Surprise?

This past weekend I got a text from my amazing friend Courtney asking if I wanted to go home for the long weekend. I wanted to go because hey, its home! But I had made the drive just two weeks earlier and that drive was probably thee worst drive to Provo I've ever had. To give you the cliff notes version.. what should have taken me 6 hours to get to Saint George took me about 9+ hours. I was stuck in 3mph traffic for 2 hours, by myself. NOT FUN! I had come to the conclusion that I was cursed in some way, traffic followed me every where I went. This negative to going home was very quickly overruled by the positive that I would be able to surprise my parents and also see Aaron, Caroline and my beautiful niece Eleanor.

While my brothers were here in Provo for school and I was still living at home, I remember being surprised each of them in so many ways. The ones I specifically remember is first, Austin surprising me by picking me up from seminary and taking me to school. Second, Adam and Aaron coming down for a weekend and surprising me from BYU. I was upstairs watching a movie with Mom and Dad (clearly planned) and I walk down stairs to get something and see Austin standing by the fridge (Austin was still living at home) and two guys turned around making cereal at the counter. I figured that these two guys were just friends of Austin's so I didn't think anything of it... until they turned around and I saw that it was Adam and Aaron. I was completely surprised and shocked!

I was the one being surprised, but now, it was my turn!! MUAHAHAHAHA!

Courtney and I had a very interesting trip to the good ole Riverside. We survived until we got to Vegas and made the executive decision that were were hungry and were craving Wendy's. Fun fact ya'll, never get off on "Cheyenne" (getting off on Cheyenne was our first mistake) because you will most likely become scarred for life with images burned into your life forever. So we went through the the drive through at Wendy's to satisfy that craving and lets just say that our experience in  Vegas on the Cheyenne exit consisted of transvestites, a street lined with scary homeless people, anxious drivers screaming random nonsense at us, getting lost, and a large man riding on a quite tiny moped. Courtney and I made the decision that we were never ever going to get off on the Cheyenne exit ever again.

After a long but entertaining drive we finally arrived in Riverside. As I had said before, this was my turn to surprise Mom and Dad, to see their happy and surprised looks while I walk through the door. Well.. it sort of worked. A couple days before I left I was on the phone with mom venting about something and accidentally spilled the beans about going to California for the weekend. WHAT! Of course I was the one to spill the beans. I tried to cover it up but nothing worked. What I had said was irreversible. Mom then proceeded to ask me if Dad knew if I was coming, which he didn't and she promised to keep it a secret. So at least I would be surprising one parent right? Maybe this is why no one told me secrets when I was little.. and it now all makes sense!

So Courtney and I go down our long drive way with the lights off on her car so that Dad wouldn't be able to see us through the window. I was in correspondence with Aaron and Caroline, they were a big help in making sure Dad was home when I arrived. She dropped me off and I carefully walked through the back door, Mom had told me Dad was on the bed upstairs talking to Adam so knocked on  their bedroom door and poked my head in the door. Dad says, "What the heck?!" (in a very happy and surprised tone) "What are you doing here?! I thought you were Aaron knocking on the door!" He put phone down and I gave him a big bear hug! We had forgotten that Adam was on the phone and that he was just sitting there hearing all of the commotion. Dad finally picked up the phone and told him he would call him back (Sorry Adam haha).

The trip, although short was so fun! Here is the list of pictures that will help tell the story a little bit.

^^ I got to wake up to this little one every morning and right below is a video that in a very short way shows how much fun we had during the weekend. 

^^ She really enjoys her rocking chair 

We went down to Rancho Cucamonga to Victoria Gardens to do some shopping and to be outside in the beautiful 75 degree weather. 

^^ There was an employee at Pottery Barn that was quite impressed with Eleanor and Aaron in this position. 

^^ Eleanor REALLY REALLY enjoys Pottery Barn. 

^^ Lunch at the Corner Bakery, she really enjoyed her pickle as well. 

^^ Almost all of McKell outings need to involve the Apple store at some point. 

