Ali-Cat

Thanksgiving

2011-11-22T12:58:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! I can't believe its that time of year again. This year will be a little weird for me, my first official holiday all on my own! I guess I really am a grown up now. :( Luckily, I have some great friends though that are adopting me for the day... :D

Life in St. G is good, just working and having fun with friends. I love the weather, still running around in a light jacket and FLIP FLOPS! yeah sandals, and its the middle/end of November. I miss Idaho a little bit, but not the weather up there haha.

This year the things I am thankful for.....

FAMILY:

Thanks for all the crazy memories, the love and support. It's hard being away from all of you for a holiday, but know that

I LOVE YOU SOOOOOOO much. I'm so grateful to have the family I do.

MOM: Thanks for all the support you give me, emotionally, spiritually, financially, all of it. You are an amazing woman and I love you so much!

Dad: Thanks for laughing at me when I'm stupid and not getting mad at things I do. I really appreciate it and I love you so much. You teach me to live life with a smile, it makes things better :)

Christina: I love you. I love your family. You are a great example to me and I hope someday I can be like you.

Michael: I love the love I feel whenever I visit you and your family. Thank you for always welcoming me with open arms when I need an escape from life down south. Thanks for letting me confide in you and your wife. I love and miss you!

Ryan! You are awesome. I love you so much. Thanks for helping me out so much this year in all the different ways you have. I know if I ever have a problem I can turn to you. You are amazing!!!

LISA: Where to begin.... hahaha, I'm thankful for our fights, cuz they make me appreciate when we get along that much more. :) You are an amazing mom and wife. Thanks for keeping me level headed and sending me cute pictures of Paige all the time. LOVE YOU!!!

FRIENDS!!!!

Danyel: I haven't known her for long, but it's crazy how much we get along and how similar we are. Thanks for going on drives with me when I need to vent, for watching One Tree Hill with me all the time, and just being awesome!!!

BrEe: my AWESOME roommate! I love you dearly! Thanks for making me eat healthy, getting me addicted to TV shows I have never watched before, and all the crazy nights we stay up WAY too late talking and laughing. you rock :)

TYSON (aka snookums) !!!.... thanks for everything you do. for being my support and encouragement, for believing in me and pushing me to be better, for letting me vent and tell you the random things I think about during the day.... You really are my best friend and I am so glad I have you in my life. You are amazing. :) oh also, I am extremely grateful for your HUGS!

BRITTANY!!!! - thanks for letting me live at your house for a month while I figured out my life. Thanks for always being there for me, through the laughs and tears. You are a wonderful woman. I love you. :)

MACKENZIE!!!! I Love you so much! you just have so much swag I don't know what to do with myself when I'm around you. I love how much knowledge you have about random things, I leave hanging out with you a smarter person. Thanks for everything you do, let me crash at your house, use your things, the haircuts, just everything you do....

My friends not mentioned with a special picture or post, know that I love you too! You are all special to me and I'm thankful for all of you!!!

MY CLIENTS!!!

I love my clients so much. There are days when they are frustrating beyond belief, but they teach me so much...... not to take the little things in life for granted, to let go of hard feelings and be friends with people you are mad at (one particular client teaches me this alot haha :) ), to always show love to those around you, and many many more things. I am so grateful to work with them and to be part of their lives. <3

I'm thankful for my life. I know sometimes you hear me complain about things going on, or stressing over things that I can't control, but I really do love it. I love where I am at and I love my job. My family is great and my friends are amazing. I love the gospel. I love driving around and seeing the beautiful temple from anywhere in St. George pretty much. I LOVE LIFE and that's what I'm thankful for this year.

and the final landing place is.....

2011-09-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

SAINT GEORGE, UTAH

Okay, I'm sure you're all wondering what the heck I am thinking, and what the heck I am doing. I moved up north, just to end up back in St. George!?!?! YES. You read that right, and yes, I may be a tad bit crazy (maybe a LOT), but I've learned that when I get a bad feeling about something I can't ignore it. And that's all I had last week when I was up here. I still didn't have a job, and let's just say I was an emotional wreck. I cried everyday, I stressed myself out, I lost tons of sleep, and just could not say that I was 100% positive I should've moved. Everyday I woke up and asked myself why I moved. I had 2 job interviews last week and to no avail... no job.

Thursday my clients from Danville came up to Salt Lake for the special olympics golf. I went to the hotel to visit them and they were all SOO excited to see me. I felt so loved and they all asked why I moved and I couldn't give them a good answer anymore. I talked to my boss that night about everything and he found out about all the trouble I had gone through and said he would love if I would come back to Stonebrook and work there again. I said, get me some hours and I'm in.

He called on Monday and said... wanna start again today? and I said HECK YES!!!!!

I am back in Saint George again. I know it's the right thing to do now and feel at peace about my decision. :) Thanks for all the love and support over this past crazy week of mine. Sorry if I cried a little bit too much to some of you, haha.

UPDATE

2011-09-04T09:46:00.000-07:00

So one day me and my roommates kayla and laura had a crazy idea. Let's move from Saint George we all said to each other. JObs were found, jobs were quit, jobs fell through, job interviews obtained, stresss of moving, sadness of saying goodbye all lead me to being here, on my brother's living room floor on a Sunday morning. Yep, I worked my last shift at Danville yesterday and drove up. I didn't think I had become so attached to life down there until I had to say goodbye. All of my clients were SO good my last week and were so sad i was leaving. Lots of tears were shed as I said goodbye to them and all the friends I've made over this year. Now as I try and put some certainty on my life right now, I will post some pictures of my last days in Saint George and hopefully can update again soon to let you all know what's going on in my life. Ha. HOPEFULLY.

** I can't caption some pictures because I can't say clients names online. Sorry.

me and micki :)

me and one of my best friends Tyson.

me and heather

me and raquel

Pictures....

2011-08-05T10:26:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night I got a call from my friend Lola, who is in my pictures below, saying that Koti (the tongan man i'm sure every one has heard about before) didn't make it on his flight to minnesota that night and wasn't going to go there until thursday... so me being the impulsive person i am, bought a ticket at midnight that left for six am the next morning. i packed, showered, and got all beautifuled up, flew down to san diego and hung out with them for the day.

We picked Koti up from work and we went to eat. the picture where I am making a grossed out face is because we are holding octopus. he's eating, i'm holding it. after lunch, we went to the san diego temple and walked around. Then we went to Lola's house and Koti painted my nails. Then we went to the beach and swam around. Spent time together after the beach and then flew home the next morning when he left for Minnesota...... (is that a good description Christina? lol Love yoU!!!)

Craft Day Thursdays

2011-08-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

My roommates and I have created craft day thursdays. This is weird for me because I do not think of myself as a crafty person at all. But we usually get together and have dinner and make ourselves a cute little craft. The first time we made friendship anklets/bracelets, and the next week we all made hand painted quotes for our walls. It has been a lot of fun attempting to be crafty and finding cute things to make each week. I also made an apron once with mama coburn when i went home for vacation :)

Vay-kay Time!!!

2011-04-11T23:55:00.000-07:00

Last week I took a mini vacation. Up north. To what I hoped would be semi-warm northern Utah. It was warm the first day when I was at Mike and Judi's. I love visiting them and spending time with them. (Thanks for letting me stay with you!) I had a blast. Thomas and William are so cute and getting so big! Thomas just walked all over the place and William just talks up a storm and I love that when he is being naughty he tells whoever is around him to be nice. It's sooo stinkin' cute!!!

But back to the weather, unfortunately on Thursday, mother nature decided to remind me why I love living in St. George and hated living up there. Talk about a snow storm!!! I had to drive from Ogden on Thursday down to Sandy. I could hardly see around me, so decided to follow one car as long as I could. Ha, i didn't even care how fast... or SLOW we were going. As long as I made it alive and in one piece to my destination. So I got to Sandy safely and went to my friends bridal shower dinner. It was so fun seeing her and spending time with her and old friends! :) I stayed the night with her and on Friday we just played around all day. It was still snowing....But I decided to make the best of it, and I decided I had had enough of being inside, and I dragged her outside with me and we made a snowman. It had been a LONG time since I had made one of those, and we didn't do a very good job on our first attempt. We couldn't get the belly on the base and so we had to start over. But eventually, we made the snowman and I used dirt to decorate it, since her mom wouldn't let us use carrots or other things from in the house.:)

Here are some pictures from the trip :

Queen of Random

2011-03-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

You know it's time for a blog update when you get a text message from a friend saying that you need to update your blog. I didn't even know this friend checked my blog. haha, well thanks to Chandy, my little indian :), i'll finally put something on here.

here's some pictures of me and my girls (clients) doing what we do best! ... being goofy!! :)

This week has been a little bit rough. It started out good,.... we didn't have to go to track and field practice on Monday with the clients :) and I got to watch the Pretty Little Liar Season Finale!! But by the time Wednesday night/ Thursday morning rolled around the week had taken a turn for the worse. I work a grave yard now on Wednesday nights at work so I go in at 10 Pm and leave at 8 am the next morning. No sleeping on shift. Just cleaning and making sure the clients are sleeping. At around 6 I have to get the clients up to go to their day program.

