Gah!!!

Tidbits from my life:
-I go into the MTC in one week.
-My younger siblings just spilled apple juice all over my pants.
-I'm playing the musical number in church next week.
-Next week is also my farewell.
-I need to pack.
-I turn 22 tomorrow.
Is my life crazy? Yes.  Is it about to become ridiculous?  Absolutely.
Bring it on.

Concerns of a 2-year-old

Recently I've been helping out my old young women leader with her little 2-year-old daughter Natalie and 1-month old twin boys.  I was outside playing with Natalie the other day, when she turned and looked at me with her big blue eyes and a rather concerned look on her face.  When I asked her what was wrong, she said "Jamie, when is my Prince Charming coming?"  

My reply? "I don't know sweetie.  The only thing I do know is that you're going to be asking that question for a very long time."

  

A Month of Running Around

This past month could definitely be considered as one of the most eventful months in my life (for both me and my friends).

July 28-I opened my mission call-called to serve in the Peru Piura mission.
July 30-Spent all day in a van traveling up to Canada.
July 31-Went through the Cardston Alberta temple to receive my own endowment.
August 2-6-Went camping with my family for a week up in Waterton.  It rained a lot.  But we caught 15 fish.  It was a successful trip.
August 7-Ilarene went through the temple (I was still in Canada though)
August 10-Erin had her second adventure at the hospital and was put on "modified bedrest."
August 11-We came home from Canada.
August 12-I went to the Timpanogos temple with Erin.  It was so good to be in "my" temple with her! Ilarene and Jason also had their dinner thing up in Centerville that night, so my mom drove me up there because our car had died.
August 13-Ilarene and Jason were married.  I got to be in the temple with them when they were sealed.  It was a fabulous experience.
August 14-I moved out of the Colony where I spent both my sophomore and junior years of college.  Once I was all moved in, I finally had a chance to relax.   I also went and saw Inception that night with a friend.  It was a really good movie!
August 15-I had my bishop sign my acceptance letter for my mission.
August 16-I mailed my acceptance and a letter to Ammon telling him that I'm going to Peru.
August 17-Emily (my best friend from home) came home from Philmont, in New Mexico, where she had spent the summer working.  I also went to 7 Peaks with my family.  I also mailed stuff off to the Church so they can try to hopefully get my visa.
August 20-I went and found Erin and finished decorating her baby's room with Beth and Kandis.
August 22-I figured out my farewell is going to be October 31.  At 1 o'clock.  Be there! :)
August 23-I deferred from BYU.  And then I got a call/text from Erin and J.J. telling us that they had decided to induce Erin.
August 24-My best friend Erin is officially a mommy.  She had a beautiful little girl, Allisyn Leila Despain at 3:16 in the morning.

And it hasn't even been a month since I opened my call.  This has been such an eventful month.  It's kind of funny, because I'm going on a mission, Ilarene got married, and Erin had a baby.  3 major stages of life represented in each of us.  It's very exciting!  I'm slightly exhausted though.  Wake me up when September ends?

Shopping Woes

If you know me, you know that I love shopping for shoes.  Especially cute summery strappy heels that I think just look so adorable, and that I love to wear to church and other fun events.  You should also know that I love being crafty, and that Roberts and Michaels are two of my favorite stores (Trent calls them my "other boyfriends").  So when I went to Famous Footwear and Roberts today, (especially when Roberts was having a 50% off your entire purchase between the hours of 9 and 10 am) I should have been absolutely ecstatic.  But I wasn't.

Why?

Well, I attribute it to this small little thing call going on a mission.  All of a sudden, I realize I'm not going to be wearing the cute summery strappy heels for 18 months.  I also am not going to have time to be crafty (at least in the way I am used to).  So when my sisters are shopping for shoes, I glance over at the Skechers and think, well, those might work for Peru, but I don't know.  And when my mom is being all crafty in Roberts, I try to think of what projects I would even be able to do before I leave that would benefit me.  I don't see a point in even looking right now.

Later that afternoon I paid a visit to the Sister Missionary Mall in Orem.  At least then I felt justified in looking at the shoes...

Mission? You want me to do what???

I had the realization that I'm going to be sent to Peru after having only 3 weeks of Spanish.  

Once I get to Peru, I'll spend another 6 weeks in the MTC there (I found out today it's called the CCM or the Centro de Capacitación Misional).  I realize that there will be people there to help me out.  But it still seems kind of crazy to me.  It's a good thing the Lord is on my side, because there is absolutely no way I could do this without Him.  

3 weeks??? Only with the Lord :)

Here's a picture of the Lima Peru temple.  I'll hopefully get to visit it as a missionary in the "CCM".  Apparently it's about a 30-minute walk from the Peruvian MTC.  I think it's very pretty :)

What a week!

I'm up in Canada right now, and I love it :)

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to go through the Cardston Temple to receive my endowment.  It was an amazing experience.  I had my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and a couple of my cousins with me.  It was neat because I hadn't seen hardly any of my family before going to the temple, and the first time I saw most of them was in the chapel, waiting to start the session.  I thought it was really neat too to see my cousin Robbie who just got home from the California Arcadia mission, and to have him be there with me and the rest of my family as I went through for the first time.

