Virginia is for Lovers

I have been informed that I need to do a better job updating my blog. So here goes.... the past three and a half weeks in one blog post. Prepare yourself for an onslaught of photos....

SVU has a LOT of activities going on. This was the first dance we went to, just a couple days after getting here. Can you guess our school colors?

The next evening was our first football game of the season! It was a home game and I THINK we won. I met Colin after the dance, and he promised he would remember the names of my friends and me. He did, surprisingly.

There's not a ton to do in BV (that's Buena Vista, pronounced Byoo-nuh Vi-stuh), but if you have friends with cars (like Tiffany who, by the way, has the best southern accent you have never heard) you can get out and perhaps hit up a mall. Don't we look so grown up?

Turns out my next-door neighbor, Kasia (the one in the middle) was also basically my neighbor in Michigan... Our stakes went to the same dances. She's pretty amazing.

The social life is great, but all the comings and goings do make it a bit difficult to really buckle down and study...

So Colin is fierce, but I'm rather strong myself... so I can keep him pretty much under control (relatively speaking...) and we make quite a cute couple, if I do say so myself (which I just did).

Our ward has the best family home evenings. Water balloon volleyball, telephone charades, speed dating, and a paint war. The beautiful daughter of Zion pictured here is my amazing roommate, Emma!

Flashback to childhood, we spent a Sunday afternoon jumping off of beds onto mattresses and piles of blankets. We were blaring church music rather loudly, so it was okay.

While our beds were ripped apart, we decided we may as well rearrange... Sariah's bed is on the left, Emma's is on the right, and mine is the one that's up super high in the middle, mainly because I'm so tall. It's also very effective in the mornings-- after getting down from there to turn off my alarm, I really have no desire to climb back up. So I get ready for class. Put on clothes and stuff.

Emma and I went to church that day practically matching. We're adorable. And so I decided that we needed to take advantage of the fortunate situation and take roommate pictures.

Emma, Me, Sariah. Yeah, we're the cool crowd, basically. And it's not JUST because we're all super good-looking.

We did, however, have to grunge down before the day was over (yeah, it was an eventful Sunday)... Emma had always wanted to go dumpster diving, and I wanted to look for my lost wallet, soooo.....

WE WENT IN!! Our friends were skeptical....

While it wasn't all THAT bad, considering the nature of the activity, it was still pretty gross, so I hit the shower. Someone else seems to have had the same idea.

And that brings us to today.... I'll try to post more often! In the meantime, check out Elephant Shortcut, a super cool campus band. They're on iTunes!