Ramblings from a Baked Pastry

Lessons Learned From A Random 4-Year-Old

2011-05-06T18:01:00.001-07:00

My good high school friend Melinda recently got married. At her reception a few friends and I were sitting at a table when a small family joined us. They placed their 4-year-old son Grayson next to me and soon we struck up a good conversation. I've reflected on this conversation a bit since then and have realized that I actually learned a few things from this adorable child.

What follows are a few of these lessons/realizations:

1. I'm old.

Grayson - "That lady over there is my aunt."
Me - "Oh! I know her. I went to high school with her."

2. The world is wrong about mermaids.

Grayson - "You remind me of a mermaid in a movie."
Me - "Oh really?"
Grayson - "Well not you. Your friend. You remind me of the mermaid's friend."
Me - "Was the mermaid's name Ariel?"
Grayson - "No. She had blond hair and lived in a tower."
Me - "Are you sure it wasn't the ocean?"
Grayson (slightly frustrated) - "Yes - gah - she lived in a tower!"
Me - "Um, did this mermaid have a tail?"
Grayson - "Don't you know anything about mermaids?! She lived with her friends in a tower. Of course she had a tail!"

3. Gigantic invisible spiders are going to take over the world someday.

Grayson - "Did you know there are invisible spiders?"
Me - "Oh really? That sounds a little scary."
Grayson - "No you just have to make sure to step them."
Me - "How do you step on invisible spiders?"
Grayson - "Well sometimes you just have to stomp around to make sure you got them all."
Me - "What happens if you don't step on them?"
Grayson - "If you don't step on them they keep growing. There are even some as big as houses!"

4. Did I mention that I'm old?

Grayson - "My uncle is on a mission."
Me - "Oh really? That's pretty cool."
Grayson - "Yeah but he's really old!"
Me - "How old is he?"
Grayson - "20!"

5. Brain freezes. They happen.

Me - "Have you ever had a brain freeze before?"
Grayson - "No. What's that?"
Me - "It's when you eat something cold too fast and then your head hurts."
Grayson - *Takes a big bite of ice cream that suddenly clenches his forehead*
Me - "Are you okay?"
Grayson - "My brain is frozen!"

6. Age matters in a friendship

Me - "...well, friend, that sounds pretty awesome."
Grayson (in surprise) - "You're not my friend"
Me - *stifle laughter*
Grayson (in disgust) - "You're not even my age!"

And finally -

7. Even according to a 4-year-old - I have become an old maid (at least in Utah).

Grayson - "Are your friends and you married?"
Me - "Well the one over there is but the girl next to me isn't and neither am I."
Grayson (in shock) - "You're not married??"
Me - "No, not yet."
Grayson - "But you're so old!"

Congratulation Melinda!

I'm Still Here!

2010-11-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

So I know I've been completely horrible at this blogging thing lately. It's not that life hasn't been totally uneventful it's just that I've lacked motivation. Oh well!

This last summer at camp was definitely a fun one. I met some awesome new people and had a complete blast being silly!

At the end of the summer I had the awesome opportunity to go to Washington DC with my Daddy. I've always dreamed of going back there and especially with my Father who has gone back for so many different business trips. We joked about me going when he was told he had to go back in August and then realized - why not?? I didn't have a job, I didn't have school - nothing could hold me back!

The week I spent with him was wonderful and something I will always cherish.

Now that I'm back home, my days are spent looking for a job (which can be a total joke at times) and gaming online (I know I know, total time waster but it's what I do). As the months go by I am beginning to understand more fully what it means to be looking for a job in a bad economy. It is NOT fun! But I have no doubt that there is job out there for me and it'll be worth the wait. Until then... I search, I game, and begin to look into giving into working a "seasonal" job.

And life goes on...

Camp Photos

Awesome Camp Staff

What do you do on weekends? Make slip-n-slides!

No words...

Me and my Camp Bestie - love her!

Epic

We were such an awesome team!

Lagoon Trip

This picture is just priceless!

I love all the people that came with us - they're so great!!

After Camp Road Trip to Southern Utah

Such an Awesome picture! We took a lot of jumping photos on this trip...

The four travelers

Hehehe...

Took Dakota to Downtown SLC - This picture turned out so great!

D.C. Trip with Daddy
(Pictures are a little jumbled but you get the idea :) )

Finally where I belong

Such a gorgeous temple!

Love my Daddy!

Liberty Bell!

Dancing down the stairs at Independence Hall (haha - we love the musical "1776")

Atlantic City - I'm in the Atlantic Ocean!

Lunch with Dani and Kelly! So great to see them!

Fort McHenry

Washington Monument

Eating my first "real" crab

"You can never have too many kitchen tools"

I'm a moose!

Dad's a walrus!

Our last stop of the trip

Finally on the way home

And what trip wouldn't be complete without....

Now where did we park?

On the Doorstep

2010-05-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

Quick life update!

So now it's ending the month of May and I've decided it's finally time to write about this semester/year.

My last semester of school seemed to fly by. I seriously blinked and January melted into March which then melted into graduation day. A few major points:

- The beginning of the semester found Kate and I being the only roommates in our house. Our other two roommates graduated in December and left us to find replacements which we didn't do because 1) we were too lazy to do and 2) we didn't want to deal with getting used to a new person's habits. I will admit that it was a little odd at first but by the end of the semester we loved it! It was so nice to just worry about one other person and since we're good friends we were really okay with whatever the other person did. We got to know each other's quirks better and it sometimes got a little scary how much we could predict what the other person was going to say/do. For example: in March we discovered this amazing Mexican restaurant - Often we would ask each other "Have you eaten yet?" and then just get in a car and go. There was no point in asking where we were going - we both knew :) Man I love this girl! I really will miss living with her (I already do and its only been a few weeks!)

- The MBA program at SUU is an awesome group of tight - knit students! Everyone had the same classes so you got to know your classmates really well. This made for a pretty entertaining time in even the most boring/obnoxious classes. It was especially great because everyone had their own clique of friends they would sit by but they still talked to everyone. I have to make special mention of the two (main) people that got me through my year - Celesta and Gwen. These two girls are hilarious! Classes were often spent goofing off and studying with them. They definitely helped me make it through this year

- I was talked into once again repeating the painful process of writing a thesis. It was required in my undergrad to graduate with Honors but it was only an option in the Masters program. I will say that it was extremely painful to get a lot of the data and information needed for this new Thesis but now that it's done I am so glad I did it! It presented me with a great opportunity to work once again with one of my favorite professors, Lisa Assante, and it also let me find out some fun information about tourism in Austria. Definitely worthwhile!

- Graduation this year took place over two days. On Friday we participated in the University wide part and on Saturday we had our individual colleges (this was also the one where we actually walked and received our "diploma"). I'm not quite sure how I like this format in relation to last year's all-in-one-day approach. Anyway! Below is some fun pictures from the event :)

- The Sunday after graduation we got the news that my Aunt Kim had passed away. I still find it hard to believe nearly a month later. She had been fighting a long battle of sickness and it finally overcame her. She will be dearly missed by everyone who knew her. This was an especially difficult death for me as it was the first of my aunts/uncles to pass away. Granted she had bad health, but it makes me realize that some of my family is getting up there in age and it may not be too terribly long before... but we don't think of that. I love and miss you Aunt Kim!

- Ever since graduation I've been living at home preparing for the next step in life. While preparing for that step I started playing LOTRO (Lord of the Rings Online) with a free ten day trial. Twenty days later I've now paid for a monthly subscription (which will be picked up again after the summer). I always knew that if I played any kind of MMO I might become "addicted" and with the combination of a never ending game (that's what usually gets me to stop playing - I play all the time til I win the game. Case in point - Zelda April 2009 (pretty sure I blogged about that...)) and Lord of the Rings... well lets just say it had trouble written all over it! I spend many hours a day on this stupid thing... ugh! I love it :)

Now I am looking at the end of May and wondering how almost half of the year could possibly be done. I've heard it said that when you're a child a month feels like a year but when you become an adult a year feels like a month. I am a firm believer that this is true! I can hardly believe that it was a year ago that I had graduated with my Bachelor's Degree and was looking forward to another summer of camp and then another year of school. How could it possibly be a year ago?! Now I'm sitting at home with my MBA, waiting for camp to start (I guess somethings never change) and then for the infamous "real life" to begin.

I'm on the doorstep of my next big adventure. I have no idea where I'm going or what I'm doing but someday I'll look back and be grateful that the me of today had the nerve to take that first step forward.

Taking a picture in the bathroom before the ceremony starts - love it!

