To the Land of the Beatles, Her Royal Majesty, and some of my Ancestors...

Surprisingly, this trip's preparations had fewer problems. Which surprised me, immensely. Until last night, when my friend tried to find someone else to give me a ride to the airport because something came up and she couldn't. Another friend stepped in to save the day. I spent the 3.5 hours doing work and doing assignment number 2 for school. Now, we're just about to board and I won't have wi-fi access until London. I hope I survive. I hope it's fun.

And best of all? I'm really calm right now (well, maybe on the outside. My heart is pounding in my chest and I'm really glad I bought some Excedrin PM.)

Cheers!!!

Purgatory (AKA Back to School) and Blessings from Visiting Teaching

Well, the summer is officially over.

I know this because I got an email from my professor that class had started and away we go. It also doesn't help that in a week (OH MY GOSH A WEEK!!!) I'm off to London. So I have to finish 2 assignments really quick (one because it's due next week and the other because it's due WHILE I'm in London). 
Tonight I sat down, and began the arduous task of my first class. 
I'm taking Web Tools and Technology. 

Fifteen minutes in, I was feeling pretty good.

Thirty minutes in, I thought I was almost done.

Thirty-two minutes in and I broke a web page.

Forty-five minutes in and I got to a "forbidden you can't access this page" error.

An hour, I wanted to throw my hands in the air and cry, "WHY DID YOU PICK THIS CLASS?!"

After that, I was forced to email the professor seeking help (which he provided) and then head over to my friend Julie's house so that we could be visit taught together. 

I just got home, sat down, saw my professor's email and finished assignment number 1. 

I'd like to think it's a little blessing from Heavenly Father for being where I should've been. Cause I don't think there's any other way that I would've been able to figure this out!

It's going to be a long four months.

Two Things

1. I've become a major traveler. 

We're down to a less than 2 weeks countdown to London/UK. People at work are annoyed.

Last weekend, I went to Boise to visit Alison & Scott. Alison did a great review of the weekend.

Which leads to number 2:

2. I've become a bit baby hungry.

I really couldn't help it. Alison & Scott's middle child was adorable and so cuddly. I fell in love.
And between that and the two kids from the family reunion, I'm wanting to be surrounded by cute little kids.

Now, please don't think I'm going to do anything drastic. But I AM willing to offer my babysitting services.

And because of number 1, I'm willing to travel.

Granted, I may have to postpone any new travel plans until next year when I can get more vacation hours.

I've still got to add a trip to the Bay Area and San Diego for at least Christmas (but maybe Thanksgiving too?).

Oh, and let's not forget that in a week I start my classes again. 

I may have bit off more than I can chew this time around...

Good And Bad

So, let be honest here.

Sometimes it's not fun being the youngest.

You have to learn to be mature faster (you've got to catch up to your siblings somehow!).

You'll always be the smallest so you can't run as fast or jump as high or know all of the skills they do.

You have to follow the lead of 7 other people, and when they're ridiculously smart and successful that's not always easy.

But then there are some good things about it:

You don't get in trouble for acting immature.

You have plenty of people who know good stories about you.

You learn from their wisdom and stupidity.

You get to enjoy their successes.

That last one happened a couple of weeks ago. Big Brother Number 2, C, came out and bought a house about 30 minutes east of me. He called it a cabin. I call it heaven. He and his wife hosted a family BBQ up there and it was gorgeous. 

Just the way I needed my week to end. And then they invited me to use it if I wanted to. I've been waiting for the right moment. I'm thinking that maybe Conference weekend might be fun to take a little jaunt. Hopefully they have a TV by then. If not, it would be cool to do the old fashioned radio way.

Camping the Way I Like It

Take 4 girls.

Send them to a cabin for the night.

Make it a bachelorette party for the one who has been able to find a good man.

Make sure that the water isn't running.

And that there are mice (because one of those girls is DEATHLY afraid of mice).

 Give them lots of food.

It makes for an excellent party.

Some highlights:

Mers: (on the phone with her mother after seeing the only mouse in the whole cabin) "I'm standing on the ottoman. My friends think I'm crazy but I said I just have to call my mom since she's the only who can calm me."  [this is as close as it's going to get to actual transcription. I do have video evidence so...]

Eating hot dogs and watermelon (we had to have something healthy in honor of the missing member of our group, Dzella!).

All four of us slept on the L-shaped couch. I ended up with very little space and had to get creative. After 2 hours of sleep, I decided to suck it up and go into the room with the mouse. Unfortunately that mouse was very active and I lasted maybe 15 minutes. Then I tossed and turned for the rest of the night.

Woke up to this:

There is no better way to wake up and tossing and turning all night was worth it for that.

Had to go to bathroom outside in nature. Never have done that before.

I'm so glad for these friends of mine. They make my life bearable and make me happy when I need it most.

I shouldn't laugh so hard

I saw this comic on Sunday and thought of Dad and all of his remotes.

And then I looked at the three remotes I have: 

1. For the TV
2. For the DVD player
3. For the cable box

And I stopped laughing...

"Family is like fudge...

...mostly sweet with a few nuts!" ~ Author Unknown

It's true. 

A few weeks ago I got to attend my family reunion. It was in Texas where it was SOOOO hot. By Saturday, I was pretty dehydrated and ornery (apologies, Family!). But it was nice to be away for a bit. And I realized that I'm a workaholic. My life is work because I try to fill my social life with work. It's starting to make me a very unhappy person. I'm trying to fix it. It just might take some time.

But here are some pictures from the reunion:

We played Minute to Win It:

We played this wizarding game (which involved running between 8 floors of a hotel and doing "tasks". It got old after an hour and a half.)

This would be the oldest niece. Not me. I'm sure you can't tell the difference.

We had a morning soccer game (indoor field, though. Did you seriously think we were going to try and play soccer in 90 degree weather?)

We went to a baseball game and I may have found the future Mr. Two Shoes there... until about the 5th inning when he had to take like 10 pitches to get a hit. Those dumb foul balls. That's when I gave up on him and decided that he wasn't good enough for me. Back to the drawing board.

Yep. Number 5 was going to be Mister Laurel. Tragedy.

And fell in love with these two cuties:

I'm serious. Have you SEEN anything cuter? I'd take them home. Even if they cried. Anyone want a babysitter?

And there it is. That's all I'm going to post. It was a good time. Definitely. I'm sad I had to miss the Pioneer Day Commemoration concert. I had AWESOME seats that I had to give away. But I think the reunion was worth it.

Paradise?

This week HAS to be better than last week.

For one: I can maybe, finally, possibly post pictures from my trip to the Jerusalem set because the newspapers are posting them. Go, check out the pictures and once I get the okay from the guys, I'll post mine. 

For two: I get to spend Thursday and Friday in Provo, working on the New Testament project.

For three: The countdown has begun. In exactly 4 weeks from today, I will be hopping onto a plane to fly across the pond. I'm excited. (And I love joking with Boss John (who leaves on Friday to attend law school) that somehow this trip comes up in EVERYTHING.)

For four: Tonight will include a trip to the gym (exercise bike, here I come!) and then editing pictures from the family reunion to allow family members to have copies.

For five: Tomorrow night will be spent hanging out with Melanie and her boys since it's been forever since I've seen them and I miss them a lot.

For six: I get to see the family on Thursday night. Not all the family, but some. And that makes me feel good.

Okay. Now I need to run to lunch. Adios!