Happy New Year!

New Year’s Reality Check

By Joanna Fuchs

Another year, another chance
To start our lives anew;
This time we’ll leap old barriers
To have a real breakthrough.

We’ll take one little step
And then we’ll take one more,
Our unlimited potential
We’ll totally explore.

We’ll show off all our talents
Everyone will be inspired;
(Whew! While I’m writing this,
I’m getting very tired.)

We’ll give up all bad habits;

We’ll read and learn a lot,
All our goals will be accomplished,
Sigh...or maybe not.

Oh well, Happy New Year anyway!

Merry Christmas!

I hope that everyone had a very merry Christmas! I know I did. :) We spent some time with both mine and Russell's family, and I even went ice fishing for the very first time! It was WAY cold, but we had fun...and we caught a whole bunch of fish!

After fishing, we headed down to Nephi to see my family too. It was really fun! When we finally went to bed I couldn't sleep very well. Christmas usually does that to me. :) I ended up waking up at about 3:30 and not going back to bed! I'm a little bit ridiculous...

Russell and I were both pretty spoiled. :) I love Christmas time!

Stranded!

Well, I'm officially old. Yesterday I turned 22! Weird. My friend, Erin, and I had big plans for her Christmas gift, so I got online and also made a few phone calls to make sure that everything was going to work out. We were in luck! The lady on the phone confirmed the information on the internet, which was that the last train going from Salt Lake to Sandy left at 11:46 PM.

So, we parked in Sandy so we wouldn't have to worry about traffic or parking and we went to a Voicemale concert at Abravanel Hall. We had a great time at the concert! :)

After the concert ended we were both pretty hungry so we decided to grab a bite to eat because we had plenty of time. We knew we had a little bit of time because the lady on the phone told us that trains come every 15 minutes...

We ate, got a free birthday dessert, and walked back to the station. We arrived there at about 11:15, and figured that we would catch the 11:31 train to Sandy. When that train didn't come, we started reading signs to figure out what was going on. I called my mom and told her what was going on, and she was pretty irritated by the whole situation as well. The signs we were reading matched the information from BOTH the internet and the lady on the phone.

So, at 11:48 a train pulled up. We were so happy to see it! The only problem was that it said Murray on the front, and we needed the Sandy train. :( We went to the driver who informed us that this was the last train of the night and that it only went as far as Murray. We argued that the internet, lady on the phone, AND posted signs at the station said otherwise...she even got out of the train and read the sign herself! Any guesses on what she said to us? It pretty much went like this, "That information is wrong." Then she climbed in the train and drove away.

Erin and I stood there not knowing what to do for a couple of minutes. We were stranded in downtown Salt Lake and it was freezing cold! :( Our car was in Sandy, our cell phones were nearly dead, and our families both live in Nephi. I did the first thing I thought to do, which was call my brother-in-law in West Bountiful. We waited in a warm motel until Dallan came to our rescue!

We finally pulled into the Sandy train station, to see the train driver walking from a train to a car. Yep, the SAME driver that had been so rude to us at the Salt Lake station. I can't even think of the words to use that would could possibly describe to you just how irritated I was! GRRRR!!! I probably won't be using Trax again.

That is all.

Finals! : /

Last weekend my mom, dad, and brother came over here to go to the Voicemale concert in Manti. I pretty much loved it! I'm feeling especially spoiled this year because next Thursday I get to go to ANOTHER concert with my best friend from high school, so I'm really looking forward to that.

On Sunday we had a dorm Christmas party, and we asked that everyone bring a white elephant gift. I've always wanted to give a goldfish away as a white elephant gift, and this year my mom helped that to happen! :) There is nowhere in Ephraim to buy goldfish, so she brought three with her on Saturday when she came to the concert. I was excited to give them away, but my husband became instantly attatched. Yep, we ended up keeping two of the fish for ourselves and only giving one away... Russell named them Fred and Ted.

This week has been pretty crazy, I'm not going to lie. My finals have kept me really busy and I have been a little bit stressed out! I've thought a lot about it and I've come to the conclusion that the feeling you get right after you finish your last final is the BEST feeling in the world!

Voice Male Is Coming To Sanpete! :)

I have always loved listening to these guys sing. If you don't know who they are you should probably go to voicemalemusic.com and check out their website. They will be performing this Saturday at Manti High School and I would reccommend that EVERYONE get tickets and attend. :) I'm way excited for it! My mom, dad, brother, Russell, and I will definately be going! Maybe I'll even buy a CD... Sshhhh! Don't tell Russell! ;)

Poor Big Bird...

I know I'm a few days early, but I found this picture and had to post it! It made me giggle a little bit. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! :)

AHHHH!

This week has been just a little bit ridiculous, I’m not going to lie. Last Saturday I was feeling pretty good about life because I made it through the week, and then I looked at everything I had to do this week...

Monday

5-7 page paper on Alzheimer’s disease due

Tuesday

5-7 page paper on Ethics due

Wednesday

5-7 page paper on The Scalpel and the Silver Bear due

Thursday

5-7 page research paper due

Is it just me or is there a little bit of an overwhelming pattern there? Of course this isn't everything I've had to do--I've had classes, other assignments, a quiz, a test, work, and RA meetings... If I can make it through this week then finals week will be a breeze! :)

Smile! :)

Smiling is infectious

You catch it like the flu,

When someone smiled

At me today...

