My new home :)

Meet... the Apartment.

 Front door

Living Room

 Living Room

 Kitchen

Bathroom

My Room

(My t-shirt blanket! Mom made it for me. She's awesome.)

That's it! Isn't our home cute? I absolutely love it. 

Meet.. the Roommates.

 Jessica, Brighton, McKinlee, Sydney, & Madison

Oklahoma, Arizona, Michigan, Colorado, & Texas

This picture is from last year.. We'll be taking family pictures pretty soon. But.. they are the best, and I can't wait to spend this next year with them! 

All Moved In!

We have officially moved into our apartment!  

Time for a recap.

We moved in Friday morning. Luckily, we all got there at different times so it wasn't complete chaos.. but it was pretty close to it. Pops & I unloaded the car and then took 2 trips to the storage unit my roommates and I had to get MORE stuff. (Mind you, we are on the 3rd floor. Let's just say... it's been 3 days and my calves are still sore.) And one thing is for sure.. we have a lot of  stuff. It was like hurdling through a maze just to get from one room to another.

That night, someone came by our door and asked us if we were going to camp out for parking permits. Apparently there are only 400 parking spots for 850 people, and 200 of those are underground; therefore, people were camping out to get an underground spot. I.. really wanted an underground spot. That way in the winter I won't have to scrape ice off my car. So.. I grabbed a pillow and blanket, walked outside and got in line. Sydney and McKinlee joined me and we slept out all night long. We actually were able to fall asleep from 1am-4am until some girls woke us up as they were giggling and painting their nails. But.. we got the parking permits, so I guess it was all worth it haha.

We realized Saturday that our apartment has quite a few issues. For one, it was filthy upon moving in. Then a toilet was broken, the showers didn't drain, the light in the bathroom was broken, our outlets didn't work, the fridge wouldn't get cold, etc. etc. It was pretty frustrating. You would think for how much we're paying that they would have noticed these things were broken and fixed them. But don't worry... after three days of 6 girls sharing one outlet, one toilet, and one shower the maintenance guys finally made it up our way. 

Oh the joys of moving into an apartment :) I'll take pictures of it once we've finished decorating. On the bright side, we set up our Wii and we are going to have some awesome Just Dance 3 parties. We also love being invited to dinner, because that means we don't have to cook or spend money on our own food. If someone says "free food" or "want to eat at our place for dinner" you can guarantee that we will be more than willing to accept their gracious offer!

Sophomore year is gonna be awesome.

Texas & the Week Ahead...

Went to Texas for the weekend with Sydney, Mom, and my roommate Jessica! My aunt Jenn had her baby! His name is Brody Scott Krueger and he is adorable.

While in Frisco, I saw my other roommate, Madison! We all went shopping at the outlet mall, and scored some awesome deals. Then, of course, I saw my Texas besties - McKall and Mallory. Hoping to squeeze one last trip in before I go home, but... I think it's time they make a trip up to Oklahoma now :)

I'm not sure if you know this or not, but I have an older brother coming home this week!! Brando will be home Thursday.. yes, Thursday. I am so proud of him. He had to come home for 3 months for knee surgery, and still went back out. That's not an easy thing to do, but he did it. He was an amazing missionary; he shared the gospel with more people than I could have ever imagined. Ah..  I've missed my big bro. 

 April 2010

 Easter 2010

 My 17th Birthday

Sending him back out after surgery, Nov. 2010

So much has changed in the last two years! But, I can't wait to have the family all together again :) He gets home, and then we leave Saturday for Seattle, and hop on a cruise Monday to Alaska! We're going with Orr side of the family for Grandpa's 80th. This week will be super busy.... but very fun.

Friends

In the past couple years I've learned a lot about friends.

Some friends are only there during the good times. 

Some friends only talk to you when they need something.

With a few friends, every conversation revolves around them and their either amazing or awful life (depending on the day and their mood). 

