As 2013 draws to a close...

I am finding it incredibly hard to believe that this year is almost over. Looking back on everything that has happened, it has definitely been my hardest overall year. A real roller coaster for sure. Here's to hoping 2014 is better!

Also, a side note. I usually use my journals to write these things, but I don't have the one that covers the first few months of the year with me, so events may be sparse...mostly in February and March.

January:

• Brought in the year by myself...in a blanket fort...and I'm fairly certain I fell asleep at like 10:30 haha
• I bought a car! Or, you know, I'm in the process of buying it. It's the first big purchase I've made, but I love that thing :)
• I had a TON of reservations about applying to Pharmacy school. Nerves, I guess.
• Finally finished the cross stitch of Christ I had been working on for years.

February:

• The application deadline for Pharmacy school!
• I turned 21

March:

• Interviewed for a place at ISU's College of Pharmacy
• Got accepted to said College of Pharmacy. Wahoo!

April:

• Was laid off when my company was forced to close its doors.
• Rediscovered my love of reading.
• Welcomed Porter Sheldon Owen to the world on April 5th :)
• And let's face it. April was basically occupied by being depressed about the loss of my job. I found it hard to get out of bed many days. Thankfully that didn't last long.

May:

• Started working at Ed Snell's Pharmacy Shop- the same pharmacy I had been observing at for 2 years
• Called to be the FHE coordinator in my ward.
• Found out that Rachelle was expecting a baby in December!

June:

• Baby sister graduated from high school!
• Was a witness in a court case...which was definitely a new experience. 
• Celebrated Thanksgiving in June! (Cause if there is such a thing as Christmas in July, there should be a Thanksgiving in June, duh)

July:

• Started observation hours at Advanced Isotopes of Idaho (a nuclear pharmacy)
• Also started my community pharmacy hours at Ed Snell's...cause they are awesome like that.
• Lagoon with two of my very best friends!
• And...most of July was filled with sleeping then volunteering then sleeping. 1:30-4:30 in the morning at the Nuke, 9:30-6:30 at Snell's. Sleep in between.

August:

• Began Pharmacy School!
• Finished official observation hours!
• Won a randomly drawn scholarship at White Coat Ceremony :)
• Learned to give flu shots...not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

Getting my white coat from Dr. Liday, my advisor.

September:

• Finally got to play floor hockey again!
• My family moved from Soda Springs to Blackfoot. It's nice to have them so much closer to the family!

October:

• Participated in flu shot clinics to get in some experience and hours for school :)
• Began a new cross stitch (Nature's Paradise by Thomas Kinkade).

Here is where I'm currently at on the cross stitch. Over half way done and only been at it for 3 months!

November:

• My stake officially finished indexing 1,000,000 names for the year.
• Gave my first presentation of my pharmacy career.
• Floor hockey again! Wahoo!

December:

• Attended the Forgotten Carols with Sunny, Sarah, Katie, and Amy. It was good to be reunited!
• Finished my first semester of Pharmacy School. Just 7 more to go!    ...eesh
• Baby Samuel Shadrach Owen arrived on the 14th :) So adorable!

I am not going to mince words, 2013 was hard. It beat me down in ways that I have never been before. Don't get me wrong, there were lots of good times. Lots of happy times! But there were so many times that I am just thankful I was able to keep my head above water. 

This year has made me stronger, that's for sure. For that I am grateful, but I can't wait to see what this new year has to offer. 

Happy 2014 everyone!

I'm Legal!

Well everyone, if finally happened! I am officially 21, that magical age where you can buy alcohol (as if that thought has ever entered my head) and have a driver's license that's actually turned the right way. Whoa...I just had one of those moments. You know, the ones where you all of a sudden remember back when you used to think 21 meant you were old...scary stuff man!

