BriAnne Borup

I know, two posts in one day.
My addiction is verging on annoying.

Tomorrow is my sisters birthday, and I wanted her to wake up knowing that someone was thinking of her this whole time. So I am giving her a blog to wake up to.

Bri is turning the big 2-1 tomorrow!
(or today, or last week, depending on when you are reading this)
I cannot believe she is so old.
Time just flows by quickly. seriously.

My relationship with my sister has not been the easiest one. Growing up we didn't always get along, but as we have gotten older things have only gotten better.
I consider her one of my best friends these days.

She has so many qualities that I admire.

She is so smart. Ridiculously smart.
She set the standard for my grades in high school.
Sometimes I wish I could call her up to take my Stats quizzes for me :)

She is BEAUTIFUL.
She has a perfect smile, perfect lips, and PERFECT hair!

She is a singer, a film maker, an actress, a student, a skipper, a daughter, a friend, a leader and a great sister.

My parents and I honestly wonder where she got all these qualities.
Not that my family and I aren't great, we are :)
just not in the way Bri is.

She has given me the tough job of being the younger sibling,
attempting to fill her shoes is an impossible task.

Bri, 

Happy Birthday! 

I hope it's a good one, though we all know birthdays are a little overrated :) 

I love you very much, I hope you know that. 

You are such an incredible example in my life. 

I couldn't have asked for a better sister. Our little family unit wouldn't be the same without you. 

Love,

ME :)

The View Today

The view out my window today..

Notice the mountains in the previous picture are gone. Bleh.

3 days... :)

Hey There Winter!

So I woke up this morning to SNOW on the mountains.
The first snow we have had this season.

This really only means three things to me:
A. that the bitter winter season at USU that everyone talks about is about to begin,
B. I get to go shopping!!!
C. my commute back to Orem is about to get more difficult, or if my dad has anything to say about it, non-existant.


The commute back and forth really isn't that bad.
(I make it basically every weekend, because there are some people I like a lot back home.)
Though sometimes the commute is long, somewhere near salt lake airport the air always reeks like rotten eggs, and my bum is, without fail, aching by the time I reach Lehi, the drive is always worth the weekend spent at home.

I get to see my family, Friday evening dinners, sleep in what I still consider my real bed, see my best friend C.C, and I get to spend time with Braden.

There is never a weekend I think, " ya know what, this wasn't worth the drive, I think I will stay in Logan next week."

The weekdays are usually more like a countdown for Alysha and me.
(only 4 more days people...)
Not that we don't have fun and love school while we are here, we do.
We just love the people back at home more than we could ever love anything up here.
I am sure my mom is debating how healthy she thinks that is for me.
But it's is true, and it's not changing.

Last night's commute back to Logan was the first of what I am sure will be a few rougher drives. It rained basically nonstop from orem to USU.
I mean, it REALLY pored.
Alysha and I may or may not have driven the canyon going no faster than 45 mph...

We made it back safe and sound with no problems, it just took a little longer than normal.

But I am afraid that my dad is about to put a hold on the gas money.
He says it's for my safety, but I am pretty sure he is just sick of me :)

The day that happens I will be very sad.
I will be up here, in the snow, without the people I love the very most.

The only thing that winter makes me look forward to is my not so far away christmas break!
I will be home for practically a straight month, and I could not be more excited.

(My dad on the other hand, I am not so sure about :).. )

So this is my Hello to winter, and my soon to be goodbye to Orem city..

I've never really liked the cold very much..

I know, I know, "then I picked the wrong school!"
Blah.


The view out my window this morning..

On a more positive note, you gotta admit it's beautiful!

Good Luck Lysha!

This is my Roommate Alysha Parsons

She is also one of my best friends. 

Isn't she adorable!? 

Alysha is an amazing person, for a lot of reasons. 

She is hilarious, and can brighten your day with one of her ridiculous laughs. 

She is so beautiful, in a way that makes it hard for me to just stand next to her.

She is smart, and when she wants something, she has ambition like you have never seen; to the point where it starts getting a little crazy.. :)

Which is why, of course, she is competing in a triathlon THIS saturday!

You may have noticed me mention that little triathlon on here once or twice, because being her roommate and best friend, I have been partly training for it too.. not necessarily by choice.

She has worked her bum off (and a little bit of mine as well) training for this little thing. This is where her ambition comes in. I can't even imagine myself doing something like this; I can't imagine pretty much any girl my age doing this. 

