A Decade in Review

So you know how, at the end of the year, or decade, lots of newspapers and such post "The Best ... of the Decade/Year", I thought it would be neat to do one of those. So here I go.

10 Biggest Events of the Decade (in my life) that I am not soon to forget (Not necessarily in any particular order):

1. Moving to China

2. My Aunt Janice and Grandpa Alan passed away

3. I started middle school, 2 high schools and college.

4. I some how made it into BYU

5. I finally decided what I want to be when I "grow up" (this is the one question you are asked your whole life, so finally deciding is pretty exciting!)

6. I got to visit New Zealand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and lots of places in China.

7. I took a tour of the East Coast

8. I started babysitting and nannying, which spurred a life-long love of kids =]

9. I got to visit Hawaii

10. September 11: I was luckily not affected directly, but it is one world-wide even that I won't soon forget.

Top World Events that stick out in my mind:

-September 11

-Fighting in Xin Jiang, China (this is really significant to me because I visited here before the most recent fighting, and it was my favorite trip)

-Disappearance/Murder of Laci Peterson

-Kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart (and her subsequent finding)

-Disappearance of Susan Powell

-Crash of AirFrance Flight 447 that disappeared over the ocean

-Tsunami in Southeast Asia

-Hurricanes that devastated the South

Top Movies I have seen (and this probably isn't a comprehensive list since I've seen so many!)

-Angels and Demons

-Twilight/New Moon

-Poseidon

-The Secret Life of Bees

-Enchanted

-Juno

-(I know there are more!)

Ok. I'm going to stop here and think more, and come up with more lists =]

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

So my Aunt Kathy wanted to know what the first thing we watched on our new TV was...the Utah VS Cal State Football game....not our choice =] We had family over that night, and I have one diehard utah cousin, so we had to watch the game. After that though it was 3 Star Wars movies. My dad's choice.

Christmas eve was wonderful. We went up to Temple Square, where the lights were not on. We were told that Temple Square would be closing 6, but turns out the buildings were closing at 5 and the lights didn't come on till around 5:30. So we went into the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to the viewing deck, and waited till the lights came on. Then we did a quick tour (as we were freezing and hungry!) and then went back to my aunts to eat left over soup and sandwiches. Yummy!

Then we came home and I watched half of A Christmas Story.

Christmas morning we started opening presents around 8:30. We all got great things; lots of clothes, I got a few movies, but the best???

WE FINALLY GOT A WII!!! So excited!!! Its the perfect addition to our new TV and entertainment system.

Overall, we are all very happy people!!

Now, off to Aunt Sandy's for a great brunch!!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Holiday Party #1

So tonight we had a gathering with my mom's side of the family. It was the first real big one in a long time. All my mom's family was there except for one uncle (and family) that lives out of town, and an aunt (and family) that lives out of town. It was a lot of fun! We had probably 30 people including kidlets. We did a "white elephant" gift exchange game, except that we brought useful gifts and not weird gifts. We had soup and sandwiches which were really good and lots of yummy desserts!!

Tomorrow we are going up to temple square to see the lights which I'm excited about =] I haven't been up there this year, so I'm glad I get to go with my family.

And then its Christmas! I'm really excited this year!

Also, my family got their new, beautiful, massive entertainment center and 47" flat screen tv. All fantastic Christmas presents!

Merry Almost Christmas!

Clean apartment and almost Christmas!!!!!

So this evening I did all the dishes, washed some towels, wiped down the counters and stove, and swept the floor. And now we have a clean apartment!

I was also able to finish wrapping christmas presents (my moms were the hardest because they were weird shaped) and now I am watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the original). I'm so excited that tomorrow will be my last day of work for a while!! It will be way nice to have a break!

And I can't wait for Christmas!! I'm getting really excited to see family and eat lots of great food!!!

And I also got my work schedule for next semester...and I work Saturdays =[ Its only 4 hours, but I'm not excited. And then I work Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I start at 8 this semester instead of 7, except for Friday. So hopefully all will be fine.

I can't believe that it is almost 2010!! I'm going to have to do a decade in review post, seeing as a lot happened between the year I turned 10 and 19.

-Andrea

Oops

So I guess I didn't blog last night. It was a long day. My roommate Lily was taking a friend to the airport, but she wasn't comfortable driving home by herself. So I went...at 5 AM with them to the airport. We were actually dropping two people off, and the first person's flight left at 7:15 AM, and the second person's flight left at 9...so we dropped off the first person than drove to temple square and ate breakfast, then back to the airport. It was a really long day.

I also went to the Asian ward yesterday with my roommate Lily. She got a new calling as the Chinese Sunday School teacher, so I went to listen to her give her first lesson. She did a good job =] Of course I didn't understand the majority of it, but she had a powerpoint in English. So that helped.

And now today I am at work. For 10 hours. Not too sure why I signed up to work for 10 hours...today tomorrow and Wednesday...but I did. So here I sit. I have yet to start reading my books, but my favorite that I have read before was "The Bean Trees". Probably because it was the only one that had an interesting story line to it. I also love the book "The Secret Life of Bees" which is also a fantastic movie!!

