About me

Saturday, December 21, 2013

You say you never had it so good.

School's out for...WINTER! 

I finished my first year of college. I'm a sophomore! WHAT?! I know it's really not that big of a deal...but growing up, I always used to think that college went on forever and it didn't seem like there would ever be an end. Four years seemed like an eternity! But what do you know? It went by in the blink of an eye. Like did this year even happen? Haha. Obviously it did. And let me tell ya, it has been one HECK of a rollercoaster ride!! I've learned so much since I first started. My heart is just so full and I am so grateful. 

Here a just a few of the things I have learned during my first year at BYU-Idaho:



There is value in loneliness.


My Book of Mormon teacher this semester blew my mind every single day. He has such a sweet spirit and seems to always know exactly what I needed to hear each day. One of the things He said this semester that hit me the hard was that there was value in loneliness. This semester was definitely one filled with many hardships and there were many times that I felt alone. Of course, I knew I really wasn't, but sometimes that's just how I felt. Everyone feels that way sometimes. So here it is: It gives us a taste of what Christ experienced, it turn us to God, and it helps us remember that there is one place we can always go when I'm feeling alone and that one place always has what I need (prayer).



Enjoy each moment. 

Life goes by so ridiculously fast. It breaks my heart. I'm trying my best to appreciate every moment I'm given because life is constantly changing and nothing will ever be the same. These last few months definitely were not the easiest. There were a few really low points where I just wanted nothing more than to get out of Rexburg and go home. Looking back, it makes me sad that I was so anxious to go home. There were so many good things going for me! So many good people who loved me and cared for me. When I go back in the spring, it's going to be completely different!



 I am so blessed.


I mean, I always heard I was blessed. I thought I knew I was blessed, but I don't think I was able to fully comprehend it until I got to college. I have an incredible family, I always have my Savior and Heavenly Father to turn to, I have wonderful friends who help build me up and bring out the good and fun in me that I seem to keep hidden oftentimes, I attend a school where I can constantly be feeling the Spirit and am surrounded by students just like me who are striving to become disciples of the Lord. Me and Nahiomi were talking on our way to Utah last night about how incredible it is that we are students at BYU-Idaho. I know that's where I'm supposed to be.




I'm gonna miss this a whole lot!


We were trying to do a Rexburg gang sign... yeah, it didn't work. 


Oh how I love Coley! Sweetest soul ever. I am so grateful I got to get to know her better this semester! I love you Coley!!!


Me and Nahiomi in our KP shirts. Haven't taken them off since we bought them. For realzzz.


I'm going to miss this girl like no other!!! My heart hurts because I already miss her so much. Who knows when I'll see her again. :( I am SO grateful for her. I love you Nahiomi!!! I'm so excited for you and all of the adventures you have ahead of you!


I love this place. 



Until next time, Rexburg.  

P.S. I used my amateur Adobe Illustrator skills to make my new header. That's my actual head! Haha. I obviously have a lot to learn still, but I'm pretty proud of how it came out! It turns out I actually am in love with my major.


Sunday, December 15, 2013

Stoned.

Do you remember when I was 13 and I got a kidney stone at girls camp and then made an overdramatic blog post about it?

"K so I went to Beehive Camp on Tuesday right? Right. Wednesday Afternoon: Oh my goodness gracious!!!! My side hurts soooo freakin bad!!!! There was a pediatrician at camp with us so he checked me out but he wasnt helping! He just said it was a digestion problem! ARE YOU FLIPPIN KIDDING ME?????? The pain was with me for about an hour and a half, IT WAS THE WORST PAIN I HAVE EVER FELT IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! Then I took a bath and the pain was gone! Thank goodness! :) 


Thursday Afternoon: So we're driving home from camp right? About 30 min. into the drive I start feeling the pain AGAIN! But we're not even close to arriving at home! I was just about screaming! Ashley was trying to help me as much as she could but there was not much she could do! She was rubbing my back to try to calm me down and every time we went on a turn or over a bump it would just make me feel worse so she was holding me down to make sure I wouldn't move around as much! Thx Ashley! And thx to everyone else that was helping me! 

