Oops...

Well, I wasn't as good at posting what I am thankful for for the ENTIRE month...oops. I guess I will try to be better next year. Starting on December 1st I am going to try and find a Christmas story to post for every day until Christmas. I will try to be better at that too. Right now I am at my grandma's house in Utah. I have been here since Monday. I wasn't able to go home to Washington for Thanksgiving this year but at least I was able to spend it with family. This week was pretty fun. My grandma had to work on Tuesday and Wednesday so I went to my aunt's house during the day. We ran errands and just hung out. Then on Thursday was THANKSGIVING!! Lots of people came to grandma's house for dinner. Unfortunately we missed out on Laura and her family and David and his family. We also missed out on Annie and Kelly because they were at home fixing food for their other relatives. It was fun nonetheless. After dinner we sat around and talked and then played some Scattegories. I had a good time! Then, on Friday we didn't really do much. Grandma, Linda, Cassidy and I went to Walgreens and Costco to look for some deals but we didn't find much. Then, we went back to grandma's house and I worked on homework for hours on end. I'm writing a book report for my history class and the book we have to read is SO boring! It puts me to sleep every time! Grandma works at the temple on Fridays so I stayed home while she went to do that. After a couple of hours, Andy came to pick me up and we went to eat and shop at Ikea. They are finishing their basement so they needed to get some furniture for their basement. Today I've gotten a lot more of my report done and later we are going to go see "The Help" at the cheap theater! It should be fun. All in all, it's bee a good break from school....and Idaho! :)

Month of Thanks- Day 5

Last night my roommates, Megan and Emily, and I went to see the movie Abduction at the cheap theater. It was SO good!! I loved it a lot...and not just because Taylor Lautner is in it. :) It's one of my new favorite movies. However, when we walked out to go get shakes before we headed back home it was snowing. Not my favorite idea. Luckily I was wearing a nice coat. Remember a couple of days ago when I said I was thankful for the nice weather? Well I take it back! Now it's snowing outside. Today I'm thankful for hot chocolate, cozy blankets and Christmas music. Christmas just makes me so happy! I'm sitting her on my laptop drinking hot chocolate, cuddled up in my blanket and listening to my Christmas playlist on Pandora. Gotta love it!! I don't care if it's only the 5th of November. It's never too early for Christmas music. :)

Month of Thanks- Day 4

Well I already missed one day. This not looking good for the rest of the month. In my defense yesterday was crazy. Today I had a take home exam due at 9 in the morning for my special education class. Last night as I was working on it my computer erased what I had been working on (I was about halfway done when it was deleted). Needless to say, I was up ALL night finishing it. Then, this morning I guess I fell asleep but I'm not sure what time that happened. The next thing I know it's 8:45 and I need to be up in the Hinckley building with my papers printed off by 9. How was this supposed to happen? I jumped out of bed, threw on a pair of pants and a coat (I kept my pajama shirt on :)) and ran out the door. I first had to run to the Kimball and print off my papers and I made it there in less than 10 minutes (which is a record for me). The computer was especially fast this morning. Usually it takes a few minutes to login but thankfully it wasn't slow today. I had all of this printed and I was out of the Kimball by 8:59. How was I supposed to get to the Hinckley in just 2 minutes? I wasn't. That's the answer to that question. I raced from the Kimball to the Hinckley building and I got there at 9:01. That is also a record for me. I got to my class in just 16 minutes after I woke up. I have never done that before. Now that you know the premise for my thanks for today I will continue on into that part of my blog. I am so thankful for the fact that I finished my assignment on time and that it is turned in and I never have to think about it ever again! I am also so thankful that I made it to class in the time that I did. I honestly don't think that I did that by myself. I have seriously never done that before and I wasn't even that worn out or out of breath by the time I got to class. Now to celebrate the hardest week of my life being over, my roommates are going to go see the new Taylor Lautner movie at the cheap theater and then we are going to get pie shakes. I needed some motivation to get through this week. :)

Month of Thanks- day 2

Today is a new day which brings a new day of thanks. It is a nice day outside today too! Only by looks though. It's actually about 18 degrees outside....SOOO cold!!! Today I'm thankful for my family. I don't get to see them much right now since I'm at college but they are still always there for me. I talk to them almost every Sunday. I will be back in Washington to spend time with them on December 17th for a couple weeks. It's very exciting! Not only does that mean that I will be home with my family but I will also be done with school!

