excited?

dear blog,

this is my last week of my undergraduate career. and to be perfectly honest, its a little anticlimactic. i feel like my whole life has been leading up to this point,but it feels just like any other finals week in any other year. yeah, after this i will be done with school (possibly) forever, but after this i will have nothing. i'll be jobless, school-less, living with my parents.

everyone i talk to asks me "what are your awesome grown-up plans!?" "how are you feeling?"  "are you excited?!"

world, I DON'T KNOW.

first off, i kind of have plans, but not really.
second, i'm feeling sad. happy. excited. anxious. nervous. nostalgic. grateful. overwhelmed. annoyed. blessed. accomplished. preoccupied. intelligent. inadequate. normal. but today, mostly sad.

i'm not JUST excited. why should i be? i have been in school for my entire life as far back as i can remember. i happen to love learning and school and classes and tests (go ahead, judge me). i love the people i've met and gotten to know and grown to love because i have been at school. i love buying school supplies. i love sitting in a classroom with people you've never ever met and learning together. i love getting an assignment back and seeing your work with a big fat gratifying A on the top. i love walking around campus with a big fat backpack and waving and smiling at passers by. i love the stressed out nerdies that frequent the hbll. i love the awesome and unlimited opportunities that students have. i love getting discounts with my BYU id. i love making friends in the cougareat and random interactions with strangers.

being a student has been a major part of my identity, and now i feel like that is being taken away from me, but not being replaced with anything else (yet).

by graduating, i am leaving this all behind. and yeah, i will still have the friendships that i've gained, the knowledge and skills i've aquired, i'll still be able to make new friends and learn and whatever, but it simply will never ever be the same. even if i end up going back to school eventually, it won't even be the same.

anyway, that's how i'm feeling. but mostly when people ask if i'm excited i just say yes.

love,
rochelle

p.s. this is me, back in the day. HA... i guess not much has changed.

if you don't like my driving...

dear blog,

today i was driving around running errands with my momma and my sisters and there was tons of holiday shopping traffic. well we were just driving merrily along and this stupid huge truck thing was driving like a crazy person and kind of cut me off, nbd, but i was just like "what the HECK do you think you are doing!?" (because they can hear me, obviously,) and then we were stopped at a red light and i look at their license plate cover and it says "if you don't like my driving... you should see my butt."

needless to say, my day was made.

love,
rochelle

p.s. what it REALLY said was "if you don't like my driving, you should see me putt," but their car was so dirty that it looked like it said "my butt".

senioritis

dear blog,

how about i drop out of school right now and become a professional blogger?

....YEAH RIGHT.

buuuuut, thanksgiving canNOT come soon enough.

love,
rochelle

p.s. harry potter last night: UH-MAZING. also, lola and i made an awesome christmas tree on the wall tonight.
p.p.s. shout out to carmencita-- thanks for the best email ever. sure love you!

will you feel better better better?

dear blog,

i've been kind of a debbie downer lately (in real life), and that's dumb. and i wrote an incredibly negative post yesterday-- a list of things i don't like. who does that? (don't worry, i deleted it.) instead, here is a list of things i DO like.

1. b.n.i.
2. basketball
3. water
4. lists
5. my mother
6. the book of mormon
7. spanish.
8. my phone
9. seeing roy on campus.
10. seeing andrea on campus.
11. seeing blake on campus.
12. seeing anyone i love on campus actually.
13. the number 13.
14. sleepovers.
15. pogs
16. making fun of people.
17. ice.
18. cardigans.
19. isp backpacks.
20. ditching soc 330
21. cuddling with my puppies.
22. long voicemails.
23. being right.
24. finding out good unexpected facts about my friends.
25. wednesday lunch.
26. blogging.
27. my phone.
28. my family
29. successfully using chopsticks.
30. CLOUDS
31. when i'm listening to ingrid michaelson at work and people (boys) pretend like they know who it is, but they are always wrong because they actually have no idea.
32. not shaving my legs.
33. shaving my legs.
34. hugs (but not from everyone, only good/non-awkward hugs from people i like).
35. happy texts.
36. flirt texting.
37. MAIL.
38. getting my hair played with.
39. making new friends.
40. making ugly faces.
41. making ugly faces behind people's backs.
42. hearing my voice and realizing that it's SO ANNOYING, but that people are still my friend.
43. low key dance parties
44. mexico.
45. men's socks.
46. men's clothes.
47. pulling leaves off bushes when i'm walking and playing with them.
48. wearing tights with tennis shoes.
49. dresses.
50. wearing dresses with tennis shoes.
51. waterbottles with flippy lids.
52. getting calls from ellen.
53. that one time my dad texted me.
54. giving harriet wet willies
55. cuddling.
56. yelling at people out the car
57. the color yellow.
58. october.
59. lowecase letters.
60. seattle (and the people i love that live there)
61. when people meet my family
62. meeting my friends' families
63. free anything
64. laughing
65. chuckling
66. giggling
67. snickering
68. hot tamales.
69. linford 5.
70. linford 1.
71. freshmen.
72. black eyes (on other people duh. not like i give them to people i just like them. i think they're cool)
73. comida yucateca
74. bows.
75. christmas.
76. singing REALLY loud.
77. screaming.
78. tights.
79. facebook.
80. candid moments with strangers on campus.
81. staring.
82. taking notes with a pen.
83. and drawing awesome doodles.
84. jesse mccartney/justinbeibs/miley. don't judge.
85. fresh chapstick.
86. twilight woods.
87. being barefoot.
88. realizing that people like you more than you thought.
89. singing songs with lyrics i made up and nickie gets mad.
90. movies.
91. RAIN.
92. snow.
93. sun.
94. wind.
95. casette tapes.
96. harvey.
97. taking pictures and then remembering
98. heritage halls
99. crying.
100. helping people with their homework.
101. laughing by myself.
102. cinnamon cookies.
103. FLOWERS
104. upbeat music
105... and the list goes on...

