Scroll Digital's First Show!

Yesterday in Scroll Digital, we got critiqued by Brother Thompson and Brother Howard, both of whose opinions mean a LOT to us in the Comm Department because they have sooo much experience! I loooved their comments. Unfortunately, they ran out of time before they could get to my story. But. Here it is for you to watch and critique. Feel free to leave comments. This was only the FIRST show, so be gentle. Like I said, we've been called to repentence and we're ready to take it on! And please please please watch everyone's stories as well riiight here.

Conference With the Family

Conference weekend is always so great. How can I not be excited to hear what the prophet and all of his counselors have to say for me, right now at this time?! And usually it's a lot of fun to watch it with my family in April, but I won't lie... I really love being here and watching it with my friends while I'm here in October.

This year, we got together with our awesome FHE brothers and had breakfast and all watched it together. It was SO much fun! Aaron made us (literally...I'm not joking here) THE BEST cinnamon rolls I have ever had in my life. From scratch. And then we had hash brown and egg and cheesy egg roll things that I made. Yes, my husband and I are quite talented. Haha

Once our little children were all stuffed, we all just sat and enjoyed conference together...and just enjoyed each other's company! We played a game called What If or something, where you write a phrase starting with "What If" and then pass it to the next person who writes a conclusion. Then when you go around, person a reads their what if and person b answers with what is on the back of their's. Then person b reads their "what if" question and person c reads their statement. You get the point. Anyway, it got pretty...dang...hilarious. We're a pretty fun bunch. And we played a couple other games, including the Ha game. But pretty much, us girls stayed over there foreeeeeeeveeeeer just to hang out with our awesome brothers. We just hung out and talked (and cleaned up) and ate. That's right. I think we had almost every meal at their house today. It was just such a fun time! I don't know how the next round is gonna go tomorrow (since we have a relief society one planned) but I had so much fun today. It all had to end when the upstanding young gentlemen went to Priesthood session. And Alex and I went and sold ice cream at the Teriyaki Express all night. But they came to say hi to us, so really, it was an all day event. If you weren't there, you missed out my friend. Really missed out.

Anyway, I'm so so glad we did that. I just love my extra family to PIECES. Actually, to smidgens. Yeah that's right.

Thank you so much boys for letting us come over and invade your apartment for hours. WE sure love you. :)

Ps. So funny because I'm 99% sure at one point or another, we were all asleep. Tanner and John the most, those little precious snugglebugs. Not with each other! Oh man, that could get me in trouble. But. Snugglebugs none the less.

Nothin On Us

Okay, can I just say how amazing BYU-Idaho is?! I think everyone underestimates it as a school. People always say how lame it is and you only go there if you "can't get into BYU-Provo" which is so dumb. We have some amazing people attending this school. I love it so so much. And this video makes me even happier and more proud that I go there!!! Watch it. It's one of the coolest things you've probably seen in a while and it shows the super talented people we have at our school. You definitely can't see me, but you better believe I looooved doing it!! I LOVE BYU-IDAHO!!

Thanks for "helping" us out!

Holy SMOKES!!! I haven't blogged in ages!!! I miss it. But good news! I have cute pictures and a great day to talk about. So grab a seat buckaroos.

How great is this holiday?! I had SO much fun! The Griggs invited us over to their house for a little shindig because they are just the greatest ever, and there were some of us who didn't really have a place to go. Well, back up. Originally, Karlee and I had an idea (thanks to Heidi) that everyone who was going to be left here should just have a dinner together! But then in relief society, Sister Griggs announced that who ever didn't have a place to go was definitely invited to their house for Thanksgiving! So we went with that.

