It’s been a while since I’ve blogged so to catch you up on my life thus far I have to take you back to March when I left for Chicago…
The trip up was pretty entertaining. I rode with Lori’s parents again and Coco the Chihuahua used me as a human jungle gym. We stopped at the Russell Stover outlet store and bought some candy for the kids. That place is AMAZING! It was so good to see the kids again! I missed them so much! We had a fest for the week with the Brenda and Ron. Lori and Cory took us, Davis, and Kate to see Blue Man group! SO MUCH FUN! We went to Blackies for dinner where I sat with the kids and they cracked me up the whole time. Gotta love the things kids say when they people watch. It was hard to come up with answers to some of their crazy questions.
I love the Wheaton Sports Center. It makes working out so much fun when you see people more than half your age tackling things you never thought you yourself would be able to. Some of those old ladies could’ve cracked me in half and if you know me you know how hard that would be…anyways. Lori is the world’s best workout buddy! I love her! I did Zumba a few times before institute while I was there and it was pretty intense. I didn’t really care about what I looked like though because I wasn’t trying to impress anybody, I was on a mission and journey to lose weight. The recipes were fun and I’ve used a couple of them since I’ve been at school.
We had a pinewood derby at church and there were some pretty legit cars. My favorite of course was Ciara’s because it was the Belle in the “Book Mobile”.
There’s way too much to tackle here so I’ll just give you the jist in a list J
*I became debt free!!!!
*Went to a really awesome Symphony with my new friend Mike (Richard).
*Played Whirlyball for the first time. It's like bumper cars, basketball, and Lacrosse all in one….That was an entertaining experience!
*Watched all 6 White kids by myself for 4 days! I’m sure it wasn’t the smoothest but we had so much fun! I seriously love those kids!
*I drug Chloe the Whites Cocker Spaniel for a run. She was pretty much done after about a 1 ½ miles so I stopped and let her have a break. She’s stinkin’ adorable but she’s not a very good running buddy.
*The ride home from Chicago was a little more intense than it should’ve been. The UK vs NC game was on and the front seat was exploding! Cory gets a little intense… Overall the kids were SUPER good but poor Clare near the end got car sick and threw up everywhere.
*I was only home for a couple of days before I went to Topsail. The trip was so much fun! It was just Mom, Grandma and I. We missed Rusty but I’m not gonna lie….I don’t know where we would’ve put him! We went with one less and has less room than last year. I personally think it was a loading operator error with mom.. ;) (love you mom!) In her defense though Rusty is the packer and I’m the navigator so she usually just drives. J Anyways we weren’t even 5 hours into our trip when we stopped in West Virginia and Grandma noticed a hole in my pants so needless to say I took them right off and she sewed them right then and there…didn’t even finish her waffles . (Mom: How’s she supposed to eat her waffles after sewing the crotch of your pants? Grandma: Oh it ain’t gonna kill me. Got any baby wipes?) I love that woman! The next adventure was Joe and Sammies…..All I have to say is “I DIDN’T DO IT!” Somehow their toilet broke and then the tub the next morning. Again, I blame mom. All we could do was laugh. If you could hear my cousin Joe talk you’d understand why. “Oh my Gosh.” Is all we heard for pretty much the entire trip in the thickest hick country accent you’ve ever heard! This trip could go on forever so I’ll just sum it up for you..I chased a turkey, dominated mom in Scrabble for the first time EVER! It was a pretty intense game too. After about 5 minutes of looking for a word to spell…Mom: Just go! Me:Fine! [spells “wow”] Mom: REALLY?! I thought, how could she possibly screw this up? What goes with wow?...Bow? Me:BowWow wow yippee oh yippee ay!, tried to play nerts with mom but that turned into an epic fail when she turned the top 4 cards up and they were all 9’s then the nerts pile card was a 10 (already pretty comical at this point) then flipped her first set of cards over and had another 9….apparently pinocle cards don’t work for nerts ;) ,was determined to get a tan so I sat outside FREEZING just to burn to a crisp, I went running on the beach and got some amazing sunset pier shots, rented a beach bike and rode the island taking more pictures, Joe came to stay with us for a few days and that alone is just an endless party, I found “THE” shell for this year and it’s beautiful! Overall I had a wonderful time even though it was freezing! Who goes to the beach in April anyways!?
