Its LIFE!

Its up and its down, its fast or its slow, there are some good times and there are some great times and even some bad times. This is my life. The last few months have been full of all of these things, and in the craziness of it all my blogging skills got a little lax... But I figure, its my blog right? so I can write when I feel like I have time. I now have time! haha well at least a fraction more so than I felt was available the last three months at college. I just was always studying and stressing and trying to have fun! BUT now i am home. Its good to be home. I have been here a whole month now, weird. I have a great job that is filling up my days, allowing me to make money so I can go to VIENNA!!! Just under 4 months now!! I work at a dentists office as a sterilization tech. That means I clean all the tools used to clean peoples teeth- Blood, guts, and everything else nasty is on the trays. Gross. But its super easy so I have plenty of time to do all the filing for the office and have even started to learn some of the other office skills, such as developing x-rays. Its pretty easy stuff and can seem a little boring at times but all the girls at the office are super nice so its been really fun getting to know them. I'm sure it will just get better.

The only thing that I have done out of the ordinary (meaning other than going to work every day) has been: I've read 3 books and watched 8 hours of movies, Saving Private Ryan and Pride and Prejudice- both excellent movies. My favorite book of the three I read was The Band of Brothers, which is about the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army. They were there on D-day all the way through capturing Hitler's Eaglesnest. The book was more of a documentary, with actual quotes from the surviving soldiers imbedded into the authors overall telling of the story. I love learning about WWII and this was definitely a story of some of the men that played a key role throughout the war. Every time I read or hear stories about war I get this overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the soldiers of our nation. What a sacrifice it is for them to serve us. To serve me. I am so grateful for my freedom and for the strength and courage of the brave members of the armed forces who do all they can to protect that everyday. When I was younger I dont think I ever appreciated, or just didn't realize the importance of things like saying the pledge and putting my hand over my heart and respecting the flag. I think that is due partly to the fact that I always counted myself as only half american, even though I really am full american. I think I spent so much time loving the Canadian heritage in me that I didn't ever realize what an amazing thing it is to be American. But I am glad to say that my view has changed, and I am proud to be and American. That probably sounds kind of weird, but its true. I love feeling pride in this nation and hearing the stories of people who have fought and died for us only strengthens that pride, and makes me realize the blessings I have. I am excited to be able to take time this fall to go to some of the place were events of WWII occurred. I'm excited to take the time to remember.

That was a bit of a tangent... but a good one, something that I have been feeling for a long time now. The only other thing I have done out of the ordinary is go on a date. It wasn't anything too special, just a fun night with some good friends. The best part of the whole night was that when they told us we were going to dinner they said it was somewhere nice. In the car my friend Kim and I were debating if we were really going to go somewhere nice, or if it would turn out to be Mcdonalds. As we pulled into the Wendy's parking lot our thoughts came true. We bust up laughing and continued to do so all the way in the door, and especially when we saw the tables cloths and candles on the tables! hahaha too funny! Boy were we right! But it just made the date all the more fun, bringing back all the memories of the nights we had wasted away, and not to mention all the dollars we had wasted away, at wendy's. It was a great night and I'm glad I could hangout with Moses before he leaves, in 6 days! It is amazing how many good friends I have, and how many of them are now out serving the Lord.

Well here are a few pictures of the past, (some from way long ago...) but lets not dwell on them too much because I'm sure there will be many more to come in the future!!

Birthday dinner with my roommates

This is the HUGE truck I was telling you about earlier. I DROVE THIS!!

My roommates

My cousins

My future

Hello again!

Well hello all you out there! Sorry I haven't posted anything in a longtime... I've been quite busy. It seems that ever since Bry got home life has been in full speed ahead with not time for breathing along the way! But now the end is so near I can almost taste it! Only 4 more days left of classes, a week of finals, and then I'll be home! Where has the semester gone? Its sure been fast, but I've had a lot of fun along the way. One of my favorite things I did this semester was play on an intramural soccer team with a bunch of kids from my ward. It was so nice to get out and exercise ever once in a while, since I'm such a slacker on my own! The team turned out to be pretty good as we even made it to the "sweet sixteen game" in the tournament before losing. I'm so glad that I could become friends with all these kids.

Our only real fans, also my good friends who live next door

.

