Ticking Ever So Slowly

Well, as the semester draws to an end, I just can't help but feel more and more impatient.  A number of things are on my to do list (yes, I have one) and I feel like they just aren't getting done.  Perhaps this is because finals are now just one week away?  I don't know.  What I do know is that I am ready to get the heck out of here. 

Now don't get me wrong, Hawaii is such a great place to be and I have some of the best friends that a person could ask for!  But the truth is, there is only so much one can accomplish without the wonderful presence of a car...  Being a college student, I am only so willing to pay bus fare just to get off campus for a few hours.  Mainly because the bus takes forever to get from point A to point B. 

We went on a hike.  Again.

And finals, ohh finals how I dread you.  Well, just my math and music finals.  Everything else will be easy pease.  I just wish that I can fast forward the next two weeks to avoid the stress and the innumerable knots that said stress will cause in my poor shoulders and neck.  Whooh so fun.  But I really really REALLY want these two weeks to fly by because that means that my little sister will be here for a week to chill with me!!

Makayla, I am sooo flipping excited.  You don't even know.  I seriously have been keeping a mental count down until you fly in.  15 days, say what?  We're gonna go to Sunset beach and have Ted's and we're gonna go to Kahuku Grill and you'll get to see the dorms (maybe).  I'm just gonna take you everywhere pretty much.  That is, of course, if Allie is okay with driving us around.  Ohh and we will be eating the delicious Acai bowls in Haula.  No biggie.  And of course we'll have to get you all tanned up for prom.  Duh.  I don't think you'll be beating me though, I'm rather brown.  But let's just say you're going to have a lot of fun!

Anyway, I can't wait to get out of the dorms. Seriously it has been sheer H-E double hockey sticks pretty much all semester.  It suffices to say that who you room with really impacts your life.  If you don't get along with your roommate, the dorm life is just full of tension and animosity.  I can't wait to be rid of it.  Hopefully rooming off campus will work out a lot better, right Alex?

It'll also be fantastic to cook dinner again.  I'll be doing that a lot when I get home.  Of course I'll be pairing it with sprint workouts over at Mountain View on a near daily basis!  I miss sprinting.  Actually, scratch that.  I miss pole vaulting.  I'm going to be paying Mountain View's track team many visits when I get back. Coach Sully, I promise I'm going to bring you an offering of chocolate covered caramel macadamia nuts!  I think you'll like them.  There isn't any coconut at all! And of course I get to see all the little vaulters all grown up.  That'll be nice.

I got some letters from my dear lovely Mesa boys!  I miss them all!  Hurry up and come back to me already, guys!  Summer isn't going to be the same without our river trips and Ocean Blue hangouts and Jones Nights and all the other fun stuff we did.  Like our all night after graduation?  That was the most fun thing ever.  I miss you boys!  But I do know that you all are doing the right thing.  And that you'll be manly men when you get home.  But until then, I shall continue to reminisce with Erin and Danielle about all the adventures we had. (Yes I realize they can't read this).


Alright, I'm done ranting.  Peace out.

The Rains Came Down and the Floods Came Up!

Hello all!  Well, today has been a gem!  Classes got cancelled!  However, I was unaware and trekked across campus to my music class and learned first hand! 

So let me start by saying that until this week, I thought that thunder and lightening were a myth here in Hawaii.  I was wrong.  Very wrong...

I was rudely awoken at about 6:45 this morning to a constant blare of thunder outside of my dorm.  Oh yeah, and the rain sounded like a thousand waterfalls too.  I mean I couldn't really see because A) it was dark and B) I can't see anything without my glasses or contacts-- but I could definitely hear it!  And then about fifteen minutes later I decided to go out and look at the torrents of rain crashing down on BYU-H.  I wasn't disappointed!  Then I realized that if the bottom floor of Hale 2 would be flooded, I would get Alex and her roommate in my room.  (Seeing as she is located directly below my room).  I guess that when the first floor is flooded, the residents move up to the room right above them.  So Alex, we very nearly were roommates for a little!  We would have had a lot of fun, I think.  Ohh well!

My Hale wasn't flooded, but I have been informed that Hale 5 was flooded!  I saw a short video of girls trying to bail out the water with their trash cans from this morning..it was entertaining, but I do feel very bad for the girls that lost their rooms for the time being..  Sorry guys!   I'm sure that there have been more flooded Hales, like 3, 4, and 6, but I haven't heard yet.  I am so thankful I live on the second floor!

