holy cricket!

i officially have been accepted to Great Britain study abroad summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if you can't tell i am sort of (REALLY) excited about this. it starts in june and goes til august! i get to live right in the heart of london (picture below) in a flat next to hyde park!!! we are in classes monday-wednesday and get to travel the rest of the week. as a group we go ireland, scotland, wales, and york then some weekends we are allowed to travel wherever!!!!!! and to top this all off one of my best friends cydnee is coming too! i can't even wait. and guess what? ill blog like crazy over there too. cheers!

Hyde park...my future neighboor.

london...need i say more?

York
\

Scotland

Ireland

Wales

a new tradition.

for the third week in a row, cydnee and i have had our friday sleepovers. no matter where we are before sleep time or what we are doing, we have a friday sleepover. usually in my basement with tons of pillows and blankets and lots of chick flicks. its turning out to be a great tradition. gotta love college.

p.s. if you would like to taste heaven (or as i call it, christmas in a cup) drive your little self down to sonic and get diet coke with cranberry with FRESH limes and you will love it.

on my mind right now...

snowah.

i think thats a good combo of the two things i am thinking about at this moment. if you are smart enough you may be able to decode it.

xoxox

Tis the season...

I CAN NOW LISTEN TO THIS WITH NO SHAME!!!!!! ITS OFFICIALLY CHRISTMAS MUSIC SEASON...thats not to say I haven't been listening to it since October though :)

enjoy!!!

also note how precious JT is here in his NSYNC days.

if you had the best weekend ever, raise your hand.

consider my hand raised.

i am too lazy to blog at this moment so i will simply do a small picture journal of my weekend with a few comments. enjoy all.

first of all, isn't he cute? he's still doing great and loving el salvador and EVERYTHING about his mission. i started my week of with a tape and a letter...always fantastic

whit and i after church, freezing our butts of in the snow!!!!!

the fabulous harry potter party, thrown at cydnees (to see all of the sweeeeet decorations and treats check out her blog!) sadly i didn't have any clothes to dress up in.

we went to the paint party in provo and after 2000 squirt guns filled with paint were handed out this is what we ended up looking like. so cute right? well at least it was a great time no matter how haggard we look right here.

welp, hope you had a great weekend too. until next time. xoxoxox

pizzalicious.

here's to being pizzalicious.

baking our own pizzas.

opening our own jars of pizza sauce.

eating cold pepperonis because we want to.

then eating more after we ate our pizzas.

oh and also taking photo booth pictures with our hot pizza pan.

-->don't mind that it is black and white on account of that makes EVERYTHING and EVERYONE look better. no matter if you aren't wearing makeup or if you're wearing scrubs.

*if you wanna see a more of this little lady check her out here

smashed car=new bumper

sooo ladies and gentlemen. someone smashed into the back of my car on wednesday. i was just sitting in bajio in orem minding my own business when aman came in and said "who drives a black nissan?" i sadly stood up and walked outside. "i just backed into your bumper" he said. backing into a bumper consists of a small dent maybe a scratch or two right? wrong. he didn't just "back into my bumper" he punched a hole and pulled off half of it. after i recovered from the shock of an entire chunk of my bumper laying on the ground i realized, this is actually good. he is paying for a new bumper. brand spanking new. because hello what else can you do with a hole in your bumper. the good news about this is...i may or may not have backed my car into a cement trash can 2 weeks after getting it, so there might be a bunch of scratches on the other side. which after monday will be GONE. so yes i am driving around with a hole and everyone can see the inside of my car but, in a few days she'll look brand new again. look at me, finding the silver lining.

p.s. i might've just been stalking the mailman from my kitchen and he might've just seen me watching him out the window. don't worry though. still no letter. 2 weeks. okay i'll stop complaining, i promise.

stupid love songs

taylor swift really gets you with her songs doesn't she? it just reminds you of love and of cute boys and especially of cute boys you miss. dang you taylor swift and your great love songs...looks like i'll be listening to this album for a while. thanks a lot.
*i actually really like it aside from my sarcastic comments above*

study fest.

these girls are the cutest. we are studying in our own study room that we reserved. we also may or may not be listening to destiny's child while blog stalking. but mostly homework. alright. gotta get back to my girlzzz (yes i just said girlzzz)

xoxoxo

good times :)

i love this girl. haha we have some really great times together. it's the best. i just thought i'd let you know. xoxox

p.s. we are holding our phones in this picture because we both have missionaries out and they are both our phone backgrounds...i know haha its embarrassing.

snail mail.

