The Higgins Luck

Matt and I are supposed to be leaving for the big AZ this afternoon. We're going to sell his truck down in AZ, so we've been planning on driving it down, and then flying back up after Christmas. Yesterday, when I tried to start the truck to go to work, it wouldn't start up.
I called to tell my mom about the truck not starting up this morning, and she asked me if I had told Matt about the Higgins Luck. Basically the Higgins Luck goes as follows: if anything can go wrong, it will. So, now that Matt's married to me he's got to be on his toes, ready for anything and everything to go wrong that possibly can.
Fortunately my awesome cousin, who is a mechanic, came right over when I told him about our truck problems. He even thinks he knows what's wrong and we'll be able to get it fixed in time for Matt and I to leave. I was getting really bummed about the possible delay, so it's nice to know all hope is not lost. I'm so excited to go home, I hope everything goes smoothly from here on out.


This is my favorite ornament on our tiny Christmas tree. We have a 3 ft. tall tree with lots of "old-fashioned" ornaments, mini candy canes, a plastic, gold glittery star on top and white lights. Oh yes, and I can't forget the furry chewbacca Matt put on it.

I drove through Burger King on my way home from class in Salt Lake a few weeks ago and ordered myself a big kids meal. The toy in the meal was a mini stuffed chewbacca. The second I got home and showed Matt my toy, he immediately asked if he could make it into an ornament and hang it on our tree. So out comes the bent paperclip which was nicely forced into chewbacca's head, and he is now perched atop our tree. Our tree now seems to say "Merry Christmas all you Star Wars fanatics!" I guess that's what I get for marrying a computer nerd and being a bit of a nerd myself.

Signs

A small list of how you know finals are over and the semester is done with:

  1. I took a shower today after almost three days straight without one.
  2. I am posting on my blog...
  3. I convinced Matt to drive me up to Salt Lake to take my last final, so we could "celebrate" afterwards (I'll add the email I wrote him on here later).
  4. I am so tired.
  5. We have plans to sleep in tomorrow-that is sleep in compared to the early morning study sessions I've been having.
  6. I can read other blogs as well as other entertaining non-school things.

I've been trying to convince Matt all semester to come with me to my 7:30 pm class up in Salt Lake. I would say enticing things like..."You can come sit in my class and listen to my crazy professor." Followed by, "We could go out to eat and have fun afterwards," as well as, "Plus you love me and will miss me so much when I am gone..." Anyways, for whatever reason these didn't do the trick. I really turned on the magic today though, when I told him that he should come up to my class in Salt Lake with me while I took my final.
Here's a copy of my email to him:
Here is a least of reasons why you should come to my class tonight.
1. If you drive that will give me an extra hour of studying.
2. This test should only take me an hour to 1 1/2 (less time than my class is normally).
3. After class we could go get something to eat to celebrate me being done with this semester- nothing fancy or anything.
4. You love me, and you want me to be happy.
5. I could really use that extra hour of study time.
6. I ran out of reasons, but I thought 6 sounded more convincing than 5.
Okay, that's all for now. I LOVE YOU Mattie shnookie-wookie bunny face pie snuggly fuzzy bear pants!!!

Obviously that was the work of a pure genius because he came with me to the Salt Lake Center, and we celebrated my last final by eating at Subway afterwards.
So, now I am free to do whatever I want. Yay! What I really want to do though is go to sleep!

White Christmas

I took these photos today with my phone when I was walking home from school. It snowed like crazy today! It's been snowing off and on for a while. It's so much fun! Except that I am now trying to learn how to drive Matt's truck vs. my little car in the snow.
This shot was taken right after I fell on my bum. It was so slippery!

Tears and Triumph

I haven't had the best of luck with college advisors at BYU.

Because of this I have become more and more hesitant of trying to seek help from anyone at BYU. Unfortunately I recently decided it would be best for me, even though I am a senior, to switch my major. This would of course be an instance where seeing a college advisor is somewhat necessary. I finally gave in today and went to see an advisor, and I was so stressed out about my decision to change my major and having to see an advisor who may not be able to or willing to help me like passed advisors. When I met with the advisor for graduation I had a bit of pent up emotions, and while I was explaining my situation, I started to cry.

The advisor listened to me though, and then went right to work. She switched my major then took a look at the classes that correlated between the two majors. She waived one of my classes in place of two others. She found two other classes that I could substitute for two I have already taken, and determined that after next semester I only have to take 6 credit hours more to graduate! If I want to I can graduate in August! This is much sooner than I have been anticipating (I think I was preparing myself for the worst). I now have the best advisor ever, and I am so happy to have that load off of my shoulders.

It started raining last night and it has been raining all day. I think it's weird because it is wintertime in Utah and it isn't snowing...it's raining. AND it's still really cold outside.

I wrapped my present for Matt yesterday, and he has no idea what it is. Seeing it wrapped just made him even more confused as to what it could be. It is so fun being so secret!

Okay here's a question for you... Why don't people walk on the right side of the sidewalk? We all drive on the right side of the road, shouldn't there be some kind of uniform policy that applies to the sidewalks as well. The other day I was walking down the sidewalk-on the right side mind you-and this guy comes walking towards me on his left side. I am then forced with the decision of whether to stick to my side (the right side) or to move and let him pass without having to walk around me. We got closer and closer so finally I moved out of the way. So, not only was he walking on the wrong side of the sidewalk to begin with, but he also forced me to move to the wrong side, which by the way was closer to the road. Isn't there some kind of rule that says that guys are always supposed to be closer to the road anyway? Maybe I'm just making this all up, but honestly, I like order and simplicity. So if we could all stick to the right side of the sidewalk that would really help me out a lot.

Matt and I spent Thanksgiving here. It was just the two of us for Thanksgiving, and we did surprisingly well. I made us a small turkey roast with a rosemary citrus salt rub, as well as mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, crescent rolls and a delicious dessert called pumpkin gingerbread trifle. After we ate, we went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I thought it was awesome. Matt says he liked the third one better. We were pretty lazy and everything was really low-key for Thanksgiving; that's the only thing that made it seem like it wasn't really Thanksgiving. Usually there are tons of people and it can be pretty chaotic in the kitchen. That definitely wasn't the case this year.

I'm reading a book for my Ecology class, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. I think it would be a lot more enjoyable if I weren't reading it for a class. It's pretty interesting though.

MMMmmmm...

I made some butterscotch pudding for Matt because it is his favorite, and now I am eating some of it. Yum!

My current theme song.

I am soo excited for Christmas. I love Christmas.
buying presents, non-stop Christmas music, decorating, playing with younger siblings' new toys, hot apple cider, sweaters, traditional Christmas foods, seeing the reaction of those you gifted when they open them up, scheming and secreting and teasing about the presents you've bought and won't reveal their identity, making treats for others, making treats for us, driving around random neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights, putting up the Christmas tree, watching White Christmas, Walking around the Mesa temple, looking at my mom's growing collection of Nativity Scenes, being with my family and dealing with all of their crazy Christmas antics...
I'm sure I can come up with more, but Christmas is going to be different this year and I want to talk about that...
This is obviously mine and Matt's first Christmas together. I am so excited to mesh his family traditions with mine, and start some of our own. We are going to my home for Christmas this year. I can't wait to go see them! This is my first ever Thanksgiving I won't be spending with my family. I'm sure going to miss being with them. I am glad though, that I get to spend it with Matt. I would like to try and do the traditional Thanksgiving feast, but it turns out it's just the two of us, so that might be a little overkill... Maybe we'll have a slightly toned down version, or try to see if anyone we know will be in town for Thanksgiving.
Anyways, I'm doing my Christmas dreaming a little early this year...

