Alright, all grandmas are cool but mine is pretty awesome.

And this is why.

• She has made me lunch every day this week. A yummy croissant sandwich with a bag of fresh strawberries.
• She made a list of things with Jake and I that we still need to do this week and has helped to remind us. Seriously I am learning from the best here.
• Gave us a plethora of coupons. Such a fan.
• Took me grocery shopping at the new Winco store which was quite the 2 hour experience. I know who thought you could spend that long in a grocery store.
• She is the all seeing eye. Knows everything about everyone and has hilarious stories.
• Always looking out for Jake and I. We have dishes, a book shelf, two nightstands, a shower curtain, a hollywood frame, and a bed thanks to her.
• Lastly, she is amazing because she is my grandma.

Jake and I finished our last engagement shoot yesterday and we had so. much. fun!

Loved the people I worked with. We got some pretty awesome shots.

And the weather? Can you say B-ea-utiful?! Seriously both Monday and Tuesday were THE perfect days to take pictures. We will receive them next Friday so I gotta be patient. Which I am so not good at. It's something I'm working on no worries.

Getting my nails done with my G-ma for the first time. Doing a pre test before bridal pictures. No fake nails for me though.

Can't handle them.

So it's been a while since I have written! Life just got a little crazy. I am now twenty one and it feels....really not different....but extremely different at the same time! Getting my license changed was a pain but I actually didn't end up waiting for a long time. I think I was there for a total of forty-five minutes which was amazing! However I was surrounded by a bunch of smokers in line which just about made me puke. I don't do well with that lovely smell! My signature still sucks but my picture isn't awful! The Saturday before my birthday I met up with a dear friend and we went out to lunch and celebrated my birthday, followed by a night of 80's dancing and eating lots of cookies. I had these awesome neon green pants and some bright blue shorts, TONS of makeup....it was awesome. Then on my actual birthday, all the family got together plus Jake and grandparents and we had my yummy birthday dinner which my mom slaved away all day to make! When I told her I wanted chicken cordon bleu for my birthday, I didn't get a nice look from her! Haha I'm sure I will understand why she gave me that look when I myself make chicken cordon bleu someday! After dinner it was time to blow out my candles....however I didn't have any.

I have now reached the age where cakes come without candles.

Then it was time to open presents and I got everything I could have asked for and more. It was such a fantastic birthday. I finally got my crock pot which I actually used this week and made a very yummy chicken Thai dish. Super good. Received some more clothing which is always needed. Jake surprised me with a gorgeous pearl and diamond necklace which I absolutely love! My mom and dad gave me a pearl necklace and the second edition of the Packard family cookbook which I am thrilled to look at. Overall it was seriously the best birthday ever!

My sun kissed grandparents are back from Hawaii and I am happy to report that the bonsai trees are beautifully green, and I am no longer responsible for their life. While they were gone, the poor kitty got extremely lonely and wouldn't stop following me. My roommate and I were hardly ever home and when we were, seriously....I walk into the kitchen, it would follow me. I would then go do laundry....it would follow me. I walk into my room....it would follow me!

Drove me crazy!

I am not really a cat person, however....I don't loathe them.

Can you believe we are almost in March?! It boggles my mind how fast this year is going by. Five more days my friends. Five more days. I've decided that you know you are getting old when you know you are getting a sweet crock pot for your birthday AND you are excited about it!

Today, I learned a valuable lesson. One that I hope all of you might benefit from. Most of you probably already know this and might think..."duh!" Well for some reason I like to learn things the hard way. Before I get to the "lesson learned" part, let me tell you a quick intro. So a couple of weeks ago I was home in PG, staying the night for something. Anyway, I had to leave early in the morning and it had snowed a lot. I thought it might be easier to pull my car into the driveway so I could quickly put my stuff inside. Well when I got back, I got a pretty stern talk from my father about what a dumb thing I had just done. I was so confused. Well driving my car across the fresh snow on the driveway was the dumb thing I did. Apparently I haven't had the experience of trying to shovel off that compacted snow. My brother just shook his head at me like "wow you are a retard! Everyone knows that!"

Well I decided that I would shovel my grandparents driveway tonight. They obviously can't shovel that huge thing. When I say huge I mean really, really loooonngggg! It was a pain in the butt, back, and neck. It was just me, out there all by myself, with the smallest snow shovel I have ever seen. However, I did get a great workout from it though. While shoveling, I realized what my dad and brother were talking about. Multiple cars had driven on the fresh snow and compacted it pretty good. It sucked. Mucho. I would rather wash a million dishes and do a ton of laundry then do that again. When I finally got to the end of the driveway, I walked up to find already another inch had fallen and made my hard efforts look like pretty much nothing. Exhausted, I put the shovel away and just layed in the middle of the driveway like a slug and watched the snow fall onto the ground as I cursed it.

Watching the snow fall was memorizing. So beautiful. I finally got cold enough and went inside.

Lesson: shovel the driveway before you drive on it. If you have time. Which I will make time for.