love,
rochelle

p.s. this list totally helped (getting un-sick also helped) and i feel A LOT better/less grumpy today.

potty mouth.

dear blog,

my life's been a little listless the last little while (get it? lacking in lists and listless?) so here's a list that will add a little bit of hilarity to your everyday and mine. (um, this is a teensy bit embarrassing, buuuuut i think that breaking social norms is HILARIOUS (that's not the embarrassing part,) and what BETTER place to do this than in a public bathroom?)

these are some of my favourite ideas of things to do when you're in the public restroom:
1. start singing at the top of your lungs. (any song will do, celine dion preferred)
2. write "more please?" on half a square of toilet paper and pass it under the stall.
3. ask the person in the stall next to you for dating advice.
4. talk on the phone really loudly about something completely inappropriate (like your period cycle or something as if its not weird that you are talking about this in a public place)
5. when most of the stalls are empty, knock on an occupied one and ask for them to hurry up.
6. you and a friend, sit on either side of an occupied stall and have a conversation.
7. knock on the stall next to you, say its an emergency and ask if you can borrow their phone.
8. write other notes on toilet paper and pass them under-- such as "i like your shoes" or "hi, my name is sam, can we be friends?" (i would caution against using your real name).
9. compliment their shoes or socks outloud.
10. put a chair outside of a stall and be sitting there waiting when the occupant comes out.

oh boy, i need to stop because i am laughing too too hard.

it's almost thanksgiving!

love,
rochelle

p.s. i am not at all brave enough to do any of these, but the idea of doing it makes me laugh just as much.

b.n.i.

dear blog,

saturday night was too cold for a bonfire, too lazy for the hot springs, and we got ditched by caleb (so he could go rockclimbing alone: nerd) and eric (who went to velour barf).

so we (ho, lola y yo)...
1. had a low key dance party (pretty standard-- blacklights, hair whipping, the works)
2. parked at 7-11 to watch people and make a list of all possible ideas of things to do (literally ALL-- every idea makes it on the list, no matter how stupid).
3. decided to check B.N.I. off of our fabulous list.

what is b.n.i. you ask?

BRIDAL NIGHT IN
duuuuuuh
(it went from a Girl's Night Out to a Girl's Night In to a B.N.I... don't ask, because i do not even know how this happened)

how do you make a b.n.i. you ask?

ingredients include:
wedding treats (i.e. pumpkin cupcakes-- it's a fall themed wedding duh, and bread and cheese)
miscellaneous bridal attire (i.e. veils and garters-- this is not a crucial ingredient, but it does enhance the experience)
one+ bridal magazine (magazines with lots of dresses are the best kind)
one "chick flick" film with bridal plot/wedding scenes (we chose "when in rome" because it was on netflix instant replay)
b.n.i. is best when everyone is wearing their jim jams, candles are lit, and lots of cuddly blankets are involved.
b.n.i. is not for the desperate or lonely (or else it would be pretty depressing)
b.n.i. is only to be shared with best friends.

until the next b.n.i.,
rochelle

p.s. eric joined us half way through and i quite loved it.

100

dear blog,

this is my one hundredth post. (thank you, thank you very much)

i was going to write 100 somethings (i.e. 100 things i wanna do before i die, 100 people i really love-- yeah, a stretch i know, 100 things i'm grateful for, you get the point), but every time i tried, it just wasn't working out (hence the reason i haven't posted in AGES).

on a different note, (this has a point, i promise) yesterday was the best. day. EVER.

i woke up to my FIRST alarm (if you only knew how groundbreaking this news is). and i looked pretty cute, let's be serious. becca and i straight-up ditched our (stupid) culture class (yay!) and went to eat unlimited french toast at kneaders. (yummmmm) then mission prep we graded our "celebration" (a nicer way of saying test) and i learned a lot AND i got an A. then my other class was just lovely, (i.e. everyone was jokey and there was no quiz on the reading i didnt do). then harriet and i had our usual wednesday lunch break (sans eric, boo). so we met in the lib and teased malfoy for a bit and then bought samwiches in the cougareat. the cougareat was full, so we sat at a table with a random chick. then we proceeded to be silly and giggle a lot and then we made friends with ashleigh (the girl we were sitting with) and it was just simply delightful. then we walked around the cougareat looking for some people (this was hilarious f.y.i. and eric, you better be sad you missed out). then we decided to go get cupcakes instead of going to class. so we skipped and giggled our way to my car and went to the cocoabean and had some delicious cupcakes and hotchocolate. (also yum). then we came back and visited caleb at work and were just TOO goofy. then i went to work and work was good. and then i babysat davis. and he was so good and went straight to bed and i just had some lovely alone time. then i picked up lauren and we went home and harriet and caleb were there and then we all chilled for a bit and then went to cj's and then went to eric's to watch psych and then we took malfoy home and drove around for a bit talking and thinking about our lovely day. PLUS i got a letter from hermana casebolt AND roy is on the cover of the new era! and today i am wearing a fabulous bedazzled sweater and staff meeting was fun and ho and i had soup for lunch and work was good and harriet's dad took us to zupla's for dinner and we went to the airport to pick up olwen and there were a ton of families waiting for missionaries-- so precious! now i am sitting here with jessica and megan listening to christmas music and laughing and crafting and decorating.

