Did you say FREE?

These past two weeks have been full of some of the most stressful/busy days since I have moved here.

With finals, signing up/paying for classes for the summer, getting all the documents to apply for residency, getting medical records and shots for graduate school, making sure my taxes and residency documents were turned in on time, and applying and interviewing for a second jobs...a girl can get pretty overwhelmed. At that point I know when I am being blessed. It seems like after every extremely stressful day, something happened where I was reminded that life isn't ALL bad.

Some of those instances include...

1. Free Panda Express Meal with Kim and Julie
When Julie invited me to go to dinner with her and Kim at first I was torn....I am REALLY trying to save money...but when she said it was FREE i was all for it. They were doing this promotion for their new "surf and turf" meal and if you brought in a coupon, you got a free meal. And it was delicious....steak and shrimp...YUM!

2. Playing Basketball for the first time with AWESOME people
After Panda Express and Village Inn... a group of us (Julie, Kim, Mike, Devin, Kathleen, Me and Garrett) went back to the church building to play basketball. I have never played before and was really worried about making a fool of myself because as most of you know...hand-eye coordination was never really my thing...but everyone was so great about it. They explained the rules as we went along, they were obviously taking it easy on me when I had the ball...no one even tried to steal it from me and they encouraged me by passing the ball and cheering for me to shoot. There were even a few times where I would miss the shot and someone on my team OR the other team would hand the ball back to me and have me shoot it until I made it...SO NICE! I OBVIOUSLY need some practice...but that was pretty much an awesome first experience

3. "A" Day on Campus

I had an interview at The Kutting edge Salon on Friday and then I was going to meet with my friend Hailee from BYU-Idaho for lunch. ( it was so nice to catch up with her!) In between that time, Julie had invited me to meet up with her on campus for "A" Day...and I am SO happy I went. It was basically like a business fair...outside...with free stuff left and right. We walked from booth to booth to see what they offered. I got free food, free Free t-shirts, coupons to restaurants, and random free stuff like cups, pens, a stapler, etc. There was music and games to play and just a fun environment.

 Free Stuff!!!!

4. Riding a Mechanical Bull...for 11 seconds :)
This was probably my FAVORITE part of "A" Day....riding the mechanical bull. If you could stay on for more than 8 seconds you got a free T-shirt. Woohoo....and I stayed on for 11 seconds :)   Ive ridden a Mechanical Bull before but I only stayed on for like 4 seconds...so I felt so accomplished. haha

5. Rockband Party
This past week has been ESPECIALLY stressful...so having a Rockband party at the Wilkes house was a perfect outlet...there is just something about singing in a microphone that makes me unwind :)

6. Free Parachute, He is We, and The Ready Set Concert
Yeah...that's right....it was FREE! For students anyway.... The concert was part of the "End of the School Year Bash" that they had for students on campus... and it was SUCH a good concert! definitely one of my favorites. The only down side was that The Ready Set had to sing acoustic because their equipment was lost...but I think they still did pretty well considering.... :) 
It was perfect timing though because I had just taken one of my finals just hours before...so it was nice to just enjoy myself and relax...and dance.

 Students didn't get tickets because we got in free...so I took a picture of Kim's ticket :)

 Devin looks excited...Carson looks unsure...

The highlight was when Parachute sang one of my favorite songs "Kiss Me Slowly"

I couldn't contain my excitement when they started to play my favorite song!

Before the Concert, a group of us went out to eat at "Mo' Bettah" Because its Mo Bettah than anything else ;)
It was the first time I had ever been there and I really liked it. 

7.Campfire at Mike's Cabin
After the concert, Jessica and I went to Mike's cabin for campfire. It was nice to chill around the fire and converse with people from my ward. Have I told you how much I love my ward?

8. "Playing" Tennis

On Saturday after work, I went over to Jessica Smith and Skye's house. We went and "played" tennis. I haven't played since PE class in high school and I didn't even remember the rules. But it was fun playing with those girls. We also played other  games that involved tennis balls and rackets.  One of the games was like four square. Brings me back to elementary recess days :) After playing tennis we went out for frozen yogurt. YUM!

Other things that have happened recently...

