referral treats & other things.

via thejessicastory on instagram

during my lunch break today i took a little trip to my favorite place in logan- the usu barn. 

holy cow i love this place so much it should be illegal.

i referred someone to one of the agents at our office and he brought me a dirty coke to say thank you.

okay but lets be serious here for a second. WHY HAVE I NEVER HAD ONE OF THESE BEFORE. THEY'RE SO GOOD. it's seriously just diet coke with chocolate in it. holy wow.

anyways i don't have a ton to say today, but i'm really trying to get more into my blog again. i miss it. 

love, jessica. 

angels.

these are my two closest friends and i. 

they probably don't realize how amazing they are and how much they mean to me, but all i can say is that i'm so ready for a hell of a year with these ladies.

xox

jess

sun & pickup trucks

i especially love days like today.

in the pre-vet & equine programs, there's an awesome sense of camaraderie. i've only known most of them for less than a year, but i'm going to be with them for the next five or six. we're all so different, from all over the nation, but we all have a common purpose. we're here to help animals, and by extension, help their owners. working with people on farms really brings you together. today i was talking to a guy in one of my classes and he said "you know jess, i'd trust you to stitch me up if i had a really bad gash and i couldn't make it to a hospital." haha what a compliment, huh?  i trust these guys & girls more than anyone. i mean, we let each other drive each other's trucks... thats like the highest form of trust. they've got my back & i love them. 

the sun today was so incredibly needed. i forgot what it was like to get in your car and having to roll the windows down because it's hot inside, or to be walking around classes and get too warm with a sweatshirt on. it's kinda awesome. hey spring. you should stick around for a while. :)

xoxo

jessica :)

i like me.

i like who i'm becoming. 

i like that i wear too much camo, that my boots track mud everywhere and it drives my roommates crazy, that i could care less about what people are saying about me. i like that i don't have to pretend i'm something that i'm not, and people like me for who i am. i like that i have a relationship with Christ & that he's with me no matter what i do or where i go, that i have the strength and ability to do what's right without worrying about what those around me are trying to convince me to do. i like that i'm best friends with my little brother, and that i'm confident in my talents and abilities. i like that i know i can work hard and follow through with what i say i'm going to do. but really, i'm glad i'm just me. :)

xo

jess

i like carbs.

i realize that the title of this post has absolutely nothing to do with the picture of this cute mare and her baby. but ya know what? i really do like carbs. like bread. and potatoes. and steak. in fact sometimes i feel like a man because i just want steak. it's a problem. hahahahah what who am i kidding it's not a problem. it's great. 

it was 46 degrees today and i almost cried i was so happy. i didn't know what to do with myself. so. i drove to class early, made some crystal light, played some loud music. it was great. but i lost my favorite pair (read: my only pair) of sunglasses. so... thats sad. but hey jack the grass is showing and that's a big deal.

when i'm older i want to live in tennessee. and texas. actually... probably not texas. my dad's from there and i've heard horror stories. but who knows. 

MY MIDTERMS ARE DONE HALLELUJAH. (i just spelled hallelujah right on the first try. hallelujah.) 

my camo shirt got a hole in it. oh well. that means i get to buy four new ones to replace it. muahaha.

i love duck dynasty. and i'm kinda really glad i'm going home next week to watch the new ones i've missed. roommates are dumb. and duck dynasty is funnier when i watch it with my brother. did that rhyme?...

mmkay thats all. 

xoxo

jessica

what a life i live

i am so. happy.

i really believe that having a life you love is blurring the line between work and play.

i have an amazing job. it's not glamorous and i get sweaty and dirty but i'm doing what i love. i have amazing classes that let me hang out with horses all day, almost every day, and i am constantly learning new things. i have the greatest friends who check on me to make sure i haven't fallen off the face of the earth (thanks melia) & boys who send me texts that make me smile. i love when you can feel heavenly father putting pieces in place in your life. that's what He's doing in mine, and i am so grateful for it. He knows what i need more than i do, and i'm really loving the way things are turning out. so much. i can't remember the last time i felt so happy. :)

xoxo

jessica

winter: it needs to be over.

