California Arcadia Mission!!!

I got my mission call!!! I ABSOLUTELY did NOT see this one coming AT ALL!!!! I'm so excited but still a little not sure what to think about it, other than just that I'm excited. I think I'm still a little bit in surprised/shock mode too. Anyways, I'm sure I'll have more to say later, but it's official and I thought all of you should know- I'M GOING ON A MISSION!!!!!!!

ps- I was going to try to post the video of me actually opening it, but I don't think it was working. That will be for another post!

What I should be doing:

A. Sleeping so I can get lots and lots of studying and homework done tomorrow! I have a make up lab for chem that I have to do tomorrow and a group research paper that I have to get research for by tomorrow morning...

B. Studying Preach My Gospel or my temple prep book

C. something else related to General Conference or mission prep or the likes

What I can't stop doing:

A. Staying up super late talking to Andrea- seriously, when we lived in Enclave with Paige and Shelby the 4 of us would stay up sooooo late every night talking about our days and life (and let's be honest- boys and dating). I was always so exhausted but those were by far some of our best conversations. Even with half of us not here anymore, Andrea and I can still stay up for hours talking.

B. Listening to this song....and really just all of the music from Wicked. This soundtrack is so addicting, I've been listening to it nonstop all weekend!!

C. Stalking photographer blogs, especially wedding photography. It makes me wish I could just grab someone and do a photo shoot right now! or just sign up for a photography class again- too bad I've already taken the only class BYU offers to non-photography majors. And you can only take so many intro to photo classes before they become a little redundant.

D. Looking at Emmet updates here.

E. And of course, whenever there's an internet connection to be had, rest assured I'll visit Facebook at least a few times.

Also- I've been trying to find a list of all of the missions around the world and couldn't find one anywhere on the Church's website. I swear they used to have one somewhere, but maybe not. Does anyone know where I can find one? I'm mostly just curious.

Peking Acrobats!

After not having posted since the first week in October- there is so much to post! (Funny how that works, huh?) Actually, technically, there really isn't much to post, but here it is!

1. Christmas- Going home was so nice (aka- getting out of Provo was SO nice!). I loved being back in Boston and away from school. Last semester was a rough one so getting a break was perfect! Here are some highlights from the break. I will warn you though- lot of the pictures came out bad. It's been a long time since I've taken my camera out and really used it like I used to. It's amazing how much less confident I am using it since I don't very much right now.

The freshly "decorated" (aka lit) Christmas tree!

Betsy was super excited about getting the Hunger Games (so am I since I currently have her third book!)

True to form, Jamie hid his present in a random place. This time Michelle was sent to the fridge for her Christmas present from a trail of yarn!

(When I say I didn't take many pictures, I really mean it. Like for real. I didn't use it much- these were the good ones.)

Tyson and I were super excited about BYU's win in the Tulsa Bowl (Michelle- thank-you for this picture!)

2. Shelby is back!! My good friend Shelby (who was also my roommate last year) got back from a mini mission about a month and a half ago and she is back in Provo. It's been so fun to get to see her again. She's crazy and fun and makes Provo a much more fun place. Seriously, it is so easy to get in a rut here and not really do much outside of the usual. However, Shelby is one of those people who just attracts people and fun everywhere and so having her back here has brought a little bit more of excitement and adventure. Last weekend we went to the nickelcade in Orem and it was soooo much fun. Basically, it's like a Chuck E Cheese for adults and I looooved it! I didn't realize you could get so into winning tickets as I did. I scoured the entire place for abandoned tickets and nickels. It was so fun and the people we went with were fun. Fun fun fun! (I realized I was using the word "fun" alot- it is a good word.)

- I don't have any pictures documenting any of this fun. sorry!

3. School has started up again. That has not been so fun. I don't know what it is about me, but my goodness, I cannot focus for the life of me!! I felt like last semester I was really focused and moderately efficient, but also stressed all the time. This semester, though, I've been like a little 5 year old- I cannot sit still! I've been a lot more personable and happy, but way less able to focus. Seriously, I'll have 3 hours to study and in that time maybe get in an hour of studying because I'll sit down in one building, decide I don't actually want to study in there, move to a different building, start studying, remember about someone I wanted to Facebook stalk, and an hour later, remember I was studying, then decide I actually am hungry and want to go to my apartment to eat. I want to be a diligent and hard working student, but man, I make it hard on myself!

