It's been a while

Well it's been a while...over a year in fact. Woops. Oh well, I'm back and I'm going to try and be a better blogger!
So an update; I finished up my sophomore year at BYU-I. Fun fun fun. Productive? Yes. Did I learn a lot? YES. Still a little ify (spelling?) on a career choice though. I did decided however that I'm going into communications rather than staying in health science. There's still a lot to figure out, and I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do. But after a lot of prayer and time spent going through options, I feel that that's the direction I'm supposed to head towards so here I go.

I've been home for the summer apart from going to southern california for a couple weeks to see various friends and be a bridesmaid at my roommates wedding. Exciting! It was one of the greatest vacations I've had in such a long time. I'm so grateful for my friends, I've been so blessed to have so many that have been such a treasure to me over the years. :)

Any who next weekend I head out to Provo for my very first EFY session as a COUNSELOR!!!!! I CANNOT WAIT! This has been a dream of mine ever since I found out that one could even apply to be a counselor! Ahhhhh :) I have 8 different sessions (weeks) in Provo, Logan, Tacoma and Rexburg this summer. I'm so excited!!  I pray that the Lord will help me to be the best counselor I can be. I cannot wait to work with the youth!  Just 12 more days! I can't wait for all of the amazing experiences that I'm going to have. I always loved attending EFY as a participant but as a counselor I can't even imagine how cool it's going to be. To be able to help those teens have their testimonies strengthened and help them as they strive to come unto Christ, there's nothing I'd rather be doing this summer.

Feverishly Freezing February!

The weather today is sunny with blue skies-not normal weather for Rexburg lately or so it seems. About a week ago I was walking to my 7:45 Book of Mormon class, it was 6 degrees, 6!!!!! And of course the night before it was -12? Fahrenheit not Celsius might I add! The semester has been fun as usual, it's rough with the frigid temperatures though. Sometimes it's so misleading because it will be a little sunny but still so cold where it's super uncomfortable to be outside. It makes me miss the fall season here and I miss the green! Everything is white or brown (dirty snow). But I still am enjoying myself here at Ricks! My dad came to visit a couple weekends ago so it was really fun to see him and spend time with him. We went up skiing to Grand Targhee and went out to dinner at Bajio's (it's like Cafe Rio). This last weekend I went down to Utah with Loren and his friends to hang out with some friends of ours and to watch a ski competition in Park City-it was sweet! And last night I had Sushi for the first time since I've been here at school WAHOO! YAY!!!! it was so good. I love Sushi. :))))) Anyways, just a quick update.

As the semester comes to a close...

Well it's December and I am a wee bit ashamed that I only posted one blog entry of my college experience thus far. However I am here next semester so I suppose I will make a New Year's resolution of some sort to post at least once a month. You just get so darn busy and forget to post stuff so people can see and hear about what's going on here in little Rexburg ID. Well I think in short, I'll just say that my college experience has been amazing so far. I couldn't have asked for better roommates and friends that I've met here. The weekly devotionals and firesides and other spiritual events that are always happening have been such a great motivation to me as well. My testimony has grown so much and I felt as if I have been strengthened both mentally and physically since I've been here. It's been such a privilege to attend one of The Lord's universities. I'm so grateful that I chose to attend this school and set goals while being here that have enriched my experience. Finals are coming up this week so I've been getting geared up for that, hopefully I'll be successful! Here are some pictures of other fun times I've had here at "The I" :)

Jace, Eric, Spencer, Me, Logan and Curtis after church

Flour fight in the apartment

Going exploring in the caves with Jameson, Alex and my cousin Jessica
Parker and I before his ROTC ball

Loren and I at October General Conference!

My roommate Mary and myself
Cool masks I found in my roomie's drawer BAHAHA!
Clay, me Ryan, and Jared
Amanda my roomie :)

BYU Idaho is amazing!!!!

