The. End.

I. AM. OFFICIALLY. A. COLLEGE. GRADUATE.

Well, as of 12 o'clock tomorrow afternoon I am. I can't believe it is here. 4 1/2 years after starting at Utah State, I am done with my Bachelors degree. I have so many mixed emotions...I feel as if I have been on verge of tears for the last week and a half.

Besides this ------>

Here are a few things I will miss about Logan:
*AGGIE BASKETBALL. I will forever be a part of Stew's Crew
*Aggie Ice Cream, specifically Aggie Blue Mint. YUM.
*The Business Building. Tallest building in Logan. My home for the last 4 1/2 years. My heart belongs to the business building.
*Free food on campus. Utah State is famous for it. At least once a week, you can find somewhere to give you free food. It's amazing.
*Merrill-Cazier. Me and MC are TIGHT. MC selfishly takes a large part of my time and gets mad when I decided to do my homework at a different building on campus.
*Walking outside when it is SOOOOOOOOO cold it takes your breath away (also on the list of things I will NOT miss about Logan).
*Firehouse Pizza. I don't know what it is about this place, but I LOVE IT.
*The Taggart Student Center. My day does not feel complete until I can walk through the TSC...even if it is out of my way.
*Bishop Redd. He is my YSA Bishop this year and the BEST student ward bishop I have ever had. I have a great love for him, and the 18th ward. And his cute little wife, Sister Redd.
*Crappy, dumpy apartments. There is just something appealing about living in these tiny, gross places. FUN.
*Downtown Main Street. For those of you who have been to Logan, there should be no explanation necessary.
*The Pepperridge Farm Factory. 3 pound bag of Mint Milanos for $4? Um YES.
*The Logan Temple. SOOOO pretty. I love how at night it looks like a giant's house surrounded by puny little ant houses.
*My favorite look-out spot on Old Main Hill. So serene.
*My friends. Lots of them. In fact, I will probably miss them more than any other thing on this list. (Special shout-out to Syd...this blog is for you)

And. Just wanted to show this off a little. My friend Sarah is AMAZING. She took most of the pictures and made the announcement. I only look good because of her.

20 Days

I've been having a hard time staying positive lately. Not about life in general, but about my future. I graduate from Utah State in exactly 20 SCHOOL DAYS. And I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen when that day comes. I am scared out of my mind. And when I get scared, I tend to feel down and not very positive about where things are going.
I have mixed feelings about graduating from school. On one hand, I am tired of the homework, group projects, tests, and stressing over grades. But I do love learning. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE being an Aggie. Utah State was the best thing that I ever could have done for myself. Seriously.
Besides making sure I pass my classes, my next stress is over a job. Where do I look? What do I even want to do? As I have come to know myself better and have a better understanding of the things that I am good at, I realized that I don't think I want to be in the marketing profession. And now I keep asking myself "WHY THE H DID I GET MY DEGREE IN MARKETING?!" I would much rather be doing Human Resources. But by the time I figured that out, I had 15 weeks until graduation.
Another dilemma I am facing is where I should live. My apartment is paid until the end of the school year, but the job market in Logan is even worse than it is other places. I could move home. I love living at home, I really do. But my social life down there SUCKS. It is basically nonexistent, with the exception of my few single friends who already have their lives in place. Plus. I'm not having any luck in the "finding a mate" department on a campus full of single guys. The chances of it happening at home seem pretty slim to me.
Limbo. That is where my life is right now--in uncertain limbo. And the stress is really starting to take its toll on me. I think I might be going gray at 23...

The Important things in life...

Lately, I have come to realize the things that are most important in my life. There are the three staples-the Gospel, family, friends, blah blah blah. I'm talking about the REAL important things in life.

Here are my top 25:
-Aggie Basketball (And Seawolf Basketball now)
-Potatoes
-All things Disney
-Disinfectant
-Ice cream
-Costco
-Nail polish remover
-Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movies
-Dish Soap
-Camelbak water bottles
-Garth Brooks
-A good set of ear phones
-Chinese food
-Monty Python and the Holy Grail
-Detoxifying face masks
-Books
-Skype
-The PedEgg
-$5 movie bin at Walmart
-Peppermint Chapstick
-Texting
-Dollar Stores
-A good mascara
-Tylenol PM
-Old Navy Clearance

The End.

Can't Get Enough...

...of these 2 faces.

Cutest. Little Ones. EVER.

Old?

Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 23. I know that is not old at all, but it feels SO old to me. I don't see myself as 23. In fact, I still really only feel 20 or 21. I have to remind myself that I am 23 years old. In 7 years, I will be 30. 7 years ago, I was turning 16. That was not that long ago. I don't even want to think about how fast the next 7 years is going to go.
As I look back on the last year, I can't believe all that has happened. This time last year I was seriously depressed because I wasn't able to go back to school that semester. I was pissed off at the world. Everything seemed to be going wrong. It had been a rough year for my family and I wasn't making things better. I know that I was hard to live with. I had no social life so I was home all the time. The only bright side was that I had a job and I could go to all of Caitlin's games.
Since January though, things have gotten SO much better. Here are some highlights:
-I am back in school and LOVING it! I never thought I would love Logan as much as I do. I never want to leave. I'm finishing up my last semester of school. I'm actually in denial about it. I'm not ready to graduate. I don't want to graduate. I don't want to leave Logan. I don't want to be a grown up yet.
-I had the BEST summer job. Seriously. TOP NOTCH. I was a counselor at a kid's sports camp. I LOVED IT. There was not a day this summer that I didn't want to go to work. I could not have asked for a better job or better coworkers. I was so sad when August came around and camp had to end.

Some of the cool people I worked with. We're at a pool party. We played organized games. That's what happens when you run a kids camp.

-The Tim McGraw concert. We got my momma tickets for Mother's Day. It was so much fun. And he is BEAUTIFUL in person.

-One of my very best friends from high school got married. Miss Rosemary. I am so happy for her and love her so so much!

Most of "the girls" at Rose's wedding luncheon.

-Trips to Reno, Bear Lake, St. George, and Idaho. I love travelling...and as far as weekend trips go, these were AWESOME. RENO!!!!!!!

St. George
Bear Lake #1

Bear Lake #2--COLD!!!!!

-Caitlin moved to Alaska. Not really a highlight but a large event of the summer. I miss her. SO much. I text her everyday. She is probably really sick of me.

-Best tan I've had in years.

-Lost some weight.

-Best school news: I literally live 2 minutes from campus. On GHETTO DARWIN. Underneath a dentist's office. And I love my roommates.

-And I am LOVING LIFE. I just feel really happy all the time. I love that feeling.

Who knew that one day I would be grateful for all the crap I had to go through last year?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!

Bird Murderer

Today was quite the traumatizing day for me...
We have a some big trees in my front yard. Today the wind was blowing really hard, and blew a bird's nest onto my driveway. I went out to my car (I was going to get some Cafe Rio...YUM), and saw the nest. I looked for any eggs but couldn't see any. After I pull back into my driveway and get out of my car, I see it. BLOOD. I get this sick feeling in my stomach. I ran over a baby bird. Barely hatched out of the egg, hardly any feathers, can't fly yet, baby bird. And there are three others lying next to it (not ran over).
So. I am a baby bird murderer. Freak. I would post a picture, but I would rather not relive this horrid moment in my life.

And...

(This is for you, Syd...)

Reasons I love Summer:

1. SUNSHINE. I love the sun. I am fully aware that I might get skin cancer, but I plan on spending as much time in the sun as I possibly can.

2. Swimming. I love to swim. And swimming with my nephew is the best.

3. My family reunion. Father's Day weekend is my favorite time of the year. If you had as awesome of family as I do, you would love your family reunion too.

4. Fireworks. And the 4th of July. Fireworks make me happy.

5. Summer food. All food is good, but summer food is delicious.
6. Campfires. I love ending the night smelling like campfire smoke.
7. Shorts and tank tops.
8. Flip flops.
9. Being LAZY! I love sleeping in. I love lounging and doing nothing.
10. Big Brother. It is my favorite show.

Summer starts in 3 days, and counting.

Bye Bye Brudda :(

Yesterday was a rough day. My brother, JD, and the rest of the 144th Area Support Medical Company, left for their year deployment to Afghanistan. I am scared out of my mind, but I could not be more proud of him and the work he is doing. I feel so honored to be the sister of a U.S. soldier who is fighting for our country and defending our freedom.
Here are a few pictures from the day...

JD and his unit in formation.

The 4 of us.

Me and Brudda

The family. And Aubree.

KSL was there doing a story of the soldiers leaving. Here is the link. If you watch closely, I am on the screen towards the end for about 2 seconds. My claim to fame. :)

ksl.com - 80 Utah soldiers deploy to Afghanistan; family and friends see them off

Yesterday was also the ALL-STAR GIRLS BASKETBALL GAME. Cait rocked it. She had 2 3-point shots, along with the rest of her baskets, countless rebounds, and about 18 blocks. She is such a super star. Apart from the All-Star game, which put the North schools vs. South schools, she also made the Second All-State team, along with another girl from her team. I'm sad her high school basketball is over, but I have track for the rest of this year. And college basketball to look forward to next year! Way to go Cait!

Am I Really Admitting This?

