the valentine sweater.

i love sweaters, my heart sweater is a new favorite.

i love it. its perfect for valentines day (and any other day too...).

did you see J.crew's heart sweater in December? I fell in love with it at first sight, as did the rest of the US population. oh how i loved it, but it sold out SO fast! my little heart was broken that my closet wouldn't have a new addition. Alas, pinterest saved the day with a little tutorial.

and I made it.

and i am as happy as a clam.

at a valentines party i played 'stab the heart' and me with daddy's flowers.

love love.

the provo life as of late.

I did a wicked amount of paperwork this week.

21 admits!!! stop. my. heart.

the RD was very impressed...i am awesome.

made my room messy...shame on you if you judge me.

its "annalise" clean now: looks clean, but closet is a messy. love my walk-in.

homemade valentines--yes I sewed that arrow to the paper...

no, I did not get the idea from pinterest, i thought of it on my own.

these valentines are for really really special people.

although my JBeibs valentines are pretty rad too.

Celebrated Up Helly Aa with the study abroad folks.

my boat didn't float well, i apologize to my european heritage.

temple tuesday. the workers love cousin grace and i.

i am still not loving the 4:45 AM alarm clock, but its worth it.

i love the provo temple. i think its beautiful.

saw the peking acrobats at BYU.

i really wish I went to acrobat school, i want to fly in the air. darn gravity.

so in love with BBC's downton abbey...my mom is obsessed too. what??

matthew crawley is perfection.

i wish I was an actress since I not-so-secretly want to star in period dramas.

preping for my glitter birthday party with Emily.

yes, its glitter themed.

I am going to Dallas tomorrow to visit aunt ruth who is really sick with daddy and see my favorite newlyweds, danielle and jared.

and in 52 days I will know about dietetic internships.

yowza.

love love.

groundhog day.

Don't you worry about cholesterol, lung cancer, love handles?

groundhog day is probably one of the dumbest holidays in the US--school still occurs, there are no special foods, decorations or costumes...weathermen can't accurately predict the weather, why do we think an oversized rat can?...but I love the movie. so much.

i hope its playing at the gym in honor of this "holiday." yesterday was 'the count of monte cristo' at the gym and I made it 6.3 miles. no big deal.

love love.

i don't feel bad saying, i am so (SO) good looking.

hi.

family.

3 oldest.

ladies of the family.

love love.

green wig.

this weekend I was in a murder mystery.

so naturally I had to wear a wig.

it was pretty fabulous.

so clearly I have decided that I will wear wigs when I am old and wrinkly.

getting old is starting to sound better.

and i found my passport after a four hour hunt. hallelujah.

words cannot express my excitement to go to isreal.

love love.

hello, its me!

I am trying to perfect the becky hayes smile with your mouth open.

remember me? the author of this blog? I know I don't blog as much as I did when I was a BYU coed. I miss those good old days when my life was really funny/interesting (or am I the only one who thought that??)

anyways, nothing blog worthy is going on...

but I have been quite busy.

crafting.

searching for my passport.

making messes looking for said passport.

watching BBC's downton abbey. expect a blog post dedicated to this soon.

writing letters to missionary friends.

making valentines.

fretting about my future. my personal favorite pastime.

busting moves at the gym.

working (31 new admits in one week...)

scraping snow off my windshield.

avoiding the 40% JCrew sale. resist. resist. resist.

reading.

chatting it up with old dietetics friends.

watching the Australian Open.

going to the temple.

indexing.

scanning family pictures.

3 weeks of laundry.

started having a tendency to forget to press start to the dryer.

dinner group-ing.

perfecting my spotify account.

thats it. i am alive.

pray for my passport. i need it. bad!

love love.

education.

reading in bed with teddy bear=crucial part of life.

I'm on the provident living committee. this sunday I am teaching about education to people with last names A-E in my ward (automatic audience=excellent) and i am giving the class valentines day pencils so its sure to be a success. I am still working on my outfit, but my lesson is done. bam!

anyways I am sharing this quote with the class...

“Our education must never stop. If it ends at the door of the classroom on graduation day, we will fail. And we will need the help of heaven to know which of the myriad things we could study we would most wisely learn. We cannot waste time entertaining ourselves when we have the chance to read or to listen to whatever will help us learn what is true and useful. Insatiable curiosity will be our hallmark.” -Henry B. Eyring, “Real-Life Education,” New Era, Apr. 2009, 6

what a relief I have started reading with 3 purposes...

