Christmas & SLC

So I think I'll blog cause I have a test to study for!  So... I'll blog about Christmas (with my roomies) & going to SLC to see the lights!  Christmas was fun-we had it instead of a reading day... which was a good decision on our part! Below is some pictures of our Christmas Eve!  It was super fun--we just had a few close friends over (Tailor, Kaylie, & Weston)!  We sung hymns around the piano (my family tradition) and read the Luke account of the Christmas story!  It was a great night!

 

So Christmas morning was the next morning!  We got up semi-early (according to some's standards) and had delicious pancakes for breakfast.

Ohhhh... funny story!  So Amy wasn't awake yet so I went to get her up!  And T-street has tons (I mean tons--like 15 just at our house) of nutcrackers around our apartment!  Sooo... I took a nutcracker upstairs, put it a couple inches away from Amy's face, and was like, "Hello Amy... wake up!"  Her reaction was slightly wonderful... actually it was really wonderful!

 Anyways, back to Christmas morning!  So we finished up breakfast and started with out stockings!  We all just got the normal stuffs plus a few weirder/random things courtesy of T-street!  So above is Katelyn, Kirsten, and I with our stockings!

And then on to the real gifts.  I got Amy these awesome Ninjabread Men... they were so legit!  Kirsten got her favorite cereal and a book she wanted from Amber.  I got a cute little clock and disneyland snowglobe from Katelyn (and T-street's mom... thanks T-street's mom :)

Amber got this cute PEACE sign from Amy, and I got Amy a sumo suit from DI (it was so awesome... we both tried it on that night)!

AND... Amy got me a garden gnome!  His name is Steve!  It was slightly the most wonderful gift like ever (except all the other gifts I got... they were wonderful too)! But anyways, now my desk is protected and Jeffery has a friend!

This is our wrapping
paper mess!  Isn't it wonder-ful?  I <3 Christ-mas!

 Okay, so this last gift was so epic that even though my blog is being ghetto and won't let me rearrange pictures, I'm going to include it and have an awkward space!  So T-street made this for me-its an ABC book on how to kill bugs!  It is super adorable... I think I'm going to laminate it over Christmas so it doesn't like die an early death!  Anyways, its super cute!  Maybe one day I'll post the pages that are in it... she worked super hard on it!  So thanks T-street for my bug book (I even consulted it the other night)!  :)

So after Christmas morning, we all studied (hahahahaha... jk... we all procrastinated)!  That night, we went to a dance together for our ward Christmas party!  It was pretty dang fun! So below is a picture of all of us roommates before the dance (T-street went home to help her mom with a play she was putting on)!

 TEMPLE TIME! :)  So... last night we got to go look temple square (my first time-my real first time didn't count b/c we had to stay in the car b/c my friend had a broken leg)!  It was so superbly beautiful! This is a picture from the Joseph Smith Building (I think that's what it's called)!

 This is also in the JSB (not on campus :P)!!! The other is just outside the temple!   This is all of us who went--Amber, Katelyn, Me & Tailor!  It was super fun and nice because Tailor knew her way around (A, K, and I would have probably just wandered and been lost/mesmerized/cold if we were alone)!

So that was my week before Christmas break (+ finals which were yucky... but I have no pictures... not that I really want to remember that)!  It was pretty dang fun!  I hope every before finals week is this fun (if it wasn't though, life might possibly be better-not so much panicking about failing probably but hey... at least I had fun!)  :)  

Exam Blessings

This week we have finals!  And so we've had off since last Friday to study for exams.  However, I procrasinated and hung out with my friends and basically did anything I could to NOT study!  So needless to say, I was scared out my socks to take my statistics exam!  All semester I have been like failing at stats... and I've hated it... it was completely awful and I had like the worse attitude about it ever!  So this weekend, I needed to study for stats-but I did not!  So this morning, I woke up at like 6:30 panicking!  I came downstairs, procrastinated, and then started re-panicking at about 9:00.  So I begun to cram!  I just felt like there was so much information and I didn't even know where to start!  But then, I remembered this super awesome person in my stats review (Meagan) saying she just goes through the practice test and does fine.  So I began to go through the practice test!  It took a while, I missed 15, sort of went over them, and decided I was sick of studying.  So I headed up to campus!

