Sunshining

It has been a hard week, there is evidence of it in the messy and disorganized state of my room. However, there have been lots of mini accomplishments, lots of things to make me smile.

1. I am so so so so SO close to being done with the Devotional Promotional DVD, I will be so excited to see the final product. Probably not as excited to watch my bad acting, but still.

2. I'll be home in 6 days. In Florida. Surrounded by people I love. The weather forecast is good. 6 days!

3. I keep getting little phone calls from home. Some from my mommy when she gets home from a run. Some from my sister while she's driving. Some from bud when he has something cool to say and I'm the one he wants to tell. Daddy, who calls me on accident a lot, but then ends up having things to talk about regardless. Even from Blake, who really is practically family anyway, making sure I'm alive and rubbing in things that I miss out on. I love them all. I love our miniature through out the day conversations.

4. Not miniature conversations. Annalee and I talked for 2 and a half hours Wednesday afternoon. Neither of us had much motivation to do anything productive, including shower, so we just sat and talked about everything from China to our little house back in Belleview. It was great. I miss that little one.

5. I finished so much homework. I gave two, hour long political science presentations, gave a 20 minute presentation in Spanish, put a rather large dent in my presidential paper, did an annotated bibliography for my population control paper, read 3 short stories in Spanish and did write ups on them. . . I did a lot of homework. AND I never have to do another presentation in Winter 2010 EVER again!

6. I ate delicious Mexican food


7. I was summoned from my bed on Friday night to hear happy stories from two of my favorites, Kallie and Bruce. Being around them makes me feel like I can conquer the world. They're great

8. Went on a field trip of the Kirkam and Snow buildings. . .BYU-Idaho has cool stuff. We also played some intense elevator tag.

9. Family Dinners! Randi and Devin, Jordan, Blake, and I have been slacking this semester. But we finally got together on Wednesday night and had family dinner. We laughed at Blake's story, talked about why dating is stupid, and made Randi tell us all about her pregnancy. I love family.

10. Brazilian birthday party. I had forgotten how much I simply adore the loud music, louder conversation, and good food complemented with good company. It was a rather nostalgic evening, but I loved every minute of it.

11. Sunday hikes

I'm terribly excited for this coming week. I'm excited to
watch Lion King in Spanish, to eat yummy food with dear friends, to talk and laugh, but mostly to board that airplane and go back to the sanctuary I call home!

Napping Procedure

So, I don't get enough sleep at night, ever. This is fact. It is due to this fact that I can often times be found sleeping in random places on the campus of BYU-Idaho.

This week you may have seen me in the Taylor Chapel, completely sprawled out on a pew during an organ recital. These recitals, might I add, were successfully interrupted by my obnoxious stretching and lip smacking when I decided it was time to wake up.

Didn't see me there? Well, maybe you saw me curled up underneath a row of desks in the library. I would be the girl clutching/cuddling my laptop and muttering in my sleep. Some kind students decided it would be fun to see how close they could get to me without waking me. Another group of people decided to start a loud debate as to whether or not I was actually sleeping out in the open like that, as if I were being indecent or something. Napping is a necessity, people!

Still no luck? Well then maybe you're one of those kind souls who thought I was a nice stranger to sit next to during devotional. If you are one of these wonderful, sweet-hearted people, I apologize for ignoring your need for personal space, for nuzzling your shoulder, and for possibly drooling on you. It wasn't intentional. I just cuddle in my sleep, I don't really have control over it.

I'm trying to work on my napping procedures, and choice of locations. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be really ambitious and actually sleep at night so that I'm not tired through out the day. Until then keep an eye out, I could be seen sleeping anywhere, or on anyone...'s shoulder that is.

Sunday Sunshine

1. First and foremost the Olympics are back! Which means that I sit down with a bag of chocolates to ooh and awe over the amazing athletic ability of these people. I love the representation of sportsmanship. I love the running of flags and playing of national anthems. My heart is full of joy when I watch someone accomplish their goal, and breaks when I watch a crushed dream. I love the torch lighting, the commercials, the stories, the perfect anatomy of the athlete. I have never made it all the way through the games without shedding a tear, I don't mind that too much.

2. Family who lets me come over and sleep in a comfy bed, and eat homemade food, and go see movies about Queen Victoria. Aunt Rochelle's house is definitely one of my happy places and this was a very timely visit.

3. I had my EFY interview this week, and even though my mind was freaking out the entire timeI feel like I did fairly well. Even though the interviewer was intimidating and never smiled I said exactly what I wanted to say, that's the best I could hope for. Now it's just a waiting game.

4. Bruce gave me half a loaf of homemade bread. I am eternally grateful. That is all.

5. Kallie Johnson and Timber Muhlestein make my heart smile. I'm so glad that I was introduced to "Male Prima Donna," that we had girl talk until the wee hours of the morning, and that we have plans to do triathlons and hike the narrows. These girls inspire me, remind me of my strengths, and make me laugh really really hard.

