Back at SUU!

OK so a lot has happened since my last blog. I don’t have pictures of like any of it (I couldn’t find my camera) but it was way fun.

We went to California for the weekend to go to Ashley’s wedding.

Finals at the world’s most unhelpful university, a.k.a. UVU, came and went and I got the grades that I expected to get and I moved out of that apartment and lived at home for 2 weeks, went to Lagoon once then moved to Cedar City.

Can I just tell everyone how much I love it in Cedar! The first day I was here the few others that were here played games and watched a movie, the next day they forgot about me! Can you believe that they forgot to invite me to Sand Hollow with them. I was very sad but they made it up to me by doing a spontaneous night swim at the manmade lake/pond thing. The next day we went to Park Discovery, this is one of the coolest parks I have ever been to. There are lots of places to explore and lots of places to hide, I love going there. Sunday was also jam packed with fun, church is at one so we all stayed out late Saturday night so we could sleep in. I love wards where you just walk in and feel at home. After church we went to the fireside then we had ward prayer and treats. After ward prayer we had dinner then we played games again.

Then today was the first day of classes, my classes start bright and early at 8 am, I know what you’re thinking you’re in college make a better schedule, well this class is only taught at two times and the other is during a time when a class is only taught at that time, total bummer. The day was going great I liked my classes and I got free lunch then I checked my e-mail. They changed a class so that it now comes with a $60 fee, that was fine they told me in the middle of the summer that was the case and there was no book listed for the course so I figured ok $60 it could be worse, oh it was worse. The teacher is requiring a book that she wrote and only one place has the rights to sell it so on top of the $60 we have to buy a book for $136! No way! I talked to a lot of people about this and have decided to see if I can get the $60 fee waived so I can afford to buy this book. I ended my school day with orchestra, I love going to orchestra because you know like your whole section and everyone just gets along and its way fun.

Now the fun started all over again. After orchestra we played Ultimate for like 3 hours, then went to FHE and played slip-n-slide kickball. You have to slide into 2^nd and home on a slip-n-slide it was way fun. After FHE we decided we weren’t finished having fun so we went to Park Discovery and played dot dot for like 2 hours. I have had more fun in the week that I’ve been in Cedar than I did all year at wolverine crossing.

As for my roommates, well we’ll just say they have deeper pockets than me and that I’m glad this isn’t my first year down here.

I forgot to mention the incredibly long hike that Steph got me to go on. She posted on Facebook who wants to go hike up a really cool river? Well it was very educational, not so much a river as a stream in a dry river bed, and a really long hike. We went so she could work on her senior project.  

This looks like how me and Dylan used to play together

JoJo was so tired by the end of the day that he went and

buckled himself in his seat hoping we would leave

I guess this is the park that my mom and Lisa used to play at all the time

It was really funny to hear them talk about playing there

If I smile while I poke it is that considered being soft?

this makes me think of Brian Regans Party Games bit.

this kid can down popsicles like no ones business

and finally my room in Cedar City

College life is CRAZY!

Okay so this is what my next week is going to be like:

Wednesday 7am- wake up get ready for school 8:30-go to school, class from 9-11 then homework for half an hour, change and head to work at 11:45. 5pm get off work drive to Mapleton check my checklist to make sure I have everything out of my apartment, check out of my apartment then home to pack for Morro Bay. Study for calculus test and eventually go to bed. I also have a class from 6-9 that just might get skipped today.

Thursday 7am-wake up get ready for school 8:15-go to school, class from 9-11 then homework for half an hour, change and head to work at 11:45. 5pm get off work drive to the airport get on the plane to Long Beach land around 9pm local time.

Friday I have a calculus test(don't know how to pull that off). Hopefully early in the morning drive up to Morro Bay and hopefully get dropped off at the library to write a paper.

Saturday is Ashley's wedding

Sunday drive back to Long Beach to get on the plane land in Utah around 9pm

Monday 7am- wake up get ready for school 8:15-go to school, class from 9-11 then homework for half an hour, change and head to work at 11:45. 5pm get off work 6 pm go to school to take a music test. 8:30ish drive home make sure papers are written and all calc homework is finished.
Tuesday 7am- wake up get ready for school 8:15-go to school, class from 9-11 then homework for half an hour, change and head to work at 11:45. 5pm get off work 6 pm go to school turn in paper #1.

Wednesday 7am- wake up get ready for school 8:15-go to school, class from 9-11 then homework for half an hour, change and head to work at 11:45. 5pm get off work 6 pm go to school turn in paper #2, #3,and #4. Yes 3 papers due in one day.

If you haven't noticed writing three of the four papers is not in the schedule.

I’m told in the end it will all be worth it, but sometimes I just want to be able to fast forward to the part where it’s all worth it.

