Photo Update

^ My friends Bear and Trisha, on our field trip to Monticello for our America and the Enlightenment class. My second time, and I loved it still!

^ The pumpkin I got to carve. I did it on a date. We didn't get a picture together, but obviously the pumpkin is more important. Can you tell I drew the Japanese face? (And left the carving to my date, or it would've turned out horribly)

^ My roommates, Haylea (a pregnant woman - my pillow!), Brittany (Greta's friend from back home, she was a Team Jacob girl.) Rachel was a Hannah Montana-obsessed-little-girl, and I was an Otaku (a Japanese nerd). Greta was performing in her show "Trojan Woman" at the time, and she was Brittany's other half, a Team Edward girl.

^ Me and Morgann as matching Otakus

^ At the Chestnut House, in Kelsey's room

^ Last home football game of the season. Yes, that is a 52 oz. Dr. Pepper. And I drank it all in one sitting. It was like the size of my torso! Good times.

^ I found out someone knew how to make legit, authentic, homemade, delicious sushi and made some for me. I was in heaven. Salmon and Shrimp!!!

^ I was SOOOOO happy...that's our bathroom

^ At Lee-hi's restaurant, after the concert

^Truman concert on campus. They were very very very good. I totally bought their CD and we listen to it all the time. They're brothers. And hot. Ahem.

^Right before the concert

^ pulling the "Morgann" face

^ frolicking in the mountains

^ Blue Ridge Parkway at sunset is AMAZING

^ after our Bella Voce concert

^ when Morgann's family came out to visit her and we went window shopping in downtown Lexington. I had so much fun!

^ I love this little town. It's so old but kept up!

^After making a banner to advertise an Institute activity

^ dressed up for the Homecoming game (SVU won!)

^ Alexander's Ice Cream Emporium.

^ In front of our dorm. The view from our dorm in all directions is breathtaking - and this was taken before all the leaves changed.

Sorry that was kind of lame. But just so you can see how much fun I've been having. I have one more class, then I'm leaving with Rachel right after to go home with her for Thanksgiving. She lives in North Carolina. I've never been to that state, so I'm excited to go, meet her family, and take a break from school. Hopefully I'll get more pictures from that.

Busy, Busy

I am sad. I am really sad. For reals.
I have not written in my journal or updated my blog in weeks. But it's so hard to find that happy medium of writing all the exciting things in our life down in our journal when our life is busy, and finding exciting things to write about when our life has slowed down.

All I know is that I'm excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas break to catch up on sleep. My job keeps me super busy and tired, but it's so fulfilling to call these prospective students and talk to them about what I'm passionate - SVU. And the money is nice of course.

I'm finding out more and more everyday why I was supposed to come to SVU. I'm changing so much as a person. I really don't know how I lucked out with getting the best roommates in the world. I know that I keep beating that dead horse, but it's the honest truth. I can tell that we're going to stay in touch after we go our separate ways. I can't pinpoint certain experiences that dramatically changed me. It's been a gradual process that I can look back on over the past few months. I'm so glad I made the choice to come here. I have a better relationship with my family, and I'm learning so much from all my relationships here.

I will start working on a post today with stories and pictures. I'm still sad that I don't have a camera. But it sounds like my mom is getting me a sewing machine for Christmas! I'm so excited! I love being independent!

In the meantime, leave me a comment telling me about a life choice you made that you are super-dee-duper happy that you made! Peace and Buh-lessings.

A Happy Saturday

I started my job! We had a 5 hour orientation on Thursday. It was really I intense, but good. So now I'll be even busier, and so I'm a little stressed out, especially because I'll be representing the school. And I'll get to help with the orientation this Saturday. And I'm giving a talk next Sunday. And I have a new cousin! His name is Andrew Hess, my Aunt Micalea's third baby and first boy. He was born on the 12th. So now I officially have 3 cousins I haven't met. Grrrrrr.

I will be working every weekend now :( but I will get to sleep in and hang out on the weekend nights still. Morgann's family came to visit her yesterday (Saturday), and they let me hang out with them! We went out to Ruby Tuesday's, to Walmart, and walked around the shops in Lexington. There were the cutest little stores! Me and Morgann have been trying to go forever, and it was just as wonderful as we thought it would be. The weather was wonderful! The leaves were turning, the sun was out and warm...there was a football game so the shops were empty...and the ice cream we had was scrumdiddlyumptious. I was in heaven.

