Then and Now

I wish I knew how many hours it took to get this piece of paper!

Mmm, no I don't. It's probably better not to know.

It was a lot of hours. And dollars. And late nights. And projects. And tests.
And late nights.

But more than that, it was a lot of great classes, memorable professors, (43!) wonderful roommates...

and many much-needed naps in Memorial Hall of the Wilkinson Student Center.

That paper came from four great years.

Now I'm happily working at THIS place:

I'm an event planner there, which I love.

It's a great company, and I'm so grateful to work there!

I work with seriously talented (and happy) people.

Everyone sincerely enjoys what they do and believes in what we're working toward.

Bonus: the job is close to these cute kids,

so I'm still loving living with family!

Every morning after breakfast Jaren questions me.

J: "Where are you going?"

M: "To work!"

J: "Again??"

Moral of the story: no more asking me if I want to go to grad school, deal?

I just don't. Not now. Maybe later. Maybe not.

And I need you to be ok with that. I'm definitely ok with that :)

Life on L Street

 These are my roommates.

Yep, all of them.

Ok, minus the missionaries & professor+spouse. But they're around a lot too.

I love them.

It (unexpectedly) hit me tonight, during our very entertaining Barlow Center variety show,

that these bright people are my last fellow BYU adventurers.

They'll go on adventuring. I will too. But I'm guessing we won't all live together again.

I had a roommate once that told me she felt like she went through life collecting people.

Every stage/semester/day of life brings you people to meet,

and learn about, 

and love,

and usually miss.

But collecting them is always worth it. 

It's kind of a snowball effect -- you just roll through life getting a bigger heart,

 and a bigger list of people you love,

and a bigger list of people you want to catch up with,

and a bigger list of memories you laugh out loud about...

...I'd roll with these guys any day.

My LAST Field Trip. Ever.

Isn't that the saddest blog post title you have ever read?

The truth hit me hard when I started this post.

Our trip out to Harper's Ferry and Gettysburg last week really was my last field trip.

Ever.

Ok, as a student.

You get to go with your kids on fun field trips, right?

Enough sad stuff, look how much fun we had!

Harper's Ferry is beautiful. AND it's in West Virginia. State #32, people!

I recently learned that I need to hit all 50 before I turn 25,
because Ali is trying to hit 50 in the next 3 years.

I don't want to be left behind.

Just 18 to go...

Look how much fun they're having! We were incredibly jealous.

They're just tubing down the Potomac, then meeting up with the Shenandoah. 

West Virginia is SO beautiful. I could live there.

We were wishing for our swimsuits...but this was almost as good.

Except for Jon and Sean. They needed the full experience.

This was right before they both surrendered and just got completely wet.

We made friends with a guy that was hanging out on a little island in the middle.

When I told him I was from Utah, he said, "Are you guys Mormons? 

I mean...I can definitely tell those two out there are Mormons, but are the rest of you too?"

Then we laughed at Jon and Sean a little more.

I love how green it is, but is it worth the humidity?

Still deciding.

I like trains.

Miss Jacqui Bird! This is the Gettysburg Battlefield, full of monuments and history. 

This picture is very appropriate because Jacqui's smart pretty head is also full of history. 

And someday she will teach it.

Red barns. 

On my church history trip last fall they taught me that red barns are red because they were painted with ox blood.

That was the cheapest color of paint to make. You painted yellow barns if you were rich.

I kind of wish I never learned that?

Blood is gross.

We climbed a tower. And this is what we saw.

I love mountains, don't get me wrong...but I love it here too.

This is Sean shooting a Canon. On a cannon.

And this. This is David Sentman's focused, focused face. Notice that he is about to finish that nugget.

One of forty that he finished that day.

Alex, on the left, challenged David to a nugget-eating contest.

David won.

I am still amazed.

And that, my friends, was my very last field trip.

Didn't even cross my mind during the day. It was too much fun.

