kissy pictures

I've never posted a kissy picture. Anywhere. Ever. 

I've come to the realization that I look like my Mom. A lot.

I think we had our first fight tonight. I probably shouldn't blog about it, but it was stupid. So glad that's over with.

Then we spent the rest of the night on the couch cuddling. He watched Star Wars (VI) and I read 7 habits of highly effective people. It was great. I got to cuddle with my boy in my adorable saggy-bum sweatpants and my cute dog even got in on the cuddling action. Allen likes to cuddle with his girls. I'm okay with sharing him with my dog. And maybe his mom. But that's it.

I refuse to ever wear a princess Leia slave costume.

EVER.

Hear that, boys? Sorry.

I have like 7 things in my amazon shopping cart 53 cents in my bank account. yeah, buddy. 

I almost just hashtagged something. 

It's 2 am. 

Strike that. 2:12 am.

Dylan is coming to visit me.

I mean, DYLAN IS COMING TO VISIT ME!!!

#DYLANISCOMINGTOVISITME

I'm so tired that tears are streaming down my face. 

Yeah. Bed time it is.

Goodnight.

Stressing.

Dear Brain, 

I made a promise to myself that I really wouldn't procrastinate this semester, but I did. I am a hardcore procrastinator, and now I'm experiencing the full wave of guilt that seems to come at the end of each grading period as I scrape grades that are far lower than that which I could actually achieve. 

And the worst part? I did the rounds. The part where you take a nice look at your syllabus and start crying, then you pick someone (sorry, boyfriend) to tell about your woes and how you'll never amount to anything in life just because you've been learning about it all semester and you still couldn't tell them the difference between a traditional and a Roth IRA, and now you have to write like 6 500 word essays on them. The part where you're so stressed that you forget everything your 9th grade English teacher ever taught you and decide to just use run-on sentences instead of breaking them up into smaller segments. The part where you sit in your car and glare at people as you sort through your binder like a crazed drug addict looking for their misplaced stash before the cops show up. The part where you're so angry with yourself that you might as well just hire someone to beat you up, because it would feel better than the anguish you're putting yourself through while you deal with the fact that you suck at doing assignments. The part where you finally calm down a bit because you've found papers that you'd forgotten you even had. 

Then I did the best part. The part where you take a deep breath, stop crying, and start your to-do list. Then it's manageable. You can wrap your mind around it and get working. It'll be okay. We'll figure out a way to live through this. By this time, you're calmed down. It's okay! There's still a full 168 hours until it's due! That's plenty of time to write 3000 words! You were thinking about being an English major until you realized you have no concept of when a sentence is supposed to end and when ellipses are appropriate... You can write 3000 words in your sleep! Time to get going, girl! We got this! 

You calmly go to your school website to begin working, a smile on your face. Don't worry, we'll raid the change jar and treat ourselves to starbucks as soon as we reach the halfway point. We GOT this. 

Then you get this:

Yeah? Eff you too, community college website and wifi. EFF YOU!

catching up.

May. 

May was a blur of chicken soft tacos and encouraging pinterest quotes.

And ridiculous amounts of cake pops.

It was a time of much ice cream. 

I had a difficult time digging myself out of the rut I was in, but fortunately, I knew exactly where to turn. I kept my scriptures close by, and as I slowly climbed out of the rut (with a whole lot of help), I grew stronger. 

My best friend came to visit me, and I planned a trip to see him as soon as I possibly could.

June. 

I needed an escape, so I left. I scheduled off work, and headed out of the state with plans of kissing every single boy I met along the way. It was going to be a fun trip.

Somewhere along the way, I realized that I didn't want to kiss anyone for a while. Except some cute babies. 

I stayed with my best friend Dylan. We went on adventures involving exciting voyages across the "sea" in ye olde canoe and trips to get horchata and bean burritos in the middle of the night. 

And listened to some fantastic music.

(Yellowcard)

By far, my favorite part of the trip were the moments when we turned up the music, rolled the windows down, and sang our hearts out just like we used to do. I don't have a single picture from the night I spent star-gazing with my best friends Dylan and Rylea, but something about it was magical. 

