According to Lex

Why November has been the best month EVER!

2011-12-08T18:17:00.000-08:00

1. My three best friends from BYU came down for a visit!!!! I love them all SO much and especially love the fact that we can be apart for months on end, living completely different lives, and come back together and feel like no time has past. I was truly blessed to have such great examples and support going through high school. People used to place bets on which of the four of us would be married first (they all were guessed in the first two years of college) we laughed and commiserated on how each of us have yet to have a serious relationship....jokes on them!!! Also, root beer shots - super fun... but not a good idea.

2. MY BIRTHDAY! I'm 21!! How crazy is that?! This birthday was probably on my top five best because everyone and their cousin made it so special for me! Being 12 hours away, my family made sure I did not go without. I received roses and a cake (A RAPUNZEL cake!!!!...probably one of the ONLY 21-year-old cakes ever made) and money (because I'm boring and could not think of a decent birthday present). I also got a bouquet of flowers from the McArthurs and then another bouquet of roses from Matty! Our table looked like a flower garden!!! My roommates threw a party that I came upon after my institute class. It was so fun having all my friends there for me! Not to mention the 48 Happy Birthdays on Facebook. I love all of my family and friends so much!!!

3. Cori AND Eric AND Quintin AND Audrey all came up for a visit to St. George! I have to admit, I loved showing them around, taking a little pride that St. George is where I live now. I loved playing with the kids and my roommates who all just catered to their every need. Q informed my roommate Shaylee that she could snuggle him and "squeeze tight during the scary parts" during the movie we watched in our Friday night sleepover. The best part though was when Audrey said my hair looked like Rapunzel's...I didn't even have to coach her on it. I just love hanging out with the Jeides and cannot wait for the new addition!!

4. VAMPIRES!!! Okay, so the movie was not all that great, but it was still the thrill of going to a midnight show! We had an extra ticket, so I lured my friend Charlie there, purposely not telling him what he was about to see. We counted 11 guys, including him, in our theatre. Needless to say, he has no desire to see the previous three movies or part 2.

Sweet Surprise

2011-11-26T18:52:00.000-08:00

Last week, I was woken up by my roommate who handed me a tiny, pink rose and note. Apparently there was a quick knock on the door and this was on the doorstep...

Alexa,
I just want you to know that I think you are gorgeous and a lot of fun to be with. You have a contagious laugh that can brighten anyone's day. I admire how your eyes beam with light! I hope you have a great day! :)

Costumes in under 20 minutes of planning and executing

2011-11-22T21:32:00.000-08:00

I found myself going to events that required costumes over this past Halloween season. I thought I might want to document them. The only things required were a wire hanger and a shirt that could be ripped to shreds.

Haunted Houses

2011-10-30T16:36:00.000-07:00

Ever since I was 12, I was absolutely obsessed with being scared, watching scary movies, popping out and scaring people, telling scary stories to scare my friends, etc. On Friday, I went to a haunted house on a date, and I hated it! I could not wait to get out. I was clinging to my date like a baby (not because I wanted to - I needed to) and laughing hysterically because I didn't know what else to do. Does becoming a chicken mean turning into a grownup? Just imagine this guy following you down a dark, quiet hallway and you not noticing until he taps you on the shoulder...

I'm going to be a teacher!

2011-10-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

After having my mid-college crisis, I came to the conclusion to change my major to Math Education. I felt pretty good and excited about this new change. I honestly can say that I am headed for the right direction because the more I think about being a high school math teacher, the more excited I get! That's not to say that there aren't a few bumps along the road. Not having taken a math class for two years really rocked my world the first month of college Calculus. Not going to lie, this made me start to question if I could handle majoring in math. But I was reaffirmed in my decision after having completed two "observation days," one in a 6th grade math class and the other in a 4th grade class. I loved being back in a school again! It was so fun to be looked up to by the kids and being around their high energy.

While observing:

-In the fourth grade class when asked to partner up, one girl was paired with a boy, she had an absolute look of disgust on her face.....I would really like to see her in another 5 years in the same situation.

-I was told I look like I am in high school.

-When I said my favorite color was green in my introduction, there were so many shouts on how that was THEIR favorite color too! One boy even had to show me his green pencils.

-6th grade girls are so complimentary, I was told multiple times how pretty I was.

-I heard this about 5 times, "It's under there." "Under where?" "Underwear!!!!"

-Along with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hh6w-r17hk

General Conference

2011-10-03T13:12:00.000-07:00

I remember the days of living at home and General Conference meant a Sunday that I got to stay in my pajamas and sit in the living room with the family and try to keep myself entertained, or even awake. It never hit me just how important and how much it can spiritually benefit me until the last couple years. I will admit, after leaving home I realized that I had the freedom to choose whether or not to listen, but after taking my Institute class, Teachings of the Living Prophets, my testimony of General Conference began to develop. I had never watched all of the sessions until the Fall Conference last year. It truly was a blessing in my life to finally do that. It really makes a difference when you make the choice to listen and watch with the mind set that you want to learn how to become better.

This year I just couldn't get enough of it. These are some of the talks that really stood out to me.

Elder Boyd K. Packer spoke in the Saturday morning session. He spoke of the power we have, claiming our second estate, our bodies. One line that really stuck out to me was that the Atonement is the key we have to the prison we lock ourselves in through sin. And the Atonement, no matter what it is, can heal whatever hurts. I believe this to be true. He also advises us to look forward to the future, that even in the awfulness that surrounds us in the last days, we still can have the righteous desires of our hearts, and we must live a life to get them.

Sister Elaine S. Dalton's talk in the Sunday morning session was so sweet. She talked about the important roles a father has in raising a daughter. Her advice was to love her mother. It made me think of all the things my dad did for me growing up, some of which I resented (not being allowed to hangout with boys before I was 16) and how I was so blessed to grow up in a home that had a father who held the priesthood and a mother. It made me so excited for the future in my own family on the things I am looking for in a husband.

Other quotes that I liked from the Conference were:

"Our Heavenly Father loves us so much that the things that are important to us become important to Him." - J. Devn Cornish

"The Atonement covers all of the unfairness of life." - Elder Quentin L. Cook

"The greatest compliment in this life is to be known as a 'covenant keeper.'" - Elder Russell M. Nelson

"Look up. Most of what we worry about will not effect our eternal salvation, and if it does the Lord will help with it." - Carl B. Cook

Also, there's going to be a Wyoming temple! (These truly are the last days)

Party Crashers

2011-09-30T16:56:00.000-07:00

Walking back from the Institute fireside last Sunday night, Ash and I came upon the baptist church that is on the block of where we live. If you need to know anything about Ash, her two loves are food and dancing - get them in the same place and she is there. The door was open with Mexican music and the smell of extremely good food wafting out. Ash was like a moth to a flame, walking in the door, leaving me standing alone, awkwardly on the sidewalk. After a couple minutes, she pops her head out the door and waves me in.

Confused, I go in and immediately get handed a Mountain Dew by a smiling Mexican woman, and find an entire (extended family included) Mexican family, celebrating a birthday party, with a Mariachi band playing. They shake our and hands and ask our name and offer us food which of course was fantastic. Why is it that ethnic family gathering's food is always super good? They were so warm and welcoming, and did not even ask why we stopped by. Ash said she just walked in and asked what kind of party they were having and they invited her in and told her to stay and see.

We stayed for about an hour, chatting with anyone who came near to see why there were two white girls along with the family and played with the kids who looked at us curiously. Two guys came and chatted us up, I think they had a game plan because one gave specific attention to Ash and one to me. When it came time to cut the cake, we even sang the Feliz Cumpleanos song with them (the 5 years of Spanish sure paid off right then). They took pictures of cutting the cake with all of the family and even waved the "surprise guests" to come join in. It was so random, but so nice. I absolutely love the Mexican culture that they were so inviting and eager to share, we pretty much felt like their less tan relatives!

I have been the worst blogger in the world!

2011-09-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

I apologize that this post is not too detailed, but something is better than nothing right? Things I think of note that happened in the last couple months up until now:

Summer 2011
I went home to Wyoming for the summer and was all alone. Three of my best friends from Powell all had great adventures going on during the summer months (check out their blogs) and I went back to selling fireworks. Not to complain, because I really did love living at home again, sleeping in my own bed, having my mom take care of me, making and saving some money, but there really was nothing too interesting to report about the summer except that I...

....And my mom continued our annual tradition of running in the 5 mile Montana Women's Run. I made it until 500 yards to the finish line before I puked, having taken cold medicine prior to the race. Hopefully next year will go smoother....but we still shaved off about 6 minutes of our last year's time!

....Saw the midnight showing of the last installment of the Harry Potter movies (with a date......and my mom) which was AH-MAZING!

....Drove 24 hours for a two day trip to St. George after the midnight showing

....Brought back four year old Mr. Q, who puked 2 hours into the 12 hour drive

....Made friends with plenty of bikers toward the end of the summer that were coming through for Sturgis, I got many invites to the bars (all of which I declined).

Funny/Embarrassing Story:

One night these two middle-age guys came in to the store to stop by to look at the fireworks. Towards the end of the summer, I love whenever anyone comes in because they will usually chat and entertain me for awhile since there's really not a whole lot to do in a firework store in August. These guys were talking to me and asked me to take them around the store to show them what was good. They were very friendly, making jokes and teasing me and challenging me on my knowledge of fireworks. When we got to the roman candles, they asked why there were different sizes and I immediately respond, "Oh it's because those ones have smaller balls." They didn't even have a second to crack a joke or make it awkward because I turned bright red and started laughing uncontrollably. If it wasn't obvious before, it was clear that I was very young.

....Watched tons of movies...the only ones really worth remembering were The Adjustment Bureau, Limitless, and Unstoppable

....Read The Help and 1,000 White Women both very good, and have been the only novels I have read since Breaking Dawn was released

Fall 2011

--I started my junior year of college with an Associates of Arts degree, and am looking at about another four years to get my degree in Math Education. Good thing I'm excited about it! Calculus is a beast after having gone a year and a half without giving the slightest after thought to math, but I love my education classes, and I am sure that I am heading in the right direction.

