Whoever Said, "Baseball Isn't For Girls"?!

Last Saturday morning, I woke up to a GLORIOUS warm sunny day! To be honest, I have no idea how warm it actually was, but I know for a fact that it was the warmest it has ever been this winter. Definitely above 50 degrees. (; So I got up in a fantastic mood, took a lovely shower, and sat down in the front entry to finish some homework. Well I had to run out to the car to get my scriptures for my Book of Mormon homework, annnnd I got caught. By the sunshine. And the warm sidewalk out back. So I sat on the concrete, next to the old garage out back and soaked in a good half hour of sunshine in my t-shirt and sweats (I hadn't shaved, so I opted not to wear shorts haha). I headed inside to finish my homework, only to find all of my roommates and FHE brothers waiting inside for me. You can imagine my absolute confusion. Jarrod asked, "Ready for soccer?!"...Oh yeah. Jessi had gone to the store to buy a soccer ball, because she was in the mood to get out in the sun and play. Well they were somewhat pushing me to go, and for some reason that put me in a bad mood, so I didn't want  to go. I finally told them I was not going, and I went to finish my paper.

They all left.
I felt guilty.

So I hurried up and got my paper down within a short 20 minutes and headed out to the park. Planning on just taking a few pictures of them, I wore my BYU-Idaho sweats and flip flops. Smart me. I didn't think about the fact that all of the snow had literally JUST melted that day, probably. It was unbelievably muddy as heck! Haha. I find my wonderful friends and find that they're playing soccer in half mud, half grass; it looked as though several of them had slipped and fallen. I took off my sandals, since my feet were already soaking. I walked around, snapped a few pictures, and got some good laughs out of it all.

Eventually my FHE bros got tired of just watching me watch them, so they decided that everyone should go barefoot! Lo and behold, I had to join in. Holy crap, what a blast. We played a little bit more soccer, tossed a few handfuls of mud, and continued to attack and trip one another in the slippery, wet mud/grass mixture haha. It went on for quite some time (even a bit of wrestling occurred haha), but we finally decided to be done and had to take a picture of our awesomely hilarious momentous occasion. Here we be!

From left to right:

John, Jared, Jason, Gill, me, Alec, Jarrod, Leah, and Jessi!

I don't think I've quite that much fun outside throughout the past two semesters. So awesome. Anywho! We started walking home, carrying our shoes. Needless to say, our feet were pretty raw. We were stopped about halfway home by a few guys putting together a presentation for Coinstar. They asked us if we could all do a pyramid, and they'd record us all yelling, "COINSTAR!" We didn't care, but the pyramid sounded fun, so we were all in haha. Well I asked for them to take a picture for me, too. (:

Top: Jessi and me

Middle: Jared, Gill, Leah

Bottom: Jason, Jarrod, John, Alec

We felt like pretty cool people. (; We kept walking home, enjoying the looks we were receiving from those who passed by haha. We got to the corner where the guys would go to their dorm and we'd go to our apartment, and all of us decided that hosing off and eating cookies sounded amazing. We made plans to make cookies that night, and we went our separate ways as we all called dibs on who showered first haha. Well we got home, and I had to get a couple pictures of just us four girls who went!

Gill, Leah, Jessi, and I. (:

Why, yes, I am a Mud Monster.

Gill and I, with the creepin' Jessi.

Us girls still liked the idea of hosing off, so we found the hose on the side of the house. (No, our managers didn't bother to get the water out before winter set in. Smart.) I try turning it on a tad and don't find any water coming out. So I detach different sections of the hose and get the chunks of ice out haha. It worked! And the water was colder than the Pacific Ocean!! We didn't really hose ourselves completely, but I washed off my face and arms. Everyone else washed off their legs, shoes, face, etc. Jessi jumped in the shower, but us other three gals were still disgusting and didn't dare go inside haha. So I got a pair of shorts, and Gill, Leah, and I sat out on the side of the house to get warm and dry. We later were able to go inside, wash off, and eventually make no-bake cookies with the boys. (:

Stan, our turtle, also decided to come sunbathing with us. (;

Sunday, after church, our ward was having a "Sweet Swap"; all FHE families had to bring a dessert, and the entire ward would have a dessert buffet! Well we ate all the cookies, so I volunteered to make the infamous Conference Coffee Cake! And holy cow was it amazing! We may or may not have nibbled on it before taking it to the sweet swap... :P

