Is this real life?

I feel like I've been asking myself this question a lot lately. Whether its something to do with work, church or my own personal life this question has come to mind more than once. For starters, I got a raise and a promotion at work. I now make more money than I ever have in my life. Its a cool thought for 5 seconds and then I realize how pathetic it is and I'm quickly brought back to earth. I feel extremely blessed to even have a job right now though and especially one that I enjoy, for the most part. Church has been rough. Ive been working really hard at trying to make it a positive experience, but sometimes its reeeeealllllllly hard, ok 90% of the time its hard. Im not your typical mormon girl. I dont bake boys pies, I dont beg for attention, and I will make fun of you without thinking twice. I dont fit the mold in the ward and I think guys are slowly figuring that out. Ive been trying to be more social, I go to more activities, I talk to more than just the people in my little group group of friends, I promise im really trying! So believe it or not while I was at FHE, a guy came up to me and asked me on a date. I wasnt interested in him but I respected the fact that he thought I was cool enough to ask out. So I agreed and we set up a time. Skip to that night it ended up being later than planned, my fault, and so we decided to do a movie. I picked the shortest movie available due to the fact that in the 5 minute drive to the theater he punched me in the knee 3 times. As the movie begins he instantly grabs my hand. At first I was like what the heck?? But then he started rubbing my arm so I let it slide, I love that. Anywho 5 minutes later he starts rubbing my neck, creepy? Yes. Then he moves to my jawline. Even weirder?? Yes. Instantly I move my head away to let him know I dont like it. He stops... for 5 minutes. So he starts with my jawline again and he moves over to my chin. He literally starts grabbing my chin, meanwhile Im thinking in my mind, "1. Who the freak is this guy? 2. Am I being punked?? 3. Is this real life???" My head is tilted all the way over and I feel like im drowning just barely keeping my head above water. I physically took his hand and put it back in his lap. I was so close to walking out and calling my brother to come get me, thats how bad it was. Kinda funny? Yes. But at the same time seriously traumatizing. I felt violated. He even had the audacity to make a little joke about it at the end of the night. I wanted to punch him in the balls. Needless to say there wont be a second date.
Other than that life has been ok. I need to move on but I dont know where. Everyday it is becoming apparent that here is not where im supposed to be. The biggest trial for me now is figuring out where that place is.
To end this post on the bright side, I did get to see my very best friend a couple weeks ago. She was here for spring break and I came up for her brothers wedding. Unfortunately we somehow forgot to take a million pictures of ourselves while we were together, but fortunately we got one. And unfortunately it wont let me upload it. Maybe next time.

Ok Im a Fan.

Typically i'm not impressed with these sort of things. For whatever reason this one makes me happy inside, and Ive decided I would not be embarrassed in the least bit if this were my husband. So cute.

Ok I'll Give You a Chance

I'll be honest, I've never been a huge fan of David. But after seeing this I have a new found love and respect for the kid.

There are no words for 2011. Lets pray 2012 is filled with laughter, love, and a bunch of other stuff... Here's to hoping!

The Best Four Days

Well. I moved to Utah... for 4 days. It was awesome. But now I am back in Tucson. Let me explain a little.
For starters, me and my saint of a mother were packed and on the road by 7 am on a Friday. The trip started off without a hitch, we took our time and even took a small scenic detour through Sedona. We stopped for lunch and looked around the town and then went on our merry way. I think both of us were secretly surprised at how great my truck was handling it all, but neither one of us wanted to say anything to jinx it. We made it all the way to Page just fine where we stopped for gas. I filled up the truck and my mom went in for a bathroom break. But when I went to turn the truck on, nothing happened. It was the absolute worst feeling, so automatically I go to call my dad. Part of me didnt want to call him because this was exactly what he'd been talking about for the last few months. But I didnt know what else to do, so I called. Meanwhile my mom comes back and I tell her whats going on. My dad gave me a few suggestions, so I popped the hood and grabbed my tool kit he so lovingly prepared for me. As my mom is literally hitting my battery with a wrench a thousand people (mainly indians) are driving by, staring of course, but no one offers to help. Even the highway patrol guy that pulled in behind us to fill up was staring at us, and again didnt even offer to help. I was furious at this point so I made my mom go ask him for help. Anyways he ended up jumping us and the truck started right up. We went and waited for help and Wal-Mart for 10 min. before we just went to O'Reilly. We went in to ask for help and this boy walks out. Right off the bat he looks like an idiot. And about 15 min of him trying to figure out how to tell if my battery was dead or not, he confirmed my earlier theory. It was beyond hot, and I was incredibly irritated at this point, so my mom went back in and asked if someone could come help him out. Finally after forever they tell me my battery is dead. Not a big deal, its a pretty easy fix right? But as the new guy is putting my battery in he says, " I can fix your battery problem, but I cant help you with that crack in your radiator". I wanted to cry. Luckily the crack was up higher, but still it was leaking coolant faster than normal. So I went back in and bought a gallon of coolant, contemplated calling my dad, and then left that awful town. Oh and not to mention its almost 5 in the evening and were not even in Utah yet. We make it to Kanab get some gas, check coolant levels, which were perfect, make some phone calls, and we were on our way again. Everything is going great until we reach that spooky part between kanab and the highway where its just rolling hills. Its dark and me and my mom were just talking when all of a sudden a ginormous, and I seriously mean huge deer comes out of nowhere! We missed it by maybe 6 inches. I have never been more scared in my entire life. I spent the next hour on pyscho deer watch. After what felt like days we made it into Provo. It was 1 am. I was irratated, and extremely tired. Jackie ever so kindly met us outside the apartment to help unpack. The apartment however was a whole other story.
As soon as I walked in I wanted to cry. Even my mom was taken back with it. She instantly told me to relax it probably wasnt as bad as I was thinking, and I instantly told her I just wanted to go home. We unpacked everything and then I passed out. Waking up was like being stuck in a bad dream. My mom was texting me at like 7 saying she was ready to go, and that the apartment was actually worse in the daylight. I attempted taking a shower, but was sicked out and opted to wait till we got to my moms friend Margis house. Once I got showered and ready I felt a million times better. Being with Margis family was an instant mood lifter. They are the funnest bunch of people to hang out with. Jackie even met up with us all later on for lunch, and then we pretty much stayed with Margi in South Jordan for the rest of my days there. One of the days us girls went to the Branbury where I was supposed to live to see if I could by chance look at another apartment to see if it was any better. We met a girl who let us in her apartment. She lived with some freaky people! For starters one of her roomates was obsessed with dungeons and dragons. Enough said. The next one she described by saying she looked like snookie, and that she took her free tanning a little to seriously. And the final girl, literally had her cabinets under lock and key. Im not talking little diary locks, but heavy duty chains and locks. It was scary. Needless to say it wasnt exactly what I was looking for. We heard about another apartment complex and decided to go pay it a visit. The place was like a stupid mormon add. There were a bunch of kids all over the lawn playing volleyball and hanging out. I immediately wanted to live here, a group of guys asked if we needed any help and were super helpful at answering our questions since the office was already closed for the holiday weekend. It was a nice way to start off the rest of our weekend which was spent enjoying Utah and taking in all of its beauty. We ate out, had a bbq, hung out in Margis amazing backyard, watched fireworks, drove around and just enjoyed the company. Tuesday finally came which was the day my mom was supposed to fly home. We had talked about the reality of me staying the night before, put together a budget, and talked about what would happen when my truck really died. After lots of tears I decided it would be better for me to move home and save up a little more money to buy a newer car before I tried to move states.
Shout out to my mom for cancelling her flight and opting to drive home with me instead. We left that night and drove to St. George where we stayed the night, and then got up the next morning and drove the rest of the way. I think the only thing that could have topped that trip off was if my truck caught fire, which was honestly a real possibility. Not only would we be stranded, but literally everything I owned would have gone down with it. See theres silver lining in just about everything.
So now Im back in Tucson, just hanging out with my 2 best friends, mom and dad, and trying to figure out what Im supposed to do next. Life is good and has a funny way of working out. Lesson learned, its not the smartest idea to try and move states with a measly $700 in my pocket and a crappy vehicle. I'll do better next time. ha.