--There was a YSA Conference where John Bytheway AND Elder Dallin H. Oaks came to speak! The day was truly a day of spiritual feasting, I learned so much! It was just like EFY with hints (maybe not so subtle) to get married. I absolutely love the Institute program in St. George! They sure take good care of us.

--My roommate of two years, Camilla, got married!!!! She was absolutely stunning, and the day was just filled with so much joy and beauty, it's hard not to imagine how anyone would settle for anything less than a temple marriage.

just to keep you updated...

2011-04-19T21:26:00.000-07:00

I'm now officially declared as a math major!!!

The Sneaking Out Game

2011-03-09T15:01:00.000-08:00

We created this game to add some excitement to our lives for this week. Yes, we have accepted the undeniable fact that we are weird - but we have lots of fun!

As a member of Chancellor #6 participating in the Sneak Out must follow these guidelines:

- All members of aforementioned apartment must follow the agreed upon curfew/bedtime for the week of March 6-12 of 11:00 p.m.

-Members must be picked up by a non-roommate friend(s) and participate in some cool/crazy/legal activity

-Members must leave the apartment and re-enter the apartment without detection by other members of the apartment

-If the members' absence is noted, the discoverer of said absence sleeps in the bed of the "sneaker" and awaits their return

*Members may not set alarms to do periodical
checks of the other roommates.

-In the event that a "sneaker" is caught, they owe Chancellor Apartment #6 ice cream.

What I did for President's Day

2011-02-23T13:31:00.000-08:00

There are no pictures of me actually doing it because I was too busy clinging to the ropes for my life, so you're just going to have to take my word for it.

Mountain Biking

2011-02-12T16:29:00.000-08:00

After discovering that each of us have pretty awesome bikes, Willy and I decided to make it a weekly tradition of biking on Saturdays. I once signed up for the mountain biking class in my first semester here at Dixie, but it started at a not very opportune time, and I dropped it. I have always been meaning to do it again, but I just never got around to it. Last Saturday, Willy took me to a paved trail just outside of town and we have a very pleasant ride, chatting and getting a little outdoor exercise on the occasional hill - or bump - in the road.

This week he decided I could handle a more rougher terrain, so we went a lot more out of town.

There were no paved roads. There was no flat ground. And there was no chatting (I was too focused on getting air to my lungs). The first fifteen minutes was going up a hill. I was ready to call it a successful bike ride when we got to the top, but little did I know that was just the beginning. The next part was going down, which sounds easy enough except there are rocks poking up everywhere that when you're zipping down at fast speeds, you feel very out of control when your bike gets thrown around, all the while trying to stay on the path. I was way out of my comfort zone.

We got to the bottom of that which I will admit, I walked my bike down most of it, preferring not to crack my head open. Now the trail began.

Willy served his mission in the Colorado mountains and all they did was bike, so he is very experienced, making jumps, riding up the sides of inclines, to name just a few. I followed along behind him as best I could trying to not appear that I was breathing like a jogging 60 year old chain smoker. Along with the heavy breathing, I was still not too sure on going over ridges of rocks, having never biked on anything more intense than a country dirt road, and would stop and walk my bike over the ones that looked especially scary. I was hot and I was tired, and it was very frustrating that I couldn't stay on my bike for longer than 10 seconds.

I could feel the verge of tears of frustration, wondering how I was ever going to last however long this trail actually was. I was not going to cry though because a very stubborn and prideful part of me was not going to let such a confident, highly attractive guy see me in a vulnerable way. This was going to be a challenge. I took a deep breath, said a quick prayer, drank a sip of water, changed my gears, and kept on pedaling.

The trail continued on, and little by little the bumps didn't seem as scary. I was able to follow right behind him. It actually started to become rather enjoyable. I found myself even veering towards more rocky parts just to add a little challenge. Next thing, I knew we had been at it for about an hour and had looped back to the top of the hill. It was, quite literally, all downhill from there.

I feel very accomplished. As noted from the post before, lately I have been doing a lot of thinking and leaning on things that maybe aren't giving me much of a challenge because I have a such a small perspective. Sometimes it seems the easier route is the better one. Sometimes a year and a half seems too long to wait. Sometimes I just want only a job to worry about. It's inevitable, I'm going to sound like an after school special, but I think I learned a good lesson on my bike ride today.

In a general conference talk I read by Robert D. Hales, called, "Behold, We Count Them Happy Which Endure," he says, "We cannot expect to learn endurance in our later years if we have developed the habit of quitting when things get difficult now... I testify that if we will be obedient and if we are diligent, our prayers will be answered, our problems will diminish, our fears will dissipate, light will come upon us, the darkness of despair will be dispersed, and we will be close to the Lord and feel of His love and of the comfort of the Holy Ghost. It is my prayer that we can find the faith, courage, and strength to endure." I gained a truth that by adjusting your gears, and help from our Heavenly Father, our trials are "but a small moment," (D&C 121:7) and in the end you'll come out better than you could have imagined, and anything that is worth getting, takes work.

Now if I could just keep reminding myself that.

My Mid-Semester Crisis

2011-02-08T18:11:00.000-08:00

My history teacher makes it very hard to comprehend what he is talking about during class. This gives me a lot of time to think of things not pertaining to the early years of our American government and stray from my afore mentioned theme for my year of 2011. These were my thoughts yesterday:

Why I am even taking this class?... Oh, I need it for my Associates. ...What good is an Associates? ... I'm sick of school, what can I do with an Associates?... Do I even want to be a hygienist?

all of the way until....

What am I doing with my life?! Where am I headed?! I am going to end up on the streets because I don't have a plan!

So I left class none the wiser of the founding fathers' idea of Democracy and full of complete, irrational, unnecessary stress. I went home and tried to weigh out my options. For those of you that know me, know that I absolutely DESPISE spending money when I am not making it due to this innate, penny pinching quality I have. One thing that I decided I could do was apply for jobs. This is something I do sometimes to qualm my fears of if worst came to worst and my savings absolutely depleted - I would at least maybe have a source of income even if the job was completely awful.

I literally spent a total of 10 careless yet therapeutic minutes creating a brief resume of my work and college experience on a job hunting site for St. George, and sending it to jobs that sounded mildly appealing, with the thoughts of, "Well it couldn't hurt."

Then not even an hour later, I received a call back for a receptionist position at a business called Synergy. I went in for an interview and had to be assessed for my typing skills. Turns out, they had filled the position of receptionist and offered me a part time job as a telemarketer which I am still debating. Not bad, though for a class period and a couple more minutes of impracticality I would say.

Out with the Old, In with the New

2011-01-20T16:18:00.000-08:00

I love new beginnings! I heard a quote once from a member of the Quorum of the Seventy in a fireside a couple weeks ago and he said, "Avoid the flashy start and the fade out finish." This is something that I struggle with because with the start of things (especially school) I have all these great plans of studying, going to bed early, etc., but somewhere down the line I lose that fresh start pep. As one of my new year's resolutions I am going to try to change this bad habit of mine. Along with:

Drinking 8+ glasses of water a day

Morning exercising 3 times a week

ZUMBA once a week (I have discovered it once again and can't remember why I didn't go because it's so much FUN)

Read from the Book of Mormon every day

Donate blood on a regular basis

These are just some of the ones I have been working on at the moment. My theme for the year is to "live in the now" and enjoy what I am doing right now and not worry so much on things that I have no control over now. Here's to fresh starts and a great year!

My Favorite Princess Movie!

2010-12-16T15:17:00.000-08:00

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED this movie!!! Ash and I have seen it twice, paying full price even. Just wait until the dollar theatre gets it.... One of my favorite lines was when Rapunzel has Flinn tied up in a chair with her hair after hitting him unconscious with a frying pan. She says, "You're not here for my hair?" and then he says, "What? No, the only thing I want to do is get OUT of your hair---quite literally!" Super funny...everyone needs to see it!

It's fixed!

2010-12-13T13:42:00.001-08:00

Bronson, my computer genius friend, fixed my blog!

Myth Busted!

2010-12-07T17:10:00.000-08:00

I heard on the street that you can cook just about anything in a rice cooker. Camilla and I decided to make a cake. It appeared to be a cake soup for a while until I started smelling a burnt smell, when I flipped it over the little plunk it made proved that we had successfully made something solid! Apart from it being torched on the outside and batter in the middle, it was quite edible and because we are all hungry college students it disappeared before we could take a picture.

Recent Adventures

2010-11-17T09:02:00.000-08:00

First and foremost, I AM NO LONGER A TEENAGER!!!! (So if you notice a much more mature nature to my blog in future - this is the cause).

My birthday was FANTASTIC, my family and Matty (and his mother) are so great for making it a special day for me even from miles away. I loved answering the door to find packages of the BEST cake I have ever eaten from a box, an iTunes card, delicious smelling soaps, and my very favorite kind of underwear in the mail just for me! Don't worry, Elder McArthur sent me a pink arrangement of flowers which is still looking beautiful a week and a half later. Kim got me My Fair Lady because she knows how much I love Audrey Hepburn, Ash made me some of her delicious hot cocoa, and Willy and Dallas got me a Dora the Explorer calendar and a change purse all making it super day for me. Facebook is so great for birthdays because your wall is just covered with posts and every time you sign on you have new updates to make you feel awesome. I also got a free Denny's Grand Slam with my roommates and Bronson which was pretty amazing!

Dixie had the famous hypnotist, Bruce McDonald, come for a Friday night show a couple weeks ago. It was hilarious! We watched some of the people we see everyday on campus do some pretty wild things. My favorite part was when this boy from our singles ward named Josh did a whole rendition of BadRomance by Lady Gaga. He had quite the moves.

