Today has grown wings, and we're welcoming change

Sloths

2012-02-01T10:44:00.001-07:00

This is my new favorite video and I can't stop watching it. I think she is absolutely adorable.

Insight

2012-01-23T15:47:00.002-07:00

Today is a day that I have had a lot of time and opportunity to really internally analyze who I am and what I am doing here on this earth. I have become even more aware of my weaknesses and at the same time more determined to overcome them. I have a goal this year to read the Book of Mormon 3 times through, and so far I have been slowly going through. Today, I read about 5 or 6 chapters in Nephi, and can I just say how much I love the scriptures? They bring peace to my heart and joy to my soul. Today has not been the easiest day, but having that spirit from the scriptures allowed me to have the opportunity to feel the Lord's love in my life, despite the challenges that come my way.

Life is not easy, and I don't know about you, but I often times make it much harder than it needs to be without realizing it. Sometimes we just need to get out of our own ways and our own heads. I over analyze everything aaaallllll the time.

Yesterday at church, there was a comment made in Relief Society that has really stuck with me: "Progress. That is what distinguishes us from others without religion. Our church is all about progression." I forget this far more often than I should. I want to be perfect now, I want to have answers now, but sadly, that's not how it works.

A wise friend of mine said today, "you've got to put in a lot of necessary work before the answer comes". Makes sense right? "The Lord can't move a parked car", we have to first study and work for the answers before they are given. I am grateful that we even have the opportunity to receive personal revelation, even if it does take lots of work to earn that blessing. 1 Ne 10:19 "For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them."

This is kind of an all-over-the-place post, but it's just some thoughts that I have had today that I wanted to put out into the universe. It has been a very enlightening and gratitude for the gospel day.

Bleh

2012-01-17T16:31:00.005-07:00

Today has been one of those days at work where all I want to do is cut off my nose so it stops running and being stuffy, suck out my sinuses, and go home to put on my sweats, eat soup, and watch a great movie like Sleepless in Seattle. Stupid winter colds, they sneak up on ya and BAM! You have zero motivation and social skills. And yes, when I am sick I am extremely dull and not fun to be around, I don't know about you.

2011 in Review

2012-01-13T09:17:00.009-07:00

Lots of people have been doing this on their blogs and I decided it was a fantastic idea. So here is my year 2011:

JANUARY

Bought a MacBook Pro

Started on a bowling league team at BYU called the Kool Kidz with Splendor, Pleasure, and Danger. I was Butter, and we dominated the dancing of the bowling league. You heard me.

Yes- these are our trophies made by Nostradamus for us because we were the best dancers of the season. Very prestigious award.

FEBRUARY

We had a sweet Superbowl party at our apartment

Went to a Justin Beiber party dressed like him

The peak of Jimmermania

MARCH

Festival of Colors with Mallory and Jeff

APRIL

Turned 22! Had a sweet Price is Right themed party. The Plinko board almost didn't make it, but luckily I had lots of help.

Sang in the Women at the Well for my Stake - Foolish or Wise

Had my last classes on BYU campus

Cassie and Chris were my ComD study crew for the last 2 years of college. Love them :)

MAY-AUGUST

Moved back to Sandy

Was a BC at EFY (that was pretty much my summer)with the best team ever: Dan, Brooke, Tia, Maggie, Brad, Kendall, Cesar, Kellie, Andrew, Alex

Highlights: Send it On
White pant Wednesday
Hats at Game Night
Tia and I eating a piece of pizza after the counselor didn't have
enough money for the pizza place

Boy band singing at dances
Having walkie talkies
Jamba runs
The dances

Singing The One with Kellie
Buying my beautiful new Nikon camera

AUGUST

EFC Disneyland trip!

Graduated from BYU

My best friend Vanessa died in a car accident on her mission

SEPTEMBER

Really started working at Senator Hatch's office

Was called as the choir director for my Ward

OCTOBER

Tried out for Li'l Abner and got the part of Daisy Mae at Draper Historic Theatre

NOVEMBER

Thanksgiving with the parents, Jeff, Jim and Sarah's family, and Megan and Bailey Bradshaw

DECEMBER

Performing in Li'l Abner - it ran for 3 weeks and was so much fun

Saw the Blue Man group with the fam at Kingsbury Hall

Went to Tyson's cabin with Sam and Dallin and some friends for New Years

2011 was a really crazy, sometimes super difficult year, but I had a lot of good experiences and definitely grew in ways that I was not expecting. Here's to another year of surprises, good and bad, and lessons that need to be learned as well as experiences to enjoy!

The Travel Itch

2012-01-11T09:18:00.010-07:00

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am dying to travel the whole world multiple times over. I have been lucky enough to travel a few times, but I have a whole list of places that I am still dying to go, and I would also gladly go and revisit the places I have already been. Today, I am having one of those days that I wish I could win the lottery so that I would have money to go and travel wherever I wanted.

Here is my list of places I am currently wanting to go (in no particular order):

MOZAMBIQUE

I have wanted to go and do humanitarian aid in Africa for years, and this week the urge is even greater!! There is a great organization called Care for Life, and if everything plays out the way I would like it to, I will be going to Mozambique with them next summer for 3 weeks :)

THAILAND

I think Thailand sounds beautiful and fascinating. It is a culture soooo different from the United States and I think it would be an awesome adventure to go. I also have a dream to ride an elephant, which could be accomplished here! It could also be accomplished in the next place on my list.

INDIA

Maybe I have watched too many Bollywood movies, but I think India would be the coolest place to visit!!! I love Indian food, I think that their culture is beautiful, and I think I would definitely buy an authentic Indian outfit there because I think they are so beautiful.

IRELAND

Why? Have you ever seen PS I Love You? It makes Ireland look so romantic and beautiful. I think it would be a fun place to stay for a few days, get to know the people, go to a pub (not to drink of course, sheesh) and soak in the culture!

GREECE

After seeing this picture, do I really need to say anymore? My dream is actually a Mediterranean Cruise because it would hit so many beautiful places.

FLORENCE, ITALY

I have been to Venice, and I loved it so much. I have always had a fascination with Italy in general, but I think that I would love to go to Florence most of all. It used to be that Pompeii was my number one spot, but honestly, as awesome as it sounds, I would rather see the beauty of Florence.

*sigh....well, maybe one day my dreams will come true

Craaaaaazy Lady

2011-12-22T09:55:00.006-07:00

This lady has now called in twice while I have been in work today, and she is literally crazy. She started saying random years, numbers, and then told me to keep it on record. Here are examples of what she told me:

"0-7-4-5-6-8-3-7-1 and the initial with that is M, ok? Now, July 27th. And thenext one is August 192. Then we have December 1-9-2-6-7-9. Then we have December 1-9-9-3 and the number with that is 6-7-9.........Next is January 2-0-0-2 which means it is 8-5-1, then December 2-0-0-2 which is 8-6-2 (etc, etc)"

She then proceeded to give me the number for the Social Security office and told me to wait for someone to answer, because eventually they would. All I had to do was wait. She continued on with the dates and random numbers and then told me to make a copy and send it into the Supreme Court and also keep it on record. She told me to send it in to Jurisdoctor Clarence Thomas and to call the Supreme Court to get the address and I could call them by calling information. She instructed me to have the person having him sign for this delivery to make note of what the Honorable Clarence Thomas was wearing when he signed for the package, and also what his hair color was, his facial expressions, his facial color, and any distinctive marks. She also told me to make a copy and give it to my best friend because you better have it when you go to court.

Very polite and sweet lady.....but completely off her rocker. I wonder why she wanted all of that information about the good judge? And if she wikipedia'd him, she would get many of those questions answered.

She called back about 10 minutes later and said,
"Hi, I wanted to give a message to the Senator. 1-9-9-1 is the first one, and after that is 1-9-9-2 and after that is 1-9-9-3 and after that is 1-9-9-4 and after that is 1-9-9-5 and after that is 1-9-9-6 and after that is 1-9-9-7 and that is 1-9-9-8 and then it is 1-9-9-9 and then it is 1-9-9-10 and then it goes back to 1-9-9-2. Thank you so much."

I am extremely glad and grateful she called in to tell me the order of the years and some random numbers. I should have told her that I had already delivered her message to the supreme court and that Clarence Thomas was black with white hair and was wearing a black robe. I'm sure she would have appreciated that very much.

One of those days

2011-11-17T11:36:00.004-07:00

Today I am missing Vanessa like crazy. I couldn't tell you what specifically brings these bouts on, but today it is pretty rough. I have been thinking about her all day, a lot of times on the verge of tears. I keep thinking about us dancing in our rooms late at night, or when we would write each other on facebook while sitting next to each other, or how we would laugh over the stupidest things, or how Vanessa found lots of things that I said really funny that no one else would. I wear a bracelet everyday with a V on it to feel like I have a little bit of her with me at all times, and as nice as that is, I am really wanting Vanessa around today. I want to tell her a bedtime story or sing her a song to whatever genre of music she decides. I want to jump on her in her bed and just lay on her until she complains enough that I get off. I wish she was around to talk about boys with, and to discuss my future and all of the crazy decisions I have to make in my life. I would love to hear all about her mission and see how much she had grown and see her be the best elementary school teacher in the world. I am still a little sad that when I am married with children, we won't be able to have our children be friends, and I wish that Vanessa would be here to meet my husband and give me her approval. It's hard when I see things and think, "that would be a perfect present for Vans" or when I hear something funny and want to immediately tell her.

