home for Christmas :D

I'm writing this post at home in Idaho :) Finals were last week and I'm  finished with my first semester at BYU! 

So many books! Writing a research paper. 

Classes I took this semester:

-ballet
-religion
-writing
-geography and world affairs
-history: world civilization to 1500
-sociology: current social problems

Best things about BYU:
*Living by the "honor code." Before coming to BYU, all students sign contracts in which they agree to live with integrity.  When you've got 30,000 kids on campus who are working to become better people and do what's right, amazing things happen.
*The campus.  It’s beautiful!  It's right in the mountains.
*Parties without drugs and alcohol. We have fun without getting messed up.
*The professors.  
*L&T.  It's this restaurant with the yummiest vegetarian wrap! Try a wheat wrap with spinach, black beans, craisins, feta cheese, tomatoes, water chestnuts, and poppy seed dressing.
*The Provo temple.  It's only a 30-minute walk.
*Diversity.  Students come from all over the world, so when you’re walking around campus you usually always hear different languages being spoken.
*Starting classes with a prayer. 
*The religion classes.  Every time I leave religion class, I'm determined to be more like Christ, I'm more thankful for everything I have, and I have a clearer perspective.  You have to go to one of these classes to understand.  Come visit and we'll go :)

Important things I've learned:
1. If I put God first in my life, everything will work out
2. It's better to study sooner than later
4. It's good to clean the apartment a little bit each day rather than doing big cleaning overhauls every few weeks haha
5. Grades aren't everything

Random pics from the last few months

landon is coming home!

Today is a HAPPY DAY! My best friend is coming home from his mission. He just spent two years in Lima, Peru.  I'm so proud of him for all his hard work and dedication. He is such a good example to me--he has so much faith.  Congrats on everything, Landon!  I'm excited to see you soon.

november 28: 19th birthday.

I started off my bday by cutting my hair.  (If you need a good salon, check out The Defining Line in Idaho Falls.)   I love changing my hair.  I had tried so hard to grow it out, but it just wasn't looking good.  So we did an A-line and made it kinda funky by leaving one of the sides longer than the other.

I got to celebrate my bday twice this year, one day with my family and another day with Shayna and Nicole. I got running shoes and Ed Hardy perfume from my parents. If you haven't smelled Ed Hardy (the pink kind!), you're missing out!

Shayna and Nicole spoiled me!  They're amazing friends, we're so close, and I miss them while I'm away at school.  We got dinner at Johnny Carinos and went shopping at Macy's and Zumiez (best store ever), and then we went to Nicole's house. Nicole is quite the chef--she made a delicious ice cream cake. Thanks, girl! We also hung out with Candice, Nicole's sister who I LOVE
cause she cracks me up and is just fun to be with.

Shayna, me, Nicole

Cake yummm :)

sisters.

My little sisters inspire me--they work so hard and are extremely talented.  I love hanging out with them and I love to tease them.  These pics makes me laugh :D I licked Shalane's face and she was pretty grossed out--check out her reaction :)

<3

happy thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving post is late, but I want to write it anyway, because Thanksgiving makes me so happy!  This year was my favorite Thanksgiving so far, probably because I got to go home and spend a week with my family.

We spent the day in my grandparent's cabin in Island Park, Idaho (place near Yellowstone) with my Aunt Sherry, Uncle Greg, and their kids--my awesome cousins! We were missing Chris and his family, Molly and her family, and all the rest of our family living far away, but it was so good to see some extended family :) It was a beautiful, snowy day.  We ate way too much (that lemon pie killed me), played lots of games and had a great time.

McCall and Eric on a walk

Making a "Sprite Ball"

I am thankful for so many things.  God has blessed me with everything I could ask for.  Lately I've been grateful for the challenges in life, because I feel like I'm learning so much from them.  They're making me stronger.  God is giving me the opportunity to fix my many weaknesses.  He loves me and is helping me become the person I need to be.

Knowing that I am God's child is the thing I'm most grateful for this Thanksgiving.  I am blessed to know who I am and where I'm going.  I feel lost sometimes, but in the end, I know I have a purpose and I know I have the truth.  I know that God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to atone and die for me so that someday I can return to live with them again.  I know we are loved more than we can imagine, and that as we turn to Christ, he will change and heal us.  He knows how we feel.

In my favorite scripture, Isaiah 53: 3-5, Isaiah wrote of Christ, "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised and we esteemed him not.  Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

half marathon, halloween, swine flu.

I am a horrible blogger. Here's some news and pics:

Colleen and I ran the Provo Halloween Half Marathon! It was my first half and it was a lot of fun.

A few days after the race I got swine flu!  It was intense, but my roommates took good care of me. I think I watched more movies during that week alone than I had over the past 6 months put together.

The weirdo costume I ran in, completed with Underarmour

Waiting to get on the bus that took the runners into Provo Canyon.

Sweet velcro time chip.  Makes ya feel legit.

It was a beautiful, sunny day!

For Halloween, Ariel was Ophelia from Hamlet (fun idea, huh?!)

Colleen gave me her cat ears to wear.  We went to a party on campus. 

random happenings in our apartment.

I killed my wheatgrass by over-watering it :(

It's supposed to be a nice, rich green

instead of this:

Colleen and I both have cute fluffy animal slippers.

This is the third item I've managed to drop in the toilet.  

We seem to have a thing for toilets. 

Jani and Mandi couldn't flush their toilet

because the handle broke.

So Colleen used a hanger to get it to flush :)

provo.

I moved to Provo on August 25th and started school at BYU on the 31st. I love my apartment, roommates, and life as a college student! I thank God every day for all I have. I'm surrounded by amazing people who are teaching me so much, I'm being given many new opportunities that will help me become a better person, and I've got the most supportive family anyone could ask for.

This is my beautiful roommate, Colleen, who already seems

like a sister to me! I'm so happy to be living with such a sweet person.

My side of the room

Kip the Kitty.

My dad took this picture the day I got my wisdom teeth out and I had to post it, because Kip is so adorable! I love it when he falls asleep snuggled up next to my face.