Some days, I feel like this is a pretty solid solution :]

Wahooo!!!

Are you ready for this?

This is really stinkin fantastic.

I am a soon-to-be Significant other. 

Okay, we all know eventually someday I will be one.

But seriously, I am to be one in January!!
My super amazing sister Nicole is adding me as her "significant other"

on Jet Blue since her hubby is starting to work there soon too!

Do you know what this means?

I fly FREE with jetblue.

I am extatic!
a big HUGE THANK YOU!!!

To my dear sister Colie :]

I definately owe some babysitting time.

Twenty-Ten

As this year comes to a close,

 I feel as if I should give you a month-to-month recap,

 of all (Okay, some) of the incredibly interesting events that have happend this year!

January: 

• Started off the year right with a fun trip to Vegas with Cam, his parents and Jared!
• Tay Tay had an unfortunate event with her poor Filopian tubes, mom to the rescue!
• Started rehersals for spring Dance Co. concert. And the long hours began...
• Took advantage of a free weekend I had off, suprised Cam up in Salt Lake. Got him SO good!
• Kaycieta Marita turned 3, Erie Mack turned 2!
• Started Seconds semester of college (Concurrently)

Febuary:

• Continued with dance rehearsals and school trying to juggle everything.
• Worked long and hard on valentines DVD for the boy.
• Boy comes to visit for Valentines weekend! Sooo fun. Lots of memorable adventrues.
• J-Jack turned 5, B-Rice turned 3!
• Stressssing begins of where to attend college. Applications due already?

March:

• Keeks Birfday! I believe she turned...31? Oh man no idea.
• Kept on keepin on..
• Crunch time! Dance Co. in about a month, seriously?

I feel like march was pretty uneventful...

April:

• Dance Co. trip last minute up to the U for a tour and a few classes. (def. snuck Cam on that..shh..)
• School winding down, finals week for college. First year completed! Whoop!
• Took CNA written test... PASS! Yahooo!
• Took CNA skills test....faill.... Booo...
• Cam lands internship for the Governor!!
• Cam and his mom visit STG for dance concert and senior prom!
• Last Dance Co concert EVER...Cried like a baby! Miss those girls!
• Moms Birthday! (I will not disclose her age on here for fear of punishment)
• Nathans Birthday! ... why can I never remeber my siblings ages?
• Masons Birthday!
• Nates Birthday!  
• Jacquelines day of birth!

 May:

• Graduation!! Forever and always done with High School!
• Hay Bays Birfday! 10 whopping years old!
• Lootttts of free time=lottts of laying out.
• Oh! I got a new phone this month too.
• Ittt was also my birthday month!! 18! I'm legal!
• Traveled with Cam to Idaho to open his call!
• SALVADOR BRAZIL!
• Flew on the Taco Bell Plane, prettty sweet.
• Lots, and Lots of job hunting.
• Mothers day!

June:

• Started working at the Marriott! New friends!
• Juggling work, Summer fun, family, church, the boy, EVERYTHING. Took some effort.
• Road Tripped with Katelyn to Kanab for a fun filled day of absolutely nothing.
• Pretty sure Cam Came down this month. Yes, he definately did.
• Spent an incredibly fun day in Zion with Katelyn, Bo and Cam. Doing pretty much everything.
• Layed out... tee-he :]
• Fathers day!

July:

• Fathers day of birth! 60 years old! Holy smokes..
• Took a weekend off and road tripped with Cam to Idaho for a weekend! .. Happy 1 year! ;]
• First drive in movie ever!
• Brunswick Ricker was born/created in the Build-a-bear workshop.
• Jillians Birfday!
• Started getting ready for school to start, kiinda.
• Cams internship ends, he moves back to Idahoo.. booo!
• Cam comes down to visit STG, we paint my room! ... in like 24 hours. I was a bit of a Nazi.

August:

• Work, Work, Work.
• Katelyn, Bo and I venture up to Salt lake, meet Cam and have a very wonderful weekend playin in Salt Lake.
• School Starts... helllooo freshman year. At Dixie.
• Colies Birthday!
• Cams Birfday!
• Bugzee is adopted into the Ricker/Jensen family!
• School, School, School.
• Cam starts getting all ready for his mission! 2 months left!

September:

• Not much happens this month.
• School, Work, Friends, Family, School, School...
• Girls trip up to Park City! Swiss days!
• September 12th, Dad, Mom and I fly to ID for Cams farewell weekend!

