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.

Christmas 2018

This year I was terrible at taking pictures. So there are not very many of all the different things we did and I don't have any from my apartment in Provo. It didn't look too different from previous years. However, this year Carly brought a live tree for us to enjoy. That was fun.

I didn't make it home until Dec. 24, Christmas Eve. Finals didn't end until the 20th and I worked through the 23rd. It was so nice to go home and spend time with family and relax! This was also my last Sunday of 3 hour church. Next week is when we start the 2 hour block. That will be interesting.

Our dinner theme this year was Central America. We had enchiladas for dinner with rolls, rice, and a fruit salad. We had cheesecake for dessert. It was all yummy! We took family pictures this year with everyone, one with the girls and Dad and John, one with the girls and Mom, One with the girls, Mom, and Carol, and one with just the girls. We played our movie game. Our theme was 2010-2014. Mom didn't play because she didn't get her movie ready in time. After that we played the dice game we played last year and Mandy was the winner of Harry Potter Code Names. I provided the game so I didn't play.

Then it was off to bed. The next morning Santa had come bringing lots presents. We also exchanged our gifts for each other. Then off to Grandma's we went. It was a pleasant afternoon with our gift exchange game. Our theme was Neon. (Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures here too). We had some fun gifts. I gave some flashing neon margarita glasses. Dad and John had been coveting them since I had wrapped them Christmas Eve. It's a good thing I ended up with them so they could exchange them with me. 

The roads home were terrible. It took us an extra hour to get from Orangeville to Altamont. By the time we hit Price we almost called Aunt Mary and Uncle Boyd to see if we could spend the night at their house. But we pressed on and eventually made it home. 

During the rest of the break we did some shopping in Roosevelt and Vernal and we even went to see Mary Poppins Returns, which is such a cute movie! My inner child came out and I loved it! I even had time during the break to finish reading Wonder and read 2 more books called Drop Zone and Spotlight by Traci Hunter Abramson. 

It was a wonderful and much needed break! Thanks everyone for making it a great Christmas and break! Thanks Mandy and Carol for letting me use some of your pictures since I didn't take very many. 

Mary's movie is Inception

Dad's movie is Now You See Me

John's movie is How to Train Your Dragon 1 & 2

Meg's movie is The Sorcerer's Apprentice

My movie is The Tourist

Carol's movie is Mr. Poppers Penguins

Mandy's movie is is Ninja Turtles