ugly tree.

So, after Thanksgiving my parents and I went to cut our Christmas tree, just like we do every year. I didn't want to have to drive all the way to Cedar (especially since the short way was blocked by a landslide) and trudge through the snow to find a tree. So, I suggested we go to Pine Valley where there is no snow. In Pine Valley you can only cut Pinions and Junipers. My mom hates Juniper trees, so we were on the hunt for a Pinion. We found one that looked decent, and brought it home. (Well, my dad had to dig a lot to be able to cut it first) We got it in the house, and oh boy...it is UGLY. It is a round, flat topped tree:

So, we put an entire nativity on the top...

My dad had the tree undecorated by 2:00 Christmas day and outside our house by 5. It left sap ALL over the floor and was just a terrible mess. Lesson learned: never get a pinion pine for a Christmas tree. 

On Christmas Eve, dad rode his bike out to Zion so mom and I went to pick him up; we had to walk up to weeping rock and see if it was frozen. It wasn't as frozen as it has been in other years but it was still really pretty. 

Me and the parents:

It was really fun to talk to Ames and Kyle on Christmas. They are doing awesome and loving their missions!! If you want to read their emails you can HERE.

lazy.

I'm really lazy.

Here are some pictures from Japan. Go HERE. When I get my dad's pictures I'll post some of his that I like.

my generation

I can't believe it's already almost Thanksgiving. Time seriously FLIES. Scary. I submitted all my grad school applications so now it's just time to play the waiting game.

Something has been on my mind lately, and forgive me for getting on a soap box about it. I think everyone in my generation needs one of these at their house:

I don't know if there is anything that drives me more crazy than someone texting while I am talking to them. I'm not talking about an occasional text during a conversation, that I can deal with. It's when every time someone talks, they whip out their phone and text through the entire conversation. Granted, I sometimes do this, but it is something I am trying to do less. So, to all of you faithful readers, feel free to slap me if I ever start texting while you are talking to me.
   I think my generation has a serious problem with communication. Technology has become such a huge part of everyone's lives that we are not able to communicate face to face with people as well as older generations. It's a skill that has always taken work to develop, but we don't take the time to learn because it's easier to use technology. It's quite sad, really. Anyway, sorry about my soap box.

Japan was awesome; I will upload pictures after I get the other half from my dad's camera. :)

lately.

Fall is fun. Except, I really don't enjoy Halloween. I don't like being scared, so most activities are generally not my favorite. But, it's been fun anyway. Here's life as of late in some pictures, in no order whatsoever:

At the Cornbelly's haunted corn maze. I'm on Casey's back, don't think I'm freakishly tall. 

Awhile ago, we had a pinewood derby for a church activity. Our pencil car got 2nd place and best design!

We took fun fall pictures :)

Also at cornbelly's, on the giant jumping pillow. Possibly my favorite picture from that night.

We went sailing for outdoor rec! This boat's name is Maren. We have also gone hiking, mountain biking, canoeing, kayaking, and will go rock climbing in a couple weeks. 

Other than that, I have been working on my paper at work, going to school, and working on grad school applications. I'm hoping to have my applications finished by the time I go to Japan in a few weeks. We'll see if that happens. Fingers crossed.

fall!

So basically, I'm a terrible blogger. And a terrible procrastinator. I have had the hardest time getting back into school this semester! It's my last year at BYU and I do not want to study! Forget about the 4 tests I have this week, the 10 grad school applications I should be working on, and the paper I should be writing at work. I don't want to do any of it! How do I motivate myself?

This semester I am taking an outdoor recreation class and it is AWESOME! We went on a campout a couple weeks ago and did some awesome slot canyons. We went sailing last week and will be going hiking this week. It is pretty fantastic! One of the boats was even named Maren!

Maybe the reason I'm such a terrible blogger is because I really have nothing to blog about...

future...

Did you know that growing up is kind of scary? Why in the world did I want to get out of high school so bad? Life was so much simpler back then. Not that I'd want to go back, but sometimes, it'd be nice to have a day without worrying about the future.

Oh, the future. How can so much stress be packed into one little 6-letter word? It's amazing how just the thought of it makes my head start spinning. The thing is, you plan and plan for the future and it NEVER turns out how you planned. Take this summer for example, I had ZERO intentions of being in Provo all summer. And yet, here I am, still unsure why I'm here, working instead of at an internship anywhere else.

Tonight, I was researching grad schools and making a list of which ones I will apply to. And what I need to do for each application. That's what created this slight stress freak-out. But, it will all work out. I hope.

done!