I'm trying really hard to study my ecology right now. No matter where I sit myself to try and get a good read in, I immediately fall asleep. This is really frustrating right now because my exam for the class is tomorrow. A good nap is always nice, but this is ridiculous. I thought sitting down and reading/writing something a little more entertaining would help wake me up. I must be tired because of those apple butter smothered English muffins I ate earlier today...

should be working

I work in the law library here at BYU. I have been working for Technical Services in the library since my Freshman year. I love the people I work with, and I actually like what I do. My job title is "looseleafer". However, I haven't been looseleafing since I got back to school in September. We have two looseleafers, and we haven't been getting enough releases for both of us to be able to do our job. Because of this I now get to do all kinds of odd projects for my boss, Bonnie. I'm pretty sure Bonnie is the best boss ever. The other day I finished a huge project for her and the next day she had left a thank you note and a gianormous Mr. Goodbar on my desk, yum!
Lately the circulations librarians have been undergoing a series of meetings...I don't really know why, but that's besides the point. There's a girl that works on the main floor where all the law students "live" along with most of our book collections. All she does is sit by the entrance/exit doors and listen for a loud siren signaling a student leaving with a book that has not been checked out yet. Because she is a circulation employee she has to go to the circ. meetings. This then forces my boss Bonnie to supply one of her employees to help out the Circs. So here I am on the main floor with access to the internet and absolutely nothing else to do up here. I even tried to bring up my latest project to work on up here, but I can't access the documents I've been working with. Oh well! I think I'll play solitaire now...

So as Matt's post suggests we had a few mishaps getting out of Provo to our vacation in Las Vegas this past weekend. First Matt forgot to turn into the left lane on Center St. out of the gas station we filled up at, so we missed the entrance to I-15 South-bound. Then after we were about 30 minutes down the 15 Matt realized he forgot to grab the tickets for the concert we were going to. Since we were already running behind he thought since the tickets were only $5 each we could just get them when we got to Vegas. Shortly after that he asked me to change the CD we were listening to since we had listened to it several times already. So I asked him were the other CD's were. This is when we realized Matt had forgotten another item back home. Since there's no way Matt could drive for 6 hours listening to the same music this is when we turned around and headed back to Provo. From Provo to St. George it's about 280 miles. My little car could make it there without stopping for gas, but since we had already driven out over 30 minutes and then back, we had to fill up the car again, and turn out onto Center St. again. This time we made it onto I-15 S the first time and this time we didn't forget anything.

We got into Las Vegas pretty late, so we headed to the strip to eat. As Matt mentioned we had to get some flip-flops for me while we were out. I was wearing my nice new tall black shoes, and I've gotten pretty used to them, but Matt walks really fast. My little toes were getting torn up while we sped down the strip so Matt could take pictures in front of the Bellagio and so we could eat. Luckily Ceaser's Palace has a huge mall in it, unfortunately pretty much all of the stores where high-end fashion boutiques like Anthropologie, Diesel and Juicy Couture. For some reason these places don't seem to sale flip-flops, especially not cheap ones to replace the shoes that were seriously killing my feet. We found an Abercrombie & Fitch and we noticed they had men's flip-flops so I found a lady who of coarse didn't speak English and asked her if they had any women's flip-flops. She directed me to some girls who spoke English and they helped me. I just told them I needed their smallest size of flip-flop of any color, if they had any. One of the girls went to the back and came out with a large brown flip-flop. She says "this is the only size we have in brown." I'm thinking "did she just say what I heard her say?" So, I'm really confused. Did she go back and look at only the brown flip-flops? I already said I don't care what color they are I just need some flip-flops... So we go back to the non-English speaking lady and I tell her I need a SSMMMALLEERRR SSSIIIZZEEE, AANNYY CCOOOLLLOORR....I think she understood me. She not only got two smaller sizes, but they were both BROWN. I don't know what was wrong with that other girl who supposedly "spoke English" but she obviously wasn't able to find me a smaller size of any color including brown, which I never even specified as a color that I wanted. So my feet were saved from further torment, and we left A&F to go eat.
The next day the blisters on my pinky toes pretty much covered the entire toe. No wonder I was in so much pain.

So Mattie and I finally left Caesar's Palace we got all the way out to the strip when Mattie realized he had forgotten something once again. He forgot his very nice, not-so-cheap digital camera on the table we had eaten at. Poor Matt, he was not having the best day. I felt bad for him.

The rest of the trip however went off without a hitch. So, we had a lot of fun. Except I thought my ears were going to be plugged up for the rest of my life after the concert we went to. I loved Josh Kelly and Better Than Ezra, but once they were done I was pretty much pooped and ready to go home. We stayed for Collective Soul though, and they were pretty good too.

In case you were wondering the I-15 is pretty much under construction everywhere in Utah.

We have this gorgeous white picture frame hanging up on our wall without a photo in it. It's been hanging up in our living room for about a month, empty. I want to put a wedding photo in it, but I haven't been able to decide on a favorite or most suitable picture for the frame. I have made a few criteria: it has to be a color photo because the frame is white, it has to have both Matt and I in it, preferably looking at the camera. That's actually about it. Anyway, if you happen to take a look at our wedding photos, let me know if you think you've found the right one.

Matt thinks I'm a dessert guru. Last night I made us some homemade ice cream to go on top of the homemade raspberry cobbler I made. It was so delicious. I think this is pretty much the only dessert I've made for him though, besides the no-bake peanut butter cup dessert(which obviously doesn't count) and the super flat chocolate chip cookies I made. Anyways, he can go on thinking I'm a brilliant cuisine artiste. After every meal I make, I ask if he thinks we should keep it on the list of meals I should make. He hasn't said no yet, and there hasn't been any repeats yet either, so we're doing pretty good I think. I really like cooking, a lot.

Missing Mattie

I dropped Mattie off at the airport at 8:30 this morning. I got home around ten, which gives me plenty of time for studying and getting ready for class. I'm having a hard time concentrating though. I miss Matt. He's only been gone for a few hours and I'm used to him being gone for the day at work. I just don't like that I can't even call him to tell him I miss him. He's on a four hour flight to Philadelphia right now. He won't be back until 8 p.m. on Sunday. I should be able to handle him being gone really easy since it's only 5 days, and we went 5 weeks without seeing each other this summer. It's different being married though. I've gotten used to him being around. On the weekend I never do any studying because I want to spend all of my time with Matt. My friend offered to hang out with me and have me sleep over, but I really do have a lot to do this week/weekend. We'll see how it works out.

Wooo WOOOooo...

List of things I've done recently:

  1. Mom came to visit this week. It was fun having mom here. Plus she helped me get on the millions (okay I exaggerate) of thank you notes I need to write.
  2. Went to AMAZING Ryan Shupe concert last Friday. I loved them on their album, but I loved them live even more, especially their rendition of Devil Went Down to Georgia.
  3. Went up the canyon to see beautiful changing leaves, drive to Park City, picnic, identify native plants, look at waterfall, etc.
  4. Slowly but surely getting caught up on LOST. I never watched the first season and the second season is now on. Matt is catching me up so we can start watching the second season. Without fail every episode I say, "I like this show; it's scary." Followed by, "I don't like this show; it's scary."
  5. Stayed in SLC after dropping off mom at the airport to celebrate Matt's raise.
  6. Have quenched my rook craving... I'm ready for more at anytime though.
  7. Went shopping in Park City with mom. It's always fun shopping with mom. I found this amazing diesel watch at the Fossil outlet. It was $20, which was my reason for not getting it. I looked it up on the internet, the original price is around $140. I might have to take a trip to Park City again soon...
  8. Got attacked by the killer ALLERGY- I took Benadryl last night, and I'm pretty sure I still haven't woken up fully (it's 11:40 pm). At least I'm not sneezing uncontrollably, or blowing my nose every minute...Thanks mom for buying us tissues!
  9. Matt and I love gift certificates/cards to restaurants; we've been to CPK, Macaroni Grill, Chili's and Red Lobster recently.
  10. I love the fall.
  11. I love decorating for Halloween. Mom bought us a cat we put in our window. He's black. We call him Boots, Boops, Bootsy or Boopsy. We also have a black flannel blanket with ghosts on it. It's a good decoration and it's very nice for cuddling under/hiding my eyes while watching LOST.
  12. I already know what I'm getting Matt for Christmas. And I am doing soo good keeping it a secret.
  13. Matt's going out of town on a Business trip on Wednesday. I am so sad. He doesn't get back until Sunday.
I had a lot to write about, so I thought the list would be the most appropriate way to get it all down.
Happy Halloween!! I can say that now because it's October. The woo's are for because it's almost Halloween.

