And... I'm Accepted!

Life & The Universe

Sometimes I feel like life is an affectionate older sibling.  You know the kind... they like to pull your hair and threaten to wipe their spit on you, but at the end of the day, they're always there to give you a hug.  Or push you down.  Whatever.  It's kind of the same thing, right?  ;)

The past two weeks, life has definitely treated me like a younger sibling.  Kindness: an interview with Idaho State that I felt good about.  Bullying: having to pay for a ticket in a school zone that you didn't see.  Kindness: Getting to go see the midnight showing of The Hobbit with friends.  Bullying: Having to take my Biochemistry final the same night.  Kindness: Getting a 5% boost on the multiple-question portion of my exam!  Bullying: Getting an 89.6% in the class overall when I needed 90% to get an A-.  Yeah, that's how it's been.

And I mean, that's always how life is going to be, right?  I guess I just get frustrated sometimes because I feel like right now I'm so in-between.  I don't know if I'll get into PA school this year or next year.  I don't even know if I'll be living in the same state by the end of this year.  Going to PA school (at some point), getting married, being an awesome wife & mother... these are things I want but things that I don't necessarily have complete control over.  *sigh*

BUT... life is so good.  And despite the feeling that I am not going anywhere in life right now, I know that I am.  I guess the funny thing about life is that as you gain experience, your challenges grow to meet you--which means life will always seem hard.  But some things are worth the effort, the time, the wait.  And I know that I have a Savior who will help make up for my shortcomings, even if that help doesn't always come when and how I want it.  The fact that His help is certain, though--now that's something to be grateful for.

Lotsa' love,
me.

Recap.

Wow, it's been a while since I posted.  And yes, I realize that I have a tendency to wait until midnight to blog.  Not sure what that says about my priorities...

Anyways... here's a quick update on life the past month & a half.  Halloween:

Yes, I was a hobbit for Halloween!  The universe pretty much begged me to dress up as a hobbit for Halloween--first of all, the movie is coming out in later this month; then I stumble upon hobbit pants at DI (they couldn't have been for anything else, who else would wear corduroy gauchos??); and to top it all off, I found a blue glow-stick sword at the dollar store.  Like I said, fate.

I got to help out with a friend's homemade haunted house.  Let's just say it was pretty legit.  I was the least terrifying person there, and I still got some good jumps out of people.  Yessssss! :)

Oh, no picture to show, but I voted!  I missed out on voting back in 2008, so this was my first presidential election!  So excited and happy to play a part in the election process!  (And so proud to support Mitt Romney! ^_^)

Oh yeah, did I mention I have a job now?  I'm working as a receptionist for a health supplement company, so I get to dress professional every day.  This is probably a boost to my social life, seeing as I am overwhelmingly tempted every single winter to wear nothing but hoodies, jeans, and boots.  There's a great sense of teamwork within the company and it's been really flexible with my school schedule, so pretty much everything I need in a job right now except for boosting my healthcare hours!  After several months of being teased by my sisters for not having a job, and after multiple Institute lessons on self-reliance, it's so nice to be working again!

I was able to go home this year for Thanksgiving.  And what is there to do the day after Thanksgiving but go up onto the mountain and get yourself a nice Christmas tree?  We are so hardcore like that!  :)

Gearing up for the holiday season with Christmas lights!  So far I've been able to catch them at Temple Square (with my friend Stephen) and at Thanksgiving Point (as seen above with my friend Jason!)  Lots of fun, now I just need to start decorating my apartment!

In other news, I interviewed this weekend with a PA program... I felt like it went really well and it was with my first-choice school, so now I'm just waiting until the seat offers are posted in March.  Yikes, will I be able to wait until then???  :)

Heaps o' love,
me.

Welcome to Idaho...

So I just finished applying to graduate school this month.  Graduate schools, I should say, since I have applied to four already and may add another three by the end of the month.  Anyways, last week I received something from my school that I haven't had in four years... a fall break!  And so I decided to use the aforementioned time off school to drive up to Idaho and visit my first-choice graduate school--Idaho State University.

Yep, I am cheesy enough to take pics on the side of the road.

What do I like about Idaho and more specifically ISU?  Well for starters, I like that the school has a plan for navigationally challenged drivers like myself:

Paw prints on the road so I don't get lost...

But I also like that they have a top-notch program (see here).  I like that they have an entire class devoted to medical Spanish.  I love how their program is focused on rural medicine.  And after meeting with several of their faculty and sitting in on a class, I really like the feel of their program--they've fostered a very personal and relaxed environment where the focus is on developing the skills to be a great healthcare provider.  I really enjoyed visiting with the department and I really hope I get an interview offer soon and get accepted!

