blog. blogger. bloggest.

Today I am way excited because I just found out that two of my close friends are keeping blogs as well! Yay! I love blogs and friendship! I'm super pumped because now I feel like we have a cute little blogging community.


Sam's blog is here. It's all about her life in Williamsburg, VA. Also, her blog header is my favorite thing. So go check it out.

Claire's blog is here. It's all about her life back home in Missouri. Hers is so cute too- she's so technologically talented! :) Check it out!

Not only am I excited to have these two sweet girls in the blogging world with me, but now maybe I'll actually be motivated to write on a weekly basis. Maybe I'll get to blogging on a daily basis. Maybe.

Moral of the story: they are cute so go read their blogs. Ch-ch-check it out!

Until next time,

XOXO

Mikayla

Nineteen.

Guess what? I am officially 19 years old!! Isn't that weird? What's even weirder is that I'll be 20 next year. AHH. This is a much delayed birthday post, but I've been trying to post on the blog more so here we go. Since I'm 19 and old and stuff, I thought I would post 19 random facts about myself. Because who doesn't love writing about themselves? ;)

1.) My favorite restaurant is Jimmy Johns, hands down. I literally went to Jimmy Johns 1-2 times per WEEK in high school. My parents would look at my bank account information and most of my money went towards Jimmy Johns. I actually haven't had it in like 4 months now because I now live in the middle of nowhere. However, I promised myself that if I can keep my diet going until next weekend, then I can go up to Provo and get Jimmy Johns. So YAY!

2.) I LOVE the color pink and I LOVE sparkly/metallic gold. If you walk into my room, it looks like a pink and gold bomb went off. Someone actually said to me one day "Whoa, I didn't recognize you because you weren't wearing any pink."

3.) I am a total cat person. I love love love cats and kittens. I always have since I was little. I really want to get a orange tabby cat and a white fluffy cat when I finally live somewhere where I can have pets.

4.) I have a lot of favorite TV shows, but I have a list of my top five. I love Desperate Housewives (I've watched the entire series twice and am thinking about starting it again), Friends, How I Met Your Mother, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, and The Bachelor/Bachelorette. Also I just started Scandal, so we will see if I keep liking that.

5.) I have an obsession with painting my nails. My roommates make fun of how often I repaint them. I think I repaint my nails at least once or more a week.

6.) My favorite flowers are pink peonies and dahlias. LOVE.

7.) My weakness is rice krispie treats. Not even the homemade ones, like the ones in the packages that you can buy. So good. My roommate gave me a whole box for my birthday.

8.) F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of my most favorite authors. I think that his writing style is flawless and his word choices are beautiful. The Great Gatsby is one of my favorites.

9.) Lea Michele is one of my biggest idols. I really look up to her and she inspires me so much.

10.) Valentines Day is one of my favorite holidays. I love all the pink and all the cute love stuff that goes on. And hello? Chocolate.

11.) My top five dream roles are Cristine (Phantom), Cosette (Les Mis), Adelaide (Guys and Dolls), Sandy (Grease), and Amber (Hairspray).

12.) I love chocolate with caramel. So I love Twix, Milky Ways, etc.

13.) I have this incredible love for NYC and huge desire to go there. Which is funny because I've never even been there.

14.) I have this dream of planting my own huge flower garden and building a small little cottage in the middle of it for my own personal office/reading room.

15.) I would rather live in a huge city than in a small town.

16.) I love everything and anything Kate Spade. I wish I could buy the entire store.

17.) I am obsessed with BYU basketball, which is funny because I don't normally enjoy watching sports.

18.) I love performing with all my heart.

19.) Salt Lake City is one of my most favorite cities.

