friends4lyfe #4

Victoria McBride

Can we just say that this girl is the most awesome person ever?! And I am being completely serious. I met Vicky just in January, but we saw each other around in our singles ward last year. She is my roommate and I am FOREVER GRATEFUL to have her as I go through the awkward dating scene which resides in Rexburg, Idaho. Funny thing about Tori is that she has a best friend/cousin and I have a best friend named KD, that went into the MTC the same day as each other, February 6th. With that happening, we really bonded. She has become one of my closest friends and I am so thankful for her loving heart. She is there whenever I need her and is always looking for ways to lift others up. She is the best and I hope she knows that. 

Also, she is engaged to a guy named Garrett who is equally awesome. They get married August 3rd! There is no way they can ever forget my birthday now (August 4th for all you who want to start saving up money for my birthday present now). Anyway, on to Tori. She has the best sense of humor, loves everyone and their mother, and is so easy to get along with. Just on Thursday we drove down to SLC in one day for her dress fitting and all the way down we could be laughing one second and then a minute later be in such a deep conversation about the gospel or past trials. I love that I can just talk about anything with her and I know she is a tender mercy from my Father in Heaven. She has been through a lot and has so much faith. She really inspires me every single day.

 I cannot wait to see her and Garrett get married! I have helped them prepare for children as being their permanent third wheel. YOU ARE WELCOME JOHNSON FAMILY.

Five random facts about Victoria:

1. She has so many ways to say her name. I am pretty sure I haven't called her by the same name once in this post.

2. She is very creative especially when it comes to graphic design.

3. Her parents live in France and she gets to live in Rexburg...lucky girl!

4. She will eat pizza with me whenever I desire it (friends that eat take out with you are hard to find guys!)

5. She is the sweetest person ever. she randomly just buys me a lemonade because she knows I love lemon and ade. 

I just love ya Aunt Vicky!

friends4lyfe #3

Mylissa Hoover

This here is Mylissa, Missa, Lissa, you can call her whaaaatever ya liiiiike...(cue T.I song)

Mylissa is my new roommate this semester and one of the most awesome girls you will ever meet. She is the one that introduced me to iPod idol (you all must try it), dancing like you just don't care, and the t.v. show "Criminal Minds." She is truly and honestly one of the strongest girls I have ever had the privilege of meeting. She has had some hard trials in her life and yet stands through it all with a smile on her face. She is constantly giving the best advice and never thinks of herself. I remember one day we were worried about one of our roommates and she just got out all of her self-help books and just started writing all the things we could do to help her. She is just the sweetest and I am so happy that I get to call her a friend. What makes me sad is that we now only have 3 weeks left, but she has definitely affected me for the rest of my life in the best way possible.

Always in the back seat, never the front.

Five random facts about Mylissa:

1. She loves "Twilight" more than she loves babies (sometimes), she even won a trip to Forks, Washington.

2. Her whole room is covered in One Direction posters. #madrespect

3. She is from the east coast!

4. She refrigerates her peanut butter...

5. She has the best music on her iPod...NSYNC's Christmas CD anyone?



I love the girl.

friends4lyfe #2

Nikki Tatham

This is Nikki and she is the sweetest person on this earth. I met her back in January through my friend Sam and connected with her immediately. She became my Costa Vida partner, my therapist, my spiritual confidant, etc. The list goes on and on. 

Back story on Nikki, she was baptized April 2012 and then moved out here to BYU-Idaho in September from Illinois. If she isn't the most courageous person on this earth, I don't know who is! She has the strongest testimony and I am constantly uplifted by it every time I see her. 

 She is seriously one of the most caring individuals you will ever meet...EVER. She is constantly looking for ways to serve others, whether it's a quick note or a phone call or baking cookies. She is constantly following the promptings of the spirit and she makes me want to be better all the time because of it. I mean she even moved into another apartment halfway through this semester because of a prompting to help another girl. HOW AWESOME IS SHE?! I am so thankful to have Nikki in my life because she truly has shown me what it means to have Christ-like love for everyone.

Five random facts about Nikki:

1. She drives a PT Cruiser (I know, I know, I almost wasn't her friend because of it ;)

2. She can cook like nobodies business.

3. She is a PRO GOLFER PEOPLE!! She had a full scholarship at her last college.

4. She has the cutest sense of humor.

5. She knows every song ever produced on this planet. I'm serious, any song that plays on the radio, even if it is from 1928, she knows the words.

Like I said before, I don't know how I get so lucky. 

Love you Nicuragua!

friends4lyfe post #1

.Ciara Brown.

I really don't know how to describe Ciara except by first stating that she is the most down-to-earth, beautiful girl...ever. I went to high school with Ciara for her senior year, but we never talked. Then, just last summer we were in the same singles ward and hit it off. I connected with her like no other and I knew there was a reason and PURPOSE that we were friends. Ciara is a convert to the church, she was baptized three years ago, and has the strongest testimony I have ever seen. She loves God more than anything and you can see that by the way she treats all those around her. She has such a tender heart and is constantly looking around for those in need. She goes to school in Michigan, but would always go on splits with the sister missionaries and truly is an example of what a missionary member is. For fun we always go on drives to the temple in Vegas, park in the parking lot of the Stake Center right next door, sit on top of the car, and just talk while looking at the temple with the strip in the background. Every time after we hangout, I always feel uplifted and leave wanting to be a better person. I love you Cici, thanks for being the best advice giver and showing me what it takes to truly follow our Savior. I la la la la love you!

Random facts about Ciara:

1. She doesn't have her license...essentially I am her chauffeur. 

2. She is 4'11, but don't remind her.

3. She dresses cuter than anyone in this world.

4. She works at Sonic...keep moving parking spots and make her skate to you, that's her most favorite thing.

5. She has an attitude...of LOVE AND KINDNESS. 

you know mama loves you, Ci.

Friends.

I've been thinking lately about how lucky I am with the friends that I have had throughout my life. Some of them are seriously tender mercies, sent straight up from heaven to help ya girl out, so I've just decided that this week, each day, I'll post something about a certain friend and tell all 4 readers of this blog out there how this friend changed my life. I think it will just add even more to my gratitude and love for them.

When this little girl grows up, she better be my friend.

From the Heart Choir

....soooooooo this semester I have had the awesome opportunity to be a part of a choir called, "From the Heart." It's a student run choir, not affiliated with the school, but we perform firesides every week. There is a spirit about it which is just so awesome and overwhelming, I feel so lucky to be a part of it. Because it is student run, that means everyone in it sacrifices their time and talents, we practice thursday for two hours and sunday as well. We truly give our whole hearts to singing these sacred songs and I am so thankful for all the members examples.


I remember seeing the choir perform last year and just crying the whole time #likeaboss

I also remember thinking that I so wanted to be a part of it, so I tried out this year, and when I made it I was so dang happy. There are about 25 -30 of us.

Rexburg wind, the ingredient to make anyone look like a model.

Onto why I love this choir so much. Last tuesday we had the opportunity to go and perform at the Juvenile Correctional Center in St. Anthony. All I can say is that it truly was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. Ah guys!!! I just feel so lucky that I was able to be an instrument in the Lord's hand and to be a part of it! I just know that as we sang that God loved those kids, infinitely. As we were singing a song called, "Come unto Him", I so badly wanted those kids to heed that call!

It was so different than singing at a normal fireside because I felt that these boys and girls at the center needed a pick-me-up and needed to know EXACTLY who they needed to turn to, to know that they are not, nor ever, alone.

I am so thankful for this gospel and I know that those beautiful boys and girls felt their Savior's love that night! When you know, ya know, right?

I love it.

P.S. mama feels that she is blogging too much, I'll stahp, maybe.

Father's Day

I know I just dedicated a post to my dad, but I would just like to say that I am thankful for a father who makes us wear pajamas to Walmart to take Christmas photos for 2011, forgets that we took photos at Walmart, then goes to Walmart the following October 2012, remembers them, orders them, and sends them out.

I love you, Dad.

Happy Birthday to the best of the best.

I just want to take a second and try to express how much love I have for that man below in the picture, squishing my Stolworthy cheeks that he blessed me with. 

Thank you Dad for being the most patient and understanding man I have ever met. To have all girls and to have that kind of patience makes you an angel on earth. 

Thank you for the Stolworthy head. It's big, it's bold, and full of knowledge. 

Thank you for loving God more than anything else and showing that to me every single day by the way you act and treat others. 

Thank you for letting me quit swim team after freshmen year because I absolutely hated it and would rather watch Smallville.

Thank you for showing me how to trust in the Lord through everything, no matter what. I remember when you went through the toughest trial of your life, feeling utterly alone, and yet I saw you every morning reading your scriptures, praying, etc and then at night do the very same thing.

Thank you for being a worthy priesthood holder. You make it look easy.

Thank you for loving that mom of mine more than anything.

-For kissing her in the kitchen even though all four of us girls thought it was just the worst.

-For taking her side in arguments that were against one of your own posterity, even though I KNOW I WAS RIGHT.

-For never speaking one bad word about her.

-For laughing with her until you both cry even though it's about one of us children.

-For going on leisurely walks together and still wearing workout clothes.

The love, sacrifice, time, and effort you put in your marriage has been such an example to me and I will be eternally grateful.

