Perfect Plans Spoiled

Mary Vance, Breena Hadlock, and I decided that we would go hiking this past Saturday. We decided to go at 6 am. Wowzah! That's early, and I am no early morning person, so it was a big deal that I was going to wake myself up to go hiking. Don't get me wrong, I love hiking and I was way excited to go, but I wish that AZ wasn't so darn hot. That was we could go hiking later and not die of heat stroke.
Anyways, I wake up Saturday morning at 6 am to a text message from Breena saying "I'm here!!" Whoops. I slept in, of course. So I jumped out of bed and hurriedly got ready. By the time I was done, Mary was there too. So it was time to be off! Well I pretty much knew where we were going, but once we got out there, I couldn't seem to find the trails. (we were going to Superstition) So we stopped at a gas station to ask directions.
Well the people at the gas station were set on being as little help as they could. When we asked them where the trails were, they told us it was "too dangerous and hot this time of year" and that we could "get lost" and "die of dehydration." K, maybe I made that last one up. But, c'mon! The trails at Superstition are really big, and always have TONS of people on them. It is impossible to get lost on those trails. Also, it was 6:30 in the morning, so it wasn't too terribly hot and we were planning on being out of there by like 9 anyways. Plus, we had like 5 bottles of water, so we were pretty much set.
Well, I just needed to get that off my chest. I was pretty peeved that those people wouldn't tell us where to go. I was even more peeved that they treated us like 3 year olds that couldn't take care of themselves. Rant over.

Contemplative...

Last night I was talking to my friend about growing up and change and it really got me thinking about how I've grown and changed this past year. I feel like I am a different person than I was last summer after High School, or at least a better version of the person I was before.

BYU changed me. Usually I don't like change, but I wouldn't trade the experiences or people or realizations about myself that changed me for anything in the world. These are just some of the things I learned and the ways I feel i've changed:

* I developed a greater realization of who I am in relation to the Plan of Salvation and my testimony was strengthened on countless occasions. I can't even begin to explain everything wonderful and spiritual that occured. First of all, there is a different feel on campus. It's peaceful, beautiful, the spirit is there. You never encounter people swearing or smoking or dressed immodestly, it's great. Along with the general feel of BYU, there are always devotionals and firesides given by general authorities and other inspiring people to feed your spiritual side. It was in many of those firesides and devotionals that I would recieve answer to prayer or just realize something new about myself. Also, I was on my own. I didn't have my parents to be there for me whenever I was sad or having a trouble with something. This led me to turn more to my Heavenly Father for love and support, which he gave me. My faith grew by leaps and bounds every passing day as I began to REALLY realize my purpose here.

* I learned not to run on the snow or ice, even if I was late. If you do this, you WILL fall. I learned this first-hand and from watching Suzie do it.

* I learned that I am actually a clean freak. By the state of my room even now, nobody would have guessed it. Vicky helped me find this out. Vicky was my roommate this past year. She is very fun and smart and nice, but she is oh-so-messy. She left everything everywhere. After school, her books, purse, backpack, random papers, and everything else would be spread over the WHOLE couch. Annoying. And in the kitchen, you ask? She never washed her dishes. Maybe once every three weeks, but that was it. And after she cooked something she would never clean up anything. It was disgusting. I found myself scrubbing the counters every single day and sweeping and mopping almost as much. It never bugs me when i'm at home and its messy, but at my apartment it does. I don't understand it. About once a week i would get this incredible urge to clean everything. I couldn't help myself. I shared a room with Lanae, and when my stuff was everywhere, I could stand it! It didn't really matter if her side of the room was messy, but if everything of mine wasn't organized, it really bugged me. It got worse and worse as the year went on. I would even start to clean my neigbors kitchen! So this is how I became a clean freak. Now that i'm home, the clean freakiness is pretty much gone. I'm sure if my mom read this post she wouldn't beleive it.

* I learned how to survive on next to no money. Tuition, books, school supplies, food, rent, utilities, movies at the dollar theatre. I paid for it all for one year. Of course, my parents paid the rent for one month and the food for another month and I am eternally grateful for their help. But for everything else, it was all up to me. I was scared that I wasn't going to be able to make it, but I did. And I learned TONS in the process. I learned how to budget money. Every month I would go over how much money I had and how much would go to certain things. I really enjoyed doing this. I loved seeing the evidence of my hard work in the Cougareat in the form of a deposit in my back account. I also loved giving that money back to BYU for my rent. Something about being able to work for my own living made me happy. I have never appreciated a job so much in my life. Without it, I would have been even more broke than I was. I also learned that, if I was short on grocery money that month, I could live off of Hawaiian haystacks alone for over a week.

* I learned that plans don't always work out. For over two years now, i've had a plan. I was going to go to BYU for one year to get my prereqs out of the way, then transfer to UVU for their 2-year Dental Hygiene program. I would gradutate by the time I was 20, get a job as a dental hygienist, save up some money, and then go on a mission when I was 21. Boy was I wrong. No, UVU didn't like that idea and told me the soonest I could apply was 2009. Well, that gave me an extra year, which I did not want at the time. However, it has really been a blessing. It gives me another year at BYU, which I love. AND it gives me enough time to get the 60 credits I need to establish residency in Utah. That way when I go to UVU, I will be paying A LOT less.