Love you forever Vans. Just wanted you to know that I miss you and think about you all the time. You definitely made me a better person and I could never have imagined a better friendship than the one that we have.

Doubts

2011-11-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago in fast and testimony meeting, a man that I did not expect wisdom to come from gave me something to really think about. He started by talking about how he plays Dungeons and Dragons and how he compared himself to his characters because they worshipped God and he would try to see who worshipped God better....needless to say, it was a rough start to a testimony. All I could do was inwardly roll my eyes and brace myself for anything else that could possibly come out of his mouth....because it could have been anything. He surprised me when he started talking about doubts. He then said something that I will hopefully never forget, he said, "I have learned that when I have doubts, to doubt the doubts before doubting the church". That really resonated with me. This is such a great way to look at the doubts that come into our mind for whatever reason. Why not doubt the doubts rather than first doubting the church and it's teachings?

Decisions, decisions

2011-11-07T16:56:00.003-07:00

Next year I may be attending the U or Utah State getting a 2nd Bachelors in Music. It feels even closer because I just sent in my applications, fees and all, to both institutions. Applying to school again feels odd, but I'm excited for the future. I have really missed school. The learning, the atmosphere, and strangely the homework!

I am also debating between working EFY again next summer and serving a performing mission in Nauvoo next summer.

So many choices. Anyone have an 8 ball I could borrow to make all these life changing decisions?!

Boy Language vs. Girl Language

2011-11-02T10:08:00.002-06:00

Boy Language:
"Wanna go out this weekend"
translation: "Wanna go out this weekend"

Girl Language:
"Sorry, I can't"
translation: "I don't want to go out with you"
"Sorry, I can't, but let's do something some other time (or any variation of this)"
translation: "I would love to but I really can't this weekend"

I'm sorry boys, but girls are a lot more complicated than you. You need to learn girl language if you want to not be completely frustrated in dating. We know that you just mean what you say, but we say things thinking the implication is clear, when usually it's not. I have realized that I often speak girl expecting boys to get it, and after chatting with my brother and dad last night I realize that I may just have to hit boys over the head to let them know if i'm interested/not interested.

Tip for boys: If a girl says she is busy more than 2 times without offering to reschedule, just drop it. It's her way of 'nicely' letting you down. After 4 times, it's just rough on both of you.

Whoops....

2011-10-28T11:25:00.004-06:00

You know it's gonna be one of those days when:

You show up to work wearing these:

When everyone else is wearing this:

Even though it's casual Friday because the Senator is in town. Sigh.

The Anniversary Inn

2011-10-28T10:55:00.002-06:00

My dream is to one day stay at an awesome room in the Anniversary Inn! They have the coolest themes ever. Here are some of my favorites:

Oregon Trail
http://www.anniversaryinn.com/boise/room/8-oregon-trail
All I have to say is that if I ever stayed here, I would have to play Oregon Trail while laying in my covered wagon bed.

Drive In
http://www.anniversaryinn.com/logan/room/26-richs-drive-in
Sleep in the back of a truck? Don't mind if I do.

Carriage Lane
http://www.anniversaryinn.com/fifth-south/room/29-carriage-lane

Country Garden
http://www.anniversaryinn.com/boise/room/20-country-garden
Mostly I just like that the bed is IN a gazebo, and I love gazebos

Jungle Safari
http://www.anniversaryinn.com/fifth-south/room/19-jungle-safari
LOVE this one

Swiss Family Robinson
http://www.anniversaryinn.com/fifth-south/room/25-swiss-family-robinson
Tree house in my bedroom? Yes please.

Treasure Island
http://www.anniversaryinn.com/fifth-south/room/10-treasure-island
I would be constantly playing the Pirate's theme song the whole time I was there.

Mysteries of Egypt
http://www.anniversaryinn.com/fifth-south/room/18-mysteries-of-egypt

Sultans Palace
http://www.anniversaryinn.com/fifth-south/room/17-sultans-palace
A phoenix in the shower....AWESOME.

Mr. Knightley

2011-10-15T23:34:00.004-06:00

Tonight I watched the movie Emma, which has long been one of my all time favorites. Although sometimes I can't stand how nosey Emma is, I absolutely love Mr. Knightly. I love him even more than Mr. Darcy. Yup, he is my ultimate favorite Jane Austen character. He is an example of the perfect man. Here is why: he is kind, smart, mature, witty, caring, speaks his mind, quick to apologize, and not to mention pretty darn attractive! Also, and I am not ashamed to admit it, I love the proposal scene between him and Emma so much that I think I watched it at least 4 times in a row tonight :) So that you can all enjoy and appreciate how wonderful Mr. Knightley is, here is the proposal scene!

I think this song is adorable

2011-10-12T13:12:00.001-06:00

One day I want to sing this to my husband :) Although...I will probably change the words, 'you're the smoke to my high' to something else.

Weird things I hear at my job

2011-10-12T12:50:00.002-06:00

Sometimes, we get some interesting people calling in. Here are some of the gems that I have heard:

- The Elizabeth Smart case was a conspiracy. Her LDS family sent her to California because she was pregnant. That's why she was gone for 9 months.
- OJ Simpson was framed and his wife was killed by drug dealers.
- We need to get rid of all scholarships and pell grants because not everyone can use them and we all pay for them. Most people that use them are doctors and lawyers and we should just stop them all....since that makes sense.
- There should be a law against people being unfair.
- Sooo many times they tell me way more info then I ever want to know about their childhood.
- Rich people should pay a lot more taxes and we shouldn't let them be rich anymore.

I feel so enlightened after these conversations. So.....enlightened.

Afro Blue

2011-10-11T14:07:00.000-06:00

I LOVE AFRO BLUE. You should also look up their other 2 songs that they have performed on the Sing Off. I love everything they are and everything they're about. I especially love the one white girl. I wish I was her.

Inspiration Much Needed

2011-10-05T13:34:00.000-06:00

Memories of Vanessa

2011-09-01T00:08:00.013-06:00

This is a ridiculously long post, and I get that. This is for me to reminisce and remember Vanessa. I hope that if you didn't know her you will get more of a feeling for who she was.

