Things I've Learned in College- Fall '09 Edition

The semester has finally finished (ok, so it finished awhile ago... hey, don't judge, I was busy!)  and I've decided to do a post again where I write down all the new things I've learned at college.  So here is my "Fall '09 Semester Learnings List"  :)  

1.  You'd think the city bus (being on a scheduled time and all) would come on time... it doesn't.  

2.  The library is where it's at during finals week.  However, the library is not where it's at when it comes to studying during finals week... 

3.  You meet some extremely interesting people when standing in line for basketball games.  You also get really close ;)  

4.  When scheduling meetings with advisors, or any other thing besides your already scheduled classes, it's always helpful to remember the correct time that those things are at.  That way you aren't waiting around for an hour or two before they start... you also aren't missing them...

5.  No matter how much you try, your physics lab teacher will never understand your question the first time...  or the second... possibly even the third...

6.  There are some really interesting things you can do with a microwave.  Probably not good things for the microwave though.

7.  4:30 class times are the worst.  Especially when you get graded on attendance.  

8.  However, you can discover ways of using that class time for your advantage... for example, you're on campus anyway why not go talk to that cute boy you know is in the library right then? :)  

9.  Despite any good intentions you may have, homework will never get done when you get ganged up on by three of your friends to go do something fun.  (But let's face it, you wanted to go to the game anyway)

10.  It's always good to have a back-up plan.  Rainy, windy, freezing game?  No problem, we can watch it on the cable :)  

11.  Talking to someone on Facebook chat who's sitting right next to you is really entertaining.  Doing it in the library while studying- even better.  Doing it in the library while studying and sitting across from someone who has no clue what's going on or why you're laughing-priceless :)  

12.  Do not read or do funny things in the library, people don't like it when you laugh really loud. 

13.  I apparently have really big pupils.  

14.  It's amazing how many people you can get to show up somewhere if you mention the word "dessert".

15.  You can get some really interesting quotes from talks in a single's ward.  Example:  "Satan's slippery slope is slipprier (yes I know that's not a real word) with butter."  or "She was totally diggin' his chilli." 

16.  I apparently have very nice smelling hair.  

17.  When it comes to dating there's either a drought or the quote "when it rains it pours" comes into play.  The same is also true with engagements... it's either none at all, or all at once. 

18.  When you're in the major Elementary Education the people in your classes just follow you around from one class to the next.  It's amazing how close you get by the end of the semester. 

19.  It's really fun to argue with people during class discussions.  They get really flustered :)  

and finally....

20.  You can always make it through a semester with a little help from family, friends and delicious food. 

If You Chance to Meet A Frown, Do Not Let It Stay, Quickly Turn it Upside Down And Smile That Frown Away :)

It's amazing how Utah weather can go from snowy, wet, windy yuck to sunny, bright, blue-skied pretty in one day.  It's also amazing how one girl can go from extremely bored, stressed and fed-up to busy (somewhat), excited and happy in one week.  Due to time (writing) restrictions we'll gloss over the part where I was the extremely bored, stressed and fed-up child by just saying I was a little stressed out and wasn't having a good time at school or work, and we'll move on to the busy, excited, happy girl that I am now :)  This past week has been awesome.  I've been hanging out with some awesome people, doing some fun things and it has completely cured my stressed-outed...ness...  Anyway, here is the break down:

Sunday- Had a desert night with friends for the first time in probably a few months.  Spent a good chunk of the night talking to my friend Stuart (who then proceeded to change the greeting message on my phone to "I love Stuart!  Marry me!") and having fun arguing with him about which of us would win at a Guitar Hero battle (totally me (; )  

Tuesday- Hung out with Brittany, Collin and Jason.  We played the game 5 Crowns and stayed up waay too late

Wednesday- Spent an hour after class in the library distracting Stuart from his homework (not like he wasn't distracting himself before.  Here's what I see open on the computer when I come in: Facebook, Youtube, email, more Youtube....)  More arguing about Guitar Hero :)

Thursday- Went with my friend Emily to the USU Guitar Club's Cake tribute concert so that we could support the "Manhouse".  (for those of you who haven't heard, the "Manhouse" is an apartment of boys in my ward that I'm friends with.   For instance, Stuart lives in the Manhouse, along with Moose, Boy, Jason, James and Tyler)  Had an awesome time talking to Boy and Jason instead of listening to the actual concert (oops (; ) and then helped Stuart clean up his drumset and take it back to their apartment

Friday- Went to the last Aggie home football game (don't even ask how we did :P ) with Brittany, Emily, Collin, and the Manhouse boys.  Decided to skip out of watching the terrible losing end by leaving with Emily and Boy at the end of the 3rd quarter to go to Angies to have food and to interrogate Boy on the girls in his life.  

