This week was back to the normalcy of craziness. If there ever was such a thing. Without work, a lot more free time than I thought is now available which means I don't have to study all night every night during the week so I can play on the weekend but I can manage to do homework in the afternoons so that I can have fun at night. Which I think is a very good thing. Monday this past week was a holiday which is truly an amazing thing. Having no school for a day really manages to get people relaxed and allows them to do stuff they would normally never take the time to do...in this case a full packed day of fun and energy blowing. I started out with waking up early and cleaning up the apartment and doing my wash. All very much needed things that had to get done and things I take pride and joy in doing. After that, my roommates and I headed over to Kelly Ann's place for a brunch of waffles and homemade syrup and strawberry whipped cream. It was delicious. That led up to an excursion to the thrift stores and to Walmart so that we could find sleds and things to slide down the hills on so that we could have a fun afternoon sledding. We ended up going to Rock Canyon Park which has a pretty sweet set up with some pretty decent hills to go down on. The sled I ended up using was an old gymnastic mat, and it was the best sled that any of us had gotten and worked perfectly. The snow was just icy enough to allow us to get going really fast and then safely coast to a finish at the bottum on the padded mat. Other sledding tools like the green saucer went so fast that almost everyone biffed it at the bottum and managed to injure themselves in one way or another. Mine was my back. I managed to tweak it all out of place or something again and had to deal with the pain I haven't felt for quite a while for the majority of the rest of the week. But I got over it eventually and after not sleeping for the first night started taking IB profen until the pain calmed down again and I could finally do all my normal activities. After sledding, we headed to the Creamery grill to enjoy some dinner and then came to the apartment and projected the new James Bond movie. It was a lot more violent than I remembered in theaters and I don't know if I really want to watch it again. Once that was done, it was time for the ward neon dance party which went from 9 -11 and was full of strobe lights and flashing lights of every color that can be imagined. The dance was interesting because half the songs that were played no one had a clue as to what they were and the other half were standard fare that are usually played at every dance setting up here at BYU. But it was still fun and everyone was dressed up in crazy neon colors. Tuesday and Wednesday were getting work done days but I still managed to hang out with and talk to friends and play games and goof off and all those good things but there was nothing really out of the norm at all. Thursday night we had a cleaning check and so I spent all day after class was done cleaning the apartment getting done all the jobs that I had to do and then some because I read the list wrong and so ended up doing about twice as much work as I had to, but oh well. I got it done and I got it done to the best of my ability. And we passed with flying colors because he didn't really check anything at all so it wasn't that hard. After the cleaning, I managed to squeeze in finishing writing a paper that I had been working on steadily all week for history. It was on Jared Diamons Guns, Germs, and Steel and it was an analysis essay over the theme of the book. It felt like I was back in high school because she gave us all the question she wanted answered in the essay and exactly what format to write them in and everything. I like writing, love it in fact, but I hate the fact that I have to write like I am back in 9th grade and everything has to be in five paragraphs and perfect grammar and almost no individual style. It takes all the fun out of it and makes it so that my usual good writing turns out rather mediocore at best which is very frustrating. Thursday night I also attended an 80's dance club with Kelsey, Greg, Ryan Chapman, Kelly Ann, and Whitney. It was quite an interesting experience. All the music was clean and there was no alcohol or anything because it was an 18 - 21 only club. But still the atmosphere just didn't feel right. It was a lot of fun, but I think Ill just stick with BYU dances from now on. The surprising thing was that I knew most of the music that was played, even though it was all 80's. I guess I have my parents and aunts and uncles to thank for that, they all made sure I was very exposed to the 80s culture and music and movies while growing up and I love them for it haha. After the dancing we headed to Walmart to get some ice cream and then I came home and immediately fell asleep and slept soundly for the first time in ages since coming back up to Utah. Friday I turned in my paper and fixed and polished it up enough that it should garner a good enough grade to make me happy. But still it lacked any of my attitude or usual sentence structure or anything of the matter. Then I went to work, which I find myself enjoying a lot. It escapes all the drama that seems to surround me in college life and just allows me to work with my hands and get stuff done. After work, I had my first smoothie/movie night so far of the semester. A tradition all my friends and I plan on continuing on for the rest of the semester. We start it off at 8 by making all sorts of smoothies form whatever juices, milk, ice cream, yougurt, and fruit we could find all week and then drink and them and chat around and then finish it all off by project some G or PG movie so that everyone can watch and so that it is clean. A lot of people up here insist on having everything that clean and I admire and applaud them for it. It just means I see a whole lot more of Disney than I think I have at any other time of my life. After that we played a lot of big group games where we shouted ourselves hoarse and all those fun things. Saturday I got up and headed over to the science center to do a geology lab that is due Monday and which I completed really quickly with the help of Courtney, Sherrie, and new kid named Lloyd. I think I am going to love geology a lot. The teacher is amazing, the labs are fun and engaging, the homework is not busy work and easy enough to complete in a timely manner, and it is just fascinating work, period. After that we went out to lunch at L&T and then came back to the apartment where I did all the dishes from the smoothie mess the night before and everyone else watch the third Mummy. Then because it was raining fairly heavily, we played all sorts of card games out in the lobby before heading over to Amanda's and Sherrie's to watch Step Up. After all the movie business was over I talked some with all my friends and then watched an episode of Psych and managed to get all my roommates and Will addicted to it with me. It has to be one of my favorite TV shows ever. Its a clean sitcom, which is rare enough. But its also a spoof of Law and Order and CSI and all those shows and that just makes it even funnier. The only problem is that the only way to watch the show is online because BYU cable does not carry the channel we need to watch it. So I pretty much have finished up all the episodes that are free online and now don't have anywhere to go to watch the rest of them and the whole new season that just started last week. But I will find a way, there has to be a way. Because now that I have a lot of people that are addicted it to it with me, someone will find a way to be able to watch more of it, or so I hope. This week is filled with all matter of insanity from more parties and dancing to two midterms (already!) to all the normal school and work hours to writing the first half of another paper. To setting up another smoothie/movie night and I could go on and on. But I am going to have fun and it really makes me happy to be always doing stuff, I hate the feeling of having nothing to do and being bored. So I will write more next week.

