I'm Still Alive!

Hey everybody! I'm here. I'm alive. I'm still existing here in Provo. I might've blogged sooner but it honestly didn't seem like there was a whole lot to report. There still isn't a whole lot but I'll do some catching up here.
Classes are going awesome. Much better than before. I think I should definitely enjoy this semester while I can because even though at first I was struggling, my classes really aren't that tough. I've improved a ton, it was all just about getting in the swing of things. If things go like they have been I might be able to pull off a 3.8 or so for the semester, so cross your fingers!
So while I'm still on the subject of classes, I have some other news! I changed my major. Yep, now I'm just like every other college student! Dang it. But that's ok! So at first I was in Business Pre-Management wanting to go into either Marketing or Organizational Behavior/Human Resources. But the more I got into it the more I was having second thoughts. I started realizing that that kind of stuff wasn't really me, and wasn't really what I wanted. I could definitely learn to like it I know, but I wanted something I could really dive into and care about. So I did some looking around and decided that the Communication Disorders major sounded pretty dang awesome, and exactly what I wanted. If you don't know what that is then look it up, because I probably won't explain it right haha. So anyway I'm taking the intro class for it next semester; we'll see how it goes!:) I'm excited for it though.
Things outside of school have been going good too. I love my ward and I LOVE my fhe group and I've made some awesome friends. At first it was hard because I didn't feel like myself for a long time, and I just kind of felt like I was existing. But now that I know more people and recognize more faces and have like...actual relationships with people, I feel so much more normal. My roommates are great - like I said, I got really lucky. LaChelle, the one I share a room with who is from IF, is really awesome. I'm super grateful for her and I feel like we've been friends for much longer than we have been! Good times:)
Hmm what else. I am insanely excited for Thanksgiving. I've been anticipating this break to go home MUCH longer than I expected. I guess I'm more homesick than I thought;) But anyway, my plan was to leave tomorrow (Tuesday) but the weather has decided to be awesome and whip up a snowstorm at the exact time I would be driving. So I'll be leaving Wednesday morning instead:( I guess getting home 12 hours later will be worth not dying... But ya I'm excited to see all you guys and hang out!
I can't think of anything else, but here are some pictures that have collected on my camera. Enjoy!

Our pumpkin for the ward party. See my name carved in the back? Yeah.

Awesome almost-sunset out my window. There's a lot more snow now!

I have a class in this building at the perfect time for it to look AWESOME when I walk up to it. The picture isn't nearly as good as real life. It's times like this I appreciate my school haha.

Ok explanation for the next ones: I needed my hair trimmed REALLY bad. I also am extremely low on money. Solution? LaChelle: "I'll cut it for you!" Haha she doesn't know how, but we both decided it was worth a try. How hard can it be...? So we went really slow...and she made sure to cut only a little bit off. It turned out not half bad!! The bad ends are gone, so other than that I'm not super picky. I don't have any 'after' pictures but here are some from the process...



Also, LaChelle has a friend that is a SUPER good photographer. He doesn't usually do people pictures but he did for us, so we took some roommate pictures (super cheesy, I know. But it was fun). So here's a few of them!




Anyway...things are goin good. I can't wait to see all you guys! Thanks so much for your love and for caring about me. See ya soon!:)

Hikin' the Y!

This week was Homecoming Week! It was pretty awesome. We of course weren't able to go to every activity, but we went to a few. They were fun! Jayde and I went to Mr. BYU, which was soooo hilarious. Still can't compare to Mr. Russet, of course. We did a few other things but the coolest one was hiking the Y! On Tuesday night people could hike it and turn on the lightbulbs to light the Y for the rest of the week. The hike was a lot harder than I expected, but it was definitely worth it! Here are some sweet pics.

Before...

After!

The view was so dang pretty!