I hate titles

I know im 2 months behind, but I would really like to thank everyone for the kind words, phone calls, texts, emails, and comments everyone sent me regarding Shane. I really appreciated it :)
Shanes funeral was really good. (I dont know if "good" is a proper adjective to describe such an event?) His viewing was Friday and the funeral was on Saturday. It was surreal to be there. Never in a million years would I have guessed things would have turned out the way they did. But I can honestly say it was a humbling experience, it was a testimony builder for sure and Im grateful for everything I got out of it. I went to his parents house earlier in the week to talk to them. I was so nervous to go because I didnt know what to say. What can you say? But im so glad I did. I love his family and I know I recieved so much more comfort from them than I gave. They are so rock solid in the gospel, any dad who can stand up and say "I want to thank my Heavenly Father so much for blesing me", at his sons funeral is someone to be admired. Its still weird he's really gone. Theres been a couple times Ive reached for my phone to text him something before it hits me that I cant. And I still get a lump in my throat when I look at pictures of him, but it gets easier knowing he's in a better place.
I know I mentioned in a previous post that I recieved tickets to see Wicked for Christmas, and I never really talked about how excited I was for the play, but believe me I was stoked! I had wanted to see it for a while, so knowing I was going for real in a matter of weeks was exciting. Sadly my excitment for it was overshadowed by Shanes death. His funeral was scheduled for that same weekend, and I wasnt sure if I was up for seeing it. I decided to go anyways and am so glad I did. It was a nice getaway from that horrible week and the show was amazing. Im definitely hoping to go to more shows in the future, and typical I didnt take pictures.

Today has been a very blah day and I cant quite get out of the funk of it. I went to the midnight showing of Red Riding Hood last night which is part of the reason I slept until 1 today. It was almost instantanious from the point when I opened my eyes that I knew how today was going to play out. I layed in bed for another 15 minutes thinking about nothing for the most part, I just couldnt get my body to move. I finally decided to go eat which was a bad choice. I never eat right when I get up in the morning otherwise I feel gross the rest of the day. weird I know. I was supposed to get up at 10 and start studying for the math test im going to take in the morning, obviously that didnt happen. I knew I needed to start studying but instead I watched the 2 Kourtney and Kim episodes I missed, part of Somethings Gotta Give, I cleaned my room a little, added to my stupid music playlist, and I looked at every.single.picture. im tagged in on facebook. Now its 730 pm, and im only 6 questions into my study guide. awesome.
I miss my friends today. Im sure it has to do with todays mood, but i definitely feel it a little more today than usual. I miss living with my best friends. I like the constant companionship, espicially when its with someone I enjoy being around 20 hours a day. I miss laughing so hard it hurts, I havent laughed like that in a long time. I got a letter from Joey today and it made me laugh out loud. I miss him. His letter reassured me that he is indeed still one of the funniest boys I know. As I read his letter I couldnt help but wish it was the start of 2010 again. It was by far my favorite semester.