basically, yesterday and today were the best. and nothing even especially spectacular happened. i was just having a happy day with happy events and with people i love to be around.

the POINT of this hundredth post, and of this blog and a big point in my life, i think is that it is the little things that count the most. "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass" (alma 37:6) that is the point. the best days are when you feel good and when you get outside of yourself and when you make friends and say hi to strangers. and all those little things add up to equal great things.

much love (times ONE HUNDRED),
rochelle

p.s. i'm happy.

hallo-weenie.

dear blog,

tomorrow is halloween.

yesterday we were old ladies.

today i am a french lady? maybe. i'm not sure.

my grampa got married this morning. it was lovely. and i made A LOT of slushy punch.
i love my family.
so much.
(by family i mean family family and my "crew" (as labeled by malfoy)).

happy halloween!

love,
rochelle

p.s. we went to TWO haunted houses last night! i was so proud of myself! the first one was just plain HILARIOUS (seriously, i laughed the ENTIRE time) and the second was AWESOME. my throat hurt after from screaming, lauren held my sweater the whole time, and caleb got so scared that he cried (okay, that's not true, but he did get so startled that he jumped backwards and knocked over a wall).

pumpkin & spice and everything nice

dearest bloggity blog,

two things:
1. BURFDAY PARTY TOMORROW!!!!
but seriously, i don't think you know how excited i am.
(buuuut, i'm still trying not to get my hopes TOO high up AND we have A LOT to do before party time can commence)

2. tonight me and my posse (did i really just use that word?) had a pumpkin carving FIESTA.
seriously? it was so fabulous.
we took the table out of the kitchen and covered the floor in newspaper and all sat around on the floor and carved and chatted and chatted and carved.
and laughed.
i love my friends
and i love that they love eachother.
the pumpkins turned out SO GOOD! harriet and lola made faces. eric wrote "happy halloween" in chinese, caleb made hagrid--gangster status, richie made his spirit animal (don't ask), brooks made a nike design (that took the ENTIRE night...ADD anyone?), i made a flower garden (roy was late so he carved a fabulous sun on the back side of my punkin) (pictures to come).
then we baked the seeds and there were DELISH.
sigh. it was so wonderful.

not to mention i think i ACED my complex organizations test today, AND we saw grace at costa vida!
tomorrow is going to be SO INSANE. i have another test, work, and then prepping for our awesome dance party. wish me luck!

love love love,
rochelle

campaign for real beauty: some things i like about myself.

dear blog,

they are doing a campaign for real beauty at BYU this week. my friend jessica is participating and i think megan is too. one of the "challenges" was to write about the following prompt and jessica did and i really liked it. i have 45 minutes before my next class, and no last minute hw to do so i figured i'd give it a try.

Prompt: Make a list of 10 positive things you like about yourself that have nothing to do with your appearance- and 10 positive things you like about your appearance. Was it easier to come up with things you like about yourself or things about your appearance?

1. i like that i know a lot of people and get along with most anyone.
2. i like that i can be crazy and quirky and also semi-serious, but not super serious. i like that.
3. i like that i can be friends with people of any age.
4. i like that i am conscientious.
5. i like that i didn't need to spell check conscientious.
6. i like that i can form my own opinions about things.
7. i like that (most) people feel comfortable around me.
8. i like that i am flirty (sometimes).
9. i like that i don't take myself or anyone too seriously.
10. i like that i can see beauty in everyday.

1. i love my hair.
2. i like my smile.
3. i like the freckles on the back of my hands.
4. i like that when i get a sunburn it turns into a tan the next day. (except that one time in mexico when i got burned so badly my shoulders blistered).
5. i like that i am tall.
6. i like that i don't have to shower everyday. (as in i don't get super greasy hair or B.O...i don't think...)
7. i like the way i dress.
8. i like my boobs. (am i allowed to say that?)
9. i'm learning to like my double chin.
10. i like my eyes, especially when i smile or cry.

it was definitely easier to come up with things that i like about my personality. when it comes to outward, physical beauty, i generally like the way i look, but i definitely do not think that i am the most beautiful person. i have flaws, physical and otherwise. i also tend to place more import on inward rather than outward beauty. when i like boys its usually because they make me laugh or i think they are super nice, not because they have a rockin bod. i feel the same way about myself. yes, i try to be cute and i don't like to feel ugly, but when i look at myself its the inner beauty that i prize over the outer beauty.

love,
rochelle

p.s. it's been kind of picture light the last couple posts. here's one just for you.
p.p.s. off to CA for the weekend! olivia's getting baptized! YAY!!!!

rainy days and mondays.

