Remember When: Florida

Hullo Liv, Jackie and Christine :) I am posting this list just for your enjoyment. Thanks for a wonderful semester!

Remember when.....

-We met Olivia and Jackie went to work out immediately and then ate prenatal vitamins, and I called my family to tell them all the groceries I bought....

-We went through lines our whole first day and no one even fed us :(

-Olivia and Jackie jumped in the pool and Liv had Relief Society arms

-***** was in love with Liv and **** was in love with Christine and ***** was in love with me

-.....and then we left Florida and.....nothing

-Liv bought red high heels

-Liv made up a love song about ****

-I went to work out because of the beautiful boy and I never saw him again, but still worked out occasionally

-Christine's coordinator called her out for calling in when she wasn't sick, just joking, and she said, "I'm on my period, so BACK OFF!"

-Jackie needed to not be so guarded and stop caring about what Bruce thinks

-**** wasn't into the whole "makey-outty think"

-But **** was

-"Leeeett'sss, getitonnn"

-We got lost looking for Twisty Treats and went to McDonalds instead and Liv got us free lemonade because she was barefoot and pantsless

-Liv and I watched Last Song and I cried

-We went to Expedition Everest and I looked like a retard in the picture!?

-"I'm sorry??"

-Liv greeted the morning with no pants on and the girl looked at her weird, like that wasn't normal

-We danced in the tornado rain in our swimsuits

-We made that delicious cinnamon streusel cake with ****'s pan and he hated us. Specifically Liv

-Liv straddled James the British man on the bus ride home

-We went for an ice cream run and everyone ate their ice cream in 3.672 seconds.....I mean, a week....

-Except the nasty berry granola kind.

-Jesse though Liv and I hated Jackie??

-***** said Liv was loud

-We went to the hoedown and witnessed a proposal, complete with blue flowers, a defective microphone, and mackin with cowboy hats on

-We laid out and listened to conference

-We didn't have a tv :(

-We wore biks and nobody judged

-the only time Sean saw me was when I was immodest....

-Dallin took Olivia and I on a motorcycle ride after church and we looked hottt in our dresses and heels

-I turned into a lobster at the beach and hurt soooo, frickin, ba-ad

-Olivia and Christine didn't have nearly enough cocoa butter / lotion (for jokesies)

-the lady at McDonalds recognized Jax and Liv

-We went to Chick-Fil-A three days in a row and did not feel regret

-Olivia stole the tabletoppers from all the restaurants and Jackie called Jimmy John's to apologize

-We all called in to lay out by the pool and go out to eat and see Elder Bednar (does that last one redeem us?)

-Brad got an awesome island condo and everyone was going to call in and go and party and get tons of action......but it never happened?

-Brad made plans and followed through with no hassle! - wait, don't remember that.

-We listened to Avril Lavigne's song 42,836 times a day.

-Olivia had never heard of a cock block

-But **** was the very definition of one

-Olivia found a crab claw on the beach, and she accepted it

-And Heather found a dead and decaying sea turtle and 381 cigarette butts

-The French boy got my number at McD's and wanted to go to Bliss with me, but I didn't know his name, so we decided to "keep in touch, kiss!"

-Jackie was in love with a black man (surprise) and a Mexican named Joaquin

-I was in love with.....everyone else

-Sarah (my sister) said to Sean, "Oh I see, you're crushin' on my sister?"

-but that was inaccurate, since he was actually crushin' on random guests

-We spent money at the outlets and we were poor! but happy :)

-Chris did not see Christine's boob! (yeah, okay)

-Chris had prickly chest hair and Olivia loved it when he hugged her goodbye

-Jackie was flirting with Brad and then saw Sy's roommate....tots awk

-Nobody held a candle to us in our red high heels

-We got hit on my Moroccans in Epcot and they gave us food and took our friend Kelsey

-We thudded. (Downstairs mixup, part 2)

-I learned how to surf!

-We got donuts and hair products and bread from our church

-Correction: Liv got donuts

-Liv ripped her pants cheerleading

-Smelling feet was normal

-Olivia and Jackie were wrestling when Sean came over

-Heather dumped Prince Eric, married Flynn Ryder, and dated Hercules.

-I had an entire drawer full of nail polish

-Everything we said was amazing and earth-shattering, according to ****

-Olivia and I played soda pong and Liv had to drink my soda, too

-Jackie probably caused a heart attack with a single txt

-Heather just wanted a "K"

-Eric Mullen was our (IDIOT) busdriver

-We rode in a taxi home from Walmart

-that BOY! told us that BYU and UNLV were rivals. Who knew??

-Heather was making a mistake because he was "worth it"

-We all hated Goodings. Stupid Goodings.

-Jackie and Heather paid $2.50 to make a circle and go to Walmart.

