To All Our Adoring Fans

We're sorry about yesterday. Blogging on the Sabbath may be against the Honor Code. We're not taking any chances with our salvation.

So, we went to church at noon. It was like a bag of jelly bellys. Why? There were many flavors. One girl told us all that her family loves hunting and she had a stuffed antelope in her room at home that she herself shot. The fifteen couture girls from Mesa, Arizona thought this was very sad. Another girl chose to share her love of duct tape with the Relief Society. A boy from Arkansas compared McDonalds and the church in his testimony. There was a rivalry between North and South California over the podium. We also took pictures for our Ward Menu, did not fast because we didn't know we were supposed to, and got taught our Relief Society lesson by a lady who seemed extremely nervous. But we enjoyed it. Sincerely.

Later that night we had our first ward mixer. We have really improved our mingling skills since being here. BYU changes a person. We made an effort to meet everyone there. When we thought we got everyone, new faces would appear. Nametags actually added to the awkwardness since we could no longer ask people's names. Eventually, we ended up with Hiram's nametag. Lisa wore it and it made her feel smart. We scanned it and our purple ten wrist band. Scanning is the new facebook.

After our ward mixer we celebrated our first ever Helaman Halls visiting hours. Get this: 7:00 to 9:00 on Sundays and Wednesdays, not only can we go into boys' halls, but we can go into their rooms...with the door open. We went to find Joseph to get our picture signed, but he wasn't home. So, we found ourselves alone in a boy's dorm. We felt like we were demolishing the honor code just by being in that building. Luckily an R.A. told us he was glad we were there because it makes them look cooler. The third floor Merrill crew was pretty hospitable. We met a Texan who showed us a giant Texas flag he was trying to hang up in his window along with his break away basketball hoop and his pull up bar.

After visiting hours we had a floor meeting. Some good bonding was done. We also got rape whistles for our key chains, which should really help out a lot.

We went to bed, then woke up.

Three Days Later

Our parents came! Somehow Joyce, Jim, Clair, and Terry all showed up about the same time and left about the same time. It felt like they were picking us up from a three day sleep over. They might have been minorly disappointed that we slept in so late today. The four of us ate lunch at the Canon Center. Our parents were impressed with the new cafeteria. We're glad we could treat them this once. We luv u guyz.

Believe it or not, we were tired. But we didn't take pictures. Lisa napped and Ally thought about Lisa.

Then we ate. Canon Center again. This time we went with some girls from our hall. By happenstance, we ran into Ben and his crew and enjoyed chatting with them. We met a boy who likes shoes and another one from Sweden. Lisa told him she had Swedish fish. He ignored her, but probably has a secret crush on her.

We came back and then went to the big dance. We got judged. Upon requesting Akon the DJ assistant informed us that Akon is usually pretty dirty. We stood up for Akon, saying that he has a few good songs. We didn't let that ruin our night, however. Lisa even danced with a black kid. He didn't exactly notice since his back was to her, but it was still off the hook. We also watched a kid dance rave style with two cell phones, witnessed a cameo appearance by Ryan Osterloh, and danced with a cool Asian with crazy moves. After the last song, I Gotta Feeling, we made a quick exit. We needed to go to the store to get some milk and cereal. We met Ally's sister who is going back to Ohio on Monday at Walmart. We got all our stuff, came back to the ranch and had a small cereal party with our sweetheart.

Now, we're going to bed. HUGS. LUVS. NOT DRUGS. OR PUGS. we hate pugs.

Baja Mountain Dew

We refused to shower. We have gotten ready for the past two days and showering would be the tipping point. And there's no time.

Now that that is clear, we may begin.

At the ring of our alarm clock at 7:41, we both decided breakfast would not be on the agenda for today and proceeded to wake up at 7:53. We quickly dressed in silence, ate some Clif Bars TM, and walked through the tunnel and up the hill to the Tanner Building where we reunited with Purple Ten. We went to a devotional. That's all we can tell you about that.

Then we did some serious things. Nothing worth mentioning.

We met back up with Purple Ten at lunch near the marigolds, the pretty gardens, and the dancing family statue. There, we celebrated Peter's birthday. Peter looks like a character who belongs in Narnia. A human character. We couldn't get close enough to Peter to get an actual photo, but this is what he looks like.

We also bonded with Joseph W (J. Dub). Now, usually we just sing some songs from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat at him, but today was different. We snapped this photo of him

and requested that he sign it so that we could give it to Peter for his birthday.

Believe it or not, we were tired. So we took these pictures! lol ha

We also demanded a Purple Ten picture and got a Yellow Thirteen to take it for us.

Oh, and Haoran. Go eagles.

After our lunch we took some dreadful tours. They probably weren't dreadful, but they were. However, one bright spot was the negative attitudes of our fellow Purple Tens. It was refreshing. They weren't overly negative, but it was a nice change from the rest of the freshman who look at BYU like it's Disneyland. Mostly, it was just something that deepened the roots of our Purple Ten connection.

Our tour came to a close and it was time for Purple Ten to disperse...for good. We weren't ready for this, but we tried to stay strong. We organized a team cheer and promised our prayers to be with them. No but seriously, we did a team cheer.

