Welcome to Brovo

Technically, the city I live in is called Provo. But sometimes, I think it should be called Brovo, because sometimes, I think it is being overrun by bros. Not always....just sometimes. Caitlin wrote a very enlightening and straightforward report of these fellas last year, which you can read here.

 

And now, I'd just like to add my own signs that you may be living in Brovo....

- Bros have become such an issue that some non-bros decide to throw a tool party where everyone has to dress up like tools in blatant mockery

- Your boy accuses you of checking yourself out in the reflective windows of a restaurant, when really, you were just trying to avoid making eye contact with the Bros who were all standing around by the exit of Maria Bonita's, taking turns making their pectorals dance

- The phone conversation you overhear at the pool goes like this: "Dude! Bro, what's up! Dude, come chill with me. Yeah man, it's sweet. Oh, my roommates are so sick. They're way tight guys. No dude, they're awesome, this summer's gonna be sick. BRO. No, dude, listen. We had a game night last night and they were all, 'We've never done anything like this before!' I was like, what? Are you guys for real? No, man, they were serious! But they're way cool. No, I actually broke up with my girlfriend last month. Dude, no, listen to this - I moved here, and she moved in after me! She like followed me here so she's in my ward and everything. Oh yeah, it's super awkward. I try to be nice and talk to her but she just hates my guts now." etc.

- The bro on the phone hangs up the phone and immediately starts looking for a way to strike up a conversation with the girls kind of close to him, who really just want to lay by the pool and not be bothered

- And the girls respond kind of like

 - Even though striking up a conversation might not be all that bro-ly, and could just be friendly, but in some cases, it probably isn't just friendly, since there was a definite attempt at swagger in his signature "notice me" walk from chair to poolside.

- While walking with your (admittedly really cute) friends one night, a random bro in a car rolls down his window while passing you to shout out "Oh heyyy ladies!"

- The gym is still crowded, but not as crowded as it usually is, because so many of the bros have left for the summer, now that their contract at The Village is up for the year.

- You and your best friend are both sitting around lonesome because both of you have recently been abandoned by your boyfriends. And this abandonment has left you with the (possibly inaccurate but still very persistent) feeling that the only boys left in this town are Bros.

Does that make sense, what I'm saying?? I don't actually think all the boys in Provo are Bros. I just think a lot of them are. And sometimes, when you get together with your best friend and throw pity parties for yourselves on account of your temporary singledom, all the boys start to look like Bros, because they are not who you really care about.

As in, I'm sorry, but Barney Stintson does not live in Provo. And actually he's gay in real life. And even if he weren't, we may love his bro-ness on TV, but I don't know if I would love it as much if he brought it here. So I guess I have to just keep saying No to Bros.

Easter cupcakes

Last year, if you had asked me what food I associated with Easter, I probably would have said eggs. This year, my answer would not be eggs. Yes, I dyed about five Easter eggs. And yes, I have an egg salad sammich in my lunch today. And yes, I do love deviled eggs. But for whatever reason, eggs did not take over my Easter this year.

These did:

These are the leftovers. After 3 different roommates took 3 different kinds of cupcakes to 3 different Easter dinners and we gave some away to cousins of studly boys and thought about giving some away to the girls we visit teach.

Not that I'm complaining....

Sneaking: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Sneaking can be good. Like when Sydney Bristow does it.

That is good because it saves people, like Marshall, or Weiss is Nice. Sydney Bristow sneaking is also good because she brings this guy along:

and let's be real, no one in the history of ever has ever complained about that. 

Sneaking is good when you sneakily say you won't be getting back from a trip until way late Sunday night, and then you show up way early on Sunday night, and there is much rejoicing in the land.

Sneaking is also good when you sneakily leave B-Dubbs on a boy's car so he knows that you like him. (Don't do this if you don't want to blow your cover.)

Sorry for the crappy quality of this picture, but we can't all have smart phones. Also, we can't all wait until the sun comes up before we go off to work. :/

Sneaking is good when you sneakily make your roommate's bed just in time for cleaning checks.

Sneaking is good when you anonymously send flowers.

Sneaking is good when your students set up traps to catch a leprechaun and he someone manages to sneak through all of them and escape unharmed, taking the gold coins with him.

Why is that good, you ask? Because said leprechaun is a nice leprechaun who left us a note....

