The Epic Surprise

When finals came to an end Nathan came straight back to Arizona. The day he left I only got to see him for a short second because I had plans I was going to be late for in Orem. 

Well here's the thing Nathan didn't know that on Cyber Monday I asked him mom if it would be okay to come down to Arizona Christmas Eve day to surprise Nathan for two weeks together. Well she said it would be fine. Nathan thought that I would be flying in on New Year's Eve. I had a really hard time keeping the big surprise from him but some how he didn't even realize that was my plan at all. 

I thought I was going to die Christmas Eve morning because of course Utah got snow...

My flight could of gotten cancelled and I wouldn't be able to surprise Nathan... Which was the big present I had talked up a lot to him in the previous weeks. 

As I was packing Nathan decided to FB message me... his very last comment to me was "well have fun talking with her! talk to you soon!" Oh my goodness for sure he knows that I'm coming down. I thought my big surprise was ruined. 

The flight alone was horrible. Got delayed, had to sit in a cold airplane why they defrosted the wings...

Sue comes and picked me up, Nathan was at a Christmas party. Well as we were heading home we ended up BEHIND the van. What was my plan? I had nothing... I even forgot my big huge gold bow I was going to wear since I'm his present. Naturally the fam had forgotten the salad so they went back for it. We pull up right next to the van. Nathan is in the seat right next to the window. I'm trying to hide while Art, Sue, and I try to figure out what the plan was. 

"Yes some random girl with your mom"-Art 

            My face was priceless with his comment to be honest. 

Art told me to just jump out. So I do and go over to the van door and just smile right at Nathan and say "Merry Christmas" 

What does he do..... Sits there in complete shock! Thanks babe. Then jumped out and hugs me. Comes to find out all my comments of trying to avoid talking about Christmas things were weird to Nathan but they finally made sense. I can't believe I pulled off the ultimate Christmas gift and Nathan had no idea. 

I hope that you got an amazing gift that you are just so thankful for. As for me... I'm enjoying the idea that there is no snow outside. Woot! Win for the Utah girl. 

Another day in the Eck home

Yesterday was a pretty fun filled day here at the Eck home.
Started putting up Christmas lights. After that I got most of the girls and painted nails with them.

All our toes!!

Aren't we just so dang cute?! I think so! Sophie, Kami, Amelia, & I.
After painting our nails we all just relaxed around the house. Later that night we ended up going caving. Which was an experience all by itself. Nathan decided to take us to a different entrance, which had BILLONS of flies. Ew. But than we turned around and went in the right entrance.

Little Aaron boy

 It was an intense climb. ;)

It was pretty exciting and I think after the first two seconds of being in the cave I gave up on what my clothes looked like. Danny also got set apart as an Elder yesterday. So it was a pretty great day if you ask me. Right away little miss Kami turns to me and goes "Aubrey are you going on a mission?" when she said it it was as if she already knew my answer. I told her yes. :) but when I said it she gave me the saddest look ever!! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We pulled into Nathan's neighborhood really late Tuesday. The front door to the house is so dang big!! Oh my goodness... 

Do you see how small we look? Alright now that you know it's a really big door. The house is so dang beautiful. The kitchen is to die for. :) Seriously I would never leave if I was allowed to stay the whole time.

Alright after 12 hours of driving in the car and coming in at 1 in the morning we go straight to bed. Well I didn't fall asleep for a while. I was warned that we needed to get up at 6 in the morning for scripture study with the family. So I knew I needed to be up in a matter of hours. Well Nathan comes in at 6:43 (I'm gonna be honest, I was made he woke me up right before my alarm.) As I get pulled out of bed he tells me to put on my tennis shoes. I think I was to tired to understand that meant we would be missing scripture study. Well we go out to Silly Mountain. Even though I was soo tired. It was so beautiful. 

 Don't we look so dang tired!!! Haha.

It was the perfect temperature and beautiful. Thank you to my sweet boyfriend for it. Even though my stomach was doing flips when it was suppose to be romantic. Sorry Nate.  

After that I got to come home and take a nice nap. After that we made food for the potluck with Nathan's buddies from high school that night here at the house. 

