SugarSugarSugarSugarSugarSugar

I've been home from school for almost a full week now.  In this past week, I have consumed more sugar than I usually eat during an entire semester. The treats seriously just keep coming and coming. The doorbell never seems to stop ringing. And mmmm dang are they good.

This year, our family is doing mom's famous "citrus" rolls again. She makes dozens of pans of these glorious rolls and I'm pretty sure at one point I ate a whole pan all to myself in one day. They're that good. Especially fresh out of the oven.

Me and Beebs helped deliver them this year, but almost nobody was home when we went! Where are you people on Friday afternoons?

Anyways, all these goodies got me thinking, and asking myself the following questions.

1. At what age, or point in life, do you get in on this whole treat giving thing? I'm assuming that to recieve them, you probably should give something in return... but is this something that newlyweds do? Do they hit the ground running by starting up some neighborhood treat giving tradition that they carry on year after year from here on out? Or do they wait til they have kids of their own so that they can send them up to the door to drop off the treats? What about older single adults who live on their own? Do they give treats?

2. When I do start giving treats, whenever that is... what on earth will I give? Now, we've gotten some great stuff, but let's face it, some of it is better than others. But is that what's going to matter to me? The quality of my gift? Or is it more of a "thought-that-counts" type of thing.

Some of my favorites are the sample platters. The plates that have 3 or 4 different treats. A couple cookies, couple pieces of fudge, some homemade caramels. Maybe I'll do that?

Do people do fruit-baskets anymore? I remember in YW's we'd put together baskets full of fruit and nuts to give to people at Christmas. I remember thinking that that was so boring. But after eating nothing but sweets day in and day out, oh man, I'd love it if the next caroler brought us a basket of fruit!

3. I've decided that all baked goods are best when they come straight out of the oven. Rolls are fluffier, cookies are chewier, brownies are gooier and bread is softer and more moist and just plain out better! However, when these treats arrive at your house, chances are they aren't fresh out of the oven. They're probably not still warm... but that's ok! Because I have discovered the beauty of the microwave + holiday treats. Throw that cookie, cinnamon roll, slice of bread in the microwave for 10 seconds and voila! You've upped it's deliciousness factor ten-fold.

4. Each time the doorbell rings, and as I excitedly accept another plate of goodies, I am filled with such love and gratitude for the people who drop them off. I know that it's tradition and EVERYONE does it, but just knowing that they not only took the time to make these delicious goodies, but they thought about our family and chose to deliver them to US -  That makes me feel so good!  There are some good people in this world, and many of the great ones live within a walking distance of my house. They're awesome and I'm grateful for the opportunity Christmas goodies gives me to be reminded of the wonderful people I have grown up with!

5. My oh my. How grateful am I that Christmas comes BEFORE New Years? Somebody was thinking with that one. Hello sugar detox, you are greatly needed.

I'll Be Home for Christmas.... Eventually...

It usually takes a good solid 9 hours to drive from Rexburg, ID to Overton, NV. However, this time around, it took me almost 3 days!

My original plan was to leave Rexburg at 5 am on Saturday morning and arrive home later that day. I was going with someone on the ride board who was charging me way too much.

So when Eric called me at midnight on Thursday night asking if I wanted to make use of his extra ticket to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert, I happily obliged. However that meant staying up til 4 am cleaning and packing and trying to finish up exams and projects. I woke up at 7 on Friday morning to finish the cleaning and packing and we left Rexburg a little after 9. That was the start of my "Change Of Plans" and from that point on, I was flying by the seat of my pants. I knew that Eric and his family could get me as far as Salt Lake, but I had no idea what I was going to do from that point on. But I wasn't too worried about it. 

So to Salt Lake we went! We made a few stops along the way:

Idaho Falls: To pick up Eric's dad and sister

Ogden: Where I was introduced to the wonder of "Smith and Edward's", an army surplus store that had everything from dancing cardboard pigs to dental tools.

Salt Lake City: We went and had thee most amazing cheese-steak sandwich at a little hole-in-the-wall "Moochies". Followed directly by a trip to Costco for samples galore!
Bountiful: Eric's grandma's house to change into concert dress and then back to 

Salt Lake: Where we were treated to dinner at "The Mandarin". Oh my goodness, amazing Chinese food!

Temple Square: It was raining a bit, but we were still able to walk around and enjoy the lights on temple square for a little bit before going to quite possibly the best concert I have ever been to in my entire life. I cannot wait for it to be put on TV so that I can watch it again and again. It was seriously incredible!!

 After an awesome day with the Hillam's, my old Riverton roommate, picked me up from temple square and we spent the night talking, laughing and remembering the amazing summer that we had spent together just a few months earlier. Bridgette is seriously the best and she deserves her own blog post, and one day, it will come :) We woke up, ate some breakfast and squealed in delight as we looked outside to find that Riverton had been attacked with LOADS of snow. So much of it! So we went out, shoveled the walk and had a grand time building a snowbride!

At this point, I had found a ride from Riverton to home, but wasn't super thrilled because they were charging almost triple what I usually pay for gas and they were leaving at an inconvenient time for me. So I called up my sister Natalie and asked if she had room in her car. Sure enough, they had one more spot!

So on Saturday afternoon, Bridgette drove me to Thanksgiving point, where I hopped in with Alexa and Dallin Seely (our childhood friends since FOREVER) and my siblings Travis and Natalie.

So off to home we go. Or so I thought.

We had a quick stop in Provo to spend some time at Alexa and Dallin's sister's house and to play with their five adorable nieces.

Our next stop was in Cedar City, Utah.  I was thinking we were just filling up for gas... little did I know that we'd end up going to see "The Hobbit", cooking ourselves a fantastic dinner of breakfast burritos (at midnight) and staying the night right there in  Cedar city.

We looked awful :(

But had so much fun!

 We woke up on Sunday morning and got ready for 11:00 church at a nearby chapel. We picked a keeper of a ward for sure! 80% of the ward was over the age of 80, so us Rust kids felt like we were right back at home in our Overton 2nd ward. The meetings were fantastic! Awesome talks, teachers, lessons and everyone was so friendly!

We even got invited to attend lunch at one of the ward member's house! Blog, meet Jewel Pitcher Skousen, our great-cousin-in-law and wife of Cleon Skousen!

Her son-in-law, Glenn Kimber, sat by Travis in Priesthood where he discovered that we were Skousens! So they invited us over to meet Mrs. Cleon Skousen and then offered us lunch!

Top: Glenn and Julianne Kimber, Jewel Skousen, Rust kids
Bottom: Dallin, Me, Sister Skousen, Travis, Alexa, Natalie

It was so fun to sit and chat with Sister Skousen about Cleon and about our family lines.  Oh man, we ate SO much. We had waffles and they just kept coming and coming and coming! It was an awesome way to spend our Sabbath and to kick off our final leg of the journey home.

We finally got home at about 6:00 pm on Sunday evening. Yes it took three days, but my goodness, they were three of the best days I've ever had! The fact that they were spent with awesome people and that I didn't once have to worry about homework, tests, projects or speeches was just icing on the cake!

Llamado a Servir

It's here it's here it's here!

I am officially and excitedly preparing to enter the mission field after going back and forth, up and down, inside and out for the past several years on this decision.

To go or not to go. The question was always on my mind, and always being asked. The summer before I turned 21, I decided I was going to go home, start my papers and then leave as soon as I could. It kind of seemed like something I needed to "check off the list". However, I just couldn't do it! Everytime I would pick up the phone to schedule an appointment with the Bishop, I just didn't feel right. So the papers were not started and I decided then that the Lord probably didn't want me to go on a mission. I was ok with that to be honest :)

It wasn't but a month or two later when Peru and my internship with the church came into the picture. I decided that I was going to spend a whole semester in Puylucana, Peru serving the most wonderful Peruvian children and then the semester immediately following that in Utah doing a paid internship with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Looking back, I can see exactly why the Lord didn't want me to start my papers at that time. I needed those experiences. They shaped and challenged and changed me for the better. I am much more fit and eager to serve the Lord  because of those incredible experiences and although those were some of the hardest months of my life, I will ever be grateful for them.

