nostalgia

Let us mark this day down in history.
It was my last day of class.

EVER.

My last day in room 888 of the Widtsoe building.
My last time running outdated lab tests.

No longer will I be surrounded by my fellow classmates every day all day.
No more friday morning cramming sessions.

In a few short months I will be a BYU graduate.
A six month intership is all that stands in my way.
I am moving on to bigger and better (?) things.

Look out world, ready or not, here I come!

winter wonderland

There is something majestic and beautiful about the snow.  I know that the only difference between snow and rain is the temperature at which the precipitation forms, but snow is truly beautiful (at least until I get sick of it that is...).  Although, rain can also be beautiful. I dedicate this post to the first snow storm of November in Provo.  Here comes the cold.

big news

As you can tell from the backwards sticker in my picture, I voted!

I am glad that I was able to take part in the life changing election by casting my vote.  Oh, and this is the first time that I have even had the chance to vote for president. 

That is right, I made a difference in the world by voting today.

picture documentary

here is a summary of the last week or so of my life...

we took random pictures in my car

the things a student will do for extra credit (like dress up as a parasite for example)

we carved pumpkins

and they turned out looking fabulous

and some more of girls night...

that's all.

girl's night

Since it had been a while, some of us girls decided that we needed to play last night.  So, Emily, Sarah, Kati, and I went out for a night on the town (well kind of...).  To start it all off, we went out to dinner at Fazoli's.  It was some pretty amazing Italian food.  For some reason though, it took them ten minutes to make Emily's sandwich and only about 30 seconds to make everyone else's pasta.  We were a little confused.  Afterwards, to help Kati could get in her exercise for the day, we decided to go walk around the mall.  We went into random stores and tried on clothes that we would never wear, however; they would have looked stunning in the 80's.  It was kind of fun because we would piece together random articles of random colors and try them on.  The best part is that we actually looked good in some of the outfits that we concocted (e.g. Sarah in the below picture).

Afterwards we went back to Sarah's house and helped her finish making the invitations to her wedding ceremony, which she reminded us is in 27 days...well, 26 now.  We had so much fun and we will definitely be doing it again!

what dreams are made of

It is a bad sign that as I was trying to fall asleep all I could think about was lipoprotein lipase? Or that when I woke up one of the first things I thought about was lipoprotein lipase?

Thank you compreshensive midterm exams.

nightmare-ish

As requested, I have decided to resume blogging. I have been insanely busy with school and work and thus, my blog has been neglected. No need to fear, I have come back around to the good side and will try my best to keep it updated.

Last night, my brother called me and said that he was coming up to go to the Haunted Forest in American Fork with his friends, and wondered if I wanted to come. So, my Friday night was spent being frightened (well sort of...).


I am not by any means a haunted house enthusiast, but for the most part I was very impressed with the show last night. We ended up going to both the Psycho Manor and the Haunted Forest. A quote from their website (http://www.hauntedutah.com/forest.html) says this about just how terrifying it can be:

"Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a real forest overflowing with demons and ghouls. Caves, swamps, abandoned mine shafts, rundown shacks and other sights that will make your blood curdle. Haunted Forest is not an old supermarket maze filled with amateurs, this is the closest thing you will ever come to the real thing. Make sure to bring plenty of friends, because people rarely make it through alone."

Though this might be a slight exaggeration, if you like to get scared and feel the Halloween spirit, I would recommend this experience. Beware: they do have men carrying around chain saws. Yes, I know that they don't have their chains on them and that they can't even hurt you really, but I DO NOT like them. Not one bit. I can handle all the scary monsters and painted faces, even the people randomly appearing in front of me, but not the chain saws. They make me run every single time - without fail.


What really makes it scary though is the anticipation of being scared. While you are waiting line, they have scary music, gory movies, men with chain saws running about, and pictures such as the one above posted around the area. If we hadn't waited in line for as long as we did (probably only about 15) the whole experience wouldn't have been nearly as scary.

Other things - I am now officially halfway through my final semester of classes! I get to start my internship in a couple months and then I will graduate in April! How crazy is that? I must be getting old or something. haha.

yes, it's black

I seem to have a hidden gothic streak that is finally making itself manifest. I'm not really sure where it comes from, but I have decided to embrace it. In July, I discovered black fingernail polish. Since then I have had black fingernails. My most recent gothic move was dying my hair black. That was a big one. So ladies and gentlemen, when you see me with black hair know that it was on purpose and not a dying experiment gone wrong.

sunday thoughts

Abide With Me; 'Tis Eventide

Abide with me; 'tis eventide. 

