Reunited and it feels so good!

I AM HOME! Back in Montana. I have been home for around five hours now and I already miss Rexburg...BUT, I am SO happy to be back in Montana for a few weeks!

People at school always assumed I am such a hardcore groupie for Montana because I've lived here my whole life. FALSE!

I was born in Topeka, Kansas. Home of the Sunflowers. I lived there until I was seven then we moved to Spokane, Washington. Home of a million Ponderosa Pine Trees (We had over thirty in our backyard alone). I lived there until I was eleven.

So you see, I have only lived in Montana for around eight years now!

What makes Montana so great though? Welllllll,

Incredible Views! (Yellowstone & Glacier)

The Montana Grizzlies! (of COURSE)

Small-town feeling! (People are so nice here...generally)

Big Sky Country! (Canoeing, Floating, Rock Climbing, Cliff Jumping, White Water Rafting, Hiking, Kayaking, etc)

The WEATHER. (It doesn't get humid!!! Only DRY! YAY)

Montana is just so great! It's home!

P.s. I got a haircut! Love that feeling!

Lovin' Life

One more final and I am finished. Officially a sophomore in college! Time flies.
I have had a wonderful run in Apartment #213 this semester and am excited to come back for another great semester in the fall!
I was so blessed to end up with the roommates I did this semester. Each one of them is hilarious, caring, and beautiful! I love meeting people that I know I am going to keep in touch with and that love me! There is no better feeling than making new friends.
Anyways, Rexburg, it's been real and I'll see ya in seven weeks!
Love, Lacey

Cursed Clumsiness

Okay ya'll, since I have more homework and finals due this week than I have had all semester, it's blog time! Procrastination nation here in Apartment #213!
This semester I have found a new love for caving. You may ask, what is this caving? Well, just what it sounds like- walking around aimlessly in caves! My favorite place is the ice caves about twenty miles outside of Rexburg. I have been to probably six caves this semester and loved them all...except maybe one.
On the night of June 4th (just a guess), my friends and I decided to head up to the ice caves for yet another adventure! We decided to hit up these ice caves that not very many people know of and thanks to the directions from my wonderful brother-in-law we knew where we were going!
It started out like a normal ice cave venture: off-roading in the mud, Cindy being flung around like a rag doll, the bumps causing all of us to have to pee, then TA-DA! There we were! We hiked down into the caves (stupidly I had decided to wear my Chucks, which have NO traction) and as usual our chivalrous men were a mile ahead of us doing their exploring thing :)
The floor was not as smooth as the other ice cave I had been to (this probably because not very many go there). We got to the end and somehow I ended up across the cave from my friends next to this sort of ice ramp. I don't really remember quite HOW I slipped, but I ate ice and I ate it HARD. I did one of those falls you see in cartoons! You know, when the cartoon runs into a glass door and slowly slides down as if gravity has lost some of its pull while time seems to stop? Yes. It happened. Thank goodness my glasses didn't break! They only decided to cut my face! Which I am actually very grateful for. It my glasses would have broken I would have gone blind for a while.
Only Tyson saw my fall so I laid on the ice expecting someone to come help me. *silence* Nothing.
I figured I could lay on the ice and make a big deal out of my throbbing cheeckbone/entire face, or I could get up and walk out. So I stood up. While we were walking out everyone started to comment on how huge my face was getting. It basically looked like I had an extra nose growing out of my left cheekbone. So someone handed me a chunk of ice and we walked out of the cave....and went and explored another one. Obviously my looking like a chipmunk in pain wasn't enough to go back to Rexburg and call it a night, so I played along. I mean, I couldn't rewind time and stop the fall so I might as well enjoy the rest of my night instead of taking it personal. (I did let my friends know that I thought they were the worst friends ever....but I was mostly joking)



I could feel my face throbbing as we drove back to Rexburg and knew I was going to have a nice shiner the next morning. Cindy spent the night that night. Waking up the next morning was almost unbearable! I looked in the mirror and wanted to cry! I looked like I had gotten in a horrible bar fight and been owned.
I walked to class embarrassed for the first day and then started to have some fun with it. You see, kids, LDS ones especially, have been raised to be very polite and while they would look at me and do a double take, none of them would actually ask me what happened for the first few days. (Also thanks to my glasses it wasn't as noticeable) My roommates and I brainstormed.
I told everyone I was a victim of domestic violence. My roommates told people I had gone to the rodeo and been selected to ride a bull and gotten kicked in the face. I told my bishop my roommate hit me. It was wonderful.
It took three weeks but my face is BACK TO NORMAL! Hooray! And life goes on!


Alright, time to focus!

Making Musical Sense

I have so many things I need to write about! I am such a slacker!! In my defense, it is the last week before finals and all my teachers decided to start a 'who can give Lacey the most homework' competition. As of right now, my BOM teacher is winning. Lucky me.

I'll write about my black eye, concerts, and my visit from mommy some other time (probably after school's out) but right now I want to talk about one of my main loves: Music.
For my Musicianship (theory/aural training) class I had to compose a short piece. I sat down today in the music tech lab at a piano and my mind nearly exploded. The possibilities were endless!!
A piano has 88 keys, 15 major scales, 45 minor scales, 7 modes, and many more augmented and diminished keys. How in the WORLD was I supposed to put together that would make musical sense? I couldn't sit on the piano bench pondering this question until my piece was due on Friday so I kicked it into gear.
Step One: I got a composing buddy. In this case it was my beautiful cellist friend Brennan! I am by nature a semi-competitive person. Makes perfect sense, eh? Okay, here's what I mean by that- If you throw me onto a sports team (excluding floor hockey and sometimes volleyball), I am more than happy to let everyone else play aggressive while I run around pointlessly, but when I workout or do something I am good at, I like to have somebody to work with and to keep me motivated.
Step Two: Procrastination. Everyone knows the best music comes to you when you procrastinate....NOT! I sat on that piano bench noodling for probably fifteen minutes trying to find something I liked. I thought about doing a piece with choral voicing. Then I decided I wanted to do an upbeat latin jam in keyboard voicing.
Step Three: Just Do It (courtesy of Nike.) I finally decided I wanted to write my piece in a minor key. I love the minor sound in music, plus I decided that I was so stressed from homework that in order to get my feelings on paper, minor was necessary.
I sat down and the notes just started to flow.
Love when that happens.
Regardless it is a very short piece. Mine ended up being only fourteen measures, but I am proud of it.
Step Four: Don't Push It. Because my piece was for a class, there were many musical rules, chords, and non harmonic tones (basically a bunch of extra hoo-ha) I had to follow. I was struggling getting the last few measures so I put it away for a while. Frustration doesn't really aid in writing music when you are trying to write a whimsical piece.
Step Five: Breathe. Play. Smile.
I played for some people in the music tech room and received some great feedback. I fixed my visible mistakes and then decided to go home. When I got home I decided to play for my roommates. What a wonderful choice. They were ALL compliments. Gotta love when none of your roommates are music majors and just think you are incredible :)
Ended my evening on a good note.
Now bring on night time and Education, BOM, and Choral/Vocal Methods homework!!