Bye Bye :( June.10.2011

This is it-last day as roomies! We packed up our cars and gave our hugs and said our goodbyes! Nine months we've lived together-wow the time went by quickly!

Thanks for being such awesome roommates Carlye and Carole :) I've had a fantastic year and wouldn't have had it any other way...you guys helped make my year an amazing one :)

Ah my last Carlye & Kenneth-(its what she calls me) squeeze! She is adorable and I love her to pieces!!!

Moving Day :( June.10.2011

After nine months of living...the week finally came that we were required to pack all our stuff up and move out. I couldn't believe the day finally came-it feels honestly like just yesterday I was moving in! Seeing as my mom had most of my containers in her car I had to wait until she came to pack my stuff up-however I did have most things in piles for her! I must say my closet did look quite big after all my clothes were out lol!

I also have A LOT of shoes lol-to think this is only half of my shoes hehe yup I love me some shoes :)

Our kitchen looked so bare :/ So odd to think there's no more waking up in that dorm for three months! wow that seems like forever lol! No more sitting next to Carlye-ah what am I going to do...no more leaning back and watching our tv, skyping each other, or texting on anoter :( No more singing out randomly to the music on her pandora list. I'm going to miss my dorm buddie :(

Movie Time June.8.2011

So tonight was friends night out...after all the stress we've been having with finals we decided to take the night off and go see a movie. I picked Electra up at the institute and we headed over to meet Butchie,Carole, Natalie, and Tessa :) I was super excited for tonight! Seeing as all my finals were over I could actually relax! Well Electra and I were running kind of late so we got to the movie theater (the Metro) and bought our tickets to see X-Men! We walked into the theater and it was dark..i kept walking and trying to find our group when the movie got a bit lighter and all of a sudden I see Tessa's face lol it scared me! Then we sat down and noticed Carole wasn't there so we asked where she had gone and they said since she already saw X-Men she went to see the new Pirates movie..Electra really wanted to see that instead so we decided what the heck?!?!?! So we got back up and headed to the other theater and couldn't see Carole so we went and found some empty seats. Oh My Lanta that movie was great-I never noticed how funny Johnny Depp was lol..he says lots of clever things- totally had me cracking up! After the movie was over Electra and I went back into the X-Men one since it wasn't over and watched the last like two minutes of it...awesome movie!! HAHA! Then we walked back chatting...said goodbye to Butchie :( I'll see him soon though! (he is in my home ward) and then us girls chatted for a bit longer, this was our last night with our friend Natalie( the one in the Washington hoodie)-she just turned in her mission papers so she will be heading out soon! I love Natalie-ah she cracks me up! I am so proud of her for choosing to serve the Lord, she is such an awesome example to me :) I wish you the best Natalie! Then to keep the goodbye's going I had to say goodbye to Tessa (the one in the red shirt) :( Man I am going to miss her...although she promised me she would come and visit during the summer when she is back here in Seattle for her summer courses so I shall see her soon!!! Tonight was super fun and definitely what I needed-thanks guys :)

Pacific Science Center June.7.2011

My darling roommate Carlye took me to the Pacific Science Center tonight! I just love her :) she definitely knows how to have a good time and oh what a good time we did have!!! First off the excitement began as we drove through all five levels of the parking garage to find no empty spaces THEN we saw a family coming out so we decided to drive the circle and come back giving them to pack in the car and leave. Well in that time of us being nice another car shows up- I've never heard someone scream so loud but oh ya Carlye went "NOOOOOO!!!" and she kept hitting the steering wheel angry because that car in front of us was going to get the only spot open. Well as we kept driving behind them they didn't see the guy getting into his car (oh the luck!) so we got to wait, as the other car was backing out the car who almost took our spot drove past and was shocked there was actually one open (possibly mad they missed it too) well then Carlye got this HUGE grin on her face and was super happy lol!

