Roadtrip

Destination: Mesa, Arizona

Reason: Baby blessing (roommate's niece)

Hours in car: 22

Hours in Arizona: 23

Short but sweet. 

Saturday at 7:45am I hit the road with my roommate, Rachel, and her two older brothers for a long car ride to AZ. It was actually quite fun. I slept a lot. I listened to her older brother, Cameron, talk about the structure of a cell and about hormones and about how he is in school to become a doctor. Ok, it sounds boring, but it actually was not. We went straight to her grandparents house in Mesa and immediately had a big family dinner. It was so fun to meet her sisters and grandparents and parents and that sweet little baby. 

We stayed the night at her little sister's apartment. Church didn't start until 1pm on Sunday so we spent the day eating pancakes and reading and coloring Rachel's hair and stopping to take my picture next to a cactus.  

After the baby blessing and sacrament meeting, we went to her older sister's house with all of their extended family. Ate a lot of good food. Listened to her whole family speak Spanish (none are Hispanic, all went on spanish speaking missions). Hung out. Soaked up the beautiful sun. Then drove back home......

We stopped at Hoover Dam around 10 pm. We were told that we couldn't stop and get out to take pictures.  

But we did it anyways. 

oops. 

Oh well, the cops were pretty chill about it. 

Over all. It was a fabulous little trip. Kind of just seems like a dream. 

But a warm and sunny dream that I didn't want to leave. 

I Hate Halloween

I realize that a year ago, I wrote a blog about all the reasons why I loved the Halloween season. Now, basically all of those reasons are why I dislike Halloween. I'm not really that into candy anymore and I don't believe in giving children pounds of it-diabetes and cavities, people. Hello. And trick-or-treating after you are 12 is just weird. I think scary movies are awful and they are not something that allows the spirit to be in your house and usually those disturbing images are in my mind for like...ever. I don't think that dressing up as something super scary or slutty or both is cool by any means. It's just gross. Basically I think the Halloween season is just a way to let everyone worship the devil while being dressed like skanks...or scary people.

With that being said, let me tell you how I spent my Halloween night.

I dressed up like a Zombie

I went trick-or-treating

I ate a bunch of candy

and I watched a scary movie

I'm still trying to figure out how I got coerced into doing all of this and how I managed to actually really enjoy myself.

Meet Brad (Eliza's boyfriend), Eliza (my really cool friend and co-worker), me, and Chris (Brad and Eliza's friend). Just a bunch of your every day zombies. No big deal.

It's been a Crazy week

Let's just sum it up to say.....

our electricity got shut off= no lighting, drying your hair with your car windows rolled down, spoiled food (the day after I go grocery shopping)

I had to be moved out by noon on thursday, i was suppose to be at work by 8am, and had no idea until 6am that we were suppose to be moved out by noon that day.

I made a record moving-out time for 1hr 15 min. go me.

On friday we thought we lost our tickets to a free dinner/theater show up at Sundance Resort to see The Sound of Music. We barely found the tickets in time. (God answers prayers, ok)

Later that night my phone fell out of my purse on the shuttle at sundance. I didn't realize this until I already dropped Alyssa off and went back to my apartment. My new apartment that I was locked out of. I pounded on a neighbors door until someone answered. They graciously gave me their phone to use so I could call Alyssa. Guess what? Alyssa's phone was dead.

I headed back up to Sundance (about a 20min drive) and finally found my phone. (Again...God really does answer prayers)

Still locked out of my apartment.....so I go to my old work...Sammy's. I knew they would be open until 2am. And they have free wifi. and good shakes :) and cool people to talk to.

I finally got into my apt around 1am.

This week is over.

Finally.

Let's think happy thoughts, and get motivation to unpack all my junk. At least I have signed a year contract so no more moving for a while.

Have a good week all of my imaginary friends who read my blog :)

See You Later, Alligator

The best two years of Jayson Sevison's life starts......tomorrow. 1:30pm we will be parting ways as he heads into the MTC for 3 weeks then down to San Bernadino,CA he will go.