(there actually is only one other girl in her division of the race)

Leave it to Lysha to show us all up :) 

So this is me wishing my girl luck this saturday morning, on the world wide web! And I hope you will join me, not because she will need it, but because she deserves it. 

The girl in Alysha's division has no idea what this little 18 year old is capable of doing.. Poor girl.

I wish I could be there to cheer you on bestie :) 

I love you! 

GOOD LUCK!

A Little Reminder

After my very long weekend home, I was a little reluctant to leave.
I am always a little reluctant, I think it is beginning to worry my mother.

I didn't cry though, this would be the first weekend goodbye without tears folks :)

I drove down all by myself this time, and it was kind of a lonely drive..

But the moment I got off the elevator onto my floor, I was literally attacked by like 10 of my closest USU friends. I was forced to change in about 30 seconds and was pushed out the door to a "paint dance"

It was more like the most intense mosh-pit I have ever been in. I don't think there was really any dancing going on, or breathing for that matter.
but there was paint, a lot of pain, and a lot of fun.

My girl friends and I lasted probably a good 10 minutes before we called it quits.

Well Barbie actually got lost.. It is now 3 hours later and I still haven't seen her..

It was short and sweet, but it was the perfect night to remind me that I love it here. Even though I love my home in Orem, I remembered I love my Logan home too..

Dirty Girls!

My dirty nasty feet after..

fun.

Fall Break

I am home safe and sound (BARELY) after a fun weekend in southern Utah.

Alysha, Jesse (alysha's boyfriend, braden's brother), Jill (alysha's mom), Ryan (alysha's brother), Braden and I went down to Cedar City for fall break.

Friday we went to Zions National Park and hiked Angels Landing. I am ashamed to admit I basically quit breathing at one point, but we made it to the top, and it was worth it. It was so BEAUTIFUL, and so fun! We also walked a trail by the river, a little less intense, but also very pretty.

Just starting out.

Checking out the view with Jill

Finally made it to the top!

Saturday we went to Sand Hollow, a mini Lake Powell I didn't even know existed. Alysha and Jesse did a little training for their upcoming triathlons, then we all swam, laid out in the sun, and cliff jumped the rest of the day. I was glad it was a little less strenuous than our hike friday.
Me and Braden may or may not have been the only ones with sore legs and bums.. We were a little ashamed.

Sunday we went to church in the oddest LDS church building I have ever seen, and then attempted to visit Cedar Breaks. It was freezing, raining, and then hailing. We basically barely escaped death when we tried to drive up a dirt road to a look out point.
I covered my eyes the majority of the time.
So with the bad weather ruining our last day, we decided to head home. It was probably the longest car ride in the world, and I almost killed everyone driving with me..

Long story short, we are all alive and home.

Besides burnt skin, hurt feelings, and a few brushes with death, it was such a fun trip!
I am so glad that Jill invited me to come along.

Back to school.
BLEH. :(

Last shots of the break, some of my favorites...

AMAZING

Ahh.. I miss the sun already.

My Dad

I am officially addicted to blogging.
I think even more than I am to Facebook.

So I have been racking my brain for something to write about.
I mean, I have ideas, I've got big plans for this blog; but every idea seems to have a specific time it needs to blogged, and none of my brilliant ideas fall on this day.
But I have an addiction so I HAVE to blog something.

I decided.
My adorable Dad keeps giving me ideas for what he thinks I should blog about,
some of which will appear at a later time, but his little comments gave me the best idea for today.

I will blog about HIM.

BEN BORUP

This is my dad. Isn't he cute?!

I am a daddy's girl. How could I not be?! I have the best dad in the world.

He drives me crazy with his curfews and guilt trips that work better than any punishment. At the same time, he brightens my day with his stupid jokes, his doggy-scarred smile, and his big hugs. 

He got stuck with two girls and no manly boys. To make it worse, me and my sister didn't get inherit one boyish characteristic. We have zero athletic bones in our bodies, and we don't camp, fish, or metal detect. 

We didn't give my dad much to work with. 

But if he ever wished he had a boy, he's never showed it. 

He works hard to give my mom, sister and me everything we want and need;

even when we are impatient and ungrateful. 

Anyone who knows him will tell you his world revolves around his girls. 

I will never be able to thank him enough for giving me my perfect life. 

I wish I could say I inherited any of his best qualities;

 his patience, artistic ability, work ethic, love for learning and selflessness, but I didn't...

