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.