Anywho. It had just dawned on me that I hadn't blogged. So I blogged now. I'm way excited for Christmas and food and gifts, but mostly for lots of food. And no work or school.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Book List

So my Aunt Kathy wanted to know what books I had plans to read.

They are as follows:
The Bean Tree by Barbara Kingsolver

I know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

The Catcher and the Rye by J.D. Salinger

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

And a Mary Higgins Clark book

The only one I haven't read is the Mary Higgins Clark book. We'll see if I can finish them all!

MckMama

So I am an avid blog reader. And one that I check everyday (other then family blogs of course) is MckMama.com

I started reading MckMama when her son, Stellan was born. He was born with SVT (supraventricular tachycardia) which means that his heart would beat too fast (around 220 beats/min) unless he was on a cocktail of medicines. He was rushed to Boston when he was 4 months old for an ablation (where they try and zap the extra electrical pathway in his heart that causes his heart to beat too fast), but it was unsuccessful because he was so small. It was also hard to complete because his extra pathway was located right on his AV node, which means that there was a good chance they would destroy his AV node, meaning he would have to have a pacemaker for the rest of his life. So they sent him home on more (and higher) doses of medicine. Fast forward to November, the week before his 1st birthday. Stellan stopped responding to the medicines and was becoming sick because of being on all the medicines. They took him to the hospital where it was decided that he would have to have another ablation. He was flown to Boston, and he was taken off all medicines so the doctors could see when they did the surgery where his pathway was exactly. They started detox on Sunday, and had the surgery planned for Thursday. Sadly, Stellan coded on Monday morning. They were able to revive him, but had to do an emergency abaltion. They decided that if they had to, they would destroy his AV node and he would have a pacemaker for the rest of his life. So during the surgery, they had exhausted all options, and the pathway would not go away. Right before the main Dr. decided to destroy the AV node to get rid of the pathway, one of his colleagues suggested that they go through his aorta to try and get rid of it. Now, if they were able to ablate the pathway, they wanted to ablate it for 2-3 seconds to be sure it would be gone. (Oh and the chances of a successful surgery without destroying his AV node was like...20%) SO they go through his aorta, have access to this pathway WITHOUT touching his AV node, and they ablate it...for a whole minute. His surgery was a home run!!

Stellan was curred of his SVT with no lasting effects. He still has an intact AV node, and there was no damages to his aortic valves. There is less than 1% chance that his SVT will ever come back.

So why did I post this? Not quite sure, but I love reading this blog! It is quite a well known blog now, because of Stellan. His parents have been on the news because of him and his mom is just a fantastic blogger (and photographer). They also have 3 other children.

Though the reason I blogged about this now is because MckMama is giving away Lightroom 2 (a photo-editing software) and if you blog about it, you get another entry into the contest. So I'm blogging about it and getting another entry into the contest! I doubt I'll win, but thats ok.

Now you all know about Stellan.

So go check out www.mckmama.com to learn more about them and to enter to win Lightroom 2!

-Andrea

DONE!!!!

I'm DONE!! I decided to just study and take my last final tonight so I could be done!! So I studied and took it. It took 1 1/2 hours, and wasn't fun. I went through and answered all the ones I knew...which was almost 1/2. And then I went through and used process of elimination, and then I completely guessed on about 10. I didn't do so hot, but the class is curved, so yeah.

So now I'm free! I made a list of books I want to read over break. They are all ones I read in high school, but I want to re-read them now, thinking I'll appreciate/understand them more. So I'm pretty excited.

OOh. And last night I was craving sweets...so I made homemade, from scratch, brownies. And they were sooooooooo good!!

I worked for 7 hours today, and it actually wasn't too bad. So I'm less worried about break work (I was afraid it would be realllly long) but I'll be able to read and such too.

And I'm hoping to get a hair cut this weekend, so I'll be posting about that!

Have a great night/day!

Once Again

I did nothing today. I was supposed to study, but because I didn't have any work, that didn't happen. I work tomorrow and I will study (because I won't come home from the library till I do) and then either take the test tomorrow night or first thing Friday morning. And then I'm done!!!

Really

don't have anything to blog about. Took another final today. Didn't do so hot.

Only one more to go!!!!

And I'll be done!!!

Its the start of something new?

Nope. Finals.

I had my first (this semester) final today. Well thats not entirely true, but I don't really count Chinese. Which by the way, I found out I officially got an A- in the class, which is just fine with me. So that was great.

Today I had New Testament. I went in feeling very confident, knew all the terms and such that my instructor had on the study guide, and knew the maps we were going to have to draw/label. And then I started taking the test and a good majority of the test was not on the study guide, which kind of frustrates me. Either make an accurate study guide or don't make one at all. Anyways, I pulled a C on the final, which was fine with me, and got a C in the class, which is also fine, seeing as I hadn't done too well on past tests.

Tomorrow I am taking Chemistry and either Wednesday or Thursday night, but probably Friday morning I will be taking human physiology. So thats all great.

I'm really excited to be done with all this, and then I'll just be working all break (with the exception of a few days). So yup!

Hope everyone is doing well!

