Over-Rated

Now...On to the update about life lately. School has been overwhelming. It's hard to believe it's halfway through the semester! My block class (Classroom Management) ends on Tuesday. I'm glad about that. It's been a really fun and interesting class, but that extra two hours on Tuesday evenings will be fantastic! I had a big paper due for that class last Tuesday. I decided late on Monday night that I should start it. Ha! I ended up staying up almost all night working on it. I did get an hour or so of sleep at least... But I think it turned out okay. Overall, it was 24 pages long - a cover sheet, an About the Author page, a Table of Contents, 17 pages of the actual paper, 3 pages of appendices, and one References page. Yikes! It was kind of beast to put together, but I'm finished! Hallelujah!

My other classes are fun, too, but still keep me extremely busy. I am taking two classes that are offered at the same time. That's a bit of a challenge only attending one of them (I have a fantastic friend in the other class who lets me copy her notes so I don't miss too much! Thanks, Cassidy!), but hopefully I'll be able to keep up with it throughout the whole semester... I'm also in a really awesome Church History class. My professor (Susan Easton Black) really knows her stuff. She's quite the engaging speaker, and lectures are never boring. I'm glad for the friends who encouraged me to take her class.

I'm also working as a TA this semester in addition to transcribing for the Calc Research. I teach two lab sections every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. We discuss homework questions, and I administer a quiz every Thursday. It's a really great job - I love it! I look forward to going to the lab sections, and it makes me so happy to have students come in to my office hour to get extra help! :)

Anyway, it's my last real semester of classes! How crazy is that? I've already applied for student teaching next semester, and for graduation in April... I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do after I graduate. I could stay in Utah and teach... I could go to grad school, or on a mission. I could move home and try to get licensed to teach in New York... Who knows? Right now, it's all up in the air. We'll just have to roll with the punches and see how that turns out.

In other news, I'm an aunt again!! Congratulations Matt and Erin on your beautiful daughter! :) Ella Michelle Steele was born on October 2nd, and she's a beautiful baby (from the pictures I've seen). I'm excited to meet her for the first time in December when I fly home for Christmas.

And...other recent happenings:
-Went down to Vegas for William's wedding three weeks ago! I loved seeing family, staying with cousins, and getting out of Provo. Thanks so much, Rachelle, for letting us crash at your place. :) I had a fantastic time!!
-General Conference was sweet. I ended up going up to the Conference Center for Saturday afternoon session with some friends from freshman year: Jeramy, Owen, and Mike. We had a great time! I love spending time with my freshman friends - they're great guys. :)
-This past week, most especially yesterday and today, I've been kind of sick. My stomach's feeling gross, and it's been no fun. I've lost my appetite and my energy. Hopefully things will get better soon! I can't handle feeling like this....Yuck!
-And...I was playing catch with a friend on Thursday afternoon. He threw the ball low, and as I stepped to catch it, it hit me smack in the foot. It hurt real bad, and I kind of rolled my foot awkwardly. I have a big fatty bruise on the side of my foot, and it's still a little sore to walk, but it's getting better. Oh well. It was fun to play catch at least...

Anyway, I've gotta go get ready for tomorrow (Saturday is a special day...) and finish up some homework for Monday. Have a great day! :) I can't promise I'll write soon, but I'll try!

Oh, what do you do in the summertime?

Hey guys! It's been awhile... So life lately has been okay. Summer was tons of fun. Pageant was phenomenal, and it was great to have Sarah and Logan in town for a few weeks. It was definitely weird not to have everyone in the family in cast though... The rest of July and August kind of dragged on. I was anxious to get back to Provo and back into my own apartment.
In the middle of August, mom, Jon, Nic (my cousin), and I left town for Omaha and (eventually) Provo. We drove through the night to Nauvoo, getting there around 4:30 in the morning. We parked in the Stake Center parking lot and got about two hours of sleep in the car. We ended up walking around Old Nauvoo for part of the day, seeing the demonstrations and taking the little tours. It was really interesting, but Jon and Nic were frustrating. We got information about family members who used to live there, then left earlier than planned. We drove straight to Omaha, and it was nice to have a break there. We spent the night with Aunt Janele and their family. The next day, we saw the [tiny!] Winter Quarters Temple, and walked around the visitor's center and the cemetery there. We found (kind of) where one of our relatives is buried. That was a really neat experience. That night, mom, Aunt Janele, and I went out and got Mexican at a place called Hector's (I think?) - Yum! Late that night, we left Omaha and headed to Provo. We figured it would be better to drive through the night and get to Provo midday, and it worked great! Jon got tired after about an hour of driving, so I took over. Mom was completely out in the backseat, and Jon was snoring next to me. I had had a caffeinated soda, and was popping sugar candies in my mouth every 10 minutes, so I was wide awake (ask mom- she thinks I'm hilarious on caffeine...). I cranked the music and sang along, and all was well. Around 3 am, we drove through an awesome thunderstorm! It made me jealous that we don't get them like that in Provo. Anyway...It was great to finally get back to Provo and to my own apartment. I slept so well that night!
Summer ended well. It was great to be back with so many friends, to be able to have mom in Provo for a little bit, and to not have to stress about school for a little while. :)