"I SMILE because I scrapbook; I LAUGH because my husband can't do a thing about it!"

So Friday started out rather boring and crappy- cold weather, work all morning...you know...not fun stuff. But it ended quite nicely for me and so I thought I'd blog about it. So after work I headed over to a warehouse in Orem where someone told me they were having a scrapbook warehouse sale, so of course I had to go investigate and check it out and I'm very glad I did! It was for a company called "American Craft" which has AWESOME scrapbooking supplies but they're usually way too expensive for me, sad, I know. But this sale was FaNtAsTiC! They had everything between 75 and 90% off and I was just seriously in heaven.

It was a really bad place to go to all by yourself with no one to tell you to stop...I did call my sister Annie, who has a fabulous scrapbooker and is one person who would understand my excitement. She was excited and jealous but I'm a good sister and got her some stuff too. I tried to be good and not buy too much because I knew Mark wouldn't be too happy with me but it was SO hard! I got all of this stuff (see pics below) for 60 bucks! Which, if you aren't a scrapper, is AMAZING! Mark didn't understand how awesome of a deal this was but he'll get over it eventually :) haha...no really though, I really don't have to buy anything for a LONG time...I am SET with paper for at least 5 years :) or at least the childhood of our first kid (no I'm not pregnant, that comment was just for future purposes only).

Anyway, I have been scrappin' for quite a few years, I'm a very simple scrapper though, I don't embellish too much or do anything fancy. My main love is paper and I definitely got plenty of awesome paper, I love 99% of the paper I got, the rest will serve some purpose someday... :) I seriously got so much paper though!!! It was SO AWESOME!!!! Usually a piece of patterned paper is between $.30 and $1.00, for one piece, depending on the brand, thickness, etc. I got like 550 pieces of paper, 28 alphabet sets and a bunch of other stuff for the $60. So, just for fun, if you take an average of $.40 for a piece of paper and take that times 550, it's $220!!! So I think I got a dang good steal of a deal. I've been trying to justify my purchase to Mark but nothing's made him feel better yet. :) But oh well! It was a lot of fun though and I had even more fun this morning when I went through everything. I love paper! The only problem now is where to put everything...I had to buy a folder thing to put it all in but it's still everywhere. I might have to organize something to fit it all...I'm good at organizing, just ask any of my sisters :) haha...

Anywho- so that made the day pretty awesome. It got better though cuz Mark and I went up to SLC and went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert with my good, good friend Chelsea and her husband. She had called us up the night before cuz her mom gave her four tickets for it and asked us if we wanted to go. It was crazy, crazy, busy though so we got there with barely enough time to get in. It had already started but we made it before the opening prayer so I thought was good :) It was pretty cool though. They also have guest people that sing or do other things throughout the concert and this year they had a guy named Brian Stokes Mitchell, who I've never heard of really.

He was pretty good, he had an awesome low range but liked to go high too and then, meh...not so great. He also sang a couple songs that weren't Christmas songs so Mark and I were disappointed about that. He did sing a song called "Through Heaven's Eyes" which is from "The Prince of Egypt" (awesome movie!) which was way cool because he was the guy that actually sang it for the movie. He was the singing voice for Jethro, who was Moses' wife's dad. So that was awesome to hear, way good. He was really entertaining though, a very enthusiastic entertainer/singer, funny facials.

They had another guy too, Edward Hermann. I actually knew who he was, he played a character on the TV show "Gilmore Girls" and apparently he has done some narrations and stuff as well. So he did a narration of the story of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who wrote the song "I heard the bells on Christmas Day". He did a really job with it too, he has a great voice for narrating.

The Choir of course was amazing, as well as the Orchestra (love them!). I especially like the organist, he was SO awesome! He played a song by himself, I forgot which, but it was so cool, his hands were going and his feet were going and it was just awesome. That would be so hard to play! They also had the bells which were cool too (a ton of people came out during certain songs and would play bells along with it). It was a pretty awesome night though, so good to hang out with friends and enjoy good music! Here's some pics we took.

"A professor is one who talks in someone else's sleep." -- W.H. Auden--

I do have to admit that I am guilty of falling asleep in class...some days you just can't help it, especially with some professors who have that "General Authority/Conference" type of voice, you all know what I mean...well not all of you but just imagine a nice deep, soothing voice giving a talk or lecturing and bam! You're out! That's what I mean :) Anyway, I thought that was a funny quote and I thought I'd talk about it. I also thought I'd talk about how this semester is almost DONE!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell I'm excited??? If not, I am SO EXCITED! It's been a long, hard semester and I am SO glad it's almost done!

