The Lund Life

New Blog!

2012-01-01T18:01:00.002-07:00

Well, for any who still follow this blog, I have started a new one! I am going to New Zealand tomorrow and to keep track of my goings on while I'm there I have started a blog specifically for those adventures! If anyone would like to follow it the address is http://misslundgoestonz.blogspot.com/ please feel free to follow my adventures and let me know how you are doing while I am gone!

Today

2011-12-17T21:43:00.002-07:00

I know many of you probably were beginning to think I had forgotten that I have a blog...mostly this semester has just been so crazy I haven't had time to post much in a long time. I'll try to update a bit over the break, but today I feel the need to share my great belief in prayer. This morning as I drove out of Provo, I realized I hadn't prayed before I left so as I drove I didn't bow my head or close my eyes (I mean I was driving), I just spoke/cried my prayer to my Heavenly Father. It was one of the first out loud prayers I had had in a while...living with roommates makes it a little hard to have prayer out loud sometimes. It was really special for me. One of the big things that I asked him was that I would have safety as I drove home today...it was my first really long drive, and it was a little daunting since I was doing it alone. Most of the drive was very uneventful. I made it to Kingman, and I was making good time; I called my Daddy to tell him where I was and just give him an idea of when I'd be home. Then I got back on the road and looked forward to getting home within a few hours. Unfortunately that is not what happened, fortunately the Lord was still watching out for me and He was protecting me. Not too far out of Kingman, I got in an accident. I have no idea how exactly it started, people that stopped to help me said it looked like I had lost the front driver's side tire and then I lost control, that does sound like what could have happened considering how quickly I lost control. I was eastbound and as I lost control my car went through the median, a few more tires went flat and then I went flying through the westbound lanes. At one point I literally saw a semi coming straight for me and I was convinced that I was going to die. Luckily for me the Lord had different plans and he got me safely across to the shoulder on the other side, completely out of traffic, and completely untouched by any other cars. He also sent some really helpful people to call the police, help calm me down, make sure I was ok and talk to me while I tried not to have a panic attack. I really don't know what happened...it all came so fast that I don't know, the only thing I do know tonight is that my prayer was answered today. I may not have made it home with no accident, but the most important thing is that I will make it home with no harm. I am completely ok, a bit sore, and still really shaken, but I know that I would not have survived today if it weren't for the Lord and his love and awareness of me and my needs. I already owe Him everything, but today I truly owe him my life. (you may think it is curious that I am writing this all right now...considering that I am still pretty shaken, but I'm waiting for my parents to get to the hotel I am at and I can't really sleep as much as I would like to and pretend this is all just a bad dream, but I thought maybe writing my thoughts out might help me sleep...or at least feel a little better.) Bottom line, I'm ok; my car not so much...I don't know the exact damage yet or if it is even fixable (cross your fingers) but I do know that all four tires were flat by the time I came to a stop, there's some damage to the front of the car, some broken lights, and who knows what else, but that is not the most important thing right now so I guess I should stop worrying too much about that and just be grateful that I am alive.

Family in July

2011-10-02T18:51:00.000-06:00

In July of this year we were lucky enough as a family to be able to get together in Utah at Kiersty and Seth's house in Lehi. It was a fun filled few days of family time and it was so nice to have no one getting sick and getting the rest of us sick, like it was at Christmas!! I just am reminded of how blessed I am to have my family each time that we get together! It was a fun few days but it went way to fast! Here are some pictures from our very fun time as a family!

Me and my favorite little man at the zoo with the giant gorilla!

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

Kalli and Steve were very excited to try out the Segways while in the gardens and they had quite a fun time with them.

Andrew loved the Noah's Ark part of the gardens where there was water he could play in and get sprayed by...it was really fun!

I just love this little guy! Even when he is making a funny face...actually especially when he is making a funny face!

Pretty sure I have a picture very similar to this from about a year ago...the baby was just a little smaller, and the car seat was a bit different, but same concept...he really loves those toes!

Our traditional circle picture

My mom, my sisters and I right before Mom and Megan had to leave on Sunday

Andrew joined us

Saying bye was really difficult for me this time...well every time, but especially cause I'm not 100% sure when I'll see him next...plus he is growing up so dang fast!

The end of an era...

2011-08-11T01:08:00.011-06:00

I began a post about Harry Potter a while ago after going to the midnight showing. Since then I have been to see it again and it is just as good the second time as it was the first time. I know it has been a while since it came out but I still feel that it deserves a post...so here goes! I will try to make it quick but I make no guarantees because I am a bit crazy for Harry Potter! First off I need to say J.K. Rowling is basically a hero of mine for creating a world and a story that is so engaging that even many kids who didn't enjoy reading were on edge waiting for the next installment to be released. With the release of the final movie in sight there was a sense of sadness almost, at the realization that the excitement and the waiting were coming to an end, but I could not wait to see how they finished such an epic story. In anticipation I went out and purchased a special edition of Empire magazine, they did a special tribute to Harry Potter which included a supplement of around 40 pages which had interviews with the main cast, supporting cast, directors, and other people connected to the entire Harry Potter movie series. There were pictures from each of the movies, as well as pictures of the main cast as they are now, as well as some of their feelings on being a part of something so big and so special. Alan Rickman, already one of my favorite people connected to the movies wrote a letter for the magazine which I find lovely...it is included here...

"I have just returned from the dubbing studio where I spoke into a microphone for absolutely the last time as Severus Snape. On the screen were some flashback shots of Daniel, Emma and Rupert from ten years ago. They were 12. I have also recently returned from New York, and while I was there, I saw Daniel singing and dancing (brilliantly) on Broadway. A lifetime seems to have passed in minutes.
Three children have become adults since a phone call with Jo Rowling, containing one small clue, persuaded me that there was more to Snape than an unchanging costume, and that even though only three of the books were out at that time, she held the entire massive but delicate narrative in the surest of hands.

It is an ancient need to be told stories. But the story needs a great storyteller. Thanks for all of it, Jo."

Now for some of my favorite characters...or at least ones that I feel deserve mentioning...

Severus Snape...one of the most wonderfully written (in my opinion) characters ever, definitely the most well written character of the Harry Potter books. Plus, I love Alan Rickman!

Another character that I love is Professor Minerva McGonagall; I was very excited in this movie to get to see her a little bit more as her role was bigger. Professor McGonagall is a teacher who cares a great deal about her students, she is willing to give her life to protect them, and she shows a lot of love for those that she teaches and leads, but she also doesn't take any crap from her students. Basically McGonagall is very much like the teacher that I want to become someday.

(also pictured above Mrs. Weasley! Love her!)

Now for these three...not always the best actors/actress, but overall they did well. I loved them all in this movie and I was thoroughly impressed by how much they have improved since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Daniel, Emma and Rupert it was fun to grow up with y'all! Thanks for the hard work in bringing some of the most memorable characters of my generation to life!

Next, Neville! He was such a great character in this book/movie and Matt Lewis played it wonderfully! I always thought Neville was a great character, but until now I didn't realized that underneath all the Neville awkwardness...

This was hiding! Neville has now taken a place on our wall along with the picture we already had of Snape!

And finally a brief thought on Narcissa Malfoy. For the midnight showing I chose to go as Narcissa because we found a perfect jacket at DI plus my friend was going as Bellatrix so it worked out well. Narcissa doesn't have much of a role until the sixth book. I think before that the extent of what you know about her is that she looks as though she just sniffed poo. Throughout the night I tried to perfect that look but it was more difficult than I thought it would be! Being the bad person was kind of fun...although I guess Narcissa isn't a completely bad person, at least not like her sister Bellatrix. Narcissa was one who married into Lord Voldemort's followers but when it really counted what mattered most was her family and she was willing to do anything, to protect her family.

So our group had Professor Trelawney (Marissa), Bellatrix Lestrange (Brianon), Narcissa Malfoy (me), and the golden snitch (Jenae). Emily Walter, Emily Mortensen, Nick WIllis (Jenae's fiance) and Chase Jackson (a random kid from our ward who claimed the extra ticket we had) also came along but they didn't get to be in our cool people pictures because they didn't dress up!

I couldn't work on my face during this picture because I couldn't help but smile when I stood in front of Snape!

Brianon and I waiting in the theater, still trying to perfect my "poo under the nose" look!

Brianon and I with Bellatrix

The whole costume at the end of the night...the only thing that could have worked better was the hair...I put colored spray in it to get the two colored effect...unfortunately the color did not set very well and it got all over...my face, my hands, my clothes and the black was not easy to cover up or get off of my face and it got difficult to keep my face from looking like I had just come from cleaning a chimney! It was a lot of fun though and I would totally do it again if I could find a better way to fix my hair! (although I'm not quite sure what I would do it for again...maybe Halloween?)

Well, not really that short, but I tried and it really could have been much longer, but I spared you the long cheesy goodbye to HP... Well to echo Alan Rickman "Thanks for all of it, Jo" you really were a master storyteller and I'm so glad I got to grow up with such wonderful characters and imagine such fantastical places!

The last of the catch up!

2011-07-19T12:47:00.005-06:00

Our stake was recently formed so in order to allow us to meet new people and have some fun. They bought hundreds of J-Dawgs, they had a bouncy thing, climbing wall, games, and they invited Comedy Sports to come as well. It was a pretty fun activity and they really put a lot of time and effort into making it a fun experience for the members of the stake.

Jenae and I at the activity

Jenae, me, and Emily

A true moment of roommate bonding

So the comedy sports guys were a pretty entertaining point of the day/night. At one point they asked for a volunteer who would like to have a song sung to them/written about them. I very quickly volunteered because the song part of Who's Line is it Anyway is my absolute favorite part and I wanted an experience like that! I got up to the front and the Ref (who was also the actor from the movie Midway to Heaven) asked me some questions to get some information to help with the song improv. I mentioned in response to one question that I enjoyed singing, dancing and musicals. He asked what musicals were my favorite and I said Wicked and Les Miserables. Unfortunately I didn't get a video of the song being sung to me but a few things I remember about it are that one guy told me that that he'd be my king and I'd be his queen, he'd be my Marius and I'd be his Eponine...for those of you who know the story of Les Mis that's not the greatest combination...but it got quite a laugh! Then another of the guys singing sang part of Defying Gravity to me, well at least about how we could defy gravity together! It was a really funny song, and I was probably beet red but mostly because I was laughing so hard!

One thing that we semi started at the beginning of the summer was an exercise night. The first night consisted of us doing a little Sweatin' to the Oldies with Richard Simmons. My apartment doesn't joke around about the 80s so we decided to dress up in order to participate! So much fun!

The Manti Pageant happens every year down at the Manti temple...it covers a little bit of everything, from Book of Mormon times, to Joseph Smith's life, to the travels of the pioneers. I have never been to the Manti pageant before but this year a group from my ward decided to travel to Manti to join in on the fun! And of course what would a trip like this be without some photos to document it...

Some of the guys that went with us, don't ask me why Rob has a red vine in his nose...I don't really know!

The Manti Temple at night, the pageant was about to start.

Me, Brianon, Kristina, and Emily

Emily and I waiting for the pageant to start

So Brianon told me about a month ago all about this edition of Empire Magazine that came with a supplement that was all about Harry Potter...being the Harry Potter fan that I am when I saw it at Barnes and Noble right before the Manti Pageant trip began I had to buy it! The next day I believe all of my roommates and Brianon had also bought the magazine and all of us enjoyed it thoroughly...I'll post more about that later.

Me, Brianon, and Emily

Brianon is the Relief Society president in my ward and since the year started we have become really great friends. We hang out together a lot and I think she is a pretty amazing person! I'm really lucky to have met her and become such good friends with her this year!

Emily, Rob, JD, and I just trying to be patient!

Other going ons

2011-07-18T22:47:00.000-06:00

Some other events...the last post was getting too long!

We had a relief society sleep over at the bishop's house, with all of the wives of the bishopric there getting to know us better and there to make us a delicious breakfast in the morning. Those three women are some of the most amazing women that I know and they give so much time, effort and love to our ward all the time. They amaze me! Some pictures from that night of the crazy girls that were hanging around!

Julieanne, Emily, Emily and Me being our normal selves!

Most of the girls of our FHE group

Me and Marissa...I love my roommate!!

We went on The Great Provo Adventure, according to one of our friends...which basically consisted of going in this tunnel and getting freezing cold and falling really hard on my butt! Lots of fun, let me tell you, that's why I look so crazy and scary in this picture.

And this picture...it was a long day, it was really wet and cold and I looked like a mess, but it was an interesting night!

This is a picture from my drama class winter semester. We did a little play called Bartholomew and the Oobleck. I was the fog...or mist or something like that, something with the weather. The other girls in this picture were snow, rain, sky and sunshine. It was kind of a silly show, but it was fun and we had a good time with it. The class was one of my favorites because we just had a good time together and really had time to get to know each other. Thanks to Sister Aston for making that class such a fun one!
Geoffrey is a small stuffed animal that belongs to our friend Clint. He is short fat and looks like Goofy...Clint is really attached to him and as an apartment we made a plot to kidnap him...

See the above board for said plan...

We created a ransom note, and took pictures of him in "harmful" situations, or compromising situations and created an album that we then left on Clint's doorstep with the ransom note and an ultimatum. A few other pictures are below this which were included in the album. Also below is the ransom note...

"April 2011

To those who cherish the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of Geoffrey “Delilah” “Voluptuous-Bottom” Calder, son of Clinton “Liquid Force” “Keiki Matai” Calder and nephew of Tyler “Filth” “Come ‘ere!”Hills:

Despite popular belief, Geoffrey has not been kept in safe hands. In actuality, the aforementioned plush, of polyurethane sponge foam materials, has been held prisoner at 466 Sumac Lane, Provo UT, 84604, United States of America, North America, Western Hemisphere, Planet Earth, Milky Way Galaxy.

The captors request the ransom (a list of items is located below) to be deposited in the inner bush of Zimbabwe by the end of the day, however if this request is deemed unreasonable, the goodies may be left in the 1994 white Nissan Maxima parked in front of the stairs at the address stated above by 23:58:19 on Wednesday, the 20th of April, of this, the 2011th, year of our Lord.

The list of items contains the following:

3 rolls of toilet paper
1 pair of scissors
1 ironing board pad
1 goldfish pal for a lonely fish
Mr. January, in person
1 4-pack of lip balm (preferably unused)
1 (or more) lock(s) of Jimmer’s hair, still wet with his sweat
1 box of Otter Pops

If our request is fulfilled, the prisoner will be delivered safely within 24 hours. However, if the Provo or Utah County police force becomes involved and/or the ransom items are not received in a timely manner, Geoffrey will never be seen again (unless you happen across a black synthetically-made Disney product, with a lime green hat, at the bottom of the Provo River).

If you wish to see Geoffrey again, all commands must be followed with the utmost accuracy and precision.

