Go Jazz Go

Saturday Matt and I got to go to dinner and the Jazz game with Kristen and Shawn. Kristen was my roommate when I first moved to West Jordan and so it was fun to hang out with her again for the evening. It was also reminicent of my first "real" date with Matt. And the game was fantastic. What a fun night!

I love these little quizzes

You Are An ENFJ

The Giver You strive to maintain harmony in relationships, and usually succeed. Articulate and enthusiastic, you are good at making personal connections. Sometimes you idealize relationships too much - and end up being let down. You find the most energy and comfort in social situations ... where you shine. In love, you are very protective and supporting. However, you do need to "feel special" - and it's quite easy for you to get jealous. At work, you are a natural leader. You can help people discover their greatest potential. You would make a good writer, human resources director, or psychologist. How you see yourself: Trusting, idealistic, and expressive When other people don't get you, they see you as: Bossy, inappropriate, and loud

What's Your Personality Type?

I'm so official....HA!

Since I have an office now, I decided I could be official and be one of those cool, intelligent people who hang their diplomas up in their office. So I did. Except I still feel as overwhelmed and inadequete as ever as I am trying to figure out all this new stuff. But I love the challenge.

One of the many cool things about my job is that I get to meet lots of really neat people. Like yesterday, when I had the opportunity to meet two General Authorities of my church. Elder Kerr and President Samuelson. And I had the opportunity to be instructed by them. I learned some really cool things from these great leaders. Elder Kerr talked about how we should develop one new proficiency each year and how our success is determined by how we facilitate the success of those around us.

He shared a quote by Jeffery R. Holland that I really liked. He said, "We can't do everything. But what we choose to do, let's do it superbly well." I need to remember that. I don't need to do everything, but I can do a few things well. He also shared the scripture Romans 5:19 which says, "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." He reminded us the incredible influence we can have on others--for good or for bad.

Even though I am extremely overwhelmed with all these changes in my life, I am really grateful for the learning opportunities that I have been provided with.

Oh yeah, and I constantly get mistaken to be a student instead of an administrator. I don't know whether or not that is a compliment. (Like I look too young to be so smart and professional or I look too much like I don't know what the heck I'm doing to be an administrator.) That usually happens at least once a day.

Awww...

Last week I was having a pretty cruddy week. I was just struggling with a bunch of dumb stuff. Anyway, in an effort to help me feel better, Matt brought me a beautiful pink flower. What a sweetie! This picture was taken with my phone...hence the poor quality. But it really is very pretty in real life. I love flowers! Thank you Matt!

So, I've been at my new job for two weeks now...and I am still liking it a lot. It's a huge challenge for me because it is something different and new, but I am enjoying it. The students I work with are so stinkin' talented and amazing that sometimes I wonder what the heck I can offer them. Hopefully I will figure that out.

Over the past two weeks I have been working with my students to create a team for the upcoming school year. We've been interviewing people for director positions, outlining an organizational plan for our area, and determining the projects we want to accomplish this year. I've also been working with the outgoing team to finish up the projects they have been working on throughout the year. We've published a poster encouraging students to attend the weekly devotional here on campus and we are in the works of planning a volunteer appreciation party, which will be held this weekend.

I'm constantly amazed at the talents and abilities of these students. They pretty much rock. And not only are they extremely talented and smart, they are so friendly and truly try to reach out and serve everyone around them. It's so refreshing. I've witnessed so many tiny acts of service in the past two weeks, and I must say that I am extremely impressed.

Back on the block

Can you believe this? The New Kids On The Block are reuniting. Weird! I loved them when I was like 9 years old and they were only popular for like a year. I just find this really strange. They are like 40...what's the appeal of a 40-year old boy band? Anyway, just thought I should share.

A Golden Opportunity

Last Saturday was Matt's Golden Birthday. For those of you who are uneducated as to what a golden birthday is, let me explain. It's when you turn the age of the date your birthday is on. For example, Matt turned 29 on March 29th. Anyway, we had a wonderful day of "golden" festivities. First of all, we went for a little bike ride up Provo Canyon. There was a really neat frozen waterfall.

Then we went to Rodizio Grill for a golden birthday feast. Rodizio is Matt's favorite restaurant....and boy was it tasty! They even gave him some golden flan for dessert and sang a Happy Birthday song in Portugese--complete with bongo drums and tamborines.

Then we went bowling at the golden bowling alley. All the guests received a golden ticket to get in. Matt wore a golden crown and got a golden bowling score. It was tons of fun.

Here are some of us playing piggy back bowling. It was quite entertaining.

After bowling, we all went back to my apartment for some golden treats. We had some golden chocolate birthday cake, Golden Grahams, goldfish, and Golden Oreos. It was great! But most of all, I hope Matt enjoyed his golden birthday. Happy Birthday Matt! I love you!

It has already been quite the day

What a day! So, first of all I got a flat tire on the way to the gym this morning and had to get out and change it in the freezing cold weather. (Let me remind you that it was 5:30 in the morning and I was wearing shorts!) I thought I was going to die!

Anyway, that put me running behind all day long, so I almost missed the bus to work. I had to run after it like an idiot flailing my arms to get the driver's (or some compassionate passenger's) attention so they could let me on. It brought back some scary middle school memories. Uggh!

Then when I got to work, I was so frazzled by the morning's events that I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking. We have a ping pong table in our office and some students were playing, and I walked by a little too close and got whacked in the head with a ping pong paddle. I think a nice little bruise is starting to form on my nose. I have been holding this frozen water bottle to my nose all morning to help the swelling. Good thing I have that temperature control in my office---I totally cranked up the heat to make up for the frozen goods on my face.