Thank you for never giving up on me especially through the hardest trial of my life. I'll be forever grateful, you have no idea. 

Thank you for still cheering for me and paying me my "goal" dollar even though I scored for the other team.

Thank you for your example of sacrifice. You work so hard Dad with your job, church calling, and then on top of it you have four girls that scream and run out of the house when they see a gnat.

Thank you for your HUMOR Dad! Honestly, you teaching all of us about having humor and a positive perspective on life is what has gotten me through some of the toughest times and the best of times. You are the funniest person I know.

Thank you for chasing Molly down the stairs and then sliding on the hardwood floor which led you into running into the wall making a huge hole. I have never laughed so hard. 

Thank you for putting me on time-out for seven hours that one time, grounding me, and taking my phone away. I'm sure one day I'll understand why you did it ;)

 Thank you for believing in me when I didn't believe in myself.

 Thanks for forgiving me after I have crashed two cars, had six concussions, and ruined two phones.

Thank you for chanting/dancing like a russian just so that Cate and I would have non-stop laugh attacks.

Thank you Dad for showing me that TRUE joy comes from the living the gospel.

Thank you for hearing my many rantings of how I would rather become a nun then go on another blind date in Idaho or any continent on this earth.

Thank you for showing me that failure is never fatal. "Fail big, fail gloriously."

Thank you for the daddy-daughter dates to starbucks playing checkers, the walks to Seastrand park, and making your infamous chocolate banana shakes.

Thank you for loving me.

What I am most thankful  for Dad is for you teaching me that I have a Savior who loves me infinitely and that by Him and through Him I can return to Him. This gospel is the best/most wonderful/most amazing thing in my life and I owe you for it by you showing me what a true Christlike example is. I'll love you forever. 

My life be like OOOHH AHHH OOOOOO.

I wish Mallory would wake up and help me in my quest to get a Diet Coke every once in a while.

Listen, we all know that I thrive off of awkward. It's my forte. I'm going to show you how good I am at it.

Take One: Today while I was walking on campus, I went to go buy a York peppermint pattie (if my future man for forever is reading this, know that york's will always soften my heart in any argument) When I went up to buy my York, I realized that I left my wallet at home, but I did in fact have a bag full of pennies. For five minutes, the poor man at the register waited as I counted out my pennies, lost track at around 60 something and watched me start all over again. By this time there were five people waiting behind me and by the time I got to the fifties again he said, "you know what, take the York, just take it".....so I did. As I left I heard the guy behind me say, "that's so sad that that girl is so poor that she had to use pennies. So sad."

Take Two: While sitting in my family foundations class we were talking about marriage and divorce. This girl next to me stated that she was married and they were getting divorced. I looked at her and said, "oh man, I'm so sorry, that must be so hard." She replied, "Um, no. He's a poor (expletive) excuse for a man, you should know that he (expletive) left me, for a (expletive) woman."....what do you say to that? Well, if you are Emily Stolworthy, you say," I'm sorry...oh that man!! Oh that man..." Welcome to my life.

on the plus side, I did drink a diet coke and we all know that makes the world go round.

Holla for some Rexburg nights.

You guys, I honestly think I am getting better at this whole "blogging"thing. Look at me?! Twice in one week, I deserve a whole plethora of cupcakes now. Anyway, on to my stories of Rexburg, Idaho. First, I have the most awesome roomies. I swear every semester there is some divine intervention going on and I get the most awesome people to live with/to learn from.

This past weekend, we celebrated one such roomie's 21st birthday. Victoria is one of the most amazing girls ever and I am lucky enough to call her my best friend (until our best friends get home...and maybe a little bit after that).----> that's an inside joke because her best friend and my best friend went into the MTC the same day last semester. I just love the girl. She's so strong, loving, and all around great. God really loves me guys. Now, for some los photos.

The beautiful Victoria. 

 We started out Tori's birthday with surprising her to get her nails done, then ate some Chick-Fil-A, mall time, and then surprise birthday time! Gosh, I just love that girl!

I'm a homemaker! With instant cakes!

Surprise party for Aunt Vicky

I know the coolest kids. 

 Onto my other roommates,
Joni is beautiful/awesome/the best basketball watching buddy.
Mylissa is the funniest/prettiest/best cake decorator.
Mallory is the dopest/cutest/best ipod idol contender.
 Dani is the loveliest/sweetest/ the best dancer ever.

The three best roommates you can ever have (Mylissa, ya girl me, and Joni)

I am just so thankful for all these beautiful ladies in my life. They are such examples to me and have truly taught me so many lessons that I'll keep with me forever. I hope to one day be half as amazing/loving as they are.