What happens in Vegas... doesn't really stay in Vegas [:

This past weekend was so perfect! I didn't want to come back to school at all! But thoughts of being back in the Valley with my amazing family make me somewhat more willing to endure three more weeks of college before CHRISTMAS.

So, for Thanksgiving this year it was off to Las Vegas, babyy. For sure I was a little bummed about not being able to go home, but I double love my Vegas cousins and I had a feeling that four days with them would be a party like no other. In hindsight I would have to say I was spot on. [:

Wednesday consisted mostly of driving, with lots of this out the window for five hours (which I can't argue with; it was gorgeous!)

When we got to Vegas, there was much hugging and rejoicing and then we got down to business. Thanksgiving food business that is! Fruit salad and the stuffing were our two main focuses for that night. We squeezed in a few rounds of Guitar Hero before bed as well, a game that I'll readily admit I absolutely stink at. [: The next morning Matt, Dani, Carson, and I went running so that we could properly stuff ourselves later without feeling too guilty. I felt the effects of the lower elevation and had a run like I hadn't in months! It was a nice change from Provo!

Then it was back to the kitchen where orange rolls, turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, and baked carrots were in full swing. It was chaotic, but everyone's in such a great mood on Thanksgiving! Bumping elbows and making messes just added to the family-ness. I wish I had gotten a picture of everything that was going on, but I didn't have a chance to get to my camera till after the amazing meal. But it was perfect. [: I loved sitting and laughing with people I love and enjoying delicious food and seeing proof of how BLESSED I am! I am more thankful than I can put into words for all that I have.

Okay I'm done writing so much. Picture time. The rest of the week was spent:

Making beautiful works of art

That's a full blown Bikini Bottom scene Ben's got goin on there ^^

Conquering Lone Mountain to work off some of the Thanksgiving poundage [:

Hitting the city for some fantastic Mediterranean food at Paymon's and then Chinatown for this:

A BoBa smoothie. Those black things are balls of tapioca and they reminded me of really soft gummy bears... It looked intimidating but hey I'm always up for something new and I did try it! I have to say I'm not a fan though [:

Enjoying the Thanksgiving leftovers... one food in particular for me! YUM.

Taking a ride in a Nissan GTR, which, if you were wondering, looks a little somethin like this:

It was about three times better than Space Mountain at Disneyland. And that's pretty darn good.

Went shooting! It was so much fun.

This shotgun was SO HEAVY. And long! I was having second thoughts about shooting it but I played a game of trap shooting with my cousins and whattaya know? I won! [: That'll probably never happen again!

And then of course we girls needed some pictures with our new toys [:

Boys can't handle us and our AK 47s.

I moonlight as a gangsta. As you can see I've got my killshot down. As you can't see in this picture, this gun had an insane kick and shooting this way will probably be the cause of carpal tunnel in my left wrist soon [: We had fun.

All too soon it was time to go back to Provo. ): I loved every second of cooking, coloring, pigging out, hiking, getting in touch with my Chinese side, gun-slinging, and family time! We hit the road, unaware that we were about to go from this

to this!

But I just might be okay with that [: THREE WEEKS TILL CHRISTMAS BREAK.

The current project: Gettin my 'tude on

This video is short and sweet and PERFECT.

Ever since my companion and I used President Monson's talk on gratitude for our visiting teaching message earlier this month, I've been trying my very hardest to apply the points in his talk to my life! The thing I felt I need to work on most was cutting down the thought and time I put into focusing on things I don't have and instead just being thankful for the things I do have! In other words, picking up an "attitude of gratitude." Spiffy phrase, that one. :] It isn't exactly difficult to do, but it does require constant conscious effort throughout the whole day, and I'm easily distracted haha.

It wasn't long until I found that when I look at my life from a grateful perspective, I can't help but be happy. It's automatic. And when I make the effort to thank my Heavenly Father for helping me on an exam or for the beautiful fall colors on the mountains or around campus, pretty soon I'm seeing things all over the place that I never took the time to be thankful for before. Things like good hair days! A teacher who extends the testing period for an exam. A smile from a (good looking :] ) stranger on campus when I'm having a rough day. My mentality changes from one of just thinking about how little time I have and how stressed I am to one where I see proof all over the place that God is on my side. Then I just keep finding more and more things to be thankful for and my happiness grows as I see how blessed I am. It's a domino effect.

