Since I got home I learned I that my job no longer existed. Well, since i deferred they decided i can no longer work on campus which is all fine and dandy except that before i turned it in i was told i could work til i left. BAH! so anyways, Ive been looking for a job through several applications I still have yet to hear from anyone. So what do i do with my time. Besides applications... uh... not alot. I read. Ive read five books in the last week; Everything is Fine ( thumbs down ), Kiss in Time (Thumbs way up!), Keturah and Lord Death (Ditto), Princess of the Midnight Ball (and again, thumbs up), and My Fair Godmother (super good too). Thus, learning about several authors that have really good cute books. Shannon met them at a book conference i believe... Jessica Day George, Jeanette Rallison, Martine Leavitt... anywyas... they are good but im working on reading Things Fall Apart for my History class.. I guess we will see how that goes... I went to Zion National Park with Shannon and three of her sibilings on Thursday and we hiked the Narrows! It was amazing! The water was cold, around 60 degrees, but we got used to it eventually though it ended up being so cold we turned around making our hike about 12 miles. But a very very beautiful 12 miles. We spent the night at Shannons aunts house in st. george and played with her cousins for the evening. We went to their uncles house and played in the pool for a couple hours. After stopping by the cemetary, to see her grandpa and uncles grave, we stopped at this smoothie place called the orange peel. I got a mellow yellow, peach and mango in vanilla mix, which was delightful. Then I drove home which amazingly only took 3 1/2 hours. So we got home and crashed. We were beyond tired! So yesterday I stayed home and got my syllabus printed off, planned princess night, took a shower, read some more, watched music and lyrics (love it btw) annalisse came for a visit... but pretty much my life has been lame... Maybe ill go hike more often. In cool places. not rock canyon. ive done it 4 times in the last semester. mulitply that by 6 semester... yeah. i hike that one alot...

my trip and thereafter.

okay so i wrote what we had planned to do thinking we had it planned perfectly blah blahblah. well to be honest we did stop everywhere i said and even an extra place. but everything worked out well and i had pretty much an incredible two weeks. we started at 4 am (on the road we were up earlier) and made it to Salina, KS the first day. Stopping merely for gas and we went to the cathedral in the prairie. There was nothing else to do and we needed a stretch. Then two of my favorite days came. On monday we went to independance, liberty jail, far west, and adam ondi ahman. not only that but our old roommate Kaitie lives close by in Gallatin, MO so we were able to see her. We drove until we made it to Nauvoo, IL, stopping only at Hannibal MO. the small town where Mark Twain grew up. It was a nice stretching place and fun things to see. On Tuesday we were able to spend the day in old town Nauvoo and do several activities. Then we traveled to Carthage and experienced the small jail that is known my all members. It was wonderful. That night we stayed with Shannon's Aunt Sandy and Uncle Rob. They, as in aunt sandy i didnt meet uncle rob, are very kind. Our plan was to wake up and be on the road by 4, which we did, and make it to Virginia. Another long day of driving lay before us. This is the part of the plan we didnt stick to. My car broke down in Ohio. St Clairsville to be exact. About twenty miles out of Wheeling West Virginia. By the time my dad culd get there it would be 3 AM so we got a hotel room (that was incredibly awful) and slept until the next morning before getting breakfast at the local cracker barrel. of course breakfast was delightful. Eventually dad and brother nelson, who i owe big time, came hooked up the car, got lunch and headed for home. We got home late thursday night and pretty much just went to bed. the joys of on extra day in the car... But the next day was a pretty big day... I went to the temple! The Fellows, nicoles parents, came along with Sister Boxer. I was really excited to see them as it had been awhile. And to share my special day with good friends is always brilliant. Boxer- as you are one of the few that read this I will say it directing it to you. I was super excited to ahve you come, you helped me alot in young womens and set an example that I wanted to follow. You know... awesomeness. :) anywyas thanks for coming. i was happy to see you. so then i went to visit Sister england, my young womens leader in england that moved into my home ward. then i saw ronny kaye. what a great kid! i wasnt going to stay long as i had to do laundry and pack for florida as i was leaving te next morning then all the sudden it was after 9! so then i got home around 930 or later... Stilll my laundry had to be done so i got working on that and went upstairs to get packing when stacy called and came over. we looked at mary kay and talked... postponing my packing again. but i was okay with that... i love my friends! though i dont have to many out there anymore... so around 12 1230 ish i finally got going on the packing... but sorting through everything to bring back to utah and what to leave in VA was not as easy a task as i thought... anywyas i eventually finished allowing myself just a couple hours of sleep before getting in the car... again. we drove to orlando and met granny, jake, lance, jordan and jazmine at Westgate Lakes resort. It was a pretty nice place, we enjoyed our time there. We then spent a few days at Universal Studios. Though it was stormy most of the time... oh the joy of central florida... and all of florida i guess... that thrusday i met shannon and her mom at teh orlando temple with my parents and after a session and lunch i went to ft lauderdale with her family before we flew back to utah... so that friday we took an airboat ride around the everglades... well a small part of it. This one gator was way to close for comfort... anyways it was pretty cool and we went to the little sanctuary they have and really enjoyed seeing the animals and talking to one of the animal people... Then we, shannons siblings and i, threw shannon in the pool and ended up having a large water extravagnza party stuff... we played til dinner. it was fun. then the next morning, bright and early- another 4 am morning..- we headed to the airport and boarded our straight shot to SLC. Elise, shannons other sister, picked us up and we dropped shannon off at school and i came home. since then... i have been to the temple twice, monday and tuesday, and were going to the SLC temple this afternoon... other than that... i havent really done much... i guess i should get on looking for a job... anyways thats my life up to now... had a brilliant past 2 1/2 weeks. now to pass the next eight weeks and ill be doing great :)

