return to sender.

this one goes to holly michele brimhall.
you have a special place in our hearts too.

"les petits ananas." ---mais oui!; fourth edition.

we love that---taylor & taylor.

a deer on the path.

success!
you can post comments now.
we're just so incredibly excited about this, as you can imagine.

tonight we re-lived taylor b.'s pioneer trek experience.
we had carrot broth and rolls for dinner.
again, we miss dinner.

we liked the rain today.
except, where did autumn go?

stove top pudding is good.
especially when it's tapioca.
in fact, it brought out the girls' camp in us again..

it's jello, yum, yum, yum.
jello pudding, yum, yum, yum.
jello taaaaaaapioca pudding, try all three!

"your blog starts to play some very weird music after a while." ---tyler young.

we love that---taylor & taylor.

40 inches of wall between us & tyler young.

today we're going to play a game called,
"on a scale from 1 to 10."

jill thackeray's AP english class.
10.

we miss our boyzz: b,d,i,b.
21.

we miss dinner.
10.

skyline cross country.
10.

the BYU campus.
11.

our ward.
12.

tyler young.
awesome.

that was fun, huh? we'll play again soon. lol.

"how many times per day do you go to my profile page?" ---tyler.
"i dunno tyler, that is a funny thing to ask." ---taylor b.
"you should go there and just read everything you can about me" ---tyler.
"why?" ---taylor b.
"because there's some good stuff there." ---tyler.

we love that---taylor & tayloer.
(sometimes it's thrilling to spell your name wrong.)

inspired by beasley.

'nuff said.


"What was your first job?" ---Jake
"Picking pears off the ground in my backyard. I got paid like 25 cents a pear. No, more like 1 cent a pear. My mom exploited us." ---Rico
"How many pear trees did you have?" ---Jake
"One." ---Rico

we love that---taylor & taylor.

daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?

Here is a recent conversation that contributed to the overall greatness of the evening.

"Shh. Quiet now." --Taylor O.
"I didn't say anything." --Taylor B.
"I know. I was talking to myself."--Taylor O.

"Wanna be my fourth girlfriend?" ---Brandon Moore.
"No."---Taylor B.

we love that---taylor & taylor.

new traditions.

We're sure you've heard about Richard Terry. He's our Environmental Biology teacher, and until today, we really haven't really appreciated the background and insight he provides us.

Richard collecting soil samples in South America.

He looks like one of those old professors who has a hard time focusing on his lectures, and often gets carried away on tangents about his days on the farm, right? True! But he has given us a whole new perspective on our life here at BYU. Here are 10 parallels we've drawn between Provo and a farm.

1. Instead of waking up to the call of a rooster, we wake up to the cries of a screaming baby from the apartment below.

2. Rather than herding cattle here at BYU, they herd students. Class to class, building to building; it's an awful lot like EFY, only with about 30,000 more people.

3. We don't grow our own produce here, but we do get the young, unmarried-female discount at the local grocery store.

4. As you may have read in one of our previous blog posts, Provo does turn into a valley of animals. Two instances that we have experienced thus far: the BYU-Oklahoma win, and President Monson's visit. Here is an example:

Our friend Karissa after the 14-13 BYU win.

It's happenin' to us too! Provo is makin' us go CRAAAZZY!

5. Our new hero and mentor Richard never fails to mention how monotonous his life was on the farm growing up; get up, milk the cow, scoop the manure, skin the chicken, harvest the vegetables, milk the cow, go to bed. We struggle to get up, check the news feed, run the same, boring, death, kill-me-now route, shower (or not), go to class, check the news feed, go to bed.

Veronica took this.

6. There aren't many tractors, but we see several "just married" cars everyday along our 10min walk to school. Actually, we take that back. A tractor accident once left us stranded in freeway traffic for two long, hot, miserable hours. We listened to "drug talk." You know it's bad when you start to doze off and then hear Taylor O. say, "That's a good point."

The traffic we were stuck in, "Drug Talk" being the entertainment.

7. We don't get to milk cows, but Taylor B. milks the gallon. She finished her 5th gallon tonight. Taylor O. and Veronica are halfway through their second half-gallon.