Living in thanksgiving every day is a habit that I can't imagine living without before! I love the sweet spirit I have with me throughout the day and the way I feel like I'm looking at life in a whole new way. I'm finding that I can always find a reason to be thankful for anything that I see or experience during my day. Even the things I normally would treat as burdens can be turned into blessings just by using my attitude of gratitude. For example: I am thankful for exams because they mean that I'm attending a school that is challenging me and helping me get the best out of my classes! ...Kayy that's kinda pushing it, but you get the idea.

I love this quote from President Monson's talk:

"We can lift ourselves and others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues. Someone has said that “gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”

I have definitely seen proof of that last sentence. Seems to me that when you recognize Heavenly Father's hand in your life, the happiness that results just makes you want to do everything good! And I intend to keep it that way. Even after the turkey and stuffing leftovers are long gone. Oh! And I'm thankful for this blog that gives me the opportunity to share my thoughts with my family and friends back home.

My life is definitely a good one! :]

Can I just say...

I love running. Today and yesterday were nothing but stress, stress, and death and I didn't have time to run, which resulted in me feeling icky and tense and just in need of some form of exercise! Tonight after my astronomy lab ended at 10pm, my head was jammed full of all sorts of things and I just wanted to go to sleep. But my crazy cross-country shoulder angel thought otherwise. And I caved. Off I went for just a quick half-hour. And it was marvelous. Just what I needed to clear my head. I'm in a good mood. :]

So I'm kinda pining.

Exams are stressful. That's not news to anyone. And when I'm stressed I usually go into no-human-interaction mode. Withdraw and collect myself then plow through whatever it is that needs to be plowed through. Probably not the best, but it's just natural. And back at home I could always depend on my cat to tolerate my need to snuggle with something warm that didn't want to just talk a lot. I know that sounds totally anti-social but come on... we've all had those days. Right now I am totally and 100% pining for my kitty.

I am most definitely a cat person. Our personalities just kinda mesh. I love that cats are quiet, independent, and polite. They don't jump all over you or slobber, and they're neat & clean. I love their random mood swings from frisky and silly to completely lazy. I love how content they are to just sit on a windowsill for an hour and watch the world go by. They appreciate the good things in life (sometimes just as simple as curling up in the sun [: ) and nothing ruffles them. They are the best cuddlers on the planet (sorry boys) and above all, the purring is just the best sound in the world, no lie. I'd say people could learn a lot from cats. [: (Except the purring part... that'd be a little weird.)

So this is to my kitty, who's been my best buddy for the past eleven years of smooches and squeezes and hearing me call her things like muffincake, poopsie, fluffykins, chubbster, & pudgemeister. I miss her to bits! Though she's probably enjoying my absence. [:

Pure and utter joy on that face. [: Yep. We're besties.

Geological humor

I'm taking Geology 101 this semester. The material itself is enough to make it my favorite class. I'm in love with rocks and volcanoes and just Earth in general. Period. [: But on top of that, my teacher is simply hilarious. Every lecture is solid stand-up comedy. He is the best professor I've ever had. This guy can get 100+ students totally psyched about what most people think of as boring lumps of dirt.

Some of the things he says are just too good to let go by, so I write them down in the margins of my notes. Here are some of the best ones so far:

Explaining how nothing can really get in the way of lava:

  "Lava plus trees equals lava. Lava plus houses equals lava. Lava plus you equals lava. The basic point here, class, is that lava plus anything else equals lava, unless the 'anything else'... is Chuck Norris."

       “The Earth is hollow. How many of you knew that? The opening is somewhere around the North Pole. But no one’s found it yet. Why? The government is hiding it. It’s a government conspiracy. Because they all know that if we found the opening to hollow Earth, we’d all want to go live in the hollow Earth. Yeah. No sales tax down there...”