-Andrea

Fail.

So I totally didn't blog twice yesterday like I was supposed to. My roommates and I had another movie night (we've had one every night for like...the last 4 nights. or more). And then we ended talking till 2 AM and were watching the snow. I love it! I'm so grateful that I have such great roommates and that we can do things like that.

And I forgot to talk about cinnamon rolls in my last post. My friend Kelly is moving to St. George for an internship next semester, so she had a cinnamon roll party (she is famous for making them). She came over to borrow some pans and I asked her if she needed help. She said yes, since she was single handedly making 8 dz cinnamon rolls. So I went over for the next 3 hours and helped her make cinnamon rolls. Needless to say I am now a pro at making cinnamon rolls.

Today I went to my ward and my cousins stake conference. Then we went to visit my aunt and take pictures of my cousins kids. So we had fun doing that. Then my cousin and I played the new Wii SuperMario Bros. And we died...a lot. But we had fun.

And I conducted the choir for the first time in sacrament meeting. Or maybe I never told you guys. I'm the ward choir director. So we had our Christmas program and I had a lot of people compliment me on how well the choir sounded, and that it was the best they had sounded in a while. So I was proud.

And now my roommate Lily is having a game night with a few friends, and I come home, recognize one of them, and realize I know the other two as well. One I went rock climbing with once, and the other one was doing a study on my Chinese class. So that was kinda weird.

Anyways. Tomorrow starts finals. I have New Testament tomorrow, and then Chemistry on Tuesday, and possibly taking Human Physiology on Wednesday. I took Chinese last week.

Wish me luck!

-Andrea

Work party and Cinnamon Rolls

On Thursday we had our work Christmas lunch. It was so good! Our bosses made soup and we all brought other things. It was all great! And it was so awesome to get to hang out with all the people I work with. I really do like them all, but even if I work at the same time with some of them, we never really work together, as we all work in different areas each hour. So that was fun to get to chat with everyone. I of course had my camera so I took some pictures of people. I had wanted to get a group picture, but that didn't happen.

Anyway, here are some pictures of that event.

The table in the workroom they so nicely decorated, and the food we ate. It was all fantastic!

Some of my coworkers =]

More of them.

Some of the crazy guys I work with. The one in the plaid shirt, Rob, wanted to go and have a dance party in the library, so he asked Ben (in the stripped shirt) to dance. And then proceeded to start dancing =]

And then he wanted to fling this braclet at Ben, so I of course had to capture it.

We all have a lot of fun, and even though we don't get to hang out much, we still are good friends!

And I'm sorry this didn't get posted on Friday. I had it all written out, and for some reason I saved it, and left, thinking I'd come back and finish it...well I didn't get home till early, and so I forgot. I'm sorry. So you all will get 2 posts today =]

-Andrea

A memorable last Human Physiology Class

Today was our last day of classes, which was super exciting!! My human physiology professor is an older gentleman who has lots of ailments (his words) but he suffered through a lot of pain this semester so that he could teach us. He was diagnosed with shingles this week among other things. A few days ago our class got an email from a fellow classmate that they were going to do something special for this professor (Dr. Rhees). Then last night we got the details. Dr. Rhees lectures without shoes on because of his pain, and so the first part of the plan was that, a few minutes before class started (after Dr. Rhees had taken his shoes off), one of the students (who was actually recently diagnosed with Lymphoma) was going to take her shoes off and place them with his. This was our cue that we were to take our shoes off and put them with his as well. So we did. And this was the result.

Our pile of shoes =]

Dr. Rhees then went on to finish up the last of our material, and then he gave his "Last Class" lecture. Sadly, the projector kept breaking, but luckily he was able to finish it. Background: There are these cookies called Granny B cookies. They are big sugar cookies with pink frosting, and Dr. Rhees loves them!! Anyway. The plan was that we were to write thank you notes to Dr. Rhees, and on our way into class, we picked up one of these pink cookies. Once Dr. Rhees had finished his presentation, one student stood up, walked to the front, placed the cookie and note on the front table and shook his hand. This was our cue. I was prepared with my camera, so I had a friend take my cookie and note up, but we all went up to show our appreciation to Dr. Rhees. He shook everyone's hand, and was so amazed that we had done this for him. Another neat thing was that his wife was able to come to witness this.

Receiving cookies and shaking hands.

Dr. Rhees and his sweet wife.

This is my classmate who had organized this all. He was in Dr. Rhees' class 10 years ago (He then went off to med school, but something happened and now he has to retake classes again..hence he is in Dr. Rhees' class again). If you notice, in his left hand, he has an apple. 10 years ago Dr. Rhees had a thing for apples, and this man had organized a similar thing, but with apples. When we all started to bring up the cookies, he immediately called out "Steve, did you do this?!". Dr. Rhees had remembered what Steve had done 10 years ago, and that showed us what an impact something like this means to him.

The end result. A mass amount of cookies and thank you notes. Dr. Rhees vowed his grandchildren will not be allowed one cookie. He will be eating them all =]

Our fantastic class (well, a good part of them). They wanted a group picture. The awesome thing was I didn't even have to organize people!! They organized themselves into rows and everything. That was neat =]

So that was my fantastic day! We also had a work party today, but I'll save that event for tomorrow's blog post =]

Hope everyone has a great day!

