Vegas Vacation!

I went to Las Vegas for Labor Day weekend with my dear friend Amanda. We had such a fun time!!!! I LOVE being with my family and I cry every time I leave them!

Highlight of the trip- seeing Le Reve at the Wynn!! Such an amazing show! Amanda and I sat in our seats for like half an hour after the show ended because we were just amazed!

Waking up to these cute kids every morning- you just can't beat that!!

Bath time! Molly is one of the happiest babies I've ever met in my life!! She smiles at EVERYTHING!!!!

Hanging out at Steve's house after he got called into the bishopric! I love my oldest brother so much!! What an amazing dude!! Steve, you're the best!

Reason he's the best, we both have flies on our key rings. Fly fishing runs in the Fife blood!

First tye-dye shirt I've ever made in my life... Dude I'm a freakin natural!!

Island Park- the greatest place on the earth!

I went up to my cabin in Island Park, ID a few weeks ago for a family reunion and it was one of the funnest weeks I've had up there! We did so many fun things- the week was packed with nonstop action!

This was one of my favorite pictures from the week. Papa moose just loved our lawn!

4 wheeling- always awesome!

Survivor, Fife style! This was so much fun- the whole extended Fife family split up into 3 teams: Moose, Fish, and Canoe, and we competed in about 5 different events. It was so much fun and brought everyone together because there was a job for everyone.

This was the event I participated in- it was a relay where a little kid had to catch a fish, put it in a ziploc bag and run about 25 yards. Then they handed the bag off to me, I had to put it in my mouth and grab my tube, run up this little stream for about 15 yards then come back down and slap the next kid's hand and do it all over again. It was so tiring but soooo funny! This is a picture of me coming in 1st! yeah baby! BUT about 4 seconds after this picture was taken, my brother (who was on another team) came and tackled me, trying to get me to lose! Little cheater! haha! But we still won! The last part of this event was that the dads had to drink the fish... who came up with that idea?

These 2 moose hung out right in front of our cabin the whole week! We saw them every day around the same time. It was so awesome! They are so much fun to watch!

We got hooked on playing horseshoe. Greatest game to pass the time.

I always LOVE hanging out with my sissy. She is the BEST!!!

A few days after I opened my mission call we went down to Idaho Falls and I went through the temple! It was so amazing!!! The Idaho Falls Temple was so beautiful! Going through with most of my family there was so special!

Of course we floated the River. You can't go up to the cabin and not do that! Dave and Becky's canoe flipped! They had Suzie, Ben and 10 month old Molly with them! Disaster! But everyone was ok.

And last but certainly not least, we became trappers on this trip. You could kind of smell skunk around our cabin so my dad called this guy to come bring some traps for us to set up so we could get rid of the stinky guy. We never got the skunk but we caught about 9 squirrels...

...and a raccoon!!!

Life's a Garden, DIG IT!!!

Last summer my friends across the street planted a garden in their backyard. They just had zucchini and tomatoes and they were so good! I've never eaten so much zucchini bread in my life! It seemed like they had so much fun throughout the summer working on their garden and I wanted to be apart of it!

So this summer I've helped out a little bit with the garden and it has been so fun! We have way more variety in the garden this summer too! Zucchini, tomato, cucumber, corn, pumpkin, watermelon, bell pepper, and herbs. AWESOME!!!

Giant Pumpkin plant- Chris is wanting to enter the pumpkins into a competition!

Basil
Baby corn!! 2 days old. Darling!

2 months later- corn ready for picking!

Zucchini ready for some yummy bread

Moral of the story is:

I am #1 (Nelly Reference)

I just have to brag for a little bit! So I started working at Tucano's about a month ago and it has been such a fun job! I've met so many cool people and it has been just awesome. Yesterday I worked the night shift and guess what, I was the TOP SERVER OF THE NIGHT!!!! I can't believe that I made more in tips than all of the other servers! I had some really great tables and I was having such a fun time and it really showed when I got my tips at the end of the night! Best part of being the top server, my manager gave me a free dessert! Woohoo!!! I brought home the white chocolate, raspberry cheesecake and shared it with my roommates. Sooooooo delicious!!

