My BSU, BYU-I, CWI, EOU Life

Lately, I have had to constantly remind myself not to wish away these last two years of my undergraduate studies. I look back to when I started in the Fall of 2009 and it feels like forever ago because I have come so far. Midway through my first semester at BSU I remember telling my mom, through tears and confusion, that I just don't know if the university life is for me. I really just wanted to take some writing classes so I could improve in what I actually cared about. I also had thoughts of going to San Francisco to make bank as a nanny, try massage school, reflexology, or enroll in a hair academy. Most of my teachers are BSU were really strange, the environment put me into a sort of culture shock, and I didn't feel like I was in the right place.

I had the powerful feeling in December of my first semester that I needed to let BYU-I know I was coming to my accepted Winter/Spring track after all and I packed up to move to Rexburg, which felt like home to me. There I met my two darling Texan roommates and one adorable girl from Boise.  I didn't have many friends and didn't attend many social events, even though it is safe to say probably half of my high school attended BYU-I.  I studied and worked hard to improve me and I reaped the benefits of that. For the first time since elementary school, I felt like I was getting school and that I was succeeding in it, because I was I was growing in tremendous ways I did not know were possible. And that wasn't by some miracle, it was because I was doing all that I could to do well, and God was making up the rest.

When I came home off track I had no idea that I would be meeting the love of my life and that I wouldn't be attending another semester at BYU-I. I had a plan, I was happy with it, and moving forward, and that is why Heavenly Father felt I was ready to have the tremendous blessing of Jeff in my life. That is not to say that I did not have trials and confusion through that time. I took a year off of school before enrolling at the community college Fall of 2011 while Jeff and I were engaged, and that year I also grew in so many ways. I couldn't wait to marry Jeff. I pushed things before they were right, I questioned myself and again, my potential and my worth. I had a new lesson to learn and that was not one that involved education.

Here I am, at a great school and married to my best friend, and life still has its gloomy moments. I have been to so many different schools, and sometimes I question what the worth of a Bachelors degree really is. I don't have to have anything to prove I am smart and can work hard. But yet I do. School and a schedule give my life momentum and structure. As of now deadlines make my world go round and they will until a new chapter of my life is ready to begin. But I'm learning and growing everyday and I'm so grateful for this opportunity with truly nothing holding me back but my own doubt at times. Heavenly Father has held my hand through this seemingly long and complicated path to get where I am now. And while the adversary comes in to bring us down at our lowest times, he also comes when we have made a plan for ourselves and are working to better our lives. And I'm not going to let it stop me, not after how far I've come.

Ben Folds put it best when he sang:

I don't get many things right the first time
in fact I am told that a lot.
Now I know all the wrong turns
the stumbles and falls
brought me here.
And where was I before the day
that I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday.
And I know that I am the luckiest.

Monday.

She walked outside to feel that the earth was just beginning to wake. Very few cars, some bodies slowly making their way to campus and other various obligations. She had risen early and was hopeful for the hours to come.

When the weather dropped after dusk she was finally able to open the windows and cool down her 80 degree apartment. She walked around feeling like she was floating on summer, smelling freshly mowed lawns and clean air, listening to cars drive by from a distance. In just a few hours the trains would be going, they were beginning to feel like a lullaby that welcomed sleep amongst her worry-some late night thoughts.

It is a gift to know and to feel and to be, but sometimes during the height of the day it is easy for her to forget.

A List of Little Things I Love.

I love the solitude of a quiet little home in the evening, just long enough to finish the lingering dishes and tidy up a bit.

I love folding the last of the laundry revealing the entirety of my bed, which was in fact made today.

I love walking to class, not in a hurry, because the sun is shining and I want to soak up every minute.

I love waking up at 5:30 to do homework because the rest of the world is still sleeping and my mind is clear and ready to work.

I love my love for making dinner without question the nights I need to spend a little extra time on homework, which happens more often than I would like.

I love him, also, for being my tutor when I don't understand my schoolwork. He never fails to help me know I am not alone in this.

I love reading Shakespeare and actually laughing during a humorous part because I understand.

I love when a stranger in class makes an effort to get to know me and becomes another friendly face on campus.

I love the Lord and Savior for hearing and answering my prayers through the little things I love every single day.

A Friday Letter.

Dear Fridays in general,
Fridays this term have been tough. Weekly quizzes for Math are on Fridays, Tutoring class at 3 p.m. on Fridays, and Screenwriting homework is always due at 5 p.m. on Fridays. Today I am handing in a revised Act I of my screenplay. But here we are at the last Friday of the term... and it is surprisingly bittersweet! No class on Friday's next term, I hope that's as fun as it sounds! Speaking of Math...


Dear Mathematics,
You aren't so bad! I'm going to finish with an A in Geometry and it may be one of the most wonderful accomplishments that I've had yet...


