The camera is FINALLY fixed!!!

Well, after what feels like 5 years, my camera is FINALLY fixed! Since this is the third time that the screen has broken, I decided maybe it WAS me and I needed to invest in a new camera case. So I bought what I hope will be a very padded and protective case so that hopefully this won't happen again..... I'll tell you what, I am sure glad I invested in the "Accident Protection Program" when I bought my camera! But, since I got my camera back, I decided to snap a few pictures today. I have missed my camera! As usual, my only subjects were myself and Gedde. In a few weeks, you will start seeing a few more faces on my blog since I will be back at BYU. But for now, you will have to settle for this cute little face and myself :D

Me and my happy little guy, Gedde.

He stole my orange and went to work on it with his two little half-teeth. After awhile he got to the actual orange! Too cute :D

Thanksgiving in Utah

So, this year for Thanksgiving I flew to Utah to be with my family. It was my first Thanksgiving at home since I got home from my mission! I had such a blast! Unfortunately, my camera is still in the shop, so I didn't take that many pictures. Turns out remembering to ask Mom to borrow her camera is a little bit too much for my brain to remember at the moment... :D But I did take a few! Some of the highlights of my Thanksgiving Weekend- BYU vs. U of U game!!! Ali, Mike, Melanie, and I went to the game. Now, you have to understand that this is kind of a big deal in my family. My brother and sister-in-law are huge U fans, and Ali and I of course are huge BYU fans. Needless to say, there was a lot of trash talking going on while we were on the way to the game. We all know what happened- of course BYU WON!!! All I can say is that the first few minutes in the car once we met up after the game were VERY silent. Didn't want to start up any fights...... Other highlights- got my hair done! Shopping, Thanksgiving Dinner with the fam, PUMPKIN PIE, hanging out with Shar and her roommates, going to the movies, and just being with friends and family! I also went to a going-away party for some dear friends, Nick and Wenche. I served with Nick in Norway, and I also served in his cute wife's ward in Fredrikstad, Norway. They have been living here in the U.S. since they got married in May, and they just moved back to Norway. We are all sad to see them go! Especially since they are having a baby! It's a boy, I am calling it.... So, all in all, it was a great weekend! I have a lot to be thankful for :D

Marte, me, and Wenche- Love my Norwegian friends!!!

Me and my dear friend, Wenche! MISS YOU GUYS!!!

Me, Brett, Wenche, Becca, and Parker- I served in Norway with Brett and Parker :D

My for evig ledsager and one of my best friends, Shar!!!

Story behind this pic- So after a crazy game, BYU won, and all the fans stormed the field. Ali and I jumped the 7 ft. tall fence down to field to find Shar, who is in the Athletic Training Program at BYU and works with the football team. Ali ended up finding her and we got to take a picture together before heading home! So fun!!!

Me and my cute sister, freezing at the BYU game!

It was a great game, needless to say!

Me and Ali right as the game was starting, it wasn't quite so cold in the beginning!!!

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

You're going to have to click on the link to view the video.... I can't figure out how to just make it part of my blog! Sorry!

I saw this on one of my friend's blogs..... I LOVE IT! I love Thanksgiving for so many reasons. Mostly I love it because it gives me time to step back and reflect on all of the things that I am thankful for. So, here are a few from my list in no particular order: First and foremost, my family. I love my family. They have enriched my life beyond belief and I most definitely wouldn't be who I am today without them. Every single person in my family brings something unique to the table, and it makes us who we are. I am so grateful that no matter what happens, I will always have my family by my side to love and support me. I am thankful for my friends. Over the last couple of years, I have come to realize how blessed I really am to have such good friends. There have been so many times in my life when I just needed a good friend, and I have always had one. I have friends all over the world!!! How cool is that? Even though I am away from many of my dear friends, and I miss them terribly, I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends. Another huge thing that I am thankful for is the Gospel. As most of you know, I spent a 18 months in Norway sharing what I know to be true. My testimony has grown so much over the last few years. My faith has been tested a lot, and yet, through it all, I still know that the Gospel is true and that we have a Savior who loves us and stands waiting for us to let him in. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to serve a mission in Norway. Norway and its' people have brought a joy into my life that I didn't know was possible. I feel so lucky to have associated and loved the people of Norway. I miss it more than anyone knows..... I am grateful for all the little things that make my days good. Whether it is waking up on time, a smile from Gedde, or clean sheets on the bed, there are so many things to be grateful for. I am grateful for my health, that I can do the things that I want to do and that I am able to work and play! I am grateful for music!!! I think I would die without music..... There are so many things that I am grateful for, I could go on and on and on. Basically, what it boils down to, is that I am grateful to be alive, to have the family and friends that I do, and to have the knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us all take time this season to remember the blessings we have in our own lives, and in turn bless the lives of others!

Happy Birthday, Fifey!!!