Signed,

ENUJ, ANAID, ELLIMAC, ELOCIN

This is the fine print. Measure your eyesight with this test: A E I O U sometimes Y

YOUR TIME STARTS NOW."

Marissa and the "G" Dish as it is fondly known in our apartment. Other pictures included Geoffrey being used as a basketball, a footrest, a pillow, being put into the oven, and being thrown in the dryer...unfortunately Clint did not follow through with the ransom and we felt too bad actually throwing Geoffrey into the Provo River so we returned him unharmed after receiving a few cookies...It was pretty entertaining though!

If you couldn't guess from how much time we put into the Geoffrey plan we get a little bored around our house sometimes...one night we got so bored that we pulled our all these wigs that Marissa found and decided to become different people for a little bit. After we took these pictures we found a few more and decided to knock on random doors and show off our new looks. I went as Snow White, Marissa was a lovely Joe Dirt, Emily Walter was an Asian, and Emily Mortensen was a pink haired rocker. We got some really great laughs and it definitely made our night a little more exciting!

I've worked with Julie since my Sophomore year of college over at the Cougareat. She is one of the sweetest girls that I know and when I found out she was getting married I was so excited for her and I was even more excited that she was having a reception here where I could go to it.

She made a very beautiful bride!

Amber, another girl I work with went with me to the reception so it was just a fun filled Cougareat party!

Alyssa's farewell was at the end of May because she and her brother Reese had a joint farewell and he was leaving about three weeks before her. I talked Jenae (my roommate) into driving to Idaho with me. She met her fiance in Twin Falls and then they continued on to Boise where he lives. This was great because it allowed me to go to Alyssa's farewell without having to pay for all of the gas. Going back to Twin for a few days was really nice, it was fun to run into some old friends, see some familiar places.

The Falls were beautiful, probably thanks to all the moisture that has been falling this year, but I just wanted to stay there as long as I could because it looked so amazing, they were so full and so loud and the mist was blowing so much that we could feel the mist before walking down the stairs to the observation deck.

Shoshone Falls is definitely one of my absolute favorite places on this earth, I love them so much!

Probably one of the very best friends a girl could ask for! This is from after Alyssa's talk was over so don't mind the mussed up make up...that's what happens when you cry a lot!! She is going to be a great missionary...well I guess technically she is already on her way to becoming a great missionary since she's been gone for a few weeks now (I got my first letter from her a few days ago)

While I was up in Twin I had to take the time to go see some influential people from my teenage years, one of those people was Rebecca Smith. (and Bishop Smith and Lauren) Rebecca was my Mia Maid adviser, she was released the same day that I moved to Laurels so she is the only young women's leader that I had for two full years. She has been there for me through a lot but it had been like 5 years since I last saw her so it was really good to see her! I visited with her while she planted some flowers and I went with her to church on Sunday for Sunday school and Relief Society. While I was over visiting her I also got to go over to her back door neighbor's house and visit another of my old leaders, Debbie Buttars. Debbie is an amazing lady and I was so excited to see her. She has been battling cancer for a few years and if anyone can beat it I have faith that Debbie can. While at church the next day I ran into numerous other people who have had an impact on my life including Diane Long, Jenna Johnson, and Brenda Traveller among others. It was really great to see all of them even if it was only for a few minutes.
So Jessica and Amy...pictured above...were two of my FHE sisters from my freshman year. We had some really great times together that year and in the times since then. One Monday night I got an invite from Amy to go to see The King's Speech at the dollar theater with them, Jess's husband and some other people because Jess and her husband would be moving in like a week and a half or so to Texas for school. Because I love them, and because I really wanted to see that movie anyway I agreed to join them and it was so great to see them even though it is probably one of the last times I'll see Jess in a long time if not forever. Why do we have to grow up again?
Katie Soh was in my ward from January until the end of April when they changed wards around and redid our boundaries a little bit. Even though she wasn't in our ward anymore we still hung out sometimes and she is a pretty amazing girl! She left a few weeks ago to go home for a bit before leaving for her mission. I'm just glad I got to know her while I did and hopefully when she gets back we can be friends again because she is a really great person!!

Ri came for a visit to Utah a few weeks ago...she was really busy but she did take a little time and came to visit me to go to church with me and then stop by Ellen's for a few minutes after. It was so good to see her and be reminded of why I love my cousins so very much!!

Susan and I have been friends since 6th grade when I moved into the same ward as her. Since then we have been in choir together, cheerleading, young women's, and college for a semester, although I didn't get to see her too often then. But her older brother got married last week and the reception was just about half an hour up the road so I decided to make the trip in hopes of seeing her and seeing a few familiar faces among the other family members. I was not disappointed! It was so much fun to visit with her, meet her husband of almost a year, catch up on the last few years, and reminisce on all of the fun memories that we have together. Definitely worth the half hour trip! It was also nice to run into her parents, some other people who had an influence on me in my teenage years!

Now, I'm still not completely caught up, but I'm much closer...so more to come very soon!

2011-07-15T23:46:00.000-06:00

Well, some of you might have noticed that I have been absent from the blogging world for a while...my computer broke during finals week like three months ago and I have been computerless until this week when my computer finally returned to me! In honor of my computer finally returning to me I have decided to do one quick run through of what has been going on and then I am going to move forward and start blogging from today on to hopefully avoid getting so far behind again!

First of all I did the Festival of Colors this year. The Festival of Colors or the Holi Festival is held in Spanish Fork every year at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple. While this is my third year at BYU, right down the road from Spanish Fork, this is the first year that I made it to the festival and it was so incredible. I believe that the festival is a celebration of the start of spring so it is like the third Saturday every March. This is one of my favorite pictures from the day...plus it's the only one that I have on my computer...Marissa has all the good pictures. I've had a lot of friends getting married recently, which meant that winter semester I had a lot of bridal showers, receptions, etc.
First was James's wedding, James is my cousin Mike's oldest son. The best part about the wedding reception was that I got to see Marie, James's younger sister. I love her!

Then there was Chantelle's bridal shower. Chan was in my freshman ward so going there was fun because I got to spend some time with friends from that ward.

One fun thing about this bridal shower was that I was reunited with all three of my roommates from freshman year. Lacey (right next to me) is also getting married soon...or maybe she already is...anyway her bridal shower was just a few days later.

One wedding reception I got to go to was Merry Jo Liddell's I didn't get a picture on my camera with MJ so I've just got pictures with Jedera and Mama and Papa Liddell as proof that I was there!

The other thing we had a few of in our apartment were birthdays. Emily's birthday was on Valentine's day and then Marissa's birthday was a few weeks later on March 3rd. I also made a cake for Clint on his birthday and Nikki's surprise party was at our house so that we could watch the basketball game that day.

For Emily's birthday we made her a cake with the Senegal flag on it because she went to Senegal at the beginning of the summer.

We thought our cake was pretty sweet...other than the botched star in the middle!
Roomies! I love these girls...even though we'll all only be roommates for like two more weeks (cause then Jenae's going home for a few weeks and then getting married!!)

For Marissa's birthday we made her a princess cake because Marissa loves princesses!
We also put up the poster you can see on the side of this picture and covered up one of the princesses name with Marissa's name.

Clint's request for a cake was a yellow cake with chocolate frosting...I have never made chocolate frosting but I wanted to try it and I have to admit my frosting job was pretty great!
Because we had just celebrated Marissa's birthday we had all the lovely princess cake pieces so we shared them with Clint and he loved it!!
Clint felt like directing our singing of happy birthday
We were lucky the smoke alarm didn't go off!
Nikki's birthday party

Exciting News!

2011-04-05T19:23:00.003-06:00

So, I know I'm a little behind still in the events of my life because I kind of suck at blogging, but I'm working on it! While I will get back to that stuff later, right now I just need to share a little bit of exciting news, no I'm not engaged although I do know 4 girls who have gotten engaged in the past week and a half, yes you read that right FOUR, not to mention a few from the weekend before. Anyway, that is not my exciting news right now, my big news is that I applied for a study abroad a few weeks ago and I found out just a little bit ago that I got in! I don't know how I'm going to pay for it, but I am going to NEW ZEALAND!! Feel free to be jealous now...just kidding...but really. I will be going to Auckland, New Zealand if all goes according to plan next January and staying through April for my second cohort semester in the Elementary Ed program!! One of the best things about going to New Zealand during winter semester is that I will go to New Zealand while they are still in their summer, so I will miss a lot of the worst parts of a Utah winter! I am just so excited, oh and if anyone who reads this, I'm not sure how many do, but if anyone knows of any jobs in the Provo area that are hiring for summer and possibly the fall I would love to hear about them because I am going to be saving up as much money as possible for the next like 8 months! Until next time here are some pictures of my future...

It's that time again...

2011-03-30T21:48:00.003-06:00

to remind everyone how wonderful my mama is! I did a pretty detailed post last year on my mom's birthday which can be seen here so this year it will be just a short shout out to my amazing Mom! I hope that your birthday is wonderful Mom, I couldn't ask for a more amazing example, and friend and I love you so very much! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

From this...

to this!
Look how far we've come!

Semi Formal

2011-03-22T23:00:00.000-06:00

My ward planned a girl ask guy semi formal dance for the end of January. I went with a friend in the ward named Blake and we had a really fun night. Before the dance we planned a spaghetti dinner at our apartment with me, three of my roommates, our friend Emily (our soon to be roommate) and another couple from our ward. We made dinner and chatted for a while before the dance started and then we headed over to campus to join the party! The party was a lot of fun, the theme was "Awkward High School Prom" so in one room they had Napoleon Dynamite playing as well as some games to play and in the other room they had some killer music going thanks to the DJ-ing talents of a guy in our ward.

My soon to be roommate and I!

3 of my 4 current roommates

Doing what we do best...crazy!

Joanna and Matt came back from the world of the married people to join us for a little dance...as you can see Blake was so thrilled!

Cute roomies!

A Jenae Sandwich

Nick and Jenae

Chelsea and I after a fun night of dancing

Blake and I finishing off the night with a few pictures

At Blake's request we took a picture of us bustin' a move

And our awkward prom picture...just ignore the fact that I look huge because of how I am standing and instead notice the killer shoes I am wearing...sadly this was the only picture that captured those!

And Last but not least, one of the main reasons that I love my ward

This is my Bishop's wife (you can see my Bishop slightly in the background) basically this woman is amazing! She may look a little frightening, which is not too far off...just kidding, she is really amazing and I just love her to pieces!

This one isn't quite as scary, but I feel like the last picture shows her crazy fun personality a little better...this one looks too tame!

Lisa's Birthday!

2011-03-12T11:42:00.005-07:00

For the past two years Lisa's (my room roommate my freshman year) roommates have thrown her and her other roommate a combined birthday party because their birthdays are just a few days apart. I have been lucky enough to get to go the last two times which has been a great chance to be reunited with some great friends from freshman year. And of course when we get together we can't help but take a bunch of pictures!

All the girls that were there from the good old 50th ward! (Amy, Rachel, me, Lisa, Vanessa, and Annii)

This was definitely Annii's idea...not quite sure why but it was entertaining!

Lifting the birthday girl!

FHE sisters minus one...we missed Jess but now that she's married she's a little busy without us...
Just provin' we can have as much fun now as we used to!
Roommates reunited! It wasn't too long ago that we were more like this...

Our first real roommate bonding experience...a trip to Salt Lake for the Relief Society Broadcast

Now we're so close that we can do this!

And this...

Alyssa Amy Atkins

2011-03-10T23:23:00.007-07:00

I know I've talked about my friend Alyssa a lot before, but this is just a little tribute to her! She got her mission call just a few weeks ago and the thought of her leaving for a year and a half is hard for me to imagine. I know that we lived in different states for the last two years of high school but there is a big difference between being two states and a phone call apart, and being an ocean and a bunch of countries apart...and only being allowed to write letters. I'm so excited for her, but it's going to be hard to say goodbye to her for a year and a half. In honor of her getting her mission call and just because she's one of the best friends I could have ever asked for this post is dedicated to the last almost 10 years that we have been friends! I can hardly believe it has been that long!

The first official picture of Alyssa and I together...I didn't really know her yet but we needed another person to complete the pyramid (5th grade)

By this point we were officially friends! (6th grade)

In eighth grade we were in cheer together which was so fun!

Going to a stake dance with the girls

Sophomore year brought a lot of togetherness for Alyssa and I we worked together at Babbel's Cleaners (as pictured above) we were in Student Council together, and we hung out like all the time!

After I moved I went back to Idaho one time just for a few days and Alyssa threw me a little get together so that I could see my friends.

Freshman year we were in a sports group together and were lucky enough to get a picture with Cosmo during one game.

Alyssa is also nice enough to invite me to go to different shows like Young Ambassadors so that we can spend time together.

My 21st birthday!

Celebrating the three birthdays

Peter Pan

The night Alyssa opened her call

Christmas!

2011-03-10T21:00:00.000-07:00

Christmas this year was our big family Christmas. We all gathered to Arizona with anticipation and excitement for all of the fun things we had planned. I got home a few days before anyone else did which is what happens when you are the single college student who works on campus and can come home right after finals. Because of this I made it home in time to see 5 of my dad's 7 siblings and my grandma, that much of my dad's family at one time is a rarity, so it was good to see a lot of them. Getting home this early also meant that I got a few days to sleep in, and get a little more caught up on the sleep I had deprived myself of the week previous. Kalli and Steve got there on Monday afternoon and thank goodness, Dad was good enough to go into work a little late so that I wouldn't have to drive at the airport all by myself. I would have been fine driving to the airport but the airport itself was crazy and people were being ridiculous...so I was really glad to have him driving instead. Tuesday all of us caught up on much needed rest after the last week and then we continued preparations for everyone else to get there. We worked on the grocery shopping and the house and other things and we could hardly wait for the house to be bursting at the seams with family! Meg got there next followed by Kiersty and then Mhari and finally everyone was there. Unfortunately unbeknownst to all of us a sickness was being carried from one person to the next. We're not quite sure where it began originally but a nasty bug passed from Mhari to James (somewhere in this time Cora caught it and she passed it to Jake and BrieAnn too) to Kalli to Me to Megan to Seth to Mom and finally to Dad and apparently Steve caught just a slight case of the bug after he left. Kiersty must just be the strongest of us all! So other than someone in the house throwing up almost every day that we were together for the holiday we had a really great time together. I think that this is the first time I have ever been sick on Christmas and I really hope it is the last because I would not like a repeat of that! Since we were all sick over the time we were together we didn't want to pass it on to anyone else so the big birthday bash we were supposed to have for Andrew was canceled and instead we celebrated at our house with just our family. I guess it's a good thing he doesn't understand the concept of a party yet so he couldn't be disappointed by that! After everyone left I didn't have a whole lot to do, but I went and visited one of my young women's leaders and her kids. It was so fun to see them, and while I was there it started snowing...in Mesa...I didn't think it was possible!! I also spent some time with my favorite Becky! I love that girl so much and visiting with her was just what I needed! I'm so lucky to have such an amazing friend! New Year's Eve was spent at RiAnne and Brock's New Year's party, which was a lot of fun. And I just spent a lot of time with my mom and dad cause they are the most important part of going home! Oh and the night before I left I went over and spent some time at Robert and Nanette's so that I could see them and their family for a little while! It was so fun to see them for a little bit. Sadly the next day I had to leave the beautiful winter of AZ to return to the nastiness that is Utah winters...and I also had to return to school but at least I am in my program now so I've actually started taking classes that I care about!