Month of Thanks- day 1

Thanksgiving is just around the corner! To celebrate, I am going to post a picture and a short note about something that I am thankful for. I will try to post something new everyday. I am pretty busy but I will try my hardest to remember to post. :) I am thankful for many things. It's hard to pick just one to talk about today. Um....today I'm thankful for the sun that is shining. Although it's 39 degrees outside today in Rexburg, Idaho, it's still sunny out! The cold and the snow will roll in soon enough so I better be thankful while the sun is still shining. It looks really nice outside as I sit on the couch. I know that as I walk up the hill to go to class in the Hinckley building it won't feel as nice but it's great as I just sit here! :)

Catch up time!

Wow, it's been a LONG time since I've written last. I could use the excuse of work or school or homework but 6 months is just way too long. Since I wrote last I turned 20. I also started a new semester at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho and I got another job as a custodian.

This semester has actually been pretty good. My roommates are Katie Weaver, Courtney Davis, and Patrice Kuta. Patrice and Katie really drive me nuts sometimes but Courtney and I have lived together for 2 1/2 semesters so we already know each other pretty well. Courtney and I share a room and Patrice and Katie have their own rooms. Patrice watching TV seriously like 24/7. It drives us nuts. On Saturdays she gets up before I get up and she goes to bed around 11:00 pm. The TV is on the ENTIRE day! She doesn't move, only to get the remote or some food or something. Katie is annoying in other ways. First of all, she never shuts up. She is always talking. I'm convinced that she is in love with her own voice. lol. We have also had a lot of dishes problems with her. It's gotten better lately because we put up a sheet with the kitchen rules which includes rinsing and putting your dishes in the dishwasher. Before we did that she would always leave her dishes on the counter. She would leave her milk in it so it would get hard and the counter would be covered in dishes even if the sink was empty. I don't understand why she can't put her dish 3 inches farther into the sink. I just don't understand. It has gotten a lot better though which takes the stress off of all of us. Courtney and I would have to do the dishes at least once a day. Sometimes we would decide to leave it and see if it would ever get done...it didn't.

I have made some pretty good friends this semester too. My FHE (family home evening) sisters are AWESOME! I go over there a lot of the time when I don't want to be in my apartment (which is most of the time). Their names are: Kaylynn Lloyd, Kim Lukens, Sadie Wheeler, Chelsea Johnson, and Allison Christensen.

This semester I am taking 5 classes this semester and they aren't too difficult. I have literacy 1, math 205, art methods, integrated science and family foundations. I like all of them except for math 205. I currently have 99% in my family foundations class. That class is SO easy! I'm not a fan of math 205 but it's not horribly difficult. It's just not my favorite class.

It is June 13th and summer still isn't here in Rexburg, ID. I am SO ready for it to get warm. We have really good days (on ocassion) and then it goes back to raining. I'm ready for it to actually be nice outside for once. The summer was really nice last year here but it's not the same this year. It's been a LONG winter!! That's basically all for the "catch up". I will hopefully write more frequently now. :)

The Second day of December

I found this story on the web and I thought it was very good.

The Christmas Truce
By: David G. Stratman

It was December 25, 1914, only 5 months into World War I. German, British and French soldiers, already sick and tired of senseless killing, disobeyed their superiors and fraternized with "the enemy" along two-thirds of the Wester Front (a crim punishable by death in times of war). German troops held Christmas trees up out of the trenches with signs, "Merry Christmas."

"You no shoot, we no shoot." Thousands of troops streamed across a no-man's land strew with rotting corpses. They sang Christmas carols, exchanged photographs of loved ones back home, shared rations, played football, even roasted some pigs. Soldiers embraced men they had been trying to kill a few short hours before. They agreed to warn each other if the top brass forced them to fire their weapons, and aim high.