.....and some Lucky Charms under the teacher's seat.

So yes, sneaking can definitely be good. But then there are some times when sneaking is bad.

Like when you sneakily put yourself into Francie's body so that you can be Fake Francie and pretend like you're Real Francie so that maybe one day you can sneakily kill Sydney Bristow, who is Real Francie's roommate.

I mean honestly, whatabee.

Sneaking is also bad when you go rockclimbing on a night when UVU students get in for $5. And when they ask, "So you're both UVU students, right?" you sneakily glaze your eyes and look around and let The Boy answer, since you are not a UVU student, but he is, so no one has to lie if you just don't say anything.

Why is that bad, you may ask? Because they might let you both in for the UVU student price, but karma is real, kids. And you might have a great time rock climbing for $5, but give it a week and you might find yourself walking around trying to hold hands with a bear paw, because The Boy might have broken his pinky playing dodgeball. And this might make it so you can't go rock climbing for at least 3 months. By which time $5 nights for UVU students will probably be a thing of the past. Don't try to tell me these things are unrelated. I've learned my lesson. I am 'umbled.

Sneaking is also bad when there's a paper airplane making and throwing contest during halftime at the UVU basketball game, and your paper airplane sneaks in under my paper airplane and is just a little bit more on the target than mine was, so I do not win a 5-day vacation to Disney Land as planned.



She's cute, right? And her parents are good. Sneakers. But we can't all cry like that because we're going to Disneyland. Some people cry like that because they are not going to Disneyland. And some people just want to....

Sneaking a kiss is an example of good sneakiness, (depending on the boy, obviously) but not when he sneaks a kiss by sneakily revealing that he has some juicy bit of information that he is withholding and then saying, "I'm not going to tell you until you kiss me. You have to kiss me first." Because then your curiosity is going to take over, and you are going to have to kiss him. And only then will you find out that his mouth has had things in it that you never wanted your mouth to be exposed to. Like his roommate's toe.

Bad sneakiness is bad. But you want to know when it gets ugly? When you sneakily call the bishop to tattle on your roommates.

Not saying that I know anyone who would do that. Just saying. I imagine that it would get ugly if someone did. 

I'll leave you with this, one of my favorite examples of sneakiness:



May we always land on our feet. Happy sneaking!

Free Food and Pure Poetry

Sometimes, when I am off-track, I spend the day at a carnival. Not on purpose, really - I always mean to go to UVU to go to classes and study with my friends, but I always wind up with my arms full of cotton candy, popcorn, a free necklace or two, and fliers. So it would appear that I went to a carnival instead of a university, like I meant to. 

And if you know me at all, you'll know that that is just fine with me.
And I'm sorry if this gif gives you a seizure.

Anyway, I might as well just admit that I know it is going to be a carnival before I even pull into visitor parking. I know that I will be offered food, and I know that I will graciously accept. So when I walk in, and the library is to my right, I breeze on past it and wander down the hall in the opposite direction until somebody feeds me.

This works out especially well when my best friend, being a model citizen, wants to eat healthy, but she still takes a bag of popcorn and hands it off to me so I can give it to a certain perpetually hungry boy who is studying in the library. Hashtag, Caitlinisthebestfriendandiamthebestgirlfriendever.

(Sorry for hashtagging but I don't think it's quite as bad if you write out the word hashtag so everyone knows you're being ironic even if secretly you kind of like it but you just know that it's frowned upon because people overdo it so you don't want to be one of those people so you write out the word hashtag so people think you're being ironic even though secretly you kind of like it but you just know that it's frowned upon because people overdo it so you don't want to be one of those people....really sorry)

So anyway, while planning lessons in the library today, I decided that I want to teach my kids about cinquain poems for Valentines Day. Google was surprisingly unhelpful, so I just went ahead and wrote my own cinquains to use as examples. Here is what I came up with:

Cupid

 Sneaky, Romantic

Hiding, aiming, enchanting

A cherub of love

Matchmaker.

 Cassidy Jane

Silver, Adorable

Revving, singing, racing

My cute little automobile

Carbaby.

Brad Rudolph

Flashy, Squiggly

Darting, swishing, bubble-blowing

A fish like no other

Betta King.

Stephen

Intelligent, Hungry

Chomping, disrupting, kissing

Getting A's on all his tests

Boyfriend spaz.

