Catching Up

There are so many things that I have wanted to blog about but didn't get the chance cuz school was more important :( So, although some of this is old news, I am going to catch up on my blogging. Bear with me and enjoy!



First, we have Steff as a missionary (shown above). She left March 17th. Originally supposed to leave May 12th but then got bumped up to March 10th and then bumped again three days before she was supposed to leave to March 17th. Yes, she wore her green cardigan so she was safe from being pinched. It was so hard to leave her house the night she got set apart. I hope the next year and a half speed by. I already miss her so much and have so many things I have wanted to tell her about. Yes, that's what letters are for but they just don't do the job well enough. She is doing well in the MTC. She is in a trio companionship and is loving it. She was made for this. She loves learning about the gospel so she is in her own little heaven right now and I'm happy for her.




I'm 21! My birthday was pretty fantastic. My mom and dad made the best dinner ever for me! My dad made his amazing omelets. They are sooo good and I always crave them when I look inside my lowly college fridge and see no good food to eat. My mom made creamed eggs (my favorite breakfast when I was a kid). To go along with the breakfast theme, my mother made chocolate crepes and stacked them on top of each other as the cake. It doesn't look very pretty, but they were so good! We covered them in fresh strawberries, whipped cream, and vanilla ice cream. The perfect touch to the perfect meal. My mom also surprised my with a new halter and two lead ropes. My collection of horse gear is getting bigger all the time! Thanks family for an amazing day!!! Oh, I forgot to mention my amazing party too! I planned one but wasn't expecting anyone to come and didn't really put any thought into what we would do. Then my roommate decided we should have a dance party and a lot more people than I expected ended up coming. It involved a pinata as well, and the night ended a success!




This pretty much sums up how my classes are going this semester. Lots of creative projects that are way fun but lots of work. Okay, this one wasn't really a lot of work. We just swirled food coloring into shaving cream, put paper on top, and then wiped the shaving cream off. Yes, my friends, it was a lot of messy, messy fun. This semester has been full of so many different projects that are simple but require creativity and time. I'm serious. I think it takes twice as long to come up with a lesson plan as it does to actually teach it! That doesn't even include the time it takes to come up with the creative idea. I wonder sometimes what I am doing in this major because I am the least creative person I know!
For anyone interested, I finally am content with my major. I had gone through a couple months where I wondered why I was doing Elementary Education instead of Dance because I loved dancing so much more. After much prayerful consideration I decided to stick with El Ed and I am so glad I did. I have realized this semester that even though I love dancing, I wouldn't be happy doing it forever because I am constantly telling myself that I need to do better. After a while it takes a toll on my attitude. I don't have to tell myself to do better in El Ed (except for maybe doing my homework) and I am much happier.


I reached a point last week where I couldn't handle school, life, and everything else. I felt like I was going to explode. The city was driving my crazy and I needed to go somewhere peaceful and quiet that didn't smell like pollution. So I called up my grandparents and told them I was coming down for the weekend. Turns out I wasn't the only one going down for conference weekend. The Camp's were coming too! Saturday night I went for a walk around the town with Heather and Amber, my cousin. Heather brought her camera and was in charge of capturing all the perfect moments. It was so nice to walk around the town. The air was filled with the smell of farms instead of bus exhaustion. I saw trees, brush, and dirt roads instead of buildings and black streets covered in black snow. Here are the results of said stroll around town:

Trail out of the cemetery

Cemetery trail leading to the church


Photos of life in a barn :)




And this one just had awesome juxtaposition
(not really sure how that word is spelled)


The end of the road


Yes, people, this is how far apart houses should be!


Not sure if this is supposed to be a truck or a semi


Cutest brother and sister in the whole entire world!!!


That's all for now folks. School should be done soon and the posts should become more frequent :)

Leap Year

So I went and saw Leap Year yesterday at the dollar theater. Here are my thoughts on it:

I LOVED IT!!!

Okay, now for the reasons why:

-It is rated PG so it is a good, clean chick flick!
-The guy that she ends up with is not that cute. I get frustrated when all the main guys in chick flicks are drop-dead gorgeous. The movie producers might as well come out and say that you are never going to fall in love unless you have the perfect body and face to go with it. Mathew Goode is perfect! He is cute enough to fall in love but not too good-looking so that love seems to hopeless for the rest of us. He did such a good job in this movie and I love his character!
-The acting was amazing! Good enough that I almost cried at the very end even though I knew there was no reason to be sad. (I think I have only cried in two movies my whole life and Charly was NOT one of them)
-I love movies from different cultures. Especially Ireland. It reminds me that there is life outside of America and our American ways. I especially love how beautiful Ireland is. Not only the people and their culture but the nature found within it and the old stone castles. It is just so gorgeous!