Stats was one of the hardest classes ever but I had an AMAZING teacher who made it understandable, even to me, who does not understand that stuff at ALL. I've had classes that taught portions of Stats and they just went right over my head. But this teacher was just so good and really funny and very entertaining, which I think helped a lot! Most Stats teachers are the dry, boring type that put you to sleep but not this one! I sure lucked out with picking him. It's so hard to pick teachers! I've done pretty good so far, I've only disliked maybe one or two of my teachers in college.

For example...being at BYU you are required to take a certain number of religion credits, which is awesome. The teachers they have in religion are some of the best around and the classes are AMAZING! I've taken quite a few already and three have been with the same professor because I like him so much. He is just so awesome. His name is Alonzo Gaskill and he grew up as a Greek Orthodox somewhere near Kansas City (yay Missouri). He studied religion at Notre Dame and is extremely knowledgeable about world religions. He is also EXTREMELY sarcastic and fairly blunt/honest. So most people either LOVE him or HATE him. I'm one who loves him. He just has so much knowledge of religion and I have learned a lot from his classes. He also says the most random things and it is SO funny sometimes. Sometimes the things he says might sound a little outrageous/shocking/scandalous to some naive Mormon ears (don't worry it's nothing bad, but some people might interpret things he says the wrong way and think he's scandalous) but that's just how he is. He often says things just to contradict people and to get to the point he's trying to make or spark a discussion too which is funny. Some people started a fan club group on Facebook and put up quotes that he says from his classes. It's highly entertaining. Here's a picture from the group...I really don't know what he is doing though...

Anyway, off of that tangent, I'm sure most of you didn't really care about all that, but he's just so awesome! I'm just sad that I have no more classes that I can take from him, I'm all out. :( but yeah...so tomorrow is the last day of classes and then I have finals! So this past week has been crazy with me getting all my last assignments done and starting to study for finals. On Monday I sat in my room and worked on a research paper for seriously at least 9 hours straight, it was disgusting and awful but totally what I deserve for procrastinating :) I do that so well, huh Annie? She likes to make fun of me for my amazing procrastinating abilities. Anywho, this next week is going to be pretty crazy too with finals and all but I don't think they'll be too bad...as long as I study! :) Don't worry, I'm going to study.

Well, I guess this whole thing was fairly full of rambling, sorry about that! I'm just at work and am SO BORED! I already worked from 10-3 today, then went to class, and now I'm working 6-10 and it sucks! I don't have a clue why they scheduled me like that, but I don't like it. I've already done all the things I brought with me so I guess all I have left to do is watch a movie! Such a hard day at work! :)

Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day. --Robert Caspar Lintner--

On to the second Thanksgiving! It was so great to be home, such a nice break from Provo! I'm really looking forward to the day I can leave it, not gonna lie. I love going home though, I miss it so much! I loved seeing my parents and all my sisters and my brothers and especially all the nieces and nephews! I got to see little Kady Scarlett for the first time but sadly only for a few minutes (Monie and Kyle spent Thanksgiving up in Nauvoo with his parents). She is a little doll though, SO cute and SO good! I'm excited to see her again in a few weeks. Then there's the twins and Santana who are all getting so big and more adorable every day! That Tani girl is just so cute and so funny! And she's so good! And the boys are so funny too, Matteo is so cute when he dances and the way he runs is just a hoot. Abrahm is so serious but when he does smile, it's too cute! He has the cutest little dimples and blue eyes with the CUTEST hair! I love it.

Then of course there's the older kids, I can't BELIEVE how big they are getting! Sierra is still gorgeous as ever, about to turn 15...eek! That's so crazy! Brian is almost as tall as me and can pick me up now...holy cow. Then Natalia and Carmen are definitely little pre-teens. They are SO loud together too! I took them with me to Wal Mart and it was just crazy. They're fun though and are such cute girls! A little sassy but cute... :) Jerica is so cute too, her hair is much longer than she usually has it and it's SO thick! My hair is like 1/16 of what she's got...so not fair :) She's hilarious though and says the funniest things and her stories are quite entertaining as well. She goes on and on and it's just so funny! I didn't see the other boys much but they're all getting big too, Mario is particularly funny. He has the funniest little phrases he says. It's a hoot. It was so great to see them all though, I'm glad I got this little extra time with them before Christmas. I'm sure Uncle Mark will steal some of the attention away from me...but that's ok, he'll have a fun ol' time with all the kids hanging all over him. It's gonna be great!

