halloween.

while you're in college you never make plans. you never know what you are going to do over the weekend, or when you are going to get things done. you just kind of go with the flow, and do things when you have time, and go places when you feel like it, and that is part of the fun of college! well, this was not how it happened for halloween. since about the third week of school steph, jared and i have been discussing our halloween plans. we knew what we were going to do. and it was going to be amazing. we decided that the thing to do for halloween was make carmel apples! now, i have never made carmel apples before, and so i thought that this sounded like a lot of fun! we have been planning since then, we have had the carmel for about a month and have been counting down the days until our fun carmel apples experience! so today was the day. jared came over and we (he, steph and i) went to the store to pick up some nice apples and then we went back to the apartment and started!! we werent really sure what we were doing but we had fun seeing who could unwrap the carmels the fastest, and who could shoot them into the pan from the farthest away, and who could hit someone else the most times, you get the picture. it was really fun. then we simmered up the carmel and began the dipping. im pretty sure we didnt put enough water in with the carmel because it was really thick and made very thick carmel on the apples, but that was ok with us! jill decided that she wanted to put some nerds on one, and then jared made one with skittles for kate since she was gone home for the weekend.

after that we just watched a movie and had fun and our friend lauren came over and jills boyfriend craig and his roommate eric, and we just had a blast being silly. it was definitely one of the best halloweens ever! (especially since i didnt have to wear a costume!!!).

scripture of the day:

Jacob 6:5 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, i beseech of you in words of soberness that ye would repent and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you. And while his arm of mercy is extended towards you in the light of the day, harden not your hearts.

today i am thankful for:

* carmel and apples, and the deliciousness of putting the two together to make carmel apples!

* friends and roommates who you can just chill with and still have the best night ever!

* "scary" movies to watch on halloween.

* lauren, and the fact that she is as crazy as i am and played dress up with me, and wore her red lipstick and made me wear it too!

* jared, and his ability to always make me laugh, even if i turn away when i do!

* stephanie, and the fact that she doesnt like scary movies any more than i do so that i never have to see anything too scary, unless ambushed!

* jill, and the fact that she is always happy, and makes everyone else around her happy too! (and jill kisses!!)

* nessa, and her silly sense of humor and her wonderful sense of eyeshadow style!

* craig and eric, who come over and act like children(playful), and it is hilarious!

* great nights with great people!

<3.

pima tacos.

well, today was the day i decided to show off my native skills. i broke out the frying pan and made the dough. and surprisingly enough, it was good dough, i didnt need a rolling pin to make the fry bread, i did it all by hand! ha! i really am native. then i started frying them up in the oil and i got out the hamburger and made sure the beans were cooking well in the crock-pot. i cooked everything up and made each of my roommates taste what they had been missing. it was each of their first pima tacos! i was surprised, i thought that at least those from las vegas and san diego would have some idea what i was talking about, but they didnt. but they were good. the beans could have been cooked just a little longer, but all in all, they were delicious, and i showed my true colors.

scripture of the day:

Moses 5:8 Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.

today i am thankful for:

* roommates who think it is the coolest thing in the world that i am native and know how to cook native food.

* sundays and being able to go to church and relax.

* my calling and all that it has taught me.

* my glasses, and the ability they give me to see.

<3.

corn maze.

tonight we (jared, kate, nessa, shalene, stephanie, and i) were sitting at our apartment trying to figure out what fun thing we could do to entertain ourselves. some people wanted to go to doctor slaughters house of horror. but some did not. some wanted to watch a movie, some did not. some did not care, some did. it was crazy. finally someone mentioned the corn maze, and one by one everyone agreed that, yes, the corn maze was going to be the nights activity. so we all piled into my car

and left. the corn maze was just outside of town in a different town, rigby. we drove the 15 minutes, singing really loudly to music, mainly miley cyrus, haha. jared was my co-pilot and it was his job to make sure we did not get lost, but we did get lost, but only a little bit lost and we were able to quickly turn around and find our way to the a"maze"ing trails corn maze.

