Action-packed week.

Funny how you can never find time to do the fun/crazy/unproductive stuff you want to during the semester, but then decide the week of finals that it's absolutely critical that you do it all then, when you have the least amount of time of all and the most to do. It only makes sense.

It all started on Friday the 12th, dubbed "reading day" by BYU in an effort to encourage us students to use our time wisely and study the weekend before finals. Studying...right.

Naturally, the first thing we do Friday morning is organize a birthday ambush for a friend. There may have been a few hitches in the plan, (the victim woke up before we could ambush him and he caught one of us hiding out in his living room that was waiting to jump him) but overall I'd say it went pretty well:

And then it all snowballed from there. Saturday my fish Pierre died :( and we took a joint apartment trip to temple square in Salt Lake:

Sunday we went to church, drove around and looked at ridiculous synchronized Christmas lights:

(click on the picture for more info about the annual display)

and the boys brought us a present/tribute to remind us of our late fish Pierre:

the resemblance is striking...

Monday was Family Home Evening- eating pizza and watching Home Alone, a Christmas must-see.

Tuesday was the first real snow of the year that stuck, so naturally, I was ambushed and bombarded with snowballs when apt 125 knocked on my door and I went to answer. I spent all day at work thinking of ways to get them back, and when I came home that night, we had an apt brainstorm.

If any of you have ever watched The Office, you may recall the episode in which Jim puts Dwight's stapler in jello and leaves it on his desk, and Dwight, being Dwight, freaks out. I have always thought this was hilarious, and I've always wanted an excuse to do something like that. Now I finally did.

That night, Loni and Kirra and I made up some excuse to go over to their apartment to hang out for a little bit. Loni came prepared with her humongous purse, and we proceded to stealthily swipe half of their stuff right out from under their noses. We made off with quite a stash, and lemme tell ya they were TICKED about the remotes and mail key...personally I felt most bad for the poor sap who didn't get to brush his teeth that night. Also for whoever had to fess up to owning the scalp cream...

(The pink razor is mine, hahaha...we thought it added a nice touch, and it would be pretty amusing to have them trying to figure out who's it was in their apartment...)

We figured we'd give them a full 24 hours to start missing all their stuff before we would return it to them bright and early Thursday morning...

in jello.

Yummy...

Revenge has never tasted so sweet...

no pun intended.

Santa Claus is coming...

...to the OACL Christmas party?!??

If I didn't know any better I'd swear he was my boss...Stanley...

Notice the floppy disk ornaments on the tree in the background.

Only at a computer lab party...

Girls Night. Plus Nolan.

Well it's that time of the day. The time of the day when I'm sitting here at work, thinking of all the things I could be studying, but instead find myself here, imagining all the things I want to blog about. So here goes.

This past weekend was amazing, to say the least. For one thing, we finally were able to tear Lanae away from her boyfriend to spend a girls' night with me, Loni, and Arielle. For another thing, we got pedicures (whoooo), ate chinese food (can you say Great Wall of Chocolate Cake at PF Chang's??), and built our very own, precariously-postioned-atop-a -lamp, ready-to-fall-over-at-any-second, watch-movies-under, have-sleepovers-in, what-every-kid-dreams-about, blanket tent!!! Yeah, that's right, you heard me.

We played Disney scene it, sang some kumbaya with Nolan, watched Elf, and eventually fell asleep under the tent. 10 am the next morning...and Loni and Lanae were still out cold...

Also (even though Arielle and I are not pictured here, since we had gotten up 30 minutes earlier) I would like you to notice how Loni and Lanae each got their own mattress, but Arielle and I somehow ended up sharing the pink one. That is roomie love for ya...

Noche de luz, Noche de paz

This Christmas, my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) really wanted to do some good service for some needy families in Provo. We had worked to raise some money over a period of a few weeks, by going around to various apartment complexes and asking for loose change. In just a few short weeks, our ward (church congregation) had raised $1300 in pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, with just my group of 15 raising $1000 of that. We had more than expected, and much more than we knew what to do with. Finally we decided to work through the Sub for Santa organization, where groups of us were assigned a local needy family to buy gifts for. On Saturday, my partner Devin and I (we were in charge of our group) went to the store to buy all kinds of toys, clothes, and books for this family with 4 children. Each family was allotted about $400, which is a lot of money, and Devin and I felt that we were more than generous in picking out gifts on Saturday. When we got to the checkout counter, however, we discovered that we still had $150 to spare! It had been suggested that we buy the family a Christmas tree as well, so we did, as well as decorations, wrapping paper to wrap the gifts in, and a visa gift card with all the leftover money on it.

Now, the point of this story was not to tell all about what we did for this family...the point of it was more to tell about what they did for me.

We showed up last night to deliver the gifts, a little apprehensive because even though they knew we were coming, we were not sure how they'd react to us. We approached the door, opening with a verse of Silent Night. They sat quietly and listened, and there was the special spirit as a few of us finished with a verse in Spanish. God bless the boy in our group who had the foresight to bring a couple of Spanish hymnbooks. You see, the family was Hispanic, and spoke no English. We went in, and while the boys set up the tree, a couple of us girls gathered around the mother and her two adorable little daughters to chat. She was touched by how many of us spoke Spanish and Portugese and were comfortable conversing with the family. I learned a lot of things about them, how they were newly baptized members, how they'd only lived in the area for a few months, but had no family close by, which is why they were so appreciative of the love that we showed them. It almost seemed that our willingness to just talk to her in her native language meant more to her than all the gifts we had brought them.

