Mmm Hmmm

Kinda cheesy, but I'm all about that.

Search "Michael Buble- Just haven't met you yet" on YouTube.

It's worth it.

Oh Fall, I love you

Leaves are my favorite part of fall. I love stepping on crunchy leaves. In fact, I make it a point to step on as many as I can. Another fun thing is jumping in a HUGE pile of leaves like this:


Today I watched a six year old boy laboriously rake all the leaves in his front yard. At first I thought it was his chore for the day and I admired him for doing it willingly. However, after he finished raking up a big pile, he ran full speed and jumped in! It made my heart happy. :)

Happy Halloween

It's the last Halloween my roommates and I are going to spend together, so we decided to really live it up! We had such a great weekend together!! Take a look at us in all of our glory.

So this is us on Halloween Eve at our ward party. Sesame Street style. Evan is in our ward-he's Furby. Suzanne is Ernie, I'm Burt, and Mary is Big Bird.

So we wanted to change things up for the actual Halloween night, so we decided to be restaurant icons. I'm Colonel Saunders, Suz is Wendy, Mary is Ronald McDonald in a bathrobe, and Lanae is Jared from Subway. We thought we were pretty clever.

Fundraising can be cool

Especially when your loved ones help you out.

This is an official plea: PLEASE buy something from me. My program told me I had to fundraise at least $50 in profit every semester. These things are really great and way cheaper than if you bought them online or in a store. I have toothbrushes and toothpaste available and crest whitestrips. I can't advertise them online, so if you want a list of the merchandise with prices and pictures please leave your e-mail in a comment. Or you can e-mail me at beckerecka@gmail.com

Thanks in advance to all of you buy stuff from me :)

New school, new outlook

I started my Dental Hygiene program at UVU last week. I love it! The other 13 girls in my program are awesome and my classes are bomb. I'm totally in my element.

So I love my program and my classes, but what about the school itself? I wasn't so keen on leaving BYU, but it's actually really nice. The campus is really pretty and the people are really chill. So far I have received 2 free T-shirts and 3 free meals (I actually don't think I was supposed to have that last one. There was like a Business Major fair or something and there was a free BBQ for the students. I just stood in line and they gave me food so I'm happy).

Another thing I love is Institute. It's the best. It's a place for me to forget about school. Unlike BYU, the classes are not ones where you have to take tests and do homework. There are just a bunch of people who actually WANT to be there. They also give me free food sometimes.

So far UVU is great!

Out for Lunch

Many businesses have these:


It's not uncommon. The other day, however, I saw one that made me laugh. There is a new BBQ place in Provo and as I was walking by one day I saw a sign like that. I almost laughed out loud. Why do these people need to go out to lunch? Don't they have food to eat there? And won't their new business struggle if they aren't even open during lunch?

Just thought I'd share this hilarious oxymoron with you all.

Never done packing

I feel like this poor girl:


I HATE packing. So much. There are many times in a college student's life where he/she must pack up his/her whole life only to move down the street. I have packed up my life 4 times in the past 2 years. Today I find myself packing up for the fifth time. Bleh. It's only been 4 months since I did this.

Good thing that I only unpacked less than half of my belongings this time around. It'll be MUCH easier. Now the problem is that I have a gap of 5 days where I am completely homeless. I have to move out of my house the 22nd and I can't move in until the 27th (just for the record--that is after I start school and work). Oh joy. I am not looking forward to it.

Though I absolutely loath packing my things, I love to unpack and get organized. There is something about meticulously putting everything of mine in my own space and have it organized exactly how I want. I quite enjoy it :)

Quote of the week:

"Becky bought a cruise!!!!"

Why yes, yes I did. Courtesy of Caribbean Cruise Line.


Why? I have asked myself that question many times since Monday, the day the deed was done.

To preface this event, I must let you know I was having a HORRIBLE day. I had to wake up before 7 in the morning. Then I rode 3 buses all the way to American Fork to teach some morning classes. The classes were chaotic. Kids are cute, but sometimes they are a handful. Then I rode 3 more buses home. It take over an hour to get there, by the way. When I got home I was tired and cranky. I went to the store and had to endure some really annoying Napolean Dinamite-esque cheesy organ music in the store. It really ticked me off for some reason. I'm not sure why.

Well I got home and checked the mail. To my surprise, I got a letter that said I won a free cruise!! Immediately I thought it was just some stupid things, but I decided to call for some reason. It turns out that the cruise wasn't completely free. It actually cost $597. It also turns out that I bought that cruise. I was feeling excited until I got of the phone. I felt stupid for taking it. I mean, I just took out a loan for school and now I blew 600 dollars on a stupid cruise? Idiotic.

I called Heather and she convinced me that I had been stupid. Thanks, by the way. She told me to call and get my money back; I told her not to tell Mom and Dad. The only thing- the cruise was non-refundable. I had a pit in my stomach and felt like crying for the next 18 hours. What had I done?

