Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Oh the Places You'll Go...

Day 3-A Picture of a place you have been to.

Throughout my life I have had the WONDERFUL opportunity to travel to many a places. In all I have been to five other countries. and A LOT of other states! One of my favorite things to do is count all of the places that I have been to. When I do this I always have to think to myself..."Marianna, you are SO lucky!!" Oh how I wish I could post every picture I have ever taken from these trips but that is just not possible! So here are just a few places that I have traveled to...

England


Germany
(This is a picture of Heidelberg, Yes we actually saw this and visited this place!)


Switzerland
This is a picture of the Zollikofen temple. We actually attended church in a building that is located just to the right of the temple. If you look closely you can actually see it in this picture.


I was also recently able to go on a trip Back East.
If you would like to see a PLETHORA of pics from this trip just scroll down!


Disneyland, Mount Rushmore, and many a church sight in Illinois!

Disneyland really IS the most magical place on earth!

As crazy as this might be our trip to Mount Rushmore when I was young is one of the last trips I remember our whole family going on. I might be way off but it seems like after this there was always someone missing! I don't remember a lot from the trip but I do remember seeing this massive mountain and being totally amazed. I also remember the sweet hotel my parents got us. It had a huge water slide!


Nauvoo Illinois was a trip I took with my just my mom and dad. It was so much fun and I loved it! I loved going to all of the church history sites and learning more about Joseph Smith.



These are not the only places that I have been and I sure hope that I will be able to travel much more throughout my life. I have so many great memories in all of these places but it seems sometimes that you don't have to travel to some far off place to have an adventure or to make memories. Sometimes all you have to do is just step right outside your front door in order to travel somewhere and to have another adventure!

Monday, November 22, 2010

What's in a Name?

Day 2-The Meaning of your Blog Name

When I started college in the Fall of 2008 I was put into an apartment with 4 girls that I had never met. Little did I know how much my life would be impacted by their example. As a little freshman I was nervous to be at a new school and I really had no friends other than these roommates. As the semester progressed we decorated our apartment a little and using wooden blocks we placed the words "Love Life" in a prominent place in our apartment. These words greeted me every morning as I went to eat breakfast in the kitchen and they were there every day when I returned home from school.
I learned to love this saying because it is so simple yet so inspirational. "Love Life" two simple words that mean so much. No matter what life throws at you, you can always find something that you are grateful for and that you love about your life!
I LOVE my life!! Here are just a couple of things I love about my life-
I love that I have wonderful roommates that make me laugh every day
I love that I get to attend a wonderful University where not only does my knowledge grow about the secular world but also about the gospel.
I love that I have a wonderful family that supports me in all of my decisions
I love that I have so many wonderful friends!
I love that I have had so many good examples in my life
I simply...LOVE MY LIFE!!!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

15 Things About ME!

One of my new favorite hobbies, a.k.a. the best way to procrastinate my homework is blog hopping! The other day I was looking at one of my Jr. Miss friends blog and I got new motivation for some fun new posts. It is a series of 30 posts that are so cute and fun, so I decided to copy cat her. So here it goes!

Post Number 1: Write 15 Things About Yourself and a Recent Photo

1. I have a secret love of doing hair. In fact, if I didn't want to be a teacher so bad I would probably go to beauty school. I think the love comes from never having hair to do when I was younger. So now that I have a little hair I enjoy doing it, and when someone else asks me to do theres I will GLADLY do theirs!!

2. One thing that I like to do when I get nervous is play the piano. Whenever I sit down at the piano bench and play all nerves seem to vanish because all my focus is on the piano piece. I have always enjoyed playing the piano and I'm so grateful for a mother who pushed me to keep going to piano lessons and Especially for PRACTICING!

3. Black Friday could possibly my most favorite day of the year, other than Christmas and Thanksgiving of course! The tradition started a few years ago when Bethany, my mom, and I decided to go down to Idaho Falls and fight the crowds. I will never forget the rush of the first sale. Pretty sure we went to Fred Meyer for socks. Ever since this experience I have been HOOKED! There is nothing like the rush of getting the last item on the shelf, and getting that great deal. Plus it is always a time for me and my mom to bond which is just another plus to this glorious day.


