What the Heck (October 23rd - October 29th)

SO. This week was weird. I honestly have no idea what to write right now!

This Monday for FHE we did a swing dancing activity. It was kind of boring for me because it was really basic and the few times I've swing danced I've been flipped all over the place and tossed around like a sack of potatoes, which is EXHILARATING! On the other hand, just being spun around is quite disappointing... Oh well, the activity had good intentions, and I'm sure everyone else had a lot of fun! (Now I sound like a total party pooper and a grump, I'm sorry.)

On Wednesday our Relief Society had a fall photo shoot. I was so glad that people actually showed up! The past couple activities we've had, only about three people showed up. I think the majority of the hall came to this one! The pictures are so pretty too. :) I'll include more below, but here is one of all of the girls who came.

Honestly nothing else really happened that is worth mentioning this week... Our ward had a Halloween party but I forgot to take a picture of my costume! I'll take a picture on Monday.

RANDOM PHOTO GALLERY

The girls in my Relief Society on our way to take pictures. It's so pretty outside!

Karinne wrote this beautiful piece of poetry when Emma asked her to revise her essay. Appreciate it.

I was a little loopy during the photo shoot... I don't know if you can tell. I wasn't feeling too good so I was on pain medication haha... I've never been so excited to throw leaves in my life!! In general though, this is a hilariously dysfunctional picture of all of us hahaha...

This is the DEMON CAT that scares the CRAP out of me every time I exit a bathroom stall. I HATE IT. It just stares into my soul with it's demon eyes. :(

The weekly pic of me and Emma haha

A picture of moi. I knew my mom would want to see it so I included in this post haha...

This picture drives me CRAZY. Every time I see it I'm like, "fix your hair ya goon." AARRRGHHH

Midterms were Rough (October 16th - October 22nd)

Let me just say that although this week was better than last week, it was still rough haha...

Last week I wrote about how I felt like I was being jipped out of a fall here. I want to clarify that it is still absolutely beautiful in Provo! It's just a different kind of beautiful than I'm used to. :) This Thursday our hall is going to have a fall photo shoot under this canopy of trees over the sidewalk near our dorm. There are leaves all over the sidewalk and in the air everywhere, it's like something out of a movie! I should have taken a picture of it... Oh well, next week I'll have pictures from the photo shoot!

This week was full of messing around. I was kind of stressed out because I had to study for three midterms, so whenever I wasn't studying Karinne and I (or Emma and I, whoever was available at the moment) would goof off. See picture of Karinne chasing me in her T-rex sweatshirt haha...

On Friday night, Samuel and I reserved a study room in the library and watched the movie Rudy. He told me that since I hadn't seen it I was uncultured, so apparently now I am because I have seen it! (By the way he told me to write about it so here you go Samuel haha...) I really liked it. It had a really powerful message, and I could definitely see parts of myself in Rudy and some of the things he went through. I'm glad I watched it. :)

I had a lot of chemistry this week since I am taking my midterm tomorrow. Honestly, it wasn't stressful at all. Chemistry keeps me sane. It just makes so much sense! I remember at the beginning of the semester during the very first week, something was really bothering me and I couldn't seem to feel better, but I started reading my chemistry textbook and I instantly felt so much relief. I'm such a nerd...(Insert ashamed face here.) 

One thing that I have expressed to my mom and to Karinne is that I really miss fruits and vegetables! I told my mom to stock up the fridge for when I come home because I'm literally only going to eat cucumbers, snap peas, grapefruit and broccoli for three days straight. (Well not really, but I want to.) There are just no fresh vegetables here. The only kind of fresh vegetables we have access to are baby carrots from the mini grocery store by our dorm (and to those who know me well, I HATE carrots), and the vegetables at the salad bar in the cafeteria, which taste like they're a week old. Ew. 

I also think I'm gonna take over the kitchen when I get home. I've spent way too much time on Pinterest looking up fun new recipes to make haha... I also miss making smoothies!! I have a blender here, but no freezer, so I can't really use it. (Insert angry face here!!)

