1000 Adventures

28-day challenge, 2012

2012-01-31T16:52:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow brings February.
February brings a whole bunch of holidays and 28-29 days of pure, unadulterated fun. It brings weeks 5-9 of the semester and at least one three-day weekend due to Presidents' Day.

February will also bring a little thing the 28-day challenge again this year. If you'll recall, last year I invented The 28-day challenge based only on my own genius-ness. I have this strong suspicion that I spend way more money than I actually need to. I'm pretty frugal on my student-budget, but I can always be better. Hence, the 28-day challenge. The goal was to spend no more than $28 in the 28 days known as February. I went back and added a tag to all those posts from last year so you can read them all by clicking HERE if you so desire. I was successful last year. I made it with I think $4 to spare and I rewarded myself by buying a 9x13 pan. Wild, I know. I've only used it once or twice, so it was pretty darn frivolous, tamed by the fact that I only spent $4 on the cheapest one they sold at Wally World. Whatev.

So this year, February comes again with 29 days this year...I haven't decided if I still get $28 or if I get an extra dollar. Opinions? I'd also like your opinion on how I should reward myself if I'm successful.

The rule is I can only spend $28 dollars the entire month. This includes recreation, entertainment, shopping, food, beverages, and other frivolities. There are two primary exceptions: gas for my car (because that's a major expense for me and not something I'm willing to give up) and necessary bills (gas, electric, and phone). Last year necessary school expenses were also an exception because I was in the multi-hundred dollar process of applying to graduate schools. This year that's thankfully not a factor, so school is not an exception.

The nice thing is that I've been planning on doing this challenge since the successful completion of it last year. Planning is everything. I currently have in my possession a "FREE MEAL" card for Cafe Rio, two free combo-meal coupons for Arctic Circle (due to the embarrassing number of times I ate there over the summer when I was working at Granger and it was one of the only fast food places around. The Arctic Circle employees knew my name, order, and where I always sat. Embarrassing.). I have a $10 gift card to Great Harvest Bread from my dentist, a $10 gift card to Yogurtland from this fundraiser, over 300 points on my Subway card, and a gift card to Walmart from my dear Aunt Judy. I feel it appropriate to use any and all of those while still winning the challenge. It's all about preparation....sharpen that saw, my friends. Sharpen that saw. Gift cards aren't cheating because the money has already been spent.

The challenge is very possible, though not without great effort. For one, I have a tendency to shop when I'm bored meaning I'll need to not get bored for the next 29 days. Also, I'm in desperate need of a hair cut. I happen to have a full punch card for a free hair cut from the beauty school in Cedar City, but since the hair-tastrophe of last summer (visible in this post), I have hair-cut phobia and I'm not sure I dare to go to the beauty school. And finally, $28 isn't very much money, even if so many of my needs are already met. We'll see how it goes. I'm committed.

Tonight I'll make one last trip to the grocery store. Perhaps I'll get a Diet Coke for class tonight while I can still afford to guiltlessly purchase one. If I get desperate in the midst of the challenge I can always beg, borrow, and steal...though things like that don't really look good on me.

If I had planned better I would have blogged about this a few weeks ago and encouraged some of you to join me. It's not to late to come along. In the meantime, however, wish me luck. February begins tomorrow!

Current standing: $28 (unless you tell me I can have $29).

Seconds anyone?

2012-01-30T09:49:00.001-07:00

Burrito Boy's little brother is in my COMM 1010 class.
Oh, and I see Burrito Boy everywhere I go.
He pretends not to know me.
I pretend not to see him.

I keep thinking maybe I should change that.
Maybe another day. Maybe now that his brother is in my class.

The story began to be told here, here, and here.
This story, however, will apparently never end.

Side note

2012-01-29T06:32:00.000-07:00

Someday I'll blog about my beautiful children.
Until then I'll blog about myself and my childlike personality...
Because the world holds great wonder for me...

Because there are giant boxes of Cheerios...

And because Dora sometimes rides a unicorn...

That's all.

Joy despite the journey

2012-01-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

I know they say you're supposed to find joy in the journey... but I feel like the last year has taught me that sometimes you have to find joy despite the journey. I hope that's okay to say. When my sweet nephew Jackson started showing symptoms a year ago, I don't think anyone suspected what kind of journey would follow. In the past nine months I've watched my nephew go through much more than any child should ever have to endure. Words can't really express it. Cancer has changed everything.

When I donated blood last week one of the screening questions was "have you ever had any kind of cancer." And when I just clicked "no" it felt like a betrayal. Because even though the diagnosis isn't mine, I feel like it's become a part of me. Cancer has become a part of all of us.

I've learned what a hero is. I've seen what it is to endure heartache, sorrow, worries, fear, pain, and suffering. I've been fighting on "Team Jack" as I prayed and prayed this sweet boy wouldn't have to endure such things. He has endured hell continually, and with dignity. He continually does what he has to do.

I've cried. Lots. I cry for Jackson. I cry for other cancer kids. I cry for the families of cancer kids. I cry for understanding and patience. I've cried with other people. With my sister, especially. I've cried to other people, cried alone, in the light, in the dark, in my prayers, to the Lord. I've tried to understand and only partially succeeded. I'm not sure I'll ever fully understand the why part of all this, but I've received lots of answers in the process.

Jackson, Connie, and Brian have taught me a whole new vocabulary. Words like neutropenic, Thiotepa, and engraftment have all become part of our every day conversations. We use lots of acronyms too: AT/RT, ANC, ICS, GFR, BMT, TPN, etc. I know which button silences the alarm on IV pumps...a small thing, but all part of the journey. When I babysat Hailey and Jackson a few weeks ago Connie had to tell me things like, "If his central line gets pulled out..." and "At 7:45 please sanitize the counter and get out TPN, lipids, and..." and on and on.

There have been dozens of visits to Primary Children's Hospital and yet no matter how much I go, it doesn't feel like enough. I never got enough time with that sweet boy, never enough craft projects and games, never enough hugs. And at the end of each visit I always felt guilty that I got to leave but he had to stay. My amazing sister and brother-in-law have been taking turns sleeping in a chair every other night for weeks and weeks at a time so they can monitor things like vitals, chemo, chemo-showers, techs, nurses, doctors, child life specialists, mouth care, infusions, antibiotics, antifungals, and on and on.

And now, here he is. After a brain surgery, three rounds of chemo, six weeks of radiation, and three rounds of bone marrow transplants, he's still as cute as ever. There's still road left to travel...he's not done yet. But he's had his last scheduled treatment. Primary Children's has a special bell in ICS that kids get to ring at the end of their treatment. Connie told me about the bell long ago. Sometimes I would look right at it, excited for the day. On some visits I would absolutely avoid looking at it. Sometimes I would stare it down. But the bell is always there.

Jackson got to ring the bell on Wednesday. The end-of-treatment bell. Ringing a bell is small compensation for cancer, but is an awesome opportunity and I was so excited for him to have earned the right to ring! I was lucky that he engrafted when it was convenient for me...and without missing any classes or shirking any 'sponsibility I was able to drive up from Cedar City to be there for it.

When I got to the hospital Jackson was riding his wiggle-car around the unit. Brian had taped a syringe full of red liquid to the car so it looked like Jack was trailing something from his central line. It freaked out a lot of nurses, doctors, and other staff and Jackson loved that. :) This was part of the joy part. That kid is so freakin' awesome. Here's a bunch of pictures from the event. The bell ringing was part of the joy despite the journey.

Hailey and Jack...You should see the way she looks at her big brother: more awe and love than I've ever seen in a two year old.

Connie, Ashton, and Hailey playing with Jackson's "Beads of Courage." He earns a different bead for everything he goes through: pokes, tests, scans, chemo, hair loss, bandage changes, mouth care, days in isolation, morphine, steroids, etc. Seven long strands and growing. His beads almost begin to put it into perspective what this kid goes through.

Special sisters...scary faces.

Jackson standing on the new stool, getting ready to ring the bell, beads and all.

And then, because I was bawling my freaking eyes out, I didn't take any pictures of the actual bell-ringing part. But he rang it loud and proud.

The next 25 minutes was full of hugs and tears. Hugs from nurses, techs, staff, family, cancer friends, etc. He melts my lovin' heart.

"Ring this bell
Three times real well
Its toll to clearly say

My treatment's done
This course is run
Now I am on my way."

The bell is high on the wall so Connie and Brian arranged to have their friend Mark build an awesome stool to donate to the hospital so every little cancer fighter can reach to ring the bell. This is the plaque on the side of the stool. "Stand tall. Be proud." It's got Jackson's name and, my favorite part, "Cancer Survivor 2012."

Taking off his mask for a photo shoot on the stool...

Me and cute cousin Kaitlyn...

When we all finally pulled our emotional selves away from the bell it was kind of strange to be leaving. I've experienced a hundred million emotions in that hospital. In order to try sorting out what I was feeling, I had to stopping for a couple last pictures by the horse. I fed him some snow...

Then with Kali's help we made the snow into a horn. He's a unicorn now. :)
99% horse, 1% cooler horse.

Connie and Hailey were both sick meaning they can't live with Jackson because he's immunocompromised. Rather than keep Jackson in the hospital longer, C & H came to stay with my parents for a couple nights. Since I was home for the night, we got to have a sleepover. We did fun things like make muffins and hair bows. I sure love those girls.

And since my parents are usually under-represented in my blog, here's cute Ron.
First try, this shot was.

My mom and I struggled to get a good picture together....we tried about a dozen times. This was my favorite fail for obviously hilarious reasons.

Luckily we got a good one together.

Eight hours driving and 500ish miles that were so very worth it. I'm so happy for sweet Jack's bell-ringing self! This amazing boy in all his journeying has taught me how to find joy. He's taught me that we really can do hard things. He's taught me love on deeper levels than I knew were possible at this point in my life. He's shown strength and courage through it all.

I know a real-life super hero. His name is Jackson.

Read it and weep

2012-01-24T17:39:00.000-07:00

"Blogging is a women's sport."
When a male friend of mine said that to me this morning on the phone, I couldn't help but agree. He was mocking. He mocks my blog, can you believe that? In fact, many of my male friends, upon hearing that I blog, make that throaty-scoffing sound. They often try to recover and say, "oh, uh, that's cool." But I recognize a throaty-scoff when I hear it. Rarely is my own personal webby-journal interesting to someone of the male gender. It's not something I put on my "resume for marriage," but something I frequently work to justify in the "interviews" known as dating. This blogging thing is good stuff.

Perhaps if more men saw blogging as a "women's sport," they'd understand my passion and talent. If blogging could be understood as a sport, maybe it would evoke something other than a throaty-scoff.

I'm not much for sports analogies, but watch this analogy. This is happening. Right. now.

Blogging: The Football of My World

I've been training my whole life for something. Something big. When I was just a small child (around 5 years old) my parents enrolled me in a special training academy that has taught me the skills of my sport. My instructors--coaches, if you will--taught me the basic things I would need to know for my sport. For thirteen years I labored, trained, practiced, and worked to be competent in the skills of my sport. I'll never forget when my senior English trainer, Mr. Carlisle, told me, "you've got a talent for this sort of thing, you know." I then moved on to a more advanced training academy for two years, eventually earning a award. After that, I moved to another conservatory of learning wherein I was trained even more specially. And now, even still more. Someday I hope to become a trainer myself. I want to teach future MVPs some of the skills and theories associated with this sport.

Now that I have a basic understanding of the needs in my sport, I work even harder at it. I've been working at the sport publicly for about two and a half years now. I've played well over 500 games, and counting. Some I've won, some I've lost. But the games have been part of my passion and have helped define who I am. There's a magical moment in every game that I know I'm onto something good. I crave that high to the point that I'm playing almost every day now. People ask me, "why so often?" And I can only respond, "because I love it."

My mom, my aunt, my sister, and many others come to my every game. They cheer me on, we often discuss it afterwards, and they support me in my sport. But even if I had no supporters, no attendees, no fans, I'd still play. I love it that much. I'm not in it for the fans; I'm in it for my love of the sport.

There are no fancy uniforms. No protective gear. No Superbowl. No World Series. No Championship Cup in my sport. Some give up because of that. But not me. I keep going. I keep playing. The more I play, the better I get. There will never be a trophy in my case for this sport, but I know I'm winning. That's enough for me.

I was originally brought into the sport by my sister and I've since recruited a few others to play with me. Very few stick with it. This ain't no sissy game; it takes true dedication. There've been tears shed in plenty of games: I'm not going to lie. Those tears are part of what make me a true athlete. I take this sport seriously. Every. Single. Game.

This is my sport. You don't have to understand it. You don't have to play along. You don't even have to listen to me ramble about how awesome it is. But understand it or not, you're always welcome to read it and weep.

The 'ole stay and play move

2012-01-21T18:49:00.000-07:00

Every couple months I decide to actually spend a weekend in the town I where I live, instead of visiting my mailing address in Herriman. You'd think I'd stay more often considering how much fun I can have here. But I do really love going home...it's a true dilemma.

Last night I went to the SUU vs BYU gymnastics meet with new roommate Jen and friend Suzanne from OSU. We also took advantage of the free chili dinner beforehand. Gotta love free dinner!

I also ran into my cute friend Charlie. I love her all the time but sadly only see her occasionally.

And then I saw Jena who I also love all the time but she decided to graduate from SUU and move to Provo to work an awesome job she loves in the athletics department at BYU. Can you believe that?

And since playing on Friday was so fun, I also played a bit today.
Like a temple trip to sunny/rainy St. Geezy with Mustin and his roommie Louie. (Yes, Mustin's hair is blue.)

To top of the day's events we stopped at DI and also ate at Cafe Rio where I got a "FREE MEAL!"

So as much as I love going home on weekends, sometimes I pull the old "Stay and play" move, which obviously works out pretty well too. Happy weekending!

Blood for the little humans

2012-01-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

I've been donating blood for close to ten years now. I was absolutely terrified the first time. I still have some anxiety each time I go. I've bruised, clotted in the needle, almost passed out, had my arm go numb, and had anxiety attacks before, during, and after. I've also flirted with cute employees, eaten a lifetime supply of Lorna Doone cookies, felt like a contributing member of society, and earned myself several gallon-donor pins. It's both disgusting and wonderful. Sometimes I'm more dedicated and make sure I get back in every 56 days and sometimes, unfortunately, I'm less diligent.

Blood donation has never been as important to me as it's been over the past few months. My sweet nephew Jackson has received dozens of blood and platelet transfusions during his cancer treatments. Every time I hear anything about blood now, I think of him. I've tried to be better about donating since his diagnosis. He inspires me to be better. He inspires me in a million ways. (Want a couple links about Jack getting blood? Okay. Here and Here)

Whenever the American Red Cross calls me to donate they always say, "we use your blood for pediatric donations." I always thought it was just a motivational tool and that they say that to everyone whether it's true or not. Today when I donated I asked the phlebotomist about it. She checked out my blood details on her little hand-held machine thingy and they actually do use my blood for the little humans. They test most blood for CMV agents which she explained screens for things like the herpes virus and other elements you don't necessarily want in your blood. Since I've never had cold sores, or herpes, or any other sort of STD (thank goodness, right?) I'm CMV negative and they can use my blood for kids. I feel lucky.

I don't know my nephew's blood type and statistically it's pretty rare that my blood has ever gone to someone I know, but when I think of pediatric blood recipients, it makes me even more glad I donate. I don't want kids to need blood. But I'm thankful for that when they need it, they can receive it. Any cancer-mom can tell you how much better their child looks and feels after a transfusion.

According to the Red Cross,
Less than 38% of Americans are eligible to donate blood.
Only 3 out of every 100 people in America donate blood.
Less than 30% of people who donate blood once will ever donate again.

Too many people don't donate. They're afraid of needles. They once had a bad experience. They passed out once. They were too thin in high school and haven't tried since. They bruise easily. Or because they whatever. Don't let one experience prevent you from donating again. If you were told not to donate again....call the American Red Cross and ask why, then ask how soon you can try again. (1-800-RED-CROSS). The little humans (and the big ones) need our blood.

This morning I ate a good breakfast: eggs and a Cutie. I drank lots of water yesterday. I've been taking my vitamins. I've been avoiding my sickie-roommate all week long. I hope today's donation was 100% healthy. I went, I flirted, I donated, and I mourned the fact that they had no Lorna Doones. Hopefully, in some small way, my blood donation has helped fight childhood cancer. Today, I made a difference for up to three people, hopefully little ones.

Please donate blood.

And PS....this isn't the first time I've preached from this very soap box. I'm serious about it.

Adventures with Aunt Becky

2012-01-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time Becky was reminded of how much she loves awkward stories, embarrassing moments, unplanned adventures, and all of the special special talents she has. You ready for this one?

I was able to go home this past weekend and, because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, stay from Friday afternoon clear until Tuesday morning. In that time I decided to invite my nephews Brody and Cooper to come to my parents' house for a sleepover with Aunt Becky. It was Brody's idea back over Christmas break and I figured now was as good a time as any.

They came for my half-birthday dinner and then stayed over. With pajamas on, teeth brushed, and beds all ready, we were going to put on a movie to watch. While my dad and I were trying to get the VCR going (no comments on that one) Brody and Cooper were playing in the family with the toy pictured below.

