Why So Serious?

Funny anecdote from last week- Mom, Derek, Lauren, and I went to eat at Cafe Rio because Mom has never experienced it. When we finally got up near the register, the guy in front of us kept asking for all these extra things on the side. An employee from the back tossed up a small container of jalapeños for him, but he missed and it landed (and exploded) on my leg. And that's how I got a free meal.
We had back-to-back water polo games this week and were so good that our ranking was brought into question. I'm fairly confident that we will win the tournament and completely confident we would NOT win in a higher division. I also know our team would win Most Improved, if such an award existed.

Totes the best hun-cal fro-yo in Provo. 

BYU's display for STEM Fest

I had two interview this week-Y-Serve Videographer (again) and Peer Mentoring. I had to volunteer for 8 hours at the same place for one of my classes so I helped out at STEM Fest. It's a conglomeration of companies and divisions in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math that present at little stations and do cool activities. I got to help field-tripping kids off the bus and around AND I got a couple of t-shirts. My roommate, Jesse, got her dream internship so we celebrated with frozen yogurt. I passed my driving test and will soon have a Utah license. And I read some more of Tad R. Callister's book on the Atonement. I got in the newspaper for saying I wanted BYU to let men grow beards and give us a day off in March (although they cut the last part out). My best friend Lauren and I did genealogy:

I went to an 80s dance with my roommates and just wore my normal clothes:

I worked on my sequel film, with the help of my bishop and several men:

My acting career is also taking off, with special appearances in the following films:

I got to go to Conference for Women in Salt Lake, with my lovely MTC companion, Emarie Swenson. Revelation flowed freely. Conversation was not lacking. And our waiter, Jace, was delightful and only slightly disappointed that we lived in Provo instead of SLC. Sorry, man. Soeur Swenson and I are excited to live together.

Highly Recommended

All of last week was spent studying for my tests this week. I took Physics on Monday. It could have gone better. Microbiology and Finance both went surprisingly well. After turning in applications for Peer Mentoring, Athletic Training, and Y-Serve Videographer, I am taking a mental break before hitting the grinds again. The most stressful part of the applications was getting all the documents ready. But everyone was really helpful. Chris made his own box labeled "Most Highly Recommended" because apparently "Highly Recommend" wasn't high enough; Darryl whipped out his LOR in a day; and the secretary at Y-Serve personally called me as soon as the videography position was officially posted and asked me to send her my resume.

Monday night, I skipped FHE and a group date to have my own FOE (Family OUT Evening) with my mother, my brother, and my best friend. At Cafe Rio. Tuesday night was the big water polo game and we came to play, winning by 30. Wednesday I visited the Microbiology Career Symposium during my work break. I got an easy 20 points extra credit, a cookie, and I ran into the Family Carter for a few minutes before going back to work. And came out of it with tickets to BYU's Winter's Tale. So Thursday was spent watching my old mission companion play the accordion and enjoying some Shakespeare.

I also got a free Chic-Fil-A meal on Thursday for going to BYUSA at the right time. Thank you, Koa, for the heads up text. As we were separating to our classes, yelling our last funny remarks, a delightful random guy joined in. He was so nice I almost gave him my food. Almost.
And Friday. My first relaxing Friday in a long time. Dr. Lee, my French prof, said I could hang with his wife who does set designing for a living. I walked all the way to the DMV only to find out that the DMV in each town only has one function. I need to go to Orem. We had a soccer game that we lost. And our goalie and best player are both out for the rest of the season, so we're done pretty much. Then Lauren and I slaughtered at Hand & Foot. Per usual. We are the best team. And I'm glad Lauren Rigby gave up such a tempting offer as David Monson to join us. Quote of the evening:

Lauren: Most men get fat after they get married. Roommate: It's because they actually eat now that they have wives to make them food! Me: Well my husband's gonna be real skinny. Welcome to Cereal Land, sucka.