once we saw the corn maze rules we werent sure we still wanted to be there,

but we finally decided that we would be able to abide by the rules, or at least not get caught. and so we payed our 2 dollar admission and got in. as we headed in all we could see was lots and lots of corn stalks.

we were not afraid though! mainly because it is rigby idaho, what could happen?? and we walked around for a little bit, threw a little corn, shhh, dont tell. and then we decided that the thing to do in a corn maze was play hide and go seek. and so we did. and that was fun. but then people got lost, and it got a little hectic, and steph had to go to the bathroom real bad and so we decided our fun was over for the night, but mind you our fun lasted about an hour or more. so we had quite a bit of fun. then we got some dominoes pizza and came home ate it and watched a movie. it was a great night!

scripture of the day:

2 Nephi 32:8 And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.

today i am thankful for:

* corn mazes, and the entertainment that they give us.

* my amazing driving skills that scare people, but allow us to actually be safer than they think.

* roommates, who are as rebellious as i, and think it is funny to throw corn, even if it is against the rules.

* saturday nights that are fun and still make it possible for me to be worthy to partake of the sacrament the following sunday.

<3.

f-cookies.

just a short one real quick. today f-cookies were awarded to myself. and so i got to see first hand that f-products really do help when you arent prepared to fail. zoology is obviously not my forté, there are too many crazy long words and it just doesnt stick like i think it should. but so yes, today i got, my first, and hopefully last, f-product.

scripture of the day:

1 Nephi 3:6 Therefore go, my son, and thou shalt be favored of the Lord, because thou hast not murmured.

today i am thankful for:

* roommates who pick up the slack when i am the one who needs cheered up.

* f-cookies.

<3.

decorating.

for the last 4 weeks my roommates and i have had a daily conversation about how we needed to decorate our living room because it was so drab. 4 weeks ago we put up an iron man poster, and made a poster of all of us at the apartment, plus jared and lauren, and that was all the decoration we have had for the last 4 weeks. well, tonight as we were sitting in our living room, once again talking about the need to decorate kate and i decided that we could put it off no longer! so we got up and headed to wally world (walmart). we got there with a plan in mind, and it was sure to be the most amazing decorating job this side of the equator. we raced all over wally world picking up the necessary items and headed home. as soon as we got home we started our decorating. some of our roomies thought we were crazy, some thought we were genius. i agree with those who thought we were genius. and by the time we were finished, we had this:

it has had more added to it since then but this is the very first rough sketch of our new decorating plan, now when people come over they see both lovely decoration and get some entertainment by drawing on our "wall." we think it is fun and enjoy doodling things when we get bored.

scripture of the day:

1 Thessalonians 5:14-23 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

today i am thankful for:

* wally world and all of the things that i can get there.

* people who enjoy fun.

* roommates who arent obsessed with appearance and making our apartment look perfect and polished.

* blankets that keep me warm at night.

<3.

asian day.

today when i got home from school my roomie shalene asked me if i would like to go to the store with her to get stuff to make egg rolls. i said i would and declared it asian day. we went to albertsons and got everything we needed except for the egg roll wrappers. we looked everywhere, (or just on the asian aisle) and could not find them! so we decided to ask a workers for their help. however, we couldnt seem to find a worker, so finally i went to the bakery and asked the lovely lady there. at first she thought i said cake roll wrappers and looked at me like i was a wackadoo who should be in the looney bin, but as i restated the question she seemed confident that she knew exactly where to take us to find egg roll wrappers. you guessed it, the asian aisle. well, she too had no luck finding them on the asian aisle and proceeded to tell us how they were always out of egg roll wrappers and she could never find them! so we bought everything else we needed and headed over to broulims. the local family owned supermarket. when we got there we headed straight for the asian aisle, but ran into more misfortune when we found no egg roll wrappers. but there was a worker just a little up the aisle and so we went and asked her if she knew where we could find egg roll wrappers. she too seemed very confident and said, "of course, they are over in the produce section by the bagged salads." now it was our turn to look at her like she was a wackadoo who should be in the looney bin. but she seems so confident that we decided to take a whirl over to the produce section and ... sure enough, right above the bagged salads were the egg roll wrappers we were looking for. well, it was then that i spotted the vegetable sushi, and seeing it was asian day, decided to buy them and have my first go at sushi. so we bought the egg roll wrappers, and the sushi and came home. as soon as we got home we broke out the sushi and gave it a go.