XOXO

Mikayla

Admitted.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened up my "Be Smart" app and saw the word "Admitted." on my BYU application. Many of you know (or maybe you don't know) that going to BYU has been my dream since I was in elementary school. I went to EFY for 4 consecutive years at BYU and attended a musical theatre camp for 3 years in a row there too. Needless to say, I fell in LOVE with the campus and atmosphere. I've always known that's where I wanted to go to college. So when I found out I didn't get in the first time I applied, I was devastated. But I knew I had to move on and figure out another plan- so I chose to go to Snow College (which is only an hour away from Provo). I'm not going to lie and say that I had a fantastic experience at Snow because I honestly did not at all. Being at Snow only made my desire for BYU even stronger. Sure, there are some things that I will miss about Snow- the small class sizes, the amazing professors, where I live, etc. But I know that BYU has always been the right college for me and Snow was just too small-town for me. I didn't feel like I fit in at all. So, I decided to apply a second time, not knowing what was going to happen. Needless to say, when I found out I got accepted to BYU I was literally sobbing tears of joy. I don't think I've ever cried that hard just because I was so happy. Now I am officially becoming a Cougar in a little over a month and I am beyond excited.

I went through some old pictures today and found a couple of fun ones of my adventures at BYU over the last couple of summers... 

I think this was my 2nd EFY.  

Same EFY as above picture. The girls in our group decided last minute that we wanted to do something for the variety show. So we stuffed a bunch of pillows up our shirt and danced to the Oompa Loompa dance from Willy Wonka. Haha. 

I spent a TON of time in these dance studios during my 3 years going to YASE camp. Can't wait to go back and take more dance classes as a STUDENT. 

This picture is from my 3rd EFY and is actually taken in the dorm where I am staying! Yay for mattress dominoes!

One of my most favorite EFY counselors ever. Love him to death. 

Third EFY again. In the background is my dorm again. 

Yay for YASE camp. 

Definitely NOT looking forward to walking up these death stairs again. 

Yay BYU!

 XOXO

 Mikayla

comic con.

Going to a Comic Con convention is something that has always been on my bucket list. I don't really consider myself to be a "nerdy" person or a person who is into sci-fi stuff, but I thought that Comic Con would be something fun to experience once in my lifetime. So when my friend Parker asked me if I wanted to go to the Salt Lake one with him and his group of friends, I jumped at the opportunity. I ended up going with my friend Chandlaur, Parker, Nick, and Nick's siblings. It was a good size of group because we could hang out, but some of us would still go off and do our own thing. Comic Con is definitely not for the faint of heart, let me tell you that. I'm not going to lie, it was probably one of the weirdest things I've ever gone to, but I think everyone should experience it at least once in their life. Pictures tend to speak better than words, so here are a couple of pictures I took while I was there.

So one of the big things at Comic Con is that everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) dresses up like some movie, TV, video game, etc. character. These two little girls were dressed up as pokemons and I couldn't get over how adorable they were. 

Also, a lot of celebrities come to Comic Con. Normally they charge you like $50-75 to get a picture with them, but Chandlaur and I got really good at taking secret pictures ;) Here is Christopher Lloyd. (If you've seen Back to the Future, he plays Doc) 

More dressed up people. 

Me, Parker, and Chandlaur

This is Tom Felton. THE Draco Malfoy. I'm so happy I got a picture of him. I was absolutely star struck. Ugh. So attractive. 

Us by some troll things... I think they are from The Hobbit or something. 

Us and R2D2. 

Even more dressed up people. I'm telling you, everyone dresses up. 

And here is the actual car from the Back to the Future movies. Pretty dang cool.

All in all, it was a pretty cool experience with some pretty cool people. If you haven't gone to Comic Con, I recommend that you go at least once- I promise that you won't forget it or regret it. :) 

XOXO 

Mikayla

new years checkup

It's been almost a complete month since I made my new years resolutions, so I figured it was time to do a quick "check up".

Resolutions that are going well: 

1.) Do laundry once a week, on a consistent day. I've been doing pretty good with this. I changed my day from Thursday to Tuesday just because that works better for me.

2.) Magnify my calling. I can already tell that the changes I'm making to Relief Society are going to make a big difference, especially with visiting teaching. I've been meeting with the bishop a lot and have been working towards my many goals with Relief Society.

3.) Get on my knees to pray. Even though I still stay in my bed, I've been doing a good job of kneeling on my bed- so yay me!

4.) Read the Book of Mormon every day for 20 minutes and take notes. I've been proud of myself because there has only been one day where I haven't taken notes. I don't always do exactly 20 minutes, but I do pretty close to that. My main goal with this resolution is that I wouldn't just look up a random verse on my scriptures app really quick and call that scripture study-- so I have achieved this goal.

