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...