Christmas of Course

Thanks for all of the thoughtful presents!
In honor of the Christmas pajama tradition started by Grandma Wood, Mom got us all t-shirts to open on Christmas Eve. I so kindly got pictures of everyone before they got ready on Christmas morning.

The highlights of the morning included skyping to see Steph, Joseph, and the little ones open their presents in Alabama. Garrett loved the "Digger Dog" from his Grandma Wood. Benjamin was the master wrapping ripper, in his own words: "Come on, come on, come on!"

Later we skyped again because Steph wanted to see my reaction to my parents' gift. I was afraid to disappoint them with an "Oh thank you. That's so sweet." But have no fear, I didn't even have to play up my shock and surprise. My mom and dad had seen that former President Bush was coming for the book signing at the Sandy Cosco. They saw it on the news the night before, so they made instant arrangements and had my mom leave immediately to go wait outside in the cold for 13 hours, buy the book, shake his hand, and absolutely make my Christmas with a signed copy. I'm so jealous of her meeting him, but I couldn't have gotten work off anyway. I'm pretty sure I have the best parents ever.

This Post is for Steph

Check out the video below my posts. It's an animation of a beautifully choreographed dance, created by an animator and a choreographer at BYU.

Friends.Theives.Finals.

Some of the girls that came to my birthday bash.

Brittany, Lindsey, and Sarah. 

Yes they made my cake look like the flag.

Zach, Keith, and David M.

We love these guys! 

This guy kidnapped my teddy bear and held it for ransom.

Yes, we paid the ransom. 

Our nativity is lacking a baby Jesus, but I have Ben the bear back!

Bowling night at ward home evening. 

The dear, sweet girl next to me heard that David stole my teddy bear...

So she stole my two jumbo teddy bears, demanding a candy ransom.

Broomball with the guys! 

We play this way too much, but it's so much fun. And we dominate.

Ice skating at Peaks Arena for a ward activity.

Between broomball and ice skating, we spend a lot of time at the ice rink.

Friends at yet another ward activity to see the lights on Temple Square.

And now I must study for my last three finals. 

Ugh. 

This is me procrastinating and blogging instead.

A Bit of a Blur

I would like to update you all on what's up, but I really can't remember. The days and weeks sort of run together. I know that Halloween was fun. We went to a few dance parties. I took Andrea and some of her friends around their neighborhood. School has been life-consuming, but great at the same time. I wrote my very first lesson plan in place of a paper for my world history class. That was really fun. I much prefer lesson plans to papers! Teresa and I have found ourselves in an awesome ward. There is always something going on, but I need to exercise a little more restraint so my grades will be better. I also haven't been getting all of the sleep I need, but that is all my own fault. My goal this week is to be in bed at 10 pm every weekday. It is so hard, but I am determined.

So yesterday I visited my parents' ward because it was Andrea's last primary program. She did marvelous! It was fun to see all my favorite kids again. My friend Melissa asked me to help teach her primary class since her fellow teacher wasn't there. It was so fun to teach in primary again! I love my calling now, but primary is a special place. Right now I'm a home evening group leader or an FHE Mom. My ward divided the groups up huge, so there are about 40 people in my group. We usually get about 10 to 15 people at any given activity. I'm not very good at planning ahead, so it takes all my creativity to come up with activities.

Here's a picture of the group having a Rain Gutter Sundae.

Tonight we are going to make nativities and then we'll enjoy Tim Tam Slams.

Tender Mercies

Every once in a while something comes along to remind me how fragile and painful life can be. What amazes me is when Heavenly Father tests me just to my breaking point and then surrounds me with love and blessings. Right now I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with that love.

So back in May I went to the dentist and left with some intense tooth pain that was especially sensitive to temperature, but the pain slowly eased and just became an occasional annoyance. Then last week the pain came back full force. I promised myself that I would make an appointment when the dental office opened up after the weekend. But oh what a weekend that was. Friday night we had a ward camp out, with cold weather that did quite a number on the nerves in my mouth. Saturday I slept basically all day to avoid the hurting. Sunday started okay, but by night-time I had reached my limit. I had used up every level of my pain tolerance. I was incredibly frustrated that one stupid tooth could make it so I couldn't even function.

