Waiting isn't fun

No, waiting certainly isn't fun.

So the process for how mission calls are made is: Thursdays, prospective missionaries pictures are shown on a screen and, through revelation, mission assignments are made! Fridays, calls are written up and mission packets prepared and ready to be sent. Mondays the calls are sent out! Wednesdays (if you are in Utah...and probably all the US) calls are received!

So my papers were sent in on Wednesday, and there was a chance my call would be assigned the next day, but that didn't happen (I know this because my bishop is able (somehow) to see when my assignment has been made), and so I know I won't be receiving my mission call tomorrow. But that's ok; I will know on Friday if it will be coming next Wednesday! Which it probably will be! Some people have said they can't believe how quick it will come, but others don't know how the anticipation isn't killing me. I just say, I'm grateful I only have to wait 2 or 3 weeks. One friend had to wait 6 weeks, another 2 1/2 months, and back before any of it was electronic, people were waiting 3 or more months! So I'm just counting my blessings that I don't have to wait all that long =]

Announcement!

I'd like to interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast (of nothing...since I'm a horrible blogger!) to make this special announcement!

I have decided to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

My mission papers were completed tonight, and the member of my stake presidency that I met with said, unless there is a large number of papers being submitted, there is a 70-80% chance that my call will be assigned on Thursday and arrive to me by a week from Wednesday! I can't believe that by next Wednesday, I could know where I will be serving the Lord for 18 months!!!! (and if not next Wednesday, then the following for sure =] )

So! Now that that is out there, please guess where you think I will serve =]

And now, back to your regularly scheduled broadcast =]

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is a very important day!!

BUT!

You'll have to wait till tomorrow to find out why =]]

hehe =]]


Here is a clue:

The picture was required for my special announcement =]

Check back tomorrow!!!!

When you realize you know nothing (about cars that is...)

It was reaffirmed to me today that I know nothing about cars. At all. 

So I was gifted a car from my cousins earlier this summer. It was wonderful, seeing as I didn't have a car, nor did I have the money to buy a car. So a free car? Perfect. I knew it was old (1994), had a lot of miles on it (228,000), but it ran great. So after about a month, the oil light went on for a few minutes, but then went off. I mentioned it to my dad and he was like, you drove around with the light on? And I was like, well it went off. He went out and checked the oil, and sure enough, there wasn't any according to the dipstick. So he filled it up and said I needed to go get my oil changed, and that every time I put in gas, I needed to check the oil level. Ok. So about a month ago, I finally got the oil changed, where they told me the car was in great condition, but it needed a new battery. Ok, I'll go to Walmart and have them put in a new one. 

So last night, my car started shaking real bad while I was driving (but only when I was pressing on the gas). I made it to my destination and kind of dismissed it. Then on the way home, I was driving down the freeway, and my car was shaking sooooo bad and it was really freaking me out, so I quickly got off the freeway, and it hit me, I hadn't checked my oil level since I had my oil changed! So I pulled into a gas station, checked my oil level, and there was barely any on the dipstick. So I pulled out two quarts from my trunk and poured them in. I started home and the shaking went away. 

Then, this morning, I was going to my parents and stopped off at Walmart to pick up more oil since I no longer had any spares in my trunk. At that time, I also decided that I really should put more oil in my car, since I only put two quarts in the night before. So I put in another 3 quarts, pull out of the Walmart parking lot, am about 2 seconds from getting on the freeway, and I look in my rearview mirror. And what do I see? A TON of white smoke billowing from the back of my car! I immediately swerve out of the lane that was about to take me onto the freeway, and I proceed to go to a parking lot. I am freaking out, as my car is smelling horribly bad of oil and my car is billowing smoke like crazy. 

I park my car, turn it off, and check to see if it is on fire (since I was pretty sure it was!). Thankfully though, it wasn't, but I immediately call my dad and tell him what's happened, though apparently when I tell him the story, I only told him I put in 2 quarts (or that's what he understood). He says I most likely blew a gasket head because I drove around without oil last night. So he comes and rescues me (this is when it is nice that my parents live close) and I show him what the car is doing. He said, yes, that's probably what it is, and it is going to be real expensive to fix, and I need to decide what to do with the car. So we leave it in the parking lot and head home (we were having a family bbq). So I was totally upset because I really just needed my car to last me a few more months. That was all. And then I wouldn't needed it and it could die. So this totally wasn't part of the plan!