But living in the past doesnt get you anywhere now does it. To sorta counterstrike the mood I have portrayed, I have actually enjoyed being back in Tucson. I have a few friends I hang out with on a regular basis. I still have fun and I like where Im at. I got a little crazy and decided to take a couple classes at Pima to help pass the time. Despite my brothers pleas I signed up for the 2 classes he happened to be taking. He loves it :) I also got a j.o.b. It has to do a little bit with Sports and Authority. Bingo. Sports Authority. They clearly saw my passion for sports and hired me on the spot. ha. I was lucky enough to have a couple old friends working there already and they put in a good word for me. I like it so far, im just grateful to finally have a job. And without tryin to be to prestigous, I also have another job interview lined up for next week. Pray I get it. seriously. Remember when I put in job applications at Forever 21, Charlotte Russe, Childrens Place, AND Tillys and they all went nowhere? Well now that I have a job, apparently they all want me. Within the last week I have literally gotten a call from every single place asking if I wanted to interview. Its cool but would have been super nice 3 months ago when I was in desperate need! Regardless, im greatful for the oppurtunities. Wish me luck!

Shane

I met Shane the first day of my freshman year of high school. He was asleep on his desk in seminary. I was immediately attracted to him and wanted to be his friend. Sadly I don't think he felt that same initial spark. It wasn't to long before me and Shane became friends though. And before I knew it Shane was one of my best friends and would continue to be all throughout high school. We hung out all the time, talked on the phone late at night, and texted constantly.
Shane taught me how to be a little more carefree in life. He loved the lake and went with his family frequently. I was lucky enough to experience some of these trips with them. It was there that Shane patiently sat in the lake with me and taught me how to wakeboard. No matter how many times I fell or didn't listen to what he said, he'd swim the 10 ft to me, laugh, and start over. He was part of many of my firsts...
He was the one who convinced me to ditch school for the first time to go golfing instead. He called the office pretending to be my dad and then put me in the trunk of his car to sneak me out the front gates.
I was the baby of the group so everyone else turned 16 way before I did. As soon as Shane turned 16 though he told me he wanted to be the one to take me on my first date. He assured me for months that wouldn't let anyone else take me out and sure enough the day I turned 16 Shane showed up at my doorstep and took me out. I think Jonathon was supposed to come but something happened and he didn't so we went bowling with his sister and her husband. I would not have changed a thing, we had so much fun. The thing about Shane is that it didn't matter where you were or what you were doing he made everything a good time.
Shane and I also went to our first concert together. For one of his birthdays I bought us tickets to go see Fall Out Boy. He was my protective bubble the whole night, he didn't let anybody touch me. (We held hands for the first time that night :)) When we decided to leave Shane somehow convinced me to crowd surf to the very front. I dont what I was thinking when I allowed Shane and some nasty sweaty guy to throw me on top of a crowd of horny kids. Ha never again, it was a horrible idea.
And our junior year I remember waking up to 5 texts from Shane asking if I'd left for school yet, and than telling me to look at the marquee board at school. And on the way to school I got at least 2 more telling me don't forget to look!! As soon as I saw it my heart stopped. Shane had asked me to prom and I was so excited! When everyone found out, I had a thousand girls come up to me telling me how lucky I was to be going with Shane Smith. He was definitely a ladies man.(Prom '06)

Shane was also quite the prankster. I remember babysitting one night and the kids said they kept hearing knocking on the windows. I was kinda freaked out and the kids were crying so I went to shut the blinds. Right as I got to the window, Shane's face popped up and scared.me.to.death.
Him and Jonathon also had a 3 month toilet papering obsession. Every Saturday I would wake up and our front yard was covered in toilet paper. My parents got fed up and decided to plan an attack against them. One night they decided to wait outside for them. My mom was hidden under boxes in the back of my dads truck and my dad was patiently waiting on the side of our house. They both had hoses were ready to attack, they say they waited for about an hour before they gave in and went inside. So the next weekend me and my friend Katie decided to launch our own massive attack on his house. We had been stocking up on toilet paper for weeks and decided it was time. Shane was gone that night so Katie, me, my brother, my mom, her best friend Misty, and a clan of kids under 10 drove out to the Smiths house. We rocked his house, all the trees, the cactus, their boat, everything we could. It literally looked like it had snowed. The next day I went to Mexico so I didn't get to talk to Shane about it for a few days. After the trip as we were driving back into the country I turned my phone on and I saw that I had a voice mail. I went to check it knowing it was going to be Shane and assuming it was going to be him congratulating me on a job well done. It wasnt. It was Shane but he was mad. His message went something like, hey danni thanks for toilet papering my house. I had to clean it up and while I was on the latter I fell and broke my leg. Since its almost wakeboarding season I wont be able to wakeboard this summer. So uh thanks again I guess. And than he hung up. I felt AWFUL! I told my mom and we both just felt horrible. I didnt know what to do so I was gonna talk to him at school the next day to see what I could do. I had a little speech all prepared in my head, but as soon as I saw him I died. He was fine, and when he saw my face he knew he had won yet again.
The worst though was probably the infamous glue stick incident. Shane and Jonathon were the death of me in high school. In seminary one year they pinned me down and put glue stick on my lips like chap stick. How horrible right? But no matter what he did I couldn't stay mad at him for long, Shane was just to easy to love.
I was a nanny my senior year, and Shane would always come over to the house to hang out with me and the kids. The first thing he would do every time he came in was see what they had to eat, than he would help with homework and than play till he left. The kids adored him, and still every time I see them they ask for me to bring Shane over to play.
Me and Shane had our share of ups and downs in high school. I recently reread my old journals, every other page there is something about Shane. It was always either talking about how much I liked him or how I was mad at him. I think its definitely safe to say that I picked every single fight we ever got in. But no matter what the situation was Shane would always squeeze his way back into my life.
I remember when he called me while I was at school to tell me he sent in his mission papers. I was never more proud and excited for him than I was that day. He was so excited to serve and I remember him telling me he was hoping to go to Brazil because "they had the best places to hang glide." He called me the day he got his call and I rushed to his house so I could hear him open it. (You can see that post here) The spirit was so strong and I knew that Shane's mission was where he was supposed to be.
Shane served an honorable mission in Guatemala. I came to his homecoming and got to hang out with him a little at his house. The first thing he showed me was his new hang glider. (Shane and his dad were avid hang gliders before his mission and Shane literally could not wait to do it again when he got home.) After that we rode bikes up and down his driveway talking about the last two years, catching each other up in our lives. I remember asking Shane what his next step in life would be. He told me he wanted to start his family. He was so excited for it and said he couldn't wait to finally have his son, Dude Clarence Smith.
Although his life was short, I do believe Shane's mission in life was completed. And I don't think he would have chosen a different way to go out. Shane was doing something he loved and always told me he wanted to die doing something crazy.
I feel so blessed that Shane was such a huge part of my life. I feel like some of my best characteristics came from knowing him. He was such a good example to me and Ill cherish all of our memories forever.
I will always love Shane and he will continue to hold a special place in my heart.