College days at BYU-I

Well I'm here in my dorm room in Lamprecht Hall at BYUI! This place is basically flipping sweet, college has been more than what I ever hoped for. The atmosphere, the people, the location it's all so amazing! It truly is privilege to be here and I cannot wait to see what else this place has to offer. I've met so many cool people and finally am enjoying being surrounded by such good friends on all fronts! My classes are totally sweet especially my Book of Mormon class. The teachers here are all pretty awesome from what I've heard from other students so I'm pretty much loving it. And I'm the activities co-chair in my ward (basically me and another guy plan everything for the ward) WHICH IS AWESOME! School's good, life's good and the church is true. Enough said! :)

As Summer winds down, It's time to reflect

Well summer's almost over and I've got to say it's sure been a blast. After EFY I was able to spend some time with my mom's and Jennifer's side of the family for some reunions in Utah. It was so much fun and since it was extended family as well, I met/reconnected with quite a few people. I really enjoyed my mom's side of the reunion for starters because her side rarely has them and secondly It's fun to learn about your family...deeper history going back to great great grandparents/uncles/aunts etc. I just find that interesting especially because that's your own flesh and blood to put it bluntly. Anyways along with that reunion I spent a few days at BYU's campus visiting my cousin/best friend Jessica who is my age while she was taking summer classes there at BYU. We had so much fun, and I went with her to a couple of her classes one of them being A Book of Mormon class and oh my GOSH IT WAS SO COOL! I'm so excited and glad that I'm going to take that class this fall! What anyways spiritual uplift! But anyways, after Utah our family met back up in Washington where I spent some time with my mom and said goodbye to a few friends before heading back down to California where we've been the remainder of the summer.

Soon my older brother and I will leave to head up to BYU Idaho! A lot of my friends and some family members have left for their school's and it seems that good ole' Ricks is the last school to start...HURRY UP ALREADY! Ya I'm pretty anxious. I've already met my room mates via internet (ha welcome to 2010) and they all seem like super nice girls. And I know it sounds kind of cheesey but I am so excited to make new friends! :) So I guess I already have 3 right here thanks to these girls, It'll be awesome to get to know them and...well, live with girls. Growing up with no sisters has certainly defined a way of living and so I know this is going to be totally foreign to me, but it's going to be awesome! But for college in general I'm pretty excited, but in all honesty I'm rather nervous too. For some reason college just sounds intimidating but I think this transition is just foreign to me, since I've been in the same place the last 4 years and kind of knew how everything was going to play out. But now I'm at a pivotal point in my life...I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for me. What kind of career I end up pursuing or if I end up serving a mission-which I really hope to do or even MARRIAGE!? But I'm just going to try and focus on "Right here, Right now". Packing/sorting through my things, and taking a lot of time to reflect on my thoughts and feelings right now because well, beginning september 4th, a new stage of my life is about to unfold.

The final "Especially For Youth"...AKA: EFY!

AH it's done, it's over, it's never coming back :( EFY...yes I am in mourning that I shall never be returning to EFY as a participant. But as a counselor? Well that is a possibility but you have to be at least 20 years old so that's a while from now.

So yes this last week July 5-10 was my last EFY session. This year I attended Tacoma session 2 which is hosted at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma (go figure). To sum up the week with a few words I shall use the following; EXTREMELY HOT (we're talking 90's people!), spiritual, fun, tiring, exciting, moving, and of course very rewarding. This was my 5th and last year and all I can say is, I'm glad that I went. I've always taken something from each EFY session and this year I did just that. I've made several goals and have gained a lot of insight that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I'm so grateful for CES programs such as these. I know that growing up in the church and attending these sort of programs have helped me in so many ways. WE ARE SO BLESSED :)

The theme this year was based off of Joshua 1:9 which reads: "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed:For the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest". So I really liked that verse and enjoyed having that as our main schpeal. This EFY was pretty special because (besides it being my last session) I was at the same session with 2 of my brothers Loren and Geoffrey! Loren was a returning counselor (he's 22) and Geoffrey was coming back for his second year at Tacoma in a row. So that was a lot of fun spending time with them and seeing the looks on people's faces when we filled them in that we in fact were siblings haha. Geoffrey played his EFY remixed song in the talent show too, and that was pretty funny. My counselors were both totally well rounded and just awesome. They both were super super fun and yet they knew when it was time to get down to business and be serious, they both have such strong testimonies and were great examples. Spending time with them really motivated my desire to be an EFY counselor when the time comes. I would love to work with the youth and have fun but also have spiritual experiences and LEARN about our gospel principles!!!

