Alycia Maree

Bigger & Better

2010-11-28T12:32:00.000-08:00

I've moved on to biggerandbetter things :) meaning marriage.... with that, comes a new blog. If you haven't already, go ahead and add our new blog.

chrisandalycia.blogspot.com

Goodbye Logan!

2010-05-04T22:01:00.000-07:00

Today I said goodbye to my home for the last nine months as well as my best friends ever!! It was a lot harder than I initially thought it would be, but I guess that's how a lot of things go. As much as I hated the ridiculous weather, the stupid inversion and terrible air, the cafeteria food, and some super annoying/ridiculous people... I actually really enjoyed being there. I met seriously some of the amazing people and had some experience that created some awesome memories and helped me grow a lot. There will definitely be a some things I will miss a ton, here's some that I could think of off the top of my head:

10. Harrison Kleiner- most genius professor in the entire world. Along with Professor Kleiner, I'll miss talking about how awesome he is with Gary!
9. Having an extra big wardrobe because my hot roommates have such cute clothes.... especially Jenn! I'm sure she got sick of me wearing her clothes alllllll the time!
8. Music Video Monday.
7. Nicknames: Berggg, Hot Socks, Quach, Leech, Jenherp {bahahahaha} and more!
6. My supervisor at work, Ken. Seriously, the best supervisor I could ever ask for! He saved me several times by bringing me a donut when I missed breakfast and gave me some great advice throughout the semester.
5. Spur of the moment fun like unbirthday parties, trying on all of Krista's old clothes, dying hair....
4. Seizure moments. for sure.
3. Randomly breaking out in dance anywhere/everywhere. {elevator, TSC, Club Chelsea, Pike House, etc.}
2. Late night talks with Jenn, awesome talks with Caitlin, confiding in Chels, and just talking to all of my roommates.
1. My amazing roomies!!!

I really cannot even express how much I am going to miss my amazing roommates! Jennika and I always talked about how lucky we got when it came to roommates, and I still can't even believe it. There wasn't a single roommate that anyone didn't get along with, we never really had any roommate drama, and we all clicked and got along so well. I learned so much from these amazing girls and I don't know what I would have done without them!

Jennika: my actual roomie is probably one of the loudest, fun loving, craziest people I know! I absolutely ♥ her! We have soooo many inside jokes and ridiculous things that we do- seizure moments, razzledazzle, sharin a bowl of...... can't tell you. I was so dang nervous before moving up to Logan because I didn't know if we'd get along or anything- I was basically terrified of her. But she has definitely become one of my best friends who I can talk to about anything!

Chelsea: Jeezzz.... where to begin. I just love her! No matter what, she was always there to listen to my problems and stupid stories. She has an insanely contagious laugh- even through the paper thin walls where our heads rested at night. :) Ohh... and she gives the best hugs, ask anyone! ;) But really, she is adorable and so much fun to be with and is always there for the people she cares about.

Jacquelyn: First off, I'm just gonna say, this girl makes every single guy fall in love with her. We couldn't go anywhere first semester without some guy going all crazy for her! My guess is she's the next one to get married. She has one of the most relatable personalities and is just an all around fun person to be around. She's always so excited about life and is up for something new no matter what.

K... I realize Jac isn't in this picture... but I just wanted everyone to see how awesome of a roommate she is. I was having a super terrible day last semester and her and one of the boys on our floor went and bought me flowers and just secretly left them in my room. :) so nice!

Katie: two words. hot socks. Haha I love this girl! I really didn't know what to expect of her when we first moved in, but I have loved getting to know her. She has some of the best stories ever and always makes me laugh! She, too, makes people fall in love with her everywhere she goes. She just knows how to live life and have fun and make the best of really tough situations. Also, I just love her accent. I want it.

Eunji: The asian. She didn't really talk much... or really ever, but she cracked us all up with all the things she did. Almost every time someone would say something about her or after she'd walk past, we would squint our eyes, make a peace sign, and kick our leg up. Stereotypical? Yeah... but oh well, it was funny. She really is one of the sweetest and most timid people I have ever met, she is just adorable.

Krista: Our RA... she was super busy all the time and I have no idea how she handled everything that she did! She definitely goes above and beyond other people's expectations. I am sooo jealous of all the awesome things that she has experienced and I wish I could live a day in her life, not to mention she's going to India this summer {for those of you who don't know, that is my absolute dream! I have always wanted to go there!!!} Oh and she was also my inspiration to learn how to jerkkkk.

