It's About Time I Got Some 'Help'!

Tonight was the best night I have had in a bit, and I really needed it!  A few girls in my ward wanted to go see 'The Help'.  I haven't read the book yet, but the previews looked good, and Jess adores the book, so I wanted to see it.  So Andrew and seven of us ladies trucked over to our Cinemark to see the 6:40 show.
I was absolutely hilarious, because anyone who walked into the theater would definitely be able to tell it was a chick flick.  There were groups of ladies sitting together, and I only counted three men in the entire theater (including Andrew).  We even sat behind a group of eight ladies that all came together, and their ages must have spanned two or three generations.  It made me laugh, because that is what my college girlfriends and I will look like in a few years!
Anyway, the movie just captured me from the very start.  I didn't know the characters or their stories, so I found myself wanting to hurry up and see what would happen next.  It was like I wanted to watch the movie at double speed so I could see what happened to everyone.  Halfway through the movie, I knew I wanted, no, NEEDED to read the book!  I kept leaning over to Jess and telling her how good certain parts were, as if she weren't sitting right next to me.  I gasped in shock, laughed, and cried until my 8 squares of toilet paper that I brought along with me were soaked.  I knew I had mascara streaming down my cheeks, but I didn't care.
After the movie was over, I had a craving that wouldn't go away- I wanted chocolate pie.  For all of you that have read the book or seen the movie, you know how crazy that is, but I wanted it.  So I stopped by our local Village Inn, and what do you know?!  It was FREE PIE NIGHT!  I grabbed my slice of French Silk, headed home, went immediately into Jessie's room, and grabbed her copy of 'The Help'.

If you need me, I will be curled up on my bed.  And I may not answer phone calls.  Sorry!

Why My Nephews Are the Coolest- Exhibits A & B

I have the sweetest nieces and nephews.  I'm serious.  I love them each to PIECES!!!  Today I was reminded how much I miss them when I got a voicemail, and Jess told me a story about Colorado.

Jess and Andrew went up to Denver a few weeks ago to see Sarah, Todd, and fam on their vacation.  Yeah, I'm more than a little jealous, but I had already committed to house/dog sit for my boss, so I couldn't tag along.  Jess told me the funniest thing today.  They had been hiking one morning, and when they went back to their cars, J.C. popped into Jess' and Andrew's car saying, "Man, I need a break from my parents".  He then proceeded to plug into his iPhone, and play away.  Can't you just see that coming from J.C.?  I can even hear the inflection in his voice.  What a cutie!

 

He is so dang cool.

And then I also had the most wonderful voicemail from Braden today!  I saw I missed a call at work, and had a voicemail.  When I saw it was from Ashley, I wanted to hear the message right away, in case it was an emergency.  When I heard Braden's voice talking to my phone, I almost burst into tears right there.  There is just something so special about hearing your family say the words, 'I love you!'.  When it comes from a child, it just melts your heart into a little puddle.

  I love you so much, buddy.

What can I say?  My family is amazing!  :)

What a Relief!

I am DONE with my prerequisite courses!!!!  I took my final for my last math class today, and I really couldn't be happier.  I had an awful teacher and honestly didn't get much instruction, but I am confident that I did well in the class. 

And now I move on to my COHORT!  I will be taking classes at 8 a.m.  But I just figure that I will be going to work by that time when I am out of school, so I might as well get used to it.

I am ready to start this last leg of my Bachelor degree!

Meet Wicket!

This is me with my new friend Max.  After meeting him, I decided I was going to change his name to Wicket.  Some of you may know who Wicket is.  Yeah, I'm a nerd.  But don't you see the similarities?!

I want a dog!

I FOUND THEM!!!

I found those pics that I thought were erased from my computer and my camera!  WOO HOO!!!  I will get some updates with pics here soon.  I'm just so happy I found them!

Ouch!

Remember how excited I was to be the sole owner of my car?  That was until today, when I had to finish replacing my tires and get an oil change.  A whopping $300 later, and it was hard to remember that elation I felt at owning my car.

