special days

Since beginning working full time, at the crack of dawn, weekends have become especially special to me.

Saturday, and Sunday, mornings when my body naturally wakes up around 7, and I realize I may sleep as long as I please, I can only explain as pure joy. 

And the time not spent sleeping, is spent finding fun things to fill our day. 

Labor Day weekend was filled with Swiss Days and Sheep Dogs. 

Saturday was spent with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. 

We shopped, ate, gabbed, and sang a few songs from The Sound Of Music soundtrack. Weird since that was set it Austria, and we were supposed to be celebrating the Swiss. But no matter, I'm sure rain drops on roses, and whiskers on kittens make the swiss happy too. 

It was a perfect girls day, minus the fact that the right side of my hair decided it wanted to be straight and the left wanted to be curled. rough. 

Monday was spent at the Sheep Dog Championship at Solider Hollow. 

This was my brilliant idea, and I got Zane and my in-laws to jump on board with me. I am currently going through an animal obsession phase, for the last 20 years. 

It was such a fun atmosphere. I love my fellow dog lovers, they're the friendliest of people. 

The Splash Dogs were my favorite part. Zane and I have officially decided our future puppy will be a Splash Dog. Here's hoping that puppy is here sooner rather than later. 

The weekend was well worth the farmers tan, and peeling that followed. 

It's a little late, but I hope everyone enjoyed their labor day weekend!

weekend

Zane and I treated ourselves to a weekend in Park City to celebrate summer, and his 26th year of life. It was lovely to get away from work, and school. Honestly, even a day away from the family we adore was wonderful.

We mostly shopped, and ate. Which is perfect, because they happen to be my two favorite past times.
Over the last year, Zane has become my best friend. Doing anything, or nothing with him, makes a good day, and doing nothing particular in Park City made a great weekend. 

Shopping Main Street

Zane's dinner

My delicious dinner that looks like it came off the kids menu. 

I day dreamed about living in this house one day. 

 visiting the olympic park. 

you should check it out if you're ever in the neighborhood.

It was short, and simple, and everything we needed. 

A Rascally Night

I am so blessed to have fallen in love with the O'Gwins.

From the day I met them I always wanted to spend time around them, simply because they are wonderful, never because I had to. 

And since all my friends are away from me, the O'Gwins fill the holes they left behind :)

Especially Zane's little sister Catie, we have been friends since the beginning.

So it worked out perfectly when my mom gave me some Rascal Flatts tickets that I actually had a friend to bring with me!

And we had loooots of fun!

Sara Evans, and Rascal Flatts both have amazing voices, especially live, which often is not the case.

There are no bad seats in USANA.

And We made good friends with the very sweet lesbians sitting in front of us.

It was more fun than I thought it would be!

The only downside to the concert was the scary, probably drunk, old hippie grandpa sitting two rows behind us...

Catie, the three lesbians, and I stood up when Sara Evans came out, we like her, it's a concert, and she deserves to have her fans react like they're having a good time. 

but the old man, and his mean old wife, disagreed. They continued to yell at us to sit down.

So being the assertive person I am, I finally turned around and as kindly as possible told them that I paid for these tickets, this is a concert, and I am sorry, but we are going to stand. 

So he yelled, "You're an F******* B****"!"

Completely shocked and terrified I quickly turned around. 

Well somewhere else in the arena my mom is sitting with her three best friends, so I texted her the little story because she's my mom and I tell her everything. 

Next thing I know, my mom is stormin down my isle, picks out the old man behind me and chews him out. She shakes her scariest teacher pointer finger in his face and tells him that he cannot speak to me that way, to get over it cause he is at a "freaking concert"!, and if he says anything to me she will have security remove him. Needless to say, my mom is awesome. And the oldies left me alone for the rest of the concert. 

Well you have to admit my sweater isn't doin much for me, but my mom is BEAUTIFUL, and awesome. I am so grateful for everything she does for me. 

So all summed up, it was such a great night!

Especially after a kind of tough week, it was exactly what I needed. 

Here's a little glimpse for you... and if you ask me, the lesbians really set the mood.

And even though we got stuck in about 4 hours of traffic on the way home, fun people in car next to us running to our car on the freeway to give us their number made even the worst situation of the night a little fun. 

It was a pretty perfect night!

Pure Perfection

Tonight was easily the best night I have had up here at USU, so it's just perfectly coincidental that it landed on the last weekend of the year.

USU had one of their better ideas when they decided to pay for Sean Kingston to come give us a little concert. a FREE concert.
They shut down the main road on campus, and set up a stage in the middle of the street. The turn out was huge, we definitely had to fight our way into the middle of the mosh-pit. Lucky for me, I have years of Rocket Summer concerts that have made me a regular old pro at getting in, and staying in the pit.

