Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving I hitched a ride back down to Colorado to surprise my family! I am so glad that I had the opportunity and the funds to do so. It was a long drive but it was well worth it . I got picked up around 1pm on Tuesday and then arrived at home a little bit before 11pm that evening. So pretty much a 10 hour drive.

When I first walked in everyone thought it was my older sister returning early from a date. But as I walked further into the house, my mom leaned out of a room and saw that it was me.  Soon after, my younger sister Kiki came downstairs and started crying. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU WE COMING HOME? WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME!" Then the other younger sister came down, "I heard someone crying" she said mockingly as she walked in the room.

Once my older sister got home we played Just Dance 3 all night then watched a movie and fell asleep on the couches. My dad was already in bed when I got home. So the next morning he came downstairs and saw me on the couch. Only he thought I was Kiki, who was beginning to look exactly like me. Until he saw he on the other couch...

So nothing too exciting happened after that. I just hung out at home, it was as if I never left. Except that my sisters were willing to do things for me...

On Thursday morning I went over my Emily's grandmother's house for Thanksgiving breakfast with her family. It was fun. We played tennis with her siblings and cousins. I then returned home to spend the rest of the day with my family.

Then came black Friday shopping. WOOO! I love seeing so many crazy people. It was fun. I went with Emily and her Mother and Sister. It was fun. We got matching waffle knit pull over sweaters. All four of us. Two green, two grey.

I got the sweater, a couple of long sleeved shirts, skinny jeans, and an awesome pair of boots. It was a successful day. I also got Fantastic Mr. Fox, I love that movie. 

Then came Sunday and it was time to head back to Rexburg. Boo. This time we left at 11am and made it back around 9:30. I just slept most of the way. I did all of my homework before I went down on Tuesday so I didn't need to do anything, which was nice.

So while it was a rather uneventful trip, I had fun none-the-less. I am glad that I was able to spend Thanksgiving with family and friends, rather than alone in my apartment in Idaho. I am truly thankful for so many things in my life. I have an amazing family and wonderful friends. I am able to attend a great school. I live in a decent apartment and have a great home to return to. I am thankful that my father has a job that can support our family. I am thankful that I was able to work all through high school. It has not only provided me with the funds necessary to attend the school that I am at, but has helped me with time management. I am thankful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am thankful for everything that I have learned here at college and really, throughout all of my life. I am thankful for everyone that has been apart of my life thus far.I have so much more that I am great full for, I could really go on and on, but I will end it at that.  

Birthday.

This past Monday was my first birthday away from home. Whoa. It was weird. On Saturday I got my first package. It was from MEAGHAN! I waited to open it until Sunday and we Skyped while I opened it. She made me pumpkin muffins and banana bread and huckleberry jam and got me a Gonzaga sweatshirt! It was so exciting. I've been eating banana bread for breakfast every morning since.

One Sunday I talked to both of my grandmothers and they both told me that I had something coming in the mail. Luckily I woke up Monday morning and everything came! I had two packages and a letter! It was so exciting. I am so blessed. People love me.

One of my roommates decorated the apartment

One of my roommates baked cupcakes!

I got a signed Brooke White CD

Here are my boxes! Those boots are super cozy. I also got Utchorf's book "Your Happily Ever After", it's so sweet. I love it. 

Since it was Monday we also had FHE. Everyone sung to me and it was at someone from the stake high council's home. It was fun. 

Halloween

Last week was Halloween! I didn't bring a costume up to school with me. So I had to improvise...At 7 o'clock Friday night my roommates and I headed over to the thrift store. DI. The place was packed. Fortunately I ran across a lovely star shirt that could be modified to look Ke$ha-esque. 

There were three days of partying. Thus three variations of make-up. Friday night we went to this dance party in the basement of the strip mall. It was really fun!

Night two was Saturday night. Tonight there was an event at the school. There were games, a haunted house, the river of styx, and a dance! It was alright, not as fun as the night before but oh well. We ended up leaving early, checking out a concert at Sammy's but leaving cause it was strange, and going home to make a Christmas countdown chain. Later that evening, about 20 minutes before it ended, one roommate and I headed back to the dance at the school. 

Night three was Halloween! Monday night! First we went to our ward party. It was alright. Really awkward for the first hour...but it was alright. There was a pinata contest. People thought I was Miss America...no. What ever. There aren't many Ke$ha fans here, so I wasn't too surprised. Plus I wasn't dressed like a hooker. I had pants on. After the ward party we went home for a little bit then headed to a party at another apartment complex. There were some nasty girls there. Skankin' it up. I got a free shirt.   

So those were my festivities. I am now half way through the semester! Woooo! I got my midterm grades. Lowest grade is an A-, that is unacceptable. I need a 4.0 so I can get free tuition next semester. 

Visitors

This past week has been super busy. By far the busiest week up until this point. I've had two exams in the testing center, two papers, an interview, the leader of an online discussion board, a frisbee game, and plenty more. I was super nervous heading into this week.