Are you wondering where the tender mercies come in? Well let me tell you. On the drive back from camping I was able to lose myself in singing with a car full of friends, singing so hard that I couldn't remember the toothache/headache/earache. Then, even though I slept it off all day Saturday I was still able to sleep that night, which was a miracle. And Sunday? Sunday was amazing. We had the most memorable ward conference at church. I was able to feel the Spirit all three hours, hearing the exact words that I needed to hear. That night the Stake Presidency put on a fireside-style ward prayer. It was an amazing meeting that left me brimming with peace and joy.

Later, after we had hung out with some ward friends, I had reached my limit and was sorta sobbing like a baby on the floor. Luckily I have roommates that are so caring and naturally nurturing. They asked some guys in the ward to give me a priesthood blessing. Thanks to that blessing I actually slept last night and handled a lot more pain than I could have on my own. It turns out that I have to have a root canal, but I don't really care. Somehow this weekend was strengthening and I am now so grateful for loving roommates, inspired church speakers, worthy priesthood holders, my grandfatherly dentist, my dad who is so generously covering the bill, and last but not least - I am so grateful for Lortab!

Yep. That's My Major

It amazes me sometimes that Heavenly Father leads us through choices so gradually that we don't see it happening. When I was in junior high, I had no idea what I wanted to with my life. My grades weren't the best, so I was surprised when I was invited to one of those award assemblies. It turned out that Mr. Crow, my history teacher, gave me an award for excellence in his class. The award wasn't a big deal; most kids got them, but the biggest compliment was after the assembly. I happened to run into him - he told me that someday I would make an awesome history teacher. I thanked him, but didn't seriously think about it.

Fast forward a few years to junior year of high school. I still didn't have any life plans, which really frustrated me. That year I was taking the required U.S. history class and it started to dawn on me that I enjoyed history a little too much. This became all too apparent when I was putting the finishing touches on my personal history paper for the class. I was setting up the table of contents and was shocked to realize that I had typed almost 70 pages and enjoyed every minute of it.

After taking AP U.S. history during my last year of high school, I finally realized that for some reason Heavenly Father gave me a passion for history. Maybe it's a side effect of the hearts of the children turning to their fathers (Malachi 4:6).

It's funny because now it seems so obvious. Like, here's your sign! For example, you know you're a history nerd when:

• You explain the ins and outs of the Articles of Confederation over lunch to help a work friend with an assignment.
• You volunteer at a museum for the sheer fun of it
• Your family gives you books about the Civil War for Christmas
• You help your roommate's friend study for a midterm while falling asleep. When she asks you about Islam you reply, "Well it all started when..."
• You enjoy endless rounds of the game "Which Obscure Person in History Has Their Name Taped on My Back?" (20 questions style) at a history department social
• You find videos like this absolutely entertaining

You've Got Mail

My all-time favorite movie that I could watch over and over is You've Got Mail with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. The music is classic. The characters are perfect. The quotes are memorable. I was thinking about my favorite quote and looked it up on IMDb - the Internet Movie Database.

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address."

So, using my favorite quotes from my favorite movie, here is an overdue update of what's up.

"People are always saying that change is a good thing. But all they're really saying is that something you didn't want to happen at all, has happened."
Here are the changes for me that I wasn't so fond of - new (used) car, new ward, new school year, new morning shift at work.

"I have you to thank for it. For the first time in my life, when confronted with a horrible, insensitive person, I knew exactly what I wanted to say and I said it."
This is why I like Teresa as a roommate. She's not horrible or anything, it's just that I can be totally honest with her.
 
"I'm going to get some eucalyptus candles 'cause it makes my apartment smell moss-ay!"
Haha. I just love this quote. 
 
"Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life - well, valuable, but small - and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave?"
I'm thinking of coaching lacrosse in the Spring and I'm also training to be a docent at the BYU Museum of Peoples and Cultures. Both are volunteer positions, but I think it's time I start getting some new experiences.

