The Final Days

The last bit of my trip has been fantastic. First, BYU had a yard sale, yes a yard sale, where I got this GIANT coloring book, which was so big I had to ship it home. Along with the coloring book, I got a Disney princess Frisbee for 10 cents. Was I excited? O yea.

And what do you do after yard sale shopping but bowling?

Ok, brace yourself. Here's the BIGGEST MOST AMAZING story of the week. Brittany had 2 cousins in a ballroom dance camp at BYU this week so we went to their final performance. And you'll never guess who 2 of the judges were. Jonathan and Anna, from Dancing With the Stars.

And they performed!!

Yes, we were that close. Too bad they didn't turn around so I could get their faces.

Next up was the improv comedy act on campus where Brittany and I met up with NICOLE! She's a friend from my home stake that moved a few months ago to Idaho. It was good to catch up!

One of my favorite things about Provo is that you can walk places in the middle of the night and its relatively safe. We took a nice little trip to Sammy's which is a diner where they make shakes and put in an entire piece of pie! Or so I'm told. YUM!

So in the spirit of firsts and lasts, I had my first trip to IHOP on my last official night in Utah (Sunday nights don't count). And I did my first Chinese fire drill in the state of Utah :)

This has been an amazingly fun trip. The only down side is that it makes me sad that I'm not going to the Y this fall. Hopefully I'll be here next year for my master's degree. If only :)

Summer fun!

The past couple weeks have been jam packed with fun. Last week Brad and Bekah were in town for birthday week (the week when my mom, dad, Mindy, and me all have birthdays). I loved spending time with the PA Goldies and the Ohio Goldies.

During our family visit, mom, Bekah, and I sang at church. Can you guess who our accompanist was?

ELIZA!!!! She came and we had a wonderful visit. And she came with awesome birthday presents, which I used to create THIS masterpiece:

Eliza. Is. Wonderful.

On my 18th birthday the family went kayaking down the Little Miami. Here's Mallory and me on the way:Is a little attention on my birthday too much to ask :)

Here's the three sisters on the car ride:
No pics from the river due to water and electronic incompatibilities.

Its kind of weird that I'm an OFFICIAL adult. In a lot of ways I've been an adult for a while now, but in a lot ways I'm definitely not. And to be honest, I hope I never grow up. What fun is life if you can't act like you're 5 years old sometimes?

After the family visit I took my chances with standby and went to UTAH!!! I stayed a few days with the Dudley's (my sister-in-law's family). They were nice enough to pick me up at the airport which I greatly appreciated. While in Salt Lake I went with Bekah to Oakcrest girl's camp. For those of you who I haven't told about Oakcrest, its the camp where I want to work next summer. When I went last week I LOVED it. I really hope I get a counselor job. Wish me luck!
After Salt Lake came Provo, where I am now. I'm staying with my wonderful friend Brittany at BYU and we're having a blast. Look at this gorgeous face I get to wake up to every morning:

While in Utah I took my first bus, had my first Jamba Juice,

Played my first game of Sardines, in which I got THIS BABY:

And learned I'm a pretty intense Sardines player.

I've already had a ton of fun and there is much more to come. And in case you're wondering if I'm the kind of girl who goes to DI and tries on the ugly wedding dresses for no reason... I totally AM!I think the puffy sleeves were my favorite.

One funny mishap was that Brittany and I walked to DI and didn't realize how far away it was until we got there. So, we sat on the curb looking pretty shady until we got one of Brittany's roommates to pick us up. Totally worth it.

Back to Basics

Now that my life is somewhat back to a routine I figured I should start my Sunday lists again.
So, people I really appreciate this week:

1. Dawna Kennedy-she's a great advice giver and just a wonderful person!
2. Bekah-technically it was last week but she really made me feel like someone cared about my silly life.
3. My dad- he works ridiculously hard all the time for everyone and rarely does anything for himself. He is way under appreciated. I doubt he reads my blog but, I love you dad! Thanks for all you do!

Things I'm grateful for/made me happy this week:

1. That my psychological test on my niece and nephew worked :)
2. That the Relief Society lesson today was just what I needed.
3. The fact that I can go to bed as early or as late as I want.
4. I can choose what to do with my time now!! Being out of school is fantastic. I can do my online work where and when I want. Its great.
5. That I have my old car and SUNROOF back. I felt like I was cheating on it with the new car. But I'm back with my old friend and we're ready for some new adventures.
6. My wonderful plans for this week!

Life is good. This week I'm looking forward to finishing one of my online classes, GOING OUTSIDE for a change, having the PA Goldies come visit, having ELIZA over, and birthday week is here. And I might get a new camera this week to document it all.

Does life get better than this? I think NOT!

I'm Back!!!

