Marvelous Weekend in Wales.

What do you get when you cross three crazy college girls, zebras and shooting clay pigeons in the middle of nowhere?....A marvelous weekend in Wales! We made the trek down to Wales on Sunday morning and were almost late for church because the doors of Staci's car were frozen shut. Then on Monday we showed Melinda and Staci the many attractions of Wales which included...

tromping in our boots through umm...mud to visit the zebras and miniature horses

and shooting clay pigeons up the canyon.

Like always it was an amazing (and to short) trip down to one of my favorite places in the entire world. Wales doesn't have skyscrapers or huge shopping malls where everything imaginable to buy is available. But that's ok because I loved growing up there and am so grateful for the experiences I had and the people that blessed my life while I was there.

Valentines Day.

So I have never been a really big fan of Valentines Day and this year wasn't any different. I fought Victor for a month before and tried to convince him that we could just eat peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwiches (very yummy!) and watch a movie instead of making a big deal about it but I finally gave in...


When I got back to the dorm after my class on Friday there was a beautiful vase of gerber daisies on my desk. Victor was at state wrestling all day Friday and Saturday but he drove down during his lunch break and got in cahoots with my roommates to get the flowers up to my room before I got back from class.

For Valentines Day we went to Ruby River Steakhouse for dinner and it was so good. Victor then taught me how to make hemp bracelets, something I have wanted to learn how to do for months, and we watched Second Hand Lions. All-in-all Valentines Day turned out to be a lot less painful than I thought it would be. :)

Masquerade Ball.

Last night Melinda, Ashlee, Staci, I and our dates went to a Masquerade Ball at the old Provo Town Hall. We had quite the adventure the entire week shopping for dresses at DI, making masks, trying not to be too excited, and getting ready for the dance but by the time Friday night rolled around we were ready and looking gorgeous. :)

Our group from left to right:

Victor and I, Melinda and Beau, Ashlee and Paul, Staci and Kyle

Gorgeous Girls :)

Beau is not really that short but he thought his mask made him look like a racoon so he was doing the pose for us. Oh and don't you just love Victor's white suspenders? I thought they were pretty amazing.

Ashlee and I may be a little bit biased but we both think that our guys are pretty amazing. They remind us of little kids sometimes...after the first time they met they were "best friends". For most of us when we were younger we would be instant friends with someone we met on the playground, but these two did it at nineteen.

Victor and Kate. Thanks Becca for letting me borrow your dress. It was amazing and matched perfectly with Victor's white suspenders. :)

Obviously dancing makes you hungry because about midnight we were all starving and had to make a run to a 24-hour IHOP. Mmmm.

Fabulous Weekend in Wales.

To finish off our great weekend down in Wales Ashlee, Melinda, Victor, and I went snowboarding up Fairview canyon. It was a beautiful day and the few trails with powder that we found among the many hard-packed trails were amazing to snowboard on. And guess what...I landed my first jump! I thought I had gotten at least a couple feet of air but my dreams were quickly crushed when Victor informed me that he liked my "bunny hop."


Melinda and I both spent a lot of time sitting in the snow among the trees just enjoying the beautiful mountain scenery...aka we aren't very good at snowboarding yet. :)







Ashlee and Melinda bulding a snow fort. Being from California neither of them have ever built one before but I was very impressed with their snow-fort-building skills.






Julia on the other hand has built one to many snow forts and is doing it the easy way....smart girl.






Both David and Benjamin kept going off the jump and then running back up to the top of the hill to ride back down again. Their excitement for life makes me smile.

Pistol Packin' College Students.

After two weeks of hard work at school my roommates Melinda and Ashlee made the trek down to Wales with me to spend the weekend. Upon our arrival my amazing dad was anxiously waiting to take three college girls shooting up the canyon. I know we look very intimidating with those big guns... but don't worry the only things we shot were a bunch of cans. :)


With the help of Dad and Daniel we were pro shooters in no time


Don't they look like movie stars off of a really intense action film?...they even have the stylin' movie star glasses.


...and then there is the blond that looks like she doesn't know what she is doing. Seriously who gave this girl a gun?


Here we are with the big guns. It's to bad that our arm muscles aren't identical to the size of the guns we were shooting. Oh well. All in all we were quite the shots...just call us Melinda, Ashlee, and Katherine Oakley(the long lost cousins of Annie Oakley).

I looked out the window and what did I see...?

Since I have felt a little sleep deprived all week, I decided to make good use of my snooze button and sleep in this morning. When I finally rolled out of bed at 9:30 I looked out my third floor window and beheld a beautiful sight...a hot air balloon floating right over BYU campus! I know it seems kinda crazy to be getting excited on a cold winter morning about a little balloon full of hot air but it made my day. :)

Back to the Grind.

Wow I am not doing so hot on my goal to keep up on my blog... but don't worry I have an excellent excuse because I didn't see one computer with the internet in Mexico that I could have used to keep everyone posted on our amazing trip. (details and pictures coming soon!) After spending ten days in Mexico I drove back early Monday morning to be back at BYU for my 8 am Human Physiology class and am now trying to cope with the start of another semester and the foot of snow that has fallen over the past 24 hours. So far my classes are going great and my schedule, which includes English 150, Human Physiology, Chemistry, Book of Mormon, and a history class about the impact of the printing press, is keeping me busy and out of trouble. :) I am glad to be back with my roommates and friends but am already missing my family and my hometown of Wales. My excitement and anticipation for this new semester continues to build and I feel so blessed to be able to attend such an amazing university. Life is good and although it is sometimes tough, I have learned that with the "not so good things" in life comes incomprehensible joy... and it is those few moments of joy in our lives that make it all worth it.