If I Were Stranded on an Island....

You know that dumb question that people always ask..."if you were stranded on a desert island what would you have with you?" Number one that is a dumb question and number two it's a trick question because your answer is never really that good and when would that ever happen?! Unless you're on the TV show Lost the answer is never. So even though I hate that question I do know that there are some material things in my life that are essentials. Here they are...

1. Nutella- I freaking love this stuff. I have given up putting it on things and I just eat it with a spoon. Don't judge until you've tried it. It's amazing.

2. My planner- I'm the type of person that likes to see what's going on each day of each week. Every Sunday I think to myself, "what do I have going on this week?" Also, every morning in the shower I go through all the things that I have that day in my head. Sometimes it's a lot of things my planner helps me from going totally crazy.

3. Toms and Five Fingers- I love shoes. Anyone who knows me or has seen my closet will know that. However, if for some reason I was only allowed to have two pairs of shoes all I would need are my Toms and my Five Fingers. If you have those two things you can do anything.

These are my 3 essentials. What are yours?

My Crazy Beautiful Life

Things are going really great! I'm really getting into the swing of college and adjusting really well. I feel better and better about being here everyday. It feels normal. I have had an eventful last few days. We had a 4 day weekend which was fantastic. Out here in Provo Pioneer Day is an actual holiday...that is new and kinda weird for me. But if I get school off for it then I'm not complaining. Saturday night I went to a Bees game. The Bees are the triple A affiliate team to the Angles. They play in Salt Lake. So we went up there to watch the game. They were playing a team from Tacoma and I'm sorry to break it to everyone in Washington but they got killed. The Bees destroyed them. The Bees scored 10 runs in just the first inning. I felt bad for the Tacoma team! After the game there was a firework show and it was great. It was right up there with Stadium of Fire which is saying something.

Sunday we got up and went to church. Pretty uneventful. I went to Tyson's for Sunday dinner. That's sort of becoming a routine now :) and I'm perfectly OK with that. We went to their friend's house later that night and did some more fireworks. Fireworks are big here in Utah and not just on the 4th and 24th. They are legal so I hear fireworks set off pretty much every night. That was super fun. Later that night/morning me and Jessica did something pretty awesome that I'm surprised I actually did cause we all know that I need my sleep and I'm not really one to stay up super late but I did. We went to Deny's at midnight....because it's not Sunday anymore ;) that was pretty fun. There were actually a lot of people there at midnight which was surprising.

Monday morning we got up bright and early. That was not very fun after being up so late the night before. We were going to hike the Y so we had to get up and go before it got too hot. In case you don't know the Y is a huge Y that is up on the side of a mountain above the BYU campus. If you look at my pictures of Facebook you will see it. The hike was crazy!! It was so fun at the same time though. It's a really steep hike. It's pretty much straight up the whole way. I was sucking wind the whole time!! I thought that I was used to the altitude but man oh man I'm not. Well I'm used to it down here in the valley but up there..goodness!! You can reallly tell a difference. The air was noticeably thinner. I was so glad that I did it. It's one of those things that you have to do while you're going to BYU. There were a lot of people there too because of Pioneer Day.

Now the best part! Monday night I went to the Days of 47 rodeo!! It was one of the best things of my entire life. I had so much fun. I love horses and that kind of thing...which sometimes surprises people. They had single man roping and team roping along with barrel racing and bull riding and so much more! It was a blast. It's one of those things that has been on my list of things to do sometime in my life. I loved it! My grandpa wants me to be a barrel racer it looks dang fun!!