Afterwards, my family went over to my Aunt Carol's house where she had some ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.  It was yummy!  Robbie and I were able to talk some more about missions and Spanish and about how awesome they both are.  Life is just great!   

I have had many amazing experiences this week, from opening my mission call to going through the temple.  The Lord is real, and he loves me.  Isn't that awesome?!?

Oh yeah.

I'm only going to the PERU PIURA MISSION!!!!

On November 3rd, I will report to Provo MTC for 3 weeks, and then I'll go down to the Peruvian MTC for the remainder of my stay in the Missionary Training Center.

I'll write more about the whole thing later.  It's been a rather emotionally exhausting day.  But I know that this is where I'm supposed to go.  And I absolutely cannot wait!

Um...

MY MISSION CALL IS HERE!!!!!!!

Things are so close!

This whole experience of waiting for a mission call/getting ready to go through the temple has been a roller coaster.  Some days I feel like everything's gonna work out the way I want it to, but other times I get scared.  It really is quite the growing opportunity.  It's been interesting to see though, that as I end this period of waiting for my mission call, how things have slowly fallen into place.  I kind of wish I could just show you how my life has gone up and down since I decided to serve a mission, but unfortunately, that technology has yet to be invented.  It has been an awesome experience though, and I am excited for the adventure to continue.

P.S.-hopefully the next post will reveal where I'm going!!!

Waiting...and waiting...and wishing....and waiting...

This morning, I woke up thinking it was Sunday.  Yes! I thought.  I have my appointment with my stake president today and then my papers will be turned in!!! I was very happy...until I remembered it was only Saturday...

I feel as if I will have a much better idea of what I need to plan for and when I need to plan for it once I get my call.  Until then, it's kind of been an "Oh, I think I might be around for that, but I'm not sure," or a "Well, I might need that for my mission...but I don't know yet."  

I hope to have my call before the end of the month.  I'm kind of thinking wishfully and hoping I will have it in 2 weeks.  Well, here's to waiting, and waiting, and wishing, and waiting some more...

Harry Potter and the Longest Wait of My Life!!!

I am seriously wishing right now that I could change my availability date!

Okay, not really. But I do think that watching Harry Potter is going to be one of the first things I do when I get back from my mission. In fact, I think I will have a Harry Potter marathon, and watch all 8 movies (hopefully they are out on DVD by April/May 2012) in a row.

If I am supposed to enter the MTC November 24 or later, I will get to see the first one. I highly doubt that will be the case though.

The trailer is fantastic. I can't wait to see the movies, even if it won't be for another 2 years!

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission!!

Yep.  That's right!  I'm going on a mission!!

I've been thinking about going on a mission for a while now.  I took mission prep during Winter 2009 and was getting really excited for the day when I could submit my papers.  As time got closer and closer though for that moment, I began to wonder if going on a mission was really the right thing for me.  I had just started dating an amazing guy.  Maybe I wasn't supposed to go on a mission.  Maybe I should just stay home and get married.  Or what if I'm not supposed to do either, but just continue on with school?  I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do.  I decided back in January, that if I really was supposed to go on a mission, the Lord would let me know. Because of this, I signed up for housing in the fall and signed up for classes; I figured if I did end up feeling like I needed to go on a mission, I could just cancel the housing and drop the classes.  I think, deep down, I knew that I would end up serving a mission.  It was difficult to discern though what were my thoughts and what was the Spirit.  Once I began to think of the possibility of going on a mission, I began to felt a comfort and peace that I have not felt for a while.  I know that this is what the Lord wants me to do with my life right now.  I am scared, but I know that with the Lord's help, I can do anything.

This was the picture I used for my papers.  The picture that an apostle of the Lord is going to see when he makes my mission assignment.  

On May 16, I made the actual decision to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It is anticipated that I will serve for a period of 18 months.

On May 17, I told my parents and Trent of my decision to serve.

I set up my first appointment with my bishop on May 18.

On May 23, I had my first meeting with my bishop.  Because he had just been called as my bishop the previous Sunday, he really had no idea how to start my papers, so he told me to come back the next week, and he would tell me what I needed to do then.

On May 27, I told my siblings of my plans to serve.  Laura and Emily were sad, and Laura cried a little bit.  Cameron didn't care all that much that I would be gone because we will both be on our missions about the same time.

On May 30, I started my papers.

I counted down the days until June 16, when I had my doctor's appointment.  I had never been more excited to go to the doctor's in my life.

This afternoon, I am going to call my bishop and see if he has done everything he needs to so that I can meet with my Stake President.

My availability date is September 15, but I don't think I'll leave until October.

I'm hoping to have my call in about 2 weeks.

Until then, I continue to wait....

According to Trent, this is my "I'm so excited to go on a mission!" face.  He thinks it's cute.

I have always heard that a missionary's family receives so many blessing because of their children's willingness to put their life on hold and serve the Lord for 18-24 months.  Even though I have not yet left, I feel as if my family is currently being blessed because of both Cameron's and my decision to serve missions (Cameron just started his papers...I'm further ahead in the process then he is, but not by much).  On the first day of Spring term, my mom called me and informed me that my dad had just found out that he was going to be laid off at the end of June.  I wasn't sure what to think.  My dad has had his job for 11, maybe 12 years now.  I felt secure in the fact that my dad had a job.  And now, my mom would be the sole provider until my dad could find work.  It was going to be a struggle for my family.  Yay for trials.  

