South Carolina. Day 4.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Downtown time! Lendrum and I met up with Quinn and a few other friends in Charleston and took a bus tour of the historic city. Charleston was actually a lot different than I imagined. There were no skyscrapers, no city skyline, and lots and lots of churches. We got to see lots of famous sites on our tour, including Rainbow Row, The Battery, Calhoun Mansion, The Citadel, The College of Charleston, Riverdogs stadium, the slave market, and some pretty awesome famous houses. After our tour, we explored Waterfront Park and got some dang good gelato! That night, Stephanie, Kim, Lendrum, and I went to Chase's baseball game. Lendrum and I went to the beach later.

Fort Sumter Monument

Famous Mansion

East Coast!

Charleston crew

So cute and Southern

Waterfront Park swings

Pineapple fountain..and Sperry's

South Carolina. Day 3.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Sunday was the day of meeting more people than I can remember, smiling a lot, and hoping that everyone liked me. Quinn gave his farewell talk, which was excellent. Stephanie's two other sisters, Stacy and Faith, are also in their ward so there was a lot of family there. It was fun to see everyone all together. That night we had a big family dinner. The food was absolutely delicious. Ham, cheese potatoes, rolls, pretzel salad, lots of other salads, cupcakes, and eclair cake. Everything was so good! The Morrow house was full of family and friends. We were all eating, laughing, telling stories, and playing games the whole night.

I seriously love them

Morrow boys! Minus Mckay.

South Carolina. Day 2.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

My first real day in South Carolina proved to be quite the adventure. First on the list: wakeboarding! For those of you who don't know, one of my life goals has been to get up on a wakeboard. Now granted I've only tried one other time, this goal remained unaccomplished until this day. Lendrum, Quinn, and I were fortunate enough to go out on Dr. Merrill's boat on the Stono River. I remember being blown away by all the trees along the river, not to mention all the docks! Every house along the river had a dock. It was beautiful! Lendrum and Quinn busted out some moves on the wakeboard, and then it was my turn. Everyone was very patient with me. But alas, I finally got up! I can check that one off the list now. I'd really like to get better at wakeboarding and go more in the future.

On Saturday night, we went to North Charleston to see Wicked! Such a good show. We got third row seats too! We went to dinner at Longpoint Grill  before the show, which was deliciously Southern. We thought the show started at 7pm, but it really started at 8pm so we were a little early. We took some pictures and chatted for a while before it was time to go in the theater. It was a great way to spend my first day in the South!

Out on the river

Air

Woo! Outside the wake baby.

Love this boy

Goofing off before Wicked

Stephanie, Kim, me, Lendrum, and Quinn at the show

South Carolina. Day 1.

I just had the trip of a lifetime! Because I did so much during my time in South Carolina, I've decided to break these entries down into days. So here we go...Day 1. 

Friday, April 20, 2012

I had waited all semester for this day to come! I was finally going to go to the South! And I was finally going to meet Lendrum's wonderful family. Lendrum and I planned to wake up around 6:45am so that we would have plenty of time to drive down to the SLC airport. So you can imagine our panic when we both didn't wake up till 7:30 that morning! I guess finals had really drained us, to say the least. The panic continued when we missed the exit for the airport. We ended up making it in time, but we were some of the last people to check in and because we flew Southwest, this meant we would be the last people to board the plane. We were starving by the time we got to the airport, and I insisted that we get nice breakfast sandwiches at a little nice restaurant called Boar's Head. After ordering two sandwiches, Lendrum and I watched as they slapped some egg (which resembled yellow foam) on an english muffin and nuked it in the microwave with some fake cheese and rubbery bacon. Keep in mind that these little microwaved sandwiches cost us over $5 each. Microwave. Wow, really? We had a good laugh about that. When it was time to board the plane, we didn't get to sit next to each other at first because we were last to choose our seating. The man next to me agreed to switch seats with Lendrum, but insisted that they do it "in the air" and "after he had his drink." I guess we couldn't complain. We had a layover in Baltimore where I realized that the East Coast was not at all desperate for trees. We had lunch at a place called California Tortilla, which was delicious! Well, either that or we were just impressed that it was better than microwaved sandwiches. The flight from Baltimore to Charleston was pretty quick. We landed in South Carolina soon enough after stepping outside for five seconds I realized one thing: this place was humid! We met up with Stephanie, Miss Kim, Kevin, and Devin outside the airport. I'll admit I was a little nervous to meet everyone. I had already met Kim, so it was nice to see a familiar face at the airport. She is so sweet. We all went out to eat at Moe's that night and then went back to Lendrum's beautiful house! The best thing about his house: the front porch. It's just so Southern! Love it. I didn't get to meet Chase till the next morning because he was at a basketball tournament, but I did get to see Quinn late that night when he came home from Mormon Prom. I was exhausted by the time I went to bed that night. The Morrow's were kind enough to let me have Chase's room all to myself, which meant I had my own bathroom attached to my room too. I think it took me all of ten seconds to fall asleep that night. 

