So...

I started my "2009 In Review" post, planning on going into great detail on each month... but realized really quickly that this year was not so exciting. So instead I'll just recap some of the most "rememberable" events of the year, in no particular order. Oh, and sorry that I didn't really capitalize anything, you'll just have to deal with it on this post :)

-my trip to redmond in october where I got to see Wicked, visit Paul's family, be there as stephanie got set apart as a missionary, and watch General Conference.

-working in primary for the summer. "my boys" were (and still are) darling.

-moving into my condo. off campus. in a ward that wasn't just freshman.

-the sunday school lesson where a guy said that one of his goals in life is to make his wife laugh so hard that she pees her pants. this was the same lesson where we discussed how similar the law of consecration and communism are. i'm still not really sure what the point of the lesson was, but i know they shouldn't call that class "gospel doctrine" because there was no doctrine shared in that particular class. at least we know that mack wants to make his wife wet her pants.

-the great mouse hunt of january. that was really dramatic, and traumatic but a memory, none the less.

-hiking with 215 on halloween to celebrate my birthday.

-the BYU vs. UTAH football game. which we won.

-the BYU vs. OKLAHOMA football game. which we won. and injured sam bradford. not that i was happy he got injured, but it was interesting to watch how the rest of the season played out for him and how he would always remember that it was the cougs that messed that up for him...

-all the BYU football games. oh, especially the one that anna's friend bought us all churros at. because really, those churros had been calling my name all season and i really wanted one, and then i found out that they were really good, so its a good thing i don't bring cash with me to the games, or i would have eaten my weight in churros.

-checkouts in april. while i didn't love checkouts, it was a great experience. as i had to check out some of my girls it made me remember just how much i loved my residents and made me really sad. i still miss it sometimes, but then i remember all the work that went into it and how hard it was to have a job that i couldn't leave at an office. i love doing custodial work now, the only way that work ever comes home with me is if i choose to clean my apartment.

-divine comedy with christie. and watching star trek with her so that best of divine comedy would make more sense. oh, and other movies we've watched together. and our trips to big lots. and grocery shopping with her. and going to the saturday market with her. really, just christie.

-on that note, 215 in general. the night that almost all of us rushed to one apartment when we all heard someone was having a bad day. only to find out that in the 24 hours prior all of us had had emotional breakdowns, except for maybe allison... unless she just didn't admit to it. well, then there are our birthday parties, our sleepover during Thanksgiving Break (we missed you, jenny) where we played that one game... hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. i'm still laughing about it. with all of the times that my posts have been about 215, hopefully you've figured out now that they are a HUGE part of my life and that i love those girls like crazy!

-peanut butter butt. yes, she's part of that 215 in general bullet point, but oh my goodness. she came to nauvoo this summer and the limited amount of time i got to spend with her was so fun! staying up all night, talking in my room, laughing about everything. and who else could i make crazy new years resolutions with? (pbb, i wish you the best of luck in your attempt to achieve the goal. i'll do my best as well :P) i don't know how many nights this summer were better because i talked with her online.

-my sfl 472 class. our trip to the cannery. eating at jdawgs with emily e and cherie. our group of about 8 girls that would sit and talk outside our classroom for the hour before class, unless it was friday... then we'd sit in our classroom and talk. we all shared boy stories, creeper stories, funny stories, sad stories, basically everything! with the fantastic teachers we had and the great classmates, this class made the semester worth it.

-"chance". chances are good that if you were at the family reunion or live in 215 you know the story of chance already. but for those of you who don't, i can enlighten you now. during our family reunion we went and saw some of the plays that the young performing missionaries do down on the flats. in one play one of the guys stared at me as he sang, winked, and went about his part. my nieces noticed this better than i did. afterwards we stuck around to say hi to the cast, the kids loved seeing them all and talking with them. as the oldest nephews were talking to this particular character (who in this play his name was chance) he walked over to me, shook my hand and thanked me for coming to the show. i laughed. we told the story to everyone else when we got home and laughed about it. the abba song 'take a chance on me' became a theme song of the summer, and i just laughed about it. fast forward a few months. first football game at byu. chance is right behind me. fast forward another week or so. he lives in helaman halls where i work so as i would leave work he would often be coming home, so i would walk past him. i laughed every time i saw him, never once talking to him or mentioning anything. through football games i found out what his real name is, but still think of him as "chance".

I'm sure 2009 had lots of other rememberable events, but that was what stuck out. Also sticking out: being sick about 20 times. Not blogging as much as i wanted to because i didn't feel like anything was worth blogging about.

Oh, and I guess I should enlighten you on the word rememberable, because i'm sure it is driving someone nuts (amy, how do you feel about made up words?). Freshman year Kelli had a shirt that had been designed for her senior prom. it was kind of like the mastercard commercials "dress $200. Tux $65." and then it talked about how those were all the makings for a memorable night. Except... the person who made the shirt didn't believe everyone when they said that the word was "memorable". she insisted it was "rememberable". thus, rememberable is one of my favorite words. i especially like to use it to make fun of kelli, and since she may read this i wanted to remind her of this rememberable event :)

Here is to 2010... may I not be as sick, and may I succeed in my New Year Resolutions. :)

Almost There...

I just printed my boarding passes. That means I leave in less than 24 hours. That means that I'm almost done with finals (in 2 hours I'll be taking my final final of the semester)! It's about freaking time :)

I am exhausted. I've cleaned more bathrooms, closets, hallways, etc than I knew we had in our building. Yesterday I even helped strip the wax off the floor in the basement in another building. That meant I worked with Big Boss Debbie. It was CRAZY intense!

Anywho, I've got to go to campus, print my essay, turn it in, sell two textbooks to random girls on campus, and take a final!

My next post will be my 300th post. I'm excited. It should be a good one :)

Question for my Siblings/Mother

Is anybody else Facebook friends with Uncle Jeff twice? On one of Uncle Jeff's pages we have 14 mutual friends and on the other we have 20. I'm so confused!

Apparently...

I talk in my sleep. On a regular basis. Like... Lesley says I say something EVERY night.

Last night was different though. Last night I said a full sentence, not just a mumble or "what?". Last night I said "there is a boy in my class at 6, I am going to buy him a notebook for Christmas." I don't have a class at 6:00, nor was I planning on buying anybody a notebook for Christmas.

I knew I talked in my sleep growing up... after sleep overs with "the squad" in like 7th and 8th grade the girls would always tell me what I said the night before. The most memorable was "I want more jello", to which my friends mom surprised us with jello for breakfast.

Freshman year Christie was laying in bed debating whether or not to get up and do her hair before class. Apparently I said "go for it" right then, and that became one of our most quoted quotes. She hadn't said anything out loud, and I did not remember any of this when she asked me about it later that day.

Next time Lesley is awake and hears me talk in my sleep she is going to ask me questions and see if I respond.

Does anybody else talk in their sleep? Or live in the same house as someone who does? Or have any funny things that they have heard me say in my sleep?

Almost Done..

Since Sunday I have worked 16 hours and taken 3 finals. I've only watched one movie, and I haven't rewatched Glee OR The Office. I've done some laundry, and I've actually made a meal or two. I feel like it's a way productive week already!

I was really excited when my boss told me that we could work full time beginning on Reading Days, but then quickly started to dread being at work for 8 hours, because really... who wants to be cleaning the dorms for 8 hours a day? Then I just reminded myself that it meant my paycheck would be a lot prettier if I worked this, and that felt like justification enough. Then yesterday came. I realized that when we work more than just 4 hours, my supervisor is very willing to spend a little bit of time talking with us. Today I don't know whether I talked with her more than I cleaned or not, but it was very close. Also, when we work all day during Finals Week, we get to work in groups, which means I get to talk to Rachel and Haley all day long!

I'm so ready to leave Provo now, but I've got to wait until Saturday morning because of my final on Friday afternoon. At least I've got another 16 hours of work to keep me occupied!

Studying...

So I'm pretty much done studying for finals. If I wasn't working at 8 tomorrow morning I would be first in line at the testing center to get Personal Finance over with. But, I'm working 8 hours tomorrow, so I won't be in line until around 4:15. My goal is to take Personal Finance and one other final tomorrow, I just haven't decided which other final I'm more ready for--Interiors or Human Development. Depending on time, I may take all three, which would be EXCELLENT. Then I'll just work all day Tuesday-Thursday and be ready to take my Doctrine and Covenants final on Friday (it's scheduled, dang it!). Then I'll go up to Lesley's aunt's house with her so her aunt can take us to the airport bright and early Saturday... and then I'll be on my merry little way!

This time next week I'll [most likely] be sleeping still, in my bed, and I can't wait. Oh man I can't wait for finals to be over!

To 215

Today we had a 215 breakfast party for Kelli's birthday which is really next Tuesday. I'm sorry that Kelli's birthday is during finals week, and that she has three scheduled finals on her 21st bday! Whenever I come home from anything with 215 I just sit around thinking about how much I love 215. Today I came home and my thought was "man, my life would suck without them" which reminded me (of course) of the last episode of Glee when the Glee Club sang "My Life Would Suck Without You" to Mr. Schuester. This is my favorite part of the song:

'Cause we belong together now, yeah
Forever united here somehow, yeah
You got a piece of me
And honestly,
My life (my life) would suck (would suck) without you

So 215, that's how I feel about you (in case you were wondering). When we are all like 100 I will sing this song to you, and you will all love it. Maybe I will even choreograph a dance to it (or just use the dance from Glee)

Big Shout Out...

