Guys, I'm finally feeling like I can do this. It's refreshing how much a breath and a step away can really change your perspective on things. [Where, in this case, "breath" refers to Christmas break with NO school, "step away" is a 2,000-mile plane trip to New York, and "things" is whether or not I'm going to fail out of college]...
Sometimes, it's so good to know that your hard work can pay off. I want to remember this feeling come March when I will, undoubtedly, have an unebbing desire to quit school, burn my books, and run away to Iowa or wherever.
18 December 2009
13 December 2009
26 November 2009
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
So tonight, I stayed out next door playing Monopoly with my neighbor and two friends. It was me and three guys, a far-too long board game, a few too many M&M's, and lots of fun. Toward the end, I started losing pretty badly. But, I still had two monopolies, and some cash. I landed on my neighbor's property. I asked him what I owed, and he told me something ridiculous like $1150. I replied, "How about $60...and I'll wiggle my eyebrows at you!" He said okay, and it was awesome. Ha! For the rest of the game, the other two guys were remarking about how they'd like to be able to get away with something like that but K-Money would never allow it. I love being a girl.
Also, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope y'all are celebrating in a totally rockin' way! Thanks to all for being fantastic people. Thank you for being the strong and solid examples that you are. Thank you for the kindness and generosity you have shown to me. Thank you for loving me even when I'm at my worst. Thank you for allowing me to see the light and the love of my Savior Jesus Christ more clearly through your thoughts, words, and actions. Thank you for being you. :) I love you all!
Also, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope y'all are celebrating in a totally rockin' way! Thanks to all for being fantastic people. Thank you for being the strong and solid examples that you are. Thank you for the kindness and generosity you have shown to me. Thank you for loving me even when I'm at my worst. Thank you for allowing me to see the light and the love of my Savior Jesus Christ more clearly through your thoughts, words, and actions. Thank you for being you. :) I love you all!
22 November 2009
Because it's the little things...
Sometimes, it's just the little fantastic things that make my world go round. Here's one for the books:
Yesterday morning, I was putting on my shoes - my old and ratty manly shoes that I love so dearly. They were hand-me-downs from my little brother (hand-me-ups, then?) 4 and a half years ago, and they are certainly well-worn - and I thought to myself, "I really need new shoelaces. These ones are about to die... I'll have to remember to put that on my shopping list at some point or something..."
Fast forward to 11 o'clock last night. Melissa and I had to make a last-minute Saturday night WalMart run. When I parked, I noticed some small plastic bag with something black in it by my back tire. I didn't think anything of it - thought it was just a piece of trash or something... Fast forward again to when we were finished shopping. We come out and I was loading the stuff in the back of my car, when I again noticed the little bag. For some reason I can't explain, I bent down and picked it up (who picks up trash in a WalMart parking lot at midnight??!)... Guess what it was? A brand spankin' new pair of black shoelaces. I kid you not. My life is way more than average...
Yesterday morning, I was putting on my shoes - my old and ratty manly shoes that I love so dearly. They were hand-me-downs from my little brother (hand-me-ups, then?) 4 and a half years ago, and they are certainly well-worn - and I thought to myself, "I really need new shoelaces. These ones are about to die... I'll have to remember to put that on my shopping list at some point or something..."
Fast forward to 11 o'clock last night. Melissa and I had to make a last-minute Saturday night WalMart run. When I parked, I noticed some small plastic bag with something black in it by my back tire. I didn't think anything of it - thought it was just a piece of trash or something... Fast forward again to when we were finished shopping. We come out and I was loading the stuff in the back of my car, when I again noticed the little bag. For some reason I can't explain, I bent down and picked it up (who picks up trash in a WalMart parking lot at midnight??!)... Guess what it was? A brand spankin' new pair of black shoelaces. I kid you not. My life is way more than average...
09 November 2009
This is my brain on caffeine...
I am supposed to be working on approximately 17.35 million things right now, none of which include updating my blog. So, naturally, that is what I'm doing... [And on caffeine to boot! Oops...] I'm putting up a bunch of pictures. And they are amazing. And they detail aspects of my life recently... Or, not so recently. Whatever. And they're all terribly out of order and random and crazy - but that's my life for ya! :)
On a completely unrelated note, and before I start in on the pictures, I'd liked to just state for the record that my new favorite thing is the bump in the middle of University Avenue as you're crossing it on Bulldog. While it's rare for me to catch the bump when I'm running late to school or when I'm coming home, because of traffic (you have to hit it going strong to make it the funnest, you can't have been stopped at the light), I'll catch it good when I'm going to campus in the wee small hours of the morning... And I love it. It's rather like a small roller coaster. And this evening I maybe even raised my hands in the air and let out a little holler as I went over it. I'm cool like that.
Tonight for FHE we played Ultimate Frisbee in the church parking lot. I'm an FHE mom again this semester. Have I told you that? It's pretty much super fun. I got a new husband yesterday, and we met for the first time tonight. Sweet. And don't even worry about how I made several of the scoring catches for our team. It was a good night, and I'm happy about the little things that can make life a little more bearable.
Anyway... Pictures! Keep in mind that these all come from my cell phone. Awesome.
Here's one of my favorite oldest younger brother, who is leaving on his mission (Brazil Porto Alegre North) soon! I can hardly believe it! This was taken last Christmastime. He's wearing his helmet, so we don't need to worry. This picture makes me giggle every single time I see it.
And...oh, here's a picture of the shadow that our front door makes on the wall sometimes. Isn't that kind of creepy and awesome? It's left over from pre-Halloween shenanigans. Heh heh heh...
Oh! My fantastic roommates and neighbors and I went to dinner on Friday night at Pirate Island. They had a [cute-as-all-get-out] balloon guy there, and he made me this monkey. Pretty sweet, eh?