After Ceremony #1

Love these two girls! They were my MBA sanity :)

The rest of my MBA sanity. I love this picture - it makes me feel collegiate :) This was after ceremony #2 after we received our awesome hoods!

My beautiful family (minus my absent brother)! I'm so grateful for their support!

My wonderful parents! I love them more than anything!

I finally got an awesome graduation jumping pic!

All of my former HRHM professors from my undergrad. I worked with them quite a bit this year too - they are SO great! Seriously - Southern Utah University has the best Hospitality professors!

RIP Professor Woodbury - this was right after the final ceremony on Saturday and I got the the word that she had passed away the following morning. I had taken a MBA Finance course from her and spent many hours talking with her in her office (both for school and for none). I really can't believe she's gone - she'll be missed!

Lastly: These aren't from graduation (obviously). Back in February my Dad and I went to the St. George home show and in our travels came across these awesome clouds! I just felt like I had to share them :)

Lessons Learned on the Road to Cedar City

2010-05-26T18:12:00.000-07:00

So I know this states that it was right after Easter but I'm finally getting around to posting it... work with me :)

April 2010:

Last weekend when driving back to Cedar City after a lovely Easter weekend, I realized that it would be the last official drive I would be making down south for school. It was so weird to think that after 5 years of life in Cedar City that this was it. It was on that momentous drive that I decided to make a list of all of the things I've learned while driving the 3 1/2 hour drive between my lovely home in West Valley and my collegiate home in Cedar City. What follows is that said list and random pictures that have been taken over the years on the drive.

Lessons Learned on the Drive to/from Cedar City

Just because the sky ahead looks blue doesn't mean that a blizzard isn't secretly waiting in the pass by Cove Fort. No matter what time of year.
3 hours passes very quickly when you talk to friends that you haven't seen in a long while
There is a small hill just outside of Fillmore that looks like the hill on which Edoras sits in Lord of the Rings
Finding people/rides off the university ride board just isn't worth the awkwardness
Inadvertently there will always be at least one car that you are stuck with the whole trip who drives fast enough to get in front of you only to slow down so you have to get in front of them. Be prepared for a 250 mile game of messed up tag
When you have friends in the car it's helpful to keep them awake as they may start awake thereby surprising you and causing you to swerve across lanes.
No matter what anyone says - if your car is making funny noises do NOT try to make the long drive. It will only end in despair
When all you're waiting on to leave is one person who can't leave for 2 hours past anyone else is it really worth the gas money? (ps the answer is usually yes!)
If the weather report says the roads are bad/good it isn't necessarily true
Driving after 11pm is not recommended... unless you're not the one driving then it's highly entertaining!
Places to check in with home - Beaver, Fillmore, and Nephi
Good places to take a break - Scipio - the gas station with the DQ attached (their hand dryers in the bathroom are amazing!) and Fillmore's Maverick Gas Station (they have good bread)
Loud, retro pop music makes time pass quickly
Dust storms are likely to rise up next to Fillmore and Meadow which will result in a long side detour through Kanosh
Contrary to popular belief, as long as you're heading north on I15 in Provo - you'll be just fine during rush hour
When traveling through Beaver it is best to go the actual limit - the cops there are pretty strict... and bored
Having a drink and snacks to munch on is a VERY good idea
If you stop in Scipio do NOT buy food from DQ... that is unless you don't care if you get to your destination at a halfway decent time

And Finally
19. No matter what time of day or what direction you are going, you WILL be faced with the same tough situation before exiting into Cedar City. A semi will be in front of you that is going at such an awkward speed that you have to decide whether or not it's worth it to zoom in front of it and get back over before the exit or slow down to 50 mph and wait it out.

Winter Driving - Beautiful!

Example of a person falling asleep :)

The clouds were wicked awesome that day!

Another example :)

Side note - never seran wrap a friend's car - payback will happen!

Glad I wasn't going north that day...

Multi-tasking

And finally - my awesome car disaster. Note: This was right after it had happened. Everyone thought it was funny/cool but note the look of distress on my face. Yeah. That's pretty genuine horror.

Quick Catch-up!

2009-12-03T22:27:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the watchful eye of a few friends, I have come to realize that I have not updated this blog since May! That is WAY too long a time! Not only did I go through a whole summer of camp but I'm a week away from being done with my first semester of Grad School! I suppose this is going to be quite a lengthy blog of catch-up.

So in June I went back to Trefoil Ranch for my 3rd summer. There were quite a few changes and it was pretty rocky the whole summer. I love Trefoil Ranch and I'm always happy to go back there! Only this year... I've never had to deal with so much drama before in my life! Those who know me well know how big of a place Trefoil has in my heart. It has given me some of the greatest friends, changed my viewpoint on so many things (heck - it gave me the idea for my Senior Thesis!), and helped me to open up. This summer all of that seemed to come tumbling down. I won't go into much detail other than there were times I felt suppressed, unappreciated, used, and overall like I was just a piece to be used in some stupid boardgame. Sadly a part of Trefoil died for me... On the bright side! It wasn't ALL so bad :-) I did get quite a few new friends out of it and made some pretty happy and amusing memories. There are several events that occurred this summer that will stay with me for a long time! I'm still debating whether I should go back. It would be nice to have one last summer of fun before I have to go off and join the real world of working... That and I want to go back and see if I can fix my hurt perceptions. I really don't want to leave Trefoil on a somewhat ill note. We'll have to see I suppose. It all depends on what happens in the next few months!

After a summer of family and friend filled adventures, I packed up and once again made the long trek down to Cedar City. It took me a few weeks to really settle into life down here. The majority of my friends were no longer here, it seemed like I was drowning in freshmen, and my heart just wasn't into it. I struggled for quite a while but finally was able to pull out on top. I've since gotten into the groove of classes and made some new friends (though none can really replace you oldies!). The end of the semester is in sight and after that I just have one more to go! As painful and overwhelming as grad school is - it's nice to know that in just one extra year of schooling I will not only have my Bachelor's degree but also my Masters. There's nothing too shabby about that :-)

Now for a few random pictures to sum everything up!

Being silly with friends

Late night S'more parties!

Being Silly for Skits

Me and my bestest camp buddy Boots

Dressing up hardcore!

I love being outdoors!

Video time! This is from Camporee when we had over 600 girls at Trefoil at once. For campfire that night we decided to do a Harry Potter theme and we got some crowd participation. Those of you familiar with Potter Puppet Pals might want to watch this...

There have been many a hot chocolate run this semester!

My puppy is getting big!

Only in Cedar City do you get a parade in which they herd sheep down mainstreet - awesome!

I ran another 5k and beat my time from spring!

Two of my absolute favorite people in the world! (This picture isn't from this semester but a friend just posted it to facebook)

In October I had an awesome weekend in which 3 camp buddies came to visit - as you can see We had a blast!!

We had an awesome time hosting and participating in a Murder Mystery Party!

My roommate and I are complete nerds and went to Walmart and midnight to buy Star Trek.

Last and certainly not least my many trips home! It is so nice to know that my escape is only a few hours away. I love my family :-)

Ok I lied! That's not quite the end - This summer my dad took me, my sister and my mom up to Francis Peak. For those who don't know - Francis Peak is the USAF radar site just above Farmington. If you look to the mountains and see what looks like golf balls on the mountain - that's Francis Peak! I've heard so many stories about this place and it was fun to finally be able to see it! I don't know if I can ever make the drive again (Dirt, STEEP, rocky, sharp cliffs, 9,200+ ft! UGh! I almost had a heartattack! I had to keep my head covered most of the trip to stop from freaking out!) but it was fun nonetheless. The video below was taken inside one of the "golf balls." It was surreal! It felt a bit like the setting for some kind of Star Wars scene... anyways - enjoy!

Camp!

2009-05-31T20:57:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention in my last entry - Camp starts this week! Tomorrow is Administrative Staff Training in SLC. After we're done we're heading down to Trefoil Ranch where everyone is supposed to show up on Tuesday. I can't believe it's camp time already - it feels like just yesterday that camp was ending!

Look forward to camp stories very soon! (Hopefully I'll be better and blogging this summer)

Snickerdoodle

Graduation and Life After

2009-05-31T11:03:00.000-07:00

Why must we make the most important decisions without knowing how they'll turn out?

Four years ago I made perhaps one of the biggest decisions of my life; I decided to continue my education by attending a small college in Cedar City, Utah. I was completely terrified by my choice. I would be attending a school a considerable distance from my house where everyone was a complete stranger. This was a huge leap for me as I rarely did anything alone. As the time grew near to leave for my first year I tried to look for every excuse to get out. If only I could attend the local community college for just a year I'd be more ready to head out. No one gave me permission however and not wanting regrets I packed up my favorite things and I left for the unknown.

