Jamie's Place

Gah!!!

2010-10-27T18:44:00.002-06:00

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

2010-09-14T15:52:00.000-06:00

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

2010-08-24T20:08:00.000-06:00

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. Once we got home, I went and saw Trent for just a little bit.
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 Trent and 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. Trent and I also went and saw Inception that night. 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. Trent and 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

2010-08-16T21:13:00.000-06:00

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???

2010-08-10T00:34:00.002-06:00

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!

2010-08-01T13:46:00.002-06:00

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.

2010-07-28T22:46:00.001-06:00

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...

2010-07-28T11:32:00.002-06:00

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

Things are so close!

2010-07-22T18:50:00.000-06:00

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...

2010-07-10T11:43:00.000-06:00

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...

Family Reunion #1

2010-07-08T13:05:00.003-06:00

So about a week and a half ago, Trent's family had their annual Despain Family Reunion, and he invited me to go along. It was really fun. We went up to the Heber Valley Campsite that is owned by the Church and is normally used for Girls' Camps and other fun activities like that. We were only there for one night, but we were able to fit a lot into the day.

One of the things that is cool about camping at Heber Valley is all of the Challenge Courses that are there. They are designed to test your limits, encourage teamwork, and develop unity. After you are done with a specific course, the missionaries that are there talk to you about how that challenge relates to life. Oftentimes the message is that you need to rely on others to make it through; you cannot do it on your own.

We had a lot of fun on the challenge course. It was good for me too because I haven't done anything like that since I was 14 or 15. It was nice to see that I could still do things like that :)

A picture of Trent and me as we were waiting to be instructed on the Challenge Course.

I think my favorite part of this picture is either

1) the trees in the background that look like that are giving Trent bunny ears, or

2) Evan in the background :)

So on this challenge course the first thing we had to do was climb up this telephone pole with notches in it. Trent was so much faster than I was at this part.

Then we had to walk across a wire and hold onto a rope.

That part was actually pretty easy once you got the hang of things.

Then you had to repel down a tree.

And then you landed on the ground-safe and sound! :)

Later, we got to go canoeing/paddle boating on the lake that they have there. It wasn't a very big lake and the water itself was yucky, but the scenery was pretty.

I think we look pretty cute :)

After we were done at the campsite, we went to a church building where there family had a wonderful dinner and a talent show/auction. Before that all started though, we had a little bit of fun with the camera :)

Typical :)

The cutest pregnant woman ever! (Until I have kids, of course ;)

Yes, my boyfriend is a dork, and it is common knowledge :)

Then it was time for the dinner/auction/talent show. J.J. and Trent juggled to show off their family's talent. One day maybe Trent will actually teach me how to juggle...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com
(The video is kinda long...but I think it's fun to watch)

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

2010-06-30T00:29:00.003-06:00

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!!

2010-06-25T11:32:00.001-06:00

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

2010-06-09T16:09:00.003-06:00

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

2010-06-07T11:26:00.001-06:00

It's done :)

Puzzling...

2010-06-04T10:23:00.004-06:00

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!!!

2010-05-26T23:37:00.002-06:00

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

2010-05-04T00:19:00.004-06:00

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

2010-04-20T16:31:00.004-06:00

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

2010-04-18T17:08:00.002-06:00

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

2010-04-14T16:17:00.002-06:00

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!

2010-03-21T00:25:00.003-06:00

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

2010-03-20T10:46:00.004-06:00

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

2010-02-26T13:36:00.003-07:00

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

2010-02-22T14:15:00.007-07:00

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?

2010-02-17T16:57:00.004-07:00

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

2010-02-16T13:31:00.007-07:00

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

2010-02-15T18:31:00.004-07:00

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

2010-02-10T23:04:00.004-07:00

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!!

2010-02-10T16:38:00.003-07:00

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.

2010-02-05T13:50:00.008-07:00

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

2010-02-03T13:22:00.004-07:00

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

2010-01-29T13:34:00.005-07:00

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

2010-01-27T15:57:00.005-07:00

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

2010-01-25T15:52:00.005-07:00

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

2010-01-22T13:53:00.005-07:00

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

2010-01-20T13:38:00.003-07:00

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

2010-01-18T18:26:00.003-07:00

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

2010-01-18T18:20:00.002-07:00

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

2010-01-14T21:55:00.002-07:00

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

2010-01-11T11:37:00.003-07:00

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

2010-01-04T15:52:00.004-07:00

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...

Life as of late...

2009-12-23T21:18:00.003-07:00

Well, I haven't written for a while. Life has been good. I finished up the semester with hopefully the best GPA that I've had since I've come to BYU. I've had a good semester. I really have been blessed. Probably the most exciting news of the semester is that I started dating this really great guy. His name is Trent, and we met four months ago. My best friend Erin married his older brother J.J. and we met at their wedding. I was the Maid of Honor and he was the Best Man. Pretty classy, if I do say. Although we met in August, we didn't start dating until a month ago. It has been a lot of fun though (minus the parts where he goes home to Oregon for Thanksgiving and Christmas).

I think he's cute : )

Other than that, I've just been hanging out at home. It's been really good to see my family and my friends from my ward. I've been baking a lot of Christmas goodies too, so that has kept me busy. I do love Christmas. Life is just good right now. What can I say? :)

New Moon. Of course.

2009-11-20T14:08:00.004-07:00

I have a confession to make. I went to the midnight showing of New Moon. Why? I'm not entirely sure. A couple of weeks ago, Ilarene's roommate asked if we wanted to come. We said sure. Once again, I'm not sure why. I think it was our indifference to the Twilight series that made it seem humorous. We also got a ticket for my old roommate, Michelle Mariel Parker I, who is down here from California for a week.