4. Work. I decided to stay with Chinese Flagship this semester and I'm really glad I did. Work has been great and let me cut back on my hours. So now I'm only working 15 instead of 20. They also hired a new clerk in the office so now there are 3 of us instead of just 2 which is so so great because it means that the work load isn't so bad anymore, which also means that it's a lot less overwhelming. I am all about that! There are also alot of really great people there that I have been able to get to know through Flagship which has also been great.

5. Peking Acrobats! Yet another reason, I am happy I still work at Flagship. Today we had a Mentoring mini conference for high school students in the area. It was a big event. The idea was to get high school students to meet with students in our program so that they can mentor them and explain to them how the program is helping them. They had classes and other activities for the students before and then a dinner and program. Part of the program was having high school students from Bejing perform, which was really fun. We've also had the Flagship director in Nanjing here this week along with some of the people that we work with in D.C. One of the women from D.C. was the woman that hired me and I worked with her for a few months when I first started working there. I loved working with her and so it was sad to see her leave. It was fun to see her again today and to see her new baby.

The major highlight of the night was that as part of the mini conference, we got to go to see the Peking Acrobats performing at BYU. I brought Andrea with me to celebrate her ability to hear again (she recently has surgery on here ear)! It was INCREDIBLE!!! I loved loved loved it. I am amazed that anyone can survive the stunts they do. The show was amazing and I still cannot get over it. This is definitely not to say that I have taken Cirque Du Soleil off my bucket list, but I was super impressed. I have no idea what brought them to BYU of all places, but I'm glad they did.

Alot of the stunts on this video are ones that they did in our show (including the chair one)!

This is a picture of the Lion Dance they performed. I've seen a couple of these before at some of our events, but haven't ever seen one this intense. It was really cool.

Apparently there was quite a bit to post (just kidding to the comment in the first paragraph!).

Conference Weekend

This weekend was great! Yesterday, my roommates, Allie, Andrea and I all listened to conference in our apartment. After conference, Andrea and I went to go grocery shopping and took a little detour to get some fish!

I couldn't get a good enough picture of all of the fish- there were 4 but one of them died (as we were driving them home) and all of my pictures came out blurry- these are fast fish!

Also, our stake, along with another YSA stake organized a group to go sing at the free speech zone this morning and had tickets to the afternoon session for people that went. When we got there, we ended up being able to go to the morning session- which was awesome in the conference center!

This is my roommate Andrea- she and I lived together last year and we're the only 2 out of the 4 of us still in Provo this semester- Paige is in France and Shelby is on a mission.

Another highlight of the weekend was that I got to ring the victory bell!

It's official!

It took me over 2 years but I finally declared Public Health as my major last week! I tried to take a picture of it on my BYU profile but it didn't work. Anyways, the important fact is that I committed to a major. Hallelujah!

I have no pictures of this event. which is a bummer, but in other news, BYU won last night!

That's something worth celebrating! Go Cougars!

Pioneers and Mansions and Teeth! Oh my!

How are pioneers and fancy mansions and teeth connected you ask? Well, in many ways I'm sure (if you think hard enough...). But for the purposes of this blog post, they are all things that I have experienced in the last few weeks.

Being home has been fun. I'm only here for a few weeks and so I haven't really hit the "i'm so bored I'm dying to go back to school" part of being home for the summer. Plus, with the reunion coming up, I don't think I ever will get to that point. Even with work, it feels like I'm on a vacation from my normal life where I have to go to school, work, and pretend to be social.

First of all, Pioneers.

I'm sure you've heard all about trek from mom and dad, but I went up Saturday to where they ended the trek. They had a stake activity up there after with food and swimming, etc. It was fun. Jamie and Michelle were leaders for a group of 12 and 13 year olds and were showing me their pioneer accessories. Tyson was a cute little pioneer....aka cowboy.

Mansions.

Jamie and Michelle took me to see the mansions in Newport, RI. They are beautiful!! I loved it! And so with no further ado, I would like to introduce you to my new homes:

This one is called Breakers. The best part was the backyard!

And now, welcome to my second home, the Elms. It had a little different style to it, but still really pretty.

Again, the backyard is amazing, how can you not love this place!?

I couldn't take pictures inside but a few of my favorite things about these places were firstly, their "porches" to the outside of the house, and the kitchens! I was a little jealous. They were going to tear down the Elms, but the preservation society saved it. I thought that was crazy- it's full of marble etc.

After that, we went to the beach in Newport which was amazing!! I didn't know water that close to MA could be so warm! It was the warmest ocean water I've ever been in.

And lastly, Teeth.

