How this Utah Girl met her Cali Boy, part 6

Time to get back to our love story, since it has been like 6 months since I posted for this series...

So, Cam and I were on the same couch on the Goonies movie night, and he leaned pretty close to me...my heart was pounding! I was almost giddy! Then, as the night came to an end, he gave me a hug on the way out and I about freaked!

I don't remember if it was the next week or week after, but for Fall Break I went down to Southern Utah with my parents to do some hiking at Zions and see a play in Ceder City, with plenty of pool time as well. I snapchatted Cam quite a bit while I was on the trip and texted him on and off throughout the week.

*Pic from the trip, top of Zions and then finishing LOTR on the drive to Ceder City*

When it was time to come home, I was texting both Cam and my friend Rachelle about what some of our friends were planning for that night. The original plan was to go to a Haunted House, which I didn't know how happy I was about joining, but I wanted to spend time with Cam so I was torn...but by the time that I was almost home, the plans had changed and we were now all going to meet at our friend's house and then go buy some pumpkins to carve, which ended up happening at one of the nearby churches so that we would have enough room for everyone to carve at the same time.

Cam and I spent the next few hours carving next to each other, which was just a blast with all of our friends. Then, after the carving, we headed back to one of the girl's houses to watch Hocus Pocus! Once at the house, I sat on the couch first to see where Cam would sit, cause I was a twitterpated girl and thought that would be a good idea...but then he didn't sit by me and I spent the whole movie pouting.

The next Monday FHE was at the Corn Maze, where everything changed :)

That one time I went to the other side of the world, pt.1

Remember this?

3 weeks after that post, I boarded a plane that was going to change my life. I didn't know it at the time. All I knew was that I was leaving my beloved USA and would be back in 25 days.

I never expected what would actually happen.

When we got to Accra, we went through Customs, got our luggage, rechecked our luggage, then waited to board a domestic flight to Kumasi. The flight from Accra to Kumasi was one of the scariest flights I have ever been on. There was a storm that we flew through where the turbulence got so bad that the pilot told the flight attendants that they needed to be in their seats, with their seat belts fastened.

Also the plane looked like it had come straight out of the 1950's...

Once in Kumasi, we were picked up by a KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology) bus. This bus, I would later realize, would be one of the things that I would look forward to seeing the most. It was one of the nicest vehicles on the road, and it had Air Conditioning! 

Our first night, we stayed at the SMS (School of Medical Sciences) Guest House on the KNUST Campus. This would later be something I majorly took for granted. The bathrooms had a water heater, the rooms had air conditioning, breakfast was included, and there was free WiFi! 

The rest of my time in Ghana (except the last 2 days), was spent at Westend Hostel, where we had no water heater, no AC, and no free Wifi. BUT, we did have fridges, a microwave, and 2 hot water kettles! 

The first few days at Westend, our porch, which then led to our bathroom (yes, we had to go outside to get to the bathroom), didn't have a mosquito net, but that was fixed within a few days. 

Around the corner and up the street from Westend was a pretty busy street, with a lot of shops and street vendors. This is where we did most of our shopping. Also we went to the Melcom a couple of times, which was like the Walmart of the trip.

These 2 boys were at the very first fruit stand that we shopped at. The kids in Ghana would always come up to us and say, "Abroni! How are you? What is your name?" (Abroni means "Light Person") and these kids were no different. They were a bit shy at first, but then they were talking and joking with us while we bought our fruit. 

Part 2, about what I did every day, coming soon! 

Around a Campfire

Summertime to me means late nights, many of them spent around a campfire. I am a huge fan of the roasted mallow stuck in between some grahams and chocolate, otherwise known as Smores! 

But even more than getting to eat smores, I think there is something to be said about the atmosphere around a campfire. It's almost romantic, even with the smoke and the forever lingering smell on your clothes. Now, while my love life is pretty non-existent, I think that romantic can mean many different things. In this case, I think that it brings people together, strengthens relationships/friendships.

This past week I was at a campfire with the Relief Society of the YSA Ward that I have been avoiding joining (but that my dad just got put in the bishopric). It was at this campfire that I saw my potential in this new ward, potential to make new friends and really be touched by the women in the Welby YSA Ward. 

