Roommate Christmas

So with finals and everything, I got a little behind on blogging. This event actually happened just over a week ago, on our last night as a full "roommate-ship". We all got each other little Christmas gifts and took some time to exchange them and to laugh hysterically together for one last night. It was so much fun. Katherine and I are really going to miss not having Kristen and Andrea around. We have had so much fun and I feel like it is the best all four people living in my apartment have gotten along. There were some where we got a long great and had fun, (Lindsey, Katie and Ale) but as a whole, this semester was just great. Anyways, Kristen is off to work at Disneyworld and Andrea is off to get married, so Katherine and I will stick it out with our two new roomies. Meanwhile, here are some pictures of our roommate Christmas. Don't mind the fact I had just got back from the gym so I am sporting my short running shorts. Don't judge.

Kristen, Andrea, and Katherine with their

gifts from me.

Gifts from Katherine: Cute hair accessories

Gifts from Andrea: "BEAUTIFUL" t-shirts

Gifts from Kristen...

Opening...Ligretto!!

I love Christmas time. More to follow on that. Meanwhile, it is 11:30 on Christmas Eve so I must say "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!!"

A Pre-Wedding Must

My roommate, well...old roommate now is getting married in January. This means it was necessary to have some pre-wedding celebrations. We went to her bridal shower which was really one of my favorite bridal showers ever, mostly because there were a bunch of BYU girls there that were well...very BYU. For example...some of them got her a scripture journal and highlighters, book, chocolate orange, and notebook. All lovely gifts yes, but for a bridal shower for your friend...no. Not so much. It was priceless. We went in as roommates and got her some nice little goodies.

Also, we went out for a "bachelorette party" as roommates. We went and got drinks at a restaurant in downtown Provo named Spark. They have food but are better known for their drinks because they are nice alcoholic drinks minus the alcohol, because it's Provo, but that's good, since none of us drink alcohol. We enjoyed our specialty drinks and then drove around looking at Christmas lights rocking out to some sweet tunes.

K-Dub outside the restaurant

All of our drinks

Kristen's Kiwi-Something

Katherine, Andrea, Me and Kristen

Group photo on the mirror of the ceiling

Temple Square

So last Sunday we had a roommate trip to Salt Lake. We went to Sunday dinner at my parents house which was a lot of fun. They were happy to have a real dinner in a home and I got to show off my awesome family some, it was a lot of fun. After dinner, we went to see the lights at temple square because Kristen had never seen them being from North Carolina. They were beautiful as always and it was a lot of fun, all except the part where this poor little girl fell into the little stream. Oops. It was nice (and somewhat irresponsible) to completely ignore the fact that I had a final 12 hours from the time we got to temple square and just play and enjoy time with my lovely roommates since two of them were moving out in the next couple days.

Andrea, Katherine, Me, Kristen

Me by a pretty tree

Andrea by the temple

Kristen by the star

K-dub by her favorite tree

Me, Kristen, K-dub, Andrea

Final Finals

Well folks...I've done it. I have finished college. All of my coursework for my undergraduate degree in Exercise Science with an emphasis on Fitness and Wellness is done. Complete. Finished. I took my last final exam this afternoon. I feel like this was by far my best bout of finals ever, so I am quite pleased. Now on to real life. Peace out undergrad...it's been real.

I will commence personal training in approximately 54 hours.

Sooooo Close

Holy smokes. I am so close to being done!! I finished almost everything I needed too last week amazingly enough, I'm still not sure how, but I did!! I am now in the midst of finals week. Today is day one of finals and I have 3 tests done already and only have 2 left. This is a new record in my world. I am usually the kid that still has two test left on the last day. One of my teacher's gave us the option to take the final last Thursday in the testing center or during a scheduled session in class tomorrow, I chose Thursday. Then this morning I had a test scheduled at 7am. On a Monday morning. Brutal. But I am secretly glad because it is over with, it only took an hour and I rocked it and then came home and slept since I have been averaging 5 hours of a sleep a night for the last two weeks. Then this afternoon I went to take a 3rd final. It was open book, note, etc. so I didn't really need to study for it. However, it still took AGES!!! I was in the testing center for 3 1/2 hours. The tv monitor at the end told me that I got 100% and said "Perfect Score!" I tried to take a picture but people were looking at me funny. Granted, there were only nine questions on that graded part, but still, I've always wanted the screen to tell me I got a perfect score and I finally got it!!! The rest of the test was 105 free response questions that required very specific answers and it was easily the most comprehensive exam I have ever had in my entire life, but I feel very confident about it, so I'm okay with it. That's all, I'll update you on everything else later.

I Think I Can

A wise little train engine was going up a bigger hill than he ever had before. Some were skeptical, but all he would say is "I think I can, I think I can!"

That is me. Right now. I have a week left. Period. That's it. I have 18 research articles to read, 2 group presentations, 2 lab reports, 3 training assignments, 1 test, 4 quizzes, and 1 semester project report, and an activity write-up. Then I am home free to finals. I have 6 days to finish all of this. When I am going to do all this? I have yet to figure that out, but I just keep telling myself "I think I can I think I can!!"

One of Those Posts...

This is one of those posts where I am basically posting to keep myself awake during my break between classes. I started dozing off in my personal training class today. You know it is bad when that happens because I love that class. Motivation is running very low these days to be in class. I am so close to being done. Good news though, I only have to go to Dr. LeCheminant's lectures 2 more times. For a total of 4 lectures. Beautiful.

The main reason I was inspired to blog at this moment is this:

I probably haven't had one of these since I was in the second grade. Kid you not. I was STARVING because I'm on campus for a long time on Monday without a chance to go home and eat, and this had a sign that said the crackers were whole wheat!! WAHOOOOO!! However, it is disgusting. I think this is the first time I have ingested 1g of trans fat in who knows how long. I don't do it. And wait for it....1130mg of sodium in this little eight cracker-ed snack!!! Ridiculous. I honestly feel like my stomach is about to revolt against me. Please don't eat these. And please don't feed them to your children. That is all. Now I'm off to class.

Because I Have Been Ridiculed

Ok, I have been ridiculed as of late for not posting for a while and for this I apologize. Sorry that I am trying shamelessly to finish these last few weeks of college. **cough cough Ryan Johnson** It has been super busy with school and work and all the normal things. I just enjoyed a nice thanksgiving break, don't worry...a thanksgiving post will follow shortly, I promise. Meanwhile, here are some pics from my last time at a BYU football game in LaVell Edwards Stadium as a student.

Last game!!

John and Me. Love him.

Cougar tail.

Me and K-dub loving the cougar tail

Random Happenings

So as the last post stated, not much has been going on lately. But these are a few pictures of how I have avoided homework as of late. Was it worth it? Yes.

Park City Ski Swap:

Brandon would

Muhhahaha...lion.

McKay and I laughed hysterically at this

shirt. But I still love tubing.

Fits perfectly

And I bought these beauties as my b-day gift

from moms and pops. I can't wait to hit the

slopes!!

And then this last weekend our old roommate Tegan was in town so we played. A lot.

Tegan eating my cupcake.

Please go to the chocolate, it's delicious.

'Lil Tidbit

I really have nothing to say, life is pretty standard right now. Busy. But here is my latest good news:

• Application for graduation is completely finalized, signed, and accepted by the school.
• Got a spot to do research with one of my favorite professors next semester.
• Found out my good friend Jordan is gonna be a momma, couldn't be more happy.
• R.S. Service activity on Thursday.
• 3 days off of work next week. Thursday, Friday and Saturday to be exact.
• 4 weeks and 1 day left of school. I can do this.
• 1 month and 10 days til I start my internship

Love life, it's great.

Reflection

So I got called out by my twin today on the fact that I needed to blog again...and indeed...he was right. I have been brewing up this post since Saturday morning, but needed to be able to have a solid chunk of time to write it the way I wanted to. So Robert...with no further adieu, my blog post.

This last Saturday morning I had the opportunity to attend the funeral for a woman that has always been in the background of my life, but still played a perfect roll. Radia Cottle (but we only ever called her Sister Cottle) lived in the house right across the street from my family. She has been a widow for over 50 years. She remarried for a short time, but it didn't last very long. So my whole life, she has lived by herself in that house, probably longer. However, she was always so pleasant. She LOVED to talk to anybody and everybody. I learned really quick that if you were going over to Sister Cottle's house, and actually going inside...you'd be there for a while. I didn't actually go inside very many times, but each time I did, she always had great things to say and it was company that was much enjoyed. There are three things I will always think of when I think of Sister Cottle:

• Shoveling Snow: My parents had six kids for a reason. That reason was to shovel all the snow on the sidewalks and driveway of our corner lot home. And then to send us across the street to to Sister Cottle's driveway and walks as well.
• Raking leaves: She has 5 HUGE trees that produced mass amounts of leaves. I always loved coming home from school in the fall and going over to rake the leaves. It was a pleasant task, and after they were all raked up, we could jump in them, make leaf forts, mazes, or have leaf fights. I loved raking leaves at her house!
• Playing with puppies: Her son breeds Labradors and any time he came into town with the puppies, they would always let us come over and play with the puppies in the front yard. We would play with them for hours on end until we had every last puppy sleeping in our laps.

She was always so friendly to let us do these things. I knew I could always count on her to be sitting on the front porch as I walked to or from my friends' houses on the other side of the ward and she would always say hello and sincerely ask how I was doing.

Why do I tell you all this? Because I realized during the funeral how I have become slightly sloppy in the way I live my life. I mean my life is highly structured...I literally have calendars made from poster board so I can keep it all organized neatly...but on some of the important things, I am getting sloppy. I take time to enjoy life by spending time with family and friends, but I don't always take time to do small, simple things, like enjoy a litter of playful, little puppies, those kinds of things get pushed to the bottom of my list. There's not necessarily leaves to rake or walks to shovel at college, but there are so many opportunities to serve people that I frequently miss. It has to be thrown in my face for me to see the opportunity to serve sometimes. I forget to do the small act of service that really matter and make people's days. I don't always take time to sit and talk with people that I care about, or even people that I don't know very well. Sometimes I get hung up on the fact that I am a little shy at first and don't know what to say, so I don't even try, but sometimes it is the conversations where nothing important is said, that mean the most overall. I could not tell you a single thing that I ever really talked about with Sister Cottle, but I know now how much it meant to her for us kids to go over and talk with her.

So as a result of attending her funeral, I have committed myself to be more service oriented. I don't know how yet, but I am going to try. Sister Cottle was and still is a great example of a pure, good, soul. She blessed my life with opportunities to serve, and from those opportunities, I learned to love service. I never lost this love for service, but I have lost my vision for it, and therein lies the problem that I must fix, because when you serve others, you are being used as an instrument in God's hands, so that He may answer their prayers.

Thank you Sister Cottle, for your beautiful example and testimony that lived and shared with us all.

Wal*Mart Bingo

I found this little beauty to brighten up a rainy Monday morning. Enjoy.

Click on it.

Breaking News!!

This just in...I got an internship!!! Not just any old internship, but pretty much my dream internship. It is the only one I applied for actually. I had back-ups just in case, but I had my interview today and she gave it to me on the spot!

It is a personal training clinic/exclusive gym called Alpine Fitness. I L-O-V-E love it. It is a small facility, so you can get to know that people that have memberships there, it is modern equipment (because I really don't love equipment that wobbles while running on it and squeaks every time you turn the pedals), there is a physical therapy clinic there so I will get to learn some techniques down that ally, there is an onsite nutritionist which is wonderful, an onsite massage therapist...also wonderful, and I think my favorite part is that they have a bod pod. Yes, one of those egg-like looking things that measures body fat percentages more accurately than anything except a DEXA. She didn't say anything about it and I didn't see it today, but it wouldn't really be out in the open. But on their website it says they use one, so I am super excited to use it. Holy smokes. It's nerdy, I know, not many people get so excited over a machine that measures body fat, but I think they are so great!

The only downside is that I have to be there by six in the morning three days a week, but I can do that. I just need to keep telling myself that. I knew when I chose this career that early mornings would be a must because that is when people like to exercise, so I knew it was coming. I think it will be a lot easier waking up early knowing that there is a client depending on me to be there to help them. It is a lot more motivating than getting up early to go to class, that's for sure. So yes, it will be great. I start as soon as I'm done with finals so that I can get a feel for it before the new year hits with everybody's resolutions to get more fit.

Bod Pod

The website isn't the greatest, but this is it. www.alpinefitness.com

Don't You Dare Say It

Ok, I stole this video clip from Sav because it hit a soft spot in my heart.

If I have one enormous pet-peeve in this world, it's when people sit there and say "I'm fat" or "I've put on a lot of weight" etc, but do nothing about it. I don't say this to be rude, I'm just being slightly realistic, that it is within your control, so do something about it.

As I stated in my previous post, I am considering grad school. Not for the sake of having a master's degree, but because I love women's health and I am a lot more passionate about it than people might realize at first. I love health in general but as women we tend to batter ourselves so much more than what is necessary. Women compare themselves to one another left and right, and it is very damaging. The way I try to see it is that we are all individuals made to be different by our Creator. Every woman is beautiful in her own way. I don't mean the "sweet spirit" way, but really, every woman has something beautiful about her.

The important thing to remember is to not compare yourself to the girl standing next to you, or the one on the commercial you just watched, or the models in the magazine you just read. Because their healthy, is different than what your healthy will be. Take time to learn about your body specifically and what it needs, and then take care of it. And if you don't know how to take care of it, PLEASE come see me, that is kind of what I do.

Gettin' Old

So I recently turned 22. I am still slightly uneasy about this being old business, but I have started accepting it and I have actually started to embrace it. I applied for graduation, I'm working on my internship details, starting plans for once I graduate and weighing my options in life. It is weird getting old, but kind of exciting.

The reason why I feel particularly old and grown up today is because it is my nephew Davy's birthday today. He is the oldest out of my nieces and nephews and he turned 11 years old today. As I thought about this, I realized that I had just barely turned 11 years old when he was born making me an aunt for the first time. As I thought about him it amazed me to think that I was that little! I remember thinking that in 5th grade I was so grown up. I rocked in school, had great friends, liked learning, and I was about to be in young womens and in the 6th grade, so cool. Well, now I feel really grown up looking for jobs in my chosen (and perfect) career that I love. Graduating college and moving on.

I think that in another 11 years, I might reflect back and think, "psh...22...I was not grown up then."

Davy and Me at the 4th of July parade this year

Happy birthday bud!!

Glorious

Glo-ri-ous: adj. My day today.

Allow me to explain. Today I only had one class from 9-10, and it's a class that I love. It also happened to be my day off from work for the week. Fantastic? I think so. Yesterday was absolute madness in my world, so here is what I did today to reward myself.

• Went to class - aced my quiz
• Went with Andrea to finalize her wedding dress
• Got hit on by a crazy construction worker at Subway (not so much a reward, but a funny story).
  
• Went for a run/worked out for nearly two hours
• "Fixed" Brandon's ankle
• Chilled with Ali and made cookies
• Went to go have a meeting with Bishop - but it was cancelled (which was a bummer)
• Made dinner for the roomies
• Took cookies to the warehouse and played games for an hour
• Chilled with Wes and convinced him to take my car to campus for me in the morning
• ****APPLIED FOR GRADUATION****
• Finally, brace yourself....looked at grad schools.

This grad school idea is fairly fresh in my mind, I am actually seriously considering it. If I can find a good program for Women's Health that I think I have a shot at getting in to, I would be all up on it.

But yes, today was fantastic, I can honestly say I enjoyed every minute of it.

This is what glorious looks like. I took it on my

walk up the canyon on Sunday.

I Love Them Because....

This is very much a journaling post, it is kind of the ending story of the date that I blogged about a few weeks ago, I figured I would post the ending so that I didn't leave you hanging.

First of all though, I would like to say this. I have been pretty lucky with the whole roommate business for most of my college career. There have been a few interesting ones, but overall, I can't complain, a few of them have become some of my best friends. Right now, it's no exception. My roommates are so great and these are some of the reasons why we love each other:

• We each take turns making dinner every night for each other
• We have roommate prayers pretty much every night
• We have back massage trains
• We eat lots of ice cream
• We distract each other from homework frequently
• We remind each other to do homework frequently
• We talk about life and lessons learned
• We laugh a lot
• We go out and do fun things together sometimes spontaneously
• We play MASH at 12:30 in the morning on the vanity floor (this was only once, but it was priceless)
• We sing and play the piano together
• And many many more :D

Kristen, Katherine (k-dub), Me, Andrea

We all freaked because we were excited that Andrea moved her wedding date up, we gave advice to Kristen on how to jump back into the dating pool, and tonight when I came home from talking with the boy this is what happened. Andrea and K-Dub were both on the phone so I just walked into my room. Kristen followed me, took one look at my face and wrapped me up in her arms. I'm pretty sure she started crying before I even did. She asked if I wanted her to get the others but we decided to let them finish their conversations. K-Dub walked in after and instantly gave me a bear hug. Andrea walked in shortly after and did the same thing. I am not one to let people see me cry. Ever. Period. But tonight I didn't fight it. It was so nice to have people here to hold me when I got a little crushed. We all sat on the beds and I told them what happened. I don't understand people who are scared of commitment. I mean I know it can be scary, but where faith is, fear can't be. Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith, you might fall and get hurt, but if you are living the way you are supposed to, then everything will work out as it should.

My roommates of course said all the right things to say when a boy decides that he has changed his mind about wanting to date you. As much as I don't understand what is going through this boy's head, I do understand that I have roommates and family that love me and that I love right back, as well as a Heavenly Father that loves me. One day, somebody will see me the same way these people do, and he will embrace it and hold onto it forever.

Zoobs

So yesterday at work, Meretta and I were trying to explain to Josh what a "zoobie" is. A zoobie is one of the people that is completely stereotypical BYU. Think of a nerd, peter priesthood and BYU fan, and BAM! You've got a zoobie. So, I avoid this at all costs. I REFUSE to be a zoobie. Refuse. I think last night I came closer than ever to being one, but it was actually a lot of fun. Here is the pictures of my Zoobie Moment.

Kristen, K-Dub and Me.

We are the letters B-Y-U. Zoobies. Gross.

Loved it.

Ok, here's the story behind it. There is the hike called "The Y". It is a pretty brutal hike, so my professor for Exercise Prescription Testing said he'd give us extra credit for hiking it. I wanted to do it before it got cold and snowy, so we wound up doing a night hike since days are pretty busy for everybody. It was me and my roommates Katherine and Kristen, McKay, Ali, Lexi, Amanda, Emily, Kathryn, Josh, Josh's roommate Nathan. I think that's everybody. We hit the trail around 10:30. At which point the Y was all lit up for homecoming week. By the time we got to the top 40 minutes later it was turned off, lame. But we had fun on the trail up, and even though it was hard, it wasn't as hard as horrible as I remembered it being. Maybe because I hiked it in the middle of a hot day, not a nice, cool, autumn evening. But it was great. When we got to the top we just chilled for a while, laid upside down which was freaky, and took fun pics. Enjoy.

Kristen, K-Dub, Ali, Me

Roommates minus Andrea

Upside down on the Y

Group shot

K-Dub loved this pic so I'm posting it

Right Now

Today I was greeting at work and had an incredibly awkward moment.

I was in the middle of sending a text to my sister telling her that she is missing out by living in St. George because we are having the most beautiful rain right now. Well, as I was typing those words on my phone, a pleasant older man walked in. I looked up at him and greeted him by saying "How are you doing right now?"

As soon as the words came out of my mouth I tried so hard to pull them back in. He smiled and said good, trying to make me not feel silly, but I did. Not a "Welcome to RC Willey" or "How are you doing today?" But "How are you doing right now?"

Who does that?

G & G

G & G is the Fab Four's slang for Grandma and Grandpa. (Meaning Grandma and Grandpa Olpin, since that is where the Fab Four came from, and also the ones that named us that.) Well, today, I had the opportunity to go and visit said grandparents up in Heber. It is always so great to have one on one time with them. They were so excited when I called yesterday to tell them I was coming up. We had time to just sit and talk and catch up. They love hearing all about their grandkids lives and they REALLY love hearing about our school. They decided that they wanted to help their grandchildren get a college education, without just handing them money like so many people do these days. They make us work for it. So they set up a scholarship program to help us out. They don't pay our full tuition, but they give us a check each semester as long as we have good enough grades. If you have really really good grades, you get the bonus, which means your check is an extra hundred and fifty dollars. It's kind of a big deal. They always tell us how grateful they are for us as their grandkids, and how proud they are of us. And I always think to myself, "No, I am pretty sure I am more grateful that you are my grandparents, and that I am so proud of you guys for all you have done with your lives." Not joking, they are amazing. I couldn't ask for better examples from any of my grandparents on the Olpin side or the Neiswender side. I have been so blessed to have these four people influence my life so greatly and teach me so much.

The Story of a Sabbath

So this is one of those posts that is done for the sake of journaling, not necessarily for the reader's entertainment, sorry friends.

This is what happens on my Sundays. Day of rest? Psh...right. Ok, I still make sure to plan time for a small nap, but it is SUCH a nice day of rest from work and school, I always love Sundays for that reason. And because it is such a good day to re-tune yourself with the Spirit and what's really important, so here is what usually goes down.

I wake up around seven-ish, get to church by eight so that I can be there on time for ward council/stewardship meeting/welfare meeting. Which ever one it may be that week. Right after those meetings happen we start church with Sacrament Meeting, then Sunday School, then Relief Society. That's all fairly standard. Then after church, I usually wind up talking to people for about half an hour or so regarding people's concerns, callings, and anything else I need to talk to the bishopric about. As soon as I got home my Visiting Teachers came over, yay visiting teaching!! Then, on days like today, we have break the fast, since it was fast Sunday. Following break the fast, I met with my visiting teaching supervisors for a while to go over their callings and what they need to be doing. Following that, I met with my teachers to discuss their duty. Some Sundays I meet with groups like this, my various committees, etc. Other Sundays it's presidency meeting, just depends on what's going on, hopefully it will settle down some into a regular thing as the semester goes on. I finished with all of this around four o clock (church gets out at noon) and so I was able to lay down for a bit of a nap. However, lately naps on Sunday have not been up to par and I think it's a guilt complex telling me that there are other things I need to be doing still for my calling, so I should probably work on that. I got up around six thirty so that I could get some spiritual thoughts ready for visits. Then at seven, we left as a presidency to go out on visits to various apartments. We usually try to do 4 a week so we can get to know people and be involved with them. Visits went til around 8:15 and then at 8:30 we had ward prayer. That ended around 9:15, then my old friend Peter came over to visit, I like having visitors on Sunday nights. And then finally, the Home Teachers came over to end our night. Also included in a typical Sunday is lots of singing around the piano with my roommates and anybody that hears and comes to join us.

Sundays are so busy. So so so busy, but I love every minute of it. I love my calling and being able to be so involved in the ward. Today for our closing hymn we sang "Nearer My God To Thee". We recently called a new pianist for R.S. that said she played piano at a 7 out of 10. However, she didn't realize that it would get a her a calling with it. She struggled on the first Sunday and asked why I called her. I explained and she was shocked that she had marked herself so high for some reason. I told her that if she wasn't comfortable with it, then I could release her and call someone else. She instantly said no, that she wanted to keep her calling and just practice at it. Katherine and I were discussing it earlier this week and she brought up the point that callings are there for us to learn and grow sometimes and we so much appreciated this sister and her attitude towards doing her calling. As she struggled through the song today, I was so proud of her. Being a piano player, I usually would cringe, but each wrong note she hit reminded me that she is trying so hard to magnify her calling and I admired her so much. It is my constant prayer, that I can always try that hard to magnify my calling. There are days when I don't know what I can do or how I can help a sister, but the more I pray for my girls and get to know them, the more I feel an overwhelming feeling of our Heavenly Father's love for each and everyone of them. It brought tears to my eyes today as we sang this song and I looked out of their faces, praying that they would feel the Spirit and draw near to our Heavenly Father. I love serving in this calling and the opportunity it gives me to help these sisters feel of our Heavenly Father's love for each of them, because if they know that, and can have a solid testimony of that, the rest can just fall in to place.

They DO Exist

Ok....so I make it a point to not really blog about relationships/dating life, it causes too much drama unless you're married, but today, I am making a slight exception. Tonight I went on a date. And it was fantastic. 1. Boy told me that he really liked my natural curl and thought it was so pretty. (Boys NEVER say that, they are all about my hair straight. This actually happened on Monday, but it earned him A LOT of points, the curly hair is me, thus, Frizz.) 2. He told me that I had such a great complexion and beautiful skin. (What guy even takes time to notice that and then has the courage to compliment on it?) 3. Had a laugh that just makes you melt and was just absolutely adorable. Maybe he'll ask me on a second date, maybe he won't, but we had a lot of fun and it was so great to go on a date with someone so genuine, it made me remember that great guys (still single) do exist at BYU. The end.

Momma Love

I love my mother. I'm not one of those kids that moves out and then calls her everyday to talk (which there is nothing wrong with that, I just don't do it) because I still usually see her once a week or so, so we usually just talk then. However, I realized yesterday that I haven't talked to her for a while. The more I thought about it, I realized that I have only been home once since school started, and then my parents came down for about an hour one night so my dad could give me a back to school blessing.

So I wound up calling my mom last night to let her know that I am still alive and to see how she was doing. She didn't answer, which is pretty usual in our world, it typically takes us trying to contact each other a few times before we connect. But she called me back this morning and I was already on campus with some down time so I just got to talk to her for about 15 minutes and I loved it. It kind of makes me laugh because our lives are so similar right now. I'm in school full time, she's in school full time (except her's is grad school, so it's a little more intense). I work full time, she works full time (but her job is waaaaaaaaay more important than mine, haha). I am in the Relief Society Presidency in my ward, she is in the Relief Society Presidency in her ward. So we are two very busy people with lots to catch up on. And today, she took my side on an issue that I completely DID NOT expect her too, for which I was very pleased, I always like it when people are on my side.

I am fairly convinced that my mom is Wonder Woman, she does EVERYTHING. I mean really, ask me, I'm pretty sure she does it. And if by some chance she doesn't, she'll love learning it, she always picks things up quick. I am always so thankful to have her around and I try to never take her for granted, because I know how lucky I am . I love my mom and hope to be as great as she is one day.

She loves this picture of us. NOT.

But I framed it for her office anyway. :D

Hijacked Life

Ok....who hijacked my life? Oh ya, school.

This morning I woke up and thought "man, it felt so good to sleep in!" What time was it? 8:30 am. In my world, 8:30 is NOT sleeping in. That is getting up early, and is typically a drag.

Now a days, I usually wake up just before eight to take my roommate to work (this way we can make sure the other one gets up for work/school) if not earlier to take my car down to school to snag a parking spot. She was finishing a paper this morning and was going to work late so I didn't have to get up til 8:30 for class at nine. It felt so good to "sleep in" but also made me realize that even though I do love sleeping in til ten on occasion, I actually enjoy getting up early everyday and getting going on stuff. I feel like this semester is going exceptionally well, I have done all my reading assignments, I have done great on all my quizzes and I am learning a lot. Glad I am figuring all of this out during my last semester of college.

Also, I don't have to be to work til 4:15 today and I got out of class at 10. All this free time, I don't know what to do with myself!!

It still amazes me that I woke up at 5:00 am every day during high school and was at school by 6:30. Weird.

Zion - Family Trip

Ok, so this is a continuation of the Friends Trip. They all left on Wednesday and I went to St. George for the night. Then Thursday I went BACK to the park, and reserved campsites for the fam. They slowly made it down group by group for our three day camp out. That night we set up camp and got everything settled and had dinner of roasted hot dogs and burgers and then side dishes. My mom goes all out with food while camping. I'm pretty sure that at least 3/4 of my dads truck was filled with food. Granted she was feeding 16 people for three days, but still...there was a PLETHORA.

Friday morning we had fruit and yogurt parfaits, I had never even considered buying one, let alone making one, but they were so good!! Then we hit the trails. We hiked up to Emerald Pools which is beautiful. The hike to the first pool is really easy and we were able to take the little kids, even in the strollers, but the two upper pools are a little more difficult, so the little kids stayed back with Troy and Danielle, and we took Davy and Jami (the older kids) up to the other two pools.

Jami and Me at the upper pool

Dad, Mom, Jami, Davy and Josh by the

Middle Pool

The waterfall from the Middle Pool

to the Lower Pool.

It got really really hot after that hike so we just kicked it at camp, went to the visitor center, etc. Then had dinner, Josh made Mac and Cheese in the dutch oven. It started as a joke between me and him, but then he thought it would be funny so he really did it, made mac and cheese from scratch in the dutch oven and it was PHENOMENAL. Once we were done with dinner we did something kinda different, we went and did a night hike so that the babies could come because it isn't smart to take a 3 month old and a 10 day old out in 100 degree heat. So around seven thirty, we hopped on the tram and went up to Weeping Rock. It is half a mile round trip so really easy and short. It was nice to go at night because it is typically such a busy, popular trail, but there was nobody!! Plus, we got a good view of the park at dusk, it was beautiful.

Melanie with Dallin and Vicki with Addie on

our night hike

View of the cliffs at dusk with the moon

Danielle with Timmy, Davy

and Jami at Weeping Rock

Ok...so next...Saturday, that's it. Um, Dad made breakfast that morning...mountain man. Freak I love camping food. Then we went up to go to the narrows. We didn't really hike it this time, we mostly just let the kids play in the water, some of them liked it, some of them didn't. It was fun though. Timmy was my hiking buddy that time, man he is such a cute little boy, I adore him. He is going to be such a heart breaker one day, he has blonde hair and blue blue eyes. Davy and Jamie wanted to go up the river a little ways so I took them up about 200 yards. It took a while, but they were really good and enjoyed it. It started getting too deep for me to be comfortable with them continuing, plus I didn't have shoes on and the rocks were starting to hurt, haha.

Kristi and Rylee and Timmy and Me

Jami

Hiking buddies!!!

The rest of the day we just did whatever, it was great. Then Sunday morning we woke up and broke camp and headed back up to home sweet home. I love camping, but I also really really love the post-camping shower. Such a feeling of complete cleanliness, so great. :D

Here are some random pics from the rest of the trip:

This sums up Mikey for the whole trip

Me with Dallin and Addie

Addie rockin' Kristi's shades

The group at the Lower Emerald Pools

Rylee wearing my camo bandanna with her dad

The group of us that went to Checkerboad

mesa on Saturday night

Rylee and Tim on the rock that served as a rocket ship,

a bus, a train, and many others

Kristi and Me

Troy and Davy on the tram

Rylee and Mikey. Yes she is twice his age and he is

her same size pretty much

The whole fam eating ice cream, thanks Dad!

Okay, on a bit of a side note: I rushed home on Sunday morning from the trip so I could be there for this boy's welcome home. This is my twin Robert. You would be amazed at how many people we had fooled into believing that we really were twins in high school. He just got back from his mish in Australia and it was so fun to see him! One more friend, Coley, and then all my favorite boys are back! (Other than Travis, but he is a different category.)

And that's the end of my summer vacation. :D