Summertime!

Well, I don't know that I have any pictures to post, so this might be a boring one.. so continue reading if you really care about me. Well, I finished my classes for the semester! I am now officially a sophomore in college! Woot woot! I decided to stay down here in Salt Lake this summer and take a few classes and hopefully work work work. Two of my roommates are done at LDSBC and have moved out and one girl moved in a few weeks ago. So, now there's just 3 of us, but Laurel has been gone visiting family pretty much since school got out, so it's been super nice just having the two of us here. I recently got a job at Bath & Body Works at the Gateway Mall. I have only worked twice and I don't work again until Saturday but then I will be working 3 nights in a row! Yes, I have to work Sunday. It's kind of a bummer, but everyone has to work at least one Sunday a month and I made sure that it won't interfere with my worshipin. I'm thinking about looking for another job too so if anyone has any suggestions, I would be glad to hear them! Classes don't start until June 1st so I am currently just playing with a smidge of work in there.

Speaking of classes, I have been thinking quite a bit lately of my first year of college and what I enjoyed and didn't enjoy about it, what I would change, etc. So, as a side note, I had to take the Math Compass Test to be able to register for one of my classes and I scored high enough to be able to test out of Math 110, which is College Algebra, and if I really studied for it like I could have, I was only a few points away from testing out of Calculus. So when I got my results, the advisor there was asking me why in the heck I was doing Interior Design when I was so good at math. So, that kind of got me thinking. So, after a few days of pondering, talking to mom and Dustin, and researching the possibilities, I have decided to change my major to Accounting and will be working on the Financial/Managerial Accounting A.A.S. Degree. It just happens to work out that I will still be finishing at the same time that I was planning on finishing before, which will be December of 2012. And since I didn't want my first year to be a complete waste of taxpayer's dollars and my time, I have decided to just get an Interior Design Certificate which I will have after completing only 4 more Interior Design classes. So, that is the plan for now. As much as I liked Interior Design, I think Accounting just seems to suit me better. I have one accounting class this summer that is a 4 credit class so I guess we will see after that if I am on the path to something amazing or totally messed myself up for not taking the Interior Design class that would have kept me on track to graduate.

Well, I'm guessing Cherice is dying to know more about me and Chandler so here are the dirty details, just for her! ;)  Chandler's dad was in the military so they have lived a lot of places, including Spain, Colorado Springs, and now they live in Illinois. He served his mission in Provo, which covered from Provo all the way down the the four corners. He is almost done studying International Business at LDSBC and will soon be taking a few classes at the BYU-Salt Lake Center to work on his minor, which is a foreign language of which he has not yet decided on. He ultimately wants to be in the FBI. We met the day before Valentine's Day at a friend's house and he asked me out on a date that same night. So, we went out on a date that next Saturday to a Folk Dance Performance that BYU put on at the Conference Center. A week later we went on a date to Ogden. I had never been on the front runner train before, so we took a little trip up to Ogden and just wandered around for a couple hours, grabbed lunch, and headed back to Salt Lake. Then, the next week we went to a performance of Hairspray in Centerville and the next week asked me to be his girlfriend. Of course we did a lot of other random things other than these, but I'm just sharing the highlights. We went to California with 3 of our friends the next week and saw Wicked!!!! And the next thing you know, he met mom and dad and Danielle at General Conference! A week after that, we got in a minor car accident in a rental car on the way back from Orem. It totaled the Charger that we were driving, but we were both ok, and in the end it really strengthened our relationship. The next Wednesday was the last day of classes AND Chandler's birthday! So, I skipped out on my last class and my old roommate, Chelsie, and I made dinner for him and Mike, whose birthday just happens to be the same day. So it was a fun day after all the stress of finals was over. We came up to Idaho for Easter and enjoyed a great weekend with everyone! It seemed like he meshed well with the family and the nephews sure enjoyed playing with him! Our relationship is strengthened every day and we go to the temple often.

That's about all I have for now. As always, I will try to be better about taking more pictures and I will update you guys when anything exciting happens.

Festival of Colors

Last Saturday was the Hindu Festival of Colors. It is a festival to welcome in Spring. It's pretty much just a huge crowd of people and the guy counts down and then you throw colored chalk up in the air and at the people around you and you get covered in all sorts of colors. I went down with four of my friends, Chelsie, Mike, Jessica, and Sadie. Since pictures are worth a thousand words, I should have taken more! But Chelsie and Jessica were taking pictures too so once I get some from them I will put up more. But here are a few to begin with.