Anyway, so I guess that this entire weekend is going to be very very rain filled.  Which means no beach and no hiking.  Therefore this weekend will likely be another movie-filled weekend.  I think that makes it the third in a row? 

Guys, it has been raining ever since Sunday.  Sometimes it has just been a light misting and other times a torrential down pour... you would think coming from Arizona the rain would be the best thing ever?  I totally love the rain, it's awesome!  But there are only so many days that one can handle soaked shoes and chilly air.  My quota has filled.  But I digress, the rain is so fun and I can't help but hope that we get more.  Maybe since it's the weekend I'll actually go out and play in it?  I think so.  Also, as long as the caf has hot chocolate, then I am totally fine with the never ending sheets of rain.  Welcome to a Hawaii winter.  It's sorta like an Arizona winter, but increase the temperature by twenty degrees and increase the rain ten fold. 

Oh rain, how I love you, if I had boots with me, I would love you that (---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------) much more.  I still love you a lot though, since I am a rain deprived desert dweller, after all. 

Mom, Dad, Siblings, if I come home pale again, you'll know that the weather did not permit me access to the beach.  I shall do my best to regain the lost color, I promise!

Also, Erin Timothy, I miss you dearest best friend!  I'm coming to Rexburg to visit you, promise!  I just need to make some money first..and then I'll come to you!  Because we've been separated for wayyy too long.  And I want to review our list haha. 

Dad Turns Thirty. Again.

Today, my dear readers, is my father's birthday, February 27th.  My how time flies, right?  Well, I have an amazing father who loves his family very very much and since I am in Hawaii and he is far away in the distant land of Arizona, I am going to tell you why he is so great in thirty reasons.  I can't do anymore because then you'll know how old he really is...

With his lovely wifey!  Looking good!

I know I resemble a lobster, but this isn't about me!

Look at that!  Thirty and still a total hottie!

1.  He is a Biiig strong guy
2.  But he loves our family anyway
3.  He loves taking his loovely children snowboarding
4.  He loves winning against his lovely children when we race whilst snowboarding
5.  He is the provider of the family and does a great job with it!
6.  He loves his little girls and little boy
7.  He loves his wife, (AKA mom) dearly and always wants her to be happy
8.  He wants mom's birthday to be perfect, which shows what a great husband he is
9.  He secretly loves our two dogs
10. Dad was quite the stud in high school
11. Star football player and ladies man back in the day!
12. He loves getting us kids into sports
13. He loves experimenting in the kitchen..and we always benefit from in because it's gooood!
14. Dad likes to be as he would call it "facetious" with us
15. He's saved my butt in math too many times to count!  (Thanks Dad!)
16. He's still a total babe even at age "30"!
17. He always motivates us to clean the house
18. He's great at making a valid argument (Lawyers, huh?)
19. Dad scares the boys who hang around the Clouse House.  It's great fun to watch!
20. But then the boys end up loving him because he is the best!
21. He is the best father a girl could ask for!
22. His testimony of the church is unwavering
23. Was the coolest Stake Sunday School President ever!
24.  He can sing "Roxanne" like no other..
25. Can whip up contracts for future boyfriends like no other!
26. He let me leave home to come out to the BYU-H (Thank you Dad!)
28. He's a boss at road cycling!
29. His eyes turned from brown to green..not fair Dad, not fair
30. He's kept our family centered on Christ and has helped us to form our own testimonies

Well, there you have it!  Thirty reasons why my Dad is the best dad ever!  I hope that he was treated like a king today by the rest of the family!  Have fun eating delicious BBQ without me..I'll be eating fake Mexican food stuff.  I checked..

Have an amazing birthday and I hope you get everything that you wanted!  Also, remember, I love you, Dad! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA CLOUSE!

Halfway Point

Wait, what?  That cannot be right!  It's hit the seven week mark of the winter semester here at BYU-H campus, which in turn, means that there are only seven weeks remaining until I return home to the desert of Arizona!  Well, the very least that I can say is that it has been a very very oh so very busy semester!  Hence the lack of updates... Well, also, sometimes I just dred going over all the things I've done and writing them.  I think it sort of causes the blog to lose it's purpose.  Yeah a blog is a device that could be used to just talk about everything someone has done, but I think that there should be a bit more to it, yeah?

