"I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow- that's why I don't save my best for last." -Paulo Coelho

I really enjoy this quote because I believe in giving your best every day. My old Young Women's leader encouraged us to follow President Hinckley's counsel to every day "Try a little harder to be a little better." This is a motto I have strived to follow since I heard it. That means that sometimes you have to go to the extra mile and sometimes it means that other people go the extra mile. Today I'd like to reflect on people who went the extra mile for me today... but first let's talk about my first day of school!

This is Michal and I (in our work clothes of course!) on the first day of my junior year and Michal's senior year (#whatwillidowithouther??). 

So anyways I headed off not really excited to go to class. My first class was Spanish. Talk about coming back to class! Yikes! Lucky for me I had the opportunity to see Bergie Berg before I even went to class! It was the best because she is just so positive and happy ALL the time and it rubbed off on me when I was about to go to class. Then I got to see my friend Faith (from Colorado!!) because she was going to be in my Spanish class.  Mi profesora es de Espana. (Which means that she sounds like she has lisp and she uses different forms/conjugations!) Luckily however my teacher is awesome. I then headed to my Literature of the Latter-day Saints class and it's legitimately only 15 people and we meet around a table! So that will be fun. I also went to my Brit Lit class and my Humanities class (which will be a joke, seriously.) Anyways, it turned out well. I then ran home so I could attend my FHE activity which involved free food (!) and meeting everyone. It was way fun! The sad moment came when I had to say goodbye to my bestie Madison because she left for Jerusalem this morning! I am so excited to hear about her adventures though.

Anyways I woke up today kind of in a funk. Luckily for me I had some people help me out. First off, my shining angel of a friend/ co-worker, Michal. I literally do not know what I would do without her. Seriously. She has literally been there for every moment of my college experience and I absolutely adore her. She's the best. I also had the opportunity to see my good friend from back home, Daniel Scott! I only saw him for like 15 minutes, but it was really good because he's from back home and just completely knows me! :) I came home and worked out and ate a strawberry popsicle. I then had the opportunity to get my first priesthood blessing not from my dad! My friends Race and Tyler came over and I am so glad they did. I was nervous to ask them, but I am so thankful that I live in a place (who would have thought I would write that sentence?!) where I can ask guy friends for a blessings. So thankful. I don't think guys realize what a blessing they can be do girls who need blessings.  Then my girls (aka my roomies) Marisa and Linds took me to Fro-Yo and watched gems of videos (and by that I mean videos about One Direction). It was super fun and I am just so glad that I have friends to help cheer me up both spiritually and temporally. 

Lately I have come to a conclusion while reading the new book that Sheri Dew wrote an essay for (it's the new book about the original minutes for Relief Society. I, being the poor college student I am, read it in the bookstore). And something really hit me. We tell women from the time they are in Young Women's that they need to prepare for marriage. While yes that is important, I believe we need to be telling women to prepare for the temple. If you are preparing for the temple, then you are also working to prepare for marriage. By placing a higher value on learning how to prepare for the temple, I am sure your experience in the temple the first time will be even that more valued. I CANNOT WAIT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE! So it is my goal to go to the temple at least once every two weeks. (Last year, I went once a week and I am pretty sure it's the only reason I survived last year.) So anyways, that's my random deep thought for the day. I can't wait to see what the year brings and I am so glad for my friends I have here in Provo who make me feel like this is my home away from home! Love you all!

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."- Will Rogers

I saw this quote and fell in love with it! I saw something on my friend Jess' wall that said "Dreams don't work unless you do," and I thought about how true that is! To get anywhere in life, you gotta work and you have to be off the fence! (That's pretty philosophical if I say so). I am a pretty black and white person, so I love NOT being on the fence ever about things. These two quotes are perfect because I am about to start my JUNIOR year of college (since when did THAT happen?!?!), I needed motivation to keep on keeping on and I have now found it. The last couple days of summer were so much fun. My roomies from last year, Linds and Marisa, and my best friend Madison, all got here on Thursday night so we spent time catching up on life and just having a blast. 

On Friday, a bunch of the secretaries from our building went to go get snow cones to celebrate our last day of full-time work. Friday night was spent watching probably the worst movie I have seen since The Box movie with James Marsden (which is saying something because I happen to love him so much). In case you were wondering to which movie I am referring, Madagascar 3. So trippy (as in at one point King Julian meets the pope (what?). But whatever, it still ended up fun.

For my last day of Summer (aka yesterday), I went on a shopping excursion with Berg and Jess to find our perfect first day outfits. Can I just say I LOVE being with these girls? Because I do! It was way fun and we all ended up finding our perfect outfits. Then Madison and I went on our last girl date for FOUR months!! (She leaves for Jerusalem on Tuesday.) We had a grand ole time just discussing lots of life events and such and it was really fun. I will really miss her but I am so totally excited for her that it counteracts any sadness. Afterwards, I went to Red Robin with a bunch of my summer ward friends and even inadvertenly tried to convince my friend Race to not go to the temple so he could come (#badmormon). Dinner was fun and then it was off to hot tubbing at Mitchell's (My old FHE brother/Madison's boyfriend) new apartment. It turns out everybody else had the same idea though because it was packed! We ended up just dipping our feet in the pool (cue High School Musical 2 music) and reminiscing about all of our good fall/winter times. To top off my last night of summer, we all sat and ate Graham Crackers and Nutella- the perfect way to end the best summer thus far. 

