ARRRRRGH!!!!!

Today we carved pumpkins as an apartment.  I decided to do something different and do a pirate with an eye patch.  We named him Archibald, but ARRRchie for short:)  Let me know what you think matey!!

Incredible Intramurals

I have been blessed to have very active and athletic roommates.  We have been involved in a lot of teams.  We have a soccer, football, and basketball team.  The yellow team is our football team, and this is a picture of our last game.  This other pic is of our ward basketball team.  Our soccer team is doing well and the tournament game is tomorrow so I will let you know how is goes.  I absolutely love it and hope to be this involved and active every semester.  Go TEAM!

Brotherly Visitation

Ben, Danner, and LaCol came to visit me the weekend of October 17th.  It was such a refresher and we had so much fun.  My brothers are so uplifting and I find it harder to quarrel with them the older I get.  Of course Danner had to give me the regular smothering, but I can handle that every once in a while.  Deep down I love it.  Friday night we went to the dunes and did a bonfire and Saturday they came to watch my harp rehearsal.  Of course they were such gentlemen and brought flowers and donuts to my rehearsal.  We also made it over to Big Jud's to share a pounder hamburger.  It was so enjoyable and I realize how much I miss them when I am with them.  Everyone is is love with them the minute they meet them.  

Show Biz

This last weekend I went to two amazing shows, and I want to let you know about them.  First one is the new movie Forever Strong, filmed at Highland High in Salt Lake.  It is about a High School Rugby team and the amazing coach that helped them become better people instead of just better athletes.  It is so good and there are no bad parts at all.  I definitely recommend to anyone!  Also, Natalie McMaster came to BYU Idaho.  She is a fiddler with her own band.  She does all kinds of music a lot of Celtic, scandinavian, and some Jazz.  She was a showman and put on such an energetic show.  She also clogs while she fiddles, and she is 5 months pregnant!  Her husband is part of the Leahy family band, which is also one of the best shows I have ever been too.  They do the same kind of music. 

LEROY

I just carved my first pumpkin of the year.  His name is Leroy and he is the best yet.  This year I did something different - I added some ears to the pumpkin.   Due to the fact that we can't have candles in our apartment, I used my scentsy to light Leroy up!  He is such a de-light to our apartment and everyone that walks past.  I love Autumn!!!

Mama's Weekend

I had a little piece of home with me this weekend.  My miracle worker mother came to spend the weekend with me for BYU Idaho mother's weekend.  It is so cool to see all of the students with their mothers on campus.  You can tell a lot about a man by the way he treats his mother!  That is a hint to all you single men out there:)  It was so enjoyable to have mom here.  My mom always finds the small ways to make me feel at home, whether it be food, help cleaning, or just saying the right things that only a mother can say.  Now that I am older, I love hanging with just my mom.  I can talk about anything with her, she is the best listener in the world!  We had a lot of fun talking about some gospel topics this week.  Some things we did were a fireside, religious workshops, eating, movies, carving pumpkins, cooking, games, the Natalie McMaster concert, church, and more good eating.  I am so proud to call her my mom and everyone that meets her loves her.  She is classy and so easy to take places because everyone automatically feels so comfortable around her.  I want to be just like her one day!  

Spiritual Feast!!!

The best part about being here at BYU Idaho is the opportunity for me to feast on the spiritual things everyday.  Key word: opportunity.  It is a choice and not everyone takes advantage of it.  We are able to feast through devotional, discussion and prayer in class, gospel related homework and church.  There is no other place that you can get this kind of experience.  I hunger everyday for more spiritual knowledge, I have never felt this way before.   I have an amazing Religion class called Doctrines of the Gospel.  My teacher is kick butt and very intense, but I love that type of gospel learning.  Today has been such a good day because I was able to study my religion homework for 2 hours in the library.  This article I was assigned to read was so amazing I spent so long on it.  It is one of those talks you read that make you think for hours about what you can do better.  It is by a lady I have never heard of but she backs everything up scripturally and has amazing knowledge of the gospel.  Her name is M. Catherine Thomas and the article is called "The Doer of our Deeds."  Please read it!  It is one that I want to read once a month to keep my priorities straight.  Here is the link it is worth the time: http://emp.byui.edu/WightmanG/doer_of_deeds.htm  Here is my favorite part:

"Could I actually come to the point where I could act without calculating my own self-interest all the time? Could I really live my daily life so that I was constantly listening for the Lord's will and drawing down his grace to accomplish it?  And when the Lord in his mercy meshes his power with my agency and my effort and brings forth some measure of success, I ask, where is self-esteem? Where is even the need for self-esteem? I feel as though I just want to say instead, Lord, increase my faith." 

WAR CASH!!!!!

Well this activity could be the adventure of the year!  If you can beat this one, I would like to know!  Me and my roommates decided we wanted to go through a car wash while laying the outside of the car.  We call it War Cash, because it is kind of the opposite of a car wash.  Let's just say it was a lot more intense than I thought it would be.  When we got there and saw the pressure of the water on the previous cars we were kind of scared.  We actually went through twice because it was so fun.  But don't worry we got it on video!  It was so funny.  We also rented goggles from the Hart building so we could see each other and laugh.  It was so fun and I recommend it to anyone.  If you want to watch the video here is the link http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=536214162294&subj=193308381

203 FAMILY

Recently me roommates and I had to take an apartment picture to put in our ward directory.  These pics are some of the results.  I love my roommates and we have so much together.  There is no drama or easy offending going on. That is hard to get in a room full of 6 girls.  I am rooming with Stacey Gold and Xanning Tyler, the same roommates as last year.  But I have 3 new roommates.  Amy Briggs from Boise, Cassie Benson from New Mexico, and Rachel Burkey from Texas.  We all also really like sports.  We have made a lot of intramural teams.  Right now I am on a coed soccer team, girls flag football, and girls basketball.  I have a game every night of the week and I have so much fun staying active.  Life is good and I am enjoying learning something about the gospel everyday.  

BYU Road Trip!

Me and my roommates decided for our first weekend we wanted to take a road trip to Utah to go the the BYU game!  We had a blast, minus the speeding ticket on the way home:(  My roommates got a taste of the ole BYU Football fans, who act totally different at the game than they do at church. One thing about BYU football, it attracts some very attractive polynesian men! My mom was a great host and fixed up the house for my roommates to stay.  We played some games with the fam and ate some scrumptious fresh peach cobbler!  There is certainly no place like home.  P.S. the secret to good peach cobbler is coconut.  After the day in Provo at the game we went to The Pie Pizzeria hole in the wall restaurant.  And of course, we had to have our order name be Shanaynay, it is tradition!  Over the loud speaker they said, "Shanaynay your pie is ready, Shanaynay." Everyone looks to see who is going to stand up, and I am proud to claim that amazing name.  Then we went to the Gateway mall and ran through the fountains!  Everyone was surprised to see a bunch of college students playing in the water!  WE had so much fun and some roommate bonding.  BYU Cougars!