nieces

my baby nieces are just the whole kit and kabootle - with adelaide just being a doll and anne learning how to shop like a true faust. oh i am so proud

celebrate

christmas at the faust house isn't christmas without our homemade sugar cookies

we even added some brownie/strawberry santa hats

(thank you once again pinterest)

merry christmas!

hair bow

quite literally.

bexi's wedding

this monday my dear friend Rebecca Kasper tied the knot to her man Wyatt

bexi and i met freshman year- our apts were next door to each other

we never locked our doors so we just made a giant complex with our 2 apts acting like one.

last summer i went out to visit bexi in her beautiful home of santa cruz

i seriously love this girl so much.

sunday night (her last night as a single gal!) she asked me to come up to the cabin she was staying at in Heber so i could do her hair and makeup for her wedding day.

she hadn't slept the night before

- wedding jitters-

so i made us do a yoga session and had her take a long hot bath with salts and oils.

worked like a charm because she slept the whole night until at 6 am i woke her up for her hair appointment with me.

this is the second time i have done a bride's hair and makeup for her big day,

i. love. it.

with all the wedding help and shower giving i have been doing this year maybe i was right when i wanted to be a wedding planner in the 5th grade

(like every other girl did once that Jennifer Lopez movie came out)

up bright and early.

the happy couple.

i love her dress- it gave her a 1920's look

sorry i don't have a better picture of it, her flowers are covering the best part

this is cory and kenny- they are twins and rebecca's youngest siblings.

after she left for the temple i was put in charge of waking them, dressing them, doing cory's hair, feeding them and getting them to the temple.

how cute does kenny look in his bow tie?

precious!

MOTAB

to kick off the season and get us feelin the christmas spirit-

we took a girls trip to the Conference Center

it was the MOTAB's Christmas concert and it was beautiful.

the stage was amazing- they decorated it like a winter wonder land Castle.

stamp of approval

timing

heavenly father has perfect timing. even if it seems quite crummy. once you take a step back and take off your mortal perspective lenses you catch a glimpse of the bigger picture. that bigger picture is always better than what you thought. hard and scary things are really blessings.

last week i got sick and eventually ended up having to get surgery- the week before finals. which meant i was missing the last week of classes and studying time for finals. as i recouped at home i thought "how in the world am i suppose to 1. catch up in my classes 2. feel well enough to take my finals 3. do well on my finals." i am quite a perfectionist when it comes to school - so the thought of missing class and missing or taking finals after surgery is a complete nightmare.

if you told me the situation i found myself in - i would not be able to think it possible to not fail all the finals.

but guess what? i am doing the very thing with the worst conditions i could think of and i am just fine. i am making it and its not even half as bad as i thought it would be.

"with God all things are possible."

i am happy, healthy and finals are going great. i am really appreciating what it feels like to be healthy and Heavenly Father's timing. What if it happened the week of finals instead of the one before? or while I was in NYC for Thanksgiving? or on Christmas? or while i was in Jerusalem?

the week i missed of classes were actually really quiet so i didn't miss much.

so i am just feeling very blessed to have my health problem fixed and my finals all done! (just one left) i know i wouldn't have been able to do this without Heavenly Father's help and love.

peddler's village

one evening we took a family outing to this adorable christmas wonderland

it was called peddler's village

it was the most decorated i have seen on the east coast- in my experience the east coast doesn't put up as many christmas lights as utah people do

and i loved it!

it made me so excited for christmas

sydney and i love the pink trees the best

T-Give

here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving on the East Coast:

i love babies and puppies!

riley, stefi and i made these place-setters, aren't they sweet?

we are just a gingham family- super trendy

i love my nieces and nephew

baby adelaide really wanted to come home with me, i wish she could have

NYC

we made it to Manhattan for some Christmas shopping

and now we are in the thick of Thanksgiving celebrations

Happy Holidays!

lets get together

yeah yeah yeah

why don't you and i combine?

nothing beats being matching twinners with a cousin

and having an adorable mini me

made it to the east coast for a massive cousin gathering.