My roommates thought it was the funniest thing. They kept saying "Becky bought a cruise" and then laughing hysterically. Needless to say it didn't make me feel any better.

The next day I called anyway and had to listen to 4 different people pressure me into keeping the cruise, but I held strong. I got my money back!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a relief!!!!!

I get knocked down, but I get up again. You're never gonna keep me down!

This summer I have really beat myself up and tonight was no different. We were playing some night games up on campus and I fell face first to the ground. Lovely. Then later we all decided to slide down a wet hill on our stomachs. I was going to do it, but got scared half way down to the ground and awkwardly bent my body to that I had to roll down the hill. I looked like a dream. The bad part-i'm pretty sure I pulled a muscle. Cool. People are going to ask how it happened and I'm going to have to say "I tried sliding down a hill." Plus, I was supposed to go hiking tomorrow. Cross that one off the agenda. And the slip and slide planned for the afternoon? I'm thinking that one goes too.

Some of the other things I have done include, but are not limited to: Falling while hiking and completely destroying my left leg. Going to the lake at night in shorts with no bug spray and getting at least (I kid you not) 50 bug bites on my legs. Tripping over absolutely nothing on level ground. Running into people and falling over due to the force of impact (this mainly happens during sports).

I've always been clutzy--always. Example: I can be standing up not even walking or anything and fall over. I'm used to it by now. However, it's getting out of hand lately. By the time this summer is over I am going to have more scar tissue on my legs than normal skin. What can I do?

Option 1: Refrain from physical activity of any kind.

Option 2: Have someone follow me around so he can catch me if I fall.

Option 3: Do what I normally do and try to tend to my wounds as best as I can.
Ding ding ding we have a winner!

Even though I get really tired of being in pain and being embarrassed to show wear a skirt or shorts in public, it's worth it. This summer I have made some of the best memories ever. I like to view my battle wounds as reminders of all the good times I've had.

Are you sure this water's sanitary?

This past Saturday evening, I got asked on a date by my friend Bret. He is a big fisher, so we went fishing with one other couple up at Silver Lake. It's beautiful up there (Look at my camping post from the 3rd of July). I had never been fishing before, so I was pretty excited! It turns out i'm pretty good! I caught 2 fish within the first 20 minutes and then one more at the end of the trip. More than anyone else there. I was pretty surprised, but it was way cool! We kept the three I caught and I even helped cleaned out the fish. GROSS!!

Look at that! I named him Steve.

Up close and personal.


Me cleaning the fish. It was SO slimy! At least it wasn't wriggling around. I tried to hold a live one and I couldn't hold on to it.


Look at those guts! Bleh.


This is Bret!

It was a really fun date. On Sunday, I went over to Bret's house and we cooked my catch! It was actually pretty good.

Happy Moon Day!

On July 20th it was the 40th anniversary of the US landing on the moon. When we found this out, of course we threw a themed party. Why not?

Cheerio, dahling.

Us girls at the Arch House love to plan fun things to do. Last Sunday was no different. We planned to have a tea party!!! Now maybe it's because we had watched all 6 Harry Potter movies the week before, but we decided that we would only talk in British accents. And of course we had to wear our dresses from church. What is tea time without the proper attire? (Weird...as I'm writing this, i'm thinking in a British accent).

Our party was complete with crumpets and story-telling and even a poem recited by Mary Vance herself. We felt oh so proper during the occasion. It was funny to hear Mary talk because her accent changed every five seconds or so. After tea time we watched Persuasion. Only Suzanne was persuaded to stay awake though (Dad, that joke was for you. You would say something like that). We had a jolly good time together.


Jen

Tayla

This is my home teacher, John. He happened to come visit as we were preparing for the party and he stayed.

Yours truly

Suzanne

Monica

Mary

Finally! A good ratio.

Last weekend some friends and I had a hankerin' to go on a hike. So of course we did. Now, at BYU you hear a lot of talk about ratio. What ratio, you may ask? The ratio of boys to girls. Usually it is the boys saying "now this is a pretty good ratio" BUT on this specific occasion....there was one more guy than girl. Glorious!! Anyway back to the hike...a friend of ours is from Orem, so he knows the area pretty well and he found us a beautiful place to go hiking. The hike itself was really easy and only took 20 minutes, but it was fantastic! At the top of the hike there was this:


I have seen waterfalls before, but not up close like this. The sound of the water hitting the rocks below was so calming. I loved it!! Two of the guys decided to run under the falls:

As you can see, it wasn't a very big waterfall so Suzanne and I decided to be daring. We took off our shoes and took the plunge (I made Suz go first).
I was terrified for a few minutes beforehand.

Apparently the color of the day was red. Suz and I matched like always and this time Bret joined the club.

The feeling of water rushing over me was SO cool! The only downside is that the water made my shorts heavy and they are already a little big as it is so I had to hold them up the whole way down the mountain. It was such a fun trip to take. If anybody has the chance to run under a waterfall, I'd recommend it. Here's the whole Group:

Mosquitos bite.

