"You're Not Hardcore, Unless You Live Hardcore!"

Yesterday I had an epiphany of sorts as I realized that I had successfully achieved the status of "hardcore". It's an accomplishment that I am beyond proud of. But I would be entirely too selfish if I kept my experience to myself and denied others the opportunity to learn how to become hardcore. Of course, there are multiple ways of obtaining said status, but in case anyone wants to copy my own, this is how it happened for me:



First, I gave blood! Only my second time doing it, but it is one of the most rewarding things I've ever done! It is so great everytime, and you get to wear a vastly conspicuous bandage on your arm for the rest of the day :)




Secondly, get a sweet tat!! It works especially well if the artist took the SURGERY MARKER from the blood drive in which you participated. As you can see, dragons or mickey mouse heads are always good options when choosing which tat you want to have put on your arm. My friends and I decided that this is a traditon that must be carried on, so we will be celebrating Tatuesday every week! Bahaha!

This is just one of the many life lessons I have learned while in attendance at Eastern Arizona College. I will forever praise the day I officially became "hardcore", and hopefully my journey will inspire others to seek this great accomplishment. It is worth it.

That's all I have to say about that.

Save Lives--Check!

What an eventful week!! To say the least. Well I suppose it was Halloween week that was crazy, but saving lives a few days later was great too! :) I conquered a fear!! Look at that blood rushing out of my body! Bahaha It was my very first time giving blood and I may or may not have acted like a 4 year-old that's getting a shot! Lol! Oh well...they were patient with me. And I loved it! I was super scared but everything went great and I'm so glad I did it! And I will definitely do it again in 6 months. Although I can almost guarantee I'll still act like a 4 year-old...

Yay for giving blood!!

This is the time when Wendy and I dressed up as Cholas for "costume day" during Spirit Week :)

The night before Halloween we had this crazy bonfire/pizza/dance party for no reason. It was pretty awesome. Complete with fireworks and the Haka!! And displayed below:

Intense, right??

And to end the week, we had the most insane block party at our apartment complex! I use the term "insane" loosely, considering it was just a ton of Mormons, but still....it was awesome! There were 6 apartments with all different music playing and 2 or 3 with games going on. Massive amounts of people were just wandering to and fro from apartment to apartment and dancing and celebrating Halloween.... It was just awesome! So fun.

And that's it! I thought that the semester would slow down once we got a ways into it, but it has only gotten crazier and crazier! Last night I stayed up til about 3:00 a.m. (cause I watched a scary movie and was too scared to go to sleep) and then got up at 8:15 for a service project. We drove about an hour to a chili field and then gleaned chilis for 4 hours!! At 2:00 they served us a DELICIOUS lunch and then we drove an hour back to Thatcher. I showered, didn't get the nap I needed, my roommate came home from clinicals, we ate dinner, got ready, and then went to a 7:30 basketball game. Now I am beat. I vaguely remember a time when Saturdays were relaxing, but it was way too long ago for me to recall! Every monday I am ready for the weekend to start. But we do get school off this Wednesday! Yay!! Ok, that's all. Hope you enjoyed this little exerpt from my life!

Have a great week!!

Those were the days...

I had a thought the other day, and it was very random indeed. But I felt like it was blog-worthy. So here's my story:

I had the opportunity to be a mommy for three kids for five days ab0ut a week ago. The eldest son was 7 years old, then the younger daughters were 5 and 2 years of age. On one of the days, the oldest two children were at the Treehouse (which is a child drop-off and pick up place here in Yuma. You can drop your kids off for a few hours and they can just play and do crafts and then you are free to get stuff done or just relax or whatever. It's basically awesome.) from 8:00 a.m. til about 1:30 p.m., since their aunt is the co-owner and their cousins play there all the time with them. Anyway, they played with their cousins at the Treehouse for hours, came home and played games and stuff for a few more hours, and then their cousins came back that night around 8:00 and they immediately started playing with their toys and running around like maniacs outside and participating in other childish activities. I was kind of amazed. I began to analyze the situation. You see, these kids play with their cousins several times a week, usually, if not every day for even just a few minutes. They ran around at the Treehouse all morning that one day I was previously talking about, and they never stopped! And then when their cousins came over again that night they still had tons of fun just playing with toys and being outside! So much playing! So I began to think...

When did "playing" turn into "hanging out"? As a child, I remember going over to neighbors' houses every single day to play. It was always "Ariana, can you play today?" or she would come over and say "Can you come out to play today Stephie?" or something else along those lines. Every day. And I knew I was in big trouble when my mom wouldn't let me go play! But do we ever ask that question now? No. When friends get together these days, it's always to "hang out". "Let's hang out at my house" or "Can we hang out here for a little while?". And more often than not, "hanging out" consists of sitting somewhere and talking or watching a movie. When do playing children transition into teenagers and young adults that hang out? And is this transition for better or worse? Why don't we still run around all day long and never get tired of sharing new toys with a good friend? Ok that sounds weird....but that's the point!