This is what happens when your neighbors leave their door unlocked while they're out... Yes, that is their coffee table, in our living room, and, yes, that's broken glass. Ha! I hate it when pranks come back to bite you in the butt. But apparently they didn't like the table anyway...so we really did them a favor...
Oh, more Halloween shenanigans. It's not real blood, I promise. But it is really my handprint. Meliss and I are so tricksy.
Another bit of the fake blood. And my handprints. Yum!
Oh, and there's me. This was taken at some obscene hour of the morning. Doesn't the 'blood' look real? I love it.
Here's my neighbor, Seth, at the ward Halloween party. He dressed up as a Ghostbuster. He had his backpack all decked out, and his laptop was in it... He'd attached the mouse to the vacuum hose (of his terribly attractive and rather fantastic and lovely babe-neighbors), and set up a fancy schmancy little powerpoint so that it played different sounds when he left-clicked and right-clicked. So, you know, he could aim his little sensor-thingy-majig at us and see if we were safe or not. Solid.
Here is my fantastic roommate, Beck.br. She decorated this cutie-patootie little jack-o-lantern cookie. Also solid.
This is what I sometimes do in Maple when I'm bored with doing my Algebra exploration on the factorability of (a^n-b^n). The expression maybe matches my feelings at the time...
This picture is of me and my neighbor, Kevin, when we went to go see his roommate, Daniel, in Jekyll and Hyde (Or...Hekyll and Jyde, if you're Beck.br) up in Lehi. It was an awesome performance, and we had a rockin' time. We also had seats in the front and center. Be jealous.
Another shot of our Jekyll and Hyde night. Please believe me when I tell you that I have some of the greatest roommates everrrr.
Point proven.
Here's a shot of our melting pumpkin just days before Halloween. He almost made it the whole time. But he was pretty soggy and leaking a bit by the time we had to dispose of him...
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I love Andrew. This is his sporting his true colors. At Corner Pocket, no less. Which, you know, may or may not be my favorite guys' apartment ever.
And...let's see. Here's a picture of the mountains. Which I love. This is my favorite time of evening, during one of my favorite times of year for the colors on the mountains. [Though, snowy season is coming up, which means it's almost time for one of my favorite games: Find the Y! I'm so good at that game it's not even funny...].
Rainbow! Outside our apartment. There were some pretty fantastic rainbows during late summer and early fall this year.
Our cute little pumpkin before he melted into oblivion.
And...my artistry with the pumpkin guts. My favorite is the nest. I'm pretty sure that's all I ever used to build with play-dough, too. I just really love the motion my thumb makes when sort of hollowing out the inside of the nest. Plus, when you've got pumpkin seeds for eggs, you can't go wrong.
Me and Nate. Again, L-O-V-E the Corner Pocket boys.
My fantastic and studly former home teacher. And the Corner Pocket tire swing in the background.
Yeah. That's me.
Yeah, that's also me. More of a true-colors me though. :) Don'tcha love it?
Ha! Andrew again. He makes me laugh.
Check this out. It's a Program spotlight for Response [the service program I work with]. See those three little pictures at the bottom? The ones that say Program Directors of the Month? Well, those are pictures of the super amazing David Gelder and Steven Gale, along with me [a picture of me posing next to a picture of me? Fantastic.]. Remember how this is in the Wilk, right by the ballroom? And remember how it's been up there since April? I'm pretty much famous at BYU right now is all I'm tryin' to say...
This is Kristina. She is one of the other program directors for Response. This is on our Fall retreat, and getting very few hours of sleep at Springhaven. Haha. She's so great!
I love my roommate.
Kaylee! I love my niece. This was taken a few days after she was born.
Sacred Grove. Have I posted this picture before? Maybe. But that's okay. It's one of my favorites.
Also one of my favorites: me with my cousin, Reagan. Yeah, that awesome open-mouth smile runs in the family.
I don't know why I'm still awake... This is bad news. I need to get back to preparing my lessons for tomorrow morning and writing my papers and get some sleep. Peace!
On a completely unrelated note, and before I start in on the pictures, I'd liked to just state for the record that my new favorite thing is the bump in the middle of University Avenue as you're crossing it on Bulldog. While it's rare for me to catch the bump when I'm running late to school or when I'm coming home, because of traffic (you have to hit it going strong to make it the funnest, you can't have been stopped at the light), I'll catch it good when I'm going to campus in the wee small hours of the morning... And I love it. It's rather like a small roller coaster. And this evening I maybe even raised my hands in the air and let out a little holler as I went over it. I'm cool like that.
Tonight for FHE we played Ultimate Frisbee in the church parking lot. I'm an FHE mom again this semester. Have I told you that? It's pretty much super fun. I got a new husband yesterday, and we met for the first time tonight. Sweet. And don't even worry about how I made several of the scoring catches for our team. It was a good night, and I'm happy about the little things that can make life a little more bearable.
Anyway... Pictures! Keep in mind that these all come from my cell phone. Awesome.
Here's one of my favorite oldest younger brother, who is leaving on his mission (Brazil Porto Alegre North) soon! I can hardly believe it! This was taken last Christmastime. He's wearing his helmet, so we don't need to worry. This picture makes me giggle every single time I see it.
And...oh, here's a picture of the shadow that our front door makes on the wall sometimes. Isn't that kind of creepy and awesome? It's left over from pre-Halloween shenanigans. Heh heh heh...
Oh! My fantastic roommates and neighbors and I went to dinner on Friday night at Pirate Island. They had a [cute-as-all-get-out] balloon guy there, and he made me this monkey. Pretty sweet, eh?
This is what happens when your neighbors leave their door unlocked while they're out... Yes, that is their coffee table, in our living room, and, yes, that's broken glass. Ha! I hate it when pranks come back to bite you in the butt. But apparently they didn't like the table anyway...so we really did them a favor...
