Letters

I was writing a letter to my missionary friend Preston today and I realized how easy is for me to write about my day and my life in his letter, and yet I hate writing about my life in my journal! Then I thought about blogging, and how easy and often I get on here and blog, and yet the last time I really wrote in my journal was the beginning of February. I learned what my problem is. I need to have people read what I write. When I'm writing a letter, I know that my friend is going to open it and read it. When I write in my blog, I hope that people will read and comment on what I have to say. But when I write in my journal, I lock it up in this book that nobody ever reads. Thats like really lame. And yet... there are so many things that I can't blog about, that I don't want to write in a letter to a missionary, and that I really need to get out. Thats when my journal comes in handy! When I have secrets to share with myself, I write them in my journal... (and by that I mean I write about the boy(s) I like!)

Anyway, that was a random intro to this blog post, like I don't even know where that came from! (and I almost deleted the word like from that sentence, but I thought my dad would appreciate it there! NOT!!! haha) This blog was going to be about getting letters. I don't know what it is about a handwritten letter, but it is just the best thing in the world to come home to a little envelope with my name on it lying on my bed. It makes me feel 1000 times better than I do when I get a text message. Even though I love those too. (side note... I went almost 2 days without texting anyone... thats a record!) I love texting people, don't get me wrong. I love phone conversations even more! But a letter is probably the best thing ever. The communication is not fast by any means. It once took me 2 months to get a letter I was waiting for and I thought I was going to rip someones hair out! (I didn't want to rip my own hair out, thats painful!) But then when it finally comes, it just makes you happy!

One time I got a letter from my dad when I was in a really bad emotional time in my life, like last month! haha! Knowing that there are people out there who care enough about me to sit down and write a note to me just makes me forget all my stupid little problems (such as... he doesn't like me, therefore I'm a loser... you know... those kind of problems!) The words he used were inspired. They were exactly what I needed to get me through that hard time... Thanks Dad! I LOVE YOU!!!

Also one time I was in Europe and I had been there for over 3 weeks. I loved the country with all my heart, but the company I had... didn't love them as much. It was just a really hard time in my life seeing as I have grown up in the "bubble" and in Europe I was the only LDS person. The leaders pulled out letters they had kept from us the whole time from our parents. My mom wrote this letter to me way before I left for Europe, but it was honestly an inspired letter! It was like she had been watching my whole trip and knew just the feelings I was having, and she helped me get through it! I LOVE YOU MOMMY!!!

So in conclusion, sometimes I am a mess... but then I get letters from people and it makes my life better! I did not write this post so you would write me a letter (151 S 1st E Apt A6, Rexburg, ID 83440), I just wrote it so you would know that I love the people in my life that send me letters. And if you send me a really good one, you might just get a shout out on my blog! Wow...

Pray for Good Weather

Today as I left my apartment I was dissapointed to see that there was white... EVERYWHERE!!! I thought that we were done with the snow here in Idaho, but I guess I was wrong. I told myself it was ok because that snow was from last night, and it wasn't snowing right now. Well I should have held my breath because as I left work to go to my first class, I realized that it started snowing again... hard! In my class, the girl that said the prayer prayed that the snow would stop. It was pretty blunt like that too. It reminded me of a story about the cutest little girls in the world (my nieces)!!!

These pictures were taken last December. The first two were taken on Anika's birthday, and the last one was taken on the 26th. Both of these days we went to Discovery park and enjoyed the amazing Arizona winter weather! A few days after these pictures were taken, it started to rain... a lot! I didn't mind too much because I got sick and just stayed inside all day anyway. But Anika asked my mom if she could go and play outside. My mom said she couldn't because it was rainy and wet outside. So Anika puts her arm around Avery and says, "Come on Avery, lets go ask Jesus to stop the rain!" It was just about the cutest thing I have ever heard! I told Anika that lots of people have been asking Jesus for it to rain, since we needed rain in Arizona. She understood and played inside that day. It was the sweetest thing in the whole world!





To read more cute stories about these little princesses, check out my sisters blog. And stay tuned... I will be in Grove City with these girls two weeks from today, and I am pretty positive we will have some good stories to tell!

Two Weeks Notice

Here is my two week notice!

Dear Rexburg, you have 2 weeks to get all this crappy weather out of the way. When I come back next semester it better not be here. OR ELSE! (jk, how do I threaten the weather... really!)

Dear male population (and some females too), you have 2 more weeks to talk about this Madness that goes on in March. Luckily now that BYU is out I won't be hearing as much about this Mr. Jimmer guy. I have gotten to the point that I pretty much zone out when I hear his name... lets be honest people, I DON'T CARE!!! And last night, having to watch him with his weird band-aid on his chin OVER American Idol... well that was just the last straw. No more Ms. Nice Girl.... American Idol takes priority over Jimmer. Sorry Jimmer but it just does. (side rant... I CAN'T BELIEVE the judges saved that weird leprechaun Casey! Saves are meant to be used when there is a really good top 4, not when the bad person gets kicked off during the top 11! Crazies!)

Dear classes, you have 2 weeks left! And yet inside of me I feel like you are never going to end. I hate you. Honestly, I have never hated a group of classes more so than this semester. Usually I have one or two classes, Accounting, or Business Communications, that I can't stand. But having a semester full of stupid classes is just about killing me! 2 more weeks, and I will never think about you dumb classes ever again! :P

Dear current roommates, we only have 2 weeks left together. This really does make me sad, and I'm sorry for bailing out on you and moving to American Manor. Its not personal I promise, I just desperately need a change. I will miss you dearly and promise to still hang out with you.