While walking up, the real panic ensued (okay, so I've been stressed about a lot for the past couple of weeks so this was not really new panic but it was the most panic I had felt).  And then... all the sudden, I just felt like this overwhelming sense of peace.  I know it was Heavenly Father telling me that everything would be all right!  For the rest of my walk, I couldn't help but smile!

When I got to the testing center, I thought I should review.  As I sat on a bench and pulled out my notebook, I just felt like I should go in and take it!  So I did!  And it turned out wonderfully!  I got a way better grade on it then I had on any of the tests before and it was comprehensive!  I feel so stinking blessed by my Heavenly Father in being able to come to the school and receive the education & help I get!  I know I am absolutely loved by Him! :)

And the basic message I got was... stop trying to plan your life.  Just roll with it!  So we'll see how this works out!

Awesome Story

So I was reading this story and just felt like people might enjoy reading it! :)  So do it... it's probably the best fifteen minutes you'll spend today!  Makes you look at life a little bit differently!
http://bravegirlsclub.com/archives/2151

Happiness Is...

Stepping on hot tar
Smelling honeysuckle on my way to school
Cuddling by a warm fire with a good book
Spending time with my favorite people
Seing Christmas lights
Decorating a Christmas tree
The smell of snow
Sitting in the dark with only the Christmas lights on
Listening to Christmas music on the radio
Bare feet in the grass
Freshly baked cookies and bread
Watching a movie while listening to rain pound down
Frolicking through snow (actually frolicking in general)
The smell of a freshly picked tulip
Drinking homemade grape juice
Getting on a plane knowing you'll be home soon
Bubble wrap
Couch forts
Playing in the sandbox & on the playground
Having marshmallow gun wars
Getting lost with your best friend
Grave hunting
Completing a project
Knowing you get to work with kids for the rest of your life
Tubing down a river
Waking up and realizing you can still go back to sleep
Eating a candy cane on Christmas morning
Building & watching a campfire
Laughing so hard you're crying/spazing out to the point that people think something's wrong with you
Hugging people so intensely that you both fall down
Having a secret handshake with your bestest friend
Learning something new (that's not stats)
Going through the temple
Eating a homegrown  cucumber
Going to football games with your best friends
Stargazing
Living with your best friends
Knowing that stats is almost over

Catch Up On Life

So... I haven't updated in forever!  Well... let me catch my journal thing up (btw, this is why I failed at journal writing in the past)!  Soooo.... yeah, you can give up reading this post if you want!  I mostly posted all this for my journal but if have the attention span to listen to my ramblings/are procrastinating, then enjoy! :)

So I realized I never really wrote about my past family stuffies so just a quick recap.  I am from Louisiana (no, we don't drive a boat to school and yes, my family gator hunts).  I have a brother and sister.  They're names are Matt (17) and Lisa (22).  And of course, my mommy and daddy! :)  Okay, now that that is out of the way, I'll catch up on my life!

Thanksgiving: For Thanksgiving, I went home to see Lisa and meet my new brother-in-law.  His name is Matt like my brother Matt... yeah, its weird... we had to call my real brother Mattie Man and brother-in-law Matt (and just to answer everyones question, NO I WILL NOT MARRY A MATT!!!!!!!).  Anyways, Matt was pretty nice; kinda quiet and not really who I expected Lisa to marry but its all good! It was good to get to hang out with all my family!  We did Lisa & Matt's reception (it was very pink) and family pictures (I wonder if I can submit any of them to awkwardfamilyphotos.com.  I probably can-some of those poses were just awkward!).  I also made Lisa's baby quilt/my art project!  It took A LOT of work and it's super not beautiful but... hey... its mine (or Lisa's after my art teacher grades it).  I also got to go black friday shopping but had to quit early-I stopped at 2am this year because I was sick! :(   That was okay though-I didn't really get any good deals; I just went for the funness of it! :)

Finals: They stink!  So I should be studying right now-hence why my blog is finally getting caught up!  But I only have a few days left of the semester which is SUPER exciting! :)  I am SO done with this semester-especially stats!  I promised myself I'll never let myself take another stats class!  In fact, I just turned in my last stats hw (which I completely guessed on and still made like a 85% on-not too shabby)!  BUT... reading days are coming up soon! So that'll be a good break (sort of)!