-andrea

New Look

So how do you like my new blog look?? I decided it needed a change, so I spiced it up a bit.

I really need a new haircut too. I've decided that as much as I want it short, it needs to get a little warmer before I cut it super short again. But it does need some stylin.

I took the first part of my Chinese final. Well actually it was the second half, and we'll take the first half tomorrow. I'm pretty confident. It was just reading and answering questions and matching, which wasn't too bad. I also had to write a dialogue, which wasn't too bad either, since any word I couldn't remember was somewhere on the page, which is awesome. So tomorrow we'll have vocab and sentence structure, where they give us a word and we have to make a sentence. So that will be fun.

I'm also excited that I don't have to work on Friday. It will be fantastic!! Though I have a lot of review sessions that day so not much free time. No worries though, the "free" time is right around the corner!! I say "free" because even though I have no classes, I do have work, but its not like I'll have to actually do anything but sit and read and surf the web. It will be fantastic!!

Oh and by the way, when I got to work this morning it was -1 degrees F, and 2 hours later, it was -5 degrees F and it felt like -20. Great. I was freezing!!!

Hope everyone is staying warm!

Finals, Finals, Finals

Tomorrow begins finals for me. Well, thats not entirely true, since I had my oral Chinese final on Monday, but that was a piece of cake. Tomorrow I have the first half of my Chinese written final, and then Thursday I will finish it. Exciting!! One down, three to go!

Thursday we are having our work Christmas potluck. Thats pretty exciting. And we are also having a potluck after we finish our Chinese final on Thursday, also exciting! Thursday is also, finally, our last classes for the semester! I am beyond excited!!!

Friday I don't have to work, since it is the beginning of our reading days, which is great. I have some reviews scheduled for Chemistry and New Testament, which is great and hopefully will help!

So my posts are going to be a bit boring from now till finals is over, but do not fear! I will blog! Maybe I'll do some flashback posts, things from China or something.

Have a great day everyone!

-Andrea

Family Home Evening

So tonight I had to decide between two different FHE's to attend. My ward FHE group was caroling with llamas. My FHE dad organizes caroling with llamas every Christmas, and they go caroling and collect food for the food bank. And my extended family was having FHE together, which is something I always love going to. I ultimately decided to go visit with family and I'm always so glad when I do. My family family didn't come down because of the snow, but most everyone else was there, and I remember why I love extended family FHE so much! I love singing with my family, especially about our Savior's birth. Being it the Christmas season, we read the Living Christ and sang Christmas hymns. We have been doing these extended family home evenings since, forever, and I have always loved them and I'm so grateful we have started them up again here in Utah.

Being the holiday season, you think more about what you are grateful for, and I am truly grateful for family and the closeness I have with them, and that we can always get together and have a great time.

Anywho. This is my last week of classes and I'm beyond excited!!

Have a great week everyone!!

-Andrea

Fantastic Christmas Dessert Party

So my roommates and I put on our Christmas Dessert Party tonight and it was a huge success! We were hoping for at least 30 people to come through, and we had over 40 at least (we only had 40 cups =] ) We had just the right amount of desserts and everything was great! The only thing that we ran out of was punch, but it was ok!

So we had our apartment all decorated, and we had truffles, chocolate cupcakes, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, peach pastries, rice crispies and scones.

We were really proud of ourselves. We had scrubbed our floor like 10 mins before it was supposed to start, but it had snowed....needless to say our clean floors are no longer. And we have some mud spots on the carpet too...but its ok. It was a great party!

Next party: January. Crepes party. Were stoaked. It won't be as big and people will need to bring things (since crepes can get expensive) but its going to be so fun!

Saturday

So Saturdays are great days because I get to sleep in and don't have to do anything. Except today I needed to go to the grocery store, and didn't have a way to get there. No worries. I have a fantastic cousin who is going to get me to go grocery shopping =]

Not much else went on today. There were some snow flurries, but nothing heavy. Hopefully tomorrow night!!

Tomorrow night is also our dessert party! I really hope it turns out!!! 

I'll post pictures of it tomorrow night after its over and give it a review =]

Hope everyone had a great Saturday!

-Andrea

Couponing!

So my cousin Jennifer started doing this new Grocery Savers program and tonight she held a class so we could learn all about it. I went with an open mind, but wasn't too interested but I figured, what the heck. Oh my goodness, I am so excited to be doing this!! It is so much easier then the "binder" method, and pretty much all the work is done for you. You go to a website and it has all the local ads (Smiths, Macy's, etc) all ready for you to look at. You collect the coupons from the Sunday newspapers and put them in file folders till you need them. No cutting and sorting and such. On the website, it tells you what date you can find the coupons in and how much it will be after all the savings. She showed us how much she has spent and saved...its crazy! Like she would spend $100 and would save $250! Crazy!!! I know I don't have a lot to spend since its just me that I'm shopping for, but its a good habit to get into for sure. And if I can get to the point where its no big deal, then all will be well.

