My "Bucket" List

I don't know why but the whole idea of a bucket list has been on my mind. You know things you want to do or places you want to visit before you die. I've never thought too much about it before. As I thought about it, there were some things that I would love to do. I guess this is more of a wishlist for me.

• Go to Australia & New Zealand
• Be debt free
• Visit Europe, especially England, Scotland, Denmark, Italy & Greece
• Fall in love
• Get married
• Be a mother
• Learn American Sign Language
• Own and create my dream home
• Meet Zachary Levi
• Make a difference in someone's life
• See the Northern Lights
• Go on a road trip across USA
• Go to Universal Studios 
• Go to Disneyland & Disney World
• Visit Harry Potter World in Europe
• Learn Oragami
• Fly First Class (possibly when I visit all the places I want to see!)
• Visit a Castle
• Go on a cruise
• Create a source of passive income
• Get paid to travel
• Be an extra in a movie or TV show
• Become a millionaire
• Experience zero gravity
• 
  

Looking at 2016

·        I was released from being the Primary Chorister and was put as a Primary teacher to part of the 8-9 year olds in the ward.

·        Was set up on a blind date that turned out to be great!

·        Went on my 1^st second date

·        Got to go to the Logan Temple with both McKenna & Chase this year as they received their endowments.

·        Was asked out by a guy for the first time (not set up or girls’ choice)

·        Lost 37 pounds

·        Became a Senegence/LipSense distributor

·        Battled higher levels of anxiety and depression

·        Started taking over more responsibility at work

·        Visited Heather, John, Carter & their brand new baby, Emery, in Arizona

 AND I PAID OFF MY CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Families Are Forever

We got a glimpse of heaven last night. Chase received his endowment at the Logan Temple. Neat thing: We all got to be there with him. It was really nice to see a glimpse of that completely eternal family that I love as we all stood together in the Celestial Room. It was an amazing experience and as always, a spiritually uplifting visit.

Christmas 2016

This year Ipaco was closed both Christmas Eve and the day after since Christmas was on a Sunday. It was really nice to have the whole weekend. On Christmas Eve, Mom and I braved the crowded stores and got some last minute gifts and groceries. We had our big dinner that night, played TENZI and watched “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”.

McKenna stayed the night, so she slept on my bedroom floor. I didn’t sleep very good as I am a very light sleeper and she snores, but it is all good. We woke up on Christmas morning to a bunch of snow (about 10 inches). Dad and Chase got up really early and went up to the church to shovel the sidewalks. It was a feat to get there as the roads had not been plowed. The rest of us got ready for church. At 8:30 I got a text from Dad that they had decided to cancel church. Dad and Chase then came home and began digging us and the neighbors out. A snowplow didn’t go down our road until about 12:30 pm. If it hadn’t been Christmas, we all would have cleared our driveways and gone to church, but since the roads were bad and plows were scarce, we ended up staying home. Chelsea and her family came over for breakfast, which because of the weather, didn’t happen until about 11. After eating, we went to open Christmas gifts. The boys had a great time opening gifts and were spoiled. So were we. Chelsea gave me a neat bag to store my LipSense colors in, Santa brought a book, a movie gift card and a mouse pad, Grandma Dennis gave us super soft blankets and then from Mom & Dad I got a Defense Alert Device, a minky blanket, a purse, “The Secret Life of Pets”, and “Star Trek: Beyond”.

Chase was very excited about his gift from McKenna. She got him an amazing shaving kit and even had the razor engraved with his initials. I had Chelsea this year and I made her a stainless steel water bottle with pictures of her kids on it. I then spent a while helping Carson build some of the LEGOS he got. He is so smart and really good at it. Then they went back home and I took a much needed Christmas nap. McKenna, Chase and I spent a little bit of time playing Super Mario Brothers and then we went over to Chelsea’s house to see everything the boys got for Christmas and to play with their 9 puppies. We also ended up staying and playing “Headbanz”.

 

Called to Serve

On December 22^nd, Chase got his mission call! Grandma & Grandpa Andersen, Mindy, Brayden, Alyssa, Erika, Chelsea & Connor and some of Chase’s friends came over to hear where he was going. We had all been guessing. Carson guessed Canada and so did I. Chelsea guessed Hong Kong (probably because it was on her mind because the week before our cousin was called there).The guys at work mostly guessed states or South America. While we were eating dinner Chase said, “Watch, I’ll got to Taiwan because nobody guessed it!”

Everyone showed up and I recorded it live on Facebook so that our family far away could be a part of it. Chase ripped it open and began to read his letter:

“Dear Elder Andersen,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Taiwan Taipei Mission. It is anticipated you will serve for a period of 24 months. You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, April 12, 2017. You will prepare to teach the gospel in the Mandarin Chinese language.”

We were all shocked! None of us had guessed that! Looking at his face as he read it, he looked very excited! He currently has 3 friends serving in that exact mission. He also took a couple of years of Mandarin in high school so he is familiar with the language. As we were thinking about it, Chase has wanted to learn Mandarin since he was little!

He is not particularly excited about having to wait until April to go though.

We get to go to the Temple with him on the 28^th of December as he receives his endowment!

Happy Holiday Season

Grandma Dennis & Ted came for Thanksgiving this year. I was looking forward to the holiday weekend to work on some crafts. I was double excited because it has been a while since I was that excited about something like that. After dinner on Thanksgiving, I started working on my crafts and got them all mostly finished by the end of the weekend. It was nice to see Grandma & Ted.

I have spent a good part of December either sick or fighting it off! When I get the stomach bug, it knocks me out for weeks because of my IBS.

I did a couple of LipSense parties and have been excited to see the results! I am in love with this right now!

We did our annual Griffiths family Sub-For-Santa Shopping. Mom and I shopped for a 5 year old while Chelsea & Connor shopped for his 7 year old brother.

The whites came on the 10^th to do Christmas with us. Poor Cody was sick with croup so he and Connor went home when the other kids got there.

As the year has been winding down, I have been thinking about the coming of a new primary class with dread and worry. I have seen such a change happen with one of the boys that has always been VERY difficult. I think he has some issues, but the last couple of months, he and I are doing good. He doesn’t behave for anyone else, but he does for me. I worried about him next year with a different teacher. I was torn between wanting to stay with my class or get a new set of kids. I have had 2 difficult children!

Yesterday was our last class together for the year as next Sunday is Christmas and we will only have Sacrament meeting. Toby & Talea started talking about how they liked me as a teacher and didn’t want a new one, they wanted me. They kept talking about how they liked how I taught, something about “you are like the teachers on TV.” {Whatever that means!}

After church the Primary President informed me that I would be moving with those kids to the next class. Toby & Talea will stay with me for the next year and 2 of the other kids will be swapped into my class from the other class that age. I’m excited about it!

On the 12^th of December it was exactly 7 years from the day that I graduated from Utah State. I can’t believe it has been that long!

 

On Saturday we had our Griffiths family Christmas party. Carson & Cody were both in the nativity play and were SO GOOD. Cody was an angel and Carson a shepherd. They both sat on Santa’s lap this year and Carson was so excited to tell Santa that he wanted a robe and socks for Christmas. The boys also LOVED playing Bingo! It was fun to see so many cousins, aunts and uncles and to catch up!