82 and the Whisk's Assassin
Coming Soon 

Saturday I slept in real late. And by that I mean 9am. I did some HW and went to the temple with Cam. We also enjoyed In and Out and he promised to help me technify some hymns sometime. Slowly, I am accomplishing my life goals. If only they weren't so varied. It was enjoyable. As was the lemon pie that I ate for dessert (thanks mom.) Then we invited over some friends and started filming. Haunting in 82, part 2 (a.k.a. 82 and the Whisk's Assassin) is in progress. Eager as always to work on a project, I've already edited what I could.
Rounded the night off by heading to the Ward Talent Show. And there was some real talent. My favorite acts came at the end of the night. The first was a skit about a couple getting ready for and going on a date. But the head/arms/feet were all played by different people and it was a beautiful mess. The second was Daniel Rellaford impersonating singers such as Frank Sinatra, Brittney Spears, David Bowie, Nickelback, Elvis, and more while singing crowd-chosen Disney songs. It was a hit.

Suicide Rant: I don't get why people take their own life. I mean, just go to any hotel, Holiday Inn has a whole distributor for Life. And just because you see other people enjoying Life, doesn't mean you can't. There's plenty of Life to go around. And if you're feeling low, just find a nice woman to fill up your Life. I like to put my bowl of Life in the middle of the table. I mean, who wants Life on the edge? -Tony

Muffed It.

I got to see Miken, Husband, and Brittney this week. Old friends reunited once again. Gave me flashbacks to the times I used to play church ball while eating a banana and wearing a puff painted wolf t-shirt for a different ward.
Remember that movie my roommates made for ward prayer? Well, there’s going to be a part II. Coming soon to a theater near you.  Just like indoor plumbing—it’s gonna be big. (Our bishop even agreed to a cameo.)

After a long day of school, work, and testing center on Wednesday, I stopped by the French Club’s fair where various francophone provinces were represented by knowledgeable people and food. I had some really delicious éclairs and learned some of Mali’s native language.

Thursday included a trip to the doctors. Just for a physical, but my roommates filled their morning by recounting a multitude of terrible doctor experiences. But the guy was chill and I got some candy out of it, as well as a significant portion of my AT application completed. And after watching the track practice Friday, all my hours are done! After school, I ran over to our soccer game. During which I kicked the ball three times and realized how bad I am at soccer. Our team is impressive. Afterwards I got to help Sam, my visiting teachee prepare to fly to California to go through the temple. 

Pi Pie Pie. (The second one's pizza).

Friday I brought my French paper in to the writing lab and got it destroyed. I also got my French test back, on which I was, surprisingly, not destroyed. I did mention that we should be able to get back points for witty comments, to which my professor wholeheartedly agreed. Too bad he doesn’t grade the test. He would have understood my definition for cash drawer: place to look in a store if you are a robber. Luckily, he did grade the essays, so my snide comments were appreciated there. Sarah Whitcomb got her mission call to San Diego, California. 

Derek, Naomi, Hannah, Michaela, Brooklyn, Avery, Cormac...and more

Mom flew out this weekend. It’s funny being together with her, Derek, and Hannah. We think the same jokes and so we were jinxing each other left and right all weekend (and being generally loud and obnoxious).  We tried to reign it in, but you can only dam it up for so long. Saturday we went to the Ogden temple together while the rest of the family went to the Airforce Museum down the road. Grannie B made a delicious raspberry salad to add to our pizza pies and normal pies and physics. Pi Day. All day.  Followed by a pig pile (oldest to youngest, not heaviest to lightest) and Derek and I were crushed as soon as Hannah got on. We already couldn’t breathe and at one point I thought Derek might actually be dead. One cracked rib and several crushed lungs later, we left Grannie B’s house, bringing the chaos with us. Now if we can just get Derek to finish school before he drops out, grows a beard, and moves to California, we'll call it good.

Sitting on Papa Bear's lap. Just like the good old days. 

I'm a Polar Bear

Ward Prayer. 