So last night, we all bundled up and headed out to the movie theater. The line was long. We got there about an hour before it started, and we were at the end of the line. Silly us. At one point, a couple of guys came around with a camera and started asking us questions about why we were there and about our love for Twilight. We were trying to defend our dignity by saying that at least we weren't like the people at the front of the line, who had been waiting for 10 hours. Somehow though, the conversation turned, and I decided to be sarcastic. I said that I had had a chain in my room and that every day as it got closer to the opening of New Moon, I took a piece of paper off of the chain. Either I'm losing my sarcastic touch, or the guys were just really dim, because they believed me. They asked me how long the chain was. Thinking off the top of my head, I said 4 months. According to the guys, I was "hardcore". They then proceeded to ask me about why I loved Twilight. Not wanting to make them feel stupid by saying that I didn't even really care about the books, I decided to go along with it. So I told them that I was in love with Edward, and that his eyes were incredible. I went on for a little bit about Edward, and why I was in love with him. I had zero dignity left once that was over. We all laughed about it though.

As for the movie itself, I was pleasantly surprised. I guess when you go into a movie with incredibly low expectations, it doesn't make it difficult to like it. It was definitely better than the first movie. So much better. There were still some things that needed work, and there was one scene that had to be the cheesiest thing since my macaroni & cheese/Cheez-its dinner with my cheesecake dessert. But overall, I liked it. Shocker, eh?

St. George Temple Trip

2009-11-09T10:50:00.004-07:00

A couple of my friends and I went down to St. George on Saturday to see the 5 Browns in concert at the Tuacahn amphitheater. Before the concert, we were able to stop at the St. George temple and do baptisms. It was such a beautiful temple, and it was so warm too!!!

The temple in all of its radiating beauty!

Us in all of our radiating beauty!

Can I just say that I love this picture of me? Thanks to Sarah for taking the picture, and to Eleena for telling me how to tilt my head! : )

Sarah-the official photographer of our St. George trip.

Ilarene. What to say about her...um, basically I love her. That's about it.

So there was this random dog wandering around the temple grounds, and apparently it liked Eleena. She tried to get it to go away by sort of kicking at it. I don't think the PETA people would like that. Shhh....don't tell! ; )

We pretended it was cold. It definitely was not!

Sarah told me to turn around and smile, so I did. And it ended up being a pretty cute picture.

I love these girls! I had so much fun with them!

It was such a good experience to be able to go to the temple. I love being able to know that I can feel the same spirit in any temple I go to. And this temple was so beautiful. I love the temple!

Halloween

2009-11-03T09:26:00.004-07:00

This past weekend was Halloween. I've always thought Halloween was a fun holiday, although it might just be because it is so close to my birthday. This Halloween was really chill for me. I spent the afternoon reading a book called The Hunger Games. If you haven't read it and you have a couple of hours to kill, I highly suggest it. It is a really good book and I loved it!

One big part of my Halloween was helping (okay, more like watching) my friend Ilarene and her roommates get really dressed up. This year, they decided to be different Disney Villains. They were fantastic. Can you tell who is who?

Chelsea-The Wicked Queen (Snow White), Ilarene-Ursula (The Little Mermaid), Rachel-Yzma (The Emperor's New Groove), Megan-Cruella DeVil (101 Dalmations), Lauren-Malificent (Sleeping Beauty). It took so much work for them to get ready, but they did a fantastic job!

So really the only thing I did to help was rat Ilarene's hair, to try and make it big and poofy and reminiscent of a giant obese octopus underwater. She got all dressed up on Friday and Saturday night, which meant ratting her hair twice, and putting on that dress twice, complete with tentacles. She is a brave soul.

So since my birthday was on Wednesday, Ilarene's roommates told me they would make me a cake. It didn't get made until Halloween, but I still really appreciated it. I think Rachel and Chelsea were the ones that made it, and I think they did a wonderful job. It was really good.

Someone told me it was my birthday....

2009-10-29T21:04:00.004-06:00

A day in the life of Jamie being 21.

So in order to celebrate my birthday, I woke up, and went to class. When I was done with class at 11, my mom and my best friend Emily DeWeese came and picked me up from class and we went shopping and went to lunch at Olive Garden. Yummyness!!! We then hit up Kohls, where I found a fantastic shirt! The funny thing about it was that I wanted it 2 months ago, when it was $36. I didn't want to spend pretty much 40 bucks on a shirt. Yesterday, I found it on clearance for $10. Birthday bonus? I think so!

I still had classes in the evening, so my mom dropped me off back on campus. After my physical science lab, Ilarene came and picked me up from campus. When I got back to my apartment, my friends Erin and J.J. came over to give me a birthday present. Erin made me some incredible cookies that were really yummy. Erin was also holding a picture frame, and at first I thought it was going to be a picture of us at her wedding, but instead, it turned out to be a picture that J.J. had drawn of our apartment from last year. It absolutely made my day!!! It was incredible! It is currently my profile picture on facebook.

I had class again from 7 to 9. Once I was done with that class, Ilarene came and picked me up from campus. We then went with our friends Michelle, Allison, and Eleena up to the temple for our weekly temple trip. I love going to the temple! It was a good way to spend my birthday. We were there for about an hour. Since it was my birthday, I decided it would be fun to go get some ice cream afterward. We tried to stop by the creamery, but the ice cream part was closing up, so we decided to just buy a couple of cartons of ice cream and then go back to our apartment and eat it. It was such a good night. I have incredible friends!!

Rachel, Lauren, and Megan. They are my my 8th, 9th, and 10th roommates pretty much. They let me crash their apartment pretty much everyday. I love them!

Me and my friend Trent. Trent is J.J.'s little brother. He gave me good chocolate and jelly-bellies for my birthday. He is amazing.