I loved seeing my sisters too. I miss them so much! They are, next to my Mamma of course, my greatest role models and I look up to them so much! They have such different personalities and characteristics and strengths and I admire them so much. I'm grateful how much closer I am becoming to as I'm getting older and married and such. They were laughing at me one day cuz they were talking about some recipes and I was like, these ones are really good! They said it's funny to see me all married and house-wifey. :) I've always been pretty good at domestic stuff so it shouldn't surprise them too much. Anyway, it was great seeing them and I can't wait to see them again.

It took us a while to decide what to do about Thanksgiving but we finally decided to just do it and then they could have another one or something when Mamma got back home. It wasn't the same without her of course but overall it turned out really good, or so I thought. I didn't contribute as much as I was supposed to cuz right after I got up that morning Dad was like, let's go, I'm going to see Mom. So I went up there to see her instead of helping out with dinner(I went up there everyday, 3 hour round trip, not fun but worth it!). I sorta helped with the cherry pies...sort of... :) Thanks Annie! She did a lot of the work and did a great job. I did a lot of the shopping so that was my contribution to the day.

Anyway, dinner was great, so yummy! The pies were delicious as well. Cherry cream pie is the best! minus the cherries of course :) After we ate, everyone kinda just sat around for awhile and then one of the Elder's read our thank you cards we do every year. Then for some reason they started a competition with this old school toy, the one where it has a ball on a string and you have to try to catch the ball in the little cup thing. It was kinda funny to watch, very random thing though. Dad was having fun with it though, he was pretty good too! They did this for seriously 30 minutes or so. It was nutty. After that we kinda ate some more and watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, a family tradition of ours and way funny movie. Overall it was a pretty good day, although I had to leave early the next morning to go back to Utah. And that's pretty much it for last week! I had a fun time with all my fam, especially the little ones and am looking forward to going back soon! Now for more pictures!

Mmm...Turkey and all the fixin's!
And the Rhino is back! Annie and Mellisa named her and decorated her for the holiday, although I forgot the name...I wanna say something with an R though...
The whole gang! Well, minus me cuz I was, as usual, taking the picture...and minus mom and minus Monie and Kyle and Kady...well that's still a lot of people!
Even more mmmm!!!!!!!! Pie!
Being Thankful
They are SO cute!
Natalia and Santana
Isn't this just the cutest picture??? This kid is a DOLL!
Aw...sisterly love!
Adorable little girl....Mellisa called me tonight and told me she's walking now! On the day before she turns One too...yay for Tani!
Storytime with Button! Such a funny little girl.
Where's Tani?
Abrahm likes to show people his belly.
Such a pre-teen... :)
Ok, I couldn't help but put this in there, I love it! I was lucky, for the third time in my life, to be by the base when it was landing, so awesome!!!

Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action. --W.J. Cameron--

So now that I am back in Provo and Mamma is home and life is somewhat calming down, I am back to my old routine of procrastinating homework and doing this instead! I've been in class all day and studying so I think I deserve a little break. It'll take a couple posts though to cover Thanksgiving since mine was kinda split this year, but I'm sure you all are ok with that :)

The Saturday before Thanksgiving Mark, Amy, Calvin, and I went up to their aunt and uncle's house in Clearfield for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner. They were going to be out of town that day and so we just decided to do something then with them. I got to meet Mark's other two cousins, Chris and Russ and their families, which was fun. It was definitely loud and crazy there but that was ok with me cuz it felt like home. My family is Most definitely not quiet so Mark's small family is a little foreign to me sometimes but Aunt Janet's kids are much more like my fam. I got a lot of ripping on since I was the "new" person around, plus I'm from Missouri and people just can't seem to not make fun of me when they find that out. But I'm used to that too so I don't really care.