A little less than a month later, I decided to serve a mission.  I knew my dad would probably not have a job, and I knew that missions were expensive.  I had no idea how we were going to pay for it, but I knew that I needed to go and that the Lord would provide.  As time got closer for my dad to be laid off, he said that things at work had started to change.  I guess they were moving the budget around, and there were rumors that my dad would be able to keep his job.  About 2 weeks ago, he texted me and told me that his position was officially retained.  I felt like this was a huge weight lifted off of the shoulders of our family.  My family has been so blessed lately; whether or not that has anything to do with my decision to serve, I don't know.  I do know that the Lord is looking out for me and my family though.

I just like this picture; I had Trent take a bunch of pictures of me, and I thought this one looked cool.

I am so excited to serve a mission! I know this is what the Lord wants me to do.  I have had wonderful support from my family and friends, and I value that a lot.  Trent has been a huge blessing to me as I am preparing to go as well.  He has helped me learn more about myself and more about how things are going to be out on my mission.  Ever since we started dating 7 months ago, he's always told me that if I feel like going on a mission is the right thing for me to do, he'll support me 100%.  Well, I do feel like it is the right thing, and he giving me the support that I need, especially when I doubt my abilities to be a good missionary.  I don't know where things will end up between us, but I do know that he will always be my friend.  

I am so excited to share the Gospel wherever I get called.  At the end of Mosiah, the sons of Mosiah are asking for permission to preach the Gospel to the Lamanites because "...they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even he very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble" (Mosiah 28:3).  This is how I feel about the Gospel, or at least, how I want to feel.  

I have a feeling that this is going to be the hardest thing I've done in my life so far, yet it will be the most rewarding.  I can't wait!!  

Utencil Love

Fork.

There's been one sitting in my car since September.

On the dash, to be specific.

It is not mine.

It's David Knell's.

I keep meaning to get it for him, but I forget.

Until Trent runs out to my car and grabs it.

It's new home is my guitar case.

Maybe one day, David Knell will get his fork back.

And the token of our friendship will no longer be in my possession.

It's just a fork.

Complete

It's done :)

Puzzling...

So Trent's birthday was this last Saturday. (He's 22 now! Man, he's old!) We had many conversations about his birthday, and most of them sounded like this:

Jamie: So what do you want for your birthday?

Trent: It's not my birthday.

Jamie: It will be soon. So what do you want?

Trent: Nothing.

Jamie: No seriously. What can I get you?

Trent: Tell you what. You can go out, find the latest CD from the Fray, and then use that money to buy yourself something that you want.

Jamie: TRENT! No! Fine. So what do you want to do for your birthday?

Trent: I don't really care. I just want to be with you.

Jamie: Ugh! That's cute and all, but isn't there anything you want to do?

Trent: Nope.

Jamie: Fine.

The conversations changed a bit, but that's generally what they sounded like. After much deliberation, I decided that I would get him a puzzle for his birthday, and then we could spend the afternoon putting it together. I found a 3D-ish puzzle of sharks at the Creamery, and since there is absolutely nothing on Trent's walls in his apt, I figured he could hang that up and it would be cool and everything.

However, since then, I have learned a couple of things.

1-Putting together a puzzle of blue sharks in blue water is hard.

2-A 500 piece puzzle takes about a week to put together.

While we're not quite finished, we are almost done. If we had another hour or two, I'm sure we could finish it. Trent is going home this weekend though for his little sister Angela's high school graduation, so it probably won't get done until Sunday or Monday. Oh well. It has been really fun though!

This is what the puzzle looked like after we worked on it for a couple of hours on Tuesday night.

This was the result of Wednesday:

And then Thursday...we spent about 3 hours on it...only a little but further and we'll be done!

Ker-Splat!!!

Random post:

1-I like tulips. I am sad that their season is almost done.

2-If you paint your nails bright red and then take it off, your nails still have a reddish tint to them, making people wonder if you have recently murdered someone.

3-New Couches are the best!!

4-Keeping a secret is hard.

5-Families are awesome. Especially my family.

6-I have a love/hate relationship with season finales.

7-Does anyone watch American Idol anymore?

8-My hair is wet right now, due to the fact that I got back from the temple about an hour and a half ago.

9-Someday soon I will be able to go to the temple without getting my hair wet!

10-I hate shaving my legs. I swear I'm going to become European (except that's gross too).

11-Skyping with someone else in the same room as you is great fun, especially when one of you is trying to avoid a paper.

12-As of tomorrow evening, half of the children in my family will have graduated from high school.

13-People sound funny when they yawn.

14-Twilight sounds even funnier when you try to explain the storyline to a boy.

15-Flowers made out of pipe cleaners are awesome.

16-Have I mentioned new couches?

17-Getting up at 7:45 isn't quite as bad as I thought. I'm still getting used to it though.

18-I love Psych.

19-I want to color in a coloring book.

20-I get Ilarene and Jason's first baby.

21-Trent turns 22 on Saturday. He's going to be a palindrome!! (I think someone should invent a word that is a palindrome that means palindrome)

There you go-21 random thoughts going through my head.

Now back to my paper...

