My First Trip to Wyoming!

It all started three years ago in Washington DC.

I was part of the team who made it to the National Science Bowl and I was super stoked!
The third day that we were in DC we met some really nice guys from Star Valley.
Brittni, Ashley, and I spent as much time with them as we could over the next couple of days.
We made a ton of memories that I wrote in my journal (there may or may not be three pages)

"There's a David-shaped hole in this bush!"~Zac when David tried to jump over a 6 foot bush and ended up going through it

"Fox SKUNK fox SKUNK fox SKUNK!"~ Tyson and David playing Fruits Basket. Tyson was skunk and David was fox

"Well that's just trecious!"~Apparently this is something they say in Star Valley? Treasure and precious

"Could you turn the radio down? I can't see!"~Their friend was telling a story about a guy who got so drunk he was seeing sound waves

"Are you gay?"
      "Only on Mondays"~Zac's answer to everything. And proof that it doesn't always work out.

"I don't have a list. She just has to be a good little Mormon girl."
      "Uhhh...Zac? I'm pretty sure that's a list." ~Zac and Tyson talking about their ideal girl

These are just a few!

Tyson is the only one that I really kept in contact with.
We became pretty good friends.
Here we are in DC back when I was a Sophomore and he was a Senior:

Ugh! I had glasses and a freshly unstitched weiner dog scar on my lip...

That was the cause of a lot of teasing:

"Okay, I know it was a weiner dog, but what were you doing? Kissing it?"

So naturally I made plans to attend his homecoming talk!

And here we are after his talk on Sunday:

Much better! Scar isn't so visible and glasses are gone!

Also, Carley's family was kind enough to let us stay in a house they own in Star Valley so we didn't have to leave too obscenely early in the morning.

Carley and I may or may not have worn the same color...

This is Carley opening the closet in the room we stayed in at her great grandma's house

And this is me at the other end of the closet....also a doorway to the other room

I had an awesome weekend folks!

Soda Springs Graduation 2011

On June 3rd I made the trip to Soda to see some of my best friends graduate from high school.

These are the gifts I made for Carley and Brianne.

As I've said before, I am not a poet, but I gave it a shot. 

I printed off the pictures and framed them.

If you want to see them full sized, just click on them :)

My dearest friend Carley and I after the ceremony.

I can't believe that it's already been a year since I was in her place!

She's going to be studying cosmetology in Utah.

Mr. Boulder and Miss Emeria had a little reunion!

Nathan is going to Carroll College to become an Orthopedic Surgeon :)

Bradyn  Bradyn Bradyn...he is going to USU to study aviation.

She got her diploma!

NOT!

I think just about every graduate has a picture like this.

(They have to turn in their gowns to the office before they get their diploma)

Brianne!

I love this girl so freaking much!

She's not sure what she wants to major in,

but she is minoring in Photography at BYU-I

Congratulations graduates of 2011!

For a look into my life during the last week, click here.

My Advice to the Class of 2011

Congratulations guys! You did it!
You made it through four years of high school and survived!

Now comes the real test.
Mom and Dad are (most likely) not going to be there to make you do your homework and make you study and make you go to bed at a reasonable hour.
There are going to be TONS more people where you're going.
There are going to be friends forgotten and new friends made.

So here's my advice from a 2010 graduate to the 2011 graduates:

Push yourself.

If possible, don't work your first semester. If you do, keep the hours to a minimum. You need to get used to college life and the homework load before you do anything drastic.

Hold back on the fatty foods.

Always get enough sleep the night before a test.

Stay away from the 8 in the morning classes.

Try not to steadily date someone your first semester. Believe me, this is the advice I wish I had followed.

Find a park close by. It's an excellent stress reliever.

Set up a budget.

Do your homework the day you get it. This is not high school! Late work is definitely frowned upon and you usually get docked. Like a lot.

Don't get in the habit of skipping class because you think it's not important.

Just because a class is a general doesn't mean it's going to be a piece of cake. The hardest class I've taken was a general history class.

Don't be the roommate who lets the dishes in the sink pile up to a Mount Everest look.

Put yourself out there. Make new friends.

Never hesitate to find an excuse to go home for the weekend. My mom wishes I went home more.

Stay in touch with old friends.

Start a journal. If for nothing else, just to write funny quotes and memories in.

Take lots of pictures.


The one thing that's going to come as the biggest shock I would say is that the people you once thought were cool...don't really matter anymore. You don't have to associate with them on a daily basis anymore. This is the time for you to find out who you TRULY are. Not who high school defined you as.
Live it up guys! College is going to be the best time of your life!

My Best Friend

I know that I have written about Carley a few times, but I just can't seem to say enough about this girl.

To be perfectly honest, we're polar opposites.