We get back to my parents house and after a few hours, I was talking with my uncle and it became clear that between last night and today, I had put in 5 quarts of oil in my car. Yes, 5. My uncle said, you put waaaay too much oil in your car, and its quite possible that that is my problem. He said he would drain in it and then start over, and see if that fixes it. So I began to have a bit of hope! My cousin has AAA and said she had free towing, so we ran to the car and called AAA and they came and towed it to my parents. I told my dad and he said he didn't know I had put in 5 quarts of oil, he thought I had only put in 2 and that that could quite possibly be my problem. So we got the car to my parents house, and my dad kindly drained all the oil. There was easily 8 quarts of oil in my car...yes, my car that holds no more than 4...

Well, long story short, I just had way too much oil in my car!! After they changed the oil, it took a few minutes for the white smoke to stop billowing from my car, but after once around the block, there was no more smoke coming out my car =]] 

Now. How did I end up with too much oil in my car? This is where I inform you about how much I didn't know about putting in oil in my car. 

1) I know how to check if I have oil in my car, and I know where the line should be. What I didn't know was that, when there isn't any oil registering on  your dipstick, that doesn't mean you don't have any oil in your car (like I thought it did), but it means that I need more, but still have about 2 quarts left in it. Hence, I put in 5 quarts, because I thought I had zilch. 

2) I didn't know that you should really only put one quart in at a time, and check your dipstick after each quart to make sure you don't put in too much. 

Anyway. Now you know how uninformed I am. 

And to make things so much better, my uncle is NEVER going to let me live this down =]

The Plight of the orphans pt.2

I promise my blog isn't turning into a plight of the orphans blog, but when I see the way these special children are treated, just because they were born with an extra chromosome, it kills me. It is hard to see them living like this, and it makes you wonder why the Lord allowed them to come to families where they would be abandoned because of their special needs, but then I remember that, they are children of our Heavenly Father, and while it appears that everyone has forgotten about these children, He has not, and He never will, and once they pass from this life, they will live with Him in the Celestial Kingdom forever. That's how special they are.

This beautiful little girl is Liliana.

This beautiful girl, she is 11 years old.


Yes. You read that right, ELEVEN!

She weights 10 pounds. Yes, you read that correct too. TEN POUNDS!

And she live in an orphanage in Eastern Europe, where she has spent that 11 years, all because she was born as an extra special daughter of our Heavenly Father. She was born with down syndrome, and in the country she lives in, people with downs are cast out of society, given up to orphanages, all because of their extra chromosome.

And it kills me. It kills me that the beautiful girl has to suffer, all because she was born a little different than "normal". I know so many 11 year olds, and I can't imagine them having lived their lives like this little girl.


Please, if nothing else, pray for Liliana. It looks like she has a committed family, but this family is relying on the Lord to provide the $22,000 ransom to bring Liliana home.

If you are interested in helping out Liliana's future family and to find out more about Liliana, please go to: http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/2011/08/because-it-is-our-problem.html

I've posted about Adeye before, and she is amazing when it comes to helping to raise the ransom for these children.

Happy Birthday to me!

Ok, so my birthday was...13 days ago, but I can still celebrate right =] I turned the big 21 this year...I'm officially and legally an adult everywhere and (as far as I know) can legally do everything except rent a car. Really? Why do I have to be 25 to rent a car?? They really should make it 21 to rent a car and 25 to drink. Bizarre.

I didn't do a whole lot for my birthday, nothing in fact. I worked...though I did go home and my mom had made me a chocolate cake for my birthday =] It was delicious. And I got Cafe Rio for dinner, which is always delightful. We celebrated again on Wednesday by having Dickey's BBQ for dinner (so good!) and then we left on Thursday for a family reunion up in West Yellowstone! That was so much fun! Almost all of the family was there, and it was great to just be able to sit and visit with cousins who I don't get to see very often. We had a family meeting and I made and announcement (I'll make it on the blog in a few weeks, once some things are more set in stone) but I'm very excited for this up coming year!

School starts in 16 days and I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to it or not...I've got some good classes but I have better things to look forward to after this semester, that this semester could potentially go by really slow! Or it could go by really fast =]

The plight of the orphans

As some of you might know, I nanny for a very special little girl who has down syndrome. Aubrey has opened my eyes to how amazing, incredible, loving and so special children with special needs are. Caring for her and interacting with her has helped me to open my eyes to those around me who were born with special needs, but weren't as fortunate as Aubrey to be born into loving families like hers.