Changing of the Bishopric

Last week at church we got a new Bishopric. I have such mixed emotions about it. I LOVED our last bishopric. Each of the men had such a different personality that they brought to the ward and we had such a good time together. I have only been in the ward since august so I didn't get to spend as much time with them as others in the ward but the time I did get was great! They certainly spoiled us with all of the resources and activities that we have had. And they dedicated a LOT of time to help us. They will be missed. But at the same time I am excited to get to know the new men that have been called. :)

 Brother Checketts, Bishop Wigington, and Brother Brenchley.... our old Bishopric...Love those men!

Getting Shots

So for grad school, since I will be working in the medical field...and working with children, I have to make sure I am up to date with ALL of my shots. Its been kind of hectic trying to get all of my medical records together and trying to find a new doctor here, but I did it. And I have already been to the doctor twice to get shots. I've never been afraid of needles but its not like getting shots is a pleasant experience. Although ..it is pretty awesome when they give you a cool band-aid...

So yeah, Life has been a little crazy. I have two more final exams this week and then next week starts the new semester. I will be taking 4 more classes, doing observation hours, and hopefully working 2 part time jobs (still waiting to here back from the places I have interviewed). This summer is going to be busy...and crazy...and I am SO looking forward to it! :)

After reading through this post...this is what I have learned about myself...I like Free stuff...always have...always will. It's even more exciting at this time in my life where I am EXTREMELY aware of my expenses. So when there is an opportunity for a free meal or free T-shirt...I am totally there! Also.. the people in my ward are great...I would be so bored and live like a hermit if it wasn't for them. Also...God is watching out for me. I'm not alone...he will remind me what happiness really is and what is truly important :)

Despite all the craziness...sometimes...I just really love my life.

The Week of Dates :)

So here I am...sitting in the Institute building at Utah State…waiting…

I just got out of Institute and I don’t want to go home because

 1. I have an interview at the fun park in an hour and I don’t want to drive home just to drive back 

and 2. My roommate’s mother made the most delicious cookies and they keep calling my name. Distance is a good thing right now J

So while I wait…I’ll blog J

Most of you have heard by now that I received my Acceptance to the Master’s program for Speech Pathology at The University of Utah. No one could have been more surprised that I was. It is really difficult to get into a speech pathology master’s program anywhere….and The University of Utah has a really good program…so I was expecting a rejection letter. Especially since it took them such a long time to get back to me. I mean I have a pretty good GPA and I did about average on the GRE but I thought that there was no way I would get accepted unless I went above and beyond. Plus they sent me the letter on April 1st. (April fools day) So at first I thought it may be a joke. A sick joke. It’s definitely a relief to not have to fill out any more applications or study to take the GRE again J 

The Thursday after I received my acceptance letter, my ward had a ward talent show. I felt guilty for not performing a talent when my FHE group had a small talent night about a month prior so I signed up. I had completely forgotten about it until the day of the talent show.  I ended up singing “Part of your world” from the Little Mermaid because I just so happened to know all the words from  my nanny-ing days when I would sing it every day for the little girls I nannied for.  Thank goodness for that or it would have been a little awkward…

That weekend was general conference and a small group from my ward had signed up to sing in a choir outside the conference center in Salt Lake City between the Saturday sessions. We sang hymns on the sidewalk trying to drown out the yells of the protestors. So many people came up to me and others in the choir thanking us for bringing the spirit and it made me smile as I watched people of all ages sing along as they walked by. It was truly an amazing experience!

 Me singing in front of the conference center :)

People from my ward  :)

Because we were in the choir, we got tickets for the Saturday afternoon session. So I was lucky enough to enjoy another beautiful session in the conference center where I could feel the spirit of gathering to listen to the words and counsel from the Prophet and his apostles.

There were so many wonderful talks! I think my favorite talk was given by Elder Holland on Sunday Afternoon tilted "Lord, I believe". Here is the link if you want to read it...it's SO good!

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/lord-i-believe?lang=eng

I love how he talks about how the Lord will help us to "know" what is true and gain a testimony, as long as we believe as much as we are able and turn to the Lord to help "our non belief". 

On Monday, My friends Jessica, Julie, Kim and I started “A Week of Dates”. We each asked a different guy to go on a date for each day of the week. It was Jessica’s brilliant idea and she planned most of it.