So, two years ago my older sister had a baby named Greysen Gene Thinnes. He was born the day before my birthday and is so SO special. I just love him to pieces. This is a picture from his moustache themed birthday party that was held on my birthday. We all had finger staches (as evidenced in the photo below) and it was just cute. Grey's shirt says, "If you really 'moustache', I'm two", which I just find hilarious! I felt pretty lucky to have so many family members gathered together in one place to celebrate Grey's birthday, and also mine kinda...I got my own cupcake with candles in it! It was a great time though, I loved it!

Me, Rache, and Linz

After I got home from the birthday party my roommates and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings and ordered appetizers and desserts. We had a great time cheering on the MMA fighter people, who we lovingly dubbed Monkey Fist and Fish Face, even though we were absolutely horrified by the sport. I believe Monkey Fist ended up winning. Fish Face got beat up pretty bad. Poor guy.

Also, the next big thing in my life is coming up this Friday! My mom, dad, and I spent the morning of my birthday picking out a new outfit for my INTERVIEW FOR PHARMACY SCHOOL! It's seriously so surreal...I can't believe it's actually happening. I was actually fairly calm about it until about Sunday. Then I started to get really nervous. That night my home teachers came over and when they asked that age old question, "Is there anything we can do for you?" I found my hand shooting up before I could control it. "I have a pretty stressful week ahead of me, both with the test and my interview. Since my dad isn't here, I would really appreciate it if you gave me a blessing." How lucky I am to have faithful home teachers :) 

And that is where I end this blog post...hopefully I will get around to posting a quick blog about how I think my interview went...and then a few weeks after that there will be a final decision made...EEEK!

My Eternal Family

My home teachers asked me the other day what I am most thankful for in the gospel.
Without thinking I said that I can be with my family for eternity.
As these words left my mouth I had some words come to mind that overwhelmed me with happiness and joy:
"You will never go another day in all of eternity without your family."
Oh it is such a comfort to be sealed to them and to know that I can be with these amazing people that I love like nothing else forever and ever and ever.

The gospel is true, folks. I can't say it loud enough or with enough feeling.

We love each other.

We support each other.

We cheer each other on.

We talk to each other.

We are best friends.

What I did to deserve to be in such am amazing family, I don't know.

But I am forever and eternally grateful for whatever it was.

*Oh man, here come the water works.*

Is it ridiculous that I make myself cry just thinking about how much I love my family?

Gratitude #23

Yeesh, I've got some serious catching up to do!

I am so grateful for the time I get to spend with my family.

It's crazy, I had never even met little Hyrum, but I had all this love for him saved up inside. When I finally got to hold him for the first time it all bubbled over and I was so happy this special little red-head was going to be in my family for eternity.

I just can't get enough of this little guy!

Or this one...

Or little Grey...

And then there's sweet little Phoebe...

And Gwen!

*Yikes, what was I talking about again? Oh yeah...*

It was especially nice that Logan and Rachelle and the little girls were there to help us decorate for Christmas this year (sorry, didn't have my camera with me). Most of our ornaments ended up at the bottom of the tree, but I was just happy that I didn't have to do it all myself.
*I spend way too much time trying to make the placement of the ornaments random, which, if you took McMurray's stats class, you know is impossible...it makes for a very tiring activity*

I also love just playing games with them :)
I even beat Logan a few times at Blokus until he figured out a good strategy which totally trumped mine.
*sigh* Such is life.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

The 'It' mentioned in the title of this post refers my life for the last week :)

Don't you just love when you actually get stuff in the mail???

I had to take a picture so I would remember the awesome-ness I felt at this moment.

On Sunday afternoon Mom, Dad, Maci, and I made the trip to IF to see the family.

This little guy is growing up SO fast!

Can you believe he's already three months old?

He looks more and more like Ronnie every day.

We also had a new experience!

Nate and Rebecca were able to come up and visit for the weekend

and they introduced us to Wild Asparagus Hunting. 

This is Maci and I before we left.

Here I am afterwards.

I look awful because it was raining and windy :P

Asparagus hunting is so dang hard!

It grows along ditch banks in the Idaho Falls area.

