f r i e n d s

I realized I've gotten kind of lazy about writing/posting pictures. My life is really exciting! I promise! Here's a few things that have happened lately.

First of all, jazz voices! For my jazz and conducting classes I had to attend 4 concerts each. It's been super fun for me because I LOVE the arts! Woo-hoo! So this concert was super cheap and I dragged along a few friends with me! I just love accappella groups. I secretly want to be in one!

Sometimes on a Sunday ya just gotta do a puzzle. It was super fun! 

aaaannd we're pretty pro! Go Mario and Luigi!

here's my boys! it's really hard to believe that we met each other 4 years ago! we've all gone through a lot and it's been so fun to strengthen our relationships and learn more about each other! they are my go-to people. they make me laugh, they listen to me ramble, they protect me, they are always up for an adventure, they are just the best. we had dinner on friday night together. probably one of the last times we'll all be together in the same place like this. ben is getting married in 2 days! jared won't be far behind him and the rest of us are still workin on it ;) so grateful for these fun people and the relationships we have!

and now for some random pics:

if you've never been to shirley's, GO NOW!!! it'll change your life.

I'm pretty much obsessed with banners. My mother is an inspiration! 

So here's my new spring one. I love it!

it's not everyday you get to learn about the color code in your marriage & family class. 

so grateful I know the expert! 

You can take the test here!

I just thought this sunset was gorgeous. It had been a really good day and I was just admiring nature on my way home and feeling super blessed.

A Break From Reality

It's been a long week but it's been so much fun! I think the best way to sum it up is that I love my family. And I'm most definitely looking forward to 12 days from now when I will be back in WA with my immediate family. We have had gorgeous weather the past couple weeks here in Provo (minus the completely shocking snow storm today) and I just can't get my mind off of summer. This semester has flown by and I'm excited for a break! The end of a semester is definitely a bittersweet kind of feeling. So excited to come home, but sad to say so many goodbyes.

Anyways...I have LOVED hanging out with Kenz this week and having her around and enjoying college life with me. This weekend we enjoyed conference and everything that it encompasses: great talks, a wonderful spirit, sleeping in, spending time with family, lounging around, and eating a lot of junk food. Monday was a pretty chill day, nothing too exciting and I still had to go to class, because unfortunately, I'm not on vacation.

Tuesday, we went to my New Testament class and then headed over to UVU where Kenz will be going to in the fall. I'm so excited that she's gonna be down here with me! She's going to be involved in leadership and has all the hook-ups. Thanks Mikelle! We spent the night and watched the kids while Matt and Mikelle went to Hunger Games...best movie ever!

such cute kiddos!

Wednesday, after class I happened to see Aunt Marci, Ben, and Sarah. Ben decided to come with me to Matt and Mikelle's along with my friend Bryan. We spent the whole day there playing games...30 down, Corn Hole, Uno, Ticket to Ride. It's so fun to be with family and enjoy time together and it was definitely a plus to have 70 degree weather!

Ooo...I also had Bryan and Emily take the Color Code Test. It's fun to see what color your friends and family are and kind of explains how you interact with them.
Here's the link: colorcode.com. Find out what color you are!

On Thursday, Kenz went to New Testament with me because Brother Smith is so awesome! Plus this week was the perfect time to come because we just finished the reading and got to learn about the Resurrection! Then we met our friend Ben Pearson in the Cougareat for lunch. It was fun to see him and catch up. And a little bit later Keza stopped by. I loved seeing all of my friends that I haven't been around in a while. It was pretty nice that day as well and we went to play tennis with Greta, Alan, and Bryan. Now tennis is not one of my strong suits, especially given the fact that the other 4 played in high school, but I did well when it really mattered so that was exciting haha! When they least expected it, I actually hit the ball and scored some points! We finished the night off by watching We Bought a Zoo with Ben and Bryan while enjoying some spring funfetti cookies!

