Semester in "summary".

This is a lengthy post on events occurring from August until now.

There are several pictures with captions.

My mother took captured many of the photos.

Grazzi, Sayuri.

August: Summer ends (boo), but my sister meets a guy and decides to start a family (yay!).

Her wedding was beautiful. This is us with the rest of her bridesmaids. (In case you hadn't gathered that.)

The appointed Christmas card photo this year.  

Did I mention that my family is UTE OBSESSED? My decision to transfer to the U this semester was, needless to say, a good one. This precious photo of the young Foster children is a reflection of our early university influence. Red=Happiness.

Without Sarah, Jocelyn, and Jessica, I would have died this semester. Although though, as pictured, we did want to pull our eyes out more than once. Sarah is pictured on the left, and Jocelyn on the right. (Keep reading for more on them . . .)

Jessica! What a smile.

Just getting comfortable in our second home. Food-check. Whiteboard-check. iPod-check. Larry-check.

And once in a while we DID have some fun. This is at the last game. That we lost. Anyone know of a good kicker??? MUSS= Mighty Utah Student Section. Thus, Jocelyn's oh-so-clever MUSStache!

Enjoying some pre-game traditional grub at HIRES.

Continued hearing lots of great updates from brother Stephen! Who is absolutely loving his mission, btw.

PIE NIGHT! The holidays most definitely kept things upbeat throughout the semester.

I love it when my best friend and her husband come and visit me.

Glad you kept reading, because this photo is of Jocelyn, Sarah, and me outside of the library. Miracles happen.

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Thanksgiving the next day- oh my. My mother kills it! Every time.
Corriney, Aunt Sheri, Madre, Grandma Japanese, Me,

Chatting with my pops on his couch.

Sayuri got things rolling in the kitchen this fall! Here she is, getting ready to demo some fudge making on 2 News.

She started up a fantastic cooking program at South Fork Hardward in North Salt Lake. She was constantly cooking for some of the classes (allowing me to act as her assistant), and bringing in several others to share the secrets of success in the kitchen. Curt Cutler's cookie class was easily my favorite. A) He is hilarious.  B) His family owns Cutler's Cookies! I needn't say more.

Gingerbread cookies with butter cream frosting. Click here if you want the recipe. You're welcome.

The craziest event of this fall: "the" storm. Destruction, power loss, and an incredible amount of uprooted trees.

Sooo many trees destroyed.

Coming home to Mother and a candle lit house? Priceless. Isn't this adorable? It is.

Hanging out with Jake after not seeing each other for literally days at a time. 

One of my dearest friends in the world leaves for an 18 month mission. Goodness I miss her.

The disgusting bruise she had the day we said goodbye. You'll have to ask her how she got it.

If you're wondering what a typical night in the Foster home looks like, there you have it.

Jack's been a real good friend to me this semester.

Also, he successfully learned how to use his iPad last month. Gooooooood dog!

A visit up to the cabin with friends for a weekend getaway. 

One of the absolute gems I captured that weekend. 

I also held two jobs this semester. Job number one: clean a doctor's office five nights a week. The job was super flexible and so convenient for my schedule at the U. This Sobe water bottle was there on my first day and was still being used when I left. I resisted the temptation every day to throw it away and replace it with a new one. Whatevs.

Job number two: hostessing at Settebello Pizzeria. Decent pay and delicccccccious food.

Another female friend has decided to serve a mission! She leaves this spring and will be serving in Vina del Mar, Chile! Took a visit down to P-Rove to say our goodbyes for the next 18 months. There were quite a few lovely photos, but this one was the true reflector of our friendship's reality. Love to you, Nattles.

Joining the bandwagon.

A lot of people seem to be doing "thankful" posts.
I really like it. It's nice to read what people appreciate and why.
This post goes along with that thankful theme (yet in a much less genuine way).
{Keep reading.}


A few weeks ago I realized something I was truly thankful for as I was driving to school.