These last two weeks have been the time of meeting new people and going out. Camilla and I went on a group date with one of our married friend's husband's friends (if that makes sense). We played with Nerf guns in a Stake Center, playing capture the flag. I absolutely loved sneaking around, being all evasive and plotting tactics on saving my teammates from prison. I am pretty sure I would be awesome in a military setting....just kidding.

Last Saturday, I was asked out by Jerold from our ward. We went to Cafe Rio (amazing pork salads!) and had a lot of fun joking and telling stories whilst finger painting with a Crayola paint set. I found that I have quite some talent in the area, while maybe Jerold needed a little more practice. It was really nice and a change of pace to be asked out on an official date.

On Sunday, we had a full apartment of visitors Camilla and Ash met at the bonfire the night before for Kim's famous pumpkin pie after the Fireside. It was really cool to make so many new friends all at once. I made a new friend named Shane who will be added to my tennis buddy collection. They then invited us to their ward "game night." On our making new friends high, we became adopted into their ward for activities. More to come on those activities, I'm sure!

On second thought...

2010-10-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

We had a mystery in our apartment this morning. Ashleigh, Kim, and I went to the Dixie Football tailgate party for free lunch (yes, there IS such a thing as free lunch when you're a poor college student) and left Camilla alone in the apartment studying.

When we got back, Kim went in to her room and came out with a bouquet of flowers. They were not there before we had left, and Camilla - very believably perplexed - had no idea how they got there because she was sitting in the living room the whole time and clearly no one had come to visit the apartment. The only thing that made sense was that Kim left her bedroom window open and it has no screen. While this may seem like a very obvious answer, you must consider that we live on the 3rd floor and the only way someone would be able to get to her window is to crawl on the roof that is about 10 feet away from the actual window. Then jokingly, Kim suggested it may have been Luc because I had told them of the AIRHEAD story from a couple weeks ago.

All of a sudden the details of how that may be a very plausible explanation came racing into my mind. Earlier that morning, I had been walking back to the apartment, and Ashleigh saw me out of Kim's window and yelled down to me and we had a conversation. Luc went walking by through those couple of minutes. Luc had asked Ashleigh to the Homecoming dance which was a couple of weeks ago, which totally came out of the blue so we assumed he kinda had a thing for her. It HAS to have been Luc that crawled up on to the roof with a bouquet of flowers and threw them into Kim's window, thinking it was Ashleigh's room!!

... I'm not so sure the world would be a better place if more people crawled up on roof's to throw surprises into other people's windows....

The world would be a better place...

2010-09-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

IF everyone did nice/slightly weird things such as my neighbor named Luc. The best word to describe him is eccentric. He went on a run with Camilla and me once and ran barefoot all along the streets of St. George to the temple. He has seen every movie made since the dawn of time and knows plenty of behind-the-scene facts about everyone one of them. He bicycled across the United States in a summer. He has something to say about ANYTHING - you name it, he'll carry a 5 minute conversation all on his own.

Today I was walking to class when I noticed him come up behind me, a little bit in my bubble space. He passed me up walking really quickly until he would slow down and hover behind someone else. I thought it was very odd, but typical Luc behavior, until I noticed he was randomly putting something IN people's bags they were carrying. VERY intrigued, I walked faster to keep up and observed his pick-pocket in reverse. When I couldn't follow him any longer without surpassing the building of my class, I gave up my pursuit, deciding attending class was more important than solving the Luc mystery. As I was getting my books and pencil out of my bag, I happened to find an AIRHEAD....what a slightly odd but very nice surprise!

Moon Festival!

2010-09-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

Moon Festival - About.com

The Chinese Moon Festival is on the 15th of the 8th lunar month. It's also known as the Mid-autumn Festival. Chinese culture is deeply imbedded in traditional festivals. Just like Christmas and Thanksgiving in the West, the Moon Festival is one of the most important traditional events for the Chinese.

The Moon Festival is full of legendary stories. Legend says that Chang Er flew to the moon, where she has lived ever since. You might see her dancing on the moon during the Moon Festival. The Moon Festival is also an occasion for family reunions. When the full moon rises, families get together to watch the full moon, eat moon cakes, and sing moon poems. With the full moon, the legend, the family and the poems, you can't help thinking that this is really a perfect world. That is why the Chinese are so fond of the Moon Festival.

The Moon Festival is also a romantic one. A perfect night for the festival is if it is a quiet night without a silk of cloud and with a little mild breeze from the sea. Lovers spend such a romatic night together tasting the delicious moon cake with some wine while watching the full moon. Even for a couple who can't be together, they can still enjoy the night by watching the moon at the same time so it seems that they are together at that hour. A great number of poetry has been devoted to this romantic festival. The moon cake is the food for the Moon Festival. The Chinese eat the moon cake at night with the full moon in the sky. Hope the Moon Festival will bring you happiness.

I love my roommate!

2010-09-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

SkimBoarding

2010-09-03T20:14:00.000-07:00

So our new friend Willy invited me to go skimboarding today, and I had no clue what it was, but it sounded like an adventure and this is my year of adventures. This is Ashleigh's year of "yes" so naturally she said, "yes" when I invited her along. It turns out that it's this flat, wooden board that you run and hop on in 2 inches of water. After falling quite ridiculously a time or two, we started to get the hang of it. Ashleigh and I decided that if you had a hobby that included anything with "boarding" on the end of it, you get 10 cool points, so we are making skimboarding our new hobby. Stay tuned for pictures of us actually doing it!

New Calling!

2010-09-01T19:11:00.000-07:00

Last semester of school I was Family Home Evening Coordinator, this summer I was Friday Night Activities Coordinator, any guesses on what I am THIS semester?! ...... Well if you guessed Relief Society Activities Coordinator - you are CORRECT!

Learning something that changes the world as you once knew it

2010-08-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

In my freshman year of high school in my Algebra 2 class, the information that the formulas we had always known for finding the diameter and circumference of a circle (π x diameter and π x radius squared) was not in fact completely accurate and that there was actually a (x° / 360) in front of the formula brought us to shock and awe that the world as we had once known it would be changed forever. Teachers had been not giving us the whole truth since the 5th grade!!

Yesterday, I had one such experience. Since our mail box is conveniently placed beside the sidewalk headed toward campus and since I have come to have a greater increase in mail in the last couple months, I have developed the habit of opening our #6 mailbox every time I walk by. As I was walking back to the apartment for my lunch break, I opened the mailbox and found a letter. Regardless of being completely bummed out, seeing that the receiver's name was not my own, I decide to be a good, thoughtful person and bring the mail up to the apartment. I lay it on the table and proceed to put my delicious lunch (a tuna fish sandwich and a yogurt).

Kim, my roommate comes to the table and looks at the letter puzzled and says, "I could have sworn I put this in the mailbox this morning." I absentmindedly tell her that it was in the mailbox, and I did not mention the fact that I was so nice as to have brought it up for her. She then informs me that it was out-going mail. What?!

Apparently, you can MAIL THINGS FROM YOUR OWN MAIL BOX! Who knew?! I do not know why I never wondered about the red flag that you put up when you have something for the postman. I do not know why I never thought that there was any way but the post office to send your mail. This little priceless gem is going to save me A LOT of walking to the drop off box in the mini post office in the Red Rock Cafe for my many future out-going letters.

Saturday Mornings

2010-08-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

I have a new love for Saturday mornings. Not only do I love sleep in past 6:30 which is the time I get up for my Espanol class throughout the week, but I've realized how much can be accomplished when you don't spend half the day sleeping. My roommates and I were all awake by 8:30 this morning and got right down to cleaning, making our already clean apartment spotless. By noon I had done all my laundry, cleaned our bathroom, cleaned our room, had breakfast and read a chapter in Microbiology. The start of a new school year has brought back all the determination and new goals of studying harder, being more organized and getting more things accomplished (hence an updated blog). This is the first of many Saturdays I would like to hope for through the year. It's amazing how much more productive you feel when you start the day off at a decent time!

Sunday Afternoons

2010-08-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

I have come to absolutely LOVE Sundays not only because it's my one day off in the week, but because I get to go to church (which I have grown very attached to the college ward) and in the afternoons I get to take nice, long naps, eat a marvelous home-cooked meal followed by an even better dessert, and if that's not enough I get to play my very favorite board game with my parents (Settlers of Catan) AND a game a shanghai. I'm sure going to miss these Sundays at home...

This requires you to read with the most hickish, twangy accent you can imagine

2010-06-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

"Rain makes corn. Corn makes whiskey. Whiskey makes my baby....feel a little frisky."

"Love, love you let me down, Let me down, No you wont string me along, You better be moving on, Giddy on up, Giddy on out."

"Woh-oh lover lover lover, you don't treat me no good no more, Woh-oh, woh-oh lover, lover lover, you don't treat me no good no more."

"We let it rip when we got the money, Let it roll if we got the gas, It gets wild yeah but that’s the way we get down, In a Hicktown."

"She said I’m going out with my girlfriends, Margaritas at the Holiday Inn, Have mercy my only thought, Was Tequila makes her clothes fall off."

"It's a crazy town - full of neon dreams. Everybody plays - everybody sings. Hollywood witha touch of twang - to be a star you gotta bang-bang-bang."

These are the songs that play nearly ten times a day over the speakers on the REQUIRED radio station at work. That's not even counting the times that they play over and over again in my head because they've been ingrained into my brain. I sing along as a conditioned response (for those of you who took psych). Feel sorry for me.

