Bri....Me....Jen....

No words can explain what happens when we get together!

Jen and I

This picture describes our apartment.

Bri and Jen just being weird....

Janelle not really knowing what is going on...

and me...

well yeah it's just me!

Wow...it has been a while since I have updated on here. Let's just say that is what happens when you're in college and are taking 18 credits. (I don't recommend ever taking 18 credits in 1 semester!) But I'm happy to say that I survived. I finished up my semester yesterday afternoon and I'm so glad to be done! And now comes another semester. But before I go to the next semester let's rewind a bit and get caught up.

So...all of my classes were pretty amazing. I love actually being in my major and actually enjoyoing my classes. Learning about kids and marriage and families is so interesting to me. It still amazes me how everything is connected together and if one thing in out of whack...everything else tends to be out of whack as well.

Roommates were amazing this semester and I'm sad to see two of them moving out but Jen will still be here and we have two new girls that are awesome moving in. Janelle and Bri were so amazing and they are just two wonderful girls. They are so fun and all four of us were able to just relax and have so much fun together.

I didn't really do much vacationing this semester...just went down to Utah once. Actually just a week ago. I went down to see one of my best friends Jordan. It was the first time that we saw eachother in over 2 years as he got off his mission about a month ago. It was great to see him. We hung out with his family and went four-wheeling and just got caught up over the past 2 years.

And sad....but now it's time for another semester. I cannot believe that I am in my second semester of my junior year of college. I guess it's like the saying...Time flies when you're having fun...but I must seriously be having a blast because it's like I blink and it's gone!

Sorry for not being better at updating. Hope all is well!

What Life's About

Today was not my ideal amazing day. It was colder than cold and the world just seemed to be frustrating me. I was at the point of tears just thinking about school and just wanting to go home when I found out that I wouldn't be able to be home for as long as I thought...it was just one of those cold, annoying, Rexburg kind of days. So I just came home from school and tried to do homework...worked a bit and then came home again to find myself working on more homework...my daily routine it seems.

For one of my classes I am doing an assignment where I have to find 3 research articles about a specific topic that have to do with Child Development. (For those of you that don't know...I'm a Child Development major) The topic that I chose to research is Pediatrics Oncology. I chose this because my dream job is to be a Child Life Specialist. I would work with children that have long-term or terminal illnesses. Such as kids with cancer...which is what I really want to do. Anyway...So I was looking through articles about kids with cancer and I came across this one titled "Quality of Life as Conveyed by Pediatric Patients with Cancer". It was about how researchers are finally going straight to the children in order to find out what they think about their quality of life when they are receiving treatment for terminal illnesses. The researches go and interview these children and ask them 3 questions. The questions were:

1. What makes a good day for you?

2. What makes a bad day for you?

3. Are there some things you like to do that you cannot do now?

One of the children interviewed was a 10-year-old girl. Keep that in mind 10-years old!!! At the conclusion of her interview she said, "You did not ask all of the right questions." She was asked to explain her statement and she said, "You should have asked 'How has being sick been for you?'" So the man interviewing her asked her that question and she responded,

"I would tell you that I wonder why I am the one to get leukemia but that I tell myself it is better that I get it than my little sister. She could not do this."

The fact that this little girl...10 years old...said this made me realize again why I'm going to school. Her statement made me look at my life and see what I'm doing to help someone else. To make sure that I'm living my life everyday so that I am not taking for granted what God has blessed me with.

