Emily comes to visit!

Hayley's little sister, Emily came to visit us this weekend. We tried to make it super fun for her to be here! Friday we all went to lunch at the Skyroom (the fanciest restaurant on campus), and then Friday night Hayley and Emily went on a double date together. Saturday was so much fun! We spontaneously bought a couch for our room. We went to DI (the Mormon version of Salvation Army) and found one for 30$. The ride home was a little interesting. Somehow we managed to fit four people and the couch in the back of my car. We stopped at a car wash on the way back and unloaded the couch so we could vacuum it out with the power vacuum. Everyone must have thought that we were totally crazy. When we got it back we washed all of the cushions and sprayed it with an entire can of Lysol until Hayley and I both agreed that it was sufficiently disinfected.

 Our dorm room definitely feels a lot more cozy now, and it looks a lot bigger. Hopefully boys will think its cool that we have a couch and want to come over during visiting hours :) Another bonus of having the couch was Emily didn't have to sleep on the floor her second night!

 Saturday night was the big tragic football game. There are no professional sports teams around here so when BYU plays the U its like the superbowl. There was a huge party in the Cannon Center but it was so crowded we ended up going to Hayley's family's party instead.

way too many people in the Cannon Center

cute Y cookies Hayley's aunt made for the game!

 It was really late after the game but we still wanted to get to hike the Y with Emily so we went anyway! It was fun, but we were all exhausted.

I could barely wake up for my Relief Society meeting at 8 on Sunday. We did get to attend a really great regional stake conference! Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the 12 was one of the speakers there, as well as the Provo Mission President, the Mount Timpanogos Temple matron, the Primary general president, and two members of the 70. It was a really great meeting. I learned a lot, and now I have heard from 3 of the 12 apostles in person! Elder Oaks was a great speaker! He was funny, uplifting,  and even called his wife up to the stand to share a message specifically for the young single adults in the church.

After church we had dinner with Hayley and Emily's family. It was so great to have homemade food! Emily's last activity with us was going tunnel singing! I have a terrible singing voice, but tunnel singing is becoming one of my favorite BYU traditions. It is so fun and uplifting and Hayley has a beautiful voice which pretty much covers up my awful one. The songs this time were really good. Last time we went they sang quite a few hymns that we didn't know very well but this time we got to sing a lot of my favorites including the EFY medley! I'm so glad that Emily got to come spend the weekend with us and I hope that my own sister, Monika, will want to come and visit us too!

They're so cute!

Temple Open House

Friday I got to go to the Brigham City Temple open house. Whenever there is a new temple is built it gets opened up to the public for tours for a few weeks. After it is dedicated only church members holding recommends can go inside (youth can get something called a limited use recommend which allows them to go inside only the baptistry to perform baptisms for the dead ). I'll actually get to see the dedication next Sunday in a special broadcast!  The open house was so beautiful. Each part of it was amazing; there were so many little details like decorations on the doorhandles and trim on the ceilings that each were beautiful and symbolic. The church has released some photos of the interior, but they don't really do it any justice. It was the most incredible place I've ever seen, and the cool thing is that I'll probably remember it when I go through the temple for the first time a few years from now. I've always wondered what it would be like on the inside, and I'm really glad that I know have a mental picture in my head to keep in mind as I'm preparing to go there. It was totally worth the drive and the long wait in line. I'm also really glad that I got to go with my friends Cecily and Jen. Cecily is in my stake back home and Jen was her roommate for the past two years and now she's my RA. They're both a few years older than me so they're preparing to go to the temple really soon. I love them, and they are both really great examples! I hope that two years from now I will be like them. I love that we can have a really serious conversation about the gospel, but then just a few minutes later we can be having a fun Shania Twain sing along. That's one of the things that I'm discovering is so great about BYU. Everyone around me understands the gospel and talks about it openly, my roommate and I have shared our favorite scriptures with each other, many of the professors start class with a prayer and often talk about doctrine (not just in religion class), and the students live the standards of the church. 

BYU weeks 2 & 3

This week has been super busy! I'll just give you some of the highlights. Last Tuesday night Hayley and I were on a huge sugar high so we hiked the Y in the dark with some of our new friends. It was so fun. Its way better at night than during the day. 