Okay...Finally

So yeah i dont like writing i thought perhaps if i wrote online i would do it more often. Thats a lie, i just proved it. So the last few weeks have been pretty busy. I have been working out at the quarry still, got my mission call to the Idaho, Pocatello (and sent in the acceptance etc.), got my temple recommend so i can go through next week! Im driving home to Virginia starting Sunday- June 28- and we are traveling to kansas then through independance, liberty, far west, adam-ondi-ahman, carthage, and nauvoo. then were staying with shannons family. then off to indianapolis and then home to VA. we are going to stay there for a couple days then going to florida, shannon to ft lauderdale, me to orlando. im going to disneyworld with my family for another couple days before shannon comes to pick me up, go to the orlando temple, and then go back to her house and then fly back to Salt Lake City. its going to be a packed two weeks! other than that ive been studying and... well nope thats about it. but here are some pictures of some of our shananigans.

oh yeah here are some of my basic beliefs,

God is your Father in Heaven. He knows you personally. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and your Savior. His life and teachings are the way to peace and happiness.

God's Words Never Cease (2:57)

God knows you personally and loves you more than you can comprehend. He wants you to be happy now and always. To accomplish this purpose, Heavenly Father has provided a plan called the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Son of God; His teachings are the way to peace in life and joy for eternity.

As part of His plan, God has followed a simple pattern from the beginning of the world. He chooses a prophet (like Noah or Moses) to teach the gospel and lead the people. Sadly, most of God’s children have disregarded, disobeyed, and rejected His prophets.

As promised, Heavenly Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth. Jesus Christ lived a perfect, sinless life. He established His Church, taught His gospel, and performed many miracles. Incredibly, even Jesus Christ was rejected. Following His death, many people began to drift away from or distort Christ’s true teachings. As a result, God withdrew His authority to direct the Church that Christ had established.

Our loving Father in Heaven is the “same yesterday, and to day, and for ever" (see Hebrews 13:8). As in ancient times, He has followed His simple pattern in our day. He has again established the gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth through a prophet. This prophet whom the Lord called to restore God’s truth is named Joseph Smith. The evidence of this Restoration is found in the Book of Mormon, which you can read, ponder, and pray about.

God continues to speak His words and reveal His truth in our day through a living prophet. If you ask your Heavenly Father in prayer, He can confirm the truth of this to you.