happy new year

I've been waiting in a big smelly room with a hundred other people for 2 hours now, praying that they call my name and tell me I can go home. Funny since I've been waiting 3 years to get jury duty. Sad reality...jury duty blows.
I guess I should do a little update since my blog is "boring". Ahem...
I am forever done at EA. The slut hut no longer exists and all us girls have moved on. I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry. I cried when I said goodbye to Jack in our tiny little room. And like a looser I cried when I drove out of town. It was heartbreaking. But I'm glad that I left when I did.
I think Thatcher will always have a tender spot in my heart. I grew into the person I've become there. I've experienced laughter and heartache and everything in between. I've met so many people and experienced so many things. I don't know if I would have gotten so much out of anywhere else. It was so perfect for me in that part of my life.
I feel like part of the heartache that came as I was preparing to leave was knowing I was moving back to Tucson. I love my family and I really don't mind being home. But I just don't like Tucson. I think part of it is the fact that I'm gonna have to extend myself more than I have in the last 3 years and make new friends. That's semi hard for me since I'm not terribly outgoing. Blah blah blah ill live. If making friends is my major crisis I think I'm doing alright. Eh scratch that, I need a job. That's definitely at the top of my list. But none the less I'm doing alright.
Christmas was good this year. One of my gifts was tickets to wicked which I was stoked for. I've been wanting to see it for a long time! New Years this year was pretty much the same as all my other years. Not to thrilling. Jack came for a visit. I've been talking about the institute in tucson forever, trying to paint a picture for my friends. So since jack was here we decided to go crazy and stop by the new years eve dance... In the words of whitney I wanted to..." Go home, slick my hair back, get in the shower and end myself!!!!" Hahaha it was just horrible. The most positive thing that came out of it were the real oreos they had. After that we finished the night out at mistys. All in all it was a good night. No complaints.
Well until next time. Pray my name is called soon :)

November Already?

(Yes I go to church)

If I had to have a theme song for my life, I think right now I would choose the song Time by Chantal Kreviazuk. The first time I heard it was on the show Laguna Beach. I cried that episode when they all graduated. I thought the song was so appropriate and I remember wishing that it could be my theme song too. But I had all the time in the world back then so it didnt apply.

(Trust me, my life is full of gay moments.)
I cannot believe it is November. I would give anything for time to slow down, but its only speeding up. There are only 35 very short days until im gone from Thatcher. Forever. And it breaks my heart. Everyday I feel it getting colder and everyday brings me closer to leaving. I love it here and I cant quite tell you why. I just do. I love the cotton fields, the mountain, having a temple 2 min from my house, and the always open walmart right down the road. I love seeing people you know every where you go. Its the simple things I love about this place.

This semester has been... different. Take last semester and make everything the complete opposite and you have this semester. It took some time getting used to it, but it is what it is. This semester is a completely new cycle of people. Which is cool, except everyone is 18 and freshly graduated. They still have the "light in their eyes" and are expirencing life without mom and dad for the first time. Again its cool, its just that I was them already... 3 years ago so Im over it.

I still love the slut hut and everyone in it. I feel like its become a mythical place. People have heard of it, but no one really knows where its at or who lives there. They just cant wrap their little minds around it, and Im ok with that.

School is kicking my butt. My dad tells me to "dig deep" everytime I talk to him. I never quite understood him till now. I guess digging deep is 40 hour weeks in the library studying. I feel like this is a small taste of what I will be doing in the future. As for the future, right now my plans are to move back home to work and save money. Then summer time I will be moving to Utah. Hopefully.

Thats all I have for now. Sorry.

Heres pretty much the only pictures I have from the last couple months.

(Blaine and Joey before they left)

(Halloween '10)

Yeeeeeeellow

I couldnt possibly do a post about Joey without doing one for Blaine as well.
This is Blaine Taylor. He's a badass. Pardon my language but its the truth.
I met Blaine the same night I met Joey. It was an instant friendship, probably because he had cool stuff, like a neat jeep and cool clothes, just things like that. I know, Im sooo materialistic. But really, we went around in his jeep the first night, jamming out to Jay Sean no doubt. I instantly liked these guys. So fun and freshly graduated, whats not to like?
I quickly noticed a couple things about Blaine.
- He likes good music.
- He sings like Jay Sean.
- Per.Fect. Skin.
-He's ripped.
-He says funny things like "coons age".
Not only did he wrestle in high school, Blaine was also a star institute basketball player. One time at a game this kid got his finger dislocated. It was nasty. Blaine came over and popped it right back into place. It aint no thang to people like him I guess. Another little diddy about him, Blaine never calls anyone by their real name. Bryndee is Brenda, and I know I said it was Joey that made up Jackie's nickname but truth be told it was Blaine. Mehoph was definitely all Blaine.