After Sean preformed, we are on a first name basis like that, the pit turned into a dance floor. And that dance turned into the best dance of my life, and the combination of both easily turned into one of my favorite nights in my life.

It's nights like these that make me want to cry when I think about this year ending. I wish I could put into words how it makes me feel. There were moments where I clearly remember looking around at the falling snow, campus, and my grinning best friends and thinking "Tonight is something special. Tonight is something I will remember"
I only wish there was someway I could really capture the euphoria everyone was so obviously feeling. I didn't, but I did try.
With photos of course :)

Before the sweating really started :)

The Pit! and that blur on stage would be Mr. Kingston

The best friends, and the sweaty hair. mostly mine. 

I love nights like these that make me really appreciate all my blessings. I'm young, life is fun, probably easier than it should be, I have amazing people in my life, and awesome opportunities that become perfect memories. 

I have realized and come to embrace the fact that sometimes I have to put the camera down, stop thinking, and just be in the moment. 

Perfection can really only be captured in memory, and thats the way it should be. 

Easter Weekend

For some reason I have been avoiding going to Orem for weeks.
I guess I was pretending I was some cool college girl who doesn't miss home.
I'm not.

My mother convinced me to come back for easter sunday and I have never been so thankful for a weekend home.
After weeks of a rather tiring back and forth with the boy, I decided it was time to end the redhead fetish phase. And nothing gets be back to my normal self again faster than a few days in Orem with the family and friends.

The only missionary I know that I actually wrote came home last weekend!
So I got to spend the weekend spending some QT with Elder Decker.
Nothing more entertaining than watching a missionary fresh off the field try to adjust to real life again.
He forgets to speak english instead of spanish, and marvels at simple grocery stores and it gives me a good little giggle. I also enjoy beginning to introduce him to every movie worth watching that came out in the last 2 years.

I also discovered that hiding the eggs for the annual easter egg hunt might be more fun than actually finding them. And watching the most adorable cousins in the world try to find them, is the most entertaining of all.
And when I tell you they are the most adorable, I mean it. You might think you know cute kids, and I am sure you do, but I hate to burst your bubble, unless you know my cousins, you haven't seen a thing.

So my little weekend was wonderful. So wonderful I find myself feeling less anxiety and more excitement about moving home for the summer.

TWO weeks people!

The photos...

Sunday Walk with friends, didn't mention it, but it happened. 

Me and the Tis

the MOST adorable child ever. 

Dont you wanna squeeze her!!!

Happy Easter. 

An Afternoon Alone

My apartment has been vacated for Easter weekend except for me!

I dont know why I refer to this place as an apartment, but a dorm doesn't really fit either. Plus, apartment sounds cooler, and makes me sound older. Am I right?

I had my own room for the first time this semester last night, and I am loving it!

Not that I don't love my roommies. I love all of them dearly.

But now I can sleep in till noon without worrying about the judgements, which are all in my head. Most importantly, I can dance around to my music in whatever clothing, or lack there of, I would like. Which I have been doing for the past hour. 

Avril and Ke$ha have been serenading me as loud as my laptop will allow, while JB watches from the family room. 

So my morning, which is really afternoon, looks a lot like this.

Yep, I'm rocking the sweats and the bun hair at 2 in the afternoon. Not ashamed. 

Del Taco and 80's Night!

I can't believe another weekend has come and gone!
I could of sworn I was just barely blogging about my last weekend, and here I am about to do it again.

Well I had another perfect weekend in Logan.

Friday I spent some time quality time with my besties, and then Dave decided that we needed to make a late night run to Del Taco at 1 in the morning.
You see, Del Taco is a very special place for us Orem kids. It is a consistent craving of mine and pretty much my only complaint about Logan.
They don't have a Del.
But when you need some Del, you need some Del. So we got our Logan family together and drove to Ogden to get me some hard tacos.
And let me tell ya, it was worth every second of the little trip.

Saturday I went to another frat party. Who knew those things were so fun?!

This time is was 80's themed, so we dressed up, got the gang together and spent another night dancing our bums off. Seriously, we were there form 10:30 until 1. 

Im pretty sure I dropped 5 pounds on that dance floor. It was too much fun. 

We grabbed a late night snack after at Taco Bel. (notice the mexican food addiction) and called it a night around 4. 

My 80's Besties for Lifey

All the girls. We actually made new girlfriends, its a miracle. And we love them. 

Sunday, I got my patriarchal blessing.

Ah, what an overwhelming and extremely cool experience.

There really isn't much I can share about it, but trust me when I tell you it was amazing.

It was also amazing to have my parents and sister apart of the whole thing.

How lucky am I that they would drive all the way up here just for little old me?!? 

The weekend was PERFECT. 

I am a lucky girl. 

My Best Friend's Wedding

My best friend is MARRIED!