Saturday- Hung out with my friend Emily, doing random exciting things :) 

Sunday- Made brownies with Emily and then randomly went over to the Manhouse for some entertainment.  Ended up listening to everyone's first kiss stories, which some of those boys' were pretty funny :)  

Monday (today)- Got jolted awake from a nap by my phone ringing.  Didn't recognize the number but figured I'd answer it anyway.  Turned out to be my friend Jenn's younger brother Sam who got back from his mission... 2 days ago?  3, 4?  Less than a week ago.  Anyway, he asked me on a date, which was rather hilarious because #1- I was barely coherent having been just woken up from a nap, and #2- We've never even met.  But hey, it's a date :)  

Anyway, that is my exciting life lately.  This week I'm way excited for Thanksgiving on Thursday when I get to go home!  (well... sort of (: ) I can't wait to see the whole family, and hopefully when I come back up I will have a little package of things coming with me (preferably the Wii and Beatle's Rockband that Bradley will definitely let me borrow (; )  Maybe then me and Stuart can finally put to rest that I am much better at Guitar Hero (although in this case it will be Rockband) than he is ;)  Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving and an awesome break!    

They Did The Monster Mash

Hey everybody- Happy Halloween! I finally got some exciting news to write about so I'm back on the blog :)  Let's start the party! 

On Friday the IMA (institute men's association) had a volleyball tournament which me and my friends entered.  There were 6 of us on the team- me, Brittany, Jen, Ben, Collin, and Adam- and we did amazing if I do say so myself.  We won our first game, but sadly got knocked out in the second round.  But hey, that was a lot farther then my team got last year though ;)  Anyway, here are our pictures from the night taken courtesy of of my team's official "photographer" (thank you Emily!)  

The team (from left to right): Adam, Jen, Ben, Collin, Brit, and Me :) 

Setting up the rotation for the first game

Going for the ball (don't we all look so good? (; )

It was a way fun evening and I loved playing with everybody.  Along with the fun of the volleyball tournament we had a combined FHE Halloween party this last Monday.  It was at "the Man House" which is an apartment full of boys in our ward.  These are also the same boys who we played the "Genevieve" cat trick on.  Sooo, (obviously), this was the perfect time to play a second "Genevieve" prank on them.  While a couple of us distracted them with our awesome costumes, our friend Emily snuck into their bathroom and taped Genevieve to their shower head.  The girls strike again!  It was a great party, and I wish I could get our video of it on here, but sadly it doesn't work so you'll just have to imagine (or you can see it on my Facebook profile) :)  

Anyway, once again, have a Happy Halloween!

She said YES!

Hey everyone this is Kajsa and it is true I am engaged! I still can't believe it, I would have never guessed last Christmas that it would be my last one with just my family. Yet it was and I am SOO excited for the next step in my life. McKay is so amazing and it is crazy how much more I have fallen in love with him even in just the past 3 weeks since we got engaged. I am so grateful for the lessons and trials that I have gone through to get to this point. (They were well worth it) Well anyways lets move on to the exciting stuff like the proposal! Now everyone my proposal was perfect in every way, McKay worked hard at it and honestly nothing went wrong (except that the camera was on the wrong setting so the pictures are alittle blurry :P) So here is how it all went. It was Thursday September 24th and we had planned the night before that we would go to dinner at a friend of McKay's house after I got off work. So honestly up until Thursday evening it was the worst day that I had had since coming to school. To say the least I was not in a good mood, and I was about to cancel going to the dinner, but something just kept telling me to go, and boy am I happy that I did. :) So back to that night, we were driving to the dinner and he changed and said that the dinner was actually on some private property of his friend's and there was a pavilion there that we were going to have it at. So we drove there and parked. No one was around and at this point I was starting to question stuff, but he said that it was down a path and around the corner, so we started walking....and when we rounded a corner there in the distance was a trail of rose petals and at the end was a candle lit dinner for just the two of us! It was gorgeous! The table was set at an amazing look out point with the sunset in the back ground along with that we could see all of campus and Cache Valley. Seriously the pictures don't do it justice. The table was decorated and there were tiki torches all around us. So after we sat down I pretty much knew what was going on and I could barely sit still! So we ate dinner of all of my favorite foods and finished off with Oreo pie which is also becoming one of my favorite things. During dinner his roommates served us and they were all dressed up in their suits and they were very good at staying hidden so that we could enjoy everything in private :) So after dinner McKay walked away to go tell his roommates that they could leave. And while he was over his brother who was holding a bouquet of red roses that the ring was attached to. So McKay walked around the corner and I knew right as he did that this was the moment! He came back to the table, gave me the roses along with a poem that he had written me which I read and when I looked up he was down on one knee holding the ring. He asked me and I said yes of course! And the rest is history! Haha In the end we sat there at the look out point for a little bit longer as the sunset then we walked back to the car. His roommates were so good and cleaned everything up for us so we didn't have to do anything. Oh and by the way the ring is so pretty and has everything that I wanted. McKay helped design it all on his own so I had no idea what it would look like. Actually the entire proposal night was a complete surprise to me because he had told me that it probably wouldn't be until the next week! Which I would have died if it really was that long! So here are some of the pictures from that night and some of the ring up close.