Look for that silver lining . . .

And Then There Were None

Sorry for the weird and cropped pic, but my blog is public and my information is correct on my checks!  :)

This is it, folks.  The LAST payment for my car!  It's a little more than usual, but it feels so good to send this baby off.  I own a car now.  It's mine.  All mine.  I love that I can consider it an asset instead of a liability.  I tell you, I am slowly whittling down my expenses, and it feels so darn good!

Quickie post

During the course of the day, I caught myself thinking '_____ is one of my favorite things in the world'.  I thought I would share a few of those things, since they will give you an insight into how zany of a person I am!  These were really my thoughts today. 

"(some of) My Favorite Things In the World!":

1.  Red Mango frozen yogurt with blueberries and strawberries
2.  Catching up with a good friend
3.  Sitting outside, but in the shade of a big huge umbrella
4.  Vacuum tracks in the carpet
5.  Ice cold milk
6.  Having a roommate that is related to me
7.  Thunder and lightning storms while looking out over the valley
8.  The songs "Valleri", "Calypso", "America", and "Sound of Silence"

 and MOST IMPORTANTLY . . .
9. My mama, who loves me so much that she worked her tired little fingers to the bone to make me the apron I was so excited about.  She even express mailed it to me so I could have it as fast as possible.  She also included a few little 'surprises' that really made my day.  Thanks, Mom.  I love you!

Isn't it cute?!  I had to take a pic in the mirror because I don't have any roommates right now to help me out!

God Bless America

I should learn the words to that song.  I only know about half of the first verse, how sad is that?

Today was a glorious Fourth filled with food, friends, and fireworks.  Can't get any better than that!  I was in Salt Lake for the day, and spent some time with Lindz, her sister Erin, and their Westie puppy named Boo.  It's not good to have pets around me, because I will ignore everyone else and just play with said pet.  Proof of this was pointed out to me when I spent hours playing with the puppy and her plastic toy replica of a foot.  My friends know that feet and I don't really get along.  Well, this dog licked my toes, bit them a little, and then had me play with her plastic foot toy for around an hour.  Yeah.  I'm a sucker for pets.

Moving on . . . one of Erin's friends invited us over for a barbecue, and we jumped at the chance for some grilled food.  It's one of the best things about the summer- grilled ANYTHING!  We whipped up some chicken kabobs, sliced up some watermelon, and headed out the door.  I was utterly shocked at what met my eyes when I saw the food table at this 'barbecue'.

Now, this is how my family (and most Midwesterners) roll at a barbecue/picnic:

Corn casserole, chips, mustard potato salad, baked beans, sandwiches, KFC, mashed potatoes, maybe a few carrot sticks, a veggie tray that doesn't get eaten, you get the idea.  Hearty, filling, not-so-healthy options.  When I scoped out the food table at this BBQ, it looked like everyone had brought a salad with weird stuff in it!  I think everyone there had watched their favorite Food Channel chef and used a recipe from their show.  It was so fancy and gourmet!!!  There was salad with spinach and fruit, white potato salad with feta, rosemary, and fennel, Quinoa, cucumber salad, pepper salad with 5 kinds of nuts in it, homemade granola cookies, homemade grain chips, ginger ale with fresh mint in it, and that is just for starters, I can't remember the rest!

There was a long line for the barbecue, so I ended up just loading a plate with all the different salads (yes, I tried them all!), and getting my veg on.  I am not very adventurous in my food choices normally, but I have been trying to branch out.  Most of the salads were pretty good, and the white potato salad with feta and rosemary was AWESOME!  Even though the food was out of my league, I still had a great time.  It was mostly people from the single adult ward, so the age range was a little higher.  But I met some great people and had some good laughs (along with some amazing food!).