There are so many things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. First I am so thankful for the wonderful family that I have. I have the best parents anyone could ask for. They are the greatest and have raised me well. I hope I can continue to show them my gratitude for them as I continue to grow. I am also so thankful for my brother and sisters. We all have grown up so much over the past couple of years and have continued to come closer as siblings. They are all such great examples to me. Second, my wonderful grandparents. They all have lived such wonderful lives, have accomplished much, and are full of memories and love for all their children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren. Third, I am thankful for all the wonderful friends that I have had through out my life. They have all been such great examples to me and they are the kind of friends that are always watching out for ya. I have never had to worry about my standards around them because they had the same. Mostly I am just grateful for my family. I love them all so much. And my dads cheesecake, mash potatoes, turkey, and the plethora of pies. I can't forget about those. Today was also Megan and I's BMT (bone marrow transplant) birthday. This is the first time it's been right on Thanksgiving. This became a tradition in the hospital when I first received my bone marrow transplant from Megan. The nurses told us that this bone marrow transplant was in a way for me, giving me new life. Therefore I needed a birthday! I gave Megan a gift, and my parents gave Megan and I a Christmas ornament. That tradition has continued in our family ever since, except now my parents give all the children a Christmas ornament. This year is our 8th year since the transplant. Crazy how the time goes by. Sometimes it feels like this was all a dream. As a family we read a little bit of what my parents wrote about that day of the transplant and looked at some pictures....we all looked so little. Thinking back on this, I am full of gratitude for my parents and my sister Megan. I started to get a little teary eyed reading what happened during this day for Megan and I. It's a time in my life that I will never forget. I hope I can use this experience that I was given to help others in any way I can. I didn't get through this trial just to sit and be happy about life.

I can't end this without thanking my Heavenly Father and my savior Jesus Christ. I know that they have been with me every step of the way through my life and they will continue to be with me. I know I still have some things to learn and trials to go through, but however hard and difficult it may be for me, I do not fear for I know that I can always turn to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for the gospel and the part that it plays in my life. It's hard to think of what my life would be without it.

......and this is why!

Halloween is the best at grandmas house. I remember when I was little going to my grandmas house, seeing it all decorated and grandma in her costume. She would always sit us down and tell us scary Halloween stories. It was the best. This year she set up everything outside and as the trick-or-treaters would come up the drive way, she would welcome them over by the fire, have them sit down and would share a scary story with them before they got their candy. My roommate and I went outside to hear a story ourselves and right in the middle, we could hear a group of kids coming up the drive way. One kid exclaimed "oh I love this one! This one is the best! She tells you scary stories!" I couldn't help but laugh. That's right....my grandma is awesome. My friends and I did most of our Halloween fun on Friday. We dressed up, each of us from a different decade. I've always said I should've been born in the 20's so now was my turn to dress the part. I was a flapper girl. It was dang fun! We danced all night and didn't get home till around 2:00. What a night.

Today in my history class, my teacher FINALLY handed us back our graded tests and reviews. I had been waiting to find out my score for a while now!

Aced it.

That just made my day. After we all got our tests back he turned on a movie for us to watch. A More Perfect Union. Gotta love when teachers put on movies. I actually do watch them though because I love history, no matter what era it is. As I was watching the movie I remembered that my grandpa Crosland is in this film as John Adams. It was so fun to watch him in this movie and to see him do what he loved. Acting. My grandpa taught theatre at BYU and Weber for many years and directed many plays. I definitely inherited my love of theatre from him.

I feel I have finally adjusted to this new change. Embraced it is more like it. I love it here! Love my job. Love being close to so many friends and family. Love meeting new people. It's fantastic. I have yet to find THE ward for me but I will give it another go this coming Sunday.
I made dinner for gram and gramps yesterday and it turned out very nice! That's one thing that has been hard for me is that I really do like to cook....but not for just one person....especially myself. So I'm thinking gram and gramps will be getting quite a bit of cooking from me. I have a couple of recipes that I am dying to try. I am so excited for the weekend! So many fun things planned!

Well today was my first day with the new job. I was talking with my grandparents about it the night before, telling them that for some reason I was getting a little nervous. I shouldn't be nervous because I know my stuff. But I was a little nervous until I actually got there and then wondered why I was even nervous in the first place. The day went great! We did like four crowns and three root canals so I got some good practice with knowing how the dentist likes to do those. The girls there are all awesome. Don't think there will be any drama in this office...or at least I hope. I have been lucky because every office that I have worked in has not had any drama between the girls. It's great. The dentist is awesome. Very layed back and easy to work with. Perfect first day!

I'm still trying to figure out the light switches at the my grandparents house. It's ridiculous. I will get it eventually though.

I have now reached the time in my life where my old, loved ones are fading away. I have been very lucky to still have both sets of grandparents still alive. I guess I haven't even given it a thought that their time here on this earth is coming to an end. Grandma Packard has been in the hospital for quite some time now and has not been doing well. The family is having a really hard time...and I have shed my fair share of tears. I went to go visit her with my mom last weekend, and to tell you the truth I almost didn't want to go. Grandma Packard is slowly losing her memory and I didn't know if she would recognize me. We reached her room and there was Grandpa sitting, watching over Grandma. To test Grandma we asked her what daughter was here and she answered right. Then we asked her what granddaughter was here.....she looked at me for a long time then closed her eyes and thought really hard. She couldn't remember who I was. I wanted to shout, "I know you can do it Grandma...I know you know me!" I tried to stay strong after that for my mom but I couldn't and broke down. After I had gained somewhat composure, I sat on her bed and just told her what I would be doing this summer. She looked at me and smiled for a second but then she closed her eyes and put on her "grumpy face" that she has been having for a while. I just keep praying that everything will go well and that she will soon regain her memory; but then again, I have to remember that we are all on the Lords timetable and that it may be her time to go. If it is her time to go, I know that I will see her again up in Heaven and she will remember me. That's where I am so grateful for the Gospel that I have in my life. To know that death is just a small step for us to be able to live eternally with our families. To know that we are not bound by death. To know that when my time comes, I will not fear because I am going back to live with my Heavenly Father. What a blessing it has been and will continue to be, to have that knowledge.