Please...if anything...just keep this scenerio in your head the next time you want to complain about it being too cold, or that life just isn't fair. Let this little girl's response inspire you. Do something that you wouldn't normally do today. Be a little nicer, a little kinder, a little bit more like the person you have always dreamed of being. Do that today, and do that tomorrow, and soon enough you will be that!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Well this past weekend I celebrated my 21st birthday! It was so good to be with friends and roommates and just enjoy my weeekend! Friday night was my night with Chris! She came up and took me to dinner and then surprised me with friends at the Millhollow Yogurt and then spent the night for a fun girl's night! Then Saturday my roommates took me out to Craigo's for what is called a "Cookie Monster". Basically it's heaven on earth! It's a BIG cookie baked only part of the way topped with ice cream, whipped cream, caramel syrup and chocolate syrup. Yes like I said....heaven on earth!!! After dessert we came back to the apartment and well to make a long story short my roommates so kindly locked me in my bathroom for like 10 minutes while they hid my presents. It was quite a hilarious night! And then Sunday...my actual birthday...my roommate Janelle made us delicious White Bean Chilli...it was AMAZING!!! Then we played some intense Uno and just had a great time! I still can't believe that I'm 21. It seems like just yesterday I was running around in the front yard back home being chased by the boys that lived next door to me! Oh the memories! And oh the memories that will come! Thanks to everyone that shared my birthday with me and for all the birthday wishes! Here's to another year in the life of Mandi!

Yep....Chris and I are strange...but we like it! Bri and I at Craigo's

Janelle and Jen...

That's Jen way too excited for the Cookie Monster!

All gone....

Roommates!

I'm glad they can entertain themselves with my camera!

Finally, they let me out of the bathroom!

I came home Sunday to find my room full of PINK balloons...

I have some of the BEST FRIENDS!!!!

Thanks everyone for such a great day!

....snow...

So I'm back in Rexburg and I finally realized what it is about the snow that I dislike so much. I'm not talking about the fact that in Rexburg, snow is colder, wetter, and more irritating than anything else in the world! But what I'm talking about is the fact that whenever I see snow it usually means that I am not with my family. I realized this on Thursday when I was on the shuttle from Salt Lake City to Rexburg. Anytime that I see snow, besides at my sister's house, I am usually leaving my family. Snow really is not all that bad. It's more the emotion that is tied to the snow that drives me absolutely crazy. I see the snow and all I want is to be with my family in our warm house with the wood fire place burning!

But I guess this is just another semester where I will learn to deal with my car being covered with a foot of snow and the completely irritating fact that if I want to go anywhere I have to scrape that foot of snow off my car! NOT my idea of fun. Hence the reason I try to walk as much as possible in the winters. Yes...the underlying of that last sentence is that I'm too lazy to scrape snow off my car so instead I put on 2 pairs of pants, 3 shirts, a beanie, gloves, scarf, and of course my parka in order to go to school. I guess it's good that I'm walking and saving money on gas but truly what has this thing called snow done to me? Pretty much, it's done everything to drive me crazy!

As every past winter semester though, I'm going to try and appreciate the snow a little more everyday. (Yeah we'll see how long that lasts!) Enjoy the sunshine wherever you are and PLEASE...enjoy it some for me!

Me & My Beautiful Sister!

Yep, you guessed it...it's Christmas Picture Time!!!!

This is me and my sister's favorite time of year...

NOT!!!!

But at least we got through them...yet another year down...ssssssoooooooooo many more to go!

We're sorry we can't help it!!!!

We're gorgeous!

Everything Happens for a Reason

My favorite quote has always been:

Everything happens for a reason.

I just finished up another few months in Idaho and let me tell you, it was probably the hardest one yet. I always think, okay this one will be easier, but it never really ends up that way. It seems that the more confident I think I am the more I realize I face more challenges to help me grow and help shape me into who I am becoming. These past 4 months I've had to deal with challenges a lot of people probably think aren't really "challenges". But to me they've been some of the biggest and I've learned so much.

I really am amazed at how things really do happen for a reason. There is a reason that I had to face challenges including roommates, work, and everything else this semester. There is a reason that there were nights that I wanted nothing more than to get on a plane and go home to my family. There is a reason I had to forego things that I thought were important just to learn the lesson that they weren't important.

This is a lesson that I will continually be learning. Learning to accept the fact that everything happens for a reason. Everything, including, the good times and the bad, the happy and the sad, the expected and the unexpected! It is all part of the plan and I'm so grateful that there is a plan. That there is a reason for everything that we go through in this life. I'm so grateful for that knowledge and I am blessed because of it.

Everything happens for a reason and for a reason it all works out in the end!!!