The Beginning of one Awesome off Track

My life has been so crazy since I left BYU-I last semester! I think i'll get a "break" when I go back to college! : ) So just to catch you up a little:

My best friend Ashley taught me how to knit and she was so patient with me! I love it so much that I taught my mom how to knit! We also Sat in her floor Scrapbooking FOREVER!!! When I say forever...I really mean it! 13 hours one day and 12 the next...we didn't go to bed until 8 am. and I thought my back was going to murder me!!! haha 

Her Man Candy Patrick let me drive his Mustang and she purrs like a kitten!!!! I love it! I love horsepower in general! There's just something about being behind the wheel of a fast car.....it just beckoning for you to slam on the accelerator! : ) 

Ashley's Grandfather passed away and I went over to help her make a scrapbook for him. We were looking up quotes to put on the pages when we came to the sons page.....her dad walked in and we asked him to tell us some advice grandpa used to give him and the boys, so the sons page in the scrapbook says "Don't piss into the Wind"-Dad... : ) Everyone at the funeral home laughed and it made what would've been a sad moment, bittersweet. 

I went to the Mall with Katherine...at least I thought we were going to the mall and we did eventually get there but we ended up at a tattoo/piercings shop....... She was planning on getting her rook pierced and didn't tell me until we were almost there because she knew I would try to talk her out of it....and she was right...so since I couldn't I took as many pictures as possible. : )

I went on a few dates with a friend from the singles ward in Lexington, Matthew. We went Ice Skating one night. I love Ice skating but I was a little sketchy this time because he informed me the last girl he had taken Ice Skating had broken her ankle.... : ) Yay!! lol Apparently it was because she was looking back at him, so I tried to make sure I didn't do that. hahaha 

The next thing I decided would be fun to conquer with him was Skiing! hahahahaha Now that was a memorable trip! For those of you that have been to Perfect North in Indiana...you know that the "snow" there has the consistency of a snow cone and it's just a HUGE sheet of Ice after dark! Well...we had been snowboarding for awhile since he'd never done it and I had just learned at college so I attempted to show him which turned into one big epic fail since I didn't even know how to stop....stopping for me was bailing out before you took out a crowd of people waiting for the ski lift! lol Needless to say that after about 5 runs down the hill doing that we hit the skis. He was a pretty good teacher until I actually got on top of the hill and didn't know how to turn! hahaha.......I went full force in the wrong direction flying under the ski lift and took out a snow boarder! All I could say was "We're gonna CRASH! We're gonna CRASH!" ......and when we did my ski poles went flying and we slid down the hill together! : ) I was laughing so hard! Matthew laughingly  witnessed all of this from the top of the hill and eventually came to the rescue with my poles. 

On another note! I'm the God mother to Ashley's new Hedgehog named Big Pimp Henry! I made a note to self the first day I met him....: Hedgehogs like to burrow and they'll do anything to do it.....(climb down your shirt and scratch tickle you until you cry) : ) 

I finally made some friends in the Lexington Singles Ward. I think they are just finally starting to realize it's my home ward and I'm going to be coming there sometimes. Chicago will always feel like home when it comes to a Singles Ward for me but I know I have to be a member of other fish bowls too. 

The last thing I did before I left for Chicago was take two of my babies to the Humane Society........I wrote their stories of how I came to be their mommy and said two of the most painful goodbyes.... I love you Icie and Red! Thank you Patrick and Ashley for being there...It meant more to me than I could ever fully express. I love you! xoxo

It's been a Great Semester at BYU-Idaho

My time here at BYU- Idaho has been SO absolutely wonderful and i've made so many great friends. Although today has been full of tears, I know the future is bright.
There have been so many things go on over the last month that I don't even know where to begin.....
I've done so many photoshoots with some GORGEOUS people and I've had the opportunity to learn SO MUCH! My finals just about made me want to go dig a hole in the snow and die......which now that I think about it would've been totally possible since REXBURG ALWAYS HAS SNOW!!! ....Pretty much every week I had a list of things to do that seemed almost impossible to complete and yet I managed to get it done..shocking. Basically at this point in my life i'm pretty sure there is never a dull moment and if i'm bored I shouldn't tell anybody because then I'll end up making plans when I really had plenty of actual Productive things I should've been doing....but I love my Life and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for me.. : ) Here is a list of events maybe in order but then again maybe not of the last month of my crazy, hectic life here in Rexburgia and other parts of Idaho. : ) xoxo

Today was a beautiful day...The BYU-Idaho Center and Manwaring Student Center were dedicated by Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency. The Center is HUGE! When you walk in there are 10 full size basketball courts and an indoor track...you keep walking and you run right into the Auditorium that looks JUST LIKE THE CONFERENCE CENTER in Utah and It holds 15,000 people. The Choir sang Come thou Fount and it was one of the most beautiful arrangements i've ever heard in my life. The spirit was definitely there with us today.