Anyway, dinner was really, really good and afterwards they set up Rock Band and played that until everybody left, which was a good long while. It was really funny though, people get so into it! Especially whoever is singing. That was the best part I think. The guys certainly had fun doing it. Chris' two kids, Porter and Lucy had fun with it too. Lucy really liked the microphone and started crying when someone took it away from her, it was so cute! She was a funny little thing, really shy around me since she didn't know me, but then I let her take some pictures on my camera and she softened up to me real quick. She kept me busy while everyone was playing the game (I didn't play at all although Russ kept trying to get me to sing...just ask my family, they know I don't sing in public...at ALL...just can't do it). They all had fun though which was good. Here's some pics of the occasion, I know you all have been missing my pictures...it's been awhile since I put any up. But don't worry, I took LOTS and LOTS last week so you're in for a treat. Enjoy!

All is right with the world!

My Mamma is home! I'm so happy and relieved! For her sake as well as my family's. She was SO ready to get out of there! She did not like it one bit, but who really does? Hospitals just aren't happy places unless you're having a baby and that can turn out not so nice sometimes too. But she's home now and that's all that matters for now. She's still on oxygen but on lot lower levels than before but she doesn't know how long she'll have to stay on it. We're all grateful that she's recovering so well though! We'd all be lost without our Mamma. I called her today, which is the first time in a long time I've got to call her! It was so nice! I missed calling her up, which I do frequently :) But that's ok, I think we've gotten a lot closer since I've been at college and the only communication we have is over the phone, so I really missed it! Seeing her at the hospital just wasn't the same. She's still got some recovering to do but she's got lots of help around home and I know she'll be well taken care of. Only 21 days until I go home again! Yay!

I am back in Utah which is great because I'm home with Mark and I missed him a lot but then not so great cuz I've got SO MUCH homework to do! I was planning on doing most of it last week but you can imagine how that turned out...I just don't know where to begin with it! But only 8 more days of classes left and then finals and then home. I'm almost there! This has been a long semester and I am going to be so glad when it's over. Anyway, back to happier things and Mark :) He missed me so much, poor thing! He's so cute though and SO sweet. He didn't think he'd see me cuz I had to work the day I got back so he left me a note on our bed which was very sweet. His sister Amy picked me up and we brought him food for lunch (so I did get to see him before work) and then she and I went shopping (Old Navy had AMAZING sales! Love it!). He came to work later and brought me dinner though and so when he got there he put everything down and went to take off his coat and underneath it were three pink roses! He surprised me quite well with that one. But it was so sweet and I loved it!

I'm really just saying all this to brag about him cuz we all know he's the favorite son-in-law and I'm just rubbing it in for my dear sisters...haha! Not very nice of me I guess but it's fun. It's the same with Annie and how she's the favorite sister...it's just a family joke thing but also somewhat the truth so no one can really deny it. :) I love my family though! Every single one of them. I can't wait to go home again! This time Mark'll really get to know the fam. He didn't really get to know them too well during the wedding, little preoccupied as you can imagine :) It'll be a fun time though. Anyway, I'm just rambling now mainly cuz I'm tired so I should go now. I'm just so happy my Mamma is home! I love you Mamma!!!

Mamma update!

Well it's been a few days so I thought I would take a moment and update you all about my mamma. When I got here Monday she was having a bit of a rough morning and was having a hard time. I only saw her for a minute and then they had to run some tests and then visitor hours were closed for 2 hours so all my fam that was there went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (YUM!). It was SO great to see them all though! There was my dad, my brother Ben, sisters- Emily, Mellisa, Monie, and Annie, bro in law Adam, and sweet, adorable little niece Tani! (Santana). She is SO cute! I played with her the whole day. :) It's been a long time since I've been around babies.

Anyway, we went back to the hospital and got to see her for reals this time. She was doing a little better but it was still really, really, hard to see her in there. She was in the ICU with all these tubes and stuff and things sticking in her and it was just so awful! I think seeing your mom in a condition like that is one of the worst things in the world. I was so upset all weekend, just going between phone calls to hear about her, and it was so good to just see her in person! I've been up there everyday to see her and she is getting better everyday. The first day I got there though she could barely talk and it was just a very emotional and hard day for all of us.

Yesterday Annie, Emily, and I went up and she was doing much, much better than the day before, she could talk this time. They have her on 100% oxygen so she had to wear a mask for that. She has a very severe case of pneumonia and two collapsed lungs and so she's been having difficulties getting oxygen, as you can imagine. They did a ton of tests to see if that was due to something else but so far haven't found anything, which I suppose is good. While we were there though they told us that they had a room for her out of the ICU which was really good cuz it meant she was improving! Yay! Emily is staying up there with her now to take charge and help her out, something Emily is very good at. :) Everybody fasted for her that day though and I know that really helped in her improvement.