I kind of look like I am glowing. I'm 21. Why shouldn't I glow?

My New Favorite Instrument...

2009-10-25T23:24:00.004-06:00

So one thing that I have become a bit obsessed with this weekend is the guitar. I've been able to play a little bit for about a year now, but I definitely am not the greatest. I love it though! This weekend, I spent some time learning some new songs and some new chords to some of my favorite songs. My favorite one that I'm working on right now is "Fallin for You" by Colbie Callait. It's got some hard chords in it, but I can do it if I practice. I've also learned "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias. That's actually a really easy one. It's been a lot of fun, even though I've started to get calluses on my fingers, and I have a small blister on my thumb from strumming. I'm working on getting my fingers all tough and everything in hopes that one day, I'll be able to play really well!

Gratitude

2009-10-15T23:02:00.002-06:00

Okay, I know that Thanksgiving isn't for another month and a half, but I just have to take a moment to say how incredibly grateful I am for the life I have been blessed with. I have an incredible family. I love each of them and the moments we have had and all of the inside jokes. I have such wonderful friends who love me and watch out for me here at school. I am able to go here to BYU, which, while it is difficult, provides such a wonderful opportunity to learn and to grow. I'm thankful for the weather. I love fall. I love how the mountain changes color. It is beautiful. There's a temple, 5 minutes away that I love. The spirit felt there is amazing. I am so thankful for my parents especially, and for the love and support that they have given me and continue to give me. I am thankful for the way they raised me. I love them and love the wonderful examples they have set for me and my siblings. I am so grateful for my testimony of the Gospel. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is wonderful. I am so glad to be blessed to be a part of this work. It makes me so happy. It is true. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and the knowledge that He loves me and knows what I'm feeling makes things bearable. I am so grateful for all I have been blessed with. It really is incredible. And I do love fall : )

Just another Manic Monday....

2009-10-12T14:33:00.003-06:00

So I'm going to try and be better at blogging on a regular basis. My goal is to write something on Mondays and Thursdays. We'll see if that actually happens.

Before, I talked about my first chance to give blood. I'm fine now. Except for the nice big bruise on my arm. Since last Thursday, the three individual bruises on my arm have kind of grown together and then gotten bigger. If I had a camera right now, I would take a picture and post it along with this. Maybe I'll do that later on. It is very pretty.

So I was in the library today. I spend quite a bit of time there. It has especially become my favorite since I discovered the juvenile section of the library. I am currently in a Children's Literature class where we are required to read 42 books over the course of the semester (no worries, though, because 24 of them are pictures books, and the rest are books that I've been wanting to read anyways). As I do not own a lot of books (or I don't have them with me here at least) and I do not have a lot of money to buy them, I am relying a lot on the library. I've become a bookworm again. I used to read so much in junior high and high school, but since coming to college I've discovered that if I read books that I don't have to read, I feel guilty because I know that I have other homework that I need to do. But for this class, I love to do the reading! It's fantastic to have to read a book that I actually want to read.

Giving my life source away...

2009-10-08T19:41:00.003-06:00

Today I did something I've been scared to do my entire life: donate blood. It was sort of scary. I'm not going to lie. But I had Trent and Erin there to help me not be as nervous (although sometimes I wondered about Trent...one always does :) It actually didn't turn out to be that bad. After filling out all of the paperwork, a nice lady took back into a little cubicle thing and pricked my finger. I wasn't too scared of that. I've actually pricked my own finger before, which I was really proud of. She also took my blood pressure. I was pretty sure that it would be okay too, because one of my roommates is in the nursing program, and she had to take my blood pressure. She told me mine was perfect!

So basically I'm a physically fit person, all ready to donate blood. And scared. I walked over to the place where they actually did the deed. Trent was already there, giving his blood away. And, it turns out I knew his phlebotomist. We worked together last year in doing custodial. She's definitely moved up in the world.

So they asked me the typical questions ("You allergic to latex, iodine, or shellfish?" "Nope.") and they got started. They put iodine all over my arm, and we waited for a few minutes. In the meantime, Erin came over and they started getting her all ready to go. I watched Trent as he bled into the bag. "Is that your blood?" I asked him. He responded that, yes, it was. "Wow. That used to keep you alive, but it's not anymore..." I told him. Yes, I know. I'm very observant.

Then came my turn to be poked with a freaking huge needle. Rather than watch her put it in, I looked over at Trent who was making odd faces (which, incidentally, is not odd for Trent, which is why we love him). That helped to keep my mind off of the prick which then bothered my arm. The needle was in, and there I was. I was giving blood for the first time in my life. I guess my blood wasn't flowing too fast though. I was there for a while. In fact, Erin had almost caught up with me by the time I was done, and she started a while after me. I also guess that the tape was being ridiculous or something. It wasn't holding the needle in like it was suppose to, or whatever that is that it was there for.

Finally, I was done. They took the needle out of my arm. I saw that there was a lot of blood coming out of my arm. This time it rather intrigued me, rather than making me sick. I got to pick what I wanted to have my arm wrapped in. I chose a pink wrap with smiley faces on it. Yes. I thought it was a good idea. And then I was done!

Then came the best part! Cookies! and juice! and chips! Yes. All a good part of putting fluids and sugar back into my body. They had the good kind of cookies there too. Once Erin was done, I headed off to choir, proud of myself for giving blood. It wasn't as bad as I had imagined it. It still is not my first choice of activities to do in my spare time though.

Tonight I took of my bandage. I was actually at Erin's apartment when I did it. She had taken hers off and had a little bit of bruising where the needle entered her arm, which is natural. She said that it hurt though, so I was kind of scared to take mine off. But finally I did anyways, and I discovered that I had three nice bruises on my arm. They look really purple. And kind of cool. But it kind of made me queasy. Oh well. I always liked battle wounds... : )

Houston!!!!!