This past Thursday morning was a disaster. One of my clients, who i can't say her name but I will just call her Betty, woke up in a not so pretty mood. I couldn't get her out of bed, and when a different staff came in and finally got her up I thought we would be okay. But NO... she was still mad at me (i have no idea what i did either...) ... she wouldn't let me get her ready or make her breakfast or anything. When i finally thought we were on good terms, she tells me she wants my backpack. I tell her she can't have it and she gets all mad again! She starts yelling at me and she even told me I was a piece of garbage and that I needed to go wreck my own car and walk home!! I'm trying to keep my cool, (remember up all night, no sleep)... and so I just leave her in her room where she is going through her stuff. Finally it is time for me to load her up into the van so she can go to her day program. I start wheeling her outside, and she grabs her wheels, unbuckles her buckle, and reaches down. This whole time I'm thinking, oh no, she's going to fall out of her chair! but no, she reaches down, grabs her foot-peg, which is broken so it comes off very easily, takes it, and chucks it!! I thought she was going to hit me, but luckily she threw it backwards. It almost hit her roommate though. It was a scary experience and I finally just went to a different staff and said, "Forget it, I can't get Betty in the van. Will you come help me??" Betty was loaded and gone. Phew. Talk about a mentally tough morning.

One thing I learned from this though and from many other experiences at work... you can't hold a grudge. I went back to work on Friday and she was perfectly happy with me, while I was still worried about the other day. I had to remember that everything she said to me she didn't really mean, she was just having a rough morning. So i guess there's a good side to every situation!! :)

On a brighter more random note, I got a queen bed! i love it!!

I decided recently to put off graduate school for a year to have a break and just some school free fun for me. My mom was a little bit upset about it, but I convinced her it was for the best. Then a few days later I was checking my email and I had a message from the University of Utah. I opened it, confused they'd be emailing me. I started reading it and the lady said something about how she saw I was applying for this upcoming fall semester and then regrettably she told me that I had missed the deadline. Ha, not by a few days mind you, the deadline was last NOVEMBER! haha! It was a good thing I had already decided I didn't want to go! So now I have till this November to apply for next year! :) it all works out!!! :) :) :)

well my friend always tells me I'm random, and I think my blog cements that title for me. Sorry this post is so random, but oh well. it is what it is. lol :) I gotta go get ready for work though. So peace out. Hope this works for you chandy!!!

special olympics!!!

2011-02-05T19:50:00.000-08:00

The Special Olympics of Utah were held this weekend in Salt Lake. I was chosen as one of the staff to go up to help out. I was really nervous for the trip, because I had never done anything like this before. We left St. George on Thursday. When we got to Salt Lake, we went out to dinner and then went to the hotel. After we put our clients to bed all of the staff sat in the hallway talking and stayed up probably wayyy tooo late for having a full day planned for Friday. Friday morning we woke up and got our clients ready and then took them to their event, which was bowling. It was a fun time. All of the clients did great and we had a blast. After bowling we chilled in the hotel until the awards ceremony. We had dinner and then the awards and the dance. At the start of the awards ceremony they light the flame and that was so amazing to watch. They had to athletes carry the torch and it just touched my heart watching them go up front and light it. The dance was a blast. :) our girls sure do know how to boogy! After the dance we went back to the hotel and put our clients to bed, they were exhausted. The staff hung out again and then we got up Saturday and headed back to St. George. It was a tiring trip but really fun. It was fun to watch our clients and know that we are part of special memories for them. :) Here are some pictures.... :) okk so the pictures aren't loading right now... so they will get posted later tonight or tomorrow... but they will get on here i promise :)

TAG YOU'RE IT

2011-02-05T19:30:00.000-08:00

My sister tagged me... i don't know where this came from but thought i'd do it for fun

4 TV shows I watch:

1. One Tree Hill

2.Hellcats

3. Pretty Little Liars

4.Make It or Break It

4 Things I am passionate about:
1. Living Life to the Fullest
2. My Clients
3. Family
4. Becoming a better me :)

4 Phrases I say a lot:

1. "For real"

2. "That's what she said"

3. "I'm being lazy today"
[yes i do say that alot as i rock the sweats/basketball shorts frequently]

4. "nice!"

4 Things I have learned from the past:
1. Don't let guys ruin a great friendship
2. forgiving and forgetting are two different things
3. A good cry can be very healing
4. Things happen for a reason, good or bad, make the best of the situation and learn from it :)

4 Things I did yesterday:

1. Worked- helped Kathryn bowl

2. Worked- danced with my girls at the special olympics victory dance

3. Worked- hung with co-workers after our clients went to bed

4. Worked- took care of my girls :)

SPECIAL OLYMPICS!!!!

4 Places I would love to visit:

1. Samoa
2. Australia
3. Jerusalem
4. Bahamas

4 Things I am looking forward to:

1. Tax Returns
2. Summer tan
3. My Next Paycheck
4. Seeing different members of my family over the next couple weeks :) :) :) :)

4 Things I love about Winter:

1. hot cocoa
2. cuddling in front of a fire
3. kissing in the snow
4. building snowmen or sledding or having snowball fights with friends

4 People I tag:

1. Jaimie Tanner

2. Tara Hodson

3. Christina Tarbet

4. Judi Coburn

Pictures

2011-01-27T17:35:00.000-08:00

Here are some promised pictures of my new place of residence :) okk mostly the front of the house and my rooom.

Here ya go Mom

2011-01-14T15:23:00.000-08:00

Since my Mom doesn't have facebook I figure it is about time I post on here again. Life in St. George is grand. :) I work 4 days in a row and then relax the next 3 and then start the schedule again all over again. I love my job. The clients are great and when they aren't, well ,I learn the meaning of patience. ha.

Last weekend we had the area games for the Special Olympics they do for the clients in Utah. They do one event at a time so this time it is bowling. We went to the bowling alley to see if our girls could qualify to go up to Salt Lake. The girls did great and I think they are all going up to Salt Lake!! I don't know yet who is taking the girls up to Salt Lake but if I am one of them, Mom you should come down and watch!!!! [i'll keep you posted on that one]....

I think one of the things I love the most about St. George is the almost constant sunshine. Today I sat outside with my friend Jade and soaked up some sun. It was great, why?, because its January and I got a tan line :) :) :) Jade taught me how to use a loom so we have been making beanies. It's been fun.

Jade and I also discovered that at the old rec center down here they have volleyball every tuesday and thursday. :) so we are starting to go to that every week and play. the bsu outfitted pictures are from when we played last night. Jades mom and dad made fun of me. They said my shorts looked like they were from the 80's. So to make them laugh more I pulled my spandex down all the way and ran around their house. Then Mama Alisa made me pull up my shorts and tuck my shirt in, to complete the look. I felt like a fool but it was funny. Playing volleyball is fun. It's getting me back in shape, and hopefully my shoulder will get stronger from it. Right now it still just kinda kills after every night we play. ooops. but i'll take the pain over not playing everyday.

Here are some random pictures from St. George. Someday I will take some of my new place of residence, aka home, but I keep forgetting.

Kathryn colored on my shirt one day. I sat too close to her on the couch. I thought she was just patting my back, and realized too late she had a crayon in her hand. luckily its a cheap undershirt from Walmart :)

Finals, Graduation, Break, Interview, Job

2010-12-20T15:38:00.000-08:00

Finals week was crazy! I worked every morning from 7:45 until 2-3 [changed depending on the day], then went and worked with a group on a presentation for a final. I then would return to work from 5 until however long it took us to close the testing center. Repeat every day. All week long. Talk about tired. By the end of the week, I could barely speak English, my thoughts were dysfunctional, and whatever I thought I had said, hardly ever made it past the thought phase... haha.

But Friday night brought about my last shift ever at the Testing Center. As I was walking out, it finally hit me that that was it. No more tests to scan, no more fun shifts with all the TC peeps. I was done with BYU and now had to move on to the next phase of my life....

Which, I had a job interview today in St. George. I was called back about an hour after the interview and offered the job. I was not expecting to hear back so fast, but when you tell the interviewer you are going home for Christmas break, it apparently speeds up the process.

Anyways, I am now an employee of Danville. Which is a company that houses and works with developmentally disabled people. I am excited for the job and think it will be great to help me out with my future goal of social work. My first day is next Monday!!!

Now my life is spent with figuring out housing, how I am going to prove that I have lived in Utah for a long time so I can get a new license, and just enjoying the freedom of no school and learning the ropes of a new job.

Happy Holidays Everyone! I hope ya'll have a great time with family and friends!!! <3 ya

Last Day's Eve

2010-12-08T18:55:00.000-08:00

As I sit here, I realize tomorrow is my last day of classes at BYU. EVER! yes, last day of classes ever. So as I sit here procrastinating my last paper [sorry Christina], I just thought I'd reflect a little over my time as a Cougar.

Some very random things I have learned:
1. make a friend in your major and take all your major classes with said friend. I don't know what I would have done without Jenny Brooks. I probably would've gone broke from buying all my own books and not sharing, failed a few tests, and struggled through even more through my boring classes, or skipped class in general, lost all my hair doing SPSS, and I would've just hated my major. Thanks jenny!!
2. Just because you go to BYU, does not mean you are smart. Ha. Yes, I work at the Testing Center. Yes, I deal with some very stupid students everyday. [Can i say that here??] OOPS :) but it's true. I will miss my time at the Testing Center, but I will NOT miss students who can't fill in their bubbles right, who can't read a bright red stamp that says "DO NOT WRITE ON THIS EXAM", and who ask mulitple pointless questions and who won't believe me when I give them an answer. Yes people, I know what i'm doing.. i've worked here for 3 years!!
3. BYU needs to loosen up on a few things: namely caffeine regulations and facial hair. Life would be so much better if they served caffeine and didn't care about scruff.
4. Trying to convince teachers you don't need to take your final doesn't work. Yes, we tried that in my Soc 426 class tonight and epically failed. I think we almost had her convinced though. Maybe next time... wait... there won't be one!!! :D
5. People do swear at BYU!! haha, yes a girl in my class swore during a discussion about females in the work place. No mother, it was not me. HA.
6. You can procrastinate and still get good grades on assignments... if you doubt, just look at mine! hahahahaha.
7. what else did i learn? oh yeah, enjoy it while it lasts cuz soon it'll be gone.
I'm excited to be done soon. I still have no idea what I'm doing after.And it's just hitting me now that I may be leaving all my friends behind soon :( But I'm excited for the upcoming ride filled with uncertainty and adventure!!!

Michigan

2010-11-28T12:37:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was great. We also had an early Christmas. And we took family pictures. It was a FUN weekend :)

Thankful for....

2010-11-24T04:16:00.000-08:00

I got bored sitting in the airport waiting for my flight. I thought I would start my Thanksgiving post.

Things I am thankful for:

First off, this morning I just want to say I'm thankful for guardian angels. We were getting off the freeway in Murray to try and clean off my window [no windshield wiper fluid in my car] and as we were in the "Exit Only" Lane, the big cement barrier got really close to us. Don't worry mom, we weren't going fast to begin with... Yet as my car had no control and the tires weren't gripping the freeway, the car did not get any closer to that big cement barrier. Right as I was about to scream because I thought we were going to hit it, the car finally got some traction and turned away from it. It was a scary experience but we were safe and made it to the airport without further incident.

secondly, I am thankful for my family. For helping me edit papers, listen to my panic about what to do after I graduate, and just for being there for me.

I'm thankful for my true friends. This past month has really shown me who they are. I'm thankful you stand by me, I'm thankful you have my back in sticky situations, I'm glad I know I can turn to you whenever I need help and I'm SOOO grateful that I can trust you and know I can tell my deep dark secrets to you. You don't betray me and tell others and you cheer me up when i'm feeling down. So thank you to all my friends for being there for me.

Then there's the normal stuff. I'm thankful for a working car, a job, an apartment, food, the Gospel, so on and so on.... I'm also Thankful i am graduating soon!!! :) :) I also got a call for a job interview the other day. Everyone pray that I do well and can get the job! it's a juvenile justice service technician, so I would be in charge of security and supervision at a juvenile detention center. It sounds like an amazing job and I really hope I get it!!!

Anyways, I'm excited to see my family and play with all the nieces and nephews. Peace out. <3

Happy Birthday!!

2010-11-22T15:26:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to say happy birthday to one of my favorite little men! my nephew william is 3 today!!! happy birthday little buddy!! i love when we play hide and seek and when you chase me around your house. you make me laugh and are so full of energy!!! i love you tonss!

Crazy Goal of the Semester

2010-11-12T15:05:00.000-08:00

So I decided at the beginning of this semester that I needed to get in shape and lose a few pounds. Haha. Every girls goal right? Well it was hard! I hate diets and everyone that knows me knows that I love food. But today I've decided to be conceited about myself and post some pictures of the before and after. hahaha
BEFORE:

AFTER:

well yeah, thats my crazy post of the day. love you all!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-11-11T17:07:00.000-08:00

37 days till I am officially done with BYU. that means I have 30 days of the semester left and then the week of finals....
/.skfjg;ljdf;gljads;lfjasd;ljf;asldkjf;ladkjsf;lakjdf;lkjadf;lkjads;flkjads;lfkjas;ldjf;lasjf;ljf;lasdjf;lasjdf;ljkaf
lajdf;ljads;flkjads;lfkjads;kfljaksgf;lajdgf'ljadg;lkadsg;lksadkg;haweangRFNM;LAENGR;LAJNERGLNA;
DKFNAS,GNM;LNG;LKANDSF;LKJdskjb nsgvjnzakbga;jegvn;/ng;/Ngv;/nbgv;/nae nmaADBVAJNMDKSFLCKIXL

those are the thoughts going through my head right now. anyone wanna plan my life for me starting in 38 days? if you can do it better then me i'll let you really do it.

over and out. gotta go play some ball.

BF Squared= Jade ..... : St. George Weekend Getaway

2010-10-24T19:56:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to St. George to hang out with my BF Squared (Best Big Foot Friend).

Her name is Jade.

We discovered we both have the same size feet, hence the bf squared nickname.

We went to a masquerade ball.

We were the ladies, while Jade's boyfriend Stetson was our pimp. Haha.

It was a fun night and great to dress up and go out and just let our hair down and dance!!

We watched some movies, went out to eat.....

Jade had to work one night and Stetson and I promised her we would visit her every hour on the hour... this turned into us chilling at the St. George mall for four hours until she got off. The mall is little, so we got bored and found ways to amuse ourself. This resulted in Stetson climbing into a little kid ride rocket.

It was a funny sight to see.

I also had sushi for the first time ever! AND... I must say that it was delicious!!

All in all it was a great weekend! I had tons of fun!!!

............blah blah blah...............................

2010-10-05T13:36:00.000-07:00

uhhhh, i think it's safe to say it's been a while. life has been hectic. not filled with homework, well maybe a little, but mostly work, class and chilling with friends enjoying my last semester at byu. i've gone to a couple of UVU rugby games, a byu football game, went to st. george a while ago, and just hung out in provo.... anyways, here's some random photos from my life lately. in no particular order, just when i find them i'll put them on....

Happy Birthday Little Sister

2010-08-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

yes, she may be older, but she has never been my bigger sister.... hahah, unless you count when we were little and i hadn't had my growth spurt yet.... yeah, doesn't count. anyways, Happy 23rd Birthday you older little sister of mine!!! I love you so much!!!!

I LOVE:
-our stupid fights
-you begging me to buy me clothes when mom takes me shopping
-when you used to live in Provo and would make me dinner
-your never ending attempts to make me fashionable
-knowing I can turn to you when I have a problem
-your old wise advice,.... hahah
-but most of all... I just LOVE YOU!!!

I BE A COLLEGE "GRADUATE"

2010-08-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

wooop woop! my mom's dreams are complete!! her baby girl graduated from BYU! haha, or at least walked across the stage and got an empty diploma case. She paid her last undergraduate tuition at BYU today!! Anyways, graduation was great. I didn't trip... haha, luckily. And it was great. I felt really accompllished even though i still have four months left.

Roommate Expedition to Idaho

2010-08-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

I took my roommate Tara Hodson home with my this past weekend. It was a blast and I'm glad she came with me. We jammed to tunes on the way up, survived a crazy hard rainstorm around Burley, and made it safely. Once there we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse and it was delicious!! then we went to the house in GV and tara kept saying, "man, this is like where people go camping! and you LIVED here?!?! or How do you guys survive the winter?" It was funny to see her reaction of the town.