I follow several blogs of families who have children born into their families with special needs, or who have adopted children with special needs from other countries, mainly Eastern Europe. I've also become familiar with the website, Reece's Rainbow, an adoption website that advocates for these special needs children in EE who so desperately need families.

One of the blogs I read, No Greater Joy Mom, has adopted four special needs daughters, two from China and two (with down syndrome) from Eastern Europe. When Adeye brought home Hailee and Harper, they were 5 and 2 respectively, and dear Hailee weight only 15 pounds. Yes, 15 pounds at 5 years old. She grew up living in they "laying room" which essentially meant she spent her entire life, the whole 5 years up till that point, just laying in a crib. All because she had down syndrome. If you looked at the pictures of this poor little girl, your heart would break! Absolutely break! She was as thin as could be, couldn't really sit unassisted, definitely couldn't crawl or walk. But, she was adopted out and has been home a year how, and its amazing what the power of love and nourishment can do for a child! She is walking, talking, has gained weight, and though she is still small for a 6 year old, she is loved and she is saved! It is amazing!

Anyway, Adeye made a commitment to advocate for the 5 children who were in the laying room with Hailee and she made the commitment that, through her blog, she was going to rescue those children! And guess what! She has raised the money through her readers and found families for 3 of those 5 children! They all got the chance to escape, and through the amazing readers of Adeye's blog, the money was raised for the ransom for these children. It is not cheap to adopt from EE, and a grant of $20,000 is considered to be enough to pay for the whole (or almost all) of the adoption. That much money was raised for EACH of those three children! But they aren't the only orphans Adeye has advocated for and raised money for. There are at least 3 or 4 others whom she has advocated for, and through the power of the internet, has raised $20,000 for each child, so that money is not an issue for their families, so that these families who so desperately want to rescue one of these beautiful children doesn't have to say, We can't afford an adoption. All these families need is faith.

And now, Adeye has done it again.

This is sweet Teri Lynn.

She is 5 years old, and has down syndrome. She has been living in a baby house, and has been taken care of quite well.

Four weeks ago, she was transferred to a mental institution because she is 5 years old.

This is what Teri Lynn looks like after 3 short weeks in the institution.

Three weeks! Three weeks in a mental institution did this to a beautiful little girl! That, my friends, is how horrible these mental institutions are. 95% of the children transferred to the institutions will not survive, and most of them don't survive past a year! How can you not want to do something!

And that is where Adeye has come in. Over the past 5 days, Adeye's readers have bonded together and raised over $21,000, plus two people have agreed to match up to $2,500 if that much was raised in a day, which it was. So beautiful Teri Lynn's waiting family has over $26,000 in her grant to be used for her adoption! This is more than enough to pay the ransom for this little girl.

The only problem? She hasn't found her family yet. And without a family, all the money in the world can't save this little girl.

So, could you be Teri Lynn's family? Do you know someone who could be Teri Lynn's family?

Just take a look at this sweet girl. She doesn't deserve to live in an institution, and neither does any other child.


To learn more about how you can help Teri Lynn or to inquire about her, click here.

EM:HE Pt 4 - The Reveal!

This was by far my favorite day! As the morning started, I didn't know if I would be able to go to the revel, as I had to work that morning, but I was able to go! They were supposed to reveal the house at 2 PM, but after having been onsite as much as I had, I knew it would be later. I was there by 2 PM and there were so many people there, probably more than 1500! But because there were so many people, I wasn't able to get up front =[ But I was close enough to get video of the reveal! The area right behind where they were going to be standing was packed with people, but that was ok, because I wanted to be where I could see their faces. I really didn't care all that much about being on TV. I wanted to be there to see them, and see how thrilled they were to be getting their new house. That is why I was there.

I have to say: there were several mothers there who I was very unhappy with. Many of them were there with their young children, who were exhausted, dehydrated and wanted to go home. But these mothers wanted to stay, and so they just let their children cry and be hot and unhappy. It was close to 100 that day, and there was no shade, and those poor children were just so hot! There were several times I wanted to tell the mothers to leave and take their poor children home. I also wasn't happy that strollers and wagons were allowed in the crowed, because it just too up space that other people could have been standing in.

Anyways.