Thought of the week: "A hug is worth a thousand words. A friend is worth more." Jasmine Fitzwilliam. And I have discovered the truth of this statement over and over again both in Mesa and in Provo as I realize how truly blessed I am in the friends that I have and how they bring me up and inspire me to do good.

Song of the week: "Leaving" by Jesse McCartney. It is so hard to find clean R&B songs and this is one of the few that is 100% clean and still fun to dance to and sing along with. Amazing.

Picture of the week:This is Kelly Ann, Kelsey, and I getting ready to head out to go sledding on MLK Day. It was a blast!

I like life busy

Alright, I am back now. Sorry I kind of skipped a week there, but life has gotten really hectic already for only being the beginning of the semester. This semester is going to be a heck of a lot different from last semester, in almost every way imaginable. But it is still going to be awesome, at least as far as I can tell. The classes I have this time are are Biology 100, Geology 101, University Chorale, Symphony Orchestra, History 201 (World Civilizations through 1500), Book of Mormon 122 (the second half), and Social Recreational Leadership (which is a leadership class where we just learn how to lead large groups, lead games, and host fantastic parties - sounds like the perfect class, huh? and guess what it is!). My work schedule is now that I only work on Friday nights and every other Sunday, but for only doing that I still find myself crazy busy all the time. I guess I should give the laydown of how every night of the week goes. Monday night is FHE which so far I have been planning because our mother has been absent as of late. We never see her and she never tries to plan anything - so I made myself kind of substitue father because no one else was going to ever plan anything. Which makes life interesting. This week I planned a movie night for the sake of the fact that I was trying to plan an activity only a few hours in advance. It worked out great though and we watched the old Swiss Family Robinson and talked and got to get comfortable with each other again. Tuesday night is my rec class night and it goes from 4 - 6:30. From the moment we get there the class is go, go, go! We start out with some kind of preopener or ice breaker activity and then move onto playing group games and then watch a powerpoint about what activity we will learn next how to plan (the main point of each being keeping it fun and safe for everyone - which means we have discovered the evil of having elimination games). For homework all we have to do is write up the rules to our favorite game or write up the construction behind a a massive three part relay or some other such fun thing. The class itself is divided into four groups which means that each group for the semester is responsible for planning a preopener, the huge relay, two mega parties (with at least 20 other people in attendance), and for the final - lead a party for everyone in the class that can only last 30 minutes long. Individually we have to plan our favorite game, two individual parties (where I only am the host unlike the group parties), and all sorts of other things like some service here and there and just making sure we get enough leadership time in over the semester through various activities. Sherrie, Aaron, and Jared are all in the class with me which means that its pretty much a blast and everyone else there is there for the sole purpose of having fun. After class, the four of us usually hit up Legends Grille for dinner and then get back to life as regular around 8. Wednesday night is now officially temple night, and I go with Courtney around 5ish to do some baptisms. The fact that I now actually have time set aside to go visit the temple makes me really, really happy. I need to balance out school with a lot of more of the spiritual side of life this semester. Which means I also try to do 2 batches of indexing for my calling a week - which should hopefully work out. Thursday night is going to be the night still where I go visit my aunt and uncle. That is definitely needed to control my sanity levels as I rush from class to class and event to event throughout the week and that will be my one period of slowdown to sit back and get some studying in and eat somewhat healthily and see some family. Friday night I have work from 4:30 - 7:30 which is awesome again. I can't even begin to describe how much I enjoy having a job and working. For some reason, work just makes me happy. Its really intense and physically exhausting usually, but it makes me really happy to be doing it. Friday night we also hit up the planetarium this week where the presentation was on the creation stories of all the different people all over the world. I found it fascinating....but I was one of the select few who did. Not many others enjoyed it that much at all. I guess that just goes to show what a nerd I am by the fact that I love learning so much. Learning new things is one of the most exciting things about college for me and it happens for almsot every class and every hour of my college experience. Saturday should start being my one huge playday of the week starting this week - where I can plan big fun things for my group of friends to do and then we go out and do them - whatever that may be. However for the past two Saturdays I have been detained by my music classes. We had to play for a conductor's seminar last