Snow in St. Geezy?

Yes... that is snow. Saturday we woke up to it snowing. It got worse as the day went on and we were literally snowed in. The roads were so sketch and so we just stayed in our apartment. We got a little stir crazy, but it was fine we got through it! :) The next day though we went out to brave the snow and when I turned my car on and then turned on my windshield wipers, I think I broke them. So the picture at the end is all that was left of my windshield wipers!! Anyways interesting that we are from Salt Lake and I am pretty sure I almost froze :) maybe that because our heater broke too. We woke up one morning and it was 63 in our apartment! Yep 63!
Okay I am done about the snow. It was pretty freaking crazy though and I have decided that I want to live somewhere where it does not snow!

Finals Week. End of my first semester of college.

Finals week were this week and the end of my first semester at Dixie State University. It went by so fast and I have had such a blast down here. I have meant such amazing people, our roommates are such great people and we have such a fun time with them. We are so blessed to have been put with such great roommates. I have learned a lot about myself and my testimony of the Gospel has grown so much while being down here. I have had to relay on him a lot while being down here. When you move away from home you are not surrounded by your parents testimony any more, you have to build yours and can I just say that is exactly happened and is still happening.
Any ways I am not very good with words, but this semester has been wonderful, and can I just say I am so glad that Breanna and I stayed!

Thanksgiving

Oh my gosh! It has been so long since we have put anything on this blog. My excuse is because I am still trying to figure out how to post things. Bre's Mac is hard to understand! :) 

This was the Saturday before we went home for Thanksgiving. We were at Down East Basics and we loved these hats! So we took a pictures!!

THANKSGIVING!!

Breanna, Brenton, and I went to the gym before we started the Thanksgiving festivities. 

We are missing one brother! But all the siblings together (without Blake). These are my favorite people. So good to be with my family!

Yep! The whole family!!

DESSERT! We were a little bored... what do we do? TAKE PICTURES! :)

Okay! This was one of the most memorable nights. My first Black Friday shopping. Brittany was pregnant, and Breanna and I was wanting to know what this whole Black Friday was about. Can I just tell you guys how funny it was to experience this. 

HUNGER GAMES!! ENOUGH SAID!

So Thanksgiving was a success!! It was so good to see family and be home after like a month and half, which can I add was the longest stretch being away from home. So all in all it was a good Thanksgiving. 

Bonfire!

We finally had a bonfire! I (Bethany) have been wanting to do one but it just seemed like no wanted to have one, but finally our friend Adam put one on and we went and it was bunches of fun!!

Reflection

The other day in my Small Group Communication class, one of my group members asked if everything was alright with me. Russell asked if I was contemplating my existence. My teacher walked by at that moment and said it was a good idea to contemplate such a question. I gave Russell a quizzical look and voiced, "Why would I contemplate that?" My teacher then went into a discussion of how I would never have contemplated my existence because I've grown up LDS and have been told my whole life what the meaning of my existence was. Needless to say, a religious discussion ensued. My teacher is not anti-LDS but he did voice that he didn't like the fact that books of scripture come from the mouth of men, etc etc. I was looking at him as he talked, wanting to be a missionary and trying to discern from the Holy Ghost what I should say. Nothing came to mind besides asking him how much he knew about the LDS church and if he'd ever listened to the missionaries. Upon further listening, I decided against it because a thought that my dad had often pointed out came to mind; unless people are truly interested in learning about our church, they will not be humble enough to receive the  message. My teacher was definitely not open to hearing the word. The point of this story is this, through this experience, I was led to test my testimony. Have I been indoctrinated my whole life? Have I been brainwashed and told what to believe, what to feel? Should I live somewhere outside of Utah in order to gain a more clear perspective?
I prayed that evening and subsequent evenings after that (as I've been taught to do) and my testimony was reaffirmed through thoughts that came to mind. Specifically, President Monson's image came to mind and a talk given by Elder Holland entered as well. His talk on the divinity and truth of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith by extension came to mind. The power and emotion he spoke with caused me to completely stop taking notes that General Conference and just stare in awe as he delivered his heart-felt talk. I remember the power he spoke with entering my heart and striking me with force. These men volunteer their time and talents to progress this work. Beyond this, I cannot forsake the multiple experiences I have had on my own that has brought me closer to my Savior. Brainwashed. I guess I'll never know. Indoctrinated? If I have, it's been to my benefit. In short, my faith was not shaken by the words my teacher spoke. No sir, I do not question my existence merely because I have been told my whole life why I am here, I do not question it because I have seen the hand of the Lord in my life multiple times and I know He has my life in His hands.

As sisters in Zion :)

A bonfire...not so successful!

A MAZE of fun!

