reunited and it feels so good

Ladies and gentlemen

boys and girls

Ethan Cook is back in Provo.

All I can say is:

THANK. GOODNESS.

This kid thought it would be a good idea to go to Hawaii for a week. I mean, who does that? ;)

All week long, Sarah and Elise and I would ask each other "when will Ethan be home?" Or, we would all text him saying how much we missed him. I'm sure he just LOVED that.

We (Cox 22) just adore him. He's quickly become one of our greatest friends and obviously we enjoy his company...otherwise, we wouldn't be complaining all week about how much we wished he was in town so we could hang out with him...hahaha.

As of right now, he is laying in our living room, watching Rudy with us.

All is right in the world again.

cox 22's magical adventures

Saturday was a day full of adventures.
Lisey and I went to the BYU track invitational that afternoon. Our friend, Victor was pole vaulting that day so we figured we should be supportive and go watch. And Miles Batty, a senior at BYU was going for a sub 4 mile. Unfortunately he didn't get it...I have never watched a track meet before, so it was all so very exciting!
We went to get our textbooks for Spring right after the track meet and then splurged and got J-Dawgs for lunch. Great decision.
After watching Hugo (and napping for me), Melissa and Elise and I went to Walmart....for over 2 hours. I mean...who does that? Obviously we do. We have way too much fun for our own good. We primarily went to get various cleaning products and whatnot and ended up basically looking through the entire store. We made some fan-freaking-tastic purchases, for our apartment as well as for ourselves.
We got home from Walmart around 9:15pm and decided we should go out. I saw that "This Means War" was playing at the dollar theater at 9:45, right as Sarah walked in from her date. Can you say perfect timing? She quickly changed and we were on our way! After dropping Sarah and Melissa off to buy tickets, Elise and I bought our JCW's shakes. Sneaking those into the theater was an adventure in and of itself! 4 shakes and a bag of fries were split up into me and Melissa's purses. I don't know how we did it. The movie was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. We were all obsessed with it. A roommate date was the best last minute decision ever.

Only Cox 22 could have adventures at Walmart and the Provo dollar theater.

And, I'm dang proud of it.

Construction in Utah?! Shocker.

Can I just complain for a few minutes about how it is 1:00am and there is construction going on across the street from my complex?

yuuuuuuuuup.

And, not only is it LOUD, it's BRIGHT. 

There is always construction going on in Utah..

I just wish it wasn't across the street from me.

Ughh.

I'm done. :)

Good night.

"Never cry for anyone because the one whom you cry for does not deserve your tears, and the one who deserves them will never let you cry"

let's get one thing straight before we get started.

1). This is a sappy post. Continue with caution.

2). I don't normally do this.

3). It seemed like a good idea to get it all out there and MOVE ON.

Okay, let's begin.

First of all, thank goodness for my family. And, for home.

Being able to go home and to completely forget about everything going on in Provo was absolutely heavenly. It was something I definitely needed and it came at the most perfect time.

But, in the week before I went home there were:

new, unfamiliar trials to test my faith.

 a lot of tears.

a lot of praying.

and, a lot of phone calls home.
especially with my dad.

Second of all, you need to know that this doesn't happen often. I rarely cry about anything and I never cry to my dad. But, what provoked all of these emotions was one late Monday evening when my dad called me at about midnight. He told me he felt a prompting to call me that late. And, I'm happy he did. Long story short, we were talking about what me and my friend had talked about that evening about making decisions, etc. when my dad said something my roommate Sarah was telling me moments before he called.  And, cue the water works. I began to feel the spirit so strongly - stronger than I've ever felt before. I had severe chills running down my body and I couldn't stop crying. My dad tried calming me down and repeated to tell me I had obviously been given an answer to what my friend and I were discussing that evening and to act upon that answer. I ended up not saying anything until that next Sunday (terrible...) but that whole week, nothing was going right for me and I knew it was because I had not yet acted upon the prompting given to me. I told my friend and I felt good to finally say it, but then felt terrible about what I did to him. I had placed doubt into his head of whether or not he had made the right decision and I felt HORRIBLE. I came into my apartment and just cried to my roommates - another thing I do not do. I began to think I had made the wrong choice in telling him because of how it had made me feel after I had made him feel. This was testing my faith. However, after I told him, things were looking up. I got into the athletic training program at BYU and I found out I had received a scholarship for Sp/Su. And, I know that these things happened exactly when they did for a reason - I first needed to act. 