Oh, more Halloween shenanigans. It's not real blood, I promise. But it is really my handprint. Meliss and I are so tricksy.
Another bit of the fake blood. And my handprints. Yum!
Oh, and there's me. This was taken at some obscene hour of the morning. Doesn't the 'blood' look real? I love it.
Here's my neighbor, Seth, at the ward Halloween party. He dressed up as a Ghostbuster. He had his backpack all decked out, and his laptop was in it... He'd attached the mouse to the vacuum hose (of his terribly attractive and rather fantastic and lovely babe-neighbors), and set up a fancy schmancy little powerpoint so that it played different sounds when he left-clicked and right-clicked. So, you know, he could aim his little sensor-thingy-majig at us and see if we were safe or not. Solid.
Here is my fantastic roommate, Beck.br. She decorated this cutie-patootie little jack-o-lantern cookie. Also solid.
This is what I sometimes do in Maple when I'm bored with doing my Algebra exploration on the factorability of (a^n-b^n). The expression maybe matches my feelings at the time...
This picture is of me and my neighbor, Kevin, when we went to go see his roommate, Daniel, in Jekyll and Hyde (Or...Hekyll and Jyde, if you're Beck.br) up in Lehi. It was an awesome performance, and we had a rockin' time. We also had seats in the front and center. Be jealous.
Another shot of our Jekyll and Hyde night. Please believe me when I tell you that I have some of the greatest roommates everrrr.
Point proven.
Here's a shot of our melting pumpkin just days before Halloween. He almost made it the whole time. But he was pretty soggy and leaking a bit by the time we had to dispose of him...
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I love Andrew. This is his sporting his true colors. At Corner Pocket, no less. Which, you know, may or may not be my favorite guys' apartment ever.
And...let's see. Here's a picture of the mountains. Which I love. This is my favorite time of evening, during one of my favorite times of year for the colors on the mountains. [Though, snowy season is coming up, which means it's almost time for one of my favorite games: Find the Y! I'm so good at that game it's not even funny...].
Rainbow! Outside our apartment. There were some pretty fantastic rainbows during late summer and early fall this year.
Our cute little pumpkin before he melted into oblivion.
And...my artistry with the pumpkin guts. My favorite is the nest. I'm pretty sure that's all I ever used to build with play-dough, too. I just really love the motion my thumb makes when sort of hollowing out the inside of the nest. Plus, when you've got pumpkin seeds for eggs, you can't go wrong.
Me and Nate. Again, L-O-V-E the Corner Pocket boys.
My fantastic and studly former home teacher. And the Corner Pocket tire swing in the background.
Yeah. That's me.
Yeah, that's also me. More of a true-colors me though. :) Don'tcha love it?
Ha! Andrew again. He makes me laugh.
Check this out. It's a Program spotlight for Response [the service program I work with]. See those three little pictures at the bottom? The ones that say Program Directors of the Month? Well, those are pictures of the super amazing David Gelder and Steven Gale, along with me [a picture of me posing next to a picture of me? Fantastic.]. Remember how this is in the Wilk, right by the ballroom? And remember how it's been up there since April? I'm pretty much famous at BYU right now is all I'm tryin' to say...
This is Kristina. She is one of the other program directors for Response. This is on our Fall retreat, and getting very few hours of sleep at Springhaven. Haha. She's so great!
I love my roommate.
Kaylee! I love my niece. This was taken a few days after she was born.
Sacred Grove. Have I posted this picture before? Maybe. But that's okay. It's one of my favorites.
Also one of my favorites: me with my cousin, Reagan. Yeah, that awesome open-mouth smile runs in the family.
I don't know why I'm still awake... This is bad news. I need to get back to preparing my lessons for tomorrow morning and writing my papers and get some sleep. Peace!
26 October 2009
01 September 2009
Guys. I had a dream last night that I went to class today and had an emotional breakdown in front of everyone. So I left for 15 minutes to compose myself. On my way back to the classroom, after I had cried my eyes out, I found a free 64-count box of Crayola crayons. I pretty much thought it was the best thing ever.
I also had a dream that I was watching the Northern Lights, and they were pretty sweet. And another dream that Owen wrote me a $70 check on which the memo line read, "Tuna fish."
I'm blaming it all on the caffeine. That stuff is bad news.
I also had a dream that I was watching the Northern Lights, and they were pretty sweet. And another dream that Owen wrote me a $70 check on which the memo line read, "Tuna fish."
I'm blaming it all on the caffeine. That stuff is bad news.
07 August 2009
Life has been great lately.
Pageant was absolutely one of my favorite things this summer. I love my family and I love the Hill Cumorah and I love sharing the gospel. :)
I get to go to Vegas in two weeks to pick up two of my very favoritest sisters ever! And I get to play with my cousins for the brief time that I'm there! I LOVE my family!
I also want to roadtrip to Oregon at some point. I probably won't be able to make it happen until February or March, at the earliest, but I think it would be so fun! Hmm...Maybe President's Day weekend? That would be awesome. Anyone who wants to join me is totally welcome!
And...I've had Cliffs of Dover stuck in my head for the past two days. I'm blaming my [total babe of a] boyfriend for leaving his Wii/Guitar Hero at my apartment.
I promise I'll provide a more detailed update soon. With pictures! And fun stories about rodeos and birthday cakes and Chuck E. Cheese!!
Pageant was absolutely one of my favorite things this summer. I love my family and I love the Hill Cumorah and I love sharing the gospel. :)
I get to go to Vegas in two weeks to pick up two of my very favoritest sisters ever! And I get to play with my cousins for the brief time that I'm there! I LOVE my family!