In other news, Stephen loved the free popcorn I gave him. And I'm sure everyone in the quiet section of the library loved me for bringing it.

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Lumberjacks

Some people put up fake Christmas trees. Some people put up real Christmas trees. I'm not saying that one is better than the other.....but let's be honest. Real Christmas trees are better than fake ones.

Some people buy real Christmas trees from a lot. Some people chop down their real Christmas tree. Again, I'm not saying that chopping down your own Christmas tree makes you better than other people. But it might. 

This weekend, Kailyn, Caitlin, the Jew, Erin and I ventured over to the far corners of Utah:

That's right. We went to Richfield, Utah.

One-stoplight-town, Farmville, home-on-the-range, we're-from-the-country-and-we-like-it-that-way, Richfield. We made a brief stop at this place:

"Are we going there someday?" "I don't know, you tell me...."

Once we were done there, nothing could stop us from getting to Kailyn's beautiful home! Except for the one stop sign in the town. We met her family, talked up one of our friends to make a good impression on Kailyn's family in his absence, and then took a nap, all of us piled on Kailyn's bed.

When we woke up, something was different. We didn't have facial hair or rough, callused hands, but an unmistakable change had taken place: our nap had turned us into lumberjacks.

There were about 8 trucks in the driveway - Kailyn's family believes in trucks - so we all climbed in and struck out for the mountains.  First, the trucks did the hiking. Eventually, we had to get out and do the rest of the hiking ourselves. K-Mom gave us one piece of advice: "When you bring the tree back to the truck, you'll want to carry it down the mountain, not up the mountain. So go uphill to find it."

Our tree was living in a little patch of ankle-deep snow when we found him. He smiled at us with his soft, sage-colored needles, and even though he was a little bit balding on one side, we felt in our hearts that he was our tree. (Or maybe it was just getting dark and we weren't sure how long it was going to take to chop him down or if we would be able to find another one if we left him.....)

Lumberjacks have riveting conversations while they chop. Here's what ours sounded like:

"Hold that pose, can you just wait there a second?" "Wait the lighting was weird! Take it again." "Why do I have an alien head?" "Now you two together. Smile!" "Are you still holding onto the tree? Because it's probably going to fall soon...." "Did you ever txt him back?" "Perfect! I love this one!" "Can that please not go on facebook?"

In case you couldn't tell, at least 3 of us were on our phones or cameras at any given time.

Sawing down the tree was one thing; getting it down the mountain was a whole 'nother task. A mother of a nother task. Gravity swung on by to help us, but it still took all of our Kailyn and Caitlin and Erin's strength and muscles to bring it to Kailyn's brothers. Then it took about 1/18th of their strength to hoist it off the ground and carry it on their shoulders to the truck.

So what did I learn from all this?

Sometimes, boys are like trees. And you have to climb a mountain to find one that you like. And sometimes, he is a little bit balding on one side, or his needles are a little poiky, or he's stuck in the spot where you found him, on account of his roots or whatever.

Sometimes, you need your friends to help you saw down the tree that you want. Wing-girls are so necessary.

Sometimes, you kind of love the tree the moment you see it. But then you still have to cut it down and find a way to get it back to your apartment.

Sometimes, trees look a lot taller when they are laying in the snow than they do when they are standing in the snow. Sometimes, you notice the same thing about boys.

Sometimes, you see all these people coming down the mountain with their trees, and you think how easy it must have been for them to just pluck their tree from the side of the road. But sometimes you're wrong, because probably they didn't pluck their tree or their boy from the side of the road, and probably they had to go through the same process that you did.

Sometimes, there's a tree that really freakin' wants to be your tree, but he takes his sweet time coming down the mountain and puts up such a fuss about it that you almost leave him there on the dead log that he's hanging onto. But then you don't, because he really is the most beautiful tree you've ever seen, and besides that he is really good company, and you like it when he txts you and comes over and even when he eats your food, so whatever. You'll drag him down the mountain even if it kills annoys you, because let's be honest: the chances that he'll end up flying off the truck on the way back to Provo are looking pretty slim, and you honestly believe that one day he will look beautiful, all decked out in lights and ornaments and popcorn in your apartment, and you'll forget about the sap and the splinters and the bruises, and it will all be worth your stupid day month as a lumberjack.

