Millie's Big Adventures

Nauvoo

2010-09-15T18:48:00.001-06:00

About a month ago I was able to go on a trip with my best friend, Jessica Roberts, and her family. It was a 7 day trip start on a Monday ending on the following Sunday. We started the drive to Chicago, which we only drove through and then reached our intended destination in Indiana. They had cousins there that they wanted to see. It was really fun getting to know her cousins and family. We got to see a few cool things there like Lake Michigan. The family we stayed with weren’t LDS and it was kind of funny to listen to Jessica and her brother try to explain to them that they were both going to be gone for almost 3 years because of a missions. On of the guys said that Jessica should just come to Indiana for her mission and live with his family. I think she really liked that idea. On Thursday morning we took off really early to get to Nauvoo. We first stopped at Carthage Jail where we not only got to have a very spiritual experience on the tour, but we were surprised to find Elder Neil A. Anderson and his wife there. We were able to get a picture with him and that was pretty cool. We then went to Nauvoo and luckily we were able to get a hotel room there in Nauvoo just a couple blocks away from the temple. They only had two rooms left, what luck! We did some sight seeing and then ended the day with the best part of the whole trip! We went to the Nauvoo Pageant. It took place on the big field of grass west of the temple. It was all about the saints experience there in Nauvoo. It told of how they came there, and told stories of certain people that came to meet the Saints in Nauvoo. When we first arrived at the pageant it was already very crowded and we were pretty far back. We could see, but not very well. About 3 minutes into the program a woman came up to me and asked me if me and my family would like to come up and sit with her and husband. They live in Nauvoo and there kids weren’t able to make it so they had several seats saved in the THRID row! I couldn’t believe it so we moved to the front and had the best view of the pageant. During the program the saints were building the Nauvoo temple and once they got to the point where the saints were forced to leave Nauvoo they had a recording of President Hinckley when he announced the rebuilding of the Nauvoo temple. Just then in the background the all the lights on the temple had been off all night and were gradually growing brighter until it was fully lit. I can’t describe the feelings I felt at that moment . It greatly reaffirmed my testimony that this church is true and what the saints had to go through to allow us to worship in temples all around the world. After the pageant the lady and her husband talked to us for a bit and she told us she felt a prompting to ask us to share those seats. It was such a simple gesture that meant the world to Jess and I. He husband was a composer and he invited us to his place the next day to hear some of his songs. He is extremely talented. The next day we got up and toured the rest of Nauvoo and went on a beautiful carriage ride around the outside grounds of Nauvoo. A side that most tourist don’t take the time to see, but it was so beautiful. Most the people in Nauvoo and the missionaries there claim it is the best part of all Nauvoo. Saturday morning we had to leave, but I had one request for the whole trip and that was to do the Trail of Hope. It started at 8 in the morning and you go to Parley Street where they have actors along the road leading to the Missouri River. These actors represented actual people that had left that day years ago and told stories of what happened. It was a very tender experience I’ll never forget. Knowing the pain each of these saints were going through and to think of the hope and faith they had to start this amazing journey to the Salt Lake Valley. It gave me new appreciation for those people and the testimonies they had. It was a trip of a lifetime and I hope everyone gets the chance to go to Nauvoo and partake in the many spiritual moments that happen there. I received inspiration for things I have been pondering, answers to my prayers, and guidance for my life. It was a much needed experience to bring me closer to my Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. My suggestion is that if you do plan to go to Nauvoo go in July. That is when they have they have the pageant and the Trail of Hope and many other great shows and activities. On our way home to Idaho we made one last stop at Adam-on-di-omen (spelling?) . It is a very beautiful valley, but it was very hot and I was very tired from the long trip. I am very thankful for Jessica and her family for taking me on that trip. It was an amazing experience.

Quick Update

2010-03-31T12:18:00.000-06:00

So much for trying to keep my blog updated…opps. Well, here is a new post for all my faithful 6 followers.  Attentions everyone! I have officially graduated college. I just recently finished my student teaching in Vegas. I can’t tell you how satisfying it feels. I have now moved to Saratoga Springs Utah to live in my sister’s basement. It is ok here. I need to find a singles ward and some friends as well as a job and then I think I will really enjoy it.

I need to briefly catch you up on the past couple months in Vegas. I was teaching Health and English and that was a blast. It was really hard work and frustrating at times to not have my own classroom and constantly following someone else’s classroom rules, but I realized why I love teaching so much. I really starting making good relationships with my students and I’m really going to miss them (even though they probably won’t miss me). They weren’t that sad when I left, but it was their spring break so I’ll blame it on that not me.

I also made some great friendships in Las Vegas. Amie was a gem and introduced me to a lot of new people that I got to know and love. I loved my roommates and had some fun times with them. I also met a really special person. His name is Samuel Jensen. We dated for a month or so while I was there. He is so amazing and I’m truly going to miss him so much.

I know this is short, but I hope that now that I’m done with school I will be more dedicated to writing here. As of right now my main focus has been spent trying to find a job. In fact I have several applications to fill out today so I better get started on them.

Living with my niece and nephews is certainly going to be interesting. I love them very much and I know they love me since they follow me around everywhere I go. Stockton seems to have a strong attachment to me as well as Ellie. He is always begging for me to pick him up and wants to sit on my lap when he isn’t busy playing. He is a cutie. Logan also has grown very friendly with me, which I’m happy about because he never has really liked me much. He likes to tease me mostly, but sometimes he will cuddle with me. All three of them are sure a handful. I don’t know how Mindy does it really. I think I’m starting to grow out of my baby hungry stage a bit.

Well that is it for now. I’ll write more later!

Big Adventure to Las Vegas

2010-01-08T20:36:00.001-07:00

So as you all know. I have begun my crazy adventure in Las Vegas. My adventure began when I packed up my tiny Nissan Sentra and a little in the van and drove to Utah. The trip was spread out which was nice because I didn’t feel like it was so much driving. We went to two family get-togethers and then drove to Mindy’s to spend the night. We left at 9 the next morning and drove all way to Vegas. I drove the whole way and all around Vegas. I was so proud of myself. I was so thankful that my mom and dad stayed with me for a few days and made sure I was comfortable and settled in. I became used to the roads really fast and the traffic has not been bad for me yet at all. even driving to and from school it wasn’t bad, probably because it is way early! Life in Vegas has been interesting. I have been kind of bored because I don’t know anyone yet to go do stuff with. There are things I want to do, but not by myself. None of my roommates are too interested in doing things either. Two of them love to talk on their phones incessantly to their boyfriends. The other seems to only like things that has to do with English and nothing else. I invited her to go the a basketball game (my school against hers) she wanted nothing to do with it. I would really like to go but I would feel silly all alone. The high school I work at is really nice. It is way big and only 2 years old. The principal is really great and really cares about the education of his students. I have two cooperating teachers Mr. Gibson and Mrs. Welch. They both are really nice. They are so helpful too. It has been fun observing them and getting used to the high school life again. The students just crack me up. They have to wake up so darn early in the morning that they are so exhausted during first period. So that is the best time to teach, since they are so dead quiet. I haven’t done a lot of teaching yet because it is the end of semester and so they are getting ready for finals so there is no point in me teaching because I have no idea what they are doing. I am going to be taking over two health classes in a week and that will be way fun I’m excited for that. I get to teach the book Night by Eliezer Wiesel for my two Honors English I classes. It will be good I’m just a bit bored during my preps that is why I’m writing this during my prep. I’m sure I have something I should do but I don’t know what exactly. I don’t have much to say about school yet. It is good though. Things are going well down here. I am excited to take over some classes so that I can get in some teaching experience and not be so bored. I’m way tired everyday I don’t know when my body is going to start getting used to getting up at 5 every morning, but it certainly hates it right now. Plus Aunt Rosie came to visit so I’m even more tired and grumpy than usual. Well that is it for now. Maybe I’ll get some pics of my new place and the school soon, but I’m just not much of a picture taker and even worse at downloading them. Well that is it for now!

