I'm pretty happy to be me

     Friday might just be one of my most favorite words in the world.  There's nothing much like the feeling that comes from knowing you've got two full days to unwind before it's back to the grind.  Walking back from class today I realized I'm going to need that whole unwinding part much more than after a normal week - and not because I'm stressed or buried in assignments.  It's the opposite in fact; so many fantastic things happened this week!  The weekend is going to seem low-key in comparison. Just a few adventures I had:

I got my contract signed and set in stone for housing next year. I think we nabbed the best place in all of Provo, no lie. I can't wait to live in an apartment. And to room with two completely awesome friends from back home. Next year is going to be a blast to say the least. 

I needed some change so I did a lil' rearranging in my room.

I love Skype. And my family. And my brother's hair in this picture haha.

Some friends and I had a crazy party at Melinda's apartment. We played a
hilarious game of Psychiatrist...

played some KumCha and What If & Then, and made up some pretty
entertaining dares with the Dice Game (this is Tawni going in to a
random apartment to sit down and watch TV).

I lalalove packages. Especially from a best friend. My entire MONTH gets better.

 I'm pretty spoiled. [: Thank you, David. 

Tasha and I didn't feel like going to the Cannon for dinner one
night and realized we were both really in the mood for pizza. A Papa John's one
block away from our dorm is never a bad thing. And neither is
eating said pizza while watching old Office episodes.

Only the best runs include views like this. I love living so close to the temple.
I sat here for awhile, despite the 28 degree temperature, and just thought
about how blessed I am to be member of the Church. I love the temple!

The possibilities entertainment-wise are endless when your roommate has a car.

I went on a super fun date with a guy I recently met.
Feelin' all snazzy beforehand.

We grabbed some ice cream at Coldstone, had a MarioKart tournament, which he won,

and then played some racquetball, which he also won. The only thing I beat him at was the Padiddle game during the driving parts of the date. Works for me. It was such a fun night!

Crop circles in the snow. No biggy. If I was an alien driving a UFO, I'd visit

the Y on the daily. Who wouldn't?

And now, the piéce de résistance of the week (I've always wanted to use that
in a sentence). The most hyped regular season college basketball game in the history of BYU.
The day before, Tasha and I got two of the 5, 000 highly sought-after wristbands that were being given out to guarantee us a seat at the game. We had to be in line at 4 o'clock on game day, so when my last class let out at 3:50, I booked it to meet Tasha at the Marriott and... we waited and waited and waited.  The line wrapped around three sides of the Marriott. Insane!

At 6pm we were let in to the building. It was total chaos. People were running

for the best seats possible. We nabbed seats on the 22nd row, which we were pretty psyched about. 

We Jimmer-fied our faces. Oh yeah.
TJ Fredette rapped for us... it was interesting.

Two hours later, it was game time. The student section was a total white out. Represent!

It was the most incredible game ever and I'm sure everyone in the stadium would agree. The atmosphere was INSANE. Nobody in the student section sat down or stopped screaming/chanting/singing for the entire game. And SDSU was really good. It was so tense.

Heyyyy Jimmer [:

For the entire game, the two scores were like within six or seven points of each other. In the last 4 minutes, we finally pulled away and the reality that we were going to WIN the game set in. I have videos of the crowd's reaction but I'm too lazy to upload them right now... just take this picture for an example instead. 

 

Yeah. A tad bit excited.

So, undefeated #4 San Diego State, how does that score feel to ya?

The game ended and the Marriott Center basically just exploded. People

stormed the court and everyone was just going mental. The pictures don't give it justice at all.

It. was. awesome.

You ring that victory bell, boys [:

Everyone on campus is still on a high from that night!

In short, I love BYU. I am so blessed to be here! I'm starting to really feel like I'm meant to be here. To tie it all up, here's a quote from a talk by Elder Holland that my amazing Book of Mormon teacher emailed out to us just the other day. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I love it. A new favorite for sure:

"Beware of the temptation to retreat from a good thing. If it was right when you prayed about it and trusted it and lived for it, it is right now. Don't give up when the pressure mounts. Certainly don't give in to that being who is bent on the destruction of your happiness. He wants [you] to be miserable like unto himself. Face your doubts. Master your fears. Cast not away therefore your confidence. Stay the course and see the beauty of life unfold for you." 