I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner

And someone saw my grin,

When he smiled I realized

I'd passed it on to him.

I thought about that smile

Then realized it's worth,

A single smile, just like mine

Could travel round the earth.

So if you feel a smile begin

Don't leave it undetected,

Let's start an epidemic quick

And get the whole world

infected!

Random Things About Me...

• My husband thinks I’m Monkish.
• I love to wear basketball shorts and t-shirts.
• I hate super loud music.
• I love spinning in washing machines.
• I'm the proud owner of 4 "I'm Thinking' Arbys" hats.
• I never liked playing with dolls.
• My freshman year of college was the first time I ever really wore "real" clothes, and it only happened on Fridays.
• I enjoy wiggling my nose at teachers in the middle of class.
• Sometimes I practice pulling faces in the mirror when nobody is around.
• I color coordinate my closet so my shirts are easy to find.
• I kind of enjoy cleaning out rain gutters.
• I love playing sports of almost any kind.
• I refuse to eat at Chuck Arama.
• I'm not sure that I will ever be completely done with school because there are so many things I want to be when I grow up.
• I don’t own any white socks.
• I love to go backpacking and have been on top of Nebo several times. The first time I went was when I was 12, and I was with a troop of boy scouts.
• I absolutely hate it when my food touches!
• I look forward to watching Monk every Friday night at 10:00.
• I keep my earrings in ice cube trays so I can always see them easily.
• I love candy and ice cream.
• I never wear black to funerals and I expect everyone to wear bright colors to my funeral when I die.
• My parents can always tell when I’m lying because I have a vein in my forehead that always gives it away.
• I am the proud owner of a light up Frisbee.
• My left foot is a 1/2 size bigger than my right foot.
• For several years my sister and I had our little brother convinced that I eat toenails.
• I am allergic to band-aids.
• I have no regrets in my life and try to learn from every choice I have made.
• I have special spoons to eat ice cream with because I'm really cool.
• I haven’t been able to smell since my junior year of high school.
• One of my biggest pet-peeves is when dishes are piled up in the sink with nasty food on them. I ALWAYS rinse and stack my dishes if I'm not going to wash them that second!
• I have been pop-corning.
• I love to wear my black Nike hat.
• I once ran a stop sign and cut off a cop....and I didn't get a ticket.
• I’m a small town girl…driving in cities stresses me out!
• I like to mow lawns.
• I love bright colors.
• I have six extra bones in each of my feet and the only kind of gym shoes I can wear have been discontinued.
• Hotchima Botchima is one of my favorite games in the whole world, but nobody knows how to play it with me!

Pizza!

I have a little bit of a confession to make that I'm sure will come as a shock to all of you...I'm not very good at cooking, and I'm even worse at deciding WHAT to cook. There, I said it. I’m pretty sure that I make the same things over and over again. Taco soup, chili cheese, spaghetti, alfredo, and breakfast burritos. It’s a vicious cycle my friends!

So about two weeks ago Russell was craving pizza... So instead of going to Roy's, we decided to try to make our own. :) This was kind of a big deal for me! I found a pizza dough recipe online where it only has to rise for twenty minutes, so we decided to give it a try.

It was tasty! But we learned some things to do to improve it—like spraying the pan and stuff like that. :) We’ve probably made pizza about seven times now, and I’m pretty sure Russell isn’t going to give up until the recipe is perfected! You might not be able to tell from the picture, but this is a fancy pizza…it has a cheese stuffed crust and everything, but Russell still wants to make it better!

So, I’m afraid what it comes down to is me begging… Please, please, please! If you have any fantastic pizza secrets share them with me! :)

Our Halloween Costumes...

As you can see, I was a cereal killer and Russell was a nudist on strike... :) We had a fun Halloween! We went trick-or-treating for a little while with my little brother and a couple of his friends and then we partied with my sister and her boyfriend. I know what you're thinking right now, and you're wrong! We are NOT too old to go trick or treating!

Google is AMAZING!

Sorry…this is another dorm story. That’s kind of my life right now!

Last Friday night Russell and I were on duty, which means that we were awake with our door open until 1:00 am. I had big plans to teach a girl how to make homemade turkey-shaped rolls on Saturday morning, so my head hit the pillow shortly after our apartment door closed. Russell stayed awake until about 2:30 watching some movie that was on TV. Silly Russell.

Anyway…I woke up early Saturday morning to make the rolls and just when I was rolling the dough there was pounding on the door. I went to see what was going on, and found a very tired-looking girl leaning against the candy machine. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that her toilet wouldn’t quit flushing. First the toilets aren’t being flushed, and now they won’t stop? WHAT?!

I walked down to her room with her, and sure enough, her toilet was flushing continuously! I’d never seen anything like it! It was splashing all over the place and had apparently been flushing since about 3:00 am. She’d tried to wake us up, but we didn’t hear her.

I immediately tried to turn the water off, but this was no ordinary toilet—instead of a tank it just has a pipe in the wall. Weird! I put in a call to maintenance but no one answered. I then called the guy in charge and he told me that if we couldn’t find someone from the maintenance department then it would have to wait until Monday.

