Yellowstone National Park

Repost from college- semester 1:

 

Monday:  Monday was hard- mentally, but each day got better and better!  For FHE we were going to go apple picking but showed up too late so instead we played Never Have I Ever// Human Knot and walked around as a fam outside:)
 

Tuesday: Had weekly Devo and then went to the temple with my friend Nathan and his friend Kayla.  That night Austin and I went to yoga but there wasn't a teacher so these random girls started teaching the class... it was kind of a joke. But afterwards I danced a little in the studio. It was only like 30 seconds but it felt soooo good!!!!

Wednesday:  I was overwhelmed by my stupid math class and planning my lesson for church.  That

 evening it was nice to drop everything and hang out with my FHE Brothers.  I think that's the trick to college- work hard during the day and have fun at night. You've gotta have a balance or else youll go CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday: Went to the temple again with Austin.  It was very busy but it was so nice to have time to read the scripture and just sit and ponder.  I love the temple because every time im in there, and I try to think about my worries I physically CANT.  Its the strangest thing.  My mind is so clear and I cant help but be in the moment.  I love it!!:)  After the temple we watched NEWSIES!! The greatest movie ever and sang the whole way through.  My roomies asked if I was torturing him by making him watch it. Haha! Newsies is not their style.

Friday:  After a long day of homework and test taking (which BTW I think science is my thing- or maybe his tests are just super easy:) I went with Nathan and some other friends to a haunted straw maze.  It was a first timer for me and Im not really sure how I feel about it still.  I say BRAVO to the actors because they really freaked me out.  Nathan is an actor himself and was trying to scare the scarers. haha!  We needed more men there to hang onto:)

Saturday: YELLOWSTONE!!!! I went with Daniel, Steven, Austin, and Ciera (austins cousin).  The car ride was about two hours but It was so nice having nothing to do.  We first saw some steaming hot pools and walked down the boardwalk taking thousands of pictures like the stereotypical tourists.  Then we saw Old Faithful, a gigantic geyser (Daniel kept calling it a glacier. haha!) As we turned to leave a huge Bison was chillin amidst the tourists.  People were getting sooooo close which is not the smartest thing to do.  We kept our distance but were able to take pics with it.  Once kid around 13 or 14 years old got seriously three feet from it!! I thought the Bison was gonna charge and we would witness a death that day.  Fortunately that wasn't the case. 

   One place we visited had a steaming waterfall that looked like you could slide down it.  As you stood on the boardwalk the cool breeze would push the steam towards you, making you hot and cold all at once.  It was so beautiful and peaceful!! The perfect place to go to get away from the stress of school.  I kept saying, " I just want to live here!" I would've been completely content with sitting on a rock and staring at the hot pools all day long.  The last hot pool we went to looked like a giant lake .  The steam was so thick, it looked like puffy clouds you'd envision seeing in heaven.  I hope the next life has some gorgeous places like that!!!

    Daniel couldn't quit talking about how he wanted to see a bear.  We did see some deer and bison:) Oh and I dared Steven to eat a grasshopper.  Austin and I told him we would each give him a dollar.  He decided to bite off the head first- the manly way I guess. It was disgusting!!!

   The car ride back was perfect!! The sun was setting and the entire sky was orange!  When we got back to Rexburg I just hung out at Austin's apartment the rest of the night, because my roomies were all gone.

    It was a perfect day!!

XOXO-Paige

I miss my twinner:(

Dearest Preston,

I miss you! And i love you so much. I hope you kow that. I'm sorry for not telling you more often.

I miss you inventing words- like pingle, soy, and JIM. I thought it was hilarious. 

I miss trying to teach you how to kiss, even though we both have nonexistent love lives.

I miss listening to your aweful music in the car. You were always so patient with me and wanted so desperately for me to like just one of your songs.

I also miss the way you'd lead the music to our car concerts with your extremely long finger. 

I miss temple Thursday. How I'd yell at you to tell me when to merge even though you haven't driven a day in your life and we could've easily died.

I miss our deep spiritual conversations.

I miss forcing you to study and threatening to smash your phone against the wall if you touched it. 

I miss having a buddy to go to the first day of school with. And to stick by my side every day after.

I miss your loud eating. And how you'd explain to me that it was the EBT. Eating breathing technique. 

I also miss having a human garbage disposal around to so willingly finish my food for me. 

I miss how you'd talk.. And talk.. And talk.

I miss how you'd speak Spanish in your very creepy accent. And how you'd speak Spanish to Oliver, who let you know he wanted nothing to do with it:)

Get it??? I miss you. But I know we are both where we are suppose to be:) I know you are pleasing The Lord and blessing so many lives in Chile.

