Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Petri Dishes.


Hey, I'm just getting ready to head up to class and I thought I'd send a quick hello. I'm doing well despite the fact BYU's PR representative came to my Teachings of the Living Prophet's class to say our entire class has been exposed to whooping cough. Then, our professor said we have two people in our class with confirmed swine flu cases.
So... I'm a ticking time bomb basically.
I love you all, whether or not I contract one or all of the diseas
es flying through campus and die. (More likely I'll die from my two exams and two papers) I can't wait to come home to San Jose this weekend! I love you all!

And Dad, in response to your email from my last post:
"what is the deal with the center alignment? i had to copy it into a word document and L align it be be able to read it comfortably"
Haha, you would. The man who edited Philip's emails from Brasil. (Did you notice I left it L aligned for you this time?)
The reason I put it in the center is because it is more aesthetically pleasing. Yup.

All my love and none of my sicknesses to all of you!


P.S.

I found this sweet photography blog. Check it out.
There are some awesome portraits of kids, like the one here,
as well as some amazing scenery shots from
wherever they live in Europe. Love it!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

I am my mother's daughter

The past three weeks that I've been up at school I've been sustaining life.
Meaning? Peanut butter and crackers.
I'm glad I'm an obedient child and
took my mother's warning to heart at the tender age of 18 months.

"Listen kid. If you're going to survive in this family then you better learn to like peanut butter."

It's just helped me survive, period.
But that's changing. I bought some stuff to make fun food so no worries. I won't be mal-nourished or anything like that. Lots of veggies and fruit and cheese. Mmmm... : )


In class today people kept asking me about my weekend and I honestly had a hard time remembering everything I did. (By the way, I wore my cameo to class today and it's amazing.) Besides BYU's devastating loss to FSU it was a fun weekend! The most interesting thing was visiting Mark and his boyfriend Mike up in Salt Lake.
Thursday after class I drove up to SLC to visit my long-time friend Mark and meet his boyfriend of a year, Mike. It was a big deal that I was meeting the boyfriend, but it all went very smoothly. Honestly, the entire experience was fabulous and Mike is so very pleasant.
For dinner they made me curry and cheesecake and then we went to a gay bar.
Yes, a gay bar.
Now, I know the stereotypes that immediately pop to mind, and this place was nothing like that. I think the fact it's a private bar, so you have to be a member to go there, helped make it less sleezy. The entire night I felt neither uncomfortable or compromised. We played pool and darts and sat out on the patio and talked. It was definitely something weird, but at the same time very low-key.
How can I best describe my emotions from the evening? Happy.
Being with and talking to Mark has always, ever since we met at EFY, set my head strait. And then Mike has such a happy feeling about him that I was immediately enveloped in his caring love. I wish I could accurately capture the fabulousness of what most people would find to be an uncomfortable situation.

Saturday morning McKenzie, her roommate Britteny and I went with Austin Hyde to ride his grandpa's horses. Now, knowing that I was the biggest horse nut growing up, it won't surprise you to know it was blissful for me. Getting out at 8 am up in the hills near Springville where I could ride up and look out over the newly emerging fall colors of the valley I was so relaxed and free. I know I got past the horse-nut stage, but I still do want a horse. I'll be honest.

School's crazy but I love it.
My New Testament class blows my mind. My professor, Camille Fronk Olsen, has so much knowledge and explains things perfectly so that I wish I could just soak in every word she says! Plus, I'm blessed to take the class with Kyle and Ashlan and their comments and insights are always inspiring. I have the best friends in the world, hands down.
My Teachings of the Living Prophets brings back truths that the spirit reaffirms and it's a pleasure basking in the passion of my professor Sister Wyne. Accounting is tough but I understand it. English is frustrating because I feel like the information could be so interestingly presented but my professor just kind of Blahs it all up. And Business Management is full of friends and so directly relates to public relations.
I love learning. And reading. And I'm going to learn a Rachmaninov piece this year in my piano class. I can't wait!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Crimson and Gold


Saturday, after watching BYU destroy Tulane, was the USC vs. Ohio game. So we drove up to Eagle Mountain to watch the game at Kyle's friend's house.

"We" =
Hilary
Kevin
Naomi
Kyle
Ashlan
Jessi
Trevor
Zack
Ashton
Nick
Anthony

"Eagle Mountain" =


USC won the game, bookended with a fabulous start and tense ending. I obsessed with McKenzie's camera, taking pictures. The following pictures are a taste of our fun.


Ashton and Kevin celebrating USC's touchdown.

Kyle consuming. Of course we had food.

Ashton and Zack.

I love this picture. Just because.

Reunions and Scrabble Night

Sunday marked the official, "I'm back at BYU" point with the revival of Sunday night Scrabble. We weren't able to finish because our Home Teachers showed up and then I had to leave for dinner with Chip&Debbie but it was a good warm up.

Here are my friends whom I love dearly.

Kinsi
(not living with us this year)
She drew all the Scrabble Girls on her fingers.

Trevor & Jessi
[SherKahn & Andaconda]
(He's from St. Louis. Served in Russia. Knows the Hannah Montana characters.)
(She's from Springfield, VA. Public Relations major. Looses backs to left earring constantly.)

Ashlan
(From Dos Palos, CA. Theatre Ed Major. The Scrabble Queen.)

Kyle
[Kobra]
(From Los Alamitos, CA. Served in Pennsylvania. BFFL.)

Kevin
(From Agoura Hills, CA. Served in Brasil. Loves USC.)

Nick
(From Phoenix, AZ. Served in Iceland. Refreshingly realistic.)



Disclaimer: These are NOT all of my friends.
These are all the pictures I could post so I
have to wait until later to introduce the rest.



Thursday, September 10, 2009

We're involved.

Hello all.
I'm in the Library. We're obsessed with each other. Haha, no but really.
I'm back at BYU and I'm feeling really good about this year. All my boys (except Ron) from freshman year are back from their missions and I couldn't be happier about it! Having friends who will allow me to just sit on their couch as they do homework is too good to be true. Also, I don't know how Kevin and I weren't friends before, but that's okay. We're making up for lost time.
Last night I went to "hot yoga" (Not Bikram Yoga. Yoga in a mediocre-ly warm room) with Manuel (if you can't say it right, aka like a Mexican, call him Manny). That was an adventure! I really liked it! Bikram yoga was harder, but this yoga definitely helps with flexibility. We'll see if I can find a class here at BYU to go to. I need something, because I really do miss yoga-r-ing if you will. (I totally just created that word. Start with yoga. Add -r to make it a Spanish verb, to do yoga, then add -ing to make it the action of doing yoga. Word.)

Anyway, I have to go read some, finish a paper, then go to class times two.

LOVE.