Updates!

One of our friend's wards was going disco skating, they invited us so we got to roller skate for free! So our night started out in the 70's.

Kirsten, me, Hayley, Eliza, Jane, Ashley

Zoe, Kaitlin, me, Ashley. These are the beautiful girls I'm going to be rooming with next year in Liberty Square Apartments!

I can't wait! I just love them!

me, Nick, Kaitlin

After the 70's decade we moved on to the 80's for a dance party.

Ashley, me, Kaitlin

Unfortunately the dance wasn't all that great so we decided to go to "Spark", a lounge that serves non alcoholic drinks where you can dress up and have fun. But.....we didn't realize it cost money to get in so...we went to the dollar theatre. Everyone was sick of changing so we went in our formal wear. Nick asked if he could get a discount from the dollar priced ticket since he was dressed up. They didn't go for it.

?, Taylor, Kaitlin, Me, Nick, Dallin, Jane

We've made it a goal to go do baptisms at the temple every Thursday night. It's been great so far, it's really neat to be able to do this with such great friends. We're planning on doing baptisms when we go to Arizona this weekend at the Mesa Temple. One of our friends is about to go on a mission so he'll be able to baptize us.

Dallin, Me, Taylor, Kaitlin

A few weeks ago a group of us went to a FREE Dashboard Confessional concert. None of the big group pictures turned out so this is only part of the group that went.

Nick, me, Jessica, James.

We drove up to Ogden to be with Eric when he got his mission call (Hermosillo Mexico). He went to BYU last semester, we miss him! This is almost all of our BYU family, missing just a couple people.

Back Row, L to R: Dallin, Preston, Nyal, Taylor, Jordan, Jane, Hayley, Eliza, Connor,

Front Row, L to R: Zach, Zoe, me, Eric, Ashley, Kirsten

And finally, a picture of me and my wonderful, amazing, beautiful roomate Kat.

My friends and I are looking forward to a roadtrip this week over the three day weekend. I can't wait for them to meet my family, and I can't wait to see my family! It's going to be a great trip.

Study, study, study!!!

Look at that building! I know she's in there somewhere. Every time we talk to her, her friends are out playing and she's being a good girl and prepping for her exams! Ha ha. 


 Truthfully, it sounds like Jess is managing to keep a good balance. We're so proud of her.

(The Harold B. Lee Library)

What a gorgeous library! Who wouldn't want to spend the best years of their life there? 

Good luck tomorrow, sweetheart!

(The HGB Testing Center)

PS This place doesn't look at all scary... Don't be deceived.

College Update

School is going great! I feel like I'm doing a good job managing schoolwork and social life. I had my first test last week, it was Book of Mormon. My friends and I spent about 3 hours studying and then i spent a couple hours on my own. It payed off...I got a 96%! I only missed two questions. It was very exciting. After you take the test you turn your scantron in, walk down some stairs, and your score shows up on a big TV screen. It's really nice.

The football games are so much fun! It's really a great thing to look forward to on the weekends.

My friends are so much fun, and there hasn't been much drama at all, and if there is I try to stay out of it.

I can't think of any other exciting things that are happening. I'm staying busy, and avoiding getting sick at all costs.

Here are some random pictures just for fun.

The boys have gotten so sick of me insisting we take pictures, but we still take them. Even if they refuse to look.

This is after true blue football.

This is before...sorry they got mixed up.

Football game with Oakmont kids

We went to the Provo airport to welcome the football team home. I gave Max Hall a high five!

Our friends know this singer, Chris Merritt, we went to a "concert" he had (it was tiny, I dont think it can even be called a concert) and he was so good!!

fooball game

Aunt Laurie was in town and we all went out to eat twice!

Go Cougars!

I haven't seen a BYU football game in a LONG time. This weekend was an exception. Mark and I were on a date at a pizza place and the game was on. We caught the last quarter. It was so much fun! The best part was coming home and talking to Jessica-right in the thick of the celebrations at the Wilkinson Center. She said people were going nuts. I remember sitting in the end zone of cougar stadium back in 1990 at the BYU v #1 Miami game and rushing onto the field when BYU won the game. Now Jessica is having some of those types of memories of her own. Awesome!

Our baby is all grown up!

Jessica sent us this text after the first day of school:

Who can find Jessica? This is from my crazy/hilarious/psycho/weird/awesome biology teacher.

love you

Jess

Begin forwarded message:

From: Riley Nelson

Date: September 1, 2009 9:20:55 PM MDT

To:

Subject: first day of class:

Hello my friends: You probably noticed that the University Photographers were in our classroom yesterday for the first day of class. They put a slide show together of campus yesterday that included many images from our time together. Check out the website here.

When you see your bright shiny face in the photos, share it with your mother. She probably still loves you.
Dr. Nelson

He's so smart! I do still love her! And it was so incredible to see her in that environment and picture all of the incredible things she will be doing. Just imagine what she has ahead of her! Right about now I'd like to give Dr. Nelson a great big thank-you hug.

Some people asked for a hint. Check the lower left side of the screen and think red. In a couple days, I'll post the picture.

UPDATE: here's the picture, just in case you missed it :)

First Week of College

I am having so much fun! The week started off as a "bad week at EFY". We were put into Y groups. Our group was not very friendly, the guys wouldn't talk to us. So we ended up not going to much except for the devotionals. We hung out with some boys that Jane and Ashley knew from EFY and their roomates. They are a lot of fun! We had a dance last night that was a blast...and I don't even like to dance! Then we went to Denny's. I got rammed in the chest yesterday and knocked over playing football. It literally knocked the wind out of me and I couldn't breath. It was really scary. Then it hurt to laugh or cough all day, I feel better now though so that's good. My roomate is great! We haven't hung out much but hopefully that will change. We were starting to get worried this week when we hadn't met many people and we all started to look forward to church. Let me just say...I love my ward!!! There are over 150 of us and everyone is so different: a guy that grew up in england, identical twin brothers, guys that chose to come to BYU over playing football and water polo in college, recent converts, multiple people from Arizona (the two guys i sat between at church were from gilbert/mesa), a girl that went to Granite Bay High School, people that have amazing testimones, people that are still learning about the church, 86 gorgeous girls(seriously, those guys are lucky. there are some beautiful girls in my ward...and on top of that there are more girls than guys), a kind, funny Bishop, a sweet Relief Society Specialist...and I'm sure I'm going to learn so much more about everyone! Tonight we get our FHE groups, Tuesday are interviews, and Wednesday we have our ward social. Ashley, Jane, and I couldn't stop talking about how great our ward is and how we couldn't be happier. I can only imagine it will get better. It's worth the huge hill we have to climb, two stories of stairs, and hot sun (for now) to go to church. I felt the spirit so much. Another thing I'm excited for are the devotionals, we went to one on Thursday and it was incredible. I'm so excited. I'm nervous for class tomorrow, especially because I had to rearrange my schedule, but I'm excited to meet people! I miss my family so much, but I know this is where I need to be right now.

Denny's...very fun group.

Ashley and I headed to a reception and Jane and Eliza going to a farewell party for a girl that is headed to Israel

my cute bed

at the dollar theatre..did I mention we went twice this week?

my desk

Oh! I also was able to see/spend some time with Chris Hamilton, James Mackie, and Elder Cook( i cant remember his first name!) It was so great to see them and I can't wait to see everyone else from the mission! I wasn't able to go to Cam's bonfire last night or to Jacobie's place for dinner tonight but hopefully I'll see everyone soon!