Cowboy Boots

So every week there is country dancing, swing dancing, and latin dancing here at BYU-Idaho. I never thought I would go. Ha. I've been to country dancing three times, swing dancing twice, and I just got back from latin tonight. Granted, I still can't dance, never could. But I still have fun "trying" to dance and the boys are pretty patient with "newbies" for the most part. Also, I have been having a blast with school and everything here in the Burg. My roommate, Angela, is so awesome. We get along so well and she inspires me to be a better person. I really love all of my roommates: Angela, Maria, Amber, Lauren, and Ashley. They are so wonderful and I have had so much fun with them!


Angela and I before country dancing. We had to break out the boots of course.
Boots.



Love her.One last comment...I have to vent a little. Tuesday I was sitting in my communications class, the teacher hands out some slide notes and gives some instructions. I didn't think her instructions were very clear, so I turned around to whisper to the girl behind me to find out what we were supposed to do. Before I could even finish my question the teacher butts in and says, "Excuse me, could you please move?" Uh...ok. FLASHBACK TO HIGH SCHOOL!!! I seriously got MOVED in class at a UNIVERSITY! I was pretty furious. Not only was I mad because I was humiliated in front of the entire class, but what teacher doesn't like Heidi Hartley? I was teacher's pet in high school! Luckily, I was able to keep my cool and let's just say I am not too fond of that teacher anymore. Other than that...my classes are going fantastic! I'm leaving for a camping trip for my Basic Skills class tomorrow. We are going to Wolverine Canyon, backpacking a mile or two into our camp, staying overnight, and coming home Saturday morning. Backpacking is a whole new world of camping for me! Never done it before, but I'm excited.

It's a long one...

I've attempted to update my blog at least like five times now. But either my internet kicked me off (thanks to Hotsite Networks...the company Tyler works for...cough cough) or I realized that the update would have to be pretty long and I decided I should probably do some homework instead. So, now that I have finished my first two weeks of the semester, I decided it was time to sit down and do some typing. So sorry for the long blog.

First weekend/move-in: I arrive to Rexburg, check in to my apartment and start moving all of my junk in. I had originally signed up for a four-person apartment (2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom). So I unload my car and I even meet my roommate. As I am unpacking, I just don't feel right. I have no clue why but I didn't like the apartment and something just felt different. So a few hours later, I go to my manager, Stephanie (who used to be Kimi's old roommate) and I was going to ask her if in case I didn't like my apartment for the first week if it were possible to move. Don't get me wrong, I was going to try things out...but something just wasn't right. Stephanie asked if I just wanted to move right then and there. So I did it. I moved into a six-person apartment (3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms). I am still in the same apartment complex but the six-person ones have recently been remodeled. For those Ricks alumni out there, I am currently in the old boys' Breckenridge apartment. They remodeled them and made them girls' apartments. They are now called The Cedars.

First week of classes: So I had this super cool scheme to surprise Mom and Dad this semester. I enrolled in the University Orchestra and then I was going to send them tickets to my concert in the mail and make them come to Rexburg to see me play. Everything was going pretty well, I had Mom fooled for a while. But seeing as I haven't played in an orchestral setting for like three years, I was a little rusty, and a bit out of my league at the BYU-Idaho University Orchestra. So, when you are enrolled in the orchestra, you get the opportunity to also enroll in private violin lessons. The cost was $190 for the semester, but I thought it was worth it at the time. I was introduced to my violin teacher and as I was talking to her she asked if I wanted to have a lesson right then. Uh...ok. I have the lesson, learn a few things, and then go home. I was scared out of my mind! The orchestra already required 2 hours of practice a week, no big deal. But my lessons required 6 hours of practice a week, NOT including the 2 hours for orchestra or the time spent at lessons or orchestra rehearsal. So I would be putting 10 hours a week, 200 buckaroos, and a total of 18 credits for the semester into this grand surprise I was planning for my parents. Needless to say, I dropped both the orchestra and the lessons the next day. The classes I am currently enrolled in are: Professional Communications, Book of Mormon (2nd half), Science Statistics, Leisure in Society, Basic Skills (learning how to camp!), canoeing, and weight training. Total of 15 credits.

Weekend: My best friend Kirra got married on Friday April 24, 2009 in the Boise temple. I drove home Friday after class so I could go to her reception. She was beautiful and the reception was nice. I haven't received the photos of us at the reception yet, but here is one of there pictures from the temple.
Also that evening I went to Christine Cordoza's wedding reception. Lots of weddings!
And after all of the weddings, I went to the Institute fake Prom with a bunch of my friends. It was kind of fun to get all dressed up again.

Finally, this last weekend I traveled to Logan for Aubrey's graduation. I'm so proud of her! It was so good to spend some time with Tyler and Aubrey. We had some yummy pizza at Firestone.

Also...today there was a CES young adult fireside being broadcast from BYU-Idaho with Elder Bednar as the speaker. Somehow, I got a seat in the second row, down in front. I was about 20 feet away from Elder Bednar! It was amazing! Of course it would be completely inappropriate and disrespectful to take a picture at the fireside...but here is one from the internet.
This concludes my never-ending blog. Things are going really well. I really like my roommates and I am loving my classes.

Birthday!

I am 19! Weird. I still feel like I am 16. So I actually had to work on my birthday. Bummer. But it was kind of my fault because I didn't turn in my request for days off on time. Oops. However, I had the day before my birthday (Thursday) and the day after (Saturday) completely off. So basically we celebrated all three days. Here is an itinerary of what we did:

Thursday: Mom and I went to lunch at Olive Garden. (My favorite!) And then we did a little shopping for some school clothes! I have to say, it is kind of weird to be school clothes shopping in April. Then that night I went to Shari's at midnight for some pie with friends! (It was free since it was technically my birthday according to the clock.)

