Laura

Highlights from New Orleans

2012-01-10T14:41:00.000-08:00

Top 10 highlights from Christmas break (in no particular order):

1. Making lots of chocolate freezie's with mom's magic bullet blender. We made sure to always have blue bell ice cream, chocolate syrup, bendy straws, and styrofoam cups in stock. I'm craving one real bad right now.

2. Church. I love going to church in New Orleans. There is always such a wonderful, unique spirit that is present. I loved LOVED teaching primary with all of the cute kiddies and going to mutual with the youth. The youth went to get hot dogs at the gas station across the street after cleaning the chapel. I can't believe how much the church has grown down there.

3. Christmas day in Thibodaux. Nuff said.

4. Spending time with my mama. We went to Houston's a few times and pretty much ordered the same things almost every time. Grilled Artichoke appetizer, Thai Steak Spinach Salad (I found the recipe here), and St. Charles Oysters were so delish! We also went to the cute boutiques on Magazine Street and I bought some cute things that I normally don't buy (i.e. scarce, hat, necklace.)

5. Rachel + Lexie. I love these cute cousins of mine. They came to New Orleans and stayed with us for a couple of days. We did fun sleepover stuff including painting nails, watching youtube videos, netflix, and lots of snackin'. We also went to Magazine street and ate at a cute cafe, walked around, did lots of people watching, and went to this cute, chic bakery called "Sucre".

6. Car troubles. Mom's poor Sienna mini van was a hot mess. A day after getting it "fixed", it stalled on the interstate. Me and Jacob had to push it to give it some momentum, then once it did, my mom wouldn't stop the car for us so we had to jump inside of the moving car! It was a James Bond moment...We took it to the dealership and had to wait in the waiting room for a while. There was a see-through soundproof room where we all hung out and had fun making fun of people as loud as we wanted without being heard.

7. Riding my mom's bike in Audubon park almost every day, listening to good music. This fills my soul!

8. Jacob. I love my brother Jacob and I feel like I get to know him so much more every time I go home. He is an amazing kid with such a big heart! Love you.

9. My sister, Sarah, and her cute family came to New Orleans and we had such a fun time. We went to the park, ate lots of yummy po'boys and beignets, and hung out. We went to the Riverwalk and Eleanor had a head-crackin' great time!

10. Amy bought a car! (and happily drove it back to Utah by herself). I'm so happy for her and the start of her adulthood with a car!

I'm excited for a new year and ready to "laissez les bon temps rouler"!

Hair Did

2011-10-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

I finally did it! I've been wanting to cut my hair short for such a long time ... and oh boy does it feel good! haha I tried out this new hair salon in Orem called Platinum studios because I heard you can get 15 bucks off if you mention this blog called C.Jane.

2011-09-07T11:51:00.001-07:00

"The Lord is pleased with every effort, even the tiny daily ones in which we strive to be more like Him."

-Elder Christofferson Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

Life Shmife

2011-08-28T22:43:00.000-07:00

Once again, I really shouldn't be blogging because I really do have a million things to do before I start school this week, but I really wanted to take a break...

I don't necessarily have many new things to say. Instead I'd like to share a few excerpts from my blog over the past couple of years. While reading them tonight, I felt like I literally went back to that time and remembered the spirit that I'd felt at various times in my life. I realize that the spirit works in so many different ways and one of them is through remembrance. I also think of how far I've come: I'm finished with college; I have a career in something that I am very passionate about; I've overcome feelings of doubts, fears, and inadequacies; I've developed better understandings of gospel principles, specifically the Atonement; I've accomplished a few of my goals and dreams; I've learned how to fully forgive; I've learned to accept others and love as Heavenly Father loves his children; I've gained more confidence in myself and more importantly in this Gospel.

On Doubt:

"Everything worth believing goes beyond everything that we can be sure about. Doubt is not healthy because it focuses on ourselves. It cuts the lifeline between us and God. Doubt is like a child because when it demands attention it demands for even more. Brother Millet challenged us to stare our doubts down and feed our faith. He gave the example of Jacob and his son and how his faith was not shaken by the anti christ. 'Doubt not, fear not.' Pray for God to banish all doubt and all fears-- God loves those prayers and He answers them."

On love:

"We had a ward fast today for Dave Chalk, a guy in my ward who has cancer. He has the most positive attitude and is so strong. I felt the tremendous love of our Heavenly Father today at church through the spirit and through the testimonies that were given. First of all, I felt His love through my bishop. He is amazing and you can feel his love radiate to each person. Imagine Heavenly Father's love for me. His love for you. His love for Dave Chalk. His tremendous love for each one of His children. I gained an even greater appreciation today for Joseph Smith and that even though he had many imperfections, he brought about so much good into this world, in fact, he restored the only true gospel to this earth. This really touched my heart today because lately I have been focusing so much on my imperfections and flaws that it was starting to eat away at the spirit. I know that despite my imperfections, I can bring much good into this world."

On meekness:

"I learned that meekness is a christ-like attribute that is essential for those who want to stay on the path of righteousness. If we are meek, then we do not get offended by others or take offense. If we are meek, then we do not get agitated easily because we are not absorbed in ourselves. Instead, we are thinking of others and loving our neighbors as God sees them instead of as objects. I guess it all comes down to what we want. Do we want happiness or do we want to be miserable? We can be happy by simply not letting ourselves get frustrated. We can be happy by developing our relationships with others and focusing on the now. We can be happy by not focusing so much on ourselves. It all comes down to what Christ would do."

On the Gospel:

"Tonight we had a fireside and they talked about how peculiar we as BYU students are in the UK. We stand out by the way act and we dress. Our standards and morals shock most of the people here. The couple missionaries said that we open the doors for the missionaries here and are so grateful to have us. I have never felt more peculiar in my life, even more than when I lived in New Orleans and was the only Mormon at a catholic school. I feel so out of place here, but I don’t feel like that at church at all. I have a ward family wherever I go. A Scottish sister read Ephesians 2:19 where it says we are no strangers or foreigners. Our differences are not so great because we have the gospel. Today was wonderful. I gained a stronger testimony of the gospel and God’s love for each of us. I felt that every thing came together for me since I saw the gospel in action in a different part of the world. I kept thinking in my head, 'There is no way the gospel is not true.'"

Love you all!

"Getting to Know Ms. Hansen"

2011-08-25T11:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, I should definitely not be blogging right know because I have about a million things to do before school starts next tuesday. I just wanted to update y'all and share my Voicethread introducing myself to my students. I am excited and anxious to start school. I'm curious to see how this year will turn out. Wish me luck!

Skyping with the Girly Bugs

2011-07-15T15:00:00.000-07:00

Can I just say that I LOOOOVE Skype? It really is the closest thing to hanging out with my family with out actually "being" there. I love all of my cute nieces and I just wish we all lived closer. And I love you too Amy bug!!!

The Yearbook is complete!

2011-05-21T17:12:00.000-07:00

It's done it's done!! I have loved being a yearbook teacher this semester! Other good news is that I was offered a full time position for OHSU for the next school year and I am so stoked and so grateful. I'll probably look for a place in SLC so if you know of any good areas let me know.

Me and some of my students threw this promotional video together for the yearbook and the students are so excited to get theirs.

Yearbook Promo Video from Teacher 2 Open High School on Vimeo.

Yes, Please

2011-04-18T23:30:00.000-07:00

Me and Amy totally forgot we made this little gem of a video last semester, Fall 2010. You'll notice that me and Amy tend to switch sweatshirts a lot. Enjoy!

Bocaj

2011-04-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

look at top right hand corner please

Graduaticion

2011-04-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

I am so excited for my family to come in town for graduation! It's hard to focus with work when I am getting so antsy for them to get here.

Check out how far we have come, Freddie! The twins are graduating from college- who woulda ever thought?

freddie: loving, always happy, sees the positive in everything, spiritual, handsome, giggles, he ping ping.

Country Strong

2011-04-02T22:34:00.000-07:00

Me and Amy had such a great day today. Watched some conference, went to Guru's for breakfast (which was amazing), did some spring cleaning, visited our roommate Kayleigh in the employee lounge at Office Depot, then we made some muddy buddies to take with us to go see "Country Strong" at the dollar movies. I really enjoyed it, and the music was amazing, and the acting was really good. I just couldn't get over that one of the main actors, Garrett Hedlund, had learned to sing and play the guitar just 6 months before filming the movie-- his voice is incredible!

For some reason watching that movie made me and Amy really inspired to write music. Amy's been saying she wants to start writing music so I've been trying to encourage her for a long time to do so, thus we ventured on down to the Maeser Building on BYU campus. And we thought we would be inspired to write music tonight? Yeah right. We just ended up acting really weird and made a video instead. Just don't take this too seriously all right? Actually, don't take it seriously at all.

And what I want to know is: What the HECK is Riverclap?

OHSU

2011-04-02T22:18:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to be a part this cutting edge school. I love, love, love my job and my coworkers and students!

You all know how much I love technology, and then to add teaching on top of that? Oh boy, life is good right now.

Youtube Dump

2011-04-01T12:31:00.000-07:00

Please forgive this youtube dump of all of the stuff I get carried away watching multiple times in a day.

I looooovee Casey Abrams and I've loved his voice since his first audition. On American Idol this week, he just proved again why he is so amazing. The 2 videos below were strangely my 2 favorites during the night. (also I'm really digging Lauren and Pia)

I don't know why but I can't get enough of this song-- I had never been a fan of Haley's until this week. Hopefully she keeps it up and that growling of hers down.