I will spare you the details, but it wouldn't be fair to not mention it as it was a big deal a couple of weeks ago. I got my wisdom teeth out! Now, I am only a 1/4 wise than I was before. They left in one of them because it was too far up and close to an artery (tooth #1 for those that know teeth numbers). The day of surgery I felt pretty good and was thinking it was going to be a piece of cake. Then, I woke up the next day and it was a totally different story! I was swollen for a while and soar for even longer- it took me about two weeks to feel normal again. Besides the fact that my jaw gets soar a little faster now, the only remnants of the surgery is a chronic feeling that I have something (aka food) stuck in the back of my mouth. I think it's just from how my gums healed though.

Egg Dying

So like everything else I blog, this is really late, but sometime in March/April, my stake had a Sadie Hawkins Dance (don't know what that is? it's ok, neither did I until about 2 weeks before- it's a casual preference (ie. girls ask the guys) dance). Our relief society president really wanted all the girls in the ward to go and as such promised that everyone in the presidency would be there (we had all agreed on that before). Generally, this is something I kind of don't ever bother with and just don't ask, but this time, I had to. I decided to ask one of my good friends in my ward. Since I never did the fun ask-the-guy-out-in-a-cute-creative-way-thing, I took the chance to make up for lost experiences and did it then! I wrote out an invite to him on a card and then cut it out into a puzzle. I was going to just put it in an envelope and then deliver it to his door, but decided it needed a little extra pizzaz. So! My roommate and I found an awesome alien cereal that I opened from the bottom and put the puzzle inside (in the cereal bag). I closed it up so it looked like it was unopened and delivered it to his apartment ding-dong-ditch style.

A couple days later, I was talking to mom on the phone and was telling her about the invite I had done and how I hadn't heard anything back from him yet. Literally as I was finishing up the story, I heard a knock on the door, as I was opening the door, mom said "hey, maybe it's his response!". [Door opened] And viola! on our door mat there was a cute little easter basket with an egg and a dye set. The pictures can explain the rest:

making the first dye

no idea what the yarn is doing there...

He had written on the egg with invisible crayon and it said YES when I dyed it! And then, we happily went to the dance a week later and had so much fun. The End.

Too Long Overdue

Like most things I do in life, I am posting this waaay later than i should. So much later that all of the excitement this may have caused if it had been posted when it should have been is probably all gone. BUT, also like most things I do, I am still posting this, even despite the lack of excitement. Enjoy.

When I first came home, mom and I took a trip into Boston to visit CRDA. It started snowing soon after our escapade began and it was coooold, but very pretty!
we've downsized alot from when all 10 of us were home for christmas!
don't be deceived, there actually was no cereal in those boxes, santa was slacking in the cereal department this christmas!
cris was very excited about his ornament!

mom and dad got scrabble for Christmas. You can see dad's enthusiasm initially above. Then, they found out it was a chocolate board, and both parties (mom and dad) were happy with that, so happy in fact that they couldn't keep themselves from just eating the whole box! (see above) [blogger isn't uploading them in the order- or else these pictures would be switched]

jamie decided to take tyson out for a run of sledding. this was the "bunny hill"


then we went to the White for a real sled hill!

I may or may not be obsessed.

Ok, ok, I am obsessed. But seriously, how can you say no to cute amazingly delicious cupcakes?! It does not get better than desserts. (Yes, I am a LaPierre...no shocker there.) Through the course of my days at work in which I get to talk to my boss about food and other fun topics (I do actually do some work too, I promise!) I found out that there are quite a few cupcake bakery shops in and around provo and I have made it my goal in life to find all of them and love them all. I started out with the first one last night. I hung out with one of my really good friends (she was in my ward last year) and we went to a place called the Cocoa Bean, as it turns out, it was like just down the street from where I lived last year (it's probably a good thing I didn't know about it until now). We got a Better Than Whatever ;) cupcake and a raspberry chocolate cheesecake cupcake and they were both SOOO good! They also make flavored hot chocolates so I got a pumpkin flavored hot chocolate. It was ok, not my favorite, but they get brownie points for the good thought and creativity.. My friend got a frozen lemonade, which was really just a smoothie and it was really really good! Needless to say, I went over to her apartment this morning and worked out for an hour with her at their gym! It was sooo worth it. Going in there makes me miss cake decorating oh so much. I can't wait until I have an unlimited supply of ingredients and my box o' tricks!

I definately recommend this place for sure, though I don't really have much to compare it to yet.

Next time, I will bring my camera to document the heavenly event. ahhh....I love food.