After the beach I was only home for a couple of days before I left to go back to school. It was a MESS!! I was supposed to stay with Tara and when she bailed on me I had to get creative so I called the ONE and ONLY Niki Ambler! Now this is a woman who cracks me up! I had to make a list of her Niki-isms J Which include but are not limited to; “Thanks cutie pie, I love your bum!”, “Momma like!”, a quote from one of her little Australian sunbeams “I wet me Knickas.”, “Stop you goo goo bag.”, “Oh shush…I’ll bite your elbows.”, “Come on ya cowboy.”, “You’re smokin’! I wouldn’t kick you out of bed for eating crackers.” , and “You naughty little penguin.” That seriously just made my year so much better J
I went to Logan with Mike and took some pictures of the Temple. It was a fun little trip. I got to meet some of his friends. We were there for his ex-girlfriend who is one of his best friends weddings. They are sweet people and I’m super excited for them J I left the next day for Rexburg and my friend Lexi picked me up in Draper (Thank you sweet Charles family for accommodating me once again!) All I can say about is “Stuck like Glue…” Literally.
Seeing Dawn and Chelsey for the first time in 4 months was bitter sweet. I missed those girls so much! Chelsey left me our first night and I was alone in our apartment. I was having a pity party with myself because I hate being a lone in new places but Rick called me and him and Dawn ended up coming over for pizza and games J I love my Idaho Family so dang much!
The first week or so was a bit bumpy as far as credits and classes go. I went from 13 to 19 back to 13 then down to 10 and finally ended with 15. What a mess that was…Aside from my crazy school drama my apartment complex had a get to know you meet everyone sort of thing and as I was leaving a guy came up to me and asked me if I was from Kentucky. I was curious where he might be going with this and reluctantly said yes. He said he remembered me from a ward he taught in and then started rattling off my family members…the whole time I’m thinking “I have no idea who you are…this is creepy.” Later I found out he taught my Uncle on his mission in Elizabethtown/Radcliff. That was way cool and now I have a new friend named Josh White J On a side note, I found another missionary that I did know! Well...I guess he kind of found me because we were both standing in the lines at Broulim’s and he was staring me down so I started to look around then he started to walk towards me really slowly until I saved him the breath and told him he had made a pie with some really intense homemade whipped cream at my grandma’s house one thanksgiving on his mission. It was quite the entertaining meeting but he’s a fun guy and it’s always fun to see missionaries after their mission to see how they’ve changed.
Other wonderful things that happened in Rexburgia…
*I blew every outlet in my room with my mad skills…When I say blew I mean they were fried, the maintenance man had to come put in a new strip.
*Sprained my ankle playing soccer with Kim (the second week of school) I still ran on it J
*Tried the feathers in the hair epidemic and thought I was going to kill myself for doing it after I almost ripped all of my hair out on them one morning…and multiple other mornings…
*Hiked “R” Mountain with Rick and Kim
*Embarrassed myself like no other when I got stuck like a turtle between the door and my backpack in the Romney one morning trying not to be late for Science..(The point and laugh actually happened to me that day…lol They came over and helped after but it was quite the experience)
*Joined Biggest Winner with Lauren Collins (My Chicago buddy) and Dawn.
*Osama Bin-Laden was killed
*I had a WAY SUPER AWKWARD moment at the plasma center when one of the guys from our Bishop Rick (who works there) was the one to call me back and asked me some seriously personal questions…I had to tell him my period was coming up next week and a few other things but I’m sure he was thinking “If I have a meeting with her I better have some chocolate” J
*Had a Marshmallow battle with PVC pipes and some amazingly stale marshmallows for FHE. I was taking pictures so I held the shield…Epic battle.