Before the family came, they did the taping of us saying the three magic words: Move That Bus! That was so neat to be a part of! Then the family came in the limo, a few times, while they did some taping of it, and then finally, the family got out of the limo! They did the customary thank you's and such, and then it was the big moment! Ty finally said, MOVE THAT BUS! And off it went! It was such a neat experience to witness first hand the reaction of the family. I was very glad to know that they only move the bus once, and so the reaction you see on the faces of the family are genuine and true. And I'm so glad that I have video of it (crappy, yet still wonderful) and to know that I was a part of their dream coming true, there is nothing to describe that feeling! It is something I will remember for the rest of my life.

As soon as the family went inside, 3/4 of the people left. I knew that the family was going to have to come out of the house (either via front door or laundry door) to go see the guest house, so I positioned myself to be there when they did. And before long, out they came! I got some great shots of Ty and the family and again, being able to see their genuine, true reactions was priceless.

So, while I never officially got to meet any of the designers, no matter how much I really wanted, my week with EM:HE was fulfilled because I got to do the most important thing; build a house for the Gomez family!

EM:HE Pt 3

So my last shift day was Tuesday, June 28. My sister and I were signed up for the 8 AM to 2 PM shift. It was definitely a different environment being there during the day verses during the night, mainly in that there was actually the film crew there! That is always exciting =] The designers for this house were Michael Malony, Paige Hemmis and Xzibit. I am an absolute fan of Michael and so I really wanted to see him. So my sister and I got there (and our friend Drew came too, with the hopes that he could get in as a walk on) and we sit around for the first 2 hours. Finally this painter guy comes up to me and my sister and says, do you want to do something, and I'm like, yes please! So he takes us to the house, gives us some putty and 8 doors and says, putty the holes in the moulding that are around the door and in the door jams. Yes sir! I was so excited to be doing actual construction work! So we do the front door, 4 doors that lead to a small court yard, door out the master bath , laundry room door and the door to the guest house. While we were over at the guest house, I hear "What is the ETA on Xzibit" and I'm like, he is coming over here?! So Noelle and I keep working on the door, and all of a sudden the whole film crew is right there and they are at the door to the guest house, discussing what is going to happen (I won't reveal it, so that I don't spoil anything). The guy asks if the three guys who are standing by Noelle and I if they are volunteers, they say yes, and needless to say, they get in the shot, but Noelle and I don't because we finished working on what we were working on before they actually shot it =[ We were so close!!! But we did get to see Xzibit up close.

After we finished with the putty, we found our painter guy, Jerry, and ask him if he has anything else we can do. He asks if we've ever caulked before and I said no, but I can learn. He says, ok, lets see how you do. So he shows me how to do it, and gives Noelle sandpaper to sand down the doors. I start caulking and realize I'm doing a horrible job! But I soon enough get the hang of it. I'm so excited to be able to say, I caulked those doors, when they show them on TV!!! Who else can say that?! So we caulked all the doors we had just puttied (except the front door, that one was already done) and while we are caulking the guest house, I see a little girl running towards the tent that the stars generally are at (she was in the spectator area). I recognized her and saw the rest of her family =] It was the family I had met on Sunday! So Noelle and I finished up, and then went over to the family to say hi. I introduced my sister to them, and she struck up a conversation with their oldest daughter. Six-year-old Lexi (who is blind and was adopted from China 6 months ago) comes up to me and grabs my hands. I get down on her level, and she asks who I am. I tell her, and before I know it, she is asking me to hold her. I wasn't going to deny her that! So I pick her up and we became best buds right then and there. She is such a sweetheart and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to meet this extraordinary family and their amazing kids! That was just as much of a highlight for me as was being able to build a house for such a deserving family!

Holmes Homes, the contractor for the project, had a photographer walking around, taking pictures, and then they put those pictures up on facebook, and they have one of Noelle and I!

Noelle, sanding or puttying

Me, caulking one of the doors to the patio

I have more pictures from the whole even that I will post later =]

EM:HE Pt 2

So Sunday night, June 26, I decided I wanted to go again and try to get in as a walk-on volunteer. So my friend Drew and I headed up there, but they didn't need us right away, so we hung out in the spectator area for a while, just watching construction, and then about 9:30 PM (we had gone around 8) we went back and they said if we wanted to do landscape and clean up we could go in! So we said sure, anything to get us in. So that night we helped moving sand for pavers, moving the pavers themselves (twice, because the first time, the plywood that they were on was hanging over the edge of the concrete into the driveway, and so they needed it to be moved), and moving gravel to a window well (we left before that project was done, and boy was it going to be a huge project!). So not quite as exciting as the first night, but definitely still great!