Then we started on our journey inside the science center. So they have dinosaurs I don't know about you but that is pretty awesome! So I was super excited when I found out-then we walked in and oh they are robotic -they move and make sounds....AHHH!!! yup I screamed! and jumped a few times. I was NOT expecting that...last time I went to something like this they dinosaurs were stuffed or just bones so ya moving things creeped me out lol! But Carlye found some entertainment in it lol This video proves that!

Then we went into the astronomy part and got to ride in a shuttle which was super fun-oh ya you better believe we made the sound effects and all :) we were astronauts. :)

Then onto insects which were creepy but that is their usual so we just looked at all the fascinating facts about them :)

Then we went into the butterfly room...ya a huge room where the butterflies are free to roam. That freaked me out a little lol ok maybe a lot. I was a bit jittery hehe...They would zoom by you or land on you!!! Boy are butterflies pretty!Awesome colors and wings!!!

Thank you Carlye for an awesome afternoon! It was super fun hanging out with you as always! Oh ya and you can't forget our photobooth..it is kind of a tradition now to do it where ever we go :)

I love him June.8.2011

you know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams. ~ Dr. Seuss

Saw this quote and thought of him. My one and only, the one I never thought I'd find and now who I can't imagine my life without. The one who told me one night as he hugged me goodbye that it wasn't a goodbye at all it was merely a see ya later hug like it has always been. That hug was almost a year ago...and here I sit 11 months after it missing him like crazy. I sit here stress lifted off of me, being super excited for summer (why exactly I am not exactly sure), and wondering how exactly I am going to find the strength to make it through the summer without seeing him. I've come to appreciate school more, it keeps me busy...takes my mind off the one person I can't have. To think that next time this year I will be one. count it. one month away from having him in my arms again makes me crazy-good thing i have a year till then right? Well you might be wondering why I'm writing about this so randomly. Two words Returned Missionaries. Some of my dearest friends are getting their men back this month to be exact. I am SO excited for them, their smiles and excited texts about how he is almost home...then the pictures of them after he returns [its one of the most amazing sites to see I tell you]....But then comes the reality of how much longer you have till your other half comes home. Its odd to be so happy yet a part of you to be lonely-its definitely a feeling I've had to come to accept through this process. I'm that "happy" girl, always has a smile on yet a piece of me feels like its missing [i'm odd I know :/] But in the end their happiness keeps you going for you know that sometime soon that will be you. A life of a missionary girlfriend is rough, no way to say it politely, its a hard road. And the best part is I CHOSE this life, I knew what would come before he left, I knew the sleepless nights, tears for no apparent reason, friends getting sick of you talking about him, people judging you for waiting on someone for two years...but at the end of the day as I lay down to go to bed and close my eyes I picture him and that smile of his..the first time he said he loved me, the first time we kissed, the first time he held my hand, the first time he told me he wanted to marry me, the first time he told me with tears in his eyes that he couldn't imagine his life without me. Each and every week I await a letter from that man, I anxiously read him and reply to him each week-I support him and his obedience to the Lord, I wouldn't honestly want it any other way. I love that he wanted to sacrifice two years of his life for the Lord and to share this wonderful gospel with the people of Texas. I love him, he is my 6'2 giant and I will wait until the day I can get my bear hug again :)

School's out for Summer June.8.2010

Yup you read that right--School is over! I've completed one year of college! Whew! What a feeling that is to say that! Where did that year go?? I totally remember high school and being nervous to graduate and then packing up to move into my dorm & now I am packing up to go back home? Wow! 30 weeks of classes check! 9 classes completed (and passed) check! multiple papers, stress over midterms and staying up late for finals...check check check! BUT for 3 months of my life it is done-its time to party it up and stay up late, sleep in, and soak up the sun :) I'm ready for it :D

Chalk day! June.6.2011

Today was the annual chalk day at UW. What does that mean you wonder? well its when there is tubs of chalk on Red Square (main center) and you can draw whatever floats your boat-they said it was to relieve stress from finals! Well after my roommate Carlye and I got done with our geology final we walked through and decided what the heck why not? So below is our fantastic chalk art :D

My sun-it was so sunny out and with finals almost over summer can offically begin!

