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!