Bucket List: Completed only one thing on my bucket list.  I lit a match... sad that this was on there huh?  But, I have never lit one!  It's always just scared me/I thought I would set my apartment on fire (which would be bad for everyone) so I just never tried.  But one night for FHE we were doing a bond fire so Amy Lynn taught me how to light a match! :)   It was exciting... the first one did kinda scare me a little bit but it was worth it!

Public Apology: Dearest Amy Lynn,  I am sorry that I was officially the worse roomie ever yesterday.  Firstly, I distracted her for like 2 hours causing her to leave late for class and run to campus (I am impressed that she made it in like 10 minutes to a building on campus).  THEN... I volunteered her for a talk (I partly blame Weston for this... but mostly my fault)!  This is only guilty good for one month though-after that, I don't take responsibility for talk asking.  And there was something else but I can't remember what it was!  BUT... overall message... sorry I was the worse friend/roomie yesterday!  Glad you are like practically perfect and don't anger :)  You're the bestest (unless my other roomies are reading this... then you're all the best)!

Today: Today was super fun!  I kinda skipped all my classes and went to give assessments at a pre-school for Kathie!  So we got there and we took the kids one at a time.  We read a book with them and used toys to show the actions; then they mapped it (thus the test)!  Anyways... it was super fun!!!!  It's times like these that I remember why I am in the major I am in/not dropping out of school!  I absolutely LOVE teaching and working with the kids!  They are just so wonderful and absolutely adorable!  Then Kathie treated Jess, Danny (Jess's fiance), Haley, and me to lunch at Guro's which was super delicious!    Another random note from today, I also  got super blessed!  I had a final I had to take earlier in the evening and I hadn't studied at all!  I was just stressed and hadn't gotten any sleep (in the past 48 hours, I've slept 9 hours) so I just decided to go for it.  But then... I got this wonderful email from my professor.  She was like, "OPEN BOOK!" and I basically jumped for joy looking like a spaz but its all good cause I didn't fail (much)!

Mucho Blessings: So I have been stressed because of my stats class (I'm terrible at stats... no matter how much I study, I just don't get it)!  So... I was slightly stressed about losing my scholarship-I had basically accepted that stats would kill my scholarship.  BUT THEN... something wonderful happened!!!!  I looked at the GPA requirements for this year and they went down by .02 points from last year!   Yah!  That means that I most likely get to keep my scholarship/can make like a C on my final and still do okay!  Thank you Heaven Father for looking after me/listening to me! :)

Random: I saw my first hockey game yesterday (well last night).  Amber and I went on a walk at like 8:30 last night and ended up wandering pretty far away from out apartment.  SO at about 9:30, we got really cold so we went in Seven Peaks Ice Rink to warm up!  And ended up staying to watch the hockey game/cheer for the underdogs!  It was pretty fun but it also contributed to my lack of sleep.  I also successfully wrote like a million journal entries for English and it was boring!  I also got to caroling with the relief society--that was super fun!  I LOVE caroling! :)

And... I feel like I'm going to stop writing because I am tired of writing so yeps!  AND I'm sure you're tired of reading this (if you made it this far).  When I started this blog, I was all optimistic and was like I'll write once a week... hahahahahahaha!  Well I'm gonna go to bed (even though its 8) because I need to catch up on sleep... well actually I'm gonna go do hw which is more sad :(  but then I'm going to bed so I can like actually function tomorrow!

My Bucket List

So as I was studying for my stats test, I had an idea... I would make a bucket list!  So here is what I want to do before I am dead... 

