Wedding! (Not Mine)

Hey guys!

Brief update before I begin telling you about my cousin's Anthony's wedding to Whitney Smith. Second semester went smoothly. Heather and I got to know each other really well and I was more social. Summer has been wonderful. End of May my mother, Alex and I went to the Taylor Swift concert and had an absolute blast. Then we went to Utah for three weeks and Alex met my crazy family. Now all of them are asking me when I am marrying him. My response? Nothing can happen for three years so anything can happen. I also watched Sound of Music for the first time, went to Galveston with Morgan, Madison, Christine, and Blake. Joseph got his tonsils out and my parents went on a Baltic Cruise. Also I went to Lagoon for the first time in at least ten years and won a dragon and rode Wicked! Wicked is an awesome roller coaster you take off and go straight up in the air to turn and precede straight toward the ground before continuing the ride. It was terrifying and exhilarating and further proved why I love roller coasters.

On to the wedding! There were 81 weddings performed at the Salt Lake Temple today. Twice as many as they normally do. So trying to find the wedding party was a nightmare! We saw at least twelve brides before we found our own. Whitney was absolutely stunning and Anthony could not have been happier. We preceded to take pictures outside the temple before headed over to Candace Lish house while we waited for dinner. I rode with Gina and Kurt to Candace's house and do not mess with Kurt before he has his diet coke! He's a crazy driver!

If you know Candace then you need to go see her townhouse it is SO adorable! We hung out at Candace's house for a little over an hour before preceding to the wedding feast, and I mean feast! It was a three hour dinner with five courses! The venue was absolutely stunning and the food was good. We were allowed to eat appetizers for an hour before the meal started. Then we were served a salad, followed by raviolis and lasagna. Then we had a beef and chicken then we were served wedding cake. It was fabulous food. During the entire dinner if anyone started to hit their glass with a knife the rest of the room would join in until Anthony and Whitney kissed. My favorite toast was given by Mike (Anthony's brother). He made a poster that said the TWON Legacy (Twon is Anthony's nickname and it is a spoof on the new Tron movie) and had Anthony's and Whitney's face on the poster where the actors should have been. It was adorable. All and all a wonderful wedding.

Hello All!

Hey guys!

So I have been totally failing to blog and I am sorry to those who kept checking it but I hadn't updated in awhile. No excuses. I'm sorry I didn't keep up with it.

So here is a quick idea of how the end of last semester went. Thanksgiving, I went home and saw everyone! Alex, Sarah, Morgan, Michelle, Mom, Dad, everyone. Thanksgiving day was great. Full of good food, traditional and non-traditional. Very yummy. That Friday, Alex was baptized into the LDS church. It was soooo amazing. I can't even put it in words. Saturday all of my friends and family went to the Renaissance Festival mostly for Matea because she had never been before. We had an absolute blast! Everyone was in costume, minus my parents and we just had a really great time. Got rained on a bit. Matea bought a gypsy costume so next year she will have a more athentic costume and it looked great on her. Here are some pictures from Ren Fest!

When Thanksgiving break ended I am not going to lie. I had NO desire to back to Ball State. When we were about to get in the car I hugged my mom and broke down crying. I really freaked her and myself out. I did however get on the airplane and I DID have a great last three weeks of school. I think the growing pains have finally ceased. The last three weeks went by quickly. I hung out a lot more with Angela and kept up with school work. Finals went well. Got all A's on my finals. The last few days of school I did nothing but have fun. I didn't study much really. On Wednesday I spent time with Catie and Mandy since it was Catie's last day at Ball State. It was sad to see her go but we are still keeping in touch. Angela and I hung out almost every night, but our favorite night was Thursday the 17th. Instead of having normal Institute (bible study) we had a game night. Not only that but Elder Snow, Wade, Stranski and our normal missionaries were able to join us. It was a total blast!