After the non-BBQ (I didn't even get to eat anything that was grilled!), we headed back to Lindz's house and set up camp on her front lawn.  They live just across the street from the park where the fireworks were being set off.  We literally had the best seats available.  Aerial fireworks were legal for the first time this year, and Lindz's neighbors really went to town with a great show before the Big Show.  I felt a little ashamed of the small fountains, sparklers, and morning glories that I brought for us to use.  But, Lindz and I had a great time playing with sparklers with the kids next door.

I kept trying to get a photo of me spelling my name with sparkler.  Yeah, it didn't work, but I had fun attempting.  And no, I didn't burn myself or set anything on fire!  There was only one rogue ember, and we took care of that really quickly!

We really did have the best view of the Big Show.  It was a great end to a great day.  I love the fact that we celebrate all the wonderful things about our country on the 4th of July.  Although it may not always seem like it, there are a lot of blessings and things to be grateful for that come from being a citizen of this amazing country.  God bless America and keep her safe!

Lessons, Legolas, & Lockwood!

So this week was a good one.  Oh, don't worry, I don't have any pics to go along with it (see previous post).  Bummer.

But, I can still do a type-up of the fun things that happened, right?  You won't be bored, right?  Right?  RIGHT?!  WAKE UP!!!

This week was the last week of my first block class.  It's a math theory class, and I have not enjoyed it too much.  I've met some great people, but the teacher is disorganized and doesn't teach very well.  Let's just say I have learned a lot of things NOT to do in my future classroom.

But I digress.  I was going to demonstrate why I don't like this class.  Exhibit A- our test schedule for this last week.  We had a test on Thursday last week, a group test on Wednesday of this week, the final for the class on Thursday, and our big project for the class due sometime between all those.  Yeah.  I was not too happy.  Study groups, nights in the lab, no bueno.  Three tests and a project due in a week.  What was she thinking?! 

Exhibit B- we have a guy in our class who asks a lot of questions.  He doesn't do it to annoy, but he just needs clarification on lots of stuff.  The teacher has gotten frustrated with him a few times, and has taken to ignoring him when he raises his hand.  A lot of the class grumble when he raises his hand, too, but for heaven's sake, we have to get USED to this!  We will be working with kids.  Yeah, kids.  Oh, but I forgot.  They are the best listeners in the world, and never ask the same question over and over, right?  Sure, it might be annoying to answer questions from the same person over and over, but don't IGNORE him!  That's completely rude!

I will complain/compliment her more depending on what grade I get in the class.  I will find that out on Wednesday or Thursday, so stay tuned.  :)

On Tuesday night, I decided I needed a little break.  What's that you say?  The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition is playing in a theater near us?  And Jess and Andrew are going?  And it starts after class?  Done.

I had never seen the extended version before, but I loved it!  This movie has a special place in my heart for a few different reasons, a LARGE and very ATTRACTIVE one being Orlando Bloom.  I was hoping the extra 40 minutes of film included scenes of him fighting, running, looking hot, talking, using his elf- and archery skills to help the Fellowship, more running, more fighting, and more looking hot.  Alas, the extra scenes seemed to include everyone BUT him.  Slightly disappointing, but I still thought it was excellent.

After taking my tests on Wednesday and Thursday, I decided I wanted/deserved/needed/was going to cry if I didn't get away from school and the house.  There is a community theater around here that does outdoor musicals in the summer, and they were doing 'Singin' in the Rain', one of my favorites (Isenbarger children, cue Mom singing "Good Morning" to us when we wouldn't get out of bed).  My friend Moka wanted to see it as well, so we headed over there to watch.  Besides a few bugs, it was a fantastic evening, and the show was so much fun to watch.  They even rigged up an actual rain shower for the 'Singin' in the Rain' number!  Lots of tap dancing, singing, and laughing later, the show ended with me still smiling.  It was a little different from the movie, but that is to be expected.  Moka and I laughed about a few small mishaps, dialogue mess ups, but overall, it was fun to watch, and that's all that matters, right?  Oh, and it helped that their Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont were so funny.  I think that if there were a role I would ever want to play, Lina might be it.  Her nasal voice was spot on, and she had the audience in stitches with the 'caaaaaan't stand 'im!' part.

