Wicked/Wonder/Living Legends

On March 1, my family and I went to see Wicked at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City. It was amazing! This was my second time seeing it and I still absolutely love it! My favorite scenes/songs are Loathing, Defying Gravity, and For Good. I highly recommend it! Thanks Dad and John for the family tickets!





On March 2, Mom, Mandy, Mary, Meg, Carol and I traveled to Price for family book club (which we are so late in having). It was our family's turn and I picked the book Wonder. Book club went well and we had a great discussion. Thanks family for a great time! From Amazon, "I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse. 

August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. WONDER, now a #1 New York Times bestseller and included on the Texas Bluebonnet Award master list, begins from Auggie’s point of view, but soon switches to include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others. These perspectives converge in a portrait of one community’s struggle with empathy, compassion, and acceptance." 

It was snowing most of the day and we made the decision not to travel home. We stayed at Aunt Mary and Uncle Boyd's house. BYU's Living Legends were doing a performance that night, so I decided to go. It was a great performance. Afterward, I ran into several friends from Price: Kara Palmer, Cassie Cunningham, Jackie Shorts, and Arthella Williams. When I got back into the car with my Aunt Mary and Uncle Boyd, they remarked about how I still new quite a few people in Price. It's true, I still do have a lot of friends in Price and it was so good to see just a few of them!

Happy Birthday

I learned this semester that all of my roommates have birthdays in February. To celebrate, we decided to go to Tucano's for a birthday celebration. We met up with a former roommate Alysée. Carly also invited a friend of hers from her mission and Leiema invited her cousin. It was fun a time with delicious food and amazing people! Happy Birthday my friends!

Also shout out to all my other friends and family members who have birthdays this month (Meg, Grandma, Becca, Cameron, Tim, Eric to name a few)!

Nathan and Amy's Wedding / Super Bowl Party

My cousin Nathan married his best friend Amy on Feb. 2. They were married in the Manti, Utah Temple. It was a nice ceremony. Amy was just glowing. Nathan looked pretty smitten too. We had a good turn out from the Mathis side. Uncle Stan, Aunt Jerilyn, Richele, Rozlyn and her son Becket, MurrayLee, Kimalee and their kids, Aunt Mary, Uncle Boyd, Kate, Laird and little Anna, Paul, Bel, David, Kara, Ann, David John, Mom, Mandy, Mary, Meg, and I, and of course Uncle Lee, Aunt Ann, Avan, Anna, McKay, Kriz, Sidney, Kameron, Ross, and Easton. I think Amy's side had a great turn out too. After the ceremony we went to the Manti House for a luncheon. I had Apricot Chicken. It was yummy. Congratulations Nathan and Amy and welcome officially Amy into the family!

After the wedding I took a spontaneous trip to Green River. I wanted out of Provo and they were having a Super Bowl Party. I decided I wanted to go. I didn't have any pj's, a toothbrush or any other clothes. Luckily I was able to find some $3 pants at Walmart and I was able to borrow a t-shirt from Avan to sleep in and they had a toothbrush I could have. Aunt Mary, Uncle Boyd, David, Kara and their kids, and Paul, Bel and their kids came too. McKay and Kriz and Easton came for a little while. The game wasn't the most exciting and by the end I was rooting for the Patriots just so the game would be over. Thank-you Green River crew for letting me come for a spontaneous trip! I needed it!

Photo Credit: Mandy and I

Puzzle

As many people know, my family loves to do puzzles, and I am no exception. I love doing puzzles. When I came back from break I started a puzzle. I haven't done one since summer. It was a lot of fun. One day my roommates even helped me. Carly got to frustrated and said, "I think I would rather do homework." That would be a sad day for me. I'll take a puzzle any day over homework.

Vocal Point

My roommate Helena learned that I had not been to a BYU Vocal Point Concert since attending BYU. She decided I needed to go and she got tickets for me and one of my other roommates, Leiema. It was a blast! During the show they had a competition and Leiema was one of the winners. You had to post to social media and they chose the top 3 best posts. Thanks Helena and Leiema for a fun time!

Roommates

My roommates and I finally got a picture together. It turned out so cute! I'm grateful for each one of these ladies. They are amazing examples and friends to me, and I couldn't ask for better roommates!

From Left to Right: Leiema Suitumua from America Samoa, Carly Mitchel from Texas/Utah, Me Cassy Gardner from Altamont, UT, and Helena He from China. Fun fact if you don't remember from a previous post Carly and I are 3rd cousins.

New Year's 2018

New Year's Eve was spent in Green River. We had a pretty good turn out. Aunt Mary, Uncle Boyd, Laura, Kate, Laird, Duncan, Liam, little Anna, Nathan, Amy, Ross, Easton, Sydney, Aunt Ann, Uncle Lee, Anna, Avan, Mom, Mandy, Mary, Meg, and I all partied hard. We had bagel sandwiches for dinner along with lots of other snacks for the evening. We had a puzzle contest with some National Geographic puzzles. Aunt Mary and Uncle Boyd's team won. My family came in 2nd. Nathan and Amy and their crew came in 3rd, and Aunt Ann and Uncle Lee's crew came in last. What was cool about these puzzles is at the end you could put the 4 completed puzzles together to make one giant puzzle. After that we played Reverse Charades. Then we played Celebrity, which is a lot like Time's Up but we write down celebrity names to do. At midnight McKay and Ross went outside and shot of guns to ring in the New Year. We did attempt to watch the ball drop, but we hit a button on the TV and it lost the signal and we didn't get it back on in time to watch. It was great night full of laughs, joy, and lots of memories.