Sept 5-Sept 11

Labor day was good! We walked in the big Labor Day parade with basically the whole student body. Its one of those traditions I now feel obligated to do every year. Then I spent the rest of the day doing homework... yeah.

But it was also one of those days where it wasn't the worst and it wasn't the best. But I kept getting more random gifts from my girls which definitely was a tender mercy.

One room gave me Cheez-Its which I love! Than I also got a random note and some gum. It was just so kind.

 

For FHE we played kick ball. Thank you Lambert Family for preparing me for this moment.

Tuesday's and Thursday's are my super busy day! I never get to see Sarah until dinner time. We showed up and we totally matched! It was awesome!

 

This is the banner that is up to celebrate our 20 years as a University!

Classes are good. I really like them, but I have sooooo much to do!!! My schedule is packed ALL DAY EVERYDAY!

I love my job. I wish I could show you pictures of my crazy and adorable kiddies.

Story Time:

Sarah and I were walking to breakfast and then I was flat on my face. I completely tripped, on air mind you, and was on the ground. The first counselor in my ward saw and he yelled "You okay Lauren?" Then he came over and asked if I have given a talk yet.... He still asked while I was on the ground. HAHA 

I sure did scrap my knee pretty good though!

I love my school. They pick fabulous quotes for our forum. 

After work on Friday I headed over to the Cross Country race. It was sweltering hot. It made the race pretty hard. They actually delayed the girls race by a while because it was so hot and they had to wait for the ambulance to return from taking a different runner to the hospital from heat exhaustion.  

 

Nothing too crazy to report! 

Its busy and fun all at once!

First Week of School! First Week of School! Aug 29-Sept 4

I now present, the first day of school as told by Lauren and Sarah.

(This is also a perfect glimpse into our relationship)

"Are you ready for this?"

"Im just going to laugh!"

"Sarah..What is going on?"

"Just come over here."

"No one knows how awesome we are."

"Do I look okay?"

"Hey look our friends!"

 

"Where am I suppose to be going.."

"Okay we should try and look really good for this first day."

"We did it! Day accomplished!"

"What just happened?"

First off, I just really love that girl.

School started this week! Don't know how that happened.

My schedule is CRAZY. I have so much homework, and RA duties, and a job. Its going to be a learning process.

I am taking a wonderful institute class entitled Eternal Families with the ever amazing Bishop Rasmussen. The readings and discussions have already been incredible.

For my English major this semester I am taking American Literature and Shakespeare. I have a new professor for American Lit who is wonderful. There is a lot of reading but I love the works he has chosen. I struggle with taking about pilgrims and puritans and things like that but combined with the readings he has chosen it has been interesting. Shakespeare I also think will be a great class, but it is a huge time commitment reading wise.

For my Business Major I am taking Intro to Financial Accounting and Principles of Marketing. Financial Accounting......(crickets)......

Okay. Okay. It is not that bad. It also requires reading the text book but the information is actually interesting! Marketing on the other hand..Well whats funny is when it comes to business I am most interested in the marketing side of it but I don't know how I feel about this class yet. My professor is new and I struggle following what he is taking about. I feel like there are a lot of stories that don't fit what we are suppose to be discussing.

I am also taking choir again and drawing! Drawing also requires a ton of time but I love the professor. He taught my temple prep class last year and hearing him talk about art is amazing.

My Monday, Wednesdays, and Friday's are great because I get out of class at 11 and have 3 hours till work.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are awful. I start at 8 and don't get a break till 1:45, where I book it to the dinning hall to find something to scarf down and then I leave for work at 2.

Its going to be a lot of work this semester..

Let me just talk about work for a minute. 

Man oh man. Its the best.

I love my cute 1-3 year olds. They are CRAZY but absolutely adorable. (I wish I was allowed to show you pictures of them because you would all fall in love). I walk in and one little boy smiles at me everyday and my whole life is complete. They are so sweet.

I am going to be ready to be a mom. We have had diaper blowouts, and blood, and fighting, and laughter, lots of story reading, nap time, snack time. I've done it all. 

It truly is a blessing. And it does take three hours of my day which I could be studying and staying a head in school work, but it is a wonderful place to escape to. 

OHHH! Also I wrote a song for one of my little boys! So wait till you all hear it. Its the next big hit. There are 4 verses :) 

I also work with my friends! These ladies are amazing and I love that we get to work together.

So thats my life now. A true collage experience. 

Class all day, work, homework and sleep.

Some fun things for the week and weekend:

-Driving to DC with Jared to pick up his girlfriend. We had some wonderful conversations in the car. I am so grateful to know him and learn from him! He is awesome!

-Having Makayla and Bradleigh stay in my room.

-Going to the Men's soccer game while also watching the football game on my phone. We won both!!

-Watching the Book of Life with friends at Genny and Travis's house.

-Stopping by at the dance.

-Going back with Genny and Travis to watch the BYU football game.

Returning Home Aug 5-28

I love coming home to Virginia.

The Trees.

The Humidity.

Virginia.

I LOVE IT!

Its so funny to compare the beginning of each year here at SVU.

Freshman Year:

I was so scared. I was anxious to be out here on my own and nervous for classes to start and making new friends. Everything was new. After the first week I was great! I loved Buena Vista, I loved the school, I loved the people. It was fantastic!

