Memorial weekend

This week at school was good. I finished the sewing portion of my practical homemaking class and now we're onto cooking. This week we made orange Julius and chicken noodle soup. For my homework I have to make a smoothie and something that has homemade noodles. I'm going to make Mitzi's creamy chicken noodle soup for homework. Woot. Wednesday night I participated in a geology demo night for the community. I was in charge of the geology museum so when people came through I told them about the minerals and fossils and our aquarium. Most people didn't care to ask questions, but one guy had a TON of questions which I loved. Tuesday we went to the sand dunes north of Rexburg and had tin foil dinners with Chase and Rachel and a few other married friends. He punched me in the arm and gave me a dead arm for like 15 seconds...I'm ready for Chase's original punching bag to get home (Keaton). For FHE we had a nerf gun fight in porter park. Thursday night we went to Sammy's for our date. I love their pie shakes! I also got a couch for $35! We love it! A couple in our ward are moving and they were trying to sell their furniture. She originally wanted $100 but I told her it was out of our budget. She was desperate by the end of the week and we got it for $35. It was a total steal. We love it!
This weekend Justin and I went to Arco for Memorial Day weekend. We left Friday and I skipped my class (that goes from 3-5 on Friday afternoons) to go home. Turns out I missed a stupid attendance quiz....so now I'm failing that class. Really? I'm so annoyed.
My mom texted me during the week and asked if we had any requests. I said WATERMELON! We've eaten a whole watermelon mostly between my mom and me in the past two days. Mmm. Most of Friday night we visited and ate taco soup.
Saturday morning we spent some quality time working on the farm. Justin helped Dad burn ditches and Mom and I went on a 2 mile walk looking for asparagus. We found some, but nothing like the gold mine I remember as a kid. That afternoon Justin and I shot guns together, played crocket, and tossed a frisbee. Mom made her delicious white bread and we drove around the valley trying to give it away to neighbors but nobody was home! Their loss. Justin helped Dad put up siding around the patio, and that night we watched "Sergeant York" and "Jack Reacher."
Sunday we had church at nine and came home to Mom's delicious Sunday dinner. We watched "Safe Haven" in the afternoon and made chocolate chews. We watched Sister Monson's funeral and went for a Sunday drive around the valley. We visited the cemetery as well. We watched "The Thrill of it All" which is a cute 60's movie.
Memorial Day morning we had breakfast at the church and Justin helped my dad some more while Mom and I picked more asparagus. We left Arco and headed to the Menan Butte to go for a hike with Justin's brother James and married couples we're friends with (Ryan and Sara; Alex and Leslie). We hiked to the west side of the butte where I hadn't been before and we saw some really neat stuff! I was wishing I had my rock hammer, but I did have my hand lens so that was good. We had lunch at the top and just had fun climbing around.
That evening I made Mitzi's creamy chicken noodle soup for my practical homemaking homework. We invited James to enjoy it with us. We had FHE after dinner, and played frisbee after. We topped the day off with snow cones at snoasis. It was a wonderful day!
The next few weeks are going to be busy busy. Now that I tutor three classes, I have a lot more appointments with my second job, and this week I am all booked up. I have an oceanography test this Thursday and a field trip to Montana on Saturday. The weekend after that I get to go to the Grand Canyon again, but this time free of charge. The teacher for that class just happened to ask if I wanted to go so so woot woot! This time we're going to the south rim and to some arches I've never seen, so I may like this trip better than the one I did last year where we did the north rim. If anything, I know this one will be less dangerous! I wish Justin could come with me! That's all our news. Enjoy the pictures.

A great week

In my swimming class I'm learning the breast stroke and I am struggling. I feel like I don't go anywhere in the water. The rest of the class plows ahead and I'm left behind struggling to propel myself forward. I'm kind of getting the hang of it, but it is very hard for me to get the timing right.

Tuesday the coaches for women's ultimate got together and did the draft. The coordinator put me and my assistant coach Jessica in last pick because apparently everyone is afraid we're going to slaughter everyone. It's frustrating because you can't be successful with only two good girls. As a result of the draft we have a very new team. Either way, no matter who I get have on my team we are going to have a ton of fun!

In my practical homemaking class I've been working on my apron. I finished it Thursday but man it has been the trial of my life! I added a part across the top of the apron that wasn't required, but I thought it would make it cuter so I did it and it ended up being super hard! I got my pillow graded and ended up getting a B+ on it...really? A B+? My teacher must be crazy! Just kidding...but really. I don't even want to know what I'm going to end up getting on my apron! ha oh well. Here are my finished products.

Wednesday I got CPR certified and Justin and I went to our ward activity. We had pizza and played water balloon volleyball.

I've been hired as a tutor for geology and two education classes. I'm still training new tutors at the reading center. This makes life very busy...Justin is basically a widower these days. I leave for school or work at 7 or 8 and get home around 7 every day. Luckily my first-block classes get done in just a few more weeks, so that will free up six credits of time. I am looking forward to that day!

Thursday was just a long day of work and school. I was so exhausted I went to bed at 9. How do people have children and go to school and work? My visiting teaching companion teaches 1st grade and has a new born baby. Whaaaaaat? How?????

Friday I had my oceanography field trip. We went to an aquarium in Utah. They turned an old grocery store into an aquarium! I feel like I've been to an aquarium before with Hart and Jory when we went to Oregon, but I can't remember, so it felt like I saw a lot of animals for the first time. We ate lunch at In-n-Out and then headed to the Great Salt Lake. We tested the pH and caught brine shrimp and just hung out. Turns out the Great SAlt Lake smells terrible! We had a good time.

