Apparently two weeks have gone by since I have posted so excuse the very long post that is about to take place. Life happens. Campus has been decorated for Christmas. It is beautiful with the lights on the trees, numerous trees in each building, and the Christmas music filling the air. I love the spirit on campus. It is even better that it has been an unusually warm season so far. Also right now I have a severe case of wanderlust. I want to travel and go on adventures. I want to ride a horse and let it run as fast as it can, go snowboarding down a slope until I fall and make a giant snowball of myself as I roll down the rest of the mountain, and learn how to surf. I guess my vacation came at a good time.
Last Wednesday, we had the Cougartail Event. The Food Drive killed me. We were not really ready for any of the events. This one went fairly smoothly. We have the record for the world's longest donut. Our cougartail was over a quarter of a mile long. After six hours of me passing out pieces of it I smelled like a maple donut, and we still had half of it to go. They got rid of most of it and gave the rest to the MTC. Ew. It is going to take me a little bit to get over my hatred of maple donuts.
Last Thursday, my roommates and I went to go see Catching Fire. Freshman year we went to the midnight premier of Hunger Games, and we wanted to carry on the tradition two years later. We were missing a couple, but we still had a blast. I got all dressed up for it which was the first time since... for a while. Let me just say that it was the best movie I have seen all year. I absolutely loved it. We somehow got to see it earlier (how do you see a movie before it actually comes out?), so I was all hyped up and was doing dishes at two in the morning and then packed until three. I had four people tell me I reminded them of Effie. I was so happy. To be as cool as Effie with the outrageous outfits, beautiful/crazy makeup, and fabulous hair and so full of confidence and fun remarks... Life complete. I couldn't ask for more.
One week ago from today I made the trek to Arizona. It wasn't a bad drive aside from the snow, black ice, fog, and pouring rain. The night I got there I got Mexican food. Tamales... So good. I loved getting to relax and have fun with Ami and her family. Her kids are the cutest. Monday I woke up sick, and I was sick ALL day. Like throwing up or laying in bed curled up in a ball sick. Who gets sick on vacation? This kid. I still wasn't feeling great the next day, but I was much better. Good thing because we went to California!!! I have never been, so they took me. We visited San Diego. I will admit, I got carsick. I was so nauseous by the end. When I got out of the car I was so excited to be on stable ground that I sat down and stayed there for a while. After dropping off all of the kids except Olivia at their grandma's, we headed off to the beach. We went to La Jolla. There are seals! I loved it. I almost immediately took off my shoes, rolled up my jeans, and went for the water. I live to be near the water. We watched the sun set, went in a cave, walked on a pier, and I was loving life in the cool, salty ocean air. My hair picked up the beach curl, and I wished I could have stayed there forever. We went to see boats and the Top Gun bar before heading back where Tutu had made a wonderful dinner. We headed back the next morning, but it was completely worth it! I will be heading there again someday. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Then all of the sudden it was Thanksgiving. How did it come so fast? After laughing at Ami gagging when cleaning out the turkey and playing with the kids it was time to eat! Awesome dinner complete with cranberry sauce? Check. Friday I had cheesecake for breakfast! I was on vacation. Don't judge me. That night we got to go to the Mesa Temple to see the lights. Even with all of the people it was beautiful, and I felt at peace with everything going on (more about that later). Today I headed back to Provo. Not a snowflake in sight. Not even a cloud! I appreciate it, but what the heck?! I wanted to go through the Las Vegas strip since I had never been there before either. I got so lost in the ghettos of Vegas. Half an hour later after a little panic from being lost and lack of cell phone signal to help me out of my rut I finally got back on track. Even with that little adventure I got back to Provo and went grocery shopping in under ten hours. Seeing the Y on the mountain is like a warm welcome home hug. Now I have just over two weeks before I get a real welcome home hug from my family! This semester is almost over.
When I said I felt at peace at the temple I really meant it. This trip was supposed to reiterate why I don't want to get married for a while. Funny thing though. This trip did the complete opposite, and I loved it. I was going to Arizona for a reason I did not intend on initially. Now that I am back I no longer care that I went with hope still deep inside me, I had been hurt once again, or that I had convinced myself that I never wanted to get married. Too bad I fell in love with the family scene not long after stepping foot in the door. The slobbery kisses, oatmeal smears on my jeans, diapers, baby reaching just for me, dance party (meaning me and the baby bobbing our heads to good music), watching a movie with cuddly kids, a scrunched up nose, the grin of a happy girl, waking up with pieces of candy in my hair, kids jumping on my very full stomach, and the baby wanting to be held by me rather than her mom and dad made me realize how much fun having a family of my own will be for me one day. One day a boy not quite as dumb as the rest will come and sweep me off my feet, and I will let him because I will love him beyond compare. Until that day I will just have fun with other people's kids.