It was a much needed vacation, and I came back ready to conquer the world. Boys were the least of my concern. All I needed were my scriptures and a good group of friends. I arrived home on a Monday. Just in time to make it to my very first FHE in the single's ward. 

I felt awkward at the activity until Josh Davidson recognized me and invited me to dinner with their group of friends. I felt loved & accepted by a group of kids that I didn't even know. It was wonderful.

July.

I made friends. I stopped being anti-social and started making plans. Fun plans.

I started that whole dating process again. Dinner. Movies. Fireworks. You name it. I now have a little stash of awkward first date stories.

I drank out of this cup:

I got a new job. 

I quit my old one. 

I went back to Vegas to babysit, and some cute boys came to bring me home. 

I even convinced one of them to kiss my friend while we were there. (ooh la la)

I checked kissing while watching fireworks and on a rooftop off my bucket list. At the same time. 

August.

I needed to go down to Salt Lake for some reason or another, so I somehow managed to convince this kid Allen to hop in my ridiculously hot car and drive there with me so I didn't have to drive alone. We had a few extra minutes, so I suggested we go exploring. We tried to take pictures, and as you can see, they turned out REALLY well. 

I'd go 1 - 2 - 3! And his eyes would automatically shut. (Not that mine were much more open) 

On our way back, we yelled over the roaring of the 70 mph wind rushing through my windows. My car was lacking air-conditioning. We didn't have a choice. 

He complained about how he was never going to find a worthwhile girl, and I complained about how I was frustrated with boys. 

(oh, irony. I love you.) 

At some point, we discussed how we were both friend-zoned. MORE than friend-zoned, he added. "More like SISTER zoned."

Later, I found out that I got a scholarship, meaning I didn't have to pay for school. I cheered. I cried. I registered for classes.

I dragged Allen along to explore my campus, and my car broke down. You can see how happy I am about it in this picture. 

While we were waiting for the tow truck to show up, we talked. We discovered that my front seats were perfect for taking naps. We played Uno.

 We "made out".

It was great fun. 

...

On the first day of school, I found my cousin Hayli at my grandparent's house. She came with me to class, and then I took her to Ogden so she could go on a date. 

My buddy Allen (The one that "sister zoned" me) showed up to hang out with me in Ogden while she was on her date. 

I'm not sure what it was, but something changed that day. Not in a hit-you-in-the-face kind of way, but in the subtle thought in the back of your mind kind of way. 

My friend Taylor had a nice way of putting it:

Dinner, a random piano, and an extreme amount of arcade tickets later, I knew I was in trouble. 

Proposal Story!!!

 I love you all!! Thanks for all the congratulations! You guys are the best!

vlogs and blinding bums and chicken feed shoes.

Mwahahahahah!

Today was an interesting day at work. First of all, someone decided to put up a bunch of fake spiderwebs to replace the ones that I just knocked down. Had I known they WANTED spider webs, I would have just left the old ones up. Then, they spread bloody gauze and limbs everywhere. It was extremely unsanitary. 

It was supposed to be a "haunted" wedding, so it was almost fitting that the power went out right before their ceremony, meaning that the old creepy barn I work in was extremely dark on the inside, and they had to conduct their ceremony by candle light. That means that the music that they had planned to use while the marched down the aisle wasn't going to be able to play over the speakers. 

They improvised from their Tim Burton plan and just had the guests hum the funeral march as they walked down the aisle.

As I was cleaning up afterwards, I kept finding plastic spiders and thinking they were real ones. I was tough though, and stepped on each and every single plastic spider I encountered without screaming. 

Overall, it was a pretty fun night. 

Dates and Schedules.

I almost dread getting asked on dates by boys that I actually might want to go on dates with. Why? Because trying to find an open spot on my calendar is pretty much as difficult as pulling teeth (which ironically actually had to wait an extra month and a half due to the fact that I don't have an open spot in my schedule til November.)  

