Chillin' Like a Villain

This weekend was pretty relaxed and chill. Just the way I like it! A little adventure is fun, don't get me wrong, but there's nothin like a nice, laid back weekend! :) Now that I think of it though, it really was CHILL. For some reason, our swamp cooler works REALLY well all of a sudden and when we woke up, it was like 45 degrees (or lower) in our apartment. Its horrible. We lay around in our sweats if we're ever in our apartment. Its actually quite funny now that I think of it, but still...brrrrr! :) Friday night I had a date and then I came home and made cookies with my roommate, Brittany, and watched a movie with her and Adam. Good times with Enchanted, you know? No matter how many times I see that movie, I cant help but crack up a little. :)

Saturday morning, Emily and I went to our Pilates class which just about kills us every time. By the time we get to "the clam" I want to die. haha. Totally worth it though. Minus our inability to walk for about an hour or two afterwards. I tried walking up the stairs to go hop in the shower and I fell over. Good thing the wall was there to catch me. hahaha. Sadly, I'm not kidding! lol. After that, our managers put on a tailgate party for the football game since it was an away game. Can't beat free food and football. :) Then we left and took Brittany to see The Dark Knight. She hadn't seen it yet and Emily and I thought that was absurd. So, naturally, we had to fix that! :) Then, Emily and I went to hit up Marcus to play rock band for a little and then we high tailed it over to another apartment in our ward to watch a movie. The night ended with some mischievous planning and giddy laughter. ;)

Sunday was an AWESOME day. Our mischievousness was a result of planned shenanigans that were to take place early Sunday morning. However, the apartment in question locks their doors. Way to be safe guys, way to be safe. So, we went back to sleep for a little bit and dreamed of other ways to break in to their apartment. :) We had Regional Conference yesterday which was amazing. Pres Packer and Uchtdorf were both there and spoke to us, along with Elder Jensen and Sister.....blast, I can't think of her name. I want to say Kibbs, but I KNOW that's wrong. At any rate, she's President Monson's daughter. She talked about rolls and it made me yearn for some of mom's homemade goodness. We all know that bread is one of my many weaknesses. I think I drooled just a little bit. :) Ew, ew, ew! Anyway, once we got home, I made Emily, Kate and I some french toast so as to continue on my families' tradition of eating yummy breakfast food after church. I made myself a little visit over to Adam to deliver a much anticipated cookie and then came home and read a little bit and took a nap. I was awakened by my old roommate, Laura, as she climbed on top of my bed and plopped right on top of me. hahah. I miss those good ol days, girl. hahaha Can't say it didn't freak me out a little though! :) Heartcha!!!! XOXO Anyway, after I woke up, I snuck by Sparks 4 to see if there were still people downstairs. To my surprise, no one was there AND the door was open. *shakes head* I think they've learned their lesson. haha. Anyway, I ran back and got Emily and we went in and took all of their chairs and left a ransom note, demanding a yummy dinner in return for their chairs. After they came downstairs and realized what had happened, I was bombarded with text messages asking me if I had no soul for stealing the banana chairs as well and other things like how I could steal on a Sunday. hahaha. Silly boys. I think they're just mad that they got busted by some girls. Although, now its 2 against 6...its okay though. We've been doing this for a year now and they've just started. That gives us back our edge. Anyway, after all the text messages I started getting a little worried that maybe they were just really mad instead of just trying to make me feel bad. So i went over to see, but I was not enlightened either way. Adam just kept staring at me and shaking his head. *hides her face* haha...we did give them cookies as a peace offering. Mostly because we had a lot and I really did start to feel really badly about it. Our friend, Ian, lost a bet with Emily and I so he made us cookies, so it was good. Later on, Adam and Marcus came over to watch the CES Fireside as they didn't have any chairs to sit on to watch it in their apartment and it was AMAZING. Just what I needed. Elder Holland spoke about trials and tribulations and wow...talk about food for the soul! Shoot. It was so good. I felt really silly though cuz I started crying a little and I hate crying in front of people. It makes me feel vulnerable. haha. Afterwards, Emily and I talked to Jen on the webcam (our new Sunday tradition) and then we played Phase 10 with Brittany. Sorry I won y'all, but don't mess okay? hahah. Baseball Mike came over since we hadn't seen each other for a while, so that was fun. And really kind of a breakthrough experience for me. I've been randomly in love with him for like the last year almost (off and on) and every time I saw him it came back and completely sucked...but this time...nothin. It was great! I was so excited. lol That probably sounds weird, but I was pretty stoked about it. It may be because my attentions have turned else where, if you know what I mean ;) Anyway, we had ward prayer and Disney night as usual, so it was a great Sunday minus feeling bad about pranking the guys...but I'm over it now, so its okay. haha. I hope everyone else had a great weekend as well! Heartcha! XOXO