Then it was back to school and back to making plans for education, internships and more adventures that I wanted to accomplish before I got married. I seriously had it all planned out. A semester of school, a trip to Ghana. Another semester of school and then working as a special trip leader who takes a group of 17-19 year olds to Fiji and Tonga to do Humanitarian work for 3 weeks at a time. On weeks I wasn't doing that, I'd be an EFY counselor. After a summer of that, I'd head back to Rexburg for one last semester, secure a job working for either the LDS church or a non-profit organization and live happily ever after.

Man, I had it all planned out. My resume and portfolio were flawless, impressive and simply gleaming! I was excited and ready to go.

 Then I consulted the Lord about my plans. . . and then I watched General Conference. I am passionate about doing Humanitarian work. PASSIONATE. I'm always looking into places that have the greatest need, or different organizations that really need my skills and abilities. So when Elder Nelson explained that serving a mission is one of the greatest forms of humanitarian work that we can do on earth, I was sold. I knew right then that a mission was what the Lord had in mind for me as my next great adventure and oh man was I excited!

The "papers" process took about a month ( a month too long if you ask me!) and it was a roller-coaster of a month. Second-guessing myself, cute boys coming out of the wood work asking me on dates left and right, fear, doubt, excitement, love, joy. It was tough, but each time I would pray and read my scriptures, I felt the strength, confidence and desire to keep moving forward with my papers, one step at a time.

Until they were in!

Those 3 weeks waiting for the call were brutal! Knowing that in a manner of days, a piece of paper would arrive in the mail, announcing where I would be spending 18 months. 18 MONTHS! It still kind of blows my mind to think about that.

And on December 6, 2012, that little piece of paper finally came! Here's the video of me and Natalie heading down to the mailbox to see if it was in there. I had checked the two weeks before and even twice earlier that day, so I wasn't positive that it would be in there.

I couldn't believe that it had actually come. We walked up to the temple, just Natalie and I, and tried to make sense of what was going on and what was about to happen. I had talked to lot's of  returned sister missionaries about the moment when they opened their call. I had watched dozens of videos of bawling, screaming sisters opening their call. They all told me that when they read their letter, they all "just knew" that that was exactly where they were supposed to go. They said they felt such peace and such joy! I was soooo excited to finally have this moment of my own. So I opened it. And I read it. And guess what. .  . I didn't feel anything! I didn't feel like they told me I would. To be honest, the first thing that came to my mind was, "wait, are we sure this is MY call? This can't be MINE." It was so weird. I didn't scream. I didn't cry. I just read it, called my mom and dad and then headed back to class.  It took a couple hours for the shock to wear off and for the excitement to sink in. So if that happens to you, don't worry about it! 

 As the day went on, reality hit, in a good way. I am SO excited to serve. SO excited to be able to serve the people in the New York New York North mission in the Spanish language. SO excited to be a formal representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 I have a full semester before I leave for the MTC and am excited for that time that I have to prepare. I've signed up for classes like "World Religions", "Mission Prep" and "Spanish 102". It will be an amazing and trying time for me I'm sure, and I can't wait!

Away in a Manger

This song has SO much special meaning to me. Yes, my name is Noelle. Yes, I love "The First Noel". However, lately, I've been thinking that "Away in a Manger" makes the tippy when it comes to my favorite Christmas carols.

That third verse gets me every time. When I was 18, I got really, really sick and went through really rough time. It was August, so I'm not sure why or how I heard "Away in a Manger", but I did and absolutely fell in love with the third verse.

"Be near me Lord Jesus; I ask thee to stay.

Close by me forever, and love me, I pray."

I remember silently singing those two lines to myself over and over as I laid in my hospital bed, pleading with the Lord to stay close to me. Those lines brought me so much comfort and so much peace and I still can't sing this song without tearing up ever so slightly.

The last two lines of that exact verse have recently taken on new meaning in my life and have become equally close to my heart. I went to Spanish stadium singing a week or two ago and sang this beautiful hymn in Spanish. As I did my thoughts turned to my ninos that I loved and left in Peru.

"Bless all the dear children, in thy tender care,

And fit us for heaven to live with thee there."

It breaks my heart when I think a bout how I may never see my ninos again. How I may never get to hold them, help them, feed them, clean up their cuts and scrapes,  wipe away their tears, sing and rock them to sleep, tell them how great they are.

