182nd General Conference

Today was the first day of the 182nd General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I woke up "early" (for a Saturday morning) to go to conference with Bethany and Derek. I really should have gone to bed earlier last night because I am exhausted. We  stopped by Andrea and Greg's on the way to Salt Lake. We were going to eat before conference, but we never found somewhere that sounded good, so we just grabbed a snack and decided to eat after conference.

Parking was a little crazy, but we ended up with a great spot. Everyone had told us to prepare for long, hot lines. But we waited in like for less than 5 minutes. Our seats were amazing. We were on the bottom part (not the balcony).  It was fun to be so close. And there were SO many people there. I loved just looking around and seeing thousands of people gathered to listen to the words of the prophets and apostles.

The spirit was so strong in the conference center, especially when President Monson walked in. It was amazing. The music was also 5 billion times more powerful in person. The choir for the afternoon session was the Provo MTC choir, and I saw several friends singing! It was cool to see them with their little name tags :) So proud of them. David Archuletta was also among the choir, although I would have totally missed him if the little kids behind us hadn't freaked out, haha.

Attending conference was an amazing experience. I absolutely loved it.

Bethany and Derek gave me a bag of yummy trail mix with each ingredient representing something from general conference. It had a cute little poem attached. Absolutely adorable.

After conference we went the Chipotle for dinner. It was way good. Sort of similar to Cafe Rio. Then we stopped back my Greg and Andrea's to change clothes for Bethany and Derek's soccer game. They're on an indoor soccer team. It was actually pretty fun to watch.

Today was a good day. <<<That's probably a pretty frequent sentence in my blog. I was talking to my mom a few minutes ago and she said "It sounds like you had a good day...well, you always have good days. It sounds like an exceptionally good day." Mom is right. Today was exceptionally good.

2 a.m. girl talk

When my alarm went off this morning I thought it was some kind of sick joke. I was exhausted, so I skipped out on my morning shower and slept in. I eventually woke up and went to class. Afterall, I did have to turn in my last big paper of the semester. Woooh! It's done. Out of my hands. Such a relieving feeling.

After my classes I planned on going home and taking a nap, but when I got home I wanted to watch a movie instead. Oh Lisa, the silly decisions you make. I decided to watch Saints and Soldiers. Such a good movie. But not necessarily a movie I should watch alone. I'm much better at controlling my emotions around other people. This wasn't the first time I had seen the movie, but that didn't stop the tears. Actually, tears isn't even an adequate description. It's not like a few tears escaped my eyes. I was full on sobbing. Heavy-breathing-tears-a-flowing-BAWLING. I didn't realize I had so much emotion built up inside me, haha evidently it was just waiting to break free.

Emotions are draining, so after the movie was over and I finished being a little baby I took a nice long nap. It was lovely. Minus the fact that I've been having strange dreams lately. At night and during naptime. Weirdddd.

This evening I went to Mr. Heritage with Greta. It's like a male pageant for people who live in Heritage Halls. We crashed their party because nothing was going on in Helaman tonight. It seemed like everyone was busy or going out of town for conference. But Mr. Heritage ended up being a lot of fun. For the talent portion a lot of the guys wrote songs/poems/raps. So funny.

Caroline went to her cousin's house for the weekend, so I have the room all to myself. Did I use my alone time to do homework or sleep? Of course not! Meg and Greta came over and we had girl time. We talked about so many things. I needed a girls night. It was refreshing. I'm going to miss my girls when I go home for the summer! We've already decided to have regular skype/google+ dates so that we don't lose contact.

Tomorrow is a very exciting day. It's "Gen Con" as Caroline says. Yes, that's right, General Conference. I am beyond stoked to have the opportunity to attend in person. SOOOOOOO excited. I should probably get some shut eye so that I'll be in a good state of mind for conference. Oh boy, I'm pumped!

Life is good. So good. I'm starting to understand some of the "why"s I've been wondering. Heavenly Father has a plan for me and that has been more apparent this year than ever before. I don't always understand why things happen the way they do, but I know it's for a reason. Life isn't perfect. I'm not perfect. But I know that His plan for me is perfect.

Smarty pants

Oh my goodness! I just looked at the clock. 11:45. I am class at 8! Whyyyyy am I awake? Silly Lisa...

I woke up this morning in time to make it to breakfast with Ashley and Cami. I haven't been to breakfast in forever it seems like. I can never drag myself out of bed in time. But today I did it. Success. A delicious success. Then we all went to Book of Mormon together. Brother Johnson presented yet another amazing lesson full of truth. I really enjoy his class. He's funny, yet serious. It's a delicate balance and he has it down perfectly.

After Book of Mormon class we had our usual Thursday staff meeting. This week is employee appreciation week so we got a free ice cream coupon, a coupon for a free loaf of fresh bread, and candy! We are spoiled rotten. I added my coupons to my stack of "free stuff to claim next year when I don't have a meal plan".The pile keeps growing :)

When our meeting was over, I headed off to child development. Geez I love that class. It's the best. Hands down. Today we were talking about education and how important teachers are. For a second I thought maybe I should stick with el ed, but the thought didn't linger. I'm still feeling human development.

I was going to take my issues paper to the writing center after class. I really was. But then I thought about what they had me do last time. Read my paper out loud. That's mostly all they did. That and say good job. So I opted out of the writing center and went home and read my paper out loud. And silently. I think I read that paper about a million times. I've edited and edited, and now the final product is sitting in a portfolio in my backpack to turn in in the morning. All fingers crossed for a good grade!

Art class this evening was good. I presented my Roy G. Biv poster. Everyone loved it, haha. I fessed up to getting the idea from pinterest. Anyway, I ended up giving my poster to Carrie(sp?) because she loved it and said she would hang it up in her classroom one day. I'm glad it will be put to good use instead of just getting trashed. Best part of art class today? We got out an hour and a half early. WIN. Actually, it was a double win because I was going to have to leave class early because I had an academic banquet to attend.

Meihua and I went to the academic banquet together tonight. There were actually two tonight, but we chose to attend the free one :) We ate some yummy food and made some new friends. The speaker kind of babbled on forever, but it was a fun night.

After the banquet I went to the Cannon to print off the final copy of my paper. Thomas walked by and we ended up staying at the Cannon for hours talking. Kathryn enjoyed us entertaining her while she worked. Other people joined in from time to time. Fernando stopped by. Dunia. Joe. Ryan. Nate. Daniel. Lots of fun people from the 116th Ward. My favorite person who joined in the conversation? The little old man.

Okay, he deserves his own blog post really. The little old man. I forget his name, but he hangs out around the Cannon a lot. He is so cute and absolutely hilarious. We talked to him for a few minutes, and then he started asking Kathryn how to reserve a study room. He said he wanted it for tomorrow night. The smallest one possible. Then he said it was for Thomas and I! Haha, oh but he didn't stop there. He gave us about 10 bijillion ideas of things we could do. Even where we could go on walks. It was a little awkward, but mostly it was just hilariously adorable. He said those are the things he would do if he had a "lady friend". Keep in mind this guy is in his 70s. He's wonderful, even if he does put me in awkward situations.

It's sad to me that just by reading this blog post you will never know how great today was. I guess if I put more time into writing this maybe you would be able to experience my day through my words. But it is late. Well, er...I guess it's early. Dang. I have to wake up in 6 hours. LAME.

Vegetarians are cruel

I'm blogging early tonight in hopes that it will motivate me to go to bed early. We'll see how that works out. Ideally I would blog, watch New Girl, and then go to sleep early and finish my paper in the morning (my productive juice for the day is pretty much gone). But maybe I should force myself to work on my paper tonight...sighhh I don't know.

Classes today were just wonderful. We got assigned groups for our multimodal project in wrtg150. I'm not a huge fan of group projects, but luckily I got put in  a good group. I think we're all willing to put in our fair share of work. I remember in high school group projects always became Lisa projects. That was the worst. But now that I'm in a school filled with over achievers like me I'm hoping that will be different.