1) pleasure--'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' by Jonathan Safran Foer

2) not for pleasure--'Krause's food and nutrition therapy,' I don't recommend it. its pretty dense.

3) preparation for Israel--'Jesus the Christ'

and I listen to NPR when I don't like the songs on the radio.

baby steps.

tomorrow I am wearing a suit. i have an interview with BYU for the dietetic internship. why did I apply to BYU? one reason, miss anna elizabeth.

love love.

awkwardness: lack of shaving. cringe.

i am not a hippie. I believe in smooth legs during all seasons. no excuses. but recently I didn't shave for 6 weeks. a few lucky friends were texted pictures of my man-ish legs.

I am in the process of doing laser hair removal. during my first appointment I was told NOT to shave until the morning of the next appointment. I obeyed. however as time passed my self control was really tested, but I stayed strong.

lo and behold, I WAS LIED TO! you can totally shave during laser hair removal treatment. needless to say when I told the women who was lasering my legs this weekend about the advice I was previously given she was shocked. like really shocked. I was just annoyed. all those days I wore tights to work or had my legs hair glisten in the sunlight was for naught.

but my legs are smooth now. I repeat. my legs are smooth now.

don't judge me.

love love.

and now it really begins.

I am all done applying for dietetic internships

AND

almost done with graduate schools applications too.

you know i did a high kick and victory dance after submitting.

wish me luck.

the waiting game is the worst. so give me a hug.

but i feel like a million bucks.

I AM SO AWESOME.

love love.

ps. thanks to mom/dad/sister for your awesome editing skills.

make each day count.

my mind is fully consumed by dietetic internship/graduate school apps. sometimes I wish I could just fast-forward (or hibernate) to sunday, april 1st when dietetic internships matches are listed. I also strongly believe it is cruel to have match-day be april fools day.

"Time is a gift, a treasure not to be put aside for the future, but to be used wisely in the present." -President Thomas S. Monson

until April 1st I am trying to be nice, maybe train for another half marathon, learn a few talents, hang out with brother, read quality literature, scan a lot of family pictures, prepare to go to isreal etc.

oh be still my soul!

love love.

miss becky hayes.

recently miss hayes was posed an earth-shattering question,

why are you and annalise friends?

this led to a FaceTime conversation where we evaluated our friendship. we decided to stay friends and discussed a few reasons why we love us.

1) we love bleed blue: both inside our bodies (physiology obviously) and figuratively for our BYU cougars.

2) we love skiing utah powder. its the greatest snow on earth.

3) we love justin beiber. his songs speak to our tween hearts.

4) we love organic chemistry (gag).

5) we love blogs, whether it's our personal blogs or strangers.

6) we love the HBLL even if we once got locked in the bottom floor with no lights.

7) we love running the 7 peaks Provo loop.

8) we love the color orange.

9) we love talking fashion.

10) we love apple products. RIP steve jobs.

11) we love harry potter...we are products of our generation.

12) we love olives restaurant in Las Vegas.

13) we love going to the pencourt. once again, thanks BYU dietetics.

14) we love hiking.

15) we love being mormon.

16) we love alternative food styles: becks is vegetarian and I am a cooking vegetation. (i don't cook meat)

17) we love the continent of europe. but we call north america home.

18) we love the american pastime of baseball.

19) we love random meet ups.

20) we love provo, granted its not NYC or DC, but its a pretty good stomping ground.

bottom line: we are kindred spirits like diana berry and anne shirley. I might even suggest we are better friends then diana and anne since our friendship didn't start with a solemn oath in the berry's garden like them. we just decided that we just love to be together.

whether its eating frozen yogurt

or skiing

or meeting a death eater (harry potter) at the cannon center

or seeing the lights at temple square

or hiking

or randomly seeing each other at BYU after 4 months apart
or graduating together.

This blogpost has been brought to you, the reader, by divine intervention and BYU housing. we thank you for bringing us together.

love love.

it starts again.

I have started applying for dietetic internships. again.

yes. my life totally rocks.

remember last April when I wasn't placed? although I put on a good face to the public, inside I was aching. It was hard, the day before I was at Grandpa's funeral and the next day the world told me I was a failure. Crying in the shower wasn't really fun either.

but fast-forward almost a year later, I feel a little grateful I wasn't placed. It was a hard lesson to learn, but I have learned the most important thing in life: how to rely in the Lord.

do I feel confident applying this year? no. don't be crazy. my fate is being decided by a computer program that will decide where I go based on how I am ranked.

but I am at peace.

the best is yet to come.

love love.

ps. please send me happy thoughts. you're awesome.

the cake of all cakes.

ignore the crowns, we always pop english crackers during christmas and new years.

