I love my Ducks!

I was talking to my sister today about how all the kids we know who grew up in Eugene but went to BYU are more Oregon fans than we are BYU fans. We don't really know why, but that's the case. But I obviously rooted for BYU against Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl, (I don't root for the Beavers). But I just love the Ducks. We've loved the Ducks since we moved to Eugene.

Well, tomorrow they are playing in the Rose Bowl against Ohio State. We're having a big party with lots of yellow and green and Ducks paraphernalia. Actually, the entire city is decked out in green and yellow. (Including the bank.)

The following video was made by some Oregon students and they apparently got in trouble from Disney for using the mascot in their video since it's owned by Disney. Whatever. It's awesome. Just watch for a bit if you aren't an Oregon fan, it's still pretty sweet. But, best line of the song/rap: "Holy moly! Is that my boy Masoli? Cookin' up the offense like he's cookin' ravioli?"-- can be found at 1:05 if you want to hear it. (And, for the Duck illiterate, Jeremiah Masoli is the quarterback.)

GO DUCKS!

Zilpha

A few days ago my mom was asked if we would sing at a funeral for Zilpha Maude Hershner Hutchens, a 103-year-old woman from our Stake. It was a little strange to sing at the funeral for someone I had never met but I felt lucky to hear the beautiful things people had to say about her.

During the eulogy I jotted down a few of the things I liked that they said about her:

• Zilpha was active in the community senior center and took lots of classes. When she started her second year of Spanish she was asked if she was planning a trip to Mexico. She responded, "No, but if anyone ever asks I'll be ready!"
• She also took a hula dancing at the community center and when they performed she was the concluding soloist.
• When she was in her 80s she fulfilled a lifelong goal to ride an elephant.
• Every person talked about how much fun she had trying new things.
• And her Home Teacher spoke how she was afraid to die and so every time they visited they blessed her not to die. Pretty remarkable considering she lived 103 years!

It was good to have been able to be a part of the funeral service.

Also today, my dad's nurse had an appointment this afternoon and so I was called in to work a few hours as her fill in. I kind of like being the nurse in the office. I get to talk to people more, I get to spend time with my papa and see interesting things.

Two interesting things:

1. Removed a cyst from a woman's back. [WARNING: If you get squeamish from blood, don't read the next bit.] Then a couple blood vessels needed to be cauterized because they kept squirting blood. I know that seems really gross, well, it kind of is, but it was kind of cool to see it stream like it did. I've always heard about it happening too but had yet to actually see it happen. Shelley, my dad's nurse, has a lot of fun stories about that kind of stuff happening and it hitting my dad and getting his doctor's jacket dirty, or a cyst exploding etc. (They wear goggle-ish type glasses for protection.) Gross? Probably. But it's still pretty cool.
2. I took my first pregnancy test. And by taking a pregnancy test, I mean inserting the pee stick in the pee that's in the pee cup. (It was negative. Why did I have to do that? Well, you can't start Accutane if you're pregnant so we were making sure she wasn't. There can be serious side affects to the baby if you are.) And that grossed me out way way more than the squirting blood. I can't handle smells. I hate smelly things (unless it's delicious cookies or something).
3. Pee stick=gross. Squirting blood=awesome.

Hope your holidays are wonderful!

Oh and PS. Remember when I blogged about THIS? Well, I got it. I can't wait to start posting real pictures.

I forgot!

Today is my half birthday!
Happy Half Birthday to me, Happy Half Birthday to me! Happy Half Birthday to me-eeeee! Happy Half Birthday to me!

Today's list:
1. Church
2. Little sister's ballet performance (she was the Sugar Plum Fairy)

3. Packing and getting ready for our weekend in Sun River

Because I was bored at work today

I took pictures of the two cute frogs I was watching for Amy this week. Okie and Acorn are so cute and little and were just swimming around and having a blast as they sat on my desk this week. I want some!

(So you can see how big they actually are. They're teenie tiny and so cute.)


Okie and Acorn

And now, since I'm waiting in the airport for my flight I have nothing to do and I'm blogging about them. Ha! They aren't even my frogs! Funny thing too, I snapped these two pictures with my phone but took a lot more with my camera. It worked really well on the setting that zooms in really close for detail shots. It's a good thing that no one walked by in the 20 or so minutes I spent taking pictures of two little froggies.

If you're wondering where you could pick up two similarly adorable little African Dwarf Frogs, you can find them at Brookstone.