Here we are putting up our beautiful Teddy:

Cute bum, where ya from?

And here he is, all lit up and beautiful:

TO DO

Off-track is a funny thing. I have three weeks of vacation that no one else has. So, while everyone else is still going about, living their lives and fulfilling their obligations like normal, I am living my life and fulfilling all.....zero of my obligations.

But a life of idleness can be just as exhausting as a life of industriousness, and is much less satisfying. So in order to guarantee my own satisfaction, I have been putting together TO DO lists (I am obsessed with these, so it's really nothing new....) for each day. I'm checking stuff off like a BOSS. Here's today's TO DO list, in case you were wanting to sit in awe of my gumption:

TO DO

- go to the temple with roommates
- make some more punkin seeds
- get from the kitchen to my bed without touching the floor
- practice piano
- download Taylor's new songs
- be nice to Shannon
- organize boots and coats
- grade some shtuff
- figure out my Halloween costume for Friday
- maybe do some step-aerobics if I can find something that will work as a step
- eat some muffins
- set up visiting teaching
- shower
- put on makeup
- go to a concert? with free hot chocolate and free henna tattoos??
- blog
- go to the dolla theater and watch a 3D movie in order to get some 3D glasses
- floss
- buy milk, eggs, bread, laundry detergent, and sugar
- make a TO DO list for tomorrow

I think that a person's strength of character really shows through when they do things that they don't have to do. Here are some of the things I don't have to do that I have already done at some point during this off-track anyway:

- wake up before 10
- wear pants
- floss my teeth
- memorize "Good Feeling" by Flo Rida (actually I'm still working on this)
- listen to Taylor's new album
- about 24 times
- go to class with Caitlin
- go to class with Christine
- grow out my bangs
- make the most bomb amazing punkin seeds of history

Yep. Based on this list, I think my character is pretty strong.

Tutu

I had the best birthday ever!

I know I said this last year, and two years ago, and the year before that as well. But I really mean it, every time.

This year's birthday started the night before my actual birthday with a trip to the movies. We watched "House at the End of the Street" and basically had the theater to ourselves. Just me, 5 of the best roommates ever, a blanket, and some (homemade) popcorn.

I normally have a very low tolerance for scary movies. Here are my rules for scary movies:

-They can't be toooo scary.
-They can't be Satanic.
-They can't be gross, like gory.
-They can't be not scary at all.
-There has to be a hot guy
-...and he can't die. Well actually he can, I just prefer that he doesn't.
-There has to be a happy ending.
-There has to be some humor.
-Not a huge fan of children in scary movies. I don't like when children are the villains, I don't like when they are the victims, and I don't like when they are both villain and victim (like if they are possessed or something). 

So you see, my pool of watchable scary movies is a very limited one. It includes "What Lies Beneath," "Wait Until Dark," "Disturbia," "The Goonies," and now "House at the End of the Street." Yeah. It made my very exclusive list. We're going to go watch it again when it comes to the dolla theater.

Birthday continued with the apartment decorated so cutely with streamers and balloons and post-its by my wonderful roommates who woke up before I did. They also made my a bomb breakfast of hootenanny pancakes and decorated my car with streamers and balloons and window marker :)

I had an all-day seminar instead of regular class, but they fed me breakfast and lunch and 4 snacks throughout the day, so I can't complain. Plus I was allowed to wear jeans and I had time after the meeting to get Carbaby safety and emissions tested, and she passed with flying colors, and someone whistled at me as I was walking in the store (!!!) and I ended up getting home 2 hours earlier than I usually do and hence, got a perfect parking spot....so there really is nothing to complain about here.

Shannon teaches piano and her students had their recital today, so the roommates and I went to that. We are so supportive :) Her kids were all in costumes for Halloween and it was adorable, and we got treats afterwards, and it also reminded me that I still want to learn how to play the ukulele.

After this artistic appreciation, we went to the Garden of Olives to appreciate some art of the edible variety! I am obsessed with OG breadsticks and salad and everything else. Besides an unwanted unexpected visitor, we had a lovely, fat time.

Unfortunately, Winnie and Tara couldn't be in this picture because they stood a mile away from the rest of us. Haha

And thennn we went home for some more love and fat! Caitlin organized a party and a bunch of people came over for cake and ice cream. I have the best friends a girl could ask for!