Sweet, harmless looking toy, isn't it? It's a toy from my childhood and if it can survive my brother....you'd think it could survive anything. (Love you, Adam!) Well, see that orange chimney at the top? It's a slide for the toys that comes out that door on the side. Brody thought it was really cool that he could reach his arm in there and see his fingers on the other side...

Until his arm got stuck.
Seriously.
Really stuck.

With Brody crying, my dad and I tried to figure out how to get his cute little four-and-a-half year old arm out of the chimney. To no avail. My dad tried prying off the green bottom of the house to begin taking it apart, but this is an 80's toy and those things were made to last. We looked all over the toy (as it was attached to Brody's arm) and tried to find screws or a way to take it apart and couldn't figure it out.

"Can you just use Gwampa's knife and cut it off?" Brody said with alligator tears in his eyes.

"I think we should take an adventure to the fire station." My dad said so sweetly and calmly. "They know how to deal with things like this." My dad's a genius.

So sure enough, to the fire station we headed. We left Cooper home with my mom, and buckled Brody into his car seat...with his arm still stuck inside the toy. There's a fire station only about two miles away from my parents' house but I think in the two miles Brody asked 120 times, "Are we there yet?" He was generally pretty calm but teary-eyed. I explained to him that firemen are heroes and that they always do their best to take good care of everybody.

"Are they really strong?" Brody asked.
"Yes, REALLY strong. And they might even give you a surprise when they're done." I said. Once I said the word 'surprise' Brody was totally on board.
"Are we there yet?"

When we got to the fire station they were closed for the night (it was roughly 8:30) but there were cars there. So after calling 911 and explaining the situation, and then knocking on the front door for a couple minutes, the firemen came on out. They helped Brody out of his car seat (with house still attached) and brought us all into their living space.

The fireman looked and looked at the house, "Is this your favorite toy, Brody?"
"Yes," Brody said, even though I doubt he's ever played with it before.

They assessed the situation and were so cute as they talked to Brody. One of the firemen got a screwdriver and began removing all the formerly-invisible screws from the house. And of course, even though I was embarrassed that my poor nephew had his hand stuck in a chimney on MY watch, I started documenting a little bit...because that's what I do.

They all laughed at me, even more so when they found out that I'm not even his mom.

"You must be the cool aunt," fireman Darren said, "I can tell because I was the cool uncle once."

After just a few minutes and just a few screws, Brody's sweaty little arm came out, all in tact. He gave high-fives all around and was so excited when, sure enough, one of the firemen had some surprises for him. A badge, a sticker, AND a plastic fireman hat. Brody was thrilled as all get out. He loves that hat possibly more than life itself. He kept saying to me all day on Monday, "I'm a fire fighter!"

I made all the firemen pause for a bit more documentation (sorry those ones are so dark) and we thanked them profusely. We returned back to my parents' house where Brody was thrilled to show off his new fireman hat. I waited until the next morning to tell Adam and Bri the story of what sort of things are bound to happen when I'm babysitting or what happens on a sleep over with Aunt Becky. Luckily they both thought it was funny and they don't think I'm the worst aunt in the whole world.

So remember how once upon a time Becky was reminded of how much she loves awkward stories, embarrassing moments, and unplanned adventures? This one definitely goes to the top of the list of embarrassing moments. Luckily we all lived happily ever after in this one!

Ask me why.

2012-01-17T15:12:00.001-07:00

This. This is why I went home over the weekend. Aside from the fact that it was a super-long weekend for me and I go up all the time....THIS is why I really went home for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

This = playing and playing and playing at the hospital. Jack and I got some time for just the two of us on Friday night while C, B, and H went to dinner. It was awesome.

This = fingernail painting party at the hospital.

This = My cute siblings at my half-birthday dinner, Sunday night at my parents' house. Bri couldn't come because she was home with a back injury and Brian couldn't come because he was at the hospital with Jackson. I missed them but really enjoyed my siblings. Aren't we cute?

This = Cute Brody calls this his "awkward face" ....we must be related!

This = Brody and Cooper's awesome sleepover with me on Sunday night.

This = celebrating my half birthday. I had to take a picture with the horse at PCMC because I had a picture with him six months ago on my birthday too. It's sure been a long road in those six months...

This = sweet hugs from possibly the sweetest boy in the whole world.

So if you ask me why I went home for the weekend? I'll just refer you to this post. Because This...this is why I went home.

12 of 12...almost

2012-01-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

You know that thing in the blogging world where you take 12 pictures of whatever you do on the 12th day of the month? Well I always want to do it but never seem to recognize the 12th until three or four days after it's already passed. My friend Kristen does it every month; she's an inspiration to me. So this month I did my very best to remember the date. On the 11th of January I invited my sister Connie and my friend Kelly to both participate in 12 of 12 with me so I would have more motivation.

After waking up at 10 (because that's what I do on Thursdays) and enjoying an empty apartment, as I walked into the library at noon I texted Connie and said, "I'm dropping out of 12 of 12. Sorry. My life is boring." She was supportive, but I had guilt about it all day long.

I had guilt while I was in the library doing homework. I had guilt during lunch. I had guilt in my class and at rehearsal. When I went back to the library at 10pm (after OSU rehearsal) the guilt got the best of me and I began taking pictures. So while my life is boring and I didn't think the 12th was picture-worthy enough for 12 pictures...at least I got these few pics during the last two hours of the day.

This is what I look like when I'm at the library. This is my favorite computer to sit at, I've got my headphones in, my books nearby, and I'm ready to stick it out for the long haul. On a side note, can you see that the other two girls in the picture have exactly the same body position? I bet it's the same as yours right now....is your left hand touching your face?

My true home in Cedar City...

This is me in front of the library at 11:00 when they closed. At 10:45 they ring a bell. Then they ring it again at 10:50. And then at 10:55 they turn off all the lights and you're left to wander through the dark to find the door. I think there's a homeless guy that spends his evenings on the community-use computers...he parks his bike and bike-trailer out in front of the doors every evening until 11. I wanted to take a picture of his bike trailer but I wasn't quick enough with my camera before he came out. Maybe another night.

Tonight was the first time my "Quantitative Research Methods Class" met. This is the class that makes me want to cry and that might actually kill me. Any time I think about it my hands get all clammy and my heart rate rises. It's a statistics class and I haven't had a single math class in like 12 years. The professor is adorable and freakishly passionate about statistical research. She'll get her Ph.D. in the next month or so and she's just a year and a half older than me. She's also a lot more intelligent than me, though (you should seriously hear her talk), so I don't complain too much.

If I had been properly documenting 12-of-12 during the day I would have taken a picture of her dog....she brings her dog to school every day and is planning on bringing it to class each week. The dog is cute...but it's name is Calley (which is NOT a dog's name). This is what her dog looks like:

These are some of my notes from the first day of class. I have this whole page of notes about "Positivism" and "Post-positivism" yet I have no idea what that is. This class really might kill me. I think positivism is some version of evolutionary epistemology (which I actually do understand) but I'm pretty lost on the subject overall.

Did you know that every Wednesday night or Thursday morning I paint my nails? It's a pattern I started last semester and quickly came to love. Painting my nails is very relaxing and therapeutic for me, so I do it every week. Right now they're freshly painted in "Mint Sorbet" which is a color I got for Christmas. The present was lost for a while, so I didn't actually open it until about a week after Christmas....but whatev.

Here's one of my textbooks for the Quantitative class that might kill me. Two text books and 112 pages of lecture notes. This class will bring tears.

But speaking of awesome things...here are my two journals. I didn't actually write in my journal on the 12th, but I think of it every day and I think that counts for something. I just finished the blue one on December 30, 2011 and the green/blue damask one is my new journal. The nice thing about my new journal is that the pages are really small, so I'm already 30 pages in. I started the old one a year-and-a-half ago on my birthday. It's a very important book to me because of everything that has happened over the past year. My journal might know my thoughts and feelings on 2011 better than I do.

If I had been documenting throughout the day, there would have been pictures of my OSU rehearsal. This was my first rehearsal back after Christmas and the new music was a little rough: can you count to two and three at the same time? Neither can I. No pictures from last night, but luckily I've posted some before, so here's a repost of one of them. (Almost-Skullet-Man was not there last night.)

I also should have taken a picture of my Diet Coke...because I bought one on the way to class to help me endure the fear of quantitative research. I need to remember not to drink caffeine when I'm having heart palpitations...usually a bad mix. Remind me next week when class comes around again.

And since I bought a bag of Cuties on Wednesday I've been eating a billion per day. They're nutritious, delicious, and they're called "Cuties." What's not to love? Here's a random Internet picture of Cuties that looks almost like my picture would have.

Sorry Kelly and Connie that I invited you to do it and then I slacked off. But there we have, in a round about way, 11 pictures of the 12 day of January. Happy Friday the 13th.

If they eat glitter...

2012-01-12T13:12:00.000-07:00

Flashback

2012-01-11T21:05:00.000-07:00

Just relived this post (click to read). Relived it almost exactly but this time it was Caffeine Free Diet Coke instead of Diet Dr. Pepper. Not De'ja'vu, but pretty darn close.

Awe, sweet memories.

Behind the Mo-Tab scenes

2012-01-09T11:11:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Hancock Fabrics, I was measuring out 20+ yards of cream colored "Sassy Satin" for a customer. It was all the cream "Sassy Satin" in the entire Western Region of Hancock Fabrics. The customer was a member of the wardrobe committee for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. And you know those white dresses you see them wearing on TV all the time? They're actually cream colored and the trim is "Sassy Satin."

I, as a special special individual, have an amazing fascination with lots of things and I was pretty darn excited to know that some of the replacement trim on old dresses (or the new trim on new dresses) may be the "Sassy Satin" that I measured. When I was talking to the customer (Susan) about how cool her job must be, she said, "I could probably give you a tour if you want."

I so totally jumped on that. With just a few phone calls to arrange it, I met her bright and early outside the tabernacle yesterday for a tour of the underground catacombs that make up the Mo-Tab suite. I invited my friend Clint to come with me because he's a music-nerd too and because this was the last chance to see him before he gets deployed to Afghanistan next week.

Susan's unofficial tour took us underneath the Tabernacle to see some of the spaces the choir uses. They renovated the whole space underground when they renovated the rest of the building a few years ago. It doesn't smell new anymore, but it sure looks amazing. Everything is bright and clean and shiny. Much better than the first time I saw it back in 2005ish (?) when I played a concert at the Tabernacle with West Valley Symphony.

For no reason at all, I was uncharacteristically hesitant to take pictures on our mini-tour, but we saw some pretty awesome things. Here's a picture I took of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir yesterday during "Music and the Spoken Word," in case you need a reminder of what they look like. The ladies are wearing their lavender dresses. And for the record, God bless the lighting-tech that decided florescent pink is a good color behind the organ. I love it!

Susan started the tour in a giant closet full of all the extra dresses arranged carefully by color. They keep lots on hand in every color and size for choir members old and new. Each choir member has her own dress tailored to fit her. When they get a new choir member they'll either give her an extra existing dress or make a new one (whichever fits best).

She showed us bolts and bolts of fabric in the color of each dress. When they choose a new dress pattern and color they order several hundred yards of the fabric so it'll last for a long long time and so it'll all be the same dye-lot. They're about to retire the real light-turquoise dresses because they're out of that color of fabric. I was surprised (and not surprised) that all the dresses--regardless of color--are made out of a similar crepe material. I don't like the texture of it, but it hangs well and I believe it's machine washable. Crepe is polyester so it doesn't wrinkle much. It's got little to no shine to it which I'm sure is good for television and lighting and stuff.

Each dress has magnets sewn in up by the shoulders where they can easily attach collars or special broaches that also have magnets sewn in. Each dress has wide-spaced and narrower-spaced magnets so they can make the collars hang the same on everybody regardless of body shape. The dark-turquoise dresses in particular have either casual lace collars or the fancy beaded collars pictured below. Sometimes they dress it up and sometimes they dress it down.

Apparently the magnets are so strong (like the ones on the missionary mag-tags) that a lot of the beaded collars were falling apart because of how the choir ladies were pulling them off. This picture is all the recently-repaired beaded collars in the sewing room...they're waiting to hand them out again until the seamstresses can have a training session with the choir. "This is how to take off your collar without ruining it." All these hangers stuck together because of the magnets. :)

Inside the alterations room was this whole closet full of pearl necklaces. The top row are short ones, the middle row was long ones, the third row was blingy-pearls, and the fourth row (not in the picture) was special blue necklaces. The wardrobe ladies have a little necklace-tree that they fill with the appropriate necklaces for the day and then they put it by the door to the dressing room so the choir ladies can take a necklace as they come or go before the performance. For yesterday's performance they were allowed to wear their own jewelry.

We didn't get to see the men's dressing room, but Susan said it isn't as nice as the ladies'. Each lady has a sort of open closet (kind of like you see in locker rooms) where she'll keep all her choir dresses. They have a laminated guide at the back of each stall detailing the order of how to hang the dresses. They like everything to look uniform and neat because they often have general authorities in there.

After seeing the storage closet (with probably 2-300 dresses), the sewing room, and the ladies' dressing room she took us to see the music library. The Mo-Tab music library huge and is amazingly organized. In the main hallway each choir member has a locker with a combination where they can get or return music. Then inside the library all the locker slots are open and labeled so music can be easily distributed or gathered.

Inside the library are rows and rows and rows of music. The rows are on a roll-y system so they can pack more rows into a small space and then they turn a giant knob on the end of the row to move it back and forth on the tracks. (SUU has some like this on the first floor of the library.) Down each row are hundreds of carefully labeled, alphabetized shelves of music. Given the cost of a single part of sheet music, I bet we saw more than a million dollars worth of music just waiting to be sung. I have no idea how the directors would pick what to sing each week and for each performance...it's like trying to pick a favorite star in the heavens.

We also got to see the rehearsal space (I think it was, anyway) for the Orchestra at Temple Square. I would so love to play with them someday! I had to take this picture of their 8 basses in hard cases. The hard cases made them look huge-o and somewhat ominous. This space is either formerly or presently known as "The Horseshoe" and is right under the stage-part of the Tabernacle. You can see that the ceiling is sloped in comparison to the floor which is kind of trippy when you're in there. The back of the room has about a 12 foot ceiling the the front of the room is only about 7 feet. I can't imagine what it would be like to practice with a 120-piece orchestra in there because I think the ceiling would make the acoustics sound weird.

The tour didn't last long....maybe only 15-20 minutes, but I was absolutely enthralled the whole time with everything there was to see and learn. I love learning cool things that you maybe wouldn't ever know otherwise. I can't help but share it all with my blog-readers. We were touring while the choir rehearsed. They always rehearse the entire "Music and the Spoken Word" program, take a short break, and then perform it for a live broadcast at 9:30 AM. The performance is free to the public and they had a really good turn out yesterday, especially (they said) for January.

We attended the 4,925th broadcast of "Music and the Spoken Word." I'm pretty sure this was my first time going, other than a couple times when I've been to the Sunday morning session of conference and they did the broadcast before conference. Before the program started they had the 40 newest members of the choir stand...the new members can't sing with the choir until they finish their training known as "Choir School."

It was fun to bring Clint with me because he and I have a mutual appreciation for music. He and I played in Jazz band together when we were both at Snow College and he has since become a music teacher. His job will wait patiently for him until he gets back from Afghanistan next January.

The "Spoken Word" portion of the broadcast was a message about a teenage boy with cancer named David and what he did to brighten the lives of those around him. David recently passed away and the announcer/MC guy for the broadcast's daughter sang at David's funeral. After the broadcast they had David's parents stand in the audience. I bawled like a little baby...messy black-eyeliner cry all over my face. That's always a good way to start a Sunday morning, right?

Despite the fact that I had to wake up at 6:30AM on a Sunday, after only four hours' sleep, I loved my Sunday. I made it back to Herriman just in time to attend my parents' ward and then came back to Cedar City in the afternoon. What an awesome day.

The moral of the story is, if someone says, "I could probably give you a tour if you're interested," ALWAYS take them up on the offer. And next time you see the white Mo-Tab choir dresses, think of Susan and her cream colored "Sassy Satin."

PS, this isn't a temple fountain, but pretty good just the same, right?

Half way to 1000

2012-01-08T21:25:00.010-07:00

1000adventure's 500th blog post.

THIS...

IS A BIG

DEAL.

Celebrate with me...wherever you are.

Yes? Let's eat cake. I'll get some for me, you get some for you.

Somewhere around 1000 Adventures...

With officially 500 Posts...

And more than 1400 tags...

This freakin' rocks. I think I'm officially a serious blogger. Thanks to my sister Connie for talking me into blogging and getting me started back in June of 2008. Who would have known that two-and-a-half years later this cute little blog would be so important to me?

...and the best part is that there's so much more to come.

Can Cheryl come out and play?

2012-01-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

There's something about knowing this Cheryl girl that has changed me forever and made me better. I've only seen her a few times in the past couple years, like this time and this time, but the nice thing is that every time I see her we can pick right up where we left off.

Luckily I'm on Winter break from school, so this time we were able to pick back up by going to the Jordan River Temple together...It's a good place to be. I don't think Cheryl's husband is going to let her play with me anymore because our simple trip to the temple and Wendy's took us more than five hours...We had lots to talk about. It was fantasticK... (so fantastic it deserves a capitol "K" at the end).