And the best part??

Its free...well almost. You have to pay $15.55 a month for the newspaper...I get three every Sunday for that price (the cheapest way was to buy 3 so I did).

I'm really excited so hopefully I can start saving some mula!!

Today was also the last Friday of classes so I'm pretty excited for that too!! So only 4 more days of classes then free!!! Well. Then finals. Then free!!! Sort of. I am working a lot over Christmas break, but thats ok. I'll just read =]]

Hope everyone has a good day!

-Andrea

Ward Christmas Party

I almost forgot to blog today!!

We had our Ward Christmas party tonight. Two girls in our ward are from Springville, and their family cooks food, and they have some mexican in them. So when I found they were cooking dinner for us, I was desperately hoping it would be Mexican food, and it was!! And it was soooooooo good!! So we ate, the activities committee put on a skit to How the Grinch Stole Christmas, there was a musical number, then the Bishop read us a story. It was all fun. But the best part was I got to hold a baby for most of it. Our second counselor has a 6 month old baby, Owen, and our counselor's wife and the baby come to our ward, since its just the 3 of them. So they were at the activity and I got to hang out with Owen for most of the activity which was great, since I don't get much interaction with babies anymore,a nd you all know how much I love babies/kids. So that was way awesome.

We were supposed to have a white elephant exchange, and my roomate Michelle had gotten something for it, but she wanted to keep it more than anything, so we brought it home. We all opened it together, and it was A Christmas Story Ornaments. They are so fun!! Lily has never seen the movie, so each of the ornaments had a picture on it, so we told her that story and put them on the tree. It was a lot of fun!! I'll post those pictures tomorrow.

Were getting really excited for our Christmas Dessert party, and I'll for sure post pictures of that when we have it.

And one of my aunts asked me if I had found a travelling companion yet for my Europe trip, and I haven't. I asked one of my best friends if she was interested, but I haven't heard from her yet. So I'm still looking, but I really like the idea of going alone. So we'll see what happens.

Hope everyone had a great day!!

-Andrea

Thinking about China

So I've been thinking a lot about China today and my time there and what not. When I moved there I really did not want to be there, but as I look back on it now, I am so grateful my parents made me move there.

I was in Chinese today and on MWF, we only speak Chinese in class (or are only spoken to in Chinese) and its crazy for me to think that 3 years ago, I couldn't speak a lick of Chinese, and now I'm getting so much better and I am even beginning to read and write. I was thinking on the first thing I learned in Chinese (other than ni hao) and it was my address. It was a simple phrase, and it took Noelle and I all day to learn it. We were going to meet up with a family in the branch who were going to a museum that we wanted to go to. Our branch president offered to have us dropped off by his driver on his way to work. He tried so hard for the 30 minutes we were in the car to teach us Jingshan bie shu yi bai er shi san hao (Jingshan Villas #123) That was it. But it took Noelle and I forever to learn it! And now, looking back, I think it was so funny that that seemed so hard!

Another reason I have been thinking about China lot is because of what has been in the news. As some of you may know, I visited the most western province in China, Xin Jiang, almost 2 years ago, and now that area that I visited is becoming a war torn area, and the historic areas of it are being destroyed. I absolutely loved that area, and it was by far one of my favorite trips. As I have been seeing pictures of them tearing down this beautiful area to build high rises is so sad to see. I wanted to post a few pictures so you all can see what it looks like there. Most of the people there are Uighers and are from Arab/Russian/European descent, so they don't even look Chinese.

It was so beautiful here!

Now living in Utah, this isn't such a rare scene (desert front, snowy mountains in the back) but at the time, I was fascinated by it and it still is beautiful!

This is by far one of my most favorite pictures ever. This little man has on aviator goggles and is ridding a motor bike.

This is the inside of a house we ate at. Their attention to detail is superb and they have so much color and everything is so ornate. I had the thought that the government is tearing these houses down.

This is a Uighur man. He doesn't look Chinese at all, but ethnically, he is.

The best food ever. Lamb Kabobs.

A beautiful Muslim mosque. I hope they don't start tearing these down too.

This is where the farmers go to sell/trade their animals. There was a picture in a news article that was taken at this place. It was so neat to visit this.

There was another picture I was looking for but I couldn't find it. Anyways. There is my update for today =] Even though it is more of a flash back.

-Andrea

Blog Challenge

So my cousins Julie and Becky are committed to blogging everyday for the month of December. I told Becky I would do it if she would! So here I am. I don't have much to blog about...pretty much since its just finals!

So Thanksgiving was great! I worked Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, then went home Wednesday afternoon and stayed till Saturday night. We had family over for Thanksgiving dinner, and then Saturday morning I got to go see a friend from San Jose who moved when we were 13, but was visiting family in Provo, so that was really fun! Saturday night we had family over again because one of my cousins and her family that we don't see often were visiting, so we had dinner all together again, which was a lot of fun!

I'm in the homestretch for the end of the semester!! The last day of classes is one week from this Thursday so I'm way excited! We found out in Chinese today that our final is going to be next Wednesday and Thursday in class, so that is great! I have two other scheduled finals, and one that I have to take in the testing center. Hopefully things will go fine.