A shudder ran through the high command on either side. Here was a disaster in the making: soldiers declaring their brotherhood with each other and refusing to fight. Generals on both sides declared this spontaneous peacemaking to be treasonous and subject to court martial. By March 1915 the fraternization movement had been eradicated and the killing machine put back in full operation. By the time of the armistice in 1918, fifteen million would be slaughtered.

Not many people have heard the story of the Christmas Truce. On Christmas Day, 1988, a story in the Boston Globe mentioned that a local FM radio host played "Christmas in the Trenches," a ballad about the Christmas Truce, several times and was startled by the effect. The song became the most requested recording during the holidays in Boston on several FM stations. "Even more startling than the number of requests I get is the reaction to the ballad afterward by callers who hadn't heard it before," said the radio host. "They telephone me deeply moved, sometimes in tears, asking, 'What the hell did I just hear?' "

I think I know why the callers were in tears. The Christmas Truce story goes against most of what we have been taught about people. It gives us a glimpse of the world as we wish it could be and says, "This really happened once." It reminds us of those thoughts we keep hidden away, out of range of the TV and newspaper stories that tell us how trivial and mean human life is. It is like hearing that our deepest wishes really are true: the world really could be different.

I found this story and I really liked it. I hope you like it too and that it puts you in the Christmas spirit!!

Starting the Christmas Season

I thought that it would be a good idea to start the Christmas Season off with a wonderful Christmas story. Every day for the next 25 days I am going to post a new story or song to stay in the Christmas Spirit. Here is my first story.

The Gold Wrapping paper

Once up a time, a man punished his five-year-old daughter for using up the family's only roll of expensive gold wrapping paper before Christmas.

Money was tight, so he became even more upset when on Christmas Eve, he saw that the child had used the expensive gold paper to decorate a large shoebox she had put under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the next morning the little girl, filled with excitement, brought the gift box to her father and said, "This is for you, Daddy!"

As he opened the box, the father was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, now regretting how he had punished her.

But when he opened the shoebox, he found it was empty and again his anger flared. "Don't you know, young lady," he said harshly, "when you give someone a present there's supposed to be something inside the package!"

The little girl looked up at him with sad tears rolling from her eyes and whispered: "Daddy, it's not empty. I blew kisses into it until it was all full."

The father was crushed. He fell on his knees and put his arms around his precious little girl. He begged her to forgive him for his unnecessary anger.

An accident took the life of the child only a short time later. It is told that the father kept this little gold box by his bed for all the years of his life. Whenever he was discouraged or faced difficult problems, he would open the box, take out an imaginary kiss, and remember the love of this beautiful child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us as a human being have been given an invisible golden box filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family, friends, and God.

There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.

An update on life...

I have been horrible at writing on my blog in the past few months. So, I thought I would just catch you up on a few things. Nothing much has really happened. I've just been busy at school. My classes are going well. I like most of them except Education Technology and Math 108. The teacher for Education Technology just moves really fast and he is not very clear or concise about his directions. Math 108 is fine. It's just really easy for me. I hate going to the class because it's a repeat of 7th grade. lol. You may not believe me but it really is true. Other than those two classes, classes are going well. I have been regularly going into an elementary school. My teacher's name is Mrs. Lecheminant. She's great and she's a really good mentor for me. I've taught her class twice and she's told me what I did well and how I could improve. It's been a really good experience.

My roommates are pretty great too. We all get along most of the time and I am so grateful for that because it was not like that in a couple of my other apartments. It's been a pretty good semester in that regard as well.