I realize that I've already mentioned how much I love my coaching and baseball theory class, but I've gotten even more into it all as the semester goes on. I have never missed a day of either class, simply because I don't want to miss it! I enjoy it; naturally a person is going to attend a Mariner's game if they already have entrance, a way to get there, and they love it. So why not go?! Duh. (; Well a couple weeks ago I had taken a coaching test on Monday, and the next day I had taken a baseball test on team defense. I walk into class this last Monday, and Coach Schleg finally has our tests graded. I was a little worried how I'd do, because I wasn't able to study and read as much as I'd like...Wellll...No need to worry or fret, Shelan. I did fine. (;

I was pretty stoked. We had a great class discussion, as always. Leave, go to baseball class on Tuesday, and Coach didn't have those tests done yet. Oh well. Walk into coaching on Wednesday, and Coach pats my shoulder, winks, and says, "Nice job, Shelan". (Note: He has yet to say my name right. I don't really care anymore. He says it "Shee-lan". He's a coach, though, so he tends to shorten most names haha. Occasionally I'm "She" baha!) Anywho, I give him a confused look, and then it clicks. "Oh! On the baseball test?! Did I do alright??" "Hold up, I'll let you know in a sec," he says. Oy. Way to put me on the edge of my seat. He asks me to give the prayer, he starts the class, and he starts off, "So before I really start, I want to point out Shee-lan here real quick...She's in another of my classes, which we recently took a test in, as well. She scored a 92. Highest score in the entire class. That's not too bad, yeah, but there's a catch. This is in a baseball theory class. Typically girls don't do super well in the class, since they have less experience and background than the guys do. Well she beat all the guys in our class. A girl has never earned an "A" on any of my tests..."

WHOO HOOO!!! I was on a high all freakin' day haha. I was so stoked that I did well. I absolutely love it. Indescribable.

The other cool moment of that Wednesday? We touched brains in my Light & Sound class. :D The smell was a bit horrid, of course, but who cares?? This brain even still had the spinal cord still attached! And the next one down still had the eyeballs. :P

  

Friday was a tad less exciting than the rest of the week, sadly. But I promised I'd get out and relax. Well my only class was choir, and WOW. You could definitely tell that several girls had taken a 3-day weekend. Butt munches. I'm in the front row, and usually five or six rows behind me are decently full on a regular day of class. This picture is about 3 minutes before class is about to start. More girls trickled in eventually, but it was SO empty...

I come home from choir at 11:30 or so, and I'm exhausted haha. I fall asleep on the couch, and I wake up when Gill gets home. We both wander into the kitchen, starving for some good, homemade food. So what do we both love and have the supplies for?? Hashbrowns, breakfast sausage, and pancakes by your's truly. (:

We all finished our homework, and Jessi wanted to go OUT to eat dinner. None of them, other than me, had been to Gator Jack's, so we went there. They didn't like the prices and wanted to go somewhere else. So we head to Costa Vida. About the same price, but more for your money haha. Of course, Friday night, the line is AWFUL. So Gill, Cynthia, and their friend Jessica walk over to Wingers and order something, while Jessi, Kalie, and I get Costa Vida. (: These pictures were taken after waiting in line a while, before Gill took off for Winger's.

Gill, Jessi, and Kalie

No clue, to be honest...

We went back to the apartment, invited a couple FHE guys over for a couple movies, and we all vegged out, watched chick flicks (yes, the guys, too), and talked about March Madness haha. Great fun. (:

TODAY! Gill and I both rolled out of bed pretty early, since our church doesn't start until noon (bleh). But I had extra time, and I decided that I had never worn my "homecoming" dress to church before. Typically I find it to be too fancy for church, but I didn't really care today. So I put my black long-sleeve under, and I headed off to church feeling happy, confident, and pretty haha. Love those days. (; My roommates were running on "slightly late" today, oddly, so I took off without them. Snapped a picture on my way out the door. :P Yes. It was bright outside, since the sun was shining on the new snow (arghhh).

And now, what am I doing?! Singing. A tad. Jessi plays guitar, and Gill plays the ukulele; they enjoy jamming out, and I enjoy singing along. (; So here we are, just chilling in mine and Gill's room. Having a ball!