-Twice.

-Christine had more fun dancing than the drunk people did

-I was fluent in French

-Christine got a hottie-bo-bottie boy to pay for her to go to Universal Studios

-More Moroccans hit on Jackie and Heather in the parking lot and Heather gave them the wrong number on accident.....on purpose

-We went to House of Blues and Jackie and Heather were the only blondes and one of 4 white people in the whole place

-We decorated our apartment with a hair flower and a green dish towel in a water glass

-the apartment uniform was no pants, a purple silky work shirt, and TAN

-Heather didn't give her number to a Yankee's fan driving next to her

-Everyone loved my driving

-I had really embarrassing fairy godmothers

-Aladdin was dating Prince Charming :(

-Everyone was a gourmet chef except Heather

-We watched the fireworks whenever the heck we wanted

-Liv was the luckiest girl because she got to watch the parade every day

-Jackie had a sexy costume and needed to leave something to the imagination

-We had the absolute best time ever!

A Balmy 68* F

Friends, I now live in Disney World. In Orlando, Florida. It was 68*F when I got off the plane in the most beautiful airport I've ever flown into. I took off my jacket and put it in my suitcase. Then I took off my other jacket and put it in my other suitcase. Then I stopped taking off clothes.

I arrived at check-in. Our bus driver, Eric Mullen, dropped us off at the front of the complex, so we had to drag our luggage (2 huge suitcases, a smaller suitcase, a backpack, and a purse for me) all the way to the other end of the housing complex. We got our pictures taken. We got assigned our apartments. They are beautiful! We learned who our roommates were. They were also beautiful! I am living with Christine, Jackie, and a girl from BYU-I named Olivia. She is so fun and we love her already. I will post pictures soon.

I moved into said apartment. I started figuring out the bus system. We stood in line, starving, for six hours, filling out paperwork one person at a time. I bought groceries. I rode in a taxi for the first time (with my roommates). I saw a little green frog. I wore flipflops. I ran on a treadmill for the first time, because I saw a beautiful boy working out in the fitness center right next to my new house. He was gone when I got there, but Jackie still made me run on the treadmill. And I loved it. And I didn't even fall once. And I went 1.8 miles. And I liked it! And I'm going to go back again!

I went to Downtown Disney. I rode in a complimentary water taxi. I didn't see an alligator. I fell in love with a talented musician playing the drums for an electric violinist. I saw where I'm going to work. I hated my costume on sight. I cheered up because I am living in Disney World.

And because I split a Ghirardelli hot fudge sundae with my roommates.

Everybody's Gonna Love Today

You know what is really great? My morning playlist. Waking up to Mika, Britney Spears, Flo Rida, Michael Jackson, and Justin Bieber just makes life so much better. And it makes it so I end the semester on a really good note.

Why My Life was Awesome on Thursday:

1. Theresa brought raspberry muffins into the Writing Center today. She made them from scratch. They are the best muffins she has ever made. I loved them. And her.

2. I tutored a Brazilian. He was from Brazil. He spoke Portuguese. He had a Brazilian accent. He was Brazilian. I tutored him.

3. I had lunch with Kelly. We have had lunch almost every day this semester and I realized I am going to miss it so much when I am in Disney World! Right now, this is what our lunch goes like:

-I txt kelly and say, "Lunch at 12?" or whatever time.

-She txts me back and says, "Yes :)"

-We meet at the CougarEat and get in line at L&T. Or wherever.

-She talks. I talk. We talk. Sometimes our conversations are random, sometimes organized. We kind of just go back and forth and it doesn't always make sense if you are just listening in.

Here's what I'm wondered my lunch will look like in Disney World:

-me to random friend at work: Hey, do you want to go get lunch?

-friend: yeah sure!

-We go to a random cart or restaurant. We order our food. We sit.

-And sit.

-me: So. Work is fun today huh?

-her: Yeah. I love Disney World, don't you?

-me: Yeah.

-We sit.

I am just so worried that it won't be as fun!

4. I had my last health class. I loved this class, even though it was only once a week and we missed like a whole month of classes, since my teacher was sick or there was a holiday or I had my sister's wedding or whatever else. Anyway, today we got our final and it is going to be so easy and I am so excited about it.

5. I sent Crystal a letter! We were roommates last year and it was so fun. We are kind of opposite but somehow we became really good friends. Unfortunately, she moved to Hawaii to go to school there, so now we only get to communicate through txting. We've been talking about being pen pals all semester and I finally got around to sending a letter today. It was so exciting! Sending letters is really one of my favorite pasttimes.

6. I took a nap. I love naps with all my heart, might, mind, soul, brain, strength, bosom. Everything about me loves naps.