for real though. it should be done. once february hits, i'm really over the whole snow thing. ugh. when you go outside and it's cold and you fall down, that's natures way of telling you that you've made a mistake. you're supposed to take the day off and go back to bed. whatever.

i'm over it.

xoxox

jessica

home.

after an amazing break, i find myself back at my home away from home. i missed it. 

so many things are different this semester.

a new job, advanced classes, practicing treatments on animals... i feel like a big kid. 

and i like it.

whoo!

wow.

it's been a year exactly since i started this blog.
so much has happened since then.
i've done so much growing up, it almost makes me sick to think about it.
right now, i'm at a place that i never thought i would be at.
things have happened to my family that i never thought would happen.
i've become stronger.
more thoughtful.
more understanding.
less judgemental.
more flexible.
2012 sucked, lets just be honest. but, despite that, i'm very grateful for all the personal growth that has occurred from the trials.

it's been a year since today that this blog has been up.

in exactly a year, the jessica story has gotten exactly 10,000 pageviews. that's more than my first blog had in the whole six years i had it. you guys are awesome.

so, lets take a look at this year, shall we?

JANUARY

- went to see brad paisley, the band perry, and scotty mccreery at the idaho center with dear chas. probably the best concert i've seen to date.

- celebrated my three year anniversary with the best horse ever. 

- realized that the beginning of my life was just around the river bend. man, little did i know just how hard it would be. 

FEBRUARY

- said some pretty smart things.

- visited utah state, hoping it would be my future home. 

- fell in love with cache valley.

MARCH 

- decided to be kinder.

- learned some hard lessons and realized that i could survive college.

APRIL

- had the best and most meaningful easter ever. 

- some crazy shiz happened to my family and i learned some very important lessons the hard way.

- realized that i might be one of the few country girls at utah state. 

MAY

- my family moved out of our home in 24 hours and realized that our support system was bigger than i could have ever imagined.

- lived with my best friend for two months.

- celebrated mothers day with my three mother figures. 

- graduated from high school.

JUNE

- reflected on everything i've learned about myself thru the years.

- spent some quality time with my dad.

JULY

- went to the midnight premiere of the new batman with my bestie.

- drove to logan and back in one day. 

- realized after having a relationship with a non-country boy i couldn't settle for anything but. 

AUGUST

- my college countdown reached the single digits. 

- i moved to logan.

- met my twin. 

- realized that utah state is the best place on earth. 

- went to my first college football game as a student. 

SEPTEMBER

- realized how blessed i am to be country. 

- became a full fledged member of the equine program at utah state. 

- rushed the field after the best football game in utah state history. 

- planned homecoming week and participated in my first ever true aggie night. 
- turned the ripe old age of 18.

OCTOBER

- drove to byu for the byu vs. usu football game, and to visit my two best friends. 

- started club calves.

- went to my first residence life retreat with area government and made 

some simply amazing new friends. 

- went home and went through the boise temple open house. 

- finished my cow and sold her at auction. 

NOVEMBER

- celebrated a very low key thanksgiving with my family. 

- realized just how grateful i am for my friends. 

- second guessed what i was supposed to be doing with my life. 

DECEMBER

- saw my first collegiate horse show and realized that i'm doing what i'm supposed to. 

- came to the conclusion that girls are absolutely insane.

- finished my first amazing semester of college. 

- dealt with some death and other hard things. 

so that's about it! this year was definitely a year of extremes- both the extreme good and the extreme bad, but you know what? i am beyond grateful for how much this year has pushed me, stretched me, broke me down and built me up. i am so excited for what this next year has to bring!

loves, 

jessica. 

on nights like this.

i generally like people. there's only been two people in my entire life that i could say i truly honestly 100% dislike 100% of the time. 

however. there's this girl that lives across the street who's friends with one of the roommates that tends to hang out in our apartment at the most inconvenient of times. she's really condescending, rude and inconsiderate so needless to say, when she shows up i either stand in the living room and say bratty things in the attempt to make her leave or i go to my room and turn obnoxious music up really loud, again in the attempt to make her leave. 