Dear Oregon,
I was telling Jeff that if I had rain boots, I probably would have worn them every day but maybe 5 days the two and a half months we've lived here. Granted that winter's in the northwest are rather wet, I still rest my case. I need rain boots! And conveniently want some, too.


Dear Jeff,
I am learning that the Draw Something app is quite popular and that more people than just you are addicted to it. I'll try not to get so offended when you try and play under the table at dinnertime. (Just kidding) PS- Can't wait for Spring Break!


Dear Boise,
I can't wait to savour your Thai cuisine once again. And friends in Boise, can't wait to see you!


Dear Idaho Falls,
What is it about you that I hold so dear? Oh yeah, my childhood memories and my family is located there! So excited to visit HOME!

some things about muah.

A friend Jessica wrote a post featuring 11 questions about herself, then tagged me and asked me to do the same! First, I want to tell you why Jessica is so great. I met her my freshmen year at BYU-I and she was my Spanish tutor, but quickly became someone I loved talking with about everything and laughing a lot. She helped me find a love for learning Spanish (that still hasn't gone away!), shared homeschooling ideas, healthy food ideas, running, and just about anything! I still can't wait to live near Jessica someday so we can share more ideas and homeschool together...

To start these random questions I will first include a random picture of myself. This is me a couple months ago, so excited after Jeff and I ventured to Washington and found a coffee table/entertainment system where we put my computer with speakers for a near theatre experience when we watch movies and shows. It also holds all of our school books and other junk collected from the day. Its job is important as you can see.

Here are the lucky questions....

1. What is one of your favorite meals you made in the last month? Recipe?

The other day I found this recipe for lentil hard-shell tacos via Pinterest. Jeff and I modified it to what we had in our fridge and we do not regret doing so, it was delicious!
Basically, we just started with a little oil, an onion, and a clove of garlic over medium heat until it started to smell good. Then we added 1 cup of red lentils,  2 1/2 cups of Better Than Boullion chicken broth, a packet of taco seasoning (I feel like that's cheating, next time we'll just mix up some spices) and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. We generally like our dishes meatless so we also steamed asparagus and put it in our tacos as well. Then we added some lettuce, tomatoes, and on Jeff's part anything spicy that he could find.

Beat that taco bell.

Sound weird? It was sooo yummy! I will say the key here was the hardshell tacos part.

2. What was one of your all-time favorite dates?

For Jeff and I's third date, I decided it was time to make him dinner. Taniesha and I cooked for him and his friend (now my good friend) Rus. And of course the dinner wasn't that tasty and everything really could have gone better, but they didn't notice because they are gentlemen. After that Jeff and Rus took us up to a hot springs in the mountains. The drive there Jeff and I talked for about an hour solid and learned so much about each other. I told him one of my dreams was to take a cross country bike ride and I think that is when I stole his heart because we have been inseparable since that time. Almost every day since that day, we continue to find things we have in common and we have so much fun talking about our dreams and ideas.

3. When did you do something brave?

I'm going to have to say this summer when Jeff, Mikelle, Hannah, Renee, her sister-in-law and myself all went to Sliding Rock in Alpine. A quite unfortunate thing about myself is that I get progressively LESS brave as the years go by. I don't know what happened, I was such a fearless little kid, but I just don't have the guts anymore. Anyhow, Sliding Rock is basically a small waterfall with rocks under it that enable one to slide down very quickly and kind of get submerged in water along the way. It sounded so fun, and looked so fun, but was really scary. And of course the law of attraction kicked in and, because I was scared, I hit my tailbone on a rock at the bottom and sitting down, especially in church, was really difficult for the next couple months. At least I can relate to people now when they say their tailbone is bruised. I never did quite understand before.

4. Who is your favorite TV character?

I can't say I know a ton of TV character's, but I do get a kick out of Jess (Zooey Deschanel) on New Girl because she is just so wonderfully awkward all the time and it is entertainment to me for sure. She has also got some definite style and swag. And she's a teacher, which would be so fun.

5. What do you want to name one of your children? Why?

I am definitely sentimental when it comes to naming my future children. I am all about names with personal meaning. I want to integrate my sister's and brother's names in for middle names, and for first names reuse ancestors names, or relatives that I never knew very well, things like that! I want to name one of my daughter's Amy because I think the name itself radiates beauty and my Mother and sister-in-law are named Amy and they are incredible people so she would be destined to be a strong, and happy person. Right? ;)

6. Favorite breakfast meal?

I come from a family where fresh fruit/vegetable juice is like our caffeine. I really can't start the day without it, and I will probably never try. Lately our favorite recipe to put in the juicer is: oranges, apples, ginger root, lemon, carrots, and celery. It makes me literally smile with every drink.