... to the roommate that thought it was a good idea to turn the heat off when she got home from school today. I really liked coming home to an apartment that was only 65, especially since windows were also open. In case you couldn't tell, there is snow on our balcony, and everywhere else outside, now would be a great time to keep doors and windows closed and the heat ON. K, thanks?

Stolen from Kelli

So one of the loves of my life (aka one of my freshman roommates [215]) started a blog and just sent me an invitation to read her private blog and her first post made me really happy... and I wanted to share part of it with everyone. It is a scripture and quote from Stand a Little Taller by President Hinckley. I believe she said this is the page for September 6.

Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning
Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be
still and know that I am God.
-D&C 101:16

"Our lives become extremely busy. We run from one thing to another. We wear ourselves out in thoughtless pursuit of goals which are largely ephemeral. We are entitled to spend some time with ourselves in introspection, in development, in thinking, meditating, pondering things" -Gordon B. Hinckley


I think way too often I get caught up in running from one thing to another. Work, class, study groups, review sessions, the testing center, the grocery store, church, church activities, the temple, the elms, the football stadium, home, etc.

This week is the last day of class for the semester-finals start on Monday. My calendar currently has multiple review sessions for three of my five classes,a few homework assignments to finish, a work christmas party, lots of work, a wedding reception, packing, cleaning check, church, a stake fireside, and somewhere there will be a birthday celebration for one of the loves of my lives.

But all of this. Really? How much of this will really matter in the long run? I already explained to one of my home teachers that I didn't know when I would eat or sleep for the next week and a half, and then as soon as I got to Nauvoo I would pretty much only eat,sleep, and play my piano. Why do I do this to myself? Do I ever take time to stop and think? Pretty sure if I thought it through I would realize that the review sessions, while good, don't need to ALL be attended (especially the ones that the TA won't be at).

If I thought, pondered, meditated, or spent time developing my talents as much as I wasted time on Facebook, Hulu, or watching movies... life would be very different.

So, although it is not quite time to be making new years resolutions, or even my new semester resolutions... here is one for both lists:

learn how to chill out. I really like to-do lists and crossing things off my list, so I need to include time to think on my to-do list, otherwise I will postpone it because it won't get me a little check mark or a line through anything on my list. I think I've had this on a list before... but I don't think I did very well with it. If I ever figure out how to reinstall my printer I'll put that quote up on my wall or next to my desk, or glue it to my computer screen or something. Take a litle time to think, ponder, meditate, play the piano, read a book for fun, color, etc.

Finally, I want to thank Kelli for inviting me to her blog so I could find that quote and find the inspiration I need to get me through this week, finals, and working almost 50 hours between now and when I go home. I heart you, Kel!

Words Are Not Needed

This was the winning touch down run... I'd like to personally thank the idiot that went after his teammate instead of Andrew George.

Alright, Buddy...

Today during Sacrament Meeting, Lesley & I sat with one of our home teachers, Jonathan (not the home teacher that fixed my computer last week). The last speaker spoke on happiness and how often the world sets such high standards for physical appearance that people are unhappy with their bodies. Jonathan turned to us and said "I like my body. I have ten hands and ten toes." I just looked at him and tried so hard not to laugh. He realized very quickly that he in fact does NOT have ten hands, and he felt dumb. I think I will be sitting with him in Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School for the rest of the semester. Unfortunately, next semester he will be studying abroad in Jerusalem, so I won't have him to entertain me during church after I go home for Christmas.

Overtime...

Today was the big game, and I LOVED it! There wasn't as much red as I thought there would be, but they still made their presence known. Our band played over their band pretty much every time they played, and our fans cheered louder. I am so proud of Max, he didn't throw a bajillion interceptions like he did last year in this game, so way to go, Max!

I've never watched a BYU game that went into OT, and oh man was that intense. I thought I was going to die when Utah scored a field goal... but then we came back and got a touhchdown, so ALL IS WELL!

Provo is goin nuts, and I LOVE it! Today is a great day to be a Coug.

Apparently...

I like Eggnog. When we asked what we (Allison, Sara and I) could bring to Thanksgiving dinner we were told that they already had everything but the Eggnog, so we were asked to bring some Eggnog. Never having tried it before I just smiled, nodded, and headed to the grocery store. Well guess what, I like Eggnog.

I never realized what my favorite parts of Thanksgiving dinner were until I had them a little differently... Homemade stuffing being one of those things I just took for granted. Mom, please teach me your ways. Jeanne's rolls. Dad's potatoes. I will give them props, we had real potatoes, I watched them peel the potatoes and everything... but Dad's potatoes, oh man!

Overall, Thanksgiving was fantastic, even if I cried for an hour before I went.

And today, I experienced what be my first experience of shopping on Black Friday... and I did it online. Merry Christmas to me!

What/Who I'm Grateful For: A Picture List

all 28 of THEM!

I'm especially grateful for



those 6, and I won't lie... I'm really sad to not be spending Thanksgiving with them this year. I've gone to their house for Thanksgiving both of the Thanksgivings I've been at school, and I probably have spent every Thanksgiving with them since they moved back to Washington (there may have been some that they left WA, but I don't remember any). It was Katie's birthday yesterday and I couldn't bring myself to call her because I missed them all waaaaaay too much, and I didn't want another one of those phone calls with them where I cry the whole time and try to hide it (it just reminded me of late September/early October my freshman year when that happened).




those 5 girls. I wish I had our more recently group photos from Halloween when we went on a hike for my birthday, but they haven't made it to Facebook yet, so I don't have them. These girls have really become my best friends here at school, and I don't know what I would do without them. They make me laugh, they make me cry (mostly just from laughing so much), they know how to make me smile. All of our inside jokes from freshman year still make me laugh.



this girl. This picture was taken just a few minutes after she got set apart as a missionary. She sends me funny letters every week and has always set such a great example for me. I can't believe she's been gone for almost 2 months... only 16 more to go.

I could go on and on, but I need to start getting ready, I've got to be at The Elms in an hour so we can head up to American Fork for dinner with Sarah's family!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ghandi2

My roommate has been really into naming electronics. My computer was named Ghandi because it was slow and old. This morning, Ghandi showed me the "Blue Screen of Death" error message which freaked me out, then the screen shook all like he was having a seizure. My home teacher came to the rescue (he's an IT major... and a genius!) and Ghandi was reborn as Ghandi2. I now run Win7 on my computer, use Google Chrome instead of Internet Explorer, and LOOOOOVE my computer so much. And that my friend, is what home teachers are for! Fixing computers and fixing vacuums! May Ghandi2 live a long and happy life, and survive through the rest of college for me!

My New Best Friend

It's reaching that point in the semester where the good ole Harold B. Lee Library becomes my best friend. Yep... finals are just a few weeks away, and I've decided that it is time to start living in the library. I haven't decided what floor of the library gets me this semester, but it's gonna be fun. I can't wait to study my brains with my bff, Harold.

I'd like to say goodbye to civilization as I currently know it: Goodbye Facebook, Goodbye Blogging, Goodbye. There will be some exceptions (Thanksgiving, Football games, and a few already randomly preselected occasions).

Christmas

Dear Siblings...

Who has who for Christmas this year? Maybe I should have figured out what the rotation is. Do we give up a sibling from last year, or down one?

Love,
Marci

She's out to get me...

My roommate, Hani, is adorable. She's from Korea and she cracks me up all the time. Except that I think she is out to get me.

Last night I was doing some homework, I turned to Lesley then said "I'm gonna go take a shower, then we can watch Glee." Right as I walked out of our room, Hani walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Five minutes ago I turned to Lesley and said "I'm going to go start my laundry then watch The Office." As I grabbed my clothes to go sort them, Hani walked into the bathroom (where our laundry is) with her hamper. Then I decided that instead I would go make some food. Guess who just went into the kitchen and opened the fridge and put a pan on the stove?

Honestly, it makes me laugh (unlike the jerk who took their toddler to the testing center and let it (i couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl) scream about how it wanted to leave) but seriously... this happens all the time.

A Somewhat Disappointing Day...

Today I woke up and should've known it was going to be a disappointing day.

I couldn't find my right shoe, it was cold outside, and I wore the wrong jacket.

The girls that live on the floors I clean had a messy weekend full of coloring & cutting their hair (I could tell by the splatters of hair dye everywhere and the remnants of a haircut all over the floor).

We had a guest lecturer in my favorite class because my favorite teacher was out of town.

In D&C we corrected a test AND had a pop-quiz, talk about rude!

I had to take the test that I have been avoiding for Interiors... I was avoiding it because I missed two classes when I was sick and there was no way to get the information I missed, so I knew it had the potential to be a rough test. It was.

I got home and had an email from the internship people, and I'm an alternative. So, if someone decides to turn down the position I still have a chance at being in North Seattle next summer. Now I need to start looking at other options. I can't graduate without an internship, and this is (hopefully) my last spring/summer before I graduate.