Saturday in orchestra and I was there all morning. Yesterday was a chorale retreat where we spent six hours working on singing skills and learning the correct posture, mouth position, and almost everything else that has to be done by your body to sing the best way possible. I finally figured out what head voice is and I will agree that it sounds much better than chest voice in singing. The surprising thing is that I have actually learned how to sing though. I can actually sing and sing fairly decently - not amazing mind you - but decent enough. And they are sticking it to us hard this semester to learn some pretty hard pieces from Aaron Copland and Eric Whitecare. Things I heard my amazing choir friends sing throughout high school and now that I just barely started singning I have to catch up on. And catch up fast. But choir is making me happy too. I have always wanted to do it and never had the time to take to learn. High school was always too busy doing orchestra, MUN, and all the APs. Last semester was intense working a lot, getting GEs done and out of the way, and figuring out how college actually works. I can finally squeeze it in now this semester and it is amazing. After the choir retreat, Kahi called and invited me over to play some Rockband and I agreed to it. The game is still my favorite video game I have every played and I am able to play at a least a medium level for each of the components and a hard or expert level for the bass or guitar. A lot of people ended up calling me or texting me and heading over there too - there was Aaron, Courtney, Rachelle, April, Whitney, Kelly Ann, Kelsey, Kahi, and me by the end of it. And we rocked hard. By the end of the night, my ankle hurt from trying to figure out how to use the foot pedal on the drum set and my voice was shot from singing all day for choir and then singing at night for Rockband. But I think everyone had a blast. Which is saying something because when we got back from break - the semester started out with so much ridiculous drama where people didn't like people anymore. It just showed me how much the group dynamics can change by the abscene of two people - namely Joe and Samuel. With Samuel gone, old tensions rose up and people started hating other people again and I think last night it finally resolved itself. People finally learned how to get along with each other again and I can tell you it is going to make life so much better this semester. The other thing about it is that the group keeps growing kind of exponentially - this semester so far Sir William, Regan, Stephen, Tayler, Kahi's new roommates, Brad, and few others have been added to the mix with the result being that usually our apartment has people in it. And it ranges from a few to being stuffed. Its great fun, but the problem is that study time is getting more and more compressed and I have to study in my room now, the kitchen is just too distracting. The other problem is that therer is no way I can keep up with the cleaning, Im just too busy to spend an hour or two every day doing the dishes, mopping and sweeping, vacuuming, and toilet scrubbing. I try to at least get the dished done, but no one else ever does anything. Ever. They just go about their lives and make the place look like a pigsty and it is really kind of starting to get on my nerves. I am only one person, and everyone else should be able to pick up the slack too. Greg has Fridays and Saturdays completely off but all he ever does in snowboard and sleep. Aaron will spend his time watching movies or playing video games. And Jared is always on the phone for work or sleeping. Brad is simply never home that much at all which means that he doesn't really contribute to the messy problem so you can't really expect him to clean it up. There has to be a way to get everyone else to work though. I just have no idea what that is yet. They could care less how dirty everything is and that really bothers me. A lot. Im also the only one that ever does any cooking and they devour it like ravenous wolves no matter if it is Neiman Marcus cookies or banana bread. But Ill figure it out somehow. There has to be a way to get it to work. Well, with all the stuff I have written down, hopefully you got the sense of how full my life is. And Im going to try to make it fuller by working out in the mornings with Courtney, Amanda, Sherrie, and Tayler with basketball, racquetball, and running. I also have gotten more sleep this semester than I think at any other point in my life. And I intend to keep it that way as long as I possibly can because I feel fantastic. There are no more headaches for one and that feeling is one of the greatest in the world for me, no joke. I think that pretty much covers what I wanted to get written down today, so Ill write again next week!

Thought of the week: "Learning is a kind of natural food for the mind" - Cicero. This quote goes well with what I have been feeling for the first two weeks of the semester thus far.

Song of the week: "Love Lockdown" - Kanye West. The song has a really great beat and the message is great for a premissionary at least by stating that we must keep our love locked down until we find the one who we are really meant for.

Picture of the week: So I have been a slacker and have as yet not really gotten out my camera at all this semester...but I am going to change that this week and I will be posting the picture of the week for sure next week.

