That one time I was a photographer

Just in case you're wondering, this guy is still following me around:

But it's cool, I don't really mind it. The only complaint I would have is that I haven't been sleeping very much lately... but that's to be expected, right? I can sleep when I'm dead.

That picture was taken at one of my best friend's wedding receptions a couple weekends ago. It was a lovely night, in a beautiful backyard, with great friends. And I got to take pictures for her. Here are a few that I took:

The Beautiful Bride

My good friends Kiera and Alicia

Bride and Groom

Cake smashing action

So cute! I love them!

So, there's this guy...

...and he's pretty cool.

We spend a lot of time together, 

and I think he's kinda cute.

He likes me too.

I'm a happy girl :)

Luau, Taylor leaves, and Bridal Veil Falls

I can't believe it's been that long since I last blogged, but it has!  Lots has happened since then, so I'll do a (somewhat) quick update.

I went to a Luau with my roommate, Lynn on Aug 5.  It was really awesome.  We envied the way all the girls could move their hips, drooled over the males dancers, and were wowed by the fire knife dancer.

Fire!

Roomies

Guys in skirts... surprisingly attractive

See above :)

The night after that I watched the final installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Return of the King.  I think that I need to re-watch all of them now and pay better attention.  Extended versions maybe?? :)

The next afternoon I went to dinner at the Vanfleets (our family friends in town; my "BYU Family"), and Evan came as well.  They wanted to get to know him better, and it went well.  They always serve a delicious dinner, and I love their family!  They're so much fun!

The following week my friend, Erika, got her mission call to Poland.  It was an interesting week for her, as she got hit by a truck on her bike the previous weekend.  She was miraculously protected from any major injury, and was able to walk away minimal injuries.  I guess that she is really needed on her mission in Poland!

After the mission call opening, some friends and I went to the duck pond, then to Wendy's, and tehn watched The Count of Monte Cristo.  I'd never seen the movie before, but I loved the book when I read it in high school.  Reminded me of how excellent a story it is.

The next night was a sad one for me and a lot of my good friends.  Taylor, one of those good friends, was leaving us to go home for a few weeks before she moved to Idaho to attend BYU-I there.  We spent the night at a Relief Society closing social, and then Evan worked on Taylor's car for a while to make sure it was ok to drive to Salt Lake.  

Eating tons of otter pops the night before she left...

Later that night, when she was safely on her way, he and I drove up to the Provo temple and climbed up the hill behind it and sat talking for a while.  I love having a temple so close!

Friday night was date night up at Evan's parents' house.  Evan's car needed to be washed, so we did that as our activity, and then had dinner with his parents.  We came back to his apartment and watched an episode of Psych, then watched Toy Story 3 which Evan had never seen.  I love that movie!  I had a great night with Evan, too. :)

On the following Monday, Evan had the day off so when I got off my morning shift he and I went for a hike up Bridal Veil Falls.  It was lots of fun, and the first time I've done it.  We got pretty darn soaked, especially my shoes, but had a lot of fun doing it!

Stinker.

Hard to see, but he's can be cute when he wants to

After climbing up to the falls

Standing in the mist

From the bottom after our hike

We went home and changed clothes, then went out to eat at Red Robin.  It was my first time eating there, and I really enjoyed it!  We got fancy lemonades and limeades to drink, and delicious burgers, and best of all, SWEET POTATO FRIES!!  Yum!  That night we watched Mall Cop for FHE.  It's one of Evan's favorites.  Reminded me of the stupid humor of Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre that I so love. :)

The rest of the week was full of work, and there wasn't time for much else.

Cemeteries, Dutch Ovens, Dinos, and Bonfires

I've been on quite a few fun dates and activities lately, and thought I'd share a little of what's been going on.

Last Thursday was our ward closing social.  We met at our bishop's house and had dinner made by the first counselor in our bishopric-- he's a Dutch oven competition cook, always wins, and his stuff is delicious!  We jumped on the trampoline and swung on the swings and played a few games.  When it got dark, they showed Tangled on a projector in the backyard.  It was so much fun to spend time with everyone and have one last hurrah before the semester ends in a couple weeks.