2009-08-19T19:46:00.003-06:00

So right now I'm sitting in Erin's living room. Watching the Emperor's New Groove. No, I did not come down just to watch this movie. Actually, it is for something slightly cooler than this movie. But only slightly so because this movie is so awesome. After 6 freakin long months, my friends Erin and J.J. will finally become husband and wife. That is so odd. But so incredibly good. Anyone who has talked to me knows that this hasn't been the easiest things for me. But as the wedding approaches, I feel nothing but happiness for them. I know that this is the happiest Erin has ever been, and I know that it is because of J.J. I am so excited for them and the special covenants they will make to each other and Heavenly Father on Friday. So as I get up tomorrow and get the pedicure, and go to the grooms dinner (all the time trying to keep Erin sane), know that while this may seem huge now, the important thing is that they are getting married, and that this is something that should last into the eternities, and I have complete confidence that it will. Erin and J.J. have been such good friends to me. I love them both so much, and am so happy for them to get married. And in the meantime, I'll just try and get used to the humidity : )

A Little Bit of Canada...

2009-08-05T17:36:00.003-06:00

So I recently returned from Canada. Okay, recently as in like 3 weeks ago. Or maybe only two...hold on...lemme check....Nope. It was 2 weeks ago. It is one of my absolute favorite places in the world. I love being up there in nature and with my family. It's fantastic.

It was a nice Sunday evening, and we decided to go on a walk by the lake. When you're with a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old that means stopping and throwing rocks in it. It was so much fun! I love those little girls!

I think my mom had too much fun with the videocamera. It is a cute shot of my parents and Cameron and Laura though.

Chillaxin at Cameron Lake. I love how mine and Laura's shorts almost match. We rock.

My fam at the start of the trail up to Summit Lake. We hiked up there. It's a pretty good hike. Once we reached up there, my dad, Laura and I and my Uncle Tim kept on hiking to the summit. I'll post pics of that later.

Cameron falls!! Perhaps one of my most favorite waterfals on earth. It looks really cool.

Cabin 2009

2009-07-09T11:34:00.006-06:00

These are just some pictures of the highlights from my family reunion this year. I had so much fun with my family.

This picture is mainly to show off the flags. Each family made their own "Olympic Flag". It was so fun to see them all flapping in the wind.

One of my favorite things to do at the Cabin is play What if...? after the kids and such have gone to bed. My cousins Kristalyn, Jordan, Jennifer and I all sleep downstairs in a little alcove thing. My brother Cameron and two other cousins, Richie and Logan, joined us, and we play What if...? and laugh our heads off until about 3 in the morning. I love it.

My Uncle Mark (the one holding the megaphone) and his wife Tara were the ones that put this all together. It was so fantastic. This event was the frog tossing. Basically you take a frog and try to get it into a bucket. Sounds easy. It's not. My cousin Taylor is tossing the frogs here.

My cousin Chasey, after getting one of her frogs in the bucket. I just love the look on her face. Everyone was cheering for her, and she was so happy. I love her! She ended up winning a gold, silver, and bronze medal in three separate events, and when I asked what color her medals were, she told me they were "blonde, silver, and pink." Such is the life of a 5-year-old.

On my dad's side of the family, we like to play a card game called "Mormon Bridge." It really isn't like bridge, and has nothing to do with Mormons, so I don't know how the name came about. This was one event that my Grandpa Williams could participate in. Since he's gotten older, he has to use a cane and can't move as fast. He can still play cards though, and he loves that. He came in third place, receiving the Bronze medal. My dad's cousin Mark got silver, and my Mom got the gold.

It was also my dad's birthday during the cabin. He's 51!! We're excited about this because that means he won't die! (Billy Mays (sp?) and Michael Jackson were both 50). We're glad to celebrate this wonderful occasion with him.

Another tradition of the Cabin is the hike. My dad's cousins Mark and John R. are usually the ones who spearhead this event. Last year we hiked up to some hotsprings somewhere in Spanish Fork Canyon. This year, though, we decided to do something slightly different. There were some hills/mountain-y things behind the place we were staying. So we hiked up one mountain, went down the other side, hiked up another one, came down another one, and hiked up a small one, and then came down that small one. It was HARD!!! I realized I am nowhere near close to being in shape. I was at the end of the group, going slower than the rest of them. Oh well. I did it anyways. This picture is one of Kristalyn, me and Jen, looking exhausted about halfway through the hike. For being exhausted, I think we look pretty good.

The one thing about this hike was that the only trails were animal trails. So basically the whole thing was bushwhacking. These are Kristalyn's athletic shorts she was wearing about halfway through the hike. They were covered in little burrs. By the time we were done with the hike, the back of her legs had large welts and things on them. They were extremely red. I guess she didn't realize we were going to be bushwhacking for almost 2 miles. Fortunately for myself, I decided to wear jeans.

This is the most of the group that went on the hike. From left to right: Laura (my sister) Lindsay, Jennifer, Kristalyn, Logan, Josh (all cousins), and Mark (my dad's cousin). Cameron was taking the picture, and my dad, John R., and I were still all behind, trying to catch up.

One of the things we did was the "Really Unique Object Obstacle Course". We had to wear a monkey hat (as demonstrated by my cousin Jason) with two thumbtacks poking out the top. Those were used to spear two waterballoons. Then there were two bananas on the ground with velcro on the that you had to pick up with the velcro belt. After those were secured on your belt, you had to go and use the velcro belt to pick up two stuffed monkeys that were on the ground. With all four things stuck to your belt, you had to go and kick to balls across the finish line. Whoever coukld do it the fastest won. Jason ended up being the fastest, hence, the picture of him.

