Adventures in Mormonland

Well, I'm finally home!! Yayy!! I miss Rexburg and everyone there a ton, but it's definitely nice to be back in Fishers. I love this place.

Once I finished classes, I drove down to Salt Lake City to see Julia one last time before I go on my mission.  I'm so glad everything worked out so we could see each other even if it was only for a little bit.

Love this girl!

And this place!

Then I got to Logan and on Friday night my grandparents took me to see "Les Miserables" at the Utah Festival Opera and it was incredible. I had never seen Les Mis before, and I had heard it was really good, but I didn't expect it to be that awesome! Also, the Utah Festival Opera was the only company outside of Broadway that was licensed to perform Les Mis, so that was pretty neat. Everyone was so talented! There were performers from Operas all over the world including the Met Opera, which is a huge deal! So basically, I was in awe the whole time.

On Sunday we had a bunch of the family over (second cousins and all) to catch up and play some ComedySportz games. My family cracks me up!

Then my family made me sleep in the cupboard under the stairs the night before my birthday...

#harrypotterprobs

So then my family woke me up the next morning and Hannah had this whole Harry Potter thing planned out and then at the end our parents surprised us and let us know we're going to Harry Potter World in September!!

Then we went to Bear Lake for the day and went tubing and drove jet ski's around which is always fun.

And then Hilary Duff's new single "Chasing the Sun" came out at midnight Eastern time which was 10pm in Utah so technically her single came out on my birthday.  It was fate.

Flawless

So basically, my birthday was incredible.  I can't believe I'm 19! That's like...old!! Haha I don't know where the last 19 years of my life went, but I'm so excited for everything this next year will bring.

Then on Tuesday I got the amazing opportunity to go through the temple with my family for the first time. It was definitely a lot to take in, but I'm so glad I was able to go.  Temples are just so amazing and I'm especially glad that there was a temple in Rexburg so I could prepare by doing baptisms there every week with Lauren.

Then we went bowling and I tried calamari.

And I got to spend a lot of time with these cute girls

On Wednesday we went up to Willow Flat and hiked up to the spring at the top of the river, made dinner and s'mores around the fire, and had our traditional contest to see who can stand in the freezing cold water the longest.

William loved the chocolate 

I used to hold the record for staying in the water for 5 minutes

Jared makes it look so easy...
He and Adam beat my record by a second...

Then on Thursday we went to Preston, ID to go to the parade, carnival, and rodeo.

It may not look like it, but this ride is insane

#rodeoselfie

These guys are crazy

On Friday I had to take advantage of the missionary shops in Logan. Now I have all the clothes I need for my mission now! Woohoo!!

And on Saturday we made the long 24-hour trek back to Indy straight through the night.  It felt like forever, but we finally made it!

Ben took this, I wasn't taking pictures while driving

I'm so glad to be back in Fishers and it made me so happy to go to church on Sunday and see so many people that I love. I'm so excited to spend time with all my friends and family here until I go on my mission, but at the same time, I really do miss all my friends from Rexburg.  It's so weird to be in Fishers without Lauren. We've both been having a bit of separation anxiety these past few days...but I'm grateful for technology that lets me stay in touch with the people I love no matter how far away they are. Hope you all have a fantastic week!!

Love always,

Coley

I Made It!

Well, my freshman year of college is officially over! Never thought the day would come. But at the same time, it came way too fast!! This semester flew by, which was good for the academic part, but I definitely miss Rexburg already.  The end of the semester was stressful, but I tried to enjoy it as much as I could.

1. Missy turned 21! PARTYYY!

I just love these people (:

2. Lauren and I did some studying in the Crossroads and made a new friend

"Studying hard or hardly studying?"

Watching "Now You See Me"

Watching "Les Mis" for the first time

3. I got some ice cream and we had milkshakes (;

Worked hard for that milkshake

4. The Smiths came to visit me!

We ate at the Taco Bus

And it was delicious as always

Ana and Kalia got hit by flying Mexican food...

Family picture!

5. I said goodbye to my choir pals

6. I said goodbye to my best friend :'(

We're cute

Last time eating at Frontier Pies

And then she was gone...

7. Then I said goodbye to Rexburg

So weird

See ya in 2 years!

It really is weird to be done, but I can't say I'm too upset about not having schoolwork to do for 2 years.  I am going to have plenty of work to do, just very different work.  I wish I could explain how excited I am for my mission, but all I can do is show you this picture...

Missionary in Training

I wish I could give a whole blog to all the people who made this semester amazing, but to sum it up, I would not have survived this semester without my beautiful roommates, my extremely talented choir,  my amazing ward, and more than anything, my Savior. I am so incredibly grateful for every person I met and every experience I had this semester, both good and bad.  I have grown so much and learned more about myself than I thought I could.  I thank my Heavenly Father every night for the incredible opportunity I've had to go to BYU-Idaho and live in Rexburg.  It really is an amazing place.

Also, I'm in Utah with my family now and I turn 19 tomorrow! Crazy right?! So my blog next week will be all about my adventures out here with my family (: Have a great week everyone!

Love always,

Coley