Can I really not get a date by myself? Do I honestly need a website to do it for me? Last week, my friend, Megan, convinced me to join ldssingles.com. So I did. And I still can't believe I did it. This is so out of character for me. And I'm not sure how I feel about it, even now. It is fun to get on and see what kinds of people are on there. But I don't know if I am an internet dating type of person. I'm not judging anyone who is on there...how can I when I am on there myself? I just always had this mind set that these people on sites like this are older, divorced people looking for someone knew. Not for 22 year old, college students like me. But. To my surprise, there are a lot of people like me on there. So I'm just waiting to find my "soul mate" or whatever.

I do have one story. The other day, I have a message from this kid. I look at his profile, and I'm not attracted to him in the least (not to mention the fact that he was shorter than me). The message continues to tell me that I am really pretty and how he thinks we would be perfect for each other (from the 5 lines I had written about myself). I try to respond to everyone who writes me so I don't look like a biotch. I told him I was flattered and was curious what he thought we had in common. For two days, he kept sending me messages and trying to "chat" with me. Last night, when my chat was finally working, he started talking to me. Once again, not wanting to be rude, I respond. The first question he asks me is if I would be his girlfriend. Oh boy. I wasn't quite sure what to say. I told him that it was WAY TOO FAST. Especially since (a) I had never met him, (b) we hadn't had any kind of real conversation, and (c) I wasn't attracted to him (I didn't tell him this part. That would have been mean). He said we could be friends first. Then he starts asking all of these personal questions. Once again, I had to slow him down. Finally, I told him that I just wasn't interested. Bless his soul. I think I broke his spirits. I feel really bad about it, but I couldn't do it anymore. I had the creepiest feeling from him.

So, in 4 days of being on here, I have already had an offer for a boyfriend. Well...it is more than I've gotten in awhile.

Primary's Childrens

My friend Katie posted something on her Facebook today...it is a link to a blog that just absolutely broke my heart, http://www.stakerzxposed.blogspot.com/. I don't know these people, but the last few posts have been about a sweet little boy who is about 3 weeks younger than little Avery. Last Saturday, he drowned in the bathtub, and they have had a long, hard road to his recovery. They are still at Primary Children's Medical Center, waiting to see what the effects of this tragic accident will be. It is breaking my heart.
Last week, my sweet little 5 week old niece, Kenadee, was at PCMC for 4 days with RSV. In November, my 5 year old cousin, Brilee, was rushed from Rexburg down here with a severe case of pneumonia. In December of 2007, my cousin, Alyssa, who was less than a year old at the time, spent about 3 weeks there, also with a severe case of pneumonia.
I have spent way more time than I have ever wanted to at Primarys, and I just want to express how grateful I am to live by this state-of-the-art hospital. They have saved the lives of more than one of my family members, and countless other tiny, helpless children. One thing that I love about IHC is that it will never turn anybody away who cannot pay or who doesn't have insurance.
Thank goodness for Primary Children's Medical Center.

I'm BAAAACK!

Let me apologize to my readers of "Uncommon Uses for Common Household Products" for that brief little hiatus I had over the holidays. But I am back and ready to go. In my last post, I said I would start with J, but there are no Js. So onto the Ls.

L
LADDER:
(Everyone knows it is supposed to be bad luck to walk under a ladder. This superstition probably originated when criminals had to walk under a ladder on their way to the hangman's noose, while the hangman himself stepped around the ladder.)
*Create a rustic trellis--a rickety old ladder isn't safe for climbing, but it can make an interesting trellis for climbing roses or other vines.
*Hang pots and pans--suspend a ladder from your kitchen ceiling with rope or wire, and you have an unusual hanger for your pots, pans, and utensils.
(I don't really like any of these, but I needed to put something in for ladder.)
LEMONS:
*Clean out your microwave--if you've got hardened food on the inside of your microwave, don't scratch the finish with hard cleansers. Instead, mix three tablespoons of lemon juice into one and a half cups of water in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 10 minutes at the most. Then just wipe off the softened food with a dish rag.
*Freshen your garbage disposal--your garbage disposal can develop some interesting smells. Eliminate those odors by putting some ice cubes and lemon rinds into the disposal and turning it on. It will come out smelling lemon fresh.
*Dry up blemishes--instead of spending money on astringents or acne medications, try dabbing blemishes several times a day with lemon juice. (I've never done this with lemon juice, but I have used toothpaste and Listerine. The Listerine really works.)
*Bleach thyself--if your fingernails or toenails are looking a little yellow, or the skin on your feet is a funny color, go for the produce. Cut up a lemon, and rub the juices into the areas that are discolored.
*Make fluffy rice every time--add a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice to the water first thing, and your rice will never be sticky again.