I knew I'd made the right choice the minute I moved into Juniper Hall. Everyone was so nice. My roommate was amazing, my hallmates were very friendly and everyone else I met seemed to have a permanent smile attached to their face. As I walked around campus the following week I began falling into a rythmn. I already had a large group of friends (friends that I swear I had known for a lifetime not just a week), my teachers and classes were wonderful, and the student ward I attended felt like a second home. I belonged. I belonged in this place that a week earlier I had been dreading coming to.

I look back now at my freshman self and am so grateful that I followed through. I can't imagine what my life would be like now if I hadn't gone to Southern Utah University. So much of who I am today has been shaped by that institution and the people that attend there.

On Saturday, May 2, I had the bittersweet opportunity to don a cap and gown and attend graduation. This event that could never come fast enough I soon found came too soon. Four years is far too short a time. As I stood in line waiting to walk through campus towards the centrum where the commencement was to take place, I started thinking about all of the wonderful memories I've had at this place. I suddenly felt sick at the idea of leaving. How could I leave when I hadn't done all I wanted to?

Walking through campus in the graduation line was so surreal. It honestly felt like a dream... The day went by in such a blur that only a few highlights really stick out to me:

1. All of the professors line the sidewalks and have the graduates walk between them. While the graduates walk past all of the professors are clapping and cheering for them. This was definitly one of the things that really choked me up. What an honor!

2. The speakers at graduation were amazing (Yes - including President Monson!). They all had great messages and words of wisdom for the graduates.

3. Family. All day I had the constant companionship of my family. I am so grateful for their support and their love!

4. Walking into the School of Business Graduation Ceremony and seeing so many of my favorite professors (and getting hugs from a few).

5. Feeling incredibly anxious as I waited for my row to be led up to to the stage. They had seperated all of the HRHM graduates by last name and mixed us with Business Management students. Right before we got to the stage one of the HRHM graduates called out to the others and we all jumped in line in front of others (with their permission!) so that we could all walk one after another. It was amazing!

6. Hearing my name and walking across that stage. This was it. What I had worked four years for. It was finally here... I shook hands with the Dean and posed for pictures from photographers. After them I was greeted by my brother and my Dad - got hugs and then went back to my seat. I couldn't stop smiling :-)

7. I gave my parents a quick tour of campus and ran into two of my favorite professors Dr. Lisa Assante and Dr. Sophi Sukalakamala. My parents talked with them for a while and my professors kept praising me - I blushed a lot...

8. Taking pictures with my friends. Dani, Lindsey and I met up on campus and took pictures together. I love these girls! It was so great to be with these wonderful people who had made such a dramatic impact in my life. I would not be who I am today with their love and friendship.

Its been a few weeks since that eventful day. Although I've had some time to let it sink in... it hasn't. I can't believe I've really graduated! Eventually it will sink in but definitely not for a while :-)

Since I've been home I've had a few eventful things happen:

1. I got accepted in the the MBA (Masters of Business Administration) program at SUU. I'm SO excited to be going back in the fall! I know that it would probably be a smarter move to get my Masters degree somewhere else but the transition into the program was easy, the program is highly accredited and has great professors, and I get to be in Cedar City for another year with my friends! That and it wasn't really a question of where else to go - When I first started considering the masters program (in the beginning of April) I knew it was a long shot I'd get accepted since I had made this decision late in the game. When I started pursuing the program however, everything fell into place. Everything. I'm still so amazed by it all...

2. I've worked a few events for the Girl Scouts and have been able to help plan camp and spend time with camp buddies

3. We got our adorable puppies! Cookie and Sheila - they have definitely made life interesting in the Nielsen household! It's literally a 24/7 babysitting job

4. I have been able to spend a TON of time with my best friends. I love our wacky selves and our crazy adventures. It makes my life a whole lot better :-)

And now for some pictures to sum things up!

Graduation:

<-- My whole family and me! <-- Professors Lisa and Sophi
<-- CJ and me!

<-- My Dani and me :-)

<-- This picture just makes me smile

<-- Lindsey and me!

Rockclimbing with the Girl Scouts!

<--Bryan and Tim Tam Slam!

<-- Snickerdoodle and Kat

<-- I love this photo of us!

Our New Puppies!

<-- Attacking Dad

<-- This is little Sheila
<-- This is Cookie!

Parties with friends:

<-- Dani and me (precious huh?)

<-- Our fun BBQ! From left: Kate, Sarah, Lindsey, Steve, Kelly, Dani and Bryan

<-- At Dani's Bridal Shower :-)

< -- Kidnapping Bryan for his Birthday :-) Kate and I took him to Ikea in a blindfold and when we finally let him take it off we were waiting with a Twinkie and candles (FYI Bryan hates Ikea :-)

March In a Blog

2009-04-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

Hey! Sorry I haven't been here in a while! I kept meaning to post all of March and kept putting it off and putting it off... oops! March was a VERY eventful month so (like the last blog) instead of telling you about it I'm going to show you. Ready? Begin!

So on the second of March I fractured my toe - Awesome! I was sitting on a chair at the library and was scooting it and got my toe underneath it. It hurt! So for the first few weeks I got to wear this awesome thing and limp around places!

It's always a party at our house! (literally!)

The first weekend in March I headed up to Washington with my awesome Honors peeps to go present at a conference! Here are a few highlights...

This is the plane we flew in. We called it a small plane and got chewed out by the captain who accidentily overheard us. Apparantely - with over an 80 foot wing span this is classified as a large aircraft (despite the fact that it IS small!)

So small that we danced on it!

The Hotel we stayed at was INCREDIBLE! 5 star!!

We had fun going to presentations...

... and presenting. Only 4 non SUU people showed up to our presentation - 1 left halfway through, 1 was Amy Loveless' brother, another was his friend, and the last was some random lady who was really nice to us :-)

Here at Honors Conference people are GREAT spellers! (Check out our college name)

We ran into Amy's brother Jason! It was very random but very awesome!

We had a ton of fun with our bathrobes! (the sign of a true 5 star hotel ;-)

We splurged and bought room service (just as yummy as it looks!)

We're spelling out PAM in case you couldn't tell (PAM are a part of our honors class from last semester (the one with all of the presentation, seminars, and awesomeness :-) )

Over all we were just silly and had a blast!

I love us :-) This is everyone that went from our school.

This is by far the coolest picture that was taken on this trip! A picture of a picture :-)

After Washington I was in Cedar for a week and then it was spring break! Some friends and I decided it would be awesome to go to California and so we did! What follows are (again) some highlights from the trip - so amazing! It was great to have a "real" spring break for once (I usually just go home and do nothing). Man I love my friends!

Here is a video of us waiting for Bryan so we can finally leave... The plan was to leave at 7:30 but it came around and there was no Bryan... we were thrilled...

About 30 seconds after I turned my camera guess who showed up?

Bryan!

We all took turns putting air in the tires :-)

While exploring LA, we happened upon some random Egyptian pathway and decided it was a great opportunity to take pictures! What follows is me teaching Justin archery (using my awesome knowledge acquired for camp) and Kate teaching Bryan how to stab himself... go Egyptian artists!

Upon further exploration of LA we found some more interesting things...

Like the way to OZ and the way to Hollywood (both shown with Bryan leading the way)

The boys outside the Chinese Theater

All of us posing with the Hollywood sign (the tiny, distant thing in the back)

After using the hot tub - ow ow!

DISNEYLAND!!!!

Waiting in the forever long lines

Kate tried to keep me away from the treasure... but of course she failed!

Breaking Free

Danger on the Indiana Jones Ride! Good thing Kate's around to save the day!

Bryan and I doing our best to make sense of the secret codes

Posing at the front gate!

Battle of the Teacups! (Bryan and I totally kicked trash!)

The following is a video taken 13 1/2 hours after our arrival to Disneyland. We are tired, sore and have chosen to go on It's a Small World for our last ride of the night... bad idea...

The beautiful beach we went to the next day!

Where we buried Bryan in the sand...

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end... We got back from Cali about midweek at which time we all went our seperate ways to our homes for the remainder of the week...

While at home, my Dad and I went up to visit a lady from his work whose dog had had puppies. We weren't sure were were going to get one but when Dad picked up the runt and she immediately bit his nose we were sold - Nala was the runt and that is exactly what she used to do. A few weeks later we went up again and spotted a puppy sitting all by herself. My Mom asked if she'd been claimed. After finding out that she wasn't Mom picked her up and the puppy came alive - she was so cute! Thus! We came to the decision to get TWO puppies!! The first one is named Sheila and is the only one we have pictures of (we didn't decide to get the second til after we'd left :-( ). The second one is named Cookie cuz she's a sweet heart. After graduation they'll be ready to be picked up - we're so excited!

