To party or study? That is the question...

This week was highly eventful with a pleathora of crazy random adventures, people, studying, decorating, cleaning, and the list could go on and on. Sleep wasn't a very major part of it though...there just wasn't enough time to sleep, too much to do, too much to see, just too much. But I enjoyed every minute of it. I am one of those people who is most happy when busy doing something, sitting around doing nothing is pointless and doesn't get anything accomplished or solved, no fun or work had, it's a waste of time that really bothers me. So this week was pretty much close to perfect for the main part. Ok, I guess Ill start out with Monday since that is when the week usually seems to start (one time I might just mix it up and pick Thursday instead, it deserves its fair chance to be first, right?). Monday was FHE, like always which is always tons of fun and way worth it to give up a few hours of studying to go and play and learn and serve. This week we went as an entire ward to go see the Salt Lake Temple lights and watch the Joseph Smith movie. We, meaning my "family" up here, played word games and "I have never..." all the way out there and back on the bus. Learned quite a few things about the people that I thought I had come to know really well after months of living with them and hanging out with them. Once there, the Joseph Smith movie is just the most amazing experience, no matter how many times you watch it. The spirit is so strong and overwhelming that I don't think there is a single dry eye left in the room by the end of the movie. Not one. That and The Testaments give pretty immediate spiritual highs that provide good pick-me-ups no matter how hard life is or what all you still have to get done. After that we had to run around to go see any of the lights because the bus was leaving in only a few very short minutes. We caught the Nativity and a lot of the random lights around in the trees. The most beautiful sight by far though was the Salt Lake Temple outline out against the dark sky. A true testament and symbol to its being a place of God put in the middle of an ungodly world shining out as a beacon of truth and light. You can catch a glimpse of it at the end in the pictures (yes, I couldn't pick just one this time) of the week. Tuesday was a good day because I got a lot of studying and work done. That is until my brain just crashed fried and so I did cleaning for our cleaning check that night. Which after that I watched The Great Mouse Detective and then headed out to the chamber orchestra concert for humanities. Man, I miss playing in a chamber orchestra. Symphonies are fun and big and loud and a complete blast. But chamber orchestras are just so....musical. Everyone there is at the top of their game and they all work together to create the most beautiful sounding music. Everyone is on a team and works as such without trying to outplay their standpartner or the section next to them. They played Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Haydn's "Surprise Symphony, and another piece tha was from the Romantic era. The cleaning check itself came next, which was the very first one I have ever actually been home for. Im always busy out doing something else. But I made it this time until I got a call to go on a quest to find the Museum of Peoples and Cultures for Sherrie's friend Jen. I couldn't say no (and I didn't feel like sticking around to have to explain how our theater room/kitchen works to our RA Benjamin). We found the building in a matter of seconds, it was right where Google said it would be. Jen was just blind and hadn't been able to find it after searching for hours all around it. After that we decided we were not yet ready to go back to BYU so we took a journey to go look at the light displays in the richer section of Provo and admire the view from offered by the mountainside that all these house are on. A midnight trip to IHOP was in order so that we could get some hot chocolate and thaw out for walking around the moutainside admiring the view. I tried one of their crepes and it was delicious, I would highly reccomend it to any one who likes IHOP food. Still not as good as the stuffed french toast though, that is by far the best thing offered at the restaurant. After that it was high past bedtime. Wednesday was the day of my first final for dance! I retested on the cha cha and had a blast dancing with the girl that I danced with at Dancesport before. One of my better grades for that class. She convinced me to add 280 with her next semester so my dancing career will continue for another semester at least. After that comes the mission and probably that will be the end of dance for me. Wednesday night was just a study night pretty much. Catching up on all the stuff I had to catch up on and getting stuff done. Thursday was the last day of classes for fall semester 2008 at BYU! Oh happy day! After they finally ended I had to head off to work and then I went to a Christmas chorus concert that Amanda, Greg, and Samuel all sang in. Plus it was free, can't get much better than that. After that was just a bunch of chatting and talking. Friday was the first reading day and I studied fairly hard. I threw myself at psychology and economics trying to understand and master all the crazy, weird, insane concepts. I think