"When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.”- Mark Twain

This week marks the anniversary of my first attempt at college. It makes me cringe to say this, but 6yrs. ago almost to the date, I started my first semester at BYU-Idaho, my first time living away from home, and my first real shot at being an adult.


I moved to Rexburg a few weeks before school actually started and I lived in St. Anthony with my Uncle Pete and his family, while I looked around for a job, and housing, and worked on solidifying everything for school.

Suzette Michie, and DeeAnne Green 2 of my good buddies from high school were looking for a place to live as well and so we decided to room together. Suzette and I went house hunting one day, and almost literally stumbled upon the housing on this street.........

What can I say about College Ave. It was my home for the majority of the time I lived in Rexburg (I moved a street over my last semester, we will discuss cornerstone at a later date!) This street is located right across from campus, the Spori Building to be exact and it had quit possibly the oldest houses in rexburg on it. There were several homes and one Apartment Complex (that was rumored to be an old hospital) called the Davenport Apartments. I'm not exactly positive they were up to BYUI housing code, but the rent was super cheap, and for whatever reason Suz and I decided it was the way to go, and the next thing we knew we were moving into the downstairs apartment of house number 121. If only we would have known the glories that place had in store for us.

My Favorite things about that basement were.......

We had these annoying crows just outside Dee's bedroom that made the loudest most horrible, cauking noises in the morning, one Sunday after church Dee attempted to chase them out of the trees so she could have some peace and quiet for her Sunday nap. the visions of her flapping her arms imitating those obnoxious birds make me smile every time I think about it! Also we had an ear wig infestation that was super awesome and ruined many a box of cereal, that was when I found out that ear wigs don't actually crawl in your ears and lay eggs in your brain. Also the tenants previous to us did not clean the stove... like ever, and they let grease and all sorts of nasty stuff collect under the burner and one time Dee and Suz almost burned the house down when the burner caught on fire, sadly enough I slept through the whole thing, even the fire alarm going off.

But it wasn't just the house, Dee LOVED to pick on me, I'm like way bigger then her and if she would have provoked me enough I'm sure I would have taken her down (wink wink), but alas many a late night you would see me chasing her down the street, because she stole my pillow, or wrapped up in my mattress pad yelling "I'm a Pandido, I'm a Pandido", we loved our "Doink Doink" aka Law and Order SVU.But for some reason the memory of Dee that sticks out the most was every time she had a Popsicle she would throw the stick behind the television, there were a lot of sticks accumulated at the end of the semester!

Suzette kinda got the raw end of the deal and got stuck with the Harry Potter room under the stairs, the best part of her room was this door to the backyard that was taped closed.... it really made Suz feel super safe!

I got a job Cleaning the Spori building at 4 O'clock in the morning.........

Here's a shot of me on my first day of work!

I actually really liked that job, most of the time I put my head phones on and just sang and rocked out to my tunes, while I scrubbed toilets, and cleaned offices. The start time was rough, but the job was easy, and kind of relaxing. But it made for lots and lots of nap time, and it also made for poor attendance in my 8 o'clock Psych class.

That semester Suz, my buddy Krystin Davies aka K-Dizzle, and I all took a Beginning Jazz Dance class, and well lets just say it was a highlight. That's where we learned Suzette wasn't an ambi-dancer!

Not only did I strengthen my bonds with old friends from home, but I created new long time friendships as well.

It's when I first met John Walker, we served as activity committee co-chairs and we became fast friends, I thought he was the prettiest boy I'd ever seen and one night he walked me home from a friends house down the street and from that moment on he was one of my most favorite people, we made lots of memories while at BYUI and I'm sure you'll hear about him more in the future!

This is a shot of us at our White Trash BBQ one of the many sweet activities we planned that summer.

Jamba Juice was a new place for me, I'd heard about it's tasty treats, and once I tried it I was hooked! This guy was the banana man, and to advertise, you could find him on the street corners dancing for his LIFE! it was so hilarious!

Lacey, Katie, and Cassie came to visit that summer and because Lacey was an old Rexburg Vet, she knew all the sweet places to hit up, including this hot spot she called the Palisades, I'm not exactly sure what it was called for real, but you had to drive about an hour an a half to get there, but once you did!!!! Worth IT! It was a waterfall that spiralled down into a basin, and you could hike down it, it was amazing!!!! Now we all know I'm not super outdoorsy, but that was something I attempted every summer I was there. Sadly though that place eventually had a bad mudslide and now if I was told right, it no longer exists, or it's unsafe to attempt, so sorry current rexburgians, this place only lives on in my memory!

So don't ask how it started,  because I'm not entirely sure, but one night we just started hanging out on the stoop outside the boys apartment and eventually dubbed it "Porch Time"! It was our evening ritual, and often times you could find John's brother Bill telling us crazy stories, or we'd just ask each other random questions, that was my favorite thing to do with my friends back home, and it quickly became my favorite with my new friends there.

Pictured here from L-R Back row- Mike McCullough, Sierra Garcia, V-Dogg, and Cassie. Front Row Dave Gaskin, Me, and Kim.

These girls lived next door and were our FHE sisters, That's Kim Copeland (now Beachly), Myself, V-Dogg aka Vanessa, and Cassie Copeland (who was my roommate about a year later) Seriously love these ladies!!!!!

The last night before the break between semesters, all the ladies came together to pull pranks on the boys apartments. We stayed up all night, snuck out past curfew to hit Ramirez, the only 24 hour restaurant at the time. We dressed in black, painted our faces and stirred up mischief, it was AWESOME!!!

This was my date Aaron for the girl ask guy luau!

To date I have yet to have a summer as much fun, as that first one I spent in Rexburg, so many new adventures, so many new people, and so many memories! I'm sitting here absolutely stressed out because there are so many stories and pictures I wanna share, but it will have to be another time and another place. i think this post is long enough. So just to sum things up, I can't even believe how fortunate I was to have things come together so well, that summer. Because of all that took place, Rexburg will always hold a special place in my heart. Some people have a rough time heading off to school in a new area surrounded by new things and faces, but I got off easy, and had the best time of my life!