Katelyn and me

So last night I may or may not have helped these boys trash our neighbors (the girls in the pictures above) apartment. haha ya... It was too fun to not help :)

Look happy they were about it too! haha

They just put tons of newspapers in their bathroom. Don't ask me why they had all those papers, where they got them, or how long they had had them for!

So here is pictures from a ward dance I went to

The family all together again! We look way huge!

Me and Bry!

Well that was a lot of catch up in not that many pictures or words. Sorry. I will try to be better about this, and should be able to once school is done!

My new best friend!

Soooo, once upon a time Lindsay hadn't blogged in a LONG LONG LONG time. She is pretty lazy. In fact, she practically never does her homework and she just parties all day long. One day, she met an awesome kid named Kevin Hilton. He decided that her blog was rather lonely, so he made a post. This is that post. Yep.

That one to the left of Lindsay is me. Cody is the retarded one. He's one of my favorite people besides Lindsay.
The one that's a boy is me. These guys love me WAY much.

I Survived!

I made it through one of the longest weeks of my life. Yay! My brain hurts and I am soooo tired but it was worth it! Monday I took my book of mormon test and on Tuesday I work. Wednesday I worked again and had a study group for Pdbio. That was really helpful. I definitely believe study groups are important in college. Thursday I got up at 5 and went to the temple with my roommates. That was very refreshing and some much needed uplifting. When we got back from the temple Brooke and I made breakfast. It was freaking good!

delicious french toast, eggs, hash browns and juice!

Thurdsay was a long day, seeing as how it started at 5 and I only had 4 hours of sleep. woops. haha I worked some more and then took my Church history test. That night I went to a humanities review. (Are you seeing my brain frying yet?) Then I studied for my german final and got to bed at 1. Friday started bright and early again, I was at a review for Pdbio at 7. It was super helpful though, so I am way glad that I went. I was in the MARB for 5 hours before it was time for lunch. ONLY lunch time! Oh but the day wasnt over yet. I had a truck training meeting for work. After watching 5 terribly boring safety movies I got to go out and drive our truck through cones to pass the test. The truck is bright blue and huge! well its not that big and actually just felt like I was driving paula and eriks truck again. It was pretty fun, and I passed so thats good. I'll take a picture of it some time so you guys can see. Oh ya, my supervisor that took me too the driving test also took me to wendy's on our way back to work- through the drive through. That was crazy! I studied for a while that night and then watched The Social Network. I thought it was really interesting.

Saturday was probably the evil of all evils. I got up early once again, headed to the library to study pdbio and then took my test. It went ok, there were a lot of short answer questions so we'll have to see... After my test I went into work, trying to get some rooms done so I don't have to worry about that so much this week. Karl was the the one working Crew Chief so that was fun, I got to thank him again and just talk about the job. After two hours of work and then learning that they were no longer admitting people into the basketball game I went home. Probably a good thing though cause I did laundry and took my online german test and two pdbio quizzes before going to the Brickoven with my roomies. Saturday night, while everyone was at a stake dance, I studied my heart out on Humanities.

At Brickoven. This was a very funny night... We had some weird waiters I'll

have to tell you about

Sunday was refreshing, a nice day off. My roommate Hannah made us dinner, and this was actually the first time we had all eaten together-not at a restaurant. It was really good. After dinner we did something my roommate Brooke had talked about in her relief society lesson. We each got a paper and passed it around, each taking a turn to write something we liked/appreciated/noticed about each other. It was really amazing. I love my roommates and am glad that we can all be such good friends. We just talked the night away. Seriously.... 2:30...

haha

Well sorry if that sounded like one boring travel log or planner or something, but that is seriously how I have felt. Its just been one thing right to the next all week, but I am happy to say that I have now completed my Humanities exam and only have one essay let! Then my first of many midterm weeks will be complete!

Full of Randomness

So another week is gone. I'm kind of glad, cause it was so full and busy, but I'm afraid this week may be even worse... tests.... Well this week was full of many random activities. For starters I actually worked, going around to different classrooms checking equipment. All I have to say is that I am glad I have and Ipod and that I already hate the Talmage building. I swear I will never take a class in there, cause I could just feel the "I don't understand this/I am failing vibes" in that whole building. (yes, it is the math and stats building. yuck.) haha but anyways, besides work work I did a bunch of homework, such as writing 3 humanities essays in 3 days. Go me!

