The Lovely Life of Lauremo Noto

Happy New Year. . . .[not]: My First Accident

2012-01-06T12:11:00.000-08:00

My Christmas break was pretty fantastic this year. It consisted of a lot of play time with my family (especially my nephew Jared), plenty of chilling around the house, and enough fun times with my friends from home-- exactly everything I really wanted for my break.

The real problem came when it was time to go back to Provo. I put it off until literally the last minute (8:30pm Tuesday night) before I had to be back to work at the prison on Wednesday, Jan. 4th. Obviously I wasn't eagerly looking forward to my return (for multiple reasons really).

That Wednesday, I made it to work on time and actually had a decent day at work, considering it was my first full day in over 2 weeks. It was still light outside when I started my journey back to Provo, and I had luckily remembered to grab a book and a receipt I needed to make a return (Christmas gift style) at Barnes and Noble on my way home. So instead of taking the Provo Center Street exit on my way home, I took University Parkway in order to make a stop at Barnes and Noble.

Bad, bad idea.

This meant I would have to navigate my way through Orem and Provo in order to get home. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but that night, it happened to be a HUGE deal.

As I was driving down Freedom Blvd. in Provo (almost a mile away from my apartment), I got distracted by my stereo for seriously point five, but that point five was long enough for me to fail to notice the vehicle in front of me was stopped. I had just gone through a green light on 960 N., so I thought I was good, but the reality was that the light at 800 N. was red and the cars had backed up to about 100 ft. past the intersection I had just gone through. My moment of distraction resulted in me smashing into (and under) the truck in front of me, totaling my car (essentially about where the car is in the picture above). When I say under, I mean it. I was going the speed limit- 35mph- and when I crashed, I had literally gone under the truck and lifted it's back wheels off the ground so they couldn't move. A tow truck had to come pull us apart.

Beautiful, isn't it?

Luckily nobody was hurt (other than whiplash after effects), and although my car is done for, as far as I know the other truck didn't have too serious of damage- it drove away from the scene. Also, thankfully, my sister was kind enough to meet me at the scene of the accident, help keep me calm, make sure I had all the info I needed, and most of all, give me a ride to my apartment after all was said and done.

Thankfully, my parents have been extremely kind to me through this all (especially because it was their car). I was pretty terrified of what they were going to do/say, but they were very gracious after having to come up to give the title to the junk yard and having to clean out all of my junk from the car. (I'm thinking it helped that this was my first accident ever. As for some other members of my family. . . it might have been a different situation. Only kind of kidding.)

So here I am:

nearly 3 weeks later;
a $310 ticket later;
no car;
a bus pass;
plenty of gracious, kind friends (with cars);

and I'm only beginning to be able to laugh at the situation.
In fact, I can hardly believe I'm posting an entire blog post about it- I didn't even tweet about it!

If this is how the year is going to be, I'm not that excited to see what else is in store.
Also, I'm fairly sure I say that every year.

2011 in Review

2012-01-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

2011 was an interesting year. I'm sure everyone has their exciting memories of all the special things that happened, but the following pictures document some of the most exciting moments of my year-- meeting famous people (mostly thanks to twitter) and having a great time doing it! So here it is, my 2011 highlight reel!

Last January, my parents and little brother came up for a day to celebrate Tommy getting good grades (or something like that) and we ended up at the International Auto Expo in Sandy. While there, we got to check out all the new models of cars, get a picture with a race car from Miller Motor Sports Park, see the Lambo that Maverik was planning to give away, and I got to meet these two guys-

Alema Harrington and Ben Bagley, both guys who work for 1320 KFAN sports radio. I knew who Alema was already, but I discovered Ben through twitter (I don't listen to the radio station much) and got my pic with them! Super nice guys, and a great way to start off my year. :)

In March, the BYU Men's Basketball team made an impressive run in the NCAA Tournament, and the night they beat Gonzaga to move on to the Sweet 16, I helped organize (through a few connections on twitter- aka @BYUrally, @Voler, and @NatHarward) a pep rally at the Provo airport to help welcome our boys home. The flight didn't end up landing until almost midnight, and there were a few hundred of us (including my roommates and other friends) waiting out in the rain, but it was totally worth it.

The Jimmer himself walked past us, and afterward, we got to meet and get our picture with anyone else on the team- Magnuson, Hartsock, Emery, Collinsworth, and Abouo. Definitely another memorable experience!

A month later, the Shops at the Riverwoods had a Grand Re-Opening to celebrate new management. As part of their Grand Re-Opening event, they had planned a concert featuring local (and Rolling Stone Magazine contestants) Fictionist opening for none other than Sugar Ray (yes, I know they were cool in the 90's, but it was a free concert, so how could I say no??).

We showed up early in order to claim our spots (front an nearly center). In fact, we were so close Jimmer gave me a high-five when he made an appearance, and Mark McGrath himself gave me a little hand squeeze when they opened with "Every Morning". haha. It was pretty awesome if I say so myself (and I do)!

It was a few more months until I had my next celebrity interaction. While I was watching my updates on twitter one day, I noticed that Sondre Lerche had tweeted about his North American tour dates. Knowing that he had never come to Utah on a tour before, I wasn't too confident that he would be making a stop here at all. When I opened the page, however, I received a pleasant surprise! He was making a stop in SLC after almost 20 years of him going on tours. I was pretty stoked, but it was at the Urban Lounge (a bar), so I knew it wasn't a good idea to go by myself. Another problem is that he is a Norwegian singer so not many people have heard of him (although he did the entire soundtrack for "Dan in Real Life"- that's how I first discovered him), so not many people would be willing to go. Eventually I convinced my friends Ty and Kyle to come along, and we had a great time, which included me meeting the man himself- Sondre! I'm really hoping he decides to make another stop in Utah soon. :)

Some favorite songs-- although I really love them all!-- : No One's Gonna Come; Days That Are Over; You Know So Well; Modern Nature (from "Dan in Real Life").

Fast forward a few more months to the middle of the NBA lockout. I was desperate for some kind of professional basketball (I'm not a super big fan of college ball most of the time) and Jimmer made my dream come true with Jimmer's All-Stars! I convinced my friends Elyse and Jacob to come along, and we bought our tickets the morning of the game (Sept. 22nd).

During the game, while everyone else was realizing it was an "All-Star" game and not just the Jimmer Show, a certain player caught my eye. With a quick search on twitter, me and Elyse discovered this player to be known as Manimal, (@KennethFaried35; @TeamManimal) a rookie player drafted to the Denver Nuggets (aka the Thuggets-- he totally fits in). He's incredible!!! We also noticed that he had agreed to meet up with some people after the game for pictures, so we tweeted at him and hoped for the best. After waiting for almost a half an hour after the game, and having the security people try to trick us into leaving, he came out the door of the Marriott Center, and we yelled to him, "Check your twitter!" He looked up to us and said, "Sure." So cool!

We were able to get our picture with him and also got autographs from him and a bunch of the other players, including Isiah Thomas! Such a great night, and it just got me more excited for Jazz basketball (whenever the lockout would be over. . . )!!

Then in November (11.11.11) The North Face announced they were opening a new store in the Fashion Place Mall (along with Crate and Barrel and H&M). To promote the opening, they had a contest with their twitter account to enter to win something. They were giving away all sorts of things for people who followed them (beanies, duffel bags, t-shirts, and jackets-- like the one I won, a $99 value!). The only catch was that you had to be there sometime during opening weekend to claim the prize they messaged you about.

Me, Elyse, Dave, and Kelli went opening night to claim our prizes. After we got them, we decided to take a walk around the store just to see what they have. As we were doing this, I walked past someone I thought I recognized. I looked at Elyse with wide eyes, but she didn't recognize the person like I did. Next I looked over at Dave with my wide eyes, and he understood my excitement. We had walked right past Greg Miller!! When we were far enough away from him, we explained things to Elyse who told us to get our picture with him. I was nervous, but luckily Dave is very confident, so he went right over and asked if we could quickly get a picture with him. He kindly obliged. :) (So pretty much, we met Greg Miller before it was "cool" to meet Greg Miller, see: @dianaallen's experience: http://www.utahjazz360.com/diana/sitting-court-side-with-greg-miller/).

Basically, twitter is amazing and is responsible for most of my meetings of these cool people this past year. I can't wait to see what kinds of adventures and fun twitter will bring to me in 2012 (aka, #TwentyDozen)!!

Sondre Lerche LIVE in SLC

2011-06-29T12:52:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday night I had the amazing opportunity to see one of my musical idols, Sondre Lerche, perform live at the Urban Lounge in Salt Lake. I knew I had to be at this show when he first announced it over 2 months ago, but up until last Tuesday, I had nobody to go with. Luckily some of my awesome friends, Ty and Kyle, agreed to go with me, and I was able to make a dream come true!

I first discovered Sondre Lerche's music when I saw "Dan in Real Life"

when it came out back in 2007. When I saw the show, I decided I liked a few of the songs I heard on the show, so I checked out the soundtrack. That is when I found out Sondre wrote all of the songs for the soundtrack. So amazing! I quickly became addicted, and picked up a few other random songs by him that I liked.

Because I follow him on facebook and twitter, I was able to find out about the concert and ALSO that he was releasing a new album in June. I was so incredibly excited, I made sure to pick up a copy (the LAST copy) of it at Graywhale in Draper the day it came out-- June 7 (luckily it was a day I was working at the prison, so I was already up there). I immediately fell in love and it reignited my excitement for his show that was scheduled for 2 weeks later.

Fast forward a week and a half and I was still looking for somebody to go with me to the show. I found out quickly that Sondre Lerche was not a very well known artist, and many of my friends are pretty hesitant to trust me and my music taste (I know, unbelievable, right?). I was getting nervous that I wasn't going to be able to make the show. I knew I couldn't go on my own-- I had considered it but decided it wasn't the best decision. I was getting desperate. . . I HAD to be at that show. Then my true friends came through! Ty offered to meet me there, and Kyle decided he would come along (although on our way to the venue, Kyle then asked me who we were going to see. haha. He's such a good friend!). I was so stoked!

The show was everything I could have hoped for and I even got to meet Sondre after the show! Hopefully we made a good enough impression to have him come back (soon!).

the [crazy busy] week of a BYU student

2011-01-29T10:58:00.000-08:00

This last week has been pretty crazy and intense. Between the usual fun of being a student,

this week brought random snowstorms,

sitting through an entire game of misery of Jazz vs. Lakers,

waiting in ridiculously long lines for wristbands

to get into the sold-out BYU basketball game

(which Jimmer was so kind to have won for us),

staying up way too late making t-shirts for said basketball game,

visiting the career fair and having an interview with Oracle, and visiting a comic book store for the first time. Needless to say, it was a pretty exciting week.

I wasn't cool enough to storm the court after the game, but here is a picture of the madness. It was a pretty sweet game, and my voice is still recovering. Waiting in line for hours was worth it, but I think I've got my friends convinced we just need to buy tickets to the rest of the home games. It would make things so much easier.

Facing my Fear

2011-01-15T23:35:00.000-08:00

For the last 4 years, I have been deathly afraid of one thing.

ICE.

Not the kind you put in your drink- The kind that happens after it snows and the snow gets packed down before it's shoveled or plowed; the kind that is hard to see unless you are really looking for it, and even then, it can sneak up on you; the kind that makes me petrified to take a step because I am so afraid of falling and landing on my precious wrist, like I have done time and time before.

If you think I'm exaggerating this fear, ask my friends. Ask my family. I can't even slide on ice for fun. I literally freeze up and am afraid to move, not sure if my next step will be stable or will miss and make me land flat on my back.

But today, I faced my fear- in an Olympic Ice Arena even!

I was invited along to play a few games of broom hockey with my friend's ward. I was kind of hesitant to begin with, but I agreed to go. I put on my old brace and my game face, and took my first steps onto the ice, knowing full well exactly what I was doing.

Of course there were some extremely slick spots, but after the first game, I was getting competitive (our team was losing, sadly) and I began to overcome my fear. I started not only walking on the ice, but running across the ice! There were a few times where my balance was in question, but after all was said and done, I didn't fall down once! I feel nearly invincible! Ok, maybe not quite that confident, but I do feel proud of myself that I was able to face my fear and have a good time, even if our team didn't come out on top.

2010 in Review

2011-01-08T15:09:00.000-08:00

Here it is. My 2010 in Review. With Pictures. Enjoy!

January-

2 new casts, and a haircut.

February-

Valentine's Dance at Snow College

March-

Pins out!

(No more casts!!!)

April-

Finals (not much time for blogging)

The beginning of #twuddytuesday on twitter

May-

The End of Physical Therapy

June-

Toy Story 3 came out!

(the shirt I made is shown under October)

July-

Road trip to Oregon/Washington with my Sparks buddies!

August-

Ryan and Laura's Wedding

Trip to New Orleans

Trip to DC to see Justin, Sarah, and Elliott

September-

My first niece Eleanor Marie was born!

October-

Rocktober Party 2010

Carving Pumpkins

BYU football games with Tommy, Richfield Singles Ward,

Glenwood YM/YW and Sparkies

November-

MAE concert---AND Meeting the Band!

The beginning of BYU Basketball

December-

Festival of Trees

(Me and Elyse with the tree we donated)

Christmas (my 21st birthday)

Finals, Parties, Family, and New Years Eve.

2010 was one of the best years of my life. It makes me even more excited to see where 2011 is going to take me! Happy New Year!!

Lately:

2010-11-11T15:30:00.000-08:00

I love my boys! The season just started at the beginning of this month, but we're already doing amazing. I was able to go to the Jazz vs. Clippers game with some friends from my ward, and we won in DOUBLE OT. It was amazing. Since then, we've beaten Miami in OT, and then last night we beat the Magic. So awesome. I love it. (This means we have a better record on the road than we do at home.) PLUS, I'm legit friends with #44 Kyrylo Fesenko on Facebook. ha. I feel awesome.

This version of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" is LEGIT. I've been listening to it non-stop. Amazing! (if you right click on it, and hit "show all" you'll be able to see the full screen)

Haha. I loves me some twitter. I'm actually going to be on TV for using Twitter! I was interviewed by BYU Weekly about tweeting about Conference. I'll share the link once I get it. :)

Last week I was lucky enough to be able to go to the Mae concert and I met the band! So awesome!

Other than that, it's all about school until I make it to Thanksgiving. So far, I haven't fallen down, so that means no doctors appointments or casts. :) Always a big plus. Until next time then- Keep it real!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2010-08-20T05:42:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm off! Today starts my short week long vacation to the East Coast. Today I leave Salt Lake and make my way to New Orleans. I think I've got everything I need. haha. This will definitely be a new adventure! Hopefully I'll be able to update throughout the trip. Stay posted!

Quick Update

2010-08-11T10:10:00.001-07:00

It's been a busy summer, friends. That is for sure. Full of work, adventure, and loads of fun! Here's a quick update while I have a minute between all the awesomeness!

Most of this summer has been dedicated to work. Mornings at BYU and afternoons at AMP. Long days, but its been worth it. Today is my last day at AMP, and I'm kind of sad to be leaving. I love the people I work with there, and we always manage to have a good time. I sure will miss it there. Maybe I'll even end up there next year again. Also with work, next week is Education Week at BYU. I got my schedule today, and all I can say is, Bring It! Should be fun.

Luckily, I only have to work M-Th of EdWeek because I'm going down to New Orleans for the second wedding reception next weekend. This weekend is going to be full with family, friends, fun, and the wedding. Exciting! I just love Laura, and even though the last few weeks have been stressful, I'm excited to have her in the family. :) and I'm excited to go on another adventure to New Orleans!

After spending the weekend in New Orleans, I'll be flying up to DC to visit my oldest brother and his family. I'm so excited to see them! Even in the few months its been since the last time I saw them, Elliott has started talking more and I'm just so excited. It's going to be a blast! Other than seeing them, I'm also pretty stoked to be able to say I went from coast to coast to coast this summer.

Oh yeah, a few weeks ago I went on a little roadtrip up to Washington State with some fellow Sparkies, and we had a great time! We visited the ocean, the Goonies house, spent a day in Seattle, and got to know each other a little better. Haha. Such a good time.

By the time I get back from DC, I'll have about 3 days to recouperate before classes start. Big day! I can't believe summer is almost over, but I'm looking forward to classes. It will be nice to do something other than sit at work all day.

So, those are some of the highlights. Other than that, I've been busy tweeting and laughing. Not too bad if you ask me.

Also, I'd like to wish a very very Happy First Birthday to my adorable nephew Abe! Sadly, I'll be missing his birthday party, but we'll party it up tomorrow at Lagoon! :) Look at that cute face. How can you just not love him?

FINISHED!!

2010-05-10T19:55:00.000-07:00

Today was my last official day of physical therapy!!! I'm so excited! Physical therapy was the last big push to get my wrist nice and strong again after the surgery, and today, my physical therapist Doug Bagley, decided to cut me loose!

He still advised me to continue doing the strengthening exercises I've been doing for the rest of the summer, even increasing the weights more if (when) I can handle it. He said the main thing he's worried about is me falling on my wrist again, but other than that, it seems pretty much stable and I can gradually start working my way back to full capacity. He stressed the "gradually" part because he said I need to remember I've been favoring it for the better part of 4 years now. I can't just jump into full activity head first, but I'm closer than I've ever been. And that, is a very excellent feeling!!

As for the rest of my recovery, I have another appointment scheduled with Dr. Richards in 2 more weeks, but if I decide I don't want to go in, he said its totally fine if I call in and cancel. We'll see how I feel when that date gets closer. . . as of now I have a few questions I want to ask him, but everything feels excellent. In fact, I put on my brace last night before I went to bed and, for the first time in a very long time, it felt weird to put it on. Like, I didn't need it, and my wrist was like, what are you doing to me? I like that feeling. :)

Life is good! Other than the usual fun with my wrist, I'm busy working this summer, keeping up with my 2 jobs, I work mornings at Independent Study on campus, and I work afternoons at AMP in South Provo. Thankfully, that means I'm free at nights, and I'm loving it. Now we just need to have the weather completely warm up, and I'll be good to go!

