Sometimes, Life is Like a Machine Gun...Literally

Yay for blog slacking!! so I realize that it has been a good two weeks since I last wrote and I am deeply sorry for that. I'm sure all of you have been waiting at the edge of your seats to read about my life :P anyway...

So March is almost over already...weird. Which means that there are only like 12 days of class left : D
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! All I can say is that I am sure ready to finish up this semester and go home. Because then it will be summer and then after that... LONDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yeah. so I'm a little excited...anyway...

I'm a little embarrassed about how late this post is. I started it like...2 weeks ago, but I have a good excuse (I promise). The best way I can explain it is in the following metaphor: life turned on me like a machine gun and just started firing away...no joke. Last week was ridiculous. I will be sure to tell you all about it, but first I must backtrack and fill you in on the weeks before that.

I went to a career night sort of thing and added another program to my list of possible grad school degrees: school psychology. I mean, how cool would that be. Getting to work with kids all day, helping them and teaching them. The schedule would be perfect and a job is practically guaranteed upon graduating. Talk about a sweet deal. That night I also discovered that one of my dear lovely friends had gotten engaged and I practically died of excitement...really. I'm just so excited for her and he certainly is one lucky fellow. It was snowing as well so Lisa and I went outside and made snow shakes. Lisa's family makes them and she promised me that we would do it sometime and so we did :)

{eating our snow shakes :)}

{snow shakes!}
[tightly packed snow, milk, and maple syrup]

That Friday night was the Hunger Banquet and Bahaar and I decided to buy tickets and then we found each other dates for the evening. The Hunger Banquet is an event that is put on every year here at BYU. It is to raise awareness for the world situation that we have on our hands. All event attendees are randomly seated and served a meal representative of high, middle, or low-income areas of the world. To create a visual representation of the global distribution of resources, most attendees (about 70%) sit on the floor and share a meager meal of rice and beans with those sitting around them. Some (about 20%) are seated in chairs and eat a modest, one-plate meal. A few attendees (only about 10%) are seated at tables and served a 3 course meal. This year they focused on "invisible children" those who cannot attend school, are used as child soldiers, are used for child labor, they are uncared-for and "invisible". At the end of the night we got to vote what charity you wanted the money raised to go to. After the Hunger Banquet we went back to Bahaar's apartment and watched Remember the Titans (which just happens to be one of the best movies like...ever). All in all, it was a good night. My date was really nice and I enjoyed talking to him. But no number asking, so I guess that's a no :P

Saturday was spent in the company of the delightful Codie. We had to speak Spanish for our class so we went to a local Peruvian restaurant for lunch then got frozen yogurt (coconut and pistachio...who knew those flavors existed?), went to her apartment and made a cookie monster cake while watching excessive amounts of Cupcake Wars on the food channel.

I made seven layer bars that Tuesday for staff meeting:

{these are seriously some of the most addictive
things I have ever baked in my entire life}

And in my study abroad class that evening we talked about how to not be an ugly american tourist. It sounds like hard work to me. Thursday I went to the dentist and was told that something expensive was wrong with my gums, so what did I do? I went home and made chocolate cupcakes with mint chocolate chip buttercream for my wonderful friend Kelli's birthday.

Friday evening was spent in the company of some fantastic friends. We made wings and watched 500 Days of Summer (ummm...sad) and got ice cream. Saturday was absolutely gorgeous, the RA recharge was really fun (it was so nice to get our of Provo and being in the mountains was amazing), and I cranked out a paper in two hours...bam. I went and talked to Terra, one of my marvelous co-workers because she was on duty and she drew me!!!:

{Terra is so amazingly talented}

The next week I didn't write in my journal, so I honestly don't really remember what exactly I did. so I'm going to skip to last Friday because it was a great day, so I actually wrote about it. I started off the day at the TRC and the Sister missionaries that I had were so great. I really got some of the answers that I needed and one of the other volunteers was kind enough to give me a ride home. As I was walking to class, I passed some guys that I know and one of them called me back and started rapping about...me. The other wasted no time in starting to beat-box. I forgot to mention that these two guys are incredibly musically gifted. It was so legit and totally made my day. I went to classes then had to go take a test. I went in and felt great, I knew what i was talking about, I knew the material, all was well, until I finished and took a look at my score. ouch. So I went home and may or may not have cried so... I took a nap then got up and ran a 5k with some really sweet girls from my floor. Then my wonderful friend, Jena, was kind enough to walk down to JDawgs with me so that I might experience that deliciousness. We stopped and got ice cream on our way home and made blueberry muffins.  Nothing that a good nap, a good run, awesome friends, a hot shower, ice cream, and baking can't fix :) That day made me so grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord. He knew exactly how I felt and He knew exactly how to make me feel better.
Here are some delicious treats that I made that week:

{cream cheese swirl brownies}

{orange white chocolate chip cookies}

{blueberry muffins}

Saturday morning was the Rex Lee Run. Jill and I had been training for it for a couple of weeks and we totally beasted it. Jill is such a champ...for real :)

{ohhh yeah :P}

{we made it!}

{so legit}

Monday was yet another amazing day. I got to see Bahaar and Shelby at the cannon center for breakfast...great surprise to start the day :) It was a momentous day...I wore sweatpants (the first pair I've ever owned) to class for the first time...ever. I know. All day I was like...oh my goodness, I'm wearing sweats...what the heck.

{me in my sweats}
[I know, I'm weird. don't judge :P]

After class Richard was kind enough to let me borrow his car and then Lisa and I went on an epic adventure gallivanting around Provo. New shoes, running into an old friend, a missionary letter, and a surprise package from the best aunt and uncle ever.

{PACKAGE!!!}
[including like the cutest jacket ever!!!}

{it goes with my new boots!!}

The rest of the week went by pretty quickly. I made these for staff meeting Tuesday night:

{salted caramel brownies}
[so dense and rich. a little goes a long way]

This is where the machine gun analogy comes in: basically the next 3 days slaughtered me. I spent Wednesday "studying" with Codie and Jared for the Spanish test that I had to take on Thursday. We really did study a bit but we usually just end up talking about lots of other random stuff, such as the gross misuse of the word literally. That was a good one.
Thursday night I spent studying for the Stats test that I had to take on Friday. After studying for stats I continued to do the pile of stuff that was due for Friday. Needless to say, I didn't get a whole lot of sleep that night. The next day I resembled something sort of  like a zombie, but I took my stats test that evening and did really well! I ran home, packed, then Richard picked me up and we were off to Tremonton to my cousin Jon's house for the weekend. His son was getting baptized so I got to see some aunts and uncles and cousins and my grandma. It was so nice to spend time with family and to get out of Provo for a little bit. I really love my extended family. I don't get to see them very often but I always feel right at home with them.

Here is a random song that I heard that you really should listen to:

So beautiful.

And when I say should I mean you NEED to listen to it.

Last but not least, some food for thought:

If you put first things first, you'll get both first and second things. But, if you put second things first, that's all you'll end up with. So put first things first. Make sure you know what matters most. If you don't know, find out. 

Half Way There

That's right! We are half-way through the semester! Wooo! We're gonna make it!

Life has just been flying by lately. So...all the way back to...Valentine's Day!!! For Valentine's day I got up early and made some delicious coconut blondies for all my valentines. They were so yummy and were made even better by the fact that I put them in super cute little owl goodie bags.

{one of my favorite recipes ever}
[gooey and delicious]

Devotional that day was so good! If you didn't get a chance to go, you should watch it. Elder Kearon is a great speaker and...he's British, so that makes it even better.

That night I went over to Bahaar's apartment and watched Valentine's Day. Because...what else do you do on Valentine's Day?

Thursday was THIRD THURSDAY! woooo. I made theses pumpkin snickerdoodle bars:

{complete with cinnamon cream cheese icing}

Friday night I hung out with the lovely Lisa. We went to Sammy's to try their famous pie-shakes. I got a chocolate cream oreo pie shake. Prognosis: it was realllllllllllly good. Totally worth the long walk down there. We also stopped at the Provo library so I could finally go inside. The outside is so cool that I've been dying to go inside ever since I first saw it.

{hello handsome}

We grabbed Red Riding Hood from redbox and met of with Shannon to watch it. None of us are big scary movie people so we decided that it would be less embarrassing to watch it together. It was pretty scary...I think the best part was probably the synchronized screaming...yeah... By the time we finished the movie it was way past bedtime, but none of us wanted to go to bed yet, so we watched a men's volleyball game instead...mmm. This distracted us from the scariness and we were able to sleep that night :P

Saturday morning Lisa and I went for a little run to return the movie. Sunday consisted of: Jill, an RM-filled ward :), snow (in heels), curry, a teddy bear puzzle, peanut butter cup hot chocolate, and some really awesome home teachers. for the win.