I also thought this was a pretty genius...

I stumbled upon this and I was captivated from the start!

I also think I would be so embarrassed if this happened to me, but it makes for a pretty great show.

Yearbook

2011-03-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

Goofing around taking some pictures of myself for my yearbook class, making macaroni and cheese... In the third picture you can see me freaking out because the fire alarm went off. We have the worst stove burners ever!

And a winning shot... woo hoo!

Visual

2011-02-18T13:22:00.000-08:00

I found this so interesting.

Making a Web Page

2011-02-09T14:40:00.000-08:00

In case you were wondering what I do for my job... I make a whole lot of these:

A Blast From the Past

2011-02-06T22:06:00.000-08:00

Looking back on my college years, I think of how much I have grown as a person and all of the crazy cool experiences that I have had. Of the friendships that I hold dear to my heart, of the truths that I have been taught of the Gospel, of the Knowledge that I have gained oh so much of-- I would have never have imagined as a kid just how much fun College would be and of all of the friends that I have had and how smart I would get (haha). It was hard for me to make friends as a teenager since I went to several different high schools (I was the girl who ate lunch by herself in the library) and so I didn't really know what it would be like to have "good" friends. All I can say now is WOW--I am blown away at the GREAT friends that I have made. I'm sure you all know that my best semester at BYU was study abroad in Europe. I get goose pimples just thinking about it. I wish I could write a caption underneath every photo below, but that would take too long. But, I hope that it is evident that I look 100% happy through them all, because I am.

I had to do it

2011-02-04T23:13:00.000-08:00

Cute little Amy Bug. I took her to get a makeover and facial from my friends over at Dillard's and they made her look so beautiful! We had a night on the town and went to a Mocktail Party. I've been to so many that it was like de va vu. Maybe I'm just getting too old for dance parties.

I don't know why but people listen to whatever Amy tells them to do-- She got a bunch of people to have dance offs and, bless their hearts, they were not very good hahahaha

makeup

2011-02-02T21:44:00.000-08:00

The lighting is horrible, but I think my friend Lauren did a really great job with my makeup. She just got a job at Estee Lauder.

Getting a facial and your makeup done is the equivalent to getting your hair shampooed at a salon. It is so relaxing.

Triple Hot Chocolate

2011-02-02T11:11:00.000-08:00

I decided to take my work somewhere else that is not in my "bedroom office." So I went to Border's and got the most delicious Hot chocolate I've ever had. I would recommend getting it (especially in this 5 degree weather in Provo). It has white chocolate shavings on top with some chocolate stick. mmmmmmm

Amy is a genius with music. She made me this mixed cd and it is amazing. Here are some songs that are on it:

Kelly Clarkson- Irvine

Bon Iver and St. Vincent- Rosalyn

Brooke Fraser- There's Something in the Water

Feist- You're All I Need

Black keys-Things Aren't Like They Used to Be

Black Keys- Lies

Here is an fun song that we warm up to in Zumba:

The Black Eyed Peas- The Time of your Life

The Holiday

2011-01-26T20:59:00.000-08:00

Ok, ok. You are probably sick of these... but I'm not! Here is a movie trailer my sister Emily made from the Holidays.

St. Louis: A True Story

2011-01-24T22:57:00.000-08:00

Gotta love the new iMovie. I threw this bad boy together in a few minutes.

If I could choose one thing that I enjoy doing the most, it would be hangin' with my family. There is nothing else like it, and I would say I lucked out a lot. I would also say that Christmas gets better and better each year. It's because there is usually a new grandchild or two and we are always in a different city. This year, me and all 6 of my siblings, 6 nieces, 1 nephew, 3 brother-in-laws, and mama Nancy all stayed under one roof at Jessica and Scott's gorgeous home in St. Louis, Mo. Can you say FUN? The days consisted of a few visits to the movie theatre, chatting, playing games (the celebrity game seems to be the fave), eating, cooking, browsing at the mall, playing with the kiddies, relaxing with a good book (I have started the Harry Potter series!), doing crazy stuff in the basement, me and Ethan playing Life (the new electronic version), frozen custard, curling my nieces hair every day, admiring each other's crafty talents, beating Super Mario 5 times on the Wii, Amy doing weird stuff in her sleep, watching disney movies on a laptop, secret santa exchanges, Walmart runs, gossip magazine readin, playing with "the claw" and other xmas presents, watching youtube videos, and mainly just sitting around and enjoying one another's company.

I got to take my sister Jessica's kids' annual pictures for her living room wall.

(Jane, Sophie, Grace, and Ethan)

And here are the beloved family pictures for 2010:

7 kids + Mom

7 grandkids + Mom

and a little lagniappe...

Welcome Back

2011-01-19T14:42:00.000-08:00

This video made me happy.

Tomorrow, tomorrow

2011-01-17T21:40:00.001-08:00

I am starting my new job tomorrow and I am quite anxious. I am so grateful that I found a job and cannot wait to get busy. I am teaching a Journalism Yearbook class and doing some curriculum development for a Web Essentials and Web Design class at Open High School of Utah. I finished my lesson plans for the first few weeks of the yearbook class. I'm not too sure how it is going to work since I kind of made this class from scratch. Overall, it's going to be a very busy next couple of months with this job while looking for a full time job for the Fall. I'm applying to D.C., maybe Houston, maybe Atlanta, maybe even Seattle or Portland or maybe Africa. We'll see. I would love to head to the east coast though. What do you think? I am [SO] ready for a change of scenery.

....Here is a song Amy threw together the other day...http://picosong.com/cgN/

Happy Monday! I'm off to Zumba!

"And then I fell into a manhole"

2011-01-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

I am waiting for Amy at school parked outside of the TEE building, talking on the phone with Sarah, when I hear someone banging on the window. I look around and Amy is screaming at me. I hang up and go out to see what Amy is yelling about and there I see her pointing at a huge manhole. It seems that she dropped her keys into the manhole right next to where I was parked. My first thought was, "great, she has the only pair of house keys." (I had lost mine a couple of days before." Second thought, "ok, ok let's call BYU or Provo City and figure out who would be able to help us." Third thought, "We are at the perfect building on campus (technology and engineering building) with probably some of the best resources, let's put our problem solving skills to good use."

As Amy started to calm down, she points to the license plate next to ours, and lo and behold ...

It's a fish.

She then says, "let's go fishing!"

So we run upstairs to the woods lab. We find exactly what we needed. We find a huge long wooden pole from a trebuchet. We then strap on several magnets looped around a paper clip with duck tape.

As we are walking back out to the car, we started laughing because we found exactly what we needed and we knew it was going to work.

We got the keys on our first try!

It is probably a combination of our cajun blood and engineering background that attribute to our great problem solving skills.

(And you are probably wondering why this post is entitled "And then I fell into a manhole." It's an inside joke we have with a few friends in the ward because the first counselor's wife gave a talk for the first time and the first thing she said was that she fell into a manhole while she was texting. I guess no one else thought it was as funny as me and Amy because no one else was laughing. Hence, we thought is was ironic that Amy's keys fell into a manhole.)

To end, here is a picture of me and Amy g-chatting with Eleanor and Sarah after the ordeal...Happy Friday!

New Car

2011-01-12T20:18:00.001-08:00

It's been months since I've had a real blog -- so here I go. Thought I would start out with the car that I bought while I was student teaching last semester. It is THE best car I could have asked for and I feel so blessed to have found the perfect one for the perfect price. My old bishop helped me find it at his car dealership. He really is such a great father figure to me and takes really good care of me.

At Gene Harvey, my bishop works with his 2 brothers, who were so sweet. They even took a picture of me in front of the car for a calendar that they send to all of their customers. I am so glad that they documented this. Amy is in the front seat if you can see her.

If I could express into one word how I feel about having a car, it would be FREEDOM! I finally feel like an adult. After 10 years of public transportation, begging for rides to the grocery store in the snow, waiting at the bus stop in front of a bar in New Orleans hoping I wouldn't get killed-- I can finally get to places with no hassle. However, I do miss walking to places so I can daydream, not paying for gas, and how it built some character in me. I am trying to pay it forward by giving people rides when I can. I could also say that I feel quite spoiled because I don't deserve this.

Oh and did I mention that I got my driver's license a couple of weeks before the big purchase?

I would say all in all it was a good year in 2010. Along with a new car and a driver's license, I also finished my "dreaded" student teaching (a.k.a best semester of my college career) which led to me graduating in December. I learned from this experience that my calling in life is to help kids, specifically secondary school students. I LOVED my students and have been back a couple of times to visit and it fills me up with so much joy when I see them. Most importantly, and this is going to sound cliche, but I learned that if I try hard enough and trust in the Lord, then I can do anything. I accomplished tasks and problems that I never thought I could do/face.

It feels pretty surreal to be done. It seemed just like yesterday that I was idolizing my beautiful older sisters and how graduating like them seemed so distant.

As for the new year? It's gonna be a great year. The next chapter in my life includes new goals, new jobs, new adventures, and I am ready for the Lord to guide me in the direction He desires most for me. Having a plan scares me and I am trying to do my best, but if I could see for just one second the Lord's plan in comparison to mine, I know that I would hands down choose the Lord's plan.

Have a great new year and let's DREAM BIG 2011!!!

Stay tuned for "What I did over Christmas Break"... (a sneak peek can be found here and here)

A Day in New Orleans

2011-01-08T09:27:00.000-08:00

A Day in New Orleans from Laura Hansen on Vimeo.