Football

Is a concept I will never understand.

Matt is sitting in the same room as me watching a football game he recorded on Sunday. He couldn't watch it on Sunday because the game took place entirely while we were at church. So, he has spent the last couple of nights getting caught up on the game he missed. The thing is he already knows the score. The Eagles ("Matt's team") killed the 49ers. I don't understand how it could possibly be entertaining to watch a whole football game that you already know the final score of. I have a hard enough time sitting and watching a regular football game at home. It's just not entertaining. Actually I take that back...watching Matt's reactions to the events taking place can be very entertaining. "T.O.!" is something he shouts often as well as "blam!"
We're going to a BYU game in October, I'm pretty excited about that. Watching football in an actual football stadium, where you can see the players right in front of you is very exciting. It makes it feel like it's actually happening, not just something that's on tv. Why is it just as entertaining for guys whether they're at the game or in their home watching it?

Bitter Sweet

Matt and I got TONS of Target giftcards from the wedding. We got so many in fact, that we weren't able to use all of them on household items. Instead we now have extra grocery money! I'm not sure how I like grocery shopping at Target. Their selection is very random. They have to have the top brands in everything so they are more expensive, but they also have generic target brands that aren't too bad. Anyway, when you go to target and you're using "play money" you can splurge without feeling guilty. We have a big bowl full of delicous, creamy, smooth, decadent Ghiradelli Chocolate squares of the milk, mint and carmel filled variety. MMmmmm... AND they were on sale, 3 bags for $5! Can you believe it? Cause I can't! If you happen to go to Target in the next couple of days I highly suggest you check the sweets aisle to see if those Ghiradelli squares are still on sale. Yum!

My faithful black "tall shoes" I've had since junior year of high school broke today. It was a sad day for all. Tears were shed, ankles were bruised, and hearts were lifted at the thought of buying new shoes to replace the old ones!

Blaine Furniss

I'm taking a field botany class. The professor's name is Blaine Furniss. I took a basic botany class from him my freshman year. This is when I first learned of how awesome Blaine is. He's super old, and he has a passion for plants. When we are touring campus identifying different plants he walks with a bounce in his step and a certain speed like he is beside himself with excitement to see more leaves. He says the weirdest things too. I like to write them down and look back at them and have a good laugh. The other day we're talking about how people like to say that a tree or a cone is a female or male cone/tree. Blaine gets a little heated up about this and tries to explain why a tree or a cone can't be specified as male or female (only the zygote can). To bring his point home he says, "Chlorophyte tissue is about as sexless as a fence post." I don't know why I thought that was so funny. It must have been the way he delivered it. Then last Friday we had a girl in our class leave after our quiz at the beginning class. Prof. Furniss started talking about her because we found a tree that was native to where she grew up and then he remembered that she wasn't with us. He says, "oh yeah, she's not here; she's picking up her boyfriend from the airport. Ashley's going to be getting some lip action tonight."

It's about time...

There are several reasons why posting on my blog became impossible. But I'm not going to bore you with that nonsense...

So it turns out, I'm married!
I run into friends on campus and they are shocked to hear that I am married. (not because they don't think I would get married, more like no one was really aware of how serious Matt and I were before because we got engaged at the very end of the semester and hardly anyone knew about it.) Anyways, I ran into my friend Kim on campus and she asked me "how is it?" (being married that is) I couldn't help but say it is the greatest thing ever; I love being married and highly recommend it. I guess it probably does help that Matt is such an amazing guy, but I'm just saying, it's a lot of fun.
If you read Matt's blog you'll get a pretty good run-down of the whole thing pre-wedding to post-honeymoon. Now we are so cute in our two bedroom (with Matt it's one bedroom, 1 computer room/office) condo. Everything's still not organized, but it looks pretty good. The walls are completely bare because we've left the putting up photos, shelves, mirrors, etc. til last because I kind of want to see how everything looks before I start putting stuff up all over our walls. I love "decorating" our home. Everything's just the way I like it, simple and classy. I'm hoping to get everything up on the walls by Saturday.
We also have a pet. It's a blue Betta fish. He's pretty awesome, but I don't know how long he will survive. Every time we feed him, he doesn't eat any of the food...I'm pretty sure that's a bad sign. And luckily the Betta fish food is made of little brown pellets, so when he doesn't eat them it looks like there's fish poop floating around in the fish bowl. Anyway, we got Babe the Big, Blue Fish from the reception we had in California. Matt's mom and sister put fish bowls on every table with blue Betta fish in them, and we got to bring one home. So Betta fish are the ones that are really fiesty. Babe is super fiesty sometimes he'll just slam himself up against the wall of the vase, that we're using as a fish bowl, repetitively.
All right I think I've brought you up to speed then. We are married. We live in a condo. We have a blue fish named Babe. I love being married.

I'm getting really...restless.
Is that a normal anxious reaction towards something exciting that you know is coming?

I have a hard time concentrating. At work when there's not much to do I'm positive I really annoy my co-worker by asking her repeatedly if she has anything else for me to do. Today I was so desperate for work that I went out in the warehouse (yes, where there is no ac) to file credit card slips. This forcing another offensive thing on my co-workers...my sweaty smelly body. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but still. We have been really busy at work, and it has been really good for me, but I seem to be working much faster than I have before. I am always out of things to do before everyone else is halfway done with their work-load. I think the impending joy and happiness that is to come is currently making me crazy.

Matt came to Arizona this past weekend. Everytime I see him I get more excited about marrying him. He's my favorite! We didn't do anything really special. Well, I mean nothing special to write about. I definitely had a great time with him and it was very special for me. Anyway, we got our marriage license and finished up buying things for Matt's wedding day attire. We got me some pretty earrings and matching necklace to wear for the wedding day. We got to spend lots of time with the fam. Everyone really likes Matt, I think that's a good thing.

I have three wedding related appointments this weekend. I have a dress fitting, a reception hall final appointment, and a trial hair appointment. I am so excited for all of these, I feel like I'm getting things done, and everything is all coming down to the most important day of my life.
I AM SO EXCITED I CAN'T EVEN HANDLE IT!

Driving home from work yesterday I witnessed one of the best features of Arizona summers. I was driving in the awesomest Monsoon storm ever. The rain was pouring down, just dumping on my car. With the wind as strong as it was I thought for sure the water was going to penetrate the seals at the doors and windows and begin to fill my car up with the monsoon rain! It was AWESOME! I love monsoon season! While I was driving I got on a road that was under construction. All of the cars were forced onto one side of the road making four lanes of two-way traffic into two. Arizona roads are built to have the maximum amount of run-off because when we get rain it is usually a "flash-flood". So we're driving on the slightly sloped road, (the highest part being in the middle and lowest on the edges..it makes sense) the cars in my lane are closer to the middle of the road while the cars going the other direction are in a lane hugging the curb. So you can imagine that the people in my lane can hardly see for the torrential downpoor, and are actually glad for the orange beacons paving the lane. While traffic in the other direction has no choice but to drive through the immense amount of water that is being forced to their side of the road before making it into the sewer. When I got home I watched the news to see more on the conditions in the Mesa area since the rain was so intense, and it turns out the road I had been driving on was undriveable (which is a word that means could not be driven on). A car stalled in the lane that was going opposite of mine because it's engine was waterlogged!
The best part about Arizona rain is that it is warm, so you can play in it and not be upset when you get all wet. Oh man, I love storms in Arizona.

