Climbing the Butte and Jumping the Monkey

So much has happened! I'm making awesome friends and really coming to love my roommates.
As some of you know, my complex is boy/girl/ Meaning there is a boys building and a girls building. Four apartments each. Six people per apartment. We've really gotten to know the people in our complex and I can honestly say I love all of them. They are all super special people with such strong testimonies. It's like a spiritual vortex when you walk into the parking lot.
There is this mini mountain over by R mountain called Menan Butte. Michael, Nick, and I climbed it one night in hopes of watching the sunset. Well, we got a little lost and didn't get to the top of the mountain in time, but we trekked on. The climb was difficult but totally worth it. From the top, you can see all of Rexburg. It was gorgeous. Especially the temple. Once again, it was illuminated at the top of the town, the brightest light out there. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. As the three of us made our way back down, the sketchy way, we made plans to go back and watch the sun rise. That will be fun.
This past Saturday Michael, Corbin and I went to this place over by St. Anthony called Monkey Rock. It's pretty much just a mini waterfall. But what's really great is that about 400 yards up from the waterfall there is a bridge that is about 30 feet above the river that people jump off of. So, guess what we did. Yep. We jumped it. Let me tell you. I've jumped higher. But this was still pretty scary. Because you could see the rocks on the bottom and it looked higher than it actually was. After Michael jumped.. Twice.. I finally pushed myself off and took the plunge. What a rush! But the landing.. Wow. OUCH! I jumped from a sitting position, and managed to land on my right side mostly. Hot dang. That was painful. The water was so cold, it knocked the wind out of me! I could barely make it to the river's edge. But it was so fun. I couldn't bring myself to jump again, though. Maybe if the water had been warmer.. But Michael did a back flip. That was totally worth watching. I came out with some battle wounds. I have this big bruise on my upper arm and spotted bruises on my thigh. My thigh and arm were swollen all day yesterday. But like I said, totally worth it.
This semester is going by so stinkin' fast. I'm so excited. So far I'm doing great in my classes and loving it. I'm sure that will go away as soon as it starts snowing, though. But for now, I'm living life and loving every minute of it.

Rexburg: Part 2

I'm back in "The Burg". And I love it.
I've reconnected with some old roommates. Connected straight up with my new roommates. Made new friends and met my niece. She's super sweet.
I've been ultra busy.
Yesterday I unpacked and hung out with Ellie some. And I had dinner with Keaton. Some of you may know him as Elder Benson. He served in my ward last summer and is now in the same apartment complex as me. I visited with my brother and sister and their kids and then came back here and crashed. I was soo tired.
Today I got to hang out all day with Sonja. We ran errands and watched movies. We got Little Ceasers pizza with... CRAZY CRUST!! Neither of us have the option of crazy crust at home, so we were super excited to get some when we came back. We brought it back to my place and tried to watch a movie, but we couldn't get our TV to go to the right channel. So we took our movie, our pizza and our DVD player to Keaton's and watched it there. Super fun. And then Sonja and I went a chilled in the "back yard" and took a mini nap and played on the swing set they have and threw around a football. Then we went to Jedi's for dinner. Played the Wii, played with Piper (cute as can be) and then hit up Green Lantern at the cheap theater with Keaton. And now I'm super tired. Tomorrow I get to go to the temple. I can't think of a better way to start the semester than at the temple with people I love.
I'm super happy to be back here. I forgot how much I love it here. The people are just super nice and the weather is amazing and the landscape is gorgeous. I missed seeing Jedi and Aubrie whenever I wanted. I missed Tucker and his cute sayings and I missed Piper, even though she was super young when I left. I'm so glad to be back. I feel at home. I know what to do this semester tho. I guess you can say that last year was a trial run that I failed. But this time around, I will totally do things right. More work, less play, makes Auvie get straight A's.
The summer was a whorl wind of emotions that I have grown from. I'm so grateful to be back here on stable ground. I'm so grateful for Christ and his atonement and the rock He was to me when I was being flung around. I've learned to depend more on Him and less on myself. I can't do it alone and I don't have to. I guess I didn't know that last year, but this time I do and I'm better for it.