So, now concludes my little update.  Hope you're awake!

Import Fail

So, I was importing a whole bunch of pics into my iPhoto, so I could do some picture uploading.  I uploaded the pics and when the computer asked me if I wanted to delete the imported photos from my computer, I did something I've never done before.  I said 'yes'.  I figured they were imported and things would be just fine to get rid of them.

WRONG!!!

My iPhoto application for some reason randomly shut down.  I couldn't believe it.  It hasn't done that before.  So I relaunched the application and guess what . . . the photos are gone.  They are gone from my computer and gone from my camera.  I had some great pics, too!

SAD DAY!!!!

Challenge Extended

So, I challenged Sarah to get a post on her blog this weekend.  She rose to the challenge, and I am trying to as well.  Just for the record, so this idea my family has that I'm a hypocrite goes away, here is the post I sent her:

Lisa Isenbarger

The family has all updated their blogs. I think it's time for us to do the same. Challenge extended!

Thursday at 1:32pm · · · See Friendship

• 
  
• 
  
• • 
    

    Curt Isenbarger For real. Waiting on real posts from Sarah, not arts & crafts. ;) Love you!

You Shouldn't Say 'April Fools!' When . . .

. . . you're getting fingerprinted by the State of Utah in order to be able to teach.  Or when you are getting a background check done by the State for the same reason.  No bueno.  They won't laugh.

Watch Out . . . I'm On My Way!

Wednesday's are REALLY long days for me.  I'm up at 7:30, gone at 8:30, and after a full day of class, faculty meeting, work, and more class, I'm usually home by 7:30.  Nice.

It WOULD be a Wednesday when I get my letter from the El Ed department telling me if I got into the program.  It WOULD be a particular Wednesday when I have to come home later that night because of some class stuff I had to do on campus.  I WOULD find out that the letter was in my mailbox FOUR hours before I can go home and look.  Yeah.  Just my luck.

I drove home slightly faster than normal because I was so excited and wanted to get to the mailbox.  I ran through the front door, dropped my bag, grabbed the mail key, and was back out the door in less than 15 seconds.  And YES, I did take a slightly longer route to the mailbox because there were people in my ward right on the way to the mailbox and I didn't want to get distracted and make polite conversation with them.  And YES, I did walk faster than normal to said mailbox.  And YES I was quite out of breath when I got there.  And YES I did rip open the letter and read it right there.

AND YES, I GOT IN!!!!!

Life is good.

Holy Holi!

Today was the Festival of Colors!!!!

This is my absolute FAVORITE way to welcome Spring.  I mean, who doesn't love getting insanely messy while dancing around and throwing brightly colored rose-scented cornstarch on each other while listening to Indie rock and stories of a Rolex monkey and burning a witch (Yes, all I could think of was Monty Python when they were talking about this)?!  No, really.  It's madness, and I love it.


Check out this vid.  It depicts how amazingly fun the Holi Festival is.  And, a guy from my freshman ward wrote the music!  Crazy connections, huh? 

Thanks for the vid, Lindz!

Okay, so the pics are pretty much the best way to get an idea of what goes on at Holi.  It is a constant cloud of cornstarch and color.  Check out how messy we are!!!

 This was during part of the color cloud.  I put away my camera pretty quickly so it didn't get coated.

Thank heavens for the masks!

 Yeah, people would just throw color on you at any time.  Nice timing, dude with the hat!

I like the clean scratch mark in the middle of my forehead.  Nice.

 The group minus Moka and Anne, who we couldn't find!  We were so darn messy!

 Jessica and Andrew.  This was the only good one I could get of them.  Dang you, Andrew!

 Mindy was so excited that her vacation was at the exact time of Holi.  And check out our white teeth!!

Hannah and Heidi, this one's for you!