A fun experience that I had while we were waiting in the spectator area: As Drew and I were walking to the spectator area, I walked past a little girl and did a double take because I knew who she was! I looked at the other kids in the family and realized I knew exactly who they were! I read their blog!!! They are an LDS family who have adopted 5 special needs kids from China (in addition to their 3 biological children). So of course I had to stop and say hi and introduce myself! I was beyond myself that I got to meet them, as I very much love reading their blog and love that they have adopted from China. You too can follow them at: kidjunkies.blogspot.com I absolutely loved meeting Jeremy and Christi and all their kids!! Thanks guys for letting me meet your beautiful and wonderful kids!

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition pt 1

Many of you probably know the ABC TV show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. My family and I dutifully watched it every Sunday since it began, up until we moved to China. Since being back, I haven't been able to watch as many episodes, but that doesn't mean I don't still love the show! Ever since I began watching it, I have always wanted to volunteer with EMHE (and own a coveted blue shirt!), but up until recently, the opportunity had never presented itself.

On Tuesday of last week, I was driving home (in my new-to-me car!) and heard on the radio that EMHE was coming to Utah, THIS WEEK! I knew immediately that as long as it was within reasonable driving distance, I would be there! And they were! The house they were going to be building was in South Jordan, not far from me at all! I got home and immediately signed up to volunteer for the following Tuesday (June 28) from 8 AM to 2 PM. But then, when my roommates got home I thought, why didn't I think to ask them if they wanted to do it with me. I talked to them, and they said they did, but couldn't do it at the time I had already signed up for, so we looked at all the options and decided we would do that Friday, June 24, from 8 PM to 2 AM. We were all so excited!

So Friday came and Chelsey, Marianne and I drove up to South Jordan, received our blue shirts and hard hats, and were taken on-site! At this point, construction had been going on for about 26 or so hours, and they had the guest house and garage built, and the foundation was being finished in the basement/for the rest of the house. We were taken to the volunteer tent and basically told to sit around and wait, and that we would be on call to help with food. Kind of a bummer, since we wanted to work on the house. But, we figured, at least we are here, helping with what they needed. So we picked up trash, emptied trash bins and just hung out. After about 1 1/2 hours, they finally said they needed our help! Yay! We were so excited to go out and be at the construction site! Our first task was to move 2x4's from one area to the next. So the 20 or so of us made a line and we passed the wood down the line to where it needed to go. Unfortunately, we didn't have gloves on, so we all got a few splinters; ouch! After we completed that job, we sat and waited for something else to do. After a while, there was another wood pile that needed to be moved, so once again, we formed a line and moved the wood pile.

Finally after about 3 hours of being there (our shift was 6 hours long) we finally got word that they needed everyone to help with taking the forms off the basement walls! For anyone who has never done construction or been at a construction site, when you are doing a basement, they put up these huge forms, and and then fill the middle with the concrete, let it dry, and then take them off. There were about 60 or so volunteers and just as many, if not more, volunteer construction workers. So the construction workers would take the forms off the concrete, pass them to the men, and then the men would pass them off to us women and we'd take them to the truck. Now, there were mainly two types of forms: 4 ft-50lbs forms and 8 ft-100 lbs forms. So these aren't lightweight things! They had wanted us to form a line all the way to the trucks, but there were too many things and they weren't all going to the same trucks, and it really was just easier to have the guys doing a line to pass them to us, and the we would carry them where they needed to go. And that is how it went for 3 hours. We took all the forms off the house in 3 hours! We were told this would take a normal sized crew 5-7 DAYS! Yes! That is the power of volunteers =]

So that was absolutely incredible to do! I so much enjoyed my first day there (and it was so nice to be there at night!) that I couldn't wait for the next time I was going to come!

My resolve to do better!

I don't know why, but I want to be a better blogger! Before I went to Europe, I had gotten in the habit of journaling every day (and then got out of it while in Europe...dang it!). When I was getting into the habit of journaling everyday, I started looking at my days differently. I began to look at them and really try and find the exciting things in my day. The days that I normally would have considered boring, I began to find something interesting in them, whether it be something at work, or something at home or church or school or wherever, I began to find that at the end of the day, there was so much I wanted to write down, and so much that I wanted to remember!

While I was in Europe, I *kept* a blog, www.bloggingfromeurope.blogspot.com and while I didn't update it every day, I did go back and blog the whole trip (almost...) because I don't ever want to forget that trip! And now that I've been back a whole week, there are so many things that I've done that I want to remember and share! And I want to be better at posting pictures!

