I am alive. So much is happening so quickly that I barely know what to do with myself. A couple of weeks ago a group called ABBA Mania came to BYU-Idaho. I could stop writing right there and you could probably guess that it was a good time. My two roommates and I went and decided that interpretive dance complemented fake ABBA quite nicely. Not to mention, it is pretty hilarious to watch a predominantly Mormon audience chant/sing/shout along to Voulez Vous and think that the lyrics are completely innocent...yeeeah.
So I stayed up later than I should of, especially considering I had a 36ish mile relay race the next day. My team and I started at the Rexburg Temple and ended at the Idaho Falls Temple. Seriously one of the funnest days of nice life. I was the first leg, which means I got to run downhill from the Rexburg Temple. Thank heavens because goodness knows my body does not do the uphill craziness that everyone else had the joy of. Also, I may or may not have gotten lost in a junk yard for a little while... Anyway, after I passed on the slap bracelet and joined the rest of my team in the truck it was a party for the rest of the way. We would drive a little ways down the road from our runner and then sing and dance in the back of the truck until they showed up; at which point we would cheer and scream like crazy and help them along their run. We went through some of the prettiest places in the area, and ended the day with a little ultimate frisbee at a park near the Idaho Falls Temple. I owe a large thank you to my amazing and hilarious teammates, Mika, and Michael Jackson for making the day that much more enjoyable.
I think that I have mentioned this in the last few posts, but this semester one of the things I'm doing is working as a Director for Service Activities. This means that I'm in charge of 15 students and 10 service programs. It is an absolute blast and I love every second of it. Every semester we host a retreat for all of our volunteers. We go to a cabin near the Tetons and have trainings and play. This semester because I'm directing I was put in charge of planning and hosting the retreat. I was really nervous about it, but it went off really well. It was incredible to see how much my volunteers have learned in just the short time that they have been involved, and all the wonderful ideas that they have to improve their programs and the school. I was also really impressed by how much love they showed to each other and me. It was a much calmer retreat that I have been to in the past, but there were also a lot of opportunities to be taught by the spirit. It was fantastic. I am grateful to Jordyn and Jordan (yes, these are the two people I work with...they have the same name pretty much) for all the help and support they gave and for how much closer we got in just two days.
The morning that we left the retreat was also my 21st birthday. So yes, I am now legal to drink, apply/audition for reality TV shows, and participate in all forms of entertainment offered at The Strip in Las Vegas...oh, and I can apply to serve a mission too if I so choose. Anyway, for my birthday my roommates threw me a tea party. It was the most awesome thing! We had great finger food, spoke in the best British accents we could muster, and had some of the most delicious herbal tea this side of Provo. :) Really though, I had forgotten how much fun imagination games are, good choice in birthday festivities.
I went out for a little bit after the tea party and came home to some "interesting" presents. My roommates found a bunch of rocks and geology books that now belong to me, and this stray cat showed up at our door....apparently he's mine too. He's the sweetest cat in the world (and that's saying something because I'm generally a cat hater). We gave him some milk and enjoyed his company, then sent him on his way. He comes back every once in a while and repeats the experience. We've decided to name him BobJeffKnives, I'm not exactly sure why. It probably has something to do with us being ridiculous college aged girls who were way too tired when all of this was taking place.
I decided that I didn't want to hog all the rock related joy for myself, so we decided to make a delivery to one of our beloved friends, Ryan Bruce. He didn't find it half as cool as we did...his loss.
Remember how I said that I'm director for Service Activities? Well, this week was service week on campus. We encouraged all the students to utilize their activity time in Family Home Evening to do something service oriented. So my "family" and I storm cleaned apartments. We had 3 vacuums, 3 brooms, a couple bottles of all purpose cleaner, and some sponges. We would rush into apartments screaming and yelling (I seem to do a lot of that) and clean and laugh while the people who lived there looked at us wide-eyed. We cleaned 5 apartments (dishes included) as a family, and then met back up at our apartment for treats. But then half the brothers started cleaning our apartment, and the other half went to the other girl's apartment and started cleaning it. Not to be outdone we ran over to their apartment and did the same...and after it was clean we decided to rearrange all their furniture for the heck of it. They didn't find that amusing, but life goes on.
So that's life right now. I spend a lot of time doing homework, or work, or service work, or run errands for different clubs I'm in, and then I come home and party with my roommates all night long. Really, this is the life.