I took the GRE! I'm SO glad it's over! WOohoo! I can't believe school starts in a month and a half. That is crazy. Only two more semesters at BYU, scary!

Here's my favorite picture from our trip to St. George to see the Little Mermaid at Tuacahn. It got rained out twenty minutes into the show :(

Look at my hair! It was CRAZY windy and pelting us with huge rain drops! But, we definitely made some memories. :)

Oops.

I have been a blog slacker! Not as bad as Jocelyn though, she definitely takes the cake on that title. Speaking of cakes...Look at this one!!! (I have a new pastime- tumblr blog browsing; there are some AWESOME tumblrs out there) 

I think for my next birthday, I'd like one of these. 

My summer bucket list:

• camping (check, but I'd like to go more)
• hike Timp
• hike Subway with awesome people
• do at least one rappelling hike (maybe Mystery this year?)
• Kneader's french toast (STILL haven't had it)
• GATTACA movie night with the labbies.
• rodeo (Saturday)
• take the GRE (yuck.)
• Harry Potter
• see Tara's baby (to be born in mid July)
• Seven Peaks
• glow in the dark ultimate
• any other fun and random thing I decide to do.

I love summer.

Remember that time?

Remember how I love ultimate frisbee? Well, let's just say it's been WAY too long since I've played. And today was just fantastically awesome. I love that sport.

trip to MD.

Maryland was HOT and HUMID. Holy cow, it was such horrible weather. But, despite that, Jocelyn and Skyler's wedding was spectacularly beautiful. I am so so glad I got to be a part of the whole event and got to be there to spend it with them. Although, I'm convinced that most of the people at the reception ended the night thinking I was a total nut job. Oh well. :)

Rita's!!! Seriously, we need one of these places here. SO SO SO delicious.

This is when we were packing up Jocelyn's room..ruby red Dorthy shoes, sword, and Renaissance hat

Also packing...Skyler, the *fantastic* task-master.

taking pictures! 

Can you tell how sweaty I am? Did I mention it was HOT? Oh, this is Stephanie. :)

One of the centerpieces at the reception. Everything looked amazing!

On Tuesday I went to the aquarium in Baltimore. I liked this shirt. :)

I also decided (at the aquarium) that jelly fish are my favorite sea creature.

Me-hanging out in the Inner Harbor. (I had another Rita's, of course)

All in all, it was a fantastic trip. When I got home I went straight to training for my tennis teaching job that starts on Monday. I think it's going to be really fun! And today, was an absolutely beautiful day. :)

I'm in love with this cake.

From: highestheels.tumblr.com

vacation!

I had a much needed break from this college town the last two and a half weeks. I went home for most of it and spent some time at Catalina Island with the fam. My two favorite boys have now entered the MTC to serve their missions. I am so very happy for them and proud of them! You can check out the blog my mom is going to be updating-eldersettinger.blogspot.com. I already miss them. Here are some pictures from my vacation home.

Ames scuba diving

Kyle scuba diving

Mom and I waiting for the dingy back to our "hotel" (my uncle's boat)

My mom really wanted a family picture but it was really windy...so there you go.

And there they are...walking into the MTC!

Tonight-BYU rugby plays Cal in the national championship game. Go Cougars!!!

crawfishin!

This last week I went crayfish collecting for work in Mississippi. It was a lot of fun! Here are some pictures:

Eating a crawfish. It was a little gross to rip apart their tail from their head.

Our first hole! We dug up to my shoulder but no crayfish, it was too dry

This mud was much more wet. Black mud clear up my arm. Keith got one Fallicambarus but no one else got one.

Jesse loved his Po Boy...until it came back to haunt him.

Ben looking for crawfish
Me looking for crawfish in the swamp. We luckily didn't see any gators :)

On Wednesday, the largest tornado storm in 4 decades hit the South. We think we missed several tornadoes by 30 minutes or an hour. It was really sad to see the devastation. This used to be a house.

A huge tree that was uprooted. We passed an entire forest that had been uprooted.

Heather and her form 1 male she dug in the hard clay for!

Looking for more crawfish. Isn't it pretty?

Seeing what species the crayfish is

We went to this awesome BBQ restaurant made from junk. It was DELICIOUS! Check out their story here.

Ben and I at The Shed. Oh man, that food was seriously SO good.

The last thing we did was go to the beach! That's Ben and I swimming out there. We saw a bunch of sting rays, they were cool!

