Goodbye Logan!

It is finally here! In two and a half hours I will be headed down to Salt Lake to go on the coolest trip I will probably ever take. This is how I spent my last weekend in Logan.:

Ate cake to celebrate the end of classesNatalie and I are so happy to be done!

BBQ and Bonfire with Karen
All but one of my freshman year roomies came to Nat's farewell.
Ate Sunday dinner with these cool-cats

Awkward family photo

Cookies with Alyssa!

To everyone in Logan: I will miss you tons!
To my family: I will miss you even more!
I will try to remember you guys as I hike up to Machu Picchu.
Love ya!

Journal

Last night I bought a notebook and it has now become my journal! I am the worst at writing in a journal so this trip is going to cure me. I wrote my first entry last night and from now until July there will be a new entry every day (I hope!). I have also set a new goal for the trip. The other day I bought a blue Book of Mormon (the ones that missionaries hand out) and I am also going to try to read from it every night. So my goal is to read from the BOM, write about my day, write one thing I learn from my reading, and then write one thing I am grateful for. It's a lot...and it's going to be rough....but I think it will definitely be a good thing and I'm hoping it will help me create some good habits.Also, for my blog posts, I will be doing a picture of the day. I will probably only blog once or twice a week, but for every day I am gone, there will be one picture depicting my favorite part of the day. That way I will still have things to talk about when I get home and I don't have to spend much time online. I plan on spending most of my time wandering around and exploring. South America here I come!

Missionaries

I love my missionary friends! Whenever I mention getting a letter from a missionary the obvious question comes up and just to clarify....no, I am not waiting for a missionary and no, I did not date any of them prior to their missions. So there you go. Since that issue is now out of the way, let me tell you about my two best friends, Michael aka Mike and Stephen aka Bones.

Mike is serving in Toronto, Canada right now and he actually writes "eh" in his letters....not sure if that is on purpose or if he really is turning into a Canadian. But I got a letter from him this last weekend and here is a direct quote from it, "It really has been quite some time. But I understand. Not too many people still write me. Oh well, I just keep on keepin' on being a missionary." Oh my gosh it broke my heart! haha Towards the end of the semester I got so caught up in school that it took me almost three months to get a letter out to him and now I feel like a horrible friend! I swear I will get better! But honestly, Mike writes some of the best letters and is always so positive and uplifting....even if after four years he still can't spell my name right.

Bones is serving in Curitiba, Brazil and it takes FOREVER for letters to get back and forth between us. Bones is my best friend, we became really close senior year and talked weekly my first year at school while he sat around waiting to leave on the mish. He always has a funny story to tell in his letters. I think some of his Brazilian companions have been pretty crazy so I always get a good laugh out of his letters but I can still see how strong he has become in the gospel. Because we were so close, Bones is the best when it comes to encouragement and advice. His Christmas card was a picture of him standing next to a man in a pink speedo. Classic. I almost barfed.

These pics are from seminary graduation two years ago. Crazy how fast time flies! Aaron is also in this pic, he is serving in Puerto Rico right now. We were never really close, but I always I had a small crush on him....good guy! Lo has been married for about a month and half now and I can't get over it! She is the first of my friends back home to get married, crazy stuff!

Can't wait to see these guys next February and March!

Two-Thirds

Today I am officially 2/3 of the way done with my three week classes! This is how I spent this glorious day.

• Got up and ready for the day. I wore flats, straightened my hair, and wore a jacket without a hood.
• Went up to campus at about 10:30.
• Finished up homework until class started at 12:30.
• Sat through econ and didn't learn anything because I was so stressed about finding out what my finance test score was.
• Cried tears of joy when I got my test back. (It was the hardest test I have ever taken!) Got a 79 but the second highest score was an 83 so therefore it was only out of 83 points....I got a 95!
• My parents took me to Costa Vida for dinner during my break.
• Sat through all of the 6-10 class....she made us stay the entire time!
• Walked from the business building to 800 North in the pouring RAIN!
  
• Ate three of my mom's amazing sugar cookies.

Happy 2/3's Day!

Hey ya!

I should be doing homework....but I am feeling a little rebellious right now and taking a break. I am officially 1/3 of the way done with these classes! (ok so I do have to do in-country projects for all of them...but they shouldn't be too bad) Two more weeks and I will be in Chile!!! The excitement is starting to kick in for real and I love it!