Me and Taylor eating dinner

Me and Evan in the background... 

except you can't see his face because he put his foot up

And our good friend Erika making the silly face :)

Last Friday night, Evan took me to the Provo Cemetery to just walk around and talk.  I love cemeteries for some unexplainable reason (I discovered this love for cemeteries when I went to Arlington National Cemetery a few summers ago), so he took me because he thought I'd enjoy it, and I did!  We looked at all the cool gravestones, looking for the oldest one we could find.  I think the oldest one we found was one from the 1850s (Provo was founded in 1849).  Crazy!  They have little plaques on all the original pioneers' graves, which were also cool to see.  I think I like cemeteries because they are so peaceful and give you opportunity to think about life.  I had a few moments where I got close to tears when we were walking through the area they have dedicated to infant graves.  I just felt the overwhelming grief of the parents at losing their babies, mostly because of the sweet messages left on their gravestones.  We also got barked at by the cemetery caretaker's dogs.  It was really an unusual date, but a great one nonetheless. :)

Monday night, Evan invited me to go with him to a family get-together.  They own some land up in the mountains in Eagle Mountain (they call it West Canyon) and every once in a while they go up there and have dinner together.  I got to meet his parents, grandparents, and all of his siblings and their spouses and kids.  I really had a great time and enjoyed their company.  The food was great: Dutch oven chicken, ribs, and cobbler made by his mom, broccoli salad, potato salad, and homemade rolls.  Evan took me for a ride on their four-wheeler and teased me by almost driving straight through a mud puddle.  Then they got a fire going and we all sat around it and they played guitars and sang campfire songs.  It was awesome!  Evan and I got a little bit of teasing for cuddling next to the fire, but they're not half as bad at the teasing as our friends are.

Tuesday night, we doubled with my friend Taylor who is dating Evan's roommate Jordan.  We went to American Fork for dinner at Chick-fil-a and then went to the dinosaur museum up at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi.  We only had about 40 minutes in the museum, but it was lots of fun anyway, and we got some fun pictures.  After they kicked us out, we ended up going to a nearby park to swing on the swings and talk, then laid in the soft grass looking at the stars.  It was a nice, low-pressure, fun date, and I had a really good time!

 Me, Evan, Taylor and Jordan

Me and Evan.

(The dinosaur in the back makes me think of Night at the Museum lol)

Me standing under a huge dinosaur

Can you imagine being around one of these things when it was alive??

 

Thursday night, we got a bunch of friends together for a bonfire before Taylor leaves for BYU-Idaho.  We got a great group of friends together and went to Evan's grandparents' house in Lehi where they have a bonfire pit in their backyard.  Evan got a great fire going almost immediately and we roasted hot dogs, marshmallows and Starburst (yes, Starburst... so good!), and made s'mores.  We stayed there for a couple hours, laughing and talking and having a great time with good friends.  I'm going to miss these guys when they all leave in the fall!

Evan's fire-building skills

Lincoln longs anyone?

Tay and Jordan not looking

Making faces

Jason trying to keep the mosquitoes away by standing in the smoke

All That Dating Finally Paid Off...

Well, I've been trying to keep this on the down-low up until now (at least on my blog), but I think it's finally reached a point where I can share it safely.

It's official:  I have my first boyfriend!

Some of you know about him from me already, but the long story short for the rest of you is this:

-His name is Evan, he's 22 and from Lehi, UT.
-He was my home teacher last fall and winter semesters.
-Our first date was the last weekend of January (as part of my 13 week dating streak).  We made tie-dye shirts for each other, which we both still wear.
-He's been my running buddy since the beginning of March.  We've been slacking lately, but for a while we ran just about every day.
-I kissed him (my first kiss EVER) the night before I flew home to Florida.  He was very surprised, to say the least.
-When I got back from Florida, we started going on more dates and spending more time together to see how it went.
-He held my hand for the first time while we watched The Fellowship of the Ring.  Mind you, we weren't even sitting on the same couch.  That takes skills.
-My favorite place to go with him is Squaw Peak.  (But not for the reason most people go there.)  I love the view of the valley up there at night.  I don't know that I'll ever get used to the view from the mountains.
-He has yet to kiss me, but that's totally fine with me.
-We've started reading Believing Christ together some nights.
-We also like to watch episodes of Psych with his roommates.
-And we always stay up way too late together.  Both of us have been sleep deprived for weeks. :)

That's a pretty good description of our relationship, I think.