Friday night after the movie (sorry my thoughts are really disconnected right now), Karinne got back from a run with a big box of sushi from a sushi place that is only open from 9-12 at night. DUDE. That sushi was BOMB. I rate it 5 stars!!! We have to get some more this week, I am dyyyyyiiinnnnggg for more!! It wasn't the best sushi that I've ever had, but it's been so long since I had any Asian food that it was heaven. 

RANDOM PHOTO GALLERY 

Another glamour shot of me and Karinne being goons in the hallway. We are such weirdos. Other roommates have cute little pictures in dresses outside, and we take selfies in our pajamas and dinosaur sweatshirts acting like we're about to be eaten. I love us haha

Emma took this lovely picture of me. I don't know what it was on Friday, but my friends kept taking lots of candid pictures of me that I had no idea about. (There is a heart around my face because Emma is the love of my life and we are soul mates, ask anyone and they will confirm this truth.)

Me waiting for Emma to come out of her room to come to dinner. I was very tired, and the door was very comfortable. 

Me dead on the floor after midterms and class on Friday. College is hard man.

Love you all!! I hope I have some better stories next week haha...

Maybe I Should be Sleeping Instead of Writing this Post (October 9th - October 15th)

If there is one thing Karinne would tell you about me this week, it's that I have either gotten too much sleep or not enough sleep. I slept way too much on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so I got really behind on homework, and decided to pull an all-nighter last night and finish everything. I got done at 6:30 this morning and then I went to church. Then I came home and took a 6-hour-long nap. I'm going to have to take a sleeping pill tonight or something. (Will I ever get the hang of this adulting thing???)

Honestly, I feel kind of bad, this week I don't have very many pictures. I do have two videos though so maybe that will make up for it!

This week was homecoming, so lots of fun stuff was happening around campus. There was a slip n' slide filled with bright blue foam, a pancake breakfast, the football game and parade, and a rollerskating night at the Orem fun center. Sadly, I didn't get to participate in any of it because I was so busy trying to do my homework (and sometimes failing).

The one thing I thought was really cool was the lighting of the Y. Students hiked up the Y with little lanterns and filled in the big cement Y one of the mountains overlooking BYU. It looked so cool from down on campus! I didn't get a very good picture, but I still got a picture! (The Y is the little glowing thing behind the clock tower.)

Part of me is really sad that I didn't get to be part of any homecoming activities. Honestly, it's been really hard for me not to beat myself up over my poor time management this week. The one good thing is that I definitely will do better next week, there's no way I'm having another weekend like this one.

Karinne definitely manages her time better than me - HOWEVER, last night we were both procrastinating and decided to deep clean our dorm. Like at the level of vacuuming the chairs haha...

Yesterday afternoon, there was a Michigander apple cider and donut gathering. OH MY GOODNESS did I need some fresh donuts and apple cider. I miss the apple orchards, corn fields, barns, and cider mills so badly here. I really, really miss Michigan falls. It's almost liked I'm being jipped out of a fall here haha...

Honestly, there isn't much more to write about this week. I feel so bad. I really hope that next week is more interesting...

P.S. I love popcorn. And all of you guys too, but mostly popcorn. :)

RANDOM PHOTO (OR VIDEO) GALLERY (OR FEATURE PRESENTATION)

Emma and I are such goons (to steal a word from her vocabulary). Literally she calls everyone a goon haha... 

I'm Alive (September 25th - October 9th)

Hello everyone! Yes, I'm alive. No I didn't forget to post last week. Yes I was being crushed by mountains of homework that I procrastinated. (See photo of me reading the endless documents I am forced to read for American Heritage...)

I mostly blame the extremely distressing (but exciting!) home football game on the 29th. We won 55-52!!!!!! Our team made a field goal in the last 2 seconds of the game and I almost died!!!!! Karinne and I had camped outside the stadium the night before with some friends. I stayed up until 6:00 in the morning talking with my friend Samuel, and to be honest I had to force myself to go to sleep after that... Somehow I didn't get tired!! When the football game actually started, Karinne had to go sit with the band the next day, but the rest of us sat in the front row of the student section! Apparently we got on ESPN twice, it was awesome! There were some good (and not so good) pictures taken of us, and I have chosen to include a good picture. If you want to see the bad pictures you have to ask me personally haha...