I will have no idea if Aurora will continue on in  her education and really make something of herself.

 I'll never know if the Marco's polio will get worse and worse.

I'll never know if the seed we planted in Kati's heart will grow and if she'll ever become a member of the church.

 I'll never know their successes, their trials, their achievements, and there is not much that I can do about it.
All I can do is plead with my Heavenly Father to "bless all my dear ninos, in His tender care, and fit us for heaven that I might be reunited, and live with them there."

Knowing that I will see them again, ( and actually understand what their saying ;) brings me so much joy!

Weeds to Wishes

You know what I'm craving?

A little perspective.

That's it. 

I'd like some fresh, clear, well-seasoned perspective.

Who knew that mastering one word could be so hard.

Perspective.

It's all about how you look at it.

I'm on my way.

"How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk"

Sorry guys, this post is not really about how to avoid marrying a meanie... it's a post about some valuable lessons I have learned from my two favorite Abigails. you'll see how the title fits in momentarily.

 This is me, Abigail, and a llama.


One time Abigail checked out a book from the library titled, "How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk". This cracked me up because during our late-night, "I-hope-we-wake-up-in-the-morning-and-don't-freeze-to-death-or-get-kidnapped-or-eaten-alive-by-fleas," talks in Peru, we would often talk about Abigail's fear of marrying a less than nice man (growing up, my mom frowned on the word "jerk" and I just realized how much I dislike saying it... or even typing it for that matter!).

This always reminded me of another Abigail who, unfortunately, lived the fate that my Abigail feared so much. This Abigail married a not very nice man named Nabal. The Abigail in this story, very much so like the Abigail pictured above, was beautiful and intelligent, yet the man she married  was evil and "churlish" (a super cool way of saying he was a big fat meanie), but he was rich!

So I highly recommend you read this story for yourself, because it's fantastic and you can find it here: 1 Samuel 25.  Read it. The rest of this post will make more sense :)

Ok so the gist of the story is:

Nabal is rich and has lots of provisions. David and his people are in a rough spot. David heard about Nabal and sent 10 young men to very politely and kindly greet Nabal and ask him to share some of his goods with David and his people. Nabal had plenty to spare, however he was rude and sent them away empty handed and insulted. This upset David and he decided to seek revenge and prepared to attack and kill Nabal.

Abigail, Nabal's incredible wife, caught word of David's plans and that woman "made haste!". She didn't say a word to Nabal as she gathered tons and tons of food  and hurried out of town to meet David and stop him.

 Abigail intercedes just in time, in behalf of Nabal, saving his life, yet also in behalf of David, saving him from committing a terrible sin. She takes the blame upon herself, "taking the iniquity" upon her own shoulders so that forgiveness could take place between the foolish and the angry. I love, love, love the "type and shadow" in this story about forgiveness, however that's not the direction I want to go today. (P.S. Please read The Peacegiver by James Ferrel, it's incredible and also talks about Abigail's incredible story).

No this post came about because of something that Brother Rowe said at FHE last Monday that really hit me. It was a lesson on judging others and taking the beam out of our own eye rather than commenting on the mote in someone else's.

He said, "It's not about being right, it's about doing right."

This is a lesson I learned at a young age. Growing up in a family of 10 very strong personalities, I found that we cared a lot about having the last word, winning the argument, being "right". Yet, some of those were the most petty arguments, such silly things that had no value, yet we were determined to make sure that the other knew that we were right.

 David and Nabal from the story above were both puffed up with their pride, Nabal's from riches and David's from anger, and they both were out to prove that they were right. Abigail didn't give two cents about who was right. All she cared about was doing right and that's exactly what she did. She didn't argue, point fingers, or even bow out innocently. She was close to the spirit, put her own personal interests aside and did exactly what the Lord wanted her to do.

Mull that one over for a bit. Let it sink in. Where can I apply that in my life? Do I believe it? Do I believe that it's more important to do right rather than be right?

So, dear Abigail, I know you won't marry a churlish man, like our other Abigail friend. But just in case you do... you'll know what to do when he angers some other man who comes ready to kill :)

But I sure hope you won't have to worry about that.

