Thanksgiving is the best time of the year!

The end of the year is the best! It all starts in October when things start to cool off, you just get a wave of excitement for what's coming. Then November comes (and goes before you blink) and it gets even cooler and brings Thanksgiving, a time for family, football, and food. Then it's December! Lights come up, Christmas music starts blaring, nativity scenes are displayed, hot chocolate is needed after you get home from class ;), and everyone is full of holiday cheer and happy as can be!

But I think that Thanksgiving is really the best! And in my expert opinion, I have to say that I have the best Thanksgiving experience every year! Sorry guys, try again next year.

It's the Gunderson tradition to go up to Utah and feast at Grandma's house. It's the most wonderful time of year! This year it was blizzard weather.. so the

turkey bowl was in the snow!

We had 42 people over for dinner! (Everyone except some of my family and the Burr's). It was too cold to eat in the garage, so we ate in the warmth of the house.

That night, some of the cousins went to the revamped Gunnison Theatre to watch the 7th Harry Potter. It was 17 degrees outside. We got there and were waiting for the previews to start when the owner comes out and tells us that the heater had just broke. He said that we could leave if we wanted and he would give us our money back, or we could stay because someone was on their way to fix it, and we could get free popcorn and soda. So naturally we stayed and got free popcorn! Well, the guy came and was working on it... but it never got fixed! IT WAS FREEZING!! It was 52 degrees when he annouced it, but it dropped A LOT as we were watching. We all had hoods on, collars popped, knees in chairs, and I was shaking madly. It was like 30 degrees in that place! But the movie was good!

Black Friday means shopping, right? Well, when you're in Centerfield you don't have that many options. So every year we drive the 45 minutes to Ephraim to go to Walmart! Haha! It's fun! Then we usually stop at the Malt Shoppe on the way home. The malt shoppe was closed this year, and so was the fudge place in Manti that Adam says is the best place ever. So we went to a small ice cream and donut place... but they don't sell donuts on the day after Thanksgiving. Haha. Oh well, it was still fun!

Friday afternoon Paula and Rachel came for a few hours since they decided to abandon us and not come on Thanksgiving. We spent the rest of the day watching football, talking, going on walks, and playing games.

That night, everyone had gone home.. or to another cousin's home, except Adam, Amanda, Jeremy, Kyle, Tara, Mattew, Jacob and I. So we went to the Ephraim theatre and saw Megamind. IT WAS HILARIOUS!

Saturday was Jared and Jarom's baptism in Springville! We all went to that then went back to their house for lunch!

Thanksgiving weekend is rivalry weekend. So we get to watch the BYU-Utah game together every year. This family loves BYU. We were just born with BYU blood... Except the rebels, Shane and Jared. So Ashley made Jarom and Jared this wonderful cake this year.

The BYU side was for Jarom and the Ute side for Jared. We sang happy birthday, after all the "to you's" everyone would yell BYU! Then they had a race to see who could blow out their candles first, Jarom aka BYU won.. only because Jared was stopped by a certain BYU fan.

After that, Mariam took our family pictures at a park in Springville.. it was mighty cold outside!

Adam, Jeremy, Matthew, Jacob, and I met Tara and Rachel at Kyle's work (a pizza buffet) in Alpine to watch the BYU-Utah game! We got there, paid for our food only to realize that they didn't have the right channel for the game. OI! So we scarrfed some food and were off to Grandma and Grandpa Burr's house to watch the second half of the game.

The game was HECKA intense. Utah ended up winning by one point, I don't want to be a sore loser and say it was all the ref's fault.. But... there was one call on a BYU interception that would probably had changed the outcome of the whole game. Oh well. We still had a chance with 4 seconds left, down by 1, with a field goal attempt.. but some guy came out of no where and blocked it. Oh well, it was a good game to watch and kept us interested until the last (very sad) second.

After BYU's first touchdown.

Shane after Utah's first touchdown.

After the blocked fieldgoal.

It was a great weekend! Let's do it again... next year! Same time, Same place! :) Be there!

I walk normal now!

It's a beautiful day! I don't have to hobble to class! haha! Oh how I love my life.... and my wonderful, hardworking, heal -themselves feet! :)

It's been quite the week. Monday night Cody popped the rest of the blisters. The only reason we didn't do all of them before was because rumor had it that it would cause infection. Well after one day of ridiculous walking that still caused pain.. just in a different place.. I didn't even care about infection... (well I do.. remember how I said I love my hardworking feet? Well they do work hard, believe me. I don't want them to get gangrene and fall off! That would be disasterous!) But alas, I was willing to take the chance.. I thought this way it would get a callous faster and I could be normal!

Tuesday morning I went to put shoes on before class... my left foot was definitely swollen and the buckle on my sandal didn't fit around it... so I wore slippers to class and devotional. It was awesome. I probably would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't accompanied with my wobble.. but oh well.

Wednesday I tried walking normal on my way home from class... my big blister on the sole of my foot exploded in my moccasin and sock. It was NASTY! Then throughout the rest of the day everytime a tad of pressure was put on that foot it would explode.. it happened 7 times! I don't even know how there was so much fluid in that thing!