New year, new semester, new roommates, new everything

So it has been quite awhile since I last wrote...which can be attributed to quite a lot of different factors. But surmise it to say, I survived finals...did better than survived too. I managed to cram and multiple guess my way to almost all A's with the exception of an A- in dance and a B+ in economics which kept my GPA at a solid 3.89 so that I don't have to worry about losing my scholarship or anything. At least not yet. Finals week was full of friends, study, moving Samuel out to get him to Jerusalem, messing around in the snow, cleaning, etc. I finished them all by Wednesday but was unable to finally head home until Friday. But I got home Saturday and was immediately swept away by my family and later my friends. Being home over break for a week was a blast and a half. My time was spent crammed with family, friends, wrapping presents, unwrapping presents, parties, sleeping, driving (amazing!), and shopping. I was just ridiculously busy the entire time, but loving it as well. Christmas was amazing - I got the eclectic collection of gifts anyone could ever have thought to ask for that range from a Lion King hat to a crockpot and a miniature scarecrow to a new cell phone. Oh, plus I got an M&M dispenser which I am looking forward to using all semester. There was also a party that I ended up throwing which was only supposed to be a "few friends" but ended up over 50 people according to my mom's count and 75 according to my brother's. Suffice it to say there were a lot of people at my house and my mom decided the theme was "missions". Everyone was talking about their call and when they were leaving and such and Jerem actually opened his call that night. It just reminded me that mine is still so far off and not seeming to approach any faster while I my friends are already leaving around me. My last night I was able to spend with friends was Saturday night and the amazing Leilani took me, Sarah, Aubrey, Rachel, and herself out to Cheesecake Factory for Christmas. It was astoundingly delicious. The food was amazing, the cheesecake was even better and just talking about anything and everything between us felt like home again. These are the people who know me far too well probably to their liking but they still love me and even hang out with me and I thank and appreciate them for that. They are all my best friends and people I can go to whenever I have trouble and I know they will do their best to help me find a solution to the problem. That to me is simply amazing. Well, after one week down in Mesa it was time to head back up to the frozen northland of Utah and crash there with all sorts of family just playing around for the entire week. And now I have to start getting ready for everything new. My new classes should be all set up already or so my hope is. Im excited for all of them, even though history looks like it is going to be a killer, a big killer. But I love history...so I hope to make it through. My new roommate Robert seems fairly cool as far as any of us can tell so far. He is a lifeguard anyway, so that automatically makes him awesome. I have a new work schedule and might have to get another new one if this one doesn't work out. Truth is, Im thinking about quitting but Im just not sure yet. Life is going to be extremely hectic this semester and work gives me a good break from studying or partying to just work with my hands and clear my head of everything. But with dance, orchestra, choir, geology, biology, world history, and social recreational leadership - my time is going to be fairly constricted as it is. Fun, but very busy and always on the go. Plus there is an ice skating class everyone wants me to add and that I would just audit. I think that would be an ultimate epic fail if I did go, but I would really like to learn how to at the same time. The good thing is that I have at least one friend in each of my classes and can always make new ones in every one. It makes the year a much more fun experience to get to know more people. So I think that covers everything for right now. Except that I am getting sick...but that is hardly new. It seems to happen to me everytime I come up here. Must be something different in the air or something that sets off my allergies because I clear up rapidly when I am at my Mesa home. Hopefully, my next post will be from my house next Sunday so that I got to hear Joe's and Samuel's farewell. But I will just have to see.

Thought of the week: "It didn't come wrapped up in packages, boxes, or bags...maybe Christmas perhaps was a little bit more" and the whole entrie rest of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas book by Dr. Seuss. One of the most amazing morals from the Christmas season to be cherished and examplified throughout the entire year.

Song of the week: "Let It Rock" by Kevin Rudolf has been stuck running through my head for the entire break. It has a good beat even if all the words really don't make sense.

Picture of the week:

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:

Crunch time has officially started, but life is still ridiculously fun!

