Fabulous to be freezing in REXBURG!!!

Currently it has warmed up to a sizzling 7 degrees here in Rexburg Idaho!

[Insert sarcasm here]

I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful Valentine's & President's Day weekend though! We got here last night in time to enjoy an interesting double blind date for Valentine's--good planning Christi ;)

My best friend Christianne is going to to school up here. Aside from staying up all night, having people on campus look at us like we were soberly intoxicated today (a very normal phenomenon for us) and eating slightly too many Reeses, Sour Patch Kids, conversation hearts, sugar cookies, popcorn and hot chocolate w/ marshmellows, homemade chips & salsa... it has been a very well-balanced weekend...if by 'well-balanced' I mean being sicker than a dog when we returned from the movie tonight--we really know how to have a good time!

Or as Christi said only moments ago... Ashley had so much fun she was embracing the porcelain goddess...
Which reminded me of a great story:

At the last church activity in Florida, while playing a game called 2 truths and a lie, one woman there said she had 'seen the throne of God' to which Christianne responded in her loving and coy way: "wait, you saw God's toilet!?!" Needless to say... the woman was was not very entertained by her childlike sense of humor--but I was.

Tomorrow we are headed up to Targhee to do some skiing & snowboarding--8" fresh powder today on an already monsterous base!

There is nothing like spending time with a quality friend with whom you can laugh and cry and be sick and do doughnuts in the parking lot with--After a long drive and a full day of work and school yesterday we had so much fun talking that the night turned into hours and the hours into minutes and the minutes into seconds which flew by as though we had never skipped a beat--very similar to our cross country road trip! There is just something about a friend who doesn't change according to weather, distance, proximity or age (he he he she'll always be older than I am) a truly timeless and non-judgmental friend that helps you reach your goals and loves you even when you no longer aspire to the same old goals.

Last night was wonderful--realizing that we've both made so much progress since the last all-night conversation--sharing the horror stories of the dating scene--as well as the wonderful romances and classic crushes that come with college life...
Christianne is an incredible friend--as the newspapers reported "on a whim flying to New York with me" to complete a 20 mile race, buying National Geographic from my 6-year-old niece who was selling magazines for her school, sitting through 'rat basketball' with me at the slightly disturbing (but endearing because of the company we were in) Cosi museum in Ohio, sleeping in Central Park wrapped like Pop Tarts, sharing 3 speeding tickets spanning 3 states, sporting the Christmas Tree costume in the car, locking the keys in the car, laughing till my tummy aches, water skiing Pineview on 3 sleepless nights, the lily pads on the water in Nauvoo, many days laying on beaches, OHH the Cheesecake Factory Chocolate cake!!! Cleaning nasty houses in Boca, selling water on the beach in Boca, the man at Lantana, CES Regional dances & firesides, Dori moments, bribing guard gates with cookies, 'Divine,' Serendipity, Church in Manhattan, sleeping in airports, not killing Delta, Sunday School, Gumby, Ether 12:27, Youth Ed-Week, mocking Nathan Pacheco, taking cookies to do-not-contacts, pedicures for prevention, teaching Institute...

There is nothing like the impact a true friend can have on ones life.

More to come...but for now..Nighty-night!!!