Good Friends--Shopping--Spray Park--Stadium Poles--and Playgrounds!

I've been having so much fun here in Rexburg! My favorite part is that, even though this is a very very small town, there's always something to do: we make our own fun! Recently... in just 3 days, I had the time of my life!! Let me tell a little more about it...

Saturday: I found out that I didn't have to work... like I thought I did. So Michelle and I (you'll have read about Michelle in my first post) decided to spend the day together shopping in Rexburg and Idaho Falls! We had a great time and became even closer friends than before! We also saw the new Incredible Hulk at the movie theater! We both LOVE the Marvel (super hero) movies, so it was perfect! It was a really good movie... in my opinion. So we had SUCH a great time shopping and such that we forgot to eat! We stopped at a cute little 50s Diner on the way out of Idaho Falls and had some really good food in a fun atmosphere! When we got home, we got out all of our shopping treasures and tried on our clothes and watched a movie! That was the end of day 1.

Sunday: I woke up early to go to a church meeting at 8am, had the Ward (church congregation) Choir meet at 8:30 before church started at 9, and we practiced the song we had put together for our Ward Conference--the leaders of the Church in our area were scheduled to meet and visit with us that week to see how we're doing, etc. . . . We had some really great meetings/lessons that Sunday! After church, Annabel, a good friend and nextdoor neighbor, and I thought it'd be fun to go to the park in our dresses and have a picnic! We gathered up some food, blankets, and books, and headed out to Porter Park (which is only about a block away). We found a nice little patch of grass in the sun, layed down our blankets, and ate our picnic lunches! We were getting a bit hot sitting in the sun, so we decided to leave our stuff and walk the 300ft over to the Spray Park (a VERY MINI water park with slides and water spraying up from the ground) that Rexburg has generously set up for families in the area. We cooled ourselves by the water and then took a walk around the park. We also had a super fun time on the swings too! Little known fact: I love swings. : ) Anyway, Annabel and I went home after about 3 hours of outdoor time... boy was that fun!!! When I got home, I was feeling spontaneous and maybe a little generous, so I decided to make up some chocolate cupcakes for some friends of mine in the men's apartments! My friend, Heather, came down from her upstairs apartment and helped me distribute the goodies onto red plates decorated with hearts, and we were on our way to see our friends! We got to the guys' apartments to deliver our treats at just the right time, too. They were all headed out to visit one of our leader's children because it was his 10th birthday! We were able to go with them and sing "Happy Birthday" to the adorable Cameron White. What a cute kid! It made me a little sad, though, because my little brothers, Scott and Nathan, are almost 10 too, and I can't be with them!! Anyway. . . It was a lot of fun to gather about ten or eleven of us to go over and celebrate with the Whites! They are such a sweet family. Once we got home, it was about 9:30pm, so Heather and I just sat and visited for a little while. Heather has become one of my favorite people! She's fun and sweet and just an all around great girl!! End of day 2.

Monday: It was just another regular day at Subway... until I got off work an hour early because business was slow. I changed my clothes and went over to Michelle's to sit on her couch, watch TV, talk, etc., and we ended up watching some show on Food Network. At around 7:30pm, some guys and a few girls from her Home Evening group (a group of members from our Ward assigned to meet together every Monday night to have fun/learn together/have more fun) came over. I decided to hang out with them-whatever they decided to do. We ended up eating creamsicles and went to the Spray Park at Porter Park!!! We all went in full clothing and just had SUCH A BLAST acting goofy and feeling like little kids that night!


(Michelle, Jessica, me, Annabel at Porter Park before we hit the Spray Park!)

After we realized that we pretty much took over the water park, we all went back to the apartments for watermelon. So... you know how water and sun make you hungry? Well, watermelon wasn't enough for us. Haha! The boys left, so it was just me, Michelle, Annabel, Heather, and a fun girl named Jessica! We decided to walk over to a cute little family owned fast food place called "The Backyard", which is located across the street from Porter Park. (I love how everything is so conveniently located!) Well, walking wasn't enough for Jessica... she just NEEDED a piggy-back ride. Haha!


(Jessica riding Heather piggy-back!)

After we were goofs on the way and IN the restaurant, we thought it'd be fun to go to Porter Park again! So we went across the street (it was dark by that time) and played on the swings and the playgrounds! Jessica wanted to show us a trick she used to do on the monkey bars when she was little, so she... did. She wasn't very successful on her way down, though. It took all of us to get her down without letting her fall on her head! Haha She's such a nut!