But then... Netflix didn't fail me. I got a movie from Netflix, which I think I will watch tonight, instead of going to FHE, because I don't really want to talk to people tonight. And because I've never been to my new FHE group before, and I don't want to meet them all when I'm alraedy having a disappointing day.

My birthday begins...

Today was the opening ceremony of my birthday festivities. Yes, I am now a big deal... just like the olympics. just kidding. My birthday festivities began when the mailman knocked, rang the door bell, then knocked again so that I would know that my birthday package from mom was sitting in front of our door. I was excited!

Then I headed over to The Elms where 4 of my freshman roommates live. We went and picked Christie up and headed up to Pleasant Grove (PG) for a hike. We hiked, taking lots of pictures along the way. Cute pictures, kind of like the one of the 6 of us on a bridge from our freshman year. But this time we did it with a self timer because nobody was around to take our pictures for us. After our hike we went to Walmart because we needed to buy ice cream and cookie dough so we could make pazookies. I also needed laundry detergent, so I bought that. While Allison, Jenny and I were getting those three things, Christie, Kelli and Sarah were running around Walmart being crazy. Then we all checked out, and headed back to The Elms. Jenny went visiting teaching and the other 5 of us headed over to Costa Vida to get some pork burritos (and a pork salad) for dinner. We then went back to The Elms where we chilled and ate our food while we waited for Jenny to get back from Visiting Teaching. Then she made the pazookies (which apparently none of us knew how to make but Jenny) and then we ate them. The signed and sang Happy Birthday to me, it was EXCELLENT! I opened my birthday present (which was what Kelli, Christie and Sarah were running around being crazy for at Walmart) of V8 Splash and the movie August Rush. I am still so excited about them both! Then we all had to go...

It was a lovely beginning to my birthday which really isn't until Wednesday but which I plan celebrating all week long!

Now tonight... I think I'm going to read for fun, maybe watch a movie, but mostly just chillax while I enjoy a few hours of being home alone! I'll probably paint my toenails and make my finger nails all shiny. Oh, and I'll do my laundry now that I have laundry detergent.

Round Two...

Interview round two, Thursday @ 1:00.

This time it is a personal interview, 10-15 minutes. I'm excited. And hopeful.

a post that makes me feel bad...

My FHE dad, Nathan, takes his role as dad very seriously. When he found out that I was sick he questioned why I hadn't called him yet. He was at my door in less than 10 minutes with soup and toast. He stayed and took care of me for about 45 minutes until my home teachers came.

So I recently (as in, I haven't even been to my new group yet) switched FHE groups because my original group started FHE at 8:30pm and regularly went until 10:45. I go to bed at 10, so this just didn't work for me.

Tonight I broke the news to him that he wasn't my dad anymore. He was heartbroken. Literally. He asked if he could be my dad still, and if I would call him when I was sick. I told him that he could. and that we would just say I was going to my adopted family for FHE. Now we call my new FHE group my Foster Family.

Now I feel really bad. I've been so frustrated with him for a while, and then the second he found out I was sick he dropped everything to come over... He really is a nice guy. So here's to you, Nathan! Maybe sometime I'll get to come see our family sometime.

Still Sick...

So I've still got that sore throat, and a fever... I've been popping Vitamin C like it was going out of style, drinking OJ, drinking lots of water, eating/slurping soup, getting plenty of sleep, etc.

I've got my FHE dad and home teachers looking out for me though! My FHE dad, Nathan, noticed that I wasn't at church so he facebooked me to find out what's up and a few minutes later he was out our door with soup and toast. He stayed until our home teachers showed up. They came, visited us, made fun of Seattle (one of them served his mission in Oregon) and then gave me a blessing and left.

It's been a lame weekend.

Fast!

Today I went to turn in my application for the internship I'm looking into. Right there they had me sign up for an interview... for TOMORROW. So, at 3:15 MDT I'll be headed into a short (15 minute) group interview. We'll see how it goes. So far it looks like not very many people have signed up for interviews (which means few people have turned in applications, which are due on Friday).

It's a good thing I had to write a paper today so I didn't have any time to really freak out about the fact that I am interviewing for a huge [paid] internship.

What do you do...

... when you have a sore throat?

If you are me, you go to work, go to classes, spend some time in the library, open your mail, stalk everyone you know on facebook, think about the essay that is due in 16 hours that doesn't make sense, AND you would do all of this while listening to Dashboard Confessional. Oh, and for dinner you would've had pancakes and sausage. Oh, and water because you wouldn't own orange juice.

Is that what you do?

Looking back at my day, maybe I should've gotten throat lozenenges (sorry it's spelled wrong [especially if amy is reading this, i know how you feel about poor spelling] but I don't know how to pronounce it, let alone spell it... but you all know what I meant) or maybe I shouldn't have gone to class... also, maybe I shouldn't have used my camelbak waterbottle, maybe i should've used a disposable water bottle from my costco 35-pack.

It's a good thing I just reread my syllabus and learned that I don't have to email my paper to my teacher until 11:59pm on Wednesday. That means I can ask him some great questions in class and then I'll have 6 hours to write a 3 page paper.

why i feel like i am growing up...

Ever since I changed my major from Special Ed to Home & Family Living I was kind of planning on grad school all along. In the last week things have kind of just sped along.

I started thinking more seriously about Grad School and have actually spent time in the bookstore looking at their aisle of "so you want to go to grad school" books. I've been debating which prep book to get, do I go with Kaplan or The Princeton Review? In consulting with my oldest nephew who has recently taken the ACT and some AP Tests, he recommended The Princeton Review, so that's what I'm going with. I will admit though, it felt weird going to a 17 year old to figure out what GRE prep book to get, but he's a smart one. I also looked in a book that listed what Masters programs different schools offer. I need to look at that book again with a notepad so I can write down the ones I need to research.

This past Sunday at church I sat next to a guy who is also looking into MFT (Marriage and Family Therapy) and he told me about the new emphasis that the School of Family Life has, so now I'm changing the official title of my major, but it isn't really affecting a whole lot. My major now will be: "Family Life: Marriage and Family Studies." It is good news though, I was going to have to take extra courses to get some of the grad school prereqs done, but now they are all included in my major! I have 30 credits left for my new major (I say new, although I haven't gone in and declared it yet), 9 credits of GEs left, and 2 3 credit courses I want to retake.

Also, this week I am applying for an internship. I don't want to say too much about it, there were about 100 people at the information meeting for it, and they are only looking for 18 people... we'll see if this works out. If it does, I'll be in Seattle next summer!

This thought process of mine was inspired by reading Megan (not my HA Megan, but the other Megan)'s blog. I now know 3 girls who have submitted thier mission papers and are waiting for their calls. I also have a friend in the MTC. I spent a lot of time praying and thinking about a mission, but feel like Grad School is where I'm supposed to be heading... So Megan, Katalin and Cecily, I can't wait for your calls to come!

A Quick Update

(italicized are the things that are over)

-a personal finance test (it's 2 parts)
-a quiz in temporal welfare of the family (twof)
-an interior design test
-an emotional breakdown
-a human development paper due
-a project due in personal finance
-a human development test
-another quiz in twof
-another project due in personal finance
-a midterm paper in twof
-a ward activity
-a relief society sleepover
-a ward fireside
-Divine Comedy


My Human development test doesn’t start until Friday.
My quiz is on Monday.
My midterm paper is due next Wednesday

And… my “another project due in personal finance” got postponed at least a week and changed drastically. It will now be much simpler. And, because I need a little bit of a break, I’ve decided to skip out on the ward activity (because it would take up my entire Saturday, thus making it so I can’t go to a review session for the human development test or watch the football game, or get any sleep).

In a Nutshell

It's been over a week since I've blogged and I feel really weird about that. But, in the last week this is what I've done:

-flew to Seattle
-stayed with the Springgays
-visited Paul's family
-went to Costco more times than I can imagine
-saw WICKED
-watched 4 sessions of General Conference, Springgay style
-had dinner with Paul & Jeanne & the kids & Bryan
-went to Stephanie's setting apart (she's a missionary now)
-went to Stephanie's farewell party
-helped Stephanie pack for her mission
-flew with Steph back to Utah
-was Steph's companion for a few days (10:30 sleep, 6:30 wake up, hour long companion scripture study, etc)
-took Steph to work, school, and other random places with me
-dropped Steph off at the MTC


THEN I realized that it was time to get back into school mode and found out that in the next two weeks I have:

-a personal finance test (it's 2 parts)
-a quiz in temporal welfare of the family (twof)
-an interior design test
-a human development paper due
-a project due in personal finance
-a human development test
-another quiz in twof
-another project due in personal finance
-a midterm paper in twof
-a ward activity
-a relief society sleepover
-a ward fireside
-Divine Comedy

I talked to mom today for the first time in a week (since i was busy pretty much the whole time I was gone) and it was crazy to think that it had been a week. I could see it being that long until I talk to her again, just realizing how much time I will be spending in the testing center and library in the next two weeks.

My goal for taking the tests:
Personal Finance: 10/9
Interiors: 10/12
Human Development: 10/16
Then I won't have to take another test until my D&C test on the 29th.