The Long Awaited Pictures

Okay, so I FINALLY buckled down and took pics of my hair and the apartment. Sorry it took so long, but lets face it, the suspense will make it that much more exciting right? hahah or not. But whatever :) And I'm warning you...I'm no genius at posting pictures, so this layout may just suck. haha. Anyway, so we'll go with apartment first...

This is our 'living room' and kitchen. Sadly, this is really as big as it is. haha Its been interesting getting used to the smaller everything that came with switching apartments, but I really love it here, so it's been worth it.

I have to show off the movie collection...there's no way to not be proud of that. And whoever can identify what I was watching at the time I was taking this picture will receive 5 gold stars. That's huge, you know. :)

This is where I repeatedly risk my life each day trying to get off and on the top bunk. Either way, it spices life up quite a bit! :)

Yeah that's right...I inherited my packing/condensing skills from my dad. I'm glad too, otherwise, we never would've gotten all of mine and Emily's stuff in our room. Sadly, most of this stuff is mine...Emily has her own closet. haha

This is my work corner: cluttered with pictures of Christ and family. Just the way I like it! :)

Let me explain before you judge me....the only reason the curtain is pink is because it was on sale. It wasn't my first choice. :)












So this is my hair. I usually don't leave it all down cuz I'm still trying to get used to it. I thought I would brave it today though, so I thought I'd take a snap shot of it for ya.

Anyway, there you have it. I hope you're all satisfied with my decorating tastes and the monstrosity that is my hair. :) On another quick note, I have recently had the option of going to get my masters come up in my array of decisions to be made for my future. I would get it in dance/movement therapy. There's actually a college in Boulder, CO that has a program that is most appealing to me because that's where Jen's parent's live and Zarah and Ashton might move there...I'm a baby. Go ahead and say it. Going somewhere where I don't know anyone scares the poop out of me. haha. So yeah, but I'm definitely not making any decisions based on that, it just sounds nice for the time being. I have a few options though. There are about 10 colleges that offer it on the East Coast and like 1 or 2 in Cali so who knows where I'll end up. The possibilities are endless. So there you have it, my day so far! P.S. Thanks to all of you for your support these last few days. Today has been a much brighter day than I've had in a long time! Heartcha! XOXO

Blessings in Disguise

Warning: This may not be the normal 'happy go lucky' post that y'all are used to. It will probably be more of a reflection post, so consider yourselves warned :) There have been a lot of things that have come up in my life lately that seem to have just down poured on me. Especially the last week. I was feeling really down about things and getting anxious and stressed. Quite honestly, I haven't really felt like myself for almost a week now. More so the last few days, but its been an interesting 'out of body' experience, if you will. I cant really describe it...the best way that almost conveys the feeling is that my heart feels heavy and I feel like I'm kinda in a funk or something...I'm not myself. This same kind of feeling happened last year when I first got my calling as Relief Society President and I was trying to figure out who my counselors should be and other things. Its a scary feeling...especially when you know that you have a stewardship over so many sisters and I don't feel strong enough to have that kind of responsibility right now. I'm not doing anything differently than normal...if anything, I'm praying, reading my scriptures and going to the temple more than normal, but I feel clouded and heavy. It went away eventually last year, but I have a feeling that it might last a little longer this time with recent events that have come up the last couple of days. I'm so glad I have such wonderful family members and friends who are kind of carrying me through this. I couldn't do it without each and every one of you. Sorry if I've been lame-o lately. I don't mean to be :)