What I did get is a combination of my mom's and his calves, and his sense of humor.

Can't complain about that :)

I hope you know how much you mean to me dad. 

I love you. 

Logan Life

My Dad listed a few things he wanted to hear about on my blog.
So this entry is for him.

Although my blog may not reflect it, I do go to school and leave my dorm room every once in awhile.

I enjoy all of my classes, except for statistics;
I do enjoy my Ukrainian stats recitation teacher though. He's a real card.

My favorite class would probably be jcom, or kickboxing.

I excel in both :)

My kickboxing teacher, to no surprise, really loves Alysha and me.
We are always dancing, and laughing; which is rare for college students at 8:30 in the morning. We are always up front, and always work hard.
I'm pretty sure we brighten her day :)


Although Snow Hall (where I live) is supposedly on campus, it couldn't be any further away from all of my classes. So everyday I have a 10 min bus ride to what I consider campus, and then a 10 min walk to my actual classroom. So it's a good thing that,

A. Campus is really pretty to look at and..
B. The bus drivers love me :)

Alysha and I have made friends with a bus driver or two. So when we are trying to get to the bus stop on time, and the bus drives past us, he gives us a smile and a thumbs up, meaning he will wait for us at the stop.
It is very convenient.

Other than class, my dorm, and the gym, we rarely go anywhere.

But I have made it to a local taco bell, the "Fun Center" for country dancing, and "Logan Lanes" for some bowling with friends.

I realize that I boast a little bit about how certain people love me, which is true, but I may have led you to believe I am more popular than I really am...

I do have friends. I love my roommates. I've grown especially close to Skipper and  Barbie. Some of my high school friends are up here too.
I also have made very good friends with the boys of room 402, in Snow Hall. Sam, Devin, and Paul. Also, I have a friend in other student housing, Big Red.
Every tuesday night, without fail, we watch Glee and a movie with these boys.

(keeping track of my fake names is going to be tough, I hope you're still following me)


I do know a few other people at USU, but this would be the elite group that I actually spend time with. So I might not REALLY be that popular... but I love the friends I do have up here.
I'm lucky to have found these people so early on.

That about sums up my life up here in Logan.
Pretty exciting, right?



I hope you found that fascinating Daddy :)
I love you.

Dad also requested some pictures...

Before Kickboxing, with socks from Dad!

The friends country dancin'

The losing team at Logan Lanes

So I'm not using real names anymore, except for mine and Alysha's of course, but I am posting pictures...

 That's okay right?

P.S.

I didn't exactly fail my stats midterm... but I didn't exactly ace it either..

P.P.S.

Alysha also has a blog, that I try and get her to update :) check it out for more details on my life.. maybe. It might not say anything about me, but we are like thing one and thing two; even if she doesn't mention me, you can be sure I was there. 

itsaboutmylifeokay.blogspot.com

BORED!

The blog world is boring me.

Or maybe my life is just boring me?

Either way, I find it hard to think of something to blog about,
but I am partly doing this for my major, so I think it is important to write anyway.

I think Julie Hollist would agree.

(reference down to Communication and Sheep)


Fall break is in a few days and I am so excited.
I am going to Zion, with my roommate's family and our two boyfriend brothers.
It will be a nice break from the life I am beginning to get bored of.

The Boredom List:

Bored with my fall wardrobe, or lack there of.

Bored with my dorm being freezing cold, because the managers don't think it's cold enough outside to turn the heat on!

Bored with eating chicken and pasta every night.

Bored with getting pulled over on the way to Logan, 7 miles away from school!

Bored with being so smart in all my classes :)

Bored of training for a triathlon I'm not even participating in.

Bored with not knowing how to spell, and all my readers most likely noticing

Bored with marriage surrounding me.

Bored with my boring blog.

Bored. Bored. Bored.

Bored doesn't sound like a word anymore.
Did I even spell it right?



Here's some pictures of my weekend at home, where I am never bored, to make this entry a little less boring.

My Family, minus my beautiful mom, who I LOVE!

A shout-out to my Uncle B, who is rarely boring :)

QT with my best friend, enough said. 

Braden, who has the tough job of keeping me entertained 24/7, even from 2 hours away.

Thank goodness for family and friends who keep me sane :)

I miss you all, especially on boring days like this one.

Just an Update

First of all, lets start by saying..

USU totally dominated BYU for the first time in 17 years!! 

I really am not that big of a football fan, but being at that game was so much fun!