You would think that it would be pretty easy to spot, but it's NOT!

I was pretty awful at it until Rebecca's brother came and helped me.

It was actually a lot of fun even if it was cold and wet and miserable the whole time.

The three sisters sharing their spoils!

I was so happy to get to see these guys!

Rebecca is due October 5 and is having a little baby boy!

I can't wait to see the Three Amigos running around and playing together.

Sleepy little Isaac!

He definitely doesn't like to wake up!

He's adorable and looks just like an Owen.

Maci and Greysen.

Maci got her braces off recently and this was the first time I saw her without them for almost two years!

Doesn't she look so gorgeous?

She's seriously growing up :(

Oh, and thanks to Lindsay for lots of the pictures on this blog!

Bets I've Won

Derek and I tend to disagree about lots of things, so they end up in bets such as this:

What's this called?

I asked Derek if I could borrow their Church Key awhile back and he looked at me like I was nuts.

"It's a can opener!" He said.

After five minutes of trying to convince him that it could be called either we turned to the only way we know how to settle these ridiculous bets.

Aaaaand guess who won? 

Me.

Now for the next one:

Derek: "Emma, can I borrow a sauce pan?"

Me: "Sure, here ya go!"

Derek: "No no no, not a pot. A saucepan! Like this."

Me: "You mean a skillet?"

*five minutes of arguing*

Emma-Leigh wins!

And for the last one:

I have the cutest nieces and nephews!

Isaac Douglas Owen

5/14/11

9 lbs. 4 oz.

22 inches

Cute as a button!

Greysen Gene Thinnes

2/22/11

Phoebe Elizabeth Owen

2/13/09

Gwendolyn May Owen

7/10/07

Heck I hope I got those birthdays right...

If you couldn't tell...

I WIN!

Blessing number 8

Logan, Rachelle, Gwen, Phoebe, and Mystery Baby :)

Logan is my oldest brother and I love him immensely! 

This doesn't sound like much, but he is always

willing to share his music with me :)

Every time he comes over he seems to have

new CD's and he almost seems excited

to let me load them onto the computer.

He has always been an awesome example in my life.

I remember being so proud of him when

he was going on his mission. 

I walked around forever asking anyone who would listen,

"How do you think you say K-A-O-H-S-I-U-N-G?" 

(at least I think that's how you spell it...am I right or wrong Logan?)

I thought I was hot stuff because my brother was going

to speak Mandarin CHINESE.

He and I are both very much into watching

the Suns play. I know the rest of my family

does too, but I really enjoy talking to him about

how they're doing and who traded who for who

and who we think is going to make it to the finals.

He's one of the smartest people I know.

He got a 34 on the ACT in ONE try.

He majored in math! 

He's also crazy into Family History. 

He can hear a random name that

I've never heard of before and he can tell

you how we're related. 

I have had the opportunity to do many

baptisms for those deceased family members

that he has discovered.

It has been an awesome experience every time

and I'm so grateful that he puts in the time

to do the work. 

There have been many times that I have 

felt the presence of the person that I've

been baptized or confirmed for in the room.

It's all because of my brother. 

Amazing.

He also managed to find the PERFECT girl for him.

Rachelle is a beautiful lady and I'm so grateful

for her. She has an awesome sense of humor

and I love being around her. 

We talk about what books we've read recently

and what books we thought STUNK.

She's always willing to lend a helping hand

and I love her for that.

They also gave me my first two nieces.

Gwen is a little fireball and she can be 

very hard to handle. 

However, when she says, "I love you more!"

it totally melts my heart.

She gives the best hugs and kisses ever!

Me and Gwennie!

Phoebe used to be so stinkin' shy!

She's getting over that now though.

I love the way she says, "Cheese!" when she

sees a camera pointed at her

and he cute little giggles.

Sweet little Phoebe

I love being an aunt, and I especially

love that this growing family is

going to be with me for eternity!

I love you Logan, Rachelle, Gwennie, and Phoebe!