So from here on out, I will try to include events, thoughts and the sort in this blog of mine!  Ookay, where to begin?  Well, lets see..

I broke the law... You see, dear readers, there is a hike on the lovely Hawaiian island of Oahu called "Stairway to Heaven".  It consists of an extremely steep, devestatingly long, and terrifyingly narrow set of metal stairs that lead to the top of a mountain surrounded by other mountains and a heck of a lot of green.  Coming from Arizona, this new "green" concept is entirely alien to me.  It is beautiful, I'll admit that, but I do find myself missing the varying shades of brown, yellow and tan from my homestate.

This is beside the point!  So seeing as this is an illegal hike, there is a security guard that sits at the foot of the stairs.  So how do people get around this guard?  Well, there is a three hour gap in time where there is no guard in position, and since he is not present, that is typically when the rebellious hikers start trekking up the stairs.  The catch is that that three hour gap happens to be in the middle of the night. 

My group was delayed in getting to Stairway, but we managed to get there about half an hour before our little guard-y friend got to his post! 

This is Emma and I trying to look good in the middle of the night halfway through our killer hike up Stairway

Can I say that it was one of the hardest things I've ever done?  Imagine, if you will, stairs, and then make them about three or four times steeper.  In fact, in a few areas, the stairs morphed into a ladder..  So I kept my mind off of the strain of keeping up with all the fast hikers by talking to the people directly in front of me.  Namely my friend Daniel and later Kevin.  Daniel described the hike to me in three segments.  The first portion is the most difficult, and I for one certainly agree with him.  The second part was the most dangerous and the third was the homestretch.  By the time we reached the second part, the clouds decided to be our friends by covering the steep drop offs on either side of the stairs. 

About two hours later, we made it to the windy top and found shelter in a concrete building.  We were sweaty, we were cold, we were tired.  But we made it!  I'm going to describe the inside of this shelter to you:  grimy, slimy dirt covered floors with piles of trash in the corner, metal supports and graffitied walls.  It was awful, but hey, we were sheltered from the freezing wind and clouds.  The group decided to stay until sunrise before decending the staircase.  That was really fun!  Emma, Eric and I became cuddle buddies to keep ourselves warm.  Seeing as I am the shortest of the trio by far, I got to be in the center.  It was awesome.  And then everyone else in our hiking party joined in.  If you can imagine a bunch of sweaty, smelly, damp young adults group hugging in a dank bunker, you've just visualized us. 

So eventually when it got light outside, we realized that it the clouds were covering everything and so coming down to the bottom was freezing and miserable for the most part.

It suffices to say that the rest of the day, I was exhausted and sleep deprived.  An entertaining combination.

The descent!

Don't we look good with all that green?

This is about halfway down.  Lots of stairs in both directions

We made it!  Emma, Preston, Eric and yours truly

The Stairway crew plus our guard who was actually friendly.  He's the one in the blue jumpsuit..

Meet my friend Morris! 

We like to play in the rain.  Oh and Eric likes my watch I guess

Moving on to the next week!  Me and most of the "Hawaiian Family" hopped on a bus to hike up a perfectly legal hike called the Crouching Lion.  This was a heck of a lot easier and just as much fun!  I love my ohana dearly.  I wish we really were all related because life would be a ball all the time!  It also suffices to say that we took many awesome posing pictures. 

Crouching Lion hike!

Aww cute Emma!

Josh and I make attractive shadows.  But that's it.

Middle of the hike pose!



The top!  You can't see, but we're up at the top, I think..

So there is this one place in the hike that has trees that look like olive trees a little bit and because of that I dubbed it Jerusalem.  We ate lunch in Jerusalem.  PB and J.  And Gushers, and goldfish and wheat thins and ritz chips.  Mmmm healthy.  Not.  But it was all good!

