Fraud At It's Finest

Miss Ally Boo and I decided to pull a mediocre prank on Mr. Alex from apartment 11 (the men in our complex that we continually harass). Ally had this little gem of a fake parking ticket, which we placed blatantly underneath the windshield of Alex's truck. Here's our plan.

1. He sees the note from a distance.

2. He pees his pants.

3. He runs to the note and reads it.

4. Realizes the note is fake.

5. His day is made. 

And that my friends, is how you give away fake parking tickets correctly. 

Malawi's Pizza

This place is yuuuuummmmm. 

Jake and I got:

-Spinach PizZA

-mEaTLovErs PiZza

-ApPLe cRuMbLe pIzZA

-WHiTe pEaCh sOdA

-vAniLLa CrEaM Soda

It was DELICIOUS! Plus they have this whole jungle theme going on inside. Super classy. Oh and the bathrooms.....GORGEOUS! You wouldn't think that a bathroom could be but I'm serious. I would pay money to use this bathroom. Marble countertops, mini chandeliers, great color scheme, it has a completely different feel than the rest of the restaurant yet it doesn't feel out of place. Weird. Would I recommend this joint? 

OH to the YEAH to the BABY.

I Love To See The Temple

One of my goals for this Semester has been to attend the Temple once a week. As I have stuck to this goal, I have seen the blessings FLOOD into my life. 

THIS IS THE HOUSE OF THE LORD!

I am so grateful to live in a town so close to so many Temples! This is a blessing that I will not take for granted. 

There is no better way to start a day. :)

Let The Guessing Begin

This Past General Conference, I prepared a list of question to be answered. First on the list, was.....

"Should I begin preparing to serve a Mission when I turn 21?"

Saturday morning, I knelt down and prayed in my bedroom asking this very question, right before the start of the first session.

By the time I finished my prayer President Monson was already on the screen, exclaiming that he had an announcement. He then proceeded to tell us that the ages for serving missions in the church were now changed to 18 versus 19 for Men and 19 versus 21 for Women. 

WHAAAAAAAAATTTTTT????!!!!!!!

I was expecting such a direct response to my prayer. Yet it came. I did not want to jump to any conclusions, I still wasn't throughly convinced that a mission was for me. I determined that I would listen intently through out the rest of the sessions and then make my decision. 

I attended the Sunday Morning Session at the Conference Center in Salt Lake. For the Intermediate Hymn we all stood up and sang "Called To Serve". 

That's when I knew. 

I have put in my Mission papers and I am eagerly awaiting my call! The gospel of Jesus Christ is the JOY of my heart and my SOUL! I feel incredibly blessed to know of it's truthfulness. Nothing could be more fulfilling than sharing this joy and happiness with others. I could not be more excited for this opportunity!!! So excited that I went and bought a map of the World today just for fun.

Let the guessing begin!

Zombie Apocalypse Run

 It's the ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!!!

Not really.....but it was fun pretending for this 5K!

It all went down in the Provo Canyon where we all got numbers and two flags to attach to our body. Some runners signed up as Zombies, and other just as Runners. 

When the starting bell rang the runners took off and passed all of the "Zombies" in a cage along the trail. About three or four minutes after the initial bell rang, a second bell rang releasing the Zombies.

The goal was to make it to the end without getting "bitten" by the Zombies (having them pull off your flag).

I am happy to say that WE ALL MADE IT SAFELY TO THE FINISH LINE!! 

Well...all of us except for Jake. But that was only because he was antagonizing the Zombies while "protecting" Jessica and I. Basically he asked for it. 

I'm surprised he we didn't go home with a battery charge. He was charging people, slapping their hands away when they were trying to grab our flags while making animal noises....we don't really know what got in to him. 

Maybe it was the HUMONGOUS burritos full of potatoes that I bought us for dinner right before the race....in my defense I didn't realize how late it was. 

That was most definitely one of the worst ideas I've ever had. 

