Field trips, horses and my future!

Despite my miniature venting session about not being in a small town I do still find joy in Utah! hah

A couple weeks ago we had a stake relief society birthday party! We got to listen to Sister Janice Kapp Perry.  I had no idea how great she was and how many songs she has written! They are all my favorites. She also shared her family song. So adorable.  Her husband and her are so cute and they gave excellent talks.

We got to the championship game for dodgeball.  Since we were in the losers bracket AGAIN we had to win twice. We won the first and lost the second one  AGAIN! I am getting a little tired of this second place stuff.  Give me a championship already! Maybe next year...

I am still volunteering at Courage Reins and I went up to Hoofbeats to Healing in Saratoga Springs with Aaron yesterday.  He has family connections to it so we thought we should check it out.  I was also able to compare the two places.  The same lady founded both places but let go of courage reins because of many issues.  I got to talk to her about the basics and more questions about her technique and philosophy. Pretty interesting.  I have to say, if I can somehow find a way to get my own organization going doing this I would in a heart beat. I love it. I want to do this for the rest of my life! hah I am having a really hard time trying to figure out what population I would work with but the beauty of horse back riding therapy and equine assisted therapy is that there are SO many populations you can work with.  Yes, for those of you wondering, I am still going to nursing school.  I love nursing still.  I will always love it. Also, I need a back up plan in case my little dream doesn't come true or I can work as a nurse in addition to it.  Just keeping my options open! I apply next year for nursing school.  I am already freaking out about it... I wonder how I will feel next summer when I only have one last semester before my internship and less than a year (hopefully) before I begin nursing school.. So anxious!

I have talked a lot about doing a study abroad while here at BYU.  Well, I found one I want to do.  New Zealand, Fiji and (yes, AND) Australia!  Okay, so it is one of the more expensive ones but I am planning on saving like CRAZY so that I can go next summer. I hope that since I am planning now I will be able to make it happen :) We will see!

We had a field trip for our Careers in Recreation class. Such a fun trip! We got to visit and play at many different places.  Maple Lake made me want to go play with kids that have Asperger's, Aspen Grove made me want to go hiking, we got TONS of food, I now know I would be terrible at event planning for a career, and I am one of few in my major who can stand the sound and smell of puke.  I also was a lucky one who got to take a girl home and only got 4 hours of sleep that night :) That's what I get for having a tolerance for puke!

I only have a few more weeks of this semester.  I always feel the same way when the end is near, it just started! But I am so happy to be able to go home and be there when my niece and nephew are born and be able to spend more time with Rock and Ryker! I miss the lake and everyone at home, but I am still enjoying my time here.

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!!!!!!

Midnight Showing: HUNGER GAMES!

I have never been so excited for any movie in my entire life.  Every time I see a trailer I get goose bumps.  AH! I can barely stand it anymore! this next month is going to be the longest month of my life....

I have read the first book twice and in the middle of the second right now. I plan to finish the second and third and read the first one again before it comes out. Just have to see if I can find time to do it!

Here is the new trailer for it!

21st Birthday!

This week has been so much fun! Such a  good birthday week!

Tuesday was my first day at Courage Reins. I loved it. And I cannot wait to go back next week! Preschoolers came in and they were the cutest kids ever! I'm so excited to keep going!

Marissa and I hiked the Y on Thursday. It was freezing. And really difficult haha  but so worth it!

[Also, I thought I would add that the hike gave me a chance to remember Tim. It has been eleven years but I always love to think about him.  I may have been young but he was hilarious and so much fun to play with during recess.  For some reason, it hit me harder than it has for a lot of years. I am usually home or purposely distracting myself. It has always been hard to have such a sad memory associated with my birthday. Katie Barnes wrote on my wall a perfect time of day and said exactly what I needed to hear. Be happy about what I have and enjoy every moment.  I may miss him but I know that he was needed somewhere else.]  

Marissa, Chris and Stacey decided to have me open presents at midnight. I was all for that! I got super cute clothes from them! Also, my parents got me a really cute raincoat. I love it!

Yesterday, we started off with seeing my grandparents. I haven't been able to see them very often so it was so good to be able to talk to them again! Marissa and I met up with Brock for breakfast at Kneaders. So ready to eat a ton of the endless french toast... Only ate 3ish. haha Still delicious! When we got back we found a package on the counter. These were the instructions on the box. We had NO idea what was inside. When we opened it we found chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels! Thank you mom and dad for all the wonderful birthday presents! I loved them all.

I went to class and we went shopping for a bit then headed to Spark to have some drinks (non-alcoholic, don't worry). It was a blast! And we all want to go again! I was able to see some people that I don't get to see very often and I am so happy they went so I had a chance to catch up a bit! Afterward, we came back to our apartment for red velvet cake balls and cupcakes.  I found these sprinkles that looked like pearls and I could not pass them up. They were so so so cute! At home there were more people that came that I got to catch up with (including Marci's boyfriend who is hilarious!)

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?!

Dads and Guns

For some reason this reminded me of my own dad.  But  multiply "a gun" by about 30.

March Can't Come Fast Enough

Okay, so here are two videos that I love right now.  Well, one of them is a trailer for Hunger Games. I want to keep watching it over and over because I am just so excited.  This first one just cracks me up and some of the kids remind me of some people.  The last two boys are my absolute favorites. haha

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!

Conference Weekend

Friday was an interesting game. But we won! So that's all I care about :) We also got to go on the field and met Cody Hoffman. Gorgeous man.

He is really good at football, too.

Marissa and I watched the Saturday sessions at home while painting our nails and looking on Pinterest.  My new addiction.  But I learn so many cool things! And find lots of cute quotes.  That night we went up to Preston's (we are now in the same ward) cabin up in Kamas.  So much fun! We kinda fell asleep during the Sunday morning session but we did listen to the afternoon one! Outside on the deck.  It was awesome.  They made us breakfast and dinner and for lunch we had sandwiches, which is where my new love of pepper jack cheese began.  

It was a great relaxing weekend!

In my athletic training class we have watched two videos. I thought the first one was cool and I loved the second.  Elder Holland is one of my favorites to listen to!

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!

Videos!

Here are a couple videos that Stacey took last night.  Tyler, the guy who taught us how to lasso, is the one on the bike.  Matt is the one announcing.  Tyler is lassoing a chair while riding a bike that doesn't really have wheels.

They were hilarious!

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.