I lost my voice and I sound amazing. Or like a Smoker. You decide.

2010-04-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

I’m done with Fall Semester of 2010! I finished my last final last Tuesday, and since then its been a non stop party of packing, cleaning, and doing whatever I want. J

I’m here in my new room in my new apartment. As you can tell the walls are bare, so I’m not completely moved in and settled yet. Only because I’ve been much too busy doing way cooler things.

Cooler things such as: losing my voice at the Jazz game Friday night!!

That’s why I decided to do a video blog for you today. Haha! Don’t you think my voice sounds awesome? Crazy thing is, it was totally fine all day Saturday, but when I woke up Sunday, it was GONE. Nowhere to be found. Everyone thinks I’m super sick, but I swear I’m not. I’ve only ever lost my voice like this one time before in my entire life: the BYU vs. FSU football game this last season. But that totally was NOT worth it because we lost. At least the Jazz won! And I got a pretty sweet Memo jersey. Injured or not, he’s still my favorite player on the team!

Well. As for the rest of the weekend, some highlights include

1- Moving my cousin Jocelyn into her first real apartment, and taking her grocery shopping for the first time.

2- Being named “The Lost Specialist” in my ward. Wow. Don’t even ask me how that one came to be.

3- The Jazz pulling off another AMAZING win last night against the Thuggets,

4- And Starting my “new” job at AMP. Basically I’m getting trained for real this year and my Manager is essentially awesome.

PLUS I went to physical therapy today and my wrist is acting like a CHAMP!

I’m at 90 degrees this way, which is 100% back to normal! And I’m at 50 degrees this way, which doesn’t look like much, but Dr. Richards said the ultimate goal is to get it to 60 degrees, and I came up from what was 40 degrees 2 weeks ago.

My strength is also doing much better; aside from awesome grip and pinch strength in comparison to previous weeks, I graduated from 2 pound to 3 pound weights! And I got some more excercises to do with my hammer!

Now, all I have to do for it to officially be summer time is to finish grading these tests and papers (grades are due tomorrow) and I will be GOOD TO GO! Woo!! Even if it is supposed to snow Wednesday or Thursday, I’m mega excited. Life is so good!

Well, until next time- that’s the latest in the Lovely Life of Lauremo Noto!

The Moment has Come To Face the Truth. :)

2010-04-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

I guess when you have 3 blogs to post things on, plus facebook updates, it's easy to forget about some of them.

Anyway, here's an update on the latest in The Lovely Life of Lauremo Noto.

WRIST: Recovery is still coming along very nicely. Contrary to how I felt at the time of my last update, my wrist is still attached, and very securely I might add. I finished up the antibiotics I was prescribed, and started some physical therapy. My wrist is basically hardcore! I get to do exercises and play with all sorts of things, like silly putty, rubber bands, hammers, and I can lift 1 and 2 pound weights! (the doc gave me the ok to lift up to 10 pounds, but I'm limited for my exercises.)

Here's some proof of my improvement!

SCHOOL: Finals are in less than 2 weeks. Holy crazy. Well. 2 weeks from tomorrow, I suppose, but most of my finals are in-class on the last day. I'm really not too worried about finals. It's a good feeling! I already know I'm getting an A in my Capstone class (woo! I can graduate. . . eventually), and my other classes aren't too stressful. It will be good. 1 paper, 2 homework assignments, some reading, and 3 finals, and I'll be done with Winter 2010. Oh, and I have to grade somewhere close to a zillion assignments for Psych 111, but thats not too horrible. Then I'll be halfway through my college career. wow.

WORK: Summer means work time! I got my job back at the blessed place known as AMP. Happy day? We'll see. But I do know that this summer is going to be great because I won't be working after 6-7 on a regular basis! Wonderful! And, I might be able to pick up a few extra bucks if Dr. Reber needs help with his classes during Spring. It will be good. Independent Study, AMP, and a TA? With a social life? I can already tell this summer is going to be WAY better than last year.

And, in other news. . . not too much going on. Thats pretty much my life. I love my ward, my neighbors, and (not-so) random runs to Applebee's on Wednesday nights.

Service Project at the Bishop's- Raking up his Apple Orchard after he pruned it. Just like at home! haha

We had our own festival of colors party after our service project.

Life is good.

The End is Near. . . I Hope at least. One MAJOR Step Done.

2010-03-03T17:23:00.001-08:00

I just got my pins pulled about an hour ago. Ouchies. I called in because my hand has been super sore the last day and a half, and I've been "oozing" nasty stuff around the pins. They said I could come right in, so I rushed over there as fast as I could so I could make it before they closed for the day.

I got there with a bit to spare, so I was able to talk to my nurse buddies. haha. I'm too much of a regular. We talked about iPod's vs. SmartPhones, and I made them think I was smart because of what I know with apps. Katie thought I was a computer science major or something. crazy. But it was fun. I'm gonna miss those people.

Anyway, Dr. Richards finally got a minute to come visit with me. Apparently I have a slight infection, so when I went in to have them look at it, Dr. Richards decided to pull the pins (I was scheduled to have them removed next Tuesday). He said it would sting a little when they came out (understatement of my LIFE!) and my hand would be sore for a few days. Oh my gosh. My friend, Nurse Katie, was the lucky one to take them out, and she YANKED them out with a good pair of pliers. I'm in extreme pain right now! No joke! Most miserable thing ever. Worse than when I was imagining the pins over Christmas, or even when I was going through withdrawls on Christmas Eve. Ouchies.

But, I'm in a new wrap!

I got a new brace, which can be removed so I can do my stretching exercises :) The blue part is a temporary wrap that I have to leave on for a day or two while the wounds finish bleeding and whatever else. That means I get to shower with a bag on my arm again. fun fun.

After that, I'm scheduled for physical therapy with my buddy Doug Bagley to try and get most of my motion back. Should be fun! Then its back to see Dr. Richards in a month to see how everything is going recovery wise. The end is in sight, my friends! At least, if I can survive these next few days.

That will take some effort.

February Weekend #1

2010-02-07T10:44:00.000-08:00

Weekends are when the parties happen, and I've been lucky enough to have loads of things to keep me entertained over these last few weekends!

The parties started Thursday night this week with a birthday dinner treat for Kelli and Elyse when we went to Noodles & Company (for my first time ever!). As we were leaving Sparks, Ian walked by and decided to come join in the fun!

Kelli and Elyse

Ian and Myself - I love how my cast is conveniently cut out. :)

The food was delicious, and it was a great time to get out and try something new with some new found friends!

This was only the beginning of a weekend of adventures.

Friday after finishing classes, going to Jamba and catching with my cousin Alena, packing, and finally remembering everything, I made my way down to Ephraim for the Snow College Institute Valentines Dance (sounds official, right?). Elysha had talked me into going earlier in the week, so I found a date and got super excited to see everyone. She was taking JD, and 4 of her roommates were going on blind dates with kids I went to high school with. So, out of our group of 15 couples, I knew about half of the people there. It was a fantastic night!

Me and Kody (my date), Elysha and JD - The coolest couples in the group!

The Richfield Kids- You know we're amazing!

Elysha and Myself- Lookin' Good!

Kyle and JD being gay. . .

"If you can't act gay, you are gay." -Josh Dilworth

After enjoying dinner, the dance, some games, and a long and much needed talk with Elysha, we finally got to sleep to prepare ourselves for the activities of Saturday. This included chocolate milk straws, birthday brownies for her housemate Cassandra, and spending an hour at Stoker's place so I could meet DANIEL FEREDAY!

Ok, not THE Daniel Fereday, but still!

After that, I went on my way back to Provo so I could be back in time for my wonderful roommate Patria's 20th birthday bash! We went to a cute little dessert place in Orem, The Chocolate, and had some of the most delicious desserts I can imagine.

The birthday girl in all her glory!

All in all, it was an excellent weekend, and it still isn't even over! Who knows what will happen tonight? I can't wait. I love people! :)

Exciting Upcoming Events in the Life of Lauremo

2010-02-03T21:06:00.000-08:00

Life never slows down, and it's always getting better! Here is a glimpse into the life I will be enjoying in the near future! (and some favorites from the recent past.)

- Valentines Dance in Ephraim Friday night!

Woo! I'm so excited for this! We've got a huge group together of a bunch of my high school friends and a few select others, and its going to be a party. Thanks for inviting me down, Lysh!

I think its going to look an awful lot like this. :)

- Patria's 20th Birthday Bash Saturday night!

We'll be going to a dessert place in Orem and then enjoying the new acclaimed movie "Dear John". Should be fun!

- Cast #5 (#2 this year) is coming off on Tuesday!

Woot! I always love the feeling of getting a cast off, even if I have to have another one put right back on. :( BUT! I believe I'm going to get a WHITE one this time and let my dear friend Savanna doodle all over it to her hearts content, because she's wanted to do that to every one of my casts. By the time she gets to it, however, too many people have signed it for her to do much. This one is going to be all hers (because she feels at least partially responsible for the injury. haha long story.)

- 3 Day (All-Star) Weekend for President's Day!

Need I say more? Its going to be a blast! Perfect timing for a nice break (I have 2 midterms that next week) and lots of fun entertainment, even if Patria will be leaving me. :(

Thats about it for the month of February. Although, I'm sure there will be loads more random dance parties and LOST parties to fill in the boring moments of my life. Enjoy the pictures from our random break-dance awesome party we had Saturday night, along with a few choice pictures from the Sparkademy Awards held on Friday night (of which, my FHE group won the "Bishopric's Choice Award"). What a great weekend!

My stunning friend Kelli and myself on the Red Carpet!

And the winners of the Bishopric's Choice Award: Fate Interrupted!

(soon to be posted on YouTube)

Games night in Apt. 21!

Woo for Random Dance Parties in the Clubhouse!

I even tried my skills at breakdancing!

Only the coolest people join in on random dance parties.

Death Week

2009-12-12T01:11:00.000-08:00

Here is my schedule for the following week:

Tomorrow (Saturday)-Reading Day 2
Go with Ryan to take a friend to the airport.
Leave: 8:30am. Return: ?.
Also, I need to bake cookies for my cousin and to send to all my missionary friends.
Hopefully some study time as well.

Sunday-
Church. Grandma's Dinner. Make Cookies/ get packages ready to send. Sleep.

Monday-
Work 11-2.
Study, study, study.
PSYCH Final: 5:45-7:45. I'm gonna ace this thing.

Tuesday-
Work 8-11
Physical Science Review 11-2.
Take Physical Science Test at 3?
Study, study, study.

Wednesday-
Work 11-2. Hopefully take my D&C final during this time.
Study, study, study.
Hopefully make it to the temple.

Thursday-
Work 8-11. Hopefully submit my Jazz Final.
Study, study, study.
Sociology Final 2:30 - 4:30. I'm going to ace this one too.
Pack up to go home for the Holidays.
Take down Christmas lights and Christmas tree :(
Clean out fridge so there won't be any rotten food when I get back.
Find out when I'm scheduled for surgery the next day.
Party, party party.
Maybe, hopefully, get some sleep.

Friday-
Surgery #4
Enjoy the after affects of anesthesia.
Ride home with the parents.
Hopefully not be in pain.
Sleep.

Saturday-
Spend time with Tommy.
Again, hopefully not in pain.
Maybe see some friends.
Sleep.
Forget about school until further notice.

That's 2 in-class, scheduled finals, 1 test on blackboard, 1 essay to write and submit, 1 test in the testing center, and a surgery.

Sound like a plan? I think so.

Let's do this!

It's been far too long

2009-10-07T11:17:00.001-07:00

Goodness gracious!!! It's been too long since I last posted on here. Over a month! You'd think my site was broken or something. I guess September just wasn't that exciting of a month. But now it's OCTOBER! Best month of the year. If you want to know why, go here to read my post from last year.

So far this month, I've done something mega exciting each day! And the month just keeps getting better!

October 1- JD came up for the Wind Ensemble concert! I forgot how funny that kid is. Haha. super awesome day.

October 2- I had to work 6 hours because my coworker was sick. (She thought she had Swine Flu. Thank goodness she doesn't!) Then that night me, Patria, and JD (for his first time) went to the BYU vs. USU football game! Plus, after the game, I got to go home to Glenwood for Conference Weekend!!

October 3- Glenwood time with the family. Watched Conference, played some Rockband, watched Who Wants to be a Millionaire with Sara, played with Abe, and had a great time!

October 4- More Conference (shout out to my homeland from Elder Cook- "What happens in Sevier County you can share with your friends")! Ate delicious food from mom, played more with Abe, and made the trip back to Provo for another exciting week.

October 5- Went to classes, which is lame, but had an awesome FHE. We went to the Library and played Sardines (after learning from our failed attempt a few weeks ago), then ended up at Wendy's for Frosties. :) Plus, I found out Amelia got us tickets for the Divine Comedy this weekend!!

October 6- I made a legit dinner for myself for the first time in my apartment. No frozen or canned stuff, all fresh! According to Slow- "shnoobrochamkey". AND I built a shelf! Its beautiful.

Plus, one year ago today was the best night of my life so far. Read about it here if you're interested. =w=

I can't wait to see what the rest of October has in store! I just know it's sure to be a party! (especially because Memo is the man of the month according to my Jazz calendar. Thats a good sign!)

My Pet Peeve of Provo

2009-08-28T08:22:00.001-07:00

School starts again on Monday. With this comes the HUNDREDS of people that disappeared over the summer. Yeah, all those people who CAN'T DRIVE!

Ok. So they can drive. They're just not smart drivers.

Case in point: The Suicide Lane-ers.

These are the people marked in RED in the picture above. They see an opening to turn left on the opposite lane of traffic, so they take it and decide to drive in the Suicide Lane until there is an opening. The problem is that half the time they don't act like they're going to make it into the suicide lane, they're trying to get into your lane when you're RIGHT THERE! I'm already paranoid of being cut off, and these people are the type that would do something like that to you.

The other problem these drivers cause is that they just stick around in the Suicide Lane without a care in the world waiting for something to open up so they can merge over, but all I really want to do is make a left turn from right where they're sitting. I shouldn't have to take a detour because of something like that.

It's kind of frustrating. Especially considering that I've seen it at least twice a day everyday for the last week.

Some people's children . . .

Last Day

2009-08-16T12:54:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was my last day at AMP! I can't really believe it. I feel like I'm going to be going back there tomorrow night again, but I guess its official.

To celebrate my last day of work, Chris, Allie, and myself all decided to be awesome together and wear uniforms.

I'm really gonna miss those guys, and a lot of the other people I worked with! Can't say I'll miss the actual job though. haha. Good times. Maybe I'll see some of you again next summer. . . ?

PS- BEST PICTURE EVER.

. . . to be continued

2009-08-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

So, Lagoon was awesome and I got a lot of fun pictures to share, but it will be a few days before I can actually post them.

You see, after a long yet fun day riding all the rides and enjoying some sunshine, we decided to go on the Wicked, and on this fateful ride, my brand new phone decided to fall out of my pocket, along with all the pictures I had taken.

The phone was recovered, but the screen stopped working and a piece fell out, so Verizon is kind enough to send me a new one that I should be receiving tomorrow or Wednesday. Then I'll go into the store so they can transfer all of my pictures over to the new phone.

Stay tuned! You won't want to miss the pictures!

You're so good for me. . .

2009-08-06T13:48:00.000-07:00

TOMORROW:

I'm so excited!!! woo! Pictures are for sure to come!

Welcome to the 21st Century!

2009-08-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

My small town is finally getting noticed!! If any of you have ever messed around on google earth or google maps, you've probably noticed they have a cool "street view" option so you don't just have to see the sky view. Up until very recently (I don't know exactly when this happened, but its just within the last few weeks) that feature wasn't available in my hometown. Now it is! Whoopie!

What does this tell you?

2009-08-02T19:26:00.000-07:00

While I was home today, the phone rang, and I was the one that got to answer it. When I picked up, I nearly said "AMP, this is Lauren" but instead I said "Hi, this is Lauren" like it was my cell phone. To make matters worse, it was our friend Lori on the other end, who knows that we usually answer the phone "Hello, this is the Bytheways."

I have been working there for way too long.

Good thing I only work there for 2 more weeks, huh?

Home Sweet Home

2009-08-01T21:30:00.000-07:00

Today while I was working my 8 hour shift at the beloved AMP, I had a crazy idea enter my mind to go home for the weekend so I could work on the baby blanket I'm making for Trent and Manda. By doing so, I would also get to go on the legendary Sunday night walk with my friends.

I had it all planned out in my head, get off work at 3, stop by Old Navy (because I had a coupon for 30% off that expires tomorrow), go home, pack, and hit the road by 5 at the latest.

Turns out, my plans changed. When I was nearing the end of my shift at 1, my brother Ryan came in and told me a sad story of how his recently newly replaced iPod stopped working that morning, and how he was so sad that he had to work all night because he wouldn't be able to make it up to the Apple Store to get it checked out. Jokingly, he suggested that I could be a really nice sister and run up to the Apple Store for him to get it fixed. I thought about it, and decided that he had been such an awesome brother to me this summer (getting me a job, giving me rides, fixing my car, hooking me up with wireless internet, entertaining me with Rockband and movies, introducing me to Netflix, etc.) that I could make the trip to attempt to pay him back.

