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.

what we learn in college.

strike anywhere matches...perfect for cakes!

good bye shoes

i should be packing right now. instead, i'm lamenting my semi-recent losses. i had to trash them before i left to come back home and have missed them oh so much since. these pictures do not do them justice...the flats were gross and the boots were so uneven on the heels that they hurt to walk in too much to be worth wearing. so before i threw them away, i thought i'd do a little photoshoot with them before i let them go.the goods to go to the trash...i ended up keeping the red ones. they should be trashed but i cannot part with them until i find replacements.
really, these were gross, you can't tell right here, but half the sole was unattached to the bottom and they were just in bad shape, but i probably could have kept them a little longer.
ok these on the other hand were soooo uncomfortable. i don't know what is wrong with me but somehow when i walk i shave the outside of the soles of my shoes, i have that problem with all of my shoes, but these are the most dramatic, probably because i wore them the most. anyways, it got so bad that walking in them just did not work anymore, it was just not fun. plus these shoes have always been a few sizes too big so put the two together and they were ready to go to the trash. but i miss them mucho. like alot alot. as in, i'm going to find new ones when i go back. these were my staple shoes, i wore them almost every day.
next to the dumpster i put them in. as i was taking this picture i think i got some weird looks, i felt a little awkward taking it, but i did anyways. i know i'm weird.

a sneek peak?

ok, ok. i know i'm, bad at blogging. i will be up here again soon for a much longer blog! in fact, there has been talk of a possible trip to the roof of my building at work for a sweet photo shoot of the city from above. prob wishful thinking, but i'll think my wishes as long as i can. anyways, if that's not happening, there are plans for a city photoshoot in the works, i just have to figure out when. and some delightfully delish snacks are in the works too. but none of this is certain. ahhh!!! only nine days left and of course i feel the sudden urge to get everything done that i never did! oh if days were only 24 hours longer!!

anyways, while we're waiting on those delightful treats i was talking about, feast on this:

look delish eh? no worries, it was.

better late than never?

i never ended up posting this. so here it is, our family get together at the hills last year!






bryce, this is for you!


blurry but too funny not to put up!

cousins!...also modeling their dartmouth shirts here!

the boys were playing with transformers (at least i think they were transformers)







behind tanner are the cute decorations betsy (and others?) made for the occassion
the table settings





this one is kind of blurry, but was too funny not to post. (above)