the perfect year.

2012 was the perfect year.  nothing major happened, like i'm not pregnant or engaged [or both].  but 2012 was just perfection.  and here are some pictures to prove it.

 this kid came home from his mission!

 i got to spend a week in new york with my friend, christina

 they're home!!! they're all home!!!

concert at the canyon club with the bests

 finally got to see this BFFAEAEAE, after utah kidnapped her for a while

 got to spend some time in north carolina before camp with steph

 had the most perfect co-counselors for the most perfect week of the year

 we all conquered our fear of heights by attempting [and completing] the high ropes course!

 i got to see these 2 kids

 visited this cool cat in montana

 went to my first rodeo

 roomed with this babe again

 and got a new roommate who helped me survive the semester

 got my mission call -- SLC here i come

 visited sister for halloween and showed provo how the mah's party

celebrated my birthday with my favorite people [including this kid who came down from montana to help]

2013 can only get better.

xoxo happy ollie

i hope they call me on a mission

i got my mission call 2ish months ago.  and i don't think a lot of you know the story behind it.  so i thought i'd tell my most fav peeps.

i submitted my mission papers on august 30th.  i got my call october 18th.  that's a long time to wait for a little packet of information that tells you where you're going to be spending the next 18 months of your life.  

the reason my call took so long?  i'm on a bunch of medication for my tourettes.  the missionary department categorizes meds in 3 classifications -- green [stable], blue [we'll watch out for you], and red [sorry, you can't go].  all of the red medications are anti-psychotics and usually people on anti-psychotics are on them for a reason. i'm on a red medicication for my TS, so i'm not psycho or anything.  but since i was on this pill i needed to be cleared stable enough to serve a mission.  so i waited.  and waited.  and waited.  and in the middle of october, i think it was october 12, my stake president texted me and said "your call has been made".  i freaked out and checked my mail box every day [including that saturday and sunday].  and it still wasn't there.  and i checked monday and tuesday and wednesday.  and nothing was there.  so finally on thursday i was on campus taking a test and i found my 2 friends and they told me "it's going to be here today"  so i brought them with me up to my apartment and we opened the mail box and boom -- there it was.  spencer was the first to say "look!  there it is!" and i thought he was playing a cruel joke on me.  but there it was.  

and i immediately called my mom.  and of course she didn't answer.  so i called my dad and i told him and i was freaking out.  and i walked into my apartment and everyone screamed and told me to open it right then and there.  but i couldnt because i had promised i'd wait for some people.  and i was okay with that.  and i totally thought it would be an easy wait.  it wasn't.

the problem with looking in the mail box at 1:45 is that a lot of people wanted to be there when i opened my call.  and i had a class at 3:15.  long story short -- i told everyone i would open my call at 7.  i went to class.  longest 1.5 hours of my life.  i came home and just started at that beautiful white envelope and thought "who decided it would be a good idea to wait until 7 to open this thing?"  changed the time to 5:45.  couldn't do homework.  wandered around my apartment.  tried to eat some food but failed because my stomach was in knots.  and then the magic time arrived.  and people started filtering in.  and i got my sisters and mom and dad and annie on skype.  and i opened my mission call with all of my favorite people in rexburg surrounding me.

 that's my best friend kim in the grey shirt with the blonde hair.  she was freaking out a little more than i was.

and i started shaking as soon as i opened the envelope.  and when i read that i was called to the utah salt lake city mission, i was still shaking.  i couldn't breathe.  and i knew that was where i was supposed to be.

and then i had to sit down because i was so happy and shaky and it was a trip.  and i had to document this perfect moment in my life because i don't want to forget it one day.

and i was talking to my friend a few days before my call came.  he said his call took a long time to get to him too.  and here is a little snippet of our convo:
A: sometimes things happen for reasons we may never know
M: yep and i guess it doesn't matter if we know or not.
  
it doesn't really matter why it took so long for my call to get here.  my mom texted me a few days before my call arrived and said "the Lord is really testing our patience."  our patience?  lolz, suze.
 
and i'm going on a mission.  i leave january 30th.  and i am so beyond thrilled.  i still smile when i look that these pictures.  and i hope everyone can experience the joy i felt when i received my mission call.  good things really do come to those who wait.  

 xoxo sister ollie

it's the most wonderful time of the year

but let's be honest...it really is the most wonderful time of the year!  and christmas deserves its own special blog post.  