7. If you could change your name, what would you change it to?

I'm particularly happy with my own name, but for the fun of it, I would choose Magnolia or Anne. Magnolia because it's a beautiful flower and it makes me happy to think about. Anne because my parents debated whether to name me Molly or Anne Caroline. Anne is my maternal grandmother's name and Caroline my paternal grandmother's name. Not only do they sound good together, but the meaning is beautiful, too.

8. Favorite Disney villain?

I kind of just shudder when I think about Disney villains, because they really throw off the journey of innocent, sweet character's lives (like Scar with Simba, ahh) but in the end, they were necessary to their learning experience and they always lose. Opposition is necessary even in Disney, what do you know?

9. What is your most embarrassing moment?

I choose 6th grade-11th grade for this answer. Just kidding. Sadly I do embarrassing things every day, and it is not hard to think of embarrassing things I do. But I'll just get it out here in hopes that no one is reading this. I went on a retreat for a club I was apart of in 9th grade and I (unknowingly) clogged the toilet. Those who discovered it ended up spending at least an hour cleaning it up, while I was basically hiding under the couch like a coward.

10. Favorite type of food?

The past few years my love for food has increased 10 fold and it is both wonderful and horrible. If I could choose, I would have pasta for dinner once every two weeks, sushi once a week, Thai food once a week, Indian food once a week, some sort of soup one day a week, salmon cooked by Jeff's dad once a week, and you get the picture. I cannot choose.

11. Least favorite chore.

I shamefully admit cleaning the tub and I'm not sure if it's because I just don't spend the sufficient amount of time scrubbing, that I don't know how, or that I am just not trying hard enough. Ok I really know the answer, but it will get better.

7Ks and other thoughts.

Jeffrey and I discovered our mutual interest for running soon after meeting one another, and I convinced him to run a 5K with me shortly after we started dating. We ran together all over Boise and had a lot of fun doing so. It was never very consistent, but on the weekends when we had the time.

We decided to sign up for a jogging class together this winter term and it has been so much fun. The majority of our running has been on treadmills at the school gym due to the weather. At first we were constantly being interrupted by the football players morning work out who make it awfully hard to concentrate with all their ruckus. It's almost like a game now to get out of the gym before 8:00 a.m. and we are always really close. One of these days maybe we'll be out of there before they do their chant after their warm up, "GET SOOOOOME!"

Part of our running grade is to run a 5K and we ventured to Boise this weekend to participate in Speed to Feed Idaho for a local food bank. We have been so excited for the 5K and we talked about it after almost every run. A couple days before the race I had a pile of kleenexes near by and suddenly realized, "Oh no I can't be sick now!" And it continued to get worse. The night before the 5K I felt like I was going to die, maybe because I enjoyed myself some Sa-wa-dees with Jeff, Jared, and Sam for her birthday :) but still, it was a bummer. Jeff and I warmed up for the race and my throat started an icy fire and I felt like I was going to throw up. Luckily the race setup was ideal. It started right outside of BSU so we were able to stay inside and be warm until it started. And there was a great energy about the place.

As soon as the race began I started to feel better. I took it slow at first, and after saying goodbye to Jeff and watching him slowly fade away in front of me, I found a good pace. Then with about a mile or so left I had a huge burst of energy, and my old friends endorphins kicked in and I finished the race pretty strong. Jeff was there to cheer me on at the finish and I saw my time. 37 minutes seemed quite slow compared to the rest of the winter and Jeff felt the same about his time, 32:30. We shrugged it off, but while we were drinking some water this guy came up to us and said, "Do you think that clock is off? There is no way I could have finished in 37 minutes." It kinda made us laugh because it wasn't a huge deal to us. Then we went to talk to the race director about how our instructor could contact him to verify that we ran the race, and he told us we all ran a 7K. So about 2,000 meters, or 1 mile further than a 5K. Woohoo! It may not have been a PR for us, but it was still accomplishing. Jeff, especially, felt pretty stoked about his first 7K. He has been the best running partner and he always makes me motivated to get up and go. This may be our last official 7K, but there will be many more 5Ks, 10Ks, etc, to come for the Alexander's.

My Husband is a Chef.

It's Friday night.

I took a bubble bath and washed my hands clean of the worries of the week.

Jeff is cutting onions with ski goggles because we are tired of stinging eyes at dinnertime.

Tomorrow I get to prepare my first ever Relief Society Lesson.

Tonight we are going to play Scrabble, just the two of us
and no one can make fun of our lack of clever words.

Sunday we get to make dinner for the missionaries, and we're stoked!

I dragged Jeff to go get hot chocolate with me on campus and it was closed.
We skipped all the way home.

Sweet shirt J!

Red potato curry.

Who needs Indian Food restaurants when

A) Jeff can modify a Nepalese dish based off of whatever

we have in the kitchen

B) There are like 1,000,000 Mexican & Chinese restaurants in town

(Okay B isn't really relevant but it's true. In the near future we are

hoping to hit up Cinco de Mayo and Moy's Dynasty.)