happy halloween!!!!!!!!

so....basically i just feel like writing....so thats what i'm going to do! not much has been going on lately, actually let me rephrase that....not much "out of the ordinary" has been going on. basically just been keeping busy with school. i think right now we have 25 school days until the end of the semester!! thats so exciting! but the bad thing is, when the semester winds down...so much begins to happen. for example...the robot project. well up until today we've just basically been doing research for it and we've been good with that cause we haven't had to really put out a lot of effort yet....well thats until today! our advisor told us we need to get some of our parts and start testing them to see what they will do and if they'll even work right, so tomorrow caleb and i are going to radio shack to see just what exactly can be found. kristin, (the group is myself, kristin and caleb) is gone to texas for the weekend, so caleb and myself are working on it by ourself tomorrow and then caleb is going to boston next week to do some genetically engineered competition...he's so smart!! and i think its possible that he might even be going to go interview with harvard med school on his trip....yeah thats right, hes so smart he can basically get into med school anywhere he wants haha im just glad hes my buddy!!! actually kristin and i both are and everyone else is mad cause he chose to work with us and not them....whatevs! so anyway, we're bout to kick it in high gear with the little buggy robot....not sure if im excited or not.

so im pretty sure i bombed another biochem test...those tests are so ridiculous!! i think i'll get my grade back tomorrow, but i seriously am praying that God is going to help me somehow in the end....i've been trying so hard, but somehow i just cant get it together in that class. at this point im hoping for a C...if i get a D then im going to retake it next semester and well thats just going to add more work to my otherwise easy semester!! im so scared about that class....and i thought organic was bad...pssshh.

lets see...oh, this is interesting. so i got invited to join this engineering honor society...im pretty sure its a big deal. def bigger deal than i thought it was to begin with, but im pretty stoked about it. only like the top 5% of the senior engineering class is invited to join and its like this really secretive type thing. like we have to get 20 signatures, 10 student members and 10 faculty members. its so awkward getting faculty signatures because you walk into their offices and ask for their signature and they sign the paper and ask you what your major is and then nearly everyone of them stand up and shake your hand and say congratulations...i swear all 10 of them have done that....must be a secret tau beta pi handshake...hmm. so also, we have these "bents" basically what they are a brass representation of our little symbol thing. so when you get these bents they are really ugly and like bumpy, well i guess as a way to teach us pride, they make us polish these bents. basically you take files and sandpaper and you work on it until your hands hurt to get it to be "mirror finish" of course i just started on mine and its due tomorrow by 5...needless to say mine probably wont be the best, but it'll be ok. i've got the front pretty much done...i really cant believe what it looked like before and what it looks like now....its pretty awesome!!! but i have a blister and my hands are green...you know like if you wear fake jewlery green....eeewww. so then we do this and turn it in tomorrow and they judge all the new intiates' bents and they have three different colors. if you get a white ribbon, you did ok....red, you did a little better...blue, you rocked it! and then of course the red, white and blue ribbon goes to the best polished bent of the intiate class....believe me that wont be me!! haha i'll probably be sportin a white, yeah you heard me right, we have to sport them. in a couple off weeks all the initiates dress up in like business attire and you have to wear your bent around your neck like a medal all day long! that afternoon you go into a secret induction ceremony and then a formal dinner. all i got to say is this should be interesting!! but honestly im excited, i know it just further certifies me as a geek, but its a pretty big deal in the engineering community. probably no one else will ever know what it is but its an accomplishment nonetheless! so anyway i think thats about the most interesting thing that has happened to me this week.

last friday night i attended the bsu's annual barn party. yes it was in a big ole barn and yes we square danced for hours!! its so so so fun! an awesome time!! well ok...im going to bed now cause im tired. sorry i just ramble on and on when i get on here. im sure you probably dont want to know all this boring stuff....but im going to write it anyway!

guess its time for another one!