dear blog,

you know that carpenter's song? rainy days and mondays always get me down. which is not entirely true. i really like the song though. but today is rainy and i am also down. i am trying to be positive though, so here are some positive things from today:

richie drove me to school so i could be on time
i got an A on the test i turned in.
there was a quiz in my class on the half of the reading that i actually did.
i got out of class early.
there was no line at subway and i got a footlong turkey samwich for the $5 footlong price! what?!
then i ran into camille who is going to uruguay where jessica is! i love jessica so much!
i also got to see erik AND caleb!
then in my other class there was no quiz and i thought there would be!
then i visited caleb at work.
plus i had some peanut butter m&m's. is there anything better than that?
and wendy gave me a hug.
plus i will get a free dinner.
and i get to walk down hill instead of up hill today.

i think if i was in a better mood today would have been so fabulous, but i am just down.
here's to a better tomorrow.

love,
rochelle

christmas lights

dear blog,

last night when i got home, the drive way was occupied, so i had to go over to the cul-de-sac and flip a u-turn (i want  to say you-eee, but i technically do not know how to spell that correctly). as i turn in, i look over and my neighbors have their CHRISTMAS LIGHTS UP!!!!

for real?! september is NOT EVEN OVER!

don't get me wrong, i LOVE christmas and i LOVE christmas lights, and i am not one of those grinchy grinches who thinks that you can only listen to christmas music in december because i am definitely for a little early festivities,

HOWEVER,

i am certainly NOT ready for it to be december this year. christmas season this year means a whole lot of transitioning and major life changes. and its not that i'm not excited, or necessarily ready for my life to move on, but i just want to revel in the life that i have now. i want time to stop moving so fast! and i want christmas to take its dear sweet time.

the chances of that actually happening? slim to none.

oh well. que sera sera.

love,
rochelle

i'll say a little prayer for you

dear blog,

today i was grouchier than grouchy.

but isn't it amazing what a couple of laughs, some friendly texts and a prayer will do.

mission papers are ALMOST in... wish me luck! (or say a little prayer)

love,
rochelle

p.s. sorry for the lag in blog posts, i doubt you are surprised, but school is a little (and by a little i mean a whoooole lot) crazy.

p.p.s. richie got his mission call! calgary, canada! wooo hooo!!!

p.p.s. this is what i did this weekend. aren't my friends beautiful?

elbow macaroni

dear blog,

i have a very distinct memory of this one time in high school, this kid michael manos, who always wore a red and black flannel shirt over a t shirt, was only wearing one sleeve of his flannel shirt on his arm, and he left the other side hanging. i thought that this was very odd, and so i asked him "michael, why are you only wearing one of your sleeves?" and he said that "it hurts my elbow when i wear that sleeve."

what?

i used to think that that was the WEIRDEST thing EVER...

until today. i am sitting here at work, and all i can think about is how i really want to take off my right sleeve because my elbow hurts.

love,
rochelle

jitters.

dear blog,

you know that feeling that you get the night before you go to disneyland? you know, when you are just restless, on the edge of your seat. sleeping is hard because you are so excited.  and your tummy is full of butterflies. and you feel like you are 5 years old again?

i absolutely LOVE that feeling.

yesterday was my sibs first day of school. it was richies first day of college. and carly's first day as a "highschoooler" (quotation marks meaning that i do not acknowledge the fact that my baby sister is in highschool).

and monday is my last first day of school.

even though its still a couple days away i totally have the jitters. maybe they are contagious because carly the night before last came into my room about 1,000 times showing me every article of clothing and school supply that she has for school. and even my daddy is getting ready for BYU to start with his ward. and i took richie out to lunch yesterday between classes and it was adorable how guardedly nervous he was.

i just love the nervous feeling. the anticipation. i sometimes think that the excitement of before is more exciting than events themselves (most definitely true with school. am i right, or am i right?)

love,
rochelle

p.s. she & him tonight!
check out this video, i'm in love!

a little lonely

dear blog,

i miss this lady:

and this one..

don't forget this one:

also this woman:

and this one...

this one too...

aaaand...

also:

and this lady too:

also her:

and her... the chica on the left:

and her:

also this woman...

and don't forget...

love,

rochelle

p.s. i know this is kind of pathetic, but i'm lonely...

p.p.s. shout out to levi and caleb for sticking around and not having lives either :)

home again home again jiggety-jig

dear blog,

this will be a debbie-downer blog post, so if you want to think i have no flaws, stop reading right now...

i've been in washington for the last week and half visiting the grishams and the allens and kam's fam (which was AWESOME).

buuuuuuuuuut,
yesterday i woke up before 7 to catch a bus to wenatchee.
and today we woke up before 7 in order to leave AT 7 to come home.