Anyways, I'm off to go watch the Harry Potter marathon with the roomies! I love and miss you all. (:

Lessons Learned

It's been a rather...odd week, to be quite honest. I don't think I have EVER had quite so many ups and downs. Nevertheless, I've learned SO much from it all. We shall start where I left off: last Friday.

My day was fine, whatever. The only highlight during the day was that two gals fell asleep in the front row of my last class, right in front of the teacher. Embarrassing, but whatever. That night, however, was entertaining haha. My roommates, Gill, Jessi, Kalie, and Leah decided it would be BOMB to make a fort and have a movie night. Needless to say, I hadn't made a fort since Dene' and I shared a room when we first moved into town haha. But holy cow, did they get creative!!

This, here, is Leah!! Just chilling in the fort and waiting for popcorn. (;

Pretty extravagant, right?!

The fort/movie night was going well, but we were all RUDELY interrupted when some fools (actually it was two guys whom Kalie knew and was trying to avoid and two other girls) who barged into our apartment and threw Valentine's cards everywhere. We were so confused. I was in the front entry, and the fools still had more cards on the porch, so they ran out; on their way out, one guy picked up the cards on the porch, turned and chucked them through the door at my face before closing the door and drove off...Oooh was I ticked. I had a small little cut above my lip, but I didn't particularly care. The fools just ticked me off overall. So here is what everything looked like after the fools left. I'm standing on the chair, which is in the corner of our front entry.

Cards are EVERYWHERE!!

Well that put a damper on our night, obviously. I don't think my roommates ever finished the movie they had been watching. (Side note: I was never a part of the fort or movie night haha. I was doing homework in the front entry. :P ) So from this event, I learned three things:

ONE: Maybe we really should start locking the doors after midnight or so. Not that I don't trust Rexburg people. I just don't feel like picking up anymore used valentines.

TWO: Never throw paper or anything of the sort at anyone's face. It does, in fact, hurt.

THREE: There is an extent on how many valentines a girl likes. Once you can't see the floor anymore, due to so many cards? Yeah, that's about the time where we just get annoyed.

Saturday! I don't think I had ever learned SO much in one day. All on my own. All because of my own doing...I woke up around nine or ten and started finishing a short little paper I had to write for my online class. My friend, Shaun, stopped by for maybe an hour. He left, and I was done with homework. You would think that the first thought that runs through my head is, "Wow! A whole day of absolutely nothing on my 'To Do' list. How am I going to waste my day today?!"...Nope. I closed the laptop, went in my room, and laid on my bed. I could not figure out how or why, but I was feeling so unbelievably alone. I wanted to curl up in my blankets, cry a little, and sleep the day through. So I continued to lay there for a bit, I dozed off for maybe ten minutes...Something inside me knew that I couldn't waste this day, though. Something changed. I got out of bed and changed into my BYU-I workout clothes, and grabbed my blanket, sweats, sweatshirt, scriptures, journal, and keys. I threw everything into Christian's car and took off for the gym first. I'm not a huge fan of working out in the main athletics center in the Hart, but Gill and I have both discovered the old weights room. It is now used for late night yoga and martial arts classes, but hardly anyone ever goes here during the day. Typically I come here, set out a mat, stretch for quite some time, and do some ab workouts. I was in there for a good 45 minutes to an hour--just stretching, relaxing, listening to music, driving my bad, negative mood away.

After a rough ab workout, I jogged over to the I-Center and ran a mile on the track. I continued to wander around the I-Center a bit, because I knew I couldn't go back to my apartment; something about it was just putting me in an awful negative mood that day. So I went out to the car, checked how much gas I had and took off on unknown roads. It was chilly and a little cloudy out, but I didn't mind. I headed up to the temple but drove past it. I took winding  roads and a dirt road or two. Since I've been to Rexburg, I had never felt more at home than when I was driving past all the fields and circles.

After driving quite some time, I found myself on the FAR north east end of Rexburg. I had no clue where I was, but I kept driving and saw the temple. So that is where I headed to. I parked in the temple parking lot, pulled out my scriptures and journal, and began reading/writing. My journal is incredible; the whole thing focuses on basically being more happy. Focusing more on the positive rather than dwelling on the negative. Being grateful for all that we have.

