10 facts about my life as of late

1) My classical music Pandora playlist and the library = what I've been living off of for the past few weeks. Hence the absence of blogging in my life. Or anything at all that doesn't have to do with math, chemistry, or sleeping really. Including cleaning my room. Melissa was very patient with me about that and I'm so thankful to her for it. {For the record Dad, the room is now clean. Despite what you may think, I can't function in a room like that for long!}
2) I've come to realize that I have the best roommates ever.
3) Also, there are so many people here that are so, soo much smarter than me.
4) Automatic flushing toilets scare the beans out of me. They are evil and I hate them. {Whyy on earth are all the toilets in the hbll automatic?!}
5) For the past few weeks I've had to be on campus from around 7am till midnight every day, and for reasons that aren't so fun. But at the same time, I love it. BYU campus is so beautiful and holds this feeling of learning and bettering one's self, and I can't help but be happy and excited about my life and future when I'm there. Even when the only reason I'm there is to sit on my bum in the library for forever and a half to study imaginary numbers. I really do love this university.
6) Last year I started this weird thing of keeping ongoing lists of random things on my phone, serious and funny - names for my future kids, things I'm thankful for, funny things friends say, things I like about myself, things I want to change about myself, qualities I like in guys, words I really like, Chuck Norris jokes, etc. Whenever I see or think of something regarding one of them, I just plug it in there. And now I'm really glad I've gotten in the habit. It's kind of therapeutic in a weird way and fun at the same time. Maybe I'll post some sometime.
7) The leaves are changing. [:
8) Today I spent 9 hours of my day in the library catching up in the math and chem classes I added late. One of my roommates guessed I probably hadn't eaten dinner yet {which was correct - I hadn't eaten since breakfast} and came all the way from our apartment to the hbll with a pb&j, granola bar, part of her emergency stash of chocolate, and a hug, and then kept me company and studied with me till midnight. Further evidence of why Miss Molly is probably one of my most favorite people in the WORLD. Seriously that girl is an angel in disguise. My Heavenly Father always makes sure someone's lookin out for me. Always. What a comfort that is.
9) A good hug can cure anything. ANYTHING.
10) My family is on their way down to Provo as we speak. General Conference is this weekend. Dinner date and football game against USU tomorrow night. Life is good.

Apartments > dorm rooms.

Living room, plus my homework pile. Also please notice the sweet sound system,
which you can see on either side of the cabinet. Our apartment is pretty much
dance party central. Noo big deal.

The kitchen, which last night survived the first roommate dinner of the 

semester before we ran across campus to hear Elder Oaks in the Marriott Center. Molly and Melinda

 made fajitas, Melissa and I did the rice, and Whitney and Tonya supplied chips and salsa. It was perfect.

Our lovely two-bathroom prep area.

And the best part: Melissa's and my room!

And that's about it! Living in an apartment is SO DIFFERENT from living in the dorms, 

and I love it. I love my roommates:

 I love the other people in our complex, I love my ward, I'll try real hard to learn to love

 the hassle of making food, and of course I love this school. 

Anyways, there you have it. My home away from home. A real live apartment.

{I'm a sophomore... That's weird to think about.} 

Life is gooood.

College makes me look like this:

First day of school picture. Tradition must be maintained. And also because the "first day of school" picture my Dad snapped last week was actually of me at our front door with no makeup on & wearing sweats, about to get into my friend's car to begin the 14 hour drive to Provo. Not a proper first day of school picture. No. So this will have to do. {Sorry it's awkwardly ginormous... } 

This one's from BYU Photography's webpage and when I saw it in their slideshow of photos from the first day of class, it just made me happy. {They had photographers lurking all over campus trying to capture "candid" pictures of students on the first day, and one of those sneaky guys was creepin around my 8am New Testament class. Nobody dozed off during that lecture, lemme tell ya} These past two days I've been walking around this place with a huge silly grin on my face, and I really can't stop. Why? The feeling that hangs around this beautiful campus. My five wonderful, hilarious, beautiful roommates. Brand new classes and stuffing my noggin full of new knowledge. Laying out on the grass after class. The anticipation of upcoming sports games, dances, and devotionals. Spotting friends from freshman year. The resulting flying tackle hugs. New friends. A new ward. Running my old route through the neighborhood. THOSE MOUNTAINS. You get my drift.

Scheduled for someday = a post about Alaska / the end of summer. Maybe. 

But for the next four months I have other things on my mind.

This girl's life is super goood.

Things I want to remember: Kauai Edition

So I'm heading back to my other life {the college student one} in about two weeks and I've got unfinished business on here. Particularly regarding one of the defining vacations of our summer, which I've been putting off blogging about for quite awhile. And by "quite awhile" I mean almost two months... So today is the day I put the dang thing in the record book.

As you can imagine, two weeks in paradise produced a lot of pictures and a lot of memories, and I'll be honest - I am most definitely not gonna put all of em on here because a) my blog page would take infinity to the fifth power to load; I've already got enough pictures on here as it is, and b) that post would take forever to create and I really don't care THAT much about sharing every little detail. So, I'm just sharing the favorites - a handful of things that I want to make sure never ever to forget about my amazing vacation to the Garden Island. 

This one comes first for a real good reason. I want to remember how much fun it was to be with my Grandpa and Grammie, two of the most amazing people I have ever known. I could go on and on about them. I am so thankful to them for their examples to me of faith, selfless service in their church callings, of living within their means while raising four kids and managing their finances in a way that they can now spoil us grandkids like nobody's business {Like this trip for example!}.

