The Return of a Roommate

Our old roommate and our dear friend, Kaytlin, came to visit us last weekend!!! We had so much fun with her swimming (on Saturday it decided to be super hot), watching movies, eating at Cafe Rio & Sammy's, playing ERS, Speed, & Snarf, and just hanging out! Snarf is a card game that I was just barely taught. We started out playing Speed, our most intense game. When Snarf (or Nerts, or Pounce, or whatever) was brought up, we decided to play that. Oh. My. Goodness. That is such a fun game! Everyone should know how to play it, even if you don't like games very much (which I think is one of the craziest thihngs I've heard).. I'm so glad we could see our friend this weekend, and she is so amazing, we just wish she could stay we wish she would stay here and be our roommate once again!! She could commute up to Utah State when she has classes, I think it sounds pretty good. :) It was nice to catch up with Kaytlin, and  I'm so glad we got to see her again!
Our second visitor was a spider. Only the second one of the semester, and it was so big! Or maybe we just exaggerated it, but I don't think that's the problem here. Spiders are some of the creepiest things on earth, and this was scary. It's only the second spider we've found in our apartment all year, since August. And the other spider, we had to call on our FHE brother to come help us out! Let me tell you, it was tiny compared to this one.
Anyway, we love you Kaytlin! Hope to see you again soon! :)
Love,
Nicole

The Torture Schedule

As Maddie posted, we're going to be starting the Lazy Iron Man! In a moment of insanity we decided that this would be a good idea, so we vowed to sign up for and complete this journey.
Like Maddie, I feel that swimming will be the hardest part for me. I'm posting our schedule for you so that you can be aware of what torture is being endured each day, and when you look, you'll see that we're going to swim a half mile each time we swim. That may not sound like much, but that's 34 laps in the pool!! This is going to be quite an interesting endeavor for us...
We'll keep you updated on our physical progress and on our level of motivation as we accomplish this goal!
Cross your fingers and wish us luck!
-Rachel

Initiation of torture: The Lazy Iron Man

Rachel and I have decided to embark on a rather crazy challenge starting March 1st: The Lazy Iron Man!  2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles to bike and 26.2 miles to run.  Now of course we aren't going to do this all in one day... we're not THAT skilled, though I'm sure we may look it! ;)  We have  a month to complete it and we're pretty excited.  We have been taking a weight class this semester that has helped inspire us to be more fit.  Lucky for you guys we're going to update you on our progress each week.

The hardest part for me will definitely be the swimming part of it because I kind of feel like a whale with no fins.  My brothers may be pro, but I don't think I got the "fish" gene the rest of my family seemed to inherit!  I can't wait to see how we improve each week, it's going to be a challenge, but the reward at the end will be well worth it!

Love,
Maddie

Doing Speed!!! (The game, silly)

Tonight we started playing speed (the card game), and we kind of got addicted. In fact, we got so into it that we invited Lindsay from downstairs to come have a tournament with us. We found out that if you play speed while listening to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack, you become much more competitive, and there is a lot of yelling. If you play it while listening to Jaws, it's actually pretty frightening.
We also played Egyptian Rat Screws, which is like a game of War on steroids, and can go on forever, especially if you use two decks of cards... Yes. An hour long game of "HA!"s and "AAAAH!"s... it gets a little crazy. Lindsay won that game, and Maddie won the speed tournament. Good job, ladies!
We also made about a thousand peanut butter cookies today, which were amazing, and we had our home teachers over, and Nicole spoke in church and did a wonderful job (Good job, girl!), and, well, let's just say that it was a good sabbath day.
Segway: Guys, the gospel is true. Today we sang hymns in sacrament meeting, and I felt the Spirit confirm to me that this is the true and everlasting gospel. We also discussed the Holy Ghost in Relief Society, and that was a very powerful lesson. Anyway, it's amazing to be able to go to church every week and leave on a spiritual high.
Today was a great day, and we had so much fun together!

-Rachel

This is just the beginning...

So... we are the girls of Apartment 263: Nicole, Maddie, and Rachel. Today we watched Julie and Julia and we were inspired to start our own blog, filled with our adventures here at BYU. Here are some things you should know about us.

Nicole- I came to BYU this past fall not really knowing what to expect. I had no idea if I would fit in here or if I would completely stand out. I came here without rooming with anyone I know, which was really a great choice because I had the chance to meet these amazing people! We didn't have Rachel in our apartment last semester, we had Kaytlin instead (who is also so much fun to be around!), but we are happy to welcome Rachel this semester! Anyways, I'm from a suburb Northern California, and have to say that I am loving the Provo lifestyle! It's a great city. I've found out recently that Provo is my home now. We've had a lot of adventures so far, we just didn't have the place to write them until now...Can't wait!

Maddie- I have crazy curly hair... which leads to an equally crazy personality!  I love having fun and doing new things with my friends.  I came to BYU with NO intentions on getting married, and thus far I've done excellent.  It has definitely been a big challenge to keep up on school work and my job, but my roommates and friends have helped me to focus.  I love my roommates and the girls that live below me.  They are the sisters I never had.  I love cooking, bowling (though I may not be very good), eating ice cream and every other sweet and yummy thing, and watching movies.  Provo isn't very different from where I'm originally from, but it's still nice to be around so many people who share my beliefs.  Can't wait to share all our crazy adventures with you!

Rachel- Hey! I'm from here in Provo, but I moved out in order to meet new people, and to really get immersed in college life. I lived in the same building complex last semester, but when Kaytlin transferred to a different school, I seized the opportunity to room with a couple of my best friends! I love to play the guitar and the uke, and I also LOVE to sing. I also love to cook, take photos, browse Pinterest, throw parties, and go on fun adventures! I love BYU, and by coming here, I've really learned to incorporate the gospel into every aspect of my life. I've also learned a lot about who I am and how I like to do things. I'm grateful for my family, and I have a strong testimony of Jesus Christ. WE think our lives are pretty exciting... Let's see if YOU do! Hope you enjoy!

Welcome to Apartment 263.