Meeting Cheryl 16 years ago, and being friends with her since then has been a string of great blessing in my life. And since I'm on a roll now, here's a picture of the fountain at the Jordan River Temple. You can see other temple-fountain pictures here, here, and here on my blog.

Here's to you, 2011

2012-01-04T16:14:00.001-07:00

About a week before New Year's I decided I needed to learn all the words to that famous New Year's song, "Auld Lang Syne." Well I didn't learn the words, but I did attend an awesome New Year's Eve party at my friend Derrick's house in Logan. Here's the party crew...

Top row: Bruce, Riley, Eric, Kid-I-don't-know, Shalee, married-people-I-don't-know
Second row: Me, Chalese, Lewis, Ashley, Tedi, Derrick
Third row: Cristi, Curtis, KC, Tony

If you're going to travel to Logan for a party, make sure the people in the car are well-fed. And of course, there's only one place that feeds Eric right: Chick-fil-a. They know him by name there and he doesn't even have to tell them his order any more. My friends are special people.

And if you're going to have a party, make sure there's plenty of food to last the night. Though, don't trust Ashley with soy sauce...she'll explode it in the microwave. My friends are special people.

Eric and Chalese took time at the beginning of the party for a tender embrace. They are special, special people.

This is Derrick in all his domesticity... Amazing, right?

We know how to party. And since I'm famous for taking pictures of food...

KC and Ashley love New Year's Eve.

Curtis and Cristi love New Year's Eve.

Chalese, Ashley, and I love New Year's Eve.

Shalee and I...uh...we love New Year's too...I think.

For this picture I told the boys to "Pick your weapon." Bruce chose a hunting knife and Curtis chose a meat cleaver. Hmmm, and then Eric chose a part from the Kitchen aid and Lewis chose Bruce's camera. These are my friends...

And I love them all...

This is Lady Gaga...she helped host Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve...I don't really have any words for her outfit, but I was certainly inspired enough to take a picture of her on the television.

I'm not sure we did much better at dressing for the holiday than she did. We sure did try.

Midnight came and we watched the ball drop, we watched the countdown, we said a lackluster, "Happy New Year." AND THEN Tedi remembered she had bought a whole bunch of noise makers....so we rewound the TV, stood up, and got our noisemakers ready. Together the whole house of us shouted together, "..8, 7, 6..." The excitement was building. "...3, 2, 1...HAPPY NEW YEAR!" We cheered, made noise, jumped and shouted, and heard that one line of "Auld Lang Syne" playing in the background. Our second chance was much better. Sometimes second chances fix everything.

A bunch of us slept over at Derrick's new house and went to church together in Logan on Sunday. Interestingly the speakers spoke about record keeping and family history; all of a sudden all of the teasing about my blog was put to rest. Nice! Since we went all the way to Logan to see Derrick's new house, I figured I'd better document it for Der's family history. Here's a picture of his awesome new house. I absolutely love it and I'm super excited for him.

After lunch Bruce, Lewis, Chalese, and I piled into Eric's car and we headed back home to Salt Lake.

With a quick drive past the beautiful Brigham City Temple that is under construction...

We drove off into the sunset.

I'm so glad 2011 is over and I'm excited to see what 2012 has in store. Hopefully 2012 will be a lot more kind to my family. Happy New Year to you and yours.

The return of Corey

2011-12-31T14:28:00.010-07:00

Once upon a time in my first year at SUU, I met Corey. Corey and I became almost instant friends and were able to skip all the beginning-phases of friendship and go right to besties. We've done lots of fun things together like play in orchestra and our trip to Browse on my half birthday three years ago. But as time progressed, our paths took us different places and we didn't see each other very often any more. In fact, up until yesterday, we hadn't seen each other in almost exactly a year.

Luckily he now lives in Salt Lake and I'm home for Winter Break....so we were able to meet up at his house for dinner last night. There's just something about this kid that warms even to the very corners of my heart.

He opted to cook me a beautiful spaghetti dinner. In this photo he said, "We need pictures of our faces AND our food"...and somehow this is the pose we thought worked best. We're awkward in all the same ways; this is friendship.

After the spaghetti dinner we enjoyed strawberry cupcakes with Fun-fetti frosting. This is the first time either of us tried the cupcake sandwhich method and I'm a fan for life. Simply tear off the bottom and put it on top thus making a frosting-sandwich with cupcake-bread. It makes it easier and less messy to eat.

Mostly, though, even above dinner and cupcakes, I'm just glad I was able to see Corey again. A year is much too long to go without a dose of Corey. He really is something amazing. And we'll live happily ever after. Not the end.

Three weeks, one letter

2011-12-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

Dear Winter Break,
I love you. I love the things I get to do when you're around. Like working at Hancock Fabrics...I love that job and I love that whenever Winter Break is around, I get to go back to the job for three weeks or so. Here's a picture of Travis (our volunteer), me, Kelly (who is also back for Winter Break), the big boss Rana, and Shamara the stock clerk. Kelly and Rana are two of my very favorite people, so any time I get to spend with them is fantastic all the way around.

Winter Break, I love you because only one day into the break (December 19) you gave my mom a brand new left knee. She likes it. Even though recovery for something like a full knee replacement is a long process, she's doing well and I'm happy Winter Break aligned with her knee surgery so I could be here.

I love you, Winter Break, because I get to be in the Salt Lake valley, and I do love me some Salt Lake. Here's some pictures I took on my way to work recently as I drove down Bangeter Highway.. The first picture was taken on a Wednesday as they were tearing out the sky-walk on 7200 South. The second one is from almost the same spot but taken a day later when the sky-walk was all the way gone.

Don't worry, they built a new one about a block south of this intersection.

I love you, Winter Break, because I get to spend time with people I love, doing things I love, and with little to no real responsibility. I love that you let me stay up way too late at night and sleep in way too late in the morning. I love that you have lots of holidays for the celebratin' and that I get to spend those holidays with awesome people. Winter Break, I love that you will lead me right into Spring Semester, which, I can only assume I will love. Thank you for being good to me, Winter Break. I love you.
Sincerely,
Becky

Make-a-Wish

2011-12-28T13:26:00.049-07:00

I don't write very much on my blog about my amazing nephew Jackson and the battles he's facing with his cancer. It's hard for me to put my thoughts and feelings on the issue into blog-form. My sister keeps a pretty good record on a blog for Jack and on her family blog and I write a lot about it in my journal. I've hated the things he's had to go through over the past 8 months since diagnosis and over the past year since his first symptoms showed up. But I'm learning so very much from him and his family.

As I've been home for Christmas break Jackson has finished up his second of three Bone Marrow Transplant treatments. He'll start the third one right before I go back for spring semester. He also attended a party in his honor, hosted by the Make-a-Wish foundation on December 22. For more details, see his cancer blog, but here's some pictures I loved from the event.

Make-a-Wish is an amazing organization that takes horrific experiences like childhood cancer and brings a light of hope to the situation. KSL news interviewed me for a news story while at the party and I said all sorts of eloquent things about Jackson, about Make-a-Wish, diagnosis, treatment, the journey he's traveled. I talked about how important this wish is to him and how thankful the family is for the opportunity. I used every one of my communication skills and applied all the public speaking skills I tried to teach my 1010 students. Somehow, though, my interview with KSL was cut down to one sentence on the news story. That's fine by me...

The news story on KSL was short but cute. They showed Jackson riding the zamboni and waving to all the people who love him. There's no clip available on KSL or Make-a-Wish, but if you ever want to see it, go to my parents' house and you can watch the recording of it.

Mostly I'm just excited for Jackson to get his Go-Kart. What an awesome wish for a six-year-old who is so much like his dad and who loves anything with wheels. I hope that the Go-Kart will always be a reminder of the people who love him and his ability to conquer hard things. I love you Jackson!

I was simply having a wonderful Christmas night

2011-12-27T10:00:00.002-07:00

With a holiday like Christmas, everything must be documented. And when Christmas falls on a Sunday, that means even church must be documented. This is me at church with my dad bright and early on Christmas morning. Let it be known that my dad also brought me a home-cooked breakfast in bed. (And with 9o'clock church I'm rarely lucky enough to even get a PopTart in before church!) This year was a little different for my family with the my sister's family unable to come, my brother's fam living in Egypt (Stansbury Park), and my mom in rehab. Our typical Christmas morning traditions were replaced with my dad coming into my room with eggs, sausage, toast, and OJ singing, "I wish you a merry Christmas, I wish you a merry Christmas..." My dad is pretty amazing, in case you didn't know.

And church included these cute girls, too. Katie and Madi Taylor...I love them so much! I had both girls in my class when I was the Beehive advisor in my parents' ward. Madi was one of my first beehives and Katie was one of my last. Every time I'm at my there at my parents' ward Katie makes sure I get lots of hugs. And I think I've officially recruited Madi to come to SUU next year. Katie is a bundle of warmth. And Madi,...anything good I might have had in me as a teenager I see abudances of in Madi. She's going to do big things in this life, I'm sure of it. Their dad is the bishop, their mom is wonderful, and their other three siblings are awesome too. I love that whole family! The end!

The rest of the day was also full of Christmas adventures. Like a quick stop to see Connie, Brian, Hailey, and Jack...

And then opening a few presents at rehab with my mom...

This little face here just melts my heart. He LOVES his sword and of course his new cowboy boots.

Cooper loved opening his presents...and everybody else's. He was so excited for everything.

And then with permission, we snuck mom out of the rehab for a couple hours (with a pocket full of pain meds). She spent just a couple days in the hospital and probably only has a few more left in the rehab center. She's recovering quite well from her full knee replacement surgery last week. I'm so glad!

All the following pictures are from the party at Shanin and Jon's house. They're nice enough to host the whole family for basically every family gathering. Thanks Shan & Jon! We really missed Connie, Brian, Jackson, Hailey, Troy, Jo, Gavin, Emeree, Treven, Livia, and Michael at this party. Hopefully next year everybody can come.

Bri and Mom

Adam and Braden

Kaitlyn and Shanin

Amber and Abby...Well, the back of Abby's head, anyway. We take what we can get when it comes to Abby and pictures. Love you Abby!

Kali and Tony (of all the people at these parties, I'm always most excited to see Kali!)

Braden, Uncle Randy, and Kali. Randy was having a hard time smiling so this is the look on his face as Grandma Judy flashed him. No lie.

And finally Jon and Dad.
"What's the picture for?" Jon asked
"For my blog. I have to document." I replied
"Okay, I'm ready." He said, and I took the picture.
"Awesome, thanks Jon! That's totally blog-worthy." I said in all sincerity.
"Good," he said, "that's what I was going for."

Brody and Me

Crazy faces...Abby, Amber, and Kali

Crazy faces...Braden's pillow-pet and Aunt Janet

The cute fam right after Coop woke up from his nap

I showed Brody the picture of Hailey in the box. He liked it...so he tried getting in a box too, but just long enough to fully destroy it...Brody does things in Brody's way. :)

Luckily there was another box for Cooper. He liked it in there.

Everybody teased Grandma Judy because amongst her beautiful homemade-with-love sugar cookies (true to tradition, and made almost exactly like Gra'ma Hill used to make) were these "brown" bears. She had a little trouble making brown frosting. She gets teased because she's so darn loveable. I know very few people as kind, generous, thoughful, considerate, and loving as my Aunt Judy.

And I love her brown-bear sugar cookies! (Complete with sprinkle-fingers.)

Poor Michael was sick all day...Suffering alone at home while his family came to the party to laugh, play, eat, and enjoy the festivities. He felt well enough at the very end to stop in for a minute...he got there in the middle of the fingernail party.

The party was a success. I was glad we got do do our annual ornament-exchange again...if I ever have a Christmas tree of my own...ever ever ever...it's going to be beautifully decorated with ornaments all my own acquired at a rate of roughly 12-per-year. I was very well taken care of as far as Christmas presents went, too. My parents and family are so generous and they always take good care of me. I always ask for some pretty random things (for example, I asked for a hub cap and an apple-slicer this year) and Santa never thinks my requests too strange. I'm a lucky girl.

And in case I haven't ever mentioned it, I love unicorns.
Unicorns. I love them. I do.
And Christmas--with all it's magic and glitter--is an excellent time for unicorns.
This year I was given a unicorn book from my sister's neighbor Jill....
A small stuffed unicorn from Connie...
And this giant unicorn from Grandma Judy.
Seriously.

At first I thought maybe I've been taking this unicorn thing too far, but then look at this sucker...

IT'S SO FLUFFY!

This is joy.

Merry Christmas to all! What an awesome time to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I love that in the course of just one day we can go to church, be with family, and appreciate the holiday that began the completion of God's plan of salvation. Christ is what it's all about. This is why I love Christmas. I'm blessed with a lot of wonderful people in my life to share the holiday with. There's nobody I would rather be with on a sunny Christmas Sunday than my family. Happy Christmas to you and yours.

And for the record, I don't think it's POSSIBLE to take this unicorn thing too far. I'm just sayin'.

60 shiny Christmas fingers

2011-12-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

When all the food has been eaten...
All the presents have been opened...
Mom's back in rehab...(still funny to say)...
And the little children are all nestled all snug in their beds...

What better than a Christmas night manicure party at Shanin's house?

Abby and Kaitlyn played...

Kali and Amber played...

Shanin and Grandma Judy played...

And of course I was there too...

Braden and Michael didn't play with us, but they found things to do too.

Of all the things that sparkle on Christmas, I don't think I've ever noticed the glitter of nail polish on Dec 25. Now I will!

What a fun way to end the night. Thanks girlies for our post-Christmas celebration.

Oh, and PS...sometimes my cousin Amber talks to corndogs. That's all I really have to say about these pictures.

It was the night before Christmas

2011-12-25T23:30:00.000-07:00

My Christmas eve sparkled and shone brightly so I felt it necessary to blog. (When do I NOT feel it necessary to blog, you ask? Never.) My Christmas post is also so long I felt like Christmas Eve deserved it's very own post. That and I'm trying to reach 500 posts before my half-birthday... but more on that later.

The day before Christmas found my dad doing all the traditional cooking that my mom usually does: Gra'ma's shrimp salad and pecan pies. My mom was still in rehab so the responsibility somehow fell to him. I laugh every time I mention my mom in rehab...she's in for her knee surgery, not for substance abuse. Surgery isn't funny, but the words "visit my mom in rehab for Christmas" are funny. Love you mom.

Despite the panicked look on my dad's face, the dishes all turned out amazing. Dad's got skillz. This is the pie mid-process.

I started off the day babysitting Jack and Hailey for little while and ended up staying with their family all day long. I love that Jackson is home for Christmas between treatments and that he's feeling well. They have to be really careful about germs at their house, but luckily they still let me in. We played and ate which are two of my favorite things to do. :) I loved every minute of it.

Can you imagine a cute package under your tree than a box full of 2-year-old?

I was there right up until past bedtime so I got to see them put out cookies and strawberry milk for Santa and hang the key on the door (because they don't have a chimney). Santa is a very big deal. This is Jack with his TPN backpack on...Love that kid!

After hanging out all day at Connie and Brian's house I headed over to Lewis's house. Eric, Lewis, and I were going to watch "It's a Wonderful Life." Eric has never seen it, it's Lewis's dad's favorite movie, and I've never seen it all the way through. When I met up with them I had a genius idea that we go to Midnight Mass. I'm not Catholic, but I appreciate religious and cultural experiences...so I talked them into going. The first Catholic church we came to was really empty (only about 15 people inside) so we drove downtown to the Cathedral of the Madeline which is a huge beautiful building right down the street from the Salt Lake Temple.

It was so super crowded that we ended up standing at the back for an hour-and-a-half and left early (right as they started the communion). We couldn't see or hear very well but it's a beautiful service. Even though it's not consistent with my personal religious beliefs, I really enjoyed it and I'm glad we went.

I didn't get to bed until roughly 3am but I figure Santa was still up so it was okay that I was too. As excited as I was for Christmas, I had no trouble sleeping in my 5 hours before morning came. Happy Christmas Eve 2011!

Picture prints by Courier and Ives

2011-12-24T23:05:00.048-07:00

I love my friends.
I love Christmas.
I love dinner.
And just in case you don't make the connection....

I love Christmas dinner with my friends.

Pictured above:
Top row: Lorianne, Natalie, Riley, Cristi, Curtis
Bottom Row: Melissa, Lewis, Chalese, Eric, me, Bruce

This post is documentation of a friends-holiday dinner held this week at Natalie's house. The dinner is becoming a sort of annual tradition and I love it. Our friends-holiday party has been happening in some capacity since 2007 which was right after I got home from the PPM. On a side note, at the 2007 party I had cut my hair just the day before after accidentally growing it long on the mish.

Here's a memory of how it started back in 2007 at Eric's house.

2008 was at Blake's house.

In 2009 and 2010 apparently nobody was in charge of pictures...either that or I just never got ahold of those pics in any manner. But awesome parties happened those years, I assure you. Don't worry, I'm mostly on the ball now with photographing events. I have to document! Sometimes we take normal pictures and sometimes I say things like, "Everybody do Jazz hands!"

In case you didn't know, jazz hands are good. Very good.

