Christmas Break- the First Half

I have been home for almost 2 weeks now. I've had a lot of fun with the nieces and nephews. The weekend I got home my brother Bryan and his family came into town so that everyone was home. We decided to go bowling. This is me with the nieces watching someone else bowl. I think the younger girls outscored all of the adults. Of course they had bumpers and some help with a ramp to put the ball on.

This is Wilson, Whitney and Hannah. The two girls usually play so well together. Here they are sharing a bike.

These are the boys right before we took family pictures. They are the binky boys. The hat Wilson is wearing was made by Nicole. She has been a crafting freak.

The past two weeks has gone by so quickly. I have been sick for a lot of it, so I really haven't had time to do the projects that I need to get done before next semester comes. I'll get on those right away. ;) On Wednesday I got to spend some time with my brother Kirk. Those who usually take care of him went up to Billings. It was great to spend a few hours with him. He's getting so much better with his vocabulary. He usually just says one word when he wants to communicate. While I was over there he was using sentances in asking to go see mom. I felt so bad having to turn him down, but it was crazy at home. So we listened to music and I tickled his feet; he was in 7th heaven. It was nice to spend some quiet time with him.

Sicker Than a Boo-Boo

As my Uncle Lloyd would say, I have been "sicker than a boo-boo" this past week. I'm not exactly how sick that is, but I'm guessing that's how I've felt this past week. When I got home last weekend my niece and nephew had a few sniffles. I didn't think much of it until I started getting a REALLY sore throat. I think I would rather have the stomach flu than a sore throat. It makes life miserable. On top of that I couldn't breathe through my nose, making it necessary to breathe through my mouth...drying out my throat even more. Makes sleeping difficult. I finally went to the doctor on Thursday and got some antibiotics. It really hasn't helped, but I'm hoping.

Being at home has been great. Since my brother and his family currently live with my mom (he's building a house), I get to see Whitney and Wilson, my niece and nephew, every day. Wilson is learning to walk/waddle. He's getting more sure of himself every day. Whitney keeps me entertained with dancing and singing. I wish I had even 1 percent of her energy. She amazes me.

I've been very lazy so far. I'm supposed to get ready for next semester and finish a project from this last semester, but that hasn't really happened yet. I need to get on that this week. I hate having to work over a break, but it must be done.

Family Photos

We had family photos taken last weekend. Catherine did a great job...especially at photo shopping the background so it looked good. It was a crazy 20 minutes with screaming kids and adults trying to get their attention. I think they turned out for how crazy it really was.

Kirk, Me, Mom

Me and my cute mommy

The girls (Chelsey, Shawnee, Mom, Sandy, Nicole, Sariah, Bekah, Hannah, Whitney)

A few of us girls

The grandchildren (Hayden, Hannah, Whitney, Sariah, Wilson, Bekah)

Mike's Family (Mike, Whitney, Nicole, Wilson)

Erik's Family (Sandy, Erik, Bekah, Sariah)

Bryan's Family (Chelsey, Hannah, Hayden, Bryan)

The whole gang.

Taco Bell Birthday

The other night my friend Jess and I went through the drive-thru at Taco Bell, one of our favorite eateries. The guy who took our order was hillarious, and very patient with us. (We tend to be a bit hyper when we are together). When we pulled up to the window, he happened to mention it was his birthday. One of us (I think it was Jess, she thinks it was me) had the bright idea to make him a card since he had to work on his birthday. So, we ran around the corner back to my apartment. This is us thinking we are so creative in writing a poem to him.


The following is the card. It uploaded upside down. We wrote a poem to him.

We also decided to give him some cake. It's one of those microwave brownie things. Very yummy.

This is Jess making an order for some tap water and hot sauce. Since we had already been through about 20 minutes before that, we really didn't want anything.

This is Jason. He was nice enough to offer the water and hot sauce free of charge. We gave him his cake and card. I think he was very surprised by the whole thing. He probably thought we were psycho. (Which we really are, we just try not to let on about that part).

All in all it was a great evening. One of the best nights of our lives. (Earlier that night we saw "The Blind Side", which is an amazing move.)

Windex or Febreeze?

It was one of "those" days. The first picture is of me after dinner. That would be dip from Chile's...the chips were pretty weak. I could see it coming, but I still moved it towards my mouth. Sucker for punishment, I guess.

This morning took me a while to get going. When the alarm went off I started to push the minute button instead of the snooze button, thinking it would give me more time to sleep. Now my clock is way off, but I got a couple of minutes more before I realized what I had done. When I went to leave the house, I noticed my jacket smelled like food. I grabbed what I thought was the Febreeze and started spraying. Afterwards, I realized it was the Windex. (as you can see from the picture below, they look NOTHING alike) At school I was walking on a brick walkway and twisted my ankle. At least I didn't fall all the way to the ground. Later, I was walking down the hall, talking with a friend, when I ran into a wall. As you can tell, it was one of "those" days. Glad it's done.

Beauty All Around

I drove home from WY today. These are pictures taken in the canyon between Logan and Bear Lake. My camera doesn't do it justice. It was gorgeous. I love fall!

There's a Monster in my Nose!

This book was written by my cousins, Richard and Beth Hawley, and illustrated by another cousin, Spencer Hawley. Check it out at http://www.publishamerica.net/product85079.html.

Sleep? What's that?