The idea of waiting until Monday was completely unacceptable to me! I had girls coming and complaining every five minutes that they didn’t have any hot water. Russell didn’t know how to fix it either, so my internet search began…

Before too long I was able to find instructions on how to fix a toilet. I wish you could have seen Russell’s face when I pulled out our little red toolbox and headed down the hall! :)

A few minutes later I had the water turned off and the toilet working again. I was one proud girl! I’ve thought a lot about it, and I think that maybe I should be a plumber instead of a preschool teacher…

The overall moral of this story is that Google is amazing and can teach you how to do great things!

This Made Me Giggle...

My friend sent me a text with this picture. I thought it was funny, so I decided to share it with all of you! :)

I Can Explain...

I want to tell you a little story about my past. Several years ago my sister and I loved to watch Law and Order together. We got pretty in to it, I'm not going to lie...we even had a dance that we'd do when the music played right before it started! I know what you're thinking right now, and you're right! My sister and I are WAY cool! My sister thinks that Elliot Stabler is dreamy. Don't worry Krystle, nobody knows which sister I'm talking about!

As her birthday approached I wanted to get her the perfect birthday present. I thought a lot about it, and naturally, I decided that framing a photo of her secret TV crush would be a fantastic idea. So I did just that, and to this day the picture is in her apartment. :) It makes me happy every time I see it!

Soon after that, my mom had foot surgery. While being stuck in bed she started wathcing Monk. She got a little bit addicted to the show, and confessed of thinking that he is cute. At the time we had eight empty frames hanging on the wall in our home (which sounds pretty silly, I know)... For my mom's present, we filled them with pictures of HER television dream boy. These photos hung on our wall for over a year before they were finally replaced with pictures of our grandparents and great-grandparents. There is still one photo remaining on my parents entertainment center, and occansionally when guests ask about it, my mom makes up random stories about how he is a relative or an old friend, and people usually believe her! :)

Well, I don't know how many of you have ever heard of The Phone Call, but I love it! As you can probably guess, my sister framed this photo for me and gave it to me for my birthday. It has been on display in every apartment I've lived in, and that hasn't changed now that I'm married. Russell doesn't fully understand how much I love it, but he's never complained about the fact that I have a framed photo of another man on display in our family room. :)

As girls from the dorm have visited me, several of them have recognized my movie star boy and asked a lot of questions about him. I am proud to say that I have them convinced that Marc McClur is my cousin in real life! Although my residents want to make fun of The Phone Call, nobody dares because they think I'll be offended! It's awesome! :)

Cookie Loves Milk

There is something I want all my readers to know about me. I love t-shirts! I have a shirt like this that I purchased from threadless.com a couple of years ago, and a few days ago when I went to wear it I realized that it has a huge stain on it. I am so sad! :( I want to buy a new one, but they are currently out of print. Sad day!

Good News...And Bad News Too

This week I have both good news and bad news. I have no idea which you want to hear first, so I'll just have to decide...

The good news is that when walking down the hall in our building we've been hearing a lot of flushing toilets. :) As weird as that may be, it's a wonderful sound! It's like music to my ears after all the problems we've had with unflushed toilets around here!

Although toilets are now being flushed, another problem has surfaced. People keep on parking in our parking spot, and this my friends is BAD news! We let it slide a couple of times, but the problem has only gotten worse. After a long night of being in class and then going straight to work, I came home to find that I had nowhere to park because residents had taken all three RA parking spots. This was not acceptible to me, so Russell and I went to work on the computer.

Yep, we decided that the best way to handle the parking intruders would be to issue them a parking violation. We printed the tickets on official-looking paper, wrote in their car information, and left it under the windshield wiper face down. I'm not going to lie, Russell and I are pretty proud about this! I wish you could see the picture better, because it's hilarious to read...

I wish you could see the looks of panic when the girls go out to their car to find a ticket for hundreds of dollars. Don't worry, the disclaimer at the bottom explains that it is fake... :)

FOCUS!

I have so much to do, and absolutely no desire to do any of it! I keep finding myself on the internet checking my email and playing on facebook. This is bad news! I need to find some way to focus. That's all.

Contest! :)

Here in Ephraim we have been working on recruiting new students. Jake and I have visited a number of Snow College classes to get the word out, and yesterday I set up a table by the belltower. I regret not taking my camera because it ended up being pretty successful! You see, we have a few items that I purchased at the USU bookstore the day of my car accident. We've been trying to find the right time to give some of them away, and yesterday was it! There were 11 or 12 people competing, and a whole group of people who gathered around to watch. After much thought and consideration, I decided that the best thing to have them do would be to...

*STAND ON ONE FOOT,
*CLOSE THEIR EYES TIGHT,
*PUT ONE HAND ON THEIR HEAD, and
*PUT THE OTHER HAND ON THEIR NOSE.

Sounds a little bit silly, right? Well I am here to tell you that it is harder than it looks! :) Go ahead, see how long you can do it before you give in! Seriously, stop reading and give it a try!

So anyway, I'm pretty sure you didn't actually stop reading to test your abilities, but you should when you get a minute. Our happy winner took home USU blanket and I'm sure he's been bragging about his mad balancing skills ever since! :)

Reminder!

So, we're all grown-ups here, right? I thought so too until the past couple of weeks. In my dorm we have had a lot of complaints about girls not flushing the toilets in the community restrooms. We've had so many complainers, in fact, that we have not only had to hold one mandatory meeting, but TWO! It's a bit ridiculus, I'm not going to lie. Yesterday I had yet another girl come to me complaining of unflushed toilets. What am I suppose to do, stand in the bathroom and make sure that toilets get flushed every time somebody has to go? I don't think so! Instead, I decided to make so fabulous reminders for people to look at as they are leaving the stalls.
This sign can be found in every single bathroom stall in Snow Hall. It makes me smile a little bit on the inside. :)

And then there is this sign, that is quite a bit smaller and hanging on every single sleep-study door. It brings me joy as well.