once again, i am writing for the sole purpose to avoid homework/studying....well and to inform you of the happenings in my terribly boring life! its been awhile...it was the start of fall break when i last wrote and man! that seems like it was months ago!! its ridiculous how fast time is going now...im pretty sure that at any moment im gonna just take off and soar! ok maybe not really...cause today in organic chemistry lab we had to sit for an hour and a half while we heated a solution...and of course i forgot my phone at the house, my computer was still sitting on the kitchen table and that GRE study book was on the couch. i didn't have not one single thing to occupy my time and believe me it dragged on and on...and on....and on. it was terrible and it brought back to my memory just exactly how much i HATE chemistry!!! and to think while i was in high school i thought i liked chemistry....pssh, bump that! it aint no joke in college!

so my life has been so busy that i really cant think of what all has been going on...haha! im still doing some observation hours off and on at physical therapy clinics. i still really like it and i am beginning to feel more at peace about turning that application in, i think i can do this!! i think i can, i think i can! whew...im scared about it though ...the application deadline is quickly approaching and im so scared that i am not going to get it all done in time...making it my fault if i dont get in. its just a little overwhelming...i mean here i am growing up, making HUGE life decisions that will effect me from here to the end...AAHHHH!!! hello thats scary! who needs to watch scary movies to get a scare...just think about your life and what you are going to do when you "grow up"! alright....im freakin myself out, so im going to stop. well on that note...im taking the GRE on wednesday...i only get two chances to take it and i need to make over 1000 to be competitive...lets hope that happens on wednesday so i wont have to try again!

this weekend some old high school friends that now live in that "other town" found their way to starkville and hung out for the weekend...oh, what fun it was!! i miss them...a lot. its probably best that we are all in different towns cause otherwise we'd all flunk out of school and be broke. haha we went out and ate twice, played apples to apples...thats a very fun game!! played frisbee and laughed and cut up more than you've ever seen...it was just what i needed!

well i dont think i know of much else thats been happening....i'll leave you with the most inspiring picture you'll ever see in your life...you ready for this....here it is!

GO STATE!!!!!!!!!!!!

its fall y'all!!!!

so...i am minutes away from making the boring drive to the best place on earth....oh, i cant wait to see you BIG LEVEL, MS!!!!!!!! this week i studied a total of 20 hours for my biochemistry test, because i miserably flunked the first one and i have to make it up big time, so in order to do that i had to do some serious studying! i was mad about it cause like any college student i hate to study...but when i get that test and i flew through it cause i knew the answer to every question but like 3...you just dont know how i felt. i mean i still gotta get the grade back...but can i just say that i am pretty sure i aced that test! metabolic pathways were owned!!! so anyway i feel very accomplished this week! well at least in all my classes but statistics haha boy, that class. i hate it more than anything!! its ridiculous! but i did just get the hookup today...i ordered myself a little solution manual for all the problems that are in the book...i even overnighted it so that i could make sure that i had it in plenty of time to study for the test next week since i have to go back and teach myself 2 chapters worth of stuff....anyway, school is boring and it can drive a person nuts, we all know that so there is no sense in me ranting about it.

so last week i spent about 10 hours observing in physical therapy clinics here in starkville. i went to 2 different ones that operated totally different and i had a pretty good time. i got to see tons of different things and how things would be like if i did go through PT school. it kinda helped to put me at ease....i think i would really enjoy doing that as a career. you get to really know your patients and that is what i really like. also just seeing them be able to grow stronger and get back to their normal lives. it made me excited cause im more energized to get through school and to get into PT school. with that said, im going to put everything i can into doing all i can to get into PT school...but at the same time i know that if i don't get in i'll be ok. i am leaving that part up to God, if i dont get in then i'll know that is not where God wants me.

welp, i pretty sure thats all thats been going on in my boring life...honestly i cant even think of anything exciting...WOW thats sad haha. anyway i guess the best thing is the fact that i get to go home till tuesday...oh, what a nice break it shall be!!!!

alright...im bout to make me a pb&j and then head south!! oh what fun i shall have on that boring drive.

laters

i think i'll start this up again

so ally needs me to update this so she can stalk me and i decided i'd do it. i dont know who'll read it anymore since i am no longer on some big journey hundreds of miles from home, but nonetheless i'll write whats on my heart and mind every once in a while.