Roommates? Who would've thought...

If you knew us back when we were 12, you know that this picture pretty much describes our childhood. Crazy, wild, loud, and always laughing. What you might not have known back then is that my best friend would eventually become my college roommate, despite moving away to Georgia for a few years in the middle of high school. The memories we've shared together are literally countless. Car pool rides, inside jokes, Smallville, Girls Camps, home videos, high school dances, sleepovers, burning popcorn, boy drama, phone calls. More recently, California trips, movie premiers, sharing clothes, pillow talk, dance parties, concerts, approving (or not approving) guys, pranks, dinners, and lots of laughing, crying, and living.  Today it really hit me that this picture was taken almost ten years ago. If I had known then that I would still have Morgan Renae Kennedy as my best friend ten years later, I think I might have spent a few extra moments smiling every day. I continue to be amazed with life and the places God takes us. As summer creeps closer and closer, I am starting to realize that these are my last few months with this amazing girl. I've always known that she has wanted to serve a mission, but today she told me that she will be starting her papers next week. And what an incredible missionary she will be! Our lives will  both be taking great changes in direction  in the next several months, but I know that we will always be there for each other. I know this because we've done it before. We've been doing it for over ten years. And friendship like that never ends. Never.

Eighth grade promotion dance. Such a big deal. 

Paradise Point 

We still love the beach!

Rockin the Hepburn shades

Seaport Village

Visit to California! After a year in Georgia, CFA was a must

Reunited at college! Going out for the night.

Holi Holi!

Vegas Baby! 30 Seconds to Mars concert

Park City weekend

More 30STM. We're kind of obsessed...

Gaga cowgirl duo

Always my stylist

Hollywood music video shoot

LA skyline from Dodgers Stadium

Enjoying the sunshine out on the lake

Riverwoods. Tucanos. Mama K. 

Lately.

My life as of lately? Fantastic. I've had two California trip this semester, and a trip to South Carolina coming up next week! As far as school goes, this has been my best semester yet. It looks like I might pull off all A's, assuming I do a decent job on my finals. As far as blog updating, not so good. Here are a few highlights of the semester since my last post...

California Trip #1. Lendrum and his roommates signed up for a Spartan race in Temecula. The race itself was pretty intense: eight miles of hills and obstacles. Obviously, our boys all completed the race. Lendrum also got to meet my family. They loved him, of course!
California Trip #2. And the tradition continues: the annual President's Day road trip to the Golden State. Lendrum's brother McKay came along too! We didn't meet up with Kellie and Emily and the gang until a little later in the weekend. In the mean time, we had some fun kayaking in La Jolla, spotting dolphins, exploring Old Town San Diego, and playing games with my family. When we did meet up at Kellie's house, the fun continued with a game of wiffle ball at a park overlooking the beach. We hit up the beach a few more times, ate some great food, and headed back to Provo at the end of the weekend.
April Fools. Emily and Kellie didn't disappoint this year. Morgan and I woke up to find an apartment covered in newspaper.Our ceiling fan had glitter on it (good thing we figured that one out before we turned on the fan), our towels had kool aide powder on them, and our silverware had no-bite nail polish on it. Later that night, our underwear appeared in all the guys' stairwells at Santa Barbara. And then I received dozens of texts and calls inquiring about my add for chinchilla babies on Craigslist. Gotta love those girls! We've yet to unleash our revenge...
Blah Blah...Life couldn't get any better, honestly. Well, maybe I'd like to have a job lined up for this summer. That'd be nice. And maybe I'd like to just skip finals week and move right into summer. That'd be nice too. But I can't complain. I know it will all work out.

