I am still determined to catch up on the months that I've been at school. I still have October-now. It's better late than never, right?
There was nothing to exciting about most of the week days in October. They were occupied by attending classes, making closer friendships, going to my workout class physique fusion, and studying for exams (including midterms). The same can't be said for the weekends of October! They were full of excitement, adventure, and fun!
Friday October 5 was a rainy morning. Though it was best to stay in bed, we walked to classes and tried to stay dry by sharing our umbrellas.
However, I didn't let the rain keep me down! During the week the wheels in my mind starting turning and I managed to get my dad to pick me up Friday and drive me home! Even though family weekend was just the week before, I missed my family and it wasn't the same as being home.
Saturday my mom and I went to Josue's soccer game! They had beat North Wednesday night in their first round of sectionals which advanced them to play Webo on Saturday. I was upset I missed his entire soccer season, but when he told me they won Wednesday night I was determined to get to his game Saturday and see him play, little did he know! When we first got there my mom and I stood by the fence around the field, sure that he would see us since he was playing on the side closest to us. He was way to focused on his game so we sat down in the bleachers and cuddled up in the blanket. Dan also joined us. At halftime Cville was up 1-0. After the boys had gone into the locker room for their halftime talk, my mom, Dan, and I went down to wait outside of it. My mom and I were both very excited, but she could hardly contain herself as we stood waiting.
Josue was one of the last to come out of the locker room and almost walked right past me, again without noticing I was there. I yelled his name as confusion, then the biggest smile I have ever seen spread across his face! He asked why I was here and gave me a biggg hug. He ran back onto the field and scored a goal to help his team win 3-1!
My mom and Dan both had to leave after he saw me, so I spent the second half sitting with Sarah Warner! I was so happy to see her and talk to her about school!
After the game ended I was greeted with another big hug as Josue left the field. He also took my hand and brought me over to take a picture with their trophy. I was so proud of him! And the rest of his team. And myself for pulling off the surprise!
Sunday morning I went to church with my family and then said my goodbyes.
Then it was time to hit the road and go back to SLU.
Friday October 12 Aunt Michelle, Tom, and Max picked me up from Reinert and took me with them to their hotel! Aunt Helen, Seth, Brody, and Aunt Elaine also met at the hotel. I was so happy and thankful and delighted to see my aunts, uncle, and favorite little boys!!
Saturday the 13th we all got ready and spent the day at the zoo! I was impressed with Brody who could read the exhibit signs and Max who knew the sounds each animal made! I have such smart cousins.
That night we ordered pizzas, swam, and of course played in the arcade room of the hotel. I hadn't seen anyone from my dad's side of the family for a while and was so thankful I got to! I know that Maria and Michael were jealous as I sent them pictures of our weekend.
Friday October 19th marked the beginning of Fall break!! Both Alex and I stayed the night in our dorm room because we had purchased tickets to see the Kellogg's tour of champions gymnastics tour in our very own Chafiez arena at SLU. It ended up being more of a show performance than a real gymnastics meet, but that didn't bother us, or the group of screaming young girls sitting behind us! It was so exciting!! Both the women's and men's US olympic teams were there. I couldn't believe I was actually watching gymnasts like Gabby Douglas in person! It made me miss my gymnastics family and teams over the years.
When we got back to our room we decided it was the perfect time to rearrange it! It was a lot o work, but we were both really happy with the final results!!
Saturday morning we woke up, made a quick trip to pick up something at the mall, and drove to Alex's house. Her town is an hour away from SLU in the direction of Crawfordsville, so Michael met us in her town and I rode with him the rest of the way home. I had lied everytime my mom asked me about fall break so that it would be a surprise, telling her that I just couldn't make it and was going to hang out with Alex over break. I even sent her a picture of Alex's brother, telling her we were at a pioneer village.
This time it was a surprise to my mom that I would be home!! On top of that, her surprise 50th birthday party was planned for Saturday night! When I got there everyone was busy getting ready including the caterer who was setting up beautiful displays and decorating our house with lights and fall tree branches.
During this my mom, Maria, Aunt Wendy, cousin Amy & her boyfriend, and my mom's cousin-in-law Michelle were all at the mall. They continued to drag out the trip and wander from store to store. Soon all of the guests arrived and we handed them each a yellow balloon as we waiting out front for them to return and pull up to our house. Apparently on the car ride home they were asking my mom about her birthday plans and she said probably nothing, maybe going out to eat for dinner. Then when they drove onto our street and she saw all of the cars she figured the neighbors were having a party again. She was shocked to see us all standing out front and we let the balloons go as she came to hug us and ask what we were doing there. My mom had fun at her party (why I have no pictures of her I'm not sure) and was sincerely surprised! She thought my aunt Amy was at her Butler homecoming and she thought I was staying with Alex over break and spending the day at a pioneer village. Besides my aunt Wendy, cousin Amy & her boyfriend, my mom's cousin John and his wife Michelle, my Aunt Amy, Dan's parents and aunt, and my grandparents, many of my mom's closest friends were in attendance. It was so much fun and a great surprise! Dan put so much time and effort into planning it and it really paid off!
I was also home Sunday the 21, Monday the 22, and left Tuesday the 23. During this time I hung out with Sarah Warner and took more senior pictures for her, hung out with Josue, and my family. I also had a great lunch date with Sam Vaught at Arni's and visited my mom's classroom.
[Maggie loves to cuddle up on the other side of Josue. She doesn't lay next to be, but is always sure to be enough across Josue that I can reach to pet her]
On Tuesday my family drove me to Alex's house. I got to have dinner with her family and help frost fall cookies before our drive back to SLU.
Saturday morning October 27 Alex and I woke up early to participate in Make A Difference Day, SLU's campus wide service day. We were apart of almost 3,400 SLU students, faculty, and alumni that volunteered at 136 different locations that day. Alex and I were assigned to an elementary school and lucked out by getting to help a sweet teacher in her classroom. Though our jobs were pretty tedious, I know we helped save the teacher lots of time and she was very appreciative.
When we got back to campus Maggie and I went on a little adventure. We can see an enormous Goodwill warehouse and decided to walk there to try and find something to make Halloween costumes with. Once we got there, there was just one open room with tables set up. On these tables were big blue pins piled with items for sale, nothing was hung up or organized. I have no idea what fills up the rest of the huge building, nor do I ever plan on finding out. Let's just say we were not close to being successful, but we weren't even disappointed because we were just happy to have made it there and back safely. We didn't realize the sketchy area we would be walking through on our way to get there, and tried to have SLU ride pick us up, but they claimed it was too far.
When we got back we joined some of our friends who were taking the shopping shuttle to the Halloween store near the mall. If only we could have known of their plans before we made the scary trip to the weirdest goodwill I have ever been to.
We went to the Carni-fall on campus. We ate carmel apples and not long after, left back to our warm dorm rooms to hang out and watch Magic Mike.
Sunday October 28, Tuesday the 30 (my mom's birthday!), and Wednesday the 31 (Halloween) my friends and I got together and watched scary movies on Netlix in celebration of Halloween. We watched Case 39, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Amityville Horror. Not my favorite type of movie, but embracing the suspense with my friends was fun.
Wednesday night my friends and I dressed up, walked around our floor, and took pictures in our costumes! It was fun to dress up even though we had no where to go and no candy to eat.