• Dumpster Diving
• Raising a chicken from an egg
• Smash Pumpkins
• Grow a pineapple plant
• Dress up as Cindy Lou Whoo and sing Where Are You Christmas
• Give Amy a piece of cake
• WHEN I HAVE NO KIDS-->Get a babysitter, tell them the child is upstairs asleep and should not be disturbed, leave, come back and ask where my kid is.....
• Cuddle with Amy without having her scream
• Learn to juggle
• Have a mental breakdown in the testing center
• Become a motivational speaker (hahahahahaha)
• Fulfill my reoccurring dream (Amy next door neighbor)
• Spread the Laura Theorem to all my students (2 + 2 = 4)
• Shake hands with the prophet :)
• Drive cross country with someone fun!
• Go to Disney Land every year for the rest of my life!!!!!!!!!  (Disney World is an acceptable replacement)
• Go to Harry Potter land
• Teach
• Eat sand
• Eat five saltine crackers without drinking anything in under 1 minute
• Go with someone and dress up like Santa and Mrs. Clause and carol/bring presents too :)
• Build an epic sand castle
• Go to a Jewish synagogue
• Get married in the temple and have a family forever! :)
• Go to Holland and bring back a tulip
• Frolic in tulip fields
• Build an AWESOME snow fort and have an epic snowball fight even though its illegal in Provo (this must be done in Provo)
• Break the law (see above)
• Travel to New York and be a lame tourist (must wear an “I <3 NY” t-shirt
• Find Jeffery’s long lost brother (thanks Steve)
• Go to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade
• Leave a Christmas tree up for an entire year
• Create a tacky ornament Christmas tree
• Go horseback riding
• Go skiing
• Donate to Locks for Love (eventually)
• Plant a tree and name it after someone I <3
• Plant a tree, name it after the inventor of stats, and chop it down with vengeance then burn it… yeah, I’m not resentful :P
• Get a beard card
• Go hand out free balloons during finals week outside the testing center
• Sing outside the testing center
• See lights at temple square
• Hypnotize people
• Dance in the rain :)
• Swim with dolphins
• Participate in a parade
• Visit a Renaissance fair
• Ride a unicycle
• Perform as a street musician with Amy
• Ride in a hot air balloon
• Parasail
• Slap Katelyn in the face  (just for you girl)
• Milk a cow
• Dance like a fool in a very public place singing the pokemon song at the top of my lungs!!!!!!!!!!!
• Go to Britain and take pictures in a telephone booth (preferable red)
• While in Britain, ride a double decker bus
• Go spend like two days in the San Francisco Zoo
• Go to the circus (again)
• Buy and play with a favorite toy from childhood--probably a "Easy Bake Oven"
• Spontaneously break out into a choreographed dance in Central Park
• Learn how to solve a rubix cube (without peeling the stickers off)
• attend Black Friday forevers!!!
• Eat at iHop at 2 in the morning
• Reverse pick pocket someone with five bucks! :)
• Visit every US states-like stop and look around, not just drive/fly through
• Cook a turkey that’s not half raw
• Serve at a soup kitchen
• Sleep under the stars
• Watch my kids on Christmas morning
• Be stuck in a elevator
• Keep fish that stay alive for more than 10 days
• Dress up as Ninjas and ambush people 
• Throw stuff from the top of the jfsb or swkt 
• Ride the swkt elevator for like 20 minutes facing the wall and see what happens....
• Become a pokemon trainer
• Shoot a gun
• Ride a train across state borders :)
• Ride a donkey in the grand canyon
• Attend all the different temples that I can
• Not fail stats/burn stats book when finished with the class
• Make a time capsule and bury it (to dig it up later)
• Call my Congressmen over something stupid
• Change my name
• Mow a shag carpet with a lawn mower
• Let a salesmen talk me into something I don't need
• Read the Old Testament (this one might take a while)
• Become a life coach
• Create an awesome youtube video
• Write a book and sell it on amazon
• Play hide & seek in walmart
• Break a world recordàdodgeball
• Hand out caramel onions in the fall
• Become a vantrilliquous
• Shoot people outside my window with a marshmallow gun from inside my couch fort
• Receive a damehood from a queen
• Go see Wicked in New York :)
• Go tour Las Vegas hotels (in the mornings when all the crazies are gone)
• Go to a baseball game
• Take a picture with Cosmo
• Try green eggs and ham
• Eat a hot dog from a street vendor (and hope I don’t die)
• Eat at the undersea restaurant in Ithaa
• Set off fireworks
• Light a match (yeah, they scare me so I never have… sad right?)
• Get my palms read
• Become rich, get a job, and see how annoying I can be before they fire me
• Hand out money to random strangers
• Pay for someone randomly without their knowing
• Jump into a pool fully clothed
• Sit on a jury
• Have an epic pillow fight lasting at minimum one hour
• Have a light saber fight in the middle of the quad dressed up as Shakespearean characters and yelling random lines from a play he wrote
• Say to someone (in context)… “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a darn”
• Chase an ambulance
• Collect 100 snow globes and then give them away
• Make a quilt
• Become a grape juice connoisseur
• Go cheese tasting
• Buy all my Christmas presents before Halloween
• Have a child on July 31 and name him Harry (hahaha… jk… mostly… maybe a middle name)
• Actually read one of my textbooks I waste money on all the way through...
• Have a pen pal (preferably from a different country)
• Swim in 3 oceans
• See a pyramid
• Hug someone until I fall over (both of us)
• Spin a globe around, buy a ticket, and go there
• Pretend to speak a random language and not understand people at a restaurant
• Invent a language
• Have a mock argument with someone in a super public place and see if anyone says anything
• Send messages in morris code
• Sacrifice a gingerbread house to the candy gods
• Build a snowman (carrots included)
• Pay cash for a car
• Go on a couples mission
• Use a baby name generator to name my child (maybe a middle name)
• Die in a really cool way… and make it into the Darwin award