Overall it was a great run!!
We even got free t-shirts saying whether we were Infected or Survivors! Two thumbs up for 5k's!!! Five million thumbs down to eating a burrito full of steak and potatoes right before them. 

A Self-Proclaimed Rave

Miss Nico Bori Bo is turning 20!!
We decided to throw her our own mini self-proclaimed Rave....surprisingly it didn't turn out too shabby! We removed all our furniture, covered the walls with plastic, wrote on the plastic with glow in the dark paint and splattered paint with glow sticks. We had glow sticks for everyone to wear, drinks, and a glow in the dark cake. 

She was shocked! But, more importantly she had a blast! Besides the homemade bomb that someone set off...things didn't get too out of hand. Yet another successful surprise party.
I should really start charging for these things.

Frankenstein & His Bride

*Disclaimer: I may or may not have a huge, fatty crush on Halloween. 

Ok so we may have gone just a *tad* bit over the top...

 It's my third favorite Holiday, cut me some slack!

We ran the BYU Halloween Spooktacular event so we had a good excuse...

 We did it for the children!

Ok, ok, honestly and truly it was as much for me as it was for the children. We had a BLAST though. Can't wait to see what next year will bring! ;)

Cosi Fan Tutte

First things first...it was bound to be an off day when I decided to put my hair in a pony tail AND wear a headband. Who am I?!! I never do this. I should have known the day was jinxed as soon as I pulled the mane attached to my head back into that elastic band....bad idea. 

Second things second...Jake and I are both taking Music 101 to pass off for our GE's. Part of our grade comes from attending concerts that play Classical Music. Normally we'll go to a Piano Concert featuring a student or to a nice Chamber Orchestra concert, ya know the norm for these sorts of tre fancy things. We decided to switch it up a bit and attend the opera Cosi Fan Tutte instead for our next Concert Assignment....bad...bad...bad...idea. 

In all fairness, it wasn't the acting or the singing that was terrible, it was the O B N O X I O U S length of the whole shebang. We were there for THREE AND A HALF HOURS! It was ridiculous! After spending all day on campus going to class, working, and studying, this was possibly the worst idea in the history of all time ever. 

Do you know how much could have been done in THREE AND A HALF HOURS?!!! I could have made a three course meal for a homeless family, taken seven power naps, dreaded my hair, or even traveled to an entirely different state. 

But no....we were too busy sitting through an Opera that slowly drained out all hope in the world. The cutest baby ever to grace this planet could not have even come close to making me smile by the time this thing was over. I was literally ready to climb in a Tank and blow up anything smiling, singing, breathing, or wearing an extravagant white wig. 

After a much needed power nap and an extensive summation of sheer will power, I am able to say that I am a proud survivor of Cosi Fan Tutte.
Lesson Learned.

Why My Roomies Love Me

On this lovely Thursday afternoon, a fine young chap came a knockin' on our door with this little gem. Nothing says Provo, Utah Single Adult Ward like a hog-lolly-hootin-nanny Service Auction!! Of course I signed my Roommates up to serve because I knew they wouldn't want to miss out on this opportunity.

Nico Bori Bo: Personalized song accompanied with Acoustic Guitar

Kelsey: Personalized Poem

Chelsea: Brownies

Ally Boo Boo: Double Date spent watching Zoolander

*This is why they love me* ;)   

Diggin' Deep Into Our Amurican Roots

If Provo were a good ole Southern home cooked meal, Station 22 would be Momma's fresh out da oven Cornbread. Their menu really ain't all that fancy, it's just the regulars. You can go get you some sweet potaters, Hushpuppies, Jack Kerouacs and even Design your own Root Boor Float. 

Jake found this little gem and he is mighty proud a' that. Anytime we get an itchin' to dig deep into our Amurican Roots, this is where we'll be. From the burlap covered utensils to the mason jars we drankin' from. Best. Place. Ever.

Brilliant, Talented & Fabulous

"Assisting individuals in their quest for Perfection and Eternal Life." 