On Wednesday night I watched Avatar. Yes that loooooong 3 hour movie. oh but wait, I watched it in GERMAN. Wow. My brain was a little tired after that. I caught a few words here and there, which made me happy, but mostly I just watched :)

Thursday night I had a meeting with everyone going to Vienna. We had yummy food and then got down to business. We were able to talk about important information like signing up for classes, flights, money, textbooks, since the program is official now. It was nice to be with everyone that will actually be going. We went around the room and all introduced ourselves and said what our dreams for Vienna were. I thought that was good to hear why everyone wants to experience this place. They are all really nice, and I think I will be able to get along with everyone quite well. After the meeting I came back home and we had an ice cream and cake party for my roommate Stefany's Birthday.

These are kids in the ward who came over

Then on Friday night a bunch of us in the ward went to Texas Roadhouse for Stefany. (the party the night before had been a surprise, and this was something stef had planned before) I had never been to texas roadhouse but it turned out to be really good. When we got back our Hall had a paJAM-a pj party with music. People in my ward are insanely talented, so someone planned a night for us to just sit around and listen to people sing, play guitar and piano. It was really fun.

Saturday I had a slight change of plans when I went to the Mcdonald building to work and found it closed. I guess they forgot to tell me something during training.... So i wasn't able to work, but it was kind of good cause I just went to the library instead and got tons done. I also had a soccer game which I scored in! Well the girl on the other team actually kicked it in but i still counted as 2 points! (good old byu rules)

Busy week ahead, so lets hope I can make time to study and do well on my 3 test!

another week

And so another week has come and gone. I am officially entering midterms this week. They shouldn't be too bad, just have 6 to take before Bry is home! I have my first german Test tomorrow, so we will see how that goes. And I will continue working at my new job! I had some training this last week and then spent the rest of the week trying to figure out what my schedule will be. It is a tedious process, having to look up every class I work in and write down what times they are not being used. After 6 hours I finally have that list compiled and now just need to figure out the most time efficient way to go about checking all the rooms. Good thing I get paid for all this! I really think I will like working at CMS. The people are all really nice, they say they are like a family and I totally agree. They all laugh and joke and I think it will be a very fun environment to work in.

Thanks to lots of help from Paula, and mom and dad, I was able to finally submit my scholarship application! That is a relief to finally have done!

The announcement also came this week that Vienna is offical! We have enough people signed up so it is a go! I have a meeting with the Director this week that should give lots of information about what is coming up/needs to be done. I am excited for this week!

Good News!

Over the last two weeks lots has happened! So last week I had an interview with Brother Minert, the director of the Vienna Study abroad. He asked me a bunch of questions, like what would I do in this kind of situation ect. At the end he said "me and Jeanne (his wife) really like you, so I'll change your status to accepted." SWEET! So I am official accepted, but the program is still not official, not until there are enough girls signed up. But the Minert's had a little meeting at their house on thursday that the director and two girls from this last semester abroad were at. It was really good to hear them talk about being there and ask them a few questions. Bro Minert interviewed 3 more girls that night and thinks we will have enough! I am so excited to go and experience this place.

The other good news is that... I got a job! yay! finally! So it is with BYU classroom support, I'm not sure what the actual name is, but its were Karl works. My interview went really well, they called and said I got it, and I go in tomorrow to get officially hired. I will be working 20 hours a week which is kind of more than I was hoping, but I am just grateful that I have a job. I'll let you know how it goes!

So last friday my roommates had a pizza and movie night. Stefany actually went on a date so we traded her for Spencer, one of our FHE brothers. It was really fun!






Then on Saturday, the boys were nice enough to come get me :) I decided to treat them to the creamery, as a thanks. Then I spent monday shopping with mom, Paula, Erik, Doug and Echo. It was fun and I got screaming deal on some shirts. Thanks mom!

at our ward talent show

So now on to another week. Luckily I don't have any tests this week, but they are coming. Here is a little German for the week:

Ich trage ein braunes Hemd. Ich bin gross und schlank. Ich habe langes blondes Haar und blaues Augen. Ich bin glucklich und verruckt!