I DID IT, I REALLY DID IT!!!!

If you follow my blog at all you know that I have been taking a statistics class that was way over my head. It was very difficult and occupied all of my time last semester.

This posts has two purposes. One is to talk about following my Bishops counsel. At the start of the semester I bought a house and moved into a new ward. My first Sunday the Bishop talked about making covenants with the Lord. I have heard a lot about making covenants at baptism and in the temple but he suggested we could make covenants with things we really need help with in our lives. I pondered and prayed over the idea for about three weeks. Covenants are serious and I wanted to make sure mine was appropriate. Finally I made the covenant that I would go to the temple every week, even after basketball started, if I could receive help with my stats class. I went to the temple each week and it not only blessed me with my statistics but in all areas of my life.

The second purpose of this post is to share with you all what I saw posted on my grades this morning. I am very excited and can assure that this grade was accomplished with the help of a great professor, lots of hard work and tears (I know probably should not admit that but there were tears involved), and most importantly the help of the Lord. Now all I have left is my thesis, no more classes. YEA!! Oh and here is what I saw, I am still a little afraid to believe it.

Fall Semester 2008
EDLF   641   001  Quant Reasoning 2   3.00  A-   

Did I Mention. . . . . . . . . . ?

• That I turned in my stats final on Wednesday!!! Yea, I only had to take two days off of work in order to have enough time to get it down. Now I am just waiting to see my grade in hopes that I passed.
• That it snowed a ton this week and finally last night I was able to go snowshoeing with Jenni and Julianne. We had a great time and got a great workout because we broke trail the entire way. It was AWESOME! Although I am tired today because I didn't get to bed until midnight
  

• That snowshoeing could very well be my favorite outdoor activity, it is close between that and biking. Nothing beats snowshoeing in the Utah powder. I just love being able to be outside and enjoy the beautiful world Heavenly Father has created for us.
  
• I am going home on Saturday. I have not been home since June. I am PUMPED!!
• That I love how my house is decorated.
• That I love when my house is clean, that is a great feeling.
• And last but not least that Christmas Break starts today at 3pm. I have decided that Christmas break was designed so that teachers do not commit murder before the year is over.
• Oh and one more thing . . . . That I have not eaten sweets since Thanksgiving (I made a $50 bet with my cousin Melissa) and it actually has not been horrible. I feel great and this little bet has been a testament of how much junk I was eating.
  

Come What May and Love It

Elder Wirthlins conference talk Come What May and Love it was one of my favorite talks and I re-read it last week when I had learned of his passing. Today I took his advice and laughed when everything seemed to be going wrong.

It was a game day and I had to tape an ankle get my team ready and get dressed myself. It is crazy busy and I go in the gym in my sweats and nothing for our game is set up. I was frustrated and I called the office and they send the janitors down.

Plan A was to take a shower do my hair and look nice for the game. Plan B happened and it went like this. Put my clean skirt and jacket in the sink and hop in the shower, get out of the shower and my skirt and jacket are completely drenched. We are talking soaking wet. Debate about coaching in my sweats. but I really don't want to. Blow dry my skirt instead of my hair. Throw hair in a bun. open bag and realize I have no church shoes. (This is where I thought about come what may and love it and started laughing.) Throw on wet skirt. Call a teacher and ask her to dry my jean jacket. Debate about wearing tennis shoes to coach in. Jamie Pratt (she is helping me coach) comes in to see what is wrong and I ask her to go get one of the players with big feet. I borrow her shoes. Put on my black hoodie with my blue skirt and brown shoes and go coach. At half time my jacket is dry and I am good to go.

It was a whirlwind but I am thankful for the advice come what may and love it. Because the whole situation is really funny. Me coaching in a soaking wet skirt and a black hoodie and brown shoes. How can you not laugh about that? The only other option is to cry and that would have been awkward for everyone involved and besides despite are ugly play in the first half we won.

The take home message: I will now have an extra outfit and shoes in my car at all times.

O Christmas Tree

My Christmas trees is so cute I love it very much. This year I decorated my house the day after Thanksgiving and it was so much fun to have my own house and be able to decorate the way I choose. I am very particular about my tree. Mikila learned this the hard way when she requested to hang a BYU ornament on my Christmas tree. Um, I am sorry did I say I was picky, I like BYU but that will not match my decor. I like the ornaments on my tree which were given to me by my Aunt Nancy they are all white and gold and I think the tree looks really classy.

I also was able to pick up some cute little crafty things to decorate my house with. I like the little sayings and I love this time of year when I can reflect on the Savior and the true meaning of Christmas. I really loved the Christmas devotional tonight it helped put me in the Christmas spirit. It reminded me of the true meaning of Christmas and the wonderful opportunities we can have to serve others at this time of year.