I also want to roadtrip to Oregon at some point. I probably won't be able to make it happen until February or March, at the earliest, but I think it would be so fun! Hmm...Maybe President's Day weekend? That would be awesome. Anyone who wants to join me is totally welcome!
And...I've had Cliffs of Dover stuck in my head for the past two days. I'm blaming my [total babe of a] boyfriend for leaving his Wii/Guitar Hero at my apartment.
I promise I'll provide a more detailed update soon. With pictures! And fun stories about rodeos and birthday cakes and Chuck E. Cheese!!
02 July 2009
I'm back home! My flights on Tuesday were great, and I made it home in one piece.
Yesterday, I went on a bike ride with Madison. We stopped at the post office, then swung over to grandma's house to visit with grandma, grandpa, Erin, and Ella. My niece is so beasty cute:
While there, we decided to go on a walk while the weather was still nice.
On the way home, we stopped by the High School so I could get a picture. Haha...
And then, halfway home, it started POURING rain and thundering and lightning. It was awesome! I got soaked:
Pageant starts tomorrow! Yeehaw! :)
Yesterday, I went on a bike ride with Madison. We stopped at the post office, then swung over to grandma's house to visit with grandma, grandpa, Erin, and Ella. My niece is so beasty cute:
While there, we decided to go on a walk while the weather was still nice.
On the way home, we stopped by the High School so I could get a picture. Haha...
And then, halfway home, it started POURING rain and thundering and lightning. It was awesome! I got soaked:
Pageant starts tomorrow! Yeehaw! :)
30 June 2009
Sometimes...
Sometimes I'm awesome. Like when I fit everything I need for a 3-week vacation home in a carry-on bag. With room to spare.
Ooh, that just makes me feel real good.
Ooh, that just makes me feel real good.
24 June 2009
11 June 2009
Things, and stuff...
So, I got an email yesterday informing me that some spots had opened for Summer NSO (to be a Y-Group Leader). I'm excited because, A) I love freshman, B) free t-shirt!, and C) when I applied, I was originally waitlisted for Summer NSO and I have my own orientation at the end of August so I wouldn't have been able to do Fall NSO, so I thought I was out of luck. But the stars aligned and my prayers were answered and I get to be a Y-Group Leader at the end of next week! Hooray!
Also, this Saturday I'm volunteering with the Utah Valley Marathon. You know what that means? Another free t-shirt! Ha! :) And, you know, tons of fun and waking up WAY too early on Saturday morning...
This afternoon, Melissa and I drove up to Lehi to pick up tickets for the Lehi Round-Up Rodeo! We're going on the 25th of June, and I can't wait! We went two years ago, and it was so much fun. I can only imagine how awesome it will be this year...
And, lastly, I got an email this afternoon with my teaching assignment for this fall. I will be a TA for 3 sections of Math 112 (Calculus 1). Yikes! I haven't taken that class in 4 years... I will definitely have to brush up on my skillz, but I'm super excited! Have I mentioned that I love math?! I know...I'm weird. Whatev.
[19 days until I'm home!! Yay!]
Also, this Saturday I'm volunteering with the Utah Valley Marathon. You know what that means? Another free t-shirt! Ha! :) And, you know, tons of fun and waking up WAY too early on Saturday morning...
This afternoon, Melissa and I drove up to Lehi to pick up tickets for the Lehi Round-Up Rodeo! We're going on the 25th of June, and I can't wait! We went two years ago, and it was so much fun. I can only imagine how awesome it will be this year...
And, lastly, I got an email this afternoon with my teaching assignment for this fall. I will be a TA for 3 sections of Math 112 (Calculus 1). Yikes! I haven't taken that class in 4 years... I will definitely have to brush up on my skillz, but I'm super excited! Have I mentioned that I love math?! I know...I'm weird. Whatev.
[19 days until I'm home!! Yay!]
09 June 2009
What's Up, Doc?
In 3 weeks I'll be on one of these:
On my way to see these people:
And get in on a little of this action:
I'm pretty much way excited! :) I haven't been able to stop smiling all day!! Also, this weekend, I'm going to see this [and I'm rather excited about it, too... ;)]:
On my way to see these people:
And get in on a little of this action:
I'm pretty much way excited! :) I haven't been able to stop smiling all day!! Also, this weekend, I'm going to see this [and I'm rather excited about it, too... ;)]:
18 May 2009
Updates
Hey all! It's been awhile... A lot has happened since I last wrote. First off, it snowed during reading days. Haha. This picture is just the aftermath - it was a lot worse at about 3 am. I only know because I may have been at Zac and Sarah's playing Tetris until that obscene hour of the morning. :) Because, you know, that's what college graduates do...
I also had my 22nd birthday! It was a LOT of fun. The day was beautiful, church was great, and we had a rockin' celebration that evening. Many of my friends came which was AWESOME. Thanks all! The guys made a yummy homemade German chocolate cake, AND they somehow managed to get a copy of Savannah Smiles for me! I hadn't seen that movie in so long, so we popped it in and had a great time watching it. Love you guys! :)
And...I graduated!! [Everything is officially official now - I got my diploma in the mail today!] It was a BEAUTIFUL day, and we were able to get some awesome pictures. We heard from Elder Nelson and President Uchtdorf. Sarah and I had to stifle our laughter during commencement as we watched a graduate in front of us struggle [in vain] to stay awake...When he finally conked out, his tassel was hanging over his lips and he was, like, eating it. Ha! Anyway, it was great to have family in town for graduation and catch up with everyone [Thanks mom and grandma and Aunt Karen and Uncle Art and Bev and Sheila and everyone else... I love you all! :)].
Now that it's spring and beautiful, I love spending time outside. I'm working as a research assistant on campus, preparing for the research I'll continue this fall as a grad student. I'm doing a lot of reading and thinking and drafting different documents. It's really quite interesting and fun stuff. :) In my free time I'm doing a lot of reading and playing and rocking out. I love Provo in the summer months - everything is so much more relaxed!