BUT!

To make me want to do this, I need people to actually be reading it and commenting because knowing someone is out there, wanting to read my blog makes me want to keep writing so I don't lose them (like I have...)

So, I've opened up my blog again, so that it isn't private anymore.

I won't be posting about every little thing, but there are definitely things I want to share, and I really want to start doing flash back posts.

I'm not taking classes this summer, and have plenty of time to blog, and for as much time as I spend reading other blogs, I can definitely do some posts of my own!

And so it begins.

My summer of blogging!


*and if anyone knows how to do one of those cool signature things that posts to the bottom of my posts, leave me a comment!*

School, Finals, Europe, Oh joy!

Well, its been another month =] Classes are now over and finals are among me! I have three more finals to take, one today, one tomorrow and one Wednesday! As you can tell, I'm not studying =] OH well.

Europe! Less than one month! If anyone is still reading this blog, you can follow my Europe blog at bloggingfromeurope.blogspot.com and I've actually been posting on it! A miracle I know. I have my schedule of what we are going to be doing there and such, and I just can't wait to go!!! It will be so fun!!!

Also, I've started my photography business, capturing.joy photos, and you can find me on the web at capturingjoyphotos.com I've done one engagement photo shoot since starting my business, but I've done several other shoots before that to build up my portfolio! I'm loving my new camera and working towards a new lens. I priced it out, and if I could manage to get 8 photography shoots before I leave for Europe then I could buy my new lens...but I don't think thats going to happen, so I'll just rent the lens for Europe and work towards it when I come back =]

Not much else is going on! We had a garage sale on Saturday to sell all the rest of Aunt Barbara's things that we had still. It was a huge task, but we sold probably 85-90% of it!! Which is AMAZING! Considering we started with close to 1200 books, 15 buckets of holiday decorations, some bigger items, and lots and lots of little random things. We were left with maybe 200-300 books, and just a handful of other things. It was incredible how much stuff we sold! My mom is very excited to have her garage back =]

Anyways. Back to studying!! If I keep on track with my once a month posting, my next post will be from EUROPE! But I'd just recommend reading my Europe blog because its more likely I'll just be posting there =]

Well then.

Once again, its been a while =] Nothing too exciting is happening, just school, of which I only have 21 more days!!! Can't wait!! And...

I'M GOING TO EUROPE ON MAY 16!!!!


I am beyond stoked!!!! I am going to the Netherlands for 2 weeks (with a weekend in Belgium to visit a friend from high school) and then my family comes June 1st, and I'll go meet them in London, where we will spend a few days, and then go off to France, Germany and Italy. I am so beyond excited!

I'm also getting a new camera tomorrow! Its a Canon 40D and I got it for an amazing price, as well as its coming with a lot of extras...like 5 batteries and 4 memory cards! Which is awesome because I am going to need a lot of memory cards and batteries for Europe!!

My cousin Megan Jensen is featuring me as a guest blogger on her blog on Monday, so check it out! www.so-ingbuttons.blogspot.com She does Monday Memories, and she asked me to contribute a memory! I think I am going to start doing that as well, since I have so many pictures and so many memories, especially from my time in China, and since I didn't blog much (or ever) while we were in Europe China =], I thought this would be a cool way to go back and do that. No guarantee, but hopefully I will do it!

Like I said, school is almost over! This semester has been death...three science classes, two labs, and mission prep. Yup, thats a lot. But its almost done, then I'll have a week off, a week of nannying, then another week, and then EUROPE!

And the another great thing? I found out my friend from high school, Ryan, is coming to Europe with me!! He wanted to, but didn't think it was going to work, but he texted me today and said he could go for sure!!! I'm so excited and it will be so fun to have someone to travel around the Netherlands and Belgium with! And he and I and my friend that I've visiting in Belgium all went to high school together, so that will be a lot of fun as well to all get together! Can't wait!!!!