Learn More

• God is your loving Heavenly Father God is your Father in Heaven; He knows you personally and loves you more than you can comprehend.
• The Gospel Blesses Families and Individuals A home established on gospel principles is a place of refuge and safety, where the Spirit of the Lord can abide, blessing family members with peace, joy and happiness.
• Heavenly Father Reveals His Gospel to All Throughout history and today, God has chosen prophets to teach the gospel and direct His Church.
• Jesus Christ established His Church The Savior established His Church “upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Ephesians 2:20).
• The Great Apostasy Following the death of Jesus Christ, wicked people killed the Apostles; as a result, priesthood authority to direct Christ's church and receive revelation from God was lost.
• The Restoration of the Gospel Jesus Christ has restored his gospel to the earth, established a prophet and apostles with priesthood authority to receive revelation and perform saving ordinances such as baptism. Christ's restored church is called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• The Restoration of the Priesthood Jesus Christ has restored his gospel to the earth, established a prophet and apostles with priesthood authority to receive revelation and perform saving ordinances such as baptism. This restored authority is found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• The Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ is an actual record of God’s dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains, as does the Bible, the fullness of the everlasting gospel.
• How can I know this is true? You can know if the gospel of Jesus Christ has truly been restored to the earth. Ask your Heavenly Father in prayer and you will receive an answer from Him through the Holy Ghost.

this site will explain more about my faith and what i believe. www.mormon.org this is why im going on a mission. please learn more!

kinda bored but talking to Amy!

besides the fact there is so much to do it feels like i have nothing to do im just bored. i kinda want a nap but i cant be a lazy bum... i ought to be doing something productive... Anyways one of my roommates, also amazing, Amy is currently in Europe and we miss her stinkin guts but I am talking to her right now! Thank goodness for facebook chat :) But true statement: I MISS HER! anyways im going to entertain myself eslewhere...

ps we went to DI and found this sign pictured here and thought it described our lives perfectly so it now hangs above our door.

Pics of my "sisters" and other fun stuff!

Jaycee my little sis attached to my back and Shannon and I giving Jaycee a new background on her phone :) its true we are the coolest kids ever. I love 'em! Sabrina got our pet python stuck in her belt loops and put him on my head once we finally got the thing out! He has gotten so big! At least doubled in size since last August! and yes, his name is monty... monty python... haha

Heres the drive in!

Garden Pics and Drive In!

Here are a few pictures of our garden. They are from my phone so they aren't fabulous but... You know... These are our strawberries, which I ate one yesterday and it was incredibly delicious..., then our trellis with the climbing clematis and our vegetables then our bird bath flowers, flower pot flowers, and our picnic we had with Sister McEwan which unfortunately we didn't get to mow the lawn at that point... but now the lawn is much better cause I mow it twice a week!

Anyways this is the day we pu the garden in, of course the strawberries have been there since last year at least...

Last night we went to the drive in theater and saw star trek and monsters vs aliens double feature! Its kinda funny watching them together cause the latter had many star trek puns. It was a really fun night! I loved having my roommates, friends, and cousin hang out it was indeed a fun activity that I will definantly do again soon! Ill put some pics of that up soon!

Home

I love being home! Its official! My roommates are absolutely incredible! Okay so not that shoveling dirt for 10 hours a day four days a week isnt a blast but those girls just never cease to amaze me with pure awesomeness! Im sad cause Shannon isnt home this weekend and Meisha is at her lab most of the day but I love my bed and provo and just being somewhere that I consider home. We moved to a new quarry called Cisco. Its lots of really hard rock. oh fun... but we havnet gotten to the bone layer so like i said its just shoveling dirt...

Jaycee just found out she can quit her second job and shes coming home and Im so excited to have her home with me wooooooooooooo! I love that kid, for sure one of my best friends ever for which I can say is awesome to have her share my room.

Big Girls You Are Beautiful!

Ever heard the songs from MIKA? well he sings big girls you are beautiful... okay anyways its an awesome song the beat just makes you want to dance. My roommates and I were up til almost three this morning so we are so tired were giddy haha. Thats all I have to say... And were a little high off the paint they are using outside on the outside of the house. Coming through the window.. hmmmm well we are thinking of where we can go get our haircut. So id better go find somewhere cheap to go.

