The Proposal

Sorry this is so incredibly long with lots of details-I did that for myself but figured you would all want to read it as well so... I hope you don't get bored! :) (Videos will come at a later time.)

Well the story really starts (from my perspective) Monday night after FHE when Carrie asked me if on Wednesday I wanted to do something fun like go out for ice cream or something just to take a break from homework because she had been so stressed. I accepted her offer but said maybe not ice cream since my tummy hasn’t been liking it lately. I was excited and went to bed. Then on Tuesday sometime after classes Kelsee came in to talk to us and Carrie asked her if she wanted to join us on Wednesday and I had the idea that we should go to Gringo’s for chips and salsa, fried ice cream, and sopopia (no idea how you spell that). Kelsee was excited and the time was set 6:00 p.m. Then Wednesday comes. I woke up and started getting ready. I picked out my clothes my new white and yellow stripe shade shirt, white undershirt, gray sweater. I was going to get dressed in the bathroom and then ran back into my bedroom and grabbed my black undershirt as I exclaimed “wardrobe change.” I finished getting ready, including having Kelsee help me put on the necklace that Jared had given me and went to class. During my break that day from 12:30-2:00 I felt like everything just kept making the day better. I had one test score raised 4% and another raised 5%. Then I got on and found out that I was accepted into my application only class for winter and they only accept 9 girls. Then I went to New Testament and it was really good. I went to get tickets for a concert and that didn’t work out as planned but I had had such a good day and was counting down the hours until Thursday when I would get to see Jared. My class had been canceled on Friday and so I was going to surprise my parents and be home Thursday by 3 instead of Friday afternoon. I walked home with Felicia and we saw a guy from our ward and he was walking really funny so we laughed about that on our way home and were sharing how the day was so great and enjoying the beauty of the falling leaves on campus. It was so nice outside on Wednesday. I got home from class and was doing a bunch of stuff but nothing in particular because I just wanted a break from homework. I tried to call Jared but he text me and told me that he was in class and would be out soon-I had forgot that it was Wednesday and he didn’t have his break from 3-5. So I decided to blog about my great day-blog post “Another Great Day at BYU-Idaho.” I talked to Jared for a few minutes at 4:15 when he was “out of class,” but let him go so that he could “drive home.” Then I painted my nails because they are so long and I can’t stand it when nail polish is chipping. After that I was just enjoying being in a good mood and my roommates so I still hadn’t done any homework. I was in my room and at 5:45 Carrie said that we should just go then so I told Kelsee and invited Felica and Kailee to come and asked Nicole again if she wanted to come but she said she couldn’t. I hurried and fixed my hair and makeup and then we started to watch videography from a few weddings that my roommates and I have been loving watching (these videos) lately. We were able to watch a bit of them but they wouldn’t load all the way so finally we grabbed our coats and left. As we walked out of our apartment I asked if someone had a camera and they said that they did. This is one of the few times I didn’t grab a purse but was just holding my wallet and phone, no coat even. As I got into the hall I saw Kylee Egbert in the lounge sitting by the phone, she had a camera in her hand and started running up the stairs as she said hi to me. That put me in the back of my roommates as we headed out the back door to the patio. I was looking to the left and heard someone playing their guitar.

I glanced over and then immediately did a double take. “JARED? Is Jared really here? He had class,” were my thoughts. I started shaking immediately. I was so shocked! He was sitting on a barstool strumming away on his guitar with his guitar case open in front of him, and a ring box inside, he was even wearing jeans and his pink polo-he had thought this all through! I had stopped 10 feet away from him and out of the corner of my eye I saw my roommates exiting the scene. I heard windows open on either side of us as he continued to strum away and I slowly walked towards him. My thoughts still were “is he really here?”

And he asked me if I was going to let him sing his song. I told him that I would and so he started to play and sing a song that he wrote for me. I heard one or two words every few lines, but my mind was going crazy. Honestly I didn’t think it would ever end. I looked around and someone waved to me from the living room window in apartment 8, I couldn’t tell who it was but I could see a camera and the person waved.

Then I looked towards the lounge and saw a bunch of people including my roommates with cameras. I couldn’t move during his entire song. I just stood there thinking “is this really real?” At one point in his song I heard another window open and a girl say “I think they are getting engaged!”