Today was one of those days when I am honestly glad that I go to school at BYU. I know I huff and puff about it a lot and the pressures that come with it, but really, it's a wonderful place. I went to my first class today and we talked most of the class period about the Atonement and the Plan of Happiness. My teacher read the scripture in 2 Nephi that says, "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy." We started talking about what it meant to feel joy in our lives and something he said really struck home. I mean, I've always known this subconsciously, but it was a good thing to bring to the forefront of my thoughts today. He said that in order to know joy, we have to know sorrow and pain. We talked about the story of Alma the Younger during his repentance process when he says that his soul hadn't known such pain and anguish, but after it was all over, he had never known so much joy in his life. As I was sitting there, I thought to myself that maybe, instead of trying my hardest to get rid of these feelings (as sucky as they can be) I need to acknowledge them and, not necessarily embrace them, but learn something more from them. When it's all over, the joy I will feel will be so much greater than if I just try going through these next few days and trying to push them away. Nothing helps me to feel better more than to serve others...maybe that's what I'll do! So, if you're around me at all for the next little while, give me something to do for you! hahaha. If anything though, I know the Lord will help me through this and that everything will be alright in the end. I'm not sure what 'alright' is just yet, but it will be. Anyway, I know this wasn't anything earth shattering or profound, I just thought I would share this little experience with everyone. I've also had a lot of people concerned that I haven't been myself for the last few days. I'm really trying hard to not show whats going on inside of me when I'm around others, but sometimes I slip up! So, to all of you, I'm gonna try to get back on my A game soon, just know that it might take some time. Thanks so much for all of your love and support. Y'all are awesome! I hope y'all have a GREAT day! XOXO

Oh, P.S. we started dancing in Irish today...its going to kick my butt. I'm so excited :)

BYU and all of its 'Splendor'

For all of you who have requested pictures of my hair and apartment, don't worry...they are coming. I honestly just forget to take pictures whenever I'm by my camera. And when I do remember, its on days like yesterday when I didn't really do my hair or I'm at work, as I am now. But I promise, one day, I'll remember and I'll take pictures :)

So here's the rundown of my last two days: Yesterday was Labor Day so I had work off as well as school which was really nice. Emily and I decided that we were going to get the most out of our last day of freedom, so we woke up early *coughs* at 9am...hahaha. That's actually sleeping in a lot for me, but it was good. Anyway, we went to the gym and worked out for a little bit and while we were walking home it started to downpour. Naturally, we decided to play in the rain until we froze. Utah brings cold rain...not warm, dirty rain like I'm used to, so I couldn't stay out too long without getting complete chills all over my body. It was definitely fun though. We were soaked. After we both showered and climbed into the most comfy set of sweats we owned, we went downstairs and decided to have a Harry Potter movie marathon. We fully intended to watch all 5 but after the first one, we realized there would be no way of watching all 5 movies without going completely crazy. So we decided on 1, 3 and 5. That way, we still got the good parts of the story. Adam came over for 3 and 5 which was way fun. He had his drawing book, I had my cross stitch stuff and Emily...slept. hahahaha. Good times, and definitely way fun. I haven't had such a lazy day in a long time. We got a pizza for lunch and were invited to a BBQ for dinner, so it was a great day, in all.

Today was my last, first day of school! YAHOO. I never thought this day would come *sheds a tear* As proof that BYU hasn't changed since last Winter, I will tell you the following story... It's my first class, 8am, and our teacher introduces himself as usual and then what is the first thing he asks us to do? We have to go around the room, stand up and say our name, where we're from, what our major is, if we've served a mission and *drum roll please* if we're single. Yeah, not kidding. haha. It was really great that over half of the class was married already and another 1/4 of it proclaimed that they were already seeing someone so they were off the market. I kinda felt like that loaf of bread on the back of the shelf whose expiration date is only a couple of days away...hahaha jk. But I thought it was a funny image. Anyway, I high tailed it off to Irish class afterwards and it was so much fun to see my two friends who were in my beginners class with me last year. We had a blast laughing about how horrible the final was because we pretty much failed from laughing so hard during it, but it was totally worth it. This will be a fun year. Today was my long school day...two classes. haha I have one tomorrow but I work for 5 hours instead of 2 like TTh. I hope my friends plan on keeping me busy this semester...I'm gonna go nuts with all of this free time. :) Anyway, I hope everyone had a GREAT Labor Day and I'll post pictures soon, I promise! XOXO

A Day of Mourning

That is right, my friends...I cut my hair yesterday and I am mourning the loss of my hair. I feel like a part of me has gone. Which is technically true...you should've seen all the hair that was on the floor when I got up to leave. :) However, this hair cutting experience was unlike any other and I'll tell you why. It started out like any other hair cut: the shampoo and conditioner (best part, in my opinion), the combing, the cutting...and usually some snide comment about how thick my hair is and how much of it I have. 'Yes,' I think to myself...this I know. Try taming it every morning :) Anyway, I'm sitting in the chair and it feels like I've been there for a while. Maybe I was just bored or something...or starting to get hungry, so the time was seeming to go by slowly. Nope...when I got out to my car, I realized that an hour and 45 minutes had gone by. What took her so long, you ask? Aside from her cutting really slowly, there were a number of things really...

