Provo!

This past weekend Daniel was planning on going down to provo to visit some of his old roommates and go to a concert, so I decided to go along with him on the journey. There are all sorts of people in Provo....and I am a big fan on some of those people...so I decided to go visit. Plus Rexburg gets a little chilly in January and Provo is slightly less chilly. 

On the way there we took the scenic route through Logan and on the way there we even got to see the great city of Preston, Idaho, aka home of Napoleon Dynamite. It's a pretty hopping place, we were so excited to see the "cuttin curral" and the DI where napoleon buys a sweet tux. The city is exactly as old fashioned as it looks in the movies. All the store fronts were displaying an array of polyester dresses with very large should pads. Good times. Eventually we got to Logan which was pretty exciting. I had never been there before and the temple was gorgeous. But after our stop in Logan we finally drove all the way to Provo. 

I pretty much spent the weekend partying it up with Andrea, who I was staying with. During this last winter break I was barely able to see her, so it was nice to catch up and party. Saturday I hung out with Heather, Brooks, Jason, and his friend Brianna. I went out to lunch with Brooks and Heather and then went to the Creamery and mini-golf/ deal or no deal with the rest. It was a ton of fun, I hadn't seen Heather and Jason in over a year, and due to the fact that I practically lived with them every summer when I was younger, it was exciting to see them. I'm really hoping Heather's baby will come before I come back to provo for ballroom nationals in March. That would be so much fun. Later on on Saturday Andrea and a few friends went bowling on campus where I remembered how crappy I was at bowling! 

Sunday I went to Andrea's ward then went to visit my old roommate Mary. She made me some awesome scones! I think she should come back to Rexburg and be my roommate again, but apparently she has other plans in life. So it was pretty much an adventurous weekend. I of course forgot my camera so I have like no pictures. But I do have one picture of me at the cuttin curral...so I guess I'll just say this picture sums up my mini vacation. 

Battle of the Cookie...2009

Kensington 203 tonight had a showdown, a battle, a full out war....yes...it is just as you guessed. We had a chocolate chip cookie contest. The contestants were Lisa Rammell from Driggs, Idaho, Laura Schramm from Brigham City, Utah, Megan Street from Driggs, Idaho, and Jennifer Walsh from the great city of Federal Way, Washington. Blood sweat and tears were put into making these cookies. The games were interlaced with sabotage; missing oven mitts, verbal abuse, physical abuse, and any other kind of abuse that I have failed to mention.  The competition was intense, and after much bribing of the judges Lisa won the title of "best chocolate chip cookie". 

The Cookies

The Bakers/ Gangsters

Lisa and Megan.... apparently they are connected at the hip

Things got PRETTY brutal....Kinsey wasn't even a competitor...I don't understand

The Judges preparing for the competition

A perfect 10? RIGGED

4th Folder, 4th Picture

So I feel like a really big nerd...while I was looking at my edits posts I realized that I never posted this one. I know everyone else did it like a month ago, but I didn't want to feel left out...so...

...here is the 4th picture in my 4th folder!

This is a picture of my favorite people, at my favorite place, doing my favorite thing! 

Andrea and Melinda at Dash Point playing Rummikub and eating Cheetos! Life doesn't get much better than this! I wish I was there right now, and that is was summer, and so it wasn't freezing outside. I don't think there is anything in life I enjoy more than relaxing at the beach with my friends! 

I would tag people here...but I think everyone already did it...and if you haven't yet then here's your chance!

Reminiscing...

I still need to blog about all my adventures from this semester...but right now I feel like reminiscing about last semester. Last semester was pretty much AMAZING (I'm sure this next semester will be too) but we had so much fun roommate time! Kinsey took the time to type up our quote wall the other day. Most of these probably won't make any sense and will make you want to judge us harshly. But here they are anyway!

