Good Morning Baltimore!

Dear Sister Bench,
You are hereby called as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
You are assigned to labor in the Maryland Baltimore Mission.

Wow.  Right when I read that I knew it was the perfect place for me.  It's like I was born to go to Baltimore.
Last night when I opened my mission call with my friends and family I felt the Spirit so strongly.  I knew that choosing to serve a mission is the right decision for me at this point in my life and I am BEYOND excited to be serving in Maryland.  I will be leaving July 16 and, thank the sweet heavens, speaking in my native tongue.

I know what you're thinking.  Sure, she is going to serve a mission because all of her friends did.  She doesn't want to let them down or look like she wasn't good enough or worthy enough to serve like they are.  She doesn't want to look bad after she told people a year ago she was thinking of going.

Well, you're right....  for the most part.  All of these thoughts and feelings have been floating around my mind for the past year and a half since our Prophet Thomas S. Monson changed the missionary age.  My friends are gone.  I don't want to feel like I am staying behind because I'm not good enough to go.  Those are both true.  I have felt the well-meant or non-intended pressure by our Mormon culture.  But I wanted to make sure that I wasn't going "just because" of anything.

For the past six months as I have struggled with this decision. I have had huge ups and downs while contemplating this life-changing...change in my life, for lack of a better word.  At one point I had even come to a solid, "No."

One night that changed for me.  It came softly and slowly.  But as I was talking with my friends Ashlyn and Hailey who are currently serving in New Zealand and Washington D. C., we were talking about that $27 question that is on everyone's mind when thinking about a mission. "Why?" Why me? Why now? Why not?

That night after talking I sat alone in my room and thought late into the night. I thought about that question. Why? And as I was sitting there a thought came to me.  I thought of the years I spent in the primary and Young Women programs in my church.  I thought of the service activities, personal progress, meetings, girls camps, more meetings, one more girls camp...
And then I thought of where I would be if I didn't have that.  Where would I be if I didn't know that I had a big Brother, my Savior Jesus Christ, my best friend to help me through the struggle that I like to refer to as the ages 10-18?  What if I didn't know that He loved me? What if I didn't know that prayer can change everything?

There are little girls, teenage girls, and women out there who do not know this truth that I have taken for granted for 18 years.  That thought, though maybe obvious to you normal people out there, but for an oblivious, self-centered little girl like me, that thought threw me for a loop.  I have no idea where I would be without my Savior.  He has saved me, comforted me, loved me, heard me, blessed me, bled and died for me.  I love Him with everything I am.  And there are little girls in Baltimore who don't know who He is, and what He can and already does do for them.

That's why.

Merry Christmas, have some selfies.

I cannot believe Christmas has come and gone already! This is my favorite time of year! I love spending time will all of my family! We just sit around and chat or play games, or most importantly eat delicious food! Pizza, fondue, smoked turkey, but mostly just lots of candy! It is going way too fast! It seriously feels like October was yesterday.... wasn't it?  I can't believe I have a whole semester of COLLEGE under my belt!  I have been sitting here thinking of all the things I have done this year, the people I have met, and places I have gone (no where extravagant so don't get too excited, folks).... but just to name a few,
        I have:

• graduated from high school
• passed 4 AP tests, though surviving that week was the real miracle
• gone to countless farewells and have sent EVERY SINGLE ONE of my friends on missions except for the two who are leaving in the next three months
• went to every home football and basketball game, sitting mainly in the first three rows, waiting in blistering heat and icy cold for hours
• met members of those teams
• gone to Portland twice to visit my sweet little nephew..... oh yeah and my sister and bro-in-law were there too I guess, whateves.
• went to the temple and the movie theater probably thirty times each
• took some awesome photo shoots ( alisanicolephotography.blogspot.com )
• and I got my wisdom teeth out for my latest and greatest accomplishment.......
• wait for iiiiiiiiiiiiit.....
• I started my mission papers!!!!

Hip hip hooray I am currently preparing to serve the Lord for 18 months and cannot wait to turn them in at the end of February! With all of my friends, and I do mean all, serving out in the field I have had tremendous examples to look to as I have carefully made this decision.  I am so happy for their support along with all of my family who are right behind me!

What have YOU done this year?  I love this time to think about goals I can make for the coming months.  My New Year Resolutions usually consist of "I'm going to make my bed every day!" which usually only lasts for two, but I am trying it again this time and maybe I can make it a whole week! We shall see....  This past year has brought around so many changes to my life I haven't even realized them all yet!  Moving (only 20 minutes) from my house, living with my friends, graduating, taking on new classes, going to church in a new ward, and having to shop for my own groceries is not as easy as I thought it would be!  Growing up got real this year, in what feels like a blink of an eye I had to really take a look at what mattered and what didn't.  What part of myself did I want to keep, and what part did I have to leave behind?  These questions aren't easy and I know I will only face more and more as I keep trekking forward, which is what I plan to do! New and improved 2014.

