Politics at its Best

In my American Heritage class we're having a political ad competition. Here's the ad that I made for Mitt Romney. By choosing to make an ad for Mitt Romney, I'm not trying to inspire intense political debates between my family and friends. I'm simply trying to play to my audience, as it will be BYU students who are voting on which ad wins.

So please, take this time to appreciate my superb editing skills. You might want to take note of how seamless the editing of this song is. I even impress myself sometimes.

P.S. Sorry that it's so small. I can't figure out how to make it any bigger.

Happy belated birthday to me!

As promised, here is my Sunday night entry!

This Friday, the 28th, was my birthday! Hooray! And what better way to celebrate the 19th anniversary of my birth than with my parents? (No really. That was not sarcastic at all. I love my parents!) I was so excited to see good ol' Ma and Pa. We went to the football game that night and instead of cake had some BYU creamery ice cream. Delish. On Saturday went to see some of my siblings who live in the Utah area, namely Natalee and Kimball and their little families. It was good times. They've already left me, but it was nice to have them here for a little while.

Sadly, there are zero pictures of these events. I get so frustrated with myself. I'm so bad at taking pictures. It doesn't even cross my mind to take pictures of things half the time. I guess I'll just have to get into the habit. To console you about the lack of photo documentation of this weekend, here's some photo documentation that I went to kindergarten. I was as cute as a button. :)

September in a blog entry.

I feel I owe all of my readers a very sincere apology. It's been almost a month since my last post, and some of you have been after me about posting again. I'm going to make an honest effort to post something on here every Sunday night. I realize that in the blogging sphere, consistency is key, and I'm sorry that I have fallen short there for a little while.

If you've been wondering what I've been up to in the last month, here's a succinct photo and video summary of just where I've been. :)

I've gone to school.

I've been attending school. Shocker, I know. But sometimes class isn't quite like you would expect it to be. Especially when you're taking American Heritage from Dr. Patterson. Here he is with the cheerleaders trying to learn the cheer to the school's fight song. I think he was making some kind of point with it, but who knows.

I've gone to RHA orientation.

This is me at the top of Ensign Peak in Salt Lake City. 

Hello, Urban Outfitters. Nice to see you too.

These are pictures I took when I went to Salt Lake on the 7th and 8th of September. I was recruited last minute into a group called RHA (Residence Halls Association). My council is responsible for putting on activities for those living in the Helaman halls. In all, that's 2000 residents we're responsible for. We spent the weekend training and bonding in Salt Lake City. We hiked Ensign Peak, did some training in the BYU's Salt Lake City Center, and went to the Gateway mall for lunch, where I saw my first Urban Outfitters. I was pretty stoked. And then I got made fun of for never having seen an Urban Outfitters before. The pains of being from Wyoming.  

I've gone to Hokulia.

What is that thing, you ask? It's the biggest shaved ice you'll ever encounter. Unless you buy the large, which is even bigger than that. It's from a little shave ice stand called Hokulia, which is about a two second walk from where I live. Yeah... I've got a punch card and everything. 

I've gone back to my roots.

Last weekend I went on a trip to Salt Lake with my friend Samantha. I think I might have freaked her out a little bit with just how excited I was to see a Bennion Jewelers. We went in and talked a little genealogy with the nice lady. For those of you who care, she's from Sam. She told me to come back when I'm engaged and she'd give me the family discount. Score!

We spent the rest of our Saturday at City Creek mall. After all was said and done I had a full tummy, two new dresses, a new pair of jeans, and a little less money than I started out with. What more could a girl ask for? It was a long day (totaling 4 hours on trains and busses) but it was some good times. :)

Labor Day Weekend!

Hip hip hooray for Labor Day! I further integrated myself into BYU culture this Labor Day Weekend by partaking in two things that every BYU student must do at least once. I went tunnel singing and hiked the Y.

1) Allow me to explain about the tunnel singing. BYU has a tradition of singing hymns in the tunnel by the Mariott Center at 10:00 on Sunday nights. I'm glad I went, but I don't know that I'll be a regular attendee. An hour of singing is a little long for me. And maybe they could cut back on the seven verse hymns. Seems reasonable to me... But just to give you an idea of how many people were actually there, check this picture out!

There had to have been at least 200 people there that night. It was awesome to hear that many voices singing together. It was definitely worth going to at least once.

2) I think I would be okay with it if I never have to hike the Y again. It was awful. What's up with these boys who are waaay too gung-ho about just getting to the top? I thought half the fun was in the getting there? It doesn't work that way when you sprint up the trails and never look back. So I ended up hiking up with some girls whose pace didn't make me nauseous, and we made it! Slowly but surely. But, even with my slow and easy pace I'm still sore in muscles I didn't know I have today.