Also, I just realized that I don't really have any pictures with him, so I will try to rectify that soon!

In the meantime, here's a silly picture of him:

 (He's making that face because I was forcing/convincing him to try a maple doughnut with bacon strips on top.  It's really delicious, he just doesn't think so.)

Well, guess our dating game is over...

Due to finals, graduation, cleaning checks, move outs and the like, Rachel and I didn't have dates this weekend.

But still, 13 weeks is a long time!  That's more dates than I've been on the rest of my life combined!

We might start again next week, or we might just decide that we want the boys to do the work from now on.  We'll see.

We did it

for the story  :)

Dating: Week 13 - Cookies and Phase 10

This week was another last minute thrown-together date, but it was one of the more fun ones I've done.  I set both Rachel and myself up with boys in our ward.  They are both super cool.  Rachel went with Josh, one of my home teachers, and I went with Jake, a good friend of ours.

For the date we got together early Friday afternoon and made chocolate chip cookies and then played Phase 10.  I'd never played before, but once I figured out how to play it was a lot of fun!  And the cookies turned out really good, too.

The guys were great company, and it was totally chill and relaxed.  We laughed a lot and had a really good time together.  I really love that there are so many great guys right here in my own ward!

Well, it's been 13 weeks.  The semester ends next Thursday, so we made it through and entire semester (minus the first 3 weeks) dating every weekend!  We hope to keep it up until Rachel's 22 birthday, which will be 22 weeks of dating.

So, I have a favor to ask of all you Florida readers.  I'm gonna need some dates when I come home from mid-May to mid-June, and I don't know any guys my age!!  Would you be so kind to keep your eyes open for eligible young men to set me up with?  Let me know if you know anyone who'd be interested... :)  Thanks!

Dating: Week 12 - Divine Comedy

This week I had to kind of throw my date together at the last minute.  I was afraid I was going to have to give up this week.  I had asked out two guys during the week, but one of them was out of town and I didn't hear back from the other.  Then Rachel attempted to set me up with another guy who didn't follow through with the idea.  So, I was feeling pretty rejected and about ready to give up.

But then I remember that I was going to a Divine Comedy show on Saturday night with some friends and that almost everyone had a date, except me and another guy in the group (Conrad-- my friend's brother who I'd been on a date with the first week we started this).  So, in desperation, I called him up and presented my solution to our mutual dateless-ness.  He thought it was a good idea, so we went together.

Divine Comedy was awesome as usual, and it was fun to be with Conrad because he's such a great guy and fun to be with.  It's just too bad he's pre-mission...  :)



Ok, so this coming weekend is the last weekend of the semester and it is our temporary goal to keep this going at least until then.  The long-term goal is to make it to Rachel's 22 birthday, which will be our 22 week of consecutive dating (June 17th).  Or until we have boyfriends, whichever happens first, haha!

Dating: Week 11 - Picnic and Frisbee

This week Rachel and I planned a picnic for our date.  Luckily, the weather was VERY nice that day.  We did it in the early afternoon on Friday, and the weather was so warm.  I was sweating just sitting there.  I'd forgotten how that felt.  Haha.  :)

I asked a boy in my ward, Danny, who I'd had a crush on since the beginning of Fall semester.  He's very sweet and funny.  We had a good time.  My home teacher set Rachel up with one of his friends.  He was really cool and we had a great time all together.

We made a sub sandwich to split between all of us and had chips, soda, oranges, and Red Vines.  It was delicious!  After we ate, we tossed around a frisbee for a while and played the game 500 with it, too.  I got some pretty sweet grass stains on my knees.  Win!