The mail man might as well put this sign on my mailbox. Maybe then he wouldn't get sick of me asking everyday "um, hey. any mail for number seven?". Yes, I run outside when I see the mail man coming, its getting embarrassing. Today I walked out and before I could say anything he said "no mail number 7!". Thanks for the efficiency. 3 weeks, no letter. I know I sound very very dramatic but I'm dying over here. El Salvadorian mail people, please send that letter faster, also don't lose it. Thanks so much!

smile :)

everyday i wake up and see this little beauty sent via a package from the mtc before elder cook left for el salvador...guess there weren't many resources. i love it. makes me smile :)

one week down.

so this little cutie has been in el salvador for a week and he is already loving it. it is so fun to get to read about what he is doing and how happy he is. elder cook is a great example and i know all the people will love him, and not just because he is a "gringo" :) enjoy this little snipit and adorable photo.

LAtins love gringos- so i have found out pretty quickly that the people here love the white guys! a few days ago we walked by this mechanic while he was under this car working on it and somehow he saw me and say HELLO! haha! i was so surprised! he saw me, got out from under the car and came over to talk to me! his english was pretty good actually! we talked about oregon for a little bit. he sais he worked there for a couple years and i guess thats where he learned english. that same day me and elder sanchez were walking and a bunch of chicas drove by in this little pick up, saw me, pulled over and they all whistled and yelled at me like i was zach efron or something! haha! it was hilarious and my comp died laughing! also, all the members get so excited when they see COOK on my name tag about 15 people have asked me if my grandpa is quentin L cook of the 12! haha!

My area- Right now we are in an area called Alta Vista. It is pretty sweet! i love it here the people are so nice even though nobody speaks english. It is about 45 minutes by bus ouotside of downtown san salvador! The people here are so unbeleivably poor! or at least thats what i thought the first couple days i was here in alta vista. and then the rest of the elders in my zone told me that this is probably the second nicest area in all of el salvador! HEYYYYO!!! crazy! a lot of the houses here are like ours. super tiny with one bedroom a tiny family room and a ´kitchen´. in other places people live in little tiny metal sheds!

I'm so proud of him. note to el salvadorian chicas: no whistling please :), thanks.

miss this boy but i wouldn't want him anywhere else.

love.love.love.

this has been my theme song for the week/month/will be for the year. i love it. a lot.

enjoy :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlFCfkyuQM0

my utah mamma.

since my mom is so very far away in arizona i have found one to be my utah mom and take care of me, and i take care of her. we are each other moms! haha it is my roommate lauren cole. she is the greatest. today i went straight from work to school and didn't have time to eat so i would've been gone without eating from 9-5 and she went and bought me a sub from subway and brought it all the way to my class. i just love her! and yesterday she was going to be late to school so i drove her up to her class and picked her up from the library today so we could go get some delicious apple cider from starbucks. she's the best and just what i needed. a little mom.

-no i am not one of those typical girls that cries about how great my roommate is and how much i love her hah but she is great and i do love her.

p.s. side story: lauren and i used to be best friends in the sixth grade then we moved and it was very traumatic. sadly we didn't stay very much but we were reunited in utah at byu and we are now roommates! wow. the best.

my homework last night.

so elementary education is thee best major of all time and it has the greatest classes ever (so i may be a little biased) but after i tell you my homework i am sure you'll agree. last nights homework consisted of reading two whole books! ahh sounds scary right? nope! the books i needed to read were two picture books of my choice. so, i went to the library and found one that i thought looked really cute and then i went to kalyn's aunts and found another. i would highly recommend both books to anyone (especially someone with kids). they are "Cinder Edna" and "How are you peeling?".

Cinder Edna is a cute book about Cinderella's next door neighbor who has the same trials that Cinderella does but she handles them differently and works with a smile! It is such a cute story and could be used in anyones life to teach them how handling trials differently will present different outcomes, some good and some bad.

How are you peeling? talks about different feelings people can have and shows these feelings with different fruits and vegetables. It is an adorable way to show that everyone has different feelings and it is okay to have different moods!

My teacher is amazing! She is a little grandma and she has her doctorate and is very smart but she wants us to call her Miss Julie because she is still a preschool teacher! I love her!! I am so glad I chose this major! Happy day :)

have you ever...

have you ever had a best friend that would do anything for you.

that would call you just to see how you are.

that knew your favorite treat and would bring it on a bad day.

that knew your favorite movie and would put it on just to make you smile.

that would go to a tulip festival just because you wanted to.

that made you smile just by saying hi.

that made you laugh until you cried every single day.

that let you cry because you forgot your homework, even though it wasn't a big deal.

that took you to dinner on wednesdays just for fun.

that wrote a to do list when you were stressed out because its the only thing that helps.

that drove your car because you both knew you weren't a good driver.

that would never say you were a bad drive even when it was true.

that went to the library and sat with you for hours even when they didn't have homework.

that turned the heat on & sat in the car for 10 minutes before you came out because it was cold.

that gave you their jacket when they had short sleeves on and you had a sweater.

well, lucky for me i have :)

p.s. sorry for all the sappy posts, don't worry this is most likely the last.

el ed.

i know elementary education is right for me when i get sad to leave after my hour volunteering in a first grade class and stay 45 minutes extra every time. i love it!! this year i help during reading and writing time and half of the time i spend with a little boy that came from china last year, he speaks a little english and we work on reading. it is the best. favorite first grade quote of the day: "ouch! you kicked me on accident and that was on purpose." oh, the fights that start on the reading carpet.

xoxo

ringggg, ringggg.

I could barley fall asleep last night, I was so excited for one little phone call that came in today. Elder Cook left the MTC today and headed south for El Salvador. I kept my phone glued to me all day and when it finally came I was shaking and could barley answer. It was the best thing that has happened since I have been up here! I got to chat for about 45 minutes then he had to go, bittersweet. It was just like I had seen him yesterday, we talked exactly the same, still best friends and always will be. I am so excited for him. I know he will love it down there and that he will bless so many lives with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I can't wait to hear all about it. Keep him in your prayers :) I love you Elder Cook!

blogger.

this is a post about chloe rose cook. she's cute.

this is a post about peri cook. she's cute too.

new week, new goals.

goals are good. goals are great. i decided i'd have eight. (no, one wasn't to rhyme all the time)

my thinking process is maybe if i write them on a blog i'll have to follow through with them, and actually accomplish something. i can do it. i can do it. i can do it.

1. read my scriptures everyday before homework

2. finish all my homework BEFORE sunday

3. go to the temple this week

4. go running every single morning this week

5. vacuum the house

6. don't spend money (except for necessities such as gas)

7. stretch for 20 minutes per night

8. serve someone new every day

ill let you know in a week how this goes...it'll be great, i'm sure.

p.s. took off another link today. only 21 more fast sundays!!

dear...

I wait all week for one of these babies. and i LOVE getting them. thought i'd just share :)

i'm back.

hey all. sorry it's been so long. i have been super busy and super distracted. but don't worry i am officially back. and in utah and in a new apartment and making new friends. and driving by the mtc. and starting school. i am so happy to be back! it is good to start a new semester and to get back into the swing of things. it is definitely a good distraction from missing a certain missionary. tomorrow will be 1.5 months down. and the 2nd fast sunday without him. only 22 more of those to go. i can do this.

guess what?!

i have no school on monday! but i am not really needing one yet. it will be nice though.

also...

i got a new job! i am the new sales lead of gymboree at university mall. come visit me! i start next week. too bad i don't need the discount. maybe ill make some little purchases and save em for later? who knows. but anyways. i am so so excited!!!! i'll be makin mula again! woo woo!

finished with classes. starting finals.

its over. the classes are done. i will not have one more class being a freshmen. ever again. unless i go to law school. which im very much thinking about. but are you a freshmen there? or first year? hmmm. i don't need that knowledge yet. but anyways. yes, done. finished. over. and yet i still have three finals to take. lucky for me only three but...i HAVE to get all a's on them. ill let you know how i do...or maybe i won't. just know if i don't write about it, they weren't worth writing about. so here's a little sneak peek at my schedule for the next four days.

wednesday.

-library from 11-5 with lunch somewhere in between. or not.

-suns/jazz game with nc :)

thursday.

-study group for stats 9:30-?

-library study time from ?-3:45

-review session for stats 4-6

-eat dinner.

-study more.

-go to sleep:)

friday.

-library from 10-2

-study group for BOM 2-4

-study a little more for stats.

-do something that has nothing to do with studying and is fun.

saturday.

-get up at some time.

-study some more stats.