This year I was super excited because we had some first-timers with the group!  Lindz and I had always wanted to go to the Festival when we previously lived together, but because neither of us had a car at the time, we weren't able to go.  But, I knew this was the year we would get to do it.  We gathered a whole bunch of friends (Brian came from California, and Mindy came from Nebraska!) and went with some people in my current ward.  Over the course of the few hours we were there, we got separated from the other part of our group, but that didn't stop us from having fun.  Yes, it was even fun when I inhaled a handful of pink powder that had been thrown at my face.  It took a minute to gag and cough all of it out, but that's all part of the fun, right?!  :)

So after we met up with the group and got a few pics, we all decided we were famished and needed to grab some grub, pronto.  Sonic was the agreed upon spot, so we all headed off in our colored glory.  I have to say, even with sheets and blankets covering the seats, I still have a pink car.  Yeah, not so happy about that.

I love this pic of Danny.  It's just hilarious to see a guy with a red face wrapped in a girly blanket and ordering from a Sonic drive thru.  Love it.

Once we got to Sonic, it seemed like the temp just dropped.  We all huddled together and ordered massive amounts of food.  We really were famished.  Some people even managed a round 2.  I think Jessica said it best when she told us, "It's kind of like how you're so hungry and exhausted after church.  We were at a religious festival, so I think it is just like that."  I love that girl.  Here is a shot of our table before some people got more food:

And there was another table next to us completely filled with bags as well.  Oh, it was amazing.  All in all, it was a great year for the Holi Festival of Colors, and I'm pretty sure we will be going again next year.  Anyone want to join us?!  Pencil it in for the end of March, 2012.  You will NOT regret going!

Drum Roll, Please!!!

It came.

Game on!

What a GREAT day!

 My Professor Plum costume.  I had too much fun with it!

In the immortal words of Princess Bride, "Let me 'splain. *pause*  No, there is too much.  Let me sum up."


Today was pretty much a blast.  I saw BYU kick Gonzaga's trash, went to a Clue party with an amazing costume, and welcomed the Cougar basketball team back home from their win.

I watched the second half of the game over at Jessica's boyfriend's sister's (how do you like that?!) house.  They had some people over and it was such a fun time.  We had the TV on the BYU game, and the iPhones on the Pitt game.  Add to the mix two babies, a toddler, and a HUGE golden retriever, and you get the best party ever!  It was so fun to watch the game with people who were as excited about BYU as I am.  Plus, everyone on the BYU team had a stellar game.  The shots were just falling for us.  So much fun to watch!

I had also gone to the house to get the finishing touches on my costume for our ward's Clue party.  I decided to go as Professor Plum.  I had a few items that I had borrowed from friends, and I snagged a mustache from a local costume shop.  Overall, I think it turned out well!

For the game, the ward reserved the Maeser building on BYU campus, and it was a PERFECT location for this!  It's one of the oldest buildings on campus, so it has a wood paneled auditorium with a stage (ballroom), a small library (obviously), a game room (billiard room), and rooms with comfy furniture (lounge). Some people dressed up as characters, others came in their normal clothes, but we split up

into groups and played the game amongst ourselves.  There were challenges in each room that we had to complete; things like naming books of literature from clues (king of felines, Prof. McGonagall, and a place to keep clothing = the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe), having us solve logic puzzles, play a game of two truths and a lie, etc.  I was paired up with another girl in our ward dressed as Prof. Plum, and we tore it up!  We were able to find out the murderer, room, and weapon first.  Never mind that we cheated a bit . . .  :)

After the Clue game and some photo ops with other ward members, I headed home, fully intending to try and finish some homework.  Yeah.  That didn't happen.  Jess let me know that she and Andrew were headed out with Andrew's roommate Dan to the Provo airport.  They had found out that the BYU team was going to be flying in at 12:30 that night, and we decided to go cheer them on.

We got to the airport around 11:45, and found out the team was landing pretty soon.  We got a prime spot in the building to see the guys.  They walked right past us!  Jess decided to take pics and I did the video.  Unfortunately, the guys came through pretty quickly, so it was hard to get good pictures.  But check out the video of the gauntlet of fans the guys went through!