So anyway it was a pretty good week! Yesterday we went to the Homecoming game and we FINALLY won! It was a good time. Then last night I went to one of the homecoming dances with some FHE friends. The theme of this one was "Black and White" so everyone just wore black and white anything and then outside of the dance they had a bunch of tables set up with tons of paint and markers and stuff to decorate our clothes. It was so much fun!
So ya things are continuing to get better. I miss my friends at home so freaking much, but having Jayde and Logan here is amazing! And I'm making more and more friends so it's been really good. And I of course miss all of you guys like crazy! Thanks for the support and love.

"Imagine GENERAL CONFERENCE!"

Heeey! It's way past due for a post, but here we go.
This past month has been crazy! Nothing super exciting, but I've just been really busy learning the ropes of this collegeness. I knew it would be different than high school, but now I REALLY know how different it is!
However, here are some awesome things. My roommate Cali's brother bought a ginormous tv off of Ebay and now he's moving so he doesn't have anywhere to put the tv for a few months. So where does it go? Our apartment!

We live on the 3rd floor, so it was a bit of a challenge getting it up here. But we did it! With a lot of help. And it's an interesting way to meet people. Haha now we all of the sudden have a bunch of "friends" within the complex.
So we invited our FHE group and a few other people to our apartment this weekend to watch General Conference. It was sweet! And what's a big screen without theater seating...?

I promise it's safe! I think... We just put it on top of the kitchen table. I don't think we'll leave it there haha... but it worked great for General Conference!

Then last night during the Priesthood Session we of course had to do the typical "girls' night" so the three of us just went to the mall. Mostly we just walked around but it was fun!

Lachelle, Me, and Cali trying on some weird headbands

After that we were planning to get some frozen yogurt, but unfortunately we got done at the mall at like 8:10, so of course all the Priesthood guys were just getting out of their session and crowding every single ice cream place! So we just went home and ate our own ice cream. After that LaChelle and I went with some of her friends from Springville to Utah Lake and we had a little bonfire. It was pretty fun! I met some new people and got to relax a little bit.

So this weekend was pretty fun! I haven't made a million friends, but I've made enough and I'm having a good time! I'm still figuring a lot of things out but things are going well! I like most of my classes, but especially my religion ones. I didn't know my testimony could grow so much in just a month! But it has and it's awesome.
Anyway here are some pictures from the most recent home football game. Jayde, Logan, and I got season tickets and we got SUPER lucky with our seats. Third row!! Right behind the home team. Now maybe if they would just win some games...!!

Haha I dunno about that guy in the back...

Sorry I'm such a crappy blogger lately. Mostly all my days kind of seem the same, so it's hard to be motivated to blog when nothing stands out a lot. But I'll keep pluggin! :) Love you all!

The New Place

Hello!:) Sorry for the long wait. I moved in last Wednesday and now it's Wednesday night a week later. I've just been literally too busy to do much of anything in terms of online recreation. But anyway, I've got some pictures (not enough) and stories.
So like I said I moved in a week ago today. Devrey, Dad, and I took the day and drove down. We moved Devrey in in Salt Lake first, and then we drove to Provo for me. We got to my apartment park and checked in and a million phone numbers, fliers, and pamphlets later I was finally moved in. I'm just going to post the pictures right now and get them out of the way. Sorry I didn't get any "before's", but here are some pictures I took this afternoon. I'll start outside and then come inside into my room.

Here's the living room. Don't be fooled: that couch is the most comfortable thing I've ever come in contact with.

Looking at the kitchen from the living room. The hall to our rooms and bathroom is on the right.

The rest are of my room. Just a warning: I didn't clean anything up or even make my bed before I took these pictures haha. I just randomly decided to take them so...bear with me.

My little closet

Haha...so tidy.

So ya that's my half of the room. The other half is my roommate's and is obscenely pink, so I'll spare you. But my roommates are really awesome. One is from Colorado and the one sharing a room with me is from Idaho Falls. I got really lucky in the nice roommate department!

Here's a funny sign we passed by the library. There had been a booth there during all of Freshman Orientation and on the sign said something different every time we saw it. On the last day I think they were getting a little bored/desperate haha.