I'm not gonna go all diary-ish about why this quote means so much to me, but I feel like it was said directly to me! I needed to hear that so badly. It's perfect. I am meant to be here. I love it here and I know that it's only going to get better. I'm a happy girl. I love my life. But at the same time a relaxing weekend couldn't have come at a better time. [: 

A shout-out to hot pirates

I often find myself looking at my planner and feeling extremely unenthused with the amount of space  occupied by assignments, due dates, and the like. Kinda kills my mood. A quick solution? This. My day gets about seven times more spectacular each time I open my laptop. [: So this is to you, William - you gorgeous pirate, you.  My grades and well-being will greatly benefit from your beautiful presence in my life. 

"It's like living with a six year old..."

(Bonus points if you can name that movie. A Krop fam favorite)

      I realize this is very likely one of those videos that is only funny to the people in it, {seriously, to Tash & I it's still absolutely gut-bustingly hilarious} but I really want my family, especially my sibs, to see this. So without further ado, enjoy the fruits of the wee hours of the morning in room 2108. Yes, we both know we appear extremely immature in this video [: We're okay with it. College definitely does not mean adulthood. Yet. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAyBOVcmktc

The current project: kickin booty and takin names

Semester #1 is in the books. I didn't really write much about it on here; it wouldn't make for very fun reading. We can safely say it was just plain hard. It was not what I expected college to be like at all. But I learned a lot about myself and the person I want to be. Most importantly, I learned that when everything around me is changing, there are a few things that will never change - true friends, family and my Savior. They will always, always be there for me. My testimony has grown more than I probably know right now. 

Anyhow, Winter 2011 is going to go better. I'm determined about that.

     The customary first day of school picture. [: 

My schedule this semester makes me excited! I learned from last semester to not over-do the credit load, so I'm taking it a little easier this time around. I was pretty confident until I realized that this schedule is only about two credits less than Fall semester. [: We'll just have to see how things turn out. 

Student Development could very likely salvage my poor time-management skills and scatterbrained study schedules. I'm alllll up for any help I can get in that department.

Personal Financing is way intimidating! It's a 200-level class and I've never taken any kind of financing class, but from what I can tell, the concepts will be really helpful when I get a "real" job and start managing "real" money issues. I'm a bit scared of all the numbers and equations, but my gut feeling is that I'll need this class in the future. It also is doing a fine job of convincing me to be in no hurry to get married and grow up yet. [: 

Environmental Biology: So. stinkin. excited. about this class. An entire class just about this fabulous planet we live on and the current environmental issues. We get to go to the Bean Museum and DRAW the animals AND do the same thing in the greenhouse! But wait, it gets even better (I didn't think that was possible). We get to go on field trips and observe the systems that we study in class. That's right. Dream come true. We get to go outside. This class and I will be very good friends. 

Book of Mormon is already fantastic. My teacher is amazing. I love the way he approaches the scriptures. And besides, I love the subject. It's gonna be just plain goood.

Western Humanities is great. The teacher is really a neat guy and, though the reading load is pretty hefty and it's safe to say I'm not making friends among Plato or Oedipus Rex, I'm enjoying the class a lot. Definitely a good decision!

Bring it on, college. I'm ready for round two.

Most wonderful time of the year? I'll second that

     Fun fact of the day: I took over 300 pictures during my 17 days of break. If you know me at all, that's not a surprise in the slightest. I'll narrow that number down over the next few days as I edit them, so don't worry. I'm not that pathetic.
     I wish I could post them all. I really do. But then my blog would take like fifteen minutes to load, and I'm just not that patient, which I'm sure is also the case for my parents and relatives back home who read this.  So this is me giving my word that the following post is the shortest I could make it - I promise! [: And here we go:

Final exams. The awful. The dreaded. The cursed. They were pretty bad. For more info refer to the picture at right. I didn't sleep, eat, or come out of my room much! Astronomy, Human Development, Geology, Book of Mormon, and Interior Design. And on top of all that - packing! It was a tough week. But I did well! Average, I'm told. I've made lots of goals to help me do better next semester, though. Slowly but surely I'm getting better at this college thing. It's a huge adjustment, even from doing Running Start at a community college.

After finals... it was time to go HOME. I came out of my last exam going practically insane with happiness! My friend Carson picked me up and I had my first Zupa's experience on our way to the airport (they don't have any restaurants in Washington; I am very upset by this). I checked my baggage, met up with some people from my home ward at the gate and soon we were seated and off to Seattle. So. stinkin. excited. When we came down the escalator at SeaTac and my family came into view, I couldn't help but scream. Best day of my life. Or one of them.

From the airport it was straight into downtown Seattle for one of my favorite Christmas traditions - dinner at Westlake Mall, Santa pictures, and the gingerbread house competition at the Sheraton Hotel.