Now some of my favorite pictures from Christmas time!

Me and Grandma

Me and Aunt Vicki

Dwight, Linette, Vicki, Dad, Nadra, Grandma and Brenda

The scoreboard after the bowling game (I forgot to mention our bowling excursion)

Working on my masterpiece!

Kalli and I with my finished product...her face just shows her jealousy of my wonderful gingerbread house!

Andrew had a problem letting go of the spoon sometimes! We decided that he looks kind of like the Grinch when he was little...

I just love this picture of my favorite little man!

I think this is a pretty cute picture and it is a pretty good indication of what Andrew liked to do with Dad! I think he thought Dad was a more exciting version of a jungle gym.

Cute picture of Mom and Andrew!

Dad loving every minute of being Grandpa!

Meg and Andrew

Andrew after enjoying his birthday cupcake
Andrew and his favorite Auntie Brittany!!

Thanksgiving and beyond a bit!

2011-03-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving came and I was lucky enough once again to find a friend driving down to Mesa for the break. (I have been so lucky to this point to find a way home for Thanksgiving every year.)
We left Provo on Tuesday which gave plenty of time to be at home and it was so nice to get to see Mom and Dad for a few days! It was also fun because two of my roommates also found a way down to Mesa for the break and we were able to spend a night at my house with my parents. I know that my roommates would love my parents and vice versa and they did! We had a lot of fun and my roommates said my dad was really funny and my mom was really sweet (both things which I agree with!). I think that meeting someone's parents can explain a lot about them, so I was excited for them to meet my parents. I also spent a lot of time reading over the break, and because I had so much time I was able to read "Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay" and I could hardly put either of them down! Thanksgiving is a great little break in the middle of the semester...I only wish that there was a similar break in Winter semester!

For Thanksgiving me and the folks went over to Jen and Adam's for dinner.

Jen and Adam's boys are so fun to get to see every few months! I love that they get excited to see me when I come over!

Me, Mom, Joshua, and Mikey

Mom and I went to see the Temple lights the day after Thanksgiving. I just love going to see the lights!

The FHE after Thanksgiving was Jeanie's birthday (one of my FHE sisters) so we had a little party and frosted Christmas cookies. Some of the decorating was very artistic!

Jeanie and I with some of the pretty cookies!

The FHE Family

Getting a little crazy...maybe we don't handle sugar so well...

One Friday we also took a trip to Salt Lake to to to Temple Square and see the lights and the nativities. This is one of my favorite things to do at Christmas time so I was excited some other people wanted to go along.

The group that went up to Salt Lake
with more of the temple behind us

On the way back we hit some traffic due to the never ending construction in Utah so Marissa and I took advantage of this time to take our usual pictures in the back seat.

Including our usual funny face pictures!
Emily was nice enough to drive up to Salt Lake...don't worry this was while we were sitting in traffic for like 1/2 an hour so she wasn't really driving at this point! While we wasted time in traffic we decided to make a game of it and make friends with people in neighboring cars...it was pretty entertaining!

Emily Mortensen (pictured above, not my roommate Emily) graduated from USU in December so to celebrate she decided to have an ice skating party which I gladly joined in on! (as did some other people!) The best part...I didn't fall at all!

The one normal picture we got that night!

I love Emily's face in this picture! It makes me smile!

Not really sure what Marissa was doing at this point...but it just added to our collection of strange roommate pictures!

Apparently at this point I thought that Stephanie's head looked good!

The whole group of fun people!

Oscar's Night

2011-02-17T21:13:00.005-07:00

Every year my ward has a thing called Oscar's night, I posted the video that we made before on a post called FHE I believe. Anyway so we all make movies for FHE and then we have this big party to see all of the movies that were made and vote on them for different awards. The one rule of the party is that it is formal dress...and by formal they mean it! So most of us went all out and dressed up a lot and we had a killer party! Here are some fun pictures...as per my usual...of the fun night we had!

Me and Emily

Me, Emily and Marissa

Roomies!! Love these girls!

My FHE family from last semester! We were the only apartment to get switched out of the group this semester and it was pretty tragic for all of us! As you can see we had a lot of fun together!

Our movie won best movie which is why Nick is holding a trophy. Our movie was also the winner of best actress (Jenae) and best actor (Brice)

Me and Miss Marissa!

Yeah we're pretty cute...what can I say

Chelsea and I

This is the artistic "engagement" picture that Marissa took of Matt and I since we played such a wonderful engaged couple in the video.

I'm not really sure why I am the only one making a funny face in this picture, but I guess that's just who I am! And as you can see Matt was so excited to be surrounded by so many beautiful girls!

Matt and I enjoying our night of engagement at IHoP

Roomies enjoying IHoP

The fun table!

Driving back from IHoP entirely too late, but after a night of so much fun, with lots of dancing, good music, good friends, and decent food...

A lot of things

2011-02-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

A bunch of little things starting off with a fun reunion with some old friends. Brittany Hobbs and Luke Chandler are two friends from when I lived in Twin, both of them are in BYU choirs, Women's Chorus and Men's Chorus respectively. Alyssa, Deidre, Cory and I went to their concert to support our friends and it was so fun to all spend some time together. It doesn't happen very often. At the concert we also ran in to Kent Dodds, Marc Allan and the entire Allan family. Plus Britt's parents were down from Twin. It was such a fun night of reunions! (It was especially fun to see President and Sister Hobbs, I haven't seen them since they moved to North Carolina and my family moved to Arizona, now that they are back in Twin it is much easier for them to come and see Britt's concerts)

Alyssa, Luke, Brittany, Cory, Deidre, and me after the concert

We still have tons of fun together!

Me and Deid

Britt with her mom and dad, Sandy insisted on giving me money so that I could print this off for her...when I convinced her that I could just e-mail it to her and she could print it off easier and cheaper she refused to take the money back...She is such a funny lady!

Harry Potter 7 meant that we all had a good reason to stay up late and have a part of sorts...in the theater. We got a big group of people together, I think we ended up with like 15 or something, we filled up the whole row at the theater. Anyway I had class and visiting teaching to take care of before I could head over but my roommates went over before me to get good spots in line. I let them take my camera before I got there because they wanted some pictures but we had forgotten to check the battery so it was basically dead...they only got a few pictures before I got there and then when I got there we tried to take a picture and it wouldn't even take one. Luckily Rachel had her camera (though it didn't last long either) so we got a few pictures of my pink Tonks hair...I don't care if Tonks hasn't really had pink hair since the 5th one, I'm totally doing it again just because I felt so cool for having pink hair for a night!

Two of my roommates (Emily and Marissa) along with our future roommate Rachael, hanging out in line saving some spots for us.

Don't ask me why parents brought such a little one to such a late show, but this little girl was the cutest Dobby ever! I loved her one sock!

We got a little bored in line so we decided to play the laughing game for a little bit! It was entertaining to say the least!

The Monday before Thanksgiving our FHE got canceled but in retaliation we decided to have it anyway! A bunch of us girls met up to get some Fro Yo and hang out. It was a ton of fun and Fro Yo is always excellent!

Emily and I

Emily and me and Emily...does that make it a Brittany sandwich or an Emily sandwich?

I love my Emily!!

Roommate pictures!

2011-02-17T19:00:00.001-07:00

On Halloween it was such a beautiful day out and it was Stake Conference so we got out of church early...just a little insert Stake Conference was amazing, Elder Robert D. Hales came to our stake and gave one of the most heartfelt talks that I have ever heard. He really touched me that day through his message and through his completely evident love for each of us there. Before the conference started they announced that after it was over he would be leaving before any of us could leave because he needed to get to another place quickly. After the closing prayer, which was about ten minutes late because he kept talking and admitted he didn't want to leave, he stood back at the pulpit and told all of us that he really didn't want to leave without shaking each of our hands but that he had been told by some of the other members of the 12 and the First Presidency that he was getting too old to do so. He then expressed his great love for us and I really felt like he was talking directly to me. Marissa had gotten there early so that she could save some good seats and Christina and I made it there before she had to give them up so we had excellent seats in the chapel. Anyway, I've been in the same place as apostles before, Robert D. Hales is the only apostle I have ever shaken hands with (at a CES Fireside my freshman year) but that day, in that special stake conference I have never felt my Savior's love so strongly...Now for the rest of this post, we had been talking as roommates about going out and taking some pictures together for a while but we hadn't had a chance to do so until Halloween came around. By that time it was so beautiful out but we were afraid if we waited any longer it would be too cold and nasty out to take them so we decided not to put them off any longer. Here are some of the best ones...and by some I mean too many but I couldn't narrow it down anymore! (Matt Mitchell, a friend of ours from the ward was nice enough to come and take the pictures for us!)

Christina, me, Emily, Jenae and Marissa

Basically all of our jumping pictures were awful...this was the best we could do!

This is our awkward smile picture...we tend to do those kind of smiles a lot...

Our shoes...basically everyone's different shoes match their personality so well! Especially Emily's bare feet!!
Our model faces...we're so attractive!

I think we'd been watching too much of America's Next Top Model at the time...this was our shocked face at the paparazzi stalking us...

Cute roommates!

Once again, probably too much ANTM...this is our hair commercial picture.

And to finish it off, our "I'm sick of pictures" picture.

Football!

2011-01-22T18:05:00.002-07:00

So I've never really been a big football fan, or sports fan in general, but my freshman year I got an all sports pass so that I could go to football games and it was so much fun to be at games and to feel the huge amount of spirit that is around at BYU games. There is so much school spirit and school pride that it amazes me how loud the stands get during a game. I didn't get a sports pass last year due to low funds, but this year I splurged to get another one. The only sad thing was that I had to miss a couple of the games due to other commitments. The games that I did make it to were so much fun though!

I love Cosmo!!

Deidre, Alyssa and I enjoying the game

Cory, Deidre, Alyssa and I

Football!!

Me, Deidre, Cory, Brittany and Luke

FHE

2011-01-22T17:35:00.004-07:00

Basically my FHE group this year is amazing! I really love them. One of the most important things that we did last year was to create a video for what our ward calls "Oscars Night". Each group was in charge of making one and ours definitely won Best Movie, Best Actress and Best Actor!! It was pretty amazing...if you haven't seen it yet, no worries, I won't judge you but you should definitely take ten minutes and watch it...it is posted at the end.

In order to make our movie we had to meet up a few times to do all the different parts. One of the nights that we were doing it we were getting a little bored while following everyone around to do their parts so we were taking fun pictures instead.

Marissa and I couldn't get a picture where we were both smiling...

so we finally gave up on it all together!

I think this was one of the first FHE's that Chelsea and I decided that we really should be friends, and that was definitely a great decision because she is awesome!

If you notice how similar our funny faces are you will understand why we decided we should be friends!

A few of my favorite FHE sisters!

Halloween

2011-01-22T16:31:00.004-07:00

For Halloween, Marissa and I went to a stake dance to party a bit and get all dressed up!

Indiana Jones and a sweet 80s girl!

I ran into Robin I mean Dorothy at the dance.

I just thought this costume was sweet...a centaur.

Me, Reed and Marissa taking a break from dancing for a minute.

A big group from our ward enjoying the party

Maybe we're enjoying it a little too much...

Marissa and I found Superman while we were there!

This is our pumpkin, I think we called it like 127 or 123 or something like that, we adopted it at the party because they had a lot of left...we forgot to throw it away for a while which was a big mistake on our part...it was a little messy when we threw it out!

I love Halloween! I just think it is such a fun holiday!

More Birthday fun!

2010-12-30T12:14:00.005-07:00

As I've mentioned in a previous post, Alyssa Jessica and I have been friends for quite a while and we all have birthdays in just over a month's time (September 22-October 23). The friendship that I have with these girls has been such a blessing to me in my life and I don't know what I would have done without them all these years. To celebrate all of our birthdays and so that we could spend some time with just the three of us we went out for Fro-yo. I just love having such amazing friends who help make me a better person by being the great people they are.

For Jess's birthday her roommates threw a party for her which took us to her apartment for cake and ice cream and then to the skating rink for some serious fun!

The birthday girl! I just love her; she's only been gone on her mission for like ten days and I miss her already!

Because Jess is going on her mission to Texas her roommates made her a Texas cake which was pretty sweet!

It's hard to believe that we already have this many candles on our birthday cakes!

I'm so lucky to have them in my life and I think our friendship will last a long time!

I especially love them with faces like this!

Kisses for the birthday girl!

Roomies

2010-12-26T19:24:00.003-07:00

I have some pretty fun roommates this year! We have some great fun together, and we love taking crazy pictures together when we are bored driving home, or when we are just bored at home! I just love these girls!!

My 21st!

2010-12-12T01:42:00.004-07:00

So this year I turned 21 which still seems a bit crazy to me, but I'm getting used to it! Because turning 21 is traditionally kind of a big deal, I decided to throw myself a party because I like parties, and I like birthdays especially when it is mine, so I threw a party for myself! I invited a bunch of friends, a few from my Idaho years, some from my freshman year, some from last year and a few new friends from this year. I made a few cakes, some corn dip, and some mocktails. Nothing too exciting occurred at my party, but it was so fun to see so many of my friends all gathered in one place! I am pretty lucky to have the amazing friends that I have!

A lot of candles on my birthday cake!

Blowing out the candles

Two of my oldest and dearest friends, Alyssa and Jessica, I've been friends with Alyssa since 6th grade when we were in Mrs. Williams 6th grade class together and we sat at the same table. Her 21st birthday was just a few weeks after mine. Jessica and I have been friends since 7th grade when we were in the same PE class together and discovered that we had a lot of the same friends. Her birthday is about 2 weeks after Alyssa's. When I moved away from Idaho these two were the hardest to say goodbye too and it was so much fun to be reunited with them when we all came to BYU two years and a half years ago. Sadly Jess is leaving us next month to go on a mission to Dallas, TX. It is sad for us but the people of Dallas are so very lucky to have her coming their way!

Serena, Kelsey, Jeni, Jessica, and Amy. These girls were all in my freshman ward two years ago. Jessica and Amy were my FHE sisters, and I love them to pieces, Jess is now married which is crazy. Jeni was my roommate last year and I just love her! I'm so glad that we got to be roommates last year, if she wasn't so set on living in a certain place this year, we probably would have lived together again. Serena and Kelsey were just in my ward my first year, but we had a lot of fun times together! It was so much fun to get to see some of my good friends from that year!

