Plane Tickets, a Mission, and much more!

I've been meaning to write a post all week, and somehow it just hasn't happened.  A lot's been going on, but whenever I think about blogging I haven't been in the mood to actually write, so I didn't.  I'm not entirely in a mood to write now, or at least about what I'd really like to write about, but I'm gonna do it anyway.

For FHE on Monday we made balloon animals, which was hilarious.  Needless to say, I'm not blessed with a talent for balloon animals.

I had a lovely physiology test on Thursday. I think it went okay, but I don't have my score back yet :(

WE HAVE PLANE TICKETS TO CONNECTICUT!!! For the past two weeks I've been looking at flight prices everyday.  Usually they were $400 - $500, which is higher than we wanted to pay.  Then on Thursday after my test I decided to check prices before going to work, and I found them for $326 including taxes and fees! I was so excited! It ended up being $74 cheaper to stay a day longer, so now we'll be back east from June 27th to July 6th. We're going to spend 3 days in NYC and got to Boston for the 4th of July :) I'm so stinkin' excited!

Wednesday Steph, Rachelle, Rachel, Heidi and I went to El Toro for dinner.  Everything was awesome.  They have the best chips and salsa ever, but it can actually be quite dangerous.  Steph broke one of her chips in half, but a small piece flew and landed on her eye.  She freaked out until Heidi got it out for her, which was quite hysterical to watch.

OH!  I can't believe I haven't said this yet, but Jordan got his mission call!!!! Little Jordan! I swear he's not old enough!  Jordan has been called to serve in the West Virginia Charleston Mission. He leaves June 1st! It's so crazy! He's way excited, and I know it's going to be so good for him.

Jordan and I when he was two days old.  When did we all get so grown up?

Friday was a pretty eventful day.  That afternoon I helped Heidi make hair pieces for her dance class, and then we went swimming in the hyper.  Mark, Cody, Stephanie, Rachel, Caleb, Daniel, Kathy, Andrew and I all went.  It was tons of fun.  After swimming we ate dinner at Arctic Circle.  We then met up with three of Mark's friends, and went to play sardines at the FAC.  IT was so much fun, but very tiring.  Steph, Rachelle, and Rachel wanted to leave earlier, but Steph needed to take Cody with her.  Instead of making him leave, he ended up sleeping over at M4, which I'm sure was an adventure :)

When we got back to the apartment we were greeted with a ridiculously loud dance party going on in the p-lounge.  You could practically feel it in our apartment.  It was 12:30 am, and there was no way we were going to be able to sleep with the noise.  The party didn't have great music either, and the feeling wasn't particularly great.  Asking them to turn down or off the music didn't stand a chance of working, so I jokingly said we should go flip the breaker.  "Hey, Stacy knows how to do that!" Rachelle said, so we called Stacy.  She told us how to flip it, and we decided it would be worth it.  We ran over to the breaker, and Rachelle actually flipped it! The music shut off instantly, people screamed and complained, and we ran back really fast :) Amazingly they didn't turn the music back on! VICTORY!!! We felt very accomplished.

Saturday morning I had breakfast with Cody, Mark, and Daniel.  We made waffles and bacon, and then went to choir practice.  I then did a lot of random things while procrastinating my homework.  That evening we made a trip to Wal*Mart and then went out to my house.  We made the best three pizzas ever.  Seriously, we should open a pizza parlor.  We then played pool and had chocolate strawberry shakes.  After that we watched Harry Potter 7, which was a lot slower and longer than I remembered.  Mark, Adam, Preston, Steph, Kathy, Todd, Daniel, and Caleb were all there.  My dad commented that the girls were greatly outnumbered.  I'm failing to see why this is a bad thing :)

Today Church was really good.  In Sacrament meeting five guys with their mission calls all spoke, and they all did an awesome job.  They're seriously going to make amazing missionaries.  We also had a linger which is always fun.  Next Sunday is Easter, and I get the opportunity to speak in church . . . I should really start on my talk now instead of procrastinating as usual.