So Wednesday I met up with Jayde and Logan and we went to the welcome BBQ thing. The food wasn't amazing but it was still fun. Then we just went back to our apartments and finished unpacking and stuff.

The next couple days we spent walking around and getting familiar with things. From Wyview to campus is about 35 minutes, so by the end of the weekend our feet were killing us! We decided to definitely get a bus pass since none of us have a car. After the first ride on the bus we knew it was the best $100 bucks we had ever spent!
On Saturday we woke up early because we were going to meet Logan's family at Lagoon. So the plan was to ride the bus/trax thing to Salt Lake and meet up with Devrey, and then drive to Lagoon. Well we made it there, but it didn't go exactly as planned. I won't tell the entire story but Logan ended up leaving his laptop at one of the transfer points, and our schedule got thrown off. So we had to do some frantic figure-outing and ended up getting separated from him and...it was not pretty. At least not to me. I spent a good hour sitting next to Jayde at the train station contemplating my existence and wondering if I was enjoying this whole adult life thing yet. But eventually we got back together and got on what we hoped was the right train/trolley to Salt Lake. But we made it and Lagoon was fun and relaxing! From there we went straight home to Shelley to go to a couple of missionary farewells the next day. They were both really good! It was SO good to see my friends again and hang out with them. Even though it had only been half a week it felt like a lot longer. So Sunday was a good day and then that evening we packed back up and drove back to Provo.
Monday classes started. They've been going good so far! I got some really good teachers and I only have a couple of classes that I really don't like haha. But other than that they're going good and I'm optimistic. I finally think I won't get lost around campus anymore, so that's good.
Oh ya one thing that happened on Monday - I was coming back from my evening class and I was trying to hurry so I wouldn't be late for FHE. Well I ended up barely missing the bus. I would've just had to wait another half hour for the next one but I was stupid and decided to get on a different one that I thought for sure would take me to the same place. Nope! I ended up on the other side of Provo and had to figure out how to get back to my apartment. I was upset because it was dark and I was late for FHE but I figured out which bus to get on and made it back home about an hour later than I planned. But at least I didn't die!
Anyway that's my experience so far. Sorry I don't have more everyday-type pictures but they'd be boring anyway. So I'll post more when more exciting things happen!

Goodbye, My Love

The time has come to part ways with my blessed little Intrigue. Goodbye, My Love. You have been my white stallion in the kingdom of Teenagery. Now as you traverse the streets of Salt Lake I hope you will never take for granted the freeway snowstorms you pulled me through, and forgive the snow cone spills I put you through. Have a wonderful life in the arms of....someone else....

Road Trip! Concert Fun

Woooooo what a great weekend! My friends and I love concerts, and this weekend we went to a couple of great ones. And guess what? I have pictures!

So Friday afternoon we drove down to Salt Lake for the first one, Jack Johnson! He's one of my favorites and I've always wanted to see him in concert, so when we heard he was coming to Salt Lake we quickly started planning. He performed at the Usana Amphitheater in West Valley. That place is HUGE! We went cheap on the tickets this time so we got the lawn seating, which was the farthest away. We could barely see the people on the stage but it was still really cool and a little different experience sitting on the lawn rather than in the pit or in seats.

Here's a picture just to show you how far away we were!

Our little group! Me, Jacob, Jayde, and poor wisdom-toothless Colby, AKA "Chubs"

Me and Jacob "THSO EXTHITED!"