I am so blessed in my life. All of my needs are met and I feel the Saviors love in my life on a regular basis. Honestly the best Christmas present for me this year will be spending time with my family. I really don't want anything for Christmas becasue I feel like I have been given so much. Oh, and yesterday I finally found the picture of the Savior I have been wanting at an affordable price and I love the spirit that it brings into my home everytime I look at it and imagine the story of the women at the well.

I am so grateful for the Savior and his atoning sacrifice. I am thankful for the gift that has already been given and this time of year we have to reflect more regularly on that gift. I am thankful for the gospel in my life. For living prohets that lead and guide us. I am grateful for friends and family. I am so blessed!!!!

The Forgotten Carols

Last night Mikila was able to get Katie and I tickets to The Forgotten Carols at the UVU McKay events center. The show was really good and I really loved the music. It was fun and really helped put me in the Christmas spirit. If you get the chance you should go sometime because it was awesome but be prepared for a little cheesyness after the play is finished. Maybe it was becasue I was tired or maybe I was being a scrooge but no matter what the cost I was not going to link arms and sing "we can be together forever someday" over and over while swaying. All in all a fun night and thank you to Mikila for the tickets.

Don't be jealous

This is how I spent my Saturday - temple, homework, 30 minute nap, homework, lunch, homeowrk, workout, homework, study group for stats, homework, dinner, and finally at 10:05 I finished my stats test and homework. Yep that was a very productive day!! But I was so excited when I was finished because for the first time in over a month I don't have to do homework today, on the sabbath. Just knowing that has made my Sunday so much better.

Thanksgiving was great and I have so much to be thankful for. I am so blessed and I really do appreciate all of the blessings in my life. To sum up my Thansgiving holiday I would say: STATISTICS. That is why I did not go home because I knew I would have a ton to do, and I did but I only have two more weeks and then I will have another blessing in that class being over:) I still really do enjoy the class but it is quite difficult.

VICTORY!!!

Lakeridge girls basketball won their first game of the season. I was really excited. The team we played was not very good but it is always good to get a win after you have been making them work so hard at practice for two and a half weeks. But this post is not about the win, it is about how nervous I was.

There are certain times when I get really nervous. For example the first time I gave a presentation in my English class in college. I was so nervous. As a result I was sweating bullets the entire time and I sweat right through my shirt. Yea that is disgusting, but more than it being disgusting it is also very embarrassing. Katie and I had many good laughs about that along with other times that I would sweat due to nervousness.

Yesterday was one of those days where I sweat a ton because I was so nervous. I don't know why I was so nervous. I wanted to win but it isn't like when you are a player and you can actually change the game. But the moral of the story is I was sweating machine and after the game I felt like I had played an entire game. I was sweaty and exhausted. Thank goodness it is Thanksgiving break I am going to try not to sweat so much in the next game.

I need a stats tutor

I have reached the point in the stats class that I cannot do the homework anymore. It is way over my head. The only thing I can do is put the info into the computer but I can't even analyze it once it comes out. There is only one month left and I have to pass this class. I am really worried. I have been working on my homework a ton this week and to no avail. What ever happened to those text books that have the answers explained in the back of the books, you know that walk you through step by step. I want one of those. I just need someone to walk me through step by step and explain to me what every single symbol means. Is that asking to much?

The Good Ole Days

Since last week was Katie's b-day and it is not going down in the books as the best day ever, I thought I would post some pictures from the past that always put me in a good mood. No, I still have not sent her the awesome bday card I got I think I left it at the store because I can't seem to find it (however I did pay for it) and thanks to Dan for scanning the pictures. I would also like to add that I was extremely nice in my picture selection. I have a lot worse of the both of us.

The first picture has always been referred to as the death trip. Katie, Mikila, Carrie, and I traveled from Rexburg to Jackson Hole for a Saturday of fun. None of us had ever been there. We didn't check the weather before hand and who knew there was a huge mountain pass? We had tons of laughs in the car and even some screaming from the backseat. We only almost died a few times, just enough to scare you and make you realize maybe you should not have gone on that day in those conditions.


The next picture is one of Katie and I exercising at home. Katie, Mikila, and I were the stairmaster queens at Ricks. Sometimes it was just to cold to go outside and walk to campus to work-out so we made up dance/aerobic routines in the living room. Our favorite song to dance to at the time was Bye-bye-bye, you know the backstreet boys.