Sisters

My parents never gave me a big or little sister so i decided to choose my own. Jaycee and Shannon are two of my roommates that I will have lived with for ten months soon, well Jaycee ditched us for Hawaii for four of those months... anyways Jaycee is my little sister and Shannon is my big sister. I dont think I could have chosen better sisters. Anyways, they are awesome girls who I want to always be around. which is why I wish I worked where I could be home more often... So Jaycee says Im a bad big sister because I keep teasing her about a boy. I think as a big sister I hold the right to tease her. I mean really how boring would it be if I didnt invade her life :) I love that kid though. She is great no matter how awful she thinks I am at any given moment. She is a trip. Now, to find a manhole prince for Shannon so I can tease the big sister :) oh and have "nieces" and "nephews". To my sisters. I LOVE YOU!!

Garden

My roommates have been hard at work trying to make our yard look nice.Fortunately we have done a pretty good job. I think... We pulled up our tulips as they had all bloomed and lost their petals. So we replaced them with vegetables! We have grape, cherry and regular tomatoes, two bell pepper plants, string beans, snow peas, zucchini, butternut squash, and onions. We are excited about them, Ill put pics up one day... But thats just one side, oh and on that side we got a trellis with a climbing clematis, then around the bush we have a rose bush and peonies, across the path we have strawberries! they are starting to grow and there are TONS of them! IM SO EXCITED! to the side of the strawberries we have woolly thyme, and another rose bush. Then on our porch, surrounding our porch swing, we have a bird bath with lavender, delphinium, and small purple filler flowers, then a nice square pot with a mona lisa, columbines and snowdrops with a cute wire fence in the back. Now, to the herb garden, in beautiful hanging baskets we have: cilantro, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, mint, lemon balm, chamomile (SP?), oregano, and one more that I just cant remember... anyways we have been busy planting, watering, and growing all of our vegetables! We finally mowed our lawn so it is beautiful! This morning I am working on getting rid of six inches of dirt around our porch so we cah plant our marigolds and brighten our yard even more! Shannon, Jaycee, Meisha, Sabrina and I and of course all our friends really enjoy sitting on the swing enjoying the warmth of the spring sun looking, and smelling!, the beautiful flowers!

Screen of Death

Well, my computer is being a piece of lame. Darn blue screen. Just before the blue screen the fans begin being loud and sounds like a blow dryer. DANG IT! anyways im trying to move all my files to my external hard drive before my computer officially dies. That will be a sad day too. Other than that not alot is happening, I know- my life is boring .... So I finished all my bishop paperwork and have my stake president meeting wednesday and so my mission papers will be on there way and i will know where i am going in a few weeks! AHH! im pretty excited about that. anyways before the blue screen i shall publish this lame post and move on with my life, computerless.

India No More

So life has been pretty crazy. India was in my plans for the summer to study the geology of the Himalaya. Unfortunately after lots of money had been invested I was not sure if it was really what I should be doing. However I could not imagine losing all that money. So anyways I went to campus today and the Geology dept said they would reimburse it all! I was soooooo excited. Now this means my mission papers can go in in TWO WEEKS!! I cannot wait!!!! I wish they were in already but the anticipation of putting them in and getting my call is almost to much to handle! AHHHHHHH its so great! Today has been wonderful. It beautiful outside and im about to go see my big brother and then chaperone a 5th grade fieldtrip. I dont want this day to end. It is incredible. Everything Ive been worrying about is falling into place and I know its a great answer to my prayers. I have had a difficult time trying to figure it all out but its working! Anyways Im going to enjoy this beautiful day outside.

I know its been awhile...