So that is what I did. I focused on all that I have. Everything I'm grateful for. Why I love being happy...That is what I learned. No matter my circumstances or moods, I can choose to be happy. I can do something about where I am and what I am doing, so that I can be happier. Happiness is always an option; it is up to us to make that choice, though.

~~~

I learned something else later on Saturday evening, also! I came home from my drive, made something for dinner, and started playing Super Mario with Gill. She mentioned a dance that night and that I should go, but I wasn't totally sure. Gill and I watched an episode of Psych, and she started getting ready for the dance, which started at nine. Well it wasn't until about 8:30 that I decided I would go. I slapped on some makeup and ruled out changing into more "dance-like" clothes. About ten after the hour, we all headed out to the Hart building, me in my jeans and softball t-shirt haha...I must apologize to all my roommates, because I did, indeed, have an absolute blast with them. (:

Liiights (:

Miss Kalie and I, stoked for...absolutely nothing, but who cares!

Jessi (on the left) and Gill dancing their boo-tays off (;

The wonderful Gillian and I!

And the last picture of the night! Gill and I looking normal, and Kalie lookin' like a creeper. Awesome.

Well that basically concludes my exciting week. What I learned from the dance?? To get out on occasion; pull my nose out of the books and assignments; go dance and be crazy. (: Nothing else too exciting has occurred this week, lucky for me. Just lots of classes and few assignments (thank heavens!). However, after clean checks yesterday, all of my roommates left for various activities. So what did I do? Stuck in a chick flick, pulled on my sweats, and cuddled up in my fuzzy blanket. It was glorious alone time. (:

Lastly, I've decided I should eventually have at least one picture of all my roommates, so you have an idea of who the heck I'm talking about?!...Well this is Jessi (Jessica) studying in mine and Gill's room, teaching us all she knows about microbiology!!

No, those are not her real glasses (;

Love you all!! Adios mis amigos!

Past Email Updates! (Super Long!)

Email Update #1: January 6, 2012


Subject: Yay!!!
Meet Gill (: She was also my roomie from last semester, but this time we're actually sharing a room. Our living room had a TV but no DVD player, so Gill and I wanted to go find a cheap one at DI. Then we remembered I had the super Nintendo, and we figured no one else played it but us...So I bought the $10 DVD player (quite nice, actually, I I may say so), and Gill found a $10, small TV that fit on our shelf (: So we now play lots of Donkey Kong (: FAR too entertaining when we both don't have homework (: No worries, though! My grades are still fabulous.

I love love love all my classes--except for Light & Sound. Not a huge fan, but I'm doing well in it. Baseball theory has turned out to be my hardest class, but Coach Schleg is incredible! So smart and experienced in the sport. He's also my Fundamentals in Coaching & Sports Psychology teacher; baseball theory is way harder, though. I'm waiting outside his office right now to ask him if he'd mind if I recorded his class on my iTouch, because he talks WICKED fast. Anywho! I love my choir class; we perform at devotional in a few weeks. And, of course, I really enjoy Book of Mormon (: Love you all! Thank you so so SO much for finding my blue notebook; I'm really feeling a bit lost every time I want to go and read my blessing but forget I don't have it :/ So thank you!! Love and miss you (:





Email Update #2: January 23, 2012

Subject: Insanity Week
MONDAY NIGHT:
SO...Like I said, this next week is probably gonna be insane. On the bright side, L. Tom Perry is speaking in devo tomorrow!! And my FHE brothers are way awesome haha. We've probably spent more time with them than anyone else haha. Last week, on Thursday, I made everyone beef stir fry (SO FREAKING GOOD!), and we invited the guys over about six. We all ate, watched She's The Man, and played games for forever! Needless to say, they were a little late for curfew haha. Then on Sunday we made a huge breakfast for them before church, which is at noon. French toast, banana muffins, homemade butter syrup, chunky hash browns...Mmm (: Tonight they came over for FHE, so we had a really good lesson about creating a Zion-like environment in our apartments. Then we played games some more haha.