I haven't figured out when I am going to write all the papers yet, but I know that I need to be studying for my quiz in twof that is tomorrow. So, peace out blogger!

This is big...

You know I love BYU football. I blog about it, I talk about it all the time, I pretty much breathe it. Well, consider the following:

Saturday, September 26th there is a BYU Football game at 4:00pm. There is also the General Relief Societ Broadcast at 6:00pm. Do you see the problem? Yeah. The football game won't be over until the broadcast is over... I can't watch the whole thing of either if I watch them both, so what do you think I'm doing?

If you said "going to the game and watching the broadcast on Sunday when it is rebroadcasted" you would almost be right. That was my plan, until about 10 minutes ago.

Now... my plan is this. I sold my ticket to one of my old residents who grew up right next to our opponents (read as, she wouldn't miss this game for the world) and instead I will watch the first hour and a half of the game at a friends apartment, and then I'm going to watch the broadcast.

THEN, get this. Because I'm an AWESOME friend, I'm going home to Seattle next week and I am missing another home game. Guess what. I've already given my ticket away to that game too.

Two home games this season, that I am missing. BUT, neither of them is the Utah game, so life is still good!

Let's just hope that BYU plays a little better this week than they did last week. That's all I'm asking for, just a little improvement!

Look who's on my wall!

My wall was pretty bare... turns out I don't have a lot of pictures that I like to put up on my wall. So I asked mom to email me the pictures that Bro. Ripley took at the Women's Garden so I could put you all up on the wall! Here is what my masterpiece looks like (at least right now... I might change it later)



In case you can't see it well... framed is the picture of all of us (not the one with the statue of the women behind us). On the four sides are my four siblings that are married with their whole families, the bottom left is all of us with the woman statue, and the bottom right is the three singles. You can also see the picture of me and my primary class which is on the top left. YAY for pictures!

Moving is GROSS

So I moved into my condo just about a month ago... in that time I have swept the kitchen floor I don't know how many times. Today I grabbed a Clorox wipe to clean up a spill I made while fixing my spaghetti. I thought our floor had some weird colors to it, turns out that as I wiped up my spaghetti sauce, I wiped up some of the nasty color from the floor. I don't think the previous tenants EVER used a mop. How gross is that? Not only am I replacing the part they broke on the vacuum, but I will be going to the store tomorrow and buying a mop. And if that mop doesn't work very well, I will get on my hands and knees with Clorox wipes and get my kitchen floor clean. I don't like living in messes that other people made.

What I really want to know now is how the people passed a cleaning check when they moved out. Supposedly these cleaning checks are "white glove" but I don't see how a white glove inspection could pass when the carpet wasn't clean (obviously the vaccuum was broken and doesn't suck anything up) and the kitchen floor looks like crap. I'm pretty sure that those girls would've failed had they been my residents last year...

That's all for now.

Another Great Game!

While this game isn't going to have us jump 11 spots in the polls (not like we could anyway, we're already #9) it was a great game! 54-3. Beautiful. Loved the second half. However, I think my favorite play in the whole game was the very last one. The last time that Tulane had possession. When the guy started running and we just dragged him back a million yards. He didn't look very happy.

There are new words in my vocabulary this season: Kariya. DiLuigi. McKay Jacobson. George. Ashworth. Pendleton.

I also find myself calling other players by first names instead of last names this season: Max (instead of always calling him Max Hall). Dennis (instead of Pitta).

Constants in my vocab: Harvey. Jorgensen. Mitch. Bronco.

Words I miss: Fui. Austin. Collie.

I LOVE FOOTBALL SEASON! (In case you couldn't tell)

Next week = home opener. You'd better believe that I am PUMPED.

I may have figured it out...

Today I realized why (or atleast one reason why) I wasn't supposed to be an RA this year. There is a class I NEED to be taking that is only offered at the same time as RA class. Had I been an RA, it would've been an additional year until I would have taken Personal Finance. I ordered my textbook for this class online and it finally came in the mail yesterday. I started reading it today and I couldn't put it down. I am so intrigued by this class. Sitting in lecture makes me so excited.

Also, today I looked online to check my finances (after personal finance class ended) and freaked out for a minute... then realized that today they deposited my extra financial aid into my bank account. What a beautiful day!

I love...

budgeting! I'm taking a personal finance class this semester so today I reorganized the files I made in my family finance class last semester. Now the files I need for this class are in the front so I can have easier access to them. With this I refigured my yearly budget sheet (also because now I have a job and know what my income will be) and I'm so excited about it. I shouldn't be (it does show me that I am broke) but I am! I love having the numbers in front of me. I printed it and put it up on the bulletin board in my room as a constant reminder that I need to be picky about how I spend the "extra" money I set aside each month for "fun" things.

I also love BYU football. After Saturday's game we jumped in the ratings from #20 to #9. Oklahoma went from #3 to #13. This made me smile. A lot. Utah is at #17, so life is looking pretty good right now. We'll see what happens this weekend when we play Tulane. I'm pumped for football season! It just doesn't get much better than spending my Saturday's in front of the tv (or in the stadium) yelling and cheering for my Cougs!

I Survived!

I survived my first week of classes. Actually, I not only survived it but I loved it! It didn't take too long to get into the swing of things, although it was a little more difficult than the last two years. My second week of work went really well, but makes me really tired. I can't decide which of my classes I like the best, I like them all very very much. All of my classes are related to my major (except for D&C) which is probably why I like them so much, but two of them also fulfill GE requirements. It is going to be a great semester!

My days are pretty much the same:
work, lunch, classes, dinner & homework, sleep. It is fabulous.

Lesley and I do throw in some time for movies when we don't have much homework, but we're making sure to do all of our homework.

Our second week of church went much better than our first. I love our RS Presidency, they are way awesome! Our lesson was from President Monson's talk Pathways to Perfection. Lauren (our RS Pres) taught a great lesson. Sunday School was pretty chill, although I'm not a fan of having Sunday School in a dance room... it has mirrors all around it and it is really hard to hear anything. Sacrament Meeting was great, our Bishopric is great! After church we had a Break the Fast dinner at our wards "grassy knoll". There are some hilarious people in my ward, some really attractive people in my ward, and a lot of people I haven't met yet.

Tonight we have FHE in our FHE groups, I'm excited to be at a ward function in a much smaller group of people, so I can actually get to know the people there.

This weekend we have our ward opening activity and it should be fabulous- a bbq, an outdoor movie and some games. It should be pretty much awesome!

Labor Day Weekend has been fabulous, I've chilled at home most of the time, and it has been amazing. I got all of my homework done on Thursday and have spent time accomplishing most of the things from my "Weekend To Do List"
-watch the A&E Pride and Prejudice (we're finishing it right now)
-give myself a manicure
-give myself a pedicure
-fix my eyebrows
-watch the movie Bolt
-write in my journal
-organize my desk
-do all my laundry
-blog
-organize my weekly schedule
-write Troy, Joseph and Tyler
-organize all of my notes from Education Week
-and put pictures up on my wall (I haven't done that because I forgot to go get sticky tack)

It's been a fabulous weekend so far, and I can't wait for what the rest of the day brings... dinner with a good friend at Brick Oven

Provo Won't Sleep Tonight!

With our win against #3 Oklahoma, Provo has erupted! I watched the game over at Allison's apartment and we stayed there for a while after it ended, just watching the madness that was University Ave. As soon as the game ended EVERYONE in P-town went nuts and started driving around town, honking like crazy. Cars just stopped, honking, singing the fight song, yelling, and just going crazy. Someone set off some fireworks, it was absolutely incredible. The atmosphere was INSANE and I LOVED IT! It was like I was actually in a college town, experiencing a big win.

We were more proud after this game than we were when we beat Utah Freshman year. I LOVE being a Cougar! What a great start to the season!

215 Day

Today is the 2 year anniversary of 215 (freshman apartment) all meeting each other. We celebrated with a "bring your own dinner" party. We met up in Jenny & Sarah's apartment for what was supposed to be a quick meal and a little time to catch up. Two hours later we looked at the clock and realized we were probably driving their new roommates crazy. We had some great stories to hear though... boy stories. It was SO EXCITING. Nothing like walking in an apartment and having m&ms thrown at you. :)

So girls, it's been 2 years... I can't wait to see where we all are in life next September 1st. Missions? Husbands? Boyfriends?

School

School starts on Monday. I think I'm ready for it. I don't think I'm ready for when my alarm rings Monday morning though. All I can say is that I'm glad I have an 8:00 job, not a 4:00 or 4:30am job.

Church is at 1:00 and I'm not really sure how it will be, it will be my first time in a BYU ward that isn't in the dorms. CRAZY! I'm ready to meet a whole new breed of people! YAY!

I'll post again soon to let you all know how these next two days go.

Oh. We have hot water again, and I've done my laundry. Our apartment is pretty much awesome now, and I'll post pictures when I remember to go to the store and buy batteries so I can use my camera again. This is when I miss having the Creamery a minute away.

Why we have cold water, Why I like checking the mail, and Why I Haven't Done My Laundry!!!!!!