Oh yeah, and along with New Year resolutions I have taken to cleaning out my laptop and found these beauties.  I have become quite the selfie enthusiast.  Photobooth and I are pretty tight.  I guess being behind the camera so much makes me hungry for some pictures of myself. Vain? Maybe. Entertaining? Most definitely.  Whenever I am alone in my apartment it is selfie and interpretive dancing time folks, feel free to join whenever!  I found these while i was cleaning them out and decided the world wide web might have a good laugh and my self-obsession.... 

Merry Christmas, ya sick freaks!

We love fall, and football

So I guess I am a week late, but I am posting about Halloween anyway! Halloween is our awesome home teacher, Kyle's, birthday!! We didn't want to take over Halloween night, so last wednesday, on Halloween-eve, we decided to throw a little party for him! We made some delicious cake and bought a few little pumpkins and had a great time! Happy birthday, K-poops! :)

 Then on actual-Halloween, I decided (after an inner battle on whether I actually cared what other people thought about me) to dress up as my idol from the 1940's: Rosie the Riveter!  It was an easy costume and a great success.  I had an awesome day at work as you can see...

After work Hailey and I got all dolled up to go to our first Halloween college party, say what!?!  We had quite a blast pretending like we were actually from the time periods that we were dressing like...

Then we drove down to O-town for some good old-fashioned, chocolate-covered, card-game-playing, Hocus-Pocus-watching party!  It was super fun and full of laughs! Oh, and DJ had some fun taking selfies on my phone....

It was such a fun night, but the next morning (after going to bed at 2:30) was not the greatest....

College life is pretty much the greatest! I have great friends, awesome classes, and always get stellar seats at any given sporting event!!  Also the past couple weeks in Cougartown have shown me a new meaning of fall! Being outside walking around all the time has made me truly appreciate the beauty of the trees all around us all the time!!

Can I get a "hallelujah!" that Men's Basketball starts on FRIDAY!?! I feel like my life has yet to begin! 

See you there!!

Conference Weekend - Bench Family Style

This last weekend was general conference weekend! Which means that it was my favorite weekend of the whole year! I got to go home for two days (big trip from Provo to Orem) and spend all that time with my family.  It started off right with BYU crushing Utah State at their home (awesome!) and the next day was my dad's birthday!  The poor guy still made dinner for us though, haha, and it was delicious.  We had a shrimp boil, which consists of shrimp, corn on the cob, onions, potatoes (red, purple and white) and sausage! Then we had birthday cake for my dad after priesthood session, notice I don't have a shot of him blowing out his 47 candles because the crazy man thought that you were supposed to blow out the candles immediately following lighting them and just before singing happy birthday.  You would think he would have learned by now. I also went shopping with my sister and we chatted with my other sister in Portland on Sunday night after we ate delicious smoked brisket (made by dad) and watched a movie of my choice (Sons of Provo.... go watch it!)  I almost decided to quit college and just stay home, because this weekend was so great! Two days of conference is never enough, I wish we could have it more often then twice a year!

 Such yummy food!! The roasted red pepper soup was my favorite!! (homemade!)

Aimee and Colby messing around between sessions :)

Dad was dancing and jumping when he found out that we didn't catch him on camera!

The Rivalry

Let it be known that I hate the BYU/Utah rivalry. You probably wouldn't believe me because I can trash talk like the best of them, and I will defend BYU till I die.  But I hate it.
To me, football is about more than the sport. Don't get me wrong, I love watching football, and I was standing in the front row of the end zone after waiting for ten hours in line outside of the stadium.  My voice is hoarse, and I am completely exhausted, and of course it was worth it!  But it's not just about the game for me.  I have adapted Bronco Mendenhall's approach to the game. That it is about making men, not just good players.  You can say anything you want about his coaching, but I think he is the best thing for those guys.  He is building them into something better.  He is forming this team into something bigger than themselves. Bigger than football. Bigger than the rivalry.
This is why I hate it.  Every year we do the same thing. We get together, throw around some choice and hurtful words, and when it is over, no one can ever forget about it. Its the same thing every time.  But in my opinion, the rivalry is useless because we win it every time.  We don't play dirty.  We play hard. Sometimes our best isn't good enough, and that is something we have to learn from.  But in the end, the better men walk off the field with heads held high, win or lose. And that team is always wearing blue.  The best thing that comes out of the rivalry game is that I realize how trivial it all is.  And if that is all that Utah is fighting for, I'm glad they could have this victory.

