Day 114.

Today was like any other day at home.

My plan to sleep in was foiled as a result of a combination of a phone call and a text.

Not a bad way to wake up, I may add, but very sudden.

I had to go visit my BFF at Best Buy and he told me nothing was wrong….

He even tried to guess my password.

Guess what Mr. Best Buy BFF.

I was visited by another blue screen tonight.

Blue screen, whaaat?

Then I went and saw my BFF Jill in her new house in Provo.

It actually looks like an apartment…

I was coveting her counter tops and cabinets.

You know you’re a pathetic when you’re in college and you’re in love with your best friend’s kitchen.

We went and picked up the boyfriend and went to Smith’s to get a few things.

Only in Provo you go to a grocery store and only see the elderly and college students.

Okay.

And Rexburg.

In usual Whatcott fashion we all went out to dinner seeing that tomorrow is Fast Sunday.

Café Rio?

Love.

So I decided that if I had dollar for every time that I mentioned my love for Café Rio I may never need to find a real job.

Infact, Café Rio should start paying me for publicity.

After a delightful Pork Burrito we headed home.

Then me and Trish headed out again…

I needed a few things before I head back up to Idaho

Aka bathroom rug and an iron.

Of course I found myself in the movie section….

Why on earth did Wal-Mart choose today to put out every season of Criminal Minds?

I have never been so tempted in my life.

I even had Trish help me find a logical reason to purchase the two seasons I didn’t have and can’t find them anywhere else and they were only $30.

I wish I would’ve timed how long I actually stood there.

Way to long that’s for sure.

Fortunately I managed to keep my self control and my debit card stayed in my wallet.

I have never been more proud of myself.

Criminal Minds still has its home on the shelf below Bones and next to Glee.

Regardless of how much Derek Morgan likes those shows he needs to be on my shelf.

Next time my self control won’t be so much……

Instead I purchased the wonderful and uplifting film, Saturday’s Warrior.

Do not even fret.

There is a karaoke feature.

Jealous much?

Just come visit 314 and I may or may not let you play it with Emma.

This picture was taken waay to long ago.

WAY TO LONG AGO.

Yes.

Me and these men look like we are at our first year of EFY.

Oh wait.

We are.

14 years old and proud of it.

Anyway…

Today is their 19^th birthday.

We met at EFY and the ended up being some of my best friends during high school.

Now they’re heading to Japan to serve for the next 2 years.

Crazy how fast it goes.

Happy Birthday Adam and Jackson.

Day 113.

Saturday came earlier than needed.

Me and my dad went and met our geeks at Best Buy and they fixed my computer.

I am eternally grateful.

I am not exactly best friends with technology……..

After we said goodbye to the guys who are closely related to the yerds, my dad and I hurried over to the AT&T store where I met my other great friends.

My phone has had a little bit of a temper lately….

For those of you who have dealt with the many hang ups…

I’m sorry.

Hopefully me and the new twin phone will get along better.

There wasn’t much to do after that.

Everyone had to run some sort of errands.

Me and Trish decided that we needed to go on a date.

JCW’s was kind enough to provide us with [extra] Ranch Bacon Cheeseburgers, a large fry, and drinks.

Of course.

And our date wouldn’t be complete without a Mcdonalds ice cream……

We even went on a secret adventure.

But now it’s approximately way past midnight and my brain isn’t working.

Okay.

It’s extra not working…..

Day 112.

Today was the day.

We were up late last night until the crack of lateness making our coolish posters for the garage slash to hold when we saw our missionary.

We got to the airport at around 9….

The plane didn’t land until 10:12.

We may have had a slight worry that we would miss the missionary coming down the escalator.

We waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And played.

And stalked odd people.

And sat next to some interesting people.

And then it was 10:00.

The countdown was truly beginning.

After 750 days we were down to the final minutes.

Colten and Mason ran up the stairs to see if they could see the 3 or so missionaries getting off the plane.

I’m convinced that missionaries decide to sit in the plane until everyone gets off just to make the families wait a couple more minutes.