I know I'll miss being a student in the fall when 92% of my friends are back on campus with backpacks and books and class schedules and...other student-ish things I won't have anymore.

But I'm excited for my next chapter. Whatever it is :)

It happened.

 This happened two weeks ago...feels like two years ago? So much has happened since then! BUT it's momentous enough that I'm still doing a little recap.

(Andrew. Worked with him in Career Services. He has a great job lined up in Texas in November, so he's just gonna go kill some time in China at culinary school this summer...no big deal.)

 My time as a BYU student is no more, people. Unless you count this summer in DC, but I feel kind of grown up out here. So...the statement stands.

(The roomie! Elise. She graduated in Advertising, so it was fun to walk together in the same commencement! She's headed to an internship in Chicago next month.)

 This is Susan Walton, a professor I had for a lot of my PR classes. She's such a firecracker, I'm going to miss being in her classroom. 

 I was so happy to have my family there that day! Ali couldn't make it since Jerusalem is taking all of her vacation days this year, but I am totally supportive of that :) 

 Jenny was a wonderful photographer, as always. Allison even came all the way down from Seattle for the occasion! Or maybe she came for another friend's wedding. Hmm...

Gotta love Career Services. This office was a big and enjoyable part of my BYU experience! My boss, Monte, and coworkers Cody and Marsha made it such a fun place to work.

BYU was hard. In all sorts of ways. The first year hardest of all, though, and I'm glad I can see why I was supposed to go there now.

Ok. More recap on more life changes soon.

BYU PR Program, Check!

Based on the amount of hours I've spent with this group this semester, you could maybe call this a family picture. 

Meet "Communicare: your healthcare communications resource."

(We did not intentionally cut Ben's daughter out of this picture. She's way too cute for that. It was an unfortunate accident.)

Jordan, Jenna, Maddie, Amie, Ben

Yes, we did have to make up little a team name for our capstone group. No, we did not make it up until the day before our presentation. Actually, a lot happened the day before the presentation. Probably a lot I shouldn't publish in the online world? Just know we are all immeasurably grateful for Jenna's ability to pull an all-nighter and STILL give a flawless presentation at 9 AM. 

The capstone project of the public relations program at BYU involves getting a class client (sorry, can't tell you who, confidentiality laws...), splitting up into groups, then competing to develop a campaign that the client chooses to implement at the end of the semester.

I loved doing healthcare communications with these people. They are all so impressive, and we had way too much fun together throughout the semester. Thursday alone involved about 10 hours together plus every variety of junk food available. Did you know that pretzel M&Ms exist? They do. I even had that feeling moms always allude to, that if-you-eat-too-much-of-that-you'll-make-yourself-sick feeling. Kind of always thought they were bluffing?

This project marked the end of the PR program at BYU. I graduate next Friday, then move to DC at the end of April! My internship is technically my last requirement to graduate. 

Stoked.

You should live here.

Look, this kitchen is so cute. And it frequently has baked goods. 

Living room. Also cute. Frequently has girls staying up way too late and laughing about who knows what doing homework.

So you should buy this contract. Preferably if you're single, female, and living in Provo. 

Unfortunately, I think I just eliminated the vast majority of my readership. But at least now you can share in my stress :)

13.1

Race Day. Have you been to Moab lately? The whole town is organic and made out of granola and mountain bikers. It made the whole experience feel just a little more hard core, even though we have a long way to go before we would qualify as a Moab-ite.

I haven't been there since we hiked arches when I was 13. I kind of just remember we went to buy ice cream after, but then my dad made us boycott it because all proceeds went to draining Lake Powell. 

Anyways.

 This is our before picture, somewhere during the time everyone waits for the shuttle and uses the bathroom a million times. 

Kimberly's sisters came down with us and cheered us on. I love being around sisters even though it makes me miss mine. My parents met us in Moab, too. They got in that morning so I didn't see them before the race. 