Talking about earthquakes:

  "There are quite a few things that make the earth shake - faults, dinosaurs, and: my mother-in-law."

While showing us a government-produced list of three things you should do if an earthquake occurs:

  “I love this number three - 'If in a moving vehicle, stop as soon as possible.' NO WAY. If I’m driving down I-15 and there’s a 7.0, I am puttin’ it to the floor! How many chances like that do you get? That’s the closest you’ll ever get to flying a TIE fighter in your life.”

Okay, tell me honestly, why would you NOT take a class from this guy? Look at him. He is the epitome of awesome! Geology is the epitome of awesome! [: Oh dang my life is good.

Halloweening!

First off, a recent discovery: Halloween gets so much hype in college. I don't know, maybe I should have expected it, but people were partying about a week before Halloween. For example, on Thursday night there was a dance party being driven in circles around the dorms on a huge flatbed truck. Creative, no? [:

Anyway, here are some of my Halloween adventures!

On Friday there were some pretty fantastic costumes on campus. For instance, I had an encounter with a hobo outside the science building.

I also got to see my Geology teacher as a prison inmate (complete with arm and neck tattoos) and my Astronomy teacher as Professor Dumbledore. Perfect [:

What good is Halloween without a few haunted house thrills? I went with some friends to one in Salt Lake that was voted best in the nation. It. Was. Terrifying. I will admit, I screamed/almost cried/covered my eyes/jumped out of my skin/did all the other things wimpy people do. And I did them a lot. In my defense: I was at the back of the group, so I was always the one who got picked on by all the friendly haunted house people with chain saws and bloody axes. Luckily I had a buddy to hold on to during the 35-minute nightmare, and I was really quite impressed when he came to school the next day with his arm fully functioning. I'm pretty sure it received no blood supply during the entire thing due to the death grip I maintained.

This was just walking around while we were waiting in line outside! Horrifying!

Everyone was alive afterwards [: so we made a Denny's trip to celebrate.

I, like a Boy Scout (and a broke college student), believe in being thrifty. Therefore, here is my completely free and somewhat lame Halloween costume. But I was a happy lioness just the same.

Rawr.

I had such a good time with some friends at a "Minute to Win It"-style Halloween party on Saturday. After some ridiculously funny challenges like "Face the Cookie," "Bobblehead," and "Elephant Walk," Team 2 was victorious. Huzzah. [: We finished off with pizza and a movie.

P.S. Some of these pictures are from Kirst- she got some good ones!

Bobble those heads, boys! [:

May I have your attention please...

One of the buttons fell off my peacoat today. So you know what I did?

I sewed that button. Right back on that coat.

All by myself.

Hey, it may not be that big of a deal to most people, but to a college student who is still getting the hang of not having mom around, this is truly a momentous occasion.

I'm quite proud.

It's not every day you turn 19!

This weekend was AWESOME.

In fact, it was so awesome that I didn't get a speck of homework done. And that never happens in my life! I'm usually holed up in my dorm during the weekend, reading textbooks and plowing through heaps of assignments. This weekend? Not so [:

It was party time.

Friday: I hung out with some girls from back in the good ol' MV. We had dinner at Panda Express, and then the adventures began. We spent the rest of the night doorbell ditching random rooms in Heritage, playing pingpong with our hands because it was too late to rent paddles, jumping in a massive pile of leaves, putting said pile of leaves on somebody's car, going to a park to play Hot Lava Monster with some random boys, and then at about 11:30pm when we thought it was time to call it a night, we got invited to go ice blocking. We had so much fun. We came up with all sorts of ways to slide down that hill! Trains, sliding backwards, doing 360's, and eventually we figured out how to get all three guys and five girls on the three ice blocks. We're just extreme like that. [:

Saturday: Mallory's parents were in Provo and they took Mal, Shydi, and I to dinner at an Italian restaurant called Tuscany. The restaurant was beautiful and the food was amazing. Dessert was even better. [: It was creme brulee for me, something I've never tried before. I have been converted. I'd say that stuff is nothing short of sensational, to be honest.

