howlin'.

If you are from around here then you have probably heard of The Howl, if you have no idea what it is, it is just a giant Halloween party/concert/rave/circus/strip club that Utah State puts on every year. It has acquired quite a rep for being pretty crazy, but to be honest I was a little underwhelmed with it. Yes there were tons of people and lots of craziness, but I didn't feel unsafe or like I was somewhere super sketchy. I didn't even really talk to strange men (but that was probably because of my unattractive costume). Last year for Halloween Caroline and I were cats because cats are my favorite animal and I am completely obsessed, so this year we decided to be her favorite animal which was....a unicorn. I found us these ridiculous hats from Zurchers and they became the center piece of the most magical costume I have ever seen. The rest of our costumes consisted of a feather boa tail, glitter body tattoos, and bright blue eyeliner. Clearly looking "cute" was not our first priority here haha. 

Lots of friends from back home got to come up for The Howl, and it was really fun to party with them again. We spent most of our night with Chelsea and Maddy, which makes any dance party 150% better. They go full out the entire time, which is admirable and inspiring. Also, Rockstar energy drinks sponsored this thing and were handing out free drinks the entire night. This caused for the most intense and embarrassing mental/physical break down ever. So apparently I'm not supposed to combine significant amounts of caffeine with the medication I take, and having two Rockstars definitely showed me why. Long story short, I pretty much passed out, had a tingling body, lost my mind and thought I was going to die. I have never really had an energy drink before and even though mango Rockstars taste so beautiful, they lead to unpleasant feelings. Anyways, these lovely friends of mine carried my to the car and put me in bed and bought me some chicken nuggets. I don't think friendship gets better than that. So thanks ladies for not hating me when I wouldn't shut up about Greg Kinnear and Matthew McConaughey and how hungry I was and how I didn't want my mom to find out. 

Oh and on Friday we went with some friends to Angie's and cleaned the sink! Forget about kissing on the A, I think this officially makes me a true Aggie. Even though we had six people, it was still enough ice cream to make me feel nauseous for 24 hours.  

 So all in all, it was freaking great weekend! Thanks to the nice people in my life who help me have the best nights ever. MY HORN CAN PIERCE THE SKY. (high five if you understood that reference)

masquerade.

My stellar roommate Carly (babe on the left) and her friends threw the most amazing masquerade party ever. It was held in the ballroom at the Blue Bird and there was a live band, an incredible DJ, and lots of super fun people. This night was probably the most fun I have had up at college so far. Although there are a shortage of boys up here at USU, I'm so grateful for my awesome girls who make me so happy and dance weirdly with me in public.

(we may or may not have been on the roof when we weren't supposed to be)

So clearly I wouldn't be representing myself very well if I didn't get a cat mask so....I was a cat. Because I am Emily McKenna.

 Such good roommates and such good friends. How did I get so lucky?

 Never has there been a picture that more accurately describes our relationship.

one year of twins.

So let me just start this post off with a little background story.  Well hello my name is Emily and ever since my sister's wedding day I was waiting and begging for her to get pregnant. Literally every time I saw her I would nag her to start having babies. There was honestly nothing I wanted more than to be an aunt. Well I had to wait like four years for them to finally get pregnant, but it was defiantly worth the wait because they got two little blessings instead of one. I probably cried like everyday of her pregnancy because I was just so happy. I was so creepy and overly obsessed that I would take pictures with her growing belly every time I saw her and wouldn't even want her to be in the picture because I only cared about the babies. (sorry Karli)

example...

The babies were finally born, and we all of course fell completely in love with these little boys. 

Well that was one year ago as of yesterday! The twins are one, and I can't believe it. It has been such an amazing year, and I have loved being an aunt more than anything. If you follow me on Instagram your probably are so sick of all my posts with the babies, but sorry I can't help it. I can't even imagine how obsessed I'm going to be with my own children...watch out social media. Yesterday they had a cute little pool party with some family and friends. While I was in Oregon in July I went to Powell's Books and found some really cool vintage Disney books from the 60's. The artwork is old-fashioned and I loved them, so I got one each for the boys and wrote a little message on the inside. 