Today I went to my classes. My music class was canceled so I got out earlier than I normally do which was great. I did my workout then came home. We needed toilet paper (which has it's own story that's coming later) and I needed cereal so I walked over to the creamery and picked those things up. As I was walking over there I saw these guys dumping boxes into the dumpster. I instantly had a brilliant thought. I need boxes for the end of the term when I have to box all my stuff up. So after I picked up what I needed at the creamery I dumpster dived for a box! I'm such a pro!!! I was really proud of myself :)

Anyway now the TP story. On Saturday we ran out of TP so me and Jessica went and got a pack that had 4 rolls in it. We figured that would last us AT LEAST two weeks. This morning I got into the bathroom...ALL OF THE TP IS GONE!!! How the heck did we use 4 rolls of TP in a day and half?! I don't understand how that happened. I know that I didn't use a whole roll bymyself. So that's why I had to get TP today. I got a pack of 6 rolls...hopefully that lasts us but who knows...

So that's my last few days! I hope all is good! :)

Small and Simple Things

This morning I got up and I was not in a good mood. I was tired and you all know when I'm tired I'm not always the best person to be around. I know this about myself and I also know that when I'm tired everything seems worse than it actually is. I was feeling homesick, left out, and kinda lonely. All I wanted to do was go get my stuff done on campus so that I could come home and sleep.

So I went to school and went to my classes and such and when those were over I headed down to the indoor track to do my workout. My workout today was 400 meters of lunges. So I went to it. I was about a quarter way around the track and I stopped for a second to shake out my legs. This little old man came walking the opposite direction and he stopped and said, "hey can you do me a favor?"I was a little confused but I said, "sure." He said, "can you say a prayer for me too while you're down there?" It was the funniest, cutest, and most precious thing I have ever heard. He brought a smile to my face and totally made my day. My bad mood was turned right around. That man has no idea that his little cheesy joke made all the difference today but I am grateful for him.

Thou Shalt Not Covet Even Thy Neighbor's Ass

Before I get into today I just have one thing to say...COME ON PEOPLE!! After being in Idaho Falls I know that there are quite a few more people reading my blog than I thought there were. I need some feedback. Follow my blog so I can see who is reading and when you like something please comment!! I feel like I'm writing to brick wall!!

Anyway, today was pretty good. I was tired from my weekend of playing. I just had my weight lifting class and my writing class today so that was good. Those are my two easiest classes. Also, I'm done by noon so I can come home and actually have the day to do things. After my classes I went to the gym and did my workout. The other side of the gym is open now and it makes it so much better. I can go in whenever I want now without having to worry about a class being there. There is also a little bit more equipment to work with on the new side. After that I trekked home. I put it into my iPod and it's 1.2 miles from my apartment to campus. That's a pretty long walk to be making everyday. Especially when it is hot. It was hot today. It's kinda weird because whenever the weather is kinda overcast and looks like we'll have thunder and rain it's the hottest. When the sun is actually out it's cooler. That just doesn't make sense to me.

I was doing my Book of Mormon homework and I was listening to the chapters and it came to the part where Abinidi is telling the Nephites the commandments and he was saying that we shouldn't covet not even your neighbor's ass. I laughed to myself when I heard that. If you take that out of context it's really funny. I don't know maybe I'm the only one who would think that is funny but it made my day :)

Well, lots to do better go! Love you all!

Gotta Love Family

So here it is the long awaited blog post on my weekend in Idaho Falls ;) It was a great weekend. I loved seeing everyone. It was exactly what I needed, just to get out of Provo for a few days and be with people that I know. I was so glad that I didn't have to sit in my apartment alone all weekend.

Here's the recap of the weekend's festivities...

Me and Tyson and Kati got to Grandma's house around 11pm on Friday night. It was a fun drive. I love being with Tyson and Kati! They're just fun people to be with. We jammed to music the whole way. Once we got to Grandma's we were all pretty dead so we pretty much just went straight to bed. I got to sleep in the cave (aka Ryan's room) and I loved it!! I'm pretty sure the fact that that room is illegal because it's in the basement and it has no windows but I don't care it was awesome! Here in Provo we have this window right by our beds so in the morning the sun shines through and it is so bright!! It wakes us up way earlier than we want to wake up. In the cave you don't even know it's morning. It was fantastic.