The Book of Mormon/YouTube Challenge

There was a challenge sent out to a bunch of members of the Church on facebook to watch this movie on May 3rd in an attempt to get it featured on the home page of YouTube, hopefully inspiring those not of our faith to witness the power behind the testimony of Elder Holland about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. When I first heard about it, I was slightly skeptical, but as time drew nearer, I could see the impact that this could have. Elder Holland's testimony is unwavering and strong. I know that my testimony has been strengthened as a result of his. I invite anyone who has not watched it to take a few moments, and witness the power behind the testimony of an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Cupcake #2

Banana Cream

Today, Trent and I were able to meet up earlier then usual, due to the odd schedules of finals/work and everything. We decided to make macaroni and cheese for lunch. Just as we reached the stage where you put the milk in, we realized that we were out of milk. So Trent offered to ride his bike to Smith's and grab a gallon or two. I decided to just wait at his apartment. While I was there though, I decided to mix up the batter for the next kind of cupcake I had decided to make. It didn't take very long, and the cupcakes were in the oven and I had all the dishes cleaned before Trent got home. We were in the middle of eating out delectable mac & cheese when my alarm went off, signaling the end of the cupcake cooking process. Trent was slightly confused as to what I was doing. He didn't realize that during the time he was gone, I had had time to make a small batch of cupcakes. They actually turned out okay!

I give them a 7.4 on the cupcakeometer :)

Cupcake #1

Strawberry Cheesecake:

So the first cupcake we ended up making was the strawberry cheesecake one. It was Jordan's (Trent's roommate) request. They turned out pretty good.

Everyone's Ratings (10 being the best):

Jordan-8

Trent-7.5

Jamie-6.38

I put vanilla butter cream frosting on them. I think if I were to do them again, I would put a whipped cream frosting on it instead. They were exceptionally sugary. I would also put more cream cheese filling in the middle. Overall though, they are very good :)

My latest quest

For Easter, the Easter Bunny gave me this book. It has 101 cupcake recipes in it (well, actual cupcake recipes is 64. There are 22 recipes on how to do fun, different things with the cupcakes, and 15 frosting recipes). My quest, for this summer, is to try everything though. First, I think I'm going to try Banana Cream and Vanilla Pudding Poppy Seed.

I love my family!

So tonight, my little brother went to Prom. Which meant it was basically an all-girl party. My mom said that we should put on a chick-flick and wait for Cameron to come home. I definitely agreed.

Whilst in the midst of our discussion, Laura brought up the fact that New Moon came out on DVD today and that we still did not own it. Walmart is only 15 minutes away...

So my mom did something she isn't really know for doing-she was spontaneous. My mom, Laura, and I went to Walmart at 11 o'clock in search of New Moon, root beer, popcorn, and Mini Eggs. We were only 50% successful though. Turns out Walmart was lacking in Mini Eggs and Root beer (well, root beer that wasn't diet). So we went over to Smith's to finish our list. Who knew we could be so random?

There was so much Twilight Merchandise at Wal-Mart!! We found Edward, Bella, and Jacob Barbie dolls, and had to take a picture of them! How silly!

Hm...Bella and Jacob?

Or, is the cold, pale blood sucker the answer? I am unsure.

Laura knows who she is going to pick!

Which one? Which one? It's such a dilemma! I have two choices. Either "Here, I love you so let me bite your neck!" sort of guy or a "Here, I love you so let me take my shirt off and show my bajillion ab muscles!" So tricky ;)

My dreams

I don't know that you want to know about my dreams. But I keep having some really odd ones. For example, last night I had several different dreams that all ended up kind of merging into one. It started off with me being chased by a T-Rex with bunny ears (this is a direct result of me stumbling for an hour and a half last night, and running across a random website that makes movies into 30-second long animated cartoons using bunnies. I watched the Jurassic Park one).

Once I had successfully run away from my pursuer (who, in turn, wanted to eat me), I ended up on stage, playing my violin in a concert. The random thing about this concert though was that I wasn't in the half circle of instruments. I was way off in the corner, playing these pieces that I had never heard before from memory. I was pretty impressed with myself. We are just about ready to play the last piece when all of a sudden the back of the auditorium opens up and there is some evil alien about ready to take over the world. By disrupting our concert. I guess he didn't like Mozart...

So everyone starts running, and then this random guy in my ward at BYU appears and comes up with an idea. He says that if we all stand up to the alien, it will have no power over us. Kind of interesting, I guess. I was just ready to run for it again. So we all hid down behind the seats of the auditorium (apparently we were using the "we can't see you, you can't see us" method of approach), and on cue, we supposed to jump up and scare the alien however we could. Yeah, we're going to be fine...

The only problem is, the cue never came. I was hiding in the rows of these auditorium seats, and, for whatever reason, we never got the cue to charge. So I was just sitting there, scared for my dream-self's life, when I hear my phone go off. In real life. I looked at it. Text from Trent. Meh, I wasn't doing anything too exciting in my dream anyways. Might as well get up and talk to him. And thus ended my dream last night.

Prayer

Prayer is such an amazing thing. The more I pray, the stronger my testimony grows. Last night, Ilarene was looking for some star stickers that she had bought to put on her students' tests once she was done grading them. She was looking all over her room, and she just could not find them. I was helping her look for them as well, but neither of us were having much success. Finally, I just said a little prayer in my heart, pleading for Heavenly Father to help us find them. I thought to look by her planner in her backpack, and there they were.