M
MAGNETS:
*Handy storage for your broom--attach a magnet to your broom with a screw, about halfway down the handle. Then you can store it attached to the side of your refrigerator, between the refrigerator and the wall.
MARSHMALLOWS:
*Frosting that's easy as...cake--out of frosting for your cupcakes? Don't worry. Plop a marshmallow on top of each one a minute or so before they're due to come out of the oven. Instant gooey frosting.
MATCHES:
*Unfreeze a lock--when you're dealing with a frozen lock, why not try a burning key? Heat your trunk or car door key with a match, then quickly put it in the lock and turn.
MAYONNAISE:
*Remove water stains--to get water marks off your wood furniture, rub in mayonnaise. Let it sit all night, then wipe it off.
*Make a hair conditioner--even if you hate mayonnaise on you sandwiches, you might like what it can do for your hair. For deep conditioning, massage mayonnaise in, let it sit for about five minutes, and wash as usual. Or you can blend together one-fourth cup of mayonnaise and half of an avocado. Use the mixture just as your would a commercial conditioner, leaving it on your hair for about five to 10 minutes. Rinse out and enjoy your shiny hair. (They also mention that you can use mayonnaise as a facial mask for dry skin...this grosses me out so much that I couldn't really put it in this post.)
MILK:
*Restore body to permanent press clothes--if permanent press items have gotten limp, add a cup of powdered milk to the final wash and wear rinse cycle.
*Thaw fish with added freshness--if you thaw frozen fish in milk, it will taste fresher. And maybe you can convince your family that you just pulled it out of the lake instead of your freezer.
MOTHBALLS:
(They sound disgusting, but can be helpful)
*Repel pests--scatter mothballs around your garden and flower beds to keep rodents and even cats away.
*No more rusty tools--place a few mothballs in your toolbox to prevent rust.
*Keep more than moths away--tucked away in drawers and closets, mothballs will absorb moisture and keep things dry, preventing mildew as well as moths.

Don't worry, friends, I'll try to keep up with this better now.

Logan Love

Yesterday I moved back to Logan. And it is just as cold as I remembered! I am so excited to be back and even more excited for school to start tomorrow...hopefully my brain still remembers how to think! It has had such a long break that I hope it doesn't overload!
My apartment is SO small. It is definitely not what I have been used to. At all. I mean, even my dorm was bigger than this place! There is only 1 shower. For 5 1/2 girls. Kill me. My roommates (the ones I have met) seem pretty cool. They are all super super young though...freshman young. I don't know if my old soul can keep up with their all night partying! From what I hear, my room-roommate is never around. So it is almost like I have my own room, except I can't use the other half of the space.
School should be pretty good this semester. I'm taking a bunch of general classes because all of the ones I needed were full or Fall-only classes. So hopefully it should be a pretty easy semester.
Basketball game tomorrow...can't wait for my return to the Spectrum. Oh how I have missed thee, my old friend!
For those of you who did read my "Uncommon uses for Common Household Products", fear not...I just took a little break for the holiday. I will soon be returning, starting with letter J.

Superiority of Mind

Sometimes, as I lay awake desperately trying to sleep, I reminisce about things that have happened in my life. I have a really great memory...I can recall the exact conversation I had with someone in the 2nd grade and experiences from preschool (It is neat, don't get me wrong, but it can be a curse...I always remember the stupid, mean, petty, or embarrassing things I said or did to people). Tonight as I was trying to drift off into dreamland, I thought a lot about high school and the reasons why I loved and hated it. One topic got stuck in my mind--people who think they are superior to others.

What makes someone think that they are better than someone else? I'm sure it has happened to everyone at some point and on both ends--everyone has felt like they are better than some other person, and everyone has felt inferior to another. I'm guilty of it. I can recall a lot of times where I genuinely thought I was a better person than somebody else. I can also remember so many horrible times when I felt inferior to someone else.

In Pride & Prejudice, my favorite book, there is a line during a conversation between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. Darcy says "Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride-where there is real superiority of mind-pride will always be under good regulation." This line always kind of bothered me. What is a "REAL" superiority of mind? Don't most people think they are superior because of pride?

I honestly think it all comes down to intolerance. People in this world are so willing to judge others because they don't look or act the same or because they believe something different. Look at all of the religious intolerance on this Earth. There are still people suffering from religious persecution in countries all over the world. I see so much judgement here in my glorious little state of Utah. I am LDS and proud to be. And I have been blessed with very tolerant and non-judgemental parents. My best friend in elementary school was not a member, and that didn't matter to us. But I had so many friends who couldn't play with others because they weren't members. It goes on the other end too...how many members out there have been judged because they are LDS? There have been times in college where I have felt judged by someone who wasn't of my same faith just because I am LDS.

On a daily basis, I feel like I am looked down upon by people because of my weight. I am not a size 2. I am proud to say that I am a 14. I'm not ashamed of it. And neither should the majority of the women in America because they are the "Average Size". I don't look my nose down on girls who are skinny...why do they think they can look down on me for not being skinny?

I think the majority of the problems in this world are caused by intolerance. Think of how much happier the whole world would be if we all just joined hands, sang Kumbaya, and drank hot chocolate together. Sounds good to me...