The Eve of Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T18:26:00.000-08:00

Got ahead on the Thanksgiving menu, and decided to make my smashed potatoes tonight. I am so excited for Thanksgiving tomorrow and am so grateful to have two of my siblings to spend it with. Wish I could be with the rest of the family though.

5 lbs of red potatoes, 2 1/2 sticks of butter, 1 head of roasted garlic, cajun seasoning (tony sacheres), milk, salt, pepper, and a couple of hours later, you've got yourself a heck of a lot of delicious smashed potatoes.

Other items on the menu:

green bean casserole

honey glazed ham from costco

corn bread stuffing

Judy's rolls

and turtle brownies

I really want to make this pie crust, so we'll see. Probably won't happen...

It's supposed to be the best!

All Butter, Really Flaky Pie Dough

Makes enough dough for one double-, or two single-crust pies.

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (8 ounces, 16 tablespoons or 1 cup) unsalted butter, very cold

Love you all! And Happy Turkey Day!

Sumo bots!

2010-11-16T20:39:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of my middle schoolers' sumo bot unit.

The kids went gaga over the sumo bots-- they absolutely loved them!

It was my mentor's first time doing sumo bots with his students, but figured he would give it a try since he has me as his student teacher.

We taught them basic circuiting and construction and then we had a tournament for all of the teams.

Some other things I am teaching to my classes:

-Lego Robots

-Hydraulic Arms

-Mass producing toy cars

-Making pens on wood lathes

-Penny hockey boards

and the list goes on and on...

and yes it is quite overwhelming,

but I am learning so much as a teacher every day.

8 more days until I am done with school forever!!!!

Student Teaching

2010-09-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

So as many of you may know, I am doing part of my student teaching this semester at Provo High School. I am really loving it and my students. Not gonna lie, I have my good and bad days (mostly good). I am exhausted a lot of the time, but I walk home with a smile on my face because it just feels so rewarding to teach and getting to interact with these crazy kids.

Here are a few of the commercials that my students made in my video class. The main thing I stressed was for them to use different camera angles that I taught, which they all seem to have done a pretty good job. Don't ask me why they put some of the stuff they did into their commercials... haha you'll see...

Now you see what happens when I give them too much autonomy haha, but I am still so proud of them!

Online Portfolio Website!

2010-06-21T16:30:00.001-07:00

Here is my website I've been working on for most of spring semester at BYU. I can't believe I am almost done with school!

http://www.jbteaching.com/laura/index.html

Official Photography Website : )

2010-05-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Here is just a blog that I created just for my photography. Feel free to spread the word!

http://lauramarie-photography.blogspot.com/

Cutie Patootie Tang

2010-04-06T20:59:00.001-07:00

Today, me and Amy took Eleanor out for a photo shoot for a class we are in together. Every picture was done manually-- which is a huge deal because I am always so scared to shoot manually...It was very freezing and very past Eleanor's bedtime, but she and Sarah were troopers and so adorable. We will miss these two very much! We love you!

Here are some of our favorites.

Ingrid Michaelson Video Contest

2010-03-22T22:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM0NOg07yOk

My little Sister, Amy, is entering this video contest so she can perform with Ingrid at her concert. We need as many views as we can so replay it all you want! Spread the love!!!

Imagine Cup- Votes for Poland!

2010-02-04T20:37:00.000-08:00

Here is our film we entered for the Imagine Cup competition. My sister and I were inspired to create this film based on a series of events in our own lives. After Hurricane Katrina hit our home of New Orleans, Louisiana, our family evacuated with only a suitcase and each other. Thus, we chose the title "Duffle Bag"--to represent our experience and how it parallels millions of others' worldwide. We wanted this personalized story to touch the hearts of people everywhere to know that poverty and hunger can happen to anybody. Now, it is up to each one of us to rectify the many problems faced throughout the world.

Click on the following link to vote for our film:

http://imaginecup.com/Competition/DisplayVideo.aspx?CompetitionId=39&TeamId=21370

(we need as many votes as we can get, in order for us to get passed the first round and compete in POLAND)

Special thanks goes out to everyone who made this film even possible:
Shane
Katherine
Jack
Sam
Freddie
The Nelson Family and home

Random Times 2009

2010-01-10T13:50:00.000-08:00

Here are top 10 of some of my favorite most random moments since I have gotten back from London in August:

1. My dear friend's Abby's gagstalicious bday party. I met Abby (blonde in front row) and Rubie (girl with yellow and grey stripes) while studying abroad London and we became so close. We were all in the same church group, which was such a miracle because there were about 50 people in the program. They are so crazy. So fun. Love them.

2. Seeing New Moon opening night. Abby brought a whole bag of vampire fangs and we went up to the front of the audience and yelled, "who wants edward fangs!" and no joke, every little girl started screaming-- it was hilarious! Right after, my brother, Freddie started chants in the theater for team jacob and team edward fans. he almost got everyone to sit on a certain side of the room depending on whose team they were on-- jacob or edward. ohhh freddie.

3. Being the photographer for Hogwarts for Halloween. It was such a magical night-- my friend Abby's family transforms their house into hogwarts for halloween every year. Words or even pictures cannot even give the whole thing justice. I have to admit that I was was not a harry potter fan until after this night. So amazing.

4. A $30 mask that has brought us endless entertainment. It is the freakiest thing in the world and I still get the shivers when I look at it. We do all sorts of stuff with it. We crash parties. We freak out other drivers when we are driving. We walk down the street with a walker and a few D.I. dresses to choose from. Priceless.

watch this if you haven't already...

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=696251514399

5. Scooter rides.

6. Thanksgiving at the Wellings in SLC. You can look at pictures from a later post on my blog. It was so nice to feel like we had a home haha Also the Gruwells, my adopted family from New Orleans, were in town as well. We went to temple square to see the lights and got hot chocolate. so great.

7. Let's not forget Christmas! I spent one week in New Orleans and one week in Ohio to see two of my sisters who live there. I have a later post as well showing pictures. New Orleans was amazing as always. The weather could not have been more perfect and the locals couldn't have been more pumped because of the whole Saints being undefeated thing. Memorable moments include me and Amy cruizing the streets of the French quarter in our mom's mini van with the windows down, shouting things such as "Who DAT!"

The locals in New Orleans are so crazy. I miss that. Provo is very boring compared to dat. Also, eating at Cafe Du Monde in the french quarter the night before the big game was histerical. People were chanting saints songs. Me and amy captured some videos on our phones.

Christmas Eve, we spent the night at my Aunt Anita's house, who was alone for christmas since her son, Shane, is in Korea. I cannot even begin to describe how kind and loving and charitable my aunt anita is. She got me, amy, jacob, and my mom all presents (which was kind of a big deal because we don't really do presents in our family any more.) Any way, it was so fun chillin with her. We watched some wierd mexican family dynamics christmas movie, ordered some pizza, skyped with cousin shane, had maw maw and paw paw over, and had the best night's sleep in my whole life, since Anita let me and Amy sleep in her bed. The room was so dark, that at one point of the night Amy opened her eyes and thought she had gone blind. haha Love my Aunt Neet.

8. Driving all day Christmas day to Cincinatti (12 hours) because we could not wait to see my sister and her family! So many good moments that I cannot remember. Almost every night we would play phase 10. I loved playing with the kids, especially playing dressup, having photoshoots with my nieces, and reading them all books before they go to bed in funny voices haha They are hilarious kids. Ethan, my nephew, is funny. I like when he gets mad. One time, he was digging in the fridge and a fruit cup fell out. Sounds like no big deal right? haha well, this is his reply, "Who put the fruit cups in the fridge! Why would any one put fruit cups in the fridge?!" I loved his reaction because he is a very orderly kid. If something is not in order or in routine he freaks out. I think he is the funniest kid I know.

Here is a funny video that me, amy and freddie made on the last day we were in Cincinatti:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9DdnkmrrWU

Parkour!

9. Me, amy and freddie, and the three kids went on an adventure to akron, about a four hour drive from cininatti. It was oh so exhausting but oh so fun! Here we are at sarah's cute house in Akron! It was so good to see Sarah. She is so sweet and such a good mom-- it's ridiculous : )

10. And Finally... my favorite moment of christmas vacation was-- my little brother Jacob swallowing a cough drop thinking it was medicine.

hahahahahahahaha

I love Jacob. He is probably my most favorite person in the world.

Meet My Family

2010-01-04T14:39:00.001-08:00

Meet Eleanor

Meet Sophie

Meet Grace

Meet Ethan

Love them all SO much!

Sugar Pop

2009-12-31T16:53:00.001-08:00

2009-12-29T07:15:00.000-08:00

Little Sophie had on a dress that looked just like my mom's night gown and of course you can count on Freddie to make that known. Next thing you know, Freddie runs up from the basement wearing my black leggings and my mom's nightgown. We were all laughing so hard!! Sophie was loving it.

"I'm Just a Toddla!"

2009-12-28T11:54:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas time!

2009-12-21T20:53:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all Here are just a bunch of pictures from the break so far... I'll update captions tomorrow.

Lady Bug final project

2009-12-12T12:47:00.001-08:00

I put this up to prove to Ethan, my nephew, that I in fact did make a ladybug haha

T-giving Jackpot

2009-11-27T22:24:00.000-08:00

I say jackpot because once again, our family has been blessed with wonderful friends. Our friends, the Wellings, let us stay at their house in Salt Lake City while they were out of town this year. They have given us so much over the years especially after the hurricane when we were homeless and Freddie needed help getting on a mission. They really have been angels to us and I am so grateful for their Christ-like love. Thanksgiving day was awesome and it felt like we had a home! We made a big turkey feast and then I got Amy and Jacob to dress up in some of the Wellings snow clothes and take some pics outside. They kept saying that they felt like we were on some disney movie or something because we felt so "normal" (if that word even exists). Anyway, we had a blast!