so my family has a few christmas traditions-- all involving food.  the mah's just really like to eat, okay?  and if you know my mother and how fantastical of a cook she is, you would be okay with that.

every christmas eve we have our big dinner.  most mormon families i know have a christmas ham [bleh] or turkey.  but we're not typical mormons, in any way shape or form.  no.  if you come to the mah's about 4 pm on christmas eve you will walk into the house and smell the most beautiful prime rib.  and every year that prime beast just seems to get better and better.  and mama mah always makes the BEST side dishes -- last night she made 4 different kinds of potatoes-- FOUR!  who does that?  she had yams with parmsan cheese [which everyone but me and my lactose-intolerant self love], garlic fingerling potatoes, and these crispy rosemary potatoes that you have to try to understand.  and then she made me my own potatoes with my fake butter.  yay.  but mama mah outdid herself this year, just like she does every other year.  i think she felt she had to because she's got 2 girlies leaving on missions.  

and then we do the dishes, open 1-2 presents, and watch a movie.  but most everyone falls asleep after the first 30 minutes, is on their phone, or becomes uninterested.  

but christmas is the BEST at our house.  and this year we had a few miracles:

[1] dad liked the tie we bought him.

my father has VERY precise taste and usually asks for white socks or workout shirts from my mom for christmas.  he always says "if i want something, i'll buy it for myself".  so it's a little difficult to shop for robbie; ALSO because his birthday is 4 days after christmas.  so the most difficult person in the world to shop for his christmas AND his birthday within a week of each other.  so sister millie picked out  a tie and he opened it and stared at it for 5 seconds and proclaimed "i love this".  christmas miracle #1.

and that's about it.  but, like i said before, this miracle deserves to be documeneted.

 xoxo christmas lovin' ollie

fall 2012 summed up in a few words

so fall semester is ending in like two weeks and i'm panicing -- [1] because finals are rapidly approaching and i need to do very well to get good grades and [2] because i'm leaving rexburg for a little under two years.  and it's a very bittersweet thing.  because i'm obviously pumped to go on my mission but i'm also sad to leave this hellishly freezing place.  i have made some of the best friends a girl could ask for here.  and when i get back in fall 2014, all of my girlfriends will have graduated and i will have to find new girls to room with, which is horrific in itself.  and a lot will change in 18 months.  

so this semester i have this precious little roommate named brooke.  she graduated from high school in 2012 so this is her first semester up at college and away from her home in colorado.  if you've ever met brooke, even for 10 seconds, she'll tell you she's from colorado.  she's absolutely obsessed.  i have a few nicknames for her -- including, but not limited to: baby b, brooketurd, brooklyn, freshturd.  baby b and i have some very interesting conversations.  and one of us usually finds something super hilarious and we end up writing it down in our phone so we never forget it.  and then we bring them up at random times and start hilariously laughing because we're two of the funniest people ever.

since most of you don't have the privilege of hearing our conversations, i thought i'd sum up my fall 2012 semester [i'm aware that it's not over yet] with a few phrases and quotes from brooke and myself [and some other friends] to make your day and realize what i'm dealing with in rexico on a daily basis.

*talking about a girl who got her mission call to budapest, hungary*
" there's nothing happening in budapest except for death" -- michaela

*brooke trying to justify how she was a good employee*
"i was seriously the best employee.  my manager cried when i left.  and she was a democrat" -- brooke

*on brooke's birthday*
"in 17 minutes your birthday is over" -- ali
" in 17 minutes i'm going to make you my bitch" -- brooke

*kim talking about how she struggled to cut up the onions*
"it was just a struggle.  some would call it...mein kempf" -- kim

*brittany talking about how stuffed she is*
"oh my gosh, guys, i ate like a whole pancake this morning." -- britt 

*logan and ali having a normal conversation*
"i wish i was jewish so i could wear a bonnet" -- logan
"jews don't wear bonnets" -- ali
"the guys do" -- logan
"that's called a yarmulke" -- ali

and this is just a glimpse into my life in rex.  you know you're jealous.

ollie is a fashionista

 monday

 tuesday

 wednesday

 thursday

 sunday

monday

tuesday

i've come to realize that even when you have so much going on & feel like things aren't working out as planned, dressing like you're trying to impress that cute boy in your class really can make your day go a lot better than expected.