Last week was fun. Grand total I spent about 12 hours doing stats. yeah. I spent that many hours in one week doing math. who am I? but I did get a 96% on my test (with many thanks to my cousin Richard who took time out of is super busy schedule to study with me), so it was totally worth it (as painful as it may have been).

On Tuesday I made some pumpkin cupcakes with pumpkin spice cream cheese frosting. They were pretty delicious, but I didn't snag any pictures of them, so you'll jut have to take my word for it :P
On Wednesday I made these beautiful cookies for Spanish study group. We needed some serious brain food to survive that one:

{oatmeal chocolate chip}

Thursday. Thursday was a truly amazing day. I've really been struggling with some things in my life and the struggling was not going well. And then I went to RA class. Thank you Jay. Jay is the area manager here and he taught class that day. He talked about our hands and what we can do with them and then he talked about the Savior's hands and what He has done with them and what He wants to do for us. We listened to this song:

And he read this poem:

A basketball in my hands is worth about $19.
A basketball in Michael Jordan's
hands is worth about $33 million.
It depends whose hands it's in.

A baseball in my hands is worth about $6.
A baseball in Mark McGwire's hands is worth about $19
million.
It depends whose hands it's in.

A tennis racket is useless in my hands.
A tennis racket in Venue Williams'
hands is a Championship Winning.
It depends whose hands it's in.

A rod in my hands will keep away a wild animal.
A rod in Moses' hands will part the mighty sea.
It depends whose hands it's in.

A sling shot in my hands is a kid's toy.
A sling shot in David's hand is a mighty weapon.
It depends whose hands it's in.

Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in my 
hands is a co! uple of fish sandwiches.
Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in 
God's hands will feed thousands.
It depends whose hands it's in.

Nails in my hands might produce a birdhouse.
Nails in Jesus Christ's hands will
produce salvation for the entire world.
It depends whose hands it's in.

As you see now it depends whose hands it's in.
So put your concerns, your worries, your fears,
your hopes, your dreams, your families and your
relationship in God's hands because...
It depends whose hands it's in.

So, do it. Put everything in His because that's where it belongs, for "[His] yoke is easy and [His] burden is light." Let Him help you. His hand is continually stretched out to you, waiting. All you have to do is reach for Him. He loves you more than you can ever know. I promise. 

{Be Not Afraid- By Greg Olsen}

It was seriously one of the sweetest experiences of my life.

On Saturday I went on a double with Jill's cousin and Jill and her date . It was pretty fantastic. I attended my first ever BYU men's basketball game (Jill was appalled when I told her I had never been to one before :P). Then we went to Thai Mango for some delicious curry.

{it was the first BYU basketball game for all of us}
[to the great horror of  Jill :P]

{a packed Marriott center for the last home game}

{yay for leftovers}

And finished up the night by watching Captain America (which was actually pretty good).

Sunday morning Codie and I went to a Spanish barrio for church. I love going to their wards. They are so warm and friendly and welcoming. And this time I actually understood 95% of what they were saying. I even learned some stuff in Sunday School! Then I made it back for the last hour of my church. I made some wonderfully delicious brownies then headed over to Richard's for family dinner. 

{these were probably the best brownies I've ever had the pleasure of eating}

This time family dinner consisted of 2 aunts, 2 uncles, 4 cousins, and my grandma. Good times.

On Monday I made peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip bars for our Spanish class fiesta. And that's pretty much it.

{dense, peanut buttery goodness}

During the fiesta some of the other kids were talking about dating and one of them asked about my dating life and I said nada.  And then he said the sweetest thing. He told me that I was pretty and not to forget it. Pretty much made my life. Right after class I went with family to Guru's and got some of their famous sweet potato fries and then on to see my cousin Richard's choir perform Mozart's Requiem which I happen to enjoy very much. It was a wonderfully delightful performance. We then got dessert at the Cocoa Bean (cupcakes and hot chocolate...yum).

On Tuesday I went to the Pendulum Court with Bahaar for lunch and this is what we got for dessert:

{jealous much?}
[cause you should be :P]

I also had my first prep class for my study abroad and I am so excited!!! The outlined program looks great and the faculty are awesome...wooo!!!

