Besties!!!

So I figured that some of you might be wondering who all of these beautiful ladies are.  Well I will tell you, because this post is dedicated to them.  These are wonderful roommates from this last semester. A pretty good looking group right?  Ya I think so too. So to continue on with the purpose of this post:  So it might have taken us half of a semester to get tight but once we did there was no turning back.  I'm pretty much going through separation anxiety without them with me so this post will probably be quite lengthy as I relive all of our wonderful times we shared.

Oh gosh where to start, where to start?  I guess I will start with this amazing girl.

 

This is a picture of my room roommate Alane and I.  Oh how blessed I was to have her in my life.  Words can't even begin to express how much I came to love and appreciate her.  Together we shared crazy moments, exciting moments, stressful moments, happy moment, and everything in between.  I truly felt like I left half of my self in Idaho when I left her behind.  We grew to be so close.  We did so many things together and sharing a room with her for the last three months of my life was probably one of the most exciting things I've ever done.  We both get pretty funny when we get tired so late nights in our room were quite entertaining.  Never a dull moment!  Oh how much I miss her!

Okay so now on a a more broad spectrum encompassing all of us. There are a few things that just became "our" things.  Here are just a few with very brief explanations:

1. JACKTM Chesties! (An acronym of all of our first names, Julie, Alane, CallieJo, Katie, Tracy, and Moom)
2. Secret Bread Meetings (Tracy's late night exchanges haha)
3. Shower Time!!! 
4. Second good news minute (special pow wows in my room late at night to share special moments)
5. Sleepovers (sometimes we just all want to sleep in the living room together)
6. Crazy Hair dos (I don't know why but we always did each others hair super funky)
7. Smoothies (explained in earlier posts)
8. Late night parties (the party started and 12:15ish after prayer)
9. Disney Movie Marathon
10. Lots and lots of giggles (I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life has I laughed while living with these girls)
11. British Accents (we always talked with an accent)
12. Dancing in the rain
13. And of course dance parties!!! (having 4 dancers in the apt, enough said)

Everyone in our apartment really added something special and we were able to really mesh everyone's strengths to create this wonderful "sisterhood."  Towards the end of the semester we were really struggling with the concept of us all separating and going our separate ways, especially since Katie would be leaving to go on her mission and wouldn't be coming back to us. So we decided to copy the idea from "The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants" But since we couldn't find any magical pants that would fit us all we improvised and found a pair of earrings that we liked and we started the sisterhood of the travelling earrings (and we already found out that they are good luck!). It's pretty exciting!  

Everyone really played a different role in our apartment.  Katie was the blonde that just made everything exciting. Whether she did it by screaming random things, laughing, cracking jokes, or just doing something silly she always was the one to liven the mood and make everyone laugh.  One example of this is when her, Alane and Julie were laying on the floor while I was on the couch.  Katie started yelling at me, in this rather odd voice and the only way I could get her to stop was to get down on the floor with them which ended up being an hour long giggle fest.  So there you go, a sneak peak of Katie Blood.  

Tracy is the quiet, sparatic one.  At first people might think Tracy is super shy and quite, but that's only until she get's to know you.  Tracy is actually super funny.  She's protective over all of her possessions (especially her car) and she doesn't like to share anything.  Not just her things but cake, ice cream, and other things.  It's super funny.  Tracy is the one who on a whim bought at cars mat (yes the kind that you play on the floor with), cap guns, finger paints, and even an I touch.  She's also a wonderful seamstress so she analyses everything someone wears.  Alane is the crazy one.  She can fall asleep almost anywhere, in any position, during any event.  I can only think of two or three movies we watched that she didn't fall asleep watching.  She is queen of sweet dance moves that make me laugh and she always wants to do something crazy.  She is the one who got us all stuck on smoothies. She also jumps on me in my bed when she turns of the lights, and she gets really dizzy super easy, which is just hilarious!  Julie... oh my dearest Julie.  She is just a sweetheart.  Her laugh is classic and you can identify her anywhere from it.  She is also the pro with our British accents.  When she wakes from sleeping she is probably the funniest person I know.  Julie makes a ton of jokes about herself and I love it when she would sing Alane and I to sleep. :)  And she loves pizza!  Julie was a miracle in our apartment and I am so glad that we adopted her.  One of her biggest strengths is that she genuinely cares about everyone. She always would make us laugh and when she wasn't in our apartment we felt like there was a hole there.  Moom is such a character.  She is not afraid to be herself or give her opinions. She brings music into our apartment through her singing and her epic song writing on the guitar. Who can compare to her hit songs "I Wish" and "Hey There Gnome?" Yes our group is pretty amazing!  And me... well I'm mama bear.  If you want to get on my bad side really quickly just hurt, bug, or something similar someone I love and care about.  I get my claws and teeth bared really fast. I try to make sure that everything is in order and that everyone is taken care of. I love to cook and bake and I generally do most of the cleaning. And sometimes I can be pretty funny. 

