A small town girl does not do well in a city.

So I get homesick really easily.  I haven't done too bad this semester since I remind myself I get to be home for the entire summer and get to spend it with my nephews, my new niece and maybe one more nephew :) :) :) BUT that still doesn't mean I don't get homesick everyone once in a while.  Like, when I get choked up seeing a Washington apple box in Step Up 3 and have to take a picture of it in case no one believed me, or just seeing an apple at the store, or someone eating one... I wear my t shirts from high school A LOT. This is not only due to the fact that I don't have many others from college but I love to wear them because it reminds me of home. ESPECIALLY my Apple Blossom shirt or Grandma Helen's sweater.  Or how I get really excited when I see a Washington license plate or meet someone from Washington, especially when they know where Lake Chelan is.  Sometimes I fantasize about not have to stop at stop lights every 2 seconds or having to get on the freeway twice a week.  Sometimes I just get sick of Provo and the things people will say. Or the look you get when I say something that some city people just don't understand or care about but when I saw it in front of Marci or Marissa, they completely get it.
 Anyway, I have been getting little reminders of how much I  miss home because Marissa gets to go home  for a week and I don't.  Too bad I don't have any days I get leave and go home like Nick and I did for Thanksgiving.  That would be nice.

So, Rock called me last night.  This is how our conversation went...

Me: Hey Rocko!
Rock: Hi Whinti! I... I miss you!
Me: I miss you too Rock
Rock: I... I want you to come, too...
Me: Oh... I want to come home too, Rock...
I start crying and can't stop so I have to give the phone to Marissa.

Maybe I am a little more homesick than I thought? haha I have less than two months until I get to go home for four! This seems so weird but I am so incredibly excited!

By the way, 19 days until HUNGER GAMES!!!!!!

Buffness

My dad can push planes. What can yours do?

That's Marissa talking by the way. After she talked in the video before telling me to start a new video.

Thank you dad for taking us flying!

P.S. I am 21 this Friday. Just a little info for you all :)

"I love you more!"

That was a very common phrase heard this break by my adorable nephew, Ryker.  When he was younger (well, younger than he is now) he would barely let me hug him.  This break he let us tickle him, kiss him, hold him, cuddle him, take him to the store/ice skating/car rides, hug him.... He actually wanted to go anywhere and everywhere that someone was going. It was so so so much fun.  And he is talking SO much.  It is so fun to hear your nephew who you thought may hate you say he loves you more.  Yes, he probably doesn't really know what it means but it makes an aunt feel so good! Also, he would put "too!" on the end of every single sentence. hah When someone was leaving he would say, "I go too!" or when someone got apple cider, "I have apple juice too!" Ahh it was so cute. And I am pretty sure one of his favorite things to do is make milkshakes.  I feel like he doesn't care too much about the end product like he does the licking ice cream off the spoon, dipping the spoon in the chocolate then licking it and putting it back in so the chocolate will stick, and pushing the lever to make the milkshake come out the smoothie spigot.

Rock as a three (almost 4 year old) is so much fun!! He says the cutest most random things!
He was dressed up as Santa and sitting on the floor so I sat next to him and swung my legs over him and starting asking him stuff for Christmas. He started pushing me off and said, "I don't have time for this!" and walked away.

I was playing with Rock and this conversation happened.. haha

Me: Rock, I'm gonna miss you when I leave.
Rock: Where are you going?
Me: I have to go back to school.
Rock: Why do you have to go back to school?
Me: Because I have to learn.
Rock: Why do you have to learn?
Me: So I can have a job
Rock: hah You don't  need to go to school!
Me: Why??
Rock: I'll teach you all you need to know!


How can you NOT love these two?!

My Nighttime Antics Part Three

I'm not the only one that does weird creepy things in her sleep...

Like a month ago I climbed into bed. Riss had already gone to bed and was fast asleep.  Our beds are arranged like this:

(Her head on the right side of her bed and my head is at the "bottom" of mine)

I was just about to close my eyes and be comfortable when all of a sudden......

AH! Someone just grabbed my ankles.... Worst thing ever to experience before going to bed! (Except spiders come very very very close)  I freaked out and yelled at Marissa.. She said that she was checking if I was there... I asked why and she wouldn't answer.. I kept yelling at her and she never ever woke up.  I had to curl up onto my pillows in order to get my feet far enough away from the edge so there wouldn't be anymore ankle grabbing that night.

