Life Lately- Summer: Part 1

so far Summer has been filled with running and swimming and lots of adventures :)

The weekend between spring and summer term was filled with adventure and fun since it was basically the extent of my summer vacation. Saturday afternoon was spent hiking Squaw Peak. It was a fantastic hike. A little steep but beautiful and in good company :) When we finished we got some in-n-out and went hot-tubbing. It was a good day :)

{only 3 more steeps...}

The next week summer classes commenced and I have to say that they are some of my favorite and most interesting classes that I've taken so far at BYU.

That first week of classes contained my birthday!!! It was probably the best birthday I've ever had. I went out for dinner with my friend Taylor and when we got back to my apartment I opened the door and there were about 30 people from my ward waiting to surprise me. I have never been more surprised in my entire life. I was so overwhelmed by the love and friendship that I'm surrounded by.

{a birthday balloon crown, my favorite fake tatt, and birthday decorations :)}

That weekend we went on an adventure to hike Mt. Nebo, except we didn't exactly make it to the hiking part due to poor planning and lack of knowledge. It was frustrating to say the least...

{Mt. Nebo}

So we decided to go on a different adventure to the rope swings at Burraston Ponds in Mona. It was way fun! I went on the rope swing from an 8 foot platform and then Josh and Aaron somehow convinced me to jump off a 15 foot platform in a tree. slightly terrifying but rather exhilarating.

{notice the fantastic ombre of my skin from white to less white...haha}

The next week I went on a laser-tagging adventure with some guys in my ward. We played four games and it was a blast! On the last round the four of us were on our own team and we took 3rd overall (the other teams had like 20 people) and we took 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 7th in individual places. skill. I felt so accomplished :P Then we went and played kickball, which I haven't played in so long, and it was a lot more fun than I remember it being. plus, I wasn't too shabby at it either.

Over the course of a couple weeks my friend Ryan and I discovered our mutual nerdiness and decided to watch all the LOTR extended versions. It was a good life decision. I had never seen the extended versions and they were fantastic. If you haven't seen them you really should.

The 4th of July was a fantastic break from school and turned out to be a really good day. I ate breakfast with my cousins, went to back to the rope swings in Mona, went to a street fair and got a henna tattoo, had a ward cookout, played volleyball, and watched fireworks from the point of the mountain. solid.

{cousins!}

We rounded out the week with the most fantastic thunderstorm I've even seen in Utah. So naturally we had to go run around in it. Rain is the best :) That was the same day I decided I wanted to run a half-marathon in September. I was quite miffed about a situation so I decided to go on a run to blow off some steam. I ran until I felt good enough to go home...7 miles later. It was then that I realized I was in better shape than I thought and that running in a half was a realistic possibility so I decided to go for it and I've been training ever since :) It's gonna be good.

Life Lately- Spring Term

Staying in Provo for the summer is one of the best decisions I've ever made. Life for the past couple of months has been fantastic.

At the end of winter semester we rented a puppy {yeah, you can do that} in order to dispel the melancholy that the departure of many had left us with. It was the end of a good year and we needed a little pick-me-up.  It certainly did the trick. He was so freaking cute. It was kind of ridiculous.

{his name was Toby :)}
[he was a little sleepy]

This girl graduated. And I had to say goodbye to her for a while. It was hard to think that she wouldn't be back at BYU in the fall.  Luckily she's sticking around Utah for grad school, so I'll still get to see her :)

We had a weekend and then we started in on spring classes. It was pretty weird not going home after winter semester. My brain was definitely not a fan of this plan. I've never really struggled as a student, but focusing is like ten times harder when your brain keeps telling you that it's summer and that you shouldn't even be in school. Plus, it's super compressed so staying on top of everything is even more of a challenge. But I survived, as did my GPA.
Besides school and work, the first couple weeks of spring term were peppered with intramural soccer games, ultimate with the ward, and concerts. At the end of May I went on my first mountain bike ride with Marissa and Ian. I may or may not have crashed. just a little bit. it wasn't too bad. just a couple good bruises and a bit off the knees.

The following weekend I went on a YSA river rafting trip to Moab. It was fantastic. I decided to go not really knowing anyone else going, which is not something I would normally have done. I rode down with a bunch of random strangers. Upon arriving I was happy to see some people from my ward there. I helped them set up their tent and then Megan (a girl in my ward) and I set up out sleeping bags next-door. tents are overrated. I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself since I didn't really know anyone. But I didn't have to worry about that for too much longer. Two guys from my ward saw me by myself and told me that I could hang out with them. Those were beautiful words for my poor shy soul to hear. Little did I know that they would become some of my best friends in the ward.

{the view from my sleeping bag}

{the rafting group}

That night we went out to the road and tossed around a frisbee. We were in the middle of nowhere camping on private land so there was very little light pollution. We walked down the road a little bit to escape the few lights that were there and then sat down in the road to look at the stars. It was incredible. There are so many stars. The rafting part was way fun. the boats were equipped with water guns and buckets so naturally a water battle ensued. The ride home consisted of aloe vera gel, good music, and a snacky-snack at Arby's. good times :)

some other pictures:

{twinner roommates}
[Springville Art Days festival- sweetest animal hats ever]

Other adventures included: singing a solo at my chorale concert, trying In n Out  for the first time, going to a giant wooden playground, watching obscene amounts of the tv show 24 everyday for a week, and writing a 9 page paper 2 days before it was due {due to the aforementioned activities}.

I think it's safe to say that spring term was a success. 

I made some great friends and some fantastic memories :)