Jared finished his song, gently put his guitar case down and picked up the ring box and walked towards me.

He got down on one knee and opened the box and asked me to marry him. I don’t remember his exact wording, but I said YES without hesitation.

I put my hand out and let him put the ring on my finger.

He stood up and we hugged. He gave me a short kiss and the doors burst open with a bunch of screaming/clapping girls running out to hug me.

I don’t even know who all came out to hug me- Micah for sure, I think Lindsey Henneke was also there. Ashley Balmforth came out and did a little dance as she exclaimed “and you have it all on tape!” It had been her from apartment 8 that was recording it. Apparently she came home from work and saw him and asked him what he was doing so she recorded it. J Thanks Ash. Jared and I went into my apartment so I could pack the few things that I needed because we were headed to Shelley-he told me that my mom had already worked it out for me to ride back up with Sister Toy in the morning. I got into my apartment and was surrounded by hugs from my roommates. It was one big group hug. I don’t know exactly how the next 20-30 minutes went, I couldn’t think straight. I know that I was trying to pack and didn’t know what I needed. At one point I was in my room with 10 other girls who were all laughing at me because I couldn’t think straight. Jared ran and got 4 pizzas to pay up to my roommates. Then we headed back out to the patio and it was time for a photo shoot. Roommate pictures, past room- roommate pictures, and of course Jared and I. After we took pictures I ran and told a few people before we left and then we headed to the car. We got into the car and the very last part of Love Story was on the radio “I talked to your dad go pick out a white dress it’s a love story baby just say yes…. Cause we were both young when I first saw you.” J I am a happy girl! I felt like I had been attacked from perma-smile because I couldn’t stop. Immediately I called my mom as we headed home and talked to her, then I called his parents. His dad answered the phone and I asked him if it was ok if I married his son. He responded with “My son? My son? You want to marry my son? Which one? I have two? Jordan? He’s already married! Oh Jared? I guess if you want to!” Then I got to talk to Julie and we told her we were headed to Shelley. I called a few more people on the way home to tell them and then we just talked for a bit, we got to Shelley and I was met by Parker and Julia being scary. It was so good to have all of my family there when we got there. It made me so happy! I got to meet Parley even! We went and visited grandma and headed to Jared’s to see his family. Everyone was so excited for us and that made us even happier!

Throughout the course of the next few days I found out a few things:

· Jared had been plotting with Carrie and Kelsee for about 2 weeks.

• · The reason he had taken his signature off of his texts was so if I was looking at Kelsee’s phone I wouldn’t know that they had been texting.
• · Cahlin had been giving him guitar lessons so that he could get better since he had surprised me for my birthday and learned for me.

We are getting married on the 9^th of April in the Rexburg, Idaho temple. Our sealer will be Brother Brent Kinghorn who was recently released from the temple presidency. He is my old roommate Ashley Bedke’s grandpa and is an amazing man. It is amazing sometimes how everything just falls into place. The Lord truly knows what is best for us and when it is right in our lives. (Yes I am not winning the $500 bet with Alicia, but I am perfectly ok with that!) I am so thankful that I was able to place my trust in him let everything fall into place in my life. I am so happy to be marrying my Best Friend. Jared is amazing-I am sure you all know that from being around him. While we might not completely understand the series of events that happened in April we know that this is the path that was intended for us. As we continue to place our lives in the Lord's hands and do what we are asked we know that we will continue to be blessed.

The reason we picked April 9 is because of schooling. I will finish my winter semester on the 8^th, but Jared will still be in school. He will skip the next week of classes-his review days and then I will go back to school on the 12 for Spring semester. That week he will have to go back to BYU to take his finals but then he will be done for the summer. I will be in school until July while he works. I will walk at the end of spring semester because in the fall I will be student teaching in South Salt Lake-hopefully in the same district as his Aunt Julie. J We will make our home somewhere in between Provo and Salt Lake for at least that semester. When I was telling my Uncle Paul the reasoning he said "Oh, you had no idea it was your grandparent's anniversary then?" I told him that hadn't even crossed my mind but it made me really excited. I have a new favorite song as well that I have been listening to all of the time lately-or singing if it isn’t playing click here to listen to it! J

Enjoy the Journey.

Another Great Day at BYU-Idaho

Some of you may know that the title of this post is what President Clark always says, and I couldn't agree more! I have had another great day at BYU-Idaho today, and have had a lot of them lately! Let me update ya'll on life.

