Promised Pictures

A while ago Steph Fisher and I went to the Logan Temple and I promised to put up the pictures I took. They are so beautiful!

Last Week of Freedom!

School starts again on Monday, so this week I have been doing some things that I won't have the chance to do for a while. To start off, I went home for Sunday and Monday. We had a great time! Sunday evening I hung out with the family. Aaron, Mel and I jumped on the tramp, playing the old school games like Bum Wars and Knee Wars and all sorts of things like that. We all just hung around and laughed a lot. It was great.

On Monday, after I got back to Logan, I went over to Jeff's house and started my new project. Jeff's room needs redecorating. They started painting it about 10 years ago, and so half of it is blue, and the other half just doesn't look that great. So, we've been deep cleaning his room, dejunking everything, and getting it ready to leave nice while he's on his mission. (Speaking of that, he had his first mission interview last night, and he'll be putting in his papers pretty quickly now.) Anyways, we spent Monday cleaning and such.

Tuesday was an awesome day. I started cashier training at Maceys! I'll be a cashier officially this coming Saturday. Right now I'm still training. After work, I went over to Jeff's house (like always). I had on some nice pants that I'd worn to work, and a cute shirt that I'd just bought. Jeff decided he wanted to teach me how to shoot a gun, so I borrowed a shirt. It was so fun! We only shot .22's, but we did shoot a horse.


See?


Me in my nice dress pants with a gun.


Jeff saying "Why are you taking a picture of me?"



Wednesday is also accompanied by an interesting event. I was at Maceys for training, and the girl I was training with, Marci, kept saying she didn't feel good. While we were standing at a checkstand reviewing the keyboard, she said, "I'm going to pass out." Usually when people say this, they don't really mean it and they just feel light-headed. Well, apparantly she meant it because I was standing next to her, and just as I put my arm around her to make sure she was okay, she passed out. She had prepared herself by leaning against the checkstand so I didn't have to hold a lot of dead weight, but it still suprised me. When she came to, I asked her if she was okay. She replied that she was fine, then passed out again. This time she was out for at least 30 seconds. I had no idea what to do! When she came to again, I made her sit on the floor and had someone get her some water. Lashelle and I got to drive her home (on the clock too!) and made sure she was home safe. It was crazy! But at least I was there to hold her up. That could have been bad. Lashelle (our trainer) was on the other side of the checkstand and couldn't have done anything if I weren't there. After training was over I went to Jeff's and did some more cleaning. We should be ready to paint by next week! It's going to look great. I'm excited, probably moreso than he is.

These are a couple pictures of the sunset last night. It was so gorgeous!



That's it for my exciting week so far. More to come! (Hopefully.)

In Loving Memory

*Tear*
King Humuhumunukunuku Apua'a Jwaang Senior the 16th passed away sometime this week. He has been a good fish for about 7 or 8 months. His death was unexpected, but the memories of King will live on forever. We have had many memorable moments these two semesters, and just thinking about him brings a smile to my face. Here is the story of the burial:








At this point I said to my roommate Shelby, "We gather here today to mourn the loss of King Humuhumunukunuku Apua'a Jwaang Senior the Sixteenth. Goodbye King." Then I gave him the three-flush salute.




Goodbye King. You will be missed.

Mongol-mania!

Saina! This week has been awesome! I got lessons on the Murin Khuur from professional Mongolain instrumentalists for FREE!!! How amazing is that?! I'm a little bummed that I couldn't have work off for the whole week, because hosting the Mongolians at our house has been a lot of fun. I was able to go down to Salt Lake on Monday after I got off of work, and I came back today before I had to work. Yesterday had to have been the most fun. We spent the afternoon boating and swimming in Deer Creek. The Mongolians had a blast (as you can see)! They wore the life jackets everywhere. I thought it was pretty entertaining.



Don't ask me to say her name, much less spell it, but she stayed at our house. Sweet shades, don't you think?


Mel is pretty cool too.


This morning the Mongolians performed at Magna Elementary. Some people from China and Panama also performed. I loved the Chinese girls dance. It was so cute! And those girls are very sweet, as well. I got to talk to them and they were very nice.



The Mongolians brought a contortionist, which was so cool. This little girl is only 12 years old (I think) and could move her body in a way that is completely unnatural, but is amazing.




Needless to say, it has been an awesome week. One of the Mongolians taught me a few phrases, which I can't spell, but let's just say that not all of them are nice. :) It's pretty cool, though. Give me enough time and I'll be speaking their language! Well, that's all I have for this post. Hope you enjoyed those pictures! They weren't easy to take.

Lots to Say.. My Bad

I really should've been keeping this up all week, because this week has been exciting. Too bad I forgot about it.

The few days with Steph were a lot of fun. It was so good to see her because I don't get to see her nearly enough. We did a lot of things we've been saying we needed to do together (like watching certain movies, bowling, going to the temple, etc). I took a lot of great pictures of the temple, but I'd forgotten my camera, so I'm waiting for an email including the pictures. Looking at the pictures makes me think I should go into photography. Bet you all can't wait to see them. As soon as she gets back from her trip hopefully I'll get those pictures posted up here. Here are some other pictures from when she was up here.



Thursday was one of my days off last week, so I went over to Jeff's house to hang out with his mom. She's pretty cool, and cool company is definitely a ton better than no company. While I was over there, I started on a new project: decorations for my living room when the new roommates get up here. That's right, Home Makeover: Jess' Ghetto Living Room Edition. You all just wait. Here is what I've got so far.


Yep, that's it. But it's all coming along in my head very nicely.