I'm so grateful for my roomates! We have so much fun together! We have been wanting to have a dessert party since September but have just never gotten the chance to do it. So we decorated our Christmas tree and put up lights last Sunday and we decided we were going to have a Christmas dessert party on Sunday, so we are so excited! We have some more decorating to do. I'll have to do a post with pictures after we clean and finish decorating =]

So I should probably stop there or else I'm going to run out of things to blog about!

-Andrea

Hi =]

So again, its been two months.

Not much has happened, otherwise I probably would (not) have updated =]

I didn't get into the nursing program. No surprise there. So I am taking an intro to Public Health class to see what that is all about, but most likely going to major in Biology Education with a Chinese minor. That way I can go live abroad =]]

School is school. Thanksgiving break is next week! I can't wait! This week was the first week of the semester that I had more than one test in a week. And last week was the first week since the 3rd week of the semester that I DIDN'T have a test. It was great.

Not much else is going on. I have my classes picked out for next semester. Taking some basics again that I need for Biology education. I'm really looking forward to being a teacher. I've been told I will be a good teacher.

Also, I'm planning on going to Europe in May. Nothing official yet; still trying to find my tickets at a good price. I'm going to visit a teacher that I had back in China. Her and her family moved to the Netherlands, so I want to go visit them. I also have plans to go down to Paris and Rome while I'm visiting. So that is really exciting!

I'm still loving working at the library. Planning on working there as long as they will let me!

Anywho. Hope everyone is doing well and going to have a great Thanksgiving!!!

-andrea

Wow

So I didn't realize it had been almost 2 months since I posted!!!

Summer went well. I worked 4-6 hours a day in the pastry kitchen.

Mom and family moved into their new house, and a week later all our stuff came! That was a great day. So mom pretty much has the house unpacked and pictures are on the wall and what not.

Oh and I turned 19. That was fun.

My roomate/friend Lily finally came back to stay and were having a grand time. I have two new roomates, Michelle and Allie. Both are great. I think we will all get along well.

I got a new job! I now work in the Periodicals section of the campus library!! It is great! Definitely a change from the pastry kitchen, but I think I am going to love it! It came with a nice pay raise too!

I started classes on Monday. I am taking 14 credits/4 classes: Human Physiology, Intro to Bio-Organic Chemistry, Chinese 101 and New Testament - the First 4 Gospels. So I think I am going to really enjoy the semester. I am worried about Chemistry, as I never really understand it, but that is the only one I am really worried. And there are a few people I know who are in both my Chem and Physiology class, so we can get some good study groups together.

I got to know lots of people in my ward this summer, but then they all moved out, and so now I have to get to know people again at church, but I think I'll be fine.

I think that is about it. I know just spend lots of time at work and school, as I work everyday but Tuesday and I have all my classes everyday but New Testament.

Oh! And I apply for the Nursing program this month, so wish me luck. I don't currently have a back up plan, but I'm kind of looking at maybe EMT, though it might be too high stress. Who knows. Maybe I'll just end up as a science something or other....or maybe I'll go back and try photography...and who knows. Maybe I'll just get married before I have to make any of those decisions....though most likely not, which is just fine with me.

Hope everyone else is doing well!

I'll attempt to post more, though I really don't have much to post on!

My parents have a house!!!

So my parents got the house they were hoping to get!! Its in American Fork, and it is way nice!! Hopefully it will close by the 17th, but the 31st at the latest. Here is a website you can check out to see pictures!!!

http://www.justsnooping.com/tours/2534649/

Enjoy!!

-Andrea

AND BACK =[

So I had every intention of posting while in China, but lovely China had blogger blocked, so that was the reason for my lack of posting. I had a wonderful last trip to China. It was so great to see my family and all my friends!! And of course the shopping was great too =] I have lots of random pictures and maybe I’ll post some. I didn’t get to go to Vietnam like I was hoping to, but my mom went and had a fabulous time. I went to Hong Kong a few times, and went to a few theme parks. When I first arrived, my really good friend Tessa was already there, and there were three other college kids there as well, Destiny, Paul and Kevin. They are the children of a family in the branch, and were there visiting for a month. So it was way fun to get to know them and become friends with them and hang out all together! And of course I saw my friend Alex in Hong Kong as well (Tessa and I met him at the temple at the end of our senior year, and then he went to BYU with us!). So that was all fun! I went to school a few times and saw people there. Went to graduation and the fun after-party! There is a few guys at school who have a band so we went to listen to them play. And then there is a band with a few teachers in it who played after them. They were awesome! Anyway. That was pretty much my trip. Oh and I also tutored while I was there. Two boy, each twice a week. So that was nice to make some money. Overall, it was  great trip.