We figured out our lack of hot water problem. It isn't fixed yet, but it will be tomorrow when the gas company comes to turn our gas back on... Our managers turn the gas off between residents so that we actually take the time to get the utilities changed to our names-they figure nobody wants to be forced to take cold showers for a year.

Tomorrow the gas guys come and then our maintenance man comes to finish fixing it. I didn't really understand what the lady said, but I followed her directions pretty well. I now have gas & electric bills in my name. CRAZY! Between the two bills, netflix, and the missionaries that write me, checking the mail should be exciting this year!

Lesley and I are enjoying our two week free trial of Netflix right now. Two nights ago we watched Penelope online (I love that feature from netflix) and today our first dvd came in the mail- Hannah Montana: The Movie. We're watching it tomorrow. Next in our queue is 17 Again (featuring Zac Efron). I'm excited! Gotta love that we have nothing to do besides watching movies (and unpacking, and going to work).

Also, I've decided that I'm ready for school to just start already. First I guess I need my textbooks to come in the mail (bought 4 of them online this year) but really, I'm ready. I wake up at 7:15 so I can be at work by 8:00, I work 4 hours and then I just come home. Today I finished building my bookcase, I got my shelf liner all in and put away all of the food that I bought yesterday. Then I went to do my laundry. Didn't happen. Let me tell you why:

The third roommate in our apartment is from Korea. She hasn't moved in yet because she's been in Korea all summer and she gets back tomorrow. While she was in Korea one of her friends has been living in her spot. This girl started moving out the day I started moving in, and she has been gradually getting all of her stuff out. At this point I think she just has stuff left in the kitchen. Then... I go to start doing my laundry and realize that she is still doing her laundry at our apartment. Whenever she comes to pick up her stuff she starts another batch. Lesley and I just want to scream, this girl definitely does not live here, but since I moved in I have never found the washer or dryer empty. I don't know where her clothes keep coming from, I'm pretty sure that she has done an abnormally large number of batches. Maybe she's doing the same batch over and over again because she lets it sit in the washer too long, I don't know. All I know is that I want to do my laundry so I actually have clothes to wear. It's a good thing I have nowhere to be, I don't mind just chillin in my apartment in my basketball shorts and efy tshirts. When she came by earlier tonight to pick up some of her food from the fridge (hooray!) she said she would be back tonight to get her clothes. I sure hope so, otherwise she won't like it when she comes back later and finds all of her clothes sitting in the bathroom floor by the washer and dryer, still wet and all wrinkly.

Today

Today:

-I had an interview for a job
-I got the job
-I watched a HazCom movie so I can start my job tomorrow
-I finished buying my textbooks
-I only spent about $140 on my textbooks. The bookstore said it would cost me $375
-I bought cleaning supplies so I could clean out the kitchen cupboards
-I cleaned out the kitchen cupboards and am now ready to put my kitchen stuff away, once I get shelf paper
-my back, shoulders, arms and legs all started peeling REALLY bad. I look... great
-I didn't get to finish putting together the bookshelf that I bought the other day, because I didn't make it to Home Depot so I couldn't buy the missing screws.
-Lesley (my roommate) and I made chili for dinner because we each had a can of chili in our boxes, and I had my pampered chef micro cooker. we made koolaid in a bowl. did I mention that we haven't unpacked our kitchen stuff because the shelfs were gross...

Why I love my condo:

-ceiling fans in the bedrooms and kitchen
-air conditioner
-we have a balcony!
-it is only a 7 minute walk to Panda Express, which means it is less than a 7 minute walk to Costa Vida. That is very exciting!
-our kicthen wall and the wall above our fireplace are a cool shade of red (i'll post pictures later)
-we have a fireplace
-we have a washer and dryer!!!
-the couches are leather and so comfortable
-our coffee table is incredible
-we have a way cute lamp in our living room
-it is approximately a 10 minute walk to my job!

Why I don't like my condo:
-we currently don't have hot water
-the cold air from the living room (where the air conditoner is) doesn't make it into our bedroom very well
-there aren't shelves in the bedroom (which is why I bought a bookcase)
-there aren't bookcases in the living room like I expected. The unit I looked at before I signed my contract was owned by someone else, so the furniture is a little different. oh well.

What Have I been up to?

This past week was BYU Campus Education Week. I was a host, and I loved it! After hosting in the mornings I went to a bunch of classes, I now LOVE Randal Wright, and reestablished my love for John Hilton's classes. I'll blog more in the next week before school starts, but I'm a little busy right now because I may or may not have moved into my condo a few days early. :)

I Made It!

I'm too tired to really say much, but I made it back to Utah today! I was introduced to Gyros (sp?) on the way home from the airport. I got a small cut on my finger once we got to the house that we're staying at, and it makes typing a little more difficult. Guess I didn't realize how often I use my pinky. Ouch.

I might blog more later, but right now... I want to go to bed.

Vocal Point

I. Love. Vocal Point. That's really all this post needs to say. I've gone to their show each night since day one. From these pictures can you figure out which ones are my favorites??







The first picture is all of them: Scott, Paul, Micah, McKay, Ben, Keith, Mike, Ariel and Grant. This was from the encore, so the song was God Bless the USA.

The second is Keith... I don't remember what song he was singing. It may be from the encore as well.

Third is Mike singing the CRAZY ABCs. Possibly one of my favorites. Grant had to interupt him a lot... like when he sang that "a is for aisle" or "q is for qat".

Fourth is the whole group, with Mike as Josh Groban. The song is Remember When It Rained.

Finally, we have Paul introducing everyone as they sang It's Hip to Be a Square.

Sunset by the Mississippi

It seems like every night for the past week I have gone to see Sunset By The Mississippi. Since I'm getting ready to leave I actually took my camera last night. Here some pictures to help me remember some of my favorite acts from Sunset!





Pretty much my favorite parts of Sunset are the parts that the YPMs (young performing missionaries) are in. I would post other pictures, but then you'd all know exactly which 3 male YPMs are my favorite, and that isn't really necessary... :)

A Few Randoms...

Today was my last day of work in Nauvoo. It was kind of sad to say goodbye to everybody, but it also felt amazing to leave my work shirts and keys behind as I walked out the door. In just a few days I'll be heading back to school and I'll get another job there, so it's nice to have a couple days (okay, maybe like 2 weeks) without a job.

Unfortunately, I have a lot to do. I forgot how much there is to do when "moving".

-I need to pack up all of my crap, which first means cleaning my room so i can find all of my crap and organize it somewhere. I always forget how long this takes too
-I need to get to the Post Office in the random hours it is open to get a mail forwarding card
-I need to get to the bank when it is open to change my address. Seriously Bank of Nauvoo, you should get online banking.
-I need to pick up a few things at Walmart for my flight (can anyone say Princess Coloring Book?)
-I need to call the Church Magazine place and change the address on my Ensign subscription. Really wish I could do this online...
-I want to see a few of the sites in the flats since I have only been to one site since I got here (Scovil Bakery)

The good news is that I can continue making my September meal calendar. I heard back from the Financial Aid office today and thanks to the government and Federal Pell Grants, I will not be eating Ramen for the next year. I have enough financial aid to cover my tuition, health insurance, textbooks and a good chunk of my rent. This was probably the most exciting part of my day, gotta love emails from My Financial Center.

Now excuse me while I go read Harry Potter... I have GOT to finish the last book before I leave.

Two Unrelated Things

1. My roommate Jenny has been here the last few days. I absolutely LOVED having her here! She drove here from Provo with three of the girls that were in the Nauvoo Brass Band with her last summer. We had a great time doing stuff together! I got to do some of the touristy things with them that I wouldn't have really had time for. It was way too much fun sometimes-like when we stayed up til 2:00 every night talking and giggling.

2. My primary boys are really sad about me leaving in a few weeks. They've been asking for a long time when I was leaving, so I made a paper chain to take to church each week. Sundays are yellow and have the date written on them. The day I am leaving is pink and the rest of the days are teal. At the end of class we rip of the Sunday link and count how many days until I leave and also how many "church days" we have left together. The first week I brought it to class Seth cried. I shouldn't say this on my blog, but he's my favorite kid in the class; the one I've bonded with the most. It will be so hard to say goodbye to him. This week I let him help me and after he counted the days he ran over and gave me a big hug and whispered in my ear "I don't want you to leave". I almost cried. I now know how Kourtney felt about leaving her primary class at the end of last summer. I LOVE my class so much. In case you were wondering, I have either 17 or 18 days left (I don't remember).

Why I am Employee of the Week and Thoughts About Airplanes and stuff

Yesterday at work this boy threw up. It was gross. I cleaned it up. And that is why I am Employee of the Week. Too bad we don't really have an Employee of the Week, but Julie (general manager) said if we had one, I would be it this week. It was gross. I don't think he told his grandma or his brother or his cousins that he had thrown up. I watched him go into the playland a while after he threw up. I got angry. I didn't want him barfing up there too. Then he was smart, came down from the playland, and layed down across a few chairs. Ross and Shannon couldn't look at it, otherwise Shannon would've passed out and Ross would've barfed. I'm glad they didn't look at it, I don't think I could've cleaned up two peoples puke in one day, and I don't know what I would've done with Shannon if she had passed out. I'm also proud of myself for not puking when I saw his puke.