I'm planning on roadtripping home and back in the beginning of July. Hopefully things will work out with that. Elizabeth has expressed interest in coming along, too, which will be a lot of fun. I want to see Pageant while I'm back home, then stop in Kirtland and Nauvoo on the way back. Hopefully I can catch a night of the Nauvoo: City of Joseph Pageant, too.
Anyway, I'll try to keep y'all updated on any fun happenings in my life... Peace!
I also had my 22nd birthday! It was a LOT of fun. The day was beautiful, church was great, and we had a rockin' celebration that evening. Many of my friends came which was AWESOME. Thanks all! The guys made a yummy homemade German chocolate cake, AND they somehow managed to get a copy of Savannah Smiles for me! I hadn't seen that movie in so long, so we popped it in and had a great time watching it. Love you guys! :)
And...I graduated!! [Everything is officially official now - I got my diploma in the mail today!] It was a BEAUTIFUL day, and we were able to get some awesome pictures. We heard from Elder Nelson and President Uchtdorf. Sarah and I had to stifle our laughter during commencement as we watched a graduate in front of us struggle [in vain] to stay awake...When he finally conked out, his tassel was hanging over his lips and he was, like, eating it. Ha! Anyway, it was great to have family in town for graduation and catch up with everyone [Thanks mom and grandma and Aunt Karen and Uncle Art and Bev and Sheila and everyone else... I love you all! :)].
Now that it's spring and beautiful, I love spending time outside. I'm working as a research assistant on campus, preparing for the research I'll continue this fall as a grad student. I'm doing a lot of reading and thinking and drafting different documents. It's really quite interesting and fun stuff. :) In my free time I'm doing a lot of reading and playing and rocking out. I love Provo in the summer months - everything is so much more relaxed!
I'm planning on roadtripping home and back in the beginning of July. Hopefully things will work out with that. Elizabeth has expressed interest in coming along, too, which will be a lot of fun. I want to see Pageant while I'm back home, then stop in Kirtland and Nauvoo on the way back. Hopefully I can catch a night of the Nauvoo: City of Joseph Pageant, too.Anyway, I'll try to keep y'all updated on any fun happenings in my life... Peace!
12 April 2009
Reflection
HAPPY EASTER, EVERYONE! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Mathieu! [You're a whole quarter of a century old - Yikes!] I have had a pretty amazing week. And my weekend has only been the cherry on top of the cake!
General Conference last weekend was amazing! Elizabeth and I had the awesome opportunity of going up and being in the Conference Center for the Sunday morning session. AND, I accidentally got rockstar parking underneath the Church Office Building right across the street from the Conference Center. I love General Conference - I feel so blessed to be a member of this wonderful Church, to be able to feel of my Heavenly Father's love for me, and to hear the message of hope that the Gospel brings. :)
On Monday evening, we played Mad Gab for FHE. That game is so fun, and we were all cracking up by the end.
On Tuesday and Friday, my teacher was out of the classroom all day [Tuesday she was away at a conference; Friday she was called, right as first period was starting, to be an emergency sub for the Spanish teacher], so I got to teach every period except 2nd and 3rd, when Tara taught. It was a lot of fun! I really do love teaching!
Tuesday evening, I got to go help move a friend, Mary, into a new apartment. A few other members of Response [the service program I volunteer with] were there, and I brought my friend Spencer along to help out, too. It was really a lot of fun! I really do enjoy getting out into the Provo community and remembering that there's a world out there other than campus. Ha!
Wednesday was a long day, but still pretty awesome. I stayed up really late Tuesday evening [read: 4 am] finishing what turned out to be a 37-page Teacher Work Sample. Needless to say, I grabbed a Dr. Pepper for breakfast that morning. BUT, I got to turn in the TWS right after school, and I went to an accreditation meeting for the Teacher Education programs at BYU, and I stopped by to see Mike at the library, and I went to a first-year teacher information meeting, and it was just a generally great productive day!
I don't remember much of Thursday. I vaguely remember having a headache from exhaustion. But I'm sure it was a great day. :) OH, I picked up Sarah from class that evening and went to her place to play with Logan while she helped me finish my taxes. That's right. Thanks Sarah! I love you!! :)
On Friday evening, I went to the BYU Combined Choirs and Philharmonic Orchestra concert with Mike and Joel. Umm...It was AWESOME! Every piece they performed was phenomenal, and I was blown away. AND, Elder Oaks was there. AND, we stayed afterward waiting for Mike's sister, Alison, to get out and ended up being there when Elder Oaks left. AND, we got to shake his hand [Joel actually hugged him :)]. It was pretty awesome. That night, I got to ride in Pearl [Mike's car] for the first time, and I got to stay up talking to Mike and Owen for a good long while. I love those boys. :)
Yesterday, we had a Response reflection meeting at my place. We got to watch a sweet slideshow of some of the service projects we did this year. And then David, Andrew, Melissa (a neighbor) and I all went and volunteered at a Princess Party! It was so much fun - we got to dress up and address each other as Prince and Princess and everything. One of the little girls there asked David if he was a real prince. He said he was, and asked her if she was a real princess. She thought for a second and said, "Well, yes. I am a real princess, but in real life I actually don't live in royalty." It was cute. When David left, she asked me if I was a real princess. Of course I said yes!
Last night I got to go shopping with Wiz, and then I read part of a book called Princess Academy [what else? Ha!]. Then I got to sleep nice and early, and had a great night's rest!
Today was awesome, as well. Church was great - Our bishop was able to stand up and talk to us in Sacrament meeting and in Relief Society. I really appreciate his inspired words and his leadership in our ward.
