Just a Few Updates

My blogging life has been slacking.  Surprised?  Not really.

So, with that, here are some quick updates of what's been happening over the last few months:

What would any blog post from me be without a pic of a swimmer dinner??  Here's one from our ugly sweater, white elephant, Christmas party.  Thanks to Daniel for hosting one of the best parties! 

So. Much. Fun.

I also went to a Piano Guys concert back in December with my two besties. We were on the very top row, but we are so happy we went! They did such an amazing job and it made for a perfect girl's night out. 

Best $37 I've spent in a while!

GUESS WHO'S BACK?? My partner in crime. 

After serving for 18 months in South Korea and then traveling the world in December, she finally came back to Utah a few days before the semester began. It was such a joyful reunion. And things worked out for her to move into my apartment!

I started my college career with her and I couldn't think of a better roommate for my last semester at BYU. 

Love my Sar-bear!

 Confession: one of our favorite things to do is go late-night grocery shopping in pajamas. Yes, we are 22 and yes we are nerds. But it's one of our very favorite things to do. 

So, if you are ever at Macey's and see some weirdos shopping in PJs, it's probably us. 

Don't judge. 

Join in!

Last weekend, I went with my roommates and some friends up to Park City to watch some of the Olympic qualifying events. We landed an awesome spot on the fence at the midpoint of the half pipe and had some incredible views. Nothing like an Olympian doing flips and twists right over your head!

I even got to see Ashley! People say they made some of their best friends in the accounting program. I didn't believe them until I met this girl. She has saved my life in some of our classes and I love all the fun memories we've made over the past year!  Love you Ash!

 We also had to stop off at Dairy Keen in Heber on the way home. Flash back to our high school swimming days when we would go after our meet with Wasatch!

And then, this weekend, I did the Run 4 Philippines 5k with some of my dear friends. It was a beautiful day and was an awesome run. 

It was fun to see a few friends from high school!

I just love to run :)

Also, I was looking through my pics and look at this blast from the past!! 

All I can do is laugh at how awkward we look. And how little we are!

Healthy Food, Football, and Catching Fire

For those that know me decently well, you'll know that I've always been a pretty healthy person. My mom taught us healthy eating habits and I've follow suit. Yes, I definitely have a sweet tooth, but I try to eat healthy otherwise. 

When I moved out to California for my internship, I quickly became best friends with another BYU intern. We have so much in common! Especially our love for exercising and eating healthy. She is more into eating healthy than I am, but we love to talk about food and share recipes with each other. Since then, I've tried branching out and making new healthy foods. Here are two of the things I've tried recently:

Butternut Squash Pasta

This is just a traditional pasta, but instead of using cheese and dairy for the sauce, you use butternut squash!  All you do is roast the butternut squash and then blend it up with some water and other spices.  I added spinach and left some chunks of butternut squash. It was delicious! A much healthier option that is equally delicious. Next time, I just need to make it with my whole wheat noodles and it'll be perfect.

Quinoa-Stuffed Bell Peppers

This week, I made these delicious peppers. I mixed cooked quinoa, sweet potato, tomatoes, carrots, edamame, zucchini, and onion and filled up bell peppers with the mixture. You just throw these in the oven for 45 minutes and out comes heaven. I've always wanted to try them and I'm glad I did. Delicious!

In other news, last weekend I went to my very last football game as a BYU student. Kinda sad! It was a cold and rainy game, but it was fun to be there for one last game as a student. It's crazy to think that my first football game was five years ago! 

This past week, I went with a group of friends to go see Catching Fire. 

So. Good.

I thought it was very well done and I can't wait for the next one to come out!

San Francisco and Harry Potter

Last weekend, I took a quick little trip to the Bay area with Tracie. She was out there for a Finance Society trip, so I decided I would fly out for the weekend to hang out and show her around the area. Why not?! After having some plane issues on the way out, I finally made it to San Francisco six hours later than planned. I made friends with an Asian student visiting from Texas A&M and we figured out BART and the CalTrain to make our way to Palo Alto. A friend picked me up and we hung out for a bit before meeting up with Trace and a group of friends. 