Plus I also wanna remember this cute little chapel where we went to Sacrament Meeting.

I want to remember how pampered we felt at the gorgeous hotel we stayed in and the hours 

and hours we spent on the beach, snorkeling at the amazing reefs, and playing in the pool together.

I want to remember the incredible hike we did in Waimea Canyon and the

mini heart attacks I had every time we came around a bend in the trail. 

Not that we aren't cute or anything, but please take a moment to look behind us at the canyon. See what I mean? [: GORGEOUS.

I want to remember my first real scuba dive as a certified Open Water diver at 

Koloa Landing. Absolutely positively one of the coolest experiences of my life.

I want to remember how amazingly GREEN that place is. And that's coming from a Washington

girl who lives in the middle of the forest. Trust me. I know what I'm talking about.

I want to remember that wave boarding was one of my most favorite things we did, no

matter how many times my poor body collided with the bottom of the ocean. Sorry I suck at boarding, 

little body. I hope you'll learn to forgive me in the future.

Awesome bruise from the wrist strap of my wave board
after a particularly bad wipeout.  Not sure if I should
consider myself super hardcore or just a complete
failure of a boarder.

I want to remember the um, "adventure" we had camping the second week of our trip; the incredible

snorkeling, having a beach in your backyard, falling asleep to the sound of the waves... plus the never-ending entertainment that drunk natives provide as well. Every single night. Till 2am. Yep. Gooood times.

I want to remember the insane amount of wild chickens that were EVERYWHERE on the island, which gave me a perfect opportunity to use the chicken-catching skills taught to me in my childhood on my friend Dani's farm, as well as teach an apprentice of my own.

So fluffy!!

I want to remember the gorgeous hike through the jungle to Hanakapi'ai Beach, which seriously

looked like it came straight out of a National Geographic magazine or something. It was amazing!

I want to remember the fun we had goofing off and being siblings.

I love these guys.

We found seed pods shaped like smiles! As you can see,
 the picture's a total fail, but hey, we tried.

{UV shirts do much more than block sun.}

I want to remember how absolutely terrifying / insanely fun it was to stand atop

Kipu Falls, jump into open air and fall twenty feet into a river. Definitely one of the scariest

things I've ever made myself do, and definitely one of my favorite

things we did. 

I don't ever wanna forget those sunsets,

or the rainbows.

And I want to remember how awesome my family is and how much I stinkin love 'em. 

But I'm pretty sure that won't take too much work.

I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

Greenwater Lakes

Said like this: "pear-uh-dice."

For the Krops, summer has "backpacking trip" in its very definition. Every summer - no ifs, ands, 

or buts about it. But with our summer being as packed as it is this year, we could only squeeze in 

a single backpacking trip, and it finally happened this weekend. 

That bearded dude is just some hobo we picked up. Just kidding. Meet my cousin Matt.
He day hiked up to the lake with us. 

We were pretty excited. Emphasis on the "excited" part. Particularly for me. If you 

haven't noticed by now, my family is a pretty outdoorsy one, and that's rubbed off on me 

in a variety of ways. {My dream degree would be in Geology, I could live off Mountain 

House dehydrated backpacking food for my entire life, & my husband is gonna have to fight

 hard to get out of taking me National Park-hopping for our honeymoon - skip those overrated 

tropical beaches.} Backpacking is one of my most favorite favorite favorite 

summer things we Krops do together.

I love having everything you need on your back, with nothing but this ^^ for you to run around

in. It's a feeling that, for me at least, just cannot be beat. 

Let's compare Merritt's & my trail snacks, shall we? And the dumbest thing - he can stay toothpick skinny
no matter how many of those things he eats. Life just isn't fair, my friends.

I love living simply and I love living out of a pack. 

Most organized, easy-to-navigate lil' closet you'll ever find! [:

I love feeling awesome and getting to use the term "base camp" instead of "home."

I love being out in places that have stayed the way they are supposed to be. There's a different feeling

there, and I can't get enough of it. And I especially love being there with my favorite people! My family.

As aforementioned, I LOVE THAT FOOD. [: Dinner in a cup. No better way to have it!

I love curling up somewhere and watching the world go by, or perhaps reading a 

book {or in this case catching up on my missionary letters}.

I love waking up to chilly mornings and coming face to face with this.

On mornings such as these, hot oatmeal is your best friend, lemme tell ya.

I love the day hikes, where the recipe for a good day is as simple as boots, bottle, and camera {Certain members of my family might laugh at this... Our day hike to Noble Knob didn't go quite as expected this time, but let's choose to dwell on the positive, shall we? [: Yes.} 

I love the trailside lunch breaks, finding new ways to mix the traditional wheat crackers, cucumber slices, 

salmon spread, and cheese, and fighting over the last piece of beef jerky. 

I love the perfect beauty of tiny things that most people pass by.

I love the smell of sun on heather bushes and pine trees. Find me a candle of

that scent and I'll buy a lifetime supply of 'em, right then and there.

I love Earth and the way it makes me pause and thank my Heavenly
Father for life again and again and again.

{Yeah. We stood on top of that a year ago.}

I love big treeeees! 

I love the hike back home that always seems shorter because your mind's on other things.
{Like warm showers and real toilets!}

I love my Grandpa, who started the backpacking flame in
my mom when she was a youngin'. 

And I love these people. {Not photographed: lil bro. But I love him too.}
Living proof that a family that backpacks together, stays together. [:

My life is good.