Valentine's Day was not Valentine's day for me this year.   In honor of Arizona's 100th birthday, I celebrated that instead!  Yeahh it was a good day.  Me and my ohana went to Tito's for a delicious Valentine's dinner with complimentary chocolate cake!  We got real spoiled there.  It's safe to say that we're going back again soon.. So after we got back from our music blasting, rain soaked escapade, we returned to campus and parted until 8:45.  Until that time came to pass, I recieved a Valentine's package from my lovely family filled with goodies and a J. Crew shirt!  Best.Stuff.Ever.  Thanks mama and family!  This was delivered via my Lovely cousin Allie Jones and her awesome friend!  We chatted for a bit and then I was on my way to the GCB to watch You Again with the Ohana.  While we were waiting for Emma to bring the stuff, Eric and I did sommersaults and looked at a map for a long time.  Then we watched the movie and I fell asleep until the end.  Oh well, it was a good day!  And I'm still very happy single.  Sorry all!  No marriage in this bright horizon anytime soon!

Guys, so much more has happened but I just don't want to bore you with a novel of the things that I've done!  I'll just hit a few more points and then it can be picture time!

Fast forward to this past weekend.  That was quite eventful.  So Friday is typically beach day once we finish with school and lunch.  Tori, Austin David and I headed to Hukilau and played in the water for a good two hours.  Tori and I got towed around by our ankles and were assaulted by sand courtesy of Daveed and Austin.  But we still had fun!  The day has only just begun however, because we still had a concert to go to!

After our failed attempt to play raquetball, Austin, David, Tori and I parted ways to shower and meet everyone else for dindin before the Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp concert.  I got my ticket for freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Okay so the concert was fantastic!  I love the cello even more now and those guys were just so entertaining to watch!  And once the concert was over, there was a steamy hot dance in good ol' Hale 2!  And by hot and steamy I literally mean there was steam coming from the windows from the main lounge.  It was an exciting dance though..even if I got called a limp noodle.  You know who you are. 

So Saturday Emma, David, DJ, Tori, Austin and I headed out to the Ala Moana Mall and Wal mart for some much needed supplies.  We were thoroughly entertained on the way back because of a silly man who was jamming out to his music rather enthusiastically. 

Sunday was a big, big, big day!  (Hunger Games reference for you HG nerds like me).  Since school was out for Monday, we, meaning the Ohaha, celebrated Beau and Brooke's birthdays by camping out in the Turtle Bay area.  We had fire and in insufficient amount of blankets for the night.  And a severe lack of umbrellas, but that wasn't too bad.  There was a toasty fire and s'mores with plenty of s'more puns:  "please sir, I want s'more!"  And DJ used a creepy voice a lot.  Petri and Ralph were new additions to the party.  It so happens that DJ, Emma, Eric and I set up our little island of sheets amidst the other groupings on the beach.  Plus side of the camping trip, it was really fun and full of entertainment and I had my own personal heater for the night (thanks brother!).  Negatives to the trip was the fact that I took a nap early that day and couldn't sleep very well and the cold rain in the morning.  To those of you who slept like rocks ( Austin, David, Beau, Aroha and who ever else is crazy and could actually sleep), I am very envious of you all.  Very envious.  I suppose I am willing to do this again though.  Provided we cook breakfast on the beach of course!  

 After we got back from the camp out, Alex and I got breakfast and did our laundry.  The rest of the day was uneventful save for the card playing at night!  Tori and I are the champs, yeahh buddy!

Morning after the campout.  I like my blankie a lot, okay?

I mustache you a question..

Green Jeans

I've finally finally finally joined the colored jeans trend with a pair of my very own green jeans.  And the verdict is:  I am obsessed with these suckers!  I was a tad bit nervous that they were going to look atrocious, with and without me in them.  But!  Thankfully, they look gooood.  (Thank you 6 a.m. jogging class). 

I also got some tan pointy toed flats that are lovely, albeit very painful and unforgiving to my achilles tendon and the skin surrounding it.  Hopefully I'll break them in soon enough because I'm getting the feeling that I'm going to be wearing those shoes quite often.

Onto some more matters?  Well, I finally sent a letter to Zach!  He's been gone for what, three weeks and I've been sort of slacking.. But I wrote it and sent it!  I really miss my best friend.  I'm going to go ahead and disclaim it right now,  Zach and I have never been in a relationship together and I don't plan on it.  He is like the older brother I never had and I love him dearly (Even though I'm like a week older).  He's my best friend.

I'm slowly getting on top of things again!  I sort of let the beach and the wacky schedule of things get to me last week and the week before.  But it was sorta worth it because I am regaining that beachy little tan again!
And I've also completed bascially all my assignments for the week.  So what does a bored college student do?  Nap.  Oh and hang out with friends and stuff.  But mostly nap.  And it feels oh so nice to sleep for a spell, very invigorating.