• I found out that my fast grad application was lost but then I was able to take it from place to place to get all of the signatures that I needed and within 5 minutes of turning it in to admissions I got an email saying that I was accepted onto Fast Grad! SOOO Happy.
• Then I have been waiting to hear back about child lab-application only class and they only take 9 girls. Well I found out today that I got in and will be in that in the winter!
• I have been doing really well in all of my classes and am learning a ton. While I am frustrated by some individual test scores, I am ok with it and am still smiling! :)
• I have AWESOME roommates this semester! I really can't complain at all! We all get along so well and all have the same desires to become better and strengthen our testimonies. Each night we have roommate prayer but before we pray we all share a tender mercy from the Lord. It started where we would have to sit there for a few minutes to think of one and now we race to see who can go first and have to name like 3 or 4! It is awesome. Also on Sundays a few times we have been able to study the lessons together as an apartment before church. We have roommate council every Sunday and set a weekly goal that we all want to become better at! These girls are so awesome and I am blessed to have such a great apartment! We have been told numerous times that our apartment feels like home (by those who come over), and that they love coming and feeling the Spirit here.
• I have been blessed to have a great family in my life. I know that I probably don't say this enough but I really do and I am so thankful for everything that you all do for me!
• Jared is amazing like always! We have been lucky to see each other every 2 weeks for different reasons and it has been wonderful. Besides that Skype is one of my favorite things right now!
• My fingernails are sooo long! AND strong! Some of you may know that I used to have the terrible habit of biting my nails. Well the habit is broke! I always have fingernail clippers with me so that I can get any imperfection that would tempt me to bite them. And I try to keep them painted as much as possible but I am amazed at how strong they are! I feel like I have fake nails sometimes!
• I have an awesome FHE group! The past two weeks we have had great activities and have been able to serve. When we had our roommate pictures we were walking home and noticed a little old lady outside working in her yard and 3 of us stopped and helped her weed her garden for about 20 minutes. We wished we had more time but we had to go. But Felicia (FHE mom) went back and asked her if we could help her rake leaves. Felicia and Tyler (our dad) also found another elderly couple a few houses down that they asked if we could help them too. So on the 18 we went and were able to help these people in their yards rake leaves and do different miscellaneous jobs for them. Then this past week we decorated cupcakes (we did cake/brownie/cake in them and they were sooo good! I was impressed with their decorating skill-I taught them how to hold the frosting bag, gave them a few tips and let them go) and then went to Tyler's grandparents. It was Tyler's grandpa's 85 birthday and we went and surprised him. It was so fun! We talked to his grandparents for about 45 minutes and then we still had about 16 cupcakes left so we asked his grandma if she had friends we could take them to. She said of course. She is one of the cutest old ladies I have met! She reminds me of Sister Hinckley-small and petite but with lots of energy. We went and visited a number of her friends and she told us what the Relief Society knock is. At the last few we also sang a hymn and it was so awesome! The Spirit was so strong and we sounded really good!

Jamba was having a sale for FHE-only in Rexburg. So we went after we raked leaves! We had our lesson outside of Jamba and this was Nicole's seat!

Felicia and Kelsee

Darren, Me and Tyler-we were the Red crew. We had a green crew too but we didn't get a picture because they weren't as cool! ;)

• I am just really happy with where life is at right now and feel like everything is starting to fall into place. It is crazy to think that a year from right now I will be slightly over halfway student teaching! Where has the time gone? Am I really old enough to be a junior in college? Is one of my best friends from high school, Justine, really getting married in about 2 weeks? I guess so, time goes so fast. REMEMBER THAT! Take time to slow down and enjoy where you are in life right now. Don't wish you were somewhere else in life-it will come, faster than you think. I promise! Think about it... It is October 27 already! Don't wish for Christmas before enjoying Halloween and Thanksgiving-that is a goal I am going to work on from now on. Enjoying where I am at in life, and not wishing that I was somewhere else.

Enjoy the Journey.

