*PUNKED*

Today I was punked, not by Ashton Kutcher but by another very handsome boy. He doesnt know it yet but he is in so much trouble. Anyways the story really starts last night. I had a soccer game last night and during the game I pulled a muscle in my butt. It sucks it goes from by butt and down my leg. so when i step down its like someone is pulling a knife down the back of my leg! Lucky me I had a ride to campus this morning, but until today I have never realized how many millions of stairs campus has. It would be hard to be handicapped here thats for sure. Well this morning me and David were texting eachother and he offered to pick me up after my class was over. The only problem with that was that my class ended as soon as his started. So his solution was to let me take his pick up home and he would leave his keys hidden for me. I was thinking this was a pretty great idea because me and walking just arnt friends today. My class finally gets over and I go and drive his pick up home and park on the side of my building. Me being the nice person I am decide to make him some lunch because he had been in class all morning and as 2:30 rolls around Im about to head out so that I can go meet him on campus and pick him up but i had to wait for the cornbread to come out of the oven. well not too long after he texts me and says he is back and needs picked up.
Up to this point im totally oblivious to any hidden agendas, and as im walking down the stairs im just excited to see David. Well i turn the corner and ..... HIS TRUCK IS GONE!!! No where to be seen, all there was was an empty parking space. Im sure I had a pretty interesting expression on my face at this point because i didnt even know what to think. I was trying really hard not to panic. The next thing i do is check the other side of the building and its nto there either, so i even go inside and ask the manager if she had seen a tow truck at all and she said no. which i already knew would be the answer because they dont tow trucks at our apartment. So im really starting to panic when it hits me that David is a master at breaking into trucks. And that he knows the ins and outs of trucks and cars. So I text him to tell him he is not funny at all and he is still playing dumb. so im walking out to the parking lot again and see him walking towards me laughing. He PUNKED ME!!!! Ugh.... I was actually really freaked out about it! His side of the story is that he didnt come up with this plan until he was headed back into rexburg from his field trip. He broke into his truck and used the spare key he keeps hidden to move it. Then he just sat back and watched. At least he enjoyed himself haha

A picture of David and I, before risking our lives to float down the river in a canoe. Just kidding we didnt risk our lives it was really fun

I met a Boy

Last week I went horseback riding in Harrimen State Park with my best friend Kelsey, her husband Tyler and Tyler's best friend Chance. So it was kind of a double date, kind of not haha. But we went into the park on horse back and as we were sitting in a meadow listening to elk bugle we spotted animals at the end of the meadow. We werent sure exactly what they were but as they got closer we realized that it was another group on horseback. One of the riders was a pretty cute boy :) The sun was going down and it was getting cold really quick. The cute boy offered me his gloves and I really couldnt pass that up because i was starting to lose feeling in my fingers. I felt bad though because there wasnt going to be anyway for me to return them. But he gave them to me anyways. Then as we got to talking i learned that his name is David and that he goes to school at BYUI which was good news because then i could return his gloves to him. Then he offered me his extra sweater and I thought what the heck, cute boy, i can return it all to him when we get back to Rexburg. So he wrote his apartment number on one of his gloves. On the way back to the trailer later that night though.... I lost one of the gloves..... the one with his address to be exact! I felt pretty bad about it, so being the problem solver that I am i stalked him haha. I knew he was from Idaho falls and that his name was David. So i used the school directory to look up all the Davids from Idaho falls. There were a couple...... luckily he had his picture up on the directory and i found him. His name is David Farnsworth and he lives at the Ridge 704. Thats how you use your resources :) Because i lost one of his gloves i went and replaced them because thats the golden rule of borrowing things right! Your break it, or lose you it, You buy it. So i did and tried returning his stuff the next day. But he wasnt home so i went back again on Sunday and he was there. We chatted for almost an hour and then he asked for my number. I gave it to him of course... remember he is a Cute boy that i met on horseback. Really cant get much better than that. Monday rolled around and im headed to my personal hell hole. Chemistry Class! when i get a text from David. He wanted to take me to lunch... dang Chemistry. I told him i'd have to take a rain check. After i get out of Chem class I have another text from David telling me not to leave the Romney building which wasnt a problem because i was headed to do my chem lab. He showed up with a Jamba Juice! Yum! Cute boy.... good food :) Then he asked me out for later that day. So exciting! We went shooting down in Idaho falls, he had an exploding target called Tanarite. It was really cool, it turned a log into splinters! Then we went out again wednesday and on that date we made smoothees and went and had dinner at his sisters house.... yep already meeting the fam lol. They we very nice, as we were sitting at the table I realized that they knew alot about me.... Liz finally admitted that they were having a hard time asking me questions because they had already facebook stalked me and knew alot about me. That i have 4 sisters, that one just got married, i like fishing and hunting, hiking and biking lol It was pretty funny, slightly weird but funny. And then we also had a date on thursday... this time I met his Mom.... scary! She is a sweet heart though. And she cooked up a delicious dinner. Well thats David! And i get to see him tonight when I get back from Utah... makes going back to Idaho just a little better.

