Home is Where the Heart Is!!

Winter Break!! It was supposed to be the first time i went home but i got a surprise and got to go home for thanksgiving :) I can't believe i was only home for about 4 months in 2011 not that Texas feels like home but it is where my family is! The Sunday after I got to Texas my family left and drove 5 hours to San Antonio to have a "family vacation" since, according to my dad, we haven't done anything as a family in a while. (I honestly don't know how going to Ohio for graduation and two trips to Utah doesn't count as doing something as a family haha) Anyway so the first day we were there we went to the Alamo. Honestly I do not recommend going. sure its one of those places everyone says you should go because of the historical value but honestly...it is the most boring historical place I have ever been!! We were bored....so what did we do? We sat around and took random pictures :D If you don't know me or my family this is something we do rather often at our house!

One funny thing that did happen at the Alamo is that we were walking around looking at old stuff and there was this room with a video in it. My dad started to walk in and Brielle grabs his arm and says: "Daddy that is fifteen minutes OF OUR LIIIVVVEEESSSS!" We all started laughing so hard! The guy that was walking in right behind my dad started laughing as well and just walked away and decided not to go in either! It was hilarious!

After we went to the Alamo, we went to the San Antonio River-walk. The River-walk is this river that runs through the middle of San Antonio that has a little walk way next to it and you would never guess you were in the middle of the city! It is beautiful and an awesome escape. Once again though when all there is to do is to look around...we are taking pictures :)

So we found this cool red tunnel. Kendyll asked to have her picture taken in it and then I decided I did to and I wanted to be jumping! so then we all decided to take jumping pictures :)

My dad felt left out so he decided he wanted to do one too....I think he looks like he is being shot though! haha 

Brielle..The tree hugger!

One small step for a man, one GIANT leap for Kendyll!

The next day was the day that I was so excited for....SEAWORLD!!! I was so excited! 

So right after we walked in we decided to go over to the dolphin area because i was the closest! when we got there we say tat we could feed dolphins!! I GOT TO FEED DOLPHINS!!! I was so excited and I still think it was so cool! We were super lucky too because they closed it right after we were done! I think that was my favorite part of the day!!

After we fed the dolphins :D we went to the shark/fish place. Then we got to see Shamu!

Look its Baby Shamu!!!!

SeaWorld was way fun!

The day after that we went to six flags. I am not a big roller coaster person but it was fun! (mostly cause I was with my family. 

I decided to brave the Ferris wheel....It wasn't a great Idea. I sat like this the whole time. WAY to high for me!

So then we went home and just hung out until Christmas. Christmas was so much fun! We went over to the Warren's house for Christmas eve and had dinner and did the Nativity there. We also got to open our one present...P.J.s! When we got home we took a picture in front of the tree and then went to bed super early! no joke like 8:30!!!

Kendyll gave Brielle and I Nerf guns for Christmas :D we shot her with them the whole time and she didn't have anything to fight back with hahaha!

I got Kendyll and Brielle Both BYU hats for Christmas and they loved them! and of course they couldn't just take a normal picture haha that is my family for ya!

I got my dad this book called Daddy loves his little girl...He LOVED it!

So New Years Eve my sisters both went to a church dance and my parents were planning on going to six flags with some other couples in the ward which left me alone. My parents decided just to take me with them to six flags so I got to spend new years with a bunch of couples from our ward. That was my trip and it was so wonderful to be with my family and spend some quality time with them! I love them with all my heart and can't imagine life with out them!!!

I LOVE to see the Temple....and go to Conference.

One of the many things that I love about living in provo is living so close to the temple! I love the fact that I can go any time I want and I can just walk right in without an appointment. :) Did you know that the provo temple is the busiest temple in the world? (probably becuase it is right across the street from the MTC and both BYU and UVU students go to it haha :) ) We have gone to the temple a lot :) here are a few pic from a couples times that we went :)

Austin Chapman came to visit his bro (Ryan) and so we decided to go to the temple. From left to right, Ellen, me, Ryan, Austin, Ryan C. This was a way fun trip! I love going to the temple and spending time in the house of the Lord...there is nothing better! (Ryan has more pictures on his camera I just don't have them :) )

The next time that we went it was really late so our pictures are kind dark haha :) This time is was Daniel, Shaye, me, Ryan, and Brandon.