As of right now I don't know where this is going. But I guess there never really was a specific goal. I just never thought about the difference between all those childhood days of "playing" with my friends and neighbors and all the recent days when I've done very little with my friends on any given day besides hang out. Why is that? I just don't know....

That was my thought. Or several of my thoughts.... Yeah. Oh yay I get to sing in church tomorrow! And the next week! Bahaha. Should be great. And that is all :)

Temple Trip!

Oh my goodness!! Temples are just one of the greatest things on this Earth, are they not?? I submit that they are. Especially when you've got such a great group of friends to go with :)


We left Friday night and got to our destination (Tanner and Bryan's grandparents' house) kinda late. Some of us really didn't want to go to sleep but majority ruled. It was only like 12:30! But we got reprimanded by our EFY couselor :) We eventually went to sleep after Mom and Dad initiated family prayer. Teehee :) We got up at like 5:00 or 5:30 (depending on the person) the next morning, got ready, and went to the beautiful Mesa temple! Goodness!... that was just a great experience. The temple is so wonderful! So great...

This is Wendy Smith, Joycie Butter (Ok really her name is Joyce Van Vianen. She's from Holland!), and me! We took a butter picture in front of the temple. Obviously :) Precious...

YAY!!! We slept for so many hours once we got home! After that we wanted to go to the new X-men movie but it was basically sold out. So we went to Walmart instead. Got some stuff... and then we were hungry. So we got the Dominoes 555 deal!! Such a great thing! Note bonkers butter's bonkers hairstyle (far right). Perfect for the occasion :) What a great night!

The best part is that the entire weekend was AWESOME!!! Sunday was one of the greatest Sabbath Days I've had since I came to Thatcher. Great lessons in Relief Society and Sunday School, really great testimonies in Sacrament meeting, and then our last time singing at the Nursing home :( It was really sad to say goodbye to those people, especially Tom Rose, but singing there will probably be one of my favorite memories from college.

This week has mostly consisted of Finals with the occasional studying. Just kidding. I've actually studied alot more than I usually would... Anyway, I'll be leaving Thatcher in 2 days!!! It's so weird to think of that! Even more weird to think that I'll be living at home ALL SUMMER! Wow. "Baby steps, Bob. Baby steps." :) I hope everyone else is having a super fabulous week as well!!

Yay for good times!

Yippie Yay for Friends!

I have come to realize the importance of a good friend. In the beginning of a new phase of life, it is instinct to surround yourself with as many people as possible as a means of confidence boosting and a sense of security. Then, as time goes by, you start to understand what friends you should be with and those that you shouldn't. It's a hard lesson to learn, and I never thought I'd have to do it, but it has become inescapably clear how much friends can influence you. Turns out those church leaders really knew what they were talking about ;)

And so, I would like to say "Thank You" to the good friends I have, whether at school or back home. Last night I got to hang out with Tanner, Bryan, and Wendy (something that doesn't happen all too often anymore) and it was awesome!! Just being around people that are THAT amazing puts me in a good mood and makes me really appreciate coming to EA. I learned lots of things here and met lots of people that have helped make me a better person just by their example. Yay for them!

Anyway, I really do appreciate the good friends I have. You guys are awesome!! Thank you for being alive! Uhhhkay! hahaha ok sorry I'm done.

Yippie Yay for friends!

Can I just say how absolutely wonderful it is to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints? My heart is positively overflowing, and I'm sure this is the shortest blog ever, but I really just wanted to speak (or type) what's on my mind. The gospel is... I don't even know how to describe it. I am so grateful for the opportunity I've had to know the truth! Maybe it's just the Christmas season getting to me :) Either way, I just wanted to take the chance to say how much I love the gospel and how unbelievably blessed I have been to be a part of Christ's true church. I love it, I really do.

One time Me, Wendy (not my mom), and Callie went to Mt. Graham for the afternoon to play in the snow. There wasn't actually a whole lot of snow (which is really frustrating because it snowed on the mountain for 2 days straight after we went up!!) but the whole trip in general was, in a word, sublime. The scenery was gorgeous, being away from the city/college was rejuvinating, and just the overall feel of the day was so needed. It was so awesome.

This was our first stop. About half way up the mountain there's this little place where you can pull over and the most beautiful tree and stream were there! It looks like something off of a postcard doesn't it? We were astounded. But then again you kinda had to be there because everything around it contributed to it's awesome-ness as well.

There's us! Duh. You can see the stream in the background!

We love snow!!!


We played snow-baseball...

Wendy and Callie on the slide of the road! Haha get it? Like "side of the road" but it's a slide?

And a lovely sunset to finish off the day :) It was absolutely fabulous.