Ms. Graceful

I am really clumsy.  Always have been and probably always will.  I have fallen down many stairs, tripped over flat surfaces, slipped into puddles, and now... fallen off a horse.

Yup. A horse.  

One minute I was on it and the next I was on the ground.

Seriously, I don't remember how it happened. I just remember getting up from the ground and being super embarrassed.  

Tyler (the guy who taught us how to lasso) took me up to his horse to teach me how to get a horse ready to ride because I have to know in order to volunteer at Courage Reins.  So we went up and he taught me how to do the halter, the bridle and the saddle.  He then took Gunner out to warm him up and stuff and then let me take him around a few times.  I couldn't lope or anything cause I was too short for the stirrups.  First embarrassing thing, but I'm used to that. But since Gunner has a hard time with other riders he didn't want to leave Tyler so Tyler got on and we went around a few more times.  Then Tyler asked if I wanted to lope.  So we switched places so he could steer better.  So I was on the back and we start going.  I was having SUCH a hard time not bouncing back and forth and could tell it wouldn't last long.

It lasted a lot shorter than I thought.  Like 10 seconds. 

Dirt was everywhere.  Down my pants, down my shirt, in my mouth, in my pockets, in my hair... and I found dirt in my ear 2 hours later.  

I am probably the most elegant and graceful woman out there.  Watch out guys!

But seriously... you may want to cause you just might be pulled off a horse with me.

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!

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.

Pictures with Brock

Here are some of the pictures from when we saw Brock!

Wanna play catch

...up?


Alrighty... Here it goes. :)

So my momma came down, did I mention that? If I did, it is worth mentioning twice. It was SO good to see her. She helped me get ready for my CNA program, updated my closet a bit and made sure the AC in my "new" car was fixed.  It was so good to see her all that week! I miss her still and cannot wait to see her again in a week!

That being said, I got my schedule for the next 2 weeks. I usually work at least Friday or Saturday but this weekend he didn't have me scheduled from Friday to Monday. That has never happened. Soooo I got really excited that I could go to the England family reunion and see my whole fam damily. Then he emailed another schedule and had me for Saturday night. I quickly asked him if were possible to change. No one can say no to this face about having the chance to see her whole family PLUS her sister that she doesn't know when she will see again.  I get to go and I am stoked!

My life for the past two weeks really have not been that eventful.  I have spent 80 hours in a single classroom and 16 doing clinicals. Lucky me, right? There were two days that we were to go do clinicals.  My group was able to go to Orem Rehab, a pretty nice facility.  I was paired up with this big guy that was definitely the one designated to lift the heavy weights.  He was a great teacher and I learned a ton from him.  After we were done with our hours my instructor pulls us into the break room and tells us that the facility made a mistake and we couldn't come back for our second day due to them overbooking. Guess where we got to go... Murray.  When we thought we would be going somewhere close we were wrong.  We went to Silverado. It was an Alzheimer and rehab center.  I worked in the Alzheimer's section. It was difficult but the CNA I followed was great and knew exactly how to care for them.  I am now done with the class! Finally... Now just looking for jobs :)

We went up to Idaho Falls to see Brock one more time... I am seriously going to miss him! (By the way, Javi got his papers in!!!)  Brock is going to Guatemala and is going to do fabulous! We took pictures with him but they haven't been added to facebook yet. Here is one on the way up, though.

GOOD LUCK B-ROCK! WE LOVE YOU!

Missionaries!

Last summer I thought I was done saying goodbye to my friends while they left on their missions.  I was dead wrong.  In the last month we have said goodbye to Zach and now to two more.  Last night we said goodbye to one of our friends, Stephen.  He is leaving for summer semester and we won't see him before he leaves for his mission.  He is going to Boise, Idaho and couldn't be more excited to serve.  He will do awesome!!

We also said a temporary good bye to Brock.  He is going to Guatemala in a few weeks and since he lives in Idaho Falls we decided we couldn't miss the opportunity to go to his farewell.  So excited for him.  We got him and Stephen both journals with their names engraved.  We also got Brock a Spanish hymn book (also with his name on it), a t shirt of the Guatemala flag with a message from each of us and a key chain with the flag on it. Like Javi told him, "Guatemala better be ready for the big white man!"

We had a little bonfire for him last weekend.

Speaking of Javier, he will be the last good bye to missionaries (I hope, because I am sick of having to say goodbye to people. But it is SO good that they are going.)  He just started his papers and is so stoked!

I am excited for all these guys and I can't wait to hear all the stories they have.  They are/will do amazing.  One thing that has been pointed out to me in the last couple months is it isn't where you are serving but what your assignment is.  It is such  a good mindset when getting callings because certain places aren't as popular as others.  When Stephen got his mission call everyone kind of laughed but Javi pointed out to him that he is going on a mission and that alone is one of the greatest opportunities.  I have kind of been thinking about that lately.  For the past few years I have been wanting to go help somewhere in another country and do some service.  I have been kind of stubborn about it and not understanding why it wasn't working for me.  Hearing these guys talk about their chance to serve the people in Boise, New York or Guatemala makes me feel guilty for wanting so badly to go out of the Unites States.  I have had many chances to serve and they have helped me grow in many ways.  I haven't started yet but when my background check clears (which it will, promise) I am going to start volunteering at the Women and Children's shelter.  I eventually want to join the Rape Crisis team.  Also starting in September I will be volunteering once in awhile at the hospital.  I am really excited and will not longer complain about not being able to travel and help somewhere else.

