21 years.

     That's how long I've been alive, world. It's weird. Mostly because I think as a kid I imagined I would feel older when I was this age. More mature and... adult-ish. Like I'd know everything and not be scared of anything and be able to do anything I wanted. That's not to say I'm immature necessarily {although when typing "That's not" just now I accidentally typed "That' snot" at first, and I laughed out loud to myself...}. I was a little apprehensive about what my birthday would be like, since it fell in the middle of a week chock-full of midterms and a few days after becoming newly single and {not quite so} ready to mingle.

     My birthday was on Wednesday, and I was spoiled for every minute of it. I was woken up at 7am by Mariah and Molls, my two favorite people, giggling as they hugged my feet & rubbed my tummy {this is normal, people} and led out of my room to a kitchen table loaded with chocolate chip waffles, scrambled eggs, bacon, and chocolate milk. Like, hello?! I am so lucky. Who even does that? I was so surprised! My day of classes was normal, aside from the fact that we got rice crispy treats in GIS lab and that was rad. I spent lots of time in the library, got lots done for school and my calling, and got a constant stream of calls and texts from friends and family that made me feel so darn loved. Came home from class to packages from my wonderful family, and a SALMON DINNER made by Molly and Mariah. Seriously. What did I do to deserve these two... They will never know how thankful I am for them. I love them.

The birthday meal. Molly's salmon was PERFECTION.

Turns out both Molls & I had the similar childhood obsession of making
bread cubes out of our rolls. It had to be documented.

Then we did this. 

Scanners are cool.

      Soon we were joined by old roommates and friends for dessert. My crazy huge smile 

does justice to how happy I was. I have the best friends, guys. The best.

THEN, Mariah's family arrived from Kaysville with her mission call! 

Sydney, Australia!!

I don't really remember what anyone else did, but I screamed at the top of my lungs...

Most kids my age post crazy pictures of their wild 21st birthday party on Facebook, celebrating being "legal" and all, and they think they are pretty darn cool. Well I say give me a beautiful fall day full of friends and food and laughs and mission calls, and that's all I need. I feel like a pretty darn cool 21 year old. Or at least a real happy one. Life is good.

Life in ten.

1) Helping Connor and his roommates move their precious couches to their new apartment. I think four or five pieces of furniture have been stuffed through that window so far this semester... 

2) Perks of dating a Wildlife Conservation major: evening birdwatching date at Utah Lake. It was so beautiful.

3) The result of my financing notes getting commandeered while I'm out cold in class. 

4) Footsie pile during conference at Connor's. Yeah, Elder Perry liked it. 

5) GIS. For days. Good thing I love my major.   

6) I call this, A Boy and His Gecko. Watch for more. There will be. 

7) Fall in Provo. 

8) Hours in the geology lab measuring strikes and dips and wanting to chuck our Brunton compasses and their multiple impossible bubble-levels out the window. 

9) Thursdays at the temple with Molls. 

10) Free blue pancakes before the Homecoming parade. We bleed blue and we eat blue. And maybe even pee blue as a result... Yeah. We take cougar spirit to a whole new level.  

A BYU weekend in thirty seconds or less.

7:10 wake up. Class. Break. Class. Class. Class. Home. Call Dad & talk about life. Make lunch for boyfriend. Study date. First Arctic Circle experience ever; commence falling in love with pumpkin shakes now. Movie. Play with boyfriend's gecko. Home at 1:30. Sleep. Wake 8:20. Run. Parade & free blue pancakes. Shower. Homework & lunch. Wish roommate good luck as she leaves for the biggest test of her life. Homecoming football game & friends & lost voices & losing to Oregon. Oh well. Home. Free Tucano's & pizza to celebrate Molly and the end of all things GRE for her. Ward night games & glow in the dark capture the flag & cinnamon rolls. Zoom to the library to finish GIS project. Be with boyfriend. Bourne Identity. Home. Sleep. Sunday. Church. Friends. Skype family. Bliss.

Life is good.

Five.

Five facts about life as of right this very second:

1) Homecoming weekend. It's great. Especially when you get blue pancakes for breakfast. FREE blue pancakes. What's good.
2) These mountains in the fall. I can't get over them. They are just so beautiful.
3) Likewise to the sunny, crisp, chilly weather that comes with the season in Provo. Hardly any mushiness or sogginess until the later weeks. Heaven.
4) My roommate takes the GRE today. She's a champ and she'll beast it, I know. I've gotten to learn a whole lot of new words as she's been studying for it this semester, such as lambaste, hackneyed, and sycophant.
5) I love my major. Even if it keeps me in the library every evening after class. But it's okay. Connor and I treat it as a date and that makes it just fine. [:

In which I do some things that have been in need of being done. For awhile.

Today I finally did my laundry.

Which was about 70% stinky clothes from Ragnar.

Which was almost a month ago. 

And in the spirit of doing things that have been sitting there, staring you in the face every day, smelling up your room and depriving you of clothing you can wear if you want to run within a 100-yard radius of other human beings with functioning noses, I thought, hey, I need to do something on my blog. To prove I'm actually still alive and somewhat committed to this thing. So, here it is. I'm alive! I'm doing well. I have a trillion things to write about, like Yellowstone/Jackson Hole this past summer {I did blog about our sailing trip. I'm prouda that.}, starting my junior year {what? Seriously? This is my third year here? I still remember these days like it was last week}, the inSANE most fun weekend ever that was Ragnar, hiking Mount Timp, epic concerts seeing the likes of the Fictionist and Neon Trees, other random adventures... This probably means most of these things won't ever be documented on here, but I will try. Even if they're just picture posts.  

But nonetheless I am doing great. I'm so happy. I have the most wonderful roommates. A major that I love and finally feel is the right one. A boyfriend who always has me laughing. A ward that rocks and a calling in the Relief Society presidency that keeps me busy. A school that keeps me exhausted but happy & grateful. And a life I wouldn't trade for nothin'.
Life is good.