This afternoon, we went over to Zac and Sarah's place for a great Easter dinner! It was so nice to spend time with family, and to see Logan, and to eat Sarah's delicious food.
This evening, I went over to Tara's place and we made and frosted math-shaped sugar cookies. Seriously. We made pi and i and e and integral signs and radical signs and division signs and numbers and geometric shapes... We went all out, and it was awesome. I'm pretty proud of my nerdiness. :)
And...now, here are some pictures. These all came off my phone, so the quality is a little off, but they're still fun!
This is one of Melissa, my spectacular roommate. :) We have great times together.
This one is just for you, Owen! There is now an awesome picture of you on my blog! And, hey, you even took it yourself when we went for a ride in LaRhonda (my Honda).
Here's the Sacred Grove! This picture was the background on my phone for quite awhile. And it probably will be again soon. :)
Salt Lake Temple! Where mommy and daddy got married! Yay!
This is Elizabeth and Rinaldo in the library. We won Rinaldo at a dance on campus, then went to pick up Mike from work in the library - we had to sweet talk our way through security in order to get Rinaldo safely to the circulation desk... [And good thing we had Rinaldo to distract the security guards so they didn't see the gelatto that we snuck in for Mikey-poo].
Lastly, here's a picture of me at last year's Festival of Colors at the Hare Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork. Interesting tradition. I thought it was fun, but way too crowded.
General Conference last weekend was amazing! Elizabeth and I had the awesome opportunity of going up and being in the Conference Center for the Sunday morning session. AND, I accidentally got rockstar parking underneath the Church Office Building right across the street from the Conference Center. I love General Conference - I feel so blessed to be a member of this wonderful Church, to be able to feel of my Heavenly Father's love for me, and to hear the message of hope that the Gospel brings. :)
On Monday evening, we played Mad Gab for FHE. That game is so fun, and we were all cracking up by the end.
On Tuesday and Friday, my teacher was out of the classroom all day [Tuesday she was away at a conference; Friday she was called, right as first period was starting, to be an emergency sub for the Spanish teacher], so I got to teach every period except 2nd and 3rd, when Tara taught. It was a lot of fun! I really do love teaching!
Tuesday evening, I got to go help move a friend, Mary, into a new apartment. A few other members of Response [the service program I volunteer with] were there, and I brought my friend Spencer along to help out, too. It was really a lot of fun! I really do enjoy getting out into the Provo community and remembering that there's a world out there other than campus. Ha!
Wednesday was a long day, but still pretty awesome. I stayed up really late Tuesday evening [read: 4 am] finishing what turned out to be a 37-page Teacher Work Sample. Needless to say, I grabbed a Dr. Pepper for breakfast that morning. BUT, I got to turn in the TWS right after school, and I went to an accreditation meeting for the Teacher Education programs at BYU, and I stopped by to see Mike at the library, and I went to a first-year teacher information meeting, and it was just a generally great productive day!
I don't remember much of Thursday. I vaguely remember having a headache from exhaustion. But I'm sure it was a great day. :) OH, I picked up Sarah from class that evening and went to her place to play with Logan while she helped me finish my taxes. That's right. Thanks Sarah! I love you!! :)
On Friday evening, I went to the BYU Combined Choirs and Philharmonic Orchestra concert with Mike and Joel. Umm...It was AWESOME! Every piece they performed was phenomenal, and I was blown away. AND, Elder Oaks was there. AND, we stayed afterward waiting for Mike's sister, Alison, to get out and ended up being there when Elder Oaks left. AND, we got to shake his hand [Joel actually hugged him :)]. It was pretty awesome. That night, I got to ride in Pearl [Mike's car] for the first time, and I got to stay up talking to Mike and Owen for a good long while. I love those boys. :)
Yesterday, we had a Response reflection meeting at my place. We got to watch a sweet slideshow of some of the service projects we did this year. And then David, Andrew, Melissa (a neighbor) and I all went and volunteered at a Princess Party! It was so much fun - we got to dress up and address each other as Prince and Princess and everything. One of the little girls there asked David if he was a real prince. He said he was, and asked her if she was a real princess. She thought for a second and said, "Well, yes. I am a real princess, but in real life I actually don't live in royalty." It was cute. When David left, she asked me if I was a real princess. Of course I said yes!
Last night I got to go shopping with Wiz, and then I read part of a book called Princess Academy [what else? Ha!]. Then I got to sleep nice and early, and had a great night's rest!
Today was awesome, as well. Church was great - Our bishop was able to stand up and talk to us in Sacrament meeting and in Relief Society. I really appreciate his inspired words and his leadership in our ward.
This afternoon, we went over to Zac and Sarah's place for a great Easter dinner! It was so nice to spend time with family, and to see Logan, and to eat Sarah's delicious food.
This evening, I went over to Tara's place and we made and frosted math-shaped sugar cookies. Seriously. We made pi and i and e and integral signs and radical signs and division signs and numbers and geometric shapes... We went all out, and it was awesome. I'm pretty proud of my nerdiness. :)
And...now, here are some pictures. These all came off my phone, so the quality is a little off, but they're still fun!
This is one of Melissa, my spectacular roommate. :) We have great times together.
This one is just for you, Owen! There is now an awesome picture of you on my blog! And, hey, you even took it yourself when we went for a ride in LaRhonda (my Honda).
Here's the Sacred Grove! This picture was the background on my phone for quite awhile. And it probably will be again soon. :)
Salt Lake Temple! Where mommy and daddy got married! Yay!
This is Elizabeth and Rinaldo in the library. We won Rinaldo at a dance on campus, then went to pick up Mike from work in the library - we had to sweet talk our way through security in order to get Rinaldo safely to the circulation desk... [And good thing we had Rinaldo to distract the security guards so they didn't see the gelatto that we snuck in for Mikey-poo].