The stars were not that big of a deal. Her students would have gotten the same grade with or without the stars. Heavenly Father knew this. He could have just said "You know what? It's not that important. Life will go on." But he knew how important they were to Ilarene, as did I, and He decided to answer my prayer. I think, in times like these, he answers my prayers just so I will know that he answers prayers. When I really need a prayer answered, I will know that just because I don't feel like I am getting a response doesn't mean that I am not, because I will have learned that He answers even the prayers about trivial matters.

Pretty Flowers

So I came back from Christmas break to find every other girl wearing these yarn head wrap thingys. I guess I missed the memo. As I was in the bookstore the other day, I saw these really cute crocheted headbands with a crocheted flower attached to them. It only cost $20. My first thought was I can totally make something like this for a lot cheaper than that! So on Sunday, when I went home, I found a pattern online, and my mom and I made a crocheted flower to attached to a headband. Ta da!!

See? Aren't I cute? :)

A better shot of the flower on the side.

The flower: close up and personal.

I made that! And it only took me like an hour, maybe, once I figured out the pattern!

I've made 3 more flowers since then. Basically they've been when I've been bored. But they are so much fun to make! And a lot cheaper than $20!

Have you ever seen an elephant draw?

Here is a question that has been on my mind for the past 2 hours. Can animals create art? I submit that animals, just like human beings, are born with certain abilities. Some people are better at art than others. Wouldn't it make sense, then, that some animals are better at art than others as well? That is my theory. And I'm sticking to it.

Becoming a Teacher

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to spend a morning in an elementary school classroom. My roommate, Sarah, teaches 6th grade in Orem. I woke up early this morning (7:21 to be exact) to get ready. Sarah and I left our apartment around 8 and headed up to her school. While I was there, I helped her pass out some tests and hang up some of the children's artwork on the wall.

As the students began to come in, you could tell that it had been a long weekend. They were very chatty and weren't super keen on doing exactly what they should have been doing. Some of the students noticed that I was in there, and asked me who I was. They asked if I was a student teacher, and I told them that I was Miss Kidd's roommate. As I interacted with them a little bit, I realized that you really have to be careful about what you say, especially at that age.

One thing that I thought was really neat though happened before class started. There were three or four girls that had come in, and one of them had a book that she was showing the other girls. I guess this girl had gotten one of her stories published through some website, and was showing her book off. The other girls loved it, and thought it was so cool. The girl who had written the story was talking about how cool writing was. Another girl said "Writing is boring," but was then told otherwise by first girl. That was just a small example to me of how important it is for children to see their writing published and complete that writing process.

While I pondered on everything I had learned within the first 10 minutes of observing, Sarah put me to work. I started off by helping one boy correct his test, and explaining how percentages worked. He didn't understand it on the test, but as I began to explain it, it started to make sense to him. It just made me really grateful for my math class that I am currently in, and for the things that I am learning. I am glad that I am learning to understand why things work, so that when I go to explain them, I will have a better knowledge to base my teaching off of.

After their morning work, Sarah introduced me to the class as Miss Williams. I liked that. I was sitting at the back of the class, and she asked me to come up to the front of the class and introduce myself. As I was walking up, I heard one of the boys say something like "She looks nervous," or something. That was kind of a shock for me. I was a little nervous, yes, but I didn't think that I was showing it. It made me realize that as a teacher, I can't allow myself to appear nervous or scared. If children can sense emotion like that, they will seize those opportunities to act out and be disruptive and disrespectful.

Soon afterwards, she had the kids start working on writing mysteries (they were on their rough drafts). I walked around and helped out the students. I had a few students ask me how they should start their story. Rather than telling them exactly how to do it, I had them tell me what their story was about, and gave them suggestions on how a good story could start out (for example, you could describe the setting first or talk about how your mystery comes to be). One girl I talked to started off by telling me, "I am obsessed with Twilight! Basically my story is going to be the same as the books!" She went on to tell me how she loved Jacob and how she hated Team Edward. It was really funny.

Once their writing time was up, they began doing some reading. Sarah had me help out with this as well. She had the students come back one at a time to me and read a page aloud from whatever book they had decided to read. It was really interesting to hear the different reading abilities (at least out loud) of some of the students. Some could read out loud better than others. One of the students was complaining the whole time about everything, but one thing that stuck out in my mind was this student saying "I used to love reading but now I hate it now that I have to do all this stuff for it!" It just made me think of how important it is that children just have time to read with no strings attached to it. But then the problem comes with trying to figure out how to fit that time into everything else you need to get done, because there is just so much to do.

Soon Sarah began teaching math. I actually learned something I didn't know from this lesson. They were learning about positive and negative integers and absolute value. The real definition of absolute value is the distance away from zero. For example, the number 4 is 4 away from zero, so its absolute value is 4. -57 is 57 away from zero, so its absolute value is 57. As I thought about this, I realized a couple of things. One was that they are doing more than I did in 6th grade. I don't remember learning about absolute value until I was in 7th grade in Pre-Algebra. The other thing was that I was taught what it was incorrectly. I just learned to turn a number that was negative but had absolute value signs around it to a positive number. Nothing too complicated, but I didn't realize why it worked.

