happy halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! I didn't wear a costume to school, unlike some zombies, princesses, and elves that I saw around campus today, but I did wear my Mickey and Minnie "Trick or Treat!" shirt with an orange cardigan (forgot to snap a pic-sorry!). I knew today would be a good day when I woke up to this:

:)

My fuzzy Disney Halloween pj pants! Yay! I cannot tell you how excited I am to go to Disneyland this winter...

The rest of today involved classes and...drumroll please...my calc test. I'm proud to say that I got 100% on the multiple choice portion! Truthfully, I felt like I had to, since my friend had told me that he had received a perfect score, as well as a cute guy who sat near me in calc lecture today. Hopefully the written portion went just as well!

Last but not least-take a look at these cute cute cake balls from lunch today! So fun and festive :)

Happy Halloween! 

not-so-typical tuesday

The definite defining event of my day was this stupid headache. I literally woke up, dragged myself to class, came home, took a nap, went back to class, came home to study calc for four hours, ate dinner, and came back to more homework. I'm just so tired! So it's an early night for me. Tomorrow brings my calc test and Halloween! Boo!

In closing...it's good to see how much my family misses me...especially when they redecorate my magnent board... :) That's little brothers for you!

I'm back!

I apologize for the lack of posts yesterday-it was busy busy busy as usual, but I got hit with the worst headache of my life and was incapacitated for the evening. It was actually so bad this morning that I cam home after my morning classes, missed devotional and lunch, and took a sweet hour and half nap. I'm feeling much better, but my headache isn't totally gone, even after a double-dose of painkillers. :(

Yesterday was fun, though! I had the usual school thing...but a lot of homework was completed and started studying for my calc test (which I thought I was going to take today, but will have to wait for tomorrow...). I actually made it to FHE as well! And it was a good one to come to, because we made THE EASIEST pumpkin cookies ever!

yum!

It's just a box of spice cake mix, a can of pureed pumpkin, and chocolate chips, if you want. So easy; just bake for about 7 1/2 minutes at 350 and you're set. Fun chatting with my group and catching up! 

It was then time for a workout in the student fitness center, and then a calc study group with C. On the subject of workouts- I found this cute quote on Pinterest and thought it describes me perfectly.

A little too true!

I hope your weeks are going well and headache free! I'll post again tonight to make up for yesterday, I promise!

registered?

This (very late) post comes after I think I survived another semester of registering for classes. I'm on the waitlist for two big classes, (#2 on Chem & the lab portion of Anatomy) and on another one for a not-quite-as-important one (it's just a nicer time). Just in case I don't get those, though, I registered for those same classes at different times too, just to have them on my official schedule. Whew. That was a little crazy. You could definitely tell when everyone got on the server...things just started going sloooooow. Hopefully I'll be able to get those classes at the times I want. I'll try not to worry about it too much.

The rest of my day today consisted of Sunday School lessons, barbecue with the extended fam, and some dessert at a friend's! The lesson was pretty reading-heavy today, aka boring for my class, unfortunately. I'll just say that I did a lot of the talking. It was hilarious to see in the middle, though, when I announced that we were taking a break and eating my whoopie pies, the number of heads perk up.

chocolate-brownie cookies with
salted caramel frosting.

I tried this recipe from Pinterest and it wasn't quite what I had hoped it would be. The cookies were more crumbly than chewy, but the caramel frosting made up for it! (Even though the caramel was from a can and not homemade like I usually do!)

Some yummy ribeye steaks were in store for me at J&J's, along with some artichokes, Lion House Rolls, and the canned peaches and pears that I helped make! So yummy. I had actually never tried canned fruit like that before, and I found that the pears tasted like applesauce and the peaches like peaches. Yum!

After dinner was dessert crepes at a family's house who used to live in my home ward but moved out two years ago. It was fun to catch up with them and the other BYU goers from our stake! Skype Sundays followed after, and then it was time to register for classes.

This next week is (hopefully) not too exciting; a math test that I'll probably take Tuesday, a Bio quiz, and Halloween! Which means a ward party on Tuesday as well. Hope your weeks are great! 