So the guy I kind of wrote on his mission (he's also the guy I've been on the most dates with ever) got engaged this week. He's been at school for a total of one semester.  It doesn't bother me that he's engaged, I decided months ago that I don't like him like that, but it's just weird.  It's weird because he's younger than me, and it all seemed to happen so fast.  I swear, everyone's getting married and having kids, and I'm just chillin' here by myself.

So, there are three weeks left of school, and that's including finals week. Where in the world did the semester go?  I love my ward, my roommates, my classes, and my friends sooooo much, it makes me want to cry thinking it's all going to be over.  I know I'll still have my friends, but it's never going to be the same.  I'm not ready to leave behind everything that I have right now.  I don't want things to change.  I really feel like everything is rushing past me and I'm still just standing here, and all I want to do is just make it slow down for just a second - like everyone else is moving forward, and I'm still here, trying to catch up and breathe again.  When I think about it it's overwhelming, and I feel like I just need to anchor myself to something . . . I don't know what's going to happen next, and it scares me to death.

I have a lot of other thoughts running through my head right now, but none of which I really feel like publishing on the Internet for anyone to see.  I should really have a good girl chat. (*hint - Kaylee, that's for you!*)

Meet Frank

This is Frank.  He is some sort of tropical plant I bought at Sam's club for $2.50. What a steal! He actually looks much better now than when I bought him.

What's so great about Frank, you might ask.  Well, you see, I have a history of killing plants . . .

Not on purpose, of course.  I just have really bad luck with potted plants.  To date, I've killed two bamboos and a palm tree. But just look at how beautiful Frank is!  We did have a close call when he was all wilty when I got back from Thanksgiving break, but I saved him. Hopefully with Frank I've erased my bad luck with plants.   I mean, I'm going to be a mom someday, and if I can't handle keeping a house plant alive how in the world am I going to keep a kid alive?!?!

Baby steps people :)

On another subject, Church was amazing today.  Heidi taught a great lesson in Relief Society, Sunday School was awesome, and I LOVED Sacrament meeting.  I seriously have the most stellar ward ever. As soon as Bishop Bennett sat down, about 12 people got up.  The meeting was so Spiritual and awesome, I'm going to be so sad not to be in this ward later.

Funny story! Today after church Rachelle and I were in our room and we hear the door open and close downstairs. We knew someone had come in, so we yelled 'Hellooooooooo?' down the stairs - no answer. We yelled again, and still no answer.  I walked down the stairs and looked right to see Tyson, Todd and Justin (The Elders Quorum Presidency) standing there just staring at me. Saying nothing, they slowly walked towards me, until I was against the wall. The entire time I was trying not to laugh as they continued to stare.  When we were all standing in a nice little circle against the wall, Tyson hands me a flyer about the fireside tonight. "Going?" he asked rather sternly.  I replied yes. How could I not with the entire Elders Quorum Presidency staring me down? Hahaha, it was quite hilarious and made my afternoon :)

Getting rid of Blah

Do you ever have those days where you just feel blah? Yesterday was definitely one of those days for me.  I can't think of a single reason that I'd feel like this. Work was good, and nothing bad happened the rest of the day.  Sometimes you just feel like blah and crying over nothing, and you have no idea why.  Sometimes you feel a bit ridiculous. I mean, I was on MSN and saw a story about a cat who woke up his owner because their neighbor's house was on fire and he saved them, and I wanted to cry over it! I felt like crying over a hero cat! I mean, seriously! No wonder we confuse guys, we don't even understand ourselves! Oh gosh . . .

Luckily, last night turned out to be fabulous.  We went to my house and had a sleepover with Steph and Meggie.  We didnt' do anything out of the ordinary, but it was just nice to all be together.  We did our our nails, ate chocolate, and had girl talk.  We also got m&ms from someone, which just topped off the night :) It was very exciting.  This morning my mom made strawberry crepes and bacon, which is one of my all time favorite breakfasts.  We then all got ready and took roommate pictures.  We've been trying to get together all semester to take them, but it hasn't worked out until now.  We originally wanted pictures in the snow, and how ironic that our April pictures are snowy!  Stephanie took the pictures and did a fabulous job.  She then spent four hours editing them. She's quite amazing.

 Steph - "Stick your butts out more!"

 Love these two :)

 My fine photography skills

 So much awkward in one picture!