It was really good to observe Sarah and just how she taught. After the kids left for lunch, Sarah went and talked to someone that had come in to observe her. They talked about what went well and what she could do better. I learned so much just by listening to them talk about her lesson. Afterwards, I talked to Sarah about things just a little bit. She apologized that her class was out of control, and she asked me if I was scared. I'm probably not as scared as I should be.

Once I was done there, I went to the library, where my dance class was meeting. Today was our day to teach in the schools. My group met me there, and we finalized our lesson plan about Native Americans. We had split our lesson plan up into 5 sections and I was teaching the last section. The rest of my group had to leave early, so I was left at the end with 11 crazy 5th graders. It was really good though. I think just watching Sarah's class helped me learn a few pointers on management and everything. When I took over, the class was still pretty wild, but I just spoke softer. If you speak softly, the students will have to be quieter to hear the instructions. I divided them up into 3 groups and gave them the responsibility to come up with a dance they could show to the rest of the class. They ended up doing more acting then actual dancing. If we would have had more time, I think that I would've been able to help them come up with something that was more of a dance.

Despite all of the craziness that I witnessed today, I still want to be a teacher. It was so satisfying to watch the students when they actually succeeded and did well. I think I can do this, even though I know it will be so challenging. I can't wait to be a teacher.

The Smell of Chocolate

I just opened up one of my Valentine's Day presents. It is a tin of Hershey's kisses. And the tin is in the shape of a heart. A beautiful, wonderful heart. The moment I removed the plastic wrapping, I could smell the chocolate. The beautiful, wonderful chocolate. The smell made me want some, so I picked one up. The little piece of paper inside said "Happy Valentine's Day". I unwrapped the rest of the small little chocolate and popped it in my mouth. It began to melt, the wonderful yummy goodness of chocolate. Without chocolate, I'm not sure how exactly my life would be.

Ilarene got a book while she was in London about chocolate. I can't remember the name of it, but it tells me why I need to eat chocolate. I am doing it a favor. And I would eat it again.

Have I mentioned that it smells incredible?

Oreo Amazing-ness

Oreo Amazing Balls are just that. Amazing.

My dear friend Megan introduced me to them yesterday.

I made the decision that I am going to have them at my wedding.

Whenever that may be.

The end.

Warm!!

I don't know if anybody has noticed, but it is slowly getting warmer outside. Yay!! Does that not make anyone else happy? Winter is such an interesting time of the year. On one hand, it's all pretty with the snow; on the other hand, it is COLD. I guess it's not as bad here in Utah though. We could be in Rexburg, or Edmonton, or Romania, or Bulgaria, or [insert name of wicked cold place here]. When I get to create my own worlds, I will make warm snow. I'm not quite sure how, but I will. And it will be the best thing ever. And the people on my world will love me. Except they won't know how good they have it. Maybe that's how I am. A lot of the time, I don't think I realize how good I have it. I guess, my life is good.

My life is great. That is all.

So the past couple of days have been ridiculously insane. I've really been in the weirdest moods lately. Ironically enough, on Wednesday (the day I posted about hating crying) I almost started crying for no reason. Yesterday I was being really crazy and sassy (I think Ilarene and I were feeding off of each other's energies). Today, I feel like my life is just great.

I don't know where my life is going to be at beginning of July, but that's okay. I'm just going to keep moving on with my life. Right now, I am just going to enjoy where I am. Sometimes I think I get too involved in thinking about what is going to happen in the future that I forget to love my life right now. I really do have a great life right now.

I have such wonderful friends who love me and support me. They are all just a part of my extended family, and I love them all!

Trent

Michelle and Ilarene

Ammon and Emily

Erin

Beth

My family loves me and are willing to support me in my decisions, which is so important to me.

And even though I've moved out, my siblings still talk to me and keep me posted about what is going on in their lives (like dates, Prom, and other exciting things). They value my opinion, which is really important to me.

Emily and I

Laura and Cameron

My actual extended family is also amazing. I love going up to Canada and to our family reunions. I just love the support I get from them.

Jason, Chasey, Kristalyn, me, and Jen

Mark, Aunt Carol, Sariah, Mom, Laura, Cameron, Dad, and then Abby's sitting next to me.

My life is so good. I couldn't ask for a better life. I may not know exactly where I am going in my life, but I am so excited for it, and I know it will be wonderful.

The Moment I Saw You Cry

Oh my. Life has been kind of ridiculous the past couple of days. I've been on an emotional roller coaster which doesn't always happen to me. I've never been one to cry a lot. I do not like crying in front of people. The way I perceive it, when I cry, I am not allowing myself to be in control. I don't mind it when other people cry. Heaven knows, I see a lot of it. And that doesn't bother me. It's when I cry. When I feel like I'm losing control. I feel stupid, even though I know that I'm not. What I hate more than crying around people is crying by myself. When I cry, I want someone to see me, even though I don't. I hardly ever cry alone. When that happens, I feel like I am pitying myself. Which I hate.

I don't like to cry.

When I do, it's because of something important.

I will hardly ever cry for no reason (I've done it once).

My face hurts once I'm done.

And my eyes are red.

That is all.