Me and lovely Jayde

So ya that concert was a really good time! I tried to get some pictures of Jack and stuff but unsurprisingly none of them turned out. It was really cool though because it was outdoors and everything so there was this nice little breeze, and also the meteor shower was still going on so we caught a few shooting stars during the concert!
Since they weren't fans of the next concert, that night Jayde and Colby went home along with our other friend Zach, who came with but didn't go to the Jack Johnson. So Jacob and I drove to Payson and stayed the night at Kevin and Tiffany's house (thanks again!!). We woke up Saturday morning and then drove to Provo to say hi to Dustin and Amy and deliver a couple things to them. We hung out at their sweet little apartment for about an hour until they had to leave. After that we had a bunch of time to kill before the concert so we wandered around Provo. We looked around campus a little bit and then had some lunch. Then we decided to go see a movie so we drove to the theater and for the second time saw INCEPTION YAAAA!!! I love that movie.
So after that it was pretty much time to get in line for Benton Paul. Benton isn't very well known, but we're huge fans. I saw him when he opened for a David Archuleta concert I went to and instantly liked him! He happens to be LDS and even sings one of the songs on an EFY cd. He's got a little bit different style so that's why some people aren't too into him.
ANYWAY so we got in line and while we were waiting we met some really cool kids who were about our age. They let us play cards with them and pass the time until the doors opened. I wish I would've gotten a picture with them but I didn't :(

The show was at this really cool tiny place in Provo called the Velour

Sweet style!

Finally the doors opened and we could go inside. We got there early enough to be in the second row! It was pretty much just a big room that you stand in with a stage. I have to say this concert was even more enjoyable than Jack Johnson because we were so dang close to Benton! He put on an awesome awesome show and it was cool at the end because when he came out for his last "encore" song, he sat right down on the edge of the stage and sang a little acoustic song. So he was pretty freakishly close to us.

It was hard to get a good picture in there!

After that was over we knew he was going to come outside to meet people. So we waited and after not to long, sure enough there he was! We had to wait in a little line but then it was our turn and we got to talk to him. We actually met him back in February, when we came to another show at the Velour, so it was cool to meet him again! Sadly he didn't remember us but oh well haha. But he is super super nice and gave me a picture and an autograph!



Basically that was the highlight of my weekend, but it was all great! After Benton's show we drove back to Payson to get some sleep, and then we left really early Sunday morning and got home around 9:30!
All in all it was a sweet weekend. It was really fun to have sort-of a "last thing" of summer with some of my friends before we all separate. And P.S., if you've read this far down then thanks! This was a looooong blog, but there was just so much to talk about!

Two songs :)
Run - Benton Paul
Better Together - Jack Johnson

Congrats, Dustin!

Yesterday was awesome! Dustin and Amy got married and it was b-e-a-utiful. Devrey and I and Mom and Dad drove down to Aurora on Friday. We first stopped at Kevin and Tiffany's house to drop off our stuff and to say hi. Then we drove down to Aurora to help set up the church and the yard for the next day. It was pretty fun! As fun as that sort of stuff can be. Then we sat around at Amy's parents' house for a little bit. After dinner Amy took me on a "Razor" ride around Aurora, which was really cool. I had never heard of a Razor before but it's like a souped-up golf cart. It was fun to ride in! We drove up the hills and she showed me where Dustin proposed and then she showed me around the (tiny) town. After that we drove back to Payson to hang out with Kevin and Tiffany and then get some sleep.
On Saturday we woke up early and then drove down to Manti to meet everyone at the temple. The temple was so pretty, and that's just the part I saw of it. I'm sure the rest was amazing. Devrey and I passed the time by watching Logan and walking around the temple grounds. Luckily the ceremony didn't take too long! Or else time just passed quickly, I'm not sure which. Then Dustin and Amy came out and they looked so happy as couples always do when they come out of the temple. And...I warned you...I'm horrible about taking pictures. I thought I was being good by bringing my camera with me but I forgot about it and left it at the house:( I TOLD YOU! But I DID manage to get a picture with my phone, and from the looks of it, Cherice got lots of awesome pictures. Here's Dustin and Amy with Elder Oaks and his wife! Sorry for the smallness.It was so cool that they got to be sealed by Elder Oaks. I think it came as a surprise to some of those who went to the ceremony! I was really glad I got to shake his hand and talk to him for a bit. He is so nice and personable.
After the temple we headed back down to Aurora to get ready for the luncheon. I have to say that that part of the day really sucked, because for some reason I got really sick. It was also super hot so that didn't really help. I felt bad that I couldn't be happy on Dustin's day but I just wanted to lay down and die! But right before the luncheon started I got sick in the the other sense and after that I felt perfect! So we ate the delicious food and did luncheony stuff. After that we went to the house to take some naps and get ready for the reception. It was held in Amy's Grandma's yard and it was very pretty. It seemed to go on forever but finally people stopped coming so Dustin and Amy left and we cleaned up, said our goodbyes, and headed back to Payson!
This morning we slept in and then just chilled with Kevin and Tiffany for a little bit. I always love staying at their house, so thanks guys! Then we took off for home, and that was my weekend! I'm so happy for Dustin and Amy. They're both so amazing and great examples, as each one of my brothers and sisters are. It was a good weekend.
I love weddings :)

