quotes for the week...

Hey, I'm going to give a swimsuit at Liz's - Jess
Why are you giving Liz some soup? - Kyle

Oh love, I just honey you! wait... - Kyle

That's right duck, you just go and... waddle!!- Kyle

You know, the weirdest part about being married is that, for the first time in my life, I actually know just how much hair I shed. I'm so sorry. - Jess

Sometimes I go on these monologues, just to entertain myself. Don't you worry. - Kyle

(Teaching our Primary kids) ... and you know what he did next? - Jess
ugh. I bet he prayed. - Christian

"I hate my group, I hate my group, I hate my group- Kyle (said in a singsong voice, complete with booty shake)

She's engaged?! whoa... they took their pictures already? AND THEY took their pictures already?! He looks like he's trying to seduce the camera... - Jess

Well yup, that was about 2 weeks worth of quotes. Honestly we didn't really have time together this week to be funny. We were separated by textbooks, finals and sleep. Thank you finals. We did manage though to start/finish the entire first season of Lie to Me. ps: If you haven't watched it/ heard about it, I'd suggest jumping on this bandwagon. We're obsessed I tell you!!
BUT I did so much better on my tests than I thought I was going too! A's on 4/6 of them? I'll take it! (no need mentioning the score on the other two... haha) I'm so glad it's summer. I'm celebrating today by getting my hair cut and colored! YAY!
I think this weekend we're headed up to the tulip fields by Thanksgiving Point. My family back home did this almost every year for mother's day, but we just tried to go up whenever they were blooming. I was so excited to see the big billboard on I-15 advertising Tulip Fields! They're my favorite
Also. I'm turning 20 on Tuesday. I doubt I could be more excited. FINALLY and even numbered age. And we all know how obsessed I am with those. 19 has been grating on my nerves for.. well a year haha. The very best part...? MY MOM IS COMING DOWN TO VISIT!! I'm so excited to spend some time with her!

She's the best :)

Have a great weekend!

finals week. it just doesn't get old....

FALSE. I'm so done with school.

This week I've:

• eaten an entire bag of m&m's. no shame, no shame.
• written 7 essays.
• finished a 6 hour computer programming final.
• presented a statistical group project.
• had a meltdown, followed by 20 minutes of insane energy, followed by a meltdown, followed by 20 minutes of insane energy, followed by... you get the idea.
• dreamed about friends and classmates getting pregnant and giving birth to un-babylike.... things.
• dreamed about forgetting to take a test and rushing to the testing center, only to find Willy Wonka giving out golden tickets. I decided it was much more important to drink in a river of chocolate than to take a final.
• dreamed about being in the hunger games with my favorite bloggers (here and here). It's just impossible to kill someone who has such a cute kid!
• been too tired to have any desire of watching a late night movie with the hubs (sorry hun...)
• definitely survived off of only cafe rio and diet coke all day yesterday.
• ranged from "screw it, I'm failing this class" to "dude, I can TOTALLY ace this final!"
• haven't cooked a single thing. besides top ramen. (the chicken flavored one rocks this world btw)
• re-experienced my love of sweats and sweatshirts.
• gained a greater appreciation for summer break and all it's lazy awesomeness.

Finals week winter 2012: bring it on.

I wish I could say I could blame this all on finals week... but we all know I'd be lying if I did. I really am this nuts.

Good luck on finals!

Dear 16-year-old self,

Congrats on your 16th birthday! I know we've been waiting a LONG time to turn 16... mostly because we're finally an even numbered age again right? ;) Nah, it's all about driving and dating isn't it? haha.

I was just thinking about all the things I wish I could've been able to tell you. You're probably more concerned with things that might've been, how you look in the mirror and whether or not you'll be asked to homecoming (all logical fears mind you!) than what I have to say now. But take a second to consider the words of someone who knows you better than you currently know yourself.

Chill out dude. There will come a time in the not so distant future where you will be forced to consider much larger fears and choices that have greater consequences, so why are you trying to grow up so fast? Trust me when I say that you will greatly appreciate the time you took to SLOW DOWN and notice the simple things in life.

6 months from this very moment the trivial things you concern yourself with will be so far removed from your mind you'll wonder why they even occupied it. The boys you think are obsessed with you aren't; they're probably more interested in what you can do for them. That's a sad truth. Realize this soon and don't let them influence you.

