Adventures at the Harold B. Lee

With finals coming up, I have been spending an unprecedented (for me) amount of time in the library (named after Harold B. Lee). On Saturday, Jess and I decided to make a marathon out of it. We left for the library around noon with lots of food and a determination to complete the impossible (and the insane) goal of 12 hours of studying. Of course, this mission was well documented.

12:40...We started off all smiles, ready to get some work done. I had my massive stack of flash cards to memorize and she was working on statistics. Notice the nice sun in the background, yeah...that didn't last long.


2:43...A couple hours later Jess was dying (from a cough) while Erik was already struggling, but he made it the whole time with us. Around this time we ended up convincing a bunch of people to join our group. It turns out studying with friends isn't so bad.


4:34...All our friends had left, Jess was at a review session and I was left alone...with my Sweedish fish!


5:54...A little over an hour later I was still on my own, and getting very hungry I might add.


6:44...After dinner we both were feeling a little better - smiles were seen again as we geared up for the next 5 hours.


9:47...Those smiles didn't last long. At this point we had the back corner of the periodicals section to ourselves. Tori had joined us after dinner and stayed until midnight, our party was irresistible.


9:48...And we were going a little crazy. haha


10:39...Toward the end we had a rice krispie treat break...delicious!

11:50!...We had made it! Who knew that at 11:45 they blast music in the library to get everyone out? Well now you do. This wasn't so bad after all, I did get a lot of work done, and having friends around made it a lot easier. Will it ever happen again...probably not. haha

Thanksgiving

I realize that Thanksgiving was last week and that I am a little bit behind on this but I have to do it anyway. It was so much fun being home and seeing everyone. I love getting together with all of the little kids and seeing how much they have grown. I am so grateful for my family, especially now that I don't get to see them every day, it just makes me realize how special they really are. I am so thankful to have so much family in Vegas. My aunts and uncles are like older brothers and sisters to me (since I don't have any real ones). I am grateful for my parents and everything that they have done for me and for everything that they have taught me. I believe that I am where I am today mostly because of their example and their teachings. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to attend BYU and for all of the experiences that I am having up here. I am thankful for the friends that I have made and the people I am fortunate enough to associate with. I am so lucky to be born in this country, into a family that has been taught the gospel. I honestly cannot comprehend my life without all of these things.

On Thursday morning my sister and I ran a 5k. It was a good reminder that I actually do like to run, as boring as the gym gets, and it is always fun to run with Dani.

Poor Drew, he was stuck outside all afternoon keeping the rain off of the turkey that was frying. His sweater looks good on him though (I picked it out for him!)

Our dinner table (pre-food...I should have taken an after picture - it was a disaster! haha). Matthew did the napkins (he was very proud of them) and Danica did the place cards. My favorite part of this picture is all of the random chairs that had to be brought in to have enough seats for everyone.


The pies on display before the judging process. I have to give props to all of the men for making some pretty delicious pies. The winner was James but I think Grandma meant for Drew to win, she just couldn't seem to remember which number belonged to which pie. haha

Cops and Cookie Dough

This week was pretty uneventful but, like always, there are always those random events that make me laugh. On Tuesday Jess and I decided to make some cookies (Aunt Norma's recipe of course). So, on the way home from the gym (a little counterproductive - cookies after the gym - but oh well) we stopped by the store to get butter and chocolate chips. After finding a dozen more things that we "had to have" we made it home and began cooking. About three minutes later we realized we only had 1 cup of brown sugar (we needed 2) and 1 teaspoon of vanilla (again...we needed 2). Not wanting to go to the store again we called the apartment below us (two of the girls visit teach me, the other two visit teach Jess and we visit teach one of them so...we are all kinds of connected). Anyway...we asked to borrow brown sugar and vanilla. After getting all that settled we were about to add the last (secret!) ingredient, but we only had a cup of it (we needed way more than that). So, figuring that even our visiting teachers wouldn't have that, I decided to make a second trip to the store while Jess started cleaning up. My half went smoothly but Jess had some problems on her own. While she was cleaning she knocked over the mixer, turning it on and flinging cookie dough all over the kitchen. After I got home and we cleaned that up we finally added our last ingredient, mixing it in with a spatula...since our metal spoons aren't long enough and we don't have a wooden spoon. Halfway through the mixing process our spatula snapped in half. We eventually finished but it has never taken me so long to make cookies in my life...it was seriously a three hour process.
This is a disgusting picture of us but captures the tragedy of our broken spatula perfectly haha.