I really can't think of any sentence that can capture how absolutely crazy and amazing this statement is.  Or how insane it is that my best friend's name is now Alysha LANHAM! 

Whoa. 

I had the privilege to be a bridesmaid for this beautiful event, so my weekend was full of running around doing all sorts of marriage things, and trying to keep my friends who came down from Logan to go to the reception happy and busy. And although I felt like I never had a second to fully relax, it was a very fun weekend.

We kicked off the wedding celebrations with a wedding dinner Friday night. 

It was held in the sky room for the family, and most importantly of course, the best friends. 

Don't be fooled by the fact that we had to sit on the table furthest from the bride and her groom, or that we were served our food very last. We are the most important! (or at least that's what we joked about all weekend)

The food was delicious, and the people were great.

I love the Parsons and the Lanhams way too much for my own good. 

Unfortunately this would be the place where the tears began to flow. Everyone was giving little speeches for Lysha and Jesse, and when my turn came along, I was practically sobbing in the first second that I looked at my best friends face. 

Fortunately, CC, Alysha and I have this emotional connection so they cried just as hard as me, and I felt a little less ridiculous. 

I think I may have managed to choke out a pretty good little speech too.

Best Friends at the Dinner.

Tears and hugs over with, next was the wedding Saturday morning. 

CC and I drove to the Salt Lake temple around 12, and waited in the waiting room with other friends and family. 2 hours, and 2 very sore feet from standing in heels later, the HUSBAND and WIFE came out to greet their cold guests! 

We took some cold pictures, and then hurried home. 

I had enough time to get into my bridesmaids dress and try and fix the mess I call my hair, and I was off to the wedding reception. 

The wedding reception was BEAUTIFUL! I helped my Bestie get into her wedding dress again, we took some cold pictures, visited with family and friends, I caught the wedding bouquet (lysha basically threw it in my face haha) and we watched the Bride and Groom have their first dance. 

I honestly have never seen two happier people in my whole life. They were glowing, and grinning from ear to ear. It was so incredibly beautiful.

Some of Alysha's Bridesmaids

My GORGEOUS, MARRIED bestie!

ABC! :)

The best friends, minus Starlee who couldn't make it.

The first best friend to get married, 6 more to go. 

I can't wait for the opportunity to see all the people I love as happy as Alysha was that night. 

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Lanham!

A Weekend To Remember

I have become a regular old pro at staying whole weekends at Utah State.

And this weekend was the most successful yet!

Friday was full of the regular old USU family.

My twins, and red head boys hung out with us all night.

(I know you are happy to hear that mom.)

Somewhere around 2 in the morning, we decided to pull our first college prank.

We took out the light bulbs in both of the elevators and hid them on the 5th floor. So for the rest of the night, and part of the next day, anyone who needed to take the elevator had no other choice but to take it in COMPLETE darkness.

It is pretty creepy. but the college kids actually gotta big kick out of it.

They road it up and down in groups all night.

We got a kick out of watching the fun we accidentally created for everyone.

We actually got our second prank out of the way in the same night as well...

We filled our empty trash can with water, and titled it against our boys room door.
Then we knock, run away, the door opens, the trash can falls over into the room, water everywhere.

Funny right?

But don't feel bad for them because they got us back. like 3 separate times. Including a water fight, and our own trash can fiasco. 

The rest of the night involved Bunlimpics, and not getting to bed till 6 in the morning.

It was perfect.

Some wet girls after the water fight

Saturday started bright and early with some deep cleaning of the apartment before my bridal shower guests arrived. Then we decorated, got the party stuff together, and cooked some baked goods.

And FINALLY the party arrived!

We ordered pizza, ate yummy food, and caught up.

Then on to the naughty games. LOTS of fun.

An adorable soon-to-be-newlywed game video made by yours truly.

The opening of some beautiful presents.

A fashion show :)

The boys stopped by to visit Lyshy for probably the last time.

cucumbers and face-masks.

Brought the mattresses out on the floor for a giant sleepover bed.

Watched Just Married, and fell asleep.

I realize that was the most boring way to tell you about that night, but it was too great, too much happened, it could not be written down on a blog.

All you really need to know is, I am the BEST maid of honor in the world.

Women should hire me to be their MOH's. I deserve the big bucks for my talents.

 Valentines Day Themed Decore and Treats

Me, the bestie, and most of the guests.

The Historical Weekend!

Yep, that's right, I actually stayed the whole weekend.

I know you all doubted me. 

I've managed to stay in Logan for what will be almost 2 weeks when I finally go home to Orem. And not only did I stay, but I actually really enjoyed myself. 

Friday I went and cleaned the sink with my USU family. It is an aggie tradition to go to the local restaurant Angies and order this sink over flowing with ice cream. If you complete the task, you get a sticker. We were pretty proud :) We then played some karaoke, and of course some cards.