Today I went up just with my Daddy and saw her in her new room. She is really doing good today although she is still on 100% oxygen. They said she can't come home until the amount they are giving her is 60% which will be probably be next week sometime. She is NOT very happy about that though. She wanted so bad to come home tomorrow! Unfortunately though she has to stay up there and get a little better. She's quite the crack up though, such a funny lady. She's been a little anxious and such up there though, which is understandable. She's been talking herself through everything to help herself out. She just wants to get out so bad though! She told us before I got there that she wanted everybody to "fast her the hell out" of there. See? Told she was funny... :) I do love her though, she's awesome.

Well, anyway, she's doing so much better than last Friday/Saturday/Sunday. She really scared the crap out of all of us and it really was a close call a couple times. We're just glad she got to the hospital when she did cuz if it was any later who knows what would have happened. But it's all turning out better and she's on her way to recovery. Emily is a big help to her and the rest of us are all praying, fasting and visiting any time we can, which she greatly appreciates. She thanks everyone who's praying for her as well.

It has been hard without her here at home and we are all greatly missing her right now but the important thing is that she gets well and comes home when she's ready and healthy enough. She said this is her wake up call in life and that she's going to do better with her health, etc. So maybe that's the case, maybe this trial is meant to teach us something else, but whatever the case may be, we are all in it together....wow that was so High School Musical..gross...but anyway, it's true. We're all helping each other out and I am so grateful for every member of my family. I am so glad that I was able to come out here and hopefully lighten there burden a little bit by helping them out. I am so happy to be home and I miss it so much when I'm gone! I just wish I had a happier reason to come but oh well. I'm here and happy and happy that my mamma is getting better! I wouldn't know what to do without her and am so grateful for all that she does for me! I love you mamma!

P.S.- just to reassure you all, I have not forgotten about my husband in our brief separation :) I miss him a lot and know that he misses me too! Although I'm sure he's feeling it a bit more than me since he's been mostly just at work and home all alone. I've been busy, busy, busy since I got here and will keep being busy til I leave! Luckily though he is at his sister's tonight and is going to be with cousins and other family tomorrow so he won't be alone anymore. I love you honey! :)

"A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take." -- Cardinal Mermillod

So this blog has a bit of good and a bit of bad in it. The good side is that I'm going home on Monday!!!!!!!!! I am so utterly thrilled and excited and can't wait for Monday to come. The downside though is the main reason I'm going, my poor Mamma went into the hospital yesterday and she's still there. She's been sick since last Saturday and she went to the doctor and they said she had bronchitis and then she went to the hospital yesterday and they said she had pneumonia. She was having trouble breathing though and they had to put her on oxygen and then they took her to a hospital in Kansas City and that's where she is right now. Needless to say, I've been a little worried and stressed! I miss her probably the most and call her ALL the time, as I'm sure she could tell you. :) Anytime I'm walking home or going to class or whatever, she's the first one I call! I love her so much!

So my sisters thought I should come home and I really, really wanted to so there you go! I'm on my way! Apparently Mellisa needs me to come home: 1) to help her with the little ones (no problem there! They are SO cute!) and 2) cuz she said she's "depending on me" to help with Thanksgiving dinner...ha! That's funny... I'm not a bad cook but neither are they but I appreciate the compliment in there and the faith she has in me. I can do pretty much anything, not to brag of course, I just do NOT want to do the turkey :) I don't trust myself with that one yet! Someday, when I'm feeling especially lucky...anyway...I thought she was pretty funny. I do want to help though while I'm there, in any way I can, so if the trade off for going home is babysitting and cooking, I'm not gonna complain! :) I miss it so much!

The only other sad part about this whole business is that I'm going to be leaving Mark for 4 days! I know, I know, how sappy and pathetic, but deal with it! I'm going to miss him. :) But this will be good practice for when he gets in the Navy and has to leave me for 12 weeks. That is NOT going to be fun! We'll manage though...hopefully... It was funny though cuz he was like, what am I going to do if you go home? So his only stipulation was that he got to buy a video game to play to keep him entertained and I could go home. Meh! No problem there! Well as the saying goes though: Absence makes the heart grow fonder! :) haha...

