Thankful

This Thanksgiving I was able to go up to the Poelman cabin up in Bear Lake!

It was so fun! I was able to see my mother's brother Andrew's family and meet my baby cousin Hyrum Spencer for the first time! 

The Boydens, Sheffields, McMullans and my grandparents were also up there!

It was a day of relaxing, taking a walk around the loop, hot tubbing, cooking and eating!

I am so GRATEFUL for family!

The Poelman Family

My Aunt Betsabe, baby Hyrum

My Little Cousins...arent they cute?!

After enjoying Thanksgiving at the Mill, I went down to Logan to spend some time with the Simmons Family, where I ate more pie. 

I then went BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING!! 

And I drove down to Layton, and got AMAZING deals! 

Except when I was coming back to Logan I got a SPEEDING TICKET! I was going 76 in a 60 at 3 in the morning with NO ONE on the road! Luckily he only wrote me for going over 9! Its still stupid! I hate cops sometimes.  It put a serious damper in my weekend. 

I then just went shopping and hung out with my cousin Lizzy! 

On Saturday I slept for 13 hours! Sleep well needed! 

And Sunday I had Chelsea and Jeffery Curtis for dinner!

Theres always ups and downs in life but I am grateful for all my many

BLESSINGS!!

And now I am just ready for CHRISTMAS and to go HOME!!!

Christmas Room!! :)

15 Days and COUNTING!! :)

ROUGH WEEK

MONDAY: had to deal with United Airlines trying to pull a fast one on me switching my non-stop flight to stop in Chicago for a layover....but with the help of my Dad am on a non-stop flight and now get to leave Friday December 16 in stead of on Saturday home!
 TUESDAY: had a block on my account, so I couldnt register for classes, and went on a wild goose chase trying to unblock the account, had to figure out scheduling for next semester. Stressful!!!
WEDNESDAY: Couldnt register for a class, and had to go on a wild goose chase AGAIN to try and  to figure it out why and found out my cute, sweet guinea pig Popcorn died :(
Kind of a ROUGH WEEK but I am SO GRTEFUL for my PARENTS, BROTHERS, ROOMMATES and FRIENDS, who got me through everything!
Luckily THURSDAY: has gone well and I get to see BREAKING DAWN TONIGHT!! SOOOO PUMPED!!!!!! :)

Better Late than Never....

So I'm Finally Posting About

MY BIRTHDAY

I know its 3 months late, but better late than never!

But this year I turned 20!

No longer a teenager! Woot! Woot!!

So my birthday started as any Simmons birthday would with

Breakfast in Bed 

 I had potatoes, fruity pebbles, orange juilus, and french toast!

It was very yummy! And Matthew also wanted in on some of the action!

Then I got ready, and while I was in the kitchen that morning, I was reaching for a book on the kitchen bookshelf and a speaker fell on my head! It really hurt! Bad luck for a birthday! 

Then I went to Tyson's that day with my friend Cory, who I met last year at Utah State, and my friend Chelsea, who is a friend from home and also goes to Utah State. 

I got a fadora, a purple Old Navy sweater, and an H&M blue and lace dress! 

I love shopping so what a better way to celebrate a birthday!

On my way home, it started POURING rain! It was crazy! But I had a birthday party to get to!

For my birthday I just wanted to celebrate with my family and family friends! 

So we had the Anderson, Coleman, Barbini, Baldwin, Robeson, Conklin, and two of my friends Chelsea and Erica. 

I had everyone come over for Costa Vida dinner buffet and we had a small Family Home Evening.  My friend Cody Conklin gave a talk at Youth Conference, that he regave and my birthday party.  It was an amazing talk about staying strong and standing up for what you believe in. 

Then my mother initiated the thought that if anyone would like to say any words of advice, or share  a birthday wish to me they could.  I was so touched by what everyone said.  I have such amazing people in my life! Here are a few pictures of some of them! 

We ended the night with Birthday cake, which was a homemade ice cream cake with red velvet and cookies and cream ice cream. 

 

I am so grateful for my family and friends who love and support me!