Graduation and Beyond

2009-12-31T00:27:00.000-07:00

On Saturday the 19th I somewhat graduated from BYUI. Somewhat because I still have to do my student teaching in Las Vegas. Graduation was pretty much uneventful, but good at the same time. On the Friday evening before graduation my parents and I went to the graduation banquet. We had some great food and I really enjoyed listening to the music and President Clark’s talk. He is a pretty good speaker. Then I went back to my almost empty apartment to finish packing things up and stayed for my last night at BYUI. I woke up super early to get ready for the days activities and before I left my roommate, Shelley, gave me flowers and a BYUI Mug. It was so sweet of her. I was very glad to have her still there and she was able to come to my commencement as well. I struggled greatly to stay awake during commencement. Elder Richard G. Scott was speaking and even though I was enjoying the things he was saying fatigue took over as well as being very cold in the auditorium. After commencement I went to take pictures with Shelley and then marched for convocation. It was a nice short ceremony where I got my “fake” diploma and a rose. After that my parents took me to Wingers and then to get a few more pictures. That was my last day spent at BYUI.

This Saturday I am leaving to go to Las Vegas for 3 months. I am both excited and scared out of my mind. I have an apartment in Henderson that is 2 bedrooms and a bathroom in each. I will have 3 other roommates and they are all teaching English as well, but at different high schools. I am teaching at Desert Oasis High School – the Diamondbacks!

This high school seriously looks and seems more like a college, but I will know more after I actually get there. My cooperating teachers are Mrs. Welch and Mr. Gibson. They are both department chairs of their subject. Mrs. Welch is the English and Mr. Gibson the health. Mrs. Welch called me today and she just seems so nice and helpful. She really helped calm some of the fears I had. She scared me when she said that she had heard I would be teaching math as well. I said “Oh no, no, no I don’t do math!” She laughed and said she better talk to the health teacher about my schedule then. I know it sounds like my school will be quite the commute, but google maps says it is only 6.6 miles away. I guess the traffic is bad. I will keep everyone updated on my upcoming adventures via Las Vegas!

This isn't my actual apartment but it is one of the apartments at this complex...It gives a good general idea of what it looks like. :) It is nice huh!

My Life this Semester

2009-12-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

So most of you know that this semester is my last semester at BYUI and man it has been a busy one. I do have my student teaching still in Las Vegas, which I still have not received my placement for so I’m a bit distraught about that. I am really excited to go to Vegas and try out something new and I can’t wait to teach, scared to death, but still very excited. I have been so worried about my ability to do this, but after this semester I feel so much better about my competency to teach. I have had some great English classes and health classes, plus an amazing class called personal achievement that is meant to help anyone about to go through a transition in their life. I will talk about that one more later. I have learned and done so much this semester that I want to write all about it. First side note: I went through 9 semesters at B YUI without ever giving a sacrament talk. I thought this was a bit interesting. Anyway, so I’ll start by saying I took the praxis in November, which is a test that is 120 questions long and takes 2 hours determines whether you can teach in the state you test for or not. I took one in Health and English and I passed them both! I got a 780 on my Health one and I needed a 630 to pass. So I did awesome! I was 40 points above average. When I got done taking it (it only took me an hour so I stared at the wall for another hour) I felt very confident and said that was a way easy test. The English one; however, I was not so confident about. I got a 171 and needed a 158 or something like that to pass. I was cutting it close. So in my English 430 class I was able to do a few really cool projects that will help a lot when I become a teacher. I wrote a two-week lesson plan on comparing literature to movies based on literature. It was fun to do. Then I wrote a unit on the new up and coming young adult fiction The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I also created a lit link for that book which means a website that has URLS for all the websites that might help a teacher when teaching that book in their classroom. The most intense class was probably my English 450 class. It is Rhetoric Studies, basically the study of writing. For this class I had to apply for a job as either Editor in Chief of a magazine board or a sponsoring editor. I have not had much experience in editing so I wanted to be a sponsoring editor. I had 4 other people on my magazine board and we “competed” business wise with 18 other magazines that were being created in this class by other students. We had to do everything that we would if we were out in the business world proposing a magazine idea, convincing the publisher the need for this magazine and then actually creating it. We also had to write for all the other magazines. We needed at least 1200 words published in other magazines by the time the semester was over. For my magazine we created “Jubilee!” It is bases on traditions throughout the holidays. The edition we did was for Christmas since it got published in December. We had a great start, but really struggled later on in the process, let’s just say if you don’t have an editor in chief that knows what she is doing and isn’t very good it is very hard to work together and get it done. In the end it turned out fairly ok, but if I hadn’t been so busy and so shy about standing up to the “boss” then I know it could have been designed a lot better, because surprisingly I’m actually pretty talented in that area. I will post the link to my magazine so you all can see it.  I will also post the links to the three magazines that I got published in. I wrote an article for the Graduate’s Grind on the BYUI learning model, one for Now and Forever on unique gifts for bridal showers, and one for Fitzen on 5 steps to preventing the freshman 15. I had a lot of fun writing for the other magazines. It made me almost want to write for a magazine for a living, but not quite. The health classes were normal and I learned a lot, but nothing that special. Now for my favorite class of the semester, Personal Achievement. When I registered I had 12 credits and that’s all I needed, but I have a scholarship so in order to keep it I had to take 14 credits. So I added a two credit religion class. I looked at the syllabus and it looked awful, so I dropped it for a general studies 101 class. I thought it would be so easy and probably a waste of time, but I didn’t care I just needed two more credits. Well, I was in for a big surprise. It ended up changing my life. I was given some very thought provoking assignments that were very time consuming. I was a bit mad a first that this class took so much of my time, but after a while I didn’t mind because I loved it so much. We read an amazing book and wrote a Personal Creed Document. This PCD is a guide for the rest of our lives and helps us during any transition in our life. I loved this class and I can’t even express how much I learned from it. I am very happy and grateful that I made the switch and took this class. It not only helped me learn and grow, but it taught me a way to teach my future students values without religion. For our final we had to take all the parts of our PCD and create one cohesive document that we could always have and refer to, but it had to be electronic since it was an online class. I decided to make mine into a website. I spent 3 straight days on it, but it looks great and I’m really glad I have it. I will also post a link to that. Well that about sums up my semester! In just a few more days on Saturday, December 19, 2009 I will be graduating and moving on to my next adventure in life. And yes, I will be completely single with not even a guy in mind to marry, but that is ok I now realize after almost five years that I wasn’t supposed to come to BYUI to find my husband, but to gain the learning experience I did, to change my spiritual life, to gain amazing friendships, and become a better disciple of Christ. Thanks to all who have helped and supported me throughout this long, challenging adventure.