Well that's all for now, I'm sure I'll have more to say after tomorrow! (we're going to Mark's aunt Janet's for a pre-Thanksgivng dinner, yum!). Love to all and prayers to my mamma!

Oh, and just so you know, BYU and Utah are in the 3rd quarter- 24-27...eek! It's been going back and forth and it's sure going to be an awful close game! Go COUGARS!!!!! See me friend Amanda's blog for a deligtful parody of Oh, Holy Night. It's pretty darn funny.....

Oh again! I saw Twilight today!!! Good movie! loved it. Love the books, love the author...love it all!!! Very much recommended I say.

Let the "Holy War" begin!

So I was walking to class the other day and happened to walk past one of the many statues on campus. For any visitors this week they might see something strange though... ALL the statues are completely covered in Saran wrap. Why, you might ask, would we do this??? Seems pretty strange don't you think? Well it is but we have good reason for it. This Saturday just so happens to be the final game of the BYU football season and it is against our biggest rival, the University of Utah. Every year we cover these statues to prevent any "vandalizing" or anything the Utes might want to do to them. I guess one year something must have happened and someone came up with the idea of covering them with Saran wrap...that's really going to stop them! :) haha...right.... anyway, it looks pretty funny to me. Since I've been here though I haven't heard of anything happening against either school but the Saran wrap is kind of tradition now I guess.

(This is a statue of a mother and father holding hands with their child, as if you couldn't tell for yourself! It's so apparent right? with all that Saran wrap? I wonder how much they spend in Saran wrap every year......hmm.... :)

I'm really kind of excited for the game except that I have to work during it and won't get to watch it. I didn't get to watch any of the games this year which kind sucks, last year I went to all the home ones and it was SO much fun! The game against Utah was especially awesome, well the last 4 minutes of the last quarter was anyway :) Well, BYU has won against Utah the past two years and the Utes are definitely not too happy about that fact. They're just going to have to deal with it cuz it's just going to happen again! :) haha...I don't know really, but I'm hoping for a Cougar win, of course! Both teams have done really good this year, Utah is 10-0 and BYU is 10-1. So it should be a very interesting and awesome game! It's also going to make an interesting Sunday dinner for Mark and I, we are going up to his aunt's house for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner and Amy and Calvin are both going to be there, who are both Utes fans. Luckily they aren't the extremely gung-ho fanatics so I think we'll be safe, but it'll be a good, lively discussion for whatever the outcome :)

Anyway, that's pretty much all I really have to say, I'm not the biggest football fan out there so I'm not really that into it, mainly just for the Cougs! Games are just so fun to go to! But yeah, that's all for now....except for a few pics of last year for your enjoyment :)
(this is a record for me though! Shortest blog! ha! :)

Cosmo is my hero!!!

This is the final score from the BYU vs. Utah game last year.

And this is all the BYU fans rushing the field after our victory! This won't happen this year when we win, Cougar fans will want to get out of there as quick as they can! :)

A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked. -Bernard Meltzer-

First of all I'm sorry for taking so long in putting up a new post! Some of my friends say they have a hard time keeping up (I really don't do them too often, maybe once a week sometimes or whatever), but then I'm sure there are others that say I need to do more... I guess I just can't please everybody!!!

This has been a great week for meeting up with good friends for me. First, on Wednesday, Whit and I went up to SLC to pick up our friend Amanda from the airport. We met her here at BYU but she's taking this semester off so she's been at home in CA and decided to come visit for the weekend. We had a good time though together that night, we went to "The Pie" in SLC up by the University of Utah, which was pretty darn good pizza. It was a little more scandalous than our campus' pizza place though (which is called "The Brick Oven" and is way yummy), being by the UofU and all :) It was kinda funny though cuz right when we were getting up to leave some drunk guy came over and started hitting on Whit...it was the highlight of my evening. :) The pizza was pretty good though, although probably not the absolute best I've ever had...still trying to find that one.... :) Other than that we just had a fun time talking and such...it's always interesting being with those two cuz the most random things will come up, especially with Amanda, she is the most random person I've ever met in my life and I love it.. She's awesome.