I got to sit front row at the 50 yard line! 

(without having to wait in any lines, some people were upset, but it just goes to show what some good womanly wiles will get you :)..)

I was so close I could talk to the football players, in my inside voice, and they could hear me. 

I didn't really talk to any of them.

I got to wear my new shirt, get tossed in the air 31 times, pretty much be apart of history, and make multiple appearances on ESPN!

I am basically famous. 

After my 3 hour encounter with history and fame, I headed home for conference weekend.

I don't really feel comfortable talking about religion on the world wide web, 

but I will say that conference was amazing.

I am so happy and blessed that I belong to the LDS church. 

Another perfect weekend. 

Now back to school! 

By the way, I did get my sores back for my journalism and communications class. 

JCOM, if you will,

and I did ACE it! Another moment to bask in my smart glory before I take another Stats test..

A Stats midterm actually.. 

I have a feeling this will be a slow and kind of painful school week.

But I'm tough :)

some pictures for proof. As always.

Me and the Roomie

My USU family

Alive, Smart, and Funny

I am alive.
My mom called yesterday concerned because I have barely posted anything (blog or facebook) about my life in a few days, she was wondering if I am alive. I am.

The reason I was less media active (if you can call a day or two inactive) was because I was studying for the two exams I took today.
I don't know my scores yet, but basically I aced 'em!

I am feelin' pretty smart today.

And I am soaking up every minuet of this feeling, because tomorrow I have a quiz in Stats that I am not so confident about... This feeling is going to fade, so lets enjoy it while we can.
(by we I mean mostly me)

While floating around on my smart cloud nine, I visited the USU bookstore with Alysha.
We both walked away with two new shirts, which we deemed necessities,   to show our school spirit at the BYU vs. USU football game tomorrow!

It will be our first game, and we are very excited, hence our shopping spree.
(Payed for with my own cash and some aggie bucks, mom and dad, don't worry.)


I don't know aaaaanything about football. I have absolutely no idea if USU is likely to win.
But if we don't, at least I will look cute, right?!

That's a motto to live by if you ask me :)


Now, a little disclaimer before you look at the pictures below..
It is all in good humor, it's funny, relaaax!

come on, it's funny!

GO AGGIES! :)

PS

P.s.

There is a girl who lives down the hall from me, who met this young man a little over a week ago, and 8 days later, is also engaged.

The Next Two Years

Soo one of my roommates got engaged this weekend.

(because I will be posting information about people on the internet for everyone in the world to see without them knowing about it, I am going to start using fake names.)

Lets call her Skipper.

The nuptials are scheduled for December, and Skipper is very excited! We all are!
I have a childhood friend, we will call her Poe, who is also getting married in December.

Another roommate, who will remain nameless for now, is also very seriously considering getting married this summer. ( you know who you are :) )

I feel like marriage is surrounding me. I immediately check people's left ring finger when I meet them, boy or girl, and more often than not there will be a pretty little ring there.

So I'm finding myself a little out of place, to my families relief I am sure, because I am so far away from jumping on the marriage train.
I'd say I am at least TWO years away. For those of you who can't, or are too lazy to do the math, that is somewhere around 21. Reasonable don't you think?

The thing is, two years is rather far away, and with marriage snatching up friends left and right, I am going to be very alone, very bored, for very long, very soon.
(run on sentence?)

So the task for you, my readers :), is to help me come up with some really amazing things to do for the next two years. I need your best pearls of knowledge people, and be specific.

i.e. "I think you should do a study abroad in New Zealand fall semester."

or

i.e. "I think you should spend 35,000 dollars to go on a submarine to visit the Titanic wreck."

This means for those of you who read this blog, but do not have an account so you cannot comment, that you need to make an account. Pleeeease?

Skipper's Ring. 

Thank You!

Communication and Sheep

Today in my Journalism and Communications class we had a guest speaker.
Her name is Julie Hollist, and she was brilliant.
She works for the Cache Valley Visitors Bureau.

Basically she told us about what she does, and her advice on how to be successful in life, specifically in a communications major;
Which, for those of you who don't know, is my major.

She was hilarious, clever, and smart. It was the best class I've been to since college started.

More importantly, it was the first day I really felt like I belonged in the major I've chosen.

I took two pages of notes simply on this lady's thoughts, none of which most people would consider profound, but I loved it. Everything she said was thought provoking, and inspiring, at least for me. I turned around at one point and saw a girl pretending to shoot herself in the head implying her extreme boredom, which is when I think I realized obviously not everyone in the class was feeling the same as I was, because this is MY major.