It was SO fun turning the last corner and seeing the finish line and my parents at the same time. I did a little dance for them. Then I kept running. 

My Aunt Tanya ran it as well! She's a professional at this, I don't even know how many races she has done. It was so fun to see her there! 

The race was great overall. Kimberly finished in two hours and I am SO proud of her! 
Then she was there to cheer me on when I came in 30 minutes later :)

Kimberly and I are happy happy happy to be done with the training process. Now we get to choose how long we want to run instead of following a calendar. And I get to eat Reese's Eggs whenever I want. 
Right?

Race experience made possible by: 
Kindal's running mix, ibuprofen, Ali's coaching, the man who offered everyone beer at mile 6 (took the laugh, not the beer), Clif Shot energy gel at mile 8, the old women who played bongos at mile 9, Alma 30:44, my parents' cheering, and lots of grateful prayers for a body that can run if I teach it to.

Feels weird to have the race finished! 
Now we're just ready to finish being sore :)

Trying to Embrace Winter

 Friday was an adventure up at Aspen Grove. A randomly connected group of us went cross-country skiing, and I call it an adventure since most of us had never been before. And when I say randomly connected, I mean it. Ready, try to follow this: On the left is Neal, who went to Jerusalem with us this summer. His date is Grace (also Jeru) who is next to Michael's sister Rachel (Jeru again). Then Lauren (Jeru) with her date Dave, who is in my ward. Dave is roommates with Jordan, who is also Michael's friend from freshman year, who came on a date with Kimberly, my roommate. (Kimberly and Jordan: not pictured. They were too busy being good at cross-country skiing). Then Michael, and me, and Tyler, Rachel's date, who went to Jerusalem as well.

Did you follow that?

 Cross-country skiing stole any sense of coordination I thought I had. The skis are super thin, and I never really did figure out the technique of slowing down or turning. You know that whole pizza thing they teach you in elementary school? It wasn't working too well. And sometimes when we went uphill I would go uncontrollably backwards. Michael would kindly stick his pole back and pull me the rest of the way. It was greatly appreciated.

We got the hang of it by the end, though. I even made it down the steepest part of the course without falling my last time around. I turned around to brag to Michael, but he was coming at me at full speed with no sign of stopping. We collided into a small mountain-ish pile of snow. Would've been a soft landing if Michael's ski wasn't between me and the ground. I'm so proud of my bruise though! It's all sorts of colors. Too bad it's not in an appropriate place for me to prove that to you. Just take my word for it.

I was so glad Kimberly came with us! These days I feel like I only see her when we're running or falling asleep, which means we don't get to catch up enough. I'm no conversationalist when we're making each other run mile after mile in Provo's freeeezing weather, and I make no sense when I'm tired. No sense at all.

On our way back to the car we stumbled upon a Youth Conference dance at one of the lodges. Kimberly and I limited ourselves to two songs, then we decided the leaders were onto us. We just couldn't pass by a perfectly good dance party, even though the average age was 14.

I guess the tables have turned -- the last dance I went to at Aspen Grove was with Ali and her roommates when I was still in high school. It was fun to tell the boys I danced with that I was still a senior when they would ask me what my major was. Maybe not as fun for them though.

Um, what?

So, I love my new roommate. Really I do. We were both (embarrassingly) terrified to meet each other at the beginning of this semester, but only great things have happened since. Can you blame us, though? I mean, there are A LOT of people at BYU. A lot of people.There are high risks.

But once I realized I was afraid of getting random roommates again, I knew I had to do it. Last chance, right? Enter Kimberly Bluth.

And now we're friends. I mean real friends, because she's the only person I know who loves Reese's as much as I do. Like, the dance-party-anytime, Office-on-Friday-afternoons-because-we-don't-have-a-TV, make-each-other-eat-baked-goods-so-we-don't-feel-guilty-eating-them-too, kind of friends. Oh, and apparently the trick-each-other-into-a-half-marathon kind of friends. 