The other great friend I saw this weekend was my friend Shauna. We've known each other since our first year at Girl's Camp when we were 12 years old...a LONG time ago it seems. :) I didn't like her much at first for some reason but the next year we were in the same group and became good friends. We didn't see each other too much though cuz we lived 50 miles apart and then after high school we lost touch a bit which was sad. But then I found out she was up at college in Logan and I FiNaLlY found her on Facebook and ever since it's been great! Mostly she comes to visit me down here (I'm a slacker friend and have never visited her up in Logan...sorry!) but she has lots of friends down here and this area is just funner than Logan. :) Anyway, she stays with me mostly and we have lots of fun whenever she visits. We have our traditional things we like to do, like we always end up going out to eat and our main place is Red Robin, although sometimes when we're feeling wealthy or something we head over to Outback Steakhouse, but usually it's Red Robin- towering stack of onion rings, big burgers, and Mile high mud pie! Yum!!! It's great...
So this time Shauna came down Friday night and we did end up going to Red Robin but just for desert. She mainly came down cuz Saturday night there was a concert she wanted to go to up in SLC with her favorite band, Ingram Hill. I thought she was going to go with a friend of ours but she got sick so she was going to end up going by herself, which of course I couldn't let her go up there by herself and this just gave me a real excuse for not doing homework :) I really need to work on that...anyway, the concert was in a really small little place, there wasn't more than 35 people there so it was kinda laid back and relaxed which was kinda fun. The band, Ingram Hill, was pretty darn good...I've heard of them before but never really listened to them but I really liked there music. They're a little band from Tennessee and are starting to get a bit more popular now. I'm actually listening to there new cd right now as I'm typing this :) But yeah, we got there a little late so we only got to listen to them for an hour or so but afterwards we got to meet them and Shauna bought their new CD and poster and had them sign it and then she had her pic taken with the lead singer, shown below :)


She was so excited to go though and I'm glad I got to go with her. I've been getting a little restless with my music selection lately so this new stuff was exactly what I needed to spice it up. I love music and constantly have it on at home or work or in between classes, I don't know what I'd do without music. It's kind of ironically funny because I had little distraction noises around me but I also hate dead silence, I have to have music on or something to cover that or it drives me crazy. I really have a ton of music too so I shouldn't be tired of it but sometimes you just need something new. While we were there though, they sang a song that they said they were going to put on there upcoming album, called "Hey Girl" which was such a good song!!! Shauna got a bit of it on video and I tried all night to upload it on to here but it didn't work...lame!!! Oh well I guess...

It's really good song though and I'm quickly becoming a big fan of these guys. The lead singer was really good and really nice. It's so nice to see musicians who appreciate there fans and everything, I think sometimes that famous people get too cocky and stuck up and treat there fans badly when they should do the entire opposite and be grateful for those fans. Actors/musicians, etc aren't anything without their fans...they couldn't get anywhere without them so they should show that appreciation a little more I think. :) Me and Shauna talked about this while we were driving home so I just thought I'd share that little tirade with you.
Well I think that pretty much sums everything up. Overall I had a pretty great weekend, although not very productive schoolwise AT ALL! Oops! Oh well...I'll deal with that all tomorrow....I'm just excited for this week to get over because the week after is Thanksgiving! I don't have class from this Friday until the next Tuesday after Thanksgiving...which equals a whole ELEVEN days without any classes, it's going to be fabulous! Don't worry though, I have plenty of papers and tests and such that I have to do in that time :( :( :( It will all be over soon though, thank goodness! I'm ready for this semester to be done already! Anyway, I really am done now...I promise I'll be back soon with pics of our new place! I promise I haven't forgotten about that...

"Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble." -William Shakespeare-

I can't believe that Halloween is already over and it's now November! Seems crazy...but I'm glad because that means it's getting closer to the end of the semester and that means I get to go home and then celebrate Christmas! yay! But I guess I'll focus on the here and now :)

So Halloween was pretty fun, the only drawback was that poor Mark is still sick...He stayed home from work today (we stayed out a little bit too late last night, probably wasn't wise) and slept for like 4 1/2 hours this afternoon. He said he felt better after that, well I would hope so! Geez...anyway, yesterday we both worked in the morning and then went up to Salt Lake City to Amy's apartment and me, Mark, Amy, and Calvin celebrated the holiday! We carved pumpkins, ate caramel apples, and watched the Poltergeist (it was on ABC Family of all channels...kinda creepy for a family channel...). It was a lot of fun though!

