College in 100 Pics

Flying out to Utah

At the top of Mount Timpanogus

Ready to move in.

Our new "home"

Cold Cereal at 1:00 am. Life
doesn't get better than this.

Feeling like true adults when
the first two items on our list
of simple joys have to do with sales.

A toast to our first night in the dorms,
and as close as I'll ever come to an all-nighter.

Watching our first BYU game out on the lawn with all the freshies.

You thinking what I'm thinking?

Yeah . . .
What have we got ourselves into?

First game with my roomie (far left) and a couple total strangers.
They weren't strangers for long.

Ran into a friend from back home during freshman orientation.

First day of school pics.
When your roommate's a photographer, these were a must. 

Affectionately termed freshman hill.
Walked up this every day on my way to classes. 

Second date. Hiking the Y.

The view from the top of the Y.
So we may have stayed up there talking till midnight. Isn't Provo beautiful at night?

Some of the girls on my hall. Love this place. Love these girls. 

Sunday afternoon picnic and pictures in the canyon.

Pretty much the extent
of our halloween decorations.

Love from home.

Halloween night was spent in the dorm room grading papers.
I was just finishing my movie, "While You Were Sleeping"
when Mallory came home from work. So we started it over.

Then Mai joined us, so we had to watch it again.
I was fine with that.
It was my first halloween without candy, but popcorn, a movie
and hot-cocoa hit the spot. 

Watchin Maleficent with the girls from my hall at the $1 movies. 

Went running at night,
through the sprinklers.
On purpose.
Soaked and freezing,
but man was it fun.

Ran my first biathlon with this gorgeous girl,
who also happened to live across the hall.
She was my running buddy. We usually ended up running around 9:30 pm.
It seemed every time she came over to ask me if I wanted to go for a run I was
either crawling into bed, had just gotten out of the shower, or had just eaten.
But I could never say no.

On one of my dates,
we decided it would be a fun idea
to run up the down escalator.

Hot cocoa mix and oatmeal were my bread and water.

Pumpkin bread from a girl across the hall. It was devoured.

Don't know what I'm doing with my face there .  . .
This may or may not have been my first time
wearing my hair in a messy bun.
#roomiefirsts. Thanks Mallory

Girls night in my dorm with my sis,
 painting nails, coloring disney princess coloring books,
eating chocolate covered pretzels, and talking about boys.

The family came together for Thanksgiving, and for my sister's wedding.

Something is wrong with this picture . . . But it looked pretty.
That, and it's a pretty accurate representation of Utah weather.
One minute it's snowing. The next, its 72. 

Love from my aunt, uncle, and cousins
in preparation for finals

Dinner is served!

Got to decorate a Christmas tree
while volunteering
at a food distribution center. 

Ward activity: roller-blading. Already missing this fun crew.

And this is what a study group looks like. 

"Studying" for finals = Pizza and comedy shows. 

My roommate had to wake up for a final at 5:00 am, but we both knew how good she was at waking up, so at 2:00 in the morning, I recorded herself giving a pep talk to be played back to her at 5:00am. This is real guys. College and finals at their finest. Click here for the video. PS. My voice sounds weird because 1) it's a recording and no-one likes the sound of their own voice on a cheap recording 2) my retainer's in and 3) it's 2 am. I think the last point explains everything.

Grandma took me shopping during finals week
and we bought enough to earn some store cash.
It wasn't enough for both Kylie (my choffeour)
and I to get something neat, so we bought out
the Christmas sock collection. Fun stuff.

Temple square at Christmas is gorgeous. So many lights . . .

My favorite part of college - coming home.

And we're back for round two.
I got back a couple days before Mallory. Just waiting.
This pic also reminds me of a funny exchange I had with my roommate.
Me: Mallory, my bed is being mean to me
Mallory: hmm
Me: No really, it's teasing me. How do you punish a bed?
Mallory: You sleep in it.
Really, it's a fantastic punishment. Your bed hates it.

Just about the only snow we got. It was gorgeous while it lasted.

Accepted a job in the dish room . . .

. . . and got a date to a basketball game after my first night of work. 

Started a thankful wall
with post it notes. 