"It's probably really great, It's probably about frolicking and loving in the meadow." -Emmilie

"Aren't you going to do anything for his carnal pleasures?"- Mary

"Kinsey, I promise not to run my finger through your hair anymore!"- Emmilie

" You could go spelunking in my throat." -Emmilie

"Is that an invitation?"- Tyler

"You have to poo in a contact lense!"- Mary

"I love black comedy."- Jennifer

"And then I found out it was a felony"- Kinsey

"don't make out with a leper." -Mary

"Is there a PO box at Kensington?"- Kinsey

"Like that you can put mail into?"- Emmilie

"Yes"- Kinsey

"Like to be sent?"- Emmilie

"I get made fun of enough enough"- Mary

"I love myself even more than you"-Laura

"I don't know why, but with facial hair and a gun he looks hot."- Emmilie

"If your brother peed in my clothes so help me."- Mary

"What does milk taste like in Brazil?"- Kinsey

"Cow"- Jordan

"Do you want to feel my leg?"- Laura

"Of course! I don't usually get to feel girls' legs....ooo that's amazing!" -Tyler

"Come back and I'll massage your calves."- Emmilie

"I'd hug you but you're naked."- Kinsey

"If my coach asks, I did hill repeats....with weights."- Laura

"Did you?"- Kinsey

"Well I walked up the hill twice with my backpack"- Laura

"I'm gonna go inside and say the rosary because I'm going to become a nun."- Emmilie

"Conglomerate!"

As you may have noticed there are a couple male's on this list....no..BYU-Idaho has not gone crazy and allowed co-ed apartments....These are just our honorary roommates. Tyler is our FHE brother who would spend a ton of time at our house having guitar jams and telling crazy stories. Jordan is Kinsey's brother who also came over a lot....typically he would shoot us with nerf guns and dress up like old ladies...but we still like him. 

Basically I had the best roommates ever! They taught me so much! like Mary taught me how wash off my eye makeup before going to bed, and not to buy unnecessarily expensive toothpaste. Laura taught me how to go grocery shopping in general...cause honestly....I have no skill with that, and how to correctly judge a date. Kinsey taught me even more about Geology and laughed at my nerdy Geology Jokes! Emmilie taught me some great angry dance moves...I still practice them everyday! And Marie taught me to not be scared of scary puppet posters...I could even sleep through the WHOLE night without waking up from nightmares! 

All in all Fall semester was amazing and I hope this semester is just as awesome! 

Christmas....New Years...and everything in-between

This year has been far from my typical Christmas at home. Instead of staying home, my family spent Christmas in Medford with Linda's family, and then a family reunion in Logandale Nevada.....Here is how it all went down..

After a treacherous drive in the snow on Christmas Eve...

...my family arrived at Linda's house where she had a wonderful dinner waiting for us!

We got to spend a few days at Linda's....Including Christmas!

Eventually it was time to journey to Nevada for the family reunion.

The first stop of the trip was Virginia City...AKA the most haunted town in the west. 

kind of scary...

Dad and Daniel thought it would be a great idea to go to the graveyard at night....illegally if I might add

We spent the night in Reno.... not a whole lot happened there.

On the way to Logandale we drove through the extraterrestrial highway...

...this is the part where we were abducted by aliens

Eventually we made it to Logandale...The next day we decided to explore

We drove through The Valley of Fire

And took some pictures

lots...

...and lots....

... of pictures

Then it was time for Viva Las Vegas!

There tends to be a lot of people in Vegas on new years day....so after about an hour of traffic to get a parking spot we made it to the buffet at Circus Circus

We Drove down the strip and saw all sorts of fun things

The next day was the family reunion

I got to see a lot of family...so it was fun

Daniel got beat up by several small children... several times

Then we explored the valley some more...

....and climbed on some rocks

THE END

The strangest thing....

...people always seem to come over to visit the apartment at the strangest moments. Just a few examples; just now my roommate Mary, my neighbor Jenna, and I were recording a sweet improv song on the computer that was inspired by animal sounds (I used to have a band called "The Zookeepers" I just remembered how cool we were). Anyway...someone decides to walk in and bring my roommate some treats, as we are making some sweet animal sounds. Next example, Mary and I decided to make another fort today under the kitchen table (It's a really cool fort....there's christmas lights and paper snowflakes and everything!) but some people that I don't even know decide to walk in as Mary and I are under the kitchen table singing about Kwanaza. Last night my FHE brother, Tyler, decides to walk in right after Mary wrapped me up in bubblewrap (luckily Tyler is practically like one of my other roommates....so it wasn't too bad). The day before that then a few other people I don't really know decided to walk in while Mary and I were having our yoga session in the family room wearing stretch pants. Even though I get to have all these awkward moments everyday...it makes life WAY more entertaining..the end.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Since yesterday was St. Nicholas day then Adrian, Daniel, Laura, and Bobby all came over to my apartment for the traditional hot chocolate and windmill cookies. It was a lot of fun getting to continue the tradition that I have always grown up with. Bobby even said it was "...the first time I have ever felt the true spirit of the holidays". Apparently my apartment just brings the christmas season to life with our tiny christmas tree and Christmas music softly playing in the background. haha. But then my roommates left there shoes out next to the...TV (we don't have a fireplace)...and St. Nicholas came and brought us candy. It was VERY exciting

EXCITED!!!

