Benchmark

Just a few days til Christmas!

Today I found out that I got a 50 out of 50 on the benchmark article that I had to write for my Comms 211: Newswriting class. You have to pass the benchmark with a 30 to apply to your program of choice. So I'm pretty pleased!

Cage Fight

Mclain won tickets to cage fighting in SLC a couple weeks ago and invited me to go with. I thought it'd be something different and interesting and fun. Turns out that stuff is intense, you really get into it! Especially if you are sitting front row!

Night Sledding!

Since it's been snowing like crazy round these parts we loaded up the crew and took advantage of the fresh powder. I haven't been night sledding in years! It was pretty thrilling and there were only a few other people there. We formed a lot of trains, doubled up the saucers, and even rode Morgan's snowboard as a sled. It was cold, but it was fun! I laughed and screamed far too much.

Finally FINITO!

I am not sure that finito is a word, but I am pretty sure my mom has used it. And she knows EVERYTHING.

I just took my last final of the semester! Woot! It hasn't really sunk in.

Sold back my books for a measly total of $71. That's the lowest I've ever gotten back. It's the pits.

I'm gonna go get my hair cut again and then it's left over Christmas shopping!

There's a storm advisory for NE Oregon the next few days. Kara and I are driving back tomorrow, so pray we don't slide off the road around Weatherby, or have to sleep in our car at North Powder.

Jordan gets "off" his mission today. His parents are picking him up in North Carolina today! That's bizarre to me, the whole he's going to be more accessible these days.

See some of you soon!!!!

Semester Wrap Up

As the semester draws to an end, I await the comforts of being home for the holidays. In the mean time here are some photos and videos from the semester with a very special video at the end.

Kara's 22nd birthday dinner at the Brazilian restaurant "Tacano's." From left to right, Nathan(someone Kara dates), Me, Kara, Neisah, Kate and Kami (Kara's sister).

After a Masquerade party.

After my new haircut, fierce and ready to say no to Obama.

Kara donning me with the royal helmet in preparation for my initial scooting at this skate park.

Safety first.

Me scooting....yay!

Woot!

Just for your viewing pleasure.....

(We - Kate, Kara, and I- choreographed this at about 11pm at night and then performed it at about 12:30 pm. Neisah was busy with a boy, but made a guest appearance)

Cooking and Decorating - A Woman's Prerogative

Pictures from my week at home...

Our beautifully set table for Thanksgiving dinner.

Riley waits for the feast.

Carving zee turkey.

The Smiths came over for desert. Saturday morning we worked like elves to decorate for Christmas. Mom's first priority was this chandelier, that burnt my fingers. Mom snapped this lovely shot.
Stringing lights around the fake tree.
Eli was extremely helpful, as you can see.
I worked on this with Riley Roo.
It was exhausting. Just ask Zoey.

Tree, nativity, and countdown calendar.

Family photo and holiday card stand and fake tree.

Getting the real tree. Riley didn't want to be in the picture and Eli had a really hard time not doing his signature "peace" sign.

Riley watering our real tree.

ThankFULL

Thanksgiving was swell. We (and by "we" I mean the women in the family, Riley, Zoey, Mom, and I) spent Wednesday evening making pies. Two pumpkin, a rhubarb/raspberry, and an apple. Thursday morning Mom and I started the cooking. It wasn't too intense. She worked on the stuffing, I worked on the greenbean casserole. We put each in a crock pot (I found a really nice one for 5 bucks at the Salvation Army in Baker on Monday). Then Mom readied the turkey, I couldn't really help, the smell and the sight make me sickly. I went and pounced on Zoey around 10 am. Then went and helped Mom prepare the sweet potatoes/yams.

When Zoey the Zombie finally awoke she was mad because she thought we were eating right then. Silly. She made deviled eggs, celery with cheese/peanut butter, and was supposed to help mom with mashed potatoes....I'm not sure if she did.

We ended up eating around 2:30. We set the table really nice, I'll post a picture when I get back to Provo. After eating I put the leftovers away while Mom put a dent in some of the dishes. We were both surprised because usually we are too lazy to put stuff away for a couple hours.

Then we popped in "The Santa Claus 2." Halfway through the movie the Smiths showed up with a cheesecake and we ate desert while watching the end of the movie. Jeremy and Gareld left, but Morgan and Steph stayed to do a craft. It ended up that everyone but Morgan and I did the craft. We sat on our respective couches, wrapped up in our respective quilts, perusing the store ads for the next day.

It was a super casual Turkey Day, and super delicious.