Matt and I received our first wedding gift yesterday. We got an Oral-B electric toothbrush from my dentist! I am so excited to get married and use my new electric toothbrush! Maggie can testify to how much I love clean teeth. In fact I recall a quote from Freshman year about my roommate and I, "Brushing your teeth, it's a conspiracy!"

For Katie

This is me taking a photo of my new hair for Matt

He's finally going to get to see it for reals now! He comes here on Thursday! After he comes and leaves we have less than three weeks until the wedding! It's so exciting, to quote Maggie, "I can't handle it."
Anyway, this post was in response to Katie's request. Sorry, it took so long to get to it. I'm not even sure if you'll be able to tell that it's quite a bit blonder, still really long, and much thinner!

I was about to take a nap, when I heard my blog calling to me... You know it's really bad when you're blog is calling to you.

More wedding news and some other stuff:
-I picked up the fabric for the bridesmaids' skirts, it is gorgeous. I am jealous that I don't get to be one of the bridesmaids and get a gorgeous navy blue skirt to wear after the wedding.
-I have been driving around in my dad's non-air conditioned jeep with the top down for the past couple of days because my beautifully air conditioned car is having some work done on it. When I went to pick up the fabric yesterday I was afraid it was going to start raining and ruin the fabric because monsoon season just started. It began raining the second I pulled the jeep into the garage though, Phew!
Driving the jeep has been pretty intense. It has been reaching around 115 degrees out, making it feel almost better to just be at a stand-still in the jeep than rushing down the freeway because the wind is like hot oven air blowing on you after you've been running outside for the past three hours. Very unpleasant. Luckily I grew up in Arizona, I am quite used to this weather, and I get my car back on Monday after work.
-I got to watch Nixon and Cotton overnight on Friday. It was so fun. These are some of the cutest kids around. Maybe Matt can help me post some pictures I took of them while I was babysitting them this weekend.


This was the best photo I could come up with for now. It was a family photo we had taken for Christmas. Nixon looks awesome, and Cotton you can't really see much of, but he's a beautiful baby.

One of my favorite Nixon moments: A bunch of us are downstairs in Parker's room listening to him play his drumset. At one point Parker stops playing and we hear Nixon from the bottom of the stairs yell, "Farky (he can't say Sparky, his nickname), it's too loud. I'm crying now." Totally serious he stomps back up the stairs...oh man, that's a good one.

-The invitations are frustrating. I don't even want to talk about it.
-I got my hair colored this weekend. I love it! I am excited for my wedding! I am going to go to my friend's salon this weekend to book a trial appointment for my updo.
Can you believe there's less than five weeks until I'm married? Cause I can't! (That was for you, Margs)

Here's another photo of Nixon, he was already riding a two-wheeler without training wheels when he was two!




So, I think I'll take that nap now. I have been keeping so busy, time is flying by. I am so excited to get married to Matt, and more excited all the time.

Okay, so this whole planning a wedding thing is really getting in the way of my blogging...
Right now I should be revising my invitation address list, but I haven't posted in ages.

I went to Utah this past weekend to see Matt. It went by way too fast.

We got Matt his suit for the wedding. We decided to go ahead and buy him a nice new suit because after the wedding he can wear it to church and his other suit is from his mission. It's a beautiful navy blue suit.
Matt and I mostly just spent a lot of time together. We have a lot of fun together and get along perfectly. I never knew someone could love me so much. On Sunday before church I asked Matt how I looked. Of course he said I looked beautiful, so I asked him why he thought I was so pretty. He stood me in front of a mirror and said, "if you can't see perfection, you can't see what I can see." I almost started balling when he said that. When we were driving to the airport I only cried a little when I was thinking about leaving Matt again; he only cried a little too. It was so good to see him, and I am so excited that in less than three weeks I get to see him again and three weeks after that we're getting married! I can't wait to be with him always.

I have a lot to do this week-many vital things to accomplish for the wedding. The one person who I need the most to help me with everything is gone. My mom is on vacation for two weeks!Actually my whole family is gone, but every girl knows they need their mom to help with all of the wedding plans, and I really, really need my mom.

So, I have been getting really busy with everything and still spending all of my spare time on the phone with Matt (hey, I can't help that I am so in love with him that I have to be talking to him constantly). So, I will continue to try and update.

Oo Oo! I almost forgot my funny story of the weekend!
Matt and I went shopping for his suit at the mall. First we stopped in Mr. Mac, and then we headed over to Meier & Frank. On our way to Meier & Frank there was a Scion (the one that looks like a toaster) parked in the middle of the mall. We stopped for a second while Matt read about the "catch" that went along with entering to win the Scion. As we were stopped there an old lady walked up to us and asked, "do you think you have to wind it up?" and then laughed as she just walked away like she had been waiting for hours for someone to stop there so she could tell them her funny joke.
Okay, that wasn't that funny, but we laughed.

Eureka!

So, I've figured out why I am the way I am... okay, maybe I already had an inkling, but still I've figured it out.

So we're eating dinner. We've had our dining table and chairs since we first moved into our house on Maple street, that was almost 12 years ago. So, the table is in super good shape, but the chairs have definitely seen better days. Anyway, we're eating dinner. Paige starts banging her foot on the bottom rung of her chair. To this my dad says, "Paige you gotta stop doing that. These chairs keep getting ricketier and ricketier, which is a word that means more rickety."
Oh man, I laughed so hard! I could definitely see myself saying that.

Now a recent finding about Matt...
I was driving home from work the other day talking to Matt on the phone (who was also driving home from work). Someone apparently cut him off or did something that a common Utah driver does to him. So he got a little upset and flustered he may have said some choice words... well here's what happens next:

Me: Mathew!
Him: What?
Me: Hi.
Him: I did, I already did.

We're not even married yet and he's already 1) ignoring me and 2) pretending that he's listening to me and responding with an "appropriate" answer...
I am so excited to marry him! When Matt realized what he did he busted up laughing, as did I. It was fun.

So those have been my recent discoveries.

Disclaimer: this post is pretty long, so read when you have time, or something.

You know you're in love with someone when the best time you have with them is over 20 hours (total) in the car together.

I flew into Reno a few hours before Matt, so Grammy and I went shopping together before meeting up with Matt. Seeing Matt was so great, he had the hugest smile on his face as he walked out of security to meet me. Matt met Grammy. We got our rental car, went out to dinner with Grammy and started our first trip to Carson City.
After staying the night at Grammy's we woke up early to head to Fresno where Matt's mom and sisters live. We took a "shortcut" courtesy of the internet, through some amazing mountains. Since we were driving a rental I wasn't allowed to drive it at all because you have to be 25 to drive it. Luckily Matt is super old, so he could drive it (Just kidding Matt, I love you!). Anyway, I loved him driving because I could look at everything and just enjoy the trip. Matt and I work really well together. When we were driving we could talk about everything and nothing. We laughed a lot, and I in my usual manner said some pretty crazy and off the wall things. In fact some of the things I said even surprised Matt, I covered it up real well by blurting out I love you when he didn't know what I said, and I didn't want to repeat it and embarrass myself. I slept off and on in the car, but mostly I was so excited to be with Matt, I couldn't fall asleep, even when he told me to. Anyway, we were driving to Fresno, and during the 6-hour drive I had to pee. I had to go REAL BAD. Luckily this happened when we were in the middle of nowhere. When we finally found a "town" for me to stop and go to the bathroom, nobody would let me go! They either had a sign up that said "Restrooms For Customers Only" or they told me "we don't have a bathroom". So then not only did I have to go real bad, but I was also upset. So, we were still driving and I started crying because I had to pee so bad. Fortunately I was with the greatest guy in the world, so he didn't think I was crazy or anything he just felt bad for me and drove faster. The first place we found was a K-mart of all places! There were no gas stations or anything like that the rest of the way out in the middle of nowhere when I was about to pee my pants. So, I found the only person who spoke English and asked her where the restrooms were, I waited in line for about an hour and then I finally got to go. When I looked at my face it was all red and puffy from crying, after that Matt still said he loved me, so I was pretty happy about that.