This website is to the one I created for my PCD
http://www.wix.com/bubblecam/personal-creed

This is the magazine my group created
http://www.wix.com/Chicera/Jubilee-Magazine

This magazine has the article I wrote on freshman 15
http://fitzen.weebly.com/

This magazine has the article I wrote for the Learning Model
http://graduategrind.weebly.com/

This magazine has the the article I wrote about bridal shower gifts
http://www.wix.com/FarWest/NowandForever

Crazy Face-Painting Date

2009-12-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

So I’m usually good about making sure I have plenty of dates throughout the semester and I have had quite a few this particular semester, but my roommate, Shelley, has not. In fact, I hope she doesn’t get mad that I wrote this on my blog but, she hasn’t been on a date since before her mission. That is until last weekend when I use my magical powers to ensure her a great date with a great guy! I have this friend, Mitch Empey, who is just a great guy. He is so good and someone that I knew Shelley would like. He dates all the time so it wasn’t hard to get him to call Shelley up and ask her on one. Well, this easy set up of course can’t ever be that easy. Turns out I got set up as well by Mitch. He called up his friend Nick Horton and we doubled. Mitch has a knack for coming up with the most fun, practical, economically great dates. He planned for us to do face painting. I was pretty scared at first, but it was tons of fun. Shelley got to paint Mitch’s face first and she turned his face into a huge beautiful butterfly. Mitch turned Shelley’s face into the British flag, which was so completely awesome. Nick painted a bunch of Mario kart symbols on my face. Then it was my turn. Despite my lack of artistic ability I painted an amazing rainbow and cloud on one cheek followed by a leprechaun on the other. Mitch was jealous of it, but Nick was less than thrilled to have a rainbow and little green fellow on his face. We then went to Broulim’s, where of course we were forced to go with our unique painted faces, to buy things for a dessert competition. We got some pretty funny looks. We came back, made dessert, watched the movie Elf and then ate the banana cream pie and Oreo pie. It was rather fattening, but we had a lot of fun. Shelley, I think even likes Mitch a little and might be hoping for another date possibly. I’m such a good matchmaker. :)

October Joys!

2009-11-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

Hello my fellow readers! It’s me again…of course who else would be writing on MY blog. So now that I can count my blog as a homework assignment I have an excuse to spend time writing for it. The problem is coming up with things to write. My life really isn’t the most interesting life at the moment, but I’ll feel you in on all the juicy stories that I can formulate. Let us begin with the story of the Bootstrap Tyrel. He is quite a handsome lad, but lacks in some areas…Like communication. We have been on several dates 5 to be exact and yet he still has not decided whether or not he likes me. He is so weird. I thought I really, really liked him, but now I’m not so sure how strong my feelings are because he isn’t very proactive. I do all the work in the relationship. I’m afraid I’m pushing him too much. I’m trying to be patient. I don’t know how patient I should be though. He says he doesn’t know who he is. I would agree with him on that one. I know it is important to find yourself before you commit yourself to another. It is good that he is being cautious because I don’t want to get hurt because he is a confused little kid like Ben was. We have another date on Wednesday so I guess he is going forward just very slowly. My roommates have a plan though. They even have a song for us. “Yo ho, Yo ho Eternal life for me!” They want a pirate themed wedding and Missy wants to be the bar wrench, or something like that. Sounds fun sort of. Anyway, moral of the story is don’t go for confused guys it leaves you standing at the alter in a beautiful dress and mascara running down your face. Ok so it wasn’t that bad yet, but it could have turned that bad.

Ok now moving on to the next adventure of Millie. This story we will call “Something Wicked this Way Comes.” Halloween is a wonderful time of the year. Fall has begun and the air gets chilly the nights are darker earlier. We all dress up and pretend we are someone else for the evening on

multiple occasions throughout October. We will begin with Masquerade Ball. For those that aren’t aware of this little fact BYU-I has never let us wear masks on campus for Halloween or any dance. This year they threw their first Masquerade Ball. I had the perfect mask but I was missing the perfect guy and the perfect dress. Well time was pressing on and I had yet to find either. Never the less I did not let it bring me down. I had a blast playing mom for my roommates and helped them look beautiful for their special night. I’ll post a few pictures for those that have not yet seen them. They left at 8:40ish and I locked the door prepared for my night of pj’s, popcorn, and Eastwick. Around an hour and 20 minutes later I hear, “ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring” I go to the door and three beautiful girls walk in with masks and ball gowns on. I told them it was way too early for them to be home and they were bummed about the lack of guy turnout and décor. So they all piled into a car and went off to get Ben and Jerry’s and a movie to bury their loneliness in. I went back to my room to my own pity party.

Wahoo! Two stories down are you all still reading? I hope I have not put anyone to sleep and at least made a decent attempt to make my dull life sound exhilarating and readable. So who wants to read about adventure number 3? (I do, I do) We will call this adventure “Lost in the Straw.” I bet you can’t guess what this one is about.

That’s right the Straw Maze! So the day after the big happening Ball that turned out to be a smash (literally smashed the hopes and dreams of attending an actual Masquerade Ball at BYUI) I wanted to do something other than study for Diseases. So I called up my momma and told her she should bring the kids up and go to the straw maze. She did and we all went and had some fun in the Hay (straw) –what is the difference really? The kids (Caleb and Noni) were way too good with directions. Before we knew it we weren’t lost anymore and back at the beginning. Noni and Caleb did feel the need to begin a massive straw fight though. We all ended the day with straw in our underwear and itchy to the max. We were all hungry so we stopped at New Fongs for dinner. It was yummy, but not very good service. We have had such bad luck with that lately. Then my roommate and I went and rented two supposedly scary movies. The first was very scary it was called 1408! Yikes, still creeps me out. The second wasn’t scary just really dumb it is “Rose Red.” Well that is the end of that exhilarating adventure.

So is this too long of a post should I separate them into different posts? I still have a few more events to “blog” about so this will probably be the longest post ever! Next we have the lovely Shelley’s birthday. This story is called, “Lime Skirt gone wrong.” Her birthday happened to fall on the same day as our ward Halloween dance. We still wanted to do something special for Shelley so this is how the day went. We started by making a fast trip to get finishing touches on costumes and food for the later chocolate fondue party. We then picked up Shelley and Missy to go to Applebee’s for dinner. I had a delicious strawberry pina-colada drink with the orange chicken bowl. It was so good and I had leftovers for the next two meals. Then we came back to the apartment and got all beautified in our costumes for the dance. I was a 20’s flapper girl! I was hot. We went to the dance and can I say lame! The best moment was when Shelley (who was Rita Skeeter from Harry Potter) was dancing and her costume went array. She was wearing a lime green skirt that needless to say was too small and took two of us to get it on her. As she was doing a slide as part of a dance move “RIP!” The slit of the skirt ripped all the way up. She heard it and felt it and ran to the wall. Missy with her huge ball gown wrapped excess skirt around the back of Shelley and escorted her out the door. She went home changed skirts and came back.

Man, this would only happen to Shelley and especially on her birthday! After the dance I came home to find my dr. pepper spilled on my bed, through my pillow, through my quilt, through the sheets, through the mattress pad, to the foam pad. I had an emergency laundry trip right then. Then we had the chocolate party and then I stayed up until 2 in the morning to write a paper. The end.

The concluding story is called, “Spooks, murder, and mystery!” It was a dark and chilly night the leaves making a slight crackle in the wind as we slowly and cautiously walk towards the creepy dark house. No one looks to be home as we walk into the abandoned home. There are warnings “Enter if you dare”…”turn back now.” We decided to take the risk knowing each of our lives were inevitably in danger. After all we were there to solve the murder of Tom Dooley. What we didn’t know was who amongst us the murderer was. We approached the kitchen seeing a glow and finding the room full of cobwebs and bats. The table was set for our discussion on who did it! After some arguing, frisking, searching of pockets, and a radio announcer we found the murderer. It was none other than Tiara Diamond, Tom Dooley’s fiancée. Yet, after further investigation Tiara wasn’t Tiara at all, she was Hope, Tiara’s twin sister. She wanted revenge on what Tom did to her sister, who previously was admitted to an insane asylum. After taking care of Hope we were led up the stairs out onto a dark balcony. We looked around with suspicious eyes wondering if anyone would try to push us over the edge. The host began to speak of Bloody Mary and the suspicion grew intensely. We were led back into a dark room where the only sound that could be heard was scary music from the surrounding speakers. The games had begun. Another murder was found after several more of us bit the dust! I was scared wondering when it would be my turn to die. After another long series of events at least I was allowed to leave in one piece. I walked slowly to the car, stopping ever so carefully to turn to see if I was being followed wondering if the murderer decided to not let me go free after all. I turned to see no one and arrived home and breathed a sigh of relief.