Now I will tell you a little about my Thanksgiving Break (since nothing exciting really happened other than that). On Friday, I left for the Salt Lake Airport around 2:00. We got there around 6:00 and I waited around the airport for awhile because my flight didn't leave until 9:00 (or something like that). As I was sitting in the airport, I realized that I didn't have my debit card on me...I was really bummed about that because I was so hungry and I wanted to get dinner...but I couldn't. I got into Washington around 11:30 or so. We had to stay on the plane for about 30 minutes because the sky bridge was broken. Then we had to carry all of our luggage down the stairs because the escalator was broken. I was so relieved when I was able to get into my car and sit down and relax for a minute. Since I hadn't eaten anything, dad got me McDonalds on our way home. Jackson and Josh stayed up until I got home but Zach had a little problem with that. He fell asleep a few minutes before I got home...lol.

Then, on Saturday I cleaned the house. I needed to clean because mom said she would pay me to be her housekeeper before our family got here. So, I worked on that all day. We also went to see the New Harry Potter movie. It was SO good! While we were in Harry Potter I saw one of my friends. Her name is Kristen Gilbert. It was so random to see her there but it was fun to catch up for a minute.

On Sunday we went to church. It was fun to see everyone from my home ward as well. I went to Young Womens with my mom so I could see all of them as well. Then we went home and I cleaned some more. For dinner mom made Stake and potatoes.

Then, Monday was my least favorite day. I got my wisdom teeth out. I went in at 10:00 and I was out by 10:45. I had anesthesia so I don't remember anything that happened. I only got the two top teeth out so it wasn't too bad. I wasn't really swollen or anything either. I slept for a lot of the day because I was worn out from the anesthesia. As the day went on I started to clean again. I didn't do much because I didn't feel good but I did what I could. Then, during the night I had some weird dreams. I think the anesthesia affected me that way. I kept waking up because I thought somebody was watching me. It was really strange.

On Tuesday I got a haircut. My dad drove me because it was snowing and I was nervous to drive in the snow. I got more highlights and low lights in my hair. That night Linda and Andy's family (and Grandma) got there. It took them 22 hours to drive from American Fork, UT to Marysville, WA. It should take about 13 hours. That's a LONG drive!! They were so grateful when they got here.

The rest of the week wasn't too exciting. We hung around the house a lot because the roads weren't too good. We went out to dinner on Saturday night. We went to the Buzz In. It was really good! Then, on Thanksgiving we had a great dinner made by my mom, grandma and Linda. YUM!! Then we stayed in and watched a movie as a family. The Follett's came over later that night and we played games. It was pretty fun! Then, on Friday we went Black Friday shopping in the morning. When we got back we just hung around the house and then we went out to dinner on Friday night. We went to the King Buffet. It's a Chinese Buffet and it's delicious! Jackson got baptized on Saturday and it was a great experience. I played the piano for it. That was good practice too. After the baptism, the Atwoods left and we just hung around the house. I started packing because I left on Sunday. I left at 7:30 in the morning and I didn't get back to Rexburg until 8:00 pm. It was LONG day of traveling. I kind of want to be back at home. I'm not a big fan of Rexburg, but I will get over that. It was a great week!

Now it's December 1st and we only have 3 weeks of school left and then I can go home!! I'm SO excited!!!

the first week of school is over!

Well I started school again on Thursday, September 9th, 2010. I've only been to school for two days but I think I'm going to like it. My schedule is looking really good right now.

On Thursday I start out super early (as every other day) at 3:00 in the morning when I get up for work. Then I work from 4-7 and I go straight to classes.

From 8:00-9:30 I have geography methods with Brother Madsen. He seems like he's going to be a fun teacher. I've only been once but he seems very interesting. I didn't even fall asleep in his class even though I had already been up for 5 hours
at that point.

From 9:45-11:15 I have women's health with Sister Parkinson. She's very interesting and animated. She kept me awake that's for sure. She tells funny stories and stuff to keep us engaged. I think this is going to be a very useful class even though she's going to be hard. There's a lot of homework for this class.

From 11:30-12:30 I have Motivation and Management with Sister McManus. She's very interesting too. All of my teachers this semester are very animated and excited. I'm pretty excited for this semester. In this class we learn how to motivate students and how to manage a classroom.

From 12:45 to 1:45 I have church history with Brother Stephens. He's the only teacher I'm worried about falling asleep in his class. His voice is very monotone and stuff. I'm excited for the material because I don't know much about our church history. I just hope I don't fall asleep.