I was also quite quite quite lucky to have had some friends at this session. The last 3 years I've gone by myself to EFY, as in no room mate and no friends that we're meeting up with me at the session. So this was quite a change for me having friends and people that I knew at this session. Besides my siblings, Kurt, Kyle, Alice, Greg and Nathan were all there as well. I'm so grateful that they were all there. It made such a huge difference and we all had so much fun together. Nathan and I spent most of the week together with the free time we had because we decided to participate in the Musical Program on thursday night which required missing free time to practice singing. Yes it was a sacrifice but it was SO WORTH IT! The spirit was so strong when we performed and even though it was super hot (beads of sweat going down my back!!) I really didn't notice once we started singing and I felt so content. I love that feeling of peace we get from the Spirit comforting us. I can say that that happened to me multiple times this last week. And I hope to continue feeling that, not just at EFY. The Dances were awesome and the food was fantastic (Tacoma has the best food FYI, or at least better than Rexburg and Santa Barbara sessions). Oh and our company which was called "That You May" WON THE CHEER OFF for the wednesday night game/cheer night! I have never been in a company that's won before. So we were quite proud! I loved my company, we were all super close and I'm so glad for that unity we had.

I think my highlights of EFY this year were: Brother Morgan (our session director) telling us on day 1 to BE HERE at EFY-as in forget about stuff going on at home or on facebook or who's texting you. But to just really get involved, pay attention and get the most out of EFY. So to do my part I left my phone in my dorm every day and only looked at it before I went to bed each night. It doesn't sound like a big deal but it made a huge difference for me. When I came back to my dorm monday night I had 8 texts and 2 missed calls! So I decided that I need to cut down on how much time I spend on my phone and even facebook etc.
Another highlight was testimony meeting (thursday night) not much to say about that except that I love hearing other people's testimonies because it's so reassuring and they totally strengthen mine too. And I love how spiritual that night always is, it's always really reflective for me personally, and I love it. My last highlight is that I have an amazing friend Nathan who I became a lot closer with this session. It was his first time going and when we found out we were going to the same session a few months ago I couldn't believe it! It was so much fun showing him the ropes and being there when he was going for the first time. My first time attending EFY made a huge impression on me (as it does for most rookies) so I was grateful to be somewhat of a mentor to him. We certainly had quite a fun time together and I'm so glad because we both had a lot of fun with our group of friends we hung out with and made a lot of people laugh. I think that's one of the best qualities about him and I. Plus we got half of the people there thinking that we were actual blood related cousins, bahaha some people thought we even looked alike? oh goodness. He is awesome though, I pretty much consider him my long lost brother!

So all in all, EFY was a blast and I can now say that I went all 5 years and am an official EFY FANATIC :) I love being MORMON!!

Last day in California...don't worry I'll be back in a week ;)

Santa Cruz Wharf-with the Boardwalk behind me

Yes that's right, I'm finally leaving! But like the title states; I'm returning once again. My dad and I fly out of Oakland tomorrow (I'll be looking for the temple as we take off) back home to Washington. I'll be spending the 4th of July weekend with family and catching up with some friends so I don't think we have any special plans (I'm kind of bummed that the 4th is on a Sunday this year). Then Monday morning I'm driving my little brother Geoffrey and myself down to Tacoma for EFY (Especially For Youth) session 2! I'm super excited! Loren is going to be a counselor along with his roommate/pal Kurt so I'm hoping that maybe, maybe, maybe I might possibly get one of them as a counselor (it's random selection). Along with that hope, I'm always hoping for a friendly, nice, and not socially awkward roommate (since I'm going by myself). Not that I'll complain if that doesn't happen, but it would sure make my last year at EFY a more enjoyable experience. This will in fact be my 5th and final year at EFY. I've been very blessed to be able to go all 5 years (it can be pricey!!) but I'm a sucker for EFY, if you have kids 14-18 you have to send them off to a session at least one time. The experience is incredible and such a great spiritual uplift, it really truly is. So anyways after EFY I fly back to California and will be here for a another couple weeks until we head off to Utah for Family reunions...enough about that though.

