BYU football Insanity!

Stacy came to Provo this last weekend. YaY! It was so good to have her down here, we had a blast! Here is what we did:

Saturday- We played beach volleyball in the morning at my appt. complex, had lunch at Olive Garden with her friend Brent, and went to the mall (of course). The BYU-Oklahoma game was on that night and we had 2 parties to go to. It was hilarious watching everyone scream, there were a few times we jumped it scared us so bad! After the game we decided to go to a different appt. and play Rock Band for a while. On our way there we drove down University Ave. and found a MOB of BYU students on all 4 corners of an intersection. There had to be a couple hundred kids screaming, cars honking, and people were just hanging out of cars. It was madness! There were a couple police cars there but they were just trying to keep the people out of the street. We saw a truck with at least 30 people in the back, and the cops couldn't even do anything. It was insane! I've seen BYU fever, but never like this. Provo went wild after that game, it was hilarious! We just stood there laughing and watching everyone.

This video is kind of dark, but you can hear the craziness

Sunday- Went to church, break the fast (singles ward version of Sunday dinner), then went over to Jackie and Camille's new appt. (my old roommates, Jackie was also Stacy's companion on the mission) So good to see them as always!

Monday- Jackie, Stacy, and I went to an El Salvadorian restaurant for lunch. We had papusas. Kind of interesting, but they were good. We then went back to the mall for a while. Stacy had to go back that day and Jackie wanted to go to Ikea so we went there and Mae left from there :( I was so sad to see her go! It was great having her here. LOVE her!

Monday night we had ward family home evening. We went to a park up by the temple and went ice-blocking. It was a blast! We have a ton of new people in the ward so it was great getting to know everyone a little better!

In my last post I talked about overcoming fears. I got to conquer another one! After I went down sitting on the ice someone dared me to go head-first. It was actually a really steep hill, the pictures are a little deceiving. It was so fun, kinda crashed at the end, but no broken bones! :)

The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.
-Robert Cushing

Two of my new roommates, Jamie and Beth. Love them already!

ALL-IN-ALL: LIFE IS GOOD!

On pummelling fear... or at least kicking it in the shin!

Growing up I was always a little on the nervous side. I remember waking up from a bad dream and was certain there was a "bad guy" hiding under my bed. Really wanting to go downstairs but afraid this man would grab my feet, I would stand at the head of the bed, take a running start, and jump as far as I could. It sounds so silly now! :)

I have also always been afraid of flying. Thank goodness for Xanax (just a mild tranquilizer) :) I just take it and sleep the whole flight. A couple years ago I interviewed for grad school at NYU. It was like 5 in the morning so my parents and I grabbed a muffin and a bottle of water while we waited for the plane to go back home. I had taken a pill about 15 minutes before so I was starting to get a little loopy. I had my muffin in one hand and my napkin in the other when I spilled my water. While I was cleaning it up I hear my dad say, "What the heck are you doing?" I look down and have smeared my BLUEBERRY muffin all over me and the chair next to me. Still don't know how it happened. This one I had to work on and I still am a little nervous. But flying over the ocean several times helped. Isn't it so great when you get where you're going though. Totally worth it!

Me and Stacy in Paris


My Family in Maui

I also used to be afraid of driving. Living here cured me of that! I am officially a crazy Utah driver!

I am terrified of spiders. I know these disgusting little creatures are only like 1/10,000 my size, but they freak me out! If there is a spider in the shower and I can wait until a roommate gets home to kill it, I do. If I cant I usually just dump comet on them, smash them, and rinse them down the drain (sorry that's kind of gross)! One day I got up to get ready for church and there was a huge one in our kitchen and all my roommates were already at church for meetings. So I decided it was time to face my fear and just kill it already. So I grabbed a shoe and went to stomp, but I couldn't move. It's like these things put paralyzing gas into the atmosphere or something! So I did what anyone would do, I put a glass over it and waited for a guy to come over after church. I mean what's a helpless girl supposed to do? ;) I guess I'm still working on that fear, maybe someday I'll be over it.

While there are many fears I feel I've conquered, part of growing up and living are facing the fears head-on, knowing it will be a life-long battle. I don't think I will ever not be afraid when someone I love has cancer, or one of my friends is in pain. I think deep down I was afraid to date or open myself up to the possibilities because I was afraid of the "bad guy" grabbing my ankles and pulling me down. While it's scary to put yourself out there, I honestly believe that sometimes the scariest journeys lead to the most beautiful DESTINATIONS! So I have FAITH to replace fear, and HOPE to replace regret. It doesn't get any better than that! If at the end I can say I didn't sweat the small stuff, I braved the big stuff, and I enjoyed the rest I know it will have been a FANTASTIC life!

Have a great week!!!