The first day of FOREVER.

The things that mean the most.

FAMILY. Of course.

SPENDING TIME WITH LOVED ONES.


MAKING TIME FOR MEMORIES.


LOVE, AND COMPLETE ACCEPTANCE.


PERSEVERANCE.


BEING TOGETHER.

ALIZAE. :)
A single smile from her just turns my day around instantly!! And her warm hugs
around the waist make me forget about all of life's other stresses. LOVE her. :)



WHEN THE WORDS 'BROTHER' AND 'FRIEND'
DESCRIBE THE SAME PERSON.


PARENTS THAT WOULD TRULY DO ANYTHING FOR ME.





FRIENDS.

KNOWING I HAVE PEOPLE WHO WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR ME.
No matter what.

ENJOYING THE LITTLE MOMENTS LIFE GIVES YOU.
Taking a road trip, JUST BECAUSE.

SPONTANEITY. :)

A TRUE LIFE-LONG FRIEND, and an amazing example of everything good.

ENJOYING THE SILLY THINGS.
Cheap, yet PRICELESS entertainment. :)

THOSE WHO HAVE CHANGED ME FOR THE BETTER.
There are SO many who fit into this category.





THE GOSPEL!!

MY TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.
The reason for TRUE JOY and happiness in my life.

SUNSETS! AND ALL OF GOD'S OTHER BEAUTIFUL CREATIONS.
The song "How Great Thou Art....." always comes to mind.

CONQUERING A FEAR.

DOING SOMETHING YOU'RE AFRAID OF.
And I mean... AFRAID. I am terrified of deep open water. Seriously. :)

MAKING NEW FRIENDS.
13 girls, from about 5 different states. None of us had previously met. Yet 3 1/2 months later, we left Mexico with SO many memories, and most importantly, as LIFELONG friends.

GIVING A PART OF YOURSELF TO OTHERS.
These kids were more of a teacher to me than I could ever have been to them.

LOVING SOMEONE, AND BEING LOVED IN RETURN, AS FAMILY.
"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, EVER the same." ~ Flavia Weedn

CHILDREN.
Doesn't matter how old, or even matter what language they speak -
kids are SO accepting, loving, and nonjudgmental.

RELATIONSHIPS THAT REMAIN CONSTANT, REGARDLESS OF DISTANCE.
Mi tia, la quiero! She taught me that "Laughter is a universal language, and a sincere smile needs no words."

This is FAR (very far) from a comprehensive list of all the things that
mean the most to me, but I think these last few sum it all up.

Memories that last a life time, friendships that last forever.
Loving friends. Strong values. Faith. Finding joy in the journey.
Making the best of situations, no matter the circumstances. Giving your all, and always doing your best. Dedication, and drive. Consistency. Hope in the future. Spending time with those you love. Doing things just for the fun of it. Doing things with purpose and meaning. Goals, and dreams. Believing in yourself.
and...

a loving FAMILY who will always love and accept me, no matter what - and who have taught and continue to teach and help me every day.

HALLOWEEN!!!!

I love Halloween time, it's such a fun holiday. Dressing up in costumes, carving pumpkins, spooky decorations, and of course lots of candy. I heard on the radio the other day that during the Halloween season, candy sales in the US went up by 20 1/2 million dollars!! Crazy. They also said that the most popular candy was .... candy corn! YMMM. Alizae dressed up as a COWGIRL!! All her idea. So my mom found her some tight Wrangler jeans a button up shirt, and of course boots and a hat! She is adorable.

My mom, Alizae and I went to this Hallween carnival that they had at Dinosaur Park in Ogden, and we had a blast! Alizae really enjoyed getting candy from all of the different people, and my mom and I really liked all of the decorations and cute things they had throughout the park. Look at all of these pumpkins!

Above is my favorite picture of the entire night! Alizae and I were just taking silly pictures, and when my mom saw this character, she said "Take my picture with HIM!!"

This monkey is someone in a costume! I wish I had a costume like that... how much fun would that be. I would definitely NOT just stick it in the attic for every month except for October, I would use it all the time! Like to go to the grocery store. Or a ball game. Or the drive-thru at the bank! Ok... so the bank might not be the best place for that. But I think I could have a lot of fun with a monkey suit!

HALLOWEEN HALF MARATHON!!