I think they liked the books, because they both gave them some sweet kisses. 

fish and monkeys.

Breaking news...Caroline and I are now parents. On Labor Day we bought ourselves a beta fish, and I know all fish owners say their fish is the cutest, but ours really is. He's a light lavender and cranberry color, and he either does a lot of drugs or he's just extremely hyperactive. We named him Judy after our tennis coach, Scott Judy. Coach Judy made Caroline and I doubles partners our Junior year, and that's how we became best friends. We figured the only real way to thank Judy for our friendship was to name a fish after him. So there ya go Scott...hope you feel honored.

On Wednesday I drove down to Salt Lake for the night to go to the Arctic Monkeys concert. Even though I had to drive down there from Logan and then wait in line for four hours, it was so worth it. There's honestly no better feeling than being front row at a concert, feeling the music in your chest, and screaming so loud your throat hurts. If I could spend every night at a concert, I seriously would.  If you've never listened to the Arctic Monkeys before I would suggest you do that, probably start off with Do I Wanna Know? or Fluorescent Adolescent. 

Also, last night was USU's Institute opening social. Can I just say that I already love institute. I loved seminary, but institute is even better. I'm taking a class called Teachings of the Living Prophets, which is pretty much just studying past conference talks. It is really awesome (despite the fact there are only three boys in our class and one of them is married). I love getting the opportunity to learn more about the gospel and feel the spirit with my peers. The opening social was super fun. They had food, games, movies, a dance, and lots of new people! I feel very lucky to be apart of a gospel that creates such a positive and happy environment.

blast from the past.

This Friday was USU's 80's dance. A couple observations from my evening... 

1. No one is capable of dancing these, only moshing. 

2. It is in fact possible to be drenched in sweat but only have 20% of it be your own.

3. The 80's had really good music.  

4. College students don't understand the concept of gravity. (aka countless dropped crowd surfers)

5. Really loud music makes my face jiggle.

It was super crowded, but still super fun. We only stayed an hour or so since you can only be entertained by violent jumping and shoving for so long. Caroline, myself, and two of our friends from high school went to the D.I. beforehand to get some classy 80's apparel, and we found some good stuff. I particularly enjoy Sydney's baby pink fringe vest. It is crocheted and clearly homemade. The fact that someone took the time to create that masterpiece makes me appreciate mankind on a deeper and more emotional level. Anyways, it was a good night with good people, and I feel super lucky to have the amazing friends that I do. 

               

Roommates!

Also yesterday was International Bacon Day...so obviously we celebrated that. 

gettin' in the groove.

Well I have lived away from my mommy and daddy for 10 days now, and I'm surprisingly still alive! It's actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. I always have the habit of getting all worked up and super nervous before big events, but everything always ends up working out just fine. I think I have adjusted pretty well to having to do things for myself now, like cooking and cleaning and grocery shopping. Since I have so much family in Logan with me I haven't really had the chance to feel homesick yet. I really miss my cat though. I even had to FaceTime him like the third day I got here. College is so different from high school, and I love it. There is always something fun going on either in your dorm or somewhere around campus. This week there was a giant slip and slide down Old Main, volleyball tournaments, movies on the quad, lots of free food (which I have a new found appreciation for), and we had a waffle party in our kitchen with lots of friends. We finished our early class- which was so boring and terrible but at least I met some cool people- and then we started our regular classes today. I am taking American Institutions, Creative Arts, Math for Elementary Teachers, and Intelligent Life in the Universe. Hopefully those classes aren't too hard...they seem fine as of the first day haha. I'm sure I will be crying in my piles of homework in a few weeks. I just don't feel smart enough to be taking classes that cost this much money. Anyways, I love my roommates, and we all feel super lucky that we get along so well. We could have been paired with anyone in this whole building, but we were lucky enough to get paired with each other. 

Here is an example of our fancy cookings skills...

First day of school!

So Caroline and I decided to do that thing where you draw someone's face in one continuous line without looking down at what you're drawing and this was the results...

Looks just like us.