On Monday, we got together with our dates at my apartment after FHE and made Fruit Pizzas.

 Date 1 Fruit Pizza

On Tuesday, David and I went to his grandmother’s house to shoot BB guns ( and to shoot a bow and arrow). It was so fun! I was actually kind of good at it. It was such a creative and fun time. Later that night we had our “actual” date. All of the couples came over to my house again and we made pizzas and watched duck dynasty and played Scum ( the card game). I may be biased but I am pretty sure David and I made the BEST Pizza. It had stuffed crust and layers of toppings and was cooked to perfection. J

Date 2 Duck Dynasty and Pizza

On Wednesday, I picked my date (Sam) up and we drove to Logan Canyon where Mike’s cabin happens to be to have a camp fire. Sam and I got a little lost at first but we had pleasant conversation in the car so it wasn’t so bad. The campfire was great!  We made smores and roasted starbursts and drank hot chocolate and talked and talked. The weather was kind of chilly so we all huddled close to the fire and when we thought the fire was going to go out, my date, Sam, brought it back to life J

Date 3 Camp fire

Thursday and Friday I couldn't participate in the date nights because I was going to be out of town…

On Thursday I picked my dad up from the airport and drove him around Logan. I wanted him to see where I lived and why I love it here so much. We drove through campus, past the temple, visited my house and where I work. My dad and I went out for lunch at the Elements YUM! And then we drove to Rexburg because Katrina (my twin) was graduating from college and she and her husband needed help cleaning and moving their belongings.

One thing I have to say is that my parents raised me to work and to work hard. All the lifting and cleaning and scrubbing and packing tired me out but I never noticed until I stopped working. That night we all went to dinner at Costa Vida and just enjoyed one another’s company.

On Friday, we finished cleaning and packing and then went to lunch at Dairy Queen. Katrina and my nephew Carson drove back to Logan with me. My dad and Casey started their long journey to Ohio. The drive to Logan flew by because Katrina and I talked the whole way. I forgot how much I love being around my best friend J

Once we got to Logan, Kat and I got takeout from Elements and then went back to my place to eat. We gave my nephew a bath, put him to bed and then watched a movie and ate the chocolates that my dad had brought me from Ohio.

On Saturday I woke up at 4 am to drive Katrina and Carson to the airport. It was early but it was worth it to make sure that they got their safely. I was worried about Katrina because she had so much luggage…and Carson (who is a CUTIE but also quite a handful) AND she is SUPER pregnant. So I wanted to be able to help any way I could. The drive back to Logan was a little rough because I was pretty tired but I made it back in time to get ready for work. After work, I met up with Jessica and Julie and our dates for another day of the date week. We had a scavenger hunt. My date was Brent and neither of us are from cache valley so we tried our best to find the things on the list. Then we all met back together and had pizza from Little Caesars. The date was fun…even though I was exhausted. J Brent was a good sport about it though.

Date 4 Scavenger Hunt

Sunday was the LAST day of the week of dates. We met up with our dates at ward prayer and drove over to the Moore’s home to have a game night. We played Disney Scene it J All of us are at the age where Disney was our childhood, so we all had a really good time. Eric, my date was pretty boss at answering most of the questions. I was impressed.

Date 5 Game Night

So yeah, the week of dates was fun! The dates were simple and fun and I feel like I got to know a few guys in my ward a little better :)

As far as school goes, this semester is wrapping up. I am signing up for classes for the summer semester so that way ALL the prerequisites are finished before I start the grad program in the fall. No breaks for me! But that's okay.

Oh and I got a Utah Drivers License today...and registered to vote...so now its official :) Utah is my home.

When the Weather gets Warm...

The weather is getting warmer, the sun is shining, and life is good!

I finally got my gym membership to planet fitness and I LOVE IT! I also love the nice weather because that means I can go on more walks. I love love love going on walks! Something I'm pretty sure I get from my Momma ;)

The nice weather makes me feel optimistic. I feel like there is so much more to enjoy. It reminds me that summer is right around the corner and there is so much more of Cache Valley that I have yet to explore....so many new adventures ahead :)

Speaking of new adventures... I've had a few since I last posted!