Biology today was great. Oh man, I definitely chose the best section ever. Remember how I took that bio test Saturday and didn't do so hot? Well, no worries. I knew they would adjust the score! The test was miskeyed. So that brought my grade up 7.5% plus they still have to add in all the points for the written. And I mean...I already have over 100% in the class so I'm not stressing. But anyway, that's not even what made today's bio class so great. Dr. Smith made some hilarious vegetarian jokes today. We're talking about extinction, so he starts joking about how vegetarians get all mad that we kill animals to eat them, but what about the carrots? They can't even run! Those poor carrots never even had a chance to fight back!  That one made me laugh, but oh no he didn't stop there. And if they're all worried about cruelty why do they cut off reproductive parts and use them as decorations on the dinner table?! That's super cruel! He was talking about flowers there if you didn't catch that. What about fruit? How do they justify eating the womb and throwing away the fetus? Yes, vegetarians are cruel. Haha, gotta love bio100.

I have the best friends ever. I was at work today so I didn't get to eat lunch (I eat before I go in, but I always get hungry before my shift ends). It was still lunch time, 1:30, when I texted Megan asking if we could go to dinner earlyyyy. I love that she was so game for early dinner. We went at 5. Right when they start serving dinner in the Cannon. Caroline was starving too so she joined us. It was fantastic. On the walk home Megan was talking about how excited she is to see her parents in 3 weeks when they come out for her brother's graduation. I looked at her sadly and said "...but then I won't see you for FOUR months". That was the first time it hit her that it was almost summer. We had left dinner early to do homework, but we ended up sitting in the hallway for a very long time discussing freshman year and the changes that are just around the corner. We talked about all the things we'll miss and all the things we're excited for. Greta and Caroline joined in. It was good bonding time.

When we got back to our room, Caroline and I were in a silly mood. I don't even know what happened but I had her laughing so hard she was crying. I tried to kick her out of the room, but that just made her laugh more. I seriously thought she was going to pee on herself. She'd the bestest :)

Now, I think I'm going to edit my paper a little more before bed. Half and half? Compromising with myself. Score.

Upside Down

I lied. I didn't mean to, but I did. In last night's post I said I was going to do homework before bed. I didn't. Instead I got on pinterest. Don't judge me. Sometimes pinterest helps with my homework. For example, I got my idea for my elementary art poster off of pinterest. And it actually turned out well!



Since I didn't do extra homework last night, I woke up early and did some before class. It is extremely hard to wake up when I know I could sleep longer and still get to class on time. But I did it. And it proved to  be the start of a productive day. I did a lottttt of homework today, so I'll be able to focus on my paper for the rest of the week.

Car Car was in the devotional today! She's basically famous. She played with the Philharmonic. She rocked it, of course.  They even did a close up of the harps (it was broadcasted on BYU tv). I was super proud to know her. I feel famous by association.

After classes I went to the temple. I wore a skirt with pockets and walked the whole way to the temple with my hands in my pockets so the little old man at the temple wouldn't worry about my freezing hands. It worked. On the way home I got to talk to mom (which I do basically every week on my way home from the temple). I love my mommy :)

After the temple I did more school work. So much reading. I was going to just grab a burger and eat dinner in my room, but then I ran into Thomas, Mark, and Jesse in the Creamery and ended up eating with them. Then it was back to homework. I took a break to listen to Caroline practice a presentation she has to give. But other than that...it was a day of work.

Don't worry, I still had plenty of moments to enjoy even though today was busy busy:

1. I opened the cereal box upside down. Box and bad. I didn't even realize it until I went to read the back of the box...
2. Caroline posted a funny baby video on my facebook
3. I discovered a yummy new snack - cheese crisps
4. I talked to my old friends from back home
5. I remembered how excited I am to eat home-cooked food this summer
6. There was an exam adjustment in child development that boosted my score
7. I didn't have to wear a jacket today

I could go on, but I really like the number 7. So I'm stopping there.

I should really write a list of things to blog about as I go throughout the day. I always think "oh I should blog about this" but then I forget when it comes time to blog. OOOOHH!!! I remember one thing. A Provoism. I got on facebook today and the first things on my newsfeed were both people either getting engaged or talking about their wedding. Haha, oh weddings. It's crazy that weddings are already taking over my facebook. Pretty soon it will be babies. CRAZY.

Well, it's about bedtime. Early classes tomorrow. But first I think I'll reward myself for having a productive day. 15 minutes of pinterest. After I sneakily make turn the air down. It's so hot in here! Caroline and I are having a battle. I can't sleep in a hot room and she can't wake up in a cold room. Too bad she fell asleep first *muahhahahah* (evil laugh).

Reminder from the rain

Sometimes God works in mysterious ways. I woke up this morning to dark clouds, rain, lots of wind, and cold weather. It wasn't exactly a storm, but it kind of made me want a storm. I miss a good thunderstorm. I can't even remember the last time I heard thunder. Utah is not fulfilling my need for the occassional thunderstorm. Just last night I was thinking about how sad I am that the semester is coming to an end, and then today Heavenly Father reminded me of something I will get when I go home for the summer: RAIN. Storms. It's funny how crappy weather can brighten your day if you let it.

On the way to my 8 o'clock class I tried to use my umbrella. Bad idea. It was entirely too windy. I thought I was going to blow away! Halfway to class I decided fighting the wind wasn't worth it and put my umbrella down and walked in the rain (it wasn't raining hard). Even without the umbrella I had to push against the wind. It was pretty insane. Oh Utah weather. Later on the rain turned into snow. None of it stuck, but it was definitely snowing. When I was walking home from  work it was more like sleet. Rain, sleet, and snow all in one day. Good job, Utah.

Today was pretty busy. I had classes then work. Work was really busy. We're getting ready for end of the semester check-outs plus there was a lot of mail. Bonus to helping with the mail: we recycle all the magazines that are presorted standard if the resident no longer lives here. Well, the Delias magazines had some coupons so I rescued a couple from the recycling bin because I found a super cute swimsuit I want from there and now it will be pretty inexpensive! Score! P.S. Mom, when I decide to order the swimsuit I'm just going to ship it to Louisiana so I don't have to pack it home. So if you get a package for me, that's what it is. But I probably won't order it for a few weeks.

After work I did laundry and homework. I have so much homework. I guess it's just that time of the semester. I didn't even go to dinner. That's how busy I was. Yes, I ate dinner. In my room. I just didn't go to the Cannon and have my usual social hour(s) for dinner. I only went to FHE for a wee bit, too. I'm just swamped. Eventually my homework made me veryyyy sleepy. It tends to do that to me. I rewarded myself for being productive all day by watching Once Upon a Time since doing homework when you can barely keep your eyes open is a little pointless. Now I'm going to go to bed early. But don't worry, I'll make up for it by waking up a little early tomorrow morning.

BIG EXCITING NEWS: I get to go to the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference!!! I am super excited. Bethany invited me to go with her and Derek since they had an extra ticket. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get anyone to cover my shift, but one of my lovely co-workers said she would cover me :) This is the first time I've really been looking forward to Conference with a question in mind. I've really been trying to prepare myself for General Conference this time and now I get to attend a session in person. Blessing? I think so.

Oh man, now I got myself all pumped up. I was so tired and now I'm all excited. Maybe I'll do a little more homework, haha.

A sad countdown

Today was my last fast Sunday in the 116th ward. The countdown has begun. Only a few weeks left of the semester. Last semester I was excited to be at the end, but now I just want time to stop. Freeze. Stay still. I don't want the semester to end, even if that means I have to write more annoying papers and sit through boring classes. Just thinking about how close it is to summer makes me want to cry. Yes, I am excited to go home and see my family. But I don't want to leave. I'm not ready for this chapter of my life to end.

Things will never be the same as freshman year. The boys are all leaving on missions, and I will miss them dearly. Carine is going on a study abroad for fall semester. I won't see any of my BYU friends all summer. And they really are my best friends. They lift me up and make me want to be better. Heck, I'm even going to miss the Cannon. Sure the food gets old after a while, but I love gathering for dinner with friends. Everything changes in less than a month. And I am not ready.

Church today was good. So good. I was reminded what strong people I am surrounded by as I listened to my friends share their testimonies in sacrament meeting. Instead of normal Sunday school, our class started temple prep this week. I loved talking about the temple and it made me look forward to going one day. Relief society was wonderful, as usual. Cami taught a beautiful lessen about looking heavenward and enduring trial. I love my ward. Heavenly Father knew what He was doing when He placed those people in my life. I needed each and every one of those people in my life this year.

After church Carine, Caroline, Mary, Cami, Ashley, and I had an impromptu photo session. We decided to document our freshman year friendships. We had a lot of fun just goofing off and being silly. I love those girls.