Somehow I pulled it off. I started the discussion board Monday morning and have been checking in daily and commenting on people and keeping the conversation flowing. I turned in one paper Tuesday, for my B.O.M.  class. I played super good in the Frisbee game Tuesday night, I even got one of those epic scores where you jump and catch it with one hand over someone's head. I then went home and wrote my paper for my education class. I took the first exam Wednesday after class. I didn't do too well, but I didn't do awful either. It was a science one, I got a 76% so it was pretty bad. But I have a good grade in that class regardless. Thursday I took my math exam and got a 92% That was super good, there was only 12 questions so to get that score I've only had to have missed one. I also did my interview that night. Typed my notes and submitted them to the teacher.

After the interview I was skyping with Emily who told me she was driving up to West Yellowstone with some friends on Friday. What the! I'm right on the way! Emily said she was trying to get the boys to stop but they didn't think there would be time. How disappointing.

So Friday after classes I head home. Watched 17 Again with some roommates, did some homework, went to the gym took a shower. Sat around not doing much. Then I got a text. Emily convinced them to stop! They were 20 minutes away! Once they got close and saw that I was for real right there - they decided to stop. I was so excited. My roommates commented on how happy I was. I was freaking out. For real.

Unfortunately, it was the lamest weekend for them to stop by. Honestly nothing was going on. But they got here around eleven, we went and saw Captain America then walked around town and just talked and hung out. So BYUI has a curfew of 1am on Friday nights, we stayed out until 6:30, the gym had already reopened for the day. I am such a rebel...sike. I wasn't doing anything bad. I was able to give Emily her birthday present. It was a little big, but I think she liked it. I am incredibly thankful that they stopped by. For real. So thankful. I didn't even realize how much I had been missing them. I hope I can get a ride home for Thanksgiving. I want to see them again.

Adventures

Last weekend I went to the Get Connected Outdoors program. I loved it! I had to wake up at 6am but it was totes worth it. I wanted to go but none of my roommates were interested in going so I didn't think I would make it. But one day in my math class my friend brought it up because she too had no one to go with! So we did it, we bought tickets right after that class period.

We drove about 40 minutes to BYUI's Badger Creek facilities. There were all sorts of activities. I went geocacheing, canoeing and did a ropes course. There are unfortunately no pictures of the ropes course. It was fun. I slipped at one point and got this nasty rope burn bruise combination. I looked abused. I honestly wore long sleeves for a week. But it was worth it, whateva.

At the end of the day as we were eating lunch I got light headed and my vision was blurred so I sat down and drank tons of water and put my head down. I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before and I only drank one water bottle, so I was probably dehydrated and tired.

Later that  night I went to the Relief Society Broadcast. I slept through the first three talks...I was tired. But I listened to President Uchtorf's. I really enjoyed his.

College

This past week marks my entrance to Brigham Young University Idaho. I am a college student. I'm living with six new roommates. Crazy!

The first weekend (Thursday - Saturday), I participated in their "Get Connected" orientation shenanigans. It was tons of fun. It reminded me of RMSEL in a lot of aspects. They had a whole presentation on how important it is to participate is class and how you're supposed to learn from each other and all that jazz. We were separated into I-teams and did games, tours, and other various activities with them. There was a pretty cool talent show that showcased a wide variety of talents that new students had. There was I-night. Which was basically a huge party all over campus. Dances, concerts, games, raffles, food, all sorts of fun things were going down all other the place.

I'm living off campus in an apartment with five other girls. It's been good so far. Everyone is super nice and fun.

I don't have a camera up here with me so pictures may be few and far between from here on out. I'm going to try to keep this updated. I've obviously never been too good at that but we'll see how this goes. I may never have anything worth posting come up! Whateva. No one even reads this anyways.

Summer List

I've always seen people post these lists of things they wanted to do in the summer and then they'd check them off and update everyone on their progress. I thought it was lame. As the school year was winding down I starting thinking of all these things I wanted to do with people before we all took off for school. I thought if I wrote the things I wanted to do down, I would actually remember and accomplish these things. So I caved and wrote a "Summer List" with Emily.

Below is the list. The top section has everything we did not accomplish. The second section has everything we completed. The tasks are listed in the order they were completed and the number next to them is the number that they were on the list.

Summer list - Emily y Micah
6. Club
8. Real live road trip
11. Red rocks
18. Eat lobster


Completed!
10. Last day of skiing party
12. Taylor Swift road trip
2. Go camping
7. Trek
15. Known by name at village inn
1. Make music video
3. Casa Bonita - w Tessa!
14. Old fashion photo
4. Pawn something
19. Pedicures
16. Mini golf
9. Convertible ride in mountains
17. Tye dye
13. Ghost town- sts. John, third bridge
5. Party in park

I had a super fun summer and having this list motivated me to accomplish many of the things that I always talk about doing. We've already begun building a list for next summer. I'm looking forward to summer not as a break from school, but more as an opportunity to finish super fun things off the list now.