The day is past and gone;

The shadows of the evening fall;

The night is coming on.

Within my heart a welcome guest,

Within my home abide.

O Savior, stay this night with me;

Behold, 'tis eventide.

O Savior, stay this night with me;

Behold, 'tis eventide.

Abide with me; 'tis eventide.

Thy walk today with me

Has made my heart within me burn,

As I communed with thee.

Thy earnest words have filled my soul

And kept my near thy side.

O Savior, stay this night with me;

Behold, 'tis eventide.

O Savior, stay this night with me;

Behold, 'tis eventide.

Abide with me, 'tis eventide,

And lone will be the night

If I cannot commune with thee

Nor find in thee my light,

The darkness of the world, I fear,

Would in my home abide.

O Savior, stay this night with me;

Behold, 'tis eventide.

O Savior, stay this night with me;

Behold, 'tis eventide.

introspection

I seem to be doing a lot more deep and thought out posts lately than I normally do. Maybe I have some unfulfilled need for introspection in my life. I don't know. Here is yet another deep, introspective post.

While at work today, one of my coworkers asked me what would seemingly be a simple surface question - "Are you enjoying your college experience?" My immediate answer was, of course, yes. But then I got to thinking...am I really enjoying my college experience? I have a solid three years of it now. I will spare you my answer but just think about all that is included in the simple statement of "are you enjoyoing your college experience?" I would venture to say that anyone's answer to this question once they thought about it would be pretty deep, pretty deep indeed. And if nothing else, it is a thought provoking question.

oye. the life.

My recent lack of posts can be blamed on a couple things...

a. Work
b. Finding somewhere to live/moving

c. Sleeping-it seems to be sort of a necessity (believe me, I have tried to go without it and it just doesn't quite work as well as I would like it to)

So, I will play a little catch up in this post.

First off, we had our annual family Seven Peak's Day. My whole family and a couple of my mom's sisters family's came. We had a lot of fun like we usually do. Also, Sarah and I renewed our season passes for next year which is fabulous because that means we can go splash in the wave pool and lay out all we want. haha.

Next, we had the cousin's sleepover. Because Emily and I tend to act like an old married couple she came with me. We did all of the usual family reunion activities which included the Oak City Day's parade and an amazing pot luck dinner, followed by crafts and the farmer's market the next day.

My family dynamic spans three generations-the aunts and uncles, the cousins, and then the cousin's children. As a consequence, we have people of all ages at the cousin's sleepover. We got to play with the babies and talk to my other cousins about getting married. And at one point, my uncle was trying to tell me how he wanted his daughter to know his funeral plans. Like I said, all ages. It is so much fun every year!

The good and bad news is that my crazy summer is coming to an end. I will start my last semester of actual classes in a short week and a half. Hopefully my schedule will start to stabilize when school starts. Funny, but I never thought that my schedule would be less hectic while I was in school.

things you should know

1. My coping mechanism is indifference.  If I sense that I will be experiencing any sort of emotional pain, my brain closes off and becomes indifferent.

2. It is pretty hard to make me angry.  However, one sure fire way to accomplish that is to treat me like I am stupid.  That sets me off almost every time.

3. When I start things I have to finish them whether I like it or not.  For example, the Twilight series.  I was annoyed at the main character through the whole second and third books, yet I was among those who bought the fourth book on the day it came out.

4. Cleaning calms me.  

5. I am slightly OCD.  Anyone who spends any amount of time around me will be sure to notice this little fact.

6. I am borderline germ-a-phobe.  That probably comes with the whole OCD thing though.

7. Generally, I am a very happy person.  I have amazing family and friends surrounding me.  All in all, I am very blessed.

spirit fingers

As many of you know, my mom is the cheer coach at Parowan High School. As such, she needed an assistant to go to camp with her. Because I am a former cheerleader (and also her daughter...) she asked me to go along. So, last Monday I loaded up a 15 passenger van with 10 cheerleaders and all of their gear for the week's events and we took off to Flagstaff, Arizona. The course of events to follow reminded me eerily of my cheerleading days. It was kind of fun to be on the advisor side though and see how it all goes down from that angle. It definitely gave me a new perspective on things.