Well...just like the title states the craziness of finals and the end of the semester and Christmas shopping and cleaning and find a ride home and everything like that has finally started and in fact kicked into pretty high gear this week. It will probably approach levels of insanity this week and who know what will happen finals but that everything just explodes because of running around trying to finish up everything (and there is an infinite amount of things to be completed before leaving for home, the list just keeps growing and growing with no signs of stopping). After catching up during all last weekend from partying at home all during Thanksgiving, we went back to having a Sunday dinner where Sherrie and Amanda come over and they brought along Adam Herring too. We had waffles and then opened up my new Cranium game to just mess around and have fun. The game is simply amazing. Group party games are still my ultimate favorite by far and this has strengthened my addiction and bias towards them. Monday was time to take the waltz test in dance, which so far is my favorite dance because it is just so eloquent and graceful and smooth and beautiful. I got an A on the test which is a miracle because I hadn't practiced in a good solid week and half, but it was great fun. Monday night was FHE, one of the best parts of the week because we get to hang out with cool, fun people on a school night and we are commanded to do so by the Lord. If the Lord commands you to hang out, you do it. This week it was my week to teach everyone how to index and I can honestly say that it was a blast and everyone had fun doing service for about an hour's length of time at least. Indexing is amazing is what I have decided because even though it is impossible to read the handwriting or understand exactly what you are doing, the people up there appreciate it and are looking forward to their names finally being able to be found by family members in order for them to do baptism for them. Its service with a bang. Tuesday was a day of study or in other words I can't remember exactly what I was up to...but you can bet it had Ryan written all over it and was random enough for anyone you could think of. Wednesday was my final orchestra concert for the semester and to my great surprise we actually pulled it off. I thought it was going to crash and burn and end with the audience throwing rotten food at us like they did in the old days, but nope, we sounded great somehow. After sounding terrible in all the rehearsals and practices leading up to it. We played a very long concert with the following pieces and forgive my terrible spelling...there was Bizet's Carmen, Vaughn-Williams' tuba concerto, Leroy Anderson's Bugler's Holiday, Tchailkowsky's Roccoco Variations, and Aaron Copland's El Salon Mexico (just imagine there being accents over all the right letters in that title). The most amazing thing was the Roccoco because the bass soloist in it was one of the best in the world. He is the bass professor at ASU, and when he played...he made everyone feel like we were back in fourth grade just barely picking up an instrument for the very first time. That is how insane he was...people studying music at the college level just astounded by the pure, raw talent of the bassist. Who sounded like a cello or violin or bass depending upon what the music called for. Someone who can be that dedicated to the study of music is someone who I greatly admire. I just could never push myself that hard to do it, to practice hours upon hours upon hours a day, slowly taking apart each and every note and rhythm in order to be able to play it all and play it the very best anyone has ever heard. I think there only a very few select people that are able to do that and I had the pleasure of being able to play with one at this concert and it was one the best musical experiences of my life and probably will be for eternity. After that everyone who had come to watch my concert - Samuel, Aaron, Joe, Amanda, Sherrie, Kelly Ann, and Adam - came back to my apartment with me and we talked and hung out and ate the puppy chow that Kelly Ann had made. I taught Christine a few steps in the waltz later that night and got schooled by Kelly Ann in what the correct posture and frame is. But I don't know what to do there because holding my frame like that really kills my shoulders a lot. However, I also learned the polka earlier that day and I can totally do that dance, it is by far the most fun and energetic dance known to man. But maybe someday I will get use to it and I can be able to hold it the correct way. Thursday was a fun day where I started off with some hard core studying at Julie and Karsten's and then headed to the dance lab. The dance lab was not as good as the one before had been (probably something to do with them refusing to play anything but Christmas music), but it was still a blast. I got there right when the floor shows were starting and watched the amazingness of all the people in the upper classes dance away for us and decided that I am still quite very poor at dancing. Very much so. After the dance lab, I watched the Muppet Christmas Carol at the Varsity Theater which I have not seen in a very long time. It was a blast and much funnier than I remember. I love the music too, but then I always love the music so I don't know if that is saying very much. After that it was back to my apartment to hang out (it seems to be the place to go everytime...I don't know or understand why but everyone just congregates to our apartment and it is almost always packed every single night of the week with people). I guess we do have all the games and the projector and the Wii and the Playstation 2 and its relatively clean most of the time if I could get around to cleaing it that day (somedays I am just too busy and cannot get to it). I guess that is a good thing but it makes life very hard to study sometimes. Although according to my roommates I have the unique ability to tune everything and everyone out and just study for hours and hours and get done what I need to get done so I can be able to have fun later and also get enough sleep to sustain life (a concept the rest of my roommates struggle with). Friday night we were invited to a dinner and movie night by Kelly Ann. My two cents here: I provided dessert. We had the most amazing taco salad and then proceeded to watch Charade which is the cheesiest old movie I have ever seen, but also one of the funniest. After that was over we had the pie and ice cream that I had made (the pie being made by the fabulous Marie Calendar and the ice cream being homemade by me. It took forever to convince Whitney that I had made the ice cream though, she refused to believe that it was homemade for the longest time). Saturday was back to working and studying day...although I didn't get much done of either. Whitney came over and made us her famous bannana whole wheat pancakes (which are pretty much to die for by the way when topped with my berry ice cream, just saying). After that we went over to Kelly Ann's and finished watching Speed Racer, which is one the most trippy and random movies ever made, but it was still very, very good. I came home and worked on an hour of economics then and then headed out to Savers with Whitney in order to start getting everything prepared for the Christmas party we are planning for this upcoming Saturday. It should be a blast as long as we can convince anyone to show up. That is always the trick is getting people to come...for some reason they never do but then when they do show up they have a blast. Have fun trying to figure that one out. Saturday night was the freeze fest extravaganze thrown and paid for by BYU. There was ice skating, dancing, broom hockey, icing cookies, hot chocolate, friends, fun, and extreme exhaustion by the end of the night. Although that one is probably my fault because my roommate and I started jumping up and down during the dance and had a contest to see how could endure the longest and we eneded up having to call it a draw so we could go ice skating, or I should say they could go ice skating while I watched them enjoy themselves and have a good time. But I had a blast last night, it was awesome to just get to see everyone together and enjoying themselves without a care in the world. Well if last week was busy, its nothing compared with this week. Its going to be insanity but fun with temple lights trip, chamber orchestra concert, RHA party, work, study, classes, room date night, and Christmas party that I still have to finish planning and setting up for. So stayed tune next week for I survive and how I make it through, ciao!