While cruising down past the Jr. High I noticed the students on the track doing the run/walk outside.  You know- run the long sides, walk the short ones. It made me reminisce on how dumb I thought the run/walk was. I never liked Jr. High gym. Or high school gym. Could I even venture to say I hated it? Hate's pretty strong, so we'll stick with the word dread. I completely DREADED Jr. High gym:

The smells- Did you just wrinkle your nose? So did I. Wearing the uniform was bad enough. But what the instructors failed to anticipate was the rapid decline this rule would put to students wearing clean clothes. Quite frankly, I saw one too many crusty socks being re-used, day after day. We could also call attention to the wafting cloud of Axe deodorant leaving the boys room. g-r-o-s-s.

The sweat- 7th grade, 1st period: Ms. Chipman's physical fitness class. Did I beg my mom to buy me a sweater from Abercrombie and Fitch so that I could look like an absolute BABE on my first day at MPJ? Yes. Did I wake up at the crack of dawn to crimp my hair and maintain the status every day? Yes. Did I sweat during the relentless tae-bo movies and after the once a week mile run? Absolutely. I was appalled that the district would require such a task when I obviously had different plans. What did they expect me to do when 9 minutes was most certainly not enough time to shower and mister hot stuff officer guy was in my next class?? These are the developments of the "hard life" scars I now carry.

The awkwardness- Remember the scoliosis test? (For real!) What could have possibly be more mortifying to a group of gangly, insecure 13 year old girls than having to pull up ones shirt, and be examined. With everyone watching! Tragic. And then there were those weird girls that decided it was the "cool" and "mature" thing to strip down and prance to the showers for a quick rinse. GROSS. I mean, I guess we all did have the same body parts. I was still offended. 

So, reverting back to my initial statement, I just wanted to share with the blogging world how truly appreciative I am to be finished with 7th grade gym. What a smelly, sweaty, awkward experience. It's a great time to be thankful.

Thank You, Nordstrom

Let us not forget to focus on one of the BEST holidays of the year. Indeed, a day that surpasses Halloween, April Fools, St. Patrick's Day, Valentines Day, the 4th of July, New Years Eve, Kwanzaa, Veteran's Day, you name it- THANKSGIVING. Enough said. Thanks a million, Nordstrom.

Madrid: Thanksgiving Overseas

Thanksgiving. Similar to every American, I love everything about it: the food, family togetherness, football season, pie night, you name it.  Something I have learned for now the second year in a row: being away from home and family truly makes you thankful for everything you have.  It is a unique and refining experience.

Thanksgiving last year:

Changzhou, China.  Just-add-water corn, potatoes, and stuffing.  Looks disgusting.  And quite frankly it was.  But in that moment it was delicious. Much better than the *ahem* food we were eating in the school cafeteria everyday . . . 

Seaweed and gelatin tofu-ness.  Don't get me wrong- I love tofu.  

But this and the chicken feet were a little much.

Completely worth every bad meal though to be able to get to know these stinkers:

Love them. Miss them.

Thanksgiving this year:

Went to the downtown market and did the best I could at pulling together a traditional home-made Thanksgiving meal.  [Boo for no cranberries, supermercado.]  From bottom-left going clockwise: mashed potatoes, apple pie, sweet potatoes, oven-roasted chicken (wasn't quite ready to attempt the turkey by myself), and stuffing.  Everything off of Mama's blog- isn't the world wide web something special?  Spent a few hours with Alex (The live-in maid, who refused to have her photo taken.) trying to make everything delicious and perfect.  Of course, I was looking forward to a great meal, but what I really wanted was for the Fernandez family to have an ideal taste of what a true Thanksgiving is.  

Here we are.  The whole family (with Christina recently returned from a foreign exchange in Ohio). They asked me to show them a traditional Thanksgiving like I would have in the Foster home. This was something new for me, and a great opportunity.  We prayed, we each shared what we were thankful for, and we ate.  A lot.  To my utmost happiness and relief, they loved the food.  It was their first time for yams and stuffing.  The stuffing was an absolute hit!  Which has always been my personal favorite as well.  The family continued to thank me for sharing this custom with them and told me it would be a family memory they would have forever. 

And one last thing . . . 

Birthday girl this year (today):

Mother. Missing her delicious and incredible Thanksgiving feast.  Missing her pies.  Missing her stories, her humor, her funny whistling noise she makes.  Missing my travel buddy and best friend.  Another obvious reason to be thankful.  

*  *  *

All in all:

I am thankful, I am happy, and life is good.

Happy Thanksgiving.

With love and besos from Madrid.