In 12 days...

I traveled 6318 miles.

I visited Washington DC, New York City and Provo.

I walked a billion blocks and a millions miles.

I listened to Adele's new CD countless times.

I saw lightning bugs for the first time. They were so magical! I screamed with delight every time one would light up in front of me.

I was a huge tourist. Pictures in Times Square, using maps in New York, screaming at the lightning bugs...

I successfully, accidentally, saw the Declaration of Independence and Constitution without waiting in line. I walked in the exit. Apparently if you look confident or really innocent the security guards won't stop you. Good national security right there.

I tried four different cupcake places. Which was acceptable calories from all my walking.

I flew on three different airlines. My reviews of said airlines-

US Airways-43 points

               Given, this was my longest flying day but I did not like this airline. I had very long flights going to the East Coast and they had no complimentary food! I mean, who doesn't love the plane crackers or peanuts from Southwest? I am surprised the passengers did not rebel like Liz Lemon in 30 Rock.
Frontier- 3 Gold Stars

              Warm free cookies! Need I say more? No, but I will. I had three parts of this journey with Frontier and the first one I missed the cookies because I was asleep. I mean, wake the poor girl up for a warm cookie next time! I proceeded to enjoy two more later in the day though so it was okay. Also, I sat in the first row. I had more leg room than ever before! I could stretch out my legs and barely touch the wall. So that rocked. On my last stop on Frontier we had TVs and I was able to watch Ellen DeGeneres which made my day! And oh yeah, free warm cookies.
Delta- 2 Enthusiastic Thumbs Up

             Is it bad that i am partial to this airline because the flight attendants had cute uniforms? Because it's true. The whole crew was actually pretty great. The pilot told us facts about the plane. For example, how much it weighed and that we left the runway at 155 mph. Who doesn't like knowing cool stuff like that? Also, during the safety overview we were told to wear our seat belts low like J-Lo pants.

Now for my actual trip.

Day 1- I have no picture from this portion because I got into Washington DC around midnight. After getting back to my sister's apartment from the airport it was time to go to sleep. This was a challenge for me. It would have been only around 9:00pm Oregon time. Not only was it early and the mattress felt like stale cottage cheese but there was a huge lightening storm. In other instances, I would have loved  a good storm but I was trying to sleep when I wasn't even tired! To add to this effect my sister's closet was all mirrors. The lightening would come in through the window and reflect right into my face. It was a great night sleep obviously. I was just glad to be in DC and have a place to sleep though!

Day 2- Spent the day exploring museums by myself while Natalie was at her internship. My favorite was probably The Museum of Natural History. What can I say, it brought of the little kid in me with dinosaurs and animals. Natalie and I ended the day walking (of course) through Alexandria to find a Ross of all places to purchase a towel and blanket for me.

Day 3- New York City! Natalie and I got up at the crack of dawn to ride a bus four hours to New York. We met up with my sister's friend Annie and did all the touristy things we could  in our short time there. Such as finding the bridge you see in all the romantic comedy movies and the sidewalk you see in all musical movies in Central Park. We also visited Tiffany's, Time Square, Serendipity, Dylan's Candy Bar, Strand, Union Station and so many other places. We had such a good time!

Day 4- The second and last day in New York City. Favorite part was FAO Schwarz. We spent a long time going to each different room looking at all the toys. It would be safe to say we spent the whole New York trip acting like kids.

Day 5- After a tour of the Capitol Building given by my sister we spent the evening walking down the National Mall. This included a trip to the top of the Washington Monument and a visit to the good ol' Lincoln Memorial. In the elevator on the way down from the top of the monument our elevator got stuck. I am not sure if you know, but this is my worst fear. I hate elevators very much. Not only was this one super crowded but it was in a very tall, skinny tower. We were only stuck for about a minute so it ended up just being a funny story. I swear it was the elevator attendants first day though. She just kept laughing while trying to figure out the lights and then why we stopped. I was very grateful to be on the ground again!