Then there was the day that Katie's foot started to hurt. I was like did you fall? We could not figure out why it hurt (except for that it started hurting after we went running) and finally she made an appointment to get it looked out. On her way out the door to the doctors office I exclaimed, "I hope you come back with crutches!" Seemed funny at the time. When she came home she had a big ole boot on but no crutches. Oh and did I mention the death look she gave me. I was not very empathetic, I am still not great at it. We laughed about the boot a ton.


The best way to describe the next picture is California girls welcome to Idaho. None of us had ever owned a real coat so we went and bought one before we came to school. As you can tell from the picture the three of us showed up with the biggest coats known to man. We laughed about them all freshman year (Ericas was not nearly as bad). For some reason our sophmore year Katie and I had new coats.


And last but not least poof that once in a while we did our hair and attempted to look normal.


I miss the good ole days when it seemed like there were no worries. We did not really worry about anything we just hung out and had fun. Now there are health issues, political issues, teaching issues, and school issues. I guess that comes with adulthood.

Katie has been a great friend to me. It always makes me laugh when I think about how different we are but I think that is what makes our friendship work. Thanks for always listening to me and always being good to me.

Basketball Season Begins

It is that exciting time of year, basketball season!! I have been slightly hesitant this year because I am the head coach, because of my thesis, and because of my stats class, but it comes down to the fact that I love basketball and after a couple of weeks I love being the coach and working with the girls at our school. It is a great opportunity for me. I do hate making team cuts. It is always really hard and really sad. All the girls want to be on the team but we can not keep them all. That is the hardest thing about being the coach, and not being able to play everyone as much as they would like. So tomorrow at 6 am tryouts begin, I have class after school on Mondays so lucky for them once a week we have an early morning practice. This year we have some good athletes so I am anticipating a fun season and HOPING there will not be to much DRAMA. Drama coexists with 14 year olds so that hope most likely will not come true. To a new season!!!

Can you guess what I was for Hallowween?

So I really do not like Halloween but this was my costume this year. Do you know who I am? It was actually a really fun costume and it was free, minus the creativity which seems to cost a lot these days. I chose this costume so that I could quote, "There is no excuse for awesomeness or attractiveness," all night long. Yes, this is me eating, I am really good at that.

Happy Halloween

This is my least favorite holiday of the entire year. There are a number of reasons I dislike it.

1. Who came up with this Holiday???

2. Why do we have to give all the neighboor kids candy, as a physical educator this is difficult for me?

3. I absolutely hate dressing up.

4. On Halloween all of a sudden it becomes legal to dress like a skank and act really crazy.

5. I hate pumpkin carving, although I may be turning over a new leaf here because thanks to Ben and Jana I had a good pumpkin carving experience this year.

6. Is it really safe? There are so many horror stories.

7. I hate how people try to decorate their house and yard all creepy. I like the nice, cute decorations but the freaky stuff is a little overboard.

8. It always starts the time when I slowly gain weight until the spring, hoping to change that this winter.

9. Kids trick or treat way past the appropriate age, I believe junior high school is even stretching it,

10. The reason I most despise Halloween is that I hear all day long why do we have to dress down on a holiday, it is not fair and every other complaint you can imagine.

I almost took the day off this year just because I hate dealing with it. But then I though that would be mean to stick it to a substitute like that. For all of you that love the holiday have a great day. I will go to Michelle's party which I am sure will be amazing so that will be FUN!!

The Evolution of the School Picture

Some things in life are meant to be learned the hard way and that is what happened with me and school pictures. My first year teaching I did not even know when school pictures were and all of a sudden over the loud intercom I hear Ms. Brown please report to the auditorium immediately to have your picture taken. I am sorry WHAT? So to the auditorium I go and have this disgusting picture taken of me in an old Las Plumas t-shirt and a whistle around my neck. I knew it would go in the year book but I decided that I could deal with that. Well the picture was NASTY!!! Not only does it go in the year book but they also give you the biggest picture package for free because you are a teacher, unfortunately I threw those away the same day I got them. OOPs, that was before blogging it would be fun to post it on here now.

Anyways it turns out that your school picture is used for everything: yearbook, web page, slide shows, and teacher ID cards we are supposed to wear around our necks at all times. Needless to say that first year I never wore my ID card, threw that thing away. But I made a goal to take a better picture next year as to avoid the pain of seeing a sick picture of myself every time I turned around.

2006- my picture was much better. My hair was down, I wore mascara, and I was in normal clothes. Well when I got the picture package I thought what can I do with all of these pictures and so I decided to have a little fun. These pictures were not nearly as bad as the first year and so the fun began with my dinner group. I gave everyone in the dinner group a bottle of hand soup from bath and body works with a picture of myself on the hand wash. Even better than that was when I used the 5x7 and a cheap frame at my ward white elephant gift exchange. I am not good at picking out white elephant gifts but that one was the best one I have ever done. I also gave the 8x10 picture to my parents realizing they are the only ones on the face of the planet that would appreciate it.