All the puppies...

Isn't she just so cute!

Anyways! That about wraps up the month of March! Now I know that we're near the end of April and trust me - I'll be updating about that month shortly.

Catching Up

2009-03-03T09:06:00.000-08:00

So I realized the other day that it has been forever since I've been on here... I guess it's time to change that!

I won't say too much but I will blog through pictures to do a very quick summary... ready? Begin!

Trefoil Ranch in the Winter:

Look how deep the snow is!!

Icicles behind the lodge

St. George Parade of homes with my Parents and Sister:

They have Trees in their bathroom :-)

I LOVE this picture :-)

Random Things I've discovered/learned/observed:

My parents love me - The first time I went home after Nala's death this is what was waiting for me at the top of the stairs. I nearly wanted to cry but I think it actually made me feel better :-)

This is what the Outdoor Equipment room at Trefoil is SUPOSED to look like (I spent a long time cleaning it...)

This is what happens to Trefoil shirts after girls tire of them - they end up at Savers

This is how trees are planted :-)

My professor is amazing - she brings food to class and feeds us!

Nature is Beautiful!

These are the weirdos you find when you go to Walmart (seriously I walk in to return something and there are Kate and Bryan sitting by Ronald... reading a book. Random!

Finally (my time is limited right now but I promise more will be added later) - I fractured my toe last night. Awesome huh? Want to hear the story? Perhaps the lamest story ever? So I was sitting in the library and moved my chair closer to the computer and somehow my toe got underneath the chair and I sat on it. My toe was hurting like nothing else but I figured it was just sore - well when it kept throbbing and had a bruise I knew something was up. I went to Instacare with Kate and discovered that my toe was fractured... yeah awesome? Especially great since I'm leaving this Thursday to go to present at a conference up in Washington and in 1 1/2 weeks I'm going to Disneyland... Ouch!

A Blog about a Dog

2009-01-25T20:37:00.000-08:00

Today has been one of the hardest days I've had in a very long time. I got a phone call around 6pm from my parents telling me that my dog Nala was at the vet and having a hard time breathing. Through some x-rays the vet discovered that my dog had congestive heart failure and only had a few weeks left to live. After taking her home my mom noticed that she was only getting worse and was suffering really bad. Before they had a chance to take her back to the vet she was gone. I can honestly say that this little dog was a part of our family. We've raised her since she was a puppy and have all become really attached to her.

Her life began on a cool April night in 1995. We had wondered for a while if our dog Lady was pregnant - we took her to the vet and although the vet had told us that she wasn't, we kids still hoped. Our parents had just gotten home from a Jazz game when the scratching started. Our second dog Cuddles was going crazy at the backdoor. We let her in and she turned in circles, ran outside, turned in circles and then ran back to us. I felt like I was watching an episode of Lassie :-). We went outside and found Lady on the back porch underneath an old basinet with 4 little puppies by her. It felt like Christmas - we couldn't believe it! We heard some whimpering from a little ways off and followed the noise. It was there we discovered this cute little off white puppy. Somehow she had been seperated from the bunch. This little dog was soon after Nala (I had an obsession with the Lion King at the time). My parents promised that we could keep one of the puppies and while we did argue a bit it was me who convinced everybody that we should keep the fiesty little runt of the group, and so we did.

Some of my fondest memories of childhood include this little dog. I remember trying to get her to climb up the stairs when she was a puppy, encouraging her to not sit and whimper when she got frustrated. I remember the walks I used to take with her around my neighborhood. I remember the warmth of her little body as she would curl up next to me at night. And later in life, especially in college, when I would spend weeks away from home. Everytime I would come through that door she was always there at the top of the stairs so excited to see me; her tail wagging so quickly and excitedly that her whole body would literally shake.

I still can't believe that she's really gone. It really does seem like I'm in some sort of horrible nightmare and keep waiting to wake up from it. 12 hours ago she was her normal sweet self... how quickly things can change. It really makes me take a step back and look at life. Things can change in a matter of hours, minutes and even seconds. Now is the time to make the most of life. Cherish those you hold dear, no matter how human or canine they may be, because you never know when they will be gone. To quote Roger Caras "Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole."

RIP Nala - you will be missed so much more than you know. We love you.

A Dark Christmas and a Bubbly New Year

2009-01-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

Christmas Break never lasts long enough. I've talked to so many people who couldn't wait to come back to school because they were so "bored." I used to be one of them but something changed this time. More than anything I think it's because I know this is the last real break I'll ever have - the last three weeks where I don't have a job and nothing too adult is expected of me. It was my last chance to sit around for days enjoying rest and family. There were so many days when I just stayed in my pajamas all day because what use did I have to get all dressed when I wasn't going anywhere but the next room? Ok - so maybe this sounds a little lazy but can you blame me? Before I know I'm going to have to be a real adult - It honestly kind of scares me...

So a bit about my break:

I got home on Wednesday of finals week - so nice! I've never been able to leave that early! The only real final I had was Wednesday morning and it was a take home test that we just had to go and turn in - very difficult ;-) After I got home I went out to eat with a friend and then my good friend Chelsey came over and we left for the airport to pick up our awesome friend from camp - Stacie. Wow... that sentence just sounds weird... let's try that again : After I got home I went out to eat with a friend and then my good friend Boots came over and we left for the airport to pick up our awesome friend from camp - Sunshine. Phew - much better! Anyways! After the happy reunion we went out to eat and drove around the city. Over the next few days I got to spend a lot of time with Sunshine which really made me homesick for camp... luckily! I got a bit of a taste of it because the two us went with our old camp director to Moab to do a mini camp. It was so much fun! I can honestly say that working for the Girl Scouts is the best job I've EVER had!

On that first Sunday I got to go with Kate and my parents to Music and the Spoken word downtown (note to self: When going to a rather large event after a huge snow storm in which you will have to park blocks away from your destination, do NOT wear open toed high heels. I could not feel my feet!). I love going to the broadcasts and especially this time of year because the Choir had just had their Christmas concert and so after the broadcast they gave the audience a mini concert - if you didn't get a chance to watch the December 14th broadcast - do it! It is so amazing! And definitely catch the whole concert when it comes out to dvd next winter.

After the broadcast Kate and I headed up to North Ogden to go to one of our best friends farewells. Getting there was not easy! The snow storm was still hitting up there and the church we were going to was on top of a hill. I honestly didn't think my car would make it! I got stuck a few times and kept slidding - it was really scary! But we made it and just before the opening prayer too! It was really fun meeting because I was surrounded by some of my best friends. There were three rows off to the side that were full of people who had come just for Amy. On my row were my old Juniper friends - i.e. some of my best friends. I had Mckenzie on my right and Dani, Kate and Bryan to my left. In front of me were some of my great camp friends/school friends: Squishy, Sunshine, Firefly (Melanie), and Sam (Skywalker). By them and in front of them were more friends that I knew from school. I honestly can't describe how amazing it was. I loved being surrounded by those people! And then there was my sweet Amy up on the stand. I'm so excited that she's serving a mission but I'm not gonna lie when I say I am going to miss her SO much. Having been through 3 years of college and 2 summers of camp together, we've gotten really close and I'm sad to see her leave but I know the people of Chili need her sweet spirit more than us Utahns do :-) After the farewell we all headed over to Amy's house and ate, played games and chatted (and got surprise visitors - Chicken Little showed up!). When it was time to leave we found that the storm had passed and the roads that had been so menacing before were now just fine.

Jumping ahead a week and a half - our Christmas was very interesting. The morning went by as any normal Christmas morning does. We slept in, ate biscuits and gravy for breakfast and opened gifts around 11am. Since my Dad's sister moved away we've never really gone anywhere on Christmas day (my Mom's family gets together before the holiday) - that being said, we all planned to spend the day inside relaxing and enjoying the gifts we had received. Imagine our surprise when at 12:30 our power went out. We weren't too surprised I guess because of the wind that was howling outside but when my Dad called the power company to report our outage - he got the message that our power probably wouldn't come back on until at least 7pm that night. With this knowledge we all buckled down and prepared to spend a cold powerless Christmas day. Instead of watching the new movies we had received we just sat around and talked, caught up in our journals, and read books. When it got dark we pulled out our laterns and candles and lit them. It was a little strange walking around my house with only the light of a candle here and there but at the same time it was kind of fun. It made me feel like we had been transported a hundred years back. When 7pm came we called the power company to check the situation and instead of giving us a time when power would come on they just told us "as soon as possible." We spent the rest of the night huddled in blankets and chatting. The power didn't end up coming until just before midnight. It was very odd going 12 hours without power but we didn't really complain too much. We had food to eat (we had prepared it the day before and it was supposed to be cold :-) ) and things to do. I actually feel kinda blessed that we were able to spend "an old fashioned Christmas" together - it's something that will probably never happen again.

On New Years Eve I decided to be a party pooper and spend it at home with my family. Things went pretty much the same way as they did Christmas except this time with power and therefore a movie playing in the back ground - we all sat around and talked and played games. Maybe not the most exciting thing to do but it was exactly what I wanted.

The rest of my break was very laid back. As I said before, I spent most of my days sitting at home. I read, played video games, watched movies, decorated for Christmas, and just spent time with my family. I still cannot tell you how wonderful it was! I did go out a few times with friends - I spent a fun day in Utah Valley with Chelsey and I hung out quite a few times with Kate and Bryan.

Here are a few random pictures from break:

My house all decorated:

Music and the Spoken word (our view):

Pics from the Living Planet Aquarium! (Went there with Kate and Bryan)

The beautiful temple and statue on Christmas Eve

(it's a family tradition to go and see the lights on

Christmas Eve)

Our Happy tree on Christmas day:

170 of the cookies I made... I spent over 5 1/2 hours baking one day! These sugar cookies are seriously amazing! We (I made half and my mom the other) also made Ginger snaps, Snickerdoodles, Chocolate balls, Russian Tea Cakes, Rice Krispies squares and Muddy Buddies.

In all the break went way too fast - before I knew it I was packing my car and driving South. It's fun to be back at school but part of me stayed up north. I'm so torn in my emotions of late - I'm ready to be done with school and back up north. Salt Lake is home and I feel so at ease and happy when I'm there. Then again - I'm scared to graduate and face the real world and Cedar City has brought so many wonderful changes to my life and I enjoy my time here away from it all and yet in the middle of it. I guess the best thing I can do is enjoy my last semester down here - live life to the fullest. I'm never going to get this time back - as my mom so eliquently puts it, before I know it I'll be married with children and wondering where it all went. And it's those times, she says, when you are up late with a crying baby or sick child that you look back to what you did in your youth and young adult years and smile and be happy that you did what you did. She says to live life to the fullest so that when you look back you won't have regrets.

So here is to my last semester as an SUU college student. I plan to enjoy every minute of it.

2008-12-08T08:42:00.000-08:00

Another semester done and another step closer to graduation - crazy! I'm doing my best not to think about the fact that in 5 1/2 months I will be thrust into the adult world and have to start making a living for myself. *shudder*

Instead! I find that filling my mind with things like Christmas, Movies, Sunshine's visit this week, Going home, family, baking cookies, Christmas, the posibility of working at camp again, Amy/Juniper leaving for 18 months, The Magic of Trefoil Ranch Documentory DVD, Christmas, Finishing Christmas presents, Music, Twilight aka mind junk food, wishing it would snow, playing around and being silly with friends and did I mention Christmas? - is so much better! Man I love this time of year!

Also - Check out the trailer for my Honors class presentations! So amazing!

Why can't life be a musical?

2008-10-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't life be great if everything was like a musical? Whenever you get a profound thought everyone around you would burst into song and dance with you? How many times have you thought of a song that perfectly describes what you're feeling/thinking?

For those of you don't know I've worked at a Girl Scout camp for the past two summers. This last summer a few of us were discussing this "musical concept" and decided - wait! Why can't life be a musical?! So we went to the downstairs of the lodge and planned a whole musical number. The next day during lunch when everyone was there we started playing music and we got up and started to sing and dance around. After we were done we sat down and acted like nothing had happened. It was amazing! The kids loved it and so did the counselors (Only those who were at the "planning session" knew about our plan so we surprised half of the staff). Since this was such a success we decided to keep this up every week and so we did! Below are a few pictures that were taken during various "numbers." I'd post videos but sadly I don't have any - others do :-(

These are from our original musical number "King of New York"

This was from the Admin staff's rendition of "Do you Believe in Magic" in costumes made from an old parachute.

Last but definitely not least! These last 3 are from our final and perhaps most involved production of "Step in Time" from Mary Poppins - it was completely amazing!

The main reason for this blog is that this last weekend reminded me how amazing musicals can really be. Last Saturday Dani, Nate, and I went to the SUU's production of "Musical of Musicals!: The Musical" - it was hilarious! I would recommend this to anyone! It's a musical production that tells the same story through 5 different styles of musicals. The story is about a girl who can't pay her rent, her boyfriend who pays it in the end, the "evil" landlord, the lady who always gives advice, and two chorus members who play random parts throughout the show. It was hilarious to see all the obscure references to different plays (you could definitely tell who loved musicals as those people were constantly laughing while everyone else laughed but looked a little confused).

Also last weekend my household was introduced to "Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog." My life has been changed... I'm not even kidding! I watched it well over 10 times (I'm a little embarrassed to admit the actual amount) last weekend alone! I've posted it below but I warn you unless you want to get the music stuck in your head and become addicted don't watch! But it will change you... I promise ;-)

The moral of the story? Make your life a musical! If you feel like breaking out into song and dance just do it! Who cares what others think? In fact - get some friends to join you and make a scene! Like these people at a mall in California did :-)

Highs and Lows

2008-10-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed that after you have an extended period of good weeks you're due for a bad one? Man I hate that pattern in life...

So these last few weeks have seriously been amazing! I don't know what it is! Life has seriously been going my way! As you can see from my last couple of blogs I've definitely had a lot of adventures this school year and am happy for it! Since the last entry there's been General Conference (how can you not feel good after that? Overwhelmed a bit... but happy!), a class trip to Ruby's Inn in Bryce Canyon (Very interesting... we had to observe their customer service and later we get to present to the owners and the Dean of our college what they're doing wrong... yeah! Great! That'll go over well...), a trip home and several other excitements.

My trip home was perhaps the best thing thats happened of everything else. I was able to leave last Friday around 10:30 am and head up north. Around 2pm I met up with one of my best friends from camp Boots (Chelsey to the real world) and we went to lunch, went shopping, and I helped her prepare some stuff for a YSA activity. It was so great that I was able to go up and spend time with her - It really bites being so far from home and people sometimes... After hanging out with her I traveled with my family up to Kaysville to go to my cousin's wedding. It was so great to see a lot of my extended family - all I can say is that whomever marries me is gonna have to put up with a lot of crazies! Then on Saturday I was able to see my friend Kensey - we were best friends from elementary to high school, we've since gone separate ways but we're still pretty close. After going home I got to talk for a while with Crazy Corey - oh man that kid is awesome! Yet another person that lives to far away. Then in the evening I went with my parents up to Hill Air Force Space to get my Dad's Military ID (He works for the Air Force fyi...) and then we went out to eat at the Burger Barn (It was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network. If you ever get the chance - eat there! Their Buffalo burger, french fries, and fried mushrooms are amazing!). Lastly Sunday I was able to spend even more time with my parents, scan a few old family photos, and visit Nate and Derek as I headed back down to Cedar City. Overall the weekend was so great because I got to connect with a lot of people that I don't normally get to see. I left home feeling so happy! I seriously have some of the best friends and family in the whole world!

I don't know what it is but the last couple of weeks I've been so upbeat about everything - nothing seems to get me down! Things that would normally bug me haven't phased me in the least - I've been able to brush them aside and just laugh at them (Elder Wirthlin had the right idea in Conference :-) ). It has been such an amazing thing! I've loved being able to be so happy and upbeat! That was... until this Monday hit and something changed. It didn't really start out as one thing but rather a combination of things - midterms (which have never effected me that much before), work, finances, sibling stupidity, late night projects and a little friend drama. I was still handling things pretty well despite the fact that I could feel myself slipping but Wednesday things all came to a head when my Mom was admitted back into the hospital.

The story of my Mom's health problems is definitely a long and involved one which I won't go into too much detail about here. In Reader's Digest version (yes this is the short version): Back in 2002 my Mom went in for a routine hernia repair surgery. She'd gone in for several before and never really had any problems. A few days after the surgery my Mom started to feel a little funny and talked to the doctor about it - he felt she was overreacting and nothing was wrong. Well - a few days later they found out she had Staph infection. After several treatments, surgeries and nearly dying my Mom recovered... or so we thought. It was later discovered that she had a fistula ("an abnormal connection or passageway between two epithelium-lined organs or vessels that normally do not connect." Basically - not good...) in her intestines. Hoping to solve this she was put on a feeding IV (not sure the real name of it) for a few months - she couldn't eat or drink at all and get all of her nutrition from an IV she had to connect to every night. The end seemed to be in sight when she began to heal and things started to get back to normal - then earlier this year things turned again for the ugly. After having lost a lot of weight my Mom again went in for surgery - this time to not only repair a hernia but to close the hole in her stomach that had been there since 2002 (there was only a layer of skin separating her stomach from the outside... lovely picture isn't it?). Again everything seemed to be going according to plan - the surgery went well, the wound was closed and everyone was excited... but then, again, complications were had, followed by more surgeries, long hospital stays and several never ending nights. Finally in June everything was passed - she was feeling great and healthy and all looked to be going well... until this week. On Tuesday night my parents made a horrifying and discouraging discovery - it appeared my Mom had another Fistula - hoping they were wrong they went to the doctor who only confirmed their suspiscion. From there she was readmitted to the hospital and is now back on the feeding IV in hopes that the problem will heal itself in a few months (because the doctor does not want to have to open her up for another surgery - after all of the complications and problems my family definitely agrees). She'll be released in a few days which is great but that doesn't mean that the problem will be gone.

This all leads me to wonder - why are some people's bodies different than others? What makes some people heal so well and others to have complication after complication? Why does someone have to go through the same exact thing more than once? Especially in relation to health problems - once is hard enough but to go through it again is even worse... I'm sure the wise would say "you go through something twice because you did not learn all that you had to the first time" and in most cases I readily agree... but in this situation? Why does a person have to suffer so much? What does it take for a body to heal and get better?

*sigh* But here we are getting carried away. I know that things could definitely be worse *knock on wood* and I'm so grateful that they're not. A wise returned missionary bore his testimony last Sunday and said "I am grateful to Heavenly Father that He allows us to have trials." It's true that trials truly refine you and make you better. In fact this week in my Institute Class we talked about adversity and how things make us stronger. I've long had as my motto "What does not destroy me makes me strong" and it is definitely true. It's amazing that through trials and the lowest points in your life you find yourself turning your thoughts to your Eternal Father and you draw yourself closer to Him. Sometimes I wonder why it takes hardships for us to do this. Shouldn't we be seeking Him at all times? Especially in our happy times? Then again we are mortal and we let the things of this world take precedence and we forget the more important things in life...

Anyways - now that I've gone all deep, sentimental and ponderful - it's time to share some pictures! These are a few pictures I found among old photo albums - enjoy taking a look at the younger Becky :-)

I'm the cute one in front ;-)

This is me with my Grandma Nielsen - definitely one of my cuter days ;-)

Yeah - by age 4 I could totally fly my own helicopter. You're jealous.

This was taken after my Baptism

I'm the small cute one on the left - yay for old family photos!

Ok so this is a more recent one - I think this is when I was going off to my 2nd year at SUU - but I love it! My brother is pretty much amazing!

My Pointless Major...

2008-10-03T14:50:00.000-07:00

Graduating is scary. Completely. I know I'm not graduating until May but at my school they make you fill out graduation papers the semester before you graduate so that all the paperwork is done and it doesn't all have to be last minute. It really is a smart idea but it's got me so freaked out! After May my life will be completely different - No worrying about housing, signing up for classes or homework just working and be an adult. Uh... scary! Just thinking about it makes me shudder! All of my life I've had my path set out for me - you graduate elementary you to to jr. high, finish there and go to high school, after high school go to college, after college... grow up? There is no set thing to do anymore - no specific path to follow. All that lies before you is an open and endless field - it's freaky! I have so many options and no idea which of them to choose. Do I get more schooling? Do I get a job? Where do I live? What do I do? I hate not knowing the future! That and I honestly do not like my major so getting a job in it doesn't sound too appealing... So Why am I majoring in something I don't like? Well... Let me tell you a story...

Once upon a time there was this girl. Let's call her... Becky. So when Becky was in high school she absolutely loved English; it was her favorite subject. She loved reading and writing (so much so that she even wrote her own novel (which, if you are ever bored completely out of your mind or feel like losing some extra braincells, you can read said novel at http://www.fictionpress.com/s/1367020/1/Alliquen. I'm warning you - do not expect a whole lot). So upon entering college Becky decided what better subject to major in than English? Well, as her first semester progressed and she talked with others of her major she decided that she only had two options with an English degree; She could either teach or write. Deciding that she had neither the patience, desire, or talent to do either of these options she decided it was a good idea to change her major. But to what?

Becky thought back to all the classes she had taken in high school and tried to pinpoint which one she had liked best (besides English). She remembered taking an Accounting class and somewhat enjoying it. Weighing her options she decided to change her major to Accounting (after all it's a more practical major right?).

Flash forward a few semesters.

Becky decided that her memory had been wrong. She hated Accounting. As hard as she tried nothing seemed to connect or stick in her memory. Slightly frustrated she decided it was once again time to change her major. Looking at her credits, she decided to stay in the Business department so that she could still graduate on time. But what to choose? Business Management. Now that seemed like a brilliant idea. It's broad and will look fairly good on a resume.

Flash forward a semester.

Oh how wrong Becky was... This major, while logical, was definitely not going to work out. Economics became her worst enemy and she refused to stay in a degree that would force her to take more of these horrible classes then she had to! There was a problem though... what to do now? She was within 3 semester of graduating and had no desire to start over in a new department - that would mean more years at her college (which, though she loved the people and the atmosphere, was getting so old that she wanted to shoot herself in the foot). So after consulting with her academic advisor, who looked at her credits and let her know what she could do and still graduate on time, Becky decided to go with Hotel, Resort, and Hospitality Management. This was a major where you sat in classes and learned about the hospitality industry: hotels, restaurants, cruise lines, etc. Upon graduation it was then expected that you would go out and become a manager at one of these places. Well, Becky had always loved to travel so she thought - what the hey? This could be exciting.

Flash forward a semester or so.

Becky once again realized how wrong she was. While it did prove interesting to learn about the hospitality industry, Becky realized that she had little desire to get a job in it. Especially after she experienced what it is like to work at a hotel. Granted she had an off experience as the hotel she worked at was owned by a bunch of racist, sexist, cheap-scape lunatics (no exaggeration - they only liked you if you were an Indian, a male, willing to work for nothing, didn't care if you were spied upon, didn't care that they never paid any of their bills on time and were willing to explain to outraged guests why they had no water, could not re-enter their rooms as their key stopped working and the locks wouldn't work - leaving all of their belongings inside and them outside, and why their rooms were dirty although the system said that they were clean. Yeah... talk about a party.) but she still knew that she could not do this. It was way too late in the game, however, for her to change her major once again. Thus she decided to just stick with it and graduate. After all - there are tons of companies out there that are willing to hire anyone as long as they have a degree. Wait a minute... doesn't that mean that Becky could have stuck with her original major of English and been in the exact same boat as she was now only then she would have a creditable sounding major and in something she truly loved. Why yes it does. Ah the irony.... Pretty much the moral of the story is if you are majoring in something you love - stick with it!

Anyways... so now I'm dealing with a major where I have to sit in classes and pretend to be interested in it and in using it in my future. Great. Ok, so it's not completely horrible - a lot of the information actually is pretty interesting (especially in my cooking classes as if I were to get a job in Hospitality it would be on the restaurant side of things) it's just difficult to be majoring in something that you don't really love. I honestly thought this major was going to be a lot of travel information - learning about destinations and the like - but more than anything it is about how to run hotels. Yeah... don't want to do that! I guess it really would be kind of silly to teach us about different destinations and such as that would be more along the line of being a travel agent and that industry is pretty much non existent (seriously - would you rather call a travel agent or go to travelocity.com?). I dunno... it just adds to the complications of the future lol.

In other news I got the chance to go to Las Vegas yesterday and tour a few hotels - that was fairly exciting. I went down with other people of my major and we were given a behind the scenes tour of two properties. That is something I actually do enjoy about my major - we get the chance to go places and see things that normal guests don't. It was really interesting to see the differences between the two places and to see what really goes on behind the scenes and how things operate. This trip taught me something very valuable - I never want to work in Vegas. I already knew how crazy, dirty, and fast paced Vegas was and this trip only served in confirming it. The people there are seriously insane! That and while Vegas is a fun place to visit I'd never want to live there (sorry to those of you who do). All I can say is that it was nice at the end of the day to be able to leave the city and get away from it all - I know Cedar is small and somewhat podunk-ish but I would rather live here the rest of my life then there - and that's saying something!

Of Cars, rain, and Smashmouth...

2008-09-22T15:30:00.000-07:00

So this week as I was driving to Walmart I discovered something about my car... its turn signals don't work anymore! They had before and now they didn't. Problem! A bit panicked I called my dad (1. because he's an automechanic of sorts and 2. well... it's his car. My parents are currently using my jeep and I've got their car). Needless to say he wasn't too happy about the situation and started explaining all the things it could be - some of them not being so cheap to fix... Hoping for the best, I got in the car and tested all the things he told me to and we narrowed down the problem. There were only two options left - one of the flasher cylinders was bad or the whole system was bad. One was going to cost $10 to fix and the other about $500... Hoping that it was cheaper of the two, my dad proceeded to tell me to find the flasher cylinders and check if one was broken (one's for the hazards (which worked) and one was for the turn signals (which didn't). Can I just say how slightly frustrating this process is? My dad knows exactly what to look for and where and I have not the slightest clue! The only things I know how to do on a car are check the oil, power steering fluid, antifreeze and air pressure. So telling me to look for a metal bottle cap looking thing under the dashboard doesn't work so well... This is one of those times when I wish I went to school a little closer to home! After much frustration and a little help from the men at Autozone I was able to locate these "flasher cylinders." Which, may I add, was not an easy thing to find! This is the angle I had to be at (reinacted later for the entertainment of my roommates):

Awesome right? I can only imagine what people passing by had to think :-) Anyways - to our great delight I discovered that one of the flasher cylinders was bad and I replaced it. Thank goodness! So now I have working hazards and turn signals... all thanks to my patient father and me, the would-be automechanic ;-) The moral of the story? If anyone is having trouble with their turn signals - let me know! I now know what to do!

New Story! Thursday I had the amazing opportunity to go down to St. George and go to the temple with a few friends. Afterwards we stopped at In-N-Out and had dinner. Which, bytheway, can I just say how overrated that place is? I mean, yes the burgers are good and I love the fries but I can say that of several places. I honestly don't see what the big craze is with In-N-Out. It is just a regular burger place - seriously people! Anyways, moving on... So we were heading back to Cedar, chatting it up and having a good time when I look to our right and see this Semi coming over on us and it's not stopping! Personally I would have freaked out but our driver calmly moved into the shoulder and continued to drive there until the Semi driver finally noticed what he was doing and moved back. Um... scary!! All I can say is we are darn lucky that the shoulder was wide enough to drive on - the funny thing? There was a cop right behind us and he didn't do anything! Hello! Thanks a lot...

So when get back to Cedar we go our seperate ways. Well I'm sitting at home, settling in for the night, when my friend comes over and we decide to go over to the Student Center to buy a Homecoming T-Shirt (I wasn't going to ($3 for a freakin T-shirt! I know that's not bad but the thing is we've never had to pay before!) but my friend had just bought one and they looked pretty awesome). So we get there, buy one, and then we sit around for a bit. Or rather I did... my friend found some of his friends and was chatting with them while I waited. So when we finally start heading back to my house the light drizzle that had been happening all night suddenly changed into a full out down pour! Deciding 'what the heck?' we went out and danced around and played in the rain (which made me happy because it reminded me of moutain rainstorms up at camp and all the counselors going out and playing it :-) ). Needless to say by the time I got back home I was drenched! My roommate came home shortly after and we were feeling a little silly so we started having a random dance party and making videos. For the entertainment/boredom/sucking of brain cells of others I've posted one of them below. I call this "Kate Films While Bryan and Becky Act Like a Bunch of Idiots." Enjoy! Well... at least I know you'll laugh - if nothing else at the awesome stupidity of it all! (Mind you this was shortly after the rain storm so we're still soaked):

After that we went out for hot chocoate, came back home and proceeded to watch stupid videos on the internet. Oh man! We spend way too much time doing that... but! We find some freakin hilarious things! For example, one of my friends introduced me to Neg's Urban Sports - seriously some of the most hilarious videos you will ever watch! Here is one of my favorites:

Friday only continued the excitement when I got the chance to go to a Smashmouth concert! For those of you who don't remember Smashmouth perhaps you'll remember the songs "Allstar" or "Walking on the Sun" or "I'm a Believer". Ah... it's all coming back now right? I felt pretty old school the whole time I was there but it was so amazing! And I loved the group of people I was with - we totally had a blast singing along and rocking out (which, surprisingly enough, is easy to do with Smashmouth - I don't recall them being so "hardcore" awesome!).

The rest of my weekend was less exciting - I went to the Homecoming parade on Saturday and then made a 24hour visit to Salt Lake - it was a little spuradic but definitely worthwhile. Though I do have to admit it was really hard to only be up there for a day - it felt so weird! Luckily I'm I get to go up in a few weeks for my cousin's wedding - yay excitement!

As a heads up (or maybe a warning) to all of you awesome Happy Valley people I'll be up that Friday (October 10th) in your neck of the woods by 2pm and am planning on spending a few hours visiting people. In other words - if you guys have time... let me know! I miss you guys and want to see you! Yes - ALL of you Happy Valley people :-)

An exciting weekend in Cedar City - What?! That's possible?

2008-09-15T19:52:00.000-07:00

So this weekend was amazing! I really can't recall the last time I've had so much fun in Cedar City! I mean I love this city but to be honest there's nothing to do here... so! To have an entire weekend be exciting is a very rare thing ;-)

It all started on Friday night when we decided to have a little get together at my house. There weren't a lot of people there but that was ok :-) We ordered pizza, talked, danced a bit, and watched a few internet videos. Yay party! I think one of the coolest things about it (not to sound prideful) was that the majority of the party was my idea. For those of you who really know me, know that while I like to have fun I may not always be the most outgoing and sociable person. To my camp friends this might come as a bit of a shock. You see, at camp I am a completely different person. I'm outgoing, loud, adventurous and crazy. I don't know what it is about Trefoil that makes me feel that way but it's definitely a good thing! So I kind of made it my goal at the end of this camp season to be more camp-like at school. IE - I need to stop hiding behind my shy-ness and get out there and be Snickerdoodle not just Becky. Now my close friends already know the "Snickerdoodle" side of me (though it didn't have a name for years. Wow... I just realized I have an alternative personality... that's awesome!). Especially my old roommates. To much of the outside world I am this quiet, somewhat shy person but to them? Well... just ask them! I am anything but! I'm sure there are times they wish I was! Anyways - what I'm trying to say is that Friday was a big step for me in the right direction :-) I'm very proud of myself *pats self on the back*

Dani and me having a bit of a dance party. Yeah we're awesome.

The excitement continued on Saturday when bright and early I accomplished one of my college-long goals. Ever since I was a freshman I'd heard of the Kanarraville Falls hike. I knew of lots of people who'd done it and loved it so I was determined that before I graduated from SUU I would go on this famous hike. Well! Saturday I finally got the chance to do that. Silly though it may be it totally made me happy! And why wouldn't it? Accomplishing goals after a long time is great! So anyways, Saturday Dani and Karina came over and we made the long drive to Kanarraville (all 9 miles ;-) ). Here are a few pictures documenting our amazing journey...

Karina and me starting out

So this was the infamous "log of doom" that Karina remembered from her Freshmen year... only... the log was now on the ground and therefore not scary. Nonetheless we decided to still conquer it! As you can see I'm very supportive of my friends :-) Dani - hard as I try to get rid of her I just can't! *sigh* Just Kidding - I love that girl! I'd go crazy without her :-)

One of the awesome waterfalls from the hike! It was so great because most of the hike you're walking through water! There is even a time when it's up to your waist! The only down side is that the water is freaking freezing! But it's still amazing so I really can't complain :-)

Some nice guy took a picture of us all. I love these two! They seriously are some of my favorite people ever! It's days like these that I remember this saying - I got it off a bumper sticker from Facebook, a little lame I know, but I love the truth behind it - "I've learned that your college friends become a kind of family. You eat together, you have movie all nighters. You laugh; you cry; you fight; you do absolutely nothing together until you cannot seem to remember how you ever lived without them." Ok so it says nothing about hiking together... but work with me! I'm trying to be senitmental ;-) (Random side note: notice the progressive increase of soakage (wow that sounded cool)? Dani is soaked to the knees (she didn't go as far), I'm soaked to the waist (I went a bit farther) and Karina is thoroughly soaked (she slid down the freezing waterfall. Crazy girl! She seriously was beginning to lose all feeling in her body by the time we started heading back - it was little scary...)