Anyway, we finally made it to Fresno! YAY! Before going out to California everyone was asking me if I was nervous to meet Matt's family. I was never really nervous though. I think it's because I am so comfortable with Matt, and I already know we're getting married so I didn't really have very much to be nervous about. I could just be me, and let them see who their son/brother is marrying. Matt and I registered at Target while we were there. I loved registering with Matt! He and I laugh a lot and are really goofy together, he was really excited about the "gun" he got to use to "shoot" the things we put on our registry. He's really good at finding things that I like too, so he would always point out things that he knew I would like, there were a few things he picked out for himself too though... like a snow-cone maker... very classy, we'll store it in our front room probably. Matt's sister made us dinner. It was sooo good! She made us steaks and baked potatoes and a delicious salad plus strawberry shortcake for dessert, yum! I met one of Matt's best friends growing up, he clued me in to how much of a dork Matt was when they were younger, but I can handle it since he's still pretty much a big dork now.

Saturday we drove up to where Matt actually grew up, a small town called Oakhurst. We just drove through it, and went up to Yosemite though. Yosemite was GORGEOUS, which is probably the reason why there were billions of people there to see it. We didn't really get to park and walk around too much, until the very end when we were just about to leave we got the perfect parking spot and went up to one of the falls, Matt took some photos and then we walked up to the vista point where we got soaking wet and it was so great!




After we went to Yosemite we went back to the house Matt grew up in, where his dad now lives. So, I met Matt's dad. He was super nice and as Matt promised full of cheesy jokes. We went to dinner with his dad and his brothers. It was fun to meet all of them, and my favorite part of the evening was Zachary, Matt's nephew. He's only 7 months old, but he's as big as a tank. He was so cute and so much fun to hold while we waited for food. After dinner Matt and I went out to Bass Lake which is about 5 minutes away from his house. He took me to a dock where he and his friends used to go hang out, it was pitch black outside and the stars were amazing. I love being with Matt, we always have fun together.

On Sunday we went to two sacrament meetings so Matt could "show me off" to all the people he has known all his life. It was fun, and everyone was so excited for Matt (finally Matt!)... Then it was time for Matt and I to drive back to Fresno, and back to Carson City. So, by this time I was exhausted, but I couldn't sleep while we were driving. So, sometimes I would put my hand up to Matt's mouth and he would kiss my hand. One of these times he kissed my ring, and he says "I kissed your ring" and I say "Yay for the ring!" While we were driving back I also kept telling Matt he's my favorite. Here's how the conversation would go:
Me: You're my favorite
Matt: You're the best
Me: No, you're the best
Matt: no, you're schmoopy
Matt and Me: schmoopy, schmoopy, schmoopy....
Man, we are so funny...people would get so sick of us if they had to hang out with us all the time.
So we did that all the time while driving back to Grammy's house. We made a few pit stops for me to go to the bathroom, and one to eat, and I finally slept, per Matt's request; he worries about me a lot. We got to Grammy's and talked for hours knowing we were going to leave each other in the morning. Monday came; we said good bye to Grammy and drove back down to Reno to fly home.

So, since I've been home I've spent everyday leaving the house at 6 and being out until 9:30 or 10:00 at night. So, I've been getting very small amounts of sleep, and less time to talk to Matt than I would like. Especially after 3 days straight spent with him. I finally had time to sit down and write about my weekend though, so enjoy!


Matt and me at Yosemite

  • A haircut...finally.
  • Sleeping in, well sleeping past 5 am.
  • Flying on an airplane; I don't know why, but I love airplane trips. Is it the free peanuts, or knowing I'm thousands of feet above the ground, or that we're flying at several hundred miles per hour? Looking out the window at all the ant-sized cars? Who knows...
  • Time to hang out with my Grammy.
  • A break from 100 degree weather.
  • 3 days off of work.
Most importantly it brings Mattie.
Tomorrow I get to see Matt. We're both flying into Reno. I get in 3 hours before Matt does, so I get to hang out with Grammy (who lives in Carson City, Nevada) for those few hours before meeting up with Matt. Matt and I are staying at Grammy's house for the night and leaving early Friday morning to drive to California so I can meet Matt's family. We're going on our first trip together, and I am soo EXCITED!! I am anxious to meet Matt's family. I like learning as much as I can about Matt, and I'm sure they have some great stories to tell. Another great thing that tomorrow brings is one day closer to our wedding! Which by the way, there are 79 days until...

YAY!!!

Wedding details...

This is the wedding cake I would like to have I like the style and it's navy blue! I don't want the silver things on top though...



It's going to be a lemon cake with raspberry filling, yum! I think we'll probably have sheets of other flavors of cake as well though... I guess I'll find out when I talk to the catering people.


My potential hairstyle...


This information is for the girls who have been asking Matt questions, and he being a boy has no idea how to answer them. If you have any other questions that you just have to know about the wedding leave a comment, and I'll let you know!

P.s. I get to see Matt in 4 days!

Mid-week fiesta

Last night my dad made egg enchiladas for dinner, they were so delicious! I just realized that it was Wednesday night when this happened; it was Mid-week Fiesta and I didn't even know it! Anyway, I just had to let Margs know that we had mid-week fiesta, and I'm sad she couldn't join in the festivities.
Also I get to see Matt in a week. We are flying/meeting in Reno where Grammy will pick us up and let us spend the evening with her. We get to stay at her house for Thursday night before we drive to Oakhurst/Fresno, where Matt's family lives, Friday morning. Matt and I are so excited to get to have our first trip together. It will be so fun to see Grammy and for Matt to meet her; she's pretty crazy, and so much fun. I am excited to meet Matt's family, I'm not really sure what to expect, but they have to like me because Matt already decided to marry me, Hah ha!

Maggie: yo tengo esparanza en mi corazon que sepamos amigas para siempre.

That was in honor of Mid-week fiesta...

Anyone who speaks Spanish: did I conjugate ser correctly?

Downtime

A few free moments all to myself, I will spend them...writing a new, good post. Or at least a new one, you can be the judge of the good part.
So for this summer you can count on each of my posts saying something about Matt and I getting married. If that kind of thing erks you, or something along those lines feel free to exit my blog right...now.
I decided that I will be changing the theme of my blog, it will be called "Why I love Mathew Schaffer with all of my heart" actually, no it won't, but that would be pretty sappy of me (I'm not really much of a romantic, except for when it comes to the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and other type hits).

There are several reasons why I have become an unfaithful blogger. I will make a list.

  1. Matt is in Utah and I am in Arizona, we try to find every possible way to be communicating at all times.
  2. I work full time in Phoenix, that means leaving the house at 7 and being back home between 5 and 6, sometimes later (like the time I went to Grandma Higgins's after getting off of work at 5:30 to make peach jam and didn't get home until 10).
  3. Living with my family requires me to do lots of family stuff-which is a good thing, but certainly does keep me away from my blog. Like getting off work and going straight to my sister's track meet (her relay team won first place at their regional championships, Paige is a sprinting fiend), to Parker's jazz band concert (he plays the drums like a madman), to Chandler and Hayden's coach-pitch softball games, etc.
  4. Living with my family also means sharing the internet/computer with 6 other people, who usually like to be using the computer at the only times I can use it. Also the reliable computer is in my parents room and I can't just go in and use it anytime I please, like say when my parents are sleeping (However, my dad and Matt recently-and by recently I mean three nights ago-set up my lap top's wireless though, so that means I no longer have to wait for my turn on the computer).
  5. Planning for my wedding is taking up a lot of my freetime, this is also a good thing though...
All right I think that's about it for my list of why I'm a bad blogger. Since I have the internet on my laptop now I should be writing on here plenty more. Also in case you were wondering I've made a count down..you know for my wedding day, um it's 91 days until Matt and I get married. So, that's my post.