Thursday the same thing... but I didn't even try to avoid it. I just walked and if I got a little squirt in my sock.... so be it. (Ok, that sounds disgusting... but I wasn't wearing shoes so it wasn't as gross.. and it only happened twice all day)

Now today there is not a problem in sight! Well, unless you look at the bottom of my feet.. but who's looking there? I mean, that's gross... I don't walk around showing people my feet! Especially now because there are little pieces of skin hanging off almost every toe of mine. But to the rest of the world who just sees me walking around.. I AM NORMAL AGAIN!! Ahh.. It's so refreshing!

I'm so upset that I didn't take pictures until Wednesday after they were all popped.. oh well... here are the ones on the soles.... ENJOY! (Oh. and you know how some people have good lookin' feet? Well I am not one of those people. But you can look at them anway... or look away... which ever you prefer)

Oh ya! My roommates MADE me ride this around Walmart on Monday. Never before have I gotten so many dirty looks from old people. I did not enjoy it. I wouldn't reccommend it.

Right foot

Left foot

..

Blisters, half marathons, and amateur doctors

This will be long! Beware!
This weekend I decided to run a half marathon. It was a womens half marathon benefitting Susan G. Komen for the cure. It wasn't really that big of a deal because I had zero expectations for it. I knew I would finish and I didn't really care about my time because I hadn't prepared for it at all. In fact the last time I even ran anything was a 5k in Provo last summer. Yep, it's bad.
Well I guess I should take back the zero expectations.. when we got down there and we were ready to start, I decided that I really wanted to finish before 3 hours. Now for all you runners out there, you probably think that is terrible, but i'm an amateur with absolutely NO training, so give me a break! :) Haha.
So the race begins and i'm pumped! I was so ready for this.. haha well my mind was ready, my body was not. The first 2 miles I was running with the 2.5 hour pace leader lady. That went well... until I slowed down. For the next 5 ish miles I was right in front of the 2:45 hour pace leader lady. Then I slowed down some more... right after mile 9 I could feel a blister coming on the sole of my foot. (I hate blisters, I might just add... I usually don't get them... but when I do, they are super blisters! It brought back memories from the first time I went to Havasupai... and that was no bueno) At mile 10 I was running with the 3:00 hour man, but right after the water/sunscreen stop I stopped and put a tube sock ( we were wearing them on our arms at the beginning because it was hecka cold when we started) on my foot for extra protection... my whimpy little ankle sock was just not doing the trick. But after this I could barely run.. well shuffle. My feet hurt so bad! But, I couldn't stop, I still had 3 miles to go! So for the next mile I was walk/shuffling.. but mostly walking. Not too long after mile 11 I took my shoe off altogether and walked in my sock. A lady came running up to me telling me to put a "blister bandaid" aka moleskin on my foot. I did so.. but I still could barely walk. About 200 steps later, I put the other sock on my foot and took my shoe off. I waddled the last 2 and a half miles... I was walking on the outsides of my feet.. and it KILLED and I looked like a freak! By the end I could barely put one foot in fronf of the other. Pain was the name of the game. I finally waddled past the finish line at 3 hours and 20 minutes.(Many people were taking pictuers of the "no shoes" girl, I heard many comments as I was finishing and apparently it was a topic of covnersation to many people after I finished) It was actually really fun! I'm glad I did it! But I was really disappointed because I could have finished so much faster.... but oh well... I guess I'll just have to do it again with better shoes!
When I got home I took my socks off and inspected my feet. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 BLISTERS! It was nasty! Apparetly wearing super old shoes that might have had some sand in them from Havasupai this summer was a bad idea... I wore many holes in them throughout the race... but it was a great adventure! :)
Later that night, after the fireside (once I was back in Thatcher), everyone wanted to know why I was walking so funny.. I hadn't told anyone I was running this because I didn't want to see everyone's fact turn to absolute shock while hearing the words, "have you trained for this?" Then watch them say to themself she's an idiot! haha. So I just kept it to myself... so I had to explain to them all that I ran the thing and a brief explanation of what happend (Which was even briefer than this one). But they all wanted to see them... So when I revealed the 8 little wonders on the bottom of my feet everyone was FREAKING out! Pretty soon I had many people pretending to be doctors, telling me what to do.
Cody got a needle, we attempted to sterlize it with a match and he dejuiced 2 of them... one of the ones he did was pretty much a second toe. And I tell no lies.. it was the size of my toe and looked like a slightly bigger than normal jelly bean. It was awesome. I still have the 2 ginormous ones on the soles of my feet though... but there is lots of moleskin on them!
The only problem with all of this is: I can't walk. I still need to walk on the outsides of my feet.. But I can only do that for so long (like to the parking lot of the AP building) before they hurt terribly. Plus, today i'm do dang sore! Mostly just when I sit down or get up, it would probably hurt more when I walk.. but i've been walking slower than molasses... And the bottom of my feet hurt worse, so it makes the soreness not as bad. Haha. But I can deal with pain, no problem. It's the walking funny I do not like. For one, I look like a freak.. and to make it worse I don't even have a good story! It's a whimpy story! Haha! "What's wrong?" "Oh, I just have 8 blisters on the bottom of my feet" And two, I don't like it when people feel bad for me. I just wish I was normal. (But I did get many offers for rides when I was walking to class. I even accepted on one of them... Thanks Arielle! I really do love the people in my life!)
Haha. But I'm just glad I still have 2 feet, I can walk, I have a healthy body, and my body can heal itself! I really am so blessed!