Well, we've been going at this for 11 weeks now, and we're trying to keep it up until at least the end of the semester.  We'll see how it goes!

Dating: Week 10 - Kite Making

This week I got asked out by a boy who I'd taken out a few weeks ago, Matt Gong.  He had a really creative plan: We were going to make kites and then go fly them.  Cute, huh?

We doubled with his roommate (another guy I've been on a date with.. lol), Conrad, and his date (and my friend) Riley.  We spent a couple hours making the kites.  It's harder than it may look!  All of us, except Matt, went for the "traditional" kite shape-- and we had a hard enough time with that!  They all turned out looking really cool.

Matt constructing his (much more ambitious) kite frame

Conrad and Riley in the building stage

Riley's finished product

Me and my kite

Matt and his kite (Optimus Prime face)

and Conrad's (it's in Russian)

We attempted to fly them and didn't have very much success.  We don't blame it completely on our kite-building skills (or lack thereof), because the real kite we had wouldn't fly very well either.  We'll blame it on the wind (or lack thereof), shall we?

I had a good time with good friends and think that's possibly one of the most original and creative dates I've been on!

Dating: Week 9 - Divine Comedy

This week I asked out a good friend I've known in the ward for a little over a year now.  His name is Bryan and he is arguably one of those guys that every girl has a crush on at some point. :)  He also looks like he's perfectly carved out of wax.  Haha..

We went with a ton of people in my ward (who were also all mostly on dates) to see Divine Comedy on BYU campus.  They are my current favorite comedy group on campus.  They do all sorts of fun stuff.  You could search them on YouTube and find all sorts of videos, like this one:



The do a series of skits poking fun at BYU and Mormon culture (they are a little harsh on UVU, though).  It's great to laugh at our idiosyncrasies like that every once in a while.

Bryan was a great date!  He insisted on opening my car door when getting both in AND out of the car, which was something I'd never experienced before, so that was nice.  :)  He also, very seriously (and literally), made a list of my qualities as I talked about myself.  LOL, funny guy.  He also had a freak-out moment when he discovered that I'd never seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies, and stood up to tell everyone else in our group about it.  Silly, silly, silly.  We had a lot of fun.

Well, it's been 9 weeks and counting... stay tuned for the continuing dating saga!

Dating: Week 8- A Capella Jam

This week I had a blind date with a guy from Rachel's work.  His name is Austin.  He's reeeeally tall, very nice, pretty classy, sings in Men's Chorus at BYU, and, ok, he's cute too.  :)

Rachel and I were late (we met our dates there), so there wasn't much time to talk before the show.  We were able to chat a bit at intermission and also afterward.  The show was amazing.  I am still in awe of the performers.  There are so many amazing things people can do with their voices!  One who was especially entertaining was Mister Tim.  You should check him out on Facebook.  Seriously.  Do it.

About 5 or 6 groups performed during the show.  It was really, really good!  I had such a good time.  After the show, we drove our dates home and said goodbye.  They were really fun guys, and hope they had as much fun as we did!

All in all: Best. Blind. Date. Ever!

Dating: Week 7 - Laugh Out Loud

For my date this week I asked a guy in my ward named Joe.  (He is, consequently, roommates with two of the other guys I've been out with recently, Conrad and Matt.)  He's such a nice guy, always smiling, and he likes to give hugs.  Rachel doubled with me and went with a guy she knew from back in her freshman ward.

We went to a comedy club on campus that I've never been to before.  It's called Laugh Out Loud and it's improv done in the style of 'Whose Line is it Anyway?'.  I think it took the audience time to warm up to the style, so it was a little slow at first, but a few skits in everyone was enjoying it and having fun.  I had a great time, got some good laughs, and definitely relieved some stress. :)

My date was great.  He was good at keeping the conversation going and keeping it interesting.  And we had fun laughing together.  All in all, a great night.  (Oh, and he won a BYU umbrella, one of the prizes they were giving out to the audience! haha)

Dating: Week 6 - Cookies and Games

This week I asked out a boy in my ward named Matt.  He's a funny guy who I don't know all that well, but I'm friends with his apartment.  We planned it as a double date with my friend Rachel and the guy I set her up with, Josh.  Turned out that 3 of Rachel's roommates and another friend wanted to join, so somehow they all got dates and we did a huge 6-couple group date.