This past Memorial Day weekend I went up to my cabin at Bear Lake with some friends. We spent time watching a meteor shower, sunbathing, making shadow puppets, watching the radiator on my car smoke, watching movies, and, of course, had a campfire on the beach. At that campfire, as well as the rest of the trip, I feel that I was able to get to know these friends so much better than I would have just hanging out at home. At the campfire, which was the same night that my car had been smoking after driving to get pizza in Garden City, we shared funny stories, sang Disney songs, and watched Josh's dancing side come out ;) All of my stress about my car faded away for a bit as I took in the moment of fire and friendship.

 Tiffany, Katie, Me, and Josh

Katie and Tiffany

So here's to many more campfires this summer and the kindling of new friendships and building up existing ones :)

Rock the U!!

Hey Bloggy Friends! 

I just wanted to let you know about a great event that is coming up this Friday night and into Saturday morning! 

Every year, the University of Utah puts on an event called "Rock the U." In essence, the actual event is an all-night dance party. It goes from 7pm Friday to 7am Saturday. 

Now why is this event so near and dear to my heart? Because it is a fundraiser and all of the proceeds go to the Huntsman Cancer Institute to be able to further cancer research. 

This year, I am dancing particularly for 3 people in my family that have battled with cancer and won, as well as 1 person that is currently still fighting the fight.

To help me in my effort to maximize the funds being raised for this great cause, I would love it if you could find it in your heart to donate. Every little bit helps! 

To donate, click HERE, which will take you to the event's website that is set up through the Huntsman Cancer Institute, aka it's not a scam. Fundraising ends at 6pm on Friday, March 21st!

Thanks for your support!

*Update*
I am on the Student Alumni Board at the University of Utah and we are in a competition with the MUSS Board to see which group can raise more funds! This morning, the MUSS Board pulled ahead and THAT CAN'T HAPPEN!! If you need some friendly competition to motivate you to donate to this great cause, there ya go :)

We are RAD!

A few weekends ago I had the opportunity to run the Color Me Rad 5K with my sister and one of her coworkers! 

I had to get up at around 6am to get ready and leave by 6:45am

The Before Picture, when we were still clean and pure

One of the awesome DJ's at the dance party before the race began

The Color Tunnel

After our first blast of color during the Pre-Party

We're ready to go!

At the starting line

At the Finish Line. That is me doing a cartwheel :)

After the Race

The Color Throw 

My mom took this pic. Perfect timing right??

After the Color Throw and Moshpit

Tan Line? Nope! Color Line!

This was seriously the most fun 5K race that I have ever run in my life and I'm so glad that my sister decided to do it with me! I look forward to being able to do it again! 

MGM: Give Someone an Hour

This week's challenge for "Making Good Mondays" was to give someone an hour of your time, with no distractions from technology or anything whatsoever. 

On Saturday, my brother was getting his mission pictures taken by our awesome cousin Morgan. We decided to make it a family trip downtown, with my parents, brother, sister and brother-in-law. We all dressed up so that we could get a family picture as well, and then we went out to dinner after the pictures were all taken. To see the pictures, they are up on Morgan's blog here :)

Because I am so lucky and don't have a smart phone, and there is no wifi on temple square, this challenge wasn't super hard for me. I was invited to go with some friends to a Bees game that night, but I spent it with my family instead :) We were able to hang out by the Salt Lake Temple, which is just a wonderful atmosphere to be in, and then we went to dinner at a place by the Gateway Mall called Biaggi's! It was like a fancier Olive Garden and so so delicious! 

I was grateful I was able to spend this time with my family, especially my sister and brother-in-law cause I don't get to see them super often, and my brother because he goes into the MTC on June 26th! 

Happy Monday! :)

Pedicure, Parties, and Passing the Time

My Memorial Day Weekend was more eventful than I first anticipated it would be.

Friday afternoon we went up to the family cabin and spent some quality time with the HamFam :)

Taking crazy pics is the best way spend time in the car

My Family=The Greatest

That, my friends, is a Maple Bacon Shake! It is from High Mountain Drug Store in the tiny town of Kamas, Utah. All of their shakes are DELISH! Probably the best shakes I've ever had, and that's in comparison to La Beau's Shakes in Garden City, Bear Lake, Utah!

Up there, we have no cell service. So, as we got home on Saturday night and my dad plugged his phone in, he got a message that I had left my bathroom bag up there. Cause I'm a genius. 