So I FINALLY get home and my mom takes me to the doctor! You know, I thought the doctor would actually help more but guess what she said my problem was??! She said I should go to the bathroom more often! ARE YOU FLIPPIN KIDDING ME????? I go to the freakin bathroom enough!!!!!!!! Golly! And my doctor said to go get x-rays done. So, I did...Almost. I was sitting in the waiting room, waiting to get my x-rays. I was hurting soooooooooo bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ppl working at the x-ray place just said to wait and they'll get us in asap but I could NOT wait ANY longer!!! A paramedic was sitting in the waiting room also he said, "I'm sorry to eavesdrop but I am a paramedic and I think you should get her to the ER because she looks like she is in an extreme amount pain." 

So...off to the ER! Except when we were driving over there it stopped hurting! So not the greatest timing cuz they couldnt see how bad it hurt! But anyway they put me in a room and the doc said "I'm pretty sure she has a kidney stone." This might sound weird but I was glad that he said that and not that it was just digestion problemos!! After about an hour of watching TV and texting, I got an IV. After another hour of lots of TV and even more texting, I got a CT Scan or Catscan. Then after 45 min. of more TV, they said that I definatley had a kidney stone. It measured 2-3 millimeters. Digestion problems! Yeah right!! Ouchie!!! They gave me a perscription for some pain medication and so I finally left the hospital and we went to Walgreen's to get me my medicine! It would take about 20 minutes until it was ready so my mom took me home to go to the bathroom because they put a ton of fluids through my IV. Right as I got home I was hurting again!! PERFECT TIMING!!! Ahh! Anyway I took my medicine and took another bath to calm me down, then I went to bed! WOOOOO CRAZZZZZYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! Life is tough!!!"


Round 1. 2007.



Then do you remember when I got another one the day after my 16th birthday? (Didn't blog about that one...haha.)


Then do you remember how last Monday I got another one? Haha. Yeah. That happened. Well, now I'm going to write yet another overdramatic blog post about it. 


'Twas a typical Monday evening. I had just gotten back from the store, was watching a little Ellen... 

Then I started gradually getting a pain in my side... I asked Elyse if she had any Ibuprofen that I could take because at this point, it just felt like a little cramp that I thought would go away. She went to go grab it and out of nowhere, the pain became completely intolerable...I called my mom to ask what I should do. While I was on the phone with her, it became very clear that I had another kidney stone...Are you joking? Like, for reals, this is a joke. I asked Elyse if she could take me to the ER, and she went to go grab her car.

Meanwhile, I was on the ground moaning and crying. Haha. Eventually, Elyse (bless her heart! Don't know what I would've done without her!) came with the car and we were on our way to the Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg. I was having a really rough time walking, moving, breathing, living, etc. Haha. JK. But seriously... 

I got into a room at the ER, got asked a bunch of insurance questions, peed in a cup, got my IV hooked up...all that good stuff. After a solid hour, which basically seemed like eternity, they finally gave me pain meds. It was probably the most glorious thing I have ever experienced. I felt better REAL fast. Haha. I felt super weird. I got a CT Scan. I was starting to get super loopy at this point...but I felt so great! Haha. 





The rest is kind of a blur... I was really out of it. I remember hysterically laughing and then bawling my eyes out for no reason. I wish someone was recording! Haha. Props to Elyse for staying with me and dealing with me :)

I tried getting up and leaving after about an hour on the medication, but when I sat up, I felt really sick again. So I just laid back down and got even more medication and just laid there for a while.

Coley and my friend Matt came to the hospital to visit me! It was super nice of them. They had just left our ward's Christmas party (which I was seriously bummed I had missed). Matt won the ugly sweater contest (he was wearing a Utah Jazz sweatshirt hahaha) and he gave me his prize--a cute little chocolate penguin. Haha. So nice!




Eventually, I was on my way out of there! I headed to Walgreens to pick up my prescription. Poor Coley took me and had to deal with me. She helped me walk across the parking lot and then let me lay down on her lap when I was feeling really nauseous. 

