Feb. 16 - March 1

an extra, because we're beautiful, and this one includes Steph:

Monday the 16, Stephanie and Sophia came home from their 4 day weekend in Provo with their boys. i was happy that they got to go, but happy to have them back, as well :)

just plain love these girls. this picture was totally candid, Sophia caught this for snapchat, and i made her save it because i loved it!

that week, my roommate hosted a Mary Kay party, and our boys were awesome and came to support her:

this is what happens when i'm bored in class:

Friday the 20, Stephanie's boyfriend Connor came up for the weekend. we all love that boy.
He and I had many a Harry Potter and DC conversation. We're very similar, and i think it was meant to be that Steph and i room together the past several months, so that Stephanie can learn to love all of the things that we do similarly that drive her nuts, haha.

Saturday the 21,

our ward (congregation) had an activity similar to one i've done at Girls Camp. some people call the "Iron Rod" walk. long story short, there's a rope that serves as an obstacle course/guide rail and you have to follow it a midst obstacles to lead to a destination. 

sounds weird, but it's super inspiring. and it helped me feel more connected to my ward. 

here's a sun-filled post-cry photo from that windy day:

That Sunday we had Stake Conference and it was AMAZING. I got to see several old friends and catch up with them. I got to feel God encouraging me to be better. 

my favorite speaker was a Deaf girl who also had MS, but was super positive about it all. she didn't even speak about hearing impairments or MS, she talked about families and scriptures. She was passionate and funny, and i'm grateful for her example. I love feeling uplifted. 

Monday the 23:

I taught about Instruments in preschool, and it was a blast. 

we had a really unintentionally racist Asian night for FHE. complete with fried rice and Karaoke. haha. 

each of the apartments did a number together. our apartment started the night off with a really high bar in a rousing rendition of  "a girl worth fighting for" from Mulan

I hate karaoke. i think it's awkward. So to avoid us all standing up in front of a crowd singing off key, i decided that we'd march all around the room like an army. 

hahahahahahahha:

MY APARTMENT IS SO COOL

the other girls did a gansta Taylor swift remix. 

and the boys were a boy band. surprise! haha. 

adorable. 

cutest. 

then we ate fried rice and talked. twas fun. this is a good group. 

Tuesday the 24, this photo of me was posted by the dear Sophita:

just various faces of Melissa Hansen.
and yes, sometimes i read my scriptures in the bath tub. It's a quiet place.

 last weekend, Stephanie's parents came up to visit to see the school play, because Stephanie made the costumes.  (#37 on the list of things that Stephanie kicks trash at: costume design and construction) Sophia and i LOVE stephanie's parents. we stayed with Stephanie for a few days over New Years break, and Stephanie's mom, Kathy, just took us under her wing. WE LOVE THAT WOMAN. here she is giving Sophia boy advice. it was wisdom if I've ever heard any.

Saturday night, I actually painted  my nails! correction, SOPH painted my nails. haha. 

Sunday the 1 of March, we had a Regional Conference. ALSO GREAT. L.Tom Perry spoke to us, and was hilarious. He also just made me feel really known and appreciated. Apostles of God seem to have that affect on me.

all joking aside, that man empowers me.

that evening, Jonathan came over for dinner, dessert, and some consoling. Break ups are rough. So i made him potatoes in 4 varieties (Red Pontiac, Russet, Vitelotte, and Yellow Finn) with carrots, and Zucchini. mmmm. and milk. 

See that trash behind him? he took it out after he ate. and then did the dishes. 

HE'S SO GOOD. 

also, this is my roommate Sarah. she's half Cantonese half Swedish. she's a genius and a laugh riot, and i can't get enough of her. 

 Other things happened within this time frame, but they get their own posts. 

this is life lately. 

and it's been great. 

The 48-hour date

Got your hopes up, mom, didn't I?

it wasn't 48-hours long. just 7. but it maybe felt 48-hours long because we were with the same group of boys all weekend. 

We were together all last weekend, too. Because A) we didn't know anyone else and they are kind enough to invite us over and B) it was a 4 day weekend and 2 of our roommates were out of town, so we couldn't even do a reasonably sized roommate date. 

well then on monday after FHE 3 of us asked 3 of them on a group date for this Friday. 

they all gave an enthusiastic yes, which was a confidence booster. they're all great guys. 

thursday night we (our whole apartment, their whole apartment, and the other girl apartment we're grouped with for Home Evening) were supposed to climb rock walls.
we went to the place, but it was PACKED. so we went bowling, because it was only $3 and we all still wanted to do something. 

I suck at bowling. 

actually and honestly, i hate bowling. haha. i am horrible, and you go up one at a time, so my horrible-ness is only accentuated. I usually try to be funny and do like, crazy trick shots to spare myself some embarrassment. 

