welcome to utah valley

today was my first experience with institute.

from what i've heard, it's supposed to be something along the lines of seminary. 

only like a million times better. 

and actually, it was honestly one of the worst experiences ever.

when they say that only those who really want to be there go, they're not kidding. 

i've never ever felt so so..bleh. i don't even know. it was just a horrible feeling walking into that room.

then the conversation started.

some guy was like "I served my mission in Australia and everyone there hates God. They're all materialistic atheists." 

ah, i'm not sure quite what it was but that really made me so angry. like DUH! missions are hard and you have to be willing to accept all sorts of people. the gospel that seems like second nature to us is something totally foreign to those who've never heard it 

it's not that they "hate  God", they're just not used to it all. and you would think that a MISSIONARY of all people would understand that..

it's the stereo-typical utah valley mormon.  

i know this missionary who's serving in like south america and he recently emailed home and was like 

"I don't understand why they're not willing to give up everything they know for God." 

and stuff like that just makes me so angry. 

i just feel like my institute class is full of crazy self-righteous return missionaries that are certain they're above everyone..

(and i do realize that i'm passing judgment...but still...)

it just makes me want to never go back to that class.    

week 1

ladies and gents 

i, ali sanchez, have officially finished my first week of college:) 

well, tomorrow. but still, same diff. 

honestly, it's so great

except for all the stairs i have to climb every single day to get anywhere

i swear, if i don't have an amazing butt by the end of the semester, 

i'm quitting 

but the homework has already started piling on..

but really. i just sit there and smile and hope that i'm not the only one suffering from a baby heart attack when a 6 page essay is the norm. and my heart totally stopped when MLA format wasn't what they wanted. oops. 

high school might've failed me. 

on the first day of class, my biology teacher took like half the time and talked about how grateful we should be for having the privilege of attending a university. 

and my first thought was sort of along the lines of "privilege?? i'm paying for this. i'm paying A LOT of monies for this..." 

then he said " there are 7 billion people in the world. do you guys have any idea of the percentage of people that are given the chance to get a higher education?" 

i don't remember the exact number..but it was itty bitty.. 

and then it hit me. 

i am so incredibly grateful for all my parents do for me. they're paying for whatever i need and books and my computer and gas and everything. without them, i'd be screwed. 

i'm so blessed to have been born into a family that values education so much that sacrificing whatever to make sure me and my sister have the very best my parents can afford isn't a big deal.

i mean it is, it's huge, but my parent's make it seem like it's nothing at all.

i just love them so much. 

and not just them, everyone. kels, britt, tay, all of the people who help me just get through the day. 

i couldn't do it without them. 

:)  

college 101

i have officially gone to all my classes this semester. 

and it's safe to say that things are not what i expected. 

 my math class is one of my favorites 

 some teachers don't care whether or not you go to class

 to pass, let alone get good grades, you NEED to go 

if they say "Class starts at 9" class starts at 9. not show up at 9. 

"early" classes are at 8:30. not 9. 

parking at UVU sucks.

 and so on,

but somethings never change..

like you still have to look both ways before you cross the street because cars are rushing all over the place.

at first it thought i was taking it pretty easy this semester because i literally leave by one at the latest..and the earliest i have class is 8:30.. but once they started piling on the homework and group projects i'm a little overwhelmed...

also..

you know you're a freshman when..

someone asks for directions and you have no idea what they're saying to you...

you leave your tags on your shirt...

your eyes get all big when someone mentions getting married...

sucky saturdays

i'm an avid follower of Lauren Conrad's blog and website.

if you haven't checked it out, it's a MUST. 

here. go right now. 

you're welcome.

she does these super cute posts "friday favs" 

i'm totally stealing the idea and starting that too.

once i find enough things a week to consider "weekly favorites" 

until then, i'm taking a new twist on things. 

sucky saturdays. 

it..it just wasn't my day. 

the sad thing was that it started out with so much potential and fell flat. 

my cafe rio made me sick..

i got kicked out of my boyfriends car...awk..

then i was about to sit at home and watch a movie by myself..

on the last weekend of summer. 

hmm...i need friends. 

it just was one of those days when nothing really went wrong, it just didn't go right either. 

if at any given moment i coulda crawled into a hole, cried, slept then restarted today, i would have been set. 

pfff.

tomorrow. will be much much better. 

there's no way it can't be.

come what may and love it...

swim nemo. swim.

a year ago i was a big fish in a little pond. 

high school.

now, i'm getting thrown into what feels an awful lot like a shark tank. 

college. 

with grad students, married people and rm's desperate to tie the knot.

but then you realize

you find out who you are and what you're made of. 

this is the part we all thought we couldn't wait to get to.