5.) Visit relatives more frequently. This has been going well too. I have visited my grandparents at least once a week, sometimes more. I've also been seeing my aunt and cousins more often too. The one thing I need to work on is visiting my Grandpa who lives a little farther away more often.

6.) Make an effort to help others feel more included. Well I definitely don't feel like I've made anyone feel like they are not included and I feel like I've been pretty nice/friendly to everyone. So I would say I've done well with this goal.

7.) Keep in touch with old friends. I've done pretty good with this as well. I try to go up to Provo once a month to visit and see friends. I also try to call or text most of my old friends.

Resolutions that still need some work: 

1.) Workout 6 days a week. Okay, this was actually going well at first. Then I got this horrible idea to get Jillian Michael's 7 Day Shred DVD. That was the worst idea ever because I couldn't even walk after 3 days of doing it. I was literally limping across campus. So I took a break from it and then got out of my workout routine. I'm hoping to get back into my routine soon though.

2.) Do 100 crunches a day. Yeah....No..... This should be easy, but I honestly just keep forgetting about it. Maybe I'll make a chart.

3.) Drink at least 4 glasses of water a day. I am getting closer to this one. I've cut out a lot of soda from my diet, so I'm drinking more water than I used to. I think I'm pretty close to 4 glasses, but I need to keep better track of it.

4.) Go to the temple once a week. Okay I'm so mad about this one. I don't want to go alone and my friends are always busy. I have been trying to go to the grounds and sit there and play spiritual music, so that kinda counts. I am going to the temple tonight though, so that's a start.

5.) We don't have visiting teaching completely set up yet, so I have an excuse.

6.) Write in my journal once a week. Yeah, I need to do that.

But hey, 7/15.... That's over half! :)

On another note, I was excited because we had a 3 day weekend last week. All of my friends are from Utah, so basically everyone went home for the weekend. It was kinda nice because I got the suite all to myself (with the exception of 2 of my other roommates). Then, on Monday I drove up to Provo by myself to have lunch with my friend Kelsey and to do some shopping. It was so fun to catch up with Kelsey because I haven't seen her since graduation! Of course shopping was fun too-- I got all sorts of fun goodies for myself. So last weekend was super fun- I love living in Utah and I LOVE Provo so much.

Here's to another great weekend and the motivation to work on my resolutions. Cheers!

XOXO

Mikayla

new year, new me.

"New year, new me" is a phrase I have been hearing a lot since December 31st. At first I laughed at this overused, cheesy phrase, but then I began to make a list of goals for myself and realized that my goals fall in line with the "new me" statement. It's definitely been a while since I last posted on this blog. So long that I have now finished my first semester of college and am about to return for my second semester. I had a good semester overall. I learned a lot, made some great friends, had a lot of fun, and experienced the pros and cons of living on my own. Granted, there are a few things I would have done differently. But, hey, that's what New Year's resolutions are for, right? I'm the type of person who needs to have things listed out and planned in order for them to be successful. So I present my 2015 resolutions.... (which I will organize into categories) 

PHYSICAL 

- Workout at least 6 days a week. It doesn't matter if it's a 10 minute run or a 45 minute ab workout, it just needs to be done. 

- Do 100 crunches a day. This doesn't count as my workout for the day- this is just something extra that I'm forcing myself to do. 

- Drink at least 4 glasses of water a day. I know the minimum amount is 8 glasses, but I'm trying to create goals that are realistic for me so I'll start off with 4 and increase it later. 

- Do laundry once a week, on a same consistent day. I've decided that my laundry day will be Thursdays from now on. 

SPIRITUAL 

- Magnify my calling (I have tons of ideas on how to do my job better, but that would be an entirely different blog post. Don't worry though, they are written down elsewhere) 

- Get on my knees to pray. I have a problem with not wanting to get out of my bed to pray so I literally lay there and fold my arms. No wonder I have problems falling asleep in the midst of a prayer. 

- Go to the temple once a week, consistently. I have a temple only 5 minutes away from me, I should be taking advantage of that. 

- Read the Book of Mormon 20 minutes a day and take notes. 

- Do visiting teaching once a month. I should be setting the example for this, but I've been bad about it. Whoops. 

- Write in my journal at least once a week.

