Photo Montage of my last little bit at Disney because I apparently suck at Blogging and am too lazy to type anything out.

New Years Resolution Follow up- PART I

Hey guys, Remember that time that I decided I was going to go an entire year with out sugar???? Well I thought I should let you know how that is going.

Overall, I must say, that I am EXTREMELY proud of myself. I will have to admit, I have fallin off the band wagon twice. Once- COMPLETELY on accident, and the second time- a little bit on purpose.

The first time was when me and my roommates and friends went to a fancier restraunt at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It was the 50's Prime time restraunt that I have mentioned in the blog post below. Now, before I go on, you need to know a little something about me. I loooove Vanilla Root Beer with all my heart. So naturally, when I saw that they offered Vanilla Rootbeer at this resteraunt, I ordered it- without even thinking about my "No sugar" year. I promise you, it was completely innocent. But, as innocent as it was, I still suffered the consequences. I downed two glasses and then started to shake and feel super sick. I was really bummed because I was having such a good time until I realized that the STUPID Root beer was PACKED full of sugar that I hadn't had in quite a while. I was glad I had that experience because it took a lot of my desire to even taste sugary things.

The second time- was a total lack of will. I'll admit it. I would rather tell the truth then lie to make myself feel better. In Epcot, there is this place called "Club Cool" where you can try all these tiny little cups of different soda's from around the world..... And I caved. I totally did. But the good news is that I only tried two small little shot glasses of these crazy soda's and then I was done. I didn't need any more. Literally the small cups are smaller then my thumb, But ya.... FAIL.

I have been pretty good about my sugar treats I have to say. I have learned to say no, which is a really good thing for me. I make sure that every sweet thing I try says the words "Sugar Free", "No sugar added", or some other form of these words. And yes, I realize that "No sugar added" means that there is still some sugar in there. But I figure, my "No sugar added chocolate muffin" from the mainstreet bakery is a lot better option for me then the "Rasberry swirl cheesecake" that I would have gobbled up in three seconds. Baby steps people! I am still learning and I figure I am doing a pretty good job.

So I guess it's about time

Dear loved ones,

I would like to apologize for my absence from this blog. Life has been CRAZY busy down here in Florida. I work about 6-8 hours a day which isn't too bad at all, but there are always fun parties to attend and grocery shopping to be done.

Here are some pictures from my life recently:

My "cute little" chef's costume that I wear to work EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Going on AEROSMITHS Rockin Rollercoaster in Universal Studios.

Roommates with matching ears. (We earned our ears)

Amberlie, Me, Erin

The castle at night. (with a giant crane)

Public transpiration BABY!

Amberlie, Jacob, Kayle, Erin, Isaac

My co-worker Kelsey with Pinnochio. We had a fun day at the parks.

BEST. STORM. TROOPER. EVER!

Epcot

LEGO WOODY

Me, Erin, Ariel, Isaac, Amberlie

We went to 50's Prime time Cafe at Hollywood Studios

Amberlie got in trouble for putting her elbows on the table

and had to put her nose on the wall while the whole room laughed.

SUCH A FUN RESTERAUNT

So, my question is, WHEN DO I START?

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Once Upon a time........

BAGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. I am living in Florida. Right NOW- I am in Florida. I can't believe how lucky I am! Let me update you a little bit:

So on Saturday night (The night before I was supposed to fly out) I noticed that I hadn't received any word from Delta about my flight the following day. I thought this was strange, but since my dad is the one who booked it, I didn't worry to much, thinking he has received my itinerary etc...

So I told my dad, and he told me that he hadn't received any thing either, then proceeded to call Delta Airlines to figure out what was happening. Because of the storm that was hitting Atlanta Georgia (Where I had a small layover), my flight had been rescheduled for Monday. Well- Monday wasn't going to work out because Monday was the day I was supposed to CHECK INto Disney. I really didn't want to get stranded in an airport half way across the country or be late to my Disney program. Luckily we didn't have too many problems finding a different and easier flight. Instead of leaving Sunday night, I had to leave Sunday morning at 6 in the morning. I found a flight from Oakland California to Salt Lake, Then from Salt Lake to Orlando. (BLESSING NUMBER ONE)

