Jett is also the cutest cutest cutest

Now I'll tell you about it

Sorry, minor malfunction for the previous post. Sorry Scotti! My adventures in Claremont were numerous and fun. It was an easy drive and I found my way super easy. I got to go to In and Out with his family, and Scott and I laughed and laughed the whole time. I got to drive around in their fancy car. Too bad we forgot to take a picture of me "driving" it. Then we went to The Village, Claremont's downtown place with a bunch of cute little stores. Every one we walked into, I would say, "My mom would love this place!" Because she would. We had a fun adventure waiting for the trolley. I'm glad we didn't wait the whole time, because it would have taken a couple days. =) Then we went back to his house and played with his very cute doggies. I got covered in dirt and fir, and had a wonderful time doing it! So three cheers for Scott for letting me come play with him on his home turf! I just can't wait til he returns the favor. =D

Adventures in Claremont

Jack is the cutest cutest cutest!

To The Pirates...

Thank you all for the wonderful evening last night. For those who read this blog, and are uninformed, the pirates threw the awesomest Christmas party last night. John Deere made lots of delicious food, the house was decorated all fancy (mistletoe included), dancing was so fun, there was some live music, and it was all around a good time. It gave me an excuse to wear my beautiful sweater again, and get my party on. So thank you pirates, that is a night I shall cherish forever and ever and ever and ever.

Ugly Sweater Party

Our ward had a Christmas party on Monday, so my roommates and I took this opportunity to run to DI and get some sweet sweaters. I must say, we rocked them!

The food was so good, and there were lots of beautiful musical numbers...

... too bad we didn't hear a lot of them, because everyone was busy talking and having a good time, especially us.

Then there was a white elephant. I gave a pair of Tweety Bird slippers that I found at DI, and I got... (drumroll please)...

A Pumpkin! That's right, folks. A huge live pumpkin. We haven't decided what we're going to do with it, but it was really fun trying to carry it home. Anyways, the Christmas cheer is just beginning. There are at least a few more parties I need to attend up here, then I get to have a personal Christmas at home (where this sweater will make a reappearance). Love ya!

twenty questions, but theres 50 of them

50 things you didn't know about me until you read this...

1.What color is your tooth brush? Pink and White
2. What were you doing 45 minutes ago? Studying for a Physical Science test
3. What is your favorite candy bar? Straight up Chocolate
4. Have you ever been to a strip club? Nope
5. What is the last thing you said aloud? I left a voicemail to Carlie and Kellie wishing them a happy CTF day
6. What is the best ice cream flavor? cookies and cream
7. What is the last thing you had to drink? Milk
8. What are you wearing right now? jeans, sneaks, and a red American eagle shirt
9. What was the last thing you ate? about a trillion pancakes
10. Have you bought any new clothing items this week? Nope.
11. When was the last time you ran? about a week or two ago
12. Who was the last person to send you a message/comment on your blog? Scotti the pirate
13. Do you take vitamins daily? no, but I should
14. Do you go to church every Sunday? yes
15. Do you have a tan? yeah right. I freckle, not tan
16. Do you like Chinese food over pizza? Not always, a good pizza can hit the spot. But Chinese is fantastic
17. Do you drink soda with a straw? I don't demand one, but it can be fun
18. What does your last text message say? I got one from a mystery number today that says "Ctf?"
19. Are you someones best friend? yes
20. What are you doing tomorrow? going to church, doing CES fireside, eating break the fast, other sabbathy things
21. Where is your dad? in Redlands somewhere
22. Look to your left, what do you see? LRC movie watching cubicles
23. What color is your favorite pair of shoes? red
24. Do you use chap stick? yes, I'm addicted
25. Whats your favorite thing to do in your free time? go roller blading
26. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? Drive thru
27. Do you have a dog? No, but I wish I did... and it would come in a hat box with a ribbon around its neck
28. Last guy you talked on the phone with? Taylor, in my ward
29. Last girl you talked on the phone with? Anneli, in my ward
30. Any fun vacation plans soon? YES, going home to California in like 15 days!!!!
31. Do you dye your hair? no
32. Can you say the alphabet backwards? no, I'm not that coordinated
33. Do you have a maid service clean your house? yes, her name is Leesa
34. Are you jealous of anyone? yes, her name is Leesa =)
35. Do you love anyone? yes, of course!
36. Do any of your friends have children? yes
37. Do you use the word Hello daily? yes, mostly to the men who's offices I clean every day
38. Do you like cats? yes, but they don't like me
39. Have you ever been to six flags? Yes
40. How did you get your worse scar? surgery, but I consider it my best scar
41. What is your favorite smell? can't
42. What is the last DVD you watched? Enchanted
43. Have you ever been to Disney world? no
44. What is your favorite number? 12
45. Do you toast your pop tarts? yes
46. Have you ever waited tables? No
47. Where did you have your first kiss? outside of T hall, of DT
48. What should you be doing? no pressing engagements at the moment
49. Do you enjoy wasting time blogging? yes I do
50. Who do you want to tag? mommy, Shelley, aaaaaand... SM