That is the mission statement of the beautiful University that I attend. Some days I look at the never ending workload and wonder what I'm even doing here. Am I truly feeding a hunger for knowledge or am I simply learning how to study and take tests in a two to four month period of time as I memorize and then forget. What am I actually retaining? 

I might as well become a welder or a chandelier maker or a very pricey gypsy that charges bookoo bucks for palm reading and start saving up, right?...Wrong.

As I walked through campus today I realized that I am trying. The act of simply seeking for more knowledge is an accomplishment within itself. I am grateful for the workload, and I will lugg it around with a smile. Even though a world traveling caravan including bright colors, painted fingernails and obnoxious hoop earrings does sound enticing....I am content with Provo. 

I love this University, and I love the freedom that I have to work towards perfection and Eternal Life. What an incredible blessing it is to attend a University that encourages these goals!

 Even though, it can be hard at times, I will smile, because life is a beautiful thing, filled with so much to smile about. And when I feel like an inbred and mindless cavewoman drowning in a sea full of good-looking geniuses, asking myself "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?"...I will tell myself "Who am I not to be?" 

Addiction

Confession: I kind of sort of have a weakness. It's not ladylike, it's not healthy and it's dangerous. 

I AM ADDICTED TO FOOD!!!

On this fetching Saturday morning, Jake and I decided to try the All You Can Eat French Toast at Kneaders after our Temple Trip. 

It was

{ D I V I N E }

Seriously,so mouth-wateringly, scrumdiddlyumptiously delicious. Accompany it with a croissant and wash it down with a glass of OJ and you'd be finished too. Jake had to drag/roll me out the door. Once you get going on these bad boys, it's just so hard to stop. 

{ A D D I C T I O N }

It's real.

1920's Homecoming

Alright, I'll admit...I was a tad bit nervous to go to a BYU Homecoming. What would it be like? Would it be anything similar to the sweaty and risque hip movements of the typical hormonal teens in High school who think they're oh so sexy....or would it be couples swaying awkwardly back and forth clutching Book of Mormon's in between them while they crack jokes about holding the Priesthood?...I'm not quite sure which one of these would be worse...

I am happy to pleased to report that this Homecoming was none of the above. It was the {E P I T O M E} of classiness. There were fuzzy dranky dranks, photo spots, fancy coat racks, a live jazz band and carriage rides! We even ran into Jake's older brother Justin and his lovely wife Meghan. The night was a raging success!....Really any night that allows me to get out my full sequin disco ball dress is a raging succes. 

The Hallowed Eve

Just a little Halloween Decor for the Homestead.

Momma taught me well.

I'm hoping this means we can hold off on the whole "cleaning" thing for awhile. ;)

Mystery Box

Today at work a Ginormo Y Box was delivered to our Office with my name on it! What the dump!I open it....and....there's two Homecoming Tickets in it for this weekend!! Then Jake comes around the corner with some gorgeous white roses. Who is this kid??? I don't know how he comes up with this stuff...but I'm  not complaining. ;)

Hoob. A. Stanky.

How I always end up at the most random concerts, is beyond me...take for example, my very first concert at the Amway Arena...Phil Collins. Don't get me wrong, Phil Collins is quite the gem. I loved singing along to "You'll Be In My Heart" reminiscing about the good ole day spent watching Tarzan while I swayed back and forth with the middle aged. It was the best of times....it was the worst of times. I am also yet to attend another concert with quite so many wheelchairs.

Ok I lied. I do know how I end up at the Hoobastank concert, Phil is still a mystery, but as far as Hoobastanky is concerned, our friends The Lovecapades were opening for them. 

So of course we made the trek out to Salt Lake to come and support. The funny part was Mickey, the blondie featured in the second from the bottom left photo, is a HUGE Hoobastank fan!

He knew ALL of the words, and eventually ditched us to move to the front row where the lead singer gave him a shout out for knowing all the words and singing along to their newest songs.