Yesterday was leap day! So of course we watched Leap Year :)

Oh, and this is what it looks like when you ship a glass bottle of vanilla extract in a paper envelope:

so...uh...just don't do it.

anywho, that concludes today's installment. stay tuned for more updates on my oh-so-exciting life :P

Life Lately

You're probably wondering what I could possibly be doing to keep me away from my blog for so long. Well, there are these things called work and school and *gasp* a semblance of a social life...I know, who does that, right? I'm guessing that you're here because you would just love to know more about these wonderful things and, therefore, I will oblige.
So, the week before last week. I discovered that studying for Spanish = studying for about an hour and then spending the following three hours chatting and going to taco bell. super productive (but fun :). For our Spanish study sess. the following day I made some yummy cookies:

{chewy chocolate with mint chip}

I had dinner with Jill that night and then she showed me her lab. That's right.She works in a lab. How cool is that? Super cool. It was really neat to see where she works and to actually see the stuff that she tells me about. On Thursday my boss had her baby, so on Friday some of the other RAs and I walked over to the hospital to visit them. Little baby Evie was the most precious little perfect baby girl I have ever had the privilege of holding. It's such a humbling experience to hold this new little person and to think that they had so recently been with our Heavenly Father, that they are so innocent and pure. What a sweet experience.

{hello adorable baby :)}

Friday was my cousin Cathy's birthday, so I spent that evening with her and my cousin Richard and her friends. We went to Pizza Pie Cafe (which is so good) and then went back to one of her friend's apartments for cake and ice cream. I ate soooo much. Everything was so good I couldn't help it.

{me, Richard, Cathy, and her other cousin}

In order to make up for the previous night, Cathy and I went on a lovely 10k run around Provo. I have missed running and it was nice to go with someone. That afternoon the same bunch of us Spanish hijos went to an El Salvadorian pupuseria. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a corn tortilla sort of thing that is stuffed with any mixture of cheese, meat, and beans. They are so delicious. After that I went on a little double date. It was at Jill's apartment and we watch the new Star Trek movie and ate eggo waffles with boysenberry syrup...yum.
That week I also got some missionary letters and found out that I made it onto the Dean's list for last semester...woot! good week :)

For FHE on Monday we played Jenga and truth or dare. It was so fun and I just love my FHE family! What a great group of people. Also on Monday I got a forwarded e-mail from Kade's mom with a video. I almost died. At first I couldn't decide whether I wanted to watch it or not, but eventually I broke down and I watched it and cried. no joke. I cried. sigh. On Tuesday I went to Devotional with Bahaar and then we went to the Skyroom for lunch. The Skyroom is this fancy lunch buffet that's on the top floor of the student center. It was a chinese buffet and it was so yummy :) On Wednesday I had this dinner/ ceremony thing for the Golden Key International Honour Society that I just got inducted into. The invite said formal so I was pretty excited to wear a dress and stuff. When I got there, there were some girls who were even wearing pants. yes, pants. at a formal event. blew my mind. It's sad that a good chunk of my generation doesn't even know what formal means!! Cathy came with me and I surely enjoyed spending time with her.

{me, in my dress}

{Cathy}
[this is why I love her :)]

After that I trekked back onto campus to do a Spanish presentation with Codie that was due the next day in class. In our defense, we only found out that we were giving this presentation the previous night. We were there until 1(am) making this awesome presentation about how to get a date in seven days for Valentine's Day. yeah. we were desperate. but it was actually really fun to do. The presentation went fabulously in class the next day. That night Codie went back to the pupuseria for dinner and got one for me and left it outside my door. Isn't she sweet?

{pupusa!!}
[what a happy sight, to see this little white box in front of my door]

Friday consisted of going to the TRC with Graham, dinner with Jill, lecture about dating, and work. Yesterday I spent the majority of the day doing homework, applying for scholarships, and reading my backlog of bookmarked general conference talks. Saturday night I made these cookies for my floor meeting today:

{cute little valentine cookies}

Today has been great. I woke up and got ready for church only to walk outside and discover that there was snow on the ground and that it was still snowing quite a bit. Church was great (as always). And floor meeting was fun making valentines and eating cookies and chatting.

{this is what it looked like outside}

{these are the shoes I decided to wear to church}
[cute? yes; intelligent? debatable]

And last but not least, some food for thought:

     Think of the purest, most all-consuming love you can imagine. Now multiply that love by an infinite amount--that is the measure of God's love for you.

     God does not look on the outward appearance. I believe that He doesn't care one bit if we live in a castle or a cottage, if we are handsome or homely, if we are famous or forgotten. Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, His love encompasses us completely.

