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.

catch up time

Wow.  Summer is flying by!  It's already the end of June...well almost.  And a week from today Aunt Mari and Nate will be here.  And Heather!!!  I haven't seen Heather since the middle of March (Dan's wedding).  And now I get to see her for Steph's wedding!  The bad news is, who knows the next time we get to see her. It surely better be before the next wedding (since I'll be the only unmarried one left).  Too bad she's not really within driving distance.  It'd be fun to go back east and visit...but I don't know if I see that happening either.  Stupid fund-sucking school.

I haven't done anything too exciting this summer.  I mainly just work...BUT I love the people I work with, so that's a bonus.  We have so many amazing people this summer.  The list of people I love is long and the list for people I dislike is relatively short...okay it's practically non-existent.  And then there are the people that just fall somewhere in between the two.

And maybe I'm just conceited, but I like it whenever I work around Chelsie and Alexis because they always tell me how adorable I look.  Plus, I like all the other random compliments.  I love my bird necklace...and apparently a bunch of other people do too.  Oh.  And I love when some of the aa/cashiers tell me I'm one of their favorites.  It makes me laugh because I know they're sucking up haha, but I'm sure for at least a few it's the truth :)

And sometimes we like to party at work.  Like the beach bash.  We had a bunch of people there from our departments which made it fun.  Otherwise it would've been lame.  Huge dance party + random volleyball game + the tube slide + cool people = awesome

And I really like all the supervisors this year.  We make a pretty rockin' team.  Last year...not so much.  And maybe part of last year was that I was the only new super (until they promoted two more mid-season) and felt like I just didn't fit in really.  But that's not the case this year...which is good.

Sometimes Ferris wheels are pretty :)

And sometimes, I get home from work, and finally wander into my room and find a present on my bed.

I was looking through the Kohls ad and said I wanted a waffle maker and that I should remember to go get it since it was only twenty bucks.  Well...I came home from work...and it appeared like magic.  Except the magic is my mom's awesomeness.  Plus she got me paper with a K.  I always end up making random lists of stuff...so that'll be useful.

Oh and remember Spencer?  He has flowers.  And is producing babies.  So maybe someday I'll figure out how to plant them.

Sorry...my kitchen is dark.  But you can see a flower.  And next to the flower is a spiderette.

I'm probably lame...but I like my spider plant.  Deal with it.

Part of me is ready for it to be the end of August and for school to start.  Well maybe not school, but at least be in Logan.  But, part of me is content with how things are now.  Both Logan and Bountiful have their pros and cons.  Most of it involves people.  It takes a lot less effort in Logan to make plans to hang out.  Or maybe summer is just crazy?

Oh and I've decided the justice/legal system (whatever it is...) is slow.  But that's America for you.

Oh and it's firework season!  I enjoyed a mini-show from my living room last night (yay for neighbors with illegal fireworks).  And on Friday I have more to go to!  Who knows if I'll get to go to any others besides those this year...but if not, I guess I can be content with that.

Oh and I hate when the power goes out, leaving me with an 85 degree house.  At least hiding in the basement was probably 10-15 degrees cooler :)  But...I love having AC.  

And I hate my wireless not working.  It's kinda inconvenient...oh well.  If those are the only things I have to complain about right now, life must be good.

life minus college

Nothing too exciting has been going on lately in this neck of the woods.
Life has consisted of:

• Unpacking.  This is practically done.  But I still have stuff that needs to be taken up to my grandma and grandpa since they're being my own personal storage unit for the next 3 months.  And I have clothes that need to be hung up.  But when don't I?
• Working.  Hours are starting to pick up.  And soon things will be going full swing.  
• I started a post about people watching at work....but I changed my mind.  At least for tonight.  However, depending on the day, you may see some interesting characters there...
• Starting next week I get trained in an area I have never worked in before...but everyone else on my level knows how to do it.  I'm sure I'll be able to learn it quickly and do fine...I just hate the process.
• Sleeping.  I've been getting a pretty decent amount of hours of sleep lately.  Maybe it's making up for the last week days/weeks of school where I hardly got any sleep.  Especially the last few days of school...they were brutal to me.  But now I've been getting a lot of sleep {sometimes even 10-11 hours...too bad that won't last}
• Weddings.  Well...kinda.  I went to an open house tonight for a friend I went to high school with.  It's crazy to think people I went to high school with are already getting married.  I know of some who are already married....and even more who will be married by the end of the summer.  And then my house has had some sort of wedding talk constantly for the last year+.  Except every few months the couple changes.  But after July it'll be done for a long time.  And by "long time" I mean loooooooong time.  If I remember correctly, at our Mutual (YM/YW) dinner we had last year for the graduating seniors I said I wouldn't get married until I was 78.  Or maybe it was 87.  Either way I still have quite a while.
• Friends.  Or maybe movies.
• One night Kylee, Janie, and I went and saw Prom.  I thought it was decent.  As long as you didn't take it seriously.  After all, it was Disney.  Disney movies are meant to be laughed at.  They're always cheesy and unrealistic haha.
• Then another night Angie and I went to see Something Borrowed.  I had mixed feelings about that movie.  I thought it was cute.  But at the same time I wasn't necessarily okay with the message it was sending.  Call me old fashioned, but I think someone should break it off with their fiance if they decide they want to pursue a relationship with someone else....
• And after that movie I headed up to Kylee's house for a sleepover with Kylee, Janie, and Sarah.  We played Just Dance 2 and Mario Kart on the Wii.  They were both pretty fun {and involved a lot of yelling at the tv...}...and somewhat made me regret selling my Wii...but not enough to go buy a new one.  And then we headed off to bed...all four of us in one giant bed...but then we woke up and there were three.  Kylee made us cinnamon rolls for breakfast...and I wish I could have stayed longer to play with everyone and have fun...but work was calling my name unfortunately.
• I got a dinosaur in the mail.  Yep.  A dinosaur!  That's what I get for having an awesome friend named Angie.
• TV.  Okay yes this is a lame way to spend my time.  And really I haven't spent too much on it.  But I caught up with the Office again tonight.  And even though it's not as good as other seasons, I just can't let myself stop watching it.  And I watched Say Yes to the Dress tonight too.  Some dresses are really pretty...but other times I'm baffled at why people would spend thousands on hideous dresses.

Yep.  Life is pretty quiet.  Not uneventful...but lacking major events I guess.  But I'm just dandy with that.

defeated

defeated. discouraged. depressed. disheartened.

Those words kind of describe how I've been feeling lately.  Now there are a lot of factors that could be contributing to these feelings.  There are quite a few that I can think of...but maybe they're not.  Maybe if those factors didn't exist I'd still be feeling this way.  I like blaming the factors though.  Here are a few....

• I think I'm sick yet again.  Or maybe it's just allergies.
• I move home a week from today.  I love my family...but I love Logan.  And living with people my age  {well at least the roommates I have now...who knows what fall will bring}  And I know I'll be back in 3 months....but still.  However...I won't miss hiking up the stairs to the 4th floor.  And probably won't miss the 10,000 trips to Walmart we make every week.
• I have a 4-page, single-spaced paper due next week on a topic I'm just going to b.s.
• I have 4 finals.  
• Being the awkward third-wheel.  Again.
• I don't want to start packing up 8 and a half months worth of stuff.
• I'm a little tired of wedding fever {family, friends, high school people, and especially the Royal wedding....}  I'm happy for everyone...just sick of hearing about it every second
• I pretty much failed my last test I took

But look at the bright side!

• That test I failed?  It can be dropped if I do well on the final.  I did really well on the first three tests in that class so I'm hoping it will work out :)
• Out of my 4 finals only 1 is cumulative
• I get to see my family lots
• Most of my roommates live within 10 or so minutes of my house...which is pretty awesome since I didn't know half of them existed before I came up here
• My grandparents are letting me keep my school stuff in their basement which means I'll actually be able to function in my bedroom at home.
• My bedroom at home is finally mine again.  It became a makeshift sewing room about a year and a half ago with different projects constantly coming up {youth conference outfits for the stake, bridesmaid dresses, wedding helper aprons, etc.}  Now it's not in my room anymore and I can actually see my floor, get to my closet, and so much more :)
• Shayna got us an appointment to the temple.  And I had just renewed my temple recommend only like 2 or 3 weeks earlier.

via

• Final day of institute - one of the slides had this quote from Boyd K. Packer
• "Life moves all too fast. When you feel weak, discouraged, depressed, or afraid, open the Book of Mormon and read. Do not let too much time pass before reading a verse, a thought, or a chapter." {from this talk}
• Pretty sure that was meant for me...now I guess I should act on it.
• We're partying tonight.  Except I don't care all that much for Sean Kingston...but I can pretend right?  Or maybe we'll decide to do something more fun :) Who knows?
• Oh and Janie makes me laugh.  Read this.  I love her.

But now is the time to go to Firehouse and figure out how to spend the rest of the night!

my adorable family :)

my adorable family :)
{heather's even here!}

Dan and Eryka got their wedding pictures back from their photographer.  {photos courtesy of Valory Jean Photography}

Sorry, I'm making this next picture extra big (and running into the next column...) to make sure you can see all of our beautiful faces.  Mom and Dad....did you miss the memo?  I know you're capable of pulling faces.

the real clark family

engaged?!