On Saturday, I introduced Tara to Dr. Mario and she became addicted. She beat me a couple times, I let her win a couple times, and she picked up the game realllly fast. We also stole the Wii so that we can play it down here in Provo and get even better at Dr. Mario! haha. We also took the tour of Garden Valley and don't worry, I made it last longer than 5 minutes! I took her everywhere and told her lots of random stories about growing up in the small town. We ended the night with a bbq and the play Thoroughly Modern Millie at Starlight. It was a great weekend! Thanks for coming Tara!!!! :D

Upcoming Diploma-less Graduation

2010-08-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

BYU does not have a graduation ceremony in December, which is when I am done with school! :) Because of this, they give you the option of walking early in August, or waiting until April. I chose August, for a couple reasons:
1. I don't know where I will be after December
2. The graduation will be a lot shorter
3. I just want to get it over with. :)

So anyways, we sent out my announcements a couple days ago and wanted to spice them up a little, so we took some pictures of me wearing the Ryans' graduation gown [Ryan C borrowed Ryan A's and wore it for his]... anyways..and we put the pictures in the announcements :) ..... it was fun getting all dressed up and putting on the robe. I got all giddy just wearing it around the house and am really excited for AUGUST 13th!!!! yes, its like a week and a half away.... !!!!!

The Liahona Old Boys

2010-07-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

This weekend in Murray was a rugby tournament. My friend Lola and I drove up to watch some of our guy friends... turns out we went up thinking we knew only like 2 of them and actually knew like 8 of their team! crazy!!! anyways, we got up their thinking we would be watching the Mana's, our friend Joes team but had gotten there at the perfect time because it was actually game time for the Liahona Old Boys! So we watched them dominate the other team, then watched some vicious girls games, watched Joe and the Manas game, and then watched the last game of the night.... the Liahona Old Boys versus the Tigers. it was an INTENSE game and our friends Saia and Ray got rocked by the other team... but they won the game.... 8 to 5.

after the rugby game we went and visited our friend lexi at Kohls. While I was trying on clothes she was taking pictures on my camera! haha silly girl! the other pictures are our friends saia, ray, and the guy in the blue shirt is joe... :)

playing mommmy

2010-07-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

My second job is as a mothers helper. Last weekend they decided to take a couples getaway and left me to watch their 3 boys for 3 days and 2 nights. It was a lot of fun and some good training for the future.. [far ahead future, lol].... anyways, we only watched the movie Robots 7 times, yes SEVEN times, we painted pictures, played outside and just had a good ole time.

Daniel is 3 and painted himself a buzz light year lazer. Spencer, 4, was using his imagination. Josh, 18(?) months, is just enjoying the activity without participating. [i didn't trust him to have water paint]

An update that really isn't an update. Ha

2010-06-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

Well I figured it has been long enough since I have blogged, but I don't really have anything to blog about. My life is very routine right now,
MWF I work from 9:30-12 at a local home being a mothers helper.
Then I work at the Testing Center every MTWTH from 4 until close. In between the two jobs,
I either A) do homework, B) visit the pool C) be lazy.
Usually A and C because Utah hasn't decided to be very warm until recently.

I did manage to leave Provo every weekend for a while. Mike and Judi blessed Thomas, I went to a cousin's farewell and then I went home for Memorial Day. This past weekend I went up to my cousin Lissy's bridal shower and then had a bbq with the coburn cousins still in provo. It was a blast!!

I only have 2 class periods left in Spring Term, and unfortunately for one of these class periods I have to teach the class about a chapter from the book for 25 minutes. Which means I probably need to make my material 50 minutes because I get so nervous and talk so fast. Hopefully I do okay!

Anyways, that's about all thats going on in Provo for me!
Loves.

21 and READY TO ROCK BABY!!!!

2010-05-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

oh yeah... it's official baby! i'm finally 21!!!!!!! i went home for the weekend. we went shopping, red robin with family on friday. on saturday we decorated the basement [mom redid a bunch of stuff]... skyped christina and took her on a tour to see the new decorations, emmett chinese cafe, and stake conference. and ate ice cream cake when we got home....oh and the ice cream cake turned your teeth blue from the sugar frosting... hahahahahah.... sunday, we went to stake conference again. but this time it was being broadcast in gv so we didn't have to drive to emmett. then we went home and got ready for a BBQ. it was so fun. ben and jan fowler came up, heidi, norma and julie soumwei, jake and joann jayla and john fowler, steven and anna and kids, jackie fry, paul williams, and maybe more but i can't really remember right now... oops... anyways, we had hamburgers, cake, and sat around and just had a good ol' time! for my birthday i got clothes, a new pair of shoes, money, a box of stuff from christina, the movie blindside, headphones, and other goodies....

today, i went to get my new license before i flew back to provo. in HSB however, the camera was broken. after spending about an hour there, they decided they would have to have a new camera brought up so i had to go to boise to get my new license. by this time it was 10:45 and i had to be at the airport at 11:20! we got in the car and flew to boise. and... WE MADE IT! the lights cooperated, there were no cops and we got the new license and made it to the airport in time!! [well like 5 minutes after 11:20, but still]... it was a fun weekend. i love going home!!!!

End of Semester Trip to Vegas

2010-04-26T17:10:00.000-07:00

I apologize in advance for the mass amounts of pictures this blog will contain. But I got the request for a lot of pictures from my mom during this trip and so I have to show them all to her. :)

Vegas was a blast.
I got burnt by the pool.
We went and saw the lions
We ate at the Rainforest Cafe in the MGM.. pretty cool place.
We saw the water show.
We went to Chuck E Cheese
I got to play with William and Thomas
Judi took me to Olive Garden
Did i mention already that my nephews are super cute...
We went to Boulder/Hoover Dam. Whichever it's really called... took pictures of the new massive bridge they are building for the new road there.
We relaxed. Played the Wii. Slept. Swam. and just had fun together

I SURVIVED!!!

2010-04-22T09:51:00.000-07:00

40+ hours and
6 finals and
being only supervisor the last night of finals and
being my first semester as a supervisor and
cleaning checks later....

I'M STILL ALIVE!!
.... and..... i only lost one test yesterday! ha. hopefully it's found by now... but yeah, it was a crazy night. every one was telling me that we wouldn't get out of the testing center from closing around 2 or 3 AM, but last night we closed the doors [on the last night of finals] at 9 pm. there were hardly any lines... we all kept asking ourselves where the lines were.... it was WEIRD! but anyways, i was glad that we closed at 10 and everyone got to go home. i stayed for midnight madness, where we clean up after finals... so i only worked from 11 am to 2 am. haha. it was a fun time. i don't really know why my boss calls it midnight madness, it's actually pretty chill. we count tests and eat pizza!!! anyways, now i'm off to vegas to see mike and judi and kids!!! I'm so excited!!!!!

end of year dinners

2010-04-18T10:43:00.000-07:00

the morning and early afternoon shifts of the testing center went to red robin. there were about 25+ of us there. It was fun to get us all together and just hang out and kick back.

I sat with Caity, Hannah, and Patrick. Caity is right next to me...

the roommates went out to spaghetti factory. we realized it was the first [and most likely last] time we would all eat dinner together as roommates.

*** this was a picture of all of us... someone [not going to mention names...... TARA].... made me cut her out of it. so sorry, no picture of the four of us. Love ya TARA!!!!!

Finals have fallen upon us....

2010-04-17T22:06:00.000-07:00

I think it's safe to say I have worked as much in the last two days as I usually do in five. I spent my day in the Heber J. Grant Building today and yesterday. 7:45 AM - 6 PM yesterday, 1:50-10:30 PM today. It has been really slow these days, which means next week is going to be crazy! Next week is full of long days at work as well..

On a brighter note.... I got a

on my parenting and child guidance final! I was really excited... for a few reasons... 1: i didn't really study. 2: I pretty much cemented my A in the class. 3: i didn't need the class so i'm glad i didn't ruin my GPA by taking it. :)

Less than one week till I get to go to Vegas!

2 weeks exactly until my birthday!

YAYAYAYAY!!!! Summer is almost here!

p.s. Mom one thing i want for my birthday.... a foot massage! :D

Looking forward to...

2010-04-11T17:37:00.000-07:00

THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO:

Golfing
Tanning
Seeing Mike, Judi, William, and Thomas
Going home for my birthday
Late Nights with Friends
Barbecues
Floating the River
Road Trips

....................................................................

SUMMER!!!!!

Happy Birthday Ryan!!!