While we were sitting by our Y Group leader, Liz, not quite ready to give up the dream, a woman walked by with a tray of cinnamon rolls! Hooray!!! WE LOVE BYU!!!! We informed her how much we appreciated the comfort food and she informed us that it helps the school keep its approval ratings high.

After that we went to the BYU Bookstore to get our free t-shirts with Brigham Young's face on it. That was only the beginning of the free things. There was an informational fair going on and we snagged so much junk. Proof

We came back to the ranch, fed the horse, and had a quick dance party with our sweethearts (suitemates). Fergie and Akon were involved. Akon is forever. Then we went to dinner. No proof. Sorry. But we sat by the windows and enjoyed it.

Ran, showered (believe it), walked to the Friday Night Extravaganza. As soon as we walked onto the field we heard the announcer say "Now sit down. This group will be your core group for the rest of the night." Late again. Core group-less, Purple Ten-less, and alone. We couldn't get closer than a hundred yards after we heard the announcment "now you have forty five seconds to run around and say hi to people." It was chaos, didn't look too fun, and reminded us of a beehive. Not the Young Women class, but an actual beehive. Well, maybe both.

We ran into the Taylors on our way back and talked to them on the bleachers for quite some time. We took too many pictures and acted drunk while on the phone. Pretty typical.

They came to see our room/ranch. They liked it, but they were shocked by our bed height.

When we thought the night was over, Fiji called! Melba (Melba Toast, Melb-Awesome) called. It brought tears to our eyes. A little girl in the background kept saying Lisa over and over again. We probably should go back to the South Pacific soon. Filled with nostalgia after the three minute phone call, we stalked our Fiji friend's facebook page for about an hour.

Now we are sitting inches apart listening to break up songs, realizing they're for lost love, Fiji, but mostly Purple Ten.

Lastly, the post title is dedicated to Ben P. who only goes to Taco Bell for the Baja Mountain Dew and was severely disappointed to find out that they don't have it here at BYU.

First we moved.

So now we're here.

Today was our first full day here at the Y and it was more eventful than you would believe. We woke up to eat some breakfast at the Canon Center. They had a broad cereal selection so we're proud to call it our own. Then we walked to Helaman Field to check in for New Student Orientation (NSO). We were assigned a Y group - Purple Ten. We waited until we thought our group was done playing the human knot game or missionary tag or some other such EFY game and ended up waiting a bit too long. We couldn't find Purple Ten. However, we problem solved because we're in college. We latched on to several other groups, went to the convocation where we learned about BYU's fine heritage, and heard the name Doozenberry. It wasn't until we met with our Y groups for lunch that we finally located Purple Ten. We were extremely relieved, as you can imagine and during lunch with our group we said "Purple Ten!" maybe a bit too much.

Next we went on a Cougar Walk. There were no cougars. After the walk we went to the bookstore to get a 14 foot Ethernet cable that now stretches across our floor. This is where things really heat up. When we got back to our dorm room a 35 dollar key was lost. Cougar walks are exhausting and we really needed to nap on our raised beds. Ally hunted down someone to let us in while Lisa waited.

We took a nap. It was all too much.

Next we went to a meeting about financial aid and scholarships. We made it to the stairwell before we realized we didn't have our other 35 dollar key with us. We panicked and took a picture.

Then we found it. It was in Lisa's pocket of all places.

We were a little late to the scholarship meeting due to the key/picture taking incident and had to sit in the front row. Naturally we could hardly pay attention.

Next, we decided to go check the bookstore to see if we could find our key. We walked to the third floor computer section and there it was. Sitting on a glass table by the register like it had been waiting for us. We hugged. It's moments like this that make a college experience.

With our hearts full of joy we went to dinner at the Cannon Center. We're trying to find our routine spot in there. We think by the window will be good. We came back to our dorm and delivered some brownies, courtesy of Clair, to our hallmates. We did this to welcome them, build lasting friendships, and create a real community feel. Next, we went to Tradition of Honor, a great and honorable tradition here. We walked through Helaman Field on accident and had to hop a fence. It was high and Lisa's skirt got caught. Oopsies. Again, we were a little late to the event, but we really had the best of intentions. We walked down to the front row where our group was, but not before being interrupted by the opening prayer. Then our dreams came true and we saw Jericho Road live. One of them actually pointed and winked at us. That's right. Some other highlights from the Tradition of Honor were:

-hearing the solo, yet enthusiastic cheer of "go red heads!" somewhere behind us and to the right.

-a song about the honor code performed by the Young Ambassadors in angel costumes. It contained lyrics like "I don't lie. That's not me. I live with integrity." and "it's his heart I want to win, so there's no need to show my skin."

-the young man sitting next to Lisa who sang loudly along with the Young Ambassadors.

Finally, to wrap up the night we went for a rollerblade. Don't worry, we crossed the street so as not to be on campus. Or did we?

Okay, we did. We just took these pictures. We had a destination for our rollerblade: the beautiful Taylor Squared residence. We found their apartment after we confused West with East, climbed three flights of stairs with our rollerblades on, and skated down a parking garage. It was worth it.

Overall, a good first day.