Friday: I worked from 9am to 5pm and then some friends and I were going to go to the Professional Bull Riding at the Idaho Center. Unfortunately, all of the cheap tickets were sold out and we would have had to spend $31 for seats. So we went to the Institute activity for a little bit and then went to Applebee's for half price drinks and appetizers. And of course we took advantage of my birthday and got some free ice cream.

Saturday: Dad and Mom took me and some friends snowmobiling in Cascade. (See previous post for picture.) I also have to add that I rolled the snowmobile twice and we all got stuck at least once during the trip. The snow was really heavy, but it was good to get out in the sun.

Sorry I don't have many pictures, I kept forgetting to take my camera places, which is weird because I am the one who is always taking pictures.

Billy Madison

As Billy Madison would sing it..."back to school, back to school, to prove to daddy I'm not a fool." It's almost time for me to head back to Rexburg for the summer semester. Classes start in two weeks! So I thought I would do a post to kind of sum up my winter. I've been working full time at the Rec Center and I'm pretty burned out. I'm definitely ready for a break from lifeguarding. I also learned how to snowboard this winter...well...I know HOW to snowboard. I can't say I am very good at it though. I'm getting pretty good on the bunny hill. Unfortunately, we never got any pictures of me snowboarding because I was too afraid of crushing my camera since I fell. A lot. Other than that, most of my spare time is spent working out at the gym and hanging out with some friends from the singles ward.

A few weeks ago I took a quick trip down to Provo for my best friend Kirra's bridal shower. She is getting married April 24 in the Boise temple. So I will go to Rexburg for my first week of classes and then be home for the weekend. It's like I never leave.


Shopping for wedding shoes in the Provo mall.

After the bridal shower, her fiance was headed over so we pinned her down on the couch...


...so we could do this!

So even though it is Spring, there has been some good snow. So we decided to take advantage of the snow and sunshine and go snowmobiling...instead of watching conference on Saturday. Oops.

What shall I do this winter?

SOOOOO.....I am home. Everyone keeps asking me when I am going back to school and their reaction is always kinda funny when I say "April." Then I have to explain the whole 3-track program and how I was assigned to the summer/fall...blah blah blah. Anyway...so I have the entire winter semester off and I have nothing to do. Luckily I was able to come back to my job at the Rec and I even get to work 40 hours a week while I am home. In order to cure my winter boredom, I have decided to take up snowboarding. I've gone 3 times already and I'm getting better! I don't think I've ever been more sore in my life, but I guess sacrifice brings joy right? Well...just posting to let everyone know what I'm up to....nothing. Hope you are all having a wonderful winter. :)

Pine Martin

I'm sure all of you have seen Brittney's post about our snowmobiling trip. She wanted me to post the video of our wildlife encounter. Enjoy.

The Grand Finale

This is my last week of school! Hooray! The semester flew by so fast. These last two weeks have been full of working hard on projects and studying for exams and finals. Here are the photos that I turned in for my photography final project. I made some prints and matted them for display. We had to have a common theme within our collection of photos...so I chose a nature theme.

Late Nights

Saturday night...what are we doing? Nothing. It was a slow night and we didn't really have anything to do. So we decided to tie-dye.

The beginning...

Just as we were starting to tie-dye...Suddenly, on our super slow Saturday night, there was like ten people at our door. And they brought us six goldfish for our apartment. So we had to run back to Walmart and buy a fish bowl and fish food. In addition, fish aren't allowed in our apartment, but how could we say no? So shhh...don't tell anyone. Haha...semester is almost over anyway. We named them Fern, Kolipoki, Francine, Princess Consuela Banana Hammock, Calypso, and Crap Bag. (Just in case you don't know...Princess Consuela Banana Hammock and Crap Bag are inspired by Phoebe on Friends.) So mom and dad: I might be bringing a fish home in a few weeks.
After tie-dying, we realized that our gloves didn't really work...so I've had green hands for the last couple of days.

The finishing product...

Almost there...

I have realized that the semester is almost over! YEAH! There is two weeks until I go home for Thanksgiving break and then only another two weeks after that until the end of semester. And all of you probably know that I will be home between January and April because of BYU-Idaho's three track system.

This last weekend all of my roommates and I traveled to Boise for the BSU football game. While I am not a lover of football, my roommate Ashlee is a big fan so she got tickets for all of us.

Tuesday night it started snowing...so we had a snowball fight at like 11:00. Lo and behold the next morning we received an email from our apartment manager informing us that throwing a snowball is illegal in Rexburg. Oops.

This is what woke up to Wednesday morning.

This is a random picture but I thought it was funny. I'm sure it's coincidence, but for some reason when you put your phone next to someone's head you get another bar of service all of a sudden.


I've been having a lot of fun with my major, and like I said my favorite class is Family Recreation. Thursday was "drama" day and when we arrived to class there were costumes piled on all of the tables and this was my choice...

Update

Not much has happened here in Rexburg...but here is a short overview of a few things I've done over the last few weeks.

One Saturday we wanted some Starbucks...so we drove to Idaho Falls, got lost, and got some creame frappes. What else were we going to do all day?

My roommate Candice plays soccer on an intramural team and I like to go watch cuz it brings me back to the good ol' days of watching the all the boys' soccer games.

We drove out to the hot springs pool in Green Valley...too bad they're closed on Tuesdays during the school year...who woulda thought.