Then I got a blessing, which was a really good experience, then me and Morgann watched Robin Hood (my favorite) and The Duchess (I hated it) after her family left. Her family is so fun! And it really made my day. I was going to have a lonely day, but it felt good to be with family, even if it isn't my own. I love it here, but I can't wait to see my family.

I'm learning so much! I've had professors relate the menstrual cycle to the Atonement and the Second Coming. And we talked about Plato being one of the people that visited Wilford Woodruff in the St. George Temple in our Philosophy class. So life is still good. And I'm still working on being patient.

Date Pictures

I didn't take any of these,but here are some pictures from my dates.


^ This is Mitch

We had a big group at Don Tequilos for dinner. It was a lot of fun, see description of the dates in the post below this one.
I didn't get a picture with Tylor, seeing as I don't have a camera, but a nice person took poctures of people watching Toy Story 3. I'm in that mass of people somewhere.

News

So I have a lot of news. First of all...I have a job! I had my first job interview for it! I was really nervous and called my dad right before. I get to be a tele fund ambassador for the school. I'm so excited. So if I end up calling you for a donation to SVU, you better give me some moneys! Because then I'll get a raise too. Haha

But everything worked out so well. Morgann got the job too. It was really stressful because we were afraid only one of us would get the job. I got 81 words per minute on my typing test with 97% accuracy. And my interviewer said people would be able to hear my smile through the phone. This guy used to work for BYU and he said that in the 23 years he's been working at both schools, he'd never seen what I wrote on my application - "I love people." And I really do.

Well, I've also gone on 2 dates. The little details are going in my journal, not on here. But I'm happy to report that both went well and I had a fun, good time. The story of e first date is a funny one. I asked him. Actually, I won him. At a date auction. I wasn't planning on buying anybody. Me and my roommates went to go see the craziness and drama just for the fun of it. The starting bid was $10. And at first, boys were only going for about that much. I felt really bad and I wanted to bid, but I knew that I really didn't have the money to be doing that (this was before i even applied for my job) Well all of the sudden, a guy went for $340! I can't even begin to describe how high the emotions were in the room right then. The girl that won was sitting right next to us. People were handing her money. Adrenaline. Screaming. Energy. (Who has that kind of money on them, though? Haha)

I got especially hyper. The next boy who came up next was in my math class. Caught up in the moment, I started bidding on him. Yes, I won him for $45. It didn't hit me till I got back to our room that I'd have to tell my parents. And that was 9 days worth of food! My roommates offered to pitch in to help me buy food. But then the birthday money i got from my grandparents reimbursed it. Our date was watching Toy Story 3 out in Chandler Field that Friday night. It was fun.

The next date was dinner at a Mexican restaurant on the Saturday of General Conference. Then we had a bonfire with plenty of guitar playing, starburst roasting, and s'mores with Nutella (which are absolutely delicious by the way). That was really fun too. And we ended up talking till 3:30 in the morning.

I'm having midterms. Which is no fun. But it made me realize that I'm already half-way through this semester. Time is going by so fast! And I wish I could be updating more, but I'm just so busy!

I loved General Conference. It was weird to not be watching it with my family. Elder Holland (he's my favorite) and Elder Christofferson's talks were my favorite. I got to see all of the sessions and I learned a lot. And we had Stake Conference this weekend. Oh, and on Tuesday there were no classes and 5 huge buses got to go to the D.C. Temple. It was my first time at that temple and I loved it! It was huge! It made me homesick for the Nauvoo Temple.