Now, the following is a very lengthy and stressful scary story. If you don't want to hear it, then skip to the bottom of this next paragraph after it says Blessing number two

My flights went rather smoothly. We had no major problems and arrived on time. Because I made it to Orlando on Sunday night, and wasn't allowed to check into Disney until Monday, my dad help me book a hotel room for the night. After I got my baggage I called my hotel to have them send a shuttle to come and get me and they told me exactly when and where to meet them. I found the shuttle stop easily and without any problems and started to wait patiently. A lot of shuttles and taxi's were zooming in and out of the parking spaces whisking people away to their various destinations. I waited about 15 minutes (The estimated wait time for the shuttle), When a black shuttle/van drove up to the curb next to me, and the driver got out, and asked a lady near me if she was going to the Hyatt. She told him no, and then he turned to me and asked (In broken english) if I was supposed to go to the Hyatt (Which I was). So I told him yes and he helped me get my suitcases into the back of his car. In his van there were also two business men who I assumed were also going to my hotel. We started driving, but then we passed the Hyatt. That confused me, but I didn't worry because I recognized the name of the city we were going to as the city that I would be living in. I just thought that maybe it was a good thing because my hotel was closer to where I would have to check into in the morning. But slowly (and after about a 30 minute ride) we drove up to the Hyatt Resort which was big, beautiful and probably 5 stars. Well I KNEW that this wasn't the right place, And I was so confused! The two buisnessmen in the van with me got out, payed the driver and went inside. When they payed him, suddenly it hit me that his guy was a PRIVATE SERVICE. I started panicking because I wasn't at the right place, and this guy had sort of tricked me into coming this far. I explained to him that I had misunderstood when he said he was taking people to the Hyatt. I asked him if he would take me to the Hyatt Hotel. He said that he would but it would cost me $45 on top of the $25 I supposedly owed him for the ride to the resort. I almost started crying. I was freaking out because I didn't have a ton of money and I had totally been tricked into coming with this guy! So I payed him the $25 and I called my dad and explained the situation. He told me to get my stuff out of the shuttle and to take it inside the resort and ask the people at the resort if THEIR shuttle could take me to the hotel. As I started taking my stuff inside the resort, the guy told me that If i gave him the address to the hotel, then he would look it up in his GPS. While he was looking the address up, I called my dad again and he had me give him this guys licence plate number. Once he realized that the hotel was RIGHT BY the airport, he said that since he was going back there anyway he would just drop me off. So I got back INTO his car, and started driving toward the hotel. I don't know if I was because he could tell that I was on the verge of tears, or because he over heard me giving my dad the licence plate number, but he told me that "since it was a misunderstanding he would give me my money back". After he have my money back, I felt a lot better, but I was still stressing out. When we arrived at the hotel, the manager came out and as we taking my suitcase out of the back of this guys van she started lecturing this guy about how he had misrepresented himself and how he tricked me into coming with him. I was glad she was there because if he hadn't given my money back already, I am sure she would have bullied him until he had. It was so comforting to finally have someone looking out for me. As we went inside she told me that my dad had called her and explained what happened and gave her his licence plate number. She was really helpful and nice. I was so shaken up!!! (The fact that I arrived to my hotel safely= Blessing number two)

On Monday morning I (safely, and SMOOTHLY) took the ACTUAL shuttle from the hotel back to the airport, only to ride the shuttle from the airport to my apartment complex.

Once we got to the Apartments we checked in. We got our Disney Security ID's. and all this information about the next few days, as well as getting a housing assignment and key. I was getting really excited because everyone was so friendly and excited to meet new people!!!! After all that boring stuff (That I won't go into detail for your sakes) I got on ANOTHER bus to go to my ACTUAL apartment. I ended up sitting right behind my roommate and across the aisle from my other two roommates. I was glad I met them on the bus because we got a chance to chat and learn a little bit about ourselves before we arrived at the apartment, and we all got to see the apartment at the same time. A few hours later, we had to go to "Casting" Which was when I found out EXACTLY where I would be working. Which is:

(Dun dudda DON:)

Magic Kingdom

Fantasy Land

Pinocchio's Village Haus

How many of YOU get to work somewhere as adorable and Magical as this???? None- Probably.