7. I worked with Jackie. I was planning on going 80's dancing but that fell through, so I went to work at Coldstone instead. It was really fun to work at Jackie because I haven't seen her in forever! She left at about 10:30 and Ashlyn covered the rest of her shift which was also awesome because I haven't seen her in even longer. Like, since we went mancamping.

8. As roommates, we decided to do a dare of the week, every week. We had to complete the dare by the week and then report back to each other. We are still on our first dare because Caitlin and I, who have been named the social ones of the apartment, are chickens and cannot bring ourselves to compliment a random boy on his physical appearance. Not sure why this is so hard but I've tried to do it like ten times and every time, I get super-nervous and just look away. Or run away.

This made the list of things that made my day awesome for a reason, I promise.

It's because today, this boy came into ColdStone. He was a college student and was with two other friends, a girl and a boy. He had pretty eyes that went really well with his shirt. I thought about the dare. I tried to work up the courage to tell him that his eyes looked pretty.

I opened my mouth.

"Um, do you want this in a waffle bowl?" I asked.

"Oooh," he said. "I'd better not. It's probably a lot more calories, huh?"

I shook my head. "No!" I said. "The waffle bowls are zero calories!" I say this every time a customer asks me about calories because it is so obviously false. You just need to not think about calories when you are in ColdStone. It's the only way to be happy. (If you want to be miserable, you can look at the nutritional information here.)

Anyway, he believed me for a second. He said, "Really?" and seemed to be considering the waffle bowl. A split second later, I started shaking my head on accident (I'm a really bad liar) and he stopped believing me.

"No, waffle bowls have calories. You're full of crap," he said. I put his ice cream in a boring old cup and brought it down to the cash register. He handed me his card and I rang up his ice cream.

"I can't believe you just said I'm full of crap!" I said. We talked a little bit more and I noticed that his eyes went really well with his shirt. I got really excited because I could easily say, "That shirt really brings out your eyes" and then I would have done the dare. I would probably never see this boy again anyway!

I opened my mouth to say my compliment, but before I could, he said: "Has anyone told you that you are really cute?"

I closed my mouth. "Um.....like ever?" I said.

"Like, today," he clarified.

"Nope, not today."

"Well I'll say it. You're just, really cute."

"Thank you!" I said. "That just made my day." So I appreciated the compliment, but I never did get to do the dare. I think I just need to learn how to compliment boys, besides saying "You're looking dapper today."

Best. Birthday. Ever.

I was not looking forward to my birthday this year. I realized about a month ago that I was going to be turning 20 when October 9th rolled around and I was not thrilled about that. I mean, my mom got married when she was 20 years old! I think turning 20 is like, basically, the final step you take before becoming an adult. And that is a little scary.

So I decided I was going to turn 19 again this year. I mean, who needs all the stress of being 20, when you just want to stay 19? I certainly don't. It looked like I would be turning 19 once again. I would be able to have a birthday without adding another year onto my age -- what a perfect solution!

The week leading up to my birthday was fantastic. It was Winnie's birthday on October 6th, just like every year, except this year, she was turning 21, and that has never happened before! Christine lined up 21 guys to kiss her and give her roses, and we had a surprise birthday party for her at Lauren's house. It was so fun! We danced, ate yummy food, and laughed at all the guys as they kissed her. (There were actually 23, because Winnie is just that pretty and that awesome.)

On Friday, Caitlin and I went to the BYU men's soccer game. It was my first real soccer game, besides a women's game that I went to 5 minutes of at the start of my freshman year that was a disaster (not because of how they played). It was super fun! Caitlin has played soccer for forever so she explained everything to me as it happened. The refs were terrible.....they weren't calling anything but practically every time they did decide to make a call, they also issued a card. Since nothing was getting called, the boys started to get pretty aggressive, but it was fun to watch. We decided we are going to go to way more soccer games now.

After the soccer game, Christine, Caitlin and I went to a bonfire with C.L. Afterwards, I went back to Winnie's apartment to sleep over and Caitlin went home, since she had work in the morning. Saturday morning came, and as I woke up, I had no idea that one of the best days of my entire life had just begun. It was the perfect day.

Every year on my birthday, Tucano's gives me a free meal, so of course that is where I have gone every October since I got to Utah. Tucano's is a Brazilian grill where the waiters bring different meats around and give you one piece at a time until you decide you're full. There is also a delicious salad bar, grilled pineapple, and like 6 different kinds of Brazilian lemonade. Going there is almost like going to heaven.

This year, I even learned a cool new trick that lets you eat more! I guess Polynesians do this thing where they kind of wiggle their stomachs and the food gets all stirred around and settles down so they have more space to put more food! I was too nervous to use it, because a birthday is a day where you want to celebrate your birth, not the birth of a food baby, but it still sounds like a good idea for future reference.