*I got a random text one night from a number I didn’t recognize asking me how my running was coming along. I was so confused and shocked when I found out it was Mike’s best friend Bryan from Chicago. We messaged back and forth for a few hours and I thought it was good after that. Like no more talking, just a random hey to check up on your running but I got a message the next day too and we just talked all day. It was so good to have him to talk to because it took my mind off of mid-terms and eventually finals too as we got closer over the semester. We would skype all the time and over time Bryan has become one of my best friends. He gives me running tips sometimes and tells me sweet things to make me feel better about life. Lol He’s not your typical guy and it will be fun to see how our relationship continues to grow. J
*We went back to “R” Mountain again. Our goal was twice a month and we didn’t miss it by much. Aubbi, Kim and Leah hiked it and Rick and I thought it would be fun to run it....We ran up to the top and ran the perimeter in about an hour and a half. This was the day I truly felt like a runner because somewhere along the way I broke my first toe and lost a toenail!! J (This was truly a breakthrough for me with my new running passion)
*We had a mega Nerts/ spaz party one night where everyone and there uncle just kept calling me and showing up. We had so much fun though! I’m sure some of our heads hurt pretty bad after yellow fevering them. We were all pretty lost after Rick left though, he would holler what was next so loud you couldn’t miss it.
*Rick took me flying and it was so absolutely AMAZING!!!! Once we got up high enough he started to explain how to fly it to me. I nodded about everything he was telling me because it was awesome he knew all of this…..then he asked if I wanted to fly it. Seriously one of the most exhilarating things I’d ever done! Thanks RICK!
*Chelsey challenged me to last on all of the food I had left with 6 weeks left to go in the semester. All I could buy was milk and I took her up on it. I was SO CLOSE to making it too. I was around the last week or so I was wiped completely of food so I had to get some.
*I went on a date with Scott and he originally wanted to hike “R” mountain but I had already raced that day and broke my toe the weekend before on the “R” so I suggested Frisbee…He agreed and it wasn’t until we got to the park and I threw it to him that he tells me how absolutely terrified of Frisbees he is….lol…
*I was sick with something Kim brought back to us for over a month so needless to say I couldn’t smell anything so I burnt so many things!!!! I promise I can cook but those poor grilled cheese sandwiches were annihilated!
*Went to the caves with Kim, Chelsey, and Taylor.
*Spent a night at Comic Frenzy with Scott, Kim, Taylor, Chelsey, and Lexi. It wasn’t as good as I expected it to be but that was okay because the real entertainment was “Surprise Party Scott” Sitting next to me…that kid has some major issues..lol Love ya Scott!
*I won the trophy for working out the hardest at Biggest Winner! J
*Watched Tangled and stargazed on the lawn. We went out past the Temple to stargaze and some random truck pulled up in the back of the empty cul-de-sac we were sitting in parked with SUPER bright lights on and we thought we were in trouble for being out there by the cops but it was some stupid kids who proceeded to roll down their windows with “I just had Sex” blasting… pretty sure they were slightly drunk…
*Biggest winners final challenge was the Ropes course and this one put me out of commission for a couple of weeks. After letting everyone stand on me and launching people over walls my body was D.O.N.E. It was so much fun though. I love my team so much! Go Turquoise!
*Scott came over one night and decided to workout with me. He wanted me to be his personal trainer but the very first night when I went over to his apt to do abs he almost died and he bailed on me but his roommate Ryan wanted me to keep coming back and doing them so 10:30 every night turned into ab time. I have to say, it’s really nice to have people who want to work out with you!
*We planned a birthday party for Kim and It turned out pretty good J Chelsey and I stayed up forever making her cake the night before though.
*I managed to fit the lazyman Ironman into my busy schedule and finish before the last day of the month even!
