Valentine's Day ♥

Sorry I'm a week behind on posting! I've been super busy because...I have a boyfriend now! (as you all already know) :) Grant and I made it official! We spend a lot of time together, and when we're not together, I'm doing homework or hanging out with other friends. Since Friday was Valentine's Day, Grant gave me a beautiful rose and some chocolates. Here it is:

Grant had been planning a surprise for Saturday, so we didn't do anything particularly special on Friday. We played some pool, had dinner together, went to a fun arcade called Nickel City, and watched a movie. At the arcade, we won tons of tickets and Grant let me pick out a prize. I got this cute bear (or is it a mouse...?):

On Saturday, Maria, Clark, Will, Rosie, and Addie came to visit me in Provo! We went swimming at the rec center and then we picked up Grant and went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. It was so nice of them to come visit and it meant the world to me :) Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures.

On Saturday night for his big surprise, Grant took me to an on-campus event called Big Band Night. It was a fancy thing where they served us dinner and then had the BYU Synthesis band perform 1940's-style music that was kind of like jazz/swing. Everyone was dressed up nice and danced to the band's live music. We had a really good time and we somehow ended up being the only ones at our table even though each one seated about 10 people! We got pretty lucky :)

Funny story: Grant and I are in the same Spanish class, and our teacher always starts class off by asking if anyone has "juicy news." On Friday, I showed her the flower Grant gave me. However, she doesn't know we're dating and I didn't tell her that it was from him, so when I showed her the rose and told her that a boy gave it to me, she said "tell him I'm very proud of him!" Grant and I were trying not to laugh, and he was tempted to say "gracias!"

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! :)

Oh, and by the way, they did take some photos of us at Big Band Night, but they're not up on Facebook yet. Once they are, I'll post them on here!

Fourth week down

This post is going to be short and sweet! I have already finished four weeks of winter semester. This week, I had my first Physical Science test, which went really well! I have a couple more tests coming up during the beginning of this week, so I need to do some studying.

This week, I haven't been up to anything very out of the ordinary. I've been on a few dates with Grant, the guy from my Spanish class. On Friday, we watched a movie and on Saturday, we had an 8-hour date that consisted of pool, shakes, running in the freezing cold from Center Street to the Maeser building, a Humor U show (hence the Maeser building), piano playing, goofing around on Facebook, and watching Sherlock. It was a fun date :) Also, before my date yesterday, Amelia, Meredith, and I toured two different apartment complexes. We'll probably tour a few more during this week so we can start finalizing our options and hopefully sign a contract soon!

So, since my last post had no pictures, I figured I had to put one in this post. Grant did take a terrible picture of us on our date, and as this is the only picture I've been in all week, I guess I have to include it:

I don't know why he decided to make such a weird face, but there we are! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week :)

Picture-less post

I realized that I was totally lame this week and did not take a single picture! So I will just briefly recap my week and call it good. This week has felt super busy, mostly because I've started to think about and look into housing for next year. They had a housing fair in the Wilk, and though it was helpful, the amount of off-campus apartments and condos is overwhelming and I'm kind of stressed out by this looming decision. I'm planning on living with Amelia and our closest friend, Meredith, but we need to do a lot more research before coming to a decision about where to live. If anyone has advice for me about what to look for in finding a place, I would really appreciate it!

Also, this week has been strange because I was asked out on dates by 5 different guys. Yes, all in one week! I had to turn two of them down, because three of them wanted to go out with me on Friday night and I had already said yes to the first one. So on Tuesday night, I had a swing dancing date with a guy from my Spanish class, on Friday night I had a bowling date with a guy in my ward, and on Saturday night I had an art museum/ice cream/Mario Kart/movie date with a different guy in my Spanish class. They were all very fun :)

Other than that, I've just been busy with my homework, housing hunts, and hanging out with friends! I hope you have all had a great week, and sorry for the briefness and boringness of this post! I love you all! ♥

Ice Skating, movies, and other fun stuff!

It's been a great week! It was my second week of classes, and they're going really well. I don't think they'll be overly stressful, which is nice. I also found that I really enjoy my Elementary Skills & Activities class! It is from 12:00-1:50 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we spend those two hours playing elementary PE games and doing fitness stuff. It is a great workout, way fun, and we never get homework. I really enjoy it. This week we've done hula hooping, jump roping, and animal walks. My teacher always tells us to let out our inner child and not to be embarrassed!

