If Summer happened in February.. Feb 13-19

I wouldn't normally recommend taking a red eye, driving home from the airport straight to class, going to classes all day, working, and staying up till midnight doing homework. But somehow I was blessed and it all worked out!

Valentines Day turned into a super funny "text back and forth" Valentines between a whole bunch of people. It was just funny!

Look at this smiling moose I found!

My work face.

Just look at this picture. This is the cover for the January Ensign. I love it! We are never alone. We have Angels helping us along. That just amazes me thinking about it! 

Jonzzeys main staple now is smoothies. Kaylee went and got a custom made one for her and I, and it was delicious! Here's what was in it.

Fact about Lauren: I love fancy boxes of Chocolates.

It was time for Sarah and I to have a date night. So we went to Mcdonalds and got 20 chicken nuggets with two shamrock shakes! Then we went to the schools production of Romeo and Juliet and lastly watched Beastly!

The show was good! My good friend Anna Taylor was Juliet and she did an amazing job. The literal set was incredible and then they set the show in the 50s. The physical set had two working fountains!

Funny Memes about University Life never cease to make me smile.

Saturday was just glorious! The weather was splendid. I went to the women's lacrosse game and I just kept saying, "Guys! The weather is perfect!" Everyone just kept laughing at me. That night I went to the Rockbridge Symphony Orchestra concert in Lexington. There was a song with a super long trumpet solo. The lady was amazing and she was 5 months pregnant!!!!! 

Sunday was yet another beautiful day.

This is the epitome of my friends. Standing on tables being goofy with food.

After church those friends were all hammocking on campus. I experienced one of the most embracing moments of my life. I was wearing a dress and was attempting to get in a hammock. All of the sudden I flipped over and was flat on the ground. Yup.

:)

Sarah and I went on a long walk and then sat on the Lofts stairs for another hour. Pretty days are such a gift.

Sometimes you get home from going on walks and are hungry. So you knock on the Tuttles door and casually ask for food. Without hesitation they say, "What do you want?" Stephanie made us soup and gave us oranges and chocolate! It was the best!

I felt very inadequate this week. I felt like I was slacking as a Relief Society President and as an RA. 

I need to put more effort into doing my part. I have truly seen that if we do, the Lord does make up the difference. How great to know that our weaknesses can be made strengths. Christ will always be there to help us!

(Side note: Sometimes you rearrange your whole room at 10:30pm. Picture taken the next day haha)

A Little Jaunt Home Feb 6-12

Jaunt- "A short excursion or journey for pleasure"

That about sums it up.

This week was CRAZY!

But lets first pause and appreciate the February summer that I am having! Its the best!

I know what you are thinking. "Here goes Lauren again on her love for her children." And yes. That is exactly what I am going to do. These kids are just the sweetest. Kids are truly just tiny adults. They have bad days, hard days, good days, they laugh, they cry, they love food, they love to work hard and have a good time. The lessons they teach me everyday amaze me.

 

I had so much to get done this week in preparation for going home for the weekend. So I didn't make it to FHE, but some of my girls showed up with a decorated cookie for me! It was so kind.

Shadows on the water tower at 10:30pm

And campus coming home at 12:45am..

But seriously. This weather has been insane!

Tuesday ALLEY CAME HOME! Her family had a live video going on Facebook. I watched the whole thing and bawled like a baby when she hugged her family.

 

Picture this. Wednesday morning, 9am. February 8th. 
And I am OUTSIDE doing homework. It was amazing.


Earlier in Institute the power had gone out for maybe five seconds. Then I walked into choir and the power went off again! The whole campus was down. So we started to have class outside and there were firetrucks...
Basically I thought it was a sign that the whole day should have been canceled.
 

One of my favorite classes this semester is Museum Studies. The whole month of February we take one class period a week and go visit a museum in Lexington. This week we went and saw the Archives at the George C Marshall Museum. 


Alley called me when I went to lunch. It was sooo good to hear her voice!

When planning my surprise to go home I knew that I was going to have to try and get ahead in homework. So Wednesday I spent from about 7:30pm to Midnight attempting to study.... Yeah.. attempting being the key word. 
At one point I was starving and I ended up convincing my friend Kevin to bring me food! It was so awesome.


Definition of College. Anywhere you can find a second to sleep, you do.


Thursday I made it to all my classes then rushed to the airport. This was my first time flying out of Roanoke, and as I was boarding the plane I felt like I was Kate Middleton walking out to my private jet.

...except it definitely wasn't a high end jet. It was a tiny scary plane that bounced up and down the whole flight.

Friday I surprised Alley!! It was soooo good! AH! 



Love this girl.


I was grateful that I was able to surprise Alley, have an EFY interview, visit family, and see Klea sing. It was so special.

Why does this happen every time?

I was so grateful for the trip to Utah, but it did feel good to come home to my Virginia Home. ;) I just really love it here and the people here. And a lot of crazy things happened while I was gone that were a little crazy coming back to. But its so nice knowing you are right where you need to be. I know I am suppose to be a student here at Southern Virginia University. What a blessing.

I love you family! Thank you for making this trip work! I loved spending time with you for a few days :)

Jan 30-Feb 5

You know, when there are donuts at FHE, I will always be there. 

But really, I do love FHE and the bonding it helps initiate.

Sometimes you need a pick me up, even at 9am. So Jonzzey's is there to save the day! Lemon poppy seed muffins and salted caramel hot chocolate are two of the greatest things of my life. 

Just look at her cute little body. Man I love these kids.

AH!

So Alley wrote me a whole bunch of "Open When" letters before she left on her mission. I opened one Thursday night that said "Open when you need a laugh." These jokes had me dying of laughter!!

We went and took some pictures after classes on Friday. This is Chalae and Sarah. They are pretty great.

This weekend was SVU Idol. Oh what an adventure. Friday was the first night and there were 10 contestants then narrowed down to 5 for the next night. After SVU Idol we went to a bonfire one of our friends was having at his house. There were a ton of people there! The only problem was that it was freezing, but then you stood by the huge fire and it was way to hot. There was no in between. It became pretty comical. 

It was an open house weekend though which is the bane of all RA's existence. But at the bonfire we were joking around with some of the track recruits. They were hysterical!

Saturday I worked more on the puzzle that I started the night before. I can't get anything done because I just want to finish it! I love it!! 

One thing I love about my school is all the nature. I always walk home and find a friend.

We went to a tai restaurant in Lexington for one of my girls birthday. It was delicious!! And they gave us free coconut ice cream. 

 

The best part of the second night of SVU idol, was the Elvis impersonator we hired to entertained us while decisions were made and votes tallied. He's from Lynchburg and won first place in an Elvis impersonator competition in Nashville. He was the best thing ever!

I love people. And I love this quote about people.

Sunday we had a wonderful Sacrament Meeting. I bore my testimony on Hardheartedness. All through 1 Nephi it repeats over and over again that Lamen and Lemuel were hardhearted. I started to think more about this. As humans I think we are all hardhearted. It's way easier to be hardhearted than it is to keep pressing forward sometimes. But this gospel is built on actions. We READ, PRAY, LISTEN, FAST, PAY tithing. Everything is an action. As we continually do these things we can overcome our hardheartedness.