Friends from Freshman year came :)

Friends from waaaay before freshman year came :)

Delly came :)

Cute boys came,,,,,

And put candles on my cake :)

It was a good day, kids. More people were there too....which means there are more pictures coming. You know how I do. UPDATE: No more pictures to look forward to! Any pictures that ever will be up, are currently up. Don't worry, it's still Birthday Month.

The Trouble with.....

....my iPad is that sometimes I can't figure out where I left the charger, so I just use it until the battery dies and then I resign myself to never using it again.

....productive Saturdays is that I can spend the entire day in my room, and so can my roommate, and we don't help motivate each other to leave. 

....my awesome roommates is that none of us seems to have a filter, so we can't control ourselves when boys come over and we are excited and just say whatever comes to mind and it is a problem and they will probably never come back, which is sad because they were cute. Just saying.

....taking pictures with the roommates is that they don't all turn out perfect. And some of them turn out downright awkward. And they get posted on facebook anyway.

 ....teaching PE is that all the kids are more flexible than I am.

....Utah is that Provo is not as close to South Jordan as it should be, and Logan is not as close to Salt Lake as you thought, and every day turns into a road trip.

....boys is, well, everything.

....colorful jeans is that I love them so  much that sometimes I just wear the same outfit two days in a row, oops.

....finding a good parking spot is that I never want to leave said parking spot, so social activities start to lose their appeal.

....casual Friday is that I am not allowed to participate. Hmmmph.

....the internet is that you can find anything that you don't want to find. You can find a mugshot of a boy you thought you might have a crush on. You can also find horror stories about girls getting groped at haunted houses. 

 ....every one of these complaints is that people are going to read them and shake their heads and mutter, "First-world problems."

Awkward Turtle

Life can get a little awkward when……….

- You go to an elementary school (where you are supposed to be a teacher) and happen to be wearing the same skirt as one of the students.

-Someone asks how you and this boy know each other and the boy in question quickly replies “We flirt in church.”

-You go to buy a car and learn all about the dealer, including, but not limited to: his conversion to the church, the story of his move from Iran to America, how many kids are in his family, the life story of his favorite son, the story of the time he switched careers from making crowns and bridges for teeth to selling cars, his political leanings…..

-You can’t even bring yourself to smile at the people working at FedEx because that place is a joke and you feel a little bit like they are waxing your nostrils with duct tape because of how much everything costs.

-Sooomebody has to stand up and say how great of a game kissing rugby is, and no one else steps up to the plate, so it ends up being you. And then you’re that girl.

-You tell a few people that you are considering going back to your old ward this upcoming Sunday, and every last one of them responds: “Oh, there are no cute boys in your new ward?”

-And you have to admit that no, there are not.


-You have a dream that you are serving a mission and your mission president's wife is giving a presentation to welcome you to the mission, and she announces that Matt Damon is in the boundaries of the mission, and he loves the missionaries, so feel free to get rides with him whenever, but don't kiss him. She goes on, "It is soooo hard not to kiss him. But don't do it. My gosh. It's, like really hard." And then all the other sister missionaries turn to you and nod and confirm that it is so hard not to kiss him. 

-Also, Arie was supposed to be going to your mission, too, but he broke his leg right before. So that's a bummer. 

-You have to tell a dealer that you don’t want their car, and you find yourself channeling your inner Emily Maynard in the hopes that you will be able to break up with the dealer as gracefully as she broke up with 24 guys.

-You call your mom every day at the same time to ask her to get you un-lost again.

-You seriously consider going to the dollar theater to watch “The Lucky One” by yourself, since your Zac Efron fan friend is currently in a different state and your other friends expressed specific disdain for the fact that he won some Teen Choice Awards.

But for real, how could you find fault with this?

-You watch Toddlers and Tiaras and it has the opposite of the intended effect on you. As in, you watch it and kind of want to put your children in pageants….

-Someone txts you "Be there in a sex."

-The next day, someone else txts you "Ok, see you in a sex."

-Both someones are immediately horrified and correct themselves. Both someones get a txt from you that says, "I'm sexcited!" because you are convinced that it wasn't only funny the first time and that this is a joke that is okay to repeat with different audiences.

-You fill out a damage sheet for the apartment you just moved into, which is the same apartment you painted 2 years ago, and in the spot where it asks about whether the walls are white or painted, you not only list the colors of all the walls but also compliment them.

