The Million Dollar Question?

Right now it is 10:57 on a Wednesday night. I'm laying in my bed and i get this sudden urge to BLOG! Of all things... blog. I lay there for a minute, trying to see if the feeling passes and/or if I can convince myself that I will just blog tomorrow and next thing I know I'm up and on my laptop! I don't particularly know what to blog about. But nonetheless, hopefully by the time I am done typing, this urge to blog will be gone and I can sleep in peace!


I think I'm going to look up one of those surveys online and fill it out so that you can all know a little more about me... :) What kind of survey you ask? Who knows! Probably the first one I find on google that looks good.


I'll be back momentarily....


(Pretend the screen just went rainbow like it does on the television for warnings. Only put elevator music in the back of your head along with that picture. Or if you prefer the jeopardy theme... that works too)

AAaaaaannndddd we're back! Okay I found one that includes me posting pictures! WAHOO!!! So here we go, I hope I don't thoroughly bore you...

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1. Your favorite song:
-Well, I have a lot. But right now I would have to say it's a tie between Mindy Gledhill's new CD "Anchor", literally every single song. (If you haven't heard it you NEED to, seriously, it's amazing) and my everyday favorites, "Lucky" Jason Mraz and Collbie Caillat, and "Everyday" by Rascal Flatts.


2.Your favorite move:
-Tie between "While You Were Sleeping", "The Proposal", "The Blindside", "13 Going on 30", "27 Dresses", "The Blindside", "Miss Congeniality", and "A Cinderella Story". (If you can't tell, I'm a HUGE Sandra Bullock fan)


3. Your favorite television program:
-"Chopped", "Cake Boss", "Say YES to the Dress", "Gilmore Girls", "Challenge", and "Castle". Basically anything on either Food Network, TLC, or ABC Family.


4. Your favorite book:
-"Sing me to Sleep" by Angela Morrison.


5. Your Favorite Quote:
-I have 3 top favorite quotes:
1. "The truest expression of a people are in it's dance and in it's music. Bodies never lie."
-Agnes De Mille
2. "The Past is behind us. LEARN from it. The Future is ahead of us. PREPARE for it. The Present is here. LIVE it!"
-Thomas S. Monson
3. "Be of good cheer. Your future is as bright as your faith."
-Thomas S. Monson


6. 30 of your top favorite things:
-Friends, family, love, temples, scriptures, prayer, water, lindt truffles, singing, music, dancing for no reason, laughter, gerbera daisies, pillows, sewing, blankets, beds, showers, my shampoo and conditioner, cuddling, snow, children, movies, vacations, cereal, reading, fruit, pictures, and food.

7. A picture that makes you happy:

Meet my Best Friend. He makes me the happiest and the luckiest girl in the whole entire world!

8. A Photo that makes you sad:

I miss the BYU Idaho Collegiate Ballroom team :(

I miss performing on Orem High's Stage with all of my friends.

I miss the Kochermaywagsblinsmellswainsen.... and summer.

9. A photo you took:This picture was just taken by chance on my phone at temple square. I love it.

10. A photo that makes you laugh:

Jacob LOVES to do his so called "Nerdy Smile" ha ha. He makes me laugh.... all the time. :)

11. A photo that was taken over ten years ago:

This was my kindergarten picture.... ha ha ha.

12. A recent picture: This was Jacob and I on Christmas showing off the quilt I had made him.

13. Something you are OCD about:

-I wouldn't say there is really anything that I'm OCD about.. ha ha.

14 Your favorite outfit:

-Anything with color!

15 Your favorite shoes:
-The answer to this question would have to be my new Shape ups by Skecher, or my red ruffle boots.

16. Where do you go to school:

-Mountainland Applied Technology College (MATC)

17. What are you majoring in:

-Medical Office Administration... I'll be done in 11 months! WOOHOO!

18 Your dream house:

- A restored colonial house, with a wrap around porch, porch swing, huge back yard, tree house, and a hammock.

19. A song that makes your cry (or nearly):

-That would have to depend on what kind of mood I'm in. Usually spiritual or songs that hit "close to home".

20. Favorite picture/painting/art piece:

-I absolutely love love love love LOVE the black and white/sepia tone pictures of the LDS temples with the emphasis on the red flowers.

21. An unknown talent of yours:

-I am ridiculously good at sudoku.

23. A hobby of yours:

-SEWING! I love love LOVE to sew!

24. A favorite treat your mom makes:

-Well this one is no secret. Payday bars. If anyone has had my mom's payday bars, you know what I mean. :)

25. Your day in great detail:

-I woke up, went to the temple, came home, ate, watched Gilmore Girls and Say yes to the dress, went to Bountiful with my mom to take my Grandma grocery shopping, drove to MATC, came home, watched who's line is it anyway, got in bed, and started blogging.

26. Your worst habit:

-Not always having my room clean and leaving my stuff all over the house. Procrastination!

27. Biggest fear:

-I know it sound ridiculous.... but... mascots. Even at Disneyland. AND having someone break into my house in the middle of the night.

28. Whats in your purse?

-Wallet, headphones, ipod, feathers from a ballroom dress, pens, lipgloss, and bobby pins.

29. Hopes, dreams, and plans for the new year:

-Continue going to the temple every week, excersize regularly, and GRADUATE! :)

30. Anything else you want to know, just post it in the comments and I'll answer it! As for now, it's 1:10 AM and I am going to BED! Goodnight!........ and THAT'S a sip of Livi's lemonade! :)

*The Christmas Season*

Our Family Room Tree

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care"

Our Living Room Tree


The pretty garland around the banister




The "Willow Tree" nativity set that my sister gave to my mom.

*What Christmas is all about*

I am FINALLY home! After 3 months of living in Idaho and being homesick, I am back in my hometown. I was so excited to be able to just be home with the ones I love, and feel the Christmas spirit which was HIGHLY lacking in Idaho. With no decorations or any Christmas feel in Idaho, I was so caught up in the lights, the tree's, the shopping, and all of the decorations that I was literally THRIVING in the Christmas Spirit. But today when I went to church I came to the realization that yes all of those things make Christmas what it is, but it is not what Christmas is all about. And, if I had been smart, I could have been feeling the Christmas spirit the entire time I was up in Idaho reguardless of decorations. You see, Christmas is about serving, family, and love. It's not about the gifts that are wrapped under the tree, or the milk and cookies left out for Santa Christmas Eve. It's about helping and elderly person with their groceries, shovelling someones sidewalk, cleaning a room for your parents without being asked(which I still need to do), doing something for a neighbor, calling people you miss, spending time with those that mean most to you, telling people you love them, and most importantly becoming like Christ.

I am not perfect but today I decided, in this last week before Christmas, I am going to make sure to do at LEAST, TWO random acts of service every day and try to spread the Christmas cheer so that EVERYONE can feel special this holiday season. I want this to be an unforgettable Christmas and I feel that if we all do this, we can all participate in one of the most giving Christmas' of all time. Maybe it's not doing two things for someone every day, or even once a day, but I challenge you to at least find ONE way that YOU can make this Christmas more Christ like, and an all around unforgettable Christmas for you, your friends, and most importantly, your family. For that is what Christmas is all about.... and THAT'S a sip of Livi's Lemonade!

Fight the Frown :)

(I was trying to find a frowny picture... this is the best I could get. Just try and go along with it ;) )

As many of you know, I have been studying up at BYU-Idaho this semester. With the stress of finals and being homesick, the student government up here has started a campaign, "Fight the Frown". When I heard about this I kind of laughed to myself at how silly it was to be doing something like this. I immediately thought of the primary song, "No one like a frowny face...." Ha ha. I had thought that BYU-Idaho was always a smiley and happy place. With the spirit being so strong here, how can you not help but smile!? Well, too my amazement, I was wrong. Our campus COULD be happier! With all of these posters everywhere, it seems as though campus has become an even HAPPIER environment! I find myself smiling and saying hello to complete strangers every few seconds! It's helping these last 3 days to not seem as long as they actually are. Ha ha. So today, I challenge you to smile at at least 5 people you don't know. You'll be surprised how much it helps change not only their day, but yours as well..... and THAT'S a sip of Livi's Lemonade! :)

Here it is!

Oooookkkayy... After MONTHS of me not posting anything I've decided to take my blog in a new direction. Don't worry, I will still be sharing lemonade, it will just be lemonade moments in my daily life. I realized that while having this blog I was focusing on the negatives to turn them into positives, or "Lemonade" so to speak. So now, I will be focusing on everything positive. Because really, our everyday life is FILLED with lemonade moments that we need to write down somewhere to save our memories. Some have journals, some have computers, but for me, it will be this blog. This will mean more pictures as well instead of the googled images. Ha ha. :) So I hope you all will understand as I make this change. It will still be lemonade filled, it will just be easier things to write about which include more posts! :) From here on out it will be nothing but my life's lemonade moments... :)...... and THAT'S a sip of Livi's Lemonade!