Provo Tabernacle Fire

So as many of you may (or may not) know, the Provo Tabernacle burned down over the course of the last two days. I went out to see it yesterday (Friday) and to take some pictures. The fire was still burning 12 hours after it started, and continued to burn for about 24 hours. The reason for this was because when the roof collapsed, it trapped all the debris underneath and since the firefighters couldn't go inside, they were only able to poor water on top of everything, which never could get to the underneath debris. Last night on the news I was watching the clips and footage that they got of the fire, and I noticed in one of the clips that, in the doorway, you could see a picture of Christ. The weird thing was that the whole picture was burned, except for Christ. I kind of thought I was just seeing things, until I came across this blog post: http://www.eat5hams.com/2010/12/fire-and-ice.html

And then I realized I really had seen something! It saddened me though because I figured the picture would be gone by the time I got there the next day. I went over today and I knew which door I needed to go to to see if by some miracle the picture was still there. Pretty much everything inside the tabernacle had been burned and fallen down by this morning, and the wall that the picture had been on was no longer there. I figured the painting had perished, but it was still neat to think about. Tonight, I was looking at more articles on the fire and noticed that one of the articles had new pictures. I opened up the pictures and you will never believe what they were of. The firefighters had saved that painting! They went in and got it and truly everything in the painting was burned except for Christ. You can see them here: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=13709985 I really could not believe that. I don't know when they rescued the painting, but I hope it gets preserved. To me, that was a testament that the Lord's hand really was in all of this. For the painting to have been sparred in the way that it was is just incredible. It is literally a perfect circle around Christ. Amazing.

End of the Semester!!

Well the semester is over, well, it will be completely when I finish my last two finals. It wasn't a horrible semester though. I enjoyed my classes for the most part, and I really enjoyed all of my professors; they were wonderful! I already too my Doctrine and Covenants final and my chemistry final, so tomorrow is going to be humanities and maybe statistics, but if not, I will take statistics first thing Friday morning! And then I will be done! Well, for two weeks. But I am excited for next semester...though I am always excited for the next semester =]

Nothing exciting is going on other than school though. I am looking forward to Christmas break, especially because I am doing three, over night nanny jobs for three different families. It will be a lot of fun! And I'm excited to have a break from working at the library. I'm not working there over break because of all the nannying, so it will be nice to come back in the new year ready to work again =]

Well, that was short and sweet and to the point. Pretty much I'm sick of studying and just needed something else to occupy my time. And I'm also working on creating a photography website (that's something else I've recently become really interested in, again!) So when I get that up I will post for people to see =]

What's new?

Not much =]

It snowed today on the ground for the first time this season! I was pretty excited!! It didn't last a whole long time, but it was still great.

I've been figuring out whether I'll be taking Chinese again next semester. I was going to, no question, but as the semester has gone on, I've stopped enjoying Chinese. I don't enjoy doing the work, I don't enjoy learning the language, and I think its time to stop. Its becoming more of a chore than something I really enjoyed and loved. So sadly I won't be taking Chinese anymore (or at least not next semester). This left me with a need for another class (since Chinese was a 4 credit class and i was at 13 credits). So I've picked up Physics for next semester. So I will have 4 classes and two labs: Molecular Biology, the second half of the chemistry class I'm in now (plus a lab), first half of the introductory physics class (and a lab), and mission prep. My roommate thinks I'm pretty crazy to be taking all of that, but I think I'll be ok. Chem is just building off of what we've learned this semester, which I've pretty much understood all of, and molecular biology is mostly proteins and nucleic acids which is what I love learning about! And then there is physics, which I've never taken, so I'm thinking that will be the hardest class, but I'm really excited =] And mission prep is just to (hopefully) help me decide whether I want to serve a mission or not...since, scarily, if I do, it will most likely be within the coming year! But who knows!

This semester is going well. As I said, Chinese is no longer fun, so I'm struggling through it. Chemistry is great, I'm enjoying what we are learning about, Humanities is also really enjoyable (I saw my first opera, The Magic Flute by Mozart on campus last week: Amazing!) and I'm starting to really enjoy classical music, Doctrine and Covenants is great as always and stats isn't too bad!

Work is just work. We get a new supervisor on Monday. It will be sad to say goodbye to the one we have now, but we're hoping the new one will be just as great!