I'm not going to tell you how many times we used the timer on my camera (and then on Bruce's camera too) for these group photos. They didn't hear me tell them the first picture was actually really good...so every attempt after that kept getting worse and worse. It was pretty funny.

Our holiday gathering consisted of a glorious dinner, making Star Wars snowflakes, and a photo shoot. Because we're cool like that. While not everyone is pictured below, please know that I love everyone who was there.

I opted to have the picture below taken because of the similar one from the holiday party back in 2008 at Blake's house. I promise it's only Martinelli's sparkling cider in both pictures and I promise I shared.

Ah, sweet memories.

I'm so very lucky to have such great friends. It's interesting to see how the group kind of changes and evolves each year. Most all of us are associated in one way or another through the Sundown Single's Ward I attended way back from August 2003-April 2006. Some joined up in other ways. Overally I really just think we're fantastic. And most of all, I just love having people to love. Merry Christmas. Seriously.

Dr. Smith was so proud

2011-12-23T22:44:00.017-07:00

My life as a perpetual college student means I live life on the edge. I have no health insurance. But I attend the temple a lot and I'm hoping that's kind of the same thing.

Three years without any kind of health or dental insurance means two and a half years without going to the dentist....Can you even remember what happened in May 2009? I can...because that's the last time I went to the dentist. (I can also remember because I was a blogger even back then.)

This past summer my mother gave me a little motherly advice, "You should go to the dentist."
Parental advice is a bit rare in my world so I listened to what she said. Back in July I made a dentist appointment for December 19, 2011. I wrote the appointment details on a sticky note, put it in my journal, and worried for four months that I was going to forget my appointment. ....Sometimes that's how I roll.

But guess what...
I remembered the appointment.

And guess what else...

I'm in the Zero Cavity Club. Heck yeah! Because I have zero cavities. When I lost my dental insurance I started flossing six times per week. (I allow myself a day of rest each week.) Eating all my meals at my college apartment means I brush my teeth four times a day. My friend Tedi recently became dental hygienist and I worry she'll de-friend me if I have bad teeth. Added all up meant that I'm in the club. Big time.

The assistant thought I was adorable for wanting my picture by the "Zero Cavity Club" sign. Obviously she doesn't understand my addiction to blogging. As I handed her my camera I solomly told her, "It's important to me that I document my achievements. I'm SO blogging this!"

And I did.

In a chipper mood

2011-12-22T22:10:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time during finals week, I had finished every paper, presentation, and assignment for all of my graduate classes and only had to administer the COMM 1010 final to my dear little students. I was in a chipper mood...probably my first chipper mood ever. Not that I'm not a chipper person, but just that I think it's nerdy to say "chipper mood" so I've never felt it fully applicable to any situation.

So I was in a chipper mood, walking to my last COMM 1010 class for my last final of finals week. Christmas break was within grasp...I could practically taste the silver bells and hear the candy canes. Just then, I saw this tree on campus....

Somebody else felt the Christmas spirit and decorated this tree in front of the ELC (Electronic Learning Center...this computer lab is open 24-7 during the last two weeks of every semester). I saw the tree and thought to my chipper self, "That's blog-worthy."

So I pulled out my camera...
Took the picture...
And headed on to my last final.

I had plans to take a picture of my class, but sadly when I got there I had no camera with me. Somewhere in the 5 minute walk between the ELC and my classroom I had lost my camera. The final was about to start and there was not much I could do...

Luckily favorite roommate Lara was there to take the picture and had her camera with her. (The picture was blogged in THIS post.)

Lara and I looked later on, but found no camera. My chipper mood had been deflated. After tracking down the lost and found (which FYI is in the post office on campus) I filled out an information slip about what I'd lost and how to contact me. And I prayed my little heart out that someone honest would find my camera and turn it in.

Prayers....answered!

A few hours later I was trying to nap-away my sorrows about my lost camera and the emails associated with THIS post when the post office called. Someone had turned in my camera (including the $15 cash I had inside the case). Someone honest had found my camera, tracked down the lost and found, and done the right thing.

Chipper mood restored!

Hooray for good people! I super super love that there are good people in the world and that at least one of them hangs out on SUU's campus looking for lost cameras. I posted about it on Facebook and had 33 eople "like" the status (which is a lot, I think).

I was so thrilled about the situation that Lara and I went to get hot chocolate to celebrate. While getting the hot chocolate (and Diet Dr. Pepper which was on sale) we chose to re-create all the pictures from THIS post. And seeing as I still have a camera, it was possible.

After we had sufficient beverage choice and once we were both sufficiently chipper, we ended up on a long random drive. It was our last official day together as roommates and seeing as she's been one of my very favorite roommates ever, we needed much time on that drive.

We ended up in the middle of nowhere...taking sassy pictures on the side of the road.

This is Lara's "Oh my heck I just graduated!" picture. Nice, eh? This picture reminds me of the adventures and pictures from THIS post.

There are multiple morals to be found in this story. I choose to highlight the fact that chipper moods are to be appreciated and that when you find examples of good people in the world, you should celebrate. A lot of happily ever after this day, yes?

COMM 1010-04

2011-12-21T23:33:00.001-07:00

Here it is.
The picture you've all been waiting for.
These are the bright shining faces that greeted me each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 16 weeks straight this semester. This is the Introduction to Communications class (section 4) of Southern Utah University, Fall semester 2011.

Could I love them any more? I don't think so.
Over the course of the semester I came to care about my students so much. I was amazed to hear about some of the struggles and issues they were each facing. There were two other students in my class who both had to file for "Emergency Medical Withdrawl" from all their classes this semester: one was diagnosed with MS and one was severely injured in a sledding accident. I had another student stop coming and another fail both due to more emotional health concerns. One is still recovering from a brain injury associated with a near-drowning last year. I was aware of concerns of unemployment and an extreme phobia of public speaking. At least one was overwhelmed with work, one was failing multiple classes because he couldn't focus enough to study, there was one that would be kicked out of the country if he failed my class (don't worry, he passed...barely). One was overwhelmed with a church calling (a 17-year-old Relief Society president), one was affected by a campus dorm being shut-down mid-semester, one was planning a wedding for this very week, one needed emergency knee-surgery mid-semester, two of them were only high school students, one is going to China with ILP next semester (like remember how I didn't go to Russia?), and there were a dozen other issues that I'm sure I never made aware of. One classroom/one semester can certainly hold a lot.

But through it all, we persevered. We learned together. We bonded. We grew. We came to appreciate communications for the glorious experience it was.

I'm not going to lie...my class next semester has a lot to live up to. Big shoes to fill. Because these students were a sparkly light of joy in my graduate school experience!

Communications is real life.

Can extra credit save you?

2011-12-20T23:15:00.009-07:00

When I started considering a Master's degree I had no idea what sort of career it would steer me towards. I just knew that I still had momentum for school so I might as well keep studying a subject I love: communications. And when I felt so incredibly strong that I needed to stay at SUU, Heavenly Father made it easy to stay with offers like "scholarship housing" and "graudate teaching assistantship." The real kicker was "at SUU you can stay close to your family."

Along the path of my education I've said things like, "I either want to go into healthcare administration or perhaps teach college." Well, my friends, the former of those two has flown right out the window. It happened one night as I sat in an empty board room at Primary Children's Hospital...revelation came pure and simple that hospital administration is not a job I would ever enjoy. Do you know what type of pictures are on the walls in a room like that? Lots of pictures of board members in suits and ties... and not a single picture of a cancer-kid, smiling patient, or unicorn. Seems strange to me.

Luckily, the latter option (teach college) is proving to be something I would love. For the most part. Teaching "Introduction to Communications" this semester has been one of my greatest joys. I love expounding the basic principles that create a foundation for the deeper doctrines and theories I'm absorbing as a graduate student. I love the bright eyes of my students yearning for knowledge.

It was ALL good.

All of it.

Until it came time to do grades.

Grading is BY FAR the worst part of teaching.

Grading made me wonder if my career path is really something I could enjoy for decades to come. I've decided it still is a good path for me. I just need to be very careful to approach it in the right ways.

Imma tell you a story now.

I know a lot about earning grades--I've been nearly every kind of college student there is. I've done everything from unemployed student, part-time, and even full-time employed student. I've failed classes (multiple times), I've slept in class, I've turned in mediocre work. And then I've gotten As in hard courses, been fully engaged in class discussions, and turned in work I'm truly proud of. I've traveled the spectrum. I've seen every corner of education. I've been every kind of student.

But for the last two years, I've primarily been a pretty good student. I work hard and love the efforts and rewards of education. And somehow I've forgotten that there are people completely content with Cs, Ds, and failing grades. I've forgotten that not everybody sees college in the same light. I had forgotten that not everybody plans to get an A out of every class and even the people who DO plan on As are not always willing to put for the effort to make it happen.

Last week when I turned in my grades I was surprised to see the grades that people in my COMM 1010 class earned. I thought I had made it pretty easy to get an A in my class...but then I forgot how hard it is for some people to come to class and/or turn in assignments....even though I've struggled with both of those things for most of my education.

My communications students earned grades ranging from 100.7% down to 30%. High As to Low Fs. I had at least one of pretty much everything. It kind of hurt to turn those grades in to the university knowing they would be on these students' academic records forever. (But then I failed English 2010 multiple times because I refused to write the papers, so you'd think I'd understand.)

The thing that kills me most is that each student really, truly, fully earned their own grade. I made sure of that. I tried to be fair and equitable when grading assignments and I took my position seriously. I encouraged them to do their best and assured them they would be rewarded in my class for doing so. For example...I presented one opportunity: "Write me a letter. Tell me how much extra credit you want and why you deserve it."

I ended up giving students exactly as much as they asked for because only a third of the class took advantage of that opportunity. It killed me. It STILL kills me.

What many students didn't realize is that those extra credit points could have made a very real difference in their grades. I saw one student who failed the class because he didn't come take the final. If he had gotten even a B on my incredibly easy final, he would have passed the class. I told my students all along, "YOUR education is YOUR responsibility." The statement sometimes hurt and sometimes healed.

As I sat in the computer lab on campus last week entering grades, I suddenly realized what God must feel like when completing the "final judgement" for His children. He'll see what we've done. He'll see what we HAVEN'T done. And He'll take it into account. The Atonement has provided Him to KNOW what it's like to be every type of sinner. He's felt everything we do. He knows WHY we are where we are. At that final judgement Heavenly Father will see which of His children are passing and which are failing. We'll know it too.

He'll see when we did or did not take advantage of EXTRA CREDIT. Our chances to do extra well in this life are not letters written to The Teacher, but are chances to serve, to be served, to show true charity, perhaps to be the best version of ourselves.

Many of us (myself included) are not properly taking full advantage of these opportunities. Our B+'s are NOT being turned into A-'s...and I wonder if it's only the A students who will pass that final judgement anyway.

I agonized over those grades as I entered them. It was the only part of teaching I haven't enjoyed yet.

I got the following email right in the middle of my grade-entering process. (Some elements have been altered to protect the identity of this student.)

Dear Becky,

This is one of those humbling experiences we as students understand so well where you plug in your grades and it doesn't really turn into what you wish it would. Before the final I had an 87.7%, afterwards, with my test score, it turned into an 89.3%. Unfortunately, I still need 5 more points to get a 90.0% which is what I'm really hoping for. I look initially to my attendance score to fill in the gap (36/50). I think I only missed 4 or so classes the entire semester... which I now understand is WAY too many. Won't happen again. I hope somewhere in your heart you find it within yourself to exact mercy upon me and my poor academic showing by granting me these 5 measly but necessary points.

Sincerely and with all due respect and with utmost humility,

YOUR STUDENT

This email killed me. It stabbed me in the heart and killed me. This student has been a joy in my class. This student has added to discussions, completed assignments, put up with my jokes and teaching style, and been friendly to me and the other students. This student deserved an A, but just fell short in a few places. This student even earned 100% on the final exam.

I agonized. I hemmed. I hawed. I added and subtracted. I introspected and outrospected (because that's a word now). I really didn't know what to do. I didn't know what the right choice was. There was no clear path as far as I could see. My email reply to the student began thusly:

DEAR STUDENT,

You've really put me in a difficult spot. I argued back and forth with myself for several minutes on the issue. It felt like the ultimate battle of justice versus mercy. I could clearly see that five points really would make all the difference in your grade. In fact, only four points would have brought your grade up to 89.9% which is still a B+.

I did my best to evaluate both sides of the argument. Should I have awarded this student five points or not? Should I have been merciful and gone off a judge of character or should I have been just and told him he earned what he earned? What is my role as a "Graduate Teaching Assistant" in matters like this? Do I get to make calls like this or am I bound by certain laws? Is grading a matter of numbers or a matter of students? "YOUR education is YOUR responsibility...."

Does God experience this same battle with each of us? I imagine He does. He has obligations to both justice and mercy. Neither can rob the other. Heavenly Father knows our grades and receives our pleadings. YOUR salvation is YOUR responsibility.

I'm certainly not comparing myself to the Saviour of Mankind. Certainly not. And COMM 1010--an undergraduate general education course--is not comparable to matters of eternity and salvation. But I appreciate when Heavenly Father uses my life experiences as teaching moments for me. I need to learn lessons like this. I need to learn about justice and mercy. I have a firm and abiding testimony of justice, yet I'm sure I call for far more than my share of mercy. I'm a flawed student. I need some extra credit.

I'm not going to tell you the final result of this student's grade. I'm not going to tell you whether this student received an extra five points and I'm not going to tell you if the final grade entered was A- or B+. To be honest, I'm not sure I made the right decision. I'm not sure I'll ever know what the right decision is/was.

Let me exhort you, however, to be an A student in this class that is Earth Life. Let's not get to the day of grades and have to wonder if it's time for justice or time for mercy. Let's be able to stand before the Lord having earned our As and knowing that we earned it all along, through honest and sincere efforts. We do know that the atonement is there. If we fall a few points short, I'm sure Christ will do what He does best and save us. But we need to know that it's after ALL we can do. Don't make grading hard on the Lord.

Go get earn yourself some extra credit...before it's too late.

Shhhhhhhh. Quiet or I'll fall.

2011-12-15T00:01:00.047-07:00

Graduate school is killing me in all the right ways. I work so freakin' hard at it. But I'm doing it. I'm making it. One day, one paper, one class at a time. Today my 1010 students have their final and then I'll be done for the semester: 25% of my Master's degree complete. I feel like I'm balancing on a super-squirrelly, highly-waxed surf board and as I stand precariously on this surfboard of graduate school I find myself moving methodically and slowly as I cautiously realize in my brain and in my heart, "I'M DOING IT! I'M DOING IT!" But of course I'll never say that out loud, lest I lose my footing and crash into the ocean of failure.

The four pictures below are papers from all three of my graduate classes this semester. Don't tell anyone what you see here lest I fall off my surfboard.

Shhhhhh. Seriously. If you say anything it might jinx me. I don't want to fall off the graduate-school surfboard. I'm still not sure I can swim at this point. Don't tell anyone what you've seen or heard here today. But these pictures--and my teachers stroking my ego--make me think that perhaps I've been a surfer all along and perhaps just never had the confidence to get in the water.

The Messiah

2011-12-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

Handel's Messiah: a bunch of scriptures about Jesus put to music for an orchestra and a huge-o choir. Way awesome in a lot of ways. Performed every year--for the last 71 years--by Cedar City. Performed every Christmas since the year before Pearl Harbor was bombed. That's a long time.

The past two years (when I was living in Cedar City) they did their performances after finals week was over so I was already home for Christmas. Luckily this year I'm still be in town, so I got to rock my bass to the tunes of the Messiah. It was so awesome it gave me chills every time and almost gave me a new blister on my left thumb (weird, right).

Just three rehearsals for two performances. Just the way I like it.

Sunday's audience all filing in. They were blurry in real life, it's not just my camera/photog-skills. One of my students was right in the front row, smack-dab in front of the basses...which was pretty cool.

The orchestra before we began. I almost opted for another picture of almost-skullet man, but instead got Michelle and the bassoonist. The orchestra was also blurry in real life. We try to look blurry to add to the timbre of the music. I assure you my camera-knowledge is not so poor I couldn't get this picture to be not-blurry.

These performances of the Messiah were amazing. I got to play it once at Snow college, but I don't think that really counted because I didn't get to rehearse, I basically just sight-read during the performance. But THESE shows, I was sincerely invested in. The music and words are amazing. I was told tonight that Handel wrote the entire Messiah (53-ish individual pieces) pretty quickly and given the amazingness of the music, I just know that he had some pretty intense direction from the Lord on it. Because it's all based on scriptures detailing the birth, life, and death of Christ, it's already spiritual. Adding music just intensifies the experience. I got chills several times during the rehearsals and performances. I consider myself lucky to have opportunities to express my testimony through experiences like this.

This is Professor Sun (pictured below). I had to get a picture with him after the concert because he is declaredly (Did I just made up that word?) the absolute best conductor I've ever played for. In one of our Messiah rehearsals he told the choir, "I can't tell you how to sing this song, but I can show you." And sure enough, through only his conducting style they were able to interpret the music exactly how he wanted it to be expressed. I love playing for him because music for Professor Sun is more than just notes on a page, it's an expression of life. Monday night after our performance he took the huge bouquet of flowers he got and tossed it super high into the air, way back into the choir-seats where it was perfectly and gracefully caught by an old-lady-Alto. It was beautifully dramatic and it was almost like he orchestrated that too!

