Been keeping busy

Whew! It's been awhile since I've posted. I enjoyed my 3 week christmas break way too much and because of that it flew by way too fast!

School started up again the first week of January and I've been behind ever since. Motivation this semester is no where to be found! But luckily I'm still able to get things in on time. Interning in a preschool is not as fun as it sounds. I definitely want to teach an older age group. But they are cute.

Lets see between school and work I've been busy seeing my longest friend off as she left for her mission to Texas. She's been gone a week and I miss her like crazy. But now it's my turn to graduate from college while she serves the Lord. :) I've also been helping my other best friends fix up their new house before they hopefully move in this weekend.

On top of that I've been spending time with family. I have designated movie/tv time with my mom every Thursday night plus some bonus days through out the week. I look forward to those nights all week long! One of the shows we watch is my new favorite! Bones!! I started watching during my winter break and fell in love! Mom is almost caught up with the seasons. Thank you Netflix! I cannot wait for new episodes to come back!

Along with that I've been planning a baby shower for my new home-owner friends! Their adorable little girl is going to be so spoiled!

I also found out my best friend from my mission, Sister Granier, is coming to stay with me for a whole month this summer and ever since it's been all that I think about!! June 24th seriously needs to get here much faster!

Oh, have I mentioned that I've fallen in love with pinterest?! I get ideas for homework on there, I find fun activities to do, yummy food to try, and most recently a 15 min daily work-out plan which I have started and it is totally kicking my butt! I couldn't move my legs at all yesterday without wanting to scream! But its a good burn, I'm loving it!

AND....I've applied for my full year of student teaching! The time has finally come! Only one more stinkin' year of college and I am officially a certified teacher! It's been my dream for seriously as long as I can remember! I'm still not too sure about a full year of student teaching, I can see the benefits but at the same time, thats a long time to go with no spending money! But thats why I'm saving up for one incredible month with sister Granier, before it all begins!

So like yeah, life is busy, but it's oh so good!

Only 10 more weeks of the semester!

Holy Moley Batman!

I cannot believe it! The semester from you know where has finally ended and I have received all my grades!

Nutrition Health and Safety for Young Children ~ 94% A
Foundations in Education ~ A (she didn't put up %)
Social and Emotional development of young children ~ 97% A
Technology in the Classroom ~ 97% A
Field Experience ~ Pass (no letter grade)
Home School Community ~ 96% A
And Policies in Education ~ 98% A

I don't know how I did it?! I've never hated school more, and never struggled so much in one semester!

I got a 4.0 with 18 credits! WHEW!

And to reward myself I bought Lego Harry Potter years 5-7 :-D

Now to take a break before the spring semester starts. 16 credits will hopefully seem like a breeze!

I Think I Can, I think I can, i think i can...

Well it's the final stretch, the semester is FINALLY coming to an end! I will NEVER take 18 credits again! If I can pass all 7 of my classes with A's and B's it will seriously be at the top of my life's greatest accomplishments! With only a week of class to go, I have 15 assignments left. Included in those 15 are 5 papers ranging from 1-14 pages! Those are my greatest stresses! That 14 page paper is already mostly done but I just got my rough draft back and her notes weren't terrible but edits are necessary. Atleast I don't have to re-write the whole thing!!

If you could see my planner right now! I've had to color code to attempt staying on track, yet somehow I'm still falling behind. But I received a blessing at the beginning of the semester which said I will have a successful semester so I trust in that blessing and the power of the priesthood, and I do my best. It will all work out.

But I'm getting in that mode of being done. I have a headache, I'm exhausted, and my planner makes me go cross-eyed! Next week cannot come soon enough! I'm planning to reward myself big time when my last assignment has been turned in and I have a month of no school to worry about!

LOVE IT!

This past weekend....scratch that rewind...let me fill you in on the last few weeks first.

At work the kids were preparing for a jump rope for heart fundraiser and we thought it'd be fun to put up some decorations. So we made an apple tree. Every student colored an apple and at least 2 leaves. It took us about 2 weeks to complete and 2 of our very smallest kindergarteners to trace their sillouettes but here it is...