I AM TIRED.

and i thought it would be a relief to be at home, but i got 1 hug from everyone in my family (excluding nickie and richie who are not even here), a half-hearted welcome from my doggies, and a MESSY ROOM (when maddie got home i don't think our room had ever been so clean). we had too-spicy vegetable soup for dinner with left-over crackers from the young men that tasted like man (not in a good way). my graduation gown is too big and i don't have anything to wear tomorrow. also i am pretty much busy all day tomorrow and friday, i have work all day saturday and then we are throwing blair a baby shower, which we still need to buy/prepare decorations, food and games for. also, my bruised leg hurts and i keep hitting it on things by accident.

on a better note, rumor has it that sister missionaries don't have to wear nylons any more... HALLELUJAH!

meh,
rochelle

6: jessica callahan

dear blog,

meet jessica:

she is so beautiful!

i met jessica the summer i was a CA in helaman halls. that summer was a tough one for me, and at the start of the summer i wanted nothing to do with any of my co-workers, but one night i fell asleep in jessica's room and wouldn't wake up and ever since then we've been best friends (well, we were pseudo best friends at first until we had a dtr). jessica and i are kindred spirits. we are randomly from the same place (pretty much) in CA, and have the same taste in music, movies & clothes (for the most part), not to mention we pass ourselves off as sisters ALLTHETIME. but i feel like even if we didn't have so much in common i would still love jessica.

for starters, jessica is hilarious. my dad says that anyone can be silly, but it takes someone really smart to be truly funny, and jessica certainly is smart AND funny. i love how jessica can make everyone laugh. another thing that i really admire about jessica is that she has this unifying quality. i don't really know what it is, but jessica has a gift where she can be a part of any group and that group automatically unifies. like she is the icebreaker, or something. i don't know, but i love it, and i wish i could be more like that. also, jessica is a very loyal friend. when jessica enters into a friendship, there is a silent understanding that it is for life. i LOVE that. i feel like most people take their friendships for granted, but jessica is the best at loving and appreciating her friends. i can talk to jessica about ANYTHING and she is always understanding. also, jessica is really eccentric. she is interesting. she is unique. and what i love most about jessica, and what most people probably don't know (and maybe she'll be mad at me for saying this), is that she has been through A LOT. i know few young people who have been through as many trials in their lifetime as jessica, and have lived to tell the tale. but jessica has been through so much and is not only surviving but thriving. she has learned from them and become a strong beautiful woman despite all of the stuff that's happened to her. i love jessica like a sister & am SO LUCKY to have her as a friend.

us at the festival of colors:

us with beca... i think this was my birthday:

sleepoverrr with the other CA's:

haha "toga" party/olympics:

us being weird at rock canyon park:

slip and sliding in the sprinklers funnn:

love,

rochelle

p.s. you should read jessica's blog because she is also a very talented blogger.

world record holder: moi

dear blog,

this is what i did this morning:
(skip to :40 seconds)



IT WAS SO FUN!

richie came with me and we stood at the front and we pretty much got dominated by water balloons. the fight lasted about 6 minutes and i probably just stood and ducked my head for the first half. i was COMPLETELY SOAKED. my battle wounds include MANY bruises, a sick blister and a weird sunburn. but it was a blast. we got free lunch and free shirts AND we broke the world record for largest water balloon fight & biggest amount of water balloons!! how cool is that???

love,
rochelle

5: nicole

dear blog,

here is my dear sister nickie:

the other day she told me that my blog is depressing because every time i talk about her it's either about her sarcasm or about how i've teased her in one way or another. what can i say? she is just TOO fun to tease, i can't help myself :)

anyways, nickie is awesome.

nickie has this "reputation" of being sarcastic and kinda grouchy, but she is probably nicer than anyone in our entire family. she is just really genuine. if she doesn't like you, you know it. if she does like you, you know it. if she thinks you're annoying, you know it. this is one quality of nickie that i really like. she is frank. no sugar-coating. you get her opinion and you get it straight up, good or bad. 

another thing that i love about nicole is that her life is so service oriented. seriously, nickie does service more regularly than anyone. whether its doing the laundry, or free babysitting, or doing me a favor, or doing something for a friend, or fulfilling her church calling, it is seriously a daily thing for nickie. she's awesome.

nickie is also an AWESOME singer. not only does she know the lyrics to every single song she's ever heard, but she made the show & chamber choir (is that what its called) at her school, which is the most "prestigious," hard to get into choir! she is a rockstar (and not just figuratively). 

she is also a reallllllyyy good sport. we've picked on nickie her whole life-- typical middle child status. we've told her everything & she almost ALWAYS believes us. like the one time we convinced her that she was adopted. or the one time we told her that you actually go off the waterfall on the matterhorn at disneyland. or that one time i made a shake out of every condiment in the fridge plus soap and stuff and nickie drank it. i am actually surprised/impressed that nickie still loves us. 

so nickie is awesome. and despite our differences and quarreling, i still love her more than anything. she is the best! and she is such an awesome example for me of how to be your own person, how to not care what other people think about you, of doing selfless service & of embracing your talents.

love you girl!

here are some photos proving her awesomeness:

carly in mom's wedding dress & nickie in mom's bridesmaid dress

all of us on the only easter we ever matched

we play this game where i try to take pictures of her on my phone... this is the result.

nickie with the puppies!

she's so cute!

this picture is gross of me, but its the only one i could find of the 2 of us.

bahahahha wearing a weird mask.

dressed as audrey for halloween.

i made nickie laugh so hard she cried.

"gramma, act like a gangster!"

love,

rochelle

oprah

dear blog,

this is oprah winfrey:

if you didn't know that... you've been living in a cave for the last 30 years. welcome to the world, oprah's in control.
any-who,
i have extremely mixed feelings about oprah.

first of all, i kind of want to be her when i grow up. not HER her, but i love that she has a bajillion dollars and just gives stuff away to people. i love that she cares about issues and tries to "inspire" people to be better.