"You think this machine is your friend but it's not."
My computer hates me sometimes.

"When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does."
And no reading can ever compare textbook reading. Ugh.

"You poor, sad, multimillionaire. I feel so sorry for you."
Haha. I love being a broke college student. Frugality takes on a whole new meaning.

"Do you ever feel you've become the worst version of yourself? That a Pandora's box of all the secret, hateful parts - your arrogance, your spite, your condescension - has sprung open? Someone upsets you and instead of smiling and walking away, you zing them? "Hello, it's Mr Nasty." I'm sure you have no idea what I'm talking about."
Yeah, this only happens around my family. Why do I feel obligated to zing them?


"The odd thing about this form of communication is that you're more likely to talk about nothing than something. But I just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings."
This is how I feel about reading my cousins' blogs. It's nice to stay connected and know what's going on with everybody.

My Poor Car

My car is basically done for.
All the king's horses, and all the kings men, aren't going to pull this Humpty Dumpty back together again.

It'll be sad when it eventually gets hauled to the wrecker. I mean this car is a veteran. It went through our neighbors and their son Mark. Then Mark left on his mission, and my dad bought it to be passed from Steph to Corry to Jake to Teresa to me. It has been one of those classic, undependable teenage cars. Really, if you think about all of the parts we've replaced on it, it's basically brand new.

Not to get all sentimental about a hunk of metal, but so much of my teenage life was lived in that car. The trunk was always filled with lacrosse stuff and goalie gear. The backseat was like a second clothes closet. On the rear-view mirror I put up two solid promises that came out of fortune cookies. "You will soon achieve perfection," and "You will reach the highest level of intelligence." I'm gonna miss looking up at those before changing lanes.

The funniest thing is that much of my meager progress in high school came from a habit of praying before I turned the ignition. The thing is, I am a terrible driver and am not afraid to admit it. When I first got the car keys I thought I would be the death of some poor pedestrian, so I started praying before pulling out. That one habit made all the difference in high school.

Here is my car after Melissa got to it on my 18th birthday.

Here is a lovely view from my window after some kind person practiced aiming their BB gun while I was at the church.

Teenage cars, like childhood friends, are hard to let go of.

Well I just had the Scariest Adventure

As I sat here at my desk, ringing the water out of my hair, my friend Megan popped up on Facebook chat. She asked me what was up. This was my reply. Well I edited it, a bit.

I have been riding my bike between Orem and Provo for work since my car is dead...

Tonight I procrastinated until after dark to ride back home to my apartment. I was wearing black which wasn't smart, so the whole way across Orem I was being extra cautious. Then I reached the hill between 800 E. in Orem to that shopping plaza below, in Provo. There were NO lights alongside that section of university parkway. I found myself riding into a black abyss being hit by high-power, invisible sprinklers.

So I cried out a desperate "WHY?!" to the universe after getting a face full of water. I immediately felt foolish for hollering like that. But Oh well. I'm alone, right? Nobody heard me...

Just then I pulled alongside two other bikers, as my yell was still dying out of the air.

They laughed and exchanged the sort of pleasantries that made me realize that these folks were the scary type of hobos on bikes, smoking who knows what.

So I was nice but rode on ahead.

However, I couldn't really ride on ahead because I really couldn't see. I had to stop because the passing headlights were blinding me over the dividing wall, making the trail pitch black.

So then these nice scary hobos let me ride in the beam of the flashlights attached to their bikes. Because they were smart enough to have flashlights attached to their bikes, and they informed me that a person could be ticketed by the Provo Police for not having one. This was news to me, but I see the wisdom in it.

They offered to ride with me to my apartment, but I declined and declined and declined and declined. They weren't being pushy; I just get the feeling that whatever was wafting through the air from the end of their smoke was confusing them a little. The conversation was a little redundant and repetitive and redundant again.

Well my new friends and I parted ways, then I continued on to my comfortable, dry apartment and to a satisfying "The End."

