Holy Cow! Another Week is Gone.

Monday: School and work.  What else is new? Our ward also had a Halloween activity at the church that was a lot of fun! There was food (of course :) and a pumpkin painting contest (my group won most original with our iPumpkin) and It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and there was a photo booth as well as a dance afterwards.  It was a blast and I had a lot of fun.

The lovely cowgirls (and holy cow) of Apt. #23

Me, Brittany, Emily, McKensey, and Ashley

Ben with his roommate Josh and Justin and our award winning iPumpkin.

Ben was Steve Jobs, Josh was a cowboy, and Justin was an iMe

We matched after Ben started to wear Josh's hat. 

Tuesday: We had a campus forum where Senator Lieberman spoke. It was a really amazing talk about living in the public eye and still practicing your faith.  The only other significant things that happened were that 1) I spent the required 2.5 hours on my art homework.  We had to draw a chair.  Yes, we were required to spend that long drawing a chair. (Can you guess what my feelings are on this art class? *sigh*) and 2) I had a killer migraine so I didn't work at all.  I slept a lot and never wanted to wake up.

Wednesday: Bridger randomly saw me in the Wilk and we had lunch together! It was great brother/sister bonding experience.  I ate a good portion of his lunch and I gave him a peanut butter cup.  We were even.  We discussed life and made plans to go on a double date next week.  I love my brother and it was so great to have lunch with him! I think we are going to try to make it a weekly occurrence. Also, Wednesday was just an exciting day because I finally wore a sweater and I wore one of my winter hats to school.  I am so ready for the cooler weather :D

Thursday: More school and more work. Ben and I went on a double date with his old mission companion that he set up with a girl that he works with.  We were going to go roller-skating (which I absolutely detest) but thankfully, it was closed when we got there so we went mini-golfing instead :) After golfing, we went to one of my favorite places in Provo, The Cocoa Bean, to get hot chocolate.  All four of us had a wonderful time :)

Friday: Work, Jamba Juice, home, grocery shopping, attempt at homework, falling asleep, taking an unplanned 30 minute nap, homework, cook dinner, go to Temple, lovely evening. :)

Saturday: I went to a reunion with Ben and Anna of some family friends that they have known for forever.  We had a blast! I killed Ben and speed and then he killed me the next round. His friends are super funny and a lot of fun to be around. After that, we went to the last home soccer game.  We lost to San Diego :( But it was still fun to go to.  I came home and worked on another art assignment.  This time we were required to spend THREE hours on it.  But I got to choose what I drew so I didn't mind spending so much time on it. After drawing and dinner, some people from the ward came over and we played games.  Again, super fun.  We laughed a TON which is always my favorite thing to do with my roommates and whoever else happens to be over at our apartment.

Sunday: Today our ward choir preformed in Sacrament meeting.  We did amazingly well. The Spirit was super strong and the song was beautiful.  After Sacrament meeting, I got set apart as *drum roll* a Ward Indexer! I am actually excited about this calling.  I started to index last March/April and I absolutely loved it.  Today I went to Family History for Sunday School where we were indexing.  For Relief Society we had a lesson on family history.  I am super pumped to start doing more with my own family history and starting to index again so I can help other people's families.  After church, I went with Ben over to his cousin's house for dinner with his cousin, her husband, Ben's brother and his wife and their little sister Anna.  We had a blast! Dinner was delicious and the games we played were very fun.  It was another lovely Sunday here in good ol' Provo.  :)  

Whoah! We're Halfway There!

Why yes, we are officially over HALFWAY done with the fall semester here at BYU.  Crazy isn't it? It still feels like I just got here. This week was filled with activities, tests, papers, school, work, dates and pretty much everything else college related.

Monday: My gym class is over for the semester so I had an extra two hours to do homework! I went to the Wilk and studied for my History Exam and I was pleasantly surprised when a lovely guy named Ben came to eat lunch with me after he was done with work. :) After my second shift at work, I studied for about 30 or 45 minutes and went to the dreaded testing center.  This history exam was probably one of the worst exams I have ever taken.  It is among the ranks of my AP Chem mid-term my Junior year of high school. Yuck.  Ben had a group project he was working on and got done around the same time I did so he walked me home.  I did homework by myself until Ben was done with his FHE.  My FHE family had gone up the canyon for a bonfire and had left while I was taking my exam :( But it sounded like TONS of fun.  My roommates had a blast and I was happy for them :)

Tuesday: Devotional was lovely as always. After school and work, I went home and cleaned my little heart out.  Cleaning checks were in the morning and I had a lot to do.  After cleaning for a good 2 hours, my hands hurt but our apartment looked amazing. I went over to Ben's to do homework since my roommates were still cleaning their areas. I came home to people still cleaning and I went to bed with the smell of bleach and cleaning supplies filling my nose.