Matt, Bridgit, Kelly, Joshua, JD, Dallin (and Jeni who somehow got cut out of this picture) were all friends from my freshman summer/sophomore year of college which I spent at Bountiful Court. Bridgit and I became friends after we discovered we knew some of the same people, we also made many trips from Provo to Mesa together since she is from Flagstaff. Bridg got married this summer to Matt which is how I met Matt, I met him just before he and Bridgit started dating. Joshua and I became friends last summer and many of us knew since early that summer that he and Kelly were a great couple, it just took them a little longer to figure it out, but as of last month they are now married! Jeni, as mentioned before was my friend freshman year, but we really got close when we decided to live together last summer, and which then continued into the next year. We had some really wonderful times together! Dallin was just another friend from that ward.
Rach came after the party was over because he had some meetings she had to go to before she could come, but I was so glad to get to see her! Rach was in my freshman ward, she was another one of my FHE sisters, and this summer as I've mentioned before Rachel and I both ended up in Texas nannying for our sisters so we had some fun there too! She is pretty amazing!

Overall it was a really great birthday! I love birthdays so much, I know there are some who don't enjoy their birthdays at all, but I have always looked forward to my birthday with great anticipation!

The Hike of Death...as affectionately referred to in our apartment

2010-12-11T17:07:00.000-07:00

So the Friday after Labor day, I got roped into going on a hike with two of my roommates and a few guys in our ward. For those of you who know me, you know I am really not an outdoorsy person and by that I mean I very rarely choose to do anything in the dirt and heat if I can avoid it, especially hiking. But the guys told us it would just be a simple hike up to the Y and back down, maybe a little higher...they lied. Blake, the fearless leader of our little hiking group is basically under the impression that he is Bear Grylls from Man vs Wild and when we got to the bottom of the trail he decided that we should blaze our own trail. After a few protests we gave in convinced that he knew where he was taking us...he didn't. We started making our own trail convinced by Blake that it would save us 15 minutes...slowly we all began losing our confidence in Blake as a trail guide, but it was basically too late to turn back at that point so we kept going figuring that at some point we would make it to the Y and then we could easily make it back down from there. At one point we came to a rocky area where the rocks were really loose and we were basically having to flatten ourselves to the side of the mountain and that was about where I wanted to give up and find another way, and it was a good time to get out of the way but I wasn't quite fast enough! There was a rock rolling down the mountain right at me, luckily it wasn't too big but it did manage to catch my leg still. Basically there was a person on each side of me so I couldn't really move too much so instead I just spread my legs apart and braced myself and I managed to get my leg far enough apart for it to just scrape my leg rather than break it or something like that...after that I decided that I wanted to find another way to go so one of the guys was nice enough to go with me a slightly safer way. My roommate also got a nice cut on the back of her leg, which is why we call this the "hike of death"! Luckily, and probably because we had some angels watching over us, we all survived and made it home that night to tell the story to everyone else!

The sunset from the Y.

This is Jenae's pretty face!

Marissa, Me and Kyle relaxing for a little bit before heading back down the mountain

The view from the top

Our group for the hike

My battle wound!

I can't believe I'm a Junior already!!!

2010-12-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

After leaving Texas I flew back to Utah to get ready for the new school year. I stayed with Ellen and Steve and the kids for a few days until I could move into my apartment and just had some fun spending time with them...It felt like it had been ages since I'd last seen them even though it had only been the summer, but I couldn't believe how much each of them had grown up since I'd left! It was so much fun to get to spend time with them without having to worry about school or anything else for a little bit. I moved into my new apartment the Monday after I got back, and it is basically the cutest apartment ever! I just love it...I have yet to take pictures of it because I have yet to catch it when it looks nice and clean enough for a good picture...but we're working on that! I got all moved in that night and then the next day Steve picked me up and I went back up with him to Pleasant Grove so I could stay a few more days and get some observation hours in at Lo's school before classes started for me. I had to get 25 hours of observation done by the 15th of September so that I could get my application for my program all finished and turned in, so I was grateful for any hours that I could get in, plus it was much more fun to go to Lo's class than to a class with no one familiar. I got close to halfway through my hours that week which was a big help since I didn't have a car to easily get around here in Provo. El was also nice enough to take me grocery shopping so that I could fill up my cupboards before school started! When I came back to Provo I met all of my new roommates (I thought) and I was pretty excited because it seemed like we would get along well. Kalli was up at the Hale's house that Saturday, just getting back from Lake Powell so Kiersty and I drove up to Centerville to see her for a little bit which was so fun, and always fun to see the Hale clan! School started and the first weekend was Labor day weekend and I had been talking to one of my best friends Becky about that weekend and how she and her brother were planning on making the drive down to Mesa for the weekend and how there would totally be enough room for me so I was excited because it meant that I got to go home and see this amazing lady...

Basically I think my mom is pretty amazing and it was so great to get to see her even if it was for just a short trip!

I also got to see this lady cause she decided that if I was going home she could not miss that!

Mom didn't like the first picture because she said she looked squished, so this was Megan's solution to that problem!

Finally we got a good one!

And another great one...don't you think!?!?

And one good one with dad...of like 6...he just can't seem to smile no matter how hard we try to get him to! So this was a major improvement over the others!

One of Dad's many funny faces...basically I think this is more his normal face than a smile is!

Me and Becks! I just love her and it was so fun to get to see her for a while!

Another great thing about this weekend, other than the of course wonderful part of seeing my fam and friends and everything was that I got to read the Hunger Games! Kalli had read it on the way from Boston to Utah, and while at Lake Powell so she gave me her copy to read...AMAZING!! Unfortunately I had to wait until I got the 2nd and 3rd books to read them...well and til I had another break cause I knew if they were as great as the first (which they so were) that I would not be able to put them down and focus on school so I forced myself to wait until Thanksgiving break cause I knew that I would have enough time to read both then. It was a smart move to wait as hard as it was because I seriously didn't want to stop reading until I absolutely had to because there was no more light (on the drive), or because I was too exhausted! If you haven't yet, I would suggest reading them over Christmas or something, just be warned they aren't really happy books, they are pretty intense, but completely amazing and well written!

The last few days of Texas

2010-11-19T20:51:00.006-07:00

While I knew that saying good bye at the end of the summer was going to be really hard, I never really realized how hard it would be. I had an absolutely wonderful time there and in some ways I didn't want to leave at all, especially to have to go back to the daily grind that is my life during school, and especially when it meant having to say good bye to this cute face, and having to miss out on making him laugh each day and seeing him get excited to see me, it was especially hard knowing that while I have such wonderful memories of our time together he will not remember them the next time I see him (or ever) but life had to go on. I had to go back to school and back to my own life. It was much harder than I realized it would be because I had gotten so much closer to Mhari and James in the three months I was there, and it was hard because this little guy had stolen a piece of my heart and I didn't want to leave that piece behind, but I've survived it (with just a few tears) and I can't wait to see him again in a little over a month!

One day Mhari walked in to see this after Andrew's nap...that night the crib got lowered!

My favorite little jailbird!

The evening before I left Mhari, James, Andrew and I met up with a photographer and had a little photo shoot so that we could have some good pictures of their cute little family, Andrew, Andrew and I, and Mhari and I. It was so fun and although he was not always paying attention or smiling, we got some really great pictures of him! I know that most people will disagree because they think that their baby is the cutest, or any baby related to them is the cutest, but I'm pretty sure that this little one is the cutest baby ever! I just love him so much!! There are kind of a lot I know, but I just couldn't narrow it down anymore because I had so many that I just loved!

This is one of my absolute favorite pictures ever! I love his rosy cheeks and big grin!

This one is one of my favorites because it is such an excellent portrayal of one of Andrew's favorite things to do to me...pull my hair!

Basically if you haven't figured this out already, I love Texas, I loved my summer, I love my brother-in-law James (sometimes), I love my big sister Mhari an awful lot, and I can't get enough of my nephew because he is adorable and completely wonderful, I just love him more than I can really express!

Brenham, TX...working on catching up!

2010-11-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

My last Saturday in Austin we took a little trip to Brenham, TX, home of the Blue Bell Creamery! It's also just a fun little town with some cute little shops and restaurants. Sadly they don't have tours of the Creamery on Saturdays so we just went to the gift show and got some ice cream and some other little things to remember the day as well as some pictures with Bell the cow. It was great fun, and Blue Bell ice cream is THE BEST ice cream there is, minus homemade ice cream!

The only reason that anyone knows that Brenham Texas exists!

The founders of Blue Bell, basically they are some of my heroes for making such an amazing and delectable treat!

Bell, the cow that made it all possible...JK but I totally remember when the Blue Bell commercials used to come on I would get so excited and Bell was always on them!

One of the Blue Bell delivery trucks.

You're doin' fine Oklahoma, OK!

2010-10-05T20:50:00.005-06:00

When I knew that Jake and BrieAnn were going to move back to Oklahoma while I was still going to be in Austin, I had a secret wish that we would find some reason to get to go and visit them before I left, but I didn't want to say anything until Mhari brought it up first! As soon as she suggested the plan I informed her that I would love to do it and I really wanted to! Not only do I love Jake and BrieAnn and Cora, they also had a brand new baby that I had yet to meet and I couldn't wait to get to meet her especially since I don't know when I will get to see them again since Oklahoma isn't exactly close to Utah, nor do I have money to get over there to see them...So needless to say I was very supportive of the plan to go to visit! We left Friday morning and got there early that evening and had a lovely dinner and visit with the Johnsons! Saturday we hung out for a while then we went and checked out a cool antique store...basically it was huge and I could have spend hours and hours looking through all of the stuff there! After that we got some lunch and then we went over to OCU where Jake gave us a tour of the music school (including pointing out a picture of Kristin Chenoweth and sharing some other exciting facts) Then after showing us where he would be teaching and where he would be playing we just happened to walk by Florence Birdwell's new studio (she was Kristin Chenoweth's voice teacher when she attended OCU) and she just happened to be there!! So Jake kindly introduced us, luckily not as an adoring fan of one of her greatest if not her greatest students, but just as his cousin! It was amazing, I think the only thing that could have made that tour better is if Kristin herself had shown up!!

Later that afternoon/evening, we headed to Bricktown for some delicious Mexican food, followed by a trip to the Oklahoma City Memorial. The Memorial was incredibly inspiring (and sad) and I'm so glad that we got to go see it.

We followed the Memorial with a trip to Braum's for some ice cream which was delicious!! I was so excited to get to try it because I've heard so much about how good it is...and it was quite worth it!!

After Braum's we went back to Jake and BrieAnn's, Cora was very insistent that she and baby Andrew had to take a bath together so we gave them a bath and got them in to bed and then we sat and talked, watched Youtube videos of amazing musical performances, talked some more, and then headed to bed.

One of the best things about the whole trip was getting to meet this little one! I was so happy to get to sit and hold her for as long as anyone would let me!

Another fun part of this trip was getting to see Cora and Andrew interact. BrieAnn has always been like a fifth big sister to me so I kind of think of her girls as my nieces so it was fun to see these two cousins already so excited to be together and having so much fun together! And they did have so much fun together!! Cora was so excited for baby Andrew to come (she got to meet him before I did) and she just loved having him there, and even though he can't talk like she can, I'm pretty sure he loved his cousin too! (well both of them because I'm sure he loved baby Maggie too)

Good Times, Sunshine and Summertime

2010-10-05T20:00:00.001-06:00

One fun thing we did a few times this summer was to take Andrew to the pool! He loved every minute of being in the pool, and he was really entertaining to watch as he played in the water! Plus he just looks so cute in his little swimsuit and his hat!

Andrew also got a few teeth while I was in Texas...they sure were sharp little things! Now I think he has one more than this but I'm not sure! Such a big boy!!

He also discovered how much he loves his little feet!! He would sit and suck on his toes for the longest time and it just looked cute...although a little gross!

Partway through the summer I realized that I had very few if any pictures of me and Andrew together so I decided to fix that! Once I got my computer, there was a webcam on it so I took some on there, this one is one of my favorites! Then I asked Mhari to take some for me too and this is one of my favorites that she took...I just love this little guy so, so much!

The Capitol!

The Texas Capitol is an absolutely beautiful building! I'd never been before so I really wanted to go sometime this summer because all of my sisters have been so I told Mhari it was somewhere I wanted to visit before I left. We went on a Friday night, so it was pretty empty and sadly a lot of the rooms were closed but I still got to see some pretty amazing things! I love how proud Texas is of its history, and how beautifully they display it! The Lone Star is found in so many places and it is so beautiful everywhere it is displayed, from the door knobs, to the floor, and from the benches, and elevator doors, to the top of the Capitol dome, it is everywhere and it is beautiful! I also love the hinges on the door, they say in as big of letters as are possible, "Texas Capitol". The weirdest part of walking around the Capitol was having Humanities 201 flashbacks and trying to remember what specific architectural elements were called...obviously I didn't remember too many because there were a lot of things that I just looked at and thought I know we learned about that but I don't remember the word...Anyway, I loved the Capitol building, I only learned 1/2 of Texas History because then I moved to Idaho and learned 1/2 of Idaho history, but I love how much of Texas History can be gleened from a visit to the Capitol (as well as the earlier mentioned visit to the Alamo) Congratulations Texas on having such a beautiful building to call your Capitol! (even when it is under construction)

Adventures in Texas

2010-09-11T23:00:00.000-06:00

Well, since I've been here I have gotten to do a lot of different things and a lot of fun things, mostly both!

Babysitting

So I know I've basically been babysitting a ton since I've been here for Mhari and James, but one of Mhari's friends asked me if I would watch her kids over night while her and her husband went to San Antonio for the temple and for Six Flags. We had fun painting nails, jumping on the tramp, watching Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel...among other things. It was so much fun to hang out with such sweet kids and it was an interesting look into what five kids would be like! It was a lot of fun though and their kids are so great!

San Antonio!

My friend Bridgit got married this summer and I was really sad when I realized she would be getting married in Mesa and I would not be there to see it...however I was really excited when I realized that her fiance (now husband) was from San Antonio which meant that I could take a cool trip to San Antonio and that I could go to the reception there!

We didn't have a lot of time before the reception but the main thing I wanted to see while in San Antonio was the Alamo because I have not been there before. I have been told that the Alamo is not all that exciting and that it is kind of a let down when you actually see it, but I really liked going there to see it. I thought that it was beautiful, smaller than I ever expected it to be but still amazing considering all that happened there.

Me, Bridgit and Matt at their reception. It was so fun to get to see them, and so fun to get to see them so happy together!

Bridgit was a beautiful bride!!

Ashley!