This is the classic Tiffany/Brittani (she just happens to be one of the cheerleaders) picture of the week.

.

Two days in to the four that are spent at cheer camp, one of the main bases hurt her arm. This wreaked havoc to the pyramids the little cheerleaders had been incorporating into their routines for pass offs and such. My mom then had this genius idea that, because I was there and had also been a cheerleader so knew what I was doing, I should take her place. After getting it approved from the people in charge I did end up taking her place in the stunts. It worked out pretty well because I looked more like one of the girls than an advisor anyways. It also helped that they had enough extra camp clothes that just happened to be my size so I matched the rest of the girls. And can I tell you, through basing for those last two days I worked muscles that I haven't in years. I was just a tad bit sore afterwards. I was able to pull off all the stunts that we tried though so I'm guessing that I was at least a little bit helpful.

I am the base on the right hand side for the stunt group right smack dab in the middle.

growing pains

Going home this past week really got me to thinking.  I was able to see lots of my high school friends and reminisce and catch up with everything that is going on in their lives.  Through this process, i realized how much of a different person I am now than I was then.  

Three years ago, I was freshly graduated from high school, and in my own little way I thought that I was pretty cool.  I had graduated with honors and, as the senior class president, I even gave the welcoming speech at my graduation.  I worked as an intermediate EMT on the Parowan Ambulance, lifeguarded at the city pool, and I had a full tuition scholarship lined up for me in the fall at the University of Utah.  Everything was going in my favor.  I didn't really have to try, things were just given to me.  I was ready to move on with my life.  I had closed the high school chapter and couldn't wait to start my college life.  At the time, I thought that I had it rough when my friends wouldn't call to hang out with me.  I had my struggles, but for the most part my life was really good and easy.  

The next three years changed me in ways that I never imagined.  I went my first semester without a 4.o.  I had to support myself and make my own decisions.  I was thrown into a new city with new people.  I didn't have a curfew, I could date anyone I wanted, and I was living the city life.  I fell in love, planned a wedding, and had my heart broken.  I transferred schools and ended up at BYU.  I fought with my mom more than ever before.  I learned how to make new relationships with people while maintaining ones that I already had.  I bonded with roommates quicker than ever before.  I had to tell people things and rely on others to help me through hard times.  My paypal account was broken into so I had to work to get my $850 that was stolen back.  I totaled my car and now make payments on a new one.

Through all of this, I have grown exponentially.  I am a much better person now than I ever dreamed I could be.  Because I am a firm believer that there are no coincidences, I know that the things that I have gone through have all happened for a reason.  I am exactly where I need to be at this point in my life.  Three years ago if you had asked me if I would ever go to BYU or send off a missionary I would have laughed and told you that you didn't know me very well.  But, now here I am and I am loving every minute.  In a way, I have really found myself.  Though I still have miles to go, I know who I am and what I really want out of life.  I am willing to accept change and have an open mind.  I also know that I deserve the best and I don't need to settle for anything less.  

late night hunting

12:15 a.m. Tiffany and Little Jon start out on a walk. They don't really think that it will be that long. Afterall, he does have to work at 8 in the morning. Oh, and side note-neither of them are wearing any shoes. They are both only sporting socks.

12:30 a.m. Jon has since taken off his socks because they are white and this is turning into a longer walk than expected. Part of the sidewalk is getting watered by the sprinkler along with the grass beside it. Jon gives Tiffany a piggy back over the wet side walk because she is still wearing her socks (which are black by the way) and doesn't want to get them wet.

12:45 a.m. They arrive at Kiwanis (spelling?) park. In order to get to the swings, they have to walk through a large field. Every sprinkler in the field is spraying away so they decide to run through the field in order to minimize how wet they get.

12:48 a.m. They get to the park. After they climb to the top of the fake rock, Tiffany realizes that her phone (which she bought yesterday) is no longer is her pocket. This is particularly bad because by this time, they have covered quite a bit of ground through out the course of the walk. The searching commences. Jon runs to the big field covered in sprinklers to start looking. Tiffany looks around the rock that they climbed then goes and joins him.