Trek - Take Two.

I went on the pioneer trek four years ago, right before I started high school. I hated it. Everyone in my family was an outgoing senior and as an incoming freshman; I knew absolultey no one. To top it off we casually strolled along everyday. So I decided I would not go again this summer even though I had the oppurtunity to do so. However. One of my friends wanted to go, so I went again, so that she could go.

This here is our family on the last day right after our 14 mile hike. There was a little stream by the camp that we got to play in before we cooked dinner and set up camp.

While on the 14 mile hike over rocky ridge we had to go through these huge mud bogs.

We had square dancing one afternoon.

My Ma and Pa had recently returned from a trip to Mexico, where they purchased real bull whips and lassos to bring on the trek. I couldn't get the hang of it.

We did lots of water crossings.

The boys of the family.

The girls of the family.

My Ma and Pa.

I really enjoyed trek this time around. My family was great. I'm glad my friend wanted to come along, it would have been a totally different experience without her. I'm thankful to live in a day and age where I'm not asked to trek across the country on foot. Sure I've had to move a couple times in my life due to my father's job, but I've never had to leave everything behind and start over in a foreign land.

Camping Trip

This summer I ventured out on my very first camping trip planned by myself and my friends. Whoa. No chaperones. No adult planning or anything. We did a pretty good job as well, if I do say so myself. We took Guenella Pass and camped in a little site near a creak. I was absolutley gorgeous where we went. We totally lucked into that too, none of us had been there before.

This is me on the top of the pass. Before the storm rolled in...
Posing by our tent.

The water pump

The extent of the nearest townIt then started pouring rain. I was the only one willing to go out in it to retrieve stuff from the car. We all brought rain jackets like good RMSELians, but at this point I was tired of putting it on and taking it off so many times. Lazy.

After it stopped raining we went exploring! Look at how pretty is was!

While on our exloration hike we set the camera down to take cheezy pictures.

The real intent of the camping trip was to find and explore a ghost town. So the next day we set out for a town called Sts. John. This is what was left...

It was cool. While here we also went on a hike because there was another ghost town, to get to it we needed to cross a river, but we didn't. So we went somewhere else and came across snow instead. Snow in July. So we played in it. Duh.

We ran across this...

Then on the way back we stopped by this here sign. We passed it a million times this winter when we went to A-Basin, but we never stopped in the winter. We discovered that there is a trail all along the continental divide also, so we hiked up to one of the little peaks off the side of the freeway. It was pretty cool.

On our way home we stopped in some tiny town and took train pictures.

So yea. That was pretty much it, next summer we are going to plan out a bigger and better trip. But this sufficed for planning the day before, around everyone's work schedules.

Disneyland

For my birthday/graduation present Meaghan took me to Disneyland! I love going out to California to visit her, going to Disneyland was an added bonus! Las time I went I was four years old and I threw up in line for the Hunchback of Notre Dame play, so I didn't get to see it. What a bummer. Meaghan made these cool shirts for us...

As we were leaving the park to head over to California Adventure one day we caught Mickey right as he was coming out, so we missed the mile long line that built behind us. We got super lucky the two days we were there and had to wait in hardly any lines. We rode pretty much every ride.

I had a great trip. I can't wait to go out there again next summer. I got caught in June gloom, so we only managed to make it to the beach once. It was still a great trip though.

T-Swizzle

Right after graduation I headed out on a ROAD TRIP! Woooo! To Omaha Nebraska for the Taylor Swift concert. Last year Emily and I went, then these boys got jealous so we promised we would take them to the next concert. Except it wouldn't be in town until September - when we would have all left for college. So we chose to road trip it out to the second night of the Speak Now tour, the day after our graduation.

We left around four in the morning. I was the first to drive. It was mostly on long, straight, empty roads so if you weren't watching the speedometer, it was really easy to creep up to 100 mph. Once I caught myself at 110, but after that I was a lot more watchful of my speed. After we switched out the first time Emily drove. She was going only ten miles over the speen limit, but after about an hour or so of her driving we got pulled over. The cop was super nice and everything, but Emily got her first ticket regardless. I felt really bad. She was mad at me, cause I never got caught. I offered to pay half the ticket.

Clearly we were all super pumped. Some just show that better than others.

Before the concert we ate dinner at this really good burger place. It was kinda awkwardly fancy/trendy too.

Then it was show time!

The concert was great! So much fun. Lots of glitter, confetti, and fireworks. The coolest part were the arial dancers that dropped out of those hanging bells. After the concert we hung out at wal mart buying sketchy things then just went back to the hotel and watched a movie and went to bed. The next morning we headed home.

It was a super fun trip. I hope to go on another road trip sometime soon.