Sunday, April 27, 2014

home...

that's right. finals are done, a few days of goodbyes {and also a bit of stomach flu... sounds fun right?}, plus a weekend in Rexburg and Emily's baby blessing...

and I'm finally home! {although that is truly bittersweet} We got in a couple hours ago.

Here's what's new:

Before:

After:

If the 'after' picture doesn't make you want to cry, I don't know what will. It was seriously a rough few days of goodbyes.

Anywho.... I start work tomorrow! Full time, folks + the theater! WHOOO. But that means that I have a ton of unpacking to do and not much time. Expect quite a few posts about the last couple of weeks plus BYU in general plus who knows what else. {in a couple few days}

Adios!

-Erica

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

...and she's off!

Jamaica bound! {with a ten day detour to the Provo MTC that is}


Sam is going into the MTC today, and trust me when I say, I could not be happier for someone! She will be the greatest missionary. Her testimony is so sweet and powerful. She has so much love for everyone she comes in contact with and she's such a hard worker. She and her family spent the night in Provo so I was able to go to their hotel and say goodbye and chat for over an hour {even if it did end in a lot of tears and about 50 hugs before I could leave}

Being best friends with this girl since she moved to Montrose in 8th grade has been the best! We have so many hilarious memories together- from open hour adventures to EFY to girls camp to movie nights and beyond. Her friendship throughout these last few years has been such a blessing in my life... over the last month or so she has given me some of the best advice I've ever gotten. Literally, my prayers have been answered through her tremendous support and advice and friendship! I can't believe that she's already headed out, it feels like she just barely opened her call!

I can't wait for missionary mondays! I'm excited to watch as she progresses through the next 18 months and I'm excited to see where the next few months/years takes us... you never know where we'll end up! Heavenly Father chose the right girl to send to Jamaica!

EFY back in 2010!

girls camp is best when spent with your best friend!



you're looking at the world's best snipe hunters (;


See ya in 18 months or so!

-Erica

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

freshmen year: check.

I'm officially done with freshmen year! I just finished my biology final {also, please note that I will NEVER have to take another science class. done.} I still have a couple of days until I move out, but the academic aspect of this year is over.

Finals were rough guys... some of them went ok, others not so much. but hey, it's a sunk cost right? {hello there, applying econ to real life} Kay, that actually makes it sound like I did a lot worse on them than I really did. Other than econ and book of mormon, all my grades were exactly what I wanted! It's weird that I won't be studying in the HBLL for at least 8 months... I mean, that place was basically my second home {Kayla can attest} College is just a tiny bit crazy amount harder than high school.

However, in the midst of all my studying I also got to have a little bit of fun! {but the picture aspect doesn't prove it since we really didn't take many pictures...}

Sunday I got to celebrate Easter morning at Danielle and Jayson's! I drove up to watch Caitlin and Evan do an Easter egg hunt then have brunch! {by the way, Jayson's french toast + Danielle's homemade syrup = delicious. Jayson shared the recipe right here!} I'm so lucky to have an awesome family so close to me here at college! Plus... it makes it better when these two kiddos are the cutest kids in the world! {p.s. I guess 2 month olds aren't really into Easter egg hunts since Emily slept through most of the morning...}


Happy late Easter! I was going to do a special post but I got caught up with all the craziness of finals week... but my church put out this video which I thought was awesome!


Waffle Love is a must-do in Provo!


P.S. I'm not joking about the amount of studying I do... that being said, it's understandable to be emotionally attached to this semester's index cards, right?? I put a lot of work into these guys and they helped me out. Throwing them away just seems so sad... anyone need index cards for geography, sociology, biology, or econ? maybe I should try to sell them with the textbooks... (;

sadly, that picture doesn't even do justice to how large that stack of cards truly is...

We also have had bonfires, movie nights, nertz games, study parties and so much else! Sunday was our last day at church, and let me tell you, I am NOT ready to say goodbye! {that'll be another post though}

Speaking of goodbyes, Sam goes into the MTC TOMORROW! I get to say goodbye tonight, and it's so bittersweet! I'm going to miss that girl!

Happy tuesday!

-Erica

Monday, April 14, 2014

could life get any better?

no. I really don't think it could, in case you were wondering. and because we only have a week left of freshmen year, we've been living it up!

Here are just a few of the most recent activities! {in no particular order}

Capture the Flag {boundaries: most of main campus}


This isn't quite the whole group, but still a fantastic picture. What did you do with your friday night?