This is Shaye and Danielle....The temple is supposed to be in the back ground but sadly....you can't see it :( It is still an awesome picture though :)

Brandon decided to plank in font of the temple teehee :)

Shaye and I took a picture hugging in front of the temple so of course......

Brandon and Daniel had to take one as well!

Along with the temple I was blessed to be able to attend the Saturday morning and evening sessions of General Conference! It was wonderful! Although we were in the balcony the seats were perfect and it was an amazing experience to be able to go!

For saturday Morning I went with Ryan, Shaye and Austin (cause he came down to visit for the weekend again) It was awesome!! 

The first session was amazing! There was one unusual thing though. When we started President Monson was not there. We thought that was quite odd. But then he came in during the congregational hymn (while everyone was already standing haha) After he spoke (which i will talk about in a moment) he sat back down and slept the entire rest of the session. It was quite odd but a beautiful session.

So back to President Monson's talk. He announced all the new temples that are being built. He announced that the provo tabernacle that was to become another temple!! Provo gets another temple!!! :D Im sooo excited! I cannot wait!!! This is what it is supposed to look like :)

I super excited!!! :D :D :D It is going to be beautiful!! After it is built, I will have two temples just down the street from me :) 

So anyway, for the second session I went with Shaye, Ellen, and Ann (a girl that lives down the hall from us) It was another beautiful session :) going to conference at the conference center was wonderful and a new exciting adventure for college :)

I am so grateful that I have to opportunity to live where i do! I am grateful that i can just walk down the street to go to the temple instead of driving three hours to go. I am grateful that I can go and be in the presense of Prophets and Apostles. I am grateful for their beautiful words of wisdom and the help that they have and will be in my life!! I love BYU!!

Holy War Weekend

According to Wikipedia the Holy War is a college rivalry football game between Brigham Young University and University of Utah. Isn't that the truth!! The BYU v. Utah game is the biggest rively in Utah and everyone likes one or the other. Whether it is Football, Basketball, rugby, or gymnastics University of Utah is our rival! We are determined to beat them at anything and everything we can. The first rivalry game of the weekend? The Worlds Largest Dodgeball Game :)

They needed to break the record of 2,500 people so what did property solutions do to get enough college students there? Free T-Shirts and J-Dawgs (best hotdogs ever!)!!! So being the typical college students we were up for breaking a world record and for free stuff! :) Since we really wanted the free T-shirt we decided to leave super early. Ryan Chapman, Shaye, Ellen, and I all Piled in Ryan Reese's car and drove to Thanksgiving Point where the game was. We got there 2 hours early! haha :) It was worth it though! we got our t-shirts and our food :)

Once we got there and it finally stopped raining we were freezing cold. Then We got to actually play dodgeball! It was crazy! I am pretty sure that BYU had twice as many people as Utah! There definitely wasn't enough balls but it was a fun experience! When we decided to be done Ryan Chapman, Ellen and I ran out and over to the side. Ryan Reese and Shaye were still in there and when they started to come out they looked at each other and went right back in.

So a little back ground story before i go on.....When we first went in i was talking about how funny it would be if we took one of the dodgeball's how as a souvenir. I was totally joking around!!! so when Shaye and Ryan looked at each other i guess they decided to go back and get a dodge ball for me hahahahaha. So they came back with a dodge ball and guess where it was??? In Shaye's Jacket!!

