Weihnachten!

well, i hope all of you were able to enjoy Christmas to it's fullest! I had a great one.

I admit it was quite weird and sad not to be home and to only interact with my family over skype, yet, I was able to visit a lot of friends and family which was wonderful. I love you all and wish you a holly jolly Christmas and a happy new year!

The Jenses were kind enough to give me a home during the holidays and I enjoyed experiencing someone elses tradition and to go through a REAL American christmas, stockings, acting out the christmas story, cookies and all. Here's my obligatory christmas picture after Kathi did my make up. I think I always look older than I am. Sad day! 22 going on 30 :)

You can see Karen's Christmas City in the back. Everyone of her kids has a house where they reside with their families, Kristin and Jared in the Sweet Shop, Kari's taylor shop, Dave with his mansion and so on. Although I'm not one of their kids they let me live in their town too. I got the imported telephone booth. I absolutely heart it!

If you were wondering, Ben is the crib and Blaik is baby Jesus. Sean was our shepherd. David and Ally started out being sheep and I was a mother sheep with a baby but ended up with Ally's sheep as well. Becca and Brandon were super cute as Mary and Joseph. Kayci was the Angel and her mom represented the night sky. Rachi, Mel and Moe were fab wise (wo)men and Kathi gave an incredible rendition of the donkey. Michael was narrator and Karen audience as well as photographer.

On this note, I'd like to testify of the reason for the season. I'm so grateful to know of our Savior as the Redeemer of the world! Jesus Christ truly is the Son of God and I am so very thankful for His life, resurection and mission. I know He lives! If we come unto Him we choose the path of happiness and eternal life. We can become like Him and by so doing return to our Heavenly Father and be with Them forever, together with our family. That is worth everything to me. It gives me hope and joy. Hopefully everyone can share this joy throughout the next few days and throughout their lives.

Deck the halls

Finally the semester is over. I celebrated it by reading half of a book right until the middle of the night (after submitting my last school assignment 15 min. before midnight). It is so satisfying to just read what and when ever you want to! I also got to visit the Jensens and saw some extended family. To top of my weekend my friend Cris invited me to join some of his friends and him to go to the Jon Schmidt Christmas Concert at Kingsbury Hall. I liked it a lot! It was great. We also had the chance to check out the lights on Temple Square again. Here are some pictures for you (most of the good ones probably were taken by Cris!). I love Christmas lights and the ones on Temple Square are by far the best I've seen.

Look at the intricacy of those lights!

This is my friend Cris and I in the Joseph Smith Memorial building (it's gorgeous in there) I had to crop the picture because there was some weird glare. So pardon the close up!

From the Roof restaurant

Voice Recital

Alright Folks,

for all of you who have been waiting in anticipation or who had to endure me stressing out, thank you for your support, especially Erika, Luke and Jake! Thanks for practicing with me and giving me feedback. I know I've tried your patience! I've passed the 'in class voice recital' this morning. In hindsight it's ridiculous how big a deal I made out of it. I was incredibly nervous, mainly because I know I wasn't able to spend as much time preparing for it as I wanted to. Honestly I felt pretty bad after the whole thing because in the middle of the "Let me in" I actually spaced out and forgot the lyrics. I fudged my way through it by repeating parts of the first verse haha.. I felt totally flustered but somehow no one noticed, I guess. Here is the email I got from the Professor. Let me assure you he is way too nice about the way I did, but I still like to share it with you. I'm not gonna lie, it made me feel pretty good. I prayed that I would be able to do good despite of my lack of time in preparation. I know Heavenly Father helped me! I just thought it important to point that out. Here is a part of my review.

"You have an absolutely beautiful sound!  I love the color of your voice, and you sing with such emotion and honesty.  You produce beautiful, natural, almost entirely tension free sound.  Sehr GUT!  I hear nice easy spin and flexibility in your voice, throughout your entire range.  You seem to be using your breath well too, supporting from down low and making sure to sing from the breath support instead of the throat especially in your upper range.... "Good choice of songs.  They suit your voice well, and show off what your voice can do.  What a lovely instrument you have!  Keep up the good work.  Please consider audition the program, you can sing exactly what you did today.  I think you would be a big asset to the voice department!"

Random things I love

- Little notes of appreciation (who can help but feel loved and happy if someone took the time to sneak a little note to you?!? They always cheer me up!) Right along with that, getting flowers! It's the ultimate! I got both this week. So, I'm a happy camper!

- The search function on gmail. (besides the fact that it is incredibly practical, I feel great after searching for all facebook notif. and deleting them-pure bliss!)

- Kisses on the Cheek (yes, you may laugh, I'm sure you already did! Last week I fell asleep while doing homework, and low and behold I was awakened by a kiss on my cheek. LOVELY! Obviously it depends on who dishes them out!)

- Blog Comments (Hint, hint..haha no, but doesn't everybody? It makes you feel like your posts are of interest to others... Since blogging is my first step to journal-writing I will continue to do it even without comments. If I comment on your blog, it shows I enjoyed your post and care about you! If I don't I probably was simply to busy or haven't seen it yet!)

- Christmas (I love everything about it! Caroling, Cookies and Baking, food, lights, tradition, family time etc! Truly the most wonderful time of the year)

- De-cluttering (I've been raised to be frugal and very careful with my belongings which means I keep stuff. Although it hasn't become excessive hording, needless to say I don't own enough for it to go that far, I'd say I have way to much stuff I really don't need. So every now and then I go through it and rid myself of all excess worldly things. Going along with this point, I LOVE DI (deseret industries is a store operated by the lds church where all things that are still in good condition can get donated to and then they sell it for super cheap to the public. It creates jobs and a cheap way for people to get things they need. Besides it offers lot's of entertaining shopping trips. You never know what you may find! Options are limitless :)

- Socks (although I own maybe 5 pair, I've discovered how delightful it is to have warm feet. I had almost forgotten the feeling!)

- Doris Day Movies, Bill Cosby Show, Little House on the Prairie, Andy Griffin Show, Boy meets world and Monk (I have way too little time to thoroughly enjoy them!)

- Rowling up children (Parent's don't always appreciate it and I'm sure as a mother I will tone down my efforts, but is there something more delightful then to hear the wee little ones squeal in delight? I miss my little nieces and can't wait to meet my baby nephew. They are the best! I thoroughly enjoy taking friend's and family kids on outings. Having a kid do something with you makes most everything so much more exciting.)

- Gum and Werther's original (no need for further explanation, right?)

- Calvin and Hobbs (is there a better comic ever invented? )

- Basketball Games, Musicals and other performances

Anyway, these last two weeks have been fun and crazy busy. Thanksgiving was great! My camera is broken which means I have to get others to send pictures to me. Well, till next time and Aloha!