Flowers

I like flowers. Well, no. I love flowers. That is one reason why winter makes me so sad. There aren't any flowers on campus for me to enjoy. The bright colors just seem to make the day happier. The beautiful purples and pinks and yellows and oranges just make me so happy! Basically life is just better with flowers. I have yet to determine why women love them so much though. I love them though, and I love getting them, and they just make me happy. This is why I love flowers. The End.

Describing My Day

Obsessed with Halo
By Glee cast
Describes my fun day.

Oreo ice cream
Perfect size
Describes my good day.

Math homework to do
Makes me think
Describes my hard day.

Getting out of class
So early
Describes my great day.

Attending temple
Late tonight
Describes my calm day.

The Rest of the BYU -The Soap Opera Chapter

We last left off with Jamie and Trent, liking each other and deciding to date. They had a lot of fun as Christmas time came around. They would visit Temple Square with their friends and play outside in the snow. As finals drew nearer they learned how to juggle school and spending time with each other. It was a big relief for both of them once finals were over.

After the fall semester was over, Jamie went home to her family. And so did Trent. For the first time, Trent was able to meet all of Jamie's family. He met them at the ward Christmas party, where, for a skit, he was encouraged by her parents to flirt and hold hands with their daughter. Jamie was sure Trent would start running in the opposite direction, but he stuck it out.

Trent spent the rest of the weekend with Jamie's family as well, which meant going to her ward on Sunday. As he was being introduced by Jamie's father in Priesthood, one of the men that loved to tease Jamie yelled from the back "Is that your future son-in-law?" Trent turned around to see who had spoken it, when Jamie's friend Ammon said "I see you've met my dad." Trent had heard stories from Jamie about Ammon's dad, Max, and he realized that he was kidding.

Eventually though, the weekend had to come to an end, and Trent went back to Provo where he would continue to work for two days before flying back home to Oregon. The day before Christmas Eve, Trent hopped on a plane (for free) and flew back to his home where he would spend Christmas with his family for the first time in two years. Jamie and Trent talked over the computer many times throughout the break, and they both counted down the days until Trent would be back in Provo.

Finally, Trent was able to come back a few days after Christmas. Jamie's family picked him up from the airport and took him back to their house where he would spend the rest of the break. Trent went sledding with Jamie's family and celebrated New Years and Emily's (Jamie's little sister) birthday. Jamie and Trent had so much fun together.

Soon though, it was time to head back to Provo to begin the Winter Semester. Jamie was beginning her classes as an Elementary Education major and Trent was trying to figure out if he wanted to major in Linguistics. Life went back to normal, for a little while at least. You see, Trent's best friend from home, Jason, had just returned from his mission to Chile in October, and was coming down to BYU. He would live just two stories above Trent's apartment. Jamie was concerned about how Trent would manage to find time to juggle school, work, Church responsibilities, being a boyfriend, and having Jason here. But she was patient, and expected that things would work out for the best.

The first Saturday after classes had started, Jason asked Trent if he would be willing to show him around Provo, since Jason didn't know where very many things were. Trent said he would try the best he could, but since Jamie's car had died over Christmas break, no one had a car. Meanwhile, Jamie was over talking to Ilarene, one of her best friends. Ilarene wanted to go shopping and maybe do some other things. Jamie asked her if she would mind bringing Trent and his friend along, just so that Jason could try to figure out where everything was. Ilarene said that was fine.

Jamie and Ilarene headed out, over to go pick up the boys. They went to the mall, ate lunch, and did other random things until midnight, when the boys were kicked out of Ilarene's apartment. This was the first time that Ilarene met Jason. The next day, Jamie and Ilarene went with Trent and Jason to a fireside given by Elder Neil L. Andersen at the Marriott Center. By this point, Jamie and Trent were joking around about how fun it would be if Jason and Ilarene started dating, and Jamie and Ilarene were talking about just how cute Jason was for Ilarene. They exchanged numbers and started talking to each other a lot. They went on a date on Thursday night (Trent did not know about it until Jamie told him). It lasted for 5 hours.

On Saturday, the four of them went to go watch the BYU Basketball game against Colorado State. Jamie knew that Ilarene liked Jason, and had encouraged Trent to not say anything to either of them. If they were going to get in a relationship, they could work that out for themselves. After basketball game, the four of them went back to Jason's apartment where the boys made the girls a fantastic dinner of chicken cordon bleu, pasta, and vegetables (this is a quick plug for preheating the oven. If you don't, your food will not be completely cooked by the time you want it to be!) Regardless, it was still really good.

Once dinner was over, they decided to go and see the movie Avatar. People had been talking about it for months. At this point in their relationship, Jamie and Trent were completely comfortable being around each other, and holding hands was nothing new to them. Ilarene and Jason, on the other hand, spent almost the whole movie trying to figure out how to hold hands. By the end of the three-hour long epic journey though, Ilarene and Jason were finally holding hands.

Who would have thought that two people meeting each other at FHE could influence so many other people? It has been known to be called a soap opera, although everyone is content with where they are. Sometimes, the four of them will joke around, wondering if Jamie is dating both Trent and Jason, or if Trent has a secret connection with Ilarene, or if red is Jason's real hair color, simply in an attempt to laugh about living in a BYU Soap Opera.

To Be Continued....