It seems my body is getting old. That's when people start sleeping less, right? It hit me all in one night. Last night I went to bed a little early, at least early for me. I had lights out at 11:30. I thought I'd go to sleep quickly since I was tired. Well, I lied there until 4:30. By then I was fuming mad. I should have gotten up earlier but thought I would fall asleep soon. WRONG! I did 2 hours of homework and then went back to bed. I think I fell asleep at 7 and then got up at 8:30. Only 90 minutes of sleep for the longest day of my week. And I still feel pretty good. At least I'm still coherant. ;) But, I am DEFINATELY going to bed early tonight!

The Popes

These are the Popes. Tish and I have known each other a long time. I've known Josh a long time, too. They actually met because of me.... You're welcome. :) They moved to Logan a few weeks before me. They have been a lifesaver. They feed me, entertain me, and let me play with the kids. It's great.

Dinner at Texas Roadhouse

Kade being the cutie that he is.

Only The Temple

I went to the Logan temple tonight and had a great experience. I noticed a few things while there. Only at the temple do you see a sign that says "Thou shalt not park here." Only in the temple will I be complimented on my Spanish. Only by the temple will you see an old man who shuffles behind his wife carrying her suitcase for her. I LOVE THE TEMPLE!

Toughness

This week was a pretty tough one. Not with homework, but mentally. Yesterday was a year since my dad died. Many memories flooded me all week. I think the hardest thing is that I wasn't able to say good-bye and have unresolved issues.

The toughness really started at devotional. The speaker was Craig Jessop, the previous conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He shared experiences that he's had over the years. One was pretty close to what I was feeling yesterday. I just wanted to break down and cry, but I still had to play postlude.

In the afternoon my friend Jessica and I went to a movie called "Life Happens". We thought it would be a cute romance. WRONG! It was about a guy who was trying to deal with his wife's death. Thank goodness the theather was dark so I could shed a few tears. It was difficult for both of us because we've lost family members recently. It's could to have friends who can cry together.

The whole day was even worse because I had a tummy issue all day. I lost my lunch and dinner. No chicken bowls or pizza any time soon!

Pictures

So, I finally bought a new camera. I took some pictures of my apartment. Hopefully the quality is good. If not, the camera goes back. :)

From the door looking into my living room
From my couch, towards the door

Into the kitchen from my front door.

Stress

I can't believe it's only been a week since my last post. It feels MUCH longer than that. I was able to go home last weekend to visit. It was fun to see everyone. It's amazing how much I miss the little ones. I played and slept too much and didn't get much homework done, so when I came back on Tuesday I was panicked. I did homework for 8 1/2 hours straight...and could have kept going. I had barely added a class for my TAship, so I had to catch up with that. Later in the week my department head told me I needed to add another class so that I could be full-time in order to be a TA....so that's 5 classes this semester for only 9 credits. Needless to say, I AM STRESSED. I think I could do homework round the clock and I would still feel stressed. Ug.

The week went fairly well, considering all of the changes. All I did was class, homework, sleep and eat. It's been crazy, and it's only going to get worse. I truly hope that I pass everything. Especially my Theories class...studying 18 different theorists in 15 weeks. It's nuts! We could take a semester for each of them.

I tried to post pictures of my apartment, but my camera decides to bleed all batteries to death. So, I still have no pictures to post. Sorry.

I feel like there was something exciting that I wanted to post, but my brain is too full of other junk right now....time for bed.

Chaos

Chaos seems the be the recurring theme of my life. It is in total chaos these days. I'm trying to be organized, but I never feel on top of it all. Probably because there is always more to do. The past week has been interesting. I can no longer go to choir on MW. I was kicked out for bad behavior. Not really....I was offered a teaching assistantship and the class I work with meets during the time of choir. I'm sad because I LOVE choir, but having a teaching assistantship is a huge opportunity for me. I couldn't pass it up.

I was out with a migraine on Tuesday and tried to recover from it most of yesterday. I wish they only hit on the weekends. It would be much more productive that way. At least I didn't have any classses....just meetings that needed to be rescheduled for today when I am more coherant.

My ward is interesting....lots of little ones. I was conned into doing nursery my first and only Sunday there so far. It was fun, I have to admit. Who wouldn't love 15 crazy kids under the age of 3? I guess that makes me crazy. :)

I get to go home this weekend. I feel like it's been months since I saw my family, even though it's only been 3 weeks. I can't wait to see them all. Wahoo! Just not looking forward to the Labor Day traffic. Yuck.

Another Day, and a BIG Headache

I woke up today with a headache. Not a great way to start, especially when I knew I would be in class until 8 p.m. I headed to the institute building to study...which wasn't very productive cause my head hurt too much to focus. I mostly stared at the pages.

I had my first class today. It's about educating young children and their development. I think I'm really going to enjoy it. It's not too much work, but it still will keep me busy with reading. The teacher called me an "overachiever" because I had already gone to the library to get some articles for next week....she has them on reserve so I could have done it from home. Wish I would have known that yesterday. ;)

I had my Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith class tonight. I think it's going to be good. I took it at BYU, but a different teacher always brings new insights.

Here is a little story that I found in a book called "Reclaiming Childhood" by William Crain. The book is about how we often push children too hard, too quickly to grow up. It's in the chapter about children being dramatists:

"One New York City mother and father spent a year getting their four-year-old daughter ready for the intelligence test required for admission to many prestigious kindergartens. But when the test examiner asked the child her name, she said, "Amanda," the name of their cat. Then, to every question the examiner asked, the child simply responded, "Meow."" (pg. 34)

I laughed so hard after reading this. It was a great story!