I drove up to Salt Lake, paying careful attention to follow the directions Ryan gave me because I had never driven in Salt Lake before, let alone by myself. I found what I thought was a decent parking spot and made my way to the Apple Store. It was packed! I thought for sure it would take forever to be able to talk to someone, but the concierge hooked me up and I was talking to a genius within 3 minutes of walking in the door. He took the iPod to look it over and said he would see what he could do. 20 minutes later he came over to me and told me the problem wasn't as easy to fix as he thought and to be patient. Well, what else could I do? haha. So I just sat there texting some friends to keep me occupied. About a half an hour later he came back with a new iPod in hand and some paperwork with me to sign. He said he tried to fix it 2 different ways and he couldn't solve it, so he just replaced it. He also gave me a reciept with the plastic cover stuck to it and told me to go to the Invisible Shield kiosk for a replacement cover, so I did. I called Ry-Ry to share the news before I started the trip back to AMP to drop off the iPod. Ryan was pretty happy because he didn't actually have an Invisible Shield cover before, so it was really an upgrade for him. Lucky kid.

As I was walking back to my car, pulling my keys out of my pocket to unlock the door, the Parking Enforcement officer pulled up behind where I was parked and stopped. She then got out of the vehicle and started to look around at the car parked next to me. In my eagerness to find a parking spot, I overlooked the fact that I had parked right in front of a fire hydrant. (whoops.) Luckily, I was able to move my car before I got a ticket, and the officer didn't even say a word to me as I unlocked my door and got into the car. phew. close call. Then Ryan would have really had owed me one for this favor.

After dropping off the iPod around 6 I made a quick stop at Old Navy and quickly got home to pack up some essentials and my laundry to do at home. I had a particularly uneventful drive home, just spent rocking out to some tunes (using my new mp3 player from Woot).

When I got home and drove into the driveway, I was happily surprised to see some extra cars in the driveway belonging to Trent and Manda and Lori. Who knew I was coming home to a party? Everyone was out in the barn watching the boys work on the bikes, so I made my way over to say hi. Within the 10 minutes I was out there, I was attacked, no, seriously. ATTACKED by mosquitos. Go Figure. I go all summer without a single bite, and I come home for 10 minutes and they've made up for all the lost time. geeze. Here is some proof of the damage (beware, it is kind of gruesome).

Seriously. I promise those are all mosquito bites. Not paintballing welts or cancerous growths of skin cancer. All that from about 10 minutes outside!!!

Oh welcome home. Home, Sweet Home.

Go Go Power Rangers!!!

2009-07-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

Today, during my shift at work when I was most bored, I decided to go look around on hulu.com and see if I could find any other gems I could watch because I'm all caught up on all the other shows I watch. I came across the "Hulu Days of Summer" which is their deal to post one new show a day all summer long. I was browsing through last months additions, and found that they loaded Mighty Morphin Power Rangers THE MOVIE. Words cannot express my excitement!
When I was in elementary school, I loved the power rangers. It was the coolest thing on TV and my parents actually let me watch it. I always imagined myself as the Pink Ranger, Kimberly (and I'm sure I wasn't the only one to do so). My mom even made me pink ranger costumes a few years for Halloween; definitely some of the best costumes I've ever had!So now, I'm reliving a small, yet AWESOME piece of my childhood, all thanks to hulu.com. Have I metioned before how absolutely awesome hulu is? Because its incredible. I owe so much of my summer boredom to it.

Any of the later Power Rangers (Time Force, etc.) are pretty lame. Only the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers are cool enough to be forever awesome.

Don't forget- GO GO POWER RANGERS!

. . . its the unexpected things that bring a smile to your face. . .

2009-05-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

Last night, I was riding the bus home after work. It was dark outside, and my iPod kept giving me the sad face and didn't want to cooperate with me, so I had to turn my attention to something else to keep me entertained for the half an hour ride. As I was thinking to myself about things, one of the other passengers phones went off. I looked up to see where the noise was coming from- turns out it was from a passenger who had been sitting hunched over with his head down since he had boarded. When he checked his phone, however, a soft smile came across his face and it continued to grow as he responded to a text message.

This same thing has happened to me at least 3 times since Friday, and I thought it would be good to finally update my blog and share my happiness.

The first bit of unexpected happiness was on Saturday when me and Ryan pulled into the driveway in Glenwood and saw Trenton and Manda's car. It was totally unexpected; I was told they were going to be in Colorado for the weekend, and it made me happy to see that they had come down to Glenwood.

Later that night, after we had spent a few hours playing Uno Attack, Brandon stopped me in the kitchen and gave me a huge hug! Probably one of the best ones I've had in the last 7 weeks. It definitely made me smile. Just what I needed really.

Then today, I checked the mail before I got on the bus to head to work, and I got a most awesome letter from my friend Adam! He's on his mission in South Dakota, currently in North Dakota. He sent me some awesome pictures of his P-Day adventures (to the Canadian Border even!) and a family he got to baptize. It was so good, and it brought a smile to my face at the beginning of another long day.

He's a good kid! He even drew me a picture of himself!! Now I just need to buckle down and write him a letter back.

Thats the beginning of my happiness for the week. I love it when little things like that happen and make you smile. Life is good!

Oh yeah!! Another little thing that made me smile was a new announcement from Rivers! haha.

Weezer are going to release their very own Snuggie blanket, which they're calling a "Wuggie," and have been working on a new album."A Wuggie is basically exactly like a Snuggie, except it says Weezer on it," frontman Rivers Cuomo told Rollingstone.com about the proposed sleeved blanket. "The people at Snuggie are doing it with us and promoting it with us. It's a totally legit Snuggie."

One Week

2009-04-16T00:31:00.000-07:00

Well, it's now officially been one week since my best friend entered the MTC.

Although I miss him quite terribly, especially because he's only about 5 blocks away from me, I'm so happy and excited for him and very proud of him! I got a letter from him yesterday, and he's already a District Leader and he's loving the MTC (well, all but the food, he says). He has another week and a half until he flies out to Omaha Nebraska to start the real work. He's definitely ready to get out there and really start working for the best two years of his life!

. . . and now I know

2009-03-27T15:04:00.000-07:00

oh the things I do to distract myself at work. haha.

So, there is a relatively new guy who just started working here at Independent Study (not the guy I wrote about in my previous post). From day one, he just kind of bothered me even though I didn't have an exact reason to dislike him. I did feel bad for him when he messed up his shoulder, but once that healed, things went back to normal. I really can't say why I had a negative feeling from him, until today.

He was walking around the office wearing :

A Houston Rockets Hat. I'd say that pretty much explains it all.

awww. I had to!

2009-02-28T00:49:00.000-08:00

I love this kid! He's so adorable! and I really miss Justin and Sarah being around, especially at family functions. It's just not the same. And I feel like it's been forever since I've seen Brandon and Julie. . . . oh well. This will have to do for now, I guess.

I love Picasa! I made this awesome collage in like 5 minutes. Piece of Cake!

Adventures at Work

2009-02-03T14:08:00.001-08:00

As of now, I'm sitting in my freezing little room at the Morris Center attempting some last minute studying for a test I have to take later today. However, while I'm sitting here shivering trying to concentrate on world politics I'm not nearly as interested in compared to my Speech and Debate days, there are two Independent Study guys talking, and I can't help but post about their conversation.

Everyone and their dog have been talking about the "Free Grand Slam" day at Denny's today. These guys are talking about it, but in a way that is blowing my mind (especially because they think they're geniuses for understanding it this way.

They keep going off about how Denny's gets it, and its only in Utah where a free meal would get so much attention (I guess the Denny's here in Provo had a line going all the way around it today with people waiting to get their free breakfast.) Apparently, as Mormons, we've been brainwashed into doing anything as long as there is food involved. In fact, one of them said, "You could give people an invitation that says, 'Please come help in some back breaking work for 12 hours, and we'll have free pizza after!' and you'll have a ton of people show up because there is free food involved.

Granted, it is something that is used at every activity ranging from YM/YW to Elders Quorum, but its not just because we're LDS. Any poor college student would jump at the opportunity for free food, not just BYU students.

Mainly, the only reason I'm posting this is to procrastinate my homework for a few more minutes, but really, these guys just really annoy me. Especially because they talk loud enough for everyone to hear, but if someone shows interest in their conversation, they get offended for people listening in on their conversation. Whatever though. If they're going to stereotype me, I will stereotype them. For now at least.

January!

2009-01-31T20:00:00.000-08:00

So, I guess I should post a decent entry for the month of January, seeing as how its the last day of the month. Wow. I seriously rock at life. January has actually been a pretty intense month so far, and if its any hint as to what the rest of 2009 is going to be like, we're in for a roller coaster ride. I hate to do this again, but its the best way to do something like this. Here's a quick highlight of all the things that happened this month!

- I went back to BYU for my 2nd semester! (I also aced (yes, aced = 100%) my first test in the testing center.) Also, the Singletons came up for the San Diego State Basketball game which we won! Great time!

- Justin, Sarah, and Elliott moved all the way out to Virginia! I miss them all the time.

-Matt came up to Provo/Pleasant Grove for a weekend and we partied it up with SherRon and Matt, singing karaoke and seeing the liger!

- Season 5 of LOST started, and I'm still addicted. We also got my cousin Nacia hooked and partied it up at Ryan's house with Rockband 2!

- There were loads of birthdays on my floor, and I decorated for most of them. Thank goodness for Streamers!!!

- The Jazz. . . well, the Jazz have been a disappointment. AK had surgery, and we've been losing games since. But, I'm not just a fair weather fan, I'm a fan through thick and thin, so we'll just hope for the best in the rest of the season.

-I was able to come home this weekend for Stahlie's baptism! Best day ever! Really, I love her to death, and its been an all around good day.

-Ryry dislocated and broke his elbow today. Poor kid. :(

So, here's to January. An intense month hopefully not alluding to what the year still has to bring.

21 Days 'Til Christmas!! My Room Decorations!

2008-12-04T21:51:00.001-08:00

This is the wonderful drawing donning our door because I was bored Monday night when we were having another random study party in my room. It's been partially erased and touched up more than a few times, but I enjoy it, and midnight is always a party changing the numbers with The Chipmunk Christmas Album playing in the background.

So, I decided that since I decorated my room for Christmas with the lights I got over Thanksgiving, I need to post some pictures for all to see. I figured I should include some with the normal lights on as well as off so you can see how awesome my room really is!

My Half of the room from the door.

My bed and the reconstructed picture wall!

My most amazing Jazz wall.
Includes the Poster of D. Will and Boozer, plus individual pictures of every Jazz man. Its amazing.

The Jazz Wall paired with my Weezer Concert wall.

My work space! Totally cluttered, but sorted! haha

Incredible! The view of the window from the door! I love the Christmas lights!
My awesome workspace with the Lights!

Another sweet view of the window. I just love it so much!

Most nights we leave the Christmas lights on by themselves just for a little bit longer. Morgan likes falling asleep with them on, but I can't because the only night my parents would leave the lights on all night was Christmas Eve, and I'm pretty sure its programmed into my brain to get excited and stay up all night when the lights are on all night. I really like them though because they help me not completely freak out about finals and remember the sweet things in life like Christmas and my birthday.

*Be sure to check out my post below about LOST! It's freaking awesome! I get excited every time I watch it!*

"You Found Me" : LOST : January 21, 2009

2008-12-04T21:41:00.001-08:00

Ryan got me hooked on LOST about this time last year right after I got my new laptop. He gave me the first season, and I finished the 3rd season in the middle of the summer. I got the 4th season from him, and thinking that the 5th season would start soon, I finished them all as fast as I could. To my surprise, the 5th season doesn't start until January, so I've been trying to wait patiently for it to come. I was reminded about it today by the free downloads on iTunes, and I couldn't pass them up. Now I'm pumped for the show again, which isn't so good because its twice as far away as Christmas!!!!! This will just have to last me until then!

Make sure you watch the music video. Thats the best part. After the Teaser, 3 screens will come up, then watch the music video.

The End of October

2008-11-03T15:42:00.000-08:00

October 2008 had to be the greatest month of the year, if not the greatest month of my life. Here are a few highlights of what my Roctober experience included.

Ringing in October at Midnight on Wednesday, October 1 with Jason, Patria, and JD!

Taking my new college friends RJ, Jason, and Patria down to G-wood over Conference Weekend to give them a taste of the country life. hahaha That was super fun!
Nicholas Jorgensen (founder of October) getting his mission call to Seoul, South Korea! He leaves on January 14th.

Going to my first and most awesome concert of my life - Seeing Weezer LIVE in SLC on Tuesday October 7th. I was within feet of Rivers. . .

Having the Singleton's come up to the BYU Homecoming football game
Getting new contacts. It may seem silly, but its so nice to be able to see again!

Having the Glenwood YW come up to the most intense BYU Home Football game this season!

Babysitting my nephew Elliott with Amy for the first time!
Starting a new job at the Continuing Education office on BYU campus.

The Beginning of the 2008-09 Utah Jazz Season . . . With a Win!

Carving Pumpkins with Trent, Manda, and Sara the night before Halloween

Halloween at Helaman Halls.

Each of these experiences combined with numberless other random joys that occur during my day to day life made October 2008 a month not soon to be forgotten. Until next year!

=w= The Greatest Band That Ever Lived =w=

2008-10-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night I got to participate in the most amazing night of my life. After taking the American Heritage Mid-Term, I said goodbye to my chillins at BYU and left Provo with SherRon with the destination of The E Center and my idol, Rivers Cuomo ahead of us.

We met up with her fiance, Matt at IKEA, and after stopping to get some interesting but delicious tapioca, we were finally there. We waited on the steps outside the E Center for an hour before they let us in to get our wristbands for the floor, only to wait another hour until the opening act.

I could hardly contain myself. I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it. I've listened to Weezer the better 14 years of my life, and to actually be in the same building as them, let alone finally be seeing them live was a dream coming true.

I had been dreaming about this moment from the time my older brothers got to see them on their Enlightenment Tour (and even got their picture on weezer.com), and was thoroughly disappointed when SLC wasn't on their Make Believe Tour. I was scared that Make Believe might be their last album, that they might break up, and Weezer would be done. Rivers had graduated college finally, and was married. There was a definite possibility of the end.

Then one day I was bored at school and decided to see what was happening on weezer.com because it was one of the few sites that isn't blocked. I was shocked to see that Karl had posted plans for a new album, a new single, a new everything from Weezer. Words cannot express how excited I was for this album! The cover, the 3rd self title, everything. Even though the single Pork and Beans was NOT prime Weezer material, I was excited to hear something new, and even more stoked for the eventual release of the album.

I had been misinformed of the release date, and was very disappointed to see the CD on sale at Wal-Mart when I was back east for the CHT. I was so tempted to buy it, but it wasn't the deluxe version, so I held off. It was so worth it; the deluxe version helped fill my need for more Weezer goodness. One thing that made me even more elated when I bought the deluxe version on iTunes was the promise of a pre-sale code for tickets for the upcoming tour! I hoped with all my heart that Weezer would make a stop in SLC, and that I would be able to go.

The tour schedule was finally posted on weezer.com, and sure enough, there was a date scheduled in Salt Lake. I was so excited. I immediately started emailing my brothers asking who was going, expecting that they would be excited as well and I'd definitely have a ride. To my demise, nobody was interested. Ryan said it wasn't worth paying for, and Justin said that anyone going to the concert was still "living in the 90's". I was crushed. My dream of finally seeing Weezer live and seeing my idol Rivers seemed like it was going to slip through my fingers.

Then my friend SherRon sent me a text as I was on my way to Carrie's wedding saying she had gotten tickets. I was so jealous. She said she was only going because her boyfriend (soon to be fiance) was a die-hard fan. Seriously. I started thinking, and a few weeks ago, I realized she lives in Orem, I live in Provo, if I get a ticket, she could be my ride. I asked her, and she complied. I started looking for tickets. But I was too late! Everyday I checked, and every day the best tickets were only for seats. I was disappointed, but I decided it would be worth it nonetheless. Then, I checked one last time before agreeing to get seats with Steve Hurd. To my amazement there was a ticket for General Admission- No Seat! Exactly what I was hoping for! I bought it without a question and could hardly wait for the weeks to pass by.

The day finally arrived, Tuesday, October 7, 2008. I went to devotional, had taken my American Heritage mid-term, and finally SherRon picked me up at about 4:30.

Once inside the E Center, the anticipation was killing me. It was my first concert, and Matt was trying to give me all the details of how things would happen. I don't remember much of what he said, but I thank him for the effort.

7:30 came around, and Tolchock Trio opened, which was pretty cool. I recognized some of their songs from the iPod Justin gave me, but not enough to satisfy my want of Weezer. Half an hour of a set change later, Angels and Airwaves came out. I honestly was not impressed. The lead singer sounded like a whiny depressed emo kid, and he kept dancing randomly and freakishly around the stage. After I think 5 songs which were continuously tied to each other, they were off stage and I was seriously about to have a heart attack.

The stage crew started bringing out everything: Pat's Drums, Rivers' Drums, a mini-trampoline, a Dora the Explorer ball, Rivers' harmonica, Rivers' freaking Guitar with the Lightening Bolt Strap! By this point, the crowd had already compacted, and I was 2 people away from the railing. It took all my strength not to start squeaking with excitement.

Finally the lights went out, and I screamed for a good minute until the band started coming out on stage. They were wearing White Jump Suits and Rivers' was wearing an additional white Ski Cap, so you could only see his eyes and his stache.

From here on out, words cannot describe how amazing and wonderful and perfect and incredible it was. So I will just grace you with pictures and the set list.

1. My Name Is Jonas 2. Pink Triangle 3. Perfect Situation 4. Say It Ain't So 5. Suzanne 6. Keep Fishin' 7. King 8. Undone (The Sweater Song) (w/ Angels & Airwaves) 9. Pork And Beans 10. Dreamin' 11. Dope Nose 12. Troublemaker 13. Automatic 14. Hash Pipe 15. El Scorcho 16. Morning Glory (Cover - Originally By Oasis) 17. The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations On A Shaker Hymn) 18. Island In The Sun (Hootenanny Style) 19. Beverly Hills (Hootenanny Style) 20. Heart Songs (Vinyl LP Played On Record Player) 21. Silver (Cover - Originally By Nirvana) 22. Buddy Holly

I've now told my story of the best night of my life with the Greatest Band That Ever Lived. Thanks for Reading!!!