I am located at Q

s

Destination A is where I live.

Destination B is where the Magic Kingdom is.

I have about a 30-60 Bus ride every day for work. (Awesome....)

Here is a brief Summary of the Week:

Tuesday- Just a housing meeting. NBD.

Wednesday- TRADITIONS!!! So fun! We got to learn a little bit about the history of disney, we got our NAMETAGS!!!! and we even got to see Cinderella, Repunzel, Flynn Ryder, minnie and of coarse- the big CHEESE himself- MICKEY! TWICE! aaah. I am going to like this job. I am so excited. I have already made so many friends. My roommates are so fun! I will try to update more often, but I am tired of typing and being on the computer so.......

.... To be continued....

New Years = New Beginnings

Guess what? It's 2011. Can You believe it? As every year passes on, I was think it's amazing how QUICKLY time fly's by. I remember this time last year I was thinking to myself "Wow. 2010 Will be a big year for me. I will graduate from high school and go off to college!" It was so weird to me! And now it's done! Amazing huh? I have seen so much, met so many amazing people, and literally my life has changed in more ways then one. I have learned so much in school, and learned so much from life that it's sort of crazy to look back and see how my year went. And when I look back at all that I have done, I think to myself, WHAT WILL 2011 BE LIKE???? AHH!

I have always been bad at making New Years resolutions. Always. In fact, I am fairly certain that in my 18+ years of living, not ONCE have I made a serious commitment at the bigging of the year with serious intentions to follow through. Usually my resolutions look like this:

1. Oh... You know... Lose weight. Magically.

2. Work out. When I feel like it.

3. Stop Smoking. Oh... wait. Done! That was easy.

But this year will be different.

No. Seriously. Seriously guys. For real-zee's.

So here is my idea:

I have this cousin. She is sorta an inspiration to me or something. A couple of years ago this FOURTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL went an entire year without candy. To me this was amazing. When she told us at the beginning of the year we all though "Oh ya ya.... We will believe it when we see it". But she totally did it. She was so diligent that this last year (2010) Her sister, and my brother told themselves that THEY were going to do it. So now in the space of 2 years, we have 3 teenagers going without candy. (Who knew teenagers had ANY sort of self restraint. Right?) Super impressive. So as our 2010 year came to a close and my brother got excited to eat his first candy for a YEAR, I thought to myself

"If my brother can do it, ANYONE can do it".

But I also realized that giving up candy for a year would not be a big deal. I rarely eat candy as it is. Maybe once or twice a month. So it's wouldn't be a big deal- and when the year was over I wouldn't be all that impressed with myself.

So I said "Okay, what could I REASONABLY do that would seriously make myself proud?" and I remembered an old Young Womens President I had who went over a year without ANY sugar. "I could do that. It would be hard at first, but HOW COOL would that be???" Seriously cool.

And everything I hear about keeping New Years resolutions tell me that I need to

a) Write it down (BLOOOOOOG)

b) TELL people so I don't cheat myself and I am accountable to people.

Here is my game plan:

-Obviously giving up ALL sugar is a little impossible considering fruits, vegetables, bread.. and well.. everything has SOME sugar in it. I am not going to eat REFINED sugar.

- No cake, candy, ice cream, cookies etc... unless they are SUGAR FREE.

- Diet drinks (And I mostly mean Diet Coke) are totally allowed. I don't care what your input on this is. IT IS MY RESOLUTION SO I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT. If I was to say no soda on top of no sugar I would fail. I need something that is still a little sweet when I am craving sugar. Diet coke is a good option for me.

So ready or not, a Sugar free 2011 HERE I COME.

The Tabernacle

For those of you who don't know, There is a beautiful tabernacle in Provo, Utah that is probably one of the older buildings in all of Utah. I remember singing there once or twice with my children's choir when I was really young and being so impressed with the beautiful building.

Sadly, The other day the tabernacle was consumed with flames to the dismay of almost everyone.

Almost everything was burned to a crisp.

I like to believe that this is not a coincidence.

See the whole story here.

Thanks for the inspiration Quincy. :)

Do you believe in magic?