I've been trying to work on bettering myself. Coming to college is a chance to restart again. I keep getting discouraged and down on myself. And I keep thinking about how my grandpa is going to die in a few months. It doesn't seem real. But I'm happy that this happened while they were on a mission instead of him sitting around home feeling sorry for himself and feeling self-entitlement because he's old. I love my grandpa and I'm so proud of him. I called him the other day and he told me how proud he was of me. I started crying. I wish I could stop crying about it. And sometimes boys get me down too. But General and Stake Conference have helped lift me up, and I have wonderful roommates, family, and friends back home that keep me in check and make sure I'm not too hard on myself. But then at the same time that makes me all the more homesick. I have 2 baby cousins (Peter, Owen) that I haven't met yet, another baby cousin that's due today, my cousin (and best friend) Stephen just got home off his mission, my grandparents are home off their mission and my grandpa's sick, and my best friend Sam is home off of his mission too. Utah is calling me. I can't wait for Christmas when we go.

Wish me luck with all my tests and my new job!

Pictures

All of these photos were taken on my roommate Greta's camera or Macbook Pro.
On my birthday...me and Rachel got into my lemon cake. Notice the crumbs on Rachel's face

Our dorm room door

Football game

The matching nighties we got for my birthday



The lemon cake my roommates made for my birthday. Notice the bandages on our arms.

Sorry, just pictures for now. I promise I'll talk about what's going on very, very soon. I'm just so darn stinking busy! I'm always one thing behind...even when I plan my time wisely. So I'm getting behind on homework when I blog, so it usually goes to the bottom of my priority list. I need to talk about my birthday, grandpa, the date auction, and many other fun things

Weekend

I really wish I had my camera with me. Because I don't feel like I'm a good enough writer to blog without pictures to go along with it. Oh well.

I had a good weekend with my roomies again. Rachel got her car fixed, so she got to go home for the weekend to North Carolina. I don't like how I miss people I just met.

We all went to Alexander's for ice cream right after class on Friday. I got black raspberry with a brownie mix-in of course! Nate (the guy who owns the place and is one of my chorus teachers) was like, "you want a whole brownie?" Yes, make me feel fat. Please. But then he realized I ordered a single, not a double. So he said I was justified with a whole brownie.

When we went to pick up Rachel's car, the guy who owned the car place (Leroy) said, "was that all you girls laughing out there? I think you were having too much fun. I wish I could be young." But he didn't seem nostalgic or joking. He actually seemed depressed about it. How sad is that? It's your choice whether you're going to have a happy life or not, no matter what your environment is.

Morgann came and slept over that night in Rachel's bed. And we went to the mall in the morning! It was only an hour away, and a very good mall. And I got my hair highlighted for $5. I only had to buy the bleach. It's not super noticeable. But I felt like my hair was a little dark. Morgann colored her hair back to brown. It was kind of nippy outside, so we snuggled and watched The Haunting in Connecticut. We pulled the mattresses onto the floor and Morgann and me squished Greta in the middle. Morgann and Greta were holding hands and I was clasped onto Greta's arm. There was a part were we screamed and jumped so loud, their hands were almost broken and Greta's arm almost broke so we had to pause the movie to wait for the pain to subside. Morgann didn't sleep over again, so me and Greta just slept on the mattresses together. We talked about boys til 1:30, when Greta passed out. I had to keep making sure she was there during the night. Why do I keep watching scary movies?

I'm having all my roommates take the Love Language test. It's actually quite informational. I've taught them about "dressing their truths." Now we just need to take the color-personality test. Hee hee

I really miss 2:00 church. 9:00 is just not making my body happy. At all. Yes, you can take a nap after church, but why not just sleep in and not interrupt your sleep? And go to church happy? And then you have less time after church to be tempted to do non-churchy things. Or be tempted to not take a nap.

I got called as a Visiting Teaching supervisor today. Doesn't sound too bad. Of course that's what I get because my mom is so visiting teaching centered. Greta's the compassionate service chair, and Haylea's a Gospel Doctrine teacher. Rachel doesn't have a calling yet because she was out of town. I'm excited for the CES fireside tonight. It's my first one!

The update on my grandpa is: they never got a definite diagnosis in Chile. They ruled out a few kind of cancers including squamos cell, lymphoma, and melanoma. They got back to Utah on Saturday (yesterday) afternoon, bringing back slides with them to get a better diagnosis here in the U.S. Their first doctor appointment is Monday. They're going to keep us updated. I'm praying!

And my cousin Stephen comes home off his mission on Thursday. And my birthday's next Tuesday! Life is good. But we're getting so old! 21 and 19? What is this?