Another thing that made this Cabin unique was the fact that there was a fire on the mountain across from us. On July 2nd, lightning struck a tree. On the 3rd we noticed smoke coming from the mountain. It wasn't a lot. A bucket or two of water would have put it right out. My uncle Gary called the Sheriff's Office or something and they didn't do anything about it. They just brushed him off. And then my cousin Rick called in about two hours later to 911, where they told him it was a "controlled burn." It wasn't. It was up on very rocky terrain, up high. It would have taken probably half a day just to hike up there. It was not a controlled burn. Once again, they didn't do anything about it. It wasn't very big. It just kind of smoldered. Then on Monday, it hit something or something happened and it just exploded. It started moving really fast and burning lots of trees. As of yesterday, the 8th, at noon, the fire had burned 80 acres. They won't do anything to put it out until it threatens life and/or property. They are hoping it will just burn itself out. I don't think it will unless we get a wicked big rain storm, which, I suppose is possible. We have gotten so much rain this year. The fire was fun to watch at night. It kinda looked like a city.

You can see where the fire burnt. Up top, where it just looks like rock, used to look like the bottom of the picture, with trees and everything. Now it just kind of looks bald. My favorite part of this whole fire thing was that on the way home, coming out of Spanish Fork Canyon there was a billboard that said "Stop it before it Starts" in reference to forest fires. They were encouraging the general public to do what they did not want to do. It got a good kick out that.

This is my new baby cousin Ethan. I love him!! I have actually had the opportunity to babysit him twice. It's actually been kind of scary because I have come to the realization that if I had to take care of such a young baby like Ethan, I could. I am in no way saying that I am ready to be a mother, but if my life and another baby's life depended on it, I could. As it is, I'm just looking forward to another semester at BYU, and taking care of myself. Isn't he cute though??

Jason, his daughter Chasey, Kristalyn, me and Jen. I love us! The only on missing here is Jordan. He left on Monday to go back up to BYU-Idaho to finish up the semester. We're great.

I love my family. On the last day, my aunt Joanna's car had a leak in the oil tank I think, and so all of my uncles were trying to help her fix it. How many men does it take to fix a car? According to my Aunt Tara, 5 plus three teenage boys : ) While we weren't able to fix it, Mark and John R. were able to figure out to tow it. She has to drive all the way back to Dallas in her car, so hopefully they were able to fix it.

Family!!

2009-07-09T11:24:00.002-06:00

So I returned from my family reunion yesterday. We have been going to this place up Spanish Fork Canyon for the past 4 years, and we love it. It is a big house (approx. 12000 sq. feet) and it has room to hold our family as we continue to grow. This Cabin (that's what we call our family reunion) really meant a lot to me this year, as I most likely will not be attending next years reunion, and I might miss the next one as well. This year we did what was called "The 2009 Slumber Olympics". We had different events like tossing frisbees, obstacle courses, tossing frogs into a bucket...etc. It was really good. The thing that I think impressed me the most was the fact that during these events, everyone was cheering for you. Everyone cheered when you succeeded, and when you didn't, they felt bad with you. They encouraged you to keep trying and to do your best. It was how I feel life is. When you succeed in life, your family is so happy and excited for you. When you don't, they hurt with you, but they are right there to lift you back up again and to encourage you to do better. These past few days have really meant a lot to me. It has made me realize just how blessed I am to have the family that I do. As I have talked to other people, I find it odd how they don't know members of their family, or they don't like them or whatever. I love my family, and I am so grateful for the temples in which my family will hopefully become an eternal family.

New Blog!!!

2009-07-09T11:14:00.002-06:00

So as I have not really had a job this summer, I have spent quite a bit of time scrapbooking, making cards, and being crafty. My favorite scrapbooking toy is my Cricut. Basically it can cut whatever I want (as long as I have the right cartridge). As I was trying to get ideas of projects I could do with my Cricut, I stumbled upon this blog: regina-bittenbythebug.blogspot.com. On this blog, they actually have contests and such that you can enter. I decided this would be fun to do. To submit a project, you put a picture of your project on your blog and then give them the link to it. As I didn't want to do that on this blog, I created another blog that is similar in name. If you go to jamiesjazz.blogspot.com, you can see pictures of my creations from this summer. Yay for creation!

I Love to See the Temple

2009-06-25T22:00:00.005-06:00

This past year, I wanted to put together a little thing for our wall that said "I love to see the temple" with a picture of all of our temples around it. Because of the stresses of school, it never happened. However, since I have time to kill, I figured I'd complete it. I think it looks nice. What do you think?

The finished result on the wall in my bedroom.

Where have all the good guys gone?

2009-06-20T21:51:00.005-06:00

Well, you dragged it out of me. I'm weddinged out. Remember back in February when all of those people were getting engaged?? Well, now they're all getting married. It's a good thing I love them all!!!
Aimee (my former roommate) married Greg on June 13, 2009. It was such a good day! I loved being able to be on the temple grounds and feel the spirit that is there. The luncheon and the reception were equally as good. My favorite moment of the day had to be when, during the luncheon, Greg said, and I quote "Aimee has been such a huge part of my life, and I know she'll just get huger..." Laughter ensued. It was great.

Ilarene, Michelle, and I were able to get together to help support Aimee and Greg on their special day. It was sort of rainy, but it when Aimee and Greg came out of the temple, it cleared up nicely. As soon as they were done with pictures, it started pouring rain again!!!

All of the friends that came to support Aimee and Greg. Yay for eternity!!!

On June 6th, my good friend Melissa DeWeese was married in the Bountiful Temple. I am so happy for her!! It's so good to see the people I love making the right choices. I love her and her family. They are pretty much amazing. Her mom made those purple bridesmaid dresses! She is incredible! Yeah. They are all beautiful.