Its all about the Chemisty

Literally my life seems to be revolving around chemistry! I need three classes to graduate and right now im signed up for 2 or the three. The last one i need is Chemistry, but of course the one time slot i have open for chemistry is full. So its a total waiting game right now, if enough people drop i can get into the class, if no one drops im screwed and will be stuck in idaho for another semester! Another winter to be exact. I jsut dont know if i can handle that much more of Idaho! Im so ready to be done and out of here!
Another aspect of chemistry which i dont think is all that bad ha ha Johnny and I have some pretty great Chemistry going on... .or at least we did. We dated for about a month and I think he is pretty great but he graduated last weekend. So now he is on his way back to Southern California..... SO FAR AWAY!!! I finally find a guy that I like and wouldnt mind dating and seeing where things went and he has to live so stinking far away! And of course we meet when he only has a month left in idaho! I miss him already... phones just arnt good enough, face to face is so so so much better

My Johnny and I

Floating in a river cold as snow! Fun?... Yes, Worth it?... Maybe, Stop hurting?.... No

Saturday morning my ward had a float trip down on the snake river. At first my roommates and i planned to go, but they all bailed on me. I had almost made up my mind not to go but then realized I should probably go and be social especially since I signed a contract for the same housing in the fall meaing i would be in the same ward. And not that i mean so be, but i have been pretty antisocial this semester because i work during all the week activities and church is at 8:30 in the morning which means i have a hard time feeling awake enough to carry on a conversation with anyone. But anyways i decided to go and it ended up being the best decision i have made in a long time. I met up with this girl in my ward her name is Haylie and she had brought some friends with her from her old ward, Amber and Johnny. Right away i was thinking my oh my Johnny is super cute! I mean he is tall dark and handsome with brilliant blue eyes. So we get down to the river and we all start to get in, and let me tell you it was like sittin in a tub filled with ice! The water was so so cold and it actually hurt to stay in the water and you didnt even get used to it the whole time. So me haylie, johnny and amber all latch onto eachother and suffer through the freezing cold together. And it was a really good thing that we all said a pray before we jumped int he water because the current was actually moving pretty fast. and so it would try and push you into the bank and into trees and bushes and there was a couple places where we had to go under bridges. Which was difficult ... really difficult sometimes. But Johnny was so fun to hang out with the whole time and he saved my life a time or two. Anyways an hour or so later after a few near death expeirences we finally got out of the water, and tried to warm up.... tried being the key word there! After the float Johnny invited me to go to monkey rock with him and haylie and amber. Monkey rock is this swimming hole on the river where there is a pretty waterfall. that water there was a bit warmer, but sitll pretty cold. we even went back behind the water fall. Anyways needless to say i was crushing on johnny by the end of the day. but i had to leave for work. We did exchange numbers though. :) I didnt get off work until after midnight which isnt all that odd for it being a saturday but by the time i got in bed it was about one oclock. but i couldnt sleep so of course i did the only thing there is to do that late at night, I got on facebook. I found haylie and johnny on facebook and added them both, and it suprised me because johnny accepted the request within about three minutes. So we started chatting on line and now we have a date tuesday!!!

At the Bonfire out in the Sticks, Country backwoods, Homegrown hicks!

Friday night a text went out to a bunch of my friends and I that there was going to be a bonfire out in the woods out past moody creek. So we all meet up and piled in the trucks and headed out into the night! We had a train of big trucks roaring down the road. When we got out to the spot where we planned to set up, we started seeing lightning. Not just small streaks of lightning but huge light up the sky streaks of lightning. And there was a couple times where the thunder was so loud I thought for sure we would lose our hearing that night. But we put the fire together anyways and pulled out the roastings sticks and blasted some good ol country music. That is about the time it decided to pour on us for about five minutes. just enough to soak everyone and everything and then stop. But it really didnt ruin the night at all. Most all the people there go to country dancing on wednesday nights so we blasted the music and danced around the fire, and spent hours talking and shooting guns at glow in the dark targets. That was pretty fun, i even shot and M4. Definetly a fan of bonfires in the woods!!!