Favorite picture

Our kayaking get up!

The whole group at the park

Some Morrow boys

Happy April Fools!

Moab.

I finally visited the famous Delicate Arch! What a fun trip. Lendrum, Lisa, Tolson, and I drove down to Moab a few weeks ago for some great camping, hiking, and of course, lots of pictures! We ended up only camping one night, primarily due to the fact that the sleeping bag I was borrowing let me freeze all night long. I probably only got 45 minutes of total sleep. It was quite miserable. But the rest of our trip was a blast! We went to Arches National Park on Saturday and then we camped and hiked in Canyonlands that night and the next day. Our Sunday hike was awesome. I had never done a hike like that before. A major part of the trail involved climbing over slickrock, which was pretty cool. It was absolutely beautiful as well. I'm used to hiking in the mountains so it was totally sweet to hike in and out of the canyons of Southern Utah. As far as camping goes, we were definitely prepared with all the necessities: banana boats, s'mores, popcorn, foil dinners, and roasted starbursts. We were going to have roasted pineapple too, but it was left at home, much to Lendrum's dismay. The weather was perfect for hiking during the day, though I wouldn't have complained if it had been a little warmer at night. Trying to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with frozen hands is a challenging task!

Balanced Rock. Game faces. 

Catching some air underneath Delicate Arch

Great photo by Lisa

Our best sides...

Just one of the incredible views from our hike in Canyonlands

Live.

"A year from now, you will have wished you started today."

Life is fragile. In my close to perfect world, nothing has ever devastated me so much to where I question the nature of God and his purposes for our afflictions. I have always been able to somehow optimistically look past my pains and see them as opportunities for growth. That is my blessing. I have been given so much and over the past year, I have seen just how fortunate I am. Today, at the start of this new year, I am dedicated to making new goals and plans for my future life, as I'm sure everyone else is. However, I want to go deeper than the typical resolutions. Of course, I want to hit up the gym more regularly, write in my journal more frequently, and study more efficiently. But I want to focus more on enriching my life in ways I have never done before. Why? Because I can. Because I have time. This is one amazing world, and the chance I have to better my life and the lives of others should not be taken for granted. So this year, I plan on living by these precious words:

"I will live this day as if it is my last. And if it is not, I shall fall on my knees and give thanks."

Mission Inn Traditions

Taking pictures of all the random junk in an antique store hardly seems like your typical Christmas tradition. But for me, Brandi, Alyssa, and Corinne, it has become a much anticipated ritual. This was our third year of adventures in downtown Riverside. The tradition actually started four years ago when my family went to the Mission Inn with Brandi's family to look at the fabulous lights. For some unknown reason, we ended up venturing inside this huge antique store. Brandi and I decided to entertain ourselves, so we started taking pictures of random things in the store. We had so much fun, we brought Alyssa and Corinne back the next year and thus the tradition began. This year was no exception. We found lots to laugh about! After our antiquing, a trip to BJ's was obviously necessary. We were all laughing so hard in our booth; I'm sure our waiter thought were were mental. It was a great night. Miss these girls!

Ugly Sweaters: an antique must.

Mission Inn Festival of Lights 2011

Finals Week Madness

I experienced a new level of stress last week as I somehow managed to work almost 40 hours while writing two papers (one was 16 pages long!), and of course studying for and taking three final exams. I love working at the testing center, but finals week brought more craziness to my life than I planned. Thinking that three finals would be no big deal, I didn't even hesitate to sign up to work so many hours. I was actually excited about it. But once finals week hit, that excitement ended almost immediately as I realized that I had practically no time to study for my own exams! By some miracle, I manged to get through the week. Now I am home relaxing with the family and it feels just great.

The library: 2am.