Oh yeah! Rivers himself even said that Weezer would be back next year! To Salt Lake even! I'm holding him to his word! haha. Ahhh. . . even thinking about it still makes me excited. =w=

OCTOBER!!!!!!!!!!

2008-10-01T00:15:00.000-07:00

When most people think of October, they think of Fall, or Halloween or something closely associated with those things.

For me, however, I think of Chemistry.

Wait. . . Chemistry?

Yeah, Chemistry.

It all started my Sophomore year about mid March or so sitting in the back of Mr. Rowley's room with Nick, Alan, and JD all in the very back corner. We rarely did anything in that class ever, and this day was no exception. Role-dawg wasn't even teaching that day, so we had decided to start bothering JD about him and Claud-dawg. It only took a moment for things to escalate to the point of no return, or the point of dilusionality. I don't even remember specifically what we were talking about, whether it was "Blasphemy" or trying to remember quotes to write on my awesome quote binder, but someone asked the question, "When?" and Nick quickly responded, "In October!!" That was only the beginning.

We quickly began imagining ideas of October-fest, (of which Bro. Shelton lovingly referred to as "Rocktober-fest"); things we would do, festivities to plan, such as the pumpkin carving party, the song writing deadline and many other random things.

Although it is sad to say that nothing ever really happened for October-fest specifically, it started the ball rolling on one of the least widely known festivities in the world. It is now up to you to join in the celebration of October-fest. Write a song, do a dance, tell someone else; who knows what the Spirit of October-fest will do for you!

For Nick, he was inspired to write the chemistry song entitled "Fusion: With 4 Part Harmony" which kick-started the joint publishing business of Nicholas Masterworks (who still happens to be waiting for their 2nd piece to publish).

For the rest of us in that class that wonderous day, the Spirit of October-fest was planted deep within us, calling out for each of us to spread around the joy it brings. This is my quest.

Enjoy October-fest! Its all month long, but remember! Its only for a month so take advantage of it while you can!!!!!

Don't forget to read my previous post about whats really going on my life currently!! Its a good one!!!

Month Number 1- I was a pansy.

2008-09-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

The week before I moved up here to Provo I stopped by the Sem Building to talk to the Bro's one last time. I thought I was only going to be able to see Bro Steele, but luckily Shelton was there too so I talked to him for a few minutes. He gave me some advice that I took very seriously. Basically he said, "Listen, the first week you're up there, you're going to hate it. The first week is going to be horrible; you're not going to know anyone, you're going to miss your friends and your family and you won't know what is going on. But, after the first week, you're going to love it and you're not even going to care about whats happening at home. After that first week, you're going to look back and say, 'I was a pansy.' And I want that text."

At the end of the first week, I thought about what he had said and still wasn't too comfortable with the whole college thing, especially since I was kidnapped by some underground cult. I thought about it the end of the next week, but I still missed home because Sadee was up here in the hospital so I got to see the Singletons.

I finally started feeling ok with the situation up here this last weekend, and now that we have established the Quad, I'm loving life. (I even sent the text message to Shelton!) I'm loving it to the point of where I really want to bring my buddies down to G-wood, and we're trying to get rides worked out. Right now. . . thats not exactly happening, but I'm hoping to get it worked out! It will be super exiting.

Yesterday I had a big moment in life. I got to meet one of the Mormon World's most acclaimed superstars for real. Kirby Heyborne was at the BYU Bookstore signing autographs to prepare for his concert in Provo last night. A group of us sat in line for about an hour just to see him, shake his hand, hear his voice, and get our picture taken with him. It was unforgettable. Especially for a friend who wasn't even there!

Also, in the last 2 weeks, I've started my mid-terms. I had music last week, Book of Mormon on Monday, biology today, and American Heritage is scheduled for next week. I passed my music test with 93%, at least finished my BoM test (I still don't know what my score was),got through my Bio test with 83% (as of now, it could go up to 85%) and am not excitedly looking forward to the American Heritage test. It will be good to get the first tests out of the way.

I am absolutely loving the fact that I am coming home this weekend. I can't believe its already been 5 weeks, but at the same time I can't belive its only been 5 weeks. Time is a crazy crazy thing. You just have to remember, in the words of Dr. Booth, "This could be your finest hour!!!"

Weekends at College, Thats Where the Parties Happen

2008-09-14T10:06:00.000-07:00

This exciting weekend started early, on Thursday actually. Ryan had picked me up to take me to Grandma's house to help him do the yard work again, and I was more than happy to join and get away from campus for a little while. We had a nice chat with Grandma and mowed her lawns, then she gave us a bunch of food before we left to make sure we were happy.

I had left my phone out in Ry-Ry's car because I didn't really need it while I was mowing, so when we were leaving I checked it to see if anyone had left a message for me. Surprisingly I had a new voicemail, and when I listened to it, it was my mom saying that Sadee Singleton was up in Provo at the hospital. She didn't say why or anything, just that she was up here.

I told Ryan he was taking me to the hospital, but he made us stop to get Wienerschnitzel and Slurpees first, which was ok because we still waited about 10 minutes at the hospital until she got out of surgery. Apparently she had appendicitis and had to have her appendix taken out. She was still super loopy from the anesthetic and she hardly had a voice because they had to put a tube down her throat to make sure she kept breathing, but she was super happy to see me and Ryan and even smiled a few times. She really smiled when Ryan drew this picture of "Captain Courage" on her wall and she told me it helped her fall asleep.

We went back home that night so she could sleep, and I got up and went to my classes the next day, totally thinking that they would have released her to go home that morning. Turns out she had a slight fever after the surgery so the doctor wanted to keep her another night for observation. After classes I walked down to the hospital and played with her for a few hours, basically the rest of the afternoon, and luckily she was released yesterday morning and is now home. Thats definitely a plus!

When I got home from the hospital on Friday, I ran into some of my friends who were going bowling at Fat Cats. There was a dillemma though, Fat Cats was reserved completely until 10 and it was only 8. We decided to go try to use our free game up at the Wilk, so after walking all the way around to every Hall in Helaman, we climbed the hill up to main campus, only to find that it was a half an hour wait for a lane. We were in a group of about 15 kids, so we would have needed 2 lanes, and I guess there was a dance going on down by the Shopko and the Cafe Rio that some of them wanted to go to.

At that point, my new little four-some of Jason, RJ, Patria, and me decided we were going to go get ice cream instead. We walked down to Baskin Robbins and from there decided we were going to go to Wal-Mart because we needed to get some paint for the game on Saturday, and some white T-shirts for India-Fest! RJ called his friend to give us a ride, and we made it up to Wal-Mart safely and got everything that we needed.

When we were dropped off back at the dorms, it was decided that we should go for another midnight stroll around campus and take more random pictures. We took the obligatory one in one of the echo circles in front of the JFSB, then some jumping ones off of the wall,

then found the happy family statue behind the Kennedy Center.
We continued walking around campus, and finally came to rest on the hill outside of the Clyde Building Fishbowl. We sat there and looked at the stars for almost an hour, having some crazy fits of laughter and having an awesome time. When it was about a quarter to 2, we decided it was time to head back to the dorms, yet on our way there, as we were crossing the road from the JKB to the Tanner Building, Jason stopped and laid down on the road to "watch the lights change" (which they never did). That only lasted about 5 minutes before we were back on our way home.

As soon as we got back home, it was only a matter of minutes until we were all on facebook chatting about the night, posting our crazy pictures, and tagging everyone involved. We finally ended up getting to sleep around 3.

The next morning, we woke up stoked for the BYU vx. UCLA game and India-Fest! We didn't actually get going until about 11, but we got our waffles at the Cannon Center, took RJ up to campus so he could make a visit to Wells Fargo, and then pained our arms and our faces for the game. It was tight because we were all matchers in our silver shimmer shorts and our "Quest" T-shirts.

We went to the game, which was exciting and boring at the same time because of the final score of 59-0. Seriously. BYU is amazing.

We got back to the dorms and showered again to get the paint off of our arms, and we thought the next destination was India-Fest. Jason couldn't find any information of where it was or when the paint throwing would be, so he just decided it wasn't the best idea. I did some searching on the online Daily Universe and I found out that it was in Spanish Fork. That means it wasn't going to happen. Instead, Kendra came to visit me, and we had a super good time talking about home! I miss her so much!

Since nothing else of importance was going on that night, and I was really too tired to go to any of the dances, I did some homework, did my laundry, and went to bed at the reasonable hour of midnight. Stay tuned for some more exciting moments from BYU!

My First Weekend of College

2008-09-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

Last night was super crazy. There was a big party at Helaman Halls, they called it the "blu-au" and it was super fun. They had blow up toys and grilled pineapple and it was way fun. I went up to the dance by the Wilk with a bunch of my friends on the floor and the craziest thing happened.

This guy came up to me and gave me a fake rose. He was wearing glasses, an earpiece, and a black shirt. Before he gave me the rose he asked me if I was a BYU Student. When I said yes, he gave me the rose, told me to keep it visible and someone would come and tell me what to do in about a half an hour. Half an hour later, a kid in a t-shirt and a baseball hat came up to me and told me to take someone I trust and go to the back of Brigham Square.

There were a few other people back there so I took a girl from my floor named Patria and we were really curious as to what was going on. In about 15 minutes there was a huge group of probably 100 people waiting, and they took us over to the JFSB courtyard. The guy who took us there had no idea what was going on, he said he just was told to take us there. Then another guy in black came in and said we were supposed to be in front of the building.

When we went out front, there were people filming us with bandana's over their faces, and there was a cop car there to keep us in front of the building. Then there was a blinding light on top of the building shining down on us; someone had a projector and was putting a message down on the cement for us to read. All I saw was the word "stadium" and everyone else started screaming and running away. Of course we followed the crowd because we didn't want to be left behind, and we ended up a the baseball stadium.

When we got there all the lights were off except for a few black lights, and they took us out on the field and had us line up around the bases. They were playing really creepy music and me and Patria were starting to really freak out and wonder what was going on. There were still people filming us and we had absolutely no idea what was going on. Then, a voice came over the loudspeaker that started to laugh. It was like "hahaha thanks for being part of our prank. you guys came here for nothing" It was seriously one of the lamest nights of my life, but also one of the most exciting all at the same time.

Then, this morning the craziest thing happens! At the dance last night I danced once with this guy named Daniel. I talked with him during the one song, but other than that I didn't say anything to him and I most definitely didn't give him any of my information other than my name.

He calls me this morning and asks me how the whole rose debacle turned out, so I told him the story, and then he was like, "I'm sure you're wondering how I got your phone number because you didn't give it to me last night." and I was like, "Yeah, I'm just a little curious." Then he told me that he found me on stalker.net *CREEPY!*. He said it was because he knew I lived in the same building as Morgan, who is my roommate actually, and even though he got her number last night he must have put it in his phone wrong because when he called it this morning a guy texted him back and said it wasn't the person he was looking for. So thats when he looked me up, called me, and we found out he put in the wrong last digit of Morgan's number. As soon as he got off the phone with me he called her, and now they have a date tonight for mini-golfing. Crazy stuff. Apparently he's only been home off his mission for 4 weeks, and its unbelievable.

So thats my story of my first weekend of college, exciting I know. . . haha thats what happens here at BYU. Go Cougars!

I don't think I'm ready for this. . .

2008-08-16T23:07:00.000-07:00

So its been a while since my last post. Over a month in fact. Thats almost embarrassing. But, I have been busy living it up with my friends during that time. Now, looking back, I'm amazed at how much we've done together. Thats what makes it so hard to be saying goodbye.

Today Carrie got married. I'm so happy for her, really; she found the guy of her dreams, he treats her like a queen, and she is so so happy. Its the best thing for her. Last night we had a "Bachelorette" Party of sorts, which consisted of going bowling, watching a movie, chatting it up like old times, getting a car wash, and chilling at Maverick until 2:30AM. It was honestly one of the greatest nights of my life. I had seriously forgotten what hanging out with the dream team of Ashley and Carrie was like, and man, was it amazing! Now Carrie's all married off and I would be VERY surprised if me and Ashley ever hung out like that ever again. Those were some good times for the memory books.

All summer long, both this summer and last, Sunday nights have consisted of our annual Walks. Last year The Original Clan consisted of Me, Matt, JD, JD, Melanie, and Carrie, then occasionally Tommy. This year, things shifted a bit, Carrie was gone most Sundays, and Alan joined the group. We had visitors off and on, including Kendra, Amber, and Kelsey. It wasn't bad until a few weeks ago when we started counting down the weeks we had left. We figured last Sunday would be JD's last Sunday with us, and it was really hard to get everything figured out and settled. When we finished the walk and found a new spot on the lawn to sit and chat, I started thinking, which never is a good thing, and really started freaking myself out about what was going to happen within the next month. Luckily, Matt stayed later than everyone else and we had a very nice chat, and he helped calm my nerves a bit about things that I really couldn't do anything about at this point in time. I thought I had overcome a huge hurdle, especially with it being JD's last week, but then today, he decided not to move to Ephraim until Monday because of the wedding, so he will be here for this weeks walk.

Normally, that wouldn't be a bad thing, but today has been one full of ups and downs. Between the wedding, spending extra time with Ashley and JD, and cleaning my room up some more it really hit me how, even though I'm not moving for another week, most everyone else is moving this week, and theres a very good chance I might not see most of them until the holidays, or even until next summer. This scares me so much you have no idea. I've been cleaning out my closet over the past week and a half, and going through 18 1/2 years worth of stuff is one of those things that makes you think and remember all the good and not-so-good times. Some of the people I'm not going to be seeing are the ones who have been with me through all those times. I don't know what I'm going to do without anyone up in Provo with me. Not that I'm jealous of the people going to Snow who are taking the majority of their friends with them, but I'd be way more comfortable with one or two friends heading up with me. Now I just feel lost.

I don't know. I'm sure I'll be fine. Everyone has said they were super nervous before they went to college and everything worked out, but right now, I am definitely not feeling so sure. I guess I just need to focus on finishing this week at Vision, and cleaning my room and packing. That should keep me occupied.

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-04T22:24:00.000-07:00

Fireworks!!!!

We're sleeping out on the basketball court tonight, so I'll update more on this later. Fireworks were amazing this year, they lasted like 45 Minutes! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the little bit I've posted. I'll upload the Grand Finale next time. It was HUGE!!! I swear, if someone would have been blasting the Hannah Montana or Miley Cyrus, I would have been at Stadium of Fire. Seriously.

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th!!!!

Pins, Pins, Magical Pins!

2008-06-30T23:04:00.000-07:00

This morning at 5AM, I left my nice comfortable bed in Glenwood and traveled up to Orem in order to be at the hospital by 7 to get ready for my *final* surgery on my wrist.

Everything went smoothly, I got there on time, I got an actual room this time, I got all ready in my gown and shorts, the nurses did all the questioning, I signed all the papers, my arm was signed, then sanitized, and finally I was rolled into the OR, transferred to my Operating bed and knocked out.

The next thing I know I was waking up in my room (no recovery room this time! wahoo! at least that I can remember. hahah) asking my mom to see the pins. I specifically made arrangements with Dr. Richards and with the nurse to see them after the surgery was done. I mean, come on, who wouldn't want to see something that had been inside of them for the last 2 months? (yeah, its been almost 2 months. It will be the 2 month mark on Saturday. That means one more to go!)

I have a feeling that I asked to see them, looked at them, and gave them back to my mom before I remember asking to see them and looking at them because when I remember asking for them, my mom started laughing and said my dad doesn't like it when people ask the same thing multiple times.

When I got to see them, I was shocked! They're small little buggers! I thought they'd be way thicker and even a little longer. They remind me of sewing machine needles. They're pointed on one side like a needle, and look cut off on the other end. If you're ever at my house, I'll show them to you! *The chapstick is in the picture for size reference, not just because I was lazy.*

Dr. Richards even was nice enough to remember to wrap my hand lightly this time. He gave me the go ahead to start bending it back and forth as soon as tomorrow and I'm so happy.

I'm just hoping the back of my thumb, and, as I just discovered, the back of my hand wake up remotely soon. If it means pain, I wouldn't mind them waiting to wake up until the morning. The pins were inserted and removed right next to a major nerve that controls your hand, so not being able to feel anything on the back of my hand is kind of freaking me out, if you know what I mean. I don't even know if the back of my hand was numb after the surgery last time because my thumb was all wrapped and casted up, and my wrist was in immense pain even with the pain pills there to dull the pain.

Thats the good news! I haven't even taken so much as an aspirin all day! We were out of the hospital by 9, making that the fastest surgery probably ever, and I had an ice pack on my hand for maybe 10 minutes while we tried to stop by Brandon and Julie's (they were still asleep), then we went to Sam's Club to get goodies for the weekend (I got some sweet shorts and a 5 pound bag of gummy bears. I'm in heaven!), and then we went to the Provo Mall for lunch. Red Robin didn't open until 11, and we were like 15 minutes early, so we went up to the music store and got some piano music. Even by the time we got out of Sam's Club, my ice was melted because the hospital uses pebble ice, but I was feelin; fine! I was happy, and I even played my new piano song (WITH BOTH HANDS) when we got home. I'm really kind of excited my hand is really getting better this time.

So, 2 weeks until the stitches and the permanent soft cast come off, then I'm down to personal exercises and a brace until about August 11. I'm so so so so so happy. I'll be normal again!