Work, work, and more work

2010-06-13T19:33:00.000-07:00

This is what my summer life has consisted of - working 48 hours a week. When I'm not driving to and from work (it's in Cody), you will find me sleeping. I've becoming a stranger in my home, leaving before I see anyone because they are off working and what not and then coming home after they have gone to bed. Sundays now truly are my day of rest. I really do love this job though, it's bringing in the much needed income. For those of you that don't know, I'm a super saver and it was driving me CRAZY spending money when there was no money coming in. Who knew that selling fireworks could be so dull sometimes. I have had time to do my daily scripture studying, read the two books in the Hunger Games series, had conversations with Jess of the meaning of Life, watched a plethora of movies (great deals at Wal-Mart...fyi), and I've slowly increased my knowledge in fireworks. People are actually starting to believe me when I tell them what is good and what they do and what to buy! I especially love when people who have absolutely no clue come in and they just hang on my every word and buy all of my recommendations. It gives me a small sense of authority right up until a man will come in and not believe me about the most powerful firecrackers. There have been two occasions once with Matt and once with my dad keeping me company at the store, where the customers will completely ignore my correct answers and look to either of them for information. Apparently being of the male gender means you know about fireworks. For now that is a complete update on my life!

5 of the many reasons why i love being home

2010-05-28T15:35:00.000-07:00

5. I can shower basically ANY time of the day in a shower that doesn't always look dirty as much as you scrub and scrub and scrub it (my home shower is ALWAYS spotless though due to my mother's regimen cleaning schedule) and not have three other girls needing to get into the bathroom at any time. There is also a lock so I will never feel like I could be barged in on by ANYONE at any second.

4. My bed is probably the 5th comfiest bed in the world...with high thread count sheets that are cool to your skin to get into and 6 pillows to smother around you and enough room to roll over and not fall off (never happened but still it's a likely possibility with such tiny dorm beds)

3. I don't have to eat cafeteria food. Sure the parfaits, the muffins, the chocolate milk and the omelets were pretty delicious...but they are not exactly the best choices to live off the entire year if health is taken into consideration. I get complete healthy meals with vegetables that I never exactly craved in my life until I didn't have them. I now consider any meat that is not chicken or hamburger a delicacy.
2. I don't have to do laundry. I realize that this is a rare occurrence in the American Family these days so I do not take for granted a mother who washes my dirty clothes with love. At school, every two weeks...that was as long as I could push it until I ran out of socks and underwear...I would have to haul my gargantuan laundry bag down six flights of stairs then make a trip back up to grab my basket and laundry supplies. Once my laundry was complete, I would have made around a total of 6 trips up and down those stairs to get all of my laundry done. Needless to say, that was about my whole Saturday.
1. My family is usually less than a room away to talk to. Even with today's communication advantages of cellphones, texting, and skype, it's still just not the same as living with the people you love and having them always there to chat with. I love that I can step out of my room and most of the time find my mom in the kitchen - baking something delicious - or go upstairs and watch tv with my dad while having conversation, or even going downstairs to watch Zach play video games and try to pry into his life.

A Second Reason to Love St. George

2010-05-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

In the last week here, Richard wanted to make sure I saw at least a little bit of the cooler parts of the outdoors, hence the Red Mountain hike. On a hiking craze, he took me to Zion's National Park which is about an hour and a half away from St. George and is like nothing I've ever seen, it's so beautiful and huge! The pictures we took won't do it justice, but we went hiking up Angel's Landing and it was such a gorgeous view that I enjoyed between more huffs and puffs up the hiking trail. Most people we past along the trail were quite friendly smiling and saying "hi," which also made it a fun experience. We even saw a boy that looked about two years old walking up the trail on his own, hand-in-hand with his dad and we were quite impressed.

One of the Reasons to Love St. George

2010-04-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

There are so many active outdoor activities to do in St. George, as you can see from my past posts, and I haven't experienced the half of them in my first year of college down here. Richard and I went this afternoon to Red Mountain and spent about five hours of hiking. Needless to say - it was QUITE the workout. The view was gorgeous, making up for the sliding, falling, tumbling down the mountain afterwards. Richard was much more graceful about getting down.

First steps of the journey

Taking a break, catching my breath

You can see the temple from everywhere, even at the tallest point in the St. George Valley. I love it!

Makin' History in a 3 Minute Massage

2010-04-16T16:05:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of "D" week, Dixie had a night where they set a world record of the LARGEST MASSAGE TRAIN IN THE WORLD!!! You're looking at numbers 195, 196, 197, and 198 - a very vital section to the 659 person train!

wednesday: the best part of the week

2010-04-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

I have a new show obsession that I look forward to every week. Modern Family on abc is the funniest show ever! The character of the dad in the more traditional family is so hilarious...I don't usually laugh out loud during TV shows, but I'm basically in tears of laughing fits in almost every episode of this new show. If you haven't seen it you need to check it out.

Spontaneity

2010-03-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

This post is long overdue, but it seems like the longer you go without posting, the harder it is to post about anything - even if it's tiny. Which is a truth for many things in life I suppose. I also owe a special thank you to my amazing, genius friend Bronson who helped me fix my blog to my exact standards.

Within the last month, my roommates and other friends have been trying to create more adventure in our lives. This includes: camping (sounds sane enough but there's more to the story), road tripping, rearranging our dorm room, caving, cutting/dying/fixing/re-dying hair, singing at concerts with COLBIE CAILLET!!, plasma donating, and everything in between.

Camping

Camp grounds are extremely hard to find in the dead of night, twenty minutes out of civilization. If you can't find them, the side of a hill will do just fine. And apparently, there are no forests in St. George, so if you plan on having a fire, weeds just won't cut it. Thank goodness for Wal-mart. Also, a legitimate sleeping bag is highly recommended, allowing you to stay warm enough to get more than a cumulative amount of 45 minutes of sleep. This will also prevent you to finally insist on leaving at 5 a.m., much to the discomfort of your camping buddies. A quick, yet effective way to clean up in the wee hours of a frigidly cold morning (it was January and yes it's even cold in St. George on a January morning) is to throw everything in the tent, collapsing the supports and use it as an untraditional bag. You may need two or three people to drag it to the car and squash it into the trunk. Follow this and you will getting a camping experience you will never forget!

Road tripping

Natalie and I spent fourteen hours in a car together on a quick get away to Phoenix to stay with Eric, Cori, Erin, Quintin, and Audrey over Valentine's weekend. The views of hoover dam were phenomenal and there were some other quite interesting stops along the way. We stopped in a pow-dunk town called Wikieup that had World Famous hot dogs that were uncooked unless you got them deep fat fried and had some crazy, bright green relish on them - they weren't famous for nothing. Every single person who had ever entered that restaurant left their mark, with signatures covering everything from the ceilings to the floors (yes, even the toilets). We had a good time being entertained by the almost three-year-old Mr. Q who finally got Natalie's name right by the end of the trip calling her Lady and Camilla since he thought she was my roommate.

Rearranging

Trying to go against the norm, Camilla and I decide to switch things up and rearrange our room, making bunk beds to have more space. With the doubts of many in our minds, we were able to set our room up exactly the way we wanted - without any help from the opposite sex. We even got the steel pegs nailed in tight enough so my bed won't slip off Camilla's and squash her in the middle of the night. Needless to say, our room is very feng shui now.

Caving
Ever since reading the Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites, I have always wanted to go into a cave and find a secret passageway to another land. Sadly, when we went to the lava caves in the Snow Canyon Park, there were no such entrances, but it looked pretty magical to reach the end cavern that glowed with the remnants of glow sticks on the walls. It only took 3 gigantic bruises, 6 painfully hard times of banging my head, and Camilla's warnings of "Watch your cabeza! That's your head." echoing throughout the cave to get out successfully in one piece.

Hair Experimenting
On a random, hyper night Camilla entrusted me to dye and cut about 5 inches off her hair. I was a little leery, having never cut hair before, but I didn't tell her this until after I was done and everyone was raving about her hair. They were very shocked. And can you believe that a dollar store bleaching kit didn't produce the flowing, golden locks shown on the cover on Ashleigh's hair? She didn't seem to think so beforehand, ignoring my blatant recommendations that she should not do that to her long, silky, vibrant auburn hair. Yet again, thank goodness for Wal-mart. Her hair is now the color of Medium Golden Cappuccino #37.

COLBIE CAILLET!!!!
Yes, I got to watch Colbie Caillet in person sing some of my very favorite songs - Bubbly, Lucky, and Fallin' For You! Apart from the only other concert I've been to, the Spice Girls, I actually got to sing along because I knew the words! I only knew the words to one song of the Spice Girls because I wasn't allowed to listen to them when I was younger. Apparently, their lifestyle choices and their clothing didn't set very good examples for 8 year old girls. Even if hearing my favorite songs live weren't enough, I got to shake her hand and get the top left quarter of my face in a picture with her!

YES, that IS a picture of my eye in the same frame as COLBIE CAILLET!!!!!

Plasma Donating
Who knew that selling your body could make so much money? All I have to do is keep my iron levels up and show up twice a week to get poked with a needle and watch the yellow part of my blood get separated and collected in a bag, and I get paid for it! Moving aside the fact that I kind of feel like a cow being milked amongst the other fifty people in their doing the same thing and the scars in the crook of my elbow that make me look like a drug addict, it's one of the easiest ways I've made some extra cash.

More to come on our college adventures!

The Running Club

2010-01-28T11:11:00.000-08:00

So three weeks ago, I sort of got bullied into manning the booth for the Running Club during Club Rush in the middle of campus. At first, I thought was a joke the entire time some friends of ours were planning it during dinner conversations in the Cafeteria, but it is now an official club at Dixie State. It turned out that I could get a lot of recruits just with a smile and handing them a V8 juice, but more then half of them have yet to show up to a meeting.

The president, Richard, had always been pestering me and Camilla to join him on runs since the end of last semester. We always came up with very believable yet lame excuses to evade waking up at 6 in the morning to run. On Monday night, after FHE there were no excuses left and three members of the club actually came up to our dorm room to make sure we committed to going with them that night.