The view from halfway up as the sun rises behind us on the mountain. So romantic. Too bad I was sweaty and gross.

The view from the Y. You can tell it took me a long time because the sun is up now.

And that big white thing everybody's sitting on is the Y. We made it!!

I would call it a successful Labor Day weekend. Which is good, because the next break we have isn't until Thanksgiving, but I guess that just gives me something to look forward to. 

A week in the life of...

So, it's official. I got through my first week of classes at BYU. And let me tell you, it took FOREVER. Longest week ever, no kidding. But it wasn't all bad. In fact, I think it was mostly good. Not once did I get lost on my way to class, which I think is quite the accomplishment. Did I look like a little bit of an idiot with my nose in a map the first couple of days? Yes, but it worked so I feel no shame.

Because nobody wants to hear a play by play blow of my first week here, I'll just give you the highlights.

Monday: Fist day of classes and also our first FHE. (For those of you who don't know, FHE is for Family Home Evening. It's what they call the monday night activities here. Most Mormon families have family activities in their homes on Monday nights, and they try to continue that in the college wards.) Anyways... Monday was our first FHE in which I proved myself to be relatively useless in trivia games.

Tuesday: Second day of classes. My first day in Introduction to Ballet. We'll have to see if they can't make a ballerina of me.

Wednesday: I attended a pretty rad dance that my cousin Ryan invited me to. Picture this: 25 people dancing like maniacs in the living room of an already funny smelling boy's apartment. Need I say more? It was a blast. This is also where I was first exposed to a poster that may have changed my life.

It's an ad for a brand called French Connection, and I approve. Do I get it? Not necessarily, but I like it and that is all that matters. 

Thursday: First football game!

Check out those seats! It was awesome. And there I am in my Cougar wear. It was a white out.

Friday: I went to the International Cinema and watched Nora's Will. It was a movie from Mexico, and I thought it was pretty good. I was with Ryan and some of his friends again. I had a really great time.

So, in summary my conclusion after my first week of college life is that... it's not college life. It's The Life. ;)

5 things I've learned about BYU

So, I've been down at the Y for a couple of days now, and I have to say, it's been a lot of fun so far. Right now I'm alone in my dorm room writing on my blog, but what can I say? I can only take so much socialization in one day. But don't despair! Soon I will go out and see the human race again. But for now, I'm taking the time to tell you a few of the things I have learned in my experience here thus far.


5. Boys in colored pants? Girls in ultra skinny jeans and oversized glasses? Yup, everybody here is more stylish than you. Of course there is the stray odd ball in just a simple t-shirt, but really, they take their fashion seriously here. I just hope I can keep up. Where I hail from, I thought I was on the cutting edge. And then I saw these wardrobes.

4. Blame it on the altitude. But seriously, the reason I failed so miserably on my attempted run must have had something to do with the change in altitude. Let us hope. It was pathetic.

3. If it's not the altitude's fault, it's the humidity's. I begin my days looking so cute and come home to see that my hair is so frizzy it's triangular shaped. Something is going to have to be done about that.

2. The people here are super friendly. Coming from Powell, it seemed strange that nobody would make eye contact when I passed them on the sidewalk, but once I got over that and talked to people I realized that they're all just genuinely nice, even if they need to work on making eye contact with strangers.


1. This school is one I can be proud of. The teams, cheerleaders, and mascot are awesome. Back home, the Powell Panther usually just does a lot of fist pumping, but Cosmo's out there jumping around doing backflips and cartwheels and crap. He looks like he belongs on a gymnastics team somewhere, and that's something to be proud of.


Even with the humidity and my newfound fashion insecurities, I know I made the right choice to come to BYU. I've loved being around so many people with my same beliefs and values. This really is a school that's one of a kind. The students at this school all have so much ambition and potential, and I'm excited to be a part of that. The future is so bright.

Adulthood

You know you're officially a BYU student when you have your student ID, books, room key, and rape whistle. That's right, rape whistle. It came complimentary with the dorm room. Score! And just when I thought BYU was a safe place, I had to get a free rape whistle and hear about Chester the Molester from my mom. Apparently he made a real splash in the 70's. Be careful on the ramp.

Aside from that little let down, today was very productive. The following is photo evidence that I did indeed do the things I am claiming to have done.

I reaffirmed to myself that I truly am an adult by registering to vote and subsequently voting.

Then it was off to Provo. You'll notice I am wearing the wrong school shirt. What can I say? I like to have my small rebellions.

Then it was time to get settled in on campus, complete with my student ID, room and mail keys, and rape whistle. Not pictured are my purchases at the BYU bookstore, which included a proper BYU t-shirt and text books. Goodbye, summer savings. :(

But in the end, it's been a great day. Tomorrow I'll spend my first night in the dorms and reaffirm to myself yet again that I really am an adult.