Just some pictures!!!

Jordan and I in Utah. Four-wheeling and campfire with his family! It was a lot of fun.

Jordan and I at the bowling alley...this was as I was totally killing him in the game!

Jess and I at Gram's on Easter Sunday!

Home!!!!

It was so good to be home for a few days this past weekend. I guess I'll complain first before I talk about my fun weekend.

COMPLAINING.....

I only got to go home for literally 3 days. First off my trip home started off horribly!!! I was supposed to leave Saturday evening at 5:55 PM. So I go to print my boarding pass around 3:00 PM and it says that my flight left already at 1:00PM. I was like you've got to be kidding me. Of course, I called my mom crying and she was like are you kidding me? So she called the air line and yep...my flight was gone. There was no way that I was going to be getting to California Saturday night. Luckily, my good friend Chris lives right by the airport in Idaho Falls, so I was able to stay with her and she took me to the airport Sunday morning at the crack of dawn so I could catch my flight around 6:30 AM. So I got to California on Sunday morning...only to realize I didn't pack any make-up and the dress that I brought to wear to church was too short. Ha...talk about one adventure after another! But that's all the complaining I have because the rest was really good.

THE GOOD STUFF....

I got to California and spent some time with my parents and the dogs! It was so good to see them all. Then I got ready for church and went with Jordan. Church was good and it was fun to be with Jordan again! After church I went to my Gram's for Easter dinner and we had dinner with the whole family. It was so good to see my grandparents and uncle. It's funny how you don't really realize how much you miss your family until you have to leave them...or you come back to see them...and realize how much you took for granted before! Once we got home from Gram's I hung out with parents and we watched some TV. Then Jordan and I went and tried to find a star wheel. We didn't have success with the star wheel but we did end up with a boy scouts book with the constellations and we went and tried to find the constellations. Let me tell you...that is a lot harder than it seems! Monday I got to have breakfast with Marissa and Stacy. It was so good to see them again and catch up. It's funny how we get together after not seeing eachother for 4 months and we just pick up right back where we left off. I love those girls. Of course, Marissa and I went shopping with my mom...that's just what Marissa and I always do and it was nice to have my mom with us! Jordan and I went to dinner Monday night at one of my most favorite restuarants... The Old Spaghetti Factory. It's funny because I go home and I have to make sure that I eat at certain restuarants because we have NONE here in little ol' Rexburg. Tuesday was a fun day as well. I hung out with my mom in the morning and then took Jordan bowling at the new bowling alley in Elk Grove. Talk about a NICE bowling alley! Then I was able to go see my 5th grade teacher and visit with her a bit which was very nice. My parents, Jordan and I went to dinner Tuesday night at my ULTIMATE favorite restuarant...Locke Gardens. It was amazing as always! And I totally think that they should branch out to hick town Rexburg so that I can eat amazing Chinese food EVERYDAY! And before I knew it, I was waking up at 4:30 Wednesday morning to leave by 5:00 AM to catch my flight back to Idaho at 6:25AM.

And now I'm back in Rexburg and it's the same old stuff. Check-in's, pay for everything, grocery shop, and then finally school starts on Monday. Oh the joys of being a college student. Only 98 more days until the end of the semester....Not that I've already started counting down and I haven't had my first day of classes yet! :) I just can't wait to be back in California! But what can I say...I'm going to enjoy the next 3 months and have a blast while I'm at it! I mean, You've got to make the best of what is going on RIGHT now! Hope all is well! Take Care!

Bri....Me....Jen....

No words can explain what happens when we get together!

Jen and I

This picture describes our apartment.

Bri and Jen just being weird....

Janelle not really knowing what is going on...

and me...

well yeah it's just me!

Wow...it has been a while since I have updated on here. Let's just say that is what happens when you're in college and are taking 18 credits. (I don't recommend ever taking 18 credits in 1 semester!) But I'm happy to say that I survived. I finished up my semester yesterday afternoon and I'm so glad to be done! And now comes another semester. But before I go to the next semester let's rewind a bit and get caught up.

So...all of my classes were pretty amazing. I love actually being in my major and actually enjoyoing my classes. Learning about kids and marriage and families is so interesting to me. It still amazes me how everything is connected together and if one thing in out of whack...everything else tends to be out of whack as well.

Roommates were amazing this semester and I'm sad to see two of them moving out but Jen will still be here and we have two new girls that are awesome moving in. Janelle and Bri were so amazing and they are just two wonderful girls. They are so fun and all four of us were able to just relax and have so much fun together.

I didn't really do much vacationing this semester...just went down to Utah once. Actually just a week ago. I went down to see one of my best friends Jordan. It was the first time that we saw eachother in over 2 years as he got off his mission about a month ago. It was great to see him. We hung out with his family and went four-wheeling and just got caught up over the past 2 years.

And sad....but now it's time for another semester. I cannot believe that I am in my second semester of my junior year of college. I guess it's like the saying...Time flies when you're having fun...but I must seriously be having a blast because it's like I blink and it's gone!

Sorry for not being better at updating. Hope all is well!