2009-11-13T13:57:00.000-08:00

You may be thinking, What the heck is this?

Well... this was a project for my Industrial Design class learning computer graphics. We had to create some sort of tea pot in a creative and interesting way. I chose to do a tea pot purse advertisement! Weird, I know. (But you would have to understand that I am in a class full of animation majors who have really bad body odor)

I would like to give a shout out to my lovely model, Eliza Gruwell, who so willingly let me take pictures of her with her cute cowboy boots. She was rockin' those boots!

Edward Cullen

2009-10-31T01:56:00.000-07:00

This probable looks really weird. The fact that I took pictures of Freddie dressed up as Edward Cullen for Halloween sounds crazy. But actually, it was a blast! He looked so much like him that I couldn't resist taking a few snapshots of Edward. All I can say is, I have one crazy family. I feel like we do stuff like this all the time.... We get it from our momma!

This one is my fave.

[colors]

2009-10-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

I promise I'm not one of those girls that pine over their wedding day, but ... I think I found my wedding colors.

General Conference!

2009-10-05T17:37:00.001-07:00

Us and the Gruwells went to General Conference this weekend and it was so amazing. The talks were powerful and it was such a spiritually edifying experience for me. The church is true and I am grateful for a living Prophet that leads and guides the church! What a blessing. I am so grateful to have family out here in Utah. Yes, I do consider the Gruwells to be family. Who would have ever thought that there would be so many of us living so close together. It literally is a dream come true. It's like a party every day hahaha I just love them and my own siblings! It really couldn't have been a better sunday.

I live my life!

2009-09-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

It has been over a month since I have been home from England and I miss it so much. My mind often wanders back to the moments that I experienced while in London. I have to say that this experience was nothing of what I ever could have imagined. I grew so much within those short two months. I saw through Heavenly Fathers eyes and learned to have patience and love towards the people around me in England and even those in the program. I see the world and the church in a whole new way.

The last days in London were bitter sweet. I made some really great friends and I just hope I'll never forget these amazing experiences and people that I met there. I felt it was time for me to go home, but I knew London would always have a place in my heart. And it has so far, but then again I feel like I dreamed it all. It is so hard remembering some of my experiences.

Here are 25 of some of my favorite moments/experiences that I had in London!

1. Taking the train. Trains have really become one of my favorite things ever. They are so peaceful and relaxing, especially compared to the the noisy tube.

2. In Paris, all of these french men wanted to take a picture with all of us "pretty american girls." haha They were so funny!

3. That time in Scotland when I bought this really awesome sweatshirt and every one else went out and bought the same one.
3. Long, looong hours on the bus to different places in England-- half miserable, half really fun.

4. Seeing "Jersey Boys" on my last weekend in London. It was such a fun show and I think it was one of my favorites. I am now obsessed with the Four Seasons music haha
5. Creepy tube stations with nasty rats and nasty men.

5. Speaking of rats, this show (Mousetrap) was pretty good, but I would not recommend it. It is the longest running show (over 50 years) in London. It is one of those twisted, mystery plays.

6. AH! The haunted ghost tour in Edinburgh! The scariest night in my entire life, but so worth it.

7. Reading all of the juicy gossip in the London tabloids on the tube every day.

8. Big Ben at night.
9. Trafalgar Square at night after we would go see plays or musicals.

10. The London Bridge

11. Mary Arden's Farm (Shakespear's mom's house) ... boooo! This place was lame.
12. Parliament day when we had to take our picture in the security office before we could enter the gates, I had no idea they were taking a picture of me until after the fact... Hence, why I am making the dumbest face ever. This is me reenacting it.

13. The paris tour bus with my home girl Abby. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep on half the tour because we were so exhausted from traveling haha

14. The telephone booths.

15. Me and Becky when we went to Parliament. I love this girl so much!
16. On top of the eiffel tower, we met another study abroad group of architects from Texas. A few of the girls got eiffel tower kisses with some of the boys.... ew! I know right? But this was really one of my favorite nights!
17. Amazing crepes. Mine was a turkey, cranberry crepe I think.
18. I thought I would throw in this picture for Emily hahaha
18. The amazing "munch and mingle" that our ward threw for us after church. They had some of the strangest combination of foods. The afternoon was filled with food, good company, lots of hugs and tears, and some performances from my young men and primary. Some of the primary kids sang for me and Jared danced for me but never got around to doing his rap for me.

19. Our Relief Soceity President. She turned 50 years old that day. This was one of those days that I will never forget. The spirit was very strong and it was just so fun, because I felt that finally the youth and the kids were opening up to me. At the end of relief society, they chose to sing "God be with you till we meet again"… Before we even started singing, tears were flowing down my face. I was just picturing that I may never see any of these people again, but I know that we will embrace each other in the next life. I feel as though I was friends with some of them in the preexistence. Its hard to explain but I felt like I knew them before. I didn’t feel like a stranger at all.

20. The young men that I got to teach in Sunday School. In sacrament meeting that day, they confirmed a new member of the ward named Colby. My favorite part was after the bishop confirmed him he said, in his African/English accent, “Welcome home brother.”

21. The beautiful Young women. The president of the Young Women is going to Ghana in September for a memorial for her father, mother, and brother. She has done their sealing’s and is so excited to tell this to everyone. Her father was a Methodist minister.

22. Double decker buses.

23. Living with my homie, Abby.

24. London Eye, Which is basically this huge ferris wheel where you can fit about a dozen people in each tube. It was so amazing at the very top when you can see all of London and I actually knew what every thing was! The view was beautiful!

25. Portobello Road. I would wake up really early on saturdays to get a head start because it would get so crowded by 10 or 11 am. I just loved walking up and down this road. It reminds me a lot of the French quarter. I ran into some Louisianans-- I could tell by their LSU outfits. They were so nice and we had an instant connection with one another. We were talking about how much we love London and the husband said that Portobello road was his favorite. It reminds us a lot of New Orleans.

Jude Law in Hamlet!

2009-07-28T07:44:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, we got up at 6 in the morning to go stand in line at Leister Square to get Hamlet tickets. We waited until 10 am-- it wasn’t too bad. It was totally worth standing in line because the play was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Seriously, Jude Law was an amazing actor and was very captivating. I can’t even begin to describe how well he played crazy Hamlet.

Here we are before the play...

We also got box seat tickets and were the best seats in the whole room. We were so close to the stage that we could have reached out and touch his head if we really wanted to. I don’t know how we got them for only 25 pounds. Me and Anna felt like VIP when one of the ushers led us to our box like we were somebody important haha. It was so much fun.

Here is Katie and Jordan. We had three bow seats with 2 girls in each.

Hamlet for some reason has always been my favorite Shakespeare play. I guess I had a good teacher in high school who taught it. I normally do not not plays that much but this was like watching a movie! Not only was Jude Law eye candy, but he was an incredible actor and so was the rest of the cast.

After the show we headed outside and waited at the stage door to get Jude Law’s autograph. I felt like an N'sync fan again, but I didn’t care. I ended up getting his autograph and got some pics with him.

I was so happy and I couldn’t stop thinking about how amazing everything was. I love life!!! Why am I having all of these cool experiences??? I‘m a little confused, that’s all.

Week 4 in England

2009-07-27T17:09:00.000-07:00

Before you continue reading please note the following:

A) I am still alive

B) I was smart and cautious even though it may not sound it, and

C) It was the funnest night that I had in London by far!

So week 4 in London was kind of lame. This includes: major toothe aches, dentist appointments, and people were starting to really get on my nerves. It all started when I came back from Paris and I guess Paris really spoiled me. Last night was so perfect and definitely revived my spirits. So there is this girl, Megan, who is getting married four days after London and we threw her a bachelorette party. 16 of us decided to dress up and go out for dinner at Hard Rock café.

On our way to the tube stop was hilarious because we stood out a lot because all of the girls are so beautiful and and all you hear are heals walking down the street. There was this guy who passed by who was on the phone and said, “Do you hear that? I think I just walked through heaven.” It was so funny! Next we show up at hard rock café which is the funnest restaurant and there is another bachelorette party waiting outside and they were so hilarious. Apparently bachelorettes are called hens here in Britain. They were so drunk and so funny and so nice and we were all having the best time laughing. They found out that Meagn was 19 and they flipped out, since most of them were probably in their 30s. I’ll have to try to upload a video sometime. They were wearing all neon and crazy clothes and they even gave Megan one of their gag gifts. Dinner was so great and so crowded and we walked in to our table with the “hen” group and people were taking pictures of us left and right. Oh man, were they a hoot!

The "Hen" party

Anyway dinner was great and afterwards we were just walking down the street trying to figure out what we wanted to do and then out of no where this group of Hollister models come up to us (including one that looked like Edward cullen with his buffant hair) and said that we looked very lovely and dressed up and invited us to get int his club for free. I don’t know why we just all willingly followed them but we did and I don’t know what we were thinking but it was so worth it! I literally felt like I was in a movie that night. This club was called Vendome and there was the longest line wrapped around the corner and the models took us right in and the bouncers let us in.

We felt like celebrities and I couldn't help but to think that I was in a movie or something, but of course me and my friends kept going over some worst case scenarios and what we would do in certain situations because hello this kind of stuff never happens! So we walk in and it is this legit club and I guess it cost lots of money normally to get in and we got In for free. And our friends got us this vip lounge with some water and some cranberry juice since they knew we didn’t drink.