"I said Where I come from its Cornbread and Chicken"

Yay for Oregon, I got to go home a couple weeks ago and it was so nice! Just getting out of Idaho for a weekend was worth the drive and money but it made it all the better that I got to go home too. I got to see my friend Brady for the awhile which was so nice because I havent seen him for awhile. And i got to jet up to Forest Grove to see my family up there, which was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Its been way to long since I was up there last and I love my Grandparents. Plus it was a nice day and we got to go to the park and play with the girls. Poor Amelia broke her arm.. sad day but she is so funny about it. And then sunday for fathers day we had a BBQ and Hollie and Kyle's house where we had cornbread and chicken, which was so so good, and played games. And I talked to Ray and he is helping to hook me up with a job at Oregon Freeze Dry which would be amazing because if i get it i can go home for the seven weeks between summer and fall semeseter and I wont have to pay rent and it will be full time and i can save up money and hopefully be able to quit Taco Time for good

I Pray For You

I dont know why I didnt mention this little story before... but I think some of you might get a kick out of it. So to start the story off.... I met this guy Tyson back in September. He is a pretty cool guy, he is into sports and the outdoors, he is kind of a canadian cowboy actually. We met in my Range class, we started out sharing gum and candy which one or both of us brought to help us stay awake, this class was an early morning class and I normally walked in right as the opening prayer was starting... not so lucky... it means everyone notices you walk in, even... epsecially the teacher. But this is how we started to get to know one another and eventually became friends. He taught me how to country dance, and we just kind of clicked... well we almost dated during the fall semester.. long story short it didnt happen. But we ran into eachother again this last winter and started going dancing together again and hanging out with friends and stuff. The semester ended and he told me he liked me, im not sure if he actually thought we would date or not, i mean he is in canada all summer, but anyways its was flattering. And i decided to invite him to come home with me for a week. Everything got planned out and it was going to work out perfectly... or so i thought. We both were going to be in boise at the beginning of the week and after my conference we would head to oregon. So i text him monday night and tell him that tuesday i should be able to leave at three. He says that sounds fine but he thought we were leaving Wednesday. I kind of brushed if off... a little misunderstanding ya know. The next day I text him and I say, it looks like we are going to get done a little early if you want to leave at two, if not thats fine we can still leave at three. Well i wait around all day waiting for a response from this guy and finally at two he texts me and says that he is at bullwinkles but we can still leave at three. This right here should have been red flag number one. Bullwinkles is on the other side of boise and he said he would be dropped off where i was at. But up until now i was fine because our originial plan was to leave at three which was still supposibly happening. Well three oclock rolls around and he is no where to be found. So i finally call him... he says that he thinks i should just pick him up at bullwinkles because its on the way. No big deal its on the way right ? So im thinking this is working out alright i can do that. I get to bullwinkles and i finally find him sitting with his two friends which by the way are girls and he is eating ice cream just chatting away. I guess i assumed that once i showed up he would say his goodbyes we would hop in my car and take off. I was so so wrong. After i sat and watched him eat his ice cream for a half hour and listened to him carry on a conversation which did not include me i started to get a little irratated. Red flag number two! So he finally decides he is ready to go once one of the girls asks me how long its takes to get home from where we were at and i guess a lightbulb came on in his head and he realized it would actually be a good idea to get on the road. We get up and start walking and i think we are going to go get his bags but once again i was so so wrong. He didnt even have his bags with him. Red flag number three!! Im seeing alot of red here. So then we go get into the cars, and he gets in with his friends leaving me to follow behind all alone. And its not just a couple blocks either... it takes twenty mintues to get to their house... back in the direction i had just came from. Meeting at bullwinkles was not very helpful. So during this drive i have the twenty minutes to just get more and more irritated. Then once we get to their house he takes his sweet little time gathering his stuff and getting ready to go. Finally we are on the road and im a little irritated and he says he is tired, so im thinking it would be a great idea for him to take a nap and for me to cool down a bit, because its five oclock before we even hit the highway. Which is two hours after i planned. But of course he has to know whats bothering me so i tell him. Which then he starts complaining how he doesnt feel good and maybe its not a great idea for him to come. and im totally agreeing at this point. But really five minutes later i'm fine and ready to have some fun and get the road trip started. So im singing along to some music and i look over and he is sulking like the world is coming to an end. So i ask him what is wrong and he says that he doesnt want to spend a week with someone who is mad at him. But i was already over it so i tell him im not mad anymore and im ready to have fun if he is. But he starts complaining about being sick again... which by the way is bull. Another red flag! Because he is totally trying to come up with excuses now! So i ask him if he would rather stay in boise. he said , Dont make me make this decision right now i have a headache. But after hearing that i had already made the decision. It he really wanted to come and be with me he wouldnt have even had to think about it. So now im just thinking great what do i do.. he is in my car.. how do i get rid of him. So i decide it will be easier if he makes the decision himself to stay. So i wait it out a bit.... i tell him he needs to make the decision now because im not turning around and the longer i drive the further away i get from boise ya know. but he still isnt making the decision.... finally im about ten miles from oregon and i know that i dont want him coming with me anymore and i didnt want to make his friends drive for forever so i see a gas station and pull over and let him out. Nicely of course. but i tell him that i know he doesnt want to come and i dont want to spend my whole week at home trying to convince him to have fun and enjoy himself. and it would just be easier this way. So then he starts telling me how he may never see these girls again but he will see me in the fall.... See me in the fall ha ya rignt! then he starts talking like im over reacting... I really wasnt i promise! A little recap... he made plans with me, told me he liked me and was all excited to come spend time with me and see oregon. Then all day i have to convinve him to leave these other girls... I dont like feeling like the after thought. and then he tells me its all okay because he will see me in the fall!!! that totally did not make it okay... he should have definetly kept that thought to himself! and to top if off i could have been on the road and one! and its six before i finally drop him off and leave! thats a whole five hours of wasted time! i didnt think i was over reacting at all, if anything i was underreacting!! The whole time this is going on, im thinking he must have started liking the kayla girl he was staying with. Which really would have been totally fine with me, all he needed to do was tell me before all this went down that he changed his mind and couldnt come to oregon after all. How hard is that really??? So as i drive away he starts texting me and trying to apologize and make things right... im not sure if he really thought it was going to work or not. But eventually i didnt have cell service anymore anyways so i didnt text him back... i let him wonder a little bit. At the end of the week i finally texted him back and he texted me this song called Pray for you, by Jaron and the long road to love. He said he heard it on the radio and it made him think. Because he said he was sure this is how i felt about him and that he wouldnt blame me at all if this is how it was. So you all should watch the music video online for this song "Pray for you" ~ Jaron and the Long Road to Love.  All i said back was: ive been praying for you all week, but in reality in glad you made it back to canada safe. and he said i'm glad you made it safe too.  and i havent talked to him since. So now i can tell people i've left a boy on the side of the road. :) End of story....