Saying, “you know that’s right” while fist bumping like on the show Psych
Her always thinking her hair was too wavy. It never could get straight enough.
She would make me practice her elementary education dances so that she could practice calling them out. One of which was to the song, “Big Girl You are Beautiful”, and yes, she knew all of the lyrics.
· Her obsession with my Mitt Romney bobblehead. She loved that thing.
Her lazy eye in so many picture takes. Her eye and camera flashes did not get along. We would sometimes have to take 10 shots to get one that didn't have the lazy eye. Or the drugged eye as we called it.
The fact that her teeth did not close all the way, she had a permanent hole no matter how hard she pushed her teeth down together.
She could eat a bag of chips like nobody’s business. In one sitting it would be gone. Especially the Kettle Salt and Pepper chips. Or any chips with salsa.
We watched the movie “Yes, man” and in that show, there is a girl who takes a jogging group where they take pictures as they run. Vans and I decided this would be a good idea and tried it. Needless to say, the pictures were absolutely terrible, but it was hilarious.
The turtles in her backyard
How much she loved Sean Kingston, I can’t listen to him without thinking of her
She was always such a clean fanatic, it was never clean enough for Vanessa
She never wasted food. She could not throw away food even if it was rotten, so that was always my job in the apartment.
Elementary Education was her calling. She loved all of her classes and she would get so into them. She would have made an amazing teacher.
Her black converse shoes – she wore those almost every day, even in the winter
Her puffy brown winter coat. She was from Arizona and so she always would freeze in the winter. She bought that coat but hated wearing it. She refused to invest in any other coat though
One morning, we had a jazz dance class at 7 am, we both drove our own cars. I went and didn’t realize she wasn’t following. She called and her door had gotten frozen shut. I had to go back and help her. It was hilarious having both of us trying to get that car door open
Her deciding to go on a mission was one of the hardest decisions of her life. Vanessa wanted the joy of being married, and she was afraid that if she went on a mission it would limit that possibility. I know that she knew it was right though. She thought long and prayed hard about it.
Vanessa was the worst with directions. You could always count on her to get lost if she had never been there or was unfamiliar with the area.
She was obsessed with David Archuleta.
She loved her family more than anything in the world.
We would figure out ways to have fun without too much money because she was always on a budget. She paid for all of her schooling.
Her Santa Rita High gray cross country t-shirt
Without eyeliner and mascara, Vanessa didn’t feel ready for the day
She had flawless skin
We painted a big fan that we bought from DI blue, and Vanessa loved it. It was always on the wall of our apartment
Vanessa loved pictures and taking pictures
She worked as a camera girl for BYU
She was in love with Jimmer and would be devastated that he is now engaged
She was also in love with Brian Kehl who recognized her at Conference one year
We had a whole lot of awesome dance parties, even if it was just the two of us
She was the queen of boxed noodle dinners aka Pasta Roni
Her little green car was a trooper, and she got so mad when Scott and I filled it all with newspapers
We went to Conference together 5 times, we did Free Hugs twice, and we saw David Archuleta once
She met the King Singers with me and we got to pretend that we were singing on the stage of the Conference Center
Before Vanessa came to Utah, her only experience with snow was once it dusted snow in Arizona, so she was shocked by all the snow here
Vanessa was an amazing listener and I always knew that I could talk to her about anything
She was feisty and was not ok when she felt wronged, she would get all riled up, but she would still handle it in a mature manner. I was always impressed with her insight.
Vanessa wanted more than anything to serve the Lord and become the person he wanted her to be.
Vanessa had a laugh that was so contagious
She loved dressing up for things. For example: Black and White charity event that was a paint war we wore awesome zebra print outfits. For that event, it was so sketchy. We showed up at the address and it was some random warehouse in the middle of nowhere. It turned out to be the best event ever J
Loved doing Free Hugs so much. One of her favorite things.
If I was ever curious about how a boy felt or something that had happened with a friend, Vanessa was on it. She would investigate and dig until she knew what was going on. She did that in regard to herself as well. She was no shrinking violet. I loved it!
Vanessa before she left on her mission told me, “When I get back, I am gonna have such a hot body. They have set aside time every day for exercise! No way boys are going to be able to resist me when I get back”
When we were in Montana, we were doing skits. For some reason we decided to stuff our shirts so we looked fat. Vanessa put on a hat, and her only line that she said over and over during the skit was, “I’m Buck” in a very strong hick accent.
Vanessa was 5’9”, so it was hard to get pants that she felt were long enough. She always got so frustrated with her high water pants.
Freshman year her sister Jenn convinced her to dye her hair more blonde, it turned out more yellowy-orange blonde and Vans hated it. So we curled it that night and styled it super cute so that she could put up pictures that she liked of her new hair.
Her Bentley car logo t-shirt
Her vans shoes that she loved.
When Vanessa would get embarrassed, she would get soooo red.
She loved taking pictures of herself with my camera. She would sit down and take 10 or so of her with all different faces.
She had so many free t-shirts. Any time that they were giving them out on campus, she somehow got one. She also always got free shirts from her job.
Vanessa was extremely passionate about which pictures she liked of herself, and those that she didn’t. It was always funny seeing her complain about pictures that were great pictures of her.
She loved to chat with friends online, and she always added “haha” after everything she said, especially if she didn’t know what to say. She would add in just a bunch of “hahas”
She had an Edward poster that freaked me out every time I would walk into our room.
She definitely cut her hair after more than one break up
Vanessa thought the average height of boys was 6’4”. When we disagreed with this, she then stated, “well, it may not be true, but it should be true”
She had a pet peeve that she hated when cupboards were left open
If you had an inside joke with Vanessa, it would live forever. It was the best.
We had an FHE dad, Tim Ruggles, who would make us origami FHE reminders. Those were her favorite things in the whole world. She would request animals and things, and I’m pretty sure that she kept one of the pigs for a very long time.
Vanessa loved laughing, and did it often
At FHE one night, we were playing the faces game. You call out an emotion or a situation and then you say go and the 2 people have to do the faces they would make. Vanessa was queen. She dominated everyone.
Vanessa was also queen at getting free food. We started calling it “getting animal crackers” because of a ‘My Life is Average’ post about a little girl using a boy for animal crackers. Vanessa would be at work and boys would always bring her food, for no reason. All she had to do was flirt and they would get her food in a heartbeat.
When Vanessa found a new song that she liked, we would listen to it at least 20 times in a row. Examples: Any Sean Kingston song, ‘I just haven’t met you yet’ by Michael Buble, ‘Hey Soul Sister’ by Train
Vanessa more than anything did not want to be a frumpy missionary. So when we went clothes shopping, she made sure to buy clothes that were still cute, because she wanted to change the sister missionary stereotype.
Vanessa and I had a miscommunication when she went into the MTC, and so I was waiting for her at the corner of the entrance and she and Jenn had gotten in their car at the church or something. I was devastated. I couldn’t get ahold of her. Then I saw them drive into the MTC and I thought that was the end. She found people to escort her out and she came just to say goodbye. We were both emotional wrecks, but I am so grateful I was able to see her one last time.
I went to Gilbert for a family reunion, and I wanted to visit Vanessa in Tucson afterward. The only problem was that I didn’t have a car of my own and Tucson is 2 hours away from Gilbert. Vanessa drove 2 hours to come and pick me up and then we drove 2 hours to Tucson.
One memory I have of Vanessa, is we went water sliding in the park for a ward activity. It was seriously one of the most fun activities we had been to, and we were the only 2 girls participating, out of 2 wards! Vanessa always dove in full force.
All of the boys at her work were in love with her, but Vanessa would never admit it
We took a 5 am exercise class 3 days a week 1^st semester jr year, it was Vanessa that kept us going. I hated getting up, and she would always make sure that I got up and went because she knew that we would regreat not going
She loved reading and always had a book she was working on
Vanessa’s correct way to paint nails: bottom coat, 2 layers of color, and top coat. If you didn’t do it this way, it wasn’t worth doing in her book. She also asked me to take care of her nail polish while she was on her mission.
She loved making prank calls. She didn’t do it often, but she got a real kick out of it when we did.
There was an SNL video called Surprise, and that was Vanessa’s favorite. She would always quote it, “I’m so FRIKIN EXCITED!” and “SURPRISE!” with the creepy hand motions and everything.
She started playing the impossible quiz once, and spent the next 3 days focusing on that quiz. Needless to say when we found it again a few months later, she refused to start it because it was so addicting.
She loved the shows V, Monk, and Psych so much
Vanessa loved getting massages from people
While growing up, she would give her parents foot massages in exchange for gas money or different things
She never kissed a boy in high school and got $50 for it. She was quite proud of that.
Vans enjoyed making people do jigs. Don’t know why, but she did. Her favorite was making Tim Ruggles do a jig for us and sing that we were his favorite in Hungarian. That happened more often than you would think
While I was abroad, I snuck in and changed her status so that it said that she was the hot one. She then retaliated by calling me beautiful eyebrows. The nicknames both stuck.
Vans and I would sometimes trash talk Satan. Example: “What up Satan? I’m reading my scriptures. Suck it!”
Vanessa had a green Nalgene water bottle that she carried with her every day.
She always had the worst phones. I think her pink razor broke like 5 times.
We had a pumpkin contest in our ward, each apartment got a pumpkin and then you tried to steal as many from different apartments as you could. Vanessa got very into the competition and was extremely upset when our pumpkin was stolen. She tried every trick in the book to steal it back…but it was in an apartment full of strong, tall boys. Needless to say we never got the pumpkin back.
We had a terrible smell in our apartment and we had no idea where it was coming from. Surprise when Vanessa found rotting potatoes in a cupboard we never used. But because she couldn’t throw away food, we had a friend throw them away for us.
Vanessa had the hardest nose. You know how most noses bend and feel soft and like cartilage? Vanessa’s felt totally hard. It wouldn’t bend even you tried to bend it.
Vanessa bruised so easily. She always had the biggest mystery bruises. You would try to figure out where it came from, but she never had any idea.
Vanessa did not want a facebook when we first became roommates freshman year. I forced her getting one by just making her one. She was glad I made her one by a day after she started using it. Also, that’s why her city was Zurich, Switzerland for so long. She didn’t want creepers knowing where she was.
When we lived at Applewood, we had a swamp cooler. Vanessa and I would be trying to watch TV and it would be so hot that we would want the air on, but then the air was so loud that we couldn’t hear the TV. Vans would always get frustrated by that.
Vanessa started with only 50 texts a month, but when she would date a boy she would always go WAY over. So eventually she got more texts just in case.
We made 2 music videos. The first one, we did late at night so Vans was super into it. It was a ‘hardcore rocker’ type music video. Really though, we did not even remotely look hardcore, but we sure tried! The 2^nd one we did in the middle of the day. It was to the Carrie Underwood song, “Ever After”. She was so selfconscious, so we did it at castle theater. She had a wand, and she became a fairy. It was the funniest thing. She loved that wand so much. At one point she was chasing a butterfly and we caught it on film. She was all nervous that when people would see that, they would have no idea that’s what she was doing and would think she was just plain crazy.
Vanessa had to grow a plant for her marriage prep class. She called it her love plant and she really did love that plant so much. She took great care of it and it even grew a purple flower. She was always so careful with that plant.
Vanessa understood how awesome Saturday’s Warriors really was. She appreciated it for the classic it was.
Vanessa loved writing poems about people. If it was your birthday and you were your friend, you would usually receive an awesome poem.
Vanessa loved when I would tell her bedtime stories. She would give me a theme and I would have to come up with a story for her and sit on the side of her bed and stroke her hair. We came up with some great stories.
I was dating a boy named Scott, and he was 5’6”. They would always fake flirt with each other, and she would always joke about how they would run off together. We even threatened to cut him in half and share him once, like Solomon and the baby.
She learned how to have a seductive look and she tried to teach me how. It was basically biting part of your lip. Haha.
Vanessa loved Disney Princesses. She had pictures of them all over her wall. Also she had lots of pictures of Zac Efron all over her walls. I bought her a Zac Efron calendar and she loved Zac Efron.
She loved Ritz sour cream and onion chips
Vanessa had 3 favorite dream boat artists: David Archuleta, Michael Buble, and Josh Groban
Vanessa was ready to be married. She would have made a fantastic wife and mother and she still will.
Vanessa LOVED scary movies. She was totally a movie screamer. The bad part was, that sometimes it was dangerous sitting next to her in those movies. She would hit you, or grab your arm super tight. One time, she was watching the new King Kong on TV and I was across the room on another chair. She kept squealing and screaming and telling me to come sit by her and watch it. I refused because I knew she would attack me out of fear. She even almost bit my arm once while watching ‘I Am Legend’
Vanessa may have been 9 inches taller, but we wore the same size tops. She always borrowed my tops. She usually looked even better in them than I did.
Vanessa had the skinniest waist, she always did. No matter what she ate.
Vanessa loved knowing the latest scandals.
One night, after watching American Idol, Vanessa Kasse and I started drawing on each others legs. All sorts of random phrases, pictures, it got out of control and was hilarious.
When Michael Jackson died, we bought all of his music and had a Michael Jackson tribute party.
Vanessa hated swimming. She could swim, but she didn’t see the point in swimming just to swim. She would play in the water, but she didn’t like pools too much.
She always made wishes at 11:11
Vanessa loved Kirby Heybourne, the actor. She even has a picture with him.
When I visited her in Tucson, she always spoke about Egees, and their delicious slushies. I can say firsthand, they are delicious.
Freshman year, we were talking about sexy faces. Kasse looks over and says, “this is my sex face” and she stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth. Vanessa and I looked at her, and Vans says, “…did you mean sexy face or sex face?” We all started laughing and Kasse says, I totally meant sexy face! From then on we all would make our “sex face” in a lot of pictures. Vanessa loved it. She thought it was so funny.
Vanessa took a class and one of the lessons was about mediation. After that class, she would always try to mediate tense or uncomfortable situations. She was hilarious when she would do it.
Singing a remix of ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’ at Ward Prayer freshman year. Vanessa would sing, “boat boat!” up high at the end. It was a show stopper.
One year for her birthday we got Vanessa a happy Birthday balloon. It would play happy birthday every time you hit it. She would hit that thing over and over listening to it
Freshman year, Kasse and I attacked Vanessa with Febreeze. She was not all too happy about it, except in retrospect
For one of her projects for an El Ed class, she had to go see this kids play. It was terrible and one of the funniest things I had ever seen. We always said, ‘honey child’ and ‘tha’s mah crawdad’ after that in honor of the southern swamp thing monster from that show.
Sometimes we would just sing all of our conversations. It was the best.
Vanessa laughed easily. Sometimes the lamest jokes were the ones that she laughed the hardest at. She honestly could raise your self esteem so fast because she would think you were funny, even if no one else would.
Vanessa named my face Kevin…weird but totally true
One song that will always remind me of Vanessa: Miley Cyrus’ “I can’t wait to see you again” played backwards. Look it up online. It’s hilarious. Vans found it. Some of the gem quotes: Why is your fam a salad? Yeah super fun. Night police. Conan NCMO bases.
Vanessa, when she was extremely upset or venting, would sometimes collapse on the floor out of frustration. It was the best thing ever.
Vanessa and I would go on random adventures when we were bored, for no other reason than to take a million pictures of things we were doing. So we would just find places to take cool/funny/lame pictures of us.
Vanessa had a crush on Chuck Bartowski. We watched the whole season of Chuck in like…one week.
Our study break dance party in the parking lot of Dans during finals week was so epic
Vanessa would try to make a hardcore face sometimes….it never worked all that well
She had intuition. She could tell things about people’s feelings so well. She just read people very well. There wasn’t much that got past her.
· She loved Costa Vida pork burritos. Especially because her work gave them to her for free all the time.
One night at FHE, we were playing a card game and if you lost you had to complete a dare. There was a boy in our group named Tyler and he was no taller than 5’4”. The dare was that he and Vans would run across the front of the apartment building holding hands and yelling, “We’re getting married!!”. I must say that watching them run across the lawn in front of the Brittany was hilarious, with her being so much taller than him. -Tyler Thompson's Memory
Sliding around in the blue foam – we were both so excited because we were juniors and had never done it. We looked like smurfs
Halloween 2009 – We were Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss for Halloween
We put on a Fiesta every year. It was awesome.
Vanessa gave the best hugs. I loved getting hugs from her because she was so much taller that her arms would basically go around my neck.
When Vanessa loved a boy, she loved hard, but she didn’t love often.
We would stay up late every night talking about everything, boys, the gospel, life in general. Vanessa knew everything about me and I know she shared a lot with me as well.
She had read the Twilight series multiple times
She loved all things Disney Channel
She would never wear high heels even though she looked great in them because she didn’t want to feel like a giant.
Vanessa loved when guys were super athletic. That was definitely her type.
Vanessa was always good for a laugh. Almost every time I went to a basketball game I would text her where we were and she would find our group and put us on the big monitor, sometimes multiple times in a game. That was always fun. Some mornings we would walk to class together and she was always real excited to show off her new color she had for her nails. She had some wacky colors haha. -Jacob Blood's memory
Vanessa loved being people's favorite. She would do everything in her power to convince you to say she was your favorite.
Vanessa learned about a game called ‘The Boy Game’ from her roommate Christine. She decided we needed to make our own version. What the boy game consisted of: pictures of random guys we found on the internet, some good looking, others not so much, and then we wrote down a million characteristics both good and bad. You would have 3 pictures of guys and first choose who you would want based solely on looks. Then you would guess who everyone chose. Then you would add a personality trait to each person and see if that changed who you would pick. You would keep adding traits until you were sick of it and do it over and over. She loved the boy game. We spent a whole day finding pictures, making up names for the guys, and coming up with traits or characteristics. One guy we found, I thought looked Asian and she thought looked Hispanic. We argued over that for a while and came up with a name that included both. I can’t remember what it was, but it was hilarious.
Vanessa thought she had a feminine and a masculine side of her face. They looked the same to me, but she thought one side was more flattering. If you looked at her from her left, she thought she looked good, from the right, not so much.
She loved wearing glasses for style purposes. They had no prescription and she didn’t need glasses one bit. She just thought she looked good in them.
She didn’t like wearing big earrings, but she had studs in almost every color.
She had a lot of giant rings that she loved wearing. The bigger the better.
We would take pictures and she would immediately want to load them up on facebook and come up with awesome captions
We went to a concert by Train downtown and Vans loved it. She loved that band.
She was very thorough while brushing her teeth. She would always brush for a long time and flossed daily. It was very important to her. She also bleached her teeth and loved how much whiter her smile had gotten.
She loved trying to pop my toes. I hated it, so she would sneakily try to do it and laugh sooo hard when I got mad about it.
One night, I think she was trying to tickle me, so I started tickling her, we ended up on the floor wrestling, all 5'2" or me and all 5'9" of her, and went for quite a while. Surprisingly a better match up than you would think, I have no idea who won, but my best guess is that we just gave up out of exhaustion. At one point I remember having her in a scissor hold though...
She would always sing a brushing teeth song, "bruuussshh yooour teeth each morning, brush them every night, brush them well and often til they're clean and (she would either say bright or white)". She loved switching it up at the end.
Vanessa would not go to ward choir. She detested going to ward choir. Even when I was the choir accompanist, and I would try to guilt her into coming so that she could support me in my calling, she would not go. She refused.
She had these blue faded sweat material shorts - I remember her working out in those.
I had a couple P90X videos on my computer, so we would try to do them every now and then when we felt motivated to actually work out. There was one problem, we did not have very much room in our little Presidio family room. We didn't care. We were leaping, jumping, using random objects because we didn't have the real ones. I remember us both leaping and passing each other and just laughing because if someone were to walk in or see us through the window, it would be quite the sight to see.
Vanessa was FHE mom more times than should ever be allowed in college. She was so tired of it by the end.
One night, Vanessa was going to a murder mystery dinner date and it was set in the 20's. I got all excited and helped her pick out a great 20's-ish outfit and do her hair and makeup. We looked up on youtube how to do 20's hair, and it turned out alright. She was kind of embarrassed when she got there because she was the only girl that dressed up. She said after a minute, she realized she was the coolest one there and just went with it.
We had a snuggy party at John Lenahan's apartment one night.
Our junior year, Vanessa felt kind of bad because we had pictures of the 2 of us all over the main front room of our apartment and even though Amy lived there too, there was nothing of her.
Vanessa and I would get so mad when our roommate's boyfriend would come over and watch sports when she was doing homework and they weren't even together! We never could figure out the logic behind it.
After Pat broke up with her, we asked her what she thought of Pat one night, and for some reason she said, "punk head". It stuck. Any time we had a boy that we were mad at or thought was dumb, we would call them, "punk head"
She had an extremely pointy chin, and she used it as a weapon! Same with her elbows. She was just an angular person. She would laugh and laugh after attacking you with her chin.

