Jihad: BYU vs. U of U

Storming the field

View from our seats

Kaylee and I had waited a long time for this day ...

A week full of good food and no school finally culminated in the day that all Ute and Cougar fans wait for all season long. You know what I'm talking about, the Holy War, the Jihad. I remember just last fall, still a senior in high school, watching the Utah/BYU game from the comfort of a table at an Applebee's in downtown Salt Lake. I cheered on the Utes to victory over their competitors as two of my Cougar-fan friends watched beside me in dismay.

This time around, however, it was a little more difficult to choose sides. Now a student at Brigham Young University, I faced many challenges being a Ute fan, born-and-raised. Before coming to college, I knew that I would face obstacles when it came to the teams I would cheer on, but I was determined to stick to my guns. I packed my Utah 2009 Sugar Bowl Champions cup, my Utah shirt and jersey, and my favorite Utah pajama pants just for good measure. I don't think anyone would have predicted the chaos that ensued from this choice ...

About a month ago I was lounging around our dorm in my most comfortable Utah pajama pants, minding my own business. Next thing I knew I was on my bed, wrestling my five roommates as they worked together to steal my pants right off of me. I stood speechless as Mandy and Alyse ran out of the building and into the dark, pants in hand. It wasn't until about one or two weeks later that I got my pants back, but at the cost of a fresh baked batch of cookies and a good dose of groveling.

So, the day finally came for me to show my true colors. I walked out of my bedroom wearing a red and black plaid jacket only to be ridiculed by a room full of Cougar fans. I decided to make things a little more neutral and promptly changed into my maroon hoodie. I thought it was a good compromise seeing as how I like both schools, and blue and red mix to make a maroon-ish color. Ok, maybe a bit of a stretch, but I ran with it.

Long story short, it was an amazing game. It was a win-win situation for me, so I had no problem sitting back and relaxing. As much as I enjoyed going into overtime, my freezing behind and feet completely disagreed. I half expected to see black frost-bitten toes when I took my shoes off later that night. Anyway, the fans stormed the field, and after about five minutes of waiting, we finally made our way down to the grass. It was a great ending to an awesome week.

Oh Boy, What Have I Gotten Myself Into This Time?

Yesterday was pretty crazy. So many things happened, I don't even know where to start ...

I hit with Hilary early in the morning before my seven o' clock chemistry recitation. After recitation I headed home, caught a few z's, did some quick cramming, and took my chemistry test at one-ish. The test ... Ugh, the test. Hardest chem test I've had thus far. I got through the test, all 44 problems, only to find out that I had skipped exactly half of them. Not a very good sign. I finally finished two-and-a-half hours later and headed home to get my mind off the test.

Once dinner was finished, my roommates and I moved our mattresses out into our living room/kitchen for a mass sleepover. After ripping apart our rooms and figuring out how to make it all fit we met our ward in the lobby to go to an activity. Twenty minutes and a confusing set of directions later, we finally made our way into the parking lot of Jump On It, a warehouse filled with a bunch of trampolines placed side-by-side on the floor and on the walls, equipped with basketball hoops for dunking and the like. I had never before seen such an awesome place. It left me wondering, who is the genius that came up with such an idea? What a patriot.

After about an hour-and-a-half and many buckets of sweat later, we decided we better make our way to the movie theater for the midnight premiere of "New Moon." As I ran into the theater to meet my friends and secure my seat only twenty minutes before the beginning of the show, I spotted girl after girl in Twilight regalia, and it suddenly hit me that I was no longer in the real world. I was now in the world of over dramatic teenage love, where a civil war was constantly being fought between members of Team Jacob and Team Edward. What had I gotten myself into? I knew absolutely nothing about Twilight! I had never read the books, nor had I seen the first movie. I figured I knew enough about the story from other sources that I would probably be able to follow along.