But we all took Camille's car down to Idaho Falls which was actually kind of scary. We had been in the middle of a blizzard the last couple days so the roads were TERRIFYING. But Karlee knew what she was doing and when we got there (after NOT getting lost, thank you!), the Griggs gave us a tour of their house (SO cute-Heidi and I couldn't get over how adorable and homey it felt!) and then we just sat and talked for a little while and had a-MAZ-ing appetizers-shrimp (how many college kids can say they've had shrimp just to munch on!?), crab, veggies, crackers-basically a schmorgesborg of good food. Well, then their daughter Mindy came over with their family, which was so fun to meet all of them and meet the little ones, and then we all sat down to Thanksgiving dinner! Turkey (of course) AND ham, potatoes, stuffing, Sister Griggs' signature rolls, gravy, corn...it was so so awesome. I was stuffed by the end! (Get it? Like how the turkeys get stuffed?) Then we all sat down to enjoy being filled to the brim and watched Reflections of Christ. We were getting a little nervous though, because we all agreed it would be in our best interest to leave a little early so we could make it home safely and everything ("Dessert was great!" haha) and plus we needed to make a couple stops. So we were getting a little ansty when 3:00 rolled around, but they understood so we had pie, and took some pictures, then started the drive home! It was SUCH a fun day!!! And afterward, Heidi and I went to try to make a snowman. We failed. Haha The snow was way too soft and it was freezing and we didn't have a way to roll it up. So. Instead we just carved BYUI into the snow in front of the library. It was great. Haha Then we finished the night by watching Elf and drinking hot chocolate. :) It was so so so great to be able to feel like I was part of something when we were all so far from our families. So I'm thankful for my wonderful friends, leaders, ward, and the chance to be up here at all. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Jessica, Ryan, Sister Griggs, Karlee, Amber, me, Heidi

Do sheep say "Fleece Navidad"?

So I haven't really blogged in a while...a couple days. But still. I was doing so well!

Well the countdown is officially on until Thanksgiving Break! Aka: my catch up week! I will be spending that week in the library. That way, when I get back, I will be doing 50% less homework! Whoo!!!Oh yeah! And we set up our Christmas tree yesterday! We were feeling very much in the holiday spirit and Camille had brought it back from her house, so we set it up!! It was so much fun! And it look beautiful!! Everyone gets so excited when they walk in our apartment. Haha Bring it on Holiday Cheer!!!

Me, Ally, and Kate showing off our cute little tree

And, just for fun, a hilarious joke...
What nationality is Santa?

A. North Polish.

And a little funny Christmas quote: "I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph." -Shirley Temple

The Spirit Rock

Who says that you can't have a GREAT time just enjoying other people's company?! That is so not true! And I can prove it because tonight was just so much fun! Kim and I went over to Ryan's house and we just sat and talked with him and Jordan and we even made a pizookie! We just talked about high school, breaks, their missions, Kim going on her mission, and just life. It was so great. AND! We played bang. I lost. What else is new. Haha

I'm so glad I have such awesome friends (and roommates) here and that we can have low-budget fun. Yeah, I'm cheesy, I know.

Ready, set, snow!

Oh man. It's here. The Infamous Rexburg Snow.

I'm not kidding when I say that Rexburg looks just like this.

I know I should be used to it by now, but I never am. It's fun for like...2 minutes. Once your body actually realizes that it has no blood flow, that goes right out the window. However, I will say there are some great things about snow: snowmen, hot chocolate weather, snowboarding (not that I can go, but still exciting!) and I love seeing little snowflakes on everyone's eyelashes. Drawbacks? Me slipping like I've never walked in my life. I guess that was only the first say when everything was slush-but quite embarrassing seeing as how I had to grab onto random people to keep from falling. Then you have to do the whole embarrassing "Oh! Thanks!...Er, sorry!" and everyone's like "Whoa there! You okay?" Oh jeez.

BUT! The number one best thing about snowfall? Goodbye Fall, hello CHRISTMAS season!! :) Yes, our apartment is already playing Christmas music and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. But if you wait until after Thanksgiving, that really only gives you 22 days! That's not enough! There are like a million Christmas songs and I want to hear em all! I love Christmas. Can't wait to spend it with my awesome family and friends....and then be stuck with them for 4 months. :)

"Anyone Else" would be a bummer

So today was pretty great day if I do say so myself...

First off was the COLLIN RAYE CONCERT!!!

I went with Camille and Andrew and we had a BLAST!! I'm pretty sure we were the craziest ones there because my throat was SO sore the next day from all the screaming I did! Haha We were singing, dancing, clapping, and during one of the songs, a couple went out to the middle of the floor, where there was a little space, and were swing dancing!! So romantic. But yeah. It was SO much fun! He played almost every single song I wanted to hear (the only one he didn't play was Couldn't Last A Moment, but it's still newer and I'm glad he stuck to the older hits!) and we were all singing along to every single one! He was so nice and so funny too!! I was so happy he wasn't like "Oh lame, I'm at a college campus." He kept saying how great we were to play for and just how excited he was to be back here (after like a decade. Haha) and he was just so great. So fun. I can't wrap my brain around why some people don't just adore country music. It is SO upbeat & fun! I had a new appreciation for his music again at the end of the night. He's awesome.