Funny, yet sad story: Last Friday, my chemistry professor was doing demonstrations with pressure. One of them was to heat water in a large can and then roll it in ice to see it implode. After it was heated up, he put it on the floor and proceeded to jump on it to show us that it wouldn't collapse under his weight. I'd seen him do this experiment before, so I knew it wouldn't. Unfortunately, he fell right off that can while jumping on it. He is tall and thin and he landed right on his shoulder. He got up and said he thought he dislocated his shoulder. He finished the experiment (shows how dedicated he is as a professor) and then went to sit down. You could tell he was in a lot of pain and his face was draining of color. Turns out, he broke his arm, right at the base of the ball at the top of your humerus (upper arm bone) that goes into your shoulder. So sadly, he now has his arm in a cast (or sling, not sure, since he hides it in his shirt, and then his hand comes out the bottom of his button up shirt, its actually quite hilarious to see). The other sad part is normally, he has a Halloween magic show in class right around Halloween. But because his arm is broken, he can't do it =[ So I'm pretty bummed since I've been looking forward to it since, no joke, the first day of class when I realized that Halloween would occur during this class (I had him last fall semester for another Chemistry class, so I knew =] )

Well other than that, there isn't a whole lot going on. I've taught Sunday School once and it went well! I'm teaching again this Sunday so hopefully it will go well!

2 posts in one month?!

Oh wait. Its October...I forgot! But I'm glad its October!

I woke up this morning to a glorious sight! Snow on Timp Mountain!! I was so excited to see that! I wore my rainboots today, and a sweatshirt...though the sweatshirt was a bit much...not quite cold enough to consistently wear one.

School is going good. Definitely much better, except for last week, when I had three tests and a bajillion homework assignments. But that week is done, and this week is much better =] So far at least.

I joined a dinner group! We eat together Mon-Thurs and only have to cook every other week (there are 8 of us). We also all happen to be in the same FHE group, which is a lot of fun! I was a bit bummed at first, but then I realized that its actually great, because I really like everyone in the group and it makes going to both activities fun because I already have friends in both places! Tomorrow is my night to cook, so I am making Chicken Ziti with garlic bread and a salad. Hopefully it will turn out good!

Work is work. We hired a bunch of new people, and they are all really great! It can be a lot of fun! One sad thing though is one of my bosses is being transfered to another area, and we will be getting a new boss. This could be a good thing, but it could be a bad thing. I'll let you know =]

Not much else is going on. I don't know if I ever mentioned it, but I am a Sunday School teacher now, specifically the Marriage and Family Relations teacher. And Sunday is my first time teaching...thankfully (or maybe not, we'll see) I team teach, so I'm hoping that will be good.

BYU football isn't going so good...we have our homecoming game Saturday...and I am going, but we'll see for how long (I do have to work as well). And the parade is Saturday morning, and I'm planning on going to that (and then I get to take a test).

Anyways. Thats about it!

-Andrea

School!

So school started this week, and boy am I in for a fun semester (not really...). I have Chemistry 105 every morning at 8 AM, Statistics 121 (formerly 221, and I've already taken...) at 9 on M-W-TH-F, Chinese 201 every day at noon, Humanities 202 MWF at 3 and Doctrine and Covenants (the second half) TTh at 10. It's a lot...especially Chinese, but once I get into a routine things will shape up. I really enjoy all of my professors except for Chinese. She is a westerner and I don't like her, especially her attitude and her tone of voice when she answers students questions; its almost like she makes us feel dumb. I only have her twice a week, the other three days is with a TA, whom I do enjoy. Hopefully I'll get used to her...

Work is going good. I don't work Monday's or Wednesdays which is really nice, but I do work Saturdays, which is fine, most of the time.

Yesterday was the first football game of the season, and so I went! I bought an all sports pass this year, which is something I haven't done before, and it looks like it might have been a waste because yesterday's game is the only full game I think I will be able to go to. Every other home game I will either be late to or have to leave early from because of work. Oh well. I did get bored after about half the game anyway, so I guess it will be ok =]

Anyways. I'm looking forward to this semester. It's going to take a while to get adjusted to all the course work, but once I've got it all down, it will all be good!

Well then.

What a surprise! It's been over two months since I posted! And seeing as the last thing I posted was sad news, lets post happy news.

Well, I don't really have any.

But. School starts in less than a month!!! I'm really excited about that. And I get to move into my new apartment on the 25th, and that is really exciting too!

Summer has been great. I got to go to California for 10 days with the family and that was a lot of fun. Other than that, I've just been working at the library and as a nanny 1-2 times a week, which of course I love.

I did a 9 day nanny stint while the parents went to Honduras. That was fun! But a long time, but none the less, I very much enjoyed it.

Not much else is going on. I am taking Chemistry, Chinese, Humanities, Statistics (again) and the second half of doctrine and covenants. That's 16 credits...we'll see how that goes!

Oh and I changed my background if you didn't notice =]

Hope everyone else is doing well!


-andrea