Memories of my Dad

I am definitely not the best blogger. Much of the reason why I have not written for many months was because of my Dad. After an almost five year battle with cancer, he finally was overcome and passed away on November 13, 2009. About a week and a half before that, he was admitted into the hospital with the Swine Flu. Isn't that ironic? Who knew that he'd be a swine flu victim. I certainly didn't think that!

My dad was first diagnosed with Prostate Cancer during the last few months of my senior year in high school, in 2005. There have been many miracles in preserving his life. The odds were never with him. If there was some rare side effect of a treatment, he would almost always contract it. It was amazing the fight that he put up. After a few years, he was finally in remission for the prostate cancer, but he was found to have an even more deadly one, multiple myeloma. This is one of the things that he eventually died from.

All of the kids in my family got an email on Wednesday night telling us of the gravity of the situation. He had been put into a medically induced coma, and as they reduced the medicine, he didn't come out of it. We all flew home as soon as we could. It was so nice to be there with my siblings and my mom. We all had known that it would eventually come to this, but we never imagined that it would be this soon. He had fought so hard and prior to this sick spell, had been feeling better than he had in a few years. Earlier in the year, around the fourth of July, my entire family, all 25 of us, had gotten together. We were able to take some very nice family pictures and have a great vacation together. It was a wonderful time, and I have some great memories that I will cherish forever.

The last few months have been very difficult. Luckily, I have some of the best roommates and friends. They have been with me every step of the way. I try and remember what I loved about my dad. I loved that I had the opportunity to live in the house alone with my parents for a few years. I was able to grow so much closer to them because of that experience. I love that he was always there for me. He would always say "I love you" when he was on the phone, and I knew that he truly meant it. I love that he instilled the love of music in me. I loved falling asleep to him playing the piano. Because of his influence, I love playing the piano. I love that he loved the gospel so much. He truly loved the Lord and instilled that in all of us as his children. I love that he loved my mom so much. My parents were never super affectionate in front of us children, but there was a deep love that was very apparent. It showed me how I want someone to treat me someday. I know that I will see him again and I am so grateful for that knowledge!

Ski Season

For the last two months, I have had the wonderful opportunity to take a ski class! I figure, what could be better than spending my last semester up on a beautiful mountain? There's not much that came to mind, let me tell you!

So the first time that I ever went skiing, was last year. I know, right? I've been living so close to some of the best mountains in the world for five years, and it took me that long to go. Well, I've repented and am doing my best to correct the situation. :)

My ski class started the first week of school, and ended the last week of February. We would go on Wednesday afternoons and just ski for a few hours. It was so nice to have some real instruction. I finally know at least a little bit of the correct technique. It is becoming so fun and I go as often as I can. I do not know where I will be next year, and so I'm definitely taking advantage of the close resorts while I can! It's just fun to get out and enjoy nature, no matter what capacity you are doing it.

Craziness

So this semester has been really busy! I haven't had the time, or the inclination to be honest, to update this until now. This semester has been a busy one, but it has been filled with lots of fun too. I guess I'll just go over some of the hightlights of the semester so far! First of all, I decided to defer my internship until either next semester or the summer. I did it for a few weeks, and then just got too busy to do everything to my own satisfaction. I talked to my internship director and he said that it would be just fine if I waited until later when I was able to devote more time to it. So I won't have to worry about that until later! It was such a stress off my back and I've been much more balanced since I stopped that.

Second of all, this is such a busy semester, school-wise, that I haven't been able to do as many fun things as I would've liked to. But here are a few things that I've done over the last few months.

I went to a soccer game with my roommate Ellisha and some friends from the ward, Kory and Jordan. I'm not usually a fan of soccer, but this was fun!

Me and Ellisha happy to be out in the Sun!

We also went camping a few weeks into school. The next morning, some of the boys that came biked up to the Hot Pots, but most of us girls just came to camp and have an adventure!

Here are the girls in the group, from left to right: Anaka, Cecilia, Katelyn, Karin, Sarah

So Tyler brought this lollipop thing that had plastic lips on the outside. Doesn't he look great?!

This is me and Sarah. She's becoming one of my best friends! She's just so great!!!

Look who we found the next morning?! Unfortunately, Benj didn't come with anyone and didn't know where we camped. He slept in his car about 50 yards from where we were because he showed up about 10 minutes after we all went to bed. Sad Day!
So here's the whole group the next morning (don't worry, we had two separate tents, one for the boys and one for the girls) From left to right: Rick, Karin, Andy, Tyler, Anaka, Cecilia, Kately, Sarah, Benj. Rick couldn't find our campsite either, we should've given better directions.... :(

I decided to do something different with my hair a few weeks ago. I have never done anything except cut my hair. I've never died it or permed it or anything. I decided to try a very loose perm! It's very different, but I like it!

Here I am with my wonderful hairdressers! Thanks again girls, I love it!

Unfortunately, I don't have a great picture of the finished product, but you can see that my hair is wavy in the next few pictures.