Today we woke up and went to play volleyball with all those whom came last night. It was a lot of fun and I totally went flying to the ground for that ball more than once. 

And of course we had Thanksgiving dinner, and watching some football. Even though my Packers aren't playing you have to watch football on Thanksgiving. 

I'm honestly loving it out here and not looking forward to leaving. 

Did I mention it is really nice weather here? haha. It's a pro for Arizona. 

Happy Thanksgiving. Today I am thankful for the Book of Mormon and extended education. Did you think of what you are thankful for? 

Oh and I'm thankful for this week and being able to just relax with Nathan. 

Arizona

Well folks,
it is true. I really am going to Arizona for Thanksgiving Break in order to meet the rest of the Eck family. I'm pretty excited but we will see what happens. It could ultimlety be a horrible diseaster haha. I don't think it will be horrible. I'm truly am excited to go out and have fun.
Nathan has caving, turkey bowl, potluck. And in all middle of that I got a warning that I'll be playing lots of Polly Pockets.
Yesterday Nathan and I doubled with Lindsay and Michael.
We went up to City Creek. I haven't been there yet so that was pretty exciting to say the most. And of course Nathan knows how to make me speechless. Good job Nate. ;)
I gotta go finish cleaning along with packing. I'll hopefully be able to update my blog while I'm in Arizona!

One will be suffering

I am one week away from Thanksgiving Break and I have no clue if I'm gonna make it. I can't believe how much I need to do in the next week in order to be able to relax on my break. Which by relax I mean SLEEP (a lot), watch TV shows, and of course not leaving my apartment because it's so dang cold outside. Sounds like an amazing plan right?
As I watched a group of high school students walk into UVU today I thought to myself "what would I tell students preparing to enter college soon?"
My first and only thought. There is always something that is lacking. It's impossible to sleep, work, school, homework, dating, and friendships to all be on good terms at once. One will be suffering. It can change weekly but one will suffer.
And in my current issue everything is suffering because my super lack of good sleep is killing everything. Because I should never be allowed to lack sleep. It's a really bad idea. Trust me. Even if I get more than 8 hours of sleep a night I just don't have energy come 2 in the afternoon. I gotta figure out something.
Anyways I hope you are all getting excited for some Thanksgiving Day festivals.

With you

I honestly don't understand why my teachers don't understand when they look at me to see if I've done the homework assignment and I give this cute innocent smile and I go, " it was a really good weekend" of course I didn't even think about your homework.

Instead I was seriously enjoying my time driving a scooter for the first time ever. Or country dancing and just doing fun line dances or being lifted in the air. 

Needless to say... It was a really good weekend. Well I guess I can say it was a really good Saturday. ;) Now today on the other had I've had to do some much homework, but I can honestly say that I am glad I enjoyed the weekend. I also signed up for classes for next semester. I wasn't planning on it. But somethings have changed and we will see what happens but as for now I will be going spring semester and I'm taking 12 credits. Well hopefully I'm wait listed for one of my classes. 

Have a wonderful week! Don't forget to vote!! 

Blessed

Have you ever had one of those days were you just realize that you are so blessed to have the people you have in your life.

Like these 2 ladies in this picture! Who have been there for me so much in the last year.

Or this lovely lady! I honestly am so lucky to have some of the best roommates a girl could ask for.


I also have some of the most amazing friends. Guys who are on missions that are such an amazing example to me in so many different ways. They know just what to say when I'm frustrated and don't know to do. Like my letter from Clarke today, he is clueless about any current situations going on in my life yet he said the perfect things to make me feel like I'm not in complete lose. Just know that if you've been a friend to me that you've helped me out more than you'll ever know. I'd mention you all but this blog would last a very long time. Oh shout out to Jena for having my back and not making me feel like a horrible person when I went to remove my Italy application. It honestly had such relief that you had already given them a heads up.

