#letsgovisitTJ

So it's been a very long time since I posted anything, and I'm sorry.

(Unless you really don't enjoy reading my nonsense, in that case, I'm sorry that I am blogging again.)

Apologies aside, this weekend I got to do something that Hailey and I have been talking about for 2 years.

We went and visited our friend TJ in Oregon after he got home from his mission!

I blogged about TJ getting his mission call in my second public post ever wayyyyyy back in January 2011.

Bonus of the trip? Our super-awesome friend Ryan came with us.

(he lived across the hall from TJ freshman year)

So,(after some fruit bars and a quick trip to In-N-Out)
we set off on our 12 hour drive from Provo to Portland.

After driving awhile, we needed to get gas.  But we were in Idaho, so there was NOTHING.

The gas gauge was past E when we finally found this gas station:

They had alpacas/llamas (whatever they were) in the back.

It was one of the most random places I'd ever seen. It was ridiculous(ly awesome).

 After about 6 hours, we reached Ontario, Oregon (just a mile over the border with Idaho) where we stayed the night.
We left early Saturday morning to drive the last 6 hours to Portland.

We arranged to meet up with TJ and his family at the Portland Temple:

(this is a picture from google - I was lame and didn't take any while we were there)

After we met up with them, we walked around the visitor's center and the grounds for a couple minutes, and then left to go down to Eugene, OR, where TJ's brother Josh was running in states for track.
(which is kind of a big deal since track is huge in Oregon)

The Tracktown USA title is quite accurate.

After we had dinner at a Mongolian stir fry place (delicious),

TJ, Ryan, Hailey and I left to go spend some time in downtown Portland.

Ryan flirted a little bit with the seal statue. Don't tell his girlfriend.

These are Voodoo doughnuts. 

Not only are the doughnuts themselves delicious, but they put the coolest and craziest things on them.

Some notable toppings: cereal, maple and bacon, oreos and peanut butter, and tang (you know, that orange-y drink mix that was cool in the 90's?)

And Portland does have its own special collection of weird.

There was this one shirtless guy walking around with his walkman (apparently those do still exist in working condition) singing super loudly as he walked - and we managed to run into him several times despite turning the opposite way at a few different street corners.

It was so fun! Carrying over from my trip to NYC a year ago, I do still love big cities.

On Sunday after church, we went to the beach.

And you know what that means? I went in the Pacific Ocean - even if it was just up to my knees and it was cold and windy - and got to cross another thing off my bucket list! 

After we got back from the beach, we had another delicious dinner at TJ's house, played some games, went for a walk, and stayed up ridiculously late talking.

On Monday, we left to go home.

It was sad, because we liked Portland and hanging out with TJ and his family, and we were going back to Provo and the reality of school.

At least I'm still taking my last final ever in 22 days!

P.S. #letsgovisitTJ (the title of this post) is the tag I used on the 2 instagram pictures I posted from the trip.
Just in case you were curious.
(I wouldn't blame you if you weren't.)

Give Thanks!

So since it's November (when the freak did that happen?), lots of people on facebook post a status every day with what they're thankful for.

But, since I learned in class that frequency of status updates on facebook is negatively correlated with self-esteem (meaning more status updates = you probably have less self-esteem) I don't want to to post a status everyday.  Slightly ridiculous, I know; just to be safe though, I'm going to post 13 things (since today is the 13th) I'm thankful for here instead.  Hopefully I'll be able to get in the rest of the days worth of thankfulness in a subsequent post.

Here goes:

1. The Gospel of Jesus Christ

2. I have a nice apartment to live in with 3 absolutely amazing and ridiculously fun roommates

3. My job where it is a pleasure to go to work

(and they give me half-gallons of BYU Creamery Ice Cream)

4. That I live in a country where it is now normal for women to become educated, to vote, and to make their voices heard.

5. Harry Potter Audiobooks

(I listen to them as I walk to class. I am totally secure with the fact that I am a geek.)

6. Teachers that care about how much I learn.

7. Snow!

For Now.

8. BYU Basketball.

9. The indoor track. It's freezing outside.

10. That the Avengers Happy Birthday banner that is still hanging up in my living room.

It's pretty tacky, but we don't have any other decorations and it reminds me of a really, really good day.

