North Carolina State Fair- aka Fried Food Heaven.

Tonight Jake and I went on an adventure to the NC State Fair, otherwise known as the heaven of all fried food. Please enjoy a picture journey of some of the things we saw.

A variety of fried food options...

I love how they have simply "fried dough."

We tried the red velvet oreos...

they were pretty good but didn't taste much like red velvet. And I was tired of them after one.

50 cent pickle (probably my favorite thing I ate) and this cool waterfall. 

We enjoyed a lot of people-watching. We especially liked this guy's mustache. 

We watched pigs, goats, and ducks race. This was another highlight of the day. The goats stopped in the middle of the race and tried to turn around. They were really cute. :)

For the Ettinger clan.....

We saw some really cool carved pumpkins. They were in the middle of the garden exhibits, which were GORGEOUS. That was my other favorite part. 

We also saw this HUGE pumpkin. The one in the middle is 800 pounds!!

 There were lots of other cool vegetables too. There was a watermelon that was 250 pounds.

And for you health nuts out there, don't worry, they had fresh vegetables too...

We had a lot of fun at the fair! Our favorites were definitely the gardens, flower arrangements, and pig races. And in my case, the pickles. 

Tarheels!

Once again, I slack on my blogging. This week has been pretty great. My tennis class is awesome, I finished a paper, AND....ACCEPTED UNC'S OFFER to grad school!!!!

That's right. I'm going to be a Tarheel. And I'm SO SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! :)

procrastinating.

I'm procrastinating reading papers for my readings in biotechnology class. I don't care about biofuels or the genetics of rice. I don't want to read about you!!

I found another "sometimes" post. So I'm doing that instead. Enjoy.

Sometimes...

It's hard for me to read papers I have no interest in whatsoever. (biofuels and plants!!!)

I'm reminded of how much I love my friends when they don't think I'm insane when I turn into my crazy, late-night, exhausted self. 

I feel self-conscious when I lead the music in church. 

I am mildly dishonest when I hide what I really think about some things.

I can't imagine a world without summer. I can't wait, I'm so done with winter. 

I'm surprised that I still have hope for some things. 

I get a little too easily wrapped up in checking my email for news from schools.   

I indulge in guilty pleasures like watching Once Upon a Time and eating far too many treats.  

I wish all things in life were as wonderful as a sunny day with the whisper of spring in the air.  

happy feb 18!

Today has been a great day. I worked on my talk for church tomorrow and played ultimate. I also had a ton of fun with friends last night.

I've been feeling pretty lucky the last month. (Minus the four days this week where I was a complete and utter stress case). Here's why:

• I got a scholarship from Myriad genetics. Keith nominated me and I had no idea. Here's a picture they sent with the thank you letter:

• I went to Michigan and got to see Chelsea, play whirlyball, and experience my first interview weekend (I got rejected but, oh well)
• I went to New York City. I interviewed at Columbia and didn't like it AT ALL. But, I hung out with Brittnee, went to Mary Poppins, went to the Met, ate NY pizza & cheesecake, and took in the wonder of NYC.
• North Carolina. I LOVED UNC! The campus is beautiful, the people are nice, the apartments are reasonably priced and nice, the research and faculty are awesome, and there are a good number of church members. Now, if they could just give me their admission decision, that'd be great! 
• Boston. Our hotel had rubber ducks. AWESOME. I wasn't super impressed by the program at Boston University, but I met some awesome people.
• I was awarded an ORCA grant.
• My friends are amazing.
• I am increasingly grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. I know it is true and I cannot imagine life without it. 
• My brothers are the best missionaries out there. 
• My parents are an amazing strength to me. I'm so glad they are always there to listen to me and calm my stressed mind. 
• I can run, play frisbee, eat, and I live in a safe place with a roof over my head.

What else can a girl ask for??

sometimes...

This is the new blogging trend...you copy the bold parts of the following sentences and fill them in. I'm kind of in love with this idea. And, I hardly ever blog anymore. And, I'm avoiding writing the prospectus I need to do because it is making me massively frustrated. So, sometimes....

I get weirdly excited about my roommate's art on etsy (pending). She is seriously the most amazing artist and everyone should see it. (Don't worry, I'll post a link as soon as it's up)

I feel overwhelmed with gratitude when I remember how lucky I am to be interviewing at grad schools with some of the smartest people I've ever met. 

I can't stop thinking about this HUGE decision I'm about to make, about grad school. 

I just want to eat fruit sours all day, every day. 

I am kinda a bad person and don't pay any attention to the presidential campaign. 

I wish I could dye my hair ...I don't. I love my hair color.  

I just don't understand the allure of The Bachelor. My roommate watches it and I just don't understand why people watch 20 bratty girls make out with 1 guy. Or why girls would put them in that situation. 

I can't believe how close I am to graduating. Less than 3 months. Eek. 

I strongly consider spending a lot of money on forgetting grad school and traveling the world.  

Now it's your turn! :) 

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! :)