(Insert Creative Title for this past week here)

So, most of this week, how I've felt can pretty much be summed up by this picture:

It's been a pretty long, stressful week school-wise.  Between papers, tests, and tons of reading, it's just been a week with a lot of work involved.  But, I made it through and I'm still alive and ready to take on a new week!  So, it's all good.  I'm just learning how to really work hard this year.

But, there have been some highlights this past week as well.  My favorite two parts of this week were definitely Gym Kids on Thursday and the General Relief Society meeting last night (more on that later).  Gym Kids is an organization at my school that every Thursday (and Friday) a bunch of kids with special needs come in and a group of BYU students plays with them for about an hour or so.  This week I got to spend time with a lovely young woman named Whitney. This beautiful young woman was friendly and her smile buoyed up my spirits.  This experience was wonderful and I can't wait to do it again this week.

My other favorite part of this week was the General Relief Society meeting.  I had been feeling overwhelmed by schoolwork and other things I needed to do before I went to the meeting.  But, then I watched the broadcast and everything changed.  The messages were inspiring, I felt uplifted, and it was definitely what I needed.  I particularly loved President Uchtdorf's talk.  I will forget-it-not!  (and never look at forget-me-nots the same way again)

Other cool parts of this week:  My friend Ben had two extra tickets for the football game.  So, Meagan and I got to go and we were on the third row!  I only stayed until half-time because I had too much homework, but it was still cool!

Also, yesterday, my ward went on a boating trip up at Deer Creek Resevoir.  We had a lot of fun tubing, talking, and eating!  It was a beautiful day and a nice break from homework.

Overall, it was a rather stressful week, but one I'm glad I had.

It's a small, small world!

So, today, as I was walking out my Human Development class with my friend Bri, we ran into my friend Daniel from my home stake (who I haven't seen in forever!).  The three of us were walking towards Bri's class when we heard a random guy ask another guy, "Hey did you serve your mission in Paraguay?"  All 3 of us stopped in our tracks and also participated in this conversation.  It turns out all 5 of us had lots of random connections to each other.  Bri knew the guy who asked the original question.  The guy who asked the question did indeed serve in Paraguay at the same time as the other guy.  Both of these guys knew my brother John who also served in Paraguay at the same time.  They also kne a guy from Daniel's home ward who was also serving in Paraguay.  Daniel's dad also served a mission in Paraguay.

Who would've thought that the world could be so small?  It's amazing to me in a school of 30,000 students that almost everyday I find random connections to others here at BYU.  Forget 6 degrees of separation - here it's 3 degrees of separation max.

Technology loves me, it loves me not.........

Recently, it feels more like technology loves me not.  First off, my printer started randomly inserting huge strips of pink across whatever I was printing (or Meaganizing it).  Then, it would hardly print color at all.  Then it jammed every time I attempted to print.  As you might be able to guess, my printer completely broke (which is rather problematic when you're trying to print papers for classes).  Luckily, my brother let me use his printer until I could get a new one.  (Btw, my new printer is great!)

My internet was also down for a week.  Luckily, the wireless for our apartment building wasn't, so I was still able to use the internet, but it meant my computer wasn't being backed up.  It did work out eventually, and now my internet's back up and working. (There's a funny story with this solution, including a roommate accidentally unplugging the internet for the apartment.  Oops!)

So, after all of this, I figured I was done with problems with technology for a while.  But, trouble seems to always come in threes.  A couple of days ago, I was just taking my earbuds out of my ears and they broke.  The right earbud completely detached itself and I could see the wiring in it.  Unfortunately, it wasn't fixable and so I had to get new earphones.

After this last month or so of loving me not, I hope I can say technology loves me again soon!

Round and around we go (and an engagement)!

One of the highlights of last week just keeps circling around and around in my mind-- the ferris wheel in Brigham Square!  (sorry for the bad pun, I couldn't resist)  The ferris wheel was part of Involvapalooza (Club Fair).  It was totally unexpected and a lot of fun.  Luckily, I got out of my class at 6 instead of 8, so Meagan and I got to ride the ferris wheel without almost no line.

I also got to go to an amazing exhibit at the library.  Did you know it's the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible?  So, in celebration the HBLL had an exhibit of many different editions of it.  It was amazing to be in the same room with Bibles from the 1200s (The Vulgate, pre-KJV Bible)- present day.

Also, we had a huge bit of exciting news in my apartment......... Margaret's engaged!  Congrats to her and Joseph!  We're all super excited for both of them.

And yes, that does mean I've had a roommate who's gotten engaged every year so far.  Who knows, maybe I'm a good luck charm for my roommates?

Labor Day Weekend

So, last weekend was Labor Day!  It was really nice to have a 3 day weekend and be able to have lots of time to get my homework done and get to do fun stuff.

On Friday, after working a long time on homework, I had a fun night!  I had a great roommate reunion with my roommates from last year.  It was great seeing these girls again!  It was probably our last time together as single ladies before Camilla gets married in a few weeks.

Here's Camilla's beautiful wedding invite:

After I got home from that, I had a wonderful girls night with some of my current roommates.  After a failed attempt to go to a BYU attempt, we got delicious ice cream and then came back and watched a click flick and had a sleepover in the living room.  It was so much fun!

The Meagan hairstyle

The Kenzie

The Emily

Then, on Saturday, I finished more homework and then I got to spend time with my family.  My sister picked up me and John and we went up to Logan for my cousin Cory's wedding.  I'm so excited for him and Liz!  Also, we went to Logan to see my brother James' grave.  Elisabeth and I hadn't been up there since the headstone was there and John had never been up to James' grave.  It was a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be.  A flood of emotions and memories came over me, some I thought I had forgotten about.  But, I'm glad that I'll get to see James again and that it's not goodbye forever-just for the moment.

Sunday was a wonderful day and church was great!  I also met an old roommate of my brother-in-law who's in my ward.  It was pretty cool, albeit slightly random, connection.

On Monday, I went to Kensey's house.  I love her family so much!  They are just so sweet.  We had a blast being with them.  I learned a little bit about professional tennis (which is really funny if you've ever had the misfortune of playing with me).  One of my favorite parts was accompanying Kensey on her cello as we played for her grandma.  

We also went on a hike with her dad-which was so much fun!  I think he took my jokes about if I got out of breath, I was going blame it on the altitude, a little too seriously.  He seemed genuinely surprised when I was fine during the entire hike.  It was really funny and sweet.

The view from the top

Then, we got to finish off the beautifully long weekend with a fun FHE activity.  We played Ultimate Frisbee and then rolled down a HUGE hill.  I'm pretty terrible at Ultimate, but it was still lots of fun!

Back to BYU: Year 2!

After being home since Easter, it was finally time to come back to my other home: BYU!

Somehow, we fit both my stuff and John's stuff into the car.

John's smolder face (think Tangled) and my reaction to it

Gotta love leaving before 4 in the morning

A beautiful sunrise somewhere in Central California

The fun I got to have in the car.

After 13ish hours, we made it!

Now, lots of pictures of my family!

Getting to spend time with my family was just what I needed before school started.  

One year older and wiser too (hopefully......)

So, I turned 19 about 2 weeks ago.  It was a really calm and nice birthday.  I got to spend time with friends on Saturday night playing lots of fun board games and eating good food.  Then on my birthday itself, I got to spend quality time with my family, playing games and eating good food.  (As you might be able to guess, my birthday has a lot to do with being with people I love, playing games, and eating)