Rude.

Finally we saw Colten and Mason’s face light up as they ran down the escalator.

And he was coming.

All the sudden he was there.

Standing in front of us.

I cried.

I think I’m turning into a sop.

Don’t tell anyone that.

I still can’t really believe he’s here.

Seriously…..

It had gotten to the point where I figured he was only a figment of my imagination.

But apparently not….

He looked the same.

But also super different.

He had the fresh off his mission ……

Glow.

Let’s be honest.

It was a tad bit awkward, but obviously its expected because when you don’t see someone for 2 years quite a lot is bound to change.

It got better quick.

It is thee most fantastic experience having a sibling coming home from a mission.

It’s a feeling you can’t describe.

I am so glad that he was able to serve a mission.

I’m so proud that he went out and served his hardest for 2 years and 20 days, despite the hard times.

I’m so proud of the man that he is now and the testimony that he has and loves to share.

And I cannot wait to see what he has coming up next in his life.

I’m so glad to have my best friend home and to be able to have him come up and play with me in college for a little while.

It’s going to be fantastic.

Welcome home Jace ;)

It was fantastic to have him and his friends over today.

It was like they never left.

The extra brothers……

[the other] Jace and Jesse.

In other news.

My mom bought me Josh Groban concert tickets for my birthday.

I cannot wait to go.

Josh Groban gives me the chills.

I think me and Josh are on ‘first name only’ terms about things.

We’re destined to be in love or something.

….Just saying.

Day 111.

One word.

Home.

That was today’s ultimate goal.

Can’t you see…….

We’ve come to the end of the countdown chain.

Aka tomorrow is like Christmas.

Today was Elder Whatcott’s 749 day in the mission field.

Tomorrow he is home.

[hence the reasons for the trip home]

I am nervous, but I’m not quite sure why.

It may or may not have something to do with the fact that he has been gone for the past 2 years and there have been significant changes.

I’m all grown up now.

Well….

Not really.

I can’t really picture him coming home.

He’s really going to be back.

Weird.

Today me and Michelle conquered the extremely large peanut butter filled Easter egg.

I may or may not have gotten it for half off at Wal-mart.

There is no need to worry that it is a whopping 900 calories.

We slash I don’t count calories in college.

Calorie counting is four squares.

Run fast……..

Michelle has a knife.

She also sends people awkward texts and stares at men on hot motorcycles.

Despite what she says it needs to be eaten like a watermelon.

From the inside out.

Wow.

Today wasn’t exciting at all.

Oh.

An unmarried man sat by me in Book of Mormon.

Bryce.

We decided that the reason the lights always go off in the hallway is because BYU-I likes to have frequent surprise parties.

What a nice school.

Who doesn’t like surprise parties.

[Insert wonderful hopes and thoughts and dreams about surprise parties here]

Oh.

Don’t worry.

By the end of the surprise party conversation he told me he was engaged.

I not only attract married men….

But also engaged men.

Today was clean checks.

The clean check lady was nice…..

Unfortunately I think I love being the clean check Nazi in Lamprecht hall.

Watch out dorm livers.

Let’s be completely honest here.

The best part of the day was coming home.

The drive wasn’t even that bad.

Occasionally 4 hour drives really bother me but not so much this time.

I love coming home to Mason who actually wants to give me a hug….

Or he actually lets me give him a hug without a fight.

Not a very common thing.

Once in a lifetime if I may say so myself.

The evening proceeded with making signs and posters, doing homework, doing more homework, and getting excited about tomorrow.

Remember….

Tomorrow is like Christmas.

Except my bestie is coming home from his mission.

Which is even better.

I will finally remember that he is not a figment of my imagination.

Day 110.

Oh hey college.

I found you.

And everything that you come with.

AKA HOMEWORK.

Not a fan.

That’s all I’ve done today.

I even had to eat the chocolate bunny to get me through.

Oh. I was informed that when I was a small child I did eat chocolate bunnies.

I got the facts wrong.

Maybe next year the Easter bunny will get me another one so that I can remember my childhood.