4. I have a boisterous laugh. Sometimes I am in a quite place or in a class and I will just let a boisterous laugh out without even thinking. Often times this leads to some awkward gazes from everyone in the room that heard. I have even been made fun of a time or two for my life. However, I love my laugh. I think that laughter is one of the greatest things that you can do for yourself. If you ever have a bad day...just let out a nice loud laugh. I guarantee that this will make your day a little bit brighter.

5. My biggest pet peeve is when people touch my head. I think this stems from when I was little my mom never did my hair, well she did sometimes, but mostly I was just a little scraggle muffin. The only person that I would let do my hair was Bethany and whenever she did it they were special days! Now I don't like people to touch my head at all. It is a weird quark but it is probably the one thing that bugs me the most.



6. I say BOOK SACK...It wasn't until I cam to college that it was brought to my attention that Book Sack, a.k.a. a Back Pack, is not a normal word to say. The reason why I say this is because my mother said it. There have been many a times when I was subbing and I sent the students out to get their "book sacks" and I would get some very confused looks. I understand that most people don't use this word, but I will not be taking it out of my vocabulary any time soon.

7. I love to do crafts. Recently I have realized this about myself. I LOVE to create things. It doesn't matter what I am making whether it is a piece of jewelry, painting something, flower headbands, or modge podgeing I just love to do it! Some of my favorite crafts have been during cousin craft day, a wonderful tradition started by Liz, Olivia, and Bethany, now a days Kera and I have made our way into this fun little tradition! Not only do we have fun making things but we have such a fun time together.

8. I have lived in Idaho my entire life (with the exception of the few months that I lived with Bret and Bethany:) There are many things that I love about Idaho. I love that I was able to grow up in a small community where I knew everyone and was able to participate in a wide range of activities. I love that I made lasting friendships that are extending to today and will last a lifetime. I love the weather...yes you heard me right the WeaThER!!! Crazy I know but I don't think that I could live without looking forward to that first snow fall and also to the summers that warm me up just enough to get me through the next winter. I also love that it is so beautiful. It wasn't until Bethany told us how much she missed the mountains that I really started to notice them. This area is beautiful and I must work on not taking advantage of this beauty.

9. I enjoy reenacting random sounds. My roommates phones go off and I just have to try to see if I can make the exact sound that I heard. Usually my sounds are nothing like the actual sounds but it sure is fun trying!

10. I love to Travel! I think this stems from when I was little and we would go on fun little trips. The trips that stick the most out in my mind was when we went to pick my brother's up off there missions. Now that I am older I have had many more experiences in the traveling aspect of life. This is greatly to do my wonderful mother that goes along with my crazy ideas! Throughout my life I have traveled to 5 other countries and A LOT of different states. I am so grateful for these opportunities because the experiences I have had were once in a lifetime!

11. My favorite season is the fall. I absolutely love it when the leaves start to turn red and fall from the trees the crunch of them under my feet and the crisp air just makes me feel so HAPPY!


12. One of my favorite things to do is cook! Ever since I was little I loved to cook. My favorite thing back then was definitely eggs with salsa:), which by the way is still one of my favorites! As I have come to college me and my roommates love to go through cookbooks and come up with new things to make. I think this love stems from watching my mom cook when I was little, especially in the baking area! I associate good times with good food so if I can provide the good food and a little tid-bit of the good times I think I am doing good!

13. I love jewelry! This fetish started in high school with earrings. My favorite thing to do when I enter a store is go straight to the earring section and nothing makes me happeir then when I can find that perfect new pair to add to my collection. I also love shoes. Isn't it just the greatest thing when you find that perfect pair that you can just imagine the outfit you are going to put them with?? OK maybe this is really odd but it's something that I LOVE. (This is a secret confession, I really love that I have small feet so most people aren't able to wear them:) Is that Bad? I sure hope not!


14. I am NOT a morning person and my roommates can attest to this. Each morning I force myself to awaken and I walk into the bathroom…usually with some pretty crazy hair that makes me look like I have been electrocuted, and I walk into the bathroom. Each morning, Kayla and Arleigh greet me with a chipper smile and cheerfully declare, “GOOD MORNING MARIANNA!” To this my response is usually a grunt. Needless to say, my roommates love this morning routine!


15. I am DEATHLY afraid of skunks. When I was in Junior High a skunk got under my house and sprayed. Our house stunk for months. After this happened TWICE…my dad set out a trap. He caught so many skunks I forgot the number. Ever since this experience I have always been so afraid of them.