Christmas break was very much needed and very wonderful. The first few days we did nothing but family things which included shopping for Christmas presents! Mostly cloths shopping but we had a good time. Christmas day we had dinner with the Potter's family and we played cards well into the night. I spent New Years at Morgan's house and got to see my friends who were still in high school. New Years day my family got a new addition: Mia. She is a tea cup schnauzer! Brown and white party, going to only be about 6 pounds. She is adorable and vicious! She loves to nibble on toes, fingers, hands, jeans, my hair, yes you read that right! She would literally climb up my torso to chew on my hair! My mom thought it was the funniest thing on earth. She has pictures. Ask for them. Oh! I also saw The Princess and the Frog with Morgan, Sarah, Michelle, and Ashley and we went wearing sun dresses and had a blast! Then on January 5th Alex came in town from Dubia. The 6th Alex, Sarah, Morgan and I totally crashed Langham Creek (my high school). Why? You may ask. We had nothing better to do and beloved teachers to see again. We spent most of the morning there before going back home to take care of Mia. Later that afternoon Perry, Morgan, Sarah, Alex and I played Brawl, it was so much fun! We got way to into it but had an excellent time. Then after that Alex and I along with the young men/women went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. It was Alex's first time and I am honored to have been able to be there with him. Saturday was devoted to having drinks with Doc Lav. Mrs. Lav and baby lav! She was soo cute and the afternoon was passed in joy! After a few more wonderful hours in great company it was time to go back to school. Leaving this time was much easier than the first time. I promise. I shed a few tears on the plane but that was it!

The first week back went very well. Classes are going great and I ate dinner every night with someone I knew and a few lunches with other people. I have two classes with Heather which is a very nice change from none. I am taking Music Theory, Sight Singing, Harp Ensemble, Orchestra, Honors 199 which is about American family values, and Honors 203 which is literature from the 20th century on. I will be reading many good books and some not so good. Then I went to Utah for MLK weekend and was able to attend Zach and Hailey's wedding! It was a wonderful day and I had so much fun hanging out with cousins and the like! So there you go Aunt Tami! I finally updated. Hope everything is going well with the rest of you guys!

Love you lots!
Valerie

Life is Better

I can't thank all of you enough for loving and supporting me on my adventure!! I know I have worried quite a few of you but I promise life is getting better!! My birthday was phenomenal I had so much fun!!! I had a mini birthday party with a few friends. We ordered Greeks Pizza (which is really good) and just had a blast. We watched 13 going on 30 and had a really good time.

This past weekend was a regional activity. We went down to a corn field maze and then had a dance. Sadly I didn't meet anyone new but thats ok I had fun!

I have alway watched the 6th Harry Potter movie. Passed my hardest midterm and seem to be doing much better all the way around.

Oh! There is a lady in my ward named Nan Noble and I've been able to go to her house a couple times to eat and cook and that has been tons of fun! This last time we paired up with the missionaries. They made one dish, I made my pasta and Angela made dessert and it was wonderful and a really good meal! We actually plan to do it again in a week or two!

Oh and as for my stressful calling I talked to Bro. Hall about it and we are going to find a way to compromise or release me. So I am doing something about that. Thanks again for your love and support! LOVE YOU ALL!! I am doing much better. Until next time!!

Love,
Valerie

Quick Update

Thank you thank you all for your support and love! You have helped sooo much. I know I am worrying quite a few of you right now but the fact that you guys are worrying has given me a lot of comfort. I do have some good news to tell you about my birthday. It was a wonderful day. I will give you more details hopefully tomorrow after 5. I'm a bit stressed tonight but thank you all for you love, support and prayers! It really means the world to me. Today has been a good and busy day.

Love you all!!
Valerie

Take me home

I wish I could tell you I love college and I never want or need to go home or anything. Nope. I don't like college, I dislike being alone up here, nothing is changing, actually I've started to get some failing grades. How exciting is that? Its not that I'm not trying. I really am, but I'm failing at life. Sorry to those I'm letting down. I really am trying. Oh for those who thought college was going well based on my blog, its cause I haven't written about the many times I've broken down and cried. So can I just go home now? Any advice? Please? Hope life is good for you.

Love,
Valerie

Surprise!!

So, I had an exciting weekend. Friday night I went and saw My Sister's Keeper with Angela, Heather, Catie and her friend. It made me cry, many times. It was a really good movie though. It brought up interesting questions like How far are you willing to go to save your child? Is it worth it to save one child but neglect the others? It was very intriguing and it had some really sweet moments too so I can't complain.

