Date Weekend

Hello Everyone. I would like to introduce a friend of mine. His name is Trevor. Say hello to Trevor.

(Did I creep his facebook and steal this picture?...yes. yes I did)

I met Trevor here at school. He is my FHE brother and well. He is one cool dude. I saw a lot of Trevor this past weekend. Let me tell you the story.
I thought Trevor was pretty neat from the get go so I decided to ask him on a date to get to know him better. I asked him out for Friday to which he accepted and we drove out to the middle of nowhere with our two friends Austin and his lovely date Chelsea. We built a campfire and roasted hot dogs and drank sparkling cider as the sun set. We chased a bird, gathered firewood from a crater and overall just had a good time talking and goofing around. Well it turned out Trevor had tickets to go see the Bar-J Wranglers and he was short a date. I had never heard of them before, but Trevor asked me to accompany him and I answered in the affirmative. So we headed off to Jackson Hole and saw the sights and took fun pictures and everything (See Below)

Finally it came time for the show and we headed over to the Bar J Chuck wagon. Let me tell you, the place alone is super neat. It is decorated very well! I loved it right away. We got our dinner Chuck Wagon style and boy was it DELICIOUS! Then. The show. Started. UH-MAZE-ING. It was HILARIOUS. I laughed. I cried. I was like a little kid on Christmas morning. I. Was. Blown. Away. Here is a little taste of what I got to listen to. (The yodeling was my favorite and of course I already love the song the Auctioneer so this was definitely my favorite part of the show)



The man doing the yodeling's name was Bryan Humphrey (HA I didn't remember that. I got it off the website) He was too legit to quit. He sorta looks like Tim Curry to me so that could be a big part of it. He does this bit where he dresses up like a woman and plays the part of his own mother.

He tells the following story (and better than this guy too)




So over all the weekend was GREAT! I got to know a little more about Trevor and I've adopted a new tradition. I am going to go to the Bar J Wranglers EVERY YEAR! It's decided :)

Unlucky? Understatment.

So I tend to be a rather unlucky person. I don't know why, but I am. I think it may be genetic seeing as how my mother claims to be pretty unlucky herself...thanks mom. So I had a great weekend by the way. The trip to Utah was great if you haven't already read about it. You'd think with such a lovely weekend, no school on Tuesday, and all caught up on homework would be super great right? Well...WRONG. Tuesday started out well enough, I went and gave plasma as usual, collected on my 20 bucks and was going to go home and watch some movies most likely. Well I got a text from a buddy of mine (who I'd been begging to take me dirt biking) asking if I wanted to go dirt biking with him. Of course I wanted to so he came and picked me up and off we went. I've never been dirt biking before and perhaps it wasn't a very good idea to go at all seeing as how I tend to be pretty accident prone. I can hardly ride a bike that you have to pedal, why would I assume riding a dirt bike would be any easier? I have no idea. For those of you who've never ridden one of these glorious powerful deadly vehicles it is kind of hard to work. There is a clutch like in a manual car, but it's kind of reversed. You change gears with your foot and pull in the clutch with your hand. One of the problems with that is the clutch looks just like a hand brake and I kept trying to use it as so, only it doesn't actually slow you down. Dangerous? Yes, yes it is. Well I sort of got the hang of it and I was having a jolly good time. I'd figured out how to start and stop and what else do you need really? We went five miles into a wooded glen and we raced through snow and water and mud, all sorts of fun. My shoes and pants were soaked, but who cares, I was having a blast. All was going pretty well. I'd managed to keep my bike upright which is a lot harder than it sounds...after all the bike is a couple hundred pounds. On our way back to the truck to leave we were on actual dirt roads rather than the hard to follow and erratic paths of the forest and I may have gotten a little cocky. I was standing up, riding with no hands, going fast, you know living on the edge. The last thing I remember thinking was "too fast" and flying off my bike as I rounded a corner. The next 15 minutes are a little hazy, I don't actually remember hitting the ground, I do remember being in quite a bit of pain and not being able to breathe for what seemed like eternity. I rolled around on the ground groaning my agony for a little bit. My friend had been in front of me so it took him a while to realize that I was no longer behind him, but I soon heard his bike approaching. I still couldn't talk (let alone breath) but I wanted him to know that I was okay, I didn't want him to freak out or let him worry that he'd killed me. I gave him the thumbs up signal to let him know I was going to live, but to my surprise he was laughing...he was laughing that I'd crashed! Maybe if he'd seen me fly off my bike he'd have a reason to laugh because I imagine that would've been a sight to see, but he didn't even know if I was still in one piece! Boys. I rolled around for a little longer and I moved everything to make sure I didn't break any bones. I stood up. Bad idea. I sat down. It probably wasn't a super good idea to go dirt biking after giving plasma. I stood up and almost passed out so I sat down, still feeling light headed I laid back down resulting in another bout of laughter from the kind gentleman I was with. After about another 10 minutes I stood back up again and we were off. It kind of hurt to breathe deeply so I just didn't. We got back to the car without further incident and came home. I crawled through the door and my roommate (who'd previously been angry that she wasn't invited) looked at me and said "Please tell me you crashed" yes I know. She's such a lovely girl.

That night I started to feel a little bit sick, I had a sore throat and I had a super bad headache. My body hurt all over and I just laid on the couch all night. The next day? Even worse. I thought I had strep and I was miserable. I went to the doctor and they said it wasn't strep, it was just a virus and they have me some meds to help it along. After being on my meds for two days it wasn't getting better, in fact it seemed to be getting worse, I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't move because my body hurt so bad (I am still unsure whether this was attributed to my crash or being sick) Last night I couldn't breathe very well, every breathe was a chore, I didn't get any sleep and I decided to go back to the doctor, so from the hours 4am-8am I just sat there agonizingly trying to breathe. I honestly thought I was dying or something. It was like trying to breathe in and out through a balloon and all you were getting back was your own CO2. Pretty miserable stuff. So I made it 4 more hours and had my wonderful cousin drive me to the doctor. My oxygen levels were low so they made me do a chest X-ray and discovered that I in fact had pneumonia. I'd never had it before..so it was a new experience. I figured I'd maybe had bronchitis or something. The x-ray was kinda neat. I felt super uncomfortable in the gown they made me wear though, luckily I got to keep my pants on, but I felt suuuper awkward walking across the building without a shirt or a bra on under those super thin gowns they make you wear. I kept my arms crossed the whole walk. I also had to get 2 shots....in my butt. Another awkward moment. The nurse was cracking me up though "alright, so...I have to give you 2 shots, in the butt...(pause...odd look on her face) Alright! turn around and drop your pants!" That made me laugh..and I was relieved to not actually have to drop my pants...just pull them down an inch or so. Those shots hurt like a mother though...I know the needles are considerably skinnier than a plasma needle, but that stuff stung like a bee! It hurt to sit down after that. I had to do a breathing treatment there and that sure did help a lot. I could breathe again!

So that's my adventure for the week. I'm on steroids and an inhaler, but I do feel loads better. I hope you've enjoyed my first illustrated blog...I'll be honest it will probably be the last...they are super time consuming albeit fun and exciting. Maybe this summer when I go home I will have time to do more. Anyway I'm off to bed. I'm excited for Monday...FENCING CLASS STARTS!! WOOOT WOOT!

Happppy Birrrrtthhday to ME!...Oh...and Happy Mother's Day to You!

So I just want to start off by saying that I have the BEST roommates and friends and of course cousin. My birthday was fantastic thanks to all of them and I hope they all know how much I love them. I wasn't too keen on celebrating my birthday away from home because I've always been with my family and I've come to miss them so dearly. I was worried my birthday would just be sad because I miss them. My wonderful friends stepped up to the plate though and they made it super fantastic. My birthday is actually today, but we've kind of been celebrating it all weekend. On Friday we went down to Idaho Falls and went to the mall. I got to buy some stuff with the money my mom sent me. Then we went to Reeeeeed Robin...YUM! and I had the most delicious hamburger I've ever eaten (that's saying something because I'm really not a hamburger fan) The waiters sang to me (I've never had that happen before) it was awkward but fun and I got everything I ate for free except the drink which Raeanne so graciously paid for, for me. It was a great night. We got home and they were going to give me my present until Davi was like “let’s just wait till next week and Bree can give you our present and you can give her hers at the same time” (Elle’s birthday is May 19^th just 11 days after mine, and yes I am super happy to be a whole 11 days older than her) well that idea did not fly with me. I didn’t want to wait, I’m super impatient.  So instead I just gave Elle her present 12 days early and she gave me mine. I am now the proud owner of the legit-est pair of Batman converse on this earth.

They are honestly so slick. The funny part is I got Elle a pair of shoes too. I got her a pair of sparkly black Toms. She said she liked them the last time we saw them and so that’s what I got her…I hope she really does like them. It was pretty funny though. I brought out an empty box and she opened it and was super confused and then I was like “For your birthday I got a pair of shoes for a poor little shoeless African child!” she was totally chill with it too. I don’t know if she really believed me though. (For those of you who don’t know about TOMS they donate a pair of shoes to someone in need every time you buy a pair) Then I brought out her shoes and gave them to her and she was happy. So that was fun. The next day, Saturday, Anson, Jessi, and I all went to Jackson Hole Wyoming. I’d never been before and my mom always talks about how much she loves it. So we went and walked around downtown Jackson Hole and saw cool stuff and shopped for souvenirs. Anson then proceeded to fork out quite a bit of money so that we could all take those old fashioned photos where they dress you up and put you in a setting and take your picture. It was super nice of him. We got ice cream and walked around for a bit more and went home. It was super fun. They have the COOLEST candy store there too. Wall to wall candy. Here are some pictures of our fun day! 

 (yes I realize I am immodest. That was the least revealing dress I could find...and I'm not drinking that Jack Daniels...just holding it.)

So yes. It was super exciting. It was a fantastic day and I'm grateful for all of my good friends. It was definitely a birthday to remember. Also I guess I should say Happy Mother's day to all of the mothers. My mom reads this I think...Happy Mother's day mom! I love you and I miss you super alot!.

MALAD...sort of rhymes with Salad

Oh Malad Idaho where I used to spend my Easter holidays with my parents and my great grandparents. Where we had apple battles in my great grandma's backyard with my Donny Osmond look-alike Great Uncle Mike, where I held a firecracker in my hand too long and it exploded. Such fond memories do I have of Malad. Well. Almost. To be honest it's one of the smallest towns I've been to in my life. You think Rexburg is small? Go to Malad, go ahead, have a laugh. There was never a whole lot to do, and when there wasn't other family there to keep you occupied, you definately started to go a little stir crazy. I do have good memories of it to be honest. For instance, I fondly remember going with my great grandpa to see some horses, I LOVE horses...by the way. I remember I got to pet them and my grandpa cut his thumb on some barbed wire. I can't have been that old. Probably not much older than 3...but I do remember it. It's one of the fondest memories I have of my great grandpa. It was because of that memory, when I was told of his passing, I cried like a little baby. It's a memory I'll never forget. I don't actually remember this next thing happening, but my parents like to bring it up. I guess I was a rambunctious little kid, I liked climbing into, on top of, and under things. My grandparents had a lovely fireplace and as all little kids do, I climbed right into it. My parents, seeing this as a problem(?!) would pull me back out and I have to start all over again and climb right back into the fireplace. I guess I got so frustrated at my repeated failed attempts to play in the dirty furnace that I turned to my dad and said "NO BILL" If any of you know my dad, those words...especially the one that starts with an N could get you beaten pretty bad and pretty quick. He especially won't tolerate children calling him Bill...understandable right? Well thanks to my cuteness I was spared his wrath and they probably all had a good laugh at the attitude which if retained till now would get me grounded for a month.