Happy Christmas. Please remember why we celebrate this time of year.

To even things out...

2011-12-13T01:05:00.002-07:00

When your house smells like onions on a Sunday night....
Go with your favorite roommate to get hot chocolate.

Fill'er up.

See this picture? Lara told me to take it again...

And so I made the exact same face and did the exact same thing...but somehow something else showed up in the photo. Lara, this is supposed to be a family-friendly blog...and I can't NOT post pictures!

This is for you Kyle, although I pretended the sign said "LARA. Must. Have. HOT CHOCOLATE."

And if you're going to drive all the way across the entire town this late at night to escape the smell of onions, you should definitely ask the cashier at the KB to take your picture.

There are not nearly enough pictures of Lara and me in her car...so we took a couple more.

And THAT, my friends is what to do when your house smells like onions. Any questions?

Onions. Seriously.

2011-12-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

Someday a weekend will come that will not be full of things I love. And then I will cry a sad, sad, sad, sad, sad tear...then I'll go do something I love. K?

Like on Friday when I played with Lara...
Then on Saturday when I played with Jana...
Or later on Saturday when I went to the temple...
Or on Sunday when we had our first "roommate dinner" this semester... There are pictures of this one (the roommate dinner). There had to be.

See, roommate Jessica found onions on sale this week for 75 cents a bag. She bought two bags. Why WOULDN'T you buy two bags of onions when they're only 75 cents each!? Do you KNOW how many onions come in TWO full bags? Well, as proud owner of two giant bags of onions she decided to share the wealth with her roommates.

So she cooked us all an onion-themed dinner. Yes, I really said that. I can't even blog funny things about this. I can't even expand the experience into a billion-word post that will take you 15 minutes to read and that will have you rolling on the floor in tears. I can't do that.

Because when I say "two bags of onions" and "onion-themed roommate dinner..." I run out of words and I get an expression on my face that even I can't put into words.

Onion-themed dinner.

Say it with me now.
Onion-themed. Dinner.
Do you feel what I feel?

Lara and I came home from church on Sunday to see this: Jess didn't like the burn-y feeling in her eyes so she wore ski goggles to cut up onion after onion after onion. Kind of genius, I think. We teased her until our eyes were all watering and her's weren't...and then she teased us.

The nice thing about this dinner was that she didn't even want any help. A home-cooked meal! Yessss! We kept asking to help, but this one was all up to her. I took a nap and went to tithing settlement while Jess cooked and cooked and cooked those onions. Two bags of onions. Two bags. I may have a slight mock in my voice when I say "onion-themed dinner," but in all seriosity it turned out pretty well. Seriously.

This is the french-onion soup (amazing) along with a cucumber-onion salad that I would absolutely eat again.

And then we finished up with shishkebobbs. (I have no idea how to spell that....I don't really want to learn.) I also baked brownies, but they don't count as part of this dinner because there was no onions in them. Jess thought about carmelizing some onions for the brownies but she had already put away her goggles, so she didn't.

Since Lara is moving out at the end of this week we took a moment to take pictures of the four of us roommates together. This is the best one....

The picture is Jessica, me, Lara, and Kiley. I asked Lara why this picture is so awkward and she said we haven't bonded enough (the four of us) to take good pictures together. BUT, if an onion-themed dinner doesn't start the bonding off right, I don't know what would! Thanks Jessica for teaching me that even things like THIS can be done well!

The unfortunate news is that our apartment may smell like onions for the rest of our natural lives. It almost combats the bean house incident....almost. The meal was free to most of us, and the onions were only $1.50...but we all now have a larger price to pay...come visit me. You'll know which house is mine by the way your eyes burn when you pull into the driveway. I almost dared strangers to smell my hair yesterday, but invitations like that rarely come out right, especially when my hair smells like onions.

Onion. Themed. Dinner.
Seriously.
Do you see why I HAVE to blog about it but can barely do so?

Thanks Jess! Thanks for the onion themed dinner and thanks for the blog post!
Two bags of onions. Seriously.

Master Erin

2011-12-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

This is Erin. I love her. She just finished her Master's degree in Professional Communication at Southern Utah University. Someday I'll have one of those degrees too...if I live that long. These pictures are taken in her very last ever class period (of her master's) as she gave her very last ever presentation (of her master's). She taught us about Effects Tradition and Cultivation Theory. When she saw me taking pictures she said, "Am I going to make it onto your blog!?" and to that I want to tell her, "Erin, you got your very own post!"

Congratulations, dearie-do. You inspire me to do this too!

Parowan Gap

2011-12-08T21:51:00.000-07:00

One magical day near the end of this semester (today) Lara fb messaged me and said, "What are you doing for the next hour?" I'll spare you my literal responses and instead let you see the pictures of what ACTUALLY transpired.

These were taken about 20 miles northeast of Cedar City at the Parowan Gap. I had never heard of it but it was really awesome. Somewhere out in the middle of big, flat, nothing pops up this tiny range of mountain-like structures. And right in the middle of that range is a giant gap. They put a road through it in 1915, but even with that road I think it may be the absolute quietest place on earth. It was beautiful and serene and quietly spiritual. The rocks are covered with petroglyphs and we loved wandering around and seeing all there was to see. We played, had fun, took pictures, enjoyed the peace, bonded, and took full advantage of the day.

Not that Lara and I really needed more pictures of us together, but look how fun they are!

In the trail that has been my life (I said TRAIL, not TRIAL) I've lived with close to 30 different women. I'd have to say, Lara has been one of my absolute favorites. We've laughed, cried, and played so much in this semester I feel like we've had 1000+ adventures in just four months. I'll miss her when she graduates next week and moves on, but I'm seriously so excited for her bright shiny future. Heavenly Father really watched out for both of us when he stuck us together this semester and I'll be forever-ever grateful. Forever.

PS...we're standing in a cave in that last picture. Cool, right!? Happy week-before-finals to us!

Time to be awesome

2011-12-07T21:50:00.000-07:00

Sam said to me the other night, "check my blog, my last post is awesome."
So I did. And then I said, "check MY blog, too."
To which Sam said, "Oh my gosh! You post like almost every day! How do you have time for that!?"

But what Sam perhaps doesn't realize is that when your life is this great....You MAKE time.

Unicorn bicycle helmets at Wally World. Please DON'T get me one, but please DO recognize how awesome this is. Lara's was a shark. Pttth. What's a shark when you can choose a unicorn!? Totally blog-worthy.

I was so excited I could barely contain myself.

"Lara, we need more documentation of us at the library."
"Why?"
"I don't know, but let's at least get pictures of my awesome new hair-color."
"Okay."

See? It's all about priorities.
When your life is this awesome, you MAKE time to post it narcissisticly online.

Everybody's in

2011-12-06T11:04:00.001-07:00

This is officially the week before finals week...it's big. Apparently everybody has work to do. I haven't seen these guys in my library before, but three of them showed up last night...everybody's focused on school this week. Everybody.

In the picture below you can see all three that showed up.
Furthest away you can see the yellow one--Laa Laa
In the middle is the purple one--Tinky Winky, who also happens to be gay.
And closest to me was the red one--Po, who speaks both English and Cantonese.
I don't know where the green one was--Dipsy. Did you know that Dipsy's face is darker than the other three Teletubbies which means Dipsy is black? (seriously.)

I have to admit, I was surprised when they walked in...especially seeing as these guys were all born in 1997: they're only 14. Their television careers ended after four years and 365 episodes so they must be looking for something to do with their time. We're very welcoming at SUU.

PS, thank you Wikipedia for teaching me who I was sharing my library with.

Three things, and only three things

2011-12-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

Am I tired of driving the four-hour trip from Cedar to Salt Lake? Not really. Because it means I get long fantastic weekends with people I love. I realized the reason why I always feel like I'm living such long days at the library during the week is because I only do homework four days a week and the other three I play play play with my family and loved ones. I drive, play, drive, sleep, homework, homework, homework. Lather, rinse, repeat. I told some people this weekend that my life has come down to three things and only three things: Diet Coke, writing papers, playing in Salt Lake.

And I do love all three of those things, even when the drive to Salt Lake sometimes looks like this...as it did on Friday evening during my drive. Don't worry, it wasn't storming so bad that I couldn't pull out my camera and take a picture of it while I drove. Maybe texting and driving isn't the only thing I should avoid. ("We have to document!")

It only stormed like that for 20 miles (from Fillmore to Scipio) so I was fine. And then I commenced to PLAY! Friday night I went with Bruce, Eric, and Lewis to the Festival of Trees. It's the first time I've gone in more than a decade and only my second time ever. The festival benefits Primary Children Medical Center---and I solidly support PCMC these days (as does Bruce, who's niece has cancer) so we stopped on in. Lots of glittery things in there. Nice.

Later that night we stopped by a party for some dancing and cake then the four of us went back to my house for ice cream. We ate ice cream and thereafter we were cold so we started a fire in my parents' gas fireplace....which set off the smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in the basement. It was 2am and my dad was sleeping for the first time in days after a long week at work...luckily my parents slept right through. It's nice to know we didn't wake them up, but now I'm concerned about the fact that they both sleep right through the warning alarms....anyway...

Saturday morning came soon and it came early. Luckily I wasn't killed in my sleep by carbon monoxide. We again gathered together to celebrate the joyous wedding of my friends Cristi Yates and Curtis Bailey. The sealing was absolutely beautiful and I'm so very very happy for Cristi and Curtis. This is Chalese, Eric, me, and Lewis at the temple. It was super freezy-cold...but enjoyable nonetheless.

Did I mention it was super freezy-cold outside? Eric found warmth in the hood of my sweater. He said it was partly my fault he was so cold because I shaved his head last weekend. Hmmmm. I told him I'm going to use pictures like this against him someday in his political campaigns. Oh, and of course this old video...

After the sealing, pictures, and lunch at Salt Lake's "Blue Lemon" I headed over to Connie and Brian's for the afternoon. We raced remote control cars, drank hot chocolate, I went grocery shopping with Connie, ate dinner with them, and got lots of cuddles. Oh my gosh I love being with their family. I love that C & B share their family with me.

While Jack and I cuddled Hailey searched my purse for treasures. She found some. :)

While Jack and I cuddled, and while Hailey searched my purse for treasures, Connie and Brian took pictures.

After a great afternoon with the Penders I made my way to the reception. I walked into the church, saw a wedding, saw a bride dancing, saw lots of people and presents...and realized I was at the wrong wedding and at the wrong church. SOooooooo when I finally made it to the CORRECT wedding and church it made it even more fun. Look how cute Cristi is. I'm not sure why Curtis edged out of this picture...but he looked nice too.

Eating tarts with Ida Nay and Lorianne...Someday let me tell you how much I love Ida Nay. Her husband was the bishop that sent me on my mission. Bishop and Ida Nay are two of the most wonderful folks in the whole world. He couldn't make it to the wedding due to some health problems, but they're always so good to support their former-singles'-ward "graduates." I swear, at every wedding she sees me she asks, "Becky, why hasn't somebody snatched you up yet!?" Who knows, Ida Nay, who knows?

As I left the reception I got a call from Ashley inviting me to join her and Chalese at KC's parents' house to hang out while he played poker with the boys. What a cute married-wife thing to do, right? I don't get to see KC and Ashley often enough now that they're married. Sad day. So when I got the call, of course I went...because we're cool like that. I love these girlies!

And since there are a billion hours in any given Saturday, I met up with everyone at Village Inn later that night. Notice in the picture: Lewis, Natalie, me, Lorianne, Bruce, Chalese, Eric, and Melissa. Also known as: the engineer, the accountant, the grad-student, the social worker, the investment adviser, the elementary teacher, the customer service manager, and the other elementary school teacher/former nurse. This group amazes me. This table of eight represents nine bachelors degrees, three master's degrees (with mine on the way), five home-owners, and seven successful career-people. Nice, right? I'm blessed with great friends.

In the course of my weekend I had yet to really spend any time with my parents. I saw my mom for about a half-hour on Friday but that was all. So after church on Sunday we took a few minutes to start decorating their Christmas tree. My cute mom...don'tcha just love her?

Note the pink-candy-cane....the best ornament on the tree, in my opinion. I always make sure it finds a prominent spot front and center on my parents' tree.

And of course my cute dad...he works so hard. Salt Lake had a huge wind storm on Thursday last week knocking out power for thousands of homes and businesses. When the power is out, never complain because this is the guy working hard for dozens and dozens of consecutive hours to help you get your lights back on.

When all was said and done, I headed back towards Cedar City on Sunday afternoon. I left early to avoid the storms and luckily I didn't see more than a hundred snowflakes on my drive. The second I got to Cedar I fell on my bed for a four-hour nap...I played hard this weekend!

I feel lucky that I was able to go up north AGAIN and have a wonderful weekend AGAIN. My weekday commutes around Cedar City rarely add up to more than 20 miles, but I average more than 500 miles each weekend. In the past six weeks alone I've driven more than 2200 miles. Ask me if it's worth it.
Is it worth it? Absolutely.

Don't let her leave me

2011-11-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned recently how much I love my roommate Lara?

Tonight, in the snow, at Walmart, at 10:45 pm I realized even my car loves her.

And when we got home, roommate Jessica's car began loving Lara too.

And then Lara's milk, my milk, and my mango Tampico juice all began loving Lara too...

She's very lovable, that one.

And for the record....I got my interview analysis paper back in my research class tonight and got a perfect score. It made my whole night sparkly happy. I worked way hard on that paper and the beautiful 50 points were like extra frosting on the cake of life. I bought new fingernail polish to celebrate. The end.

Gimme a break

2011-11-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

I've been here all along. At the library. And now, all of a sudden two weeks before finals, it's getting busy. It was hard to find a parking space this evening. And then when I came inside...somebody was in my spot. Don't they know I've been here all along and that I should have priority? Ptttth. Undergrads!

I spent all day Monday and all day Tuesday writing a big paper for my interpersonal class. Mustin found me at the library last night and in his short visit we took this picture...I look exhausted because I was.

Today Lara and I came back so I could print my finished paper and turn it in tonight. 16 pages...that's quite a doozie considering I did it all, beginning to end, in just two days. I didn't procrastinate so much as I just didn't have time before that. And also I thought it was due next week....I swear I'm organized, I really am.

But it is what it is. And it's done. I'm done with it. And I do like the title of my paper:

Determining Social Compatibility: A Study of Gender Stereotypes

in Accordance with Social Identity Theory

Nice, eh?

Lara and I think so. We celebrated with Kit Kats.

Now if I can just survive the next three weeks...

Puts a twinkle in the eye, yes?

2011-11-28T10:00:00.002-07:00

Dear Thanksgiving weekend,
I love you. Thank you for giving me a break from crazy hectic school life. Here are some pictures of our good times together. I'm excited to see you again next year.
Love,
Becky

My first time buying diapers. That box was freakin' heavy.

My dad loves Thanksgivining.

And what's T-give without pecan pie?

I just wanna eat that little face of his!

Going to see "Breaking Dawn" with my mom late on Thanksgivining. It was horrible in all the expected ways...and yet I kinda liked it. Don't judge.

And of course lots of time with these guys: Bruce, (me), Eric, Chalese, and Lewis. Meals, movies, laughter, and jokes, always until the wee-small hours of the morning.

Another temple-fountain picture.

And me wearing Eric's apron...while I cut his hair. I'm not sure why he asked me as I've never before cut anyone's hair (with their permission, anyway). But he asked and I did.

You get what you pay for at 1am... Lewis and Chalese told me I missed a spot on his left side, but I never did find it.

And finally, this sunset guided my way back to Cedar City. What a weekend. I certainly do love my time in the Salt Lake valley. The nice thing about going up there during the school year is that I have few actual responsibilities and I just get to play the whole time. Meals with friends and loved ones, Saturday lunch, swimming with my mom, visits with family, a little bit of shopping, teaching primary, (and okay, I did a little bit of school stuff too), but all in all, an excellent Thanksgivining weekend if I do say so myself.

Three more weeks of school. Less than one year to the next T-give. I can handle this.

A sign of great love

2011-11-27T20:49:00.001-07:00

From the oldest generation...

And from the youngest generation.

Love from the animal...

But also love in pictures of animals...

Notes of love because we missed you...

Notes of competition...because we love you!

Everyone in their own way wanted to tell you we missed you.

Seriously...everyone in their very own way...

We love you Pender family!
Thanksgivining wasn't the same without you this year and we love you more than anything!

We're all on your team!

Pictures of old stuff

2011-11-26T21:18:00.036-07:00

When I was driving up North last weekend for Thanksgivining, my friends Tedi and Derrick were headed South for the holiday so we met up for lunch in Nephi. We decided on the famed J.C. Mickelson's Restaurant because I've been staring at their billboards for a decade but never actually eaten there ("Nephi!?" "It's worth it dear, eat some peanuts."). Charming restaurant, good enough food, now I never need to eat there again... I love Nephi. I've passed through it a million times between my years at Snow College, going to Tedi's Uncle's plays at the high school (he's the drama teacher), and now with my years at Cedar City. Nephi contains the full essence of what every charming small town might be.

