Friends

Today I got to go to one of my freshman friend's mission homecomings. He's engaged and they're adorable and it was awesome seeing everybody. (Don't worry they've been dating for years). I'm super excited to see everyone else in the Fall, even though we'll probably only see each other once, other than running into each other on campus. We are planning a reunion party, so that's happening for sure. But I'm still super excited about it--I can't really explain why, only that's it's just great to see old friends. It's fun to see how much they've changed and how much I've changed yet we're still the same people, just a little more grown up. 2 years somehow manages to be a ridiculously long time, and at the same time go by really fast. Time is weird sometimes. I feel so different from my freshman year self, but I'm the same person. I can't imagine what's it's like to look back at yourself 20 years later.

Time is going by super slowly right now for me, since I'm currently the only one living in my apartment and waiting to move upstairs on Wednesday. I'm also waiting to go to Montana in a week, waiting for school to start, waiting for most of my friends to get back in town and going crazy waiting to turn in my mission papers because they are completely finished (except uploading a picture of myself) but I still have to wait like 2 weeks to submit them. Gah. I'm feeling very impatient about it, I really really want to know where I'm going so I have something in my head to picture where I'll be for the next year and a half. Plus it will make it official, which means I can't panic and back out of it. But I'm determined that won't happen because I'm really excited about going. But since I've done everything but submit them time has slowed down considerably. Oh well. Hopefully finishing up my research and buying books and things this week will distract me!

On the bright side, I've halfway packed up my apartment, had an awesome 3 hour conversation with my sis last night (one of those oops-it's-1-in-the-morning-and-I-didn't-notice conversations), I'm running a lot which I'm actually enjoying, my research is almost finished, and it's still summer, which means I'm not working or swamped with homework yet, and I have time to read for fun. Oh and I have internet when I thought I wasn't going to for a week, which was a really great surprise. So I'm trying to enjoy all the extra time I have instead of being bored, because I know as soon as school starts I'll be crazy busy. Ah well, c'est la vie.

Summer goodness

So...it's been forever since I've blogged whoops. Summer does that to me, it's just so refreshing to not be in school. So this might turn into a novel of a post.

I just found this post that I started the day after I got back to the U.S:

I'm back in Provo finally! I know it seems bizarre that I'm happy to be in the U.S. instead of Europe, but I truly am. It feels so good to be home. It's only been a day, but I can already tell that this summer is going to be amazing. Yesterday I:

• met my new roommate
• made an awesome 4th of July cake with Lorraine
• got food, did laundry, unpacked
• went to my ward's bbq
• let off fireworks
• watched Stadium of Fire for free from a hillside in North Provo, with an awesome view
• went swimming

Sounds like the perfect summers day to me.

That week was crazy fun, we did all sorts of things, and I loved the freedom of not being productive with my research every single day. It was great. After a week in Provo, I packed up again and headed back to Oregon for the first time in 6 MONTHS. I couldn't believe it had been that long, but it sure felt like it. I got to see my parents back in March when we went to Guatemala, but I hadn't seen Brigit or Ethan or Buster or Eugene in half a year. It was pretty crazy, they've totally grown into teenagers, and it's sooo weird. They'll both be in middle school next year, I can't believe it, in my head they are the same age as when I left for college, going on 4 years ago. (Oh yeah, I'm starting my senior year. No big deal.)

Being home was awesome. I had missed my family sooo much, and I just love Eugene anyway. It was great. I hung out with them pretty much all the time and got back into shape (which I am super excited about by the way, I'm actually enjoying running. who knew?) I really wish I had taken some pictures, but even though I brought my camera I guess I was just having too much fun. So... cue list of things I did in Oregon:

• Went to my friend Michelle's wedding. We grew up next door to each other, so it was really great that I got to go, I was going to miss it originally. 
• Went running all the time, and got this awesome watch that measures my heart rate and actually motivates me to go running. This is quite a feat. 
• Went swimming, I love our pool. 
• Helped my dad try out his new "big green egg". (that's actually the name). It's basically a cross between a pizza oven, a smoker, and a grill. It was fun to see him all excited about it, and I have to admit, the food was really good.  
• Got a haircut
• oh yeah I have bangs again, which is fun.
• Discovered the joys of shopping at St Vincent's.
• Annica loves it, and it is a lot better than Goodwill or DI for that matter. Plus it's cheap and you can find some pretty great stuff.
• Went to Off the Waffle. mmmm.
• Started my mission papers--halfway done! 
• I'm super excited about this, I almost just want to skip Fall semester, but I know I can't. Oh well, at least I get to turn them in at the end of the month!
• Hung out with Ethan and Annica for half a week while everybody else went on the Trek
• Turned 21! 
•  I actually feel like more of an adult now that it's official, which was kind of strange because birthdays usually don't feel any different to me. Besides as my dad explained: 18 doesn't count anyway, it's just a construct of the Vietnam War, because they didn't think it was fair to be sent to die without being able to vote. 21 has been the official birthday for much longer.
• It's always great seeing your facebook fill up with birthday wishes, and my lovely friend Anna wrote me a this awesome birthday post
• Saw my grandparents. They came out for the weekend, and it was really good to get to talk to them, it's been a while.

Aaand that's all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure I'm forgetting something. But overall July was an awesome month, super fun, and I loved it. Hopefully August will be just as good. I'm back in Provo, which is sort of a bummer, but I know I would have gotten too bored at home if I was there for the rest of summer, and it is good to see my friends again. My friend Erin (from Study Abroad) went into the MTC on Wednesday, which is super exciting for her, but I'm sad she won't be around this fall. Well, I guess that's what letters are for. And who knows, maybe I'll accidentally run into her at Conference (she's serving on Temple Square).

 So. On the agenda for August is: tubing down the Provo river tomorrow, powering through the rest of my research so that it's done, hanging out with friends (me and Anna want to plan an epic road trip and various other exciting things when she gets back next week), and going to Montana in 3 weeks. I'm pretty excited about that, because my family is going too, and we get to see our family friends the Browns who are awesome, and Leif and Monica (my aunt and uncle). Plus it's Montana, which is so beautiful. As much as I like BYU, I still haven't gotten over the ugliness of Utah County. Despite the pretty mountains, everything is just very brown. Anyways, it should be pretty great, and my sister is coming back with me, which means I'll have family around again! (She's living only a block away, so this fall should be fun.) 

Oh! I almost forgot. I've been watching the Olympics too. And they are awesome, as usual. There's something about seeing all those athletes work so hard that is really inspiring. They are amazing. Plus it's just cool to see countries competing against each other in peace and cooperation. Somehow they seem to rise above the politics of it all.