We jogged on this cool path on the outskirts of St. George for two miles. I didn't expect to absolutely love it so much and I found myself wanting to jog the distance back to where we started even though Camilla and the rest of the people didn't. Richard, in impeccable shape and not wanting to leave me on my own at 9:00 at night, ran along with me. We ended the last stretch of in a dead sprint where I'm happy to say I really held my own and gave him a run for his money, and I'm totally addicted to that feeling after you pushed yourself so hard and accomplished so much. The entire time felt so amazing that I think this is one of the things I'm going to look forward to most through the week for the rest of the semester.

Roommate Twins!

2010-01-25T09:48:00.000-08:00

The best part of living with someone is that you can compare closets. Dressing like twins wasn't only fun in first grade with your best friend, so yesterday for church Camilla and I decided to be twinners because we have kind of the same skirt.

Back to the books

2010-01-18T14:23:00.000-08:00

On a sad note, I had to leave Wyoming which included the many comforts of: my mom, any kind of food at anytime I want it, my queen-sized bed with high count sheets, home cooking, heated floors, no obligations, my dad and lil brother, El Tap, small town living, and my old friends...

BUT after the tedious drive of 12 hours, I'm now back at Dixie!

It's been so good catching up with all my roommates, hearing about their Christmas break adventures, seeing and even partaking of their awesome presents (Camilla got a TV/DVD player), and planning out our new escapades for this semester!

We were so excited for classes on Monday we stayed up till one making a First Day of School Game Plan - including strategic sitting arrangements in classes (next to cute boys), a shower/get ready schedule, and our outfits. Steve, the newest addition to our group of friends, willingly picked out my outfit down to the shoes, claiming he knew what was "eye catching" to his gender.

My new schedule is going to be challenging yet very productive, check off more than half of my prerequisites for the Dental Hygiene program:

English - the course material is all on Pop Culture and one of my teacher's favorite movies is Enchanted i.e. we're going to get along just fine!

Sociology - the teacher of this class is hilarious trying to remember everyone's name - I'm one of the memorable ones because there is another Alexa in the class.

Chemistry - the teacher for this class has one of the most monotone, drawling voices I have ever heard and I didn't realize existed outside of TV or movies, but he seems like a good teacher so I'll just have to survive it a semester.

LIB - a one credit library class that you have to take an online quiz once a week; enough said.

CIS - the most time consuming class dealing with the Microsoft programs, makes having a MAC kinda hard.

At the end of a long week of school, we ended friday night with the WhiteOut Dance with black light. It was a good time bouncing around trying to de-stress from the week. On Saturday night, we went with some friends we discovered love the Office just as much, if not more, than we do and hung out at their apartments having an Office marathon while baking brownies. Sunday rounded off the busy week with getting a new calling in my ward as the Family Home Evening Coordinator.

All in all it was a good week back and a perfect start to a perfect next semester!

Recommitting

2010-01-02T09:42:00.000-08:00

What better time is there than the first of the year to get back on track with things? If you have noticed my sparse entries in the last month, I apologize and wish to start fresh this year blogging way more often then I have been. Consider this post my recommittal to my blog and look forward to reading about my 2010!

Baking in the apartment...

2009-10-25T18:18:00.000-07:00

With the weather getting a touch colder (mid 70s...it feels a lot colder around everyone else in heavy fur coats) here in St. George, I decided to keep up the Kienlen tradition and bake. So far I have tried to make use of what is available in our apartment which includes banana bread from the neglected bananas and a box brownie mix that has been on the shelf for a couple weeks.

Last week, my two roommates - Shiulina and Katie - were out and about during our fall break and we decided to pay a visit to my good ol' Uncle Ed. Of course, they loaded us full of canned and fresh apples and a squash that they salvaged from Wyoming along with an hour of advice on how to live our lives. Since Wyoming is not known for juicy red delicious apples, the grocery bag full of crab apples didn't get touched by any of the five girls in #6. I decided to make an apple crisp, and as I'm typing this very entry, the smell of warm cinnamon, brown sugar, and apples is filling up our apartment.

It's amazing how fast boys from the dorms come over when you tell them you have apple crisp and vanilla ice cream. Good times in #6!

the first month of college

2009-09-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I had officially been in college classes for one month. Here's a brief overview of what I've experienced so far with my classes.

Monday

One the first day I was so excited to learn that even though I have all my classes on Mondays, it was only for four hours from 10:00-2:00 - something I was not used to with High school. Now I dread Mondays because 4 hours of classes seems like an ETERNITY. But I manage to deal with it and go on living.

10:00 Biology

11:00 Algebra

12:00 Freshman Experience

1:00 Psychology

Tuesday

My favorite day of the week now. I get done with class at noon and usually get everything school related done by 2, so I have the rest of the day to do whatever comes to mind (usually skyping with my family or going over to the dorms to hang out with the Seattle boys which includes a lot of football, basketball or video games). Tuesday nights are usually devoted to ZUMBA at 6 p.m. and then a flag football game some time after that. Without knowing exactly how football works, it has become one of the more fun things I do throughout the week. I've learned a lot and even raised my catching average up slowly - we'll exclude the fact that it was zero before. Even though it's "flag" there is a lot contact - proof of the bruises up and down my legs.

Wednesday

Pretty low key, I have three classes and that's pretty much the only interesting thing about it.

Thursday

Biology and Math then my lab for THREE ENTIRE HOURS - it's a drain but it's a pretty amazing feeling when it's done - like my weekend is about to begin. We usually have a flag football game on Thursday nights too.

Friday

I just have Math and Psychology and it's extremely hard to get motivated to go to those classes because everyone else has Fridays off on their schedule.

And there you have my typical college week in a nutshell. All I have to do is survive it for eight more months now!

my favorite new snack

2009-09-24T11:46:00.000-07:00

Super Yummy

My pad

2009-09-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

I decided to show you my first home away from home tonight for two reasons: I'm super bored tonight which therefore caused the second reason to be that it's finally super clean due to the boredness. This is where I spend all of my when I'm not in class, taking a test, going to church/FHE/thursday night activity, hanging at the dorms a block and a half away, grocery shopping, or going to the gym. As far as first homes go, #6 is fairly cozy - when it's clean - which seems to be a much harder task with four other girls and no mom to keep everything in check.

ZUMBA

2009-09-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

Katie and Lauren got me hooked on this class that goes for an hour every Tuesday night. It's called ZUMBA and you watch the three instructors dance with super high energy to all sorts of fast paced songs and copy what they're doing. One of them is pregnant and she totally goes all out making us all sweat with her dance moves. I've come to realize how uncoordinated I am. But I've also realized just how much fun it is! For an entire hour I get a pretty intense workout while just having a good time dancing (or trying to dance) to the happy, loud songs booming in the gym. Most people here make fun of it...but we don't let it bother us because it's so much fun!

Graduation, vacation, and everything in between...

2009-09-07T15:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry this is LONG overdue, but I've been a super lazy blogger for like 4 months now. I just want this all to be documented so here it is - some of my life from May to August '09 in pictures.

Graduation!!!

We had some successful boat trips! I love being a boatin' family and can't wait for Summer '10!

I got to see Lauren, meet her FIANCE, and fly a plane!!

Our trip to ALASKA!

What else are aunts for?

2009-07-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

I taught Mr. Q a new trick. Have fun with him at restaurants from now on Cori and Eric!

A drunken game of softball and a drunken date for prom

2009-04-27T18:19:00.000-07:00

I had my eyes opened in the last two weeks. Two Saturdays ago, as a last minute deal, Hannah invited me to play softball on a co-ed team that needed another girl. Thinking it was going to be pretty intense since we were on a team with people at least two or more years older than us, I was a little nervous with my softball abilities that haven't been used since I was thirteen. Not knowing what to expect, Hannah and I showed up there half an hour early to get ourselves prepared for the tournament - 8:30 in the morning. We found everyone there with (at least) one can of beer in their hands drinking like it was nothing! I had no idea people actually mixed sports with drinking let alone at 8:30 IN THE MORNING!

We played four games total that day and won one of them. Needless to say, I don't think that drinking boded well for our team. My worries about my skills were calmed however, because they matched those of my teammates (a good thing? I'm not so sure).

Then, just one week later, I volunteered to go to the Bighorn prom as a double with Darcee. Her date, Demetri, was a friend of Mckenzie's but just needed a date due to lack of interest in the 25 girls he had to choose from. My date, was found through a lot of searching and desperation. Demetri actually apologized beforehand about my date...this made me slightly nervous. When we did happen to meet Woodsy (his real name was Brad) he didn't really talk and when I asked him questions he just gave me short, simple answers. As the dance started, he said he usually doesn't dance until a couple of songs go by, so it was a tad awkward trying to look like I was having fun dancing by myself while Darcee and Demetri hit it off.

I lost track of Woodsy a couple of times, but once meeting up with him, he decided he was ready to dance. This was evident to the smell of alcohol he breathed into my face. When I asked, "Have you been drinking?!" He said, "Yeah, there's a flask in the bathroom that I keep visiting. I'm ready to dance now though." Needless to say again, it was already an extremely long night by 9:15 pm.

Anyways, both experiences turned out to be quite the adventures and made me realize just how sheltered I actually am...which I am definitely sure is a good thing...

The Great College Debate

2009-03-15T13:42:00.000-07:00

Well, this is a tad bit anticlimactic since most of you well know what decision I have made, but with a lot of consideration and weighing in others' opinions (some stronger than others...) and even making a pro and con list for both places, I have decided to go to Dixie State in St. George, Utah. Among the accusations of it being a party school and just not as "up there" with BYU Provo, the main selling point for me was that it had a dental hygiene program which is something I'm very close if not completely sure what I would like to do as a career. I also got a scholarship that was very generous, making the decision a little more easy. So on August 24, 2009, I will be attending school in hot weather - St George!

