I'm Back in School!

Wow, it's been two months since I made that last post- I need to step up my game a bit! :) Well, in case any of you who know me and haven't read my blog in a while or have talked to me recently, here's an update on what's happened regarding my schooling and such:

I walked for graduation at BYU-I back in April, expecting to do my student teaching in SLC this Fall (aka NOW). Well, it turns out that not only did I not get a passing grade (C- or above) in my Math 206 class, but I also did not pass the third diagnostic math exam that all the Elementary Education majors at BYU-I have to take if they haven't taken/passed Math 108 (which I have not done). So instead of doing my student teaching this Fall, I am back at BYU-Idaho.... again.

Fortunately I am only taking two classes this semester. UNfortunately, they are both MATH. Yeah, you guessed it- I am having to take 206 yet again. And since I didn't pass the third exam (I passed the 1st and 2nd tests; the 2nd test took me a year to finally pass), I am enrolled in Math 101, which is Intermediate Algebra. So taking Intermediate Algebra will give me the equivalent of taking the 3rd exam. I'm positive I can pass it, I'm just going to have to really knuckle down this semester with my homework. And since these are literally the only two classes I am taking, that won't be too hard. I'm a teacher's assistant for Beginning Clog, but that doesn't count because all I have to do is show up and help Annmarie teach beginning clog (I have NO homework for that class because I'm not one of the students).

Anyway, so yeah, the semester started about a week ago and I am in the full swing of things. Fortunately, I have spruced up my school supplies to make taking notes more fun. I have Disney princess folders for both classes, as well as a Mickey notebook to take notes in for 206. I also have a Tinkerbell pencil pouch to hold writing utensils and other things in. I have decided that if I have to take two classes in the one subject I despise the most (Math... just in case anyone was wondering), I am going to make doing homework and taking notes for those classes as fun as I can.

Interestingly enough, that plan has worked! :) I LOVE taking notes for 206 because Mickey is on every page, which makes me want to make sure I strategically place my notes so it looks like Mickey is helping me. :)

I have to admit, even though it's nice to be back at school... (kinda, I'm still deciding whether I'm glad to be back or not), I am really missing being home. Usually at this time of year, I'm in TVT rehearsals, preparing for the Fall production that TVT always does. I'm also usually hard at work at Day's Market. During the last few months when I've been at home, I have become really close with some of the people I work with at Day's and it's been really hard for me to not be there all the time to spend time with them. So for all of you who I normally see every day at Day's or my Timpanogos Valley Theatre family:



I'm just trying to find opportunities to socialize with people while I'm up here. I've tried to get my homework done by the weekend so that I have many opportunities to play, but apparently I haven't done a very good job of finding a lot people around my age because it seems like there are a lot of younger people (I'm referring to the fresh-out-of-high-school kids) than there are of people my age. And the people that are my age are busy with other things, so I've found myself just filling my time by getting ahead on my math assignments (I know- how lame am I?)

Anyway, that's what I've been up to lately! I hope you all have a wonderful and happy day!

I'm ready!!!!

If you had asked me if I was excited to be going back to school this Fall about a month ago, I would have said "Absolutely not! I don't want to go back!" But now, I am more than ready to go back. I want to go back. I have some of my best friends that will be there next semester and I'm only taking two classes this Fall. I'm really looking forward to being at BYU-I in the Fall again.

I'll be able to have the social life I never really had during the Winter semester of this year and I'll get to work a lot. I also have a couple motivating factors that are going to make my semester a whole lot more enjoyable. :) For instance, this lovable mouse...


I have found my motivation for this coming Fall semester and I am ready to face it head on!

My latest adventures

The last few weeks of my life can be explained in one word: busy! Here are a few things that I've done lately.

#1 My most recent adventure: seeing Toy Story 3 in 3D!


Now obviously that isn't in 3D right there, but I absolutely LOVED TS3!!!! I would put up pictures of my dressing up as Barbie for when I went to see it, but my computer is having issues, so I don't have any recent pictures uploaded on my computer as of late. However, if you are my facebook friend, you can take a looksee on there instead! :)

#2 I took a little trip to Northern Utah/Southeastern Idaho to take my 3rd diagnostic exam. I spent two and a half days in Logan at my older brother's house preparing for the test and then I got to spend time with both of my brothers, my sister-in-law, my niece, and my younger brother's fiance. The last day and a half of my trip was spent at my friend Jessica's place and I played with some of my Hobbit Hole roomies. :) Good times, good times!