1:15 a.m. Tiffany and Jon have still not found her phone. They have called it numerous times to no avail. They are still looking in the big field with the sprinklers.

1:20 a.m. Still looking in the big field. Still no success.

1:25 a.m. Convinced that there is no way that they will find her black phone in the middle of the night in a dark field they decide that maybe, just maybe, it could have fallen out when he gave her a piggy back. As a last measure, they start to retrace their steps.

1:30 a.m. Tiffany and Jon arrive at the place where he gave her a piggy back. They start to analyze all the possible scenarios of how and where her phone could have fallen out.

1:31 a.m. Jon takes off in a run to a shiny black spot on the ground about 15 feet ahead of where they are standing. He bends down and picks up Tiffany's phone. They have found it at last.

weekend adventures

Random road trips are perhaps the most fun ones.  This past weekend, my roommate and I (along with our boys) decided to spend the weekend in Federal Way, Washington.  Which, by the way, is where she is from.  Consequently, we left Friday at 7 p.m. to begin our 13 hour drive.  After arriving at 7 in the morning we decided that we should take a nap (or get a nights sleep? something...).  When we woke up Emily showed us all around Federal Way.  We played on beaches, had some slurpees, went shopping, and latin dancing.  All in a days work.  After church on sunday, our short time in Federal Way was up and it was time to once again commence the 13 hour drive home so that we could all go to work on Monday (or school in Emily's case).  We had so much fun!  Yay for roadtrips!

Little Jon and me walking along the board walk.

Emily and Nate showing off their mad heel clicking skills.

Our whole little group makes the "do I look different face?" but for some reason I just can't do it.  I sure did try though.

Emily and me playing in the freezing cold, but beautiful, ocean.

eating quarters

A few days ago I got a text from my mom that read "we are going to Oak City to eat quarters".  Naturally, I was confused.  I responded by asking why exactly we were going to eat quarters.  As it turns out, we are actually making a quilt out of fat quarters for our annual Cousins' Sleepover.  It will kind of be in memory of my Grandma (who, if you don't know, was basically the quilting queen and made all 34 or so of her grandchildren at least 7 quilts each and that doesn't even take into account her children).

So today, my family and I met in Oak City in order to start our process of quilt making.  We each made 20 squares of the above design.  When the time comes (middle of August) we will trade them with other members of my family that have also made some so that we can each have a big conglomerate quilt from various members of our family.  It should be pretty cool :)
After cutting and sewing enough material together to make three whole quilts we decided that it was time to eat.  My poor sister has strep throat, so this was particularly hard for her.  If you can notice the difference in our tongues (hers is much more white than any normal, healthy person's should be) you can see the sickness.  She does much better when she has some ibuprofen in her system.  Seriously, it's like night and day.

All in all, it was a fabulous day with the family!

Oh, and I almost forgot.  There was totally a snake on my aunt's kitchen floor today.  I walked in to get a drink of water and almost stepped on it.  I proceeded to scream "THERE IS A SNAKE IN YOUR KITCHEN! THERE IS A SNAKE IN YOUR KITCHEN AND I AM NOT KIDDING!"  Shortly after that my brother came and took care of it.  It was a rather interesting and unexpected experience.  Thankfully I survived without any harm done.

the mourning pool and spa

Love is not in the air. Due to a handful of my friends (my roommates included) recently going through break ups, we decided to open up a mourning pool and spa. Actually, the way that it really happened is that my roommate with the most recent break up had a little bit of a breakdown at Albertson's and bought a kiddie pool. Naturally, being the good roommates and friends that we are, we helped her to make good use of her new purchase.

This is why it is called the mourning pool and spa. If anyone needs to come and partake of the mourningness that is in our front yard please feel free.

pre-testing rituals

Now I might be wrong, but I think that all of us have at least a little superstition in us.  I also think that this superstition is often made manifest when we have to take a test.  Take for example my pre-test ritual...

1. Do all of the big important studying in order to sufficiently prepare.  It is in the final two hours or so that the rituals make themselves manifest.

2. T minus two hours:  the final crunch begins.  

3. I look through my flashcards again and again and all of the final study preparations are made.

4. I make the trek to the dreaded testing center (or the computer lab on the 4th floor of the Witdsoe depending on the time of year).