Of course I only have a picture of it before the apples actually got put on, but you get the idea. It turned out a lot better then I originally thought! When the PE teacher found out I had done the majority of it she came up to me and gave me a hug saying it was so good she wished it was actually painted on the wall. :)

Then the next big thing that happened was...

I got myself a car!!!!! It is AMAZING! and I just got back from taking it on its first road trip (with me as owner) and it did absolutely marvelous! Not a single problem! I LOVE having my own car, and its in super good condition too. Thank you g'mas friend for giving me such a great deal!

So as I was saying... this past weekend... my mom and I took MY car to Utah! It was a much needed vacation. I was able to see the missionary couple (The Bowen's) I grew close with on my mission. And visiting them was one of my FAVORITE member couples (The Marran's) from England visiting for the wonderful General Conference weekend. (they'd been visiting for 2 weeks already). I thought mom would never get to meet those wonderful people from my mission, but in fact she got to spent 2 whole evenings with them!

This is the Marran's. They fed me probably every week for 7 1/2 months. I LOVE them to pieces! So glad they were able to visit and I was able to make it up there to see them.

I unfortunately forgot to take a lot of pictures and most I did take ended up blurry cause they are all off my phone as my actual camera hasn't worked properly since my mission. So just to put a face with the name here is a picture on the Bowen's while still on the mission.

The Bowen's and Marran's are two of the sweetest couples I've ever met!

Also on this trip I was able to go to my mission reunion. I saw a few of my companions, the mission president and his wife for the first year of my mission, and the Elders I went into the MTC with (minus Degraw) as well as some other missionaries I grew very fond of.

Sister Todd was my last official companion. 

(I had 2 more when I got stuck trying to get home for 5 days cause a snow storm closed down the London airport which originally was my connecting flight)

Sister Wheeler was my third companion and my last American companion for the next 9 transfers!

Heres Burnham and Eggleston...who I went into the MTC with. They haven't changed a bit! ;)

There were others at the reunion too, but I don't have any good pictures. :(

I was also blessed to go do a session in this beautiful temple. It was seriously beyond beautiful! It brought me to tears.

Mom and I were able to attend the Saturday PM session of General Conference (for my very first time) it was, as always, a very powerful spiritual meeting! And I was again moved to tears when I saw the 1000's of people stand up and become immediately silent as we all watched our beloved Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson enter the room and walk to his seat.

We then visited Ashley and Mandy (and their families) How I met them is kind of a long story, But in short I met them through Rebecca and they met through their boys. All three of them got married while I was on my mission and as you can see Mandy is expecting! :D

It's a tradition in Mandy's family to make doughnuts during priesthood session so we kinda helped out this time. They were SOOOOO good! 

And lastly some very pretty rainbows off the mountains pictures. The first taken in Utah on the way to Mandy's and the second in Arizona on the drive home. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but you could actually see the end of both these rainbows. It was awesome!

It was seriously an incredible and uplifting weekend. One I needed :) Now I just need to focus on school for a few more weeks. Thank goodness this trip kinda recharged my batteries, even if I was doing homework during my vacations free time...

10 years!

The Binch

Every U down in Uville liked U.S. a lot

But the Binch who lived Far East of Uville, did not.

The Binch hated U.S! The whole U.S. way!

Now don’t ask me why, for nobody can say.

It could be his turban was screwed on too tight.

Or the sun from the desert had beaten too bright;

But I think that the most likely reason of all

May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

But whatever the reason, his heart or his turban,

He stood facing Uville, the part that was urban,

“They’re doing their businesses” he snarled from his perch.

“They’re raising their families. They’re going to church!

They’re leading the world, and their empire is thriving..

I MUST keep the S’s and U’s from surviving!”

Tomorrow, he knew, all the U’s and the S’s,

Would put on their pants and their shirts and their dresses.

They’d go to their offices, playgrounds and schools,

And abide by their U and S values and rules.

And then they’d do something he liked least of all,

Every U down in Uville, the tall and the small,

Would stand all united, each U and each S,

And they’d sing Uvilles anthem, “God bless us! God bless!”

All around their Twin Towers of Uville they’d stand,

And their voices would drown every sound in the land.

“I must stop that singing,” Binch said with a smirk,

And he had an idea- an idea that might work!