If you hadn't noticed my Tuesday and Thursday schedule are very booked. I have to hurry to each class because from the first class to the second class I have to go across campus. Then from the second class to the third class I have to go across campus and the same for the third and fourth class. After Thursday my feet killed and my back hurt so bad from carrying all of those books. I always thought that I just had a bad back but it didn't hurt at all during the summer when I didn't have classes. Then as soon as I started classes again it started hurting. I guess it's all those dang books.

My Friday schedule was a little nicer. I only had two classes and I was done by 11:00. Of course, I started again at 3:00 in the morning to get ready for work and stuff.

From 7:45 to 8:45 I had math 108 with Sister Kennelly. The teacher seems really nice but I'm afraid of falling asleep in this class too. I almost did on Friday...but I stopped myself.

From 9:00-11:00 I have Early Field Experience with Sister Biamonte. This is my first practical experience in the elementary schools. We are starting in the elementary school on Wednesday. I'm kind of nervous but excited at the same time. it should be good. I don't have to teach right away but in about a month I will probably have to start teaching some lessons. I will either be placed in a second grade classroom or in the music classroom. I'm excited for either one. I just hope I do a good job!
On Monday and Wednesday I have an extra class from 11:30 to 12:30 after I'm done at the elementary school but I haven't had it yet so I can't really tell you about it. It's called education technology and my teacher is Brother Allen. I'll let you know more about that one later. I'll keep you posted!

my new roommates!!

My new roommates are AMAZING!! My room, roommate is Courtney Davis. I knew here from Summer semester and she's great! She makes me laugh so hard sometimes and she always sings me to sleep without fail...not very good I might add. lol. Courtney and I actually work together now. We get each other up bright and early (at 3:00 in the morning)! I really enjoy working with someone that I know. It makes it so much more interesting. It's also a lot easier to get up when someone else has to get up too.

Hailey and Kaylee also share a room. They are both great! Kaylee is from Arkansas (I won't hold that against her). If you remember from previous posts I had a roommates from Arkansas before (her name was Alicia) and we didn't exactly get along but Kaylee seems much better. lol. Kaylee also got a job as an early morning custodian. She hasn't gone yet but I'm sure she will love it! just kidding! But at least it's a job right?

Hailey is from Battle Mountain, Nevada. She's great too! We all just have a lot of fun together and it's fun just to talk to everyone. It's only been a week so I haven't gotten to know her very well. Of course I did facebook stalk her a little bit but I didn't do it too often.

Chantelle and Kendra also share a room. I haven't really talked to Kendra. She didn't get here until Wednesday night and then she left Friday night to go home for the weekend. I've maybe said two sentences to her. She's from really close by so she will probably go home a lot.

Chantelle is from Spanish Fork, UT. I don't know her much yet either but she seems great too! I just can tell that this is going to be a great semester! I think I'm finally going to enjoy myself. This is a great feeling. I can't even tell you how good I feel.

I will keep you posted on school and stuff as I continue. I'm sure it will be great!

This is a picture of my roommates (minus Kendra).
From left to right...Courtney Davis, Kaylee Duke, Hailey Warwood, Me, Chantelle Jones

an update on my life

This past 6 months or so has been crazy!! Here's a recap on what has happened. Sorry I haven't updated in a long time. Starting in April I got a job as a nanny in New York City. Yeah...that didn't work out so well. Basically within one week I flew to New York, lived with this family for two or three days, got kicked out of their house, lived with a local bishop for a night and then flew back to Washington. it was a CRAZY week for me. That was my very first time flying all by myself and I was kinda scared but I figured it out and it really isn't that bad.

Then I got home and I was home for one day and I had to turn right back around and fly to Rexburg, ID to start school. My schedule for fall semester was a pretty good one. Here are the classes I took:

Basic Music Theory: B+
Book of Mormon: B
Music Methods: A
Social Studies Methods: B+
Time Management: A
Test Skills: A
Children's Literature: B+

I really enjoyed my Children's Literature class. All of my other classes were great but I really enjoyed Children's Literature.