Ode to the 80's Bridemaid Dress

2009-05-03T16:44:00.005-06:00

Oh, the eighties...hey, I was born then. So something good came out of them! :)

So I was cleaning my room the other day. It would appear as if my family began using my room as a storage area since I was away at school. As I was laboriously removing old clothing from my closet, I discovered this dress. The dress that my mother wore as her "going away" dress after she and my dad got married. The dress that her bridesmaids wore (well, their dresses were actually silver with blue sleeves, but still). After I composed myself, I decided to try it on. I mean, why not? I get to wear two bridesmaid dresses this summer, why not try on another one? Actually, I'm a bridesmaid for my cousin Brezzie and her colors are blue and silver and were told to get our own dresses, with the only requirements being that it is modest (check) and blue (check)....hmmm....No, just kidding, I would never do that to her. In the spirit of the 80s, I decided to break out the blue eye shadow and random banana clips to complete the ensemble. Gotta love the 80s.

It's still April?? No way...

2009-04-26T22:24:00.003-06:00

So here I am again. Writing a post that will probably end up posted on my blog. Hm. I don't know what's gotten into me lately, you know, with me posting so much. I probably should post more pictures. But I don't. Oh well! I don't really know what I should write about. Um...I moved back from Provo on Thursday. It was a sad day, but it was good too. I like being home, but I do miss the independence I used to have. So apparently there are places that are printing their own money. Not their own coins, but like paper money. And you can only spend it in that community. It's supposed to boost the economy. Oh, the economy. I do feel very privileged to live in this economy. One day, I'll be a cranky old grandma and tell my grandkids how I survived the Great Depression II. Like WWII, but Great Depression II. It'll be a great day, because I'll be going on and on and they will fall asleep listening to me. I want to go to Disneyland. Just in case you haven't noticed, I tend to write whatever is on my mind. That could be slightly dangerous...

So I'm going to be a bridesmaid twice this summer. Well, actually I'm a bridesmaid once and a Maid of Honor once. But I figure I'm not doing anything much different at the Maid of Honor Wedding. Maid of Honor. I haven't seen that movie. Well, "Made of Honor." And I got them for Valentines Day. I need to watch it. Let's go to the San Diego Zoo and see their new elephant exhibit. That sounds like it would be really fun. And it's in California, which means warm, and not cold. Hopefully it warms up soon. Well, I'm off to see the wizard. No, not really. I should probably go and start getting ready for bed. In like an hour. Ciao.

Oh no!! Another one!!

2009-04-18T22:29:00.001-06:00

So my roommates have gotten all into blogs, with Ilarene creating a blog for London, and Michelle creating a blog for...whatever she's creating one for. So it made me want to update my blog. This is actually a really old story. This is my friend Greg. Greg is marrying my roommate Aimee. Greg was drawn by my friend J.J. J.J. is marrying my roommate Erin. Basically both Greg and J.J. are amazing. I don't know why I started blogging about my roommates' fiances. Kinda weird, eh?
Speaking of "Eh?" I've introduced my roommates to my favorite Canadian show called "Corner Gas." It's basically the Canadian version of Seinfeld. It's about nothing. And it's great. We like it. I brought back one disk from home, and I think Erin has watched all of the episodes. But I don't know. Um...I think I'm going to go to the store now, but I am unsure. But here's the new thing. I've posted. Twice. In one month. It's a freakin miracle!

It's that time of the month!!

2009-04-07T16:37:00.000-06:00

No, not that time of the month. Sheesh. You think I would honestly post something like that one here? No, I would only do that if I managed to hack into Erin's blog account and post a blog pretending to be her :) Which, rest assured, I won't ever do. Partially because the end of the school year is coming and Erin and I will only be roommates for approximately 2 more weeks. And then I hand her back over to her parents for the summer who will in turn hand her over to J.J. on August 21 for time and all eternity. No big deal.

Anywho, back to my title...it's time for my monthly blog post about absolutely nothing. The reason why I never post is that a-no one ever reads it 2-the only people that do ever read this already know everything about me and C-well, I can't come up with a c. Oh well!! Stream of consciousness.....yep. Gotta love those things.

So currently I'm sitting in the library. But not just any library. The "I hate your life and so I'm going to make you hate this building for time and all eternity" library. Aka the Harold B. Lee Library. I'm trying to gather information for a stupid group project that I have to do. I am anti-group projects. But, seeing as I am going to be a teacher, I should probably just get used to them. I hear teachers do things like that all of the time....yep.

Well, if you actually made it this far into my post, I apologize for the two minutes of your life that you will never get back. And that's where I think I'm going to end this blogpost. Tune in next month for my next post!!

P.S.- I quit my job at the HFAC. Sleep has returned!! Yes :)

Chelle, I and I

2009-03-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

With Greg in the picture, occasionally.

Have you ever had a roommate named Ilarene? I know I have. And if you have, then this is blog is for you!!! Yay for cheesy introductions. So...it's a Saturday night and...we're bored. Shocker? I think not! So what do three girls (Michelle "Chelle", Ilarene "I" and I) do? Dress up of course! I'm surprised you even had to ask!! So around 10 pm, we get all dressed up in whatever fancy dresses we are able to find around the apt.