It was one of my best birthdays yet!!

Nothing

That has literally what I feel I have been doing. That is why I haven't written in a while. It is so weird being home, going from social all the time--to nada. My family goes to bed early and I have seen wayyyy to much tv! But luckily I have been getting busier. I plan to go to girls camp, and I am getting more employment opportunities which is good! But hopefully next time I'll have more to blog about, I just thought it was about time to check in!

RAW

The Prank War 

Ok so it all started Saturday night when my roommate Kaitlyn 

silly stringed a guy across the hall, Dave.

Dave then retaliated by putting shaving cream all on our sink and in my drawer

(which he thought was kaitlyns)

We then retailated by silly stringing EVERYTHING

Dave then tackled me to the ground and shaving creamed me all over 

We then threw eggs at him

He then put a trash can filled of water and we opened the door and had the

E302 pond....haha

We then the next day put marshmellow cream, cocoa, pickles and oatmeal on his sheets

and he and his roommate Taylor retaliated by putting

180 CRICKETS IN OUR ROOM!

So I ended the prank war.

The hardest part of this, besides sleeping on my mattress in Megan and Macy's room, my room being upside down, is that they don't even feel bad...at all....and haven't even apologized.

And I haven't even laughed about this prank....once. 

And I laugh at everything.

It also sucks because I got accused of gossiping, when inductive reasoning, and multiple people knew and I got the blame for it.

It just sucks when guys you thought were your friends, show their true colors.

I guess the moral of the story, is well, don't start a prank war, but I guess just know who your true friends are, and find the ones who really care about you. 

A Memory to Moms Everywhere.....

Mom

So its not mother's day 

but it is my 

MOTHERS BIRTHDAY! :)

She is 4* (i'll keep the last number a secret!)

But today is a day of mixed emotions.

Today on April 11 40 some odd years ago

my mother was born to my grandparents Lloyd and Catherine.

Their first child. 

I guess thats one connection me and my mom had 

were the first born. 

But I just want to publicly tell my mom how much 

that I love her and respect her.

Me and my mom could not be more opposite

but at the end of the day

I love her. 

She is one of the strongest women I know.

She is a spiritual giant. 

She is so forgiving and caring. 

She is an excellent mother and friend. 

I am so grateful she's my mom!

Though its a happy day and the sun is shining 

it is also a bitter sweet day.

Besides the fact that I am not home to celebrate 

with my mom, my roommate Arielle lost her mother

yesterday to Cancer.

I did not personally know her but 

I could not imagine the loss of a mother.

Arielle is so strong.

And I know her mother is looking down smiling on her.

So as I celebrate this day with my mother

I also remember the loss of a mother. 

So in honor of all mothers but especially Arielle's mother

I put " I Hope You Dance" by Leann Womack 

Rest in Peace

Cindy Simpson

Respect

Respect

A simple word. 

But it means so much.

I've been thinking about this word a lot.

What has the world come to..

When fighting is acceptable

When tearing someone down is fine

When stereotyping is a daily occurrence

When sarcasm blurs to reality.

It seems the world has become an 

angry, hurtful and harsh place.

So I am going to take a stand.

A stand to

RESPECT everyone.

Race. Sexual Preference. Religious Preference. Gender. Age. Looks.

Nothing should matter.

EVERYONE deserves Respect. 

Even when you get treated terribly, you need to respect your enemies. 

I struggle with this but I am making a pledge starting now to do my best to Respect everyone, because they deserve it. 

52 Ain't Old

So today is my Father's 

Stephen A. Simmons

or

SAS

or 

Papa Son

or

 Daddy

Birthday!!!

And I thought I would do a little tribute to him!

First off 52 ain't old at all.  This year my Dad for his birthday asked for a kinect....haha! 

And I got Him a What about Bob? Shirt that is in the movie that reads

"Don't Hassle Me I'm Local".  

What about Bob? is my Dad and I's FAVORITE movie of all time! 

So I'm thinking next Halloween He needs to be Bob...what do ya think? haha! 

But I just want to publicly tell the blog world that I LOVE MY DAD!