(Blaine ridin dirty like usual)

His Birthday was was early in the semester. Me and Jackie decided to take it upon ourselves to throw him a little kickback. It blew. Sorry about that Blaine. I guess it wasnt to bad in the end, he came out of it with an awesome gift. The ole' Robin Hood Pack, better safe than sorry right?? Probably my all time favorite thing about Blaine though is that he never misses a chance to make you feel dumb. One time Missy said Little Wayne, to this day its still "hey you wanna listen to some little wayne". I still laugh every time I think about it. He's quick and witty and probably one of the funniest people I know.Going back to the first night we hung out Blaine told us he was a recent convert. He got baptized the summer after his senior year. Automatically the first thing we asked was if he was wild in high school. His response, no. I think he was slightly offended. He struck me as the type that would reek havoc on the children of Thatcher, but it wasnt so. The more I came to know him the more impressed I was at his decision of joining our church. And I was even more impressed when I found out he turned in his mission papers. Blaine got his call and will be serving in the Portland, Oregon mission and is set to leave the same day as his bf, September 1, 2010. Blaine has so much to offer the people of Oregon and I know him and his family will be blessed immensely! He's going to be such an awesome missionary and I cant wait to hear about his trials and blessings out in the field.

Do you remember??

Meet Joey Elkins. He's funny, he's sassy, and extremely good looking!!!!! <-- his words. Me and Joey have been pen pals since high school and coincidentally I ended up going to school in Thatcher where Joey just happened to live. Shortly after I moved into the slut hut me and Joey became friends. Who would have thought that after years of writing each other we'd be friends in real life? Neat I know.
Joey is a man of many talents. Here are just a few to get a little taste of him.
- He's an excellent singer.
- He's funny.
- He's super smart.
- He can do a backflip.
- He's classy
- And he played tennis in high school.
Joey and Blaine were the sources of mine and jackie's nicknames. One of the first times we hung out, Joey was probably asking what the best thing about him was and I faintly remember telling him he had a good aura. My nickname... Hora. I never thought it would stick but it did. Jackie's nickname... Mehoph. dont ask. Him and his bf were also the masterminds of our dear house "the slut hut".

Joey's bf happens to be Blaine Taylor. Together they are hilarious. They match constantly and are always fighting over who has the better body, or whose funnier, who gets more girls etc etc. The semester truly wouldnt have been as fun without these two. I feel like everywhere we would go we would sing songs. When I hung out with them for the first time we went riding around in Blaine's jeep and we sang "do you remember" by Jay Sean. And now everytime I hear it I always think of them. One of my favorites though is the "We Are The World" song. I take JB and all the girl parts and Joey and Blaine split up the rest. Joey happens to sing exactly like Sean Paul. He is really good at it. I have a video of it and one day Ill try to get it up. Joey and Blaine

But switching back to girls, Joey sure has a way with the ladies. A nice girl from his high school asked him to prom this past year. I dont think he was ever really friends with her, but he decided to go anyways. I dont think Joey will ever know how much that probably meant to her, im sure it made her year!

Joey and his date

As sweet as he is the boy never stops joking. The first FHE of the semester Joey and Blaine watched Jackie as she got a plate full of sausage for some other friends of ours. Ever since then it has been a never ending joke of how much Jackie likes sausage. Jackie turned 21 last week. Joeys present... a package of sausage.
Joey recently got his mission call. There was a slight mix up with his papers. 2 calls. 1 to Washington and 1 to Peru. After talking with the other Joseph Elkins he found out he was going to Peru. Im seriously so excited for him to go and I know he will be an awesome missionary. Him and Blaine both report the same day, September 1, 2010. How appropriate I know.

Hey Soul Sister...

Everybody meet Jackie Lyn. I seriously wish everyone could meet this girl. She is hands down the funniest girl I know. Like HILARIOUS!! I feel like I have known Jack forever when in reality were coming up on our 2 yr anniversary. A little bit lesbian? Maybe. Let me just give a couple reasons of why she is my favorite..
- She shoved her debit card all the way up the receipt slot when she tried to get gas once.
- She takes lots of pictures of herself.
- She can handstand the crap out of anybody
- She makes up ridiculous scenerios with me such as the narnia corner in our room
- She made everyone call her baby for a day
- She likes it when I call her little pony
- We are relentless when it comes to making fun of eachother... and others
- She sings...
- Shes smart
- Our yelling battles
- She laughs at my jokes
- She punched Hayden in the face once, for real
- "sorry"
- She can do the robot
- "Are we fighting? I dont know what to do, do we just not talk for 2 hours or what?"
- She runs home from school like a kid with a sweatshirt tied around her waist
- She has ALWAYS been there
I wish everyone coulda seen mine and Jacks room. tiny is an understatement. But somehow we made it. We were constantly in eachothers way but i think that made it more fun. That room has way to many memories, most shouldn't be shared, im sure James could attest to the horrifying things he heard. But we had so many good times. So many laughs and so many tears happened in our room and im glad she was there for them all. I miss our talks and ridiculous scenerios like the pony person conversation when she almost peed her pants. I miss Jackie waking up when I came into the room at night and telling me she loved me and than not remembering it in the morning or the random phone calls I'd get when I was with Jace asking if I was ok. I miss waking up to her staring at me and telling me she was prettier than me, or her looking in the mirror counting how many times she brushed her hair, "101, 102, 103, sorry im prettier than you".
It all started when Jack moved in with me at the ole trailer mansion. It took some time but before long we were bf's. We've been through a lot in our short friendship but without everything we've endured I dont think we'd be a close as we are. I had a bit of a tuff semester near the end, Jackie was the gentle reminder that I would be ok. She has never once judged me for the things Ive done or said and has always had my back. She has helped me become the person I am today and im so grateful for the example she is to me.
If everyone could have a best friend like her the world would be a better place.