Hahaha she had decided to try to pass it as a pregnant belly to get it out. I didn't look much like a pregnant belly but it was rather amusing nonetheless! On the bright side she got it out ;)

So with Dodgeball in tow we left the dodge ball game :)

It was a funny event and an adventure that will forever be marked by the dodgeball I have in my room :) So after this adventure we were talking and realized that it was the weekend that the Lion King was in 3D in theaters!! :D we were all soooo excited and wanted to see it sooo badly that we decided to go. We drove home (well back to the dorms anyway) picked up Brandon and Blair and we were on our way :)

It was waaayyy fun!! Everyone loved that movie in the first place and we all had a blast signing along and quoting the movie the entire time. I'm pretty sure the people around us were pretty annoyed with us hahaha :) Shaye and Ellen I think were the most fun to watch because they were all out jamming the entire movie! It was very entertaining.

When walking out of the movie theater we found a photo booth.....so the girls decided we would try to squeeze in there and get some pictures. The pictures turned out quite funny if i do say so myself, and it was way fun doing it. Well when we came out of the photo booth this is what we found...

I know it is a little blurry but yes, that is Ryan, Ryan, and Brandon all of the kidding quarter rides. The started off in a car with Stuart little but then the upgraded to the safari jeep. (and yes they did actually put quarter in and ride it!) It was rather amusing and while this was happening a security guard walked up and he creepily followed us all the way out of the mall.

After the movie and being followed by the creepy security guard we decided we were hungry and so we took a drive to in-n-out burger (which are now all over utah)! we ate there and went back home and slept FOREVER!!

And then.....IT WAS GAME DAY :D

University of Utah vs. BYU.... the rivalry to beat all rivalries and guess what....we were 8th row :)

I don't have a picture of me from this game but we were rather close and it was awesome! this pic looks like we are father away but there are people on the field haha. Although our team sucked it up at this game (yes i will admit that) we had a blast! and guess who we saw?!?!

JIMMER!!!! 

(he is the one in the white long sleeved shirt)

When we very first walked into the game he walked right passed Ryan and Brandon and me! we didn't realize it until he was like right next to us and we were all stat struck. We could have reached out and touched him if we wanted! It was awesome! (on a side note, if any of you know who Brandon Davies is, Ryan saw him in the cougar eat once and thought that was rather cool)

Well as I said before we did not do so hot at the game, the score at the end was 54 - 10 and the stands were pretty much empty by the fourth quarter. But that is ok! it was a fun weekend and I loved every minute of it!! :D 

JONES

I have to admit i am a terrible blogger but i am honestly trying haha! So since my last past a new semester has started which means new people and new adventures :)

JONES :D

Once upon a Time Shaye (my new roommate), Ryan, and I were studying in our normal spot (The 5th floor of the Library) when Shay looked over at me and told me that the Jones Soda RV was at BYU!! We were both super duper excited!! Shaye and I decided to go on a adventure and go find the RV! ryan did not want to go (either because he doesn't like carbonation or cause he had lots of homework) so he stayed in the library with our stuff. After asking campus police, the information desk, and the information hotline we just decided to go in search of the RV ourselves. We walked right into it!! :D 

When we got there we got our free jones!!! we were sooooo excited!!! We got FREE Jones!!! we even got our picture taken and posted on the jones Facebook page :) we decided to ask if we could get one for the nice security man who we asked at the library and guess what?

They gave us one :) it was AWESOME!! then after all our excitement we had to walk up the a billion stairs in the heat to get back to the library but it was definitely worth it! :D we were so excited about our free jones that we made up a theme song for ourselves that went to the tune of Dora the Explorer. hahaha

We then returned successful back to the library with our free jones in hand. The security guy thought we were awesome for taking him jones and we were more then happy to take him one! That was definitely an extremely fun time and the start of many adventures the year!

BYU BABY! :D

I know that this is late but I am going to do a recap of some of the stuff me and my roommates have been up to! :)

 BLUE MIDNIGHT SPAGHETTI :D 

 First things first, our blue midnight spaghetti! haha So one night we decided at about midnight that it we were hungry. Well naturally the first thing we thought to do was to make spaghetti! :) So we made our spaghetti and then right before we were going to strain it we decided to dye it blue :) it looks so gross but it actually tasted quite good! About a week later, we were making spaghetti again and this time Hannah and Kamilla (my roommates) decided to try to dye it purple. Well that time it didn't work out to well haha. We had many different descriptions of what it looked like. Worms, Brains, and Throw up, to name a view hahaha.