Quick Sand

For my internship this summer I am doing a study for the BLM on the St. Anthony Tiger Beetles out at the sand dunes. Yesterday me, Haley and Matt went out to do some collecting and plotting. The school lets us use there vans and we have a Ranger to drive around the dunes in. Well within my little group I'm the only one with a permit to drive the school vans... So i'm driving this 12 passenger van, hauling a trailor with a ranger on it, everything is going fine, we get out to the dunes and turn off on this road that finds its way back to some smaller dunes where we know there are some tiger beetles. Since we know we can find them there we decide that it would be a good place to start... well all is going well until we have to turn off the road onto a smaller less traveled road, on this smaller less traveled road we hit a patch of very soft sand! Needless to say that is as far as we went. Lets see.... I took the road less traveled by and it really did make all the difference. We were stuck as stuck can be, so we did all we could do... we started digging! After a while we gave up and did what we went there to do and came back to the van for round two. We eventually gave up again and headed for the main road to flag someone down to help pull us out. And just our luck we caught someone from the BLM who knew exactly what we were out there to do. Luckily he laughed about it and pulled us out with his big rig pretty quickly. Now we are headed back out tuesday..... hope things go smoother this time!

13.1 Miles

In about 8 weeks my goal is to run a half marathon, which is 13.1 miles. When people talk about their bucket lists or in other words the things they want to do before they die, I have always came up with the thought that it would be pretty awesome to run a marathon. Well thats how this whole shindig got started. I was talkin to my FHE brother Daniel and he asked me to name three things I wanted to do before I died. So I told him...
1. See the Northern Lights
2. Learn to play the violin
3. Run a Marathon
Well he loved my list of course. But we really started talking about the marathon and he said he would love to run one too. So we started getting all worked up and excited, thinking we could train together and run one at the end of the summer. Well between our two schedules we didnt find any that worked for the both of us so we started looking at half marathons, and we found one.... only its only eight weeks away from saturday. (June 5th, in Sun Valley, Idaho) Which means training and training fast. So all this was decided sunday evening and we started training the very next day. So this week we started with some 3 milers. We run every monday, wednesday, thursday and saturday which gives us tuesday, friday and sunday off. The schedule for the nine weeks of training goes something like this...
Week One: M-3, T-off, W-3, Th-3, F-off, Sat-4, S-off = 13 miles
Week Two: M-3, T-off, W-4, Th-3, F-off, Sat-6, S-off = 16 miles
Week Three: M-3, T-off, W-5, Th-3, F-off, Sat-8, S-off = 19 miles
Week Four: M-3, T-off, W-5, Th-3, F-off, Sat-10, S-off = 21 miles
Week Five: M-4, T-off, W-5, Th-4, F-off, Sat-11, S-off = 24 miles
Week Six: M-4, T-off, W-6, Th-4, F-off, Sat-12, S-off = 26 miles
Week Seven: M-4, T-off, W-5, Th-4, F-off, Sat-9, S-off = 22 miles
Week Eight: M-3, T-off, W-4, Th-3, F-off, Sat-8, S-off = 18 miles
Week Nine: M-3, T-off, W-3, Th-Walk 2, F-off, Sat-13.1, S-off = 21.1 miles

Which Gives a grand total of.... 180.1 Miles in 9 weeks.
I'm only in the first week right now and its feeling pretty impossible... but Im also pretty determined so we will see what happens over the next couple weeks. It was really hard starting because I havent really ran much since August, and the air is so much thinner up here because the elevation is so much higher. So training my lungs and body to run up here is alot harder than back home. My first three mile run was alot harder than I thought it was going to be, I was struggling to get enough oxygen almost the whole run. But I can already feel myself getting better and its only been a few days, I can feel myself getting stronger too, and my endurance better. Im just hoping it improves enough, fast enough to run this half marathon.
But I have already gone 9 miles! Plus plenty of walking in between to help keep my muscles loose.Which is pretty good I think. Saturday is my first increase, its only by one mile but one mile feels like forever when you are running :)

If you want to check out the site here it is
http://www.sunvalleyhalfmarathon.com/Race_Details.php

Happy Easter!