it actually did a lot of good and helped me to remember everything that I had struggled to learn all semester. Friday night was time to start preparing for the grand Christmas party that I had been planning for the past two weeks. We went down to DI and sorted through all the junk there to find the perfect decorations and ideas. We found a Christmas tree! How cool is that? And it was only $5 was the best part. DI is just simply amazing. It has the answers to most of life's questions and problems and for very, very cheap. That night was talked some more and played around. The next day was party day! We started out with going to Kneaders which is a little bread shop not far from campus. It offers a $4.99 homemade french toast (meaning that the bread, maple syrup, and whipped cream is all made from scratch) all you can eat special for breakfast. What better way to start you day? After that I came home and started putting up the tree and all the lights and getting all the cleaning done and made sure all the food was taken care of (dinner was potluck style). So my parents don't worry I didn't just do that, I managed to squeeze in an econ study party for my econ final on Monday. I am as ready for that test now as I am ever going to be and we will just have to see what happens. Then I had to run off to work and then I came home and changed and it was party time! And it was awesome! The girls had voted a long time ago that it was all going to be semi-formal/formal. So that meant girls in prom dresses, guys in tuxes, and at the very least everyone in Sunday clothes (although since Sterling was visiting from Idaho we cut him some slack). For dinner there was more food than I think have seen on one table since I have started college, we even ended up having to go get another table just to hold it all. There was chicken, pork chops, vegetable platter, corn, honeydew, pineapple, pomegranate, grapes, mashed potatoes, Martinelli's, lemomade, water, gingerbread cookies, homemade ice cream, hot chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, candy canes, rolls, chips and salsa, and lemon poppyseed muffins. A true feast. And everyone helped out, everyone brought something and helped get it all ready and cooked and made and wonderful. The turnout was pretty crazy too...20 people in humongous dresses or tuxes for dinner stuffed into our tiny kitchen which was even more crammed with the addition of the Christmas tree and at closer to 25 for all the games and the white elephant gift exchange we did later that night. I met quite a fair few of new people, but I also already knew most of everyone there. After dinner, we played the adverb game and then did desserts and dancing while waiting for the last few people to arrive so we could do the white elephant. The adverb game turned out to be a smashing success, everyone was laughing like crazy and had the biggest smiles and most fun. We played it for probably at least around an hour which is quite a long time for that game. the white elephant gift exchange took the party to a whole new level though. There was almost everything you could imagine there and probably quite a bit more. People were beyond creative to say the least. There was a reindeer lawn ornament, card games, a giant calculator, chocolate milk, the endless zipper purse, boomerangs, Saltine crackers, our peephole that Kelly Ann had stolen, pictures, and much, much more. It was a blast! Seriously, one of the most fun nights of my entire college career. I had forgotten how much I liked to plan things, get them all set up and then just relax and enjoy the result of all my hard work and planning. I got so many compliments, it was ridiculous. But I did not do that much except plan it out. Most of the work was done by everyone else and I just directed making sure that everything was ready and as perfect as could be. I think Im going to have to plan more fun things, because I like doing it. I like doing it a lot. Well, after that this week is going to seem pretty dull as finals hit me and crush me until Thursday afternoon. After that I am home free and and in fact am coming home of Friday the 19th with Joe. I am so excited! I can't wait to be home again even if I was just there a few weeks ago. Nothing quite compares. Dorothy had it right with her ruby slippers on this one. Well...its time for me to head back to work now, break time is over. I shall write of my hopeful triumphs over tests next Sunday and the great times I have starting at home on Saturday. also, I hope to go caroling this week with the BYU folk, but I will just have to see what time permits.

Thought of the week: It comes from my sister Lora quite a long time ago actually but I discovered the truth of it this week. I can't remember the exact quote but it had to do with the fact that I always had fun because I put work and effort into making sure whatever I was planning for fun would get pulled off and that everyone else would have fun too. That statment is so true. We get out what we put in. For work, life, parties, dates, and the list goes on and on. Just remember that the more work and effort and thought you put into something, the more you will get out of it and the more enjoyable it will be for you.

Song of the week: "Ill Be Home for Christmas" - true statement! I will be there in 5 days! :)

Pictures of the week: