Just an update!

Hey!

So I know that I am completely horrible at this blogging stuff, so I have decided to use the extra time that I have right now to update everyone! :)

In my first post, I mentioned that I was applying to be in the Peace Corps. I got in, and was supposed to be fly to the South Pacific Islands on July 24, 2011. However, after three of my aunts stepped in and asked me to really rethink my decision and mentioned that they had a horrible feeling about me going, I decided to respect their intuition and not go.


Last semester I was in IBC, which stands for Internal Business Core. It includes Financial Management, Marketing, Operations Management and Organizational Effectiveness. As part of the class, we took our a loan and opened a business, The Creperie. It was a lot of fun, but extremely stressful. In all the chaos I was elected President of the company, which I thought was a complete surprise because I was mostly quiet in the class and I had nooo idea what was going on, since it was my first actual business class I have taken. We all learned a lot, and we were the first company to pay back our loan of about $1500. But towards the end of the class, it seemed like nothing in the world would make me happier then to be done with that class. I can honestly say that I have never looked forward to the end of the semester as much as I did with that class. Oddly enough, the classes were all pretty hard, and I took a religion class along with the 12 credits of IBC (which we were strongly encouraged not to do) and I somehow pulled off a 4.0.. weird huh?

This summer was a lot of fun. It started off with my family reunion in Island Park, and was a total blast going to Yellowstone and checking everything out. It was nice to have all my siblings together, and I wish that I was able to spend more time just talking with everyone.

All of the siblings together in our traditional pose. It used to go tallest to shortest, but not so much anymore..

After the reunion, my mom decided that she wanted to go to Boise, and that I would take Kamilla and Olivia down to Utah for Kamilla to take a test, and then we would pick my mom up in Boise, and then head down to Cave Junction for a couple weeks. But somehow my mom's radiator got cracked so that plan got shattered. So then my mom decided that we would go to Nauvoo. So we drove down to Utah for Kamilla to take her tests, but then my mom's foot started hurting so she decided to just stay in Utah and play with our cousins. On one of the weekends, Veronica drove down and her and Olivia went on a pioneer trek with their old ward in Orem. My aunt and uncle, Curt and Mel, had just bought a house in St. George, so Kamilla went with them to relax and enjoy the sun for a couple days. My mom saw that this was an opportunity to climb Mt. Whitney, and promptly decided that this was what we were going to do.

 Side note... my mom was on crutches before and after she hiked the mountain..

So Thursday morning we woke up a little after 4 and drove to Lone Pine, California, a distance of about 10 hours. It was sweltering hot as we drove through Southern Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California. That night we stayed in a campsite about a mile downhill of the mountain trail. We did not get a wink of sleep, but instead were entertained with thoughts of the black bears growing tired of shaking our bear cages and coming to find the real meat- us- in our secure tent made out of fabric. After laying still for about 6 hours, it was time for my mom and Sam to start hiking. I dropped them off at the trail head around 4 and they began their hike.

 Mom and Sam at the trail head. They are only smiling that big because the bears somehow did not eat them during the night..

Mom and Sam at the top of Mt. Whitney! They are superstars :)

 I  went back to the campsite and slept in the car. Then I cleaned up camp and went to the trail head. There was a man made pond with a lot of good size fish in it that would later float down the streams and populate the valley. A lot of Asian families were catching the fish and eating them, and being the people watcher that I am, I sat and watched them for most of the day. Around 3 in the afternoon I went and sat on a rock by the trail head and waited for my mom and Sam to get done. As I was sitting there, this pretty attractive guy started to talk to me, primarily because I was wearing my BYU shirt, and he was a student there. We talked for a long time, and I found out that his dad was the owner of Brainhoney. He was quite intelligent, and the conversation was a very pleasant. My mom and Sam finished hiking around 5, and so I pulled the car around and picked them up. We went out to a Mexican restaurant in town, but the lactic acid was building up in my mom's feet and it was hard for her to walk. Plus the food was disgusting. That night we drove all the way back to Las Vegas, and that in itself was an adventure. The road was packed with people going over 100 mph swerving in and out of traffic trying to get to Las Vegas before the fun was over that Friday night. We were exhausted from not really sleeping the last couple days and eventually just pulled over and slept on the ground on a blanket. The next morning we took a $7 shower at a truck stop in Nevada that was quite scary with several people having guns on them. Then we drove up to St. George, ate breakfast at  Denny's saw Curt and Mel, and then continued back up to Orem. After we got some rest, we continued back up to Centerville and played with Curt and Mel for a couple days, and then headed back up to Rexburg.

When we were in Centerville, Curt took us all out boating. It was probably the best boating trip I have ever had.

I am currently doing my Internship at Seasons Medical, where in my opinion I am learning a lot, but there is not enough projects for me to do. I am also taking 12 credits online, and my class work includes B101, which is a three credit class, and then a bunch of filler classes such as test taking skills and concentration skills. I am also working most nights at Gator Jacks, where they have been talking to me about becoming a supervisor there. I have also been asked to become an assistant coach for a competitive soccer team on campus, and I have yet to make my final decision on that. My mission papers are almost done, all I have left is meeting with the Stake President. There is not a night that goes by that I do not have a dream about me opening my papers  and finding out where I am going to serve my mission.

I live in American Manor, A6 with some of the best people in the world :) My actual roommate is Tara Cordner, and we have sooo much fun together!

This is Tara when we had Chipotle while on our Denver Internship Expedition

She always makes me laugh and loves to say things like "I'm soo funny!" We like to watch movies together and go to Costa Vida for dinner. We have the same major, and this is our second semester living together. We really need to start working out in the morning though.. but we are both so persuasive that we just talk ourselves out of ever wanting to go do it!

 Rachel and Julie live in the room across from us. Rachel was our old FHE sister, although she doesn't remember me from last fall, and was the only FHE sister we had that I thought was fun. I am excited to get to know her better this semester.

Julie is my roommate again for the second semester, and we are best friends. Last semester I tricked her into going on a 15 mile hike by telling her it was only 3-5 miles long. She was dehydrated and got heat exhaustion and for some reason refuses to go on any hike that I pick out.. I don't know why though. She has a bad memory but for some reason this experience refuses to be forgotten.

 Julie and I at the start of our hike..

 Our trail turned into a creek bed because of all the melting snow, so we had to take of our shoes and hike through it. It was freezing, and Julie HATED it. :)

Upper Palisades Lake. It was sooo gorgeous!

The last Saturday that we were both in Rexburg, we drove up to Warm River Springs and just had a wonderful time. It was a beautiful area, and we had no stress or tests to worry about. It was the perfect way to end the semester.

 Warm River Springs.. so BEAUTIFUL!

For most of the Summer Semester, I was really stressed, and so finding down time was hard to do. But when I did, I always laughed super hard and had fun :)

This is Julie and Bri doing the Chewbacca call. We spent a couple minutes watching a tutorial on youtube about it, and the got it down pretty good :)

Our other two roommates are from Hong Kong and are both really nice. Fiona and Sheree are both quiet, and I hope that eventually we can all be friends and have fun together.

I really miss our old roommate Brianna Malone, she really was the life of the party.

So thats just a huge update on the things that I have been up to. I will try to update this more often, because I am horrible at letting people know what I have been up to. 

And in following with the tradition of my past semesters up here, in closing I would just like to say:

Peace and Blessings. Peeace and Blessings. 

:)