Now Saturday is where it gets interesting. I woke up at 11:10 and needed to be at Ball Gym by 11:30. Needless to say I was late. Late for my self defense class! Actually it worked out alright, I really only missed part of the intro but I now have four ways to attack any attacker. I can elbow them on the side of the head if they come from behind, use the palm of my hand and break their nose. Smash their head/groin/stomach into my knee or if they push me down I now know how to kick effectively from the ground. I then met up with Angela and we attempted to go to Walmart. After standing at the bus stop for 30 minutes we went into her building to see if we could find someone she knew with a car. We ended up calling Emily who drove us there and we were very greatfull. We got what we needed but I went up to the jewelry counter to see if they could fix my watch which died. Turns out that my watch is too expensive therefore Walmart won't risk putting a new battery in my watch in case something goes wrong. In which case they would owe me a new watch. I don't really care I just want a working watch!!!!! We then called Sis. Noble up and she picked us up and took us back to her house where I proceeded to cook my pasta. It made me so happy!! She sent us off with some leftovers and we then preceeded to go to the Institute building for games and a meeting I had with the YSA leader but I had thought he said come between 7 and 7:45. Well at 7:20 the Stake President called me....A.K.A. I was going to be the new female YSA representative for my ward. So Angela watched me freak out on our way to the building. I get set apart next Sunday. Also apparently everyone forgot it was game night so after my meeting it was just Angela and I and the Radford's who own the home. So Angela and I played Pit which is a really fun card game and Angela absolutely dominated.

Sunday I got to talk to Sarah for an hour and it made me really really happy! So on Monday I figured out I was sick, but I didn't care very much. I chose not to go to family home evening because I figured I was contagious and also because I wanted to finish my homework so I could go to bed early. I also had a surprise on Monday, apparently the Angelus Harp Ensemble (my old ensemble) had their first rehearsal Sunday. Before I left I had given Bonnie a card and some money to buy the girls chocolate since I couldn't personally crash the rehearsal myself. This is the email that Bonnie sent me:

Hi, Valerie!!

We miss you and love you and we thank you so much for your thoughtful card and chocolate!! We loved it!

Here we all are - well, actually not all - Margaret was ill and Brianna had a family complication - but, anyway, it's 7 of the 9 of us. And James is taking a year off. :( The Ensemble will miss you and Amy! It just won't be the same without you!

We hope that you're enjoying college and Ms Richter! Bet you're doing lots of interesting playing and studying. We'll be playing at our usual venues, and five of us are trying out for All-State this year. Have fun, take care, and hugs from us all!

Wait there's more :)

Long Weekends

Hey guys!

So I have had my first long weekend at college and let me say it was strange. EVERYONE goes home! So the campus was practically deserted. Friday wasn't bad, I went to Greeks with some friends named Natalie, Blake, Steven and Trevor, and then went and saw UP and had some fun. Saturday I got really homesick because I had practically no human contact and it was just a bad day. But on the upside I talked to my mom for two hours and introduced her to skype which was a ton of fun and definitely helped so much. Sunday church was great, we had a break the fast which was an interesting experience but a very good free meal. I am really loving the church group up here. They are so sweet and inviting and Angela (the only other freshman) and I get along very very well. Monday was good too, the YSA (Young Single Adults) had a get together at the Jacobson's house. Their house is gorgeous!! I wish I had taken my camera to take pictures. The live by a pretty good sized lake and we were able to canoe on it. We also had bar-b-que and different games. We also had our family home evening lesson there which was over charity and it was rather intriguing. I then went back to the dorm and managed to do my laundry in 1 hour! I have also learned that making my bed is an absolute pain! So, now I'm back to doing homework and what not but I have to say the night everyone get back from a long break is crazy. The dorm had never been so noisy and it was rather entertaining as I was watching band kids try to learn the dance to thriller for marching band. Oh and I got a most wonderful surprise! Morgan, Sarah, Michelle and Alyssa called me and were all talking to me at once! I think I only understood half of what they said but it made me really happy that my friends called! I then called Ashley and was privileged to hear her wonderful voice before turning in quite content! Until next time!

Love,
Val