I slacked off.... okay I ...REALLY slacked off on running while in Mexico!! so when I got home I started running again and training for this half marathon! It was on my birthday (the 30th) in Provo - and it turned out to be a really good race! I trained and ran with Ashley Thayne, she's a big part of the reason why I trained and actually finished the race - THANKS Ash!! Oh, I almost forgot. We wore costumes!! of course we wore costumes. I was Waldo and Ash was a devil-themed angel. :) There were over 2,500 runners, and everyone wore costumes so it was fun to see all of the CRAZY costumes! I don't think a few of them ebenthought about actually having to run in the costume though... hahah. The beginning of the race was pretty steep downhill, we dropped 2,000ft in the first 5 miles! Which made for some VERY sore muscles... I was walking like a 90 year old for the first couple of days! My legs are almost back to normal though... almost. :) My time was 2hours 27 minutes. Also, my mom and Alizae drove all the way down to Provo to support me and to cheer for me!! by far the BEST birthday present I received. It was so motivating to know that they would be waiting for me at the finish line, and cheering for me no matter how slow I was :) I love them!

We met at 6:30am for the race, and they bussed us up to the top of Alpine Loop, It was so beautiful up there! ... and extremely cold, hahah. BUT - focusing on the positive, it truly was so pretty - with the sun coming up over the snow capped mountains. They had a big heated tent that we waited in until the race start, and they even had a costume contest!


I had to take a picture of this, it was such a funny sight to me! This was at the start - bathrooms lined up one after the other, at LEAST 30!
a


These are my clones! hahah there were quite a few Waldo's there, it was a fun costume. People would pass me in the race and say "Waldo, there you are! I've been looking for you for years!!" The waldo jokes never got old.

This was right at the finish line! I had probably 50 more yards to go. At the bottom of the picture is Ash's family and Nate Revo holding up a sign that said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESS!"



I got to see CANDACE!!!! Possibly the highlight of the entire race. She is one of the girls that I taught with in Mexico, and she lives in Provo going to BYU! So she came to cheer me on - it was so so good to see her! It made me realize how much I miss her and everyone and just Mexico in general. Thanks Candace! Below is me and Ash at the finish! with our sweet medals :)



"TRUNK-OR-TREAT"

In years passed, I have always been passively against this LAZY way of trick-or-treating referred to as TRUNK-OR-TREAT. Trunk or treating is where people have their cars all lined up, and you just walk from trunk to trunk, while the nice people just drop handfuls of candy into your bag. It looks smething like this: (Thanks to Google Images for this lovely photo)


Seriously, if kids expect to get a pillowcase full of candy - I think that they should be willing to work for it! I don't know if you can even call walking door to door WORK. Just saying.
But due to less than perfect weather conditions this Halloween... we gave in. My mom, Alizae and I went to a Trunk-or-Treat. AND... I enjoyed it. It was great!! So much fun, we loved it. My brother Jake and his girlfriend Kinzie were handing out candy - and as you can see from the following pictures, their costumes were AMAZING! Jake was an old man and Kinz was Wonder Woman.

Work and other aspects of my life :)

At work we all dressed up as Waldo also! A lot of people who came in thought it was really clever... others were just really confused! And.. wanna hear something ironic?? Check out this link. Apparently this man tried to rob a bank, dressed as Waldo! hmmm.

My birthday was last week! My day of birth. I am officially 21. I had a really good birthday - full of family, friends and way too much running haha.

AND... Guess who called me for my birthday??? (...drumroll please.....) MY HOST FAMILY!!! Mi familia Mexicana. I was SO happy to talk to them, I miss them a lot! It was Sandra who called, and I got to talk to Christian and Emilio as well. I am SO grateful that I was able to meet them, and share 4 months of their lives with them. Memories that will last a life time, relationships that I will cherish forever, and an experience I will NEVER forget. A mi familia que estan en México, te extraño MUCHIIIISIMO! :)

________________________________________________________________

Well, October is OVER! It is officially November, which marks the end of the wonderful Fall season as far as I'm concerned. It's crazy how fast time is flying by - I have been home from Mexico for 3 months already! and have almost completed a full semester of school. I only have about one more month left in this semester, I am so excited to reach the end.... NEVER again will I burden myself with 17 credits!! Lesson learned.