Bitter Sweet...

With 7 days left of my college education, I am feeling a little bitter sweet about the whole thing. Let me just say that right now I have been blogging when I should be making the final edits to a paper due in the morning, as well as memorizing the Proclamation I have to recite in class at 9 a.m. I realized that this is my last night I will most likely be up late doing homework (might as well make it an all nighter, right?). Finals week will be a breeze- so yep, this is it. Weird. As excited as I am with what lies ahead for Ev and I, I will miss BYU-I and the college life. It really has been a dream of a time for us. Let me just break it down to my highlights of the last 3.5 years:

1. Meeting Ev that second day of classes my freshman year in Intro to Communication class in the Spori basement. (Photo is of our first picture ever taken together)


2. Getting married over 2 1/2 years ago in the Portland Temple.

3. Being in the Celestial room at the dedication of the Rexburg Temple. What a neat experience that was! Talk about being in the right place at the right time.


4. Meeting Elder Christofferson and the Young Women General Presidency at a news conference at General Conference. I also got to meet Glenn Beck and rally with Mitt Romney. Recently, I got to chat with the Governor of Idaho, interview one of the Congressmen and discuss politics with a member of the legislature here in Idaho.


5. Living in South Carolina, LA and Portland. We have already lived in so many places in such a short time!

6. Cheering Ev on in all the sporting events over the past few years. Even with frostbitten toes during football games, or the annoying refs in basketball- I loved it all! Just a side note, Ev will receive his championship t-shirt from basketball at the closing awards night tomorrow. Way to go!


7. Having all of our closest friends just minutes of us. We've made the best of friends up here. Since we will all be scattered across the country, it just means lots of vacations to Wyoming, California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, and who knows where else.

8. The classes and teachers I have learned so much from. Some of my favorites have been (sorry so long, it is more for my memory later):
-New Testament with Brother Kunz. He is an EFY director and was AMAZING! He had great scripture mastery songs, wonderful personal stories to tie in each lesson and was an amazing song writer and often had songs to go along with what was being studied.
-Interpersonal Communicaiton with Brother Bean. He reminded me of Brian Reagan. SO funny, but made me want to work hard in his class by his personal example.
-Group Dynamics with Sister Bergstrom. She was so full of energy. I loved her class, working with others. You could tell she loved her job.
-Visual Media with Brother Carson. Ev and I took this class together. Although I have forgotten most everything I learned in this class, at one point I knew a lot about the Adobe Suite.
-German with Brother Schwartz. As much as I hated having this class at 7 a.m., it made it easier having Brother Schwartz there. If you hear me speak German, you can tell I don't know a lot about the language, but I did have many talks with Brother Schwartz about marriage and life. He is a sweet, short, old mission president who was always fun to chat with.
-Advanced Writing with Brother Hunt. Initially Ev and I were scared about English 311, but it ended up being a great class. Brother Hunt was crazy. For example, instead of passing out papers row by row, he would simply throw them in the air (which took way less time). On one occasion, he dropped and did 50 push ups. I believe he challenged Ev, but Ev declined to compete against a 50 year old.
-Home Decor Sewing with Sister Blake. This is a class I took just for fun and loved it. I am not a very good seamstress, but I enjoyed feeling domestic and getting to do all those fun projects!
-I-News. I did I-News for 5 out of the 7 semesters I was up here. I learned so much through our campus news program. I was able to do all the positions in I-News including reporter, anchor, producer and news director. I loved working with all those involved in the program. It really shows what all the learning model is about.

9. After completing number 8, I realized that I was able to have such a personal relationship with many of my professors and those directing the College of Communication. I have spent so much time in many of their offices talking about my plans and getting advice from them. The fact that I could go to the Department Chair of Communication and he would remember my name and ask if I figured out my summer plans yet was a neat part of my experience here. (photo with BYU-I President, Kim B. Clark)


10. I have grown so much looking back to when I first arrived at this campus. I don't think I realized what changes would happen to me following my arrival to good ol Rexburg, Idaho. Who knew I would love this campus so much, make so many friends, have such wonderful teachers and mentors, gain a great education, and start my life here with my best friend Ev.

I can very clearly remember making the drive here with my parents with a car full of stuff, as a fresh out of high school girl from Missouri. It is funny to see I will be coming full circle, as we will leave BYU-Idaho with them, as well, and start a new chapter in the Ev and Whit life in Missouri. So, it's been a great journey, now we have to take the things we learned here and bring in out to the Midwest. Ready or not, here we come!

*Now that I've spent far too long on this, I better start that homework or I may have to save this post for next semester!