6. I saw Sunshine tonight. I love her, and had missed her a lot. She makes me feel so good about myself, so inspired, and so loved by both her and my Heavenly Father. I hope to amount to half the miraculous woman that she is.

7. My ticket to Florida has officially been purchased. I'm coming home for a weekend in March. I get to cheer on Mama Santos as she runs her half marathon. I get to see sissy, and little brother, and daddy, and mama. I get to see Blake for the first time in over 2 years. I get to enjoy the humidity. I'm just super super stoked!

8. LOST. Claire is alive, but she's not herself. I think that she has the same "madness" that Rousseau's people had. I don't know. I don't know how I feel about this, and I'm starting to wonder if Jacob is the bad guy.

9. I'm really busy. I have lots of flattering opportunities. Planning the Pre Professional Conference, helping out with Get Prepared, maybe getting elected as president of Pi Sigma Alpha. I just stinking love it!

This week has been really busy. In all honesty, I don't even remember a lot of it. But All is well.

Security Salesman or Sex Offender?

So, we're all told at a young age not to talk to strangers. We're also given the classic example of a creepy man in a van who will try to tempt you over with promises of candy. We are told to not look this man in the eye, to not talk to him because he's a stranger, and to find someone we know quickly.

That memory in mind, as I was walking home from class today I noticed a van parked on the side of the road. Inside that van was a very sketchy looking, bearded man, wearing a hoodie.

As a boy walked by the van, I overheard this conversation:

Sketchy Man: He Buddy, What's going on?

Boy: Umm...nothing much, just walking to class.

Sketchy Man: You're looking a little cold there. Why don't you come here and get some hot chocolate, and I have donuts too.

Boy: No, it's cool. I'm going to be late.

Sketchy Man: No man, come on. It'll really warm you up. I promise I won't keep you long.

Then the boy completely violated the childhood rule and went over. Now, it was at this time that I noticed the sign on the side of the van and that it belonged to the security company Pinnacle. And I figured they were probably trying to recruit this young lad to be one of their summer salesmen. BUT STILL! It creeped me out and made me laugh all at the same time.

Mazel tov!

Sunday Sunshine, the late night edition

1. Professors who facebook stalk me, and use my facebook status as a topic of class discussion.

2. TwizlBerry, seriously. Go. Eat. Fall in LOVE!

3. LOST is back, and my mind is already buzzing with questions. Is Jacob the life force of the island, and is his death the reason that the water in the temple is no longer clear? Is Sayid really dead, and is Jacob possessing him? Where is the smoke-man's other body? What's going on in 2004, how does it relate to 2007? If you don't watch LOST...you should consider repenting and getting caught up.

4. I'm going to be a mentor for Get Connected in the Spring. I'm so glad I still get to be a small part of that wonderful program!

5. The Thursday Dinner Club. Seriously, Thursday night dinners make my whole week better. And I tried mate for the first time, an experience to be sure.

6. The birds came back, they're in the trees singing away. Spring will come.

7. Devotional council. I love the people I get to work with this semester. Everyone is so encouraging, smart, sincere, loving. I am so grateful to be able to work with them all.

8. BYU-Idaho 3rd Stake's Women's Conference. I seriously had my prayers answered in so many ways by participating in this short function. I feel better about where I'm at in my life, I feel motivated to do better. I learned so much through this experience. I'm so glad that we have wonderful sister's in our stake presidency who know how to address the questions felt by us as college aged girls. It was a needed event. And there was free food, awesome.

9. The Peking Acrobats...their bodies amaze me!

10. Sometimes I ignore certain rules. I rarely ever regret it. This time my rule ignoring led me to catwalks, orange vests, quiet rooftops, elevator shafts, titanic like rooms, etc. Good night. Good people. Good place.

Sunday Sunshine...on a Monday

So one week in and I already fail at listing the glorious happenings of my week on time. For shame. But here they are all the same.

1. I am still amazing at Disney scene it.

2. I have no money, which means I eat out less, which means I cook more. I made a whole turkey and shredded up the leftovers and now my freezer is full of turkey. This is happy. Especially when I want a quick dinner and the meat is already done. Genius.

3. Timber Muhlestein. This girl makes my heart happy. We randomly ran into each other on campus. Decided on a Hawaiian haystack dinner date. Then ended up playing around on photobooth and reading short stories in Spanish. Timber, I love you for making a normal Thursday night something remarkable. (The best picture of the night)

4. Grain silo's, thank you for existing in the middle of nowhere, Rexburg. Thank you for being conveniently close to old trains. Thank you for having ladders on your side. Thank you for having a gorgeous view of the moon.

5. Sunshine! There has been a little bit of it every day for the last couple of days. This makes me very very very very very very happy!

6. Two general authorities in one week. They both gave wonderful addresses and I'm glad I was able to attend both.

7. 5th Sunday chastity talks. You are awkward, but I enjoy you.

8. People who find it wonderfully entertaining that my name rhymes with safari, I'm glad I'm nt the only one.

9. Text's from home. I like that place. I can't wait to go back.

10. I watch a lot of Youtube, this guy makes me happy. Where the Hell is Matt