I've been cruising through life just kind of  doing my thing and not pushing myself to accomplish much.  Yes I've been doing homework and projects, but shouldn't there be much more to life?  I feel like magnifying my calling in compassionate service is the answer, but I've been filling my time with less productive and meaningful things.  I sort of feel like the end of this semester is the end of my life as I know it, which it sort of is.  I feel like I have to get all of my partying in, all my socializing, all my "good times" in.  I am so sad that Miriam will be leaving us for Jerusalem.  She is one of my crew, the invisible girl of my fantastic four.  I'm so happy that she'll be building splendid memories and experiences, but I'll still miss her.  This semester is ending too quickly.  Next semester I'll have to juggle a million hours of classes, early morning work, adequate amounts of sleep, copious amounts of homework I'm sure there will be, while also dealing with the reality that I'm growing up.  Next semester is the start of my life as a teacher, and that's kind of scary.  I don't want to start grown up life!  All those responsibilities and stresses?  No thank you.  I just fear the unknown, and I definitely don't know how to be a grown up.  But it can't be helped, and I'm sure once I get there it will be great.

Here is an example from my life where silly fears are no match for experience and practice.  Before coming out to school, one of my greatest concerns was that I would be in charge of doing my own laundry.  With as silly as that sounds, I didn't know how I would figure out the hots and colds, lights and darks, how much soap to put in, what I should dry and what I shouldn't...  I'd helped Mom with the laundry at home, but when I'd separate the clothes there would always be that inevitable "unknown" pile that Mom would have to come bail me out on.  Alone at school, there is no bailout solution to an "unknown" pile.  So, my solution to the problem: just do it, and you'll figure it out.  Laundry is not that difficult.  This is so with many things in my life, I have found.  I am scared of things only because they are unknown to me.  But once I finally delve into whatever IT is, it's really not as hard or scary as I'd thought.  

My teaching career will be great.

Moby Dick will be an enlightening book.

My nephews will be cute healthy little boys.

The Lord's got me covered on the boy situation.

Money matters will work out.

And now that I've spent this time writing instead of studying, I'd better go learn about French Christmas with Holly.  A tout a l'heure!

Thanksgiving Week

Despite some expected homesickness, I had a nice relaxing break. I got to watch about a hundred... no maybe a trillion movies, many of which I'd never seen before. I got to play some guitar hero and wii, I rollerbladed all around town, I built a fort with my homies, and I got tons and tons of sleep. These are just a few pictures of some lovely events:

There we were at FHE, and Leesa Amy and Miriam decided to dog pile Bryan on the love sack. Little did they know their plan would backfire.

Thanksgiving at the Ahlstroms was super fun! The dog show was great and we were very happy the pointer won.

This is perhaps my favorite picture of the whole day, holly looking with her crazy eyes at the plates for no aparent reason.

Then the other night, Miriam and I went to Lawrence Lee's poker night. We talked about how funny it would be if we came to a poker night all dressed up like on Casino Royal to wish the men luck and serve them drinks. When the party was switching apartments, we snuck back to our house and put on our most beautiful gowns. Then we went pack to the party, and strutted our stuff. I must say, the boys were very impresses and couldn't take their eyes off us! It was great! Naturally, we had to take pictures, so here are a couple...

All in all, it was a nice break. Didn't get as much homework done as I'd planned, but when do I ever?! I'm so excited for school to end, to go home, and to see my two new nephews!!!!!!

I was going through trying to find some old pictures that I might want to put up as facebook profile pics. (It feels weird mixing my blogging and facebooking worlds, but here it is) These are some that didn't make the cut, but that I liked anyways. Also, I realized as I've loaded them onto this post, that it is a semi-shout out to Tim. And therefore it is a shout-out to Holly. You know what, I'll just put a real shout-out. BOOMSHADOW ETERNAL!

French Date

Amanda planned an amazing evening for last night, and finally peer pressured me into going. As you can see, I went with John Deere. We decorated the apartment all fancy, had delicious crepes, and watched Ratetouille. It was a real fun evening, and not to toot my own horn, but the crepes I made were the best looking and prolly the best tasting. =)

In other news, I spent all day yesterday with my fun sister Holly, and we had a Cosmo encounter, watched and loved High School Musical 3, ate delicious food, and laughed our heads off. Thanks for the great day Hollikins!!!

PS: I tried calling all of my family members in California, but I guess you all don't like me anymore because none of you picked up. waa guys, waa.