5. I take a drink of water.  For some reason I have always done this.  Perhaps this small bit of refreshment will give me a needed boost of brain power.

6. Now it is bathroom break time.  My world would come crashing down if all I could think about while taking a test is how much I had to go to the bathroom.

7. My last little bit of nourishment before I go in to my doom is to eat some chocolate.  I'm not picky as to what type...it can be a brownie, chocolate bar, or just some chocolate chips.  I think that sometime in my life I have heard that eating chocolate stimulates some part of you brain so that you remember better.  I could be very wrong.

8. I have to take another drink in order to wash down the chocolate.  Having my mouth all sticky and dry would also distract me or something.

9. Finally, after like five minutes of non-studious activities, I walk in and get my test.  

I'm not sure if all of this silly little routine actually does anything for my test taking ability.  It is probably more of just a comfort/psychological thing that my subconscious would freak out about if I didn't perform.

let the serenade begin

I had the privilege of going to a Secondhand Serenade concert yesterday and man, it was so much fun!  For those of you who haven't heard of Secondhand Serenade, he sounds very much like Dashboard Confessional.  It is basically the description of my type of music so I rather enjoyed it :)  

Ferras was the opener.  He was a very good opener and kept us all entertained for a while.  However, I do think that he forgot that he was in Utah and I am surprised that he got away with doing some of the things that he did.  Haha...okay, not really.  But, we enjoyed saying that and laughing about it.

This is Emily and me in between the opener and the actual show patiently waiting for the moment to come...

And then it came.  Can I just tell you that there is something very VERY attractive about a guy who is singing and basically bearing his soul and rocking out on a guitar in front of hundreds of people.  Very attractive.  We were in heaven.  He could sing to me everyday.  

This was the opening song, so all of the cameras in front of my are also videotaping.  It was definitely a good way to start the concert out.  Oh, and p.s. it is only a snipit of the whole song so it won't take forever to listen to.

He was born to tell me that he loves me.  Isn't that sweet?

This song could very well be my favorite song by him.  It nothing else, you should listen to the video to at least the part with the heart beat.  I love it.

This last video is of the encore song.  However, it just wouldn't be a Secondhand Serenade concert without hearing Fall for You, so it is a good thing that we had an encore.  In John's words, we, the crowd, were "more than brilliant".  Take that!

word to the wise...

This last saturday my roommate and I decided that we would host a trip to the hot springs.  We invited some friends and were all prepared for a good time.  Now, if you know the hot spring options around Utah County, you know that there are some in both Spanish Fork Canyon and Lehi.  We made the decision to go to Lehi.  This is where we went wrong.  Unless your idea of a good time in the hot springs includes floating dead fish, wading through mud puddles, and smelling like dead fish may I suggest to you that you make the trek down to Spanish Fork instead.  And don't let the 2.5 mile hike deter you.  Take my word on this one.  Granted we were able to make the best of it.  After sitting in the dreaded hot springs for about five minutes (ten tops) we decided that we had had enough and that we wanted a hot tub instead.  Hot tubs are much more sanitary.  So, to cleanse ourselves of the toxins that we were exposed to at the hot springs, we spend the majority of the evening relaxing in the nice, clean water of a hot tub.  

My advice to you is this:  unless you are feeling very adventurous, go to Spanish Fork and don't let the drawbacks of a hike or the possibility of people swimming around nude deter you.  Just don't do it.

sister's week

the wiggly jeep

Last night we had a little gas incident.  While on our way to Applebees, which had become a Friday night tradition of sorts, the jeep officially ran out of gas.  We were sitting at the light at State Street and University Parkway waiting to turn left and rocking out so some music when it first started to happen.  The jeep didn't have the get up and go that a normal car does when taking off.  It was a little shaky, but we thought that we would be able to make it to the next gas station.  As we were passing by Ken Garff Honda the shaking got considerably worse and progressed onto jolting.  We pulled of into the parking lot right as the engine shut off.  Oops...

Here is the jeep in all of its out of gas glory.  And its surprised driver in the front seat.

While we were waiting to be rescued, we decided to put our time to good use.  What better way to do that than by taking pictures?

Annali and Isaac came to our rescue.  Thank goodness.  We were starting to get some weird people stopping and asking questions.

We finally got some more gas and continued on our way to eat a fantastic appetizer combo and some desert shooters.  

retail therapy

Sometimes it just feels good to buy something for yourself.  Something that you have wanted but just can't convince yourself to spend money on.  This is the story of my life.  For those of you that know me, you know that me spending money on something that isn't really necessary for my existence doesn't happen very often.  But, I broke my long track record of not buying something new the other day.  I was looking through my closet and realized just how awful all of my clothes were.  I didn't have anything cute to wear and I was just sick of all of my clothes.  So, I decided to do something about this.  My mom, dad, and brother were in town and for some reason we always go to the mall whenever they are (my dad and brother love this by the way).  So I went shopping.  And the big news is that I bought something.  Not much, but just enough for me to feel good about the contents of my closet again.  Even though I just spent a lot of money by driving to California this last weekend, I bought myself a shirt.  And let me tell you, it felt really great.  No buyer's remorse here. 

ode to the beach

On thursday I got home from class at 8 o'clock at night. My roommate, Emily, mentioned that she really wanted to go to California for the weekend. While talking with Emily and my other temporary roommate, Val, we decided to go for it. So in the true spirit of being a college student, I took a roadtrip this weekend. It was high time that our presence was seen on the beautiful beaches of California.

The four of us left on Friday around 1 pm. We drove for twelve long hours. It was actually a rather enjoyable time. Time flies when you are having fun (even when you are cooped up in a car). It turns out that my car gets pretty amazing gas milage. We were all impressed and pleasantly surprised. While driving through the mountains to the east of Santa Maria, services are limited...including gas stations and cell phone service. We might have learned this the hard way. Fortunately we were able to make it to the gas station (and back into an area with cell phone service) after running for a good solid 40 miles with the low fuel light on.

On Saturday we played on the beach and in the ocean all day. It was really great. Due to our hidden, white, Utah skin we all left with some pretty good sunburns. And as it turns out seaweed has a texture that is amazingly similar to rubber.

Yay for road trips!

It was really great. Seriously. No really, seriously.

the saga continues

It is a good thing that the gas company is so on top of things.

Conversation #1: Monday morning, requesting that our gas be turned back on

• Info from costumer service rep: Because they were so busy, our gas wouldn't be able to be turned back on until Tuesday morning. But, they reassured us that it would be turned back on Tuesday morning.

Conversation #2: Tuesday afternoon, around 2 p.m.

• Info from costumer service rep: She isn't sure why our gas isn't back on yet. However, the call to turn it back on has been dispatched. Once it has been dispatched it generally doesn't take more than a couple hours to be turned on. But emergencies do take precedence over general needs such as ours so if there happens to be one then turning our gas back on will be postponed a little longer. She reassured me that it would definitely be turned on by the end of the day. No worries.

I woke up this morning, checked the water and sure enough it was still cold. Seriously? Between my roommates and I, we checked it at least twenty more times before 3 this afternoon. Funny, but it still hadn't been turned back on.

Conclusion: it seems to be the season for gas emergencies so be sure to make sure that your furnace is safe. Either that, or the gas company just hates us.

lack of heat

In the hustle and bustle of finals week, many people come and others go.  This particular semester, a couple of my roommates moved out and a new one moved in.  One of the above mentioned roommates that moved out had her name on the gas bill.  I am sure that one day she mentioned in passing that one of us remaining girls would need to put our names on the gas bill in order to continue being serviced because she had removed her name (which only makes sense).  Being the busy college girls that we are none of us thought anything more of this little encounter.  That is until yesterday anyway.  

When I woke up yesterday morning, I noticed that my house was a little colder than it normally is.  I looked at the thermometer and sure enough, it was a mere 62 degrees.  Because our thermometer occasionally gives out and decides to stop heating the house I figured that was the problem.  So, I hit it a couple times, made sure that it was set to 70 degrees and went on with my day thinking that this would remedy the problem as it has in the past.  Later on I went to the gym.  When I got home I was fully anticipating a nice warm shower.  Unfortunately, that is not what I got.  It was freezing right from the get go.  Not even 10 seconds of warm water.  This time I decided to blame it on my roommates thinking that they had probably both showered in the not so distant past and went on with my day.  Not much later, with my house still feeling not so warm, I decided to check the thermometer again.  It once again confirmed my suspicions by showing that it was now 64 degrees.  It had been at least a couple hours and normally it has corrected its folly in that amount of time.