SOCIAL 

- Visit grandparents and other family members consistently (Manti grandparents once a week, South Jordan grandparent once a month) 

- Make an effort to make others feel more included. 

- Keep in touch with old friends. 

Here's to 2015- a new year and a new me.

XOXO 

Mikayla 

high school wasn't so bad

Today marks 10 days until I head to college... I seriously am in disbelief. I've been waiting for this moment my whole life, but I feel like it came quicker than I expected. Thinking back, I was so ready and am still ready to leave high school, but it wasn't nearly as bad as some people make it out to be. Don't get me wrong, I definitely had things that I absolutely hated about it, but I had a pretty great experience overall. So, since I'm in a reflective mood right now, I decided to make a list of my top 5 favorite things about high school.

1.) SHOW CHOIR. 

This is the first thing that pops into my head every time I think of good memories about high school. Though it seems silly now, show choir was my everything. It was what I looked forward to every year, where most of my friends came from, my serenity, my passion--I can honestly say that it was my absolute favorite part about high school. There were definitely times when I hated it or when the drama was ridiculous, but the negative things don't even compare to all the positive things that came from me doing it. I became ten times more confident than I was before and it helped to guide me in deciding what to do in college. So yes- show choir was my #1 favorite thing about high school.

2.) The choir room. 

You might be thinking "she just said something about choir, why is she continuing?". Honestly, I had to make the choir room my #2 just because of the peace it provided me throughout my high school years. All of the choir/show choir kids had their own cubby in the choir room, so I never actually used a locker because I always had that. So obviously I came in their quite often because that's where I kept all of my belongings. But I looked for an excuse to go in there every chance I got. I LOVED the choir room. It was the one place in the entire school where I felt safe, calm, and felt like I could be myself. I know it sounds so cheesy, but it really is true. Anytime I was having a bad day, I would walk into the choir room and instantly just feel a rush of relief. There would almost always be some random kid playing the piano or sometimes no one would be in there and it would be so quiet and peaceful. I'm rambling now, but the choir room seriously was and will always be my favorite place in my high school.

3.) My friends.

Obviously I wouldn't have been able to survive high school without some really good friends. And I was blessed with some super outstanding friends. It was fun because I always had 2 main groups of friends- I had my show choir/choir friends and then my church friends. I never felt like I hung out with one group more than the other because I constantly was around show choir people and I always ate lunch with my church friends or saw them at church. The beginning of senior year was so much fun because my church friends and I hung out together literally every single weekend. You know how most friends in TV shows have a "spot"? Like in "Friends" it's "Central Perk" and in "How I Met Your Mother" it's "McClaren's Pub"? Well towards the middle of the year, the library became our "spot". We met there every morning before school and the half hour after lunch. That spot was home to a lot of our crazy activities- poker, chess, Ripley's Believe it or Not books, prom date planning, and sometimes some deep talks. I will never forget all the amazing friends I had in high school- they truly helped to make my high school experience so great.

4.) The teachers who I loved so much. 

My high school was home to some really really amazing teachers that I was so lucky to have. If I had to list off teachers who I geniunely loved and learned a lot from, I would say Mrs. Perry, Mrs. K, Mr. Pierson, and Mrs. Sulze. All of these teachers changed my life in some way and they were honestly some of the best teachers I have ever had. They all really cared about their students and were passionately about the subjects they were teaching. I have a strong belief that, if the teacher doesn't show a passion toward the subject, then it will be a lot harder for them to teach the students. I hope I get as good of professors in college because those teachers were honestly so amazing.

5.) Bosco Bread Sticks

This is going to sound crazy, but I actually liked the high school cafeteria food. Not going to lie, I definitely got sick of eating it after 3 years, but it really was not bad. My most favorite thing was their bosco bread sticks. (If you don't know what that is, it's just breadsticks with cheese in the middle). My lunch almost every day was bosco bread sticks, broccoli, carrots, ranch dressing, and a cookie. So healthy, I know.... but so so good. I'm craving one right now.

Even though I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that high school is over, I am so excited for the future. I'm anxious to see what fun memories are in store for me and to see where life takes me in the next couple of years. Cheers to graduating high school and for moving on, even though it is sad!

XOXO

Mikayla