2011 - what a crazy year!

2011 was such a crazy year full of ups and downs.  I've learned lots of valuable lessons...and am sure 2012 will bring plenty more!  Sometimes it hurts to learn...and that's when it feels like learning.  I think the more pleasurable way of learning is called "fun" and the year has had plenty of that!

January


I started my second semester of college!  Sociology, psychology, humanities, and chemistry.  I could only remember 1 of 4 and had to look them up.  How sad is that?


Miss Katie Plott {Janie and Kylee's friend from home} visited Logan.  She dyed my hair for the first time.  I remember I was kind of nervous...what if I hated it?!  Good thing I love it!

I'm not capable of not pulling faces.

Um...January doesn't really stick out to me...it was almost a year ago!

February

February was the month I started blogging!  Nothing too special...but it's a way to remember life :)

Kylee, Sarah, Katie, and I went to a basketball game...super early!  We didn't realize we'd have to wait outside for so long!  It was freezing.  But Aggie games are always great.

And I made these lovely gems.  Heath {better than sex} cupcakes!  SOooo yummy.  Messy.  And a pain in the butt to make...but delicious nonetheless.

March


March was INSANE!  I was out of Logan more than I was in Logan, but it was so much fun!

I went to California (posts 1, 2, 3, and 4).  San Francisco is such a beautiful city.  I'm so grateful Eryka's step-dad offered to take my parents and I on a tour of the city!  He knew the ins and outs and was great at navigating since he knew the city so well.

I tried my first bowl of clam chowder.  Delicious!

Ghirardelli Square.  Chocolate is always divine

Lombard Street

But we didn't go to California just to sight-see...we went for a wedding!

Daniel and Eryka make a gorgeous couple {you can follow their blog here}

It also included friends who made me feel awful.  But more importantly it included friends who reminded me of how special I am.  It makes me tear up just thinking about them.  Thanks Sarah, Janie, and especially Kylee.  Kylee knew how to make me talk when others didn't.  And she knew what to say.

That month we also met the boys across the hall.  Yep.  It took us until March even though we had been living there since August.  Pathetic...but that's life haha :)

And I went down to Bountiful for work a bunch.  It was just for training...every Thursday.  Not the most convenient...but it's better than not having a job!

April


Stephanie and Eric got engaged on April Fools Day.

The roommates and I met Biggest Loser contestants and worked out with Brett {from the show}. Yep.  He was pretty awesome.  Or maybe pretty and awesome.

The roommates and the boys across the hall went to Lagoon.  I went on Skycoaster for my first time.  So scary...but SO fun! {you would think I'd have gone on it before now...considering it was my fifth year working there...}

There was bacon-shaped cake.  And schedule planning for the fall.  And taking webcam pictures like I belong on 16 and Pregnant {except I don't!} {april blogs}

Oh and I found ducks in a parking lot by the stadium.  I like ducks :)

May


Finals could not be over soon enough!  I was SO ready to move home.  Packing was a beast.  But thankfully once I got home I had family who brought all my stuff inside our home under ten minutes!  I wish taking it to my car would have gone that fast!

The weekend after I got home my family participated in Race for the Cure.  I've participated before, but it was a different feeling this year since breast cancer had hit home.  Aunt Tracey is an amazing lady!

love this family!

love them!

I find {this} post funny.  In it I comment on how, depending on the day, you interact with some pretty interesting characters.  And at the end I say "Life is pretty quiet.  Not uneventful...but lacking major events."

And then the NEXT Saturday....this happens!

If you can't tell, I have a black eye!  Well...had.  That's a story I never talked about on here yet!  Maybe later I'll have to do the story justice...but longish story short...I got punched in the face by a random lady at work!

June


June must have been filled with work.  I can't find pictures.  And there's one blog post.  But work was great.  I love the people I work with and hope most of them will be there this coming summer too!

July


July was full of work, fireworks, and Steph's wedding.

I watched fireworks on top of the rec center with Kevin.

I never got wedding pictures onto my computer...but the wedding was pretty!  And seemed to fit Stephanie perfectly.  The weather was everywhere that day...from blinding sun to pouring rain.  Not the greatest for an outdoor wedding...but we made it work!  I loved having family in town, especially Heather!

August


Some of the old roommates and I went camping up to Hunts property.  It was so much fun!

Did you know I'm a lumberjack?
P.S.  dull axes are awful

4-wheeling fun!

No wonder we're all single... :)

Sleepover fun! 

So bright...we're blinding each other with our beauty!

The best friend left on his LDS mission.