Easter is my favorite holiday, We get to celebrate our Savior and remember all he did for us. This year is even more special because its also General Conference weekend!! The only way this weekend could be better is if I was with my family. Happy Easter Everyone! I love you

The Invisible Roommate

I dont get embarrassed very easily, Im kind of immune after this year at school. Last semester I had a teacher that just constantly brought all the attention to me in class.And I had two classes with him so it was a double dose really. He liked poking fun at me (not trying to be mean) and making fun of me for dating the boys in his class. And this semester its mostly because I seem to do alot of stupid things, like let sheep lose, or put a hose down a meat grinder. You kind of get used to people making fun of you after you do stupid stuff like that. Luckily Brother Lamb is a kind hearted man and just laughs along with us all, or I would probably fail the class lol.

Anyways I found out this last week that it is still totally possible for me to get embarrassed. We have this roommate her name is Kelcie. And she honestly moves around the house without being noticed, we havent figured out how she does it. She is just so quiet and sneaky. I was at the bar in our kitchen doing homework and listening to music, I honestly thought everyone was in the rooms going to bed and Im jamming out, singing and dancing doing homework. I mean totally acting like a crazy person because I didnt think there was anyone there. Well I turn around and she is sitting on the couch behind me. Oh man I about died, but I couldnt help but laugh and we laughed about it for a good long while. She didnt even realize that I didnt know she was in there, she just thought I was very open and out going. And really if I knew she was in there I probably would have done it anyways, just a little toned down maybe. But its kind of shocking to turn around and see somebody watching you, being completely entertained by you when you dont even know it.

Me and Kelcie at a bonfire a month or so ago. I know she doesnt look like she has super human camoflauge abilities but she totally does.

The Interview

I interviewed for a job with Fremont County this week. It is for a spot open as a team leader to go and survey the back country of fremont county for leafy spurge and other invading species of weeds. Then after plotting out where all the bad spots are with a GPS system we would be doing biological control using bugs :) Mostly beetles and moths to control the weeds. I'm pretty sure I would love the job, its outside, hiking and riding ATV's around in the summer, looking for weeds and catching bugs. Really seems to my like something I would enjoy. Well I was all comfortable with the interview until they asked what I would do if I ran into a bear (it is bear country). Hmm let me think! I would freak out!!! I mean I know what you are technically supposed to do, Dont run, no sudden movements.. all that jazz. But really Im pretty sure I would wet myself and start running, you dont have to be the fastest you just have to outrun at least one other person right? They said they would give us bear spray but really what is a can of pepper spray really going to accomplish when it comes to hundreds of pounds of fur, claws and teeth. Give me a really large gun and I would feel way more prepared. Well anyways, I'm supposed to hear back by the end of the week if I got the position or not. If I dont get it I'll probably apply for a job with Madison county which is sort of the same kind of concept, it is also weed control... but also mosquito control. Really not a huge fan of mosquitos. But for money and steady hours I can put up with just about anything for a summer. I mean look at what I did last summer, I cleaned up peoples nasty hotel rooms.

Umph

Monday for FHE we went swimming at the college pool. On a blackboard there was a little quote it said something like Triumph is only acheived when you give it your Best Try and then add a little "Umph". I have thought back on that a couple times this week, mostly because this week has been a challenge all in itself. The end of the semester is coming to an end, there are three weeks left, and its that time in the semester where all the teachers conspire against you to give you as many assignments, projects and papers to complete as possible. And of course there are all those final tests to look forward too. I think of a semester as a race, the first few months and tests are the first few laps in the race, where if you keep a constant pace and keep up your doing great, then you get to that last lap where its all or nothing, its when your legs start burning and you think there is no way you will reach the finish line and you have to put in that extra umph to get there. Which is just like finals, you have been preparing for it, and you know its coming but it still takes you by suprise how hard it is. But when its all over you feel so good!! Thats what I'm waiting for right now.. that accomplished feeling at the end of the race. I took a test today for my reproduction class, it went pretty well even though it was alot harder than any of the other tests we have be given this semester. And now im getting ready to do the extra night-before studying for my evolution test tomorrow morning. Im just ready for summer to begin...