COLLEGE

I finished my first two weeks of college! When I told my mom that she laughed because I sounded so proud of myself. It's been busy but a good busy. I haven't gotten too overwhelmed and I've been spending my time wisely. I'm loving it here. Virginia is beautiful. Especially Rockbridge County. The view from my dorm is breathtaking. No matter what time of day. I need to post a picture. Just rows and rows of green mountains. Ah.

Even the math class I was dreading isn't so bad. Everything's been going good for me. No roommate fighting/drama, no classes I hate...I feel like I've already learned a lot just in these 2 weeks. Major still undecided...but right now I'm thinking about history. Oh, and Pocahontas helped me in class today. I was able to answer the question, "what British group came to the U.S. before the Puritans?" The Virginia Company, in sixteen-hundred-seven. (Not sixteen-oh-seven). So I'm keeping up with all my schoolwork, while still having the time of my life with my roommates. We spend too much time with each other. We keep trying to go out and be social, but things keep getting in the way (like a car not starting on the way to a football game)...but get this! I just got asked out on a date tonight. I've only been here for 2 1/2 weeks! But it's complicated. My roommates know the story. I'm very torn.

There's good devotionals every Friday to start off your weekend. Today's was by Stephanie Smith, a lady that just joined the church in 2007. But she had a top position in the CIA! And my institute teacher's wedding anniversary was yesterday. He said only about 3% of our generation would make it that far. I'm thinking I want to be in that 3%.

Oh, I'm on the Institute activities committee. I know my family misses me, and of course I miss them. But I can't believe how scared and homesick I was those first few days. That all seems so silly now. I realized I've been ready for college for a long time. Oh, and we got to go help some people move for $15 an hour. I loved it. I loved how I can come to a small town in the middle of Virginia and say Nauvoo, and everyone knows exactly what I'm talking about. But like this moving family weren't members, so I just had to explain that It's a tiny town in Illinois on the Mississippi River. "Is it by Bloomington?" Noooo. I love being Mormon.

And I just found out my grandpa has stage 4 cancer. And my love life is all messed up. But those haven't gotten me down. Every other happy thing has drowned those 2 things out. And when isn't a love life messed up? So I guess that one doesn't really count. And I feel like there's 2 different paths in my life that seem like they could never match up. But they both feel right. So I'm all sorts of confused. But I'm just trusting that it will all work out in the end. It always does if you follow your heart. Yes, Pocahontas has taught me many life lessons.

Gah I feel like all my blog posts don't make sense. But comment, because that makes me happy too

So my advice is...go to college, because it makes you happy!

Orientation Activities

The activities at orientation have kept me busy and helped me meet new people. There's been free dinner at the institute, a Jeremy Hoop concert (he's the actor from Charlie and The Testaments). Who knew he could sing? It wasn't really my type of music, but I liked the lyrics. Go look him up on iTunes. And we got to watch Iron Man 2, which I hadn't seen yet.

Oh, and there was a men's soccer match against Warren Wilson College. And...we won 1-0. Our goalie was really good. Hooray for some school spirit. There's been a Luau and inflatable games. We all wanted to repel off the side of the school, but I kind of chickened out and the cut off ended right after Greta, my roommate. She totally did it! Me, Rachel, Greta, and Morgann (our new friend) laughed and just had fun that night. I haven't laughed that hard in a while.

There's also been service projects. We had to go pick up garbage at the park. And I got a slice of pizza, a chocolate molten lava cake, and a bottle of water for only $1.32 from Dominoes! I'm loving all the cheap food I'm getting. We went to Walmart. Which was an adventure and a half. We got lost there and back. Usually you figure out how to get somewhere after the first time. I guess we're just challenged. But we got cleaning supplies for our dorm, and other little things that make our room feel more homey.

Then there was a stoplight dance on Saturday night. If you were single, you wore green, if you were complicated, you wore yellow, and then red if you were taken. Yes, there was mosh-pitting and body surfing. And the one guy that asked me to dance just got home off his mission from Japan. So we spoke a little Japanese to each other. Haha

The past two days, I've had 2 scriptures pop out at me. I love it when that happens. One is Helaman 2:27

"Yea we see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name."