Some friends consider your house their own, and call your parents 'Mom' and 'Pops' just like you do. 

Friends who call when they need someone to just listen to them. 

Friends who are always good for a laugh, and you could spend weeks together without getting annoyed with them. 

Friends you can always pick up right where you left off, even when you're miles apart

Friends you can always count on.
Friends who tell you what you need to hear... not what you want to hear.

Friends you can trust.

With most of the above, I'm talking about girls. There are very few guys I can think of where I was just legitimately good friends with, but when it comes to really close "guy friends"... 99.9% of the time either you like them, or he likes you. Don't deny my statistic. (It's almost a proven fact by now.) 

Just.. sit back.. and think about it for a second.

I know you're thinking: "Well I'm friends with so and so.. we talk all the time and we don't like each other!" Doubtful.. very, very doubtful. 

Watch this video... it's pretty funny. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_lh5fR4DMA

Anyways... moral of my blog post... I've lost a few friends this past year, and it's sad but at the same time... The only people you need in your life, are the one's who make an effort to be there. I am so grateful for my real friends. The one's who have always been there for me, and always will be. My roommates and friends up at BYU, and my friends here in Oklahoma that have stuck with me, even though I'm 1500 miles away from them 8 months of the year. 

I love you all! 

... I mean y'all. :) 

Home.

The last week of college was crazy. I had 5 finals to take, so lots of studying but at the same time you want to spend time with everyone before you leave. Freshman year is unique in the fact that we will probably never see any of the guys again, since they are all going on missions. With that said... I, of course, spent all my time with my roommates, because those are the people I will actually miss haha.

Brighton and McKinlee left early in the week, Madison was with Chase and his family, and Jessica had plans. So Sydney and I partied it up the last day of college.  

 We took stuff to the "Roommates Storage Unit"...can you see Sydney? haha...

Had a dance party in the car...

Bought yellow night gowns at the DI for $3 (quite the steal) :)...

Slept in the back of Sydney's truck...

and watched a chick flick.

That, my friends, sounds like the perfect last night of college to me.

But now I'm home. I love being home, but it is definitely different... Nonetheless, awesome. I spent my first weekend running errands for my mom, watching Austin's baseball games, and spending time with Austin and Sydney outside in the beautiful Oklahoma weather. 

1st stop.. SNOW CONES.

Oh and I have a new sister! Her name is Kaydee.

(Like KD as in Kevin Durant.. what can I say, my fam loves the Thunder!)

I promised Meg we would "Cover the Night" for KONY 2012. We had fun :)

 Syd and I before church! She is such a pretty girl.

Life is good. 

On the Home Stretch...

I am officially done with my first year of college.

Shocking. I know. I can't believe how fast it went by. I loved every second of it. The best thing that happened all year was finding my 5 awesome roommates.

It would have been a completely different year without them and I can't wait until we have an apartment next year! Made lots of memories this year but now...

...SUMMER is here.

My Summer will be full of working, working, and.. more working. I have a couple different interviews set up for different CNA positions, and I'm really excited. I think part of the excitement is because it will be my first "real" job. Not that working at the farm wasn't a real job, trust me... it was most definitely a real job, but it will be good to have something on my resume besides a business with my last name on it.

Besides working, the majority of my time will be spent with the fam. I love being out of state for school, but I hate missing out on my brother and sisters growing up. I mean Megan is already 16, and Austin is turning 14 this summer!! It's insane! And let us not forget little Miss. Sydney. Besides the 3 kids at home, my big brother is coming home in July. I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of him. This will probably be the last time all of us will be living under the same roof and it will only be for a few weeks. We're all getting so OLD! :)

Life goes by fast. Don't waste it stressing over things that, in the long run, really don't matter. I think that's one of the biggest things I've learned this year. When things don't go how I think they should, I remind myself to put things in perspective.

"Life is to be enjoyed, not endured."

See ya soon Oklahoma.