This is a view of the table from the mountains behind it (sorry it is so small)

Now three weeks later we are just moving along with all the planning, which my mom is amazing at and she has made it pretty easy for me. The weekends are crazy as we try and cram in as much as we possibly can, but I am just trying to relax and just enjoy the process as much as possible. Luckly a lot of things are done so now it is mostly just the little details. Oh and here are a few pictures from the past couple weeks!

But The Cat Came Back The Very Next Day

Have you ever felt incredibly busy, but when you thought back on it really had nothing to show for it? That is how I am feeling right now. It's been forever since I last wrote, but when I tried to think of things that had happened I came up pretty much empty. But hey, this post is going to be dwarfed by pretty much anything Kajsa puts up so I really should just not even try to come up with something cool ;) (for those of you WAY behind in the times you'll just have to wait for her post to see what I mean there)

Anyway, life has been going fine for me. I'm still working, still going strong with school, and still hanging on to my singlehood (for those of you who are like my dad and are trying to marry me off-kidding Dad :)- don't worry, I have been dating. I even went on a date just this past Friday. The only problem here is that I haven't liked any of the boys enough to try for a second date.) I'm trying to work out how I'm going to hang out with 3 different people, at 3 different times, plus my family, all in a period of less then 24 hours this weekend and am trying to figure out where in there to get some visiting teaching done. Whew, crazy! Along with that I'm starting my P.E. practicums next week which means that I will officially be a student teacher! (even more crazy!) and I also will be finishing up everything that will go in my application for the Elementary Education program so that it can be turned in by the beginning of January. Phew! So pretty much I guess you could say that life has been crazy and busy :)
Oh, I did just think of a funny story that I can tell you guys about! This past Sunday my friend Emily invited me and some other people over for spaghetti dinner. The total came out to about 12 people, 5 girls and 7 guys. Anyway, the guys all live in the same house and they were telling us hilarious stories about things that happened to them over there. The funniest one was about a stray cat that wandered in, was fed tuna (sounds familiar...), named Genevieve, and pretty much adopted for a few hours until one roommate came home and kicked it out. The story gets better-the next day when one of them was in the bathroom he heard this thud and turned to discover that Genevieve had jumped up and attached herself onto the screen of the window in the bathroom and was mewing to come back in. The same thing happened again the next day, and the next, pretty much freaking each roommate out every time they came into the bathroom. So after they tell us this story we girls decide to play a little joke on them. Yesterday night we go to Walmart and buy a stuffed kitten, duct tape and a collar. We then proceeded to their house in the dark, stick the collar on the cat with a little tag that says "Genevieve", and then duct tape the whole thing to their window so that it looks like it's attached to the screen. I can just imagine their faces when they walk in and see that cat stuck to the window :) Anyway, we're hoping they'll figure out it was us and find some way to prank us back with the cat because the next thing we want to do is get it inside their house without them knowing :)
Well, that's really about all that's been happening in my life, but hey, as long as I'm enjoying it right? :)

It's Coming

Hey everyone this is Kajsa, just checking in real fast. I just wanted to get you excited for my next post (sorry it is taking so long)! I will have complete details on the actual proposal plus some pictures of the actual night and some that we have taken since then. Life is crazy right now and I am just trying to adjust to everything, but I will be back, no worries. (like you would anyway) Well that is all for now, hope everyone is having a great fall day!