He is an example, a spiritual leader, a lover, a friend, a provider, and the best dad ever!

I love you Dad! Thank you for everything you do for me!

A Trip to the Mormon Capital of the World

This past weekend I took a trip down to the B.Y.

or Brigham Young University for you non-mormns. 

I just took a short trip to visit some of my fellow

Virginians. 

Madi Dayton.

Though technically I never knew her in Virginia she has lived in Virginia. 

But I got to she her after she transferred from USU to BYU.

Why she did I don't know but regardless it was fun to see her knew apartment and roommates!

Alison Lewis. 

I love this girl.

Me and her are CRAZY together!

 I am currently trying to convince her to transfer up to USU with me! 

But we may or may not have played truth or dare with these guys on skype and I may or may not have slid down the stairs yelling "chitty chitty bang bang"...I don't know it may have happened..:)

Also most of my weekend consisted of keeping my phone away from her so she would stop prank calling my guy friends...shes kinda crushing haha! 

Megan Bahr!

If it wasn't for this girl I would have been crashing on a couch! Luckily she has an extra bed I was able to sleep on! Except for Alison also slept over so we pushed the two beds together and all three squeezed on the bed! But she also provided me with delicious snacks! I owe her one! I love you Megan!

I love these ladies!! 

I also visited my friend Sam...but unfortunatley I did not get a picture with her :( but I saw Princess and the Frog for the first time with her! And talked about wedding stuff for a good hour! I love you Sam McGann!!

This trip would not have been possible if it wasn't for 

Erica Allen!

She picked me up and drove me back to SLC! 

She is a lifesaver! She wins best friend of the year award! 

I love you Erica! And all our jam out sessions in your car!!

Overall it was a very fun and nice break of a weekend! Now its back to normal life in good old 

Logan Utah. :)

Almost Back to Normal.....

Drama.  That is all its been currently on the third floor of Building E at the LLC.  Girls make up for the emotion that boys lack and boys make up for the common sense, girls sometimes lack.

But after a few fights, a few pranks, a few cries, a few laughs, I think a lot of the tension between 301 and 302 is back to normal.

But this past week.....

Enduring the Cold...

Heading to the gym in the FREEZING cold.  The weather is bitter, and literally I had every part of my face and body covered minus my eyes and it felt like my eyes were frozen!

Lots and Lots of Studying

Midterm time.  Which means EVERYONE has something to study for.  Last Wednesday everyone in my room literally had 2 or more exams that day.  So thank goodness for study parties!!

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!! We went to the grocery store and the fabulous Monica helped create fabulous recipes and we stuffed our faces with food and watched the PACKERS win!!!

Ahh life of a college student...... :)

Es' My Half Birfdayyy

Haha, yeah I'ma dork.  I remember my half birthday! But hey I'm only 6 months away from being 20! Kind of a big deal....haha :) But anyways today is FREEZING! I am determined to transfer to Hawaii. Its just too cold! But anyways, I have two major issues at hand.  First off...I SWEAR I beat myself in the night.  I have all these random scratches over my arm and bruises on my body.  And last night after getting into the shower I looked at my shoulders and there were scratches everywhere.

Do you se that?! What the heck?! If anyone has answers for me that would be greatly appreciated! Its bizarre.....

Secondly, this is a message for all the guys out there! Ok girls can take teasing and tormenting, but when all you do is be a d-bag, you need to say something eventually nice to them so it can reassure them your not a total jerk. Just a word of advice......

Anyways other that its the usual, school, sleeping, eating and working out!! :)

I'm not crazy, I'm just a little Unwell....