October:

• Already?
• October 5th I suprise Cam in provo to see him off!
• October 6th, "Elder Ricker" enters the Provo MTC!
• October 8th, first letter!!!
• Tays Birthday!
• Christians Birthday!
• Work, work, work...school..school...schoool.
• Jason Derulo October 12th with sissys!
• New friends!
• Lottts of letters.

November:

• Thanksgiving!! Whole family here, so nice :]
• Dyed my hair verrry blonde.
• Getting ready for the end of the semester, finals week!
• Triathon date comes...and goes.. Next year!
• Confused as to what the heck I want to do with my life.

December:

• Finals week, comes and goes!
• Fun weekend up in SLC with all of the family.. minus the boys :[
• Christmas vacation!
• Playing Santa.
• Nathan gets meningitus... poor guy!
• Gavins Birthday!
• Katelyns Birthday! (and 1 year "anniversary" with Bo)
• December 7th...Cam Leaves Provo MTC! I get to SPEAK to him!!
• Kaitlen blogs about all of 2010's events.

So there it is sportsfans, 2010 in a tiny nutshell. Looking back, this year has been perfect. So much has changed, plans didn't always go as planned. Yes, things definately changed. I would say most things changed for the better though. I would not change this year for anything. This is not everything that happened, so many more little things contributed to this year being absolutely amazing. I can not wait for the new year, to see what it brings and to set new goals, and then hopefully, this time next year be able to look back on another amazing year!

Sobbed.

If you haven't seen this.
I reccomend it.

It may not be the happiest movie out there,

but it is SO GOOD.

I sobbed.

And sobbed.

Oh man,

It's good. 

“Well, it seems to me that the best relationships - the ones that last - are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is... suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with.”

Dear Cameron Dale,

Thank you for being my best friend :]

Love, Yens. 

The Ghost of Christmas Past

As I sit here on Christmas Morning....

at work.

 I can't help but long to have the Christmas of my youth back!

 Gone are the days when I dreamed of sugar plumbs.

Gone are the sleepless Christmas Eve nights.

Forget the Santa letter writing and careful display of cookies.

Now we sleep in instead of wake up at dawn.

Now there are only 3 of us, instead of 8.

No more riding scooters with the neighborhood kids

all the day long with our new scooters.

No, now I have to work.

Bummer. This is the worst ever!

However,

All hope is not lost.

I've found that as I get older and older,

gone is the "I want" "me,me,me" attitude.

And giving, is actually alot more fun than recieving.

Who would have thought? ;]

I do really love this time of year

for so many reasons.

But,

I will openly admit to being incredibly jealous

of the doe eyed, believing childrens.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

You know it's Winter when..

• Your tootsies have not been painted in weeekks. And you don't even care. Nobody see's them!
• Your legs have not been shaved in a month... Your wearing pants right?
• You suddenly care less about how you look, and more about how warm you are.
• Fingers are frozen on a daily basis from scraping your window in the mornings.
• You sleep in a hoodie, sweat pants, thick wool socks, and fleece sheets...Okayyy..maybe just me.
• Your pale. Oh so pale. And when you see how tan you were a meer 6 months ago...silent tears slip down your face.

Ohhh wintertime..

Seven Whole Months.

1,2,3,4,5,6,7

Seven months ago to the day

Cameron Dale received his mission call. 

South Salvador Brazil. 

May 21st, 2010

Has it seriously been that long? 

Since I wasn't much of a blogger back then, 

let me bore you with the events that took place! 

After all, this is my "journal" for me, not you! 

You just get the pleasure of reading it!