Give My Regards To Old Broadway And Say That I'll Be There E're Long!

What happens when you put 3 girls with "virgin" hair (never been dyed), 1 girl with a cosmetology license, and 4 bottles of hair dye together?  Hightlighting Party! Friday nights have never looked better ;)  

So for my 'spur of the moment incident' this week, I decided to get my hair highlighted.  My roommate Brittany has a cosmetology license and me and our 2 friends Jen and Alexandra decided to have her highlight our hair on Friday night.  3 hours of hair dye and caps, all coming together in the end to a new hairstyle... or haircolor rather :)  So here are the 'before' and 'after' pictures :) 

I don't know if you guys can necessarily tell the difference in my hair, it's kind of subtle, but I promise it is highlighted :)

Now, along with my 'spur of the moment incident' I also had a 'that was random' incident this week as well.  What happens when your roommate looks out the window and sees 2 kittens about to get hit by a car?  Well, obviously, she decides to go get them, bring them into the house, and feed them tuna and milk.  

On Saturday I'm woken up to Brittany yelling, "Melanie! KITTENS!"  These 2 little black and white kittens had been wandering around in the road and she'd brought them in and fed them.  Unsure what to do with them (we didn't want to keep them), we called the humane society.  But downside, they said that it was highly unlikely the kittens would get adopted there, so we decided to find somebody to just take them from us.  We called EVERYONE.  However, we're college students, and college students usually are friends with other college students.  And a downside to being a college student, you're usually renting.  Downside to renting- no animals.  So in the end, we just sent them to the humane society anyway.  This though, was after they'd clawed the carpet, peed in a plant and pooped in our basement.  Dang cats :(  But they were cute despite all that, so we were a little sad to see them go... emphasis though, on little.  Anyway, here's the pictures of our cute (but thoroughly obnoxious) refugees :)  And if anybody wants a cat- try the humane society ;) (oh, and ps- I have to explain my title- the topics of this post were cats and hair highlighting, so what better to explain it then the 2 Broadway musicals "Hairspray" and "Cats",thus, "Give My Regards to Broadway" (: ) 

I Love to Laugh! Loud and Long and Clear, I Love to Laugh! So Everybody Can Hear!

So apparently I am not obvious enough in my writing to show that it's me, therefore I am now being required to state who is writing. So, to let you all know, this is Melanie.

Right now I'm sitting in a computer lab on campus killing time between my last class and my physics lab and I figured, hey, since I'm bored I might as well write on my blog right? But sadly I don't really have any great news or fun to share from my life, so instead I'm going to share fun from someone else's life :) For those of you who know me you'll know I love quotes, especially funny quotes. So to give you all a laugh during this stressful time called the school year (and to give myself something to do) here are some of my favorite quotes:

"It's always darkest before the dawn, so if you're going to steal your neighbor's newspaper that's the time to do it."

"Marriage is an alliance entered into by a man who can't sleep with the window shut and a woman who can't sleep with the window open."

"Women get the last word in every arguement. Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument."

"Women really do rule the world. They just haven't figured it out yet. When they do, and they will, we're all in big big trouble."

"We're all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."  

"Can you imagine a world without men?  No crime and lots of happy, fat women."  

"Macho doesn't prove mucho."

"Why do men chase women they have no intention of marrying?  The same urge that makes dog's chase cars they have no intention of driving."  

"At every party there are two kinds of people-those who want to go home and those who don't. The trouble is they are usually married to each other."  

"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us."

"Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment."  

"Of course there's a lot of knowledge in universities: the freshmen bring a little in; the seniors don't take much away, so knowledge sort of accumulates."  

"It's not that chocolates are a substitute for love.  Love is a substitute for chocolate.  Chocolate is, let's face it, far more reliable than a man."   

Well, I hope you've all gotten a good laugh out of these, sad to say that it took me so long to finish the whole post that it's now Sunday and I'm sitting with my roommate watching "Princess Protection Program", but whatever!  Enjoy the rest of your week! :)  

No School? Party!