And, next time I blog, I'll be blogging from OREGON!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

(PS. The TV at the airport is on a loop. I have now watched the whole thing. It was only interesting the first time.
Hopefully I won't have to watch it for a third. Even the commercials are the same... Perhaps I should move...)

Emma and Rachel

Since my last post was dedicated to Jess and Cami, I should probably do one for Emma and Rachel so they don't feel lonely or left out--not that they said anything to me about it anyway, I'm just nice like that--but really, I want to show you the great picture Emma took of Rachel.

Rach is 16. She's a Junior in High School. She has her drivers license now. She speaks French.
And, she does ballet. A lot.
Well, my dear sisters decided to have a photo shoot yesterday in the fog with Rach in her ballet shoes.

How great is this picture?
Rach looks so pretty. Her legs look long and beautiful. (Probably because they are long and beautiful.)

Emma is a budding photographer. She has a good eye for everything artistic. I'm jealous. She went to England last Spring, Paris last semester and she's going to Jerusalem next semester. I'm really jealous.

Doesn't she just look European after all that time abroad?
(You're welcome Emma, I know you liked that...)

So, in T minus 15 hours I will be sitting in a car with them and M & D on the way home to Eugene for Christmas and my lovely 10 days at home.

Hooray!

PS. To see the rest of the ballet photo shoot go to Emma's blog HERE.

Missionary Update

I had a fantastic snow day, thanks for asking. No, I didn't go play in the snow. I didn't even leave the house. Ha! I love having an excuse to stay inside. Although, it would have been fun to leave, I just couldn't bring myself to put on snow clothes.

Aside from it being the week of Christmas and I have to work, I get to talk to Jess and Cami! Yay!

Jess is currently in Sibu/Mukah East Malaysia.

We went to Mukah again this past weekend, and I have to say, those 2 days were probably 2 of the best days of my entire mission. The bus on the way was pretty good, actually managed to sleep on it. When we got there, we checked into the hotel, ate, then went straight out to the long house, and it was pretty crazy. We finished teaching the 10 commandments and the Baptism Interview Questions in about 30 minutes, then the got their baptism clothes on and had their interviews WHILE already dressed in white (never had that happen before), but the family passed (a mother, father and daughter), and then we had a parade of people walk out of the long house down the street towards the ocean. Their long house is right on the beach, but there's a river that runs right by it and feeds into the ocean. So we had the baptisms right there, and we all gathered in a circle next to the water. their clothes were so white they literally looked like angels on the sand, so beautiful. And we took pictures (which I'll send later), then just had a prayer together, Elder Spanos said some words, and we proceeded to have the baptism. It was the most beautiful setting, and by far the most spiritual baptism I've had on my mission, despite the fact that the water was SUPEr muddy haha. When they came out and dried off, we all stood there, and I just felt like we needed to sing a song, so me and Sister Clark sang Familes Can be Together Forever and I am a Child of God as everyone just stood there so quietly and listening and the waves were rolling in the background. Elder Spanos bore testimony and welcomed them, then asked if they had any words to say. The mom, Bunsi, all the sudden put her face in her towel and just started crying because she was so happy for her family. The first baptisms in Mukah EVER. Oh, it was so wonderful, and then we all walked back along the beach to the long house. So good!

Unfortunately the bus ride back after that was pretty bad again—maybe the worst, I'm not kidding. We were in the back seats, right on top of the wheels, so we were literally FLYING out of our seats, I felt like I was being tossed like a rag doll, and at one point I almost got thrown out of my seat and had to grab onto Sister Clark's skirt. Then one time I got tossed practically on top of her. Ridiculous! But we just cracked up every time anyway, because it's kind of hilarious.