At this point I started to get a teensy bit suspicious.  Freezing cold water and the heater not working?  Something had to be up.  That is when I put two and two together and realized that none of us had put our names on the gas bill.  It was the beginning of a new month and as far as the gas company was concerned nobody wanted nor needed gas in our apartment.  Then it gets even better.  In my quick research to figure out how to fix this little situation that we were in I looked up Questar Gas and tried to find a way to let them know that we would appreciate our gas being turned back on.  Turns out that Questar is only open Monday-Friday.  Luckily it has been decently warm outside this weekend, unlike the last few, so none of us has frozen to death yet.  Assuming that all goes well, we will be having warm showers tomorrow. Probably not until the afternoon though.  

Good thing that it is May is all that I can say. 

two more

My friends, this semester is coming to a close. I took two of my four finals today leaving me with only two left! This is great news for my sanity. Having every minute of every day planned can start to become a little bit daunting. It will be (has been...all compliments to the university's reading days) nice to just sleep and not even have to set an alarm; waking up whenever I feel like it. However, I think that I am just a little bit different than the normal student in that finals week doesn't really stress me out. I think that it has something to do with the fact that there aren't any classes so there is much more time to study and not worry about being anywhere at a particular time. It is especially nice this semester because I have been taking tests every Friday and already had two rounds of finals so this week was a breeze. Yay for being almost done!

life of a 4 year old

This weekend I had a family reunion of sorts.  My dad's whole family, which consists of my Grandma, his one sister and her husband and their little boy, was in Parowan (they all currently live in Iowa).  It was a rather enjoyable weekend.  Leo, my little cousin, is one of the funniest little boys that I have ever met.  He is four, but is convinced that he is five.  He says some of the most hilarious things and keeps us all in line.  Here are some pictures from the weekend...

My sister, Leo, and me

The whole fam at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in Southern Utah

My Grandma climbing up the dunes...she had to crawl because it was so steep. 

 I think that at one point, we all had to crawl to be completely honest.

My sister and me...we don't ever seem to get together without taking at least a couple of pictures of ourselves.

This video is of my brother and my uncle Dave.  They are slaloming down the side of the sand dune. 

 My sister and I are both recording at the bottom so all of the commentary is compliments of the two of us.  

As you can tell from the above pictures, we went to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes.  They are down my Kanab.  It was really funny because my little cousin was afraid of falling down the mountain of sand that we had just successfully climbed up and anytime someone would go running down it, he would get all worried and want to go and save them.  The only person that he completely trusted with going down the dune was his dad.  Needless to day, it was a fun filled weekend with lots of playing, running around, and eating out.  Seeing family can always be fun :)

all at once

It seems funny to me that everything seems to happen at the same time. Today is one of those days. With the semester winding down it seems to all be catching up to me. I had to take a practical test, continue working on my final practical in Micro, and take the two tests that I normally take every friday. On top of that, I had to go to work right afterwards (which is where I am now...) and I will finish my day at home in Parowan to visit my family and my grandma and cousin. But, I am definitely on the downward shope now so it is looking better now. The day wasn't nearly as bad as I initially thought that it would be. I just find it strange that things aren't really spread out at all. I can have one weekend with nothing to do but relax and another weekend with a whole list of things to do. Do not fear, I shall survive!

sweet mcdreams

Last night was a night full of McDreamy. Sheri and I decided that it was time to get together and watch some Grey's Anatomy. While doing this we got to talking and realized that she hadn't seen Enchanted yet. Now, that wasn't acceptable so we quickly remedied the situation. And, we didn't even have to suffer by missing out on any Patrick Dempsey.

If you haven't seen Enchanted yet, I highly suggest that it move to the top of your must see list.

A.) Patrick Dempsey is in it
B.) It is incredibly funny. I seriously just sit there and laugh through the whole thing.

I'm not sure which character or part I like best. Here are the top candidates-

• The chipmunk. The way that he is so surprised when he can't talk in the real world coupled with his acting out scenarios for Prince Edward work together to make Pip an instant classic.

• Prince Edward. He is so full of himself it is hilarious. For example...Nathanial to Edward: "Do you like yourself?" Edward "What's not to like?" Between that and calling everybody a pheasant, he too is rather hilarious.