I have heard several of the girls laughing at the signs, but I have also heard a lot of toilets being flushed! HURRAY! :)

AWKWARD!

This week I've been pretty busy! One thing I've learned since becoming an RA is that sometimes awkward signs need to be hung up in common areas... A lot of my residents were pretty offended when I hung this one, mostly because we live in an all-girls dorm, and visitors aren't EVER allowed after 1:00. These signs are plastered in every single dorm on Snow College campus! But I didn't make the signs, I was just told to hang them. I thought it was pretty funny though, I'm not going to lie!

Imagine how embarassed you'd be if YOU were the one people were watching on the surveillance cameras!

A Tribute...

This week has been a very busy one for me, but I've somehow managed to get through it...thanks to my pens. I want to tell all my readers a secret about myself, but first all of you must promise not to judge me. Because this is a blog and you can't pinky-swear or look me in the eyes and tell me that you promise, I'll just assume that if you continue to read this post then it means that you aren't going to judge me. Deal?

Okay, here it goes.... I have color-coded my life. There, I said it. I know that you are probably thinking that I am the nerdliest person ever, but I feel okay about that because at least you already promised not to judge me. I wasn't always so geeky, but when I started doing distance education I had to come up with a way to organize my life so I wasn't so overwhelmed with everything I had to do. Everyone has their own way of getting organized, and these beautiful colored pens are what help me. :)

Each pen has it's own meaning when looking in my planner or at my t0-do list, and it makes life a lot more exciting! The dark blue pen is for everything I have to do as an RA. The light purple pen tells me what days I have to work. Dark green means that someone I love is having a birthday. Pink is for all my Adult Development & Aging class. Dark purple is for my pre-practicum. Orange is for my Family and Culture Diversity class. Bright green is for Research Methods. Black is for personal and family things. And lastly, red is for my ambassador stuff.

I know I'm kind of a geek, but I love my colorful pens! :)

Is Stress Kicking In Yet?

“Stress is when you wake up screaming and you realize you haven't fallen asleep yet.”
-Anonymous

“There cannot be a stressful crisis next week. My schedule is already full!”
-Henry Kissinger


Fun Ways to Relieve Stress:

• Go to the park and swing.
• Watch a movie.
• Play a game.
• Make a random trip to Wal-Mart
• Read a book for fun.
• Eat your favorite ice cream.
• Ride a bike.
• Go to the store and read funny cards.
• Make a tasty snack.
• Go to bed early one night.
• Everyday get rid of one thing that you never use.
• Play Frisbee.
• Go for a walk.
• Write in a journal.
• Talk to an old friend on the phone.
• Look at the stars.

If any of you have something that you enjoy doing to relieve your stress, please leave a comment! :)

Follow Up

Last weekend Jake and I set up a booth at the Sanpete County Fair. It wasn't as successful as we hoped it would be, but we're hoping that next year we can make it better. :)

I would like to take this opportunity to share a little fun-fact about myself. Several years ago I had some x-rays done on my feet, and the doctor was astonished to find that I have six extra bones in each foot....trust me, you'll understand why I'm telling you this in just a minute.

Anyway, since my wreck I've been having a lot of headaches, neck pains, and a sore back, so today I went to the doctor for a follow-up appointment. I'm basically going through what they call "post-concussion syndrome" which means that I probably won't be feeling better for another 2-4 weeks. I also have a kidney that is bruised and swollen, so they gave me some medication for that. :( Lame!

Besides that, they did some x-rays of my neck, and after looking them over the doctor told me that everything looks alright, but that she did find something unusual. When I asked her what it was, she proceeded to tell me that I have an extra bone in my neck. So, not only do I have extra bones in my feet, but I have one in my neck too! I'm not going to lie, I kind of feel like a freak of nature!

RA Story of the Week...

This week has been so much better than last week. I didn't even get in any car accidents! My headaches have been a lot better, and thanks to some magical oils from Young Living Farms and a husband who gives me massages, my neck isn't hurting nearly as much. School started, and I think I'm really going to enjoy my classes. I've been to all but one, and I'll find out how that one is tonight from 8:00-10:30. I know it's kind of a late class, but it's okay.

I want to tell you a story. Did I mention that my husband and I are RAs in a dorm here at Snow? Well, we are. Not just any dorm, we're in the ALL GIRLS building. That means a couple of things....first, that there are about 50 girls who flirt with my husband on a daily basis, and second, that about every other night we are on duty and get to leave our apartment door wide open for people to enter as they wish. :) Last night when we opened the door several girls came in and wanted to play a game. So we played, but right around kick out time these girls decided that it would be really cool to lick their hands and try to rub it on Russell. Disgusting, I know! So he ended up running out of our apartment and going upstairs to the other RA's room where he would be safe.