I traveled up to Salt Lake Wednesday May 19th from St. George so I could go with Cam to open his call, and experience my first time in Idaho! I spent the day with my sisters playing with the infants and getting pedicures while Cam finished up work and packed. The next day Cam worked a half day then picked me up to head to Idaho. We went to lunch, watched part of top gun, drove around downtown, and toured the Capitol where he worked awaiting the news of when our plane would be arriving to jet us up to Idaho! ...Thats right, we flew via Taco Bell plane! Finally we go to the "hanger" to wait, the plane should be arriving shortly. Not. Naturally I fall asleep and wake up to Cam chatting it up with some guy next to us while I sleep, surely with my mouth gaping wide open like a lady on his shoulder. Shortly after the plane comes, we(well Cam) loads up our stuff and then informs me I will be sitting Co-pilot. Terrifying. After about two hours of terror, we land. Cams dad picks us up, and we head for good ol' Namp Town, of course the whole way Cameron pointing out every tiny thing that had anything to do with his life along the way. Cute :] Finally at his house we chat, unpack, watch a movie (yes, I fell asleep again) and head for bed. The next day I went to fiddle lessons with Brice, Jackson and Cams mom while he got ready for the day... SO cute. My children will definitely play some sort of tiny instrument. Fiddle lessons ran a little longer than Cam could handle I guess because before I knew it he was on his way over in the Jeep to "rescue" me. Little did he know I could have watched those cute kids play all day long! The day continued on with a tour of downtown Boise, BIG JUDDS stinkin huge 3lb hamburger that Cam and I polished off nicely (Oh yeah, we felt like junk the whoole rest of the day) Then we headed back to the house to get ready for everyone to come over for the opening of the call! Cam was a little more than anxious because he had had to wait an extra day to open the dang thing. Friends and family gathered and everyone cast their lots as to where he was going. My guess..California. (of course I had to choose the place he wanted to go very least because i'm funny) Cam sat down next to me waiting for everyone to finish their guesses (So cute. For some reason I didn't think he would sit by me, you know with it being kind of a family oriented thing I thought he would sit by family and such. Ah so cute.) Cam got up and tore into his big white envelope..and started to read. The poor kid was so nervous and you could hear his nerves in his voice....South Salvador Brazil!!! Hoots and Hollars for the crowd and he continued to read. I'm not going to cry, i'm not going to cry...I WILL NOT cry I kept repeating in my head. Of course I cry. The minute Cam finished reading "south Salvador Brazil" he was choking back the "I'm a guy and everyone knows guys don't cry" tears. So I blame him for my tears. And I'm sure everyone else in the room did too. Including all of his macho friends sitting behind me. I will never forget the spirit that was in that room in that moment. It was so amazing to see a boy who is so ready, willing, and able, and excited to completely put his life on hold for two years to serve the Lord. Afterwards  he was congratulated hugged, kissed, etc,etc. I walked back to my room to grab my phone and let my family know. On my way back to my suprise Cam met me in the hallway with a giant hug. Dang these tears! I was so excited for him, it was impossible not to be! Needless to say, the rest of the weekend was followed by soooo muuuuchh research on Brazil :] We flew home the following Tuesday. Back to reality, and back to get started on the 5 month wait ahead of us! 

That trip was seriously unforgettable. Ahh such happy memories! 

And seriously, I am awesome because I predicted California...and where is he now?

That's right peeps. Chula Vista San Diego...California. Awww yeah.

One Year older, and wiser too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAVIN AND KATELYN!!!!

This kid is a whole year old. 365 days he has blessed our family with his chubby cheeks and stinkin adorable personality. I just can't get enough! And I can't believe his is already a year old. Stop it! Stop growing up. Soon you will be a "big kid" and not want to snuggle your Aunt Katie anymore. Nate and Amanda have done a great job of raising this little cherub! He is a doll, anyone who has met him will surely testify to that!

Love you tiny baby Gabaroooo!!

This girl here. Brushing her hair at the table. Is celebrating her 19th Day of birth today!!! Happy birthday best pal!! This girl and I have been pretty much inseperable since 7th grade; the day we both gave each other the snotty "I can't believe Mr. Oliver just made that stupid joke about us having the same name look" BOOM. Instant friends. We have been through stupid classes, stupid boyfriends, good boyfriends! breakups and makeups, two efy sessions complete with extra packed underwear because of our inability to stop laughing, working at Two Fat Guys together slipping on beets and acting like tiny talking mice, near death experiencing,and almost killing a family of racoons. There is just  so much!

Happy Birthday Bestest PAL!!

Lazy Days.

Everyone deserves a lazy day once in awhile right?

Today was my day.

It is super cloudy/rainy outside today.

So today was the perfect day.

For my lazy day.

Watched unlimited episodes of this.

Aaandd of course this.

I even discovered an episode I haven't seen!

Is that even possible?

And felt a little bit like this guy here.

It was great!

Now time to finally pack.

I believe I have procrastinated it loong enough.

SLC tomorrow! Whoop! 

"If you're brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter, old resentments, and set out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you. "

Fa,la,la,la,la,la..la...la...la!

Three Days Until..

SLC with my favorite Family,

Temple square and pretty lights,

Christmas celebrations,

Pioneer village,

Lots of food,

Lots of fun!

I cannot wait!