On Saturday I was able to come to SLC and spend precious time with some of the best friends I've ever had. We had a great time, and I just decided that I don't spend enough time with these guys. Mostly because I can't. Trent was in town from California. Doty just got his mission call to Puerto Rico. Curtis has his call to Russia. Jeff, well, I take that back. I see Jeff a lot. The other one is Kim. She's a friend I knew through a symphony. We weren't very close, but it was fun to see her again, too.
Trent


Curtis


Doty - A face only a mother could love... Just kidding.


Jeff


Kim


The other purpose of coming down to SLC was to go to Justin Parks' "farewell". He was a great friend to me this year. I first met him in my apartment building where he lived in the room above mine. However, I got to know him through dance. His nickname is "Brick" because he's so muscular and immovable. He is going to make a great missionary. I will never forget the nickname he and Bryce gave me: "Mom", mostly because I took care of them while their mom's weren't around. If I had a dollar for every time I cooked for Brick, I'd probably be rich. Instead I just have no food. I saw some other friends from Morgan Hall and dance at the house after church, which was nice. This year is going to be so much different.
Jared (from dance), me, and Elder Justin "Brick" Parks


In back: Amber, Tawny, I forget her name, and Bryce
In front: Jared and Jeff


To say the least, this week has been great. I didn't plan on seeing so many of my best friends in so little time. I'm still a little overwhelmed. It will be too long until the next time I see them, guaranteed.

Sorry this one is so long. I'll try to work on that. Have a good one!

Just Another Day in Paradise

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to go to the wedding reception of an old friend, Carrie Anne Hales Adams. To say the least, it was interesting. The best part was seeing Mama Kaye and the rest of the Hales' family. They are great, and I realized how much I miss them. Unfortunately, Carrie didn't seem as excited to see me. But it was nice to go home and visit with a lot of people that I don't see often. Plus, I got to see Mom's beautiful garden!





So pretty!
And speaking of Paradise...


Here it is! On Saturday night, after the reception, Jeff and I went dancing with some friends from the ballroom dance team. We didn't get back to Logan until about 4 in the morning, so obviously we were really tired on Sunday. We were at his house after church, and after dinner I had a popsicle. Then I started playing with the stick. It was quite entertaining, mostly because both of us were delirious. I had broken the stick and bent it so that I could hit one side and it would fly across the table. We named the stick Maximus Arcsimus Popliclemus (or something to that effect). The goal was to hit the stick and have it land in Jeff's bowl of ice cream. After about 100 tries I won! It was exciting.



That was the highlight of my day.

I probably won't be posting anything for a few days, as one of my best friends Stephanie Fisher will be occupying my time. She'll be up to visit for the next few days. We'll have some fun stories after that. So, there's the story of my life.

God's Ship

I'm not sure who wrote this, but I refound it today while searching my computer for a specific document. It makes me cry every time I read it, but there is so much truth there. Sometimes, when I am feeling lonely, I turn to reading and writing poetry. This is a beautiful poem that gives me strength when I am missing my loved ones who have passed on before.


There's a ship sailing on to a harbor
To a haven of comfort and rest;
It's a ship of God's fashion and making
And its voyage by Him will be blest.

It departed with silence and beauty,
With the Master, Himself, in command;
As with dignity truly majestic,
It sailed out of sight of all land.

There will always be clear skies above it;
There will always be calmness below;
There will never be storms to harass it,
For the Master is on it, you know,

And His wisdom will carry it safely
To the port of His infinite peace,
Where the Light of His love will protect it
With a blessing that never will cease.

You have watched it sail onward and outward
With a tear of regret in your eye,
For a loved one was sailing upon it,
And there's grief when you're saying goodbye.

But your tears would be tears of rejoicing
And your heart would be happy and free,
If you could look for only a moment
On that ship that is sailing to sea.

For the one you have loved is at leisure,
With no worry or trouble or care.
There's contentment beyond understanding
In the way God's passengers fare.

And you'd know from your own observation
That the sailing was joyful---not grim,
For it means a new life and new living,
And a sweet, closer contact with Him.

Oh, the solace there is in the knowledge,
Life is life and it always will be,
And it's simply a change of direction
When we sail on His ship out to sea.

And the tears that we shed for our loved ones
Are in truth shed for us left behind,
For it hurts to give up to the Master,
'Tho we know He is gentle and kind.

So believe in His great and good wisdom.
Trust in Him, as you patiently wait;
On His ship, God is ever the pilot,
And the one you have loved is His mate.

Testing Postive

First of all, some people had a test today at work.. a drug test. Luckily, I wasn't one of the randomly selected people. (Not that I have anything to hide.) *Ahem* Anyways, I thought it was funny because I'm in Logan at Macey's, and everyone there is LDS so there's really no point to a drug test. This is the first place I've worked that has actually enforced this practice (and I've worked a few places where the enforced practice would have proven a lot of people to be on drugs).

Second of all, I know it's a little after eleven tonight but I'm studying for my multivariable calculus final. Well, on the test we're allowed a 3x5 notecard with anything we want written on it. I wrote everything I wanted to (which was pretty much everything I've learned since the last test) in really small handwriting and ended up with some extra space. Thought this might be helpful to myself, and in the case that any of you fall into the same circumstances, I'd suggest you do the same. Seems quite appropriate, I think.


Wish me luck on my test!

Light

This is a picture that I took last night. My bedroom has a great view of the sunset every night and I feel very blessed for it.


Now, people interpret art many different ways. One way would be to say that this picture represents the light at the end of the tunnel, from the viewpoint of being in the tunnel. This particular interpretation relates to my calculus class. It's almost over! I can see the end now, and it seems to be a pretty sight, but if you get too close it could be a hot subject. And by hot, I mean touchy.
Another interpretation could be that it's a sign of God and how gracious he is. I can't get enough of beautiful nature because each time I see a sunset I can't help but think of how good He is to all of us.
There are many other interpretations, but that's all I have time for right now. Have a good one!