"You'll know when I don't have enough air when I stop breathing."

While we were stressing out about tests, homework, work, school and all our personal lives we decided that a vacation was needed.  Stacey, Javier, Pepe, Marissa and I headed down to Moab. None of us have ever gone so it was an adventure for all of us.  We headed down Saturday afternoon, checked into our (tiny, gross, spiders in the pool, women's flip flops under the beds) motel room then headed down to the arches!!!

We first went to see Cache Valley.  There was a cut in the rocks that kinda looked like a unfinished heart.  Marissa decided to finish it.

Stacey got attacked by a bush and decided to fight back by falling on it.

After cleaning her up we went to the Balanced Rock.  Which looked like a fish. Just not in any of these pictures.

Then we made our way to the Delicate Arch.  This is where we first got a taste of the wind. And yes, we did taste it. Well, all the dirt that was flying around.  We also said goodbye to Pepe's hat which was taken by the wind.  We just hope some kind of rodents are enjoying it as a new home.

We went out to eat in downtown MOAB.  I was being tortured by all the jeeps and Javi was being tortured by all the motorcycles.

We were going to wake up early to get some sunrise pictures.  We are college students on vacation, you really think we would? Woke up just in time to get ready and check out before noon and headed back to the arches.

First was the Sand Dune Arch which Javi and I climbed on top of.  Don't worry, mom, I was careful.  This is where we had tons of sand in our shoes.  Not smart enough to take off our shoes.  

Further past this arch was the (not very broken) Broken Arch which Javi and Pepe climbed to the top of.  A lady there reminded me of mom because she had to look away because she was so worried.  They were careful too and survived.  

We then headed out to hike the 17ish mile hike around the rest of the arches.  It was so much fun.  The beginning was a paved walkway that just seemed too touristy.  Once we got up higher we got to climb random rocks, get scared we were on the wrong trail if on one at all, were by ourselves for a majority of the time and got to see some sweet sights.  We were like little kids jumping around the rocks and getting excited about different places to climb and explore.  Marissa peed on me, made me throw up my Crystal Light by making me laugh and jumped up and down clapping her hands when we met people from Washington.  She is glad I am her sister because if she peed on anyone else they probably would have cried, no one else laughed at the joke she made when I threw up my Crystal Light and I am the only one who understands why she got so excited when we met someone from Washington. 

The trip was so much fun!!

Zachary S. Scoffield

I absolutely HATE saying goodbye to people.  Especially when I have seen them pretty much everyday for the past four months and I have to say goodbye for two years.  I have had many friends go on missions but I have never been this close to someone that was outside of family leave.  Yesterday was our last day to see Zach before he headed into the MTC (which will be a brutal 2 months because he will be a mile away from us still).  We had a nice small bonfire planned for last night with our little group of friends for a last hang out.  Zach had errands to run so he wouldn't be down until 7.  I was at Junior's at around four when the door opens and in walks Zachary.  Junior and I were so excited.  He had been in Fresno packing for the last few days. What a great surprise.  We met and talked to his parents while he showered.  They are so sweet and I could tell they were having a hard time letting him go like we were.  We had a great time at the bonfire and took plenty of pictures, but it seems like we will still not have enough to hold us over for two years.

Zach will be a fantastic missionary and the people of New York better know that they are lucky.  I will miss him tons!

Good luck Zachary!!!

Just got burned.

Is it sad that I have been down in Provo for two years and have never once done the BYU thing of hiking the Y? Well, I finally made my way up there.  I headed up there with Marissa, Zach and Stacey on Saturday.  It was such a nice day! I thought I put enough sunscreen on. Nope. Not at all.  (I looked like I wore sunglasses, but I didn't.) Zach showed us "his spot" that is a little above the Y on a sweet rock.  It was tons of fun and we can't wait to do it again.

Zach isn't as mean as he looks in this picture... haa

Javier brought us some brownies after he got off work at the Creamery.  Super sweet of him because they tasted sooo good after the hike.  He gave Zach a ride home on his bike. So cute.

When we got back I realized that I definitely needed some Aloe Vera.  But, we were out.  So I headed to Buy Low to pick up some.  I couldn't find it so I walked up to this guy that was stocking the shelf.

Me: "Hi, do you guys happen to have some Aloe Vera?"
Employee: Turns around... "WHOA!..... uhhhh ya."

I was super burnt and he could tell.
Thanks jerk.

After I couldn't get real Aloe Vera at Buy Low Javier sneakily went to Walgreens to get me some Menthol Aloe Vera that made my burns not hurt so bad.

Now two midterms this week and home!!!! :)