and so, you can imagine just how i felt when after an already terrible day, i walked out into the living room and suddenly she was there, sitting in my spot on my couch. i was about ready to scream, considering i was gone for about three seconds to get a blanket and i had just put in my favorite movie to watch in a rare moment of quiet when everyone in my apartment was gone. and then she shows up? nice. i would watch my movie on my computer but it's so ghetto that it doesn't even have a disc drive.

so, i just locked myself in my room with my coke and some twix, turned my kid cudi up really loud and am browsing pinterest. just livin' the good life.

but really, she needs to leave now.

lately in #112,

my crazy roommate sings too loudly all the time.

i love special k cereal with red berries. the generic kind is just as good as the original.

i put up icicle lights all around my room. i love them.

going to bed at 3am has become a habit, which is awful.

clara and i like to reminisce about eagle high school. what a great place.

ella fitzgerald, frank sinatra, bing crosby, gene autry, barry manilow, the carpenters, transiberian orchestra. nuff said.

still no snow... waaaahhhh. 

today i had my practical for my riding fundamentals class. i was super nervous because this is hands down the most important class i have this semester... but i passed with flying colors, with only a few minor mishaps. i'm really proud of myself. this class challenged my horsemanship in every way and i am so much better for it.

i love winter.

i love horses.

i love my truck.

i'm glad finals are almost over.

i love utah state. 

i love christmas lights.

i love christmas music.

i love my life.

xoxo

jessica :)

its what i do.

horse shows, cowboy butts, etc.

i want to be in the horse show scene in full swing again so bad. 

waking up at 5:30 in the morning to go get horses ready for the day is really something that i love, believe it or not. working so hard all day long that by sunset you're bone dead tired on your feet is a feeling that i miss. it was amazing to go shovel out 40 stalls, pick hundreds of horse feet, saddle up dozens of horses, adjust chaps and stirrups and boots for the riders. i just love it all. i love the feeling of pride i get when the announcer says "utah state horse handlers to the arena please, horse handlers to the arena" after every class. there are simply no words to describe it. 

xoxo

do i really want what i thought i wanted?

i never knew what i wanted to be when i was a kid.

people would ask me "what do you want to be when you grow up?"

the answer was always, "i don't know, i guess i'll figure that out when the time comes."

fast forward to freshman year of high school. i was suddenly thrust into the horse world. i was completely in love. i still am completely in love. all of the sudden, horses were a long term part of my future. then, after i moved to idaho,  i was dating a cowboy. he was a senior at the time, and was applying to utah state. usu had never even been on my radar. to be honest, i'd never really heard anything about it, but through him i found out about their equine science and pre vet program. it sparked my interest, but really not enough to get me that interested. i'd always wanted to be a political science or economics major. i'm really good at that kind of stuff. 

then all of the sudden, i woke up one morning and kind of knew that i wanted to be a vet. i hadn't ever thought about it before. i talked about it with my parents and they were 150% supportive.

so now here i am, sitting at utah state, which happens to be my dream school, majoring in equine science. i've decided to double major in bio veterinary science as well. lately though, i've really been questioning whether i have the ability to go through with this whole thing.

i don't know if i'm capable of learning enough, or working hard enough, or measuring up to what it takes to become a vet. i don't even want to start my own practice. i don't know, i guess it's still too early to decide what exactly is going to happen with my life. 

it's also about that time to start thinking about a minor. 

i've narrowed it down to either

spanish,

economics, or

business.

i just cant choose.

blehhh.

growing up is so much harder than anyone said it would be.

xoxo

jessica 

my barn. it's better than yours.

i know i post about the barn all the time and you guys are probably sick of hearing it, but i am so grateful every day for the opportunity to ride and work at utah state. 10 years ago, if you had told me i would be a full fledged country girl, i would have laughed at you. but thanks to my best friend in the entire world, i've found my passion. there's nothing i love more than going to the barn and smelling the horses, getting all sweaty and poopy and learning things about animals that i didn't know before. gah i don't even know how to explain it. being at the farm makes me happier than i ever thought was possible. when i'm out with the animals, i don't mind that i don't have a boyfriend, that i'm not the prettiest, or skinniest, or that i don't have perfect skin, that i'm not the smartest or the best rider in my class. i'm not sure how or why, but it makes me whole. 