We had a huge group of kids from our ward eat dinner together. I was in the Cannon from the time it opened until the time it closed. By that time Meg, Thomas and I were already in a good conversation so we couldn't let the Cannon closing end it. We ended up talking all the way until ward prayer (at 9 p.m.). We talked about a million different things. One of us would as a question. About anything. And then we had deep spiritual conversations about the question. Sometimes we didn't have all the answers, but it was so...good to be able to sit with two of my favorite people and talk and listen and turn to the scriptures when we weren't sure. I love that. I'm really going to miss things like that when I go home this summer. I love that a simple dinner conversation can turn into hours of talking about the gospel with your best friends.

This year has changed me. I'm me, but I'm a new me. This year is coming to an end. But this new me is still just beginning. I am really sad that in just a few weeks I'm going to have to say goodbye to people who have changed my life - my friends. And let's face it, some of them I might never see again. But even if I never see them again, my life will be forever impacted by their examples. By our friendships. Whether for a reason, a season, or a lifetime...

R.I.P. 116th Ward Assassins

It is over. 15 minutes ago our ward game of assassin ended. You're either alive or dead, but it is finished.

I woke up this morning, studied, ate lunch (yeah...kind of woke up late), and took my biology test. It could've gone better. Guess I should've studied a little more. But I'm not stressing because they still have to add in all the points from the written part and they always adjust the scores. So I'm good. Then I came back to the room and did some homework. Then work. Work was slow enough that I was able to finish my rough draft of my issues paper. That was a huge blessing. Plus Quinn brought me an ice cream cone for dinner. Such a pal. Other than that...work was just normal.

After work I did more homework (I still have so much I could do, but I'm calling it quits for the weekend). Then we played games in the lobby. Carine tried to teach us a new game, but it was kind of slow so we never finished. We were interrupted by some last minute killings in assassin. Greta fought for her life, and won. And then she made a last minute kill, killing Sophie. Ashley tried to kill Austin but he outran her. Such a violent night. I'm going to miss that game.

Okay, this is my problem. On really productive days (like today) I have nothing to blog about. Nothing happened! I just did school work, actual work, and boring stuff. Lameeeeeee.

I have to type real slow right now because Caroline's having an intense conversation with her ex. I don't want my loud typing in the background. Oh ex-lover drama. It's the worst. I hope he doesn't upset her. If he does...I'm going to be very angry with him. I might just have to drive to L.A. and smack him in the face. No one messes with my Car Car.

Hmm...what to write about. I've got nothing. I wonder if thinking about what to write counts as part of my 15 minutes. I feel like it should. It's part of the writing process after all. Yeap, I'm counting it. Goodnight :)

Movies and Mountains

Warning: written when extremely tired and sleep deprived.

I guess I need to start with last night. The Hunger Games movie was super good! I think it helped that it's been a long time since I read the books, so some of the details that were wrong in the movie didn't bother me as much. Jake (the guy I went with) was a really cool guy. We were in this reserved theater, so we had good seats and didn't even have to get there early which was super nice.  I didn't get home until 3:30 this morning, and I had class at 8...yes, I am very tired.

Usually I could just come home and sleep after class, but of course this had to be a crazy busy Friday. I was too tired to get up and put effort into my appearance, so I went throughout the day wearing yesterday's leftover makeup and did very little to make myself look presentable. After class I went to work. I was covering part of Kathyrn's shift , and then I did a room tour. Then I got lunch. Then bio review. I could not stay awake during the review. It was bad. I kept dozing off. I wanted to take the test today, but I was just too tired.

Finally after the review I went home and slept. It was a glorious nap. But all good things come to and end, so I woke up from my nap. Then I hiked the Y with some of my friends. Originally there was a big group coming, but it ended up just being a few of us and it worked out really well that way. We had so much fun! I mean, if you had asked me on the way up I might have told you differently. But we had fun at the top and on the way back down. I brought bubbles and we blew bubbles from the top of the mountain. SO FUN! I'm convinced bubbles can bring joy to just about anyone. When we were about to head back down, a group of guys came up and one of them was a little unenthusiastic about being there. He just sat there and complained. So before we left I made it my mission to make him enjoy his time on the mountain. I pulled out my bubbles and let him blow some bubbles across the city. You should have seen his face when I pulled out the bubbles. I don't know if he was smiling because he thought I was crazy or because he shares my love of bubbles, but either way he enjoyed it. When we left he wasn't moping anymore but exploring with the other guys. Success.

You would think that after no sleep and a long, busy day I would go to sleep early. But oh no. It is past 2 a.m. Silly Lisa. Meg and I were starving when we got back, but we really wanted french toast so we waited until the Creamery started serving breakfast (they serve breakfast food starting at 10...but not in the morning...weird). After eating our food we went to Merrill lobby with Thomas and some of his friends who were visiting. His friends are hilarious. They were cracking me up. I wish I would have had more energy, but I was too tired so I came home "early". But then I felt gross and showered and that woke me up a little bit...sigh. I should try to get some sleep though. I have wayyyy too much to do tomorrow.

I love adventures. Blind dates. Hiking in the mountains. Living life.

The night is young

I always mean to wake up early on Tuesdays and Thursdays and do homework since I don't have class until 10, but lately it just hasn't been working for me. I used to wake up before my alarm and get a lot accomplished, but now my body just craves sleep and I let it have it.

Classes today were good. In my Book of Mormon class the teacher asked for a volunteer to say the prayer and a girl (who was dressed up like Katniss from the Hunger Games) stood up and enthusiastically yelled "I volunteer!" Just like Katniss does in the book. It was hilarious. Of course the teacher didn't get it, but the rest of the class was laughing. Child Development was good. The usual.

Haha, so I just had to take a break from writing this post because of assassin. This game is intense! I like being dead because now I just get to assisst without the paranoia. Perfect. Haha, plus everyone trusts me with their secrets of who they have to kill now. I love this game.

So, funny story... I'm going to the midnight premiere of Hunger Games tonight. Even though I have an 8 a.m. class tomorrow. Mom told me it's okay to be irresponsible because I'm "serving a friend" which is more important. Haha, I love my mom's rationale. I'm not sure going on a blind date is exactly "serving a friend", but I'm going with it. I'm super excited to see the movie. Anyway, that's why I'm writing this blog post now. Because I will be dead tired when I get home.

Tomorrow is going to be a really busy day. I just hope I can stay awake for all the excitement. I have class, then I'm covering part of someone's shift at work, then I'm doing a room tour, then I have a bio review, and then I have a bio test.

Ahhhh life is crazy. I think I'll sleep in tomorrow and just go to class looking like a hot mess. It's probably not a good sign that I'm already tired and it'd not even 10 o'clock yet. My body keeps saying it's bedtime, but it is not bedtime. Not tonight. Sighhh

Oh, who am I kidding? I'm excited. Sleep can always be made up later.

Dead.

I write to you from the land of the dead. That's right, I was killed this evening. I lived a nice life. But I guess it's good I died when I did. The paranoia was getting a bit ridiculous. I don't have to look over my shoulder every 30 seconds now. Now I can just assist other assassins :)

Story of my death:
I was just getting home from taking my child development test. As I pushed the door to my room open, a gang of girls came storming into the hall from the back stairway. Before I could get the door to shut they barged in and held me down while Chloe placed a spoon in my pocket. It was a good death. A death I can be proud of. At least I put up a fight. I was really worried I'd be totally oblivious and die without even knowing. But no worries, I got to end with a fight. So I died happy.

Before I died my day was pretty normal. I went to class and then work. I had so many visitors at work. Everyone was paranoid that someone was about to kill them, but it was safe to talk to me because I was behind the desk, a safe zone. After work I studied for my test and took a little nap. Then I went to dinner, witnessed some murders, and went to take my test.

I have quite the predicament. So I was invited to this FREE banquet for my academic excellence. A free steak dinner. Do you know how lovely that sounds after eating cafeteria food for the majority of my meals? The problem is, I would have to skip class to attend the banquet. Haha, ironic huh? I'd have to skip class to be rewarded for being a dedicated student. Decisions.

Hmmm...I can't think of anything else noteworthy that happened today. My day was consumed with school, work, and assassin. I guess it was just one of those days where a lot happens, but nothing blog-worthy. Or nothing I want in the cyber world. Lame.

