The Worst.

This title can pretty much sum up the last few weeks here. I'm the worst at writing on here, the weather has been the worst, and Keith owns a shirt that says "You're the worst". Which he decided to break out of the closet this last week and wear it with pride. hahaha. That boy always keeps me laughing. School is going well here. I am halfway done. 5 1/2 more weeks of school and then I can finally go home to the sunshine and beach. I'm not going to lie, the past 3 weeks have been hard ones. Every other school is getting out for summer and I am still here for awhile...with the worst weather ever. I have been more homesick these past weeks than I have since I came here in January. I miss the sun and my family and just San Diego in general. It snowed at the end of May and has been rainy, windy, and cold since then. Definitely NOT warm. There are good things about this place though. I promise. My classes are all really fun. I love them actually, which is rare. The only one I'm not very fond of is science, but Briana (my roommate) and Keith are both in that class with me soooo I get through it. We all have A's in there and if you know anything about my past science grades that should be a shocker.. It is ridiculously easy though. haha the kind of easy that actually bores you. My teacher looks like Dwight from The Office, so we pass time by making Dwight jokes. We sit in the back of class so we don't interrupt his lectures. I guess I do kind of enjoy that class. But it is still towards the bottom of my fun list. That's all there really is to say about the learning part of being here...

Outside of the classroom I feel like I always have something to do (It is usually homework, but surprisingly not all the time. I have discovered that if I just go do my hw after class or before eleven at night, it actually gets done and leaves more time to hang out! hahaha). Keith and I are both playing lacrosse up here on competitive teams and both our teams are undefeated! He usually plays goal in the second half of his game and ends up saving his team every time. Keith likes to drag me to the field on days that we don't have practice and have me shoot on him. It's probably pretty funny to watch since I end up hitting him more than a few times which I don't think he enjoys...yet he still drags me out there with him. It's all good though, I enjoy the extra practice and fresh air. I actually really like watching him play since I have never had the chance before. He is an amazing goalie! Our games are on the weekends so we don't usually do much other than lacrosse, a movie, and church. haha. I am glad I am playing up here though...and that I forced Keith to play too since he is having fun now. There really isn't much more to do around here. There is a mall in Idaho Falls but I have decided that I don't need to spend anymore money and Keith has decided he is sick of waiting while I try everything on. hahaha I think both my parents can agree with him on that...

I had a hair fiasco. Most of my family knows about it, but I will share it again anyways. It is funny now that its all over. Well last semester I dyed my hair brown so this semester I decided I wanted to go back blonde. I went to the Paul Mitchell Partner School to get it done. The girl that was doing my hair asked what I wanted done to it so I told her. I wanted to go back blonde and get 2 inches trimmed off. She told me that would be easy enough so I trusted her. hahaha. Shouldn't have done that. It took 5 HOURS to dye my hair and when they finished rinsing it I was shocked. It was yellow/white. NOT what I wanted. Just wait, it gets better. She then started cutting my hair. Mistake again. Instead of the 2 inches I wanted off, my hair is now 4 1/2 inches shorter. I was a little upset at the end of that appointment. haha. I walked out at 11:30 and when I got in Keith's car he did not say a word. That's when I knew how bad it was! He later told me he thought I was wearing a wig when I walked out!! hahaha thanks Keith. We ended up going back the next day and through the tears and many complaints, my hair got fixed. I am happy to say that it is back to normal now :)

I think this is enough for one post. I really really really will try to get better at this. I am so excited to go home and to Utah for the 4th of July to see my family. I miss the beach, the sun, mexican food, being barefoot, laughing with my best friend Lauren Soppe, my family, Pizza Port, my own bed, and basically everything else about Cardiff by the Sea. I have many things to look forward too! All the things listed above as well as one more...Maren is having a babyyyy! She is so excited and so am I! I get to be an aunt to a cute little nephew and be there when it all happens. I can't wait for the new addition!

Well, I will write back soon :) love you all!

<3

Oh, How Time Flies.

Well it has definitely been the longest famine on my blog so far. I had actually forgotten that I even had one! Oops! My first semester up here in Idaho is over and we are now starting the second week of the Spring semester. Man how I love the Spring, so much more than the Winter, up here. haha can't imagine there are many people who don't feel the same way. The end of last semester was quite a whirlwind. Made tons of new friends, only to say goodbye as April 9th approached. Luckily I can still creep on them on Facebook. What would I do without that site?!