At a last minute decision, a bunch of us decided to go to the midnight showing of Where the Wild Things Are. It was a great movie. Way different than I thought it was going be, but I liked it. We went and got our tickets early and then just hung out at the mall. The four of us that were there at that point decided to get into the photo booth and take pictures with my camera. Here's one of them. I love that both Rick and Ellisha have their eyes closed. It's just great!

Here's a little better picture of the hair. You can see a little bit of wave, right?

It's been a crazy couple of months, but obviously we've made time to have at least a little bit of fun!

Fall Semester

So, I thought that this was going to be a busy semester. I'm working about 16 hours a week and am taking 15 credits. This week, all of that changed.... Ok, not really, but I got even busier, but definitely in a good way. I got a flyer for an internship doing Human Resources. I called and got an interview, and turns out that they wanted me! So along with work and school, I will be starting an internship with 1st Choice Home Health and Hospice today. It'll be a lot of work, but I'm looking forward to the challenge and to keeping myself busy.

Oh, and BYU Football is totally going to rock this season!!!

Summer Fun

Summer is rapidly coming to a close and school will be starting in just a few days. Here are a few of the fun things that I did with my friends and family this summer!

Here are the trips that I went on:
-Went to Moab for the first time where we slept under the stars and hiked Arches
-Went to Havasupi
-Had a family reunion and got to see all 24 memebers of my immediate family

As for staying in Provo, here are some fun things I did:
-Threw a football almost every day with my friends that lived across the street
-Ate plenty of popsicles, of many different varieties
-Went on scooter rides where we played around campus and also played sardines (on different occasions)
-Went to the pool on most Saturdays
-Watched movies in Rock Canyon Park
-Saw a friend win the championship game with his city league hockey team
-Watched a bunch of city league basketball games
-Went to 2 demolition derbies
-Hiked to a few different Hot Pots
-Went to a drive-in
-Had a bunch of good friends get married
-Went on some awkward dates
-Went on some really good dates too
-Was on a float in a parade
-Learned how to drive stick just a little better
-Said goodbye to my roommate who left for this next semester
-Started running almost every day
-Got an iPod
-Finally replaced my old sandals
-Got aviator sunglasses
-Went to Taco Tuesday a few times
-Went camping a bunch
-Went to Temple Square
-Played night games
-Read some good books
-Went to a Temple Dedication
-Went Ice Skating for the first time in about 3 years
-Went Urban Bike Riding
-Watched a few firework shows
-Went kayaking down the Provo River

Those are just some of the things that I can think of right now off the top of my head. Overall, it was a great summer. There were definitely high points and low points to it, but as a whole, it was definitely a Summer O' Fun!!

Brand New Day

So it is a brand new day for me! (If you can name the artist of the song Brand New Day, I'll be so proud!) I have had these beloved sandals for at least 5 years, probably more like 6 or 7. I wear them every day during the summer and just love them, they're comfortable and worn in perfectly!

You can see how worn they are. The right shoe was totally falling apart. At the toe, it was going through the 5th layer, I believe, and at the heel, the corduroy was completely falling off.

I had been telling myself this entire summer that I needed to get new sandals and throw these ones away. Well, the day finally came that I got new sandals! It was a sad experience, throwing these old ones away, since I had had them for so long.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any corduroy sandals, which made me sad. But, on the up side, I waited until I found some leather sandals that I really like and that are really comfortable. So overall, it was a good day!

Adventure Monday

So my roommate Heather has had either Adventure Thursdays or Wednesdays for the last few summers. Last night, however, was most definitely an Adventure Monday. After FHE, a bunch of us got on scooters and painted Provo Red! Ok, so we really just rode around campus, but it's basically the same thing! After doing that, and then eating popsicles, we got some car chalk, and wrote on some car windows. Actually, my friend Jonathan was the one that wrote on car windows while the rest of us watched. While we were doing that, we found a sled and decided to go to Kiwanis park and go "wakeboarding" while the sled was being pulled by a scooter. As the others in the group were doing that, Jonathan and I drove on the grass that was conveniently being watered. As we swerved to miss one of the sprinklers, we hit a puddle and consequently crashed. We are both fine, as is the scooter, but we got some sweet pictures!

So these pictures are not very flattering of me, but you can get the idea of our crash at least!

Here's Jonathan's dirty behind, which is where he fell.

And here is both of us with our dirtier sides towards the camera

Can't you just see the concern on our faces for the scooter named Peanut?!
I love our faces in this picture!
And there's grass stuck in the scooter, if you can't see that closely.

Demolition Derby

I went to my first even demolition derby on Saturday night. I didn't even know that Utah had stuff like that! I honestly never would've pegged myself to go to one of those, but I actually really enjoyed it. It was super loud and I got sprayed with dirt (we were in the 4th row), but it was awesome! It was so cool to see these cars that were completely gutted just crash into each other. The whole point, which I was unaware of earlier, is to be the last car running or the last car to make a hit if there's only a few left. Basically, it was a big version of bumper cars, which I LOVE!