Meeting the Band

Spur of the moment situation happened today. Sydney & I have been talking about going for weeks. Since I'm in love with Parachute courtesy of my sister Ashley showed me them a couple years ago.
Anyways we got the chance to get the tickets today. It was the best choice I've made to go to this concert!!
We get to the concert go jam to Parachute. I realized that I was one of the very select few that knew all their songs. I thought everyone knew them, but i guess I'm just special ;) A couple songs in Will said they'd be meeting people after they finished singing. I thought I was dying. Trust me the videos I took I was in heaven. haha.
Well I ran for my life to meet them.

Side note: This is Kit French & we'd make adorable babies. 

This is Will Anderson. Love him. 

My conversation with Will. "Please sign my shirt?" "of course" "And I have another favor for you.." "Sure what is it?" "Will you kiss me?" "How about you kiss me?' "Deal!" 

Legit right?!? I was the happiest girl ever! 

Then we ran back to our great seats after taking pictures with all the band members. 

All-American Rejects came on. I'm convinced that Tyson Ritter was high on life tonight. Got to jam to some of their classics. 

Then Boys like Girls came onto the stage. Which is Sydney's band. We jammed like crazy of course! :) Martin Johnson says they have one more song. We are all aware what concerts are a lot about now, all phones & cameras are ready and going. Martin stopped the concert in the middle of 'Love Drunk' told us to put away our phones. Those on the sides need to come down and mosh pit and just rock! 

We did just that it was INTENSE!!!! My hair was pulled, I was pulled and it was so worth it. They sang 'Escape' again. Before I knew it I was right against the bar. I was holding hands with Paul DiGiovanni. Completely because he is just dang  straight good lookin'. Then I'm screaming at Martin to grab my hand. He did. OH MY. Such an amazing night. I can't even believe all that happened in ONE NIGHT. Epic by far. 

And yes you should be extremely jealous. 

i KNOW it.

Honestly what more is there to say about this? I love the quote. It's simply amazing. Thank you General Conference for the uplifting talks/quote/phrases that I can go back and read to keep me going or inspire me to continue on wards. 

I'm reading this amazing book right now, it's called 'Believing Christ' by Stephen E. Robinson. I find it as a great reminder to things I already know but forget about. In the last few days I've just been filled with extreme gratitude. And a great reminder of the love for the church.
I hope you all have a wonderful week! I'll be heading to San Diego this weekend for Bryson & Sam's wedding. I'm really excited. I wish the best of luck to the soon-to-be husband & wife!

The Verdict

I decided that before I went running for the hills towards the mission to pray, fast, and go to the temple with a question in mind. Since of course my mission is all about serving the Lord. It is only fair for him to have a say when I should leave because maybe He needs me out there right away or not. 

Yesterday was the picked day... one because I could get a car to go to the temple. But honestly I've never been so hungry in my life. Plus EVERYONE was eating the good food. Pizza, Jamba Juice, peanut butter M&Ms. I was having a rough day for my one class I had. 

I was a little nervous about going to the temple. Mainly because Tyler reminded me that I could get no as my answer. Thanks Tyler. But he did have a REALLY good point. "I'm just making sure you are prepared for whatever answer you receive." Great advice Tyler. I realized I'd be fine with any answer I was just really hoping I wouldn't get a no because that would put a little bit of a downer on my day. 

Well my friends, bloggers, peps. 

I will be finishing the semester out. Take next semester off work like CRAZY submit my papers in March and leave when ever that paper says I should leave. Which brings me to my next situation. Any of you know where I can get a job? I have an offer at my old work but it's not an ideal situation. Considering it's in Orem off 800 North and I have no car. Plus when I last worked there I wasn't the happiest camper in the world. Anyways if you could help me out that would be wonderful! 

I have the best roommates in the WORLD. Lynsey put this up on the whiteboard yesterday along with some quotes. She also fasted with me which was so much help to me. In a matter of months I will have this! I'm extremely excited and thankful that I have the opportunity to serve a mission.