 Miss Rachel

 Chancho!

 Rachelley

Kathypants

This afternoon I also had the opportunity to go to the Temple with Mckenna, which was fabulous, and something I really needed.

Steph made all of us a fabulous dinner.  We used our 'wine glasses' to make it feel extra fancy.

We also went to a dance party at A1.  Those boys are hilarious, and it was so much fun.  We did their own original line dance and laughed a ton.  We also enjoyed a performance from Scott, Brad, Spencer, and Ryan.  They did the 'A Million Ways' dance by OK Go. They were hilarious! It was one of the best things I've seen in a while.  I also got a text afterwards that made me smile :D

It's so nice to be rid of the blah :)

So I've come to a little bit of a conclusion about guys.  It seems that even if you don't like a boy like you used to, there are still some that you'll always have a little place for.  I think it's because it's hard to say goodbye to something you once wanted.

Anyway, it's 11:43 and I have church bright and early at 8am tomorrow, so I'd best call it a night.

~Michelle~

Slushing

Today I wore my grey dressy capris to work and my new sandals.  It was raining lightly, but hey, I was going to be indoors all day.  Too bad I didn't know it was going to rain down slush!  I mean really, it's April! It should not be snowing.  I looked out my office window, and my world was now white.  Don't get me wrong, I love snow, but in January.  I got to walk to my car in three inches of slush, which resulted in numb feet. I guess I should always be prepared with my polka-dot rainboots.

 

So, Kathy and I came up with this grand idea: We're going to visit Rachel in Connecticut this summer, and we're going to Boston and New York! Rachelle's coming as well, and Mark's meeting us in NY after he gets back from Eurpoe.  I've spent the past week watching plane tickets trying to get a good deal. I swear, all they do is go up. We will find a smokin' deal, we will.  It's going to be sooooooo much fun, I can't wait for June :)

 



A typical Tuesday ....

Last night I scrunched my hair so I wouldn't have to do much to it this morning.  Normally scrunching my hair works really well.  I take the clips out and wa-la! Scrunchy hair. I really like to do my hair like this because it's low maintenance throughout the day, and it makes my hair look thicker.  Today however, it looked horrible! I swear I did it exactly how I normally do . . .  it was so bad! I decided to just deal with it for physiology.  For work, I like to look decent, so something had to be done.  I decided to pull it into a side braid, and it was like poof! Cute hair! I was actually amazed at how good it looked. I'll definitely be doing it again.

This is my attempt to take a picture of my hair. Have you ever tried to take a picture of the back of your head? It's quite difficult!

Today for lunch my dad took our family to Sushi. I've had it once before and liked it a lot.  Megan was not happy about it.  She ordered a bowl of plain rice, ha :) The waitress was dropping waters off at our table, and somehow managed to knock two glasses of water onto me and Cody. I was soaked! (For some reason I'm reminded of Sam;) She felt so bad!  We just laughed about it and told her not to worry about it.  You could literally ring water out of my shirt.  After lunch I had to go home and change my pants and underwear.  I must say, dry clothes never felt so good :)

Good news!  So our HR assistant and work is having surgery in June, so she'll be out for 6 weeks, which means I'll be able to work full time! yay!  This is especially good if the trip back east Kathy and I are planning works out :) more details on that later.

So tonight I got home about 5ish, and was the only one home. I was so bored!!! My apartment is quite lonely when I'm the only one there.  So in my boredom I was attempting to learn some songs on the guitar.  One song I came across today is called 'Sing Along' by the Janedear Girls - I absolutely love it.  The only problem was that since it's so new, no one's put the tabs online yet.  But, you see, my amazing friend Todd learned to play guitar and piano basically by ear.  I texted him and he came over and in five minutes had all the chords figured out.  It sounds exactly like the song. Wow. Mind blown.  His skills are amazing.  Thank you Todd :) 

 Todd and I boating last September.  Todd was one of my first friends this year, and definitley one of my best.  He has a way of always making me smile :)

Because Heidi, Kathy and I are against being productive tonight, we've just been goofing around. Kathy decided she likes doing dishes much better while singing, so I played the guitar and ukulele and the three of us sang.  Jamming out in the kitchen is definitely something I'll miss :(

Heidi and Kathy are two of my favorite people ever, and I'm so grateful they're my roommates.  Sadly I'm not living with either of them next year :( Oh how I love these girls!