The last story was indeed based off of real events on the night before Hallow’s Eve. One can never be too careful when going to a Mormon Murder Mystery Bash.

Remembering the Little Things

2009-11-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

Excitement is in the air as the season --everyone loves—approaches. The crisp smell in the air of harvest reminds me of fall as I walk to my morning classes. The leaves turn brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows. As students are bustling to class I can’t help but hear the crackle of dried leaves crunch as the footsteps walk over them. Yep it is fall soon to be winter as the air gets cooler and sweaters get thicker. What is it about this time of year that everyone gets so excited about? Is it the joy of playing in the piles of leaves, the anticipation of heaps of candy on Halloween, the soon to be feast of turkey, stuffing, and serving after serving of pie, or is it the special feeling that Christmas will soon be around us? For me it is all of the above! Let me add more reasons to what makes this season the favorite of them all. Despite the numerous holidays there is something that changes in people. Amazingly we become more charitable, willing to help others, and are generally happier. Yes, I’m implying that this all happens long before Christmas. Kids are helping neighbors rake up the leaves; neighborhoods pass out candy and goodies to children, and families gather together to celebrate. The months of January through August just don’t have this excitement and happen to be more selfish times of the year. I think that is what I love about this season out of all the others, I can feel a change. Heavenly Father was absolutely ingenious as He planned the seasons and how the earth changes through time. Have you ever seen something as beautiful as the drive through Sardine Canyon in the fall or snow capped mountains in the winter, the Gardens in the spring, and of course the colorful summer. I know at times I get so caught up in the world and what I must accomplish each day to remember to step back and look at the beauty God gave us to enjoy everyday of our lives. How often do we stop and look at what surrounds us? Do we notice the squirrel gathering acorns for the winter, the leaves changing colors, the ground becoming harder, the colors in the sunrise or sunset, how the wind causes different sounds like a whistling in the trees, the laughter of children down the street, or a group laughing over a silly joke. Do we notice the people around us the one who is smiling because they just got a promotion, the one that is crying because they lost a loved one, the one that is putting on a face but is really hurting inside begging for someone one to help. How often do we take the time to observe the little things in life that make it so wonderful? How can we be more charitable and really give our life to God without noticing these things? We must observe we must pay attention to the little things so we can add to them and be grateful for the beauty and emotion that engulfs us each new day. Take the time, step out of the world to take a grander view of life. Notice not just the overall big picture, but also the tiny little details that create the overall elaboration of the big picture. I would like to take this time to thank my Heavenly Father for blessing me with such a beautiful place to live in, for a family so fun to celebrate with, and friends that always make me smile. It is through small things that great things come to pass. Enjoy this season make it the best, celebrate to the fullest, give more than you ever gave before, push yourself to make this the happiest season of all!

With all my love,

Millie

Fishing Trip!

2009-06-23T23:31:00.000-06:00

So this last weekend my roommate Heather and I decided it would be fun to go camping. So my friend Jessica and Heather and my sister April all headed up to Island Park for a weekend of fun. We stayed with my Uncle and his brother-in-law at their cabin so that we wouldn’t have to sleep outside in the freezing rain. I was so proud of myself too I made my very first dutch oven dinner! I was worried about it because I have only seen it done. I made chicken, vegetable, and potatoes. Then I made pull apart rolls and after dinner we made apple and peach cobbler. It was soooo good! Took a long time to cook though. After dinner we played some games, clue and balderdash. For the first time in my life I won balderdash! I was thrilled about that. After that we got ready for bed and watched a movie. I was lying on the floor when a mouse decided to run across it and I jumped up and made April move over on the couch to make room for me. That night I got into my mummy bag and surrounded my self with utter protection against sharing my bag with any unwanted creatures that might try to break in and enter private territory. Needless to say I didn’t sleep well that night. We woke up super late and by the time we were ready and downstairs Floyd and Ralph had made breakfast. We ate and headed off to fish the day away on Ralph’s boat. We went up to Henry’s Lake. It was so cold and stormy, but we toughed it out. We found a really good spot that was protected from the wind on the lake and fished there. Heather caught the first fish. It was a pretty good size not huge but good. I caught the next two and wow they were huge. I’m really not trying to brag because with 8 worms dangling in that lake it was pure luck that those fish came to mine. So the first fish took that bite and my fishing pole curved a little and in my head I was thinking oh crap what on earth do I do now! I said “um I think I have a fish” I started reeling it in but it resisted like crazy. Ralph was on one side of me and Floyd on the other both had a net in their hands and both were giving me directions like crazy. I really didn’t think I was going to be able to keep the fish. I wanted to say someone else takes my pole, but I stuck with it. I finally got it in after a very strong battle with the 4 and a half pound, 24 inch cutthroat fish. Floyd insisted that Ralph’s scale was off and it was really 5 pounds. I guess fishermen are supposed to bend the truth a little. The second fish was a huge surprise to me, but luckily it wasn’t as big of a struggle as the first one. This fish was the same weight and two inches longer than the last. It was very pretty. I named the second one Cloud Dancing and the first Snow bird. I felt so sorry for the poor fish. They had no idea what was coming. I almost cried I think. We were all getting pretty cold around 4:30 so we headed back at 5. It was a fun trip. It was quite the adventure getting those fish into my apartment freezer I must say. I’m glad I caught them though it gave me something to give my Dad for father’s day! Well I think I’m caught up for now. Hopefully I’ll write again soon.
Snow Bird Me holding Snowbird Snow bird on left Cloud Dancing right

California Once Again!

2009-06-23T22:26:00.000-06:00

A couple days after Yellowstone it was off on another adventure to California! It was my second trip to Cali. I was pretty excited about it. I wasn’t however excited for the drive there and back. My mom, dad, April, me, Caleb, Noni, and all of Noni’s bedroom and toyroom, stuffed into the van. My it was a tad too crowded for my liking. We stopped in Winnemucca, Nevada to spend the night. Wow now that was an interesting town for of shady motels and casinos. We were all so tired though that we all zonked out pretty fast. We started the day again on the road and met up with Mindy and Garry at Doner’s Summit. It was a gorgeous place, but I felt it was a little creepy because of the history of the place. It honestly scared me a bit. We finally after hours in traffic made it to the hotel. I had gotten very sick the day we left. SO I was so excited to just sleep in a bed! But my family had other plans for me. It was Ellie’s birthday so we had a pool pizza party for her. She got lots of cool toys. She was so excited. The next day we went to San Francisco. IT was so much fun! We went to the Academic Science something or other and went to the Aquarium and the Rain Forest. Caleb seemed to enjoy it the most. Then we went to go see the Golden Gate Bridge. After that we all hustled back to the hotel and church to get ready for the open house. I was so exhausted and sick by this point I just wanted to collapse but I kept going. The open house was awesome. Lots of food and fun plus dancing. The dancing probably was the best part. Every one of the brothers or sisters of the bride and groom had to dance to their song with their significant other. Since April and I were the only ones without one we danced with our nephews Logan and Stockton. I got Stockton. He loves to dances! He would sway to the beat and giggle up a storm! Caleb was being so stubborn. Ellie and Noni were constantly trying to get him to dance with them. He would run away from them. It was so funny to watch. On Sunday we took the day easy. And went to Becca’s apartment to open gifts, we went to the Siepert’s for dinner and then went to Oakland to see the Oakland temple and the sunset. It was so, so pretty. Monday was a pretty fun day too. We went to the redwoods, and Sana Cruz. We went to the beach and had some good food. Then we went to Chuckie Cheese which I have decided I really do not like. Then it was one long drive back home. The whole trip was way fun, but once I let my body rest my sickness totally came over me. I was in bed for a few days. I did way more than it could handle at the time. It was so good to see Becca and Steven after they had been married for a week and see that they still loved each other lol! I was worried for a little bit because they didn’t seem to ever kiss and I’m like come on guys you are newlyweds you have to at least act a little like it. So then they wouldn’t stop kissing in front of me and I totally regretted saying anything! Well that is it for that trip.