THIS IS TERRIBLE. My 15 minutes isn't up quite yet, so I thought I would just tell a story. I can normally come up with a story for any occassion. But when I tried to think of one to tell, I couldn't think of a single good story! The world is coming to an end. This is not good. There is only one solution: pinterest. How will that solve my problems? I don't know. But I like pinterest so I'm just going to play on there for a bit before bed.

Maybe tomorrow's post will be more interesting...but it's looking pretty doubtful. You can blame my professors. If I didn't have so many tests/papers I would have time to do things worth blogging about.

Killer x2

Day 2: Still alive. For now. It's getting brutal. I better hurry up and write this blog post before I get attacked.

I made two kills today. First was Easton.

I told him to look dead in the picture. Doesn't he do a good job looking dead? Props, Easton. When I saw Easton at dinner I knew it was time to make my move. But boy oh boy was I scared. I knew I had one shot. Then he would be expecting it. Luckily he was wearing a shirt with pockets and sitting directly across the table from me. I held it in for most of dinner. I didn't want to appear too eager. He didn't expect a thing. Before he knew it, he was dead. I didn't expect the adrenaline rush that followed. I was really proud of myself. Easton laughed at me because I was smiling a whole lot at myself.

My next kill was a stranger. I had no earthly idea who this girl was. Greaatttttt. How does one kill someone without knowing them? So, I looked her up on facebook (duh). Then I talked to some girls who live on her floor. After asking around I learned that she always leaves her door open. So I did it. I had spies waiting for her to get home. When my informant told me she was in her room, I made my move. I pushed open the door and attacked her with the spoon. She put up quite the fight. While wrestling with her and the spoon, I introduced myself. What a lovely way to meet someone. In the process of killing her, I stepped on her sandwich (my foot smells like turkey...) and broke the spoon in half. But after a long struggle, I killed her. I then apologized for killing her and sent her a fb friend request. I figured that's the appropriate thing to do when you kill someone.

This game is making me a bit paranoid. I jumped when a girl came into the vending machine room today because I thought she was going to kill me. She looked at me like I was a little crazy. I've been trying to take alternate routes to class so that I don't get too predictable. Unfortuantely, I usually take all the best routes, so I'm stuck with the long, hard ways to class.

Yes, this was one of my alternative routes to class today. The stairs extend beyond the guy wayyyyy up there in this picture. But so far it's working. My assassin has yet to make a move.

This assassin game reminds me somewhat of the Hunger Games. Although at BYU you're way more likely to get caught up in the Marriage Games than the Hunger Games.

Haha, this video made me laugh a whole lot. Oh, Provo. How I love you.

Other highlights of the day:

I went to the temple after classes and the little old man baptising me said my hands were entirely too cold and we needed to warm them up so he put them in the water (yes, it's pretty sad when the baptisimal font water is warmer than your hands). Hey, it's not my fault. It was chilly outside and it's a 30 minute walk. Haha, the little old man was adorable. And so sweet. He just might become one of my new favorite temple workers.

I also scored a 100% on my Book of Mormon quiz this evening! Wooo!!! I was super excited. But I think it's just because the quiz was easier than usual. I'm not complaining though :) WINNNNN!

Even though this week is full of homework and tests, it's turning out to be a really good week. I was fully prepared to be stressed and miserable, so this is a pleasant suprise. I love my life. Normally I look forward to summer, but this year...I don't want the semester to end. I don't want to leave all my friends for an entire summer, and all my guy friends for 2 years! It's sad. But I'm sure summer will be great in it's own little way :)

Sleeping with a spoon in hand. Not really. But kind of.

Death by spoon

4:59 a.m. : This picture evoked no emotion. Spoons. Just plastic spoons.
5:00 a.m. : This picture evokes fear. Paranoia. Weapons. Those are not spoons, they are death.

116th ward assassin is on. Full swing. This is a BIG deal. I'm alive...for now. It's dangerous out there. I have yet to make my first kill. Caroline is dead. Megan has made her first muder. Every now and then I hear screams in the hallway. People are dropping like flies. I peak out the peep hole and see girls tackling each other to put a spoon in their pocket. Spoon in pocket = death. Will I survive another day?

Even though I was in constant danger, I tried to go about my day as usual. Okay, let's be honest. I forgot the game had even started until I ran into Jenna in the Creamery and she got all jittery thinking I was going to kill her.

Work today was pretty slow. Which was really good because that meant I got to do a lot of child development reading for class tomorrow. Speaking of child development reading, tomorrow's class should be...interesting. The reading was all about gender and whether boys act like boys and girls act like girls because of biology or environmental influences. The case study was about a boy who..well..there was an accident and he was raised as a girl until he was 14. So yeah... class will be interesting.

Quinn and Tim fought over my love and affection today at work. Typical. Quinn grabbed my hand to make Tim jealous. So Tim grabbed my hand and pulled me onto his lap and wrapped his arms around me. Of course my supervisor walked out at that EXACT moment. Oh, hey Bev. Awkward. But then silly Quinn made it all better, "Bev, do you see what's going on? Interracial couple!" Haha, he meant interoffice. Silly Quinn. Bev's reaction? "What races are you?" Tim said I could be black because he's always wanted to kiss a black girl. I love my job.

After work, I did some more child development reading. Then I took a nap. Ahh, naps. Then I went to dinner. The Cannon is like a battlefield. So many assassins. It was scary. Everyone in the 116th ward was paranoid. But I survived. Whew. After dinner I worked on my wrtg150 paper then finished my child development reading (there was a lot of reading). Then I watched Once Upon a Time. Intense episode. So good. Bad? Good? Good in a bad way? Bad in a good way? I think I'll just have to stick with intense.

Oh, and someone thinks he's a match-maker now. Text me for details, Mom. Haha, you'll be suprised who "someone" is. Time to get some sleep. Tomorrow's another day of war. This is pretty much like the Hunger Games in real life.

I Am

Remember how I was wearing shorts all week? Those days are over. It snowed today. When I woke up there was snow in the mountains, but it wasn't snowing. So I didn't even wear a jacket to church (just long sleeves). And then when church got out...it was snowing a lot. Whyyyyyyy? Winter, you did not need to come back. I didn't miss you.

Abby shared this song in Relief Society and I've listened to it about a million times today. It's a new favorite. I love songs that can gain favorite status in less than 24 hours.

After church I called Mommy, went to buzz meeting, and then ate lunch. While I was eating I got the cutest video message from Joe of Pierson walking. He's getting so big! It makes me sad that I'm missing seeing him grow up. He'll be a year old on Friday. Time flies.

Once upon a time someone told me I was really open on my blog. I don't think that's generally true. You can only get to know me skin deep by reading my usual blog posts. But today I'm going to let you go a little deeper. Seeing Pierson grow up via pictures/skype, and not being able to be physically there has made me think a lot about my future. I'm a dreamer. I think a lot about the future. But in particular, my wedding has been on my mind. Specifically, I've been thinking a lot about how my brothers won't get to see me get married in the temple. That's a really hard thought to swallow. I love my brothers so much and I want them to be there so bad. And I can't make that happen. I can't have my dream wedding. I mean, it will still be my dream wedding, but all the parts won't be there. My mom's parents couldn't even go in the temple with her. At least I have my parents, but it's just sad to think about. Of course it in no way makes me want anything less than a temple marriage. I can't imagine less. I just want my entire family to be together forever, and it's hard to not be able to make that happen all on my own. So there you go, a peak inside my heart.

I spent most of the afternoon listening to "I Am", watching Mormon messages, and reading the scriptures. It was a pretty relaxed day. I went into work for about 15 minutes because someone was late for their shift and the other girl had to be somewhere. But other than that, I was pretty free. It was a good day.

At ward prayer tonight we got our "killing" assignments for our assassin game. You kill people by putting a spoon in his/her pocket. It should be fun. Then after ward prayer we played Rook and did some CR/BR (couple rating/breakup rating). And now it's time for bed. It's going to be a really busy week. Goal for the week: stay sane.

Pinch me...I dare you

Oh, St. Patrick's Day. What a silly holiday. A holiday of pinching. I went all day without getting pinched. Success. Now that it's 1 a.m. (and officially not St. Patrick's Day) I am not wearing any green. I feel a little rebellious, like I'm breaking a St. Patrick's Day rule. Sometimes it's good to feel rebellious, so I'm embracing the feeling.