Ashley and Mhari have been friends for longer than I can remember so basically Ashley has been like another sister to me. Since we left Texas I have only seen Ashley 4 times, at Mhari's wedding, Kiersty's graduation from Law School, and two times this summer. The first time that I saw Ash was when we went to Lubbock for Mhari's brother-in-law's 40th birthday bash. She was nice enough to entertain me for the night and take me around for some fun while Mhari and James were at the party. The second time Ashley came to Austin with some of her friends, we had dinner with them one night and then Saturday her and her friends were going to float the river down in San Marcos and she was nice enough to invite me to go along. It was so much fun, even though I got completely fried! I guess I probably should have worn more sunscreen, but I didn't think about it enough...next time if there ever is a next time I will know better! It was really fun to get to see Ash a few times this summer!

Possom Kingdom

Mhari and James invited me along with them to Possum Kingdom where we met up with James's parents and brother and sister-in-law and niece and nephews. It was so fun to be on the lake but it would have been a lot more fun if I was not completely fried from the day before. Even though I was fried I was much more careful with sunscreen at the lake and I kind of hid under a towel and I still had a really great time!

And this little guy had a blast! Plus he looked so cute in all his lake get up!

Dan (Mhari's brother-in-law) and I went tubing together, but because of my sunburn I couldn't handle it as well as I have in the past! It was still tons of fun though!

Rachel

Rachel and I were FHE sisters our freshman year and it just so happened that we both ended up near Austin this summer nannying for our sisters. We didn't know that this was happening until after we had both gotten there and were talking about our summers and each realized that we were talking about the same area...it was kind of a fun realization! We decided to take advantage of the closeness and we went to the same ward together when we were both around for church, and we took two Monday nights (since it was kind of a pain to get to FHE together) and had a few girl's nights instead. One night we went to see Letters to Juliet at the dollar theater and another time we ran to the outlet malls for an hour or so...in the rain...just because and just to get out of the house for a little bit. It was so much fun to have her close and to get to hang out with her sometimes!

Mother's Day Weekend in Austin

2010-07-05T13:30:00.001-06:00

After a very long trip (8 AM Thursday AZ time til 2 or 3 AM Friday TX time) we made it to Austin safe and sound and very sleepy and very excited for the fun weekend we had to look forward to! We had plenty of time to spend together as a family which is so fun to get to see everyone and just be together, I really love my family!

Since James had to teach Primary after Sacrament meeting on Sunday he was absent in these pictures, so it is kind of funny because we decided that it looks more like Kalli and Steve were the ones to have a baby...

Along with all of our family being there to celebrate together we had some old friends from Lubbock come and join us. Lane and Dianne Anderson were in our ward in Lubbock and I basically have known them all of my life and they are pretty amazing people! One thing I always remember from when I was little was that Dianne always remembered my birthday and she usually brought over a little treat for me. (And this hasn't changed she still remembers my birthday every year and sends an e-mail or something to say happy birthday) Anthony and Jamie and their son Logan also joined us which was really neat because we haven't seen them in ages...Anthony and Jamie used to babysit us when my parents would go out of town and when they would go out of town we took care of their cats. They were a huge part of my childhood and I have so many great memories of them and it was great to get to see them again!

I just love this little boy...I love taking pictures of things that I do but I feel like since I got here I take so many pictures of just Andrew because he is so cute that I don't have many or any pictures of me doing any of the fun things we do...but it's ok because he is so stinkin cute!

I don't know what was going on when this picture was taken, but it just makes me laugh because Dad, Steve, and Kalli all have the greatest faces on! I think Steve's is my favorite...I really have now clue what he was doing!

Mhari's friend Betsy took family pictures for us Sunday afternoon and they turned out so great!

My beautiful sisters and me! (Mhari, Megan, Kalli, Kiersty, and me)

The Lund girls including our amazing Mom!

And adding in Grandma Betty (my dad's mom) and all the boys (Steve, James, Dad, and Seth, and baby Andrew on Mhari's lap)

I seriously love my sisters so much and my mom!

We all have such great taste in shoes!

I love this pictures because we are all laughing so much that it is just fun and cute!

The Lunds and the Fleischmans and the Loughmillers and the Hales Basically the greatest family I could ever ask for.

All the girls with our favorite baby!

This picture makes me laugh because you can see how all of us have squinty little eyes especially when we smile EXCEPT Kalli...I don't know why but this is always one of my favorite pictures to take.

And this one makes me laugh because thre out of the five of us are sticking our tounge out as our funny face...I think we must be related!

And now a short tribute to my Daddy... His birthday just passed as did Father's Day and I failed to tell how special my Daddy is! So here are a few pictures from our family weekend together of my amazing Dad!

I love cuddling with my Daddy...Dad's favorite actor is John Wayne and in one of his movies, Rio Lobo, John Wayne gets told that he is comfortable a few times and that is what I think of my Daddy...He is comfortable not just to cuddle with but just to sit with even if we are just sitting next to each other reading or watching a movie or talking. I just love getting to spend time with my dad!

I just love this picture because to me it demonstrates who my dad is. He is a big goof ball and he loves to have fun which he did have a lot of fun with baby Andrew! (and I'm pretty sure that Andrew had a lot of fun with his Grandpa Kim)

I really love getting to see my dad be Grandpa. He is so happy when he is holding this precious baby and it is so cute to get to see. I love this picture of them together because I love how little Andrew looks when Dad is holding him, especially his little had compared to Dad's hand!

And this is my favorite picture of Mom and Dad together. Dad doesn't smile often for pictures so we were really lucky this time to get quite a few with Dad's great big smile! I think a lot of it was because he was just so happy to be all together (for the first time since last Mother's day when he had just had surgery and was not very excited to do anything but sleep or lay on his bed) and I think a huge part of it was because he finally got to meet his grandson! I love these two people so very much, if you know them I'm sure you know why because they truly are some of the most amazing people I know, they have so much love to give and they give it so freely! So happy late birthday and Father's Day Dad, I love you and I can't wait to see you again!

Summertime!

2010-07-03T17:31:00.000-06:00

Summer started off with me moving out of my apartment after a year...sometimes I thought it would never come...anyway, I was very glad to be heading out of Provo for the summer so it was good to be moving out! My last day in Provo I got all of my stuff off, had a visit from Brother Perkins (the stake high council man from my freshman ward) who was nice enough to pick up my bike to keep it for me for the summer. After this was taken care of I went to sign a contract for a place to live the next year. I found a great deal on a basement apartment about 2 blocks north of campus and I am really excited to see how it works out next year! Once that was done I had to find a way to spend the rest of my day so I headed to campus to keep busy for a while. Because of graduation everything was closing early so I ran out of things to do while I waited for Kiersty and Seth to get off of work so I called Alyssa and spent like two hours hanging out with her and catching up before we both left for the summer. When Kiersty and Seth got done with work, they came and picked me up from Alyssa's then I headed up to Lehi with them to stay the night. Ellen and Steve and the kids came over for a little while that night to see me before I left, it was weird how sad I was feeling saying bye to them considering I would be back to see them in just a few months but I guess thinking of how much they are going to change in the next few months was what made me a bit sad. Anyway, Bridgit and I planned to leave late morning to head to Flagstaff (she had to pick up her dress before we could leave so she had to wait until they were open) We had a nice drive down but oddly enough considering it was almost May we had the worst weather we had had so far in one of our trips which was strange since our other two trips down to Flag were in November and December. We made it safe and sound and when we got there we were both exhausted...I think it was the combination of late nights catching up to us since I think during finals week both of us had had at least one all nighter if not more...So we started Avatar that night with her brother and sister-in-law but neither of us made it through the movie. It was kind of sad to say goodbye the next morning because I knew the next time I saw Bridgit she would no longer be Bridgit Harris, she would be Bridgit Terry...it was also sad because it was our last road trip together. I was very excited to get to see my mom though! (and my dad a little later in the day!) So I drove down the rest of the way with my mom and had the next two weeks to look forward to just hanging out at home and calming down after all of the craziness of finals!

This is Walter, Bridgit's trusty car that got me home safe and sound 3 times!

The day that I got home I got to wander the temple grounds while Mom and Dad went with Brenda and Dave through the temple. Brenda and Dave got married my junior or senior year of high school and now they have had the opportunity to go through the temple to be sealed to one another for time and all eternity. Jenny, Aunt Brenda's daughter chose to go through the temple with them so that she could be sealed to them as well. It was a very special day for their family and they were all so happy to be able to do such a special thing.

My cousin Jeni Fenstermaker and her husband and family moved to Mesa a little while after my parents and I did. This is her son Joshua who I babysat many times while I was still in high school. He doesn't always remember who I am right away but it doesn't take long til he is my best friend again!

He is especially willing to be my best friend when he discovers that I have a cool thing like a camera to play with!

Some weird pictures but he had fun taking different ones!

Heidi, Ri and I have to take advantage of anytime that I have in Mesa because it doesn't come around too often since I've gone to school....

this trip home because it wasn't for very long and because it was Prom time in Mesa we didn't have a lot of time to get together so we ended up just going to dinner at Costa Vida and chatting for a few hours. It was great to spend time with these two and just to hear more about their lives as of late...

I wish that we could see each other more often but we do have lots of fun in the time that we do find for each other...I'm also working on convincing them to come to Provo to visit me this year!

Drake is one of my very favorite people from high school! I know he has been seen on my blog before and it is because any time that I go home, if he is around I can't help but meet up with him to see how he is doing! He is pretty amazing and I'm so blessed to have a friend as great as him!

After a few weeks at home it was time to leave and head to Austin for Mother's Day weekend and for the rest of the summer...I will do that post next so that this one is not insanely long!

Playing Catch up Yet Again!

2010-05-31T22:14:00.000-06:00

Cinderella Ball

My ward threw a Cinderella ball I think mid-March. Basically I just wanted to go because it was a good excuse for me to get all dressed up and fancy! The whole set up of the activity was supposed to be that once we got there all of the girls put in a shoe and then the guys picked one and that was there date. However, once we got there shockingly there were more girls than guys so this didn't work quite how it was planned so instead we just all had fun dancing together in a big group, and on the slow dances there were hardly any people not dancing. Actually I think it was the first time I have ever been to a dance where there were guys standing along the wall dancing because there weren't enough girls for them to have someone to dance with. It was a fun night and I got to hang out with some different people than I had before, as well as some good old friends.

Me and Josh, one of the best friends that I met while living at Bountiful Court this last year.

Me and Lindsey, one of my neighbors.

Robin and I

Dara, me, Robin, and Kassie
I hadn't really done much with these girls until this night and it was at this dance that I realized how much fun they are!! We had a blast dancing, talking and just messing around!

Meg Visiting

Meg went up to Twin Falls for a friend's wedding, so after the wedding she came down and stayed with Kiersty so that we could all spend some time together. We didn't have a lot of time, and it was crazy thanks to school junk...but it was still nice to have some time and reasons spend time with some of my amazing sisters!

The only picture we managed to take during Meg's time in Utah, was us sitting in the car at the airport dropping her off to head home...

Me and Bridgit!

My friend Bridgit is getting married, well now it is only a few days away, but in like March she invited me to go with her to her second dress fitting up in Sandy. We went up early one Saturday afternoon only to discover that it was not quite ready for her to try it on yet even though they told her it would be done that day. So it was either go back to Provo just in time to turn right back around, or stay up in Sandy and find some way to occupy our time there. Rather than waste the gas to go back to Provo we started looking around Sandy for something to do. We started out by grabbing some lunch...a new experience at Pei Wei...delicious! Then we did a little window shopping which didn't last long due to the fact that neither of us really had too much money to spend. Finally when we realized we had like 3 hours at least to kill, we decided to catch a movie.

We decided to join Alice in Wonderland...

in 3-D!! (As you can see by the lovely glasses we are sporting!)

It was really a fun day, there was a lot that I could have done that day to keep me caught up in school...but I survived, and this day was much more fun than any of that would have been...it goes along with this quote I really like... "We may not remember the tests we failed, but we will never forget the people we were with on the nights (or in this case days) we didn't study"...it is so true, I'll never forget this fun day!

I'll also never forget how beautiful Bridg looked in her dress...I am so excited to see her in it again in just a few weeks for her San Antonio reception!!! She is going to be a stunning bride!!

Babysitting

So for Ellen's birthday I offered to watch her kids for a night so she and Steve could go away for a night, she didn't take me up on it then, but she did take me up on it for their anniversary a few weeks later. So I rode up to Pleasant Grove with Steve and then he and Ellen left me with their kids. It was so much fun to have some time to spend with these wonderful kids! I love them so much and I really love spending time with them. Last year I didn't take advantage of their proximity very often, but this year I realized just how much I need and want to be able to spend more time with them while I can!

Saturday morning Lauren was playing around with the camera on my phone and having a ball with it, so when I told her I had a real camera she could take some pictures with she was very excited! She took a lot of pictures, and a ton of really random ones, so I'll just share a few of the cute ones she got. These girls make my days brighter!

Nat's Mission Call!

Natalie was my roommate over the summer last year. We had some really fun times together including late night trips to the store, loud music in preparation for cleaning checks, a few late night sleep overs at people's houses, jet skiing with Josh and JD, and many other things! I was lucky enough to get to go and see her open her call and hear that she will be joining her sister in Russia...well not exactly, but she is going close to where her sister is just getting back from in Russia. She is going to be a great missionary I just know it! And Nat will officially become my first roommate to go on a mission, so now I'll have had one former roommate leave on a mission and two former roommates get married.

Happy Birthday

2010-03-30T23:26:00.004-06:00

So I know that today is almost over, but I can't let today pass without telling everyone about the amazing woman that was born today...I won't tell you how many years ago... My mom, Elizabeth Smith Lund is so incredible, and I am so blessed to have her as my mother. I just really love her and I want everyone to know how much she means to me. I want to share with you some of the amazing things that I love about my mom.

She looks like she was a pretty cool little girl...
She is extremely beautiful.

She married my dad in the temple, for time and all eternity in the Mesa temple so that all of us could be blessed to be born in the covenant.

Her and my dad have taught us all so well, so that we all wanted to be baptized (this is from Kiersty's baptism, I am the littlest one)

She always took time to spend time with me individually.

She takes time to go to activities with us.