-take stats final. get an a. pleaseeee.

*the end of my week :) enjoy yours.

nothing new. except...

i know this cute boy. his name is noah. the end. :)

tiny planes.

<--actual size i believe.

i am at this moment sitting at the salt lake airport waiting for my flight to california to join my mom and nana and sister and her cheer squad at disneyland. im so excited. but i am getting a little nervous sitting at gate e83...which by the way is on the very bottom floor. i have to walk out a door right up to the plane and walk up little stairs to the door. the plane i believe i am getting on has only 12 rows. yes 12. its so small. hopefully it doesn't blow away in the wind. well...wish me luck on my dangerous tiny plane. ill write more about my fantastic california trip. xoxoxo.

stupid alarm.

what is going on?!?!?!?!?!?! my alarm hasn't gone off for the past two days! i have even been super careful to make sure it is set and set one on my phone so it would go off when i needed it to. but noooooo it won't go off. why? is this a joke? if it doesn't go off one more day i will be so mad. i seriously thought about smashing it this morning when i woke up in a panic. i hate alarms. sorry this post is so not uplifting but seriously...somebody fix it!!!!!!!!!!

french fotos.

yes, i realize foto is spelled wrong...the f just looked so much better with the french. so today on this lovely sunday afternoon...it should still be morning no thanks to daylight savings. sheesh.but anyways, on this lovely sunday kaLyn and i decided to take some great antique photos of ourselves. here it is. just a little picture treat for you all. also. it snowed yesterday. isnt it supposed to be spring now? hmmm. utah is just so confusing with this daylight savings and winter til may stuff. only 2 more months and im home to az.

xoxoxo

try it yourself...its a great time

http://www.laphotocabine.com/

temple tuesdays.

my favorite day of the week. tuesdays. every tuesday kayln and i TRY to go to the temple. today was a great day. only took 30 minutes. then we made a stop at sonic and made a delicious dinner. extra healthy. also we got a front row spot at the temple which was fantastic since it was raining. yes raining. it was to say the least PERFECT a great day. starts my week off amazing. hopefully i can just get all my homework and tests done.

new favorite song.

i just cannot get enough of this song. i love it so much. it has been playing all day. i also love joshua radin...any of his songs.

Paperweight- Joshua Radin and Schuyler Fisk.

a little donation

I donated BLOOD today!! I am really proud of myself for this...i have finally overcome my fear of needles. its official! My old self was terrified of even getting a shot and now I am donating like crazy! Ok so not crazy exactly but I have donated 2 TIMES this year!! Woo woo! The needle in my arm doesn't hurt anymore but the stupid finger prick still hurts. Yes, I have to have someone talking me through the whole experience but it turned out good:) I did it! I did it! I did it! I made a little difference today :) So go...donate blood. If i can do it ANYONE can!

"The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache."

-Marjorie Pay Hinckley

A quote to live by...it is my new favorite! I have decided I am going to be more like this.

Who doesn't want to laugh? I'm sure we could all use some more happiness in our lives.

I want to look back and have no regrets...I want to make the absolute best about the life I've been given.

There is so much I have to be grateful for and nothing to be sad about because I know no matter what...

"It will all work out"

So I start today...everyday is a new day so I'm going to make it worth it.

Just...laugh :)

look a likes.

so i found this little picture and this week i've been told 4 times i sound like and look like lindsey lohan so...here she is. any resemblance??

-please ignore the braces and fat face of seventh grade. i think i was like 4'10" here.-

It will all work out...

I love this quote, it is taped up to my wall in my room. I see it everyday and everyday it reminds me to focus on Christ. This has helped me so much in everything I do. From school work to scripture study I have found myself looking more to the Savior and remembering what He did for all of us. "Don't worry...It will all work out".

"It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us...If we will put our trust in Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers".