(super gay I know, but I really do love that girl)

Always a bridesmaid never a bride, HA!

I feel like there's always a point in the year where EVERYONE gets married. Im sure everyone knows what im talking about. That point is now. Im pretty sure I have 5 or 6 wedding invitations in my room right now all for the past couple weeks. Its cool.
2 weeks ago though I got to go up to St. Johns for Lacey's wedding. I was a bridesmaid, imagine that.Lacey was my roomate for a while down at EA. She's hilarious. We had a lot of good times such as...
- that one time I got a concussion on a slip n slide.
- the trailer mansion
- skinny dipping in roper lake every night for like a month
- singing songs
- the spring break we stayed in thatcher longboarding everywhere we went
Those are just a few, most I cant publish publicly. Im sad I didnt even get a picture with her at the wedding but we had to get back down to the valley that same night so I stole one from her facebook. Im so excited for her and Patrick!

Than this past weekend I went up to Mesa for Julie and Jordans wedding. It was a weird feeling having her get married. She was one of the 8 roomates this last semester. We all managed to
make it to the wedding though so it was a good time.(Bryndee, Ami, Whitney, Missy, Julie, Jackie, Me, Rachel)

Some of my favorite memories of Julie are...
- her singing voice
- scum
- watching twilight every day for a month
- hiking
- 40's!!
- single tears
- j whit
- sonic
- taco bell club
Im so excited for both of them, they are the first 2 of my closer friends to get married so its definitely weird feeling but nontheless very exciting!

Excuse me, I think you made a mistake...

Astonished:
Part of Speech- (Verb)
Definition: Surprised

I think its fair to say I was astonished when I saw my final anatomy grade for the first time this morning.
Perhaps I should have tried to look at my grade throughout the semester.
On second hand, maybe its good I didn't.
I can honestly say I've never been so stressed about a single class in my life.
I cried. and stressed. and studied like never before.
Lets be honest, I would have been ecstatic with a 70.
When your expecting a D in a class you've worked so hard in,
you'll take anything that lets you pass.
But when I looked at my grades today and saw what it was...
I cried. I mean really cried.
Kinda pathetic, but it was the biggest weight off my shoulders.

I. Got. a. B.
Halle-freakin-lujah!

Happy Mother's Day!

Let me start off by saying how much I really love my mom. I know everyone loves their moms, its a given, but honestly my mom is one of my best friends. I don't know how I could ever thank her enough for everything she has done for me. I was in sacrament today listening to a talk on gratitude, and given its mothers day she talked a lot about her mom. It inspired me to write about my mom and why I love her as much as I do.

Me and my mom butted heads a lot at one point in high school. I faintly remember it being over a little diddy called seminary. I hated seminary to say the least. I refused to go, and my mom refused to let it slide. I remember countless fights over it and one day she used the ole "well if you don't go to seminary you wont get your license" routine. I'm fairly stubborn so in not so many words I told her to bring it. Well she brought it. 2 months before I turned 17 and a years worth of seminary make-ups later, I finally got my license. That was when I realized just how similar me and my mom are.

She has taught me so much in my life. My mom is funny, kind, sweet, caring, spiritual and loving. Since I've been away at school I've realized how much I miss her and its made me realize how much she truly does. I feel like me moving away has made me so much closer to my mom and I'm glad that it has turned out this way.

I'm glad my mom loves me still after the decisions I've made. good. and. bad.

I'm glad we have the relationship that we do. The kind of relationship where I can tell her anything and she doesn't judge or make me feel bad.

I love that she thinks I'm funny, and that we can laugh together even if my humor is slightly dirty.

My mom just inspires me to be a better person. She has shown me the way and I want to be so much like her when I'm a mom some day.

Thanks for all you do mom! I LOVE you more than you know!

Ohhhhhh Myyyyyy Goshhhhhhh!

This semester has flown by, I still cant believe its going to be over in 3 short weeks. It has been one of the funnest i've had here and i'm so glad I came back. Our house has been deemed "The Slut Hut" and sadly has stuck with us throughout the semester. Having 8 girls in a house has been pretty fun. I love the girls I live with and we all get along good. A perk of having 8 girls in one house is all the people it brings in. We constantly have people coming in and out and there's always something to do. There's been a lot going on this semester so ill do my best to sum it all up.

The semester started out with a bang. I started hanging out with a guy right off the bat. We started dating and dated for a good portion of the semester. We had fun but it obviously didnt go anywhere. You live and you learn right?

In the mist of all that we made a few trips. One being to California for spring break. Jackie, Jessica, Missy and me went up to Missy's moms for the week. We shopped, ate way to much thanks to Missy's awesome mom, and beached it. It was quick but fun.

We also made the trip up to Utah for conference this year. Ive always wanted to go but never have been able to. Luckily Uncle Sam sent me a nice little check this year and I was able to do all the things Ive been deprived of the past 2 years. Jackie, Hayden, Missy and me all went up. We stopped in Vegas on the way up and spent the night conquering the strip. We figured it would be better to go on the way up than after conference. We got into all the sessions on Saturday after begging people on the corner for tickets. It was awesome and im so glad I finally got to expierence it. We met up with Clint and his wife Paige and than got to hang out with Tory for a couple days.