Saturday was our boating day and let me tell ya it was an adventure. It was windy as heck out on the lake so that kinda stunk but we still had tons of fun. We had a few mishaps on the boat and I hate to admit it but if I don't my family will go crazy.... it was a good thing that I was there. The first mishap was on the tube. I was on the tube with my cousins Hayden and Cooper. They are little so we were just going slow but on the tube if you go too slow the front of the tube goes right under and you take on a lot of water that is moving pretty dang fast. So Cooper, the younger of the two cousins, got totally washed off the back of the tube. I was half washed of the tube half jumping in after Cooper. I'm told it was quite a sight to see. Cooper got pretty far under the water and my mind was going a mile a minute. Some of my thoughts included, "crap I can't see him", "oh no my cousin just drowned", "he has a life jacket on so where the heck is he" but then I saw him. It was a good thing he was wearing a bright red Spiderman life jacket. I pulled him out from the water and of course he was freaking out. I was kinda freaking out too. He was saying ow ow ow and so I was like crap he's hurt! It turned out that he had just bitten his tongue. All of this happened in a matter of about 45 seconds. By some miracle Hayden managed to stay on the tube. Once we got Cooper back on the boat I looked back at Hayden and he had this huge grin on his face. He had barely even gotten wet during this whole thing and he was ready to get going again! I guess all that night Cooper was going around saying, "I fell off the tube but Lyssa saved me." That kid is just so stinking cute!

The second mishap happened shortly after this. We had my uncle out in the water and he was switching from the ski to the wakeboard. No one was watching the rope, which is one of the first rules of boating. Luckily we weren't really moving or the situation could have been a lot worse. I looked over the side and saw that the rope had gone under the boat so being the swimmer that I am I jumped in the water with no life jacket and began to try to pull the rope out. It wasn't coming. So again we're back to that same thought of, "oh crap" going through my head. I know how bad ropes around the prop can be. It can result in having to cut the rope and, sometimes, expensive damage made to the prop itself. So I take Laura's kids goggles and look under the boat. Sure enough the rope is around the prop. Since we weren't moving very much it wasn't bad and I was able to swim under and unwrap the rope.

The best part of the day was watching Brandon and Braxton learn to wakeboard. Before I get into the story I want to make it clear that I love these kids to death. I think they just forgot to bring their brains to the lake that day. Or maybe the wind just blew them right out of their ears. The whole situation was just hilarious. We have the boys out in the water laying there pretty much doing nothing while we have at least 3 people yelling at them from inside of the boat at all times. It was one of those 'you have to be there' type of situations. After about 30 mins of the same thing going on I just laid on the back of the boat and laughed. It was just so funny because that is my family. No matter where we are or what we're doing that's exactly how it's going to be and I love it!!

So after that eventful day we went back into town and Christine sheallaced me up!! Or as Chloe would say I got pretties on my nails. Haha she is so cute and she has a little attitude. Hahaa all day on the boat she would sneak up to the driver's seat and have a drink of the Pepsi that was in the cup holder. That's the Dustin's for ya!! Teachin them young!!

I was so tired by the end of the day that I totally crashed that night. The cave was great I slept until after 10 which is late for me. Grandma made a great breakfast and Ryan stopped by. He brought little Zachy. That kid is adorable. His hair is so long and he's so little and he's just so stinking cute!!

One highlight of the weekend was the little visit that we got from the ghost of Black Like Me. After we got back from boating there was a sign over the doorway to the family room in Grandma's house that said "Black Like Me." I took a picture of it and sent it to Michael saying, "is this your doing?" He said that it was the ghost of BLM (aka it was him). For those of you who don't know the Black Like Me story...sucks for you. Ask one of my uncles or my Dad.