Me, Mark, and Amy just chose designs out of the pumpkin carving kit and did those. I did a spider and a spider-web, Mark did one with wolves, and Amy did a skull and cross bone. Calvin (who I'm told is a master pumpkin carver) drew out his own. He had a guy standing behind a stack of sandbags and there was a gun on top of the sandbags and the guy is throwing a grenade and on the other side of the pumpkin there is an explosion. So pretty cool idea but it didn't out the way he wanted cuz he didn't want to spend hours on it. They all turned out really good though, especially Mark's. He took the longest of us, such a perfectionist :)

We ordered some pizza while we carved and then during the movie we ate our caramel apples. Amy, Calvin, and Mark put crushed up Kit-Kat bars on top of theirs but I kept mine just caramel...yummy... Then we all settled back and watched "The Poltergeist." Pretty creepy movie if you ask me and way old school graphics. Pretty funny actually. We ended up getting home at about 1am so we were pretty beat. But it was a lot of fun and so nice to get out of Provo, even for just a couple of hours! The only places I go anymore are work, school, home, and church. It was great seeing Amy and Calvin though, we always have a lot of fun together. It was nice though cuz on Monday when Mark and I went up to SLC for his interview, we met Amy and Calvin and had dinner at Chili's so we got to see them twice in one week, which was awesome.

Fun times!Next holiday...... Thanksgiving! Yay!

"Hope is putting faith to work when doubting would be easier."

So Mark's interview went pretty well. He's got almost everything else done for his application except for a reference letter and the physical test, which he does on Monday. Unfortunately he's gotten some sniffles this week so hopefully he'll be fine on Monday! We have a good feeling about everything though and will be anxiously waiting an answer when he's done with all the application stuff, which will be a while...so annoying!

Other than waiting for that, we're doing pretty good. We're both reaping the consequences of procrastinating though but that's our own faults :) Teachers just seem to like having everything due at the same time and it's so awful! Especially for a huge procrastinator like me; I've never gotten over that one little fault of mine :) But it'll work out...I work better under pressure on papers anyway... It has been GORGEOUS this week though. It's pretty awesome here. The weather has been in the upper sixties, so it's been nice and warm and the trees are all changing and the leaves are falling off and it's so awesome! I just wish it could last all winter! OH and I got a letter from my old roomie Emma, who is on a mission in Chile so that was SO exciting to get. She's doing fabulous and I can't wait for her to come home in February! My other roomie, Maria, just left Tuesday from the MTC to go to Ukraine so hopefully she's doing good her first week there! I also got pics of the Rivas babies that same day so that was exciting and happy too...they are SO flipping CUTE! I can't get over it...

Some other good news for you...I talked to my grandma on Sunday who had just went to visit my "stepmom" Terrie for two weeks. She just went to help her out and help her though one of her chemo treatments. She updated me on her status and everything is going pretty well. She told me the facts about what's going on cuz I was still a little hazy. Terrie's been officially diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (I think I got that right) and has been going in for chemo treatments. In all she has to do 8 and she's just finished up her 4th. After her third they said that her tumor had gone done over 50% which is awesome. (It originally was 9inches long and hit her kidneys, lungs, and heart, now it's 4 inches or so).

So hopefully by the last round it'll all be gone! Grandma R. said that Terrie has a very positive attitude though which is so good! The only problem she was having was, of course, dealing the chemo, which makes her pretty sick, and she had trouble "visualizing" the chemo getting rid of the tumor, which the doctors told her she should do. Grandma R. gave her a nice visual to help- using Pac Man, so think Pac-Man Terrie! :) tehehe....

Her son Terrell is there keeping good care of her so we're pretty glad about that. Such a good kid watching his mom! He just graduated from a culinary school in San Francisco so apparently he's an awesome chef and treats his mama like a queen. Which is perfectly awesome I think! Moms are the best things ever. Anyway, I haven't met her kids yet (Terrie has two boys and a girl) but they all sound awesome! Just like their mom. She is seriously one of the sweetest, nicest people I've ever known and all I here is good things about her! Keep up the good work though Terrie...we're all praying for you! :) :) :)

Well, I'm about to close up shop here at work (don't you just love how I spend my time here? :) tehehehe, so productive!). So that's all for today...sorry no apartment pictures yet! I'm a slacker....but it runs in the family apparently...(Annie, Mellisa, Monie...I could go on.... :).

Oh! One more thing....(just cuz I have pictures :) One of my friends got married last week, which was exciting and I am very happy for them. So I went to the temple and watched them come out and took a few pics while I was there and at the reception which Mark and I went to. So here's some pics of that for you!