Wink. Wink. Wink. Wink. Wink.

I was pretty impressed with my comments in H&PofE.

I think Sister Johnson was too.

We talked about teaching by the spirit in a public or a private school.

I loved it.

It reminded me of my little Autistic friends at the elementary school down the street.

Then in TinA&C we did random activities and talked a little about our tough experiences.

Like mentioned before I always write about the same thing…..

But yesterday as I was reading some of the students in my class I couldn’t help but wonder why I seemed to have gotten the easy way out.

I cried and cried as I read their stories not being able to imagine how they survived the trials that they did.

These people amaze me.

After class I was talking to my friend [not] McCall and she told me that he experience had happened within the past few months.

Bless her heart.

She smiled as she told me about the angel she had watching over her and I couldn’t help but respect her, and everyone else in the class even more.

It’s true.

Heavenly Father gives you trials you can handle.

And the ones who did talk about their trials talked about the blessing that it ended up being and the amazing things they had learned.

You never really do know what people are going up against.

Any whey….

This was me.

All.

Day.

Long.

From the time we got home from devotional….

and after we got home from the teriyaki place…..

I sat there and did homework.

FOREVER.

I think it took me so long because I’m going home tomorrow.

It seems so unreal.

I cannot wait.

Day 109.

Today was one of those days I thought would have no adventures.

I tried to sleep last night but I couldn’t.

But as soon as I was laying on my stomach, under my covers, with a pillow over my head and barely falling asleep…..

Sarah’s alarm went off.

At midnight.

When I woke up at 5:59 to begin the great undertaking of getting ready I was frightened by what I saw in the mirror.

I looked like I had been hit in the face with a train.

You know those big giant metal things that drive really fast on rails?

Thank heavens for a little thing called cover up.

I headed to child development.

Fine.

Book of Mormon.

Great.

A very attractive male sat by me in that class.

Shaun.

Came home and did the dishes.

Awesome.

Natural Disasters.

Fantastic.

You wanna know something weird?

I always end up sitting by married men [bummer] and I figured out why.

They want to protect me from some of the weirdies that BYU-I has to offer.

They’re like my stand in brothers for the next 3 days.

I like that idea.

They’ll let me sit by the good ones when they come around, right?

Good idea married men.

Keep up the hard work.

Today’s adventure started when I got pelted with balls of hail on the way home from the Romney building.

Dear Idaho weather.

Please stop.

Just be sunny and warm.

So we went on a trip to Wal-Mart to get a few things.

And yes.

I know I have zero self control…..

But all the good Easter candy was on sale.

I was sooo excited.

I found a giant Reeses egg and a chocolate bunny.

Confession.

I’ve never had a chocolate bunny before and I’m waiting for the pristine moment to eat it.

Oh.

And I bought a scarf.

I’m excited about that too.

Too bad it was super bright for my webbycam…

Also.

I solved the world’s most questioned…..

Question?

Yep.

I did it.

I would just like everyone to know that McDonald’s Mcchicken sandwich is like a thousand times better than Wendy’s chicken sandwich.

McDonalds was out of the spicy kind….

But I couldn’t be mad when the lady told me because she was way to nice.

She made the trip there worth it.

Oh!

And in typical Rexie humor we found a fantastic sign.

“Streaking is illegal in Rexburg so we install wiper blades.”

HAHAHAHAHA.

I want to find the person who came up with this phrase and become their best friend.

Forever.

Then tonight at FHE….

…. Oh wait.

It’s HEG now.

[aka home evening group]

Do you know why they changed it?

Because you can’t date and/or marry your family.

If you missed the memo you marry people and then they become your family.

Despite popular belief…..

It doesn’t happen the other way around.

Anyway….

We played games and froze and got our picture taken with ......

No one other than Andy Samburg.

Hot Rod?

Yeah.

Be jealous that he’s in my ward.

Unfortunately that was the moment that Michelle’s iphone decided to be blurry..

So use your imagination.

Oh yes.

3 days until Elder Whatcott comes home.

