Don't even worry. I'm alive

Why is it that the moment I have something AWESOME to blog about...I drop the ball? Seriously the moment my life got interesting I stopped blogging. lame. BUT never fear my few followers. My life has now resumed it's monotony so the world has been set right, I can continue to blog :)

The last month has been...WONDERFUL! I have learned a lot about myself and how great life is! I finished up school for the semester, miraculously doing well in my class even with something (or someone) distracting me every time I should have been studying! oh well, all's well that ends well.

I am now home around my most favorite people in the world: my family. Even though my fam is huge, everyone has LEFT so it's just my parents and me. I get to come home from work and hang out with the coolest people ever (aka my PARENTS!) every night. I'd say that makes for an awesome summer! This week we've been watching a new harry potter movie every night. Midnight premiere here we come! :)

Anyway this is just an update on life and and an apology for my lack of blogging enthusiasm as of late. my bad. Be prepared for a storm of blogging awesomeness soon to come.

June? Already?

Wow spring is totally flying by!

I'm only weeks away from returning to my one true love: Portland.

BUT this is very bitter sweet because spring is so AWESOME. I hate thinking about leaving my autonomy and friends behind!. My ward is so great I love the people all so much. We have been up to some shenanigans this spring and it's made the time fly by. Today, for example, we had a water balloon fight and despite my best intentions to make it last longer, the activity lasted about 10 minutes give of take. This is with 600 water balloons mind you. and about 20 people. ya...you do the math. It was a total free-for-all and so much fun, even though I got SOAKED! Thank you Tanner. Apparently I not only needed a water balloon to the face but a shower as well :).

All in all it was a short activity that packed a lot of FUN.

CUTE STORY!

After working at the MTC for almost 2 years, my image of the quintessential missionary has been marred by many an annoying customer. Whether they’re complaining about the greasy food, lack of options, or minimal quantity they have ceased to wow me with their missionary "aura". So the other day I was pleased to eavesdrop on a conversation between two elders. It went a little something like this

E1 – so do you have a girl back home?

E2 – ya I do. She’s the best

E1 – oh really? Tell me about her

E2 – well I love her so much. She’s going to be the most avid writer a guy could have. She’s 12, my little sister.

Seriously I almost passed out right there on the salad bar. Adorable. My faith in the quintessential, adorable missionary has been restored!

Weekend O' Fun

This may be too much to talk about all at once so lets break it up into days.

Friday (12:00 am)

midnight showing of Pirates of the Caribbean. aka the 2nd best pirates movie. Reasons being:

- Hot clergyman: sensitive, caring, religious, and buff. A lethal combination

- Killer mermaids: easily the coolest mermaid fight scene I've ever seen.

- Jack Sparrow: The man has swagger

Friday -

-Went Running in the rain: the best thing for a slightly home-sick oregonian

- Girls night! we set up a little bed on my floor, had a picnic and watched transformers. One thing that would improve that movie - cut out Megan Fox

Saturday -

- SUNNY DAY! you know what that means. yes, I did absolutely nothing productive. The day consisted of playing games with my awesome ward and learning some interesting things about people...aka Sian-amy cutting off someone's fingers. SAY WHAT?!

- ate my first J-dawg of the summer with another stellar group of people.

Sunday-

- gave a talk in my church! After flying under the radar for 5 years i figured it was my time but it was still nerve racking. BUT it's over now and I didn't puke, pass out, or ramble incoherently so I'd say it was a success.

- Taught Rebecca how to longboard. Basically, she's pro now. Anyone else want to learn?

- Attended a dating fireside. Learned about being "Squishy in all the right places" (thank you brother Hagland)

So, to sum it all up: I am so lucky. I am surrounded by the most amazing people everyday. Could life get any better?

Sometimes we do crazy things.

Rebecca: roommate. BFF. BIRTHDAY GIRL! Yes, yesterday was becks' birthday. Let me start by saying this - I LOVE birthdays! Absolutely adore birthdays. Let's break down the day's high points:

1) 12:00:01 am - birthday dance was given to commemorate the day. It was definitely something that should only be seen once/yr :)

2) Balloons and decor fill the apartment...or part of it

3) Mimi's cafe. seriously awesome food and even better company

4) Strawberry jello cake that I made! and BONUS! strawberries were on sale.