Carlye is the creative one out of the two of us

(mine was more what a five year old would draw lol)

Carlye and her awesome quotes :) I just love her!

FHE: Canoeing on Lake Washington June.6.2011

So tonight for our final FHE (Family Home Evening) we went Canoeing at Lake Washington...Oh my goodness was this a fun activity! So we met at the institute and had dinner (yummy chicken!) then carpooled over to the renting center. We all met outside and then got into groups (Anthony got into Tessa and I's :p) Ah man Anthony is super awesome...really funny -definitely came in handy when we were stuck in the middle of the lake lol!

Tessa and I life vests on and ready to go! Right after this picture we had a girl fall in trying to get into her canoe :(
After we had been out canoeing for over an hour we came in and I bet Tessa dessert if she jumped in (it was like 8:30 at night and the water was freezing!!!) But she did it...lol that crazy woman!
Apparently a few canoes got tipped throughout our night...one of which was the football players lol a girl from our ward who plays on the UW Volleyball team invited some of her UW football players to come with her..put a few tongans in the canoe and have one try to get out...KABOOM it went over and they went in...lol hilarious!
Then you have Russell, Natalie, and Michayla-with Russell as their guide (he was on the UW Rowing team before he left on his mission) so he was the only one out of all of us who knew what he was doing lol! This FHE event was super fun...glad I got to do it before I left for the summer!

This is the video of Tessa jumping in :)

Rocks for Jocks June.6.2011

*disregard the bottom line of the poster-I just thought the keyboard seemed fitting for the story you are about to hear*

EPIC FAIL!

Today was the day-Carlye and I woke up at 7 to review a little bit more before our final. Got ready and headed out for our 8:30 a.m. final (pretty sure that should be illegal lol)

So we are outside waiting for the doors to open and Carlye was telling me about the last time she went in for a final and they had printed off the wrong tests and they had to sit and wait for them to be reprinted-her hour final turned in to two and a half (not cool)...the guy finally came and opened the door so we said goodbye & good luck and headed off to our assign seats.

Our professor (Terry) comes in and he starts giving us instruction for the final as the TA's start passing them out. About two rows in some kid raising his hand and was like "this says midterm on it"-I have never seen someone so freaked out before in my life as Terry did. He could not believe they had printed off the wrong test! So he gave us our options 1) double your midterm score (which I didn't do so hot on so I didn't want to do that). 2)Take the midterm instead of the final (obviously not what I wanted to do since I didn't do good on the first one) and 3) was to come to his office later and grab the test (I wanted to do this one but UGH totally ruined all my plans for the day-so much for planning out my day!)

Well Carlye texted me with "no.way" i wrote back and told her she had jinxed it lol. Way to go Carlye ;) Well we both had studied all weekend and were prepared for the final (NOT the midterm) so we headed back to our dorm. So at 12:30 we went back to go and take the final. Well one version of the test had the questions doubled (awesome!)

Well I'm thinking I did pretty good on the final (studying does pay off lol) It was so funny to hear Carlye and I giggle each time we saw a question that we had already seen from the final prep Terry had on his website. :) We walked out of there with our heads held high! And now it is official Geology 101 Rocks for Jocks is now OVER! One class down two to go!!!

Institute Graduation June.4.2011

So tonight I went to the Institute Graduation/Closing Social.

Its weird to think a year has gone by. (school year that is)

To think 9 months ago I was nervous to attend Institute & now its my second home!

I went early to help set up-it looked gorgeous if I do say so myself-the decorators did an incredible job!

So for the pictures-explanations:

Girl in the top left two pictures is Megan Walker-She is amazing (I could stop at that to be honest) She has definitely been my role model this year, she is always optimistic, loves the church and is so kind! I just love Megan! :D) Congrats on Graduating Megan!

The guy in the top middle photo is my main man Steven Kaufman (a.k.a. Butchie) He is from my home ward so it has been great having someone I can relate to while being here in Seattle :)

Far right of the top is a photo of my roommate Carole. Congrats on Graduating Carole :) It is awesome that you completed all the requirements in two years! you go girl!