Thought of the week: "Good, Better, Best" the conference talk. I think about it almost every day in my life and I am really applying it and how is the best possible way to use my time for every circumstance. It means that life comes at you hard and fast and busy, but you get a lot more stuff done.

Song of the week: "Gotta Be Somebody" by Nickelback. Its one of their brand new songs that just really means a lot for me. It is about no matter who you are or what you do, that there is somebody out there in the world who will love you and accept you. You will never be alone, and that message just means a lot to me. Not to mention I just love Nickelback in general, but hey that is just an added bonus.

Picture of the week: My roommates and I goofing off at the dance...this picture is just us. All the rest of my pics from the week can be viewed on Facebook like always

The Exploits of Thanksgiving Break

Well...where to start would be the question. I don't think I have ever cram packed so many things into one week ever in my life, especially without getting any real work done. Although I did do some reading and writing for papers and classes so at least that is a step in the right direction I guess. I guess I will start like I always do at the beginning of the week with Monday. It was insanity trying to pay attention to all my classes knowing that I would be going home in a few hours, seeing my family for the first time in months. I think I barely took anything in at all and if I did it came at tremendous personal effort and concentration. But somehow I made it through and then sat outside surround by my posse of roommates plus Jared DeLamar Jensen to see me off. You would have thought I was leaving for a mission or something the way I was surrounded, or at least for some extensive foreign traveling or something. But I guess my roommates are just cool like that, plus it gave me something to do while I (impatiently) waited for Aunt Julie to come pick me up. Not that it really mattered all I did was go to her house and do laundry for several hours anyway and of course I forgot my boarding pass in my apartment and so had to come back and get it. I mean, when does everything go perfectly when you most want it to? But the thing was that I really didn't care because I was so excited to finally just be going home. Something all my other roommates had already done or home had come to them with moms and dads visiting or flying home to rip open mission calls or for working or because Samuel just can or because Jared (not the same one mentioned above) already lives up here anyway. Home is such an interesting word though. You can't truly realize how much it takes in your life until you move away and then start having to do everything on your own, guessing at how things are supposed to work and turn out and getting it terribly wrong most the time. But what can you do? Just pressing on with a smile and laughing at yourself is the most tremendous thing. A sense of humor goes a long ways in surviving away from home and its only when I lost it that I have every truly had difficulty struggling through it. I got home around 11ish - midnight. It felt so weird to be home...like an alien world that was somewhat strangely familiar still. It didn't help that all the rooms had been moved around and my bed had ceased to exist. Plus they were all painted new colors that were really cool, I never got to do that (not that Im bitter or anything haha). Tuesday morning was get up off of fourish hours of sleep and head to the temple day (Sterling's idea). It was awesome though, the temple always is. And completely worth starting my week of utter sleep deprivation. It also kept up my goal of going to the temple once a week to do baptisms, plus it was with some of the same group of people who had gone with me over the summer. It just felt incredibly right to do. After that I had to go home to help my mom make salsa, from which I learned the art of chopping green onions, various peppers, and all sorts of other useful skills that I just won't be able to practice because all of that stuff is so expensive. Being healthy is really quite pricey, junk food is cheap. I got to just talk to my mom for hours on Tuesday though and that was good. We caught up on everything that had been going on and what was going good and not so good. I spent almost all of Tuesday day at home after that messing around with siblings or my parents or whatever. Just enjoying life and that fun that it brings. Collett and Biehl did come visit me for awhile and we talked and joked and had fun. That night was Ty Hancock's birthday party which was a complete blast because I finally got to see some of my friends who I have missed the most. It reminded me of the fact that I was extremely blessed with friends in high school, like extremely so. I took for granted the fact that I had such a huge close-knit group of friends that were always there for me and loved me despite all my quirks. And helped me to live the standards...and then I got to college and heard the horror stories of people from Texas and California who were the only Mormons in their entire high school and so had almost no friends and so had to struggle through everything on their own. I was beyond blessed with my group of friends from Moutain View High School in Mesa, Arizona. And I am so greatful for that. Anyway, at the party we had a blast playing random games like Catchphrase, the adverb game (me new all time favorite group game), "this is a solemn and serious occasion." Just talking and laughing and joking and getting Aubrey to ride a motorcycle and eating and poking and whatever else we did that night. It was just complete fun where everyone let loose and was not embarrassed of acting out or speaking up. Wednesday was Ihop breakfast day. Good stuff. Thanks for Collett and Biehl here for ditching school, it really did make my day to talk to and see you guys again. After that we ran and visited some Moutain View teachers because they are just awesome like that. Then we went to my house and played Quelf and had pizza. Sorry goes to my mom here for not forewarning her...but they all wanted to do something and I had to go home so I just brought them all with me. Thanks for being so understanding and accepting though. Wednesday night was the interesting party with the house burning down. Nothing can quite add excitement like that. Thursday was Thanksgiving and Im stealing your idea Aubrey from Britney Peterson. So I guess Im technically stealing it from her.

