lyle.

this is lyle.
over lots of stressful searching,
i finally found my perfect first car
and the best part?
he is all mine!
oh the adventures that await...
there is debate about whether i have gone driving just for the heck of it.
i love him already.

bacon.

bringin' it home, that is!
i started working at my old job this week,
and i have loved it.
i forgot how much i love the people i work with,
and those amazing little kids.

sometimes i feel like i have no idea what i am doing with my life.
(like right now).
but the second i pick up that first baby
or help a kid with a math problem
i remember that i am just supposed to be a mommy.
some women are meant to be astronauts or the president...
not me.
i am realizing that i am meant to:
-be constantly spit up on.
-change a million diapers a day.
-sing silly songs while dancing like a loon.
-rock little babies to sleep.
-ultimately, be a mommy.

some of my favorite things this week:
-"miss anne... come here." (i come there.) "i just wanted to tell you that you are beautiful."
-a 5 year old pointing out that you have the same jacket as her because you got yours in a child size.
-"miss anne i really like your earrings, they are just gorgeous! even if you didn't have them on, i would still know that you have gorgeous earrings at home."
-celebrating the first birthday of a little girl that you held a few weeks after she was born.
-people yelling your name down the hallway and running to hug you when they see that you are back.
-helping an 11 month old take some of his first steps.
-being thanked for knowing how to stack bowls correctly. (obviously one of my many skills.)
-watching a brother and sister hug each other through the fence during recess.

i just love being back in these kids' lives.

ps- if you haven't seen this video yet... educate yourself.
i've probably watched it 49727893 times.

mawwiage.

is what bwings us togetha today.

 my brotha.
studly fella, eh?

 if i'm gonna have sisters, i am sure am glad that i got these ones.
i love these girls to pieces.

 the happy couple.

 the family.

how things actually are... i love that big brother of mine.

i am so grateful that i have been blessed with the knowledge that families are forever.
i am so grateful that we can be sealed for eternity in the beautiful temples that we have been given, and that there are so many of them that we have such easy access to.
i am so grateful that i have the most amazing family that i get to be with forever.

i guess lately i've just been pretty grateful.

plethora.

this blog has no definitive title,

on account of it doesn't have a definitive subject. 

awhile ago i wrote a 50 things post

and people seemed to really like that,

so i figured i would do another one!

but then i only got to 25.

and then other things happened. 

SO. if you are unwilling to follow random trains of thought,

then you can just look at this cat.

have a nice day.

but if you are still here, enjoy the rest of this ridiculous post.

THIS GIRL:

got called to the seattle washington spanish speaking mission today!!

is it ok to say i miss her already?

too late. i already did. 

THIS GIRL:

got called to the madagascar africa french speaking mission today!!

pag was the only thing that kept me sane this semester in american foundations, she was also my counselor as i poured my whole life on her everyday. oops.

whatta champion.

THIS BOY:

gets home in like 4 months!!!!!

i cannot wait to have one of my very best friends back.

shenanigans to the max!

THIS BOY:

has been out 7 months! (tomorrow... i like to round.)

17 left? piece of cake.

THESE PEOPLE:

i am really sad to not see again this semester. 

this was our roommate gift exchange. (i got spiderman and an adorable necklace)- THANK YOU HAYBAY.)

ignore sydney and i's homeless look.

now lets get random!

25 things that you never needed to know about me.

1-    if left alone in my house I turn up my music to unholy decibels and dance like an escape patient from a mental ward.

2-    I get sprite at every restaurant I go to, but if I am on a plane I have to get ginger ale.

3-    My mother affectionately calls me ‘linus’ because I never go anywhere without a blanket.

4-    When I was like 7 years old I really wanted glasses so I lied on all of the eye tests the doctors gave me. I wore the glasses they gave me like a champion even though I was legally blind with them on.

5-    I would always wake up before my friends when I was at a sleepover so I would purposefully make a ridiculous amount of noise so that other people would wake up and then act really sorry when they woke up, but be secretly super happy.

6-    When I was 3 I lived close to a girl named Sydney. Sydney was the worst, but she had one of those tiny cars that you could charge and then drive around. I was only nice to Sydney so that I could drive her car.

7-    If you cut me open I would bleed fruit snacks.

8-    I wrote a book in Kindergarten. I dedicated it to myself.

9-    I have to check the locks on the doors like 3 times every night before I go to bed like a paranoid grandmother.

10-When I get cold I shake like a one of those purse dogs.

11-In the fourth grade I ordered a Nintendo Gameboy SP off of ebay and faked being sick the day it got delivered to my house so that I could stay home and play it all day.

12-I will NEVER wear matching socks.

13-I am a packrat. If you gave me a note in the second grade I probably still have it.

14-I sleep with a bear and a unicorn every night like a four year old.