Just when you think this couldn’t get any more like a movie, it does. The second that I walk in I completely fall down a step and totally biffed it in da club hahahaha it was so dark and I'm pretty sure no one saw it cause it was kinda early and not many people were there. It hurt pretty bad, but I hopped right back up and didn't even care. Anyways, that night was so much fun and I noticed that people don’t dance so bad here and I was so shocked. We were all having so much fun. There was a spinning dj thing, a bloody nosed girl in the bathroom, and a fight that I witnessed outside of the club afterwards and it all added to the excitement of the night and the unrealness of what I just experienced. Yeah this all may sound so ridiculous and immature but it was really one of the funnest nights in my life and I cant believe how great every thing turned out. Who am I??? You probably think that I am like that that stupid girl in the movie "Taken," but don't worry because I am still alive!

Scotland Week 5

2009-07-27T16:33:00.000-07:00

Day 1 Monday

On the first day we stop at a couple of places in England including Fountains Abbey.

We stayed at a Harry Potter Castle in Durham. It was great but it was a little anti climatic when we found out we were sleeping in the haunted part of the castle, the rooms were a little creepy, and we had to walk up a billion sairs to get up there. When my room mate was is the shower I was all alone in my “dungeon” and quickly called my mom and told her how freaked out I was. She told me that Emily was pregnant and then I became happy : )

The next morning we had a harry potter breakfast and I went to the morning services at the cathedral next door.

Second Day in Scotland

We arrive in Abbotsford, Scotland and visited Sir Walter Scott’s House. Scotland is beautiful, green, hilly, and very rainy. The rain is soft. Scott’s house was very fascinating. He contributed so much to the history of Scotland. I thought it was funny how proud our tour guide was to be Scottish.

We arrived at this pretty nice hostel that night in Edinburg and went out for dinner at the Filling Station and then went to Chocolate Soup for some hot chocolate. We then went on a haunted 18+ tour that takes you down to these vaults. This was one of the the scariest nights of my life. The last 10 minutes were unbearable. I’m glad I did it thought. For the most part is was fun and interesting to do it in “the most haunted cities in the world.” The tour told us about the witch trials that took place in the citiy and some of the torure methods they used. In the vaults, they showed us a haunted wiken church and some other very scary vaults. I had the eeriest feelings. Some of the girls felt fingers across the back of the neck.

Day 3 Edinburgh

I love Scotland! It is gorgeous, raw, and historic. The people I think are friendlier than Londoners and more down to earth and funny. We actually just got back from a pub with live music. This singer guy was so awesome and entertaining. He asked us where we were from on his microphone. Abby yelled Utah. He asked if we like the Osmonds. We said no. Every one started laughing. He ended up playing a Scottish song for us and all of the scots were singing along.

Earlier today we went to the national gallery, Edinburgh castle, the history museum, the elephant cake (where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter on napkins), did some shopping, went to an organ recital at St. Giles Cathedral for the best organist in the world (still boring), ate dinner at this Mexican restaurant, went to chocolate soup again for a cupcake, and went to a pub for some fun.

There was a funeral going on for a firefighter who lost his life. The streets were very quiet and lined with people. It was so interesting and touching.

And I thought Paris had a lot of make outers in public, but I guess Edinburgh is as well.

Chocolate Soup... so divine!

I bought my first souvenir since I’ve been on study abroad. I got a Scotland sweater that I fell in love with. About 7 other girls went out and bought the same exact sweatshirt. I thought that was funny. All in all I absolutely love Scotland! It is amazing and I don’t want to leave yet! The hostel smells disgusting...

Here is the bus that we practically spent half of our time during the whole week. Let's just say it gets pretty interesting on that bus...

Day 4 Thursday

Today we left Scotland. On the way back to England, the drive was breathtaking. We stopped at the Wordsworth Museum in which I was not required to go because I am not in the English class (hallelujah). Instead, me and Becky explored the town called Grasmere Village in the Lake District. it was such a charming little town. We good some original ginger bread, English ice cream, tomato soup, Cornish pie, and some truffles. I have been eating so much.

We then headed to our hostel in Windermere in the lake district. We took a boat out to Bowness and looked in cute shops and I bought a canvas with paints (yay!). We took the boat back to our hostel which is right on the shore of the beautiful lake. Very picturesque. For some reason the scenery here reminded me o f Jurassic Park. It was that gorgeous. We had a tasteless dinner at the hostel. We then played scum with a bunch of students in the lobby of the hostel including professor Hawkins and his kids. It was fun. Me and Nathan (his son) had a “Oh no you din’t fight” and his dad told him to shut up. Haha I felt like an awkward turtle.

Day 5 Friday

We went to the Preston Temple and church history sites that day. Joseph Fielding came to England and there were about 1000 converts in the first couple of years, which is a lot. 10 or so years later there were about 20,000 members. Today we owe a lot to our membership to our English ancestors who joined the church in those days. That really hit me hard and touched me with the spirit Something else that impacted me was when we went to the house that Heber C. Kimball live and had a vision of hundreds of demon like people coming towards him. It was such an intense vision that he fainted. When Joseph Smith heard of his vision he actually got excited because he knew satan was trying so hard from stopping the church from developing in England. He knew how much would come about from having so many converts in England. This was a good reminder to me to know how true the church is. The Kimball house has actually been up for sale for the past 13 years and there was an article on the window and people now think that it I haunted.

Peter the tour guide then took us in the park where he showed us a plant that the early aints planted to symbolize/represent all of the baptisms. We then went down by the river where they would get baptized. The temple is about 10 mile south of preston. It is called the preston temple because President HInkley had inspiration. After that we stopped at a really boring cotton mill for 2.5 hours. We only had 30 minutes at the temple. I was so confused.

The Preston, England Temple

The River where they would baptized the members.

Heber C. Kimball's House where he had the vision.

Peter the tour guide telling us about the early missionaries in England and also President Hinckley's experiences when he served a mission here.

Crystal Palace Ward

2009-07-27T16:04:00.000-07:00

Sunday July 26

Tonight we had a fireside and it was so amazing. One of the bishops gave a talk and was really good. He was raised in Jamaica and is the bishop at only 28 years old. The story that really stuck out to me was a sister from Chile. Her life story is incredible. She was born in chile and I guess her father was one of the president’s leaders and he had to flee. So her father went into hiding for about a year and then the rest of the family fled the country when they found that people wanted to kill them. So they went to Scotland and she told of when they met their father for the first time in a long time. They were on train cars and her father reached out his hand to pick up every child to cross over and then finally her mother. Her father was caught and was locked up and was tortured for two years. They released him and the family was then reunited. She was saying how much her father loved his family and would do anything to protect them. A couple years later missionaries knocked on their door and foerver changed their lives. They baptized her father first even though he usually is really hard to get to since he is a politician. That in and of itself was a miracle. One by one each one of the children got baptized. The dad tried so hard to convert the mom. She was raised catholic but he finally got to her and was able to baptize her. He loved his family and he loved the church.

The sister from Chile knew at a young age that she had a testimony. Unfortunatly her father left the church for an unknown reason and said he would tell her one day why he left the church. To this day, she is still so grateful for her parents that joined the church and were such a good example. Later on in life she had 4 kids and was not having a good relationahip with her husband and he basically left her and she was all alone with her children. She went on a drive and was crying and praying to ther heavenly father to help her and her kids so they would be able to have a better life than she did and have the things that she did not have. This thing was the gospel. She got out of her car and was just walking with her head down crying trying to find an answer from God and then looked up and write in front of her were 15 missionaries all with white shirts on. She found her answer and from that day on she never left the church. She literally ran to the missionaries and she was crying and so happy to see them. They comforted her and made a circle around her and said a prayer with her. This was such a spiritual moment for me and gave me a reassurance that the knowledge that Heavenly father answers our prayers is real and He loves us so much. She remarried and now has 5 children and they all have the gospel in their lives. Her son is about to go a mission. She knows that they are going to be valiant leaders of the church. I was crying the whole time. I thought of all of the experiences like that all through out the world and I can see the common denominator in each one of their happiness—it is the gospel. It brings joy to our lives and eternal happiness if we abide by its principles. Her new husband then bore his testimony in Spanish as someone translated. He said that he loves his wife and Jesus Christ. He told us how our number one calling in this life is to be good fathers and mothers. I could just tell how amazing of parents they are. They had a miracle baby together. The doctors said that the baby was dead inside her stomach and there was no way it would survive. The father then place his hands on his wife’s belly and gave her a blessing. Her belly literally expanded and the baby was alive and well inside. Every one was amazed and even the doctor. The doctor said that their was a second physician and that was Jesus Christ. This was such a great miracle and testimony builder. The lord is there. I know I keep saying this, but there is no way that this church can not be true. It is incredible to hear these stories and there are so many others that I haven’t even heard, but I am so grateful for them. I love this church. I am so blessed to have these experiences while I am in England. I am getting so much out of everything and there is not one day that I take it for granted.