On the way home, Kirsten called me up and invited me to hang out! So I got dropped off at the restaurant where everyone was meeting up and soon we were all squeezed into a booth downing burgers and french fries. Then Kirsten let me borrow some of her clothes because I didn't have a bathing suit, and it was off to the Midway hot pots!

The drive to Midway was an adventure in itself. We were following some people who claimed they knew how to get there, but it soon became apparent that they were a tad bit mistaken. [: We drove all over the place and turned around a few dozen times, but eventually we found the hot springs. And the name doesn't lie- they were HOT. Almost too hot to stand in! And... a little smelly thanks to the sulphide. But we had a great time. It was the perfect way to spend my last hours of being 18!

Sunday: I had been receiving all sorts of boxes and envelopes in the mail in the days leading up to my birthday ( I love mail! ) AND all sorts of virtual mail! All throughout the day I got texts and phone calls from friends and family. It made me feel quite special [:

After church, I came home to some beautiful flowers outside my door from Danica! Which are now on display on our windowsill. David, one of my closest friends, had sent me a package and we Skyped while I opened it. He did good. Perfectly, actually! [: The box was stuffed with my favorite snacks, candy, some special memories, and all sorts of other wonderfulness. It made me so happy. He's the best!

Later in the evening Danica picked me up and took me to Nate's apartment, where Dani and her friends had made an amazing pasta dinner, with cinnamon rolls and ice cream for dessert. It was perfect! I felt so loved [: We played games and I opened the rest of my gifts from my family back home- jewelry, some money from my grandparents (they know what's up [: ) a gorgeous yellow peacoat, and a three-barrel hair crimper from my brother. Oh and my cousin Matt and his girlfriend chipped in a three-foot-tall poster of Taylor Lautner. Can't argue with that!

After the festivities, Matt dropped me off at my dorm and to my total surprise, Devan and Kirst were there waiting for me and I was dragged into the dorm lounge where half my ward sang Happy Birthday to me and I was presented with a (delicious) chocolate cupcake. No better way to end a birthday than with a best friend.

I am a very happy 19 year old.

[:

Excursion to Idaho

This past weekend was pretty fantastic. Kirsten and I spent Thursday through Sunday in Rexburg visiting Dani and Amber. It was so much fun to be back together again! BYU Idaho is beautiful. It was my first time on the campus and I found myself really enjoying the feeling there. I went to a few classes with Dani and Amber, which was totally fun. When classes were out of the way, we had Wii dance competitions, movie/slumber parties every night, and just plain had a good time together. Coming back to school was not a pleasing prospect. I'm hoping to go up there again sometime!

The current project: putting the ART in pARTy

HOMECOMING WEEK. It was such a blast! There were so many fun things going on every day. AND... we won the football game against San Diego State. Very satisfying victory! [:

I was asked to one of the dances by my friend Eli. Props to this boy for some pretty fine creativity. He asked me in the neatest way! It was about 10 p.m. one night and I was in my dorm studying, when I got a text from a number I didn't recognize. It said: "Hannah- Go to the library. Walk past the circulation desk and enter the elevator on the left. Go down to the first floor and follow the signs, then move shelf 63 to the left."

So I dragged Tasha out the door (she didn't really have a choice; I wanted company if I was going to obey directions from a stranger!) and we were off to the library. We followed the signs down to an enormous room where the bookcases run wall-to-wall and can be moved left and right electronically. On the pad of buttons on the 63rd shelf, I pressed the "Left" button and several different things happened at once. The enormous shelf started rolling to the left, I screamed and kinda ran away [: (don't judge me) and Tasha shouted "I KNEW IT!!!" When I came back and peeked around shelf 63, there was Eli and a great big sign stretched between the 63rd and 64th shelves! I was so surprised!

The dance was epic. It was held at Club 600 in downtown Provo. Everyone wore black and white and had free rein to a big table loaded with face paint, markers, spray paint and all sorts of other colored wonderfulness. When we were properly decorated, we went into the club and danced the night away under black lights and neon spotlights. It was pretty much the best night I've had in awhile [: