It's October Already...!

Alright, so I have to apologize for being one of the WORST bloggers ever. I can't believe it's been over 5 months since I last blogged. A lot has happened since my last entry. Europe, another summer of efy, and now I'm back at school tackling my Junior year. I guess the best thing I can do is give a little synopsis on each event and maybe throw in a picture or two. So, here we go:

Europe was amazing! Oh my goodness. I loved every second of that trip. I saw Rome, Florence, Pisa, Berlin, Wittenberg, Paris, London, some of the beautiful countryside of England, Copenhagen, and Sweden! All those places were packed into only 3 1/2 weeks...amazing! I think my favorite places that we went were Rome, Wittenberg, and London. Of course I loved them all, but those 3 places really impressed me.

The food was so good! The pizza in Rome was to die for and I will never have another slice of pizza that's as good. The gelato (ice cream) in Italy was amazing too...OH MY WORD! I can't even put into words how good it is. Just think of the best ice cream you've had and times it by 10. Yep, that's how good it was.






Efy this past summer was an unforgettable experience. I made some great new friends and grew a lot. I worked a total of 9 weeks and each week was full of different youth, different co-counselors, and a different experience. What an amazing program that not only the youth get to attend, but the counselors. We don't tell the youth this but efy is really efc (especially for counselors). If you think about it, a lot of what is taught during the week applies more to us (the counselors) than the youth. Of course it's things that the youth will deal with, but it's what we are going through right now as young adults. Very powerful stuff!





This summer another one of my Florida girls, Laura, got married to one of the sweetest guys ever, Michael! They had such a beautiful day. They were married in the Manti temple and then had a very cute reception in Laura's backyard. Now the rest of us need to get married...easier said than done!





School is going really well this semester. I am taking about 15 credits and I love each of my classes. My teachers are great and so easy to work with. I am planning on applying for the BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) in Graphic Design this November, so wish me luck! Hopefully I will be able to get it. One unfortunate thing is that it had already started snowing up here...it's the beginning of October!!! Yeah, I'm not sure I like Idaho anymore...haha

Well, that is the latest update from me! Until next time...

From Utah to Idaho...then Rome!

Ok, life has been a tad bit crazy this last week. I flew home for a surprise visit (which went really well and my sisters were all shocked and had now idea. It was a must needed trip!), nannied Thursday morning, worked like a mad woman to finish my homework for my Europe trip, pack somewhat for my Europe trip, watch Heroes season 2, and pack my whole room up while trying to pack for my week and two-day stay in Rexburg. Man was I a stress case. It then didn't help that I woke up Sunday (the day I was leaving for Rexburg) feeling sick...so I was delayed leaving by like 3 hours.

I finally made it to Rexburg though Sunday night. My dear friend Ashley (roommate from Freshman year) and her roommates are being so kind to let me sleep on their couch and stay with them while I'm here. I am very grateful to them because I don't know where else I would've gone!





OFFICIAL COUNTDOWN: ONE WEEK FROM TODAY! I WILL BE ON A PLANE ABOUT TO LAND IN ROME BY THIS TIME NEXT WEEK!!!

Things have been going great here at BYU-Idaho where I have to attend my on-campus class in preparation for Europe. We started this past Monday and we go from 8-5 everyday. Now before you moan and say "oh I'm so sorry..." relax, it's not bad at all! We get a stretch break every hour and then a 20 min. break every 2 hours. Then we get an hour for lunch. It's actually not that bad and the teachers are all amazing and funny, which helps a lot!

I've already learned so much and I get more and more excited everyday to go! During the last hour and a half of class each day one of my teachers, Brother Sturm, goes over some of the places that we are going to and the art that we are going to see. The one I'm most excited for right now...The Sistine Chapel. What a breathtakingly beautiful place, and I've only seen pictures! The only bummer is we can't take pictures in the actual chapel :( but my teacher recommended buying a postcard instead. So that's what I'm going to do!

I can't believe I leave in a week!! I am getting so excited and I've met and gotten to know a couple of people pretty well. I think we have a great bunch of students and teachers going, which will make this experience that much sweeter.

I'm hoping I'll be able to blog before I leave, but seeing that my access to the blog site is limited that might be a bit of a challenge! So if I don't I will make sure to take LOTS of pictures and post them when I get back. Until then...Arrivederci!

p.s. For those that are wondering where all I'm going (if I didn't mention already in previous posts) here's the list: Italy - Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre; Germany - Berlin, Wittenberg; France - Paris; England - Liverpool, Preston (visit Preston Temple, River Ribble Valley, Castle Frome, Cheltenham, Gadfield Elm, Oxford University, London; Denmark - Copenhagen (visit Copenhagen Temple).

Florida Girls Sleepover and Some Conference

I had by far one of the BEST weekends I've had in a long time. All the Florida girls got together and had a big sleepover at Kate and Peter's house. Thank you Pete for putting up with us all night long! It was so fun to be together. It's been forever since we have ALL been able to get together and just catch up. The next morning we got up a few hours before general conference and made a wonderful breakfast and all those that had boyfriends or boys that were friends invited them over and we all ate breakfast. Then we settled down for the first session of general conference.


Our delicious breakfast :)

What an amazing General Conference we had. I was touched my many of the talks given. Some of my favorites were Elder Robert D. Hales (Living Within Your Means), President Henry B. Eyring (Dealing with Adversity), Elder Richard G. Scott (Temples), Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (Not Being Alone), Elder Dallin H. Oaks (Selfless Service), Elder Gary E. Stevensen (Making Our Homes Like the Temples), and of course President Thomas S. Monson (Being More Determined).

What amazing words of reassurance these men told to help us through these troubling times. I was very blessed to attend the Sunday Afternoon session with my roommate Aly. We were able to sit only 15 rows away from the front. I could feel the warmth of the men on the stand clear out where I was sitting. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf was sitting straight in front of me and I'd like to think we made eye contact a few times. What a powerful feeling filled that conference center as President Thomas S. Monson spoke to us. I love General Conference and how every time I listen to the words spoken it makes me want to be a better person. It's time I put that into action and do my best to become better each and every day!

More Photoshop Fun

I was helping my friend Chelsie this past weekend with a photography project she had to do. She needed to take portrait shots but needed someone to take them. So I decided to bring my own camera and take some pictures too! Here are the best ones that I got touched up in Photoshop. Enjoy!

Photoshop fun

I was bored tonight and thought I would play around with some pictures I took while in Arizona. These are just a few of my favorites of little Sophie, which is Aly's little niece who is ADORABLE!

12 hour drive, a wedding and a basketball game

Well this last week was a fun one! My roommates Aly, Amber and I all drove to Arizona for an old roommates (of Amber and Aly) wedding and we decided to make a vacation out of it! We left last wednesday and drove the whole 11 hours down to Maricopa. The drive was good/eventful. We stopped in Page, AZ (I just had to stop in my town!) and grabbed some dinner. Well, apparently my town likes to give people food poisoning. Poor Aly got sick for the rest of the drive that night. Too bad her car was a stick, which I don't know how to drive, so I couldn't take over for her.

Thursday was fun. We got to sit and relax most of the day and got to play with the new little baby Aly's sister just had! She's SO tiny and cute. Friday morning was the wedding. We had to get up at 5 am to go and do the bride's hair. Man were we tired...we did get to catch a few Z's right outside of the Mesa Temple while we waited for Jennie to come out. That helped out a lot. That night we got to go the Phoenix Suns basketball game thanks to Aly's brother-in-law. He gave us tickets that he got through work, 19th row!! It was one of the best games I've been to in a LONG time. This was the first time I have seen both Shaq and Nash play in real life. What a night! After the game we got to stand next to replicas of the players. This is me compared to Shaq:



Aly and I at the game in our Suns t-shirts!


On Saturday we left and decided to drive the Vegas route home which took us through the Hoover Dam. What a cool site to see! I've never seen the Hoover Dam so I made Aly pull off so that I could take pictures. Totally worth it!




Sunday we were able to make it to our good friend Katie Barber's mission farewell. She did she a good job - Aly and I were crying by the closing song! She is going to serve her mission in the Dallas, Texas area. She'll most likely meet my good friend Bart who's in the Houston, Texas mission. We will miss her, but she's going to be one amazing missionary and I am very proud of her!

Me, Katie, and Aly

That night I made it home in time for my aunt Lori's Oscar party! What a blast this was. I have never been able to make it to one of these fabulous affairs. Lori had the house all decked out, ballots printed up, and treats spread out. We had quiet the night! Here are some pictures:






After the Oscar's ended we were to tally up all the guess that we got right. Lisa of course won with a whopping 14 guess right. We think she's got some inner Oscar connection. Lori awarded her with her very own Oscar.



What a great week full of warm weather, weddings, and tiny gold men!

Update...

Well...things have been quiet interesting since I last wrote. My roommate was to be evicted, but then plans changed on the day she was supposed to be out. I guess the apartment office has to give her a verbal warning before she can be kicked out (crap...). So part of me is really hoping that she can get her act together and be good, but the other half is just waiting for her to screw up again. I feel horrible saying that but when she states that she "hates rules, hates obeying rules, and will do what she wants", my confidence in her becomes very low. Let's just hope things change. So far they have. I've only seen the guy once, but they were hanging out talking to my roommate Aly, and then he left. Hopefully this is a good sign.

On another note - Chelsie and I went to our friend Kate's house to get a facial by Nu Skin's newest product - The Galvanic Spa.

I LOVED this little baby. My face felt amazing after doing it. I was thinking about becoming a rep for Nu Skin and telling everyone about this new little invention, but timing isn't right for me, even though they are saying it's perfect timing to become a rep. Someday maybe, but not today. I do however plan on purchasing one of these because I am still amazed at what it can do! If you want more info click here.

Everyday is getting more and more boring here in Utah. I am running out of things to do to pass the time. I have been reading a lot. I am also taking an English class online through BYU-Idaho, which is going pretty well. I'm ready for it to be over though! I am not a very big fan of English even though I love reading. I also have to read a bunch for my Europe study abroad trip. So I guess I have that to do, but still...I can only stand reading for so long!

As far as this Valentine's weekend goes, I am going to be spending it with my friend Mike. We were supposed to have a big group all get together, but everyone decided to ditch us and all go away for the weekend. Thanks guys! Haha. No, I wish I could've gone away this weekend. I came very close to. There's some of my Florida girls that left for California today for one of their roommate's weddings. I was going to go, but there was no room left in their car and I didn't want to drive my own car down. Oh well, I do get to go to Arizona next week for about 5 days, so I am looking forward to that!

Happy Valentine's to everyone

Venting For Just a Moment...

Ok, so I feel that I can vent on here because no one that I don't want to see it can. So as many of you know, I am living in Orem for the winter while I am on my semester break from BYU-I. I am rooming with a really good friend of mine from EFY, Aly, and we've been having a BLAST since I moved in. Well, we have this roommate, I'll call her Katie*. Katie likes to bring home guys to hang out with often. Now I have no problem with her hanging out with guys because we all do. My problem comes when I want to go to sleep and I am bothered by well, let's just say I've been through some interesting experiences that I never thought I would have to experience, but that requires me to wear my headphones to bed. Yep, lucky me. Now, I am not one to tell Katie what she should and shouldn't do with her life, but when it effects me to the point of not being able to do my normal routines in the mornings because I'm afraid of being walked in on, or bumping into a guy, then it's an issue.

I have no idea what to do. My other roommates and I have talked about because all of us are uncomfortable with guys spending the night in her room all the time. One of my roommates said that she would talk to Katie, but has't yet seeing that there was a guy that spent the night last night and he's still here. I know it's past noon, but it still makes me uncomfortable. I shouldn't be uncomfortable in my own apartment. That's just not how it's supposed to work. I hate that I have 2 1/2 months still to go and the feeling that this is going to go on the whole rest of the time that I am here.

WHAT DO I DO!?!?!

Yes some would just tell me to "talk to her, I'm sure she'd understand..." No I can't talk to her. We don't really get along. I don't mean that we fight and stuff, we have just never talked like roommates talk. We both have every different lifestyles and standards and so it sets us on two different levels of life, if that makes sense? Overall, I just worry that if we were to confront Katie about this issue, it would cause more issues, and nobody wants or needs that in their apartment.

Katie is also a very delicate person. She suffers from depression - not sure how severe - and it causes her to sit in her room either sleeping through the day, or watching A LOT of TV. She should be at hair school and I think she's gone like 4 times in the last month. I worry about her I do. I wish I could help her, but all I know how to do is show her kindness and that she is cared for.

So, basically I am in a very interesting situation that I can't handle anymore...then again it's just life as I know it!

A New Look, A New Town, A New Year...

Alright, I thought that it was high time that I update this thing. It has been over a month since I have written (almost 2 I hate to admit), and everyone has been bugging me to give an update on life.

So, for starters a new look - I decided that since both my younger sisters have their own blogs and neither of my parents get on here to post anything, that I would take over and make this my own blog. Even though the URL is staying the same, I have changed the title and will post things pertaining to my life - not that I wasn't doing that already! So here is to the new start to what I hope will be a fun adventure.

A New Town- Well, for those that don't already know, I am living in Orem, Utah for the winter months. I drove down here right after I finished my finals up at BYU-Idaho and moved in with my good friend Aly from efy. There's six of us girls total. For the first little while Aly and I had our own bathroom because the other girl that shares with us was living at home and wouldn't be back until early January. Aly and I went to town decorating our room and bathroom. I had the privilege of introducing Aly to Ikea. She had never been there before (I KNOW) and so I told her that we just had to go. We had lots of luck finding pictures and rugs and some other goodies. My other roommates and I are getting along great. Everyone has crazy busy schedules though so it's a bit though to all be together at the same time. It's been a lot of fun being down here in Orem where most of my friends are. It sure beats driving 4 hours to see them all the time! Here are a few pictures of my new apartment decorated during Christmas:









A New Year - Well, you would think that with a new year comes a fresh new start to everything and in most cases good luck, but as for me that has not happened yet. I failed to mention earlier that the reason I came to Utah for the winter was for a job with a design company that was hired by Novell to work on presentations for a big conference they hold in March. I started working there the Monday right after getting here, and then by Wednesday my friend Sarah and I were let go. Why you may ask? Well, thanks to the economy this conference that we were hired for got canceled and so that put me, Sarah, and 3 other people out of a job. It still makes me sick to think about because this job was perfect! So easy and I got paid GREAT money. So I started searching for a job before I left to fly back to Minnesota for Christmas. I searched and applied to a bunch of places all through my break, but unfortunately had no luck. I came back to Utah went through a bunch of interviews, got a job but then quit due to some things that I would have to design that I wasn't comfortable with, and still had no luck. Now it's almost a month later and I am still unemployed , and running out of money. I have rent and bills to pay and don't even get me started on food. It's been a really hard trial that I've faced and at this point I still don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I know that I am supposed to learn something from this, but I just don't know what that thing is yet. I have decided though that during this non-employed time of my life I am going to take the time to read all the books I want to read and do some personal growth. I figure that's better than sitting around and doing nothing, right?



Although it seems that my year has started out in a bit of a slump, I do have to say that some good things have happened. I got accepted to go study abroad in Europe through school! I can't even put into words the excitement that I'm filled with. It will take up the first half of the summer semester which is April-May. I get to study the religious history in Paris, London, Rome, Florence, Copenhagen, Pisa, Berlin, Wittenburg, Preston, and Liverpool. Now I'm just hoping and praying that my student loan will come through so that I will be able to go for real. Since I don't have a job I don't really have the funds to go. Cross fingers for me that I will be able to!
I also had my interview for efy counselor. I am hoping to be able to do it again this summer. I really loved my experience and have actually been missing it a lot lately. You don't realize how much those kids touch you until months after. I'll keep you posted as soon as I hear anything back. It will be a while though so don't get too excited yet.
Last night the Florida Girls all got together FINALLY. It took a month of planning until we were able to all work something out. We all drove out to Chelsie's parents house in Riverton and did a taco salad type dinner, which was so good. Elyse and Laura both have their birthdays this month and so Kate, being Miss. Homemaker, baked a wonderful cake for us to celebrate those two turning 21. It was so fun to all be together again. This is the first time all of us girls have been living in the same place in 2 years! It's been a blessing to have those girls so close. They are some of the ones that I would make the 4 hour drive to see though! After the food festivities we watched the year in review movie that I have made the past 2 years. This one was especially fun to watch since we were able to do it in the theater room. So fun! Here is a picture of us all:



Well, that's my life so far. It's still busy as can be even without a job. That's life as I know it!