things as of late

yesterday I got this text (5 times in a row for some reason...):

um, YES please! if you live here, you know that great harvest is the best bread you can get. 

mmm mmm mmmmm.

and guess what's right next to great harvest?

ohhh ya knoww... just JAMBA JUICE.

I mean, I had to go. it was right next door, AND I needed to use the rest of my gift card.

(RIP jamba gift card... you were so good to me...)

anyway, I was a happy pappy. :)

part of the reason I love jamba juice is just because of how pretty it is:

isn't it just fresh and happy looking?!

by the time I hit up both establishments, I had honey whole wheat bread, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, a sample of 9 grain bread with butter and honey on it, AND a pumpkin smash smoothie.

:D

happiness.

oh, and remember when this tragedy happened?

well, one of my awesome roomies allison BOUGHT ME A REPLACEMENT CARIBBEAN PASSION that same day!

AND in a bigger size.

she's amazing. basically.

all was well. :)

also, earlier this week was jordan's surprise birthday party! the big 2-0 baby!

it was good times. I love this lady. she and rochelle and I have been good friends since freshman year and although we don't live together anymore, we still try to take classes together and hang out. :)

 me, jordan, rochelle, and olivia

I love her so much!

in other news:

we watched the lovely bones last night. so creeeeeeeeeeeepyyyyyyyyyyy.

I took a 4 hour nap today. no big.

I went lazer-tagging tonight for the first time since like, 5th grade! so fun!

HALLOWEEN DANCE TOMORROW!!!

I. love. dances. :D

have to study a ton tomorrow before said dance... lame. :(

well anyway.

hope your halloween weekend is magical!
make sure to spook yourself out a ton and have so much FUN!!
it's gone before you know it!

in exactly one month...

...I will be TWENTY-ONE!

ahhhhhhhhhhh!!

Things as They Really Are

I remember when Elder Bednar gave this amazing talk. The apostles have such incredible insight. I just want to listen to them speak 24/7. I'm so grateful for them!! Gah I will stop before I get all sappy and long-winded and emotional. I was so excited to see that his talk was made into a mormonmessages video - my favorite!

"My beloved brothers and sisters, to be encircled about eternally in the arms of His love will be a real, and not a virtual, experience."

3 weeks down.

remember how I'm not on facebook anymore?

remember how I don't miss it AT. ALL?

remember how that last fact is like the biggest miracle of all time?

okay, I will admit that on probably 2 occasions I missed being able to facebook stalk certain people... but I was able to use my roommates to help me do that for 5 minutes and then I was off! YES!

it's so crazy how I don't even crave it. I thought I would just crave it all the time. but I don't even care about it right now!

that's not to say my life has all of a sudden become the most productive thing in the world... because my productivity level is probably the same.

HOWEVER... I do feel calmer. more confident. and I waste time watching the news now instead of being on facebook. that's a better time waster I think. ;)

hooray! let's see how much longer this lasts. there's no goal in sight - I just knew it was something I needed to do for a time. how long that time is I have no clue.

hope your tuesday was lovely. here are some inspiring words I thought of as I purchased yet another chocolate extreme blizzard tonight:

:) and with that, I am off to do something productive!

randomness from the iphone

 

my roommate's name shows up a lot in children's literature.

the crafty section of the byu bookstore gets me every time. all those glorious note cards decorated in perfect paper and glitter!
I. WANT. EVERYTHING!

after trying on my roomie allison's glasses.. I decided that my resolve to get them is greater than ever. the thought of being able to see right up to the very moment I decide to actually fall asleep instead of being blind for half an hour before bed is..... beautiful.

this is in the byu museum of art. a sculpture of books, people! I could stare at it all day and wonder how it..... is.

thanks to pinterest, I learned that I can turn my toaster sideways and make a DELICIOUS grilled cheese in half the time!

I also learned that I need to set a plate next to the toaster to catch said grilled cheese. :)

saw this at wally world the other day. did anyone else have this exact same toy when they were little??? it kind of made my life.

the only thing truly getting sadie and I through life miiiiight be the frequent blizzard runs to the dairy queen in our backyard...