2007- Normal pictures but I did not do anything crazy with it. I did give a copy to my parents.

2008- My 2008 picture turned out nice as well. I gave a copy to my Aunt Nancy with instructions to hang the picture in her office at the U in hopes of setting me up with some of the medical students. That seemed like a good idea and she wondered how she would know if they were married or not and I informed her to look at their hands or to ask.

So I still have an entire package of pictures left to get rid of. I could send you all one in a Christmas card but that is so boring so I am open to any ideas you might have of ways in which I could use this years school picture. The funnier the ideas the better!!

A Lesson On Gambling

I am very anti to betting or gambling of any sort. I really do not like the idea of it and so I choose not to participate in these activities. Recently, well after the relief society broadcast to be exact, Mikila in a moment of wishful thinking bet me that she could hike to the Y. Not only did she bet me but she put Cafio Rio on the line. How could I turn that down? So I went against all logic and reasoning and agreed to the bet. Anyone who has hiked the Y knows that it is quite intense and very steep. I need not remind you of the last hiking experience I had with Mikila, she posted that story on her blog, we will just say that it did not end well for her. So below is a video of Mikila smiling before the hiking began. My cousin Katie, who is also our roomate, came along as well. She made sure Mikila did not push me off the trail in a moment of anger.

I won't tell you who won the bet, but remember I hate losing. Mikila can write her own version of how the hike went down. I will say that she almost bet me Cafe Rio again about a comment I left on Dan's blog, turns out she backed out just in time because I was right about that one too. So moral of the story is don't bet or gamble because most likely you are going to lose, especially if it is with me!!!! The good news is that I got some pretty pictures of the beautiful fall leaves. The very last picture is Mikila all tuckered out and again whishfully thinking that I would give up my bed to her because she exercised, I think not. All in all it was a fun evening and we all got a little exercise.

Tagged

I was tagged, not a huge fan of these things but here we go anyways......

Answer all the following two-word leads.

I am: hot, I wore to many layers for inside but just enough to stay warm outside

I think: about my mission at least once a day still. Is that weird?

I know: I am a child of God

I want: to get married

I have: a cute house

I dislike: dirty feet on clean things like my bed or couch

I fear: losing my job

I feel: lame because I have not done my stats homework yet this week

I hear: my fridge in my office at school

I smell: the outside because I have been out teaching all day

I crave: nothing I am still full from lunch

I cry: a lot actually but usually in my room and no one sees me and when I feel the spirit

I usually: exercise 5 days a week

I search: for ways to make people laugh

I wonder: if I really need to go get my brakes checked and how much new ones will cost

I regret: sometimes getting frustrated with my students, I always feel bad after I have to get on them, I hate that

I love: biking and hiking with friends

I care: about doing well in school (I care to much and it causes stress)

I always: chew gum

I worry: that the world is going to the crapper

I am not: good at showing empathy to my students

I remember: to many things I wish I could not remember

I believe: in the gospel of Jesus Christ and know that it brings true happiness

I dance: never, I stink and know that I stink

I sing: loud in my car to the radio

I don't always: tell people I love and care about them even though I do, it is hard for me to say

I argue: only when I really feel it is necessary because I really hate confrontation and those yucky feelings that go along with it

I write: in my journal more because of Elder Eyerings talk in conference a while ago

I win: whenever I can I hate losing

I lose: rarely (just kidding but I hate losing).

I wish: I lived closer to my parents

I listen: to country music and I love it

I don't understand: People outside of junior high girls who are mean to others on purpose

I can usually be found: at work, during the school year it feels like I am always here, especially when I am coaching sports

I am scared: not passing this stats class and having to take it over again

I need: to get off the internet and do my stats homework

I forget: To call people back if I don't do it right when I listen to the message

I am happy: most of the time except during the first hour I wake up in the morning, I always wake up GROUCHY

I don't feel like tagging anyone so take that

Not just one but two!!

I found a sweet bike ride in Vegas today. Whenever I come to visit Katie I am always on the look out for good rides. The one I found today was 20 miles long with only two stop signs and not a lot of traffic. The great thing was I chose to turn around but the road had no end in sight. That is awesome because I can do the ride again sometime when I am here and go longer if I choose to.

While biking I almot ran over the biggest spider I have ever seen. I, being slightly crazy, decided to chase it and get a picture because it was gigantic. However, my camera phone is lame and I could not get close enough to get a good shot. Bummer, I know. I will say that spider could move quickly and I was extremely nervous trying to get close but not too close.

