Well, I haven't written in a long time and decided now would be the best time.

Actually, I really don't know what to talk about.

Daniel and I have been budgeting lately. It has been going surprisingly well!

Currently my biggest decision is whether to go straight into graduate school or try to find a job right after I graduate. I may try to do both and then pray about it depending on whether I can even get a job or into graduate school. Other than that, kids are definitely going to happen somewhere in that crazy mix.

This summer my plan is to work like crazy. I will also take a spring class with Daniel. (Eng 316)
I also plan on possibly going on a small trip for work to Idaho. I really hope it happens.
Other than that there are no plans for vacations or to see family. I feel like I need a vacation BADLY!

I really wish flights to MI were not so expensive so I could see my family. Plus, my oldest nephew on my side of the family (Dirk) is going to Cedar Point for the first time this year. I am sad because I am going to miss it.
:(

Daniel fixed my camera yesterday.....when I say fix he turned the battery around and it worked. That was a face-palm moment for me since I was so ditsy to put it in wrong. In my defense, I was super tired when I put the battery in. Plus it meant that I went my whole strat/sed field trip without a camera thinking it was broken!!!

General conference was a good one. I got to meet Rose's parents and family, plus her husband's (Anthony) family and dogs. :)  It was a good conference day and I was surprised how comfortable I felt in a group!

Normally I freeze up. It doesn't help that Daniel barely talks either so that group settings makes it difficult for both of us.

 Unfortunately the first thing that comes to mind is being with his family. They are wonderful people, but I just don't feel comfortable talking so they don't know me at all. I know that's my fault, all I have to do is speak up and be myself. It's just hard when most of his family has the opposite personality as me and every time we see each other it is in a huge group setting. It's also hard when I don't see them for months at a time and I don't get to know them individually, which is essential for me. I hope this doesn't come off ranting, because it is far from it. It's just something that breaks my heart every time I think of it. When I pictured my future in-laws I pictured being myself with them (which is actually very talkative). But it's not the case for me. I guess I may just feel intimidated since Daniel and I are the youngest and definitely feel like we are just little kids. But I don't know.

I also feel sad that my family is so far away, but moving to MI is out of the question. I would get an entry level job easier, but the economy is terrible. But I really want to be near my family so that they can spend time with their grandkids when we have them. I have thought about getting a job out there after I graduate and flying out occasionally to see Daniel, but that makes me sad.

 I am so glad my family is talkative and welcomed Daniel into the family well. Thanks mom. :)

Well, that's it for now. Time for the last couple weeks of school!!! eeek!

Food Adventures and Our Weekend

I think I found the reason why I don't like yogurt. It has nothing to do with the bacteria content, but with it's slimy nature. Lately Daniel and I have been buying Tillamook yogurt.....and lets just say I can gobble down one without the slime factor coming into play....but add granola and kazam!!!

Tillamook yogurt + honey nut granola= my new best friend! Crunchy goodness! :)

Another thing I recently learned I enjoy is smoothies. My sister-in-law, Mary Beth, bought us a blender for Christmas and we Love love love love it! Our smoothies taste so good that I could easily swear off my addiction to Jamba Juice.

Also....what is it about oranges? I can't bring myself to buy a whole bag of them because it's like russion roulette with flavor-- you might get bland ones or super tart ones.....but occasionally you'll get the perfect sweet juicy ones that make you want more. Luckily, when I hand picked the ones I got yesterday they were the perfect ones. And who doesn't like the slight orange aroma you end up having after eating an orange. It's like telling everyone you meet "Hi, I just ate an orange and it was delicious!"

I must say this "break" has been a blast thus far. I put break in quotations because a 3 day weekend does not seem worthy enough to call it a break.  Friday night Daniel and I just relaxed and I read the Hunger Games. Thank goodness it isn't like the Twilight fad. I was leery about reading the books because well, lets admit it, if a Twilight fan likes something it makes me think a bazillion times before I will try it. In fact, I couldn't even bring myself to buy the Hunger Games books...I can't spend money on something that might be a terrible fad that ends up with me questioning the taste of my fellow Americans.

But the Hunger Games are actually decent and I enjoyed the first one (about to start the second). Saturday we watched the first Harry Potter and enjoyed commenting on how much the actors improved and grew over the series. We also went grocery shopping with Rachel and Miles and we all eventually went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Delicious with a capital D!!! Daniel and I then went to see "Secret world of Arrietty" because we like Studio Ghibli productions. We also just watched "Howl's Moving Castle" and loved it!!

