The Joys and Pains of Growing-up

A year has come and gone and I'm now a sophomore at BYU....and I finally broke down and started a blog.

Things have changed, I have changed so much over the past year it is crazy.  I swear time flows differently here at college, so much happens so fast it feels like it's been a long time when it really hasn't. I met my roommate, Brittany, four months ago, and she is one of my best friends. People think we've known each other for years when it's only been a few months.

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. A brief recap of my first two semesters. I lived in an apartment with 5 girls, and it was a lot of fun. My classes were awesome and I made some really good friends in them. I'm a Middle East Studies/Arabic major and I love it. Survived a full year of Arabic, and it really has become an integral part of who I am.

Winter semester I got a job working at a restaurant on campus, The Legends Grille, and I have had a blast there. I met two of my best friends, Danny and Jared, there and have made a lot of other good friends. I'm learning to do everything there. I started out as Cashier then learned how to do Pizzas and pasta, then I learned how to do the salads and sandwiches, now I'm learning how to do the grill and all the other little things.

Brittany, Lizzie, and I with 144 cookies we decorated

I stayed for Spring and Summer terms and they just flew by. I moved into a 3-person apartment and I just clicked with Brittany and Lizzie (my new roommates), we've had so much fun it is ridiculous. But, I still got good grades, so it's alright. God knew what he was doing when he put us together as roommates. We went through a lot, and I know that I would not have been able to do so well if I hadn't had Brittany and Lizzie to struggle through things with.

With the end of Spring and Summer terms came a lot of 'good-byes' that I didn't want to have to say. Several of my friends were leaving on missions and have either checked into or are checking into the MTC within the next few months.

Jared and I before he left

 The hardest good-bye I've had to say was to my friend Jared. He checked into the MTC to dedicate the next two years of his life to serving the Lord as a missionary in the Copenhagen, Denmark mission on August 10th. I'm so glad that he's on his mission and excited for him and I know that he's doing what the Lord wants him to right now, but that still doesn't stop me from missing him and all the time we used to spend talking and whatnot. When he went home after winter semester, I didn't get to say good-bye to him, and I thought I wasn't going to see him again until after his mission, but then he and his family came out to Utah for a week and he spent a couple days in Provo. So he came to class with me, we went to see a movie (Captain America), then had homemade pizza and hung out until curfew. It was great getting to see him and actually getting to say good-bye, as sad and hard as it was, the closure was nice.

Aside from fun adventures with friends I have been able to spend time with my relatives out here in Utah. I went out to Vernal, Utah for my cousin Cadin's farewell and saw him and some other cousins. My cousin Austyn, got married and there was a family dinner in American Fork (about 20-30 minutes from Provo), and I was able to go to that. I actually brought my friend Danny and his roommate Benjamin too, and so they met a bunch of cousins, aunts, uncles, my grandparents, and great-uncle and great-aunt. They all liked Danny and Ben, so it was all good. There was some talk/gossip and speculation about me and my friend Danny, but I set everyone straight, we're really close friends, emphasis on FRIENDS.

I had my first birthday away from home, and it turned out really well. It got off to a rough start, but ended on a good note. My roommates surprised me with dinner, and I got a package of little gifts from my younger siblings in the mail. I also got a call at 7:15 from my sister, and was sung Happy Birthday by her, my brother-in-law, and three kids. They lived in Washington, so it was 6:15am for them when they called, talk about crazy. But the best gift I got was from my parents. On July 2nd, there was a concert/program called The Stadium of Fire and this year Brad Paisley and David Archuletta were performing, so my parents got tickets to go see it. Then they found out that my mom's family reunion was the same weekend, so she chose not to go, and I got to go instead. It was so much fun, I got to spend time, just me and my dad, which meant more to me than the actual concert itself. We went to see Transformers 3, which was pretty good, before we went to the concert. And then it turned out that my brother and sister-in-law had seats two rows below where my dad and I were, so I got to see and talk to them a little too.

Then I actually was able to go with my dad out to Vernal for the reunion (I got to spend one day with everyone). I got to see my aunts and uncles and lots of my cousins (on my mom's side).....and I got to see my parents and younger siblings for the first time in awhile.

After I finished finals for Summer term, I spent the whole 2 1/2 week break working, nonstop. For 3 weeks, our football team was having their training camp thing, and the resturant where I work, was in charge of feeding them all three meals for the whole three weeks. In addition, the resturant itself was open at the same time, and there was "Education Week" going on as well. Needless to say, it was a busy three weeks, that kept us on our toes. I actually am getting a new boss and we've been trying to transition to him being the boss while all this is going on as well. Hopefully, things will transition smoothly, and not put too much stress on us workers.

Classes start tomorrow, and I'm having mixed feelings. While I'm excited for classes to start, I'm nervous for how they are going to go, and how I'm going to balance them, homework, work, and friends. I'm mainly taking classes for my major this semester, and probably the next one as well. Hopefully, I'll be able to get my last few GEs done in the next couple Spring.Summer terms so I can take my Major classes Fall/Winter. I'm taking: Arabic 201, Introduction to the Humanities of Islam, History of the Middle East to 1400, The Qur'an, and England/Wales family History after 1700 (this is my "fun" class). But I know that I have friends in 3 of my classes, so it's going to be great. Busy, a little stressful, and hectic, but great.

To keep my sanity, I"ve discovered Ultimate Frisbee, and Darktimate Frisbee. I primarily play Darktimate, but have played regular Ultimate as well. It is a pretty big thing here on campus. Darktimate Frisbee is Ultimate Frisbee....in the dark. We use a light-up frisbee and the players wear a certain color of glowsticks based on which team they are on. It is so much fun, and gets really intense. One time, the sprinklers came on in the middle of the field, and we kept playing, we all were soaked afterwords, but it was worth it. A group used to get together a couple times a week to play, but now with school starting they're going to play every friday (and will play more games during the week if they can).

I truly love it here, even with all the frustrations that happen, there's been so many wonderful things that've happened to balance them out. I know that this is where I'm supposed to be, I don't know why, but I just know that I do need to be here. It's already been great, I can't wait for it to get even better.