When I got home, Matt and my awesome home teacher Kyle came over to give me a blessing--which I am super grateful for! Then I went to bed and proceeded to be OUT for a solid two days. 







What an adventure. 


P.S. 6 days until I go HOME.  



Sunday, December 8, 2013

PHX to IND to...BDL?

"PHX to IND" has been something I've been saying for the past few years that I think explains my life perfectly.

"PHX": So many memories. I grew up here! I went to Elementary school, middle school, and part of high school here. I met some of my best friends here. All of my family is here. I love this place.
"to": The" to" is huge. The transition phase! Lots of growing happened during this phase. Heartbreak, tears (both happy and sad), confusion, happiness, sadness, etc. Feel free to blog stalk me and look at all of those posts while I was going through the transition.
"IND": I guess you could say that this phase of my life was still a transition phase. Lots of hardships, but definitely some very happy times. I've made some life-long friends here. I graduated from high school here! It wasn't until recently in this phase (this past August to be exact...) that I fully accepted Indiana as my home. I love Indiana. I don't care what anyone says. Haha.

Then of course there was the "to BYUI," but we're just going to save that part for another blog post because there's something a little bit more exciting to talk about!

You probably noticed the "to BDL" part of my title. Let's talk about that.


BDL: This airport code kind of throws off my whole little saying...because how the heck are you supposed to know that Bradley International Airport (BDL) is in Hartford, Connecticut?


If I haven't made it clear enough, the Burns family is moving to Connecticut. I feel like we just did this. Hm, weird. That's probably because...WE JUST DID!

My mom casually called me on Thursday night and we just had an ordinary conversation. Then my mom said, "Oh! Dad just came in! He wants to talk to you." I knew something was about to go down...I overheard the boys gathering. "Okay, this is serious." Haha. He got on the phone and started talking about work...oh man, I know where this is going! There were so many things running through my mind. I just couldn't focus on anything he was saying because I knew he was about to say something good! After all, I've experienced this before. I'm basically a pro.

Eventually, he broke the news! I could hear the boys' reactions in the back. I just kept thinking, "wait, what?!?"

This move is definitely going to be much different than the Indiana move! Obviously I'm at school in Idaho for most of the year, so it really doesn't affect me that much. But...

1. I JUST accepted that Indiana was my home. Good freakin' timing! Haha. And...
2. Obviously when we moved to Indiana, we went to visit Arizona because all of our family is there. But Indiana...who knows when the heck we will visit! Which makes me sad...because I love that place.


So I guess as of June 2014, Connecticut is my new home-base. Who knows what the heck I will say when people ask me where I'm from... As if I wasn't confused enough already!!!

Even though our time in Indiana was limited, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

PHX...


to IND...


to BDL.



 Then who knows where... :)


Congrats to my Daddy for being awesome and progressing in his work! He is the hardest working man I know. Shout out to him. I love you Dad!!! Congratulations!

Here we go again!


Sunday, December 1, 2013

Road Trippin'

Props to Nahiomi for the title.

Did Thanksgiving Break even happen? I'm sitting here thinking to myself that it must have been one of the shortest ever... just a few more days would have been nice, Kim B!! C'mon! 

Ya know, it was a weird Thanksgiving. The days leading up to the break were difficult because I knew that I wouldn't be spending it with my family. (And it didn't help a whole lot that my grandparents and aunt & uncle flew to Indiana...I was just missin' out on a whole lot!) Anyways, I eventually told myself that I needed to stop being sad...after all, there are only 3 more weeks until I go HOME for my off-track (AKA...my summer break). I'm sorry, WUT. 

Coley, Nahiomi, and I drove down to Logan on Wednesday! I was so ready for a break. I cannot even explain to you. I love Rexburg with all my heart, but sometimes you've just gotta get out! 

Once we got to Logan, we met Coley's sweet grandparents and cousins in Logan! She stayed with them, then Nahiomi and I stayed with her family's friends, the Pratts. They are such a fun family! 