Disco Roller Skating

 So there is this roller rink in Utah called classic skating and Fridays are disco roller skating night! It was sooo fun! The first picture is of me in my disco clothes all ready to go :) the second picture is of me and one of my roommates Hannah :) we were sooo excited! We went with a big group of people and it was awesome cause even the guys dressed up! It was so so much fun! I loved it! Hannah took a bunch of pictures with her camera but she lost it so we lost the pictures too :( but we still had the ones that we took on my computer before we left! It was way fun, even though i cannot roller skate haha. It was a very fun night!

Homemade Mac & Cheese

YUM YUM YUM! So my mom makes the BEST homemade mac and cheese and I really wanted some. That is definitely my comfort food! So I called my mom and me and my roomie Kamilla decided that we would try to make it haha. It turned out soooo yummy! I loved it! It made me sooo happy! It kind of makes me sad that I am not going to have a kitchen for the fall and winter because that means that I can't have home made mac and cheese :( It's ok though cause I will just make it a lot until I can't any more hahaha

The Utah Bun

The elusive Utah bun haha. Kamilla and I were sitting in our room and we decided to see what we would look like if we put our hair up in a Utah bun. For those of you who never knew what a Utah bun is...this is one. hahaha needless to say we looked ridiculous and we still don't understand why girls wear their hair like this haha.

We have yet to climb up to the Y but that is definitely in line to be done. We have basically stayed up until between 12 and 2 every night and we still get up for classes in the morning haha. We enjoy eating lots and lots of creamery ice cream and I think that is how I am going to gain that freshman 15! It is just so good that I can't help but eat it! haha we have also gone bowling on campus and played a couple games of pool haha. We have devotional every Tuesday and this past Tuesday we had Brad Wilcox give the devotional! It was AWESOME!!! haha we do a ton of studying and non of us have had a date yet haha but we know that there has to be one for at least one of us soon haha. There is so much going on it is so crazy but I LOVE it! I am sooo grateful that I was able to come to BYU this summer and even attend BYU at all!

STAND

You sit at home and think
how great it is to be able to vote and work
and to do whatever you want,
but what if that weren’t an option?
What if you were not given those choices?

What if you were a woman who could not show her face in public?
What if you were stuck at home doing work all day with no contact with the outside world?

What if you couldn’t even show your affection for your husband in public?
What if you were just given away like a slave to be married?

We need to come together,
make a change,
and help those who need it.
We need to provide aid
and show people that this isn’t how they should be treated
and we won’t stand to let them be treated like that.
We need to stand!

What if you were a child who had to go to work all day every day?

 What if you worked for pennies a day for your family?

 

What if you were enslaved because your family could not afford you?

 

What if you didn’t get any education because you were working in a field?

We need to come together,
make a change,
and help those who need it.
We need to provide aid
and show people that this isn’t how they should be treated
and we won’t stand to let them be treated like that.
We need to stand!

What if you were a prisoner being tortured to death?

  What if you were sent to jail for no reason and sentenced to death?

What if you were whipped and beat because you stood up for what you believed in?

What would you do?

We need to come together,
make a change,
and help those who need it.
We need to provide aid
and show people that this isn’t how they should be treated
and we won’t stand to let them be treated like that.
We need to stand!

What would happen if we all said I don’t need to be treated like this?

What would happen if people said this isn’t right?
 What if you said I want to be treated the way I deserve to?

 What if you stood up to make a difference in someones life?

 

We need to come together,
make a change,
and help those who need it.
We need to provide aid
and show people that this isn’t how they should be treated
and we won’t stand to let them be treated like that.
We need to stand!