so i guess the main thing is school...i dont really care to be in school right now, i'd rather be doing something else, but i'll make it through. i think its so bad because i still dont feel completely at peace as to what i am going to do with myself once i graduate. thats totally my fault because i haven't actively and completely sought God in that area of my life. i just seem to turn to him when i need a quick answer to satisfy the person who asks me, "so what are you going to be when you grow up?" most of the time i confidently lie just to pacify their curiousity...but deep down i always say...i dont know, i feel torn. this week i will make time to call some physical therapy clinics to try and schedule some observation hours...i have to decide this because i need peace about it. other than the nagging, "what shall i be when i grow up" question that is constantly in my thoughts, school is ok...its school. its harder this year and its going to take a lot more effort than i normally like to give, but i'll do it...somehow, some way. i have to do a senior design project with a group and we have chosen to build a robot that mimics certain characteristics of a bug...it should be interesting considering none of us have ever built a robot. i pray we end up with something that works come april when we have to present this thing!

this year so far has been a little hard...besides the school stuff, my world is slowly changing. my life will never be the same after what i experienced this summer, but i am now also having to deal with the loss of someone very dear to me. this is the first time i've lost someone so close and it hurts...bad, to be honest.

my great-uncle percy left us 8 days ago. though he is better off where he is now, the world is a little less brighter without him. i don't even know where to begin because its still so hard to believe that i'll never see his little black truck parked in that parking spot behind my grandparents house again, the chair at the head of the table next to my grandfather wont be the throne of the most loving guy ever anymore cause someone else will take it, i wont ever look out our window on a saturday afternoon and see he and uncle brent spinning in circles in the pond in his new boat cause they couldn't figure out how to work it, i wont ever hear his loud "AAAHHH" with that deep sounding grunt that he always did when he had worked too hard and then sat down too long and was too stiff to get up, i wont ever get to give him that huge hug he always liked and walk away smelling like his cologne, i'll miss seeing him mow yards...he loved that more than anything and he always wanted to mow our yard with his new lawn mower, i'll miss his stories...all 4 million of them, i'll miss hunting with him and hearing him yell at uncle brent over the cb, i'll miss the way he introduced me to his friends....and more than anything i'll miss hearing him say "i love you, kristi"...especially the way he looked at me all teary eyed when he told me the last couple of times that i saw him. there is no doubt in my mind that he loved me and my family...gosh, Kale was his favorite...he thought kale hung the moon. when i think about the fact that he was my great-uncle and most people can't even tell you who their great-uncles are, i feel so blessed to have been able to have the kind of relationship i had with him. he never held anything back...he told you often he loved you and he told us more times than i can count how proud he was of us. he was one of a kind...there will never be anyone like him. it still doesn't seem real that he's gone...he was never supposed to leave this earth.

i cant help but think how comforting it is in the midst of our loss for every member of the family to know what they had meant to him...he made sure he told all of us before he left us. my resolution is to be the kind of person he was in that respect...to tell those you care about most that you love them, that you are there for them no matter what and that you are so proud of them. what a lasting impression the conversations between my uncle percy and i have left on me. those conversations when he shared with me how much he loved me, and how very proud he was of me will never be forgotten.

make it a point to share with the ones you care about most how much you love them...if that big ole manly man could break down crying while telling his great niece how much he loved her...then i think we can all do it. we owe it to ourselves and to others.

700 miles in 48 hours

st. mary lake - start of "going to the sun road"