This picture really explains our apartment and fits us to the tee.  :)

One thing that was really great about our apartment was our sayings or quotes that were often said a few of these that stick out to me at this point in time are:

• If I was a dude...
• Sometimes I just get really dizzy!
• Hey guys, hey, hey guys listen!  Guys listen, hey guys, hey listen guys, etc. 
• You best be believin' it.
• Purple(or any color) drank!
• Man Shoot!
• Two chocolate cheese cakes!
• Girlfriend please!!!
• Your roommate... (like your mom jokes)
• Shower time!
• I was confused, then things happened, and I was attracted.... I blame it on the hair.
• Don't you test these besties!
• Shower Time!
• JACKTM chesties!!!

and the list could go on.  But the moral of the story is I absolutely LOVE these five girls and I couldn't be more blessed.  They have been a wonderful impact on my life and I love them so very dearly.  We had a fantastic semester and made bonds and relationships that will last throughout our lives.  I love you girls and I can't wait until we can all be reunited again!  JACKTM chesties forever!!!  (Salute) 

Late Night Adventure

So last week we had quite a few adventures late at night. Usually these happen inside our apartment and have to deal with movies, games, giggling and food, and usually we fall asleep at some point. These adventures have included:

Crepe Parties

Parties celebrating Mission Papers being turned in

Smoothie Parties

And Leaving wonderful messages on the bathroom mirrors. 

One night this last week though we were taking a Redbox late at night and non of us wanted to go to bed, so someone suggested going to Idaho Falls and going to Denny's!!!  Probably one of the best stupid ideas we have had all semester!  It was super fun.  It was my first experience out that late as well as my first time to Denny's.  I'm sure everyone thought we were crazy because let's be honest, what isn't crazy about five girls in Denny's at one in the morning?

Oh the many things there are to do to entertain yourself in an almost empty restaurant when you are with all of your friends!  And of course having a camera is the favorite part so we had to document every stage of the experience.  We had Alane's friend, who is now all of our friend, Hannah with us and of course we were all extremely hyper and silly as we all know happens at that time of night. 

Hannah, Me, Tracy, Julie, and Alane.

 Our waiter was a very good sport and took our picture and even joined in on our British Accents that are now almost permanently in all of our speech.  This is what we did while waiting for our food: anything crazy from making weird faces, to telling jokes, or basically anything that would be a good laugh or picture. 

This is just one example: Hiding behind the water glasses. 

Then finally our food came.  From then on it was pretty simple. It came. We ate. And we left. But all in all a fantastic experience at Denny's with my girls. 

This was my breakfast. A personalized Grand Slam!  French toast, eggs, sausage, and hashbrowns!

First Things First

So I have discovered that it is really hard to keep a blog updated during the last few weeks of school.  Oh what a couple of weeks it has been too!  There have been too many big evens to put them in this post and they are worthy of their own individual post so please see later posts to see details of events.  Needless to say I love BYU-I and I love my rooommates!!!

Here is one of our many traditions that we have developed over the semester.  Alane and I were craving Jamba one day, but we decided that we would go get things from the store to make our own and the rest is history. We go on streaks where we will make them at least once a day, no matter that time of day or night.

This was one of our Midnight smoothie parties and it was also blue shirt day

As stated above please see later posts to see what else is going on. :)

Oh How Time Flies!

So today I had a couple realizations. Number one is: it's already Thursday!  Number two: I only have 4 days left of classes before finals!  I don't know how this crept up on me so quickly and unexpectedly but it sure did.
 
I think the first realization happened because of the amazingly long and wonderful weekend that cut this week a day short.  One week ago today I was on my way home to see my family to spend my break with them. Oh what a wonderful weekend it was!  Ice Cream and catching up with Shaundra:  It's so fun to come back together after a while and not feel like any time has really passed.  I got to spend a lot of good quality time with my wonderful mom and of course the rest of my family.  We were able to take to boat out for it's first run of the season!  Oh how I love boating!  I got some good rides on the wakeboard as well as on the tube.  Have I mentioned that I love my mom? Along with boating came a sunburn.  I've never really burnt, thanks to my olive skin, so I'm not really accustomed to the sunscreen ritual that a lot of other people are.  Now I understand what everyone has been complaining about! Sorry to everyone that I haven't been sympathetic with. :)

 Along with many other great things my fourth of July weekend would not have been complete without the Stadium of Fire fireworks with Becca, Brett and Kolton (where we sat so close we could hear Brad and David sing), multiple BBQ's with the family and of course our annual breakfast up Big Springs to celebrate our nations independence and our freedoms and my beautiful sister Jodi's birthday.  And as a tradition in our family (we get it from the Walker side) the 4th of July would not be the same without a good water fight to finish it off.  Even the little nieces and nephews got into it this year. :)

Carlee and Grumpy's stand-off: Before

Carlee and Grumpy's stand-off :After

 Even though I had to come back to Rexburg earlier than planned I still had a fantastic night with my lovely roommates Katie and Julie sitting at the top the of the stadium watching fireworks going off around Rexburg.