That was today the 17th of December.....but since I haven't blogged in forever I need to take you all the way back to the weekend before Thanksgiving! : ) I know... it's like time traveling without even having to go anywhere!

The week leading up to it was crazy because everyone was leaving early and getting things together but Kim and I were the only ones left on Friday after Dawn left so we went to lunch with our FHE brothers. : ) We got back and Kim thought this would be a great opportunity to clean out the fridge since we were going to be gone for a week and she was right but there are some things you should just throw away and not even think about opening!! She opened a container of black beans from like 3 weeks earlier, maybe even a month, and it smelled like the worst explosion of Poo EVER!!!!! I was taking a nap and it literally woke me up and I thought I was going to die!! lol I love her but I couldn't stand that! I went over to the guys and slept on their couch while Jeremy watched "The River Runs Through It". I went back to our apartment and it STILL smelled HORRIBLE so Chelsey, Rick, Jeremy, David and I hung out for the rest of the night. We went to Fat Cats to Bowl and Play mini golf before heading home to make Ricks homeade enchilada's and watch Ace Ventura When Nature Calls! They were super yummy and (note to self:) that movie is so much funnier when your slap happy! : ) Thanks RICK!

This would be Rick and Jeremy playing with my camera while I was gone : )

Chelsey spent the night with me in my apartment since we were the only ones left. We left the next morning stopping by Pioneer Rock before heading into Twin Falls where our week consisted of Feeding cows, taking LOTS of Pictures, pulling cars out of the snow, learning how to snowboard, starting baby afghans, swimming so I could finish my Triathlon and good company! Shel lives on the "Cloud Nine Ranch" and it was such a wonderful experience for me! Really there's just too much to fill you in on. The Browns are such amazing people though and I will cherish those memories forever! Coming home was another experience though. The snow was drifting on the roads and there were probably 40 cars that had slid off the road! No kidding! Scariest thing though!....There was a truck in front of us for awhile and we lost sight of him but then we watched him flip and roll through the median....you could see the stuff in the back of his truck falling out and I knew I had to help him so I threw on my boots and jumped out of the car (we were only going maybe 25 so Chelsey stopped). It landed on the drivers side and when I got down to him there were a couple of other guys coming down too. In the roll it had shattered the passenger window and completely busted up the windshield.. I grabbed onto the top of the truck where the passenger window used to be and looked in on the driver who seemed to be fine. We had to bust in the windshield because it wouldn't come off but he was wearing his seatbelt and didn't have a scratch on him. That was a blessing from Heavenly Father!

Chelsey at Register Rock

Plasma was another......fun (cough) part of my life as a poor college student! Yay! I went twice a week unless I was super bruised from the time before and they give you 20 the first time and 30 the next. $50 a week is pretty good for working 2 hours : ) I'm pretty sure i'm not going to do it when I go back though! What a nightmare! I thought it was funny that I would go with Dawn and she was the one who told us not to do it! She would always be like "Don't sell your body".....then apparently she justified it for herself! haha Jeremy used to look at us like we were the worst people on the planet for donating so we'd always hide our bandages when we went over and avoid the subject completely : )

I got to take some fun pictures with Kim and our neighbors Tyler and Joy. : ) It was cold Sunday activity but I loved every minute of watching their wonderful personalities come out for the camera! : )

*more pictures from this shoot are on my photo BLOG : )

The rest of the my time there consisted of Watching ELF!!!! : ) "SANTA!!!!! I KNOW HIM!!!!", Getting to drive Blue Steel home from church!!! Thanks again Rick! You're awesome! , making Christmas cookies with Joy, Kimberly, and Lexi, Playing the cereal box game....(too much fun to even begin to tell you about...you just have to experience it!), My grant money came through!!!! : ) , I went on a date to Wingers, Got to drive a snowmobile!, Sang Pachelbel's Canon in Church with some awesome people, Jeremy burnt my grilled cheese with his mad "cooking skills"... lol , and we packed up and cleaned our entire apartment spotless!!!!

This is Jeremy trying to tell me why his method of cooking a grilled cheese is so much better than mine.....meanwhile my grilled cheese is burning to a crisp.. : )

Our last day at the guys : (

This is how Kim cleans. : )

Cleaned, packed and ready to go home!

Some of the Crew at Christmas! : ) I MISS THEM!