^^ Eleanor and Nana

^^ Caroline, Mom and I did some shopping in Banana Republic and we walk out to this beautiful sight. That is exactly how Aaron feels about Banana Republic shopping. 

^^ I insisted that we visit  "Crepes de Paris" on our way out. 

^^ The finished product. Oh my goodness it was heavenly!! We need one of these places in Provo. Wait, maybe not because then I would just want to eat there everyday for the rest of my life. 

The last event of the trip was a fireside in Irvine. If you have ever seen the movie "Meet the Mormons," (if not, I highly suggest it!) you know the last story of the Armstrongs. Well the missionary that baptized Dawn Armstrong, my dad baptized in the Philippines on his mission. That may be a little hard to wrap your head around so I will explain it with a picture. 

^^ Dawn was baptized by Ron and my dad baptized Ron in the Phillipines.  

It was so amazing to be there and hear her story first hand. My dad lit up so much seeing Ron and seeing the domino effect of his missionary work. Such a blessing. Missionary work is an amazing thing and we are beyond blessed. 

All in all.. the trip was.. you know it.. AN ADVENTURE!!

Library procrastination thoughts...

I am currently in the BYU library with some study buddies trying to finish assignments for my Ethics and Understanding Technology class. I have attempted at reading writings by Aristotle for what feels like a hundred times and my technology assignment has gotten really old, really fast. Both of these assignments have been accompanied by yawns, occasional stretching, bathroom breaks that aren't needed, "quick" Facebook checks, and intense day dreaming.

I've thought, "well, its Thursday, I don't have class on Friday, my weekend has begun, what in the world am I doing in the library!?" Then I'm very quickly reminded, "You've got loads of homework that you SHOULD be doing. Oh yeah."

I had a realization today that I have had several times but I do not believe that it has ever been as intense as it was today. (Side note: Yes I understand that sentence does not make a lot of sense.. but hey this is my blog right? A lot of times, grammar just goes straight out the window!)  I finished my first class, had an hour break until my ASL class and met up with some friends, Payden and Alena, who also had a break and are in my same ASL class. I tapped Payden on the shoulder as he was working on other homework and immediately started signing, no words were spoken. We spent the next 25 minutes or so signing about random things and Alena came and joined us. As Alena walked up she started signing as well. We sat for the remainder of our break telling stories, asking for advice, joking around and talking about mumbo jumbo. We all noticed how funny it was to watch people as they walk by.. they would walk by and stare at us thinking we were Deaf and giving us some of the weirdest looks. I don't think they realize that we CAN see them too haha well.. and that we are hearing as well. Just funny to see peoples reactions to us signing. Love it!

After chatting for a while the three of us made our way over to class. Sitting in class I kept thinking, "Ya know what, I am in the right spot! I love American Sign Language!" It was a very distinct moment where I knew that all the analyzing, worrying, pros and cons lists, long talks with mom and restless nights about trying to decide what to do with my life were all worth it! For those of you who were "involved" in my decision process, or even those who endured through the long crazy blog posts of me going back and forth over and over know how analytical I can be when it comes to decisions like this.

I am beyond grateful to be in the place that I am. Although it took what felt like forever and caused lots of anxiety...hey, I'm here. I know I'm where I'm supposed to be! Sometimes I feel insanely out of place at UVU but when I walk into my ASL class I feel like I can finally breath. Thats the feeling I wanted when trying to decide what I wanted to do. I still look back at how far I have come and how much I have improved in my signing and holy heck it is night and day!! So happy :)

This wasn't my normal "big adventure" post but hey, I thought I would share my thoughts with you. :) Now here are two comics that I quite enjoy. I think every single one of my ASL professors has shared some of these comics with us, and boy do I love them!

2015!?

Was on the phone with Mom the other day and she said.. "Soo... are you going to update your blog sometime soon?" I said, "Yeah, eventually!" I am sitting in hallway for my hour break in between two classes and figured right now would be the best time to update. Last semester before finals was the last time that I wrote and my schedule always seems to go "bazerk" as finals come and my blog has surely suffered because of it. 