Rachelle's coming back tomorrow!  She's been at home for her spring break.  She's student teaching, so she's on their schedule for breaks.  It's been kinda weird having my own room . . .  But this does mean that I need to clean before she gets here! Because she hasn't been here, I haven't been as motivated to pick my stuff up, and this is what happens:

I've just remembered I didn't write about General Conference.  It's a bit late tonight, so I'll try to remember to write about it tomorrow.

Opportunity

I meant to blog about this week's FHE on Monday, but it didn't happen, so I'll do it now.  Mark and Rachel are my FHE 'parents'.  I must say they're amazing.  Seriously, a couple of times they've given a lesson that's exactly what I needed to hear. 

This isn't the best picture of either of them, but I didn't want anyone else in it.  I seriously love these two, and I admire them and look up to them so much.

This week we were at the Bishop's house.  They gave a lesson on opportunity, and not being passive in life.  It kind of was a smack in the face, I know it was meant for me.  It was seriously exactly what I needed to hear.  I think my biggest problem with opportunity is fear.  I get so comfortable with where I am, that change terrifies me.  I like my life, so why change?  But if I don't ever change, I can't grow.  This life is all about progressing, and even though it's scary at times, with God we can do anything.

This is the handout they gave us at FHE:

 Opportunity
Determine your situations - don't let them determine you

• Do not allow yourself to let life's great journeys and lessons pass by because of slothfulness
  - Be productive and let every day be a witness of your work
• Do not allow yourself to miss out on what life has to offer you
  - Educate yourself about what is available to you
• Do not allow excuses for life's mishaps and injustices consume you
  - Be true to who you are and be honest with yourself
• Do not allow excuses to limit you, instead eliminate your excuses
  - Do those things that seem impossible in the moment

"... live the commandments.  Do what is right.  Take advantage of this great opportunity in your life to live it well, to be good, to have good works, and to influence other people for good." - Elder David B. Haight

Allow the Atonement of Christ to PERFECT and HEAL you in Every circumstance you find yourself in.

I can't wait for General Conference this weekend.  I've been praying for some specific things lately, and I know that Conference will be super helpful.  Personal Revelation is an amazing gift.  I LOVE the gospel SOOOOOO much.

It's been a messy week ....

I must say this past week has been quite messy . . .

Thursday Rachelle and I had a girl date, it was fabulous. We went to Macy's and ended up spending $20 on junk food . . . but most of it was for ingredients to make homemade samoas, so it's totally justifiable. We were super hyper and hungry, and the entire trip was hilarious. We then went to eat at Rumbi's, which was delicious as usual :)

We got home and started making our Samoas. It's a good thing we were hyper, because they ended up taking 2 1/2 hours to make. Daniel showed up and watched us make them, which must have been entertaining. We both were hyper, and add to that the amount of sugar we ate while making them, and you've got quite the show. At one point I was laughing uncontrollably on the floor :) We ended up with some extra chocolate, and as you can see, we put it to good use ....

Saturday we went down to the Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork. It's about a 3 hour drive, but it was lots of fun. Steph, Heidi, Todd and I were in my car, and then we picked up Preston in Salt Lake. Anna, Jared, Kathy, Paula, and Daniel were in the other car. We got their first and ate at Wendy's. We then ended up waiting in line for the bus for about 45 minutes, but we had a good time playing foot tag and sweedish twister in line :) We rode a school bus up to the temple. You could definitely tell where it was, because there was this pink haze covering the entire area. About 30,000 people went, and it was a bit insane. We got off the bus and weren't even on the grounds yet and people were already throwing chalk at us. Some random guy came up and rubbed a bunch on my face. Todd was hugged by two random dudes. Good times!!! Our group! It's impossible to go to this and not end up colored :)

Heidi and I with our teeth looking particularily white

By the end it was super cold!!! The wind was a bit crazy.

All in all it was a good experience, although I'm not sure if I'll do it again, but it was definitely worth it.