Yellowstone!

2009-06-23T22:11:00.000-06:00

So after the wedding festivities were all over I decided to convince mom and dad to take April, her kids, and I to Yellowstone. We were all really exhausted, but had so much fun. It was a blast seeing Caleb get so excited about the waterfalls and the animals. He was so so camera happy. He is a pretty good photographer too. I can’t believe how much he has gone up. Yellowstone was way fun and I’m glad I got to go and spend a day with nature. Becca might kill me for saying this, but when I told her we were going to Yellowstone for Memorial Day she said she was way jealous. I said “Oh don’t even go there, You get to be in Lake Tahoe doing things that I most certainly cannot do!” She laughed and said yep that is true. Yep it was a great day!

Becca's Wedding

2009-06-23T21:59:00.000-06:00

I haven’t written on this thing in so long. This is my attempt at catching up. So I have to talk about my sister’s beautiful wedding! Becca and Steven got married on May 23rd in the Rexburg Temple. It was a really gorgeous day. The night before the wedding Becca and I were dealing with the music playlist for her reception and that I think was stressing her out, then the whole family (Seiperts and Griffiths) went to Chuck-a-Rama for dinner. After that we went shopping for last minute stuff like getting Becca’s ring cleaned and getting me shoes to wear the next day, plus the best man forgot shoes so he had to buy some too. Then the morning of the wedding, Becca was all jittery and happy. She went and got her hair done and she looked like a princess. Then April and I attempted to do her makeup and make her “eyes pop.” That is what she said she wanted. We all went up to Rexburg and I gave Becca the biggest hug ever since it would be our last hug as her being single! I went to the church to babysit all the kids while everyone else got to go to the sealing. The kids were all being pretty cute that morning in their pretty dresses and handsome shirts and ties. We all met Becca and Steven when they came out of the temple and my oh my they looked happy. I was so surprised when I didn’t cry all day. I was very proud of myself. After wards I heard a lot of comments about the sealing and I hear it was a pretty amazing ceremony. I was super jealous I wasn’t there. On the way back to Idaho Falls it was just my mom in the car. We were talking about how Steven treated Becca. I told my mom how impressed I was and that I would not settle for anyone that didn’t treat me as well as he treated her. My mom said she wanted that in writing. Then we had the beautiful reception. It was good seeing so many familiar faces, yet I did get asked some pretty interesting questions, like “oh you must be the groom’s mother!” Ya, no I sure hope I don’t look old enough to be a 23 or 24 year olds mother! The reception was so pretty and the cake was amazing. The whole day went so perfectly. I just want to say that my sister found a pretty good one. Being patient is obviously the key.
Welcome Steven to the family!

Love Story meets Viva la Vida

2009-05-02T15:01:00.000-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3d6SFcDys
This by far my new favorite Jon Schmidt song. I just love it love it love it!

Winter Semester 2009

2009-03-09T22:47:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone that reads my blog....so basically Mindy and mom,
I just want to give an overview of what I've been up too this past semester. Things have been going well and some crazy things have happened. I have awesome roommates! I should post pictures, but they are all on my camera and I haven't downloaded them on here yet. All that takes so much time. So I have two of the same roommates as Fall, Allyce and Carol. I also have two new roommates, Abby and Sheri. Abby makes my life basically complete! I love her too death! She is 18 and it is her first semester her. I think it is so funny that she is a newbie and I'm almost graduating and we get along so well! Sheri, is great as well, she is just the sweetest and so nice because she has a car and takes Abby and I places we need to go. She also has great advice and is fun to talk with. We three have great times. Allyce hangs out with us more now but still in her own world at times. I feel bad for Carol, she just doesn't seem interested in joining our fun. So besides roommates, my ward is pretty cool I have the best FHE brothers! They are so fun. My classes are awesome. Ok that is a lie, some of my classes are awesome. I'm in Health Methods and I love that class. It is with my favorite teacher Marie. It is 3 hours 3 times a week and I still love it! I don't like my education class I don't like the way he teaches and I don't get anything he says. My literature classes are really hard, but I'm starting to have more fun in them and my community health class is alright not great and not bad. I have made a lot of friends in my classes that is a plus about upper level classes you all in them together. Boys..... So now the story of boys.... I have been on a few dates. Most good some not so good. I creepy boy really liked me and asked me out and I went, but that was the end of that! I like a boy right now. I actually like two boys, but one is eligible to date and the other is not. Anyway the one I can date I have been on three dates with. He is so nice and sweet and basically everything I'm looking for in a guy. I don't know if things will go anywhere because he is really shy and scared of girls, but he is one year older than me. He opens up to me a lot and we have some great talks, but I don't think he knows I like him... He took me snowmobiling the other day and it was so fun! He claims that I ran into a tree and fell off. But it is so not true! I just got scared and turned of the snowmobile and decided to take a nap in the snow because I was so embarrassed lol! I'm not so good with driving things, it freaks me out. The place we went to through was so beautiful! I loved it! I have pictures but they too are on my camera. So far it has been a pretty great semester. I seem to play a whole lot more than I probably should, but I think that is what has made me so happy this semester. I have gotten out and done stuff and actually have fun! I forgot what that was like. Well, I can't think of too much else to say. Oh I love St. Patrick's Day so i'm glad I got to deck out my blog for the occassion! Well I hope everyone else is doing well! Love you all,
Millie

Share the Love

2009-02-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

So I commented on my mom's page so I could get something from her. So now I guess I better put it on my blog. I don't know what to make yet, but it will be cool. But if your interested leave a comment.This is how it works...
The Rules
1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me.
2. Winners, you must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!
3. The gift that you send to your Three Friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love! If you are not one of the Top Three Commenter's on this post, you can still play along. Please take the button and post it on your blog; start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same!

Twilight Vs. Harry Potter

2009-02-03T19:48:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been considering whether or not I'm cut out to teach English. It is a very difficult subject especially when it comes to analysing novels or poetry. I'm currently in a couple literature classes and after reading so many books and so many poems I finally got fed up and asked the question who cares! What makes this book so important to analysis? What makes this book worth my time? Why can't we just read for fun, why do we have to have meaning to everything? This question has been on my mind for a while and I think today everything clicked. What is art? Some say it is personal opinion others say there are consequences by making art personal and that is it would lose importance. No one would think art is grand or want to make art, because there would be no guidelines to say what art is. It would not be competative. So should art be personal preference or should it be regulated? If it is regulated than is it our job to analysis whether or not it fits the criteria of art. Right? So to make this connection to myself I thought about books I have read and decided where they fit. Did they fit into the sit and enjoy the fluff category or did they fit into the art category. To determine my criteria I used the two examples of the Twilight series and the Harry Potter series. Twilight was very poorly written. The grammer was horrible, the plot line fun, but one book did not fit to the next. Connections were not made and was simply a piece of work for people to enjoy and maybe have a few fantasys of their own. Now compare this to Harry Potter. It is vastly different. Harry Potter still has that sci fi story line, but is it a book you would actually take into and English class and discuss. I find that answer to be yes. This is why. The author was brillant and though through every moment in the book. She had to have know the end way before the middle. Every event had a significant purpose throughout the series and concluded with everything coming together. She did not kill off a character without a purpose, she did not have a tragic event without an overall purpose. It was thought out, it envoke emotion, caused deep thinking and caused change. So now looking at this and defining what book is considered a work of art the final question is asked.... Who cares? Why does it matter if a book is considered art or not? In an English class we teach our students grammer, how to write and speak and we teach the art of thinking. We could do this many ways, but we have chosen to use literature to show how culture, thinking, and humans interact. Great books that really do fit the title of great art can teach our students so much if we teach them correctly. I have noticed that even though this subject may be very difficult for me it probably is because it causes me to think deeper than I have been asked to think before. Why did Christ teach in parables? It was because only those that seriously wanted to know the meaning could find it. You have to look deep to make the connections and find the purpose same goes with great literature. The problem is the students do not learn how to think if we have them read the book and then have them create a poster on a topic of the book. What do we get out of that. Nothing they are just doing another mindless activity. Yet, if we were to have them read the book and then get with a partner and have them find specific examples from the book that can be related to their life and have them write an analytical essay on how we can use that book to answer an important question of society or of self than they are learning and also learning how to think for themselves. This takes me to a different subject that I have been very frusterated with for the last few weeks. The lack of quality learning in todays public schools. Are we teaching our students to think for themselves or to learn how to BS themselves through life. Currently at Madison High School in Rexburg it seems quite obvious that it is the latter. I'm working with a few students there and as I help them with math they wait for me to do their work. They say they get it until they get to a question that is different than the others and they ask how do I do this? Someone shows them and they continue to work until another question is different. The problem is if we were teaching them how to think through problems they would be able to know how to go from question to question by themselves. How do I teach my students to think and figure it out on there own rather than just telling them how to do it? I think that is the key for every teacher to learn. Anyway, that is just some of my thoughts I have had lately. I know I won't know everything that I need to know before I go out and teach, but I have learned that I can't not yeild to the way everyone else is doing it I have to go above and beyond and really take the time to teach the students right the first time.