And the #1 Fan Award goes too.....MICKEY SCHAERTL!!!

Here comes the even funnier part. The rest of us, not being as diehard as Mickey, left the concert a little early to go grab some Applebee's at The Gateway. We forgot to tell Mickey we were doing this, since the lead singer was giving him his own personal concert in the front row (He probably wouldn't have really heard us anyways, Hoobastanky is too mesmerizing). As we get our desserts we realize that Mickey's not with us, and his phone died earlier at the concert. Glenny Boo and Nico ran the go find him and eventually spotted him sitting alone on a car outside the concert. 

And the worst friends ever award goes to...TABLE OF SIX!!

Mickey hasn't hung out with us since that night............Just kidding. He forgave us, probably because he was still on a Hoobastank high. Jammin' out to "The Reason" really takes it outta ya. 

General Conference

 Two of my favorite times of year are when we get to hear from the Leaders of our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It doesn't get much better than this folks. Time to get some Soul Food on. 

 Jake had never been to Conference so I managed to snag us some tickets and get him down there without telling him exactly what we were doing....I'm sure he had it figured out from the beginning, but he played along. We started off with Music and the Spoken Word.....

...The view from our seats...

I would not have wanted to be anywhere else. I truly love this church and the inspired words that the Apostles and Prophet prepared for us to listen too. There is power and peace that comes with heeding their counsel. If you ever have a spare moment click here and look these good ole boys up. They won't let you down and you won't regret it!

Halloween Cruisin'

When you live in Provo, you go on lots of these things called "Group Dates". This one actually turned out to be pretty shnazzy. Definitely a tad bit on the ghetto fab side, but still way fun! 

So they have this entire place decked out with decorations for The Hallowed Eve. You walk through wide eyed and bushy tailed, until you reach the lake featured above in the bottom middle photo. THE LAKE LOOKED AWESOME!

They had all these lights strung above it, and some serious jack-o-lanterns lining the sides of the lake that meant business. These were not your average jack-o-lanterns. The jack-o designers must have spent weeks on those things. Impressive stuff. 

As we boarded our "cruise ship" we had a pirate tell us spooky stories while he "sailed us" down the lake, and by sailed I mean pulled us along, using the string above his head that ran along the length of the entire lake....Like I said, ghetto fab but surprisingly effective.

I'm thoroughly convinced that most of these "Group dates" are just an excuse for hormonal singles to get together and touch each other, which definitely happened for some of the other lovely couples that accompanied us on the cruise. Jake and I prefer to keep it classy so nothing past G rated of course.

After all, it is Provo. 

Full Moon Lift

So here's the skinny. Every Full Moon, Sundance opens up the Lift. You go allll the way up, and then allll the way back down again. It's actually a pretty extensive trip. Lovely view, good company, you would think it would be peaceful, right?

Wrong.

The two DoDo brains in our lift (Jake and I) couldn't figure out how to put the safety bar down, as we're going higher and higher up the mountain. I am freaking out at this point, holding on the bars behind me with a crazed look in my eves, every muscle in my arms is screaming for mercy, and I am one hundred percent focused on NOT dying, so of course there is no conversation. Poor Jake. But hey, there was no way I was going to fall off that lift. 

None. 

Eventually I lose it, slightly decrease my death grip and start pulling on every bar my arms can reach like a Mad Woman. The closest equivalent would probably be a blind gorilla, grasping for monkey bars above a pit of FIRE! I was not doing okay. Families, couples, groups of friends would pass by us and there bar was down! What was wrong with ours? Was it broken? I then start to holler at the people passing by..It started with belligerent accusations like "Who do you think you are with your bar down like that?"...and turned into pathetic pleading..."HELP US PLEASE!" On a side note, some of this may or may not be an exaggeration...it all seems a little hazy now...

That's right.

