Time Consumer.....

My piano has been occupying a ton of my free time ever since the semester has started. I've been giving new callings in my ward. That's right callings, plural, as in more than one! I've been called to be the Compassionate Service Leader, the Ward Pianist, and the Relief Society Pianist.

This is probably the scariest calling I've had. I have hidden the fact that I could play the piano from everyone when I was in Second Ward for almost four years. I get so nervous when I am up in front of people. When the boundaries changed, one of the counselors is related to my Uncle Greg's wife, Michelle, and he knows about our musical family. :) So because of that my secret was forced out of me, and they've been asking my to play off and on since I first moved in until they finally called me this semester after the old pianist moved out of the ward.

This calling has made me practice the piano so much more, which is good because I probably wouldn't have played as much if I didn't have to. I absolutely love to play and I miss it when I don't make the time to do it more often. They know what I need in my life, I guess.

New Toy.....

For my birthday I got a new toy. A Canon Rebel, and I absolutely love it! Ever since I took Digital Imaging in high school, I've loved taking pictures. Especially from different angles and perspectives than most people look at. We used Canon Rebels throughout all my classes and I've wanted one of my own ever since.

I'm nowhere near as talented as Kara is and am rusty on the few skills I did have when I was in school. Hopefully now that I have a nice camera for my own, I'll be able to practice and get better. I'm so happy my mom and dad got me one of these, it's the best!

Christmas 2011.....

Christmas has come and gone, and it was great this year. The week before Christmas we got presents wrapped, finished shopping, trips to Billings, making deliveries, lunch at the Drug Store, and enjoying the holiday season together with the family.

The morning of Christmas Eve we got the house cleaned and got everything ready for Kara and her family to come up for Family Home Evening. We started out the night with dinner, with lots of yummy food. After we finished eating and got the dishes done, we played some Christmas games. The crowd favorite was Christmas Twister. After all the games were done, we were entertained with music from Katelyn, Emilee, Dani, and me.

Kara volunteered to teach the lesson this year, and it was great. She taught us about letting Christ into our lives and making him a priority. There was such a great feeling present when she was teaching and helped us focus on the true meaning of Christmas. After we finished the lesson, it was time for my favorite part of the season. We took Christmas surprises around and it was so much fun. The kids had a blast, and we all loved doing it!

To finish off the night, we opened our new pajamas and slippers. After trying them on, it was time for the annual photo shoot.

Christmas morning got a late start, my parents woke up before we did and so we didn't finish opening presents and getting cleaned up until about 11:00. We decided to make breakfast after we got everything put away. We decided to go to church with Kara and her family at 3:00 because Katelyn and Jacob were singing during Sacrament meeting. After church, we relaxed for awhile before heading out to Kara's house so the kids could show us what they got for Christmas. We ended the night by playing a game, Fact or Crap, which was a great end to the day.

I'm so grateful for my family, especially my parents, for everything they do for me. I'm so blessed to have such amazing people in my life who love me as much as they do, and do everything they do to make sure that I have good memories when I think back on this holiday season.

AX7.....

After a stressful semester, there's nothing better to blow off steam then listening to some loud rock music. The Saturday after finals Danielle, Amanda, and I headed up to Billings to watch the Avenged Sevenfold (AX7) concert. It was crazy, loud, and so exciting. I had a blast, despite getting a drink thrown in my hair. Four different bands played so needless to say, it was a long concert. We headed to Billings around noon, hung out at the mall, and then got something to eat before heading to the Metra. We got out to the Metra 3:00 even though the doors didn't open until 5:30 since we figured the line would be super long, and we were right. If we would have come just 15 minutes later, we would have been standing in about the parking lot.

The concert started at 6:30, and it opened with Black Veil Brides. They performed six of their songs, and they were really good. I'd only heard one song by them because it was on the Transformers soundtrack. They put on a great show and I love to listen to their music now.

The next act was Asking Alexandria. This band did a lot of screaming and I didn't know how much I'd like it, but it was awesome. They performed eight songs, and once again they've converted me to a fan and I listen to them all the time now.

Hollywood Undead was the reason I wanted to go to the concert. I absolutely love their music and can't get enough. They are so good live, and they definitely got the crowd into it. They performed eleven songs and wished they would have done even more.

Finally, the main act arrived: Avenged Sevenfold. I was super excited to watch them too. Wow, their show was amazing!! There was fire, crowd surfing, and tons of craziness. They put on a great show, performed eleven songs, and my favorite part is when they brought someone out from the crowd and had them play one of the instruments during the song. After the show, they came to the crowd to toss out their drumsticks and guitar picks.

I had such a good time and am so happy Dani asked me to go with her! It was a perfect first rock concert and totally worth not getting home until 1:00 in the morning!!

Thanksgiving 2011.....

I'm so behind on blogging, and I figured I'd better catch up before it got any worse. With the end of the semester, and then my busy Christmas break I didn't take the time to write it all down.

Thanksgiving was  quiet event. Kara and her family had Jason's family out to their house, so it was just Danielle, Emilee, my Mom, Dad, and me this year.

I started out the day watching the Macy's Day Parade, helped get ready for the big meal, and then of course had a photo shoot. We ate around 2:00 and it was delicious! Kara and the whole gang came up for pie and to watch some football.

It was a great and quiet day, and I'm so lucky there's a holiday that helps me remember how blessed I am in my life. There's so much I have to be grateful for in my life. It's not even possible to list all the of blessings I have in my life.