Dear future roommate (Tamazine) - ONLY 2 MORE WEEKS UNTIL WE ARE ROOMMATES!!! Literally I am thrilled at the thought of this! We are going to have the most fun EVER!!!

Dear Arizona, in 2 weeks... I will be with you! :D

Dear Mortensen family, 2 (and a half) more weeks until I'm with you! I have not wanted a Spring Break to happen more so than I want this one to happen! I can't wait to spend time with my favorite older sister (and the fetus inside of her) and my favorite nieces! We are going to have a blast! I especially can't wait until I watch American Idol with Angell and my mom, because that just sounds like the best time ever!

Dear Greys Anatomy, I just started watching you in the middle of the 3rd season last night, but I suspect we have a good next 2 weeks in front of us. Once I move out, I will no longer be able to watch you with Brittney's netflix, so lets make the next 2 weeks count!

21 things before I'm 21!

I am jumping on the bandwagon here by making a list of things I want to do in life. First my friend Morgan made her 20 things to do before she was 20, then my friends were all making their bucket lists, and then my roommate Brittney and my bff Amy made a blog post in the same day of their bucket lists! So here is my list...

21 things to do before I am 21!

1. Get a Bachelor of Science Degree in Healthcare Administration

2. Snowboard in two resorts I have never been to

3. Read Pride and Prejudice (I love the movies, but I'm really bad at reading)

4. Run a 10K

5. Go on vacation, some place other than my parents house

6. Scrapbook my Europe visit for real

7. Go to Times Square for new years eve

8. Do baptisms in 5 Temples I have never been to

9. Make a BIG meal all by myself.

10. Go to the beach and learn to surf

11. Write a song

12. Read the Book of Mormon again.

13. Hike R Mountain

14. Go an entire week without driving my car

15. Bowl a 300 game, on the Wii

16. Go to a professional baseball game

17. Go to a cycling class every day for an entire week

18. Watch 7 movies in 1 day, my record is 6 movies watched in 1 day, so I'm going to beat it!

19. Be better at taking pictures.

20. Have a picnic at a place I have never been to

21. Attend a session of General Conference

So there you have it, my bucket list... I have about a year in a half to finish everything on this list! Wish me luck!

2 stamps...

This weekend has been very eventful! I love my school and all the activities there are!!! On Friday night me and my roommate Becca went to a slam dunk competition! It was so much fun! We got there about a half hour late and missed some of the 3-point shot competition. We got there right as the finale was going on. After it was all done, they had the girls champion play the guys champion and the GIRLS WON! WOOHOO!!!! Then the BYU-Idaho color guard came on... and I was told if I don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all... So after that the cheerleaders and dancers came on... once again, nothing nice to say! (I am going to say that when they fell, it kinda made me laugh really hard... is that mean?) There was a little man dunk competition for guys under 6 foot, and then the real mans competition. (ok they didn't call it the real mans, i just made that up!) In between they had a ton of kids from Idaho jump rope, and it was freakin AWESOME!!! It was just about the best double dutch show I have ever seen!

On Saturday I went and participated in a world record breaking attempt to play the largest game of dodgeball! We only got something like 1100 people, when the record is like 2000... so we didn't quite do it. But it was so much fun! I actually got out in about 2 minutes when I got hit right square in the face. I learned today that if you were hit in the face you were still in the game. That was kinda sad. So I was there for about 2 hours and played dodgeball for about 2 minutes, but it was still worth it! And I got a free dodgeball out of it! I've never been the best at taking pictures of fun things, but my roommate did take a few pictures of the event! Thanks Jess!!!




and a few pictures of me...






Last night and today we had stake conference and it was so good! We got a new stake presidency and they seem really awesome! Too bad I'm moving in a few weeks.

I love Lauren!!!

So this weekend my old roommate Lauren came to visit me and Jessica! We had SUCH a fun weekend! More fun than I've had in a while! Friday kind of was a bad day since I took my really hard Econ test and I got a C-... not my finest hour. But as soon as I got home Lauren was here! Having Lauren home was like it was last Fall and it was so much fun! I actually had plans before I knew that Lauren was coming back, so I went out with the girls I work with and we went out to dinner! When I got back from dinner I put in the movie Win a Date with Tad Hamilton and watched it while my roommates trickled in for the evening.

Friday night Lauren and Jessica and I stayed up WAY later than I usually do and we just talked for ever! It was like a sleepover with your best best friends! (well since they are my best best friends, and we were having a sleep over... I guess you could say it was exactly like having a sleepover!!!)

Saturday morning I made pancakes (with chocolate chips) and Lauren and I ate them while Jessica was at work. Then Lauren came with me to the Spori building where I had to work on my Visual Media project. She had great ideas and made my project looks awesome! Then the two of us went to Pizza Hut to surprise Jessica and we had lunch there while she waited on us! haha...

Saturday night was way fun too! We went to our friend Thomas's place for a mini dance party he was throwing, and then we went to the Hart where they were having a HUGE dance party. Between the 2 parties, I heard 4 Justin Bieber songs! haha, I love him! I loved it at the 2nd dance when Baby came on, EVERYONE started screaming!!! It was awesome! Then we went and got some ice cream and came home and watched The Italian Job. Then we stayed up, once again, way later than usual. We talked forever about... boys! What else do we talk about! hahaha

K, so this post was a lot more like a journal entry than anything else, but I just wanted to post on here how much I LOVE LAUREN GRAFF!!! I'm so glad she came this weekend, and I'm really sad that I have to go to bed in like an hour and when I wake up I have to leave for work and then I won't see her anymore. :(