Caitlin: Ok so we didn't start hanging out until the end of first semester. We had another roommate who moved home during Christmas break. When Caitlin started sleeping over a couple times each week, we decided she should just move in to the other girl's spot- so she did, and I am extremely glad she did! Really, she's one of the best friends I have ever had. We just connect and get along so well and have the best time together! We talk in ridiculous voices all the time, make awesome music videos, and just have stupid fun all the time. I just love her. that's all there is to it.

Basically, I'm just going to miss all of these girls way too much! Thankfully, Jenn, Chels, and Caitlin are my bridesmaids, so I'll see them a few times this summer and I am going to try to go up there a few times. The hardest part will be going from seeing them 6 out of the 7 days a week to seeing them once or twice a month.. yeah that isn't a happy thought. But for my amazing fiance's {aka cutest guy I've ever met} sake, I am just letting everyone know that I am excited to be home so we can spend more time together. We have so much fun when all we're doing is talking or sitting and doing nothing. So I am thinking we will have an awesome summer... yeah I know we will. Plus, we're getting married, so you could say that will be fun, I guess. With our new house, wedding plans, actual wedding, trip to Bahamas, and hopefully a trip to NY in the fall, the rest of the year is going to be a blast!!! I am so excited to marry my best friend and start our new lives together. :)

♥ you girls!!!

May, please hurry!

2010-04-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

I have no idea why, but I all of a sudden just want to blog. Maybe it's because, like I said in my last post, all married people blog so I'm transitioning into that. Who knows??
I figured out today that I have 19 more classes {excluding institute}, 14 more days, 10 more days {they're not even all full days} in Logan, 5 finals, 2 papers, and 2 more sad Sunday goodbyes until I am officially down with USU and back in Layton for the summer! It is definitely coming too quickly in some ways, yet not quick enough in others. I will miss my roommates a ton! One of my roommates started crying in class today because we were trying to figure out when to take the final {it's online} and I said we'd have to do it Tuesday because I'm moving back home that night. Ha it was kind of a wake up call for both of us! It's just weird that my life up here is basically ending, but I'm sure I'll come visit a lot too!
Concentrating on finals and school is getting really tough! Not only is summer coming, but I finally get to really start planning the wedding and Chris gets to move into the house and I get to start decorating! May just sounds way too fun and I want it to hurry! I have been looking for a dining table/chairs and couches for our living room all week. I know I don't need them for about a month, or even longer, but I am wayyy too excited. Chris was supposed to come up to Logan tomorrow {one of us tries to go up or down at least every Wednesday so can see each other a little more than just weekends}, but I am getting way too anxious about couches, so I'm going down there again. We're going to look at a few furniture stores and at some that people put up on ksl. Hopefully we'll be able to get some, or at least find some we like. We also picked out all the paint colors for our house over the weekend. All the walls are white, so we get to have a little bit of fun! We've found a couple of other things and I have a few other ideas to start us out {well, start him out since I won't be moving in until August} so I'm way stoked for all of that.
I started making a list of things we need to get done for the wedding, and I am really surprised at how much we already have done! Our colors are picked out {teal, chocolate brown, and pale yellow}. The temple is booked for the wedding {August 7} and so I can receive my endowments the week before. Our reception is booked at Oakridge Country Club {August 6}. The luncheon is booked for after the wedding. I have my dress and shoes. The honeymoon is booked. My bridesmaids dresses are picked out- finding someone to make them is going to be the only tricky part. The cake is picked out, although we haven't gone taste testing yet {can't wait! it's going to be heavenly}. I think I have the outfits for all the groomsmen picked out. Someone is making my hairpiece. Chris' rings {Yes, two. That spoiled kid!} are already here. We have two photographers booked. Ohhhh.... and I have the perfect fiance/groom. :) I just thought I'd share all the progress, since I was so excited and amazed! Mom, I'm sure you'll be surprised at how much we have done after reading this, too!
Well, hopefully this will fill my strange blogging craving that I've been having! And I'm sure I'll have more to update with soon, especially after furniture shopping tomorrow! :)

Quite a large update!