Matt came down to Arizona this past weekend. While he was here we got to do a lot of "wedding stuff". This includes getting engagement photos taken, here's one of my favorites:

So, I left Provo being engaged to Matt, but not having been officially proposed to. Matt and I planned on him coming out here to visit three weeks after we left so that he could meet my family, and I figured that would be when he would propose to me.

While I was finishing up my last final my mom and Matt, unbeknownst to me, were hanging out planning a surprise trip for the next weekend. My mom and I drove down to Arizona the next day, and I started my first day of work on Monday. It didn't take me long to realize how much I missed Matt and how hard this summer was/is going to be.

My family has a projector and a screen we set up on the weekends to watch movies in our backyard. So, my mom said it was bride's pick for Friday night. We set up our projector and screen and chose to watch Father of the Bride. My brother invited a friend over, and my mom said she was worried we wouldn't be able to hear the doorbell ring during the movie. So since our intercom is connected to our phones she had me set up a phone in my sister's room that is right behind the back porch, to be sure that we could hear it when someone came to the door...

My brother's friend got to our house before we started the movie, and after we had only gotten 15 minutes into the movie the phone in Hayden's room rang as the doorbell. My mom jabbed my side and told me to go get the door; I didn't know why I had to be the one to get the door, but after a little while I finally got up and went inside to answer the door.

When I opened the door there was nothing and no one there but a small white box with a white ribbon. I picked up the box and looked around for a minute, still clueless as to what was going on. I turned back into our house and shut the door. Our house was pitch black inside because we didn't want any lights on obstructing the quality of the picture on our projector screen. I could hear my family at the open window looking out at our back porch. They were crouched up together (I couldn't see them, but I assume they were) and I heard someone say, "where is she?" and my mom say, "she just shut the door." At this point I knew something was up, so I turned back to the front door and saw someone coming from the window next to the door. When I opened the door Matt was walking towards me. He grabbed the still unopen box (I had managed to get the ribbon off) pulled out the ring case and opened it. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him...
I said yes.

I had absolutely no idea he was coming out for the weekend. It was a complete surprise, and the best surprise of my life. Matt was shaking when he was holding my hand asking me to marry him. He said he was nervous, which I thought was funny since we both knew I was going to say yes. But he said he was nervous because it was a big deal. I've never been proposed to before, but I'm pretty sure this is the best proposal I've ever had.

I'm Engaged!

I thought I mine as well let everyone in the world know, because I'm pretty excited about it. I'm getting married to Mattie on August 20th!

I play the banjo!

I had a fantastic weekend (that is fantastic in a non-sarcastic tone)!
I just discovered that blogger has bullets/numbering, so I think I will use both of them in describing my "good" weekend.

  1. I went to IHOP for dinner on Friday night. Not only does that mean breakfast for dinner, but it also means GERMAN PANCAKES for dinner mmmm...
  2. I went to the Church History Museum to see the new Joseph Smith exhibit. There were original transcripts of translations of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith's journal(I could actually read one of his journal entries), a cloak that Joseph Smith wore as the Lieutenant General, and lots of other really great things that the Prophet used.
  3. Matt and I played scattergories with 3 other couples-we totally dominated...I believe we had 64 and the closest to us was 53.
  4. Maggie's Bridal Shower was a success! There was laughing, talking, eating, present-opening, etc.
  5. I got to take a nap.
  6. We went to a Bluegrass festival. It is so good to be with a guy who enjoys the same kind of music as me, I don't think I could have gotten any of my past boyfriends to go to a bluegrass anything. The music was pretty good, but I was glad to leave when we did.
  7. Matt and I split a Brick Oven pizza for a second dinner, Yum! Matt let me pay for the meal, I like paying for things every once in a while, just so he knows he's not one up on me...kidding Matt, I'm only kidding.
  8. Bowling after Pizza. I love to bowl. My ball was lopsided which led to a lot of frustration; I was dead on several times, and then the ball would veer to the left just at the last second leaving one or two pins unscathed. It was fun still, we all were equally mediocre.
  9. I slept in on Sunday until 9:40am. That's huge for me! I really needed the sleep too.
  10. I went to church with Matt. In Relief Society we watched Finding Faith in Christ. I balled my eyes out, then told the Relief Society President (who was sitting right next to me) I would never come back to that ward again. Actually I was really glad they showed that video, I love it. I wouldn't mind going back to that ward again at all.
  11. Toria made lasgna, french bread and salad for dinner. It's one of my favorite. Oo oo, and we had orange cream ice cream things in those little cups with the wooden spoons. They were also delicious.
  12. We played Rook, and I got to have Matt as my partner. We play really well together.
  13. We watched The Incredibles, it was the first time I got to see it, and it was great! Yes, I jumped in a few parts, but you have to remember...I'm just a little girl.

So for a quick recap:
  • Matt is awesome.
  • Maggie is awesome.
  • Food is good.
  • The Incredibles was great.
  • I like the bullets and numbering they have on here. I don't know how long they have been here, and I haven't been able to use them simply because of my lack of observance.

After my sister was baptized my dad proceeded to invite everyone in attendance over to our house to have refreshments and have a kind of birthday/baptism celebration for Hayden. Well Hayden was obviously excited, and after my Dad finished explaining that everyone needed to come back to our house to eat because we had enough food to feed a small army, Hayden enthusiastically exclaimed, "Yeah, cause we're rich!"
Maggie hadn't heard that story before, so I figured none of you had either. All I can say is Hayden will never live that one down. It's been almost four years since the incident and you can still catch members of our family using that as an explanation for all kinds of things.
Mom: You can invite three friends to come over, Hayden.
Paige: Yeah, cause we're rich!

Chandler: I got tons of candy for Halloween this year!
Parker: Yeah, cause we're rich!

Me: We're having chips and salsa for a snack.
Dad: Yeah, cause we're rich!

FYI: I just spilt my glass of water on the couch; it looks like I sprung a leak out of my right bum cheek (and I have to go to class in a minute).
Prior to that I ate an avocado for a snack. You know, Matt, I cut the avocado in half, poured on a little salt and spooned out all the goodness and ate it! Mmmmm....sooo delicious...
It snowed last night. It's April.

I made yellow cupcakes with cherry frosting last night. It reminds me of Valentine's Day in elementary school. I've been thinking about my life in elementary school. Why can't life be so blissful as it was then?
1. recess=time to run around, climb things, yell loudly, forget about the worries of times tables and Arizona state history.
2. art=time to get messy and be creative. Paint, clay, paper, plaster of paris, glue, crayons, chalk, tissue paper, mother's day presents.
3. library=time to pick out any book I want, and sit down and read, with no thoughts of taking notes or what I'm going to learn from the book.
4. siblings=seeing my cooler older sister at school everyday, and thinking, "I have the coolest older sister of anyone else in my class, and she goes to my school."
5. holidays=surprise visits from mom, cookies and cupcakes, dressing up, pandemonium in the classroom.
6. writing assignments=time to sit down, write whatever is in my head, let the creative juices flow.
7. 4-square=I am the 4-square King!
8. crush=the cute boy I had a crush on all through elementary school, and I knew he had a crush on me too.
9. teachers=my second mom, my favorite person, has the same birthday as me, twin day, teacher's pet, considered one of my best friends.

