Thursday, December 16, 2010

Finals and Such (Blogging from 30000 feet)

I am sitting in an airplane at cruising altitude on my way from Memphis to Orlando while writing this.  Pretty cool, eh?  I'm also on Facebook and my e-mail at the same time.  In-flight (free) wifi is where it's at!  (Another reason to love Google Chrome: they are offering free wifi on Delta flights for Christmas!)

Well, finals have been in full swing at BYU this week.  It's a cool atmosphere, I think.  Finals usually ends up being a pretty relaxed time for me (which may or may not be a good thing...).  I finished all my finals yesterday which was such a relief.  I managed to pull off decent grades, too.  And now I get to go home for the break!  Awesome!

Just a few pictures of what I've been up to the last few days.  (And, I just really, REALLY wanted to write a blog post while flying in an airplane.)


The trees all decked-out on campus



The library packed with people = not normal.  Must be finals week.
(you can kind of see if you click to make it larger)


Last night my friend, Alicia, and I made a Wendy's run just after midnight.
Since she couldn't park at my apt complex, we took a trip down memory lane to the Wyview laundromat. (She and I met while living at Wyview).
There was a party going on in the laundromat.  A bunch of freshman playing ukeleles and singing.
Sometimes I miss being a freshman.

The tomato from my burger, and Alicia dying of laughter in the background.


That's it for me, for now.  I will be landing in wonderful Orlando in approximately 45 minutes!!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Temple Squared

Here are some pictures from my second trip to temple square this year.  This time I went with Clay and my friend Alicia and her roommate Katie.  It was very pretty and we had a fun time.

(I'd taken some pain meds for my leg and forgot that they would make me drowsy, so I was pretty loopy the whole night, haha.)
The Assembly Hall
We got to go in and listen to a high school a capella choir sing for a bit.

Love this side shot of the temple

Looking up into one of the trees

From the top floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Tree and chandelier in the lobby of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Statue of Joseph Smith in the Memorial Building

 Nativity on the reflecting pond

Bagpiper outside Temple Square.  He was super awesome.

Group picture in front of the tree

Group picture in front of the temple


A good night spent with great friends. :)


Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Must-See Christmas Movie List

There are just some movies you have to see every year.  These are some on my list.

Elf
"Is there sugar in syrup?"

The Santa Clause
"Now, do you want this doll or not?  Go back to sleep."

It's a Wonderful Life
"My lip's bleeding, Bert!  My lip's bleeding!"


A Christmas Story
"I can't put my arms down!"


A Charlie Brown Christmas
"That's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown."



Sunday, December 05, 2010

Temple Square Lights!

This last weekend I had the opportunity to go to Temple Square and see the Christmas lights with some of my ward!  We also watched the Joseph Smith movie in the Legacy theater.  I love that movie more and more each time I see it!

So tall...

I love night pictures of the Salt Lake Temple, or any temple for that matter :)

My first time going in the Tabernacle.
The organ is so pretty!

Lights outside the Assembly Hall

Ooooo, pretty..



Me and my goofy friends

The classic shot

Friends again... (whoops my eyes are almost closed)


Yay Temple Square!  I hope to be able to go again in the next couple weeks!


Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving break started off with a major blizzard warning in Utah.  We were told it was supposed to be the worst blizzard in 40 years or something.  Campus closed more than a day early and everyone worried about traveling for the break.

We got nothing.

Of course, I was out of town for the break, but I'm not even sure that it snowed much while I was gone.  Everyone was pretty disappointed that the big blizzard turned out to be a big nothing.  Well, I was glad at least that it didn't interfere with traveling.  Besides, I don't really like snow that much.  Or at all.

Well, I flew to Phoenix for the break to visit my grandparents who live there.  It was much, much warmer there, and I loved it!  It was good to see my grandparents who I haven't seen for about 3 years.

Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bill


They have 6 cats and a bunny.  I'd never met any of the cats until now.  They were really sweet!  They seemed to like me too and it was cute when they would come up and want me to pet them.  Five of them were all grey, so it was a little hard to tell them apart at first, but they each definitely have their own personality.
This is Buddy.  He was my "buddy" while I was there

He's missing his front leg there.

Lucky the bunny :)

Lucy
(she likes to come up behind you when you're sitting and  tap you on the back when she wants to be petted)



Another one of Buddy.  Aww, he's so sweet!


It was a nice, relaxing break in Arizona.  I got a lot of sleep, which was lovely.

On Wednesday we went to Arizona Mills and saw "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1."  (If you haven't read my previous post already, it tells why I didn't get to see it at midnight.)  The movie was so so so so good!  I heard that a lot of people thought it was too slow and boring, but I liked watching interactions between the trio, who were the focus of most of the movie.  I think this movie was a really good representation of the book as well.  I absolutely loved Dobby, who kicked some serious trash.  I also really enjoyed the scene in the Ministry of Magic where they were disguised as different people.  I also liked Ron a lot more in this movie.  He usually bothers me.  The scene at the beginning where Hermione modifies her parents memories is so sad!  And the part at Godric's Hollow with Bathilda Bagshot is soooo creepy.



After the movie we ate at Panda Express- yummy!

For Thanksgiving my grandma ordered most of the meal from Mimi's Cafe.  Oh boy, was it delicious!  Those mashed potatoes were the best one I've ever had! It was nice because that took a lot of the hassle out of preparing the food, so we could have a more relaxing time.

We all took a nice nap that afternoon after eating.  Then we watched "Elf" (my favorite!).  It just cracks me up every time!  Good stuff.

My grandma and I went shopping at midnight at Arizona Mills to check out the Black Friday deals.  We mostly just wanted to go for the experience, though we did get a good deal on fleece pullovers at The Gap.  That was all we bought, and we left after a little bit.  There were lines waiting to get into some of the more popular stores.  I couldn't believe how many people were out and about at midnight!  But I guess that's Black Friday for ya.

Slept in a bit on Friday, and then went to Old Navy to check out the sales there. I ended up getting some pretty good stuff for a good price!  I've been needing some warmer clothes. :)

Later that night we went to Cici's Pizza for dinner (yum yum yum!) and then to the Mesa temple to see them turn on the Christmas lights.  It was really cool!  The lights seemed like they were even better than Temple Square in Salt Lake.  I was playing with my grandma's digital camera which has some neat features, so I was able to get some great night shots of the temple and the lights, and some awesome panoramics as well.  Check them out! (You might want to click on the panoramics to see them bigger--they really are neat!)
Mesa Temple

Love this shot

One of the panoramics 
(click to view larger)

House of the Lord - Holiness to the Lord

Lights!




The palm trees were really cool!

Me and Grandpa Bill

Temple and the garden lights
(click to view larger)


View from the street
(click to view larger) 

Nativity with an awesome big star


What a great Thanksgiving break!  Thanks for having me, Grandma and Grandpa!

Maybe I can go again next year.  :)

I got some cool shots out the plane window on my flight back to Provo:

Isn't the sky beautiful??


Flying in close to Salt Lake

Some sort of mine.. it was huge!

I wish I had thought to take pictures when I flew out of LA (I had a layover there).
It was so cool flying out over the ocean and then looping back around over LA.
I even got to see the Hollywood sign on the mountain as we flew over.
Pretty neat!