parties, baseball, & family memories

This week was full of celebrating and having fun. It all started on Tuesday when my roommates and I threw a Coming Out Party for Ash. She accidentally outed herself to her parents, and it threw all of us for a loop on Monday night. So on Tuesday, we decided that we would show her we loved and cared for her by throwing her a party. We made cookies and had them with candy, and decorated the apartment to surprise her. It was really cool for us to celebrate her and let her know we were here for her during this time.

On Thursday night I had my first choir performance. We sang Carmina Burana, which was the hardest song for me to sing by far! My family came down from Salt Lake to watch me, and my roommate Jenna joined them for dinner and the performance.

That night I drove to St. George to join my family for Preston's baseball tournament. It was so much fun to spend time with them. Syd, Bryn, and I had too much fun catching up with each other. We would just laugh and laugh, despite my mom trying to get us to be quiet. 

One of the things we did while waiting for one of P-dog's games to start was look at family photos. We were busting up laughing over some of the pictures, and others melted us. It was a lot of fun to go down memory lane for a bit.

 

On Saturday night, my Aunt and Uncle thought it would be fun to take us through a haunted corn maze at Staheli Farms. I don't know why they thought that would be fun. I chickened out last minute and did the other activities with Sofie while the rest went through. After they came out, I was very glad I chose not to go in. The stories were freaking me out!

On Sunday we were trying to leave in good time so that I could attend a devotional at the school. But that soon went out the window when we realized that we missed the exit and started heading to Colorado!! I have to say though, it was actually a very beautiful drive. We decided to get out at a "lookout point" and had fun exploring. Definitely one day we will never forget!

sheep, high school friends, & homecoming

This week was really busy, but super fun! It started off with Jenna and I going and getting our "soda fix" for the week. I have become so grateful to have a soda store nearby. It really has been a life saver since I started college. I now can't go a week without my cranberry Diet Coke with lime. 

On Tuesday Bailee, Jenna, and I went to a food truck round-up where we got Thai food and pizza to share. It was so good and was one of the best decisions we could've made this week.

On Wednesday we were surprised to see huge herds of sheep coming down Main Street. I guess every fall the sheep from the canyon travel down where it's warmer (similar to birds). It was a sight to see for us freshman and others new to Ephraim. Yet everyone else saw it as completely normal.

On Friday I had my high school friends Callie and Alivia come visit and sleepover. We went to my roommates improv show and then the Homecoming Dance. It was so fun to visit with them and talk until 5 am. I never realized how much I missed being able to visit with them everyday, until we had so much to catch up on! After the Homecoming Dance, my roommates weren't ready to stop so they had to do the Mean Girls dance. We were laughing so hard!

On Saturday I went to lunch with Callie and Alivia, as well as our other friend from High School- Amy Jo. After they had left, us roommates got ready to go to the Homecoming football game. It was so much fun and such a close game- we only lost by 2 points!!

On Sunday we all made it to church which we considered to be a huge accomplishment! We ended the night by playing Heads Up and other games.

 I am so grateful for all of these girls.  We have clicked immediately and have all gotten along so well! This past month and a half has been filled with laughs and it's all because of these girls and the memories we have made with each other so far. 

halloween decor, general conference, & old friends

This past week has been so much fun! My roommates and I have started to get into the Halloween spirit early and kicked off our week by making the Pillsbury Halloween cookies. I remember loving these as a kid, and we couldn't pass them up when we saw them at Wal-Mart. We also got into the decorating mood and hung up our Halloween banner and lights. It was really fun and it made our apartment feel more like home. It made it feel really cozy and fun, especially after the rain that we had for the last few weeks. After decorating and making our cookies we went to the Clubhouse and played pool and ping-pong. It was fun to just hang out and let loose before another stressful week.

On Tuesday I went to go see our school's first play. At first I wasn't really sure what to expect, and I haven't ever heard of the play before. I was worried that I wouldn't like it very much, but I ended up loving it! It made me laugh so hard! I ended up loving it so much I saw it on Friday too. Afterward, my roommate Jenna and I went on got some frozen yogurt, since they gave a discount for people who went to opening night.

 On Saturday, I watched General Conference by myself at my apartment. All my roommates except for Maddie had gone home for the weekend. It was really weird to watch conference by myself, but it was actually very neat. I payed more attention to what the speakers were saying and really took their words to heart. I also had crafted some more decorations, from the care package my mom had sent me. In between sessions, I got to go to lunch with my old young women's president Melanie, and her husband Kent. I haven't seen them in over a year, so it was so good to catch up with them. Melanie had given me a graduation/congrats on your personal progress card with a very cute necklace. I'm so grateful for her example of selflessness and humility. She is one of the sweetest people I've ever met and I'm so grateful that I could have her as my Young Women's President and friend.

For the Sunday sessions of General Conference, Kent and Melanie invited me to join them at Kent's parents house. I had breakfast with them before the morning session. Turns out that Kent's dad is the first counselor in my Stake Presidency and he heard me speak last week! I felt so bad that I couldn't remember him... For the afternoon session, I joined Kent and Melanie for a canyon drive. It was so pretty! We ended up driving up to the highest point of the Manti Canyon. One of the best parts about living in a small town is that you can see sheep and cows up the canyon! It was a lot of fun to spend time listening to the words the Lord wants me to hear, in the world He created. Afterward, we had dinner and dessert before leaving. 

I loved being able to spend time with Kent and Melanie this weekend. They were so kind to invite me to join them so I wasn't alone. It made it a lot easier to be away from my family this weekend. I'm so glad that I could visit with them. They are so cute and so much fun to be with. I can't thank them enough for all they've done for me.