CHOCOLATE EXTREME ALL THE WAY!!

what? I'm supposed to be writing a paper right now? oh...

:)

17 miracles.

oh my wordy word word.

today I watched 17 miracles for the first time.

it's about a specific group of LDS pioneers that crossed the plains, and it showcases recorded miracles (thanks to journals) that happened, as well as all the incredible hardships they went through.

IT WAS SO GOOD.

please go see it now. I was sobbing by the end.

it's one of those movies that makes you so. grateful. for your life and your blessings..

and it also makes you feel so. dumb. for ever complaining about anything.

it was just amazing. I'm so grateful to the pioneers who sacrificed everything for the gospel and the growth of the church. I can't even begin to express how much this touched me.

GOOO SEEEE ITTTTT.

KariElle

so I have this awesome friend named kari. she and I go back to 8th grade... her family had just moved into town (in surprise, az) and she always tells me I was her first friend. :) therefore, we was TIGHT. I moved to alabama 2 years after we met, but luckily we reunited at BYU and even lived together last summer, just the 2 of us in a wee little apartment. :) well, on wednesday my wonderful friend kari went into the MTC (mission training center)!!! it's where LDS missionaries go to get their training before they go to their actual mission area. in the MTC they learn new languages and basically learn how to share the gospel every day for 2 years :) (well, 18 months for female missionaries). I'm so excited for kari and I know she's going to be an INCREDIBLE missionary! she was called to serve in the california oakland/san francisco mission at the oakland temple visitor's center, spanish speaking! ain't that a mouthful. :) I know she's going to be amazing. she was born to serve. :)

before she went into the MTC, we (she and her family and friends) ate breakfast at magleby's! YUUMMM!!

 

me with the wonderful lady herself!

I got raspberry and chocolate chip pancakes. Um. yeah. and with their IN.CRE.DI.BLE. homemade syrup that tastes like powdered sugar on crack?! let me die now. it was heaven.

after magleby's, we drove to the provo temple (which is right by the MTC) to take pictures.

seeing the fall colors on the mountain is the coolest thing EVERRR

the provo temple!

I really love this girl.

it is so weird that she's old enough to go on a mission!! I feel like we should still be in 8th grade.

kari and all the ladies that are going to miss her!

and we can't forget her amazing parents!

I LOVE YOU KARI!!!!!!! I'm so happy to have you in my life and I know you're going to bless a bajillion and 5 lives over the next 18 months. :)

read her mission blog here!

ice blocking.

foreword: in the mormon world, we reserve monday nights for FHE - family home evening.

it's just a time you set aside once a week to be with your family studying the gospel and having fun!

well, here at BYU when we're away from our families, we have FHE with other apartments in our ward (congregation).

so this is what we did for our FHE activity on monday!

* * *

ICE BLOCKING!

okay. I had never been. but I'd heard about it a ton in utah. apparently it's the thing to do.

basically, you get a block of ice, sit a towel on it, and ride it down a big hill!

and guess what? IT WAS SO FUN! I was scared at first because I didn't know how fast it would go or if I'd get hurt..

but noooo!! it was so great. :)

bronwyn was a wee bit chilly.

and sadie was pumped. :)

 head first on two blocks! (all the pics are taken with my iphone.. hence the.. quality..)

 sadie and I right before we both went down for the first time in our liiiivvesss! we were basically unnaturally terrified..

our cute fhe sisters emilee & summer!

one of my adorable roommates, allison!

nate going on all fours haha

 the TRAIN! our best idea ever.

the demise of the train..

but seriously. the train was the best. highly recommend. we made it to the bottom without crashing!

 fhe brothaaas

 linking lasted like a few seconds ;)

I seriously got the best set of roommates ever this year. :)

now GO ICE BLOCKING!

infomercials.

you know it's late when the infomercials start playing. /:

and even though all I want is sleep.. I still prefer staying up way late to finish a paper than worrying about finishing it the next day.