Earlier today at church I gave a lesson in Relief society and oh man was it an experience. The lesson was on the conference talk by Robert D Hales entitled "Being Provident Providers both spiritually and temporally." I was a little nervous to teach it since I don’t have a family yet and I knew these women have had so many experiences. I started out by telling the story of the hurricane and how we were prepared spiritually. We took on president hinkley’s challenge that year to reread the book of mormon and because of that and abiding by other principles of the church, we were blessed tremendously and many miracles were brought about. The women loved this story and I didn’t mean for it to take as long as it did but they were aksing me questions about it and were enthralled. I then opened it up for discussion and asked a couple of questions. Let just say that the women have a lot to say. Out of like 10 quotes that I had for us to read, we only got to about two of them. Hands were being raised left and right and I tried controlling it. It was hard and yet so entertaining. One women was telling me about when she was living in Zimbabwe and the prophet told them to have food storage and sure enough I guess every thing got wiped out of there and so she lived on her food storage for two years with her husband. There was one point where women started fighting because one African sister was saying some off the wall stuff and I could not understand a word she was saying and every one else did and started correcting her and I did not know what to do so finally I said for someone to read their quote.

I noticed a difference in the different nationalities. I noticed that the English women talk more about the news, and facts, and straight forward things, whereas the African/Jamaican women talk about life experiences and love to tell stories. They are usually some amazing stories but a lot of the times I am so confused why they say some of the things that they say because they have nothing to do with the lesson. Hahaha Oh what a wonderful experience. I felt like I was on a mission or something because I had never done anything like this. It was so fun teaching them (even though I didn’t really get to teach much) and so funny when it turned into a discussion on the economy and financial stuff.

Today in church I also gave an opening prayer and a sister that I just love came up and gave me the biggest hug. It was so sweet. The first counselor also got up today in the middle of the meeting and got a pillow for a pregnant lady in the ward. I thought that was really sweet. I noticed that the people her are very straight forward, blunt, and just say what they want to say. I could tell that the youth are so good here because the leaders are so good with them and are hard on them. I like that. The young men I could tell are going to be such great leaders one day. I also got confused little Bradley’s name as Wesley, but he was still all smiles. I love that kid.

This is me and Bradley, the bishop's son. He is one of the sweetest kids you will ever meet.

Taking the train home from church with my ipod.

This is the building we meet at for church, an elementary school. This is Coral and some of the primary kids after church.

This is where we have sacrament meeting... The guy on the far left is getting baptized this week.

Week Two in England!!!

2009-07-07T04:32:00.000-07:00

Week two in London equals pure wonderfulness. Why may you ask? Well let me tell you...

It all started on monday when we went to go see "As You like It" at the globe theater. It was pretty amazing even though I sat right in from of a column, thus having to rotate my view every few seconds. This place was so cool. Afterwards we took a scenic walk home. I can't even explain how amazing London is at night time. We tried taking a picture in a red phone booth, but it kinda smelled like pee. Here is a pic of a group of us before the play started. Where's waldo?

London at night on the Thames River, just outside the Globe Theater.

On tuesday, me and a few of some of my friends (which I am making some amazing friends here btw) went out for fish and chip for lunch between classes and I absolutely loved it. I will definitely be having some again.

Wednesday. Ooooh wednesday. This was a fun adventure. We went out on a really nice bus, first stopping at Stonehenge. This place was really cool and I never thought I would like this kind of stuff much, but every thing is so much for fantastic in person. However, Stonehenge was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. Whatev... it was cool.

Me and miss Rubie.

Next on our list was Bath, while watching "Pride and Prejudice" on the bus, since this is where Jane Austen lived-- I think this was my favorite stop of the day. It is a GORGEOUS city. The architecture was amazing and I felt like I was walking the streets of Rome for a bit. We got to see the Roman Baths which were amazazing. A lot of the girls were excited over the Jane Austen Museum, where they bought I heart Darcy pins and what not. A kind man reminded one of them that Mr. Darcy was not real...

After we explored Bath (I wanted more time here), we headed on over to Stourhead which was my version of paradise. I kept joking that this was what heaven was going to be like, but really I secretly meant it. Stourhead is this huge garden, but that is kept to look like nature in its ideal beauty. We all went sort of crazy in this place, especially since this is where they filmed a few scenes of Pride and Prejudice... Let's see if you recognize any...

I guess this is the Elizabeth Bennett pose after Mr. Darcy confessed his love for her in the movie haha

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, it does. On Thursday, a group of us went to see the musical, Wicked-- I LOVED IT! I didn't know if I wold like musicals but this one was so good. The music and the acting was incredible, and who knew you would fall in love with the wicked witch from the west! This night was so magical and we all were so giddy after the play and so we wandered around london at night all dressed up and all. Again, nights in London are incredible. This was the most magical night. We went to see Big Ben and the London eye and just walked around and enjoyed a private little concert by this lady singing in the street with her guitar. She had an incredible voice, kind of similar to my sister Amy's voice and Norah Jones. This was my favorite night!

On Friday, we did a culture trip to Southhall, aka mini India. I'm not gonna lie, I felt a bit uncomfortable when I walked off the train since we were the only white people around. But then I reminded myself it was only because I was not used to this. I wasn't used to being the only white girl, or seeing unfamiliar things and places. Seriously, I felt like I went to India and back. Southhall is home to a large Sikh, Hindu, and Muslim community. We visited a Sikh Gurdwara (a temple) and participated in their ceremony. Immediately as I walked in I felt so much more comfortable. The people are very welcoming. We had to remove our shoes and wear scarves to cover our heads. As an attendent waves a feather over their holy book, I approached the alter and bowed to it out of respect, since it was custom. You sit with your feet crossed and you meditate. The scripture is read all day and they kind of sing it. It was very different, yet interesting. As you leave the room, a man gives you an offering of this sweet oily dough and I didn't want to refuse it and be rude. Yeah... I tried tasting it and I almost threw it up in my mouth so I kept it in my hand until I could discretely discard it. After that, we were led down to a communal meal, which I'm sorry, but it was kinda disgusting. After that we helped with the dishes. We then explored the town a bit, and visited two more temples. We also had this amazing Indian dinner at a really nice restaurant and got henna tattoos afterwards.

Saturday I celebrated the fourth of July by indulging my self in some good ol' american food (Burger King). Still not as good here. Their burger was tiny and they only give you two packets of ketchup but only if you ask! haha I asked the guy if I could have more and he just stared at me like I was an idiot. Me and a few girls also went to see this thriller play, called "The Woman in Black." This was supposed to be super scary and good, but I found it kind of boring and barely scary. I'm glad I saw it though. The acting was phenomenal for a 2 man play.

Sunday, again, was my favorite day. It did not take us quite as long to get to church this week. It was testimony meeting and it was one of the most spiritual ones I have been to. We sang my two favorite hymns, "I know that my Redeemer Lives" and "I Stand all Amazed." They have some amazing testimonies and it made me happy when I saw some of the recent converts get up and bear their testimony. My favorite was the bishop's son who got up to bear his testimony, who is only about 9 years old. The sweetest testimony I've heard in a while. The best part was afterwards all of the kids in the back started clapping and I had to stop myself from clapping because it was so good! hahaha This kid, Bradley, is my favorite-- he always has a huge smile on his face and is going to make a great leader some day. Another one of my favorites was one of the young women who got up to bear her testimony. It was amazing to hear her struggles and her ability overcome them and still come to church every sunday. After the meeting, I found out that I have a calling in Relief Society. I pretty much think it is my calling in life to be in the relief society because I always get called in it. I love RS though! I'm teaching in a few weeks and I'm very excited and a little nervous. I doubt I should be nervous because the women have some of the best comments and are very encouraging. My lesson is on the conference talk on provident living, so please if you have any input let me know. It was awesome when the the teacher on Sunday split us up in groups for the whole time so we can lead our own discussions. It was so cool and I just found my self wanting to say "aaamen sista" after each comment. The teacher said she splits them up from time to time, because they all have so much to say that this really is the best way. The lesson was on love. My favorite comment was when this African sister with 5 kids says that she tells each one of her children individually that she loves them the most and I said that my mom does that too! And we all started laughing. But for reals, all growing up I thought I was mom's favorite ahahahaha I love you mom!

The best is when the teacher says that they are going to only sing one verse for the closing song and all of the women get confused and say "why? but it is a beautiful song..." to every song. So we sing all the verses-- this made me happy and love the hymns even more! After church I met the young men who are such studs. One of them introduced himself as uncle Julias and he was 15 years old, yet he looked 21 years old with his facial hair. I love this ward so much!

Yes. There is not a day that doesn't go by that I forget how blessed I am to have an opportunity to do this. I am so happy to be here even though...

1. I need to see a dentist very badly. My teeth are constantly throbbing which is causing me to get headaches. I've been taking lots of advil (it's ok mom)

2. There is no such thing as down time/alone time

3. No television (i'm dying that I can't watch the Bachelorette)

4. lots of naked butts haha and see through showers

5. sweaty shirts and pants. I wish I packed more shorts and skirts

6. I don't know how to do my hair here- it's oily and dry at the same time??? What?

7. I live in a room with 12 very dominant but fun personalities,

8. Tons of reading for school.... I guess I am studying abroad

9. Every thing cost literally twice as much here.

10. Sucky toilets and no such think as cold drinks still bother me.

I'm going to Paris on Thursday until Saturday and I cannot wait. I will take lots of pictures I promise. I love you all! And you are in my prayers every night!

Oh ya know... just more London talk : )

2009-06-28T16:43:00.001-07:00

Ok. Just a warning that this post is not for people like Freddie, who only look at pictures, but for people who are interested in what I have been up to in more detail (aka Jessica). IT only takes a billion years to upload photos with my internet connection so sorry there will be pictures another day.

I have so much to catch up on since I’ve been here for a week! I love it in London and it has definitely been a culture shock. From the cars driving on the wrong side of the street, toilets that take for ever to flush, no air conditioning anywhere, and no ice at any restaurant, I am more fully starting to soak up the English way of life. I’ll start with today and then go backwards since today is fresh on my mind.

