Flashback Friday -- 10 Years in the Making

This weekend is a big one!  Not only are Scott and I coming up on 10 YEARS OF MARRIAGE, but we are also officially old.  Hahahaha.  No, really.  We kind of are.  In my heart of hearts I still think of myself as a young, cool, barely-out-of-college, hip and happening kind of gal (ahahahahahahaha), but the sad reality is that this weekend marks another 10 year anniversary as well -- my (and Scott's) graduation from BYU (aka Brigham Young University).  SO.  In honor of that momentous occasion, this week's flashback contains my all-time, top favorite memories from the college years {in semi-chronological order}.

First Sunday at church as a cool college kid
Here I am with all my freshman year roomies.  Living it up in Heritage Halls was the bomb dot com.  Loved it.  Rogers Hall was where it was at.  Hahahahaha.  I remember loving that dress I was wearing and feeling super cool because I had bought it with the discount and hard-earned money I got from working at The Gap the whole summer before leaving for school.  Also.  That yellow cardigan?  My super fave OF ALL TIME.  I kid you not, I wore that thing to death.  I wish I still had it.  Also from my working-at-the-Gap-days, it lasted all through college plus a year or two more until Scott finally convinced me that it was too hole-y to continue wearing.  Boo.  It would seem that I have been on a quest to find the perfect cardigan ever since, seeing as to I currently have about 20 different versions in my closet as we speak.

Left to Right -- Andi, Kenya, Me, Natalie, Jennifer, Candace

The 191st Ward
I have SO many happy memories from the 2 years I lived in this ward.  Bishop Whetten and his wife were so wonderful and gracious and warm.  They opened up their home to us on so many occasions and they always made us feel like we belonged.  I also forged some of the best friendships of my life while living there.  Thanks for the memories 191st ward!

 Celebrating Lindsay's birthday.
Left to right -- Natalie, Lindsay, Candace, Emily, Me

Christmas activity at Bishop Whetten's house.
Left to right -- Mindy, Paula, Heidi, Candace, Lindsay, Emily

Terrible picture.  Best FHE group ever.

Back-combing and Young Americans
So these two items are PROBABLY unrelated, but for some reason they are always linked in my mind.  Hahaha.  During the summer of 2000, my roommate Natalie and I spent a fun-filled summer together living it up in Provo, enjoying life without any classes, jobs (? -- I don't remember any), or real responsibilities.  We spent at least one memorable evening styling our hair in a much-mocked (amongst us) manner with a lot of back-combing and a LOT of hairspray.  It was awesome.  Also awesome?  The extremely short-lived television show entitled "Young Americans."  Seriously -- we were probably the ONLY people watching it which is why it was canceled before the season was over.  Man, oh man, did we get a kick out of that ridiculous show.  Please tell me that someone else knows what I'm talking about! 

 Just as an FYI, I still have that t-shirt.  It is pretty much non-existent it is so threadbare, but that's what makes it so comfy.  I apparently have a hard time getting rid of clothes.

Hiking the Y at midnight
Another summer of 2000 favorite memory.  Natalie and I had decided that in order to be a true BYU cougar, you had to hike the Y at midnight.  I'm not quite sure how or why we came up with this completely arbitrary requirement, but once decided upon we HAD to do it.

We tried to catch a shot of the full moon in the background.  We failed.

Rooming with my sista!  
LOTS of my favorite memories from college involve my sister Emily.  Pretty much the funnest and funniest girl you could ask for as a roommate.  Some of the many memories include many a late night walk all the way to Center Street to get specialty drinks from Ottavio's; lots and lots of late night walks all OVER south of campus Provo; bowling at the Wilk; impromptu dance parties in the living room; eating watermelon on the front stoop of our hot summer house -- you name it and we were probably together.

Living in a non-air-conditioned house for a whole summer
Summer of 2001 was the BEST SUMMER EVER.  Me, Emily, Natalie, and Heidi had SOOOO much fun together despite the sweltering heat.  It was seriously so hot.  We pretty much lived in our swimsuits (or underwear) and just kept sarongs handy to throw on for whenever anyone came to the door.   True story.

{Sorry -- no pics for this one...  Hahahahaha.}

Playing UNO and laying out at DT pool
See above.  It was so hot that summer.  And even though none of us lived at DT (or had ever lived at DT for that matter), we spent the whole summer crashing their pool that was technically just for the on-campus residents who lived there.  And brought otter pops and UNO cards to keep us company.