Hello everyone, this is Kajsa speaking. Just checking in. :) So this past weekend was labor day. We had a free day from school, which was heavenly! Also, this weekend was extra nice because I had Friday off too. Why you may ask? Because my classes were cancelled for the football game the night before AND work was cancelled because of a small fire the day before. Don't worry everyone was ok and so was the building it just took a couple of days to clean everything up. So on Friday I was able to sleep in and then head home early. McKay came with me ofcourse because he had a wedding to go to that day at the Draper Temple. (Perfect huh?) Friday evening we went to the dinner for the wedding. It was nice because we got to see some of his family. The couple was so cute together and it was exciting to see them making that next step. Then Saturday morning we had family pictures scheduled at 7:00 AM. It was so early, but we pulled it off and even with rain we were able to get some good ones. Later that day we just did some yard work and pruned some trees. (and by some I mean tons, my dad got alittle excited about how everything was looking and just started triming everywhere!) That evening we had a wedding shower for my cousins that just got married this past summer in Connecticut and it just so happened that it was the exact same time as the BYU game. So we weren't able to open gifts until half time. (BYU fans are so picky) just kidding it was an awesome game and I would not have wanted to miss it either. So while the game was going on McKay and I had fun entertaining all the little cousins in the backyard and they LOVED him. It was so cool to see how great McKay is with kids (wink wink) :) Anyways, moving on... Sunday went by, my dad gave us our fathers blessings and then we just spent time as a family. Monday we just hung out in the morning and then my family all came to bring me back up here to Logan. Along the way we stopped at Hill Air Force Base Museum. I have been there many times but each time I go I always learn new stories and fun facts from my dad, which is cool cause we do not always get very many chances to hear them. Once in Logan my family checked out my new apartment and then we went out to dinner for the last time as a whole family for about a year and a half. Saying goodbye on Monday was pretty tough since it was the last time that I would get to see Larissa before she left for the MTC. I am so proud of her, and I am so impressed with the example that she has always been to me. She will do amazing and I can't wait to hear all of her stories in 18 monthes. Oh and here are some pictures from our weekend adventures!

I am still here!

Hey everyone, sorry it has been awhile. I have no excuses or random reasons for why I have not updated recently. I have just not been in the "posting" mood. So here is a quick update. I moved out of my house thanks to my dad. Got settled in Logan at my new apartment. This time was ten times easier than last year. (I have no idea why I stressed out so much before) I started work again at the Children's House again two weeks ago, and I am LOVING it. Seriously it is so fun everyday. I especially seeing all the kids from last year, and also just hanging out with my coworkers. We all get along so well and it is nice to talk to people who are going through the same stuff as you are. Such as trying to make our ways through the Education Program. I work about 27 to 30 hours a week compared to about 15 hours last year so it is very good that I like it so much. Also this semester I am taking 13 credits of history, english, physics, and food technology. They are about as basic as you can get, but I am trying to make the best of it and learn as much as I can. After all I did just pay TONS of money to come here, I better spend it wisely. Also some exciting news is this weekend McKay and I went to my house for Larissa's Farewell. It was amazing. Larissa did so good! (like always) and She had TONS of support from friends and family. My mom had planned on a hundred people coming over to our house after and I think that there was atleast that many, if not more. So thanks again everyone, I know that she appreciates it. On the downside I did not take one single picture of the event so I am sorry. What a horrible sister I am :( But on the positive side we are having family pictures later this week so you will atleast have those to look forward to. Well that is all for now. Have a great week everyone!

I Want You to Want Me, I Need You to Need Me

Story time! For those of you who don't know I recently moved back up for school not only once into Crestview, but then again out of Crestview and into another place (a house)! Here is the story (shortened version of course (: the real thing is much to long for a post):