I am only sharing this picture so that you can understand just how wonderful my mom is. This picture was taken after I had my first experience in the hospital since I was born. I had to have an emergency appendectomy when I was a sophomore in high school, which only happened as well as it did because my mom made me go to the emergency room when she did. She listened to what the Spirit was telling her and she followed the promptings by making me go to the hospital and get checked out. This allowed them to catch what was wrong before my appendix burst. She then spent the entire night with me in the emergency room while we waited to find out what was wrong with me. Then she waited for me while I went to the operating room for my surgery, and then waited for me while I was in the recovery room. Then she waited in my hospital room while I slept, and was with me until Megan came to take over just long enough for Mom to shower and then she came back to stay with me like the rest of the day. I think I finally convinced her to go home that night, but it was pretty hard to do. She stayed with me as long as she could after I got home, and then when she had to go back to work, she felt really bad about leaving me at home. Basically this long story is to tell you all how my mom is completely caring, she loves me a lot, and she is always aware, and willing to help me in any way that she can. She is also very in tune with the Spirit.
My mom is very supportive. She came to every concert I think I ever had, and she was always waiting for me after to tell me how good I did.
Once again she supports me in all that I do, whether it is coming to watch, selling tickets, helping with costumes, being part of the choir council, etc. Anytime that she could help out she was there even if she was super busy with other things!
Mom helped me and also supported me as I worked to get my Young Womanhood Medallion. This is the night that I finally made it through and got my medallion.
She always encouraged me to do well in school, even though she encouraged good grades, she understood, and still does understand when I did not do as well as I could.

She has always encouraged us to stay close as a family, and to this day my sisters are my best friends, as are my parents.I always know that she loves me even when I make mistakes, or have problems. She never lets me feel as if I am not special and loved and for that I love her so much.

Now Mom is an amazing grandmother to this adorable baby!

Old Friends

2010-03-03T14:07:00.004-07:00

Over Valentine's day weekend/President's day weekend I had a lovely time hanging out with some of my wonderful old friends from Idaho. I started out the weekend early by going to the Young Ambassador's Show on Thursday night with Alyssa. Alyssa's roommate Kate is in YA so she was going to support her and invited me a long! We had a great time and the show was amazing! One song in the program that I just couldn't get enough of, I seriously wanted to go watch it all over again just for this one song, was Bring Him Home from Les Mis. It was an alumni show and one of the alumni sang this song, he is a professional singer now and he was amazing to listen to. I seriously was like holding my breath and closing my eyes and just taking it all in. It was incredible! I just loved watching YA but I wish that I could be a part of it sometimes, it would be incredible!

Lys and I, she and I have now been friends for over 8 years I think we are going on 9 now! I just love this girl to pieces!

Then the next night, Hayley Howard drove down to Provo from Twin Falls. She and I became friends in 7th grade and we have been good friends ever since then. I was so excited when I heard she was coming and I was certainly not disappointed with all of the time we got to spend together that weekend! We did all kinds of stuff, first we watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, then we just sat and talked for hours, just me, Hayley, Lys and Deidre. Then I ran home in the dark...somewhat scary Provo night. Then Saturday thanks to the late night I slept in for a while and then Hayley came over for a while and we just talked about old times, and new times, and old friends and newer ones and pretty much everything! It was just so much fun! Then we went out to Arby's for some lunch and then to the BYU basketball game. We totally kicked butt at it and we had a ton of fun watching it!

Me, Hayley, Alyssa, and Jessica supporting our BYU Cougars!

Alyssa, Hayley and Me

The Folk Dance team performed a Bollywood routine.

During the fight song...

A sweet looking stunt...there are some small moments that I miss being a cheerleader.

Playing, Partying, Dating, etc...

2010-02-21T17:20:00.006-07:00

Well, college hasn't really been all I ever expected it to be. I guess I spent too much time watching movie versions and depictions of what college was supposed to be like, it is similar to the experience with high school, you watch all of the movies and tv shows that show "high school" then you actually experience high school and it is nothing like the movies you saw all the time you were growing up. Anyway, my expectations of college were a little different than the depictions that I saw in movies mainly because of my standards and the fact that I was going to BYU so I knew the type of parties shown in the media were out...but I still saw all kinds of things and heard all kinds of things that gave me certain expectations for school at BYU mostly that everyone was always dating, and that I probably wouldn't get through my freshman year without getting close to marriage... Now, after surviving my first year and a half of living at BYU I have discovered that BYU and college in general is not quite what I ever expected it to be. I have only been on like 4 dates since coming here, I spend a lot of my time doing homework, or watching a movie alone in my apartment...I don't say this to appear pathetic or anything, I just think it is interesting how different my experience has been since getting here than I ever expected it to be. Although it has been different, it has still been good, and some of the experiences that I have been similar to what I was always told to expect.

One night in January some of the girls planned a big group date. We decided to go ice skating and it was really a fun night. We went skating for while and then after the rink closed we came back to our apartment and had root beer floats and watched a movie. It was a really fun night, and one of the few date nights that I have had in my time here at BYU.

Lisa's birthday was in mid January so her roommates planned a party for her and one of the other girls she lives with who had a birthday about the same time. So some of our old friends got together to celebrate this wonderful girl and have a little time to spend with each other!

When we can get together and still understand each other, and love each other with faces like this on...you know it has to be a special relationship! It was fun to be reunited with a few of my freshman friends even though it was only for a little bit!

Then we got to be reunited with some sisters as well. It was fun as always to see some good friends and to remember some of the things that I have loved about BYU since getting here.

And once again, we still know how to have fun!

And my lovely old roommate Lisa! I love this girl a heck of a lot! She is so much fun, and she understands me so well! It has been a lot of fun this semester to have a class with her so I get to see her usually twice a week!

I'm giving Lisa some birthday kisses! She's a big 20 year old now!! Love her guts!

Back to School, Sisters and Crafting...

2010-02-20T19:02:00.002-07:00

When I got back from Christmas break Kalli was in town for about another week, so, I was back to school and all that that brings (homework, quizzes, little free time...) and every night (unfortunately most of my days do end during the evening) when I got done Kierst and kalli would pick me up and we would play for about four or five hours...well they would play/craft, and I would play/do homework... and then they would take me home so that I could get some sleep in preparation for the next day. This is pretty much how it went Monday thru Wednesday, Thursday I got done slightly earlier so we met up with Ellen and the kids and got some frozen yogurt for like the second or third time that week (Kalli was wanting to try all the different places here in Provo) and just visited with Ellen for a while. Then we went and looked at baptism dresses for Lauren for a little bit and then left to go grocery shopping for me since I hadn't been since getting back from Christmas break. Then on Friday, I got done with class earlier than expected and I hurried home as fast as I could, got my stuff together, and went to spend the weekend with Kiersty and Kalli (and Seth). Friday night we went to Pleasant Grove and spend some time with the Bodines. We had dinner, played games, and just visited. Saturday we spent most of the day finishing up the crafts that we had been working on all week. Most of the crafts that we worked on are seen below. Kalli made onesies for Mhari and for one of her friends (with some help from Kiersty and I), Kiersty and Kalli finished the quilt that they started in September for baby Andrew, and Kiersty also made a boppy for Mhari. I helped a little with the onesies since I finally had a break from homework on Saturday. That night after everything was done, we went to the El Salvadorian restaurant that Kalli and Kiersty fell in love with years ago, on Center Street in Provo. Then we went to a dollar movie showing of 500 Days of Summer. I thought it was a pretty good movie, Kalli and Kiersty weren't as impressed by the story as I was but they still liked it I think. (this also included some more frozen yogurt) Then we went back to Kiersty's and Kalli worked on a headband as we had planned on most of the week but not yet had time for. Kiersty and I decided that we would just get together another day to work on our headbands (which we have now done, I will post pictures of them later) Then on Sunday we went up to Centerville to see Annie (Kalli's sister-in-law) talk in church, for her "I'm leaving for a mission" talk and then we spent the rest of Sunday with the Hale family. We had lots of food, lots of fun, and played a few games. (we also got to Skype with Steve, who was at Mhari and James' house so we got to see our adorable little nephew on the webcam!) Then Kiersty and I had to say goodbye to Kalli who was leaving the next morning, and we drove back to Provo so that we could prepare for the next week. It was so fun to spend time with my amazing sisters, the only sad thing was that we couldn't all be together...for that we are waiting for May, and in March Megan will be joining Kiersty and I for a few days so we are also looking forward to that! Until then, I just keep enjoying having Kiersty nearby...even though that is only for a little bit longer and then she is going to leave me to go to Lehi...but I can still see her since she will still be working at the Provo courthouse.

These are all of the onesies that we made over the week.

The turtle one is the one that I did...it was pretty fun, and they all turned out really cute!

The quilt that Kalli and Kiersty made for baby Andrew.

The boppy that Kiersty made for Mhari.

The only picture that we took of the three of us all week long! I guess we were too busy having fun with other things so finally right before we left the Hale's house we took this so that we would have at least one!

Christmas

2010-02-20T17:24:00.009-07:00

For Christmas Break, I got to leave Provo on Thursday and head for Mesa. Because I went with Bridgit, we stopped a night in Flagstaff before continuing on to Mesa, still getting home to Mesa early Friday afternoon was great! It gave me exactly 2 weeks at home this year which was really nice to just have some time to be home, and be with my mom and dad. (I sure love them!) The first few days were nothing too exciting because my parents were both working and most of my friends weren't home just yet so I just spent a lot of time relaxing, something that was definitely missing last semester!

The first big thing to happen was on Monday night, when we had a combined FHE with Brenda and Dave and some of their family. Brenda's son Mike was there with his wife and kids and then Tisha's son KJ was also there. (he is the one in the bucket above) He discovered that he could get lots of laughs by climbing into the bucket and trying to hide inside of it so he continued doing it for quite a while! We had a short spiritual thought followed by a viewing of a classic, Mr Krueger's Christmas and some yummy zucchini cake. It was fun to spend some time with Brenda's family and especially Mike's family, who I don't remember a lot from when I was younger.

Does anyone recognize this amazing Santa Claus?

Anyone...Anyone? He's probably my favorite Santa Claus ever!!

It's my Daddy! He played Santa Claus at Fry's for two days while I was home for Christmas and I couldn't resist going and seeing him in action as Santa! I mean he was Santa for so long for me and now I get to see him really be Santa Claus for so many other little kids! It was really cute!

On the first Wednesday of break, I finally got to see my favorite person from high school... Becky! I love this girl so much, she is incridible and she has been there for me through so many different times in my life and I am so glad that we have stayed friends!

For Christmas Eve this year we spend the evening over at Jen and Adam's for dinner, Christmas Eve traditions, and games. It was really fun to send some time chasing these little guys around again, it has been a while since I got to do that! I was surprised at how quickly they accepted me and were begging me to follow them again to see what they were going to do next! I can't believe how big they have gotten!

Christmas was just me and Mom and Dad so it wasn't too big this year, we only opened a few presents on Christmas and then left the rest for Sunday when Megan would join us. We spend Christmas just spending time together, Mom and I played lots of games, and we all watched some movies together. We also had some really yummy food, and went to see some of our amazing family! Saturday Mom and I went to Brenda's grandaughter's baptism. That was about all...then late Saturday night Meg got into town. Sunday Megan realized that she forgot her church clothes at home so she stayed home from church. Then just a little before we left we got a call telling us that Mhari was in labor!! We were so excited!! Mom and I took our phones with us to church and anxiously awaited any news about Andrew's birth. We got home without hearing much, so we waited some more. Finally we got some news about a brand new baby boy! He is adorable!! basically Mhari looks way too good to have just had a baby, but the whole family looks completely wonderful! Especially Andrew Keenan Fleischman! I am already in love with this little kid! I haven't met him yet and it has only been a month and a half but I am in love!

Monday and Tuesday Mom took the day off of work so we just spent some time with Meg. Meg had to leave Tuesday night to get back to work, so while Mom went through the temple with Randall, Meg and I walked around the temple to see the lights. I ran in to some old friends so I got distracted for a while but it was still fun. At the temple I ran in to Heather, a friend from high school, who I haven't seen since the summer after graduation, and Eric my friend who got back from his mission a few months ago. They were both being hosts at the temple for their stake. It was fun to see them and to find out how Heather has been for the last little while and how school has been going for her. Then I had to say bye to Meg It was sad to say bye, but it was good to have some time to spend with her!

The second Wednesday of the break, I got together with some of my amazing friends from High School! I love these kids! hannah, Derrick, Drake, Becky and I became friends when we were all in Footloose together my junior year. Then senior year Derrick and I had 4 classes together, AP English, Gov/Econ, Advanced Vocal Ensemble, and Concert Choir. Drake and I had 2 classes togehter, AP English and Concert Choir. Becky and I had one class together as well as being in the same ward togheter. And she was my 2nd counselor in the Laurel presidency. I didn't get to see Hannah too much during senior year, but whenever we did see each other it was so much fun! Anyway, we all got together went to Red Robin for some dinner (or in my case a drink and their bottomless fries) then we went back to Hannah's apartment for a while. earlier, as we were driving to Hannah's we had been talking about when we were in Footlosoe and how it would be fun to watch it. So Hannah told us that she had video from our production and we couldn't resist watching it so we put the video in and took a little trip back in time to March 2007! It was great although kind of silly! These four people are wonderful and I plan to keep in touch with them for a very long time!!

Eric and I spent New Years Eve at a YSA ice skating pary. Ice skating is always fun, so it was a fun night.

I love this woman so very much! She is probably the most amazing woman that I have ever known and I look up to her so very much! Thanks mom for all that you do for me and for being the beautiful and amazing lady that you are! I hope you always remember how much you mean to me!

Mom and Dad took me to the Bailey's house on New Years where I met up with Maddie and Rachel Lake, and Rachel's mom to drive up to Flag. Rachel used to live in my ward in Mesa, but it was before I had moved there. She was however good friends with some of my ward friends, for example, Becky and her were like the best of friends, so I have heard about her for years from them. Then at the beginning of this school year I started talking to a girl in my ward who I have talked about before, Bridgit. Bridgit and I found a connection through Rachel because Rachel is one of Bridgit's best friends in Flagstaff.

So we drove to Flagstaff that night, where I stayed the night with Rachel's family. It was a really fun night, we talked for a while, (it was nice to get to know them and now be able to have a picture anytime someone talks about the Lakes, whether it is Bridgit or Becky) we also had lots of food, and watched Up and then Rachel, Maddi and I all squished into Rachel's bed and slept for a really long time!

This is after a long drive from Flagstaff to Provo, long, but good! We talked about anything and everything and it was really great!!

Overall it was a great break! I had fun being with my friends and more importantly my family and I just loved being in Arizona for a while enjoying the sunshine, and the one day of down pour! The most exciting part of the break was definitely the late Christmas present that we got in the form of an addition to our family! I love my little nephew so much!

Christmas Ball

2010-01-30T23:06:00.007-07:00

So my ward does a Christmas Ball every year, and this last year was no different. Some people get all dressed up and others just get dressed up in nice Sunday clothes. For those of you who know me well you can probably guess that I was really excited to have a reason to get all decked out. For those of you who may not know me as well, you will see the evidence of this in the pictures. I blame this extreme desire to dress up in big princess dresses on well, Disney for one because all I ever wanted when I was little was to have any reason to wear a pretty dress especially if it looked like one of their princesses dresses. I also blame it on the fact that in high school I had all this access to pretty dresses thanks to older sisters but I never had any reason to where them thanks to silly boys... total in high school I attended one formal dance. So basically I love having an excuse to where a big formal dress! So basically we got a big catered dinner, and then they had music so that we could dance if we wanted to. Overall it was a fun night and it was totally worth it to put on a pretty dress even though it was freezing outside!