I ended up making plans with him to go out and talk again before I left for California and we had a good conversation. In the end, I didn't say all that I had wanted which left me with regret and disappointment in myself. Putting myself out there with everything on the line scares the snot out of me. Ask me to do that for skating and I'd attack it without even thinking twice about it. But, this...this is life. And, I've begun to finally realize that. If I don't take up an opportunity while it is standing right in front of me, it's going to move on and I'm not going to be able to get it back. I had to learn this the hard way, but I won't be making that mistake again. Things will be said and nothing will be left out this time. It's time for me to step into the unknown and give it my best shot. Also, let me just say that my dad gave me such wise counsel in that week of turmoil and I am so thankful for his guidance :) Thanks for bearing with me, daddio.

But, the sun is shining, the skies are blue, and the weather is gorgeous. I am grateful for these trials - as unfamiliar and scary as they are. There is always tomorrow. There is always another opportunity. There is always my family and my friends. There is always the love and guidance of my savior and heavenly father.

My spring and summer semesters are going to be amazing and I am ready to have the best summer ever. 

Tomorrow is a new day.

Bring it on.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

I was totally going to write out entries everyday while I was home so I wouldn't have to try and remember every little detail in a post later...
and of course, this is what i am doing RIGHT now.
great. let's do this.

Friday: California Adventure! My amazing mama made me, Caitlin, and Elise breakfast and then we were on our way! ....to our local grocery store to buy Disneyland passes and snacks for the park. Theeeeen we were at Cali Adventure. :P The day was absolutely wonderful! Super hot, but I was enjoying every second of it. I swear I soaked up every little bit of sunlight that touched my skin. So heavenly. I got a sweet tan, too. HOLLA! It wasn't very crowded at all - I think the longest we waited was 30 minutes. Heather met up with us later in the day and I'm SO glad she did! She is going on a study abroad this Fall, so I won't be seeing her for about 8 months :( I love that girl so much, she will be missed terribly! We ended the day with watching World Of Color. Holy cow. An amazing show. If you ever have the opportunity to go watch it, do NOT pass it up

Saturday: DISNEYLAAAAAAAND! We woke up super early (which was so hard considering the exhausting day we had just the night before and how late we got home) and picked up Sarah at the airport! Reunited :) Then, we headed to Disneyland! It really wasn't that crowded early in the day, but as the day went on, it became more and more crowded. But, we are such bosses and got a bunch of fast passes early on and got to basically walk onto every ride. Again, I think the longest we waited was 30 minutes....like bosses. We watched one of the parades and the guys in the show were totally hitting on us. One guy blew kisses at me, another danced the "Sarah" dance move with Sarah, and another told me to "call him". Excellent. It was a long, hot, tiring day but I would not have it any other way! We ended the night with the amazing firework show and seeing Heather and her mom and younger brother at Downtown Disney one last time. :)


Sunday: Church! It was SOOOOOOOO nice to be back in my home ward! I have missed everyone so much! It was great to quickly catch up with some of my favorite people. And, it was nice to be back in a ward with people of various ages! I have missed my little primary friends as well as my fellow Relief Society sisters :) Came home and crashed for a couple hours and then started enchiladas for dinner. My good friends Austin and Thomas came over for dinner and it was SO nice to see them again! When I was in high school, they would come over every weekend to watch movies so it was great to have them over again. After dinner, we got to play catch up with each other and watched Hot Rod. I love those boys so much!

I had a wonderful weekend at home! I got a nice tan (thank goodness) but I didn't get to spend nearly as much time with my family as I had liked. But, it was nice to be home, regardless :)
Spring classes start tomorrow....Happy Spring Semester!

home sweet home (Thursday's entry)

Ahhh. To be home again.
California, I sure have missed you!
The drive down here was NUTS.
First of all, we left Provo at 3am and drove through the night. Seemed like a great idea at the time! Yeah, I only lasted about 2 and a half hours before I had to stop in Beaver and have someone else take over so I could sleep. Thanks again, Cait! We got into Southern California at about 11am and dropped Melissa off at her house and then headed to mine :) Mom greeted us with pizza and soda. Bless her heart. The girls and I were so set on going out - either to the beach or the mall, something! But, we ended up taking a 2 hour nap...and we desperately needed it! We woke up and headed to Victoria Gardens, an outdoor mall not far up the 15fwy with my folks to get some shtuff. We found out that Elise has never had a Hot Dog on a Stick, so we made sure she lost that virginity real fast and made her eat one. My favorite is the cheese on a stick. I LOVE CHEESE ON A STICK. Seriously, a guilty pleasure. So dang delicious.
Today (Thursday), the girls and I got dolled up (not really) and headed to LA! We went to the Santa Monica pier and walked around and got to touch the freezing cold ocean. I HAVE MISSED THE BEACH SO MUCH! Holy cow. I don't think anyone understands my love for the beach and how much I have missed it while being in freezing Utah. After the pier, we headed down to Beverly Hills and drove down Rodeo Drive. Mercedes were EVERYWHERE. My little Mitsubishi looked so out of place :( We visited the Visitor's Center at the Los Angeles where Elise got to see her sister, Erin! Erin is serving a mission out here and Elise surprised her. It was a sweet, sisterly moment :) The only thing about being all the way out in LA is....it took us about 2 and a half hours just to get home. Whew! It was a wonderful, eventful day but I am EXHAUSTED.
It is so fantastic being home. My daddy really emphasized that I needed to leave EVERYTHING in Provo and to come to California and completely relax and regroup before I start Spring/Summer semesters. I've had an emotional couple of days leading up to coming home where I felt like nothing was going my way and I couldn't see the light at the end of my very dark tunnel. This trip home was exactly what I needed and I already feel 1000000x better :)