Chelsie and I

Jessica and I

Sadie and I

Chelsie and Sadie

Mike and I

So, ya. It was a lot of fun! It felt great to take a shower though! haha

Adventures of Spring

Once again, it has been a while. But this time I actually have stuff to share! Even pictures! So, two weekends ago I went to St. George with 4 of my friends, Chandler, Mike, Jessica, and Casey. The main reason we went down was so that Chandler could attend the marriage and sealing of one of his mission companions, so we just decided to make a fun trip out of it. We were in St. George for a total of about 24 hours, but it was a really fun trip. We stayed with his great aunt and Casey stayed with his dad and step-mom. So, Friday night, we went out to dinner with Aunt Shirley and then went to Casey's house and watched The Next Three Days out on their back patio while soaking it up in the hot tub. Then on Saturday we went to breakfast and this yummy restaurant called The Egg & I. We then went to the outlets for a little bit and then went and played pickleball with Casey's dad and step-mom. We were out there for a couple hours so I even got a little sunburned. Then we headed separate ways. Mike, Jessica, and Casey went back to Casey's house and took naps while Chandler and I went to the temple. I met up with my cousin, Tyler, and we did baptisms while Chandler was in the sealing. The temple was gorgeous and there were some cool things inside. We then had dinner with everyone and then headed back home.

Mike and Chandler

Jessica

Casey and his step-mom, Theresa

and me.

The next adventure was California! After just 3 full days, we were in the car again and heading to California. This time it was Chandler, Mike, Casey, and my old roommate, Chelsie, who came along. We went headed straight through, only stopping for gas and food until we made it to Mike's house in Simi Valley, just outside of Los Angeles. We made it there pretty late so we just headed to bed. The next day was FULL of adventure. We went to Zuma Beach and played in the sand and water and took a long walk down the beach.

The beach! It was such a beautiful sight! Although the water was VERY cold.

 We even found a little crab, Henry, and brought him back to our castle for him to reign in.

The sand castle that Chelsie and I made.

Next, we went to the Santa Monica pier at Venice Beach. There were lots of vendors and food places and it was just a nice, calm, relaxing place to be.

Santa Monica Pier

One of the vendors drawing someones name. She did is so fast and was so talented!

A view of the beach from the pier.

This guy apparently appeared on Jimmy Kimmal and some other late night show. It was cool to have so much going on around and it was good to see everyone using their talents.

This guy was an AMAZING artist. He did this painting within ten minutes, mostly using just his fingers. All he used the brush for was to draw the palm trees. He makes them in to magnets and this is the one that Chelsie bought for about 3 dollars! 

 We then went to Mike's grandma's house in Los Angeles and showered up and had dinner with Mike's parents and her and a few of Mike's friends. We then went back to Venice Beach to watch the sunset.

Chandler and I

Chelsie watching the sunset

After the sunset, we went to the Los Angeles temple and went through the newly remodeled visitor's center.

The whole crew - Mike, Chelsie, Casey, me, and Chandler

All of us at the Los Angeles temple - Casey, Candler, me, Chelsie, and Mike

 The next day we went to the outlet malls. There were TONS of them! I have never seen an outlet mall that big before! I got good deals on a couple shirts, but remembering that I am a college student and that my mommy taught me good money skills I didn't buy much.

Eating lunch at the outlet malls, yes my mouth is full...of cinnamon pretzel bites. It was worth it.

Next we went back to Mike's house and changed and then went to dinner at a place called Islands. It was super yummy! The fries were amazing, even more amazing than the fries at Lazy D's! Then we were on our way to Costa Mesa for the main attraction of this trip, the Broadway Play, Wicked. It was held at the Orange County Performing Arts Plaza in Segerstrom Hall. It was an amazing play and well worth the money! Words really can't describe how good it was! I absolutely loved it!! I will put some pictures up that we took there later because I do not have them yet. The next day, Sunday, we had planned on going to sacrament meeting and then going up to the Hollywood sign on the way out but it was very rainy and there were rumors of a snowstorm in southern Utah so we decided to just head home as soon as we could to beat the storm. After about an hour of driving the rain stopped and it was smooth sailing, other than high winds, the rest of the way. We stopped in Las Vegas and went up to the temple.

