sometimes i just want a jacket, ok?

note: the majority of you won't understand half of this post. that's ok. I still need to get it out there.

there's this thing that happens at BYU
everyone gets engaged.
earlier this week I heard of eight separate engagements. in a single day. I know three of those people. oh. my. goodness.
and if they aren't engaged, then they make a cute couple or are best friends and it's just gosh darn adorable.

most of the time, it's just like "good for them"
I don't have time for any of that anyway.

but sometimes, I just want a jacket, too.
so then I go into this sappy-country-love-songs mood. for like a week.
and I watch chick-flicks with my roommate. like Letters to Juliet, Anastasia, and Ever After.
which are all fabulous movies by the way.

but then that week is over and I'm back to trying to juggle sleep, school, and a social life. and all I really want is homemade bread, a nap, and another hour in the day to finish everything I need to.

which was when I saw this advertisement for a freshman activity:

seriously. they are freshmen. those boys should be getting ready for missions and those girls... well I guess if the girls really do want to get married during their freshman year that's up to them. the point is that freshmen do not need this activity; the off-campus singles wards should go crash this event. could be helpful for some people.

anyway. twitterpation season has come. again. yikes.

song of the day: lee brice

*I am switching song of the day to Tuesday and fun facts to Thursday. Just makes more sense.


I am on this country music kick and I absolutely love discovering new music. Tonight's discoveries have all been on one of my now-favorite artists: Lee Brice.

"Woman Like You"

"Beautiful You"

"Love Like Crazy"

Today was fabulous. Brooke and I both were having kind of a weird day, so we decided to just go do something mindless.
So we went to Deseret Book. I love that store so much.
And we came back to my apartment for grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner. Delicious. And to look at strange engagement pictures.
Back to her family's house for a bit, then we went to say goodbye to Elder (Kyle) Riches.
Kyle was basically the only person I knew in my freshman ward before actually coming to school. We were in the same EFY group two years ago! It was great to see him before he heads off to Chile! Seriously though, he is going to be one incredible missionary.

since Kyle had already been set apart as an Elder, no hugs for us. hand shakes are welcome though. hence the amazing thumbs up picture.

This is such an amazing time of life. I am loving seeing all of these awesome guys go off on their missions. And they are so excited to serve!! I love the joy this gospel brings to my life and others, and I am excited to share it with others.
PS If you ever need an FHE or Sunday activity, I have plenty of missionaries who would love a note :)


Remember to smile!

season of farewells

One of the best parts about being in Provo during summer is how many farewells I am able to attend. The guys I met in my freshman ward, in my classes, and just randomly on campus are some of the most incredible people I know. And to see them get ready to go and serve a mission is just amazing. I am so excited for each and every one of them! They are going to change people's lives as much as they have changed mine.

Nick is heading to Chile Santiago North. His parents just returned from being mission presidents, so they gave a homecoming talk, and Nick gave his farewell. It was an awesome meeting! There was a beautiful musical number of "Consider the Lilies" (one of my favorite songs) with piano, cello, and viola. Absolutely gorgeous.
One thing all three of these speakers brought up was "la estándar de excelencia," or standard of excellence. Each companionship was expected to attain certain levels of excellence each week, such as bringing at least five investigators to church each week. Hearing the three speakers bring this up continually made me wonder. Am I living up to my own standard of excellence? What is my standard of excellence?

Mike is going to Chile Viña del Mar. He gave an excellent talk about faith. One of the great things about this church is that no matter how many times you learn about a certain topic, there is always more to discover. One quote shared during the meeting really stuck out to me: "All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen." Ralph Waldo Emerson We live in a beautiful world that Heavenly Father created just for us. Seeing the mountains every time I walk out the door is just a simple reminder to me that my Heavenly Father is watching over me.
After the farewell, we went over to Mike's house to talk and enjoy some food. I love the friends I made during freshman year. I always have such a great time just talking with them, and I am so blessed to know them all.

Angela, Mike, Jeff, Mike (who gave the farewell), Brooke, Alec, Skyler, and me

I know this Church is true. I know my Savior loves me. I know the Book of Mormon is true and brings power into your life when you read it diligently. I know our Heavenly Father wants to bless us and does when we do what He asks of us. I once heard the phrase "If the Church wasn't true, a bunch of 19-year-old boys would have ruined it a long time ago." I know that the missionary program our Church has is inspired, and I know these amazing guys are going to become even better because of their experiences. I am so excited for each and every one of them, and I hope that I am able to share my love for this gospel with others.