She's blonde...I'm brunette

She's outgoing...I'm shy

She makes friends easily...I have to really work at it

She's artistic...I'm more of a math and science person

She's fashion forward...I'm fashion backward most of the time

She's absolutely amazing in absolutely every sense of the word...okay, that's a quality we share ;)

She's creative...Google's creative for me

She dyes her hair...I'm partial to my natural color

She's involved with class elections...I'm NOT

But even though we have a lot of differences, none of it really seems to matter.
We know what really matters is what's on the inside and we like to focus on those things.

• We both love bird watching (even though I don't think either of us has done it in awhile)
• We both love Dove chocolate. When one of us is having a bad day the other one usually finds a way to get the other some chocolate.
• We love getting together for movie nights.
• We both love making cookies (just not for the entire school like for that Good Works project right Car?)
• We both love scary movies (and agree that most of them aren't that scary)
• We both love to write
• We both love music
• Most importantly, we both love each other.

I will stand by this girl to the end!

Now here's the hard part to fathom...she graduates on June 3rd.
It was hard for both of us when I graduated last year, but we knew that I would only be an hour away.
But now she's going to be going to Logan and I'll still be here in Pocatello and it'll be even harder to see each other.
No matter how much I like growing up....it stinks sometimes doesn't it?

I love you Carley Sue!

My other half...

Photo Challenge: A picture of your other half.

I don't have an 'other' half.
I think I have something more along the lines of 15 other 16ths.

Carley

Kristin

Daddy

Mommy and Linz

The rest of the kids (Rachelle too, she's just not in this picture. Oh, and WITNEY!)

Mystie (and the rest of my Pocatello Peeps)

My Puppies

And last but not least, my Savior.

This one's for you...

This is for all of you who:
Know that Dove chocolate does indeed fix everything.
Genuinely care about me.
Leave notes for me that you know I'll see that always always ALWAYS make my day.
Tell me that you love me unconditionally.
Say those profound things that I've heard zillions of times, but all of a sudden make an impact.
Understand where I've been and know where I'm going.
Can finish my sentences.
Can always make me smile.
Laugh at my (usually) stupid jokes.
Have told me that you're proud of me.
Know that there is a deeper meaning to Bubbles and Potato Salad. :)
Understand what I'm talking about when I say Potato Tots.
Compliment my cooking even when it's not the greatest.
Crawled into my bed with me when you knew I was crying just to give me a hug (just FYI, this only applies to Maci)
Pulled me onto their knee and held me while I cried.
Supported me even when I was failing.
Have lent me things even when it wasn't convenient.
Bring me down to earth.
Helped me separate Cross Stitch thread into the wee hours of the morning.


I LOVE YOU!
That is all :)

8 reasons I love my life

Reason number one: I have awesome roommates. I was worried

at first about who I would be rooming with, but they have both

turned out to be totally awesome. I knew I would be rooming

with Mystie, it was the others I was worried about. As it turns out

I only have one other and we all get along great! :)

This is Mystie putting the finishing touches on our Sunday dinner. 

It was a last minute thing. Sky high nachos :)

Reason number two: I have awesome neighbors.

Here's the story. We went to our neighbors apartment to

plan some ideas for FHE (He and Mystie are FHE parents). 

We got done with our planning. We were really bored.

Mystie saw a pile of Nerf guns. Ideas began formulating.

We had an awesome Nerf gun war. 

We had to go home to finish some homework, which was a bummer :(

When I was sitting in front of my Biology homework

I got a text from Jeff that said, "I have an idea. Hmmmm."

I got up and locked our apartment door :)

A couple seconds later he rang the doorbell. 

Then he rang it again. 

Then he started knocking.

Kenna (my other roommate) grabbed her marshmallow gun and loaded up.

Mystie grabbed a pot and filled it with water.

I grabbed Kenna's rubber band gun, but I was too late.

Kenna had already opened the door and Mystie had already

doused Jeff with water. He responded by attacking us with a pillow.

When he went back to his apartment Mystie got

a stack of post it notes and wrote, 

"You better watch your back" on all of them.

She and I went over to their apartment and taped them all over the door.

The next day when I came back from Bio lab I saw

one of the post it notes taped on our door. 

We went over and wrote TWICE on the ones still on their door.

...then Jeff opened the door and unloaded a Nerf gun on us.

Reason number Three: Once a cardinal always a cardinal.

I went back to Soda for the homecoming game.

Long story short, we lost. Bad.

But that was okay. It didn't change anything about my feelings

for Soda Springs, Idaho.

It was there that I found my testimony.

It was there where I became who I am today.

It was there where I learned what true friendship was.

Where I came to truly appreciate life and all its joys and blessings.

That's why I had a hard time understanding why my senior class

couldn't wait to get out. I LOVE going back.

Reason number Four: I have totally amazing friends.

This is my best friend, Carley after she was presented as Homecoming Royalty.