Other fun tidbits about ISU and Pocatello:  the campus has a wicked-sweet indoor rock-climbing wall, there is a huge Institute of Religion, and the mountains there are beautiful!  Also, it is located near these fun people:

I got to hang out with these cute ones. 

Oh, and some cool cousins sent me home with home-grown carrots and potatoes:

This is a real-life carrot.  Grown in Idaho.  Yum!

Keep your fingers crossed that I get accepted, okay?
Love,
me.

I Miss Your Face.

Statistics, again.

Sometimes Statistics punches you in the face.  And sometimes, you punch Statistics in the face.  Today was the latter.  ^_^  Yessss.

"And your beard is so... twisted."

Classic line from Aladdin.  And also exactly what I wanted to say to someone today. Why? Well obviously because my hair was up in a high ponytail and it was curled super awesome just like Jasmine's. Like I said, all I needed was a guy with a beard. Preferably a beard that was twisted. I went all day without seeing one though. *Sigh* I guess that's what happens when you live so close to BYU... it makes it kind of hard to find guys with beards! Oh well.

You can imagine my delight, though, when I stumbled across this little beauty on Pinterest the other day:

Yup. Sad truth, huh?  Not sad because it's true, but sad because so many of my subtle references are missed by the bulk of society. C'est la vie. It also makes me laugh because one of my old-time friends actually is fluent in movie quotes. No, take that back.  He's not just fluent in movie quotes, he SPEAKS mainly in movie quotes.  He's the reason why I catch myself asking people, "How neat is that?"and saying things like, "Keep it secret, keep it safe." He's also the reason I can't say the word "wriggly" anymore without adding the word "wet" and slightly rolling my r's.

And this week I discovered that another one of his quirks had rubbed off on me:

Who sleeps like this? Seriously? Who can breathe with their faced shoved up into the seam of the couch?  Well thanks to the repeated example of one boy in my life, I now can.

It's funny how our friends and family rub off on us, huh? Thanks for rubbing off on me!

Love,
me.

Truth.

Love Notes

Hello, friends.  Long time, no post, huh?  Sorry... summer's been kinda' busy.  I'm taking the GRE tomorrow.  Yikes.  I started stressing a bit tonight, and then somehow I thought of this song...

and I remembered that (1) I have a Heavenly Father and a family here on earth who will love me no matter what I score on the GRE, and (2) like the song says, I am the daughter of an infinitely creative and talented Heavenly Father, with the potential to become like Him through the course of my eternal existence.  How cool is that?  And how lucky am I?  :)  I can do this... GRE, here I come!

Lotsa' love,

me

Bumblebee's Birthday

So my little sister turned 15 today... if we were a bit more traditional it would've been her quinceañera.  Instead we celebrated by buying her a new Sunday dress and making her a layered cake... kind of a quinceañera on a very small scale, right?  ^_^  Not to mention the dinner we made for her–grilled shrimp, frog-eye salad, kabobs... yum!

We had cousins in town for the fourth, so they made things extra fun!

Bumblebee loves pink lemonade slushes at McDonald's, so we made her a pink lemonade cake:

Sure do love ya', girlie!  I'm glad you are my sister and that I get to laugh about things like "delicious and nutritious" with you!  You are such a smartie and I'm excited to see all the big, fun things you do this next year!

Lotsa love,

me.

Visiting Family, Part One

Family Reunion

Baby Giraffe

So.  Over Memorial Day weekend, this little guy came into the world:

No, he's not mine (I've had to remind my little sister of that one several times already).  He belongs to one of my very best friends, Ellie-Bellybutton and her husband Brian.  It seems like just years ago we were laughing and joking about the day babies would be "springing up in our lives like daisies"...  (Oh wait, that WAS just a few years ago--does anyone else remember that Natasha Bedingfield song, or is it just me?)  Cutest baby ever, right?  ^_^  Anyways, despite previous ill-attempts at sewing, I couldn't resist the urge to whip something up for this little guy.  His nursery is jungle-safari themed, so I made him this little chevron quilt:

I had to wait a couple weeks for my turn to come visit him, but it was worth the wait:

Biggest success of the visit--getting him to sleep (he is so snuggly!):

Psalms 127:4-5 reads, "As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them."  I've always kind of wondered what David meant by that... I mean, arrows are just not very cuddly.  They don't really inspire the kind of warm feelings that babies and children make me think of.  That king David... *shakes head*  Maybe what he meant, though, is that children are something you want to keep close by.  Something you want to shape and strengthen so that they are able to fly straight and true long after you release them.  And yes, something to fill  your home with.  Or maybe David was just really big into archery.  Guess I'll have to wait until the next life to figure that one out for sure!