Ok, weird blog post title, but I love that song by Matchbox Twenty.  Plus don't we all feel a little crazy sometimes? That we can't break free of our skin? I feel like this is the theme song for my life.  I feel that we all are misunderstood, judged, and if only people really took the time to know us, they would see a completely different person.  I don't know I guess thats my random thought for the day.
Besides that I got my blood test results back, and finally things are looking better, minus my Vitamin D intake, sugar resistance, and thyroid.  But I just hope I'll one day be better.
Ok enough of this depressing talk.  This past weekend was AMAZING!! My roommates Kaitlyn, Megan, Macy and I went down to Park City, UT for the day/night on Saturday.  We got to PC about 6 at night, and walked around the city, got something to eat and then Macy's cousin got us tickets to this sick Sundance party! It was insane! The DJ was amazing, and there were SO many people there.  Then we headed up to Salt Lake after that and went to a Village Inn, and were gonna try and crash a U of U frat party but couldn't find one, we try and be spontaneous :) and we ended up driving back up to Logan, after much debate (Kaitlyn.....).

Macy, Kaitlyn, Megan and Me at Park City

We'll other than that, this past week has been the same old, same old.  Just a bunch of craziness on the thrid level of building E in the LLC.  We are currently in the middle of a prank war, after Kaitlyn and I messed with Dave's phone...so who knows what the boys have in store for us..... But i'll end with a few quotes from the week!!
"I feel like when I take ibprofuen I gain superpowers"- K. Feuer
"It's my virginity and I want it back!" -Will remain nameless for the sake of well...yeah...
" Yeah Park City's down there..."-Megan
"Then why the F are we up here?!"- Kaitlyn

Top 10 Quotes of the Week

10.  "Home alone...life of a college student...home alone!" -DJ
        "Uhh its kind of the opposite"- Taylor
9.   " Where the F is Megan?!"-Kaitlyn
8. " You know what music I'm going to play to put me to sleep? Celine Dion!" -Julia Simmons
7. " A part of me dies inside knowing I can't be a vampire" - E302 girls
6. "Ok I think I might drink tonight"- K. Foy
     "Sweet, I'll whip out the Martinellis and Benydryl!" -Julia
5. "Its like a Chinese soap Opera!" -Julia
4. "He can txt her but he can't take me to McDonalds!!" - Kaitlyn
3. "Guys lets start acting like vampires now..." -Kaitlyn
2. " Theres only one January 15, 2011!!" -DJ
1. Kaitlyn (knocks on Door) "Arn't you gonna invite me in?"
    Taylor: "No cause your not a Vampire!"

The First Few Weeks of the New Semester

Wow. I haven't written forever and it finally hit me that I need to write in my blog when my roommate (mockingly) asked me if I have written in my blog recently...so here I am...lying in my bed (sick of course) writing! But anyways I need to catch up on the past two weeks of the second semester!
So I got back into good old Mormon land on Sunday night and luckily my friend Dave waited and picked me up ( I owe him big time!).  But right as I landed I felt way sick and dehydrated...I blame the altitude difference..and I still have not recovered! Ahh but I need to stop complaining but anyways I walked in to my new room... E302! Me and Dave were the last to arrive...so everyone was there! I love saying hellos after you've had a long goodbye. :) But once I walked in I immediately had to start to unpack and move everything in! Luckily my friend Sydney helped me unpack! But I had to put all my stuff on my roommates Kaitlyn's side.

Needless to say I have a lot of stuff......haha

But my first week of classes went good! My Thursdays hectic cause I go non-stop from 9 to 220..which yes in hind sight not that bad..but when your used to a schedule of leisure...its a long day. haha. But I'm taking Sociology which I really enjoy. Math 1010...ehhh :/,  Creative Arts, which is really easy, Humanities, probably my least favorite class..its about modernism and art.  I don't know not really a fan, but luckily my friend Taylor is in that class! Then I have English, which I LOVE!!  I'm strongly considering changing my major to become a secondary education major in English with a minor in sociology...but its all up in the air!

Well for the past two weeks besides school, eating, homework and working out my life basically consists of hanging out. haha.  But I absolutely LOVE my roommate Kaitlyn.  She's from New York and me and her laugh about EVERYTHING.  We have our nightly "Pillow Chats" and I could never hide something from her.  I just love her to death! And we decided that we needed to start taking pictures everywhere we go. So below our some of our adventures this semester!

Going to the Gym

Snuggies!