Middle Row of photos is of the dinner-bread bowls filled with salmon chowder (that was amazing!) salad, and fruit salad!

Bottom row to the left is of Tessa and I :) Ah man I certainly do love this girl! She is definitely one of my good friends I have been given the chance to have this year!

Next picture on the bottom is of Steve Lemme- he was in both of my institute classes this quarter. It was awesome getting to know him this quarter-he is a funny guy and very spiritual :) Congrats on graduating Steve!

Next photo is of Lauren and Maren, they sang a super pretty song and also looked super pretty (like they always do!)

Last but not least: Bro White (my awesome institute teacher)

Bro White has been called to go back to Utah to teach at the institute in Herriman, Utah. I can't believe he is leaving! :( It has been such a wonderful year with him, he is amazing! I have learned so much of the gospel from this man, my testimony has been strengthened greatly, and my ping pong skills have greatly improved (he is the ping pong champ-he even has his own paddle lol) I wish him the best of luck in Utah and he will be greatly missed!

Tonight was super fun and I am so proud of the graduates-its a great accomplishment to graduate from institute :)

Party (mormon style) June.3.2011

What else to do on a Friday night then party with your girls--right? Well Carlye, Tessa, Electra, and I sure thought so :D After classes and work on friday Carlye and I hit up QFC for the ingredients, that was quite an experience if I do say so myself! Carlye and I had an adventure finding the margarita mix and ice for our virgin daiquiris! We found the Jello for our Jello Shots (sugar free for me which totally killed Carlye's mood lol) We grabbed little martini glasses and were on our way! We went to check out and the guy gave us a very funny look lol...He said have a good night and Carlye was like "oh we will" lol he probably thought we were two college girls going to go hit up a college party-boy was he wrong lol. Well we did hit up a party (our own) and it was mormon style (details to come)

After Tessa and I got back from our movie (see Source Code post) Electra came over and we started the party!!!

Carlye and her martini glasses-plastic ones-very classy lol

For our virgin daiquiris we put the juice + ice in a blender and turned it on to make frozen strawberry daiquiris :) boy were they yummy! Ok so funny story-I apparently DO NOT know how to operate a blender (carole's at least) because I went to turn it on and it started leaking...the juice went EVERYWHERE and of course it was red which caused Carlye's white towel to become pinkish lol...I apparently didn't assemble the blender right...oops!
Carlye whipped out here shot glass and we filled it with our daiquiri mixture and tried to attempt taking shots. FAILED it was too slow lol..so we switched to water lol (see the mormon comes out lol) then we realized that I suck at taking shots (so good thing I don't drink lol) Electra and Tessa however were even better than Carlye at it which was hilarious lol!
Our Jello shots turned against us because they froze to the paper cups so they didn't slide out like they were supposed to lol. epic fail. Then came the party music...we danced the night away making up moves to songs ;) so much fun! I loved tonight-thank you Carlye for coming up with the idea!!

Source Code June.3.2011

Tonight Tessa and I went with our friend Shea to see Source Code! Tessa came over and we chilled as we waited for Shea to come pick us up ---he found a movie theater in Shoreline (about 15 mins away) that had movies for $3 (Awesome right?) Ya I was stoked to go...plus we were going to see a movie I had wanted to for quite some time!!! Friday couldn't come fast enough lol

So we got to the movie theater (early like Shea wanted so we could talk) and found seats and started chatting, it was nice to get to know Shea a bit more (he is a really funny guy) ...So as we were chatting a couple sat down next to us...about two mins later they got up and left (i felt bad thinking that we were talking to loud) I told everyone to quite down...then another couple sat down. A few mins later they get up and leave (two times. what are the chances?) so we keep talking and waiting for the movie to start..couple #3 sits down...without fail they get up two mins later and move too..Us three were totally in shock-we had no idea what was going on. So when couple #4 sat down we were all silent. We waited to see if it was from our talking..or maybe we stunk or something :/ well we must've because they got up to leave (ya we were totally stunned) then the fifth couple sat down...I looked at my phone and noticed there was one min to go before the movie (maybe they wouldn't have time to move away from us) well that was a mistake...as the lights turned down the couple moved, this time one seat over-the whole time the couples weren't moving because of us but rather the people sitting in front of us who were blocking people's views...hahahaha!!! Ah good times were had tonight :)