Here's something crazy though. Today after I had taken a nap, my family was eating dinner and watching something on KBYU. They left, and I decided to make up something for myself (my mom made tacos) and I didn't bother to change the channel. Next thing I know I look up and see the nurse that started my IV at the hospital this morning! I guess her parents were on this show talking about coping with loss because her little sister died from a rare illness when she was 9. It kinda blew my mind. haha

So theres my update. I hope I didn't bore you with information, but you should be sure to leave me a comment because it brightens my day! We're down to the last leg, baby!

6 Weeks Down - 6 More To Go!

2008-06-25T12:39:00.001-07:00

6 Weeks ago, on Monday, May 5, I went in for surgery to have pins inserted in my wrist as a final attempt to kind of glue everything together and secure the ligaments that have been damaged as a result of my clumsyness over the last year and a half.

2 Weeks out from the surgery, I made a visit to Dr. Richards to get my stitches out, and got a sweet cast just 2 days before my Graduation.

Yesterday, the day came to get my cast off. They cut it off, took a few x-rays, and after Dr. Richards had checked it they gave me a removable splint!
I go back in for surgery on Monday, and they will cut the right side of my wrist back open so they can pull the pins out. (I think I can feel them right now. . . I definitely can't move my wrist in more than a few millimeters in any direction.)
Once the pins come out, it will be 2 more weeks of a soft cast wrap (that he says will be thin, and I'll be allowed to move my wrist in). After 2 Weeks, I will get the stitches removed, and then be on splint recovery with personal physical therapy (read: I get to do it myself) for one more month.
The plan is that I will be completely ready for anything by August 11, 2008. Who's excited? I am!

Today was amazing. . . I was finally able to take a shower with both hands exposed! No bag on the arm! It felt wonderful. Too bad it has to go back in a wrap soon. . . but it will all be worth it.

One Week Later -- Back to Normal

2008-06-15T23:33:00.000-07:00

So, I've been back from the CHT for one week now, and today was completely full of memories and the norm. Trent and Manda were down all weekend after going to the Manti Pageant on Friday night, so we went on the Marysvale Bike Trail yesterday and had a blast. Ryan showed up to church this morning for whatever random reason he came down for.

He was lucky enough to come on the day I was chosen to speak in Sacrament Meeting about the trip, and basically I got to cover everything anyone else had missed. Everyone said I did a great job, but I cried through most of it and I felt like I was reading one of our Debate cases. I guess the Spirit touched a lot of people because they said I did a really good job, so thats what counts.

When we got home, Trenton and Tommy helped make the, literally, meatiest meal I've had in a long time. We had delicious, perfect, fall off the bone tender, pork ribs, and they marinated a bunch of steaks, then there was the dutch oven potatoes, and all the fruit you could eat. It was amazing, definitely a tribute to a wonderful father for Father's Day.
I love this guy. He's the greatest, funniest, coolest dad on the planet. Guaranteed. We've been through our troubles, but it was all worth it to find out how amazingly incredible he is. I'm so lucky to have him for a dad.

After dinner we had a Duck Hunt Tournament, then I worked on the baby quilt I'm making for my nephew who is due to arrive in about a month. I'm super excited for him, and super sad I'll be missing the baby shower on Tuesday.

I finished sewing the quilt all together when JD B., JD S., and Matt had shown up for our traditional Sunday Walk. After saying goodbye to Trent, Manda, Ryan, and my parents, Tommy joined us and we went on our walk, and picked up Melanie and her cousin Kelsie on the way. We walked all over town and it was a good time, until Tommy had his usual downer. Then we got back to my house, and after talking on the lawn for a while, I went and grabbed my camera out of the house. When I came back out, everyone was playing leapfrog, so I snapped a random picture and scared everyone real bad. It was super funny.
After I took that first picture, someone had the genius idea to jump off our rock wall and get some sweet pictures, so I'll leave them with you. It was so much fun, and then my mom called curfew on us. Talk about lame, but its alright. It'll keep us excited for next week.

It took some tries to get the timing right. . .

And the camera positioned correctly. . .

But in the end, we had a blast. It was so worth it!!

Then, right when Mom called curfew on us, Melanie had an accident, and I looked like I got electrocuted (JD B said I looked like Nan. . . .). Then we had to say good night. . . :)

Day 16: Travel Day, Home Sweet Home!!

2008-06-09T02:17:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to say today, the main thing is I'm home! It's so nice!!!! After having Sacrament Meeting at 7 this morning, we left Grand Island, Nebraska at 9 to begin our long journey home.

On the way, we played the Smartie Game,
and Brennon showed off his awesome guitar skills.
We even watched The Other Side of Heaven, The Work and The Glory 3, Angels in the Outfield, The Testaments, and Legacy, plus some other random short church movies. It was a really long drive.

When we got past Denver and dropped off the Arizona kids, I was pretty sad because I was missing them, but then I saw the mountains, and I couldn't wait to get home.

I thought I was home when I woke up for dinner and everything around me said Glenwood, but it was just all of the Glenwood Springs, Colorado signs.

We actually ended up arriving in Richfield at 2:30, and I didn't get home until 3AM. It was so worth driving all day and all night though. I'm so glad to be home. My own room, my own bed, just being home.

Anyways, its late, or early, so I'm going to head to my bed. I'll update yesterdays post with pictures tomorrow. It feels so good to be home!!!

Day 15: Travel Day, Winter Quarters, Rainstorms in Nebraska

2008-06-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

Right now its pouring rain outside, so the internet is acting up and not letting me post any pictures, but I have loads to share.

Today we mostly drove, but we were able to stop in Omaha, Nebraska and see the Winter Quarters Visitors Center, Cemetery, and Temple.

We then drove to our hotel in Grand Island, Nebraska. When we got here, the weather was hot and muggy, but since then, the wind has blown in a HUGE storm. We were able to frolick in the rain after dinner, go puddle jumping, watch the lightning, and take loads of pictures since we'll be heading home tomorrow. There was an emergency alert that said to expect 1-3 inches of water within the next 3 hours, so this storm won't be letting up soon. Hopefully we'll be able to get out tomorrow morning. Here's some lyrics I think fit the current situation.

Tempted By The Storm
- Maren Ord

It happens everyday now
Walking out the door
It happens everyday now
Do I know what I do this for?

It happens everyday
I walk out of my place
Tempted by the storm
That’s always in front of my face
Do I know what I do this for?

I’ve lived in this for so long
How do I feel a change?
The storm, it beats against me
Every single day

But Jesus stands beside me
He’s holding me hand
The storm, it beats against me
But I know where I stand

It happens everyday
I walk out of my place
I’m tempted by the storm
That’s always in front of my face
Do I know?
Yes, I know
I know exactly what I do this for

But Jesus stands beside me
He’s holding my hand
The storm is pressed against me
But I know where I stand

Its bittersweet. Tomorrow is our last day, and I really can't wait to get home, but I still don't want to say goodbye to all of the Arizona kids. They're seriously the greatest! Tomorrow will most definitely be a sad day. We have at least 12 and a half hours of driving, plus rest stops, meal stops, and whatever else that might take up more time. Basically it means I have lots of time to sleep. I don't know if I'll be able to survive without my 5 hour nap everyday after this. Oh well, it will be worth it to be home.

Sorry again about the lack of pictures. They'll be coming later when the weather is cooperating with my efforts. See you soon!

Day 14: Nauvoo, Temple Baptisms, Sites and Sounds of Old Nauvoo

2008-06-06T21:54:00.000-07:00

What a long day! Who would have thought that the one day where we get to do whatever we want whenever we want would be the most exhausting one on the tour? Not me, thats for sure.

I slept in this morning until about 7:30 because somebody's phone kept going off, so I got up and jumped in the shower to get ready for the day ahead. When I got out of the shower, we went down to breakfast, and then went souvenier shopping before we were scheduled to go to the temple for baptisms at noon.

The temple was amazing. Going in, right after they check your recommends, you can see the meeting room, which is roped off, but it looks almost identical to the meeting rooms in the Kirtland Temple. Only the Prophet is allowed to call meetings in that room. When everyone got through the line, we were ushered downstairs to the baptistry, and I was in the first small group to get changed into the white clothes. Everybody else got to wait in the chapel in the basement, and I could hear them singing the Spirit of God while I was waiting to be confirmed. When we got in the room, each of us 5 girls got to be confirmed for about 10 names, and it was Brother Dungsten and Brother Sperry doing the confirmations with our bus driver Phil marking off the names. When we finished in there I was planning on just going back and changing my clothes since I couldn't do baptisms with my cast. A bunch of the temple workers offered to get me a bag or something so I could go in the font, but I decided against it, so they offered to let me do extra confirmations. That worked for me, so I accepted, but had to wait while they did a group of boys.

While I waited I got to sit out by the font, and I noticed the font was a foot or two lower into the ground than the normal floor. I later came to find out that they did that on purpose because in the original temple, the font sank into the swampy ground about that far. It just goes to show that they tried to copy as much detail as possible.

When I finished up with my extra confirmations and changing back into my clothes, I went out to the chapel to wait for some other people and to read my scriptures. I decided it would be cool to read some of the sections in the D&C that were revealed when the saints were in Nauvoo, so I found the right ones from the Table of Contents in the front. I opened to Section 127, which happened to be about the Baptism for the Dead. Section 128 continued in the importance of it, so I continued reading, and in the first verse, Joseph recorded something that really impressed me.

"1 As I stated to you in my letter before I left my place, that I would write to you from time to time and give you information in relation to many subjects, I now resume the subject of the baptism for the dead, as that subject seems to occupy my mind, and press itself upon my feelings the strongest, since I have been pursued by my enemies."

This was really cool to me, because at the time when the saints were in Nauvoo, the most pressing subject on the Prophets mind when he knew his life was in jeopardy was that of the doctrine of Baptisms for the Dead. Not the live ordinances, the work for the dead. Reading through that section was so amazing and I felt the Spirit so strong there with me. I know that the work for the dead done at the temple, specifically Baptisms for the dead, is done both for us and for them. "For their ^asalvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers—that they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made ^bperfect." (vs 15). Even though I didn't get to do baptisms, I still got to do the confirmations and feel the Spirit there.

When we finished, they showed us the spiral staircase and we got to walk up it a flight to the entrance. It was a very cool experience.

After Baptisms, I walked up to the hotel and changed, and after dinner, we were able to go to the Missionary Program, Sunset on the Mississippi. It was a good time; included was lots of laughs,

Lots of funny Senior Missionaries,and a really sweet sunset.

When the sun was still setting, we decided to walk down the Trail of Hope down Parley Street where the saints walked as they left Nauvoo. On our way there we met up with all of the performers from the play we saw last night and additional characters from the Sunset performance we saw today. I learned that they auditioned to be part of the group and all those who were there were called to serve 4 month missions. They even pulled out their nifty name tags. They were all down by the trailhead because one Elder got his real mission call and opened it with everyone there. I don't think very many people get the opportunity to open their mission call while on a mission. They were super cool, but they had to go, so we walked down the trail.

At the end, right before the Mississippi, there was a huge memorial with all the names of the pioneers who had died on the trek from Nauvoo.

Then we were able to see the sun completely set on the Mississippi. Pictures just don't do it justice.
On our walk back towards the Temple, me and Alan were amazed by the amount of bugs we were forced to walk through. When we passed under the first streetlight, we were further grossed out by the amount of bugs congregated under it. We were definitely in Swamp Land.
We stopped in front of the temple, and after many futile attempts of getting a non blurry picture of the temple, we figured we had to get down on the grass and use the ground as our base. It worked, and we got loads of pictures.

We walked all the way around the temple and made our way back up to the hotel with Mindy.

So, as you can tell it was a very exciting day in Nauvoo, the City of Joseph, City Beautiful. I love it here, but not necessarily enough to live here. I'm glad we were able to come back.

Day 13: Travel Day, Nauvoo at Night.

2008-06-05T21:24:00.000-07:00

Today was a very long day. After leaving Holiday City, Ohio at 7AM we arrived in Nauvoo at 4PM local time. We changed back time zones, so we gained an hour and are now only an hour off of home time. That feels great!

Other than that, nothing much else happened. Tonight we were able to go to the Visitor's Center and watch the play, High Hopes and Riverboats, a performance put on by some missionaries and BYU students. It was decent, but it was fairly interesting as well. It reminded me of the Hale Center Theater plays.

We came back to the motel and had dinner, and then we chilled out in the hall with Anna, Terrilyn, Jacob, Cher, and Amanda. We colored, did Fill-Ins, played on the compy, and I wrote a bunch of postcards. I feel like I actually accomplished something, so thats good. Sorry about the lack of pictures, but there really wasn't anything to take pictures of today. Thats just how it was. Here's a picture JD got of the temple on the walk he took tonight. It's all I've got.

Tomorrow is a do what you want day. I'll be going to the temple at noon, and other than that probably just chilling around town with my friends doing what they want to do. I do need to pick up some peanut butter fudge for Ry-Ry though. It will be a good time. Until then!

Day 12: Kirtland Temple, Issac Morley Farm, LDS Visitors Center, Historic Kirtland

2008-06-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry for lack of pictures today. I ran out of batteries yesterday and had to depend on others for pictures, and I wasn't able to get ones of all of the sites today. Updates will come.

Today started off kind of dreary looking as we left the city of Mentor, Ohio, but when we had reached Kirtland within 10 minutes, the sky was brightening up for a nice comfortable day. Since I was on bus #2, I had the privilege of beginning my days journey at the Kirtland Temple, which is now owned by the Community of Christ (RLDS) church. We watched a movie explaining the history of the Kirtland area and its importance in the founding of the church, and then we were able to go on a tour of the temple.

We started on the second floor and had some basic history and layout explained to us, and then we moved downstairs to learn more about what had happened there. We were able to sing the first verse of The Spirit of God, just as the early saints had done at the dedication of the temple, and the Spirit was amazing. It was a little strange walking through the temple as a tour, and especially being led by a tour director from the Community of Christ, but I enjoyed it. I felt like people were being a little too judgmental towards their church and it made things awkward, so I tried to seem friendly and accepting of them, and our tour guide was pretty awesome.

After we finished up at the temple, we were able to visit the Issac Morley Farm. This is where Joseph was able to preach that this church would fill North and South America, and that it would fill the world. Back then, I don't know if I would have been able to believe it, but now we can see how it is coming to pass and its incredible. On the front lawn of the farm, there was a giant Tulip tree, and these were the flowers on the tree. They were huge and they made the tree look like it was covered in lily pads. I loved it.
We finished up at the Morley Farm early so we were able to go up to the rock quarry where they got the rocks for the walls of the temple. This is a picture from the scenic stroll Pres. Monsen had us take before he realized we were on the wrong path.
We then had lunch at the Morley Farm and was then able to tour historic Kirtland, including the N.K. Whitney Store, which includes the Store, the First Bishop's Storehouse, the room of Joseph and Emma while they lived there, and the coolest room of all, the School of the Prophets where the Father and the Son appeared, and where the revelation of the Word of Wisdom was given. There was such an amazing Spirit there, and the couple that was leading us (from Wayne county) gave us some time just to think about what had happened there. It was wonderful. Also, we were able to tour the Saw Mill, and the Ashery. I felt like I was back at the Taylor Pioneer Park learning about things, so it was fun.

Afterwards, we jumped on the bus for a 3 hour drive to our stay tonight, Holiday City, Ohio. My partner for the day was Jake, and we had a good time. He's really a funny kid and he likes to ask questions. Plus he can't bend one finger all of the way, and that was cool to see.

We watched cars and had a good time, and when we got to the motel dinner was ready and delicious. I chilled with my buddies until it was time to go to bed, and that brought me here.

Once again, sorry for the lack of pictures of the cool places. I had Al-dawg take them for me, and I wasn't able to get them from him. They'll be up soon though, and I'll let you know when you need to come back. Thanks for reading, and be safe!

*PS- I've posted 101 pictures so far just from the CHT. I'd say I'm doing pretty good about showing you what I've been up to. I'll do a bit better of a job tomorrow though!*

Day 11: John Johnson Farm

2008-06-03T21:38:00.000-07:00

Today we were able to take a long 6 hour travel day to end up in Mentor, Ohio. After watching National Treasure 2, we stopped at the only sight to see of the day; the John Johnson Farm in Hyrum, Ohio, and it was well worth it to make the stop there and take the tour.

There were many things that happened in the Johnson house that aided in the growth of the Church in the early days, and a lot of amazing things came to pass there. The house showed that the Johnson's a lot of prosperity becaus they had 5 doors leading to the outside, 2 closets, 5 fireplaces with the same central chimney, and the fact that Sister Johnson loved to decorate so there are a lot of intricate details and decorations throughout the entire house.

Joseph and Emma were able to live there for a time, and Sidney Rigdon lived in a home across the street. While Joseph and Emma were there, they slept on the ground floor in the parlor to the left of the front door.

One familiar incidence that happened when they lived there was when they had adopted the twins and were struggling to get them to sleep because they were sick. When they babies had finally fallen asleep, Emma with a baby on one bed and Joseph with the other in another bed, an angry mob stormed the house, pulled Joseph out of bed and down the road, scratched him and then continued to tar and feather him. That night Emma and Sister Johnson spent their time cleaning up Joseph from the tar and feathers, and he was able to preach to the congregation the next morning from the front step of the Johnson home, and ended up baptizing a number of people. The feeling of knowing that happened there was incredible, and the original steps are still there, so I literally got to stand where Joseph stood at one of his weakest moments.
We finished up the tour and waited for the rest of the group to finish, and then we headed to dinner. It started raining and we were all able to have a good time out in the rain. We got back to our motel and me, Cher, and Taylor went on a stroll around the building, frolicking in the rain and going through the shrubbery. Then we got to play cards with the Arizona kids for a while and had a good time. Our hotel tonight is amazing.

The rooms are HUGE, we have 2 beds plus a couch, 2 separated areas, and 2 TV's, and the pool is a normal sized pool (bigger than average hotels) with fountains squirting off the sides into the pool. I so wished I could have jumped in!