Work went back to weekends.

I moved back to Logan for school.  Met new roommates.  Met new friends.  Settled into my new home.

September


I turned twenty.  No more being a teenager for me!

Finally blogged about my "lovely Logan home" with pictures.

Played A LOT of Just Dance 2.

Went to Cobra Starship with Sierra at the U {for free}

Participated in a Guinness World Record.  World's Longest Kissing Chain? Check.  We also camped on the quad.

Was a big girl and got my car fixed {take 1}

October


What a wonderful month!  Life was quite blissful :)

General Conference.

Source: jengerbreadcreations.blogspot.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Made new friends at the Trophy House {Just Dance, game nights, and movie nights (my fav)}

Home was broken into.  Thankfully it was a prank.  Dumb I1 boys...except we love them still!  But we did learn how to use the deadbolt.

Discovered the wonderfulness of Violet Hill Boutique.

Had a leaf bug on my nose.

And put Pinterest to good use...by actually doing some of the projects I've pinned!

And going to the North Logan Pumpkin Walk was delightful.  So much creativity and hard work!

My car broke {take two}.  Thankfully it was in a parking lot again.  And thankfully it's been working since then {knock on wood}

Best friend came home.

Can I just say how much I loved wearing a tutu?  They are so much fun!  I missed out as a child...but maybe I appreciate it more now?  haha who knows?

What a cute peacock!  I was super jealous of her costume :)

November


I cranked out a huge paper in a day and a half {research and all!}  The teacher thought it was great enough he asked permission to use it as an example for next semester.  Score.

Katie and I celebrated 11:11 on 11/11/11.  We both screamed and freaked out and made a wish like little kids.  I think I remember my wish.  If not, I guess it wasn't that good haha.

Thanksgiving.  Awesome.  I love having a mom that can cook.  And sister/sister-in-law/me that can pitch in.  The only thing that would make it better is having more family here next time!

Football with Dad.  Pressbox seats.  Free lunch.  Also went down to the sideline.  Awesome.

Tried to give blood.  Not super successful.  Gave up after being there for over 2 hours.

December


Roommate Christmas.  I love pretty presents.

I love friends.

Went through mega-stress/worry.  Thankfully everything ended up okay.

Then came a different stress: finals.  After going through the previous week they were {almost} a welcoming sight.  Grades went well.  All A's and one A-.  I was quite content.

Christmas was great!  Church was full of wonderful music.  Later, the nieces came over and we opened presents about 2.  Everything was perfect!  My family knows each other well.

Hanging out with Katie {the roommate} over the break.  And just talking for over three hours.  Love her!

Tomorrow is my sister's birthday {happy birthday Steph!} and New Year's Eve.  It'll be spent with friends welcoming in the new year!

I'm excited for what it has in store.

moving + race for the cure + ducks

So Thursday I decided I should probably write my 4 page paper for humanities.  But, I was having a hard to concentrating on it, so I would alternate between packing and writing.  Two awful things...but if I had to choose...I would definitely pack. By the end of Thursday I had a nice start to the pile in my car and a completed paper.  Score.

I also decided that I liked packing more than studying for my chemistry test.  Luckily, I knew I was guaranteed an A- and I'm glad I was content with that, because it's what I'll be getting.  I still went and took the test....and I beat the class average, but I still got a lower score than my last test.  But hey, it was worth a shot and I was on campus anyway.

Friday was kind of a horrid day.  At least the first part.  I woke up (either 6 or 6:30...I can't remember) and got ready for the day (hair, makeup, clothes, even breakfast).  Then I realized I had about an hour left until I was planning on leaving for campus.  So...I decided to load of my car even more.  Then I decided to die on the lawn for a few minutes and call my mom.  She didn't answer so I laid on the grass for a few more minutes and then went back upstairs.  By this point I was getting pretty close to finished.  I basically had my bedding, some food, and a few odds and ends left in my room.

I went to campus to turn in mine and Kylee's (optional) take-home tests and mine, Kylee, and Katie's final (required) papers for humanities.  I walk in Old Main through the front entrance and go up to the third floor.  Apparently, you can only get to the third floor from the north and south entrances (it reminded me of Harry Potter when the third floor is off limits...nerd!) so I figure I would just go up to the fourth floor and find a different stairwell and get to the third floor from there.  I find one....but I couldn't get to it either!  And as I was leaving, I decided I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to be in that stairwell.  There was like a caterer with breakfast food at the entrance to one of the levels as I was heading down...and as I left the building on the glass it said "make sure you close this door completely" or something like that.  And on the outside of the door it said "not an entrance."  Well...I made it my exit.  And then I went to the north stairs where I knew I could get to the third floor and turned it all in.  Finally. :)

I decided I still had a few minutes to kill and went to check the line for buyback.  It was kinda long since I only had ten minutes so I opted to just return my rental book instead.  Then I headed over to Widtsoe (which is the part of the same building as the ESLC...my guess is the ESLC is an addition compared to "olden days?").  I sat down and pulled out my pencil and calculator and took my chemistry final.  I pretty much did awful (as I already said), but hey it was worth a shot.