Wednesday: My Joseph Smith class was AMAZING! I love Sis. Black. She is such a fantastic teacher. Art was art.  I have a very strong dislike for that class.  But McKensey is in it with me so it is about a million times more bearable. My homework is to draw a chair. One of the requirements is to spend 2.5 hours on it.  How I am going to do that, I have no idea...but I'm sure I'll figure out something.  Anyways, while I was in art, I got a text from Ashley saying we passed cleaning checks! How exciting! :D After art, I ate lunch while listening to the strange piano guy in the Wilk play Tangled songs and studied for a New Testament quiz.  I rocked it.  After my quiz, I met up with McKensey to meet with the dreaded advisors in the Education department.  They are not the most helpful people in the world but I think we have everything figured out for our next semester.  We are going to end up taking many of the same classes together and I am so excited :D

Thursday: In Biology 100 we have been talking about genetics.  At the end of class we were instructed to follow a commandment: we were to consider the lilies.  My professor instructed us to put away all electronics (phones, iPods, laptops, everything) and "consider the lilies" for the last 10 minutes of class. He gave each one of us students a lilly and we pondered them.  It was actually really great (as weird as I thought it was...) I felt a lot more calm and peaceful.  So, I toted a lily around campus all day.  Everyone thought I had the most wonderful boyfriend (which I do) and then they found out that my flower was from biology.  I got plenty of strange looks.  It was great :) After work, Ben and I went to my apartment for a quick, delicious dinner prepared by Margaret and then we headed over to college student night at the BYU Women's soccer game.  We totally dominated 3-0.  After the game, I wrote a paper and did some readings followed by going to bed.

Here is my lily :)

Friday: Early morning Temple trip with Emily and her brother John.  Then I was off to work for 4 hours followed by a Jamba date with Alex and seeing Ben at work.  Alex and I chatted for a bit before I came home and Emily and I went grocery shopping.  After a lovely conversation with our bagger, we headed home and unloaded our purchases.  I showered, Emily and I checked the mail, she went to class, I laid in a pile and took a 10 minute power nap before making myself look presentable to the public eye.  I picked up Ben and we went to go get his sister, Anna and the three of us were off to Salt Lake to their sister's place for dinner, games and playing with her three adorable kids.  Dinner was delicious! The kids were so sweet! Ben taught them how to sword fight.  I got a kiss goodnight from the one and a half year old.  After the children were asleep, the adults played Settlers of Catan.  It was my first time playing so I was on a team with Ben and we lost.  Horribly.  Strategy games are not my forte. But we had a blast and it was fun to see Ben and Anna interact with their sister and brother-in-law.

Saturday: What a lovely day! First off, the weather was gorgeous! In the morning, Ben and I went up the canyon to Bridal Veil Falls to see the fall colors and we had a picnic lunch.  It was such a fun morning.  After that, we came back to Provo and went to the first three quarters of the football game.  Then Ben had to go to work and we were KILLING Idaho State so I didn't feel so bad about leaving.  Plus I was hungry and the entire left side of my face and neck as well as my left arm were very sunburnt. I came home and did some homework.  Emily and I went to Target to get stuff for our halloween costumes and we ate a delicious dinner made by McKensey.  Emily and I ran back to Michael's to get something else for her costume after dinner. I did some more homework and spent some time with Ben...doing homework (we are very exciting people, let me tell you....)

Sunday: Ward choir-AMAZING! We had a TON of guys come today and we sounded gorgeous. We are singing next week in sacrament meeting.  Hopefully it will go well.  I got a calling! I'm getting set apart next week so I'll let you know what I am then.  We got home taught tonight.  Our home teachers are wonderful! After they left, we went to ward prayer where our apartment introduced ourselves to everyone. The entire ward LOVED it! We introduced ourselves by comparing each one of us roommates to a Disney princess.  We got a lot of compliments on our presentation and lots of laughs. :) After Ward Prayer, my roommates along with Joseph (Margaret's fiance) and Ben played "What If?" and we laughed so much.  It was a blast! I love Sundays. :)

Tradition. Spirit. Honor.

**Something happened and this didn't get posted...so this is actually from LAST week**

Happy Homecoming everyone! This week has been amazing! So many things have happened! And I still can't believe that it is already time to start another week!