We almost made a calendar of all BYU stereotypes after taking a picture of me, Vans, Hailey, and Jalena on campus on a bench all reading Bridal Guide magazines. It is an epic picture that still hangs on my wall today, 2 years later.
When she would read her children’s stories to us, her face would get so animated, and she would almost sort of pucker her lips, and her eyes would get really big. So cute.
She would sing the tune of “Bad to the Bone” while I was undressing and I would dance, it was hilarious.
She had named her laptop Skipper. It was red and she had a polka dot case for it.
She loved making Jello cake. We learned about Jello cake my freshman year when my friends Abe and Brian brought over a Jello cake for my birthday.
Freshman year, she and Kasse put a sign on the door in February that said, “All the cool people in this apartment have birthdays in February”. I was the only one with an April birthday. They thought they were so funny and clever.
She would never ever unclog the toilet. She always made me do it. Usually we had no idea when it had been clogged or who had clogged it, but she would not touch it. She said she would do it if she did it, but she would not touch it if it wasn’t her doing. Note, that our toilet had the absolute worst water pressure ever, so this happened more often than you would think normal.
Anytime that we would hear the Kelly Clarkson song, “Already Gone” while driving, we would try to sing it as loud and as terribly as possible. This could and usually did include many large arm motions and most of the notes off pitch.
Vanessa and I were stellar interpretive dancers. Be jealous.
Once, Vanessa Kasse and I tried a pilates class. Worst idea ever. Everyone else in the class was very experienced and very serious. We kept trying to do what they were doing, but failed miserably, and then we would bust out laughing. Needless to say, everyone kept looking at us and we never went back.
When we took our Jazz dance class freshman year, Vanessa would always practice our little warm up routine. It was one where you pointed your toes and it was all about form and precision with your legs and arms. It was done to the song, “Realize” by Colbie Callait
We saw a commercial for perfume or something and it was called “Tresur” which was pronounced, ‘Tray-jzuuure’. Vanessa and I from then on out called each other our “Tra-juuures”.
One morning, I had bought my favorite cereal (Crispix) and I was so excited to eat it. It was the end of the box, and I poured it into my bowl and grabbed my milk out of the fridge. Now to preface, Vanessa and I labeled our milk by her putting a “V” on hers and me putting an “A” on mine. So I grabbed the milk out and poured it onto my cereal. It was totally chunky milk. It was Vanessa’s old milk that we had discovered the day before but she had not yet thrown it out. I was so mad that the last of my delicious cereal was destroyed. She kept saying, “it’s kind of funny, right?” or “you’ll look back and find this funny one day Ang”. Still not sure if I find it funny…gross? Most definitely.
We had a clock on our wall in the Presidio that did not have batteries that worked in it for a good semester or longer. It was always 5:00 in our apartment. We had boys that would always comment on it and we told them that if it bothered them to help us fix it. Finally, our home teachers did.
We loved watching “Everybody loves Raymond”
When Vanessa’s feet were cold, she loved putting them under my legs for warmth. The only problem was that it was really cold on my legs! I banned her from doing so, but she would still try, and when I said no, she would give me her puppy dog face. It was a constant battle.
Vanessa’s driver’s license was good until she was about 85. She would never have had to get a new drivers license if she lived in Arizona forever. We used to always laugh about how funny it would be to get pulled over at age 70 or so and show them your driver’s license with your 16 year old picture/weight.