Exercising

The Lemon

So for the past four years of my life I haven't been able to TRULY exercise. In 7th and 8th grade I noticed in PE that when ever we'd do runs I would have a hard time breathing. I didn't think much of it until I was finally in 9th grade in my first musical, "Into the Woods". (I played the role Cinderella) In the show there were parts where I would have to run off the stage and I was sick but I would run off the stage and start coughing uncontrollably. My mom decided that it probably would be best if we go to see a doctor. After telling him what happened he told me that I had exercise induced asthma. Now over the years it been getting worse and worse. So due to that fact I haven't been able to exercise for the past FOUR years! I've been able to do ballroom because my body was already accepting that exercise but anything else I tried I wasn't able to do.

The Lemonade

So now I am away in Idaho for college and am in living fear of the so called "Freshman Fifteen". I quit ballroom for a year and decided to try out for the top team that doesn't tour here at BYU-I not thinking I would make it, but to my surprise, out of 54 girls they only chose 7 and I was one of them! After realizing how much I loved doing active stuff like that, I realized how much I wanted to be able to actually go to the gym with all of my roommates and work out. I lost 5 pounds within the first 3 days of just doing ballroom. Then as I was looking at the classes they offer down at the campus gym, I saw that they had ZUMBA! I decided to give it a try because from what I had heard Zumba was Latin dancing and I can do that! So I went and I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!! I think everyone should try it! It's so fun and it really give you a workout! I can finally work out again and I love it!....and THAT'S A SIP of Livi's Lemonade!

BYU Idaho

The Lemon

Okay Monday of last week my parents dropped me off up here in Rexburg Idaho with no intention of bringing me home with them. Because the time has come for me to go to college! Monday night after my parents left I had the common homesickness break down and I texted and called my mom and begged for her to come back an get me. They were staying in Idaho Falls that night so they could've easily come back and retrieved me. But instead she said no and I cried until 2:30 am. The next morning she told me to make lemonade out of that experience and see where it took me. Since then I haven't been homesick once. Well, I have, just not to the point of packing everything up and wanting to go home. I miss my Mom, my Dad, my Sister, my Brothers and their families, my best friend, the canyon, friends, everything! Just... everything. Ha.

The Lemonade

I LOVE it here! The campus is beautiful and there is such a strong spirit. I continued my record of going to the temple every week and went to the temple which is literally a 8 minute walk from our dorm and let me tell you. The Rexburg Idaho Temple is GORGEOUS! I love it! I feel so blessed to be going to a school where the gospel is mentioned, if not taught, in every class. Even our history class is about the gospel. Because History isn't just the normal "American History" they actually teach from words of the prophets and the churches role in America's history. I'm loving my classes. I've only had 2 of my 7 classes (16 credits..kill me) and I just know that I'm going to love them all! I love my roommates too, Sam, Fran, and Carly, our dorm is a blast! I have a feeling that my first semester up here about BYU-I is going to be a great one. Not only in the fun ways, but it will probably hold some of the most spiritual experiences that I've had in my life so far. I know this is the college that I'm supposed to be at and even though I may not know the reason yet, I know that It's where I need to be. Hopefully I'll just be swimming in lemonade!Lets see what this first semester of college brings!.... and THAT'S a sip of Livi's Lemonade!

Packing

The Lemon

Well with the season of fall coming in, that only means one thing... school. I know that everyone has started by now but I have not. For some reason BYU Idaho decided to start 2.5 weeks later than anyone else. BUT the time is nearing and I will be moving on Sunday. Here it is Thursday and I am in no way near where I should be in my packing. I just can't get myself to do it. I think it's because I would love to just stay home and go to school here even though I know BYU Idaho is where I'm supposed to go. Ha ha. Packing is a pain too because unlike all of my lucky BYU friends, we can only make one trip. So I have to make sure that I get everything the first time otherwise, I'll have to go 4 months without it.

The Lemonade

I know that once all of my packing is done, I will feel less stressed but I think I'm just trying to stay in Orem as long as I can. And even though I'm going to miss being home, I'm going to have a BLAST up and BYU Idaho. I just gotta shove my procrastination out the window, buck up, and pack... and THAT'S a sip of Livi's Lemonade!