Well classes are pretty good. Baseball theory and coaching are actually my most stressful. Coach Schleg expects a lot, it's great. I have tests in both classes this next week. My baseball theory notebook? Whoa. I've never taken such insane notes. LOVE it! I'll attach a picture (: So Lu Bowers called me and chastened me for not visiting more often haha. So I agreed to go over Friday night, and Bryan had invited me over SATURDAY as well. I got there Friday, and I find Lu in bed sicker than sick. She still doesn't know what was going on. But I stayed, helped her when I could, got Subway with Seth, and watched Princess Diaries with Alan and Seth haha. Alan asked me if I wanted to just stay the night, since we were already pretty tired, but I declined and thanked him; I had some homework due Saturday before I went over again...Saturday morning all of us girls slept in haha. We then went to Pizza Pie Cafe, but I left after about 20 minutes to get to he Bowers' in time. Got there and found out Caytee (Brent's friend from Utah), Brent, Seth, Bryan, and I were all going to Idaho Falls to do Lu's shopping haha. That was quite the trip, indeed. Went back and played games galore. Turns out they play Phase 10 WAY different than we do haha. It started snowing, then hailing, then sleet came down. HARD. Lu walks in the room, looks at me, and says, "Lake, we'll find some shorts and a t-shirt for you, but no one will be driving in this weather. You're staying the night!"...So that's basically how I spent my weekend haha. We all finally got to bed about 3 in the morning after watching a couple movies. It was a blast (: ANYWHO! That's my update for now (: Love you guys!!! (:

One page of my many baseball theory notes (:

Email Update #3: January 30, 2012
(Background info: I've been really thinking about possibly serving a mission lately, and the parents and I have been emailing back and forth about it quite a bit.)

I went to the temple last week again and did baptisms; didn't get a whole lot of time to think, it felt like. But my roommate, Kalie, wanted to go right when I got home. So I took her and just sat in the chapel, reading my blessing and thinking...What really got me on this mission thing was when I was thinking of Candice, Aurorah, Keesha, Felipe, his family, etc. I want to serve a mission, so I can see those I love and care about find the gospel. I want to serve a mission specifically catered to them...Anywho. I'm still thinking, obviously haha.

Not a whole lot from this last week, though. Took my first test for my Baseball Theory class! INTENSE. Thank heavens I have permission to record his class, because I need it haha. This test was purely on pitching. Way different than softball, obviously. But I feel like I did pretty good, considering Coach Schleg says girls usually struggle with the class. I'm hoping for high 80s haha (I ended up getting a 90% on the test!!)...

Last week on Friday, my roommates, FHE brothers, and I went to Pizza Pie Cafe for a buffet haha. Such a blast! We all filled out plates with Oreo, chipotle chicken, chicken Alfredo, cookie dough pizza...And Ben comes back to the table with a bowl, full of what? Yes. Goldfish crackers. Hilarious haha.

This picture is of Cynthia, me, and Kalie (:

Afterwards, we all went back to our apartment for Foreign Movie Night. We watches Kung Fu Dunk. Completely in Japanese with English subtitles haha...All went home and to bed, but Kalie and I decided we'd sleep in the living room and watch a couple episodes of Psych. I fell asleep in about 20 minutes...But I wake up about 5:30 to...? Purring. What. The. Heck. I look over at Kalie on the couch and see this calico cat sniffing her.

I see the cat all the time outside our apartment, but I have no clue how she got inside. But she comes over to me, I pet her, and she curls up next to me and fall asleep...I won't complain! :D So now we have a part-time kitty named Pikachu haha. Only Gill and I want to keep her, but every time we try to get her in a car to take her to the shelter, she gets away. So now she sleeps in mine and Gill's room, and we let her out in the day. So this is Pikachu cuddling with Gill!...That's all I have time for, though. I love you guys!!! (:

Email Update #4: February 14, 2012
Subject: Relaxation Week...? Maybe?
Not. Haha it's just been a long couple of weeks. I'm not even totally sure why. I've just been doing lots of homework, mostly. You know how, when we found out I had mono **insert eye roll**, then the doctor said that every couple of months or so I would feel like I had mono again? I had that last semester, and I swear I took naps at least two, if not three times a day...Well I think that's what I was like the past couple of days. Saturday I took three naps, Friday I took a couple, yesterday I wanted to take several but didn't haha. Just no energy and such.

Anywho! That's basically what has been going lately hahaha. I sit in the front area on the chair with my laptop and do lots of homework (: Sunday was probably the highlight of my week! Bryan Bowers was giving a talk, but I said I wouldn't have been able to go. It's always fun to see the surprise on people's faces when you walk in the doors and randomly show up (; So I sat with Brent, his brother who is leaving for a mission to Lyon, France early March! But it was way fun...