The girls were just waiting outside the door, saying that he'd have to come out eventually. They even held his duck and my toothpaste hostage claiming that they were going to put toothpaste on the duck. I hung out in the apartment and did my own thing because it was obvious that I couldn’t help him out. I was just in the kitchen minding my own business, and all of a sudden a girl came in and tried to steal my keys! I fought her off, and when she left, Russell called me from the other RA’s phone. We didn’t make any real plans, but I told him I was going to crack the back door in case he saw a chance to get away. We hung up, and before I knew what was happening I was being kidnapped!!! Apparently the girls thought that maybe Russell loves me more than he loves his duck and that he would come out if he knew that they had me.

I agreed to go with the girls, and I suggested that maybe the kidnapping would seem more convincing if they put a blanket over my head. They thought that was a great idea, and they also thought that meant that I was on their team! So I didn’t fight them as they lead me upstairs, but as soon as we got there I started fighting, the girl yelled to the other girls that she needed help and that I was going to get away. They all came to help her get me, while in the meantime Russell escaped! I met him downstairs and we were both able to get into our apartment safely. :) The girls were pretty bummed and it was funny!

Anyway, enough of that! Today Jake and I went and set up a table in Manti, and this weekend we are going to be giving some awesome things out at the Sanpete County Fair! Wish us luck!

It's Been A LONG Week!

This week hasn’t been all that great for me, I’m not going to lie. I arrived in Logan safe and sound on Monday, but on my way home on Tuesday I wasn’t so lucky. I was just driving along, minding my own business when traffic slowed way down. I slowed down too, thinking, “Great! This is going to take forever!” All of a sudden I heard a noise and felt my head slam against my seat. To make a long story short, I ended up having a concussion, visiting the emergency room, having my mom drive me to Nephi where I spent the night, and I’ve had a pounding headache and super sore neck for the past three days. I’m sad to say that the ShaNeil-Mobile is probably no more. :( I’m really sad about that… So anyway, I know I was supposed to have this week’s post up earlier, but it’s quite honestly been the least of my worries! I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! :)

Finals

I can’t believe how fast this semester has gone by! With finals just around the corner life is pretty crazy. I still have so much to do, and time is running out. Tonight was going to be a busy night for me, but instead I am just going to study. I went to class, but due to a power-outage it got cancelled. :) I’m not going to lie, I was quite happy about that! My second class got cancelled too because we are suppose to be taking the final tonight….but blackboard is down for some reason, so I guess I’ll just try to study for my stats class instead.

Earlier today I was also getting some of my things ready to move out. I started collecting boxes last week because in my time here in Ephraim, I have learned that if you wait to get boxes there are none to be had. So…I’m pretty sure I have almost a billion boxes in my minivan right now. A couple years ago my roommate and I went to Wal-Mart and got all the boxes we could, then when nobody could find any when they went to pack we sold them for some good money! :) I thought we were smart—it’s amazing to me how much a person is willing to pay for a cardboard box if they are desperate!

Anyway, good I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! Good luck with finals! :)

The REST of the Story

So…does everyone remember how last week I was so excited to go to the Easter egg hunt right after my presentation? Well, this week I’m going to tell you the whole story! Here goes…

After my group presentation we were free to leave class, so obviously I didn’t stay. I rushed back to the main campus so I could snatch me up some Easter eggs. I tried to get a hold of Russell to tell him to meet me there because I was running late, but he didn’t answer his phone. So instead I hopped in the ShaNeil-Mobile and sped to the hunt.

As I approached the GSC, I saw tons of greedy college students rounding the corner of the humanities building. In all the excitement I quickly parked the minivan, dumped everything out of my backpack, put my keys under the seat, and started gathering eggs like crazy!

Since I was a little bit late and it had already started, I didn’t get as many Easter eggs as I had hoped to…in fact, I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I only got about ten! :( But it was okay, I was still feeling good about life. I couldn’t find Russell anywhere so I figured that he must have decided to skip the fun and work on his math. I hurried to my van, but when I went to open the door it was locked!!!

Oh man. Remember how I put my keys under the seat?! Yeah… So I walked to the math lab, found Russell, told him what I did, stood there while he laughed at me, and then called my mom because I don’t have a spare key. :( She told me that she didn’t know where a spare was… So Russell and I went to my apartment and did the first thing we thought of—grabbed a hanger. Russell tried to break in for quite a while without success. It was a little bit funny (but embarrassing) because people just kept walking by and starring at us!

So we called the cops, who referred us to a locksmith, who I wasn’t willing to pay for. So at this point I was extremely frustrated because not only did I not have a car, but I didn’t have my computer or any of my homework because it was locked inside!!!

That was when Russell decided that a Wendy’s run sounded like fun! He drove me to Nephi where we searched my house for the spare key. We finally found it, and on the way out of town we enjoyed a tasty midnight fast-food snack. :)

So what's the moral of this story, you ask? Let me tell you....

Don’t get too excited about Easter egg hunts, or you'll probably end up feeling like a fool! :)

Happy Easter

This week has zoomed right by. I can’t believe it’s already Thursday! I have been really busy with school stuff this week, mostly because I have a huge group project due tonight that my group didn’t even start on until Monday. I hate group projects with a passion, just in case you were wondering! :) It seems like it’s impossible to find a time to meet, and when you finally get together one person does the majority of the work.

Tonight my classes go from 5:15-10:30. My Thursdays are long, but it’s really not that bad. I am seriously considering leaving class right after my presentation tonight so I can go to the Easter egg hunt here on campus. Last year Russell and I pretty much rocked…we got so many eggs full of goodness! :D So I want to do that really bad. Plus…who knows, maybe we’ll find the $100 egg!