We are going to California Adventure tomorrow! I am so excited! Then, Sarah flies in Saturday morning and we will have our Disneyland day :) We have an extremely busy next few days, so I better catch some zZzZzZzZzs's....
Happy End of Winter Semester! (officially!)

P.S. this entry was intended to be posted on Thursday....whoops :P

Winter Semester = Jimmered.

And, thus ends my Sophomore year.
wait, what?
HOLY COW, WHERE DID THE TIME GO?!?!
7 finals are done, work is done, laundry is done. I just have to pack and then we hit the road to California. But, that can't be true....because it feels like just yesterday I was starting my first day of classes for winter semester! Holy smokes. There are no words. This semester has been FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. Let me take a moment to recap on the top 20 best things that happened this semester...

1. I had the opportunity to teach some of the BEST students in the BYU figure skating classes. Seriously can't get over how amazing they ALL are.

2. I "Big Cosmo Rodeo"-ed....A LOT. :)

3. I won a ton of free shtuff this year at basketball games, etc.

4. I changed my major...again.  But, this time to Exercise and Wellness.

5. Then, I changed it...again...to Athletic Training.

6. I met the entire basketball and football team while working on my observation hours for the Athletic Training program. Great guys!

7. Had to run to the emergency room with the girls when Ali fractured her other ankle. Fail.

8. We got on tv at the last home basketball game!

9 I saw Vocal Point in concert :) And, saw Tyrone Wells AND Joe Brooks at the Velour :) LOVE LOVE LOVE.

10. I got to go home for a weekend to see my great granny who came down from Hawaii.

11. Festival of Colors and Olive Garden for Elise's birthday...with the attractive waiter. Nuff said.

12. Skipping class to get free mickey ears at the Disney store. Best decision ever.

13. Conference weekend/sleepover in the living room.

14. Watching my figure skating classes perform...and to see the finished project of all their hard work this semester.

15. Easter at Sarah's house :)

16. Being interview for the athletic training program...AND GETTING IN!!!!!!!

17. I became a resident coach at the Peaks Ice Arena!! :D

18. Seeing Titanic in 3D on the reading days...another great decision. 

19. Going on a date with Andrew to Tucanos...my first time! It was absolutely delicious. I didn't know I could eat so much...and, having the amount of fun we did in a toy store. Oh yeah.

20. Meeting the people I did this year as well as having the experiences I had. I have had a lot of firsts this semester...and, it will definitely be a semester to beat! But, I'm excited to be staying for Spring/Summer.

So, here's to Sophomore Year: the good times and the bad, the laughs, the tears, the heart-to-hearts, the stress, the heartbreaks, the new love interests, the friends, the family, following spiritual promptings, and everything in between. You've been good to me Sophomore year....but, I can't wait to see what my Junior year has in store for me!

California, here I come :)

May the odds be ever in my favor...

Ohhhhhhhhhh boy.

My life right now consists of staying up late and studying my buns off. That must mean finals have arrived!
In case you don't go to BYU, finals start for us this Saturday. This semester has seriously FLOWN by. I remember thinking last Winter dragged on and on...but, I don't even know where the time went!

My first final starts tonight in class for Polynesian Dance. It should be pretty easy and will give me a positive start to my finals.
 My Athletic Training Lab final is tomorrow morning....at 6:45am. Ahhhhhhh I am not excited to wake up that early for a final. I have that class with my friend, Andrew, and he's been coming over to help me study. He's such a doll. We are totally going to ace this practical and written final!! We got this.
Reading days start Thursday....AKA going to see Titanic 3D with the girls and going to Tucanos with Andrew on Friday. Don't worry, studying will be happening! :)

All that stands in the way of me going home is: Physiology, Mission Prep, Geography, Physics, and Athletic Training lecture final.

My roommates Melissa and Elise and my friend Caitlin are road-tripping with me to California :) Melissa is going home while Elise and Caitlin stay at my house. My other roommate Sarah flies into California Saturday morning and we're all going to Disneyland! Then, we will all drive back to Provo on Monday in order to start Spring semester classes on Tuesday. These next few weeks are going to be crazy, but California is waiting for me in the end!!