We made a few trips to Mesa for various reasons, one being the Easter Pageant at the Temple. Hayden had never been (being from Boise and all) so we thought it'd be fun for him and it was.

I know im leaving out a bunch of stuff and it may not sound as fun as ive made it out to be, but trust me it was! Other than the big things ive just been busting butt in school. I started actually trying in school which is a first for me. Its been alright we'll see how good I did at the end of the semester.

Chea came down here at the beginning of the semester to take some pictures of us. She is so amazing. You can check her out here :)

Guess Whose Back!!

Thats right ladies and gents, me. Well Im back in Thatcher. And Im over the fact that this is my 3rd year and that this is a two year school. It feels good and beats the heck out of Tucson. It was kind of a last minute decision but so far it has been worth it! Im back with Jackie, Julie, and Missy plus Bryndee, Ami, Rachel, and Whitney... You counted right, theres 8 of us. Its a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom house and to be honest it really isnt that bad. We all get along and we havent had any major problems these first two weeks. Lets see if we can make it 3 more months :) I'll put pictures up when I get em'.

Oh Hello.

I have a great excuse as to why I havent updated in a while.
1. I dont have alot to update about.
2. My dumb neighbor kicked us off his internet.
The funny thing about #2 is that he tried being "sneaky" about it. Um hello were neighbors, im going to see you eventually. Its not like I havent noticed that we cant get on the internet anymore. So thank you for that downstairs Nate. We appreciate it. Pause not.

Well October has come and gone. Halloween was sorta fun. Im not a big Halloween person. I always say Im going to plan some awesome costume, but when the time comes I decide I dont want to. Then on Halloween I decide I do want to dress up. So this year was the same as always. I went looking at like 3 on Halloween day for a costume. Me and Adam went down to 4th ave. and it was packed to say the least. I ended up with a little boys "pirate" costume from Wally world. It looked like anything but a pirate, but I dealt with it. I went to the institute dance for a while and then we went back to Chris's house and watched a movie. It was a good night.
November has FLOWN by. The scariest thing happened though, after work one day Adam and Chris called me to see if I wanted to go to a movie. So I met them at Chris's house and we went to the movies, then we decided to go down to university ave. for the pep rally, and then we went back to his house and watched another movie. While we were watching it the motion light outside his house came on so I was looking at the window because I didn't think anyone else was coming. And as im watching it I see a figure walk by and kinda lean over right by his car so I hit Chris and was like Chris someones outside!! So he jumped up and grabbed his gun (he's a cop) and opened the door and he was like "hey bro what the heck are you doing?" And then he took off. I was freaked out and we went outside and Chris had chased some guy down the alley but he got away. But Chris said he was at my car door and was trying to open the door! I was like what the heck! I'm glad the didn't break in, not that they would have gotten anything good out of it but nontheless it would have been a pain. Then to top it all off, Chris's house got broken into on Friday. The whole thing is scary to me, I dont think I could sleep there after something like that...if it were my house. But they stole his tv, laptop, and then a bunch of his guns.
After that whole deal we went down the Rocky Point with the McCowns. It was fun like always, it was nice to get away from work and everything for the weekend.
This last Thursday/Friday at midnight, guess what I was doing. Ding ding, me and Cait were at the New Moon premiere. Haters get lost. I LOVED every single minute of it. I will definitely be seeing it again, possibly again after that. I highly recommend it. I didnt like the first one when I saw it, but this one was bomb the whole way through. Me and Cait were there sporting our team Jacob shirts, let me tell you him alone is worth watching the movie for. He is awesome and made me love him more than ever!!
Other than that not a whole lots going on. I cant believe Thanksgiving is next week and then Christmas is a few weeks later, this last few months has just flown.

My Day of Labor

*Notice- This post is extremly long...Like really long.

I really love my life. Its so simple right now and I figure this is the only time in my life I'll be able to make sparatic trips to the beach when im broke. For labor day weekend Caitlin, Adam, Rhett, Nick, Kelsey and I all went to California. They decided they wanted to go like Wednesday night and I decided I was going to go for sure the Friday we left. It ended up being so last minute and we sure did pay for that. I ended up driving my truck along with Caitlin and Adam. Caitlin rode the whole way up in the back. Kudos for her. And then Nick, Rhett and Kelsey drove up in his car. Lets just say this trip was the trip from hell but it actually turned out to be one of the best i've been on.