my barn, it's better than yours.

xoxo

jessica 

weekends.

this weekend's area government retreat was a blast.

there was a ton of service and bonding and learning that happened and i loved every second of it!

in other news:

WE FINALLY MADE IT TO 30 FOLLOWERS!

one of my goals for 2012 for this blog was to get there and we did.

i'm real excited.

midterms are this week, i'm nervous.

i'm going home on thursday for the first time since the beginning of august and i'm so excited. but mostly just to ride my horse. 

yeah, you can see my priorities. 

xoxo

jessica :)

lame horses & club calves.

guys, i have a confession to make.

i'm turning into a full fledged redneck.

i talk like them, i dress like them, i act like them... (sometimes i even smell like them.) (but don't tell my mom.)

but hey, i love it.

there's this horse at the university that i love to death. she's been really sore lately & today during our lesson she started limping way bad and didn't even want to put any weight on her front foot. so, the vet got called out to look at her. we thought it could be a problem with her shoe but really it was just a muscular soreness problem. he just gave her a bantamine shot & she's on stall rest now and will be all better by the end of the week, which is good. cause i love her.

i love my life oh my freaking heck. 

i love being around horses and cows and sheep everyday, and learning about how animals work and what makes them tick. 

like today in one of my classes, i learned that if you give bute (horsey advil) in a shot, if you put it outside a vein it melts a hole in the muscle. yep. and in my other class i learned about the structure of an egg, and it turns out that theres a lot more to it than just a yolk, shell & white. haha.

i'm doing this thing at the university called club calves.

basically what we do is train a weaned calf (either a steer or heifer) to lead at the halter 

and perform show maneuvers.

if you know someone that needs to learn serious patience, send them to club calves. 

we'll make them the most patient person on the earth.

if you thought training horses was hard, they're freaking geniuses compared to cows.

the calf i was helping with today had just been de-horned & had a bunch of stitches on the top of his head. while we were pulling him around he banged his head on the fence and burst his stitches... so me & the other girls ended up with a bunch of cow blood on our arms. yay?

this is what a de-horned steer's head looks like.

this is one of my besties jayden & her steer joshy.

all the club calves.

as always, 

life is good & people are crazy. 

 xoxo

jess :)

i LOL at myself.

because i take hilarious pictures of myself in the library with my webcam.

like this one of this kid that's been staring at the back of my head for a good hour. 

yeah i don't know. 

i love this library. lightly frosted glass is really good for creeping on people.

like the hot boy reading a newspaper in the big armchair downstairs.

i'm good at creeping, it's fine.

just another day in the life. 

xoxox 

jessica :)

god bless those true aggies from utah.

god bless a true blooded aggie from utah.

long story short. 

best fricken football game ever.

we camped out for three hours before hand. 

we laughed. we cried. we won. 

we stormed the field. 

we did the scotsman on the field. 

it was the coolest thing ever. 

i love my school to death.

take that utah. 

whaaadup.

xox jessica :)

its a good good life.

so, as most of you know, i'm an animal, dairy and veterinary science major at utah state. i have an equine emphasis, meaning that around 80% of all my classes for my major involve horses in some way.

for the semester, i'm assigned a "care horse". basically, we're assigned this horse and we're responsible for their general well being. this is my care horse, bob. i call him bobby. he's a beautiful bay roan. he's cute, i like him. i realize he looks like he's really back heavy in the middle picture but he's actually really nicely shaped... iphone cameras and wiggly horses don't go well together.  

i love horses, you guys. 

i'm so glad that i have an equine class in college... i think i'd get so homesick for my horse if i had to go a whole year without riding or grooming or kissing or hugging horses. (i'm still homesick for butterscotch... but bobby is a good replacement.)

in other news.

homework is stupid.

we play university of utah on friday. i'm stoked.

sometimes people are creepy and want to get into your pants.

i guess it's part of college. whateva.

my roommate is better than your roommate.

i went to the gym tonight and it felt so good to be active again and run all my stress off.

love, peace, blessins. 

xoxox jessica :)