2010-04-10T10:51:00.000-07:00

Happy 25th Birthday dear brother!!! I LOVE YOU! and I miss you here in Provo. Thanks for being a great brother. You are incredible and such an example to me!

THANKS FOR:

fixing my car

feeding me dinner

watching BYU games with me

driving me home on for all holidays

spending time with me

and just being AWESOME!

I LOVE YOU!!!

[I know the picture of the tractor has nothing to do with this post but I really like it. Ha.]

I Blame My Mom... =]

2010-04-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

Don't worry, I'm not blaming her for anything bad. I'm just giving her the credit for me being a clean freak [sometimes]. When school gets busy I let clothes pile up on the floor, and then get around to picking them up. However, when I do get around to pick them up... beware, full on cleaning will follow... dust all the furniture, re-make the bed, vacuum, all that good stuff. Like today, I had to do all of that before I could even think about starting a paper for class. But now my room is clean and it just feels so fresh! I LOVE it! also, I love that even though it snowed earlier [boo], it is sunny now. Blue skies with puffy white clouds. Spring really is in the air. It will stick around one of these days, I can feel it!

Winter semester is over in 3 weeks. Weird thought. This semester flew by. My birthday is officially in a month! The big TWO-ONE! watch out world!

And yesterday I got a wonderful Easter package in the mail! I love goodies from home! Thanks parents!!! Love ya. :)

i'm not good at coming up with titles...

2010-03-29T13:45:00.000-07:00

this past weekend I went to Smithfield Utah, like I did last semester, to visit some old friends. I headed up Friday after class and stayed until like 7 pm on sunday. I was having too much fun and didn't want to return to stressful life in Provo. Anyways, we went bowling on Saturday and I spent A TON of time jumping on the trampoline. I felt like a little kid again. And we played the Wii and I talked Karstyn into letting me try and corn row his hair [he won't let anyone do anything but brush it...]. all it took was a promise to bring peanut butter m&m's next time i visit. :) I love my little boys and their family <3

i don't want to go through the hassle of commenting under every picture. the last picture is karstyn's attempted corn row. crystal, their aunt, is in one of the pictures. and the little blonde girl with konnyn is their cousin lolah. the rest are just the boys, kamryn, korbyn, karstyn, and konnyn. :)

Dearest Kell Bell

2010-03-17T21:51:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to give a little shout out to my wonderful Irish roommate. Who upon waking up this morning, started blasting the Irish tunes. She decorated our apartment with Irish festive things. AND... she also kicked some butt tonight with her crew, the Equalizers, at BYU's Best Dance Crew. It was phenomenal. Her crew took first place and had some amazing moves and awesome dance mix. It was great and I loved watching it. KELL.... YOU ROCK!

A Little Weekend Fun

2010-03-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Christina and Don's KYLA was blessed in church. Pretty much all of the family flew out for the blessing and we spent some time together in Michigan. We went to IKEA, I took a nap with Kyla while everyone else went swimming [i had forgotten my swimming suit], opened presents, ate cake, shopped, and i was feeling crazy and cut 4 inches off my hair. Which may not seem like a lot, but I haven't done anything besides trim my hair since I was a sophomore in high school...... but I love the shorter [for me] hair and how healthy it feels.

Christina's kids are adorable and it was a really fun weekend. Kyla is precious. I don't think I ever heard her cry! Andrew, Brendan, and Hallie crack me up. We had fun playing hide and seek and chase Alison around till she gets tired. Thanks for letting me come visit Christina!

Recent Realization...

2010-03-11T13:39:00.000-08:00

You may wonder why all the sudden blog posts and changes to the blog in the past couple of days...

Well, I am testing my self control and trying to go for a certain amount of time without using facebook.

AND.... it's a LOT harder than I thought it would be...

making me realize that I am ADDICTED to facebook.

Now it's not just a self-control experiment, it's going to be me trying to not be so dependent on the site.

If i post alot lately it's because I'm trying desperately to keep myself off facebook.

So be prepared for some really random things from me in the next couple days until it gets easier!!!

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

Things that make me Happy :)

2010-03-11T11:37:00.000-08:00

I've noticed I've kind of been in a slump lately. and I think one friend said I complain too much. lol, so I am going to think positively and name or show things that make me happy.

spring time
puddles
chocolate
sleep
music
dancing
ace-ing a test
cleaning
finishing a big task
sports
being tan
spending time with my boys
getting new members in the family
chilling with the family [yay for this weekend :) ]
getting paid
being so tired everything is hilarious
jenny brooks :) [lately we've been cracking out sociology jokes... HELP!!!!!]
going home
well, getting out of the bubble [provo]
cookie friday

**** if i have a picture with you and didn't post it, i'm sorry. i am in class and my computer is dying but i love all my family and friends and they all make me happy!

golfing with the boys

2010-03-10T15:06:00.000-08:00

Last week I got a call from Kevin Uigaese telling me that him and his family would be in SLC for the weekend. On Saturday I drove up to West Jordan and spent the day with them. We went golfing, had hamburgers, and played Band Hero [pretty much like rockband]... it was a fun day. Korbyn and Karstyn made me promise I would come visit them in Smithfield soon, so I think I'm going up there in two weeks. Here are some pictures of the little boys, not so little anymore.

Karstyn

Korbyn

Kamryn

Konnyn

Me with Karstyn and Korbyn

Golfing

I got to meet THOMAS!

2010-03-01T16:24:00.000-08:00

My mom was in Las Vegas this past week helping out my brother and sister-in-law with their new baby Thomas. I was talking to her one day a few weeks ago and thought "what the heck? i'll go down too!" I got off work on Friday and headed down. It was a fun weekend. On Saturday we went to Chucke Cheese and sadly watched BYU lose to New Mexico. Then we watched the movie 21 to help us feel like we were really experiencing Vegas and then drove down the strip Saturday night.
It was a fun trip. William is a crack up and kept hiding behind the curtains waiting for me to come find him. Then we would run around the halls together. The little guy is so cute and talking alot more and it's just so precious! Thomas is a little cuddle buddy and I loved holding him so much. I had to fight my mom for it.. and I think I won most of the time... haha. Anyways, it was a fun weekend. Mike and Judi your little boys are so cute!! <3

presidents day weekend

2010-02-20T17:37:00.000-08:00

well last weekend i went home. we stayed at grandmas friday night. had oatmeal pancakes on saturday. sledding on saturday. church and family time on sunday. red robin and driving home on monday. it was fun to go home and relax for the weekend. but the last week of school was crazy because of the day off. 1 test, 2 papers, 1 content analysis, and a group presentation to throw together. but i made it through. anyways, life is good in provo. heading down to chill with my mommy and brother and his fam in vegas in a week and am REALLY excited to see Thomas for the first time and the mike, judi, and william.[oh yeah, mike can i come visit you guys this weekend??] haha.

Nerve-wracking...

2010-02-04T11:32:00.001-08:00

[hopefully i don't get in trouble for blogging about this].....So you all know I got promoted to a supervisor right? Well, the beauty of that means I get to deal with cheating/rule breaking students.
Today was my first time. AND... Can I just say it was incredibly NERVE WRACKING!?!?!?! I don't like confrontation so it was extremely scary for me to tell the student he was in trouble. Luckily, an old supervisor stopped by to say hi at the perfect time and he helped coach me through it. THANKS JARED! but, i have officially dealt with my first trouble student and survived to tell the tale! hopefully there aren't more later on in the semester but at least i got my first out of the way!!! that's my excitement for the day.. and probably week!

Sarah's Stake Luau

2010-01-31T17:05:00.000-08:00

Sarah invited me to go to her stake luau. L&L Hawaiian BBQ catered the event along with J-Dawgs. So there was pork and rice and J-Dawgs. After dinner, there were Polynesian dancers that danced for us showing us how a variety of each culture dances.. there was Hawaiin, Samoa, New Zealand, and many others shown. Sarah's roommate Jessica got chosen to go up on stage and learn part of a dance. After the Polynesian dancers, there was a normal dance for all of us. It was a fun night!

Jessica, Chris, and Sarah

Polynesian Dancers!!!

Jessica up on stage dancing with her Polynesian dance partner.

Cinnamon Rolls

2010-01-31T17:00:00.000-08:00

On our TO DO LIST Sarah and I decided to switch making a homemade apple pie to making homemade cinnamon rolls. She got the recipe from her mom and did most of the work. i made the frosting. but let me say, they were DELICIOUS!!!! I had about 4 of them and everyone loved them!!!

Vegas.

2010-01-31T16:30:00.000-08:00

My roommate Tara and I went to Vegas over Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend with her mom and cousin Shelli. I finally found Tara's camera so I can now blog about it! Um, let's see... We got there Friday night and stayed with their family friend Carma. Who let me say, is awesome!! :) Her house was super cute with a hot tub and pool in the back. Saturday was spent shopping and eating... tons of food! Then Sunday we finally walked around the strip and then drove home. It was fun. Nice to see some sun and feel warmness in the middle of winter!

The Drive Was Crazy
Tara, Me, Shelli

I fell asleep.

READY FOR SOME SHOPPING!

outside sephora
Carma, Me, Shelli, Tani

the strip!

we be baadddd!!!!

Site seeing

Carma's son Isaac

Tara and Isaac

In the gardens. I was trying to be the same height as them.

Kung Fu Panda!

Dessert at the Bellagio Buffet

Tara and her Mommy

Tara fell asleep in the Trax

and i took up pole dancing. jk :)

The WOIFS

2010-01-24T18:19:00.000-08:00

So "our boys" created a band. Wade, Jordan, and Richard are the official members of the Woif Band. We were blessed and privileged enough in Apt. 10 to be the first people to receive a band poster. Autographed and everything!
[While posting this, Kell and I renamed our boys to the 3 B's]

Richard, Wade, Jordan

Wade, The Best Friend

Jordan, the Brother Friend

Richard, commonly referred to by me as: Kell's Boyfriend

BYU Athletics...

2010-01-24T18:08:00.000-08:00

I have finally been putting my sports pass to use. The first use was when the BYU Men's Basketball team played UNLV. Unfortunately for viewers, the only pictures taken at the game were of us watching, not of the actual game. Oops. :) Last Friday, Sarah and I watched the men's volleyball team play Stanford. This time, to prove I was actually at the game, I got a shot of the team! Anyways, the athletics are doing awesome this year and are a much needed and very fun distraction from the life consisting of school and work. GO COUGARS!

kell-bell and me

kell-bell, me, and brotha jordan

Cougar volleyball

COSMO!!!

Sarah and Me!

Greetings from Provo!

2010-01-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

Well, today I had to work at 8 to proctor a ATI nursing test. It ended at 9, leaving me 3 hours to kill on campus before class [i don't want to lose my parking spot by leaving]... so i half-heartedly read for class.... being in the library is distracting for me. so i did the best i could reading and am praying there is not quiz on it...

school is going good so far- granted it is only the second week. :) I was crazy this semester and decided to attempt 17 credits so hopefully i can do all my work and not fail!

I still work at the testing center...but yesterday i got asked to be a supervisor. so now i have new responsiblity and much more pressure on me not to mes sup at work. I am excited because i do not have to proctor anymore, but now i have to directly deal with cheaters... :/ but it includes a higher pay and that so it's okay with me! i'll keep you posted on how i do as a supervisor...

umm, i think that's about all i've got to say...... Have a good day!

favorite christmas present

2010-01-05T09:48:00.001-08:00

i got a car for christmas! it is a 2001 red Dodge Neon. After driving him to Utah, I decided to name him Freddie. I love my new car. Its so cute and fun to drive around. Thanks parents!!!!

Sarah and Alison's Adventures

2009-12-17T18:01:00.000-08:00

Well, Sarah and I had made a list of things to do. So far we have made gingerbread houses and gone to red robin [i made it a month with absolutely NO swearing :D ]... Unfortunately, Sarah has the pictures of our houses, and we didn't get any taken at red robin.... but it was still fun. Sarah made her house with her friend Alex, and my partner in building was Sarah's brother Chris. It was fun. Chris and I's house ended up looking like a manger, pretty sturdy though! didn't fall over at all.....

red robin was delicious, like always. good food and good company. It was me, Courtney, Sarah, Chris, Dan, and Caitlin.... [sarah's brother and her brothers girlfriend].... I made us dress up a little bit [get out of our lazy study clothes for once] for our celebration...

Finals are almost over. I have one left tomorrow! :D I think they will turn out okay...not as well as I would've hoped... but I seemed to have lost all motivation right before finals started and combined with my working, I didn't study as much as I should have....oops.

The other day i got out of bed and was putting my shoes on when i noticed my teddy bear. usually it's on my bed still with my St. Al's one... but today it was halfway to the floor. I thought it looked cute so i took a picture.

Happpy Holidays everyone!

a little recap

2009-12-13T13:58:00.000-08:00

In my last post, from thanksgiving, I was thankful for my car running. Little did I know, that while I had been typing that post, the cold weather in Utah was freezing my battery. So when I got back, I had no running car. Taking into account that it was the last two weeks of school, I had absolutely NO time to go and purchase a new battery. Lucky for me, Caity Jones [friend and fellow co-worker] lives down the street and works every morning like me. She was my life saver and got me to school and work everyday. Friday was a reading day so I told Ryan we were going to fix my car. We drove to Walmart to get a new battery, and they were all gone. So then we went to Napa and purchased one. Ryan installed it and all was well.... or so we thought. I went to the bank and was going around the corner of the drive through talking to my mom about how glad I was to have my car again, when it dies. Everything just shuts off. The man in line in front of me was nice enough to spend about 30 minutes helping me diagnose the problem. He said: I think there is a fuse blown. So he pushes me through the drive through, then his wife and him give me a ride home. Then Ryan and I spend about the next 3 or 4 hours attempting to find and fix this blown fuse. So now to my list of thanksful I can add... A BROTHER THAT KICKS BUTT! Ryan is awesome. He rebuilt the fuse that was blown because it was a custom made fuse.. spent a lot of time in the cold figuring everything out and now thanks to him: my car runs and I did not have to pay a mechanic to fix it! :) Thanks Ryan!!!!

Now the week I dread all semester is here. FINALS. But... I lucked out this year and 2 out of the 5 are take home and can/have been started before finals week begins. 33 + hours of work and 3 finals should turn into an interesting week though!

Sarah and I made cookies [court helped decorate] and then gingerbread houses last night to help us get into the Christmas spirit.... I'm so excited for Christmas and seeing all my family! Can't wait!!!

thankful for....

2009-11-26T00:44:00.001-08:00

THE THREE F'S
family
friends
food
...... :D
the gospel
school [and it almost being done]
my car still running
my job
my super cute apartment
being able to walk
hair straighteners being invented
pillows
books
toothpaste
electricity
running water
cell phones
backpacks
internet
temples
pictures
cookies
hoodies
sports
music
....any many more.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I LOVE YOU ALL.... [YES ALL OF YOU.... OBVIOUSLY IF YOU ARE CHECKING OUT MY BLOG... :D...... ] HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GOOD TURKEY DAY AND REMEMBER WHAT YOU ARE THANKFUL FOR IN YOUR LIFE!!!!!!

New Weekly Tradition

2009-11-20T22:28:00.000-08:00

So i have this friend. Her name is Sarah Doxey. She pretty much rocks my socks. We met in SFL 105 last year. My home and family living class. Anyways, then Winter 09, she walks into my interior design class. Heck YES! We sat by each other every class period. She was sad when I told her I was transferring to BSU. We decided to be penpals this summer. Awesome, her letters kept me going at times. Anyways, so this semester, I randomly ran into her in the Wilkinson Center one day. We decided we needed to chill and hang out. We didn't really hang out for a while, but kept randomly texting and running into each other. One day I was really craving my cookies, so I decided we would have a cookie party. [sarah loves my cookies. :)...] so anyways.... today we had i think our fourth, maybe third, not sure, but week of cookie party. it is officially our new tradition. once a week we get together and make cookies and then spread the love to friends. Usually we make chocolate chip, but we decided to branch out this week and try some snickerdoodles. Not as good as my chocolate chip cookies, but definitely good! :) Afterwards, we decided we need to do more things together so we made a list... now our goal is to get them all crossed off! Don't worry pictures will be taken during all adventures. :D

Pre-screening rocks!!

2009-11-19T11:04:00.000-08:00

Last night I am watching tv about to do homework when i get a text from my supervisor/friend from work. "wanna go to a pre-screening of new moon tonight?" ohh man danica, i have homework to do... sorry!!! then after a couple minutes go by, i think to myself "am i really giving up a chance to see new moon before everyone else for a paper to be edited that isn't due till the end of the semester???" i quickly texted her back and said i would go. we drove up to kamas at 9:30 at night. watched new moon in a little theater with about 30 other people at 11 and got home at 2. but i loved it sooo much!!!! oh man i loved that movie. it was so good. anyways, that was my excitement for the yesterday...

and if anyone asks which side i choose.. team edward or team jacob, i say combine them. i want a guy like edward who looks like jacob. yeah. thats my decision. :)

i need a bubble

2009-11-16T20:56:00.000-08:00

life has been going good. it's almost thanksgiving!!! yay! less than a week now until we head home. it's weird to think that the semester is almost over... this past weekend i realized i needed a change. don't worry, not a big change... but i get tired of having everything the same sometimes, so i discussed it with my roommate Tara and we decided to rearrange our room. [the previous post has pictures of it]...