Speaking of which, Alex and I had a nice long run last night that was quite invigorating...yeahh..

 Singles Awareness Day is coming up, ahem, I mean uhh Valentine's Day.  I do believe I will be one of the lucky lonely ones who gets to observe all the happy couples strolling around campus.  I'm also certain that there will be a lot of marriage proposals here at the BYUH campus.  I mean come on, even though it's the school with the least amount of hitching going on, there has to be some corny people around  here itching for the most cliche date possible to come around.  I'm just glad that I'm not going to be one of those girls running around with a ring on it.  And you know what, I am absolutely okay with being single on Valentine's day too.  Weird right? 

I just realized (thanks so something I saw on Pinterest, go figure) that I don't need to seek out anything.  Because that isn't the right reason.  If I just live my life and continue being happy as I am, then that's all I need for now.  So when someone does actually come around, I'll be with them not because I'm unhappy and alone, but because he and I have been drawn together out of actual interest and mutual feelings.  Not because I have that desire and need to feel wanted by someone.

So mystery man, come when you wish.  At the moment I am perfectly content with living my life as is.  And I feel like that's how it should be.  There should never be any reason to force a relationship. 

I am single.  I am young.  And I love it.

Slacker with a capitol S

Alright alright, I'll be the very first to admit that I'm not the greatest at consistently updating this public "diary" of mine.  My reason?  Well it's relatively pathetic.  I just don't feel like recapping over and over and over again.  Yes I know, that is no excuse.  Especially with lil miss Erin Timothy churning out posts like it's no bodies business!  So tonight, my friends, not only will I treat you to a recap, but an insight to my inner workings and such.  You could say I've had an emotional past three weeks what with Zach leaving and all.  Gah I miss him.

Okay, well I got home shortly after midnight on Tuesday the 20th.  I had two surprises waiting for me when I got off the plane.  Firstly, I see all five members of my family dressed in ridiculous Christmas themed turtle necks waiting for me.  Even Papa Clouse, the big, strong daddy that he is, was in one of them.  He looked like a goober, which is really difficult for him to accomplish.  I still love him anyway though!  And then out of the blue, Makayla disappears and then comes back with my next little surprise:  my best best BEST friend Erin Timothy.  In an ugly turtleneck too, mind you!  It was fantactic to see her face after three months of absence. 

So then we all head down to the baggage claim to pick up my little suitcase that only weighed 30.5 pounds.  Can you say light packing? Yeah I did a good job with packing, watch out!  Anyway, so we were all talking and catching up and finally I got my suitcase and we started out to the car in the parking garage.  I see the big blue Suburban and then out of no where this guy in a brown shirt says "Here I got that for you" and opens the back door of the car for me.  As you can guess, I was slightly confused by the stranger.  But then I realized.  That was no stranger...and that not stranger had another not stranger in a black button down with him.

I screamed and hugged my bestfriend Zachary Jacob Burton and my other bestfriend Caden Lee Alexander oh so very much!  Didn't see that coming?  Well, neither did I. (Insert shoulder shrug)  See that was the point, duhh.  I later found out that my little sister was keeping them aware of my whereabouts at all times via texting.  Oh and that they were basically shadowing my every move.  They were very discreet and covert about the whole operation.  And there you have it!  My third and very unexpected, but nonetheless appreciated surprise.

Moving on to Christmas Vacation?  I should mention that I was going on a date with Caden only a mere five hours after I got home from school.  Yeah, I guess I like jumping straight into the fray, it's cool.  I finally ended up heading to bed at two AM and fell asleep an hour after that.  Two hours later, I got up and threw on some sweats to go on a hike to watch the sunrise at Usary Pass.  It was good fun and as we started down, the group decided that it was a good idea to race down the side of the mountain off of the trail and across cactus and rocks and such.  Caden and I were very good at this.  We actually were in first place for a good five minutes of the decent.  That is until I took a major spill and sort of skidded at the bottom of the mountain.  Ouch.  I bruised up my knee and hit my boob really hard on a rock.  And I was tough and walked it off even though my knee could hardly take any weight.  I even started jogging again after the pain died down a bit.  Stupid idea?  Yes, but whatever, my knee is fine now and it makes for a good story.  I even told Caden that I injured my right boob.  Guys, just realize, I tend to freely give out that sort of information, soo yeahh...