"Now-a-days"
1. recess=the weekends and any freetime I get to spend with Matt and/or Maggie. Usually spent watching movies, doing hair, talking, playing card games (Rook!).
2. art=on the rare chance I have time, painting. I love painting! I love anything to do with art, but I'm no good at most of it.
3. library=hours spent there cramming for exams, preparing group projects, wasting away Friday nights and Saturday afternoons studying (that was back in my single days).
4. siblings=the people I miss the most out here at school, the people who are growing up without me.
5. holidays=time to catch up with school work, roadtrip down to AZ, or just veg.
6. writing assignments=put off to the last moment, when I write my best. I enjoy my own writing assignment of writing on my blog on occasion. I also enjoyed my writing assignment for my Bible as Lit. class.
7. 4-square=I'm still the 4-square King!
8. crush=now I'm allowed to date my crush, and he makes me very happy.
9. teachers=sometimes hard to approach or hard to relate to, sometimes becomes a close friend. Usually someone I admire and look up to. Especially my science professors and most of my religious and English professors.

Perhaps life is just as blissful now as it was then, only on completely different levels. I am very happy right now. School is stressful, life decisions are very stressful, but I am loved, and I have others to love. That's really the best part of life.

So, I got sick over the weekend. It hit Friday afternoon. It was in remission Saturday. Then it came into full swing Sunday afternoon. I taught my lesson, and came home with head pounding from the sinus pressure and breathing heavily out of my mouth because my nose was all clogged up. Jana made us a fabulous Easter dinner with lamb, pita bread, hummus, and asparagus; it was delicious. Afterwards we decided to play the best game of all time, Rook. While playing I began to notice I was having a hard time breathing, it felt like I was having an asthma attack, which was weird since my asthma is exercise induced. After we were playing for a while I began to feel lightheaded and I was unable to catch my breath. I didn't really think much of it, because having lived with asthma for 6 years now, I figured it would eventually go away, and I'd be fine.
My roommates and Matt on the other hand were pretty worried. I had run out of my inhaler medication about a month ago, and didn't know anyone else who had asthma and could let me use some of their medication. So, since it wasn't getting any better we decided it would be best that we go to the hospital to fix the problem. It really wasn't that big of a deal. We went to the ER, I gave them my name and insurance info. I talked to a nurse, she took my blood pressure, my temperature, my resting pulse rate (which was about 100 beats/minute) and my O2 levels (which were normal). Then we waited for about 20 minutes, a doctor listened to me breathe, told me I should have the mole on my face removed, lectured me on caring for myself with asthma, I was given a breathing treatment, and then I was sent home.
Monday I was still not feeling too well, Tuesday I was getting worse, and Wednesday I couldn't get out of bed. My body was just tired and aching. So, I spent the day sleeping.
All of this information precedes a statement I made last night. Feeling rather groggy, but much better after a day of rest, I tried to help soothe Jana, who had received some unpleasant news during the day. During the soothing process we started to play a game of rumikub. While playing Maggie walks in the door from her speech class, and I greet her with "How was your speech? Were you the prize of the petition?"
I will admit to the fact that I did actually say it, but I must refer you back to my story of being sick. I was obviously totally out of it, when I said this to Maggie. I mean it's not like I come up with weird random phrases all the time!
P.s. I feel much better today.

The evil stone

Maggie Jo has a kidney stone.
My dad has had about a billion kidney stones. He says that there is really nothing you can do about it. The pain is so excruciating that no matter what you do, you can't get comfortable. He says, "you'll want to lie down, that won't work; you'll want to sit down, that won't work; you'll want to stand up, that won't work either." My dad says she should drink water to stay hydrated and cranberry juice for her kidney, but drinking a lot just makes you have to pee, and then it's painful because you're all clogged up and it's hard to pee. Basically Maggie has to endure this pain until the kidney stone passes. At least it's not appendicitis (which the doctor thought it sounded like when she first talked to him), that would be much scarier. This way she just gets to use a siv when she goes to the bathroom, so she can catch the stone and give it to the doctors so they can analyze it and tell her what the stone is made of. It's kind of cool that they can look at the stone that was inside of someone's body and see what it's made of and why it was there. But, it's not that cool that it is inside of Maggie right now because she is in a lot of pain.

My family is so awesome. I got to spend the weekend with them, and it reminded me of some of the great things I grew up with.
Parker and Chandler were both born with hearing problems. With this came years of inability to pronounce things properly. My brother, who is now 15, just recently started saying finger instead of thinger as he has done all of his life. You can hear him accidentally say things like moncster instead of monster and coing instead of coin. Chandler has always said things like choclick for chocolate, mox for moth, and hairplane for airplane. I think it's pretty funny, although I guess it can be pretty bothersome for them.
While I was home for Christmas break, I was playing a game with my family. The game was getting pretty long and wearisome. After a while my brother blurts out, "this game is so flustrating!" (no, I didn't misspell that, he actually said flustrating. You know, like a mix between fluster and frustrate.) Oh man, we laughed for a long time about that. My brother is pretty awesome.
While I was home my mom took me shopping too, Maggie said to me today that every time I go home I come back with new clothes. It's pretty true. I have no money to buy my own new clothes, and I tend to wear the same thing day in and day out. It's nice to mix up my wardrobe with a new pair of pants every once in a while.

Anti-patriotism

At BYU everyday at 7:30 am and 5:30 pm the National Anthem is played as the Flag is raised and lowered. It is tradition that no matter where you are on campus, when you hear the music playing you stop, turn towards the flag pole and have a kind of moment of silence until the music is done, and then you can continue with whatever you were doing.
So, my roommate, Jana, has a class in the afternoons that on occasion leaves her walking home around 5:30. On one particular day, she was stressed out, and just wanted to come home. When the music started playing she just kept right on walking, until she noticed her old roommate stopped, facing the flag with her hand over her heart. Instead of stopping herself or just walking by inconspicuously, she turns to her old roommate, puts her hand up in the air and yells, "Viva la France!" and then resumes walking home.
This story reminded me of my freshman year. I had a botany class with my friend Billy that ended at 5:15. By the time class was over we were both starving, and ready to get home. We usually walked as fast as we could so we could make it home before the music, but on the rare occassion that the music started before we got home, we would begin "signing" to each other. We thought that if people saw us signing to each other they could assume we were deaf and couldn't hear the music (neither of us know any sign language). When we got bored of signing though we'd speak to each other in "another language". This is one of my fondest memories of Freshman year.

-Sorry if this seems a bit anti-patriotic. I love my country, and I usually do stop and face the flag when the music's going.
Also I thought I'd change it to 'word or phrase of the week' instead of day, seeing as how the word or phrase usually stays up for about a week.

80's movies

So, I've seen a few classics recently. Last night for example we watched Flight of the Navigator. It definitely wasn't on my list of favorites as a child, but now it's ranking up there with Surf Ninjas and Timeline (anything with Paul Walker in it is killer really). I came up with a list of reasons why that movie was "rad". Well, here they are:

1. The boy's shorts were shorter than any of my shorts have ever been.
2. The robot in the spaceship would randomly yell out "Compliance!" and send me into a fit of giggles.
3. Sarah Jessica Parker was in it.
4. She wore one earring that hung low, and one in the other ear that didn't.
5. The brother was "devastatingly handsome" and said rad and cool a lot.
6. The name of the robot that brought the boy food and took him to the spaceship was R.A.L.F.
7. Everyone's hair.
8. There are people out there who have seen this movie upwards of 30 times. You know who you are...
9. Trebuchet!
10. 80's music is key.

P.s. Margs-I fixed your position-wink.

Nicknames

My family has always been a family of nicknames. Especially since adding Nate to our family. One of the best things about family nicknames, is that each person has several different nicknames. Parker has about a million-the most common of which is Sparky. I call him everything from Spinko to Sparkaloo. The guys in my family call me Heath, my mom calls me Lynne Lynne (Nixon usually calls me Heller). I call Brooke, Brookie or Rookie. Paige gets Spaige and Pie-head. Chandler, who is such a girl is usually Channie, Channabell or Channie Bananie. Hayden usually just gets her name broken in two. Like we'll say "Hey, Den come here". I like to call her just Den though. I call my dad Pops, Daddy or Hi Dad Soup. Usually mom is just mom, mama or mommy, but Nixon calls her Mema.
I love Nicknames. Speaking of nicknames, I have a soccer game tonight. We have shirts that say 'Bring on the Heat' (I'm the Heat). I hope we win, or at least play good.