View from the top June.3.2011

So today I got to go to the top of the UW tower (my work) for a party-You know how long it takes to go from the lobby (aka 1st floor) all the way up? Man the elevator kept stopping to let people on-dang people didn't even let me get my joy ride-shucks lol! But up I went for Maria's (my co-worker) bridal shower/farewell party (she was working a temp for the company while another lady was on maternity leave and so she is off to law school and to get married this summer) She is going to South Africa for her honeymoon & since we have guys at the party we played "non-girly" games lol. We made paper airplanes and had a world map spread out on the floor and you tried to get yours closest to South Africa-I failed lol...not much of a surprise though, I was never really good at making paper airplanes (actually mine flew over the map so technically I'm a beast at it, just have bad aim lol) Then there was the prom/wedding photo competition to see who had the most "fashionable" dress (aka ridiculous) lol..well seeing as my prom was just a year ago (I can't believe its been a year since then) I had really no shot of winning but everyone loved seeing me all dressed up and they finally got introduced to Nate which was cool because I got to talk to about him for a bit :) Then we made a bouqet out of the wrapping paper which was fun! took some pictures then mingled! Today was a fun day! Check out these photos from the top of the UW Tower-beautiful huh?

Happy Friday everyone :) hope you all have a fantastic weekend :)

Hey June! June.1.2011

When I think of June I think of school ending & summber beginning -possibly my favorite time of year! Don't get me wrong I love studying and getting my edumacion on but seriously who would pass up long days in the sun and being with friends?!?! (crazy people thats who!)

This June in particular is pretty exciting- marks 1st year of college completed (booyah!) I can't believe I've completed a years worth that will go towards my career (eek that word makes me sound like an adult lol) I register for summer quarter (ya ya I am one of those crazy people BUT in my defense its only 1 class and its at night-OH and its ASL 101 so I'm actually excited for it!) But ya it should be awesome!!! And with June comes the packing and moving out process-I look at my dorm and think "how am I going to get this all out of here?" but no fear ladies and gents-my mom is all ready to get it up and out of there lol (she's the woman with the plan lol)
With June also comes another month down (for all you mg's out there ya know what I mean) although its NOT QUITE here yet I'm going to post it anyways (its my blog and I do what I want lol) but on the 14th of June will mark Elder Schott's 11 months out (holy cow!!) so make sure ya come back in oh 13 days to see his post (maybe I'll have a new picture of him too, knowing him maybe not but I'm keeping my fingers crossed-he said in his last email that he forgot his camera but he will have it next week. With him I am debateable on the word "forgot" lol)

Happy June everyone & even though its raining at the moment here in Seattle I have hope that the SUN will make its appearance so that my summer excitement will return! :D

Memorial Day May.30.2011

"I'm proud to be an American,

where at least I know I'm free.

And I won't forget the men who died,

who gave that right to me."

In support of our troops for FHE (family home evening) we made cards & cookies to send to the troops serving for our country! We were split into two groups-(my group) made cookies first while the others decorated cards then we swapped. So the group I was in made chocolate chip cookies-well the guys in the group wanted to prove their manlyhood I mean wanted to contribute to the cooking so they helped us out by measuring...ya they used a liquid container to measure out sugar which was hilarious when he saw the measuring cup for the dry ingredients and saw he was COMPLETELY off lol! Gotta love guys trying to cook ;p

We popped the cookies into the oven then headed to the gym to make our cards :) Shea (the guy in the photo below) is a pretty crafty guy and transformed the scrap piece of paper into an alligator-impressive eh? Then he took a piece of green paper and turned into a heart (ok that one was a fail but his friend Trish transformed it into a bat-his favorite lol) and ya he was really excited about it which was hilarious to watch! I on the other hand am not so crafty so I stuck with the square paper lol and drew on it! But my fireworks aren't half bad lol ;)

Then Carole called us into the kitchen to see the results of the second groups cookies (and it was too good to pass up, I had to take a photo of the HUGE sugar cookie!) believe it or not this cookie started out as 10 individual ones BAHA!!! Apparently the "recipe" wasn't the best...I will leave that up to you to decide lol but it was a good laugh!

