love

I think everyone should find someone who looks at them like this. 

in case any of you thought i wasn't serious

I totally did it, and it was great.

I'm never more inspired than when I'm in nature. 

and with that, she finished her finals.

life as of late

-Just turned in my last paper of the semester and boy did it feel gooooood. Seriously though, there is very little in this world better than the feeling of stapling those pages together and handing them in. Such a sense of relief.

-Festival of Nations tomorrow (folk dance performance). You should come! It's much cheaper than Christmas Around the World (and with that less impressive, but still very good), only $3! 10:30 in the WILK, tickets at the front desk only.

-With that, we're doing a Moldovan/Romanian dance for my class. It is awesome, but also really, really exhausting. Also I lost my character shoes on campus on Wednesday so when I borrowed someone's during class today they were too small and now I have blisters. Really painful ones. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

-Looking for a job. I'm super excited because I get to be a Human Development TA in the fall, but for spring and summer semesters, I'm in real need of a job. Preferably full time, or else two part time jobs. If you hear of anything on campus or very close (I don't have a car this summer and it needs to be in walking distance), let me know!

-FINALLY declared a major! I know I've been here 2 years and you all probably already assumed I have a major but guess what, I didn't. However. I'm thrilled to tell you all that I'm officially a Family and Consumer Science Education major (FACS Ed)! That means I'll be teaching Jr High and High School kids subjects like foods, sewing, child development, and more, and I couldn't be more excited. I've been pretty sure for a while now that I wanted to teach, and I really love these subjects. I'll probably focus the most on foods and child development, because did I mention I've fallen in love with those two things as of late? Because I have. The best part is looking at the requirements and just being really thrilled for all of the classes. It's the best feeling ever.

-I'm an aunt to the cutest girl in the world. Take a look:

Oh boy, I just love her so much.

-Lots of friends getting married or leaving on missions. It's pretty crazy, this time of life. I'm so happy for all my friends and each of the decisions they're making right now. For those of you who might be wondering - as of right now, I'm not planning on a mission. It's been an interesting process coming to that decision, and I'm still open to the idea in the future. As of right now, however, I don't feel like that's what I'm supposed to be doing with me life, though I would truly love it. Still, SO thrilled for the wonderful people I know who are doing that and all the lives they're going to change! What an incredible opportunity.

-Sometimes I get through certain days by stocking by backpack with Reese's and rewarding myself throughout the day. Usually starts with "Good job, Anna! You finished your paper - that deserves a Reese's!" and by the end of the day is more like "Good job pulling that pen out of your backpack - Reese's!" 

-The best friends ever.

^^Butterbeer party at Thirsty Thursday, yo.

^^Road trip to Ephraim to watch Carlie in The Drowsy Chaperone.

She was fantastic. And we were awkward (as usual). 

^^Best friend Madison left on a mission to serve the lucky people of Boise. I was so grateful we got to spend some time together before she went into the MTC. This girl is seriously the best friend I have and even though it's hard not being able to call her up, it's actually not as hard as I thought it would be. When you know that you're still going to be best friends when she comes back, it doesn't matter as much, the time apart. 

^^Lala and I dressed up in our identical outfits for a boy's 22nd birthday and waited

on his every need. But seriously, I fed him cake. 

^^Ghetto blasting, all day, errday. Collin, Melody, Christian and I decided we were in need of a dance party and holed ourselves up in the Roman Gardens laundry room to get our fill.

Anyway. I should definitely be paying attention in this class. Second to last day, huzzah! Seriously though, I'm so glad I'm no longer majoring in something where this class (Human Geography) is needed, because I haven't been a big fan of it.

But to end on a positive note, here's some of my favorite youtube videos, in no particular order.

one

two

three

Have a lovely day!

my weekend went like this.

Aside from General Conference (which was awesome), I did a lot of packing this weekend. Which lead to me finding this hat, and deciding to bring my camebak to Provo. Also I got some cinnamon roll frosting on the shirt I was originally wearing today and had to switch to a t-shirt. Also my feet were cold so I wore these rockin' socks. And these were the only shoes I brought home with me. 