My friend Brittany lives with an older couple and helps take care of the wife who has MS (multiple sclerosis). Long story short, they were looking to hire another girl to replace Brittany's roommate, and, what do you know, they decided they wanted me! So after moving from Darwin back home for 2 weeks at the beginning of August, then from home to Crestview for 5 days this past week, I (since of course I hadn't had enough of the moving) moved from Crestview in with Brittany for my next, and hopefully last, place.
So far life at my new place has been great. Me and Brittany share the whole basement, so we each get our own room. I don't have to pay for rent, food, or laundry (due to the fact that I'm living there to take care of the wife), I make $500/month (for doing the care) and (for those of you who are wondering) I do actually kind of enjoy taking care of the wife. WOOT! All in all a great situation for me! ... sort of. Downside to this- the wife's care schedule is fairly set in stone time-wise, and while it's easy to work around classes, it's not so easy to work it around classes AND my job with the Alumni. So for the last few days I've been having great stress over working out my time, but I'm sure that once classes settle down, I get more use to the care schedule, AND I talk to my boss at Alumni and either quit the job or get my schedule worked around this new job, then I'll be much, much, better.
Another exciting bit of news:... (please hold for dramatic effect)... I'm taking off Spring Semester! And for what you ask? To move to San Diego for 3 months! I can't wait- a condo on Coronado Island, living right on the beach, no dealing with the Logan winter, WOOT! Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot! (name that quote) The older couple I live with now goes every January for a few months and me and Brittany are going with them. We are both pretty much estatic for this (in case you couldn't tell), I mean- sun, sand, and no school, I don't think it can get much better! (but, oh, it can, know why? it's part of our job, that means we go free (: ) And for those of you wondering why I'm taking off a semester of college right after I finally picked my major- don't worry. I'll still graduate early and I'll still be on schedule with my classes, I'll just be taking Summer Semester rather than Spring that year.
Oh, wow, I don't even know how I'm going to top this post later unless I get engaged or something (not going to happen anytime soon). Anyway, to finish up I'll let you know how school has been going since I kind of skipped over that with this other news. For those of you who don't remember, school has reconvened! Much to my excitement :) Sad to say that my classes are mainly full of girls, I don't get any cute guys in any of them (however my ward is a much different matter... (;), but I'm loving the topics so far. This semester is like all my favorite subjects- human development, physics, physical education, and playing with little kids (all thanks to 3 practicums, you'd think I was going into Elementary Education or something). I've found a few of my friends in my classes, including a few who I haven't seen for awhile. Kajsa gets to take Physics with me (lucky her (;) as well as Physics lab (even more luck for her!) Good thing she's in a class with me because I'm sure I'd never see her otherwise now that we've moved to seperate apartments and she got a boyfriend. :) Other than that I haven't got much to say about school (probably cause it just started?) but I'm sure that as it progresses on I'll have more excitement from it. Hope you all had a great first few days! Have fun!

One Short Day In the Emerald City

I'm baaaack! I'm sure you all missed me so much ;)  And even though I missed you all as well, I had an amazing time in Seattle! It is so pretty there, with the weather and the green everywhere.  Oh, I can't even describe how much I loved it other than to say that I may move there.  Soon.  

So, to fill you all in, here's the way my trip went:  

Me, Caitlyn and her family all piled into 2 cars and drove straight through to Washington last week.  After a long 15 hour drive we reached Caitlyn's Grandpa's house, unloaded the cars, and all went to bed.  The next day a few of us went down with her Grandpa to Olympia and the farmers market, while the other half went shopping for wedding stuff (part of the reason we were on the trip was for Caitlyn's brother's wedding).  That night we went to Mercer Island for the wedding dinner with the bride's family.  After a mix-up with the pavilions and a lot of confusion we finally were able to enjoy the delicious Cafe Rio/Costa Vida type food that Caitlyn's mom and sisters had made.  We stayed the night on the island and then the next day got up for the wedding!

The wedding was at the Seattle temple, which was very pretty.  Caitlyn, Maren (her little sister), and me spent the sealing time walking around the temple grounds and taking pictures, and then the time after the sealing taking even more pictures with the bride and groom :)  After the pictures slowed down we all left with Caitlyn's Uncle and Grandpa to go walk around Pike's Place Market until the reception that afternoon.  However, as it was a Saturday, the market was crazy crowded!  By the time we'd walked through the whole thing we were all exhausted by all the people and just ready to go eat food at the reception.  The reception was at Daniel's Broiler (which is apparently a big, fancy, equivalent of eating at say, Hamilton's in Logan, type restaurant) and had some very fancy food.  In fact, it was so fancy that me and Caitlyn were not big fans of it, so we actually walked down the street to a deli and bought ourselves sandwiches to sneak into the reception to eat.  ;)  After sending off the bride and groom we all headed back to Caitlyn's Grandpa's house for relaxing after the wedding stress.  

The next day (Sunday) we all went to church with Caitlyn's Grandpa and then spent the day, once again, recuperating from the wedding.  We went on a walk down on the beach and looked for seashells.  Funny story about Seattle beaches (or at least this one) there's a lot of mud, which, because of the water going in and out, becomes quicksand mud.  If you walk in the mud, you get stuck, and sometimes almost lose your flipflop.  Or your friend gets stuck up to her knees and almost falls on her face in the mud.  But still, pretty beaches :)

Monday Caitlyn's family left early in the morning to come back to Utah, and me, her, and her older sister Ann, stayed to play in Seattle.  We went back to Pike's Place Market for a more calm experience of it, bought some fried doughnuts, and then spent the rest of the day shopping at all the big stores in downtown Seattle.  After we got sick of shopping we went over to the Locks, which is the area where boats go from salt water to fresh water.  It kind of reminds me of the Panama Canal in how it works.  We got to watch them move a few boats and then we headed out to the Space Needle where we spent our last hour in Seattle.  Afterwards we headed back to Caitlyn's Grandpa's house and went to bed.  

Our last day there, Tuesday, we rode a ferry into Seattle.  It was really cool, you drive your car right on there and then an hour later when you come into port you just drive right off.  When we got into Seattle we went over to Pioneer Square and took the Underground Tour.  See, the original city of Seattle burned down and when they rebuilt it they built almost 2 levels of the city, an underground level and a regular street level.  (Not the whole story, there's a lot more to it relating to the sea level and stuff with sewage, but you get the picture) As time went on people stopped using the underground level and just used the regular street level, so now they use it as a tour for us tourists ;) After that we went to a few more stores for shopping and then drove back to the house for the night.  

The next day we packed up, went to the airport and flew home.  (And let me tell you flying is a pain what with all the security and the lines and the waiting, ugh)  And that's my exciting trip :)

Girls Weekend

So for most people a girls weekend is a rare occasion that is looked upon with reverence and only comes around every so often. At my house that is a daily occurrence. So last week we were once again nearing the weekend and Larissa has had a desire to take a road trip. So she decided that we were going to Moab. Now this was our first time to Moab, and I was a little hesitant about whether five "city" girls should make such a journey all on our own. It was after all the middle of the summer and we were heading to a place that was 105 on a good day. And without any air conditioned malls I had no idea what we were going to do. But she wanted to do it and everyone else was willing and after a little bit of convincing I decided to tag along too. So we set off Thursday night with the trusty GPS guiding us. That night we just checked into our hotel and went out to dinner. The next day we got up early and headed to Arches national park. We didn't really have any plans but we knew that we wanted to see the Delicate Arch so that is where we headed first. The brochure said that the hike was strenuous. What does that mean?! I was getting a little worried about whether we could do it. But one hour later when I was gazing up at the Delicate Arch in all of its wonder and glory I knew that it had been well worth it and I would reccomend it to anyone. It was an incredible view and very neat. As for the incredible heat wave that we were expecting... it never came. The wind saved us and actually I felt very comfortable the whole time. After Arches we headed back to the hotel for naps. I slept for three hours and felt great. That evening we went to a Chuck Wagon dinner with a live show after. The food was so yummy and my family had fun taking pictures. After the dinner we spent one more night at the hotel and then drove home in the morning. It was short but nice to have a break from the normal stuff. Thanks Larissa for your great plans and for draging me into them. The only sad note to this incredibly relaxing weekend was that I did not get to see McKay. So to make up for it I am going with his family this weekend to Lava Hot Springs. :) Well that is all for now enjoy the pictures from this fun filled weekend below.

The Final Countdown

So, just the other day I was debating writing a post about all the things that I am counting down for.  Then today, I get on, and what do you know- Kajsa had the same idea!  So, not meaning to copy her or anything (sorry Kajsa), but here is my countdown list :)  

1 day till I go to Seattle (WOOT!) 

19 days till USU fall semester starts and I go back to school

12 days till I move back to Logan and into my new apartment

6 days till my mom goes (with Kajsa's mom) to Connecticut

32 days till I will finally get the chance to go to my new student ward (14 days after the fact)

18 days till the Oquirrh Mt. Temple dedication

25 days till Larissa's farewell

27 days till the sequel to "Hunger Games" comes out (thanks to Aunt Carolyn for recommending it (: ) 

Obviously some of these things are the same as Kajsa's (we are, after all, cousins and both USU students, you would expect some of them to be the same) but it doesn't matter because I'm still excited for them, same as her :)  Sadly I should have written my list the other day because it was much longer then (a lot of the things finally happened yesterday as luck would have it) but hey, it's all good! :)  

5...4...3...2...1...Go

So I feel like life is just one big count down clock right now. Everything is not happening yet...but almost. Change is exciting and especially this year being a little bit older and hopefully a little bit wiser. The stress of starting school hasn't hit yet so for now I am just trying to enjoy the present. Here is a list of a few of the things that I am counting down to...

