The best of BYU

I'm fairly new to the blogging world, in fact this blog primarily exists for my roommate, Alissa, and my mother. I am excited to be able to share major moments with my family and friends, but there are some truly great milestones that have taken place this year that shouldn't be forgotten. So I've thought of some of my favorite events that have happened since I left Georgia, drove 2,000 miles and made a new home for myself in Provo Utah. These are all in rough chronological order but I'm not going to bother with dates, to much of a hassle and I don't think anyone really reads them.

Freshman Initiation
There are a handful of dumb things that every BYU freshman does. There is no  real reason for this other than that we are intoxicated with the freedom that comes with living on your own. There is no one to tell you to come home by eleven so why NOT stay out until four am? I am proud to say that I haven't done every ridiculous thing that most freshman do, for example I have never thrown a tortilla at any ones window, (why exactly does anyone think that is funny.) but over the summer I did climb on the statues by the MOA and roll down that giant hill by the library. It was pointless, and kind of not allowed, but a great memory.

The Beginning of BAM

I've already mentioned Bailey once in my blog but I will give you a little bit of a background on the love story that is BAM. When I first got to college I very quickly realized it wasn't the fairy tale that I imagined it would be. I didn't go on dates every single night, there was not a perpetual party going on, and I didn't ace all of my classes. At first I was really lonely. I started praying every night for a close friend, someone that would just always be there, and who I wouldn't have to worry about impressing. When that didn't work I began praying to be that friend for someone else (same request, just worded differently.) A few weeks later I met Bailey and Amy almost immediately we became really close. A little while after we became friends, I told Bailey, and Amy about my daily prayers, and how I felt they were my answer. Bailey and Amy both confessed that they had been praying for the same thing. Our heavenly father took a little while, but he sent us each other. 

Homecoming

There is no cute backstory behind homecoming, I just got to dress up like a flapper, and I kind of want to share that with the world.

Halloween

Halloween was a series of adventures for me, BAM and my roommates.

One thing I have always loved about Halloween is carving pumpkins. This is the pumpkin, Bailey, Amy, and I spontaneously carved. After we carved him, we took his pumpkin guts and threw them at each other. It was really fun, until an RA kindly asked us to stop. There is no written record of this incident so technically we didn't get in trouble.

After we carved BAM, the pumpkin, we took a picture with this guy. I'm still not sure he knew I was kissing his costume. 

The Friday night before Halloween I went to two Halloween party one with my roommates,

(Vanessa was spider-man, I was her web  Also special shout out to Becca who let me light her shirt on fire.)

and one with Bailey, Amy, and Zach.

we were the three little pigs.

Zach was our wolf.

I did some pretty impulsive things that night. I think it was the mask, it made me feel anonymous.

By the time our ward Halloween party rolled around I was fairly burnt out. I was one of two people in our ward of 180 freshman that didn't dress up. I told people I was Mary Jane. They seemed to accept it. On the actual night of Halloween I just watched Rock of Ages with Bailey and Amy. For the record Rock of Ages is the WORST MOVIE EVER. Don't fall for the music and normally very talented actors.

Killers
Just so everyone knows I have the best roommates ever, I am already planning out the speech that I will give at Alissa's wedding. Way before we were all friends we bought tickets for the killer's concert. By the time the concert actually rolled around we were all inseparable and really really excited to see the killers!

 All dressed up and waiting for Torie. Note the raincoats, after we all curled our hair it started to drizzle.

The longest weekends make the best memories

This weekend has been one of the most chaotic, overwhelming insane weekends so much so that I currently cannot feel my toes. I't's also been one of the best weekends I have had since arriving at BYU. Thursday night RHA hosted the Helaman social which meant that I spent the evening playing decorator and waitress for a few hundred freshman. Overall, I was not excited. Surprisingly though it ended up being a wonderful opportunity to grow closer to three fantastic people. Throughout the night I worked mainly with Bailey (friend from my summer ward), Alissa (my current roommate), and Brenton (the lucky boyfriend of the beautiful Alissa). We waited in line for over an hour for caricatures  danced, and ate way to much food. In retrospect there was nothing special about the dance at all. It was the same generic food that is served at every BYU event, and the same people that I see literally every day of my life. However, there was something about how late it was, and how close it is to Christmas that just made us relax our inhibitions and have a ton of fun. I was able to see these people in a way that I never had before, and I grew to love them even more. I was already exceptionally closer to Bailey, and Alissa but after the night ended they felt more like family than friends. There is something about watching someone carve cheese into a work of art that just makes you love them more than you though you ever could.

These actually look just like us, see if you can guess who is who.

The ballroom before all of Helaman arrived. Those lights were not easy to put up, or take down, but the effect was beautiful.

On Friday, I saw my mother for the first time since she dropped me off at college. It is amazing how you can go months without seeing someone and somehow nothing changes. My mom still asks me to do things that she is perfectly capable of, and I still throw her things on the floor while riding in the car. Despite all of that, there is no one in this world who gets me quite like my mother does. Seeing her in person made it possible to sit down and discuss everything that has happened in both of our lives in the last six months. Somehow, I can't really assess events in my life until I have talked about them with my mother.

Even though my mom loves me she didn't just fly down to help me prep for finals. My cousin Chance was married in the Salt Lake city temple on Saturday morning. The wedding was beautiful, and I couldn't be happier for him and Starlee. Sadly I'm not great about taking photos so I don't have any to share, but everything about the wedding was perfect. The dress, the food, the house, and the toasts. As always Chance has set an exceptionally high standard for the rest of the family to follow. There is absolutely no way Caleb or I will be able to secede Chance in this particular aspect. I think I will just admit defeat now.