Going into this week, think of one thing you can do better and DO IT. Set your own standard of excellence and hold yourself to it. I will be doing the same.

I love this song. "Come See the Light" sung by Freddie Ashby. The video and music put together is so powerful. I absolutely love it, and I'm sure you will as well.

Have a fantastic week everyone!

google and goodbyes

I finally broke down and got on to the Google bandwagon. And I love it. Google Plus, Calendar, Gmail, Docs, everything. Google is brilliant.

Brooke (who is here for summer!!) convinced me to sign up when I saw her awesome pictures on her latest blog post which she edited with Google Plus.
So I imported some pictures I needed to blog about and played around with the editing tools on Google.
Lots of fun, and I think they look pretty cool :)

Being in Provo for the summer means I get to see a lot of the guys before the go into the MTC, and I get to attend a lot of farewells. And I get to talk to/hang out with friends I didn't always get to spend time with back in freshman year... but more on that later.

Last Sunday, Brooke, Kaley, and I drove up to Sandy for our friend, Jordan's, farewell. He is off to Edmonton Canada in a week or so. He did a fabulous job on his talk, and it was so good to see him!

Some fun notes about Jordan's farewell:

• his bishop is John Bytheway. that was pretty cool.
• his dad was my Personal Finance professor. and Jordan has some of his mannerisms which is quite entertaining. I was also sitting right in front of Bro. Marsh during the farewell...
• our other friend, Mike, came down from SLC! Another great guy who's farewell is next week.
• the best surprise was Lindee and Amy!! They drove all the way down from Idaho Falls for the farewell to surprise Jordan. It was so much fun to see them and got me so excited for fall when I can see all of the girls from freshman year again! 

My great friend from Oregon, Ethan stopped by to talk and eat some Tillamook ice cream with me and our friend, Nick, (and his brother Thomas who happened to be mission companions with my cousin) before he headed off for the MTC. It was so good to see him, even if I only got a handshake. The people of Nicaragua are lucky to have him!

Temple trips last semester and intense game nights during spring term with Derrick. It was great to see him before he headed back home. Plus I got a free meal at the Cannon which I am beginning to miss quite a bit. I am so excited for him to get his mission call soon!!

From FHE activities in fall, to eating at the Cannon, and basically being the best home teacher ever, Andy Pyper everyone. He came to town, so Brooke and I went to lunch with him and just talked for a few hours. And he's going to my mom's mission - Montevideo Uruguay! It was so much fun to just catch up and reminisce on freshman year.

All of these guys are going to be such incredible missionaries. I am so glad I was able to get to know them the past few months. I can't wait to hear about the great things they do over the next two years!! 

Good luck Elders!

And while the boys are gone, I get to hang out with these lovely ladies (and all the other Stover Sisters) in just two months!!! I cannot wait for fall semester when we can all reunite :)

Impromptu Date Night

Around 10:30 last night, my friend Skyler called.
Did you know science has shown that taking breaks from studies will actually make your studying more effective?

At least, that's what he told me.

And so came the impromptu double date.

Mitch invited Morgan, Skyler invited me.

We went to Sammy's, a hole-in-the-wall diner in downtown Provo.
Tuesday is two-for-one shakes.
The place is famous for their pie shakes.
Mint oreo pie shakes are actually quite delicious.
And they do have pie crust chunks in them.
We had a blast! It was a fantastic break from studying.
And we got to meet Cat, one of the employees. An interesting person, to say the least.
Back to the dorms, back to studying.
Breaks sure are fun when they last.
Particularly when ice cream is involved.

Chivalry and Laundry

Found this draft post from the 1st of February. Enjoy.

Those who know me would know that I am a sucker for a wonderful chick flick, particularly one involving some fantasy. Namely, the chivalrous gentleman who saves the damsel in distress. 

Which is partly why I love BYU so much. Most of the guys here are raised with the expectation of chivalry and respect with us women.

I probably don't show my appreciation for it as much, but I really do love when guys hold a door open for me. Today I was lucky and got to experience a little bit more.

After breakfast, I offered a ride up to campus to some of the guys I was eating with. One of them (who shall remain nameless) decided to come with me. Walking from the Cannon to Stover, he opened every door. He attempted to open the car door for me, but because it's a manual lock had to wait for me to unlock it. The snow from the night before had created a lovely layer of ice on all the windows. So he offered to scrape the snow and ice off. Another entertaining moment as he, being from the south, had never scraped ice off a car before. 

I really appreciated it. So thanks to my nameless friend. And to all the other BYU boys - learn from this. Girls really do love a little chivalry every now and then.

