145 days until I get married!

I've been waiting for pictures to post, but I keep forgetting to take pictures, so I figured I was due for an update. I had a good Christmas break at home. It was wonderful seeing and spending time with my family and taking a break from school, although Jason and I were apart, so that was kind of hard. We got lots of planning done for the wedding.

I just finished my second week back at school. I'm taking 15.5 credits (a load I can comfortably handle and still have fun). Jason and I have 5 classes together! All of my classes are music classes except for Doctrine and Covenants. That will change after this semester. I recently planned out the rest of my college existence to make sure I graduate in 2010 (unlike most music majors). I'm taking 17.5 credits both semesters next year (we'll see how that goes), 16.5 Fall semester of my senior year, and 13 credits my last semester. Meanwhile, Jason is seriously considering switching majors to Accounting. He's losing interest in the amount of schooling it will take to get a Doctorate in Music, and all the work and time away from our family that would not even result in very much money. To get a masters in Accounting he'd only be in school until 2012, and he thinks he would enjoy it more and make a lot more money. He's taking a pre-requisite class for the Accounting major this semester to see if he likes it, and so far he really does. I'm excited for him! I think it's funny that my dad did accounting as well.

Anyways, it has been soooo cold and snowy here! Jason and I are becoming more and more convinced that we want to live somewhere warmer, because we're so sick of all the cold! But we did take advantage of the weather last weekend when we went sledding! We went to Rock Canyon Park and used his toboggan. It was so much fun! Last night I dragged him to the concert of Fredricka von Stade (an amazing opera singer from the Metropolitan Opera). She was charming and entertaining. It was quite the experience. I'm pretty sure Jason enjoyed it too.

Today I'm going wedding dress shopping with my roommates!! My mom is coming up in February to go dress shopping and buy a dress, so I'm doing the preliminary shopping. Then this afternoon, Jason and I are going to buy wedding bands that we found yesterday when we took my ring to get sized (finally). So, there are lots of exciting things going on in life, and I'm enjoying every minute of it!

When Jason and Katie went on a second trip to Salt Lake...

We first went to a restaurant in Sandy called the Mayan. It was really cool. It reminded me of the Rainforest Cafe except Aztec style. They had big trees, cliffs, waterfalls, a pool of water, cool lighting, and such. Then we headed up to Temple Square to look at the lights.

After we looked at all of the lights, we sat down on a bench in front of the temple and had another one of our Question/Answer games. One of his questions was if I would marry him! Of course I said yes!

So now we are officially engaged!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

On December 1st, the snow was falling and the cookies were baking...

What do you do when you don't have any classes or responsibilities?

You spend it with your favorite person!!

Jason came over yesterday to spend the day with me. We played games, watched movies, made quesadillas, and went ice skating. We had so much fun, and I even took pictures!

Grandpa Black's Funeral

My Grandpa Black passed away last Thursday from Mantle Cell Lymphoma Cancer. He had a bout with Leukemia a number of years ago and he had Cirrhosis of the Liver a few years ago, but he was really a healthy man. This came quite suddenly. He started feeling really bad and weak 3 or 4 weeks ago. They took lots of tests and finally decided it was a more vicious cancer in the blood. It has been a really hard month for the family. His funeral was held on Monday so all of the family flew in for the weekend. Despite the sad circumstances, it was wonderful spending time with the family. The funeral was amazing. The Spirit was so strong. His 3 sons gave a wonderful tribute to him and the Stake President (who was also his home teacher) and his Bishop gave some very comforting words.

My sisters, mom, Jason and I all helped Grandma get pictures ready and organized for the viewings and funeral.

On Saturday night, we all got together and watched a video Uncle Steve put together. He had interviewed my grandparents for their 50th wedding anniversary, but didn't finish it on time to show at their anniversary party. It was wonderful to hear him tell stories about his life and bear his testimony. We had a big dinner at Steve and Amy's Sunday afternoon.

All of the grandchildren sang "I Love to See the Temple" at the funeral.

Jason was so sweet. He stayed by my side as much as his schedule allowed.

Grandpa was buried right next to my brother, Kelly.


It was so wonderful seeing my sisters and parents again. I loved spending time with them.

Tag!

I've been tagged, so I'm supposed to share 6 things about me that people wouldn't know...

1. I love planning. I get this from my dad. It doesn't really matter what it is--parties, trips, dates, my day, my schedule--I just love it. I always have to write everything down that I'm planning, too. Kind of going along with this, I love being in charge, and I think on occasion I get carried away.

2. I am a morning person. I don't really like waking up early, but I function much better in the morning (this is becoming more and more apparent this semester as I have fallen asleep pretty much every time I've tried to study at night). I am much more productive and happy in the mornings.

3. I love buying new school supplies. That's probably my favorite thing about starting school every year, although it's kind of died down bit now that I'm in college. I miss the fun little school supply lists.

4. Although my friends and family would probably beg to differ, I am kind of shy. Despite the valiant efforts of my dad, I'm not a very outgoing person, but he has definitely helped me learn how to be more independent ("you only get in life what you're brave enough to ask for"). I really don't like big parties or big groups of people, especially when they're people I don't know. I don't really like trying to make new friends or anything. It's just completely out of my comfort zone. At big group gatherings, I use the buddy system. I find one or two people to attach myself to and try not to leave their side the whole time. I know it's kind of pathetic...but it's not that easy to fix.

5. I am the most indecisive person ever (which is kind of ironic considering #1)! It takes me forever to decide on things like ice cream flavors, clothes to buy, music to play, movies to watch, etc.