Friday night I was roommateless for the frist time, but luckily I found some things to do. I went to the volleyball game with some of the girls on our hall. It was super fun! I liked it even better than the football game. After the game there was another dance!

Saturday I went tubing on the Provo river with some friends! The water was freezing but we all had tons of fun. The tubes kept crashing into rocks and trees so we would all grab onto each other and try not to crash into them. We ended up making a huge rafts by pushing all the tubs together and holding onto them.  I also had my first In 'n Out burger, and I honestly wasn't impressed. I don't understand why everyone loves In 'n Out so much. It wasn't bad but it definitely wasn't great either. I think 5 Guys is way better.

all the girls!

The whole group!

Sunday I had to teach in Relief Society for the first time. I was terrified because I had never taught a church class other than my mom's 8 year old primary kids. Luckily we decided to split up the lesson between all four of us so I only had to teach for about 10 minutes and it went pretty well. Sunday there was also a CES Fireside by Elder Holland. We were all excited because we had thought he was coming to the Marriott Center, but it was really just a broadcast. It was still a great fireside, and we got to watch it in our PJs on the TV in our lobby :) If you have time it is definitely worth watching or reading online! Sunday at ward prayer we also got to meet our new home teachers. It seems weird to me that I'm going to have my own home teachers who are the same age as me, but they are really nice and I'm sure they'll do a great job.

Monday we got to meet our family home evening groups. My group seems so fun! I'm excited to have FHE with them every week.

my FHE group playing the laughing game

Tuesday there was another devotional that was really good! Every week there is either a devotional (religious speaker) or forum (scholarly speaker). It reminds me a little bit of going to Tuesday assemblies every week at WA.

Wednesday I went with some friends to a dance performance on campus! It was really awesome. It featured different dancing styles from all around the world, and the dancers were fantastic! It was kind of funny to see a bunch of white Mormons performing Indian dances, but they did a really good job with it!

We weren't supposed to take any pictures at EviDance so this is the only one I got. 

Last night there was another girls' soccer game. They won again! We left when there was about 5 minutes left in the game and as we were waling out a soccer ball went flying over the hedges. So after a brief discussion of whether or not keeping it would be against the honor code my friend Eliza got to take it back. So now we have a game ball!

There was a photo booth at the game so we all piled in and tried to take a picture together. This was the result! 

So I've been so busy! I had four papers due this week on top of all of this fun :) This weekend Hayley's little sister is visiting us so it should be another busy next few days too!

Labor day weekend.

Weekends at BYU are so fun! Its pretty much like one giant game night the whole weekend. Saturday night we went to the soccer game, but at half time there was lightning so they sent us inside. We were too impatient to stick around so we went back to our friends' apartment to watch movies and play night games. 

 This is what the sky looked like just before the thunderstorm. It was so pretty! I love thunder and lightning. 

Sunday was another great day! I'm getting used to being in a YSA ward. Our bishopric assigned a lot of callings (scroll down to where it says service in the church to learn about what a calling is) this week. Its amazing to me that a bunch of 18 year olds are going to be running the ward. There are only about 5 people over the age of 20; all the other responsibilities are left up to the young adults. I'm starting to feel really old. 

 Monday morning we all hiked the Y as a ward! It was super fun :) After the hike our bishopric made breakfast for us! It was a great way to get to know some more people in my ward.

 Once we were at the top we lied upside down on the way. Provo looked completely upside down, and if you didn't have someone hold your feet you started to slide.  

 Adelynn, Rachel, and I hiked it together.

 Some of the girls from my hall. 

Happy Birthday Mom!

My mom is so great and she is celebrating a big birthday today! She is one of the most amazing women in the world, and probably the best most patient teacher ever. She is so great and I'm really grateful for the positive influence she has had on me through out my life that I know she will continue to have. I love you mom!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

This post is a little late, but Friday was my dad's birthday! I won't tell you all how old he is, but he's still super young!  I love him and I am so grateful for all things he has done for me. I'm sad I couldn't be there to celebrate his birthday this year (especially since I heard they got to go to a fancy restaurant in Boston without me) but I hope he has a great year! I miss you and love you lots :)