This semester has been great so far though. Keith and I drove up together after my week break spent at home. We turned the 11 hour drive from home to Salt Lake City into a 14 hour one...he was not a happy camper when we finally arrived. haha. We had to stop, not kidding, every 50 miles on the way to Vegas so I could use a restroom. I learned not to drink a large cup of orange juice before a long road trip. haha. Then I proceeded to get us lost for an hour in Salt Lake trying to find Hayley's house. That put him over the edge and I now know why I am NEVER in charge of directions. My mom asked if we ran out of things to talk about. HA. Not with me around! One of the best conversations we had in the car had to be when we were lost in Salt Lake...
Driving on the 15 in Salt Lake..
Me-"Here I will look up directions on my phone. I have Hayleys address."
Keith-"Ok, yeah do that, or call her."
Me- "No no I got it on here....(long silence while I study my phone).."
Keith-"Where do we get off?"
Me-"Hmm maybe this exit coming up, wait no no keep going its not that one. Crap maybe it was.."
Keith-"Oh my gosh. What do the directions say?!"
Me-"They don't say anything!"
Keith-"Let me see the directions."
I hand him the phone while saying "It's a map!"
Keith-"Paige..."
As if the freeways in SLC aren't already difficult enough, I was trying to read a Google MAP! He definitely wanted to dump me on the side of the freeway after that one. Poor guy. Once we finally got to the 80, he says "Let me apologize now, for screaming at you later." hahahah what a test of patience I am. My parents can second that I'm sure. I am glad to report that the next morning we made it safely to Rexburg, Idaho! Oh what a wonderful place this is. We arrived to dry, hot weather. I have never been happier to be that hot in a place. It is crazy to see how much a place can change in one week. I left when snow was still on the ground and came back to green grass, flowers, and insects! My roommates and I were actually happy to see bugs, which is unusual for all of us. It was nice to see other living things in Rexburg (that is a very rare sight in the winter) haha. I helped Keith move in, met a few of his roommates, and spent the rest of the day getting his school errands taken care of. Tuesday was the first day of class. I have loved all my classes from the start. My professors are all really good and the classes themselves are really interesting. I have discovered a new love up here at school....the LIBRARY! I am actually writing this in the library now. Keith started out by dragging my butt out of my room, and now I happily accompany him whenever we have homework to do. I never thought I would say this, but the library is a good, fun, productive place to be!

I have high hopes for this semester. I am loving the weather, my friends, having Keith here :), and (surprisingly) my classes! I will honestly try to be better at this blogging thing. I know I'm terrible at it. haha. But thats it for now. Not much going on here..I am making my roommate Briana, and Keith, go horseback riding with me while we are here. As well as going on a wagon ride at some point. They love me for it too :) I am looking forward to a semester of studying and some outdoor fun. Bring it on Idaho!

With love from the library!

Magical Mayhem

ok I know it has been a loooooong time since I last posted. My bad. I know it has been a long time from the text messages and facebook posts from my mother usually saying something like this, "You fail at posting on your blog" and "Paige you suck at remembering to write on your blog." Can you feel the love? I can. So here I am, writing on my blog. Just for you mom :)

Well, it's hard to remember everything that has happened since my last post. I know we passed our next clean check and because of that we didn't have one last Friday. It pays off to clean one day, just so we can have two weeks of being slobs. haha. Somehow i don't think it should work that way. But hey, we earned our right to be slobs. Mom, don't worry, I keep my room pretty clean. I don't have a choice in this tiny thing. Anyway, not much happened last week. This last weekend my roommates and I went with our friend Ryan Stone to a Save Haiti dance on Friday. It was....interesting. I don't think I will be going to anymore of those. haha. I only went because it was for a good cause. Saturday night Ryan dragged us all ice skating, literally. There is an ice skating rink on campus, but the complete opposite side and on top of a large hill. Now, if you know anything about Rexburg during the winter, the last place you want to be is on top of a hill, at night, on a large chunk of ice. I only lasted about ten minutes. We all ended up leaving soon after and going back to our dorm to watch a movie and eat cookies haha. oh the fun things we do on the weekend! Sunday we walked to church in 3 inches of snow. That was a blast, with the wind blowing and heels on. Not much has been happening other than the usual. We spend our days in class and our nights causing mayhem. It's quite the life :)

Nothing much has happened this week so far. We played basketball after FHE last night and then our friend Ryan Stone entertained me and my roommates with a short magic show. It was quite a night. I love magic shows! Everyday seems to be a good day around here. Today I had no school, a basketball game, and received a cake. Our game went well, we won by....a lot. I received a "friendship" cake (that's what I am calling it) from Ryan today. It was actaully really delicious. I was actually a little impressed that he kept his word on making me a cake, and it was made within 24 hours. Impressive right? It will be gone by tomorrow too, I can guarantee that.

I'm sorry this post isn't very interesting! Life is good up here, and I can't wait to go home in a week and a half to see my family. As well as my best friends baptism :) (which I need to write a talk for....)

love you all! I will try to get better at this! promise.

Fail.