My morning was pretty boring. I wrote a couple pages of my paper for wrtg150 (only because the 1st two pages are due Monday) and then I went to work. Work was pretty chill. I did all the mail and then I had a lot of visitors throughout the day so that helps the time pass pretty quickly. Hmm..funny stories from work...I can't really think of anything. But I am starting to get recognized outside of the Cannon pretty often. I'm always caught off guard when people recognize me outside of work because they've seen me working at the desk. What's even more creepy? When they remember my name (because I wear a name tag). It's a good creepy though...usually.

After work I went to a dance at the Wilk with Meg and Carine. We met up with the rest of our friends there. It started off pretty slow, but once we got into the groove we had a blast. Last semester it seemed like we went dancing every weekend, but this semester has been a lot more chill. So it was nice to bust some moves. I seriously love my friends. Sometime we get a little crazy, but that just shows how comfortable we feel when we're all together. We can just let go and go crazy. I mean, how many friends do you have that will chicken dance with you?

Carine had already promised to play games with people in our lobby, so we left a little early to join her at game night. Megan and I ended up laying under the pool table. Not playing games. To tell the truth, the most entertainment we had was sending people funny texts. Really funny texts. Oh man, they were good. Then Cooper asked if we wanted to play "walleyball" but we thought he said volleyball, so we got really excited. Then we found out he said wall and got a little disappointed. So we played walleyball for a bit and then convinced some people to go play volleyball on the sand courts.

Tonight was a really fun night. Maybe we should make plans ahead of time more often...that seemed to work out pretty well tonight. Haha, who am I kidding? We can barely plan things an hour before, let alone a day in advance.

it's a BAGEL!

Picture of the day, just to make you smile:

I hope my kids write wonderful things like this for their homework assignments. That would be the best.

Today feels like it was forever long, which is weird because I'm going to bed several hours earlier than I usually do on Fridays. I'm just exhausted. Sometimes you just gotta sleep. I'm learning. It's taken almost two semesters of college, but I'm learning.

The day started off with writing. Then bio - turned in my term paper! Woo! Then I came home, did some laundry, and ate lunch. Then I gave a room tour to a sweet girl and her mom. Then I came back and did homework. I should have written the first two pages of my issues paper (due Monday...) but I just wasn't in the writing mood. So I'm going to bed early tonight and writing it in the morning. Sometimes procrastinating is a good idea, right?

Thomas provided a good two hours of distraction from homework this afternoon. Okay, let's face it, I probably wouldn't have done much homework anyway so I can't really blame him. His Chile flag keychain broke, so he came over to get some super glue to fix it, but we ended up talking for a long time. And the super glue tube exploded on me...lovely. Oh,  and the cutest thing ever happened! One of the RA's parents suprised her by coming to visit and we got to see the reunion. It was super cute.

No Cannon dinner for me tonight :) I went to a little place called El Salvador with some of my co-workers. It was super good! It's this tiny little place, and it doesn't look like much but the food is super good, authentic, and cheap. I was stuffed for $3. It was fun to get off campus for a bit and to get to spend time with my friends from work.

When I got home I still wasn't in the mood for homework, but evidently everyone else in the world was. I played with Caroline for a little bit (I can usually count on her to have random fun with me). Then I joined the other non-homework doers in a game of Rook in the lobby.

I feel like more interesting things happened today, but I can't think of anything. I guess that means my brain is fried from a week's worth of hard work. And next week just might prove to be worse. Two tests and a paper. Yikes! Guess I better get some sleep in preparation for the lack of sleep that might accompany next week.

P.S., Liv, don't get mad but I just have to share your quote of the day because it's so darn cute! "Taylor Swift is my Shakespeare" - Livia

Bubbles!

Okay, I know I say this almost every day...but today really was almost perfect. Seriously. This sunshine and warm weather is doing wonders for my attitude. Everything looks brighter when it's a little lighter outside.

I feel like a lot happened today, so this may turn into a really wordy, boring blog post to read. But I'm not writing for others, I'm writing for me (and my writing150 grade...) so too bad so sad for you.

We'll start with Book of Mormon class. Super good. I just tried to find a quote from class that I wanted to share, but I can't find it. It's from Boyd K. Packer's books Teach Ye Dilligently. The quote was about enjoying cruddy days because they make the good days so much better. He said we should plan on having bad days, heck we might as well schedule them. Anyway, it was a good quote.

Work meeting was cancelled today, so I spent the next hour outside in the beautiful sunshine. It was lovely. I read for child development while sitting in the JFSB courtyard by the rock fountain. The warmth of the sun felt so good on my skin. It was probably the most enjoyable reading I've done in a long time. Just because the weather was so great. Then I ate some subway...outside. It was just too beautiful to be inside!

Unfortunately, I was forced to go inside for child development class. Luckily I love that class so it wasn't torture to be locked up inside for an hour and a half. We talked about aggression. Watch this video clip and pay attention to your emotions.

I bet when the girls stole her spot you felt a little mad, didn't you? Then you probably laughed when she ran her car into the young girls' car. And you probably thought her actions were justified. But think about it: this is a form of aggression. Media has made aggressino humorous. I'm not against this particular clip. I think this it's hilarious. But it's interesting to think about.

After class I came back to my room for a few minutes, and then I decided I needed to be outside. So I went back to my little spot in the JFSB courtyard and studied. Then I had my elementary art class. Today we made giant bubbles! It was super fun and I was excited that we got to be outside :)

Who gets college credit for playing with bubbles? This girl. Jethro (my professor) thought it was super funny how much I loved playing with bubbles. I was a little excited. He told me I should do my ten hour project on bubbles...I just might. After bubbles we went inside and had presentations. Then I left class an hour early for Thomas's suprise party.

Thomas's party was a lot of fun. For me at least. I think he might of felt a little awkward, but whatever. His siblings came and I think that made it a lot better for him. There was yummy ice cream cake and fun people. Win.

wrapping paper and bow made out of colored paper taped together

Today was a wonderful day. I love days like this. Winnnnnnnn.



I wet my plants!

It's springtime and I'm so excited that I wet my plants! Hahahaha, gotta love pinterest. That one made me laugh quite a bit. And I did wet some plants today at work, so it's totally applicable.

Let's see...woke up to another beautiful day this morning. It was a bit cloudy, but the temperature was just fantastic. Classes were good. And I got Taco Bell breakfast. Win. Then I had work. We had some people from a university in another state (Arizona? New Mexico? something like that) come to look at the dorms today. Evidently they want to see how we do things in case they want to copy cat us. Other than that work was pretty normal.

After work I came home and worked on my bio paper. I was doing so good, but then Chase called and wanted to go to dinner earlier than we had planned. So, I left my paper (unfinished) and went to dinner. I wasn't even hungry. I snack all day. I realized earlier today that I don't even remember the last time I had three solid meals. I always have one or two actual meals and lots of snacks. Anyway, my funny dinner story for the night: I was swinging my legs under the table (let's face it, I rarely sit still) and I accidentally kicked Chase, tipping him off that although I appeared to be sitting still like a normal human being does at dinner I really wasn't. He asked if I was swinging my legs...yes, yes I am. Chase thought I just couldn't touch the floor (note: these are normal height chairs, of course I can touch the floor). He proceeded to comfort me by telling me at least I'm taller than munchkins and oompa loompas. Geeeeeze, I'm not even that short. Haha, but it made me laugh.

When I got back from dinner it was time to get back to my paper. Which is finished. Bam! Winners get it done. It's not even due until Friday! That just made my life so much better. Haha, okay the biology paper wasn't making my life any worse it's just better to have it done.

After finishing my paper, I was on top of the world. I had a lot of energy. So I pulled out some summer shoes and put away some winter clothes. I realized I'll always have entirely too many clothes. I was going to get rid of some things, but Caroline kept telling me I should keep everything because it fits and it's cute. Even things from 7th grade. I never thought not outgrowing clothes could be a problem. But it kind of is. After my rearranging spree, I taped a bunch of paper together to make homemade wrapping paper. College = using all your resources.

And ever since then...I've just kind of been chilling. I watched a tv show on Hulu. I did a little work in my sketch book. And now I'm blogging. Successful day. Time to get some sleep so tomorrow can be just as fantastic as today! Actually, I think it's going to be even better than today. I've got a feeling.

It's a PB&J kind of day

Another beautiful sunny day here in Provo. Oh how I love this spring weather. Dear winter, don't come back.