The Binch stole some U airplanes in U morning hours,

And crashed them right into the Uville Twin Towers.

“They’ll wake to disaster!” he snickered, so sour,

“And how can they sing when they can’t find a tower?”

The Binch cocked his ear as they woke from their sleeping,

All set to enjoy their U-wailing and weeping.

Instead he heard something that started quite low,

And it built up quite slow, but it started to grow-

And the Binch heard the most unpredictable thing-

And he couldn’t believe it—they started to sing!

He stared down at Uville, not trusting his eyes.

What he saw was a shocking, disgusting surprise!

Every U down in Uville, the tall and the small,

Was singing! Without any towers at all!

He hadn’t stopped Uville from singing! It Sung!

For deep down in the hearts of the old and the young,

Those twin towers were standing called Hope and called Pride,

And you can’t smash the towers we hold deep inside.

So we circle the site where our heroes did fall,

With a hand in each hand of the tall and the small,

And we mourn for our losses while knowing we’ll cope,

For we still have inside that U-Pride and U-Hope.

For America means a bit more than tall towers

It means more than wealth or political powers.

Its more than our enemies ever could guess,

So may God bless America! Bless us! God bless!

By: Robert Suggs

TV TV TV

Well, school has officially begun again. And I already have homework...that I'm obviously already procrastinating...

...because I found this beauty!

The Mentalist!!!

Yes that's right! Patrick Jane is back September 22nd! And I could not be more excited! I like him better in his vest, but he doesn't look too bad behind bars either! haha

Other shows I'm oober excited about coming back include:

How I Met Your Mother

Funniest show I've seen in a long time!

Criminal Minds

I'm not too sure I like Hotch with the facial scruff..

House

will not be the same without Cuddy

and The Office

Not as excited for it as past seasons...theres no way they can find someone as good as Michael! But still it's the office!

Come on TV distract me from my homework! ha!

Lame Glitches

Yes... another lame post. (and dramatic according to Abram and Rebecca... but if Rebecca's the one reading it, then of course it is. When she reads....EVERYTHING is dramatic! ;) love you!)

Anyways... I've been playing Lego Harry Potter in my spare time for months. I heard that for some reason people kept getting stuck at 97-98% complete. And I remember thinking "ha! I'll outsmart the system I'm gonna get to 100% and brag to them all about how much of a better dork I am than they are."

Well, I did do better BUT...congratulations universe, even I got stopped from my goal of 100%!!!! :( Sad day!

Only after I got stuck did I look all over the internet seeing if there was a way to get around it, but unfortunately found out that its a dumb glitch on all the wii systems. Once you unlock Lord Voldemort's character on the wii there is no going back. You are stuck in Knockturn Alley and anything you didn't unlock in Hogwarts is forever lost. I only had two more characters to unlock too..bummer. Oh well just a game right? Anyways I felt it was post worthy, even if, some of you readers think it dorky and dramatic.  :-P

So here it is in all it's glory... my 99.7% complete!

One Down!

Thats one class down, only 21 more to go until I am officially a teacher!

I was so nervous to start school again, after 2 years! And I'm terrified of this up coming semester of 18 credits. But after miraculously getting an A in my summer school child development class, that 18 credits seems a little less terrifying. (it helps that my summer school teacher gave me so much good feedback, to build my educational confidence again)

I don't know what it was but that last assignment seemed extremely difficult! I wont bore you with all the details, but lets just say I wasn't happy with it at all when I turned it in. I was praying I'd pass the class with a B, as that assignment was a quarter of my grade.

I was SHOCKED last night to find out that I had gotten 100% on it and that it bumped me from a low B to a great, and wonderful solid A!

Life is good, and I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of the ridiculously long, dark, and scary tunnel called college!

Epic!

Harry Potter was the very first chapter book I have ever read. I hated reading before my 7th grade English teacher introduced Harry Potter to us, and made it fun with her creative assignments to go along with it. Since then I have loved, loved, LOVED reading! Harry Potter will always hold a special place in my heart. Because of that first book I have grown to love so many others! I only wish I had more time on my hands to read more often!