I'm really excited to keep you all updated about this! When the time comes you'll all be invited to take a guess on where I'll go. :-) 

Octburrr

Seriously? We are only 8 days into October and I feel like it's November already. What was the dramatic change? I was dying walking home from classes the other day and today I wore a jacket (I know, it wasn't THAT cold but I can't contain heat for the life of me).
I'm putting off my homework, so I'm trying to come up with something to blog about. and I'm drawing a blank....
Nevermind. I have a very funny story for you all.
With the exciting news of women being able to go out on missions 2 years earlier we all knew there was gonna cause a stir or too.
I walk into English 2010 today, sit next to the attractive guy Tyler in class right? (good call I know). Anyways I lean over and go "How's your girlfriend?"
His reply "She's going on a mission."
HAHAHAHA. I did laugh out loud. :-) Hahaha. It's still so funny for me.
When I woke up today and got on Facebook I saw this meme (the fades)

Of course I had to show this to him. Then we looked at multiple others. I forgot to show him my favorite one... 

So I found him on good ol' facebook and shared this great photo. 

I know poor kid right? But I've got some great memes that lighten up the mood. 

LDS mission

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We send out missionaries. As a church we have a restriction on when we can leave on a mission.
Every 6 months we have General Conference where we come together and listen to our Modern Prophets.
We just got amazing news that....
Women are now allowed to leave for missions at the age of 19. And men are allowed to leave at 18.  Women weren't allowed to till 21 of age and men was 18. This is seriously one of the best news ever.
Annoucement

As that happened in the moment all I could do was cry. I've been so torn about Italy and a mission. I now need to go and remove my Italy application. I need to now pray and find out when it will be a good time for me to leave.
There you go folks, I will be going on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. What a wonderful day.
My facebook is exploding with excitement. :-)

Sophomore Year

Well folks, I'm getting further in my education.
This year since so much harder than usual. Last week I was on the edge of just giving up. I don't know what I would have done but nothing was looking up.
I'm taking only 15 credits this semester, which feels like I'm taking 18 to be honest. My classes are just demanding way more attention than previous semesters.
Ethics & Values, ASL 2010, ASL advanced fingerspelling, Math, English 2010, Astronomy.
I really enjoy my ASL classes.
I can't remember if I already mentioned this. But I changed my major this summer. I am officially BA of Deaf Studies. I'm completely happy wit my choice. Of course I still enjoy psychology but it's not my thing as much as signing puts me this completely happy bubble!! :)
As for dating...
Gosh why did we ever come out of doing arranged marriage? I think it's a wonderful idea and would totally get rid of the idea of the awkward first date. haha. I think it's a wonderful idea to be honest.
drum roll please...
I, Aubrey...
    Did apply for study abroad Italy. I'm praying I get excepted into the program. I would be gone ALL Of May 2013. I'll let you know after my interview in December if I get accepted or not. I'm pinching every penny I can. So if you know of any good side jobs I can do here or there that would be wonderful of you. :)
I'll hoping to keep blogging up again. It seems to calm me down a little bit.

Bucket List

Well my friends & readers...
I can't believe how long it has been since I have last blogged. It just so happened that I have officially started working on my bucket list.
How crazy is that I feel like only old people work on bucket lists. But I'm get older. I know I'm not OLD. But I'm old enough to know what I want to do on Earth. Before I pass on. Soo
With that said my first item that I can cross off is....
drum roll please!!!!
-FLY ON AN AIRPLANE-
Yes I know it's a little crazy that I've never been on an airplane.
Well do you want to know which state I flew to?

I went to Washington state. To visit my bestest friend DahLynn.
It was a blast and part of being in WA I needed to go to the Seattle Gum wall. (It's also on the bucket list)
I'm completely amazed that I didn't die. I can't wait till my best friend comes down to Utah for school. It was the saddest thing to say goodbye to her. I'm not ready to go home. But I kinda am. I need me some Channing.

Being a Mormon

I am 19 years old.
I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Those two things right there have a long of meaning. Why you might wonder? Well when you are a member of my church we tend at the age of 19 send our young men out on missions. Well I've grown up in Utah my whole life. Utah is a large base for members of the 'Mormon' Church. (Disclaimer-our official name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We also respond to LDS or Mormon). If you have more questions go to Mormon.org  or  LDS.org
Anyways back to my point.
Well for years I've been going to mission farewells. This is where the young men give a talk and we get to say our final goodbyes for 2 years. These young men (& women) get called to go all over the world. It's not always easy to say goodbye to these people because they can be your brother, best friend, boyfriend, friend, etc.
I've had my fair share of farewells & I have my fair share of Elders I'm writing.
The time has come where it is true... We only have one more friend to send off. The last 2 farewells that happened this weekend were really really hard for me. In the last few months they have been the guys I've gone to dances with. Or the ones that were always there for me in High School.

