i am a believer.

christmas has just been grand. i've given and received much to my delight. i am SO happy i am the oldest and have two siblings that are still leaving cookies out for santa and writing him letters. it makes christmas so much more fun. i'm grateful i know santa will be coming to my house and i will have presents under the tree.
presents aren't what christmas is all about, but this christmas presents taught me a lot. santa and my parents definitely take care of my family. i always have something to look forward to and barely any of it is something of necessity. i say presents taught me a lot this christmas, and really they taught me everything.
this year my family picked a family to create a christmas for. what would it be like to not expect anything under the tree, and not even have a tree to begin with? this is not something i've experienced ever. a family in my ward is a set of grandparents, parents, and their kids all living together. their living conditions are minimal and nothing i would ever hope for. there are many young children in the house, three, five, ten.. ages that christmas magic is most important at. i wonder what kids who don't expect santa think when before christmas it's all most kids talk about, then after christmas break everyone is listing their presents and they have nothing to say.
throughout the week we did chores to earn money for presents for the family, then friday we went shopping for them. it was so exciting! i loved picking out outfits and trying to find something that would make them excited. after doing all of that it made me feel so greedy to be asking for so many things that were so unnecessary. i think i'm this desperate college student that barely scrapes by, but when compared to them i'm doing great. comparing yourself to others i thought was never helpful, but when i compared myself to others less fortunate than i am, in hopes of bettering their conditions is what made christmas special for me. yes, i know my parents put out the presents on christmas eve and eat the cookies, but not everyone has parents who can do that. the magic of santa happens when we grasp the spirit of christmas. christmas could be the most selfish, materialistic holiday if we forget what christmas is all about. of course, we are celebrating Christ's birth, but i also think it is important to remember the spirit of giving and looking out for others.
i'm so glad i was able to help provide the magic of santa for a family, which then reminded me of the spirit of christmas- making this christmas one i will remember. i look forward to many more seasons of giving to come.
:)

crafty wafty.

pinterest party. party of.. one. 

for those of you who don't know, i'm a pinterest addict. i can proudly say that i didn't pin during finals week though! but that just means i've been pinning triple the past week to make up for it. and thus i am inspired to actually pin something from my "ideas, ideas" board. if you want to just on the pinterest wave, click here and follow me! 

i think the theme for today's projects was color. i love love love color. ok well who doesn't? my high school art teacher was a great mentor and showed me how the most basic colors can be mixed to make the most brilliant colors, that color doesn't limit it to one tone, and that you don't need a new brush for each color. i've never been able to just pick one color.. maybe you'll see all this in my projects.

ornaments! my adorable little brother sam had made the ornament you see in the top left at school and was so excited to give it to my mom when it got home. she opened it and accidentally broke it. i could tell sam was crushed (ha) so we made a new one. it was so fun! the snow men are made from his fingers. the rest are ornaments we made from pouring the paint inside and swirling it all around. 

then guess what? before there was the finished project of those cute snow men, he broke the ornament again! i remembered i had saw the idea on pinterest of putting the broken pieces of ornaments inside of another, so i did that. (top picture) but then that was too boring because all of teh pieces were blue, so i added some silver on the outside. then remember the mustache stamp from my last post? yepp. had to use that on one of my ornaments! 

i love my next project. anyone who loves color would. i just took paint and blobbed it down on a canvas. inspiration was found here and originally here. i chose two colors + white and just mixed and made my little heart happy. i did a turquiose and a purple on the first, then purple/ the left overs of the first and red on the second.

it's funny what you get when you try and mix two colors in as many different ways as possible. do try!

then the last project doesn't match.. at all. i got my idea here. i covered a palate in hexagons, but decided that was too boring so i added the word inspire on there. i traced that with hot glue, then covered that in white paint. i like it okay, but can't decide if i was to retrace "inspire" in a color. a pale yellow maybe? too tough to decide. suggestions welcome. :)

the addiction has been fed. if you have any more ideas.. please share!

sincere apologies.

i've been HOME.

with these people.

watching these people score baskets.

and this kid.. just doing his thing.

(+ maggie. don't forget maggie. no picture of her yet.)
while i do things like this..

some things are still the same, thank goodness.

happy christmas y'all.


ps- if anyone has any expertise with baby showers.. holla at yo girl? k i'll stop switching languages.
i'm supposed to be hosting a baby shower in a week and i am SO out of my league.

just call me lilly.

yep. it's finals week. yep. i leave tomorrow. yep. i still have one more test to take. yep. i still have to pack. yep. i still have to do my job for cleaning checks. yep. i'm blogging and using my time wisely. 