Are you as excited as I am?

…….

Doubt it.

Day 108.

Last night me and Blogger had a battle.

Obviously Blogger won…..

Next time it better watch out because I WILL win.

I just told the story of wearing matching outfits, going to the unusual bird dance for a small amount of time, homework, Michelle getting [not] hit on by an old man at Broulims, us going to the dance and staying the whole time [minus the half hour and Broulims], finding out some news, hanging out with the 1 am buddies, and pulling a Princess Mia.

That was all.Happy Easter.

This morning I remembered that I hadn’t learned thee most important thing before I left for college.

How to hard boil eggs, which doesn’t help when 314 wants to color Easter eggs.

Good thing my mother is just a phone call away ;)

After an Easter feast of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.

Now that is living right.

After we had our 1 am friend and Colten over to dye Easter eggs.

Turned out pretty good, huh?

We didn’t even have and vinegar…..

So being the smart college students we are we googled substitutes.

Lemons.

I bet you didn’t know that.

I wish that we had enough to do more than 19….

But even after using as many of the roomies eggs that I dared to use that is what we ended up with.

Let’s be completely honest.

I dyed one of the best looking Easter eggs ever.

This picture does not do it justice.

I wished that I would’ve named in or something….

But I knew I couldn’t get to attached because I knew they would be turned into deviled eggs…..

I guess it’s a good thing that I didn’t name it because it turned into so much more than a deviled egg…

Emma truly enjoyed smashing my egg with her hands….

Not gonna lie….

It was hilarious.

I guess my egg getting smashed was somewhat of a blessing in disguise since it made it possible to get slash have a new favorite egg.

I even got it to be purpely and spotty.

Just the way I liked it.

Too bad this one really did turn into a deviled egg…..

One day.

When I grow up I will be able to peel hard boiled eggs .

I think between me and Colten….

Well…..

Let’s just say at the moment it isn’t exactly our calling in life.

Yes.

Michelle created the inside of the deviled eggs.

We’re [or at least I….] am impressed with Michelle and her cooking skills.

We didn’t have paprika, but we ran door to door asking and were successful.

Deeeeelish.

And now I’m dreading the fact that I have a 7:45class tomorrow and have to go to bed instead of staying up and finishing chick flick Sunday night with the girls.

Oh.

Great news.

[I think]

I’m the new FHE….

I mean HEG [not] mom.

Happy thought.

Every Sunday night for the past few weeks a dear friend has texted me and told me that he hoped that I had a great week and the next week is even better.

That right there, Ladies and Gents, is a fantastic friend.

Day 107.

Happy Earth Day.

It’s completely fine that we didn’t know it was Earth Day until me and Michelle went to check something on Google and it reminded us.

We celebrated.

Don’t fret.

You’ll see in a moment.

School was good.

2 classes today.

Child Development and Natural Disasters.

I got a lot of laundry done in between.

I love clean clothes and may have a slight love affair with doing laundry.

Then soon enough it was time to head to Natural Disasters.

I sat by a super cute boy in class….

Unfortunately he was married.

That was naturally a disaster.

After class the Earth Day celebration happened.

I made cookie bars and as soon as Emma got home from class we colored Earth Day pictures.

I thought they turned out fantastic.

They best thing about this adventure was using new crayons.

48 pack, baby.

We even taped them to the wall for the whole world to see.

A shrine to let the Earth know how much we love it.

Then Michelle and Emma thought it would be so funny to go drop off cookie bars at Summerset 308….

The man who walked me home this past week.

I didn’t think it was a funny idea….

They sure did.

So they doorbell ditched them to him with a note with my name on it.

I was not too happy about that but how on Earth can you be mad at these two?

I even asked these random men to go get the cookie bars from them and save me.

I think the thought I was weird…..

I could tell by the look on their faces.

It’s fine.

Hopefully I don’t get any random visits from strangers in 308 this next…

Ever.

After we got home we watched a movie, as usual.

We use the fact that we’re in marriage prep to watch chick flicks all the time.