Im thankful for a family who loves and cares about me and accepts me despite all my quirks and faults. They understand me and know when to give me room or when to rush in and give me the biggest hugs. Their smiles and humor make my life so much better.

Im thankful I got to go home for Thanksgiving, I have been really wanting to for a very long time. Just hearing people's voices over the phone is not enough, I needed to actually see them and talk to them face-to-face. So thanks goes to Mom and Dad here to for buying my plane tickets so that I could make it home.

Im thankful for my amazing friends, both up here at BYU and those that I made in Mesa. They lift me up to become the best that I can be. They know how to cheer me up when I am down, how to keep me laughing when Im happy, and how to make me stretch to do the impossible.

Im thankful for a Heavenly Father who knows me individually and sent His only Begotten Son to die for me personally so that I could return to live with Him. That takes a love beyond compare that I cannot fully comprehend but hope to someday.

Im thankful for temples and the sweet spirit that they add to my life.

Im thankful for BYU and the education that I am receiving. Even if it does take me to the brink of insanity to learn it all, I love learning and gaining a greater understanding of the world around me and how it all works and how everything fits together.

Im thankful for music and the way that it can move me. Im thankful for the cello and the huge role that it has played in shaping me into who I am now.

Im thankful for random adventures, long night chats, game nights, movie nights, birthday parties, church meetings and outings, and all other events that fill up my time with wholesome and fun activites.

Im thankful for work and being able to clear my mind out while doing it. Im thankful for the money that I make that I can put towards my mission that I earn from it.

Finally, Im thankful for all those who have played a role in shaping my life and making me into who I am today. Many of you don't know who you are or what a major role you played, but it was huge.

So that is my Thanksgiving post. Oh...final, final thanks...Im thankful for life and all the joy that it brings. Smiles, laughter, puppy dogs, friends, Cheerios, ice cream...we have to live an actual human life in order to enjoy each of these and Im so thankful for that gift that I have been given in having one. Thanksgiving I got to see most of my extended family again which was just grand. I miss those Sunday gatherings a lot, more so than I ever thought I truly could. It was nice to have a review of what it felt like. Friday was Black Friday and all that entails. The crazy hectic shopping frenzy that is nonetheless fun and exciting. Friday, another one of my friends got his mission call. Trevor is going to South Carolina. It is so weird to watch them all get excited and pumped to go...Im still waiting to get to the right age to be able to do that. Friday night was family night and we played some Uno Attack. Great game. Especially for the competitive and those that like some sort of justice in the world in watching the person who only has one card left suddenly end up with like 20. I crashed then from complete exhaustion, and slept for 9 hours to amke up for playing so hard all week. Saturday was come home day...or my other home anyway. Its so weird having to deal with the dichotomy of two homes. Home is where the heart is, right? But what if your heart is stuck in two places? What happens then? Home is with my family, but home is also where I live and work and breathe and enjoy life. Home is where I will always be accepted for me but that happens in both places too. Home is home. But which one is really home? I don't know the answer to that anymore. A few months ago I would have answered 1727 N Ashbrook Circle in a heartbeat...but those days are over having moved out and establish myself in 118 Shipp Hall. But its not completely home either becuse its lacking the people that I grew up with and get to spend eternity with. I guess Ill just have to be satisfied with two homes for now.

Song of the week: "Just Dance" by Gaga something. Ok, so the song is actually really stupid but what the message of the song says to me is just live life the way you are supposed to. Don't let anyone tell you different. Be you and let the world deal with it. Don't change for the sake of gaining the admiration or jealousy of others, be who you are and don't let anyone but the Lord change you.

Thought of the week: "Be grateful for everything. Its what makes you, you"

Picture(s) of the week (sorry I just couldn't put one!):