P.S.-one month until Thanksgiving, and 57 days until Christmas! ...Not like I'm counting or anything...

all the pretty girls on a saturday night

In reference to a Fun. song, I would say that all us pretty girls were out on a Saturday night! I'll admit, I slept in today longer than I should have. But that didn't stop me from still making the most out of my (considerably shortened) daylight hours! C. needed new snowboots, so today we searched high and low to find the right pair. This meandering route to a variety of stores ended up at T.'s house in Alpine, temples, Denny's, and tightrope walking at Helaman. Good times!

Dad, you would be so jealous of the toy's in T.'s garage... I thought of you and had to take some pics!

? What could it be?

And I quote: "Oh, that's my dad's race car." You should be proud of me; I definitely identified it as a sprint car or go-kart from just a first glance! So I was in the right vicinity...

motorcycling.

Then came the motorcycles! You can't see super well from this picture, but there's (from upper to lower) the touring bike (BMW), dad's bike (BMW) and mom's bike (Motoguzzi). Mom, it's a sign that you need to get your license too!

ski's.

And then some ski's in the back for fun. But the fun didn't end there-on to the swingset!

what a cutie.

I just loved the trees and the changing leaves-I truly am loving the fall here! Here are some swing adventures and a story to follow...

Aren't the mountains great!? I guess we
aren't bad either... :)

There's a story here..

Bahahaha. So the story behind this picture is that you can jump from the little rock ledge about a foot down to the trampoline below. T. demonstrated, and we decided to go for it. What you don't see next is C. jumping, not using her knees, losing all control and just kind of flopping to the ground and landing on the grass next to the fence looking up at the sky. Needless to say, after laughing a ton, I attempted to do so and the SAME EXACT thing happened, except I fell on my face and stayed on the trampoline. Crazy crazy.

We then drove to walk around the Timpanogos Temple grounds just for fun, and because it's T.'s favorite temple.

We were starving, so it was off to Denny's because T. had a coupon! ...Except when we got there she realized it had to be printed out and she had forgotten to..

C. is a sucker for unlimited hot chocolate....

And then it was back to the dorms, where I baked some treats for my Sunday School class (pics tomorrow!) and we took a break to walk a tightrope with C., W., and some new friends who were astounded by my moniker. "What? Cool! Is that a real name?!" ...No, I made it up....of course it's a real name! Oh well. Teaching tomorrow and dinner at a friend's from my home ward-aka mini reunion! As always, I'll keep you posted. Good night! ...or good morning?

friday night!

Friday consisted of classes, a Provo Youth Mentoring trip to the Museum of Art, more class, another calculus review, and then the fun could start. It all began with T. and C.'s ward Halloween party in the Wilk....

But first, implicit differentiation!

We all dressed up and got some wonderfully weird looks as we walked over. THAT'S the real way to get boys to look at you.

Sailor, Ostrich rider, Baby.

Bowling was fun! Much better in real life than on the Wii. After the Halloween shindig, where I won in bowling, of course (all that practice from Raindrop Lanes!), we headed off to a basketball exhibition against Southeastern Oklahoma State! Needless to say, we won 103-thirtysomething.

Ollie attempts to bowl.

The final scoreboard speaks the truth!

Special secret names. We're that cool.

Go cougars!

Came back to campus to watch "Contact"- THE BEST MOVIE EVER. Seriously moving and just inspiring! Ahh! Everyone loved it. I'll close with a picture of the mountains today-so beautiful! I just love the chill in the air and the opportunity to wear my cute coats finally!

Tomorrow brings....well, we'll have to see! I'll keep you all updated as usual. Hope your weekends are as crazy fun as mine!

snow!!

It was the first snow of the season today! In about ten seconds my entire Facebook feed was blown up with about a million variations of "Look-snow!", or "What is this white fluffy stuff?". It made me a little nostalgic. There's just something about the smell of the air and the chill that reminds me so much of family ski trips to Idaho. Just a nice happy feeling. Here are some photos from throughout the morning-it snowed heavily in the morning for about an hour, and then a little in the afternoon and evening.

Weatherman says snow...