Bridal Veil Falls

In Honor of the Holiday

 I could share some of my thoughts on patriotism, the American War for Independence, appreciation for military, or even just the importance of learning our history. However, I think that might bore you to tears, so I'll just share this wonderfully enlightening video.

Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration

What Cute Kids!

Mama's Apron Debut

Have you heard the rumors of my mom's aprons? Well they are adorable and their debut will be soon. Lucky you, you get a sneak preview. These are a few of my pictures of Benjamin modeling the boy version of her aprons.

Books, Babies, and Brilliant Music

I know I am enjoying Summer when I find myself reading these words, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." For those of you who aren't fans of Jane Austen, this is the opening line to Pride and Prejudice. Every year I have to revisit my favorites: Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility. Am I just such a girl or what? One year for my birthday, my dear Mother bought the complete works for me so I wouldn't have to borrow Steph's copy anymore. Instead of getting the same one that Steph has, she bought me this huge book that is bright red, heavier than a small child, and as ornate as an old family Bible. Thus it has been dubbed "The Jane Austen Bible." It's an absolute treasure, but too embarassing to actually read it in public.

Last night Andrea, Rebecca, and Teresa all joined me in a Sister Party at my apartment. This morning we got a call from Stephanie with the results of her ultrasound. She put Benjamin on speaker phone so he could tell us whether the baby will be a boy or girl. His message - "She's a boy." Haha, nice. She's actually a girl.

On the 29th, back in May, I went with my parents and friends to see Foreigner, Kansas, and Styx. Here are my disjointed thoughts:

1. Amazing. Incredible. 
2. I can't even begin to share all of my favorite songs, but I just about died when Kansas performed Dust in the Wind. At that point I was only 10 feet from the stage. It was beautiful. 
3. Foreigner was fantastic. A lot higher energy than Kansas and so so entertaining. The lead vocalist just decided to climb up the side of the lighting supports and was right above us. If he had fallen we would've been crushed - that's how close we were! 
4. Styx! They really know how to put on a show. Come Sail Away couldn't have been better, and Lady was perfect, just perfect.

Ugh, there's so much more that's been going on, but I don't have the pictures...sorry!

The Best Stories

The best stories are the ones that are true and also teach us truths. Right now I am reading a book that I got for my birthday back in December - Behind the Iron Curtain: Recollections of Latter-Day Saints in East Germany, 1945-1989.
The stories are just amazing. What makes them more amazing is that they aren't works of fiction. They will probably never make a major Hollywood feature, but they offer a glimpse into the lives of one group of people who went through trials and were blessed for their faith.

For example, during the bombing of Dresden, Germany by Allied forces, at the end of World War II, many people fled to a nearby river to escape the burning city. An LDS family was running through the chaos, trying to stay together. The mother and her daughters fell behind and came to a fork in the road. On one hand was an open and wide street that looked like a better option than the cramped streets that her husband had chose. After a moment's frantic indecision, a daughter said, "Let's follow Dad. He has the priesthood." So they did. When they reached their destination they saw a sobbing elderly woman, their neighbor. She told them that her husband had run down that wide, innocent-looking street. Unknown to them, the street was covered by liquid phosphorous from a bomb. The woman's husband was burned alive, and so would have the mother and daughters if it weren't for that moment's pause and the daughter's determination to follow her dad and the priesthood. Amid the tragedy and destruction of the bombing, there are stories like this one small act of faith that saved lives. These are the kind of stories that remind us how raw and fragile life is, but they also remind us that Heavenly Father is in charge.

Exciting Times

So, living at my parents' house had been frustrating because I had absolutely no social life. Well basically no social life. Also, my Dad asked that I stay in the family ward for a year, so there were not many peers at church either. Everyone said that would change when I moved out...and it's so true! I love it! I don't even have to make plans; they just happen.

My new ward is really welcoming, although I wasn't exactly into the whole Star Wars party on the roof thing. Who knew that "May the 4th Be With You" was a holiday? (I even saw Jiffy Lube's scrolling marquee that said "Lube...I am your father.")

But better than that...