What Life's About

Today was not my ideal amazing day. It was colder than cold and the world just seemed to be frustrating me. I was at the point of tears just thinking about school and just wanting to go home when I found out that I wouldn't be able to be home for as long as I thought...it was just one of those cold, annoying, Rexburg kind of days. So I just came home from school and tried to do homework...worked a bit and then came home again to find myself working on more homework...my daily routine it seems.

For one of my classes I am doing an assignment where I have to find 3 research articles about a specific topic that have to do with Child Development. (For those of you that don't know...I'm a Child Development major) The topic that I chose to research is Pediatrics Oncology. I chose this because my dream job is to be a Child Life Specialist. I would work with children that have long-term or terminal illnesses. Such as kids with cancer...which is what I really want to do. Anyway...So I was looking through articles about kids with cancer and I came across this one titled "Quality of Life as Conveyed by Pediatric Patients with Cancer". It was about how researchers are finally going straight to the children in order to find out what they think about their quality of life when they are receiving treatment for terminal illnesses. The researches go and interview these children and ask them 3 questions. The questions were:

1. What makes a good day for you?

2. What makes a bad day for you?

3. Are there some things you like to do that you cannot do now?

One of the children interviewed was a 10-year-old girl. Keep that in mind 10-years old!!! At the conclusion of her interview she said, "You did not ask all of the right questions." She was asked to explain her statement and she said, "You should have asked 'How has being sick been for you?'" So the man interviewing her asked her that question and she responded,

"I would tell you that I wonder why I am the one to get leukemia but that I tell myself it is better that I get it than my little sister. She could not do this."

The fact that this little girl...10 years old...said this made me realize again why I'm going to school. Her statement made me look at my life and see what I'm doing to help someone else. To make sure that I'm living my life everyday so that I am not taking for granted what God has blessed me with.

Please...if anything...just keep this scenerio in your head the next time you want to complain about it being too cold, or that life just isn't fair. Let this little girl's response inspire you. Do something that you wouldn't normally do today. Be a little nicer, a little kinder, a little bit more like the person you have always dreamed of being. Do that today, and do that tomorrow, and soon enough you will be that!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Well this past weekend I celebrated my 21st birthday! It was so good to be with friends and roommates and just enjoy my weeekend! Friday night was my night with Chris! She came up and took me to dinner and then surprised me with friends at the Millhollow Yogurt and then spent the night for a fun girl's night! Then Saturday my roommates took me out to Craigo's for what is called a "Cookie Monster". Basically it's heaven on earth! It's a BIG cookie baked only part of the way topped with ice cream, whipped cream, caramel syrup and chocolate syrup. Yes like I said....heaven on earth!!! After dessert we came back to the apartment and well to make a long story short my roommates so kindly locked me in my bathroom for like 10 minutes while they hid my presents. It was quite a hilarious night! And then Sunday...my actual birthday...my roommate Janelle made us delicious White Bean Chilli...it was AMAZING!!! Then we played some intense Uno and just had a great time! I still can't believe that I'm 21. It seems like just yesterday I was running around in the front yard back home being chased by the boys that lived next door to me! Oh the memories! And oh the memories that will come! Thanks to everyone that shared my birthday with me and for all the birthday wishes! Here's to another year in the life of Mandi!

Yep....Chris and I are strange...but we like it! Bri and I at Craigo's

Janelle and Jen...

That's Jen way too excited for the Cookie Monster!

All gone....

Roommates!

I'm glad they can entertain themselves with my camera!

Finally, they let me out of the bathroom!

I came home Sunday to find my room full of PINK balloons...

I have some of the BEST FRIENDS!!!!

Thanks everyone for such a great day!

....snow...

So I'm back in Rexburg and I finally realized what it is about the snow that I dislike so much. I'm not talking about the fact that in Rexburg, snow is colder, wetter, and more irritating than anything else in the world! But what I'm talking about is the fact that whenever I see snow it usually means that I am not with my family. I realized this on Thursday when I was on the shuttle from Salt Lake City to Rexburg. Anytime that I see snow, besides at my sister's house, I am usually leaving my family. Snow really is not all that bad. It's more the emotion that is tied to the snow that drives me absolutely crazy. I see the snow and all I want is to be with my family in our warm house with the wood fire place burning!

But I guess this is just another semester where I will learn to deal with my car being covered with a foot of snow and the completely irritating fact that if I want to go anywhere I have to scrape that foot of snow off my car! NOT my idea of fun. Hence the reason I try to walk as much as possible in the winters. Yes...the underlying of that last sentence is that I'm too lazy to scrape snow off my car so instead I put on 2 pairs of pants, 3 shirts, a beanie, gloves, scarf, and of course my parka in order to go to school. I guess it's good that I'm walking and saving money on gas but truly what has this thing called snow done to me? Pretty much, it's done everything to drive me crazy!

As every past winter semester though, I'm going to try and appreciate the snow a little more everyday. (Yeah we'll see how long that lasts!) Enjoy the sunshine wherever you are and PLEASE...enjoy it some for me!