Squeezing in the last little bit of college randomness

This week has been one of the best weeks of my life up to date. Although every week is full of its up and downs, bumps, humps, drops, extremely long uphill chain pulls, and then the eventual feeling of weightlessness as you clear the top and gaze at the deathly fun descent that waits for you below. Every week has life lessons, mess ups, moments of ecstasy mingled with brilliance, being overwhelmed and feeling not the least bit smart but far behind a lot of the other people around you. Anyway, enough of the random rant...this week was quite awesome. I rediscovered how much I liked writing by spending hour upon hour upon hour from Sunday to Wednesday painstakingly working out my 10 page Book of Mormon paper on prayer. I had to research all the different beliefs of prayer from the Latter-Day Saint, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Catholic, Baptist, and world perspective. It had to be the most interesting topic I have ever had the opportunity to research. All the religion had vastly different beliefs and principles in their prayer but all still had the same base in the fact that somewhere a God was lovingly listening to that prayer and wanting to help in whatever ways that He could. All believe that someone out there cares and loves them enough to listen and understand. This was a great testimony strengthener to me on the fact that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and knows me individually. He knows all my needs and my wants, my wishes and concerns, my strengths and my weaknesses. He knows all. There is no better listener to be found anywhere, nor a more loving, patient, or understanding one. I didn't really spend much time with friends or goofing off during those days but it was just a great time for me to reflect for my purpose in life and who I am versus who I eventually want to become. Plus it set up the right attitude for Wednesday and Thursday evening when I went to the temple for two days in a row (most amazing thing to do ever, can't be beat guaranteed). The temple combined with the religious paper made this week a spiritual high unlike any other I have felt in a very long time. The fact that I finally went to the temple again lifted a huge load off my back and gave me great comfort and peace. It had been far too long since my last visit. I now have made the goal to go once a week and I am going to do the best that I can to stick to that. It will be difficult to be sure, but it is more than worth it. Oh, also during those days I managed to acquire a Santa hat from the creamery and have been wearing it to keep my head warm all week - despite all the curious looks from all sorts of people. One little girl about 4 years old did catch the Christmas spirit from me though and said "ho, ho, ho" and ran over to me to give me the cutest smile and laughter ever. So what if its a little bit early to be thinking of Christmas? Its the warm glowing feeling that she and I shared that really matters. The one of supreme joy, where nothing can pull you down. Friday was game night. We broke out Quelf again and had a blast playing it. I have yet to meet anyone that can resist that game or fail to not end up rolling on the floor laughing by the end of it. But it does require a person to not care about how stupid they look or act because of the various challenged that have to be completed. I also made some strawberry chocolate chip ice cream which was a major hit and completely consumed in that one evening. Ridiculous how fast such stuff goes. Ridiculous how fast anything I make goes really. From cookies to pasta to chicken pot pie to ice cream to ribs...its all gone immediately consumed by the ravenous beasts that are college students. Saturdy and today have been work days. But it feels so good to work, its one of my favorite activities because there always is a sense of personal satisfaction and ahievement that comes with working shifts doing whatever whether it be lifeguarding, loading dishes, or lawn mowing, the result is the same. For Saturday lunch I covered for Amanda and got to work the "line" or serving the missionaries for the first time ever. I didn't think I would see anyone I knew because all of them have already left the MTC by now or went to a foreign country's version of it. To my surprise and elation however, Kendall Sirrine showed up in my line to grab the bagel sandwiches I was serving. What was even better is that he was all alone, there was no other people behind him so we got to talk for a full five minutes before I had to get my butt back in gear and work again. Kendall is the same amazing guy I always knew - humble, loving, caring, understanding, happy, faithful, reverent, and megaspiritual. He is perhaps the one guy I know that was completely ready to enter the missionary field and so has had to change none at all at the MTC. How crazy cool is that? It takes a true hero to be able to do that, at least to me. To be able to live in the world but be able to pull oneself completely out of it at all time and in all places and circumstances. I admire him more than he will probably ever know for that. I have made it one of my life goals to eventually end up like him, but it is quite a high order to live up to. After work got over Saturday night, we decided to go ice skating because Samuel had never gone before and really wanted to try it out. I am the same klutz as always, nothing has changed there despite all my greatest hopes and wishes. So I ended up spending more time face down or sitting on the ice than actually skating on it. But I still had fun and it was awesome to watch everyone else be able to do it. I guess that is just one skill I will not master till after the Resurrection when the clumsy part of me won't be so controlling. The thing that hit me really strong last night though is how insanely fast life is moving now. In junior high, life was steady and slow like rush hour traffic. Then high school hit the open road with senior year starting to approach the speed of sound. Now college is going Mach 6 and it feels like I have barely had time to turn around twice and its already the end of November with finals and the end of my first semester just around the corner. Life is rushing past me and Im trying to hold onto it and finding it quite impossible to do so. This week will finally provide a nice clash to the normal routine though as I finally get to go home. I get to see my family, the people I grew up with and the ones I get to stick to for eternity. They say home is where the heart is, and if that is true than my home still resides at 1727 N. Ashbrook Circle...I just haven't been able to transfer my heart yet. I am fully mentally, physcially, emotionally, almost whatever-ally at BYU. But I left my heart behind, forgot to pack it. I don't know if that is a good or a bad thing but Im really very exicted to see my mom and my dad. The two greatest parents anyone could ask for and all my brothers and sisters. Lora, my best friend in the whole world and someone so much like me its quite creepy sometimes. Nathan, the inventive, creative one. Ashley, the one who likes to take control and plan out events. Adam, the kid with the absolute biggest heart in the world possible. Tyler, the entertainer extradonaire. I think he will get far in life being a comedian or something someday. And Emma, the cutest angel to ever grace the earth, bar none. If those descpritptions don't convince anyone how happy I am finally see them all again tomorrow, I don't know what will. But I love you all and miss you dearly! Be home tomorrow!!!

Song of the week: "He's My Son" by Mark Shultz. Its a song about a father praying for his critically ill son who is lying in a hospital bed. One of the most moving pieces of modern music I have ever heard, definitely helped to get the brain juices flowing over and over for my prayer paper.

Thought of the week: "I am a child of God, so why shouldn't life be awesome?"

Picture of the week (all the rest are posted on Facebook): a rousing game of Quelf!