If you are looking for a great, clean movie to go see, go see this one!

Somehow I Find the Time

Over the past couple years I have realized that college is a time of no time. I try to plan every semester more and more efficiently timewise and it just can't be done. Yet somehow this semester seems better than the rest. I don't know why because I am working more than ever and I'm in class more than ever. Yet somehow my life seems to be balanced. I don't feel like my life is all about school, or all about work, or all about friends. I'm happy and my life is balanced through and through. It's so great, in fact, that sometimes I forget how busy I really am. But I do have small reminders every once in a while, such as the weekends. I had a Friday night a couple weeks ago with absolutely no plans. With my busy schedule my weekends get booked fast. They are my only time for a social life, and so they tend to get filled up at least a week in advance. So there I was on a Friday night with no plans! I haven't had that in so long. I'm not good at last minute planning so I rounded up some friends and a little sister and went ice skating. We went to the ice rink here in Provo but it was WAY crowded, so we went up to the Gallivan Center in Salt Lake. It was almost completely empty! So even though it was smaller than the Provo one, it was a lot more fun. Side note: Teenage boys are so frustrating!!! The only other ppl on the rink with us were high school hockey players. Yeah, they were annoying! Also, the rink was super rough and needed to be smoothed out with that zamboni machine thing. But the h.s. boys working that night were too busy playing with the overhead mike to really care about the ice condition. I'm hoping that the zamboni was broken and that they weren't really being such goof-offs. Anyways, it was still way fun and definitely worth the trip up to Salt Lake!
Second reminder of my busy schedule: Saturdays are my day to get all my homework done, get in time with my horse, try to catch the BYU ballet club class, and spend some time with friends. Last Saturday was no different. My schedule started out needing to drop my car off in Orem so my dad could change the brakes (thanks dad!) then getting to my ballet class before 9:30, go shoppin with my dad for new riding boots and then study for and take a test before 2:00, take my roommate, Steff, out to lunch for a farewell celebration before 4:00, take Mailani out riding before it got dark, and then shower and get ready for Steff's farewell party before 7:00. I had my whole day planned out with no stopping inbetween. Then right as I got to my parents house to pick up my car, I found out that my family forgot to tell me my grandma and some cousins were in town for lunch and visiting the Bean Museum. I love my family and hate missing things with them, so I did some scheduling rearranging and somehow managed to study for AND take my test in an hour and half and make it in time to see the museum with them. I'm so glad I did! It was so much fun to spend time with my favorite people! I was able to get everything done on Saturday except go shopping with my dad and go riding with Mailani, but those things can be done at later times. It amazes how much the Lord helps me accomplish and still remain sane. I don't really get stressed out about time anymore and I know it is because Heavenly Father is right there beside me, scheduling my life for me. Just another blessing that comes from this amazing gospel that I am so blessed to have a knowledge of!

Tyson, Me, Steff, and Heather ice skating at the Gallivan's Center.
This rink is such a romantic place. When I get married, my
husband and I are coming here for date nights.


Marinda, Elizabeth, Andrea, and Nathaniel all posing in front of the butterfly
display at the Bean Museum. I forgot how much fun museums can be.
I'm so glad we have kids to remind us of the little wonders of life!


Andrea wanted to be a butterfly. Talk about butterfly overload :)

Early Sunday Morning

Steff, my roommate, went with her family to Hawaii on Sunday and I had the opportunity to drop her off at the airport early in the mornin'. Ever since our ward's meeting time got moved back to 12:00 I don't get up early on Sundays. (Usually not before 10:00 am!) Sunday is a whole new day when you get up early. You can get so much more done whith those extra hours. I was also really glad that Steff asked me to drive her up there. We have both been so busy lately that we don't get a lot of time to spend together anymore, so it was nice to have an hour with her to just enjoy being together. I am sure gonna miss her when she leaves on her mission in a month!

