Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, I decided to do a post on what I am thankful for right now.



Top 5 Things I'm Grateful For This Thanksgiving



5. Football - I love football. It is so entertaining to watch AND to play, something that is rare among sports. If I could, I would be in the NFL women's league, except for the fact that I'd be shattered into a million pieces.


4. Macey's - I love this grocery store. Everyone in my apartment complex tries to tell me that Smith's is better and cheaper, but I have yet to find anyone that shops as cheap as I do and eats as well as I do. Even if I did, I don't think the love I have for that store would ever fade. I can find anything in that store in 36.7 seconds, and I bet that 27% of the time, that item would have a little yellow sale sticker. And if that wasn't enough, how about the 25 cent ice cream cones you can get with the starving student card so that you're not hungry while you shop and end up with half the store in your cart.


3. Missionaries - So yes this one may be influenced by the fact that my best friend is currently serving a mission right now, but even that put aside, I am grateful for missionaries. I had the unique opportunity of going to the TRC at the MTC to help teach some missionaries in Spanish, and I was just blown away by the courage of these young men. I guess I never totally realized what being a missionary entails, but these boys were sick, stressed out, scared out of their minds about speaking Spanish, and at one point one of the boys talked about how much he loved his family and how they are a blessing to him, and it brought tears to my eyes because I finally realized how hard that must be for these guys (and girls), to not be able to see anyone familiar for 2 straight years. So yes, I am very grateful for missionaries.


2. Going to BYU - I am SOOOOOO glad for the opportunity I have to go to BYU. It is getting harder and harder to be accepted into the school, and I am so glad I was able to do well enough in high school to have this opportunity. It is a great school, very cheap, and creates an environment that I can enjoy free (mostly) of out-of-control parties and shenanigans. I love being able to take religion classes, and love that my soon-to-be major is number one in the nation. I feel like I'm getting the best of both worlds! (Anyone notice the Hannah Montana plug in there? No? Yes, I know I'm a little old, but she's just so dang adorable! And I love Billy Rae.)


1. My Mom - I know this is so cliche and cheesy, but I am thankful for my mom. She always has a good attitude, and she is wonder woman. I especially love that she taught me how to budget, cook, sew, and clean, something that I think fewer and fewer teenagers are being taught today. I am also especially grateful that she will be here in a week and a half to "surprise" me for my birthday!

Other things I'm grateful for: Flat-rate priority packages, Mother's Animal Cookies, baby nieces and nephews, X-Men, good grades this semester, J-Dawgs (Thanks Megan for introducing me to them!), the Twilight series (don't judge me), a big family, older brothers who have already paved the way at BYU and teach me the tricks and secrets to being successful, bows, my ward, musicals, family traditions, and sleep.

Generation Tax

So I'm not sure if the blog world knows this yet, but I have changed my major over from molecular biology to accounting (I know, I'm still a little embarrassed to admit that because of all the grief I have given accounting before). My dad and my brother have been bugging me for years to do accounting, and they only stopped this year after I told them how adamantly I was against accounting and was going into cancer research. Well my theory is that the second they stopped trying to make me be like them, I realized the true value of the major (I'm not going to lie, the frequent free food involved was one of the major factors that made me switch over. Nobody takes molecular biologists out to dinner for free).

Well anyways, Ben, being the cool big brother he is, decided to recruit me for his xtax team this year. Sure it may have only been because he needed 2 sophomores on his team and I fit that description, but I try to convince myself it's because he just loves me so much and wanted to spend as much time with me as possible since it is after all his last year here at BYU. Well either way, he recruited me and we set off on our adventure.

The Competition: PWC's Xtreme Tax aka xtax

The Team: "Generation Tax" or as we have been nicknamed, "GenTax"

The Members: Benjamin Stay (the leader), Lauren Inouye (the brains), James Barker (Mr. Classy), Tyler Juergens (Golden Boy), and Crystal Stay (Baby Sis')

The Mission: To rid the country of Tarafina of pollution and save its valued natural resources through the election of Alfredo Dumont, "The Green Choice Candidate" who, through alterations to the Tarafina tax code, will take down all polluters alike.

The Victors (Try not to dwell on the lameness of my outfit, I don't have a suit yet)

So our group of 5 competed last Friday against BYU's best - the accounting majors. There were 15 teams competing this year, and let me tell you, they brought their a-game. Well of course being Team Stay . . . I mean team Generation Tax, we pulled out victorious and won the grand prize. The rewards? $250 and a chance of going to Nationals in D.C. They only pick 5 teams out of 80 schools that compete, and we will find out if we have made it the week of December 8th, so wish us luck!