Learn to be true to yourself. You're not a chameleon; you don't have to adapt to the group you're in. And don't be sad you don't have "groupies". Soon you'll make the choice to jump out of your comfort zone and that choice will help you establish life-long friendships. At the same time though, don't be afraid to say what you're thinking. You'll probably regret not taking the time to get involved with activities going on. Shoot, run for class president. I know you're toying with the idea! Just because you do have those type A tendencies doesn't mean you have to be ashamed of it. So what if you people consider you a goody-two shoes? Isn't the alternative reputation worse? No one has ever, or will ever, ask you to be perfect so you really shouldn't expect that from yourself either, although that isn't license for you to not try your best.

Oh by the way, our parents do actually care about us. Crazy right? But seriously, every time they've asked you about your day, how your date went, what projects you have coming, all those question we thought were annoying? They're actually taking interest in your life because they love us! Don't take too long to figure that one out... it'll save you a lot of arguments.... and possibly a grounding or two. Treat them better. You'll look back at some point and realize how instrumental they were in your development and you'll wish you had thanked them better than slamming the door in their face. And yes, your worst fear is now being confirmed: they really are right most of the time. Swallow that pill and take advantage of their experience!

Last point I want to stress: boys are dumb. Well, not all of them. But high school is the time to find the bridesmaids, not the groom. No matter how smart you think you are, you really don't have your head screwed on tight enough to realize what you really want in a husband. So just don't think about it. At the same time though, don't close yourself off to experiences. Go on dates, get to know guys; some of them will become your greatest friends! When your heart does break, when those annoying thoughts of "what did I do wrong" come in, just remember that everything will one day work for your benefit. When you find HIM, all those questions of "why didn't we work out?!" will be answered and then you'll realize how glad you are that it didn't. Learn to enjoy the hard times because that's how you'll recognize the truly sweet moments in life.

My last piece of advice would be simply this: remember what matters most in life. Are you going to remember winning a volleyball match? Acing a test? That shirt you got on sale? Or will you remember that hilarious night spent camping with the family? The 2 hour conversation you had with a friend who needed you? The service you rendered to someone? Remember who you are and don't get discouraged that you're not perfect. You simply are far from where you were, but not quite yet where you want to be.

Quotes from the week

With Nicole being here, our funny average shot up. It was great!

"Shoot, I'd feel like I owed her my first born child!"- Kyle

"When did Apple start"?- Family Finance professor
uhhh, Adam and Eve. duh."- Liz

I don't know how to describe swear words. I just say them. In a foreign language. - Kyle

"Oh, so it's like a Carrie Underwood 'I'm-gonna-slit-your-tires-cuz-you-cheated-on-me-thing'?" - Jess
"Yes, but with a bit of Taylor Swift"- Nicole
"Oh that's worse. Like a buttered up 'I'm-going-to-kill-you!" - Jess
"yup. sugar and spice and everything nice, oh wait, I've have a knife!"- Nicole

"Do you want to use my dry shampoo?"- Nicole
"Did you just ask her if she wants your poo?"- Kyle

"BYU is a bit different from Green River isn't it?"- Jess
"uhhh YEAH! There's no smoking Asians!"-Nicole
"I know! I swear I'm going to get second hand lung cancer from them. Stupid Asians...(an Asian walks by)... I mean stupid SMOKING Asians!!"- Jess

"Liz, if you buy this, I'll buy your groceries for a week!"- Carly
"And we all know how expensive THAT'S going to be...." - Jess

Ah, so funny.

We just dropped Nicole off at the airport; we're so glad she came! It reminded me of freshman year and all the exciting things that now seem old hat. It gave me a chance to really reflect on exactly how cool it is being at college, particularly BYU. Plus she's awesome and helped clean my house before she left :)

Hope you guys have a great weekend! We will be watching General Conference and gaining inspiration and insights that are so desperately needed! And possibly catching up on sleep!

Hare Krishna!!

Where else do you get a ton of pseudo-Hindu's (aka Mormons) throwing chalk at each other? The Festival of Colors! I wonder if any actual Hindu's go to this thing....