Blessings in Disguise

I'm done with my transcription work!!!   Hallelujah! I never thought I would finish and I am DONE!!!! :) :) :)   Small blessing I'll share with ya'll...

So I agreed to do this transcription work for a grad student (Kathie) and it really didn't seem like that big of a project when I took it on/I had a lot more time or so I thought.  But a week ago, I asked Kathie for a deadline--she gave me till Thanksgiving!  So needless to say, I was stressed b/c I gave myself a week to finish!  And I started to get grumpy/hate the books Green Eggs and Ham and The Tale of Peter Rabbit.  Well... I worked hard and did like 15 transcriptions but I was so sick of doing it!  I had just a few left--4.  I needed to finish but was procrastinating till tonight when I finally decided I HAD to finish!  So I did the first video (only 7 minutes meaning it only took me like an hour to finish the transcription)!  Then I opened the second and started... but wait, I had heard this before!  I looked and YES... I had heard it before!  It was a wonderful feeling--like an early Christmas present to me from Heavenly Father!  I shouted for joy!  I didn't have to transcribe this 25 minute video (which would have took me like 2 or 3 hours to do)!  Then, as I opened the last two, they again were the same!  SO WONDERFUL!  I am so blessed and watched out for in the small and trivial stuff!!! :)   Thank goodness cause I'm pretty sure I was about to die under all the work I had/have to do! 

My Ghetto Lasagna

So this morning, I decided to make lasagna (cause I'm making dinner for some friends who just had their baby) and it was probably the most interesting lasagna I've ever made.  So it started out well-I planned to make a 1 1/2 lasagnas (full for us and 1/2 for them) so I boiled 9 noodles (a full takes 3 noodles and half, I figured, would take 3).  I half-boiled them (I was impatient so I pulled them out early).  Then I realized the first bad thing... I only had 1 can of sauce (and I use 1 per lasagna) so I decided to stretch it.  The second bad thing... my cottage cheese looked like grits because it had been frozen for a little while:

I don't know if you know what cottage 

cheese looks like but it's not this.

However, I persevered.  I cooked the meat, added the sauce, and made the first half lasagna successfully.  But I realized something more bad as I kept going...I realized I had run out of cheese.  Luckily, I had some in the freezer!  So I got it out and preceeded to break it the usually way... by stepping on it and throwing it on the floor.  My roommate, Amy, sat on the couch going, "Wouldn't it be funny if that bag split?"  And I replied, "The bag won't split!"  And then... bam!  The bag split in the middle of our living room floor.  Here is the re-inactment (because we already threw away the cheese but then I wanted pictures)

Our floor... it actually had like 10x's more cheese

than this but I didn't feel like being a complete

freak and spreading all of it on the floor! :) 

Yeah, it didn't even really break... there were still

huge chunks!