The unofficial Pink Week

2009-02-22T13:34:00.000-08:00

The high school student council decided to dedicate an entire week toward fundraising and increasing the awareness of breast cancer within our community. From date auctions to change wars, they spent the week collecting to donate to cancer research. They also added a more personal touch the the awareness by having posters hanging up in the Commons Area with the stories of the women - and even one man - who have suffered from and beat breast cancer. At the basketball games that Friday night against Worland, both of the girl teams wore pink uniforms, and the boys wore pink warm-up jerseys. During half-times, football jerseys were auctioned off in support of breast cancer donations. The week of awareness made over $20,000 in donations from the schools and the community! It was amazing to get so far with such a short amount of time. Laura, Hannah, and I went to the basketball game totally decked out in pink to show our support... (half of our faces looked slightly flushed for a couple days after)

Photo Op

2009-02-18T15:06:00.001-08:00

Over Christmas break, Darcee's sister-in-law took pictures of the four of us for our possible quad-graduation party. As you can see, we had a lot of fun in the process...

Sundog

2009-01-27T07:42:00.000-08:00

When I was driving to school this morning from seminary, the coolest thing was happening with the sun coming up. You could see the sun rising as usual but on both sides of it there were two columns of bright light that looked like a rainbow. I was giving Lisa Schermiester a ride and neither of us could figure out of what it was. In the morning announcements however, Mr. Miller came on and told us that what was happening was a natural phenomenon called a Sundog that occurs from the sunlight reflecting off the ice to form a wide circle around it. I found some cool pictures of them to kind of give you an idea what we saw this morning.

Work Experience

2009-01-19T10:54:00.000-08:00

This semester I lucked out enough to get two of my class periods to be changed to Work Experience in replace of the dreaded AP Biology...It's been amazing, and it makes my day go by so fast. On a usual week I go to Dr. Hoffman's on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and I go to Dr. Moss' on Wednesday. I've had so much fun getting to know all the people that work in both offices. So far the most interesting things I've seen at the dentist's office were a tooth extraction, a root canal, a root cleaning, and a wisdom tooth removal. I usually just watch average teeth cleanings and bug Taya and Ashley with all of my random questions like "Do people ever stare at you while you're cleaning their teeth? Is it awkward?" or "Did that sound of scratching on a tooth with metal ever bother you?" I've learned so much already. At Dr. Moss', I get to do a lot more hands-on stuff like sterilize tools and help mix molds for retainers. The ladies there are really fun, I already feel comfortable joking around and being sarcastic with them. One day I got to help the assistant take pre-braces pictures for this guy that is about my age but goes to school in Rocky. It was really weird and awkward because I had to use these metal hooks to pull his cheeks open wider to get a better view of all the teeth. I think he felt a little uncomfortable too, and it didn't help matters that I kept laughing nervously as I was doing it all either. So far though, I haven't seen or done anything that would discourage me to pursue a career that involves teeth!

My Roomwarming Party

2009-01-03T18:56:00.000-08:00

Last night, I had a roomwarming party to show off all the new things that were done with my room. Kelli, Darcee and Chelsea came and ooh'd and ahh'd at the painting and rearranging and brought me cool additions to add to it. Chelsea gave me a fancy, vintage picture frame and a cute little box to put random stuff in it. Kelli got me a Glade plug-in that smells just like fresh laundry! And Darcee made a really cute, fun calendar that has pictures and quotes of the four of us for each month. We had a good time catching up and basking in the newness of my room. My mom made a fabulous cake with stripes to celebrate the painting job on my walls, and a 7-layer dip that was amazing. After deciding that we didn't know what else there was to do for a roomwarming party, we watched The Women and had a good time laughing and talking. It was a very fun night!

The Painting Process

2008-12-28T11:53:00.000-08:00

This picture is for Cori so she will always have a little bit to remember her creativity and all Mom's hardwork. These are the stripes that she and Mom painted four years ago. Mom is very excited to get painting!

The tape stripes looked so cool, I was almost tempted to change my mind about just plain white stripes.
All Christmas day was devoted to putting up the tape for the stripes. Dad got a laser that gave us a guide to put the tape straight on at the right distance apart. We made a great team, putting up about 70 stripes of tape.

I'm gonna take a guess and say that that is about the biggest tape ball you have ever seen.

Dad replaced all the old tan fixtures that have been there for decades with shiny, white new onesI love my new light switch - you can't see the screws!

This is the best angle I could get to see the full effect of the stripes and framing.

Just a look at a little bit of the 140 stripes along the walls...

It's been a long and very strenuous task, but we have finished! My room looks awesome, thanks to all the help from my mom, dad and Zach. While jamming out (well probably just Mom and I were while Zach and Dad endured through it) to the Grease and High School Musical soundtracks, and a little bit of Beyonce, P!nk, Rihanna, and Hannah Montana, we painted and put up tape day in and day out all break!

My Christmas Present

2008-12-27T08:41:00.000-08:00

Specifications* Image Capture Device: Effective Pixels: Approx.10.1 megapixels* Imaging Element: 1/2.3 square primary color CCD, total 10.34 megapixels* Zoom: 3x optical zoom, 4x digital zoom (12 times both with optical and digital zoom)

I got to pick this camera out yesterday in Billings at Target, and I was so excited! I absolutely love this camera, and it does all sorts of cool new things. I had to try out some of the new settings once I got it set up, so these pictures are kind of random...

While cleaning my room...

2008-12-20T18:17:00.000-08:00

Over this break, I decided one of my Christmas presents to be painting my room. While emptying out anything and everything in my two closets, we came across my old FisherPrice Dollhouse. I couldn't resist and I put the house together, remembering all the stuff I used to play with. I distinctly remember Cori having just as much fun with it as I did, taking advantage of me being younger and always picked the house first in the division of all the people and parts of the house. It was really fun remembering all the stuff I used to do, and this was just one of the many fascinating things I found deep in the depths of my closets...

For your information...

2008-12-19T18:47:00.000-08:00

Finals was on the 17th and the 18th, those of you who were so concerned for my methods of unwinding during a very stressful time of my life. Today was called "Activity Day," which was basically an excuse to have a school day but not make it important for half the school population to be gone with sports and other events. I totally was planning on not going, but as a bribe to get as much attendance as possible, the principal told us that they were having a drawing for the people there to win iPods and even a car. Intrigued, I fell for the scheme and spent the entire day messing around on the computer and I even got to make a hideous bracelet as part of the other activies. It was a waste of day because I ended up not even winning one of the dinky tutoring coupons that were offered as a prize too.

Oh the things that can entertain you...

2008-12-19T11:48:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Wingers! My name is Alexa, and I will be serving you today. Can I start you off with some drinks?

2008-12-08T16:36:00.000-08:00

Today, my ensemble resembled that of a waitress at a Wingers restaurant - one of my very favorites. My oh so generous brother in law and sister got this "freakin amazing shirt" for me for my birthday this year and suggested I wear it to school. I took them up on the offer and although it was very comfy and loose, I didn't exactly feel like "Warning: Extremely Sexy" material. It kind of reminded me of the shirts mechanics wear. Everyone else loved it though!

Winter Formal 2008

2008-11-23T20:00:00.000-08:00

This year I went to winter formal with Jonas Kuehl the German exchange student from Lovell that played first singles on our tennis team this year. Apart from the fact that he was always asking me what the songs were saying (about 90% of the time even I didn't have a clue), we had a pretty fun time dancing and hanging out with everyone. It's kind of sad once I realized that this was my last Winter Formal, but I'm glad that it ended with it being a blast! Getting ready is always the funnest part! This year it was quite the process... ...and I would have to say it was a success! (obviously the thing I was trying on Kelli's hair in the first picture didn't quite work out) I think the girls should always be in charge of getting the flowers because these were my favorite by far!
Yes, I know this picture looks like I am all over Jonas, but I wasn't - I was just showing off my awesome shoes! We felt like celebrities amongst the paparazzi with all the parents blinding us with their cameras!

Senior Pictures by Tonya Bennett

2008-11-13T15:38:00.000-08:00

Check out my other senior pictures at alexak2009.blogspot.com and tell me what you think!

Senior Pictures by Greg Wise

2008-10-19T18:43:00.001-07:00

Great Minds Dress Alike

2008-10-19T12:06:00.000-07:00

This morning for church, I came out of my room all dressed and ready for church to find this! Like mother like daughter!

Homecoming Week!

2008-09-21T15:52:00.000-07:00

After begging and pleading and complaining to Coach Bieber, he talked to Mr. Jones, our vice principal, and asked if he could change the homecoming week dates to when the tennis team would be there. It was first scheduled to be on the week we went to state tennis, but Mr. Jones changed it since that happened to us last year, and it wouldn't have been fair for us to have to miss it two years in a row. So we got to be there everyday and take advantage of all the dressing up days, go to the football game and dance. I was so happy that mom and I baked sugar cookies and decorated them like tennis balls to give to him. Here are the dress up days:

Monday: Super Hero/Villain Day

There were a lot better costumes worn by the boys with the complete Spiderman body suit, so I technically wasn't Spiderman - just a supporter. The people at the Heartland, the place where I am doing my service project - I'm serving lunch there, made a lot of comments on my socks and loved them.

Tuesday: Color Day, Seniors-Blue

Yeah, that really is a PO on the side of my face...I wasn't thinking at six o'clock in the morning about mirrors showing things backwards - it was supposed to be '09. Don't worry though...I only got to 2nd period before anyone said anything... :)

Wednesday: Cowboys and Indians Day/Homecoming Olympics

I didn't have time to get an outfit together that morning, but here's a picture of my Homecoming Olympics team - The Pantherettes: Laura, Hannah, Mckenzie, Kelli, Chelsea, Kelsey, Kayla, Sarah, and me. We had a good time flinging flood, catching water balloons, smashing eggs, sumo wrestling, catapulting sponges, and finally pulling at tug-a-war across a mud pit. I was so ready to shower when I got home and it was AMAZING.

Unstoppable!

Laura lost her balance in this picture after trying to look tough...

The Toddlers were our rivals the entire time, competing against us in every challenge. We still managed to stay friends.