HOWEVER,
i think that she is SO WRONG about SO MANY THINGS. which is fine, i guess, whatever. BUT... EVERYONE worships her! seriously though? its like oprah is the end all be all. whatever oprah says MUST be truth because oprah said it! she has all theses "experts" come on her show to reinforce her bogus views. i'm sure that she is a nice person, and, like i said, i admire her success, but it scares me how much power she has! OPRAH IS THE ANTI-CHRIST. (okay, that's a little extreme.) but the other day her show was on and she was interviewing the twilight cast and she was talking to taylor lautner and she was teasing him about never having smoked or drank or done any kind of drug ever. and he was like "nope, i'm clean" and she kept asking him about it as if it was impossible for a 17 year old young person (is that how old he is?) to have not participated in substance abuse. not to mention that she is like bff's with obama, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. oprah has SOOOO much power, and she is not even questioned. people just believe what she says NO MATTER WHAT. also, oprah hates Mormons because apparently we are all members of an intolerant, racist gay-hating cult.

anyways, thats just a little somethin somethin that drives me up the wall.

love,
rochelle

thoughts

dear blog,

things on my mind:
-vegetables, specifically cauliflower and how surprisingly delicious it is.
-the warm water at the beautiful beach at progeso.
-freecell.
-i love my nighty. nightie? nightie.
-i want to play basketball.
-wedding announcements.
-Greece.
-mission papers!
-carmen and her baby! and how i NEEED to call her.
-boy(s).
-the sisterhood.
-high school.
-children.
-racism.
-i want to go to washington soooo baaaad. and i think i actually might if my padres will let me...
-chocolate.
-i love when its so hot in the car that your knee pits start sweating.
-i also love seeing friends after you haven't seen them.
-i also love my dogs.

love,
rochelle

p.s. also i've been thinking about how stupid/weird it is when people ignore you all the time, which to me sends off the signal "let's not be friends," but then randomly sometimes they'll be like "let's hang out!" or "i miss you" or "you're awesome, i like hanging out with you!" and its not just one person that does this either... i just don't get it. whatevs!

ill

dear blog,

i'm sick :(
ewwwwww.

BUT my mom made me chicken soup (not from a can, she straight up made it- and it was divine).
and i am watching anne of green gables.
and i have my room to myself.
and i don't have to go into work in the morning.

so nyquil, you can kick in... NOW.

happy holiday?
rochelle

p.s. this 4th of july felt less like the 4th of july than when i was out of the country last year. weird? weird.

vandalism sucks

dear blog,

i don't know if i've ever told you this story, but last Christmas, Harriet invited me to come to this party in alpine. so we drove up there and long story short, the party sucked and neither of us were in a very chipper mood when we left. so we go out to the car and some miscreant had squirted an unknown substance in the crease of the driver's side door. it was sticky and gooey and, as it was december, it was frozen.

i. was. livid.

it got all over my hands and in my hair and it wouldnt come off and we couldn't figure out what it was. we even went through a car wash and it did absolutely nothing. it took us the whole drive from alpine to my casa to figure out that it was HONEY and it was DISGUSTING. we stopped at home to clean it off mostly and then i made richie come with me so i didnt murder anybody. (seriously, that is how angry i was) (okay, maybe that's a little extreme). on the drive from my house to p-town, richie was telling us about some supposedly "harmless" stupid high school vandalism that he had done and i got even angrier. i was so close to kicking him out of the car and making him walk the 10+ miles home--no joke.

aaannyyways.

tonight someone threw VOMIT on our porch and front door and egged my daddy's car. SERIOUSLY. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME . that is BEYOND DISGUSTING, not to mention completely illegal and downright cruel. my poor parents, instead of spending the night with their daughter who's leaving for a month tomorrow night, had to clean up an ANONYMOUS person's BODILY FLUIDS from off of our HOME. EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

why on EARTH would someone do that? what did anyone that lives here ever do to you that would warrant that? besides, even if we have wronged you, why can't you just deal with it, or address it calmly and  rationally like a normal human being (says girl writing angry "i hate vandals" blog post).
okay, but honestly? that is so gross.
and now i feel like i can't leave my house without a rain poncho on and a loaded gun. (also a little extreme, but that's what happens when you are the victim of a HATE CRIME!!)

i hate vandals,
rochelle

swoosh

Dear blog,

good news!! my sister maddie who is a basketball rockstar got invited to play with the utah nike swoosh basketball club team! so she gets to travel all over the country next month playing basketball and visiting colleges and adventuring!! at first i was really jealous/bitter/angry, but i got over it and now i am so excited that she will have this awesome opportunity!

we went shopping as a family yesterday getting extra sports bras and new NIKE basketball shoes and socks and such. shopping with the fam is always hilarious. not to mention i got some shirts and a cardi for my mission! (okay okay, i know its a bit early, but 1. i'm excited and 2. its never to early to start preparing!) but seriously, you should go shopping with my dad sometime. its so hilarious! he is a man on a mission! no putzing around. no dawdling. get in, try it on, compare the costs and benefits to other options, and get out! BAM. haha it's hilarous. he has such a concentrated look on his face. its perfect. 

also, last night i saw toy story 3.

it was perfect.
i cried.
see it.

love,
rochelle

p.s. carly comes home from burn camp today!! i'm so excited!!