11. The internet. I know this is about 20 years late, but isn't it crazy the stuff we can do these days?

12. The copious amounts of free food I've been getting lately.

13. The amazing and inspiring people that I am blessed to call my friends and family.

Why I LOVE My School

I remember being a freshman and being amazed every day that I was really on BYU campus.

During the prayer in my Living Prophets class, the girl giving it said something along the lines of "we thank Thee for allowing us to be at this prestigious university" and so my teacher

(Matthew O. Richardson, a.k.a. the second counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency, and one of the best and most inspirational teachers I've ever had)

talked about how we don't always remember it, but we would really appreciate it when we were older.

Well, I don't just want to appreciate it when I'm older, I want to remember that feeling from freshman year now. Especially since I've only got 9 more months to enjoy it.

So here's my list of why I love that Heavenly Father has given me one of the greatest blessings in my whole life (probably second only to being born into a wonderful family of faith):

-The Spirit on campus

-I promise, it truly is the Lord's University (along with BYU-I and BYU Hawaii and LDSBC.)

-Prayer before classes

-Using the Book of Mormon as a reference for a paper in a non-religion class, and having it count as a reliable source

-The Board of Directors consists of the Prophet and other General Authorities and Officers of the Church, and meets once a month, when most other college boards meet once a year.  Try and tell me they don't care about us.

-It's beautiful here. In so many ways.

-I'm surrounded by people who inspire me - and I'm interacting with future leaders of the Church.

-I couldn't have gotten an education like this anywhere else

-Tithing heavily subsidizes the cost of my education (and is part of my scholarship too I believe) - I will always appreciate the blessing of being able to pay it.

-I've had the greatest experience here. My testimony has been infinitely strengthened. I see the Lord in my life every single day, even when it gets hard.  I know that no matter what happens, coming to BYU was one of the most important decisions I've made in my life so far (and probably ever will make besides marriage, even if it was an easy decision).

And this is the short list.  I could give you a million and one little details that would probably bore you to death but are still wonderful blessings from my Heavenly Father who has somehow seen fit to give me.

Only 2 More to Go!

First week of classes for Fall 2012 - check!

And my schedule is perfect.

This semester is gonna be totally amazing - after getting through this week and adjusting I just feel ready for it all.
The crazy part? I only have 2 more first weeks of school before I can get myself a fancy college diploma (and I'm gonna walk at graduation in April!)

AND IT'S FINALLY FOOTBALL SEASON AGAIN :)

Conquering Mountains (Literally!)

Yesterday was a big day of doing somewhat scary things.

But absolutely worth all the nerves in every way.

First of all, I get to cross hiking Mount Timpanogos off my summer bucket list!

Done, done and done.

These pictures are at the "saddle," which isn't all the way to the top yet, but has an awesome view.  After taking a short break, we continued up to the summit, which is the top of the pointed peak in the background of the group picture.

Up at the actual summit, there's this metal shack that has a book you can sign saying you did it.

Two of my friends were brave enough to stand up on it--you can't see but the summit is actually pretty narrow and I definitely didn't feel secure trying to get up on this tiny little pointed shack.

The view was absolutely beautiful at the top, but the meadows and things on the way there were amazing too.  There were all kinds of wildflowers and other pretty things on the way.

I wish everybody could experience Heavenly Father's love in this way.

There are too many people in this world who never get to see things like this.

(In Sunday School today, we even talked about how all things witness that God lives. The mountains are very good examples.)

So the other scary thing that I did Saturday was take a guy on a date (sort of).

We had this ward date night, where the girls were supposed to ask the guys, and the guys would provide a picnic for their dates on a hike to Stuart Falls.

I asked my date earlier in the week - I was proud of myself for having the courage to ask him in person.

However, on Saturday our group got back from Timp a little late, and we were exhausted, so we came up with our own plan.

There were four couples that were affected by us being late, and so we decided to have our picnic on the living room floor of our apartment, and then we just hung out and played games.

It was really fun, and pretty successful considering the circumstances.

It was a really well-spent and awesome Saturday.