Monday: Bad news-I got really sick.  Good news-I got a boyfriend. :)

Tuesday: I was able to go to the Homecoming pep rally in the Marriott Center with Emily, Alex, Sydney, Ben :) and his sister Anna (who is one of the sweetest girls I have ever met!) I had class and work followed by my second mid-term of the week.  Ben was sweet and walked me home.  We did homework with my roommates and after Ben went home, I fell asleep.

Wednesday: My lovely roommate McKensey turned 19! Yay! I felt really old.  I also went to dinner with Dad and Bridger.  We went to P.F. Changs, they teased me about Ben, and life was great :)

Thursday: Classes and work.  Ben took me on a date to the women's soccer game.  It was really fun! Even though it was freezing and rainy, we still had a blast.  

Ben and me and his adorable little sister, Anna

Friday: Work and a Jamba date with Alex and Sydney so we could catch each other up on our lives.  I did some Children's Lit. homework before I had a mid-term review for that class.  Then I went back to do more homework for that class and Ben walked me home.  We did homework and I made dinner for everyone.  Ben took me on another date to see Divine Comedy.  They are a group of comedians on campus who put together hilarious sketches.  I was smiling and laughing the entire time.  It was great! After, we went on a walk around the Provo Temple and just talked.

 I love these two girls so much!

Saturday: Happy Homecoming!! I went to the True Blue Cougar pancake breakfast with Emily and her brother John and Ben.  We met Emily's sister and fam there too. After breakfast, we waited in the cold for about an hour until the parade started.  But once it did it was amazing.  We all got tons of awesome stuff-I got a free shirt and a balloon and an insane amount of candy.  Ben was awesome and did pushups to get a 2-liter of root beer from Brick Oven.  After the parade, we all headed back to the apartments where Ben and I ate lunch before heading over to South Field for another soccer game.  This time we lost :( But we got free hats and the sunshine decided to make an appearance. The soccer game ended and we came back to my apartment to do more homework! Yes, we have very exciting lives.  I was getting bored with my homework and not accomplishing much so we decided to watch a movie instead.  After the movie, he left and I ate dinner with my roommates before us non-engaged roomies headed across the street to the football stadium to watch the game.  I just have to say that my roommates are awesome. I had so much fun with them! BYU won so life is good :)

Anna, Ben and I waiting for the parade to start!

Woohoo! for free stuff!

Ben and I in our awesome free hats at the soccer game.

Yes, I know mine looks ridiculous... 

Most of the roommates!

We were definitely the life of the party in our section at the football game :)

I found this kid at the football game.  It made me smile :)

I love my roommates!!

Especially Emily...

McKensey and I are just plain awesome. 

Sunday: I think I am getting sick...I sounded like a man at ward choir. I hacked up lungs all throughout church. But I survived.  We had a surprise party for McKensey and played balloon games outside.  It was a lovely night.

Family Weekend

Monday: FHE was great! We played "What If...?" and had lots of laughs.  After FHE I had a homework party with Ben and his roommate.  Then I came home and went to bed.

Tuesday: Devotional was great! It was the dance assembly where a lot of the different dance companies on campus came together and preformed for us.  Classes and work were also lovely :)

Wednesday: Last day of gym! We got to play with the parachute!! It is still the best day of gym class, even in college :) I got out early and it was a beautifully sunshiney day.

Thursday: Classes and work were great.  I was exhausted and it was a battle to stay awake throughout the day.  Ben walked me home and we walked through the farmer's market where we got a sample of delicious tomatillo salsa.  YUM! Our ward also had a Relief Society dinner which was delicious.  And what college student doesn't love free food? The girls in my ward are great and I felt grown up going to my own Relief Society activity.

Friday: I had a lovely time at the Temple with Emily and a great day at work.  I had a Jamba date with Alexandra and Sydney followed by rocking a Children's Lit exam.  I dropped Bridger off with my family to go golfing and I went shopping with my mommy who bought me more clothes than I needed.  I think Emily might kill me...After shopping, I came home to eat dinner with my lovely roommates and my boyfriend.  Then Emily and McKensey went on a girl date while I went on a date with Ben to Trafalga.  I killed him at mini-golf, which was quite amazing because I am not so great at mini-golfing.  We ran into his brother and sister-in-law and played lazer tag with them.  It was so much fun! We went back to his apartment and made rice krispy treats and watched a movie.

As Emily and I were walking to campus, we decided that we really looked like teachers.  