Cami is currently in Helsinki Finland

The other teach was with Milla. We brought Minna along, and it was good. The actual teach wasn't that great. I find that my Finnish is a lot worse when a member is there because I don't NEED to speak really well. It’s kind of weird. Anyway, we taught about the word of wisdom. She doesn't have any problems. Let me say that again, she doesn't have any problems with the word of wisdom. Incredible. Then her and Minna talked for about an hour afterwards about different stuff, Minna's conversion story (she went to the temple open house. That's how she got introduced to the church.), they laughed and I kind of sat there trying to hold onto the words I knew and laughing even when I had no idea what they were saying. Haha! And they knew I didn't understand too. Cool. Anyway, after that Milla was driving us home and she had a HUGE stuffed bear in the back that she bought in Estonia. I was like cuddling with it in the back. It was funny. Then no one knew how to get to our house because I only know on the trains, and it was rush hour (which isn't even that bad compared to rush hour in America, goodness), and they were like screaming in the front and laughing. Milla was hilarious. Actually we went to the elders' apartment to drop off a package I picked up at the office (where we had our teach) and then we, the elders, Milla, and Minna all sat and ate candy (that was what was in the package for Heelis, of course) for a while. It was really fun. Yep. Really fun. We’re going to look at the temple with Milla on Saturday. She’s driving. Minna’s coming, so we'll have a little temple lesson. Kind of cool, huh? She wants to get baptized, but the whole law of chastity thing is a problem. She doesn't want to hurt her boyfriend by moving out, but she says that once they're married, she's going to get baptized. Does it work like that?

So, I like my sisters, and can't WAIT to talk to them this week! Hopefully everything will go according to plan and I won't get stranded somewhere due to bad weather! Cross you fingers!

Just in

I arrived back to DC tonight after spending the weekend in Utah for my cousin's wedding and was greeted with fantastic news:

Work is canceled tomorrow!

Why? Well, if you haven't heard yet, the East Coast was bombarded with a huge snowstorm this weekend. Lots of flights out were canceled due to airport closers--they just aren't equipped for this kind of weather. (I was nervous I wasn't going to be able to get back and I didn't want to change around my flight/vacation/work plans) So, because the Metro and roads aren't clear people can't get to work, and all government agencies will be closed tomorrow. Hooray!

I want to take pictures of our winter wonderland so you can see just how much snow we're talking. (Picture lots and lots of snow in Utah, and combine that with limited street plows, people who can't drive in snow, and you have yourself a disaster. BUT, fun for staying at home!)

Check this out for images of the snow:


And, I found this: National Weather Service Office in Sterling, published the following information last night:

MULTIPLE SNOWFALL RECORDS WERE BROKEN FROM THIS SNOWSTORM AT DCA ... BWI ... IAD. DAILY SNOWFALL RECORDS FOR DEC 19 WERE SMASHED AT ALL THREE AIRPORTS. THESE DAILY SNOWFALL REPORTS ON DEC 19 ALSO BROKE RECORDS FOR THE MOST SNOWFALL FOR ANY CALENDAR DAY DURING THE MONTH OF DEC.

Christmas Miracle

So I mentioned casually that we almost died on Friday night. Yep, it's true. Here's the story:

We went up to a our friends' apartment over in Maryland for a special screening of Elf, hot chocolate and treats on Friday. Shortly after the movie finished Amy got a call from her sister wondering what was going on at our house. We didn't know! We weren't there! But all Andrea knew was that there were firetrucks there. So we basically ran out to the car knowing that there were firetrucks were at our little house in Virginia. What happens usually when firetrucks are at your house? They're putting out a fire! I had the following thoughts (in this order) running through my head: "It's my fault! I have my bookbinding stuff too close to my heater!" "Oh no! How much is this going to cost us? What's The General going to do?" "My computer!"

When we finally turn down our street we can see lots of emergency lights flashing. We get to the house and are greeted by two firetrucks with their floodlights shining across our lawn. The house is in tact. No flames. Whew!

Turns out, though, that when our roommate got home at 10:00 that night the house smelled like gas. Really bad. She, along with the neighbors who had seen some eerie gassy smelling smoke billowing out of our chimney and out of our furnace room called 911. Turns out that something was seriously wrong with our heating.

Here's where our story gets confusing. Since only one roommate was there at the beginning and talking with the firefighters, we aren't totally sure the exact details of the rest of the story, and when she recited it she said, "I think..." When the firefighters entered the house they tested the air. They either said our CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) levels were really high, OR our Carbon Monoxide (CO) levels were really high. Either way, they told us we could have died. They aired out the house for us and left when it was safe for us to enter. They told us we needed to make sure we had carbon monoxide testers and new fire alarms.

So the debate of the weekend was if it was CO2 poisoning we almost got, or CO poisoning we could have had, and no one can really remember what the firefighters said. (I didn't even talk to them.) But, what I do know is that it's a Christmas Miracle that no one was in the house that Friday night, because it's a frequent occurrence that someone is usually home. I don't really care what could have killed me, all I care about is that I am alive. I will be going to Utah this weekend for Cousin Ashley's wedding. I will be going home for Christmas next week. I will be talking to Jess and Cami when they call from Sibu, Malaysia and Helsinki, Finland. I will be skiing on Mt. Bachelor after Christmas. And I will be watching the Ducks win the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day.