Anyway. I got to Nephi a few minutes before Tedi and Derrick so I pulled off the exit and took a couple pictures of this old building. Lara saw it a few weeks ago and felt inspired, and while my pictures aren't as good as hers would be, you can still see that it was a pretty cool old place.

I think it was an old gas station or repair shop. I have no idea how long it's been there and I couldn't really tell. I wonder what would happen if you call that phone number...435-623-2360.

It wasn't real charming on the inside...

But super fascinating from the outside.

Good times.

And then while I waited in front of the restaurant for a couple more short minutes, I saw this guy across the street. So I took his picture. I think his two dogs had to pull from the front so that huge backpack wouldn't make him tip over backwards.

That's all.

I'm just not ready to buy diapers

2011-11-23T23:42:00.001-07:00

I have a bucket list: a list of things to do before I die. It’s not so much a written-down list, or a set-in-stone list, or even a share-it-with-posterity list. But every once in a while I hear of something and know it’s on my hypothetical list or I do something and know I can check it off.

Buying diapers? Consider it checked off. And oh how I earned that check tonight.

Night before Thanksgivining, 2011. Wal-mart in West Valley City, Utah. 9:00pm.
Dangerous combination…I know.

But see, I’m from out of town and so my T-give food assignment “vegetable” required visiting the Magical Land of Maniacal Behavior. I cautiously entered the doors with list in hand: frozen corn, heavy cream, parmesan cheese. All the other ingredients I had access to.

Let me, as a single person, explain something to those of you married folks and/or parenty-people. When you go to the store and need to purchase only three small things and you don’t have to carry children, diaper bags, anti-bacterial supplies, car seats, extensive shopping lists, coupons, coupon-organizational-systems, the Dora-play-phone, or purses with contents rivaling both Mary Poppins and Hermione Granger…when you need only three small things…you don’t get a shopping cart.

I knew I had this handled: corn, heavy cream, parmesan cheese. Get in, get out, make the cart-pushers jealous. I even called my mom to see if she needed anything. She didn’t. I had things under control.

Until a text from my sister came. I’d just had a glorious dinner at her house followed by an evening of cuddles and love from her children wherein Jackson told me that wearing a backpack is like getting a hug from a unicorn. I would have done anything that text asked of me.

“Did you go to my Wal-mart? Can you get me some heavy cream.”

Got it. Corn, heavy cream (times 2), parmesan cheese.

And another text. “And some 2% milk?”

Corn, heavy cream (times 2), parmesan cheese, 2% milk.

And another text. “And some diapers? Huggies size 4?”

Corn, heavy cream (times 2), parmesan cheese, milk, diapers.

My list had grown, and it had grown quite a bit. I was okay with this. I was happy to pick up those things for my wonderful sister. But the circumstances were pressing. There were approximately 180 trillion people at Wal-mart. And when I got those texts I was already at the back of the store. And I had no shopping cart. And my mind still saw this as a small list. And I’m used to shopping like a single person. And I had no idea how heavy boxes of diapers are.

I began gathering groceries in my arms: two bags of frozen corn, a small package of grated parmesan cheese, a gallon of 2% milk, and two small containers of heavy cream. I juggled skillfully. I saw people with shopping carts (165 million people near the milk). Some of those cart-pushers were jealous that I could juggle, some thought I was silly to try. I maneuvered skillfully through the crowds…

…to the diapers.

Apparently at 9:15 on the night before Thanksgivining there are only massively giant boxes of Huggies size 4 diapers available. This wouldn’t be a problem…if I had a shopping cart.
My arms were full. I was far away from carts. Surrounded by 9 billion people all feeling the urgency of pie and the procrastination of turkey…

Go-go-Gadget-arms! I put all the grocery items in my left arm, reached my right arm up onto that shelf and grabbed that freakin’ huge box of diapers. Balance it… Balance it… Success!

I made it 15 feet. The onlookers were no longer impressed. Especially when the giant box of diapers tore wide open under a display of size 3-6 months clothing.

But what’s a single girl to do? My other purchases perched precariously in the left arm, including an 8 pound gallon of milk. Do you know that everyone else in the diaper section was smart enough to have shopping carts? I also love that everyone in the alcoholic beverage isle could see me…as well as that family who had been discussing canned-whip-cream for the past 9 minutes. They all saw. And my arms were full.

Well, Becky got skills. Don’t you fret.

I knew my fate included a shopping cart. This was no longer a simple list of three items, but had mutated into a 40-pound shopping expedition in the Magical Land of Maniacal Behavior at what very well may have been the witching hour (a supernatural hour often witness to suspicious or questionable occurances).

So I gracefully used my right foot to slide the mangled box of diapers under the clothing display. Sly. Very sly. I could see the judging happening around me. “She’s obviously not a mom.”

No. I’m definitely not. A mom would have had a cart. Or would have done her shopping before 9:20 on T-give Eve. A mom in my situation would have turned back long before for a cart. Or sent the husband. Or would have abandoned the whole situation. Or would have been able to balance everything while also talking on the phone and applying bandaids. No. I’m not a mom. I’m a graduate student: I don’t grocery shop; I write papers.

I started the walk of shame back to the front of the store, still balancing 13 pounds of groceries: two bags of corn, heavy cream (times 2), parmesan cheese, 2% milk.

God bless the soul who abandoned an empty cart just 20 feet up the aisle. Or maybe it wasn’t abandoned, maybe that shopper just turned around for a quick second to check something and turned back to find their cart stolen. We’ll never know, but I felt justified either way.

I returned to the mangled train-wreck which was once the largest, heaviest, and only box of Huggies size 4 diapers in the entire city of West Valley. I ducked under the rack of monkey-onesies and gathered the box’s contents. I put it all in my cart. My cart. My shopping cart.

I looked at my corn, heavy cream (times 2), parmesan cheese, milk, diapers…and you know what I thought?

“I could have carried all that.”

Okay. Not really. I maneuvered up to the register. I waited in line for almost a half hour. I admired other people’s purchases. The lady behind me bought a big bag of onions and sour cream. She had a shopping cart. I people-watched. I smacked my gum. I tried putting my ring on the wedding-ring finger then decided nobody would believe I was married when my box of diapers looked like that. Nobody else had mangled-boxes of diapers…but they don’t shop like I do. Nobody shops quite like I do.

I returned to my sister’s house at 9:49pm and proudly presented her heavy cream, 2% milk, and Huggies size 4 diapers.

“Thanks.” She said, “That’s a big box of diapers.”

You’re telling me. But at least I can check “buying diapers” right off that freakin’ bucket list.

Happy Thanksgivining.

I recommend'ja

2011-11-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

I don't spend many weekends in Cedar City any more...I find more motivation to be at home even thought it requires spending 8 hours of my weekend in the car. But because next weekend is a super long one, I lingered in the land of Cedar and St. Geezy this weekend.

Here's a picture of the fountain at the St. George temple...because I want to start a trend on my blog.

And here's me, roommate Lara, and New Friend Roger at the Thai food place in St. George: Benja's. They've got these sing-songy radio commercials that get in your brain, "I RECOMEND'JA COME DOWN TO BENJA'S"... and since Lara loves it, we stopped on by. And you know what? I recommend it too.

The waiter divided our check three ways because we shared all three dishes. My favorite part was that I paid $0.00 for 1/3 of three different cups of water.

The point of this story, then, is that even though I don't spend many weekends here, we sure know how to rock them. That's all. Carry on.

To the very end.

2011-11-20T11:00:00.001-07:00

Friday mornings at the library it's hard to find a computer.
Friday evening...6:45pm at the library...it's hard to find another person. Don't they know the SUU library is open clear until 7 tonight? Stick it out kiddos. It's for your education! It's for your future.

I'm always here.

This was Friday evening's view to my right.
Not a soul.

And they left in such a hurry that not-a-one pushed in their chair all the way.

This is my reality. This is my life. This is my home.

I love graduate school.

From Darkness to Light: The Unicorn Journey

2011-11-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

I don't know how I lived my life in such darkness before coming to realize my love for unicorns. These magical creatures are represented everywhere and I never even recognized it.

It's similar to when you start driving a new car and all of a sudden you see that same type of the car driving all over the place, but you never noticed until you had one of your own.

Same with unicorns. Not that I own a unicorn (not a student-budget anyway)...but now that I love them and have a personal attachment to them, I notice them every where I go. (I'm sure there must be a communication theory for this sort of thing, right?...Erin?)

See this sidewalk? It's on my campus going towards the PE building parking lot. See the lamp pole? It will light your way when you're in darkness. And see what's that on the lamp pole?

Hmmm...getting closer...getting closer...

Kwi-chow! Unicorn Sticker!

The unicorn sticker on the lamp pole illustrates to me that I was once in darkness as to the wonderfullness of unicorns. But now I see. The path to loving unicorns has been lit.

Will you someday read my book? (If I someday write it?)

"From Darkness to Light: The Unicorn Journey"

an inspirational narrative of life and unicorns

by Becky VanSleeuwen

They happen, like, all the time

2011-11-18T17:07:00.000-07:00

Played another concert last night.
Because apparently that's what I do.
They happen, like, all the time.
Orchestra of Southern Utah

This pictures is when my bass was lying down on the floor (which is completely acceptable these days). I was originally trying for artsy but failed in that department and instead got an awesome picture of slightly-creepy cello-player almost-skullet-man in front of me.

We've been practicing this piece for weeks and I've always really liked it. Little did I know that the composer was here from China for our performance. Awesome! Cedar City's mayor made the composer an "Honorary Resident of Cedar City." I was so happy for him.

I took this picture a couple weeks ago in rehearsal and just now realized that it super features almost-skullet man again. Which is cool.

This sign was behind me at the concert. It was at the top of the stairs leading up to the stage. Apparently if you walk up those stairs you also drive off a cliff, which is unfortunate. Luckily I walked in the "Performer's Entrance" and did not have to risk driving off a cliff in the performance.

I had nobody I loved specifically at this concert and I gave my free ticket to some baldy-stranger and his son in line to buy tickets. Well, I assume it was his son. It could have been some child he kidnapped and was forcing to appreciate high-culture events. I'm not sure. Luckily I love playing regardless of who is in my audience (even if they're kidnappers) so it was yet another successful concert. Because that's what I do. And they happen, like, all the time.

Thanks Antionah. Someday we'll frolic.

2011-11-17T00:12:00.002-07:00

I have a new Book of Mormon hero. You ready for this? Antionah.

What’s that? You don’t remember ever reading about him? Well, lemme tell ya why he rocks.

Once upon a time, way back in the land of the Nephites about 82 B.C., some freakin' awesome missionaries—Alma and Amulek—were wandering the land. They were led by the Spirit and went about doing whatever it is the Lord needed them to do. One day, Alma and Amulek were teaching Zeezrom and his homeboys, expounding the mysteries of God. They spoke of faith and repentance and soon began discussing the Plan of Salvation.

You see, God has this plan where we come to earth, get our physical bodies, are tested, and then we die. There’s a lot more to it than that, I assure you. But this is the part currently on my mind.

Well Alma and Amulek were busy teaching, when all of a sudden, Antionah—a chief ruler (head honcho)—bursts out with a bunch of questions about immortality and such. This (Alma 12:20) is the only time in the entire Book of Mormon that Antionah is mentioned. This is all that is said of him. We know nothing of his character and nothing of his story specifically. And yet with all the speculation of my heart, I’ve made him into a hero.

Here’s my backing.

See, my family is struggling right now. Stuff is happening all over the place. Big stuff for Jackson specifically, which is big for his family, and also big for the rest of us. Sometimes I get overwhelmed thinking about everything that little hero is going through. (It brought me to tears in the middle of my COMM theory class on Tuesday…which was….awesome.) In these overwhelming moments, sometimes I let my thoughts expand to other issues of the body I observe around me.

For example…

My mom has finally scheduled a knee-replacement surgery that has been approaching for 30+ years. The surgery is about a month away. My Aunt Iris is still battling ovarian cancer. My Aunt Jody recently broke her back. My Uncle Paul’s neck still bothers him. I still often think of Aunt Judy’s hip replacement earlier this year and even of Uncle Randy’s heart attacks and Uncle Ben’s cancer from a few years back. My sister-in-law Bri’s new baby niece finally just fought her way above three pounds. And of course Jackson is working hard every day to kick cancer’s butt (pray for white blood cells!).

That's just to list a few. These physical ailments are everywhere and no one is exempt. Can I tell you how all the recent weather changes are affecting my big toe—the one with the nerve-damage from my mission shoes? Let me tell you how my hips painfully lock up when I sit too long in the library chairs. Oh yeah, and for the last two months every time I use my bow to play my bass my right thumb clicks and pops painfully every 4 minutes or so for hours and hours after I’m done. It’s a new problem…and I’m pretty concerned about it.

I think of these things and ponder on the mystery that is the human body. And see, once there was one Antionah who came forth and asked about the soul after death. He asked about being changed from a mortal to an immortal state and he asked to learn how the soul will never die. His questions—to me—are questions of concern for the state of the body. I think that perhaps Antionah was tired of seeing his family and loved ones struggle with painful and heartbreaking issues of the physical body.

And so Alma taught.

Alma teaches in the Book of Mormon that someday we will all enter into the rest of the Lord. Someday all these physical ailments and issues will go away. Someday our souls will rejoice in what has been conquered on Earth and our souls will painlessly frolic. (Sometimes I have to use the word frolic, K?)

It takes a lot of chapters (or maybe even the whole book) for these principles to be fully taught. It takes a lifetime (or an eternity) to fully understand the Lord’s Plan of Happiness. Part of me wonders if all these things would have been taught if Antionah hadn’t asked his questions. Probably would have been, but I’m glad I don’t have to wonder.

Maybe Antionah was heartbroken from watching physical battles be fought. Maybe he knew that someday my heart would be fractured by the pains of those around me. Or maybe he was just bored, curious, or nudged in the ribs by somebody else to ask these questions.

But he asked.

And I get comfort from his answers.

I get comfort when I’m hours away from my family, when Jack isn’t perhaps doing so well this week. I get comfort while I’m physically engrossed in school work and simultaneously emotionally engrossed in my family. I get comfort when my thumb throbs and pops as I type this from rehearsing and performing for my two concerts this week.

You may not remember ever reading about Antionah; he’s only mentioned once in 531 pages. But he's my newest Book of Mormon hero: let’s thank him for helping us understand that someday all this physical crap will go right away. And we’ll frolic.

Jazz concert: documentation schocumentation

2011-11-16T08:15:00.000-07:00

Hey girl-I-hardly-know...

You know how we always say hi to each other because your husband is in jazz band with me and you were in my ward last semester? And remember how I can't ever remember your name and I'm pretty sure you don't know mine at all? Weeeeellllllll, if I give you my camera during the jazz band concert, would you be willing to take some pictures for me?

You would? Great! Thanks. Take as many as you want. I really appreciate it. I love having documentation of my life.

What's that you say? You don't think they turned out very well because the lighting in here is strange? I'm sure they're just fine. Thanks for taking pictures for me. I definitely appreciate it. I do so love having pictures of my adventures.

Freakin' awesome jazz music: courtesy of me and the SUU Jazz Band.

Freakin' awesome pictures of said jazz concert: courtesy of the girl-I-hardly-know

Sometimes I see things

2011-11-15T22:26:00.001-07:00

A little over a month ago I saw that someone had put an orange traffic cone on top of this light pole. I was amazed at their talent and skill because I have no idea how you would get that up there....or how they got it down the next day. Ah, do you remember what it looked like outside in nature before winter punched the trees right in the trunk?

Yeah...I remember when it looked like Summer outside. That was nice. Like remember that pseudo-unicorn at Primary Children's and how it looked on my birthday?

This is what he looked like this last weekend.

Welcome to Winter my unifriend.

Speaking of remembering how things looked...
Do you remember almost two months ago when they were tearing down these trees and this old house in Cedar City? (Click here for the full post and all the pictures). Well....this is a picture of how it looked on September 26.

And this is what it looks like now from the same perspective (but not zoomed in). They tore down three houses and maybe a dozen trees. Just like I predicted, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot. They've been working on it nearly every day and I swear they brought in enough loads of dirt to recreate the state of Pennsylvania.

Side-street view then

Side-street view now

The replacement trees all look like this sweet tiny little guy. I wonder if he even has a clue that he's timidly standing where greatness once loomed.

Speaking of nature and things that grow... In the building with the GTA offices I noticed these three little guys on the heater/radiator venty thing yesterday. They looked a little pathetic and I wanted to beg someone to give them some love.

Then I realized their big ole Momma was right there on the floor below them. Those guys will grow up big and strong one day.

A whole family. And in true-Disney fashion, it seems their mom is a single parent.

Okay, so I never said I see particularly awe-worthy things. But the glory of having my camera always with me is that sometimes the things I see and document don't have to be all sorts of ominous and award-winning. Sometimes the things I see and appreciate are just enough to recognize that the world holds wonder everywhere we turn...if we're willing to turn to it.

Eat, drink, and be merry

2011-11-14T11:45:00.001-07:00

I'm addicted to my family. I've been home more weekends this semester than I think I went home all of last year. But I must continue feeding my addiction...it's good for me. Favorite roommate Lara was going up north this weekend for time with her family and she invited me to ride up with her. Great, right? This picture is Lara and I in line for lunch at the Beaver McDonald's. I told her, "we have to document." and she obliged. Once home I was able to borrow my dad's jeep, and go straight up to the hospital.