I can practically hear the sound of the ocean...

Happy Easter!

Happy happy Easter!!
This is my first Easter away from home, so it was a little different for me. Usually we go up to my great-aunt and uncle's place in Palm Springs and celebrate with my family there. We eat, laugh, swim, and have egg hunts. So fun :) But, this year, because we are still in school, I spent it in Utah with my 4 amazing roommates.

After church, Elise and Melissa and I came home and planned on watching Les Mis....but, Melissa and I ended up taking a 2 hour nap hahaha. At 4:15, Elise, Melissa, Lisa, and I drove up the street to Sarah's house for Easter dinner :) That was absolutely fantastic! It was so fun to be at a home and interact with Sarah's amazing family and eat delicious food. We even had an Easter egg hunt! We had to sing for our dessert...which was WAY fun and cute and the whole family was sang with us. Again, so cute. For dessert, we had this peach shortcake for dessert...and I gotta say...I usually don't like peaches, but I LOVED this dessert!

We had a wonderful time at the Meyer's home and we are so thankful to them for inviting us over! Thanks, again!!

Getting ready to hunt for some eggs!

The triplets :)

Happy Easter from Cox 22!!

i didn't want it to end...

...my figure skating classes, that is.

So, Tuesday and Thursday marked the last day/performance day for my UVU and BYU Figure Skating classes. And, I was so sad/happy/proud/emotional. Sad because it was the last time I got to work with all of them. Happy because I was so impressed by how much they have improved over the semester. Proud because of their hard work and their stellar performances. Emotional because I didn't want to say goodbye to them!
UVU is my first class on Tuesdays at 12pm and they skated to El Tango De Roxanne...and they nailed it. They did such a fantastic job performing as well as executing their jumps/spins/choreography. I got a picture with them, but it's really blurry and dark because the lights were off in the rink :(

Then, for my BYU class at 2pm, they skated to Jackson 5's ABC. They also skated WONDERFULLY!!! I told them to smile and perform and they did exactly that. It was all smiles from start to finish. They are so dang cute - dressed in their neon colors to honor the 80's. :P

 Can you tell we were trying to spell out "ABC"? :)

I am one dang proud coach.

Then, it was Thursday's time to perform. One the coaches I work with, Jacquie, and I made up a program in 15 minutes to perform for our classes. At the beginning of the semester, Jacquie's class requested that because they have to perform, the coaches should, too. And, we thought that would be a great idea too....but, we completely forgot until last week. We picked the music we wanted and tried to come up with something in 5 minutes, but it didn't really work out. But, then on Thursday, we had a program. And, we killed it! We were such bosses. The only thing is I am terribly out of shape...so, I was dying by the end of the program hahaha. 

ANYWAYS. My BYU 12pm class skated to a mash-up of Nsync's "Dirty Pop" and Britney Spears' "Oops! I Did It Again". I told them before they performed that they needed to REALLY perform and get into the program....and boy, did they! They were AMAZING!!! They were shaking it, singing along, skating with confidence, the whole 9 yards. I was thoroughly impressed! And, don't they just look so cute? :)

The sad part is...I don't know their first AND last names, so I have yet to add them all on Facebook to tag them in these pictures and the video of their performance. If you took my class and are reading this now (or see your friends!), tell them to add me on Facebook! Haha. On Tuesday, I went through the roll we have and added them all then and there but I didn't have time on Thursday to do so :(

and then it was time for my 2pm class....and boy.....was i excited!!!

So, this 2pm class is one stellar group. They have worked so hard from the beginning of the semester right to the day we performed. They never complained when I would tell them to do more stroking because their arms were getting a little lazy. They never NOT tried anything I asked of them...whether it was butt spins or toe touches or toe loops. They are a fantastic bunch!! ANYWAYS. They skated to Footloose...and did amazing! They were laughing, smiling, performing, and exuding confidence. Boy, was I proud!

For some reason, I've always wanted to be lifted up on the ice....and they did just that for me :')

 

Oh. Did I mention how after they performed and bowed, they also gave me a gift? Yup. They did. A few weeks ago, one of my students, Debbie, wanted to take a group picture. Cool. Well, apparently, they all chipped in and blew the picture up, framed it, and then gave it to me as a gift. They then proceeded to tell me their thank yous...as I cried in the middle of them. Seriously though, it was the nicest thing a group of people have EVER done for me! I skated away into the hockey box and just sat there hugging the picture to my chest and cried. I told you it was an emotional day! Words cannot describe my love for them...I love each and every one of them individually! I have never had a group like this and I feel so blessed to have been able to teach and befriend them! They are such a beautiful group - inside and out! Okay, I need to stop talking about it before I get emotional again......

 Great job to all my students! You guys were the best group of classes I've had, yet! Thanks for a wonderful, enjoyable semester :)