After the team went through, we headed outside, fully expecting the guys to already be on the bus home.  To our surprise, they were hanging out beside the doors, signing autographs and taking pictures.  With a LOT of help from Jess and her mad skills, we got some great pics:

 Us with Kyle Collinsworth (he just got his mission call to Russia, Cole!) and Stephen Rogers.

 Jackson Emery- defensive specialist.

 Noah Hartsock.  A lot taller than I thought.

 Charles "In Charge" Abouo.  The poor kid just kept looking around for his bags, and tried to take pics and sign autographs in between. 

Logan Magnusson.

It was such a blast hanging around with the players and reveling in the win.  Someone even drove by in a huge suburban that had BYU flags all over it, honking like crazy.  It was nice that the guys spent some time with the fans.  All of them played really well, and it was great to be able to cheer them home.  Unfortunately, Jimmer was nowhere to be found since he had a police escort get him right out of the building.  It's all right, though.  On the way home we decided that we would do this again for the team at the end of the next game- win or lose.  Anyone want to come?

A "C" Dinner!

One of the counselor's in our bishopric just had a baby.  Her name is Clara Luna Lesue.  How cute is that?  I immediately thought of a sleep aid medicine when I heard her name.  Too funny!

Anyways, I took them a meal tonight.  During the day I had texted Bro. Lesue a few times to get some meal ideas.  He told me that the girls had been wanting some 'kid food'.  So I went to the grocery and grabbed my favorites from my childhood.  I decided to give the meal a letter 'C' theme, so their menu was not particularly healthy, but it was fun:

• Chicken nuggets (Dinosaur shaped ones- EDUCATIONAL!!!)
• Chocolate milk
• Carrots
• Corn
• Chips (technically, potatoes are a vegetable)
• Chocolate candy (Reese's Peanut butter eggs, to be exact!  And I gave the parents a heads up beforehand so they could snag the chocolate and hide it before the kids saw it if they didn't want them to have it)

I'm going to be a terrible mother . . . with really hefty kids . . .

A Great FHE and Pi Day!

Today was a day that I have been needing.  I went to FHE tonight and our group spent the time visiting a widow that lives on a street near us.  Her name is Amy, and she insisted we call her that.  One of our FHE members had seen her outside shoveling the snow from the last snowstorm and he stopped to help.  Oh, she is 90, by the way.  Ty struck up a friendship with her, and he brought our whole group to her cute little home.  We brought pizza and drinks, and had a lesson with her.  She told us about her life, but then she bore one of the sweetest testimonies that I have ever heard.  There were quite a few misty eyes in the room, with mine being the most watery.  I'm such a sap!  

After FHE, one of the girls in the ward threw a Pi Day party.  When I found out there was a pie competition, I knew I had to enter my family's famous Hershey Pie.  It is served every year at Easter, and some random times in between.  It's one of the most delicious (yet simple) things to make.  Mom, you taught me well on how to make them, and I took the top prize at the party!   The Pi Party was just a blast, and it was so good to catch up with old friends, and make a few new ones.  

I will definitely be going to bed full and happy!  Goodnight!

Fun Fact:

Pi= 3.1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510 5820974944 5923078164 0628620899 8628034825 3421170679 8214808651 3282306647 0938446095 5058223172 5359408128 4811174502 8410270193 8521105559 6446229489 5493038196 4428810975 6659334461 2847564823 3786783165 2712019091 4564856692 3460348610 4543266482 1339360726 0249141273 7245870066 0631558817 4881520920 9628292540 9171536436 7892590360 0113305305 4882046652 1384146951 9415116094 3305727036 5759591953 0921861173 8193261179 3105118548 0744623799 6274956735 1885752724 8912279381 8301194912 9833673362 4406566430 8602139494 6395224737 1907021798 6094370277 0539217176 2931767523 8467481846 7669405132 0005681271 4526356082 7785771342 7577896091 7363717872 1468440901 2249534301 4654958537 1050792279 6892589235 4201995611 2129021960 8640344181 5981362977 4771309960 5187072113 4999999837 2978049951 0597317328 1609631859 5024459455 3469083026 4252230825 3344685035 2619311881 7101000313 7838752886 5875332083 8142061717 7669147303 5982534904 2875546873 1159562863 8823537875 9375195778 1857780532 1712268066 1300192787 6611195909 2164201989 3809525720 1065485863 2788659361 5338182796 8230301952 0353018529 6899577362 2599413891 2497217752 8347913151 5574857242 4541506959

And that is just the first 1120 digits. . .

Park City and the Blind Dog

The Weyman family plus Granny Slash

Today was a little hectic, but SO great because I got to see the Weymans! I left work a little early and headed through the canyon (best drive ever, by the way. That canyon is so gorgeous!) toward Park City. Aunt Sissy, Uncle Ned, Elizabeth, and Robert were all up at the Park City Mountain Resort for their yearly ski excursion.

Since Robert's birthday was just a little while ago, I stopped by Jess' and my favorite place for cupcakes, the Cocoa Bean Cafe, and snagged some of their AMAZING cupcakes. How can you go wrong when some of the flavors are Grasshopper, Better Than Whatever, Death by Chocolate, Snickerdoodle, White Chocolate Raspberry, and Snickers?!

Oh, and by the way, these look small in the picture.  Trust me, they are huge, and you have to eat them with a fork!

After we chatted for just a little bit, we headed out for a delicious dinner at the Blind Dog restaurant.  I had never been, but I can tell you, they had the best creamed spinach I have ever tasted.  Yes, you read that right- creamed spinach!  I was planning on just moving it to the side of my plate, but decided to just give it a try.  I'm not ashamed to admit that I scraped my plate clean of spinach before I ate anything else.

Dinner was just a blast!  Elizabeth and I sometimes had a hard time hearing people on the other side of the table, and when that happened, we just looked at pics on Sissy's camera, laughed, and chatted.  Some of the interesting things to come out at dinner:

• Sissy and the tale of the 9-foot Christmas tree.  She called home and had Ned measure the ceiling.  When he told her it was 8 feet 4 inches, she just assumed the tree would work anyway.  The pictures of the family in front of a fake tree that has its top squished against the ceiling are hilarious!
• Elizabeth's habit of mixing up different sayings.  During the telling of a story, she said she was so embarrassed that she was 'beet red as a tomato'.  In true Isenbarger fashion, I pointed out that I was so glad that she wasn't as beet red as a beet- that would have been too red.  We all had a good laugh about that one.
• Robert forgetting to tell our family that he got engaged.  Elizabeth and I were looking through pics when she pointed out Karen and called her Robert's 'fiance'.  I was a little caught off guard since they were just dating at Curt's wedding last summer.  Apparently Robert had gotten engaged a few months ago and forgot to tell us!  That became the joke of the evening.  Anyone up for a trip to Boston at the beginning of October?

What a fantastic evening!  Even as I was driving home, I kept thinking about how it is such a blessing and privilege to be related to such amazing people.  They are great examples of humility and goodness, and I am so glad I got to spend some time with them.  Love you, Weymans!

A Terrible Breakup

I have decided to observe Lent in order to rid myself of a nasty habit- drinking pop.  I have found myself getting mad headaches if I go a day without caffeine, and to me that is no bueno.  I would like to be in a place where I don't reach for pop every time I get thirsty.  It's something that I have wanted to do ever since I noticed that my teeth feel weird, my mouth is dry, and my stomach growls after I drink it.  So, I am going to observe Lent and give up pop for forty days.  Wish me luck!

To my boyfriend, Dr. Pepper, we need to take a break.

Music can touch the soul!