I bring up these stories because my Family Home Evening brothers (it's an LDS thing, ask me about it!) are all from Malad, save one. I kind of laughed about it when I first heard where they were from because I thought "no body's from Malad...they go there when they're old before they die."  Sure enough though, they were from Malad and they invited our apartment (or more, we invited ourselves) down to Malad for conference weekend. Most of the boys have some sort of farm and I suppose that is typical of most Malad inhabitants. Lots of farmland and farm animals. I love animals and so that is pretty exciting to me, but when I found out that one of our FHE brothers had horses I all but jumped and danced for joy. I was nothing less than ecstatic. I don't claim to be a horse expert, but I do love them and I'm nowhere near shy around them. I love to ride and I just think they are the most beautiful animals. We had a fantastic time riding them, it was definitely the highlight of my year. I'll post some pictures only if you promise to ignore the fact that my blond roots are coming in and my hair nearly matches the mane of the horse I rode. My horses' name was Texas but of course someone had to make fun of Texas and started calling him T-bag. For those of you poor souls who haven't had the pleasure to watch Prison Break I've included a picture of T-Bag below. In season 2 he bleaches his hair blond so as to not be captured by the "Poh-leese" anyway, as my hair has so gracefully demonstrated, his black roots started coming back in and he was left with a very lovely two-toned hair do for about 2 seasons. Texas is a buckskin horse and so his mane is part black, and part blond...ergo Texas christianed T-bag. I don't want to talk about it!

ANYWAY Texas was a beautiful horse even though his first impression was soiled by T-bag's less than like-able persona. We had a grand ole time and rode for a couple of hours until a storm chased us back indoors.

Overall we had a BLAST in Malad, we did a lot of driving around in the car because like I said, there really isn't a whole lot to do there. We were told some scary stories about places and happenings in Malad, we took field trips to those places and got the snot scared out of us. We learned how to make jam, we went cat hunting (calm down cat-lovers, we were unsuccessful) We drove some more...Oh! we left our mark on a tunnel

 OH DUH! We also got the wonderful opportunity to watch General Conference which was also FANTASTIC. That was the real highlight of the weekend. Conference is always great :) So yea Malad. Population 4,100, animal head count 7,000. Good times.

Food

I don't know if I'm the only one who feels this way...but I just LOVE food. I don't necessarily like the feeling of being full...in fact I quite dislike it. However, I love tasting food. I feel I have a very advanced palate. I love tasting new foods and I love re-tasting old foods. We went on a cruise and I got to taste a lot of new and delicious foods. That was really fantastic I really enjoyed that. I got to try sushi, lobster, calamari, escargot, and other lovely dishes. I even tried some rum cake...or at least that's what I was told it was after I'd already eaten it. No worries I'm not an alcoholic, it wasn't very good. In fact I didn't like it at all. Coming to college I was a little bit worried about not having my mother home to cook for me all the time. I'm not claiming to be a terrible cook. In fact I quite like to cook and I'm not too bad at it. I enjoy what I make at least, the problem is however, I don't always have a lot to work with. Everyone claims to have lived off of Ramen and pizza rolls their whole college experience and well, I just didn't want that to be me. Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy a good bowl of Ramen every once in a while, but I definitely didn't want to live off it. My taste buds need more excitement than that! I've really made it a goal to have real home cooked stuff at least once a week. My favorites thus far have been chicken enchiladas, spaghetti, and Steak and Potatoes. Just look at the deliciousness of this dish....

Yes I am aware that the knife on my plate is gigantic, but we as college students aren't necessarily able to afford high end commodities such as steak knives.

Does that not look fantastic? I'll be honest it tasted fantastic! It was a little to well done for my tastes however...it's rather difficult to cook a steak in an oven and still have it turn out decent. So you see, I love food and that will probably never stop, it is both a curse and a blessing. College hasn't turned out to be quite the culinary killer as I imagined and I will continue to enjoy the foods I love.