* I have noticed that I hav become more open to meeting new people from various backgrounds and I am more open to new experiences.

I could go on and on, but I am rather tired, so I don't thing I will. Good Day.

Solitare

Can someone go crazy from playing solitare too much? So I play solitare a lot while i'm at work. I usually play for at least 2-3 hours a day. It's kind of mind-numbing and I've just been wondering lately: can i get dumber if I keep this up?
According to the apathetic, tired feeling I have after I have one of these solitare sessions, I am prone to believe I am getting dumber. Or losing my mind. So if I act that way, don't be surprised. It's just the solitare.

Random Adventuring

Last night I was rather bored, so (as usual) I called Suzie! Seems like we're both two peas in a pod this summmer- always bored because no one else is around anymore. Well, usually when we are bored we just sit around, trying to think of something to do and then just end up watching videos on YouTube. Yeah, I know. Pretty lame. BUT last night was a different story. We decided to.......

...go tandem biking! Sorry I don't have real pictures. I always forget to take pictures even when I have my camera with me. Anyways, we were way pumped to be doing something active for a change. Little did we know that it is darn hard to start going on one of those things. I've ridden one before, but I was in the back so it was a breeze! This time though, I took the front seat. I wobbled so bad and then I just started laughing so hard. I just couldn't do it! Laughing didn't help either.
Both Suzanne and I felt like idiots. There we were in the middle of the street at night with tons of cars passing by, and we couldn't even get started on the bike. I bet it was a pretty funny sight! Well anyways, Suzanne got in the front and was smart enough to actually get us up and going. Later on, I finally tried the front again and I got the hang of it. It was a pretty fun way to get our exercise in, though not as easy as we expected.

Sweet Job!

About a week ago, my friend Natalie called me up and asked me if I was looking for a job when I go back to Provo in the fall. Well of course I said "YES" without hesitation. She then continued to explain that her boss was hiring people to teach music classes to kids. Then, once I told her I was interested, she explained that her boss would call me and everything. Talk about awesome!
This job is perfect for me. I would be doing what I love (music) AND be working with kids! I don't know if I will get the job, but I REALLY hope so. And if I do, it's all thanks to Natalie!
Natalie is one of the sweetest people I know. She always thinks about other people and has helped me so much. She was especially helpful when I first came to BYU; she helped me get my books, find my classes and a lot of other things too. I love her so much! Thanks for being such a great friend!

Happy Thoughts

I have been feeling really down latley, so I decided to write down 100 things that make me happy. My roomies and I did something like this at college this past year. We wrote down a bunch of random and silly things and stuck it on the fridge. We didn't do nearly this much so this might take me awhile, but hey, I have alot of downtime at work (which is where I am now) so why not do it?
So, in no particular order, here it goes:

1. My nephew Brigham
2. Taking random, funny pictures with friends.
3. Looking at those pictures and then laughing at myself.
4. Monsoon season!!!
5. The smell of rain
6. LIGHT!
7. Watching competion video of LIGHT
8. Dressing up weird
9. Making music videos
10. The quote wall
11. Getting letters in the mail
12. Dance parties
13. Doing animal impressions
14. road trip to California
15. exercising
16. planning
17. organizing
18. getting paid
19. playing the piano
20. singing in the car like I'm a super star
21. Dancing in the car like no one is watching
22. getting an A in a class after a hard semester's work
23. getting an A in a class after not trying that hard
24. knowing all of the scientific names of everything in and on my body
25. cadavers
26. going from a cold room to outside in the sun
27. walking into an air conditioned room after spending hours in the blazing heat
28. having deep conversations late into the night
29. staying up so late that you act drunk
30. playing soccer in the family room with my brother
31. learning something new
32. making someone else laugh
33. camping
34. swimming
35. Arizona sunsets
36. Amusement parks
37. Family reunions
38. finishing a big project
39. reading for hours on end with no interruptions
40. a good book
41. living on my own
42. being spontaneous
43. hiking
44. brownies and milk
45. family
46. A good movie that you can watch over and over and never get bored of
47. clicking pens
48. brushing my teeth
49. flossing my teeth
50. a clean room/house/kitchen
51. Lanae Carmichael
52. My neices: Taylor
53. Emily
54. and Anna
55. Getting an awesome new sister-in-law
56. Teaching music classes
57. an easy semester at BYU
58. cold water (to drink)
59. taking a bath
60. taking a bubble bath
61. not having to rush to be ready in the morning
62. Maui burger
63. 46
64. Wii
65. Sunsets
66. smiling
67. buying books
68. stretching
69. "Word, Nigel"
70.


Ok...I got a little farther! Only 38 more to go!

SYTYCD

Alright, my new favorite tv show is So You Think You Can Dance! It's basically the most amazing thing since spray cheese. There are 10 girls and 10 guys and each week, the dancers pair up and choose a style of dance out of a hat! The choreography of the dances that the couples do are all super cool! They have some of the best choreographers teaching them. I think my favorite guy dancer is Mark. He's an awesome dancer and he is hilarious! If you all wanna share in the fun, its on Wed. at 7 and Thurs. at 8!

And I say.....HEY! What a wonderful kind of day...

So it seems that everyone has been getting a blog lately, so I decided to jump on the bandwagon! It's a great way to record the things that happen in my life. Plus, I don't really do much at work except surf the net, so it will be great to actually have something to do.