Hot Springs




The hot springs were quite... hot {shock, yes} but the water fall was freezing cold. Hence the awesome look on our faces in the second picture. This place was so much fun and definitely worth the hour hike in!

General Conference in SLC!



A big group of us went to the Sunday afternoon session of Conference in Salt Lake! {I know... there's only two people in the above picture. I don't feel like downloading and uploading the other pictures}. I'm so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!


the Temple Square flowers though...

Giant Cardboard Castles.



BYU built the world's largest cardboard box castle again this year. Have I told you that I go to the best university in the world? Oh ok, yeah I do. {ok, so I may be a little biased but it's true!} Also, I made the cougar tweet beat about it. I'm sorta disappointed because none of my good tweets make it, then my sub-par tweets make it #disappointment

just a few quick and recent bragging links {not that I personally have really contributed to this BYU awesomeness, but I still like to brag about it. kay bye}

>>>BYU Mathletes beat Yale and Princeton.
>>>BYU is the #2 school for Entrepreneurship 
>>>Just appreciate how cool this link is.
>>>Also, Provo, UT was ranked the happiest city in the US
>>>Andy Grammer is coming to BYU tomorrow. $5 a ticket. but I forgot to buy a ticket until they were sold out soooo oops. oh well!

Rent-a-Puppy {times two}









Sorry for the picture overload! But guys, you literally pay $15 and someone brings you a puppy then comes back in an hour to pick it up. Whoever came up with the idea is brilliant. So we spent Friday afternoon laying on the grass and playing with puppies. BEST DAY EVER.

Also, are we talking about my love for BYU and the dorms and freshmen year? Because it's real.



The last couple of weeks have also consisted of plenty of In-n-Out, Denny's and Crepes runs, along with HumorU dates {by the way, my sociology TA is in Humor U and he was hilarious. high five for me having a cool TA}, games, late night talks, oh and homework. I know, right? Surprisingly, I've done a ton of homework lately too. And by lately, I mean the entire semester. But that's ok {insert thumbs up emoji here}

Finals start this week! 2 down, 5 more to go! I'm pretty dang nervous for them, and now that I just spent a good 30 minutes on a blog post, I should probably get back to studying {everyone needs a break though, right?!}. Have a great week! (:

-Erica

p.s. I have just over a week left of freshmen year. I would say that it's bittersweet but that's lying because it's really only bitter. I am sooo not ready to go home for the summer without all these awesome people I've become friends with... seriously though. don't make me go. I would almost rather go through another 14 weeks of classes and constant homework then have to go home for the summer and not be able to have all these crazy adventures.

Last night we took ward pictures at ward prayer {yes, ward prayer is a thing} Photo credit to Zack!



what do you mean there's only one Sunday left in my freshmen year? Where did the time go??

Saturday, April 5, 2014

80s, hiking, conference.

80's night round three! {it seriously gets better every time we go}



hey hey hey... do you see our shirts?? Yep, Cady and Kayla got me an early birthday present since we'll be home for the summer by my real birthday! This song is basically our theme song and we can sing every single word of it. These girls are the best, what am I supposed to do this summer??

Hiking {more like nature-walking since it was a paved road...}
Cady and I had a goal of going on a girl-ask-guy date so yesterday afternoon we hiked to Bridal Veil Falls with Ryan and Dylan! We also learned that the boys can skip rocks about a thousand times better than us. But, you win some you lose some, right?

Like I said in my last post, Kayla and I watched conference today! It was just fantastic (:


A few days ago the BYU wifi crashed. So there was basically a massive BYU party at McDonalds full of students trying to finish papers and register for classes at one a.m. You missed out if you weren't there...


For the last couple weeks of school I fully plan on living the motto "you don't remember the nights you get enough sleep." I'd say it's going quite well, so far.

-Erica

General Conference!


This weekend is General Conference! Today's sessions were absolutely amazing! Conference has gotten even better since I got to college... this morning our relief society ate breakfast and watched it together {thanks to the greatest relief society president and roommate Kayla}, then this afternoon Kayla and I watched it together. It was the best conference yet! It's so fun getting to watch it with close friends my own age (:

You can watch it live tomorrow at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. right here.

Hope you are all having a phenomenal Saturday!

-Erica
*the only bad part about conference at college is that I'm not eating my mom's homemade waffles... growing up isn't all positive, folks.*