In a week Jenny (from freshman apartment) is coming to visit. I'm really, really, really excited. I'm not going to work at the Condos while she is here. And I'm going to get us sweet seats to Pageant. And I get to see Jenny. And her face.

In 26 days I will be on an airplane headed to Utah. Holy cow, I can't believe I've been here for 2 1/2 months. It doesn't seem like it's been that long. But I guess time flies when you do nothing but work, and have a family reunion. My Facebook status is about going back to Utah. Within minutes, Christie, Allison, Jenny and Kelli (all of whom were my roommates in 215) had all "liked" my status. I felt special, but wondered why Sarah (the last roommate from 215) hadn't liked it yet. Then I remembered that unlike anybody else, she had a boyfriend. So she doesn't live on Facebook talking to us all. Paul also liked my status, but he was not my roommate in 215. I like being on airplanes. I listen to my iPod. When my iPod dies (it is old and doesn't last long anymore) I pull out my laptop and listen to music from there. I read books. I color in a coloring book (which reminds me that I need to go buy one and a small box of crayons soon). Lately (meaning since I left for college) I have also used airplanes as a chance to write in my journal. Only most of the time my journal is in my checked bags not my carryon, so I type my journal entry on my computer and then print it when I have my printer again. I also like eating the little cookies/crackers/pretzels that flight attendants hand out, and I drink juice. It is fabulous. I like sitting in the aisle. I hate climbing over people when I go to a seat. I also don't like people climbing over me, so I like to find a seat where the window seat is already taken, and normally I pick one with a business-looking-man who minds his own business. I'm not really a fan of talking to people around me on planes, unless I'm traveling with a friend/family member. Or that one flight when I found my Mia Maid advisor at the airport and we sat together. Or if there is a cute kid sitting in front of me, then I'll talk to the kid (and sometimes their parents), but that is different too. Oh, and at Thanksgiving last year I also talked to the kid on my flight that was a freshman, that lived in Issaquah, who had had one of his legs amputated. He was cool.

In 70 some odd days I'll be in Redmond again! Is it odd that I'm counting down the days until I get to Utah and also the next time I'll be leaving Utah? Probably, but that's how I roll.

I don't know I've written so much, this post was supposed to be about me cleaning up puke. Turns out I wrote more about why I like airplanes, what I do on airplanes, and who I talk to on airplanes.

October!

In October I am headed up to Seattle to spend some time with Steph before she goes on her mission to Dallas. I'm so freaking excited! While I'm up there I get to:

-see Paul and his family

-reexperience General Conference Springgay style. Can I just say I am so excited about that?

-be introduced to Nelson's Bakery and their famous "potato". apparently it is a sin that I lived so close for so long and have never been there?

-see WICKED!

This last thing I get to do makes me so happy! Back in the day (not too long ago, but my senior year of high school) we played a medley of songs from Wicked in band. It was probably my favorite song that we ever played in my whole 8 years of band. Whenever we rehearsed Wicked it was a good day in band. Because I liked it, it was the one song I would practice for fun. I had a sweet oboe solo that I loved, and there were some other way "rememberable" solos too. Tyler bought the Wicked soundtrack and we listened to it every time we were together driving somewhere. That included Prom. As our group drove home from the dance we listened to Wicked. Basically, I LOVE the music so much. And now I get to go see Wicked! I'm just a little bit excited about this.

Umm, that's about it. YAY!

Happy 4th!

Today is the 4th of July. It started like every 4th of July I can remember: raining. I worked for nine hours, and now I am watching some fireworks that are live in New York. Next I'm going to watch some fireworks in Boston because Neil Diamond is performing, and I like him.

Since I last blogged we had our family reunion which was excellent. I have now recovered from the lack of sleep that comes with having 6 little girls in your room and a room full of boys on the other side of the wall. I loved having the Aunt Marci Sleepover, but it feels nice to not get kicked or hit while I sleep. Teagan is like my new best friend, and I can't wait til he comes to BYU in about a year. I'm sure everybody else thought we were total dorks, especially as we hugged eachother goodbye (hopefully I'll have a picture of this in a few weeks once Traci gets back to the island).

Every summer since college started I have had a theme song. I think that during the reunion I found my theme song for this summer. Take A Chance On Me by Abba. I don't really want to explain it here, but it's great.

I'm down to a month and a week until I go back to Utah, which is crazy! I'm excited about the classes I'm taking in the fall, so I'm ready to go back!

I wish I had more to blog about, but pretty much I just work. Oh, the other day at work some kid pooped in the play land. Totally on purpose. She pulled down her pants, squated and pooped. The mom laughed. Julie cleaned it up. I wasn't there, thank goodness, but now we have a sign next to the register that says "Please have your children use the restroom before playing" That was exciting.

Pedicures, Tacos, Dancers

Yesterday at work Natalie decided that we needed to leave Nauvoo together once our shift ended at 3:30. So... we headed all the way to Keokuk. I was introduced to the "mall". Wow. What a mall. After RTC, Bell Square and University Mall... Keokuk was like the Bear Creek Shopping Center. However, there was a nail place and Natalie said she had never gotten a pedicure-so in we went! It was a most excellent time, and she wants to go again before we go back to school. Then we met up with some of her friends for Taco Thursday, which was about halfway decent. Then Nat and I met up with Shannon and Julie (both from work) to watch the ballroom dancers. It was my third time going, but none of the others had been yet. It was kind of fun going out with them all, but I won't be in a hurry to do it again.

I should've been working on my primary lesson, or at least looking at it.

Also, I'm excited for everyone to get here! Only a few days til we nearly double the population of Nauvoo!

One of Those Days...

Today I had one of THOSE days. Most you won't relate exactly... but I had one of those days where I just missed my residents. I was on Facebook and saw pictures from Allysa's wedding. I saw pictures from when Emily got engaged a few weeks ago. I saw pictures of some of the others. I was going through my scrapbooking pile and found the note that Elora left me when she moved out, the one that made me cry and cry during checkouts. Whitney made a comment on my blog. Sierra invited me to join a group. One of my Courtney's showed up in my newsfeed 4 times.

Not very many of my girls read my blog, actually... Whitney is the only one that I know of. But if there are any others who happen to be reading... I MISS YOU!

I miss unlocking your apartment/bedroom doors for you when you are locked out. I miss hall meetings. I miss visiting your apartments. I miss watching The Office with you. I miss the treats that 102 gave me during cleaning checks. I miss walking past you on campus and seeing which of you would actually say hi to me. I miss sitting in the lobby, watching you all come home and figuring out how everybody was doing. I miss stalking the mailman with some of you. I miss you coming in and talking with me in my room. I miss going to your apartments at midnight and staying til who knows when in the morning. I miss helping you guys with your problems. I miss hearing when you got a letter from your missionary, especially the girl with the missionary in the Texas, Houston East mission. I miss hearing stories of your missionaries and telling you stories of all of my friends on missions.

I don't miss waking up to unlock the building. I don't miss checking all 12 stairwells of backdoors in our associate trihall and our trihall. I don't miss filling out incident reports. I don't miss doing your cleaning checks.

Chiggers.

I. HATE. CHIGGERS.

My foot itches, a lot. I have three chigger bites and they are driving me nuts. Wikipedia and Uncle Randy don't match up exactly on what to do with my chigger bites, but that's okay. I'll do what Uncle Randy said, even though Wiki says that it's too late for that to be the most helpful. Stupid chiggers.

See if I ever go for the cute shoes over the practical shoes ever again (at least while I'm in Nauvoo).

On a side note, the BYU Ballroom Dance Company was amazing, and even though I got chigger bites as I watched them, they were FABULOUS. And attractive. AND it was one of the best Friday nights I've had here! I watched the dancers with my new friend Kim. She's here for the summer as an intern with NRI (I don't know what that means though) and she goes to BYU-I. She's hilarious and so is her sister, Kaycee. We met up with some of Kim's friends from work, Lara, Tammy and Michelle, and a girl from institute named Becca. Afterwards we went to Lara's house to watch Phantom of the Opera, and it was amazing! It was great partially because we all are just here for the summer (well, besides Becca)so everybody else around me was in the same boat as me. Nobody was talking about people that they went to high school with, which was an amazing switch from work where everybody knows all the same people except me. YAY!

It keeps telling me that blogger is having a scheduled outage soon, so I'm going to stop the post there, but look forward to another post from me sometime soon.

Primary

As a Primary Teacher (yes, I have a calling now, and that is what I do) it made me really upset today to watch the mother of the most obnoxious kid in my class hand him candy during Sacrament Meeting. He's already crazy enough, and then you send him off to my class so soon after eating a candy bar? Seriously? I hope you have fun sitting in our class with us next week, because we're done dealing with your son. Happy Sunday!