We were lucky enough to find five seats right next to each other on the front row. The only problem was that we didn't have five people, but six. There was one single seat on the row directly behind us, but instead of making one of us sit there we just put the arm rests up on the five seats and squished. As the movie began, I remembered why people get in line so early for good seats; our angle made Edward's jaw look about the size of the stern of the Titanic, and to be completely honest, his scanty chest hair and sickly skin color didn't help much. Anyway, I couldn't help but laugh to myself as I was immersed in a sea of preteen giggles and cheesy lines. You would probably think I regret paying ten bucks for this little adventure, but to be quite honest, I'd say it was ten bucks well spent. It was a great laugh. Oh, and it also made me realize one thing that I am most definitely going to give extra-special thanks for this holiday season: a life.

So, movie over, we headed back to the dorm. We walked in, fully expecting to be able to quickly grab our blankets from our bedrooms and plop down in the living room for our sleepover. Imagine our surprise when we walked in to find our mattresses not in the living room, but stacked in the hallway and in our shower. Who the crap would do such a thing? After speaking with Mandy, it was our understanding four of our mattresses were out on the balcony when she got home. After some struggling to rearrange things, we placed our mattresses in the hallway and slept there instead. To this moment we don't know who the culprits are, but let me assure you, we have a laundry list of suspects. Justice will be served ...

I <3 Photography!

Back in June I bought a Canon T1i SLR camera. It's easily the best investment I've ever made. That camera is A-MAY-ZING. Although I liked photography before, it wasn't until after I starting playing with the camera that my liking translated into a love. Granted, I'm not very good at taking photos, but every so often I get kind of lucky and things turn out in my favor. Anyway, I'm going to try to figure out how to upload some photos on this here blog and show y'all my attempts at photographic success. Enjoy!

Hello Family!

Well, another week has come and gone here at good ol’ BYU! I think I’m FINALLY starting to get into the groove of things, academically speaking. One thing I’ve really had to adjust to since coming to college is the amount of time I spend studying. There just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day! I feel like if I’m not eating, sleeping, or going to class, I’m studying. All of my classes assign a ton of homework, and often that has made me have to pick and choose my battles. Do I want to study for my political science test instead of reading for History 220, and thus risk doing spectacularly crappy on my history quiz and (hopefully) respectable on my poli sci test? Or do I want to read for history, do well on my quiz, and then put poli sci on the back burner and completely fail the test? What it all boils down to is getting my priorities in order. Unfortunately, I’d have to say that my political science class has gotten the shaft these last few weeks. I spent the beginning of the week studying for my nutrition test, got a respectable 80%, and then turned my attention to political science. When I say that I “turned my attention” to it, I mean that I studied minimally Thursday night and crammed Friday morning before I took the test that afternoon. I didn’t even bother looking at the monitor on my way out of the testing center because I was too scared to see my score. I waited until I got home, prepared myself mentally for the worst, and then checked my score online. Let’s just say … there was much rejoicing in the land when I saw 85% pop up on the screen. Not too shabby, especially when I was preparing myself to get half that much!

I can’t believe how quickly this semester has gone by. I was looking at the calendar today and realized that there are only 16 schooldays left. Talk about nuts! I feel like it was just yesterday that I was meeting all of my roommates for the first time, but now I feel like I’ve known them forever. Did you ever see the roommate skit that Taylor Swift did on Saturday Night Live? It eerily resembles what happens in our dorm every time we’re away from each other for extended periods of time. Well, kinda.

I'm New to This ...

Hello blogging world! I’m not going to lie, I’ve never really understood why blogging has become “all the rage.” I’ve heard of people who spend hours every week spatting their ideas and opinions on these things, and I’ve always wondered who would ever take the time to read them. However, ever since I’ve come to college, I’ve found it surprisingly difficult to keep in touch with my loved ones. After attempting (and failing) to teach my parents how to successfully use Facebook so that they can in some small way keep up with my collegiate goings-on, I’ve come to the conclusion that having a blog might be the answer. I mean, all you have to do is type in the address of the website and it pops right up, right? Not hard at all!

I hope this turns out the way I plan.