Our original plan to make cookies was difficult to do with 12 people, so only some of us could actually help with that part.  We did no bakes, and then set them out to dry while we played some games.  We played The Game of Things, a new favorite we've discovered, and then we played Catch Phrase.  Both were very funny.  We had a great time together.

Matt was kind of quiet, I think he's a very contemplative kind of guy, but I had a good time getting to know him a little better, and he was good at initiating questions and returning mine.

Overall, a great night with friends and lots of fun. :)

Dating: Week 5 - Classic Skating

This week for my weekly date I was actually asked by a guy in my ward.  His name is Will and we've been in the same ward for about a year and a half.  His roommate, Josh, asked my roommate Katie out and we did a double.  We went Classic Skating up in Orem.  I'd never been before and I had a lot of fun!  I don't think I've been to a roller rink since like elementary school.  It brought back so many memories!

We all got roller blades because we weren't brave enough to try the classic skates.  I really miss when I used to roller blade a lot growing up.  It felt good to be back on roller blades.  :)

There were a lot of little fearless kids there that we were all so afraid of hitting or knocking over.  But after 9 they kicked out everyone under the age of 16 for Disco Night, so that was a little nicer to be able to skate a little more freely.  I LOVED the music for Disco Night and had a blast "dancing."  I wish I knew how to dance better on roller blades.  There were so many guys on skates who had all these cool moves and were break dancing in the middle of the rink and weaving in and out of all the other skaters with their smooth moves.  We even saw a much older guy who was just skating around the rink.  I love seeing older people having fun doing stuff they love like that!

After wearing ourselves out skating, we headed over to Cold Stone for ice cream.  Delicious!

When I got home I didn't realize how tired I'd gotten, but I'd had a dang good time!

Dating Machines - Weeks 1-4

Me and my friend Rachel have recently made a goal.  We've gotten tired of sitting at home with all our girlfriends on the weekends because no guys will ask us out.  So we're taking matters into our own hands.  Even if it means we have to ask guys ourselves every stinking week.  So far we've done 4 weeks straight, and this weekend will be our 5th.  Think we can keep it up the rest of the semester?

So, first week we did a huge group dinner date with 7 couples.  It was one of the funnest dates I've been on, ever.  Such a perfect mix of people, a great date (his name is Conrad), and delicious food (enchiladas).

The second week we did another huge group date and did tie-dye.  We all brought an item to dye, and then we switched with our dates and dyed them for each other.  It was a lot of fun and they turned out really good!  My home teacher, Evan, was my date.  We went to DQ afterwards and got treats!  Very fun.  :)

The third week Rachel set me up with a friend she used to work with.  Rachel, her roommate Yandhi, and I went on a triple date to get frozen yogurt.   My date's name was Darren, and his parents are deaf and he served an ASL "speaking" mission in D.C.  He's a mechanical engineering major, too, so between computer programing, calculus, and ASL, we had a lot in common!

The fourth week I asked an old friend, Brandon, to go to the BYU Museum of Art with me and see the big Carl Block exhibit that's there.  It was really cool!  I didn't realize how much of Carl Bloch's art is used in the LDS Church, but I recognized a lot of the paintings, and they are beautiful!  Afterward we went to the Creamery on 9th and shared a brownie sundae with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream!

One of my favorite paintings from the exhibit, The Doubting Thomas.

Stay tuned for updates about my upcoming dates!

Boyfriend

I have a boyfriend.

This is not him.

(Made ya look!)

This is my boyfriend.

His name is Mac.

Pretty good-lookin', eh?

We spend pretty much all our time together.

(I love my new Macbook!)

Provo High Prom

Ok, so this is kind of a long story, but I'll try to make it as short as possible.

