A First for Everything

Okay so as most of you know there always has to be a first to everything.  This is pretty obvious.  But it is when the first things happen that create the special event.  For example:  your first date, your first car, your first kiss, your first pair of heels, or your first formal dance.  Okay you get the idea.  Well a few weeks ago I experienced a new first in my life.  I know this is quite late but I feel like this even is just too monumental to go un-blogged (is that even a correct term?)  Are you ready for it? Drum roll please....

I officially watched a full season of a TV show!  I know it's a shocker right?  Well for those of you who don't really understand why this is so monumental here is a little history.  Growing up I never watched TV.  We watched movies but no TV.  We didn't have cable and really I had no idea or desire to watch TV.  Occationally I would catch a random episode of this series or that series.  But this last semester at school somehow I got stuck on So You Think You Can Dance.

I can proudly say I saw every episode from Auditions to the Finale.  If I missed it when it was broadcast live I would watch it online before the next week so I could stay caught up.  I really enjoyed watching it this season and I was so happy to my favorite dancer from the beginning win.  I know it may not seem like a lot but I thought it was very cool that I stayed with my show through out the entire season.  For those of you who didn't watch it, you are missing out.  There was such a wonderful group of dancers this season that it was so hard to see someone leave every week.  It was such an exciting show.  I loved watching each dancer grow and progress into what they could be.  I loved the choreography and I personalities of the dancers.  All around I just really loved this show and was sad to see it end..  So there you have it ladies and gents. My first complete season of a TV show.

Blogs

So although it may not seem like it I really do like blogs. My problem is that I would just rather read them than write on my own.  Then there are sometimes when I actually get a really great idea for my blog post and then I never really get to it or life just gets crazy.  Just now I thought of two blog posts in the last week that I've wanted to write but it's just never happened. But I love reading my friends blogs.  They are pretty great and they are awesome.  Every time I read them it makes me want to get on mine, hence on doing this write now.

Writing is exciting and I have always really liked it, so I'm not sure why I don't do it more. When I was younger I started writing so many stories and plays I can't even count.  One play actually got to be quite lengthy.  But now I'm one of the worst journal writers I know, I haven't written just for fun in who knows how long and I barely take pride in my assigned writing for school.  How sad is that?  Well my hope is that from all of my awesome friends who are my inspirations in blogging that I will be able to rekindle that love I once had for writing and become a better blogger. Let the journey begin!

Why You Don't Give Into Peer Pressure!

So when I was home for the 4^th of July I ran into a friend of a friend, who has become my own friend, Kaden at church. I was on my way home and he was on his way to mission prep. He tried really hard to get me to go with him, but I didn’t really want to so I got out of it but not without him promising me that I would come when I got back from school for the summer.  I had completely forgot about my promise. Okay so that was the needed background information.

So last week I get this really obnoxious phone call from him reminding me that I had promised to come to mission prep and so on.  So yesterday I went for the first time.  I felt so out of place!  First of all I was the only girl. Second of all I was the only one, besides the teachers, that wasn’t still in high school.  And third of all I think I was the only new one. So ya, not the most comfortable situation for me I was an minority, old and a new comer, three strikes your out? Ya I think so.  Oh, and I think it was the worst week to have it be my first week because what they had us go contacting “people in the park” (random people that were in the cultural hall)!  Lucky for me Sister Morales came in just when we were about to start.  She just got back from her mission in Brazil and she was able to lead the first couple contacts letting me jump in every now and then. She also reassured me of things.  And what made matters even worse was that half of the people that were there were from my singles ward!  I tried to avoid going to talk to them… I know it was probably bad of me but oh well.  To ease me conscience a little bit people told me that I did really well and that it didn’t seem like it was my first week.  They also said that I did a lot better than a lot of the boys that were there. Which made me feel good.  Maybe I will make a decent missionary after all.  Haha.  I haven’t decided if I want to keep going to mission prep, but I think I might.  Jake goes and it can’t hurt right? 

Well that is my latest story hope you enjoyed it.

Thank You Mr. Postman

So this week turned out to be a great week for letters! After running to the mail box every day as soon as the mail man comes Monday it finally paid off.  May August 8, 2011 go down in history that I Callie Jo Heslington got her first international letter.  That's right.  I finally got a letter from one of my favorite missionaries, Elder Tyson Awerkamp.  The special arrival completely made my day.  I couldn't stop smiling and I think I may have read it two or three times.  (yes I know I'm a complete freak, but what is new?)  It was almost six weeks waiting for that letter so thank you to all the post men and women who made sure it arrived to my correct address.  No worries the reply has been written and will be sent on it's way to Romania tomorrow.  I know pouch is free but I'm starting to debate whether having to restrain my letters to one page is worth it.  Oh well. Let the next six week process of getting a letter back begin!

As you can see from this wonderful map my letter has quite a ways to go.  Point A is where I am and Point B is where Elder Awerkamp is.  Please wish my little letter as it travels half way across the world.  After that I just ask for a speedy return level.  But I will try to practice patience.

I need to again thank the postal services for another special letter that was delivered to me on Friday or this week from another one of my favorite missionaries, Elder Matt Clark.  TWO LETTERS IN ONE WEEK!!! Wow it was just awesome.  Of course getting any kind of mail is incredibly exciting but I really felt so blessed with receiving two very wonderful letters.  This letter doesn't have as long as a journey, which is nice so I get letters more frequently but I just feel so blessed to be a part of these two missionaries lives and to be receiving and writing letters to them.  Every letter makes my day and I love to reply to them.

So thank you Mr. Postman for bringing me not one, but two letters this last week.  Two letters from two of my favorite missionaries!

Odd..

So I don't know why but for some reason I'm just really bad a blogging.  I can't quite figure it out because I'm much better at keeping it updated while I'm at school and I'm busy doing homework and trying to be social.  I find this very odd but I will try to be better.  Oh and I want to make it more interesting rather than just a travel log.  If you have any suggestions or things you would like to know about me or my life let me know! Maybe that will give me the motivation that I need. :)  I'll try to give this a real update tomorrow...or sometime soon.

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!