Friends

In my life friends have always been a struggle for me. I had friends who were only my friends at school, only my friends at church, or only when it is convenient for them. Lately my friends struggle has grown as past roommates have decided that they no longer feel the need to be friends with me. It has been a struggle for me these past few days and it is hard. It is hard to see the pictures and statuses posted on Facebook or to hear them talking about "special plans" and to not be invited. But as I have been thinking about all of these things I have realized that I don't need to be doing those things with them because the pictures that they post are inappropriate and that I wouldn't have had fun with them anyways. I have also been reminded what is important. I am so thankful for my family and that they are always my friends. I am thankful for Jared and that he is always my friend. I am so thankful for my true friends, those who care about me no matter what. Those who love me when I have my good and bad days, if I have just been camping for a few days and smell bad, if I am just out of the shower without any makeup with my hair drenched and looking like a rat, or if I am totally put together and have the confidence that I am a daughter of God. I am so thankful for those in my life who are true friends; to those of you I say Thank You. Thank you for being there, for caring about me and the things that are going on in my life. Thank you for your kindness and support in all of the things that I do. I love you all.

Enjoy the Journey.

Habits

Today I was thinking about habits that I have had/have broken random I know but what else do you think about in the class "Issues in Global Climate Change"?

• Biting my nails- this is a habit that I have broken and am so glad. I love having long nails that I can paint-I am a French tip kind of a girl and feel so dainty when my nails are painted.
• Doodling- this is a habit that I has increased lately. All growing up my mom would doodle when she would talk on the phone. Lately in class my notes have been decorated with flowers, squiggles, any random shape that I feel like drawing.
• Running: this is a habit that I am trying to make. I have been doing pretty good, but sometimes I still feel like I am slacking. I am in need of breaking in my running shoes faster than just when I wear them to run-any ideas?
• (side note as I write this I am at a test review for that class- my teacher is making all kinds of random dumb jokes... we are all up too late trying to study because we find him funny.)
• Making my bed: I used to be terrible at doing this but now my OCD has taken over and I have it done every morning before I leave for class.

These are just a few of my random habits. But they are what make me me! What are the other random habits you have noticed that I have or what are yours?

Enjoy the Journey.

Welcome to Apartment 20

A few weeks ago we had roommate pictures taken and even though I wasn't in a super great mood to start out with we had fun and got some good ones!

Obviously this first picture is of me... thought I would give you all some eye candy. haha something like that...

Carrie is my room roommate. She is from Modesto, California, but most recently her family has moved to Lehi, Utah. She is a returned missionary and served in the Illinois Chicago North Mission. She is great! Honestly we get along sooo well and I am so thankful for that. She is quite until you get to know her. There have been many a late night talk where she has got me laughing so hard that I couldn't stop-once even the rest of our roommates came in to see what was going on because I was laughing so hard! She keeps her part of the room clean and is a constant motivation for me to be better.

Kelsee is from Erda, Utah and every time she tells someone that they laugh. It is the way she says it that is so cute. Kelsee and I go on lots of adventures and have made a lot of crazy memories this semester. To her I am now known as Buzz Lightyear, and she is now known to me as my little alien. Oh the things you come up with at 1:30 a.m.

Nicole and I actually met Summer of 2008 when we were in the same group at EFY. Then last fall she ended up being in my ward and I was her relief society president.She is from Nampa, Idaho. She has an amazing voice and is always making the rest of us laugh.

Kailee is from Indiana, and is amazing at the piano. She is the ward music coordinator and gets to play the organ in the Hart this semester for devotional. While Kailee and I are very different heights, we can share the same shirts/skirts/dresses so that is a lot of fun. My wardrobe has actually expanded as she has cleaned and donated to my cause. ;) (she also just got a job as President Clark's secretary and published a book her senior year of high school)

Felicia is also from Indiana and is from the same stake as Kailee. This is her first semester here and she already is in the groove with schoolwork and social life. She keeps all of us on our toes as she makes smart remarks and adds to our "quote" board.

Yes I am pretending to be the Statue of Liberty.

We took them at this house by Sunrise that was falling down. My roommates went exploring in it but I didn't feel comfortable doing that so I stayed outside and was ok with sitting in the rubble of the front porch.

This is my favorite picture. Kelsee and I have the face down-it is because she said she didn't know how to be serious so I gave her some advice as to how to achieve the look... it worked! ;)

Enjoy the Journey.

Parley Walker Banks

I got a new nephew on Sunday! Congrats Chad and Lisa. I wish that I could be there to hold him!!! I keep trying to figure out how to get down there earlier than Thanksgiving!