After we took this picture, we decided that we actually look older! 

We look like 20-somethings instead of 19 year olds. 

Saturday: I woke up and went grocery shopping with Emily followed by doing some homework.  I picked up Ben and Bridger to spend an afternoon con mi familia. We watched the BYU football game (we won!!) and had dinner.  My family liked Ben.  Ben liked my family.  Life is good.

I also went to the BYU vs. Montana Tech hockey game with some of my family.  Isn't my cousin Madison adorable?

Sunday: Bridger and Hunter got ordained as an Elder and a Teacher.  I am so proud of them! We took impromptu pictures and they actually turned out pretty cute! I went to choir and church.  Both of which were lovely :)

Now for our family pictures:

We are a rebellious family.  Look at all of that caffeine. ;)

So typical :)

General Conference Weekend!

Monday: FHE with my family was amazing as always.  Emily gave a wonderful lesson from President Uchtdorf's talk from the Relief Society Broadcast last week.  (Read it here) And we played jumprope and basketball.  Glad to know I still have my elementary school skills in both of those areas.

Tuesday: Crazy long day on campus! Went to work at 8:00 and had class and work until 6:00.  Then I studied for and took a Biology exam, followed by writing a paper and getting some reading done.  My friend Ben picked me up from the library and drove me home (seeing as I did not want to walk 20 minutes across campus to my apartment at 10:00 at night). As he was dropping me off, he officially asked me on a date to go to General Conference on Saturday morning.  And I said yes of course.  I LOVE Conference.

Wednesday: My Uncle Russ came to town! After he motivationally spoke to Chad Lewis (our athletic director and former football player here) he met me and the broha at the library to take us to dinner at Cafe Rio.  I love my Uncle Russ so much.  He is crazy and insane and I cry from laughing every time I am with him.  We had a very unproductive Apartment 23 homework party.  Ben came and actually got stuff done.  And none of us know how he did it.

Thursday: I actually got homework done! When I got home from class and work only Ashley was home so we had our own little homework party where I actually got things done!

Friday: Work and a crazy afternoon filled with grocery shopping, laundry, getting things ready for my date Saturday morning, attempting to do homework, making dinner, and getting PUMPED for the BYU/Utah State football game.  Emily and I watched it on TV and it was easily one of THE best football games I have ever watched.  15 seconds left and we scored to win by 3 :D After the game, Ben picked me up and we went to his apartment to make rice krispy treats and other food for our picnic lunch on Saturday. He then walked me home and I crashed, hard.

Saturday: I woke up at 4:45 am and got ready to leave by 5:30 to head up to Salt Lake.  Ben and I sat in line at 6:30 and at around 9:15 there was actually someone with tickets who offered them to us! We went over to the Conference Center and found our seats.  General Conference was AMAZING! There is always at least one talk that is meant just for you.  Saturday's was Sis. Thompson's talk on personal revelation.  Ben and I were SOOOOOOOOO excited when they announced a second temple in Provo.  And we were both concerned when we started Conference with no President Monson there.  But he showed up and things went slightly more normal. After the session, we went to the car and grabbed our picnic lunch and ate it on the lawn looking at the Salt Lake City Temple.  It is such an amazing, wonderful, magnificent building.  It is crazy to think that my pioneer ancestors built that building without the use of modern technology.  It took 40 years, but they knew of its importance and put in so much faith and hard work into building that temple.  After lunch we went to the Christus statue in the visitor's center and talked about life and how wonderful and mind boggling it is.  We went to his sister's for the second session and I got to play with his nephews and hold his newest nephew! (They are 3, 18 months and 1 week! They are all so adorable!) We got back to Provo just in time for him to go to Priesthood.  Emily and I ate dinner, went to the store and watched some TV shows.  After Priesthood, Ben came over and watched Meet Me in St. Louis with Emily and I.  It is easily one of my favorite movies ever :)

This is what the Salt Lake City Temple looks like at 6:30 in the morning.

Isn't it beautiful?

Picnics on Temple Square are the best!

I got to hold Ben's 1 week old nephew. HE IS SO ADORABLE!

Sunday: I went to my grandparents' house and was able to watch conference with my lovely extended family.  I love them so much and I didn't realize how much I missed them.  Conference was amazing, again.  I absolutely LOVE conference weekend.  I am always so spiritually full and re-energized from spending time with my family.

Bridger and our "slow cousin" James watching Conference with their blankies

My real cousins, Marley and Mitchell.

Aren't they adorable?