So my exciting news of the week (month? year?) Is that I got an internship at Walt Disney World in Florida! I will be moving there in Jan, and will be there in April. It works out really well because I would be off of school anyway. So instead of just going home and finding some "ho-hum" job at Target or something, I get to work at DISNEYWORLD! How jealous of me are you right now? I know... I know.

This picture below is of my roommate who told me about the program (on the left). She went two years ago and loved it. She is the was there 2 years ago and says that it was a lot of work, but it was a great experience.

I was really nervous that I wouldn't get in because I heard that they turn away about 1/2 of the applicants. Luckily I think I got an "in" because I am a BYU student. Disney and BYU have a very special relationship apparently.

For example:

-Other colleges students have to be there until May. But because I am a BYU student, my job is only until April, a week before my semester starts again.

- They have specific housing just for BYU students-Which is a big blessing to me. Hopefully I won't need to worry about roommates making bad choices.

- They really like BYU students because we already follow the "Disney look" (No crazy colored hair, no more than one earring, no visible tattoos etc..), and we aren't about to call in "sick" on Monday from our weekend hangover.

My official area of employment is "Quick Service Food and Beverage".

This could be anything from
1) Selling turkey legs, Pineapple Sticks, Churro's etc in the outside vendors.

2)Selling Ice cream and candy on main street or something

3) Working at the "fast food" resteraunts at Disney world

I am really excited for the opportunity. I am praying my friend Kelsey also gets in so that I will have a buddy to move across the country with me!

11 things I like about going to a Church School:

1. Devotional Tuesdays. (Everything shuts down)

2. The use of scripture references and stories in every day classes, which make the classes surprisingly more interesting.

3. Not needing to worry that you roommate is doing drugs, or having sex in your apartment.

4. Nooooooo MUSTACHES! Thank goodness....

5. Sammy's.

6. Nice people everywhere. Opening doors, not trying to rip every person off, baking and serving. It's insane.

7. EVERYTHING (well... almost) is within walking distance.

8. Hardly anyone is from Utah. Don't get me wrong, obviously I am not Anti- Utah. HELLOOOOO I grew up in Utah. But is so fun to have every single roommate from a different state/ country. (Canada, don't get overly excited)

9. Free ensign magazines in every apartment/ dorm.

10. Good, Clean, fun. Scuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum.

11. Indian Summer. (At least so far.... crossing my fingers for sunday.)

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Grandpa's Testimony

I sure love this man. I am so glad I came to his house to live.

College Life

Hey Everyone!!! It's been a while since I have done an update on life, and since I have officially entered into a new chapter of my life, I figure its about time.

First of all:

Meet my roommates:

Cambria, and Courtney

Katie, Janelle, and Courtney

Yes! We have two Courtney's at this house! Luckily, so far it hasn't been confusing at all. Hopefully it stays that way.

Now for the GRAND TOUR:

First of all, I am not doing the normal "freshman in the dorm" thing. The dorms filled up before I had even decided that I wanted to go to BYU-I, so I am living off campus, about 1 1/2 blocks away at Brookside Village. The best part about Brookside is that there are 6 girl in each apartment, but each girl has their own room!!! (Which is UNHEARD of at college!)

soo... This is my desk space. My whiteboard calendar and my cork board with pictures of friends a family. (I promise it doesn't always look this cluttered!)

My closet

My cute little house. (the on the left)

Our dining room

our family room

Kitchen

My bed, with my high school t-shirt quilt made by grandma!

Learning to Live

Some times I worry I am not taking advantage of the beautiful life that has been given to me.

Hear I am, born with a perfect body, with no deformities or health problems- so how could I ever complain about anything that is "going wrong" in my life.

Seriously, Am I so spoiled that I dare EVER complain?

This morning, the first thing that happened was I got a text message from a cousin letting me know that a cousin my age had died.

Carol Joy has always been a really big hero to me. For most of her life Carol Joy has been a wheel chair. Despite Carol Joy's hardships in life, she always tried her hardest to come to family reunion's and cousin retreats with a great attitude. She was always so positive and brave.

One of the best things I learned this last year has been to "Be here now". This is something I have to teach and re-teach myself every single day.

I sometimes take advantage of live.

I forget that each day is a gift.

I need to be more grateful.

It's a brand new day. The sun is shining- its a brand new day!