 

Except for the flight home. Monday night (my last night) I wasn’t feeling so hot. I had a pretty upset stomach, but it eventually went away. I went to Tessa’s and her and I and our friend Ryan watched a movie. Went home and slept fine. Tuesday morning I woke up when my dad came to say goodbye, and all of a sudden my stomach exploded. I spent the next 3 hours, every five minutes, on the toilet. I was throwing up and all kinds of stuff and it was not fun. I could not believe it! I had to be on a plane in a few hours!! I would have just rescheduled my flight, except I had to be back in California to babysit because the parents were leaving for Hawaii the next day!! So I braved it up and some how made it to the airport. But not before throwing up, in immigration, in front of the officer who was processing my passport. Somehow though, they let me through!! I felt much better afterwards, and when I finally got to the airport I just went and laid down (since that was the only position that really felt good!) I stocked up on Immodium, and prayed that I wouldn’t need to use the restroom every five minutes, seeing as I had the window seat. Amazingly I was fine the whole rest of the trip. I didn’t eat more than 2 rolls and a bit of cup o noodles (they threw the rest out before I could finish because I fell asleep and they thought I was done). So I made it to California safe and sound, and I have been nannying this past week. I leave for Utah on Saturday and start work again at the pastry kitchen on Monday. I was hoping to work the 6am-2pm shift, but they are having me come in at 11 =[ Oh well. Hopefully eventually I can move to 6. I just don’t want my whole day shot by working the afternoon. Anyway. Thats about it!!!

On My Way!!! AND HERE!

5:32 PM MST: So I decided I would do some good blogging!! I got this idea from my old home teacher who is currently in Ireland. I am going to write when I can and publish when I have internet access. I am in the SLC airport, and when I went to put in my headphones, I found out that I am missing one of the comfort pieces…not going to work. So I need to buy a new pair. Headphones are an essential part of flying, especially since I sleep while listening to music. And if my headphones won’t stay in, I cannot sleep. Oh well. My flight doesn’t leave until 7:05 PM, so I’ve got some time to kill. I fly to SFO, arriving around 8:15 MST, 7:15 PST. My flight to China doesn’t leave until 1:20 AM PST…good thing I slept in till noon =]

Anyway. I’ll end here and write some more when I get to SFO!!

 

11:38 PM PST: So I’ve been in SFO for a while. I arrived around 8:30, go to check in around 9:15, but there was a line, and no one helping us. So I decided I did not want to just stand in a line, so I went and sat down. I got in line around 9:30 and was on my way by 9:45. I had checked two bags in SLC, and had a carry-on suitcase, a backpack and a tube with a painting in it. They made me check the painting. I told them I already had checked two bags and didn’t want to pay for a third bag. They said that since I was only going to Hong Kong they wouldn’t charge me. Good thing. I changed some money (they charge 8 bucks to change the money for you!!! geez!) and then went through security. It was way crazy, almost crazier than LAX, which is hard to believe. My gate was, of course, the last one. I stopped and got an expensive bottle of water and a new pair of headphones so I could listen to my music. They are not as good as my other ones but oh well. I have now been sitting for about an hour and still have an hour before they board. I was playing my Sims game, but it was getting boring…but luckily I have my phone so I can go on the internet. And since I had money that I still needed to use on my phone, its all good. Hopefully my phone still works when I get back!! I’m supposed to put money on it every thirty days, but I’ll be gone longer than 30 days. Oh well. We’ll see what happens with it when I come back! We’ll when I post next, I’ll be in China!!!! I cannot wait!!!!!!!!!!

Monday May 4th, 10:33 AM China Time: SO I have arrived!! Thats about all I’m gonna say right now as I’m going shopping!!!!

 

I promise to update for all of you who are not with me =] Which is…everyone…pretty much =]

 

 

Love from China! Andrea

New Computer!!!

So I got a new computer!! And it has this really neat program so that I can write a blog post on my computer complete with pictures and what not, and then it publishes it to my blog! So exciting!! So maybe now I’ll post more often!!!

 

So yes. I got a new computer. And it is absolutely beautiful!! It is really shinny, and I’m afraid to get it dirty =]

 

And…I LEAVE FOR CHINA IN 36 HOURS!!!

 

I cannot wait. I’ll be there for 5 weeks, and then 10 days in California. So excited!

 

-Andrea

Fun Times!

So once again, it has been a while since I've updated. No surprise there!

Lots has been happening! For starters, I only have two more days of classes! Then finals begin next saturday...oh joy. I have 3 scheduled finals and 2 that I can take whenever. That will be so much fun. 

Last night I registered for my fall classes. I will be taking Chem 285 (Intro to Bio-Organic Chemistry) PDBIO 305 (Human Phisiology), Chin 101 (Intro to Chinese) and New Testament. It is 14 credits, 3 4-credit classes and a 2-credit class. Oh joy! I really have to focus on my sciecne classes so that is why I am taking Chinese...hopefully it will be easy! 

On the 27th I get to move into my new apartment! With Lily! Except she will be in Japan for spring semester and then Taiwan for two weeks in July. So I won't get to live with her till then...

Which brings me to my next surprise!!!

I LEAVE FOR CHINA IN 22 DAYS!!!!!

I wasn't going to post about it till after I was there, because I was trying to keep it a secret from a few people there...but oh well! I'm way stoked!!! I will be there for 5 weeks, and then in California for 10 days. So excited! 