(All the female candidates are presented at the football game. Queen is announced the next night at the dance.)

We've been through a lot together, and I love her for

staying by my side through the worst of it.

Doesn't she look beautiful?

Reason Number Five: I love my family more than anything.

Every time I come home Maci asks to sleep in my bed.

I truly love her with every fiber of my being

(even if it does take her an HOUR AND A HALF to get

ready for a freaking FOOTBALL GAME)

We have lots of fights and arguments, but we've been

best friends since we were itty bitty. I still remember

going out into the hills in Salmon and just walking around.

Or looking for "Fool's Crystals"

Or riding our bikes in circles for HOURS because we were too afraid

to ride them down the hill. 

Maci, even though you do take entirely too long to put

on your mascara, you mean the world to me.

Reason number Six: I love my puppies.

Sigh is far from being a puppy. I can't believe we've had him for

seven years! Or maybe it's eight...

I call him my pooch, even though he's a family dog.

I never get enough of the way they run up to me

and look at me with those big brown eyes and wag

their entire butt trying to wag their tails. 

And I can NEVER say no to their puppy dog eyes.

These little guys are the BEST!!

Reason Number Seven: I live in an amazing country.

Sure, we have our problems, but I can't think of anywhere

else in the world where I would rather live.

September 11.

Wow, it was nine years ago today.

I remember getting on the bus as a fourth grader. 

I sat in my assigned seat, second one back on the left if you were facing the driver.

The substitute bus driver kept calling things out like,

"An airplane just flew into the World Trade Center!"

and

"There's been another attack! Another plane has flown into the World Trade Center!"

I had no clue what was going on.

I didn't understand it.

I wouldn't even BEGIN to understand it for another couple years.

I look back and I am so grateful that the people of this

country came together nine years ago.

People gave their lives doing what they do.

I will forever be grateful for them.

Reason Number Eight: The Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I wrote this Psalm in seminary last year.

Brother Hegemann glued a copy of it in his hymn book.

It goes to the tune of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief.

There have been times when I have strayed

And slow to listen, I've disobeyed.

But I have seen blessings great and small

That show thy mercies conquer all.

I love Thee Lord, I'll give Thee praise

I'll worship Thee in all my days

So then when I see Thee again 

I'll know Thy name I did defend

I have seen FAR too many things in this life

that have been another witness of what I know to be true.

If I ever start to have doubts, all I have to do is think of

Youth Conference 2007. The week where God answered my prayers

in a BIG way. Brianne Kline, you don't know how much you

saved my testimony. And all you did was show up to Youth Conference.

I don't know how many of you know the story...so I'll tell it again. 

Sorry, this post is getting really long.

I had known for awhile that we were moving to Soda Springs.

I was happy, but I was SO scared to have to start again

and make new friends. 

I remember the night I hit rock bottom and fell to my knees

crying and asked God to help me. To help me make friends easily.

It was the first prayer I had said in months. Maybe even a year.

When I showed up to Youth Conference I was put in a family

group with a lot of strangers. On our way to the campsite I

started talking to a girl with gorgeous blond hair.

I asked her where she was from and I finally

got her to say the name of the town (she was convinced I had never heard of it).

Soda Springs, Idaho.

She was a violinist.

She was every bit as shy as I was.

She was God's answer to my prayer.

Yes, these are the reasons I love my life. :)

Photo Shoot with my Best Friend

So, I a couple of months ago I decided that I wanted to go out and get some pictures taken with my best friend (not in the family). Because I didn't have a blog back then, I just posted the pictures on Facebook. I figured that I may as well post a few of my favorites on here too, for the people not absolutely addicted to Facebook like me :) Carley Seyfried is my absolute best friend in the world. She and I complete each other in a way that I've never seen with any other friend. We do everything together and I love her to death. Here are a few of my favorite pictures taken by an AMAZING photographer that I recommend to everyone. You just might know her, Maci Owen. Yeah, you know, the little girl who I grew up with? Shared a room with? Yeah, that one. Oh, and these pictures are kinda caddywonkus (or however you spell that) because I didn't have the patience to figure out how to make them be all symmetrical and stuff like that. You get the idea right?

I just kinda love the intensity of this one :)

Railroad tracks :) Love the positioning of this one.

Absolute favorite :) Hence my banner.
Maci entered this one in the fair and it got 2nd :)

We were looking at her phone when
Maci snapped this one. One of my favorites :)

We kept looking at a pretend seagull, so we decided to
point at it

This is what we get when Maci tell us
to be loose haha

I really love the angle of this one.

So yeah, pretty sure that's all my computer will let me put up. There were like 80 of my favorite ones that it wouldn't load. It just couldn't stand the awesomeness of them I guess. They were pretty intense haha. Anyway, hope you like the pictures!