10 years ago....

i can't believe i graduated from ricks college (also known as byu-i) 10 years ago! some days i think i was so freakin lucky to know the right people (the barney family's uncle or something guy hollingsworth) is the ONLY reason why i was accepted there. i'm gonna tell my rick's experience in a nut shell or maybe a little longer so it might get kinda boring. i made the decision to go to ricks when i was a sophomore in high school. i just knew that's where i wanted to go. being a cali girl and going to this random small town didn't scare me for some reason. so anyway, like i said knowing the right people is seriously how i got in. i went first for the summer and lived in harmony house (it had some bad connotations w/ it, but i didn't know it till i lived there). i knew NO ONE when i went up there. my dad, karen, and my sis adrian dropped me off and as they were leaving i met one of my most FAV people in the world marianne bennett (franks now). we ended up in the same room together and it was love at first site! haha. but seriously we hit it off. summer school for me was brutal i had to go from like 730 till 4 or something and marianne only had like one or two classes. so we would play HARD all night and then i'd have to wake up super early and go to school all day, but it was worth it. we had so much fun w/ our new friends going "cliff" jumping, to the sand dunes, just hangin out! i was supposed to live in coloniel house in the fall and marianne was gonna live in royal crest, but lucky for me they let me get out of my contract and i was able to move to royal crest! that's where we met our other 4 roomies crow, nano, jess, (jamie was our roommate for one semester) and then the rest of the time steph (mae's friend from h.s.) lived w/ us. we all got along well and had soooo much fun!
things that bring fond mems are:
-going to the base ball field dances at the beg of the year
-playing scum till the wee hours of the morn
-playing rambo
-going to the sand dunes
-roommate prayer
-talking to my roomies till whenever
-the 3rd floor of the library to "study"
-getting robbed our soph year over conf weekend and having the police say that they really got mine and marianne's room because it was such a wreck and jess saying "oh, no that's how their room always looks"! sad. but they really did make off w/ some goods. our rental tv, tons of cd's, mae's guitar, some clothes, cash, etc. i think that made us all closer after that too.
-4 of us met our future hubby's at ricks
-going to devotionals
-ditchin the r.a. all the time (we were lucky to not get into much trouble)!
-going to basketball games our soph year (they had an awesome year and tons of our friends were on the team).
-we loved to dance (especially me and steph in the front window rc #110 baby!)
-songs that remind me of ricks, all my life by casey and jo jo, killing me softly by the fugees, some celine songs, sarah mcglaughlin songs, so many i can't remember.
-bummin rides of scott to take us to the store
-all our good guy friends we made a ton!
-good thing we had the 6 of us (i don't remember makin too many girl friends)!
-craigos (the best bread sticks ever)
-midnight trips to mav (my flava of choice back then was mt. dew ahhhhh YUM)
-going grocery shopping at "alby's" and eating the fresh warm bread right then and there!
-special trips to i.f. (idaho falls)
-random trips some of us went on to cabins, or friends houses, or whatever.
-the dance club retrix (i did some random stuff there too. i was hypnotized at a show and people thru the year would say "hey, aren't you the girl that cried when the cop pulled you over when you were hypnotized"? um yeah. i also, jello wrestled w/ a friend for some pest control kick off or something! haha. i wish i could find those pics!
-walking home from the library late at night and almost slipping every time on the way down the hill!
-my social dance class
-going thru 2 years of college and never going to school on a friday! woop woop. yeah i was really there for the education!
-winning our ward talent show our soph year and then performing for the stake talent show.
-abbrevs (we would talk in abbrev's all the time)! hahaha.
-my 19th bday was my fav bday ever! we had a band play in our tiny kitchen and had tons of people having a blast!
-as you can see i have a lot of mems those are to name a few!


some times i wish i could of gone to school there longer. i HEART rexburg still. it will always have such a special piece of my heart. i love my girls i wish we could see each other more often, but thru blogging we get to stay connected a little better. i really grew as a person there. i gained my testimony of this gospel and made some friends that i love sooooo much. i met my best friend brennan at the end of the year, but if it wasn't for rick's we prob wouldn't of ever met. sometimes going back to those times i get sad because i miss the fun and good mems, but i am so thankful that i got to go there and find love for such a small town. although, it ain't so small anymore! they have a temple (which i can't wait to go to), there's a paul mitchell hair school, a taco bell, tons of housing, so much (compared to when i was there). any time i get to talk about going there i roll w/ it, i LOVE talking about the good times and all that. my cute cousin meredith is going there in the fall not knowing anyone i'm so excited for her and hope she has an awesome time! i hope our kids will want to go there one day too! i would love that. i can't find any pics of our fresh year, but here are some of our soph year! enjoy!

first sunday of our soph year
from left to right: steph, crow, marianne, nano, jess, & me

fhe at mesa falls

my 20th bday!

most of the time life in rexy was like this!

a cold winter morn

i can't tell you how many pics i have of this style!

a "warm" day! i remember trying to work on a tan!

all of us w/ our dads! i was lucky to have my dad come to "mother's week" my fresh year! he was just one of the girls! taking us to hogi yogi for ice cream and playing scum till dawn! it was such a fun time! thanks for coming dad, it meant a lot to me :)!

grad day! i was nervous it almost wouldn't happen (that darn math), but it did phew!
jess, nano, marianne, steph, me, crow! i was so lucky henry b. iring was at my personal grad (criminal justice) and i got to shake his hand! it was awesome.

after we packed up our apt, we all went to garcia's in i.f. (except marianne) and we are hugging and singing the song rose from what we sang at the talent show! cheesy, but hey we love each other! and we were sad to leave!

this is a couple of days before grad! bren and i met in feb, but didn't really hang till right before i graduated! we had our first kiss 10 years ago at "beaver dick park" lovely name! to the song by casey and jo jo, all my life! ohhh love you babe!

The Rose -- Westlife

Some say love, it is a river
That drowns the tender reed
Some say love, it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed
Some say love, it is a hunger
An endless aching need
I say love it is a flower
And you, it’s only seed

It’s the heart afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance
It’s the dream afraid of waking
That never takes the chance
It’s the one who won’t be taken
Who can not seem to give
And the soul afraid of dying
That never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long
And you think that love is only for the
Lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snow lies the seed
That with the sun’s love in the spring becomes the rose