Lastly, here's a picture of me at last year's Festival of Colors at the Hare Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork. Interesting tradition. I thought it was fun, but way too crowded.
01 April 2009
Happy April!
It's finally April! I love this month!! I graduate this month, and it's my birthday this month, and it all starts off with April Fool's Day [which can be one of the FUNNEST holidays!].
One of my students walked into class this morning and exclaimed, "Oh, I hate this class!" He then got a huge grin on his face and looked at me and said, "April fools!" Haha. He's quite the character. That pretty much made my day. :)
As for what else is new and exciting in my life... I have only 9.5 class days left of school. Yikes! I'm excited to be done, and I'm surprised by how fast this semester has gone. I'll miss my students when it's all over, though. Student teaching has been a phenomenal experience! [PS- I'm writing this during 5th period, when my cooperating teacher has a different class in the computer lab. So I'm just chilling in the classroom getting some grading and some planning done...In the past 10 minutes, two of my students have come into the room to say "Hi Miss Steele!!" It's great!]
Yesterday was my roommate Becky's birthday! We had a fun celebration last night with cake and ice cream. All the sugar must have gotten to us, because we were laughing like crazy all night! It was lots of fun, but ended up being bad for my goal to get [close to] 8 hours of sleep every night this week. I was doing so well, too, until last night! Sunday and Monday night I was in bed with the lights out by 9:30. Last night, however, we were up laughing and giggling [and singing and dancing and joking and jumping and playing...] until well after 11:30. Oops. :)
Tonight I am going to campus to see Arthur Benjamin, also known as the "Mathemagician." Apparently, he does crazy calculations really super fast in his head. I watched a part of a video on YouTube, and it's awesome! It should be really interesting and fun - I'm excited.
General Conference is this weekend. Wizzer nabbed some tickets for the Sunday morning session, so we'll be going up for that. I LOVE actually being in the Conference center for Conference - this is going to ROCK!
Weeeeeeell, I'd better go finish making the key for the Geometry test. Hope all y'all are having a great April Fool's Day! [And a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my cousin Kate!! :)]
Oh, and PS, the Hershey's company and I are currently fighting because they made the poor decision to use the best color wrapper [pink] for their worst chocolate bar [Krackel] in their little Spring chocolate assortments. Boo!
One of my students walked into class this morning and exclaimed, "Oh, I hate this class!" He then got a huge grin on his face and looked at me and said, "April fools!" Haha. He's quite the character. That pretty much made my day. :)
As for what else is new and exciting in my life... I have only 9.5 class days left of school. Yikes! I'm excited to be done, and I'm surprised by how fast this semester has gone. I'll miss my students when it's all over, though. Student teaching has been a phenomenal experience! [PS- I'm writing this during 5th period, when my cooperating teacher has a different class in the computer lab. So I'm just chilling in the classroom getting some grading and some planning done...In the past 10 minutes, two of my students have come into the room to say "Hi Miss Steele!!" It's great!]
Yesterday was my roommate Becky's birthday! We had a fun celebration last night with cake and ice cream. All the sugar must have gotten to us, because we were laughing like crazy all night! It was lots of fun, but ended up being bad for my goal to get [close to] 8 hours of sleep every night this week. I was doing so well, too, until last night! Sunday and Monday night I was in bed with the lights out by 9:30. Last night, however, we were up laughing and giggling [and singing and dancing and joking and jumping and playing...] until well after 11:30. Oops. :)
Tonight I am going to campus to see Arthur Benjamin, also known as the "Mathemagician." Apparently, he does crazy calculations really super fast in his head. I watched a part of a video on YouTube, and it's awesome! It should be really interesting and fun - I'm excited.
General Conference is this weekend. Wizzer nabbed some tickets for the Sunday morning session, so we'll be going up for that. I LOVE actually being in the Conference center for Conference - this is going to ROCK!
Weeeeeeell, I'd better go finish making the key for the Geometry test. Hope all y'all are having a great April Fool's Day! [And a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my cousin Kate!! :)]
Oh, and PS, the Hershey's company and I are currently fighting because they made the poor decision to use the best color wrapper [pink] for their worst chocolate bar [Krackel] in their little Spring chocolate assortments. Boo!
27 March 2009
Dancing Through Life
So...I'm going to grad school this fall! :) Another two-ish years at BYU. I'm pretty stoked about it! I got the official decision email on Monday, and my letter came in the mail today. So it's for real, 100% legit. Awesome.
Other big things that are going on:
-I graduate in less than a month! And Mommy's coming out here for it. :)
-I was able to go the Draper Temple dedication this past Sunday afternoon. It was such an awesome experience that made me so grateful for how I've been blessed in my life. :)
-Teaching is going FANTASTICALLY! I've been teaching 5 classes a day for two weeks, since Tara had her sweet daughter, Lydia. It's been a lot of fun. A little tiring, but SO worth it. :) I'm really going to miss all my students when this is over...
-Last night, I dragged my roommate Bethany with me down to Spanish Fork to watch some of my students in the SFJHS Musical, Putting it Together. It was a riot - I loved seeing some of my students out of the classroom and totally in their element as they danced and sang their hearts out. :)
-I went on a blind date tonight. My friend Jake set me up with one of his friends from home. [Turns out he's in Elizabeth's ward and her FHE group [And he said you never go to FHE, Wiz...You'd better start! FHE is rad!]] We went to a concert in Provo, and it was lots of fun! :)
Man, life is good. And...I'm going to be dead tired tomorrow - I'd better get some rest. LOVE Y'ALL!
Other big things that are going on:
-I graduate in less than a month! And Mommy's coming out here for it. :)
-I was able to go the Draper Temple dedication this past Sunday afternoon. It was such an awesome experience that made me so grateful for how I've been blessed in my life. :)
-Teaching is going FANTASTICALLY! I've been teaching 5 classes a day for two weeks, since Tara had her sweet daughter, Lydia. It's been a lot of fun. A little tiring, but SO worth it. :) I'm really going to miss all my students when this is over...