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner! ...but I sure did miss my mom's homemade roll and pie...man oh man. That's okay! It was just a dream to be eating a nice home-cooked meal! We don't get a whole lot of those up here! Haha. 

Just a few of the things the rest of the trip consisted of...


An insane amount of laughter

Countless jam sessions

Explosive sour skittles

Jump roping for the first time in years 

Shopping til we dropped

Seeing the lights at Temple Square and crying because it was so beautiful and because I'm so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

McDonald's forgetting to put the chocolate in Nahiomi's hot chocolate

Experiencing Red Bull for the first time (it works)

Messing with some dudes in at IHOP that were trying to hit on us

Giving makeovers to the Pratt girls

Purchasing some absolutely necessary Katy Perry shirts

So many things going wrong that we had no choice but to laugh

Partyin' it up and livin' life to it's fullest!









I'm not even going to explain this picture. Just use your imagination...haha.



The Pratt's beautiful backyard! I wouldn't mind waking up to this every morning. 











All of my pictures of the lights are blurry. :( I guess you'll just have to go and see for yourself how beautiful they are!











Me and Nahiomi tried to take selfies with the Idaho sign and it was a massive failure.




Sometimes Idaho is so beautiful that I have no other choice but just stare in awe and cry a little bit.




Well, that's a wrap! Definitely a trip to remember. 


Nineteen more days, people. NINETEEN.





Sunday, November 24, 2013

The Little Things

It’s the little things that seem to have the biggest impact on me. 



My roommate Nahiomi, who happens to be one of my favorite people of all time (shout out to Puerto Rican Spice!), is a sweetheart and drives me to class a few days each week. Now, we go to school in Idaho...AKA her car is completely frozen each morning and it takes several minutes to scrape the ice off of the windshield each morning so she can actually see while she's driving. It's a pain in the butt. I really was unaware of how much I could hate ice. 

The other day when we got in the car, the sun was shining down onto the ice and it was one of the prettiest things in the world. Basically, what I'm trying to say, is that there is beauty everywhere, we just don't always see it. 





It's the little things.  




Sometimes, the weirdest things put a smile on your face. For instance, Coley and I were driving to the movie theatre on Friday. I looked over at the car next to us and this is what I saw:






Why, yes, that is a potato. And yes, he is chomping down on it. Gotta love Idaho. 


It's the little things. 




Little do my family members know that I screenshot every sweet text I get from them. Here's just a few that have put massive smiles on my face:






It's the little things.



And some other little things that makes me smile:











A new goal of mine to constantly be looking for the little things in my life...because there are so many. I'm so blessed. 

What are your little things?


Monday, November 11, 2013

Blessed Beyond Belief


My heart is so full. 


I've been feeling so incredibly blessed lately. This past week really wasn't that spectacular...just a normal week! But I'm coming to realize that normal weeks are spectacular.  I'm learning that the biggest key to happiness is recognizing all of your blessings. Your blessings are always there. Sometimes they just get hidden because we forget to remember.  In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm just going to list off some of my blessings.




1. My Family




I am seriously so blessed to have the family that I have. They are the perfect family for me. It's hard being so far away from them, but since I am, it makes me even more grateful and appreciative for their love and support. I wouldn't trade them for the world.



2. My Friends









Heavenly Father has put some pretty incredible people in my path. I am so incredibly grateful for them. Thanks for putting up with me, guys. You rock. :)



3. My School
Sometimes I get so stressed out with life that I don't take time to appreciate where I am right now. It is one of the biggest blessings ever to attend one of the Lord's institutions. It is amazing to me that I can go to a school where I am surrounded by good people who strive to live in such a way that the Holy Ghost can be their constant companion.