There's my musings on chivalry. I could go on longer, but I'll restrain myself.

On the other hand, the remainder of my Monday was spent with my laundry. I don't terribly mind doing laundry, actually. It gives me a little while to just listen to music, think through everything going on in life, and even practice piano while my clothes wash.

The thing I need to remember, however, is that I should never put my laundry off. Then it takes far longer than laundry ever should for a single person. Which is what happened today as you can probably tell from the photo below.

me. exhausted after a day of laundry and class.

Still. It would be nice to have a knight in shining armor to do my laundry.

Also. Do enjoy this song. I think it's appropriate given the theme of this post. Plus it is possibly one of new, favorite country songs.

Chris Young - "You"

Reality, Missionaries, and the Book of Mormon

Yesterday was a wonderful day off.

Today was a not-so-gentle return to reality.

8:00 am American Government and Politics.
I actually really enjoy this class. The professor is humorous, engaging, and loud enough that I don't start to fall asleep during lectures. I feel like I am getting to know a little bit more about the government structure and how politics work, which is probably a good thing considering I do need to register to vote this year. yikes. I even found a guy in my ward who's in the class. So I have a great professor, a friend to sit with, and an enjoyable subject which all motivate me to go to attend class.

It's just so early in the morning.

When I headed back to the dorms for nap time, I woke up Angela so she could get ready for her noon class, and I promptly laid back down to sleep for ten more minutes. I then proceeded to sleep through not just one, but three alarms, the devotional, and also spanish class.
Apparently this lack of sleep the past few nights finally caught up with me. It felt wonderful, but I feel bad about missing class. I really need to institute a good sleeping schedule. With all these guys leaving for missions, maybe I should draw some inspiration from them and start going to bed at 10:30.

And I still haven't watched devotional. Angela and I will be watching it tomorrow night. I heard it was fantastic and I'm excited to listen to it!

So besides sleeping, here are some other, slightly more productive, things I did and thought about today:

Personal Finance blows my mind every week. I can't wait until we get into the units that I can actually start applying right now (talking about a 401(k) currently doesn't have much application in my current unemployed stage of life).

I decided to switch geography classes. I was exhausted from government and staying awake through the class with a less-than-entertaining professor. So now geography is on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 11. I'm excited for the switch. Plus it just might help get me out of bed those days instead of sleeping past ten in the morning for spanish at one.

My friend Brandon came to visit today. He will be entering the MTC at 12:40 pm tomorrow to begin his mission. It was great to see him one more time before he heads out.
It's crazy to see all these guys (who, by the way, are my age) who are just amazing people choose to serve the Lord for two years. I don't know why, but for me, it is one of the most incredible parts of this Church. I love this quote, though I don't know who said it: "If the Church wasn't true, nineteen-year-old boys would have ruined it a long time ago."

I could talk about this for forever. 

I am grateful to be here at BYU surrounded by such incredible young men. 

Thank you boys for your examples and willingness to serve. 

So you know, it's now past midnight here. Which means it is theoretically Wednesday January 18th here in Provo, Utah. Today is the day my friends Logan, Brandon, and James all head to the MTC. Good luck you guys. You will be amazing missionaries!

I also cleaned off my desktop today. Here are some picture quotes for you to enjoy and to also break up the text of this rather long post (sorry about that).

The other great thing about today (well, yesterday...) was a Book of Mormon reading party!! Yes it is as thrilling as it sounds. Hattie, Harrison, Hannah and I all need to finish up our reading of the second half of the Book of Mormon that is due tomorrow at 11:55 pm. We probably weren't as productive as we could have been in other circumstances, but it was definitely entertaining.
And a little more motivating to know there were other people reading with you so you can't actually fall asleep while reading your scriptures...

I admit. I am a Mormon nerd. Apparently it's quite visible if you watch me read the Book of Mormon. I can't help it though.

Captain Moroni is my hero. 

I love all these lessons from the war chapters. 

I literally cheer when I read about the stripling warriors.

I am thoroughly entertained by some of the wording and will laugh out loud. 

I get incredibly frustrated when the Nephites start right back into the pride cycle. 

But more importantly, I love all the incredible teachings within the book: faith, repentance, humility, the importance of prayer and fasting, showing charity towards each other, and, of course, the mission and love of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I just absolutely love the Book of Mormon, and not just the stories, but the lessons it teaches.
I know this book is true without a doubt in my mind. And I have loved every minute I have spent reading the entire second half over the past few weeks. This book is one of the greatest blessings in my life. I cannot wait until my Book of Mormon professor comes back from China and I can go back to class next Monday!