Tomorrow we're off to Kirtland to see the temple! Until then, check out the newly updated pictures on the last 4 posts!

Day 10: Washington DC, Gettysburg Battlefield

2008-06-02T18:37:00.000-07:00

All of the other blogs have been updated with pictures! Go check them out! Now!

Today was a very long and exciting day! We were able to leave Gettysburg this morning and go to Washington DC with everyone in our super sweet matching orange shirts, and it was a blast! It started with meeting my new seat partner Kelsey from North Sevier. She has pins in her knee like I have pins in my wrist, and she even went to the Central Utah Health Clinic to get fixed, so we had a lot in common.

When we got to DC, they let us off at the National Mall next to the Air and Space Museum. We had almost 3 hours to do whatever we wanted before we had to meet back at the bus, and since I had already been to DC, I had an idea of where all the cool things were. I wanted to go to the National Archives, but the line was super long as you can see in the picture, so we decided not to go inside.
Instead we went to the National Garden of Art, and had fun by the pond before moving on to see a few more sculptures and deciding where to go next.

The Smithsonian Exhibit I enjoyed the most last time I was here was closed for renovation, so we headed to the Smithsonian Castle for some information on what the cool places to go were. On our way there Elysha was getting impatient because, understandably, she wanted to go see all of the cool places there were to see, but she kept pulling us around and changing her mind, so I stopped giving advice on where to go, and when we ended up in the Natural History Museum taking pictures of the elephant, we ran into Terrilyn and Anna, and the other Henry's, so Elysha decided to go off with them. After that, things went smoothly with Me, Cher, Al-Dawg, Cody, and Amanda.

We were able to go see the hope diamond and then walk through the Gems and Minerals exhibit. Since I had been there and seen the rocks 3 years ago, I decided it was time for some fun, random pictures because I had gotten all of the serious ones last time I was there. Alan made this happen, and we had an awesome day.
After the rock exhibit, we went to the *rawr* Dinosaur exhibit and had loads of fun. Alan held a Dinosaur and picked a Pteradactyl's nose, we all got eaten by a T-Rex head, and a little girl asked, "Why is everything here fake?!" which made me laugh pretty hard because we were at the Dinosaur, of all exhibits.
We finished up in the Natural History Museum and made our way back over to the Air and Space Museum to see R2D2 and CP30, who had sadly been moved last week to get ready in their new home, but we still had a party taking lots of random pictures, like Alan throwing rockets and acting like an astronaut. There was an actual astronaut suit we were able to touch, except for the visor, because its made of a thin layer of GOLD! Crazy stuff, but we got some cute astronaut pictures, but Alan has the one of mine because my batteries died, but I do have one of Cher.
I was able to find a street vendor and get a bunch of cool T-Shirts for my 2nd family, the Singletons. We jumped back on the buses and got dropped off at the Washington Memorial,
then walked up to the WWII Memorial,
and finally ended up at the Lincoln Memorial!
There were loads of us there, and we all looked like hunters in our sweet orange shirts.
We got back on the buses and headed back to Gettysburg to experience some wartime fun. An hour and a half and a much needed nap later, we were back in Gettysburg, and we were dropped off to get some dinner and see the town for fun and souveniers. The coolest thing was that we were able to see where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address.
While we were waiting for some other people, Alan showed me his hands. He biffed it hardcore yesterday morning when he was running back to the motel from the Sacred Grove. His left hand is all thrashed, and his right hand is really bruised, and you can see in this picture how his right pinky is way bigger than his left. I feel bad for the kid, but he says its worth it.
As we walked around Gettysburg, we came upon some interesting signs we couldn't pass up.
Then, looking through one gift shop, we found these sweet face mask headbands and had to take the photo opportunity.
Then, in the Visitors Center giftshop, another photo opportunity presented itself.
And another one (those binoculars are $130, I didn't dare touch).
While we were at dinner, yet another photo op literally drove past us. And we thought our tour was fun!
After dinner, they took us on a tour of the Battlefield, and when we were on the Union Side, Alan and Luke has to meditate on what had happened there.
Then, theres just a random picture of a bunch of my new friends from everywhere! Mostly Arizona though.
And, someone snapped this good lookin' picture of Me, Cher, and Taylor Brown from St. Johns.
As we were finally heading back to the motel, I was able to snap this picture of the authentic buildings.
So, all in all today was an intense day, but I loved it. As you can see, the pictures are finally back up and working, and thank goodness for that, because thats all I did today. DC is definitely one of my favorite places to visit, but I am so glad I was able to go there a few years ago and seriously have my Aunt Holly and cousins give me the deluxe tour over an entire week. It was way better than only having a few hours, so I don't feel like I missed out on much. Now I'm going to go update the last few blogs with more pictures, so don't be afraid to go check them out!!!

Day 9: Church Services, Harmony, Pennsylvania

2008-06-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

Today we had to be up at 6 to be at church at 7 before we left at 9. Since it was Fast Sunday, we were able to have a Fast and Testimony meeting and it was amazing. Most people shared their testimonies of things they had felt in the Grove (myself included) and it was one of the coolest experiences to hear everyones testimony or even just feel it.

After Sacrament Meeting, we had about an hour to finish packing and getting ready for the 8 hour bus ride to Gettysburg, PA.

On the way there, we stopped for lunch, but since there were so many of us fasting, a bunch of us chilled in the parking lot while the rest of people got some food. When we finally got back on the bus, we drove a few miles up the road to the location of the Restoration of the Priesthood on the banks of the Susquehanna River.

It's also the place of the only home Joseph and Emma had for themselves which is where most of the translating of the Golden Plates was located,

and the burial place of both their first son Alvin and Emma's parents. President Monsen explained to us the history of the place, and we had some testimonies shared about the power of the Priesthood, and even though we weren't able to actually walk down to the banks where the restoration happened, the Spirit was still there and it was such a good feeling.

We rode on the bus for another few hours and finally arrived in Gettysburg. I had been sitting by Weston, Nick J., and Lenay from Hurricane and was having a good time, but I was definitely hungry from fasting all day. We arrived in Gettysburg at about quarter to 7 and got to the General Pickett's Buffet which was wonderfully delicious. I was entertained with dinner and a show by the one and only Luke Johnson, and it was a great time. When we got back to the motel, I changed into my pajamas and while everyone else was swimming, I messed around on Cher's phone and had a good time laughing it up with Clayton, Alan, and Cher. Alan went to the Sacred Grove this morning after Sacrament Meeting and on his way back he was late so he was running and he biffed it hardcore. He scraped up one palm, and his fingers are bruised funky on the other hand. I feel bad for the kid. I can't give him so many hi-fives anymore. It was pretty swollen after dinner, but he says he's doing fine. He's one amazing kid, for shizzle.

Tomorrow we get to go to Washington DC, and then we'll head back to Gettysburg to see the battle grounds. I'm so excited for DC, last time I went there I had an absolute wonderful time. Its going to be great, and we get to wear our amazing orange tour shirts! Partytime!!!

Day 8: Sacred Grove, Smith Homes, Hill Cumorah, Palmyra, EB Grandin Building, Laundry!

2008-05-31T21:31:00.000-07:00

Today was a packed day, but not really because we had a lot of free time to spare at the end of the day. We started by all traveling to the Hill Cumorah to see the Angel Moroni Statue and hear some history about it.

Apparently Joseph found the plates in the Upper Western part of the hill, but we still don't know where exactly. Everything was cleaned up to get ready for the pageant coming up soon, and it looked really nice. It was cool to be so close to the Angel Moroni figure, it was awesome.

After we finished up there, we split into three groups (our tour buses) to visit the various sites in and surrounding Palmyra. My group started with the Smith Family farm. The Smith home is very small and short, but the replica they have made stands exactly where the original did, and that is where the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph multiple times explaining what to do with the plates.

On the Smith Family Farm is also the home Alvin Smith was building for his future family (as he was engaged) and to share with his parents. He wanted it to be super luxurious for them, and was unable to completely finish it before his death. The Smiths did live there, but were later kicked out due to a misunderstanding, and had to move back to their original home. The cabin that stands there now is actually 80% original from the actual building Alma made and it was so neat to actually walk in the place where the Smiths had done their day to day activities.

Next we were able to go to the EB Granding Printing Offices where the original Book of Mormon was first printed, covered, and published. It was cool to see the things they had to do and realize how incredibly fast they put everything together and printed all of the pages off. They finished 5000 Books of Mormon in 7 months, working 12 hours a day and 6 days a week. It really was a miracle.

When we finished up there, we were able to visit the Sacred Grove for an hour. This time I just thought about what had happened there while I recited the Scripture Mastery of JS-H 1:15-20.

The thing that hit me the hardest today is that in that exact same calm, peaceful, sacred place, the Devil nearly stopped at nothing using is incredible power to try to stop Joseph from completing his prayer to ask God for wisdom where he lacked. But the thing is, it didn't work! The Devil can work so hard on us, but if we remain righteous and focused on the Lord's Plan, theres nothing we can't withstand (1 Corinthians 10:13).

The Sacred Grove is such a special place, I love it there. When you exit the grove, theres a clearing in the trees between the Grove and the Temple where the Temple overlooks the Grove, and it still gives me the coolest feeling just thinking about it.

After the Sacred Grove we were able to have some lunch and get some laundry done, finally, and thankfully. I spend the rest of my evening writing postcards, chatting with the Arizonians, and repacking all of my fresh, clean clothes. Tomorrow we have Sacrament Meeting early at 7am and we'll be heading out for Gettysburg at 9am, so I had better get some sleep. I'll try to add pictures tomorrow! Thanks for your patience!

Day 7: Niagara Falls, Peter Whitmer Farm, Palmyra Temple, Sacred Grove

2008-05-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

We started out this morning in Erie, PA, and drove to our first destination of Niagara Falls. We rode the elevator down to the boarding area,

and they gave everyone a complimentary blue poncho as an attempt to allow us to keep ourselves dry.

We rode the Maid of the Mist into the falls and seriously got misted like crazy.

There were loads of seagulls and you could most definitely smell the salt in the water, but it was a good time, and the Falls are MASSIVE! Plus, I got to cross over into Canada! eh! It was a good time. I got to go to a gift shop and I bought my first main slew of souveniers. It was a blast!

We then jumped back on the bus for a few hours, and ate lunch at a random rest stop that happened to have like 6 restaurants to eat at.

We then jumped back on the bus on our way to the Peter Whitmer Farm, the place where the church was organized on April 6th, 1860, and where Joseph and Oliver translated the small brass plates, which included 1 Nephi to Moroni.

It was really cool to go there, and while we were in the Visitor's Center we were able to meet Elder and Sister Pinegar. Elder Pinegar was once the President of the MTC, and Sister Pinegar was a councelor in the Young Women General Presidency, and then was the Primary General President, so it was neat to talk to them.

When we finished up there, we were able to head to Palmyra, where we would be spending the night and the home of the Smith Family Farm, the Palmyra Temple, and the Sacred Grove.

We had a delicious dinner, and since we had finished at 8PM, we still had 2 hours to kill until we had to be back in the motel at 10. Me, Cher, Elysha, Manda, and Alan walked down to the Sacred Grove and each went our separate ways to spend some much needed alone time.

I loved it in the Grove, and when I had finished, finding my way out was really neat experience. Plus, when I finally made my way out of the grove onto the final stretch to the Visitors Center, theres a clearing in the trees between the grove and the temple, and it was so amazing to know that the Grove where the Lord and Christ appeared to Joseph Smith is being watched over by the Lord in His house.

Me and Cher left the grove together and came back to the motel and chilled with Jacob and the rest of our Arizona friends. Other than that, its been a very uneventful night, which is a good thing. I got some of the pictures to work, but theres still more I hope to add to this entry, just to show you how amazing it is out here and for you to get a visual of all the cool things we've been up too, and how its not all just sitting on a bus, which is how it feels.

Day 6: Amish Experience

2008-05-29T19:13:00.000-07:00

The title of this entry explains it all. That is seriously all that we did today, so this entry probably won't be nearly as long as the others so far. We drove for 2 hours to Shipshewana, PA, a little Amish town, and stopped to have some lunch and experience the Amish. Me, Manda, Cher, Austin, Alan and JD ended up going to a pizza place and having a Pepperoni and Bacon pizza that was pretty good.

When we ate our fill, we went to this Amish Shopping Center called Yoder's and I got some postcards and a sweet Peanuts coloring book with some crayons to keep me entertained. It's cool because they have regular parking, and then buggy parking. Thats all that I could get pictures of because the Amish don't like to have their pictures taken for religious purposes.
Getting back on the road wasn't a positive experience because we still had 4 more hours of driving through multiple states to get to our destination in Erie, PA. We stopped at a rest stop in Ohio, and it still amazes me how everything is so green out here.
When we finally arrived in Erie at our motel around 9pm local time, there was the coolest sunset, and I was lucky enough to get off the bus just in time to snap a picture of it.
Its hard to see, but that is Lake Erie underneath the sun. I thought it looked pretty sweet. our motel room is huge tonight, and even has a jetted tub, so we're going to go take a bubble bath and have a good time. Our motel is even attached to an indoor water park called Splash Lagoon with waterslides and everything. I was going to go swimming with the bag over my arm just to have a good time, but its just my luck that it was closed when we got here. Oh well, its probably a good thing I didn't risk it.

So thats our fun for today! I even watched National Treasure again! And I think I'm all caught up on my sleep. Tomorrow we're going to Palmyra for the next two days. Its going to be a party. I miss everyone back home in Utah! Email me or something so I know you're still alive!

Day 5: Sites and Sounds of Nauvoo

2008-05-28T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today we were able to spend all morning touring Old Nauvoo, visiting all of the sites and exhibits the missionaries could give us. After driving past the temple:

Our first stop was at the LDS Visitors Center. I was able to see one of the original Sunstones. This one is actually owned by the state of Illinois, but its on lease to the church for display at Nauvoo. There is one other one on display at the Smithsonian in Washington DC too.

After that, we were able to go inside and get some cool pictures by the Chirstus.
Next was the Relief Society Garden that is behind the Visitors Center, and I thought this statue of Joseph and Emma was really neat.
Then we had a group picture by the main statue in the garden.

While people were finishing up outside where it was chilly. I got to go inside and look around; take some pictures of the statues and displays, and learn more about the area. We talked to a Sister Orton, and she was a super cool sister from West Valley.

When we finished up at the Visitors Center and jumped on the bus to go to the Browning Yard. From there we were able to go to the Blacksmith shop where they showed us how to make Wagon Wheels and Horseshoes, and we all got a diamond prarie ring.

Afterwards, we were able to walk up to the Brickyard, and an older Elder, who was the sweetest guy, told us about how they made the bricks. After hacking them to dry them out, they would put them into stacks so as to be able to heat them up and dry them. The ones in the center near the fire would get too hot, and be very black and ugly looking, yet very strong. Those in the middle would turn the awesome, beautiful Nauvoo Red from the iron oxcide, and those on the outside would become yellow and wouldn't be very strong. After the bricks were done, they would build their houses 3 bricks deep, with the Red on the outside to look nice, the black in the center to act as the strong base, and the yellow on the inside so they wouldn't waste anything. If the yellow ones were heated a little more, they could become the beautiful Nauvoo red color like the others.

He compared this to our families, and it was really cool. The Red Bricks represent the Mother, because she puts on a good front to make the family look good. The Black ones, (aka Clunkers) represent the Fathers, because while they might not be very good looking, they're strong and hold the family up. Then, the yellow ones are like the children, because they are still in the process of becoming strong, thats why they are on the inside, to grow and be sheltered. I thought it was really neat.

While we were at the Brick yard, I could not stop thinking of some of my most favorite people, Mark and Diane Taylor. They both passed away a few years ago, but the last mission they were able to serve at was the Nauvoo Mission. I remember they had to come home early because Diane had a stroke, and after that her health continually deteriorated. They made sure to bring back Nauvoo Bricks for everyone in my family that they had made themselves just for us. They even put a "You are loved" heart sticker on the bottom with a tag that says Love, the Taylors. It was interesting, because as I was remembering them, I remembered the day Mark died, the same day as my Grandpa Bytheway, and it just so happens it was on February 9th, the same day of Hyrum Smith's birth (and, just to add another coincidence, Lori's birthday too!). Its probably just coincidence, but it was enough to make a memory in my mind of the people I love. The one thing I will never forget about the Taylors is that they never looked at people as Members of the Church vs. Non-Members, it was Members vs. Not-Yet Members. I believe that is true right along with them, and I miss them so much. I'm very glad I was able to go through Nauvoo and see some of the things they did and loved before they moved on from this life.

Our next stop was my favorite place out of the entire trip so far. We were able to go to the Smith Family Cemetery where the Prophet Joseph, his wife Emma, and his brother Hyrum are buried. It's owned by the Community of Christ church, but its such a sacred place. I loved it, and I felt the Spirit so strong. I know Joseph Smith was the true prophet specifically sent for the restoration. I am so thankful for him and his influence and steadfastness in bringing the Gospel to us that I know and love today.

After finishing up and having lunch in Nauvoo, we drove 4 hours to our current stop at Joliet, Illinois. Tomorrow we will be visiting the Amish! Hopefully I'll be able to get some very cool pictures! We'll be in Palmyra in 2 days, and I'll get a better picture of the Actual Nauvoo temple when we go back next week to do a Baptism Session in the temple. I'm so excited.

Day 4: Mississippi River, Mark Twain Riverboat, Carthage Jail

2008-05-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

We were able to leave rainy Independence, Missouri this morning to go take an equally rainy ride on the Mark Twain Riverboat. Even though it was rainy and cold at the first, it was a good time, and me and Alan had an amazing time.

This is the place Trenton got married to a girl from Salina when he was on the trip, so I took it for entertainment purposes.