Thursday: 80s DayEverything but the heels were so comfy, I could have really gotten used to living in the 80s.

Friday: Orange and Black DayZach and I were all ready to go cheer on the Panthers against the Riverton Wolverines in our orange and black. The game ended in victory with the score finishing in 34-6. Needless to say, everyone was in the best of moods at the dance!

My Last First Day...

2008-08-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

...of seminary and high school! Today, I had to get back in the groove and wake up at six for my last first day. It's a little sad, but exciting and happy all at the same time. Being at the new high school is very cool, most of my classes are in the purple pod and I'm looking forward using all the new technology that comes along with the new school. I also was lucky enough to score a purple pod locker because there aren't enough lockers to accommodate every single student. I guess you could say I was a lil over-anxious because I went to the office straight away to meet the first come - first serve because I got purple locker #2. I couldn't have gotten #1 because it is a handicap locker, so I basically got the first ever locker. Here's my schedule for the day:

1st Spanish 4
2nd Calculus
3rd Yearbook and Publications
4th Lunch (I go to lunch at 10:55 a.m. - it's like a second breakfast)
5th Senior Project
6th AP Biology
7th Government
8th AP Composition

It was a very satisfying last first day, and I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of the year in the new high school!

Nickel and Dimed

2008-08-17T20:02:00.000-07:00

This is one of the books I had to read this summer for my AP Composition class. I had a hard time getting through it because it didn't have any vampires or werewolves or any kind of romantic interests in it, but overall I thought it was a real eye-opener. It's about an undercover writer that takes low-wage jobs around America and see if she can get by, paying all of her expenses. The people she meets and experiences she endures were all very interesting to read about. I learned a lot and realized just how blessed I am to be able to be in the family that I am. I get the opportunity to go into whatever career I want and go to college while some of these people struggle from one paycheck to the next while living in their cars or in two bedroom apartments with eight other people. It's definitely a good book to read if you get the chance.

Good, Dirty Fun

2008-07-27T21:48:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday night, Laura, Hannah, Mckenzie, and I all decided to form a team, the Pigtails (we all wore our hair in pigtails) and participate in the annual event of pig wrestling in the Park County Fair. Yes, you read it right - it is exactly what the name entails. We joined forces to tackle a pig and put him in a barrel, while slipping and sliding in a fenced-in section of thick, slimy mud. Having done this two years prior, I felt confident in my pig-wrestling capabilities, having caught the pig within the time limit and medaling both times. Which I have to say, I'm very proud of. That, however, was when we were dealing with a pig that was about fifty pounds lighter. Reaching the ages of adulthood, we were placed in the Women's section which means a bigger pig and older, more experienced competition. Being the very last team to go, we pep-talked and strategized and felt that we had this in the "barrel." For the most part, our plan on catching and tackling the pig, after a few slips and misses, went smoothly. When we all had a hold on it, there was a new problem we hadn't planned for. The four of us combined, we struggled with all our might, but to no avail. We could not pick up the pig. After acknowledging this, we admitted defeat to hear the buzzer go off, telling us that time was up. Although we had greater expectations of the outcome, we were able to come off having a fun experience of getting good and dirty, and looking cute while doing it!

Girl's Camp

2008-07-27T21:19:00.001-07:00

Being attached to my three other friends for every single year of Girls Camp, I thought this year was going to be hard without any of them. I figured that it was the place I should go as long as I didn't have anything else to do, which this summer - let's face it - I've practically done nothing. So I was off to camp, with a slightly negative attitude, thinking that the only social contact I would have was following Jessica and Raelyn around, getting ignored most of the time. This was pretty much how the first couple hours went, until I decided to break out of my bubble and start talking to new people. I met a girl from Cody named Brooke and when we started talking it was actually really easy. We had so much in common and by the middle of the day we were joking around and having a good time. Another thing that was really fun was that I was over the second years - the same girls I had the previous summer. They all ran to hug me when they came into camp, so I felt very special and loved. We all had a good time playing games, hiking, and just all hanging out together. On the hike we talked about all kinds of fun random things, one of which included them asking about my little brother, Zach, who is the same age as them. Needless to say it was a tad awkward thinking of lil' Zachy in social interactions with members of the opposite sex. But I guess he is growing up and it's something we'll all have to deal with eventually. The goofy girl in the middle of me and Brooke was one of the curious ones. She was so cute, she kept us entertained all during the 5 hour hike. Apart from the lack of showers, running on an average of four hours of sleep each night, and getting eaten alive by bugs, this final year of Girl's Camp was probably one of the best!

A Tribute to Lauren: It's been a great year - you will be missed!

2008-07-25T07:16:00.000-07:00

Cabin Fun

2008-07-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Zach, Mom and Dad, and I went to the cabin for a mini vaca. We had fun riding and driving the fourwheeler and looking at how green everything was! And we got a puppy!

Just kidding, it's Uncle Jerry's and Aunt Carol's. Isn't he sweet though?! I'm trying to convince Mom and Dad we need one.

Funny Story

2008-07-16T09:38:00.001-07:00

So last night, at about ten thirty when everyone at the Kienlen home is in my bed...lame, I know, I'm talking on the phone to Hannah and Laura who are driving around town being bored. I'm just doing my getting ready for bed routine (having nothing else to do since my family ditches me at like nine) while I listen to them decide on something fun to do. I tell them I'm going to go to bed and I'll talk to them later. I finish washing my face and brushing my teeth, then I go back into my room to open my window that had been shut earlier that morning when there was an annoying orange cat (who will remain nameless for privacy purposes) meowing at around 6:00 in the morning - which might come as a surprise to you but that is a tad earlier than I get up on a summer morning...Anyways so I'm opening the window and I freeze - I heard footsteps. Someone was in my yard! My first reaction was to freak out and run upstairs to my sleeping, snoring dad.

Then it hit me. Laura and Hannah are playing a joke on me, having nothing else to do in our tiny town. So I started talking out of my window saying how it didn't work because I knew it was them. When they didn't come out I said I was just going to sit under my window and wait for them to scare me. So I did. Then being the smart, sneaky person I am, I decided to call Hannah's phone, hoping she forgot to put it on silent. When she answers, she is completely confused and so am I because I can't hear her talking outside when she was clearly talking on the phone. Then I just assumed Laura was doing the scaring for her. Hannah said that I'm freaking her out because they were at McDonald's eating ice cream, but they wanted to drive by and see if they could see anybody.

At this point, I'm starting to get a little creeped and start inching my way away from underneath my window. About three minutes later, I hear Hannah's car pull up, and being the chicken she is, Hannah stays in the car while Laura ventures on to check things out. She opens the fence gate and enters our yard. Seeing my light on through my window, she starts to sprint toward it, freaked out herself. About mid-yard, we both hear a "Hey, what are you doing?!" Laura jumps and screams at the same time - I duck below my window ledge once more. After the first second of shock I realize I recognize that voice. Laura coming to her senses asks "Are you Lexi's dad?" And we both start laughing because it turns out my dad was out there the whole time. He didn't hear me talking out my window how I wasn't scared and that they were being dumb and all sorts of other things I said to try and convince the somebody out there and myself that I wasn't freaked out of my mind because he was laying on the tramp, listening to a book on CD on his mp3 player. All in all, it was pretty funny night. Maybe you would have just had to have been there to find it as amusing as we all did.

A trip down movie memory lane

2008-07-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

Dad let me take over his Netflix list of movies again. I decided I wanted to find all the movies I could remember watching when I was little. Here's what I've found so far:

Bicycling and Picnicking

2008-07-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

Today, Darcee and Lauren called me up and told me they were waiting outside to go on a picnic with them. I came out to find a four person, golf cart-looking bicycle. We traveled across town, getting strange looks from the cars zooming past us to pick up Kelli and Chelsea for our picnic in the park. It was not the best day to go however - being extremely windy. We had quite the workout going against the wind, only managing by taking turns pedaling. Little did we know, we were going to work off our lunch right after we ate it!

A "sorry" is never too late

2008-07-11T09:43:00.000-07:00

When I was working at the theatre matinae last week it was really busy but that didn't stop me from seeing Bryce Thompson walk in with some friends. Up until this point I have avoided him at all costs - still a little bitter about Winter Formal. To make a long story short, he asked me to go because his girlfriend already had a date, and I didn't know this when he asked me, so I was slightly under the false pretenses that he liked me. We doubled with all of his friends that were two years older and didn't talk to me the entire night. Needless to say, I stood against the wall for ninety percent of the slow songs. Bryce didn't dance with me once.

It's been almost two years later, and he somehow still had my number and he texted me asking if I could somehow be convinced to go on a drive with him. So I decided to go a little uneasy about the whole thing. I thought it was going to be extremely awkward, not knowing what to say at all. From the beginning however we started talking like old times, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Then he told me how sorry he was about everything and kept going on and on about how he should have done things differently. It was really sincere, and I was able to finally talk about how it made me feel and how we could finally get over one night. I'm really glad that this thing is completely behind me now because I admit I still was a little angry and hurt and embarrassed from it. It goes to show that a true apology really is never too late.

Going Green

2008-06-30T09:06:00.000-07:00

As we have all witnessed, gas prices have reached an all time high at over four dollars per gallon. To save money on gas, and not to mention our environment, I have decided to make a summer resolution and ride my bike or walk to everything including any church activity, the theatre, and hanging out with friends (who think I'm crazy) unless it's to Billings or Cody. Mom and Zach have joined forces with me and we have done all our errands like picking up the Lost series dvds at the video store all on our bikes. Mom even goes to do her grocery shopping with her bike! She has attached the child-carrier to the back of her bike to pull along after her to carry her groceries in the also environmentally-friendly "Re-Bags." So far I have been pretty good at surviving without driving or riding in a car, and hopefully will until the rest of the summer!