For our thought tonight, Tessa gave it on "remember" how on this day we take time to remember those who have fallen because they were protecting our Nation. I have a great appreciation for the men and women who serve on the front line, protect our nation here in our country, and sacrifice their time and life to better our nation. Having my brother in law Johnny leave our family for his service in Iraq made me realize how the military can affect a family. I am definitely grateful for all the individuals who leave their family, friends, lives to go out and fight for my rights and so that I am able to continue my education and in turn be able to give back to my community one day :) I'm proud to be an American!

Lesson Learned May.30.2011

So last night our friend Joe came over to drop something off...we have this kind of big brother/little sister relationship where we always go at it. Well as he was leaving he took my watch and ran to his truck-i ran out after him. Then he rolled up his window and I waited (knowing he would crack) well I was quick and when he rolled it back down I unlocked his door and opened it. I asked for it back (no luck) so then I hit his arm...and hit him again..a few times actually (in the same spot so it would hurt) and it worked. I got my watch back-then he grabbed my hand and hit me back (i suppose i deserved it) but man he is a bit more powerful than I. Boy did it hurt! I walked back inside and my arm was throbbing. Last night I was shocked there was no bruise. This morning however there was-kinda hard to see in this picture but it is there!

So moral of the story-don't pick on people bigger then you? Nah more like hit harder next time! Revenge is coming Joe!!! just you wait-I'll be back home in two weeks!!!

Homemade goodness! May.27.2011

You know a kid can only handle SO much college cafeteria food before she goes insane....which is why I am SUPER grateful I have friends like Courtney (below) who live on their own and I can go over and make dinner with! Tessa & I went over to her place on friday night (ok lets be honest she picked us up lol) and our first stop was Safeway to buy the supplies! Courtney had decided on homemade pizza so we had some fun running around the store trying to find all the ingredients-I'm not so good at it come to find out lol

BUT mission accomplished (after Courtney took over for me lol) and off we went to Courtney's apartment :)

Courtney and her awesome cooking skills had a killer time watching Tessa and I try to create the knot shaped rolls she had prepared for appetizers for us-Tessa & I failed but boy were they delicious (Rhodes rolls, garlic, olive oil, & cheese) Tessa here with the bags for the rolls...we put all the ingredients in there and then ya SHAKE!!!
Then came the pizza time!! Yummyness (yup just made that a word) Making the pizza sauce was pretty fun-a little this & a little that lol

As we ate we chit chatted-Tessa & I made Courtney feel REALLY old (by the way she isn't!) from our lack of knowledge about movies and songs from the past-apparently we only know 90's-2000's-oops lol...Now we have a new thing to work on lol!

After that we watched Tangled-such a great movie & I totally have bad timing (i talked during the boat scene-oops again!)

After the movie we chit chatted a bit more-I had such a blast you two lovely ladies and we will for sure be doing this again :) Thank you Courtney for letting us come over & thank you Tessa for coming with me!

Gifts well loved :) May.27.2011

A few weeks ago I found a Disney Store at the Bellevue mall-well

Electra/Carlye found it but I found two tshirts for my little guys :D Jaxson is in love with Buzz lightyear & little miss Brooklyn loves princess Tiana so when I spotted these two tshirts I had to get them (what else is an Aunt supposed to do?!?!) And plus I thought it would be kinda fun to send them a surprise gift from Auntie K (I even addressed the package to Jaxson & Brooklyn Derbidge :) ) Well Brittany (their mom) texted me with these pictures of my niece and nephew after they'd seen their gifts (apparently Jaxson took his shirt off so he could wear the buzz one-I laughed ;p) And miss Brooklyn looks so cute :) I love them & I love being an Auntie-definitely one of the greatest blessings in my life!