Today was an excellent day. I woke up late. Intentionally. I showered last night since I had been playing volleyball, so I decided I could skip my morning shower. Normally I hate not taking a shower in the morning, but I think I like sleep more than showers. Anyway, I slept in and then went to Book of Mormon. It was a good class. Quote of the day from Book of Mormon class:

“I have little or no fear for the boy or the girl, the young man or the young woman, who honestly and conscientiously supplicate God twice a day for the guidance of His Spirit. I am sure that when temptation comes they will have the strength to overcome it by the inspiration that shall be given to them. Supplicating the Lord for the guidance of His Spirit places around us a safeguard, and if we earnestly and honestly seek the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord, I can assure you that we will receive it.” -Heber J. Grant (Gospel Standards, Salt Lake City: The Improvement Era, 1969, p. 26; italics added.)

After Book of Mormon I came back to my room to have the perfect lunch. I watched devotional on my laptop and ate a delicious pb&j, baked lays, pretzels, and cookie dough. It doesn't get much better than that. The window was open and the sun was shining. Ahhhh it was just perfect. It pretty much made my day. But don't worry, it only gets better.

I was walking to my child development class and some random stranger boy told me I looked very nice :) I guess I should wear dress clothes on campus more often. Thank you random stranger boy, you put a smile on my face. Gotta love BYU boys.

Child development was great, as usual. The entire time I was thinking about changing my major to human development. It still feels so...right. I'm still not making any official decisions. Not yet. Not until after General Conference. But, this is getting very serious. I'm pretty sure it's going to happen. Scary. Exciting.

Megan and I went to the temple after I was done with class. She had her brother's car so it took approximately 2 seconds to get there. A bit different than the usual 20 minute walk. Usually the temple is pretty empty when I go on Tuesday afternoons, but today it was so busy. There was a big group from St. George (why they came to the Provo temple when there is a beautiful temple in St. George is beyond me). But I guess that's why it was so busy today. Even with having a car (which saved about 40 minutes) I got back to the dorms half an hour later than usual. But it was nice to spend some extra time in the temple.

When I got home from the temple I went back to work on my bio paper...and ate another pb&j. It's just perfect pb&j weather. I keep getting distracted from my paper, so I'm still not done. But it's coming along well. If I didn't always have brilliant ideas, sudden nap urges, and Caroline as a roommate I would probably be done with the paper by now. Instead I'll just push it off until tomorrow. You win, biology. You win. But only for tonight.

PB&Js put the "p" in perfect days.

Warm Days and Cold Toes

Oh man, you know it's been a long day when you can't even remember what classes you had in the morning. I literally had to look at my little schedule print out hanging by my desk before I could remember. I think I'm a little sleep deprived. But I'm going to bed early tonight, so hopefully my brain will be functioning better tomorrow.

Anyway, this morning I had writing and bio. We talked about the Kony video in writing150. We discussed the different appeals used in the video - pathos, ethos, and logos. Then we talked about whether or not it is okay to manipulate people's emotions in order to get them to act for a good cause. It was an intersting discussion. We never came to a conclusion as a class, but it was a good debate with lots of differing viewpoints. Then in biology...well, to be honest I don't remember much. That's bio for ya.

Work today was good. Busy. We officially decided to go out to dinner (co-worker party!) on Friday. Yay for eating dinner somewhere other than the Cannon! It should be fun. I don't think anything particularly funny or noteworthy happened today at work. It was just the usual.

After work I started on my biology term paper (due Friday and I'm just starting - yikes!). Then I went to dinner and ate way too much food. But there was yummy pizza, and being my father's daughter I just had to get my fill. Not long after dinner I went to FHE. We played volleyball out on the sand volleyball courts. It was super fun, but my toes were freezing. The sand was super cold and my poor little feet went numb. After an hour of playing, I walked home on frozen feet. I probably looked ridiculous flapping my feet around trying to regain feeling. Don't worry, I took a warm shower and full feeling was restored, haha.

I worked on my paper a little more after FHE (and I do mean a little - I'm barely over a page in) and then I decided my brain was too tired to write tonight. So I watched Once Upon a Time instead. Super intense. Oh man, that was a good one. It made up for last week's semi-lame episode. And now I just want to crawl into bed. So I think I will. Tomorrow I really need to focus on my bio paper, but I think I can do it. Hopefully I can get a really big chunk done tomorrow. That would make the rest of my week so much better, so that's my goal. But for now I must meet a more demanding goal: sleep.

I am thankful for sunshiney weather and restored feeling in my wittle toesies.

The "beach"

Today was absolutely beautiful. I woke up and walked to church without even wearing a jacket. Success. Sacrament meeting was super good today. Each talk focused on a different characteristic of Christ. I really enjoyed it a lot. I'd rate today's Sacrament meeting talks a 10 on a scale from 1-10. Then I taught Sunday school and I think the lesson went really well. Cameron was out of town with the baseball team again, but I was really excited for this lesson because I found a cool idea to teach in game form. There was a lot of class participation so I was super excited! Everyone seemed to enjoy the game-and the cookies! Winner.

After church I came back to the dorms because we had a hall meeting a little after church got out. But once the meeting was over I ate dinner and then spent the afternoon outside. It was wonderful. I sat out on a blanket with Meg, Sharnell, and Caroline. It was lovely, but....

RANT:
I have never had a problem with any BYU rule until now. And this rule doesn't just bother me a little, it bothers me a lot. So the quad (grassy area between all the dorm buildings) is evidently known as "the beach" when it starts to get warm. Well, even though every student at BYU signs an honor code with specific dress standards, the rules change when you're at "the beach". Girls are allowed to wear short shorts and tanktops as long as it is "activity appropriate". Which means you can't walk outside now without seeing blankets of people skantily clad. Oh no, I am not okay with this rule. The standards do not change with the weather. The quad is the central area of Helaman Halls. There are hundreds of boys about to leave on their missions, trying really hard to be good. And what do we do? Oh, let's throw a bunch of girls wearing short shorts out on the lawn. At BYU. The safe bubble.  I could go on and on...and on...and on about this topic. I am not okay with this. In fact, this bothers me so much that I will definitely voice my opinions to the managers of Helaman Halls and I just might write in to the Daily Universe or something. Not okay. Not okay.

Clarification: When I was sitting outside today, I was wearing my church clothes.

Now that that's (temporarily) out of my system, the rest of the day was pretty good. I took a nap. And worked. Oh dear, work. Let me tell ya. First off, Easton made me a paper mustache which I temporarily wore at work. Why do I embarrass myself in such ways? Oh but don't worry, that's not the end of my embarrassment. I wish I could keep my own dang secrets, but I can't. I guess it's better that I can keep other secrets but not my own than to have it be the reverse, but dang it I wish I could just keep my mouth shut. Whatever. It's okay. Nothing life changing. Other than secret spilling, work was pretty much the usual. Dunia and Quinn fought over marrying me. Quinn came up behind me and scared me. You know, just the usual.

One last thing about the "beach" (sorry, I can't just drop it - I'm annoyed) I really think that all this immodesty is going to result in the cold weather coming back. Seriously, the wind picked up today and it got a little chilly. I blame the beach-goers.

HOT date!

BREAKING NEWS: Today was warm. Like...actually pleasant to be outside weather. And let me just tell you everyone was outside. It was a party. A party that I mostly skipped out on, but I appreciated the beautiful weather regardless.

I worked an earlier shift than normal today, so that was kind of nice. I'm trying to think of what happened that's worth telling about...but I can't think of anything blog worthy.

Anyway, after work I did some laundry and made the dough for some cookies (which I baked this evening). Then I went on a date with my beautiful roommate. We walked to the Pita Pit for dinner and then decided to make it into a little picnic and eat outside. It was good to have some one on one time to talk and bond. We need to do that more often. I love how Caroline always tells things straight up, so when she gives you her opinion you know it's the truth. And sometimes, most of the time, that's exactly what I need. Heavenly Father definitely knew we needed to room together this year.

After my roommate date, I went down to the basement to bake cookies for my lesson tomorrow and finish writing my child development paper. Cookies: done. Paper: done. Well, mostly. I still have to edit. But that can wait until Monday. It was pretty painless. In fact, the cookies were more painful. I burnt my thumb :( sadddd.