Last Wednesday, a girl in my FHE group, Xandra, came over and asked me if I would go to prom with her younger brother, Jake.  Apparently he'd already asked three girls, and none of them could go.  Prom happened to fall on his 18th birthday, and he was feeling a little down, so Xandra thought that going with a college girl would boost his spirits.  So, I agreed.

Saturday comes and I go over to Caidy Atwood's house to get all ready.  I tried on some of her dresses, and some of her BFF's dresses, but none of them were really working, so I wore the dress I'd brought.  They did my hair and make up and nails and such and then Caidy took me back to my place.

 Caidy stays with me to take pictures and see me off.  So, Jake knocks on the door and comes in.  Apparently, he wanted to go to dinner dressed more casually, but I was already all dressed, so I stayed in my dress and he wore his more causal shirts with his slacks (pictured).

♫ We go together like a wink and a smile... ♫

His boutineer

My BEAUTIFUL corsage!

 His mom drove us in their minivan.  We ate at Legend's Grill on campus.  I'd never been there before, and it was pretty yummy.

Then we came back to Glenwood and he got his shirt and changed at Xandra's apartment.  I changed my litlle cover-up, too, because it was more comfortable.

We were about an hour late to the dance by this point.  It was on the top floor of the Provo Library (old BYU Academy building) which has this really nice ballroom.  It's beautiful!  His mom took pictures outside, then we went inside and got pictures taken.  Then we spent about another hour waiting in line to do the promenade (walking down the front stairs with all the parents waiting outside to take pictures).

Also, he didn't know how to pronounce my name correctly.  He kept introducing me to everyone as "Alex-a" instead of "A-lex-a."  Oh man.

Then I went to the bathroom and texted my mom about everything, and she called me.  I talked for a while, then said I needed to go because he was waiting for me.  lol.

Then we went into the actual dance.  He had been trying to hold my hand the whole night, every time we were walking somewhere, but I'd just grab his arm to let him escort me.  We danced for a bit, then there was the first slow dance.  By the end of the dance, here's how the conversation went.

Jake: So, if you could, would you give me a kiss?

Alexa: *laughs* I don't know about that.

Jake: Are you sure?

Alexa: Uh, yeah.

Poor guy.  I felt pretty bad for him, but seriously, I'm 2 years and 3 grades older (yes, he was a junior) and this was our first date.  He must have noticed all the other couples making out around us.  Oy.  I haven't even had my first kiss yet, and some high schooler I hardly know isn't going to get it.  I spent the rest of the night worried that he was just going to swoop down and land one on me.  Yikes!

Happily, the dance only went until 11pm.  Then we waited outside for his mom to come pick us up, and she took me home.  I gave him a hug goodnight, luckily avoiding any attempt at a kiss.

Well, that's my story.  What a night.

Ladies' Choice Harry Potter Dance

BYU threw 4 Preference dances this weekend.  Because of how fun it had turned out last year, I decided I wanted to go again.  I invited my ex-home teacher, Spencer.

I recruited my roommate, Laura, and neighbor, Alyse, to help me with the invite.  We spend a while having fun experimenting and playing with wax to make the seals on the back of the envelopes.

Here are the plethora of letters addressed to him,

and all of the fun seals on the back.

The delivery owl- isn't he cute??

And the answer: "YES!!!"

At the dance with Professor Quirrell...

and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!  

(I think he won best costume, it was pretty awesome)

House elves and their awesome ears!

Muggles :) haha

This is pretty funny.  We spent a lot of the night trying to figure out what some of the costumes were, and this was one of them.  They just had broccoli taped to the top of their hats.  We were stumped.

Then we saw them screaming at people for pictures, and realized they were mandrakes!  hahaha

So, I had to get a picture with them.

Clever, very clever.

Here we are trying not to be killed by their screams.

There was a photo booth which was pretty awesome.

They gave us each a printout of the pictures, too.

Sweet!

Overall, it was a great night and I had a lot of fun!   And I'm glad that I got to indulge my Harry Potter obsession for one night.  :)