I came away so happy with not only the service that we had performed that night, but because I know now that there is a reason why I am studying Spanish. I've kind of always known it was the right direction to go with my education, but I'd never really had this gut feeling validated until last night. It was the first time I've ever really had to use my Spanish, but I know that it will not be the last time that I will use it to help others. And I'm grateful for this little family for giving me that opportunity last night to serve them and helping me learn a little more about myself :)

Never a dull moment at the mental hospital...

I was really excited to find out today that Lanae, one of my roommates, was planning on going to the temple around dinnertime. When she asked if I wanted to come after my classes were out, I jumped at the opportunity, since I have not been in quite a while. So there I am, just walked in the door, picking out my Sunday best outfit, rounding up a few odds and ends before we leave, and then I discover that my temple recommend has been expired for 2 months now. I was devastated to say the least.

Fortunately, I did remember that tonight was Wednesday night, the night when I often go to volunteer at the Utah State Mental Hospital. Our stake has the unique responsibility of providing a Sunday School meeting every Wednesday night for the patients at the hospital, and it's often a very fun, enlightening experience, one that I always come away from feeling better about life. Going there really helps me forget all about my trivial problems when I realize how blessed I am, and it definitely helps me put everything into perspective. Plus after being somewhat of a regular there, I have made friends with a few of the patients, and I genuinely have a good time talking to them and meeting more of their friends.

One thing you can be sure of when you sign up for this job is that you're pretty much guaranteed an action-packed night, as it is likely that one or more patients will spontaneously start an uproar or scuffle in the middle of Sunday School. Tonight was no exception, as poor, cute old man Joe had to be escorted out after wildly accusing virtually everyone in the room of breaking into his room and tearing up his screenplay-worthy novel that he had been working on for some time now. Last time he was escorted out a few weeks ago, it was because he simply did not understand why he couldn't be called as the church's next prophet. It's a good thing nothing fazes us anymore.

The lesson was still very edifying, and peppered as usual with the occasional crazy/irrelevant remark from a patient. Overall, just your average day at the mental hospital.

Moral of the story- even though sometimes things may not work out as you planned, it doesn't mean you can't still have an exciting and uplifting night. Also, always carry a current temple recommend.

Reflecting.

Today I was given the challenge, "Using as many details as possible, describe what your life will be like in 10 years". It's a valid question...one I'd previously given little thought to. Oh I'd thought about it enough to know the important things, but I accepted the challenge, and after much thought and deliberation, this is what I came up with:

In ten years I will be just shy of 30 years old. I will have an amazing husband. Qualifications for my husband are not specific, as I love all kinds of people easily. But ideally he's got a good head on his shoulders, a good work ethic, and has a steady job- but is NOT a workaholic. It is critical that he puts his family as his first priority and loves kids. I will have three beautiful blond children by this time, though I'd maybe eventually like one more child or so. The blond part isn't necessary but would be nice, haha. The birth order or ratio of boys to girls doesn't matter to me, but if I have a son I will name him Luke. Not for any particular reason, I just really like that name. Haha. I will be raising my children in the Gospel and teaching them everything they need to know- spiritually as well as secularly, as this is pretty much the most important reason I am here. I cannot say for sure what choices my children will make as I am raising them, but good or bad I will continue to love them and be a good example for them to look to. As a side note... if I can help it, my children will NOT be picky eaters. This is probably my biggest pet peeve ever. They will be open-minded not just about food, but also about life. They will appreciate diversity and will be exposed to different cultures and ways of doing things as often as possible.

I will have earned my Elementary Ed and ESL certification a few years earlier, and I will be teaching 1st grade in an underprivileged school with lots of cute Hispanic children. Here I will teach them English and the value of education, as well as show them the potential that they all have and all the good things they can do if they just work hard. Ideally, I'll be living somewhere in the southern US, as I'd more easily find a job that I want there, I'd be close enough to my family, and the weather would be infinitely more bearable, seeing as how I hate the cold/snow. Location is flexible though...I moved around a lot my whole life, so I really wouldn't be opposed to trying out a few different places.

By this point I hope to have been abroad in a Latin American country where I have taught English and improved my Spanish. I'd like to do this as a student, but I most likely will not be able to fit it in with my program being infinitely long. In this case, I will hold off on the travel until my family is financially secure enough to afford it. But travel WILL be happening, if not in ten years, then further on down the road.

Well was that in detail enough for ya? I tried really hard to be specific. Family, church, job, and travel are my big four things I guess...nothing else is important enough for me to worry about yet. It was good for me to at least think about it and write it out though. I guess the important thing I try to keep in mind is that even if/when things don't turn out how I planned, they will still all work out for the best!

Sundays are the Greatest.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my ward?? I just feel so lucky that I get to associate with such amazing people on a daily basis. And Sundays are by far the best day of the week. I get to see all my favorite people, with the added bonus of having an uplifting, spiritual day at church. Take into consideration the occasional service project, surprise birthday bashes, and games, and it's undeniable that some of the best times I've had at BYU have been on Sundays.