I can before 1:46 on Friday, and if you're willing to drive an hour out of your way, I have a 32 minute lunch break on Saturday that we can meet up for! Oh, oh, oh! And if you're willing to do a Thursday afternoon brunch, I can squeeze you in between classes! 

No? Monday I have FHE and Halo night. Tuesdays I have School and then institute. Wednesdays are pretty open as long as you're willing to go to work with me or take my brother on our date. I have school on Thursdays, and then a cute little empty spot on my calendar after school ends that usually gets filled with something or other. Fridays and Saturdays almost always have weddings. 

But, just so any of my potential suitors are aware: 
November 9th, 10th, and 11th I don't have anything scheduled. So as long as you're okay with hanging out with drugged up, toothless me, go ahead and give me a call! I will not legally be able to drive though, so plan your life accordingly. 

Lucifer, you're a slime ball.

I have just had a wonderful day.

It was snowing when I woke up, and I looked quite adorable, if I do say so myself. As I was driving to my Grandparent's house to take my Grandma to breakfast, I was thinking about the numbers that they just released for mission papers being filled out. The Spirit filled my car in such a way that I began to leak happiness out of my eyes in the form of tears. Just thinking of the difference that's going to make in so many people's lives fills me with joy! It's happening, guys! Every Nation, Kindred, Tongue, and People! It's happening!

“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” - Joseph Smith

My Grandma and I went to breakfast and our conversations drifted between subjects. At one point, we talked about my mom. I'm not gonna lie, guys. My mom is cooler than yours. She's my best friend. We laugh, joke, sing, and fight like sisters, but we've really just got this awesome mother-daughter connection that's kind of had some strain lately due to that whole growing up thing that I seem to be doing.

I like lists, and I like my mom, so I decided to make a little list about the things I love about my mom. 

1 - She knows how to Love. She's got that unconditional Christ-like love that I just can't seem to comprehend. She loves when she's happy, and she loves when she's mad. She'll even love you don't deserve it.
2 - She can't sing. She just can't. But she does it anyway because she loves to do it. I'm always going to have fond memories of the sounds of shower water and Dumbo's "baby mine" echoing out of the bathroom when she washes her hair. 
3 - She's always prepared. Whether it's a trip to Disneyland, or a trip to the grocery store, she's always prepared. Disneyland? She set up cute little snack packs for each of us, and then kept a supply in her fanny pack (I even love that about her) just in case. Grocery store? She's always got a list. And band-aids.
4 - She pays attention. I'm quite certain that when I move out, I'll still be able to call her and she'll be able to tell me exactly where a certain pair of shoes are. She has lost shoe radar. 
5 - She dances in the kitchen. Don't tell anyone. 
6 - She still thinks she's 16. I can't even name the amount of times that I've walked in from spending time with a boy that I might like, and she's pounced with a million questions like, "Did you kiss him?!" And when I reply with an exasperated "No." She's usually just as frustrated as I am.
7 - She makes me sandwiches. I'm 20 years old, guys. My mom still makes me a brown paper sack lunch to take to school with me. That probably shouldn't happen, but I love her for it. 
8 - That stupid jug. If you've met my mom, you know what jug I'm talking about. She carries a water jug around with her everywhere so that she can stay hydrated, and makes me go to the gas station and fill it up with ice for her. I probably would have died of thirst if it weren't for that. 
9 -  Babies. She's fantastic with babies. She covers them in kisses and will just give them all the love in the world. She reminds me on a daily basis that I need to get married and start popping out grandbabies for her so she can kiss them and hug them and smother them in attention and love. I have a feeling that I'm not going to get to see much of my own children. 
10 - She's my mom and she's always there for me.  I remember a time not too long ago that I was really just going through a rough patch in life. She walked into my room and found me crying my eyes out on my bed, and that wonderful woman just held me while I cried it out. Just like old times. 

I just love her. 

Then my Grandma and I started talking about the missionaries and about how I could go on a mission now. 

This is where it comes down to it guys. I want to go. Like REALLY want to go. Like every time the word "missionary" comes up, I start crying want to go. But, I don't know how I could afford it.