Anyways, I love my new apartment most especially because we have a washer and dryer!!!!!!!!!!! In our apartment. Huzzah! I went to my new ward today and I already love the bishopbric and I can just tell this year is going to be a great one! I am so excited to start my new adventure. 

And here is a random side note: Given the fact that I absolutely love memoir titles, I decided I would now come up with memoir titles for each stage of my life. This being said, I would say Spring/Summer of this year would be entitled "Just Jump: Stories About Facing my Fears." This Summer I did so many things I did not think I was capable of: snorkeling, going on dates, befriending new people, rock climbing, bouldering, staying up past my bedtime,etc. and it made me a WAY better person and helped me expand my horizons. Life truly does start at the end of your comfort zone.

Anyways, I am still striving to follow my goals I outlined here so I can make the last four months of the year great. I have also added a new goal: to continue being more positive. Living with the girls I did last summer made me increasingly more happy and more positive even in situations that might have made me really sad. So here's to a more positive lifestyle:  

Absolute favorite new quote and I love the picture/context. 

Roomie date to Awful Waffle!

All of us secretaries getting snow cones. 

Madison with the door handle at Burger King. 

Here's to round three of BYU. I just know it will be the best year yet with Linds, Marisa and Alex (my new roommate!) Also, my favorite guy from high school AKA Daniel Scott has finally graced Provo with his presence so I am pretty sure this year is going to be EPIC! Love you all! 

"Keep your head towards the sunshine and you won't see the shadows." - Helen Keller

So anyone who knows me knows I absolutely adore Helen Keller. In fact, she is on my top five list of people I want to meet when I get to heaven. The list is as follows:

1. Emma Smith
2. President Uchtdorf 
3. Og Mandino 
4. Helen Keller
5. Taylor Swift

Anyways, most of you know that I really really really did not want to stay in Provo for the summer term. I am a complete homebody and I really wanted to chill with my family. During Spring term, I only focused on the 'shadows' so to speak but summer I really came to embrace the above quote and I can tell you it works!  I am so glad that Heavenly Father is in charge (and that I listened!) because this has honestly been one of the best summers of my life. 

Now onto some totally cute pictures recapping my summer:

Christmas in July (but really August!) party!

Race, Jessica and I on Race's "Talk Show." 

My face when I got a shirt with President Uchtdorf on it!

Pretty much sums our prank war up!

Cinnamon roll hug with all my roomies!

Seeing Tanner for the first time in 4 months at church and we were matching! #totespresh

Our pioneer day group of fun!

Roommate dinner!

After effects of the "snowball" fight (we used flour!) 

Ward activity at the lake!

Nat's birthday party!

Christmas in July with Jessie J and Berg!

Love these girls!

Olympic party!!!

Angel, Bahaar and I!

#V5forlyfe!

Now onto a few brief highlights of the last month:

• Getting asked out on my first date ever! So once upon a time I literally had the worst day of my life. (To be exact, it was Friday, July the 13th). Seriously everything that can go wrong did go wrong. I won't go into details. However, at the end of the day a bunch of my friends from my ward came over to hang out and I felt a lot better. Then on Sunday, I was just minding my own business making some Sopapilla Cheesecake when Raymond (who was in my Fall/Winter ward) knocks on our door. I had just texted him letting him know that we were going to eat my delicious cheesecake so I figured he was here for that. Except for he wasn't! He asked me to go on a date and of course I said yes. It just goes to show you that even if you have the worst day ever the day before, you never know what is going to happen the next day. We ended up going that next Thursday and it was the perfect first date because he is such a gentlemen. I can now cross off going on my first date!

  

  This is what I was wearing when I got asked out on my first date. Classy, huh? 

• This is the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth about the beginnings of a serious prank war between our apartment (hereafter referred to as V5) and Yorktown 1 (hereafter referred to as Y1). Race told his version of the story here: and we are here to tell the rest of the story. (Although Race’s is way more hilarious and embarrassing…)
  
  
  It all started when V5 happened to notice that Y1 never ever locked their door. This was discovered when we went to their place of living to hang out with them one lonesome Friday night. (This is a demonstration of how bored we were). Upon discovery of their unlocked habitat, we (well really Angel), busted opened the door and found no one home. Being the type of people we are, we decided to walk away. But not really. We actually decided to give them a gift of toilet paper. All over their living room. We thought their apartment was lacking certain decorations and if you know V5, you know we love our decorations.
  
  
  Then the unthinkable happened, Race walked in. Unfortunately, we had different contingency plans about what would happen should any of the boys showed up. Bergen booked it out of there so quickly while I tried to lock the door to no avail. (You win some, you lose some).
  
  
  This just sets the stage for the following events.
  