Stats:

7lbs 2 oz

19.5 in

5:45(ish) p.m. (their time zone)

When I get the ok I will post some pictures. For now I am so excited and hope that he gets to come home from the hospital soon! It has been so much fun to talk to Parker and Julia about him. They both love him so much already. I love the way Julia says his name and tells me he is little.

Chad and Lisa-I LOVE YOUR CHILDREN!!! Thanks for always being willing to share them with me. They always brighten my day. I can't wait to skype with little Parley soon!

Enjoy the Journey.

FOR ALICIA!!!

I know I haven't updated in forever... really it has been on my mind but... things happen and I forget! So I was looking through my phone pictures and decided to post about some random things as well as give an update.

Stephanie and I after Miss Russet. I was so impressed! She rocked my world on stage. Stephanie tied for Most Tickets Sold-which happens to be the same thing that I got. She did awesome!

This is terrible picture quality-my camera is on its way out. This is Kelsee and I one day before leaving for class. She is wearing one of my polos. The funny thing is that we were both wearing Aero polos, AE jeans (I told her later I should have changed to the exact pair she was wearing) and tan shoes. Kelsee and I always are cracking jokes with each other. She is soooo funny!

In my textiles class the four of us because instant friends. Me, Allison, Elizabeth (who Alicia is from Fulsom!!!) and Rachel. We were putting together our swatch kit and had some furry fabric. The tape wouldn't stick to it so we used the tape with the fibers on it as facial hair. Yes I am rocking the sol patch.

Adam's huge fathead that I put up in his office. this thing is 5' wide I believe. That was a fun project. Adam was glad he enlisted the help of the master vinyl applier (I guess that is the title I just came up with for myself).

Ignore my icky toenails-they needed to be painted!! sick. Anyways this is a picture of my final tan lines on my feet from this summer. I live in the sandals that made these lines. Thank you Old Navy.

Life is grand. I am still waiting to hear back on fast grad and child lab for winter semester. Hopefully I will find out soon. I picked up my application for graduation today. I will be getting my associates at the end of this semester even though (hopefully) a year from now I will be student teaching and finishing my bachelors! That is a crazy thought. I will be a certified teacher? Am I really old enough? Time flies! I remember my first semester when my roommates were juniors and I thought they were soooo old. Ha that's now me.

A week ago on Sunday morning before church I went to talk to Ashley Balmforth (who is one of the relief society presidents this semester-I knew it!) and she was sick. I went on a search for medicine for her and told her that if she was too sick to teach relief society I would do it for her. Then I went to church early to study my scriptures. She asked me to teach because she wasn't sure if she would be at church still-30 min before church started. I was so nervous but the lesson was on Sister Beck's talk from April's conference. I was told by a member in the Stake Relief Society presidency that I taught beautifully. That made me feel really good.

This semester I am one of the ward FHE coordinators again. I am excited for this calling again and hope that I can meet all of the goals I have for myself through this.

Classes are going well. I finally feel like I am in the swing of things, I had my first test and got a 90%-I know I am slacking. BUT I know how I can prepare better for next time for that class. I am enjoying all of my classes and am constantly amazed at how things fit together so well with all of my classes-how they are intertwined.

I have been realizing this semester how much I love it here. Sad that it has taken me this long to fully realize how much I love it here, but I really do. I love praying before class starts, I love that boys will hold the door for you without even thinking about it, I love that we are all here for the same reason, I love that those I associate with are also trying to become someone better.

Well Alicia-this is it for tonight. I got off my schedule last weekend and have been doing hw for classes the day before its due instead of the day it is assigned like I normally do. So I am off to finish my assignment for tomorrow but I hope you are glad that I updated you. Next post will be roommate pictures and introductions to all of my roommates. Off to do Issues in Global Climate Change....

Enjoy the Journey.

Blessed.

I love skype.