Then I finished up the night playing games in the lobby. We played Rook*** (thanks, Greta) again since everyone has a new found love for it. Haha, it was a lot of fun. I love my friends. They're the best. We decided to end "early" because we lose an hour tonight. I'm not a fan of springing forward. Anyway, I should probably go to sleep. But I think I'll do some biology reading first since I still haven't started my bio paper...Yuck. It's going to be a stressful week probably. Or maybe not. We'll see. It'll be a good week though :) I'm excited.

Haha, I love how I allude to so many things in my blog that you [the reader] don't even know. You probably don't even realize I'm alluding to things. I doubt any one person (besides me) could find every hidden meaning in any post. I like that. It's like a secret between me and my blog.

Dear weather,
Please continue to be nice. I know there is snow in the forecast, but that can wait until next December. Really. It'll be okay. Let's just have spring.
Love,
Lisa

Ripped pants

Today was a long day. Oh wait, that's just because it's 2 a.m. and I'm still awake. Dear self, please stay awake for at least 15 minutes so I can finish this blog post.

Woke up this morning, decided it wasn't worth going to breakfast and slept in a bit. Then I had a conference with Carolyn about my writing150 paper (which, to be honest, I haven't even thought of much). Then I grabbed breakfast out of the vending machine and went to bio. Then I came home for a bit and prepared my Sunday school lesson. Then I had an appointment with a TA for my social competence paper. Then I came home and worked on that. Well...

Okay, here's the big announcement for the day. And the reason I couldn't immediately focus my attention on my paper. I really think I might change my major. I think I might want to do something more along the lines of child development. They don't have a specific child development major, so I'd major in family life with an emphasis on human development. I looked into the program today as well as career possibilities and it all looked so appealing. Much more appealing than teaching has been looking lately. But I still have a lot of thinking and praying to do before I make any official decisions. It's scary to switch majors, but I think it might be one of those fears I have to face.

Anyway, after researching that and calling my mom I was able to focus on my paper. I was on a roll. I wrote a little over half, but then worked called and asked if I could do a last minute room tour. The people ended up being late and it took forever, so there went my plan of finishing my paper before dinner. Oh well, there's always tomorrow (or I guess that would be later today...).

Dinner was fun. I don't remember any specifics, but I laughed a lot. That tends to happen a lot at the dinner table. The Cannon is a funny place. And I have hilarious friends. So after a two hour dinner, we all went to Coop's intramural soccer game. The other team never showed, so we left and Meg, Thomas, Sharnell and I ended up going to Budge to play foosball. But Meg accidentally stepped on the ball...so that was the end of that, haha. Plus we didn't have paddles so we were using our hands/phones. We tried.

Thomas gave me a piano lesson. Or at least he tried. I learned that majors are 4 away and minors are 3. And you only want to change a little bit at a time to make it sound good. Thomas is really talented, so it was a bit intimidating. He kept turning any 5 notes I picked into really pretty melodies. It was pretty amazing.

After piano, we headed to Hinckley to play games. We played bananagrams for a while and then kemps(?) and then rook. Mom, you will never believe - people play rook different out here. 1's are worth 15 points and they are more than a 14! Crazy, huh? Anyway, I didn't do so hot. Dad would have been disappointed, haha. But we had fun. Unfortunately we got a little carried away and played entirely too long. Although I guess I should just expect that. It happens every Friday night.
Hahahahahaha, I seriously almost ended this post without telling the pants story. It's way too late. My brain isn't functioning. This is the best story of the day. So after dinner I raced Caroline from the Cannon to Hinckley. I don't run often, but when I do I run fast. I like to save up all my energy for those special moments. So I ran really fast. Lightning speed. Bam. Totally won. Totally ripped my jeans in the process. Right on the butt. Yeap, further proof exercise is bad for you. They were one of my favorite pairs of jeans too! But that's okay. They were old and (luckily) I have plenty. Sigh...never race in jeans.

Well, 2:15 a.m. Work in 8 hours! Guess I should get some sleep before then :)

Creepy dolls

I went back the BYU preschool this morning. I seriously love that place. It is so cute! I want my kids to go to a preschool that is equally as amazing. Today the kids had show and tell. Most of the kiddos brought their favorite toy, but one boy brought a shoe horn and demonstrated how to use it to put your shoes on. All the other kids were amazed. I'd say that was the class favorite out of all the show and tells. Personally, I had two favorite. One girl brought a mermaid barbie. She told the class that she could also make it have legs. The teacher was very confused and asked how you made the mermaid have legs. The little girl proceeded to take the doll apart and show how you could replace the tail with legs. The teacher's reaction was gold: "oh..interchangable body parts. that's nice". But just wait, my other favorite is probably even creepier. It was a cinderella doll with a big poofy skirt. Normal, right? Wrong. When you flipped the doll over and pulled the skirt down it turned into a Belle doll! The doll had no legs, just 2 heads. Creeeeeepy. Maybe I should buy all my future daughters' dolls now before all the normal ones go extinct. I am not having creepy dolls in my house. No way. I don't want to see a 2 headed doll staring at me in the middle of the night. Nope. Not happening.

After my observations, I signed up for a meeting with a TA tomorrow to talk about my paper. I'm lost. So I figured I should just talk to the TA before I stress myself out. Then I went to Book of Mormon. Then work meeting. Chelsey made delicious nutella peanut butter cookies. SO good. My child development class was cancelled today, so I was able to give a room tour after the meeting. Then I went home and started my research for my bio paper.

Weird happening of the day: so, as I'm sitting at my desk doing research, I get this pain in my belly button? Weird. It hurt a lot. So I took a nap. Because that's really the only solution to unsolvable pain. It was sleep until it's better or look it up on WebMD. And we all know that looking things up on WebMD is dangerous. I'm sure it would have told me I'm dying. So yes, a nap was the only solution. It doesn't hurt so bad now. But it's still kinda sore and it hurts if you press on it. Weird.

After naptime I had my elementary art class. We haven't had it the past couple weeks and I've gotten used to having that extra time. But class was good. We watched a really funny video. Well, the video was serious. But the speaker was funny. It was about how schools kill creativity. Did you know that the lady who choreographed CATS seemed a little ADD in school? In fact, if ADD had been "invented" when she was younger, she probably would have been given medicine and told to sit still. But instead she was taken to a dance school where she could move and express her creativity. She's a millionaire now. Kind of crazy. So yeah, we watched that video and then we made prints. Best part: out of class 45 minutes early.

My ward had rented out the bowling alley tonight from 7-8, but I figured I wasn't going to be able to go since my class doesn't end until 8. But, I ran into Sarah on my way home and she convinced me to go for a little bit since I got out of class early. It was fun to see everyone, especially since Thurdays are generally anti-social since I don't get to go to dinner.

Well, I think I'm going to go be irresponsible now. I should really either do something productive or go to bed, but I really just want to relax and play on pinterest. So I'm going to. Take that life. But only for a few minutes. Then bedtime. For real. It's in writing, so it's official.

Tears at the dinner table

Mom, before you freak out about the title: just read the entire post.

Classes. Today was writing and bio. Let me just tell you about bio. Did I blog about the frustrating evolution lesson my TA taught last week while the Professor was gone? Well, today Professor Smith was back. I don't know if he got emails about what the TA said or what, but he decided to basically re-teach evolution today and give his take. He's a skeptic. He doesn't believe in evolution. He said he's sure it fits in somewhere, but he doesn't know where yet and he's just kind of okay with that. One day it will all make sense, so we don't really need to worry about it. Lovely, right? But then Dan (the pro-evolution TA) sent out TWO emails to us today about how regardless of Dr. Smith's personal opinions evolution is a valid scientific theory and blah blah blah. Yes Dan, we get that we need to understand evolution for testing and just general knowledge that everyone should understand. But two emails? Really? And oh course I read them in a rude voice. That probably didn't help my attitude towards those emails. Oh well. I'm over it. Rant complete.

Work. Work today was super busy. Don't worry though, it wasn't busy enough that I forgot to see the wonderful, spectacular moments that always seem to happen while I'm working.

1. A boy was texting and he walked straight into a wall. (note: this is a bit of an exaggeration, he just ran into the corner of a wall)
2. Ryan brought me an oreo
3. Gave Kevin (and some other people, but I didn't know them. except I kind of know the tennis player boy by association) his mission call - Ecuador
4. Left the desk for a few minutes, came back to a Snickers :)
5. Rescued J.J.'s keys that slid under a locked door in a chain of events that was truly miraculous.