P.S...Today the heavens opened up and sent me an email! It was short, no more than 5 lines letting me know he is unable to email me anymore, letting me know he is thinking about me and misses me..more importantly that he is alive! Finally :] 



"As a friend of course"

Tonight I was going through my hope chest rearranging some things and adding some things. I always get so distracted by this huge box of old cards,notes, letters etc. from friends and family.

Tonight I came across a letter Cam wrote me two summers ago before we started dating. (We started writing each other letters shortly after EFY in 2006, and it just kind stuck. A little joke between the two of us.)

This is probably my most favorite way Cam has ever, ever ended a letter to me. Hahahha this kid, where did he come from?

"I can't wait to see you! By the way, I love you! (as a friend of course, unless you are looking for something more....just kidding! .... but seriously.)

                  Love you,

Cameron Dale.

"Have you ever thought about, what protects our hearts? Just a cage of rib-bones and other various parts"

One Nation Under God.

Let's start with a little background shall we?

At the beginning of the semester, Katelyn and I decided we needed to take political science together. Mr. Joe Green sounded promising. A few weeks before classes started started, Katelyn recalled a friend of ours who absolutely hated the class. We disscused it briefly, and what did we decide to do?

Naturally we stay in the class.

This would prove to be a terrible, terrible decision.

Needless to say we have struggled with this class alllll semester long. This professor can not give clear directions to save his life!! Everything he does is sooo complex and so detailed that it makes it impossible to truly understand what it is that is expected of you . Not to mention he is incredibly intelligent. He knows his stuff, I'll give him that. However, what he does not know is how to teach a BASIC political science class to students who could quite frankly give a flying rats bum about political science, we are just trying to get this GE class out of the way for goodness sakes!

Moving on.

All semester long he has let us as a class duke it out. And what I mean by this is that he give us contraversal issues and lets us debate them between class members (I will admit I did enjoy this part of class...maybe I just like to argue?), all the while never giving any sort of inclination as to what "idealogy" he is. He would play the devils advocate for whatever it was we were argueing for, quiiitee frustrating at times. All semester long he kept telling us that on the last day of class we could ask him his opinions on all of the issues.

Today was that day. (Thanks Heavens!)

He was asked questions such as what his opinion on Gay marriage is, torture in America, Affirmative action, and things of that nature. Oh! By the way, he is "Libritarian?" which basically means he is against any sort of government control. Anywhoo, then someone raised their hand and asked "Do you believe that there was any sort of unseen hand, or God if you will, in the creation of America" This question was followed by a very ubrupt, very stern "NO" Seriously, you could have heard a pin drop in that classroom. I think everyone was taken back. That class is full of many different religions from atheists to Jehovahs witnesses, and everyone was silent. It was thee sickest feeling I have ever felt in a class before. Immediately I could feel a lack of the spirit in that room, (not that I feel it there in great abundance anyways seeing as we are all always at each others throats) Seriously though, it was discusting. I have the hardest time wrapping my mind around how people can think like that. How can they look at all that we have here in America and NOT believe that God has a part in this? I am so grateful to have been raised in the Gospel where I know without a doubt that Heavenly Father has a part in every aspect of our lives.





First.

First day in two Solid Months (Minus Sundays and Holidays of course)  Where the Mailwoman did not bring me a letter.

..What's a girl to do!
*Siiighhh* Tomorrow maybe :]

Tonight's things.

Things I am excited for:
- Finals to be ovvver.
-More specifically, political science to be ovver.
-Next weekend up north with my family!
-Work Party on monday.
-Watching baby Gav on Saturday.
-Friday/Saturday OFF this weekend! whoop.
-A letter from San Diego.
-Christmas of course.
-A New Year.
-A monthish off of school.

Things I am grateful for:
-My job, seriously I love everyone I work with!
-My bed. Aren't beds just soo much more comfortable in the winter?
-That no police have pulled me over yet because of my expired plates...fingers crossed!
-Friday being the last class with my awful humanities teacher from H.E double hockey sticks.
-The fact that I finally made a small dent in my christmas shopping.

Things I miss:
-I miss how completely exciting Christmas used to be. I miss being little!
-I miss high school school work. Why did we think college would be so much better?
-I miss my teeth not hurting!
-I miss the boy. lots.
-I miss the warm St. George weather. And my tan that is always coupled with that.


Things I wish for:
- That I was more sure about things.
....yep, that's pretty much it :]

37 Minutes in Heaven?

It happend.

I slept...a little.

I had unlimted dreams that he called.

and I missed it.