Christmas Eve was spent a mere five minutes away from my house at Grandma and Grandpa Clouse's house.  Needless to say, the food was spectacular as always!  It's my goal to be as good of a chef as Grandma Dorothy one day.  It is going to happen, you'll see!  So we have this tradition of getting new PJ's every Christmas eve and this year was no exception.  I love our tradition and plan on continuing it with my eventual future family.  We all went to bed by midnight and then got up, opened presents and then my personal favorite part, went to church for Christmas services down at my ward's building/ the stake center.  I love it when we have Christmas on Sundays because it just adds even more meaning to an already spiritual holiday.  We then went to the Clouse's again before getting a break to make rolls for the Flaws Christmas dinner.  That was loads of fun too!  I love both sides of my family.

I got to spend a lot of time with my amazing Mesa friends over this break!  I adore them with my whole heart, I really do.  These people know me so well.  They love me even if I sass them or make fun of their hair (Jon and his hobbit hair..)  They know how to make me laugh the hardest and they see me at my most embarrassing moments, whether it's Michael and I acting special together, or my attempts to creep on Scott, Zach and I being ourselves, Erin and I being sassy, Jon and I acting awkward and Caden and I writing silly stories and me collapsing to the floor from laughing so hard.  There are a bunch of you others that I didn't mention, but I promise that I'm thinking of you too!  Seriously Mesa, Arizona has the best people in the ENTIRE world.  No joke.  We have Jones Night and play all over.  Mostly late at my house though...  Michael, one day, we will find you a suitable helmet with blue sparkles and everything!

I got to go snowboarding with my Daddy and sisters after about three years of avoiding the slopes.  Last time we went to Sunrise, the wind chill had the temperature down in the negatives!  For all you non Arizona natives, yes I know you must be in denial about it right now, but Arizona is not just cactus and dirt.  That would be about less than half of the state, my friends.  We have snow and trees and mountains and lakes too, mmkay David?  But yes, I live in the actual desert part.

Okay onto New Years!  Haha..well it started out with Makayla and I making cream cheese brownies and lemon bars.  Oh and a giant two foot pizza from Venezia's which was delicious even though I kept on thinking about how Caden and Michael told me they did the Venezia's Challenge and Caden puked up all of his pizza after they finished. FUUUNNY!  So around nine, Caden and Danielle picked me up and our night began!  Eventually we ended up at a fun party where most of the college freshmen were and Danielle and I had this brilliant idea to go to Wal-Mart to pick up some Mardinelli's sparkling cider!  I mean, it was New Year's after all!  So we found sparkling grape juice instead..but it was still delicious!  Eventually, Erin, Danielle and I ended up snuggling together on a hammock and made some fantastic memories.  Wiggle.  Yeah.  I love you girls dearly, by the way.  Just going to make that known!

Sadly, the break had to end.  And with the end of the break came Zach's farewell.  He gave an excellent talk and made me tear up a little.  Zach was seriously my best friend.  He still is, he's just sort of in Uruguay and I'm in Hawaii.  Anyway, so I went to his open house and spent time with everyone.  A lot of faces (the boys) are going to be gone when I come home in April.  Michael will be in Jamaica and Scott in Idaho.  I'm going to miss them a lot, some of my closest friends and you know what, I'm going to be honest.  It really sucks that they're leaving.  But I do know without a shadow of a doubt that they're doing the right thing by leaving everything they know behind and serving the Lord and His purposes.  As much as I will surely miss them, I am so very proud of my friends for making a choice that will effect them only for the better for the rest of their lives.  They'll be blessed for their two years of service and I know that when they return, they're going to be even more brilliant and fantastic than they already are. 

It was really sad saying goodbye to Zach though.  I'll be the first to admit that when the time came, I cried.  He's was always there for my senior year, and even after when we headed off to our respective BYU's.  Elder Burton, you're going to be a phenomenal missionary and I can say that with the utmost confidence!  Your first letter is on its way bud!  I can't wait to hear from you!

I cried a little when I got back to Hawaii and thought of how I  can't talk to Zach, or skype him for the next two years.  Shut it.  He's my bestfriend, mmkay? 