I got one strike, though! on my 9th frame. coincidence? I THINK NOT. NUMBER NINE FO-EVA.

anyway. 

i got 49 points in all. woo-hoo-i'm-the-worst-bowler-ever-yay

THEN.

On friday after preschool, i literally RAN home, took a shower, made the worst Lasagna of my life, and curled my Soccer Mom hair (which i actually love.) in preparation for our date with these 3 really cute, really fun boys from across the parking lot. 

after dinner, we all walked up to campus and carved each other out of soap! haha. I think it's really fun, and luckily, this group thought so too. that's not always the case.
It just so happened that "Hook" was playing on a GIANT screen in the next clearing over, and just around us was "game night" which is apparently a campus-hosted event every friday night. lol. and a journaist from our school newspaper tried to interivew me as pasrt of an article about game night because he thought we were just doing a game. lolx2 my date explained the situation, and the reporter was embarrassed and i felt a little bit bad but not really. lolx3. why is carving soap so weird and hard for people to get? 

can we appreciate the genuine concentration on Shaun's face, and in my posture, in this picture:

my date, Shaun, is a Graphic Design major, and i'm me. so we were both way too engrossed in our carving. the others had fun, but this was like, a real competition for us. ha.

My roommate Sophia and her date Travis finished first, and were struggling to stay interested in the rest of us while they waited for us to be done, so they went downstairs and microwaved their soap shavings just for fun.

Soph's rendition of Travis:                                         Travis' rendition of Sophia:

like i said, Travis and Sophia got bored, haha. 

My roommate Stephanie and her date Spencer were almost as engrossed in each others' thoughts as Shaun and i were in our soap.

But they finished not long after Soph and Trav.

this is a sideways (?) me with Stephanie and Spencer's carvings of each other. 

and then everyone got antsy waiting for me and Shaun to finish. 

I eventually decided i was done because i kept messing up, trying to fix it, and making it worse. aka his nose and chin were gone. so i finished and Shaun soon followed. 

He made us show each other at the same time, so then i felt like a 3 year old because his was amazing.

winners. 

my rendition of Shaun. which you can't even see because of the light. 

And his rendition of me. 

holy cow. 

i'm not saying it's a perfect replica, but HE WAS CARVING SOAP and made a human-looking carving. and if i do say so myself, he nailed my mouth, chin, and hair. 

even the back. seriously.

we joked about how flat the Soap-Shaun's face was compared to real-Shaun for about 2 seconds before the rest of the table almost staged a revolution because Hook was almost over and we were still carving soap, haha. i was fine with it. 

 the finished products.

Left to right: Me by Shaun, Shaun by me, "Sophia aka tooth Kool-aid man" by Travis, Travis' Head by sophia, Spencer including his plaid shirt by Stephanie, and Frankenstein's Monster slash 'The Scream' Stephanie by Spencer

Sophia, Travis, and Stephanie graciously volunteered their soap as sacrifices for the microwaves. coolest.  BUT IT ONLY WORKS WITH IVORY SOAP in case you were wondering...

also, we rode in an elevator facing the back. just to let people wonder what the heck we were on. 

then we played a wholesome Truth or Dare. SO MUCH FUN. and i feel like we really got to know each other better. like that Shaun and Spencer assisted a fellow 3rd grader in robbery without their knowledge. Or that Travis would miss hearing himself eat if he went deaf. k. 

p.s. i promise i was happy when this picture was taken. haha. I look annoyed, but i'm pretty sure i was just trying to look cool, calm, and collected and not like i was doing cartwheels in my brain. 

also, as a dare, Travis and Sophia did Yoga and i gained a new set of Abdominal muscles from laughing so hard. 

 when we finished Truth or Dare, we gave the Boys a blatant way out in case they were sick of it, but they brushed it aside and suggested that we go get ice cream instead. i love them. 

Before we left, Shaun found a campus-run compliment box and we all went crazy stuffing it with notes for our friends. Sophia and i laid down on the Ricks Seal, because tradition.

 

                                                                              

                                                                        here Travis almost squished us:

we crept on Steph&Spenc on the walk home

and then all piled in Shaun's car to get Ice Cream!

once we had it, we came back home. we ate more lasagna, ate ice cream, and played Heads Up, but mostly we just talked and laughed and sat pleasantly close to each other on the couch until ten minutes before curfew. 12:50 am. 

am

A.M. 

these boys stuck with us for 7 hours straight. 

the realest homies, every last one of them. 

hooray for best dates and best boys and best roommates.

and no mom, we're not getting married. but if nothing else, we'll have a really close Home Evening group this semester :)

also, 48-hour play = zero homework is accomplished over the weekend. 

distractions. 

happy ones.