Another One Bites the Dust

Yes, I just referenced a Queen song.  So what? It goes along with the topic.  And it so happens to be the song playing on my ipod too...and I so happen to love Queen.  Very much. 

So why did I title the post like this?  Well, another school week is over of course!  Which means a crazy busy weekend.  General conference, hiking and beaches galore!  Its gonna be a fun filled two day break I believe. 
Update of my week?  Yes alright, so I was introduced to a game called "Bang!" Sunday night in the boy's hale after we studied oh so much for biology.  Promise its not a bad game, its western themed!  You know, the sheriff and his deputies and the criminals and all that good stuff?  Yeahh we also played that Monday night and disrupted the good little studious fellows in Hale 4..  Sorry guys, homework is for earlier in the day, didn't you know that?  That's what I do.  Yes I actually do study, and no I'm not lying.  I'm a good little college student!  But I like hanging out after dinner so I get lots of it done after school!
Oh I got sidetracked.. Okay okay, so Tuesday we tried playing sardines, but Seeley Dopp is one dang good player!  She disappeared for seriously two hours.  We gave up way before that and had a mini photo session with our fellow freshmen.  Would you like to see?

Here are some of the Hale 2 girls!  From the left we have Miss Jillian Sherwood, to my roomie Jordyn Petersen, and then to Miss Rachael Hancock!  (she's from AZ, this makes me happy)

For some reason, our pal D.J. thinks that Jillie and I are his personal slaves.  We have to carry him and drag him around on long boards.  But we enjoy his presence.. so we comply

However, sometimes Jillie gets fed up with his demands and as you can see, fights back!  Props to Rachael for the flowy hair effect!

And then, we are just so inspired to dance that we teach others!  As you can see, our friends like learning

But then sometimes we get a waft of the food from the good ol' Caf and can't seem to contain our stomachs!

So come Wednesday, we decided to be extra good students and went to the library to study!  And I was greatly informed and edified by my peers...  Then we got hungry for some ice cream and guess what I learned to do at the ice cream social!  You'll be shocked, promise.

I learned how to tie a cherry stem.  Without hands.  I was rather proud!

Thursday was beach day and we got beat up by waves.  And when I say we, I mean everyone but me.  I was smart about the water.  I won't be next time though, I'm pretty sure about that.  Then we all went to the caf and ate pasta and gross cardboard tasting bars.  Wasted calories? I think so.

I can honestly say that I'm looking forward to conference! I always look forward to it, but this year I'm having reservations because I won't be with my family.  That is an alien thought right there.  But I'll manage, and I'll take notes and I'll get exactly what I've been asking for out of General Conference this year, peace.  I've prayed for peace for a lot of things this year and I know I'll learn what I need to do to achieve it this weekend. 

"We face many challenges in the world today, but I assure you that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us. He loves each of us and will bless us as we seek Him through prayer and strive to keep His commandments."

President Thomas S. Monson

I'm ready to hear the Lord's word, what about you all?

What an update, and there is more to come next week!  Thanks for reading!

Haleigh

One Week Down,

Thirteen to go!  Man, I cannot wait for the semester to end!  Seriously every one is pairing off into little romantic couples.  It has been one week.  That makes me sick.  Isn't the purpose of the first week to adjust and find friends?  Oh well, I am at a BYU school after all.  Its what us LDS college students do best, meet the eternal companion.  Hah, nottt me, there is no way I'm mature enough for anything of the sort as of now..  Can you guys see me getting married within a year?  If you say yes I will personally fly from Honolulu to where ever you are and kick your butt.  I promise! 

So update on school life, yes?  Alright so I'm slowly but surely improving on friend making, good sign, and even though I am making new friends, I still love you all back at home!  No one could replace you people.  Not.Ever.  Oh and there was a "Preparing for Eternal Marriage" dance yesterday night.  It was actually really really reaaallly fun!  I forgot about homesickness for a while, which was nice for a change!  I got nearly trampled by a mosh pit, danced on a stage and head banged until I got a huge neck ache haha.  Then we went to the beach at 2AM, which was rather scary.  We played with a blue glow stick and while I was relaxing on my towel, I kid you not a huge crab creepily crawled across my shoulder and I could literally hear its nasty legs clicking against one another..  So I did what any human being would do, I shot up from the ground screaming like a little girl.  Of course the momentum of the movement nearly caused me to land on the very creature that spooked me so terribly.  Just my luck!

Umm, so does anyone hate it when you try really really hard to just let something go, and you think you did and then everything is seemingly fine, but then it boils over and just makes a huge mess that seems imposssible to clean?  Because I sure know I do.  The days go by, and things get busy and life moves on, paths diverge and move away.  Things change and sometimes the change is just the pits, but it comes with the jumbo package called life, doesn't it!  Beautiful isn't it?  Well, I'll post some lovely pictures of lovely Hawaii now!