The Secret Life of Receptionists

2008-06-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

Having worked three days for my dad I feel comfortable saying that I have gotten an in-depth perspective on what Deb really does...just kidding! I can count on two hands the number of calls I've answered and the number of people that have actually come in for their appointments. I'm beginning to suspect that it's not such a coincidence that it is so dead when I am filling in...

But it hasn't been a complete waste of time - I've had to become very resourceful on ways to entertain myself like spinning in Deb's computer chair for minutes at a time, searching for crazy facts on the Internet, i.e. the "Very Interesting..." post, calling and texting my friends to come and visit me, and writing emails to no end. I don't think I've ever been so in-touch with people by email in my life. I've mastered the art of at least appearing to be doing something professional looking when someone walks in.

Playing with Biebs

2008-06-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and today I was in a tennis tournament playing mixed doubles with my coach Mr. Bieber. It was really scary at first because we were against other adults that looked like they knew exactly what they were doing. In the first match, we lost in the third set in a tie breaker by two points. It was kinda sad because we totally deserved to win - making a comeback and winning the second set after we had a bad first set because I was so nervous. Today we won both our matches. It was pretty fun playing with Biebs, but he's no Taylor for sure. He kept trying to coach me the whole time without trying to sound frustrated at my screw-ups. We had a good time though and it was a good start to get back into the tennis groove for the summer!

Very interesting...

2008-06-19T09:12:00.000-07:00

I was just looking at random stuff on the MSN trying to entertain myself and I found some weird facts on kissing that I thought were kinda funny and interesting - just goes to show how bored I am. Here they are:

1. Two out of every three couples turn their heads to the right when they kiss.
2. A simple peck uses two muscles; a passionate kiss, on the other hand, uses all 34 muscles in your face.
3. Like fingerprints or snowflakes, no two lip impressions are alike.
4. Kissing is good for what ails you. Research shows that the act of smooching improves our skin, helps circulation, prevents tooth decay, and can even relieve headaches.
5. The average person spends 336 hours of his or her life kissing.
6. Ever wonder how an “X” came to represent a kiss? Starting in the Middle Ages, people who could not read used an X as a signature. They would kiss this mark as a sign of sincerity. Eventually, the X came to represent the kiss itself.
7. Kissing releases the same neurotransmitters in our brains as parachuting, bungee jumping, and running.
8. The average woman kisses 29 men before she gets married.
9. Men who kiss their partners before leaving for work average higher incomes than those who don’t.
10. The longest kiss in movie history was between Jane Wyman and Regis Tommey in the 1941 film, You’re in the Army Now. It lasted 3 minutes and 5 seconds.

Pretty in Pink

2008-06-16T19:54:00.000-07:00

I accidentally got AJ wet with a water balloon, and Mom gave him one of my old Girl's Camp shirts to borrow. I thought this pic was blog-worthy...

Idaho Vacation

2008-05-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

For the begining of summer me, my mom, and Zach decided to take a trip to Idaho to visit Eric, Cori, and Quintin. It's been a lot of fun shopping, going to the zoo, playing Wii MarioKart and just hanging out, catching up.

A guy in Cori and Eric's ward sells hot tubs and he gives the key to his store to try some out sometimes. We all loved it!
The Zoo

For an Eagle Scout Project this kid made these wings and facts to put up along the fence of the eagle exhibits. We had a good time checking out our arm spans, I felt pretty awesome up against the Kestrel.

Rainy Days

2008-05-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

This entire week has been nothing but rain! It doesn't feel like school's out with all of it, but it is kind of nice - perfect for running around outside with friends, getting drenched. It wasn't so bad for this morning because I had just enough time to squeeze in a game of tennis with Taylor Jones. He and his mom and little brothers were here for a quick visit for Memorial Day and he called and wanted to play. It was pretty fun, but he was definitely better than me. I held my own though. We're having the traditional Kienlen Memorial Day barbeque this afternoon that's going to be pretty fun, hopefully the rain doesn't go on for too much longer!

Bored...

2008-05-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

It's the last school night of my junior year that I will ever have and my parents are being boring and wanting to go to sleep instead of hang with me and play a game or watch a movie or something. They keep telling me to study which is what I have been doing the entire week!! I swear...they had me too late in life... haha just kidding Mom! Love you! I'm just sooo ready for summer!!

I got my paper back!

2008-05-21T16:24:00.000-07:00

I got an A-

Finals

2008-05-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

This week of school is totally pointless to go to I've decided. In every class they're basically just making us help them box up stuff to go to the new school and telling us to study for their final. It would be really nice if we could just take them and be done because I'm so so sooo ready for summer! I still haven't gotten my paper back, but she was really interested in the presentation overview of it, so I'm thinking she's liking it. And just to ease your minds, I'm almost positive I'm going to end up this year with my 4.0 intact unless I completely lose my mind and screw up a final.

The Finale

2008-05-10T14:46:00.000-07:00

Beauty and the Beast is over! After the 7+ hours per week I put into it for about two months, I can honestly say I'm glad it's over. It was a fun run though, I'm definitely glad that I did it. I'm not sure if it's going to be a start to any future acting performances, but I learned a lot and met people I wouldn't have otherwise - it was a super fun experience! With our three performances, I think it went very well, each time the theatre was full. People had to be turned down for the last night! There weren't any huge mess-ups so all in all it was very successful. Here are some pics of me as the Sausage Curl Girl...My skin was going crazy with all the makeup, it's finally been able to breathe this week! I'm perfectly aware that I looked like a clown with all of it on, but I think I looked semi-normal to the audience from the stage.

Where did the time go?

2008-05-07T19:59:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast little Quintin has grown up. Here he is from Prom 2007 when he was blessed - to Prom 2008.

Prom Night

2008-05-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

Mitch, Brittany, Me and AJ all ready to go out for our progressive dinner, first stop Chelsea's for salad!

Just another picture, so my mom could document every move we made

Dessert at my house, prepared by my wonderful mother who is a fantastic cook!

Figuring out the flowers...always a lil bit awkward

This was due to Cori "The Photographer of the Night" heckling me...but I didn't really have too much complaint about it

Don't we all look amazing with our dates?

Quintin keeping us entertained, screaming the one of 5 words he knows, "No!"

Kelli and Me trying to look glamorous!

The Grand March, yes, we were one of the fortunate couples who didn't stumble down the stairs going off the stage

So here are the pictures from 2008 prom night, thank you, Mom, for the amazing dress and the delicious dessert for our progressive dinner, and thank you, Cori, for spending two hours on ratting and straightening my hair and making me and my date feel sufficiently awkward... Brittany and Mitch, Kelli and Michael, Chelsea and Seth, Jessica and Tyler, and AJ and I all had a good time going to our dinner, the grand march, and dancing at prom! Can't wait for next year!

Done!

2008-05-05T18:56:00.001-07:00

My twenty-page paper is done and it feels amazing! Thank you so much for all your guys' help with it. I think I was about to go crazy with all the stress!

Car Attack!

2008-05-04T11:28:00.000-07:00

I came out of seminary on Thursday morning to find my car looking like this...

It was definitely a surprise! AJ, obviously, was the one responsible, wanting to do something cool for prom and the opening night of the play. My car was covered in tons of chocolate, ballons, confetti, and so much more as you can see. I have been finding melted chocolate pieces days later and I sometimes leave a trail of confetti when I get out of the car. It was really sweet and was a great start to the day.

LDS Prom

2008-04-27T11:14:00.000-07:00

My prom dress was a success, thanks to a LOT of time put into it by my wonderful mother. Even my hair turned out pretty good, you can't really see how big it actually was because it blends in with picture in the background, but Mom and I blow dried and hairsprayed it so much it was huge! I had a fun time dancing with everyone, they all looked so good. It's crazy to see all the selection of the of the modest dresses that seem really hard to find.

Spring Tennis!

2008-04-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

Today, Tay and I played 2nd doubles against Cody. Of course since it's the spring season, it was freezing and windy! Well it didn't stop us because we put the game away 6-2, 6-2. Not bad I'd say because we were kinda messing around. I think it was a good start to the very short season though!

Quintin Spoke!

2008-04-12T19:19:00.001-07:00

So on the phone with Cori today, she gave the phone to Q and asked him to say "Hi," to me and he did! He had never done that before, so we were both very excited. It was the cutest thing ever but also kinda sad because he's slowly growing out of being baby Q!

Family Pictures

2008-04-09T09:44:00.000-07:00

Well I look about the same in all of them... I'm not sure if we got one with everyone looking at the same time, what do you think?

He Said Yes!

2008-03-18T21:27:00.000-07:00

The Way to Ask

2008-03-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

I decided to go with the shirt option to ask AJ to prom. Thanks for your suggestions! Mom will give it to his mom on Wednesday - his birthday. Here's the finished product...

Mom's Masterpiece!

2008-03-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

Here's the cake Mom made for the St. Patrick's Day Ward party, I helped a tiny bit. Isn't it way cute!

The Wave

2008-03-13T19:49:00.001-07:00

So this past week, my skin went crazy and I was freaking out a little. I saw this commercial on TV with Vanessa Hudgens a.k.a. Gabrielle on High School Musical, advertising this cool, new, little, battery-operated, facial cleansing thing. I had to have it! If it's good enough for Vanessa it's good enough for me! So my very loving, patient mother took me to Wal-Mart yesterday and I got "The Wave." I went through about three different pads as soon as we got home and it was AMAZING! My face feels so soft! I totally recommend it, if you are ever in the same position I was in...

Super Cute Video on YouTube!

2008-03-11T16:46:00.000-07:00

Watch this, it will make you smile!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM

Oh and by the way...

2008-03-07T22:44:00.000-08:00

Yes, Erin, I think I can forgive you with driving your car AND some extensive Dance, Dance Revolutioning.

Being Sick...

2008-03-07T22:38:00.001-08:00

I hate being sick. I stayed home from school all day and slept and now I'm wide awake. I have nothing interesting to say or blog about though.