Las Vegas Temple

Me in front of the Vegas Temple

Once we got to St. George, we decided it would be fun to stay the night and head back in the morning and make it just in time for my class, which wasn't until 11. So we had another movie and hot tub night at Casey's house after we visited the St. George temple. Yes, three temples in one trip! It was the best! Too bad it didn't work out that we could actually go in and do baptisms.

St. George Temple - Me, Chelsie, Casey, and Mike

St. George Temple

A cool picture in the tree - Chelsie, Mike, me, and Casey

Mike, Chelsie, Casey, and me in front of the Visitor's Center

Mike, Casey, Chandler, and me in front of the Visitor's Center

We didn't end up going to bed until really late and couldn't get ourselves up in time to make it for my class. But, it turned out alright. We ran into some pretty crazy snow from Cedar City through Provo, but the worst of it in Cedar. And after that, it was back to the real world. School is going well, we have about 3 weeks left of classes and we are starting final projects in about half of my classes. I am currently planning on staying in Salt Lake for the summer, finding a full time job, and taking 5 credits so that I will be able to take the classes I need to in the Fall so that I can stay on schedule.

Adventures of October

Well, it has been a while since I have written anything. I have been super busy with school and homework, along with having a social life. ;) I started classes on September 13th. I have 4 Interior Design classes, a computer class, and a religion class. I'm am really liking the chances I am getting to be creative. I am realizing very fast how involved this program is and how much I DON'T know about this profession. But I am learning lots and staying busy. I am still liking my roommates. They keep things interesting and we just keep growing closer! I really haven't been good about taking pictures of things! So this last Saturday, Brett and Cherice/Dustin and Amy hooked me up with some tickets to the BYU vs. Wyoming football game. So I searched high and low and found someone to go with me. So my friend Shaun and I drove down in the pouring rain to Provo. We got there a little early so we went to Danielle's apartment and chilled there whilst we waited for Brett and Cherice to get to Provo because they had our tickets. So we walked through the rain again and made the trek up to the stadium and waited for a little while for them to park and meet up with us. Right when we got in the stadium it stopped raining. We found our seats, they were right above the goalpost on the north side, sort of high up. So we were sitting there as the game started and I looked over at the Y and saw this beautiful sight...

So after the first quarter, Dustin/Amy texted me and told me that there were two extra seats by them so Shaun and I went down and sat by them. It turned out to be a pretty good game! It was very intense at the end but BYU pulled out a 25-20 win so I was excited!

So yesterday in my Principles of Design class we did a pretty fun project. We usually have the last half of class that she gives us a little project to do. Most of the past ones have pretty much just been cutting and gluing stuff together, but yesterday we made a color wheel using frosting! It was such a cute project! We only had red, yellow, and blue frosting and the other colors are a little interesting...but it was still fun and I thought mine turned out pretty good!

Our teacher also brought graham crackers so we could put the frosting on them when we were done. Let's just say I didn't feel so good for the next hour...but it was delicious!

It has been snowing on and off the past few days, but last night around 9 it started snowing like crazy! There was about 3 or 4 inches this morning when I went out to start my car! There's still about that much on the back of my car right now. Anyway, it was pretty cool. There were those people who were freaking out and playing in it, and those who were complaining that they didn't want winter to come yet. I kept telling them they were pansies. So here is a picture looking out from our balcony. It was about midnight though so it was pretty dark. I got half of my car in the picture...as you can see it was already COVERED!

Sorry it's kind of blurry. Anyway, just a few last random pictures. the first one I took about a month ago. The circus was in town and they went on a little parade around The Gateway and they were just finishing when I got out of school so I ran over and got a picture of the elephants. YES! REAL ELEPHANTS! They were so cute!

If you can't tell, they are actually holding on to each others' tails. It was cute! This last picture is one I took as I was getting on the freeway to come back to Salt Lake a couple months ago. I just thought the sun looked really cool coming out from behind the cloud. Sorry for the bug guts...I had to take it through the windshield. hehe

One more picture! I can't remember where or when I took this. But I found it on my phone the other day. I think it might have been while I was in my night class. I have Drafting from 6-9 on Tuesdays and we usually sketch the first few minutes of class. So we opened the blinds to draw buildings and such and this is what we found. It was so cool!So I'm pretty sure that's what this is.