Now, I will step off of my soapbox (i know, finally), and overload you with pictures! Because even though yesterday was hard for me to swallow, I had a freaking awesome time waiting (FOR TEN HOURS) in line!  I made some awesome new friends, and we had a blast just sitting together, loving BYU!  And let me remind you that I stood on the front row, and was on the Jumbo-tron and ESPN, thank you very much! BYU's biggest fan right here, folks!

....we think we are pretty cool

FRONT ROW BABY!

These guys we met were pretty rad!! We had a great time waiting in line with them!!

"Just find a few good buddies, and start a band."

I love to sing. It is one of many things that I am very passionate about. So every now and then, my friends and I get together and have a sort of "jamming session."  Today, Hailey and I, along with two good friends from high school, Diggy and Brian, got together in our apartment and started singing, playing piano, ukelele, and guitar. We had a blast! We even made up our own song, and it was actually quite good if I do say so myself. Maybe I will let you guys hear it one of these days. We decided to start a band....


Just kidding, haha. But it really was fun, and we are planning on doing that way more often!  I love finding people who have the same talents as you do, but you can all take it in such different ways.  That is one thing college has taught me so far, that just because everyone here is a good, smart, mormon kid doesn't mean anyone is the same. We are all so different, which makes this such a cool place to be. I guess a few of us are just a little bit too slow to realize this in high school.

After we jammed for almost three hours, I left to do a photo-shoot, and they all went to dinner.  Then we came back and played games together (I rock at Pictionary if anyone would like to challenge me;)
We even had some fun with fruit roll-ups!

(Brian, Aubrey, Alisa, Hailey)

I'm comin home.

This wednesday was September 11. I was wondering if the campus/BYU would do anything special to commemorate the day, and as I walked to school I thought about where I was and how I felt that day, twelve years ago, much as I have every year since then.  As I turned past the administration building I heard someone giving a speech. There, in front of the flagpole across from the statue of Brigham Young, was a small crowd of people watching as members of the armed forces raised our country's colors.  I walked along, continuing to listen to the speech, then stopped and stood as the flag was raised to half-stalff.   Then, just before I walked into the building where my stats class is held, I heard the loud booms of the 21 gun salute.
This small ceremony kept the theme of the day close to y heart and in my thoughts as I went to each class. But the thing that stood out to me most, was what I saw on the way home.  I walked the long way around the library so that I could get a full panoramic view of the flag, and take a picture to commemorate the day.  As I rounded the corner I stopped. I guess I wasn't surprised to see the two soldiers dressed in blue who stood guarding the flag in the beating, uncovered sun.  But I felt such a love for them, for my country right then that I almost couldn't contain it. I am so proud to be an American.

Speaking of my pride in my country, this week was homecoming for my high school. Along with two friends, I was invited back to sing the national anthem at our football game. We practiced for a few days, and we pulled it off pretty well, thanks for asking.  I was also invited by my old football coach to resume my former "duties" as the team water-girl/manager.  Guys- I have been so excited about this for weeks! WEEKS.  

Macy, the other girl who was a water-girl with me, is one of the best friends I had in high school. After two years of working together in football we can still finish each others sentences, read each others thoughts, and make jokes and laugh about everything even after spending the summer apart.  I love this girl! 

Ok, so after every single touch-down Macy and I did a chest bump. Many times this
meant we had to get a running start. They were quite entertaining to watch i'm sure.
We have been trying for years to get this picture, and we finally got it!! Yay!!!

We met up just before the game, and went down to the field together.  But I have to tell you, I had a strange experience at the game, much different from what I was expecting.  You know how when you have done something truly amazing and life-changing, and you say "I would love to go back and do it again?"  That is how I felt about football.  The time I spent with Macy, the boys, and the coaches on that team, were probably some of the funnest times I have had in my life.  But it isn't the same anymore.  Those boys have moved on, gone on missions.  I graduated.  My life isn't the same.  I often think,"wow, high school was great, I wish I could go back and relive this day or that," but I don't actually wish that.  High school was great, but it has nothing to offer me anymore. I have grown up, and out of that stage in my life, and it was like a slap to the face when I realized it last night.  It is so hard to accept that this is actually happening.  I am growing up.  Those times were good, but I am not the same girl I was even a few months ago, and I think that is the hardest things I will ever have to accept. But [change] is something that you must constantly accept.  It's hard to explain, I guess...

Right after the game all of us headed over to my best friend Ashlyn's house to watch her open her mission call! (you can see the photos I took for her mission papers here) Her place was PACKED! Like, to the rim. But I got a front row seat :) I guessed that she would go to Canada, but she actually got called to Hamilton, New Zealand! Oh, and she is speaking English! How cool is that?!? Seriously though, if I was called to the world of Middle Earth I would be stoked out of my pants! That's right people, out of my pants.