try something insane once in a while

survival rule #3: always find some time to try something absolutely insane once in a while. my friend tina from back home and next door neighbor here in rexburg texted me last tuesday asking if i wanted to come home this weekend. i was like, "YES!!!!" and then she told me that she had just decided last minute and was going to surprise her family so thats what we did. we drove alllllll night thursday with another one of my friends, jane, and had such a party. well i was sleeping most of the time....but it was still a party. since we had to stop a billion times to pee haha. we made super amazing time though! we left around 11pm and got to tine's house at like 9:30am.

Portland!

It was so much fun surprising everyone! my whole family was shocked, especially my dad! almost every single one of them asked me, "what are you doing here?!" it was so great.

however, the main reason i went home was because one of my best friends, risa, (tine also knows her, tine's younger sister jess is another one of my best friends and they are all super close because of the private school they all go to- PHA) has cancer. its been so hard. we all just recently found out after she got her biopsy results back that she has the cancer pretty much all over. it has reached her lungs, liver, lymph node area, ovaries, and her whole pancreatic area is full of it- the doctors couldn't even really tell what was cancer and what wasn't on the results. i cried for like two hours straight once i found out and its been really hard for me to sleep and concentrate all the time when she, my darling risa, is always on my mind. and its hard also because i'm in idaho and she's back home in oregon, what am i supposed to do? pretty much all i can do is pray, fast, and love her. and let her know that. risa is as perfect as any mortal person can get. she loves everyone and is so kind. anyways, so PHA had their graduation friday night so i was able to go and see jess and risa graduate. and that was a huge blessing and something i will never forget! i have realized so many things about my life and future these past couple weeks.

and then on saturday my family and i went to the beach! i soo needed it! even though it exhausted me. and the weather didn't even end up too bad. and i have now decided that i'm a master at building huge sandcastles and that green apple is the best saltwater taffy flavor. i must get moooore.

my little brother eli and i and our bomb sandcastle! we had a battle of the sandcastles with my other brother joel, this was what it looked like before being destroyed.

cloudy but beautiful cannon beach!

And then the rest of my weekend was spent watching the blind side (such a good movie!) going to my home ward, taking a glorious super long nap, taking pictures of the whitaker sisters, (pictures will be up soon!) and going to my mormor's house and spending time and eating foood with my wonderful family. i adore my family. especially my cousins. :) they are the cutest things alive, no joke!

"i'm going to die without her!" -leah saying goodbye to me

All in all, the trip was so very worth it.

no matter how much danger you are in, never leave your cell phone out of sight.

Survival rule #2: seriously, never lose sight of your phone. last night as my roommate roselanni and i were having a teabag fight (yes, teabag fight), my other roommate krisitn decided it'd be cool to give rosie an advantage and they teamed up and cornered me and somehow took my phone. so as i threw the teabag at rosie's face and she threw it back at mine and we both ended up with slimeyyy herbal tea leftovers stuck to our faces, my phone had disappeared. and i didn't even realize it until kristin was already in bed. i madly looked all over the apartment, ripping the couches apart and ransanking my room as rosie was falling asleep. little did kristin know that i had visual media in the morning and had a project due. so she just kept my phone with her the whole night and i did not get it back until after i had slept through both of the extra alarms i had set (since i didn't have my trusty cell phone alarm to wake me up) and missed handing my project in and will now get 20% taken off of my grade because its late even though i had finished the project the day before!!!!!! fetch. apparently krisitn thought it would be cute to put my phone in my cupboard, thinking i would go in there for a snack before bed. nooooo. grrrr. but, i am a kind and forgiving person and love my roommates dearly no matter how funny they think it is to pick on me, so its not as big of a deal as it most definitely could be. :) and i shall remember it forever and will never let either one of them touch my phone again. ever. i know they love me, as they are saying "its a form of looooove" suuuure. haha. ♥

my lovely roommates and i at the beginning of this semester!! D5 girls are the best.

name change.

So, i decided to change the name of this so called blog. :) it was named Life in Technicolor after the song by Coldplay, but i discovered that i liked the zombieland rules so now my blog is called Sonja's Survival Rules. and every time i post from here on out will most likely have a new rule as the theme of the post!!!! yadigg???

enjoy the little things

Okay soo, I finally decided to do this blog thing. :) I have a blog for my photography, but I figured it was about time to have one just for the daily happenings of my life, boring or excitinggg, for my thoughts, and just for fun. And it doesn't really matter if no one reads it, because the fact is, it'll be there for me to read! Since i'm all about keepin my memories :) plus i have a few friends who blog all about their lives in college, and i think quite a few of my family members would enjoy hearing about everything that goes on in my college life.

So, me. I am going to Brigham Young University-Idaho, and i love it. Even though it can get awfully boring at times and the weather can be dreadful, i am very blessed to be surrounded with amazin people to keep it interesting. And to keep my feet on the ground but on my toes at the same time. I'm majoring in communications and minoring or whatever in photography. Photography is my way of expressing myself and i love doing it because i love inspiring people and filling their lives with color by capturing their moments and preserving their memories.

Anyways, so last night i watched zombieland with my lovely guy friends (who i just so happen to spend quite a bit of my time with) and i love columbus' zombieland rules to live by #32: enjoy the little things. So, here are some of the little things i enjoy, that make my life the way it is.

1. Cheez-its.

because if i had only one choice of food to eat for the rest of my life, cheez-its would be it. and they remind me of my best friends. :)

2. Napolean Dynamite.

i do quote him/it everyyy day.

3. Crest Vanilla Mint Toothpaste.

I seriously cannot brush my teeth without this toothpaste. its kinda like an OCD thing i guess. but this toothpaste just makes me happy.

4. Cute little monkeys.

If i could have a pet monkey, i would. and it would be this one. his hair matches mine! i just wanna hug him.

5. Sorry, Twilight.

I don't care how many people think it is stupid. and psh, team edward all the way. jacob is only there to create problems. don't get me started. ha. plus, i'm kinda a vampire, thank you very much!

6. Vanilla Milkshake Poptarts.

They are the best out of all the poptarts. and pretty much the only ones i will eat. i kinda love vanilla. :)

7. Hand Sanitizer.

i mean, who wouldn't love hand sanitizer? really now! it can solve sooo many problems!

8. Sweden!

I take great pride in my swedish heritage. anddd i wanna live there someday. jag skulle alska det sa mycket!

9. Elvis Presley. If this man weren't dead, i might marry him. there will be future references to him in this blog. trust me.

10. aaaaaaaaadventure time!!!!

because its the best show on the planet! watch it.

11. Going to the Temple.

Because here is where i feel peace.