There was a little boy on the playground, who was waiting for his dad to stop playing tennis, that wanted us to play tag with him. So Heather and I decided, "Hey, why not?" This kid was GOOD. Manipulative and everything. Haha! He'd fake being hurt so that we'd come and see what was wrong... then he'd tag us! That stinker! : ) It was still fun, though. I love tag! Meanwhile, Annabel, Jessica, and Michelle were swinging. Jessica wanted to show us ANOTHER trick she had done when she was little: spider swinging (two people on a swing-the top person straddling the other). Believe it or not... she got stuck doing THIS trick, too! Haha! I was such a brat and decided it'd be funny to document these disasters... I'm such a good friend! Hahaha!!



After that shinanigan, we went to Jessica and Heather's apartment upstairs. Annabel cracked all our backs and gave us these amazing back and shoulder massages that made us melt... gosh, I wish I had a personal on-hand masseuse! We sat and talked for awhile... but that wasn't enough for Jessica. Oh, no. She wanted to take us "pole sliding" at the school stadium. We were feeling spunky and spontaneous, so we agreed to try it out! We walked over to the...unlocked... stadium and climbed the bleachers to the top! Jessica showed us how to do it first. She threw her leg over the hand-rail, head first, and slid all the way to the bottom with perfect balance! We were in AWE... was this the Jessica we knew??? Michelle and I were the only ones to try it... Michelle made it all the way to the bottom going feet first. I tried both ways, but only went a few feet each way! It was still fun and I'm happy to say I had that experience! I lived on the edge! Hahaha!! We finally went home after trying out "pole sliding" at the stadium. We all got good nights' sleep that night!

So that's the end of my amazing weekend here in Rexburg... I hope you're all at ease that I'm not bored to death while I'm in this little po-dunk town I currently call "home".



Until another day in Rexburg...

Roommates!

I figured I would tell a little about my past and present roommates (5 each semester) since they're such a huge part of my life here in Rexburg!!
Enjoy!


Winter Semester Roommate: Rachel Spencer!

Rachel is from Spokane, Washington, and is such a fun person to be around! Rachel works for AV Productions on campus and is an anchor and weather girl for I-News, BYU-Idaho's online news broadcast! She has a beautiful singing voice and liked to dance around the apartment and be a goof! Rachel is 24 and served a mission for the LDS church for 18 months in Leeds, England!


Winter Semester Roommate: Sarah Bedke!

Sarah is from Bakersfield, California, and has a contagious personality! I never saw Sarah sad or mad. She is always very happy and enthusiastic about life! Sarah is a Recreational Leadership major and really likes anything having to do with the outdoors! She really is one of my heroes and I hope to be as caring and happy as she is!


Winter and Summer Semester Roommate: Marie Larsen!

Marie is from Surprise, Arizona, and is very sweet! Being the most quiet and shy roommate, Marie has had to deal with a lot while living with me. : ) I'm glad she's my roommate! I think Marie is an Art major, but I also think she may have changed it to "Undecided". She is very talented! Marie is the 2nd oldest child in her family... of 11 children! She's very sweet and kind and always seems happy!



Sarah and Marie (Winter Semester) put their beds with mine in the living room for a roomie slumber party for my 20th birthday while Rachel stayed up all night sitting on the couch working on a project!


Summer Semester Roommates: (in the back) Rose Teschner! (posing) Stephie Dimmick!

Stephie is from Orlando, Florida, and is quite spunky! This girl is hilarious and has a really great sense of humor! Even though we had a bumpy start with our very different personalities, Stephie has become one of my favorite roommates EVER! She's got great style with her clothing (here, she happened to have a fun time putting on almost every item of clothing she owns while waiting for her friend to get to the apartment)! All in all, Stephie is full of life and energy!

Rose, in the back, there, is from all over the place. I think her family is currently living in Utah, but will be moving BACK to Nevada soon. Rose is my room roommate for Summer Semester, and is quickly becoming one of my favorite people to talk to. Rose really likes to go camping and have friends over to watch movies! Rose and Stephie are both very social and invite friends over a lot. We all love it!... now. : )


Summer Semester Roommates: (left to right) Lauren Landes, Marie Larsen, Tona Peterson!

Tona is from Huntsville, Utah, and makes really good smelling food! She's fun and happy and is really enjoyable to be around. Tona likes to watch the Disney channel with me and likes to play her Gameboy! Haha! I love it. She's really sweet and is going to be a great mom and wife someday!


Summer Semester Roommate: (closer picture) Lauren Landes!

Lauren is from Fresno, California, and is awesome!! She is getting married on August 8th and will make a great wife! She is 19 and is full of life! She's fun to talk to about relationships and likes to make fun of me... we have a good relationship that way! : ) Haha! She has a great personality and is just a really great girl!