......but after wards, i was talking to my mom and hit my knee on the cinder blocks holding up my bed. i was cleaning off the couch the other day and nailed the same knee on the side of the couch... not to mention this is the knee with the stitch scar, which happens to get nailed every time... but today, i was jumping on my bed, and swung my left leg up, and slammed it against my desk. so yes, to go along with the title, i have decided i need a bubble, otherwise i will be covered with bruises all over pretty soon. right now its just my legs with lots of bruises and scars and my hands have various paper cuts from work. Luckily there isn't anything too damaging that has been done recently to me... just lots of little things. ughh... so if anyone wants to get me a bubble for christmas or maybe a guardian angel to come and watch me to protect me from myself that would be great!!!

we have cleaning checks tomorrow and my roommates are all super stressed over school right now. i started cleaning my part and just kept cleaning.. oops! nah, it wasn't bad at all... actually very therapeutic for me... but when Courtney got home she was so excited she kept making funny faces at me. she couldn't see them herself in the mirror so i video taped her and feel like posting the video on here too so you can see my goofy roommate that i love to death! anyways, thanks for reading my random post. love you all!!!!

p.s..... RYAN COBURN... I LOVE YOU BROTHER!!!!!!! I'M SORRY I DIDN'T POST YOU IN MY LIST OF FRIENDS THAT I HAVE DOWN HERE!!! BUT YOU ARE MY FRIEND AND TOTALLY ROCK MY WORLD! LOVE YA <3 style="text-align: center;">

before and after apartment pictures.

2009-11-16T20:44:00.001-08:00

bathroom before

bathroom after

bedroom before

new bedroom arrangement

living room before

living room with decorations

kitchen before
kitchen after

Prank Time.

2009-11-07T10:14:00.001-08:00

The girls of Apt. 10 had finally had enough. We had been pranked by Apt. 46 just one too many times. It was time for revenge. Haha. Ours wasn't as nasty as some of their pranks, but it was fun doing. We were going to wake up at 4 AM to go do it, but instead just ended up not going to bed and doing it at 4. It was fun pulling an all nighter, but made Friday a really long day, but it was totally worth it!!!!

a poem

2009-11-03T11:33:00.000-08:00

In times of need you were always there
No matter what you showed me you care

Whether in person or many miles away
You always were able to brighten my day

You have helped me achieve
The things I’ve wanted to believe

Never did you judge
And now I refuse to budge

Forgiveness is the hardest part
But you have shown me where to start

Through you I felt God’s love
Emanating to me from heaven above

today.... :/

2009-10-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

it's just been one of those days.... :/

i got woken up this morning by my roommate at 5 am to go pull a prank on some boys. we weren't able to complete the prank, one hour of precious sleep wasted. then i go to work. i feel like puking, so i leave after two hours. i come home and sleep, hoping that i'll wake up feeling better... to no avail. 5 hours of extra sleep and i still feel bad when i wake up. i skipped both of my classes, tried to eat some soup.. did some homework... [one positive of the day]... and have been sitting around on the couch the rest of the day....

my dear brother is awesome. he found out i wasn't having a good day and brought me delicous chocolate chip cookies. so that is brightening my day... but now it's about ready to be bedtime again... just say a prayer tomorrow is better and that i can go back to work and feel better!!!! :)

I LOVE THESE KIDS SO MUCH!!

2009-10-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

The trip to visit the Uigaese/Boettner family was a blast. We pretty much just sat in the house the whole day and played. I loved it. The kids are very dear to my heart and ALOT of my high school memories include them in some way. It was nice to go and caught up with them and make sure they still remember who Ali [me] is.

LOGAN HERE I COME!!!!

2009-10-22T21:14:00.000-07:00

My roommate informed me today that she is going to Logan to visit her grandparents this weekend. The light bulb went off in my head. Kamryn, Korbyn, and Karstyn [my boys i used to babysit] live near Logan. Alison, ride with Courtney and go visit them! SO I AM!!!! oohh lallalalalalalala. If you can't tell I am very excited to go see my little boys! I'll take lots of pictures and post them after!!!!

these pictures are from when lisa and i visited them my freshman year. i miss them so much! they are SO cute and precious and dear to my heart.

Scar Progress

2009-10-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

My scars have been bugging me all day. All day long!!! My roommates tell me they are fading and getting better all the time, but I never believe them because I see the scars everyday.
I decided to post some pictures to show how fast... or slowly to me... they are fading! The first one is right after the accidents on July 6. The second one was taken today, October 22. So they're still there but are slowly fading.

Do You Wanna, Wanna Fanta?

2009-10-17T12:52:00.001-07:00

Apartment 17 threw a kicking Halloween party last night. My roommates Courtney and Tara brilliantly came up with the idea that we could be the FANTA GIRLS! We went shopping and put our outfits together. It was a fun night. "Our" boys dressed up as characters from batman. Richard was the joker, Blake the riddler, and since i have never seen batman, i don't know what Wade was... except creepy. lol.

Conference

2009-10-04T15:24:00.001-07:00

Saturday morning, a few aunts and cousins got together to have a pre-conference breakfast at The Village Inn. While there, my aunt Michelle gave Ryan and I three tickets to the afternoon session of conference. Ryan and I took my roommate Courtney with us and we went up to watch it. I love conference. I love listening to our living prophets and it is even more special in the conference center. I also loved that we walked past the temple to get to conference and back to the car. It looked so pretty yesterday [it does everyday] but i just had to take a picture of it yesterday.

I HAVE AWESOME ROOMMATES

2009-10-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

Courtney, Me, Tara, Mckell

I LOVE THESE GIRLS TO DEATH!!!
Seriously, I could not have asked for better roommates this year. We all get along great and love to have a good time. Courtney is from California and I take great pleasure in teasing her every day when she complains about how cold it is. She is a doll and helps me out so much all the time. I especially love her early morning hugs right after she wakes up. Tara is from Riverton Utah and loves reggae. I love driving around with her and jamming out. We also share a room, so I love out late night 'fights' where we argue over what to watch while we fall asleep or other stupid little fun things. Mckell is from Draper, Utah and is pretty much one of the best hip hop dancers I have ever seen. She is in BYU's hip hop club CLUB STYLE and every once in a while tries to teach me some moves. Thankfully she has patience, i'm not so good at dancing. But i love my roommates very much. I love my apartment and am excited for the rest of this year, because it's going to be a blast!!! :D

HOT CHOCOLATE PARTY

2009-10-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Cougars played the Aggies on Friday Night. My genius roommate Mckell came up with the idea of throwing a hot chocolate and donut party at our apartment after! IT WAS A HIT!!! we had so many people come. Some didn't know any of us, but came because they saw the sign with the word FREE on it. It was an awesome party though, will lots of food, drinks, and fun people, oh and dancing!!!

Caity's 21st Birthday Party

2009-10-01T17:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my friend and fellow co-worker CAITY JONES turned 21! Her friends threw her a Vegas/Classy Dressed Themed Birthday Party. It was fun to have a chance to dress up nice. At the party Danica and I played some black jack, and did pretty good might i add. .. We were the "wild" ones at the party, spending most of the night by the 'bar'... drinking our lives away with strawberry smoothies, jello shots, and other various drinks. [dont worry... we're at BYU!!! :D ] anyways, that's been the fun of the week. I went shopping on Monday and wore my new shirt to the party, was pretty excited about that too.

PICTURES FROM top to bottom... or.... LEFT TO RIGHT... first picture to end....: danica and the birthday girl [caity]... me and danica... danica in all her vegas swag glory... then me in my new shirt

A Little Bit of Everything

2009-09-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, my apartment complex put on a luau for all the residents. Before the luau, Courtney and I had a dance party in the bathroom while getting ready. We took a few pictures so that we could laugh out ourselves later.

The luau was fun. Good food, good company, and good entertainment. After the luau, my roommate Courtney and I went and watched an intramural football team. We decided that we were going to be the Flying Dutchmen's cheerleaders for their season. Our friends Wade, Jordan, and Blake play on the team. Sadly to say, we didn't cheer much because they kinda got their butts kicked... but it was still fun to watch them.