The other "event" happened Wednesday coming home from the gym (I think there is a common link here). It was pretty late and I was driving up University when I looked in my review and saw a cop with his lights on. After a mini panic attack because I didn't have my license, there isn't a plate on the front of my car and I think my windows are a little dark, and thinking about my speed I pulled over to the right lane and...the cop zoomed right by. I seriously didn't breathe the whole way back.

Whatcha Booin?

Halloween this year was seriously a week long event and mom...this might be one of the first years that there were not tears after putting on my costume haha.

We had our ward Halloween party - oops i mean "harvest festival" - the weekend before Halloween. As a member of the activities committee I recruited my roommates and we were three of the few there, but it was still fun. It was a black light party so we wore our white and neon. Unfortunately, due to a scheduling conflict and the insistence of another ward to have the lights on for their party, our party ended about 45 minutes after it started. Needless to say...we were home early with nothing to do.


That Monday for FHE our "family" had a pumpkin carving contest among the three apartments. There were two guy apartments and then ours - 10 points for anyone who guesses which pumpkins the guys did :). Oh and I think the one on the right was supposed to say hot rod...but they didn't finish before time was up so it was judged as is. We interrupted some nearby families and got some people to judge for us. Surprisingly the barfing pumpkin on the left won a lot of votes but Jess kept recruiting people until our pumpkin won the prize...which she had bought earlier that day haha.

Our apartment with the "winning" pumpkin.

Halloween started with a quick trip up to the Chipotle in Sandy. If you dress like a burrito on Halloween they give you a free meal...it is amazing. So Jess, Torrie and I wrapped ourselves in aluminum foil and waddled our way to a free dinner. Our costumes lasted about as long as the burritos - which we inhaled. About the time we drove by Costco on our way back to Provo I realized I didn't have my phone so we flipped around and drove right back up to Sandy. I chauffeured while Jess and Torrie worked on their dreads in the backseat. Fortunately we found my phone laying in the parking lot where the car was parked but unfortunately we did not get back to Provo until 10:30 and weren't in our costumes ready to go until 11:30 since we had to make them on the spot and all. Our apartment was a mess with fabric everywhere but it was worth it.

Our pirate costumes that were thrown together really quickly - a boy's v-neck undershirt with an iron on skull and crossbones, a black fabric skirt, red bandanna, eye patch, earring, and some really dark make-up. We hit up a party in the parking garage of our complex for about an hour and then checked out the local redbox for a night of popcorn and movies - a perfect Halloween. Oh, and we didn't get a chance to use the hippie costumes but they are ready for when our ward goes disco skating in a few weeks. :)

Other than that I swear my life is consumed with school but I have finally finished all my mid-terms and papers so I shouldn't have another one until after Thanksgiving...yay! And...I just found out today that I was accepted to the London Study Abroad! As for this weekend...relaxing is the only thing on the to do list :)

Fall Changes...

So I should be studying right now because I have three midterms next week but I decided to do this instead (partially because all of my studying materials are in the family room where my roommate is currently being visit taught...but that's another story). But lately I have been thinking a lot about all the changes going on in life this year. Being in an apartment is a lot different than being in the dorm (much much better too) but it comes with more responsibility - there is more to clean and I have to work to have something to eat at night, I can't just stand in line :( haha Being a sophomore the classes are harder but a little more interesting. I guess the big news right now though is my application for a study abroad ( I turn it in this week). Hopefully I will spend the spring term in London which would be so much fun.

So just to catch everyone up, my roommates this year are Jessica and Torrie. Jess I have known for a while but we just met Torrie at the beginning of the year...its been great though, we have a ton of fun together. Its really nice because our apartment holds four people and we only have three. These pictures are just the three of us on some random nights (Torrie is the blonde, Jess is the other brunette...I have dark hair but I think you know that). This one was us killing time before our dollar movie at Shop-Ko (high freaking class).

This one is at Macaroni Grill the night we went to the Gavin DeGraw concert in Murray.

This last one is on the ride home from the concert...and yes...those super big gulps are filled with Dr. Pepper.

This week we have been working on our Halloween costumes. We tie-dyed shirts last night for our hippie costumes (our hands are still green - just stick Dani in the shower mom...it will come off) and we are getting the last things for our pirate costumes this week. That's right...two costumes...pretty legit I know haha. But I will definitely put up some pictures of our costumes probably next week when I get my life back from studying.