-You go to buy 50 composition notebooks, 25 pencil boxes, 25 highlighters, 50 colored pens, 30 dry erase markers, 25 desk name tags, 50 boxes of crayons, 60 erasers, 48 glue sticks, and 100 folders at Walmart, and the cashier asks: "Are you a teacher?"

-And you respond, "No, I just have a lot of kids." 

-And for a second, he looks like he believes you.

-You txt a friend and accidentally ask what time "Capture the Fag" is going to start.

-You meet the worst boy ever at the pool, and he is the really persistent kind who keeps trying to talk to you and your friends, despite your blatantly rude body language that clearly says "don't talk to me, in fact would you please go crawl into a hole because that's how annoying you are...."

-You go to a baseball game and are told by the little girl sitting in front of you “Okay, I won’t lick your legs. But they sure do look tasty!”

-You go to the bank to deposit a check like an adult and the banker goes to shake your hand and asks what your name is, and you have to shift everything you're holding to the other hand and pull the lollipop out of your mouth to answer, and you realize that no amount of check-depositing will truly make you into an adult. 

-You and your sister make cupcakes for a friend for her birthday. They are the best cupcakes ever. Then, you don't know where she lives, so you just eat a couple while you wait on getting her address.

-On a possibly related note, you learn, through personal experience, that it is indeed possible to eat 18 cupcakes in 5 days. By yourself. 

And finally, it can get a little awkward when all the things on this list are actually the little things that make your life really enjoyable :)

Tell the World I'm Comin Home

I like this place. I really do! And I like my friends here, and I'm having fun times and stuff. But here's another place I like:

And I'm going there! Tomorrow! I've been packing and cleaning for three days straight, also sporadically through the last two weeks. I shoved my bedding, rain boots, a box, and a set of drawers in the hall closet at Singletree. I put 2 suitcases, 4 huge boxes, half of my clothes, and another set of drawers in a friend's closet. I packed two suitcases and a backpack to bring home. And I think I am finally ready!

Everyone has been asking what I'm going to do for a month in Maryland. Here's a TO DO list:

1. Hang out with the fam.
2. Go to lunch with the cute dad.
3. Make dinners with real people food.
4. Visit all my elementary school teachers and get advice!
5. Meet Lerone. (He's so hot and I can't wait to see him in person....)
6. Go to Rita's.
7. Eat froyo with the Jew.
8. Have sister sleepovers with the Jew and the Care Bear.
9. Play basketball with the broders.
10. BEAT THEM!
11. Learn all the sports. Since I'm going to be a PE teacher and it's crunch time, guys.
12. Road trip to Tennessee with Caitlin where we will drink lemonade and meet every cowboy that even exists on the East Coast.
13. Beach??
14. Get all ready to be a teacher.
15. Attend the DC 2nd ward.
16. Go to Jared's pool.
17. Go to institute? We'll see....
18. Do a sleep deprivation study. Also miscellaneous other studies.
19. Drive to Ohio and be an EFY counselor for a week.
20. Then drive 28 hrs in 36 hrs back to Utah. Blech.

I love how Baltimore looks from the sky. It's all, Oh hey Heather, we missed you! And I'm all, Listen, I missed you too! Because as much as I love Utah, I do miss being home. Who says you can't go home?? I don't. I say I can. So peace out, Utah! See you in a month :)

A Brunette and a Blonde

They say that you never get a second chance at a first impression. But if that's true, I don't know how one particular friendship of mine has survived this long. Because the first impression I made on Caitlin was a super-dorky one.

The year was 2003. We were first-years at Girls Camp. I sprayed myself with bug spray. Then I sprayed the floor around me. Then I sprayed the doors. Then I put my bug spray back in my suitcase next to the second bottle of bug spray that I had brought for the week. 

Across the cabin, Caitlin put some makeup on and started talking about boys. I responded kind of shyly. Then I started writing in my journal. I was writing something really fascinating, like: "And then we had sloppy joes and apple slices for lunch. I hope the snack today is something cold because it is HOT!" Something like that. 

The week ended. Caitlin and I went our separate ways. We found ourselves in the same ward almost a year later, after the Great Ward Boundary Reorganization of 2004. And thus a wonderful friendship was born. 