5) Midnight showing of Pirate's of the Caribbean with a group of amazing girls!

So all this is great on it's own but to TOP IT OFF, becks and I did something...illegal? no, not illegal...just frowned upon :)

We smuggled her cake into the theater by way of my purse.

The whole cake. Frosted with cool whip and decorated, still in a 9x13 pan.

Yes. In my purse.

AND we brought spoons to eat with the amazing girls mentioned before.

one word...EPIC.

Happy Birthday Becks! I was willing to get arrested for you. Or at least detained by movie theater "Security".

That's how much I love you!

Purple Flowers

Today I was walking up to class around one (and looking fly I might add!). I was all decked out in my favorite shirt, aka my date shirt and feeling good so I was smiling and saying hi to all the random people I passed on the ramp. Looking back now I can see how I may have seemed like a weird-o but at the time I was being friendly.

So, I go to pass this guy. Never seen him before, don't know him from Adam etc. He stops mid stride, looks at me and starts gesturing to the front of his shirt, obviously trying to find words for his thoughts. I wait patiently for him to say something, all the while smiling encouragingly no matter how weirded out I am. Just when I thought I couldn't bare it anymore he finally blurted out, "Purple flowers"(which were on my shirt). What do you say to that? I proceeded to nod my head and say, "yes...". He then turns around and keeps walking on his way home.

Excuse me...WHAT?!

Was that a pick up line?

a compliment?

a dis?

who knows?! My pathophysiology class has me turning into a hypochondriac so my first thought was that he was suffering from aphasia. Then the explanation I decided to believe was that my beauty was so overwhelming he couldn't form a coherent sentence. :) makes sense ya? Any other theories please feel free to share. I just know he has forever marked my favorite shirt with his memory. Thank you random dude on the ramp for making my life interesting.

The Basics

A few key things you MUST know about me before continuing to read this blog:

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some people may know it as the mormon church. My life revolves around the gospel and I love it so much. I go to a church run university called BYU. Everyday I am immersed in the goodness of this gospel and it brings my such joy. Go to this website for more information http://mormon.org/

This is Betsy, my car. I love every duck taped, paint chipped inch of her. Also, I love Oregon as you can tell from the HUGE Oregon sticker on Betsy's backside. I am from Portland. I will never deny that Portland is weird and full of pot heads and hippies but I love it

1) This is an AMAZING collage I put together on my bedroom wall. I want to show everyone who enters my apartment but there is such a thing as the honor code here at BYU so I decided to post a picture! I love interior decorating. I single handedly decorated my whole apartment (sorry Abby, Rebecca, and Michael...you know it's true!) My favorite place to shop for decorations is DI. It tests my creativity and allows me to make something beautiful out of something seemingly ordinary.

2) The pictures in the collage are of my family. My family means the world to me. I am the youngest of nine kids and our family is constantly growing with brother-in-laws, sister-in-laws, nieces and nephews (15 so far!). My siblings are my best friends. I lived with my sister Katie last semester and I miss her everyday...even though she only lives two floors away. I am completely devoted to my family.

I have the best parents in the world! I love them so much.

My mom is my best friend.

My dad is my hero.

Let the blogging begin!

So this one time I made a blog...and then forgot about it. Then my roommate (Michael Ann McKinlay) LEFT! She went off gallivanting in Europe. As it is my dream to go to Europe my newest hobby has been to stalk her travels. So, today as I was looking at her tumblr and living vicariously through her experiences I asked myself....is my life truly interesting enough for a blog? Can it even compare to this? I say YES! I may not be traveling around the world, or have adorable children to post pictures of, or even have mind blowing recipes to share but I do have one thing: My ordinary, sometimes outrageous, everyday life. Yes my friends. I will write about life as a Latter-day saint, 21 year old brace-face nursing student attending Brigham Young University in Provo, UT. Hold on to your hats people, this could get crazy.

Disclaimer: I have never, nor will I ever claim to be good at writing. That being said, while reading this blog do not be too offended by missing commas or all around bad grammar. I'm working on it!