8. There are no barn-raisings but on any given Monday night, if you walk through the BYU campus there are dozens of FHE groups doing various activities. When you don't like your FHE activity, there is usually another one going on around the block. Taylor B. tested this theory and joined in on a random frisbee game, to see if she could get the frisbee passed to her. It didn't happen, but one guy seriously considered it. There were also random comments during the game like, "Where did she come from?"

Just half of our FHE group pretending to be bowling balls. We're so clever.

9. Again, not many tractors 'round these parts, but we did drive around in a mud-covered jeep with our pal Rico. No, he is not an illegal farm worker. But yes, he is awesome.

10. Have ya'll heard that old song "They're Coming to Take Me Away" by Napoleon's Ghost? Well, that is hopefully what you're listening to right now. The lyrics are self-explainitory.

"They're coming to take me away ha, ha,
to the funny farm, where life is beautiful all the time!" -- Napoleon's Ghost.

we LOVE that---taylor & taylor.

P.S.- Richard, we're sorry we're not going to harvest potatoes with you tomorrow morning.

time flies when you're not having fun.

we are getting sick of running down here.

there is just no where to go.
but we have found that if you run a mile or more away (in any direction) from campus,
there is absolutely no one else running.
the campus joggers just don't venture that far away.
also, we found an orchard.

today, brandon proposed to taylor b.
that makes two of us from #301.

also, our professors are funny.
in taylor b.'s sociology class the professor addressed "culture shock,"
and how he has it every morning he wakes up in provo.

today after our classes we sat at the kitchen table together.
taylor o. had a conversation with herself.
taylor b. got some raw footage.
(it's not the best quality angle, and it missed the best part of the conversation, but still worth it.)
enjoy.

taylor o. talking to herself.

we made stir fry for dinner.
not on purpose, veronica ending up stirring the tofu,
taylor b. stirred the fake chicken,
and taylor o. stirred the vegetables.
we thought that was funny,
and thought it would be funny to take a picture.
so we did.

the funny thing about this picture is this:
when it was about to take taylor o. said,
"show it your food!" and turned her pan up, dumping veggies into the gas stove burner.
oopsaay!!

also, we climbed a cement wall today.

that is all.

"And then you're on your very first date,
and he's got a [motorcycle],
and you're feelin' like flyyyin'."
--- taylor swift.

we love that---taylor & taylor.

cougars don't cut corners.

The prophet showed up on campus today. Brigham Young University manifested its excitement in various ways:

• Some students started a line for seats before 6:00 AM. The devotional started at 11:05.

• Some teachers let out their classes out an hour early.

• Some students just skipped class all together.

• A steady stream of thousands of students flocked toward the Marriott Center all morning. As the anxious students got closer to their destination and as time ran out, the pace steadily increased. When a policeman stopped the crowd to let cars pass, the scene was reminiscent of the starting line of a cross country race. Everyone was crouching in a "starting stance," waiting to sprint across the street, up the stairs, and into the building. One student even went as far as to yell, "C'MON MAN! I'VE GOTTA PROPHET TO SEE!" The policeman proceeded to let one more car through.

• Some students opted to instead take advantage of the class-less hour by taking a nap in the HFAC.

• The Marriott Center holds 22,700 people. Here's the problem though, BYU has over 33,000 students. Oopsy.
  

• We are pretty sure some local, neighborhood families snuck into the Marriot Center. Either that, or more BYU students have children than we thought, which isn't really all that unlikely.

• We enjoyed a wonderful devotional learning about the guiding principles of the prophets' lives. Taylor O.'s Living Prophets teacher asked the class to ponder what is the guiding principle of their lives, but all that seems to be guiding our lives nowadays is homework.
  
  

"Aren't some parents unusual?" --- President Thomas S. Monson.

we love that---taylor & taylor.

coincidence? i think not.

saturday.

-- nights in rondathe is officially the saddest, most depressing movie ever. they fall in love in four days, and then he dies? seriously. could someone explain that. we're never watching that one again. no, that's a total lie, we'll watch it this weekend or something. (sorry for the dishonesty a second ago. you just have to break the honor code sometimes.)

sunday.

-- church was @ 9:25; no, we don't know why it starts then, sorry.
also, we like that half the ward arrives after the sacrament has been passed.
-- taylor o. had to drive back UP (it's up, not down) to salt lake, because her parents were speaking.
-- taylor b. had the awesome opportunity of standing alone to introduce herself and missing roommates. also, everyone in relief society shared what they were majoring in. about 99% of the women were majoring in either elementary education, early child development or exercise science.
-- taylor b. had ally & lisa over for sunday dinner.

green beans, swiss chicken, strawberry spinach salad, mashed potatoes, milk.