Pituitary

Dear Natalie,

 You are a babe! It's true. Look how pretty! But that is really just the icing on top of the cake. After our nice long chat the other night in the I-center til all hours of the night, I was delightfully reminded of just how awesome you are.

Your confidence astounds me.  How do you do it? You know exactly who you are and more importantly, you love who you are. That is so impressive and I love that about you!

I've always envied your brilliance and I looove to tell people about your ACT score.  Hope that's ok. I'm just so proud that you're my sister!  I also always trust what you say 100% because I just always assume you know everything about everything.

Along those same lines... I always look to you for what movies, music, books etc to like. I just assume that if you like it, it must be good. You always have the best taste in things. It's a refined taste too. You don't like trash.

 I loved growing up with you by my side. Together, we made up "the big girls" in the family. That both united us together and pitted us against each other at times.

 But we always made it work, and we grew out of our insecurities and grew up to be friends.

We've even had our fair share of double dates together. I love it when that happens!

I am so happy that we are finally both up at school together again. It is such a blessing to have my sweet little sister so close to me. Our relationship is not your typical "sister-relationship" but I love it and I love that it gets stronger and stronger.

Thanks for everything love-button. I'm so glad that I get to be your sister. I love you!

Ask BYU-I

I love my job. I love my job so. so. so much.

Partly because I love what I do.

But mostly because I love who I do it with.

Check us out.

Aren't they the biggest goobs you have ever seen?

We had an awesome chip and dip party this week. So. Much. Fun.

We love each other and look dang good in uniform!

Our event of the semester, the Lost and Found sale!

I seriously couldn't ask for smarter, kinder, funnier coworkers.  I work for three hours every morning, but come back and spend every other ounce of my free time at work just because I want to be with these people.

I love them!

More blog posts to come about work I'm sure!

Obsessing Over Favorites

Favorites are tough for me. Yet, despite my efforts to avoid them, they come each and every first day of classes, first date, any introduction etc.

Don't get me wrong, I'm an incredibly passionate person, very capable of liking something a great deal. But that's just the problem... I'm an incredibly passionate person, very capable of liking a great deal of somethings. How could I ever possible pick one "All-time FAVORITE"?

I can't.... but that never seems to be a suitable answer, and I am forced to pick one movie/song/book/season/color/animal over all the rest.

It's a cruel, cruel world.

To counter this, I will admit to something. I don't have favorites, I have bouts of Obsessions: Times when I find something, fall in love with something and obsess over said something for an unknown period of time.

My current obsession you ask?

Guess!

Ok, you'll never guess. It's a super weird one.

For the time being, if someone were to ask me, "Who is your favorite apostle?"
I would, without a doubt, hands down, unhesitantly answer: Elder Richard G Scott!

I absolutely adore him!

Here's why.

I'm in a Teachings of the Living Prophets class. It's amazing. Brother Peck is amazing. Take this class.

At the beginning of the semester we were told to pick an apostle that we wanted to give a presentation on. At first I thought, "Meh, I don't care which one I get, they're all amazing!"

But as I read down the list and my eyes hit the name "Elder Scott", I knew he was the one for me!

I cannot get enough of when Elder Scott talks about his dear Jeanene. He talks about her with the most tender, sincere, loving words. There is not a doubt in my mind that they are completely, totally, irrevocably and eternally smitten with each other. I'm so glad that he mentions Jeanene so often because I love the example he gives of how we should treat those we love. His stories are so stinking cute... and we all know what a sucker I am for stuff like that.

But that's not what I've focused on with this presentation that I gave about Elder Scott, I wanted to know more about her, Jeanene. I wanted to know what kind of a woman she was and what kinds of things she did. Clearly she was loved for a reason, and I wanted to know what it was.

After some research, I've decided that Jeanene Scott is a saint! She was so in tune with the spirit and knew exactly what her family needed to make them happy and strong. She set strict guidelines and rules for herself so that she stayed worthy of that spirit and never got caught up in complaining, slacking or not fulfilling her duties as a wife and mother. She knew what mattered most and her priorities were in line. The more I read about her, the more I just loved her and wanted to be just like her.

