Goodreads

This semester, I am taking almost all English classes. So far I have loved them! In my Shakespeare class, we have already had what my teacher calls a 'relief society style' potluck breakfast [he said it wasn't elders quorum style, because nobody would bring anything then. HAH!] which was fun. Its been interesting so far!

I am also taking a literary drama class, in which we are studying different types of theatre and plays. We have started with Greek theatre, where much of the entertainment we experience today comes from. So far we have read the Bacchae, and Antigone, both of which are Greek tragedies. After reading these, it makes me wonder what kinda crack they were smoking to be able to come up with these awful and graphic things; its given me a greater appreciation for my knowledge of God -that he is to be loved and followed, not just feared. B/C let me tell ya, if God was how he is in these Greek myths, we would all be in big trouble cuz lets face it, they are vindictive, irresponsible and nuts. But I have high hopes for this class-later we are focusing on more recent things, from Arsenic and Old Lace to stories that make you think like the play Doubt. It should be good.

The other English class I am taking is Young Adult Literature. Initially, I was a little worried. For this class alone, we have to read 30 novels before the class is over. And although I love to read, Young Adult literature is not my favorite, especially current ones. They just seem to all center on the struggles of teens, such as depression, anorexia, peer pressure, drugs and then the more rare problems, like rape and gang warfare. Of course I know that it has its place in our world and can be helpful to some, but I was worried that by the end of each book I would feel like I wanted to cry for days. But so far, I have been totally wrong. Two of the four I have read so far I would like to recommend.

The first is surprisingly a graphic novel called "American Born Chinese". It follows three separate story lines, and then connects them in the end in an incredible, unexpected way, leaving you with a simple, beautiful message. Read it if you can-like I said, its a graphic novel, so it only takes like an hour, but it is an hour well spent!

The second is called "The Adoration of Jenna Fox". Seriously, this book blends so many different genres of writing so seamlessly-it starts out as a coming of age story, but quickly turns into a mystery, along with a level of science fiction and poetry. It is GREAT and it keeps you guessing the whole time. READ IT. It will challenge you, and make you think about things that perhaps you haven't-but ultimately you will walk away feeling grateful for what you have and like it was well worth it.

Now here is my little disclaimer-keep in mind that these ARE young adult books. They are not meant for anyone under the age of 12, and sometimes even above that. With American Born Chinese, it is simple and I could see a kid seeing the pictures and being interested. But there are derogatory racial terms in it, used to add to the story and prove a moral-some young kids may not be able to understand that, unless I suppose the parent were to use it as a teaching moment to show that what is being said is not ok. The second book I mentioned I think is for like late high school or up, simply because of the topic; I myself probably wouldn't have liked it before age 15.

Lastly, I want to turn you guys to an awesome site that can help you if you are ever looking for books to read. It is called goodreads.com and its free. You just make up an account and you are free to explore literally thousands of books. It has basic information and summaries, pictures [if any], and best of all, honest reviews and ratings from people who have read them [both pro critics and just the general public]. You can easily make 'book shelves' of books you want to read, have read, or are currently reading, and you can always add your reviews to others. Being an avid reader, I am seriously now hooked to this site.

Well, this is more then I ever meant to say about my classes or reading. But what can I say-I love it, and I want you guys to feel that love to haha! Until next time!

Our Easter

So. Easter we were both still recovering from colds and what not, so we didn't do much other then sleep, take drugs and visit some friends from home. BUT I did make a pie..just to signify that it WAS a holiday! Even though we didn't get to spend as much time as we would've liked dwelling on it Sunday, we are both grateful beyond words for a Savior who both lived and died for us. Next Easter, we will make sure we have more exciting plans and start making our own Easter traditions!

High Maintenance Sleeping

So apparently Lester is not the only one with slightly frustrating sleeping habits! Last night, after a fun weekend of volleyball and dancing, we headed to bed a little bruised and tired, and both with colds. [What can I say, we play hard haha]. Needless to say we were happy to hit the hay.

After finally getting to sleep, I have strange and vague memories of being in and out. But the only concrete thing I remember is waking up to Lester laughing, and me asking him whats so funny? He then proceeded to ask me several times if I was REALLY awake...by the fifth time I was getting annoyed. He then handed me some limes and said that I had sleep walked. At first I thought he was messing with me, but after thinking about it, I realized that his story made sense.

Apparently, all night I had been tossing and turning and saying things like 'Please help me. PLEASE. Before its to late. I have to get them out. Help me help me.' He tried to wake me up about three times, and each time I guess I would kinda half wake up and respond saying I was fine-then I would start up again two minutes later. Finally, the last time I guess I actually got up-when he asked where I was going I said to get some water. He saw no harm in that and thinking I was awake stayed in bed. But when he heard me opening all the fridge drawers, searching everything, he got up to watch me. I then stumbled back to him, handed him a bag of limes and went back to sleep. He asked me what I had, and I said 'Limes!' all happy. He asked me why I needed limes and I said 'Its the key!' in a 'duhhh' kinda way. The next thing I remember is waking up to his laughing at me.

