In no particular order:

We had a bon fire

We went climbing

(I did an eleven plus!)

We had a girls night

Life is good

Roommate Climbing Night!

I have always been bless to have amazing roommates that are also some of my best friends.

My apartment now is no exception.

I seriously love all the girls I am living with.

I am so excited to come home every day!

Last weekend we had a girls night and we all went climbing together!

Carlie & Jana

Abbi

Jana and Abbi were an awesome team!

Abbi climbing

Carlie climbing

Carlie is my competition. 

I was done about three climbs in, but she kept going, and going, and I couldn't let her beat me!

Me climbing!

We were the last people to leave before they closed.

We had so much fun!

This is the parking spot we tried to park in. 

Not the big spot, the one with all the snow covering 2/3 of it.

I have the best roommates  :)

Labor Day Weekend

Climbing

This year I have gotten really in rock climbing.
As it has gotten warmer we have been going outside, but I am not the biggest fan of the limestone that is in Logan.
I have been craving granite!

I went to Rexburg this weekend (sorry if I didn't get to see you!) and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to climb on granite. 

I rounded up Porter and Whitney (who had stayed most of the weekend with me and we had so much fun!) and we were off!

Long story short:

- Whitney and I almost got lost twice on our way there

- We almost died once (although Whitney would say it was more)

- Porters car sounded like it was going to fall apart and we were all a little nervous.

- We forgot an ATC so we "made due" with a cool knot (Porter has way too much trust in me)

- I'm not sure who got the better work out: Whitney jumping up the rock, or Porter pulling her up.

- Whitney got blisters / huge boils from the heat of the rock on every finger

- I got heat exhaustion about four moves into my first climb and almost passed out / couldn't see anything on several occasions.

- None of us brought water

- For some reason, we thought it would be a good idea for the girl who was about to pass out (aka me) to belay Porter as he took the climb down.

Yeah, NOT a good idea! (I had Whitney holding the rope just in case, and it was a close call.)

- On the way home I was blinded by the sun, so Whitney stuck her head out the window and literally guided me as I drove.

- I had a headache for the next 24 hours

And we all survived to tell the tale!

Between Porter taking care of my heat exhaustion (ready at any moment to catch me if I fainted and dipping his coat in the river to put on my head)
and bandaging Whitney's blistered hands, I'm pretty sure he never wants to take us climbing again. Ha!

Thanks Porter!

It will be better next time  :)

(We have pictures and even a movie, but there have been some technical difficulties in getting them. So sad.
Hopefully I'll get them up soon, so check back)

Bishop & Sister Forbush

Whitney and I visited Bishop and Sister Forbush. They are seriously the best! I loved just hanging out with them and catching up on life.
It was just like the good old times. It seems like only yesterday we were there going hot tubbing, singing karaoke, cutting our fingers with sharp knives that poor college students aren't accustomed to, playing in their amazing back yard, and just hanging out.

 

Family

Fun times with mom and dad just hanging out, talking, playing speed scrabble and taking walks.
It's good to go home.

Moving Day!

Labor Day was spent moving into my new apartment! I cannot say thank you enough to my parents and sister for all their help.
I am so grateful for them! It made the day so much fun to have them with me in Logan. They are the best! 

I will miss Chelsey, but I am moving in with some amazing friends and am excited for the change!

The bad part is that I hurt my back somehow in the move. I feel like an 80 year old woman.
Good thing I work at a chiropractic office! I might actually have to get adjusted  :)

Movie Reviews

It has been a week full of movies!

First up: Mona Lisa Smile

I seriously love this movie so much! However, I will say up front that a lot of people do not like this movie. It is not one to watch passively.
All the characters are so deep and it makes you stop and think (or at least it should). I'm still thinking about it! One of my all time favorites.

Next up: Ramona & Beezus

Such a cute movie! I may or may not have cried - like tears streaming down my face crying.
I had to take a few minutes after it ended to collect myself so I could see through my tears to drive home safely. It's just so sweet!
Granted, I'm pretty sure I was overly emotional that day (I honestly don't know why) and if you watched it you would probably laugh at me for crying.... which, again, I may or may not have done....

Moving on: Pacific Rim

After institute Spencer invited us to see Pacific Rim.
I said I had never even heard of it before. His response: "Just go with no expectations and it will be good."
You probably shouldn't pay eight dollars something cents for a movie you have no expectations for. But apparently I did!
The whole idea of a giant robot punching a dinosaur in battle, most of which took place in the ocean, was just a bit much for me.
It was fun to be out with friends....

On a better note: Despicable Me 2

We went to the drive in to see Despicable Me 2 which makes any movie better! Both the movie and atmosphere were a lot of fun.
Agent Lucy Wilde kind of reminds me of Sierra  :)

Last, but not least: New in Town

A heart warming film, slightly Hallmark-esque. It will make you smile  :) 

It's been a good movie week.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

p.s.  I promise I do other things with my life besides just watch movies.
We also went night climbing this week! That was an adventure, and I have the scrapes and blood to prove it!

Life These Days

Pie night at Village Inn

Katie & Mary

These girls are my faithful sunday school goers! Love them!