Sorry this is kind of long and word-heavy. I just need to start taking my camera everywhere with me around campus. Honestly, I wish I had had it this morning for the sunrise (one of the perks of an early class).
As a side note, Angela and I were literally just talking about this, so the camera is now in my backpack. Readily accessible at any point tomorrow.


If you care to know, I am currently listening to the soundtrack for Pride and Prejudice. Such amazing music from a pretty awesome movie. One of my favorites in fact.

Good night. Sleep tight.
Remember to smile!

Thursday Recap

I am convinced. Tuesday and Thursday are going to be the roughest days of the week. It's a good thing I absolutely love these classes and subjects or I would be completely unmotivated to wake up in the mornings. And it helps that I have a friend in both early-morning classes.

Note to self: be in bed before 11 on Monday and Wednesday nights.

Here's essentially how my day went (and how most of my Thursdays will look):

• up and out of bed at 6:40 am. which is way too early considering the time I went to bed last name which will remain untold.
• breakfast and driving up to campus with Hattie
• grab my free copy of the New York Times from a nearby building for my government class (apparently they're all gone by 9 am)
• government and politics from 8:00 to 9:15 am. way too early to be discussing politics, but the professor is awesome and it actually helps wake me up
• geography from 9:30 to 10:45 am. I have my friends Francis and Sydney to keep me awake during class, but it's around that time I begin to doze off
• so after class I headed back down to the dorms for a nap. 
• then worked on homework and ate lunch
• and went to spanish at 1:00 where I seriously am having problems staying alert on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
• back for another short nap, work on some homework, and talk with my friends before...
• Personal Finance from 3:30 to 4:45. Why did I take all these 75 minute classes? but this class seriously blows my mind every time I go. Just all the cool things you learn about investments, 401(k), saving money, etc. 
• dinner with girls in the hall
• then back for TWO full hours of Book of Mormon reading before
• ward prayer!!

So that was basically my schedule for the day. But what happened in between all that?

I watched the sunrise. And it made waking up early completely worth every minute of lost sleep. Snow capped mountains with tints of orange and pink on them... it doesn't get much better than that.

I got a package. A surprise package from my mom and sister for my birthday! They made the cutest Shutterfly book for me about my life this past year. I love it so much! So many fun memories of 2011 (which will be in a soon-to-be posted post).

I discovered this little blog via my friend Hailey. It is wonderful. I couldn't help but think of my own dad and just how incredible he is! I am so lucky to have him. My future husband's got a lot to live up to.

I played a little game I like to call "epic mancala." Essentially it's a euphemism I like to use to make refilling my weekly med container seem a little less like a mundane chore. 

My mom's old college friend emailed me today to ask if I would speak to her ward's young women in about a month. I feel so honored and blessed to be given the privilege to not only share my story and testimony, but perhaps even help a few struggling youth along the way.

I am getting a little better at reaching outside my comfort zone to talk to people. I made some new friends at ward prayer today with two of the guys who just moved into our ward. Ben is actually in my government class (yes that early-morning one), and Derrick (Derek?) will be coming to the temple with our group tomorrow. Got to love meeting new people here, especially those Mormon boys.

I love the fact that the temple is a two minute drive away. And that I can go every week to do baptisms without having to wait for a scheduled youth trip. It is probably one of the greatest blessings of being here at BYU.

It was confirmed to me (yet again) tonight that I am in the greatest ward I could have possibly ended up in here at school. We're all best friends, and we aren't afraid to be ourselves with each other. After ward prayer, most of us ended up hanging out in the lobby for a few hours and had a sing-a-long! Where else does anything like that happen? 

All in all it's been a great day. Well, I guess it's now Friday morning. I should probably go to bed. Thank goodness for class not being until 1:00 on Friday afternoon... I love college.

Life is good.

Just FYI - this makes two days in a row that I've posted! wow. now if that can just carry on....

The Most Incredible Weeks

WARNING: long post ahead. I've been meaning to blog about this for a while, but now you just get my two amazing weeks instead of one.
Just so you know I have only 39 days until I go home. Which means there are only 43 days until Christmas. And there are only 10 days left before Thanksgiving break. And I really need a break.
These past two weeks have probably been the most crazy, random, social, exciting, busy weeks of my experience here at BYU so far. Seriously.
Saturday night (October 29) I went to my aunt and uncle's house in Sandy to spend the night, go to church with them, and be with some family. Plus I got to shower in an actual shower and sleep in a bed that I could flop onto without having to climb up five feet. That was wonderful. And then I got to go to a family ward and it was wonderful to hear little babies and small children throughout the meeting. I do love my ward, it's just pretty silent during sacrament meeting. So that was fun!
Sunday night was a Hyde family Halloween event - all the kids came dressed up, we bobbed for apples, ate donuts off strings, decorated cookies, ate pumpkin bars, and "practiced" trick-or-treating. I loved spending time with family, though it was a little strange to not have my immediate family with me there... it'll take some getting used to.

