College Bucket List!

Amy and I made a bucket list of all the fun and crazy things that we want to do together during our years at BYU. We have already done a few of them during our first semester. (I have done a lot of them, but it only counts if Amy and I do them together..except the kissing ones, of course.)
Here's the list:
1.  Take a picture with Cosmo
2.  Buy the kissing book
3.  Run through the sprinklers
4.  Go to J-Dawgs
5.  Roll down the hill by the BYU library (there is a a sign that says that this isn't allowed :P)
6.  Make a music video
7.  Host an ugly sweater party
8.  Kiss a boy at the victory bell
9.  Hike the Y (I have done this three times, but Amy and I haven't hiked it together.)
10. Go to the Bean Museum
11. Go ice skating at Seven Peaks
12. Scary movie night
13. Catch Phrase Party
14. See a movie in Varsity Theater
15. See the lights at Riverwoods
16. Participate in a flash mob
17. Eat at the Awful Waffle
18. Midnight Wendy's Run (I did this one with a cute boy..not Amy :) )
19. Festival of Colors
20. Tunnel Singing (I have also done this one)
21. Take a Random Class
22. Play in the rain (We did this one!)
23. Go to a midnight movie premier
24. Go to every home football game (We have done this one so far)
25. Haunted Forest (Check!)
26. Jane Austen movie night
27. Make cookies for cute boys (We obviously did this one)
28. Go to at least one game of every sport (We have been to Basketball, Soccer, and Football so far)
29. Attend every Devotional/Forum (We have done this one so far)
30. Nicolas Sparks movie night
31. Go to Temple Square (Check)
32. Race shopping carts (I also did this one with a cute boy, but not Amy)
33. Camp out for a BYU basketball game
34. Eat at the Canon Center
35. Kiss on the Y
36. Go Latin Dancing
37. Pull an All-Nighter Studying
38. Pull an All-Nighter Not Studying (I have done this one lots..but without Amy)
39. Float down the Provo River
40. Go to an away football game
41. Fire the cannon at a football game
42. Study Abroad
43. 4:00 A.M. Denny's Run (I've done this with one, and without, Amy)
44. Go to the Hogle Zoo
45. Go laser tagging
46. Attend General Conference in Salt Lake
47. Invite cute boys over for dinner
48. Squaw Peak (Check!)
49. Thanksgiving Point Corn Maze
50. Visit Saxon (Our favorite high school teacher)
51. Go camping with friends
52. Go to a tail-gate party
53. Harry Potter marathon
54. Football Party
55. Walk on frozen Deer Creek
56. Ring the Victory Bell
57. Go on a tandem bike ride
58. Have a bonfire up the Canyon (Did it!)
59. Try every ice cream flavor at the Creamery
60. Go to the BYU Planetarium
61. Swim at the RB
62. Road Trip!

Five Months in a Jar

I wish i could put the last five months in a jar to relive over and over again. It's hard to believe that my first semester at BYU is already finished. It was absolutely amazing and I wish I could go back and do it all again.  I met so many incredible people and learned so much about myself and the world.
The last five months have been filled with playing assassin, staying out all night, football games, and even a little studying. I have had so many adventures, and have tried to make the most of every moment, knowing that this semester wouldn't last forever and things would inevitably be different after I returned from Oklahoma over Christmas break.
I would have liked to have found the time to blog more regularly about all of the things that made this semester so magical, but it just so happens that I was too busy living life to find time to write about it. Instead, I will take a few days to write some of the highlights of the last five months before I go back to P-Town to begin a new semester of escapades.

Chocolate Chip Cookies: The Key to the Heart

My roommate and I have made the best possible discovery about college-- better than Creamery ice cream, better than Cosmo, and even better than football games.  We discovered that chocolate chip cookies are the key to any boy's heart. 
This weekend Amy and I decided to make chocolate chip cookies before the football game (which we easily won against Weber State).  We made them and put them on plates to take to people on Sunday night.  Sunday night rolled around and we made a list of the cute boys we wanted to take cookies to.  Foremost on that list was an awesome guy named Ben that I met at the beginning of summer before moving to Oklahoma, and his roommate, also named Ben, who Amy has a huge crush on.  (Convenient that the guy that Amy has a crush on is rooming with a guy that I am already friends with, right?) We wandered across the street to their apartment around 7 that night, knocked on their door, and gave them the cookies.  They were very happy to have them, of course.  I think they instantly fell in love. :) Then we talked, and talked, and talked.    We ended up hanging out with them at their apartment until midnight.  It was so much fun to get to know them.  They are super cute, and it doesn't hurt that Ben #2 is on the BYU football team.   I think our plan was successful.
Since we hung out with the Bens for so long on Sunday, we didn't get around to taking cookies to the other cute boys on our list. So on Monday night we decided to deliver the rest of them.  This time we started with the guys that we weren't such good friends with, so we could make it to all of the different apartments that we wanted to take cookies too.  In the final apartment that we went to lived a cute guy that Amy met last weekend. We also got to meet his awesome roommates, and we hung out until after 1.  It was tons of fun, even though I had class the next morning at 8. 
College is the greatest thing ever, especially when you know that chocolate chip cookies are the key to a boy's heart.

BYU is the Place to Be!