So a weekend would not be complete without Sunday (wow that was profound... ;-) ). Church was really great. I feel really bad because I'm in the same ward that I was last year only last year I didn't give it much of a chance. My first two years in Cedar City I lived in Juniper Hall (a ghetto fabulous sleep and study dorm). I really got spoiled becase every year the ward would start anew - Juniper didn't really have residents in the summer so all the students that came in the fall were in the same boat of adjusting to a new ward. That being said, the ward was really close. So upon moving out of Juniper into a ward that existed all year round... I was a little unfair. Since the ward was well established there were already friends and cliques. And since I only knew my roommates I didn't try and be too active in my ward... not to say I went inactive - I just never gave the ward a fair shot. I went home quite a bit and visited my other friends wards. Well - upon returning to the same house and thus the same ward this year I was a little nervous. But I decided the best thing to do was to try and forget my past ideas and treat this ward as if it were one of my Juniper wards... it worked. I left church feeling wonderful! Why didn't I give this ward a chance last year? It's amazing! Um wow side tracked... anyways! So church was wonderful, I'm really starting to feel welcome and at home in it.

After Church my roommates and I watched a movie and went to the weekly firside (we had Elder Snow of the Seventy come down! It was great!) After the fireside Bryan came over and taught me how to play Risk. It was great because I've always wanted to learn but have never been given the opportunity... nerdy as it sounds? I loved it! I think I may have found another favorite game to play! Only... since it was my first time my strategy wasn't so great... let's just say I ended up with all my people on Madascar fighting to the death against Bryan's army... Needless to say I didn't make it...

Thus concludes the recap of my awesome weekend. I'm really hopeful more of my weekends in this small town will be just as exciting :-)

Exciting Thursday

2008-09-11T16:02:00.000-07:00

Ok so pretty much today has been freak out amazing. Well... not initially... but now it is! Explanation? Ok!

So I have a job where I wake up at 5:30am every morning (shoot me in the foot) and clean the Science Building on Campus for two hours. Not a thrilling job but hey it's work. The cool thing about the job is that it's very repetitive. Yes I said that was the cool thing. It's really cool because as I'm going about tasks it gives my brain a chance to wander and think about things. Now in some instances this is definitely a bad thing (some people I'm sure know what I'm talking about) but for the most part it's amazing! I don't know about you but most of my days are spent being forced to think about certain things and I never really get the chance to sit back and just let my mind go. Yes there are times in class (*gasp* Becky doesn't always pay attention in class? Shocker...) but it's honestly not the same. Anyways! Back to the story - this morning despite my "I don't want to get up and go to work" attitude I went and as I was cleaning a few things became clear in my mind and slowly started to make sense. It was like *bang!* someone just flipped on a light switch! Have you ever had those moments? The answer's right in front of you and you've been looking everywhere else for it?

Anyways, so I left work in a pretty up beat mood. I went to the gym (a good habit I'm trying to acquire and slowly am) and worked my body hard and left feeling refreshed and ready for the day. I get to my first class and I hit the downer. I get get put into a group with this guy who is middle aged, a know it all and has an attitude. Lucky me... We have to find information and give a presentation in class that'll count as a quiz - well! Low and Behold this guy takes charge of the group (shocker) and takes little to no feedback/input from the rest of the group. After everyone's submitted their presentation AND presented it - he still hasn't sent ours and is snapping at anyone who tries to talk to him. Honestly? This is a project that can be done in less than 10 minutes - easily and by now it's been at least an hour - oye! Anyways - lucky for us the teacher is great and agrees to let us present our project next time. Phew!

Then it was on to the library where I couldn't find a computer. Which - can I say? That is one thing this campus seriously needs to work on. I can't tell you how many times you go to the library and can't find a computer and it's not just me because I see at least a dozen people wandering around looking too. So I'm about to give up when someone asks "Are you looking for a computer?" I turn and it's this kid from my service trip to Mexico last fall. "Yeah I am actually." "Well I'm done so you can have mine" *insert hallelujah chorus here* It was so nice! That almost never happens!

After the library I headed over to the student center to and listen to a presentation. This thing is so cool! So there's this program (http://www.isvonline.org/) where students go and volunteer in a country for 2 weeks and then go and have an "adventure" for 2 weeks. And I'm not talking about just site-seeing adventure I mean full on rafting, exploring, horseback riding, scuba diving, rappelling, zip lining through the rain forest kind of adventure! Um hello! Amazing! So I really want to go because:

How cool would it be to go and volunteer in a country - like help in conservation of endangered species, rebuild houses, help protect the rain forest, teach English to kids and the like. For two weeks! Do you realize how much of a difference you would make? I love it! I did Alternative Winter Break last year and helped with this kind of stuff (minus the animals and rainforest thing) in Mexico and I can't even begin to describe how that made you feel. Honestly one person really CAN make a difference.
It's a foreign country. I don't know about you but I LOVE to travel and don't really get to do it a whole lot. I was so lucky to get the chance to go to Europe after high school as a student ambassador and it really changed my life. It is so amazing to go to a different country and see the sites, meet the people and just live! Granted I'm really not the kind of person who would just be like "See ya I'm going to Russia for a week!" I'm very much one of those people who likes to go see things but with a group... call it issues but whatever. I love to travel and see new things.
Holy Adventure. I was reading about the different things you'd get to do and it's stuff that is seriously exciting! Those who know me know I'm not much of a "Let's go jump in a river and go White Water Rafting" or "You have rope? Let's go rapelling off that huge cliff." Nonetheless - to get the chance to do some of the things they're offering would be life changing. They're things people only dream of doing and you'd get to do them - lots of them! - with in a two week span of time. Can life get better? I submit that it cannot!

So moral of the story? I want to go... SO badly! The only thing that's really stopping me is money... it's kind of a pricey thing. It really was a miracle that I was able to go to Europe in '05. A miracle. My extended family, ward members, and family friends were more than generous in donating money to me so that I could go. I honestly can't even begin to describe my love for all of those people! I could never ask them to donate money again - I just don't have it in me. The only way I could do this is if I am a work-a-holic and can maybe get sponsered by local companies - which would be a huge challenge. I wouldn't even know where to begin... Oh! Just so you know - the two places that I want to go would either be to New Zealand or Costa Rica. Given the choice I'd go to New Zealand. Yes it's more expensive and some of the "adventure" activities aren't as cool but um, hello!! It's New Zealand!! I've wanted to go there for SO long and when else will I really get the chance?

So after my grand adventure in learning about this amazing program I headed off to my Honors class. I love that class... It messes with your mind and makes you think! The new TED talk we discussed was "Larry Lessig: the Law is Strangling Creativity" (In case you want to watch it here's the link: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html) It's insane. It's all about how crazy some of the copy right laws are and that we, in all reality, are just remixing things in our society. For example, you go out to youtube and see a video like say this one:

Funny Right? Well is this thing a violation of copy right laws? People are trying to tell the creators of things like this that it's "piracy" but it's not! Everything that we do is built off of what others have already said or done in some form or another. I don't remember who said it but there's a quote that says "The only man certain he had an original thought was Adam." It's true! We are what others have said or told us. So does that mean when we write an essay for a class that along with citing all of our sources we took our research from, should we have to cite our parents? Our church leaders? Our friends? If you think about it a lot of the conclusions we draw in papers like that are from what others have told us. Are we violating a copy right by not crediting them? Oh man I love that class...

Anyways! I'm off to see what other events will happen today. Wish me luck!

Giving in...

2008-09-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

Well here I am. I've finally joined the world of blogging. It's something I've been avoiding for years and now I've at last given in. I'm not sure why I waited so long or what the big deal was but I'm here now and that's all that matters. Right?

So my final deciding factor for "giving in" was Dani... well really my Honors class... but we'll just say Dani so she feels special. In my class we're supposed to be tracking our thoughts throughout the semester and present all of our random connections to the class as our final project. Dani thought it would be a good idea to create a blog to track the mind process. Inspired by her brilliance I have decided to follow in her footsteps (which is really hard considering my feet are twice as big as hers!).

Anyways! So my Honors class seriously has to be one of the most amazing classes ever offered. The class involves watching lectures online (http://www.ted.com/) and then discussing them in class. These lectures, however, are not your typical sit-in-class-wanting-to-chew-your-leg-off kind of lectures. They are actually really exciting! The people giving the lectures have 18 minutes to talk about whatever they'd like and believe me it gets interesting! For example, in our first class we experienced this TED talk :

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/rives_on_4_a_m.html

Crazy huh? I love it! Who thinks of these things and finds these kind of connections? Granted I really don't think this guy did this in all seriousness but it really does make you think... How many thing in life ARE connected? How many times have you talked with people only to find you've met them before? Or they know some random person that you do? Or how about events that occur that have some obscure connection to something else? Our world is seriously full of connections and if you really think about it, it can be kinda creepy. Maybe Rives really isn't too far off from the truth.