On Friday, Amelia left for Colorado to go to her grandpa's funeral. I was worried that I would be lonely and super bored this weekend, but it has been so fun! On Friday night, I went to a Divine Comedy show at the Cannon with some friends (Divine Comedy is a funny group that does sketches, and the members of Studio C came from Divine Comedy). Afterwards, I put on pajamas and watched The Notebook in my room (because Laura was so nice to send me a package with that movie and chocolate!). While I was watching it, one of my friends (Meredith) knocked on my door and then somehow we ended up sitting in the hallway with several of our other friends (Hayley, Lauren, Camille, and Amber), talking for hours! At around midnight, we decided to finally go to bed, but I wanted to finish my movie so I stayed up until 2.

I slept in the next morning, worked on homework for most of the day, then went ice skating with my ward that evening!

 Natalie, Meredith, me and Amber:

 Meredith (she lives right across the hall from me and Amelia) and me:

 Lauren, Hannah, Lindsey, Camille, Suzanna, Jess, Natalie, Amber, and me:

After ice skating, Camille, Lauren, Meredith and I decided to go to the small Creamery by the Cannon center because they serve French toast and buttermilk syrup at 10 pm! It was delicious and only cost $2, which was a great deal. After that, we watched Monsters University together in Meredith's room.

Today, I conducted the music in sacrament meeting and ate lunch in the Cannon center with a group of girlfriends. It was really fun to talk and laugh with them! I just feel grateful that I've had so many great friends to hang out with this weekend even though Amelia is gone. It's been so fun and I love the friends I've made here! :)

Christmas Break and First Week of Winter Semester!

I have successfully finished my second first week of classes (in other words, my first week of my second semester of college). However, before that, I finished finals and then got to spend two weeks with my wonderful family for Christmas break! My finals went well and I was really happy with how my grades ended up. It was a great semester, but I was so happy to be home with my family again. It was a relaxing break and we did lots of fun things, like play Just Dance, have reading parties, play games, and just enjoy each other's company. Josh, Bob, and I also had many dance parties to "Popular Song" by Mika and Ariana Grande.

Christmas was very fun. We did our usual Christmas Eve traditions: looking at lights around town, acting out the story of Jesus' birth, playing Oink Oink and Truth or Dare, and sleeping in sleeping bags downstairs. On Christmas day, a small group of us watched the One Direction movie together after unwrapping presents. :)

Maria, Clark, Will, Rosie, and Addy came to visit us for a few days over the break and while they were visiting, we drove to Denver to see an Avalanche hockey game. It was very fun!

We also played games with them, like matching:

Here we are after breakfast on Maria's family's last day in Laramie. We made delicious crepes!

It was great to spend time with them, and we were sad to see them leave! For the rest of break, we did random things. For example, Josh, Bob, and I watched all three of the Lord of the Rings movies! They are so amazing. After the last one ended, Bob and I were emotionally overwhelmed and had to sit there for a while and process those beautifully done movies. :) Josh also went to his first dance on New Year's Eve! He danced with 22 girls and had a great time. I was also able to spend some time with friends over the break, as well as go on a date with a nice boy in Ridge View, my home ward. However, being with family was by far the highlight, as much as I love my friends. 

I came back to Provo on Sunday, January 5, after some flight delays because of crazy storms everywhere. On Monday, I went to my new classes, picked up textbooks, unpacked, did laundry, and re-settled in. The first week of classes went really well, and I think I will enjoy all of them! I've met a lot of nice people already and I'm excited for this new semester. 

On Thursday, January 9, Meredith, Amelia, and I went to the basketball game (we accidentally all wore stripes, and we thought we looked so cute!):

On Friday night, Lauren, Camille, Amelia and I went to the men's volleyball game, and on Saturday, Lauren, Camille, and I went to another basketball game! We had a great time being with friends and enjoying the athletics....ahem....not the attractive boys that play them ;) Also on Saturday, Amelia and I went to the temple to do baptisms. It was a nice way to start off the semester. Unfortunately, later that day, Amelia found out that her grandfather died, which is why she didn't come to the game with us. It's been hard for her to lose him, but she was grateful that we had gone to the temple earlier that day, as it reminded her that families are eternal and she will see him again. 

Today, I taught the Relief Society lesson with Camille (a different one than the one I went to basketball with) and it went well. We were both nervous and are relieved to be done. :) I also played the piano in sacrament meeting! There are a few new people in my ward, but it's mostly the same (except for the fact that it is missing guys who left on missions). 

I miss my family so much, but I'm excited to be back at BYU for another semester! :)

Last week of class!