I was able to go home for the Christmas break to sunny Southern California immediately after my last final. I was also able to talk my friend Cort into driving down with me, he is also from Southern California.

^^ Cort was very generous to do some of the driving 

This Christmas was insanely different from all the others, but still one to remember. This Christmas was the "off-year" and so all of my brothers were with their inlaws family. So therefore it was Annie, Mom and Dad until the day after Christmas. Austin and Chandra decided to come down to celebrate Chandra's Birthday at the beach, which we all enjoyed very much. Chandra and I quickly ran for the water to watch the sunset as Austin slowly followed behind. We could not give up this picture perfect moment and the sand between our toes. 

^^ It's a view like this that makes me miss home. 

I had been home maybe a couple days and one of the first things on my list was to drive the mustang. I can more fully understand why Dad says he doesn't want to live in Utah. Everytime I say that they should move to Utah, Dad says, "If I move to Utah, can I drive the mustang with the top down in the middle of February?" "Well Dad.. you very well could but you just may freeze, that is totally your choice! ha" Im very grateful that whenever I go home, no matter what time of year it is, I can drive the mustang with the top down! 

^^ Miss her already

New Years Eve was also very different this year. I was in my room when midnight hit so naturally I ran out in to the living room to wish everyone a happy new year only to realize that everyone had already gone to sleep. So I said to myself "Well.. Happy New Year Annie!" 

Driving home was a whole different story...

I had planned on driving back to Ptown with Cort but he had decided to go on a graduation trip to Mexico for a few weeks so I was in search of someone to ride back with me. I was unsuccessful in this endeavor. My next best option was to carevan with Austin and Chandra which I was a little hesitant about driving by myself in my car but at least I wouldn't be completely by myself in case something happened. Well, that plan didn't work out too great. After about 5 minutes of driving Chandra's car is letting out white smoke everywhere! Im thinking, oh geez, this is going to postpone us a couple of hours. We had already left later than I thought we would and I was very eager to get on the road and head back to Provo so that I could get settled before the start of the new semester. Being the stubborn one that I am I decided to leave Austin and Chandra behind and I began to drive alone. 

Everything was going well until I arrived in Baker. I decided to stop for gas just in case because I didn't want to have to stop in Vegas. I finished filling up my tank and got back on the road. I hit bumper to bumper traffic which I thought maybe would last for a couple of minutes. I was totally wrong. I was going about 3mph for 2 and a half hours. Yup thats right! 2 and a half HOURS! By myself in the car, left alone to my thoughts and trying to stay awake. During this time I saw about 3 firetrucks and 2 tow trucks pass me on the high way. "We" (as in me and all my friends that were also stuck in this headache of traffic) got to the end of the traffic and saw a huge semi truck that had caught on fire from an accident and all that was left was the bare frame. I was praying that no one was harmed in this terrible accident. 

After passing the accident it was a straight shot to Saint George where I was very grateful to have gotten Mimi and Papas house key so that I could crash there for the night because there was no way I was ever going to make it the next 4 hours to Provo. I very quickly fell asleep and slept like a baby and drove the rest of the way the next day. 

I think it is safe to say that my first time doing the drive from Riverside to Provo by myself was.. interesting and probably will never happen again! I arrived in Ptown with just enough time to settle in and get everything done before Sunday came and the new semester was upon us. I had only been in Provo for a couple hours and I had already slipped on ice, gotten hit by a snow ball and felt like I was living in the arctic. It took me a while to get used to the whole snow thing again, this happens every winter but my body is still shocked by the cold every time. 

^^ View from my apartment complex 

2015 is here and I cannot believe it! I am in the last semester of my Sophomore year. WHAT!?! How in the world did that happen! I am also counting down until my birthday at the end of the month (January 30th). I have always felt older than I truly am and I am very excited to no longer be in my "teens" feel like I have finally arrived in the world haha 

I know that 2015 is going to bring some big adventures. I can just feel it! :) 

Love ya'll