Christmas in Chicago

For Christmas I got to go home, and Ryan came with me!!

It was alot of fun and it was Ryan's first time ever going to Chicago so we one day we went to visit some of the sites.

We went up to the top of the sears tower

We went out onto the sky deck and looked out onto the city

After we went to the sears tower we went to Giordanos to have some Chicago style pizza.

Then we went and took a stroll down the streets before we departed.

Merry Christmas!!!

Best Fiance Ever

Not only does he cook me lunch and dinner every day, he takes me on cute little dates. Even though he beat me in mini-golf, he's still the best!!!

Then after we played skee-ball and he won more tickets than me and got a higher score.




I still think he's great!

It's True!

We are engaged!!!





And couldn't be happier!!!

Oh school

This week of school has honsetly been the craziest of the whole semester.

Classes have been pretty manageable, considering i'm taking 19 credits, but this week was a complete overload!

I've already finished two projects and two tests since Monday. Only two more tests to go and I finally get a break and I get to head to Boise with this boy for Thanksgiving....!

Dear Family...

I miss you guys.


I miss being home...


....I hope you guys miss me too.




Dear mom,


I sent you a picture of all the snow Rexburg got today, but I'm guessing you may not know how to use that feature on your phone yet, so here is the picture in case you are curious





Please don't stop thinking about me

Another weekend, another wedding

This weekend Ryan and I went up to Idaho Falls for one of his best friends, Jake, and one of my new good friends, Alissa's wedding.

It was really nice and they are a really fun couple, so everything about the day was awesome!


The boys almost dropped her

At the reception with the beautiful couple

They wanted me to catch the bouquet so bad that Jake was in front of Alissa coaching her where to throw it.

But I didn't...

Overall it was an amazing day!

Autumn

I love the fall!

Sometimes I wonder

how i got so lucky

Conference Weekend

Last weekend Ryan and I headed to Salt Lake with our good friends Peggy and Jed for Conference
We stayed in Ogden so on Saturday we took the train up to Salt Lake



We walked around the city for a while before the boys went to watch the priesthood session

Then we walked around the temple


Then on Sunday we went up to Salt Lake again and got to go into the conference center for the Sunday afternoon session.
This was in Ogden after we got back.

Our Service Project

...and one of our favorite experiences from the trip

It started with a very long, windy bus trip up this very narrow mountain. At this point we had taken some long, windy trips before, but this was very scary because when you looked out the window you couldn't even see the edge of the road because we were that close! Every time we turned a corner it felt like we were flying off the edge of the mountain.

We watched out the window as we kept going further and further up this mountain, we realized that the higher we got the more traditional the people living there looked. They were Maya people, dressed in very traditional Maya clothing, living in little straw huts.


After many twists and turns up this mountain we finally arrived at our destination, which was a school in the middle of this town. We brought with us backpacks, sweaters, and dental supplies to pass out to the kids.

The kids were beyond excited to see so many white Americans at their school. It was weird to think that to them we looked different; everything about us was different, even the way we dressed was different and at the same time we thought everything about them was different.

We passed out all the stuff we brought for them

And then we got to walk around and meet some of the little kids.
They were soo adorably cute!




And we made some friends




And they loved getting their pictures taken!

This was a really cool and humbling experience for all of us!

San Cristobal

San Cristobal was BEauTiful!
It wasn't too hot and it got nice and cool at night.
The streets were paved with bricks and the buildings were nice.


We started the day being immersed into the culture.


We watched this woman weave
And this woman showed us how she made tortillas by hand


They were delicious
Then we drove further into the town and walked around the streets



The people here were Maya
Then we had some free time, so a couple of us grabbed a taxi and went up to San Juan Chamula. This was the craziest of all the churches we visited. It was the only one where we could not bring our cameras into. (Some tourists have been put in jail for taking pictures inside)

Inside this church there were no pews. Instead they lay pine needles all over the floor and people will go in and bring their form of sacrifices to offer up. These sacrifices were very different than what you might be thinking though.
When we walked in we saw people kneeling on the ground, they would light candles and put them all around themselves, and then they would pull out sacrifices such as eggs, coca-cola, or even a dead chicken. They would begin to chant something in Mayan very loudly and give their offering. The reason they would bring coca-cola, or other soda bottles, is because they believe that burping is good, because it expels evil spirits from your body and sends them to heaven. When we walked in we saw one lady who had brought a dead chicken and when she took it out of her purse she snapped its neck and that was how she sent that sacrifice up.
This was a very interesting experience and it was really cool to see it all in person.