Love Hate Relationship with Spring

I love spring, the new flowers, the sun and all the colors. But I can't help but hate it in The burg. The burg likes to trick you. One day the sun is out and shinning the next the snow is falling once again. It makes me sick... literally. Here I am once again with a head cold, sore throat and the whole sinus pressure headache thing going on. All because the weather can't make up its mind. This whole warm cold thing makes me sick every year. And then just give it a couple weeks and my allergies will be in full flare. That at least I can control with some drugs. But man nothings I take seems to touch this sickness! So for the next few days I'll be living on popsicles, juice, soup and airborne! Stupid spring... how I hate you... BUT LOVE YOU TOO! I love not having to scrap my car off every day, and i love not having the bottom of my jeans be constantly wet and dirty because of the mud/snow. And I really do love being able to open the window and get some fresh air with out freezing to death. And then of course being able to start all the outdoor activities like hiking and taking out my bike for some fun. And I love when color starts to show up... espcially after seeing white and brown for months on end.

Back to Friends

Mark and I are back to friends. Honestly in all the time I spent hoping we would end up together I never thought this would happen once we finally got together. But we are back to being just friends. And I think its for the better, we tried being a couple and I love him but it just ended up not feeling right. I will love him forever, he is an extremely incredible guy! And he is my best friend, and will be one forever!

Summer Internships

I am almost done with my undergraduate degree, I thought this day would never come. I found two internships over the summer and even though I only need one I decided to do both. Its exciting! The first one is going to be with the BLM here in Idaho. We are going to be doing a study on Tiger Beetles out at the sand dunes in St. Anthony. A couple of the studies we are looking at our: The effects of ATV on the habitat and burrows of Tiger beetle larvae. The effect of cattle grazing, the cattle crazing allows for crested wheatgrass to take over which is harmful to the habitat. There a few other things we might consider doing while we are at it. The second internship is going to be for Fremont and Madison Counties. It is using biological control to keep leafy spurge from invading parks in the area. The biological control we are going to be using it beetles. Its going to be good because it is 40 hours a week and Ill be getting paid $9/hr. So its way better than I expected. Its going to be a good summer though, Ill be outside most days and getting my internship taken care of.

Mark's Second Visit Up North

Last weekend Mark came up again, he was able to come on Thursday this time. Thursday night we went to Beaver Dick Park and made floating lanterns. The floating lanterns were made out of paper bags and styrofoam plates. But once they were all lit up they looked pretty darn cool.

The next day I still had school and work but he came out to the livestock center with me and after my class we went and hiked to the top of the Menan Buttes. It was a beautiful day to hike to the top, you could see for miles!

For dinner we went out to Big Juds with Dallas and Kassi. Big Juds has the biggest burgers you have ever seen! Me and mark shared a burger and fries. They were good... SO BIG!


Afterwards we all went to Guitars Unplugged which was pretty cool. There were a couple really good performers. Then afterwards we can back to my apartment and hung out until curfew. Saturday was a really fun day we went cross country skiing at Harrimen Park. That is an awesome place, a beautiful scenery with swans and trees. It was our first time ever going cross country skiing and it was an adventure for sure! Towards the end of the day I crashed pretty good, i wasnt going all that fast but we were headed down a slight hill and I didnt make the turn and ended up in snow a couple feet deep and I couldnt move ha ha. My arm was all stuck up behind me in a tree and my legs were all jacked up and twisted behind me, not sure exactly how i got in that position but Mark was laughing and instead of hurrying to help he took pictures. It was hard getting out but we still had a great day.


Then the next day we made really good food and went to church then mark left sunday night. It was a fun weekend, Mark is my best friend.

I like this picture, even though we arnt ready for it :)

MARK and I

I just got to thinking that maybe a little Mark history would be good for my blog. Lets see... I guess I can thank my friend Chad for meeting Mark. Chad used to live in Lebanon (my hometown) before he moved to Sweet Home (Mark's hometown)and when we all turned 14 we started going to stake dances and that is where Chad introduced me and my friends to his new Sweet Home friends. At first it was just that, friends that got together once a month to listen to out of date music while trying to get up the courage to dance with someone. Then once we all started getting our driving licenses we began meeting up outside of the dances. Here is a picture from one of the first times he ever came to my house

This was a fun day, everyone getting to know eachother on a more friendly close basis. Thats were crushes started developing also.... and only my girls know this but Mark was my first crush of that group. Not that that meant we got together anytime in that near future but we did become friends. Over the next couple summers we spent alot of time at the tree farm. Best place on the river!

This summer (2003) we all became solid lasting friends. That bond was formed where we would always care about eachother. This however is also the summer were things got a little complicated. I had a summer thing going on with Sebastian and then began dating Tom. But even though I dated Tom through high school Mark was always there as a friend to both of us. And I was always fascinated with Mark, always wondering what made him the incredible guy that he was. The summer before Mark left on his mission we were both single again and we spent a good quality amount of time together. It was easy for us, we were very natural together, naturally good friends and it was so easy to fall in love with him which I knew was happening that summer (2006). We did alot of fun things together, one day I always thought of was towards the end of the summer when it was getting closer to time for him to leave. We decided we would go play some tennis at the new high school courts. That lasted for awhile but Mark and I tend to find new and more entertaining ways to spend our time. And we started hitting the tennis balls like they were baseballs and seeing who could hit them over the fence and farther into the soccor field and that wasnt even enough for us we also would race to see who could get to the balls first. Which involved tripping and tackling eachother. But it was fun, later that day we ended up int he walmart parking lot and we took this picture which i had on my bulletin board the whole time mark was on his mission.