So here's what i'm going to do. I'm going to pray and read my scriptures and keep paying my tithing and pray that I can figure out a way to pay for that thing. 

So, I went to class, and it was all fine and good until someone mentioned something about The Church. He was pretty upset about something that he had his facts wrong about, so I tried to correct him. I'm not sure I got him to understand what I was saying, but I feel like everyone else in the class at least has a better understanding of it now.

After school, I came home and found a package on my front porch! It was my new video editing software! I settled down immediately to start installing it. 

Things were just going my way. Secondhand Lions was on TV, and I even got a text that made me rather happy. 

Then I realized that 7:30 was approaching rapidly, and my program wasn't finished installing yet. It pains me to admit the internal battle that I had with myself about staying to play with my new software or going to institute. Staying home won out. I changed into a comfy t-shirt with full intentions of spending the rest of the night on my laptop. I was headed towards what I thought was the couch when I realized that my legs had a different idea. I was buckled into the car without ever consciously changing my mind. 

The second I entered that institute room, I could feel the Spirit. Like we established earlier, I'm one of those girls that cries every time I feel the power of the Holy Ghost, so I was struggling there for a little while. 

The lesson was wonderful. 
My day was wonderful.

And now I'm going to tell you about the power of Satan. 

He loves nothing more than to grab you with those slimy little lands of his and make you his puppet. If you let him, he'll take any opportunity he can get and run with it. He's twisted and creative, and he'll do it any way he can.

He loves taking beautiful days like the one I had and destroying them.
And I almost let him. 

But I didn't. And that's why the post you're reading right now does not even resemble the one I sat down to write. 

But what I do want you guys to know is that I love my Heavenly Father and My Savior, Jesus Christ. They make all the difference in my life, and they can make a huge difference in yours too. 

oh, the distractions of wifi

I doubt I will ever figure out how I went from studying ethical public speaking to watching this, but I've now decided that I most definitely need a baby bear. Anyone know where I can get one?

a little dose of happy

I found this photograph on pinterest. I thought I'd share. It made me smile.

This is also something that makes me smile:

You can be excellent in every way. You can be first 

class. There is no need for you to be a scrub. Respect yourself. Do not feel sorry for yourself. Do not dwell on unkind things others may say about you. Polish and refine whatever talents the Lord has given you. Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, but with great and strong purpose in your heart. Love life and look for its opportunities. 

~ Gordon B. Hinckley 

And if you want to find out more about things that make me happy click HERE.

Rapid Fire Blessings

Today, I settled down in my little corner of the student center on campus, plugged my laptop in, and popped my food in the microwave. I  was all ready to use my break for a nice little study session like I do every Tuesday. I opened up my online quiz to see what section of the book I had to read and realized something amazing. I had already read the section that I had to take a quiz on! I was ready to give myself a pat on the back for being ahead of schedule without even knowing it when I had a sudden impulse to sneeze. 

Now, if you know about my sneezes, you know that they're the rapid-fire kind. The kind where there's like ten little ones in a row. Well, I sneezed. A really nice group of people across the room decided to yell "bless you" in unison.

I guess I'm telling you this because it's just a little snippet of things that make me happy. I feel blessed. <3 font="font">

My apologies to the English teachers.

It's 1:42 in the morning, and I'm quite stumped on the paper I'm supposed to be writing. It's not due until Friday, but this is the time that I have allotted for it, and I need to do some hefty revising before I turn it in. 

My philosophy teacher wants me to write an essay where the thesis statement is in the following format: "I am going to argue in the following paper that (insert philosopher) is correct/mistaken in _______." Is that sending shivers up your spine as well? I'm sure I still have a handout somewhere where that is a clear example of what NOT to do.

I'm nowhere near perfect when it comes to the English language, but I feel as if I'm failing all of my former English teachers as I write this paper. These things are drilled into our heads throughout our time in Junior High and High School. "I think" should not be in a paper like this! It just shouldn't happen! Ever! 