Fast and the Furious week
Let the record show that I look back on this phase and fully recognize that "The Fast and the Furious" was a TERRIBLE movie. Horrible even.  Yet for some reason, when we first saw it we thought it was so awesome that it inspired a full week of festivities.  Clubbin' at Club Omni on Latin music night while wearing thrifted, re-purposed, and revamped t-shirts (customized left to right -- "Furious," "NAS," and "Fast")?  Check.  Cruisin' down Provo main street in Natalie's Mercury cougar (while she was out of town for the week)?  Double check.  Thinking we were a lot cooler than we probably were?  Check, check, and check.  Or not.  Maybe we really WERE that cool.  Hahahahaha.  I don't even remember what else we did, but it was enough to forever afterwards earn the distinction of being "The Fast and the Furious Week."  It's probably safe to say that if Natalie had been there with us we would have come to our senses much, much sooner.  So thank you Natalie for going out of town that week and leaving your car behind.  :)

Heading out to Club Omni.

Left to right -- Heidi, Me, Emily

Legally Blonde
Another movie-themed memory.  When "Legally Blonde" came out we thought the most logical approach would be to dress all in pink and attend the movie on opening day.  And we did so with panache.  Although I still can't figure out why we drove all the way up to SLC to see it.  Surely we could have found it playing in P-Town.

Back Row -- Chrissy, Natalie, Me, Heidi

Front Row -- Brooke, Emily

Board games up in the newsroom
The summer of 2001 found us spending LOTS of time up in the BYU newsroom.  With Natalie working late hours up there several times a week we naturally congregated at Newsnet (with it's bank of computers, free internet access, cable TV, and AIR-CONDITIONING) while waiting for her to get off of work.  An added perk was getting to know Scott -- also working up there that summer and already friends with Natalie -- and enjoying enough down time to squeeze in lots of rounds of Trivial Pursuit and Boggle.

Here is a specialized birthday pie that we created for Scott's birthday that summer.  It says "4 the Wedge" in honor of our Trivial Pursuit-ing fun.  Even though everyone else insisted that they were called pie pieces, Scott insisted they were wedges.

Operation Hot Dog
Perhaps the craziest (and stupidest) memory of all.  My kids LOOOOOVE this story.  It's relatively new to them -- I was amusing them with "funny stories" a couple of Sundays ago when I shared this nugget, but it has inspired a cult-like following among them.  During my last year at BYU, we were in a ward with a bunch of boys from South Carolina who thought they were sooooooo cool.  We clearly begged to differ and after what I'm sure must have been a giggle-infused, hare-brained scheming session we decided the best thing to do to take them down a couple of notches was to hot dog their lawn.  Wait, what?  Yeah, you heard me.  Dressed all in black and under the cover of darkness one night we stuck plastic forks all over their front yard with hot dogs speared atop them. We got them, now didn't we. Hahahahaha.  Seriously, though, I probably shouldn't have told the kids the story because now they can't wait to go to college to do the same thing.  I've heard Grace mention to Ethan on several occasions that she's going to hot dog his lawn when they're at BYU.  Oh to be young and dumb again!

The kids hold this picture in a kind of reverent awe.  Every time Jane sees it she says, "Hot dog in a bun! Hot dog in a bun!"  As a sidenote Ethan and Grace think I look really weird in this picture.  I wonder why?  Hahahahaha.  (Left to right -- Heidi, Emily, Me)

Homecoming Senior Year
And now for a tender moment.  Here I am with Scott right before we left for dinner and the Homecoming Dance in Spanish Fork during our senior year.  Although the dance itself was lots of fun, the memorable part occurred after the party was over.  As Scott was bringing me home that night he admitted that he was falling in love with me (awwwwwwww!) and I in turn told him that I loved him, too.

I love this picture of us -- although the framed print in the background is a bit jarring.

The Hansen Girls are Reunited at last!

My senior year at BYU had the added bonus of including my little sis, Sarah, who was a freshman.  Me, Emily, and Sarah were kind of like the 3 amigos growing up so it was really great to have her out there with us again.  And even though my last year was mostly consumed with Scott -- sorry everyone! -- we still managed to squeeze in some good times.  :)

Taking our Engagement Pictures
After the initial "I Love You's" were shared, it was only a matter of time before Scott decided that he liked it enough to put a ring on it.  Hahahahaha.  Although I personally was experiencing the most stressful and anxiety-ridden time of my life during pretty much our entire engagement, I do remember having so much fun while taking our engagement pictures that it made up for a lot of the other difficulties.  Emily decided to tag-along with the photographer that day and helped to make everything a lot of fun.  As someone who is super self-conscious and not super fond of having her picture taken, I was able to chill out and have fun thanks to Emily's talent for making me laugh.  Scott's super laid-back and carefree personality helped a ton too, of course.  Hahaha.

So there you have it.  Like the corner of my mind.  Misty water-colored memories.  What's YOUR favorite collegiate memory??