Life in the HFAC

2009-01-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

So I have about five minutes before I have to leave for class. And I know you want to know what's going through my head. So, random thoughts.
-I think that the HFAC would make a really awesome place to make a movie. The lobby, with the three floors...you could put dancers on each floor and it would look awesome. It might end up being sorta "High School Musicalesque." Oh well. It would be awesome anyways.
-There were a whole bunch of random people all standing around me, trying to figure out how to set up some weird art display. It was awkward, but they're gone now.
-Today, in the Tanner building (not the HFAC, I realize) I got into an elevator and a cute guy asked me how my day was and he talked to me. I'll probably never see him again, but it was nice.
-There's a couple across the way from me, being very....coupley. There are practice rooms downstairs, people....practice...rooms.
-I think I'm getting sort of sick and stuffy.
-I'm feeling kinda hungry right now. What a thing to post on a blog.
-It's now 11:50, so I'm gonna pack up my stuff and head to class.

Dress Up Jewelry

2008-12-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

This necklace felt like it weighed about a ton! It was really pretty but I have no idea what I would ever wear it with or what I would wear it to!

Another brooch that I absolutely loved!

This belonged to my great-grandma too. This one just made me happy. It is also another one that I would love to own someday.

And another brooch. I just like looking at them.

Another sparkly brooch. Gorgeousness!

Another one that I just loved. It was a light blue-ish color, and it sparkles and it's beautiful.

Pretty in pink! I can't remember who it belonged to, but I know that I liked it a lot.

The brooch with matching earrings.

This brooch was so gorgeous! It sort of reminded me of the brooch on Ever After that Marguerite wears to try and improve her....self.

This is a bracelet. It was SO elaborate! It matched my sweater though...so...I kinda wanted it. Maybe I'll get it some day.

I also loved these earrings!! I thought they were so beautiful!

Earrings!!! My grandma would wear these to church when my dad was growing up in San Antonio. They are clip on earrings, but still beautiful none the less!

These were some of the earrings that I ended up getting from Grandma. They make me feel like a princess!

Several pairs of earrings.

Boxes and Boxes of Jewelry

The magenta flower belonged to my great-grandma. I love old stuff like this.

For Thanksgiving I went down to Cedar City to visit my grandparents. While I was there, my grandma showed me some amazing pieces of jewelry that used to belong to her, her mother and my grandpa's mother. They were SO beautiful!!! She gave me a couple of pieces for my own. I was so excited. I felt like a little child in a candy store. It was amazing!!

Ring or Sing....le??

2008-10-06T17:35:00.000-06:00

BYU. No one comes here with the intent to just "get an education." There is an ulterior motive for everyone being in Provo, Mormon-central...yep. Marriage. Mawwidge is wat bwings us togefar today...Or at least what brings us to Provo. So naturally, you would expect a lot of people to be married and have that little sparkle on their left hand. Now anyone who has ever been to BYU, taken a tour of it or anything can tell you that it is a big campus. Big. Yes. And walking from one end to the other can sometimes get a little tedious. Good thing I love watching people. Now you are probably thinking "Jamie, what does a big campus have to do with people getting married?" And I'm about to tell you. My new favorite pasttime when I walk pretty much anywhere on campus is to look at people. Just look at them. And then decide in my mind whether I think they are married or single. And then I look at their left hand. Is there a ring there on their fourth finger? If I guess right, I win!! If not, well, I just keep playing until I win. It keeps me occupied throughout my long walk from the HFAC to the Marb and back again. It's really funny because there are some people who you can just tell are married. They just look married, even they aren't with anyone else at the moment. And then there are those that are most definitely single, even though it may just be them and someone of the opposite sex walking to or from class. It kind of makes me wonder what people think when they look at me.....

Baptisms with Erin

2008-09-28T20:14:00.000-06:00

Erin and I decided that we wanted to go and do baptisms at least once a week. So here are some of the pictures from our first temple trip this past Wednesday, the 24th. This was the view from the parking lot. It was kind of blurry, but it is still beautiful. I especially love it when it is lit up at night. It is such a source of strength for me.

A picture of me in front of the temple...I think it looks fantastico!!

This is me. Sitting in front of one of the fountains at the Provo Temple after doing baptisms with Erin. It was wunderbar.

Erin. Again....yes.

The fountains!! It is beautiful.

No makeup, wet hair...we are beautiful.

Isn't it a beautiful picture?

Erin owes Ice Cream!!!!

2008-09-28T18:48:00.001-06:00

ERIN OWES US ICE CREAM!!!!! So, long story short. Basically right before we got to the Canadian border on our trip up to Canada, Erin calls me (it's like 1:30 am) and says, "Guess what. He kissed me!!" (He being J.J. Despain). You know what that means girlie....ICE CREAM!!! So I got back on Monday night, and we had our girls night with ice cream on Tuesday night. We practically had to pull her away from J.J. though....9:30 does not equal 9:31. Sorry love, it doesn't. I'm pretty sure she was annoyed with us, but whatever. She got to see him again that night anyhow. And I told her that there was a good chance that these pictures would end up on facebook (but note, I said "good chance." That doesn't mean they will.) She asked me not to put them up though, which I suppose is understandable. She never said anything though about not putting them up on my blog. Besides, a whole lot less people look at my blog than facebook (like my grammar?) So that's the story. At least in a nutshell : )

If I know Erin (and I do....REALLY WELL), I will get crap about putting this picture on my blog.

I brought back Smarties from our Canada trip. That's right. Smarties. These are Canadian Smarties, better than M&Ms. They are filled with chocolate..and pretty much amazing!! Just for the record, what we call smarties down here, they call "rockets" up there. Whatev. It all works out.

Michelle and Ilarene laughing about something. I'm not quite sure what, but I think it was pretty funny. Maybe it was me....

Michelle, Ilarene and Erin. Erin thinks she looks gross. I think she looks beautiful.

This was the second picture we took because Erin did not like the first one. Too bad both of them are ending up on here anyways!! I'm pretty sure I'll hear about too as soon as she is done reading this.

She is an amazing ice scooperuper. It was good.

Oh Canada!!!