I am blessed so much by my Heavenly Father! It has been a crazy past week but I will explain why. To start last Thursday I missed my first class, the bookstore had sold our entire class the wrong book, I forgot my i-clicker, my new book was actually $178(with tax) and not $69. Then I found out that I would need to take an application only class (child lab) during the winter if I get on fast track and not spring because of time conflict and when another class is offered (only spring). Then I realized I didn't have one of the prereqs done for child lab. I also realized that credit level for scholarship/grants is 14 credits and student teaching is only 10 credits. BUT then everything started turning around. I went and talked to a couple of advisors and started getting answers. I found out that I was fine missing the first class, and what hw I needed to do for the next one. Then she said that if we had our book by today we would be working on that stuff still and so we would be fine. I was able to write my answers to my i-clicker quiz on a piece of paper and turn them in. Then I found out that the prereq I was still missing I can take in the same semester as child lab and that I was turning my application in plenty early to be able to get into that class for the winter. I then found out that 10 credits is "full time" when student teaching so that qualifies you for scholarship and that they created a 2 credit easy class to get you to 12 credits to be able to get grants. Then today I dropped my parenting class because it was just too much work for this semester-18 credits... I tried it for a few days... not a good idea. But I found out that I only had 5 of the 6 religion credits I needed to take. So this morning after doing my application for FAST GRAD!!! WOOT! I called Bro. Torngren. He explained to me that he had been creating custom 1 credit religion classes for people in this situation. SO I went after devotional and created the 1 credit religion class so I am taking 16 credits instead of 18. Heavenly Father has been looking out for me and has blessed me so much. These are just a few of the major things that I have been noticing these past few days!

Enjoy the Journey.

1.2.3.4.5.

This past week has been crazy but it has been so fun. I was called a week ago this past Thursday to be an I-Team leader for the incoming Freshman. I-Team is basically freshman orientation. I felt like an EFY counselor because none of the boys showed up! And I loved it, because I have always wanted to be an EFY counselor! These pics are from the week sorry they are in random order!

Singing Hymns at the end of the "Spirit Challenge"

We were blindfolded and had to walk around campus to the fields (we didn't know at the time) and there we did the "Spirit Challenge." It was awesome! It was like the world and finding the iron rod and making it to the Celestial Kingdom.

Our "Human Formation" picture. We decided to do the Rexburg temple, complete with the couple in front. ;)

Playing Lava Escape-one of the games we played at the new student BBQ.

Four of the six in our apartment were I-Team leaders. It was so fun! L-R Nicole, Kailee, Me, Kelsee

I am so thankful I had the chance to do this! It was such an awesome experience and my testimony grew so much! The first two days of classes are done! WOOT! Thursday had both extremes, good and bad. It started off with me missing my first class because my schedule messed up online... UGH! But it ended good. Friday was GREAT!!! Everything worked out and I could see the tender mercies of the Lord.

This semester my roommates and I have set the habit of saying roommate prayer each night. BUT before we pray we take turns saying one tender mercy from that day. It is such an incredible thing to do because then we realize how much the Lord is in or lives. At one of the training meetings for I-Team, after we started this, President Clark promised us that if we would take the time to look for tender mercies we would realize how much the Lord is into His work. It is so true!! Another thing we decided to do is since we don't have church until 1:30 on Sundays we are going to study the relief society/Sunday school lessons that morning.

On Sunday I get to conduct Relief Society and I am so excited. I miss my calling as RS president so much! I was so happy when Jordyn (the other RS president who actually got put in with me) came over and asked me. Tonight I get to go to the Jon Schmitt concert and am excited about that too!

I have never been happier at school honestly. This semester has started off great and I am so excited about it! With 18 credits I am going to be busy but it will be worth it.

Enjoy the Journey.

Shoes!!!

I am so excited I got these beautiful shoes while I was in visiting Chad, Lisa, Parker, and Julia. I wanted to cry the day I came home from my run at the end of the semester and realized the holes that were in the sides of my shoes! SAD DAY!! BUT never worry!! I got new running shoes and will be testing them out tomorrow evening!! (Anyone wanna join? I don't know why it cut the pic off but if you really want to see the whole shoe you can click on it... ;)