Nicole is here for a week to visit BYU and of course we couldn't let her leave without participating in this event. It's basically a right of passage for all BYU students. No idea why... but it's fun!


Ironically, this Hindu festival is the biggest one of its kind in the Western hemisphere... and it's Utah. What the heck?

It's like a giant hippie festival to be honest. For example, the MC guy told a story about how last year at the festival, this kid got separated from his group of friends, but he was fine because he made 20,000 new friends!!


We came, we saw, and yet, we are still 20,000 people friendless. 
I feel jipped.

Team Gale 4 lyfe + this week's quotes.

Hey there! This week was one of those weeks were the professor's decided it would be their honor to distribute the hardest tests and the biggest group assignments. Wasn't that so nice of them?
Anyway... I jumped on the bandwagon this week: I bought the Hunger Games, read it in 3 hours, and went and saw it last night. Sorry to all you die-hard HG fans, but I honestly thought it was just ok. I didn't feel like there wasn't ANY 'romance' between Katniss and Peeta in the movie. There wasn't even a spark or a tiny candle between them which was a MAJOR part of the book! Peeta just seemed so awkward to me. (Rubbing your finger all over her bloody forehead was NOT a tender moment Peeta, it was nasty). Katniss should just go with Gale. He's hot. And actually hunts for her family instead of just throwing her some old, charred bread. Some parts were filmed with that "shaky camera" look, and since we were in the first 2 rows of the theater, that did NOTHING for visual effects. It really just confused me. I would have had no idea who was fighting who or who just died etc. if I hadn't read the book. Stanley Tucci played Caesar perfectly! And Lenny Kravitz as Cinna? AMAZING.The rest of them were just ok. In general though, I did enjoy the movie, but the hype didn't really seem necessary.
Ok, off my haterade stand.

Quotes from this week:

"If I ever got pregnant, I think I'd crave tamales!" - Kyle (talking to Kyle about pregnancy and all its nuances...) 

"I just get so jazzed learning about magnetism and stuff like that, but now we're learning about quantum mechanics and I'm just like, 'ugh, old hat!'" - Kyle

(After picking up my sister at the SLC airport after flying from Seattle) "I went to grab a carmel apple spice at Starbucks before I got on the plane and I realized something: there was a Starbucks in every single terminal! And then when I got into SLC, I find ONE Starbucks in the entire airport. I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore!!" - Nicole

"I think I'm going to give birth to this burrito..." - Jess (after eating a Chipotle's burrito)

(explaining the Hari Krishna Festival of Colors to Nicole) "You walk 20 minutes to the temple, you make fun of the weird singers, you throw chalk at people until it's gone, you take pictures like crazy, then you jam everyone's news-feed with evidence of the festival. That's all there is to it." - Jess

"Raunchivelent. Shoot, I mean, raunchy is equivalent to..." - Liz

Bahaha. I laughed as I wrote those!
My sister is here this week! She wants to come to BYU so mom thought it'd be a good idea for her to get an idea of what the campus is like before she made up her mind. And she just wanted to see me :) We're going to have fun showing off all of Provo's wonders. Namely frozen yogurt and the dollar theater...

Have a good weekend!

opposition in everything

..sorry it's blurry...

You know, I've always thought it was a weakness to show emotion. Crying obviously meant that you weren't strong enough to handle the pain, fear showed a lack of courage and stress was the inability to have any inward discipline.  This thinking constantly ate away at me because despite thinking that... I would still cry, become afraid and get very stressed.  I wonder why women constantly feel like they need to "man up", as if men's characteristics was somehow superior to women's.  Being tough, unflinching and aggressive is expectation we create for ourselves, and yet for most women, those characteristics aren't inherent.  I do want to clarify: I am not about to launch into feminine rights here. While I believe they are important, sometimes I wonder if they're carried to the extreme. My point here is to tell myself that it is ok to be a tender woman. I love how she said, "Nothing is more powerful than letting yourself to truly be affected by things".  So what if a song moves me to cry? I experienced an emotion that imprinted a memory onto my brain. If nothing in this life is to effect us, to move us to experience emotion, then what's the whole point of living in the first place? I would rather go through life taking everything in. The good, bad and the ugly because with those experiences I also gain a greater appreciation for the sad, angry and beautiful: the everything in life.