filter out the static

ta da!

i've officially been back in rexburg for one week.
sometimes it feels like i never left.

while i'm always happy to come back...it is also always sad to leave home. plus i had an awesome summer. i had so much fun.

it was also very eventful actually...

i went on a road trip,
went camping with my family,

went everywhere without shoes,
became Elaine,

spent a weekend at a cabin with my friends,
kissed my nephews a million times,

played at the park,

went to the temple every chance i could,

worked my butt off,

tutored a couple crazy kids,
said goodbye to four of my best friends
and had a roommate reunion in idaho.

there were more things.

too many things to write in a list on my blog :)

but they were all good...

happy sunshine and rainbows.

i already miss my family and summer so much.

but now i'm back! and it's so great! sometimes the end of an era isn't a bad thing. i'm so excited for this semester and the choices that i am making now.

all my college life i have always been so blessed with awesome roommates...

and this semester is no exception :)

at first i was a little scared because the other four girls already knew each other and lived there.

but alas, they are awesome and we are already becoming good friends...all six of us! nailed it.

also...my classes are the bomb diggity for real. here they are:

D&C - with the coolest most rockstar religion teacher ever!

Interpersonal Communications - with my favorite comm teacher

Color Photography - with my camera

Scroll Photography - the newspaper

Advertising Principles - we'll see how that goes

Some environmenty science class online

don't they sound fabulous?

i love school!

corey "get some" buxton

it is an interesting thing when someone dies.

especially someone you knew well

it is interesting to see how people react to death and how they deal with it.

my friend corey, who was the younger brother of my good friend jeff buxton, passed away on thursday

it was a shock. to everyone.

i guess it is always a shock when a 17 year old kid dies

it never seems right

however, it makes me so grateful for what i know

i know the Lord's hand is in everything

i know he has a plan

i know families are forever

and that's all that matters.

corey was such a good boy :)

the sweetest

and so hilarious

everything was funnier when corey was around

i love that boy

and miss him so much

i pray for his family...and hope you will too

san francisco

road trips are just the greatest.

this past weekend i got to go on the best road trip ever with some of my best friends ever :)

good times.

here's how the trip went...

thursday

we drove the 9 hours to get to san francisco.

it's a good thing those boys are so funny...cause the drive wasn't boring :)

we stayed with matt's aunt and uncle who were awesome!

the trip wouldn't have been nearly as successful if they hadn't helped so much.

plus they were hilarious and had adorable children.

friday

we rode our bikes to the BART station

there was a bike mishap...and scott's bike needed a new tube thingy.

but, thanks to matt and jeff wheeling through san fran, they were able to fix the bike just before our ferry to sausilito.

the ferry was amazing.

i'm officially in love with san francisco.

then we biked to the golden gate bridge and across it...it was super foggy but still very cool :)

from there we rode our bikes around san francisco.

at this point we were lost...but i really didn't know because i was in the back...the whole time....being a wimpy girl.

but the boys were very nice and someone always stayed behind with me (usually scott...you're the best scottie)

i guess i did ok...considering i was trying to keep up with four very in shape boys.

anyways, we went to ghirardelli square first...to end a long bike ride with some chocolate ice cream.

all i wanted at that point was some water :)

then we went to fisherman's warf and pier 39.

the boys ate.

and i took pictures.

i wish i could have taken more pictures...but i was on a bike too much.

the whole city looks like a picture.

it was rather overwhelming how picturesque it was.

china town was the next destination.

it was just a whole lot of little chinese trinket stores of junk

so naturally trey bought more than anyone else :)

but it was really fun.

we ate dinner at a random place there...i had curry.

we were so dead.

so...we rode back to the bart. and then home.

overall we rode about 22 miles.

matt said 10 at first and i believed him :)

so 22 was a bit of a shocker.

haha no wonder we were tired!

it was a great day!

saturday

we started the day off right by going to the oakland temple.

it was beautiful.

the view from the temple is really amazing.

aren't they cute?

most of our morning was spent in the temple...but that was alright with me :)

then we took lots of crazy pictures where the boys push each other around and i just laugh

after eating at a chinese woman's burger place in oakland we headed to muir woods.

muir woods is great.

i love trees.

it was nice to be around so much nature...rather refreshing.

vegas is so barren.

while in muir woods we read a talk by elder winkel about redwoods and how they support each other with their root system. it was tender :)

then we had a picnic.

scott had an entire chicken in his bag!

but trey ate most of it.

then the picture madness ensued again.

after muir woods we called it a day.

but not until after getting ice cream (thanks to dan) and playing a thrilling game of killer bunnies.

killer bunnies always makes me pee my pants.

of laughter that is...

sunday

church.

drive.

home.

i loved every second of the trip! i am so lucky to be friends with such great boys :)

they make me laugh so hard!

all of them are amazing and will be the best missionaries!

yay for the adventures of the fabulous five!

mi familia

one of the best parts about summer is that i get to play with my family lots :)

a couple weeks ago we went to a park and had tin foil dinners, played kickball and just had a blast.

i took a million pictures.

most of them are of these two boys...


but with faces like that...can you really blame me? :)

oh...and doxie was there too of course.

tomorrow is one of the other great parts about this summer.

san francisco.

fabulous five.

yes.