I I I I I. He wants our paper to be chock full of them. I'm going to cry. Big, huge, crocodile tears for all of the English teachers that I've let down. My thesis statement will not make it to the final draft in that format. Even if I get docked points for it, it just wont happen. 


Now, if any of you want to do any editing and revising for me, I would love you forever and maybe bake you a treat. The paper should be finished by tomorrow for you to mark with your red pen!

And I thought it was only girls that did this kind of thing...

Pi. The Pumpkin Kind.

We carved pumpkins last night for FHE. 

I shared a pumpkin with Sam, and this is what it ended up looking like. 

We're dorks, it's okay. 

I was also a fan of this pumpkin. It looks like Donnie, right? I think Curtis deserves a high five for his artistic talent. 

Another Awkward Elevator Story

As I walked away from my sociology class the other day, I was feeling rather confident. I'd finished the test very first out of anyone in the class, and I'd even checked all the sides of all of the papers so that I was sure I didn't miss any questions. I'd either bombed it or aced it. Either way, it was over. 

I decided to treat myself to an elevator ride, since I'd felt I'd done good on the test. 

The doors opened, and I walked in and waited for them to close. I waited for it to take me to my level, but it didn't. The elevator wasn't even moving! Scared that I was going to be stuck in an elevator for hours, I immediately checked to see how the charge on my cell phone was doing. Almost dead. 
This sent me into panic mode, so I decided to see what I could do about making it move again. Push the open button? Push random buttons? Call someone to come save me? Why, oh why, did I have to finish that test so early?! There was no one even in the halls! I leaned in to inspect the numbers for some sort of clue.

Then I realized that I'd never pushed the button for my floor. THAT'S why it wasn't moving. Oh, dear. 

I'm an idiot. 

I only want a man with spider-like tendencies in my head, not in real life.

Tiffany found this little guy at work the other day and immediately came to me so I could save her. I came running like the true macho-woman that I am. 

I did the only thing I COULD do. I screamed a little, took a picture, and then threw my shoe at it. I guess my hand-eye coordination improves when it's a life or death situation, because I hit this sucker spot on. Like a boss. 

Sorry the picture is so blurry. This tends to happen when you wont touch something with a 39 and a half foot pole. It was bigger than it looks in the picture. Lots bigger. I deserve a high five. 

Pacman and Frankenstein

I think that pretty much everyone can agree that the best part about the month of October is the fact that you can find pumpkin flavored everything and that General Mills starts stocking their sugary Halloween themed breakfast on the cereal aisle. 

I was helping my mom unload groceries the other day when I noticed that she had Franken-Berry and Boo-Berry cereal in the big pile of food. I probably got more excited than I should have, considering that I'm 20 years old, but whatever. I act like I'm perpetually six years old, it's okay.

As I was getting ready for work the other day, I decided that I needed to eat breakfast. The boo-berries weren't open yet, so I went with the other one. Having not actually having time to sit down and eat a bowl of cereal in a really long time, I forgot the most important part: bringing the box to the table with you to read while you're eating. So, instead, I stared into my pink bowl and watched as my cereal pieces stared me down with their cute little eyes while I chomped them down.

  I must have felt really bad eating those darn things, because my imagination went kind of wild as I decided that I was actually pacman eating a bunch of little red ghosties. 

The more I ate, the more those things looked like ghosts.

I'll probably have the pacman music stuck in my head for weeks now. 

waka, waka, waka!

Cramming

Meet my sociology textbook. 

I just did. Today, in fact. We had our very first interaction together, and I actually discovered that she's full of a lot of interesting things. 

All of which I'll have to read later. That's right, I just BARELY opened my textbook and it's almost halfway through the semester. 

College, College, College. 

I love it. 

I got accepted on the Video board for Salt Lake Community College Student Association's Publicity and Advertising board! So, we're talking student council -like stuff here! Because I'm on that board, I had to get a "progress report" from each of my teachers. I was pleased to find that I got all A's and "exceeds expectations" across the whole paper, except where my sociology professor pointed out that it was a rather stupid idea to put the response "exceeds expectations" for attendance. He chose not to answer that one, because he didn't like it. He's a funny kid.