Missing from these pictures are:
Winter Semester Roommates: Natalie Crabb and Andrea Reed!

Natalie is from Southlake, Texas, and is probably the most loving person I have ever met! She has such a huge capacity to love others, no matter who they are or what their background! Nat has just about the most hilarious sense of humor I have ever known! Sometimes there are things she can say and get away with that no one else ever could! She's just funny that way. I love the relationship Natalie and I have. She always gives me a big hug when I see her and gets all excited about my Drew stories! Natalie served a mission for the LDS church speaking Sign Language in Oregon. I think she and I are going to be roommates for Fall Semester!

Andrea Reed is from Rigby, Idaho, just around the corner from here, but was my room roommate during Winter Semester. I didn't see Andrea much because she stayed on campus late during the week and went home during the weekends, but when I got the chance to spend time with her, I saw how wonderful she is! Andrea is currently serving a Spanish speaking mission for the LDS church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! I'm sure she's doing great! She was always someone who would laugh at my jokes (even though I'm not really all that funny) and would really show compassion for others. I miss her!

So that's about it! I wish I had pictures of everyone, but that's ok!

Until another day in Rexburg...

Finally Starting This Up! It's a doosey!

Hey all! Thanks for checking out my new blog! Things have definitely changed since I had lived in New York! If you hadn't known, I am attending Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho, and am studying Music Education. I have been in Rexburg since January 2008 and have been loving every minute of it! Let me tell you a bit of what I have been up to since I've been here!
The day after Christmas, 2007, Dad, Kelsey (my sister, also headed to BYU-Idaho) and I left from wonderful Cicero, New York, to drive out to Kalin and Matt's (my sister and brother-in-law) house in Utah. On the first day, we made it to Aunt Dawn's (Dad's sister) in Youngstown, Ohio, and had a quick lunch. I was fortunate to be able to have a quick visit with Grandma and PapPap Dumas! The next day, we made it to Kansas City and had a nice (but quick) visit with Mom, Dave, Celeste, and Christine. The last day of our drive was long and not very eventful. All in all, it took about 3 days to drive out to Utah. It was a fun drive, nevertheless!
Once we got to Kalin's, we settled in and had a good night's sleep. We were all exhausted, especially our driver, Dad.
Those next couple of days passed in a blur. Dad left early that Monday morning, leaving Kelsey and me to stay with Kalin for a week. The week we spent with Kalin and her baby, Dean, was great! Kelsey and I took turns giving Kalin a break and waking up with Dean in the mornings. Those were the sweetest aunt-nephew bonding moments ever! Kalin took us out to Ikea and Target to get us settled with our apartment necessities. It was fun finding all the fun and cheap stuff in Ikea! Finally, on Saturday, January 5, Kalin and Matt packed up all our stuff and headed up to Idaho--about a 4 hour trip!
I remember my first thoughts when we got into Rexburg:
Why don't they know how to plow? and This is nothing like I had expected!
To address my first thought, Idaho doesn't really have the same plowing concept as New York, or even Ohio. They hardly salt the roads... mostly they use sand for traction. And they double their summer tractors as winter plows. Not very affective.
As for my second thought... Kelsey and Kalin had talked about Rexburg like it was the best place EVER! I believed them, of course, but when I showed up, all I felt and saw was snow and wind. I didn't know anyone there and I was nervous for my family to leave me in this new place that I had to adjust to calling "home".

Kalin and Matt helped me get my room set up and then left for good. I started crying, of course, being left by myself with my new roommates and others I didn't know yet. I was scared, to put it lightly. I knew things would turn out fine, but I had a hard time figuring that out at the time.
I got through that first night alright. I called Julie--Momma--and let her talk some sense into me. The next day, we had church, and I was warmly welcomed by my new Ward (for those who are unfamiliar with that term, a Ward is the congregation we are assigned to attend church with). It was a Student Single's Ward, and was filled with some really sweet and strong members. I could tell I was going to make great friends here.
School would start Wednesday, January 9, and so there were some orientation activities going on on Monday and Tuesday. We were assigned to "I-Teams" (BYU-Idaho tends to place an "I" in front of a lot of things, signifying the "I" in Idaho... it still makes me laugh), which were small groups of new students that went through orientation together. There were about 17 of us and we all got to be pretty good friends in just those 2 short days. We involved ourselves in lots of fun activities making us more familiar with the BYU-I campus and the whole feel of the university.
I remember our I-Team activities pretty well-- we had a "BBQ" one day and played lots of fun group get-to-know-you and team-work games. That night we had a "Welcome Back" dance. It was so much fun! Another event they had planned for the start of the new semester was a presentation called "The Spirit of Rick's Showcase". BYU-Idaho used to be the 2-year Rick's College, and has a long history. This showcase performance helped us feel the "spirit of Rick's" (why BYU-I is different spiritually and generally from other colleges, and even different from BYU and BYU-Hawaii) and got us pumped to be attending such a unique school. We also attended another fun event planned for students: the I-Night Extravaganza!

