I'm baaaaaack.....!

Hey er'body! It's been so long since I've blogged here! I think it is time to jump back in! A lot has happened since I last updated. For one I am now a Junior at BYU-Idaho. I have also switched my major to Early Childhood/Special Education. I have only two more semesters before I student teach. Crazy! So that's just a snippet. I'll go more in depth later. 

Pictures From Second Semester

Here are some more pictures from the past semester. 

Taylor Swift was a roommate of ours. She was everywhere. I had an old calender that we cut up. We even cut out the little Taylor's on the back of the calender giving you a preview of the pictures, we then his those all over the apartment. People thought we were obsessed. There were a lot of pictures of her.

We had classy decorations from DI that we modified.

ICover concert.

Snow Nessie in the back of my sister's fiance's truck. He was a jerk face and pushed it out the next day.

Extravadance performance with the neighbors. 

He had a little HeMan obsession. To understand fully watch this video. We watched more than once every day. We would serenade anyone who visited our apartment too. 

Second Semester

Long time no updates. So where to begin? My second semester at school was wonderful! I loved it! My sister and I roomed together, people would always ask us if it was difficult or say "I could NEVER room with my sister!" Why would it be difficult? Haven't we lived together our whole lives? I loved my roommates, they were all amazing! My second semester completely blew the first one out of the water, I thought I had enjoyed my first semester, but honestly, my second was amazing. 

The winter was mild, thankfully. I didn't freeze to death as everyone predicted. It did snow a few times though.

Rexburg Temple

Rexburg Temple

We made cookies one night, upon picking this one up to eat, we realized it had a chocolate chip face on the bottom! We couldn't eat it after that. We took pictures with it instead.

Elder L. Tom Perry came and spoke at devotional one week. Later that evening he and his wife spoke to all of the girls on campus that were a part of Relief Society Presidencies, so I got to see him again. I shook his hand too! He was the first apostle I've met in person.

I am so thankful that I chose to go to BYU-Idaho. I love it there! My classes all went well, I was able to pull off the grades I needed to get a full ride scholarship next year. Yay! So yea, that's I guess just a snippet of what happened. I will try to be more consistent in my blogging through the summer and next school year. 

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.

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.

College

So I have a 100% acceptance rate. How exciting. I've been accepted at Utah State University, Northern Arizona University, Brigham Young University- Idaho, and Oklahoma Baptist.

I was offered $15,000 from Utah State, plus an additional $400 housing scholarship. They also kept telling me to apply for the honors program. And they sent me really nice chapstick.

Northern Arizona didn't offer me anything. But they keep sending me crap. And they have a whole bunch of cool speakers and events on campus.

BYUI was super frustrating. First, back in October it took them 3 weeks to find my ACT scores, which were sent along with my transcripts. I emailed, called, and chatted with them and each time they told me they weren't there. I even paid ACT to send BYU the scores. So I had my school call, and what do you know? There are my ACT scores behind a piece of paper. Now my application was complete, before the early decision deadline. I checked the application status once a week until the 4 week mark, then I checked every day, since they said 4-6 weeks. Once day, around Christmas - when everyone I knew who applied had already heard - I checked it and it no longer said they had my transcripts and instead said they needed my GED. What the heck. I'm still in school, earning a degree, I don't have a stupid GED. So I called and they claimed I didn't go to a nationally accredited high school. Yea right, my school is one of 7 schools "accredited with distinction" in the state of Colorado. So the director of my school called and talked to the admissions and they told me I have to talk some test. The Compass test, which is basically the ACT. So I had to spend another $50 on a stupid test. Plus, the day it was scheduled was a snow day because it was negative something outside. Coldest day of the year. It broke records. And I had to take the light rail. In the end I exceeded the scores they wanted me to get. They wanted 22 math and 70 reading, I got 42 math and 99 reading. Waste of my time.

A couple days later I was accepted. I didn't care. They were too frustrating. At this point everyone that was accepted was getting track assignments. They were all getting fall/spring. That is the worst track ever. Who wants to go to school for a semester, go home for a semester, then school for a semester, then break for a semester. I decided that I would go somewhere else if that was the track I was assigned to. Thankfully I was put on the fall/ winter track. If BYU wasn't so cheap I would definitely consider other places more seriously.

Oklahoma Baptist sent me one of those, "Send us your name and your grades and we'll let you know if you're in deals" No essay, no fee, why not? So I did it. They offered me like $14,000 in scholarships.

So yea. The end. I'm a whiner.