Rather than going to a haunted house, we opted to carve pumpkins instead. Trace and I did the cute little Snapchat ghost, in case our great artistic abilities weren't apparent enough :)

On Saturday, we went up to the city for the day! We rented bikes and just biked all around the city. It was so fun! It was kinda scary to be on the road with all the crazy cars, but we soon got used to it. When I've gone to the city other times, we've just gone to one part and walked around, but biking was a great way to see more of the city. Plus, we didn't have to worry about parking which was great!

We lucked out with an absolutely beautiful day in San Francisco!

 We stopped for lunch at Boudin and I had this delicious salad. It was heavenly. I love me a good salad!

All in all, our trip was a success! It was fun to see some of the friends I made on my internship and to just get away for a fun weekend. Crazy I will move out there in less than 10 months or so! 

Funny story, though. Our flight on the way home kept getting pushed back farther and farther. We showed up to check in for our midnight flight and learned that we could make it to Vegas, but we would be stuck there until the next flight went out to Utah the next morning. Basically, we were either stuck in SF or in Vegas, so we chose SF. Trace and I spent the night at the airport, which I wouldn't recommend to anyone. It was cold and we kept getting woken up by announcements, a crazy Chinese woman on a cleaning crew, and the fact that chairs just aren't as comfortable as beds. Not quite so funny in the moment, but we can laugh about it now. Here's a beautiful pic of us at 4:00 AM - we thought it would at least be nice to brush our teeth and wash our faces. 

Good times.

So, you might be wondering how Harry Potter fit into this all? Well, my roommates and I had a Harry Potter date this past weekend! So. Fun. 

We all dressed up as characters, ate some delicious food, and then played Harry Potter Scene It. It was fun to do something different and I loved how well people got into their characters. I was Moaning Myrtle and my date was the Bloody Baron. If you love Harry Potter and are looking for a fun date, I would recommend this!

Love my fun roommates and their wonderful ideas! 

Graduate Student, Whaaat?!

Yep, that's right. This girl is officially a graduate student! 

My last, first day of school EVER was September 3rd. 

It's been fun to get back into school mode. I'm soaking up my last year at BYU! The reality that I will be graduating in April is starting to set in and I'm excited, but I'm also freaking out just a little bit. How did I grow up so fast?

Highlight of September? My bestie came home!! It's been so great to have her back! I've missed her dearly and it's just like nothing's changed. Love her to pieces.

Quick shout out do my adorable little nephew who turned ONE yesterday! He's adorable.

P.S. I know it seems like I've fallen off the face of the earth... Maybe because I have over the past few months? Oopsies. My spring and summer was an absolute blast though! I played lots and worked a little. I wish spring and summer could always be like that! 

Also, I finally made it to Hawaii for the first time in my life. 

HEAVEN. 

Loved all 10 days of it. 

Take me back?!?

My Winter in San Jose

Well, this past semester of blogging has been quite a fail... So, since the beginning of January, I've been in beautiful San Jose, California, on a winter internship with Ernst & Young. After 13 weeks, I only have one week left! It's crazy how fast time has gone by. When I first started back in January, I was a little homesick and wondered how I was going to make it. But then I made lots of great friends and have had a blast out here. The weather is wonderful and it's so beautiful and green. 

I've been attending the Stanford singles ward and have really loved it! There are different friend groups here, as there are with any ward, but I've been able to get to know lots of awesome people. There's no way I could give a complete recap of all the fun things I've done, so here are a few of the highlights. I also have been slacking in my picture taking, so I'm afraid I don't have quite as many pictures of the fun things I've done as I usually do. I should get on that...

- We spent a few weekends in the city. I quickly learned that here, the city is San Francisco, not San Jose. So if you ever come out to the Bay area, there's a little tid bit of information for ya :) We went on a beautiful hike one weekend and then another weekend, we spent a little more time in the city itself, including some amazingly delicious ice cream at Bi-Rite. We also got to see the new lights on the Bay Bridge, which were absolutely picturesque! 

- Attended a Stanford basketball game and realized how great BYU's fan base is! The stadium here was so small and was really empty too, as you can see by the bleachers in the picture below. The student section was also freakishly small. As crazy and annoying as it is to have to go early to BYU games sometimes, it really is awesome to go to a school where there is a lot of spirit and where the whole community comes and cheers on the team. Nonetheless, it was still fun to go to the Stanford game!