Today I was looking over YouTube for a video that Jess and I have been searching for for years.  I came across this recording of Le Nozze di Figaro, and the chills just started running up and down my spine!  I was playing the very beginning (starting at :28, and going to 1:00), and Jess came in my room and told me that this section of the opera is what made the Marriage of Figaro her very favorite opera.  I have to agree that this is an INCREDIBLE section!  And, I have decided that I have a HUGE crush on Gerald Finley (the Count).  He is the best!


Ohhhh. That crescendo gets me every time! I can't even explain how this part makes me feel! Mozart was truly a musical genius with his works. Check out the harmonies and mix of music in the rest of this act. SO GOOD!

Jimmerisms

I was a doubter.  I thought he was a one trick pony.  But boy was I wrong!

Today BYU swept #4 San Diego State University in basketball.  On their court.  And SDSU is no team to sneer at.  It was a great game, and the entire BYU team was on fire!  Abouo had 18 points, Hartsock had 15, Emery had 14.  The guys were on FIRE!

But my favorite thing has been to read some of the 'Jimmerisms' that people come up with.  I try and stay away from the sacrilege, but some of them are really hilarious.  My favorites:

- Why did Jimmer cross the road?  Because he was tired of crossing over Tre'von Willis.
- And Jimmer dwelt in a tent.
- One time the BYU basketball team was walking on the beach.  They looked back and there was only one set of footprints.
- While playing Scrabble, if you spell the word 'Jimmer', you automatically win . . . forever.
- Double Jimmer all the way across the sky!
-Jimmer has more crossovers than the US-Mexico border.

Oh dear, people are clever!

Hell Froze Over Today

Four months to the day . . .

And I'm getting another post up.  I'm sure no one will read it since you have all given up on me and my blog!  I'm sorry!  I never was good at journal keeping.  And it seems as if there isn't much going on in my life that is interesting for people to read.  Oh well.  Let's get a few updates up.

The Isenbarger's Know How To PARTAY!

Today Jess and I threw a bridal shower for our friend, Amy.  She and our friend Chris are getting married on March 19!  Amy has always been such a fun person, and always comes to our get togethers.  So we were really excited to throw this shower for her.  In true Isenbarger fashion, it was a *little* over the top.  Our spread included: chex mix, chips and salsa, veggie pizza, rock candy, little smokies, cheese ball and crackers, strawberry napoleons, and Lisa's Best Bubbly.

Yeah, we go a little overboard sometimes. . .

In fact, we spent so much time on the food and getting ready for the party, that we didn't have time to get ourselves ready!   Let's just say that Jess and I weren't at our prettiest . . .  But we had a good time.  We played a memory game with pictures and stories from their courtship, watched a chick flick, had presents, and played the bubblegum game.  We videoed Chris' responses and played them for Amy and the girls.  We asked amazingly easy questions like, "What was the name of Chris' childhood pet?", and "What was the name of the elementary school that Chris went to when he was nine?".  Honestly.  Who wouldn't get those answers right?!  :)  After a wad of fourteen Dubble Bubble pieces, Amy's jaw was sore and hurting.  But we had a great time watching her try to chew!

It was a fun time with the chicas in the ward.  Amy got some great presents (you're welcome, Chris!), and was sent off into married life with a great party.  Congrats, Amy and Chris, we love you guys!!!

Praxis: Consider Yourself Rocked!

Today was a pretty big day.  I took the exam that has been the focus of hours of study for the last semester.  All told, I probably studied about 40 hours for this dang test.  Thankfully, a lot of material was online so I didn't have to take a class or spend tons of money preparing.

I took the test at noon, and felt really nervous walking in.  But I kept telling myself over and over, "I'm prepared.  I've been preparing for this for a long time.  I can do this."  It was a pretty lengthy test, with 120 questions.  I just buckled down and took it one question at a time. 

After an hour and a half, I finished with a passing score!  UVU requires a 150 for the program, and I got a 177.  BAM!  I felt so amazingly good walking out of the testing place.  I was so excited that I went home and finished my El Ed application immediately!  Now I just have the group interview on March 25th, and then the waiting begins . . .