And the other one is Helaman 4:15
"and it came to pass that they did repent, and inasmuch as they did repent they did begin to prosper."

Just simple little scriptures. But they had strong principles that I needed to be reminded of. I like how principles never change.
Classes start tomorrow, but I don't want to get too busy, because I'm having so much fun with my roommates.

Moving in

Adapting to college life is hard. And I haven't even started classes yet. AND I've taken college classes before, but this is totally different. I miss the babies (Mia, Noah, and Gracie) so much. I couldn't stop crying the first 2 days. But my emotional roller coaster has seemed to stop and I'm doing much btetter. I got my iPad and fridge, I found out one of my roommates has a car, and I made a friend who has a car. Oh, and there's a shuttle to Walmart. I'm settled in, I got my vinyl up on my wall, I feel like it's my own space. I've been getting great deals on food, and getting full on healthy food. I don't feel so lost anymore. Everything is looking up.

I'm excited for my first class in Monday. It's called Biology of Women. I'm still trying to get a job. I still need to go say hi to the Dean of Admissions, and my admissions counselor. But I did get to talk to my advisor, who's my biology teacher. Everyone's so helpful here. My dorm room got moved, so I'm in a different ward. My 3rd ward streak has ended. And it's at 9 a.m. :( I'll just have to take naps. At least my roommates didn't change. They're all really nice. I really lucked out in the roommate department, especially because there's 3 and we all share one room - which is a little cramped. The older girls only have 2 or 3 to a room. But there were over 2500 applicants this semester. Our freshman class is compared to our upperclassmen. There's supposed to be over 700 students this fall, the most they've ever had, but they're trying to get up to 1,000 to 1,200.

I'm starting to feel more and more at home all the time. I don't feel so helpless. I'm just starting to realize how simply you can live. I do wish I could take pictures of my room. I broke my mom's Nikon D60 while we were on the trip. I felt so guilty. But she forgave me. I love my mom. What did college students do before laptops, Facebook, or cellphones? You seriously would be fending for yourself. I'm totally surviving on those things.

In summary, orientation has really settled me down. And I'm happy.

Old Virginny

Yes, I'm posting this from my iPad. It was my surprise graduation gift from my parents. I don't feel like I deserve it. I love all the free apps. The only problem is I don't have a camera to take pictures of my dorm room or whatever. And even if I did, I'd have to upload them from a different computer. And I can't save pictures from other sites on my iPad. So my posts will be a little boring with no pictures from now on.

Well, i wanted to update after that, but the laptop charger broke. But we had a wonderful Sunday of relaxing in the pool, eating leftovers from Olive Garden, working out in the gym, reading, and having Tash teach us her seminary homework to us. We also got to start watching Our Mutual Friend. The car was fixed by noon on Monday. They replaced the radiator. And it wasn't the head gasket that was blown, so we we're lucky. And no engine damage. We were happily on our way. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner in West Virginia It was so much more fitting to have fried apples and dumplings and biscuits in West Virginia. Our waitress had an awesome accent.

We made it to Williamsburg by 11 that night. We got to tour Williamsburg, Jamestowne, and go to the beach on Tuesday. I loved being where Felicity and Pocahontas grew up. Even though my mom liked to remind me that Felicity isn't real, and that there was no John Smith-Pocahontas romance. Oh well. I can still dream what I want. I learned a lot of cool stuff. And it just seemed so surreal to be there. I was just too happy to actually see the beach. I missed it so much. I seriously skipped and hummed down the beach. I was in heaven. And it actually reminded me of a Japanese beach. I miss Japan. Dearly.

Well I need to go to bed. But I will update about moving in and orientation and getting used to everything. Keep in contact everyone!
Virginia is gorgeous. Green like Nauvoo, but with pretty green mountains. I'm going to school in the Shenandoah valley. How cool does that sound?

Well, we left today headed to Virginia. Just mom, me and Tash. We decided we wouldn't have enough time to go to D.C., and that we'd save that for when I get picked up in May. But we still planned to see Yorktown, Jamestown, maybe Williamsburg, Monticello, and Mt. Vernon.