Mallory's desk after she moved out.
I kept notebooks on it and a jacket over the chair
to keep it from looking so lonely.

After work ended at 9:00pm
 I'd routinely grab a second "dinner"
from the creamery with my work friend.

Perks of not having a roommate: tiered seating for movie night.
We watched Maleficent      

Cross country skiing with friends.
(Left to right: A random girl who joined us whose name I can't remember,
myself, Makayla, Krisitn, Cristina).
It was my first time cross country skiing and these girls made it a blast.

Dinner in SLC for Cristina's birthday.
Margaret chose the restaurant.
We were skeptical. The area was pretty sketch.
Then again, so were we.
The food was delicious, and service was fantastic.

Things got a little crazy. Love these girls.

Competed the swing in DanceSport.
Mark and I got to dance in the quarter finals.
I loved my dance classes.
Not to mention all the fine dates they got me.

Making food art at Sunday dinner
in the Cannon Center.

This greeted me every day
on my way from Lit class

10k with this gorgeous girl

Every year, BYU makes a castle
out of cardboard boxes
and then lets you paint on it.
It has the structure of the Wamping Willow
and the colors were dying because I was running out
and I couldn't rinse off the brush,
but it was fun to paint. 

Easter care package from my aunt, uncle and cousins. Made my day.

Friends from back home joined me for a day at the park and provided a picnic.
It was so fun to see these great people. 

See that little speck under the tree?
That's my friend Hinkles.
He and his mate, Chips, would hang out
outside the dorms.
I fed them every day. 

The trails I would go walking on every Sunday after church.

Chillin in my Easter socks. Can't get over my fuzzy pillow.

So right by campus is a rent-a-puppy program
 with free drop-off and pick up services.
Of course the puppy's not free.
But it was worth it. Sofie was charming. 

Nutella, banana crepe with Dad in Salt Lake
 after Saturday General Conference.

Spending the afternoon playing word games with my dad,
great uncles, second cousins,
and other family I may or may not have known I had.
Super fun

Inducted into the honors society.

Women's Conference with Kylie

Minor changes. Literally.
I got accepted into the editing minor. 

In case you can't read the note it says "To do tonight."
This picture was my reply to a friend
when she asked if I wanted to watch a movie with her one night.

Home sweet home. My brothers are so tall!

Candidly,
Cookie

These Crazy Kiddos . . .

 . . . Are so easy to fool, and so fun to please.
Today, for lunch I told them that we needed to go pick some stuff up at Publix and that we would grab lunch while we were out. So they hopped on their bikes, bickered a little about who was going to carry home what from our grocery list, grabbed some light backpacks, and took off, all the while believing we were eating lunch at Publix. Meanwhile, I could hardly keep a straight face. So, it was true that I did need to pick some stuff up at Publix, but I would be picking it up later in my truck. It was also true that we were stopping for lunch, but not at Publix. As we rode by Chick-fil-a I told Jacob to turn in. I suggested we bike through the drive through, because that's how it's done when you're in college. I've even seen kids decorate cardboard cars and walk them through the drive through at night, because evidently they don't have enough homework to keep their creative juices occupied. Dallin looked at me like I had lost it, so Jacob stayed by the bikes while we walked in to order. I guess they'll have to wait till college to have that sort of fun.

We ordered a 12-count chicken nuggets and split it - not a very big lunch. Both my brothers were too polite to say this out loud, but I could tell they were thinking it.
"Just a snack," I told them.
"Then what's for lunch?" Dallin asked.
It was about then that Jacob figured it out. Last summer we used to ride our bikes to Yogli Mogli for frozen yogurt. My treat. Evidently, they'd remembered.

In all, our little outing cost about $21.00. This past semester I worked in the dish room three days a week, three hours per shift. One night of work paid for an outing with my brothers, but time with These Crazy Kiddos is priceless.

Of Church Notes and Ransom Notes Part Two: Hostages

Apparently, Dallin is NOT kind to his hostages.

Pictured left to right:
Timba, Fish, Elly

Look at those sad eyes . . .
I'll save you Elly

This means war. I will have to get creative with my torture methods. Watch out Snake Lord.
He won't know what hit him (though he'll probably know who).