Well I'm doing great down here! Thanks for all the love and support! I really appreciate all the calls, visits, and the "Hey we're here if you need us!"'s. So thank you for everything! Until January...but hopefully not.

Salt Lake City

Well, I was home for the weekend and thought I would write about what has been happening lately since I have no internet down there yet. I settled in to my apartment and I'm quite pleased with it. It is very cute...the only bad thing is that it is on the top floor and the stairs are very awkward and tiring to go up and down. Last Monday I went to Family Home Evening and met some of the other people in my student ward. A lot of them are pretty cool...too bad I won't be to church for a couple of weeks.

My little space.

This is the little living room area. And a very little TV to fill up that big spot. And yes, notice guitar hero in the corner. :D

This is the kitchen if you can't tell. Very cute and where I spend most of my time. Not really...

Wednesday, my roommate, Haley, took me around downtown Salt Lake and we went on a few tours. First, we went to the Conference Center. There was an organ recital going on so we went to that and then went on a tour through it. There were a lot of cool pictures from the scriptures. One hallway had painted pictures of all the current members of the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency. Then the next room we went in to had sculptures of all the modern-day prophets, starting with Joseph Smith and going through to President Hinkley. The next room had painted pictures of all the apostles that are moved in there once they die. Then we went on the roof. There were lots of trees and flowers. Our tour guide told us at one point that on one side of the walkway, the pine trees and other trees represented the way the area looked in the mountains and such and on the other side was a meadow with short little pine trees that represented how it looked when they arrived in the valley. I wish I would have gotten a picture of it. I don't know why I didn't!

This is the view from the top of the Conference Center.

Next stop was the Church Office Building. We went up to these little lookouts and you could see a lot of things from them. There are a few pictures that I got from up there. It was 26 stories up and it was really high...

This is the State Capitol building. It is very big and our tour guide told is it is the one that is most like the White House in D.C.

This is from the other side of the Office Building. If you follow the street to the right of the temple up past the Tabernacle, the little parking lot, and the huge parking lot, you can see LDSBC on the corner right next to the KSL building.

Last stop was the Beehive House, where Brigham Young lived. It was very cool to learn a little more about his family. They played lots of musical instruments and did a lot together as a family. The stairs were very steep, but it was a very nicely decorated house. They matched a lot of the original style and decorations.
Well, Friday I drove down to Provo and got Logan and we headed up to Shelley to go camping with his family for their family reunion. We drove to Nat-Soo-Pah over by Twin Falls and stayed there Friday night through Monday afternoon. We played a lot of games and swam a lot in the pool. The water was naturally warm. So it was very nice yesterday when it was cold. Saturday night while we were playing Settlers of Catan, a skunk came in to our campground and was TORMENTING us! We had to throw things at it to get it to go away. Then when we thought it was gone for good, it came around to the other side of us and into the pavilion we were in. It was scary, but funny! We finally just wanted the game to end so Logan's Uncle Scott gave in and gave his Uncle Jason the cards he needed to win. So we hurried and cleaned up and went to bed. Once again, I have no pictures. But it was very fun and I even made a little leather bracelet that I am very proud of.

College Life...Here I Come!

Ok so, Danielle has a good point...you guys aren't going to see us anymore and you need a way to keep tabs on us. Especially mom and dad. So I decided to start a blog too. I have had a good last few weeks working tons and hanging out with family and friends, watching Tyler, Isaac, and Logan being their funny selves, and finally being able to hold my new niece Kennedy Paige. I didn't get to hold her very long but I sure loved feeling her sweet spirit and I can't wait to see her again! Well, I'll be packing everything up tomorrow, my last day of work is Tuesday, and I will be heading down to Salt Lake to settle in to my apartment on Wednesday. It's a cute little apartment on 4th Avenue (yes there is a chocolate shop that is on TLC that is on the same street) and is about a ten minute drive to campus. I have 3 roommates, Erika is the one I'm sharing a room with and she is from Washington. The other two are Merrili, she is from Nevada, and Haley, who is from Texas. So I guess I live the closest! I start school on the 13th of September and I'll have classes starting at 8:40 on Monday and Wednesday and 7:10 on Tuesday and Thursday. You got it, no classes on Friday! I lucked out on that one. I'm done around noon everyday but I will have a 3 hour night class on Tuesday...bummer. Well, I'm off to bed. I don't know how well I will do at keeping this thing up. Guess we will see...