14 more days till I move back to Logan

six more days of work

2 more days till we go to Moab

15 more days till I start back at the Childrens House (I sure have missed those kids this summer!)

10 more days till my dad comes home from Arizona

1 month and 5 days till Larissa leaves on her mission

10 or 11 more days till I get to see McKay again and go to Lava Hot Springs

6 more days till my mom leaves for Connecticut

18 more days till I get to meet my new and totally awesome roomate!

and last but not least...20 more days till school starts

And the list could go on and on, but we will just leave it at that. Wow I haven't done that much counting since school got out! Well I am going to head to bed now have a fantastic day.

Oh I think you missed a spot...

So tonight was our stake's YSA mud Volleyball night. It was a little messy as you can tell by the pictures but SO worth it. I mean who doesn't want to exfoliate their skin while playing volleyball? So the game started off nice and sweet, everyone just kind of stood in their own little corners and did their best to actually play the game and support their team. Then the fun started... The 6 inch deep mud started getting slippery and people were going down right and left and if you were, there was always someone there to ensure that you got your own taste of the mud. So before I went to this I wasn't too excited about getting dirty so I planned to avoid the messiest areas, but once in the middle of it I realized that EVERYWHERE was the messy areas and there really wasn't any hope. So instead I worked on making myself look as messy as possible without having to get face planted by one of the over excited boys who were all trying to relive their childhood dreams. And I am not kidding, most of them were RM's yet they were acting like they were soldiers at war who would sneak up on you from behind and tackle you to the ground with them. It was quite hilarious as long as you were looking at it from afar. And in the end I did pretty well except for one quick smack down from my friends and a few hand prints from Larissa. And I knew that nobody would believe how dirty we got so I made sure my mom took a few pictures. It was a great evening and I am really enjoying it now that I am all clean and showered. :)

This is one of the whole group as you can see each team had a "few" extra players

Sisterly Love

My 'friends' yet they threw more mud on me than anyone else!

Us from a different angle :)

McKell and I right before the "war" broke out... so sweet and innocent

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

It is the month of the mission farewells.  In these past 2 weeks alone I've had 6 farewells to go to. So crazy, but so much fun.  I love listening to all the boys give their talks (and the food afterwards is pretty good too! (; )  I'm so proud of all of them for choosing to go serve a mission and teach the gospel for 2 years, they are going to be amazing and will have some powerful experiences.  Good luck on your missions boys!  

                                                          

All I Wanted Was A Car

Congratulations- You are now the proud owner of a brand new car!  

Ok, so not really, technically it's my family that is now a proud owner of a slightly used, new-to-us, lovely Honda Pilot.  But hey, still cool!  And not a moment too soon either.  Coming home from Logan this weekend was a bit of a struggle as our "unique" van decided to start leaking anti-freeze and overheating.  We only made it to Wellsville before we had to bag that whole track and call my dad to pick us up with the truck.  So all in all, the whole family's pretty happy with the new car- Mom because there's no more dealing with the van, Bradley because he may be getting a new car depending on what happens with the van, and the rest of us because we have a cool new car! 

In other exciting news I've found a new boyfriend :) His name is Aiden, he's very cute, sweet, and is infatuated with me.  He is down here at home so we only see each other on the weekends when I come home, but hey since that happens pretty much every week it isn't too tough on us.  It was really cute though the other week when I was getting ready to head out- as we're driving off he calls, "Melanie!"  and when I turn around and wave, he, with this adorably sad look on his face, says "Don't go..."  :(  So sweet!  Oh, and by the way, did I mention he's three?  Haha, so no I really don't have a new boyfriend but he does seem to think that I'm his new girlfriend!  He even told Bradley so just the other day ;) 

Other than that I haven't had too much excitement lately.  I've been trying to finish filling out all my forms for officially changing my major.  I've finally decided to go with Elementary Education with an emphasis in Library Media.  I'm hoping to be able to get into a lot of the classes for it in the fall so that I can get onto a track that will have me finishing in 3 years (so that in total I will have done the 4 year college thing).  However, that said there is still the typical bet going on about how long I will actually last in this major ;) (Just kidding)