Good Times

Lately I've been really missing my family. Winter semester is always the hardest, I think, because there are no long breaks to go home. There are 2 three day weekends and that is it. I've always been close to my family and leaving for college didn't change that at all. I think it actually brought me closer to them. Sam and I didn't really get along until I left for college, I'm not quite sure what that means but our relationship is better. I guess coming to college has made me realize how important those 6 people are to me. And this semester I have come to realize how lucky I really am. I'm enrolled in a Family Interactions class. In this class we discuss all the dynamics of family systems and subsystems. I never realized the family could be so complicated. We were split up into "families" within the class so that we could create dynamics of our own. My family consists of 5 girls and as we discuss our families of origin some sad truths have surfaced. One woman in my group has 3 children ages 5, 3, and 18 months and is currently in a custody battle for her children. She comes to class everyday in fear that her husband will show up at the day care and take her kids. He has sent the police to her home and tried to have the kids taken away. I can't believe she is going to school, but she really has no choice now, she's the sole provider. I sometimes feel bad talking about my family because even though we aren't the perfect family we've got it together. I have a Dad who loves everyone of his kids and most importantly my mom. I have a mom who chose to be a stay at home mom and was always home for me and the boys after school. The boys and I may fight and pick on each other but it doesn't last long and I think if something were to happen to one of us the others would be there in a second. The Henrikson family may not be rolling in the dough, going on elaborate vacations, or even have everything we want but we've got all we need. The girls in my group are constantly in my prayers because I know they are struggling and every night I thank my Heavenly Father for my imperfect perfect little family. I love you guys!

These pictures are from our family camping trip to Fort Stevens this last summer. I really wanted to go camping at the beach and we finally did!! It was one of the best family vacations we've ever been on. We had such a good time! We visited all the old batteries at the Fort and spent some time on the beach. I took a million pictures...here are a few(and remember we were camping so we may not look our best).



This is one of my favorite pictures of Dad!

I LOVE mom! I call and talk to her everyday! She's the bestest friend I've ever had!

Patrick Jane, not the Mentalist...MY Mentalist!

When I went home for Thanksgiving I watched a show with my mom called The Mentalist. Mom would record the episodes every Tuesday and then watch them when she had time. I watched on episode with her...one...and I became hooked! When I returned to school, with only 2 weeks till finals, I abandoned my studies and caught myself up with The Mentalist. I literally became addicted, after classes I got online and watched another episode. At least it's a brand new show so there were only about 9 episodes I needed to catch up on. Now every Wednesday I go online to watch the latest episode from the night before. It's my little treat. Those of you who haven't seen The Mentalist, WATCH IT! And if you love handsome men with adorable smiles then Patrick Jane is your man!

Well, the past 2 weeks have just been reruns so I have been missing The Mentalist. I'm ready for a new episode. I actually have to do my homework because there isn't a new one for me to watch! So I am impatiently waiting for a new and exciting episode and after I watch it I will call up my mom and we'll talk about it. Because we both LOVE Patrick Jane!
Sigh...

Abs that Rock...or hurt?

This semester my roommates and I have been trying to live a little healthier by not making yummy treats all the time and also by exercising for at least 30 minutes daily. It has actually been going pretty well. Around 8:30 most nights we head up to the La Jolla work out room and either run or do pilates for a half an hour. My roommate Kimberly is an aerobic instructor on campus Mondays and Wednesday so a couple of us go to her class. It is really fun, I didn't think I'd like step aerobics because I'm not very coordinated but now that I've been a few times it's really fun. Well yesterday Janelle asked if I wanted to go to Abs that Rock with her. I've always wanted to go but never had the initiative to walk to campus at night and go. But last night we went....and barely survived! 50 minutes of intense ab work! I am sooo sore today!! My abs, obleques, and glutes are pretty tender! But it is a good pain, I actually like feeling sore because I know that I've accomplished something. Tonight's aerobics should be interesting! :)

Ayudame Por Favor

Estoy tomando una clase de Espanol lituratura. Me gusta la clase y el viernes pasado la clase fue divertida. Tuvemos un bueno discusion en Espanol, por supuesto. No tengo clase este semana pero necesito leer los primeros cuatro capitulos de la novela, "El Camino". Empiezo leer el libro hoy y ahora tengo un poco problema: NO LO ENTIENDO!!! Estoy muy confundido. Es muy triste. Pero sera bien. Me gusta espanol...a veces. :) (To those of you who are fluent in spanish please don't judge me my crude spanish. I haven't figured out the shortcuts to accents and things.

Lo siento!)

Sister of a Different Mister

I absolutely LOVE 3 day weekends and I needed this one! The semester has only been a week and a half long and I'm already tired of it! I just can't seem to stay on top of things and I'm not at all motivated. My dear friend Jessie came to visit this weekend from BYU. She is also from Hockinson and we went to High School together. We call each other sisters of a different mister. :) She arrived Friday night around 10 right in the middle of my roommates and mine's party! There were so many people in our little apartment and I didn't know half of them! People just kept showing up. We had a big game of Wacky Six happening(I'd never played before but now I'm hooked!) Our neighbors probably didn't like us much because we were screaming and having a good time.
On Saturday Jessie came with me, Elise, Kimberly, and Marisa to the temple to do baptisms. We arrived at the temple at 10 and didn't leave till after 1. The Temple is pretty busy on Saturdays we had about a 2 1/2 hour wait. But what better place to spend 3 hours? I usually go during the week though because it's less busy. The chapel was completely full and there were students waiting in the lobby too! But it is really cool to see all these people in the temple. Oh, and little side note, I love how they call everyone "brother" and "sister". When we got back from the temple we all went to see HSM3 at the cheap theater. Marisa is obsessed with HSM and made us all promise that when it came to the cheap theater we would go. I've never seen them but I promised. It wasn't too bad. Jessie and I chilled for the rest of the day. I showed her around BYU-Idaho and we freaked out together about our friend Chelsie getting married in May. I think we both tried to help the other come to terms with it...I'm still freaking out though.
Sunday we just relaxed and had some guys over for both lunch and dinner. And then this morning after making me one of her amazing omelets Jessie headed back to Provo. But it wasn't too sad of a farewell because my roommates are going to Provo for the 3 day weekend in February. So I've just got to survive a month and then I get a little vacation!