(side note- i did half of this post and then actually focused when i was done packing, and now am en route to HOME. currently in denver!) 


things you should know: 

i just cleaned out my backpack and stored old books and notebooks. i sold back one book, and got $3. SCORE!

i'm a member of a new exclusive harry potter club. i'm lilly potter. everyday we pick a new spot to study. details in a sec. 

i underperformed on every single one of my tests. that takes skill. 

i made new friends. they are also apart of the HP club. i would like to blame them for my lack of sleep this week. (bed times: sunday: 3 am, monday 2:30 am, tuesday 5 am, wednesday 3 am)

i CANNOT wait to see my family. they are so cute. every day my mom tells me how excited she is an usually something that a sibling said about me coming home. abby sends me emails and that make me even more excited. 

i have not been home since july, and that was when the flood was just about to get done "peaking," so i'm excited to see my house/community/state not in a state of disaster and my backyard filled with snow- not sand bags!

monday study- 4th floor of the JKB. it was one of the better spots.

tuesday- 2nd floor of the JKB. chamber of secrets. first official meeting of the club.

wednesday- 4th floor of the JFSB. dumbledore's office. real official. favorite spot. 

study activities:

library. where we went to study play football. see video below.

posed harry potter character pictures

if you're not done with finals, i'm so so sorry. i suggest locking yourself in a room for a few hours to study. i kindaaa wish i would have done that. bad idea to have friends finals week. what was i thinking? 


happy christmas, muggles!

pre facebook release.

that's right readers. you read right. i'm going to blog some pictures here before their official facebook upload. gasp now. 

last night i had a party. ugly christmas sweater party. second annual to be specific. here are the deets:

hot cocoa bar- marshmallows, gingerbread marshmallows, candy canes, caramel, whipped cream.

cake balls, sugar cookies, and some other goodies. 

elf quote wall, necessary everywhere i go. 

white elephant gift exchange, always a crowd pleaser. 

mistletoe. and/or landon gettin' lucky. 

good friends.

cute boys.  oh geesh did i just write that? fun friends..

 couzzzz.

landon getting lucky again say what?

 100% attendance record.

oh and the bestie.

can't wait to try this again in SD in a week!

obsessed.

don't hate, but i'm obsessed with elf. i have watched it three times in the past three days, after buying it for $6 at target on black friday.
i am crediting my calm, cool, and collected attitude to it as finals week is quickly approach.
good news- one more week of classes!
..bad news- one more week until finals!

here are the things that are making me smile this week, other than elf obviously:
-a friend catching me off guard as a walk to class and reminding me to smile
-talking to my little brother sam on the phone and catching up on his life
-a tear away chain to countdown to christmas
-eating mallow magic popcorn, bought in provo, ut but made in sioux city, ia. represent.
-cute "miss you" texts from cute people
-finding a chocolate in my jacket pocket
-the thought of snow this weekend
-blasting christmas music


moral of this story: if you can't not multitask like me- turn on elf and start your paper. you don't even really have to pay attention, but then you'll hear those one liners and you'll remember everything will be okay. :)
here's a free printable i found that will promptly be hanging up in our living room. enjoy!

printable cred:X

have i mentioned i love christmas?

last week i got the opportunity to spend the night in temple square with my ward. they are fantastic.. seriously i love each member in my ward. they're so much fun and we all get along so well. we saw the joseph smith movie, which was amazing as usual. it was really fun to see it surrounded by my ward, who all have became my friends. it just made me think about how lucky i am to have them in my life, and i can openly share my testimony and values with them- an experience that is new to me. 

all of the lights in temple square were amazing.. we got to walk around for a while and i was thrilled to see how detailed the christmas decorations were. this was my first time seeing temple square during the christmas season, but now that i'm in provo i hope it isn't the last. 

continuing with the christmas spirit, i spent friday night throwing a christmas party.. "the ugliest christmas party ever, and you're invited".. complete with ugly christmas sweaters, gingerbread houses, wassle, mistletoe, white elephant gifts, sugar cookies, and christmas music. it was a blast! so worth all the time it took to prepare. 

last but not least i have some exciting news.. 

drum roll?

next semester my best friend brynley freakin' anderson will be joining me in provo. last night she called me with this crazy decision.. she's going to hair school (note the fact she's wearing a headband i made in the picture above.. what a great friend! :) ) and moving up to grandma's until she finds a place to stay. i couldn't be more excited!! its a dream come true haha. but seriously. 

i can't wait to spend waaaay too much time with you next semester. and for you to do my hair :) 

loveee you all. 

merry christmas- good luck with finals!