Realization set in that I was not meant to get a picture and so I hopped on my bike and rode away, 10 minutes later I saw another huge spider crossing the road. These things were huge. I probably would have crashed my road bike if I ran them over. I decided I would look them up on the internet when I got back to Katie's. After all my research I determined that it was a male desert tarantula, not poisonous. And below is a picture of what they both looked like, but thwe ones I saw were bigger than this little guy. CREEPY!!

2000

Well this will be a boring post but for documentation purposes I reached my goal of biking 2000 miles this year on Saturday. It was a downer of a weekend because I was supposed to do a 60 mile ride in Yellowstone but due to inclement weather it was canceled. I was bummed. But I only needed 4 miles to get my 2000 so I woke up Saturday and biked 14. It was freezing and it snowed on me. GOAL ACCOMPLISHED! I can now put the bike away for the winter, except it is supposed to be good weather this week!?!. HHMMMMM? We shall see.

Called to Serve

Anthony finally got his mission call. He will be serving in Winnipeg, Canada!! Yea we are so excited for Him. He enters the MTC on January 28th. I hear it is small towns and really cold. We are just so excited he knows where he is going and that he will be serving the Lord.

Halloween!?

Halloween has never been one of my favorite holidays. I am not quite sure why but I think it has something to do with dressing up I never really liked it that much and I still hate when I have to try to think of something to dess as. So I m just sort of dreading all the things that happen with halloween, mainly cold weather. The only thing I am excited about is doing jack-o-lanterns with Ben and Jana. I invited myself to join them because their jack-o-lanterns are always very. I am hoping that they can inspire me ( no pressure)!!

I loved conference this past weekend. It was so awesome and inspiring. I really got a lot out of all of the sessions and I am grateful that we have prophets, seers, and revelators to guide us. I don't know how people with out this guidance don't get depressed. There were a couple of specific talks that I really enjoyed and I am now going to try to do the hard part and actually apply those principles taught in my daily life. After conference I realized I have so much to work on but I also have hope that I can become what the Lord wants me to become.

Impatient Peeps and Stoplights

So one of my pet peeves about Utah is stoplights. The main reason is because yellow means speed up and red means at a minimum two more cars can go through the intersection. It drives me crazy and probably more so because I am a biker and if a car hits me I could die, might not die as I have been hit by a car before but it is a long recovery and an expensive one when the driver has no insurance (that's a post for another day).

My story is that yesterday while I was biking home from work I was waiting at a stoplight. Well all of a sudden I hear this loud honk and a car runs through the red light. I put two together and here is what happened. An impatient driver saw cars moving in the turn lane, the turn light had turned green, but the straight light was still red. He lays on his horn and the guy in front of him runs the red light without even looking because he was worried about the road rage of the guy behind him. He barely missed getting hit and I don't think he ever realized he ran a red light. Patience people. I hope the driver that was honking realizes he is an IDIOT! I don't like to call people names but we all have places to go and if you are in that big of a hurry you need to plan your time better. I wonder what he was thinking when he realized the light was red because he did not run the red light. Weird.

Since I am on my driving soap box I also absolutely hate how fast people drive in Utah. If you are going five over the speed limit on the freeway you have to be in the slow lane and you will not pass a single car. I think it is crazy. Anyways I really do love Utah minus the cold but I was really frustrated yesterday with these crazy drivers.

Vegtables for Dessert

I have decided that I need more vegtables in my life and I really struggle to get my 5-7 servings a day. So now I have turned over a new leaf and have begun to eat vegtables for dessert. In the form of pumpkin cookies and choclate almond zuccini bread. MMMMM delicious. What a great and delicious way to get my veggies in. Today I would estimate I reached my entire serving for vegtables all through pumpkin cookies.




And just for fun a little conversation we had while driving in the car with Dan, Mikila, and Myself.

Me: Dan you have not gone to that class in two weeks do they take attendance.

Dan: No, but I am going next time because an assignment is due.

Mikila: Dan I am proud of you for not going to class. I never went to class and look how smart I am.

Dan: I will start going to class.

I would like to personally thank Mikila for inspiring Dan to go to class I have not been able to do that the last three years.

Apparently I am unpatriotic??

This year as football season neared I had an intense mental and emotional battle as to whether or not I should buy season tickets. Here are some of the pros: BYU football games are amazing and there is no feeling equal to walking into Lavell Edwards stadium with 65,000 other die hards, something to look forward to every other Saturday, no more Thursday night games, lets be honest we all knew the COUGARS had great potential for this year, and lastly I better be done with my thesis by next fall so it was my last opportunity to buy student tickets.

The cons: you get nothing done on Saturday because you are at the game for a really long time, I knew I would be overwhelmed with my stats class, I now have a home that requires cleaning (I don't clean during the week I am way to tired after work), and the past few years I have sat through to a number of freezing football games.