She told me in the morning she was dreaming about helping Larry King fill up backpacks??

And you all thought that I was weird.

Late, but still great!

My mom and dad were here again! Best of the weekend!

To go back earlier last week... We finished tournament for volleyball (girls.) We had lost the first or second round of the tournament so we played in the losers bracket.  We beat... 5 or 6 teams? Including the team we had lost to.  Booyah! Thursday night we had about twenty friends come cheer us on for the championship game. And they did awesome! Super loud :)  Since it is double elimination we had to beat the team twice in order to be the champs.  That is probably the rule I hate the most! We won the first game! Then lost the second... So we weren't champs.  It was super fun though.  Just incredibly frustrating since we were SO close to getting a t-shirt. Next year maybe... We start coed Tuesday and it should be pretty good! I hope..

Friday night was Stacey's 21st birthday party! It was a mocktail party and we asked everyone to wear their best red, black and white attire. We had non-alcoholic mixed drinks, TONS of food and some good looking people! It was tons of fun to meet some new people and catch up with some friends.  We hit up Rancherito's Beto's at 1:30 with some friends. You always see the most interesting people late at night...

We woke up early Saturday morning to go to Katelin's bridal shower (Sherry's son (Nate)'s fiance).  Riss and I of  course got her some cute stuff and the food was delicious! Mom took Riss, Heather (KC's girl) and I shopping and we helped mom get some cute stuff at Dress Barn.  I think I enjoy picking her out clothes more than picking stuff out for me.  Mom and dad took us all out to Tucano's.  Dad LOVED the pineapple and mom LOVED the teriyaki beef.  Glad they like it :)  Riss and I walked around Gateway with Heather and KC and picked out some cute stuff to wear.

We joined KC at his sacrament and were reminded how hard it is to stay awake during church when it starts at 9.. We made it through with only a few snores and head nods.

I had a final presentation in my adolescent development class where we had to relate our develop to a object of some sort.  I related mine to an apple/apple tree and made mini apple muffins to go along with it! It scared me because I have never made them but they were delicious! All 64 of them!

Golden Weekend

Well, Marissa has finally hit 24. We did a lot this weekend to celebrate!

First, dad came down to surprise her. Everyone was so good at keeping the surprise! I almost slipped quite a few times because I was just so excited to see him! He got here around 4ish on Friday, we talked a bit then headed to the football game where dad got to sit with us in our 3rd row 40 yard line seats.  They won, so it was an awesome game.

Nick has the picture of us with dad.

We headed up to Sherry's for the night but didn't get there until like midnight because we got stuck behind the cop doing the slow roller thing on the highway. Thanks again for letting us spend the night Sherry!

Saturday morning Marissa and I headed up to Timpanogos caves to meet up with Chris, Aaron and Stacey.  None of us have been up there before and Aaron wanted to surprise Riss with it.  It was National Lands Day so we got free parking and free admission! Woo! They were super cool and the trip was tons of fun.  We even got to sing to Marissa in the first little cave. Enjoy my awesome singing :)

We then headed back to shower and dad treated us with a trip to good ol' Costco and dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe! We had to get back to our apartment to set up for Marissa's party that night.  We made tons of cupcakes. Here are the kinds we made!  Red velvet, Better Than Sex, Chocolate Coconut and yellow.  All those were made from scratch besides the chocolate part of the BTS ones.  Chris made Banana and Kelly brought over some Strawberry Lemon and Chocolate Mint. They were awesome, so people said.  It was great to catch up and see tons of friends again! I was able to pack on all the candles. :) Guess what, you get to listen to me sing again!

This morning we went to Jason Coleman's farewell talk.  He told the story about how he and Jared were pretty much stuck at the Wenatchee airport and how they had to walk along the street like lost puppies and be taken by a taxi driver to Seattle. He failed to mention how his GIRL cousin had to come back from Entiat to pick them up and wait for them until the driver got there.  He said it was a better story without me in it. Thanks Jason! It was awesome to see family again.  We got sent home with plenty of food :)

Thank you dad for EVERYTHING! It was awesome to spend some time with you this weekend! And Jason, good luck!