philly today after church for art museums and manhattan tomorrow for some Christmas shopping!

leavin on a jet plane

come this friday afternoon at exactly 2:00 pm my Thanksgiving break will begin!

i am already trying to fight off the feeling of mentally checking-out.

mainly because i have the mother of all cadaver tests- my anatomy lab final.

it is just so daunting that i just can't compute it- so i don't.

i think of new york city instead.

i think of how i need to shop for:

cute book socks

new skinny jeans

black eyeliner

sparkly skirt/blouse tswift style

i think of the wonderful people i get to be around again:

stefi

riley

mom

grandma

nancy

mark

emma

angie

sydney

jr

holden

adelaide

noah

kate

henry

wyatt

"it will be the cool cousin club extravaganza!"

this is baby me when i went to nyc for the 1st time.

but i think 3rd times a charm... i have really good feeling about this trip.

random

tahna is on her way to Hong Kong right now. so that means i am an orphan in our room without her till tuesday.

and i hate it.

i actually really like sharing a room- which i guess is a good thing because one day when i am married i will have to share a room till forever.

diet coke is no good without a shot of vanilla

isn't it weird how so much stuff can happen but once its done you still feel like you are still back in the same place?

i hate not knowing how i feel about stuff or what to do. i am a black and white person so when a grey area comes up in my life, i just don't know what to do about it. and i don't know what to do about the fact that i don't know. (ha- did you follow that logic? vicious cycle)

noah and the whale is a great band. check out "l.i.f.e.g.o.e.s.o.n" and "waiting for my chance to come"

instead of being in Language Development class- i am picturing myself walking out of a studio apartment somewhere in Europe (or maybe Greece), walking down the street with sketch book in bag, listening to the foreign language being spoken by the locals, wearing sandals and a skirt, and just wandering around looking for something i want to draw. nothing on my mind but how nice the sunshine is, how great it feels to be somewhere different yet feel like a local and what a nice sound my shoes make on the cobblestones.

my daydreams are very detailed apparently.

why does it bug boys so much when girls are running to the grocery store in exercise shorts and boots? they aren't trying "to pull anything off". they were just lounging at home, had to go to the store and its fast/easy to put on uggs. the end.

st. geegzy

picture yourself driving in southern utah and northern arizona terrain.

for 6 hours

covering 68 miles

on intense trail that made grown men get worn out

listening to a playlist of classic rock

letting your brain shut off

feel the crisp hair in your face and lungs

being absolutely isolated in the middle of no where

seeing sights most people will never

(like the Hurricane cliffs that run all the way to the Grand Canyon)

just being super happy for such a perfect day

picture all that and you get a really good idea of my weekend in st. george

she traveled far

this week in any other semester would have been death but since this whole semester is a beast

- i have just become numb to it all.

This week I had 2 quizzes and 2 midterms in my 2 hardest classes all to take in 2 days.

and this same exact situation happened about 3 weeks ago.

all that has been getting me through this repetitive cycle of studying all day, take the test and then immediately starting for the next test is:

picturing myself on my ATV

driving around the red rocks in St. George.

where the wind is so loud i can't hear anything else

where i don't have to think

where i just drive

i have also decided that i just really love traveling.

how cliche i know, look at any girl's blog and off the side where you introduce yourself 99% of them mention travel.

if i were giving tons and tons of money i honestly would just buy a moderate house, put most of it in the bank and once a year use a little to go on a trip.

somewhere new every year.

there are a select places that i would re-visit but for the most part my personality is once i do something, i have the best time and i love it but i want something new after that.

i rarely do repeats.

this applies to a lot of things in my life now that i think of it...

just check it off the bucket list and onto the next.

i just want to travel.

everywhere.

this is an important thing to my sanity and happiness and life.

i want people to say that at the end of life "she traveled far"

and not just geographically.

the end.

i am off to go get a diet coke with a shot of vanilla over pebble ice from Sonic.