We'll pretend that I didn't spend part of my allotted cramming time taking a weird picture of my textbook and putting it on my blog. Wish me luck on my Sociology test, kids. I'm gonna need it. 

October 2012 Conference Jeopardy

(I'm not very skilled with photoshop, so I stole this picture from http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/ who also made a General conference Jeopardy game, but didn't post it in time for me to use for FHE. It's awesome though, you should check it out.)

Every six months, we "Mormon Folk" get to experience something called LDS General Conference. We get to hear from the modern day Prophet, Thomas S. Monson and other general authorities in our church. It's one of my favorite weekends of the year, and I always end the weekend feeling incredible. If you want to learn more about what I believe, you can go to http://mormon.org, or you can watch this October's sessions here. I definitely suggest it! It will change your life. 

Every Monday night, my ward has FHE (family home evening). We get to hear a lesson, and then participate in an activity of some sort. Tonight, my friend Allen taught a lesson on this weekend's sessions of conference, and then we played a really fun game of conference Jeopardy. 

I googled and googled, but I guess nobody else got any questions made up yet, so I got to go back through today to make up some questions for our Jeopardy game. It turned out really well, and I think a couple of the questions really stumped some people. (win!) It was a pretty good competition, and you definitely couldn't do very well if you weren't paying attention. This was for college aged kids, so the questions might be a little out there for some of the younger generations, but feel free to use them and adjust them however you want! Let me know what you guys think! 

Saturday Morning Session

1 - How long is each session of General Conference?’

      2 hours

2- The new ages at which young men and women can now serve missions.

    18 and 19

3 - What ideal statement would sister Ann M. Dibb wear on a T-shirt?

     I am a Mormon. I know it, I live it, I love it.

4 - Who told the story about stopping the boys on the bikes?

    Russell M Nelson

5 - 4 speakers during this session

    -President Monson

    -Quentin L Cook

    - Ann M. Dibb

    -Craig C. Christensen

    -Shayne M. Bowen

    - Russell M Nelson

    - Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Saturday afternoon

1 - What time does the Morning Session of General Conference Start? –

     10 am

2 - Who conducted this session? –

     Uchtdorf

3- Who spoke about honey bees? –

     Ballard

4 - Where was the youth choir from? -

     taylorsville

5 - Who spoke about his American Indian ancestry? –

Elder Larry Echo Hawk

Priesthood

1 - How old should you be to attend Priesthood Session?

     12

2 - What snack food did President Uchtdorf mention in his talk?

    Peanuts

3 - Who spoke about carving boards with scriptural quotations for each of his sons?

     Henry B. Eyring

4 - According to President Monson, what should every girl be told?

    they are beautiful

5 - What two types of airplanes did Uchtdorf use in his story?

    hypercup

blue angel/f16

Sunday Morning Session

1 -How often is General Conference Held? –

    Every six months

2 - How many times did Jesus Christ ask Peter if he loved him?

    - Three

3 - According to Elder Holland, what is the crowning characteristic of love?

    - Loyalty

4 - Fill in the blank from president Monson's Talk.

"the lord's purposes are often accomplished as we pay heed to the _______ of the spirit"

     - guidance

5 - What was the pattern on President Monson's Tie during this session?

- Paisley

Sunday Afternoon Session

1 - Who presides at General Conference? –

     the prophet

2 - Elder Robert D. Hales spoke on this

    - Temple Ordinances

3 - Which movie was the pionieer story that Marcus B. Nash told in.

    A: 17 Miracles

4 - What cures video game addictions in Elder Scott's Talk?

    - Geneology

5 - How old is President Monson?

85

Final Jeopardy

Name the First Presidency AND the 12 apostles

President Thomas S Monson

President Henry B Eyring

President Dieter F Uchtdorf

Boyd K Packer

L. Tom Perry

Russell M Nelson

Dallin H Oaks

M Russell Ballard

Richard G Scott

Robert D Hales

Jeffrey R Holland

David A Bednar

Quentin L Cook

D Todd Christofferson

Neil L Anderson