Earlier that day I had been reading over Little Women where they had talked about how pickled limes were the only thing that could save Amy-of course she was just talking about popularity wise-but I had also been watching Law and Order SVU. These child trafficker's had locked these kids in the basement. I vaguely remember that my nightmare was kind of a hybrid of the two-I was working with Olivia and Elliot to get the kids out of the basement before it was to late. And then I remembered the only thing to get them out was to exchange limes with the neighbor or something who had the key. Luckily, I got them the limes [key limes in fact!] and we saved them and the bad guys got convicted and the world was right again!

I suppose this was a good reminder that everyone has their little quirks-the next time Lester snores [which lets face it will be tonight and every night for the rest of my life] I will just laugh it off and remember that I can be a high maintenance sleeper myself sometimes.

An Unexpected Hero

When I was a kid, we always had those assignments where they ask "Who is your hero?" or "Who do you look up to the most?" Of course, just like every angelic child, I always said my parents, or some kind of gospel related answer. And don't get me wrong-those people ARE my heroes, and the main people I look up to. But lets face it, all of us have looked up to someone else who we may not know-perhaps a celebrity who gives lots to charity, or a fictional superhero like Superman or something. I am finally admitting my other-then-family-or-gospel-related hero.

So here's the thing. It is common knowledge that I love law and order-any one, you name it, I love it. But my favorite is the original. Whether its Lenny and Detective Green, or Alexandra or Selena, I love almost all the detectives and D.A's. They have great chemistry and give various perspectives and views on current and controversial events.

But still-the man who makes the show is Jack McCoy. I love him. He makes the calls no one else has the guts to make even when it puts him in a bad light, if he truly believes that it is the right thing-he always strives to do the right thing and let an equal measure of justice and mercy apply as he directs his cases. He always tried to puts himself in everyone elses shoes before he makes his decision. This means that he speaks for the victims. He is often emotional in his cases, yet he does not let raw, misguided, hot headed emotion be the ruling factor in his cases. He uses both his heart AND his brain and logic when he both makes decisions and speaks to the jury in proving his case. He is often the target of doubt and censure-not only from his peers and enemies, but from his own mind. I think that is healthy-a person who can admit that they are wrong or could have handled something better, learn from it, analyze their behavior and then move on and try to be improve. His behavior shows a level of self awareness and humility that is important, and yet he is still brave and aggressive when it counts. To be perfectly honest, I have not always agreed with his decisions. Sometimes we are on polar opposite sides of the spectrum and sometimes we are dead on the same-but love him or hate him, you have to respect him and I think that is an admirable quality.

Now, I know they have just recently ended this particular venue of the show [which not gonna lie led me to tears when I first found out]. But just like any hero, the lessons Jack McCoy [brought to life the way only Sam Waterston can..] has taught me will stay with me forever. You know; I trust Jack McCoy. I hope someday, when I retire, somebody will feel the way about me the way I feel about Jack McCoy- both respected, and missed.

So now you know. Who were your secret hero's?

Don't Blink

Well. This week was when most peoples summers started. For us, it was simply a week long hiatus before we get back to the grind of a new semester-my last as a college student. Strange.

But it has been good. Wish I had some super eventful, exciting things to tell you but I don't. We have basically spent the week experimenting with cooking, running little errands, watching movies, playing cards, sleeping and just being together. We had a few picnics as well, but over all it was just good old fashioned lazy fun. It has been GREAT and we wish we had two more weeks like it.

I will admit though, it has been fun going back to school shopping. Yesterday, Lester and I went and got our books and supplies for our classes-there is something about getting new school supplies that is just exciting-like the anticipation of what COULD be an awesome semester. I am taking some really fun classes-like Shakespeare, Young Adult Literature and English Drama. And of course some not so fun ones, like a Math class that goes from 7-10 PM every Wednesday, and a Fundamentals of Literary Analysis. So I will be doing a lot of reading this semester, which I am mostly looking forward to.

Lester however has a whopping 20 credits [compared to the 12 credits we usually take] and goes from 8-5 almost every day of week in classes and labs alone. I don't even want to think about the amount of homework he will have after his classes are over-but he is ambitious, and this is one of the many things I love about him. I guess I will just have to keep thinking about years from now after grad school when he will have nice, regular hours and I will not be spending most of my time alone. But living with a busy Lester is so much better then living with no Lester at all-trust me, I know haha.

I guess I just feel like right now, life is at this interim stage where you can't move to far forward, but you can't just stay still. It's moving at a very slow pace, and the parts I want to rush through get longer, and the ones I want to just stay in disappear in one quick blink. During the semester, I am sure busy-ness will quickly overcome these feelings. But then, when I graduate it will return and I will ask myself, "Is there life after college?" as I will hopefully be working 24-7 as he will till have 3 semesters left in Rexburg. Guess I will have to take up running or something to compensate for the boredom baking I will be doing haha.

Well. Lester's about to finish his usual sunday getting-ready-for-church singing routine so I guess thats my cue to get my heels and jacket on. Peace out.