- Went to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield. Um, so cool! Because we went on a Saturday, the factory wasn't up and running, but we got to watch the videos of how all the candy is made and that was pretty cool. For some reason, I was just really, really excited to go. And it didn't disappoint! We got free samples and I bought some belly flops to share with my family. I'm planning on stopping there again on my drive back home, so I can see the Jelly Belly making process in action.

- Spent a weekend with my cute cousins in Selma, the raisin capital of California. We went to this ice cream place where we consumed the biggest ice cream sundae I've ever seen in my life. It had ice cream and sorbet and was delicious. Definite sugar rush.  

So excited for this girl who will spend the next 18 months in Brazil!

- We went down to a place a few hours south of Palo Alto called Big Sur. We had lunch at a cute little cafe overlooking the bay and it was seriously so beautiful. 

Then we went on a hike and stopped of at a beach in Carmel on the way home. Annnnd, went to a chocolate factory that Victoria's dad owns. Don't we all look so cute in our hair nets?! 

Going to the chocolate factory was a dream come true. We got to hear all about the process and get the scoop on what makes good chocolate. And then, we got to taste test all the chocolate we wanted. If you know me at all, you will know that I loved every single second of that. And these chocolates are dang good, too. Lulu's chocolates if you want to look them up :) The sea salt carmels are heavenly and I also really loved the toffee and rocky road. Yummm. I want to go back!

You may also remember that I spent 11 weeks of my fall semester in a cast due to bunion surgery on both of my feet. It took a little while to get the movement back in my feet, but I am so happy to say that I've been able to pick my running back up! I live for my runs! Love, love running. I've signed up for two half marathons and Ragnar and am really excited for that. 

I've always wanted to do Ragnar and I just put together a team that is going to be a blast to run with. Can't wait for June 21st! I also am going to run a full marathon in September as long as my feet and body hold up. Crazy, I know. I sometimes have to remind myself that I did just have two foot surgeries a few months ago and should be careful :)

Life is good though! I had a great conference weekend complete with a 13.7 mile run, taco night after priesthood session, conference breakfast with one group of friends this morning, afternoon session with another group, and a great Sunday walk afterwards. I've gotta soak up all the California sun I can before I head back to Utah!

That said, I am really excited to come home. I miss my family and friends. A lot. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss school too. College is such a fun time in life and I want to make sure I get the most out of it. My senior year is going to be the best yet! 

Here's to the nine days left in California! 

Meet My Friend, Stephen

(He's the second on the left)

I met Stephen when I joined the HAST and LP swim teams back in my freshman year of high school. I don't remember ever hanging out with him much those first few years, but I do remember thinking that him and Daniel were hilarious and were really fun to be around. Well, fast forward to my junior year. Elise and I decided we wanted to ask Stephen and Daniel to the Sadie Hawkins dance. I don't think I will ever forget that night we asked them. We were soooo nervous! We had no idea why we were so nervous, but we were. Turned out to be such a fun date/dance. I became better friends with him those last two years of high school and then through our swimmer dinner tradition after graduating. Stephen's one of those people that is always happy and positive. He was diagnosed with cancer towards the end of his mission and had to start treatment right away. Over the next two years, I will never forget his optimism throughout all the hospital stays and long, long days. Every time I saw him, he was always happy and positive. I feel like he cheered me up, when I should have cheering him up! He's been an incredible example to me and I'm so grateful to have crossed paths with him.

His treatments took a turn for the worse just after Christmas break and he passed away on the 24th. I was at a training that day and was about to leave to the social when I saw I had a text from Taryn asking me to call her as soon as I could. I immediately knew what had happened. It was all I could do to fight back the tears so I wasn't sobbing in the office. A few people asked if I was going to the dinner, but I just broke out in tears. I spent the rest of the night on the phone, calling and texting friends and  family. It was hard to wrap my head around the fact that I had lost a member of my swimmer family. I will miss Stephen's smile and cheerfulness. I am happy that he no longer has to be in pain, but he will be greatly missed. I am so very grateful for the Gospel and the knowledge I have that he is in a better place and that I will one day get to see him again. Love you Stephen!