Life in the Fast Lane

To all my adoring fans (aka: mom): Here is a post!

Living life in the fast lane may wear you out, but I'm still pumped...sleep deprived...but pumped! Let me give you an update of my life this past month at Utah State!

My friend Eric, from back in North Ogden, ran a half marathon and the finish was near Logan. So me, Shanna, and Jaquelyn went to see him cross the finish line early in the morning. He was so fast - we almost missed him when he ran by. But we found him afterwards and got his picture to prove that we did, in fact, see him. Good job Eric!

"The Boys from Morgan," as we affectionately call them, invited us to go ice blocking down Old Main Hill at 9:00 at night. Icing down that hill is a rush! And even more so when the sprinklers turn on and slick up the grass - no friction. Sweet. :) Me and Michelle (my roommate) earned the best grass stains of our lives. We couldn't pass up an opportunity to snap a photo.

Every Friday the institute holds an activity. On this particular Friday, it was the annual Jell-o slide. One dives, cannon-balls, or rolls in a pool full of liquid jell-o (strawberry flavored), pops out, runs maniacally, and slides upon a large black tarp as one would a slip'n'slide. Alas, I had a class during the hours the Jell-o slide was operating and was not able to participate. But Shanna didn't! So I stood by munching on a free snow cone and watched and admired her as she bathed in a pool of sugar water and slid like a penguin on ice.

For Labor Day, I drove up to Grandpa's Mountain in Idaho and camped out with my family. It was so nice to just relax and read my book! It was also a good opportunity to use my mom as a math homework resource. :) All the little kids were obsessed with the swings, so I sat by watching them and smiled and nodded occasionally when I heard, "Jessie! Look at me!" I took a gazillion pictures of 'em! It was so nice to see my family and spend a few days with them. We had some good laughs! But the one and only downside to this whole camping spree was that it threw off my groove for free laundry on weekends. I had to resort to the laundromat...which quite frankly...is NOT free.

This is what happens at 12:OO AM on Wednesday nights. Yes. We all had school the next morning. We said "good night" to each other and were all heading off to bed, when my roommates, Rachel and Mallory, suddenly hit this adrenaline rush and just started throwing on every random article of clothing that they owned. It was soooooo funny! Me and my other roommate, Taylor, stayed up laughing our heads off and taking pictures. Kelsie and Michelle slept through the whole thing! We still laugh about it all the time.

Last Saturday, one of my dearest friends, Angie Barlow, got baptized! It was an incredible baptism and such a tender experience. Our friend Andy was able to baptize her and a lot of us got to participate in the program one way or another. I said the opening prayer. :) Angie looked so happy and so beautiful. I can't tell you how much I love her. I'm so glad I'm not so far away that I couldn't be there, I wouldn't have missed that opportunity for the world.

That same night I went on a date with my friend Chris and a few other couples. We went to a Jon Schmidt concert in Brigham City for their Peach Days. We were right in the front where we could see his fingers fly across the keyboard - it was intense. And afterwards we went to Peach City and got awesome shakes! I was so content: Jon Schmidt, ice cream, and good company. Doesn't get much better than that.

The Logan Institute had the amazing opportunity to bring a choir down to Provo and sing in the monthly CES fireside. Michelle and I (and a lot of good friends) were lucky enough to participate with them! It was a giant choir of 800+ students, but it made for an incredible and powerful experience. We sang "I Marvel at the Miracle," in which the writer of the song attended the fireside and spoke to us as a choir (neat!) and "Come, Come Ye Saints." The speaker was Sis. Elaine S. Dalton, of the general Young Womens presidency. She gave one of the best talks I've ever heard. All of us were furiously writing notes down in our notebooks and soaking in every word as she told us how to make "A Return to Virtue." It was a long day, and a 3 hour long bus ride, but it was totally worth it. And as a bonus - it will eventually be broadcasted internationally!

While Michelle and I were down in Provo, our roommates were having a fun times back at home. Mallory and Rachel might as well be sisters because without even knowing it, they picked out the exact same outfit to wear to church that day. It was hilarious! And of course, none of us could miss a photo-op like that! Including our neighbor Phil. ;)

Speaking of Phil...this is him wearing what he calls, his "Stain Glass Nightmare." It's hideous. The end. ;) He got it on his mission in New Jersey. I have never seen a guy who owns more ties than him. It's ridiculous! Have I ever told you that I actually have 11 roommates? You see, there's Michelle, Mallory, Rachel, Taylor, Kelsie...Ryan, David, Brandon, Mike, Tim, and Phil. We just leave our front and back doors open all day and we have one huge apartment. It's so much fun and always makes for good laughs.

The same night that we were admiring Phil's collection of ties, Kelsie and Taylor baked a cake at 9:00 at night and brought it over next door. We all sat in the living room harfing German Chocolate cake straight from the pan. No plates required. That would require us to clean dishes. I have never seen anyone eat cake like our nieghbor Tim. Has anyone else ever heard of pouring milk over your cake and eating it like cereal? I never had! :) I need to try it some time.

So our RA (resident assistant) suggested that we create a chore chart. We agreed to make her happy. This is the list that I stumbled upon the other night. :)

Every Friday since school has started we have made it to the Logan Temple to do Baptisms for the dead. Sometimes we have large groups, sometimes they are smaller, but no matter the numbers, we always have an uplifting experience.

So this past weekend was my first weekend home here in Logan. Me and my roommates had a great time! We also tend to get a little hyper from the tick of the littlest things. After baptisms we all came back with wet hair and were all attempting to hurry and get ready again so we could make it to the Institute dance. I don't know what happened, but we all walked out into the hall with our hair half finished and we just went crazy. So we took silly pictures to document the mood we were in.

This is our fish bowl. We have no fish. Maybe one day we will. Maybe one day we won't. Kelsie and and Taylor went to Walmart and were picking some things up and decided to buy a pet. But when they went to go retrieve the pet, the Walmart worker told them not to get a fish there. Apparently their fish suck. They should go to Petsmart. :) So we haven't made it to Petsmart yet - and we're not going to go out of our way to do so...so for now, we are content with a bowl of water in our window.

Last night I had the first home cooked meal that I've had in weeks! It was so delicious! And it was free. For all those who do not know, I was recently set apart as the 1st counselor of the Relief Society in my student ward. It'll be intense, but I'm much more comfortable with the thought after last night! All the "Homemaking Counselors" of the University 1st Stake went to the stake relief society counselor's home, where we had delicious warm mouth watering food, and talked about what our calling entails. My calling sounds fun! I'm really excited! And all of the other girls are so genuine and helpful - I think the Lord will provide a way. :)

There you have it. My life over the past month in a nutshell....a very large nut shell. But now I'm sure you can all understand why I haven't been able to post in ages! I have good reasons! I love it up here in Logan. Everything about it is beautiful and amazing.

I miss you family! I love you tons and tons! I'll try to stay more current this time, but who knows...life in the fast lane is pretty fast. ;)