R.I.P. Taz

Dear blog,

my dear uncle brian got married a couple months back and moved into a small place in st. george with his new lady nancy. (btw nancy is a doll, and we just love her!) but the place they are living in is quite small and brian has a beautiful dog that is quite large-- taz. soooo badda bing badda boom taz has been living with us.

(taz is the huge one on the couch.)

seriously, he is such a beauty! he is a greyhound and can run SUPER FAST. he used to be a hunting dog. he lived on a big ranch and killed coyotes. he has a bunch of awesome scars from it. sick, huh!? the other day a bird landed on the front lawn and taz pounced and swallowed that bad boy WHOLE. yeah, he's pretttty bad-a. but taz is also the sweetest little thing you have ever met. he is so calm and patient. and he will cuddle you all night long. i love him! our whole family loves him. and i know that taz was there for brian when he was having a rough time of things.

(nickie and taz cuddling.)

anyways, friday night taz was flying around a corner in our neighborhood at his colossal greyhound speeds and was hit by a car.

long story short, he died or "was put to sleep" if we are being pc. and it was really sad. i've definitely cried everyday since friday. i may or may not be sitting at work with tears streaming down my cheeks. its so crazy how you can get so attached to an animal. and me of all people! a couple of years ago if a dog tried to lick me or get in my bed i would have FREAKED OUT, but now i love nothing more than getting kisses from taz or waking up to a bed full of cuddly puppies.

anyways, it was kind of, i don't want to say funny, but ironic? because the girl that hit taz was like an animal rights hippie that owns a doggy day care company. and my momma said that after she hit taz she was just sobbing uncontrollably. and the next day she brought us over a plant an was still crying.

taz, you will be missed, but we know you are in a better place.

love,
rochelle

p.s. even mav and doc are sad too.

summer

dear blog,

hello again! school FINALLY ended. i was taking the maximum amount of credits, and now it is obvious to me why people are not even allowed to take more. i don't think i realized how stressed i was until friday afternoon after i turned in my last assignment. a huge massive weight was lifted off of me. it was GLORIOUS. PLUS i'm pretty sure i got pretty good grades. aren't you so proud?

well, i haven't written in FOREVVVAAAH, so i have a LOT to say, but i probably won't say it all. or maybe i will, but i have found that the less committed i am, the less bad i feel about myself when i actually don't write anything :)

now that school assignments are DONE (until fall atleast) here is a list of my summer projects:
- deep clean our room
- sell all of my textbooks (or put them up for sale i guess)
- purge my wardrobe
- clean up & organize the documents/pictures on my computer
- take the G.R.E... maybe
- apply to grad programs (yikes!)
- mission papers!!!
- appeal to walk in August, order cap and gown etc.
- work work work

among other things, but this is a pretty hefty list if you ask me.

happy summer FINALLY!
rochelle

p.s. all my freshman friends are coming home from their missions! weird/awesome, yeah?

(nearly) perfect saturday

dear blog,

today was so lovely!
i slept in, but not too too much.
i took a shower.
i worked.
i bought some meat at the buy low market.
i may or may not have flirted with the butcher to get the meat i wanted...
i also may or may not have flirted with the cashier...
what!? i was on a roll!
then i played volleyball with jessica and co. for like 2+ hours. it was lovely.
i got some sun-- just enough that i don't look SOO pasty and not so much that i am burnt.
then i came home.
nickie and i went and got chinese takeout...
and mom payed for it (SCORE).
took a shower (two in one day! now i don't have to take one the rest of the week!)
and EVERYBODY left except carly.
and we've just been chillin and watching movies.
not to mention i had a huge glass of ice water, a coconut popsicle (YUM) AND carly put lotion on my feet.
heaven.

love,
rochelle

p.s. i COMPLETELY forgot to turn in an assignment that was due by five o'clock today and i actually do not care AT ALL.
p.p.s. LAST WEEK OF CLASSES!

JUUUNE!

dear blog,

i can NOT believe it's june... only two more weeks of class!!! i can't even wait. seriously.

in anticipation of my freedom, harriet and i have made a list of our summer plans:

-mesquite weekend
-washington visit lauren, carmen, dan, the allens!
-hike
-get ho a drivers lisence
-hit up every possible dollar movie
-slip and slide rock canyon style
-drink my first beer
-get a tan
-get a pedicure (check)
-swim A LOT
-play in the park
-day in slc
-do something harmless/hilarious to levi's car and blame it on efy kids.
-learn to make cream cheese frosting the right way
-learn how to make italian sodas
-tube down the provo river
-picnic on antelope island
-huge water fight
-make margaritas (VIRGIN)
-movie outside
-eat snow cones at the one place
-photo shoot in the desert
-bridal veil falls
-spontaneous things

love,
roche

today

dear blog,

today in primary the clarks were gone so they hired brother litchfield to teach the lesson. i didn't realize how many kids were in the class, but today they were ALL there PLUS a new kid PLUS TWO visitors. final count: THIRTEEN. can you please just pause and imagine thirteen squirmy 5 year olds in a half-size classroom with not enough chairs? yeah, it sounds like H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS... but in reality, i had the time of my life.