It feels a little like Thanksgiving again because I AM GRATEFUL TO BE ALIVE!

And, because I'm lazy and haven't transferred the pictures from camera to computer yet I stole the pictures that were posted on Amy and Andrea's blogs. (Thanks guys!)

Still alive...

... and still working on getting those pictures (I'm mostly waiting for one of all the roommates-minus Steph-with the firefighters who saved our lives).

BUT, if we're talking about lives and all the goodness we have, check out this video, I think it's fantastic.

Brush with death

I could have died last night.

I'll tell you about it as soon as I get pictures of the three firetrucks and firefighters that were at our house till 12:30 last night.

It's been a while!

Hello all! I haven't written for a while. I feel like nothing exciting has happened. But, here is the rundown none the less:

1. Went to work. (That's the biggest time spender.)
   
2. Went to the Scottish Holiday Parade. Lots of rain+snow=wet cold feet (for Erin) and wet shoulders and arms for me. Luckily the wait for tea at Starbucks was really short. And I love bagpipes, so it was fantastic.
3. My roommate had a cute love interest visit for the weekend. It was fun to hear how things went and I hope they continue going as well as the weekend was.
4. Went to dinner with a family friend who is in town for a conference. Afterward we walked down to the WWII memorial. It seemed especially important because we realized it was the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attacks in 1941.
5. Watched the finale of The Biggest Loser and was so happy with the outcome!
6. Went to the DC temple last night and saw the lights too.

Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post about other fun things to come. The best ones being:
Cousin Ashley's wedding, Christmas in Oregon, and the Ducks in the Rose Bowl!

I forgot to write about the only real exciting thing of the week! My dear Liz up in NYC sent me a rather fantastic headband in the mail. Lucky for you all I took a picture of myself wearing it to send to her so she felt warm and fuzzy that I loved her present as much as I do.

Four months!

Today is my four month anniversary of moving to the East Coast!

A few of my favorite things:

1. Having a job and working in the District
2. Easily accessed trips to NYC
3. Not having home work to do when I get home at the end of the day.
4. Running past the Washington Monument, White House, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and Jefferson Memorials as well as running along the Mall after work.
5. Being in cute very East Coast neighborhoods like Capital Hill and Eastern market neighborhoods, Georgetown, or my own neighborhood.

I like it here. I think I'll stay for a while.

I really want...

a bowl of cereal.

Thanksgiving Week (late post 5)

I'm thankful for Carly!

Carly is like a fifth sister, or maybe a close cousin, or I guess just a really good friend. She met my sister Jess (missionary in Malaysia) in the spring of 2007 at BYU-Hawaii right when I came home from Poland. Soon enough she was not only friends with Jess, but friends with the whole family, visiting us in Eugene and spending lots of time with us when we went down to California. This weekend I was lucky enough to have her come down from NYC to spend Thanksgiving with me. It was perfect and made it feel like I actually had family in town.

I unfortunately had to work Friday, but after work Lisa and I met up with Carly and we went over to Adams Morgan for dinner and ended up at an Ethiopian restaurant.

(According to the menu it's tradition to feed those at your table. Lisa and I couldn't take it seriously though. Clearly.)

On Saturday we went to Eastern Market for breakfast,

before moseying along Capital Hill down to the Capital building,

and then down along the Mall.

Later we met Lisa in Georgetown for a little shopping and dinner.

Quote of the night: “I may have gone overboard.”

On Sunday we walked down along the monuments before Carly had to catch her bus back to New York.

Thanks Carly for a fabulous weekend! Come anytime! Seriously!

(I'm thankful for Lisa too. I had a great weekend running, eating and seeing parts of DC I hadn't gotten to spend a lot of time in previously. Thanks Lis!)

(And, thanks Carly for all the pictures!)

Thanksgiving Feast

(Carly left, Lisa right)

Our Thanksgiving feast turned out wonderful. Lisa and I prepared Mr. Bird the night before so that we could just pop him in the oven when we finished our race and got back to my house.

Carly arrived around 1:30 on Thanksgiving Day from NYC and jumped right into food preparation. We made sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, gravy, and heated rolls. (Jello salad was made the night before but it was forgotten in the fridge for the meal. Whoops!)