*Went to Twin for the 4th with Chels and got to go cliff Jumping for the first time! We did some little baby cliffs then we went back to the hidden lakes and did some bigger ones. I was so scared when we got back there to those that I didn’t think I could do it but I had met an older couple from Boise that had family in KY and they cheered me on! “Do it for Kentucky!” “Kentucky girls are Brave!” So I jumped! J
*Kim and I would always go look at the sunset from the guys balcony because they had the best view and eventually it turned into a sunset party. (Chelsey, Elaine, Andrew, Ryan and sometimes Damon would join us to give us some scientific explanation about the sun. lol)
*So…. We do pranks every semester and we’d been so busy that we were slacking this semester so I thought Scott would be a good target mostly because his car was parked right in front of our apt and I knew he was in class. So Kim and I took a ton of plastic bags, streamers, and ribbon and dominated his car. He was SO MAD!! Lol ……It’s okay though because with Chelsey’s help him and Ryan took some of my things and stuck them in Jello….and it was sick nasty Jello too! I almost took it to the potluck we had that night and told everyone Scott brought it.
*The Greenbrier talent show…..ridiculous..
*We found a sweet dog and Ryan and I were retrieving it from apts before he finally sat down with it. But he seemed to like the ride in the cop car J
*Played glow in the Dark hide and go seek at the Civil Defense caves. It was fun to see all of the glowing and not knowing if it was a person or a rock.
*Did a ton of hair! Dyed Chelsey’s multiple times, then I cut Scott’s, Kims, and Lexi’s.
*The girls and I went to the Patriots and Pioneers concert and it was AMAZING!! Definitely a wonderful tribute to the people who have served and who are serving our country.
* We had our last FHE together and it was bitter sweet. The lesson was the love of Christ and how he would do anything for us. So Aubbi and Eric washed all of our feet then I washed theirs. It was such a great experience. Then we all played the cereal box game and that was more than entertaining.
*I finally divorced my research paper after 2 weeks. I just couldn’t take it anymore. It was very clingy and needed way too much attention so that relationship wasn’t working out. It felt good to have a life again! I was able to go out with my roommates for a girls pizza night and Thor with Ryan, Kim, and Aubbs.
*I did the extreme race with Eric and it was the most fun I’ve ever had at a race! Next year I’m not wearing what I had on this time though. It was WAY too heavy after all of the water swimming. The kids were super cute and I made a running buddy friend J
*We had a HW party and it was actually extremely successful! Ryan and Scott came over and we were all able to help edit and figure things out together. I wish all HW parties were that successful!
*Made tye-dye for our team at our BW team reunion for the end of the semester J
*Watched the Thug version of Romeo and Juliet with Elaine and Ryan…that was entertaining..I’m not really sure how I feel about it to this day but the company was good.
*A bird flew into our window and landed flat on his back but we nursed him back to health after he shook off the shock.
*We threw Aubbi a birthday party in the theme of her mission to Brazil! We had a huge group go to Smith Park and play soccer afterwards and it was way fun!
*Kim and I had to pack up our things the night before so all of my bedding left me again and I was left to do the cleaning AGAIN! Lol Love her! Anyways, it was nice to be able to leave our things at her sisters house. The fun part was using George’s car to take it all up there in….I swear I thought we were going to be Flinstoneing it up that hill…
Well the last day finally came and the goodbyes were hard but the hardest by far was Dawn. She’s going to BYU Provo next semester and we’re all going to miss her so much! Chelsey’s mom came and helped us clean and load all of our things. It felt so good to get out of Rexburg!!! As soon as we got home we packed for the lake! We ended up getting there around Midnight but it was so worth it to see the stars like that. I’ve honestly never seen a clearer sky.
Dad said were at the coldest place in the nation there in Stanley Idaho and I believe it because when Mom and I got up the next morning to go horseback riding it was cold as crap! We rode our bikes up to the riding range though and it was SO BEAUTIFL! The Sawtooth mountains were breathtaking! When we got up to the range we waited for Ann and Ruth to get there. Our Guide was a trip and a half! He showed us how to get the horse to do what we wanted it to then he assigned us horses and you’ll never guess what the name of my horse was…it was so beyond perfect too! Bluegrass! I instantly fell in Love with him and we went off up the mountain. J Bluegrass was extremely independent because we would be going along the path and he would just start trudging up his own little path. He was fun to say the least and I’m so blessed have been able to have that experience with him.