-- lisa and taylor b. got engaged, and ally got a divorce, all during one CES devotional @ the marriot center.
-- taylor o. and veronica arrived home safely; they're back DOWN here in provo.
-- the packers defeated the bears in an epic sunday night football showdown. go cheeseheads.

monday.

-- it rained today. we loved it. so much.
-- the BYU campus is gorgeous.
-- we had "tasteful crackers" to keep us awake in environmental science today. we come up with new ideas for every class.
-- also, richard terry, our professor, posed a very thought provoking question: "what would happen if your whole diet was water & carbon-dioxide? you would die." humans just aren't what they used to be.
-- we walked home and knocked out some homework.
-- taylor b. took a 3 hour nap.
-- taylor o. survived a tropical storm in our room.
-- FHE tonight was a treat. our family is hilarious.

also, we miss interacting with people our own age. but the good news is we're becoming more comfortable with ourselves, and our age. in fact, we plan to use our age to our advantage in the near future. when you're looking for an eternal companion, "18" isn't too attractive in these parts.

also, taylor b. has decided to major in political science.

also, nope. that's all.

we finished out the night with a thoughtful discussion about grammar and boys. over facebook.

this is us. 18 (not 17), and proud of it.

"When I was a child growing up on the farm,
my dad told me to scoop the manure." -- Richard Terry.

we love that---taylor & taylor.

really, really, really, short shorts.

Our most recently favorite moments:

-- To pass the time in Environmental Science, we take notes. And then randomly scribble a line to "Kiss Me Thru the Phone" on each others papers. Now we look forward to science class.

-- baebee u kno dat i miss u, i wanna git wit u, tonite but i cant rite now baby gurl and dats the issue, gurl u know i miss you, i just wanna kiss u. but i cant rite now so baby kiss me thru da phone, kiss me thru da phone, c u latar on, latar on. kiss me thru da phone, kiss me thru da phone, c u when i git home, when i git home.

-- Dancin' to "Kiss Me Thru the Phone."

-- Now get this: kissing through the phone.

"baebee i kno dat u like me, u my future wifey, soulja boi tell'em ya." --Soulja Boy Tell 'Em

We don't know why the RMs haven't discovered this pick-up line yet.
Just sayin'.

we love that---taylor & taylor.

6,7,8,triple-9,8,2,1,2.

the dawn of the night.

this one goes out to taylor olson.

she is beautiful, talented and now, legal.
what more could you want?
i say, nothing.
but sorry boys, she is taken, by me.
she is my best friend, and i love her so much.

here she is:

ha ha ha. gotcha!

here is the real one:

isn't she gorgeous?
how can that smile not brighten your day?
thanks for everything tayla. u da best gurrl.

love, taylor b.

p.s. if ya'll didn't notice, her birthday is today, 09/09/09.
and as holly brimhall thoughtfully pointed out, 9+9=18.
she is destined for greatness.

i love that.

negotiating hangers.

The past few days have been so incredible.
Maybe too incredible to blog about.
But in any case, here is what happened:

On friday, we walked to school.
We walk to school everyday,
but we're pretty sure we've never blogged about it.
This is what it looked like:


On friday night we also made our first real separation: french movie, and soccer game.
Taylor B. didn't have her student ID yet,
so she watched the majority of the game from
a green electrical box; until a nice Polynesian boy gave her a free ticket.

Saturday morning we attended the BYU Autumn Classic XC meet.
It was there we met up with many dear friends.
This was just the start of what turned out to be the best weekend ever.

After a successful meet, we had da crew over to our place.
We watched music videos in the hall.
Where else would 10 people watch youtube videos?
Here we all are, happy as ever. Glad to be reunited.

Then we all drove up north. The afternoon consisted of many highlights.
Haircuts, showering, eating, reminiscing, looking at scout jamboree badges,
R & R, and much, much more.

Then we got together with each other and began watching the BYU game.
Ben joined us.
Jenny joined us.
Avery joined us.
Isaac joined us.