-Gordon B. Hinckley

a date with mr. bean.

dates are great. especially when they are cheap.

on this fabulous tuesday evening. (great for date nights)

noah and i decided to go on a little date to the bean museum.

yes, a free date.

a museum filled with stuff lions and tigers and bears. oh my.

even a liger.

we ended the night with a little frozen yogurt topped with fruity pebbles.

and headed home for a great game of scrabble.

all in all it was a great night.

and the pictures turned out cute too :)

lucky.

oh how lucky i am...lucky to have great friends like this. who will spend an entire afternoon with me making videos for no reason. this is just one of the many videos i stumbled upon today.i just love you two. i miss you.

xoxox

kels

DISCLAIMER: we were locked inside all day because it was 120 degrees and my car was broken, also we are 16. please people.

bride war best friends...real life.

this is for you alexa michele markham.

here's the story. alexa and i have been best friends for a long time and we went together to see bride wars when it first came out and had a little epiphany. that is us in 7 years haha heck that's us now!! alexa is of course anne hathaway the beautiful, sweet, nice to everyone girl, who i wish i could be like all the time. and i am kate hudson the sometimes vicous, crazy, a little bossy one. but together we are just great. we make a fantastic match and when we're together its the best! just like them we've only had like one little fight in our friend life, but of course we got over it and are even better friends than before. i love this girl so much. she is the best friend anyone could ask for. she has been with me through it all and i know she'll be there for the rest of it. alexa-you are not fighting with me when i get married haha and we are getting married at seperate times because your coming, not like bride wars. i miss alexa sooo much even though we're both at BYUs they are too far apart for my liking. and i am sick of getting little false alarms making me so excited and then her not coming. please come visit me alexa. i need a little markham in my life. i love our skype dates. they will continue. i love how this entire thing sounds like we are a couple but we're just best friends. basically sisters. i love you alexa!!

p.s. im too crafty with my blog and i can figure nothing out so all the pictures will most likely be in one long row....but enjoy.

things i love...today.

gloves.

you keep me so warm. but you're so small so you fit perfectly in my purse when I don't need you. you come in so many cute colors. you make it so I can walk around campus without keeping my hands glued in my pockets the entire time. gloves, I love you.

pilates video.

you are way way way better than running, yet after I still get a fantastic workout. I still can't laugh or my abs hurt but that's the way I like it. you have very cheesy women in yoga pants telling me when in inhale and when to exhale...but, i still love you.

fake nails.

yes, when I went to get you done I caused a mini scene at the nail salon...trying to put on my own gel: bad idea. but, you look great after victor redid you. you're great at scratching backs and look fantastic on. it will be a sad day when you fall off.

water in cute bottles.

i didn't used to be very good at drinking you. but since its a new year i decided to get better. but, its no fun drinking out of plain old dasani bottles. so, i invested in a three dollar wal mart bottle. oh how much difference that makes. i've already had three bottles of it today.

green coat.

one of my favorite colors. you look great with every outfit...almost. you are so warm. oh i just love you green coat.

uggs.

who knew i would love you this much? i try to rotate what shoes to wear but i can't bring myself to wear any others when i remember how warm my little toes are in you. you are so soft and so comfy. how did i go without you.

New year, new classes, new glasses??

I'm back at BYU and actually loving it even with the cold!! So far I like all my classes! I am taking statistics (a word that is very hard for me to say), book of mormonnn, marriage and family (no it is not because I am planning on marriage anytime soon haha just an extra credit :)), physical science, TELL (teaching english language learners...for my minor), and BIO101 woowoo! That is my oh so fantastic schedule. I was excited to go by books and go to meet the new people in my classes, a little nerdy I know. I'll admit it...i love school!!!

So about the new glasses...

I've wanted glasses since I was 12, not the normal thing to wish for all your life haha I beggggged for only glasses and braces (cutest combo, right?) so I eventually got my braces and after a week HATED them but I never needed glasses. I did borrow Makelle's once in a while just to try them out haha. But when I went home for Christmas break after squinting in class for the semester to see the board I got my eye appointment and needed glasses (no mom, I didn't cheat). My life is now complete!!! Well for now. I have to admit though...they do make me look smarter :)

when its cold there is really only one thing to do...

BREAK OUT THE SNUGGIE. Yes yes I just said snuggie. (Thanks Bond family). So I never thought I'd be saying this but wow that snuggie keeps me warm. Here's the story that lead me to feel the need to put a snuggie on.

It was a freezing afternoon day here in Provo Utah and I was just sitting in my room studying. The window was open a little because with it shut it's wayyyyy too hot. But I kept getting cold and I already had a little jacket on. I tried and tried to make my little blanket work but my arms just kept getting cold. Then I remembered the ridiculous snuggie commercial, that lady was reading her book great!! So I got out the snuggie (after making sure no one could see) and got back to studying. Let me tell you it was the greatest! I did everything while staying warm. After my fantastic experience I am no longer ashamed to wear the snuggie. I will even go as far to say everyone could use a snuggie. oh how i love mine.