Yes, I'm sure I could go on. But I know you, Mom, are dying to get to the part about me crying at dinner. So I will stop blabbing about work.

After work I came home (with good intentions of studying) and watched the Kony video about the Invisible Children. I told Megan that I needed to save all of humanity before writing my papers or studying and she said I might as well just drop out of college, haha. Anyway, after watching the heart-breaking Kony video, I studied for my Book of Mormon midterm. Then....dinner.

Dinner. I was planning on a quick dinner, but of course I spent over an hour in the Cannon. Megan and I decided to sit with a girl named Kelsey who is new to our ward this semester. Neither of us know her very well, but hey, why not? Let me just tell you. Kelsey is hilarious. She told us a wonderful story about the boy she likes. Because it's not my story, I'll refrain from blogging it but trust me:funny. Then Kelsey asked Megan and I if we liked anyone. Megan and I both started laughing. And it didn't stop. I was crying I was laughing so hard. Eventually Kelsey had to go to class, so she left us. We continued laughing. Oh that question. The question that should never be asked. That's it, Mom. Haha, tricked ya!

When I eventually left dinner, I did a quick review and then headed off to the testing center. I really considered putting it off until tomorrow, but yesterday was my unproductive day and two unproductive days in a row is simply unacceptable. Brag moment: totally rocked my midterm. I took it in 20 minutes and got an A. Winner. Actually, it was a double win because I finished in time to get to go to Chase's mission call opening. Megan, Greta, and I ventured over to Heritage for the big moment. JAPAN! He is soooo super excited :) Love it!

Well...that's about it for today. Waking up early tomorrow to go back to the BYU preschool.

Being friends with Megan = best ab workout imaginable

Silly girl

Sometimes I really wonder what I'm thinking. Yes, you would think I would know what I am thinking, but sometimes I really don't. For example, why wasn't I more productive today? I think in my mind I'm still pulling the sick card. Yes, I'm still a little sick. But not enough to use that as an excuse. jjdhkjghjfdhgf I don't have time for all this goofing off! It must stop. But it won't.

I slept in this morning instead of waking up to do homework before class. Then I went to breakfast with some girls on my floor. I could have woken up early, done homework and eaten breakfast in my room while doing homework. But nope. I couldn't be productive. Even though this week is super busy and I have a midterm I haven't studied for and three major papers to write. Nope, I still couldn't make good use of my morning.

Then after Book of Mormon class I came back to my room to watch devotional. Now, I could say that that wasn't the most productive use of my time, but actually I'm counting that as productive. The devotional was really good. The guy who spoke did something with finances in the athletics department. He talked about his special needs son who died 25 days ago. It was powerful. So no, I won't consider that a waste of time. It was time well spent.

After devotional was child development. We're learning about moral development. I love that class so much that sometimes it makes me think I should switch my major to child development. Anyway, after class I went to the BYU preschool to observe some kiddos for my social competence paper. I felt a little creepy watching the kids from behind the mirror thing where I could see them but they couldn't see me. But creepiness aside, it was so fun! I loved watching them play and listening in on their conversations. I was only able to observe for an hour, so I have to get to go back Thursday and watch some more. Goodness, I love kids. They are hilarious.

Okay, confession. I could've stayed and observed longer. But the kids went outside and I didn't want to follow them. I'll just go back when I can observe them inside. They don't have microphones on the playground anyway so observing out there probably wouldn't have been as beneficial. Yes, excuses. I know.

Let's see...after observations at the pre-school I gave a room tour to 2 boys. They were very immature. But maybe that's just because I'm used to being around boys who do their own laundry. I feel like that can really change a person. Anyway, room tour was successful. No naked boys. Although I did get some funny looks for being on the boy's floor when it wasn't visiting hours. Whatever.

Then I did some homework. And talked to Caroline. She broke my flowers. I taped them. Ghetto. Uh...then dinner. Then homework. Kind of. Only I really don't get how to write my social competence so I only wrote 2 paragraphs. And now I just want to go to bed. So I guess the whole "be productive and get a lot of work done today" was kind of a fail. But it's okay....I'm sick ;)

Over achiever

6:30 a.m. alarm goes off. 6:31 a.m, yeah right. Snooze. 6:50 a.m., fine. I'll get up. Get ready real slow. No need to look cute, I can just pull the sick card. 7:45 a.m. leave for class. Sit through writing. Miserable. Need. Sleep. Sick.

I was going to skip biology. That was the plan. Go to writing, come home and sleep. Greta would take good notes in bio and they drop an iclicker score, so skipping would be okay. I was going to do it. I really was. I even told Alyse I wouldn't be walking with her because I was going home. I didn't even make it out of the JFSB before I turned around. The over achiever in me won out. I went to bio. Why? I have no other explanation than skipping class just isn't in my blood. I have to go to class. It's me.

But after bio, I did sleep. A lot. until 3:30...maybe 4:00. And I only woke up then because Caroline came home and I knew I should probably do at least a little bit of homework today since I have a TON of homework/projects/papers to do. So I woke up and did some child development reading.

Then I went to dinner and FHE. We had a fiesta for FHE with pinatas and all. We combined with 2 other families, so that was fun. Then I came back inside and did some more child development reading. You may notice that I don't have much to talk about today. That is because I was sleeping all day. If this blog post devoted proportional space to today's activities and the time I spent on those activities, you would see "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" for a good portion of the post. Luckily for you, I don't do that.

Best part of the day? Package from home. I love getting packages from home. They make my day. This was a good one. It was a St. Patrick's Day package! I love holidays, especially when they mean I get a special package :) Everything (well, most things) in the box was green. I was going to take a picture, but I didn't and now the lights are off because Car-Car is sleeping. You'll just have to trust me, it's a wonderful package. Jello popcorn, girl scout cookies, shoes, magazine, granola bar, capri suns, skittles, all kinds of good stuff. The best part of the package? A note from my baby sister. She is amazing. I love her. Even if she did try to make me cry by writing me the sweetest letter in the world.

Sleep + package from home = starting to feel better :)

Do you feel okay? ...because you look great

Urghhhh. I'm still sick. What is this? I hate being sick. I gave up an entire Saturday night of socializing to take medicine and sleep. I feel like that should mean I'm not sick. But I am definitely sick.

I went to church this morning (well...most of church). Fast and testimony meeting was wonderful. As always. Brother Arnell (one of the counselors in the bishopric) told us a story about moving and carrying the all their food storage from one house to the other. He told us the Lord blessed him with one great asset if you know what I mean :) haha, he had the whole room laughing with that one. Oh Brother Arnell...you silly goober. I only have one more fast and testimony meeting left with the 116th ward. It's sad to think about. I love my ward so much. The people in my ward have changed my life. It's crazy to think that people can have such a big impact on you in such a short amount of time. I love them. I really do.

Best story ever: so I was walking to Sunday school today and Cooper asked me if I was feeling okay. Then he quickly tried to recover by saying "...because you look great!" We both knew I didn't look great. My eyes are all puffy and watery. My nose is red. And I'm pretty sure my expression is very... dur. A dur expression. I don't know how else to explain it. Just durrr. Haha, I laughed so hard. In fact just thinking about it makes me laugh. Gotta love Coop.

Speaking of looking great, I wore my dress from the children's section of DI today. So did Meg. I was going to take pictures for the blog...but I was sick and not looking too hot. Also I left church after Sunday school to come home and sleep so I really didn't have a chance. If we wear our dresses again, I'll try to remember to post a picture.

Other than church, my day consisted of a lot of sleeping. A LOT of sleeping. I just took medicine and slept. All day. And now I'm about to go back to sleep. Plus I got someone to cover work for me tomorrow so that I can sleep all day tomorrow. Except I have to go to my writing class. Lame. But I just might skip bio.

Being sick at college is the worst. I usually don't take medicine, but now I have to take medicine because my mommy isn't here to baby me so being sick is no fun. Well, she did baby me a little over text today. Plus she sent me a package. She's the best. But I don't like being sick at college. Skipping class is a pain. Skipping socializing is a bore. Skipping work is a hassle. Not feeling up to doing homework is stressful. Luckily I have amazing friends. Everyone is so willing to make me feel better in any way. Whether it's offering me medicine or telling me to go to bed. Plus I have the best roommate ever. Look what I woke up to :)



Being sick is no fun, but having wonderful friends makes it a little better. Okay, it makes it a lot better.