This week, I'm especially grateful for my Book of Mormon teacher, Brother Rowe. He is truly one of the most Christlike people I know. I'm not sure why this had such an impact on me, but last weekend I was out to dinner with Coley and Nahiomi and I saw Brother Rowe and he stopped and smiled and said, "Hi Lauren!" Such a small little act, but I will forever remember it. Mind you, he has 150+  students, so the fact that he remembered my name just meant so much to me! I guess that's like Heavenly Father. He has an incredible amount of children, but He knows us each by name and so personally. Amazing! 
I tried extra hard this week to prepare for class so that I could learn more in the classroom. And I must say, it was a massive success. I learned so much! Sometimes I feel like the Book of Mormon was written just for me because it affects me so personally. But it's for you too! :) So anyways, it's just great to be a student here!


4. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ




Their love for us is unreal. Seriously. I've been sitting here for hours trying to figure out how else I can elaborate on this...but really, that's all. They love us.






If you have a few minutes to spare, you should definitely watch this video. Or go read the book. Either way, so powerful! Feelin' the love. 






Sunday, November 3, 2013

Never Alone



Obviously I haven't been doing a great job at blogging this semester. I have so much to catch up on that I don't even know where to start...Soooo I won't be able to write about everything that has been happening. Sorry Mom!

I'm confused. I'm confused because this last month and a half at school has been the longest month and a half of my life...but at the same time, I am halfway done with this semester...and I'm coming home NEXT month. When this semester is over, I'll be done with my freshman year of college. That blows my mind. Now that I'm looking back, it seems like this year has gone by in a flash. Appreciate every moment.

While this has been the longest month and a half of my life, it has also been a very trying month and a half. Sometimes when we are so caught up in our busy lives that we don't take time to fully comprehend all that we have been blessed with.

I think I'm a semester late on the whole "getting adjusted to college" thing. Last semester, I really didn't have the typical homesickness and all that jazz, but I can assure you that now, I'm feelin' it. It's hard. It's really hard. My classes are a lot more challenging this semester, I miss my family, and I've just kind of been down in the dumps. I'm working really hard to get out of the dumps right now. Haha. And I'm making progress! I realized that I won't be here forever so I really just need to enjoy every second. I really am so blessed to go to this incredible school! There's something incredible about being in a place where you can constantly feel the Holy Ghost. I know this is where I'm supposed to be! I also realized that I am never alone. Heavenly Father is always going to be there for me and that is just so comforting! I'm not sure if any of you were able to watch the CES Fireside tonight, but Russell T. Osguthorpe spoke about the Savior and it was incredible! My favorite quote from his talk was:


"We cannot make it on our own in this life. We CANNOT do it."

Sorry this is a short blog post... Basically I'm just apologizing to my mom and my future self because we all know that we're the only ones who really care. ;)








Me and a few of my roommates went out with some new friends to Idaho Falls to go roller blading...in 70s clothes! It was way fun! I like making new friends. 
















OKAY, CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS? For those of you poor souls that do not know you this man is, let me introduce you. This, my dear friends, is Brooks Forester. Bachelorette celebrity. Please google him. 

I'm not gonna lie, I really wasn't a huge fan of him on the show. Also, I thought he was severely ugly. Haha.  And I could not, for the LIFE of me, understand why Des was so in love with this guy. But obviously, when I found out he was coming to Rexburg to have a meet and greet, I HAD to go. Why the HECK he was in Rexburg, Idaho, I have absolutely no clue. But I'm not questioning it...

Anyways, we walked into this place and I died. DIED. You guys. I cannot explain to you how beautiful he is. And this is coming from the girl who could barely stand to look at him on the television screen. Dude is NOT photogenic. Even in this picture I have with him you can't tell how attractive he is. You guys. You guys, you guys, you guys. B E A U T I F U L. You have to see it to believe it. 

So that was that. I am still in complete shock that this whole thing happened. Wow. 






Getting this snapchat from Trevor definitely put a huge smile on my face. What a guy!



I got a haircut :( RIP long hair.


Halloween was weird this year. Basically all we did was eat a crap ton of junk food and then we watched a scary movie. It was fun, just weird not being home! 











Anyways, that's all I have for today. I'm going to try to do better with keeping up with this ol' thing. Have a great week everyone! Keep moving forward.