My baby cousin Jackson!! Isn't he adorable?!

And my other awesome cousins in their Halloween costumes :) 

Monday was Halloween. Probably my least favorite holiday ever. But no worries - I ended up in the ER. Woke up that morning feeling sick, got sick (puked, threw up, whichever term you prefer) multiple times. I finally decided I was dehydrated - I could feel the delirium setting in and I couldn't force myself to drink anything. So I called my friend to come give me a blessing (can I just say that I love having Priesthood holders I can call pretty much anytime to have them come give me a blessing? it's seriously the best thing ever). My mom called my aunt to come pick me up, and off to the ER I went where I proceeded to spend my day watching Nickelodeon Halloween episodes and trying to sleep. See, my IV was being positional so I had to hold the tube in place with one hand and obviously couldn't move the other, making my book absolutely useless and when I fell asleep, I'd let go of the tube and the IV wouldn't work. Fun times.
I'd just like to point out that I survived TWO WHOLE MONTHS before having an ER visit. Just saying that's pretty impressive for me.
Anyways, it took six tries to get an IV started (actually pretty good for the first time at a hospital) and my aunt left to go to my cousin's Halloween party at school so I just laid there for about six hours getting fluids. Not too bad considering I usually have to stay overnight. Some of the people from my FHE group came to pick me up. Seriously MADE MY DAY to see their faces coming into the room when they got there! And I went to the Cannon Center and had some soup. And lemonade. And water. And more lemonade. Staying hydrated is very important. And then that night I stayed up late to snag my classes at midnight! Got everything I wanted and I am SO excited for next semester!
Tuesday was HAPPY NOVEMBER 1ST which means I can start playing Christmas music and no one is allowed to get mad at me! hehe I really do love my Christmas songs though.
I love BYU Devotionals. And so far in my two and a half months at BYU, I've heard from three Apostles and.... yep. President Monson!! He came to speak to us that Tuesday! I was soooo glad they didn't keep me overnight at the ER. President Monson spoke about the importance of being an example to those around us. I was kind of entertained by the fact that he quoted Mufasa in his talk. It was AWESOME!
I didn't go to classes that day - kind of just stayed home, slept, and worked on homework. Then one of my friends in the ward wanted to watch a movie for his birthday. So a bunch of us went up to the JKB and watched one of the greatest movies ever made: The Lion King. 
Seriously, only at BYU will a bunch of college kids get super excited about watching that movie. And then proceed to sing along to every single song. And get really excited at the part that the prophet quoted that morning. Yep that's BYU for you.
The next day involved a lot of homework, a lot of sleep, and a lot of late-night piano playing with friends in the ward :)
Thursday was probably one of the craziest days of my life. I had to go make up a psychology exam that I missed on Friday, finished around 5. Ran out the door to pick up my awesome cousins Christopher and Clark to come eat at the Cannon with me. It's an all-you-can-eat buffet and they're teenage boys starting into basketball season. Needless to say, they enjoyed it. Then ran back to Stover to watch my friend Newel open his mission call (which is one of the greatest parts about being a freshman at BYU) - Olangapo Philippines Tagalog speaking! After congratulating him and saying hi to some friends, went to pick up a friend in my leadership class and then dropped my cousins off at their home before heading to Target. Where we purchased the items for our leadership project the day and looked at Christmas lights (YAY!!! Christmas!!!!).
When I finally got back from Target and dropping him off, some friends from my FHE group and the ward came out so we could go run to visit my friend Andy who had had elbow surgery that day. He was a little out of it, but it was good to see him and make sure he was feeling all right. On the way back, we passed a Little Caesars, and our craving for some food besides the Cannon led us all to go to In-N-Out Burger. Good times! On the way out one of the guys asked about the disabled sticker (always a fun story to tell and even more fun to watch people's reactions). When we did finally get back a bunch of us hung out in the lobby, playing pool and messing around on the piano.
Friday (insert song here) was another crazy day. Went to the Provo Temple early that morning (I really love the fact that I don't have to wait for a scheduled temple trip to go) and took a nap. Then picked up my leadership group for our project.
And I'll end there for now...this is turning out to be way too long for one post.