As for my life right now I just got back from that visit and Jared was able to come Friday-Monday and we had so much fun! (I will post pictures later) He heads back to school tomorrow but will be back after classes Thursday night. I move on Labor day. Then we get to start the long distance relationship thing again... we have done it for 2 years we are pros... right? ;) I am excited about the start of the new semester but as all it will bring new challenges. I am registered for 18 credits. I know most of you will think I am crazy but as for 1 of those credits I will turn in all of my work the first full week of school and be done with it, so it will be more lie 17. I have done 17 before so I should be ok. Also at the end of this semester I should be able to get my associates degree! BUT I am also hoping to get on fast track so that I can finish up my bachelors and graduate next July only to have student teaching left for the Fall semester. Wow am I really that close to finishing college? WHAT?! I have completely new roommates again this semester which should be fun. All of the girls I have lived with are going to be on the 4 apartments on the 2nd floor closest to the stairs to 2 on one side 2 on the other. That should be fun! One of my roommates from last semester (Lindsay--in pics below somewhere) just got engaged and will be getting married in December. CONGRATS to her!! Her dress is absolutely beautiful and we got to go shopping with her at the end of last semester. Also Jared's brother Jordan is engaged and he and Cahlin will be getting married on October 15 in SLC. Congrats to them! (Poor Cahlin has been through the works the last couple of weeks soooo sick and now has mono, so she is taking the semester off and will be in Missouri until they get married! Sad!)

I am excited to start school though, it will be good to have a routine again and be able to know that I am going running and doing an ab workout every night... I have slacked off during my break. I am almost done with my 7 wk break class and only have 2 lessons left-which I hope to finish before Jared comes home this weekend.

As for life right now that is pretty much it! I just keep going with the flow and all of the constant changes that come!

Enjoy the Journey.

Birthday trip to the Zoo

For my birthday Jared took me to the ZOO! I was so excited!

This was a picture from my "Birthday Date" at the greenbelt.

This is how I was apparently supposed to hatch... Jared was showing me how.

But this was way more fun and it was my birthday so I thought it was perfect to "hatch!"

Classic Lion drinking fountain.

Sweet Hair!

Jared on the Lion

Me on the Tiger

Flamingo Jared

Grooming time!

Me as a Monkey

I had a great birthday! Most of my present from Mom and Dad was my trip to CA which was great! I also got some clothes and books, INCLUDING President Clark's new book Armor. I am really excited to read it! Thanks to everyone who helped make my birthday great!

Oh also Parker and Julia helped me blow out my birthday candles via Skype. I loved the help and can't wait to see them TOMORROW!!! :)

Enjoy the Journey.

Highlights.

Life is crazy right now! I am off for the 7 week break but am taking a 3 credit Doctrine and Covenants class online, so I don't really get a break. I am loving the class, but it is a lot of work, and super fast. A lot has happened since I have done a real blog post so here are a few highlights!

I finished the semester with straight A's!!! WAHOO!!

I was able to go to California with mom for a week to see Alicia and her family and had a ton of fun! We didn't get the camera out much, we were too busy sitting by the pool and getting tan, but here are a few shots from the end of the week.

Aly at soccer practice

Watching Aly... terrible picture of me.

Aly's is the dark pink ball in the back... LOVED having Debbie's camera with me!

Mike

Mom, Heather, Alicia

I got back in time for my birthday and am no longer a teenager. I have hit the "big" 2-0.

I have been "treasure finding," as Jared calls, it with him the last 3 times and have been working on a project for Lisa as I have been doing that. It has actually been a lot of fun and I am so impressed with how cheap he can get things (he is a pro bargainer!)! We have all been helping Adam and Karissa clean and unpack/organize their house, it is looking so good! Jared is helping them sell some stuff on his blog/ebay, so hopefully he can make them some grocery money! Also a good luck to Adam as he starts Pharmacy school in a few days! I am so happy he got into the program!

This week I get to go to see Chad, Lisa, Parker, and Julia and am more than ready to see them! I miss them so much daily! I am lucky enough to be one of Julia's favorites right now and get to Skype with her all of the time. Good luck to Chad as he finishes up his semester and to Lisa as she finishes up her pregnancy! I am excited for both of them as well!

I was awarded Full-tuition again for this next semester and am realizing what a huge blessing that is. I am so lucky to be able to get good grades and have that paid for. It is definitely worth the study time!

Today Jared and I went and visited Sheri Schmitt. As she was talking to us she told us that someone told her that you should always have 100 goals down, and challenged us to do so. So we are making a list of goals. If you have any that you have had and think are fun let me know!

I need new running shoes. I have had mine since February of senior year (3.5 years) and mine are falling apart. I didn't start really using them until last fall (before I got put in the boot) and this past spring and now they have holes. I HAVE to find a new pair before I go back to school!

Enjoy the Journey.