2 years=

24 months

104 weeks

730 days

17,530 hours

1,051,896 minutes

63,113,852 seconds

Two years ago is when we first met. Those past two years have been filled with crazy adventures, delicious food, and a lot of learning and growing about ourselves and each other. His next two years will be filled with basically the same thing....just with a lot of dudes.

This whole mission thing is a bittersweet kind of deal. Along with being a fabulous boyfriend, he has become one of my best friends, no doubt about that, so it will be hard to see him go. But I applaud him in his decision to give up so much to serve the Lord. Even though I wont be able to talk to him on the phone whenever I want, I will get to write him letters. How cool is that?! I LOVE writing letters.

He's a pretty awesome person so I have no doubt that he will be a pretty awesome missionary. I am excited for his future experiences he will have.

GOOD LUCK ELDER SEVISON!

Italy

Lately I have had the most insane desire to move to Italy. You'd think that because I am half Puerto Rican, that I would want to learn Spanish. No. Wrong. I want to learn Italian. To me, it is the most gorgeous language. So what better way to learn it than to go live it.

.....and their delicious food and incredible culture are big bonuses too.

Anyone up to go live in Italy with me?

Changes

As most of you probably already know, I have made a move to Provo,UT. It has been a great and smooth sailing move. It took me all but 2 seconds to find an apartment because Alyssa Ball and Emily Scoggin had an open bed in theirs. My favorite part are mine and Alyssa's blue and green walls. Then I had to find either a full time job or two part time jobs. I landed 2 sweet jobs within a few days of being here. Sammy's and DownEast. Discounts on food and clothes. Need I say more?

Basically I just love it here because it is actually civilized with a plethora of places to eat, large bookstores to sit and read all day in, and many malls to (window) shop in.

And the MOUNTAINS. I cannot wait to climb and explore them.

Past, Present, and Future

PAST

This past weekend was fantastic! Let me just tell you a little bit about it....

Friday night= 2 chick flicks with a bonfire* at Beaver Dick (yes that is the real name of the park) in between them.

*Note: If you are a guy, please know how to build a fire because I really don't feel like teaching you. It's weird. And not attractive when you don't know how.

So it was general conference weekend. I basically get more excited for for general conference weekend than I do for Christmas morning. I LOVE it. There was only 3 of us in our apartment on Saturday morning, well technically 4 because Shae's sister stayed with us for the weekend. And we celebrated the first session of conference on Saturday morning with crepes! So delicious. Later that night after the second session we hit up the gym then went and played volleyball. So so so fun.

Early Sunday morning I headed to Pocatello where I met up with my good friend Riley. He drove up from Boise so we could head to Salt Lake together. Oh how I always miss this guy. We had an eventful trip to SL to make it to the Sunday afternoon session of conference. Before we headed to the conference center we went to check out my friend Dustin's new house. And get this...he just bought a cobra...and he has a wolf puppy. Yeah, I had a lot of fun playing with his wild animals.

We then went to the conference center where we met up with our friend Cameron who is going to school at BYU and we ran into the Hruby family and Bryan Nockleby (both of whom we sat by) It was so fantastic. Did I mention that I just absolutely love General Conference?

PRESENT

Currently I am done with classes, have one last final test to take....online, and one project due. Then I am FREE!

FUTURE

On Friday I am homeward bound. And I am a little terrified because I am getting my wisdom teeth pulled next week :/ You can bring me Jamba smoothies and watch movies with me if you would like :) I will probably chill in Boise for a few weeks then move to Utah (see you never Rexburg) last week of April. Get settled in, do some serious job hunting, then head to CALIFORNIA for a week or two where I will get to see my amazing family from around the world (aka the Aussies). Sounds like a pretty good future to me.

Utah Weekend Get-A-Way

On Friday at 1pm, my roommate Shae and I headed to Provo for a weekend away from Rexburg and the stress of our upcoming finals.

