'Tis the Season

Some places NEVER get old. Temple Square looks more beautiful than ever.


Light posts make me extremely happy. I think that comes from the part of me that wishes Narnia was real. My mind connects those two things. Plus light posts achieve everything streetlights do in a much cuter way, so I respect them for that.

Emma Smith is my hero. Her husband, too. I don't think I've ever noticed this statue before...every time I go to Temple Square I find something new. Same with reading the Book of Mormon, or watching Newsies.

Kindal came up for a sleepover this weekend! And Tim gave us the grand tour of his homeland. (Sidenote: Did you know a belt route goes around a city? I never understood this concept until Kindal's dad taught us this weekend. So much makes sense now.) With that bit of information, you can rightly assume that Tim drove most of the trip.

Everything Jerusalem makes me excited. My favorite display is all of the candlelit bags with Christmas designs and words from all sorts of languages. It's fun to hang back and watch people get excited when they find their language or one they speak. People come there from ALL over. The Arabic bags blew my mind. "Peace, Love, and Joy" never looked so intimidating.

We thought we were smart to hit up Temple Square before snow did, but it was still FREEZING. I shivered 40 minutes into our midnight breakfast trip afterwards. Worth it.

It's SO fun to spend time with Kindal in Provo! The day flew by...she came to work with me to give some expert advice on designing (working on a new logo for the career fair!), such a dear. Then we did baptisms at the Provo temple (along with all of the rest of Provo...crazy busy), and tried to go to the new In-N-Out in Orem. Apparently everyone in Provo wanted to do that, too, because their drive-in looked like one of Cedar's parades. Just car after car after car. Pretty sure it went halfway down University Parkway! Good thing Wendy's makes people equally happy. Then it was off to Salt Lake for the night...you know the rest of the story.

P.S. Updating my blog is so much more appealing now that it's time to study for finals. Nature of the beast.

You Wanna Lick the Beater?

Salmonella. That's what your mom says when you want to eat more cookies in their natural doughy state before the oven gets a say.

But licking the beaters is always harmless, right? We beat the system.

Don't Worry.

Not forgotten. Just postponed.
December 18th....

Just a Warning...

If you ever go to Mexico, don't buy a ring that's too big. You're just buying one big distraction.



Part of that distraction is a 15-passenger van full of enough girls, snacks, and movies to keep a person occupied for the long drive ahead. Staying occupied means watching the kissing scene on Win a Date with Tad Hamilton enough times to make good old Papa Haynie go a little crazy in the driver's seat. When the rewind button gets nixed, staying occupied means singing along to the expertly-picked Mexico Mix (thanks Bri & Kendra!) loud enough to keep driving him crazy even when the movie is off.

Then the distraction turns into remembering the wonderful chicken shack. And the salsa that was ridiculously hot, a.k.a. wonderful. But if you eat salsa that's hot, you need a drink. If you need a drink in Mexico, you need to know how to read Mexican labels. We may never know what Kindal and I drank that day...


Then while you're drinking your juice(?) you can be entertained by the random beauty queens that drive down the street on cars. But to fully understand this, we have to go back to the reading Mexican labels principle. There was just no way for us to really know what they were queens of, but they had pretty dresses.


After the mysterious beauty queens, you should take Kenny's advice and "sit right here, and drink some root beer in Mexico." (Edited version. You can't really take Kenny's advice at face value or you'll end up only singing about beaches, regrets, and lost love. Depressing.) Then try smashing the root beer cans. Can't be done.
Then just laugh at your sad attempts to smash the root beer cans. And laugh because that's what Kindal makes you do when she sets her self-timer.

Then go shopping! But this is where you can run into trouble. There will be lots of cute people with lots of colorful things that they just firmly believe you need to own. Then there's this whole sketchy process of bartering the price with them.
"It's $10.00."
"Um, how about $5.00?"
"No, $8.00."
"Yeah, ok, that sounds good."
"Yes, fine, hold my baby and come pay back here by my four other ridiculously cute children."
"Um, ok. Did you say $12.00?"
Such a sucker, dang it.

And then one of those little shop men will come pull you by the hand to all of his jewelry, and he will be extremely excited. He'll show you a bracelet and tell you, "Look, it's too small, just like your wrists!" Then you will wonder if you should be excited or offended. And then he'll tell you that you need to buy it, and he'll show you a ring and say you can have that, too. So stop right there and remember that Mexico is hot so your hands are not in their normal state. When you try on a ring and it fits just right, not good.

Now it's winter, and the ring will repeatedly fall off. It'll fall onto your keyboard when you type, underneath your bed when you make it, into the sink when you wash your hands, etc. Every time it falls you get stuck in a terrible cycle. Pick it up, put it on, remember when you got it, then think of the 15-passenger van...

Don't buy a ring that's too big in Mexico. Two years later, it's still a distraction.

Hehehe....