I think you can tell we had fun that day :) Another thing about that summer that I always think about is all the many nights and hours we spent on the trampoline in my yard. We would be doing any random activity and someone would yell TRICKS and it would be a race to the trampoline! And one night we stayed out for hours on the trampoline just talking. It really was an incredible summer. Before he left on his mission he gave a farewell talk in his ward which my family went to and then afterwards he had a lunch/ goodbye party at his house.


The last night I saw him before he left on his mission he came to Lebanon to my house and we again spent some more time on the trampoline. But it was different knowing this was the last time I would see him for two years. I told him how is really hated goodbyes and the worst part was watching someone pull away knowing they could be driving out of your life forever. Two years isnt forever but it can sure feel that way. We took some pictures together and said goodbye on the porch... I had thought about kissing him goodbye. But thought too much about it and that it would probably just complicate things with him leaving and all. So I didnt do it. He walked me back in to my house so I didnt have to watch him leave, sweet huh? But as soon as he closed the door it was so surreal... kind of like a dream, it just didnt feel real like he was actually leaving. But once it hit me I couldnt help but cry.


We wrote on his mission of course! He went to Uraguay and was a great missionary!

He came back in August 2008 and he shook my hand like a good missionary does :) It was great to see him again! It wasn't too awkward but we were only home for a couple weeks before it was back to school for the both of us. I didnt get to see him as much as I wanted to that summer but at least I got to see him. The next year we kept in contact some.. thats what cell phones are good for. But it wasnt until this last summer that we really got to spend any quality time together. And let me tell you it wasnt and easy start. As this summer was starting I had it in my head that it wouldnt be much different than that summer before his mission. I wasnt expecting anything to happen between us but I was hoping that it would be easy again.But it was a rocky start to the beginning of the summer, we didnt click right away... I tried but we just couldnt get back to where we were. Time can change people ya know. So one night it was kind of the breaking point and he was over at my house and made a show of looking at the clock to see what time it was. So I told him he didnt have to stay, he really wasnt under lock and key! He felt bad of course but after that I was feeling really stubborn, I just knew that after that if he hung out with me it would be because he felt guilty and not because he actually wanted too. So I was all ready to just see him at church activities and give up on trying to become best friends again. But he was texting me that night on his way home and I told him that I just wanted to have fun with him again and that I wanted things to be easy between us again. He said that it could be that way and that he was sorry and everything. But i still felt like he was doing it because he felt guilty which im still pretty sure he was at first. But as we started to do things together again it got better everytime. After a couple weeks I was really starting to fall for him again so I was trying to convince our friend Elijah to set up a date for us to go on. And so me and Elijah started operation Sparkle Markle and we got this whole double date thing set up and Elijah was pretty sure Mark would ask me.. I wasnt totally sure. But i really didnt have to be, because this girl from the ward called him up that week and asked him out on a date and so she ended up going on the date that I had helped plan for me and Mark. Anyways I wasnt going to sit at home alone that night so I went out too. But a couple weeks later Mark made it up to me and we went on our first date, and it was on July 3 we went to Detroit lake and watched a firework show. There were literally fireworks on our first date. It was Pretty sweet :)

After that date it started the monthly determining the relationship talks. Which are never fun let me tell you! Long story short during the summer He decided that it would be better to not date since he was going to Provo and I was going to Rexburg. I wasnt really into that idea... I thought it sucked but what could I do. After he left for Provo we talked everyday! He became my best friend and the person I confided everything in. He helped me through some really tough experiences and was there for me through it all. In october i went down to Payson to stay with my Aunt and he came and spent quite a bit of the weekend with me. Already it was really hard to say goodbye to him. It was a really fun weekend though.

The next month it was his turn to come up to Rexburg! It was his first trip up here. And I got to introduce him to my roommates and we did alot of fun things we went to a bonfire and played hide and go seek in the defense caves and spent time with everyone. I didnt want to be but i was a little dissappointed that I had no time that weekend when it could be just me and him. But it was fun playing football in the freezing cold and showing him around campus. He even got to come to an Oregon Dinner.