1) She kept cutting herself. Call me crazy, but if you're about to graduate in two months, I would think that cutting yourself three times in almost 2 hours wouldn't be something I would have to worry about. :) The 'best' part was (I'm using that term loosely) that whenever she'd cut herself, she'd just keep right on going. After a couple of minutes, she would stop and dab her fingers with a paper towel and this could continue for about 5 minutes until she realized that it was necessary for her to get a bandaid. Like I said, this happened a grand total of 3 times during the hair cut. The funny part was, was that when she dropped the comb on the floor, she sterilized it. I find it strange that she thought it necessary to sterilize the comb after it had been on the floor, on top of my own hair, for 2 seconds and all the blood didn't bother her one bit. Who knows how much of that was on her scissors....ew ew ew. To add to the experience, at one point, she started just snipping at the hair around my neck but she wasn't holding my hair. She was just going at it with her scissors. Maybe its just me, but when you've just told your client that you're not on your 'A game' that day and she has seen the casualties, I wouldn't press my luck with an innocent bystander. Espeically one that will be tipping you (or not) afterwards...My jugular has never felt more exposed and in danger. I wonder if that's what Bella ever felt like....no, probably not. There's a huge difference between bloody scissors and a hot vampire. I'll take the vampire.

2) After she finished the haircut, she decided that she wanted to give me bangs. Apparently, the kind I had given myself were less than adequate. Probably true though...I'm no hair stylist. Anyway, she gave me the side kind that are thick and over to one side. However, she gave me so many that it looked retarded and very uneven, now that I think of it. She wanted to use me in her portfolio (that must mean my hair was NASTY before) haha....and so she took before and after pictures, and it was sad that as I was looking at the pictures, I was yearning for my old hair. After I styled it this morning though, and changed a few things, I think it wont take me as long to get used to as I thought. I'm still not quite there yet though. She also decided that it would be a good idea to thin my hair. Not anything new...I'm used to them taking chunks of my hair out, but this time, she did it the normal way of just snipping random places and then combing the hair out, but she also lifted up some hair and snipped some chunks out right at my scalp. Yeah, WOAH. If those hairs grow back spiky...well, to tell you the truth, I'll probably laugh, but still. I've never heard of anyone thinning my hair that way. It was a scary experience. (if any of you are noticing, I have a hard time with change...)

3) After she blow dried it and got it approved (silly me, I thought we were done), she was like, okay, now we'll flat iron and style it. By this time, my butt had thoroughly fallen asleep and my phone had gone off about 6 times and I was growing curious as to who was trying to so desperately get a hold of me. But, I decided to be patient. I figure, its better for her to take her time than to go quickly and mess it up. So anyway, she flat irons it and what do you know...she pulls out the comb and the hairspray. For those of you who aren't aware of a term called the 'Mormon pooch,' count yourselves lucky. Its the process of ratting the top layer of hair and then spraying it with hairspray so its huge. Its just the sort of thing that I have felt necessary to avoid during my time here in Happy Valley. I've been lenient...I've gotten on board with the layering shirts and you know...yeah that's about it. But seriously, giving me the Mormon pooch was going too far. It was kinda funny though, I'm not going to lie.

So there you have it...my experience of the week. Hopefully, I'll get used to my hair soon...its a lot shorter than I was expecting, and some of the layers are boy short almost...but I'm sure its not as bad as I think it is :) XOXO