I think if I wore this around campus I might have more friends. Don't you?

if i had a home of my own

I think it'd be really great if it looked like this.

All photos from the home of photographer Jakob Nylund.

le bibliotech

Good news is, the library is near empty on a Friday night! It's actually kind of erie. I know the library is pretty much always very quiet (one of my favorite things about it, in fact), but it's a different kind of quiet when there's hardly anyone here. Because usually there's a whole lot of breathing and typing going on around you and it feels pretty library-ish. This just feels empty.

Bad news is, I'm dooming myself to a Friday night spent in the library. Good news is, I'll totally ace this test tomorrow! Ha, actually I don't really know if that will happen. Let's hope.

Here, let's take a little journey down memory lane and find some pictures I've taken while in the library these past two years.

Those awkward black and white ones where I'm eating a carrot/showing my stress over a paper even had their own blog post. They were going to have titles like, "Me, trying to eat carrots quietly in the library." Which, by the way, true story. I always seem to decide to snack on healthy things when I spend the evening in dear old Harold, and then I pull them out and am all, "Celery in the library? Really, Anna??" But it's whaterr.

Anyway, back to studying.

auntie anna.

I didn't know it was possible to be this obsessed with one person.

belmont 15.

I love these girls. So so much.

this is what we do during class.

truth is

My life is pretty much the same most days.

Occasionally I slip in something fun and exciting. But truthfully, most days I wake up later than I mean to, rush out the door, talk to people for 4 hours, come home, and finish the book I started at work that day.

Most days I just look like this.

Which is cool and stuff. I don't mind (don't mind reading so many books, either. it's quite the delight).

Here's some words of wisdom for you all before I part though:

If you're going to pay money so that when people call you they can enjoy "music while your party is reached", at least pick a good song, okay? Because picking anything akin to the Cotton-Eye Joe or music that would be played in a marching band festival is NOT A GOOD CHOICE.

Also, my sister is pregnant, just in case you were wondering. You could say I'm ecstatic (that might be an understatement though).

the best

Once upon a time, I was living in Arizona and 9 months old. The year was 1994. Imagine me, adorably outfitted in some wonderful 90s dress, wandering the halls of church. Maybe not wandering, because I don't think I could walk yet, but you get the idea. Possibly I looked like this.

So there I am, crawlin' the halls with my Mom, when lo and behold a run into my best friend for the first time. Of course, in that moment I had no idea the friendship that was forming. The girl that approached me was Madison Baker, the talented and beautiful.

Well, time went by. We grew up.

And through it all, we remained the best of friends. At 7, I moved to Utah and she stayed in Arizona. Despite a situation that would usually result in lost friendship, and people growing apart, we've remained close - countless phone calls and summer visits have ensured that. When most people grow apart, we grew together, just in different states.

One time, I flew down to Phoenix to surprise her for her birthday. The plan was to hide in a box on the porch and jump out, but that went up in flames when she saw me before I could even get out of the car.

(Unfortunately [or perhaps very fortunately], I don't have easy access to any pictures of the awkward stage of life, and they will therefore be emitted from this post.)

Then one time (multiple times?) she came out for my birthday.

And last summer, we went to Disneyland. Which was an absolute dream.

Maddy had been with me through thick and thin (though honestly, it's mostly been thick with this girl by my side).

Honestly, I don't know if I can adequately describe the love I have for this girl. She honestly feels like a sister to me, because she knows me so well. I feel like we understand and connect in ways me and my other friends don't. Not to say I don't connect with my other friends, but me and Maddy just work out well as best friends. Perfectly, even. I know that she'll never judge me for what I do or say, and will always love me just for being me. She's held my hair back when I've thrown up (that's true love, people). She's the kind of person I can sit in comfortable silence with for hours and never feel obligated to say anything. In fact, that's often what we do. The other half of the time, we're talking like there's no tomorrow, though. It's a nice mix. I love this girl, and I know we're going to be friends for eternity. Bit much, you may say, but it's true! I also know that Heavenly Father put her in my life for a reason, and I'm so glad he did. We were friends before we came to this Earth, and we'll be friends once we leave it too.