My Various Hairstyles

2009-01-31T22:07:00.000-07:00

So I have been going through my pictures tonight and I couldn't believe the many different hairstyles I have had! So I thought I would share them all with you. There are some I can remember that I haven't found the pictures for yet. I'm wondering if they never got transfered to my computer. Well here they are!

Honestly I can't remember all my hairstyles but it was after the babies were born and moved in to Grandmas.

This was right before my lastest cut! I don't have a picture of my most recent hairstyle yet :(

This was in the year 2007 in the summer I had very blonde hair with natural sun highlights

This was when I had really blonde hair and it was fairly long and Ijust wanted to see if you could see the purple that was underneath. YOu can't really see it.

I Finally got my hair from cherry red to this color. It was a happy day.

Ok this is just a joke it is actually my friend Marie's hair.

Also another joke no I never died my hair pink, but the bottom has been violet before.

This was in 2006 I believe in the fall. It was still fairly long and blonde.

This was Winter of 08 I went super platnium after my hair looked like fire.

I don't remember when this was It was in late 2007 or early 2008 I'm not quite sure. I want to say late 2007. I love this color!

I do have a shirt on but it is a tank top and can't see the straps, but this is my new cute after I died my hair in attempt to get rid of the cherry red this was actually the second attempt I got blonde highlights.

This was the biggest mistake of my life. I went Cherry red in the summer of 2008. Huge mistake!

I love this color. IT is probably my favorite! THis was my first attempt at getting rid of my cherry red hair.

I have it pretty blonde here. It was in 2008 so I'm guessing right before I died it Cherry Red.

If you want to vote on your favorite that would be great. I will late post a short hair photo so there can be a vote on short of long hair for me! Thanks everyone!

Tribute to 2008!

2008-12-24T01:21:00.001-07:00

So I have been so bad at keeping up with this whole blog thing. I don’t know how to add anything or even change my background. After having pink poke a dots mixed with Thanksgiving leaves together I decided to emergency call Becca and have her fix it. I am hopeless I guess when it comes to taking the time to figure out all the html stuff. Well I finished fall semester. It went by so fast I can’t believe I only have 3 semesters left! I am very excited. I learned so much this semester and can’t wait to learn even more. My education class where I actually taught at the middle school was a real eye opener and my school health programs class was too. I just can’t believe how hard teaching really is and how much there is to it. I know teachers are smart and that it isn’t the easiest major, but I had no idea there was so much to putting together an actual classroom and dealing with so many different personalities of children. I successfully managed to get by with the 5th graders and learned so much from them, but realized they must likely didn’t learn much from me. That is going to have to change! The main thing we learned was that the students should be doing all the work not the teachers. Funny thing about that is that the teachers do so much work to get the students to do all the work that the teachers are too exhausted to do any work doing class anyway.
Other than classes things are going well for Christmas. I loved getting to spend some time in Utah even though it was for less than 24 hours. The babies are cuter than ever and Becca now has a ring on her finger! It is so shiny and sparkling! I love it so much! She seems very happy and I am so glad that she found the one that makes her complete. She deserves the best! The engagement story is pretty amazing too, but hopefully she has posted a blog entry with the details about that.
So funny story… We got home from Utah today and we had a huge wind storm while we were gone. I looked out the back and there was no possible way for the cats to get into their little house. I felt so bad for Bonkers that I put some food and water in side by the door for her to warm up and have some food while I cleaned off the back stairs and shoveled a path to their house. I made a path for her and when I came back inside to let her out she had disappeared! Becca and searched the whole house and couldn’t find her anywhere! Well we looked and looked and mom and dad came home from the store. Dad started looking cause we really didn’t want Bonkers to be stuck inside the house during the night since she isn’t trained at all. We finally gave up looking and decided she most have somehow got outside when April left for the store. I went to bed and it was about midnight and I heard mom call dad saying the cat was behind her jetted tub. Well this is a complicated works of pipe and wood pieces so we couldn’t get her out. We tried cheese, ham, yard stick, turning on the jets, flashlight and finally the winning item a spray bottle. She finally ran out into the bedroom we shut all the doors and opened the back door that cat ran so fast you would think her life depended on it. I felt so awful for Bonkers I wanted to cry. I know she has a thick coat but she looked so cold out side. Anyway it was just so funny that Bonkers picked such a perfect hiding spot and that it took so many of us to try to get her out.
So the weather has been very interesting this Christmas. We have so so so much snow! It will for sure be a very white Christmas this year! I am excited about the snow but it is not fun to shovel or to drive in. I slept most the time in the car when we drove to Utah because I decided if I was going to die that day I didn’t want to know about it. I’m very glad we made it safely too and from Utah. It is so nice to have Becca here from Christmas I was very sad when I thought it was just going to be me and my parents. I’m really excited about Christmas this year now. I am with family and the snow has made everything so beautiful! I just really feel like it is Christmas now. I wish I was able to do more for charity though. I guess I got busy and the snow distracted me. I really wanted to do something, but another problem is I never know what to do. I feel like this year I have been so blessed that I really should give something back. I know that I will never be able to repay Christ for all he has done for me and my family, but it would be nice to show some gratitude this Christmas through helping others. In my D&C class there is a girl whose niece is only 3 years old and she has cancer and is at St. Jude’s Hospital. She is the cutest little girl with such a bright warm smile. Every time I saw a picture of her I cried. I couldn’t help but think of all the children in the world that suffer so much when they are children yet they are so happy and act as if nothing is wrong. It just touched my heart so much I wish I could give every child at that Hospital a huge hug and tell them how much I loved them even though I didn’t even know them. But I do know them they are all my little brothers and sisters and it brakes my heart to see them go through something so painful. It just gives me a slight little glimpse of how Christ must have felt when he chose to give his life for every one of us. When I see a child in pain I want to do anything in the world to fix it to take the pain away. Christ obviously felt the same for each one of us. He knew of the pain and sorrow we would have to experience if we came to earth and gained a body so he sacrificed himself to take that pain and sorrow away from each of us. How can you deny such love he has for us. I have truly learned the real meaning of the Atonement this year. It has truly been a great year and one filled with trial after trial but I would have never learned this much without those trials and with each struggle came numerous blessings. I will never forget this year and the love my Elder Brother Jesus Christ has for me. A lot of you know that I struggle with self-worth I struggle with depression and I read in the Ensign that was dedicated to be all about Jesus Christ that if we truly understood the Atonement we would never doubt our worth or the worth of someone else. I do not fully understand the power of the Atonement, but I do know Christ loves me so much he gave his life on a cross for me. He knelt in pain in Gethsemane for me. He loves me THAT much. How can I ever look at myself in the mirror and say something bad about myself when Christ thought I was worth his life? This Christmas I am celebrating my older brothers birth, his life and his gift to all mankind. This next year I want to do everything I can to help bring my knowledge to as many other people as I can. They deserve to know the happiness that I know. I don’t always remember this, but I do know it and I bear testimony of the truthfulness of it. I know that in life we struggle and that it is not easy. There is no easy part about it, to think that I might get to live with my Heavenly Father and Big Brother again in the Celestial Kingdom, makes it all so worth it. Everyday there is something special about it. I just need to find it and never waste a moment of the precious life I have been blessed with. I have the most wonderful family one could ever want. I have a beautiful home to live in. I have clothes to wear, food to eat, and opportunity to learn. Nothing is really held back from me. IT is up to me to take advantage of every opportunity I have. We all have opportunities lets use them and see what a difference we can make in this world in the year 2009. Thank you everyone for being in my life and loving me. I could never go through life without my family and friends. Thanks for making the year 2008 so memorable and do able!

