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. :)

Write You A Song

I'm home! Yay! :) These past few days have been pretty busy, but completely fun (and the teensiest bit depressing). As luck would have it, I actually did have a way fun date this past weekend. My friend Steve asked me, and we doubled with his roommate Dan and my friend (and neighbor) Elisse. We went hiking up past American Fork to a place called Silver Lake (I think?). It was way up in the tops of the mountains, and it was absolutely GORGEOUS! We saw a deer and a moose and a bunch of smaller animals. The views were incredible, and we were high enough up that there was still snow on the other side of the lake. At the top, we all enjoyed a freezing wade in the water, and sat on the rocks by a beasty waterfall. It was tons of fun! When we got back from hiking, we cleaned up and went out to eat at Red Robin (Thought of you, Mathieu, with the bottomless fries and topless drinks). Yum!Other than that, my past few days in Provo were filled with just having fun and visiting with friends who I won't see for the next month and a half. Friday night, I went to Muse Music to hear By The Exit play - three of the four guys (Mika, Steve, and Jordan) are in my ward. They played a good show, and afterwards we all hung out at their apartment. We watched Orange County on their lawn, then Mika and I stayed out til after 3 having fun with window paint and his roommates' cars. ;) Haha, it was hilarious!

Monday and Tuesday were busy with packing and saying my goodbyes. I talked with Kelsey, which was awesome - it was good to catch up. I felt like I hadn't talked to her in forever! My friend Barrett came over and talked for awhile, too. Sarah and Logan came over to pick up some stuff from my apartment, and Jose came to catch up and say goodbye. I was able to hang out with my neighbors quite a bit (Elisse, Hayley, Becky, Rachel, Tammi...Awesome!!), and I went to visit some of my favorite guys in the ward (Mika, Steve, Jordan, Dan, David, Steven, Robby, Andy...Sweeeeet!). On Tuesday afternoon, Mika took me to dinner at a place that sells New York Pizza ("Made by real New Yorkers!") - huge slices, super thin crust, sweet sauce - delicious! It was a great precursor to coming home where the pizza and wings are tops. I'm looking forward to enjoying some yummy Rochester food while I'm home (Country Sweet, anyone? White hots? Salt potatoes? Wegmans?). Anyway, that night I went to a Canada party in honor of Canada Day, then Sarah picked me up around 9. We headed to the airport, she dropped me off, and I was on my way. I was exhuasted, having lost a lot of sleep due to packed days and fun nights. My flight from Salt Lake to Newark was long, but not too bad. I did almost the whole crossword (I only left four squares blank), as well as both Sudoku puzzles. I listened to my iPod, and finally I was able to fall asleep for probably about 45-50 minutes. We finally made it to Newark, then I just chilled there for two hours and listened to my iPod while I waited to board. I watched the first half hour of Finding Nemo on my iPod, but got bored. On my flight to Rochester, I was pretty much out before we even took off. I woke up right when the plane lifted off the ground, I think, but fell back asleep immediately. It was great! I pretty much slept almost that entire flight, so that brought my sleep total for the night to about two hours. Rock on! :)

At the airport, Mom and Mad picked me up. Remington was the only other one home when we got there, and he and Mom left for the Hill. That left me home to watch Mad for the rest of the day. I showered, then came downstairs around noon and promptly fell asleep while Madison watched the Disney Channel. I slept for nearly five hours! I was exhausted! This evening, Mad, Hunter, and I went and picked cherries in our yard. A bowl of sweet cherries, and a bowl of sour cherries. We walked to the library to check out Planet Earth, then I came home and made a cherry pie while we watched an episode. Laura came over and we were able to catch up on life. It was interesting to talk about high school and college and realize that, you know, the more things change the more they remain the same. It's weird...Anyway, it's late, and I've been sleep deprived for far too long. I'd better head to bed. I'm excited for Pageant rehearsals to start on Friday! Anyone who's able to should come see it - shows are July 11, 12, 15-19, and they begin at around 9:15 pm. :)

Love Love Love,
Savannah.

Square One

So, you know...I go home in less than a week. How weird. How bittersweet. Melissa left this afternoon, and that was more depressing than I thought it'd be. I won't see her until the middle of August when I get back to Provo...

Anyhow, I'm super excited to see my family! It's been so long, almost six months, since I've seen them. It'll be hard to leave Provo though. I find that I call Provo "home" more and more often these days. And though it'll never be my true home, it's weird to think that I do live here for about 10 months of every year. And I've got tons of great friends here. Sometimes I wish I could take all of the good things about Provo and all of the good things about New York and just mesh them together to create my own perfect world. Because, you know, that's what it would be - perfect. All my friends and family in one place, and we'd all have the time of our lives! That'd be sweet.

Wow, I'm rambling. Anyway, on a [brief] brighter note, I was a Y-Group Leader for New Student Orientation this past weekend, and it was so fantastic! I really appreciated the opportunity I had to make friends with some of the new students, and to help them to love BYU as much as I do. I loved being able to show them what it's all about, and I'm especially glad I had no problem totally rocking out in front of them. It was great! I was able to let loose and show my true colors, and I had a blast!

Well, I just wanted to give a quick update on what I've been thinking/doing the past few days. I'll be sure to let y'all know how my last weekend in Provo goes. Maybe I'll get a hott hott date. Bahaha....

You're the Devil in Disguise

Just a brief addendum to my earlier post [as if I didn't already write up a whole novel and a half...]. I just wanted to share with you three things about tonight that made me happy:

For FHE, we played four-square. Despite having never really played it before, I made it to the first square - yeah, that means I was the queen of the game [even if it only lasted one round]. Sweet.

I appropriately used a semi-colon. I felt so awesome! Who even cares that it was just in talking to my sister in facebook chat?! I mean, how often do people use semi-colons? It was pretty great.

I officially came to the big fatty realization that life was a little bit better back when I thought boys had cooties. Now, they're just too much of a hassle, too much of a distraction. And yet, there's always at least one that gets me every time. Lame. Lame, lame, lame, lame, lame.

Happy Birthday, Hunter!

Happy Birthday, Hunter! Little buddy, I can't believe you're already 12 years old! You had only just turned 9 when I left to come to BYU. I love your spunk and your sense of humor. You are a really awesome guy, and I'm proud to call you my little brother! I hope you're as excited to see me in a few weeks as I am to see you. I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time with you this summer when I'm home! Stay cool, kid. You're awesome and I love you!

Happy [Late] Father's Day!

Dad. You're a pretty cool guy! Thanks for all you do for me. I'm grateful for the memories I have with you. Thanks for pushing me to be my best in all that I do. Thanks for supporting me in my school work and for providing me with valuable advice about life [Look, I'm 21 and not even close to being married! You don't have to disown me!]. Thanks for adding an irreplaceable dose of spontaneity, character, and hilarity in my life. You're a really great dad, and I'm so grateful for everything you have done and continue to do for me. Stay awesome! Can't wait to see you in a few short weeks!