Today was Sunday. Such a beautiful day, but it took us 2 hours to get to church. We took the tube to Victoria and then the train to Penge E. We then had wrong directions to get to the church, which is at an elementary school, and barely made it to church on time. You have no idea how good it was to see missionaries as we were turning the corner. Here is a picture a few of us on our way home from church. We saw the tiniest car-- it could've been He Ping Ping's!

Today was so spiritual and I was on the verge of tears through the meetings. The people in the Crystal Palace ward are so friendly and caring. Many gave us hugs and were very inviting and entertaining people. The small ward reminded me of the uptown branch in New Orleans but a little larger. It was mainly black people, I think mainly from Africa and the Carribean. They were such beautiful people. I hope I don't sound like a creeper, but they are. The bishop was incredibly kind and took good care of us. He was also black and his first counselor was too! We met for sacrament meeting in a gym and since one of the speakers didn’t show up to church, the second counselor asked each of us (there are 7 in our group) to get up to bare our testimony. I had a feeling this would happen. I was the first girl to get up and I just bore a simple testimony. My heart was beating so fast, but I just felt calm and I felt God’s love and the people in the ward were radiating love as well. I first introduced myself and said a little bit about how my branch reminded me of the ward and how It felt a little bit like home for me. In my testimony, I expressed my love for the savior and what he has done for each of us. I shared my testimony of the gospel and how much more that I know it is true because I can come to a different part of the world—even England!—and feel the spirit and feel of the goodness of the people there. The same things are being taught. I have a family wherever I go and the members of the church make this true. The theme in sacrament meeting was on agency and so I bore a quick testimony of that and how I am so grateful we have choices and that my mom made the choice when she was 18 years old to join the church and now she will have many generations that will be blessed because of it. I noticed that when I get nervous, I say "y’all" a lot. So that was kind of funny. They probably thought I was crazy. The other talks from the ward members were simple and sweet. Sunday school and relief society were awesome and there were lots of discussions going on. I was a little surprised since I was under the impression that many of the members were new converts and didn’t know much, but they blew my mind awat. Everything was so interesting and they made things so entertaining. The teacher kept saying things like don’t let things “fester within you” but I didn’t really understand what that meant. I guess it means to not let things offend/get to us. RS was my favorite. I think most of the women were single and were so strong and had some of the best conversion stories. Again, there were lots of comments and every one is so kind and there were nods and everyone agrees out loud with people. I thought they were going to be quiet people but were not at all. (They sing the hymns much louder than most wards I’ve been in.) We talked about how fear and faith cannot coexist. After church we talked to the bishop and played with the little kids who are so cute and friendly and have the cutest dimples. Ah, I can’t wait to find out what my calling is! What a wonderful experience.

Tonight we also had a fireside and they talked about how peculiar we as BYU students are in the UK. We stand out by the way we dress and act. Our standards and morals shock most of the people here. The couple missionaries said that we open the doors for the missionaries here and are so grateful to have us. I have never felt more peculiar in my life, even when I lived in New Orleans and was the only mormon at a catholic school. I feel so out of place here, but I don’t feel like that at church at all. I have a ward family wherever I go. A Scottish sister read Ephesians 2:19 where it says we are no strangers or foreigners. Our differences are not so great because we have the gospel. Again, another sweet conversion story from this English guy from South Africa whose wife died 10 years ago and had 5 children.

Today was wonderful. I gained a stronger testimony of the gospel and god’s love for each of us. I felt that every thing came together for me since I saw the gospel in action in a different part of the world. I kept thinking in my head, “There is no way the gospel is not true.”

Saturday I slept in and we went to try to get into the wimbledom but that would be like a 6 hour wait so we just explored a little bit and then we went shopping at this awesome store called Primark where everything is so cheap. I got a couple of things and plan to go back soon. I will never go shopping on a Saturday again though because every store was a mad house with hundreds of people in each store. It rained on our way back to the centre and it felt so good! We also went to this thai restaurant called Kahns and bought my ticket to see Wicked next week and I cannot wait!

Friday was an amazing day. We went to the tower of London and saw King Henry the VIII’s tower. The history channel did such a good job at setting up everything. I saw the crown jewels and we ran into this famous guy from the tv show Lost, Daniel Day Kin. We then went exploring around the area and went to this sweet outdoor market called Borough Market. There were so many food stands everywhere with hundreds of people. There were tons of samples and interesting food. We decided to go for the kangaroo burger, which was so weird but surprisingly food. They put it on this really good bun, with mayo, mustard, and cranberry sauce. It was really good but I couldn’t bring myself to eat all of it. I couldn’t get the thought out of my mind that I was eating a kangaroo… weird. We ran into Shakespeare’s church, some pirate ship, the Tate museum with an amazing view of London, the monument, and we crossed the millennium bridge. My favorite part though was when we found a piano in the middle of this outdoor shopping courtyard and took turns playing it (except me cause I can’t play). We then started to form a pretty large crowd around us and every one was clapping and we were dancing and it was just amazing and so much fun especially when My friend Erika played Apologize on the piano and we were sinhing T pain in the background hahaha I have a video of it so hopefully I’ll figure out how to upload it.

Thursday we went to the Victoria and Albert museum, which was really beautiful. We also saw transformers 2 at a luxury theatre. Even though I didn’t like the movie, I still had the time of my life! We sat in the most comfortable leather seats with foot rests and people in the back were drinking wine and there was a café--- it was just so swanky… and pricey.

Wednesday was the first day of classes, which I am not looking forward to studying at all. We headed out to explore Picadilly and saw Big Ben and the London eye. We also went to the British History museum, which was so huge and kind of boring.

Tuesday was the day that we arrived and we were all so exhausted, but so excited! London is so gorgeous. Everywhere you look there is beautiful architecture. The city is sooo much bigger than I expected. There are so many people every where you go. I left my little camera in the taxi van from the airport and was freaking out when I called the driver and he said that it would cost 50 to 60 pounds for him to get it to me. I was on the verge of tears. I told the director and he said that was ridiculous and so he called the driver back and he said he was just kidding… what ever loser. I did get it back the next day—thank goodness. We live a block away from hyde park so we went for a walk and saw all of the beautiful gardens and the Kensington Palace which is where Queen Diana lived.

Overall, I am exhausted and have blisters all over my feet. It takes twice as long to get anywhere because of the tube. We spend up to 10 hours of walking everyday. But it is so worth it. This is such a great opportunity and I am learning so much. I love not having a phone and I am enjoying learning the culture and the customs here, even though they may seem weird to me now. All of the people on the program are so much fun and loving. I really am having a great time and every day I am so grateful to be experiencing these things.

London week 1!

2009-06-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted many pictures yet of London and I don't have time tonight to write much. The internet is slow so I'll post a new blog this week end. I'm in love with ever thing about London. There is so much to do and see and I have so many blisters on my feet because I have been walking everywhere. Here are a few pictures from today. I feel like I have been here for weeks already and there is so much more to do! I love all of the people and professors on study abroad. I love it all!

This is the street that I live on... 27 Palace Court.

Playing in the pond at the Albert and Victoria Museum.

Some of the girls at Hyde Park (We only live a block away from this place and also Kensington Palace which is where princess diana lived at one point)

Some cute kids playing soccer in the park. The kids here have the cutest little accents!

Hyde Park

I love all of the taxis and buses!

Crystal's Engagement Pictures!

2009-06-07T23:12:00.001-07:00

Sneak Peek

2009-06-05T22:57:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to take one of my best friends, Crystal's, engagement pictures this week and it was so much fun. Here is a sneak peek of what is to come... stay tuned!

Jenn's Wedding

2009-05-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

This is my gorgeous room mate, Jenn, on her wedding day in Mesa, Arizona. It was hotter than heck, but it was all worth going to be there for Jenn. I just love her so much and she has become such a good friend. Thank goodness we still work together at Costa Vida. She was such a pretty bride and was all smiles the whole day.

Every one's face is priceless in this picture...

2009-05-12T10:52:00.001-07:00

This is an attempt at taking senior pictures of Amy. I got Amy all dressed up and she even let me curl her hair and put make up on her--that never happens! She looked so beautiful and we were so pumped to go out and take some cool shots... until my battery in my camera died and shattered all hope of Amy letting me take her pics. Anyway, there were pretty much none to work with so I decided to just play around on photoshop with one of them and I thought it turned out ok. I mean, this won't be her senior pic or any thing but it was fun to get her all dolled up.

Can you tell where we are at in New Orleans by looking at the background sistas?

Crawfish Berrrl

2009-05-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

You know you want some of dat! Oh my, was this stuff goood! I hadn't had a crawfish boil in years and that is my all time favorite food. My Uncle Donald boiled over 100 pounds of crawfish and it fed a good amount of people. It was so much fun and I just love to be in the country-- you can just run buck wild, get as drunk as you want (just kidding), play as much kick the can and murder, and be as sweaty and barefoot as you want, and have dance offs, and tell as many "yo mama" jokes as you want and don't forget nonstop good eatin'! I guess you can say this was the best crawfish boil I had been to and every one was laughing so hard and it was just pee-in-yo pants kind of fun (there were at least three of us). Gotta love my cajun family!

Oh and my favorite yo mama joke of the night was from my little cousin, Lexie:

"Yo mama so fat, it took her 2 hours to watch a 25 minute television program."

Happy yo Mama's Day y'all!