On a happier note, I love primary! The class that I co-teach (CTR 7) has 4 boys in it. They are, for the most part, incredibly adorable! They have a lot of energy, they don't know any of the songs in primary (or at least they won't sing them... maybe they do know them?), and they rarely can get through even 5 minutes of a lesson. Today the Primary President let me know that my job for the summer was to help this class, and that we needed to take turns teaching. For the past two weeks I have been attending this primary class, being the enforcer of a little bit of reverence. Next week I get to teach the lesson. We will not be acting out Laman and Lemuel tying up Nephi (something I have seen in the last two weeks) and we will not be drawing pictures of gumball machines that shoot gumballs up to outerspace (another thing I have seen in the last two weeks). What will we do? I'm not sure. But... they might be able to go home and tell their parents a little bit about the lesson. Perhaps an incentive to be good during lessons would help. I do work at The Adventure Zone... maybe a little class party there could help the boys learn a little reverence? Hopefully when I call the other teacher tonight and let her know that we're co-teachers and that I'm not just helping randomly she'll take the news well. :)

Oh my dear, sweet, siblings. Which of your kids are in the CTR 7 class? They'll get to come to my primary class on a day that I'll be the teacher when they're here for the family reunion! Woohoo!

Kind of Cool...

The case of Propel that I bought today is good until my birthday. I saw the date on the top and got excited. When I turn 21, this Propel will no longer be good. CRAZY!

That's all.

I'm ready...

FOR THE FAMILY REUNION!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's almost June which means that pretty soon all of my siblings, their spouses and their children will be here. I can't wait to see everybody.

As an "adult" I've learned that summer vacation is really less exciting than it was as a kid. It means more work, and less everything else basically. Less social life (at least for me, being here, unless you count texting, facebook and IM as a social life). After a month or so away from school I find myself ready to get back in the swing of things. I'm ready for a lot of things:

-for the bugs of Nauvoo to leave me alone. seriously. as I type this post I am killing bugs that are trying to eat me alive.

-for summer to be over, even though it means classes starting up again.

-for school to start.

-to have a structured schedule

-to move into my new condo.

-to shop for all of the things I need for my condo (kitchen aisle, here i come!)

-to live around the corner from my freshman roommates instead of being scattered
across arizona, utah, illinois and london.

-to not be the only person my age here that didn't grow up here, therefore being the one person who doesn't know the people that everybody else talks about at work all
the time. At least at school most people didn't grow up with each other and you aren't the only one who doesn't know exactly what they're talking about.

-to live close to a good mall again.

-to live in a place with lots of people and exciting things happening.

-to go to a student ward. I liked being in Primary last week, but kids are loud during Sacrament Meeting. Like, really loud. It surprised the crap out of me my first week back here.

Edited Movies

I've decided that edited movies are a beautiful thing. The AZ has a ton of edited movies that people rent from us. The other night when Julie and I were closing we decided we were going to watch a movie so we walked back to the shelves to pick a movie. It was such a hard decision to decide what movie to start with, especially since we both wanted to see a ton of the movies. We decided we'd start in the comedy section and work our way around the racks. I'm so excited to have such easy access to so many edited movies. Julie and I should have a great summer with this collection of movies. The first movie we watched was The Benchwarmers. The edited version was about 10 minutes shorter than the unedited one, and neither of us saw it unedited, so neither of us knew what we were missing, and it was a hilarious movie! I think I'm going to be able to cross a bunch of movies off of my "movies to watch" list that I have started.

Sign Language is SO cool!

This morning I got a phone call asking if I could sub for the Primary Chorister. She gave me a few songs that we needed to sing through and then said to do whatever we needed to for the rest of the time. They have this been wand that is the "reverence wand", so I picked a kid being reverent and they got to pick the song we sang, and then after their song was over they got to pass it on to someone else. I think my favorites were:

1. when a little boy in senior primary (okay, they all looked little to me, but that's what happens when you haven't been to primary in FOREVER) whispered to me and asked if he could hand the reverence wand to an "old person" and I said that he could hand it to whoever he wanted, as long as they were being reverent. The teacher he picked then asked if we could sing Popcorn Popping, and insisted on the actions. It was hilarious!

2. a girl picked How Firm a Foundation. I looked at the primary (it was really small) and told them that I wanted them to show me that they knew it, because I didn't think they could possibly know the 1st and 3rd verses to How Firm a Foundation. Turns out that was just the challenge they needed, and every person in the room sang that song, so proud to prove me wrong.

3. there is a sister in the ward who has Downs Syndrome. Her mom taught her sign language at home, so Janet can speak and sign. She helps in primary (I'm not sure what her calling is since she was there for both junior and senior primary) and she had taught the kids how to sign all three verses of I am a Child of God. My favorite part of primary today was when someone asked if we could sing I Am a Child of God, and the primary president asked Janet if she could come up and lead the signing while I led the singing. Watching all the kids (well, most of them. we did have a visitor and a new teacher) sign and sing I Am a Child of God was AMAZING! I told Janet that I wanted her to help me learn how to sign that song and explained to her that I was learning sign language and loved it.

Basically, while I freaked out before church because I had never been to primary in this ward and I didn't know what they were used to, primary was pretty good. The Primary President asked me if I would be willing to help out again when they needed it and I told her that I thought I could handle that.

There are some super cute kids in the ward here! It was fun today to recognize some of the kids at church as the kids that came to The Adventure Zone yesterday.

Tomorrow is my first day being the Manager on Duty at the AZ (aka, my first shift without Julie there). I'm pretty excited about it-I've got Shannon and Jake working with me, so it should be a pretty smooth morning! I'm not sure what the day will be like though, it is a holiday and the first day of our summer hours, so it could be dead or crazy there. Wish me luck!

I am the Donut Lady

I don't know if you are familiar with Brian Regan's sketch about The Donut Lady. If you aren't, maybe you should search for it on Youtube. Basically, you walk into a donut shop, say you want a dozen donuts, start picking your donut and each time you pick a donut you ask the donut lady how many donuts you have left. At work we have arcade games that give you tickets, then you go to the redemption counter and you can get "cool" prizes with your tickets. The kids that come in make me feel like I am the donut lady. I tell them they have 20 tickets, they pick something that costs 10 tickets and then ask how many tickets they have left. I think we need to institute a rule that says you have to be able to do the subtraction yourself, I am not your calculator. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen, so yesterday I was THE DONUT LADY! At least in my head I got to think the whole Brian Regan sketch our in my head, hahahahaha.

Also, if you are looking for some good church music to listen to I highly suggest the piano solos of Paul Cardall. You can find his music on iTunes, youtube or on his website. I am a big fan now, especially after I raed his life story about his heart problems and his current need for a heart transplant. He's got a great story, and his music is fabulous! In the last week I have bought a cd of his (The Hymns Collection) off of iTunes and purchased the piano book that went along with it, and now that the book is here I have been waiting for our company to leave so I can sit at the piano and figure out some of the songs.

Back to work... this week I have:
-learned how to make pizza (at least a few types)
-helped clean a grease trap
-mopped the nasty undersides of the foam tiles that line the toddler area of the jungle zone
-defrosted a freezer (with Julie)
-worked for 3 parties
-learned how to use the register
-cleaned the ovens (with Julie)
-cleaned both bathrooms (with Julie)
-helped get rid of a bird that was living in the building
-learned how to turn all the arcade games on
-worked the redemption counter
-done a lot of dishes
-rung (is that spelled right?) out a billion rags used for cleaning {my wrist hurts from doing this so much, but that's alright}
-answered the phone and been able to correctly answer peoples questions
-vacuumed under the jungle zone
-learned how to open the kitchen (that means prepping it for the day, not physically opening the door to the kitchen...)
-learned how to close the place down
-done a lot of other stuff.

Julie and I have been really busy all week (well, since she got home on Monday night we've been way busy). It's been hilarious to get to know her a little, and to get to know Shannon, one of our co-workers. Oh my goodness, those two girls are hilarious.

You Are So Beautiful To Me...

I LOVE The Little Rascals. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I love it so much that when I bought new oboe reeds I named them after characters from the movie. I think it's one of those classic films that I need to purchase. It's on my long list of movies I need to watch. This list is over 130 movies long, probably 1/2 of which I have never seen and the other 1/2 are movies that I just love and need to see again. I'm hoping to have Netflix next year (depending on financial aid, and if my roommates want to go in on it together, etc.) so I can get through this list, but I decided to start over the summer.

It being Saturday night, and only 9:00 pm I knew it was too early for me to go to bed. Luckily nobody else was at the TV, so I went through the dvds for a few minutes and finally found The Little Rascals. I knew I had to watch it.

WOOHOO!

"It wasn't sand, it was kitty litter" probably one of my favorite lines.

The Last 24 Hours

In the last 24 hours, Mom and I have watched Anne of Green Gables. All 7 hours of it. Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea. I forgot how much I like these movies, how much I disliked the Pringle girls, and how much I wanted Anne and Gilbert to get married from the beginning.

I'm deciding to keep track of the movies I watch this summer. So far:
1. Twilight (it was FHE the day after I got home)
2. Hatching Pete (a Disney Channel Original, that I REALLY liked)
3. Anne of Green Gables

I'm doing pretty well considering how long I've been home.

Monday I started working. Deep cleaning The Adventure Zone is intense! I don't work set hours right now, but I've gotten a ton of cleaning done so far this week. I can't wait til next week when Julie (my cousin) gets home and we get to tackle cleaning the kitchen together, among many other things.

