to my dearest friend

her name is catherine.

but i call her cashwin.

or just cash.

i met her sophomore year of high school.

we had chemistry together.

we both randomly transfered into the class.

it was a sign. we were meant to meet.

i never thought i would appreciate that class as much as i do.

but i do. 

we survived high school together.

and then both got into BYU and have survived together thus far.

i've leaned on her for a lot.

too much to really express in one measly blogpost. 

too many hilarious moments.

too many talks.

too many quotable quotes.

too many nice notes.

too many bronco rides.

too many youtube videos.

too many breakdowns.

too many cafe rio salads.

too many memories.

and now she is going. for the first time in 5 years i won't be able to just call her up.

ask her to go to cafe rio with me.

or play racquetball with me.

or just be with me.

because she is going on a mission.

she has been called to serve in the Chicago, Illinois Spanish-speaking Mission.

and it's perfect

and i'm so proud of her. 

so now MY mission is to spend as much time with her as i can for the next 4 months.

i love you cash.

so much.

oh cashwin. you're my fave.

life's not fair...

yep. went to the Utah State Fair to see the Parachute concert (where i totally touched the main guys shoulder when he came out to the crowd. [i was about to stroke his face but then realized that...would be weird] there was an immediate connection. he has pretty eyes. we're getting married) and then roam around the booths, eat free kettlecorn, see the biggest cow to ever live (not really. but maybe?), enjoy the fireworks, exercise on the shake machines (ok...since when do those things actually work?), and then get my hair eaten by goats.

i guess that's a compliment? because it smelled so good?

yeah. sure.

my friend and i decided that going to the fair without dates is actually an awesome opportunity to try all the booth activities for free. when you're with a date the booth owner expects to get paid.

when you're a single girl they'll just let you try for fun.

so, be "fair" to yourself.

GO TO THE FAIR.

PARACHUTE

there he is. in the middle. my baby blue eyed future.

and that sassilicious sax man? maybe i can set him up with my little sis.

she is 16 now.

booth men are awesome

and so are those shirts that light up to the beat during dance parties

*only 30 bucks

**no way. i'm poor

yeeeeeaaaahhhhh.......the fair is fun.

notice the teddy bear?

manda got him for free.

name: baby brandon

(after the booth man who gave him to her)

so many sights and sounds and smells and different people and animals and hot dogs and hay.

my name is rachel weiler and i approve of the utah state fair.

chill out rach

i left my apartment in a huff this evening.

yep. a huff. like, "i'll huff and i'll puff and i'll go all cray cray on all you all."

it wasn't pretty. here's why.

i was stressed. i felt like everything that had to be done was my responsibility and i didn't want to have that responsibility. i didn't want to be on hold, listening to that worse-than-elevator-music music, with the people who are supposed to be fixing our internet but seem to know about the same as me as to how to do it. 

nothing. 

they seem to know nothing.

and then i was frustrated with myself for getting so frustrated and then our couches look like a carpet bag that's been run over by a cattle truck and then i realized i had homework to do and then i was frustrated that i had to go back to campus to do it because my internet was broken and then it was raining and my hair was huge and then there wasn't a letter for me but only a utilities bill and then i was frustrated for eating so many cookies and frustrated that i couldn't eat any more cookies.

so i left in a huff with a "sorry i'm crazy, i'll be better tonight," thrown out to my roommates.

and i came here. and i didn't want to read.

so i looked at pictures from when i wasn't frustrated.

and i listened to music that makes me calm.

*jonsi *blind pilot *coldplay

but not gotye because that makes me stressed.

and now i feel a little more relaxed. and i'll get my reading done and then go home and sleep.

for now, here are some pictures from when i wasn't stressed.

things to be grateful for today:

*i woke up early enough to get to work on time even though i had turned my alarm clock off in my sleep

*a professor gave us root beer floats at work

*EMAIL FROM MY FAVORITE PERSON (holla atcha russia)(praying for you)(miss you)

*getting invited to an elite texting group

*got 100 on a surprise quiz in class

*sandals

*compliment on my outfit (surprising because i got dressed in the dark today. for reals)

*sandwiches for lunch and for dinner (i love a good sammich)

*umbrellas

*compliment from stranger on my hair (even more surprising than the outfit one. see above)

*talking to my brother, even for a little bit (see his crazy cool blog here)

*the fact that i just found the leftover ice cream from the root beer floats...

yesterday i ran into an acquaintance from high school.

 he had recently returned from his mission and is now attending brigham young university.

it made me think.

are they really all on the verge of coming home?

has it really been two years?

am i really a junior at byu?

time flies when you're having fun.

time flies man.

who's ready to see all those missionaries though?

i'll be the first to say it.

me.

i'm ready.

let the school year begin.

let the football team keep winning.

let the library be my home once again.

let the mind numbing reading continue.

let new friends be made.

let old friends come home.

immaexcited.

storms coming

well sheesh.

i've been on three wonderful vacations in the past 3 weeks.

i have 975 pictures.

i don't even know where to start.

because everyone of those pictures has a story, a laugh, an inside joke, a spectacular view

etc. 

so...

now what?

i guess i'll just say this.

i got mittens from canada.

bring on the snow.

montana mornings

after our adventures in sun valley we headed up to montana for our annual hebgen lake visit.

it was a great time.

we did the usual.

boating, games, west yellowstone, dirt bikes, hiking, bikes rides.

we did the new.

mainly taking captain out for pony and cart rides.

something i love about these times is that i can choose to sleep in as late as i wish.

i love that.

but i had a goal this time around.

i wanted to watch the sunrise over the lake.

every day i told myself that the next morning would be the morning.

well, it never happened.

for a week and a half i slept in.

finally, on the last day that we were in montana i forced myself to wake up and make the trek to observation point, a few miles away from the ranch.

 i was scared that bears were going to eat me as i climbed out of the truck in the dark of the woods. i was cold. i was tired. it was cloudy.

"great. i woke up and got here and now the clouds are going to stickin' block the sun." 

i was sad.

then something happened. 

i saw something.

now you can see it.

i suggest scrolling slowly while listening to something like this or this. 

please.

it makes it even better.

my friend the buffalo enjoyed the sunrise too.

the sun broke through. and the clouds made it even more beautiful than it would have been.

i will remember this morning for a long time.

it's special to me.

i hope you got a little glimpse of why.

a valley of sun

i went on vacation with my family about a month ago. it was a great time. first, we went to sun valley in idaho for the utah bankers association. it's kind of a big deal.

while there we participated in many fun activities.


like bingo...

caroline was the only one who won anything.

sheesh.

and outdoor movies...

you would not believe how many swedish fish i consumed. poor fishies.

dad is happy. he loved the movie and was touched by the sweet story of that tail-less dolphin.

and the gun club...

rebecca won in our group and got second out of all the bankers.

or something like that.

she's a good shot.

a family that shoots together.

and the annual banker 5K...

a family that runs together.

these are the footwear of the two family members who took 1st and 2nd in the race. 

can you guess who?

oh my gosh! you're right.

 it was me and my mom.

and a kenny loggins concert.

two words:

danger zone.

we also went on bike rides, took the pony out for a few rides, went to the pool, played croquet (i actually won. i never win at croquet) and learned a new card game.

from there we went straight to montana. but that's a blog for another day.

so i'll leave you with this.