Here was my view walking to my first class of the day(which was cancelled!), and then my view out a window while I was waiting for my next class to start.

Hiking from Helaman Halls..

View out of the JKB.

It definitely melted off quickly, but you could still see where the foliage was just dusted to perfection.

The rest of the day was homework back in the dorms until it was time for dinner, and then at 7, the dreaded calc review...

Just as boring as it looked.

Our session got done early, so we waited in the library for T.'s study group to finish.

Angel of (sheet) music...

Headed over to Chipman for some Tim Tam goodness...C. tried to convince us that you can use these chocolate cookies as a straw for hot chocolate. Neither T. nor I could get it to work...

Tim Tam goodness.

Struggling...

And more struggles....the cookie just kind of melted. Oh well.

Then it was a quick Skype sesh with the padre to practice my Spanish in order to complete my hours of conversation requirement. He's all the way in Washington!

In other news, I registered to win a Ham Radio rig and took my Spanish test; I thought it went well! Such is the day in the life. Here's to Friday tomorrow! 

another wild wednesday.

Lots of excitement here today...starting with the first hints of snow in the morning! It was more sleet than snow, but tomorrow the real, fluffy white goodness should make an appearance. I'll keep you all posted on a California girl's reaction. Today brought the usual schoolwork, a math tutoring session, and the occasional stress-relieving laugh break. See below.

Don't be fooled-that is indeed a real live ostrich, its rider, and some Australian cookies! Hooray for care packages from back home.

The schedule for next semester is still tentative, but is now more set in stone and doing alright (aka the blogger isn't freaking out about it as much). We'll see what the next couple of days and coming weeks bring. Spanish test is tomorrow- ojalá que haga bien. (Yes, it is on the subjunctive.) Walked home tonight from the gym in 36 degree weather-and it actually wasn't too bad! Must be that Swedish heritage coming out...

club night!

Club Night as in SCHOOL clubs, not clubbin' clubs. That's for those who think all I do is have fun and never work! I met the rest of the Sweet Hour of Service gang at five to discuss our upcoming activities and assignments, came back to Helaman for dinner with T. and C., finished math homework, and then made it back up to campus by seven for the illustrious Amateur Radio Club meeting! Tonight we made our own antennas. I may not have a radio, but I do have an antenna now!

yeah.

I know what you all are thinking: "She doesn't need to worry about her major or graduating college; she'll earn big bucks modeling for QST! Look at that antenna. Oh yeah.." Want to see my close up?

nice combo of epoxy, wire, and SMA adapter gurl.

That was my night! Just for fun, here are some more dorky pictures of weird instruments that probably only a special few recognize...

look at that solder!

Nice soldering iron...(that's for you Dad! Because I now look at soldering irons with a special feeling of home in my heart thanks to you...)

Antenna analyzer.

Now this, my friends, is no ordinary antenna analyzer. This is industrial grade (aka über expensive. like $15,000 expensive. yikes!). And here it is in action:

Very exciting, no? My antenna was analyzed and deemed to be "great". It had that lovely and desired "bathtub curve" reading...just what a girl wants! Yeah! 

So that was my Tuesday night. A quick run and then a trip for more milk rounded out the evening quite nicely. Tomorrow starts the math review sessions...for three straight days. Woohoo for calculus! 

major frustration

This afternoon was the long-awaited change-of-major meeting. Needless to say, it did not go how I had hoped. Yes, in the end, I had a major declared-Nutritional Science-but it is highly unlikely that it will be the major that I graduate with. The whole process lacked a lot of emotion, it was just "get in, sit down, sign some paperwork, get out". Not exactly ideal for an 18 year-old who feels the pressure of trying to declare an emphasis for the rest of her life. At least this meeting helped me decide what NOT to major in, and gave me some important questions to think about. Unfortunately, it is now another area of stress in my life, as I feel that the classes I take should apply to my major, and not knowing my major makes it a little difficult to decide what classes to take for winter semester.

Spent the afternoon with these crazy two...