Amy, chilling on the couch, is refraining

from saying, "I told you so!"  But she

said it later...

So after the cheese disaster, Amy helped me clean up and I started to finish the lasagna.  BUT then... I realized I was 1 noodle short!  Ugh!  So I took another noodle and started to boil it under the water in the sink... yeah, it doesn't work... so whoever eats that half of the lasagna will be sad (and have crunch noodles).

The crunch noodle.

 The lasagna... looks normal! 

Wonder how it'll taste! 

Amy helping me clean up 

the giant cheese mess!

Roommates, A Poem

Amy’s bestest in this home because

She owns a garden gnome.

She doesn’t eat any meat,

But eats broccoli for a treat.

She doesn’t like to cuddle

But likes to jump in puddles.

She’s my favorite, best of all,

Too bad she is so very tall.

Talicee is next you see,

She doesn’t make any D’s (only E’s).

She loves to play and read and eat

And always makes a tasty treat.

She pokes and prods and pins and sticks

Because her nursing teacher’s sick.

She’s my favorite, best of all,

Too bad she is so very tall.

After this, comes twin number one,

Her name is Katelyn and she is fun.

She loves to cook and run and shop,

And has a pathologic need to mop.

Her closet always very full,

And cleanliness is her rule.

She’s my favorite, best of all,

Too bad she is so very tall.

Amber’s next, the second twin,

Me and her are just like kin.

She sleeps above my head at night,

And sometimes gives me quite the fright.

She likes to shop at Pier 1,

If I would let her, she would buy a ton.

She’s my favorite, best of all,

Too bad she is so very tall.

My lastest roomie is named Kirsten,

And sometimes she likes to kick my shin.

It really hurts and I cry a lot,

But she’s so awesome we’ve never fought.

We build our forts so big and tall,

And really hope they don’t fall.

She’s my favorite, best of all,

And good thing—she’s so very small!

Wanted... AMY RALLISON

Amy is a meanie cat.  She called me "exasperatingly wonderful."  At first, I thought that meant extra wonderful but then I realized it really meant irritating... can you believe that, Amy calling me irritating.  She should talk... I mean, after all she is the one who brought Jeffery to our apartment.

FBI's MOST WANTED: 
#1
Amy Rallison: brown/blonde hair, blue eyes, 5 foot 10 inches, wears clothes, and was last seen with a lawn gnome.  Dangerous and possibly armed with mean, hurtful things to say.  DO NOT APPROACH.  Please refer to picture on left to capture full essence of this criminal.

Worth Waiting For

Totally worth waiting for :)

Things That Make Me Happy :)

I have been very blessed in my life!  So I just want to share a few of my blessings with ya'll! These are things that I'm pretty sure have been put on earth so I can be happy!
-The words SPINSTER & SCANDOLOUS!
-Amy Lynn & Jeffery... and our deep conversations :)
-Kirsten's initials... KP... I feel like I live with Kim Possible
-Carving pumpkins

-Tar in parking lots on a hot day
-Rainy days where I can stay inside & watch movies with my awesome roomies :)
-Cooking turkeys... even if they are all half raw
-Waking up, looking at the clock, and realizing I can go to sleep again!
-Cashews and hot chocolate (maybe not together)
-Cooking delicious food... especially braking bread
-Decorating Christmas trees
-Listening to Christmas music (especially New Song & David Archeleta)
-Hanging out with my totally AWESOME family:)

My New Blog

So I decided to start a blog (mostly because the TSAs require me to know stuff about blogging)!  So I called it "Pumpkins, Turkeys, and Christmas Trees" because those are my 3 FAVORITE things! :)  So here it goes... appearing here will be my personal rants, recipes, and random things I find!  So for those of you who don't care... I understand!  Well...that's about it because I am now leaving for Walmart with my roomies Talicee, Katelyn, Amber, & Kirsten!