Just for fun

this is the picture we put on the slideshow with the awesome app

Carlie and I crashed Trent's brother's wedding! It was so fun to see Trent again!

I loved this wedding!

They had this cool app where you could take a picture with your iphone and it would put it on the slideshow that was playing. 

I will have that at my wedding. haha!

Climbing

We (usually Tony, Cullen, Carlie, and I) try to go climbing at least once a week.

One day Carlie and I kept climbing by ourselves after Tony and Cullen had left! We were so proud of ourselves. 

Carlie did her first 5.10 and she didn't even cheat!

This was Jana's first time climbing! I am so proud of her  :)

Cullen had already gone climbing earlier that day and I had to prepare my sunday school lesson 

so we couldn't stay and climb, but we decided to pop in and say hi. 

Photo bomb! This is one of the awesome guys that works there. 

Can I just say how much I love all those guys!

Pot Luck

Every Sunday we have Pot Luck. We have so much fun and such tasty food!

This week the topic of conversation was "If you could marry any food, what would it be?"

Jana chose potatoes and Cullen said Pie.
Cullen is known for making delicious potato dishes, and Jana likes to make pie.
Everyone knows the foundation for a good relationship is food!
Need I say more?

breaking the touch barrier

They were a little shy about it at first, but things progressed quickly.

showing off their calves

They have a lot in common - Pie and Potatoes are just the beginning!

They also both like climbing, sushi, long naps, and their children would have awesome calves! 

They are perfect for each other!

On a different note, the toy company has really stepped it up these days! 

Kalli & Jana

Me & Jana
I'll work on getting a picture with Kalli for the next blog post

I'm pretty much with Kalli and Jana all the time. It's great. 

Life is good.

Birthday Boys!

March has been a month full of birthdays! 

The Birthday Boys!

Last weekend was the birthday of two of my favorite guys!

Cullen, Tony, and Trevor blowing out the candles

Sunday, we had a little party for them. Tony got to join in the fun as well because his Birthday was that week too! Lucky guy.

Monday was the real day of celebration. We decided to celebrate Cullen and Trevor by getting Tim Tams at Pepperidge Farm, all you can eat Sushi, and a little climbing to top it off. The perfect day.

 Cullen and I were so excited because we had never been to Pepperidge before! Sadly, we were disappointed by what we found - a tiny store with mostly ordinary plain brown cardboard boxes and no Tim Tams. So sad.

Picture Fail! (like the rest of our day)
our garbage tower with Cullen and Kristen trying to get out of the picture

Undaunted, we proceded on to Sushi. We pulled up and there was a sign taped to the door "Sorry, We're Closed"  

That's all. No other explanation. Just closed.

Discouraged after our double fail of Pepperidge and Sushi, we decided to make the best of it and went to Rumbi instead. It was delicious!

Determined to have something go right of the birthday plans, we proceeded to the Rock Haus for some climbing. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best day of climbing we've ever had. I had a headache and it was mostly just an off day for all of us. Oh well, what can you do. 

It was still a great day  :)

pie before cooking

pie after cooking 

Trevor and I decided to make Cullen a birthday pie because it's his favorite.

it's a creation of beauty - In both looks and taste!

look at that crust! It's latticed! 

If you can't tell, I'm kind of proud of our pie  :)

Cullen liked the pie too.

Happy Birthday!

Thanks for letting me join in on the fun.

Bring It!

When I was about 12 I started climbing with my older brother, Logan, who was about 18 at the time. I am amazed that he (or the people who worked there!) ever trusted me to belay him. Every time he fell I would go flying up and we would meet half way, but I never let him fall!

Just before Logan left on his mission, he and my dad took me climbing outside for the first time. I made it to the top without much problem, but it took at least 20 minutes to get me to back down. I still hate having to come down. It terrifies me to have to let go of the rock and let someone else hold my life in their hands. I hate not having control.

Once my brother left, I kept climbing here and there, but nothing much. In college, I took a rock climbing class with my cousin. We had so much fun! I started climbing more with friends, but I was never consistent.

Now that I don't have school and homework to worry about anymore, I have finally decided to start climbing on a more regular basis and maybe even get good at it! This week I climbed my first 5.10! I've been working towards it for a while, so it was pretty exciting. I felt so energized, like I could take on anything! Bring it on!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I know I'm a little late for the whole "New Years Resolution" post, and I don't believe in setting goals anyway, but I do have a few thoughts on the year 2013. If you tilt your head to the side and squint a little, you can kind of see the relation to rock climbing. I guess I could explain it a little better, but I need to get back to work and don't have time, and I'm not good with words anyway. Just use your imagination and draw your own conclusions  :)

For me, the year of 2013 has been about pushing myself - going out of my comfort zone, trying new things, letting go a little and giving up control, pushing myself a little harder to go a little farther.

Let me tell you, it is not always easy, and it is definitely scary! 

I find myself wondering, "Is it really worth it?"

Every time the answer is "Yes!"

I am so grateful for the experiences that I have been able to have and the ways that I have grown.

2013, bring it on!