Party in Provo

I know that there is often a negative social image when one hears the word "Provo". Especially if you happen to live anywhere north of the place. But despite popular belief on Utah State's campus, there are a few decent human beings in Provo. And this weekend I was lucky enough to spend time with a few of them. In three days I visited 10 different people or families between Logan and Provo.

I started by visiting my friend Richard in Layton. Richard and I go way back. Six years ago, I never would've imagined that in 2015 Richard and I would be catching up with each other over dinner. You know you have a good relationship with someone when you can sit down and talk about each other's love interests, and be super excited and happy for each other.

After dinner with Richard, I made my way to P-town. I stayed the first night with my friends Elysha and Hannah. Elysha and I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning talking about missions, school, dating, marriage, fears, and the good ole' days. Only with Elysha could I do that. I now remember why she is my soul-mate. I feel more at ease and myself with her than I do anyone else on the planet. She's the best.

The next morning the two of us went shopping and then I met up with my friend Dillon. Dillon was my first zone leader on the mission, and one of my dearest friends that I made in Texas. There was a little communication problem regarding where we were supposed to meet for lunch. As a result I spent an hour driving all over Provo trying to find him. It was worth it though, because I thoroughly enjoyed having lunch with him. Then he and I went shopping. He is extremely fashionable and was fantastic to have around as I tried to upgrade my wardrobe. My mission companion, Ashley joined us, and the two of them picked out clothes for me to try on and told me which ones to keep and which ones to leave. As a result I now have a fabulous new wardrobe and am on my way to being considered stylish.

After shopping with Dillon, Ashley and I met up with another mission friend, Brayden. Ashley was nervous about having Brayden along because she didn't know him, and she didn't want to be a third wheel. It turned out fine though. The two of them hit it off really fast. I hardly got a word in edgewise over dinner. After being at Sizzler for 2-1/2 hours, we decided we'd better hit the road. Ashley invited Brayden to go country dancing with us. I'm glad she did. It was such a blast!!!! The first guy that I danced with was really good, and he could tell that I knew a thing or two, so he asked if I knew the can-opener. Then he threw me into it, and it went pleasantly well. I've only done that move like twice before in my whole life! I spent most of the evening trying to teach Brayden how to dance. I'm a good dancer, just not a good teacher unfortunately. I was super impressed at how well he learned the moves though.

Sunday I went to church with my oldest sister's family. Then I visited the family of one of my mission companions. They were really nice. They shared their Sunday-afternoon snack with me. It was a cheese bar. I tried some new types of cheese and was surprised to find that I actually liked some of them. The last stop of the night was my first trainee, Serisa. She is adorable!!!!! I love her to pieces!!!!! While I was at her house, she made me try this treat called a "Tim Tam Slam". It was actually really, good. And I promised her that I'd give a shout out to them on my blog.  So everyone listen up!!! If you ever get the chance to try a Tim Tam Slam, you'd better take it!!!!

Sunday night I made it back to Logan and met up with my boyfriend, Kevin. We spend the rest of the night playing games with our friends. What an utterly fantastic weekend in every way. I am so incredibly blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful friends whom I love oh so very much. Life is good. Life is very good.

Land of Enchantment

Did you know that New Mexico is called the Land of Enchantment? Who knew?! I thought that was Agrabah! (Aladdin reference: "Welcom to Agrabah! City of mystery... and enchantment!!!")

Well surprise! Apparently New Mexico is also the land of enchantment. And that is where I went for New Years. My sister Jashley had a baby a little while back, so my whole entire family (minus one) caravaned to Albuquerque from Salt Lake City. It was quite the adventure. I caught up on some of the movies that I missed while I was on my mission. I also read a good chunk of the book The Fault in Our Stars. If you haven't read that book. Read it!!! It was incredible. The movie is also incredible, and surprisingly fairly close to the book. I'm impressed by that.

Back to New Mexico. While we were there, we got to see hot air balloons every morning right outside of Jashley's back window. How awesome is that?! The kids loved it. The highlight of the trip was when we discovered that NM has Blue Bell ice cream. Whaaaaaat?! Well, you know that we went and bought every kind imaginable and had a huge ice cream buffet. It was fantastic!!! We also went to see the petroglyphs. Jashley kept telling us to set our expectations low because they weren't that spectacular. Admittedly they really weren't all that impressive. But we did have a lot of fun interpreting what they meant. If I remember right, a lot of them had to do with the end of the world and someone dying. Knowing my family, that interpretation shouldn't be too surprising.

That day was when the trip started going down hill. My mom woke up that morning sick, so she didn't get out of bed all day. The next day, my niece Ali was sick, and threw up all night. Then the next day, which happened to be New Years Eve, I was the lucky one who got sick. It was terrible. I spent the day isolated to my nephew's room with only my phone and iPad to keep me company. I vomited five times throughout the day. What a way to bring in the new year, eh? The worst part is, that the same thing happened last time I was with my family for New Years Eve.

The next morning we packed up and started the two day trip back home. Whoopay. I was home for approximately 2.5 days, and then I moved back to Logan, UT. Utah State, here I come!!!!!!! Bring on a good semester!!!!!!! Right now, I only have two friends here, Jade and Kevin. But that's all I need. Just enough friendship to keep me happy, but not enough to distract me with parties all the time. Life is good.