After a long day of class, we headed up to the new City Creek Mall in Salt Lake with all the fam. It is such a nice mall and it was fun to look around. It's times like these when I wish I was rich because I pretty much wanted everything in J. Crew. Ben and Sarah went on a hunt for the most expensive shoe in Nordstrom. Wanna take a guess? $1700. Yup, insane! The mall is super pretty and full of fountains and a stream running through the middle with flowers and trees. Oh, and I finally broke down and did it. I got my ears pierced! I was scared out of my mind and I had quite the audience. Plus, it kind of stung a lot because the lady got the gun stuck but all is well and now I can accessorize with some cute earrings! Sadly, I had to say goodbye. BUT not for long because I'll be home in two weeks!!! And I'll get to enjoy being around family all the time. I'm especially looking forward to Sunday game nights at Grandma's!

BEST DAY EVER!!!

I seriously couldn't have asked for a better day. It started with the weather of course. It was SO beautiful! The sun was shining, it was warm, I didn't need a jacket, and I got to wear sandals!

I headed to the testing center, which normally would not be on a best day post, but it was happy because I was taking an enjoyable test...New Testament. It is definitely my favorite class and what can you not love about being tested about the Savior?

I came home and picked up a package from my mom. I LOVED it! They are always decorated so cute and with St. Patrick's Day coming up it was all decked out! The guy at the desk asked if I liked St. Patrick's Day. I said yes and he responded, "You better like St.Patrick's Day if you got a package decorated like that!" haha! It was pretty great. I love my mom :)

Next, Greta, Emily, and I finished our delicious lemon poppy seed pound cake. It is delightful!

You can find the recipe here ! We decided it would be perfect for a lady luncheon :)

We hung out and then walked in the gorgeous weather to the movie theater to see We Bought A Zoo. I absolutely love this movie and was so glad I got to watch it again! It's definitely a keeper.

Right across the street is Cold Stone and I had a coupon for buy one, get one free. $1.50 ice cream sounds like a deal to me! Which means we had dessert before our dinner...

But we went to my favorite restaurant, Zupa's! And it's pretty healthy too! I had the Shanghai Chicken Salad. I've tried quite a few of their salads and love them all. One of the best parts is the slice of bread and chocolate-dipped strawberry that comes with every meal! We also ran into Matt, Mikelle, and the kids which was fun! I love seeing family. 

We made our way home and even though it was dark, it was nice not to be freezing. Emily and I made some no bake cookies real fast and then went up to New Heritage to visit our friends Ben and Bryan from our summer ward. We surprised them and it was so much fun to catch up. We ended up talking for almost 4 hours! 

We ended the night watching Princess and the Frog. It was so cute and I'm glad I finally watched it :)

Seriously what a wonderful day! I couldn't have asked for anything more perfect. The weekend is here and I am happy!!!

Noteworthy Items

I've been kind of busy and haven't really gotten a chance to write about what's been going on lately, so I thought I would share some of my latest adventures. We'll start with last friday...

In the afternoon, my visiting teachers invited me over to make pretzels and it was so much fun! They are super easy to make too so I definitely want to try it sometime! We all kinda struggled with forming the actual pretzel shape so on our second one we just made whatever we wanted. Here's my lovely initial with cinnamon sugar on top. Yum!

I then rushed off to a physical science test review with my awesome TA, Dylan. I just love her so much and she has the best sense of humor in the world! She makes physical science somewhat bearable which is a good thing! She's leaving on a mission after this semester to New York and she's really excited about it.

I was then headed to the Canon Center for dinner with some of my best friends...Chloe, Greta and Ben. We ended up staying there for 2 and a half hours just talking! It was a lot of fun to catch up, laugh, and just enjoy being around each other. We're gonna try and get together more often. 

Last stop of the night...a date to the skating rink. I LOVE ice skating and was a little hesitant after my little accident last fall. But everything worked out fine and I didn't even fall once! I was really proud of myself and excited to be there because I haven't been ice skating for a while. 

You could say I'm pretty pro on my tippy toes ;)

This rink is right in Provo but it's where they held the hockey and ice skating for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake which is way cool! The Olympics are something I look forward to every other year and it made me super excited for this summer! 

When we got back, Emily and I talked for a while. I love late night talks with that girl!

Saturday was a fun day as well!

Around 2 I headed up to the MTC to volunteer at the Teaching Resource Center. We came up here once for FHE this summer and I really enjoyed it so I wanted to try it again. All you have to do is act as an investigator and the missionaries teach you a lesson. It's just to give them practice with real people before they officially are in the mission field. It's a lot of fun and a really good experience and I look forward to going back more often!