Which is why I won't bore you with all the things she taught me, some of which I'm pretty sure my mom has been telling me my whole life, because this isn't your major. its MINE.
But I will say she said to learn how to write intelligently, and that ANY practice you can get involved in you should take advantage of; like blogging! eh eh?

The point is, the class was amazing.

(I will feel slightly embarrassed if one day I change my major to something so different than what I am raving about right now)

In other news, only at USU would you find students practicing for their RODEO club on the quad; with actual sheep, and bails of hay.

Because I have no pictures of today, here is a picture of me with some sheep. 

Maybe I should join the Rodeo Club?

Weekend

I just got back to USU last night after a perfect weekend at home.
It was so perfect that I had a hard time saying goodbye. I probably cried just as much or more this weekend than the day I actually moved out. Trust me, it's a lot of tears.

So lets sum up my weekend so you can have a glimpse of the perfection.

Friday. The main event is my best friend, C.C.
My queen.
It was my high schools homecoming football game and she made it into homecoming royalty! (no surprise there) She looked absolutely beautiful, and the moment we saw each other we both got emotional and may or may not have shed a few tears.
(we missed each other okay?!)
There was no winning title, but she's my queen :)

Saturday. Finally got to cut and color my hair. It was beginning to look a little like mystery hair. But the main event was the STATE FAIR!
Braden, Jesse, Alysha and I all went together.
The boys were not very excited..
It was kind of silly, dirty, and definitely smelly. But we had a lot of fun, and riding the Zipper made it all worth while.

Sunday. Stewart Falls!
Braden and I have been talking about hiking to Stewart Falls all summer long, but we never got around to it. Braden's brother Chris and his wife Treg had planned on going sunday afternoon, and Braden, Jesse, Alysha and I decided to tag along. It was so beautiful with all the leaves changing colors for fall. I loved it. 

Me and My Queen

The State Fair!

The Amazing Hike!

It was a perfect weekend, but after a long drive, an excedrin PM (for all the crying), and good nights sleep, I'm ready for another week of real life! 

Things my mother taught me

Beth (my mom) and Jill (Alysha's mom) would be proud mama bears if they could see us today.
Although I doubt my mom would be impressed with my unmade bed, she would be proud of the clean bathroom, and my dust free room.

Alysha and I have cleaned our dorm bathrooms twice now. Yes, scrubbing the toilet, wiping the mirrors, and picking the hair out of the sink drain with our bare fingers.

And because I am my mothers daughter, I also dust my room.

It is a surprisingly dirty job.. We apparently are 6 dirty girls.

I know I am a pretty clean person, as far as teenagers go, and if mine is this bad, I seriously wonder about all the other students dorms...

but that is for someone else's mother to worry about. My mom, on the other hand, should be reassured that she can now worry about other things.
 ( and anyone who knows her will tell you she won't have any problems with that :)..)

The Proof

I love you mom, and Jill! Thanks for all the life lessons :)

To sum it up

There are a few things I will never be able to capture in this blog that I wish I could..

The smell of lysha's toots...... sometimes mine.
(sorry mom)

The sound of me sniffling every 5 seconds.

Whitney's voice coming through the walls.

All the laughing, especially Alyshas :)


That would sum up the past couple days pretty perfectly.
It almost sums up everyday actually.

So use your imagination.

These are the issues people

Me and Alysha went grocery shopping again today because we have quickly learned no one shares, but us.
The fridge is overflowing with food, which includes 6 milk cartons people!! There are only six people living in this dorm, and me and lysha share milk. Do the math; someone has TWO cartons in there! Also, there are 3 ketchup bottles, 5 bottles of mayo, and 4 bottles of ranch.. Share is not in these girl's vocabulary. And we have discussed it, believe me. I once brought up the topic of maybe sharing milk, but I was quickly shot down.

It is a roomie eat roomie world up here.

I honestly am scared of one or two of them..
One roomate marks where she last left her milk with a line.. Like any of us would dare use some and find out what happens when she returns to milk below the line.

I've been googling prices of mini fridges. Only 100 bucks dad, what do you say? ;)

These are the college issues people!

The milk.

ps:

 Jenna always shares her milk with me. Sweetheart. 

pps: 

 I have a pus pocket in my throat, but on the bright side, I do not have strep.