  
These people have serious talent.

It was so amazing to be back in Maple Valley. I had missed the dirt roads and green forests of home. At home the tree was up, a fire was going in the wood burning stove 24/7, and it just felt like Christmas. I even got a welcome sign over the front door! I felt quite special indeed. On top of all that, I was with my family. Nothing better.

A pretty nasty windstorm kicked up that night and we woke up to no electricity (thank goodness we have a generator and a stove-heated house), huge branches flung all over the yard and driveway, and trees down all over the roads and our driveway. Fun stuff. The day was spent chopping wood and cleaning up!

And then it was finally time for the Christmas adventures.

Christmas party with my mom's side of the family. Lots of amazing food, a gift exchange, and much singing and just enjoying each other's company! Plus the German Mueller tradition of lighting the tree. Gorgeous.

Christmas cookies with my wingman.

Enjoying an evening acting out the Nativity scene. I mostly had to stay at the piano since my job is to accompany the hymns, but I still got to dress up!

We had fun with our angel robes (don't worry, this wasn't part of the real Nativity...). 

Christmas morning!

The traditional breakfast - toasted English muffins piled with ham, eggs, and Hollandaise sauce, with Martinelli's and Orange Peach Mango juice to drink. Heavenlyy.

Umm yeah... guess I wasn't fast enough to catch Merritt inhaling his.

Gryffin knows how to work the face when there's 

good food around.

One of the best gifts of the day:

And a Starship Enterprise pizza cutter. Most amazing thing I've ever seen.

Ice skating!

        Merritt blew us all away with his Olympic-level moves.

  

I also did lots of laundry with my mom. Panda chipped in.

 Living in the forest yields many adventures as a result of the various critters that share the house with us. For example, we have to dust the Christmas tree or it becomes completely draped with spiderwebs in a matter of days. Those little guys are a bit behind the times - Halloween was two months ago, fellas. But we appreciate your passion for festivity. 

Honestly will never get enough of this view. [: 

We took a trip down to Seattle to have dinner at Ivar's and then check out the Picasso exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum.

It's illegal to leave that place without feeding the seagulls.
At least with the Krop family.

No pictures from the art exhibit. Apparently the employees don't appreciate people taking pictures of multi-million-dollar works of art. No fun. But the artwork was... interesting to say the least. Picasso had a very strange imagination. We'll just go with that.

And then to top it off I got to spend the evening with my best friend, who'll be in the mission field when I get home in April. So we had a "last date." He took me to a REALLY good Oriental restaurant for dinner. There was so. much. food. This is like... half of it. We gave some of the leftovers to a homeless man afterwards and there was STILL three boxes for us to take home.

  We spent the evening eating till we were just about bustin' and also deciding which Chinese Zodiac animal belonged to whom. There's still some controversy regarding those decisions. At the end of the evening I couldn't believe it was the last time I was going to see him for two years. It was really, reallyyy hard. This kid is going to be a fantastic missionary. He's already an amazing person as it is. But I can't put into words how much I'll miss him. He means the world to me and I can't believe he's off on his mission in two months. Exciting and depressing at the same time... I still can't decide which side I'm leaning toward. Anyhow, it was a very enjoyable and quite memorable night [: 

Next adventure:

Okay okay guess where I am! Or guess what I'm doing. Trust me, it's amazing.

SNOWSHOEING. 

A confession: I'm addicted. I didn't ever want to stop. It was like being in a different world.

I LOVE the great outdoors and I especially love the Northwest! Oh man. It was the most beautiful thing. My mind is still blown.

New Year's Eve was spent partying hard at my grandparents' house.

 As usual, the toilet paper game. Another tradition that we've done for as long as I can remember. It's called something French pronounced "sahray voo" but I haven't a clue how to spell that. Basically you sing a special song (which we found out from a French-speaking missionary literally means "Please pass the toilet paper, blah blah blah nonsensical syllables) as you pass rolls of TP around the circle and it naturally goes faster and faster. Whoever messes up gets the boot. And the game continues!

The final round. Look at that TP fly!

Then the clock hit midnight and we rang in the new year. We could see the Space Needle from the deck outside but taking a picture of the news coverage yielded a much better quality result. And a warmer one haha. [:

 

And then for the next few days relaxing and packing up... Living out of a suitcase for two
weeks is hard, okay? Cut me some slack.

And now I'm back in Provo. School starts tomorrow. I miss my family even more than I did at the start of Fall semester, but I'm excited for new classes, new adventures, and learning new things about myself. My life is so good.