After we finished at Hannibal, we drove about an hour and a half to Carthage Jail, the location of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and it was so cool to be there.

I remembered being outside the house when I was little, but actually being in the jailhouse was a whole new experience, and it was really amazing to be in the exact place where the Prophet Joseph took his last breath,

and they even have the original door with the bullet hole that the bullet that killed Hyrum made. They don't allow pictures in the actual room off the martyrdom, but I got some cool ones of the outside window.

Other than that, we spent a lot of time on the bus, and we're now in Nauvoo, Illinois. We'll get to spend most of the day here tomorrow, so we had a meeting explaining the layout of the town. I'm very excited to go see the sights since its been so long since I've been out here. I want to get a nail ring that actually fits me! So, we're watching That's So Raven, and I'm heading to bed. I'll update you tomorrow!

Day 3: Adam-ondi-Ahman, Far West, Liberty Jail, and Smartie Searching

2008-05-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day we really got into site-seeing and delving into Church History. Our first stop was Adam-ondi-Ahman, which is basically a HUGE (1.5 miles by 4 miles) piece of land owned by the church. It has important meaning on many levels.

First, it was the place Adam was sent to after he was cast out of the Garden of Eden (which is where I'm sleeping tonight in Independence, Missouri); the Nephites stayed there for a time; Joseph Smith dedicated it as an outdoor temple, which is why all the barbed wire fences are painted white;

and it is the place where the worthy will be called to gather when the Lord comes for the Second Coming.

It was so incredible when we were there; Brother Jenkins asked us what we would want future generations to know about Adam-ondi-Ahman and I just thought, if they don't understand anything else, they need to live worthily to be there when the Lord presides over His Sacrament Meeting. It was beautiful, and very much enjoyable besides the paranoia of being eaten alive by ticks like the guy was by ants in Indiana Jones.

After we finished there, we were able to go visit the Preachers Rock and it was neat to see how the acoustics in the valley work. It was better than the exhibits at the Tabernacle!

After we finished up at Preacher Rock, we got to visit the area known as Far West.

Not much was there other than a memorial and the cornerstones. I have I feeling I have been there sometime before. It was cool to hear Bro. Monsen tell about the Battle of Crooked River, and then to see how each cornerstone represented something, the lesser priesthood, the higher priesthood, and First Presidency, and the Quorum of the Twelve. I didn't know that.
Liberty Jail was the next stop and it was seriously the craziest thing. My family came out to some of these church history sites when I was younger and my Uncle Riley lived out in Iowa, and I totally remember visiting Liberty Jail! Justin said the prayer when we were there! It was like ultimate deja vu, but it was incredible!

Not only remembering it was cool, but the Sister missionaries that were there had some awesome testimonies of what had happened there and about the revelation of the 121-123 sections of the D&C. I enjoyed it very much. I learned that after it was Liberty Jail, it fell apart, and some guy used the remains to build his house, and then died, so they reconstructed it, and now its enclosed by the visitors center.
I just thought this one was a neat view of Joseph through the small window through the 4 ft. thick wall.

It was a really cool day going to all of those sites and getting into the meat of the tour. When we finished up at Liberty, we went to dinner, and I got permission from Brother Jenkins to run to the grocery store by the restaurant so I could get some Smarties.
We had been told for FHE we would be having a talent show, so I decided to show off my Smartie trick, but after going to 2 gas stations, there were none to be found, and I was getting nervous. I even tried to do it with Ice-Breakers Mints and Tic Tacs, but to no avial. When I found the bag at the grocery store, I told the lady they were like the only place in Missouri that sells smarties, and she looked at me and said, "I thought we were the only place to sell Dark Chocolate Snickers!" I didn't even know Dark Chocolate Snickers existed! It was a good time.
The store was like Hy-Vee Food & Drug or something like that. Plus I got a Jones for a dollar and it was sweet. I was able to do my trick for FHE and I had an extra good time!

Today was also Memorial Day, and as I was thinking of people to remember, I realized its the 2 year anniversary of me witnessing the tragic jump of the fatal BASE jumper in Twin Falls, ID. Its not the most pleasant memory, but my most significant Memorial Day memory. Crazy stuff. . . Thats all for today!

Day 2: Church Services, Independence, and Visitors Center

2008-05-25T21:17:00.000-07:00

Today, after 6 more hours on the bus, driving through beautiful Kansas,
we stepped out into the amazing humidity levels of Independence, Missouri. We were able to check into our motels before getting ready and going to our own Sacrament Meeting in the Independence Stake center, we were able to look at the Visitors Center, the outside of the Community of Christ Temple and Auditorium (RLDS)

and the Church of Christ Temple Lot Chapel, which is next to the area Joseph Smith dedicated for the Independence Temple, which will be the final temple built before the Second Coming. (Like the plaque says in this picture.)

It was really cool to see it, its really small, and its surrounded by 3 different churches buildings. These are the corner stones that are on the ground, but they aren't the original ones, of course, and I'm sorry the one is upside down, but its the best I could do with my camera.

We learned that the RLDS people don't believe in anything Joseph Smith taught after Liberty Jail, they claim that was when he became a fallen prophet, yet they believe everything before that. This is strange, because before that he taught about the building of temples to worship the Lord and receive special blessings, but it wasn't until after Liberty Jail when he taught about Baptisms for the Dead, Endownments and Sealings, so the RLDS people don't believe in that. Since they don't know what to do in their temple, they use it to pray for world peace. Pretty interesting, at least its something positive. Their temple is also open to the public, just not on Sunday. This is the picture on one wall of the temple.

One super funny thing that happened today was at lunch we were at Golden Corral, and I was having some ice cream with caramel on it, but I decided I wanted some gummi bears too, so I put them on the side of the ice cream. After a few spoonfuls of ice cream, I decided I wanted a gummi bear, so I grabbed one, and it just so happened that it had a clump of caramel on its head, so I sang "Gummi Bear, with Caramel Hair" and ate it. I laughed after that one. For dinner I went to McDonalds, and after eating, we were able to play MarioKart and Dance Dance Revolution. It was a very good time. Other than that I was able to meet the super cool kids from Arizona and have a good time with them. This trip is pretty much amazing.

Right now theres an intense rainstorm going on with lightning and everything. Elysha is freaked out and asking lots of questions about tornadoes and lightning, and flying away and lots of stuff. Especially the ticks we've been warned about for tomorrow's journeys. Heres a sample of how big they are:
This bugger was on the window of the Visitors Center and was seriously an inch or inch and a half long. Way bigger than the ones I've seen in Glenwood. Anyways, thats all I have for today! Until tomorrow. . . leave me some comments!

CHT: Day 1: Get Acquainted, Meet New Friends, See the Rockies

2008-05-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

**Starting today I’m on a 16 day tour visiting most Early Church Sites throughout the eastern United States. I’ll be posting pictures and tidbits about each day on here to keep you up to date!**

After meeting at the Youth Center in Richfield at 5:30 this morning, we were finally on the road to Green River by 6:30. We were able to choose our seat partners for the first leg of the journey, and I was able to sit by my G-wood pal Cherilynn. We had a good time, mostly sleeping, and watching Cars.

When we got to Green River, we had our first bus seating chart given to us, and I was lucky enough to get a partner who had not yet joined us because they are coming up from Arizona and meeting us in Denver. On the way to Grand Junction, I was able to watch an episode of Lost after we had gotten to know the people around us by introducing them to the rest of the bus. We stopped at Grand Junction for lunch, and I’m convinced I ate at the same Wendy’s we ate at when we were coming to Colorado for Trent’s wedding. It was seriously crazy. We got back on the bus in our same seating arrangement, and I was able to watch a few more episodes of Lost while they played Remember the Titans on the bus TV’s.

We made a quick pit stop in Edwards, Colorado and were lucky enough to see 4 police cars at the rest area making some kind of bust. Talk about entertaining. So far, as I write this part of the story, we’re somewhere between Edwards and Denver, where we will be making the next seating change. I’m excited to see who I’ll meet next, they’ll probably get to be the first one to sign my cast! It’s still pure blue, except now I have my WristStrong band on there to help the healing process along. Everyone is watching The Work and the Glory right now.

Now I'm at our motel in Colby, Kansas, after riding on the bus and meeting new people all day long. We got here at about 10:45 local time. Nothing exciting is really here, just a bunch of flatland that started after we left Denver.

Anyways, its late, I have to get up early to ride 6-7 more hours to Independence, Missouri tomorrow, and I didn't get much sleep on the bus today, so I'll update you tomorrow night!

Here's some pictures:

The Rockies

The Eisenhower Tunnel

Downtown Denver

Graduation Day!

2008-05-24T22:11:00.000-07:00

So Friday was my big day to commemorate my completion and graduation from Richfield High School. It was an amazing day, and even though everything didn’t go exactly as I imagined, it was still a party. First thing in the morning at 9:30, I went to an assembly at Pahvant with Savanna. It wasn’t too exciting seeing as how we missed most of it, but afterwards I went home and finished packing for the CHT. I even went over to Nan’s to get some vinyl done for my friends graduation presents. Just as I was getting ready to head over to graduation, Trent called from Hawaii to tell me how sad he was he couldn’t be here for the graduation, but he helped me get stoked for the CHT and gave me some advice about my college classes. Hopefully I’ll be able to get out of Biology now that he’s given me the heads up. We’ll see how that goes.

The actual graduation ceremony was pretty long, but for some strange reason when I went to go sit down, there was an index card and a pencil on my chair. I took it as fate, and once the naming of the graduates started, I drew one of my magnificent teacher portraits of Mr. Pruitt. Since I didn’t have pockets ,I stuck it up my cast for safe keeping along with my keys, and walked across the stage with it. It was a good time, and I’ll scan it in and post it as soon as I get home.

After graduation I got loads of pictures of me with friends, and it was awesome. I think I’m going to miss my little underclassmen the most. Heres some of my favorites:

Once we finished up with pictures, we went to Chelsea’s grandmas house for food and had a good time. It was delicious! When I got home, around 6:30, my mom informed me that the rest of my fam was going to go to the new Indiana Jones movie at 7, and I totally wanted to go. It was strange, but awesome, and Brandon rubbed my back and head most of the time, so it was really nice.

When we got home I was going to go chill with my friends, but Brandon informed me he brought RockBand and since I had the use of my thumb, I knew I had to play it, seeing as how it would probably be the last time I get to play with him for a long time. We created a new band (G-WOOOOOOD DININIOWOWOwow) and had a good time. I didn’t feel too bad about it because I had already made plans with my friends to go on a Denny’s run at midnight. Turns out my friends are lame and decided to go to bed early, so that plan fell through. I ended up playing RockBand until 1:30 and when my wrist was killing me, and then stayed up until about 2. That means 3 hours of sleep since I had to be at the Youth Center at 5:30 this morning to leave on CHT. Details on that in my next post!

Seminary graduation

2008-05-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

Last night was seminary graduation, and I'm a certified graduate from the Richfield Seminary now! How special is that?!?! I feel pretty cool about it. Here are some pictures!

After graduation I chilled with Matt, Alan, and JD at the Youth Center for a while and it was a party. One graduation down, one more to go!

Surgery Recovery Part 1

2008-05-05T17:12:00.000-07:00

haha so I look pretty sad in this picture, but I'm not in nearly as much pain as i was when I first woke up in the recovery room. As for now, I'm on my percoset fix chillin at home. Tomorrow should be a fun day at school!!
Don't ask me what exactly these pictures are, because I really have no clue. All I know is they are the pictures Dr. Richards took with the scope when he was looking around. They say something at the bottom, but I can't decipher it.

This is the coolest picture, I think. It shows the pins he put in to hold everything together. Pretty intense stuff. I was told he did everything he possibly could have done to my arm short of amputate it, hehe, He trimmed the ligament like he did last year, then he pinned the bones together to hold things in place and finally heated the ligament to tighten the collagen and strengthen the ligament.

I go back up to see Dr. Richards in 2 weeks to get my stitches out, and I'm sure to have some more sweet pictures then. I'll be sure to keep you updated on whats going on!!!!

What I will be doing tomorrow . . .

2008-05-04T13:35:00.000-07:00

I'm warning you now, while the movies are loading up, the movie can be pretty graphic, I only posted the one I can stand to watch. Don't forget to check out the two other posts I did today about what else I've been up to this weekend. Leave me some love on the comment sections!!!

This is what Dr. Richards is planning on doing to me tomorrow as an attempt to finally fix my wrist so I can do what I want. Lets pray this works. If things go as he planned, I'll have two pins in my wrist holding the Scaphoid and the Lunate carpels together to try and stabilize the Scapel-Lunate ligament, which is located right where the X scars are on my wrist right now. (Not the nast-o y, the little crosses right on the back of my wrist.)
Everybody wish me luck and I'll let you know how it goes!

Jazz vx. Rockets Game 6

2008-05-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

Thursday night when I got home from work, my mom asked what my plans were for Friday night. I told her nothing really, probably just chill at home, and then she asked me "how about going to the Jazz game?" I was stoked! They already got tickets and it was going to be a party!

When I called Brandon Friday morning to verify the plan of him picking up me and Tommy, he freaked me out and said he didn't get the tickets he had bid on, and had to make sure he got some other ones. Once he checked his email, everything was clear and he got the tickets, and we were good to go.

We stopped at Sonic for some dinner, and before we had even left Provo, I was the only one in the car without having something spilled on me, and if that was any way of showing how the game was going to go, it was going to be messy. When we got to Salt Lake and found some parking, we started walking toward EnergySolutions Arena. We finally met up with everyone, and just as we finished crossing the road to the arena, one of the "Event Security" people said Trent couldn't take his pole into the arena. Brandon hid it somewhere, and we all went in. Brandon had got 4 tickets together, two singles in the same area, and Sara had got 2 other tickets together. When we figured out where we were sitting (the very top row, not even in the stadium seats, in fold out chairs above that) My mom, dad, Julie and myself were on the side of the court these pictures were taken, and Brandon, Tommy, Sara, Trent, and Manda were all on the opposite side.

The Jazz kept their decent 20-ish point lead clear through the 2nd quarter until the Rockets rallied to make their lead only by 4 at the half. It was kind of scary to have the lead be that low, but in the second half, the Jazz worked it and ended the game with a 113-91 win. It was awesome!

The first picture is of the teams warming up before the game, and the second one is after we won! It was sooooo awesome. Right after half time, Brandon came over to sit with Julie, and we cheered it to the max, trash talking McGrady and Mutumbo. It was awesome and I was so happy I got to go! The game didn't get over until 11:30, and we didn't end up getting home until 2:30, but it was so worth it! It definitely made up for not doing so hot at the Band Festival. It was a great birthday present for Tommy, Graduation present for me, Trent, Manda, and Brandon, and a great way to kick off my last weekend of using my wrist at semi full capability.

Here's to cheering on the Jazz to victory over the Lakers!!!! Go Jazz Go! Deron Fence!

State Band 2008

2008-05-04T12:45:00.000-07:00

So this last Friday was State Band, and it was a bittersweet moment in time. I had a party riding the bus up with my friends; we rocked out to random songs and had an overall good time. Everyone played with Emily's hair, and Melanie got me some funny pictures of random people sleeping so it was a good time.

When we finally got to UVSC, it was time to warm up to be ready to perform at noon. We got on stage and played our songs. It definitely wasn't our best performance but I thought we performed decently. When I asked Mr. Thompson what our scores were before the next band started to play, he gave me the disappointing news: we ended up with a II, a II-, and a III+. That was really sad, considering that we've averaged Superiors all of my other years I've been in high school, and this was my last time I'll play my sax for at least 4 months, maybe even forever. Kind of disappointing. But, the rest of the day was pretty much awesome because Brandon picked me and Tommy up at the mall, and we got to chill with him and his friends and play RockBand (My last time playing guitar/bass/drums in RockBand for a long time.) until my parents showed up to head up to the Jazz Game! Thats for the next blog!

I Don't Give a Hoot About What You Think

2008-04-19T22:41:00.000-07:00

Well, its been a while, and a lot has happened this week that I can enlighten you on, but I'm deciding not to. Maybe I'll update you on it later, or you can ask me about it.

However, today, before I went bowling with Melanie and Matt, I made an awesome discovery, and my crush on Rivers Cuomo has been rekindled.

I bring to you . . . .

Pork and Beans

They say I need some Rogaine to put in my hair
Work it out at the gym to fit my underwear
Oakley makes the shades that transform a tool
You’d hate for the kids to think that you lost your cool

I’mma do the things that I wanna do
I ain’t got a thing to prove to you
I’ll eat my candy with the pork and beans
Excuse my manners if I make a scene
I ain’t gonna wear the clothes that you like
I’m fine and dandy with the me inside
One look in the mirror and I’m tickled pink
I don’t give a hoot about what you think

Everyone likes to dance to a happy song (Hey, hey)
With a catchy chorus and beat so they can sing along (Hey, hey)
Timbaland knows the way to reach the top of the charts
Maybe if I work with him I can perfect the art

No I don’t care,
I don’t care

Strange title, sweet song. I dig it. It's really catchy. I can't wait for the new album to come out (the RED album). 6.24.08. Be ready. Go HERE to listen to it.

PS- That picture reminds me of my brother Justin . . . crazy stuff.

what a day!

2008-04-07T20:12:00.000-07:00

Today was definitely an adventure. It started out this morning when there was no Jazz Band, so me and Tommy got to sleep in an extra hour. When we were finally ready to go at 7:30, we loaded everything up and went out to the barn to get in the car. When we got out there, the barn was empty, which meant I forgot to park my car in the barn last night. It wasn't a big deal because it had been raining all night, so the windows weren't frosted, but by the time I got to my car, I would have rather had the windows frosted than what I found. I had left the sunroof open, so the front seats were completely soaked from the rain. No bueno. Luckily, my mom let me take the truck so me and Tommy had dry seats and warmth to ride into town with, and we weren't even tardy!