Either way, a very big congratulations goes out to my two friends E & B.  Best wishes as you begin your new journey as parents!

Lotsa' love,

me

Little Grads

So.  My little sisters graduated from high school last week.  Yikes... when did I get so old?  I mean seriously, it doesn't feel that long ago that I was graduating from high school:

And yet here we are, four years later, and now it's the little sisters who are graduating and getting ready to head off into the great unknown of college life this fall:

Crazy.  Not to mention that they look better graduating from high school than I did ;)  Anyways, it was fun to see them graduate and to think back on my own high school experience and the things I've done and the person I've become since then.  A whole heap of good memories.  A couple of sad ones.  And the realization that no matter how old we may feel or how much we may learn, the best (and sometimes the hardest) is yet to come.  And that is a marvelous thing.  But confession:  there are some days that I get frustrated by this whole "line upon line" aspect of life–I find myself wanting to know everything now, be good at everything now, have life figured out NOW.  And at this point in my life (okay, at ANY point in life), that's kind of an impossible goal.  So you can imagine how this talk by Elder Neil L. Anderson helped me reflect on the TRUTH.  He says:

••• Our spiritual journey is the process of a lifetime. We do not know everything in the beginning or even along the way. Our conversion comes step-by-step, line upon line. We then remain steady and patient as we progress through mortality. At times, the Lord’s answer will be, “You don’t know everything, but you know enough”—enough to keep the commandments and to do what is right. Remember Nephi’s words: “I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.” •••

To all you new graduates out there heading to college this fall, I hope you remember that even when you feel inadequate or when you wonder how you suddenly became so average in the transition from high school to the real world and you feel like you just aren't cut out to succeed in adult life, YOU KNOW ENOUGH.  I believe in you.  And I know Heavenly Father does, too.  Best wishes as you begin your new adventures!

Love and party hats,
me

Other People Run

So.  Sometime in between me leaving for college and the last several years, my mom has got into running in a big way.  At this point, I think she has run maybe five or six marathons.  This is a particularly astounding feat, given the fact that after she ran her first 10K nine years ago, she swore she would never, EVER run again.  hahahaha!  Good one, mom! ;)

Well, raising five girls while teaching 2nd grade full time tends to fill one's schedule rather rapidly, so this year my mom didn't have time to train for a spring marathon.  So instead, she got her fill of runner-culture (make no mistake, runners DO have their own culture...) by volunteering at an aid station in a local marathon.

There was water.  There was gatorade.  There were bananas and oranges and packets of GU and IcyHot.  Oh yeah, and there were me, my mom, and my little sister all chillin' at mile 23 waiting for those runners to get in.

The first runner–get this–came past our aid station at 8:25.  The race started at 6 am.  He ran a two and a half hour marathon people!!!  I am in awe!

It was fun to see the variety of runners who came to our station... our youngest runner was 16 I think, and our oldest was in his 70s!  Some people showed up to our station looking like they could run another 23 miles without breaking a sweat, and some runners showed up looking... ready to be done with the marathon already.  I was so very impressed, though, with all the effort and training these runners put in for this event–I think only one person was unable to finish due to injury!

Oh yeah.  And there was a guy named Hajime from Japan.  He is trying to run 1,000 marathons with at least one in every continent of the world.  But did I mention... he's an ecoMarathoner?  That means he runs marathons... FOR THE SCENERY!  He participates in marathons because he likes visiting new places, so he stops and takes pictures along the way when he feels like it.  He visits with the race volunteers.  He really enjoys himself.  So much so, in fact, that he was the very last runner to come through our aid station.  A little over four hours after the start of the race.  We sure enjoyed having him, though!  I think he was by far the happiest, most friendly runner we saw the whole day!  :)  His happy, slow-and-steady pace reminded me of a scripture quoted recently in general conference.  Hebrews 12:1.

"Let us run with patience the race that is set before us."

That's about it.  We had some trouble with the Excursion after the race, but everything worked out and we were able to get back to our air-conditioned house by about noon.  To all you runners out there, whether you be marathoners, half-marathoners or 5K-ers... you guys ROCK!