I Am Excited For

 Roommate Bonding w/Bones

Institute Party

History Block Party 

(yep, that's right)

Bi-Stake Dance

Mother's Day

Steph and the Boys Coming

THE WEDDING

Finally getting my cell phone

and...

WARM WEATHER!

Do You Feel Validated?

I love this YouTube video! It makes me happy.

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I moved into my apartment on Monday.
I am now adjusted to feeding myself and all that good stuff. (I've only eaten Ramen noodles twice)
I am pretty sure that just about everything is only around the corner from our apartment building - Taco Bell, McDonald's, Arby's, Yozone, Macey's, Rite Aid, and every other restaurant or store that I could ever need.
So on Friday, our ward had a spring opening social and guess who was there...Harper!
Not only am I rooming with Melissa, who has been my friend since we were born, but now I have a cousin in the ward. Well, he'll be there until he leaves for Singapore just after Jake's wedding.
I think everyone's going after the wedding. Jake and Kylee will be in Logan. Corry will be leaving to Arizona. Then Steph and the boys will return to Alabama.

Almost There, So Close!

I am so close to be done with the school for the summer and start packing up my stuff to move out.
- 12 days until I move out
- 7 days until school's done
- 5 more finals
- 2 more primary lessons
- 1 trip to drop off the stake athletic stuff
- 1 trip to the dentist : (

And then
- Job hunt for a second part-time job
- Getting back in shape for hiking season
- Running again, I got in a bad lazy habit back in fall semester
- Starting my summer reading list
- HAVING FUN IN THE SUN!

Also I'll be enjoying these movies that I won from the History Channel on a blog comment contest. I'm such a nerd - I'm so excited to watch them and have them in my little collection!

From Grandma's Bookcase

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa Wood's place this weekend reminded me of how much I love their collection of books. Here are some favorites (that I can remember) from Grandma's house:

• Picture Books: story of Poppy Seed, Miss Rumphius, Little Black Sambo, The Christmas Miracle of Johnathon Toomey, the riddle and joke books, the Cookie Monster book, the red ball book, the puppy that went to the circus, the little well-worn board books of all sorts of childhood classics, and especially all of the beautiful Christmas picture books.
• Other Books: the classic Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, the countless horse books like Flicka and The Snow Pony, The Bobbsey Twins, Under the Blood Red Sun, the Great Illustrated Classics versions of Around the World in 80 Days and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and a whole lot more that I can't think of right now.
• The Best Book Ever: Corrie ten Boom's autobiography

Thanks for sharing the books Grandma!

Picnic-ing

Picnic pics with Andrea and her friend Darcie.

Topaz Trip

On Saturday I went on a trip to Delta to visit the Japanese internment camp, Topaz.
When the camp was shut down the buildings were sold off and torn out, but the trash - now called "artifiacts" - remains along with a small monument.
Let's play "I Spy" among the sagebrush: the foundation to a recreation hall, thousands of rusty nails and countless glass shards, burnt remains, terra cotta pots, a stove, one of many safety-pins and do-dads, and two interesting rock finds.

These are homemade inkwells carved out of rocks. Above is the ornate one displayed in the museum. To the left is an unfinished one found by a guy in our group. It was taken back to the museum.
Above the fancy inkwell is another decorative rock, I think. It looks like a pile of rocks, but it's actually hollowed out plaster and lava rocks from the mountains in the distance, with a sheet of glass embedded in between. The only use we could imagine for it was decoration. It's interesting to see that although the internees were denied their rights, their property, and were relocated to the middle of nowhere, they still found creative outlets - even if it involved collecting rocks. There were some spots where you could see somebody had whole piles of trilobites, interesting rocks, and minerals. They did have more than just rocks though; there is a lot of artwork that came out of Topaz. In fact, BYU had a display of it and the Springville art museum will be showing it too this summer. The most sobering part of the trip wasn't reading off the statistics or hearing the stories, but when we were walking around, the curator found the arm of a doll. It's hard to imagine the rows and rows of barracks now gone, but old bits of toys somehow made it more real.

So, what do you think?