Friday, I came home for my cousin Taylor's baptism. I forgot my camera in the car that night, but have a few pictures from the drive home. It is/was good to be home, but I am excited to get back to my apartment, roommates, friends, and school.

me and courtney

bust a move

andrew, courtney, and ziggy
me and tarsila
jordan
during a lull in the game
cousin jeremy riding in style
ryan close to steering wheel while driving
dan and nikki missed the memo we were taking a

cousin jenny's reception

2009-09-22T15:06:00.000-07:00

so the title says that its at a reception, but from the pictures you wouldn't be able to tell. me and lissy got bored before it started and took random pictures of ourselves. and we got ryan in the kitchen helping out.

BONFIRE!!!

2009-09-13T17:23:00.001-07:00

we.....me, tara, courntey, tarsila, sharsti, ryan, blake, jordan, lincoln, dave, and mathias.. [my roommates and friends from the ward], went up Provo Canyon last night and had ourselves a little bonfire. it was a lot of fun.

roasting some s'mores

courtney, me, and tara

this was tarsila's first s'more

lincoln liked to start his marshmallow on fire and then stick it directly in his mouth.. sadly we didn't get a picture of that....

me and ryan

from the back: dave, jordan, tara, tarsila

FIRE!!!! :D

labor day

2009-09-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

i don't know what to post about, but i need to update, since i always bug my family about having the same post for too long. :)

life has been pretty routine lately, just school and more school 'till i start work on monday. but last monday, labor day... we didn't have school.

i woke up early, excited for the day...i was supposed to pick up a friend Philip from the airport....
i made some chocolate chip cookies, and got ready. while i was getting ready, my friend Andrew asked me why i was not at the airport picking up Philip. I told him he didn't fly in until that night and Andrew very nicely played a big joke on me and had me all worked up that i had missed the flight and forgotten to pick up Philip. I was quite upset at the time [just ask my roommates]. But then we had it all figured out.. I was to pick up Philip that night and I went back to being excited for the day...

My roommates and I went to IKEA and bought decorations for our apartment. and it is so cute!!! we all joke that we never want to leave it now because it finally feels so homey. We bought a floor lamp, a mirror, some candles, some flowers, and some floor mats....
[i would post pictures of it, but i don't have enough battery in my camera]

after ikea, we put our apartment together. we had some trouble putting up a shelf, but Andrew was a sweetheart and helped us fix it. All i had to do was give him a few cookies as payment. haha. then i went to the airport to get Philip. It was fun to see my friend again and be able to hang out with him again.

2009-09-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

MY APARTMENT

my room.. view from my closet
view from the door

bathroom

kitchen

front room.... needs more decorations, which will come soon!!!

that's my apartment. i love it! i love my roommates too. we will take pictures together shortly, but first i need my camera charger delivered from idaho [dead battery coming shortly]... haha.

All Moved In

2009-09-01T09:01:00.000-07:00

It's the second day of school!!! It should be a good semester. Last night for FHE we played volleyball and basketball with the whole ward and it was SOO much fun. The ward seems really fun. I'm all moved in. I will post pictures of my new apartment soon!

empty spaces

2009-08-26T02:08:00.000-07:00

It's 3 Am and for some reason i am still up? why? because I am packing and gathering stuff together for the move!! Provo countdown: one day!!! yay! I move into my apartment on Thursday and am so excited!!! :D

my closet looks too empty

i don't even get in here anymore

lucky for me, i sent most of my stuff to utah already

excited to start school again!!

HAIRCUT!!!!

2009-08-21T21:40:00.000-07:00

I got my hair cut in May by a friend, who just cut it all one length. Let's just say, I do not like my hair one length at all. So finally, after letting it grow for the summer, I went and got it cut and finally got layers put back into it! the first day of doing it, I loved it so much I just had to take pictures of it. I had a little fun with taking the pictures.

i don't know why but i love this mirror shot with the flash

YAY FOR LAYERS!!!

oreo cookies!!!!!

2009-08-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

Julie and I went to Jan Fowler's house today to make some oreo cookies for some missionaries. We sent some to her grandson Alec, and to our friend Jack. It was my first time ever making them, and it was a blast! I let the little kid in me out and played with the dough and shaped it into an A. It was a fun day, and I now have a new recipe to try out with my friends in Provo.

A Little Afternoon Fun

2009-08-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon, we went and hung out with my mom's grandparents. It ended up being me, my parents, Mike and Judi and William, my aunt Tammy and her daughter Lissy, and my grandparents. My grandparents brought out the toys for William to play with and in their garage were two wheelchairs. Lissy and I decided to test out our driving skills and took them for a ride. Hers was motorized and mine was not. I had a difficult time steering, stopping, pretty much with everything. Some very nice people even tried to stop on the road to help me out!! But finally I was able to get a little bit of control and we did some laps around a church parking lot. Man, my arms were tired, and are now very sore! I have definitely gained a lot more respect for people whose circumstances have put them in wheelchairs.

Me showing off my skydiving/car accident battle wounds [scars]

My cousin Lissy and nephew William.

Ryan "graduates"

2009-08-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

SOOOOOOOOO.... My brother is done with school in December. BYU does not have December ceremonies, so you can either walk early in August or wait until April. Ryan went with the walking early route so he didn't have to hang around Provo... Anyways, it was the best college graduation I have EVER been to. From start to finish it lasted ONE HOUR!!!!! It was amazing!

Work Hard .... Play Hard

2009-08-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

This past summer I have been working as a waitress at Terrace Lakes Restaurant. One of the cooks, Todd, calls me Bro. So I took to calling him Sis. Why, I'm not sure, but it keeps work fun...

So anyways, I went golfing today with my sis. It was only my third time golfing in two years, since I finally got my clubs back from my brother.

Jackie was my chauffeur, driving the cart every which way around the course. It was some fun in the sun!!!

Me= Bro
Sis= Todd.... Beat me by 5 strokes!!!

Me and Jackie waiting for my turn to hit....

Sometimes, I pretend like I know how to actually line up my putter to putt it into the hole

Todd's turn...

....Testing Center....

2009-08-10T12:25:00.000-07:00

Many people who go to BYU hate the Testing Center. I, however.... LOVE IT! yes, its a stressful environment where you have to be really prepared for everything, but it's a whole different atmosphere on the other side of the counter...

AND THE EXCITING NEWS OF THIS POST.... I GOT MY JOB BACK THERE!!! YAYAYAAYAYAYA!!!!!

so folks, only about 17 days until I head back to Provo!!!

Photo Shoot!!!

2009-08-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

The last night we were there, Julie and I decided to drink a lot of Mtn. Dew while bowling... Resulting in a lot of energy combined with little sleep equaling, two very hyper girls driving around. So we went to the parking lot at the base of the Y and had ourselves a little photo shoot. These are some of the pictures.

Road Trip!!

2009-08-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

My friend Julie and I road tripped it down to Provo last week. We left Sunday after sacrament meeting and came back Wednesday Night. Here are a few photos of the trip, which was a blast!!

we visited Julies cousins in salt lake

saw Marci and Jaimie
went bowling with guys that served their mission in Micronesia [julie's home] and with Wex of c ourse!! the guys were TJ and Robbie
good ol' Ziggy. This guy is awesome, and one of my really good friends... helped me out alot. :D
Philip and Julie

Last Minute, Life Changing Decision

2009-08-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

So this April, when I left BYU, I swore I was NOT coming back. I was going to be a bronco at BSU and get my bachelor's degree in social work...

I was semi-excited, nervous, and just flat out scared to start school in Boise. I would have to make new friends, figure out how to get around on campus, and find a new job... :/

My mom and I were talking one day and she told me it would be smarter if I had just stayed at BYU, because I would be done faster...[me being the stubborn child I am, disregarded anything she said]... but I started looking at all the classes I would have to take before I even applied to the program, and then once and if I was accepted into it... I started to realize my mom was right, but brushed those thoughts off as fear...

I took my friend Julie with me to Utah last week... [oooh i can blog about that!!!] anyways... we went to Utah, and I couldn't ignore the feelings anymore. I needed to come back to Utah. I saw all my old college friends and as I did started thinking....

To myself I said: Alison, you have 48 credits left to get your bachelor degree... You could get a bachelor degree and be started and mostly finished on your masters [from BYU] before you would get you bachelor degree from BSU. Not to mention, BYU is cheaper....Your family loves BYU, and even though you deny it, YOU love BYU too. Ok, yes I did just admit I love BYU. I guess I always have bled BLUE!

So I texted my mom who should've been on her way home from work, asking her if I could come back and of course she said YES! So i talked to my bishop, got my ecceliastical endorsement worked out, and am now just waiting on the honor code office to receive it and I can register for classes!!!!!!!! COUGAR TOWN HERE I COME!!!