Well after weighing the pros and cons I decided not to purchase tickets. I can watch the game at home and clean and do homework while the game is on. Well this Saturday I went to Wal-mart during the first quarter and I have now been accused of being unpatriotic. I am not quite sure what BYU and patriotism have to do with one another. I still love the cougars. They take all my tuition money, but I am loyal. So below is a picture of me and Erica at a BYU game 2 years ago. I still love the cougs but now I can get ready for Sunday and watch the game at the same time!

Just a little ridiculous!!

You know you over did it when you have to use five ice packs to relieve pain after playing an hour of basketball. Lets just say Mt Nebo was a KILLER! I have been so sore. I can't really walk down stairs. I had my stats class on upper campus and had to walk down all the stairs because I parked by the smith field house. It was slow going and extremeley painful. (That is 100 stairs folks and I even have some friends, won't mention names, that ditched classes on lower campus just so they would not have to walk up all those stairs.) You might ask why did you go play basketball? Well honestly once I was moving my muscles felt the best that they had since hiking but whenever I stopped for longer than a minute they tightened right back up. It has been interesting. My calves are so sore, I would venture to say that they are the most sore they have ever been. I biked today and learned something I did not know before, biking uses a lot of calf muscle. Yep they are still sore but a few miles in they began to function like champions. Anyways I thought you would all enjoy a picture of me icing all my sore muscles. My hand is doing much better but still in a brace. The good news is that you never get stronger if you are never sore, refer to the overload principle, so yea I should be really strong and yes that is sweat you see on my t-shirt.

Mt Nebo

On Saturday Amber, Julieanne, and myself all hiked Mt. Nebo. It is a mountain I have been wanting to hike for sometime and we finally got around to it. I am glad we did it but it is not one I would recommend to others. The main reason are 1. It is really steep and on the way down we had to be really careful and we almost fell a number of times, that gets annoying. 2. The scenery is not nearly as pretty as Timpanogos, 3. you have to drive a long ways the hike takes longer and so overall your entire day is shot.

It was fun to do though. It turned out that our group and a group of 200 students from a boarding school were really the only ones on the mountain. This was actually a plus because when we hiked timp there were thousands of others that particular Saturday. Below is the usual picture on top of the summit. Anna, from Romania, joined us in the picture. I asked her to take the picture and she handed the camera to her high school friend and told him to take the picture so she could be in it. His response was hey I want to be in the picture too. Sorry we did not really want either of you in our picture but it makes for a good blog post so we allowed it.

Below is my kitchen table. It is a counter-height table and I love it. I really wanted a counter height table and I had to to shop around for a long time to find a nice one that was under my 250 dollar budget. You can see the leaf standing in the backround which I will never use in this house because it makes the table as big as my dinning room.

I also wanted to vent about the cost of textbooks. This stats book pictured below cost $180 and I also had to purchase a software program for $150 in order to do my homework. That is on top of $1000 for tuition, for one class. I know it is way cheap for graduate school tuition but when you are paying cash it is so sad to just watch your savings be depleated.

De Quervain's Tenosynovitis

Drilling on a redwood deck for multiple hours in one day plus

biking 65 miles and then continuing to drill after the bike ride until 9:30 = De Quervain's Tenosynovitis. Some inflamed tendon sheath problem the hurts like a mother. It feels like I fractured my forearm, but I was pretty sure I did not because I did not hurt myself in any way. The swelling has been really bad so I finally went to the doctor yesterday and the verdict is no fractures just this crazy tendonitis. So it has been a crazy week.

On top of the injury I am in a doctorate level stats class. Yea, that will be interesting. I will need lots of prayers. It it the only evening stats class at BYU this semester. I talked to the professor and it turns out I teach his daughters. He was like you can do it will get you through. He has more faith in me then I do. It will be interesting but at least it is my last class at BYU. My motto for the semester was inspired by my principal: C's get degrees!!

For The Old Man

Sam and Amanda came to visit for the past few days!! These pictures are for my Dad who is very interested in Sams current interest. He called on Monday evening to get some details about Amanda and we had not even met her yet. Did he call for anything else? NO! Well Dan and I hung out with Amanda and Sam all week and it was really fun and we think that she is great. I stole some of Sams pictures to post them for my parents.

My Aunt Janice and Uncle Lou also came to visit for a night as well this week. It has been crazy all week with all of the visitors. I wish I had taken some pictures but I did not. We barbequed and visited the night they were in town.