2010-04-08T17:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I think everyone is aware, I am engaged. :) I probably should have blogged about this earlier, but 1) I hate blogging and 2) I have been super busy. Anyway, so my cute fiance is Chris Monson. He went to Davis High (same high school as me), but graduated in 2006. He works at Valley View Golf Course in Layton, where I also worked this summer. I know it's lame... like wayyyy lame, but we met over facebook last April. We both thought we knew each other, but once we got talking we realized that we didn't. But we did make the connection that we both worked at Valley View. However, I had another job, so I was only there once a week or less. He also transferred to another golf course in Park CIty, so he was only there once a week or so too. We were both in relationships at the time, so we really didn't think much of anything and moved on. We really didn't talk that much until November, he had just gotten out of a relationship and so had I. We started talking over facebook and then things just progressed. We met/went on our first date the week I moved back home for Christmas Break. After that, we just hung out a bunch over the next couple of weeks. The night before Christmas Eve, we watched a couple of movies at his apartment and had our first kiss. We both kind of got mixed messages from the kiss and didn't know if it really meant anything to the other person... We didn't talk much the next day, then on Christmas he invited me to go see Avatar with his family. I went with him and after, we kinda just gave an awkward hug and I left. The next day, I went to Mexico for a week with my family. We pretty much just texted the entire two days I was driving down and while I was gone and we both had an idea that the other one had feelings, but didn't really know. While I was gone, I think it kind of hit us both how much we missed and liked each other. I got back from Mexico the next Friday night-five hours after he left for Palm Springs for the weekend. He flew in Monday morning and we went to lunch, then we both went to work, and we hung out later that night. The next day went the same, minus him flying in, and that is the night I fell in love with Chris- I can remember the exact moment and everything. The next day, he went with me to babysit two of my adorable nephews and then he took off work that night since I didn't have work. We talked all day about sooo many things. After we went to dinner, we went to my house and while he was downstairs I told my mom, "That's the man I'm going to marry, I just know it." Later that night, we exchanged I love you's for the first time and started talking about marriage a little bit.

Over that past few months, we've been dating and getting to know each other better and figuring things out. We went to a Jazz game on March 20, where he got us amazing seats! It was my Spring Break and I knew he was proposing sometime that week (I hate secrets and I'm a snoop....) but he had told me that he was going to propose at the temple on a Sunday. I still had a little bit of suspicion and thought that maybe he would propose at the game, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. Much to my surprise (and yes, I was still extremely surprised even though I kinda knew about it), he had the Jazz Bear bring roses up to me and pull me onto the stairs. By the time I had stepped onto the isle and turned around, Chris was on his knee. The Jazz Bear then sprayed us with TONS of silly string! I obviously said yes and we are now engaged. :) The wedding is going to be on August 7th, and the reception will be held the night before on the 6th at Oakridge Country Club.

Only two and a half weeks after Chris proposed, he started talking about wanting to find a townhouse (for some reason that is his obsession) and now only a week and a half from then, we have a house. It is an adorable two bedroom townhome in South Ogden, meaning I will be going to Weber instead of USU or U of U this fall. Chris will be moving into the house in about a month, after we get everything worked out and after his wonderful, awesome, and extremely helpful mother paints for us! :) We don't have any pictures of the house yet, but once we get some, I will try to post them. And I'm definitely going to try to blog a little more, especially with wedding plans and all the fun that comes with a new house! Plus, it seems like blogging is something all married people do, so I better start working on it now. ;)

Makes Me Think

2009-12-01T19:46:00.000-08:00

While I was at work today, I came across a site I had never heard of or seen before. I spent most of my shift reading posts (a waste of time, I know, but I had nothing else to do). The site is called makesmethink.com and I fell in love with it! It actually made me think of all the blessings I have and how grateful I am for everything that I have. Last week was Thanksgiving and all, but I don't think I was really in the right mindset. However, today I couldn't stop thinking about how blessed I really am, so since I don't have anything else to blog about, I'll blog about this ha. And I know this is way super lame, but I found some of my favorite posts from this site and posted them below....

"Today, my wife and I acted like kids. We ate cotton candy at a carnival, climbed an oak tree in a nearby park and then carved our initials into the tree's trunk. On our walk home it started raining. So we splashed around in the puddles and performed rain-dances as we walked. It was a blast! MMT"

-Ok, so I love this one because I love acting like a little kid. It reminded me of a day Bryan and I had, we went and ran through the fountain and made a monkey at Build a Bear at the Gateway, then went to Farmington Pond and went swimming, and then went to my nephew, Carter's, birthday party. We acted like such little kids and I loved it! I'm so grateful to have good friends that will act crazy with me! I'm also so glad that I have all my cute little nephews, and now niece, that I can play and act like a little kid again with.

"Today, I took a wrong turn on my way home. I ended up on a beautiful country road lined with wild flowers and lush foliage, so I decided to drive a little further. After a mile, I came up on a local bakery and went in for a taste. I met a great guy there. We have a dinner date tomorrow at 7PM. MMT"

-This one reminded me so much of the movie 'Serendipity' and I just loved it. I love how something that could have easily been seen as an inconvenience turned into something amazing. I'm so grateful for little moments like this, where God puts someone or something in your path so you can learn. And I'm so grateful for all the friends I have that are those little helpers in my path... especially those today! :)

"Today, I'm a neurosurgery candidate, going under the knife in 2 days. Last month I was a healthy 24 year old female athlete. Today, signed a DNR, just in case I come out as a vegetable. Today, I had to make a living will. Is it really my time? In 48 hours I’ll find out. MMT"

-Sad, I know. But it just shows how life can change so fast and how nobody is immune to life's problems, trials, and craziness; although that would be so nice!