Some of my favorite people in the world were able to come. There was Kelly, Christine, Winnie, Danielle, Lizzie (Christine's roommate from over the summer), C.L., Ryan Berlin (my home teacher slash friends with C.L. slash gave me a ride to school last week when I was having a real emergency), and Danny, Ty, and Jake (all really good friends with C.L. originally). Some of my other favorites were not able to come this year :( aka Caitlin, Kelsey, Larissa, Chelsea, Aimee, and Dahl. So that was a little sad, but a fun lunch nonetheless.

Every year, we have to take a picture by the fountain. Above is this year's picture. Below, C.L. and Ty decided to play "Put Heather on Top of Stuff" and put me on top of the fountain. It was a very wobbly rock and I really thought I was going to break it or die, so I was a little bit paralyzed with fright.

Luckily they got me down and I was able to go home all in one piece. When I got home, there was a plate of delicious snackarolls sitting on the island with a bowl of peach sauce next to them! If you have never had a snackaroll, you are not alone. My home teacher, Tanner, invented them, so I was the first to try one, ever. It is basically a cinnamon roll with a peachy kind of topping and it is amazing. Thanks Tanner!!

I didn't get an all-sports pass this year, but Winnie had to work, so she gave me her ticket for the game. I think God knew it was my birthday, because the weather was absolutely perfect, and on top of that, the Cougars pulled out a win. Their defense looked so much better this game than it has been, so that was good. I wasn't able to stay the whole time, because I had to go to work, but I did see a good two hours of the game.

As I walked back to my apartment to get ready for work, I called my mom to talk about the day I was born. This is one of my favorite traditions every year! When I was younger, my mom would pull out her journal and read to me what she had written about the day I was born. I know the story pretty well by now, but hearing my mom tell it is something I like the very best about my birthday.

She tells me everything from when she first started getting contractions to when the receptionist condescendingly told her she wasn't in labor, to how beautiful the weather was, to Dr. Gheary coming in, not quite believing that my mom was in labor either (because she was still smiling) and then saying, "Lord love a duck, this baby is coming soon!"

I was 6 pounds, 6 ounces, and about 4 weeks early, but apparently I was really a nice baby, and when I cried you could hardly even hear it. My parents knew they liked the name Christine, but weren't sure what to pair it with, so the nurse came up with the idea of Heather when she picked me up and said, "Oh, she's light as a feather! How about Heather?"

I think it's a little narcissistic but I really love hearing this story every year.

Most people prefer not to work on their birthday, but I didn't mind too much. Besides, I had gotten the past two Saturdays off, so I felt like three in a row would be a little excessive. A bunch of people came to visit me and at one point, Kylie started singing Happy Birthday and everyone else in the store joined in and then cheered for me. I thought that was so nice!

Jackie came in at about ten and said that she had some uniforms at her house that she had to drop off here, but there was a lot of boxes, so she needed to steal one of the employees. Then she said, "Oh, hey! I'm really glad you're working, because I can just take you. Do you want to come?" Of course I did, so I told my friends that I would be right back. Then I left the store with Jackie.

When we walked in Jackie's house, all the lights were off. "Ok, the uniforms are just up in my room -- why is it so dark in here?" she said, and reached for the light switch. Suddenly the room exploded in a collective cheer of "Surprise!" and I felt all panicked and screamed and backed into the wall, and then I realized that there was no emergency and I laughed and hyperventilated and sat on the ground. I had not even had an inkling of suspecting and I was so thrilled and felt so happy to have such the best friends ever that I kind of wanted to cry, but I was too happy to, so I just laughed a lot instead.

The surprise wasn't a party, per say, but an adventure at the Haunted Forest. Interestingly enough, I went last year on my birthday as well. It was fun, but I hadn't expected to make it a tradition.

This year was even funner than last year! There were more boys than girls and I needed lots of protection, so I had at least two boys to throw in front of me at all times, should trouble arise. C.L. loves haunted houses slash forests and he was like a little kid in there. One of his favorite things to do was to walk ahead of me telling the scary people my name and that it was my birthday. I did not really appreciate it because they kept coming back and asking, "Are you Heather?" all up in my face, but in retrospect, it was pretty funny.

After going through Psycho Manor and the Haunted Forest, we went back to Jackie's apartment for cake and calming down. By this point everyone was pretty tired, so Caitlin and I went back home pretty soon.

All throughout the day, I just kept thinking how perfect of a day it was. Everything about it was so wonderful that I couldn't believe that it could get better. And then, something else would happen that woulddd make it even better! I felt like the luckiest girl in the whole world. I still feel so happy from such a great day.

I guess I'd better admit it. I am 20 years old.

At least I started off my third decade of life with a perfect day :)