#3 I'm taking an online Teachings of the Living Prophets class right now. Even though it is a lot of work because it's a 2 or 3 credit class crammed into a block class, I still love it. I spent basically two whole days reading talks from General Authorities and it was FABULOUS! I got to choose some of the talks I had to read to do a journal entry on and those talks were JUST what I needed to hear (read?) at the time. I love being a spiritual highs!

#4 This coming weekend, I get to go see the Manti pageant with my singles ward!! I haven't seen it since I was in Young Womens, so I am so excited to go see it again, and with some really fun people in my ward no less! Yippee!

#5 Fathers Day!! I love my daddy. He is amazing and wonderful and has taught me soooo much. He has always been a great leader for me in my life. I have learned some great things from him on how to be a good teacher. There are so many more things I could and need to say about him, but I am working an opening shift at the store tomorrow and I need to get some shut-eye.

Until next time!

Things I love

I love my family more than anything.

I love my friends and depend on them more than they may realize.

I love to smile and laugh/giggle.

This may come as a shock, but I love Disney.

I love Mickey Mouse.

I love Beauty and the Beast, Princess and the Frog, The Little Mermaid, and all three of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

I love to perform, whether it is singing, dancing, or acting (or doing all three at the same time).

Sandra Bullock is my favorite actress.

Johnny Depp is my favorite actor.

Besides my home and being in the temple, Disney World is my favorite place in the ENTIRE world.

I love visiting characters in the Disney Parks and I am willing to wait in line for an hour to visit my favorites if there is no other time that I can do it.

I love to read. Before this spring, I hadn't been able to read for pleasure because of how busy I was with school. I now have some downtime and I love filling it with reading many, many books.

I love to read childrens literature.

I love learning about people and their pasts.

I love to dance.

I love experiencing and learning cultures from all over the world.

I love to help people.

I love to write stories or just express myself through the written word.

I love children. Sometimes I prefer to be around them rather than adults because I feel I identify with them better on some levels.

I love dogs and puppies. I like cats too, but I prefer canines to felines.

I love chocolate.

I love popcorn. Especially either movie theater popcorn or the stuff you get in the Disney parks.

I love Zebra Domes, which are a specialty dessert made exclusively at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in Disney World.

I love to take pictures and then arrange those pictures to tell stories.

I love beauty pageants.

I love to learn.

I love to bake.

I love to swim and be in water.

I love to watch "Popples," which was a show that was available to watch on video in the early 90's.

I love to daydream.

I love overcoming obstacles.

I love my savior, Jesus Christ.

I love to dress up for holidays (Valentines Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Independence Day, Patriot Day, Christmas, Halloween)

I love to dress up as a character from a movie when I see a movie I have been looking forward to seeing on opening night.

I love attending midnight showings of movies.

I love to be girly and dress up and pretend I'm a princess.

I love to sleep.

I love improving my singing voice.

I love watching a child experience an 'aha!' moment after teaching them something.

I love bright colors, particularly pink.

I love making crafty things.

I love experimenting with my looks (hair, clothes, accessories).

I love traveling by plane and having a window seat.

I love star-gazing.

I love to watch movies and quote them.

I love candy.

I love crossing things off "To Do" lists.

I love babies.

I love to decorate and make things look festive or pretty.

I love to organize.

Happy 24th birthday to me!

Today is my 24th birthday! I don't really have very many plans today, to be completely honest. I'm substituting for my dad's TV classes all this week, so I got to start my day around 6:30am today. :P When I was a kid, I got up that early voluntarily because I was so excited about my birthday and the festivities of the day. But now, I'm boring and I am not too crazy about getting up any time before 9am on my birthday. Oh well. I get to celebrate the beginning of my 24th year and get paid for supervising my dad's classes. I can do that. :)

So I know I used this picture in my previous post about going to Disney World, but I decided that while I was in Disney World, I would celebrate my birthday while I was there.