Tyson and Kati and I left Sunday afternoon after visiting with Laura and Jared. Only in that group of people would be talking about seeing eye horses. Yes, they do exist. I guess some people are now using mini horses as seeing eye dogs because they are more likely to seek out ramps than dogs are. That's pretty much the only benefit to having a horse as a guide. I don't think that it really out weighs the negatives such as the fact that a horse is just gonna take a dump where ever and when ever it feels like it, and how the heck are you supposed to take a seeing eye horse on an airplane. I don't know I just don't get that. But anyway we left to drive home that afternoon. It was a good drive and pretty quiet. Tyson slept pretty much the whole way so me and Kati just sang in the front seat. But I'm home now and get to go back to another week at BYU. I'm so glad I got to see all my family. Thanks for the love!

Catch Up

I've been so bad at updating lately. That's my b sorry to whoever is reading this. Things have been going well. I got a 90% on my first music 101 test which was a good surprise. I was nervous because I've heard that it is a really hard class but I studied and did my thing and it turned out good. I am in love with my Book of Mormon class. Whenever you talk to and alumni of BYU they say that the religion classes are the best and they are dang right. My teacher is great and he really makes an effort to know each person in the class by name and it's all about discussion and learning from others in the class as well as from the teacher and the spirit. That class does require a lot of reading which can be difficult and sometimes. We've made it through 1st and 2nd Nephi so far and we also read some supplementary articles. I have found a trick though. It goes much faster if you listen to the audio hehehe don't tell anyone ;)

Stadium of Fire was amazing. I had such a great time. Thanks mom and dad for the tickets. David Archuleta was great and Brad Paisley put on an amazing show. I had never seen Brad live before and it was really something. He is great on stage and he really pulls you in. I've become a big fan of his since then. I have pictures from that night up on my facebook if anyone wants to check those out.

I was thinking today that I'm halfway through the term and it's time for me to refocus. Not that I wasn't already focused, but now that I've got the lay of the land and have figured out what I'm doing it's time for me to focus on a few things. I've made a goal to be more positive. I was talking to my dad yesterday and he was worried that every time I talked about church or how church was I would say long and boring. I didn't really realize that I was being so negative about it but since last night I've been thinking about it tonight. Church is going to be something that I refocus on. I'm going to go in every week with my bucket and have it ready to be filled. I

When I first moved here I had a mind set that this isn't home. This is just where I live right now and it's temporary and I don't really have to like it because this isn't me and this isn't home. That's not true and it's another thing that I'm going to work on. I'm here now. Like my mom said, "your life is at BYU now." She is so right. I need to focus on my opportunities here and Provo and start to pull my roots from Vancouver and replant them here. It's not that I'm going to give up on everything that I had in Vancouver but I need to have a new start with those things here. This is home now, it's hard for me to think or say that because it really means that I'm on my own and this is it but it's true. This is my new life and I'm ready to to fully embrace it. I am excited to come home though! I really miss boating. I had no idea how much I would miss it but every time I look outside and it's such nice weather I think about the boat and the cabin and being out on the lake. The weather is good pretty much everyday here so I have those thoughts a lot. I looked up some wakesurfing videos on youtube the other day. When I get back I'm totally going to nail a 360 on the surf board :)

On Wednesday Grandma and Grandpa are coming out here with Jen and the kids to spend the afternoon with me. I am so excited. I can't wait to see Cal and see if he still remembers...."don't get crazy weirdo!!!!" Hahahaha I miss that kid so much he's just so stinking cute!

Well I had better get back to my crazy college life! I love you all :)

Week 2

My second week of college has come to a close. Everything is going great! I got 100% on my first BOM quiz, I grocery shopped all by myself, and Cosmo wave to me...that's me and just me. All of that together makes for a pretty great week. This weekend is going to be awesome! Tonight Jessica and I are having a girls night. We are going to walk to Cafe Rio (yay!), then come home and watch She's the Man which I have never seen before. Tomorrow, we are going to stadium of fire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm mega excited for that. I am going to marry David Archuleta....It's going to happen. Then, on monday we are going to hike the Y. I hope all is well :) Happy 4th everyone!