For the Love

Mark left tonight to go to Bryce Canyon with a couple of his brothers for a few days. I don't know what to do with myself. It's quite boring living alone, and I've only been home without him for 20 minutes. Lame. Any ideas on things I can do to keep myself entertained? Or, rather than that, how do I motivate myself to clean the house and get my homework and other things done?

On a different note (no pun intended), I played in an orchestra concert tonight. Have I ever told you what a release music is for me? Sure, the practices at night in the middle of the week are sometimes inconvenient. But when I sit on stage with the lights warming my skin, and the conductor walks on stage and everyone claps, then the house lights go dim and the conductor raises his baton... Then music. From a bunch of people using their talents and working together to provide something beautiful to a willing audience. I get chills just thinking about it. I'm so grateful that my parents instilled deep within me a great love of music. I'm grateful for such supportive parents, who drove through a snowstorm for an hour and a half (one way) so that they could listen to the orchestra play for an hour and a half. I'm grateful that they encouraged (and sometimes bribed) me to try different types of music and instruments. I declare that I have the best parents in the world. I love you Mom and Dad. Thank you for coming tonight. It meant the world to me.

Guest Post

A friend of mine wrote down this story about a recent family home evening in her singles ward because she thought I would enjoy it. And I did. So I got permission to post it here. You're welcome.

"Lap Tag" or "How I Spent the Creepiest Monday Night Ever" by Jill Warnock

In lap tag, you have a group of people (>7) and it must be an odd number. Half the people sit in a circle and then the other people sit on the first groups laps. For notation purposes, the people in the first group are denoted (1), the people in the second group as (2) and the person by himself as (3). 3 is also in the circle. 3 points at two 2s, who have to crawl over to 3 and tag his foot. The 1s hold on to their 2s and don't let them get to 3. The 1 whose 2 gets to 3 first becomes the new 3 and the other 1 and 2 switch.
So then they made me play. And I get stuck sitting on the lap of some guy who came with another girl, meaning I had NEVER SEEN HIM BEFORE. When I got pointed at he wrapped both arms around my stomach and one leg around my knees and we had to wrestle. And I am done with singles wards.

Because I Said I Would

I know you have all been waiting for the pictures of me and Casey. So, here they are!

This last picture I think is best, except the lighting isn't great. But did you see in the second picture how intense our conversation was? Man, it was great. I just love that woman.

Also, do you like the blog makeover? It's kind of fall-ish.. Since it's fall now, I figured it would be appropriate..

Awesome Week = Really Tired

Wednesday was a very good day for me. First, let me just tell you...

I got an A- on that midterm that I dreaded and complained about for over a week and that took me 16 hours! Oh, I just can't describe to you how good it felt to get it back without having a big F on it...

Ahh.. I'm glad I got that off my chest. Now, on to equally exciting and fun news!

Wednesday afternoon I headed down to the big city for a teeth cleaning and a book signing. It doesn't sound very exciting, but wait! The book signing was actually for a cookbook written by The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. Before the actual signing took place, there was a question-answer session where we could ask her anything we wanted. Naturally, I thought of my question the next morning... I want to know if she's ever had fry sauce.. It's not an extremely common condiment outside of Utah, but how could she come to Utah without even trying it?!

Before the question-answer thing started I was people watching (a favorite past-time of mine) when I realized that I was sitting about 7 feet from where Casey from mooshinindy.com was standing with her little moosh! I was ecstatic! I mean, not only did I get to revel in the beauty and glory of my favorite online recipe provider, but I got to see the owner of one of my favorite "real life" blogs! You can ask my mom, aunt, or sister-in-law. They'll tell you that I was excited. I couldn't stop the little squeals of delight from escaping from my heart. Just thinking about it now gives me the chills. And that was just from seeing her. Then it happened. She looked in my direction and saw me looking at her. And I mouthed (because it was loud and she wouldn't have heard me if I spoke it out loud) "Are you Casey?" She looked at me, somewhat bewildered, and responded with a nod. I motioned that I was going to come talk to her (and she didn't run away!) and away I went. It's interesting how sometimes I feel shy in leaving a comment on someone's blog, yet in real life I am as forward and outgoing as the girl next door (or something like that). Anyhow, I introduced myself and talked for a minute (and got a couple of pictures with her - to be posted later) then returned to my seat. Seriously, a highlight of my night.

After the question-answer thing we (mom, aunt, sister-in-law, me) went to Arby's. I got an order of jalapeno poppers, and the nice gent gave me a couple extra cups of Bronco Berry Sauce. I decided to ask PW if she would use them in a recipe in a future post. She said she would. So now you know my claim to fame.

More about this good week to come...