Anyways, have a great weekend everyone! Happy Easter!

Smile! :)

This week has gone by so fast! School is keeping me really busy, but my to-do list is getting a little bit shorter. Just a couple of days ago I was able to cross of “figure out the next year of my life.” Yep, I am going to be in Ephraim for one more year! If Jake will take me back, that is… :)

Yesterday in my lab I was the head teacher, so I’m glad that’s done! I had a lot of fun with it, but it was stressful for me. We did all sorts of fun activities! My theme was about things that are found kitchens—so we finger painted with pudding, made potato stamps, dug in sand with different kitchen utensils, had marshmallow architecture, and a few other things. At circle time, we sang “If All The Raindrops…” and the kids loved it! After we sang, we played “hot potato” with a real potato, and if they were holding the potato when the music stopped then they got to tell us their favorite food. Apparently little kids like that kind of attention. After the game we were dancing like crazy! I had a way fun day. :)

With everything that was going on, I didn’t even realize that yesterday was April fool’s day! Usually I am on top of these things and have a few mischievous ideas up my sleeve….but not this year! :( In order for me to tell you my story I need to share a little fun fact about myself, so please don’t judge me. Okay, here it goes…I color coordinate my closet. Whew, now you know! So anyways, I got back from my lab and had to hurry and get ready for work. I went to my closet to get my black work shirt out, and my closet was backwards! My white shirts were where my black shirts belong, and my blue shirts were where my red ones usually are…and it was just all messed up! So pretty much, Russell got me. It’s okay though, because last year I put Kool-Aid on his towel, and that was pretty much amazing…

On another note, I’m an aunt again! My sister Jamie had her baby yesterday. They live in England, so I’ve only seen pictures, but I’m excited. We didn’t know whether the baby was going to be a boy or a girl, so Russell and I made a bet on it…. If it was a boy, I had to give Russell and 20 minute back massage, and if it was a girl he had to give me a 20 minute hand/foot massage… I was SO happy to hear that she had a baby girl! YAY! :D

Anyways, that’s all I have for this week. I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Kind of a Bummer...

This week has been great...busy, but still fantastic! On Tuesday I had to go back to Dr. Moss, where he cut into me in four more places. Three of which are on my legs, making it very difficult for me to wear pants! It's kind of funny, but annoying because there is snow on the ground again and I am stuck in basketball shorts! It's okay though, I've been wearing some awesome long socks! And besides that, it needed to be done, so at least now I don't have to worry about it. 

Here in Ephraim we are starting to get everything lined up for the upcoming graduation, so we've been working on that in our spare time. School is keeping me incredibly busy, and finding time to plan my wedding seems nearly impossible, but somehow I keep crossing things off of my "to-do" list. :) Yesterday I went to do some work on my computer and it won't turn on. :( I'm really sad about that! This is possibly the worst time EVER for it to quit working, especially since I have two online classes and finals are coming up. I just got off the phone with technical support, and luckily my computer is under warranty! Yay!!! They are sending me a new hard drive, and it will hopefully arrive on Monday. Awesome, huh? :)

I think that's about it for this week. I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!!

Moving Right Along

Last week was pretty fantastic, I really needed that break from school! Sorry I didn't post, I was away from technology....and it was great! My mom and I got a lot of things figured out for the wedding, and I'm feeling a lot less stressed about the whole thing.

Yesterday I had to go to go to visit my friend Dr. Moss. I've gone to him several times and we're pretty tight now. :) I went to him to get some things done before I go off my parent's insurance. He cut into me in seven different places. Yep, seven! And I have to go back another day because he told me there was just too much to do in one day. Awesome, I know!

Today was major rush here at Snow College. I set up a table and talked to tons of people about Utah State. At one point I looked up and saw that my table was the only one that people were crowding around. I'm pretty popular like that....

Just kidding. They were pretty much all there for the ice cream. I gave out several different flavors of delightful Aggie ice cream and everyone LOVED it! :)

Anyways, I hope everyone has a great week! I'll definately keep everyone posted about what's going on!

Cross Your Fingers!

This week has gone by really fast! Last Friday Russell and I got a call saying that we needed to come in for a group interview for the RA position. That was on Monday and it was really a lot of fun! Then we got another call saying that we needed to come in again for another interview. So today at 2:15 Russell and I went to the housing office for our final interview. It’s a good thing they are posting the list tomorrow because I am officially out of interview-worthy pants! :D Everyone cross your fingers for me!

Yesterday USU came to Snow College and I got to sit in the GSC with them for a few hours. It was a lot of fun, and I got to try TWO different kinds of Aggie Ice Cream that I'd never tried before! Then I went to my lab and played with all of the kids for a couple of hours. In a few weeks I am going to be the head teacher again, so if anyone has any ideas of fun activities I could do with the kids that has to do with cooking or the kitchen, let me know! :)

That’s all I have for this week. I hope everyone has a fantastic Spring Break!

Happy birthday Jake! How does it feel to be THIRTY?! :)

Whew!

Today has been pretty stressful for me, but it's been a good day for the most part. Russell and I have applied to be married RAs next year, and our interviews were today. I was so nervous!!! In the interview I had to do a short presentation on how I can make a difference in Snow College on-campus housing. This is the poster I made—I’m pretty proud of it, I’m not going to lie! :) But at least the interview is over now…. Everyone cross your fingers for me!