It has been a week since my last post, so it's time for another! This week was pretty good..lots of homework, but lots of fun too. I am enjoying my classes and the weather hasn't been too bad lately. It was only windy one day this last week, so we got lucky. The wind sucks. haha. I got two packages from home, one from Keith and one from my mom. It was nice to get something from them, I didn't realize how much I missed home. I was surprised how smoothly I adjusted to life away from home. I mean, it wasn't SUPER easy, but it was a lot easier than I thought it was gunna be. Even though I still miss my family on a daily basis. I just try to stay busy, since there isn't a whole lot I can do about missing them besides counting down the days until I go home.

Well this week was a busy one. Monday I had class all day, Tuesday I worked on homework all day and attempted the whole library thing, Wednesday I had class all day, and then nothing on Thursday. Thursday night my roommates and I watched half of a documentary on Charles Manson and were all scared for the rest of the night. haha it was soo great. Then on Friday I had class all day and came home. We finished our documentary and then continued to watch some more biographies on creepy serial killers. Don't ask why. I guess we were all just interested in learning about them. My one roommate, Sharetta, was begging us not to make her watch them by the end hahahaha. But hey, we learned about the Night Stalker (Richard Ramirez), Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Ted Bundy in one night. We decided we got educated on what to look out for...haha. We then proceeded to watch a scary movie and by the time we were done, we were all a little jumpy. It was a Friday horror night. I loved it. I found out thats one more thing I have in common with two of my roommates, we love to learn about creeps and watch scary movies. In my opinion, that was a good way to wrap up the week. Sharetta was threatening us all that she was going to have to sleep with one of us since we made her watch all that stuff. ha, but I'm glad to report that she made it through the whole night by herself. Today was a pretty slow day, woke up at 11:30 and walked to the Post Office around 1. Took awhile to get up today (Don't worry mom, we were all asleep before 3:30 am). I got a package sent home for my family, and then just took the rest of the day easy. Not much happened this week, nothing too exciting at least. Lots of funny moments with the roommates and still some new things to get used to. One thing I definitely learned this week was that Fridays are the best day of the week. I always took them for granted. Not now.

Oh, and the title of this post actually refers to our room check. hahahaha soooo we cleaned like crazy late Thursday so we could pass our clean check the next morning but apparently our efforts were wasted. She walked in and said "You guys are the worst I have seen" hahahahaha sooo funny, she didn't even go further than the living room and then she didn't even tell us what was wrong!!! The annoying thing was that the living room was actually clean for once. The floor was dirty though because our vacuum was broken and made the floor worse when we tried to use it. So that wasn't really our fault, but she fixed it for us. Anyway, she told us she would come back today to check, so we were cleaning AGAIN last night and she didn't even come by! what a joke. but hey, now our rooms are all nice and clean! So we failed our first room check. Good start? I think so.

Where it all begins.

Sorry, like I said before, I struggle with this blogging thing.

The last post was about picking Reid up from the airport, so it has been awhile. haha oops! well the Sunday after he got home he gave a GREAT talk in church. He has changed so much while he has been gone. (all for the better of course!) It was great to have him home for a bit though, as well as everyone else in the family. It was a week of many stories and sweet moments. It will be hard to forget.

Well, it was finally time for me to go off to college for the rest of the year! I brought in the new year with one of my best friends Keith at the YSA dance in Balboa Park down in downtown SD. We had lots of fun just hanging out...but I'm not going to lie, saying goodbye was not any fun. I don't think anyone likes saying goodbye, and especially to your best friends and family. But I survived and my family and I left that following friday morning and arrived in Salt Lake City that evening. It was quite the drive, but we got to stop and see Maren and Bryan on the way since they were in Utah with his family. It was a safe trip, we had three cars out on the road so it was an accomplishment to get them all to Utah safely. But we got it done! I was a pretty sad on that drive because I could only imagine what was about to happen in my life. My family means everything to me, so the thought of leaving them for months at a time was kind of hard to swallow. I just tried to enjoy those last hours with them and I think I got that accomplished haha. We all hung out that first night in the hotel and got to bed early so we could get to Idaho at a decent hour the next day. We finally got to Rexburg, I got all checked in for school, got my dorm assignments, and started to move in. I met everyone in my dorm and found out we are all from California, with one exception. haha. I spent one last night with my family on saturday, and then they left me in the frozen tundra of Idaho the next morning. That morning was a little hard, but I had a lot to do and kept myself busy. My roommates and I spent that Sunday just sitting around chatting and figuring out how to do things haha. Monday no one had class and my roommate and I spent the day hanging out and going to new freshman activities. Us and one of our other roommates, as well as a few guys, walked down to walgreens later that day only to find out that it was closed because the power went out. The result of this trip was not what we intended it to be. haha it ended up being a 4 block walk/snowball fight, both ways. It was great fun :) that night we had our first FHE and then went back to our dorms living room and watched a movie with some friends. Yesterday class started for pretty much everyone, except for me! I went and bought my books and ran a few quick errands so I would be prepared for my classes the next day. Last night I went to my friend from back home's apartment and had dinner and hung out. It was nice to get out of the dorms for a night! Today was my first legit day of college, and I loved it! I spent the day running (practically) from class to class, but they all seem like really fun classes so I had a good day. It got nice and cold today..it had been pretty warm the last couple days (30 degrees was very warm) so today was a bit of a shock. haha it is actually 0 degrees as I type this right now...should be a fun weekend! haha. anyways, I am absolutely loving it up here and the adjustment wasn't quite as hard as I thought it would be. I miss my parents, my siblings, and my besties Lauren and Keith, but I know this is what I gotta do!