Me?!  engaged?!  NOPE! :)  However...here are my siblings when they got engaged. . .

Couple #1 is engaged as of tonight (and it's not an April Fools joke!)  

Now...I could be sad.  I'm not getting married.  I'm nowhere near close.  BUT. . . .I'm not even twenty!  I still have plenty of life ahead of me.  In fact, I don't WANT to be married, or even engaged right now.  Girls that can get married at 19...good for you!  I'm not going to join that club.  I'll go join the "I love dinosaurs" or "I work at 8 tomorrow morning" or "I think I rocked all my tests this week" club.  Or maybe all of the above.

Anywho. . . .congratulations Steph and Eric!

weekend

Weekend. Friday night was great. Me and the whole famdamily went to Joy Luck (minus Steph, but including Heather) plus Eryka's mom and step-dad. Haha I love how my family eats there so often that the owner knows my parents by name. Plus my family makes our orders complicated. I swear everyone has to change everything up. White rice instead of ham fried rice. A cheese wonton instead of a prawn. Salad with ranch. Salad with ranch on the side. Egg drop soup. Diet Coke. Diet Coke with lemon. Dr. Pepper. Water. But the 8 of us had fun. And the food was delicious. (p.s. the orange chicken is always the best...although others would beg to differ.)

Saturday. I went to work from 9-3ish. It was a lot of fun. I love the people I work with. I have a feeling this summer is going to be entertaining. I got my badge too...except now that I think about it, I'm not sure where it is. I hope that if I dig around I can find it...if not I'll get the joy of buying a new one before ever officially starting. Ugh. I hope I can find it!

After work, I went home. And I was pissed that my sisters weren't wearing the dresses we were supposed to for the Utah reception. But then I figured out how to make one of my favorite dresses match/coordinate with everyone else...and all was happy and well. It's not that I hated the original dress...but it's not necessarily what I would pick...although I think I'll still probably wear it here and there.

And then I curled my hair. And I finished doing whatever else I needed to do to get ready for the reception.

And then we went over to the reception center at 5. I made sure to wear heels. I wasn't going to be the midget sister in pictures. But, I'm not used to the heels I wore, so soon after pictures were over, I changed into flats that I had smartly remembered to bring and leave in my car. I know I'm a wimp...but the heels had served their purpose and the need for comfort took over.

The Bountiful reception was gorgeous. My mom did a wonderful job at planning it and making it look fabulous. She had all her fun friends help too. Leasa, Julie, Wendy, Diane, Sherri, and Patsy. They're all awesome! But around 7:30 or so Sierra came and saved me. I loved being there and all...but I never had anyone to be with consistently, so I felt kinda awkward. But me and Sierra escaped and went driving. And we came back and found out Sarah was there too, so we all got together and talked a while. And then we loaded up and went home. Well, I just supervised from the sidelines. I wasn't really all that helpful.

This morning we watched Dan and Eryka open all of their wedding presents. It was like Christmas! Well...Christmas, except that all the presents only had one set of names. And the stack was huge. But if I could pick anything to take, it'd probably be the basket of cards (as long as they were still filled with money/gift cards). :)

And then we just hung around the house all day. We ate yummy lasagna. My mom is a pro. And then we had more hanging out. I think I ended up hiding in my room watching Gilmore Girls. I ended up not feeling well pretty much all weekend, so it was nice to run away to my room that semi-blocked the noise.

I loved having Heather and Mari here. I love them a lot. I don't know the next time I'll see either of them...which is sad. I hope I can either take a road trip and visit Mari (except I don't know if I trust my car) or find a cheap plane ticket and go visit Heather. I need to find the time too. It would take a lot of coordinating of schedules...but it'd be possible...eventually.

But I should probably stop procrastinating my homework...here I come psychology....unwillingly.

California: Day 4

We woke up bright and early to get ready for the big day. Arriving at Eryka's house a little after 7 am, we hopped into the cars and headed towards the Sacramento temple.

Look at Dan's eyes! You can tell he cried :)

Here's Eryka's cute cupcake wedding cake!

Me and the groom! Dan is such an awesome kid. And he was sooo tired.

The adorable couple dancing to The Luckiest. I loved watching their faces. I know it sounds cheesy, but watching Dan was fun. I could see how much he loves Eryka just by the way he was looking at her.

Here's the cake! They were both nice though and fed it to each other politely...not shoving it in the other's face :)

And then, they made their escape through a tunnel of bubbles into the awaiting glorious Impala.

And then they lived happily ever after :)