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 :)