Things were getting serious. Something...probably divine inspiration, inspired me to look up. What do I see? The safety bar. Yep. Like I mentioned earlier two DoDo's were riding the lift so it shouldn't be surprising that we missed it. We pulled that stupid bar down and enjoyed the rest of the ride down which wasn't very much considering I spent 60% of the ride playing the raving lunatic. I captured this quick snapshot as we approached our landing. Super blurry, but I figured such a stressful event should be documented. Story of my life.

Ridiculous.

The Zombie Shamble

 These three Lovelies and I saw a random ad to audition for a Zombie music video. So of course we auditioned. Who doesn't have "Be in a Zombie Music Video" on their weird College To-Do list? When we got to the auditions, they had us do a Zombie, walk,run, shuffle, shamble...who even knows what a zombie shamble is? We sure didn't. They also taped us making a Zombie happy, sad and excited face. 
Did we know what we were doing? Heck to the no. We all just made it up as we went and surprisingly enough we made it into the video!! First we had our makeup done in a random art warehouse in Salt Lake. There were some hardcore Zombie fans there and some hardcore makeup artists as well. If you think Oatmeal looks gross in a bowl, wait until you see it mixed with fake blood and guts on someone's face. SICKNASTY! We then had our wardrobes cut and dirtied to sufficiency.

Unfortunately the goons in charge of this video had us arrive HOURS early. So we sat around for a few hours taking a bunch of Zombie Selfies until finally we started shooting the video which you can find here. Now we've officially checked "Zombie Music Video" off the list. 
Was it fun? Yes. 
Did we make some dang good lookin' Zombies? Yes. 
Will we ever do it again? I'm gonna say that's a negative ;)

The Chocolate

The Birthday Celebration is of course not over yet. Next on the list...The Chocolate!!

I feel like this place is kind of the Red Headed Stepchild off State Street. Instead of being in a posh building, it's set in this random house you can see from the main road. Weird, right? The inside is adorable though. Has this hometown cottagey, Momma's in the kitchen bakin' you some fritters kinda feel.

I always mess the name of what we ate up. It's either a Kazuki or a Kabuki. One of those options is an ancient form of Japanese dance...when I told people I was eating that, people were concerned. I can assure you I am not a cannibal, nor can I eat dance moves. Anyways, this dish was YumM! The bottom layer is half Chocolate Macadamia Nut and half Chocolate Chip topped with Vanilla Ice Cream.

In the end, we couldn't even finish it in all of it's fame and deliciousness. Super YuMm, but also super sweet. We topped what we could off with a glass of Milk and went on our merry way. It was a grand way to kick off the Weekend Festivities. You only turn 20 once right?

20 Years Young

Today marks the spot. 20 years young. My morning was kicked off with this lovely bouquet from Jake. He's getting good as picking these things out!

He then surprised me after classes with homemade mozzarella and tomato panini's, cheese and crackers, Martinelli's, chocolate eclairs, french bread and a chocolate Toblerone bar that he brought in a picnic basket and laid out on a blanket next to the duck pond. IT WAS DELICIOUS!! 

These ladies then surprised me! Fancy decorations, Happy Birthday Song, Fancy little straws from Zurchers and all!

They even had a Snickers Ice Cream Cake! YuMmO!

I then ended the night at the Provo Temple. Not bad for a 20th birthday, eh? 

Dining on Doughnuts

Here they are folks. The famous Bacon Maple Bars and Oreo Cream Glazed Doughnuts. They are not a figment of your imagination. They are very real and very delicious. I'm sure they're also very fattening, but.....I'm not gonna worry about that now. ;)

I'll never forget the time that I was eating a harmless brownie at a Youth activity. One of the older sisters briskly walked towards me with a frown on her face and told me "Remember Ana, one second on the lips, forever on the hips." Maybe one day I'll take her wise advice. Today is not that day.

The Fish Bandwagon

Recently we all jumped on the "Let's have a fish" bandwagon. Mckay and Nicole spent quality time hand picking specific fish for each of us to name, and raise as our own flesh and blood. After the trying naming process was complete, we found em all a bowl and excitedly started our new life complete with the additions to our little family. 