I have learned that with Mark everything is complicated!And Right after he came to Rexburg it got complicated again. I met a guy in one of my classes. And He took me out and it was one of those instant connection things. I wasnt sure if anything was going to happen so at first I didnt say anything. But then it got to the point where i needed to choose between Fongo and Mark. And I knew that Mark didnt feel it was right for us to date but i still had that thought in my head that I would ruin everything between us if I did date Fongo. I mean technically you could say me and him were already dating but to tell Mark was something totally different. I finally got up the nerve to tell mark and he basically gave me the go ahead and So I started dating Fongo. That only lasted about a month and it didnt keep me and mark from talking still. We didnt talk near as much but we still kept in contact. And then we drove home together for Christmas and spent alot of time together during the break. When things seemed to be going terrible for me, all Mark had to do was walk in the door and the world would start spinning the right direction again. We went to a new years eve party at our friend Sebastian's house.

Things really got exciting a couple weeks into the New Year. When we stayed up late into the night talking about what a relationship would be like and why we arnt together but how we could be together. But we really didnt get anywhere with the conversation. The next day I was sitting in church and got a text on my phone that wanted to talk to me. So i start thinking of all the possible horrible scenarios that it could be before he texted me and said it was a good thing and he was pretty sure I would like it. Which made me really curious. But I waited until after sunday school to call him. And he told me he thought we should be together and then asked if he could be my boyfriend and I said YES! Of course :) Which was the start of our long distance relationship. But I got flowers from him :)

They were beautiful. He came up the next weekend and we went sledding and had our first kiss and spent every waking minute with eachother. It was pretty incredible.


Then most recently was my trip down to Utah which I wrote about already, but it was Valentines Day and I got to watch Mark with my cousins he is like a human jungle gym but man I couldnt help falling more and more in love with him. He is incredible and He is coming up to rexburg again on Thursday!!!!

Don't Tell Brother Lamb

I am in a meat science class and it is not easy! Going into this class I was just hoping and praying that I wouldnt make any big mistakes. But two weeks ago in my monday lab we were making sausage and as I was rinsing out the sausage grinder I got distracted for less than a minute and let the hose down a little bit too far and it got sucked up into the grinder! You definetly can not just pull it out once its in. Benj (the teacher's assistant) came over and I said "Dont tell Brother Lamb". Everyone starts joking and laughing about it so of course Bro. Lamb comes in to see what is going on and sees the hose stuck in his machine. He came over with this look of amused amazement and said that now he has seen everything. Man strike one for Brittni lol. So I definetly did not make it through the class without making a mistake.





The next time we meet for class Im running late and apparantly Bro Lamb is telling the whole class what I did and goes on to say that as soon as he is done talking about me im going to walk into class... which of course with my luck is exactly what happened. The whole class just starts laughing... I didnt know what was going on for all i knew i showed up in my pjs but they filled me in on what he said pretty quick.

Yesterday in meat lab really wasnt much better. We were having a slaughter lab with 3 full grown sheep and 1 lamb. So we had to catch the sheep in the back of a trailor and drag them out into a shoot that gets a live weight of the animal the Bro. Lamb takes a .22 Ruger and gets them in the head which of course stuns them. Then we chain them up and cut the jugular vein in their neck. And with the heart still pumping it doesnt take long for them to bleed out. Well anyways we were in the process of gutting the second ewe and Bro. Lamb is pulling out the intestines, the whole time he is doing it he is talking about how they can be used as the casing for sausage and how good it is. Well he gets to the bottom of the intestines and has us all take a look at where it connects to the stomach and then he yanks it off and it basically explodes, intestine juices everywhere, all up and down the side of my body! Man without quick reflexes I would have had a face full of that disgusting stuff! The whole class starts laughing and Im laughing but mostly so I dont puke! Ugh it smelt so nasty. But if that was bad it gets even better. Bro. Lamb sends me and this kid Brad out to get the last ewe into the shoot and I open the trailor door to let him in and before i can close the trailor door Brad charges the ewe and it bucks and charges straight at the door opening and it knocks me out of the way and takes off running around the livestock center! So we start chasing it hoping to corner and catch it. But Brad is not a good round up partner lol Benj comes out with a rope to catch it and I say " Dont tell Brother Lamb" and he just doubles over laughing like i said the funniest thing in the world and Benj stands up and says.. Is that your new motto because you sure say that alot. Dang - Sad but true lol And when we get back with the ewe, Brother Lamb did that whole smirk and shake head thing that he does when he thinks I do something ridiculis.

Valentine's Weekend

I had a great weekend in Utah with Mark! We went snowboarding up at Brighton, and I definetly fell on my butt alot but it was a ton of fun. And Saturday we went out to go see Valentine's Day which was a pretty good movie, and then we got to watch my cousins for a few hours so my Aunt Kristin and Uncle Jared could go out. Mark was so good with them, he got to play dress up, be a horse, and run a marathon all in one night. This weekend I also got to see BYU's campus, it is twice the size of mine and the buildings are so much nicer to look at. Me and Mark climbed this tree on the west side of campus and the whole time we were in the tree I kept wanting to sing.. "Mark and Brittni Sitting in a Tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G first comes love...." you know the song. lol I didnt sing it, but i definitly got to kiss him. Anyways im back in the burg but hopefully I'll get to post some pictures soon.