She's amazing and it's easy to see why Elder Scott is crazy about her. To learn more about those  two love birds, go here, here or here.

This is one of my "favorite" videos. "Not a spoonful, a whole ladle!"

Ahhhh I love this!!!



Love, Noelle

Happy Halloween??

I have mixed feelings about Halloween. There have been a few times in the past couple of weeks that I have just had huge bouts of love for this holiday. Most of this comes from memories of trick-or-treating, candy sorting/trading and saving up that candy for months and months. I sure did love that.

However, most of my feelings towards this Halloween, I regret to inform you... are negative. Let's just throw this one out there...

I cannot stand to watch "scary movies". I watched my first one a couple of weeks ago, "When a Stranger Calls" and have made a firm and fervent vow to never again give into watching anything of that sort again. I really, truly could not stand it and will have no problem excusing myself from any scary movie situation I am ever in. BLEH!

I guess I kind of like the rush that comes from being scared, when it comes to haunted mills/mazes/houses etc. I am glad that only happens once a year though.

Here are some scenes from my Halloween season this year:

Our Costumes for Janne's pre-halloween party

I dressed up like Cameron for Halloween!

Check out these sweet lego-costumes we found!

On a brighter note, Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner :)

Love, Noelle

"Oh Be Wise, What Can I Say More"

The day has come, my wisdom teeth are no longer apart of me... and you know what? It's been a blast!

November 1st at 10:00am, I went in for surgery and came out feeling like a million bucks!

Right after surgery

They put me under and my doctor told me that as soon as I started coming to, I broke into a medley of "There is Sunshine in my Soul Today", "More Holiness Give Me", "Lead Kindly Light" and "Have I Done Any Good in the World Today".  I was then taken into a room where my dear roommate Kati was waiting for me. She got all sorts of good stuff videotaped in that waiting room. They're pretty funny, not going to lie.

Over all, I was well-tempered, happy, pretty gosh darn loopy, but feeling good! I also desperately wanted to go to work and have apartment prayer..?

I went home and went straight to bed where I took a nice two hour nap and woke up to Hannah and Claire by my bedside, with applesauce, pudding, creamies, cottage cheese and more. Right after that nap was the worst because I hadn't taken my meds beforehand and I was in pain! I was also still really groggy and starving. However, Hannah and Claire were seriously angels and got some food in my stomach, ice on my face, and medicine in my system. I seriously would have just laid in bed for the rest of the had had they not come.

Next came more visitors! My awesome neighbors from 214 and Eric came over to wish me well and bring me a delicious Jamba Juice!

Nap time... again. (P.S. I have awesome dreams when I'm on drugs)

I woke up again to Claire who had made me green mac and cheese (sentimental :) and then more visitors (Kylie, Kelsey, Eric, Dallin, Sierra).

So great! By then I was up and feeling good and wanted nothing more than to go to my brother's softball game in the freezing cold. So I did! I went, cheered my guts out, froze my tush off and had a good time! Mind you, this was literally just hours after surgery, but I had so much energy and was feeling so good.


I did bow-out of the after party at Clark, but that was only because I had a lot of homework to do. So I came home and was greeted to more visitors and stayed up til about 2 doing homework and eating the most fabulous butternut squash soup that Kim had made for me.

Not bad for day one of surgery huh?!

Day 2
I woke up the next day, got ready and headed on campus where I spent 6 hours in the library and in classes. I got so, so much done, but it was not my smartest idea. I didn't eat anything all day and didn't take any breaks. I came home so stinking tired, hungry, in pain and close to tears. I'll admit that there were a few times I almost lost it and just wanted my mom to come take care of me. But I've held myself together pretty ok :)

Lucky for me, my friends know that visitors and social interaction are the most effective medicine for me. I just want to know I'm loved! So I had some surprise visits from Danielle and Angel from work, all three of my siblings and more, all bringing gifts of soup, hummus, pudding, applesauce and other edibles  that I was in dire need of!


And now I'm sitting here thinking, holy cow, getting my teeth out was no big deal and kind of fun! Minus the pain, emotional breakdown and loopiness.

Oh, I almost forgot about the swelling! Day one wasn't bad at all, but those cheeks sure blew up on day two!