When the movie was over we heard a knock at the door.

It was 2 random strangers passing out fliers for the dance at the Hart tomorrow.

We invited these men in and fed them cookie bars.

They stayed until curfew aka 1.

We just talked and other random things.

Oh.

Don’t fret.

They came at 8.

Did I mention we didn’t know them?

Nice people at BYUI.

5 more days Elder Whatcott.

I cannot wait to see you.

Day 106.

Today was just another great day at Brigham Young University….

Idaho.

Like always, the morning came way too soon.

I was hoping for a couple more hours.

But it’s okay because Glee walked with me to school today.

The beauty of an Ipod.

The one problem with listening to Glee on the way to class is the fact that I can’t break out in song or dance like I usually do.

I did not just admit that……

Class was good and I even participated.

Take that History and Philosophy of Education.

I hope you have noticed that I love to say that classes name.

It makes me feel smart and that I’m finally working towards my major or something…

After class I came home and was really thirsty.

The one thing I do not like about Idaho is the water.

It’s nasty.

It’s almost like drinking from a toilet or something….

And I don’t like milk.

I came up with a compromise.

Since I love chocolate milk I decided to pour all my [instant breakfast] chocolate milk packages into the carton.

WA-LAH.

Instant chocolate milk.

Plus that means I have breakfast waiting for me for the next 4 days.

Emma may or may not have caught me in the act…

After my lovely chocolate milk and some other random things I headed out the door to meet Colten and head to Transitions in Art and Culture.

By now it was raining.

I am slowly realizing how unique this school is.

That we can talk about the gospel at any given time and any given place.

In TinA&C 8 kids bore their testimonies and 5 kids read their favorite scripture(s) and we talked about the Savior and the significance of today.

[actually I guess they’re not kids anymore…. Probably more like adults]

I loved it.

Then we prepared to write a paper on a tough experience.

Does anyone have one I can borrow?

I always use the same one and I’m ready for something new.

If it was tough then why would I want to re-live slash write about it.

Again?

I am pondering writing about the death of my fishes, the cremation and death of my ladybug, and possibly falling off my bike when I was a small child.

Unfortunately I don’t think that Brother Samuelson would take me seriously.

I’ll [hopefully] find something great to share with the world.

As me and Colten walked out of the Hinckley building we were shocked by what we saw slash heard.

Hail. Rain. Wind. Thunder. Lightening. Snow.

All at once.

Hello Rexburg.

All the sudden I received a phone call from the roomies telling me that they were “going gung ho” and coming to find me with their umbrella.

Those are great roomies, if you ask me.

We took a quick trip to Wal-Mart to find some treasures.

I needed bottled water, shoelaces, gum, and sticky notes.

I left with bottled water, Pringles, gum, chocolate, and sticky notes.

No shoe laces.

It’s completely fine that some days….

Okay most days…..

I have close to zero self control.

Marriage prep was fantastic today.

Still not ready to get married….

So I guess it’s a good thing I’m in the class.

Sister Hendrickson is fantastic and has great stories.

Once we got home I met my new best friend.

Homework…….

Michelle shared her cooking talents tonight….

Chicken Pillows.

And little apple pies.

YUM.

Our dishes even matched.

That is a first.

I know everyone is dying to know who celebrated their 12^th birthday today.

Yep.

Kade.

Aren’t you so jealous that he has his picture taken with cheese balls?

I am.

I love cheese balls.

Apparently me and Kade are exactly the same, according to the parents. He is a friend to everyone he meets and will do anything to help. He loves to do things with his friends. He will be [most]often found playing something electronic- gameboy, DS, wii, etc. He loves those things. He may or may not have found Tron in the shopping cart 2 weeks ago so my mom had to give it to him early. He had a hamburger cake [as always] but wasn’t hungry enough to eat it. He took a $50 bill instead of having a friend party [smart kid] and got a yellow power band. I found out today that yellow is his favorite color. He is probably the best lacrosse player I have ever watched and we are always impressed with him when we go to his hip hop dance performances. He loves music and always leaves it on in his room all the time. He loves pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and I cannot wait to see what he is like as he gets older.