Connie and Brian are good at sharing their family with me even when that means hospital time and I ended up spending the whole Saturday evening up there, including dinner, and then even talking to Connie on the phone on our way home. Sweet Jackson made me an awesome construction-paper turkey that I will proudly be displaying in my home for much longer than the Thanksgivining season.

This is Tootles...he's helping Jackson with treatments and such. He's been there all along the way and we love him. We love them both.

This weekend my Saturday was not a day for sleeping in, but more so a day for accomplishing actual stuff. First thing in the morning I was able to fit in a quick temple visit. I sure do love that place. It helps me understand the deeper meanings of my Heavenly Father's plans for His children. This picture is the fountain in front of the Oquirrh Mountain temple on the stormy Saturday morning. I love the clouds you can see over the mountains clear on the other side of the Salt Lake Valley.

Saturday morning also led me to Connie's house for breakfast and some time with Hailey. Then the real party began. Do you remember when I was growing up and every Saturday held the ever-so-wonderful "Saturday Lunch?" In my youth every week Gra'ma Hill, Judy, and her girls, my mom, Connie, and I (or any combination of the aforementioned groups) would gather together for lunch at some fast food place. I remember the planning phone calls, meeting, eating, and then sitting around at the table for hours and hours. THIS Saturday, my mom, Connie, Hailey, me, Shanin, Kali, and Kaitlyn all gathered together in true Saturday-lunch fashion. "We need to document."

"Hah! Oh my gosh, Kaitlyn! That's SOOOOO going on my blog."
Can you possibly look at this without laughing? I DARE you to try.

We all made our way up to the hospital for a visit to my awesome nephew Jackson. He never ceases to inspire me. I sure love that kid. I need to learn how to take pictures of everyone at the party... Sorry I missed some of you at the hospital.

Can you tell Shanin and Janet are sticking out their tongues in this picture? They're not angry...they're silly.

I spent Saturday evening with my friend Clint from Snow College. It was really great to catch up with him and I was glad he came all the way up from Alta Mont, Utah for our visit. Sunday morning was church and heading back to Cedar City early in the afternoon with Lara. I didn't document either of these things...which is sad.

My glorious weekend was once again tainted by finding evidences all over my apartment of some crazy booze-party over the weekend. Two weeks in a row. Awesome. My roommate's Facebook status over the weekend boasted of $170 spent on alcohol. "Don't worry, it's not all for me" she said. Impressive, right? Don't worry...at least they were environmentally friendly and washed the plastic cups to use them next time. This picture is what Lara and I found in dishwasher when we got home.

Someday talk to me in person and I'll tell you how great it is to have an almost-alcoholic roommate.

Despite what we found on our arrival back in Cedar, the weekend was still really good. I'm addicted to my family and have to feed my addiction. It's a healthy addiction and I'll continue to feed it until I'm satisfied...which I assume will be never.

PS, feeding an addiction to family does NOT mean eating the people I love...just in case you needed clarification.

Sanity + snow + sandwiches = snowanitywiches

2011-11-10T13:56:00.000-07:00

My week has been ridiculously busy. I feel like I was barely keeping my head above water on Monday, Tuesday, and especially Wednesday as I worked to finish a billion things. I'm not a procrastinator (any more....mostly), these things just seemed to come up all at once.

I'm convinced, though, that it's important to schedule some down-time or some play-time during each day to keep my sanity. I usually allow myself an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner and then spend most of my other time at school. We got lots of snow over the weekend and my roommie Lara wanted to take pictures of it. So on Tuesday I combined my lunch & dinner hours into a late morning trip up Cedar Canyon with her. Our adventure was my sanity-time for the day. This meant my dinner was a Diet Coke and snacking on Cheerios from a Ziploc baggie at school...but it was so worth it.

Lara came and picked me up at the Library (aka "home") for the adventure. This is the super-green tree out in front. It looks confused, "I'm dressed for summer," it says to Mother Nature, "and yet you treat me like winter?!"

And up just a mile into Cedar Canyon...

I love that in this one you can see the edges of the dam overflow zone are all frozeny.

I'm not much of a photographer usually, but I'd give myself an award for this next one. I think the RED rocks, the WHITE snow, and the BLUE sky this picture are patriotic.

Lara's new boots allowed her to go up deep into the trees where only the deer usually take pictures.

My tennis shoes allowed me to stay behind and take pictures of the ground.

I feel like every adventure needs a picture that...if we died on the trip and the officials found our cameras in the snow they would be able to look at the pictures and think, "At least they died happy and having fun," THIS is that picture.

Lara said, "I feel like my neck is kinked funny in that last picture."
I said, "So stick it out so it isn't kinked at all."
This is the result. Slightly awkward.

And since our trip up the canyon took less than an hour but I had told Lara she could have two hours, we went to lunch. This is us at Cedar City's famous "Pastry Pub" proudly displaying our California Bagel sandwiches. They were amazing.

I love Cedar City. I'm so glad I'm here. I'm glad every day. I imagine if I had gone to Wyoming, North Dakota, or Pennsylvania for graduate school I would have been happy there too, but I'm thankful every day that I was lead back to Cedar.

Oh, and everybody should tell Lara not to ruin everything by graduating at the end of this semester and moving far away. Mm'kay?

It can be done

2011-11-08T09:22:00.001-07:00

I was inspired by my breakfast this morning.

Food inspires me. (This may be my problem.)

But I looked at my waffle this morning

and do you know what I saw?

Square pegs

Round hole

And I realized that

no matter what "they" say,

it can be done.

You CAN fit square pegs into a round hole...

...and it can obviously be done well.

Poetry, pictures, and filling the need

2011-11-07T16:17:00.001-07:00

Family is cooler than unicorns.

More refreshing than Diet Coke

More fun than blogging

And more awesome than communication theory

Family is everything.

That was an original poem for you....and maybe about you. Because you, dear, are probably my family. All last week I craved family. I craved that feeling of being with people I know and love and people who love me. I needed to just be around people who know what sorts of things are happening...

Jackson checked back into the hospital on Friday. He'll be there off and on (mostly on) for the next three months as he goes through bone marrow transplants. Also, my sister-in-law Bri's family is going through a lot of tough things...click here to read about her new little niece. I hadn't seen Brody & Cooper in ages. As always, I've been a little overwhelmed with school and such. So adding all those things up meant I just needed hugs...it's so hard to not be with my family when they're going through so much.

So I made my way up north and spent every minute of the weekend with people I love. Adam, Bri, Brody, Cooper, Brian, Hailey, Connie, Jackson, Janet, Ron, Bruce, Lewis, Eric, and Chalese all made appearances in my weekend. And oh what a weekend it was.

The pictures are scattered and random, but we take what comes.
Friday evening was spent wit Adam, Bri, Brody, and Cooper...but there are no pictures of the evening. Saturday morning I spent some time with Brian and Hailey who are are both sick and thus quarantined at home (while Connie and Jack are basically quarantined at the hospital...). There are no pictures of that either.

But finally on Saturday afternoon at the hospital I started taking pics. But just a few...

Saturday night with Bruce and Lewis at Eric's play. Chalese was above us in the sound-booth.

When my mom and I went to visit Jackson at the hospital on Sunday, sweet boy fell asleep in this chair right after we arrived. Connie said, "Look: he's sleeping in my bed." That family is sure amazing.

With Jackson asleep, my mom, Connie, and I were forced to entertain ourselves with masks and the camera.These two pictures represent the 20 or so we actually took. We're ridiculous in all the right ways.

A couple random ones from Sunday dinner with the parents and Adam's fam...

Somewhere in the weekend Brody realized that if he gives me that cute persuasive smile of his that I'll do whatever he wants.....such as let him take pictures with my camera. These are his work from Saturday at the hospital and during Sunday dinner at my parents' house. Artsy, no?

This...sadly enough...is the only picture taken of my dad this weekend. Sorry you're so under-represented Dad!

The weekend finished with a late-night, snowy drive back to Cedar City. It was really hard to leave the people I love to return to a land of strange people and overwhelming responsibilities. And when I arrived back in Cedar at 11:30 last night I was thrilled to find evidence of my roommates' crazy weekend beer-pong party all over our apartment. Every time I consider my family I feel even luckier that I have them and more inspired by how wonderful they are.

Family is cooler than unicorns.

More refreshing than Diet Coke

More fun than blogging

And more awesome than communication theory

Family is everything.

Loving unicorns for real

2011-11-05T12:10:00.000-06:00

Last November I decided that for a whole month I would be obsessed with unicorns. For one month...

It has now lasted a year.

I'm afraid that what began as somewhat of a joke has developed into something real. Okay, so I'm not really afraid of this at all. I think unicorns are actually pretty fantastic. I love unicorns and I love having something so silly to love. And I love that when I talk about unicorns, people nearly always give me an inquisitive look asking, "Is she serious or is she funny?"

Well...it used to be funny.
Now it's serious.
And eternal.
And magical.
Just like unicorns.

You're all enjoying it too, you know. I often get emails or facebook posts from you all with comments like, "I know you love unicorns, so I know you'll love this too..."

On Wednesday in one of my classes someone played some strange music for something and I said, "That music sounds like unicorns." My friend J.R. made me write my own quote on the "quotes of the week" page that I always compile on the back of my to-do lists. He laughed because he doesn't understand how cool unicorns are.

So no more joking. Unicorns are officially awesome. I've been investigating for a year, and now I love them for official real life. Click here to read ALL my posts about unicorns. I've got 23 so far (24 including this one). Which means I average about two a month.

Pictured above are the three ceramic unicorns I found at Cedar City's Catholic Thrift Shoppe yesterday. I bought them. With real money. And now I have them. For real. I posted about it on Facebook and by the end of the day 10 of my friends had "liked" the post. You'll also notice behind them the picture of a unicorn that Aubree made for me back in February.

So let's keep going, dear blog readers. This is real life. And unicorns are awesome.

She's now known as Mrs. Jana

2011-11-04T07:00:00.002-06:00

I'm not sure where the line is between the RIGHT NOW and the HAPPILY EVER AFTER. I sometimes wonder which I'm living in or if I'm in neither or if they're the same place or if either one actually fully exists within our cognitive processes.

But every once in a while you get to see someone pass over from the RIGHT NOW into the HAPPILY EVER AFTER. And then you know that they both exist. Do you remember my roommate Jana from last fall? You may remember her from such posts as this one with Mustin or this one completely dedicated to her. She's pretty great.

Well once upon a time this summer Jana was a bridesmaid for a wedding and she met Dason who was a groomsman at the same wedding. Fast forward to this last Saturday October 29, 2011 and Jana and Dason got married. To each other. For time and all eternity in the St. George Temple. Freakin' awesome, right?

I couldn't be happier for them. They invited me to the temple sealing which was so beautiful. I bawled my eyes out in all sorts of happy ways. Later that night I went to the reception in Hurricane (where they're both from) and again felt that happy-glittery-feeling deep inside my heart. See, Jana and Dason just passed over from the RIGHT NOW into the HAPPILY EVER AFTER. And it's a very good thing.

Contrary to how it may appear, Aubree did NOT push their cake over. They just had one of those cool wonkey-cakes that are in style right now.

Also, after the wedding but before the reception I was able to meet up with Grandma Judy, Troy, JoAnna, Gavin, Eme, Treven, and Livia for lunch. It was almost like a real Saturday-lunch like I always grew up having. I love all those people so it was just one more added delight to have them be part of my already awesome day. Maybe RIGHT NOW really is HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

Falling in love in Cedar City

2011-11-03T07:00:00.002-06:00

Brownies and roommies

2011-11-02T07:00:00.001-06:00

What are roommates for if not to bake brownies with? Friday night Lara and I craved chocolate...as women are sometimes prone to do. Luckily Jessica has a boat-load of brownie mixes (we bought her a replacement one on Saturday). Strangely, these are my first brownies this semester, but they were well worth the wait. I put in some extra love...and obviously so did Lara.

She dropped the bowl in the pan...sad day.

Oh...and sometimes Kiley likes to dress like this when she's just hanging around the house. Or okay, so she was actually going to the Halloween dance on campus and had to hurry home in the middle to turn in an assignment for an online class. But I did find her randomly cooking in the skirt earlier last week. She said she was "trying it on..." but I know the truth.

To infinity and beyond

2011-11-01T12:30:00.000-06:00

I love flying. There's just something about the technology, the excitement, feeling like a grown-up for a little while, the nervous-pit in my stomach the whole time...I kind a really love it. When I flew to California last week it was the first time I've ever flown alone. Now I recognize that I am 28 years old and I definitely old enough to do things like fly by myself, but it still made me nervous. I'm a nervous traveler anyway so going alone, from an airport I've never been to was kind of a big deal. I ended up taking a shuttle from St. George to the Las Vegas airport. It was nice to be able to sleep through those wee-small hours of the morning (we left St. Geezy at 4am) and it was really nice to be dropped off right where I needed to go at the airport. My check-in and security procedures took me right on through to the crack of dawn. By then my excitement was such that I needed accurate documentation of the experience.

This is the air traffic control tower. I took this picture from my seat on the plane. This tower was not near as big as I expected...but still really cool.

You know that moment on a flight when you suddenly feel the plane actually start taxi-ing to the runway and you get a pit in your stomach and think, "Awe heck...this is real. There's no turning back now..." That's usually the time I start praying and repenting and hoping I don't start screaming from the nerves of it and hoping the Air Marshals don't have come and handcuff me to the seat. This time to distract myself I took this picture.

I love the cute little neighborhoods in Vegas. This picture was taken after I realized we had taken off and I had lived and didn't even scream my way up into the air. Look how organized this neighborhood is. I admire that.

The flight between Vegas and Long Beach is only about 45 minutes--much better than an 8 hour drive. We crossed over lots of desert and some mountains. This picture-out-my-window was where we crossed from the mountain-section into the city-section. I don't know if those were clouds or smog and pollution, but the whole rest of the flight (15-20 minutes) the ground below us looked like the left half of this picture. It was pretty cool.

I don't remember the rest of the flight. They gave me a snack and a drink and I either fell asleep for like five minutes or I passed out from the screaming and panic associated with a landing plane. Luckily I had the whole row to myself (on both flights) and so there was nobody to witness my full range of emotions en route.

And the best thing is that I survived the trip there and was able to go to Disneyland and then I survived my trip back and was able to resume a normal life. So it all works out.

Disneyland Weekend

2011-10-31T20:38:00.001-06:00

Do you remember watching "Full House" when you were a kid? And do you remember when Uncle Jesse married Rebecca Donaldson and then she became "Aunt Becky?" I remember watching that thinking how cool it would be when someday I would also be Aunt Becky. Of course, I don't get to marry John Stamos, but we deal with that.

Last weekend my sister Connie and her husband invited me to tag along on their family trip to Disneyland. They woke up their kids early early Friday morning and surprised them with the trip between Jack's treatments. We had been planning it for a little while, but it was a surprise for the kids. It took just a little rearranging for me--I had to cancel two COMM 1010 classes, but luckily my students didn't seem to mind. And without even missing any of my graduate classes I was able to fly out of Vegas, meet them in California, and enjoy a long magical weekend at the happiest place on earth.

It's been about 7 years since I last went...which is before I was ever Aunt Becky to anybody. Disneyland is even more magical when it's shared with kids, and family, and my family's kids. I loved the way Hailey would always say, "Princess! Princess!" anytime she saw a pretty dress. And I loved Jackson's adrenaline addiction with rides like the Matterhorn, Thunder Mountain, Hollywood Tower of Terror, and of course Splash Mountain. We were right smack-dab across from the park. If you follow where I'm pointing in the picture below you can see Splash Mountain (almost).

It was four days of awesomeness. Those kids just own my heart! I feel so lucky that my sister is so willing to share her family with me. I really want my own family, but until that happens (and I'm waiting patiently) Connie is good to share their family and experiences with me. I admire them so much for all that they are and for how they are all handling what's been thrown at them. Connie may not always feel strong, but she's more amazing than I think any of us will ever realize. She has a strength that God only gives to moms in her situation.

Happy Disneyland-trip to me. And to them. And to the billion of our closest friends sharing the park with us. I was too busy playing to take any pictures during the trip, but someday I may steal some from Connie's blog. :) These pictures are from right when I was leaving.

My thoughts exactly

2011-10-29T09:20:00.000-06:00

Reason #45 why wearing pajamas in public must be done carefully, with consideration, and must never be done, unless in a moment of absolute panic.

It won't kill me this week

2011-10-28T09:43:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I marvel at the fact I've made it to graduate school. Okay, so I marvel pretty much every day. It's always amazing to me so be grateful you only have to hear about it every once in a while.

I spend roughly 13 hours a day on campus, most of it in the library. I'm mentally exhausted most of the time from the effort I have to put in. My assignments take me forever to complete. I often wonder if I'm ever going to make it through. My professors say things...and they think I understand...but inside the part of my brain that should have been listening is actually day dreaming about glitter and unicorns because I stopped understanding the lecture 25 minutes ago...
My doodling-pages are beautiful.