My First Voting Experience

2008-11-04T23:44:00.000-07:00

Ok so this years election was a pretty big deal. So much stuff about an african american being president, a female being president or possibly even a mormon. Can it get any more dramatic? This is the first election I have ever payed enough attention to, to become passionate about politics. It was interesting talking to friends and family about views and how much anger comes up. I used to avoid debates, but I can see how easy it is to support your view when you feel so strongly about it. For the majority of my life I have felt non-important. Like what I say or do doesn't matter to anyone because I'm too little or I don't know cause I don't have true experience, but I observe and I watch things and pay so much attention to detail I think many people would be surpised at how much I really do know. My education has given me many blessings. Yes, knowledge would be number one, but I also have aquired the skills to stand up for myself. I have a tendency to become quite a pushover and people take that to mean that I don't care about issues. The truth is I care I just choose to stay quiet for sake of the peace reasons. This election I was able to vote and I felt like if I did not vote I could not have any power to complain about any outcomes. Well, the long lasting drama came to an end and Obama became our first african-american to be President of the United States. Honestly I don't have much to say against this man, but I am worried about many ideas he may have for this country. The more I learn in school, the more my eyes are open to the concerns in the world. I could say much on this subject, but I'll just leave it to the fact that I don't mean to offend anyone when I support my views on things. Everyone has their own view and I would never want to take that away from someone. Politics is such a touchy subject, but lets not let it tear american up. Instead we should use it to help bring us together and unite those that all want to stand up for what they believe in. I am so proud of anyone that put forth any effort at all to promote prop 8 in California. I didn't care as much of if it got passed as much as I was touched of how much it brought the church together in standing up for something that we feel so strongly about. That is where I believe change begins is when we all agree on supporting one cause. The fight will not end here. Whether it passes or not, one side will always be fighting. We just can't back down when we know what is right. I am proud to say I'm American and I will never stop fighting for this country to become what I know is capable of it becoming. It was built on freedom and that is what gives us the right to state our opinions in the first place. We should not give up any of that freedom to let the government have any more power over us than it already has. Please watch closely to how Obama runs this country and fight for it if anything ever comes up that may take that freedom away. I will support President Obama as long as he never takes my rights away.

Catching Up!

2008-10-18T12:08:00.000-06:00

I am sorry that I have not written a post in forever, but I have been extremely busy, which of course means I have so many stories! So I am living at America Manor A9, in Rexburg now and I'm loving it! I have my rough days for sure, but my roommates are simply amazing. I have four roommates: Meagan Bealer (relief society pres also), Lindsay Titus, Carol Dittle, and Allyce Kertez. Meagan is from Colorado, Lindsay from Idaho Falls, Carol from Utah, and Allyce from Wyoming. We all get along so well so it has been such a relief to have been blessed with such wonderful roommates.

As for school... I am taking some pretty amazing/hard classes. I started out with 18 credits. I was doing alright staying caught up for the first three weeks then I just couldn't take it anymore. It is very tough taking so many so I'm done to 14 credits. It is still a heafty load, but so much better. My classes include: Drug use and Abuse, School Health Programs, Exceptional Students 6-12, D&C, and Secondary ED Teaching Principles. The last class is my absolute favorite. I have class on campus three times a week for an hour, but on Thursdays I go teach at the middle school. I teach Health to 5th graders. It sure is a challenge but so fun at the same time. We have some major trouble children in that class, but it is good for me to learn how to try to deal with that in a classroom. My first time in that class I had a very clear revelation. It was scary, but neat at the same time. My revelation was that I know I'm supposed to be a teacher. It was so clear to me that I'm on the right path. There is something that I'm going to be able to accomplish by having this career and I am very excited to get started. I feel like I can have such a great affect on my students.

My other classes I have learned so much in as well. Some of them I get very frusterated with because there is a lot of work and sometimes I don't see the point to it all, but I know that all knowledge is good and I can't wait to learn even more. D&C has been my toughest class believe it or not. I have had some pretty amazing experiences in that class though as well. Just yesterday we had a lesson about the different kingdoms and our universe. It was amazing to see how grand space really is and how it is all Gods. I was taking an astronomy class earlier this semester, it is the one class I dropped, but I was beginning to become very fascinated with the sky and its relation to the gospel.

So I am still struggling a lot on one little problem... Chosing a minor. I am currently an English minor wanting to be an Earth Science Minor, wanting to stay an English minor, wanting to switch to a completely different minor. I know that was all very confusing, and yes that is why I'm very confused. I have to decided what I'm going to do very soon. I am almost finished with my major classes and still need all my minor classes. How sad is that?

I guess I should talk a little about my social life now... My social life is much better than the past year or so. I go out with friends a lot, but I also stay in and do homework a lot. I have been on a few dates and some of the guys have been very strange, some nice, and some that are way too persistent. It is funny because I want to find that right guy, but at the same time I am really not liking dating right now. It is complicated and hard. There is one guy in my ward that has taken me out and has asked me on two more dates since, but I don't know what to think. I'm only interested in being friends. There are a couple guys though that I for sure wouldn't mind getting to know better though.

Hmmm... what else to catch everyone up on. I have been able to see my adorable nieces and nephews a lot this semester. I am so happy about that. My babies are growing up and I am missing it! Logan is getting to be such a big boy and laughs a lot. Stockton is growing strong and is much happier. Ellie, Noni, and Caleb are still cute as ever. Caleb makes me laugh so much! He is becoming such a big boy.

In my personal life I have had some recent struggles... It has been hard getting back into the swing of things with school and all that, but I'm doing ok. I had a break down a little while ago where I just wasn't sure if I could finish out the semester, but if I stay strong and persistent I should be fine. I am seeing a pretty awesome counselor right now and he seems like a very nice person. It is nice to have someone to tell everything too and know that he will take my side and support me through it.

Well for the rest of this post I'm just going to post pictures and videos that I think are adorable. I'll try to be better at writing these blogs. I hope everyone is doing very well!

Plans For The Fall!