Bridgit and I at the ball

Matt came with her and as we were taking a picture with the three of us, Josh jumped in so that I didn't look like such a loner!

Brooke and I, Brooke is the 2nd counselor in our Bishopric's younger sister, she is a total sweetheart!

Julie and I, Julie became my roommate at the beginning of winter semester and just a few weeks ago she became the second roommate that I have had to become engaged! Now she is going to get married in April!

Me and Josh

Jeni and I! Jeni has been an amazing roommate to me since April! When I moved into my new apartment after Wyview, I moved because of Jeni's suggestion.

Mindy, Jeni and I, we have all been roommates since August

Me, Jeni, Ju, Mindy, Lex, and Robin

Not quite sure what everyone is doing in this picture but you get the idea that life can get a little crazy!

Me and Julie, Julie was one of the girls that I visit taught last semester, she is a really great girl!

November

2010-01-18T00:31:00.006-07:00

President Uchtdorf's CES Fireside

The first Sunday in November, President Uchtdorf came to the Marriott Center and gave a fireside. It was a really great talk, especially when he would talk about his sweet wife. I love seeing the two of them together because they are so happy and so precious! Bridgit and I went to the fireside together and when we got there we ran into Smalls so he joined us. Then after the fireside we ran into a guy named Brigham, who we had met at a party the night before. Brigham is in an acapella group, and last year when I lived in Wyview his group came and serenaded my apartment so when we ran into him at the Halloween party that we went to I recognized him so then he promised that they would come and serenade us again sometime, so that night they came and sang us like three or four songs. It was really fun and more than one person asked Bridgit if she had gotten engaged that night!

BYU vs Air Force

Bridgit has an all sports pass as do some of her friends and roommates from last year. For the BYU vs Air Force game her friends weren't going so she got one of their tickets for me! It was really fun to get to go to a game again because I have missed being able to go to the football games this year. We had a fun time even though it was incredibly cold! That is why we looked so cute for the game because we were trying to stay as warm as possible!

Friends from Home!

Some of my friends from back home came to Provo for their friend Kina's wedding. Because the wedding was on Friday, they had a free Saturday night to spend with me! So Hannah, Kaylene, Kelsey, and Erica and I got together, as well as two guys that they all knew in high school but I didn't, one was Kina's brother and the other was one of their other friends, both of whom graduated the year before I moved to Mesa. Anyway we got together and played some Disney Scene-It (which Hannah and I dominated and killed everyone else at!) Then we talked for a while about the "good" times at Desert Ridge, and then we went and got some frozen yogurt at Yozone. After getting yogurt we went back to Kina's brother's apartment and watched The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Overall, we had a really fun night and it was great to get to reconnect a little bit with some old friends and make a few new ones.

Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving I was very lucky to discover that Bridgit was driving home, and then her and her parents were driving down to Mesa for a few days so it was an excellent way to get home for the holiday! Bridg and I had tons of fun on the drive down with music blasting for a while, then a book on tape for the rest of the way. Oh and lots of talking on the way! Luckily Meg got work off for Wednesday and Thursday of Thanksgiving week so she came home for the holiday as well, she also brought her roommate Lindsey with her because her family was gone for the week. Wednesday was spent with my mom at work waiting for Meg to get to town and then Meg and I played for a little bit. That night Meg and I watched the first Parent Trap. On Thursday Kent and Becky came down from Snowflake, Toshie and Cheiko, Kay and Connie came over from California and then our family and Belinda and Brock and RiAnne all got together at Belinda's Kitchen and had a deliciously wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. I am always amazed at the wonderful food that my family can make and the fun that we can have together!

After dinner, we went back to our house and played a few games of Hello, and then we put on The Parent Trap 2 which was a really fun trip back in time! Then Meg had to head home so that she could work the next day.

Black Friday came bringing a fun day of hanging out with an old friend. My friend Eric got home from his mission in October, so because I have been away at school my first chance to see him was when I was home at Thanksgiving. So we got together that morning and went shopping for a little bit. But due to the crazy lines we didn't really feel like we wanted to stand in line. Then we went to get some lunch. He wanted to take me to get Italian food (he went on his mission to Italy) so we went to Bucca Di Beppo and I had some really yummy stuffed shells. Then we went to the park and walked around, enjoying the lovely Arizona weather, after the nastiness that I left in Utah I was very very excited to be enjoying a great sunny day in Arizona. After talking at the park for a while we went to see Julie and Julia which I loved! I thought it was a really cute movie and just fun to watch, I really like Amy Adams and Meryl Streep so seeing them together was fun! Then he took me home and we hung out with my parents for a while. It was really fun to catch up with an old friend for a bit.My favorite part of the whole week though was getting to spend some quality time with my parents! I love them so much and I just don't know how I was so blessed to have such amazing parents! I have been so blessed and I am so thankful for them!

October...

2010-01-16T17:21:00.008-07:00

So some of these might have been at the end of September, but I'm pretty sure that all of this came in October!

Becky came up from Cedar one weekend with her roommate who is from American Fork I believe. Anyway, it was really fun to see her and to get to visit. I miss Becks a ton so it was really, really fun to see her, but it was sad because we were together for quite a while and we still could have kept talking for an even longer time! I'm so lucky to have a friend as great as Becky in my life!My roommate Mindy and I got asked to go on a double date with two roommates in our ward. It was really fun, they made us dinner, and then we went to the spook maze at Thanksgiving Point. Overall it was a fun night!

Some of us from the 50th ward got together on a Saturday afternoon for a little lunch, snacks and fun. I was really close to a lot of people from my Freshman ward so it was fun to get to see everyone that came. One thing was kind of funny, because most of the boys in our ward last year were freshman and still had missions to go on, the only boy that came to our little gathering was Sam Clark who was a freshman last year, but an RM as well. It was really fun to spend time, and to remember. I am really lucky to have the people in my life that I do because they are some truly incredible people.
For Halloween I couldn't decide what to be and on the Friday before Halloween, Kiersty called and asked if I had decided what to use as my costume. When I told her that I had not she asked me if I would like her to help me make a Poodle skirt. I said that that would be fun so she picked me up and then I dropped her off at the gym and I went to pick out material. I picked out bright pink, and I was pretty excited about it! Kierst is amazing and she made a really nice skirt in just about an hour or two and it was really cute! Then after the skirt was done I went home and got ready for my ward party that night. I went the party not really sure how it was going to go, but I ended up being really glad that I went because, it was a really fun night of hanging out with Bridgit, who has now become one of my favorite people in my ward and up her in Provo! Oh, the best costumes of the night were the two guys from my ward who dressed up like Carl and Russell from Up! It was really great!

20th Birthday and New Hair Cut

2009-12-23T10:34:00.006-07:00

20th Birthday

Next came my big 2oth birthday... it didn't come with too much excitement though...Kiersty was nice enough to make me a cake for my birthday, since no one else was going to. It was a delicious cake! I had class from 12-6 so I was on campus for that, then on my way home, I ran into my friend Jessica Jones from Idaho, who told me that her and my friend Alyssa would be by to visit me later that evening. So they came over and I shared my cake with them and had a lovely visit with two of my oldest dearest friends. Then they had to leave to do homework, so I hung out with my roommates for a little bit, and some of my friends from the ward. And then Josh took me on a motorcycle ride to round off my day!

Me and three of my roommates

Danny and Josh and me...Danny looks like he has been drugged but I promise, he wasn't...

This is Dan, he used to be a balloon man at a restaurant so he still comes around if he knows it is someone's birthday and makes them a balloon hat.

Then Josh took me on a motorcycle ride

which is always tons of fun!

New Hair

A few weeks after my birthday I finally got to cut off my hair. Brooke, a girl in my ward, was in hair school (now she is graduated) so she was nice enough to come and cut my hair! I was getting sick of all of the length so I wanted to chop it again. I don't know how much I cut off but my guess is that it was around 8 inches... maybe less, however much it was I was very excited to get it done!

The Best Friend's Wedding

2009-12-21T15:52:00.005-07:00

My Sophomore year at BYU started off with Kalli's best friend from high school getting married! Linz, because she was Kalli's best friend when I was younger, became like one of my sisters because we were so close. Basically if Kalli couldn't help me with something, or if I needed pretty much anything when I was in junior high and my first year of high school, Linz would help me out. Anyway, Linz getting married meant that Kalli came in from Boston to be one of the bridesmaids and Kiersty and I got to go and celebrate at the reception with Linz and Kalli and other friends from Twin. Then after the wedding, which happened in the Draper temple, Kalli and I took a road trip up to Twin Falls to go to Linz's reception up there, and to get to see some old friends. It was the first time that either of us had been back in around two years.

The new Mr. and Mrs. Keith Hughes

Linz looked beautiful as always!

Sisters!

Deidre and Sarah were also there after they got out of the temple, and for the dinner that night, and it was wonderful to get to see them for a little bit!

Me and Linz, I couldn't get her for a picture before she changed out of her dress...

We're in Idaho...

And now we're in Twin Falls!

My first time seeing the Twin Falls temple since it was completed!

Me in the back of the temple at the fountain

I caught her in her dress during this reception!

At the reception Kalli and I got to visit for a while with Pamela Bevan, which we were really excited about! Pam was one of the planners of the reception that night, but to us Pam was our Young Women's president and leader for many years, as well as a camp leader one year. Kalli and I were very excited to get to see her even though it meant helping out at the reception. After the reception, Kalli and I enjoyed a delicious 9 Beans burrito, which was as yummy as I remembered it! Then we went over to the Edmund's house, who were nice enough to let us stay the night, where we also got to finish watching the BYU game from earlier that night. Then after a little visiting we were super tired, so we went to sleep so that we could be ready in time for 8 o'clock church the next morning. We went to the new 15th ward, which is quite a bit different than the 15th ward that we remember but it was still really great to get to go. We saw Jenna get released as Young Women's president, so I think that we picked a perfect day to come because Jenna was very happy to see us, since we were some of her original laurels. After church, but before we headed out of town we made one more stop to go and say hello to Debbie Buttars. Kalli and I haven't seen Debbie in years, which isn't hard to believe since we haven't been back in years, but Debbie was one of our young women's leaders, as well as one of my camp leaders a few different years. We both love her a lot so it was great to get to see her while we were up there.

Ted and Clark

2009-11-17T16:40:00.004-07:00

Ted leaving

After spending half of the summer in Provo with us girls, and helping us send off a ton of the boys from the 50th ward, it was finally time for Ted to go into the MTC! He was so ready to go and he was so excited! We were all excited for him too, but it was a little sad to see him go. He is going to be in South Korea.

Clark's Turn

So coming to the end of the summer not only meant that we had to go back to school, but we were also almost at the end of our list of missionaries leaving. There were a few more to leave after Clark, but sadly Clark was the last one that we got to see before he left. He was nice enough to make Amy, Jess, Jared, and I a delicious dinner! Then the next day we all got to pile into Jess's car and take Clark into the MTC because he did not have family there to take him in. It was really a fun experience to be able to go into the MTC gates, to drop him off. This was the first time since Brandon left that we got to go inside the gates, due to the Swine flu and the new rules that the MTC put in place to prevent it from spreading even more.

Clark with the dinner that he made us.

Right before taking Clark into the MTC. It was a really fun experience for all of us, but sad to see him go at the same time.

Still catching up...

2009-11-17T16:03:00.007-07:00

Pioneer Day Weekend

For Pioneer Day weekend a group of us decided to camp down in Cedar City and then drive to Zion's National Park and hike for the day. It was a really fun and interesting drive down in the pretty ancient camper that Josh's parents were nice enough to let us take. Then we had a nice campout in Cedar, it was a really pretty campground. Then the next day we went down to Zions and we hiked the Narrows. It was a great hike for a nice hot July day because most of the hike is through water. It was really fun, and really long! The only downside to this weekend was on the drive back we had only made it past Cedar City, when the camper we were in died on us... so instead of getting home really late/early Sunday morning, we sat outside of Cedar City from about 9 until about 5... We made it home just in time to shower and get ready for church. It was quite an interesting weekend and our group got much closer than we ever expected when we spend like 8 hours crammed into a little camper... all 12 of us!

Our group at the campsite

At the campsite before leaving for Zion's, little did we know this was kind of foreshadowing the rest of our weekend...

After getting out of Zion's we survived the hike! Sadly we have no pictures from the hike because the one camera that we took with us into the park broke on the way up the mountain when it was dropped in the bus.

Kevin and Matt leaving

Kevin and Matt were two more guys from my freshman ward who left for their missions this summer. We were lucky enough to get to see them before they left. We all went to Wyview and got to see some of our old Bishopric and have some yummy treats. Then the boys suggested that we all sing some hymns together before we left because that is what we used to spend a little time after ward prayer each week doing. It was a really neat experience, and we were all really happy to be able to be a part of it.

No touching...

Matt and Kevin are going to be amazing missionaries! (Matt is now serving in the Orem Mission, and Kevin is going to Tijuana, Mexico)

I just liked this picture of Matt, so I thought that I would include it.

Roommate Pictures

Before the summer ended, Lizzy, Jeni, and I decided that we wanted to take some time and go take some pictures together. Josh was nice enough to go with us to take pictures. We went in front of the Administration Building to take them, and we got some really great ones. There were pretty flowers, nice grass, and a lovely fountain.

Josh joined us for a picture.

I don't know why but it seems like anytime that I am taking pictures with friends we have a classic jumping picture. It is kind of fun to do, I guess that must be why we like to do them!

Brian and Brian (getting closer)

2009-09-26T01:11:00.006-06:00

Brian Stoll

Brian was another guy from my freshman ward. He is from South Jordan or West Jordan or something like that... so when it was his turn to leave, we all wanted to be there for it. Brian is one of the happiest people I have ever met, and he is also one of the huggiest people I have ever met! It was sad to see him go, but I'm sure he is going to do amazing things because he is so friendly!

Brian with all of the girls that came to see him! (Brian, Rachel, Amy, Britt, Me, Lisa)

Jared and all the girls!

Brian Edwards and the girls.

The cute group picture...

A classic Brian face picture...

We're all going to miss his hugs so much!

...

Jared and Brian get all the girls (but Brian only gets them for a few weeks longer...)

Brian and I

I was so excited to get to see Lisa for like the first time in forever!! (Ok like 2 months, but when you spend almost every day together for 8 months with no longer than a week in between seeing one another 2 months seems like an eternally long time!)

After the farewell, and after party (which had delicious food) Amy invited me to join her and her roommates for a dinner that her parents and her mom's friend were doing for her birthday. So even though I wasn't really hungry I went along for fun. We got dropped off at the 7 11 to wait for her Dad, and got a little bored so we took some pictures while we waited.