All in all it was an awesome trip! We were really lucky to avoid the tornadoes and we got the crayfish we were after. It was tons of fun! :)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!! I have always loved Easter. This video is amazing. Please watch it.

I am so grateful that Jesus Christ suffered and died so that we, as God's children, can live. Easter is a time for us to reflect on that great sacrifice. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer and without Him I could not progress in this life or in the next. He suffered, bled, and died for ME and for every other person on this Earth. He loves us and is always there for us, even in our dark, lonely hours-especially then. I hope I can try to be more like Him and feel His love for all of God's children because I know that His love for them is unmeasurable. He lives!

"Savior, Redeemer of my soul,

Whose mighty hand hat made me whole,

Whose wondrous power hath raised me up

And filled with sweet my bitter cup!

What tongue my gratitude can tell,

O gracious God of Israel."

-Savior, Redeemer of My Soul

(my favorite hymn, #112 in the LDS hymn book)

weekends go so fast

I can never believe how fast weekends go! It's already Saturday night! I'm being SUPER exciting and doing homework, currently waiting for a 205 MB file to download. It's taking forever. We had Jocelyn's bridal shower today, it was super fun! Sarah's and Rachelle's were earlier this week and they were fun too! Yay for weddings!

So, in preparation for the bridal shower today, I was cleaning our apartment. I really hate vacuuming our floor because hair always gets stuck up in the vacuum and I don't like having to cut it out. So, I googled ways to get the hair up before vacuuming cuz let's face it, with three girls the hair is unavoidable (and I shed enough for 4 girls.) One site said to scrape across the floor with a rubber flip flop. I was skeptical. But, it worked WONDERFULLY! It was like magic! No more clogged vacuum! Hooray!

Also, my 21 birthday is on Monday. You'd think I would plan something incredibly exciting. But no, I'll go to work and school and FHE. Haha, woohoO! :)

Three days left of classes. Eight til I'm done with finals.

flying hot dogs

On Friday night, Lizzy and I went to the men's volleyball game. They had free hot dogs and churros! We only ate the churros and they were delicious. Then, during the game, they realized they had lots of extra hot dogs. So, what do they do? They throw them into the crowd, of course! We were soon being attacked by masses of flying hot dogs (wrapped in foil). Lizzy almost got pelted in the face. It was hilarious. But, these hot dogs looked SO gross. Seriously. Especially after they had been thrown all over, the bun was a squished mess of wonder bread and the dogs were broken and looked a lukewarm temperature. Some fell on the ground, others were frantically fought over. All in all, incredibly entertaining. Sort of felt like I had fallen into "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" from my childhood.

Only 8 days of classes left! Time flies, I tell you!

Spring and Jimmer

Did you know the first day of spring was on Sunday? You wouldn't know if you were living in Provo like me. Yesterday, it snow/rain/slushed and then was sunny and then was cold again. Today, it was a beautiful, sunny 50º. Forecast for tomorrow? Rain/Snow. WHAT?! It's like the weather is bipolar. I WANT SPRING!

School is crazy. Only 3 weeks left in the semester and SO much left to do.

Oh. I don't know if you heard, but Jimmer and the Cougars are in the SWEET SIXTEEN! SO proud to be a cougar! The game's tomorrow at 5:27 pm MST. WATCH it. Speaking of Jimmer, my friend wrote a pretty awesome blog post about him and a famous woman. Read it, it'll make you smile: http://arrowx.com/life/ I personally think Jimmer should marry me, but that's just my opinion. ;)

And now, to practice choir conducting. I can't express how thrilled I am.

In the words of Relient K:

And tomorrow, I know,

Will be rainy at best.

And the forecast, I know,

Is that I'll be depressed.

But I'll wait outside

Hoping that I'll catch sight of the sun.

Because on and off,

The clouds have fought

Their control over the sky

And lately the weather

Has been so Bi-polar

And Consequently so have I

fire & stars.

On Friday night, I went with a bunch of friends to the classic roller skating rink. It was hilariously fun. I was not very good and two of the guys with us were crazy good-doing back handsprings on roller skates. It was crazy. I have two massive blisters on my ankle from it but it was fun! After skating and ice cream we ventured past Spanish Fork to some tiny rural town to a bonfire. I love fire, I'm a bit of a pyro. We sat under the stars and watched the fire smolder. It made me realize the number one thing I miss about home-doing EVERYTHING outside. You can see SO many more stars at home and it's warm enough to do stuff outside almost year round. I love it. I also went on a hike on Saturday in Pleasant Grove. I am ready for summer people! No more snow, just livin' it up outside in the sun! I might fall apart if it snows again, but I won't get my hopes up too high.