So Lately?... Well I should basically say nothing much has changed since I've been here in the bay area...a quick update of events: I've gone to church at 3 different wards, I've gotten sunburnt multiple times (my poor nose especially), I've gotten much better at beach volleyball but still cannot skim board or at least skim board without EATING SAND HARDCORE!, I've been enjoying my own personal soundtrack of this 2010 summer by listening to mix that my cousin burned for me (thanks taylor!), I enjoyed my annual trip to the Santa Cruz boardwalk riding rides and ate a chocolate caramel candy apple that I've been craving since our last visit, I saw the midnight showing of the 3rd part of the Twilight Saga: Eclipse-this was a last minute thing I SWEAR! (but I still had fun) besides the fact that I got home at 2:45 that night-or should I say MORNING, I've eaten dinner on the Santa Cruz wharf, At my Uncle's house-I've cleaned table saw's/hauled plywood/scratched grout/cleaned tile/done a ton of laundry/watched Nacho Libre and baked a Cherry Chip birthday cake-YUMMO! and last but certainly not least; I received my first (and hopefully last) towing fee at a whopping $312 yes....it's true :(

I'll end my blog entry with this VERY VERY VERY unfortunate tale.
So as I stated earlier, I've been playing a lot of beach volleyball lately. My cousin Zack is my age and we hang out with his friends and play quite often. So we play at the beach and next to it lies a road which now I know is called Beach Drive. Along this road are two sidewalks one (each side and one) of them you cannot park on at all. The other you can but only in the green painted zones. Along this same side however are beach houses that have driveways. Well my cousin Zack and even his parents have parked in this one particular driveway because the woman that owns the house is apparently never home (it's her vacation spot). So one day when I have a few hours with nothing going on I decided it'd be fun to take a walk on the beach for a while. So I drove down to this driveway (yes Zack assured me I could park there because he always does and nothing's ever happened) and I parked my car there. I decided since I'd be in sand the whole time that I'd leave my shoes in the car. So I locked it, and started walking down the beach. Basically I was gone for about 4 hours, walking, laying out, and wading in the frigid water. But I wasn't anywhere near the volleyball courts/my car. Eventually I walked back to where I thought I had parked and I saw that my bug wasn't in the driveway. Before freaking out, I thought oh, wrong house I guess and I walked down about half a block to a house that was the same color (an ugly faded peach might I add BLEH) but that driveway was empty too and it didn't look familiar at all. So yes, I realized that my car was gone. And I felt my heart sink, obviously I thought it was stolen. I was under the impression that if your car was towed that there would be some sort of note or flyer left out stating that your car was towed haha it sounds stupid but I figured towing company's could do that! But maybe it should be obvious enough that if you park illegally then your car will be towed, ANYWAYS... So I called Zack and asked him if his car had ever been moved or taken because mine was gone (I couldn't believe how calm I sounded on the phone...I wanted to cry I was terrified-mainly because I thought "oh man, dad's going to have a Kaniption when he hears about this". He told me to call 911 and report the car being stolen or possibly towed. So after calling my dad and letting him know I did just that. The officer asked me a few questions (I sounded like a total idiot on the phone might I add-I couldn't believe this was happening to me! (oh and I was barefoot too since I left my shoes in the car GOOD ONE KENZ!). The officer asked me what street I was on and I all I could tell him was that I was right next to Rio Del Mar beach and he said he needed the street name so I walked to the neighbors house and before I could even ask them they said "Oh are you the girl with the red bug?"....and so these neighbors told me that the woman that lived at the ugly peach house did in fact return and wanted my car out of her driveway. So they looked for me and asked kids around the volleyball courts if they owned a red bug and if I would've been right there I would've been able to move it, no ticket, nothing (apparently the lady is merciful to an extent). So after an hour or so she called the police-who came by and checked to get info about the car and filled out a report etc. and then from there she called the tow company. So the tow itself was around $200 and because a cop was involved the price went up so therefor the final price was $312. My dad covered it and now I've been working it off for him. So I learned my lesson, don't park illegally EVER...Or at least, be close to your car if parking illegally :)



My cousins Zack, Josh and Riggs and me in the middle hanging out at the beach in Aptos
Rio Del Mar Beach
Walking to the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz

Hanging out at the Boardwalk