Dear Kendra,

When I made this post, I looked through all my Mexico pictures for old times' sake....and you have no idea how much I laughed when I saw this wonderful picture. It gave me instant joy, and I'm still laughing right now after looking at it again. What's remembering Mexico without remembering the after effects of those sweet braids? I suppose I'll take off the picture if you seriously insist...and if you pay me. Oh my goodness I love it. And I love you.

Kenny C. forever!

Maddie

P.S. We're re-creating this picture after Mexico 2010. And we're bringing both our moo-mixers.

Top 10

Fall semester is almost over! Some internal clock is telling me that I should be packing up my stuff since 4 months are up...but I'm staying in the same place until April. I'm having too much fun to move yet! Here are 10 randomly selected reasons I am LOVING this semester (in no particular order, that would take way too much thinking):

#10. Mountains. I'm so glad God let Southern Utah be red, it's just the best.

#9. Finally meeting Lydia! She's way more fun in person.

#8. Living in the same state as Kindal again! It's just not fun to live far away from her, especially since our Alaskan summer when we spent 23.5 hours a day together for 3 months. The 30 minutes apart was whenever we were running...the girl is fast.

#7. My parents' new ride...this made the list because of the many potential backseat drives that I totally love. I'm already looking forward to the familiar drive to Delta for Thanksgiving next week! Two hours in the backseat, looking at cows and....more cows, and preparing myself for sooo much pie.

#6. Seeing Jeffrey wear a dress. And make-up. His idea, by the way.

#5. Throwing my first "wild party," complete with gorilla suits and pin the tail on the zebra.

#4. Seeing my nephew strike this pose completely voluntarily. Yes Jenny, I will send this to you. Why are your kids so cute?

#3. Getting back into my daily convos with the mom...missed those.

#2. Being reunited with the roomie! Jaclyn has a definite negative effect on my sleep schedule... but she makes everything else in life a million times better :) Maybe if I didn't love her so much I would actually go to bed, but playing with her is way more fun than sleeping.

#1. Living with Jessica! She's no longer just the girl who bought my contract last winter...now we're officially roommates! And I love her. Except she's still in my phone as "Jess Contract" from when I saved her number months and months ago. I keep it that way so I can laugh every time her name comes up.

Bonus: Watching my brother and his family pick up and move in one day to Washington state. So proud of them! Logan is doing an internship for the rest of the year in Bingen, Washington, and I'm really excited for him. I'm going to miss them a ton over the holidays, but they're where they should be. Lydia, sorry you're not in the picture...good thing you're at a very forgiving stage of life.

Isn't fall great? Bring on Thanksgiving...

Work (Play?)

Sometimes my job frustrates me. This is only because it's way more fun than school, so I'm always tempted to go to work instead of the library. I work in the Career Services office in the Wilk as a Fair Coordinator. Here's the Career Fair from September, please note how coordinated it is.


This was my first event so I was a little nervous...one detail missed and no BYU students get jobs this semester. Pressure. Ok so I actually couldn't mess things up that much if I tried (not enough power), but I loved planning it.

Halloween in the office! We turned Career Services into a Spook Alley for the day. Cody (the vampire on the left) is another Coordinator of Fairs, so our job was to stand in the hall all day and tell people to go inside. It required a lot of dancing to Thriller and persuasive bribing (there were doughnuts inside the office, always take advantage of hunger when you plan things for college students).

Cody found that the best way to get people to take a flyer was to hide and scare them. But then he got too good at it and had to stop. We planned an Opportunity Fair for on-campus organizations last week. BYUSA ordered 1500 servings of milk and 700 cookies (this math only works for weird people that drink ridiculous amounts of milk....so I was happy), which was a little bit of a problem. Cody and I took it upon ourselves to help the situation by having a milk drinking contest throughout the fair. After his 23 glasses and my 19 I realized it's not very effective to spend just as much time in the bathroom as in the fair. Lesson learned.

I wasn't the only fairy in the office, dang it! But that's ok. I don't take anything about Halloween too personally. The only reason I tolerate it is for Reese's pumpkins and because I know once it's over Christmas time starts.

So that's the job! Someday I'll post some of the daily office pranks or conversations that keep me laughing.

What a Stud

So sometimes I complain about dating. A lot of times I complain about dating. Roommates and families are so nice :)

And sometimes I complain about my dad's random emails. Both quantity and quality (a little too much of a little too random), but I love him. And he knows that love is unconditional, so he keeps the emails coming. Once in a while one of them makes it all worth it though....

Meet Dimitri. In just two voicemails he made me realize that I need to cut the complaining about dating AND my dad's love of forwarding, because...well...

Just listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr9fUOULbTM

Little Things

The weather the past two days, completely perfect.

Also perfect: My Life is Average

Read until you smile.

Joy, Wrapped in Orange

I have a serious and meaningful relationship with Reese's. April to October is a hard part of the year, and I think we all know why. There are no holidays during this time that are worthy of a Reese's shape. If I was the Fourth of July, I'd be complaining. But now, thanks to the early timing of capitalism on Halloween, pumpkins are appearing on the shelves...