despite my fatigue, though, there are things to be happy about:

1. I basically aced my test today. okaaay so it was extremely easy.... but still!

2. my former roommate amanda and I just spent a couple of hours finishing up designing her wedding announcement!! it looks so good. I'm so excited. :) it was the first time I helped put together a legit wedding announcement.. and with my own pictures on it too! too cool. and tuesday I get to do their bridals!!! wonderful times ahead. <3

3. sadie and I were basically on drugs today with how hard we laughed at everything.... including this:

all I gotta say is.. if you are laughing right now, you are my kind of person.

:)

goodnight friends. <3

if you need a good laugh...

please read this and be happy forever.

lauren is one of my favorite bloggers. SHE'S SO FUNNY.

the end.

debate!

there is another GOP debate tonight!

unfortunately I will be missing it because I'll be at an opera about aliens....

(don't worry I'm confused too.)

but I will be for sure watching it online as soon as I can.

I always love seeing what the poles say about the candidates after each debate. it was interesting how it was perry vs. romney and now it's cain vs. romney. I'm happy about the top 2 at the moment. I really like them both, but I have reservations about both of them as well. one's strengths are another's weaknesses and vice versa. we'll see how things play out!

on this same topic.. I'm really quite frankly annoyed by the stuff going around about romney's religion. I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of other people who just don't know what we believe and who are genuinely concerned and think that a cult member is going to run the country. I'd be worried too I suppose. but the thing is.. we're not a crazy cult, and we ARE christians, so my sympathy only lasts so long. hopefully people will be able to either forget about the religion issue or take the time to truly figure out what we believe. click here to go to a short article I highly recommend reading. and by the way, I just want to make it clear that romney isn't in my top 2 because he's LDS. jon huntsman is LDS too, and he's my least favorite candidate of the 8... sorry jon!

crazy that next year I'll be voting for the first time in my life!

depression.

lately I've had an OB.SESSION. with smoothies.

I have no clue why. I've always thought they weren't sweet enough. they were just okay.

but now.. I LOVE them and all their natural goodness.

so with this new obsession came many trips to jamba juice.

ah, jamba juice. <3

well, today was buy one get one FREE day! are you kidding me?! I was so elated to hear the news!

I drove on over and ordered a seasonal pumpkin smash and the favorite caribbean passion.

devoured the pumpkin smash instantly. was afraid it would not be sweet enough. was wrong. it was suhWEET and deeLISH! I was so happy I got such a sweet deal!

put the caribbean passion in the freezer to save for later. 

went to class.

came back from class.

opened freezer.

caribbean passion was not there.

:(

2 roommates with "you love us... right?" faces were.

long story short: caribbean passion fell out of the freezer when one of them opened it. splattered all over the floor. deliciousness gone. gone gone gone. jennie trying not to cry. just kidding. but really. :(

moral of the story: be careful where you place your treasured smoothie in the freezer. I recommend a steady location, NOT on a shelf without a bar. I'm in college, I promise.

well, off to drink water I guess...

rain, rain, go away...

last week I curled my hair. THIS IS A BIG DEAL PEOPLE.

 and then I doused it in hair spray and prayed it would last til morning. :) and it did fairly well! hooray!

but then I looked out the window the next morning... and cried.

not being able to see the mountains = no bueno. this may look just like a rainy morning, but rainy mornings in utah are C-O-L-D. let's not forget that 2 days before it was 80 degrees....... 

80... delicious.. degrees..

there are big beautiful mountains behind that fog. tear.

taylor and I after 8 AM humanities. we are cold and depressed.

while this is a depressing site.. I must admit it's so cool looking. enough fog to cover a MOUNTAIN PEOPLE!

and when the mountains were finally visible... oh hi.. SNOW?! :( first snow fall of the year (on the mountains at least). guess it wasn't just a rainy day after all..

half and half. don't worry I'm just crying no big.

this is how I feel about winter coming right after summer. fall, please exist!