Vanessa Ann Bentley

2011-08-31T23:44:00.004-06:00

Yesterday my best friend died. She was in a car accident. I am still in complete shock. I keep asking, "Why? Why her? Why while she was on her mission? Why this way?" I know that it does no good to ask why, but I can't help it.

Vanessa and I met freshman year. We exchanged emails before we even met, and I knew we would become good friends. What I didn't know was how she would change my life forever. We lived together for 2 1/2 years and were friends for 4 including this last year of her mission. In the last 4 years, out of every person in the world, I have spent the most time with Vanessa. Vanessa was a sister to me, no matter what anyone else says.

Vanessa was one of the happiest and most joyful people I have ever met. She loved laughing and did it easily and often. She always made you feel funnier than you were, which was good until you went out into the real world again and realized that no one else thought you were funny like she did. She sang a lot and was always full of energy. She had such a strong testimony of the gospel and lived it to its fullest.

I have to say that this has been the most difficult experience of my life. When I heard the news from her mom, I was in shock. I couldn't contain my grief and I just sobbed. It was more of a hyperventilation, but still just sobs. My heart broke like it never had before. The pain has softened a little, but it is still right there at the surface. All I have done for the last 30 hours is think about Vanessa. Think about her life, look at her pictures, write down memories, cry, laugh, and cry again. The pain I feel in losing this friend is something I never could have imagined in my wildest dreams. I love Vanessa. She made me promise that I wouldn't get married before she got back so that she could be at my wedding. I know that she will still make it there, even if I can't see her.

During this time I can't help but think how I would be feeling if I didn't have a knowledge of the afterlife. If I didn't know that Vanessa was happy and exalted, how much more devastated would I be? I am eternally grateful that I know that Vanessa is happy and alright. I know the Lord is looking out for her and her family and I am forever grateful that I was able to have her in my life, even if it was just for a short while. I feel honored.

I know that we will be friends throughout the eternities. I love you Vanessa Bentley. I will never forget you and I promise to live my life in a way that will make you proud. I will try every day to live up to my potential. I will not let you down. Love you the hot one. Help us as we struggle through this life that you are now done with. Miss you always.

Flashback to the 80s

2011-03-07T15:43:00.009-07:00

Last weekend, our ward paid for all of us to go to Classic Skating. And the best part? It was 80s themed! Lucky for me and Mallory, our friend Emily happens to have accumulated a whole lot of 80s clothing over the years. Why? We have no idea, and neither does she, but we were very appreciative :)

The night was a lot of fun, but it got me thinking about all that I missed not having lived through the 80s. Don't get me wrong, the 90s were great as well, but being born in '89, I really didn't get to experience the 80s. Here are the things that I think I would have liked the most:

The awesome make-up. I so would have worn bright red lipstick all the time.

The huge hair! As you can see from above, I was meant for large hair.

The sick awesome work out clothes.

The giant socks that everyone wore with sneakers.

Men with hairstyles like this:

The ability to mix and match any colors and it works, including the denim with denim below.

And last but definitely not least, the cheesy, but classic, music videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBlbPw7WAqM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIgZ7gMze7A&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xweiQukBM_k

And this one, not really from the 80s, but is just as awesome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVkU8dDSC9w

I'm a Belieber

2011-02-26T23:17:00.003-07:00

Are you a Belieber? Cause we are!

Tonight Mallory and I went to an all Bieber party. To get in free we had to dress in something "Justin Bieber", so we wore skinny pants, v-necks, and hoodies. Oh yeah, and we swooshed our bangs. We were totally JB.

We got to the party, and it was insanity. There were so many people! So we pushed our way through so that we could truly experience the dance. We tried to dance, but there really wasn't any room, so we just kind of swayed and fist pumped. The longer we were there, the more people became out of control. Boys started pushing which pushed the whole crowd because of how many people there were. Mallory and I, being only 5'2" in stature and not very heavy, were suddenly not in control of our own destiny. We didn't have to dance anymore, we just let the crowd move us. I started laughing uncontrollably because there was nothing I could do, and Mallory couldn't do anything, and her face was continuous shock at every push.

One memorable man was "Purple shirt". He was there with his girlfriend, and pretty much by us the whole time. Poor guy was a sweat machine, and we were unfortunate enough to be pushed up against his back pretty much the whole time. He also had no consideration or thought of how little space there actually was to dance. He was bumpin' his booty all over the place, and every bump resulted in Mallory or I moving elsewhere on the dance floor. Our sleeves were covered in his sweat. I felt violated. And his poor girlfriend kept trying to keep us together despite her boyfriend's efforts to tear us apart.

All in all, it was worth the experience. I will never forget it. Definitely one of the funniest nights of my whole life.

The aftermath:

(notice the shock and confusion of what has happened to us on our faces)

Dentist

2011-02-20T21:43:00.004-07:00

I had 4 small fillings filled on Friday. This is what my face looked like until about 1, since they numbed half of it. I went in at 8. It was a long, numb-faced day.