The second of my realizations happened in two separate events.  In my math class today we were discussing what the plan was for the rest of the semester and we only have TWO classes left!  Two tests and two classes then it's over.  This got me adding it all up and I realized that I only have four more days of going to classes this semester!  It's blowing my mind.  This semester has gone by so quickly it's crazy!  The time has totally escaped from me.  The second event that happened was I went to go talk to my counselling center to make sure my cluster would work and while I was there I got my cluster approved and I got all set to GRADUATE by the end of Fall 2011!!!  My paper work is in and I'm all registered for the classes I need.  Good news is that I had three credits that I didn't need so instead of taking 18 credits next semester I only have to take 15!  Oh happy day! Life is good.

P.S. My burn has now turned into a nice tan and it's really funny to compare to my roommates. :)

My leg is the one second on the right

Favorite Place on Earth

This post was inspired by two things:
1) In my letter from a my good friend Elder Matt Clark he asked my where my favorite place on Earth was.
2) While spending a wonderful night with Shaundra we ended up talking about girls camp.

This year is the first year since I was 12, so 8 years, that I have not spent a week up and camp Mia Shalom for girls camp.  After enjoying 6 wonderful years at Shalom with my beloved 5th ward, last summer I had the wonderful privilege of going up for a 7th year of camp as a stake leader.  Although going as a girl/YCL is completely different than going as a leader there is still nothing comparable to being at Shalom.  During my time there I was able to be a part of (starting with the first to the last): Emperor's New Groove, Flintstones, Sunbeams, Ghana, TMNT, Magic School Bus, and Weightlifting.  Each year had it's own quirks and good parts, each being so different from the other, but yet so wonderful.

When answering Elder Clark's question my first response was to tell him about Camp Mia Shalom. It truly is my favorite place on Earth, at least that I've been to so far.  Not only is Shalom beautiful and breath taking but  it is a haven away from the world.  To me it has been a sacred place of solitude and growth.  The only thing I can even compare it to would be the Temple.  It was here that my testimony grew leaps and bounds. Those who have been to camp with me know that there are two things that I am very passionate about while at camp: individual worth and the plan of salvation.  To me Shalom is the best place where someone can come to know of these too things.  During my time there I was able to truly come to know and understand what it meant to be a Child of God.  There is no message more powerful to me.  Without this knowledge the whole Gospel seems to not matter.  We are all of infinite worth and God knows us as individuals.  No one blends into the masses.  Also, if someone wants to know the God exists and that He loves us and has a plan all they need to do is really pay attention to their surroundings at camp.  Between the flowers, wildlife, the pines, the clouds, and ultimately the stars there was no doubt in my mind that there is indeed a loving Heavenly Father who loves me and has a plan for me.

So not only is Shalom a spiritual haven in my life and a place where I have had some of my most spiritual times but it is also a place to have fun and enjoy life.  There is nothing like sitting around the camp fire with my wardies and singing our favorite camp songs.  Mormon Boy, Moose on the Loose, I'm a Nut, I Can't Dance, You Are My Sunshine, and so many more that have formed memories. Really it's one of the best things about camp.  Also water front and confidence course!  Putting our whole ward through the spiderweb and all of the many activities on the lake.  Let's not forget random afternoon operas and amazing stake activities.  The hikes are fantastic and every trail holds something different for you to experience.  Sound of Music, Beaver Trail, South Rim, and all the others.  And of course our amazing skits!  Go 5th ward, our skits always rocked.  A special shout our to Carolyn Seale, Erin McGibbon, Lisa Radmall, and all of the wonderful leaders I was able to have.  Carolyn is the camp champ!  If it weren't for her my love for camp would probably not be what it is today and I would probably not have gotten near as into certification as I did.  Thanks to her everything I need to know I learned at girls camp. (Just ask my little brother)  And last but certainly no least let us not forget the beautiful fires.  I was the official fire builder after my second year at camp and they were indeed my specialty.  I got to share that with Shaundra and neither of us will probably ever forget the great fire we built our first year together at camp. We built a fire through the rain and wind and it lasted through the storm, for hours.  We were incredibly proud. That was just a year for fires.

As a leader just over a year ago, I was able to experience being a leader on a stake level. That was such a wonderful experience!  The responsibility was a little overwhelming at times, just because I wanted the girls to have the experiences that I had had.  It was such a wonderful angle to be at though. I loved the committee that I served with, those ladies are amazing and the effort they put in and the sleep they loose for those girls is amazing.  We were targets for pranks, that we of course returned and we were even the refuge for two young girls frightened in the middle of the night.  For two hours in the dead of the night we sat up with two very frightened girls who had seen a "bear" (which turned out to be a badger) on their way the the BIFFY.  What great memories.  That has definitely been my favorite calling ever.

So this week is the week my home stake is at camp.  That is where my heart is.  I hope you can tell how much I love Shalom.  It is my favorite place on Earth for the memories, the spirit and the beauty it holds. I hope that my days there are not over.  If I have anything to do with it they are not even close to being over.  It is a wonderful place and I love it so much!  I wish I could be there now.

P.S.  Sorry this was so long... hopefully it didn't bore you and sorry that I didn't have any pictures!