Shoot.

You need to watch that video, for a lot of reasons. 
First, enjoy the beautiful Canyonlands. 
Second, be inspired by Mayor Moab's tender words. 
And third, feel the fear that fills you when you hear the man yelling at the runners, telling them that if they haven't gone to the bathroom they will no longer make it. Terrifying.


The Moab Marathon is a big deal. You have to enter a lottery to be able to run it. So one night Kimberly and I discussed our (slightly unrealistic and numerous?) New Year's Resolutions. 

K: "I'm not gonna bake all the time anymore."
M: "Yeah, I'm going to bed before 12:00 next semester; scriptures in the morning, too."
K: "My room's going to stay clean. Really though."
M: "For sure, and I'm going to be as cool as Willow Smith."
K: "Definitely. And I'm going to be on time for church."
M: "I want to run more."
K: "Yeah, I want to run multiple times a week."
M: "Yeah, I need to do a 5k or something. 10k maybe."
K: "Yeah, we need to do a half-marathon!"
M: "Yeah!! Half-marathon!"

What?
Then we found the Moab Half-Marathon and saw that registration is a lottery. Sign up in November, find out December 10th if you're in. We totally fell for the buy-now, pay-later game. The process combined two of my innate issues -- my firm belief in fate, and my suppressed love of gambling (which has only expressed itself in arcades, thank you, but that alone has made me very aware of it). 

We couldn't resist. Then I semi-forgot about it.

BUT December 10th did come. And we got it. 

March 19th seems soooo dang close. Bring on the training :)

Oral History Project (a.k.a. Mad & Dad Interview)

For Media History, I had an assignment to interview someone 60 or older who was involved with the media in their life.

I love my dad :)

Not that he's 60 or older. Oops.

Part of the assignment is posting the interview online. So that will be part of this post soon! The link has to be included with the assignment, so I did a little pre-posting to hold a place for my project.

Be excited. Be glad you're not transcribing it at 12:15 AM right now.

Know what else I get to do in Media History? Find Philo T. Farnsworth's grave (invented the TV -- he's a big deal) and take a picture by it. Did you know he was buried in Provo?

Did you know the Provo Cemetery has a State Street and a Center Street? Those are all the facts I'll throw at you for now.

Battery No Longer Included

My car and I are very close.
Ok, maybe I don't even know what model it is...but I love it.
My parking permit says it is a Saturn Saturn. They wanted a model and a make. Two?
Saturn Saturn.
So that's its name now. And Saturn Saturn has spent its last two weeks sporting a "Service Engine Soon" light. That's the one you can ignore, right?


I left Saturn Saturn for a week (church history called). It rebelled.
Came home, refused to start. Michael charged it (it likes him).
Two days later, Kimberly and I had wonderful sushi plans.
Denied.
Saturn Saturn rebelled again. I resorted to negligence.
But then I needed to go somewhere.
So Michael charged it. Again. And we got in the zone (Auto Zone!)
They told me to turn on the car. Rebel. Wouldn't even start for them when they wanted to find out why it wouldn't start. Talk about stubborn.
The battery...it was shot. So we got a new one. They asked us if we needed tools. We looked at each other. Sure?
So we got the tools. And went outside. Looked at the battery.
Went back inside.
Asked the nice tool-owning Auto Zone man what he would recommend doing with the tools.
He gave some very good advice. Then we followed it.
Things went pretty smoothly, after we located and retrieved the tool that we (well, Michael, but I won't embarrass him) dropped into the car.
Pretty soon, new battery. We went inside to wash up, because we looked very legit with car stuff all over our hands.
Auto Zone's inventory was piled high in front of the Ladies bathroom door.
Sexist.
I made it in though, and washed my momentarily manly hands.
They told me Saturn Saturn needed some more TLC, but I thought it had enough for one night.
We drove home. And the Service Engine Soon light?
Gone :)

I hope I have a friend who needs a new battery soon! Except I don't because that's sad..but really...I'm a pro.