Then I went back to the TSC to sell back my textbooks (after listening part of a voicemail of nothingness from my mom before deciding it wasn't going to be anything and deleting it...and calling her back and leaving a message since we had been playing phone tag).  I stand there, waiting in line...kinda long...but only a few minutes.  Maybe 5 or 10.  Then I realize everyone has their student id pulled out.  I know exactly where mine is.  Sitting in my Oscar wallet in my sparkly bag on my desk at home (apartment).  So...I was a bit irritated, but was glad I realized before I got to the front of the line.  And glad I hadn't packed it away.  I go home and race up the stairs and grab my wallet and head for my car....that's pretty full of stuff.  Luckily they were doing buyback at the Stadium too.  So I just went through the drive-through.  Yay for laziness.  I just remember that I was so exhausted at that point (remember?  I went up all the stairs in Old Main...but the real killer was every time I took stuff to my car I had to go down and back up to the 4th floors of my building, and I think I stayed up pretty late the night before too...yeah that one is my fault).  I really just wanted to have a nap in my bed, but knew that wasn't part of my plan for the day.

So I sold my books back.  And got a somewhat decent amount back.  And headed back to my apartment. I started my cleaning and my! that fridge and freezer were nasty.  Um...someone doesn't clean up their messes when they spill.  And it wasn't me...because my mommy (and daddy) taught me good (haha this video used to make me laugh pretty hard).  And I got the rest done too...I forgot what else I had to do.  Nothing too horrendous.

Then I threw the rest of everything in my car.  And had Ken come check my room off.  And then I was FREE!!!!!  Oh, and my roommate told me I had no heart because I told her how anytime I heard girls sobbing I would bust up laughing :)

My empty bedroom (minus my last load)

my stuffed car.  if i had anything else...it wouldn't fit. really.

my trunk and inside my car were FULL

What took me HOURS to take to my car took my family about five minutes to bring into my house.  But I denied their help in Logan.  It was stupid to have them drive up there and waste $30 in gas if I could fit it all in my car.

and here is the view of part of my bedroom from my bed.
there really is no room to walk.

I have no idea where anything is.  Well I can kind of guess.  But the things I really want I have no clue.  Like my Jesus sandals.  It took racking my brain a long time to figure out where they were since I knew I didn't pack them with all my other shoes.

And then Friday night was less eventful.  We ate at Burger Bar (greasy and a dive...but to die for....in moderation) with Dan and Eryka and my parents.  And then Mari and Nate got here from Boise that night to spend the weekend.

This morning we {mom, dad, me, dan, eryka, annie, stephanie, eric, mari, nate, paul, aaron, and tracey} went downtown to participate in Race for the Cure.  I know if Heather was here she would have loved to come with us too...but there's this thing called 2000+ miles in between us.

We walked {and ran...ish} in celebration of my aunt Tracey

Paul and Tracey

there were SO many people.
see clear back to the end of the street?  yeah it's filled with people.
if you turn the other direction it's the same way too!

Tracey's work started a team for her {"breast" friends}
here's the family part of the team
family:  the best friends you could have

So needless to say after climbing the equivalent of the Empire State Building...or maybe Sears Tower...in stairs and then going to Race for the Cure this morning and other random running around/errands...and not much sleep in between....I'm exhausted.  On Monday don't wake me.  I plan on sleeping in.

Oh.  And I ran to Joy Luck today to get a mother's day present.  Is it sad or awesome that the owner knows who you and your family are because you go in so much?  Well in this case it was awesome...but I'll leave that story until tomorrow just in case.

And tonight we {family picture "we"} went to Cafe Rio.  And it was delicious.  And then my family entertained me by telling funny stories.  Especially Aunt Mari.  She's hilarious.  Always.

But really, I should go to bed.  I'm never going to get enough sleep.  But my body is telling me I should try.  Oh and happy Mother's Day! :)

p.s. I love ducks.  If you want me to love you, take me to feed ducks.  I was super excited to see these ducks on my way home from school one day...