-Last night, I dragged my roommate Bethany with me down to Spanish Fork to watch some of my students in the SFJHS Musical, Putting it Together. It was a riot - I loved seeing some of my students out of the classroom and totally in their element as they danced and sang their hearts out. :)
-I went on a blind date tonight. My friend Jake set me up with one of his friends from home. [Turns out he's in Elizabeth's ward and her FHE group [And he said you never go to FHE, Wiz...You'd better start! FHE is rad!]] We went to a concert in Provo, and it was lots of fun! :)
Man, life is good. And...I'm going to be dead tired tomorrow - I'd better get some rest. LOVE Y'ALL!
08 March 2009
Head Over Feet
Is it a bad thing if I'm feeling frustrated and unproductive and scared and stressed and tired and unsettled...and I'm going to blame it all on Daylight Savings? Because the last thing I need right now is to feel guilty for letting myself get to this point...
03 March 2009
If I Ain't Got You
So, I have officially applied to the Math Ed Master's program at BYU. The application was due on Sunday, but I buckled down last week and finished it late Thursday night [Thanks Sarah for the support and help! :) I love you!]. After I'd submitted it, I got an email asking that I fill out a survey about my online application experience. One question asked about my reasons for pursuing a Master's. I was allowed to select as many of the given answers as I wanted, as well as write in an answer for "Other." Well, I decided to be quite honest and write in "I'm still single..." [I did select a few of the other options as well, like "desire to be in academia" and "personal motivation or goal"]. Then, two questions later, it asked why I chose to apply to BYU. I selected a few of the options ["social atmosphere," "religious atmosphere"], and again wrote in "I'm still single..." Haha! Sarah and I laughed about that for quite a bit.
Anyway, I don't know when I'll be hearing back about that, but I'll keep you all posted. Now that I've applied, I know that I'll either get in or not - I'm not sure which is scarier!
In other news, today (3/3/09) is Square Root Day! [Get it? 3 times 3 is 9... Heh heh heh...] That only happens 9 days every century! I think that's pretty sweet. And next week is Pi Day [3.14] - We'll be celebrating in the Jr. High by eating pie. Awesome! AND, now that it's March, I can say that I graduate [and turn the big 22 (Ooh, a palindrome number!)] NEXT MONTH! Yikes!
Currently, I'm reading The Grapes of Wrath. I've found that I've forgotten a lot of the details since I read it in high school.
Today I went to the temple with Elizabeth. A ward group came in with family file names RIGHT before we were going to go into the font room, so we had to wait quite awhile... But it was worth it. We were still in and out in a little over two hours.
And, as if this post isn't random enough, here are some awesome pictures from the last month or two...
This AWESOME picture is of my AWESOME friends Jeramy, Mike, and Owen. Yes, they are testing out gliders at Babies R Us. And, yes, they are loving it. They went baby shower shopping with me, and I think they enjoyed it even more than I did [before this trip, I didn't think that was possible...].
And, this is a picture of Melissa, Yuka, and I on the night that Yuka left to head home to Japan. It was so much fun to have her come visit us, and we sure miss her. She definitely keeps things hilarious.
Another shot of Melissa, Yuka, and I beore Yuka left. We were supposed to do funny faces, but I decided to pull a "precious face" instead. Heh heh heh.
Ooh, here's a good one! This is my friend Andrew [donning a lovely flowered apron - Thanks mom!] piping white chocolate onto the Oreo truffles we made. He'll probably kill me if he finds out I posted this picture online.
And, lastly, just a picture of me. And our turtle Dimitri in the background. He's a pretty good turtle. We're excited for the warm weather - we're going to take him on walks outside!
Anyway, I don't know when I'll be hearing back about that, but I'll keep you all posted. Now that I've applied, I know that I'll either get in or not - I'm not sure which is scarier!
In other news, today (3/3/09) is Square Root Day! [Get it? 3 times 3 is 9... Heh heh heh...] That only happens 9 days every century! I think that's pretty sweet. And next week is Pi Day [3.14] - We'll be celebrating in the Jr. High by eating pie. Awesome! AND, now that it's March, I can say that I graduate [and turn the big 22 (Ooh, a palindrome number!)] NEXT MONTH! Yikes!
Currently, I'm reading The Grapes of Wrath. I've found that I've forgotten a lot of the details since I read it in high school.
Today I went to the temple with Elizabeth. A ward group came in with family file names RIGHT before we were going to go into the font room, so we had to wait quite awhile... But it was worth it. We were still in and out in a little over two hours.
And, as if this post isn't random enough, here are some awesome pictures from the last month or two...
This AWESOME picture is of my AWESOME friends Jeramy, Mike, and Owen. Yes, they are testing out gliders at Babies R Us. And, yes, they are loving it. They went baby shower shopping with me, and I think they enjoyed it even more than I did [before this trip, I didn't think that was possible...].
And, this is a picture of Melissa, Yuka, and I on the night that Yuka left to head home to Japan. It was so much fun to have her come visit us, and we sure miss her. She definitely keeps things hilarious.
Another shot of Melissa, Yuka, and I beore Yuka left. We were supposed to do funny faces, but I decided to pull a "precious face" instead. Heh heh heh.
Ooh, here's a good one! This is my friend Andrew [donning a lovely flowered apron - Thanks mom!] piping white chocolate onto the Oreo truffles we made. He'll probably kill me if he finds out I posted this picture online.
And, lastly, just a picture of me. And our turtle Dimitri in the background. He's a pretty good turtle. We're excited for the warm weather - we're going to take him on walks outside!
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