After a little longer than the two weeks I promised, I'm back and I survived the craziest 7 weeks of my life!! And in case you're interested, here's what I've been up to:

I had a five week term of summer in which I took way more classes than I should have. During that time, I stayed up way later and had way more fun than I should have. I need to say a HUGE thanks to Andrea and Jeremy, but especially Andrea. I think I laughed more in those five weeks than I have in the entire past year(which is a lot). We had a blast and for the first time since I moved away to school I felt like I had a friend there. It made things so much easier and although our fun encouraged procrastination for my school work, it kept me from cracking under the pressure of 11 hours days in class. And alls well that ends well. I got straight A's!!! Andrea, I will miss our fun times. Who's going to laugh at my ridiculously not funny jokes anymore?! It was the best summer I could have had while in school!! And Jeremy, I'll see you around Pal :)

So after school was over, the next thing on the agenda was Pennsylvania! And to get there, I flew ALONE for the first time. I discovered I like it. With all the craziness of flying with family I forgot how magical flying is. I felt like I was in the movie UP!

So to commemorate my first solo expedition I bought a T-shirt in Philly, where I had my connection to State College. And of course documentation was needed:

So Bekah, my lovely sister-in-law, had to go to their stake's Girls' Camp for a week and I volunteered to watch these crazy kids while she was there and Brad went to the office.
Now those are two handsome boys!!

One of my aunting duties for the week was putting Chase to bed. Needless to say, we had a good time.

I had to add this one. His face is too cute.

I think of everything, this was my favorite part (please ignore my loud and obnoxious voice, just pay attention to him):


During that week Brad (my brother) gave me intense GRE training boot camp. Thanks for your help Brad. Then Mom and Dad came and we enjoyed the 4th of July weekend together.

Ok, so here's the latest major thing. This week was my stake's Girls' Camp and as of Monday morning I was planning to come to visit for an hour or so one day. Monday afternoon I found out an extra sleeper was needed. And by Tuesday it was decided I would just stay all week! So I was an "adult leader" at camp. It was fantastic! All I had to do was go and HAVE FUN! And whip my girls into shape when they got out of line, which of course never happened ;) Now I'm ready to catch up on my sleep!

The best part of all was that I got to spend a CRAZY week with this CRAZY girl! Which included lots and lots of walking and lots and lots of talking!
This picture is the essence of our friendship. No one understands it but us, and it always makes me smile :)

Eliza is one person who no matter how hard she tries, she's never going to get rid of me! I like her way too much to let her get away! Hope you don't mind Liza!

I can't say enough how much I love this girl!!!!!

I have been unbelievably blessed when it comes to friends lately. When I have a ton to do, I think about it a lot and then I just get more and more stressed. But I've had a few wonderful people that have kept my mind off of things and gave me a break in between all the assignments and exams. I'm so glad I got to go to Girls' Camp! It was much needed break from school work and GRE!

So the rest of my summer will consist of:

• finishing 3 online classes
• majorly studying for the GRE (as I'm sure Brad will be glad to hear)
• a visit from the PA Goldies
• a visit to UTAH!!!! to see some old friends
• a visit from Eliza
• a visit from Andrea
• spending lots of time with my Zeigler niece and nephews
• just hanging out in the pool and enjoying summer!
• and whatever else comes my way!!

In short, I LOVE my life!!

P.S. If anyone has any GRE studying/taking tips, I would love to hear them!

Update

Just thought I would let you know there will be no new posts on my blog for the next two weeks. My life is insane! And I'm finishing up a very intense 5 week term of school. Two weeks left! I can do it! But just to save you some time, you don't need to check my blog! Hopefully after I'll have tons of interesting things to say.

And on a positive note, my book report for the book I haven't had time to start yet, that is due Wednesday, was just pushed back a week!!!! Why am I so blessed? I might actually survive the next two weeks now. Hopefully my professor doesn't read my blog. See ya in 2 weeks!

I'm Glad My Life Is Mine

So I cannot put into words how much I love my life! Its just great! Not for any particular reason, it just is. But anyways...

Things that I'm grateful for/made me happy this week:

1. Staying up late.
2. Staying awake in class (most days).
3. My new plants for my room, their names are Fiona, Fuzzy, Bud, Blossom, and Homey. And I love them.
4. That I spent 10 hours Friday watching TV and doing nothing with my life.
5. That I will never sit on a couch for 10 hours straight again.
6. I'M GETTING A NEW used CAR! I will have ac and heat and defrost. It will be great. But I will miss my sunroof. Its a wonderful friend of mine.
7. That I understood Dr. Valentine and feel good about the test I took (for now. We'll see Tuesday what grade I got. Wish me luck!).

People that I'm especially grateful for this week:

1. Andrea!!!!- she's the best! I'm so glad she has been my roommate this year! I will miss her sorely when we part ways :( I can't believe she not sick of me yet!
2. Jeremy- For putting up with two crazy girls all week lol. And for protecting us from drunk scary men on or jogs hahaha! He is hilarious. I had an amazingly wonderful week with these two.
3. The Portsmouth Branch! Everytime I come everyone attacks me with love and welcomes.

Life is good. I'm glad I have my life over anyone else's. Its fantastic and I love it!

My Life

My mom's not going to like this post. I always vowed to never become a college student who procrastinates and stays up way too late and eats junk food all day. I failed. The past two nights I've stayed up til 3 in the morning having lovely chats with my lovely roommate ANDREA! I like her. And I haven't studied or done any homework.

But hey its summer right? Maybe I'll get back to my regular self fall semester. For now I'm going to enjoy the college life. Until I die of exhaustion. Or fail out. But my grades are still good. For now :)