     He loves us because He is filled with an infinite measure of holy, pure, and indescribable love. We are important to God not because of our resume but because we are His children. He loves everyone of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken. God's love is so great that He loves even the proud, the selfish, the arrogant, and the wicked.

     What this means is that, regardless of our current state, there is hope for us. No matter our distress, no matter our sorrow, no matter our mistakes, our infinitely compassionate Heavenly Father desires that we draw near to Him so that He can draw near to us. 

                               -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "The Love of God"

There is Always Hope

okay, so it's been ridiculously kind of crazy around here lately. Two weekends ago was Martin Luther King Day weekend. long weekend = awesome. work all weekend = not so awesome. I got less sleep that weekend/ week than I have gotten so far this school year. It totally messed with my sleep equilibrium. But I'm slowly regaining that (thank goodness) :P  Monday I go to make arepas for the first time with some awesome girls from my Spanish class. That Tuesday Sister Julie B. Beck, Relief Society General President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, came and spoke for devotional. I always love listening to Sister Beck's talks. For staff meeting that night I made these delicious specimens:

{chocolate-chip muffins}

Wednesday brought the dreaded first exam of the semester. After that I had the opportunity to go to the TRC and then I went down to a friends apartment to keep her company and slept over there. Thursday was...THIRD THURSDAY!!! wooooo!! so fun :) I made s'more cookie bars for the occasion and Jill and Bahaar and I got together for dinner beforehand. I just love those girls so much and I'm so glad that we all stay in touch.

{ooey-gooey goodness}

Friday I went to the TRC and then went to donate blood. I get in there, they prick one finger, not enough iron...boo. They prick another finger and there's enough iron! so I wait and this other guy comes in to finish up the stuff and then he hears that I have a "sniffle" and decides that I can't donate. I totally wasn't sick. I didn't have a fever and I felt great, but he wouldn't let me donate...I was so mad and disappointed that I started crying. I know...how embarrassing, but it takes a lot for me to get myself there in the first place because donating blood kind of terrifies me. I was just really frustrated that they waited until after they stabbed two of my fingers and wasted an hour of my time to decide that they really didn't want my blood after all. And then he went and told me to come back when my cold had cleared up. yeah. you know, the one that I DIDN'T HAVE. there's my little rant for the week. so...anyway... that incident resulted in me skipping my next class because I really wasn't in the mood to go.

Last Saturday night I headed on over to Jill's for the remainder of the weekend. Bahaar came over and we watched Pride and Prejudice and painted our nails (so typical... :P). It was way fun. Oh and it sort of rained/snowed all day Saturday so it was a bit of a wet walk there (like ridiculous). The best part of that was that 3 different guys pulled over and asked me if I wanted a ride. I love living in Provo :)

{the giant lake that covered a corner of this intersection on my walk to Jill's}

{it's a tree (and snow). obviously.}

Sunday I went to Jill and Bahaar's ward for church. It was so nice to be at church with them and in a ward with a lovely selection of RMs :) We had curry for dinner...yum :) and them made brownies and strawberry cake mix cookies for dessert night. I slept over again that night because I really didn't feel like walking home in the slippery darkness (a very dangerous combination). It was so nice to have a "roommate" again, even if it was just for two nights. It was so nice to have someone around to talk to and to just be with.

Monday was Chinese New Year, which I love, because it gives me a really good excuse to eat Chinese food, which I love. Tuesday was pretty great. That morning I had my interview for the study abroad program that I applied to. I was nervous, but the professors were super chill and I really connected well with them. They asked me random questions like what my favorite movie is and if I like Jane Austen and which of her's is my favorite book. Going to the interview made me even more excited to go. This week I made some good old chocolate chip cookies for staff meeting:

Wednesday was super awesome because I found out that I GOT INTO THE PROGRAM!!! I'M GOING TO LONDON IN THE FALL!!!!!!! WOOOOOO!!!!! yeah, so I'm kind of excited. and by kind of I mean  really really really really really really excited. pretty much.

One of the teachers of the missionaries that I get in the TRC on Fridays is in my Spanish class and on Thursday she told me that they were so excited for me to come back, that they had a lesson planned just for me. It was so awesome to know that my volunteering there actually does help them and to know that they put that kind of time and thought into the lessons that they teach. So when I went to the TRC Friday morning  I was really excited to hear this lesson. It turned out to be just what I needed to hear. They taught me about receiving revelation in connection with serving others. This was something that I had been thinking about lately and their lesson really helped me. Friday night was our RA movie night! It was really fun! I made french toast cupcakes with maple butter cream frosting  and we had pizza and watched a movie.