"post-graduation" 

but the more i think about it, i can sum it up into two feelings.

1) excitement like none other. college man:) 

2) i'm so scared that if they called me and told me i owed them another year of high school i'd run to mountain view. then kill myself. 

but mostly, i'm super excited. i mean, i'm growing up. it's for reals. 

for the past 12 years, i've been DYING to know what this really is like..

and here i am..scared out of my mind..

so much, that i almost wanna 

to just about anywhere really. 

maybe hawaii..

or italy.

new york.

somewhere where i can spend all day in a bikini and pretend it's forever july.

and then something clicks..

and you remember to take a deep breath because everything is gonna be okay.

i mean, if nemo can be taken away from his poppa and come back alive; i can survive college. 

fail

i am officially the worst girlfriend in the history of forever.

after football, taylor texted me and it only took one text to realize something was wrong.

he got knocked out at practice.

so what do i do?

blog.

sit here and panic

oh ya..i asked him if he was okay??

am i stupid?? yeah,

OBVIOUSLY he's NOT okay. he got KNOCKED OUT

and i STILL asked if he was okay.

GAH. someone come punch me in the head. please. 

honey, lets get lost

and sometimes when it feels like life is going a million miles an hour

i like losing myself in a world full of music and even more music..

lemme share my favorites 

enjoy:) 

lennon and maisy. 

best cover ever

you are the only one i love

jaymay

young folks 

peter bjorn and john 

west coast

coconut records 

it's never too late

last night i had the craziest dream ever. 

first, i dreamt (chacha says it's a real word..) that i moved into an apartment with Jimmer and a few randoms...

what in the world...?

but then it totally changed..

i was telling Janet a story about this one boy who we both liked sophomore year. lets call him john.

john ended up screwing both of us over so we both were not fans..like at all. 

john had started talking to me again and i totally freaked out so i HAD to tell someone..who better then the girl who knew him just as well as i had? 

and when i actually started talking i said "Ah! i wish you were really here so i could tell you all this..! who cares i'm telling you anyways" 

 janet was always super protective of all her friends, and if you ever needed anyone to vent to, you could ALWAYS count on her. always. 

so i'm telling her this story, and she pulls out her phone and starts sending a strongly worded text to john...

and it was sorta like i knew right then, that whatever happened between us was over and we were moving on. we forgave each other it felt like. 

i woke up feeling like i'm crazy..or like she really forgave me for everything that happened.

then! i turned on pandora, and 

make you feel my love started playing.. 

if anything described janet ever, it would be this song.

she's taught me so much and i love her so so so much.

it's already been a month and i can still remember finding out that she was gone...

everything about that was a first for me..i'd never been to a viewing..much less a funeral. it was all so surreal .

but knowing that we're okay, makes letting her go so much easier because i know i'll see her again

:) 

lost memories..

while cleaning out my computer, i found a few pictures that basically wrap up the last little bit of high school.

a little bitter-sweet, but i'm so ready for college:) 

MORP!!:) 

am i creative or what??

1200 feet of plastic wrap:) thank you dollar tree

 mostly, this is hilarious because the kid i asked has some weird obsession with his jeep..so what better way to ask then to cover his baby in 1,200 feet of plastic wrap..:) 

then we asked ellie's date!!:) 

..with a cow:) "moooorp?"

man. we had the whole dance thing down.

 next! we asked kami's date:) this one was quite the adventure. pie, twix bars, a giant rock we stole and a lap around a neighborhood..

cars are much easier to wrap then pies... oops

 so finally. we got our answers. 

omar got me millions of fishies...and they all died...

so i called taylor to take care of them..:) yay for boyfriends!

blake wrote kam a poem back. and gave her flour..so we ran up and down the street having a huge flour fight:) 

and austin and i answered ellie with a sheep! well, his puppy dressed up as a sheep..it was quite eventful. 

FINALLY! the dance:) 

classic bathroom shot.. take one

take two...cute!:) 

all the girls!:) 

the theme was something like opposites attract? so we went as superheros and villans!:) 

but we never got any pictures with our dates..oh well..

and we never actually made it to the dance.. we got to dinner and then decided that none of us actually wanted to go to the dance.. so we had an outdoor movie instead:) 

and of course, we flaked on the best dance of the year..

oh well, our new and improved morp was an awesome way to end high school:) 

give us senior year, photo first period, macs and senioritis...

what do you get? 

countless..

pictures..

of...

our...

lovely...

faces...:) 

easiest 4 credits i will ever earn:) 

LAGOON DAY!!!:) 

all the girlies:) 

giant cinnamon rolls:) 

and somewhere in the middle of it all, was one of our many adventures for coffee:)