Some of the highlights were:

• There were 3 rounds of finals, the normal round, the love bug round, and the truck round. I picked the winners of the love bug and truck round, which were a little pink car and a 15 passenger van. My pick for the normal cars came in 3rd, which still isn't too shabby!
• One of the little cars rolled - the driver was fine, but it was freakin sweet!
• In the powder puff round, one of the girls had the back of her car on top of another one.
• Two people had to be taken out by ambulances and one had to be cut out with the jaws of life - kinda scary, but definitely something that I've never seen in real life before.
• There was a fireworks show at the end! I love fireworks, and so that made 3 shows that I've seen in the last few weeks. Yay for Utah and their abundance of fireworks!
  

Dating: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

So my roommates and I are typical girls and talk about dating and boys a decent amount. Ok let's be honest, we talk about boys a lot. Here are some of the conclusions that I've come to during some of our recent discussions:

• Dating in Provo stinks. Ok, that's really kinda harsh, and granted, I don't have a whole lot of experience anywhere else, but still, it's not funnest thing. Let me explain why I think so. It seems that either people go on a lot of dates, or none at all. The older I get, the worse it seems. I don't know what it is, but many people think that going on ONE date means that they are going to be with that person for eternity. This is not the case. After a few dates, then you can start thinking about forever..... :) I'm totally just kidding. But seriously, going on a few dates doesn't mean much of anything, except that you can get to know someone better and see if you want to continue getting to know them better. If not, then that's fine. It happens to everyone. One of my good guy friends says, "I hate spending money on other people's wives!" I completely disagree, because you need to do that to see if something could work out.

• The unknown is sometimes the best. So I always want to know what's going on and what's happening, but I was talking to one of my roommates and she doesn't quite agree. She was saying how sometimes the part of the relationship when you're not sure what exactly is going on is the most fun. It's frustrating and confusing and wonderful all at the same time. It makes you really excited to see the person and just wonder what they're thinking. The beginning is always exciting and it's just great to have someone to smile about and look good for.

• Even the best of people can make stupid mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. I make plenty of my own mistakes. It just seems that sometimes people don't quite think about what they're doing and the consequences of those actions. I definitely have made plenty of those types of mistakes over the last few years and I still feel bad about those decisions. These mistakes don't make them bad people or anything like that, they just make me want to shake them and shout, "What the heck were you thinking?!" I'm not saying that choosing someone else is a mistake. It's not. We all are looking for something special, and there's a better chance of finding that with some people than with others. I am saying however, that some of the choices that you make in finding that person can be a mistake.

• Even though it may hurt right now, going for what you want in dating and relationships is definitely a good thing in the long run. I was hurt a few years ago and have had a lot of trouble jumping since then. It's not that I didn't have chances, but I was just too scared to get hurt again, because I didn't know if I could handle it. I decided earlier this summer to just go for it. I didn't know how it would turn out, and in the end things just didn't work out. Am I glad that I jumped? Absolutely. Does it still hurt? Most definitely. Would I change anything that I did? Not on your life. I'm glad that I went for it, even if it's just to know that I can.

• In the end, everything works out like it should. This one is hard for me and I have to constantly remind myself of it. I am a fairly impatient person. While I am working on improving this every day, I still don't like to wait for things. I like to have answers now and sometimes that is not the best thing. I want to know why things are the way that they are. I just want to know! I want things in my life to work out how I want them to work out, and that would not be the best thing for me or for anyone else. After going through all the heartache of dating different people, there will come a time when someone will come into my life who will love me and understand me and with whom I will want to spend the rest of my life. Until that time, I'm learning patience and trying to love life as best I can (and I really do love life a lot!)

Now for my little disclaimer -

Overall, dating really is fun and I absolutely love it. I love getting to know different types of people and having awkward stories (I have a TON of those). Sometimes it's hard, especially when you get hurt, but there's always something to learn and grow from. I was talking to a friend a bit ago and he gave me some really good advice. He said to never look at the negative parts of the relationship, because that's all the relationship will be to you. He told me to remember the good things about the person and the relationship, and look for that in the next person. I think that those are great words of wisdom and I'm trying to do that.

Harry Potter

For those of you that don't know me, I absolutely LOVE Harry Potter. When I was growing up, the books always seemed to come out while I was at youth conference, but oh well. The 6th movie came out this week and some friends and I went to the midnight showing! My roommate Heather and I have gone to a few midnight showings each summer for the last few years, and this was our first one this year. Better late than never, right? It was a great time. There were about 6 of us that went. The movie was so good! It was very comical, which I wasn't expecting, but thoroughly enjoyed. I was a little saddened by some things that they did not include from the book, but overall, I think it was AMAZING! The cinematography was top notch. I don't know quite what else to say, but it was great, and I'm glad that I could go and stay awake during it (I have a hard time not falling asleep by around 12).