This was my day:
woke up, read my scriptures, ate breakfast, studied some stuff for work, went to work at 10:15am, got home from work at 10:30pm....... awesome

Kids Say the Darndest Things

My brother, Dave, sent our family this email yesterday and I think it's the funniest story ever:

I just put Ben down for the night and he had something really important to tell me. He was real intense and said ... "Dad, Dad ... hot dog fixes Jesus". I said "Ben ... what did you say?" He said it 2 or 3 more times ... "Hot dog fixes Jesus." We barbecued hot dogs earlier in the day, so I thought he was talking about our lunch. I kept asking him about hot dogs and he was getting a little frustrated. I asked Jackson to help me understand and we both listened again ... "hot dog fixes Jesus". He started to say it real slow, but he was pointing to his forehead. I called Becky and in and she listened a few times and couldn't figure it out. Finally after a few minutes and having him say it over and over, Jackson figured out he was pointing to where he had stitches ... he was saying ... "Uncle Doug fix the stitches". We listened again and it sounded exactly like "hot dog fixes Jesus". We were all cracking up and Ben thought he was so funny. Becky recorded it on her iPhone ... was asked him to say "Uncle Doug fix the stitches" and "Hot dog fixes Jesus" and it sounded EXACTLY the same. Funny kid.

Vegas Vacation!

I went down to Las Vegas last week and had such an awesome time! I had to get away from Provo for a while so I asked my brothers if I could come down there for a while and work for them. It was so great seeing how my brothers run their offices! Dave had me take boxes of Einstein Bagels around to a bunch of different offices and Doug (more like Heather) had me help with his office open house.

I had so much fun with my nieces and nephews while I was there! These kids never cease to amaze me! They are all so stinkin' cute and so talented!

Now it's back to the grind of looking for a job in Provo. Please pray that something with come my way, preferably a dental hygiene job!

Sorry there are no pictures- I lost my camera! But I think I might buy one with some graduation money!

Breaking up is never fun!! Your life changes so much because one minute you have a best friend, spending every possible moment with them, and the next minute you are best friend-less. It totally stinks!!! Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways and we definitely have to follow Him with faith. Especially when we don't understand why.

Last week of school!

The last week has been crazy busy but still super fun! It's amazing how much I packed into one week while I was studying for Boards and finals and trying to finish all my graduation requirements!

Callister Cousin Party!!
Sadly we had to say goodbye to Mike and Kelsie- they are moving to Fresno for school. They will be missed a lot here in Provo!! The Callister Clan is dwindling!

Our Dental Hygiene graduation party was so much fun! We had an awesome dinner catered by Costa Vida, gave out the best awards to each other and to our staff, and watched the cutest slideshow made by Katie. I'm going to miss these girls so much! It has been the best 2 years ever!

Now our name tags say "RDH" for regestered dental hygienist! We're legit!

The invitation said "Bring your immediate family"... for those of us who aren't married, we were able to bring an extra special person in our lives! Thanks Nic for all your support!
This is a stack of all my dental hygiene books and notes for the last 2 years! I really wanted to throw a lot of it away today, but decided I better hold that off until I get my "Pass" letter for all my boards!

My last Board exam is this Thursday! I'm actually excited for this one because clinic is my forte!

Studying Hurts My Head!

I don't think there has been a time in my life when I've been more exhausted! My last 2 board exams are coming up and I have spent so many hours studying for these tests and I've had it!! At the end of every day my head is so full of information and I go to bed with a throbbing headache. The exam this Wednesday is an 8 hour test!! 8 hours! That's a full day of work... but taking a test! My brain is going to be so fried after that! I can't wait for Wednesday to be over! I just really hope that all this studying pays off and that I pass so I don't have to study ever again!

1 down, 2 to go!!

This last week I passed my first board exam!!! I'm so happy to have one out of the way so I can start focusing on the hard one coming up.... oh goodie!! It was a very stressful, nerve racking day to say the least. When I gave my shots to Megan, I was shaking so much because I had two judges breathing down my neck! But it was so nice to spend the day with 13 of the coolest classmates ever! And we all passed! Go UVU Dental Hygiene!

This was right after we found out our results of the written portion of the anesthesia exam. If you didn't pass this, you couldn't even go on to the next round- the clinical part! We all passed!