Farewell Sister Parker

So Michelle decided to go on a mission. Which means going into the MTC. She got her call back in September to go to the Bulgaria Sofia mission. She would be speaking in Bulgarian!! I don't think anyone ever thought she was going to go to Bulgaria. She entered the MTC on Wednesday, and she'll be there for two months. On Tuesday, she decided to come and say goodbye to Ilarene and me. Ilarene was her companion for a little bit, as she had already had been set apart. It was so good to see her and to get to say goodbye for the next 18 months. I just love Chelle!

I love these girls. Chelle will be incredible!

Chelle and her temporary companion/friend/old roommate, Ilarene

Good luck Michelle! She'll be the greatest missionary though!!

Ode to My Pink Nails

I generally do not like painting my fingernails.
They get messed up too easily, and perfection is gone.
But there was a bottle, sitting right next to me
Tempting me, teasing me.
So I gave in.
Knowing they would probably only last an hour or so.
But 15 hours later, they are still beautiful.
Pink, precious, pretty nails.

A BYU Story

Once upon a time there was a girl named Erin. When she was 18, she left her home in Houston to go to BYU to pursue her education. While she was there, she met this girl named Jamie. The two quickly became friends, and the next school year, they decided to be roommates. Soon they moved into an apartment complex where they started off the school year happy as two friends can be. Life was good.

Then, one day, Erin decided to go to FHE. There, she met a fantastic young man named J.J. They hit it off quickly, and soon started dating. Each other. By the time the semester was over, they were seriously considering marriage. In February they were engaged, and they got married in August.

Jamie, being the great and wonderful friend she was, flew all the way down to Houston to be there for her friends. Little did she know just how much this would impact her life. At the wedding, Jamie met several people from both Erin and J.J.'s family. One in particular was J.J.'s little brother Trent. Trent had just returned from his mission to Brazil. She didn't really think much about it until they both returned to Provo. They became friends and they started talking to each other. That was about the extent of their relationship at the time though.

However, a few months later, Jamie and Trent decided they liked each other. They started dating in November, three days before Thanksgiving break. They have been dating ever since! There is more to the story as well, but that is for another day. :)

A Writer's Notebook

So for my English writing for elementary education class, we are supposed to write in a "writer's notebook" once or twice, or maybe it's three times a week (maybe I should look that up). As I am too lazy to go out and buy an actual notebook (I'm just sick of spending money), I will probably just post here a lot. There will be other posts about my life (hopefully) but there will be mostly posts about random literary events. Just for future reference.

School

I'm only a week and a half into the semester.

It feels like I should be prepping to take my finals.

I have had more homework and assignments and readings in the past week and a half than I probably did all last semester.

It's a lot of work.

But I don't mind.

Because I am going to be a teacher.

And this stuff will apply to my life.

I will use it.

In my classroom.

As a teacher.

Isn't that wonderful?

Sad Letter Days

So my friends Erin & J.J. decided to write their very first Christmas/New Years letter, and then send them out to their friends. It was a very cute idea. Well, a few days ago I was over at Trent's apartment, and I saw that he had gotten his letter from Erin & J.J. I hadn't gotten my letter yet, so that made me kind of sad, but then I remembered that I hadn't been to my apartment yet that day, so it was probably there just waiting for me. I read the letter that Trent had received, and it was cute. I went home later that night, but I had just forgotten about it.

The next day, I was over at Ilarene's apartment and I saw that she had received their letter. I didn't think that was fair! I hadn't gotten my letter yet, and I wanted one, even though I already knew what it said. And I lived right next door to Ilarene! I mean, seriously! Did they forget about me? Well, I didn't really think that, because I know they would never forget about me. :)

So then on Friday, I came home from school and noticed that someone had put the mail on the table. On the table, there was a letter addressed to me! Yay!! It had finally come...but...it looked like this.....

I decided that the mailman tried to use my letter to ward off an angry dog.

But it is good to know that the postal service cares about me!!

I thought it was really funny, and I got a good kick out of it. I showed it to Erin & J.J., and they thought it was pretty funny too. They then printed out another non-chewed on letter that I could have. Thanks to the postal service for adding some laughter to my life!

2010 Goals

So someone once came up with this idea that once the new year started, people should come up with things they want to do to improve themselves. I'm not sure why it started on the new year, seeing as everyday is a new day to to better and improve, but I figured that I might as well come up with some resolutions of my own. Maybe having them posted will help me actually keep them. So here are my goals for 2010.

-To post 44 times. In 2008 I posted 11 times. I posted 22 times in 2009. I want to post 44 times this year.

-Get stuck on the roof with my brother.

-Read a book for fun during the semester.

-Be nicer to people in general.

-Express gratitude on a more regular basis.

-Read the Book of Mormon again by the end of Winter semester.

-Walk. A lot. (This isn't so much starting a new thing as it is continuing to do what I have been doing for the past four months anyways)

-Get a job.

-Enjoy my classes.

-Play Calvinball (from Calvin and Hobbes)

-Take a lot of pictures (should be easier than before because I got a new camera for Christmas!)

-Go crazy a couple of times...

-Recover from going crazy in a timely manner.

-Learn at least 10 new songs on the guitar that I can play without the chords in front of my face.

-Go to BYU basketball games.

-....and whatever else I think of throughout the year...