{I'm afraid the frosting looks a little funny, but all I had was a ziploc bag}

After that I stayed up far too late doing laundry and eating cupcakes and talking to some fantastic girls. I spent all Saturday morning getting ready for our floor activity making brownies

{they were moist and chewy and irresistibly chocolaty} 

and baked mac and cheese and whatnot. For the activity we made friendship bracelets and just had a really good time. There was a quote that I found about friendship that I really liked:

This semester I'm taking the second half of the New Testament from the same professor that I took the first half from and, therefore, have another personal project to complete. This semester I decided to pick a few topics that are really important in the second half of the New Testament and study each of them more in depth. Right now I'm studying about hope. This has been a really interesting topic so far and I have definitely learned a lot. In a scriptural context, hope is much more than a passing wish or half-hearted desire. Hope is sure and unwavering. It is confidence and trust that God will fulfill His promises and can only come through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Hope is a commandment and we have the responsibility to make it an active part of our lives and to overcome the temptation to lose hope. As said by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf in his talk "The Infinite Power of Hope":

And to all who suffer--to all who feel discouraged, worried, or lonely--I say with love and deep concern for you, never give in.
Never surrender.
Embrace and rely upon the Hope of Israel, for the love of the Son of God pierces all darkness, softens all sorrow and gladdens every heart.

Note to self: There is always hope.

{I ate this beautiful piece of fruit for breakfast on  Thursday}
[the color was so cool that I just couldn't resist taking a picture of it]
(and then I had to share it on here because it just makes me happy)

My Life is Awesome

Anyway. I just want to start out  and take a moment and say how grateful I am for the awesome people in my life. I am so grateful for everyone who drives me places or picks me up, who are worthy and ready to give me Priesthood blessings, for listening to me ramble and rant about my stories and troubles and worries, for thoughts and prayers, for hugs. I appreciate the patience, compassion, interest, and love that I have been shown. It really means a lot to me.

The first week and a half of classes have gone quite smoothly. Last week was rather uneventful. It was fun seeing people after having been away for break, I got a long-awaited letter from a missionary friend, and tried a new recipe for flour-less chocolate cookies.

{they turned out kind of weird looking}
[but still chocfull of chocolaty goodness]

Last Sunday was the CES Fireside by Elder Jensen. It was such a fantastic and inspiring talk about "the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost". Something that I really got out of it is that we need to create an environment conducive to having the spirit with us. Sometimes we just need to be still and listen.
The rest of this week has kind of flown by!

This weekend has been one of the best that I've had all school year. Friday night I headed to Jill's apartment for dinner. She had invited some new guys in her ward over to join us. We made tacos and then I made chocolate chip cookie dough brownies for dessert.

{by the time I managed to snap a picture, this was all that was left}
[brownies from scratch with egg-less cookie dough pressed on top = pretty intense]

The food was so good and the company was even better! After dinner we played a few rounds of scum (all of which I lost :P) and then headed to classic skating for their ward activity. I hadn't been roller skating since elementary school, so it was a bit rocky to start, but so fun!! I was steadily getting better but then towards the end I lost my balance and totally biffed it in a major way. Someone kindly stopped to help me up and after assessing the damage I decided that it would be most prudent to call it a night. On our way back from skating we spotted a giant owl statue and, of course, had to stop to get an "owling" picture.

{if you don't know what owling is, look it up :P}

We ended up going back to the guys' apartment and just chatting about movies and music and stuff. All the guys were so nice (and good looking :P)! I was very impressed. Eventually Jill and I were getting a bit sleepy so we decided to head back to her apartment. It wasn't in the original plan, but I ended up sleeping over because I didn't really feel like walking home and she had a free bed anyway. It was so nice to not be alone again. I miss having a roommate a lot. It was so nice to just talk as we got into bed and were falling asleep. We didn't set an alarm for the morning (love) and just stayed in bed until we darn well pleased. Breakfast consisted of breakfast burritos made from leftovers from dinner...haha. We ended up walking up to my place and then up to the temple. It was super crowded, but it was so nice to be there.

{and what a gorgeous day it was too :)}

We had dinner at the cannon and our time-together marathon was brought to an end by the oh-so-joyful prospect or work. Best 25 hours ever. No lie.

Such an awesome time. Made some great food. Met some awesome people. Had some fantastic conversations. Spent some quality time with one of the most amazing people I know.

My life is awesome.