The Caybin in Flaygstayff

Warning: this post may contain unnecessary rambling. So sue me.

This is my first blog post from my phone! Oh, the wonders of modern technology. Yeeeeesh I sound like my mother, bless her heart (love you mommy!). Back to the point, we are currently in the car on our way to the cabin! Don't worry, we are fully aware that other cabins exist throughout the world, but long before I was born it was dubbed "THE" cabin, and so it has remained. It is nestled deep in the forest, right up against the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park. It is my favoritest place in the whole wide world. If I had a million dollars, I would buy the whole property and keep it in the family furrrever. There are so, so many distinct and happy memories made at the cabin that I wouldn't trade for anything. These include, but are not limited to: the 4th of July bear encounter and the subsequent stream of curses from Aunt Shauna and my dad, raking and picking up branches for hours on end, extreme sledding down bear mountain, painting lessons from grandma, "turn it down, kids!", Aunt Marsh and momma leading barn dances, swimming in the frigid pond (just an awwwful idea; I guess we forget how incredibly unpleasant it is over the course of the year), campfires in the bottomland, snowmobile trips into town for pizza, 4th of July fireworks (soooo good), church at the Granby branch, cousin bonding, the sheer joy that comes from snowmobiling through the meadow full of fresh powder...

...the list could literally go on and on and on and onnnn, and most of them only my cousins will really understand. But I think my favorite memory from the cabin is one that pretty much sums up the unique charm and draw of the cabin: it was absolutely miserable, completely absurd, slightly terrifying, and at the same time absolutely hilarious and wonderful. A couple years ago a species of beetle infested all the trees and started killing them all off, creating a huuuuge fire hazard. So my grandpa took on the huge challenge of cutting down all the dead trees, piling them up, and burning them in 'controlled' burn piles. We were all out in the bottomland building up the piles and starting the fires when out of nowhere these huge gusts of wind came rolling in. You can probably guess where this is going. Within 30 seconds at least three of the piles were burning out of control. One way the cabin has prepared me for the future? I know have the skills to become a firefighter. We all panicked for half a second, then sprang into action. My cousins and I started hacking at the flames with branches, trying to swat the flames into smithereens. (I am probably making this sound a lot more int ense than it actually was, but it was still the most exhilarating moment of my life up to that point). Meanwhile, my grandpa proceeded to drive his tractor, filled with GALLONS AND GALLONS of gasoline, over the fires. We all nearly had a heart attack. However, as per usual, my grandpa's idea was fairly insane, but surprisingly effective. The tractor, along with our branch-swinging, eventually smothered the flames. Completely terrifying in the moment, slightly hilarious in hindsight.

Another huge pro of the cabin? I get to hang out with my dearie! The Richmonds have a cabin half a mile down the road from us, so our families get to hang out over the 4th and Christmas break! Can't wait to see Christie's heinous faces creeping at me!

The moral of the story: the cabin is the bestest. If you haven't been over here, you're missing out. My grandpa's policy was always "everyone's welcome," so get your bums over here.


not-so-perfect moment:
My room is already a disaster and I've been home for three days. My bad. I'm working on it, guys.

BURN. THE ROOMMATE.

I came into this semester a little hesitant in regards to my living situation. I absolutely loved the apartment I was moving into, but I signed a contract by myself, so I was going to have 3 new random roommates. I called the management company and they wouldn't even give me their names (little did I know they had given out my name, giving my future roommates license to theorize about how lame "Jessica" probably was ;) hahaha)! Lesbihonest, I was freaking out a lot a bit! I was a little bit worried it was going to turn out something like this:

SNL - The Roommate

Fortunately, I didn't end up with a roommate who puts a kitten in the dryer. Here's the story, we'll start from the beginning:

Rewind 2 years. SPAN 106 my freshman year. It was an accelerated class, and I came in halfway through the semester, so I sat terrified at the table in the back amongst the class who all already knew each other. Luckily, the people at the back table were actually very nice and friendly. One of them was named Melissa. She had dark hair and bangs, and had theeeeee cutest style in the whole world. Fast forward a year and a half. I signed a contract at Lanai with my friends Haleigh and Mauri for Fall 2011. Fast forward two weeks later. I get a call from the management company saying that the owner's daughter and her friend want to live there, so I'm going to have to find another place to live. Oh, coooooool, thanks so much. On the housing hunt again. Christie, Hil, Karissa, and Jules were living in these adorable townhouses right by brick oven, so I hurried and signed one of the last contracts they had, just three doors down from them. I was a little worried, but I figured if it was terrible I could always just spend all my time at Christie's. Fast forward to August of this year. Moving all my stuff into the apartment, sweating like no other, I hear someone (a roommate?!) come into the apartment. Lo and behold, it was indeed Melissa from my Spanish class! Provo is suchhhhh a small world.

So my roommates:

Melissa Gunner - Mission Viejo, CA. Totes hipster-loving, muddy buddy-making, hottie with a body.



Katie Buhler - Loveland, CO. Powderpuff football MVP. SO COOL in high school.



Lindsey Frey - Gig Harbor, WA. My fecetious TV soulmate. Part-time model.



Fastforward to the present. I am leaving for Spain in less than a month. Which means I'm going to have to be without these lovely ladies for three whole months. Considering I went 20 years without them before this semester, that shouldn't be such a big deal, right? WRONG. These roommates have quickly become my best friends, and I have truly been changed for the better because of them. I am so grateful for their amazing examples and true friendship.

Mostly I'm just glad they put up with me and give me the benefit of the doubt when I'm being particularly ridiculous.


I'm going to miss our supes urban pics, stuffing ourselves with nummy treats, and laughing till my stomach aches. I'm going to miss the acceptable usage of abbrevs, the many poor form moments, and matching Sundays.


Mostly I'm just going to miss Linds, KT, and Mela.


I LUB YOU ROOMMATES.

In a Nutshell

I've fallen behind in blogging as of late, and, let's face it, I'm just too lazy to go into extreme detail about the last couple weeks. So here it is in a nutshell:

We had a ward musical fireside a couple weeks ago, and some of our dinner group boys + me and mela performed "The Friendly Beasts." Derek sang and played the guitar, Ed sang and killed it on the uke, and Ryan provided his angelic pipes to the ensemble. Basically Melissa and I were just there to add female voices, it's the boys who have the actual talent. BUT it was still a blast and so fun!

Thanksgiving break was full of family get-togethers, eating obscene amounts of food, annual cousin movies, flag football, bowling, and last of all: decorating for Christmas!!!!!!!! We set up the tree, the nativity, stockings, wreaths and centerpieces. I also sewed some stockings from our apartment with some of the leftover fabric and random crafty things laying around our house. Guys, I LOVE CHRISTMAS. And snow and hot chocolate and gingerbread and mistletoe and glitter and snow and santa and ornaments and lights and snow and sledding and SNOWWWWW! I am basically on cloud nine this entire season. And now our house is Christmas-ified and I am so happy!

Spain preparations are coming along nicely! My passport just barely arrived in the mail, we had our last prep class last week, and I am officially FREAKING THE FREAK OUT. But honestly, I am going to have an absolute breakdown when I have to leave. It's going to be bad. But we don't think about that.