2008-09-28T10:22:00.001-06:00

Ben and Shay Court, coming out of the temple as a newly wedded couple. They look so happy!! We went up to Canada on Sept 18, and then they got married on the 20th. It was so fun to see everyone again!! I love my family so much and I am so glad that I get to be with them forever! It was such a good trip.

Gotta love the little princesses!

Shay and her new nephew, Jackson. He was soo adorable in his little suit!

I absolutely LOVED Shay's dress!!! I thought it was so beautiful, and I especially loved the back and how it laced up. I'm pretty sure that's something I'm gonna be goin for when I get married. I loved it.

It's the fam!!!

This is the Cardston, Alberta Temple. My parents were married there, as well as almost everyone else on my mom's side of the family that has gotten married. We've had a couple of cousins get married in other places like San Diego, Edmonton, and soon to be Salt Lake. It's such a pretty place though, and I love it.

The front of the Cardston Temple. It says "The House of the Lord, Holiness to the Lord."

This is my cousin Lindsey's daughter Abigail (Abby, for short). She is the cutest little thing. I'm pretty sure she's 3 going on 30....okay not really. But she's super cute and I love her tons! She looked like a princess!!

This is my cousin Justin's son, Zach. He is also way adorable!! He is such a cute little boy.

After the family dinner, we had to get the hall ready for the reception, so we put chair covers on all the chairs and then tied these sashes around them. It was a super good workout...squat...tie the bow...use the quads to stand back up. It was awesome, and it looks really nice.

Mini-Golfing....yep!

2008-09-27T11:44:00.000-06:00

It's us!!! We decided to go mini-golfing to "celebrate" the fact that Ammon graduated, and then to have a little going away shindig, because Ammon decided to join the National Guard. That means a lot of time at Basic Training in Oklahoma, and then a lot more time in Arizona doing training for whatever it is he is going to do as his job in the Guard. I think he's going to fly remote controlled airplanes, but I'm not 100% sure. Anyways, we aren't going to really see him at all until next summer, I think, when he gets ready to go on his mission, and then he'll be gone another two years!! Dang I'm gonna miss that kid for sure........

Yep...we're good. And then there's Ammon.... : )
But we love him anyways.

There we go...the beautiful girls!! Aren't we just amazing??

Okay, so once we done with golfing, Rachael and Ammon decided they wanted to ride this pelican thing. So they put a quarter in, and then they rode it, and Cameron and I rode it, and Emily rode it...it was a dang good ride for just a quarter.

Siblings!! Cameron really is amazing. I love him sooo much!!

Emily and her adorableness. Her pants are stellar too!

Emily and her amazing golfer-face stuff....yeah.

Rachael's pretty much amazing!! I love her!

And then there's me, the silver medalist in this the Mini Golf Olympics at Liberty Land.

Oh Ammon....gotta love it.

And then here' s Cameron. He's a pretty awesome little bro, and I love him tons!

BYU vs UCL Who????

2008-09-13T21:43:00.000-06:00

I love this girl!!! Chelsea was my roommate last year, and I love her to death!!
We decided to get tickets by each other for the football games, so we could keep in good contact with each other. It's so much fun!!

Erika, my other old roomie from last year, and I smiling our hearts out after either the second or third fumble recovery/touchdown. I'm not quite sure which one it was though. It was an amazing game!!

The football team getting ready to kick a field goal after one of their three fumble recoveries and then touchdowns. We scored 4 times in 6 minutes!!! That does not happen, especially when BYU is playing a PAC 10 team! After the first time we recovered the fumble and touchdown, I told them, "Ok, just do that again. Make them fumble, and then we'll score again," not thinking that they would actually do it, (because they never seem to do those things when I say them like that), but then they did again!! And the again!!! It was AMAZING!!

Final score: BYU 59, UCLA 0
Apparently BYU hasn't beaten someone this badly since before I was born. I think it was back in 1988, yes, before I was born, that it happened. My dad said we beat UTEP by something in the eighties. Crazy!! So...even though UCLA was not ranked, we still should go up in the polls for beating a PAC 10 team by that much, and then keeping them scoreless. Get ready BCS, here we come!!

My Place

2008-09-13T21:00:00.000-06:00

This is the outside of my cute little place. I love it!!!

Mine and Erin's Bedroom. It's a nice big room!! My half is kind of
messy, but it's where I'm at!

My half of the room. I like to have my laptop on edge of my bed or my desk and then lay
down and do my stuff that way. It'll probably kill my shoulders someday though.

Our closets. Those are pretty big too. I pretty much love it!

Baptisms with Emily

2008-09-07T15:05:00.000-06:00

Emily and I decided we needed to go to the temple because it had been a long time for both of us. As soon as we walked in, you could feel the peace that comes simply from being in holy places.

After we were done, we spent some time walking around the grounds taking pictures. It is pretty magnificent. Pretty sure we're both going to get married in this temple some day. Knowing Emily, I think she'll be first though : )

I love this view of the temple. It's so beautiful....

Emily and I outside the temple. It was so nice. I love going to the temple. I'm really looking forward to the day when I can go through the temple and enjoy all the blessings that the temple has to offer.

2008-06-28T13:38:00.000-06:00

This is Cameron Lake. It is one of my favorite places...pretty much ever. I went fishing there on Saturday with my cousins Alaya and Annalise. It was the first time fishing out on the lake this year. It looks like it was a cloudy day, but it really wasn't. In fact, I did get sunburnt. Pretty place...

Oh Canada!!!

2008-06-28T13:32:00.000-06:00

So this past week I've been up in Canada. I came up for my cousin Robbie's farewell, and decided to just kind of chill and spend a week up here with my family and friends and such. It's a really nice place and I love it lots!