Sandy feet picture.  Gross stuff

Angle One!

Oh look, its the lovely angle two!

Sunset beach

Well, I forgot to add this to the last post, but if you look closely, you'll see that stupid crazy bird that flew into my room right next to my roommate's shoes

College is

Draining.  Its only been a week since school started.  Oh and to make it even better, practically everyone here is in that awkward stage where all they do is focus on class and aren't willing to be friendly yet.  Yuck!  My cousin said that its gonna take about two to three weeks for everyone to find their own special routine, and when they do, thats when the friend making festivities begin!  Hah, well, unfortunately I'm rather impatient, so looks like I'm in for a rough couple of weeks!  Joy...

Anyway, I like my classes at least!  And the people inside of them seem promising..if only they could communicate. Guys seriously, Hawaii is supposed to be a fun "cultural" experience as one of my teachers would say, you can't have a good experience if you're holed up in a dorm room all day and night.  Wait, maybe I should take that advice too?  Whoops.  Like I said, Friend Making Festivities in a few weeks.  Promise.  I've even given myself a head start! Good job to me! 

On to some good news?  My homesickness is subsiding a bit, sadly, I don't think it will fully go away fully for a while.  But I'm feeling a lot better, so I am HAPPY!  Probably cause I've had at least some sort of communication with my family every day this week?  Oh and it helps that I'm constantly doing some sort of school work.  Draining, like I said.  And even through it all, I've managed to get food semi regularly.  I have to say, the food in the cafeteria isn't as totally repulsive as I was told before hand, but its still not something I want to eat with satisfaction.  Tonight featured terriyaki chicken or this gross looking stew with purple potatoes.  Can someone say vomit?  Oh and to stereotypicalize Asians, yes, they alway have piles of rice and yes they always have steamed vegetables piled high onto their plates.  And they're always always studying.  I saw a fat asian today.  Isn't that a contradiction? I think so...

So storytime?  Okay cool.  Once upon a time their were two roommates who were getting ready for school one Tuesday morning.  Suddenly out of no where, an ugly little bird flew into their dorm room and kept flying everywhere.  Much to the roommate's dismay, they could not get the ugly little bird out of their room and it ended up pooping and landing everywhere.  (Except my bed)  Finally they asked for assistance and the dumb bird was removed from the vicinity.  The end.

Ohh and I posted my address a little bit wrong, its
 BYUH# 5687
55-220 Kulanui St.
Laie, Hawaii 96762

Sorry guys!

Growing up

Today marks one week since I left Mesa for Laie, and to be frank, it sucks.  Is it because I've left my family for the next three months?  Yep.  Could it be because my mom took off at three in the afternoon to get home? You betcha.  Is it possibly because I feel like no new group of friends can match up to my AMAZING group of friends in Mesa? Oh yes. I am officially home sick.  And guys, I really do feel sick.  When I said goodbye to my mom outside of the Hale, I was shaking and felt like I was going to throw up.  In fact, if anything had been in my stomach, I would have puked for sure.  I miss my family so much, its literally hurting me.  My throat is tight with tears so I can't even talk about it, which trust me, makes it worse.  I'm so embarrassed to cry even though I know its a perfectly normal thing to do..  But still, I just want to go home and wake up in my own bed, witih Makayla asleep on the other side of the room.  I want to hear my dad coming back from his morning bike ride at seven, who cares if it wakes me up!  I want to hear my sister Jordan and my brother Bret arguing about something silly, and I want to hear my mom laugh and talk like always.  But I can't right now, I won't until I get home in December.  That is just too long for me.  Even though knew I couldn't leave, I told my mom I wanted to go home.  Call me pathetic, go ahead!  But you have to realize, this is my first time away from home, and I mean really away.  Girls camp hardly counts, right?  I can't even go home for Thanksgiving, which means my family is missing my birthday.  I just want to go home.  But this time comes for everyone, and I just had to be the unfortunate child that is really close to her family and ends up sniveling and crying over the fact that she can't see them.

I know everyone goes through this, some of you handle it a heck of a lot better than others (not me), but it doesn't change the fact that this part of life absolutely sucks.  You leave home thinking you're ready, but when the time comes and its too late to go back, you realize that you really aren't ready after all.  Or at least that's what happened to me and I wish so badly I could turn back time and go to MCC for a while instead.  Although I guess jumping right into the deep end gives more experience then anything else can. 