also another important thing to my sanity these days.

i know, i thought the day would never come where i finally joined the Faust women and become the 2 zillionth utah mormon girl addicted to diet coke

but it happened.

welcome to the club i guess

happy halloween!

hope everyone had a fun halloween.

honestly ever since high school i feel halloween and news years eve comes with so much pressure to have the best time ever!

alas! it can be hard if everyone wants to go to a party but no one is willing to throw it.

halloween and news years eve parties come with high expectations and you don't want to be responsible for lameo party.

but this year turned out super fun .

much better than my senior year where cops, a graveyard and a pink fairy costume were involved.

last halloween was pretty spectacular though- shout out to all my Jerusalem buddies who spent last Halloween in a shepherds' grazing field overlooking the city light of Bethlehem.

first costume of this halloween:

Jon was Guy

I was Faye

from one of my all time favorite movies "That Thing You Do"

then i was Salvador Dali.

i just really wanted to wear a mustache.

but people didn't know who he was or what Surrealism is

so I just said "a gentleman and a scholar"

my roomies Anita Life and Anita B. Cool

tinker bell - and i almost could be Captain Hook if I had a pirate hat on

a hobo, a viking, a painter and Dwight

salavdor dali had a date to the party- Amelia Earhart

"they make a cute couple huh?"

nod to the previously mentioned movie. 10 points if you caught the reference

ending the night at Slab Pizza was delicious, my first time and i approve.

to finish off I went to another party and got a ride home on a vespa.

i think the vespa ride was my favorite part of my day.

NOW ON TO CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS!

I bought the new "She and Him" Christmas album and i highly recommend it

did you know

that the bishop can just call up anyone he likes to spontaneously give a mini talk off the cuff? and it happens when you end early in sacrament when the speakers don't fill up all their time?

well they do.

and i didn't know that.

i didn't know that was a game that could be played.

but by golly i was forced to play.

and luckily it turned out pretty well.

apparently it happens all the time to missionaries but since i haven't gone on a mission - surprise!

after i heard my name be called i honestly was so surprised and shocked i didn't hear what the bishop said afterward.

my brain kept stuttering "he said my name. i have to go up there. he said my name. but i didn't hear what i am suppose to do. he said my name. balkjdfioaufdajfksajdf;akjsdf;lasjdf. brain melt down."

my roomies luckily heard the instructions - to tell something that has added to my testimony this week. well as i looked back on my week the only things that popped up were about new events involving boys. aaahhh

luckily as a little comic relief the ward laughed while i was walking up and shook my finger at the bishop (just to tease) as i made my way up to the pulpit. i started by saying "i am fast talker, and speed up when i am nervous. so buckle up!"

then words came out and it was over.

but for the rest of the day the whole kept saying "i saw your face when he said your name! IT WAS PRICELESS!"

then proceed to try and recreate it which didn't not end in my favor might i add.

pump it

in case you have been wondering if i have listening to this new rockin album nonstop?

well wonder no longer.

"use your heart as a weapon and it hurts like heaven"

mrs. katie rogers

well my best friend has a new name.

mrs. katie rogers.

she was so gorgeous and they looked so happy together.

it was the perfect day- the weather was beautiful and so was the couple.

it's hard to describe how it feels to have a best friend married.

it is bitter-sweet, exciting, happy, nostalgic - huh so many emotions.

i was so grateful that she let me be her maid of honor and be apart of her special day.

mr. & mrs. rogers

carlsbad crew girls support

friends of the happy couple

our signature "WOW" pose

all the girlies

the drive up to her reception

getting ready for the reception in the bride's room

chillin in the bridesmaid room

she is kinda special... haha

they are the cutest couple!

bride + maid of honor = best friends

pretty cake

the groom's cake- it is of his favorite frisbee park

diet coke break in the bride's bathroom

my favorite grooms man

congrats katie bugs, i am so happy for you.

spencer is the luckiest man ever.

i love you more that i could ever say!

xoxoxo love- pleasant mixture of sour and sweet