I love you, Maddy. Happy Birthday! 18 years of friendship and counting.

PS. If you were curious, Maddy also has a blog. She periodically updates it with titles that always have to do with food. Because guess what?? She's going to culinary school!

life as of late

1. spending a lot of time with this girl.

2. flew to houston, tx for a couple days with my mom. took

us 5 separate flights to get there and back.

3. snoasis! 4. got my audrey hepburn on for sunday.

5. soccer games in the sun. 6. back with my mountains again.

7. saw ingrid again, so so good (of course).

8. new favorite breakfast (greek yogurt, honey, granola).

9. the funniest plane passage ever.

10. snowball season. 11. had a little party with some

gal pals outside under these lights. 12. heidi braids.

ps. i'm sorry that picture isn't bigger....

Fashionably Late.

Ha. Okay, so remember how I'm moving out 2 weeks from today, venturing out into a great wide world of BYU campus? Yes, well, I did actually graduate, matter of fact. And I feel like I should put some pictures up to prove it. Also, I promised Preference photos (with the dress y'all voted for) and Prom pictures too. So. Pretend that I'm still in high school for a moment and bear with me.

The winner for the dress poll was the sparkly black one. Pretty retro, eh? Even better was my awesome date, Mooney.

and my mom made that tie. sweet, huh?


all that was said to induce this picture was,
"act like you're laughing in a magazine!"

okay, i'm gonna submit this was my favorite
dance group of high school

Alright, so then there was Prom, which was pretty rockin' with Breton. I loved my dress, and my hair was perfect, thanks to this talented lady.

the hair: classy, just how i like it

the dress: also classy, and not cliche utah prom (how i like it)

the date and the dad: awesome, just how i like them

And on to graduation!

We all got ready, and I may have stolen a poster from the school hallway to hang in my house. But I made it, so I don't feel bad.



We went to Yamato's for an early dinner, and I opened a few presents.

candid and chronological.

Then we sauntered on over to the Marriott Center for the actual graduation.

appreciate how lost i look

and how awkward

I got to sit on the stand because of student council, which was totally awesome. Me and the top 30 scholars baby! Though... not apart of them. Which I'm cool with.

So then some people talked. And sang. And played their instruments. And talked some more (everything actually went surprisingly fast, considering how big my class was). And then I walked! Woot. Only apparently I walked too fast, because there are definitely more pictures on our camera of my ward friends and cousins walking than there are of me. Ha. Actually, now that I think back to it, I can't even remember the actual calling of my name and hand shaking and diploma receiving, much.


After the ceremony, I couldn't find my family for a good 15 or 20 minutes. But when I finally did, here's what I looked like:


I love this picture because it perfectly describes how I felt. This huge bouquet of flowers in my face (which I loved, they were from my yard), and a giant smile. I was so relieved to finally have it over. I loved high school, I loved the graduation ceremony. But I was just excited! I couldn't stop smiling and laughing for the longest time. Which ended up being pretty darn long, because I had the all-night party. But more of that later. Here's some other lovely pictures captured.

the best cousin and friend, daniel

the siblings

me and the g-man

me and teo (this one was taken before the ceremony)

me and nat

the extended fam

the three graduates from the lewis side: me, mckay, and katie

favorite teacher, miss. ure... or heather...

i don't really know what to call her now

me and the parents, who i love

close family

this is us

traditional awkward photo with me and kendra

hot and dangerous

we tried this the other way first, but it didn't really work out

So because it was nearly impossible to find anyone outside the Marriott Center, Alyssa, Whitney and I got all dressed up again for a couple pictures the next day.

whitney and i have this thing where we try to look gangster...

she's really good at it. me, not so much.

So when alyssa and I tried to think of some "thing" we have, the obvious answer was Harry Potter.

only we couldn't quite synchronize our jumps

So that's that! Graduation was a success. And the all-night party. Which, unfortunately, I have minimal pictures of. Ah, well. I didn't sleep once and me and Mel never showed signs of exhaustion.

I'm just glad to be moving out! In a week... even though the beginning of this post says two. Obviously, I take a while to finish posts sometimes.