I guess I'm also scared that I'll never meet people as amazing at my friends in Mesa too.  And I realize that I will, but as of now, I am just being honest.  Let me describe them to you so you get an idea.

This is a lot of us up at lake Powell for our senior trip where I became super tight with Mr. Jon Lemaire and Mr. Spencer Smith.  Those two boys always had me laughing even though they stole my dumdums and Jon got me in trouble for staying up til like three talking on top of the house boat.  Coorrrrrrrnn Dooooooooooooooggg, Coooooooooooookkkiieeeee, juice!  They are my goofballs!

Those two on the right are the one and only Erin Timothy and Natalie Fielding!  They are two little spitfires that make anything a great time!  We make videos and cookies and cupcakes and everything in between.  We gots 'tude, so look out!  Anyway, Erin is like my best friend and we do stupid things that are unmentionable, but have to do with female like feelings and mixed names and such!  Look out Idaho, she's there to take charge!

 

This one here is Zachary Burton, one of my very best friends!  We meet about a year ago and have been super tight ever since!  He is the biggest goof of them all and knows how to make me laugh or feel better when I'm feeling awful about things.  He will always be a close and good friend no matter where life puts us, and when he gets out to the field, he's gonna make an awesome missionary!

Here is Matt, onwe of the best friends anyone could ever have!  We've only been friends since December, but I can really truly say that he is one of my best friends.  We've had a ton of heart to heart talks up to the middle of the night and could talk for even longer if we didn't get so tired.  I feel like Matt knows me and understands me even better than I do myself, which I find weird because I haven't known him my whole life.  He's also very very good at coming up with ideas for things to do!  If anyone knows Jones Soda Night, he is the brain child of it!  But orginally he had but a sofa on monkey bars, cool, right?   Anyway, Matt is leaving November 9th to serve the people of Argentina.  He's gonna do awesome and I'll miss the crap out of him!

I wish I had a picture of Danielle Urness!  She is the most super cute senior ever!  I love her to death and I'm so glad we met this year too!  She is full of personality and spunk and sass.  You all watch out for her, because in a year, she's gonna take over the whole world!!  Hey Danielle, gingerballs!

Oh Michael, our time together has been so short!  I started hanging out with Mikey boy this summer.  I wish we were friends ten years before that because this kid is a serious crack up!  I bet if he wanted, he could make a terrorist about to hijack laugh until he passes out, he is that funny!  You need to hear him use his Chinese accent, seriously the best I've ever heard!  And you wouldn't expect him to be as hilarious as he is because he seems so shy.  Don't be fooled by those baby blue eyes my friends.  Good news is, he's still gonna be home when I come back for break.  Michael, you're gonna see a lot of me come December, bud!  Consider yourself warned!

                                        

This is Mr. Scott Cook everyone.  Yes at one point in time I was strong enough to carry him bridal style!  Scott is the best person to go to when you want to get a hug or when you want to giggle or relax.  He is super chill and really really really good at basketball.  6'10", you know?  He's by far the coolest guy I know and I also wish I had known him before senior year because Scott is the best.  He is just the best and I love him and wish he didn't have to be so good at basketball and get a full ride to play it!

Here is Caden Alexander.  Everyone, this is my amazing prom date who put up with me for 28 hours when our prom day activity went all wrong!  He is a big teddy bear and is basically the most amazing kid ever!  Him along with the others made the best group of friends that I have ever had!  Caden is very upfront and no nonsense and can tell very good stories about ponies and golden mac and cheese.  Seriously, ask him to tell you!  He is also a flirt, which is always fun to watch, oh and he tells this great story about two turtles that love each other very much!  He's up at EAC playing baseball so go watch him!

 Here is my amazing family again.  I love them more than anything and I can't wait until I get to see them again in December.  I'm already counting the days and seriously doubting on leaving home ever again!  Love you guys!  All of you! 

Oh and if any of you want to just snail mail me, you can send me a letter at: 

 BYUH # 5687

55-222 Kulanui St.

Laie, Hawaii 96762

Seriously, I'd love to hear from any and all of my friends!

Humid Hawaii.

So the title says it all.  This place is wayyy humid and gross, albeit really pretty.  There is so much green that I don't even know what to do.  Seriously though, its great so far, minus the homesickness and the fact that I won't even be back on the mainland for three months.  But hey, I am a young adult and I need to learn to stand on my own two feet, right?  Right. 