Apartment Adventures

Once upon a time, Amanda and Miriam came to visit me in my bedroom. There was a bunch of stuff on my bed, so we sat on Leesa's. Then we got cozy, and Leesa eventually walked in on us cuddling on her bed. It was pretty awesome. Then the camera came out and such beauties as this...

came to be. Then Leesa jumped on, and all 4 of us had a party. It was great, and I love random fun roommate time. Oh the memories...

Last night we went on an apartment group date to go see "Savior of the World" in Salt Lake. It's a musical about the birth and death of Christ, and it is absolutely amazing. On the drive up, Brandon, Amy, and I played a sweet game. I had to fulfill many different kinds of tasks (give someone a wet willy, turn my head 360 degrees, successfully point out a temple to John Deere) to earn points. When I reached 15 points, I could gain the precious knowledge of Amy's middle name. It took the whole ride, but I did it! =)

There was a great big fun bunch of people. In this picture is Leesa, Matt, Amy, Steven, and me (don't mind my crazy face).

Here there is Garrett, Amanda, Camen, Miriam, Brandon (who was trying his best to hide from the camera) and me (who was trying my best to make him visible).

Here is the failed attempt at a picture of John Deere and me. He was being a little punk!

But then I threatened enough and he gave in. Maybe I like the first one better. ;)

During the show, I was all trying to feel the spirit, and all Brandon wanted to know was when the laser show was going to start. He was saying the funniest things, and I couldn't help but laugh a lot of the time. All in all, it was a really fun time! After the show, Leesa took us backstage for a tour, and we got to walk around on the stage and the catwalk and meet some of the actors and play London bridges in the hallway! I've never felt so in with the in-crowd!

Afterwards, we all went to Burger King and had some dinner. When you look at the picture below, you realize the moral of the story is to never give a camera to a bunch of clowns! We had a great time eating and laughing and talking to this crazy old guy who seemed to have an unseen connection to Brandon.

Anywho, the last event of the night was a lovely romp around a small park that overlooked Salt Lake. It was fun and really beautiful, but bum-clenchingly cold! I made a wish on a dandelion, admired the capitol building, and hurt my ankle while jumping off the swings. (don't worry, it isn't bad enough to stop me from having gone running tonight)

The ride home was nice and snug with four people in the back seat. Even with all the body warmth, it was hard to get warm. But that's OK. Getting frost bite was worth all the wonderful memories and experiences I got to build with some of my closest friends. Special shout out to Leesa for scoring those tickets, and to Brandon for coming with me, and to the academy for the emmy. Cheers!

Thanksgiving Day Traditions

I got to give a talk on Sunday to the Juvinile detention center kids on Thanksgiving, and it was way fun. It got me thinking of past Thanksgivings and all the fun we've had as a family. Lawrence Lee and I were swaping traditions, and I told him and his roommates about watching the dog show. Let me just say, I was thouroughly judged for it, but those poodles and beagles will live on in my heart forever. If you agree that watching the dog show is one of the best things to do on a Thanksgiving day, please give me a comment shout out. What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving traditions?

In other news, FHE last night roller skating was totally fun, and my family of geeks won the costume contest!

Leesa got free tickets to Savior of the World for Thursday, so we're going on an apartment group date. I'm going with John Deere, and it's going to be way fun!

I got my midterm back for Geography, and I got a 92%! Hooray!!!

yeah Halloween/roomies!

What can I say about these hot girls besides they are the greatest roommates a girl could ask for?! Yesterday we had a fun time getting ready for church. We all wore someone esles clothing (I have a compilation of Miriam and Amanda's things on). We decided that we looked so hot we would take a picture, so we did. =)

Here is a sample of what my hair looked like on Halloween. I was kind of disapointed the coolaide streaks washed out of my hair the next day, but it looked really cool in the mohawk! I won the prize for scariest hair at our ward halloween party. Booya succa!

Our Compassionate Service committee secretly decorated this apartment the night before hallowween. They left it all up for the whole day, and it totally warmed my heart! I have the best girls on the committee, and the best girls in the ward!!!!

All in all, things are going really great! It's Leesa's birthday today, and we've already had some great adventures, and the day is still young! We've planned something pretty great. I'll write about it later when it isn't a huge HUGE secet anymore. ;)

And Mom, I dedicate this picture to YOU!

I Voted (red checkmark symbol)!!!

I finally got my ballot all filled out, and have completed my first voting experience!!! Dawn asked if I'd taken pictures with it, and I thought it was the best idea. Unfortunately this is the best picture, mug shot style. But still, it's pretty dang cool!

This is a picture of John Deere and the infamous phone call with Mommy. Aparently he's camera shy or something. =)

We crashed the 84th ward Halloween party, and here are a few classic shots of my roomies and I from that night.