Today I Skyped for the first time ever and fell in love with it! I never really understood the craze, but it is honestly the neatest thing ever. Car and I had a nice Sunday chat and it made my day. Anybody want to Skype with me? Let's make it a date! haha

Here are my random thoughts of the day:

• Life changes so freakin fast! I moved out barely a week ago and already everything is different. Friends. Life. Opportunities. Boys. Free Time. Everything.
• Props to people that are nice. I have been attending the same ward since last August and today nobody really wanted to be nice or friendly. I mean, I could have attempted to make friends.... it is a two way street... but it was just weird there. So a girl sat by me and we chatted before sacrament meeting started and then after the meeting she invited me over for dinner with her roomies. I didn't go because of my Skype date with Car and then I decided to do some homework. But I thought it was really nice of her to invite me, really really nice.
• I need to see some sun. I was going to go tight-less today. Ya I know, why would I ever not wear tights to church, it just isn't me! But really, I wasn't wearing any tights and then I saw my legs and immediately put on tights. :) I know I don't actually ever get tan, but a little color wouldn't hurt me at all.
• I have a constant headache. It is knowing that I should be studying. Saturday I woke up, dyed my hair, studied, hiked the wind caves with Karen, studied, went shopping, went over to Sig Ep and ate with Karen, Larry, and Bryan, studied, and then went to see Robin Hood. Every single time I had a break or got bored in the hangout...I went home and studied. My head literally hurts from all of this, ugh!
• I am addicted to food! I have a set schedule and that is how I get through classes. I eat a granola bar after econ, a PB&J sandwich after finance, and a nutri-grain bar after science. Natalie usually starts a countdown of how much longer we have in a class, and I follow with the countdown to eating. I love my snacks!
• The river trail is not the same without Stacey. There, I said it. :) Seriously though, I've ran on it almost every day this last week, and I just don't like it as much without my Stacey!

Tomorrow is my Dad's birthday....the big 4-5! Crazy! My dad is definitely the best dad ever. He has such great patience! We definitely had our disagreements back when I lived at home, but the way he deals with everything, people, church, work, our family, he is so patient and always is positive. He has gotten after my mom and me for being negative or gossiping about others many times, but he always finds the good in people and I rarely have heard him put anybody down. My dad is a hard worker and has the best set of ethics. He has rightfully earned everything that he has. He has a sense of humor and is always teasing us. For a great majority of my life, I have always worn a ponytail. My dad used to make comments when I would wear my hair down, that I actually looked like a girl... it drove me crazy because it was pretty obvious that I was a girl so therefore I didn't have to wear my hair down. Thanks dad! haha Now I wear my hair down almost every day...and I would like to think that some of it is because of you. Happy Birthday Dad!

School is a Breeze...

I don't think I will ever complain about fall or spring semester classes again! (haha yeah right....) But honestly, the classes I am taking right now are the most intense classes I have taken/will probably ever take in my college career. Each class only has a couple assignments or tests, so each one is about 25 percent of my overall grade. None of the material is too difficult (I'm doing pretty well in corporate finance)....but I go to class for 7 hours straight, come home and do homework/readings, go to bed, wake up the next morning and continue to do homework until I go back to class. I sound like a dedicated student, but there is no way I would survive if I wasn't in total school mode. I have no social life and it is killing me!!! I want to hang out with people but I don't have the time! Ugh! Twelve more days of classes and I will be outta here!

Relief...

Spring semester 2010 is officially over. Monday I start class again and I'm not exactly looking forward to it, but for now I just feel relieved. Today I took all of the things I won't be needing this summer to my Aunt Michelle's house. My grandpa was replacing their toilet today so they had to turn off their water. Let's just say it had been a while since I had taken a shower, so my aunt let me shower and get ready at her place. Then I ate Applebees with her family to celebrate Mother's day. It was a good visit! Then I stopped by my favorite place in the entire world....Target!! I found a dress to wear at Stacey's wedding and it is so cute! Made my day! It's a good thing there isn't a Target in Logan because I would be in so much debt from shopping stress relief. :)

Tomorrow is Mother's Day so I would like to end this post with a small tribute to my mother.

• My mom is third out of eleven kids....they only had one bathroom growing up.
  
• In high school, I would get shopping kicks and force her to go along with me.
• Every time I would come home I would yell out "Mom" but in a really annoying voice, she loved it!
• She has four really cool kids....I look the most like her.
  
• She hates animals and I think she passed that trait down to me.
• She makes the best homemade rolls and sugar cookies....seriously the best.
• She is becoming more crafty. She made all of us little memory scrapbooks for Christmas.
• Her favorite colors are blue and yellow.
• She is the best bargain shopper in the world.
• She cares about everyone and is always giving service.
• She is my best friend and I love her!!!
  