I woke up at 6:15...

Checked my phone to make sure it was on.

(I knew very well it was on and on full blast)

Rolled back over, tried to sleep/wait.

Checked my phone again.

Dozed in and out.

Tossed and turned.

Worried he'd forgotten about me.

Worried they were running late and he didn't have time to call.

Worried they decided to not let them call.

Worried, worried, worried.

7:23am.

Phone Rings.

"Hello!?"

"Yens!"

...tears.

Cue Cameron Laughter

"It's just me Yens!"

..cue me trying to stiffle tears.

I laugh.

We pick up right where we left off.

Felt like we didn't skip a beat.

"Ah, I'm so happy to be talking to my girl!"

...Cue more conversation and laughing.

...Cue Dad talking to Cam for a second.

"Well, I have to get going"

...Cue MORE goodbyes.

...Cue tears.

Ahhh such a happy morning!!

He sounds so happy and excited.

Could not be a luckier girl :]

Anticipation

At this moment I am 97% sure I am experiencing a stoke, or corinary of some sort.  My heart is beating a billion miles a minute, my tummy is all restless, and I can not sit still, I keep looking at the clock hoping it is bed time. However, I am fully aware I will be recieving zero sleep tonight.
Why all this fuss you ask?

I GET TO TALK TO THIS KID TOMORROW!!!

I'm only a little excited.

I'm bathed and all tucked in. Hair washed and did, outfit picked out for tomorrow so as to not have to bother with it in the morning seeing as he will be calling sometime between 5:30-8:00am ish... and I have a class at 9am. Now all I have to do is wait, wait, wait. And try and get some sleep. I have sucessfully listened to the same song in a row at least 25 times, nervous habit? Why am I so nervous? Idunno, but all I know is I am SO excited. Seriously, I feel likeI am six years old again and it is Christmas Eve, and we all knows what that feels like.

TWO-dah!

Yep, thats right ladies and Gent's

You know what today is.

Don't you?

December 6th, 2010.

11 days until the end of the semester.

19 days until Christmas.

26 days until 2011.

5 months, 22 days until my 19th birthday.

22 months until Elder Ricker is home!

That's right two months,

I just punched your teeth out!

P.S... Cam leaves for San Diego tomorrow morning!

...This means phone call tomorrow!

Wahooo!! 



Writers Block?

I think I am suffering from writers block. I can't think of anything to write. Maybe it's due to the fact that for the last 30 days I had a little thing telling me what to write every day. Maybe it's because I just wrote unlimted papers this last week and am finishing up my 10 page research paper.. whatever the case. I have no desire to write because I can't think of anything.

So I heard this song today. Not for the first time. But today it descibed my life perfectly :] Enjoy sportsfans!

I'm just a little bit caught in the middle
Life is a maze and love is a riddle
I don't know where to go, can't do it alone
I've tried and I don't know why

Slow it down, make it stop or else my heart is going to pop
'Cause it's too much, yeah it's a lot to be something I'm not
I'm a fool out of love 'cause I just can't get enough

I'm just a little girl lost in the moment
I'm so scared but I don't show it
I can't figure it out, it's bringing me down
I know I've got to let it go and just enjoy the show

The sun is hot in the sky just like a giant spotlight
The people follow the signs and synchronize in time
It's a joke nobody knows, they've got a ticket to the show

Yeah, I'm just a little bit caught in the middle
Life is a maze and love is a riddle
I don't know where to go, can't do it alone
I've tried and I don't know why

I'm just a little girl lost in the moment
I'm so scared but I don't show it
I can't figure it out, it's bringing me down
I know I've got to let it go and just enjoy the show
Just enjoy the show, just enjoy the show

Day 28

An Old Picture.. and how I've changed since then:

hahahahahhaa... I can only just laugh hysterically at this picture.

Who puts a picture this attractive on their blog?

I do!

Christmas morning 2009...

Missing 5 siblings, sad.

Hmm... How have I changed since this picture?

I graduated high school!

I visited Idaho for the first time in my life.

I made plans to move out of the house...fail.

I started a new Job

Started "freshman" year of college.

Sent the boy on a mission!

Have grown so much closer to my parents.

Have changed my major like.. three different times.

Back to the original.

Basically there have been a lot of changes this last year

major and minor.

But I would have to say that all of them have given me,

a better idea of the type of person I want to be,

what I want to do with my life,

Who I want to be in my life,

what is truly important in my life,

a greater sense of responsiblility.

Ya dig?