I have officially finished my first week of college, and have loved every second of it.  There is so much to do and see and learn and ways to get involved.  AND  not to mention the multitude of highly attractive men. I don't think it should be legal for there to be this many super cute guys in the same place at the same time. BYU is the place to be! Plus, I am completely in love with all of my classes--even my biology class. (I am usually allergic to science.) Before starting school, I had heard horror stories about the intense loads of homework and insanely hard things to learn for college classes.  Granted I have only been in college for a week, but all of the homework I have had to do, and all of the things I have had to read have been surprisingly interesting. This is very different from the busy work that monopolized my life during high school. Hallelujah! At BYU there is always something to do and someone to meet.  My days have been filled with classes and social activities.  In our free time at my apartment complex we play volleyball.  There is always a game going on, and it is a fantastic way to make friends and meet new people. And it never hurts that our football team completely demolished Washington State on Thursday in our first game of the season. Go Cougs! All in all, I am having the time of my life in college. I am so happy to be here, and can't wait to see what is in store for me during my next four years as a cougar. BYU is the place to be!  

From the Stix of Oklahoma to P-Town

Well I haven't posted in a while, but it's late on a Sunday night and my roommates are gone for the weekend, so I have the apartment to myself and I thought it would be a fantastic time to update my blog.
Living in Oklahoma was quite an exciting adventure, but August 21st came-- ending my summer romance and life at home--and I flew back to Utah to go to BYU.  I was thrilled for the new adventure, but sad to leave my family, friends, cat, and pool.  My family dropped me off at the Oklahoma City airport on a Tuesday afternoon. I only shed a couple tears, which was impressive. I found my way to the gate and waited for a while.  The time when we were supposed to board the airplane came, and there was still no one at the front desk of our gate.  Then, an older man said that he heard that our plane was delayed for two hours. I sincerely hoped he was mistaken.  (Unfortunately, I soon found out that if he had been correct, my life would have been much easier than it turned out to be that day.)  A few minutes passed and an attendant finally announced that our plane had engine problems, and was being fixed.  They had no idea when it would arrive in Oklahoma.  I had a connecting flight in Denver that I would likely miss, so I ended up waiting in an eternally long line to get my flights adjusted.  Long story short, my flight from Oklahoma to Denver which was originally supposed to leave at 1:00 PM didn't leave until 6:00 PM. I was supposed to arrive in Provo, Utah at 7:30 that night, but instead landed in Salt Lake at 11:00.  It was a fiasco, but I thought it was hilarious.  It would have been so dull if everything would have gone as planned.   I eventually made it to Utah, and my roommate was conveniently in Salt Lake that night to see Wicked, so she was able to pick me up from the airport without much trouble. I don't know how I survived without her over the summer. It is great to be with my "left leg" again.

From Utah Valley to the Stix of Oklahoma

Like I mentioned before, there are more dissimilarities between Utah Valley and Duncan, Oklahoma than there are similarities, which I didn't expect.  When I first heard that we were moving to Duncan, Oklahoma, I thought that the town would be a little smaller, the people would talk a little differently, and there would be a few more cows than I was used to.  I was wrong.  Orem, Utah has four times the population of Duncan, which I knew before moving, but I didn't understand what it would be like to live in a town of that size.  I expected there to just be less people, but as it turns out, there is less of everything (besides cows and farmland).  There isn't much to do here. I am sorry to say that the most popular recreational activity for the population of Duncan, is hanging out at Walmart.  They even have benches in the aisles so that when loiterers get worn out they can rest.  It is quite different from Utah Valley.  But luckily, Duncan does one thing really really well: they have amazing sno cone shops. Back home, we had lots of little sno shacks, but they only served the standard flavors--lime, tiger's blood, cherry, etc., but here, they have every flavor you can think of, and they serve it with a sour gummy worm on top. Right after we moved here, our step brother took my little sister and I to get sno cones.  Of course, we were expecting to get our favorite standard flavors, but when we got there they had a sign the size of a billboard listing all of the options.  I ended up getting pina colada flavored, and Libby got peach daiquiri, while our step brother and his girlfriend got flavors called Duncan Demon and Big Booty (I have no idea what these flavors taste like).  It was definitely a pleasant surprise.  As for talking differently, only about half of the people here have an accent.  I definitely hear "y'all" and southern drawls a lot more than I used to, but not nearly as much as I did when we took a trip to Arkansas for a family reunion (more to come about this adventure in a future blog post).  The people here are very friendly--the rumor about southern hospitality is true.  The rumor about the heat and humidity in southern Oklahoma is also true.  It is far from uncommon to have temperatures as high as 110 and 90% humidity.  Those are the days when I am eternally grateful for my pool.  Overall, Oklahoma is so very different from Utah, but it is an exciting adventure everyday. :)             

Two Cats and Three City Girls

I never thought I would be a blogger. In fact, I had never even considered it until about 24 hours ago when my sister (also my best friend, partner in crime, and current roommate) showed me that she had made a blog.  That was all the prompting I needed.  Now we are both bloggers.

I grew up happily in Utah Valley.  I lived in a perfect neighborhood, going to the perfect school, with the perfect friends.  I largely spent my time watching black and white movies, eating frozen yogurt, getting in water fights, and racing boats down the river. It was wonderful. Then a little over a year ago my mom met Mr. Right. Unfortunately, Mr. Right lived halfway across the country in a tiny town in Oklahoma called Duncan.  And so, right after I graduated from high school this spring, we moved all of our belongings, two cats, and three city girls, to Duncan, Oklahoma. Duncan is very different from Utah Valley in so many ways, but I will save that for another blog post.  I had never dreamed I would find myself living in southern Oklahoma, just as I never pictured myself blogging.  So now I find myself doing both of the unthinkable--sitting in a tiny town in southern Oklahoma and writing a blog post.