After the game we went to Saratoga Hot Springs, which is in Lehi. We left at about 1:30 in the morning and got back at like 4:00. It was so worth it!

The next day, Saturday, I was having a really hard time with a few personal things, so I asked Samuel (who also happens to be the Elders Quorum President in our ward) to give me a priesthood blessing. That made me feel much better. We got to talk for approximately another three to four hours, which was really good. We relate on a bunch of different things and it was nice to talk about those things with someone who understands. (We also tried hiking the Y at like 1:00 in the morning but decided not to because a) I hadn't eaten or drank barely anything all day, b) I have exercised induced asthma, and forgot my inhaler, which wouldn't be good at high altitudes, and c) I was already starting to feel dizzy. We're gonna try hiking it again another time though haha...)

I feel bad admitting this, but I missed the majority of General Conference. I was just so off on my sleep schedule and was so busy trying to catch up on homework that I didn't really get the chance to listen to much of it. I have been going back and listening to a talk each morning while I get ready for my day, though, and I have to say, they are all amazing so far!

On Sunday, our hall decided to go crazy and decorate for Halloween! We used literally all of the Halloween decorations that were meant to be spread across the whole dorm complex we live in. Today I was informed that one of the guys' halls in our ward decided to use all of the Christmas decorations for the entire hall complex, so the war is ON. (Sorry that you can't really see the decorations very well in the picture, but if you could see them you would realize that it looks like Halloween barfed all over our hall.) I'm convinced I have the most awesome Relief Society/hall on the entire BYU campus!

This week, I have mainly been desperately trying to get caught up on homework. Yesterday I did about 8 hours of homework and pretty much died.

One thing that I should mention however, is my friend Emma. It's funny that we have the same name, because we get along so well and have really similar senses of humor. We've done some pretty stupid things over the past week... These include going to Building 9 to spy on guys (and then when we get there just buying chocolate milk and leaving because we're wimps/avoiding relationships), studying together and getting nothing done because we can't stop taking ridiculous pictures, and making lots of references to our favorite TV show. I will be sure to include lots of funny pictures and a video below.

This Sunday, I had to give a lesson in Relief Society. I was really nervous and had been praying all week that I would be able to convey the message that the Spirit wanted me to convey. I didn't just want to spit a bunch of information out at all of the girls. I wanted it to be meaningful and for the Holy Ghost to testify of the Atonement of our Savior during my lesson. Giving that lesson was one of the most spiritual experiences I think I have ever had. I felt so guided the entire time by the Spirit, and I seemed to know exactly how to connect all of the things I had wanted to say beforehand. One of the things I shared in my lesson was a story called "The Room," by Joshua Harris. I included the link because if you have the time, you should read it. It is a beautiful story! It made me cry while I was reading it to the girls, and I never cry in church. To be honest, I have actually not truly cried once since I got here to BYU, so it felt good to let go for a few moments.

After that lesson, I realized how close I feel to my girls. They are all so amazing, and I truly love each and every one of them! I am so humbled I get to lead all of them. I hope I can make a difference in their lives.

THE ONLY PART THAT IS ACTUALLY EXCITING--RANDOM PHOTO GALLERY

This most recent Friday, some friends and I decided to get French toast at the creamery at 10:30 at night. Literally, that French toast is some of the best I've ever had! (Closest to farthest on the right: random guy I've never met, Jenna, Emma, Brittany, me, and Christena. On the left are the precious souls that made the French toast.)

Karinne enjoying the freedoms of college life. 

This is what happens when Emma and I try to study together.

I got to learn how to suture this past Wednesday!! Literally it is SO FUN. I could have sutured every piece of chicken five times if it hadn't been only 40 degrees and windy outside. My sutures aren't as even as they could be, but I found out I have really steady hands! 

Karinne and I are such dorks haha... Pro tip: don't keep a face mask on for 40 minutes because you forget to take it off. It hurts.

No comment.

Shayna and Laura visited us this weekend! I feel bad because I was really busy the whole time. (Question: why am I so weird? I think we maybe got one good picture and I do not have it in my possession.)

I love you ALL!! Have an awesome week, and I won't miss posting next week! (I probably just jinxed myself haha...)