This was right after I got my results from the clinical exam. Megan was totally numb at this point! Sorry Megan!

Bliss!

February was a fabulous month! I spent PLENTY of time studying and enough time playing to keep me sane. I'm studying for my board exams (which start this week!! yikes) and it's going really well. My poor boyfriend has to put up with me spending more time at the library than with him but at least he's learning how to be patient!

Nic and I have done so many fun things together lately! Our Valentine's date was probably one of the funniest dates I've ever been on- anything that could go wrong, went wrong! There were a lot of "firsts" on this date- the best one being it was the first time I've ever had my lip split open from being punched! Yeah, that's right, punched! Nic and I were wrestling in my apartment and he turned to walk away and ACCIDENTALLY hit me in my face and gave me a fat lip! haha! One of my favorite things about this Valentine's Day was my little present to him- I made teeth molds out of chocolate!! It was so cool and Nic really liked it. I thought the rose added a nice little touch!

The third weekend in February, my friend's ward was having a formal ball and I thought, "I've got to be a part of this!!" She invited my apartment and all of our guy friends to come and we had such a fun time! We raided Whitney's house for prom dresses and got all dolled up. It was so much fun dressing up again- first time since prom 4 years ago. We had a great time dancing the night away and then we went to IHOP for a midnight breakfast.

We look so cute together!!!

Last week I went to visit my good friend Ceci at the hospital. She had her baby Monday, March 9th and I went that night to see the new little guy. I was their first visitor! Little Jacob Hermann is such a cute little baby! I loved holding him and didn't want to leave. Congrats Ceci and Steven!

Painting in the Sun

Back in July my friend, Steven, called me and asked if I wouldn't mind sitting for his so he could paint a portrait of me for his big summer project. I thought, heck why not! I was #5 of 47 portraits he painted for this project. Steven started painting me at around 4 in the afternoon and it was blazing hot! I love how he captured the heat on my face- i was so hot and totally sweaty while he was painting me! Last summer Steven did this project where he would paint people in one hour which I thought was so cool- it really shows how much talent he has! Here's his artist's statement on the project:

"The art scene in Provo is growing and fluctuating. "Hour Provo" is an effort to contribute to that growth and to allow the diverse people that make up our community to become the art themselves. These folks are just some of the elements and ingredients that represent Provo. Each individual’s portrait was captured in oil paints and painted directly from the live model in one hour.Our community has a wealth of diversity. Some have been here for multiple generations while others have been here only months. Some ask for money for food and some ask for political votes. There are musicians, businessmen, children, artists, mothers, students, old and young, poor and rich. There are many beliefs and many ethnic backgrounds. All are equal. Whether prominent or subtle, each individual is given the same attention as a part of "Hour Provo". Each is painted in one hour and each is equally represented."

Here's my portrait! Steven, you did a wonderful job and I know you will go far becuase you are so talented!

Christmas Celebrations!

This last Christmas was so much fun! The first of many parties was a sugar cookie making party. I made Grandma Callister's famous sugar cookie dough and then I had a bunch of people over and we baked and then frosted and decorated the cookies. They were so good!! I think it's so fun doing stuff like this with friends.We had an awesome Christmas Party with all the Dental Hygiene Students and Staff. We had such a fun time wearing our ugly Christmas sweaters and eating good food and playing fun games. I love all the girls I go to school with- they are so awesome and I'm going to really miss them when we graduate in April.

My parents got home from their mission a few days before Christmas and it was great having them home. Debbie and Dan came for the holidays- just the singles this year! Since Christmas Day doesn't have as much excitement when little kids aren't there, we decided to open presents for like 10 minutes then hit up good old Dodge Ridge for the rest of the day. It was awesome snowboarding on Christmas Day- no one else was there and we were together as a fam!

A few days after Christmas, we went to Las Vegas to see the rest of the family. It was great seeing my dear Grandma Fife. She was so excited to see my parents after their mission. I loved seeing how proud she was of my mom and dad for serving a mission.

Family love!

Best part of the vacation- hearing Dan tell the story of how he got attacked by a dog during a blind date! I think I heard the story 18 times and it never got old!