Day 6- Natalie had the day off and we spent the afternoon shopping in Georgetown which obviously meant a visit to Georgetown cupcakes which is featured with its own show on TLC. People are crazy for cupcakes here. We had to wait in line for about 15 minutes before even making it inside!

Day 7- I made it to Provo! Which meant a trip to power tumbling with Spencer and Mark.

Day 8- Said goodbye to Brennan who is leaving this week to enter the MTC to prepare for his mission in Romania speaking Russian!

Day 9- BYU in the spring because it was so beautiful.

Day 10- Frozen yogurt with Kelsey and Jill. Later that night there was also some shenanigans with paper boats, and fighting with fake sword and light sabers. Which also included some guys driving up that wanted to do some car jousting with a baseball bat.

Day 11- Church with Kelsey. Don't mind my sleepy eyes. Her church was at 8:30am. How am I suppose to stay awake listening to the word of God at that earlier hour of the morning?!

Day 12- I said goodbye to Provo and headed to the real p-town of Portland, Oregon today. Now, I am working 40 hours a week at OGA and I am completely exhausted. My trip was completely worth all my exhaustion though.

5 weeks into summer and...

I have traveled 9,664 miles between Provo, Houston, Honolulu and Portland.

I have set 1 country station as a preset in my car radio. I never disliked country per se, I always did enjoy some Rascal Flatts and Lady Antebellum and I never objected when others wanted to listen to it. But I am talking about real country. After my trip to Texas where I was able to listen to country in the country I have enjoyed it so much more.

I have read 7 books. One including Have A Little Faith by Mitch Albom. This is probably one of my most favorite books I have read. But I say that about all of Mitch Albom's books. But if you are looking for a great book I absolutely suggest this one. It makes you think but is a light read which I loved. I read it on the beaches of Hawaii and it was amazing.

I have sent out 16 postcards, 10+ letters, and 2 packages.

I have been asked to be 1 of 2 Lead Staff for camps this summer at OGA. I am very excited about this position. Camps start June 20th and I will be working 9:30-6:30 Monday through Friday. This will be the first time I will work 40 hours a week. Hopefully all the chalk fumes, and sweaty feet smells won't mess with my mind too much.

I went on 1 urban hike in Portland, had 2 picnics outside, and played at 2 parks.

I have subbed 9 classes for people at OGA.

I have seen 1 friend on TV. Brodrick totally rocked that Price is Right stage.

After playing Tower of Terror Clue a spontaneous photo shoot broke out.

Adventure #2 a picnic in the park.

Ultimate scrabble, Nertz and Modern Family at Mckay's.

Since the end of my semester I was able to take a trip with Natalie to her roommate's wedding in Houston, Texas! Then, my family took a much needed vacation to Honolulu, Hawaii. Both these trips were wonderful and warm. My sister more eloquently describes the trips in her blog. We went from Provo, Portland, Texas and Hawaii in a week. All different time zones. It was crazy busy for a while but tons of fun.

Texas April 28th- May 1st.

April 28th- Surfiside Beach, at the Beacon beach house.

April 29th- Surfiside Beach.

 April 30th- Beautiful bride, Sam at Houston Temple.

 April 30th- Horses everywhere, I am in Texas ya'll.

April 30th- Reception at the beautiful, Whistler Inn. An old plantation house on a beautiful property.

Hawaii May 2nd- May 9th.

May 2nd- Massive rainstorm and thunderstorm. Watch the water spouts here. Great welcome to Hawaii!

May 3rd- My favorite thing to do. Nothing at all.

 May 4th- At Uncle LeRoy's house in Lanikai. This is his backyard. And he offered for me to stay with him whenever. I will be taking him up on that offer.

 May 5th- Paddle boarding.

May 6th- Leonard's bakery! My mom worked here when she was 16!

 May 7th- Lanikai Craft fair with my two aunts!

May 8th- Church at the tabernacle.

May 9th- Diamond Head, spending our last few hours on the beach.

These were only a few of the pictures and only represented a few of the things we did while in Hawaii. But the trip was amazing. Who wants to take me back right now?