My roommates for Spring 2010 semester weren't all that great but what are you gonna do. I don't seem to have very good luck with roommates. I only had three roommates to begin with and then one of them moved out. Their names were Eliza, Miki and Andrea. Andrea like to tickle people and rub my ear and it drove me nuts. Miki didn't do anything. She watched movies with herself in her room ALL the time!! Eliza just thought she was better than everyone so we just didn't get along.

After Spring semester was over I went home for a couple weeks and then I came back to live in Rexburg and continue my job. I got a job as an early morning custodian. I work from 4:00 in the morning to 7:00 in the morning during the semester. When we are off of school we can work until noon which is really nice.

I loved my roommates for the summer session. Go figure. I'm only with them for five weeks and I actually like them. Their names are Natalie Reed, Devri Solomon, Tran Nugyen, and Courtney Davis. Courtney is going to be my roommate for fall too. I'm so excited to meet my roommate for fall. They will all be here by Monday (that's in two day...CRAZY!!) I'm pretty excited. Well I guess that's all that has been going on. I will try to be better with this posting thing from now on. I definitely haven't been good at it lately.

My Favorite Christmas Song

My favorite Christmas song is called "Christmas Shoes" by Newsong. The lyrics are below.


It was almost Christmas time, there I stood in another line.
Tryin' to buy that last gift or two, not really in the Christmas mood.
Standing right in front of me was a little boy waiting anxiously.
Pacing 'round like little boys do,
And in his hands he held a pair of shoes.

And his clothes were worn and old,
He was dirty from head to toe.
And when it came his time to pay,
I couldn't believe what I heard him say.

Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama, please.
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size.
Could you hurry, sir, Daddy says there's not much time.
You see she's been sick for quite a while,
And I know these shoes will make her smile.
And I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight.

He counted pennies for what seemed like years.
Then the cashier said, "Son, there's not enough here."
He searched his pockets frantically.
Then he turned and he looked at me.
He said Mama made Christmas good at our house,
Though most years she just did without.
Tell me Sir, what am I going to do,
Somehow I've got to buy her these Christmas shoes.

So I laid the money down, I just had to help him out.
And I'll never forget the look on his face when he said,
Mama's gonna look so great.

Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama, please.
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size.
Could you hurry, sir, Daddy says there's not much time.
You see she's been sick for quite a while,
And I know these shoes will make her smile.
And I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight.

I knew I'd caught a glimpse of heaven's love.
As he thanked me and ran out.
I knew that God had sent that little boy,
To remind me, what Christmas is all about.

Sir I wanna buy these shoes for my Momma please.
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size.
Could you hurry Sir?
Daddy says there's not much time.
You see she's been sick for quite a while,
And I know these shoes will make her smile.
And I want her to look beautiful,
If Momma meets Jesus tonight.

I want her to look beautiful
If Momma meet's Jesus tonight.

It's FREEZING here!!!!

I am SO cold here. Definitely not used to this bitter cold Idaho weather. This morning it was 0 degrees outside but with windchill it was actually negative 15 (-15) degrees!!! I think that's ridiculous!!! Luckily I only have about 2 weeks left here and then I can go to the warm state of Washington...haha. I never thought I would ever say that!

Craigos Night!

So, before I came to Rexburg I hadn't even heard of Craigos...if you guys don't know what it is, it's a pizza place. So, I told my roommates that and they said that, at some point in the semester, we were going to have to go. So, last week we finally went as roommates. It was SO fun!!! We went around 6:30 or 6:45 because we had to wait for all of our roommates to get home. One of our roommates has a class until 6:15...CRAZY!! Anyways, we drove down there and all got the buffet. SO GOOD!!! It was actually pretty good pizza. But the funny part was when my roommates Amber and Cathryn went to get pizza. Me and Kenzie stayed behind and, without them knowing, we put salt in their drink and we switched their cups (just jokingly of course) but when they got back and tasted them they didn't notice anything weird. So...when they left again we did the same thing, except we put more in. This time they noticed and it was really funny. The faces they made were priceless (too bad I didn't take any pictures of that). We stayed at Craigos for like 2 hours and we just talked for most of the time. The people sitting next to us kept looking at us...they probably thought we were weird...but whatever. It was so much fun!! I don't think I've laughed that much in a long time.

