My Second-Family

I've been missing my BYU family today. Don't get me wrong, I love being at home with Mom, Dad, and Mariah but obviously life has slowed down a lot for me in the past week. My biggest decision today was whether or not I should actually get dressed (I did . . . eventually. It was like 3 or 4 in the afternoon though.) I had a nice lazy day of unpacking and watching television. Not quite the same as classes, homework, and social gatherings that I've been used to for the past eighth months.

So here are two pictures of what eventually became my surrogate family for my freshman year of college. Like any normal family I loved and hated them. I got along with some members better than others, but when it all comes down to it they molded my first year of college experience. I was definitely closest to my own roommates and the apartment of guys. The other girls I was friendly with, but there was always a feeling of competition between us. (A ratio of 2 girls:1 guy will do that!)

Most of the guys from my FHE group are headed on missions. Mexico, Russia, Colorado, Argentina . . . they all have amazing adventures ahead of them! They are going to all be great missionaries, and I'm so proud of them! All of the girls though, who knows if or when I will be seeing them again. I'm positive that Melissa, Macy, and I will be lifelong friends . . . but as for the others, only time will tell. No matter what happens, I'm extremely grateful for the experiences I've had with these people. It made for and exciting and interesting first year!

Packing Break ....

I've been packing all day, so I thought I'd take a break to update my blog. On Sunday Melissa, Macy and I died Easter eggs. We had bought this kit for 98 cents (best purchase of our lives) to make the eggs into monsters. It was so much fun, and a nice escape from studying for finals and the stress of packing and cleaning to leave. I've had so much fun with these two all school year, so it's bittersweet to be packing up and leaving for the summer. I'm just grateful to know that we've become close enough that we'll still hang out next semester. And I'm super grateful to be living with Melissa again in the fall. We basically like all of the same things and she is great at giving me advice whenever I need it! It has been an amazing year.

*Supplies*

*Melissa and Macy*

*Our Finished Eggs*

*:)*

Aunt Again!

The best part of living in Utah is having Anna and Krystal live close(ish) by. I've been able to hang out with them and get to know their kids a lot more since moving out here. Anna's been amazing and taken me out to lunch once every month for the whole school year. I got to spend Thanksgiving and part of Christmas break with Krystal. Whenever they are in the Provo area they come to visit. It has been so much fun!!

So this weekend I got to go up and meet my brand new nephew, Robert William. He was born on Saturday afternoon, and he is absolutely perfect!! He weighed the same amount I did (10 lbs. 3 oz.) and he is a chub! I got to see him less than 24 hours after he was born, which is the first time I've ever seen such a small baby! It was so much fun! I spent Friday and Saturday night at Anna's house. It was her three girls, AJ, and me so it was a crazy full house. But so much fun! Saturday we went to the pet store (where a devil cat scratched me) and to Arctic Circle for ice cream. So fun!! I'm so grateful to have family so close by, and it has been such a blessing and so much fun!

*Robert William*

*Anna and baby*

*Adorable*

*Baby and me*

General Conference

Someday I'll get the hang of this whole blog thing. Hopefully soon too, that way I can upload pictures while I'm in Germany this summer. So here the most recent pictures I have from this semester. Macy and I went to General Conference in Salt Lake for the Saturday morning session. I made a lovely sign and we stood on the corner and asked everyone passing by for extra tickets. Amazingly we got two tickets that were next to each other. It was lots of fun!! Afterwards we stopped in Midvale and went to Culver's. It was so good, and I was really glad that Macy liked it too. It was lots of fun!!

*Macy and I*

*Culver's - amazing :)*