"Today, a complete stranger on a busy city street tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "What if you were never born? Would the world be any different?" MMT"

-Just love it :) that's all.

"Today, I realized that before my husband passed away I constantly picked on all the little things he did that got me mad. But now, I would give anything to go back to those moments, let them slide and move on. MMT"

-Ha alright, this is totally me. I know I'm a brat some of the time... k, most of the time. And I have nine million + pet peeves, and I express my opinion about them all the time ha. It made me think of all my friends that are on missions, and all the little arguments we'd get in over the stupidest little things. I thought about some of the little fights that I'd get in with my brothers and parents, that really didn't even need to happen. But now that my friends and I have all moved away, people are on missions, and my family is spread out, sometimes I'd give anything to even have those annoying moments with those people I miss.

"Today, I met a man at Venice Beach wearing a t-shirt that said, "The Smilemaker." All he did for the duration I watched him was walk back and forth telling jokes, making funny faces, and doing whatever it took to make complete strangers laugh. And he wasn’t even asking for tips. He made me smile. MMT"

-This immediately made me smile. Ha it made me think of my coworkers and the people I live with that are always making me laugh or smile, even on bad days. I'm so thankful that I have amazing roommates, that I can joke with and just be ridiculous with!

You can just go read more on your own, but these were just some of my favorites. For some reason, it all just really made me think about everything. Last week, I had so much on my mind. Classes. Finals. Boys. Parents. Fighting. Essays. Work. Friends. Roommates. etc. But I'm just so grateful for everything right now, even though life may not be the best right now, it's still not the worst. :) I'm so glad I found this site because even though it's wayyy lame and cheesy and junk, it just put me in such a better mood! :)

<3>

Car Crash :(

2009-11-16T19:56:00.000-08:00

Well, my week hasn't started off on the best note, hopefully this isn't a sign of how the whole week is going to go! Sunday afternoon, I drove up back up to Logan after spending the weekend at home. I went upstairs to go hang out with some of the guys up there, and after sitting there for a while, we decided to go up the canyon--I don't really know why, but they always go up there, especially at night? Anyway, so there were five of us, and we could have easily and safely fit in one car, but for some reason we decided to take two cars. So Max drove his car, and Jeremy and I rode with him. Then Tanner and Kyle went in Tanner's car. We went up the canyon, and we were about to go up kinda by Logan Peak (we went there on Thursday night last week), but because there's more snow than there was then, the gates were closed. So we turned around and decided to go up to Tony Grove. On our way back to the main road, Max started to drift. At first, we all thought he was joking, but then when we were heading off the road, we knew it was for real. It was way scary cause none of us knew what was going on. Luckily, we hit a tree and it stopped us from going any further off the road. It was all down hill, so if we wouldn't have stopped then, we would've ended up in the river... scary! If we were just a few inches to the right a little more, we would have easily kept going. Tanner and Kyle got out of their car and apparently we all looked way scared and shocked--I think we had good reason to ha. But the car started smoking, the air bags were out (and it smelled terrible thanks to them), and the car was totaled. Thank goodness we were all ok, but I felt way bad for Max! Thankfully, his parents aren't mad at all. So we all just drove back to our apartment and everything is still getting worked out. The tow truck went and got him, but apparently they even had a hard time getting the car out! But everything's good for now! I guess Jeremy and I have to talk to the insurance company and let them know we're alright.

This is a picture of all of us last Thursday, Tanner's the one with the sunglasses and hat, you can kinda see Max to the left of me, Jeremy is on the other side of me, and Kyle's driving (you can't see him unless you look in Tanner's sunglasses lens. But this just gives you an idea of who everyone is in the story.

Here's the tree that saved our lives...and where the car hit it.

Where we slid off the road, and below is the car where it was sitting. This picture doesn't really do it justice though because you can't tell how big of a slant it's on. But basically, I couldn't even sit in it if I didn't have my seat belt on or I'd slide down to the other side.