The rest of the night went as follows:
1) BYU beat Oklahoma 14-13.
2) We went to our favorite restaurant, Zupas, with our favorite people.
3) Met up with Mandy, the manager, who we are friends with because we go to Zupas so often.
4) Told Mandy about our amazing night. She offered us some FREE fondue to top it off.
5) We enjoyed some free fondue. With Mandy. And our best friends.

Sunday was great.
We came down here to Provo for church, and then drove home.
The rest of the day was relaxing, as it should be.

Monday was just as classic as all the other days.

Now we're back down in P-Town. And we love it.
We made pancakes tonight for dinner.
We burned them, and somehow the condo smelled like salmon for the rest of the night.
Explain that one why don't ya.
Then we did the dishes.
All in all, a pretty good day.

These are our pancakes.

We thought it would be pretty funny to peel off the burnt layer.
So we did.
We basically do whatever we want now.

"Guys. I drove to American Fork today." --- Veronica Olson

we love that---taylor & taylor.

no such thing as a real world.

On this day 18 years ago, Isaac Ashman Hales was brought into the world, and just look at him now. He's legal. All Grown up. We love Isaac and are writing this post as a dedication to him. We want to thank him for his friendship, love, example and support over the past 5 years. This one's for you, buddy!

18 Reasons Why We Love Isaac:

1. Because his idea of a fashionable outfit is plaid shorts from sophomore year with a Davis Track Invitational t-shirt.
2. Because the only place he shops for clothing is Thrift Town.
3. Because he can pull of the $5.00 Choir Tour wanna-be Ray Bans better than anyone we know.
4. Because he is "sick" at the cello.
5. Because he can sing in a creepier voice than any Tim Burton character.
6. Because he didn't go to college in Florida.
7. Because his family doesn't believe in microwaves.
8. Because of the bumper sticker on his van, "SAVE THE BABY HUMANS."
9. Because of his van - "The Millennium Falcon."
10. Because he makes us laugh more than anyone else we know.
11. Because when his hair gets wet, we can spike it and call him "Rex."
12. Because he's the best pool liftin' partner ever.
13. Because he is marrying Taylor Olson.
14. Because he can pull off the speed suit better than any track runner out there.
15. Because his last pair of running shoes had over 1,000 miles on them when they should have had only 200.
16. Because he got a 4 on the AP Statistics test without actually taking the class.
17. Because of all the amazing memories we've shared.
18. Because it is his eighteenth birthday and we love & miss him so much!
    

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISAAC!

friendz 4eva. ;)

"I kind of want a real meal today. Oh. Not that yours aren't real..." ---Taylor B.

we love that (and isaac) ---taylor & taylor.

a tricyle has three wheels.

The Twelve Commandments of College

1) Thou shalt not sleep through thine alarm.

2) Thou shalt not hold hands while on the BYU campus.

3) Thou shalt not go a day without listening to "Who's Got Your Money."

4) Thou shalt not let thy bread go moldy.

5) Thou shalt not let boys distract thee from thy studies.

6) Thou shalt not wear plaid bermuda shorts and old navy flip flops.

7) Thou shalt not let thy computer battery die.

8) Thou shalt not go a day without talking to Bisacc.

9) Thou shalt not go an hour without checking the Facebook news feed.

10) Thou shalt not procrastinate thy reading.

11) Thou shalt not pass up a field-study open house with free rice & beans.

12) Thou shalt not go a day without updating the blog.

"You're just so cool, run your hands through your hair,
Absentmindedly making me want you."---Taylor Swift

(we have the same name as her. did you notice?)
we LOVE that---taylor & taylor.

the freshman fifteen.

BYU is exactly like you think it is.
But with more reading assignments.

"Well. Time to do some laundry." --- Taylor Brin Berhow.

we hate that---taylor & taylor.
(the laundry.)

doesn't everyone have a time machine?

We woke up this morning at 7:00 AM.
That alarm feels like a year ago.
Literally.
It feels like we went to our first class last year.
But it was a good day.
We think.
We don't really remember.
Because we suffer from long term memory loss.
But our printer is all ready to go.
And tomorrow is Thursday.
Followed by Friday, and Saturday, and Sunday.
Oh, and we love Ben & Isaac. And we miss them.
3 dayzzz 2 go.

"Can I have leftovers?"---Brandon.

we love that---taylor & taylor.

i'm a vegetarian.