This week, my ward had a formal Christmas party on Wednesday night. We had a catered dinner in the Wilk, and I wore my prom dress! We also got to hear some Christmas musical numbers, which were great.

Amelia and I in our formal attire:

Then, on Thursday night, the Cannon Center put on a semi-formal "White Christmas" dance. I went to that with some of my friends and we had fun, though the music was kind of weird. Amelia did my hair for me and I was really happy with it! Since she has short hair, she sometimes misses playing with and styling long hair.

Amelia, Meredith, and me:

Me, Lauren, Suzanna, Camille, Kira, Amelia, and Hannah: 

Taylor had asked me to see The Hobbit, part 2 with him at midnight that night, so we met at the dance and left early to pick up our friend David and his date. We had a fun time at the movie, though I didn't get to sleep until 4 am and was tired the next day.

Today was my last Sunday of the semester, which is sad because my ward is going to change quite a bit after break! We have a bunch of guys and quite a few girls leaving on missions, plus some people are moving to Heritage. I just found out that one of my good friends, Marissa, is moving to Heritage next semester, which is really sad! Anyway, my Relief Society decided to take a group photo, so here we are. I'm in the front row:

This week, I'm taking four finals and then I fly back to Laramie! I'm can't believe my first semester is almost over, but I can't wait to come home! :)

Thanksgiving and school

I'm behind on posting! That means I have to catch up on two weeks of stuff. On Tuesday, November 26, I drove to the Salt Lake City airport and flew to Denver, where I met Mom, Dad, and Josh. I felt pretty proud of myself, because I've never driven on the highway alone or been in an airport alone. It made me feel like a real adult! Mom, Dad, Josh and I flew to DC, but our flight was canceled, so we didn't get to Morgantown until about noon the following day. We were picked up by lots of beautiful faces in the Morgantown airport, where I finally got to meet my newest niece, Mary! She is absolutely perfect and I wanted to hold her all the time. She is so soft and warm and smells amazing. After they picked us up and showed us their new home, we relaxed for the rest of that day and ended it with a fantastic meal at Olive Garden.

Mary and I:

And her beautiful smile (she loves Grandpa!):

The next day, Thanksgiving, I mostly played with the girls until we went to go see Frozen and had a great Thanksgiving meal! Afterwards, Lainey, Evie, Nora, Josh, Bob and I had the coolest dance party ever. :) We read a lot of books during the week:

Also, one day during the week, Lainey and I decided to be ballerina-bun twins:

On Friday, we went bowling in the morning, much to Nora's excitement.

We then had lunch at Qdoba, at my request. The Cannon center doesn't have anything like Qdoba food, and I've been missing it! That night, we went to Cold Stone.

On Saturday, Bob, Josh and I babysat Carolyn and Kip's four beautiful girls while they went on a double date with Mom and Dad. We had another dance party, ate macaroni, and watched The Lorax. That night, I watched the BYU basketball game on TV with Dad and Kip, since we are all major fans. :)

On Sunday, we went to sacrament meeting, played for a couple of hours, and then had to leave for the airport. It was hard to say goodbye after such a fun and wonderful week! I love our family so much and hate having to be separated again. It was a wonderful break. Here are some additional photos (some are Carolyn's -- thanks for sharing!)

When I got back to Provo, I had to jump back into another week of school. It was a pretty busy week! On Tuesday morning, we woke up to a ton of snow! Here's the view from our window:

That night, we went to the basketball game and had a lot of fun. This picture is absolutely horrible, but here we are anyway :)

On Thursday, I volunteered in my kindergarten classroom. Because of Tuesday's snowstorm, my car was absolutely buried in snow and it took me at least 15 minutes to clear it off. It was an adventure! I didn't clear off the roof, so I drove around with a snow hat on my car. I wish I had taken a picture of it because I felt ridiculous. When I got to the elementary school, the little boys were very charming! They kept whispering to each other and saying "he wants to marry you!" and "he wants to kiss you!" One of them even kept whispering "kiss me" in my ear. I had no idea what to say to those crazy kids!

On Saturday, Amelia and I had a Lord of the Rings marathon with three guys from our ward. We only had time to watch the first two movies, but it was a lot of fun! Especially because one of the guys kept saying "Aragorn is so hot!" and cracking us up. :)

Other than that, things have been about the same as usual. Finals are coming up next week, so I'm trying to get all of my assignments done so I can focus on studying! I can't wait for Christmas break!