15-I creep on blogs like there is no tomorrow. If you have a blog… I have probably creeped on it.

16-I have never solved a rubik’s cube.

17-When I was at stake dances if a weird guy asked me to dance, I would make up a whole new persona and name and go with it for the whole dance.

18-I have a seriously unhealthy obsession with teen mom.

19-…and dance moms.

20-People constantly think I am absurdly younger than I am… and it is probably my biggest gripe.

21-My life’s goal is to eat cheese and not get sick. DREAM BIG.

22-I always have a song that I am currently obsessed with. I listen to it on a loop for like a week and then hate it for the next six months because I listened to it so much. My current song is this one. (thanks syd!)

23-I recently discovered the joy of sunny side up eggs. WHO KNEW??

24-If something has an Eiffel tower on it, I have a weird sudden need to have it. I recently had to restrain myself from buying a pink sparkly Eiffel tower bank.  

25-I recently went against everything I know to be true and bought… jeggings. And I have yet to go a day without wearing them. (fricken things are so comfortable and yet so publicly acceptable.) Please. Hold your ridicule to a minimum.

woof. 

if you are still here reading... i sincerely apologize. 

should these have been two separate posts?

yes.

are they?

NOPE.

have a wonderful day, ladies and gents. 

paris.

is really far away i am coming to understand...
woof.

sometimes this is as close as you can get,
but knowing it is worth it makes it easier.
my heart will wait.
528 more days.

rough.

what's rough anne?

life is, world.

life is rough. 

warning:

this is a long, slightly grumpy rant. 

proceed with caution.

this semester has not gone the way i hoped it would at all,

in fact it's gone the complete opposite.

i have not gotten the grades i wanted,

i have been sick really often,
my love life has been... horrendously awful, to say the least. 

i have learned living with five other girls is really hard...

especially coming from living with two boys.

plus many other things that i will spare you from.

anyways... 

it's because of all of these things that i have made the decision to move home.

i originally got the track fall/spring. 

well i decided i would show byu-idaho and go for fall and take night classes during the winter,

and go home during the spring and take an online class to keep my enrollment!

well, those sneaky devils knew what they were doing. 

a combination of the worst semester ever and not getting into the night classes i wanted to take have helped me make the hard decision to move home and work take online classes there. 

what am i doing after that?

NO IDEA.

you'll probably figure out my life before i do.

so, now the good part of this post.

even though this semester has been heinous beyond belief,

two good things have come out of it.

those two things are two people.

one person is someone that i rekindled a friendship with,

and the other was a roommate that has very quickly become one of my best friends.

this is amy. we have been best friends since 7th grade. we have been through so much together and i don't think she will ever know how much she means to me. while i have been up here at byu-idaho she has seriously been a rock for me. she was there for me every time i needed someone to listen to me rant and give me a little part of home. she is one of the kindest, most genuine people i know, and we can talk for hours without one minute of silence. she is an incredible inspiration to me and i cannot believe that it has been almost a year and a half since she got baptized! 

this is sydney. notice the matching in this picture? UNPLANNED. we have been asked several times if we are sisters and two people have seriously asked if we are twins. i wish. sydney and i have always been cool with each other, nothing really special. one night sydney and i started talking. this talk did not end until 5:30 in the am and ever since then we have kinda been inseparable. we have only been like this for about 2 weeks but i am already dreading leaving her and we are already planning skype sessions. 

anne, why are you telling me about these incredible people?

because they are incredible.

i'm learning to focus on the good things in the midst of a bad situation.

and it's starting with reminding myself that i have some amazing people in my life,

and they are huge blessings to me, and i am so grateful for them.

sometimes...

sometimes...
i don't blog in a long time and i have to catch up.

sometimes...
my roommates and i decide to go to a haunted corn maze...

and we joke about being scared...

but it turns out to be the scariest thing EVER.
at one point a man with a chainsaw ran towards me.
i tried to run the other way but promptly fell...
on my face.
and cried.
a lot.
note to self:
you are scared of everything.
don't go to a haunted straw maze.

sometimes...
my roommates and i buy footy pajamas.

and we wear them everywhere, including out to get frozen yogurt.
when getting said frozen yogurt the manager offered us 50% off if we would dance in the middle of the store in our footies.
i don't think i have ever danced so much
or enjoyed any yogurt more.

sometimes...
i CANNOT wait to have a sister!
oh the shenanigans that i cannot wait to pull.

sometimes...
my mom sends me the best package ever!!!!

and it makes me miss her ten times more.

sometimes...
i realize that i have the cutest missionary on the planet, and that i am super duper blessed.

sometimes...
people (jared) leave their google account open on my computer...
and i create a blog for them.
www.jaredthinks.blogspot.com

sometimes...
i write really mushy long blogs.
and i commend you for reading all of it.
consider yourself commended.