Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Filling in my peeps

Hello again!

There's been quite a few things that have happened since I started back again at BYU!

1. I've had 3 big tests, (2 for Psychology, one for Portuguese) and I've done well on all of them so far! Post mission blessings are a real thing!!! :)

2. I got a calling! I'm an FHE mama! We haven't actually had an FHE that I've planned yet though, because last week we had a ward activity at Kiwanis Park (sooooo much fun!) and this week I was in Roy with Shell and the fam so we just combined with another group. But this Monday is going to be legit.

3. I spoke in church! My topic was the talk by Elder Dale Renlund, "Latter-Day Saints keep on Trying", which is an AWESOME talk, by the way. I feel like my talk went pretty well. I definitely learned a lot while preparing it.

4. Shell and Nate's house/Spiral Jetty/The Golden Spike for Memorial Day! It was so much fun that I couldn't make myself leave until I had been there for 2 days and nights, even though I'd only planned to be there for one day and one night. There's something about a little 3 year old saying "Aunt Bwi, I don't want you to leave." that just melts your heart. And going to Shell and Nate's house is always so much fun! I love it!
Also while I was there, I taught Asa to give me Xeros! A Xero is something they do in Brasil. When they hug you, they breathe in really deeply and it makes you feel great. :) I always do it to Asa when I pick him up, and he picked up on it (haha) and does it to me now. :)
And I was able to help Addison and Bryn learn how to do front flips on the trampoline! They are such champs!!!

5. I ran a 1.3 miles once, in a little over 11 minutes. That was pretty cool. #iamsooutofshape

6. I've realized that I actually really enjoy studying. I love reading my psychology book! Call me a nerd, but it is just so interesting! For example, one of the first days of class I learned that female's sweaty armpits smell worst than male's sweaty pits, because when females sweat, they secrete some kind of weird fatty stuff along with the sweat. Gross but true. And insanely interesting. Haha! It's been interesting to see also the changes in my work ethic since I came back out. I'm proud to say there's a big difference. :)

7. I've lost like 4 and a half pounds! WOOHOOOOOO!!!

8. I went to a little mini mission people reunion. :) We went to Sister Woodland's house (Laura) and hung out for a while and told funny mission stories, went and got Acai, (such a rip off! It was NOTHING like the real thing.), and then we were sitting around at her house talking and all of a sudden 4 boys showed up that nobody knew!!! They knocked on the door and said, "Uh, are you guys Kaileen's friends?" (Kaileen was one of the sisters in our mission). So we just awkwardly invited them in. Then Kaileen showed up a few minutes later. Haha it was actually pretty fun. We played Smurf until like 2 am! When I found out what time it was, my first thought was, "Oh, mom is going to be so proud of me!!!" kkkk


9. I saw my trainer in Mansfield, Sister Katy Williams! She came up one day last week and surprised me! IT WAS SOOO GOOD TO SEE HER!!! We went out to eat supper at Costa Vida and chatted it up. I've missed her so! And she's still the same old Sister Williams. :)


10. Payson Temple Open House! That temple is BEAUTIFUL, and so huge! I've never seen such a pretty baptistry in all my days. And there's 3 or 4 different floors that you can go on. And I loved the recurring apple blossoms everywhere- on the door knobs, painted onto the ceiling, on the BEAUTIUL, giant windows... it was lovely. I went with my roommate Lily and with Spencer. It was PACKED. 






 Anyway. It's been fun so far. I can't believe the spring term is almost over! Just a few more weeks. :) I'm going to miss my psych class, but I'm excited for Zumba to start up and to be able to say that I've got a good solid term under my belt. 

 

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Don't Blink

Wow, so much has changed since I last blogged! Deciding to go on a mission, going home to Georgia and working 4 jobs at the same time (Spine Care and Pain Management, Check it Books, Ingles, and babysitting), receiving my mission call to go to the Brasil, João Pessoa mission (BEST THING OF MY LIFE!!!) and having so many great experiences there. Then I came home on the 28th of January, worked at Cracker Barrel for a few weeks and then went back to Ingles (waitressing wasn't really my thing... haha) and now I'm out at BYU again, living with a mission friend and loving life!

It's crazy to think about how I have changed so much in just a short amount of time. I remember last time I was out at BYU, it was so hard. I struggled socially and academically and was super homesick all of the time. Then my mission kicked my fanny into gear and totally changed my outlook on life and it's challenges, and I'm loving it now!

So I came out to Utah the Saturday before classes started to hang out with Shell, Nate, Megan, Sam and the kids and it was so much fun! I didn't really get a bunch of pictures of all of us, but I took quite a few of the cute little ones. :) It was so much fun to hang out with them and get to see them all and FINALLY meet Natalie and Asa!

 On our way to the Atlanta airport, bright and early! (Or should I say, dark and early?)



 Goofing off with Leah on our way to Roy! She's a hoot!

Bonding time with Natalie playing the cupcake game.

 The one, the only, Addison!

 The fabulous Bryn!

 On our way to church!

 Addison's quite the photographer. :)





 Birthday Festivities

 My hair straightened a little bit when I left the humidity! A Christmas miracle!










I'm sad that I didn't get ANY pictures with the big kids, but there's always next time. :) It was seriously so much fun. We went on a hike on Saturday, and Sunday we all went to church together. Me and Meg stayed with Shell in the nursery (she's nursery leader), and it was a blast. Who know nursery could be so much fun?!

Monday morning Nate worked from home so Shell could go with Addison on a field trip. I got to hang out with Leah that morning, and it was a blast. This little gem happened:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYyfwHixErM


And Shell and Nate were kind enough to let me crash their house and eat their food and party with the birthday boy (Asa) and take me grocery shopping and then Nate even drove me down to Provo early Tuesday morning. I left with a home made lunch Shell made for me with a cute note inside, that I still have. :) (She even made a lunch for Spencer. What a gal.)

It's weird being out here without Beck and Ben, but I'm grateful that there's still family close! We have the best family ever!

Stay tuned for the next edition: Entering the University- Take 2