Its been a crazy last couple of days...getting settled into a new "home", meeting lots of new people, going to school, and missing my crazy family. I seriously love it here though and I am already learning so many things! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here and to learn and meet people in this environment. I am looking forward to a wonderful 4 years up here :)

He is finally back!

Well, today was quite a day! My mom has been counting down to this day for the past two years and it finally came. haha. My brother came home! He was gone for two years on a mission for our church, so none of us had seen him for that time...he looks great! A little skinny, but happy and still in one piece. His plane came in at 1:11 this afternoon and we all went to lunch after. My grandma and whole family was there, as well as my friend Keith. He was the official photographer at the airport. It was a wonderful reunion and everyone was crying at the sight of Reid. I don't think any of us realized how much he had changed and how long it really had been since we had all last seen him..I know I missed him a lot, and I realized just how much that was the moment I saw him. We have spent the day listening to his stories and just staring at him. haha he is exactly the same, yet sooo different at the same time. It's really good to have him home, especially for the holidays. His stories are great to listen to as well. Some make you realize how blessed we are here, some make you laugh, and some make you wanna tell him to stop. hahaha. One of the greatest things he said today was when we were all sitting around in the living room and he goes "I have calluses on my knees from praying so much. Who would have thought that could happen!" haha. We are all just so happy to have our brother and son back home. He is happy to be back, but he misses Peru very much and you can tell by the way he talks about it. He will never forget those memories he had in that country with those wonderful people, and a part of me will always be jealous he got to have such a great and spiritual experience in his life. He is a great example to me of hard work and devotion. I love him so much and am so happy he is finally home, even though I know he misses Peru. He means a lot to us and has brought many blessings into our lives and smiles to our faces :)

The countdown begins!

I'm the worst at this blogging thing, since its been like a week and a half since my last post...I apologize.

This is the best time of the season, in my opinion. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, there is something different in the air. Thanksgiving was great this year. Spent it with family and friends, enjoying the time we had together. It seems Thanksgiving always goes too fast. Not to mention that the day after, Christmas music took over the radio. I came home from work singing "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and my mother groaned and my father shook his head. I asked them if that was really the Christmas spirit and my mom reminded me that "it's not even December yet!!!". So I waited til the first of December to start singing. They love it now. Oh how I love this month! Now that the majority of my shopping is done, I can really enjoy the season. oh just kidding, I have to completely clean my room out and pack for school. I leave in three weeks, and I am noooot ready for it. haha. its gunna be nice and frozen, and waiting for me on January 2nd. The weather has finally caught on to the season around here, it poured alllll day, and I absolutely loved it. I am being reminded constantly that it is nothing like the weather in Idaho. thank you family :) We are counting down the days now until Reid comes home.. two weeks from tomorrow! my mother is ecstatic. She can't help thinking about when both he and I leave a week later for school though, and she gets a little stressed about having an almost empty house. I will have to be sure to tell the twins to keep her busy...I think they can handle that task. My best friend comes home in 7 days? (It's somewhere around that many days haha) I can't waaaait to see her :) It's gunna be fun to have her back for a couple weeks, and have my whole family home as well.


I have spent this whole semester home wishing it would be over and I could go to school, and now that its almost time I dont wanna go. ha, funny how that works. Last week I went to the Birch Aquarium with one of my best friends, Keith, and it was a little trip down memory lane since the last time I was there I was probably in preschool. haha. I made him feed some animal in the tide pools outside since the man who had all the information wanted someone to do it and I wasnt about to! Every week seems to have a new activity or place to go, since there really isn't much else on my schedule! So far, the zoo, coronado, PB, and the aquarium are down...only a few more and I will be set to go. Oh, and we had to go get a christmas tree for the family...it ended up being a dwarf tree, which I don't think i will ever hear the end of! I keep reminding my father that if he is not happy with the one I chose, he can get one himself for now on. I mean, it is a little small and it was the first one we really looked at, but its pretty much perfect! can't have everything!

Not much else to share from this week, just enjoying the holiday spirits and good moods all around :)