Love, Noelle

Run, Run, Run as Fast as you can!

Year two of the Temple to Temple Relay:

Check!

This great tradition was started when our fearless team captain (Shae Hildreth) put together a stellar team of women who just so happen to be some of my best friends! We had SO much fun and although we hadn't trained, nor were conditioned, we took second place in the women's division! Not bad for not even trying :)

Team Be Somebody: Taylor, Claire, LeeAnn, Shae, Noelle, Brittany, Marquee, Kim

This year, we had to switch things up a bit as half our team got married (not that that makes a difference:) but they were MIA.

So I took up the title of team captain and recruited a few newcomers.

Before: Rexburg Temple

Again, it was SUCH a blast. We had so much fun rocking out to tunes, cheering on the sidelines, pigging out on trail mix and granola bars and running our little hearts out.

 I was so impressed with our team who ran the entire 37+ miles in under 5 hours!

That's an average of a 7:45 minute mile.

CRAZY FAST!

Still looking good in IF

Out of 91 teams, we came in 5th in our division. Not bad!

Team Be Somebody: Greg, Kimithy, Ric, Me, Dallin, Jordan, Abigail and April

It was seriously, SO fun and it felt good to be out there running again. If you ever get a chance to do the Temple-to-Temple. You simply must! You won't regret it :)

Love, Noelle

One of the Cool Kids #finally

Ok let's be honest, I still have no idea what the proper use of a hash tag is, so don't expect me to be throwing out too many of them...correctly at least.

In other news:
I did it! I finally buckled down and bought an IPhone. It was quite the ordeal trying to get it actually. But several phone calls and two orders later, here I am blogging from my iPhone (oh PS I stepped on and broke my laptop the first day of school this semester, hence the lack of blogging) and I couldn't be happier! It's so fun and I am a believer! I've had it for about 24 hours now and have barely scratched the surface with this puppy.

However, guidelines must be set. I will not become one of those kids who is constantly on their phone ( although after seeing how much you can do on this thing, I now judge those kids a bit less harshly).

The LDS apps are awesome too, but way before I even bought my phone I decided that this nifty little device will not replace my hardcopy scriptures and I will not be whipping this baby out during my church meetings even if its just to take notes or look up a scripture or quote related to the lesson. I don't even want to have it out because the temptation to use one if its other gazillion functions would be far to great.

Either way, what are your thoughts on such things?

And if you are an smartphoner, what are some of your must have apps? Do share :)

Love, Noelle

Plate-Licker

You guys, I am the most unclassy person I know! Oh my goodness this is so bad....

So I'm at the most adorable wedding reception. It looked like it came straight out of Pinterest. Seriously so cute.  I was also reunited with Claire Ruth Salmons during this classy reception so it was a double bonus!!

So anyways, I'm sitting there eating the most delicious peach cobbler when a dapper young man of oh... 15 years or so, tells me that he's scouted out all the single groomsmen for me and that he'd be more than happy to put in a good word for me! So he points them out to me and tells me that he's going to make it happen.

Not thinking too much of it, I laugh, he leaves and I continue eating this truly delightful cobbler.

Ten minutes or so later, I'm sitting down with Abigail just having a nice chat. It was almost as if I had completely forgotten that I was at a classy wedding and I felt as if I was chillin' in Peru with Abigail again. I was also wishing so badly that I had more cobbler left on my plate, but trying to be strong and not go get another helping of it. So I had made sure that I had eaten every single crum and without even thinking about it, I brought my plate up to my face and gave it one good lick!

Oh my gosh Noelle. Are we back in preschool?!!?!

The next few seconds happened so fast.

All of a sudden I became extremely aware that I had just subconsciously licked my plate and I hurried to set it down, but not before looking up and seeing that right infront of me was standing every single eligible bachelor present at that wedding. That 15-year-old, true to his word, had convinced them to come talk to me... and this is how they found me...

Needless to say the made a quick left turn right out of there without so much as a hello to the clearly uncontrollable, single, starving student in the blue.

And they were never heard from again.

Oh boy, anyone willing to give me a few lessons in etiquette? Or maybe just, How Not to Repulse Boys 101?

Love, Noelle