Well I am sitting at a computer at the Moab library waiting for my roommate and her sister to come so we can camp and hike arches tonight and tomorrow. I am way excited as I have officially passed arches national park many times and never gone in. In fact, the site I am working now is justa few miles away. I am excited like I said however I AM EXHAUSTED! We, three other students and myself, have dug up and relocated about 4 tons of dirt. No exaggeration! Anyways my arms are sore my legs are sunburnt, im constantly tired and I stabbed my knee with a dental pick... other than that its been a great week. I have to admit its been alot of manual labor but the hard work really makes me feel like ive accomplished something. anyways my minutes are almost up gotta go. more later :)

Tired.

I went to work early today and stayed for 6 hours. My brother came to visit me and I gave him a background tour of the museum. It was cool. Unfortunately the rib, of an apatosaurus, I am working on is breaking into pieces so I have glued my fingers together many times trying to get it together. Fortunately its finally coming together. So anyways I came home just in time to shower and run to the dentist. I have to admit I really like him and I am not such a fan of the dentist so thats a pretty good compliment to him. I went to get a cream slush at sonic with my friend Meisha, who is awesome, and it was delicious as usual. So then my good friend Alex came over and we hang out alot. We are watching Beautician and the Beast with Fran Dreshcer. Love it! Anyways I ought to be doing my Glaciology homework. Im working on it but its at the point that I just dont want to do homework... guess its good thats the last thing I have to do for awhile. Good Night!

Did I tell you I have two jobs? and other random thoughts...

Oh, so my other job... I TA for Geology 101. The best part of this job is that I can work from home, essentially all I do is grade papers. Ill answer questions to if I can but I pretty much have to refer them to Dr. Nixon. It is not such a bad job just very time consuming and kinda boring, however I love to see how the kids... well some of them... have pulled geology together they are understanding it and realizing its not as boring as most people make it out to be. I think of this because I have to grade papers and watch Finding Nemo (a movie is a must to keep me entertained).

Dr. Nixon the professor I grade for was honored at our geology banquet and there is now a scholarship named after him. I thought that was very nice of the geology department to honor him, he is such a great guy.

I have to finish my mission prep final today and work on my glaciology final homework. Though it is class work I'm not worried and can do them quickly well... glaciology will take awhile but what a great class so its all good.

Today was my first day to sleep in. So when I woke up and it was bright and sunny I was like ah early morning... to realize it was 730. Man whats the use of having a day to sleep in if my body doesn't let me???!!! yeesh.

Well I ought to get working and getting these papers graded. Have a great day.!

Dinosaurs

So it is true, I work at the Dinosaur Museum just north of campus. It is ridiculous how many people knock on the door to ask us if we really believe in dinosaurs or if dinosaurs are real. Let explain a few things: 1 If dinosaur bones werent real, why would they be paying me to dig something out of the rock. I mean seriously, do they think they put plastic in rock and have us dig it out for them...? So yes, I believe in dinosaurs, they are as real as you and me. 2 If they cant believe in what they can see and touch they must have serious issues believing anything... Faith... yeesh.

So anyways thats just what I was thinking about this beautiful, in the 60's, Sabbath Day. Oh and how beautiful out tulips and ranunculus's are. Unfortunately, the tulips came in March absolutely beautiful and I now they like the cold but last week when they were covered in snow most of their lovely petals fell to the ground. Anyways our garden is stunning, now to mow the jungle around it...

Life Through the Summer!

Hey everyone! So I updated my blog and I'm going to start over and try to keep things updated for the summer. Here are my plans for awhile. I just finished my finals this morning and have successfully made it to my senior year of college! I will graduate with a B.S. in Geology after another year of school. Woohoo! This summer the geology department is taking us to India to study the structural geology of the Himalayan Mountain Belt. I'm excited but have started to become nervous for such an adventure. After I return home from India I will start to prepare to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Unfortunately because I wont be home until September I have to wait to hand in my papers, though they are done, until mid-June. Which means I should find out where I am going in July! My roommate, Shannon, and I will be driving my car back to Virginia the week my call should come so I'm hoping to return quickly. For the summer I will be doing an independant study through BYU while I work at the Museum of Paleontology at BYU. We are privileged this summer to go on digs and be in the field for 8 weeks this summer.We will be digging in the Morrison Formation near Moab. I'm so excited!

These are my plans for the summer. More to come as soon as I know what I'm doing!