Saturday I went to the basketball game. It was my first USU basketball game ever, and let me tell you, I was a little startled. 

We are so MEAN! I was almost embarrassed by our lack of good sportsmanship. 

We turn our backs when the names of the opposing team players are announced. When someone fouls on one of our players we chant "you you you you you you SUCK!"'; thousands of students dressed in blue screaming that at you has throw off your game. 

My personal favorite part is when "crazy Bill" dresses up in a costume to distract the other team when they make free throws. He does a little jig and we all chant "You like Bill, You like Bill" This game he dressed up as a fireman. The time before that he was Winnie the pooh..

And somewhere in between being up by 20 points at all times, and the crazy student section, my embarrassment turns into school pride. 

That would be Bill. HAAWT.

Sunday was church with a lovely christmas program, studying, cards and movies with my best friends. 

It was such a fun weekend, I am so glad I decided to finally stay. I hope that I will be able to do it more often.

BUT, after all the fun, I am more than ready to be back home!

Finals week could not go any slower...

Proof

Just a quick photo my Dad took and sent me to prove to my sister, and anyone else who doubts me, that I did eat at PF Changs :)

Firsts

For the first time since I moved up to Logan, I didn't take a single picture this weekend. 

I ate at P.F. Changs with my parents and Braden, and for the first time ever I really enjoyed it. Chinese food, me?! 

I went to the first Bridal shower of my recollection. Congrats Poe!

I watched 8 episodes of Avatar; the Last Air Bender for the first time. Give it a chance people! 

And drum roll please...

For the first time ever I am going to STAY IN LOGAN this weekend!

Now I have said this so many times before that when I told my dad he just laughed at me. But I'm tellin you, it's really gonna happen this time. 

I'm determined. 

Feel free to be impressed with me and all my firsts.

I'm awesome. 

Me and Ang probably fighting the fire nation

Doing Nothing

So I am a little bit morally opposed to even mentioning this brooding "storm", that is apparently big enough to shut down BYU, because EVERYONE has been talking about it. I didn't want to be one of those people.
But here I am. Mentioning the storm.

I only mention it because Braden and Alysha are out of town, and CC is popular. Meaning, I have very little to do on this winter break, during this HUGE storm.

Though you all had some valuable suggestions on my last post, I have yet to get around to doing any of them... sorry..
The reason why though, is because I have discovered I like doing nothing.

Today I spent some quality time at Borders with my mom, then ate dinner with Dad, and finally spent the rest of the night wrapped in a blanket by my mom's cute new christmas tree, reading.
Reading a book that I bought and will also finish tonight. Thanks to a suggestion by a friend :)
I thought I would be bored, and lonely, missing a few of my favorite people, but I am perfectly content. My house is quite, the storm outside makes being inside even more satisfying, my book is entertaining, and my parents are adorable.

It is so easy, at least for me, to get caught up in the stress of school, my unhealthy desire for new clothes, and feeling the need to spend all my free time having fun with friends. I am one of those annoying teenagers. How depressing.
My day of family, reading, and relaxing has been refreshing. I honestly feel healthier, like I had a little life detox.

So on day 1 of my official thanksgiving break, I am Grateful for the simple things.
Like my cute family and a good book :)

What are you thankful for?

Almost Famous

I had another run in with fame since my appearance on USPN.
My sister is in the film program at BYU, and had to make a little movie this weekend.
It just so happened that Braden, CC, and I were the actors in this production.

When the movie is cut and ready to be viewed, I will post it on here for you all to see. Until then, I am not going to explain the complicated plot so you are all on the edge of your seat when you finally see it.

What I will say is that it was a lot of fun, but mostly really tiring.
I underestimated the task of being an actor.
My body was aching after hours of trying to be an even mediocre actress.

I felt a little ridiculous and I was tired of doing the same scene over and over, in multiple camera angles.
But, I had a good time dressing up and laughing non-stop with my best friends.
I hope Bri has time to make a blooper video, cause there was LOTS.

It was a fun little experience.

Suzy and Carl

The Film Crew

Suzy and her best friend Bonnie

The Actors :)

In the end my secret dreams of becoming truly famous were crushed.
You will see why when I post the movie.

Busy

Braden's birthday weekend was a success! 

We spent time with family, ate out, went rock climbing, and saw Megamind. Twice.

(It was that good of a movie, I highly recommend it.)

Blowing out his candles 

Megamind Tats!

Rockclimbing

Megamind, AGAIN!

 

Now that I am back at USU, I am not sure how much I will be blogging.

Between burning off the cake I ate for every meal this weekend, writing a paper for humanities, and studying for another Statistics test, I am going to be a little busy. 

Plus, I have to make time for a nap or two. :)

So wish me luck on my busy week, and if I find the time, or a topic, to blog about I will be sure to update you, my plethora of followers... Joke.