The following is a side by side picture of my cousin, Gregory, and Freddie. Tell me if you think they look a like... Cajun Freddie vs. White Bean Freddie? HAHAHAHA

Baton Rouge Temple Trip

2009-05-08T22:28:00.001-07:00

This was Jacob's first time going in the temple and it was such a sweet experience. He was a little nervous but he said he loved it. Freddie baptized all three of us and it was so great because my family means so much to me. You couldn't help but to feel the spirit that was there. This guy from Pontchatoula had over 200 names for us to baptize. He also had a sweet cajun accent like the guy from Water Boy. I would not have rathered to have been any where else on a friday night.

Read closely...

2009-04-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

Easter : )

2009-04-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

First off, let me just say how good Easter was for me this year. What a spiritual day. I feel like this year I have finally come to appreciate the Atonement more fully and what Christ has done for each one of us. I am so grateful for His Resurrection and for the chance for all of us to be resurrected again some day.

Secondly, me and Freddie were invited to his roommate, Todd's, House in SLC. His family was one of the nicest families I have ever met. I'm serious. Such nice peeps (haha get it)

Luckily, I brought my really nice camera from School and was able to take their family pictures for all of the Wilde family and for each individual family as well.

I really liked this candid shot. No one knew I was taking it. These kids were so much fun to play with!

Here is our Provo Family Easter picture for our Mama.
All of the kids just loved Freddie, especially this little girl!

"Hey lil girl... bring me some of that cherry kool aid!" (you know what I'm talking bout Freddie)

I had to throw in this pillow that Emily made for me for my birthday. It is absolutely gorgeous and I wish I knew how to do this. Emily gives the BEST presents!

Photoshop Kids

2009-04-09T10:24:00.001-07:00

This past week and a half, I have been doing my practicum where we go into the schools and actually teach. I taught at Canyon View Junior High School and it was a communications class, which I was very excited to teach something that I am going to teach one day. Other groups taught electronics classes. Me and my group decided to do a unit on Photoshop and teach them the basics. Little did we know, kids are a lot smarter than you think. Most students caught on real quick and were really good. I enjoyed every moment and the kids were awesome. We became bffs by the last day haha

The first day we taught them the basics of photoshop and how to cut out pictures and use filters and layers and stuff like that. The second day I taught some basic layout design principles and then we taught them how to morph two animals together. That was so much fun. The last day that we taught we had the students make a magazine cover and a school ad and then presented them at the end of class. The kids were awesome. Most stayed on task and caught on quickly. I loved it when I saw students helping other students. It was fantastic!

Here is the magazine cover that a student, Caleb, made. We took pictures of each kid holding a white piece of foam core. we taught them how to make a picture within a picture and then make a magazine cover out of it. There were so many other good ones that I wish I would have taken back with me.

We also had the students make an advertisement poster about any issue they wanted. This one was my favorite. This kid had some legit skills.

This is Jessie's ad that he made for himself as if he were running for student council. I thought this one was clever.

This is the vampire Hilary Duff. Some one did this on the first day of class when we taught them some of the basic tools for retouching and cutting out photos. Kinda creepy I know.

Be Thou Humble

2009-03-30T00:02:00.000-07:00

I don't blog very often about spiritual things. It's probably because sometimes I feel embarrassed since I don't know who reads my blog besides my family and a few friends. I'm going to do it anyway because I always love to share what I have learned. So here I go...

For the last couple of weeks I have been struggling/thinking about doubts, fears and inadequacy. I have definitely recognized this the whole time and I knew I needed to overcome this. I prayed really hard and I just wanted Heavenly Father to immediately fix my problem. Last week I realized that the speed of the course that we are on does not matter, but in the direction. I knew I was headed in the right direction, but I just wanted to fast forward all of my problems. Challenges take time to over come.

This girl in my ward gave an excellent lesson in Relief Society last week on being Valiant in the cause of Christ. It was exactly what I needed! Hopefully I can be of help for any one. Satan's greatest ability is making us fear and doubt and feel as though we are not strong enough. We may feel inadequate, but we have to remember that Heavenly Father is there and all we need to do is open up to him. Prayer is the means. He is willing to listen and he is willing to help. Even Christ at the very end of his life asked for Heavenly Father's help, and then he said "thy will be done." Heavenly Father is constantly reaching out to us and blessing us and it may not seem like that all the time. Some of the blessings may include someone who reaches out to us or it can even be the absence of something like fear, or doubt, or stress in your life.

Mosiah 5:15

"Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ... may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life, through the wisdom, and power, and justice, and mercy of him who created all things, in heaven and in earth, who is God above all. Amen."

We then went on and talked about our strengths and weaknesses. We are given our strengths to fight our weaknesses. Look at your weaknesses as an opportunity for growth. We have so much potential. The relief society teacher then asked for 3 volunteers to brag about a person in the room. One of the girls bragged about me and she said the sweetest things about me. It just made my day. She then had those same 3 girls brag about themselves and this was a lot harder to do. I realize that I need to be better at this. I can go on and on about someone else and recognize all of their good qualities, but it is so hard for me to see mine. I then read in D&C 46 where it lists some spiritual gifts. I recognized the gifts that I have been given and I am so blessed to have them.

"Be thou humble in thy weakness, and the Lord thy God shall lead thee,
Shall lead thee by the hand and give thee answer to thy prayers.
Be thou humble in thy pleading, and the Lord thy God shall bless thee,
Shall bless thee with a sweet and calm assurance that he cares."

Since being out at college for the past 3 years, I have discovered some of my true weaknesses. My only hope is that I can use my strengths to overcome these. I have so many blessings and gifts to be grateful for. I have loving family members, friends,and a bishop who care about me. They keep me going. More importantly I have a loving Heavenly Father who loves me and knows me better than any one. He wants me to succeed.

Oooo kaaayy on a lighter note, here are the top 10 highlights of my week!

1. I bought my plane ticket to London tonight with about 5 other girls and I am soooo excited. Ill be gone from June 22 to August 10 and it was kiiinda pricey.

2. I bought this really great shampoo and conditioner that Emily suggested and I'm in obsessed with it.

3. Friday night, me and my ward went to this indoor water park place, which was so awesome because it is still snowing outside and it is almost April!!! I can not wait for spring. Lots of fun things in store.

4. I rented Twilight yesterday and realized just how bad of a movie it was... but yet I still find it very intriguing.

5. I stumbled upon this really good forum called Thinking Habits and Dispositions which was also just what I needed to read this week.

http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=7483

6. I played tennis a couple times, which is one of my favorite things to do.

7. I got a 20 page letter from my grandpa about how he proposed to my grandma.... um yeah still have not finished that one.

8. Watching American Idol. Matt Giraud is hands down my fave and I was so shocked when he was in the bottom 3! I'm lovin' this season.

9. I got a "Kiss me I'm a Bulldog" bright green, XXL shirt in the mail from my dad.

10. And the crowning moment of my week was seeing Gary Coleman come into Costa Vida! Yeah I know he is not all that exciting, but when you are in Provo, you take what you can get.

Whatcha talkin' bout willis!!!

Cheerio y'all!!

Twenty One!

2009-03-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

Wow what can I say? I really had such a great birthday! I'll do a run down of what happened that day...

7:00 am

I wake up and walk out my room and there are streamers every where and my room mates had made me breakfast, which included the fluffiest waffles ever, scrambled eggs, and ovaltine! yummm

8:00 am

I show up to my class and every one sings happy birthday to me while this girl in my class, Jenny, plays the guitar. Haha my major is seriously hilarious-- we can do what ever we want.

9:00 am

I get a call from my wonderful sister Emily.

11:00 am

Me and Freddie go to J- Dawgs where they have the most amazing hot dogs you will ever taste in your life. It is definitely worth coming to Provo and trying these delicious dogs.

11:30 am

Me and Freddie head over to the creamery where freddie picks out my cake mixes for that night.

1:00 pm

I skip all of my classes and took a nap... totally worth it.

7:00 pm

Me and a few of my freinds go out to dinner at the Pizza Factory, where I had never been before and i loved it! They actually give you a free pizza for your birthday shaped as your age.

9:00 pm

Me and a bunch of friends head over to the Tumbling Gym, which is the funnest place in Provo! We had a blast!

10:30 pm

We head back over to my place for some delicious funfetti birthday cake!

I have made some really wonderful friends since I have been out here in Provo and I am so incredibly blessed. I don't know what I would do with out them! It's also so nice to have Freddie around and I can't wait for my little sister Amy to come out here next year!

Also this week I had my first prep class for study abroad in London. Here are some of the pictures they showed us of the London Center... I just got even more excited to do this once in a lifetime experience. We learned a lot about the history of England and its surrounding countries in the prep class and I found it all so fascinating and it felt so good to learn about these kinds of things other than technology stuff. All in all, I am so excited!!

As promised...

2009-02-28T16:15:00.000-08:00

I know I know... you are probably freaking out right now, but I am so glad that I went for it. Here is the new do!!! It's a bit too dark right now but it will fade some and I love it!!!

London's Calling!

2009-02-19T11:26:00.001-08:00

I would like to officially announce that today I found out that I got into BYU's study abroad program in London!!!! You have no idea how excited I am. I will be going for the summer term from June 23 to August 13. There is still lots to do to prepare, but now I'll just celebrate. Thank you to every one who has helped me in any way (especially to my sister Jessica). It was an intense process, but definitely all worth it. I love y'all. We really are dreamin' big in 2009!

(Also kind of a random side note: I need some input on how I should get my hair done. I'm thinking I want to go full brunette this time. I've been trying to go gradual but I think its time to just go for it.)