Tomorrow I am going to class, packing, and then heading home to Washington for Thanksgiving break!!!! I can't wait!!!! Even though I am only going to be home for a week I have so many things that I want to do. Since I have lived in Washington my whole life then I really miss it when I am here in Rexburg. I can't wait to see the Puget Sound and Mount Rainier! Other than people of course, they are my favorite things about Washington. Here in Rexburg there is no water....not even the possibility of spending the afternoon at the beach, how dreadful is that? So even though the forecast calls for rain all week....that will be one of my main orders of business! Dash Point and Redondo....two of my favorite places of all time! And can't wait to see Mount Rainier...because as much as people rant and rave about the Tetons here....they just can't compare to the beauty and all around ultra-amazing-ness of Mount Rainier!

Also since I've been in the interior design program I have learned so much about what makes up "good design". There are so many amazing places so close to my house that I haven't taken advantage of. I just feel like being all artsy and going to museums and admiring architecture....I might not be able to get all the way up to Seattle, but there are several museums in Tacoma like 10 minutes from home. 

Even though I am excited to visit all the things in Washington...I mostly can't wait to see all the people! This is my first semester not living with someone from the FW (one of my roommates is from Puyallup...but that doesn't count), so I don't have that everyday connection back to home. (don't worry though...my roommates are still AMAZING!). So I can't wait to see my family and my friends....cause they all pretty much rock! Plus a VanderHoeven Machine Thanksgiving is something to wait all year for! I guess I'm just lucky that I was already born into the machine....it really ups my cool status by about 5 points. Anyway...I just wanted to share in my excitement since I should be home in approximately 30 or so hours! 

Lucky Number 8

I've been tagged!

8 favorite tv shows

1. The Office
2. What Not to Wear
3. Pushing Daisies
4. The Simpsons
5. Malcolm in the Middle
6. Phil of the future
7. Semi-homemade with Sandra Lee
8. The King of Queens

8 favorite restaurants

1. Olive Garden
2. Red Robin
3. Hans Burgers
4. Taco Bell
5. Arctic Circle
6. Tokyo's
7. Azteca
8. Highline Teriyaki

8 books I'd recommend

1. Twilight (the whole series)
2. Harry Potter (all of them)
3. any book by Mary Higgins Clark
5. The Book of Mormon
6. Oh the Places you go
7. The cat in the hat comes back (aka the first book I read)
8. babysitters club (not gonna lie....I think I read a couple of them this summer because they were conveniently placed next to my bed)

8 things that happened yesterday

1. Drove to Idaho Falls
2. went to the mall and partied it up
3. went to target
4. bought a pair of jeans, shoes, and leggings for under 12 dollars
5. Terrorized the guests at our apartment
6. made flashcards
7. sang all sorts of songs with Mary
8. tucked mary into her bed and told her a bedtime story

8 things to look forward to

1. Thanksgiving Break
2. roadtrip?
3. Twilight movie!
4. hanging out with all the cool kids
5. tacoma (I really want to go to the glass mueum...mom? dad? anyone?)
6. Dash Point and Redondo
7. Graduating in 4 years :(
8. DINNER!

8 things on my wish list

1. school supplies
2. a tape measure
3. nerf gun refills
4. good winter shoes
5. a blowdryer and straightner that work
6. my very own house
7. my very own car
8. and of course my very own island

8 things I love about fall
1. the fall leaves
2. hot chocolate
3. coats
4. school
5. thanksgiving
6. shoe wars
7. my birthday
8. new tv episodes

8 people I tag

1. mom
2. Daniel
3. Adrian
4. Linda
5. Jamie
6. Jacki
7. valerie
8. Pam