Sam and Amanda were given the job of putting together the stools for the kitchen. It took Sam an hour to do the first one, but we are happy to report that he learned quickly and he put together the second one in 13 minutes. He timed himself. Poor guy everyone was teasing him because he was so slow.

Mikila Adventures

Last Friday night I conned Mikila into going shopping with me for a few things for the house. It turns out she is no champion shopper just a champion complainer. First we went to the quilted bear and when I told her the name of the store she informed me she was not going into a teddy bear store. For those of you that don't know it is a really cute home decor store, they did sell a few bears. The kicker at that store was when she took the taffy and ate it and said was that for free? Um, no that was for decoration. It was like shopping with a child. She also wanted me to wear a pink bow that goes on a childs head and I was a party pooper because I would not. After we had looked through the store and I was deciding what to purchase she reported that it was time to leave because she could not spend one more second in the store. Alright, we left and I made no purchases at the quilted bear but saw many things I liked.

We then continued on to two seperate Walmarts before the night ended. Don't worry anytime there was anything pink or with the word princess on it she informed me I needed it for my bedroom. Because my room is pink and I am a princess? I am not sure why. Apparently she used to do the same thing when she shopped with Angelee. It was pretty funny.

We shopped for about four hours and I think she complained for three of it. It was unfortunate that I drove becasause she was stuck with me the entire night. Mikila was most frustrated by me because I did not buy much that night. I had to feel things out and then I bought what I wanted on Saturday. All in all it was a funny night and it was fun to hang out with Mikila. Mikila probably has a different side to the stiry but she can start a blog if she would like that side to be heard:)

Arranging and Rearranging

My bedroom is officially put together, I think. I have rearranged the room three times and hopefully it will stay this way. It is easy enough to reaarange minus one heavy and huge bookshelf. The problem I have been struggling with is that the ideal place for my bed is on top of the airconitioning vent. Lots of people have said I should not cover that up, even though it is so tempting. So last night was hopefully the last of the reaaranging of my bedroom at least for a little while. I need to move on to other rooms in the house.

A New Bed

I finally bought a new bed, but this post is not about that bed. Mikila is moving in with me and she needs a bed. Well I was going to buy a twin bed to put in that room anyways so we set out to find one. After the first store she expressed her desire to have a bed bigger than a twin and I explain that I can't afford to buy a bigger one and she says that is fine she will work it out. This same Saturday I bought my bed and when we pulled around to the back of the store we realized that there are a bunch of old mattresses waiting to be thrown out. So we did what any desperate person would do and waited until after store hours and went and took one of those dumpster mattresses. Ghetto, OF COURSE!!

Mikila was laughing so hard she was really of no help and Dan and I had to do the dirty work. We loaded it and hauled it up all the stairs to her room. Meanwhile Mikila has not been around Dan in a long time and is laughing at everything he says and is making herself sick while Dan and I haul the worlds heaviest mattress.

After all of that she decided it was to big for her room anyways and is now sleeping on an air mattress. Last night in the dark, so no one could see, Mikila and I hauled the dumb mattress to the dumpster and shoved it in, because we don't need it. This story probably does not seem very funny on the blog but in real life the whole situation was hysterical!!

We made it!!

This time we made it to the top of Mt. Timpanogos. We hiked on the Timpanooke trail. I had never hiked that side and it was really nice to switch it up. Timpanooke trail is not as steep as the Aspen Grove side so it was a little bit easier on the knees. Overall it was a fun day. Poor Mikila came to town and I told her I would be hiking timp and she apparently did not realize it takes 8 hours. Luckily Jana and Bem are around and she could hang out with them all afternoon. Saturday was crazy because I had a ton to do even after I hiked so when I finally went to bed I was out.

My Furniture

I am done with school for the semester!!!! Yep, turned in the 20 page paper, the introduction for another paper, took a final at 7:45 am, and did a class presentation at 11 am. I am so excited to be done. A weight has been lifted. I plan on being lazy the rest of the day, except I will go on a bike ride, of course.

I bought some furniture last week. Dan was kind enough to accompany me while shopping. We went to every furniture store in Orem and Provo. I learned that I shop until I find exactly what I want. We shopped for quite a while. But this is what the search turned up: The sweetest couch ever. I love this coach. I love the colors and it is so comfortable. It also has plenty of cushions. I was so excited when I bought the couch I told Dan it felt like my birthday because it was exactly what I wanted. Needless to say after about five high fives he refused to give me anymore high fives and the excitement had worn off for him (probably because we still had to find a table).


I also learned that I am decent at bargaining. I had to bargain for this chair but I got them to take $70 off of their asking price. I was really pumped it is very comfortable as well. Both the couches look good in my living room and when I sit in it I think I really like this room. I will add that the only thing that has not stressed me out in the past week has been my house. School was so stressful last week, I am so grateful that it is over.