We stole Cory's TV and Chair after threatening to block us on Facebook
This was all started over a feud about Vampire Diaries..haha

Me, Brennan and Kaitlyn at the Pike House

Cory, KayFoy and Myself at the Pikehouse

Top Moments of My First Semester as an Aggie!!

So I know I just posted, but I just want to recap my First Semester in COLLEGE at Utah State!!

So one of the biggest moments for sure was MOVING IN!! This was the first step to Freedom!

The next would have to be slip 'n' sliding down Old Main Hill at 1:30 in the morning!! (Picture was taken before we got all messy!)

The next would be going to my first Aggie football game which we WON!!! :)

The next one is probably my favorite thing I did all semester which was hike the Wind Caves at 3 in the morning!!! 

Also going and visiting all my good old Virginian Mormons down at the BY!

Another top one Fo' Sho' would be the PAINT DANCE!! It was freezing cold and my clothes are completely ruined because of it but TOTALLY worth it! Plus my picture made the front page of the Statesman (USU's newspaper)...no big deal :)

Putting a 3rd bed into Madi and Kaitlyn's room, which I slept in quite often...and now I am a permanent member of that room...even though we lost Madi :(

One Monday night, it was the first snowfall up in Logan (in October by the way), and my friend Dave from Cali , was like a little boy jumping for joy over the snow, and we got a group and went up into the Canyon and had  a snow ball fight...which I got completely DESTROYED! (Thanks again Taylor and Brennan....) Oh and the way up there....me, Nate, and Brennan rode in the bed of Dave's truck in like 20 degree weather...yeah were that tough!

Halloween Mini-Golfing was definitely another good night. It was "date night" and I went with my friend Nate. Needless to say...we totally kicked butt at mini-golfing!!

Another high light from October was going to the Logan Temple to do baptisms for the dead.  I was able to go with my fourth cousin on both sides (freaky relation I know) Madi.  When we both heard each other's conformations we both started to cry.  I am so grateful there are such strong young women in my ward!!

One Saturday night, Brennan, Cory and I went to Hamilton's for a dancing, it was way fun, plus I love this picture!

The Howl. Oh the Howl.  For any of you who don't know what The Howl is...apparently it is the biggest Halloween party west of the Mississippi..just sayin! But there was a magician, We the Kings, a constant dance party, games, food, comedians, bands! It was sick! Plus everyone was dressed up for Halloween! This year I went as a biker chick.  Fake tattoos and everything!

In November, we celebrated our friend's Nate's 21st birthday! I baked apple crisp (my Mormon homemaking skills already at work!) The best part of this picture is my roommate Rachel, digging into the apple crisp, when she was supposed to be on the HCG diet....diet didn't go too well. haha Love ya Rach!

Also in November, one Friday Night we went to Cory's hokey game and we WERE the fan section, boys shirtless and all! My friend Lauryn as we walk in was like "Oh goodness there's shirtless guys at this game" and I was like "Those guys are with us". haha!

I also FINALLY went BLONDE this Semester! Even though it was a bit much at first its balanced out nicely! I love it!!

In December, it finally snowed enough and one night we all went out and sledded and skied down Old Main.  The first picture is of me and Sydney getting ready to sled and the next is of my friend Brennan. I love it cause he is looking right at the camera!

Ahh, finally December. Time for Ugly Christmas Sweaters! The first weekend in December we had a Ward Christmas Party with Ugly Christmas sweaters and White Elephant gifts! The third picture is when we had a roommate ugly sweater and gift exchange party!

Then the Tuesday before I left, there was a roommate dinner of 302E, which I will be living in next semester.! I love all these ladies!!

Also these are two random pictures that I gotta add.  The first one is me and Syd chowing down on some candy canes! Perfect for the Christmas Season! Also me and Syd bought our friend Nate those Santa shorts....and seeing him wear them constantly....made my December!!

Finally, this is us cheering (with Martinellis don't worry) to the end of the semester!!

I am so grateful for all the people I have met so far this semester. I am grateful for the experiences and memories I have created.  But most of all I am grateful I am able to go to college and do this. Thanks Mom and Dad! I can't wait for next semester!!!