poor brother litchfield

the visitors were from england and bro. litchfield was asking if anyone had ever gotten a priesthood blessing and this little girl just YELLS out... "MY DADDY DOESN'T BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST" hahaha i'm not quite sure why, but it was hilarious.


later on we visited grampa in slc. he is such a crack up. we went to gramma's grave and and all the kids were taking a picture with grampa and maddie hollers "gramma is tickling me!" ahahah CREEEPY! she actually said grandpa but it just sounded like that... i love that we can laugh at this.

overall it was QUITE a lovely day...
despite the fact that i have work at SEVEN IN THE A.M.

love love,
roche

p.s. erik told me he was engaged today and it was a BIG FAT LIE. (except i totally believed him... que oso)

p.p.s. sorry i'm failing with the "i love my friends" posts. i guess my friends aren't as awesome as i thought... JOKE. they DEFINITELY are... i've just been tres busy.

p.p.p.s. RICHIE GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL! (post about my amazing bro to come)

p.p.p.p.s. i got a pedicure last week and it was HEAVENLY. i was with harriet and i was like "what should we do?" and she was like... "get a pedicure!" (you see, harriet is deathly afraid of feet/having her feet touched, so this request seemed UTTERLY ridiculous) i didn't actually believe her until we were leaving the nail salon with shiny toes good as new. (post about ho ho to come)

p.p.p.p.p.p.p.s. i lost track of the number of p's that i'm on... i want to go to africa. SO BADLY. also, i want to go to mexico, or more like i miss it A LOT. or more like i miss my AMIGoS a lot (jessica and lanae are on missions, sarah is married and colson is soon to be...i dont even KNOW what the deal is with everybody else... katie, if you are reading this, let's do something NOW)

... i guess i should quit the post scripts because i think they are longer than the actual script... woops.

locks of love

dear blog,

did i mention that i cut off all my hair?

before:

 after:

 (okay fine, i didn't cut it myself...)

i am donating it to locks of love. donating my hair is always something that i have wanted to do. it's one of those things that i can cross of my bucket list or whatever. however, i reallllllly miss my hair. A LOT. i don't know how to handle my new do. its puffy and short and i look like an old lady-- not like super-old as in cute, like middle-aged as in burnt out soccer mom. which is funny because i think it looks so drastically different, but hardly anybody notices and most people say it looks exactly the same just shorter (which is FALSE). normally when i get a haircut it obviously takes some getting used to and that normally happens with in a couple hours or a day, but i have had this new cut for an ENTIRE week and i still don't like it. aaaaanyways...

excuse my vanity. who really cares that i kinda don't like my hair, when lots of people don't even have hair! some lucky cancer patient is going to be fortunate to have a wig made out of my nasty pelo. haha

on a different note, last night some sis's and i plus ricardo were watching the bachelorETTE and laughing hysterically! i love how they are all "i'm already falling in love" and then it cuts to steamy kissing scenes with multiple different men. EWWW. i just think its ironic that this is their perception of what love is. it makes me sad really. but rich and i were joking and we kept saying "i'm in LUST!" haha "i lust you so much!"... it was hilarious... but it really shouldn't be hilarious because that is their reality. 

oh well....

on days like today i just think the whole world is corrupt.

maybe i should be more like this little girl in my newest favorite youtube vid:

love,

rochelle

p.s. if you are interested in joining me in my misery, (misery loves company, am i right?) here is the link to the locks of love website: www.locksoflove.org

4: maddie sue

dear blog,

tonight i came THIS close to writing an angry hate post about my sister/roommate madison. sometimes she just makes me SO FRUSTRATED!


... buuuuuut...


most of the time she is just a delight.
seriously.
who would not LOVE this face?:

haha

but in all honesty, although maddie is 5 years younger than me, i feel like we are the same age (most of the time) (also, i think this has something to do with her "maturity" but a lot to do with my immaturity.) anyways, if you have met my sister you know that she is a doll. maddie is so sweet. she is so kind and loving and super spiritual. not to mention she can be super silly and really fun to be around. madison is the perfect mother in the making. babies love her, she is already a cleaning, cooking and laundry MASTER and she is so nurturing and patient. did i mention that she is only FIFTEEN??

(ages ago trying on mum's wedding dress)

(with our cousin's baby at our other cousin's wedding)

i love this girl quite a lot.
and yes, sometimes i want to kick her in the face.
and yes, sometimes i do kick her in the face.

but my favorite thing ever is that one minute we will be fighting and yelling and screaming and throwing stuff. and the next minute we are hugging it out and apologizing. then the next minute we are staying up way too late discussing the complexities of life.
maddie is a rockstar and even though she can be a brat sometimes, she really is an awesome example to me. she is hardworking and she knows what she wants. when it comes to her convictions she will never waver. i wish i could be as brave as her.

(visiting gramma's grave)

(celebrating carly's birthday)

(being weird at the kennecot copper mine)

yeah, i know. you wish she was your sister too.

love,
rochelle

p.s. i failed to mention above how maddie is a rockin basketball SUPERSTAR! (i may have failed to mention this because she kicks my booty any day.)

p.p.s. maddie is NOT perfect. she steals my shoes and loses them. AND she likes chicken little-the worst movie ever made.