 

my weekend with sister

so i went to provo a few weekends ago.  and let me tell you -- it was the best weekend i've had in a while. 

i usually spend all weekend doing homework and catching up on school work and basically studying and having maybe 15 minutes of fun.  but on thursday night at 10:30 i decided to go to provo.  i've been wanting to make at least one trip down there this semester and after checking my work load and realizing it was manageable, i went for it.  and after an epic car ride [i may or may not have gone 80-100 the whole way... sorry dad] i arrived in provo. 

half of the purpose for the trip was to see middle sister erika.  we'll just refer to her as sister throughout this post.  and the other half was to see my very best buds tyler, hatchy, and baby coons.

when i arrived sister was taking her accounting test [which she got an A on. go her] so i hit up hatch and we went to costa.  and we just talked and laughed and argued like an old married couple.  you know, the usual.  and may i just say that my friendships with my boys [the boys i've grown up with] has drastically changed since they've come home from their missions.  because while they were gone for two years, growing and maturing, i was doing the exact same thing.  i am definitely a different person than when they all left -- but different in the best way possible.  and now i just love reminiscing with them and having the amazing friendships we do.  so then we picked up sister and went back to her place and tyler and baby coons came over.  

most of you know that my sister and i [well, all three of us mah girls] have very different personalities.  i like to say that our personalities are as different as the way we look - which is probably the best way to describe it because most people don't even think we look like sisters.  and to top off these personalities, we're all super close in age.  erika and i are 19 months apart and erika and millie are 22 months apart.  so take 3 girls who are 3 1/2 years apart, add some very strong personalities, subtract not knowing when to stop talking [mostly on my part] and you've got an interesting combination.  i sometimes wonder how mama mah does it.  but erika and i have always butted heads due to our similar yet extremely different personalities and priorities.  and i've always wondered when that day would come when we would start treating each other like sisters and not mortal enemies.  so i texted sister on thursday night asking if i could come up and she said yes.  and i was stoked.  and on friday morning when i texted mama mah that i was going to provo, this was our conversation:
[S is mom, A is me]
A: sue i'm going to provo this weekend.
S: wonderful.  good for you.  where are you staying?
A: with erika.
S: you are staying with erika?  omg.
[then we talked about random schnickens]
S: i can't believe you are staying with your sister.
A: why not?  we talk like every day.
S: seriously? you guys are friends?
A: working on it..
S: i'm dying of happiness now.  this is the first mission miracle.

so all weekend long erika and i would refer to everything good that happened as a 'mission miracle'.  and may i just say that i love my sister?  after spending saturday in the library, going shopping, me seeing a movie [perks of being a wallflower - go see it and fall in love], we went to a halloween party at the place she lives.  i had a few friends there, but erika kept texting me and calling me to made sure i was okay and had some friends to hang out with at all times.  and i am so overwhelmed with love for my crazy little sister of mine.  seriously, if you saw her dancing in her red tellytubby costume you would agree with me.  she has grown up and matured so much since she has been at byu and i am so proud of her.  love you, eek.

these are some of the pics from our photo shoot in a bowling alley. we're classy like that.

 my beautiful halloween costume.

the crazy mah sisters.

fall

greetings from rexico, blog stalkers.  i am back for my 7th semester and i have to say that this semester is definitely looking to be the best one yet.  i will give you a summary of my past week [i can't believe it's only been a week...] in pictures.

this is my [beautiful, if i do say so myself] photo wall that makes me feel like i have all my friends and family with me right here in rex.

before school started our new friend janelle invited us to a bonfire.  squeezing 6 people into a truck actually wasn't all that bad.

 this is my first day of school outfit.  the only thing that would make this picture complete is if i was holding a handmade sign that said "first day of senior year of college"

 logan and i semi matched on day 1 with our white tees and blue jeans :]

 i still feel very proud that i picked out this outfit all by myself.  it even won sister erika's approval.

we survived our first week of school! back to school block party with some exceptionally good music and some exceptionally good friends.

slightly obsessed with this dress.  only slightly...

this is my little freshman roommate, brooke.  i call her my freshturd [it's okay, she laughs]. it's her first semester in rexico and she is definitely fitting in very well.  i help her with her math and she contributes her sarcasm and wit to the party.  definitely love her.

so this semester is definitely looking to be a great one!  probably going to be the hardest semester i will ever have [yay for intermediate financial accounting part 2] but i will try to enjoy it every step of the way!

xoxo stressball ollie