Join the Circus Like You Wanted to

I remember going to the Shriner's Circus once as a child.  If I recall correctly, though I really don't claim to, there was a lot more promotion of their organization than actual entertainment.  Still, I was pretty excited when I saw ads that the Circus Gatti was in town - and better yet, they had a coupon for two dollars off of an adult ticket!
So my roommates Kaylee, Estefani, and I with friends Carlton and Harrison went to the Circus.  To be honest, I expected the show to be fairly low-scale (it is Rexburg, after all) and maybe not worth the price of the ticket (even with the two dollars off), but I was pleasantly surprised!  Really, from the moment we stepped inside the "big tent", I was titillating with excitement.  What with the ringmaster, aerialists, clowns, BMX "Freaks", carmel apples, and elephant rides (yes, elephant rides), I felt just like a kid again!

With Leo the Clown

Estefani and Harrison with a sno-cone

Carmel apple - circus-y - and bottled water - less circus-y.

Kaylee on an elephant ride

Carlton gets a free circus mustache

Volunteer needed - Carlton upstaged Leo, really

Harrison, Estefani, Kaylee, Me, Carlton

Too much fun!  If I hadn't had class that night, I might have been tempted to go back and watch the second showing!

We're Going to War and Oh My

I miss my old roommates.
(Well, as much as one can miss those she still sees on a daily basis - often multiple times a day.) 
Don't get me wrong - I like my new apartment of roommates and we're definitely getting closer, but sometimes you just can't compare to that familiarity of the people you've already spent three months with, sharing a tv, fridge space, and the bathroom. 
But like I said, I still see them as much as my own roommates.  And we find ways to spend bring us even closer. 
            Alex and I make temple and library runs together;
                        Robbi's new husband is in my class, so we connect through him;
                                    Ashley and I send detailed messages about all things boy-related;
                                                And Rachel and I bond through a continuing battle of Nerf guns.

I'm winning.  By 200%.

Okay, I admit, the score's nothing to look at right now, but it's fun.  Truth be told, I'm going easy on her.  We set rules regarding where and when a person can be shot, but Rachel always forgets to bring her weapon to class.  Plus, I'm just a tank when it comes to stalking (haha), so I've been trying not to make her feel too bad.

I am really looking forward to this semester.  I have old friends, new friends, a good home evening group, and three great home teachers.  The weather is nice and we've already gotten a good start on enjoying it with more plans in the works.  Even my crazy class schedule hasn't managed to put a damper on things.  It's gonna be a gooder!

I'm Not Leavin' Yet*

I have to apologise to all my devoted fans and readers out there (hey mom!). I've neglected my blogging duty and left you all hanging in suspense for nearly two months wondering why I haven't updated - was she deathly ill and unable to leave her bed? Did she run away and elope with one of those crazy RMs so that her new homemaking duties left her no time to fill you in on the trivial happenings of her college life? Could she have converted to piratism and obtained a hook for a hand, leaving her unable to function at a keyboard?
I know you're all wondering.
But no, I am still healthy, single, and Mormon...and perhaps just a little lazy.
So I apologise.

On Tuesday, I will begin my third semester at BYU-Idaho, which makes me a sophomore. Not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited to no longer have to tell people that I'm a freshman. Though I'll still have to admit that I'm 18. That's okay, two more months.
This semester is going to be a little strange. Technically, I'm on my offtrack. I want to go to school year round, but I can't apply for Fast Grad until I have 20 more credits. That means I can only take online and night classes this semester. In fact, my first class of the semester doesn't even start until 7 pm. Truth be told, I'm kind of a morning person, and I've had 7.45 am classes for the last two semesters, and I try to make it to bed by 10 or 11. This semester, there are days that I won't even be getting home until 10 at night, and I'll definitely be able to sleep in a little longer. I might have to start actually living a normal college schedule with a social life after 10.oo!
... Toga?

Once again, I have entirely new roommates. Only two others have moved in at this point, but I'm sure the rest will come tomorrow. It certainly would have been easier to just stay in my last apartment, but by the time I re-registered for housing, they already had the room filled up and too many roommate requests to start rearranging things. Don't fret, though; I'm only two doors down from my old place and I'm sure I'll still be over there quite a bit to see two of my old roommates.

So, here we go: Round Three. Let's see if we can't make it as awesome as the first two!

*Don't ask - it's a song, but not from a musical. To be honest, titles are one of the main reasons I couldn't work up the motivation to blog lately. It just gets too hard to think of/find lyrical titles for every post.

Mea Maxima Culpa

On January 24, we had Elder L. Tom Perry give our weekly devotional here at BYU-Idaho. It was kind of a big deal. He gave a really great (of course - he is an apostle of the Lord, after all) talk of building "Scaffolding for our Lives".

The next week, Brother Dale Sturm - the chair of our religious education department - gave a devotional entitled "Faith is a Decision". It was also very good. In fact, I liked it so much that I told Rachel I thought it was even better than Elder Perry's.
She looked at me like I was an absolute heathen.
The next day, Ashley, who had not been able to come to devotional with us, came home saying that her religion teacher highly recommended Brother Sturm's talk and that he thought it was even better than Elder Perry's.
Rachel must think she's on a campus full of apostates, but I feel justified, now, in sharing this link, because, really, it was very good.

(I'm not necessarily encouraging you to listen to this in your spare time (because I know we all come home from church each week with a reading list as long as our arms that people have strongly encouraged (my, isn't this post full of italics?) us to read), but if you need to give any kind of lesson of your choosing in the near future, this is a *gooder.)

*Did you know "gooder" is a Canadian word?

Children Will Listen Pt 4

I was in my religion class and my teacher, Brother Calderwood, related a story to us about fly fishing with his friend. At one point he jokingly stole his friend's lure so that the other guy was no longer catching anything. When the friend finally realized what had caused his sudden change in luck, he turned back to Brother Calderwood and said,

"You give me back that lure right now, you cotton-picker!"

I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one in the class casting cautious glances over at the lone black kid in our class.

Flow It, Show It, Long As I Can Grow It

When you live in an apartment with 4 other girls, there tends to be an abundance of hair in the area. And with so little room to be dispersed in, it tends to get a little dense.
It's always embarrassing when you're all down on the floor to begin playing a game and one of the guys picks up a huge hairball from the carpet before he can start dealing the cards. (We vacuum regularly, I swear!)

And speaking of vacuuming, Robbi took the time to clean out our apartment vacuum to make it run a little better, and this is what she found:


Yeah, it's super gross.

I even found hair in the freezer as I was cleaning it out at the end of last semester.
Don't ask me. I don't know, either.

So We're Breaking Free

Here in Apartment 205, we can get a little rambunctious.
Rachel and Alex definitely take the cake, though.




I think I'm beginning to understand why 105 hates us so much.