Upon arriving back to Rexburg I rode my bike from the Romney to the upper fields to get to my ultimate game. I barely made it in time! I didn't even have my jersey, but we played the thunder team and lost by two (11-9). My assistant coach wasn't there, so maybe next time things will be different. Like I said I have a very new team...but we will have more fun than any other team I can guarantee that!

Saturday morning I did the try-a-tri. You swim 300 meters, bike 6 miles, and run 1.5 miles. Having never done this before, my goal was to finish in 45 minutes. I finished in 36! The swimming was the hardest for me as I'm not good yet. I felt like I couldn't breathe enough for how tired I was, but I tried to keep my technique. Biking I made up a lot of time, and then the running finished it off. I had to run around campus which was hard because that meant running up hill, but that also meant finishing down hill so I bombed it down hill and almost barfed at the end. Ha! But it was fun and I'm glad I did it. In two weeks they're doing a full triathlon on campus. I think I want to do that, even if I don't do it fast. I thinking I'll do it just to do one for fun.

After that I played ultimate at porter park with Justin and the rest of the club team. I spent the rest of Saturday preparing my talk for ward conference.

Today was ward conference and I got to speak in sacrament meeting. I talked about faith, obedience, and following the prophet/church leaders. This afternoon I did visiting teaching with my companion, and I was also visit taught. I went back to the church to do some visiting teaching work (callings and organizing districts) and now Justin and I are chilling on the couch writing in our journals and watching The Karate Kid.

This week I have my first tests in my environmental and oceanography geology classes. If I do well I'll solidify A's for both classes. The scholarship requirements have changed so it looks like I'll barely scrape by with half tuition for next semester....Blarg! Oh we'll. I earned a different scholarship which will give me another $1000 so I can't complain. I'm starting to feel the reality that I am not going to be here in a year! I'm going to miss it! I love school. But I'm going to love growing up and having a family:) That's going to be weird...

Well that's about all our news. We get to go to Arco next weekend for Memorial Day weekend. We haven't been to Arco together since Chase's wedding, so that will be good to see Mom and Dad. Mom- I used you and Dad in my talk today about obeying and having faith. :) until next time!

try-a-tri finish line

petting the sting ray

I feel good about this

pH testing time

future fossil

stromatolites

okay maybe that's taking it too far

I caught a brine shrimp!

Emily was on my frisbee team last year. She is due next week...she's a trooper!

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front: I made my own bias with left over fabric and added the three layers of fabric you see. We had to make it out of an old pair of jeans...who holds onto old pairs of jeans? Good think my home teachers' wife mad a pair I could use.

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Finally a New Post

Well ladies and gentlemen, we are alive! I haven't had time to update in three weeks which is an epic fail.

The first week of school Justin and I participated in the four-on-four tournament held on campus. It felt nice to be able to play rather than coordinate this semester. My team took 3rd place out of 20 teams! Justin's team wasn't that great, so too bad for him.

The following weekend Justin's club team played in the Daweena Tournament in Ogden. I went down with him to take pictures and video and cheer him on. Their team did okay...they lost their first two, but won the last two giving them 3rd place (out of six...meh). So, not the best day, but it was fun anyway!

I gave the RS lesson last Sunday. I talked about visiting teaching in terms of the degrees of glory: outer darkness (you don't even know who you teach and you don't care), telestial kingdom (you know who you teach and you think about doing it, but it doesn't happen) , terrestrial kingdom (you do it because you have to, it's your check off list, etc), and celestial kingdom (you're spiritually in tune and love the sisters). If you're at least thinking about it, that's better than being in rebellion! If you're doing it because you feel like you have to and it's your 'check off list,' well, that's better than not doing it at all! I think we should all have more tolerance for each other when it comes to home and visiting teaching. So we're not perfect--who cares? Let people try to be better.

This weekend I had a geology field trip to Utah. We looked at houses that have been destroyed by landslides. We learned about the soils in the Salt Lake Valley. We went to one street and after crossing a fence we saw a fresh landslide! A few classmates and I hiked down through the brush and jumped the river to get our pictures by it. It was an extremely long day, but I enjoyed the nice weather and sunshine.

Last week the highlight of the week was eating Pizza Hut with my parents and Chase and Rachel on Tuesday. I'm in a practical homemaking class that I LOVE. I made a pillow case and now I'm finishing an apron. I'll get those pictures up when I get my grade on Tuesday. I love sewing. I would love to make my own maxi dress...now I just need a $2000 sewing machine ;)

Relief Society has been so much easier this semester. I learned how to use MLS which is the church's software program for putting VT together. It is so much easier now! We have ward conference next week and I've been asked to speak. I'm one of those strange people that enjoys giving talks, so I'm looking forward to sharing.

Ultimate starts this week. We played in a showcase game to get people excited about playing and had a ton of fun. I'm coaching again with my best-frisbee-friend Jessica. I'm so excited to play again.

Other than that classes are going well. I'm half way through my two first-block classes, so that makes me very happy! My first test is this week with another geology field trip on Friday.

Today for Mother's Day our ward got all the women a rose and some Hershey's kisses. I'm very grateful to my mom and all she does for my family. She has such a fun personality and she's taught me the importance of being a good wife and mother. If I can be like her when I'm a mom, I will be a successful parent!

Photo description in order of appearance: 1 four on four lay out 2-8 Ogden tournament 9-11 geology field trip 12-16 showcase game *Jessica is my assistant who caught the disc on turf like a boss!