Today we went to church. I started my new calling-- part of the RS compassionate service committee. My job is to pass out the manual to the women in primary and take notes in RS on the lesson and type a summary out when I get home to send to the sisters in primary. Not a hard job....except when RS is at 8am in  the morning. Also it has snowed today which means yes, Daniel is shoveling snow at the temple. Another Sunday without him.

Things we will be doing later today and tomorrow. Daniel will work on his stats homework for the week, maybe a blue book assignment for religion, and his computer science project. I will be working on the petrology quiz today, reading my articles for my strat/sed paper, and writing out my references in GSA format, tomorrow I will write and finish the paper by Wednesday night. I also have a petrology lab....too bad the lab is closed Monday for the holiday.

I am still feeling under the weather....I feel like I have gone through a whole box of tissues this weekend. :(   But I will move on and get what I need done.

Sunday naps!

I am beginning to love my Sundays again for a couple of reasons:

1. It starts at 8am. Though going to bed semi early Saturday nights and waking up early Sunday mornings is hard, it really keeps my schedule consistent since I have 8 and 9am classes all week.

2. Relief society is the first meeting. I have never had a strong testimony of what relief society does, probably because I had callings during that hour and the last ward I was in was not welcoming so it was hard to love the sisters. But having relief society as the first meeting is wonderful. I don't have to leave church before relief society from back pain and I get to relate better with sisters my own age.

3. Sacrament meeting is the last meeting. This forces me to stay through all the meetings, even if my back acts up. I love partaking of the sacrament and renewing the covenants I have made and I feel it is worth it.

4. NAPS! Goodness! Daniel is currently snoring away on the couch in front of me and I am sure I will soon flop over and greet wonderful dreams for a half hour. It is always refreshing.

5. Getting out of church at 11am. This leaves my day open to naps, relaxing, studying if I absolutely must, e-mailing my little brother, and calling my parents.

So all in all I think I am liking this new arrangement. When Daniel and I decided to move it was because we really felt we should, but we didn't know why. Our other place was very nice and we loved it, but the ward was a challenge for us. I am finding that moving was a huge blessing for our spiritual well being.

It snowed!!...

I don't know whether to be happy about it or not.

 I am happy because I truly love snow, but sad that Daniel is gone and busy at snow removal, but happy that he is making some extra moolah, but sad that I slept in without him, but happy that he went to bed uber early and got plenty of sleep!

This week was the first week of classes and it wasn't too bad. I have lots of work to do, but I feel like this semester I will learn a lot. I am also excited for a new ward.

I am also happy with the choice to move to Wymount. I know there was a time when I said I would rather live anywhere than wymount for so many reasons (which still stand and even more are added), but it is good to live in a place where we don't have to worry about finding time to pay bills or driving to campus.

My biggest peeve about wymount is probably the maintenance. Yesterday I came home around 4:30pm and found all the blinds open. I asked Daniel is he had opened them and he said no. Conclusion: Maintenance came into our apartment without warning and checked our blinds. My complaints: They didn't warn us, I feel like a day warning is appropriate, or at least a phone call a few hours before (after all it is our home for a time and we have a right to feel comfortable here), They didn't leave a note saying why they came, when they came,  or if they would come back, and they left our blinds open for the whole world to peek in.

I feel like privacy is being invaded and how can I be comfortable being away from home when I know they can waltz in anytime. Warnings would ease my mind a lot. I know it's wmount and people will say that because we are in Utah, especially at BYU that we don't have to be mistrustful of our neighbors and workers....but that is not how I see it. I see potential for robbery and invasion of privacy. I can't assume every single person is trustworthy or won't get itchy fingers when they come in to my place. I think what they have done is untactful and I will try to complain next week sometime.

In the meantime...I want to take a shower but Daniel is at snow removal. If I am in the shower and maintenance comes in it won't be pleasant for either parties. I want to chain the door, but if I take a shower I won't be able to let him in. So I am sitting (unshowered eww) on the couch waiting for my love to come home  so I can let him in and be able to go about my business in peace.

Other than that, I will get over the littler complaints I have from Wymount, because I feel like the one explored above takes the cake.

Happy New Year and Winter Semester Everyone!!!

Yep...it is a new year. During Relief Society we were all asked to consider enduring well as our resolutions....and actually that summed up everything I wanted to work on. So my resolution will be to endure well. I will keep complaining to a minimum, I will try to be calmer, be more patient, and keep the gospel close to me in all that happens this year and hence forth. Of course keep in mind this will be a work in progress and won't just happen overnight. haha

I have so many hopes and dreams for this year. I am currently in my last busiest semester and if it wasn't for the timing of classes offered that I need I would graduate this year.....but alas it is not meant to be. So winter semester 2013 it is. I want to do well in my classes this year (I make sure I always do well, but it is always one of my goals). I am taking 6 classes this semester: stratigraphy and sedimentology, solid earth and geophysics, historical geology, petrology, geology seminar, and jogging (for a little stress release). I also want to make my research a bigger priority this semester.....which I know will be hard with my work load for this semester.