Two Weeks Down

[Sorry, this is mostly a school and work post] As I enter my junior year in college I have seen myself being less stressed.  My freshman year I was freaking out about, well, pretty much everything.  I was trying to do too much that didn't matter and I stressed more than I studied. Now, I study because I don't want to get stressed. I don't freak out that I have a wrong edition for a book or no book at all.  I am right on time for classes and not super late (granted it is the first 2 weeks, this one might change) or super early (I was 20 minutes early for a 10am class because I was scared I would be late when I lived 5 minutes away from the building).  I skip the small talk in classes, mostly due to the fact that I know a ton more people now and can find a friend in my classes.  I have started my second job. Pretty easy and relaxing.  Still doing the snow cone shack. I think I have about 4 working days left! Yesterday I pretty much got paid to watch the game by myself.  Not too bad if you ask me (even though we lost...)

We have started intramurals! Well, kind of.  The other team didn't show up for our first volleyball game and we haven't had one since.  We are also doing flag football... so excited for that! Should be fun, but girls can be feisty! We will have to see.

We (Marissa, Stacey and I) are living about 4 steps from Chris and Aaron.  So we get to see their wonderful faces every single day :) Well, except for this weekend because they went to Denver. Last night the three of us girls were coming home and there were two guys from our ward in the parking garage.  They were lassoing things! So, they taught us! Marissa picked up right away, I needed extra lessons because I couldn't even get it around myself, and Stacey was pretty dang good too.  Don't worry, dad, I got it eventually.  Your daughter isn't a complete idiot.

Our project for the next 2 weeks is planning Marissa's 24th birthday! I think I am more excited than she is haha any ideas on fun cupcakes let us know!

Anyway, hopefully this video will make this post not so boring.

Summer Is Officially Over...

[This was typed a while ago] We are back on the West Coast. Just a little sad considering we did so much during this trip but there was still more to do and see! The trip was so fun and I cannot thank my parents enough for letting us tag along.  During this trip I entered 8 new states (if you call D.C. a state)(New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington D.C.), tried Lobster (lobster roll) and crab (crab cakes) for the first time.  I liked both of them! But after Marissa gagged when she tried the lobster I lost my appetite and couldn't enjoy the clam chowder I had. Thanks Riss. I also finished the Hunger Game series (see below).  We were in airports and planes for way too long, obviously.  And spent way too many hours in the car together... Marissa and I drove our parents crazy, I'm sure of it.  But they miss and love us so it's okay, right?  We are happy they tolerated us. :)

We tried to occupy ourselves in the car at least...

Here are some pictures of us at Plymouth! 

 The Fudge Lady.  She gave us tons of fudge so I thought she deserved a picture on this oh so popular blog. 

 On pretty much every vacation we went on Marissa and I would get these rocks. Please don't ask why, because I wouldn't know an answer.

 Through the fence I saw a tail flip.  I freaked out thinking it was a horse...

On our last day we went to Boston. I loved it! And we ate at America's Oldest Running Restaurant! Super cool. Mom and I got a sweet tour about the Boston Massacre. Super interesting!

When we got back to Washington we went to Les Miz. I loved it! I didn't read the book or see the movie and there wasn't a synopsis in the book but I still knew what was going on! Second row tickets are amazing! Thank you SO much mom for dragging us along :)  When we made it home we spent as much time as possible at the lake and we even made it up to Stehekin for a few hours.  Dad let us drive the boat (even though a stupid tiny piece of wood made its way and we were delayed a few hours).  It was awesome to get some bakery goodies and drink out of Rainbow Falls.  I even got to see Ben Barnes up there! Going with Rock made the trip even more enjoyable.

I miss those boys!

I am now back in Utah... So much fun. I finished American Heritage, forever! But I do have to say I enjoyed reading about the events that happened at the places we visited. But that stress is gone and I am starting a new one, Chemistry 105. Yippee!! I am finishing up at the shack (we close at the end of Sept) and I have a new job as an aide.  I am also taking ZUMBA! We will see how that goes, first day wasn't the best.. haha I am definitely not a dancer. It will be an interesting class for Stacey and I.