March Maddness

This month has been a crazy one due to papers, projects, and activities. I had a huge paper due in my assessment in therapeutic recreation class. I was so proud of myself for not procrastinating the paper, however, I found out 2 days before the paper was due that I was doing it wrong. So, I had to start from scratch. That was crazy, but it got done on time.

Our adopted roommate, Tim, invited us to dinner at his house. We went to SLC before heading to Tooele to Tim's house. It was wonderful to have a delicious, home-cooked meal. Tim's family was amazing. We played games after dinner and had heaps of fun. I hope I get along with my in-laws as well as I did with Tim's family.

I went to 5 rugby games during the month of March. Towards the end, I found out that girls from my FHE group were going to the games as well. It was nice because then I didn't have to drag a roommate along with me (or go alone). Some of the other missionaries from the NZWM would come and see Adam (a NZW Missionary) play. It was fun to see them as well.

As a student council, we hosted an activity for the students in our department. We had our department chair and two professors come and talk to us. We got to know them better as they talked about their lives and how they got into this profession. We then got to ask them questions (more advice than about their own lives). I thought it was really helpful and the other students who attended did too.

We had the department annual scholarship banquet at the end of March. It was neat because I received a scholarship for my service on the student council. I was surprised when I got the call that I had received it because I didn't apply for a scholarship. I was thinking about but figured I wouldn't get it, so I didn't apply. The scholarship I received turned out to double the scholarship I was thinking about applying for. I was so grateful.

Chris and Lindy's Wedding

Yesterday I went to my MTC companion's wedding. It was the first live sealing I had seen in English. I met Lindy's mom before the ceremony and she came up and gave me a big hug and she said, "Lindy was so excited to find out that you were coming." It was so great to know how much Lindy wanted me to be apart of her day.

It was a three and a half hour drive to get out to Lindy's wedding. She asked me earlier this week if I would be willing to give a girl who was in one of the wards she had served in down in New Zealand. I was a little nervous because I thought we weren't going to much to say and it was going to be super awkward for seven hours. We ended up talking for all way there and all the way back. It was so awesome. We're hoping hang out soon.

It was wonderful to see Lindy again. I hadn't seen the day we were leaving our first area and I was running after the train she was on. :-) It was so beautiful to be reunited in the temple. The ceremony was so simple and sweet. I cried. I'm so excited for her and Chris!

Lindy and Chris

Michelle (the girl I traveled with), me, and McKay (one of the Elders that both Lindy and I served around)

It was so fun to meet Lindy's family. She talked about them all the time. Such an amazing family!

They completely transformed the cultural hall

New Zealand girls! Me, Lindy, and Michelle

Me and my soa!

Valentine's and Things

My roommates (and Tim, our adopted roommate) went to go see "Thoroughly Modern Millie." It's one of my favorite musicals.

As a student council, we had a guest lecturer come and speak to us. We had Deborah come and speak to us about Animal Assisted Therapy. I was mainly running around getting things ready, but the parts that I listened to were really helpful. Deborah brought two standard poodles with her.

I had my year mark from when I came home from my mission. It was interesting to see how much had changed and what still hasn't. :-)

Valentine's Day was great! I really wanted to make sure I wasn't sitting home by myself, eating ice cream, watching a chick flick, and wondering why my life wasn't like that. For Valentine's day, my roommates and I ordered a heart shaped pizza from a local pizzeria. Then, that night, we had a fondue party. It was great to see friends I hadn't see in a while. We then watched the least romantic movie we could find, TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). :-) I have to say it was the best Valentine's ever (no boyfriend required).

The First Month of 2009

This semester has to be the busiest one of my college career. I taking courses higher up in my major and just require heaps of reading and memorizing. I'm also the president of the student council for my department and I'm amazed at how much time it takes up. I'm also on the Dean's council. I meet with the Dean of our college and the other department student presidents. The only downfall to that is the 7:00 AM meetings every other Wednesday (that's also the day I have class until 6:30 :-P).

I have officially given into the social norm: I own an ipod. I bought a third generation nano because they were on sale since the fourth generation has come out. I bought it so it would entertain me as I worked out. It has great a great distraction.

My roommate, Ashley, turned 21 this month. The celebration lasted 4 days. It started out with dinner at Fudruckers on Friday. On Saturday, we went to Spark, a lounge that sells non-alcoholic drinks. On Sunday, we had a nice dinner. On Monday, we made breakfast. On Tuesday (her actual birthday), we made her a cake and Ashley opened presents.