Later that day (this day was a day of firsts for me) we went tubing on David’s boat and his boat is a hog! That thing has some horsepower! I told him there was no way he could possibly scare me so he gave Kevin, Ruth and I the time of our lives! I don’t think we were ever actually sitting on the tube…it was nothing but airborne until we slammed down one good time and Ruth flung off the side, I did a cartwheel in the air, and Kevin was Catapulted of into the water! SO MUCH FUN!
Chelsey took me on the Jet Ski later and that thing is WAY FUN! I got to drive it the second time and I’m pretty sure I need one in my life!
The next day I went tubing with Stacy and Mom on David’s boat and he gave us another ride of our lives….We were hoarse from screaming so much and I thought we were going to flip off multiple times. The water was ridiculously Choppy.
Mom and I went Hiking for a few hours and it was a nice break into nature. We were able to see a ton of the damage the microburst did to the forest and the view of the Sawtooths was magnificent!
We all had dinner at the lodge and it was so good! Expensive but good! Each person was about $30. Thanks David!
The next experience is something I hope to never have to relive….I wanted to go Kayaking so bad so Chelsey and Kevin decided to come with me…the first 30 minutes was great! We went out and enjoyed the sunset on the water then Kevin decided it would be fun to swim up the stream that runs into the lake……..I went under the bridge first and since the water is higher than usually this year from extra melting I kept smacking my oar on the bridge trying to go somewhere. Kevin came in after and I continued on my journey up the stream. There was a tiny little place on the side where you could just sit and not be bothered by the rushing water but my stupid Kayak didn’t want to go that way because when I put my oar down to row and shove myself away from the bank the water had thrown me into she tipped and started to fill up with water. I instantly leaned back over to fix the problem and in another attempt to row the off weight in my Kayak from the water made me capsize and I went down!! My Kayak flew off down the stream upside down and I had been dumped into the coldest creek in all of Idaho…. YAY ME! Lol I tried to keep standing so I could get out but that wasn’t happening and I lost both of my flip flops to the rushing water then began to fly down stream myself. Kevin came up the side and I clung onto his Kayak for dear life as the water whisked us into another bank and things began to “grab” me! I was so creeped out!!! Kevin saw one of my flip flops and tried to row to it with me still attached to him. Well at least now I had one flip flop but I was ready to be out… he let go of the brush and we flew down the rest of the creek getting flung around and eventually popping out on the other side…At this point Chelsey was laughing so hard holding onto my kayak and there was a man on the bank about to start fishing. He surveyed the situation and began to laugh himself. I could walk now so I peeled myself off Kevin’s Kayak and went after mine but it was so full of water I had to drag it to shore to dump it and bless his heart the guy picked it up and started to help me. I was so embarrassed but it was so funny I couldn’t be too upset by my stupidity. We finally got going again so we went back to the dock and mom told us we still had 20 minutes so we went back out and somehow I managed to capsize yet again! I really don’t even know how that happened but we went back to find my flip flop but it was long gone.
The next day we drove home in the motor home and I thought that thing was going to fall apart on us! It’s so old and all of the drawers kept flying open then the macaroni salad fell out of the fridge…I was getting sick in there so when we stopped for lunch Chelsey and I took the pilot. It was a much smoother ride.
I spent the night at their house and the next morning Chelsey and I set out for our road trip to Salt Lake City. We hit some Ross stores on the way down and got a couple of cute things for like $4 each SCORE! It was too short notice to call any of my SLC friends to stay with so I spent the night in the airport. I got there and found out I missed getting an earlier flight home by 10 minutes!!!! That was frustrating and It seemed like it was going to be a horribly long night until this girl walked by to go to the rental cars then came back because they didn’t have hers there. We started talking and she asked where I was from. I told her and it turned out she had just got in from Bowling Green to visit some friends! J Heavenly father just knows when you need a pick-me-up and I needed one for sure that night so he sent Dana to me. J
I finally made it home and it was so good to see Grandma, Rusty, and Mom at the airport. J I went to the Explorium to do Yoga with Ashley on Saturday and got to hold and African millipede! That thing has 400 legs!!!
P.S. If you haven’t seen X-Men you should because it was really good! J
Well, that’s my life up to now. I hope I didn’t bore you too much! Lol ;)