And now, back to writing my paper for Survey of World Religions. And maybe reading some ochem...maybe.

waiting, waiting, waiting.

I have become a compulsive e-mail checker. I check at least 10 times a day. The majority of the time there are no new e-mails. Bah. I'm waiting to hear from 5 more of the places I applied for internships to. Then I can actually plan my summer. It's driving me CRAZY!!! I just want to know! I need to know where I will be so I can buy a plane ticket to Jocelyn's wedding and I just don't like the feeling of my life being up in the air.

the world is a carousel of color!

(carousel of color!!)

How cool is THAT!? The World of Color show at California adventure is absolutely incredible. It was my favorite part of our Disneyland trip. It's a water show that has lots of shooting water like the picture and they project movie clips from almost every Disney movie on mists of water. Bubbles flew all over the audience during "Under the Sea" and Zurg was made completely of lasers. It was seriously the coolest thing I have ever seen. Totally worth waiting the first night for an hour and a half when they didn't do it because of wind and then another hour for the night we actually saw it. SO COOL! Everyone should see it before they die.

California Screamin'

In line for Toy Story Mania (SO fun!-I was the first one on the ride on Monday morning!)

being artsy at the beach.

this was after we waited for an hour and a half for world of color the first night. Kyle got cut out :(

Lightning McQueen!

It was a fabulous trip. Getting back to real life was a little difficult, especially with two huge tests this last week. Only one this week. Just remember, the world is a carousel of color! (carousel of color!) Hahahaha :)

another weekend, gone.

How is it already Sunday night?! I swear it was just Friday. But you know what they say, time flies when you're having fun!

Friday Hanna and I ate delicious Italian food at Cafe Paesan. It was super yummy. We also went and saw Tangled! I hadn't seen it yet and I loved it!! SO cute! I have decided that these:

will somehow be part of my wedding someday. (Yes, they really exist!)

We also played Carcassonne. It's this awesome game that Pete and Meghan gave me for playing at their ring ceremony. I believe we have a new obsession. And will be creating a score board shortly.

It got up to 58º today!!! Hurrah for warmth!

...4 days til Disneyland with my family!!

happy day!

Last Monday, Hanna and I hid in a pine tree.
Very cute, I know. We were helping Skyler propose to Jocelyn! We hid the ring for him and then watched to make sure no one stole it. :)

It's crazy that I've know Jocelyn for almost three years now. We met in our freshman dorm. She was the first of our roommates I met and all I remember was thinking, "she is WAY shorter than I expected." Haha, but we became fast friends and have had awesome times ever since. :)

I've known of Skyler for a long time. We went to the same high school; he graduated a year before me. We had mutual friends but never really hung out. When he got home from his mission we hung out I think once over Christmas break with our mutual friends. Then he came to Provo and met Jocelyn And the rest is history :)

Anyway, I am SO happy for these two! And SO excited! :D
And, here they are :) Can't wait for the end of May! (and dress shopping because, as I've told Jocelyn, that's my favorite part)

the violin.

Once upon a time, there was a girl. When she was five years old her mom started teaching her the violin. It was a hard battle. She never wanted to practice and didn't do what her mom asked her to do. So, they found a friend who was having the same problem with her son and they switched children to teach. So this girl began learning from an amazing woman named Debbie. Practicing was still a battle. Lots of tears were shed and, quite frankly, this girl was a brat about it. But, 12 years later and she was still taking from Debbie. They all decided it was time to move on to another teacher. Next was a man, who had a serious personality clash with the girl. We can just skip that year or two and fast forward through the tears of being told she HAD to stop taking lessons because she wasn't practicing. Her next teacher was the absolutely incredibly Bonnie Romkey. She was one of a kind. The girl learned to be a performer, not just a violinist from her and enjoyed taking from her until she graduated from high school. Now this girl is in college and really misses playing her violin all the time like she used to. (have you figured out that it's me?) I REALLY miss performing like I used to and having an audition or performance to work towards. Sometimes I wonder why I didn't major in music. (because I love DNA too much.) But, I can always play the violin, like I do now, in orchestra! Violin is amazing and I just love it! :) So, here's to the memories, and many more to come!

young beginnings :)

this was my quartet at a music camp in 2005.

all-state orchestra 2007

BYU Symphony Orchestra 2009

Disneyland 2008

High School Senior Pictures 2008

Thanks Mom and Dad for putting up with my tantrums, tears, and screeching notes so I can enjoy playing today! :D