I know just how this kitty feels

Utah Valley Half Marathon

So I ran the Utah Valley Half Marathon on June 11, 2011. I still don’t understand the pleasure of running and now that I’ve done it I think I may be done, unless anyone wants to do the Disney Land half marathon with me, then I would do it again. I ran it in 2:15:08, pretty good for someone that’s had around 5 surgeries on their feet and hasn’t ever ran before. Red powerade and me do not get along. It seriously made me throw up a little when I drank it, needless to say at the next station I searched out blue. The last like 3 miles of the race you could see the finish line but it never seemed like it was getting closer; it was the longest 3 miles of my life! I was so happy when I finished and saw the clock said a time way faster than I anticipated I could run.

The begining of the race waiting for the gun to go off

It was soooooo cold

somehow dad missed me in the tunnel but

                                                   heres a picture of me leaving the tunnel

This first hill was a killer

Ya cars drove past going super fast as you were running it was a little scary

The misters felt sooo good

Look at me finish!

Memorial Day weekend

On Sunday we were all jumping on the tramp and Kenny goes “what if we slept out on the tramp?” I told him about how we used to sleep out on the tramp with the uncles and aunt Nedra and that maybe we could sleep on the tramp this summer. Uncle Dylan told Kenny that he needed help moving stuff on Saturday so maybe on Friday they could come over and we could make s’mores and sleep out on the tramp. Well we did have a ton of fun but it started to rain so we didn’t get to sleep out on the tramp we had to move inside.

On Saturday we helped to move the office to the new building. Myia and Kenny were awesome helpers and we got a lot moved.

I think Kenny may be jumping on Myia

It looks like its snowing but its just the ash from the fire

Jordan trying to figure out how to get the stuff off the top shelf

Kenny figured out how to get it down!

The new office

Auntie in her new playroom

Kenny's helping gma go through gpa Kens stuff

Brysen didn't like walking back and forth so he would always take two boxes

We had a really fun weekend but there were a few things missing like one Lauren and one Parker.

Pros and Cons

Yesterday I was extremely bored and started thinking if I was in Cedar........then I thought if I was in Cedar I wouldn't be able to go to Sunday dinners, or hang out with my cousins, or have sleepovers on the tramp, or meet new people, and I wouldn’t get to have a new adventure. I’ve decided that adventures build character and teach you new lessons.

Going to UVU :/

So an advisor at SUU said that I should go up to UVU and take calculus II over the summer that it was the same as here. Well dean of the college of math you were soooooooo wrong! UVU starts about 2 chapters after SUU ended and the teacher doesn’t explain why you do what you are doing she just does a whole bunch of examples and says "so we have what" and "this equals what" a lot but they aren’t questions for the class she is literally asking herself how to do the problem and sometimes she does it wrong and has to go back and do it again! Needless to say I dropped that class, trying to do two extra chapters of work while trying to figure out what the craziness she is doing on the board was just too confusing. Instead I decided to try to up my grade in calculus I so I'm just going to retake it and hopefully get a higher grade to raise my GPA. I also found out that they teach a class that I forgot to withdraw from when I stopped going so that will be very helpful in raising my GPA and I can take a class to fulfill all the requirements for my minor. So I guess that the summer won't be a total loss. I also moved hoping it would be easier to find a job, well it’s hard to find a job anywhere, I’m either over qualified or under qualified, so my quest for a job goes on.

I have one roommate and like the 5^th day I was here she asked me “How Mormon are you?” I’m still not really sure how to answer that question. My roommate follows most of the commandments from what I can see, not including modesty or going to church. Hayley said that her institute teacher calls them Mormon but…….s.

Here are some pictures of my apartment. The kitchen is really small and feels crowded when the two of us are in it I couldn’t imagine what it’ll be like if we get a roommate or two. I live on the 3^rd floor and have a beautiful view of the church. (note the sarcasm) There is a train that goes by about 5 times a day and blows its horn an excessive amount; it’s a good thing I’m a heavy sleeper so I can sleep through it. Where I live is pretty cool it has a workout room with TV’s and they transmit the sound to the treadmills so you just plug in your headphones and watch what you want at the volume you want. There are also two pools and two hot tubs, all of which are closed currently and very dirty, I hope this changes soon. There is also 5 buck pizza, a textbook store and wise guys comedy.

 This is right when you walk in the door

The kitchen

The living room

The hallway to my room

My bathroom.

There aren't any drawers :(

Things I learned at SUU

Well my first year at SUU is over here are a few lessons learned while in Cedar City

1.       Every sound of every letter and when it says what sound and why.

2.       You can get used to the sound of constant traffic.

3.       Along with the traffic you get used to the sounds of sirens all the time.

4.       Riding your bike is faster than driving, almost always. (College drivers are almost worst than high school drivers, especially when late.)

