Halloween weekend was our first-ever camping extravaganza! Although we shouldn't have waited until the end of October to plan it...it was freezing! But still so, so much fun! I absolutely love camping. And I absolutely loved my friends (and missed the ones who couldn't make it!). Camping + Friends = Perfection :)

Here is the first group of people that went up. We went up to the Rim and camped between the lakes. It was beautiful! I wish the rest of Arizona looked like this!

Two of my favorite things about camping...

1. Tin foil dinners! MMMmmmmmm

2. CARD GAMES! Phase 10 means 'the goddess of camping' I'm sure.

The boys had this fabulous idea to bring a generator, projector, and movie screen and set it up and watch scary movies (since it was Halloween weekend). Halfway through the movie the generator ran out of gas and everything went pitch black, silent, and then of course major screaming. We were the only ones in the campground so it just added to the effect.

We skipped rocks at the lake (seriously, isn't it gorgeous!) for hours until the cranky old fishermen called us "moronic" and we got our feelings hurt and left. Guess the fishing wasn't good that day...probably cause all the fish were frozen!

If you don't believe me that it was cold (for all my Alaska readers!) there was snow all over the ground.

I am so grateful to have such a fun, adventureous group of friends! There is seriously never a dull (or boring!) moment. Next years trip is already in the making. I expect you all to be there! Don't worry, the request has already been made to do it in the summer!

1200 miles in 3 days

Highlight: burning all our tastebuds off fom eating too many shock-tarts.

let me explain: the boys were in charge of snacks for the trip. my idea of snacks are peanuts and jerky...you know- high protein, good energy. they brought:
-10 packs of candybars
-5lb bag of willy wonka candy
boys. they are somethin' else!

Highlight: talking to a man the boys met in the restroom at New York, New York. He was from Holland and had a mouth like sailor. Given, it was 2am when we rolled through Vegas.

Highlight: BYU Won!

Highlight: Besides the obvious hearing the Prophet and Apostles of my church speak (which was fantastic, by the way! check it out here) I got to see my wonderful friend Shelli who is serving a mission in Temple Square. I haven't seen here in over a year, it was better than Christmas!

My best friend (Jami) has been preparing to go on a mission and finally got her call last Thursday. She is going to.........the Belgium Brussels/Netherlands mission. Holy cow! She will have to learn how to speak the Dutch language! I am so excited for her...this will be such a great experience! (On a sidenote, Brock is in London, almost exactly halfway around the world from me, and Jami will be in the Netherlands, exactly halfway around the world from her missionary who is in Colorado....coincidence??)

Anyways....Saturday night we had time to kill before our movie started, so we walked over to Barnes & Noble and picked out some books about the Dutch language! Some of the words are very similar or the same as in English, but the ones that are different are VERY different. It's a fun language to speak though, yaa.

While Jami studied up on Dutch I studied up on the best places to shop in London. I can't wait to go spend all Brock's money there :)

Shout out to Frances:

sorry I'm a little late!

Right before school started my friend Missy came out to visit. She lives in Cali so I drove back with her, spent the weekend, and then flew home! It was a short trip but we packed a lot in and had more fun than should be legal.
Here we are on the drive there. Me, Jami, and Missy.

essential roadtrip snacks. not seen is the 320z sprite with one inch of strawberry fanta...gotta love QT!

Missy's mom and her husband were the most generous, hospitable people I have met! They took us to Macaroni Grill when we first got there. I'd only been there once before, and that was back in high school. The bread was my favorite part for sure!

and you get to draw on the tables! Here's a little reminder that I <3 Brock in case you forgot!

Me & Missy. I love this girl! She is so much fun and easy to get along with! And she lives back in AZ now, even better!

Day 2 was a designated beach day...I could get used to this

After the beach we went out for Sushi. Does anyone else love sushi as much as I do??? So good!!

Thanks Missy for the great vacation!! It was a great end to this crazy but fun summer! Now back to school....

This semester I am taking:

-organic chemistry + lab
-microbiology + lab
-anatomy & physiology


This semester I am wishing:

I had kept my major in education

Due West

This weekend I went down to Thatcher to get my car (finally! a month later...). Anyways, I decided to make a weekend out of it. Friday night my friend Ryan invited me to go to a concert with him. I had never heard of the band but one of the members is from Thatcher and he knew him from school so we went...and it was AMAZING! They sounded better live than Rascal Flatts - and that's saying a lot because they are one of my favorite bands!

Abyways, they are called Due West They are a small band trying to make it big and just produced their first music video which made it on tv's top 20 countdown last week. Cool! If you're into country music you seriously need to check them out!