neighbors dropped by a box of them for Christmas. Mine said:

"You income will increase." 

Sweet.
(and yes i know that should be YOUR, but that's how the cookie said it!)

And boy did I need to hear this as I had just spent the night ordering new books for the semester, posting my books to be sold online, praying for my pell grant to kick in as tuition is due, and crunching numbers from my bank account to see how I will be able to pay for rent as soon as I'm back at school.

I guess sometimes I just need a little piece of paper to tell me to stop worrying :)

"we're ADULTS!!"

haha yeah. mostly.

Last weekend Holly and I decided to make a quick trip down to Cedar City to see her sister who was driving across the country and had a stop in Cedar on Friday night. So Holly and I went to class and to work, came home, packed up our stuff and headed out!

We listened to our favorite music, sang songs, talked about life, and came to the conclusion that we are ADULTS. And surprisingly, that doesn't scare me at all :)

The drive was gorgeous.

We went out to dinner.

We swam in the hotel pool.

We watched Toy Story 3 while eating Ben and Jerry's ice Cream :)

And then we went to bed at 10:30. Like any other adult :) haha

I had to post this picture just because it makes me laugh. Any poor/hungry college student could understand that you don't just throw away un-eaten Ben and Jerrys ice cream even if you don't have a freezer. And if keeping that ice cream cold in bags full of ice is what it takes to preserve their goodness, so be it :)

The next morning we ate the free hotel breakfast and then went back to our room after her sister left. We spent the morning hanging out in our pajamas laying on the giant hotel beds, and cuddling with soft pillows as we talked... and we had a GOOD talk. The kind where you laugh over the past, tell secrets, dream about the future, and make plans. All sorts of amazing plans. :)

We left the hotel around noon and headed back to Provo. Driving in a car with my best friend Holly, random ipod music, and yogurt pretzels. What more could you need?

So... Do you ever listen to a song and it instantly brings memories back to you? "Why Georgia" by John Mayer will forever remind me of this trip. Just because :)

More than I realize sometimes, Holly and I have done a lot of growing up in these last 3 years of college. And I love when I can look back on the past and see the beauty in it- how my experiences have shaped me into who I am. Our talk on Saturday reminded me that I have a lot to look forward to.

I'm not scared to be an Adult. I'm excited :)

I'm a little obsessed.

This summer I went to 4 concerts :) how lucky am I? And as a result, I am a little obsessed...

Owl City during Finals Week 

He is We in a scary part of Salt Lake

Justin Bieber with my little sisters

John Mayer and Owl City in August- two for the price of one :)

Growing up I never understood how it would be any fun to pay more money to see someone in person when you could just buy their CD and listen to it whenever you wanted! That's my stingy side showing :) But experiencing concerts for myself has truly opened my eyes. There is just something incredible about being in a huge crowd waiting to hear a voice that is on your ipod, a song that brings back great memories, and lyrics that have made you smile, cry and do everything in between. 

I'm obsessed. And no, I do not enjoy paying so much money to go see some of my favorite singers in person, but sometimes I just can't help myself. 

It's been about two months since my last concert... And I'm thinking I'm overdue for another one :)

I could explode

with happiness :) life is so good. It's been so long since I've posted because I'm back down at BYU for my junior year! SO crazy. New apartment. New roommates. New ward. New friends. New classes. Good stuff.
I am SO busy, and I couldn't be happier. I love having things to do, people to meet, places to go. I'll be honest, summer got very lonely in Kaysville, so I'm loving everything I'm doing here at school :)

It would take too long to give you details about everything that I've done here so far, so pictures will have to do :)

I missed my roommate.

John Mayer/Owl City concert

Me and my little sisters!!

look at that smile :)

Super early in the morning before hiking Timpanogos. 

Made a trip to IKEA to get cute things for our place 

The first picture of all 4 of us together. The HACK Pack

Ice blocking!

Making Sunday dinner!

Things I already LOVE about this year:

• Having my little sister down at school with me
• How lucky I am to have such great roommates
• Our Sunday dinners
• The crazy things my roommates get me saying :)
• Temple Trips on Thursday mornings
• How confident I feel- I'm so much more outgoing this year
• Sharing a room with Holly
• Our ward
• Having friends that randomly stop by just because they want to see us
• My job at the Math Lab- I meet so many people and I have so much fun with the girls I work with
• Being able to visit home more often- yay for having a car!
• My classes- I love having all of my classes focused on what I'm doing with my future- no more GE's!
• Studying late at the library again- yes I have missed this
• My calling as FHE mom :)
• I'm just plain happy- ALL the time :)

24 years ago

my parents were married in the Los Angeles, California temple. And since that time they have raised 5 very happy and blessed kids.

Happy and blessed because we have them as our parents and our best friends.

There are some nights when we are all sitting around joking with each other, sharing stories from our day, laughing together and simply being a family- and it's those times I realize how much love my parents have created in our home.

I am so thankful for the choices they made in their lives that brought them together and made us a family :)

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

2:06:44

of running my heart out to finish my first half marathon :)

Here's a little glimpse of what was going through my head all that time:

"Keep going karina, you're not tired. Man this canyon is pretty!! Don't I have any more upbeat songs? You do not have to pee karina. Is that girl passing me again? ooh that's a blister... I love you john mayer, it's just hard to listen to you when i'm trying to run fast. yay! a water station!! Well, I can't feel my feet anymore. oh yeah karina, you are doing this and you feel great!! "we gonna light it up, like it's dynamite" Ok that was the longest mile of my life. Thank you downhill!! I cannot believe where I am right now."

I don't know what worked better, listening to my self-encouragement or simply ignoring myself to push through it :)

After Brynn and I finished the half-marathon (btw Brynn finished under 2 hours!! isn't she amazing??) we went back and sprinted with my mom as she came in which I loved.

I did way better than I could have ever hoped for and that makes me SO happy :) this whole week I've been feeling so strong and just plain confident after running a half marathon. I've proven to myself again that I can do hard things :)

It was one awesome experience which I will be sure to do again :)