And the most depressing news of all is that teacher meetings start tomorrow. I want to cry. But I won't I will suck it up. It just feels like summer has been ripped away. SOOOOOO SAD!!

My new house

This is my new house. It is an end unit townhome. I believe it is 1300 square feet. Three bedrooms and two baths. One full bath and one half bath. This week was crazy. I signed my life away on Monday, got the keys on Tuesday, carpet on Wednesday and Thursday and did hardwood floors on Saturday. All of that along with biking, class, three day PE conference, and moving. Needless to say my week was slightly crazy. I learned I can still function on a little bit of sleep when it is absolutely essential.

Below is a picture of my bathroom. The only room in the entire house that is put together. I will post pictures slowly as I finish decorating each room. There is no hurry and it will probably take the entire month to get moved in completely.

Saturday my cousin Melissa's husband was kind enough to come down to Provo and teach me/ help me put in my flooring. It was one long day and I woke up today more sore then I have been in years. I was not expecting that but it has been slow going all day. Don't worry I ended up buying two different floors because I couldn't decide which one I liked the best. For those of you who have never bought laminate flooring that is a lot of loading and unloading of heavy awkward boxes. That alone was a workout not to mention the actual putting in of the floor. We had lots of help and it went really well until around 9:30pm and my brain would not function anymore I messed up two boards before I decided I was done using the saws for the night. Ryan was great and I really, really appreciate his help. Some of my roomates, my cousin Katie, and Dan all helped as well. Below is a collage of the project.

And below is the final project. One of the floors I bought was actually made in Oroville, California. That was crazy but I ended up liking the other floor better. We have not put the edges in yet but I really love the floor and I am sure it will look much better when I actually clean it.

Just for fun I thought you all might enjoy a good laugh. At the PE conference I went to we went mountain biking on the last day. Don't worry I crashed 4 times. I was wearing my clip in peddles and that was pretty much the death of me. I have some sweet bruises on my legs but they are hard to see becasue of my summer tan. I fugure the crashes are good in the sense that it is how you learn. I am obviously a slow learner. Even after all of those crashes I was not as sore as I was after putting in that darn floor.

My Aching Feet!

The picture above is my aching feet after hiking for three days. I washed my feet with wipes two times while hiking out and they were still really dirty when I finished. Both years I have done this hike my feet have been so swollen afterwards. It took a good two days for the swelling to come down. I don't know if it is because I drank so much water or because I hiked 10 miles with a 40 pound pack.

Below is another picture I took of the grand canyon. Don't worry I hiked my nice new camera in there with me. I didn't buy the insurance on that camera for nothing. It is going on every trip I take.

A WEEKEND IN PARADISE

Due to the perfect timing of Pioneer Day in Utah I was able to go with some friends to Havasupai again this summer. I love this place and after two summers of going I still have not seen all there is to see. For those of you who don't know Havasupai is an Indian Villaga in the grand Canyon that claims to have water as amazing as Hawaii. I have not been to Hawaii to compare but hope to accomplish that after I graduate from grad school. The first picture is a view of the beautiful grand canyon at the start of the switch backs.

I went with Amber Ellis, Brett Alldridge, and a bunch of Ambers family. They were all great company and we had so much fun. Below is Brett and myself about 5 miles into our hike. Notice we are still smiling that is because there are still 5 more to go. Once at camp we took a nap and then we were ready to hike, swim, and play and we put our happy faces back on.

Havasu Falls is my favorite water fall ever and I really wanted a good picture of it to blow up and put in my new house. Oh, yea I am buying a townhouse. I have not really told anyone but I sign tomorrow. Am I ready for a lifetime of debt, no are you ever? But I am really excited to have my own place to decorate.

For some reason I think it is hilarious taht they have to helliopter the portable toilets in every week. They do the dirty job on Thursdays and so you can see the toilets are flying away. Hope no one is inside.

In order to see Mooney falls there is a crazy hike down the side of a mountain. This is the sign that they have hanging right before you risk your life. I think it is funny because everyone that goes climbs down but hey you were warned. The pictures of Mooney Falls don't really do it justice. It is a beautiful and powrful 200ft waterfall that is a must see. The trip was a blast and I am so gad I was able to go. Amber brought a waterproof camera and so more pictures will be coming!!

Last but not least we stopped at Hoover Dam to take some pictures. I am only posting this picture because when we crossed the dam the first time at 2am I dared Amber to ask the guard if they were gaurding Megatron. Well she did not think that it would be funny but her Dad did it and it was hilarious. I am sure the guard has heard that before but hey he kinda laughed and everyone in the car was busting up so I think it was worth it.