i have left out the picture of me looking like i am going to throw up and running to the trash can. turns out, i do not, whatsoever, like sushi. it was really gross. and that almost ended asian day for me, but i decided to give asian day one more try when shalene finished her egg rolls and offered me one, and i was glad i did! it was so good! it was a fun asian day, and i learned something very important, sushi = bad, egg rolls = good.

scripture of the day:

Mormon 9:27 O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need. Doubt not, but be believing, and being as in times of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him.

today i am thankful for:

* roommates who push me to try new things, even though sometimes i dont end up liking them, because sometimes i do end up liking them!

* time to spend with people who make me laugh.

* the blessing of being able to go to school at BYU-I.

<3.

f-cake.

the other day, as my roomie steph came home from taking a test that she had study forever for i noticed that she was rather depressed. as i came back to her room to ask her what was wrong she informed me that not only had so not gotten the grade she had hoped for on the test, she had completely failed it. it seemed strange to me that even though so much effort was put into preparing for the test that she could fail it. it was also really hard for me to see her so upset when i knew that she had studied so long and hard for this test, and had deserved a much better grade then the one she had gotten. it was then that i decided, no one should have to be so depressed because of failing a test, when they know the stuff, because they studied it for so long. and so i decided that, when one of my roommates prepares for a test, and studies, and tries, and does everything in their power that they can do to pass that test, but fails it, i was going to help make them feel better by making them something special. well, for the last week my roomie nessa, (her name is vanessa, but she has given me special permission to call her nessa, because i am amazing), has been studying for a math test, every time i have gone in her room there she is, sitting with her math book, homework, and notes, studying, and practicing everything the test would go over. as she left to take her test i was confident that there was no way she could possibly fail it, she had been working so diligently and hard. well, an hour or two later, in walks nessa, and i can automatically tell things must not have gone as well as planned. so i ask, "how was it." to which nessa responds, "i failed." she sounded so exasperated, and just confused, i think she was thinking the same thing as me, "HOW?" how is it possible that she could have worked so hard, and yet still failed. so i told her i was sorry, went and rounded up my other roomies kate and stephanie and we headed off to the store. we returned and nessa was sitting on the couch. the three of us shuffled into the kitchen and prepared the surprise for nessa. f-cake.

as we took it to her the three of us sang, "happy f-cake to you, happy f-cake to you, happy f-cake dear nessa, happy f-cake to you." she was laughing and gladly took the f-cake that was offered to her, and she was a lot happier after that.

it was so fun getting to help her out, especially when i knew she had worked so hard and had gotten so disappointed. she loved the cake and now we have a new tradition in our apartment. it was such a crazy and weird thing to do, but it really brought us all a lot closer to each other and was so fun!

scripture of the day:

D&C 75:3-5 Behold, I say unto you that it is my will that you should go forth and not tarry, neither be idle but labor with your might - Lifting up your voices as with the sound of a trump, proclaiming the truth according to the revelations and commandments which I have given you. And thus, if ye are faithful ye shall be laden with many sheaves, and crowned with honor, and glory, and immortality, and eternal life.

today i am grateful for:

* crazy ideas that make people feel better about themselves.

* roommates that are as weird and fun as i am.

* the knowledge that i have that the only test i REALLY need to pass is in life is not going to come for quite a while longer, and the fact that i know that if i study, and try my hardest and do my best, that i will not be able to fail, and that any lack i have will be made up for.

* scriptures.