 2 weeks ago, Bethany and I decided to get a group together to go to a local corn maze.

 Bethany and I with our roommate Ryanne and her cousin, Karen. 

Saturday after the corn maze. Halloween dance at the Institute. Beth=pumpkin. Bre=COWGIRL! Super fun night! 

Three Cheers for Family

 Wedding dinner at the Cantina. All siblings minus Brenton were at the same table. 

 Brenton decided to grace us with his presence and photo bomb the picture. 

 What would the dinner be without a signature look from Bre and Beth? :)

 Cheese it Brenton, cheese it. 

 All siblings...in order...before Leatherby's 

 At Leatherby's

 Bethany and I babysat nephews and cousins while everyone was in the Draper Temple.

Horrah! Our brother is finally married and although it was sad to realize that he couldn't go to Brother Leppink's Sunday School class with us for a long while, Bethany and I were so happy to celebrate this milestone with him. Thank goodness for the blessings of the Temple which allows families to be sealed for Time and all Eternity. Bethany and I do not know what we would do without the many laughs that Brenton so effortlessly inspires. The Lord has it all figured out, and this weekend was a joyous reminder to us that the Temple is our destination.

Swig and Salt Lake

Our 3rd ride home to Salt Lake. Fall Break finally came and we were off to Salt Lake for Brenton's wedding. Our good friend Jesse surprised us with a Dirty Dr. Pepper from Swig for the ride home. I guess that's what we get for letting him use Bethany's communication book :) It was Kailie's first time home since school started and she slept for half of it. We had to turn around 20 minutes in for Breanna to grab the pair of cowboy boots Ryanne, our roommate was going to let her use. We made it home safe and had a blast!

RICE CRISPIES

So...Bethany and I have fallen in love with Rice Crispies while we've been down here. Especially when they soggify. No joke, every time we go grocery shopping, we need more Rice Crispies. We always had to buy the small boxes though. We were at Lin's on a Monday night this time, walking down the cereal aisle. Bethany found this big bag of our FAVORITE CEREAL. She became really excited and exclaimed, "This makes me so happy!" I turned around and after seeing the object of her happiness, laughed and decided we needed to take a picture. Thank you Lin's, for making all of our wildest dreams come true....
P.S. don't mind the red cheeks, Beth and I had just finished walking/running around the DSU track.

Dixie Shirt Friday!

Dixie Shirt Friday!

 FHE at Sand Hollow Resort. Bethany's only reason for going....golf carts! Breanna seriously didn't know why I was so excited. To which I respond, "who gets to ride golf carts for FHE!?" So much fun! Period the end.

 Views from the drive...obviously the one with Bre and I is the best ;)

We ran out of gas coming home from FHE. We were rescued by Andrew the Great! How did we reward him? ICE CREAM from Iceberg!!

 Tailgate party at the Alumni house. Got there and stayed for approximately 10.5 minutes. Ice cream was not quality and since we didn't want our faces painted or to slide down the inflatable slide, we all decided to go back home. Tailgate party...check!

Rodeo, same night as tailgate party. Breanna borrowed Ryanne's cowboy boots to wear and she was in heaven. She was so happy she finally got to strut around in a pair. Adam had his pair on as well, so Bethany was the only one without in the bunch. She didn't mind. Afterwards, we went to Denny's for some midnight hot chocolate loaded with whipped cream. Best part, the hot chocolate was free.

So yes, we are all just posing in front of a car with a beautiful sky in the background but there is an adventure attached. Caving!!! Also known as spelunking. This was Labor Day Weekend and it was a Saturday. Bethany and I had wanted to go home but needed to stay for classes on Friday. Saturday we woke up to an empty apartment and homesickness started to set in again. Bethany and I debated back and forth for a solid hour or two before deciding we didn't care how foolish or illogical the decision may be, we were going home! We decided to eat lunch so we wouldn't be hungry and then we were bouncin. I get a call from a kid named Matt, who Bethany and I had just met a couple days before, a friend of our roommates, Mandy and Ryanne. He invited us to go caving. Now we were really in a pickle. Which to choose, which to choose. Needless to say...we chose the spelunking adventure. We are both super glad we did because it was a blast and something we had both never done before. We made good friends and got our exercise in for the day. Success! We didn't go home but no matter. We made an unforgettable memory!!

Our first roommate dinner. Ranch chicken and red potatoes. We contributed the potatoes, Ryanne cooked the chicken. One word: delicious!

This was our first hike in St. George! Red Mountain! Before and after... can you tell how hard it was? Breanna thought she knew where she was going but she did not and she led us in a wrong direction that lead us having to slide down on our bums! Thats alright it was an adventure! It was really fun but super hard!