Bipolar Weather, S'mores, and Indexing

We have had such bipolar weather here these past few weeks! All of last week was absolutely gorgeous to the point that when I went to that William Joseph concert, I didn't have to wear a coat, and I wasn't freezing. The terrible thing though? I woke up the next morning to several inches of snow. That should not even be possible! I mean, come on. That's just wrong! I hate it when the weather teases me like that. You see, I absolutely love Spring. It is my favorite season by far. There is just nothing that compares to the beauty that is all around. The weather is the perfect temperature, I absolutely love the fresh rain that comes with it, and the bright colors are gorgeous. On the other side of the spectrum, I hate winter very very passionately. It might be because I don't do any winter sports. I have never gone skiing or snowboarding, which many find hard to believe because I lived in Spokane for several years, and there are many ski hills nearby. Almost everyone from Spokane goes skiing and/or snowboarding. I also hate going ice skating, and for good reason too. I don't tend to have good experiences, like this one. Beyond that part of disliking winter, I don't even like the snow in general. Some people say that "it is beautiful" and other dumb stuff like that. I personally would rather see the varying shades of brown in all of the dead plants than the single color white that happens to get everywhere. Call me crazy, but that's just my opinion.

Anyway, sorry about that rant, but I just had to let it out. My life has been loads of fun since that concert. We had another fun church activity, and afterward we had lots of friends over to play games, then we went and roasted s'mores and starbursts. I am so very very glad that we have amazing friends here. It has made this college experience amazing!

Last week Emily and I went and got pedicures together. Man, my feet needed that! That is one of the advantages to living where I live in Rexburg. I get lots of perks for living in my complex, and it's just the best. I even get laundry paid for (sorry, that's kind of random), and we have a hot tub that we have access to that I just enjoyed with a few of my roommates last night. It is the best. I seriously suggest, if you are going to BYU-Idaho, that you live in a complex that is a part of Rexburg Housing. They are great!

In other news, I am almost done filling out my mission papers. I just have to get something stupid that the computer doesn't like figured out, and then upload my picture. How exciting is that? And Emily is most likely getting her call this week, so we will know where my awesome roommate is going here soon! Also along those church-y lines, I started indexing for the first time ever last Monday. For those of you who don't know, indexing is looking at old documents like censuses, marriage documents, and stuff like that, and then making an electronic version of them by processing all the information and typing it into the computer to create a large information database. It is actually pretty exciting. I have been doing Canadian census records, and it is amazing to me how much the little things like doing indexing can make the biggest difference. Everyone that I go to church with here has been working on this a lot, and last Sunday and Monday alone, we did over 2600 names. I love my church!

Dates, and the Lack Thereof

Happy ending of the "month of love" or something icky and romantic like that. With Valentines Day and all, most people generally thing of February with the colors pink and red. They imagine a bunch of fluffy, sugary romantic stuff with lots of chocolate and roses. Not single people though. I had the wonderful opportunity of spending the month as a very single person. It was the best. I realized that it doesn't take a Valentines kiss or date to make this day special. Yes. I am now single, but it's okay. Trust me. Anyway, this Valentines Day, my friends Eric brought roses to some of his best friends (girls) here in Rexburg to brighten our day and to let us know how much our friendship means to him. Let me tell you, he is seriously one of the most amazing guys that I know. I am so grateful to have him in my life as such a good friend. I also realized that I am a poor college students. Emily and I didn't have have vases, so we put our roses in one of my water bottles. That is the true measure of creativity that you find while at college.

Also for Valentines Day, my friend Courtney and I made Valentines for everyone in our group for our American Foundations class. She came over the day before, and we just made the goofiest Valentines that I almost have ever seen! I am so glad that she is in my science and American foundations classes because otherwise, I would probably be bored to death!

The day after Valentines day, we had a church activity, which got pretty intense since it was a giant game of twister. After this activity, several of us got together and spent the rest of the night together, until curfew that is. We started out by doing some trash bag curling. I would upload the video if I could, but I don't have a way to do that, so I am just going to leave that to your imagination. It was hilarious! After this, we played a few rounds of sardines (for those of you who sadly don't know, it is a really fun hide-and-seek game) inside the MC, which is the building on campus here that has the cafeteria type area and common areas. It was ridiculous, and I have discovered that some people are really really good at hiding. After playing a couple rounds of sardines, we went to get ice cream, and then made a random run to the store before we all had to be back by curfew. I honestly wish all of my weekends were this fun. That night, the four of us that we home that weekend all slept out in our living room together. That was an adventure for sure, but it was lots of fun. The next day, we went to my roommate Sophia's boyfriend's apartment for dinner with his roommates. They fixed us a wonderful dinner, and then we had fun playing different fun games like "what if" with them after dinner.

In my graphic design class, we just finished our shapes project, which was lots of fun. We took different basic shapes in black and white and made a piece of art that used the elements and principles of design to create a visually pleasing design. Mine turned out alright, and with the project, I definitely learned how to come up with many different designs. The project we are working on now is creating a logo for a company that we make up. I will have to post what my final logo looks like when I'm done with it.

Oh yeah, and by the way, I just went on a blind date two weeks ago. As strange as it sounds, our church leaders (stake leaders for those of you that are LDS) set up a bunch of blind dates for people that wanted to go, provided dinner, and planned the date. All of us got together, had dinner, and had a fun night doing silly things. We were sitting at tables with four couples at each, and after we had eaten dinner, we had a contest with the airplanes that we made with our tables that night and then got up and embarrassed ourselves by doing a goofy skit to introduce ourselves in front of everyone else.

Just last Friday night, Emily and I went to go see William Joseph on campus. He was AMAZING!!!!! If you don't know who he is, you need to find out! As someone who has studied piano classically, and at the university level for a bit, I feel like I can fully appreciate his talent and dedication to the piano. He put on a fantastic show that I will never forget, and I was thrilled to get to meet him after the show. He plays the piano with such incredible emotion, and has immaculate technique and artistry on the piano. If you EVER get the chance to go see him, I would highly suggest it. Not only is he an incredible performer, but he is a truly humble person. He loves to give credit to all those that perform with him, and those that are behind the scenes as well. He also tells some pretty good stories. All over, it was a two thumbs up performance for sure, complete with a double encore.