And the other exciting part?? Last week during FHE we had all decided that we were ALL going to Zumba for our activity this week haha. I figured only one of the guys would actually go, Jarrod. But lo and behold, FOUR all got in Jarrod's car with us to go!! We walked in the Hart building, and a lady asked if we were going to yoga. We said no, but that sounded like fun; we left the decision up to the guys, and they all voted for yoga! Haha. It was such a blast. Occasionally we couldn't stop laughing, but I am so so so proud of the guys! They all tried and wanted to do well, even though they felt silly haha. I wish I had gotten pictures :/ But they all decided that that was one of the hardest workouts they had done hahaha. Alec even said he'd rather play one-on-one with Kobe Bryant for 90 minutes, and he'd probably hurt less haha. They all said they felt so great and relaxed, though. We all piled into the car, and Jarrod gave us all big hugs (actually it was one group hug haha), and they went home! (:

...Well this is one of the less exciting update emails, I apologize. I hope all is well at home!! I love and miss you guys a ton (:

And just to include a picture...This is me trying to "fix" our couch cover, which drives all of us insane. And who knew our middle cushion wasn't even a cushion?!?! It's just fluff...Ugh. It's all falling apart.

Email Update #5: February 21, 2012
Subject: Tests, Classes, Cookies. Oh my!

(All my pictures are insisting on loading before my email, so here they are!)

Well my week has gone uphill at last!! I don't have to take five gazillion naps a day, and I'm feeling much more alive (: Last week was fairly normal, except for the fact that Janna, Sierra, and I were all planning a trip to Utah together again :D We had our long weekend all planned out, and I had secretly planned blind dates for them Friday night once we got into Logan. Muhahaa. Plans were perfect!...Until Sierra texted me Friday afternoon and said she couldn't go. Wow. SO lame. Oh well. Janna, her co-worker who wanted a ride to Logan, and I took off about four for Utah! It was quite the trip. It took Janna and I a while to get back to talking normal, since we really don't hang out a whole lot. But it was a blast.

We get into Logan, drop off the other gal (Kenya was her name) and meet up with Bryan, Janna's date (name is also Bryan, he is Bryan Bowers's roommate), and another couple to go and do what?! Laser tag!!! Yup. I was pretty big-headed and thought I'd kick butt...Unfortunately, the only lighting we had in there was black lights. Everyone else was fairly covered, not too much white. I was wearing a dark shirt, no problem, right? Lo and behold, I walk into the laser tag area, hide behind a wall, look down, and I realize in wearing light colored jeans. I am GLOWING. Ugh. Everyone else left the arena with 500+ points. I left with 75. It was a blast, though haha. Sorry, no picture :/

Well we stayed the night there with Caytee, and we took off about ten Saturday morning to get to Bountiful in time for Jocelyn Hodges to cut our hair (: For free! I cut 3 to 4 inches off. Just to get the ends healthy again and chop off the split ends. SO much easier!

(First picture)

Oh, I forgot to mention...Friday I wanted to make M&M cookies. They look delicious, right?! Yeah. Disgusting and salty. Threw away the majority of it.

(Second Picture)

All weekend Janna, Jocelyn, and I chilled mostly (: Watched some movies. We stayed at their grandparents' house, like last time, and had a blast. I swear all they do is shop, though. We went to so many malls...Be proud. I never had the guts to buy anything. Once, I was carrying a pair of shoes to the front. I was going to do it. They were 15 bucks...Then I think again. "This could pay for a week of groceries..." Ugh. I turn around and walk away.

Anywho, Monday morning Janna and Jocelyn wanted me to go to Kneaders. Oh. My. Gosh. We had breakfast there, and Janna and I got the unlimited french toast...They start you off with what is in the picture...And that is ALL you need. But so good!!

(Third Picture)

Well that would be my week!! I hope you all have been great! I love you (: Adios!

"I'll never have a blog..."

G'mornin'!! Let me just explain this whole blog deal, since I used to swear I would never have one. (Whoops). I tend to do that a lot...Anywho! I email mis padres probably every week or so, just to give them a little update about their baby girl (; Dad mentioned that I may want to start some kind of blog like Trista, my wonderful oldest sister, whom I miss a ton!! So here I am. Sitting in my "study area" at my Rexburg apartment, writing my first "blog post". Oy...