Then the three of us met up with Ryan and Jared and all went out to eat at Sammy's!! Sammy's is the coolest. Seriously. I'm going to miss their sweet potato fries and burgers and GREAT live music when I have to go home. So depressing. But we all went and ate and had a great time! Then Andrew had to leave, so Camille & I went back to their house and just sat and talked with Ryan and Jared. They are so much fun. Hanging out never gets old. We were laughing all till curfew and then, the gentlemen they are, they walked us home. I just love my life. To death. (Get it?)

Bugs and Hisses!

Twist the bones and bend the back

Trim him of his baby fat

Halloween was SO much fun!!! Melissa and I really wanted to be festive, so we went to the store and found the scariest/grossest things we could to make an awesome dinner for our room

mates! I dressed up as an investigator and we all just had a good time sitting around talking and watching Hocus Pocus, which I have watched every single year since freshman year of high school. It was so awesome. I love that we were all quoting it. Plus we had a few people over, including a couple people who scared the CRAP out of Kim & I with their dang masks!! But it was fun overall. Mellow, and fun. I have to say, I was quite alright eating my gross dinner while watching Winifred sing I Put A Spell On You. :) I love Halloween.

We had human inners (lasagna)

Witch's Toes (Breadsticks)

And Graveyeard Dirt for dessert!

It's the Freakin Weekend, baby!

So I guess I have a bit of catching up to do. I was on a roll, dang it.

Thursday: Guitars Unplugged!!!! Congratulations to my most favorite neighbors!!! Aimee and Amy were AWESOME!!! They did such a great job and I was so excited that all of us were able to come and support their amazing raw talent! Someday when my computer isn't crap, I'll have to load the video of their song. Gosh. SO much fun! And the whole show was awesome too, don't get me wrong. We all had a BLAST!!

Friday: Best of Guitars Unplugged (so all the people that got the most votes from the two previous nights get to perform on the big stage in the Hart for everyone. It. Was. AWESOME. (I know, I use that word too much. None of my roommates went (well, except Kim who worked the show) so I got to sit with Levi, Amy, Aimee, and Grandon! And not only was I obsessed with getting as many glowstick bracelets and I could, but I caught a free t-shirt that was thrown to the crowd and with it came a free cookie coupon!! So great. And we stood up, danced, sang. It was awesome. THEN! There was a dance party right after. I ended up leaving to come back and check on the roommates, since I promised a girls night right after, but in the end, when Kim came home, her and I decided to go back to get our grooves on. And I'm SO glad I did!!! I never ever get tired of dance parties. And I never will! But afterwards, our sweet FHE brother Justin (who is going to the Albuquerque, New Mexico mission! WHOO!!!) bought us chocolate milk and we walked back to my apartment. Well then I decided I hadn't seen Ryan in way way too long so I invited myself over to join in on their game night with their FHE sisters. We played Girl Talk Jenga, followed by Truth or Dare Jenga-much more interesting. Haha At one point, we had Jordan over at the girls' house next door, complimenting a complete stranger on her eyes. Turns out, she was visiting and doesn't even go here! It was so much fun though. There are such great people attending this school. Anyway, you better believe I slept well that night!

I was clearly in love with my 36 bracelets
♥

Saturday: Well it turned out to be a bust until the night. We were supposed to go to the Straw Maze-that didn't work out. Instead, we decided that it was the perfect night to have cookies and milk. So, off to the store we went and we all chose one box of cookies and came back to watch Letters to Juliet. Of course we got in our jammies, they laid all the different boxes out on the coffee table and grabbed & munched on different cookies while we watched the movie. It was so much fun! Yes, we had a few guests too. I love it when people stop by. It's my favorite.

We love being goofballs.

I'd say we're definitely mid-great weekend. :) Stake Conference is tomorrow too; it will be the icing on the...cookie.

"Never deprive yourself of your personal destiny"

So yesterday, I went to the Thursday forum (yes, mostly because I had to for my Comm 100 class) but I am SO glad I did!!! John Huntsman came and spoke and he was seriously so amazing. He has a rags to riches story, and not only is he a billionaire (you heard me! A BILLIONAIRE), he donates most of his money to his cancer research fund!! He is so amazing. Here are some of the things he said (I couldn't write things down fast enough!)

• "God did not put us here to fail."
• "Life has little regard for those who waste time." (My biggest problem)
• "We receive inspiration from the mountain tops, but we achieve our maturity through the hills and valleys."
• "No is only the beginning of the conversation." (This was a funny story, but his point was that "[he] was adamant that no one else was going to determine my personal destiny."
• "Difficulties are intended to make us better, not bitter. Better. Not bitter."
• "Stay true in the dark, and humble in the spotlight."
• "Have faith in yourself- each of us have something great to achieve."