Thanksgiving...SURPRISE

So for this Thanksgiving I totally wanted to surprise my mom by coming home for Thanksgiving. So, my dad and I tried everything. We looked at airplane tickets and train tickets and busses and everything we could possibly think of. Then, after awhile I gave up. I figured there was no way I was going to be able to get home for Thanksgiving. So...I bought a bus ticket to go down to Utah for Thanksgiving and I was set on that idea when I decided to try one more option. I emailed all of my friends from Washington that are up here at BYU-Idaho asking them if they were driving down to Washington for Thanksgiving. None of them were...then I tried the drivers board (or whatever it's called). It's this thing that BYU-Idaho has where people say if they can drive and, if you want a ride home, then you just ask them and you have a ride home. Unfortunately I didn't find a ride on there. Then, I realized that I didn't ask some of my facebook friends. So, I emailed all of my facebook friends and none of them were going home but....one of them had a suggestion. They told me that this guy that used to be in our ward in Everett, WA was going home for Thanksgiving and she thought that he was driving. So, I added him as a friend on facebook and asked him if he would be willing to give me a ride and he said.....SURE!!! I was so stoked! The minute I found out I called my dad and told him the good news.

So, on the morning of November 21st he picked me up, along with 2 other people that are from Snoqualmie, WA, around 6:00 am and we drove for a long time. We only stopped 3 times and that was only to get gas. The weather wasn't too bad. I don't think there was any snow on the road the whole way there. Then, we got in Lake Stevens around 5:00 and I wasn't supposed to go over to my house until my mom was getting ready to leave. So, I went over to my neighbor Kanani's house and hung out with them for a while. Then, when 6:00 rolled around Tanya came and picked me up and we went to pick my mom up together. They were going to go to dinner and a movie and I was going to tag along with them. Then, when I walked in the door my mom was surprised. I wish I had a picture of her expression. It was priceless! It was such a good surprise!!

Child Development

The other day I was studying for my Child Development quiz with my friend Caroline and we came to this really funny part in our textbook. At least I thought it was funny...I don't really know if you will find it funny or not.

This is a recipe that a child wrote for a Turkey.

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 big bag full of whole turkey (get the kind with no feather, not the kind the pilgrims ate.
- a giant lump of stuffin'
- 1 squash pie
- 1 mint pie
- 2 little fancy dish of sour berries
- 1 big fancy dish of vegetable mix
- 20 dishes of all different kinds of candies; chocolate balls, cherry balls, good n' plenties, and peanuts

DIRECTIONS:
1) get up when the alarm says to and get busy fast. Unfold the turkey and open up the holes. Push in the stuffin' for a couple of hours. I think you get stuffin' from the farm that makes it.

2) I know you have to pin the stuffin' to the turkey or I suppose it would get out. And get special pins or use big long nails.

3) Get the kitchen real hot, and from then on just cook turkey. Sometimes you can call it a bird, but it's not.

4) Then you put the vegetables in the cooker-and first put one on top, and next put one on the bottom, and then one in the middle. That makes a vegetable mix. Put two red things of salt all in it and two red things of water too. Cook them to just 1/2 warm.

5) Put candies all around the place and Linda will bring over the pies.

6) When the company come put on your red apron.


I just thought this was really funny and it kinda fits this month...it being November and almost Thanksgiving and everything.

my roommates

I thought I should probably tell you a little bit about my roommates. 4 out of my 5 roommates are great. I just can't stand one of them. I guess we will get to that point when we get to it...

Deborah
She is great. She's 24 but she is amazing!! Since I've been having issues with this other roommate she comes into my room at night and talks to me and she just likes to listen. She also has some of the same problems with this roommate as I do so she just talks to me. One night when I was really having issues she took me out and we hung out with some of her friends and played games and stuff. SO MUCH FUN!!! I just love her.