Dying Hair

2009-10-31T14:49:00.000-07:00

I'm sure some of you may have seen pictures on facebook of my dark hair, but there's a story behind it! I really like going dark in the fall, so I've been trying to get it really dark by just using dye I have bought from Sally's Beauty Supply. But my hair never goes as dark as I want it to, and it ends up just going back to a boring light brown within a couple weeks. So instead of having that blah color of hair, I decided that since I couldn't go dark, I'd just go back to blonde. When I was about to buy the dye, the lady at Sally's told me not to use dye, but a lightener instead. Since the workers there usually know what they're talking about, I took her advice... Bad idea! At 11:00 that night, I used the lightener, and my hair turned the ugliest color ever! It was just some nasty custardy/orangey color that really was gross! My RA even came in, looked at me, and said, "It doesn't look bad...with your hood on." Ha it was way funny! Anyway, there was no way I was going to go to class like that the next day! So at midnight, we made a nice visit to walmart to get hair dye and we dyed my hair blonde at midnight. Since is was going from that weird color to blonde, it turned platinum blonde and was hideous. My friend described it as playboy bunny blonde...not cool. So my mom made an appointment for me for the next day since I was coming home. And since I was only going blonde because I couldn't go dark, I decided to just have the professional take care of it, and dye it dark. Anyway, I learned my lesson, and I am done playing with dye for a while! I had to spend $60 on shampoo that day just so my hair won't be as damaged (it's basically fried), but it was definitely a crazy adventure and gave us a lot of laughs! I would put pictures of the orange/custard color, but I wouldn't let anyone take pictures since it was so hideous. So you'll just have to deal with seeing the two other extreme colors. :)

Here's my super platinum, playboy bunny hair (don't even ask about the donuts! haha) and below is me with my very dark hair!

Crazy College Times!

2009-10-22T15:16:00.000-07:00

I have to say, life has been a little crazy these past couple weeks! I never get sick in the fall, usually just in the spring, so I wasn't worried about getting sick at all. And then I got the swine flu...yup terrible. At the same time, I had an exam in my biology class, and lots of other things going on. But thanks to those good ol' priesthood blessings, I'm fine now! :)

This past weekend was fall break, so basically everyone on campus went home, but now me! My roommate, Jennika, and I had some pretty fun times together! Thursday night, after we went to the volleyball game, we called my friend, Travis, and had him set us up with some cute, tall guys! Well, at least that's what we asked for. :P (Only one of them was tall) We went up to Tony Grove with them, and they tried to scare us, but they ended up getting scared more than we did! ha The next day, we went and shot clay pigeons in Preston, ID with our friends Jake and Derik. It was way fun, and I pulverized a couple of them! :) On Saturday, we went to the USU football game, I babysat Blake and Christine's two cute boys, Sam and Isaac. I went to church here on Sunday, as well as a fireside, ward choir, and ward prayer. Let's just say, I was all churched out for the week! So that was my weekend...

This week, I've just been working lots and having fun! Monday, I went to LLC's Got Talent for FHE. Then after work on Tuesday, I went to Taco Tuesday at Cafe Rio...that was my first time, and I guess I didn't realize how big of a deal it is in Logan! There were so many college kids there, I guess I should have realized cheap food is something anyone here will go for! Last night, I went to the Kite Runner, a movie they played for Diversity Week, and I finished the third season of Lost! Now I'm onto the fourth! Well, that's about it for the week! After work, I might go dancing, or I might just dye my hair (again-don't be mad mom). I'll try to post pictures soon, I just can't right now because I'm at work, not on my own computer. Well love you all!

This was Jennika and me after we cleaned our room and got ready for those boys to come over ha! Good thing we're both random and crazy!

Me holding the pumpkin I shot :) Candid!

Here's my roomie and I at the game together, too bad we didn't win! But it was still lots of fun!

Mother Knows Best

2009-10-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

Alright, well as you all know, I've been slacking a lot when it comes to my blog. So I deleted my last posts (from 13 months ago) and I'm going to try to start blogging a lot more from now on. My mom asked me to do this, mainly so my dad can still see what I'm up to while I'm at school. Plus I don't put much more than photos on facebook, so this way everyone can stay up to date on what's really going on in my life :) so here it goes:

I just started my freshman year of college up at Utah State. I'm just taking generals right now, but I'm thinking about majoring in Social Work. For the most part, I love it up here. I'm still adjusting and getting used to the whole transition, but I think I'm getting used to it, little by little. It's a lot different than I expected, but I'm learning to love it. The social life is the best part of college life! Even though I like my classes, it's nice when the day's over and I get to just play with friends! :) From hanging out with people up here, I've gained a new love for sushi, learned to play racquet ball, and for two weeks I developed a British accent.

I'm working at the library on campus up here and it's a great job! I'm really lucky because a lot of people up here don't even have jobs. It's walking distance from my dorm and they work with my class schedule really well, so it's really awesome! Plus, whenever it's not busy, I can do homework, study, or just relax.