BYU Ed Week 2024

 My second year at BYU Education Week.

This time I flew out on Monday afternoon to the Provo airport and got an Uber to campus. I decided to give Heritage Halls a try. Rachel agreed to come be my roommate and I was SO excited to spend the week with her! She couldn't come until Tuesday night though so I had some time alone first. After dropping my suitcase off in my room I decided to walk south of campus to try J.Dawgs for the first time. I mean... I don't know. It was just a hot dog on a fancy bun. Maybe a little too much hype. Then I walked a street farther to "condo row" where I lived the first semester of my second year. JoAnna Friddle and I were roommates and Brittany Lowe and another girl also lived with us. Such memories flooded as I walked down the road! It was a such a short period of time but I had so much fun and loved my experience at BYU. I was bold enough to knock on the door. Why not? The girl was really nice when I explained who I was and I got to peek inside. Ok. Not a thing has changed!!!!! And it was not nice when I was there! Seriously that kitchen hasn't been touched in 20 years. Wild. Then I stopped at Brookers ice cream. They were proud to tell me they have the yummiest ice cream because they have the highest milk fat possible. Yeah, you could tell. Way too rich. I ended up throwing most of it away. Even though it poured rain on me when I first started my walk to dinner, the weather was so beautiful and I absolutely loved having some solitude and time to myself. Even with the terrible mattress and noisy old ladies on either side of my bedroom, I had no problem falling asleep.  

BYU Ed week is a firehose of information. I could not be happier filling my day with classes and learning all kind of information from marriage advice, parenting help, gospel doctrine and more! It's so hard to decide which slides to take pictures of. I really enjoyed a class about marriage by Scott Braithewaite. And Anthony Sweat's classes in the Marriot Center on the restoration of the gospel were soooo interesting! Elder Anderson gave the Tuesday devotional. I know some people would be uncomfortable going to classes alone, but not me. I ran into many of my Montague cousins plus tons more Mesa/Gilbert people every day. Rachel is from Utah but I was the one constantly seeing people I knew. 

John Hilton's class in the Wilkinson Center on the show The Chosen was very popular! He filled every seat and they had to turn people away too! 

Rachel got in a little earlier than expected so we got to go to dinner together! We caught an Uber to Bombay House.

Next morning, bright and early! She brought some Perk for us to stir up as we walked to our first class. We were up late talking and needed a little pick me up. Very hard to find hot water anywhere!  

Mid-morning there was some time we weren't super interested in any classes so we took an Uber to the Provo City Center temple and did initiatories. It was my first time at that temple. I hadn't brought a dress so I bought a skirt at the BYU bookstore yesterday. 

So interesting how there is an underground entrance.

We went to one of Crystal Bowman's classes! I had already been to these last year but it was still a good refresher. 

We walked down to the Brick Oven Pizza for dinner Wednesday night. 

I ran into Kurt Francom and was so excited!! Travis loves listening to his podcast, Leading Saints. I had just bought his book, Is God Disappointed in Me? I felt so guilty sending Travis our picture. Here I was, on such a spiritual high, soaking up all this great knowledge while he slaved away at work. 

How many mint brownies can two girls consume during one Ed week?! 

We got tickets to see BYU Vocal Point Thursday night at the Marriot Center. The girls acapella choir also sang. They had impressive voices! I liked the boys group the best. Laughing at the one shoulder overall strap!

This big BYU sign is new! 

Rachel's dad was in town and reached out knowing Rach was here, wanting to take us to dinner. We ended up at Guru's cafe but I was so stoked to see they rebuilt Los Hermanos in downtown Provo! It had a kitchen fire years ago and has sat empty. It was one of our favorites in college. 

Everything about the week was amazing except for when it was time to leave. We packed up and Rach ordered and Uber to share to the Salt Lake airport and we got all the way there when I realized I didn't have my phone!! I had left it charging in the dorm room. HOW????? I was panic stricken. It is the most unsettling feeling to be traveling and not have your phone! I called campus but they hadn't cleaned the rooms yet and couldn't tell me anything. I walked up to the ticketing gate and found out there was a later flight that day. So I switched my flight to that one and Rach ordered me an uber back to Provo. I had just driven 50 min. only to turn around and do it again. Once I got there it took forever waiting on the college students to let me back in. When I got to the room I saw the charging cord sitting by the door while the cleaners were doing their thing but no phone! I was beside myself. Finally, they realized someone had turned it in to the downstairs office but not told anyone. Such relief I cannot even describe!! How would I have gotten an Uber back to the airport without my phone??! Plus, Olive's birthday party was that night and I was so worried I wasn't going to make it back in time. Thankfully, I got my phone, got a ride back to Salt Lake and made my flight just in time. Praise the heavens!!!

And this little guy was super happy about his squishmallow cougar souvenir. I got Olive a long sleeved, BYU t-shirt and little BYU footballs for the boys and chocolate covered cinnamon bears for everyone to share!