We left at 9 in the morning, and even found a Qdoba's to eat at. It wasn't open...so we went to Taco Bell...that's like the difference between The Ivy and Mcdonald's for me. We drove all the way to Louisville, Kentucky. Our plans were to go much further. But the car was acting up. It was guzzling gas and the air conditioning turned hot. The car almost overheated. So we slowed down a little and turned the A.C. off. But the engine kept revving, and even with the windows rolled down, it was miserable. The car had been taken in for a tune-up specifically for this trip, so we figured it was fine. But we called my dad and he said we should just have it checked on real quick. Luckily, we found a place, but it was closing for Saturday night. They weren't even going to help us but my mom kept persisting. And they were very nice and helped us. If not, we'd have had to wait til Monday morning just for the inspection. It took quite a while, and they said it looked like there's holes in our radiator and a gasket blew, and if we would've gone much longer, we would have blown the engine. Good thing we stopped.

So, we can still drive the car about a mile, slowly. And they're going to look at replacing the radiator early Monday morning. Luckily, there's a Subaru place right around the corner. Maybe we can even get one of our keys replaced! Huzzah!

So...now we have less time to site-see, and HOPEFULLY they'll have the right parts to replace and that there isn't anymore serious problems. But we're being prayerful and faithful. It's just a little bump in road on our adventure. :) It's been really hard to say goodbye to everyone. And I've been on an emotional roller coaster, going from sad to leave home, to stressed that everything won't work out and I'll end up hating college, to a calm feeling of every thing's going to work out, to super excited to just hurry and get there and soak up college life. I'm a walking contradiction. I loved the extra week of no work, getting extra time to say goodbye to people and slowly packing and spending time with my family. And as tearful as I was this morning, I just wanted to hurry and get there, and now this.

But, I'm really starting to believe that everything DOES happen for a reason. This is where my dad would say, "Good luck=bad luck!" And things could've been much worse. Classes could've been starting this Monday, creating huge problems time wise, I could've been alone, we could've not made it this far, we could've blown the engine, on the side of the road on this hot day, because we ignored the problem and just kept going. AND there's lots of hotels and restaurants walking distance from the auto repair place :) So we got to go to Olive Garden, which I haven't been to in years. The sad part is, we can't go to church because it's too far of a drive. Oh, and the weird thing is, my mom was talking to us this morning about recognizing the feeling of being irritated as a warning sign that you're about to act or say something in a negative way. So instead, it should be an invitation to be positive and react in a Christlike way. Gosh, I'm sitting here preaching when it's all about myself and silly car problems.

Well I hope we make it there in one piece! Who knows what kind of a blessing in diguise this is :)
P.S. We read The Giver together in the car today and finished it. We loved it, except the ending is vague, and we don't like those.

'Tis the Last Rose of Summer

Gloria requested that I do more blog posts, so I will. Well, I'm done with work until I leave. It was the summer of working for me. I worked at three different places, sometimes all three in one day especially when business is busy during pageant season. It was funny to see people come to all three places and be like, "you're everywhere! where do you NOT work?" I love that the minimum wage in Illinois is the highest in the country - $8.25 (only D.C. and CT are that high)

I'm slowly packing and cleaning out my room. Giving all my hand-me-downs away, throwing away crap, saving stuff in my hope chest. It feels so weird to go live without my family, and to have my stuff in two different places. Oh well, I'll get used to it.

I'm excited about the classes I'm taking:

Biology of Women
America and the Enlightenment
Becoming a Leader-Servant
College Algebra
Bella Voce (Chorus)
Reason and the Self
and Institute!

I'm actually not to keen on the algebra. But I'll do my best. All my books came in the mail, except the one I have to get at the bookstore when I get there. Orientation is 4 days long! (If you include the Sunday before classes start. There's going to be a movie party, Luau, a dance, and lots of firesides and institute stuff too. I keep going from super relaxed about it to super excited to super stressed out (I can't breathe.) Which is normal I guess. I wouldn't be half as scared if I was going to Utah and be surrounded by people I know, but then that just sounds too easy. I need my adventure of being completely on my own. Classes start the 30th.