Sophomore Year:

I was grateful beyond belief to be returning as an RA. The second training started we all clicked and were friends for life. I adore those people. After the first week I loved my girls who I hadn't met yet, already had a breakdown because of someone who hurt me, but still smiled as I realized I lived in Buena Vista.

Junior Year:

This year is very different. I had such a crazy year last year that led to a summer of rebuilding myself. It was a cool experience and a challenging one. I arrived back on campus knowing some things had to change. Knowing I was stronger. I didn't have my girls names already memorized, I was behind on contacting them, It took me forever unpacked. But I feel so good. I feel more confident. And I smiled from ear to ear as the bell on campus chimes and the train whistle blows.

The RA group this year is extremely different than last year. We were all strong last year but together as a group we were a power house! We were meant to be RA's so we could be friends with each other. A lot of us went through similar trials and were able to uplift and help each other constantly.

This year we are all strong individuals. And we kind of keep it that way. We are much more divided. Its not bad. Just different.

Look at my beautiful VA.

 

As an RA we have to make name tags for the doors in our hall. In the Lofts we usually pick a theme for the hall. I wanted to make it very me. SO I picked envelopes. I adore hand written letters and everything old. I think they turned out really cute!

I got a job at Woods Creek Montessori. I am in charge of the 1-2 year olds. We had a training and then went out to eat. I am so grateful I get to work with these girls! They are the sweetest people with the brightest spirits. I adore them. I also get greeted everyday by 7 1-2 year olds giving me a hug. It is amazing. I definitely think I can work there.

RA training went well. It was a lot of the same trainings I already knew but it was good. Our theme for this training was the Olympics. We played a ton of minute to win it games and some other challenges. My favorite was our synchronized swimming routines. HAHA! They were the best.

 

Okay the Olympics! Heck yes! The first week back I basically lived at Jared's house and we screamed and yelled and cheered on those Swimmers! Another RA named Stockton is the biggest fan I have ever seen. I only ever want to watch the olympics with him. So funny!

We have done a lot more service projects this year and I love it! We helped move a ton of furniture in the carriage town houses and cleaned up an amphitheater near the lofts. 

 

First Pizza of the year. It was delicious!

A gelato and adventure around Lexington was much needed! I love these people. So much fun! 

 

 

We also had to go to Cave Mountain Lake! 

 

This is Sarah and Kaylee. Its funny to watch them, as new RA's, try and navigate the Res Life ways. I just remember it all being so new and exciting and nerve racking! 

We went bowling as a Res Life staff. Kind of crazy and all sorts of tricks took place.

We watched a lot of olympics at a lot of different places. Jared's house, Reva's house, and Jonzzeys. After one night Catherine, John John and I played Jenga. I am horrible at that game! We kept playing with different arrangements to start out with. 

So I have had one giant problem. Its annoying and hard to deal with.

BUG BITES!

This is just on one side. I think I had like 45!

One day I got a text from Reva telling me that someone was going to be in the lobby of the lofts to say hi. I headed up to the lofts and my friend Bryson surprised me!!!!! I knew him my freshman year and he went on a mission. He had to return home early for medical reasons and now he is back. 

A few months ago West Virginia experienced some sever flooding. I was able to go up there with a small group of Students Saturday to help out. We helped gut out a church. I was in the group hammering and pulling nails out of wood. It was an adventure! The other group had to put on suits and crawl underneath the church to lay a tarp or something. Our bus driver Bob was out side helping our group. He was giving us a ton of good pointers and he even complimented my hammering skills. Thats right. Those few episodes of Bob The Builder I watched really paid off.

 



This building was their main hub. They have donations everywhere and people answering phone calls. They fed us delicious tacos for lunch and were grateful for our help.
 
After we ate, my group was still out pulling nails! At one point towards the end it started to pour rain. Amelia and I stayed to finish the board we were on and I could not stop laughing.



Conversation on the phone at 6pm Saturday night:
Me: Hello?
Jake: Lauren Lambert! Its Jake McMahon.
(We catch up for a minute. Establish yes I am in 4th ward. and He tells me how crazy it is because Bishop is in India and the other counsellor is gone with Soccer. Finally I said..)
Me: Jake. Do you need me to speak tomorrow?

So yup! With 14 hours till church I prepared a talk. What was amazing is that I had this feeling all day that I was going to have to speak so I already had a topic in mind! In the words of Bryson, "Thank Goodness for the Spirit!" 

A rainy Sunday.


Jake told me on the phone that they owed me big time. I kindly told him that I always accept chocolate. Later that night they called me and showed up with cookies!

Reva pointed out that we looked like we could be in some Fall clothing collection. So of course we had to take model photographs. 

I hung up a whole bunch of photographs from last year. It reminds me that even though it was the hardest year yet, there was still so many happy moments with some of the most amazing people.


Catherine and I went walking by the river one night. I just sat there and marveled that this is where I live.
 


Bugs in VA are probably the one thing that is not my favorite. This year, ants have been the biggest problem in all the resident halls.


Supportin my amazing soccer girls!


We had check in which was actually really calm. I had to leave half way through to go to work which was a little crazy, but over all it was a very chill experience this year compared to last. 
Also, I finally got a tag with my name on it!

I adore my job. That is all. :)