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.