Well, I had a long Friday and Saturday of working doubles, but on Sunday I got to sleep in (I love afternoon church, even though nobody else does), and go to Quincy! We got there just as the sun was setting. Gloria hurried and snapped a few shots of our family just in time. Then we had a college/mission prep family home evening together. (Basically for me and Austin). Including a scripture chase and learning to sew on buttons. Me and Austin planned to pull an all-nighter. It started off with s'mores, watching Salad Fingers and Rémi Gaillard on YouTube, going and buying a bunch of junk...this is where Brady dropped out because he had to wake up early the next day. So me, Tash, Kennedy, and Austin played the skittles game. When it our mouths got full enough, we just spit it out. But Kennedy had to wake up early too so she went to bed. And Tash said she had to work the next day so she went to bed too.

Me and Austin were determined to stay up. We watched a Disney Singalong, watched all the Balloonshop videos on YouTube, told each other all the jokes we know...and played the skittles game again. Just the two of us. Which is suicidal, especially because we decided not to swallow. Just chew. I had to use my hands to move my jaw to chew at one point. Then I sad let's see how many skittles we can stuff in our mouths. I had to hold my lips closed I had so many! This is where Austin gagged and started throwing up. I smelled it, and started throwing up in my hands and had to wait for him to finish with the bowl. Yes, we shared a throw up bowl. We are seriously like cousins. We go all the way back to Bro. and Sis. Guthier's CTR 8 primary class in Tokyo :) But it's weird because our birthdays, he's a grade older than me plus he graduated early. And it doesn't help that he's over a foot taller than me. I think he always has been, actually. But anyways, enough rambling.

We ended up only staying up til 4 am, because we didn't want to die the next day. I was about ready to beat the little kids who came down and played Wii and Kingdom Hearts at 7:30 in the morning. I didn't get to go to Qdoba's because it was closed. Being with the Rodenberg's was worth it, though. I love having old friends that feel like family because you've been there for everything together. I will miss them so much in Virginia. They feel like family. And I think that was the perfect way to start wrapping up my summer. Tashi and the babies start school tomorrow. I never have to set foot into that possessed school again. Hopefully she can do something good by being senior class president. I am in a good mood! I think I shall go cuddle up with Cranford. :)

Now the Summer's Over...

^ (Sunday evenings are never boring at our house) ^

Wow. This is sad. One post a month? Time is slipping away. This has been my fastest summer by far. The days have completely blended together and I don't know what happened what day or if today is Wednesday or Thursday or if it's the 12th or 13th. I feel like it will be Christmas before I know it. Tash and mom will drive me to Virginia in a little over a week. I feel so unprepared. All of my textbooks haven't come in the mail yet! There's been so much drama with that. Like there was a $150 textbook that I needed, and I found it for $70 on Ebay. So I bought it. But then I found it for $45 on half.com. So I was grrrrrred. (Yes that's a word). But the $70 one never came in the mail. So we were able to get our money back. And get the cheaper one. Hooray.

^ (Why yes, we can amuse ourselves with plastic glasses) ^

Pageant is over. I'm not as sad as I was last year. Probably because we still live in Nauvoo and will always be here for it. And we can always stay in touch with all the pageant people. It was so good to see people from past years and meet so many amazing new people. We met the Richardson family. They have 25 kids - 20 of those adopted from all over the world. 18 still live at home. They live on a big ranch in Missouri, and came to Nauvoo to sell a book about their story. My mom bought a few. I still need to read it. So they were camping at the State Park for the whole month of July. With that many people!!! But their kids are all super nice and well-behaved. I wish I could've gotten to know them better. They watched pageant every night they were here. Can I talk about pageant enough?

^ (We went to Bloomington for the weekend to visit the Smith family) ^

All my friends are leaving for college within the next few days. Technically I don't need to be there til the 26th, but we're leaving the 20th to take a D.C./Virginia history road-trip. I really want to go to a North Carolina beach too, but maybe I can do that later because one of my roommates is from NC :)

^ (Ethan, a workcrew boy from pageant) ^

I had an amazingly fun time at the Smiths. I love Ella and Charles. We can just sit there and play card and board games for hours. I got to go to the mall and Barnes and Noble ♡ And I discovered that jeggings aren't for me. We got to go to their ward and I just went to YW with Tash and Ella. I answered a question and got it wrong. I was very glad they thought I was a Miamaid instead of almost 19 hee hee. We had so much Japanese food while we were there too. And got to buy some yay