Friday night we were all planning on leaving at 7. I knew it wouldnt happen and of course it didnt. Nick called our motel before we left but did it through hotels.com. When he talked to the guy he made sure he knew we were coming in at like 3 am and the guy told him that we wouldnt have to worry about paying for Friday night and we would just be charged for Saturday and Sunday. So Nick books it and we finally leave around 9 and we drive up to Oro Valley and pick up Kelsey. We stop and get something to eat and then we fiiiiiiiinally leave for real this time! Caitlin slept in the back most of the way and me and Adam talked and sang songs till he fell asleep. I was doing real good till we got across the border. Thats when I started getting tired and so I turned up the AC and I sang louder and Adam would wake up and ask how I was doing and depending on my answer he'd either stay awake or go back to sleep. But around 2 I was sooo tired. So Adam gave me an energy drink that I downed in no time but of course I spilt a large amount down the front of my white shirt. I didnt think it was a big deal, thought it would just blend in, but when we stopped I went in to the store and asked for the bathroom key and the guy just kinda looked at me weird. So I went in the bathroom and looked in the mirror, not only did I look cracked out but I also looked like I puked down the front of my shirt. It was awesome. We kept on driving and we got lost so we drove around more hoping to stumble upon where we needed to be. Finally we stopped again and Adam got directions. We finally arrived at like 3:30 and we get to the motel and of course they have no reservation for us. We were all tired. I had been up for like 22 hours at this point and we had no where to stay! So Nicks talking to the lady whose talking to hotels.com and were getting nowhere. So we ask if we can just get a room and the lady was like were all full but if we did you'd have to pay for Friday night. I was like were not paying for Friday night its absoultley ridiculous since it wasnt even Friday anymore and the sun was freaking coming up! So we went to a couple other places on the street and they all said the same thing, that we'd have to pay for Friday night or wait till check in Saturday morning. So we parked in a parking lot and slept in the cars. Rhett, Nick, and Kelsey slept in the back of my truck while I slept across the front seat, which was awesome once my leg and stomach got numb from where the seatbelt thing was jabbing me. We slept a couple hours and when I woke up I had to pee sooooo bad, like bad where it hurt, like I was literally contemplating whether or not I should pee my pants. So me and Kelsey tried asking if we could use a bathroom at the hotel but of course not cuz "they dont have public restrooms". So we walked a block down to the jack in the box to use theres. Keep in mind I look even better than the night before because I selpt in a car and there was so much humidity in the air AND I had "puke" down the front of my shirt. Awesome I tell you. But we finally get into a different hotel where we all just crashed on the beds. We squeezed 3 people in each bed and the 6 of us shared one bathroom all weekend. It wasnt actually bad though. But we slept for a couple more hours and then hit up the beach. We went to La Jolla and the water was actually nice and plesently warmish. But within the first 5 min I got pounded by a wave and lost my only sunglasses. I was so bummed. But we beached all day and then that night we went out to eat and came home and passed out.
Sunday we drove to Orange County because my old roomates decideded to come to Cali that weekend to. So we were planning on meeting up with them at the beach, which never happened. But we drove to Balboa beach and drove around for over an hour looking for parking with no avail. We finally just drove down to Hunnington beach and we stayed there for a few hours. Im not a big swimmer or into playing in the ocean to much. It kinda creeps me out. Im more of lay on the beach and tan kinda person. But as I was laying there I was kinda watching Adam and Cait and everyone and I see a boat get real close to them and then I see the lifeguards swimming to them and so I go down to see whats going on and apparently Adam got rescued because him and Cait got stuck in a rip tide. It was pretty funny though, Adam got on the boat and Caits lifeguard swam her back to shore. It was prettty eventful. Oh ya and as I was standing there all concerned a wave came up and took my bottoms with it. Luckily I was quick like a cheetah and I pulled those suckers on so fast, but not fast enough for Rhett and Cait who were lucky enough to get a glimpse of my sweet cheeks. Me and Cait could not stop laughing although I was pretty embarrased and Rhett just sort of stood there. It wasnt as bad as the day before though when it happened to Cait cept it was her top... Rhett was there for that too. Guess he was the lucky one.

But that night we stayed with Missy at her house. It was fun being with the girls again, I miss them so much and we always have a good time. After we all got showered we went down to Laguna Beach and walked around the town and talked on the beach. It was real nice, and Missy and Jackie and Julie and Kent came and met up with us. I ended up staying with them and everyone else went back and slept. But the rest of us took a thousand pictures of ourselves like usual. It was fun like always. Monday we all got up and got ready to head home. We were planning on stopping at the San Diego Temple and then going back to La Jolla for a little while longer to hang out before we left. So we left missys and went to Dennys for breakfast and then drove to the temple. When we got there Adam went to look for his camera to take some pictures and couldnt find it. Of course he had left it back in Mission Viejo at the Dennys so we walked around the temple took a couple pictures and then Me Adam and Cait went back while Nick Rhett and Kelsey went back home. All in all it wasnt bad. I think I laughed more on that trip than anywhere else. My stomach was literally sore from laughing on the way home. It was alot of fun and im so glad we ended up going.

What happened to the summer??

Summer is basically over and I cant believe how fast its gone by. This summer was pretty good though, I've had alot of fun and met alot of new people. Its weird that school is starting up again and im not going back. Im so sad im not going back to Thatcher this semester! Im so jealous hearing everyone talking about going back while im staying in Tucson. Im gonna stand by my decision of not going back though despite everyones negative opinion. I think it will do me good to take this semester off. Fortunatley for me I got a legit job. Im working at the same dental lab that I've been working at all summer, cept they made me official and im on the pay roll now :] I work full time and I drive all around town and do things in the office. I really like it so far and am so glad to be working.

As we all know I moved out across town with my bf Caitlin Rand. We live in a ghetto apartment. Its not that ghetto though, its really not even bad. It's 2 bedroom and 1 bath, me and Cait are currently sharing the big bedroom leaving us with our "office". Its pretty cool, everyone thinks were lesbians for sharing 1 room when we could both have our own haha. We are kinda sorta looking for a roomate, so if anyone knows of anyone looking for a place by the UofA let us know. No crazy girls or cougars, please and thank you :]

Who wouldnt wanna live with us??

We went to the 4th ave. re-opening thing last night. It was fun, I like 4th ave alot. There are lots of crazies but the shops are really cool. Me and Cait decided to take a cute little tour on a bike taxi. It was awesome haha. Mike our biker drove us up and down and all around. I reccomend everyone do one... Here's a couple pictures from the night.

This weird guy basically molested me right before the picture thats why my arm is weirdly placed. Im not sure who he is or why we even took a picture with him...