I love you<3

XOXO- Paige 

Recap week 3 college

     After last weeks email ( i send weekly emails:) I got a letter back from my Aunt Laurel challenging me to write a "choppy talk" email so i can "have fun and study more." Truth is I ABSOLUTELY LOVE writing long detailed emails, you guys probably dont like it as much because it requires you to read a lot;)

     Here it goes my highlights and low-lights:

Monday

- had a titch of homesickness

- met new friends

-learned about the jaredites in math class

- was used by a kid in my science class to get his homework dont:(

- had FHE

- was asked on a date

Tuesday

-weekly devo

- got to write and read in my favorite place on campus

- eat>study> eat> study> eat >study (life of a college student!)

Wednesday

- started listening to christmas music

- formed a math "posse" for studying! WAY FUN!

- spent 2.5 hrs aimlessly wandering around Walmart. I hate that store and ive come to the conclusion that i need a personal navigator to help me shop:)

Thursday

- was invited to go to utah for conference

- took my first test ever in college for sci... got a 95% yippee! That was VERY unexpected.

- Went to a piano concert. Grueling date- great company:)

Friday

- took another test for math, passed it but... didnt do so hot.

- bought sushi

- had a journaling party with one of my roomies. We also listened to christmas music<3

Saturday

- Went to annies for conference. The set up was awesome>> laptop + ironing board = college life:)

- talked to grandma on the phone while she was running the st george marathon with mama. Mile 12 was dedicated to me and all the dancer out there. So SWEET!<3

- buffering issues with conference so we walked to my apt where we have a tv

- SO MANY WONDERFUL TALKS!!!! fav quote so far: " Acknowledge and face your weknesses but dont be immoblized by them." 

- mid conf sesh walk to the park consisted of picture taking and slack lining!

- fell asleep super early and was up at 4:30 am this morning... but whats new???

  There ya go... "choppy talk email..."

Love you guys!

Happy conference weekend to you and yours!

Recap week 2 college

       Isn't technology great?  I think so... We can stay connected in such a simple way.  It is a little sad though that physical written letters have become so ancient. Im considering buying some stamps and envelopes to start mailing letters.  Who's with me???   Its sooooo fun to get mail and it would make life just that much better.  

Guess what??? Preston is NOW in the mission field! EEEEKKKK! I cant wait to hear about all of his amazing experiences in Chile:)

Week two of college:

Sunday: I learned that the reason for the stereotype of BYU- I DO can be blamed on the leaders.  They talk about marriage soooo much and tell us every sunday that our eternal companion is on this campus somewhere. Ummmm you don't know!!! Maybe they aren't. Not trying to be mean, but it just freaks me out when they say that. Especially after my traumatic dates. 

Monday: My math class is SOOOO Hard! I keep telling people all i want is a C- to pass the class, and they laugh at me.  Little do they know i am dead serious because it is the Hardest class of my life!!! I decided to drop one of my three credit classes.  It was a personal decision, one that may not logically make sense to many but i need to do whats best for me. My parents want me to be able to get the whole college experience and not be too stressed with school.

I pushed myself through my tiredness to work out and get some laundry done.  Then we met our FHE groups and i have the BEST GROUP EVER!! Its gonna be a blast!  Then the same kind kids as last week took me to the grocery store and made sure i was home by 9:30pm. Haha! I know I'm weird- and totally not a typical college kid. But hey, I like being unique.   

Tuesday: Elder Holland came for devotional!!! It was pretty much the best day ever because he is my favorite!!! We were breathing the same air!!! Can you believe it! haha! Im joking... but not really;) His talk was all on happiness and it was honestly exactly what i needed to hear. 

 I felt like it was for me. He emphasized that happiness is a choice.  Even if your not happy 24/7, which pretty much no one is, you must still do the things that happy people do and walk the path that a happy person walks.  Then your happiness will become a reality and you will find those moments of immense joy when you least expect it:)

   Look it up!!! It was AMAZING! 

Went to the temple with my new best friend Annie.  I love her soo much! We get along super well!  After the temple i was struggling a little because i was exhausted and felt my energy going way down, plus i was stressed about all of the homework i needed to get done and its way harder to do when im falling asleep... so her friend zac gave me a blessing.  I know without a doubt it was a message directly from God that i needed to hear.  The rest of the day i had so much energy- honestly it was a miracle. And guess what else??? I ENJOYED doing my homework!!!! Can you believe it- i ENJOYED IT! I love how in all of my classes we talk about religion. If anyone has some spare time for reading let me know, i have a great article from class i could forward you:)

Wednesday: Have i told you about my favorite place on campus??? I honestly don't remember what i wrote last week so sorry if I'm repeating myself but... It in the Manwaring Center or MC for short.  There are some tall tables next to a cafe that smells like burnt toast (i love that smell:) I love it because its a place i can sit and have "me time" writing.  In the background is the best soundtrack playing at all times. I don't know whose playlist it is but it is identical to my music taste.  Its pretty much my i pod. 