But I've been reunited with my Hawaiian family and we have been nearly inseparable since we've all been back!  I was the fashionably late one seeing as I got back to school on the 9th.  AKA the first day of Winter Semester. Whoops.  But I had to see Zach's farewell and there isn't anything wrong with being fashionably late, yeah? 

We've been to the beach several times together and boy has it been fun!  We also eat every meal together and at least one of them is with me at night.  I love these people so much.  And they're slowly but surely getting to know the Haleigh that my Mesa people know.  I don't know if this is a good thing?  Oh well, they haven't let me in the dust yet!  We're going on a hike this weekend.  I am sort of really really stoked for it.  And also, of course we'll be spending a great deal of time relaxing on the beaches near school.  I WILL come home with browned skin this time. 

Did I mention I have a jogging class two days a week at six in the MORNING?  Well now I have.  Whoot whoot.  Sike.  I hate it.  I would kill it if I could.  But I like to think of the class as the means to blasting the fat off of my legs.  I'm going to have sexy track legs again minus the attractive shorts tan line.  This morning, we ran 4.5 miles.  That is the most I've ever ran!  I am very proud of this accomplishment.  And guess what, I only stopped twice for a few minutes each..soo yeahh I'm not as terribly out of shape like I expected to be.  I get to do this all semester ladies and gents. 

I should mention also that I am addicted to Vampire Diaries.  Even though I swore off everything with fangs three years ago.  Whoops.  Damon Salvatore is just too handsome for me to resist, mmkay?  But that's fine, because since I caught up to the present episode, I can focus on studying in the library agian.  Ughh.  I hate that place passionately.  Stupid library people and brain melting books. 

Okay, this is picture time:

First night with some of the group of the Mesa kids!  We got naked guys...

Sike, getting Naked costs too much, I got hot chocolate instead.  So did Michael annd not Scott and Spencer

Sun's game with my bestfriend Zachary!!

New Year's Eve with Erin and Danielle!  We had good times on that hammock

Snow boarding with Papa and my sisters!  We look like marshmallows, I know it...

Caressa's birthday on the beach!  World War Sand occurred on those shores that day.

I wish I had an iPhone.. they come in handy for moments like this one.

And here when Sumner and I were preparing ourselves to be stealthy scary intense intimidating and fearless bouncers.  Yeah that's right, we are tough.

Well, I should promise to update more, but as you can tell, I don't do well with updates and such. 

Peace out and I hope you enjoyed reading about my life, you dirty little stalkers

In the Library

I can only take so much before I absolutely need a break.  Hello all, me again!  I am currently sitting in a chilly library studying my freshie butt off in preparation for semester finals.  It is not an experience that I enjoy, but it is something that I must do, unfortunately.. 

Why am I not in my dorm room?  Well, I have finally realized that in the quiet of my room, I find reasons to not study.  For example, I end up on Facebook or Pinterest and waste precious study time.  Or I'll be semi-distracted by music playing on good ol' reliable Spotify or watch tv on the internet.  Or I'll be unconscious on my bed.  It's a viscious cycle that I've finally broken.  Here in the library, I am motivated by passers by to stay off of all social media websites.   I also refuse to bring my headphones because if I brought them, I would use them as entertainment.  So here, I get a lot more work done.  It's just boring.  So boring.

May I say that in six days I'll be on my way back to the lovely Mesa, Arizona for three weeks?  I know everyone is excited, no need to tell me!  My family just won't stop bragging about how they've been using the fire place and how it's cold back at home and that yeahh... I'm out of ideas..

But I am excited to see mi familia!  Three months away might have made my heart even more fond of our silly jokes and whatnot.  Family, since you are accustomed to the "cold" and I am not, I shall be needing extra blankets on my bed.  Since, you know, it's about 70 degrees here always... 

Also, I'm not going to be as tan as you all are expecting!  I've been a studious young woman who remains indoors preparing for tests and doing homework.  Sorry to disappoint!  But I will do my best to catch up and get a last minute tan before I come home!  I have to have a little bit of a glow at least.  Just to, you know, gloat at all you ghosties.  (cough*Erin and Makayla and Jordan*cough). 

Okay...okay okay okay.  Break time is over.  Time to resume my studying of Anthropology now.  I'm reading about religion.  Exciting, isn't it? 
Bye All!  See you next Tuesday!