In July I made Daddy a birthday cake. The nutella cake: vanilla cake and nutella buttercreme frosting. basically a heart attack on a plate and a serious labor of love. BUT it was requested again for Elias' 10th birthday on New Years eve. it was perfect. more delicious, more beautiful and well loved by brothers.

isn't my domestic prowess impressive?

love love.

christmas=perfection

Christmas was so much fun. My favorite part was giving a talk in church on new years day about building a strong spiritual foundation...just kidding. It was so nice to just be together as a family and be there for a few special events like the triplets' baptism and Peter's Eagle Scout court of honor.

the family.

Peter's court of honor for his boy scout eagle award.

Elias is excited to be the last brother 'eagle-fied.'

singing at the homeless shelter.

with the triplets.

showed mom the joys of costco.

hiking at the land.

carriage riding.

Riding a camel, its my new prefered mode of transportation.

dietetics approval.

11th annual ice skating party with high school friends (meghan, kate, ariel)

The triplets were baptized!

chill. blessed frozen yogurt.

ate raclette...oh sweet study abroad memories.

ted drews. a st. louis tradition.

love love.

favorite newlyweds ever.

boat basin.

Ted Drews.

hello happiness! my favorite newlyweds came to St. Louis on a layover. it was pretty magical. Provo isn't the same without them and Dallas clearly lacks a little Annalise flair.

...and home is great. i am a definite fan of sleeping in, running around the neighborhood followed by p90x ab ripper X, practicing driving the motorcycle, reading, attending elementary school sing-alongs, studying MO history with Elias, costco/global foods shopping, checking out christmas decorations, cooking delicious food for brothers etc.

love love.

cheapskate.

one of the best parts about traveling with brother: he will carry my bag. excellent.

something about paying to check-in baggage seems so unfair. airports have free wi-fi during the holiday season, why NOT free baggage too? brother and i pricelined our tickets back to St. Louis, so we are flying frontier, a non-free baggage airline (hyrum did inform me that they pass out warm cookies at 30,000 ft...this gesture however isn't raising my spirits)

so I am bringing home 2 carry-on's

1) violin--as requested by mom.

2) my beautiful leather weekend bag

therefore I have all my outfits planned for when I am home.

i have never packed so light in my entire life.

love love.

ps. a resident told me at work that I am the best dressed employee.

pps. i am so in love with the micheal buble christmas cd...he is dreamy.

Christmas, I love you. so. much.

I have so much Christmas spirit...its so much easier to be excited for one of my favorite holidays when I don't have finals to worry about. being a college graduate is awesome on so many levels.

today I was reminicing about christmas past.

Christmas 1988: My first Christmas in NYC. I am pretty sure it was awesome. I have an ornament that says, "Baby's first Christmas 1988" so I know I got an ornament. and a visit from Santa.

Christmas 1991: Los Angeles/Cheyenne, Wyoming. We gathered for Grandma's funeral and I was a little overwhelmed with the amount of cousins I have. serious. That Christmas I think I played in snow for the first time that winter...snow and I have been in love ever since.

Christmas 1994: the start of the American Girl doll phase started in sister and I's life...and at the ward christmas party we sung 'Rockin' around the Christmas tree' and the tree fell down. It was memorable.

Christmas 1999: it snowed Christmas morning. It was magical. We also didn't open presents until late morning since Daddy was at the hospital saving lives as usual...waiting was a bit of a trial.

Christmas 2oo2: Elias was born! I was so excited to go back to school and tell everyone that I had a new baby brother. It was so magical having a new born in the house during the Christmas season.

Christmas 2003: I was playing the violin in the London New Years Celebrations so Mom, sister and Jonathan came to see me play (aka. tour London). Minus playing in a bunch of concerts, London was pretty festive place to be.

Christmas 2006: my first Christmas after starting BYU. I was so excited to be home and I remember thinking how cool I was flying home for Christmas...its really weird to see this picture since the kitchen has since been remodeled...

Christmas 2009: In Nicaragua. coolest christmas ever (minus the fact Hyrum was still on his mission). It was so magical down there.

I just can't wait to go home, hug the brothers, have pillow talk with sister, go on walks around the neighborhood, play with the triplets, go ice skating at shaw park, sled down art hill, hike the katy trail, etc.

love love.