Skye and I went on a lovely nature walk

Then she took me to Old Grist Mill for the first time.The food was delicious and had that homemade "country" feel :) Also, side note, a few days ago Jessica Kleven stopped by my work and brought me a cookie from Old Grist Mill...just because!   I really have the best kind of friends :)

Jessica and I also went on a few adventures....we went on a 3 mile walk one Sunday  went for a drive up Logan canyon another Sunday....and then went and explored trails around 2nd Dam another day!

My roommates Alivia and Maddy took me to Charlie's for my first Charlie's experience. They have delicious shakes. I think that was the first time in a LONG time where I couldn't finish my shake. weird right? It was really last minute...so I went in sweats, with no makeup on or anything. So the pictures are...interesting haha

The boys in our ward are amazing at basketball. They made it to the regional championships! We went to the last few games to cheer them on. For the LAST game, Julie, Kim, and Kathleen came over to my place to help Jessica Kleven and I decorate signs for the game. They had me kiss one of the signs...for good luck....we lost...

And I HAVE to mention the birthday parties!!!! Jessica Smith invited me over for dinner to celebrate Skye's birthday. Then we had a small party after dinner. The dinner was ABSOLUTELY delicious and very healthy!

I also went to Mike's birthday party. It was a surprise party. I'm not completely convinced that he was all that surprised, but there were SO many people there and the party was very well planned out. We had scrumptious authentic steak tacos....best taco I think I have EVER had...and then we played rock band :)

I also stepped out of my comfort zone and asked a boy out! And the date went really well! I had such a good time! We went to Pier 49 for pizza (my first experience there) went for a walk (something I have already admitted that I LOVE doing) and then went back to his house and played games with his younger siblings :)

On Thursday I went to Provo for an EFY interview. The interview process was interesting...we were all in a group and we had to pick a piece of paper from an envelope and then give a 3 minute lesson on that topic using scriptures or the for strength of youth pamphlet. It was kind of fun...

Since I was in Provo anyway I went to visit my old roommate Natasha who I haven't seen in exactly a year. Since graduation!!!! It was so great to catch up with her...we went to dinner at a place that is right around the corner from her apartment called "J Dawgs" It was pretty good :)

Then I went to visit my friend Philip from home. He and I got ice cream at Subzero and then went back to his super nice apartment where I got to meet one of his roommates who is a speech pathologist.I  thought that was pretty cool!! And it was just so nice to see Philip. He is such a good listener. I'm pretty sure I talked the whole time haha For some reason I always forget to get pictures with Philip...

On Friday I had to work, so I came back to Logan but after work I went back to Provo to spend time with Mary and Colton. We went to this fun place where we played lazer tag, mini golf and rode this fun little frog ride :)

On Saturday, Mary, Colton and I went to the Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork. This is the 3rd year I have gone but I still had fun...there is just something about getting colored chalk thrown at you...HAHA

Later Katrina Casey and Carson came to Provo and we all got to spend time together at the park, the movie theater and eating the yummy meals that Mary prepared (she is such a good cook!) I had to leave later that night because I was supposed to sing in sacrament for Easter the next morning

Speaking of singing in the sacrament, I sang with my ward choir. We sang All Creatures of our God and King and I had a solo on the third verse. I am a soprano and that song is pretty high, so i was kind of nervous that my voice would crack that early in the morning...so my voice was pretty shaky because of my nerves....maybe I was the only one that noticed....or maybe people are just too nice to say anything... :)

Easter was lovely! I didn't get candy, or an Easter basket... or even have an egg hunt...but the spirit was SO strong! I am so very grateful for my Savior and His love!
 Jessica Smith invited me over for Easter dinner with her family since I don't really have any family here. I just thought that was so nice of her! And her family made me feel so welcome :)


For all of those family members that are worried about me, I just want you to know that I love life! Sure, its been interesting living paycheck to paycheck... I've never been on such a tight budget in my life! and yes, working AND going to school full time has been somewhat difficult... but it is TOTALLY worth it. And even though I don't have any family here in Cache Valley to help "take care of me", I have a great ward and great friends. I know that this is where I am supposed to be and I am happy! That being said...I AM human...so every once in a while I might complain...just ignore me.... :) Love you!!!