So my childhood has officially closed. I now officially feel like an adult. (Not only for the fact that Harry Potter has come to an end, but also for the fact that on the same day I had to deal with banks and other companies, because I discovered that someone had somehow gotten a hold of my account information, and was spending my money!! But even that couldn't bring me down from the excitement of the night's festivities.) The only thing left to make me feel like a little kid now will be future trips to Disneyland...

This week my best friend of 18 years, Jonna, and I spent hours watching the first 7 movies, refreshing our minds, emotions, and excitement in preparation for this dramatic ending. We also made shirts, she re-read the 7th book, and I refreshed through sparknotes, (as that was all time would permit without neglecting school and work duties. Oh how I wish I had time to re-read the books!) We were able to get pre-screening tickets, and absolutely savored the fact that here we were at 7pm just parking and walking past 1,000s of others who had been waiting in line practically the entire day. We walked straight passed them all, straight into the theatre, sat, watched, enjoyed, laughed and cried over this epic final movie of our childhood. And then 2 hours later we again walked passed all those other fans still in the exact same spot, still waiting to see the movie. It was an amazing feeling to avoid those lines, but at the same time I was a bit jealous that they were all seeing it without me. Part of me wished I had gotten midnight tickets as well so I could watch it again!

It was so goodI The best of all the movies. The actors had really grown up. They finally knew what they were doing and it showed. The director for the last 2 movies I think did an amazing job, everything was perfect! Well as perfect as it could be with the information the other movies had given. (If you have not read the books you are seriously missing out! The movies are great, but the books are...I cannot even think of a word fantastic enough to describe the books!)

Normally I'm not the type to share little details about things I absolutely love. I don't like hearing peoples comments on if they agree with my "immaturity" or not, or whatever it might be. In the past I've hidden the fact that I love Harry Potter. Select people knew that I liked Harry Potter, but few knew how much. I didn't want to be known as another Harry Potter geek. Then I went on my mission and I truly found who I am. I'm comfortable with myself, I love who I am, and I'm proud to share my ridiculous quarks and desires. I no longer care what others think of me, I am who I am. I think this week was the first time ever that I have publicly and constantly announced my love and excitement for Harry Potter. And I seriously think it made the whole experience that much more magically and fun.

Like I said on my FB status... Thanks for the journey Harry Potter! It's has truly been amazing!

We love our Mama!

So my mom has been fighting Hotchkins Lymphoma for...I think about 4 years! She's been strong and has even had fun with her bald head at times. This last month she was admitted to the hospital to have intense chemo and stem cell therapy.  They were very serious about it saying that there was a 40% chance of death with this treatment. They were going to kill everything and then bring her back to life with new healthy stem cells. We were not allowed to see her if we were sick, and even healthy we had to wash our hands for 3 mins straight before we could enter her room. She was uncomfortable at times, but like I said she's strong and has pulled through. So well infact that they sent her home a week and a half earlier than planned! Her stem cells got to work immediately and the dr's are very surprised and happy about how well she's doing. She went in yesterday for a check up and an appointment that was supposed to take 4 hours of tests and transplants, if needed, only lasted an hour and a half. They say they haven't seen someone heal as quick as she is.

We're not surprised over here. She had a blessing before she went in that said this treatment would be effective. The Lord is always right :) I LOVE the priesthood, having the knowledge and comfort that he knows what he's doing!

Anyways, while she was gone. We (Me, Clair, Sarah, Austin and Logan) completely cleaned and redecorated her room. Before it had blue walls, covered in holes, it was super dusty behind all the furniture,  and the carpet that has been in this house since day one seriously needed some deep cleaning. If we had the money to tear out and replace that 1969 blue and green shag carpet we would have! But instead we took everything out. vacuumed it and then shampooed it really well.

We found a picture tucked behind the dresser, and Clair said she remembered mom saying one day she wanted to decorate her room like it. So we did it for her...

Our Inspiration

When we put everything back in the room after painting the walls a light pink we flipped around her TV and bed, making the room look much bigger!

We spray painted picture frames and lamps silver to match the picture, and Clair brought over that cute little tea set sitting on her dresser, which Sarah cutely decorated with some of moms jewelry.