Then, my phone fell out of my pocket and into the toilet. Again, genius. So, into the rice bag it went!

Sunday we went to church and it was wonderful, like always. After church, my dad and I drove back up to the cabin to get my bathroom bag. We hung out there for a couple hours and took naps, then drove home in time for dinner. Mom, Dad, Michael, and I then watched Get Smart. That movie is so so funny! I recommend it to anyone :)

Monday, aka Memorial Day, I was the first one up, at like 8:30am. My mom actually slept in for once! Crazy! I got ready and then watched an episode of SMASH on Hulu (super sad that the series got cancelled). Once everyone else was up and ready, we went to Village Inn for good grades breakfast! I love breakfast from that place! Yum :)

Then, later that day, Mom and I went and got pedicures. Mom has gotten them a bunch of times, but this was my first one. And I think I can say that I'm not a super huge fan of them. The lady working on me made me bleed, so that wasn't super comfortable. But, the whole time this video was all I could think of! 

This is the finished product:

Had to go with the bright yellow!

Then, Em and  Jess came over and we went to visit Grandpa Love's grave. The cemetery looked so pretty with all of the flowers there, but I forgot my camera so I couldn't take a picture of it :(

After the cemetery, we came home and had a BBQ! It was delicious! After dinner is when the fun really started! We had some wooden benches that were breaking, so we took a baseball bat to them. Now, we have a giant pile of firewood!

Overall, it was a pretty good weekend with some adventures! And my phone is now working again! Hopefully it stays functional! :)

The week that an Apostle comes to visit!

This week has been an interesting one. 

My emotions have been on quite the rollercoaster (California Screamin' to be precise)

I have been so happy and so sad, so excited and so confused, so motivated and so bleh. 

On Wednesday, I went to the temple. The Salt Lake Temple. 

I had never been inside the SL Temple to do baptisms before, so it was a really cool experience. 

My best friend Kara, she just knows me so well. Whether she knew I needed to go to the temple or not, she was influenced by the spirit on exactly the way to get me there. Once I was in her car, driving to her apartment (like we normally do on Wednesdays), she told me that her and Jordan (her husband) were going to the temple that night to do a session and that I should come with them and do baptisms while they were in their session. I felt stressed with school and really felt I needed to study anatomy, but I kinda couldn't just stay at their place with them gone.

So I went. And it was exactly what I needed.

Fast forward to today. 

I walk into church and into my Sunbeams classroom. The new teacher is in there already, and a few minutes after I come in, her husband comes in the door and says, "I can't remember his name, but one of the 12 Apostles is here!" 

So she leaves to go and see who it is and comes back to report that it is 

Elder Dallin H. Oaks!

Of course I then have to go see, and sure enough, he was sitting at the front of priesthood meeting. 

The first 2 hours of church go by as normal with my adorable little beamers. Then, I get to sacrament meeting and he is still here, just sitting on the stand.

I asked my mom why he was here and she said, "He just told the Bishop that he wanted to visit a ward and see how the church was doing in West Jordan." And he chose our ward! How awesome is that??

Lets just say that I have never seen a Fast and Testimony meeting where there was a constant stream of people sitting on the stand, waiting for their turn to bear their testimony. 

It was such a great meeting and the spirit was so strong. It's not everyday that an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ is in your midst and your are able to shake his hand. He is such a great man and the spirit testified to me that he is a true Apostle of our Heavenly Father. 

I am so grateful to be able to live in this time where we have a living Prophet and Apostles upon the earth to teach us and guide us. I don't usually bear my testimony on my blog, but today I just feel that it is what I need to do. I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I know that He loves me and knows who I am individually. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church upon the earth and that the Power of the Priesthood has been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. 

I say these things in the name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Sometimes I Use My Mirror As A Whiteboard

I needed a whiteboard to study for my Advanced Anatomy Midterm that's on Wednesday. 

But I don't have one. 

Then, my mom remembered that Charlie from the great show of Numb3rs always used a glass wall wall/window to work out his math. 

I have a wall that the length of it is glass. 

In my bathroom :) 

Those are the spinal levels of the muscles innervated by the Brachial Plexus

Me, wondering why I took this class!

I got sick of studying...

So I decided to play for a bit :)

I think I just found my new way of studying...and keeping lists...and giving myself a non-permanent mustache ;)