As far as my classes go, this week has been insane! I’ve had to turn in several assignments as well as taking three midterms. I still have one midterm to go, but I’m feeling a lot better about life now that I've crossed a lot of things off of my to-do list!

This weekend I’m really excited to go home and go to my little brother’s birthday party! He’s turning 13 on Sunday and I can’t believe he’s so old. I haven’t bought him a present yet, but I’m seriously considering purchasing a cane…

Anyways, I hope everyone has had a fantastic week!

So Much To Do!

This week has gone by so fast! As I look at my to-do list I feel really overwhelmed. But I'm just taking it one thing at a time hoping that I'll be able to finish everything in time. :)

Yesterday I was the head teacher in the Little Badgers Early Learning Center for the first time. I was really stressed, but I think it went quite well. :) I had to plan nine different activities that the kids could do as they wanted, as well as be in charge of a circle time and create a letter and postcard for each of their parents. I felt pretty good about it, but my favorite part is that it's over now! :D

Today I just feel exhausted! I have lost my voice and I can barely keep my eyes open. Being in class from 5:15-10:30 is definately going to be a challenge tonight!

That's all for this week! I hope everyone has a great day!

Happy Day! :D

This week has been pretty eventful for me. School is keeping me way busy and I am exhausted! But life is great. :D I have a little story I'd like to share with you.

Last night I was in my room minding my own business when Russell came over and asked if I wanted to go to dinner. Even though I had tons to do I said yes because I was pretty much starving. So we went out to Snow Dragon and it was way tasty!

At 9:00 we went to a movie at the theater. We watched it and when it was over I got up and put my coat on, but Russell just stayed sitting there. So I asked him if he was ready to go and he just kind of looked at me and said, "Don't you like to stay and see what's after the credits?" I told him that there most likely wasn't anything, but I stood there waiting anyways. I just thought he was being weird......but I waited anyways. So then the credits ended and I was like "Are you ready now?"

And then music started and I looked up and saw a special video made just for me playing on the big screen. :) It had tons of pictures of all the crazy things we've done together and little messages that went along with them. I may or may not have started crying a little. ;) When the movie ended Russell said some really sweet things to me and got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. :) The ring is so pretty, I love it! I was so surprised that I totally forgot to tell him my answer for a few minutes....

Anyways, my buddy Jake told me that Russell must love me a whole lot if he was willing to put his knee on the nasty theater floor. :) I thought that was funny! I definately didn't see that coming, I was shocked! I was shaking so bad and I just couldn't stop! So pretty much it was a great night besides the fact that I couldn't sleep at all! The end.

I Confess!

This week has been fantastic! I have been really busy, but at least it's almost the weekend. I'm not going to lie, my brain feels dead and I am having a hard time thinking of something to write about. I have a little confession to make....I may or may not be addicted to Facebook. A few days ago I was on Facebook and saw that I had been "tagged" in a note. My first response was, "Dang it! Now I have to respond to this and tag my friends..." Naturally, being the addict that I am I felt that I had that responsibility. So I followed the directions and started writing random things about me. As it turns out I had a lot of fun! So now, if you promise not to judge me then you can read my list and learn some cool things about me! :) If you can't promise not to judge me then I would suggest you stop reading right now!

Here goes....

1) I can't stand it when my roommates use my butter.

2) I enjoy wiggling my nose at teachers in the middle of class, and at the bishopric during sacrament metting.

3) Sometimes I practice pulling faces in the mirror when nobody is around, and sometimes I do it when people are around.

4) I color coordinate my closet so my shirts are easy to find.

5) I love to wear basketball shorts and t-shirts.

6) My freshman year of college was the first time I ever really wore "real" clothes, and it only happened on Fridays.

7) I love spinning in washing machines.

8) I'm the proud owner of 4 "I'm Thinking' Arbys" hats.

9) I never liked playing with dolls.

10) I love playing sports of almost any kind (but I'm not a fan of soccer).

11) I love to go backpacking and have been on top of Nebo at least six times. The first time I went was when I was 12, and I was with a troop of boy scouts.

12) I hate it when my food touches!

13) In my 5 years of driving, I have driven a truck and two minivans.

14) I have been popcorning.

15) I love my light-up frisbee.

16) I never wear black to funerals and I expect everone to wear bright colors to my funeral when I die someday.

17) My left foot is a 1/2 size bigger than my right foot.

18) I love to wear my black Nike hat.

19) I once ran a stop sign and cut off a cop....and I didn't get a ticket.

20) Hotchima Botchima is my favorite game in the whole world!

21) I love bright colors.

22) I keep my earings in ice cube trays so I can always see them easily.

23) I love candy and ice cream.

24) I have special spoons to eat ice cream with because I'm really cool.

25) One of my biggest pet-peeves is when dishes are piled up in the sink with nasty food on them. I ALWAYS rinse and stack my dishes if I'm not going to wash them that second!

FREE Stuff! :)

This week has been fantastic! I feel like my to-do list is never ending, but I'm loving life nonetheless. :) Yesterday Emily and I set up a table under the bell tower with all sorts of fun things. We had a drawing where we gave out beenies, t-shirts, and hats. Plus the usual information about USU programs offered here in Ephraim, and applications for ambassador positions. To top it all off we gave out amazing Aggie ice cream and some delightful hot chocolate.