6. My heroes are my family. I adore my sisters. I have always looked up to them and wanted to be just like them. They are both so talented, strong, faithful, fun, and just incredible. They have set such wonderful examples for me, and I am still trying to follow in their footsteps. I am so amazed by my parents. They are such incredible people. For the last 6 or 7 years I have been the only child at home. I always really missed having my sisters at home, but during that time, I had the awesome opportunity of becoming really close to my parents. I was able to get to know them better as people, not just as my parents, and they became some of my best friends. I cherish the time I got to spend with them and am so grateful for them and all they have done.

Well that was a good excuse to blog, thanks Melissa! I tag...Stefani Mann, Stefani Case, and Abby (that's your cue, Andrea), and Mom!

The Marriage of Figaro

Last weekend mom and dad came up for conference and we attended both afternoon sessions (Jason came because we had an extra ticket). It was such a wonderful conference. The Spirit was so strong and I learned a lot. Something that really stuck out at me was when Elder Eyring spoke about the journal he has kept of the Lord's hand in his life and the lives of his family, and this being a way to recognize and remember what the Lord has done for you. I think it's a wonderful way to keep your baptismal covenants to "always remember him". It also reminds me of Elder Bednar's talk about looking for the tender mercies of the Lord in your own life. So anyways, I'm going to "experiment upon the word" by recognizing and recording the tender mercies of the Lord in my life.

The School of Music is doing Mozart's opera, The Marriage of Figaro, and performances start this week. I'm so excited! Minus the terrible physical pain brought about by playing in the pit for 3 hours, it's really cool to be a part of the opera. I had a rehearsal Friday night, a dress rehearsal Saturday night, and I'm playing in the performances on Thursday and Saturday night (and I want to go see it Friday night). Meanwhile, the time of midterms is upon us. Luckily since I'm a music major I only have two for my only non-music classes: New Testament and the Living Prophets.

My practicing has greatly improved. I started out this semester practicing an hour and a half or 2 a day, but for the past 2 weeks I've been up to 3 hours a day. The requirement is 3 and my goal for this semester is 3-4, so I'm pretty happy about that. Well, I think that's about all I've been up to: Opera, practicing, living in the HFAC doing stuff with the roommies and Jason, and going to classes. Life is good.

Phil Party, Y Hike, and Fort Charlie

I've had a really enjoyable weekend. Late Friday afternoon, our orchestra had its annual opening social at a cabin in Provo Canyon. The cabin belongs to the parents of John Kovalanko (a violinist in the Phil). There were food, games, socializing, music, and relaxing. It's so beautiful up there. We took a short "hike" to this waterfall and I took a couple of pictures on my phone. It's kind of hard to see the waterfall, partly because it is so small in the picture and also partly because there wasn't very much water this time. It was more like a trickle, but it was still very pretty.
The next picture is of Kaitlin and I. Kaitlin plays violin and we're in a quartet together. This was in a "secret grove" we found by way of jumping across a creek. Anyways, I had a really good time at the party. It was a good orchestra bonding experience.

After a year of failed attempts, I finally succeeded in hiking the Y!!! I went with this guy named Jason (he's in my piano class and we've
gone on a few dates). We almost didn't get to go because of the weather. It was rainy and cold, with a chance of snow, but we found a window of time when it wasn't raining quite as much and we went for it! It was much harder than I had anticipated, but it was a good workout (I'm pretty sore today), and it was a lot of fun. It had been sprinkling the whole way up, but once we got close to the Y it was more like frozen precipitation. The view was incredible and it was really nice getting away from the hustle and bustle of Provo.

When we got back to my apartment, Jenna and Tyson had built a fort in our living room out of blankets, chairs, couches, and our "entertainment center" . We named it Fort Charlie (pictures coming soon). Later that evening Jenna, Tyson, Amanda and I watched Newsies in our fort. Actually, I fell asleep about 10 minutes into Newsies, Jenna and Tyson soon followed, and Amanda was the only one who stayed awake. And we started the movie at 8:30!! We all (except for Jenna) woke up after the movie and watched some episodes of the Office: Season 2. Speaking of which, I love that show! It's hilarious! I had refused to jump on the bandwagon all of last year, but my friend Scotty and Amanda sucked me in.

Well, now that I've made my bi-monthly update I feel better.

Search and Rescue

I am so excited about this year at school. My roommates and I get along wonderfully. It feels as if we've been friends for years. I feel truly blessed to be able to live with such amazing girls. I love my new ward and have already met more people than I new in my ward last year. Everyone's so nice and friendly.

We had our first ward party last night. It was held in a $6 million cabin in the canyon near Springville. They had a huge kitchen, an indoor basketball court, an indoor playground, an air hockey table, a ping pong table, and lots of couches and places to socialize. It was actually a multi-ward party, but by the time we arrived (3-4 hours late, for which I'll explain in a minute) a lot of people had already come and gone, but we still had a good time.

Earlier that day, Amanda (my roommate), Scott (this friend of mine from my ward last year), and I joined the search for Camille. In case you don't know, she's a BYU student who went missing last weekend in the canyon. I didn't realize how official and organized the search would be, but we had to fill out paperwork, wear bright orange vests, and we were put into groups of 10-14 with an assigned, specific area to search. Our particular group was assigned to search a large field and a residential area in Orem near the canyon. In the field we spread out in groups and marked areas of suspicion, taking notes on what we found. We then went door to door in the neighborhood to see if anyone could provide information. The actual search took about 2 and a half hours and the briefing/debriefing took another hour and a half. It was a very interesting experience. I've never done anything like it, but I was grateful for the opportunity to contribute. For those of you who are scattered across the country, just please remember to keep Camille and her family in your prayers.

Edit: A search and rescue team found her body near Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon. They think she was hiking alone and fell.

Back to BYU!

Well, I guess since I'm back up at BYU I have to start writing in here again. My mom and I drove up on Tuesday and Wednesday, and of course I had to take some pictures.