Last night my roommates and some guys from the ward went to the lake to have a bonfire. It was way fun, but there were TONS of bugs and mosquitoes. I am feeling the effects of wearing shorts. My legs are so covered in bites that it looks like I have chicken pox....what a delight.

Expelliarmus!

I love love love Harry Potter. So of course, when I heard that the sixth movie was coming out, of course I cleared my schedule of unimportant things like sleeping. Midnight showings are the best! There are so many crazy people to see and everybody is just so excited. My roommates and I went to the theater three hours early to partake in this excitement (and get good seats). We were really hyper and probably really obnoxious to those people on either side of us, but oh well. We had fun taking pictures and playing Phase 10.

The roommates plus Jen.


Again


Mary can be so beautiful sometimes. :)

These next two pictures are reasons why Suz and I get asked out on so many dates.....maybe not.


Haha every time I look at these I can't help but laugh. My roommates are the greatest and we've had so many good times together. I'm going to be sad when I have to move in a month. At least I'll have Mary and Suz with me still!

ps- the movie was great! I laughed almost the whole time. It helped that I was loopy from lack of sleep though :)

Meet Aspen Carter

She is 7 years old, is very shy, is really hard to get a hold of, and LOVES to swim. I mentor her. This mean I hang out with her each week and we do fun stuff together, kind of like a big sister thing. The pictures above are of when we made chicken nuggets for dinner.

Videos

I finally learned how to put my videos on here, so here you go. These are pretty fun.



This is from our hike to Silver Lake. It's beautiful!


The Jonas Brothers!




These girls were so funny. They were dancing the whole night!


Nick Jonas--what a stud. He is by far the most talented Jonas Brother (plays the piano, guitar, drums, and sings) and, in my opinion, is the most attractive. He's the one playing the piano in this video.

Dad, you should be proud.

Let it be known that I have successfully cooked a roast in the crockpot just like dad. I even made gravy. I know it's not that hard, but I felt good about myself. It was pretty tasty too.

Camping--A lesson in patience

So a few weekends ago, my roommates and I decided to rough it out in the woods all by ourselves. We booked a camp site in advance and then set out on our way. We had clear instructions on how to get there (it was only in Springville) and allotted ourselves about 30 minutes to get there. Little did we know that it would take almost TWO HOURS to get there. The reason? Construction....bleh. I hate it. We ran into it at every turn it seemed like. We had to take at least 3 detours. So annoying. At least we got to know the neighborhoods of Springville. We saw a house that looked like Rigoletto lived there, so that was cool (Funny side story: We went to a bridal shower this past weekend and it was in the house next door to the Rigoletto house). We finally stopped some ladies walking down the road to ask them for help.

So we found the campground, but we didn't know which space was ours, so we had to ask the lady in charge. Here is a video documenting our frustration (this is the end of the almost 2 hours).

I love how the video ends with Jen's thumbs up. That means we found it!!! So as you can see, we weren't in the best shape after so many frustrations. I couldn't stop laughing! I think I was laughing so I wouldn't cry. I really can't remember though. Anyway, we got there and had a smashing good time!
The fire that Jen and I tried to build. We couldn't get it started so we had to ask a man across the way to help us. He told us it should only take one match to light a fire. We had used about 20... He started ours with just the leftover coals of our failed attempt. How embarrassing.

Suz documenting our trip. Isn't she a dream?

Everyone minus me.

Me and Mary.

Jen in our tiny tent. It's a 2 man tent, but we definitely squished all five of us in there.

Haha I love this picture.

Don't we look great when we first wake up?

Next time we try an outing like this, we will know A) how to get there and B) how to start the fire.

Stadium of FIRE!!!!

So on the Fourth I helped set up chairs for the Stadium of FIRE. Then that night I got to go to the show! It was one of the most exciting things I have done in a long time. One of the things I was most excited about was this obnoxious yellow and orange shirt. I had to wear it that night to get in, and as I walked to the Stadium people were asking me questions as if I knew all the ins and outs of the production. It was kinda cool.

So because I was a volunteer, I got to sit right on the field with the other volunteers and military families. It was cool because the dancers were right there in our faces. I almost got hit a few times with those poles they are holding.


These kids were SO cute. I especially love the little boy.


This flag was ENORMOUS! It was like a hundred feet long or something. At the end of the night they respectfully retired it by fire. (As you can see, it's kind of old)

SHeDaisy! They were really fun live. I love their music.

And without further ado........ The Jonas Brothers!!!!!!!
The stage was way cool.

All three singing together. I took tons of video clips, but my computer wont let me put them on. Too bad. Heather, I think Taylor and maybe Emily would like the pictures of the Jonas Brothers. You should show them.

Anyway. It was a totally fun night! I think I'm going to volunteer again next year. I kinda like the idea of free T-shirts and tickets.