Father's Words of Wisdom

2011-02-20T21:34:00.003-07:00

Tonight while talking to my dad, he said to me, "Angela, your future husband is out there, and one day he will find you. Until then, I think there must be someone saying 'This is not the droid you're looking for.'" I am so glad I have my dad to pass on his wisdom. Love you dad :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnjaUoR15dU

Lock the door please

2011-02-17T14:24:00.003-07:00

Today at work I went to use the bathroom. Now, there is the normal public bathroom with 4 stalls side by side, and there is the separate bathroom that is just a single room like the bathrooms in ghetto gas stations. I prefer the latter because I really don't love public restrooms. When I am at work I try to use the single bathroom as often as possible. As I went to check if someone was in there, I jiggled the handle and it was unlocked, so I proceeded to start opening the door, until I heard water running in there. I quickly shut the door and walked into the public restroom. Moral of the story, when you're in the bathroom, LOCK THE DOOR. You would think it was common sense, but apparently not. Just thought I would let you all know that you should lock the bathroom door when you're in there, unless you don't mind others walking in on you. Actually, I take that back. Even if you don't mind, it may scar the person walking in. Please don't scar someone unless you're willing to pay for therapy. It's just common courtesy.

Why I am not a swimmer

2011-02-17T13:58:00.003-07:00

I'm sure many of you have thought over the years, why is Angela not a swimmer? That seems like a common question....or not. But in case you have ever wondered here is the answer. I did swim team one summer when I was 10, and it was fine. I enjoyed it. I mostly enjoyed it because Lauren Timmins and I were doing it together and we always walked together and would make hot chocolate and cinnamon french toast to eat after practice. Well, at the end of the summer there was an award ceremony. Now, I was not an extremely fast swimmer, and I knew that, but basically everyone got some kind of trophy. So as I anxiously awaited my trophy, they pulled out some plastic tug boats. Much like this:You guessed it. I got: the tugboat award. This meant that I just kept "chugging along" during the swim season. I was super embarrassed and super upset inside. I took my tugboat and decided I was done with swimming. Looking back it's hilarious. I mean, who gets a tugboat award ever for anything? Thinking about it, I am special! I got an award that very few will ever get. So thank you Willow Creek swim team. Thank you for the rare honor of the tugboat award. I will cherish the memory always. Even if I did throw away the actual tugboat...

Jury Duty

2011-02-15T11:47:00.005-07:00

At the young age of 21, I have already been summoned to Jury Duty. Believe me, I was as shocked as you are! That is what I get for registering to vote. When I told my dad, he immediately told me ways to get out of it. Because you can not be biased in anyway, his top picks were: act stupid, or act racist. Lucky for me I didn't have to do either one of those. I went, told them my life story, and they let me go after only 3 hours.

One thing that absolutely shocked me, was how many of the people there had only a high school education. In my world in my mind, I think that most people end up going to college. It's just what you do. You make it happen. I learned yesterday that my 'mind world' is definitely not reality.

Although I was a little bit disappointed that I didn't get chosen for jury duty, even though my dad assures me I am not missing out, I'm hoping that next time I can fulfill my civic duty and help someone have a fair trial, even though I'm sure that this is somewhat true:

Perk of jury duty: 40 dollars for the day and they reimburse you for your gas. Awesome.

It's the biggest disappointment when...

2011-02-11T14:27:00.003-07:00

You think you're getting this:

And instead you end up with this:

Look similar?? The only difference is this guy:

Sneaky little devils. It's amazing how pure joy can turn so fast to sadness, simply by biting into an oatmeal cookie. I think raisins should be banned from cookies and breads, who's with me??

My Vision

2011-02-10T14:14:00.007-07:00

I have a vision, of a perfect summer outfit. Yes, a summer outfit. It's cold outside, that's how I console myself. I tell myself that one day it will be warm, even if that's a lie. Back to my vision. I want a cute sundress and I want to wear it with a denim jacket. I don't care if it sounds weird, in my head, it is ridiculously cute. So I went on a hunt for the perfect dress and jacket. Here is what I came up with:

This jacket was on EBay for only 20 plus shipping and handling. I am obsessed with it.

This dress is from Anthropologie. I am in love with it. Sadly it is 300 dollars. There is no way on this earth that I will ever be able to afford this. Hopefully I can find a wanna be Anthropologie dress somewhere else for cheap. Here's to hopin'!

Sometimes

2011-02-09T21:56:00.003-07:00

Sometimes a song connects itself to you, and no matter how hard you try, you and this song are forever intertwined. This happened to me with the song "For me alone". The words and melody of this song are so powerful, and I feel blessed to have even been introduced to it. I sang it 2 weeks ago in my home ward and when I was asked to sing next week in my Provo ward I tried to find another song to sing, because I just sang that one and I wanted to diversify my repertoire. My mom suggested that I sing it again because it is such a great song, and I decided to look at it again. Turns out, I still love it. It touches a deep part of my heart and while singing it, I feel so passionate about it. Music is so powerful, and I am so grateful to have it as a part of my life. And yes, I am singing it again this Sunday, and I can't wait.

Here are the words for all of you:

Every earthly sorrow; every mortal pain

Every sinner's anguish; the bitterness of shame

The weakness and the heartache that burden all mankind

For these the Savior suffered, for these He bled and died

And the lost and fallen multitudes of all the earth

Are ransomed by His offering of love

But if I alone had stumbled; if I alone had strayed

If I alone had wandered from the straight and narrow way

If I alone bore guilt for which my all could never atone

He would have come for me

For me alone

Tears of all creation; every debt unpaid

Warfare of the nations; every trust betrayed

Every falsehood uttered; every truth denied

For these the Savior suffered, for these He bled and died

And the lost and fallen multitudes of all the earth

Are ransomed by His offering of love

But if I alone had stumbled; if I alone had strayed

If I alone had wandered from the straight and narrow way

If I alone bore guilt for which my all could never atone

He would have come for me

For me alone

For love of all God's children Christ redeemed us from the fall

His mercy without measure is sufficient for us all

But if I alone had stumbled; if I alone had strayed

If I alone had wandered from the straight and narrow way

If I alone were foolish; if I alone were frail

If I alone had faltered when the power of hell assailed

If I alone bore guilt for which my all could never atone

He would have come for me

For me alone

Queen

2011-02-08T00:16:00.002-07:00

I am the queen of the blind date. Don't get me wrong, I love it! I definitely want to put myself out there and it is flattering that people don't mind setting me up with their friends. At least I know I'm not that "embarrassing" friend of theirs. My last relationship was born from a blind date so I do believe in it. One thing that cracks me up, is seeing who they set you up with. Is it the shy friend that doesn't want to ask anyone out? The annoying friend that can't get a girl to say yes? The 5'3" tall guy that they only set you up with, not because you have anything in common, but because you are in fact shorter than he is? It says a lot about you, who these friends set you up with. All I want to say is, continue to set me up friends and family. The challenge is on. If one of you finds me a husband through a setup, I will be eternally indebted, and that means a whole lot of great Christmas presents for you for the rest of your life. Let be known, and so it was written.

The Flow Chart

2011-02-07T22:51:00.000-07:00

I never posted the infamous Flow Chart. Even though he was not my soulmate, that date was worth it for this priceless possession and awesome story. I can now proudly state that I have been made a Flow Chart, and also made and given an arrow. My dating life is just great.

The Boy Rant

2011-01-08T23:32:00.004-07:00

This is just a rant of a single girl in Provo Utah. Why is it that guys think that all girls obviously want to have moves made on them? Has it not crossed their minds that maybe it should also be our decision if they hold our hands, try to cuddle us, or any other form of affection reserved for someone we are interested in? I have been "hand raped" (had my held hand without my permission/consent) twice since coming to Provo. The first, I had my arms cross (signal #1) and he poked my side and then grabbed my hand. REALLY??!?! The second, we were watching a movie, I had my hands tucked between my legs which apparently means come and get 'em, and he leaned over, told me his hand was cold, and grabbed my hand. Unacceptable. I just don't understand. Maybe one day I will figure it out, but as for now I will never ever sit next to a boy without my arms firmly crossed.

Oh chick flicks

2010-12-15T15:12:00.003-07:00

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE chick flicks. The sappy-ness makes me happy, and pretty much I'm always in the mood for a good one. I watched the movie "He's just not that into you" last year and I really did like it. Not your typical chick flick, but good none the less. Today at work, my friends showed me this video called, "10 chick flick cliches you will not find in 'He's just not that into you'". It's utterly fantastic and I felt I should share it with the world. Every single cliche is soooo true. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7lHJ7XkYAo

Photo Shoot

2010-12-06T13:33:00.002-07:00

We decided to take Marketing Family pictures for Christmas. Here is just a taste of the awesomeness. I am amazed we could all sort of pull of the serious look. Do you think I should become a model? I tried to "smize" like Tyra tells all of the top models...smiling with your eyes...

Jerusalem Homesickness

2010-12-02T22:32:00.003-07:00

It has been 2 years and I still get homesick for Jerusalem. Incredible, but true. I would go home any day of the week if I could. Any single day of my life. So if anyone wants to pay for me to go back, I promise that I will accept gracefully :) Click here for the video made for our semester by my friend Tim. It's the best place in the whole world. I will always cherish those memories, and hopefully one day I will be able to go and visit again!