Love of my Life

Don't worry...I didn't start dating someone and not tell everyone, or anything...the 'love of my life' is not a dude, although, someday, I hope it will be. :) So what is it, you ask? Most might think it could be something such as ice cream, Disney movies or breakfast food, however, it isn't any of those. Sorry to disappoint. I have recently discovered just how much of a sucker I am for Sydney (my niece). I've always known that I had a huge soft spot for her, but yesterday opened my eyes to new heights of love! hahah mushy, I know, but whatever...I don't even care. If Syd was your niece, you'd understand! :) Anyway, I called Ben and Meredith yesterday to chat it up like usual and I hear Syd in the background and she starts talking to me, right? Nothing out of the ordinary. We always have cute little conversations about her new 'big girl shower' or how she does her dances that I taught her everyday and still remembers them. (love that by the way!) Anyway, I think we were talking about Nursery and all of a sudden she goes, "Auntie, do you love me?" I quickly responded with, 'of course I do! I love you the mostest!" To which, she replied, 'I miss you, Auntie...you come home for Christmas! I want to play with you in the snow. And Santa will come and we'll open presents!" *melts* I asked Meredith if she was feeding her these lines...telling her to tell me that she misses me. I didn't think Meredith would be that mean to me, but I wouldn't put it past Ben. Everyone knows just how much it breaks my heart every time she says stuff like that to me and I know I can't come see her. Ben uses it as tactics to get me to come home more often, I think. :) Although, in all fairness to him, I did go home last President's Day weekend. I couldn't resist her and her cute little voice when she says, "I love you, Auntie!" Ugh...if she said it to you, you'd be a basket case too. I promise! :) So, I guess it works! haha. Meredith told me that ever since about a couple of weeks ago when she first asked me why I didn't come over to play more often and I told her I was coming to see her at Christmas time, she's been asking if its Christmas yet or how much longer there is until Christmas comes. So cute. I just love that girl! Having my little appendage whenever I go home, makes it that much more fun. Its those times when I'm at home with my family with the little one all lovin up on me that I know that there is at least one place where I'll always belong and be loved. No matter what happens or where I go, I'll always have my family. I'm so grateful for them and all the good times (and bad) that we've had together. I'm so glad we get to be together forever. I can't wait! Speaking of cant wait...I can't wait until Mallory (my other niece) starts talking and we can be all buddy buddy like me n Syd. Things with Malla should be fun since she's my xerox twin. :) Gotta love that. Anyway, here's to you Syd! You make my life a lot more brighter! Its weird trying to remember life without her. Life was great, don't get me wrong. It was just different. Its funny to go back and think of what Meredith and I did all day whenever I'd go over there. That part hasn't changed much...but now we're surrounded by the two cutest girls ever and its so wonderful! Thanks for having such great kiddos, Meredith! You rock my socks. Its quite handy that my best friend has great kids...its like I cant go wrong whenever I'm over there! :) Love y'all bad...but for now, I should probably get back to work. Heartcha! XOXO

Oh What A Beautiful Morning!

Today is the day! Emily comes back! She said she'd be here anywhere between noon and 3pm. Needless to say, I will make sure that my bladder is quite empty around that time span. There is no telling how excitedly my body will react to seeing her. Its been far too long. And while wetting my pants is always funny, I wasn't planning on doing laundry for at least another week.

I went 'back to school' shopping the other day. It was my last time to do it officially as I will be graduating this semester. You know what that means...no holding back. I really should've exercised more restraint, but when its your last time to do something, you've gotta go out with a bang, right? In all fairness, I only spent a little over $100 bucks. I know girls who spend that once a month to go shopping and I don't really shop THAT much...:) In all fairness though, I'm sure I'll probably use the 'back to school' shopping excuse even when I'm not in school anymore. Someone should probably stop me. Or better yet, join me in my adventure of braving the crazed shoppers, searching for the best sales, and avoiding those annoying Verizon guys who always ask me,'if they can ask me a question.' I tell you what...if their question was something along the lines of, 'would you like us to give you $100 bucks, no strings attached?' then I'd be all for talking to them. However, I'm guessing that's not what they were planning on asking me. :)

While I was shopping, I passed this booth in the center of the mall that was dedicated to Twilight. I melted, but I resisted. Besides, there were two dudes there looking at stuff which made me laugh. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and just say that they were trying to flirt it up with the girl who was working there, but you never know. I've learned that many a gentleman have grown to appreciate the Twlight series. I respect them for running the risk of being discovered and their man cards ripped away. Although, Mike told me at work yesterday that he no longer has a man card so he really doesn't care much anymore. I have recently learned that another of his favorite books (and movies) is Pride and Prejudice. I brought it to work yesterday to do a little reading when I had some down time, and I didn't get any comments from the female persuasion, but a lot of the guys that I work with looked at it and said things like, "ohhhh great book!" Funny times.

Well, my friends...its Saturday morning and I've got some cleaning, crafts, and exercising to do before Emily gets here, so I'm gonna jet! Love y'all bad! XOXO