It was a really fun dinner, with yummy food that I didn't really need, but couldn't resist eating!

Brian Edwards

Brian is from Sandy so his farewell was another one that we really wanted to go to. His farewell was really nice, and getting to see him for a bit afterward was great as well. And as always, these outings always mean more pictures!

Brian and the girls... since he was one of the last to leave he had us all to himself!

We left a space in this one for Jared, because we all felt bad that we had forgotten to check with him and see if he wanted to go to this farewell with us.

I think that Brian looks a little traumatized in this picture...

Brian and I

Fourth of July

2009-09-25T23:10:00.007-06:00

The night before the 4th we went to a tumbling gym and had some fun there, then we just hung out and watched a movie, played games, etc. After curfew we weren't quite ready to go to bed, so a group of us decided to check out University Avenue and see all of the crazy people who were camped out along the street to keep a spot for the parade the next morning. We were just having fun walking around and seeing the craziness that was happening there because it is one of the only nights out of the year that Provo hasn't gone to sleep by like 1 or 2 in the morning. It was pretty interesting, until it started pouring rain on us and then it was just crazy! It was kind of funny to see all of the people that were camping out trying to find ways to hide from the rain. So then we turned back toward home and walked/ran home in the rain, which caused us to basically be soaked by the time we made it back. The weather kind of reminded me of monsoon season except it was really cold rain, so I spent a little time in the rain before going inside. Then I stayed up even later to paint my toenails cool colors to go with the holiday (red and white stripes) I finally went to bed way later than I should have and then woke up just in time to start off the day bright and early at 6 am.

Our first plan for the day was to go see the hot air balloon launch. It was really cool to see, I don't think I have ever seen hot air balloons take off before so it was pretty cool, even though it was way early!

Tony the tiger!

After the balloon launch we all walked over to Macey's along with a ton of people from Provo, for a free breakfast. So we had a delicious breakfast of French toast, buttermilk syrup and juice. After the breakfast we headed back to our apartments to get ready for the parade. What should have taken like 10 minutes or less (a car ride from Freedom St to 2oo E about 4 or 5 streets one way and maybe 3 the other) ended up taking us almost an hour due to all of the traffic blocks that they had for the parade. It was ridiculous!! We tried almost every street and got denied even though the parade wasn't starting for like another hour and a half, crazy!

Then we went to the parade and the Princesses (among others) made an appearance. (I only went after a short nap) And after the parade we went back to our apartments and got a little more ready for the day than we had to begin with (due to the horribly early hour) and then a group of us got together and played guitar hero for a long time along with playing other games, and watching an episode or two of Burn Notice (the show of our summer here the BC)

Then around 4 we got together and started planning for our hike to the Y. We planned a picnic and did the shopping, and put our lunch/dinner together.

Around 5 we got all our stuff together and got all ready to go hike the Y and we left. This was the view from the Y, of the sunset, it was really a neat contrast of light and dark and I wish that I could paint it or something because it was really beautiful!

After a picnic of chicken salad sandwiches, cookies, and grapes, JD was in the mood for some yoga type movements so he did that for a while while we waited for the fireworks of the night to start.

We also played some Phase 10 as we waited, which showed me that people really enjoy skipping me for some reason. Then we watched the fireworks and just talked and had a really good time spending time together. (Amy, me, Jeni, Joshua, and JD)

From the looks of this picture by the end of the night some of us were sick of the others, and tried to push them off of the mountain... but we all survived in one piece.

The view from the top!

JD thought the blanket would make a nice cape... or he just thought it might be more fun to carry it this way... I'm not really sure.

Jeni and I waiting for everyone else to get to the base of the Y

And the end of the hike. We survived, even in the dark, with only one or two little flashlights, and a scary climb down the face of the Y (which I aborted as soon as possible)

Talent Show, Dallin leaving and visits from friends

2009-09-25T18:39:00.011-06:00

Talent Show

Ted stayed in the 50th ward for Spring term and in true 50th ward fashion, they ended the semester with a talent show to showcase as much of the ward's talent as people wanted to display. Ted wanted to sing a duet, and after watching the pilot episode of Glee, he became determined to sing a version of "Don't Stop Believing" very similar to the one at the end of the episode. Ted is pretty amazing with music and stuff, so he kind of put an arrangement together that was pretty similar to the arrangement in the show, and it was super fun! I wish that I could post a video of it for all to see, but I never got the video from Ted before he left, so all that I have is the music video that we made, that is up on Facebook now. Maybe someday I can get it and post it for everyone to see. If not, sorry you can't enjoy my lovely singing... just kidding, but it was a way fun song to sing, and Ted is a really fun person to perform with!

This was the group of leftovers that were at the talent show, along with Bishop and Sister James, Brother and Sister Packer, and Brother Rowley. For the talent show Jessica played the piano, Amy turned pages, Ted and I sang, and Rachel filmed.

Saying Bye to Dallin

Dallin came back to Provo just in time to go into the MTC. So the night before he was supposed to enter, we planned a temple trip to the Draper Temple. I feel very blessed to mhave been able to go up to the Draper temple as many times as I have been able to. This time was no different, we had a really great time at the temple, and followed it with a trip to Spoon Me! (which was delicions as well as fun to say!)

Most of the people that went, Brian, Ted, Dallin, Brian, Kevin, Lindsey, me, Jess, and Amy.

A few more that met us there, Jess, Lindsey, Ted, Dallin, Alyssa, Brian, Kevin, Kelsey, me, and Amy.

Getting a little crazy!

Dallin was a little afraid we might touch him, but as much as we tried, we just couldn't do it!

That didn't stop us from trying though!

Ted and I wanted to take a picture together since we didn't take one the night of the talent show, Dallin and Brian just couldn't resist jumping in though!

We're not really sure what this picture was supposed to be but, it is kind of a funny picture.

Our classic circle picture!

On Wednesday we went to the MTC where we were supposed to meet up with Dallin to see him off, but he decided to go in without waiting for us so we just felt kind of silly because we didn't have a missionary to meet up with.

Since Dallin didn't wait for us Ted decided to Photoshop him in so we really didn't look as silly...

Ted and I decided to take another picture together because we were matchy matchy red squared!

Vanessa's Visit

Vanessa's brother Bucky was going to a baseball camp at BYU so her and her family made the drive from Minnesota to Provo. One night of her trip she was nice enough to save some time for me and she and I played all day and then she spent the night with me. Some of the things that we did that day were bake cookies for some of our friends in the MTC and send them off with cute little notes, we met up with Brittni Vawdrey for a little while, we played with other friends and watched one of our favorite movies. It was way fun to get to see her for a while!

Britt was a counselor at some of the BYU camps so we found a short window of time that we could meet up with her so we visited for a little while and then she had to get back to work.

Part of the time that I had with Vanessa, I shared her with some other friends.

And as always our time together got a little crazy!

Alyssa's Visit

Alyssa and I have been friends since the 6th grade meaning that she is probably the person I have been friends with for the longest amount of time, even with a move thrown in the mix. When we both decided to go to BYU we were really excited because it would mean we got to see each other more often. Then when we ended up living like a half hour walk away from each other we didn't get to see much of each other which was sad. (This year we live like 3 or 4 blocks away from each other like a 5 minute walk so we are going to take more advantage of that this year!) Anyway, this summer one of her roommates from last year was getting married in Salt Lake, so she was coming down the Utah way for a few days, one of which she saved some time for me. We went to the temple together, which was pretty neat because since we were never in the same ward or even the same stake back in Twin Falls, we had never gotten to do that before. That was pretty much all we did because she didn't have too much time, but we went to the temple, then got ready for the day and had some lunch, and really just enjoyed the time that we had to visit with each other. I sure love Alyssa!

Catching up and getting further behind...

2009-09-24T23:12:00.004-06:00

The Jordan River Temple Trip

We had a chance to go to the Jordan River Temple one Saturday. We had made this decision at the beginning of the summer to go to as many temples as we could, so this was one on our list. The group that went to the Jordan River Temple was, me, Jessica, Amy, Brittni, Ted, and Brian Edwards. It was a beautiful temple, and only one that went with us had ever been there before so it was a new experience for most of us. I had a really special experience at the Jordan River temple, as I do at every temple, and I was so glad that we got to go. And of course one of our outings would not be complete without pictures to record it. So Ted and Amy took turns taking pictures.

I just like this picture because of the way the temple looks in the background.

Trying a little synchronized swimming in the fountain...

This may look easy but it was actually kind of difficult in like 4 inch heels!

The whole gang in front of the pretty fountain.

I think that the lady taking this picture was thinking we were pretty crazy!

The greenery in this picture was so pretty, and I just think it is a pretty fun picture!

Trying to find new types of pictures to take.

Not really sure why our hands were so important but it does kind of make a cool picture!

Once again, I'm not sure why our feet were so important, but it is kind of a cool picture.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

One of the main reasons that we ended up going to the Jordan River temple the day that we did was because we were also able to get tickets the Oquirrh Mountain open house. The Oquirrh Mountain temple is really beautiful, and it was a really great experience. I am so glad that I have been able to go to both the Oquirrh Mountain and the Draper open houses this year, both were really neat experiences for me! We went to the Jordan River temple to start out, then we went over to Brian's house where his parents had dinner for us, and then we headed over to the Oquirrh Mountain temple.

This was in the reception after the open house. It was incredible, it was all in a big tent, but the tent had doors, and chandeliers, and rugs, and couches, and a wall with pictures on it... it was insane!

The group outside of the temple, some of Brian's friends met up with us and went with us as well.

When we were going back to the car, a man was driving a golf cart and offered us a ride back to the car, so here we are on the cart.

Tom and Brian

2009-08-07T22:14:00.003-06:00

Tom and Brian were two of my FHE brothers last year. They were entering the MTC on the same day so we planned a little get together the night before so that we could see them off. Tom or Elder Fowles is headed off to the Thailand Bangkok mission and Brian or Elder Davis is now in the Tulsa, Oklahoma mission.

FHE group 12 reunited... well minus a few

Me, Jared, Thomas, Brian, Ted, Jess, Amy

No Touchy!

Brett's Farewell

2009-08-02T00:40:00.004-06:00

Brett moved into the 50th ward second semester and was roommates with one of my friends, Brian Edwards. I really enjoyed getting to know Brett better all of second semester and getting to go to his farewell down in Cedar was really a fun time for all who went. Brett's family was very nice to us as was Jessica's family and Chantelle's we were basically very blessed to get to go down there and have an enjoyable weekend away from Provo! Basically Sunday morning we went to Brett's church and listened to his last talk. It was really a great talk and we were very impressed with how ready Brett was to leave for his mission. He is going to make an amazing missionary as he teaches the people of Romania.

Brett and all the girls!

We like to have some fun with our pictures... every once in a while.

Our whole group... Amy, Sarah, Jess, Brian Edwards, Ted, Brett, Jared, Brian Stoll, Chantelle, me, and Brittni... now all but Jared and Ted have left for their missions. Jared is an RM one of the only ones from the 50th ward, and Ted leaves in like two weeks.

Brett's dog was so excited she wanted to join in the pictures!

Once again we like to have some fun with our pictures! Fun often equals CRAZY!

Brett and I
This is Ted's "I'm tired of taking pictures" face...
After Brett's farewell, Ted was nice enough to drive me to see one of my most favoritest people in the world... Becky! I was so excited to get to see her even though it was only for a few minutes and talking to her reminded me of why I love that girl so much. She is basically amazing and I miss her a lot. This also made me decide I should try to see her more often! I talked to her for as long as I felt I could (Ted, Amy and Jess were waiting in the car for me so I couldn't talk too long) Then we went back to Jess's house and everyone took a nap for a little but Amy and I just ended up talking about books for a little while and then we revisited childhood by playing on Jess's playground complete with a tramp, swings, and a jungle gym.

Then we left for home. We got about an hour out of Provo and after discussing it discovered that very few of us had food to go home to but we were all starving... so Britt volunteered her mom, another very kind family of the weekend, and her mom agreed to feed us some spaghetti. So we headed to the Vawdrey home in American Fork and had a lovely Sunday dinner. During dinner we played the same game we played when we had dinner at Jess's and then afterward we played Apples to Apples, we are all holding our cards which are supposed to describe us but sadly we didn't write them down and the picture is a little too blurry to see what the cards say. Then we headed back to Provo tired but happy after a long and amazingly fun weekend!

Cedar City/ St George/ Zion

2009-07-18T22:13:00.009-06:00

We all wanted to take a road trip this summer (all= the leftovers of the 50th ward) so Ted started planning it and the perfect opportunity arose when Brett's farewell came up! So we planned a lovely weekend trip to Cedar City, where both Brett and Jess live, as well as a few little excursions to St George (for the temple) and Zion's National Park. Nine of us left Provo together, Ted drove Tido, with Jess, Amy and I as passengers and Brian Edwards drove the Big Purple Beast with Brittni, Sarah, Jared, and Brian Stoll as passengers. We blasted music, read books, ate food, and played games on the way down. We got there pretty late on Friday night, so we stopped at Brett's to drop off the boys and then Brian drove all us girls over to Jess's house. We stayed up for a little while, just talking, laughing, and enjoying being together and then we decided we should get some sleep since we had an early start the next morning. This was basically our Satuday...

The back of the Big Purple Beast. We saw a lot of this over the course of the weekend.

Jess and I keeping busy in the car.

In the parking lot of the temple Brian went to park and he almost hit this car that was parked next to us. Britt, Sarah and I were all quite amazed that he missed it because he was probably within inches.

Our group for the temple + Jared Ramirez, a guy from the 50th ward, who we randomly ran into when he was leaving the temple. (He is from Las Vegas and this was like the weekend before he left)

The St. George Temple (Picture credit to Amy)

All the girls on the steps of the temple after doing baptisms. It was a really amazing experience to do baptisms in the St. George temple. It is the oldest running temple I believe so it was really great. The temple worker that was there was a really neat and he gave a really special spiritual thought to prepare us to do baptisms.

The girls - Amy + Ted

Our group that drove down to Cedar as well as Chantelle who joined us once we got there (she is from Hurricaine UT)

Jared, Me, Jess, Brian Stoll, Brittni, Ted, Chantelle, Brian Edwards, Sarah, Amy

A lovely circle of people and friends
Britt squared

The group with Amy...The group with Ted on the bus up to our hike in ZionsThe River TrailOur hiking group
We're a little nuts...Amy and I getting a little closer to the edge...Sarah the beauty queen and crazy me...Discovering the little mermaid inside of me...
The second part of our hike to the Weeping Rock (the first was the River walk)
Trying to catch some tearsWe are all trying to catch the tears, maybe to stop the tears from coming.
Jess's Mom and Dad prepared a lovely dinner for us. It was not only delicious it was very fun!We kept ourselves entertained by a very fun dinner game.