Yes, that is S. taking a nap at 7:30 at night while C. and I attempt to finish calculus. The hardest part for me is trying to explain concepts that I know how to do because of AP Calc last year to C., who only completed Pre-Calc. At least it helps both of us to try and learn and fully grasp the concepts. We have our second test next Monday and Tuesday, so starting Wednesday, our weekends are full of reviews. Other than that, I have a Bio quiz Friday and a Spanish test Thursday. Tomorrow brings a SHOS (Sweet Hour of Service) planning meeting and an ARC meeting-we're making antennas. I bet KI6VNF and KI6MYE are thrilled to hear that!

quite the sunday.

After a not-so-adventurous night of Phineas and Ferb, I woke up this morning to an ACTUAL breakfast. One of the (many) things I miss about not making my own food is the lack of a true breakfast. Protein shakes can be pretty good, but for about a month straight of any type of breakfast can be a bit boring. The smell of ham, eggs, and pancakes this morning was straight from heaven!

We then headed to church and there received the wonderful news that B. is now the Bishop of his ward! My dad ordained him and then he was set apart; basically, he was "officially" made a Bishop in my church. So sweet that my dad and I could be there!

After all the official business was done, we drove over to the airport where I dropped him off, and then I headed back to the dorms. I dropped my bags off and then hit up J & J's (minus one J on a business trip!) for some teriyaki chicken and Halloween Wars-my new favorite of the Food Network! Haha. Then I drove back for ward prayer and some skype sundays!

what my screen looked like for a good 38 minutes..

It's always fun to hear what's going on back home. Apparently the little sis is now a rockstar...I guess that's what happens when you're gone for a while! I'm hoping when I get back she can sign my picture of her band...

Very pro, no? :) 

The next week brings a Spanish test, Bio quiz, and tomorrow-the change-of-major meeting with the College of Life Sciences! That sounds so official...kind of scary! But exciting too :)

weekend update!

Believe it or not, but this blogger is currently typing in from Sandy, Utah! This weekend has been wonderful, and I know tomorrow will be a great way to close it. Grab a bucket of popcorn and dig in for one loong post, with lots of pictures to make up for some of the last ones. :)

Friday: Survived class, and then got my weekly hour of service in with PYM! I'm a youth mentor through Provo Youth Mentoring, where I was matched up with a sixth grader from a local elementary school. We meet in a group with the rest of the class and mentors every Friday and go do fun activities here at BYU. This week was a kind of "Intro to Engineering".

Wooooahh baby.

Let it be known from here on out that I could never be an ME....mechanical engineer. The accessories just don't work with me.

After PYM I then headed to the Cannon Center for a yummy lunch at the make-your-own-sandwich bar with C. and T., as well as A., T.'s future brother-in-law who rocks sweaters from DI. We said goodbye to A., and then hit the mall. (No worries, like a frugal (...poor) college student, I wisely did not spend a penny)

attractive mustaches :{

We went back home for some dinner at Legend's and then had the stroke of brillance to go to a movie! I was super excited because I seriously hadn't seen a movie in theaters for the past six months or so...

pitch perfect=perfectly hilarious.

Pitch Perfect was so much fun. One of the top ten comedies I've seen! A great stress break; we were laughing the entire time. 

Saturday morning brought me to the Salt Lake International Airport to pick up my dad! We stopped by the famous Red Iguana for lunch, and it truly was exquisito.

Daddy-daughter lunch!

Funky door. Totally covered in all sorts of
bumper stickers.

Featured on Diners, Drive-In's and Dives!

After a muy sabroso lunch, we decided to walk around downtown SLC for a while. We continued the tradition of touring state capitols...

And then toured Temple Square and City Creek. We hit up the Tabernacle, heard some awesome organists, and listened in on some tour guides.

This was a rehearsal that we saw in the Conference Center, super interesting! It was a practice for a Latino conference that was upcoming. Fun to watch and listen to.

After walking around, we (finally!) got to use up my Starbuck's gift cards and got a sweet treat before heading over to B & R's. A yummy dinner of tacos, watching some Phineas and Ferb, and then chatting it up was a pretty sweet way to end a Saturday. Church tomorrow and then droppin dad off again! Short and sweet trip.