Looking Back on the Last 2 Months...

For the past couple months since I've moved down to Laramie, not a lot has happened. I mostly sit at home and watch movies...I know, I know very exciting. I've been told that this isn't what a college kid is supposed to do, but I dare to be different. :)

I've gone over to Kara's house quite a few times. It makes my day because everytime I walk through their door, Katelyn and Jake greet me as if they haven't seen me in about two years, instead of two days. Jake's birthday was a fun event. To start off the celebration, we went to the UW Football game, where Jake slept almost the entire time. When he wasn't sleeping he was plugging his ears and hiding under the blanket because the canon that went off scared him. After the game, we went back to the house for pizza, cake, ice cream, games, and presents. I got Jacob a nerf gun, which I think Jason liked even more than Jake did. :) The kids went for a bike ride (up and down the sidewalk), where I taught them about safety, which doubled as a photoshoot for Kara.

The adventure to Kara's house is a weekly, if not more, event for me. Just this last Sunday I went over her house to watch the afternoon session of General Conference. When I walked through the door, I found Katelyn still in her pajamas (it was 12:45 in the afternoon). I asked why she didn't put on some clothes, and she replied, "It's pajama day Bethy!!" (Jason informed me her teacher told the kids every Saturday and Sunday was pajama day.) Before conference started, Katelyn, Jacob, and I put together 5 puzzles. It was a lot of fun. After conference was over, I helped Kara clean up Jake and Kate's "little" messes. Then helped Katie and Jake get ready for bed. Katelyn told me I could come over every pajama day. When Kara asked if I could come over any other day, she said no, just on pajama days.

I'm so thankful that Kara is down here. Sometimes she tells me how happy she is that I'm down here to keep her company, but really I don't know what I'd do without her here to keep me company. Knowing I have family here has made the transition into the college life and being away from home a little easier. I don't know what I'd do without my big sister and how much she does for me. She's even the one I go to with blog questions and problems. Without her, I wouldn't have this right now. Thanks Kara for all that you do. I Love Ya Bunches!!

I don't have very many pictures from my first months here because I left my camera at home.

When Kara went home this last weekend, she was nice enough to bring me home my piano music. I've really missed playing the piano, and it felt great to be able to do something that I love so much again. Kara said she'll let me come over and play anytime (but I think after awhile she might regret saying that).

I was called to be one of the Family Home Evening group leaders in my ward. My "husband" is awesome, his name is Ben Skinner. He's a really nice, fun guy who has lots of great ideas. We've only had two FHE's together as a group so far. The first week we played Mafia, which is always a crowd pleaser. Ben came up with a great idea that we'd tie the game into the Gadianton Robbers. Everytime someone was killed there was a scripture they had to read to explain how they died. It was also nice because the only thing I had to do was bring the treats, which isn't hard at all. Ben took care of everything else: finding all the scriptures and the spiritual thought. It was a lot of fun, and everyone really got into it.

On Monday we played General Conference Jeopardy, also another crowd please. I'm convince we have the best group by far. We have about 10-12 kids that show up, and they all seem like they want to be there. They're all so willing to participate and help out. Everyone is pretty competitive and really into it. It's a lot of fun.

I really enjoy my institute class. I'm studying the Book of Mormon this semester, and my teacher is Trudy McKracken. She's a really nice lady who makes class a lot of fun. She also makes some mean cookies. Every week she has handouts for us to go along with the lessons. You can tell how she acts that she really enjoys teaching and our class. I'm off to a really great start, and I'm glad that there's one place I can go to be around people who believe the same things I believe. It always gives me a little boost to know there's others out there trying to live the same way you are.