That night they had so many different activities set up for all BYU-Idaho students: big blow up obstacles, "Battleship" in the pools, "dress up and get your picture taken", a dance in the main auditorium/gym, dodgeball, laser tag, roller-skating, a comedy show, free and discounted food, bowling, and sumo wrestling! I'm sure there were many other things, but I can't recall the rest! It was a great start to the semester!
The first week or so of classes was really fun and got me excited to get in the swing of things! I especially loved my College Writing class. My teacher, Sister Clark, really knew how to get us excited about writing... and helped us express our own voices in our papers!
One thing I really enjoy about BYU-I is that the professors are all members of the LDS church and encourage gospel discussion and connection to the lessons in class. I always really loved being able to see pictures of the Savior wherever I went on campus. I still think it's something I won't get used to. It's really special that I can be getting an education in a place where the majority shares the same religious views and values as I do.

I quickly got involved in music activities, because, heck, it wouldn't be ME if I didn't! My best friend up here, Michelle (in the middle) and I decided to sing in a performance called "Broadway Revue". It was lots of fun! I sang a song called "The Wizard and I" from the musical Wicked and Michelle sang a song called "A Change in Me" from the Broadway musical Beauty and the Beast. It was great! Michelle's roommate, and one of my very good friends, Alyssa (also in the picture) went out for dessert with us afterward! I became really close with Michelle and her roommates (they lived nextdoor) and I know they will be my friends forever! What great girls!

Okay, so I bet you're all wondering about the whole dating situation. . . .
I was so excited to FINALLY be in a place where there were decent guys to date, and lots of them! I was also really excited that a lot of guys were actually up for casual dating and just having fun! So that's what I did-- I had fun and I went on lots of dates with really great friends: Zac Bitsoi, Bryan Jensen, Derek Mecham, Drew Barron-- all really nice and fun guys! The dates I looked forward to most, though, were those with Drew. : ) He is a great guy and an old friend from back home in Syracuse (a little place called Skaneateles, actually). After 6 or 7 dates in about 2 or 3 months, I hooked him! Haha! Apparently he liked me enough to call me his girlfriend... which works nicely because he's wonderful!

So it's been just Drew and Carissa since the end of March! Just a little info/history: We had been friends since Drew's senior year of high school (my sophomore year) in 2004. He served a mission for our church for 2 years in Hong Kong not long after he turned 19. He returned from Hong Kong in November 2007. He is fluent in Cantonese (spoken in Hong Kong and Macau), and is doing very well learning Madarin (spoken in mainland China and other Asian countries). Drew will be turning 22 on June 27, (I turned 20 in February) so don't worry--he's not too old for me! : ) Things are going very well with Drew and I love him very much! I don't get to see him as often as I'd like because he is selling DISH in Boise for the summer. We're getting through it, though!
After school let out for Winter semester, Drew and his roommate, John, drove me down to Kalin's for the week in between semesters. I had a great week with Matt, Kalin, and Dean yet again! The Spring semester here at BYU-I started at the end of April and ends toward the end of July, but I am not currently taking classes. I found out that it's a little harder living on your own than I thought! So, I am working at (get ready for this one, Aunt Linda!) Subway, about a block and a half away, 6 days a week. I really like it there... I never thought I'd say that about food service! I was working a second job but it was phone sales, selling credit repair. Not a fun job. I dreaded going, so I told them "thanks, but no thanks" and asked for more hours at Subway. It worked out nicely.

So now here I am, in the same apartment I've been in since January, and I love it! (Oh, and I cut my hair!) I have already bought future housing contracts to live here for Summer Session (end of July til end of August) and Fall and Winter Semesters. Drew will be back in school in the Fall, so we'll be able to spend more time together while he will be here taking classes and I will be working at good ol' Subway! I'm not "on track" until Winter Semester, so I don't know if I'll take classes in the Fall or not. Maybe a night class or an online class or two. We'll see!
That's everything so far. Thanks for taking the time to read my rambling! I tend to make a short story longer than it needs to be. Haha!
Please, keep coming back for more if you want to see what I'm up to here in Rexburg, Idaho!
Love you all--

Until another day...