Stressed Out?

Here is how yesterday went:

8:30....woke up
9:45....ate pancakes at Ben's
10:45....left Rexburg
1:30....arrived in Logan
2:00....worked
9:00....got done with work and began to pack/clean
12:45....passed out, like literally I fell onto my bed and couldn't get up until 5:30 this morning

I was in panic mode all night long trying to get everything to fit in my car. I'm supposed to be out of my apt by noon today, but I work until 2....so I'm just a little bit stressed. I realized that there is no possible way that Leo can hold all of my stuff, so now I have to take two trips and vacuum and wipe everything down/make sure I have everything done in less than two hours. I am so drained! And to make everything 10x worse....I don't know where my wallet is... and I have to buy an Econ book today, ugh! All I want to do is sleep. I know I have been super ornery and probably a pain to be around, but honestly, I'm past caring. It sounds horrible, but I am so exhausted that I don't even have the energy to want to be nice or happy. Give me a day, life will be good, and I'll be so much happier....but making people move out the Friday of finals by noon....come on now.... it's not like any of us are stressed out.... don't try to make our lives any easier.

Road Trip!!

I just spent the last two days in Rexburg! Here is how the story goes....my friend Ben, who is from Kennewick, served a mission in Guatemala. I met one of his mission buds, Tren, here at USU and last week I got a text asking if I wanted to head up to Logan to see Ben. So Tren and Eric (another mission bud) picked me up Tuesday night and went off to party in the 'Burg. That night we met up with Eric's friend Tanya and hung out at her place for a while. Tren serenaded us with his guitar skills and it was all just super chill.

I stayed with my cousin BreAnn and her husband Ben and she was so sweet and let me take her car on Wednesday. I shoveled down a ton of pizza for lunch at Craigo's. I went up to see my Grandma for a bit and then finally met Brandon's fiance, Andrea, and I totally approve of the two of them! She was so cute! She showed me pictures of her wedding dress and her colors...I am so excited for them! Then I met up with the boys and Tanya at Ben's place and Ben's roomies almost had a cow because we were still there when their dates showed up for dinner. Tanya's roomies threw a Cinco de Mayo party and made some of the best enchiladas I have ever had. Then we played spoons and I almost took out Tren's eye. Ben had heard of some other parties around campus so we went out to party hop. We made it eight minutes before one ended...total bust...and then the other one was at Ben's neighbors place. There were so many people crowded into that tiny living room. Tren beat out a black guy in a dance off and I almost got crushed by a crowd-surfer. Pretty legit haha BYU-I style...

After that party we went back to Tanya's and the boys met Elder Walkinghorst....apparently he starred in the amazing Preach My Gospel movie. They were so obsessed with him it was pretty funny. I basically passed out on the couch and then eventually they took me back to my cousin's. Today Ben made us pancakes and then we set out for L-town! It was a ton of fun! Rexburg isn't really a hoppin' place, but it was good to see people and just take a break, a much needed break. Thanks guys!

A Few of My Favorite Things:

• People watching....especially at the library
• Free food
• Easy finals
• Funny You-tube videos
• Massive snowflakes that are gone by the morning
• Waffle parties and waffles without the party
• People that wheel luggage-looking-bags around campus
• Emails
  
• The SOAR office
• Having dark hair
• Sales at Old Navy
• Random phone calls from old friends
• Scrabble
  
• Being crafty
• Boys
• The yellow tights that Stacey gave me
• French Fries
• Arctic Circle shakes
• 6G5 aka my awesome roomies
• USU 09-10!!!
  

Sunday Walks

Sunday walks are the best! Yesterday Stacey and I had our final Sunday walk together and it was so good but rather depressing. We went along the coolest sidewalk in Logan and around the Temple, it was such a beautiful day! It's nice when you can go on a walk and you don't have to talk the entire time, you just enjoy what's out there and the peacefulness of a Sunday in Logan. Thanks Stace! I am going to miss our walks a ton! We have also been attempting to run. Saturday night at about 8:45 we went out to the river trail and ran a pretty quick mile, I was so proud of it! It was a little scary coming back in the dark and my hands got numb from the cold, but overall I would say it was definitely a success... I love running with my Stace-girl!

This week is it....the final week of year numero dos! Long day of work today, one final, a couple days in Rexburg, and tons of packing! I feel so grown up!