so i think, actually i am positive that i have just returned from the most beautiful place on earth!!!!!!!!!!! it was awesome!!!! i rented a car for friday and saturday and the girls and i headed out on a little road trip. we left great falls around 9:30 am on friday and drove up interstate 15 to shelby and then over to the coldest place in the us, cut bank montana. we ate lunch there with the preacher at cut bank and then headed for our ultimate destination...glacier national park. the whole way we drove through wheat fields and then once we got out of cut bank the majestic mountains appeared...snow capped ones, you know the rally rocky and big ones that you see in pictures...they just popped up on the horizon. it was amazing just to keep getting closer and closer to them. God really put an extra touch on this country up here...like even as i am typing this i am still thinking about how utterly speechless it leaves me. i can't even find words to describe it. as soon as we drove into the park we drove along side a lake...and y'all i swear, that thing was bright blue and you could see straight through it. every little bit of water in that place was that color...just crystal clear. we drove the going to the sun road that afternoon, saw a big horn sheep in the distance and then had an up close and personal encounter with a mountain goat. wildlife is not so much of a big thing in glacier...its more about the scenic views whereas yellowstone is all about the wildlife. in my opinion, the two should not even be compared, they are both majestic in their own respect. we stopped at a waterfall and hung out there for a while and just took it all in. we also took a walk through a majestic cedar forest...those things were huge!! we made the 100+ mile drive back to cut bank to the church we were staying the night at, making it back before it ever even got dark.

saturday morning we left about 9 am in the worst thunderstorm we've seem out here (they told us at orientation that it never rains in july...we have experienced otherwise for sure) so anyway we headed to "many glacier" with the idea of going on a hike. since the "many glacier" entrance is only about 14 miles from the canadian border we decided that it would be best if we just went on up there to take a picture near the canadian border. casey was born in canada so she was all for it and so was i, but since they didn't have passports or anything we couldn't go through. so anyway we got there and found a sign and took lots of pictures with it. well then we saw another big sign up closer to the actual border and decided that we should get a picture with it so here i go driving up there....turns out there was no where to turn around because that little parking lot was where they sent all the cars coming out of canada. so when i figured that out, it was too late...the border patrol lady had already seen us and was motioning for us to come up there. so trying to stay out of trouble i drove up there...we pull in and she goes, "i need a passport for everyone or a license and birth certificate." so i tried to explain to her that we had just been taking pictures by the sign and couldn't find anywhere to turn around...she was like, "i cant believe that...give me your stuff." so casey decides she needs to document this with a picture and then the lady started screaming at her about not taking pictures there and she had to get casey's camera and check her pictures to make sure it didn't show anything..after that we started getting together our ids and since my passport was in the trunk i asked her if i could get out and get it...she said yes so i got it and was waiting for her to hand it back to me so i could put it back up and she starts screaming at me to close the trunk and get back in the car. so i got back in and handed her the other ids...then she asks, "are you from idaho?" (since our rental car had an idaho plate) and we told her know that we were summer missionaries from the south and once we explained all that, she kinda started going easy on us...i guess she decided we were to stupid and young to be doing anything anymore serious than taking pictures by a canadian sign. she let us go and was in a better mood when she did thank goodness...cause for a second we thought we would all be spending the day in the canadian border patrol jail or whatever they have. GAH it was CRAZY!!!! just one more thing to add to the memory books! haha (its funny now...not so much at the moment it was happening) so then we went to "many glacier' and ate our lunchables at a picnic table...we were seriously legit tourists that day. after lunch we went on our hike to redrock lake and falls....4 mile round trip. it was so awesome to be walking in the glacier back country looking at God's awesome creation...one of the best experiences i've ever ever had!!! when we got to the water falls we got all brave and started climbing on all the rocks into the middle of all of it and then we just sat....we were still and we just took in the beauty around us. there was so much beauty that it was hard to even take it all in....MY GOD IS AWESOME!!!! and its displayed in glacier national park just how awesome he is! on our hike we even got to see a moose...not a big ole daddy moose like i wanted to see but it was a big ole momma moose standing on top of a ledge just watching us walk the trail.

if i haven't said it enough....IT WAS AWESOME!!!! and if you ever think about going, don't think twice...get in the car and go and do everything you can possibly do...hike, sit by a waterfall and take in all the beauty...you'll never regret it!

ok...there is no way i am not putting pictures on here so here they are!

at the logan pass visitor center on the "going to the sun road"

right before all the drama went down...canada looks the same as montana...nothing special!!! haha

"many glacier" - first sight we saw when we went in

our rental car at one of the pull offs in "many glacier"

redrock falls that we hiked to in "many glacier"

casey, amy and elizabeth on the trail right as we were coming up to redrock lake

end of our hike by a cute little creek

the four of us at redrock lake...the water fall that you can see behind us is where we hiked to