Aside from work and watching Anne, I haven't done too much this week. I made a killer Pandora station, it is fabulous. I thought about going running once, but then that didn't happen.

Yeah. That's this week so far.

And now, ladies and gentlemen...

My Washington drivers license was going to expire on my birthday this year, and since I'll be turning 21 I get to go renew my license and get a new one... one that is turned the other way. However, I have no idea when I'll be in Washington next... so, this week I became a legal resident of Illinois. My license here is good for 3 months after my birthday, which means when I come back for Christmas I get to go get my next new drivers license. Did you know that in Illinois there is no law that says that children cannot ride in the front seat? I did not know this, so I missed that question on my written test. I also registered to vote.

This week I also have... been all over Quincy (wherever that is) with Mom as we ran around looking for fabric for pajamas for the family reunion. I think we are steered towards plaids right now (no longer looking for pioneer/handcart themed fabric). We went to this store called Hobby Lobby. It's one of my new favorite places. I picked up some scrapbooking supplies, and I've spent today (and last night) figuring out how I want to scrapbook my first two years of college. BYU has classes that teach you how to cook, how to do water aerobics, how to basketweave... but they do not have a scrapbooking class. It makes me kind of sad. Oh well, once I get back to Utah I'm sure I'll find a bunch of really big craft stores, and even some that are specific to scrapbooking. I haven't scrapbooked in a long time, and even back then I wouldn't really say I scrapbooked. I was pretty good at using glue sticks and getting pictures on a piece of paper, and maybe some sort of caption. I've moved away from 8 1/2 x 11 and now have a 12x12 scrapbook. All of the scrapbooks and extra sheet protectors were 50% off at Hobby Lobby, so I felt justified in making the switch now.

What else have I been up to? Well. I've introduced mom to Paula Deen from Food Network. I've been trying to find times when Bobby Flay is on (she doesn't know who he is either) but so far I've only watched Bobby at night, when mom is asleep. I pretty much am obsessed with The Food Network. It is such a good thing that I haven't had access to this channel while I've been at school. Between Food Network and The Disney Channel I can always find something at least remotely interesting to watch on tv.

Mom and I went to Grandma & Grandpa's to play games last night. Grandma and I were a team and we beat Grandpa & Mom at Hand and Foot... really bad. So bad that we didn't even figure out the final score. We were only ahead by 5 points going into the last round, but we went out, and Grandpa had a bunch of points still in his Foot, which we didn't let him get into. If you haven't played the game this might not make sense, but if you have... you know what I mean. And if we have the same grandparents and you have not played Hand and Foot I want to know how you've gotten away with this.

On Facebook this week a lot of the guys (and some girls) from my ward have been posting notes of their memories of the year, and commenting about how much they miss being in Provo with all of their friends. I know I wrote a post on here about how much I was going to miss my RA friends and Megan, but is it wrong that I don't miss my roommates one bit, and that I like being able to control when/if/how I want to communicate with everybody else? Sure, I've put on Facebook that going to mutual with mom made me miss my girls, but really I would prefer 58 freshman girls over a ward full of youth anyday. I forgot what Deacons and Beehives are like. Holy cow. That's what 2 years of college and a summer in a Singles Ward do to you. I guess my point in this paragraph is to remember that right after my freshman year I felt the same way that these kids all feel now, so I guess it's normal.

I found mom's Dustbuster today. Oh. My. Gosh. I LOVE it! I want one. I quickly put one of the attachments on it and cleaned out the cracks (I don't know what to really call the space between the tiles) between the tiles on the kitchen floor. Oh man! And then I cleaned some of the corners in the kitchen, under cupboards and stuff. Oh man. Doing 8 months worth of Cleaning Checks has really taught me how to keep my eye out for things that need to be cleaned. I've also cleaned part of the dishwasher, because it was gross, and I know that the rubber gasket in the fridge/freezer needs to be cleaned too. I emailed Megan to ask her if I am ruined for life. Looks like I am. I guess I should just enjoy living in clean places.

I start work on Monday. And guess what I get to do all of next week? CLEAN!!! I get to deep clean as much of the Adventure Zone as I can. I am so excited. It will be funny to see how much area I can actually cover in a day. Everything needs to be cleaned so thoroughly so it might take me a long time to clean a small-ish area. The good thing is I'm doing all of this cleaning now, not 2 years ago. Two years ago my version of clean was putting everything in my closet. Now my idea of clean... is using a dustbuster (or at school a Mighty Mite) to edge my room after everything is put away in it's own spot. This Adventure Zone is going to be looking good after Aunt Kathy gets back from her little week long trip.

Jam, anyone?

The last 48 hours have been kind of crazy. Saturday I finished prepping my building for conferences, did my cleaning, did some other moving of stuff (arrrggggg), had breakfast and lunch with my favorite RAs and HAs, and then Rachel came to pick me up. Unfortunately I was about an hour behind on my schedule (and I can fully place the blame on someone else)so Rachel first started by helping me vacuum up my room. I said my goodbyes to Megan and reminded her that I would be harassing her next year, however I guess it isn't really harrassing, since she told me that I better. Rachel and I headed up to Target so she could get some things, and then she introduced me to the beauty that is Chick-Fil-A. I had never been, and now I'm sad that I won't be able to go back for a few months. Then we went home to her place, ate our dinner, and I went upstairs to take a shower. When I was done, we watched The Food Network for a while. I forgot how much I love Paula Deen and Bobby Flay. Oh man! I watched Food Network for a while, while Rachel went out with some of her friends. I went to bed way early, which was very nice.

Sunday morning Rachel dropped me off at the airport and then I flew home. On the way home we stopped for dinner (man, was it good) and once we got to the house I started unpacking. It didn't take too long, but some of the stuff still isn't all put away. We watched Numb3rs and something else like unto it, then I went to bed.

Today... Mom and I made JAM! I now know how to make jam! We made a bunch of Raspberry and Strawberry jam. We also went to the Post Office so that the lady that works their could see my ID. And we went to some little store called Duck's so mom could buy whipping cream (we're having CREPES for FHE tonight!!!!)

And... because I am talking to Braedon (FHE brother) on Facebook right now, I realized that if it was still school, right now I would be at Megan's apartment, playing with her boys and having a meeting with her where we would discuss my residents, why my basement smelled like poop, and other random fun things like that.

I was asked if I would keep blogging while I'm here. I certainly plan on it! I have to come into mom's office to catch the wireless though... and if I'm lucky I can keep my connection if I leave the room. I will try to update with random stories and such throughout the summer, but it won't be at all like my blog during school.

I totally lost it today...

I was doing so well with checkouts-hadn't shed a tear. Not when I said goodbye to my roommates, other residents, boys in the ward, or my Kimball boys. Once I hit this afternoon I came to the conclusion that the tears wouldn't happen until I said goodbye to the RAs and HAs.

Then it happened. I was setting up the empty bedrooms for Women's Conference and I hit the room where two of my favorite girls lived. They both spent a lot of time with me throughout the year. Elora was one of the first girls to move in, and she moved in a few days early, so we ate ice cream together and watched movies and finger painted together until everyone else came. Lesley was my hall president, a future RA, and just hilarious. I got to their bedroom, and Elora had left me a note on her bed. The back of the note was one of the pictures we had fingerpainted together. We had each put our hand prints on it, and the note said how this picture reminded her that she could come to me whenever because I was always willing to lend a helping hand. I totally just lost it as I read the note and saw the handprints.

Then. I came back down to my room and my iTunes was on. The song that started right after I came into my room was "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins. Ya. That killed me too. Since you might not know the words, I'll put some of them here:

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Then I just kept crying. And now I'm writing this, still crying. Is it pathetic that when I walked back into my room the first thing I did was pick up my laptop and log in to blogger? Wow, go me.

In about 24 hours I'll be out of here. WEIRD.

Pretty Hands

The black stuff is apartment numbers that I needed to go to for cleaning checks. People call like crazy, and I didn't always have a paper with me, so my hand was my ongoing list.

My middle finger knuckle became a victim to the wall. Because my hall has conference guests staying soon (Women's Conference), before we leave on Saturday we get to put mattress pads, pillows and blankets on each bed. I have 9 rooms that are empty right now (that I know of) so I'm getting a headstart. Unfortunately as I dragged a box of pillows up to my room from the basement my finger scraped against the wall. I love bloody knuckles. Too bad anything I would use to fix is already packed in a box.

You can't see my finger nails, but they are super short and have dirt and stuff underneath them.

Today I got everything in my room packed except for my computer, my camera, and my bathroom stuff. I'm exhausted from packing. We had lunch at the Cannon Center today, so I'm exhausted from eating 3 plates of main entrees and 2 desserts. Then there was the moving of the boxes. Oh, and a bajillion checkouts this morning. Next on my list... load up FHE brothers van so he can help me take my stuff up to Jeanne's parents house tonight. Then when my stuff is mostly out of here (and my suitcases that are packed are hidden in my closets) I get to rearrange my room, steal a bed from my neighbors apartment and put it in my room. I think I will have done more lifting/exercising today than the whole semester combined... maybe with the exception of the night Megan and I (and some Kimball boys) moved Christmas Trees from the basements.

Yay for my pretty hands.