My love affair

2010-07-22T17:42:00.004-06:00

With Musicals.

Every time I go to a good musical I remember again how much I absolutely LOVE seeing them. There is nothing better than fun, beautiful, and touching music to make a play even better.
In the last month I have seen 2 amazing shows, both at Hale Theater. The first was "110 in the Shade" at the Orem Hale Theater with Audra McDonald.

This woman is an incredible performer. The entire show I was just watching in awe at how focused and yet effortless her performance really was. I tried the whole time to just observe and try to learn how I could be better in my performing skills. If I was half as talented as she was, I would be seriously set for life. The show was extremely well done, also featuring the father from "Saturday's Warrior". Surprisingly, he was my 2nd favorite actor after Audra. Who knew beneath all that cheese there was an actually good actor?

The 2nd Show I saw was "The Wedding Singer" at Hale Theater in Salt Lake and it was one of the most fun shows that I have ever seen.

The 2 leads were absolutely incredible. It's shows like this that make me want to be in shows all the time! One day, I'll make it happen :)

Bose

2010-06-05T22:40:00.004-06:00

Today I was at the Park City Outlets and I was able to go in and see a BOSE demonstration. I was amazed at the technology. I now think I will never be satisfied with anything else ever again. I entered to win a system and I really hope that I win!! Now that I know what sound can be, the question is, can I ever be fully satisfied with normal movie or music sound?

It's that time again...

2010-06-04T18:02:00.014-06:00

The time of year I decide to blog. I was talking with Annie now Weiderhold yesterday, and she made me feel guilty for never blogging, so here it is.

I wish I had adventures and stories to tell you all from the last few months of Spring Semester here in Provo, UT, but unfortunately all I have had time for is class and work. I have spent a majority of my life lately in a lab full of dead people, so, I will be telling you some of my favorite anatomy terms and also some interesting facts that I have learned!

Interesting Anatomy Facts:

Sunscreen does not actually help prevent skin cancer, it only prevents burning

When rubbing a baby's stomach, make sure to start on the right side and go left, otherwise you may cause them stomach pain

There are advertisements pasted all over pacemakers, which is strange since they are put inside of you and no one ever sees them

A heart murmer is a hole that we all have in our hearts as fetus' that doesn't quite close all the way when we take our first breath like it's supposed to

When your nose runs while crying, it's just tears coming out of your nose

When someone goes bald they're not actually losing hair, their hair is just changing from one type of hair to another

Never be around kitty litter when pregnant, it can cause birth defects or miscarriage

Being hydrated prevents: your brain falling onto the sharp parts inside of your skull, your kidneys failing, and kidney stones.

When you hear a noise in the dark, don't turn to look at it, you will blind yourself. The only part of your vision that can see in the dark is your peripheral vision.

Favorite Anatomy Words:

Epiploic Appendages

Anconeus

Popliteus

Tibial Tuberosity

Tenia Coli

Glabella

Triquetrum

Corrugator supercilii

Tensor Fasciae Latae

Cerebellar Peduncles

Caruncle

Trabeculae Carne

Duodenum

Jejunum

Tunica Albuginea

Chordae Tendinae

Carina

FREE HUGS!

2009-10-04T23:02:00.010-06:00

Two years ago, April Conference 2008, I was a young Freshman just going with my roommates to the Sunday morning session of Conference. We left the Conference Center to see a group of people with Free Hug signs. We took a picture with one and it was way fun.

We put the picture up on Facebook for all to see, and lo and behold, "Free Hug Man" and I had a common friend that tagged him in our picture. He made us his profile picture and then proceeded to add us as friends on Facebook.

A year passed, and April Conference 2009 came. As we left the Sunday morning session of Conference yet again, we saw the exact same Free Hug Man!! We went up to him, he remembered us, and we took another epic picture.

This last summer we started to chat with him more, and now we've actually become pretty good friends with the Free Hug Man, aka Jordan Bailey, and so this year he told us that we should try Free Hugging in between Conference sessions. I was personally very skeptical but Vanessa felt like we should go since he had invited us.

After the morning session of Conference we met up with Jordan and his friends and they handed us some Free Hug signs. We started yelling "Free Hugs" at everyone who passed, and surprisingly, it was such a fun experience!!!

People LOVED Free Hugs!! We were hugging old people, young people, college age kids, and a lot of people from different countries. People thanked us for being there and for just being happy! They also gave us free cookies, free lunchables, and free conference tickets for the next session. Vanessa and I went back to the house, but it's awesome that we could have gotten a ticket so easily!

I'm glad we met Jordan 2 years ago while he was doing this, and I'm glad we finally got to be a part of it!

A hug delights and warms and charms, that must be why God gave us arms! -Author Unknown

Another Music Video :)

2009-07-19T18:39:00.002-06:00

1 am on a Friday night!!

2009-06-27T21:36:00.003-06:00

This is a movie that we decided to make at 10:30 pm on Friday night. We spent 2 hours doing hair and makeup and then it took us until 2 am to finish filming. We then spent most of Saturday editing it, and I think it turned out pretty well :)

The Dark Knight at Midnight

2008-07-20T18:00:00.002-06:00

Thursday night at midnight I was able to go and see the new Batman movie, and it was awesome!!! The whole story was unpredictable and highly entertaining! It was a little violent and some of the violence was hard to watch, but the overall movie was something worth watching. It was a pretty dark movie with the psychotic Joker as the main character that just enjoys killing people, so I would not recommend watching it 2 times in one day. Although I did. I went on a date Friday night and we ended up seeing the Dark Knight. So in a 24 hour period I saw it twice! I also had 2 offers to see it Saturday night, but I passed and instead spent the night talking with Erika which was so much fun :) I'm so glad she's around this month! Love you Erika :) So if you're debating whether or not to see the Dark Knight, I would definitely see it! Just leave the kids at home...

Watch out....

2008-07-20T17:49:00.003-06:00

Two weeks ago I was at work and the boys and I decided to go and play tennis. We got all of their tennis gear together and we went and stopped by my house so that I could grab my gear too! We left the house and drove down Robidoux. We got to the Timmin's house and a car backed straight out of their driveway right in front of me and almost hit my car! I could tell that they hadn't seen me and I felt lucky that I had managed to somehow avoid being hit. I turned to the right to go down the street to Creek Road and the whole time I was kind of bugged that the car that was now in front of me had almost hit me! We both stopped at the stop sign and she started to turn left onto Creek and suddenly stopped! I looked and there was a car that had started turning from Creek onto the road that we were on and it had suddenly stopped as well. The car in front of me had obviously not seen this car coming and was embarrassed that it was now in the middle of the road and the car that wanted to turn onto our street was waiting for her to move forward. Instead of moving forward as I expected, she quickly backed up right into the front of my car! Now she had a big SUV and I was driving my little Plymouth Neon. Their car had a little scratch and the hood of my car was bent up. It didn't look too bad but it ended up costing quite a bit, which luckily they paid for very willingly. The kids that I had with me thought that it was so cool that we had been in a car crash and they kept repeating what I had said right after we had been hit. It was silent for a second and I said "Are you serious?". They thought that was pretty funny because I think they were expecting some 4 letter words of frustration. I'm really glad that I didn't swear so that they weren't repeating swear words all day!

How I felt about giving up my car for a week so that it could get fixed!

The Nanny Diaries

2008-07-20T17:33:00.003-06:00

Nannying this summer has been very different then I expected! It has been a great experience but also very hard. In addition to being the nanny I am also the maid. I don't mean to say that in a negative connotation, that's just the way things have been this summer. I do the laundry, do the dishes, dust the floor, get rid of the fingerprints on the glass, change the sheets, iron, and many other cleaning responsibilities. It's a lot of hard work, but I really don't mind most of the time! Especially since I'm getting paid pretty well :) The oldest, Jacob, is 12 and literally never around. He is golfing all day everyday! If he's not in a competition he is at the driving range or playing 24 holes. I am kind of glad that he is gone because he is a pretty contentious child when he's around. He's not very nice to his brothers, me, or even his mom! So to have him play golf all the time is just the way I like it! It sure makes my job a whole lot easier! Here are some pictures of some of the activities that we have done this summer:

Andrew (7) and David (10) bought some pet fish! They lasted about a week...

We went bowling and the boys just had a hay-day with my camera and taking pictures!