Church History Tour

Last fall I was mad at Kendra. She got to miss school for a week, and go to Church History sites with her religion class. It's impossible to stay mad at Kendra though, so I decided to be happy for her and take the class this year. (Kirtland Temple above.)

Best decision ever. Missing a week of school was interesting, but luckily I had no problem forgetting about life back in Provo once I got on my plane to NY! (Kirtland above.)

I didn't even think about the other people going on the trip...I figured one week wouldn't make any lasting friendships right? Wrong. Our class had a BLAST with each other, and Bro. Bennett has lost all control of us back in Provo now. It's wonderful. (Sacred Grove above.)

The trip felt like a relapse into Jerusalem days. Bus rides, site stops, an expert telling you what happened at the site, too many pictures, never being alone but loving who you're with, spiritual moments at any given moment...except this time I was wrapped up in coats and blankets instead of constantly sweating. Improvement? Yes. (Smith farm above.)

I've seen the East Coast in Spring (unemployment tainted my view, but it was pleasant), Summer (total blast...so fun, in fact, I thin I'll do it again!), and Winter (at least I love coats and gloves?), but NEVER in the fall. That doesn't even make sense. So I was stoked for our October trip, and the leaves did not disappoint! (Smith farm above.)

Look at these fun people :) Bro. B on the right is a Church History expert, and a Phase 10 extraordinaire. We spent our days learning from him and our nights pressuring him into card games and story telling in his hotel room. His wife loved it, and we loved her stories. He loved us, until he lost at card games. Then he just wanted us to go to bed :) (Joseph's bedroom above, where Moroni appeared.)

Another bonus of the trip? FOUR new states on my slowly (but steadily) growing list. I'm trying to decide which state to leave for last, because that has to be a cool trip. What if I somehow left Kansas for the big 5-0? Probably an anti-climactic ending of the goal. (Newel K. Whitney store above, Kirtland.)

So checked off the list was Missouri, Illinois, and Ohio. And....Iowa. I'll explain that later. (Grandin print shot above.)

I've been to Palmyra two times before this, but this time I finally got to do baptisms in the temple. It was beautiful, and the temple president took time to speak to our group that morning.

During the drive to Nauvoo we couldn't pass up stopping in Hannibal, Missouri -- home of Mark Twain! I love how he thinks. The museum we went to was plastered with his hilarious quotes.

"But we were good boys...we didn't break the sabbath often enough to signify -- once a week, perhaps." - Twain
"Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates." - Twain
Can't you totally see little Tom & Huck growing up here?

The missionaries in Nauvoo were the best. They taught us all sorts of skills that I'm sort of glad I don't have to use...but it was fun to watch! (Barrell-making above. I'm being serious.)

The print shop...my Nauvoo dream job?

Brother Bennett would voluntarily begin signing the books he'd written in all the gift shops we went in. We loved it. He thought it was weird, how much we loved it.

The Mississippi River! It was so windy. So cold. Then I'd feel guilty for thinking about how cold I felt when I imagined crossing the frozen river and leaving my life behind to move (again) out West. The more I learn about the history of the Church the more grateful I am to the Saints who constantly sacrificed.

The freezing carriage ride around Nauvoo was SO much fun. The horses hated each other, though, so I was sort of distracted by their contention all through the tour. One was a biter. It was frightening. But the city really was beautiful, I'm so glad we went in the Fall.

And on our drive back to the St. Louis airport, I noticed I was closer to a little piece of Iowa than I'd ever been before (or will ever be again?). Couldn't pass up the chance to check it off! So with a little convincing of the bus driver and Bro. B, they stopped to let me touch it :) So that's number 27, people! I figure if I keep up this 1.2 states-a-year average, I'll be doing alright. Gotta get down South...