  
  One Monday evening, we found ourselves extremely bored. And hyper. Which in girl world is a lethal combination. After crack laughing (me) and actually planning (Bahaar, Berg and Jordan), we finally came up with a hilarious prank: steal the light out of their apartment. (Since we live in ghetto Lib Square, they don’t have any actual lights in their living room, leading them to sort of pathetically only use lamps that look like they belong in Berg and I’s room (one of them is light blue and totally cute). Being the funny girls we were, we decided we needed to make a ransom note because we literally stole a precious component of their life. That note went a little like this:

  

  Our ransom note part 1

  

  Our ransom note part 2

  Totally reasonable. The next day, Jake (one of the boys in Y1) kept on repeating how they were going to exact revenge on us. However, if you know Jake, you think he cannot even be devious or mean EVER. So no one took him seriously. As the V5, we made a pact in which we decided we would ALWAYS locked our doors because we were going to win this prank war.
  
  
  However, plans fell through when one of her roommates forgot her key and asked us to not lock the doors. I won’t name names. Just kidding! It wasn’t that big of a deal. So while our apartment is COMPLETELY EMPTY, all of us are watching Taken. I come home and ironically, find out that my iPad, our toaster, and our microwave were “taken.” How rude! Slash I was afraid that Liam Neeson was going to jump out and make me his 29^th person he killed (we counted and he kills 28 in the movie). Luckily for me, it was just a prank.

  

  Jake with all his contraband! He can be devious!

  This is when this prank war became serious. The next day (last Friday night… is that song in your head yet?) we decided to a host an Olympic Opening Ceremonies party (because my roommates are adorable). Anyways, at the end of the night, Ray (who let’s just say was a little restless because he had been sitting for 4 ½ straight hours) suggested we go on a walk. And although there were a zillion people here (there was more people in our living room than there are in China), it ended up only being Ray, Race, Jessica and I. We had a nice little walk which ended with them asking us on a double date (which would satisfy Race’s part of the ransom). So we went hiking. And yes, for all of those you know me, I did make it there without too many stops. We all had fun hiking and then going to In-N-Out for some delicious burgers. It was a great date and I am glad that even though it took the loss of my doors, I still got to go on a fun date. (you win some, you lose some).

  

  Race and I at Stewart Falls!

  

  All four of us on our date!

  

  Ray, Jessica, me and Race on our Saturday double date!

   Little did I know that my roommates would be pranking Y1's apartment while we were on our date. It turns out Race felt really bad and wanted to end the war by bringing us back our stuff. So he arranged (so stealthily I might add) to have us GIVE HIM OUR KEY and then have all of us leave so he wouldn't feel like he was betraying his apartment. It turns out however that really he just wanted to do this:
  
  
  
  In case you were wondering, that is one of the bathroom doors (yes, he stole both of them). However he did write up a brilliant contract that all the effected parties signed (you can read it at the link I mentioned above). Anyways, it finally ended and there was peace in Liberty Square Land. 
• Parties. Every Friday for 3 weeks we had a party. It all started with Berg's love of the Olympics which inspired us to throw a party. We made all the RM's (returned missionaries for those who don't know Mormon lingo) bring some type of food from their mission and it ended up being super fun. We also had been wanting to have a Christmas in July party,but it was already August... Which didn't stop us! We played White Elephant, had a snowball fight with flour, watched Elf and celebrated my home teacher Tyler's birthday! It was way fun! The next Friday was my birthday!!! The night before my birthday, Berg, Jessica, Ray, Race and I jammed out to some Queen and One Direction to celebrate my last few hours of being a teenager. It was pretty awesome. Then it was my birthday... and my mom came!!!!!!!!!!! :) It was the best!! We went to Red Robin and ate yummy food and then a bunch of people from my ward came and we played games and ended up watching Gone. It was a pretty fantastic birthday! I also got to hang out with my mom and brother Colin a lot! Can I just say I LOVE MY PARENTS!!!!!!!!! And I am so thankful that my mommy came out here because she is the best! Lindsey Loo made my video memoir found here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM6Lvak4Gpc&feature=youtu.be  (yes, it is quite embarrassing but it is also classy Kels!)  Michal also wrote the cutest post about how much she loves me which you can read here:  http://michalsavage.blogspot.com/.   It was seriously the icing on top of a great day!



Colin and I on our sibling date!



Birthday sign! Do my roomies know me or what? :)   




Berg made me brownies!



Blowing out my 'candles.'




Me with my President Uchtdorf shirt! I have the best home teacher!








Anyways I ended up having an incredible summer and that was largely due to my roommates and Jessica! (who let’s be honest, was practically one of my roommates!) These girls changed my life and who I am. They made me more positive, loving and Christ-centered and I just know I was supposed to live with them. Bergen, my actual roommate taught me so much and I am so thankful that Bahaar and Angel wanted to room with each other so that I could switch rooms and be with her! She is seriously the best roommate I have ever had in more ways than one.  To all my V5 girls, I love you and I am honored to have called you my roommates! #v5forlyfe #roommatelove 




I am about to start my new adventure in Heather Cove with Linds and Marisa, which I am excited about, but I will never forget this summer and all the exciting things that happened during it!