Some of today's highlights included going to Wal-Mart as a family, where we bought a bunch of cheap movies, and more rolls to eat our leftover turkey on. We also went to the "Parade of Lights" downtown. It rained all the way up until six when the parade was to start. Then by some stoke of luck it stopped just in time for us to hop out of the car and try to enjoy rednecks driving trucks decorated with Christmas lights in between smokers sitting in their cars blocking our view and Max and Eli being totally out of control. I love my brothers. And rednecks. (Look at this face....T-R-O-U-B-L-E).

We were supposed to start decorating for Christmas today, but I think we were still in recovery from Thursday. Saturday will be the day. Trees. Lights. Action.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. We have so much to be grateful for, even in days such as these. Love ya!

November's end draws near...

Well here I am in La Grande. Tomorrow is the 24th of November. Who knows where all the time flies to? The eternities I suppose. Well just wanted to throw some pictures up:

This is Kara, Me, and Neisah at a Stake Service Project, cleaning up Provo's Pioneer Park. Don't we look so lighthearted? I promise we worked some.
See? Sweeping pine needles!

This was leaving the Baker Valley area on my drive home. I always love hitting Baker. It's like the prelude to home.

I met up with Mom, Stephanie, and Grandma at the Cove "Something Special Bizarre." As I perused the booths I came upon these unique Christmas decorations. Yes, that would be Christmas lights stuffed in liquor bottles. Only in Eastern Oregon.

After a curry and gyoza dinner shared with the Smiths, Morgan, Riley and I made popcorn balls. I had a hankerin to make them yesterday, so it became our Sunday evening activity. It was funny fun.

Cute cousins.

Look how much I enjoyed myself! Ridiculous amounts apparently!

Powerhousing

The past few days have been busy, but fun.

Thursday was a long day. I finished it off with a dance party. The College Republicans held a "Blacklight Dance Party" to close out the election season and make use of the empty RNC headquarters. We had tacos, took a 30 minute intermission to watch "The Office" and then danced like crazies. I don't go to a lot of dance parties, but it was fun to let go and go crazy.

Friday morning I had a "Newswriting" lab, and a midterm. Powered through both of those like the powerhouse that I am....

Friday night Dave and I got some dinner at "Legends Grill" which is a food place on campus that is next to the BYU athletics memoribilla from all sports through out the years. So we ate, then quickly looked at some of the stuff (including stuff of Steve Young's), then headed to the men's basketball home opener against Long Beach State. The game was close....too close, our guys were a little rusty and couldn't hit a bucket. We pulled out a win though. Then we got ice cream at this place called SubZero. It's crazy stuff, but yummy. Just to clarify, David and I are just friends, even if we look -- as my mom would said -- chummy.

Saturday morning the roomies and I woke up and went to our Stake service project. We spent a couple hours cleaning up Provo's Pioneer Park --- raking, shoveling, sweeping, etc. It was a fun activity. When I get some of those pictures I will post them.

Saturday evening we had Kara's friend Forrest over and Mclain over for dinner. Mmmm, chili! Then we grabbed some more SubZero for desert. Then we came back here and played the original SuperMario Brothers Nintendo game. "Dunna dunna dunna..." the music still gets stuck in my head. We played for an hour and a half. Mclain and Neisah (the youngins) versus Kara and I (the elders). Good times.

Afterwards I went to the gym and ran four miles! Whoop! It took my 44 minutes, but I didn't stop! Now I just have to power through this week so I can go home Saturday for the holiday.

Inked

So Obama won, and I got a tat. I was gonna surprise everyone at Thanksgiving, but couldn't wait. It took awhile because I wanted something awesome and original. Kara, being the creative one, helped me design this. It's on my right foot to the right of my ankle bone. I'm still a little reddish, but I love it! Let me know what you think....

Friday, Saturday, Sunday in Vegas....

Here we are, loading the bus on Friday afternoon. This is outside of the RNC headquarters, which is above this Thai Ruby restaurant, in a place that used to be a pizza parlor... My sick room at the Wingate that I had all to myself! Vaulted ceilings, king size bed.....it was great.

Greg and David on Saturday morning, in the van, heading to headquarters.

Henderson headquarters.

Me! So excited to be by a huge McCain/Palin sign!

Loved this sign!

The phone bank at the headquarters.

Getting ready to walk our first precints. We were in a heavily republican place by a golf course. This is Greg, David, and Emily.

Emily and I walking the precints.

David, Me, Emily and Greg waiting for Rudy Guiliani.

You see how close I was?? It was great. He was in the back of a pickup. Sarah Palin's brother, Chuck Heath, was with him.

This Sarah Palin's mom, Sally, and dad, Chuck. They were around headquarters for a couple days. Such sweet, down to earth people. I loved them! Sally kissed me on the cheek at some point. Chuck handed me a Diet Pepsi. We met Sarah's husband, Todd's, parents. They were nice folks, too.