I immediately came home, changed, and rushed over the Marriott for the basketball game. Yes, an hour and a half early! It was one of the biggest games of the season and it was packed! But I had a great seat saved for me and it's just a fun atmosphere to be in. The beginning of games is so intense and I love every minute of it! Half time was awesome too. It was a group of jump roping kids and they are amazing! I wish I could jump rope like that! I was definitely impressed. The downfall of the game...the referees. Now I've been to my fair share of basketball games throughout my life but these were by far some of the worst refs I've seen. And of course the crowd just had to get all bent out of shape and it was kind of embarrassing. And we lost. But like they say, it's just a game so I wasn't too worried about it. 

This week:

-I've officially been off of facebook for about two weeks and I just got off of pinterest. And guess what...I get so much more done in my day! Since I obviously couldn't control myself, I took control of the situation and made sure the wasting time on these fabulous sites wasn't an option. So now the only thing left to keep me sane is blogging and I'm okay with that :)

-After discussing some religion with my friend Suz, I had some questions that needed answered. So I went to talk to Brother Smith. He helped a lot and then said, "Tell your friend to keep asking questions. This is good for you! It helps you to learn and stretch and grow spiritually" Thanks Brother Smith.

-Wednesday was probably the most productive day I've had all semester. I was really proud of myself. After all the hard work on cleaning, hw, and a basketball game, I was enjoying reading Work and the Glory when I got a phone call. Alan and some of his friends were going to see a movie and happened to be standing outside my door wondering if I wanted to go with. To reward myself for all my hard work, I decided to go. We saw In Time at the dollar theater and it was so good! It's an interesting concept to think of our lives in time, instead of money. It made you appreciate what you have. 

-Yes the groundhog did see its shadow. 6 more weeks of winter. But hey, if it's going to be winter like what we're having right now, I'm totally okay with that! I'm really grateful that we haven't had a miserable winter and that the weather has been a lot like home. Today it is gorgeous! Sunny and not even that cold!

-Last night was another basketball game. Against Gonzaga  from WA! Once again, I love the atmosphere. Greta and I didn't really feel like standing up the whole game in the student section so we just found some random seats and enjoyed every minute of the game! During this half time they set up two inclined trampolines and had some guys do some AWESOME dunks! It looked so fun and they were doing flips and everything! Greta and I talked the entire game. That's what I love about a best friend. We never get sick of each other and there's always something to talk about. Like seriously, we could talk for hours. And even if there wasn't something to talk about, it wouldn't be awkward. And to top it all off, we won!!! It was a great game and the crowd was in good spirits this time. It was so loud in that arena and we ended up being on our feet for some of the game because it was just so exciting! Some say Matt Carlino is the next Jimmer. Only time will tell...

basketball lovers!

We were also very starving girls after the game which ended at 11 at night! So we called Wendy's which is right across the street from Helaman Halls and asked what time they closed. The girl said 2 so we started walking over there. What she failed to mention was that only the drive-thru stays open till 2...So off in the distance we see McDonald's. Let's just say we were desperate for some food. So we walked the couple blocks down there and enjoyed every bite. It made for a late night with early morning classes today but I think it was worth it.

-6:45 AM. I never see those numbers on a clock. That is just WAY too early for a college student. My body is not used to getting up at that time anymore. It's so dark outside and cold, but it was very peaceful and there's no one around.Those seminary days feel like they were years ago haha! And I definitely do not miss them. I miss seminary, just not the time. Anyways I thought I would be a good student today and go to my New Testament review. I'm glad I did, but it was tough! 

-GONE! Today as I walked to school I looked over at the green covered fence that encloses all the construction. For several days now F. Smith hall has been the only building left standing. However today, that changed. The final building was being torn down. This afternoon in a big heap of rubble I saw the building that over half of my freshman year was spent in. So many fun memories in that building. If you can't tell, I'm a little bit depressed about it. Since it was a boy's building, majority of the boys are gone too so it kind of feels like all that time never existed. I guess that's the whole point of memories, to remember things that don't exist anymore, but it's still kind of sad.

Despite the sadness, check out the beautiful blue sky and sunshine with snow in the mountains!