Happy Birthday Kade.

I love you.

Day 105.

There are many great things about having a 9 o’clock class tomorrow.

I don’t have to go to bed before the sun goes down but instead I’m not too stressed about it.

Last night I was under my strawberry shortcake sheets at promptly 11 o’clock.

And then I heard my roomie with her friends at 3:30.

They usually come and go a lot but I think they were on their way to work.

Dain cleans the Hart building.

4 in the morning.

Every morning.

Bless her heart.

Today was super great.

You can accomplish a lot in a college day.

You get more done….

Well….

At least I feel like I do.

Child Development was exciting even though it was at 7:45.

Ever heard of the beaver bump?

Aka big hair?

I love my “foofy” hair, but these girls took it to the next level.

I sat all through Child Development wondering how they go it to stay.

I think I need to ask…..

Then I had a strangish boy sit by me in Book of Mormon [part 2].

He was nice.

He is the only person whose name I remember so far.

Possibly because he told me like 10 times.

I then came home and took a nap.

Natural Disasters came around 1:45ish.

I’m the only freshman in that class.

Yay?

Today I learned that if Yellowstone exploded then Rexburg would be covered in 45feet of ash and that [obviously] would not be good.

And apparently only Utah schools learn about Bonneville Lake because me and the other few Utah people knew what that was.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner.

After Natural Disasters I knew that I needed to find some notebooks for tomorrow and crossed my fingers that the bookstore would have some.

Obviously with 14,000 students the 2 stores in Rexie are bound to run out.

Thank heavens the book store carries them.

After picking out the flowery ones for $3.29 I walked to the large line so that I could purchase them and be on my way.

As I was standing in line I noticed the guy in front of me.

He seemed nice.

He turned around to me and told me that he had been in the store like 3 times already that day and was buying a new eraser for his favorite pencil.

He even got it out to show me.

It was a little silver mechanical pencil with [obviously] no eraser anymore.

He showed me that when he turned the old eraser part of it moved and it magically showed numbers and stuff.

We decided that obviously it was a bomb or something.

I told him I was going to watch the news to see if anything really happened.

It turns out that he went to Pleasant Grove High School.

If you didn’t know I kinda, sorta, not really live by there.

It may or may not be American Fork High Schools rival.

No one actually knows who our rival is anymore.

Then we talked and he walked me home.

He asked where I lived and he told me where he lived.

I’ll probably never see this man again….

…. But it may be a good thing since I can’t remember his name.

I really tried.

But I heard like a thousand other names today.

Last time I checked the little person in my brain that it’s supposed to write down all the names that I hear went on vacation and won’t be back…

Ever.

Oops.

Thanks for walking me home man and showing me your cool pencil and telling me about the sensors that you’re building/fake selling in your class and a little about your mission in England.

I hope you had a good time at your apartment meeting slash watching your game.

When I told Michelle she found a song for me.

Walk Me Home. Mandy Moore.

Look it up.

Me and Michelle and Emma decided to go on a walk.

Cars looked at us because Michelle is short. Emma is hot. And I was wearing my big coat.

The good thing about Idaho is you can wear your biggest coat anytime of the year and get away with it.

Then I had to go work and help at the Lamprecht Hall dorm meeting.

On the way there I ran into my Transitions in Art and Culture teacher.

He called me by name and asked how I was doing and asked how I like having Colty up here.

That’s what I love about BYU-Idaho.

He knew who I was and when I was in his class.

Even just after the first day.

On this campus I still have an identity….

I love it here.

Then I went to my apartment meeting.

On the way home Emma told me she had a surprise for me. I was soo pleased to see her [little] face on the fridge.

Pictures of her when she was a small child always make me laugh which makes me super happy.

Its more of an inside joke but it brings me joy.

Always.

Then I did my homework.

And laughed with Emma as we watched Glee.

And now am trying super hard to keep my eyes open.

Goodnight Moon.

[name that book……]