Caitlin and I might as well have been joined at the hip every year when we went to Girls Camp. Those summers were filled with thousands of friendship bracelets, Rachel's honkin' huge air mattress, countless hours at the hammocks, conversations about boys in the stake, made-up headlines predicting our tragic deaths, French braids, testimony tissues, and embarrassing pictures. 

Stake dances were the best when we went together. Caitlin and I are great wing-girls for each other because we don't like the same boys and we are super-generous. Caitlin has this amazing ability to find the cutest boy in any situation. Seriously. And she is so selfless that she always looks for guys in pairs, one with blonde hair for me and one with brown hair for her. 

When I went out to Utah for school, Caitlin and I talked on the phone every Sunday. I would walk around Wyview for hours after church and we'd catch each other up on everything we had done that week.

One time, I was talking to Caitlin for Sunday chat and she said that she was thinking about moving out to Utah and going to school at UVU. I was so excited! I told her there was still space in my apartment and that she could be my roommate. 

I didn't think it would actually happen, since she would have to be moving out in the next two weeks, but it did! We've been roommates like 3 different times now. She makes delicious macaroni and cheese. We like the same TV shows. She has good advice on what to wear. We painted our apartment super-cute. We laughed probably 200 times a day. I'm so excited to be her roommate again in the fall!

Caitlin has such a big heart and she is so good at finding things to love about people. She can make you feel like a million bucks. Seriously, if there was such a thing as a confidence-meter, it would show that my confidence jumps whenever I spend lots of time with Caitlin. She just builds people up like nobody's business!

She is always there for me. She gives good advices and always knows what to say to make me feel better if I'm feeling sad. Sometimes I think she knows me better than I know myself...which is a very handy trait in a friend. 

Caitlin is also a hard worker. I think it's so awesome that she picked up and moved 2000 miles away from home, by herself, with no car or anything, and started a life in Utah. She just came and found a job and figured out the bus system and made a million friends and became a Utah resident and joined a gym and invented some awesome cupcakes and bought some rock-awesome boots and enchanted all the boys, and it only took her a matter of days. 

She is so hard-working and good at everything she tries that it inspires me to be better! She is way more athletic than I am, but she always encourages me. And most of the time, she doesn't even mind when I practice juggling her pink soccer ball in the kitchen of our apartment. 

Now the year is 2012. We have been friends for almost 10 years. Caitlin had been alive for 21 years, so that means that next year, we will have been friends for half of our lives. And what a good half it's been :)

Hiatus

My roommate told me a few weeks ago about this thing she does sometimes called a Dating Hiatus. It is just what it sounds like. And when she told me about it, I decided I had to have one of my own.

You guys. This is one grand decision! I am obsessed with my Hiatus. I keep talking about it. I told my dad and he laughed at me and said I wouldn't last 6 days. Which I didn't really understand, since I'm not usually flaky once I make my mind up about something....

Caitlin always says no to dates. Boys always try to ask her out, but she always says no, for one reason or another. I used to think she was crazy. What's not to love about a free meal and a fun activity? But now I think she is on to something.

My dad once told me that a free meal can end up costing you quite a bit, depending on the other person at the table and if you actually want to be spending time with them. I thought he was silly. I am a poor college student! The company would have to be pretty bad if an hour with them was really not worth an entire free meal! But now I can see his wisdom. And I appreciate it. And I agree. Hence, the Hiatus.

Haters gonna hate, and hiatusers gonna hiate :)

June, take your sweet time. May is off to a great start.

Banana Bread and Banana Phones

What did you do with your Leap Day?

Here's what C, J, P, M, MP and I did:

C: I just feel like everyone was like, on one tonight. I don't even know what was going on.

H: She's just super pretty and gets asked on dates all the time. Like, she probably goes on 3 dates a week.

P: Wait....are you talking about yourself?

C: Are you kidding me?? Did anyone else see that?

P: See what? I was just saying.

C: You are hitting on her right in front of everyone!

H: I feel so pregnant right now!

C: Okay you guys always try to set us up with people when we are around them. Stop.

H: "I feel like - you know how sometimes, you get in the pool, and it's cold -" *Boys burst out laughing* ".....Okay please calm down, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm just saying, when the pool is cold, and you swim for a while, you get used to it, and I feel like tonight, I've been swimming in a pool of awkwardness. So now I don't even feel like anything is awkward anymore."