That night we went to the BYU Men's Volleyball game vs. Hawaii. My friend Jayson and her friend Daniel joined us for the 2 1/2 hour game. Watching the nations #2 men's college volleyball team was so legit. I did get tired and felt like the game was never going to end, but all in all it was incredible to watch amazing volleyball.

After the game we all parted our ways. I went to Alyssa's apartment where we chilled for a while then made our way to Coney's and got ourselves some delicious strawberry custard. Oh baby. The rest of the night was filled with hanging out with her roommates and friends and catching up with life.

Saturday morning was started out right. Homemade banana chocolate chip pancakes courtesy of Chef Alyssa. They were SO good and held me over until another tasty meal with Jayson at Spicy Thai. Mmmmhhmmm. When I got back to Alyssa's apartment we got our white t-shirts on, went and got our good friend Hailey Clements, went to Sammy's and split a pie shake, then made our way to Festival of Colors. Needless to say, it was just that-colorful. It was also slightly painful to a certain degree when you couldn't breathe because the air was chalk full of...well...chalk. It was a great time filled with great memories.

After we got back to the apartment we scrubbed ourselves clean, got a redbox movie, and conked out. It was a long fantastic day.

On Sunday, Shae and I drove around trying to find a place to take the Sacrament. It wasn't that difficult, although the first place we tried was actually a chinese ward. We got a kick out of that. We eventually found a place then headed to Salt Lake where we walked around temple square for a while then headed back to good ol' Rexburg.

Another One of Those Sunday Parties.....

Making my pink cake for the cake balls at about 1:30am

My finished cake balls dipped in milk chocolate

and sprinkled with dark chocolate

This weeks theme: DESSERT PARTY

Our spread consisted of:

No Bake cookies

Shortbread (heart shaped) cookies with pink cream cheese frosting

Butterfinger cookies

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Cake Balls

Ghirardelli Chocolate cookies

Brownies with frosting

Funfetti cupcakes with pink frosting

English Creme Cake

Muddie Buddies

Our apartment decided we wanted to start holding parties at least every other Sunday. Yesterday was our first attempt and it basically rocked. We had SO many people show up and half of them we didn't even know. They just heard from a friend who knew a guy who knew someone else. Our apartment was PACKED. And the best part was the guy to girl ratio...about 3 to 1. Not really heard of at BYU-Idaho, but we played our cards right. It was a ton of fun, met new people and chatted with old friends.

Next Sunday party's theme: Nacho Night

I'm In Love

With this group of singers right here. They go by Vocal Point. They are a 9-man acapella "choir" from BYU in Provo,Utah. They performed at my school tonight and I seized up the opportunity and went...by myself. But I couldn't have cared less because I was so into their performance. They.Were.Incredible. Ahhhh I am obsessed. I was so mad I didn't have cash on me because I wanted to buy their CD's SO BAD. They are talented. They are hilarious. And they are single (well, 8/9ths of them are).... what a coincidence....so am I!

Adopt-A-Grandparent

With this program you don't actually adopt a grandparent. But it was such a wonderful experience and I loved every second of it. It is a great way to serve others while doing something I love the most: singing.

Today I took my roommate Shaelyn and we headed up to the Taylor building to meet with whoever felt like joining along. We hopped into a big van and drove the whole 2.5 minutes away to the assisted living home. There was only 4 elderly folk who came out to listen, but they were so sweet. For the hour that we were there we spent most of it singing hymns and a small part visiting with them, but then they got bored talking with us and demanded we sing more. We hadn't practiced, we just went for it. Our group was not full of talented singers but our little audience did not mind one bit. One of the ladies, Ruth, was amazing. She kept telling us how grateful she was to be able to listen to us and how grateful she was that we actually took time out of our evening to come sing to them. She couldn't believe it. She new we could have been doing a million other things, but the fact that we decided to come visit them was such a blessing to her and a blessing to me to see someone being grateful for so little. Then there was a man who would sing every word right along with us. Such a short experience but one to not be forgotten. I will definitely be visiting Ruth and her friends next week. What an incredible time. I loved it.