My dreams for this year won't happen and I know it. It will have to be for another time. I know of many who drop out of college to have kids, but that is not me in the slightest. In fact I laugh at that possibility, yet sometimes I find myself (during the hardest part of the semester) wishing I could just stop my education and pop out a couple of kiddlets.

But I know that would be a mistake. I believe in getting an education and making that a priority while you can.

I understand there are circumstances in which that can't happen and I don't fault people who have kids instead of going to college..but it's those that can and should get an education that make me raise an eyebrow. My question to them is "what are you going to do when you have 2+ children and something happens to your husband, are you going to rely solely on family for help and/or get a job that doesn't have benefits or you don't enjoy?" I know those people will do all they can for their families...but if they had even gotten an associates they could get a slightly better job and be more comfortable. Some have told me that they will go back to college......my question to them is "how sure can you be?" Some who read this may get offended....that is not my point of this. I am also a firm believer in everyone should have kids when it is right for them and every circumstance is different.

Having said all this, I will get an education. Daniel and I will work it out so we can both can get all the education we desire. I know some people may throw my question back at me and ask how sure I can be that I will have kids after my education. I am 100% sure. Whether it is in this life or the next (much more preferably this one), I will have kids. I welcome biological children and those I may adopt. I don't see a difference in either, because they would be my angels.

This is just my personal opinion and what I will personally do in my life...as impatient as I will be in this process. When it is right in my life it will happen.

This is probably as personal as I will ever get on a blog, but it is something that has been on my mind. To me having kids will be the greatest blessing in my life, but I know (for me) I should wait a little while longer since I don't know how my pregnancy will effect me (history of Hyperemesis Gravidarum in my family) and therefore my schooling and work.

Cheers to 2012!

And also a shout out to Boyd and Lindsay who will be welcoming a beautiful baby girl into their family very soon!!!!

Amidst Chaos

Wow this week has been insane (and it's not even over yet!) I am sure everyone in my classes feel the same way.

Amidst (I've looked up how to spell this word a couple times now...) all this chaos of final assignments and death projects I have come to find myself again.

I have been calmer than I have been all semester, with the occasional meltdown. The weird part is that these last two weeks have been the busiest yet...am I learning how to balance my life better? I am not sure about that. I have been doing nothing but homework for what seems like forever. This past week I have literally stayed up all night and worked every second of the day until this very moment when I decided to blog about my experience.

Lets just say I have been doing much more praying than I do on a normal day. Every second of the day I have a prayer in my heart to be calm and that my writing will be concise. I pray for health that it will not fail me last minute and for the courage to face whatever happens.

Don't let this post fool you into thinking I am the calmest person in the world...inside I am FREAKING OUT! So much to do in such a little time! AAAAGH!!!! ..Now that that freak out is out of the way I can face reality and know that I have approximately 97 percents in all my classes at this moment and just a little more work is necessary to keep these grades. I CAN DO IT!

I am a little obsessed with caps locks right now. haha.

I also realized that not only is prayer an extraordinary comfort, but so are the scriptures. I haven't had much time to read, but as I am practically asleep around 2 am in the morning I pull my scriptures out and blow off the gathering dust to sit down and read a couple verses....normally just one or two.

I am just so grateful for the gospel in my life and for the comfort I receive when I follow His teachings.

How Have you Been????

I love when people ask "how have you been?" And all I can think of "oh you know, just homework and work especially since these are the last weeks of the semester." I wish I could tell them "Oh yeah, so I stayed up all night with not a care in the word, then I slept in this morning and we were able to just relax all day without having school enter in my thoughts once." nope sorry, but that's life.

This semester especially when people asked how I was doing I wanted to answer with "I am doing great, school is school, but I am having a blast on my free time."

What FREE time?! Sure I have had a day or two or free time this semester...let me repeat ...a day or two....not my weekends off or enjoying all the "breaks" we have. Let me just say this:  BYU starts earlier, has maybe 1 or two breaks (short), and ends later than other universities I know of. During the semester it's cramming this and paper that, and project up the wazoo.

I am feeling this way because I know people are sick of me saying that School is keeping me busy instead of something interesting...but what do they expect from someone who takes their education VERY seriously.

I love my major and sure it's a lot of work....I just don't know what to say when people ask me what I am up to or how I am during the semester (especially when I am nearing the end of the major), because it will always be the same "School. work. exhaustion. frustration. fun occasionally. more exhaustion. more school. more work..."