These are just a couple of the many highlights. Amy Adams also does an excellent job playing Giselle. I really laugh through at least half of the movie. So, if you are in need of a good laugh, my suggestion would be to go and rent this movie. It will not disappoint you.

Pictures compliments of http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/enchanted.

come and go

Today is April Fools day. I haven't done a single thing to fool anyone. I must be getting old and boring or something. My favorite part of today was when I received a text from Kristen telling me that she wanted to put food coloring in the spray tanner at work and that got me thinking. I don't know if I remember doing anything April Foolsy in a long time. When I was little, between the ages of about 10-13 I would always pull the same joke on my dad. I would tell him that my best friend's family had decided to move to Nevada when summer came. Why I chose that same lie to tell no one will ever know. Either my dad was really good at pretending that he believed me or maybe, just maybe, I actually fooled him. I'm leaning more towards the first option.

Today also marks the two year anniversary of when I totaled my car. Now, that is not an experience that I would recommend to anyone. It was rather humorous that it happened on April Fool's day though. I was on my way to work and when I called in to tell them that there was no way that I was going to show up, they told me that I was lying and that I should just come into work. It took me probably a whole two minutes to convince them that I wasn't pulling a joke on them and that I had in fact crashed my car. My mom believed me when I first told her and was very good and supportive like moms are. But, she did call me back about fifteen minutes after I first got off of the phone with her just to make sure. The insurance company did believe me on the first go with no questions asked, other than the who, what, when, where, and why of the accident. My word of wisdom...don't hydroplane. Now, I know that it can be hard to avoid sometimes, but those cement barriers aren't very forgiving in my experience. Not even at 60 miles per hour.

Today also means that I have exactly two weeks of classes left of this semester, and exactly three weeks before I will be done with all of my finals. Hooray! This is great news for my sanity. Having every minute of almost every day planned can tend to get a little bit old. I am excited for some free time. Oh how I miss you summer! And another thought...since it is the beginning of April, that means that plants and trees will start blooming soon. This is my absolute favorite time of the whole year. I just love it when the trees are all flowering and bright and the earth seems to come alive again. That's all for now.

lions and lambs

I went to bed last night with high hopes that I could wear my cute new skirt to school today. I thought to myself "It's March...sure, it's cold today but it will be all better in the morning." Silly thinking apparently. When I woke up this morning, the ground was covered in a beautiful, sparkling, white blanket of snow. Isn't March supposed to come in like a lion out like a lamb? Maybe mother nature is just a little bit confused this year. Do not fear though, as the day has progressed the snow is melting at a steady rate. It is March in Utah, after all. And, the skirt will come later in the week...I just need to give the snow a little time to melt perhaps :)

llama!

Today I saw a rather unseemly sight on my way from my religion class to my blood banking class. I was on my way from the JSB to the Marb when I came upon two llamas. Since when are there llamas on the BYU campus? I found this rather amusing, as did a good number of other people I am sure. There were about twenty five of us who stopped to take pictures.

Now I have seen and heard of some strange things happening at BYU, but this one just about takes the cake.

my top ten

Since spring has almost sprung I decided that I would share of my love for the season.  Spring is my favorite season for any number of reasons and not just because of my birthday.  Here are my top ten reasons that Spring is my favorite season (Letterman style and everything...just pretend that you can hear the music and the sound of symbols):

10.  Finals-mainly because that means that I get to take a break from school.

9.  Out come the flip flops!

8.  Jackets and coats go into storage for another few months (this is particularly helpful for the cleanliness of my room since they tend to take up a lot of floor space).

7.  It snows in the morning, but miraculously, by afternoon it is warm enough to wear short sleeves and flip flops.  Well, in the case of a spring in Utah at least...

6.  Everything starts to come alive again.

5.  More Grey's Anatomy (this would be specific to this year considering the multiple month hiatus that was the writer's strike).

4.  It seems that people come out of hiding...everyone is more lively and happier in general.

3.  The gas bill goes down due to less usage of the heater.

2.  It is warm!  Yay for having the sun shine!

And last, but definitely not least...

1.  There are all sorts of beautiful flowers of all colors, both on the ground and in the trees, that blossom and show off their beauty.