I think Arizona sunsets are a gift from God.
I am happy at BYU.
I think garlic is good in just about everything.
when I get stressed out I take my frustrations out on the people around me.
I've never seen an R-rated movie.
all my life I have planned on going on a mission, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to.
every member of my family is one of my heroes.
I think the human body is so fascinating, and I get so excited learning more about it and how it works.
I ate some Black pepper jack Doritos for a snack at work today.
they were pretty sick.
the only place I've been to out of the country is Canada.
I've made it a goal to go to Europe at sometime in my life.
green beans are the most disgusting things I have ever eaten, the scent of them makes me gag.
I would rather change a dirty diaper than have a balloon near me.
I don't like scary movies because I get so sucked into them they make me cry.
a bird eats over half its body weight in a day.
when your mom says you eat like a bird, she's actually telling you that you eat over half of your body weight.
don't tell your mom that though, because she will get mad at you.
I think basketball is a very hard sport.
this is because I don't know how to shoot, and I am short.
sometimes I am a smart-aleck. (I'm not sure if there is a proper spelling for that)
I agree with the theory 'everything is better with cheese'.
when I was four I thought I could fly.
I jumped off the bleachers at my parents' softball game and landed on my face.
I got stitches.
I also jumped off an electrical box.
I broke my arm.
this was while my family was on vacation in San Diego.
I've eaten sushi.
I don't love it or hate it.
soccer is pretty much the best sport ever.
I am a size six in shoes.
unless they are boy shoes, then it's a size 4 or 5.
in general my favorite classes at BYU have been my religion classes.
I am so grateful I have been able to live with Maggie through my college experience.
I will be very sad without her next year.
I have to go to class now.

how bout you?

Sometimes when I think something is really awesome, I don't want to just say "that's so awesome". I just don't think it does things justice. So instead I say something that more accurately describes how awesome something really is. Sakajawea.
What do you say when you think something is awesome? or not so awesome?

Break time

Happy Groundhog's Day!

I went out for hot chocolate at Red's Coffeehouse last night, that place is so good. I got hot chocolate with toasted marshmallow syrup in it, it tasted just like a s'more. If you get a chance go and tell Red that Laura Hansen sent you, so she can get points.

So there's this kid in my ward who invited me to play on his soccer team, and I turned him down because I was already on Bryant's. Then it turns out our team is going to be playing against the guy in my ward's team. He keeps bringing it up, and asking if I'm ready, and telling me he's pretty much going to woop my team. It's kind of unnerving, especially since he's probably right.

I am going to be doing basically all of the work for my English 316 group research paper. I'm pretty excited about that...

If you want to come to my soccer game on Friday it's at 8pm in the IPF (indoor practice fields)

Have you ever gotten a song stuck in your head when you didn't even know the words to the song? This happens to me all the time. I think mostly because my roommate is always singing random songs from her life that is a musical. Anyway... so yesterday Maggie and Toria were singing/listening to Les Miserable (I have no idea how to spell that) and singing some song from it pretty loud. So, I got it stuck in my head all day today. I sit down in Biochem with Mags, and we enjoy conversing with one another while the class is going along. So I write "It is the beating of the _____" and tell her to fill in the blank. So she writes in 'strawberries' (the correct answer being 'drums') and I'm thinking "you're the one who knows this song, you should be able to fill in the blank." But it turns out the song actually goes "echoes the beating of the drums" not "it is the beating..." So, to that she writes our phrase of the day.

In Memoriam: KATE

My dear pet mouse that has been with me for many months died today. Kate, this is for you.

How Awesome I am!

Recent data reveals overwhelming statistics in this daunting research.

Yesterday I was on campus for approximately 13 hours, 14 if you include 2 half hour breaks. I was busy the whole day, and still ended the day without getting everything done. When I woke up this morning I had to quickly finish my referenced proposal I was working on last night before heading to class. At the end of my 8 o'clock class I noticed, while turning in my proposal, that mine was better than all of the other students. I had at least 8 references, a great topic, and a spectacular thesis statement. While relaying this story to my beloved roommate, Margaret, I was excited that I was able to do such a great job on the proposal, even after having such a hard, long day. I finished off my story to Mags by exclaiming, "Eat that..synuvabidadi!" Yes, I actually said "synuvabidadi" It is a new word that all of the cool people are using, it is commonly used after great victories. So, the next time you accomplish something amazing, you remember to shout out "SYNUVABIDADI"!!!

Soccer and Arizona

So, I'm playing on an intramural co-ed soccer team right now. We had our first game tonight. I probably should have scored a goal, but I just didn't have ample opportunity to get a good foot on the ball. Anyway, it was a pretty good game and we would have only lost by one, but BYU has this weird rule about if a girl scores the goal it is worth two points instead of one, so we lost by two.
About Arizona: Me and two of my roommates are from Arizona, my other roommate is from Washington. Because of this us Arizonans tend to gang up on the Washingtonian. Like for instance we'll be talking about how much we hate the cold here, and one of the Arizonans will say "Arizona has great weather!" and then the Washingtonian will say something like "yeah, the western half of Washington doesn't get this cold either." And then the Arizonans say something like "well, that doesn't matter because Arizona is far superior to any other state in all aspects anyway, so we don't really care if the western half of your state, which you don't even live on, has mildly warm winters." So, every once in a while, just to keep the Washingtonian in check, I'll say something like "Man I love Arizona" and then the other Arizonans will chime in with their agreement. It is so great to see the Washingtonian feel like she's being brainwashed into believing that Arizona is pretty much heaven on earth. But think about, once people get acquainted with Arizona they're hooked. There's no turning back, you will hate the cold for the rest of your life, and live with the idea that snow is good as long as you live a couple of hours away from it, and you can just go "visit" it on occasion.

thought for the day

I'm eating a peanut butter sandwich right now. I have no jam to put on it. Actually I do, but it was all pasty and didn't look like the consistency that constitutes delicious jam, so after inspecting the jam and jabbing it with a knife I put it back in the fridger, unused. The jam is about 83% gone from previous usages. I was thinking about what a waste it is, and as a college student I shouldn't be so picky, but it's just gross. PLUS what if there's some kind of crazy microbe in their just waiting for me to eat it and die! Yeah, better not eat that pasty jam.
Maybe I'll go buy some of that Smucker's Apricot jam I love with all of my heart.

Hah ha!

I made a grand total of two posts during the month of December. I'm pretty sure that makes me the awesome-est person I know.

Classes started today. I am about to tell an important story- this information will come into play later in the story: I went to an 8:00 class this morning- I am planning on being a TA for the Physiology lab I took last semester. We have a meeting at 11 today to figure out which labs we are assigned to, how much physiology credit we get, about being a TA, etc. So anyway I just re-read the email we got about being a TA for this class, and it turns out that we are going to have meetings every Thursday at 8 am to prepare for the next week's lab. So, I am going to have to drop my TTH 8:00 class so that I can make it to the meetings on Thursdays. This also means I have to pick up that same class for MWF at 8:00. Which also means that I have that class tomorrow. Here's where that tidbit at the beginning comes into play. I Already Went To That Class TODAY! Did I mention that the class is Family Life 100, Strengthening Marriages and Families. I'm not sure how I feel about the class yet. I know I will learn a lot in the class, but it's just so cheesey. Maybe it was cheesey today because we weren't learning anything, just going over the syllabus. Maybe in my new class I won't have to write a 20 page paper. That would definitely be a plus. And now my schedule is even sweeter than it was before. I suppose this could be a good thing.

Anyway, I hope ya'll had a great holiday break, I thoroughly enjoyed being with my crazy family again.


 

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