Devri
She is great too! She's just so easy to talk to. She's from Arco, Idaho so I've gone to some of her sister's volley ball games. Her parents are great too! It's fun to just go driving with her and just talk. Last night we went to a volleyball game and on the way home I got to know a lot more about her and she's just a great person.

Ashley
She is okay...I mean she's really nice but when she's with the roommate that I have issues with she gets really annoying. But other than that she's really nice. She'll talk to me about my day and we'll just talk.

Nicole
She's SO funny! I love her! I love talking to her...without this other roommate. I think this other roommate just causes all of the problems.

Alicia
Now here's the roommate that DRIVES ME INSANE!!!! She wakes me up every night because she likes to hear her own voice. She's very selfish. She isn't considerate (of me at least). Last night I was asleep in bed and here's what she did:
1) she came in and turned on the light and searched for PJs (loudly I might add)
2) Then, she left the door open (people were being loud in the hallway)
3) Then, she came back in with carrots and started eating them in her bed (did I mention we share a room?)
4) Then, when she finally went to bed, I was completely awake and it took a lot longer for me to fall asleep.

I'm SO sick of this!! I don't know if I can stand it any longer!!! AHHHHHHHH!

FHE and Wingers

Today I went to school as usual. BLAH! But the fun thing about today was Family Home Evening. We went to the church at 7:00 and we got more ice cream...lol. (see my ice cream extravaganza post). We also got to meet our Family Home Evening group. There are 12 girls in our group and 6 guys...Considering that there are 120 girls and 60 guys in our ward that makes sense...

Anyways, after FHE me and my roommates went to Wingers. It was SO much fun! We got chicken...of course and we just talked and had a lot of fun. It was funny because Ashley (one of my roommates) thought that the waiter was really cute. So...she left her number on a napkin. Nothing will probably ever come of it but we thought it was really funny.

Our Ice cream Extravaganza

On Sunday September 13th my roommates and I had to get up pretty early because we had an interview with the bishop at 10:15. So, we drove up to the interview and then when we were all done we drove back again and we just hung out and talked for awhile until church started (church started at 1:30 pm). Church was pretty good but the seats for Sacrament Meeting are highly uncomfortable. But that's okay...I guess.

Then we got home and we were all craving ice cream for whatever reason. Unfortunately, it was Sunday so we couldn't just go out and buy some. So...we asked Deborah to call all of her friends from BYU-Idaho. She's 24 so she's been around awhile and she knows a lot of people. So she called a bunch of people and then she called her friend Donald. HE HAD SOME!! So he said he would bring it over.

While we were waiting for him though we still really wanted ice cream so we yelled out of the window to the guys apartments that are behind us. They always have their doors open so they could hear us. We yelled, "HEY!" out the window and two guys came out. We asked them if they had any ice cream and they said that if we had ice they could make us some ice cream. We only had 2 trays of ice though so we didn't have enough to make a whole thing of ice cream. So we just talked to them for awhile through the window and then Donald came so we ate that ice cream.

Then, while we were eating the ice cream, the other guys (the ones we had yelled at through the window) were coming around and collecting ice for us. We saw that they were coming to our door and we didn't know what to do. So we were all freaking out because we didn't want them to know that we had gotten ice cream. Alicia was freaking out. She threw the ice cream behind the trash can and we fixed that and put it in the freezer. Then the guys came over and they were like, "we are collecting ice to make ice cream. Are you guys the ones that wanted ice cream?" And we told them that we were. So, they told us to come over to their apartment in about 1 hour.

While we were waiting for that hour to be over we invited some other guys over that we had met the other day. We played Uno and talked for a little while. Then, the hour was up and we all went over to the guys apartment to eat ice cream. It was DELICIOUS!! After that we went over to Devri's (one of my roommates) brother's apartments and we talked with them for awhile and then we came back to our apartment and watched a movie. It was SO much fun! I had a blast!