LETTERLETTERLETTERLETTERLETTER!!

All of my roommates and I have either friends or relatives in the MTC right now. Those boys are hard workers!! Whenever we get letters, it's a reason to celebrate. We love hearing about how much they have grown spiritually. It's funny to think that those missionaries we sang about so much in primary are our age now! 19 years young, and with the strength of the Lord.
Today, I got a letter from my cousin Darren, who is going to serve in the Mexico city east mission. It was so exciting to hear from him!!! He's amazing.
♥ ya Darren :)
Also, this whole month, at least 10 boys from our ward have gotten their mission calls. Ukraine, Russia, Colombia, California, Washington, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, these boys are going all over the world! I love this gospel, and I am so grateful for all the hard working sisters and elders who spread it across the globe. Letters from missionaries? The best ever.

A Trip to India: Kristen's Birthday Bash!

Event: Kristen's birthday
What: Indian food! and a Bollywood (India's Hollywood) movie!
We had a blast decorating and planning for Kristen's birthday. Laryssa and I woke up extra early to decorate our kitchen with streamers, balloons, etc. She loved it!! That day was pretty busy for us all but at the end of the day we made a huge Indian food feast complete with naan and some sauce I can't remember the name of and chicken and rice and juice! Some of our other friends came over to help celebrate and we had a marvelous chocolate cake after dinner. Fabulous party? Done and done.

Dance Time.

Aaaaand another weekend dance rolls around. Are the Penrose 89 girls going?? OF COURSE!! Theme: stoplight. (green if you're single, yellow if it's complicated, and red if you're taken). We decided to play it safe and all wear white v necks with skinny jeans and various accessories. I wore yellow hoops cause it's complicated. Heehee! Annie curled my hair - it was super intense. The curliest it has ever been. We all walked over to the dance (in the Wilk center) with some other Penrose girls and some Felt hall boys. I had an amaaaaazing time, I always have a blast at dancing! And at the end of the night, the new cute guy in our ward asked me for my number! SCORE.

Hectic Housing Happening

So. January rolls around. And it's time to look for housing. For NEXT FALL. Why? The best housing gets taken fast. And us girls don't want no run-down-yes-we're-definitely-freshman-because-we-waited-last-minute-to-get-housing type of apartment. A few days of exploring the off-campus housing, talking to people about what they like/disklike, taking tons of pics to document our findings, going to the housing fair, talking with the landlords, ETC, we finally decided on The Elms. Their women's apartments are totally renovated and it's close to campus.
Early January, we 6 girls marched over the housing fair, armed with pens and money, filled out the contract, and we are good to go for a new apartment this fall! We figured we might as well stick together since we are, after all, best friends. Hectic housing happening adventure? Done and done.

FuNkY cReAtiOnS

My roommates and I like to make things like hot cool aid and stacked cakes when we're bored :) Dessert anyone?

the 7:45 am walk

I have Spanish every morning now at 8 am every morning. This means I must wake up at 6:45 if I want to leave by 7:45 every single morningto be on time. I have learned to appreciate these early morning walks, however early it may be because...

Here, everything sparkles.

Students crawl out of their dorms like sleepy bats from a cave, blinking wildly at the stark white world. The ground looks like diamonds. Everyone has to adjust to the light quickly though; you have be careful where you step. We have to take dainty steps here. One wrong move and the ice-covered concrete pulls you down. The snow plows have not yet shown their massive shovels. I look around. Students line the sidewalk in solemn marches. Heads down, hands in pockets, people are shuffling (carefully) along into campus, the hub of activity. Every breath results in a blow of steam, so faces look almost hidden in smoke.

Here, everything is white, except for those pink mountains. The sunlight at dawn and at dusk sweeps their faces and paints their snowy faces pastel. Pink like my ears. Pink like my nose. Pink like my cheeks. Covered in early fog like the faces of students trudging below them, like little ants.

Here, everything is beautiful.