Today's song: Instead of a Show - Jon Foreman

Past and Future

So....a quick overview of my last summer at home so far. It's been great! A lot different than I expected but still good. I've been having a good time with my friends - I just love how during the summer you can do whatever the heck you want. I can just randomly decide to go swimming or go running or just do whatever. Life is good in that way.
I kept my job at Mr. Pizza, but I wanted a way to earn a little bit more money so I snatched a job at the snow shack. Let me tell ya...it's the funnest job ever! I don't know what it is about it but I love it. I can just chill there and read a book or do whatever and then make people happy by giving them delicious snow cones! The tips are great and I usually get pretty long shifts so it's good money. Not to mention the free snow cones I get and the fun I have experimenting with flavors. The one and only downside is the fact that it can get SUPER boring if it's not a busy day. But it's worth it for more college money! I can pretty much say that my diet this summer has consisted entirely of pizza, snow cones, and Taco Bell.

Speaking of college, now for the future part. At the end of August I'm moving down to Provo to go to BYU! I'm so dang excited. I love Shelley but it'll be so sweet to start again in a new place and make some new friends and figure myself out. Two of my best friends are also going to BYU, and we're living really close to eachother, so that'll be way fun! I'm glad I won't be ALL on my own. It'll be cool to experience it together. I'll also have Dustin and Amy there close so I'm sure we'll have fun. Me and my friend Jayde were laughing because when we went to register for classes it was like wait, what? We actually have to LEARN things? College isn't all just fun and games? I've still got a bit of shopping to do before I'm ready to move, but it's fun shopping. Only one month to go!

Today's song: "So Long, So Long" - Dashboard Confessional
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNawDeGeUvo

Ok, FINE!

Ya, ya. I'm starting a blog. My reasoning being that there's gonna be a lot of "new's" in my life (new school, new apartment, new STATE, new ward, new friends, new...life!) in the coming months so I might as well start a new blog. New is a weird word...... nnneewwww. Anyway, I'm going to clear some things up and set up some disclaimers right here and now:
1. I'm doing this for my family as much as I'm doing it for me. Momma's still trying to get used to the idea of her last kids being out of the house, so I thought this could help. Also now that I'll be out of the house this is a good way to let all y'all know what I'm up to.
2. I'm not promising a whole lot of pictures. I'm just not the type to carry my camera around with me a lot and whip it out into otherwise content situations. BUT I will definitely do my best and try to carry it around more! I love pictures, it's just a bad habit of mine to never take them.
3. For the next couple of months this blog is going to remain in a trial stage. I'm always gung-ho about things when I start them but they always end up fizzling out, so who knows how regular this will stay. But as with the pictures, I will do my best! I definitely want to keep this nice and updated.
That's about it for now! I'll post more stuff about my actual life on Sunday.

P.S. I'm going to try to post a song and a link to it each time I write. They won't necessarily have anything to do with the actual blog post but I think a person's taste in music can tell just as much about them as the person can. And I personally love to listen to music...ALL the time. Some will be new and some will be just one's that I'm especially loving at the time.

Today's: "Sweeter Than This" - Katie Herzig. Ignore the really REALLY cheesy music video :S

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20xX37J90Ks&feature=PlayList&p=B78B93F5D151CAF7&playnext=1&index=34