This is just the beginning. Once Halloween hits, that means it's pretty much Christmas time, yeah? So then the trees! These little things are the reason I love looking in my stocking every year. They're also why I try all kinds of trading techniques to get any that might be in the stockings of family members who don't appreciate them.

And then...the 2nd place winner of the holiday shape contest (did you know it was a contest?). Valentine's Day gets a lot crap, all that "marketing love" business. I've never known if I'm one to complain about that because I get blinded by the Reese's hearts. If this fake holiday means I get to stock up on these, then go ahead and cheapen love :)

And finally, the Reese's Egg. It's been close to my heart for a few years now. Out of all the Reese's, they hit the proportions just right with these little guys. I usually put together a pretty nice supply to get through the April-October drought...but don't ask how long that stash actually lasts.

Why am I posting about this? Maybe it's because I still turn to blogging over homework. Maybe I don't feel like holiday Reese's are getting the appreciation they deserve. Maybe it's because I ate a certain number of Reese's cups tonight that will not be revealed, so they're fresh on my mind.

Whatever the reason, go get a pumpkin. It'll make your day better.

Distractedness, in Letters.

Dear Mom,

I thoroughly enjoyed walking you through the copy and paste process on my walk home from class yesterday. I even more thoroughly enjoyed your exclamation of surprise when you found success.

Love,
The Youngest

***

Dear Boston,

I miss your elderly Jewish people. And your 5-year-old Andrews. Your roads, parking, and angry drivers are not missed at all.

Please know that you are only borrowing my sister.

Love,
A Past and Future Visitor

***

Dear Job,

You're more fun than school. Please stop distracting me.

Love,

The New Girl

***

Dear Ali,

Thank you for keeping me updated on the elderly Jewish people of Boston. The Lillian stories make me laugh every time I think about them. Literally. In class, during church, walking home...instant laughter.

I told Boston that you're not permanent. Just sayin.

Love,

The Little Sister.

Other Side of the Pond

Man I missed these girls! And man they make me miss London. But we had fun catching up on Saturday. And eating a lot :)

Aw, I love them. I loved getting lost with them. And living with way too many of them in one room. And learning all their love stories within one week of knowing them. And figuring out that 4 months goes by way too fast with them.
Special shout out to Steph, my little U of U friend that I sometimes accidentally look for on campus. Sad. Ready for other news that made me completely love Saturday night?....

I found out my favorite English movie is coming to America! I had almost lost hope. Young Victoria is about my favorite queen (Victoria. The young one.), and I'm SO stoked it's coming to America. November 13th!! So for all of you out there who are kind of skeptical about all the Twilight business (you should be nodding, please be nodding...), you can be more excited for this. It comes out a week before New Moon and I will bet you a dollar that it's way better. Except I'm not supposed to make bets, so just agree to give me a dollar after you see this movie and that takes care of that.

To: Dad , From: Boston

I discovered the best motivator to make me update my blog more. Homework. So here I am! Make no comment about my prioritizing, just enjoy the post.

So here's the scene. My parents are up north for a Storytelling Festival (mom, you're so cute), and they so graciously decide to visit their BYU student on the way. And they brought a watermelon, which was very nice. And also very beside the point. So here they are entering my Provo apartment (fact: my mom used to live here. Weird...), and I'm meeting them with two early birthday presents for my dad. The big one is the upside down stacked up tupperware thing. Don't judge the wrapping, it had to be that way.

My dad distractedly lifted up the top container and looked a little anti-climactically confused. He was wondering why I was giving him one of my roommates for his birthday. But when he looked a little closer he realized....

It was his very own Bostonian daughter! Ali has had this trip planned for about a month now, and everyone in our family miraculously kept it a secret from my dad. I'm not gonna lie, I had my doubts. My mom is just endearingly honest, you know?

So this is her finally, FINALLY, complaining about having to keep that secret from my dad for so long. It was not easy. It was really hard. I told her every time she couldn't handle it anymore to just call me and tell me, and I would act like I didn't know and give her a satisfying surprised reaction. I'm very proud of her :)

The other present was a piano duet book I picked up in a little music store in London. My grandma Miner and my dad used to play these duets all the time. I love to get the very old and very battered book out and play them with my dad. I was so excited when I found some more duets by the same composer a few months ago.

The next morning I woke up early to meet my little visitor. Lydia spent some time with me while Logan and Jenny went to the Draper temple. She was a wonderful little alarm clock for all my roommates, bless her heart.

You have to take lots of pictures of babies because they can't complain about it yet.

They finally meet! Aunt Ali was pretty excited to see her little niece. Jenny is so good about posting lots of pictures, but her kids are just so much more fun in person :)

It has to be frustrating to be way cute even when you're crying. Who's gonna take you seriously? So that was the exciting weekend. It was so fun to have my family in Provo!

Happy late birthday, Dad! Sorry about the secrets :) K not really.