(the fabulous five includes myself, matt, trey, jeff and scott)

time flies...

i'm always amazed at how quickly time can slip away...

since my last bloggy i had easter, finals (don't worry. i aced them), a long trip home, and i've started an amazing summer.

first things first.
easter this year was spent in rexburg. so my rexburg family and i decided we would make a big party out of it. we had make-shift easter baskets (mine was my rainboot) and drew names to be the easter bunny. liz and i woke up super early and secretly hid tons and tons of eggs in our apartment so when everyone woke up it was like the easter bunny really came! it was so great :) plus, it was conference! it doesn't get any better than that.
we also dyed eggs
had another easter egg hunt
ate lots of candy
made scones
listened to the prophet
had a sleepover
talked about boys (duh.)
made a big easter dinner
and just loved having time together.


(notice that liz's basket was a box of captain crunch. hahaha so good.)

it was the best easter EVER!


then i spent two nights in provo on my way home...i was in no hurry. besides, i got to see jeff and matt and stay with my most favorite cousin. good times.






















now, i am home. luckily...i love home :)



p.s. i also updated my other blog...you can check it out if you wanna. or not. whateve.

eye dee hoe

these boys came to visit me this weekend :)

don't they just look so excited?

i love them

basically...it was the best thing ever. sometimes i have a hard time with two different lives colliding...but not this time. it was super fun! we had a flour war, sang to billy and michael, ate things, played frisbee, had a bonfire and delicious hot shmoes, went to church, talked, took pictures....good things :)

hopefully they got to see a little bit of why i LOVE this place so much!




p.s. i only have a week left! what the? when did that happen?

Traffic School

so....remember how I got a ticket?
well, in order to keep that blasted ticket from going on my record, I am taking Idaho's online traffic school.

oh joy.

it is rather boring and time consuming but...I have to do it. Anyway, this is a direct quote from my current favorite past time. (don't be fooled. it is NOT my favorite.)

"To show you the magnitude of the highway death rate, here is a comparison. During a 10-year period when the United States was in Vietnam, about 58,000 of our servicemen were killed there. During that same period, 546,497 persons were killed here in the United States by the automobile, averaging 54,000 fatalities per year."

isn't that crazy? that kind of blew my mind.
i'm a big fan of being involved in the world and world peace and all of that crapola but sometimes i feel like we are so worried about what goes on internationally that we don't pay attention to problems that are happening in our own country. but maybe that's just me.

blog blog bloggy

here's the thing.

i've chosen a career. therefore, i have to actually take it seriously. :)


sooo...i'm announcing the launch of my brand spankin new photography and design blog.
it is still a work in progress...just a baby blog. so any constructive critism (or nonconstructive i suppose) is appreciated.

check it out - www.caseyjphoto.blogspot.com




p.s. i watched The Ring for the first time last night....BAD IDEA

Fulfill and Magnify

Remember that time when everyone gets a calling in college? Actually, that's a lie. I didn't have one last semester (which was a good thing)

But, this semester I totally got a calling! I got called by my stake to do indexing. Every week after church, I go to the family history lab and do 2 hours on the family search website thing. This week was my second official week and ya know what? I love it. Two of my other roommates got called too, so we just have a blast! And it's perfect because it doesn't stress me out during the week :)


I think the process is amazing! It is completely inspired...there have already been times when I felt there was no way I could read the crazy swirly handwriting and then, all of a sudden, the name just pops into my head. Then one of the cute old ladies reassures me that I was prompted by the Holy Ghost so I could figure out the name. Those women are the best. They can read anything.

One of my favorite things is to talk to my roommate Kelle about all of the funny names and families we come across.

Today was the craziest one yet.

Ollie Green was 28. Married to 59 year old Frank Green.
Married for 14 years.
8 children.

I'm sure you've already done the math, but that means that Ollie got married at 14 to a 45 year old! She had her first baby at 15 and then had 7 more within 12 years.

I couldn't believe it.


This just made me SO grateful that I was not living in 1910. I think the Lord knew that I wasn't made for that kind of life. Thank goodness. I'm totally fine with leaving marriage at 14 up to women like Ollie Green. More power to ya Ollie.