Thursday: Mom sent me some pics in the mail and a little note<3 now i have some decorations:) Haha! Did I mention my room is sad because it lacks and personality? Turned down a creepy 25 year old that asked me on a date. Maybe, just MAYBE if he wasn't creepy I would've  gone out with him but... thats 7 years older than me:/ YIKES. 

Friday: After class i went on a date bridge jumping with Aaron in the the coldest river EVER!!! 

It was only 20 feet high and everyone was freaking out so i ended up being the first girl to jump.  While we waited for the others to muster up the courage he taught me how to skip a rock and i DID IT! This is a big accomplishment! - 4 skips people! 

Afterward he convinced me to make him dinner and he built my lamp shelf that my mom bought me:) After dinner we went puddle hopping in the lightning storm which was magical!!! That was my favorite part! I love magical activities that remind me of being a kid. Then we heard some loud music and followed it to a party across the street.  We arrived at the end but we did get glow stick glasses a free box of pizza so it was worth it:) 

The second best part of the night was he respected my bed time and i was home by 9pm! YES! haha! 

Saturday: Went on a date with an Italian dude named Stefano.  We played laser tag which I'm  not really into... I feel like a weirdo when I'm playing, but i acted like i had fun. hah!  He kept asking me these very deep questions all night which was a little odd but he was fun to talk to.  Sometimes he wouldn't know the word he was trying to say.  Haha.  Anyways We went to Sammy's to get shakes afterwards- i got water:)  I didn't get home until 11:15pm but according to my counselor its very important to wake up at the same time every day so.. I woke up at 6:30am this morning.

There is soooo much i left out from this week. I wish i could tell you every single detail. 

Well im off to church. Did i tell you my calling is to teach Sunday school??? Yeah, how intimidating is that??? I teach TODAY! Ahhhhh! I'll let you know how it goes.

One more thing. Round two of lake powell was last week and Kelsey convinced grandpa to SKI AND WAKEBOARD!! My grandparents are freaking awesome!!! 

XOXO-Paige 

Recap week 1 college

Well College is off to a rocky start but i know it will get better. I am so so grateful to my support system: Mom, Dad, Grandparents, siblings and the roseleafers (my aunt laurel and her roomie camille) for helping me push through.  

Monday- happy 21st birthday to kelsey!!! 

First day of classes.  I was dead tired and kept nodding off but i did meet some cute guys:)  Found out i was in a super hard math class with all these older peeps and the teacher told me to leave... so i went and rearranged my schedule.  Met a walking google> seriously this girl knew everything about the college and helped me find my way around.

Tuesday- Didnt really feel like writing becase ive been so tired and had some weird emotions, so ive been worried if i write it will  make me depressed.  Had a 7:45 science class but its ok because i met a cute kid and we hung out after class then went to devo later that day.  And guess who is coming to devo next week. Freaking ELDER HOLLANDS!!!! MY FAVORITE!!!

Wednesday- Went to the temple with my friend austin.  It was a little sad because no one was there and they had us do like 20 names.  I am very glad i went though!!! Then i went groccery shopping with three guy friends i met and after hung out with a different guy who confessed all this crazy stuff to me that i didnt really want to know...

Thursday- Was homesick all day but pushed through my studying and ended up meeting a kid at the library named zac.  That night he asked me on a date for friday night.  

Friday- Did math for three hours.  it was only five problems but it was the hardest five problems of my life!!! Went on a date with zac which i wasnt particularly excited for because honestly i am not physically attracted to him.  He's cute but just not for me.  We went salsa dancing then walked to the gardens which i knew would be a bad idea.  He held my hand on the way there which was super awkward because he is 6'2" and my arm is like down to his shin.  It was ok though because it was cold outside.  Then he wanted to sit in the garden which was bad idea #2.  I was talking about something random like i always do and seriously mid sentence he turns and tries to KISS ME! So so so awkward! I backed away and was like "sorry but i dont kiss people until i really know them." But ya know something crazy?? Right before he tried to kiss me he said, "I feel like ive known you forever." UMMM NO YOU DONT KNOW ME AND YOU DONT SAY THAT!! WEIRD!! I met him the previous day!! ugh so weird! So yes that happended... first date at byu-i. I hope they get better!

Saturday- This was the worst day of my life. Health Problems + no energy + stress// homework + homesickness.+ seperation anxiety. I dont want to go into detail because i dont want to stress any of you out. I was suppose to go cliff jumping too which wouldve been so so so much fun but oh well. Dont fear its kind of under control and i have an amazing supportive family.

I hope week 2 of college is better:)

Love you guys! 

Paige