<3.

first snow.

for the last couple of days everyone has been talking about how it is supposed to snow, so i guess i cant really say i was surprised when i woke up to this:

although, i was still a little surprised. snow has always been something almost like a fantasy to me, i mean, i have seen snow before in my life, and i have definitely heard about snow, but i have never walked out my door to head to class in the morning to find that everything i could see was covered in a blanket of fresh white snow. i was a little scared, and walked about 12 times slower than i normally walk, to make sure that i didnt fall on my face, or my butt. and i drove just a little bit more cautiously to make sure i had time to stop without hitting things, and people. and i was a little afraid that by the end of the day i would have decided to pack up my things and head home right then and there, but as the day went on i found that, not only did i not really mind the snow, i actually quite liked it!! there is just such a beauty to the earth and its surroundings when you look at it and everything you see just twinkles. i never knew that snow twinkled before, it is so amazing. it was a great day, but apparently, a miss fire. i am sure it will snow again one day, and i hope that when that day comes i still like it as much as i did today!

scripture of the day:

Ephesians 5:9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)

today i am thankful for:

* the thought God put into making a world that was changing and beautiful.

* the fact that i liked the snow.

* alarm clocks that help me wake up on time so that i can make it to my 745 am class.

* a car (yes again) that allows me to not have to walk to school in the snow, because i dont think i would like it nearly as much as i do if i had to walk up and down a hill in it.

<3.

general conference.

this weekend my roommate kate invited my other roommate stephanie and i to come down to General Conference with her.

her grandpa is in the quorum of the seventy, and so he gets about 6 tickets to each session. so we went down to salt lake friday night, and stayed at "grandpa dickson's" house. it was so much fun. we got to meet grandpa dickson and his wife as soon as we got there, it was so amazing to meet a member of the seventy. then we played apples to apples with kate and her mom and aunt. we had a great time. then we went down to where we were staying, (they had a basement house), and we watched while you were sleeping and talked and stayed up late, it was a blast!! the next morning we woke up and watched the first session of conference with kate's family and had toast. then after conference we had roll sandwiches and frog eye salad. haha. it was good, no frog eyes were actually in it. then kate, stephanie, jane (kate's little sister) and i got ready to go to the second session down at the conference center. it was jane's first time going to conference because she just barely turned 8, and it was cute to see how excited she was about finally being able to go to conference! we left and got there and we got to park under the church office buildings, which was way cool, and then once we got inside i realized where we were sitting, and i was so excited.

now if you couldnt tell by the pictures i provided, we were on the plaza level, in section 6, we sat a little less than half way up the section. i could have literally punted a football to President Monson. it was one of the most amazing experiences getting to be that close to the Prophet and Apostles of the Lord as they shared new revelation and testimonies to us. it was such a powerful and wonderful experience, and i was so grateful to be there, and so grateful that kate invited us to come with her. after conference was over we went over and walked around Temple Square. i found Sister Zarate, and got to talk to her for a while, and stephanie found her friend tatiana from back home and got to talk to her for a while, and then right as we were leaving steph looks to my right and says, "uh, i think thats for you." and i when i turn i see my old roomie caitlyn running at me. it was a great surprise. it was weird to be there with tania (Sister Zarate) and caitlyn. it seemed like it had been forever since the three of us were all together. it was great. then we went back to kate's grandparents house and we talked for a bit, got our things together and left to come back to rexburg. it was a great little vacation and a wonderful experience!!

scripture of the day:

Deuteronomy 30:9-10 And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers: If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

today i am thankful for:

* the gift that we have of being able to have a Prophet of the Lord at the head of the true Church to lead and guide us in our lives, and the ability we have to hear His council during General Conference.

* time to take little vacations that help people, who didnt even know each other two weeks early, grow closer and form greater bonds of friendship.

* a car that helps me get around a tiny town or to a city 4 hours away.

* faithful servants of the Lord who are willing to serve others by letting them stay at their house.

<3.