It was way cold, but I had a lot of fun. We decided to let people choose between hot coco and ice cream and I was shocked at how many people turned us down when we tried to give them free hot chocolate... HELLO PEOPLE! FREE HOT CHOCOLATE ON A COLD DAY! Some people are just crazy I guess! The ice cream went way fast, just like it always does....but we were sitting out there for a couple of hours before all the hot chocolate was gone! My feet were so cold, and I got done just in time to run to my early childhood lab. I wish I would have had a camera handy to take pictures! :(

Ayways, that's all for today. Have a great week everyone! :)

Wahoo!

This is probably going to be a quick post because I don't have much time tonight. I would like to take a minute to tell all of you a little story...

Earlier today I was really frustrated because the printers in the writing lab AND the library all hated me. I was trying to print off a few papers for over an hour without success. I'm not going to lie, it was WAY annoying! So I was grumpy. I went to class feeling really gloomy because I didn't have the papers I needed, and I hadn't even had time to eat dinner. GRRRRR!

Tonight in my family crisis and interventions class we learned a little bit about optimism. It was kind of funny because I wasn't really in the mood to talk about being happy! But as class progressed I slowly started to cheer up. I left feeling great, and motivated to be a more optimistic person. :) One of the slides talked about positive reinforcement. The ratio is ten positives to one negative... So, rather than dwelling on the stupid printers, I decided to think of some of the positive things in my life. Here goes...

• I am still caught up in my reading.
• I am understanding all of my classes.
• My homework for today is done.
• I'm wearing warm up pants and a t-shirt right now.
• My bedroom is clean.
• I had some delightful penny candy during class.
• I have really fun socks.
• I got my oil changed in my minivan today.
• I got out of class early tonight.
• AND I have some delicious ice cream in my freezer!

That's all for tonight. Peace out everyone! :)

No Time To Breathe!

Holy smokes! I have been so busy the last couple of weeks that I barely have time to breathe. Time is flying by so fast! My classes are all going really well, and being in class from 5:15-10:30 tonight wasn't even terrible. I am proud to announce that I am currently caught up in every one of my classes, including the reading. I'm usually not that on top of everything, especially my online classes! :) So, I feel pretty proud right now, and I would appreciate it if you would smile for me. Go ahead, smile! And now that you've smiled, you can click on the box under the comment link letting me know that this post made you smile. ;)

School isn't the only thing that has kept me busy though. I have been doing a lot of homework, but I've also been organizing my life, working, doing ambassador stuff, learning to cope with a new roommate, cleaning my apartment for cleaning checks, and the list goes on and on! :) On top of everything else, on Monday when I was leaving work I received a voicemail from my mom informing me that my Uncle Chad passed away. He was my great-uncle, and it didn't come as a shock to me, but it was still sad. I'm mostly worried about my Nana because she is having a really hard time with the whole thing. :(

I am leading the music at the service on Saturday, and my dad is giving a talk. I was talking to my dad and he asked me what I thought of when I thought of my Uncle Chad...and I immediately thought of two dollar bills! That might sound a little bit strange, but let me explain.... He lived in Arizona, so I didn't really see him all that often, but everytime I did see him he set me on his lap and give me a two dollar bill. He loved doing that for all the kids! I remember one time he accidently gave me a $50 bill (because he was blind) but my parents made me give it back to him--I was a sad little girl! :)

Anyways, I hope that everyone is having a great semester so far! I think I'm going to go to bed now because I have to work in the morning. Have a great weekend everyone! :)

A Day In My Life :)

The first week of school has been really busy for me, my new schedule is definately going to take some getting use to! I was asked to write a post that will give all of you a small glimpse of my life. Every day is different for me, so this isn't an easy task! I have pretty much decided to write everything I did today, so I hope you aren't totally bored reading it! :)

7:00 AM- Wake up, shower
7:15 AM- Get ready for the day
8:15 AM- Check email, waste time on facebook, make a "to-do" list
9:00 AM- Log on to blackboard
9:15 AM- Eat breakfast, read my scriptures
10:30 AM- Go to my Stats class
11:45 AM- Speed to my institute class
12:30 PM- Eat lunch, hang out with Russell
1:30 PM- Do ambassador stuff that needs done
2:00 PM- Work on online classes
3:00 PM- Go to writing lab to print off notes for my night classes
4:00 PM- Take a little break because I was exhausted :)
4:45 PM- Eat chips and salsa and a cookie
5:10 PM- Drive the ShaNeil-Mobile to West campus
5:15 PM- Infancy & Early Childhood class starts
7:45 PM- Class ends, snack on some Aggie ice cream thanks to my pal
8:00 PM- Family Crisis and Interventions class starts
10:30 PM- Class ends, hop in the minivan and head back to my apartment
10:35 PM- Eat dinner (even though it's late) watch Everybody Loves Raymond with Russell
11:00 PM- Russell goes home, I update this blog and stuff
12:00 PM- Brush my teeth and wash my face
12:15 PM- Talk to my roommate
12:30 PM- Go to bed

I hope this is kind of what Sarah and Rebecca were after! Thursdays are my busiest day, but two or three nights a week I work at Pollies, which is pretty much the best job in the world. Let's face it, it doesn't get better than candy and ice cream! Anyways, I hope everybody has had a great first week of school. Good luck this semester! :)