Swimming at Willow Creek. This was my first time trying my camera underwater and it was awesome!
Left to right: Andrew (7), David (10), and their friend Ethan (10) that is basically always over at their house so I feel like he is one of the Turners :)

"Camping Out"

2008-07-20T17:14:00.005-06:00

Us in our Camping Gear

June 13th was Jaimie Fredrickson's 19th birthday so Annie and I decided that we should do something special to celebrate this momentous occasion. We decided that we should camp out on Carla Baliff's (our old young women president) front lawn. We didn't tell her that we were coming because we wanted it to be a surprise! To get in the mood of a camp out we put on camouflage hats and orange vests. Normally orange vests are meant only for hunting, but we decided that it seemed appropriate :)

Taking a 3 minute nap to get ready to stay up all night

We carried the tent over by sticking it on top of the car and just holding onto it with our hands. Don't worry, we didn't have to go very far....and it was about 2:30 in the morning by then so there weren't many people out on the streets

We struggled putting up the tent

The Wisdom Teeth Saga

2008-07-20T17:01:00.003-06:00

Three and a half weeks ago I got my wisdom teeth out! I had to get all 4 out, so if the next time you see me I'm not completely there mentally, I now can attribute it to the fact that I no longer have my wisdom teeth. After I came home dad told me that on my right side my top tooth was close to my sinus cavity so I was not allowed to sneeze, cough, or do anything that may lead to a hole in my sinus cavity!.....Now I'm not sure how I managed holding it all in, but I luckily I didn't sneeze or cough a hole into my face. By Monday the swelling had started to go down, but it came down in a lopsided fashion. The picture above is what my face looked like until the swelling went all the way down, although it became progressively better as it became less swollen.
I thought that I was in the clear until we went on our girls trip to Cedar City. My face had become a little swollen on the left side the day before we left and I was hoping that it had just been irritated from me swimming a lot the morning before. Of course not. It was even bigger the next day so we went to the doctor in Cedar City. I felt so awful that this was interfering on our trip! The doctor told me that I had an infection and sent me on my way with my amoxicillin. The medicine worked great and my mouth has been normal for a few days. Was it over? Not a chance! Yesterday the right side of my mouth started to hurt and so I had to get some more medication today. I really hope that this works and that I will have no more trouble from my wisdom teeth, or lack thereof.

End of my first year at College

2008-05-03T18:04:00.003-06:00

Well, I made it. I am officially a sophomore in college and somehow managed to get through the first year of BYU. Finals were extremely difficult in some cases, sometimes requiring staying up until 3 in the morning to study, but I managed to come out alright. I moved home and found a nannying job through my hairstylist Tina strangely enough! I was getting my hair cut, which is now short and a little bit darker, when she mentioned she had a friend that needed a nanny for the summer, and it just worked out. Karen and Curtis Turner have 3 boys: Jacob 11, David 9, and Andrew 7. Jacob is a huge golfer and the other two are really into sports which is fun! I decided to keep a nanny log of my adventures this summer, so you'll hear more later! :)

What we do for fun...

2008-03-25T12:05:00.002-06:00

So one night at our apartment, Kasse started drawing on Vanessa's leg and somehow we all ended up with a whole lot of pen on our legs. So here are pictures of it :) Vanessa, Me, Kasse
Kasse's leg (and that is Kasse making a decision with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other)
Vanessa's leg (notice the Mitt Romney bobblehead and the fact that we are totally obsessed with American Idol)
My leg (The animal is supposed to be a dog...)

Rascal Flatts Concert!

2008-03-25T11:52:00.004-06:00

Our we're so excited to see Rascal Flatts faces! I went with McKay Crockett
Proof that I was totally at the concert :)
A couple weeks ago I was able to go to the Rascal Flatts concert at the Delta Center and it was amazing! They were just as good live as they are on the CD :) The stage was amazing because it was so colorful and it changed all the time for each song!

Vanessa's Birthday

2008-03-25T11:49:00.002-06:00

Vanessa's birthday was at the end of last month and her brother gave her Hello Kitty tattoos. So of course we decided to put them on our biceps and show them off all day. You would not believe all of the comments that I got from people wondering what in the world was on my arm :)

These last two months

2008-02-24T11:59:00.007-07:00

Sorry that all of these events are out of order! I put on the pictures backwards on accident and didn't know how to switch them around! :)

This last week we decided that it would be fun to throw a fiesta this weekend...so we did! It was a total success! In all, we counted that around 56 people came throughout the night! We made signs and got decorations from All a Dollar and Zurcher's. Most of the pictures taken throughout the night on my camera were not even taken by me! Two boys, Topher and Wyatt, took my camera and just took random pictures throughout the night. I love having all of these crazy pictures that I didn't even know were being taken! Wyatt is actually a guy that I met through a friend in one of my classes. I was eating with her at lunch on Thursday and 2 guys in her ward, Daniel and Wyatt, came and sat with us. I invited all 3 of them to the fiesta and we went our separate ways. My friend ended up not coming, but her friends and their other 2 roommates did! I thought it was pretty funny that they would come even without her, but they were really fun to get to know! We had a pinata and we served chips and salsa and taquitos. At the beginning we had salsa dancing going on, and by the end, it was just a whole lot of chatting and listening to Spanish music. Kasse and I want to have another theme party soon! We were thinking maybe an 80's night :)

Kasse and her friends came over one night with E.L. Fudge cookies and marshmallows so that we could roast s'more's over our gas stove. They tasted delicious but then we didn't know what to do with the excess cookies and marshmallows. So we decided to play the oreo game with E.L. Fudge cookies instead. What you do, is you pull the cookie in half so all of the frosting is on one side. You then lick the frosting and stick it on your forehead. The point is then to move the cookie down to your mouth without using your hands. We then played chubby bunny to get rid of the marshmallows. I think Ian fit 10 in his mouth! And they were the big marshmallows!

These are pictures from the first time we went shopping this semester. We actually had food!!! We lived on almost nothing for the first couple weeks of this year and we finally decided to get real food from a real grocery store instead of just the creamery. It has been wonderful ever since!

On Valentine's Day mom brought my roommates and I these lovely pink sugar cookies and they were so delicious!
Since none of us are currently dating any boys, we spent Valentine's Day just the 3 of us! We went shopping at target, picked up Cafe Rio, and watched the Jane Austen Book Club. It was a fantastic Valentine's Day!

This semester I got a new roommate since Makayla got married and moved out. Her name is Kasse Adams and she is from Draper Utah. She went to Waterford and she is so awesome!

This month Brikaeli came and stopped for a visit which was exciting. The picture below is later that night, one of our first bonding experiences as new roommates...it was pretty crazy! We took 94 really attractive pictures of us...just like this one...I love my roommates :)
Later, in February, we went tubing as a ward activity at Soldier's Hollow. I really didn't want to go because I had had the longest day, I hadn't done well on a test, and all I wanted to do was change into my sweats, eat junk food, and watch a movie. Luckily, Kasse, my dark haired roommate, convinced me, well, actually guilted me into going. She is new this semester in our ward and told me that if I didn't go she wasn't going and she really wanted to go. So I went, and it was a blast!
I just thought this was such a beautiful picture! I took it as we were driving to Soldier's Hollow.
This is a picture of me, Kasse, and Hailey. Hailey lives across the stairwell but she is our honorary 4th roommate!
This is a video of us going down one of the runs at Soldier Hollow. SO much fun!!!! And Hailey lost her hat which is why she starts screaming at the end :)

The King Singers

2007-12-16T13:32:00.000-07:00

This is me and Vanessa performing with the Tabernacle Choir :)

This last Saturday, I was able to go to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert and present flowers to the King Singers. It was really cold outside, so I wore my pajama pants on underneath my dress. No one could tell and it made me feel so awesome! After the concert, I was able to meet and take pictures with the 2 King Singers that I had given flowers to. They were so extremely nice and it was so exciting meeting them! I may have flower presented for a long time, but that was the first time I had really gotten to meet the guest artists!!!

Temple Square Outing

2007-12-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

This last Friday, Vanessa and I got to go with our ward to temple square. We drove to Sandy and then took trax the rest of the way.

We were able to go and see the Joseph Smith movie, then walk around Temple Square, and then go over to the mall food court and get some food there. It was so cold!! But totally worth going :) On the way home we had to get off the trax for some reason and they shoved us all on a bus the rest of the way. But it was still a pretty fun adventure overall!

Nose Painting, yeah, that's right

2007-12-10T09:10:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday night I had to paint my interpretation of the Universe for extra credit my Astronomy class. Afterward, Nathan and I decided to have some fun by painting pictures with our noses. For some reason we decided to paint an oasis. I have to say, I think that they are pretty good for being painted with our noses!

Christmas Choir Concerts

2007-12-08T13:16:00.001-07:00

Last night was the combined christmas choir concert. It went pretty well and I only had to fudge the words on one song! :) I love women's chorus so much! Mom, dad, Jim and Sarah came to the concert and it was so much fun to see them :) Yay for Christmas!

Remodeling

2007-12-07T13:19:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Vanessa and I redecorated our apartment. Makayla had moved out and taken her decorations with her so we had to get creative. Right before Halloween I had been at DI looking for a costume and I came across an amazingly huge fan! I decided to buy it, since it was only two dollars, and figure out what to do with it later. It turns out that it was perfect to hang on our wall. So we painted it and hung it up. We also made a collage with pictures of us on it :) Vanessa has been living in the extra bedroom since Makayla left, but last night she moved back into our room. Since Makayla officially no longer lives with us now, she has to check out of her bedroom. We have someone signed up to be our roommate for next semester. Her name is Kasse Adams and she actually went to Waterford, which is pretty cool. With finals coming up, everything is getting pretty busy, but I think that most of my finals will not be too awful.