And those are just the direct quotes. I had 4 pages of notes by the end! He was so amazing.

One really cool story he was telling us is that he had applied for this job to be the head of Medicare in the 70s. He was 1/14. He had to go through 2 days of intense interviews and on the last day, the man was interviewing him said to him on his way out, "Are you a full tithe payer for your church?"
(Confidently, he answered) "Yes, I am."
"..No one here in the white house is a member of your faith, but I know enough about your religion to know that if you're a full tithe payer, you are an honest man. Therefore, I am recommending you to the President to become his right hand man."

And he got it! Isn't that amazing!! Gosh, I can't wait to read his book. I wish I would've asked him a question because he gave them a free, autographed copy of it to them!! Blast.

Ben Harper while writing papers

First things first. YAY for midterms being done!!! The bad part is that now my credits will drop from 17 to like 13 or something. Oh freak. I may have to try to get into another class. We'll see. And I finished another video for I-News! Want to take a gander?

Big plans for the weekend (yes, I am already looking forward to the weekend. I need a break!):
-Justin's birthday!!! WHOOOO!!!
-Straw maze* (and I get a package for I-News out of it!)
-A whole lot of catching up on sleep

And something else I want to try is making a french macaron!! (I hear they are so mcuh better than normal gross macaroons you eat at Passover?) I'm dying! Look how delicious these look! I know, right?!

*Also, is anyone else getting sooooooo excited for Halloween!?! I know I am!! I have found the most fun things to do, including what I want to make for breakfast and dinner!! I know. I'm a freak, but seriously, Halloween is SO much fun! This one blog has a million things you can make-I'm doin em. You can take a look here if you want! There's some super fun stuff!

Well. That's all for now....I can never do homework in the library too long without something distracting me. It's a curse.

P-Night

Tonight was SO awesome!! After a really rough week, I was ready to just hang around and relax around my apartment. Well the amazing thing is my roommates had that very same idea! So we got pizza (with crazy crust of course, my favorite) and while we ate it together, we watched all kinds of wedding shows (Say Yes to the Dress is our favorite. We love Randy). Then once we had digested it, Melissa and Kim went out and got cookie dough and ice cream to make a pizookie!!! So we ate that up, hung out and cracked up a ton, then all got in our pj's and watched the Notebook and cried together. Awwww, I know. We're adorable. It's been SUCH a fun night. I really have been so stressed lately & busy so I never even get to hang out with my roommates and see who they are! So it's nice to have a break. And I really love my roommates. We get along so well and just have fun hanging around together. Not many people would want to do, but we love it! It's so fun. Oh, it is love. Haha

And on a side note, Melissa and I were almost killed tonight. Consider yourself lucky we're still around. We were just sitting there, enjoying the wonderful movie, when all of a sudden, at the same time, we noticed this HUGE black blob crusin around the floor RIGHT by our feet. There was a fly in our apartment, so we thought that's what it was. When we realize it's CRAWLING and not FLYING, we veeery loudly say "Whaaat is THAT!?" almost at the same time and we both JUMP UP offf the ground and scream and run around onto the couch. Camille saved the day and killed it with a shoe, but we had quite a long laugh after that... :)

The pizookie made only with love

Nothing like chick flicks in your pj's, let me tell ya

Recap

Just so we're clear, I DO wish I wrote more on my blog. Dang it. I just NEVER seem to have the time! With 18 credits, friends, projects, tests, sleep (wait, what am I talking about?! I don't get sleep. Ha. What a joke) it's a lot to handle, but I'm just gonna keep chugging through. Although, I DID finally pick a major! I am majoring in Communications with an emphasis in broadcasting. Whoo hoo!! And so far, it's been a dream. I love it and I love my classes and I am so excited to finally be focused on doing something I love and am excited about! I can't wait to start my career!

The basics I should post about the semester are the things that have been fun. That includes trips with my roommates, random stop-bys by fellow students, exercise, bonfires, educating myself in the world of underground music, socials, motorcycle rides, treat-making, editing with friends, the unofficial karaoke, movie nights (especially outside), food runs, game nights, the long talks, the birthdays, the parties, the birthday parties, conferences...I think I've covered all the basics. But that doesn't mean that I don't put my head on that pillow every night thinking "Wow, I only did one fun thing today." Because not everyday is going to be filled with exciting, completely out of control fun activities. When you love your life, you love the day-today things about it too. And those are just as good to me as the ones that happen on occasion.