I guess it is about time to finally get back to blogging. I have been avoiding doing this kind of post but it is an important one. I need to wrap up the few last days of being a freshman at BYU. I wish I could express better how great my freshmen year truly was. But I figure this is what this blog is for, it is shown through pictures and stories. People always ask me what my favorite thing was about my freshmen year. This is such a hard question to answer because it was the everyday things that made it great. The people I met were so incredible and I grew so close to my friends there. The simple things like sitting around J Hall lobby talking, taking trips to Walmart and eating at Denny's were such perfect, happy moments for all of us. I am glad to be home again with my family and working at OGA but it was very difficult to leave those dorms and the wonderful people I met. Because I can't explain how great my year was with words I will do what I know best and use pictures to help.

So meet my friends:

Erin: Crazy girl a few doors down that I love. She always would come into my room and tell Heather and I crazy stories before we were really even that good of friends. I am so glad she did though because now we are that good of friends. And guess what the best part is? We get to live together next year in a cute little apartment!

Brodrick: Pretty much has the best sense of humor ever. We like all the same jokes and were able to share our love of The Office together. We definitely had some fun times together, even a party in the Tanner Building together. We also got to go to his awesome cabin for SPRING BREAK (aka President's day).

Benjamin: I knew Ben a little before school started but not as well as I do now! Whenever Ben is there it is definitely a party. Especially when we get to go driving around in Betty. One of my favorite things about Ben is he always is willing to listen to whatever you want to vent about. It is a great stress reliever.

Mark: I am pretty sure I scared him the first day we met. He came in winter semester and we kind of all sucked him into our group. Hope he was okay with that! We always called him the baby (because he is one!) but he probably helped my grades out by studying with me all the time.

Bracken: I love this guy so much! He is like my brother, I could tell him anything. I did all the time. You can always count on Bracken to do anything for you. He is such a great friend and also has a great sense of humor! I will miss his weird chin and ear obsessions while he is on a mission.

Heather: Oh boy, who is the girl? Just kidding! I could have not asked for a better roommate. Seriously. We get along so well and had too many crazy moments to count. I could go on forever but there is not enough time or room. And to be honest, I don't think anyone would understand all our inside jokes. Heather, URAQT. That is all you need to know.

 Cameron: One of the first guys I met at BYU, at Freshmen Orientation. He is one of the smartest guys I know and I could have not gotten through American Heritage and World Civilization without his awesome help. Also, he was our Elder's Quorum President. Enough said.  

Kevin: One reason I love Kevin a lot is because he gave me a nickname (Ambs). But with Cameron, Kevin was one of my first friends at BYU. I knew we would get along because he is a fellow NorthWestener. One of my favorite memories of Kevin (and Cameron) is when they sang Halo over skype for Heather and I. That, and all the other times when we skyped at 2 in the morning. Good times.

Spencer: What a stud. I went to In-and-Out Burger for the first time with Spencer in his hot Audi. We also got to go to his house in Salt Lake for a Sunday dinner and it was such a good day! I will always know how to predict the future with his straw trick too.

Sarah: How did we not get a picture of just us on this day? Fail on our part. Because we failed I picked this wonderful picture of you because it is such a good face of yours. Anyways, Sarah and I have grown up together. I was so excited that, by a complete accident, actually no, I wouldn't call it an accident because I feel like it was more of a tender mercy, Sarah and I ended up living across the hall diagonally from each other. We became even better friends during this year. I could always count on Sarah to make me laugh. She is such a great person and I cannot wait to live together next year and the adventures we will have then.

Michael: I knew of Michael before college, he is in the same stake back home, but I never got to know him before this year. And I am so glad that we started to hang out. He could always make me laugh by saying "I AM GOING TO BREAK A WINDOW". We shared a love for Modern Family. Michael also knows fashion really well and would help Heather and I out with our outfits which I loved.

Here are some pictures (okay, maybe a lot) from the last few days.

So there you go, the end of my year! I don't think I will stay with the picture a day thing but maybe a few a week! Or whenever I actually have something exciting to blog about.