2008-08-25T15:58:00.001-06:00

So many of you know that I'm very fickle when it comes to decisions about my life. This summer in school I had a couple bad experiences which led to my decision in not going back to BYUI, but stopping with my Associates Degree. I have tossed and turned a lot about that decision and have come to the conclusion that for some reason I am supposed to be at BYUI. I don't really like this fact because there are so many things I would love to be rid of up there, but it is what I should do so I'm taking a leap of faith and going for it. I have only four more semesters until I can graduate with my Health Ed Degree. I have registered for classes and I'll be taking 18 credits! I am looking for a job on campus so we will see how that goes. One class i'm taking is early field experience for education. I'm really nervous for it, but I think it will be good. For the class we go to Madison Middle School and have a class there that we teach one day of the week for about 2 and a half hours. My class is 5th grade Health. I'm way excited that the subject landed on the one that I happen to be studying most people aren't that lucky. I will be living up in Rexburg and American Manor. I have never been there so I really hope it is a nice place and have great roommates. I could really use a place where I can really relate to the other girls and make some wonderful friends. All in all I'm very excited to be going back to school because I'm so close to being finished. A lot of people ask me what I'm planning to do with my degree. I have two options. I could either teach at a middle/high school in the subject of Health or Earth Science... or I could work for a hospital as a health educator. They usually work one on one with patients that need training on particular health concepts. I really want to be a teacher in a High School for the fact of how amazing it would be to work with the kids and possibly have a good influence on them. The hospital idea is more logical since there is a lot more jobs and better pay, but we will see how I feel once I have completed my student teaching.

So those are basically my plans... I hope everything continues to go well. I was able to come see my niece and nephews again in Utah, they are being so cute as usual. Oh and Amanda in response to your comment... I can't wait to go to Southern Cali. I promised my friend a trip to Disneyland so I will come, I just don't know when yet. Money happens to be an issue but I'll save and when I decide I can go I'll make sure I'll give you a call and make plans to see you! I hope things are going well for you and Jared!

My First Time in California!

2008-08-18T23:07:00.000-06:00

This last weekend I was able to go to Northern California. I was only invited to come along to be an extra driver... I probably would have declined if it were not for the fact that I had never been to Cali before. Becca, my sister, decided that she had a little crush on a boy named Steven. The main problem with Steven is that he lives in California! Well because of this little crush, Becca decided to move to San Jose to date this boy... Things got really stressful right before the move. Becca's car ended up braking and now she has my mom's car. We got to cali after a long day of driving. At first I just thought how beautiful the area was and then reality struck and I did not find it beautiful later on... The traffic is deadly! I helped move Becca into her house she is renting at and then went to meet Steven's family and stay with them for the weekend. They were all very nice. I think she will be in very good hands there. Saturday was my favorite day, because we got to go explore and have fun. We went to Half Moon Bay and it was so wonderful! It gave a great view of the Pacific Ocean. The sand was pretty clean as well. I had a lot of fun taking pictures and wading in the water. A few times the waves got a little too strong and I was afraid I would be swimming in the water. The drive to the beach was so wonderful. Then we decided to venture on to San Francisco. As much as I enjoyed my time there, this trip might have been a mistake for the traffic there was impossible. I had to shut my eyes many times to prevent hyperventilating! We went to Golden Gate Park. That was so absolutely wonderful. It was pretty and the Japanensee Tea Gardens were quite beautiful. Then we went to another beach and saw the Golden Gate Bridge. Unfortunatly the bridge was mostly covered by fog, but we still got the idea. I also saw Alcatraz! It would have been nice to take a tour through the prison but we were limited in time. We tried to do San Fran in a day. Walking back to our car from the bridge we saw a gay couple holding hands. Mom said that this completed her San Fran experience. We then went to Lumbard Street. For those that have not heard of it or seen it... It is the craziest street ever! It is so steep they had to make it curve all the way down. It is so cool to see! We attempted to go downtown, but that quickly became a lost cause because traffic was so horrible and my camera had already died so I wouldn't be able to take pictures anyway. Steven then took us to Oakland. We went to event at a great resturaunt. I don't remember the name but their ice cream was so yummy! Then we went to the Oakland temple. I have seen this temple in pictures many times, but none of those pictures truly describes the beauty of this temple. It almost put me to tears. Sunday was the hardest part of the trip. The time came where I had to say goodbye to Becca. I know I had to say goodbye to her for her mission, but for some reason this was harder for me. I knew that this was a beginning of a new chapter in her life, and the decisions she makes now will effect the rest of her life. I want to see her happy more than anything, but at the same time I miss having my sisters to myself. If she ends up staying in Cali a long time she better promise a few trips home for sister time! I miss her already! Well, that about sums up my trip! It was short, busy, but fun! Now on to my next adventure... What ever it may be...

The Joys of Aunthood!

2008-07-31T22:21:00.000-06:00

So for those that don't know for the last two weeks I have been in Albuquerque, New Mexico living with my sister Mindy. They are moving to Salt Lake, have a 3 year old girl and two boys that are 2 months old. It is a handful! I have had a lot of experience when it comes to being a nanny. I started at 15 helping April with Caleb and then again the next summer helping with Caleb and Noni. When I was taking care of caleb so much we gained a special bond. Caleb has always loved me and he and I have had great times together. It made me feel special to know that kids really can like me haha. I have gained a good sense of what it is like to be a mother. I love these kids as if they were my own. Now that I'm here helping once again I have had a much more rough time with Ellie. Just a couple months ago I was her favorite aunt and she would listen to me and play with me and it was great. Now she has been mean and a destroyer of things. Then having to add Logan to the combination was almost too much for me to bear. Today was one of those days that everything seemed to go wrong. Ellie was being a tad bit on the monster side, Logan was very fussy, and I was very tired and not feeling well. It got to the point that I just broke down and cried, I kept asking myself "why am I here" "I can't handle this." Finally I got Logan asleep and Ellie hooked on a movie and I was able to clean up the house a bit. Then Mindy came home with Stockton. It was wonderful to see Stockton home and with his family at last. I saw Mindy's face as she held both of them and it was at that moment that I knew why it was worth it to have kids. She looked happy than she had in weeks. I can hardly describe what I felt when I watched her with those babies. Soon after chaos broke loose again and there was crying and feeding and bathing, but I didn't feel tired or angry I just felt happy that these kids were together now. I fed Logan and went to put Ellie to bed and another moment of peace came over me. She sat on my lap and I told her "pretend" stories. She was so cute and so sweet. We had a good time with the stories then I went to sleep with her to make sure she stayed in bed. I layed there thinking that even though the kids are a handful they are also a true joy to have. The hours and hours of chaos is so worth the 20 to 30 minutes of special moments. I love every single one of my nieces and nephews and i can honestly say they really do keep me going. I have a strong faith that I will someday get married and have cute (monster) children as well. I have learned a few lessons while I have been here in New Mexico. One is that I know I want to have kids and be a wonderful mother and teacher to my children, but one other thing I learned that is more important right now is that I don't want to rush either. I'll have years to spend with my children and I think it is very important that while I have been blessed with these years in my life to be single that there are many important things for me to accomplish. So a note to all those that are single... Make the most of this time cause seriously after marriage it isn't your time anymore it is your husbands time and your childrens time. I have the chance to get an education right now and the chance to do things that will better prepare me for motherhood. Although being a mom is what I have always wanted, right now I'm just fine with settling for being the favorite Aunt! Thanks Mindy and April for sharing your kids with me :).

New to Blogger

2008-07-30T22:59:00.000-06:00

So I debated for weeks whether or not to set one of these up. Finally I decided to at least check it out, see if I like it or not. I got on and looked around and decided it looked kinda hard and I didn't know what I would write on the posts cause I basically lack any exciting life stories. I made the mistake of mentioning to my oldest sister Mindy that I set up an account, but couldn't figure anything out. She got so excited and we spent the next 2 hours decorating my blog. Then she went to bed and I spent another hour on it. I have determined that this could turn into a huge time waster for me, but I will admit it is kind of fun. So for future notice my blog posts probably aren't going to be the most entertaining or informative, but more of simple things that have been going on in my life that I would like to share with friends and family that wish to read it. I guess that is it for now!