This is what is left of us. Today we said our goodbyes to Elder Preston Hale & Elder Matt(y) (Cakes) Woodruff. 

This is my whole group. At the first farewell. Elder Hopkins farewell. 

I'm so blessed to have these people in my life showing me the example that anyone if they put their heart and mind into it can serve the Lord and teach his children about our religion.
Even though we've gotten so small compared to our first farewell we love the guys so much.
Yes of course we miss them. But we write them and we talk to each other to make it seem like it doesn't drag out as much as it really does. I'm really gonna miss these guys, they always knew how to make me laugh. 2 straight days I've been crying.
I love you all and I'll "SEE  YOU IN 2!!"
Elder Palmer-California
Elder Haggard -Benin
Elder Woodruff-Brazil
Elder Hopkins-Ghana
Elder Hales-Germany

Completed

I have officially completed my first year at UVU. Crazy to think huh? I can't even believe it. I didn't think back in August this day would come.
Today I moved out of my apartment. I have to wait till the first till I can move into my new place. So as for now I'm home. I'm super excited though- new place means new things to experience. It's time for a change. Even though when I think about it, I get nervous and will totally miss a lot of the people I have meet at College Terrace.
This will be great and hopefully next year will be even better. Who knows what will come. But all I know is my finals are done which are the best feelings in the world.
I don't know if I passed all of my classes. but oh finally done. 18 credits was rough & working on top of that was not the smartest idea I've ever had.
Alright now that I have all this time on my hand you'll have a lot more posts. Yay!

Almost completed

Alright, I know it's been forever. But it's seriously been so crazy. I'm still taking 18 credits & on top of that I have a new job!
Yes, you've heard me right. I have a job at Sonic. Of course I wear roller stakes. Hahah. It's fun minus the blisters I get on my feet. It makes work a lot harder.
I'm always tired. Always. Try to study a lot. I can't wait for finals to be over this week.
What else? Hmm... I move out of my apartment this month and move into this new place I'm super super excited for it. It's got a washer and dryer. Which is perfect. Anyways, just wanted everyone to know I'm still alive and that I always want to blog but don't really have time to.
&&& by the way I have a couple friends coming home from their missions this summer. I'm pumped. June come fast.

Midterms

Midterm: An exam in the middle of an academic term

Ouch. It's is so painful to be at this point in the semester. I wish that I could just get an A on all my exams and not have to study so much. I've been non-stop studying. I took my two intense midterms yesterday.

My brain hurt so bad after I had finished my American Heritage one. Gosh. You think your Professors would go easy on you. Haha. Of course not.

Well I survived. Barely. But I did. :) Let's just hope I got a good grade on them. Other than that College has it's up & downs that's for sure. Some days are hard to face and others make it seems like you can take on the world. Like I did yesterday. Anyways I really do enjoy sleeping. It's heavenly when you have a head ache.

Anyways... When I actually have time I just spend it on HULU. It's the bestest. That's for sure.

Well have a wonderful Friday. Enjoy the sun shine.

Missionary Work

The best news in the world came my way this week.

Last month when I went up to Salt Lake Temple I gave the Sister Missionaries. Well this past Tuesday one of the sisters called me to tell me that they had just called my grandma. I was beyond nervous. I wanted to know so bad what had gone one. I didn't get to talk to her till Wednesday. She called me and right away I was beyond nervous not ready to hear if grandma was going to take lessons or not. Well I honestly thought that she was lying when she the sister said "your grandma agreed to have the missionaries." I honestly burst into tears... It was amazing. Yes it's not like she's going become a Mormon. But she is going to listen. Which is all I could ask for. Well it was great to talk to the sister missionary. She told me that missionaries probably wont be out there for a couple weeks but she will call grandma and give her the lessons over the phone. Well I went to my classes and on my way back from the library grandma called me.