5.       The picture of a tiger on the letter t is not a good idea because all the kids call it a lion.

6.       Almost all ESL students call the quarter a penny.

7.       Vegetables is a hard word to say and sometimes starts with a b.

8.       There are not enough practice rooms and people don’t value music like they do at Snow.

9.       That people don’t know who the Beatles are.

10.   How to play racquetball.

11.   Sometimes you have to ask the same question to several professors and see what answer is said most before acting.

12.   You have to phrase questions like you would to a 4 year old if you want the math professor to be able to understand you.

13.   You do not need a blender to make a shake, just a cup a fork and lots of patients.

14.   Homework cannot come first, you must go play softball and go on dates and go on crazy adventures or life here is going to suck.

15.   Toilet paper lasts a lot longer when you don’t share a bathroom with 4 other girls!

16.   Number 14 only works if some of your professors cancel class so you can get it all done. Or if you stay up late and wake up early.

17.   Make friends with good values and they won't lead you astray but lead you to grow.

18.   I do not want to live by a freeway or major road when I grow up.

19.   No one can be trusted! Sad but true.

20.   I have awesome parents who taught me great skills, like how to get an earring out of a sink when someone drops it down the drain and is in tears about it. (It was from Paris)

21.   Sometimes you just need to cry.

22.   When prices on food and gas go up financial aid goes down. L

23.   Going to bed at 2 am and waking up at 6:30 am three nights in a row is a really really bad idea.

24.   Sometimes you have to learn the hard way

25.   How to sleep through lots and lots of noise

26.   If you’re nice to others they are nice to you

27.   No matter how many times you tell people that you are not going to share your lunch they still ask. (This one bothers me a lot because this one particular guy says that it is very rude that I eat my lunch in front of him every day. Well buddy I’m not your mom make your own lunch!)

28.   You can’t help students that never go to school

29.   Doing homework can be fun if you find the right study group

30.   Even if you are super tired taking the extra 10 minutes to read your scriptures and say your prayers is well worth it.

31.   My parents are cooler than most, ok almost all, parents.

32.   I’m glad my parents taught me of the effects of drugs and alcohol at a young age so that when presented with them I already had an answer.

33.   You can eat enough at free food things to last you the rest of the day

34.   Always eat the free food, even if it’s cold

35.   Running and eating new foods does not mix, sticking with what I eat everyday makes my tummy much happier.

36.   Great friends and awesome wards are rare so treasure them when you find them

37.   True friends always find a reason to get together and then they make it epic!

38.   I think I may have lucked out on the roommate front this year. Let’s hope next year is half as awesome as this one was.

Snow College Graduation

Farewell Snow College.

I'll miss your awesome atmosphere and top of the line caring staff.

How I didn't do my homework

So like all week some of my friends were talking about this hike and going rappelling and they kept trying to talk me into it all week and every time they would ask I would tell them that I had so much homework and that I couldn’t go unless I got it all done. Well I didn’t get my homework all done and they still got me to go. My to do list for Saturday was a big one and only two things got crossed off that huge to do list but I had the funnest time of my life.

We went to Red Cliffs in Hurricane and did this hike where you hike up a stream that’s in a rock valley. It was so fun and so cold.

We had to park pretty far away from the trail head because there were so many people there and we thought it would be faster to just go over the hill.......well it wasn't and this is what we ended up walking through

They were very glad to be out of the craziness we were in

This was so fun you had to climb up the waterfall to keep going.

(I don't know whats up with the guy without a shirt he was just

 standing there when we got there and we waited but he never moved)

Thank you dad for the waterproof camera! I was the only one with a

camera handy and not in a Ziploc bag and we got some amazing pictures because of it!

After the red cliffs we went to In-N-Out and got some lunch then we went to snow canyon to go rappelling.

I got a page of my paper written while I was watching others rappel. All in all it was

 well worth the extra work I’ll have to do tomorrow to catch up.

There are more pictures on Facebook

I couldn't get the video to go in order but this was during our first hike.

No one would jump from very high and this guy chickened out while I was waiting for him

 to move and his friends totally made fun of him after I jumped.

Conference weekend

We had peep wars on Friday....

you buy peeps and put toothpicks in them then heat them up in the microwave.

After the peep wars watched Sweet Home Alabama and Made of Honor and we made a diet 7up cake.

Sunday morning we watched conference and after the first session Brian and Robert made homemade pancakes and buttermilk syrup.



Then had a pudding war after conference on Saturday.....

I was supposed to still be clean at the end. I was just there to take the pictures.

Later we watched Life as we know it then Brian and Koby said they wanted to go play basketball so we played basketball from like 10-11:45pm.

I've heard of a few things going on tomorrow so we'll see what fun adventures come next.