We have a new kitty named Jiji. Named after the cat on Mahou no Takkyubin (or Kiki's Delivery Service). She is so pretty. Her tail is super long and she has piercing yellow eyes. Yes she's all black, but her fur is long and silky and we're not superstitious. She followed me and my mom home on a walk. She called out to us and just wanted to be held and fed. There was no momma or other baby cats around. And she was old enough to be weaned, but young enough to train for a litter box. And yes, she's trained now. She's the perfect cat. Seriously, the pooping all over the garage was the only problem at first, and even that's fixed now. She doesn't scratch or bite, and she loves to be held and rub up on you. She's also super afraid of cars, which is a good thing. Hopefully it will protect her from getting run over. She's an outside kitty. We let her roam the soybean patch to the west of our house, and the woods behind our back fence. And she always comes back. We almost named her Kiki, but the babies (Mia, Noah, and Grace) insisted on Jiji. No matter how much water we give her, she insists on drinking the collected water in the broken pool.


So I didn't leave the Tri-state area this summer, but I have learned to enjoy the places and people close by. And hopefully college out east will be a fun adventure for me. I'll miss everyone. Including Jiji-kitty. It's hard to go to school out east when it seems like everyone's going to school in Utah :( But I KNOW i was supposed to go to SVU, so I'm not going to doubt it.

Nauvoo Pageant 2010

My summer is flying by. I have seriously been trying to update. But pageant becomes your life and you have no time for anything else. I always thought a missionary's life sounds boring. The same thing everyday. And no time for fun stuff. But missionary work really can be fun. Being in the pageant is a life-changing experience that a lot of people in Nauvoo don't get to participate in. To a lot of people in Nauvoo, pageant is annoying. It means a ton of tourists that crowd the town and it means they have to volunteer to work in the concession stand. I wish more Nauvoo people could be in the family cast.

It's so hard to explain and talk the pageant up. I feel like I'm trying to explain what salt tastes like to someone who's never had it before. It's kind of like EFY, but for families. But you have way more fun and way more missionary/spiritual experiences and opportunities. You grow with your family and become different people. You learn to not complain/criticize. You experience Zion. I had a lot of experiences last year that still impact me today. I also learned a lot more this year and was reminded of things I had forgotten. You meet so many people from all over the country. Everyone puts their best into the pageant, so it is the best ♥

You learn learn learn. From other people, the Spirit, and all the activities you do. I wish everyone in the world could have the opportunity to be in the pageant. Watching it is one thing, (which really did heal me spiritually,) but being in it is too. Lots of people come to watch because they need healing from losing a loved one. I've probably seen it a million times. It never gets old. Pageant is where you can have a family dance at midnight and have more fun than an EFY dance. It's where you realize you're hanging out with a 13, 15, and 21 year old and you're having som much fun and you feel like you're all on the same maturity level.

Our Red Cast was huge! We barely fit on the stage. I got to know the core cast a lot better being in Red Cast. I keep seeing people from last year and it makes me so happy on the inside. Our family feels like we might not be in it next year. Sad face. I might go join my cousin's family. :) It is so exhausting and hard on your body, but it's so worth it. I highly recommend it.

A lot of my friends came from school and came more than one night. You can tell that they felt that special feeling too. Even though they couldn't put their finger on it what is was. Our family is assigned to help with the Preshow (Frontier Country Fair) for the rest of the pageant. So now I have a good excuse to go down there every night. I don't want it to end! I'm dreading the end of July. But that also means I'll be closer to going to SVU.

I found out my dorm room assignment roommates. I have 3 - named Greta, Rachel, and Haylea. I bought my textbooks. I have my schedule. My mom bought me a towel set the other day. Gah. Excitedness. The time will fly again and all of the sudden I'll be in Virginia!

I know I apologize at the end of each post about it not flowing smoothly, but I apologize again. I just do them in such a hurry! I wish I had more time to post...

I put pictures on Facebook!
Go to nauvoopageant.org for more information on applying etc.

P.S. Laura I would love to hang out with you and Becky once I get to college ♥