Candidly,
Cookie

Of Church Notes and Ransom Notes

During church my younger brother Dallin passes me a note that reads, "We es gonna take Elly Elafant once and ferall."
Let me back up a little. Last night, Dallin came into my room, stole my stuffed elephant, Timba, and proceeded to strangle him with his plastic anaconda. I emerged from my room later that night to find an army of plastic snakes, scorpions and the like lined up and coiled outside my door, with the anaconda in the act of biting and strangling a small stuffed puppy. The message was clear, to me at least. "Give me your elephant or else we will kill the puppy."

Fast forward to the note he gave me in church. It was signed -

Taddy jr. (and other frogs) *these would be his real pet frogs*
Fuzzy lips *his nickname for Jacob's pet hamster whose real name is Little Dude*
Snake Lord *apparently the title of his anaconda*
Siclids *in the fish tank downstairs*
Stickers *the name of my favorite of the fish in my tank, an algae-eater*
Sir Squeeks *another bottom feeder in my fish tank*
Goldy *I didn't know the goldfish had a name. Apparently Dallin is only waiting for it to get big enough to use for live bate to fish with. Kind-a cruel to name your bait, I'd say*
Asasy Snail (and other tank snails) *so once upon a time my fish tank was overrun by an army of snails, so we bought an assassin snail to take care of them . . .*

Apparently all the animals in the house (living and plastic) were in cohorts against my elephant. I had to think fast. I circled Sticker's name and wrote beside it, "He's a traitor to your cause. He'll save the elephant" and signed it "Fish" (Fish is the name of my stuffed puppy. Why do I have a puppy named Fish? Because my brother named my fish Puppy, which was at the time the name of my Puppy. Well, we couldn't have that now, could we?)

Dallin took the paper and scribbled his reply, "He actually can't do anything. He's stuck to the edge of the tank." To this I replied, "That's what you think."
Dallin smirked as he took back the paper. "I used superhero glue," he wrote.
I circled the word superhero. "Yep. That's what he is. Oh whoops. I revealed his secret identity . . ."
Dallin writes, "He has Kryptonite in the tank."
I took the paper and wrote back, "That's not his weakness. Ha ha."
Dallin: "His red eyes are proof of his evil."
Me: "Or evidence of his supersonic x-ray vision."

Dallin took the paper and had it for a while. I was beginning to wonder what he could be writing that would take him so long when he handed it back.

This is what he had written:
Taddy (his real poison dart frog) has accidentally poisoned some of the others. The Sicklids got sick. Asasy Snail killed other fish and snails. Snake Lord: "Fuzzy Lips (the hamster) is yummy". Fuzzy lips: "squeak."

A bit confused, I smiled and wrote back, "Basically your team has defeated itself . . . (?)"
When he made no reply I assumed his surrender.

Then we got to the car and Dallin handed me two notes. The first note read,
Thes es nudder note from the anti-elly squad. We have suceded in capturing elly and are holding her *umm, Elly is a guy, thanks* ransome at the price of a game of Risk. From Taddy Jr and other frogs, Brown Fluff Ball *another name for the hamster, which I assumed to be dead . . . Apparently Snake Lord couldn't catch him* , Sicklids, Remaining Fish *okay, so the fish actually did get eaten. I'm impressed Asasy Snail could catch them*, Asasy Snail, and Snake Lord.
P.S. If you don't pay the ransom by tomorrow Elly is history.

This was followed by the second note which read,
Time is running away, so is Elly. We suceded in capturing her again, and our ransom is still in place. Her *once again, it's a he. Get it right* certain doom is drawing closer. Here is a picture of the doomedd elephant. *This was accompanied by a crude drawing that looked like a worm riding on two stumps, with a really long tongue and big eyes. The worm was crying, "Help me."* We are sure this will convince you to pay the ransom. Frum Taddy and other frogs, all aquatic animals, and Snake Lord.

When we got home, Dallin beat me into the house. I arrived at my room to find Elly was gone.
He *take note Dallin, HE, not SHE* will be returned when I win our game of Risk. Notice I said when, not if.

I missed playing with my little brothers. I hope they are kind to their hostages.

Candidly,
Cookie