When It Rains, It Pours

It has always frustrated me that life doesn't come at you in little trickles. It is either sunny and bright or it is a hurricane. Never in between. I have been enjoying sunshine for so long that I forgot what it was like to have a storm comin' through. But the storm came and there is more up ahead. What do I mean by this? In the past two weeks I have had a best friend get married, my best friend/sister move across the country, my best friend/roommate receive her mission call to leave in May, her departure date being moved up to March 10th, the stresses of trying to find a new roommate (I shouldn't be, but I'm picky), and I found out it will probably take an extra, unexpected semester in order to graduate. On top of that, my parents are getting upset with me for taking out student loans to pay for school. I know it doesn't sound like a big load to carry, and it probably isn't compared to everyone else's, but after life being so easy the last little while I'm not mentally/emotionally prepared for all this. Especially in such a short time period. Most of all, I think the last little while has just made me realize that it is time for me to be independent and face this world on my own. It is something that I have tried to avoid at all costs.
I'm going to look on the bright side though. So here goes: My best friend married her high school sweetheart who we are all good friends with so I will still get to do stuff with her a lot. I still get to communicate with my sister over the phone and through webcam so it isn't like she's been thrown off the face of the earth. Also, she is coming out in May for my brother's wedding! My roommate, Steff, has been planning on this mission since before I can remember so I am way excited for her. Also, her initial departure date was the same week as my brother's wedding and my other brother moving to Arizona. So now I only have to say goodbye to two people that week instead of three! As far as the extra semester of school, I'm still looking for the silver lining on that one, but hopefully it will come.

P.S. for those that didn't hear, Steff is serving in the Nauvoo, Illinois, sign language speaking mission!!!

The Perfect Purse

I hate purse shopping!!! It is so very frustrating for many reasons:

Reason #1: A girl's purse kinda defines who she is. They make a statement about who you are. There are just so many out different kinds out there. And you have to search everywhere to find the perfect purse that defines exactly who you are (Which requires some inner soul searching if you don't know who you are). Here are some examples found from this website. Just think about the different types of women that you would see wearing each one and you will know what I mean.


Reason #2: A purse goes with you everywhere. I mean everywhere! Therefore, it has to look okay with everything you wear. If you take a quick trip to the grocery store in your pajamas, it has to match. If you go to church all dressed up fancy, it has to match. If you go out with friends in jeans and a t-shirt, it has to match. Do you see why finding a purse is so difficult now?

I usually don't like to buy purses very often and I put it off as long as possible. A few weeks ago I realized that the dreaded time had come, and I needed a new purse again. My last one was small and trying to get my wallet in and out so many times had ripped it in a couple places. Also, since my wallet was so big, there was only enough room in my purse for my keys, phone, and wallet. Nothing else would really fit. I started the search a week ago and visited multiple different stores including Kohl's, Target, and a Boutique. I searched high and low and couldn't find anything. They were either too big, too small, too fancy, too plain, too many pockets, not enough pockets or the wrong color. Can you hear my frustration!?! When I was about ready to give up, my roommate, Steff, asked if she could come purse shopping with me and see if she could help me find one. I agreed and we set out one last time last night. We found one at a boutique that was acceptable but I wasn't really excited about it (I didn't really like the shape of it). So I got it in the hopes that I could return it because of a spectacular find somewhere else. We headed to Target real fast because I knew they had some pretty cheap ones. We found a couple that I liked but none that really made me optimistic. And then it happened. Steff came around the corner with a purse. Not just any purse, it was the purse. The more I looked at it, the more I fell in love with. It was just the right size, the color was perfect, it had just the right amount of pockets, and it was something I could dress up with or wear frumpies in. It was perfect and it was cheap! Alas, purse shopping is not impossible after all! Thank you Target for making my life a little easier :)

This is my new purse!

Christmas is Here!

It finally feels like Christmas!!!

It has been snowing since Sunday and it is beautiful! The world is all white and the coats, boots, and scarves have come out to play. I have been hesitant to play Christmas music so far this year, which is unusual for me. I am usually the one that starts playing it before thanksgiving even gets here. However, this year was different and I'm not sure why. I just wasn't in the mood for it. Then, Sunday came and with it came all this snow! It was like a switch flipped on inside me that said it was really time for Christmas now.
To boost this festive feeling, my roommates and I got ourselves a Christmas tree last night after FHE. If any of y'all are lookin for real trees, go to Sunriver Gardens on the corner of State St. and 1200 N in Orem. It is so pretty there and they have amazing trees for super cheap! Also, the people there are so nice. They helped us find, cut, and load up our pretty little tree. The rest of the evening was fantastic! Steff, Jessa, and I went up to Steff's house to get some extra lights from her parents. Then we got hot chocolate and headed home to set up our new tree. While setting him up, Lauren decided on a name for him. Our house is called The Peach Palace, so we named him James (like James and the Giant Peach) but he goes by Jimmy :) We strung lights all over the living room and now our home is so cozy and ready for Christmas!

Jessa and Steff bringing Jimmy into his new home

It took Jessa and me a while to get Jimmy set up straight

Jessa, Steff, and Lauren stringin' the lights :)
The finished product all lit and decorated. We are gettin' more decorations later, but this is all we had for now.

All snuggled up and excited for Christmas in our cozy little house.