DAY TWO

- Running.

- Blow dryer displays a fantastic internal fireworks show.

- Hilarious sociology professor, who uses words like "bloody" and "fetcher," continually reminds us that he is biting his tongue, but if he lets something slip, don't report him to the honor code.

- Study/Lunch break:
1) Walk into apartment
2) Take off backpack
3) Turn on A/C
4) Change into pajamas
5) Eat

- Hang out with Brandon.

- Walk with Brandon to class.

- Religion professor says to a girl that walks in, "You're not married yet?" "No. And I'm past my prime in BYU years." "Yeah. Your melons are drying up." [Class laughs, yet they all know it's true.]

- Walk with Brandon to bookstore and get books/folders/highlighters/packets.

- Walk home. With Brandon. We love him.

- Make ourselves at home. Brandon does too.

- Brandon makes an array of awkward comments.

- Visit from Grandparents. They meet Brandon.

- Study, study, study.

- Taylor O. makes delicious dinner.

- Study.

- Visit from Olson parents.

- Blessings.

- Study, and blog.

Great day. All it needed was a little more Brandon.

Hey, Brandon! Text us!

"Apparently good fashion runs in the family."---Brandon Moore
"Thank you."---Grandma Hart

we love that (and brandon)---taylor & taylor

P.S. We need a freakin' picture with you already!!

luv dem rugby boyzz.

First day of school yesterday. We came up with a fun way to make the walk from class to class more enjoyable. We quietly predict whether someone is: A) Single, returned missionary. B) Single, returned sister missionary. C) Engaged/married. We're pretty much able to tell someone's relationship status now, so there is no need for Facebook. Oh, and we saw several other students wearing chacos. That was a relief. Up until yesterday we had seen three pair. Ally, Lisa, and Taylor B.

Also, good news! Family night was a semi-success. Last time, we went in with a good attitude. You know how that turned out. This time we approached things a little differently. Actually, we took a completely opposite direction. Here is just more proof that attitude isn't everything.

NOTE: At first, things might still seem hopeless, but keep reading. This is a story with a happy ending.

1. We walked out of our apartment at 6:29 (FHE started at 6:30) with a 10 min walk ahead of us. Just as we made it down the stairs, two girls offered us a ride there instead.

2. We arrived, and amongst all the hussle and bussle, managed to find a seat on one of the rotted, wooden benches. We sat there, us three, for several minutes in silence. Here is the problem. If you're anyone else besides us, you at least have your roommates to try and get to know, but we know everything about each other already, so we sat in complete silence, perfectly comfortable, the majority of the time. Just picture that with us for a second.

3. Don't get us wrong, we did have some conversation.
"Hi, we haven't met, what are your names?"
"Taylor, Taylor, Veronica."
"Ha ha, two Taylors? That is easy to remember!"
"Ha, yup."
"So what are you guys majoring in?"
"I'm undecided. So am I. I'm majoring in photography."
"Oh! That is so cool! Wait, what year are you guys?"
"Um, freshman. Freshman. I'm a sophomore."
"Well, I'm going to go get another hot dog. See ya."

There were varying forms of this conversation. But you get the idea.

4. After about an hour of this, talk, freshman, see ya, routine we were about ready to give up. But in one last feeble attempt to be social, we grabbed a pink frisbee and threw it back & forth to each other. This is where we met our frisbee friend, Brandon M. D. Moore. (No, he isn't planning on being a doctor, but if he was, his name would be, Brandon M. D. Moore M.D. Can it get any cooler than that? We submit that it cannot!) We met him by accident when Taylor O. threw the frisbee, which bounced off Veronica's hands and into Brandon's back. After that, things just fell right into place.

5. The rest of the story is happy, and we're please to announce that we now have a friend who lives in our ward. Brandon writes songs, sets up printers, and speaks Portuguese. He likes Star Wars, popcorn w/m&ms and long walks on the beach at sunset (ok, we made that last one up, but we wouldn't be surprised if he liked that also.)

Thanks for the great night Brandon! (And thanks for organizing Taylor's mac spaces.)

"I'll dream big tonight. I'll dream of leprechauns and unicorns..."---Brandon M. D. Moore
"That would be dreaming small."---Taylor B.
"Oh, right."---Brandon M.D. Moore.

we love that---taylor & taylor.