You want an update of the last few days?  Well, to begin, Sunday morning I got up at five, and arrived at the airport just after six.  We expected to leave at precisely eight in the morning for Honolulu.  Only once we got our tickets, my mom and I were informed that our flight had been delayed until 1:10 in the afternoon!  What happy news! But not really..  So basically they gave my family and I free vouchers for a meal in the airport and told us to be back by noon.  Then it hit me.  I had a friend giving a farewell at 8:30, and allll of my friends would be there.  Why not go and surprise them and show up?!  So then I was actually very happy that the flight was delayed because then I could be with my people one last time for a very very long time!  I got to the Lindsay ward building with Makayla and sat down in the chapel overflow.  I must say, the reactions from Matt Pace and Michael Rush were the most funny to watch.  Love you guys!  I was just happy I could see all my friends again because some of them, like Matt and Blake Savage are leaving in November, and Conrad Nicoll (the guy who gave his farewell)  leaves tomorrow for good ol' Chile!  He's gonna be a bomb.com missionary! Good luck Conrad!  Anyway, so leaving my daddy and siblings was real difficult, but I can skype them! 

Uhh, so funny story time?  This girl right here got the treatment.  And no, that is not a good thing.  So I'm with my mom waiting in line to go through the security checkpoint, right?  And I get that it was September 11th, but really, do people honestly think that an 18 year old caucasian girl is gonna be hiding bombs?  Let me tell you, I got tested for explosives.  Thats just the beginning folks.  So my hand got swiped and I let out a sarcastic comment.  Not.A.Good.Idea.  The lady was a total B-R-A-T.  I'd like to say something worse, but I won't.  And then after that, I was pulled aside after I went to the metal detector and got man handled.  But thats not even the biggest thing!

Yes my friends, look at that paper real close.  Can you take a guess? Just throw it out there!  No? Alright I'll tell you.  One of my suitcases just so happened to be searched too! Yay I'm a suspicious looking person!  I open it up and find that little gem floating on top.  I got hit with almost everything.

Anyway, flight was long and boring, blah blah blah.  This is what i want to show you all!

Green everything! This was the drive up to Laie, pretty right? Unfortunately, these photos don't do it justice..

I promise I'll do better!

This is the ranch I stayed at the first night, also where my cousin Allie will be staying at.  We did a lot a lot a lot of shopping Moday and I was absolutely exhausted.  Tuesday was orientation and that was really cool! Me and my roommate were the favorite "children" of our group.  Our "dad" never said it, but we are quite certain that we were! 
We stayed up to practically four in the morning just talking.  I believe we will be great friends.  Score! haha
Well, my hour break between class is nearly over! Time for me to hunt down my next classroom.  Wish me luck guys!  But before I go:

Sunset Beach baby! BEA-utiful!

I Finally Gave In

Hey all!
Soo, here we go, I decided to start up a blog a few months ago, you know, to keep my friends and family updated about my life.  Since I'm about three thousand miles away, right?  Anyway, basically I'm going to try to update this as often as possible, but as it were, I'm rather inconsistent with my journal.  But I'm really reealllly going to get myself to write up everything as often as possible, I promise!  I'll shout out to my people later on, this is just my grand little introduction to the blogging world.  Awesome right?  It sorta feels weird that I'm sharing my life with my readers, but hey, thats blogging! Haha.

Some things about me?  Well, I'm currently an 18 year old girl born and raised in good ol' Mesa, Arizona and as of now, I'm typing on my parent's kitchen table.  I should be finishing up my packing and double checking what I do and don't need, but why would I do that when I can share my life story? Huh, good trade off? Its okay, I know it.  Anyway!! I just got a hair cut yesterday and I can't get over how bouncy it is! It is just so much fun to toss around!  But that is beside the point.  So I'm the oldest of four kids and I love my family very very much.

 My Dad is cooler than your dad! He is just so awesome and I love him to death!  He's like the perfect mix of sarcasm and humor and wit, which I finally appreciate! 

I appreciate and love him with all my heart and I want him to know how grateful I am to have such an amazing guy as my father.  He and my wonderful mom have raised me to be the crazy kid I am today.  They both do so much for me and I'm so lucky that they're letting me go off to Hawaii for college.  My mom is amazing too.  She has the most amazing attitude about everything and actually lets me do the cooking sometime!  I really do hope that the guy I marry is just like my dad and i hope i'll be like my mom.

This is my twin.  Well not really my twin but she's basically the twin I never had.  Makayla is one of my little sisters, and this girl right here?  Yeah she's the real deal.  We hang out all the time and just do the stupidest things. That's not even a real word, oh well.. She's gonna be coming to Hawaii next year, so watch out everyone!!

My two youngest siblilngs got the lucky genes.  Blonde hair, blue eyes.  I'm jealous.  I love them to death though!  They're just balls of energy, especially Bret.  Jordan is just like me, full of sass.  Sometimes we don't get along because of it, but I still love her anyway.
 Wellp, I'm done! Next post will be in Hawaii!