This added the perfect touch

We all just adore this corner!! Clair decorated that "B" we found in the closet to match everything perfectly! And we found the bedding on walmart.com, which we think totally completes the room!

We didn't all get to see her reaction like we wanted, because she came home so soon, but we know she loves it! And now she has a wonderful room to get completely better in. :) Thanks for helping in making this surprise for her possible Clair, Sarah, Austin and Logan! I could not have done it without you!

WOW!

Ok... so three years ago editing my blog and customizing it was never this easy! I love it! What do you think?! I hope actually liking the way it looks will help me keep it updated! Wish me luck!

Take Two and Finales

So I love blog stalking! But I'm not like the weird kind, stalking people I don't know. Anyways I have a strong desire to become a blogger myself but can never get into it or hate the way my blog looks so I just get rid of it all together. So here it is. Blog trial number 2. Hopefully this time outlasts my lame pathetic excuse of a blog that I had about 3 years ago.

It's 2am and I just had this urge to pull out my laptop and start blogging. Why am I up this late?!

I live for spending time with my mom, and we struggle to find time to spend together until its the late evening/early hours of the morning. We love being night owls together. Catching up on our favorite TV shows and sharing bits of useless information about our days. haha! It's the best!

So tonight we stayed up late catching up on some entertaining TV. We know eachother so well! If ever we find something the least bit entertaining we immediately hit record to save it for when the other of us is there. My mom loves watching Judge Judy make people feel like idiots. So she showed me a few clips from that show. And I had a little marathon of Extreme Makeover Home Edition this morning. Ty Pennington makes me laugh and I recorded an episode or two to show my mom a few things as well.

We then watched the finale of the Office. In my opinion the most boring finale I've ever sat through.... Though I loved Ryan's random comment from his little closet. Telling Stanley he needs to live forever. Best line of the hour! I wish the Office would go back to the funniness of it's second and third season. But it's still a show I enjoy. I'm still curious as to who the new boss is gonna be. Feels like Michaels been gone for ages already! I'm so glad with how he left the show though. There couldn't have been a greater exit for the incredible Michael Scott!

And after some Office we watch The Mentalist. My new favorite show! Bummer it took me 2 and a half seasons to discover it! (partly due to the fact that I was on my mission) Anyways, the finale tonight. All I could say at the end was 'enjoy that tea, patrick jane, enjoy that tea...'

Now I'm the type that LOVES shows like criminal minds, and house, etc. Things that make you think along with the characters; solve-the-big-puzzle kinda shows. Ever since I returned home from my mission I have absorbed these shows like they were my life support. Life got so boring so quickly after christmas and with all that time on my hands I got to work solving crime! ha! I've seen so many of these shows I can now solve almost any case in the first half of the show. My mom is shocked how rarely these shows ever surprise me any more. Anyways watching Jane's body language as he was talking with Red John I knew how it was going to end, and I also figured out who Red Johns mole was a few episodes ago. Things just were going the way they should've with that couple...

Now the question is; How is jane going to be invovled next season!? My mom and I talked about it for quite awhile afterwards and we came up with 4 options. (If your a mentalist fan and have not seen the season 3 finale... warning this will spoil things for you. stop reading here!)


First of all can I say, I loved that Jane was a man of his word. He was very calm and happy after pulling that trigger. He promised Red John that he would relax and find happiness but only once he killed Red John. He almost seemed happy to get arrested. It was all worth it. He had taken care of the man that killed his family. Now onto how this is going to work next season.

1. He'll be in jail for a long time, but then they'll have a case where they absolutely have to have his help and they pull him out with a deal.

2. We never really saw what was happening with Red Johns hands at the time Jane shot him. Maybe Red John was actually about to shoot Jane and he was acting in self defense.

3. People will understand Jane's reasoning behind it, and also be glad to have a serial killer off the streets he might just be put in jail for a year or so and then put on probation.

4. Jane somehow escapes custody and goes on the run. Running for either reason being that he just really doesn't want to go to jail, or that the man he shot was not really Red John after all and he's on the hunt to find the real Red John.

Either way I'm excited for next season.

Now time for a boring summer of no good tv shows, summer school, work, and terrible AZ heat!