The Roomies!

This year I've been blessed with fantastic roommates! We all get along really well and always have a great time together. I got 3 roommates that I didn't know. One happened to be my room roommate, Kimberly. She is absolutely AMAZING!!! I couldn't have asked for a better roommate! Elise and Cassie were the other 2 I hadn't met before. Elise is our freshman that we love to death! She's adorable. Cassie was a senior and engaged so we didn't see her much. And when we did she was with Mike her fiance, they were usually on the couch watching TV. But Cassie and Mike were married December 13. Janelle and Marisa are my other 2 roommates who I roomed with my freshman year and we decided to stick together this year also.
So now it is a new semester and my roommates and I were perfectly happy when no one replaced Cassie. Elise has never had her own room and now she gets one! Plus now we get the living room to ourselves and don't have to worry about walking in on the engaged couple...como se dice AKWARD?!
So it's just us and yesterday we decided to go take Apartment photos. Are we insane? Yes, we are. We went up to the Rick's Gardens which are covered in snow just like the rest of Rexburg and had a friend take our pictures. It was probably 25 degrees outside and we opted on the black t-shirts and beaded necklaces. It was FREEZING!!! They actually turned out pretty good, our smiles are probably frozen on. We took over 150 pictures but had a blast! We had to hike through the snow to get to this little porch in the gardens. We will probably all catch pneumonia but it was worth it. Now we've got something to decorate our walls with.


Marisa & Me-this girl cracks me up everyday!!


Me & Kimberly-The Bosom Friends. I swear we are soul mates. We love Sabrina & Jane Austen, what couldn't be more perfect?


Me & Jo-We have been friends since high school & have had our ups & downs rooming together but we're both still alive and laughing!


Elise & Me-She's the smartest one in the apartment and always reminds us that we would be lost without her! :)



I think that this semester is going to be a great one! I know it's only been one week but as long as everyone does the dishes on their assigned day and don't their boyfriends/fiances over 24/7(which shouldn't be a problem, but it is BYU-I) we should get along just fine!

Fantasy

So lately I've been dreaming about what I want in my future. I've decided that if I never get married I will live in a flat, preferably in Kent, England. I want one wall in my flat to be a huge bookshelf that I will fill with books. I want to have tons of books, books that I've read and have yet to read. I will visit little hole in the wall bookstores and buy books to fill my bookshelf with. When I am not reading my plethora of books I will be writing my own book. I don't know yet what I will write about but it will be a best seller. I will travel around the world attending signings for my popular book. And at each signing I will wear a different color pea coat. Because that is another fantasy that I have. I want to own a pea coat in every color! Yellow, blue, red, orange, black, gray, etc. And then on my days off I will be touring the countryside of Kent, visiting castles, cathedrals, and the coast. So if you catch me staring off into space it's because I'm contemplating which book to pick off the shelf or looking into my closet at my rainbow of pea coats.

Beginning of Classes

Today was the first day of winter semester. It actually wasn't too bad until 2 o'clock when I walked into Smith 131...SPANISH LIT!!!!!! I think I hyperventilated the whole class. Hyperventilating is one of my talents I've decided. ;) But my other classes were great. I am taking an adolescence, early childhood, and family interactions, D&C, and then Spanish Lit. If I stay on top of things I should do fine. But I may just keel over and die in a few weeks from Spanish. Haha, no I am going to try to have an optimistic attitude. Wish me luck!

The day before classes my roommates and I went grocery shopping and bought our books. I think buying textbooks is the worst thing about college. It is completely depressing! But this semester I only had to pay $250, the cheapest semester yet! I bought my 2 books for Spanish off of Amazon. The bookstore wanted $30 and I paid about $14 for both! I love saving money! After getting our books we decided to take a trip to Winco in IF. But first we had to dig out my roommates car. It was completely covered in snow and ice. It wouldn't start so we had to jump-start it with my other roommates car. Then we had to push the cars out. It was quite an adventure!

So far this semester is starting out good so I'm pretty excited. Now if all the snow would melt I'd be super happy!

Christmas

I'll start out by sharing some pictures from Christmas. It snowed like crazy in Washington, which was not what I wanted!!!! So we were snowed in for Christmas. On Christmas Eve Jeff and Carol, Stina, her friend Ron and his daughter, Farmor, and my family reenacted the Christmas Story just like we do every Christmas Eve. We pulled parts from a bowl and dressed up.

Our Shepherds
Mary great w/ Child on the donkey
2 of the wisemen...searching for a star?
Our Donkey

It was sooo much fun! We recorded it so we will be able to watch it years to come! Afterwards we put the candles on the Christmas tree and sang. Then all us kids opened our presents from "Santa's Elves"...PAJAMAS!!!

A New Start

It's a new year so I am going to begin anew with this blog. It will allow me to stay updated with family!