And as most of you already know, my family is moving back this summer...most likely to Utah. So I am even happier now that I am able to go back one last time. Had Christmas vacation been my last visit, and I had not known it, I would be way upset! But I'm going back again so it its all good!

Not much else is going on. Just trying to make it through finals and such. Hopefully they will all go well!!

Hope everyone else is doing well!

Love,

Andrea

Another new picture

I just wanted to add in this other new picture. My cousin Jen wanted to do my make up on me since I got a new hair cut as well, so of course I let her. This was the result =]

New Hair!

So I decided that it was time to cut my hair. I have not significantly cut it in probably 2 years. I really wanted it long, and have been resisting the urge to cut it. Until now. I was going to wait till Summer and cut it then, but my cousin Jen convinced me to cut it now! So I was going to donate it, but it was going to be a little too short, so I just chopped it all off! And I know you all know how much I love having dark hair, so after the cut, my cousin Jen and I colored it! It turned out so good! I even have pictures to prove it!

My hair before it was cut! See how long it was!!!

New cut, styled, but no new color...yet!

New Color! But not completely styled.

New hair style, color, and its straightened!!

Another angle.

Hopefully I can get a better picture tomorrow of my new do.

-Andrea

I suppose...

that it's time for an update!



China was absolutely fantastics! As was Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Yes. I did indeed go to all those places in a short 14 day; actually I went to all of them in the period of a week, but none the less, it was marvelous!



Christmas was great! I got a bunch of new church clothes, which was very much needed. It has been cold here in Provo. A big change from China and all the rest of the places!



So a little about our cruise! We left the Saturday after Christmas for Singapore, and boarded our cruise ship that night. Our first stop was Malaysia on Sunday. The kids didn't want to leave the ship, so my parents and I left them on the ship and we took a taxi into KL (Kuala Lampur) and the taxi guy drove us around to different places. We went to the Kings Palace, National Mosque, 2nd tallest towers in the world, a Chinese temple (which I saw 3 of in a period of 3 days...in three different countries. I promise they all look exactly the same!), and I think that was all. Our next stop was Phuket, Thailand. This time the kids came with and we went and rode elephants, went to a cashew factory, a handicraft market (that was rediculously expensive) and, of course, a chinese temple. After the tour, it began to pour while we were driving back. I wanted to get some Thai food, but the kids all wanted to go back, so my dad and I walked around, found him an ox, me some thai food (which turned out to be not good) and then went back. I loved walkin around Phuket. I wish we could have stayed a little longer. The next day was an at sea day, so I just hung out in the sun, getting a tan, and reading! I was able to finish two books while on the ship! It was so awesome!! We got into Singapore early Wednesday morning, which was New Years Eve Day. We took a tour to see some of the sights and that was a lot of fun! We had been trying to figure out where to watch fireworks since it was New Years Eve that night. Turns out we didn't need to go anywhere! Our original rooms at the hotel were not ready, so we got rooms on the 24th floor, which was the top floor. The views faced inland, so we were still needing to find a place to watch fireworks. But then they couldn't fit the rollaways into the rooms, so we were moved down to the 20th floor, on the other side of the hotel, which was marvelous! The view there faced the bay, which was where the fireworks were going to be! And since we were so high up, we could see over al the other buildings! We could even see the Singapore Flyer (the largest ferris wheel in the world, even larger then the London Eye, but it was broken when we went!). So we just chilled in our rooms that evening, then watched the fireworks at midnight. So its pretty sweet because I have spent the last 4 new years in 4 different countries! 2005 was in the US, 2006 was in China, 2007 was in New Zealand, and now 2008 was in Singapore. So all in all, it was way fun, all of it! But we didn't get stamps in our passport for malaysia! I was way sad!!!



While I was actually in China, I didn't do too much, just lots of running around, seeing a few people (most were gone), and just hanging out with the fam.



And now I'm back in Provo, studying a lot so that I can get into the nursing program. I am taking 14 credits: English, Human Development, Book of Mormon, Health (HEPE), Intro to Nursing and Chemistry. I found out I cannot apply for the nursing program in May, so I'm waiting till September, and if I don't get in then, then I'll apply again next May. By then I'll pretty much be done with my GE's so hopefully I'll get in. If not, I'll go to another school. So the earliest I'll be able to start a nursing program will be in a year. Longest will be 18 months. So we'll see!! I'm still at my job, but I have an interview for another job this week, but we'll see what happens. There were a lot of people applying for the job. With my current job, I just don't have enough hours to make the money that I need to go to school. I'm also going to be going to school in the spring to finish up my nursing pre-requisites, and I'll work part time, then work full time over the summer. Hopefully as a nanny! But who knows. And then back to school again in the fall doing GE's. So there you have it!!!



Now I'm sure most of you would appreciate some pictures! So I'll post some of my favorites from the break!

Well those are going to have to wait...since I had them all picked out, and then my computer decided to hate me, and I lost everything on my computer (it was all backed up!) So I am now going to have to find them all again, but I have midterms this week, so after I finish them up, I will post a ton of pictures!!!

Keep looking for them, and for a post with an essay that I wrote for English about dating =]]]

Love!

Andrea