Waddling through the finish line.. shoes in hands I was given the nickname savage, awesome.

This is one of the smallest ones...

Faggots, dragons, and "Oh! I always drop my phone in the road!"

Tonight = success.
Really, it was a great night! It all started with a tailagate party at 6:30 for the Regional volleyball game. Ahh Yeah free food! Well actually I didn't even eat it because I wasn't hungry.. but that's besides the point. Free food just makes everything better.
The volleyball game was HECKA intense. We ended up winning in just three games - but they were all really close. The crowd was super loud and supportive the whole time! It was sooo exciting and probably the most fun game of the season. Pretty sure my throat will be a little soar the next few days. Plus, I, along with the majority of the crowd, was wearing an EAC pillowcase bandana.. and it surely doesn't get much better than that!
After that we were off to the Safford baseball fields for the bonfire (for homecoming week, of course). This is not the boring, everyone stand around and stare bonfire either! They shot off fireworks that were SAWEET... fireworks are just plain cool. They also had pizza! WHAT?! 2 opportunities for free food in one night?! Like I said, it was a great night! :) Hahaha. It was thoroghly enjoyable.. lots of talking, people, dancing, and burning. Yes, burning. We had a contest to see who could stand close to the fire the longest (apparently common sense wasn't present). I won the first game and Abbie and I called it even on the second after far too long of suffering. I might have some blisters on my backside... Youch.
The drive back to the apartment was hilarious. We, once again, had more people than seatbelts, so we were squished. Everything that was said was HILARIOUS. My abs still hurt from it actually. We almost hit a car, but Abbie decided it would be okay if we hit that particular car.
After the bonfire we were going to climb a grain sylo. As we were waiting for everyone to come, we had some pretty funny times. Earlier in the night we had been talking about a fag jar that I said we should make..Kacey said she wouldn't stop saying fag because it was in the scriptures. I looked it up... she wasn't deceiveing me. So, tonight, we had a conversation that went as follows...
Hannah: Mosiah 17:13
Cody: What does that say?
Hannah: FAGGOT!
Kacey: Wiggedy wiggety wack!
That makes it sound terrible, but at the time it was pretty funny. We were also reminiscing on all the good times we had last semester. It was great.
But remember how our mission was to climb a grain sylo? Well, by the time everyone was ready it was 11:30 and we were all pretty exhausted so we decided to not even go tonight.
Instead, all the girls went on our nightly walk! :) I love that thing! It was the first time Kacey and Jacie had been. Kacey was jumping off of everything making the sound that our good'ol friend, Kirby Heyborne, told us about yesterday. Then suddenly Abbie, with her hood, became a ninja and me in my blanket became a dragon. We fought. I don't remember who prevailed. Then on more than one occasion throughout the walk, Jacie dropped her phone on the pavement and it fell to pieces. For some reason it was really funny... every time.
Haha sorry this is so long.. and so random. I bet you can tell it was just one of those nights were everything was funny... even the things that really aren't funny were funny. But only to us. Ahh. I think i'll go now. I have to get up before 7, which is in 6 hours... and I still need to shower because I smell like smoke!... ready, set, BREAK!

Perfect Timing

Do you know what is perfect timing? The Lord's timing.
He said that "All things must come to pass in their time." He knows what that time is, not us, so we need to put our trust in him. He knows and understands a lot more than we do. He will help us when the time is right... even if it's not when we want. We just need to continually put our faith in him and everything will work out. He won't abandon us. He wants us to return back to Him. The struggles that come our way are to help us and make us learn the things we need to learn. We need to suffer sometimes. But at the right time, everything will get better and we will be able to see why we needed to suffer that way, at that time.

And that's not all! The Lord is so aware of each of us and all that we are going through. When we are struggling with something he ALWAYS puts things in our path to help us succeed. Always, always, always.
Just today I was having some doubts about myself and other things. I randomly stumbled upon MULTIPLE different scriptures, talks, and stories that were EXACTLY what I needed to hear. He is so aware of me. My dreams, my fears, my everything. He knew that at that moment I was struggling and needed some extra help. He put those things in my way to help me realize what I needed to do to overcome.
It is so amazing how perfect the plan is for each one of us. We all have a specific work to do. We all have divine potential. We all have different imperfections, but our imperfections are for each one of us specifically. We need to make the most of them, they were given to us for a reason. We will learn what we need to learn by experiencing them.We can't all be the same, we, especially, can't all be the same perfect people. That would be oh so boring! We are supposed to be ourselves and NO ONE else. We are here to learn and we have been given everything we need to succeed. We can do it!