But every once in a while I realize that even though I'm only 10 weeks into the program, I'm doing it. I'm making it. And I believe I'll continue to make it. The idea of a doctorate is fading slowly out of my future. It goes away a little bit more every time I hear a teacher say, "...and your lit review should only be about a billion pages for this assignment, which is short, so you should be thanking me..."

But alas. I'm making it...and that makes me happy.

The evidence? My recent COMM theory paper analyzing the Standpoint Theory of communication in connection with recent changes in Saudi Arabian Voting Laws earned me 50 points out of a possible 50.
Boo-yah! Rock on.

Postage Due

2011-10-25T14:19:00.002-06:00

I'm still here. I haven't forgotten you, I promise. Let me just catch up on life for a few days and then there will be serious postage and back-postage, I assure you. Until then, just be patient. Sing yourself a little song if that helps. Maybe take a nap. Bake cookies. Or, do some homework for me if you've got time and then we can both enjoy my blog sooner.

Long post for a long weekend

2011-10-19T09:12:00.005-06:00

It's a gonna take me a while to recover from the awesomeness that was this last weekend. Lemme tell you about it. I'll try not to slur my words as I'm so pleasantly exhausted. Sometimes you earn your tired and I feel like this is one of those times. This post is going to be a hundred million pages long. I only really expect my mom to read it. In fact, after I've written it, I may never read it again because it's going to be so long. My dear posterity (that I really hope to have someday), this one's for you.

This week was SUU's Fall Break giving all students, faculty, and staff Monday and Tuesday off. I think it's supposed to be a couple days off for the deer hunt...whatever. Last year they didn't have it and lots of people threw fits so this year they brought it back, bringing with it much joy in the hearts of SUU-ies.

Friday night all my roommates had left for the long weekend meaning I had my entire apartment to myself. It was glorious. I don't think that's really happened this semester, except for sometimes during lunch. I relished in the quiet. I cleaned off the kitchen counters (who leaves messes when they go on vaca? My two young roommates...that's who). And I enjoyed my quiet house. Nice.

Saturday morning I was able to go down to St. George to go through the temple with my former roommate Jana. She's getting married at the end of this month and I could not be happier for her! She has this sparkly light in her eyes and it was only magnified as she went through the temple. It's a glorious thing, that temple. I love that we have access to God's house where we can worship freely and learn more about his glorious plan. I'm so tired of all the drama right now (mostly the LGBTQ community versus the LDS church) so it's really nice to go to the temple and step away from all the contention in society about religion, freedoms, and discrimination. Sweet Jana is awesome and I'm so glad I could be there with her.

After that I headed back up to Cedar City, packed up my car, and drove straight on up to Centerville. I have a friend--Marie--who directs the Davis County Symphony and she needed a bass player for their concert on Saturday night. She recruited me for what I consider my first real paying gig. I rehearsed with them for about 20 minutes and then immediately performed the whole concert. We played like 8 or 9 pieces. I've performed a couple of them in the past, but some of them I've never seen or heard before in my life. It was awesome. Even though I was sight-reading during the performance for pretty big audience, I did pretty well. If you didn't know I hadn't seen the music before, you wouldn't have known. The rest of the orchestra dressed in Halloween gear for the performance but my five-hour drive prevented me from doing so. Whatev. My cute parents came up to hear me play. I love that they support me in my musical endeavors. It was so fun to have their happy smiling faces there in the fourth row.

After a quick dinner with the parental units, I went over to my friend Eric's house in Magna and hung out with my friends for a while. Eric, Bruce, and Curtis were busy putting a new front door in Eric's house which meant I got to sit on the couch and talk with Cristi for a while. I love that girl...we're funny together. :) I'm so excited for her and Curtis to get married in December!

Saturday was incredibly long. I woke up at 6:30am and didn't get to bed until I think 2am. I drove from Cedar to St. George to Centerville to Magna to Herriman which was over 450 miles. I was tired and it was fantastic. I took this picture of the road while I was driving all over Utah because driving was such a significant part of my day.

Sunday morning I was able to go with my parents to hear Jackson's Primary Program at church. That boy absolutely owns me and I'll do pretty much anything he asks. He sang his cute little heart out and I loved playing with Hailey during church.

Sunday afternoon required a nap. Of course.

Monday was no exception to the awesome weekend. The original plan was for me to babysit Hailey while Connie took Jack to radiation and a clinic visit, but we changed the plan so I ended up going with them. Connie, Jack, Hailey, and I went to radiation at IMC and then up to Primary Children's Hospital so Jackson could have his weekly clinic visit. My poor sister Connie was sicker than sick (food poisoning?) and so it really worked out that I was there to help a little bit. After the appointment we picked up lunch, ate in the car, dropped Jack off at school, and then went back to her house. Hailey and Connie took naps while I made them dinner. I love that she shares her life with me. Her family is absolutely beautiful.

Monday afternoon I was able to talk and visit with Aunt Grandma Judy who was in town as well as spend some time with my parents. I finished the night off way too late as I hung out again with Eric and Lewis. I love those guys. They're both motivated, homeowners, in good careers, actively involved in the gospel.They're so fun to hang out with and I'm lucky to have them as friends. The only drawback to spending time with them is that we never seem to end at a reasonable hour...I didn't get to bed until 2:30!

Tuesday was again fantastic and I would say much more momentous. Tuesday was Jackson's last radiation treatment. It was the 28th and final installment and seriously a big deal. Connie and Brian again shared their little family with me. I again got to go with the four Penders to the clinic where Jack is a big deal. That kid just owns every part of my heart. He's my hero in a million different ways and I'll always look up to him for the ways in which he's fighting this battle. Read Go Team Jack for an excellent account by my sister. What an awesome morning. I cried.

After radiation I had lunch with Connie and her kids where Jackson--the star of the day--lost out his first tooth. It's a very big deal. We cheered, there were pictures, and the cutest toothless smile ever. After dropping him off at Kindergarten I was forced to head on my way back to Cedar City. Back to real life. Back to the daily grind. Back to two messy roommates (and wonderful, clean roommate Lara). Back to homework, assignments, school, etc.

So seriously, what a great weekend! I sometimes ponder my life--where I get to study study study all day long and then sometimes get to see my family. My life is good. There are certainly things I would change about it, but the major structure is satisfying to me and I feel incredibly blessed. Happy fall break!

In the zone

2011-10-14T09:15:00.000-06:00

Can I count the number of things I loved about my concert yesterday?
No. I cannot.
Because there were a million, and I get bored counting that high.

But let me just say, that I loved it.
It was a "tribute to musical theater" and an absolute crowd-pleaser. They had the local high schools each come do a number from their musicals coming up and then the Orchestra of Southern Utah (OSU) finished the night off with several awesome pieces. It was so great to have roommate Lara and friend Miranda come and the Communications Department Chair was sitting right in front of me in the third row which was worth noting. The last concert OSU had was the day after Oma died. Yesterday marked six months since she passed away...and oh what a six months it's been.

Our rehearsal room has very different acoustics than the performance hall and it was interesting to realize last night how much I actually stick out and how much you can hear the bass playing. I had three different audience members (strangers) come up to me after the concert and tell me how nice it was to actually hear the bass and how fun it is to watch me play. I was totally in the zone last night.

Before the concert began the SUU jazz band (which I am a proud member of) played in the lobby. We totally rocked it. I was in that zone too. My favorite part of the evening was the sweet Down's Syndrome boy who came and stood in the director's spot as we played. With a little help from Dr. Herb, the boy "conducted" our music for close to 20 minutes. He gave it his whole heart and soul.

The musical talents and abilities I've been blessed with have been impacting my life since I was 9 years old. I told my 1010-ers on Wednesday that I've been involved in music longer than some of them have been alive...which is frighteningly true. Sometimes I wonder how or why I stick with it. Why do I sacrifice the time and the effort? Why did I play so hard and long last night that my hands were shaking by the end? But when I play my heart out in a group, when I help get the audience into the zone, when I can feel the way music unites hearts and souls... then I know.

Music is for the heart.
So can I count the number of things I've loved about my music for the last couple decades?
No. I cannot.

But I can play them.

Communic-isms

2011-10-12T15:38:00.002-06:00

Some days I wonder why they would ever put someone like me in charge of 33 college students. And I laugh, thinking how awesome I am that I've tricked the authorities into giving me real responsibilities.

We're discussing public speaking right now.. I've been lecturing on it for a few days, but these little bitties are specifically from my class lecture today.

Me: "Making eye contact with your audience will help keep them from falling asleep."
Student: "Sorry about a few minutes ago. I'll do better."

Me: "Oh heavens...lectures like this severely diminish my credibility."
Student: "No. It's great. You totally bridge the gap between student and teacher."

To the brother and sister in my class:
"You two better get along in my class before I have to call your mother."

Student: "What if I pass out during my speech?"
Me: "We'll drag you off to the corner, let the next person present, and you can finish your speech when you wake up."

Me: "We all love you here. Don't be scared when you speak; it's not like anybody is going to throw something at you while you're speaking."
Student: "What if someone DOES throw something at me during my speech."
Me: "Students, if you throw something at a speaker, I will fail you on your speeches."
Student: "What if my speech is so controversial they can't help it."
Me: "If you're planning a speech like that, let me know beforehand and we'll get you a protective cage to speak from."

They only say and ask things like this because I obviously respond.
Oh heaven help COMM 1010.

But then...sometimes I realize that I really do know things.
For example, this afternoon I turned out a little baby personal-response paper arguing the objectivity of qualitative research. I chose to write on that. Chose the topic out of the air all by myself. And it turned out pretty well because that's a real criticism of communications. And I could discuss it with you in person and have logical arguments. Ten years ago if you had said, "Becky, what's your opinion on the objectivity of qualitative research?" I would have punched you in the beak and run away. But now I really do know things like this.

So while one hour I may be showing my students YouTube clips from Billy Madison and Clueless, just remember that in the next hour I'm waxing eloquent on real scholarly subjects.

And it all evens out in the end.

PS, I went to lunch with roommate Lara today and this is my real-life fortune cookie. I hope this fortune comes true because I super absolutely love it. This is now taped inside my all-knowing school binder.

Library Gala...and the Jazzicorns

2011-10-12T10:30:00.001-06:00

For three years now the Gerald R. Sherratt library on SUU's campus has held a Library Gala fundraiser. I've been able to play at it all three years with either the Jazz Band, String Ensemble, or both. This year was no exception. The pictures are not fantastic, but I still like them.

This is before we started playing. By the time we started it was dark outside which only added to our awesomeness.

For you reference, this is what the library looks like from the outside. We were set up on the second floor right under the giant window. I love this place.

The cheesecakes they had for Gala guests. We tested them out...and the cheesecakes passed the band's approval. I'm somewhat infamous among my friends for taking pictures of food.

The keyboard...I was trying to be artistic with my photography.

My favorite piece of the night, "Big Swing Face."

This is the school's Jazz bass that I play. Not as pretty as mine, but better suited for jazz music. This is looking down the fingerboard.

And then looking up at the scroll...

...until Taylor tried to eat it.

And my new shoes. Well, new to me. I bought them at the DI for $4 last week. DI shoes gross my sister out...but I'm pretty happy about them. This is the only picture of me that night...because sometimes it makes me feel weird to ask someone, "Can you take a picture of me for my blog?" Someday I'll hire a professional photographer to take care of events like this for me.

Play on, my friends. And don't forget to support the SUU library. Without your support I'd have to do my homework at home...and we just can't have that.

Sunday Travels

2011-10-11T13:00:00.001-06:00

Sunday morning: Church

Sunday afternoon: Adventures

Yesterday favorite roommate Lara and new friend Roger and same old awesome Becky all gathered together in the car and traveled about an hour west of Cedar City to an old town called Mederna and a touristy site called Old Iron Town that used to be used for mining. I'll let the pictures do the talking, but please note that it was awesome.

Mederna:

This next one is where the second story collapsed in one room. It was freakin' awesome. I love the way the sunlight comes through the window.

Close up: Side wall of the hotel.

Old Iron Town:

Lara might hate me for posting this picture...

But I certainly look better in that first one and this is MY blog. ;)

No triangle buildings allowed...except for that one over there.

Totally awesome, right? For better, more-professional looking pictures check out Lara's photography blog. And PS, can I just mention how awesome it is to have Lara as a roommate. Please, everyone, try talking her into NOT graduating and moving away in December.

Sunday morning: Church

Sunday afternoon: Adventures

Appreciating daily life

2011-10-10T22:42:00.001-06:00

Every once in a while I see things that I love.
Luckily I carry my camera with me everywhere I go.
So you get to see some of the things I've love so much in the past couple weeks.

Just before I started blogging tonight these creatures wandered into my library for no apparent reason. They wandered in...then wandered out. College is cool.

So I took a picture of them with this skanky girl.

Remember last week when Jeopardy star Ken Jennings came and spoke at SUU?

Or when I needed to document these adorable dedicated plants growing out of the middle of Redwood Road on conference Saturday? That shadow was another car...as we sat together at the stop light. When they saw me taking a picture of the road they looked at me strange. I yelled, "LOVE YOUR WORLD!" and shook my camera at them.

Today I brought Lara this cookie during her class.

We know what it takes to survive.

The other night I stood talking on the street with Eric, Chalese, and Lewis (and April...but that was my first time meeting her, so she only kinda counts. Sorry April). This crazy jacked up car drove past and Lewis yelled (which for him means speaking above a whisper), "TAKE A PICTURE!"

Saturday I found this video at Wal-mart. "The Last Unicorn." I've never heard of it so I did not buy it...only took this chipmunk-looking picture with it. Lara suggested we watch it on Netflicks.

This was the sunset through the window of my Library on Saturday night. Awe, don'tcha just love Cedar City? The longer I live here the more I love it. Sunsets like this help.

See? There are many benefits to carrying my camera with me everywhere I go. I'm incredibly inspired by the world around me. Knowing I have my camera inspires me to more fully appreciate the goings on of my little corner of the world.

Pay more attention. You'll be amazed what there is to see.
Carry on.

When your sister randomly calls with a story...

2011-10-08T00:53:00.000-06:00

Connie called me last night to tell me an embarrassing story about her, Bette Midler, Arctic Circle, and an audience of teenage girls in sparkly-jeans. I'll let HER tell you that story...because she said I'm the only one that would fully appreciate it. I'm so glad Jack wanted ice cream so Connie could be caught in such a situation. What a great reason to call me. Anyway...

I was on speaker phone with her cute family as they drove. This was my other favorite part of the convo:

Connie: What are you doing?

Me: I'm at Wal-mart with my roommate Lara. I'm buying nectarines, milk, and Q-tips.

Brian: WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING ON DOING TO THOSE POOR NECTARINES!?

Have I ever mentioned how much I love that Pender family? Everything about this post illustrates their awesomeness. :)

ASA 10-year reunion

2011-10-07T19:01:00.001-06:00

My days at Snow College were happy days full of sunshine, social events, good friends, working at Western Wats, life-lessons, and occasionally on the off-day I did some homework. When I decided to go to Snow I got a few fliers in the mail from housing complexes, randomly picked one, signed a contract, and never thought a thing of it...until I moved in.

My little ghetto-apartment on the dirt road behind the thrift store was fantastic. We crammed six freshman girls into three tiny bedrooms, all of us sharing one fridge, one bathroom, and one main living space. We got along gloriously and formed life-long friendships. It wasn't just us, though. It was the entire apartment complex. It was a social complex of 7-student apartments and bonds of friendship were everywhere. Everytime I talk about my days at Alta Student Apartments (ASA) I hear soft emotional music playing in the background.

I lived there for two years and had my first 7 of my current 29 past roommates (if we count mission companions). While we don't know what happened to everyone living there, there are enough of us in touch to make it possible to reunite. Last summer we had our first ASA reunion at my parents house. It was such a success we had it again this year at Julianna's house. Fantastic. Seriously. The reunion was back in August and I'm just now getting around to posting about it...but that's okay. :)

These are the actual ASA residents that came this year (not spouses). Me, Tarah, Mike, Clint, Julianna, Christal, Melissa, and Courtney.

Christal was my first roommate ever. She was incredibly easy to live with because she's the sixteenth of seventeen children in her family. She hated broccoli and ate cereal for dinner on Wednesday nights.

Tarah was my second ever roommate (that I shared a room with). She was also a COMM major and she thought I was hilarious so we got along well.

Mike and Melissa met at Snow because of ASA. We all rooted for them the whole way and we're so happy they're living the happily ever after.

Courtney and Melissa lived next door to us (in Apt. 2) while they went to the Utah State extension in Ephraim. Courtney owned a hundred pairs of jeans and every time she washed them she would hang them all out over the balcony at once so they could dry. We love her.

Clint was in Apartment 8 and was our home teacher. His degree in music education is from SUU, and now between Army gigs he teaches music at Altamont High School. He's the first boy I ever cuddled with. :)

Tarah had to leave early so she missed this wild and crazy photo shoot. There were many more that didn't make it to my blog...but FYI, we're hilarious.

The girls had a photo shoot, and the boys TRIED to have a photo shoot.

I seriously love us.

The reunion was a success and I can hardly wait until next time. We're going to try for an even better turn out next year, but even if it's just the faithful eight of us, that makes me happy. When we lived there I don't know if we knew how great we had it. Social, friendly, spiritual (scripture study in our apartment every night...), and so much more. Ah, sweet memories. Can you hear the music play?