Love muchly,

me.

BYU Blanket

So.  I moved home for a bit.  I've heard it's a fairly common post-grad phenomena, so yeah.  So far it's been a blast.  Crazy truth... I kinda sorta like spending time with my family!  :)  Anyways, moving meant packing up and downsizing some of my stuff, and after careful consideration I decided I didn't need quite so many t-shirts.  But you know me.  I have a hard time letting go.  So I decided to turn all my old BYU t-shirts into a blanket.

This is what it ended up looking like:

It's strange to think that there are quite literally five years of memories sewn into this quilt.  That's nearly a fourth of my life right now, people!!!

↓This "SOAR" t-shirt came from a summer ACT prep camp I went to at BYU the summer before my senior year of high school.  Way back then, my life plan was to attend the University of Utah and become a doctor.  And then I went to this summer camp and I decided maybe BYU was cooler than I had originally thought.  So in a lot of ways, this t-shirt symbolizes the first step of my four-year journey at BYU.  If someone would have told me way back then that my decision to go to BYU would lead to three years spent studying chemistry,  my current career goal, up & down dating stories, and best friends who have honestly become just about as close as family, well, I don't think I could have even imagined it.  That's why this t-shirt is so special.  It's like the t-shirt that changed my life (a bit dramatic, I know, but still...)

↓This t-shirt was the official game day shirt from my freshman year.  This was the year that I learned about roommates, figured out how to cook for myself, realized what an awful idea 8 am classes are, and changed into the major I would go on to graduate in.  It was the year I met one of my very best friends, mentioned in previous posts under the pseudonym Ellie-BellyButton.  This shirt represents a year of laughter, dishwasher slip-n-slides, dance parties, meal plans, pranks, fights, dirty dishes, late nights, eating at the creamery, and learning how to date RMs (or in my case, how to not run screaming from RMs).  Pretty epic year. :)

↓This t-shirt is from my junior year.  Free t-shirt from the management at Glenwood, where I was living. This shirt... ^_^  It's hard to describe everything this shirt reminds me of–in a good way, of course.  This shirt is from when I met the Idaho Boys—another event that changed my life! :)  I look at this shirt and I have flashbacks of late nights playing "Left 4 Dead", of listening to Matisyahu, of showing up late to physics labs, of watching "Vampire Diaries" with Casey, of going to Molecular Biology class with Camille.  I see this shirt and I have to smile, because even though Glenwood may not have been the fanciest apartment I've lived in, the friends I made there and the experiences I had are some of my very favorite from my entire time at BYU.

↓This shirt is a more recent acquisition.  One of my friends won Front Row Fanatic tickets, and since he was going out of town, he was kind enough to give them to me to use.  The name kind of says it all–we had front row seats to a men's volleyball game.  As I was telling my little cousins earlier today when they saw this picture, I was so close to the game I could have reached out and touched the players!  Also, if you see this t-shirt in person, you'll notice a small reddish stain on it.  Guess what it is... J-Dawg sauce from the J-Dawgs we got right after the game!  And come on, what BYU experience would be complete without a little J-Dawg sauce, right?

Anyways, there are more squares than blogger would let me upload... and the crazy thing is that I have a million memories for each one.  Maybe that's why I have such a hard time letting go of these old t-shirts–because each one reminds me of the people and experiences from the past four years that have made me who I am.  And that's something I don't want to let go of, ever.  Thanks for being a part of those happy memories.

Love you lots,
me

Other Stuff

Katie-cakes ran at BYU invitational.

↓ She did an awesome job! :)

↓  I got to go 4-wheeling with my dad.  We drove past a

whole bunch of new calves... they couldn't figure out what

sort of strange monsters we must be, so most of them

ran away...

↓ J-bug made a pizza with tiny pizzas on top... she was

so proud of it, and couldn't wait to eat it for lunch!

↓ Katie-cake's homemade eclairs... if that's not incentive

for a girl to go home, I don't know what is!

(Other food related activities as of late:  chocolate-coconut-

caramel double-decker cake, coconut thai soup, falafels,

enchiladas, and cream-slushes at Sonic.  Oh yum!)

↓ Oh yeah, and I saw Avengers... AMAZING!

Lotsa' love,

me

Hot Water

So.  We went to the hot pots while I was in Provo.

↓Look, I found a little snake!

 ↓Mattie and Tim like the hot pots...

↓But they don't like the cold waterfall!

 ↓We hiked this skinny, little trail to get there!

↓This is me hiking.

The end.