Ode to Being a Salmon

Well I could create quite a list of pros and cons on “Being a Salmon”, but I recently added two cons… 1. Everyone expects you to be incredible at all water sports and 2. You get gray hair by the time you are 16. We went to the lake as a ward this past weekend and people were surprised when they found that out I didn’t wake board. They insisted that I tried but I finally convinced them to just let me stick to tubing and jet skiing. Apparently our bishop is loaded, which means we have the BEST ward activities. We went through 80 gallons of gasoline on the jet skis alone, that’s over $240! We had 3 jet skis and 3 boats for about 6 hours. While we waited to get on either a boat or a jet ski we sat on the dock and fished. There are so many country boys (Rexburg Locals) in my ward that a good fisher is a quality I’m sure most of them want in their future wives. I caught 3 fish in a little over 20 minutes… so hopefully my phone will be ringing off the hook any day now. I was deemed as the crazy-daredevil-jetski-driving-girl in the ward, which is completely fine by me, because no one ever wanted to ride with me. When I finally got my turn on the boat I was able to go tubing for a good hour or so. The Bishops son is one crazy driver, I once fell off the tube by doing a back flip. Who knew I could do a back flip? We’re planning another trip to Ririe Reservoir in about two weeks, it’s a nice lake. It’s clean and there aren’t many people on it. Well now to get to my second con, the gray hair issue. I’ve probably had gray since I was 13 or so, it’s never really been a problem though just because I get it dyed by this fabulous lady that does it for real cheap (My Mom) about every 2 months, or as needed. This past week I had to have my roommates do it for me instead. They did an okay job actually, it’s a little darker than anticipated, but I think it makes me come off as more mysterious... I attended my first Enrichment night on Wednesday. One word: THE-FREAKIN-WEIRDEST-THING-IVE-EVER-BEEN-TO. The theme was “Just Married” Need I say more? We even had a wedding cake for our little refreshment that said “Congratulations!” on it. No wonder there are 18 year olds getting married left and right, they’re practically FORCED to. It was alright though; we made these kind of weird tiaras. We were also given a framed picture of the temple, and a spool of white thread, for us to start working on our wedding dresses. I like my ward though, so even though the lesson was a little awkward it was still fun to be there. I was recently called as the ward photographer. I know what you’re thinking, “Is that a real calling?” The answer is probably NO but I asked my Bishop the same thing and he said that most of the college wards have one. I’m supposed to be taking pictures of each of the apartments in my ward and putting together a ward Photo-Directory, I’ll let you all know how that goes. In other news I was planning on making $50.00 a week, but later got denied. If anyone else wants to make a quick $20 or so just find a Plasma Center in a town near you! I had my appointment set up and everything, had my blood drawn, urine tested and was just about to get hooked up to the pump after 3 hours of waiting, but at the last minute was told I couldn’t because I had once had cancer in my life. It was probably for the best though, the place kind of looks like a dump; a place where they’ve probably reused a needle or two…

P.S. There ARE a lot of good things about being a Salmon: Steal Sticks, Grandma’s Buns, Family Reunions etc.

P.P.S. I FINALLY got a few pictures of Kaitlain... (She's seen above)
P.P.P.S. For those of you wondering, my crown reads: YOUR FUTURE WIFE

Discovery of The Dunes

I can’t believe that two weeks have already flown by. Sometime over the last few weeks a group of my friends (a mix of Georgians and others) discovered the dunes. In fact we liked them so much we went there three times in two days. The first two times was a bust. The first time we went we had nothing, including a camera. It was mid-afternoon on a hot afternoon and the sand was hotter then Haiti. We were only there for about 45 minutes before we decided to turn around and take the 20 minute ride home. Later that same day we returned to discover what the dunes looked like at night. The sand was definitely a lot cooler and luckily we had brought blankets. We laid out under the stars for a good while just talking. Stephanie and Zack are both from Georgia and are both converts. Zack was baptized when he was 14 and Stephanie just got baptized in November. And lucky for us they both decided to come out to BYU-I. The 8 of us had a great discussion with the two of them, they’re SO awesome! Steph is actually planning on moving into our apartment for the fall semester. Even though we came slightly more prepared the second time we were at the dunes, the blankets were still too few. On the drive home we decided that while the weather was still warm we would all try to get up there every Saturday night, for at least the summer semester. Saturday, being the day after Friday was our first official bon fire at the dunes. I guess third time really is a charm. We finally had everything we needed; cameras, (enough) blankets, wood, marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate, and drinks. Oh not to mention a portable DVD player. It was awesome, and unless I get a date by Saturday I’ll be up there again. It’s so peaceful up there, it kind of feels like you’re in Egypt. There are only two problems about going to the dunes now that we have finally cleaned out all the sand from our apartment, it’s almost time to go again. And secondly, Ben and I rode in the back of the Bronco everytime there and back!

Me and Jake

The Group

Zack and Steph

So This is College?

I thought I would have oodles of time to be writing boring blogs everyday but it just hasn’t seemed that way yet. It’s Friday, and luckily I don’t have classes on Fridays. Rexburg is alright. It’s not as big as Atlanta, or even Provo but it has come a far way since I was last here. Anyway, I didn’t take any pictures while I was in Provo but that’s where I was last weekend. It was a short trip but there should be a few more on the way. I was hoping to stay till the 4th but ended up coming back late Sunday night. It’s hard to describe the first night you spend in your new bedroom. I didn’t get to bed till rather late but still managed to make it to all my classes on Monday. My teachers are awesome. My ward is rather small but I’ve been told that that will change in the fall when more people come out to school. Monday night was our first FHE. We played some water balloon volleyball which eventually turned into a water fight and ultimately our whole FHE group jumping into a pool with our clothes on. July 4th was nothing exciting, mostly shopping for school supplies and getting some groceries for our empty apartment. I guess Wednesday and Thursday were spent at school and doing homework. I haven’t been on a single date yet, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? 5 days in REXBURG AND I’M NOT ENGAGED? I’m thinking there is still some hope. Even though I didn’t have classes today I still ended up going to school just to go to the testing center. I had to take a preliminary math test to stay in my Math 110 class. I passed, so now I just have to worry about getting an A in the class. I think we are headed out to the Sand Dunes today, after that we only have Rigby Lake, and The Ice Caves left on our list of things to do… hahaha just kidding. Anyway, enjoy the pictures, I’ll have to post some of our apartment later.

The BEST Nephew EVER.

First Night of College. (Jill, me, Emily)

First Day of College.

Soaking wet after our FIRST FHE.

Our SECOND day of School.

Our THIRD Night of College

P.S. Lucky for everyone there's 6 months left of school. Imagine how many pictures I'll post If I do two EVERY DAY?! Don't worry, I won't.

P.P.S. We have another roommate, Kaitlain, but she is always at her sisters house, here in Rexburg. Someday I'll snap a picture of her, even if she's sleeping.