Moving On

Well...thank goodness the Morco's and the Anderson's are going to be here this summer, because all our other friends have left us :( Steph and Tyler just stopped by to say their final goodbye before heading over to the sunshine in Arizona. Same with Alex, Tim and Isabelle last night. The Winters, Smiths, and Arrington's have been gone for quite a few days now. Today we are also helping the Jankowski's move. I guess I just had it in my mind when we moved here it wouldn't be so hard because we all knew our lives are so fluid for the next few years. But still, it is a little sad watching everybody leave, whether it is for a just a few months or forever. I will miss everyone but that is just a part of life I suppose.

The good thing is friendships and the lessons you can learn from them DO last, no matter the time or distance. I learned this through the 36 different young women's leaders I had, through the people who I've meet between two different colleges, or wherever. I used to cry when anyone would move and ask my Mom what the point was in making friends if they were all just going to leave..wouldn't it have been better if we had never met and then I would never have to miss them? Of course, she'd laugh a bit, and then reassure me that that would not be a good thing. Now I realize how foolish that thought was.

One of my favorite storybooks explained it perfectly in comparing it to snow. Snow can be such a beautiful, perfect thing-something that you want to bring home and keep to admire and cherish-but when moved to a new environment, or held to tightly, it will just melt and fade away and there is no beautiful thing left to cherish. Friendships aren't like that. You can hold them tight, and they will love you back. You can bring them, whether physically or emotionally, wherever you go. The more attention and love applied the more solid they be will be. And when heat or a refining fire is introduced, more often then not, you will walk out of it with a stronger friendship instead of a melted or faded one. So even though I'm sad, I'm SO grateful for these past two semesters and the friends we've made and cherished-and I look forward to the new friends we will make!

PS: One of the few upsides to everyone leaving is they've given us all their food-our fridge has never been so full HAHA! And we have a place to stay anytime we want to go anywhere on vacations! YA!

Conference and Bridal Shower Weekend!

This weekend, we took our first little road trip since getting our car. We left around 11:30 and got right into our crazy, fun weekend. After a fun 3 1/2 hour drive, where Lester and I got to talk, laugh and sing we got to Hillary's around 3:30ish. We dropped off all the kitchen tools and luggage we had brought for the weekend and went to the mall to do some shopping for some new jeans and stuff since we don't really have many shopping options in Rexburg and I needed to get her a bridal shower gift. After that, we went straight to Lester's mission reunion in Murray, and it was luau themed. It was nice for us to see some of Lester's mission buddies and for him to be able to relive the glory days a bit haha-there were some dancers there and of course I was among the randomly selected to go up there and dance-embarrassing but fun! Then we went to pick up Hillary and Andrew with whom we doubled with for dinner at the sushi/Japanese restaurant Naked Fish and then some dessert later! It was really fun for us to get to spend some time just enjoying and getting to know each other more in a couples setting-I hope it will be repeated many times and I am sure we time to it since there getting hitched! The next day, we got up and dressed and our friend/Hillary's roommate Anna had some extra tickets for Conference which she gave to me and Andrew. However, on our way to the conference center a bad migraine hit, and I didn't want to possibly throwing up in the Conference center in the middle of a talk-so Lester and Andrew went and me and Hillary went back to her place, while I half listened drugged up in the dark. What I did hear of it I loved-especially Elder Cook's talk about women. I always knew he was so awesome! Lacey arrived after dropping off the stuff Lester and I were super hungry, so we went to Trolley Square's Rodizio's Brazilian Grill. So. Freakin. Good. Every thing. The salad bar, the meat, the drinks, desserts, waiters, views EVERYTHING. We had been to Toccano's forever ago and were not impressed-but this knocked out socks off. After finishing this incredible meal, we got back to Hillary's and went right to work. Between Anna, Mariah, Lacey, Brittney [Andrew's sister] and I we just cooked and decorated like crazy. We finished right when the guests started arriving-there was a good turn out of about 17 of Hillary's good friends. We played ate, talked, played Bridal Scattegories, and 'Pin the Kiss on the Prince', took a Quiz based on Hillary, and watched a video in which Andrew had answered questions about Hillary in. It was really fun-we tried to make it fun for her, and exactly what she wanted and I hope we succeeded-she deserves it. The rest of the weekend consisted of more conference and cooking, LOTS of Monopoly Deal [our new favorite game], Tangled and lots of dancing, laughing, talking and singing of course. We left Sunday afternoon chasing a storm, and trying to make it home before it got to dark and rainy. It was the perfect rest before the storm of finals and we are glad we went. Here are some fun pictures from the weekend:

[I wish I had a better picture but our awesome friend Katie from when we were kids came to the shower and it was so fun seeing and playing with her! Afterwards her hubby came and me and Lester played Monopoly Deal with them and got them hooked!]

[Alex [Brittney's hubby], Lester and Andrew came home after the priesthood session and shower was over. Fun!]

[these look messy but are so good-brown sugar bacon wrapped sausages!]

[some of the other food we made together! all delicious if I do say so myself! BLT tomatoes, cookies n cream cupcakes, fruit and fruit dip, Oreo truffles, root beer floats and sausages above]