She asked me how Courtney was doing (I guess that's the sister first name haha) I told her good then grandma told me "And I had to visitors tonight also" I couldn't believe missionaries got out there to her. Ogema is close to and super big places out in Wisconsin. But I guess they have some missionaries only 30 minutes away from her. Grandma told me that she agrees to read the Book of Mormon and will listen to the missionaries. I told her that's all I want her to do. Well I hope things will go super well. I'm always praying for her && I really hope that you will too. I love my grandma so much and this could be great. :) I'm praying so hard for the missionaries. Yes I love missionaries but I know that they are a great big part of my life.

2 young men just like the picture above. I hope they love my grandma and really pray for her. I really wish I knew these missionaries. I hope they know that I'm putting a lot into their hands.

Meet me halfway

When you are in high school you think about the future, where everyone is going to be, what school you will be & most importantly when the guys in your group of friends will be leaving on missions.

You do so many crazy things with your group of friends. When I was in high school it didn't really feel like it was right around the corner when the guys would start to leave.

Well this Sunday... was the day we'd get together for the first farewell of many to come. (yes I've gone to to tons of farewells. But these ones are different. These are my best friends. No matter how many stupid things we do. We'll all come together for a farewell, homecoming & the wedding of course... When those come). Austin is the first to leave.

Austin, what can I say about this guy without writing a novel. He was my Jr. Prom date. :) By the way he wore a white tux and DID NOT get it dirty. Isn't that amazing? I think so. His attention span maybe small sometimes but that's when we'd have the most fun.

Well here is the group.

L to R: Kirk, Rob, Ali, K.Lani, Haylee, (Back) Tara, me (kissing matty) Matty, Joe, Austin Karenna, Preston, The kid aka Tylan, Church... and some other people I have no clue who they are...

Well Austin congrats on being an amazing person & going to serve the Lords people in Ghana. Please be safe. I hope you get my random letters I plan on sending. I may need Tara to help me read your hand writing. But it will happen some how. :)

Life is crazy. && I'm not looking forward to the many farewell that I have to face in the nearish future. God be with you till me meet again. ♥

Semester 2 Week 1

18 credits? Some say I'm crazy. I completely agree! But it will all pay off in the end.

ASL: Lots of busy work, super small class & I miss David.

English: Mixed feelings. I always love English, but who know what I have in front of me.

Math: So far I'm doing good. Lots of girls in the class. Really good teacher & lots of homework.

Sociology:Weird teacher, interesting subject

American Heritage: Dr. Griffith is an amazing professor! && I'm in love with this class. Half the class dropped. This class could be the death of me. But I'm enjoying it so far.

Well I've made it. I didn't think I would, but I did. I can't wait till it's all over though. Haha. That's kind of a bad sign right? Oh well I'm excited for everything that I will learn this semester and the one step closer I am to my degree.

I hope you are all keeping your heads up.

I signed up for an Institute class & I'm hoping that I will stick to this class better than the last one. Haha.

Well we got a new roommate. So we now have 1.Me 2. Nicole 3. Janet 4. Mimi 5. Alya

Full house! :) I'm super excited to get to know them much better. But I can already tell we are going to have a great time! Wonderful Girls. Happy Friday the 13th it's been a good day for me. Sorry if your luck isn't the same.

Second Semester

I'm so not ready for my second semester of college!!

Ugh. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. Where I have to pack everything back up and head over to my apartment. 1 roommate less. Which I miss Rachel to the moon & back.

Then I start classes and I feel as nervous as I did my very first day of college. This doesn't seem to be getting any better.

This Christmas break has been good to me. Minus it did not snow till TODAY! of course.

I went to Temple Square a couple times. Went ice skating, bowling, some movies, shopping, worked, had a couple different dreams, wondered on the past, feared the future.

But over all it was a good break. Maybe once I have my first day of classes I wont be so scared anymore.

Wish me luck. I'm scared to death.