C: Let's just all lay all our cards on the table. I'm C. I don't like you. Or you. You both are attractive, but we're not gonna date. And......that's it.

H: Look, M. This is the dress I'm going to wear. My roommate wore it when she did a pageant.

P: Yeah, her roommate is really cute.

H: OKAY, M, why don't you just keep hitting on my roommate?

C: [discreetly talking about a boy to H and the whole table stops to listen]

C: Okay, we'll talk about this later.

P: Wait, tell us!

H: I talk to them about boys all the time.

P: There are no secrets here.

C: Okay.... [tells the whole entire story with even more detail]

P: What's that, C? Oh I think I dropped something.... (bending over seductively (ish) )

M: *singing*

H: You know this song?

M: No.....they're just all the same

H: But that's how this one goes!

M: Yeah. Cuz they're all the same.

P: Buck futter!

H: What is that, like tig 'ol bitties?

C: Oh my gosh, H, stop saying that

J: So it's P and H, and me and C.

P: Whoa, just cuz you like her the best doesn't mean that she likes you.

J: Cut the banana bread on the cutting board. (repeats this 4x)

H: *cutting the banana bread on the cooling rack*

J: H! I just said, cut. the banana bread. on the cutting board. I said that like 4 times! Now it's gonna be all crumbly!

C: *doing the sign for "never"*

P: C, why didn't you just tell us that you never kissed anyone?

C: What? I never.....I just said....

P: No it's fine. Like you don't have to be embarrassed, that's really cool.

J: P, just because you want to date H.....

P: What!?

H: Wow, C, J must really like you because he just threw me under the bus when P was giving you a hard time.

P: Oh wow, so dating me is like getting thrown under the bus?! Thank you.

C: Everyone is just throwing everyone under the bus now

J: Are you guys txting? While sitting next to each other?

H: Noooo.....

C: Maybe if you would stop reading our signs......

H: Okay, no. Let me just tell you what P once said.

M: Mmmm, I love first date stories.

C: My first date was with Joe. [Talks about the date]....and my mom, grandma, and great-grandma all met him -

H: Wait. Your mom, grandma, and great-grandma all went on the date?

C: No! they were there when he came to get me!

J: I just remember going up to C's door, with brownies, to apologize. And it seems like it happened more than once.

C: It did. And my mom made me go talk to you. Because I wasn't going to.

J: MP comes over and immediately gets set up on a date. I've been asking for weeks and I still have not been set up!

P: Well at least dating you isn't equivalent to being thrown under a bus.

H: I'm sorry, wasn't it you who said you'd rather jump off a cliff than -

P: I'm sorry, I was twelve and awkward when I said that!

P: Sorry M, MP is taken.

C: .......

P: What? Everyone else has been linked together at this table.

C: (to MP) I mean, I never like, liked you.

P: ....YEAH you did!

C: (bright red) Okay I mean....we all kind of liked all of you at some point.

H: So what are you going to do with that last banana bread?

J: We were going to give that one to our home-teachees.

P: Yeah but do you think that would be weird? Like because they're dudes? And we made banana bread?

J: Ooooh, you're right.

P: Like, hey boys, we just made this banana bread for you :)!

J: Plus it's too far a walk.

P: Well. We tried.

H: So uhh....now what are you going to do with that last banana bread?

J: Go ahead and have some.

P: Okay M's coming over. He's awesome, one of you can date him.

C: Again with the setting us up.....

MP: Are you two like, dating, can you just get married already?

H: (authoritatively) I just have something to say!!!

*M and P each grab a banana and shove it in H's face like a microphone*

C: I got a letter from A!

MP: Are you waiting for him?

C: .....

MP: It's okay if you are. I'm waiting for him too.

C: Okay, obviously I'm not waiting for everyone, sorry you think so....

MP: Listen. Focus. I have a story.

C: Okay I have been paired up with everyone at this table tonight. And some people who are not here. Anyone else?

MP: And then I was like, what the heck am I supposed to do with this?

H: (talking into a banana....obviously the night had taken a turn for the worse.....)

M: (picking up another banana and also talking into it) Oh hey.

H: How did you get my number? I thought you were in love with my roommate.

M: Oh right. Hi, is J there?

H: *hanging up*

M: ....Hello?

If anyone has anything to add.....I know I am missing a ton so please contribute via txt or blog comment :)