The next morning we wake up, and BAM!!!!! THERE'S A DEAD FISH FLOATING ON TOP OF THE WATER! Day after day the fish continue to die...one...by...one. At this point we start to get a little freaked out. What is the problem with these fish? Are we really just pitiful parents? Or is there a fish epidemic going around? Turns out Jeff (Kelsey's fish) is a fish killer. He mercilessly killed his brothers and sisters and didn't even lose sleep over it. Who knows what he will do next or what he is capable of. At this point, no one is safe. We had to take immediate action.

With this new light shed on the situation, of course we were forced to put him up for adoption and hand him over to a family that could better address his needs. We stuck him in a bowl, wrote up the classiest note we could muster and dropped him off at the most eligible parents house, Apartment 11. We are now able to sleep fully through the night. From this experience, we have all learned that the "Let's have a fish" bandwagon is NOT the bandwagon that you want to be on. 

Roomie Lovin'

Here they are Ladies and Gents. The lovely ladies in Apartment 8 that I get to live with.

It's crazy how six people from all over the United States, were meant to be roommates.

Meet Nicole Ophelia Bori. Less than five feet of party animal. This woman amazes me with her ability to organize. She will go and go and go, playing volleyball, working out, going caving, running Ragnar in Las Vegas, dancing the night away and who knows what else, and somehow STILL manages to finish all her assignments from school. Against all of her wishes, I have nicknamed her Ofetus, which came to me as inspiration from her middle name. She is 100% reliable, loyal, creative and always cooks us yummy foods. You can't go wrong with Ofetus.

Meet Chelsea Bartof Rouse. If you ever need to wake her up for something, you might as well go bury yourself in a ditch. This lady will sleep through the apocalypse and wake up in the next life wondering what happened. She just got in to the Nursing program because she is a BEAST! It's not every day that you meet looks and smarts all in one. She is one long legged Idahoan with a huge heart on the inside and a hand holding a full spoon of ice cream on the outside. I love her guts.

Meet Ally Boo Boo Holmes. She is the apartment Hipster, Ginger, Occasional Vegetarian or Vegan, Videographer, Gourmet Chef, Future for World Peace, etc. The list goes on and on. All cool points in this apartment would have to be from her. Ally Boo Boo has to be the most considerate lady in the world. If any of us need anything, she is always more than willing to drop everything that she is doing and lend a helping hand. She da bomb. She's attempting to leave us next semester to teach English in a foreign country. If she leaves, we'll miss her terribly :(

Meet Kelsey Rae Partridge. She can write one heck of a poem, leaving you in a thought provoking stupor with her perfectly crafted word usage and placement. She rocks. Kelsey Boo was actually the Wildcard of the apartment. She was the only person moving in that we didn't know beforehand. AND WE LOVE HER! She adds some flair to the apartment that definitely would have been missed without her. 

Meet Mckay Des Neiges Lindsey. A blondie from New Mexico. She is loud, and proud, quirky and smirky, and one heck of a writer as well. This past semester we all got to help her audition for Divine Comedy, a popular comedy group here at BYU. And of course, SHE MADE IT IN!! Mckaykay here is one fine lady who knows how to bake cinnamon rolls that will make yo' taste buds melt, and spike a volleybal that will make yo' eyes melt. She's a running machine and often kicks us all into shape, and who knows what we would do if we the apartment didn't have access to her straightener...it's quite possible that we would die a slow and painful death while sporting an horrendous hairdo. We all appreciate this lady.

And...then there's me. 

Bringing some opinionated sass and way too much stuff all the way from La Florida, with hair that cannot be tamed and a wardrobe that leaks into every open closet in the apartment. Appreciator of inappropriate jokes, instigator of awkward situations, and good for a laugh every once in a while when my jokes are on point.

Let's just say Apartment 8 knows how to party.