Oh yeah, and I ripped my pants on the bus. So I have to walk around with my coat tied around my waist to cover it up. Joys. Maybe I should just go to the bookstore and buy a new skirt or something.

On a happier note, today is Caron's birthday! Hurray for Caron! I hope you have a great day!

Well, the good news is that this day can only get better....













....because it's APRIL FOOLS DAY!!!! Ha ha ha! Did I fool you? ;)

New job update

I would like to announce that I am now the proud owner of a UTA bus pass. I found out that there is an express bus from Sandy to BYU. It only takes me about 15-20 minutes longer to get to work than if I were to drive myself. AND I can actually do stuff (like read or sleep) during my commute instead of just waste time driving.

This will especially come in handy when I start up my graduate classes again in May. And the bus has wireless Internet connection for my laptop. How cool is that? And it’s not one of those ghetto city busses. It’s actually quite nice…with reclining seats.

And the best part…my bus pass is free! Since I am a student at the U, I can get an education bus pass for free. This is gonna save me lots of gas money, and not to mention that Chester (my car) will get a nice little break. What a great deal!

My new job is going really well. I am liking it a lot. I’m just so excited to be working in a job where I really get to help people and (hopefully) make a difference in their lives. The mission and values of where I work are things that I really believe in. My job is basically to train leaders so that when they leave college, they can go out into the world and make a meaningful contribution and make a difference themselves.

I specifically work with the Communications division of BYUSA. That means that I am in charge of the students who are in charge of all the marketing, PR efforts, publications, media relations, website, etc. that comes out of the BYU Student Association. Plus, I teach a leadership class and help out with the campus activities division as well. So far, I love it!

I love that I get to work with people specifically with the assignment to build character, teamwork, and leadership skills in them. And I love that I have the resources available to me to be able to do that. I’ve been encouraged to do what it takes to build good relationships with these students and really build a great working team, and that means I can take them to lunch, take them on retreats, etc.

I love that the fact that I get to play and get to know people as part of my job is so highly encouraged! In fact, this weekend we are taking the students on a retreat up to a cabin. With the sole purpose of having a good time and getting to know each other. Yesterday, the office staff went out to Thanksgiving Point for a good majority of the day to do the same thing.

I have also been told that I will have plenty of resources available to me to do the things that I want to accomplish with my students. Things like redesign the website, print new posters and brochures, have big recruitment events and efforts, and other really cool things. It’s so nice to actually be able to have what I need to reach my goals.

I also have a HUGE office. With a door that locks. And a table and chairs for meeting with students. And a big whiteboard. I really want to bring in a love sack or something. I’m really looking forward to decorating it and making it really cute and fun. And the best part….

I have my own temperature gauge. I don’t have to freeze and wrap myself in a blanket anymore! Oh, I am so happy about that. Anyway, I am just really excited about this new change in my life. So far it has been wonderful and I think it will be really great.

When we went to Thanksgiving Point, we went to this stained glass studio and got to see them working on the windows for the Draper Temple. How cool is that?! Here’s one of them in progress…

Anyway, I am just really thankful for these cool new opportunities in my life right now.

...and here we have Idaho!

Since we had to drive a very long way (SLC to Boise for Brooke's wedding) in a very short period of time (2 days), we decided to cram as much as we could into our little weekend jaunt. We made sure to sing the Idaho state song as we crossed the Utah/Idaho border. We told jokes as we passed through the town of Bliss. We saw some haystacks, and tractors, and potato fields. And of course, we made sure to eat some potatoes while in Idaho.

I have always made fun of Idaho, but the city of Boise really grew on me in the 24 hours we were there. It was so clean and quiet and green and there were so many cyclists and runners. We passed by tons of running/sporting shops, and they even have a 26-mile paved running trail by the Boise River. It was so awesome! We took a little jog on it Saturday morning and had a great time. There was also this huge park where the entire town had gathered for an Easter egg hunt. We jogged by several parks, the Boise State University campus (and saw the blue football field), and several other sites. I loved that so many people were out on the trail just enjoying being outside.

There were also a bunch of cute little restaurants and bars in downtown Boise. We decided to dine at the City Grill. It was housed inside an old national bank building. I ordered the noquis (potato pasta) to keep with the tradition of eating some form of potatos while in Idaho. It seriously was the best meal I've had in a really long time. It was so fabulous.

On the way home, we took a little detour and stopped off at the Golden Spike. Where the two railroads met back in 1869. It seriously is out in the middle of nowhere!
I have always wanted to stop there, but never had time, so we made the detour. It was pretty cool to learn about it though.

Here we are on the spot where the golden spike was driven.

We also passed the ATK rocket display thingey. It was pretty cool to see all the different parts of a rocket.

Here's me inside a rocket part. And here's Matt running around the rocket launcher.

Anyway, despite it being a long drive, we had tons of fun!

Year of a million weddings

This past weekend my cute mission companion, Brooke, got married. We went up to Boise for the festivities. Everything about the wedding was so totally Brooke. I loved it! It had a complete fairy tale princess theme.

Her cake had a castle, a glass slipper, and a horse-drawn carriage on top.

Reed wore a top hat and carried a cane.

They had this cute light-up carriage and princess outside the reception. Oh, and Brooke wore a very poofy princess dress and tiara. It was great!

One thing I really loved was the Boise Temple. It is very similar to the Buenos Aires, Argentina Temple. Anyway, we had a great time and congrats to Brooke and Reed! I love you guys.