Good morning all!! This is what I be looking like right this minute, as I type...

Now for my week...I honestly never know where to start. Sunday was overall an absolutely great day; I went to visit the Bowers family in Ririe for their son's farewell (he's off to France!), and then I came home to ooVoo (somewhat like Skype) with my entire family. I loved it so much. Like what Christian said, "Now that is a long distance FHE!!" Heck yeah! :P


The exciting part of this entire week has honestly been the weather. Talk about insanity. Obviously I'm still not accustomed to Idaho weather, but DANG that wind and snow blizzard was awful. You could see nothing, but I was able to snap a picture once the wind slowed down a tad. It has been like this ALL. WEEK. LONG.

So Mom and Dad have heard a little bit about my FHE brothers, but let me tell you...They are AWESOME guys haha. They're all freshmen in the dorms, but we love having them over. They even brought over four frozen pizzas, because they discovered they couldn't cook them in the microwave haha. Lo and behold, every box had a free redbox coupon. Score!! We will now be having some movie nights with these guys. Anywho, one of our very tall FHE brothers, Jarrod, was caught taking a nap on their insanely tiny couch. Alec snapped a photo and put it on facebook like any good roommate should do. (; Well a couple days later I find my roommate SPRAWLED on our couch. I combined the pictures and busted out laughing. Eventually this was posted on facebook:

So my easiest class (thank heavens) is choir. :P Go figures haha. But I love it a ton. We performed in devotional on Valentine's Day, but our first official concert was this last Wednesday. I wasn't super excited to perform, to be honest, but it ended up going really well. My favorite songs were Gloria (insanely difficult, but SO cool!) and a choir version of Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Sing, Sing, Sing". We had drums in there, a bass, saxes, trombone, and even swing dancers! Whoots. I don't have any recordings or anything, but I snapped a picture of myself and a bunch of the other gals waiting before our performance.

Yes. We all had to wear these hair dealios.

Every Thursday from 5:30-7:30 I'm a volunteer tutor for Chemistry 101. 

I've gone for two weeks now, and you want to know what I've done the entire time? Nada. A little frustrating. But I do get quite a bit of homework done!! This last week I finished up a couple papers for my coaching class, while all the other tutors did a little tutoring here and there in between challenging brain teasers on the white board and eating chips and salsa. I know, we work so hard haha.

Oh yeah!! I forgot to mentione my one super-duper techy/geeky day when I was trying to get several projects done haha. One laptop for my powerpoint, another for researching info and videos, my iTouch for when I need a break/distraction/music, and a text or two via the phone. :P ...Uhhh no, I can't figure out why my computer won't let me edit the picture and turn it. Sorry.

It's been a really long week for me, so I apologize for the lack of more exciting stories/news. But yesterday, Thursday, I had this sudden burst of motivation after going to the temple haha. I (finally) headed to the store for groceries, since I hadn't gone for a couple weeks and was eating mac&cheese and PB&J on tortillas for the last three days haha. Before looking through coupon stuff and heading to the store, though, I decided I was making dinner. I asked my roommates what they wanted, and Gill said she wanted steak to go with her potatoes...Uhhh yeah. A little (WAY) out of my price range. So I decided I would be doing some sort of tasty crockpot chicken on rice...So freakin' good!!

(Om Nom Nom!)

And the last awesome part of this week? I went to JB's (where Mom worked when she was going to school here at Ricks) for the first time this afternoon. (: I called up Momma the other night to ask her what food she really loved, and the only thing she could remember was some sort of fudge cake? I don't know, and I don't care, but it sounded AMAZING! So Shaun and I went just for the Lava Fudge Cake. :D

Looks amazing, right? It was. You could see where they cut off the top part of the brownie and filled it with hot fudge. MMM...Anywho, this has definitely been one of my less exciting weeks. I'll try and post some of the other emails that I've sent to Mom and Dad in past recent weeks. (: Love you all!!

P.S.- Kalie, my roommate in the napping picture, just informed us all that it is Girl Scout Cookie Season. Lucky me, I can already hear her talking to her younger sister, planning on buying some. SCORE!!