So I have a new obsession, rugby. I never saw a real rugby game while I was in New Zealand. I have a mission buddy who is on the rugby game for our school. It was just a scrimmage, but it was amazing. I love this game. While I still don't fully understand all the rules, it's quite a fun game to watch. If you want to understand this amazing game check this website out.

I had a reunion with the girls that I went down to St. George with. We had heaps of fun catching up. We watched Dan in Real Life.

December Highlights

So it has been a pretty crazy two months. It has been nice to be done with school. It was a crazy end of the semester. I was trying to finish volunteer hours for abnormal psychology, write papers, tests, presentations, and then finals. Here I am with my project for Introduction to Therapeutic Recreation. It went through over 500 sheets and an ink cartridge. It was insane but I got 100% on it.

There were many parties to celebrate Christmas and the end of the semester. I'm on the student council for my major and we had a Christmas breakfast. We told the students that we'd have waffles and pancakes. We had enough of the mix and enough griddles and waffle makers, unfortunately, we blew all the fuses in the room (including the one for the computer so our Christmas music was gone). So, we ended up having one griddle and one waffle maker going in the hallway. We were suppose to have one of the members of the faculty dress up as Santa, but the person responsible to bring the costume slept passed his alarm. It was crazy! Definitely a learning experience.

I'm in the Relief Society Presidency and so we planned a Christmas party. We had house making but instead of using ginger bread, we used wafers and frosted mini wheats. There were a few bumps getting ready for that event but it turned out pretty well.

John and Edna had their twin girls blessed in Edna's parent's ward. It was great to be able to attend.

We had everyone home for Christmas. It was a bit crazy having 11 adults and 4 babies in the house, but it was fun. We definitely did not do the Hallelujah chorus run. That stampede would have been very dangerous.

I went with my friend, Samantha, to a pajama New Year's Eve party at the institute. I think that was one of the better New Year's Eves that I've celebrated. We watch the movie "The Fall", played games, and brought in the New Year with sparkling cider.

Thanksgiving

It was great to have family for Thanksgiving even thought our numbers were pretty low this year. Here is the one picture I got from Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, Uncle Pat was not being very cooperative.

Halloween Fun!

I love holidays. They give me an excuse to dress up and decorate. I love the traditions that form with holidays. For example, for seven years now (I missed one year because I was on my mission), I've made a graveyard cake around Halloween. Three of those years I made it with one of my good friends/roommates, Katie. Unfortunately, I was sick this week and so I had to take extra precautions when making and decorating my graveyard cupcakes (I did cupcakes this year because my mom sent me some really fun cupcake wrappers). I made sure to wash my hands and use hand sanitizer anytime that I handled the cupcakes and wrapped one my of scarves around my face so that I wouldn't spread my germs by breathing on them either. My roommates and I ate them as we carved pumpkins. I'm so grateful I have roommates who get into holidays as much as I do (or are at least willing to go along with my ideas).

I hadn't come up with a costume idea for this year's Halloween. I had been playing around on amazon.com and found a mask and cloak that I absolutely loved, but also absolutely out of my budget. On Friday afternoon, I was leaving to go to the mall to look at ideas for Christmas Cards (yes, I know it's a tad early, but I'm so excited for Christmas this year), and my roommate, Shelece, was talking about getting dressed up and doing something. I reminded her that I had no Halloween costume. She said we'd figure it out. So, I went to the scrapbook store, looking for ideas and after that was done, I figured I'd might as well look for a quick, easy costume while I was at the mall. They were doing trick-or-treating at the mall and so it was super crowded. My first thought was to find some silky looking p.j.'s and a tiara and go as "sleeping beauty." However, the P.J.'s were just out of my budget as well. So, I stopped by one of my favorite stores, Mariposa, that is going out of business and they had a huge sale going on. I thought maybe I could find a white formal and match Shelece, who was going as an angel, since formals were $30. Alas, I couldn't find one that worked. Still working off of Shelece's theme I thought, what if I went as a demon? I went looking for some devil horns and found a pair at Claire's for $2.40. I then went back to Mariposa and found a red formal skirt my size that was 75% off. I got home and Shelece and I got all dolled up and took some pictures. We then went to the stake Halloween party. It was decent, not too much to do, but it was fun to see friends and the costumes people were wearing. Overall, it was an enjoyable evening. I never would have imagined myself being a demon for Halloween, but that's what happens when you put a costume together in 20 minutes. :-)