So today was Region Large Group in Gunnison today. That means that the whole Symphonic band loaded up into a bus and two excursions to play our hearts out in hopes to make it to state. I ended up on the bus, sitting next to Matt H., Matt C. and Melanie, which = partytime! Here's an idea of what we did.
First, I convinced Matt to let me take some pictures of him, so he started having loads of fun w with Melanie. . .thats why he has a bloody nose!

Then, Kenzi threw us a bag of Swedish Fish, and we had loads of fun!

Me and Matt were fishy gansters, and then we tried to eat them off our chins!

I finally remembered I had a bag full of Smarties with me, so I taught them how to eat a Smartie. After I finished, it was Matts turn to show off his skills:

When we finally got to Gunnison we listened to Manti and Gunnison play, then went to lunch, and then we played. Afterwards, we listened to Grand and San Juan, and a certain Freshman was having a blast diggin' gold, if you know what I mean. Me and Matt laughed our heads off and he was literally crying! It was so much fun.

When we finally got back to the school, it was after 3 so I was late to work, but Mr. Thompson hadn't showed up with the trailer containing my sax yet. That meant I had to chill at the band room until he showed up, which wasn't until about 3:30. Then I waited with Matt to see if he made it to State Solo & Ensemble with his piano solo (which he did). It was the most exciting thing ever!! After Mr. Thompson told us we took straight superiors so we were going to State, we left and I gave him a ride home.

Then I went to work and totally did not do good. I was dialing on the new Panel and a little bit on Brand, and I didn't get any completes at all.

The big thing of the day was when I finally got home. I walked in the garage door, and my family was sitting in the living room, all on the couch. My mom said "Hi Lauren" and I said "Hi Mom!". Then I looked at her. She was lying on the couch, with her leg propped up on a bunch of pillows. As I got closer, I saw she had a great big black boot on her left foot. Turns out she broke her ankle this morning by walking into her office in the basement and slipping on a magazine. She even had some pictures of the un-coolness on her phone. It looked totally deformed and dislocated. I can't hardly believe it, I think its insane, especially after Trent breaking his ankle less than a month ago, it seems like more than just a coincidence. I feel really bad because she's having troubles with the crutches, and I won't be here much to help her out. Its really a bad situation, but there is lots of people that have offered to help. Jeri actually took her to the hospital this morning and brought us dinner tonight. Nan is going to be over tomorrow for lunch, and I'll stop by since I get out of school early. Who knows what the rest of this is going to be like. I hope she recovers quickly and perfectly. We're just praying she won't need surgery like Trent. That would be no bueno.

Anyways, thats my big story of today. Hopefully things will calm down for the rest of the week, I mean, its only Monday! Tomorrow is Sterling Scholar interviews, Thursday is Dad's Birthday, and Saturday is Tommy;s Birthday. Lets hope for a safe, fun week!

Week in Review

2008-03-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

"I have a knack for telling you what’s inside my head
But only ‘cause you’re asking for it"

I absolutely love Maren Ord's music. Obviously she's not a super well known musician because I'm sure many of you are wondering who in the world she is. It really doesn't matter who she is, but I love her music, and that is where I got my opening quote. It's kind of the entire reason I even blog . . . hahaha so anyways, here we go for the past week.

I got my bed set up in my room on Tuesday, and now that I have a big obstacle in the middle of my room, it hasn't taken very long to fill it up with random belongings . . . simply said, my room at the moment is a mess. I'll hopefully have it cleaned up by this weekend when my family comes home, and then I'll post a picture. I enjoy how it has turned out this far, the only thing I'd change is my brown furniture. It doesn't exactly go along with the blue, green and white surroundings.

This last week has also brought crunch time of the completion of my Sterling Scholar portfolio, which is due tomorrow. I honestly don't believe it's worth it, but I had a good time doing it. I probably would have had more incentive to do it if I was more passionate about my selected area, but oh well. Interviews are to be held on April 8th, and then I really don't have to worry about anything else! That is such a good feeling, you have no idea. I have to admit though, my favorite part of the entire process has been getting my letters of recommendation from various people. My boss, Dallin, wrote a pretty decent one, then Benj wrote me an AMAZING one, to say the least, and Phil came through at the last minute to write me one that I hope will do wonders. I'm so glad they all were so willing to help. Lori and my mom looked over my portfolio Friday night and fixed everything to make it seem professional, and then Nan did a final look over earlier today, and it really is final. It feels so good to have it completed, finally.

Today was Ward Conference, and I loved it. The bishop, Pres. Burr and Pres. Monsen all spoke in Sacrament Meeting and the choir sang "How Great Thou Art". Sunday school wasn't anything super exciting, Brother Oldroyd subbed and we had a huge class, and he gave us the Easter lesson again. YM/YW however, was a combined lesson on dating, and it was probably one of the most long, boring, and pointless lessons I have ever been involved in. They had everyone write questions about dating on a paper and hand them in, and then attempted to answer them. It was basically like they hadn't prepared a lesson at all. Talk about Lame. Seriously. But, the good thing was that last night was the General YW Meeting (I got to go to it last year and be like half a football field away from Pres. Hinckley . . . most awesome thing ever!) and the talks were AMAZING. Not. Even. Kidding. I especially loved Pres. Eyring's talk, it was just amazing. Something I really needed to hear. Makes me even more eager for General Conference next weekend.

So yeah, thats basically my week, nothing too exciting happening, but thats how it usually is. This week should be fun though, I don't know why. Oh yeah! It's because theres a Math Competition at Snow on Tuesday, a possible jazz band concert at Snow that night, and State Jazz either Friday or Saturday. Then all, or most, or something like that, of my siblings are coming down for General Conference and thats sure to be a party, guaranteed!!! I'm pretty much stoked! Updates throughout the week, I promise!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it snowed today, and not just sprinkled, it let out a storm, we got at least a half an inch. Seriously. And April 1st is Tuesday . . . I don't think Spring is ever going to settle down to stay.

Spring Break! Part 2

2008-03-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

So my wrist and fingers are really stiff right now, which means I don't have enough patience, energy, or capability to type a whole bunch! That means picture time!!!

The rest of my Spring Break has consisted of finishing my room, going to church, chillin' with the Singletons, going on a walk, and soon will include going to sleep to finish off the weekend. As of last night I only have 3 more episodes of Lost Season 1 which is awesome! I'm excited to move on to Season 2!

Here are some of the latest pictures of my new and improved room! Enjoy!
New Carpet!!!!! Snazzyhuh!

Puttin' in the Baseboard!

Can you tell what my favorite colors are? I think its basically because I'm amazing!

I'll post some more pictures tomorrow when I have my bed in. How exciting!!!!! Bam!

Spring Break! Part 1

2008-03-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

Spring Break started Tuesday after school, and I can honestly say this has been the most entertaining Spring Break I can remember.

Tuesday was the State Math at SUU, and it was a party with JD, Alex, Alan, Sam, Heidi, Courtney, Kyle, and everyone else that went down there. "BAM" was the key word of the day, and after Alex bought a home made loaf of bread with strawberry jelly and butter, we had all the pizza we could eat, and waited for the prize drawings. With our fake names like Stephen Kuella, and Katrina Stamos, we believe that fate was against us, and we didn't win anything, but Mr. Johnson won the camera for the faculty, so it was worth it. The entire way home, I was reading the chapters in Tale of Two Cities that I hadn't read yet so I could take the test for AP English and pull a decent grade in that class. When I went up to Mrs. Teeples room to take the test, she asked me to go into her house and check on the meat she had cooking for the Fathers and Sons banquet that night. After I finished the test (Which I aced, by the way) I went to her house, and walked in, expecting to see nobody, but her husband was right there in the kitchen and it freaked me out. The meat wasn't cooked at all, and as it turns out, none of th rest of the meet was cooked at all either, so I actually helped figure out a problem for my mom and Mrs. Teeples, it was a good time.

The rest of the night I spent cleaning up my room, getting it ready for the new carpet we were expecting to get within the next 2 weeks. The next day, however, would prove to be more exciting.

We left home at 5AM Wednesday morning because Trenton was scheduled to go in for surgery at 7 that morning. We got to the Surgical Center right when Trent and Manda were checking in and we chilled with them until he got called back. After an hour, I had to leave with my mom to go to my Physical Therapy appointment, which ended up being my last time going to see Mr. Bagley. I go see Dr. Richards on Tuesday, and we'll see how things turn out after that.

When we made it back to the Surgical Center, Trenton was just waking up in the Recovery Room, so Tommy and Manda were back with him. A few minutes later, Trent was out on a wheelchair ready to go home. We followed Manda back to his apartment and chilled there for the rest of the day. It was crazy. Trenton is soooooo loopy on drugs; I don't know if it was the anesthetic or the percocet, but he's insane. He made sure to tell us how much he loved us and how much he appreciated us, and he kept asking us if he was annoying us. He just always had a lot of random things to say too, and it was really funny. He started shaking a few times, and that was scary, but he came out of it after we fed him some food. My mom brought us Wendy's and he loved his Frosty (I had to spoon feed him). He still got loopy whenever his latest dosage of percocet kicked in, and it was funny. Thats how it was for the rest of the day Wednesday and Thursday. Tommy helped him after he crab walked to the bathroom, and my mom helped clean him up. I found him another sweet pair of soft shorts, and we had a good time. It was sad when we had to leave.

While we were at Trent's house, me and Tommy had Guitar Hero play-offs, and it was a blast. Brandon played with us a little, and Justin brought some intense game when he stopped by. Wednesday night Brandon took us over to his house and we played RockBand, which I enjoy way more than Guitar Hero, for shizzle. I did pretty good at the drums, on easy of course, and Tommy played guitar while Julie sang. It was a party. I really can't wait to move up there this fall.

Anyways, thats the main part of my excitement thats happened so far this Spring Break. I went to breakfast with JD and Emily this morning, and we had the best biscuits and gravy anywhere, found only at JR Munchies. Bueno yum yum! When I got home, the guys were here putting in carpet, so that will be done in a few hours. Here are some pictures of them putting down the padding. Its crazy, we stayed up until 12:30 last night pulling up carpet and padding and staples for this! I hope its worth it!

Stay tuned for Part 2!

The Results are In!

2008-03-15T21:20:00.001-07:00

So, I just got home a little more than an hour ago, and I'm super tired because today has been such a long day, but its been so much fun!

We were woken up this morning at 4:30 by Elysha turning on the lights and saying "I totally called it, the toilet is flooding and its 4:30 in the morning." Basically me and Kammi stayed in bed because we were so tired, but Elysha, being the good girl she is, put out towels and tried to clean up most of it. She had just gotten back into bed when our phone rang with a guy from the front desk asking if something was flooding in our bathroom. Apparently, it was leaking into the room under us, and they had called complaining. So the guy brought us more towels, and then called us again to tell us to not use the toilet. What a morning!

We got back to DSC at about 7:30, and once the doors were unlocked, we claimed our spots and got ready for rounds. Since I was doing Impromptu, I had 3 rounds to get through, and then we'd see who broke into finals. My topics were: joker, "When people start to tell you that you can't do anything, you kind of want to try it.", and Gun Control. My first speech was incredible, the second was decent, and the third, I felt so scatterbrained and lost and that I didn't make any sense at all.

Finally, postings for finals came up, and I had made it into the final round, but nobody else had broken. I was weirded out, because it was a fluke I was even put into Impromptu to begin with, and then it was a miracle I had made it to State, let alone break into the final round! Kammi, Garret, and Matt came to watch me, and my topic was awesome; "Does reality TV have a basis in reality?" and I worked it. I talked about Survivor, Big Brother, and CSI. I enjoyed it.

Then we had a forever wait until awards. . . I was so nervous. No joke. We still had no idea how we had done in PF, so it was nerve wracking. Finally they told us to move into the Ballroom, and they started announcing it. First Congress, then Spar,then Oratory, then PF . . . Matt and Nash were finalists with all 3 Juab teams (Joe and Ariel, Scott and Whitney, and the 2 girls), one of the Grand teams (Zephyr and Tessie), and one from Layton Christian that didn't seem like they were supposed to be there. Joe and Ariel got 3rd, the team from Layton Christian got 2nd, and the 2 girls from Juab took 1st, which is lame because every time me and JD have gone against them, we've beaten them. I was so excited for Matt and Nash though! They ended up taking 6th overall, not too bad at all.

Then they announced awards for Extemp, LD, and finally, Impromptu. I knew I was a finalist, so I wasn't shocked when Benj announced my name to go up on the stage, but as soon as everyone was up there, he said, "In Third Place, from Richfield . . . "(This is the point where my face screwed up, and I went into shock) ". . . Lauren Bytheway." What. The. Face? I took 3rd in 2A Impromptu when it was a fluke thing I was even in Impromptu to begin with. Talk about crazy! The girl from Manti took 2nd, and David from Grand took 1st, and it came down to the final round completely. I was given a 2S, 1S, 2S in the original 3 rounds, but in the final round I was given a 1S, 3E, and a 5E. Pretty much, the 5E brought me down and I could have taken 2nd, which is disappointing, but its still cool. I'm pretty pleased with myself.

I am disappointed with PF though, not only for obvious reasons, but for the sole reason that we didn't beat Joe and Ariel. They're the only ones I wanted to crush the entire time! It's alright though, after our round with them, they were still talking to us, and it was cool, so no real hard feelings between us at least. Matt and Nash may be in a different situation with them. hehehe.

We finally got home around 9:15 after a long cold drive back into the snowstorm. We kept ourselves entertained by laughing really hard and watching Happy Tree Friends; it was basically amazing.

Anyways, thats my exciting news for the day, and I'm super tired so I'm heading to bed. I hope you enjoyed my news!!!

State Speech

2008-03-14T23:49:00.000-07:00

Party! I'm in St. George right now for State Speech and I'm having a rockin' good time! Today was focused on Public Forum. I'm feeling really good about it, me and JD went against 2 teams from Layton Christian, and then the legendary Joe and Ariel. I honestly believe we gave them a run for their money in the round, especially because it was the first time they had debated me and JD Borg, but we'll find out how we did tomorrow.

Benj has been super happy. Not even kidding. . . Dallen, Matt, and Garret said they saw him skipping down the hall and he was scaring me like crazy when we were at Denny's. Its been a party, and its a good sign he's so happy. I like it when he's like this.

Anyways, tomorrow is Impromptu day, and I'm pretty excited, it will be fun. I'm definitely having a better time this year at State then I did last year, and thats saying something!!!

I'll fill you in on details tomorrow!!!!

(d)oodles of laughter!

2008-03-10T20:30:00.000-07:00

Oh my face . . . so basically, besides laughing at Melvin, Kymie, and Ben, this is what I did at work today. It might be the reason I didn't get any completes. . . oh well, it was a good time!

See if you can guess who anyone is! Especially if you work(ed) there.

". . . Another Pleasant Valley Sunday . . ."

2008-03-09T20:50:00.000-07:00

Today has been an awesome day. It did have a rough start, but overall, it turned out to be amazing.

I had to get up this morning at 8 so I would be ready to go to BYC at 9, but it really felt like I was getting up at 7 and I went to bed at like 1 so it was a beast, but I got up and went to BYC. It was kind of bittersweet, it was my last one because I'm being replaced. Its all good though, we don't really accomplish too much there (at least, I don't.).

After the meeting got out, I went home, and I swear I experienced one of the funniest moments of my life. I had some cereal for breakfast, and my dad was like, "Is Tommy ready?" so I went to go check on him. I got to his doorway and he was on his compy, so I asked him, "Hey Bucko! Are ya ready to go?" He didn't really answer, he held up his hand as if to gesture to give him a second, and then the funniest thing happened.

He let out a sneeze, which was followed by the all classic, "Crap."

I nearly busted a gut laughing. He got up and he showed me his tie, covered in whatever came out of his nose, and then he asked me if I could tell something happened. I continued laughing and told him to change his tie. It was seriously, so, so funny.

After that I had to calm down and go to church, which wasn't bad at all, Stahlie sat by me in Sacrament Meeting again and we had fun drawing pictures. I had a blast in Sunday School with Melanie and Emily because we're just pretty much cool like that. This funness continued into YW and we were all having a party the entire time. Ahhh, I love days like that when I can just laugh and have a good time and nobody chews me out. Mainly it was because Nan was the teacher and she's cool like that.

After church, I went home and started the rolls in the oven because we were going to the Singletons for dinner, and it was our job to bring the rolls. While they were in the oven, the phone rang, and I totally expected it to be the Singletons asking where we were, but it was none other than by brother Trent!

He asked for my mom, but she was at a ward conference in Koosharem, so he asked to talk to my dad. I didn't think of it much, but when I heard my dads responses to whatever he was saying, I was in shock. "How'd you manage that? . . . Did they put it in a cast? . . . Why did you pass out? . . . Are you on crutches?" Basically I was like, what the face? As soon as my dad got off the phone, I was like, what happened? Apparently Trent was in the bathroom this morning and he passed out, knocked his ankle against the toilet or the tub, and fractured the little bone right above your ankle. Oh man, where did that come from??? It kinda made me laugh, and Manda said she laughed at it too. I don't know what we're going to do with that kid. He sent us a pic and his ankle is HUGE. I'm sorry I can't show you.

Hahah, Anyway, after that we went to the Singletons and had a party there. Dinner was delicious, turkey and potatoes and rolls and mmmmm, then we played pool, and I tickle tourtured Stahlie, then we watched Nan's little brothers music videos. Then, it was time for choir, and me and Nan were having a party trying to figure out what we were singing. For shizzle.

After that I had a nap to try and catch up on my sleep, and I've been working on homework and scripture reading. Its been an exciting day to say the least. Hopefully this week will be as interesting with Region Jazz and State Speech. . . its gonna be interesting!