Dear Fife,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I just want you to know how much I love you...... Here are some of the reasons: I love that we started our friendship by only calling each other by our last names. And I love that it stuck! You will always be Fife and I will always be Fox. Or Fifey and Foxy. Whatever we might feel like. :D I love that you understand me. All of my little quirks, you are cool with.I am just comfortable with you- I can be myself and I don't have to pretend anything with you! I love the fact that we can come up with a song for anything- like we will just be talking about something, and one of us will think of a song and we will sing it together. I love that you tell me the truth. I can ask you if I am being crazy or dumb about something and you will tell me the truth, no matter what. I love that you make me laugh. I don't think that I have ever had a conversation with you where I didn't laugh. I love that we could still be best friends even when I didn't like fish. But you are right, the fact that I can handle fish now has perfected our friendship. I love the fact that you wrote me almost every week while I was on my mission. You will never know how much your love and support helped me throughout my mission. I love that even though you got married while I was gone, you did everything in your power to make me feel like I was there, including sending me a CD with hundreds of pics! I love that you did the same thing when you shot Mike and Mel's wedding. You are so thoughtful, and I love that about you! I love that I can tell you anything and you don't judge, you just help me figure it all out. I love that our friendship has lasted..... We have been through so many ups and downs, and through it all, you have always been there for me. Here is a good example- Remember when I had ankle surgery and you sat through the whole thing with my family for hours? You were there when they put the I.V. in until I woke up, and I remember thinking to myself, "Wow. I am so lucky to have such a good best friend!" It's not very often that you are blessed with a friendship like ours. I just want you to know how much I love and appreciate our friendship! I am one lucky girl-I couldn't ask for a better best friend. So here's to our friendship- I can't wait until we are old ladies and sitting on the front porch thinking of songs that go along with whatever we may be talking about! You are the best and I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Love,

Fox

PS- Sorry about the crappy pictures, I stole them from your facebook because all of my old pictures are on my desktop at home in Utah. But you know that my intentions were good:D LOVE YOU!

Playing Mommy

Ok, it has been a couple of weeks since my last post. I have been a busy girl! Probably the biggest thing that I have done in the last two weeks is becoming a mom to 7 kids! That's right people, 7 kids...... The family I nanny for AND the family I live with went out of town, so we all became one big, happy, blended family with me at the head! Scary thought, I know.... All in all, the week went pretty well with only a few bumps. I got a really good feel of what it is like to have to tote a million kids to soccer games and coordinate getting everyone everywhere that they needed to be. And talk about getting 7 kids ready for church..... Wow, that was interesting. Luckily the older ones basically got themselves ready. But try keeping that many kids quiet during Sacrament Meeting- maybe sitting on the front row wasn't genius on my part!It really wasn't a bad week, we actually had a lot of fun at times! But I will tell you this- I don't think I am going to have 7 kids! Don't get me wrong, the kids were all pretty well-behaved, but wow, 7 kids is a lot of work! My respect for moms' who can handle so many kids is through the roof! But here is a little peek at all the kids I had--

Grace, age 16

Connor, age 13 and Ethan, age 15

Elsa, age 11 (Vigo, age 3, went with his parents)

Caelen, age 9

Sam, age 7

Sofie, age 4

So that's my story for now, folks! I will try to be a little bit better at posting now that I don't have 7 kids to take care of!

Last Year at This Time......

So..... This weekend, it being Halloween and all, I was thinking about what I was doing exactly a year ago. I was on my mission in Trondheim, Norway! They had a great group of Young Single Adults' there, and so we all had a Halloween Party! I was on crutches at that point, so my companion, Søster Silvennoinen, and I got to join in on the festivities. We didn't really get dressed up, so some of the YSA's pulled me into the bathroom and got me dressed for Halloween! It was one of the best Halloweens' I have ever had! So, here are a couple pics from the party..... And to all the Trondheim people: Savner dere, håper alt er bra, og jeg tenker på dere veldig ofte! GLAD I DERE!!!!!

Julie, me, Søster Silvennoinen, Victoria

Julie, my baby, and I!

The whole Trondheim gang at our Halloween Party!!! Miss them!

The frustration never ends.....

Lately, I have been on a little bit of an organic kick. PCC is my new best friend. For those of you who don't know, PCC stands for Pacific Consumer Co-op a.k.a. it is an Organic grocery store. Soooo I decided that if I was really going to do this, I should by some of those canvas reusable grocery bags. So I did. But when I got home, I realized that they smelled HORRIBLE! Seriously, they smelled really bad, and they made my car smell the same way. So, what's a girl to do? Of course, I decided to wash them. All week I have been meaning to wash them, but I ended up using them quite a bit this week and just never got around to it. So, tonight I finally thought to wash them! I stuck them in the washer and proceeded to watch Gray's Anatomy. After it was over, I opened the washer to find that I had totally forgotten to take my Conference talk out of one of the bags! Consequently, there was little bits of shredded, wet paper all over the washer and my bags!!! PAIN IN THE BUTT! But, I am always one to find the humor in things. So I said to myself, I should take a picture of this mess and blog about it. Grand idea, right? I whipped out my camera and guess what? The screen on my camera is broken AGAIN! For the THIRD time! For those of you who don't know, I broke my camera screen before Ali and I left for Europe and had to buy a new camera, and then the screen broke again on our last day in Sweden. Luckily I bought the accident protection program extended warranty, but I just got it back from the repair shop 3 weeks ago! Luckily the camera still works, so I was able to get a picture of my drying PCC bags even though I couldn't see what I was taking a picture of.... Like I said, the frustration never ends...... Gotta love it :D