Here is our group, minus Lisa, and me and Carly clearly love each other more than everyone else in the group.

Have you seen the Miley Cyrus Movie? No? That's alright, you can watch THIS: Lisa happens to be a certified Miley Cyrus "Hoedown, Throwdown" Instructor. She taught us the dance:





We were so full after we ate that for some reason it more comfortable to sit on the floor.

Thanksgiving was surprisingly great. I had fun cooking lots of food for lots of people. We had fun dancing and playing games.

But overall, I'm thankful for all the things and people that bless and enrich my life.

Qualifying Time

So, I'm flirting with the idea of running a Half Marathon in March and needed to run a race to qualify for it. To use a 10k to qualify you need to run it in 1:05:00. That's approximately a 10:27 minute mile.

As I ran the 10k on Thursday I thought, I gotta run this fast so I can qualify just in case I want to do it in March! But, because I decided to run it so last minute I hadn't trained or anything, making the race pretty difficult. I started having a really hard time running as we hit long gradual slopes and realizing that the course wasn't as flat as I had hoped. I slowed down. Waaaay down a couple of times, but I kept going. And I kept thinking to myself, "I just want to finish. I just want to be done. Qualifying doesn't matter anymore, just finish the race."

When I got to the finish line, Lisa was there waiting for me and I was so relieved to see her, and to be done.

Today I looked up the finishing times, to see if I even qualified. I ran the race in 1:05:01. I ran a 10:28 minute mile.

I don't qualify.

I don't qualify by ONE MEASLY SECOND.

But I finished and that's what matters. Right??

I RAN A 10K!

Lisa and I ran the Turkey Chase yesterday morning.

BEFORE:



Right before we started running. All that was going through my mind was, "WHAT were we THINKING??"


Pictures of the starting line, and running action shots. Lisa looks beautiful in the running picture and I'm already overheated. (Pretty sure that's the most unflattering picture of me ever...) I think we were some where between mile 3 and 4. And about to run up a hill...

AFTER:

I'm looking sweet. I'm looking red. I had to take off my jacket because I was so hot by the end.



It wasn't the easiest 10k. There were lots of hills and I wasn't completely in shape for it. A 5k would have been pretty easy, but by mile 4 I was starting to get tired. Perhaps it was because at mile 4 we also were running up a hill...

But, all in all, I was so happy I ran it so I could eat more sweet potatoes and not feel quite so glutenous.

Thanks Lisa for being my running buddy! It was fabulous!

(Stay tuned for pictures of Lisa's great turkey, the dinner spread, the dinner company, pies and Hannah Montana dancing...)

Thankgiving Week! (4)

I'm thankful for God and my Savior, Jesus Christ.

I am thankful for His gospel.
I'm thankful for the Book of Mormon.
I'm thankful for the Plan of Salvation.
I'm thankful for prophets.

I'm thankful for a loving God who has provided a way for me to find joy and happiness.

(I forgot to post this yesterday. Pictures from my 10k and Thanksgiving dinner to come!)

Thanksgiving Week! (3)

I'm thankful for my body.

And that I can run, and walk, and run, and skip, and run, and gallop, and run, and jump, and run and dance, and run. I don't particularly like running, but for some reason my sanity lapsed for about five minutes this morning and I signed up for the Turkey Chase. And if you clicked on that link, you'll notice that there are three options.

1. 10k
2. 2 mile
3. 50 meter kids fun

We signed up for the 10k. WHAT??

I know.

I'm crazy.

Last time I did a 10k I was in 7th grade, in cross country, and had training everyday after school. I've decided I need to make sure there are no lapses in sanity again.

But, I am grateful for all the things I'm able to do. I'm thankful that I'm not even close to being a contestant for The Biggest Loser. And that I can move. That I can do everything I want. I don't have anything holding me back.

And even though I'm nervous about doing a 10k, it's not something impossible, and I know I can do it, and I know I will feel good about eating that extra piece of pie, or that extra helping of Sweet Potatoes tomorrow.

Huzzah!

Thanksgiving Week! (2)

I'm thankful for my friends!

Eugene friends:


Mission friends:


Longtime BYU friends:


Devonshire friends:


Jerusalem friends:


Gossip Girl friends:


Cousin friends:


Current roommate friends:


All my friends have served different purposes in my life and I'm grateful for them all!
Thank you! Love you all!

(And if you're not in any of the pictures but fit into a category, be assured that I love you too, Facebook was just limited in it's pictures.)