Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

And especially in our house! We decorated with red garland, colored lights that line the trim on the ceiling, little snowflakes made of paper, a silver Christmas tree that has ornaments and candy canes, and tube sock stockings lining our entertainment center/makeshift fireplace. Our house was in a lot of turmoil for a few weeks, and i feel as though the Christmas spirit has finally brought a bit of peace to the house. The air smells of cinnamon, and the Christmas music is constantly playing. And to top it all off, everyone has been giving each other nice notes in the stockings! I love Christmas. I love what it does to people. I love that weird magical feeling! And i thought i would never be able to feel it in the tropics... buts its here. Just goes to show that its not all about physical things.... it really is the spirit. :)

Last Night

Last night i talked to Tyson for 5 hours! Until like 1:30 in the morning. It was one of those talks where they just go all over the place and you get to know each other really well. It was even complete with a few of those pauses that aren't really awkward, but you just stare at each other and its happy and content and you don't feel like you need to fill up the silence with anything.... i love that. Im pretty sure we had maybe 3 tickle fights (which is NOT unusual) a freckle counting contest and a 2 hour back scratch.... and then..... he almost kissed me! hahaha. But he chickened out and im sad he didn't do it... but glad at the same time.... its kind of complicated. Im head over heels for him but at the same time i don't want to ruin it either. I love having him as my best friend. He is seriously the weirdest, most pensive, over-analytical, silly, giggly person ever and thats why i love him so much... and you know what i mean by that. :)

Sister Crystal Maria Bates...

Called to serve in the Santiago Chile Mission, spanish speaking!!!!! Words cannot describe how happy i am! I never thought i would go to South America and thought that if i did i wouldn't like it. I know this sounds so cheesy but I already love the people and want to share everything i know with them! I kinda feel like Chile is already sort of my country. When i opened my call i totally got that feeling like... yeah... this is where you are supposed to go, it was chosen for you by God and its where you will do the best. HOLY CRAP! Im so excited to learn spanish! Im excited to learn more about the gospel and become my best self. Im so thankful for the army of support the Lord has provided for me. So many people who are just as excited as i am that im going and who are offering my so many options for learning and growing. Im so ready to devote 18 months of my life to the best possible thing in the world, the gospel and spreadin it like butter on toast! I have received so much good advice and I hope the people giving the advice don't stop giving it. In other news, Tyson is my best friend and I love him for being just that. :)

OMG!!!!

I talked to my bishop today and he said that my call was sent on Friday!!! He said the earliest i could receive my call is Tuesday, but that it probably wont show up until Thursday or Friday. Oh happy day! Im so flippin excited! It turns out, the reason it was being delayed is because of my work history. I used to be a homecare "nurse" where i basically cleaned peoples houses and helped them with their meds and stuff. They were going to send me on a medical mission! Like, i was going to go be a nurse in some destitute country! How awesome would that have been? Bishop called them and told them that im not a nurse and so... thats not an option anymore. But the lord knows whats best and where i will be able to use my other talents. Now i guess its safe to make guesses! Its in the mail and i cant jinx it anymore! I want to go to Europe!!! Maybe Spain, or Switzerland! I want to speak spanish or french. But i will be totally fine with anywhere state side. Heres hoping to foreign!

A wicked sweet night!

Last night all of these wonderful people and myself took a two hour bus ride to the wonderful "Ice Palace" to go ice skating! It was so freaking fun! On the bus ride we played truth or dare where there were many stories of first kisses and dates, and a lovely rendition of Twinkle Little Star by Tyson, complete with wrong words and a confused audience. We took a pioneer trek to the rink and ice skated for a few hours. The ice was horrible! So bumpy and hard to skate on. I thought my ankles were going to break. And it turns out, Kellie and Tyson are pro skaters and make the rest of us look like retards sliding around and pretending to skate.

So then skating time was over and we went to the bus stop to catch the bus and it was 10:05 and we had already missed it. So we walked around for a while trying to formulate a plan and finally found one car to take half of us and another car to take the left overs. Im so happy that i was in the left overs group! We had so much fun! We were laughing so hard and took so many ridiculous pictures and made some memories i know I will never forget. It was one of those nights, as Tyson said, where you go home and you pray and thank God over and over for how great your life is and how he puts so many great people and wonderful experiences in your life. Im so incredibly freaking blessed! My roomies are fabulous and make me laugh till i almost pee my pants every day, and every single day is a party... im living it up in Hawaii for the first time and im so grateful... and sad that i have to leave. Speaking of, my call is still in Salt Lake. Im beginning to think it will never come!

The talk

I talked to Tyson last night! I finally got the guts up to just get everything out in the open. And i will say it went really well, although the outcome is a tad disappointing. He told me he likes me a lot (and mentioned "more than a friend") haha, but that he really likes what we have now because im his closest friend he has here and that he doesn't want a relationship to ruin it. Makes sense. He also said that he has never had a good break up... he is thinking like 10 steps ahead. but okay. He also said that it didn't mean we wouldn't date, but that at the moment he didn't want anything to change.... but lets be honest, we have like a month and a half before im outta here. speaking of, my freaking call has not come yet! Probably about two more weeks i think. I hope. UGH! I wish we could just date and see what happens. but maybe this is better... and will save a lot of sadness. I told myself before that i would be happy with just being friends with him if it came to that and so i will be happy for this. :). I have a best friend. What more could i ask for?

GRRRRR

Mi Vida chupas.

admitting it

i am coming to terms with a thought that has been in my head ever since i put in my papers. im having second thoughts. I don't want to leave Hawaii and maybe im being super selfish because things are going really well here... but i don't wanna go. so im thinking about maybe putting my papers on hold.... the whole call. i need little more time to feel things out. there are too many big things happening right now that i just need time to figure it out peacefully and un-rushed. so i entertained the thought of maybe going to school in the winter and letting the call sit till the summer..... is that a bad idea? im just!!! AAAAH! but then its like... if im going to stay then i need to find housing and register.... maybe i should do all that just in case and then i can just cancel it all if i need to? i dunno. its confusing for me. ps. spanish is fun ;)