I played in the parks on Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday and I got my birthday pin on Saturday. So I didn't get to wear it during the entire Disney visit, but I wore it three out of the four days, so I got some good use out of it.

I watched the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! street party on Friday, Saturday, and Tuesday and I got the best reaction from Mickey on Saturday. On Friday, Courtney and I didn't know which side Mickey would be on during the parade, so we ended up being on the opposite side of where he was. I decided that I loved the parade (and Mickey) enough that I was going to sacrifice going to the Block Party Bash on Saturday (since Mickey wasn't even in that parade in Hollywood Studios) and go to the Street party again instead.

Courtney and I staked out our spot well before the party started so that by the time it did start and everyone realized what was happening, no one could take our PERFECT spot. I was wearing my birthday button and so a lot of the parade performers noticed and wished me a happy birthday. :) Once all the floats got to their spots in the Hub circle, the announcer did a "celebrate roll call" for everyone to say what they were celebrating. Courtney and I already knew what the procedure was from experiencing it the day before, so I was ready to give my shout out. I made sure I was visible to Mickey so he would see my button. Before they even did the roll call, Mickey pointed at my button to show that he saw it and then he clapped for me. :) So once they did do the roll call, he zeroed right in on me and 'cheered'. It made me really happy.

After a few minutes, they invited everyone to come out into the street and jam with the performers. Mickey stayed on his float, but Donald came down and was the center of a dance circle. A lot of the other characters got off their floats to come into the street too, but we were between the main float with Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Minnie and Genie's float with some other characters. A PhotoPass person managed to get some pictures of Courtney and I dancing and then he gave us a card with the pictures on them, so you can get an idea of what the dance party looked like.


It was SO hot, but SO much fun!! I even got a video of Mickey 'accepting' a kiss I blew to him by touching his heart when he saw me do it. I loved the party so much that I went one more time on Tuesday before I left Wednesday to go home. It was fun, but Saturday was more fun because Mickey was more responsive to me. That and we got to do a Conga line on Friday and Saturday, but for some reason they cut it out on Tuesday. Oh well. Go figure.

We'll see what birthday surprises are in store for me today. It's supposed to be kind of rainy and gloomy, so I am going to try to make up for that by watching some kind of Disney movie. Maybe Beauty and the Beast or Princess and the Frog. Or Pirates of the Caribbean! I don't know, there's just so many choices to choose from!

Trip to Disney World

MAN I love Disney World! I will write about more of the specifics later, but for now I'll just do the basics.

Thursday:
- Arrived in Florida after 4 hours of flying and nearly 3 hours waiting to have our plane de-iced before taking off.
- Downtown Disney with Megan and Courtney
- Kitchen Sink with Courtney, Bryce, and a few friends

Friday:
Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios with Courtney

Saturday:
Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, Magic Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios with Courtney



Sunday:
Church at new building with Buena Vista YSA ward
Dinner with Uncle Brad, Aunt Debi, David, Whitney, and Melanie

Monday:
Epcot with Uncle Brad, Aunt Debi, David, Whitney, and Melanie
Animal Kingdom by myself

Tuesday:
Hollywood Studios and Downtown Disney with Uncle Brad, Aunt Debi, David, Whitney, and Melanie
Magic Kingdom by myself



Wednesday:
Breakfast at Denny's with Celeste
Drove to airport with Uncle Brad, Aunt Debi, David, Whitney, and Melanie

Next week.....

I get to go to Disney World!!!!!!!!

My parents are giving me a trip to go to WDW as a graduation present, so we have been figuring out a schedule for me to go down there for almost a week. For the first half of my trip, I'm staying with one of my favorite friends, Courtney,

who is probably the only person I know that truly understands my obsession with characters. We're going to meet a whole bunch of characters and play in the parks while I stay with her.

Then for the second half of the trip, I'm going to spend my time with some of my Uncle Brad's family because my cousin Whitney is following in mine and our cousin Dayna's footsteps and she is working in WDW on her own college program. I am so jealous that she gets to be working down there right now. But I am really excited to get to spend some time with some of my cousins and my aunt and uncle because I haven't gotten to do very much with them in the past.

Yay for going to one of my favorite places on earth!!!