After an enjoyable Stake Conference (at which both Sage and Canute were providing entertainment from both sides), Derek drove us in Pikachu to Family Dinner. Joy made a delicious meal and I got to meet Tanner's girlfriend. En fin. (That I'm finally meeting her and that they're officially dating.) We rushed back so I could conduct Ward Prayer with Isaac, lovingly referred to as the Captain. I was throwing my shoes on when he bursts through the door with an inhuman Amazonian war cry. I only wished I had dressed up in equal battle regalia, but he left me little time.
Monday was one of the funnest shadowing gigs (second only to basketball, but let's be honest: what sport could beat THAT out?). I got to watch the gymnasts. It was like Stick It-so many cool tricks that I didn't know which ones to watch. Which was the same dilemma for most of the acts at Wardstock that night (like Woodstock, without the drugs). It was a lip synching battle. My FHE came up with a mashup presentation of the progression of a love story. I was so close to having to pretend to be the boy for about half of it (because the real boys were late and I played their part during the practices).
I am now recertified in CPR. My boss, Ronnie, really does like me and the other Scoreboard workers, as shown by the Jamba Juice he keeps buying for us. I spent too long at the Testing Center on Thursday. And I officially love everyone in the Athletic Training program. Example: My AT teacher said We're so far ahead of schedule that we're probably going to take off the week before finals. And you know what? Might as well take Friday off as well. And then 15 minutes into the class-Well that's enough for today. Class dismissed. The program and the people are great. Once you get out, at least if you work at Mountainview or Orem, seems to be less than desirable. Hence, physical therapy as an endpoint in lieu of athletic training. After hanging out with the athletic trainer, her students Kira and Challee (who are both being woo'd by the single staff members), and Kaitlyn Albach's sisters at Orem High School, I sprinted over to our water polo game. I was freaking out about it all day because we were supposed to have a full team and then people started dropping. We ended up with 6/7 players and, luckily for us, the other team only had 5. We won by 40. NBD. We did get the highest ranking in the lowest division, so we are in a good place for t shirt winning.

Cousins. 

Hunter and I headed over to a game night in southern Provo. We played a fun game that I'll try to explain. Everyone gets a card that shows their identity. The top half says whether they are on the Red or Blue team. The bottom part says what character they are. Shy Guys and Coy Boys are not allowed to show their cards. Spies also shouldn't show their cards. There is an engineer and a bomber that must meet up at some point during the game. The Blue Team also has shy guys, coy boys, and spies, but then a Doctor and a President who need to meet up. We randomly picked who goes in one of two rooms. Each room picks a leader and the people in the rooms share information for five minutes and then the leader has to pick 3 people to send into the other room. There are 5 rounds-the red team wants the bomber and the president to end up in the same room (after the bomber has found the engineer) and the blue team wants the opposite. I quite enjoyed it. After we played it a few times, we just started chatting (this whole time, Hunter and I referring to each other as "my cousin" because nobody really knew our names yet). But just before we left, one guy asked, So, how much are you dating? Yikes. Nope. Promise, we're really blood related. But despite our insistence, I'm not sure how much we convinced them.

Saturday, I woke up early in the morning to go to the Timp temple with my mission friends and then I got to hang out with several of them for authentic green chili soup. Won. Der. Ful. I followed that up with a delightfully long nap. I woke up to several texts from bored friends-apparently I'm the organizer of fun. Frisbee it was. And it was fun. My favorite part was when people started having to leave from our team and we were playing 4 on 7 and the other team never scored, but we kept scoring every couple minutes. Mostly thanks to Jordan, the fastest man alive. I forgot how much I enjoy playing with him. I got back just in time to have dinner with Shannon, Eric, Vic, Hannibal, Spencer, and one other guy. We played a little Quelf until we left for Divine Comedy (at which we had priority seating because Hannibal is good friends with one of the members). Sketch of the night- a girl doesn't want to go on a date and asks her friends frantically what she should say to him. Her friends give her the normal, reasonable advice and then her weird friend says Just tell him you're a polar bear. Quality advice, if I do say so myself.

Luthi, Bragg, Bailey, and Swenson. A force to be reckoned with. 

"A Gentleman Caller, Hooray!"

Yes, that is a quote from Easy A. Yes, I did go on a date this week. Yes, it was weird and terrifying at the same time. But I'll get to that.
Last Sunday, I sang in the ward choir during Sacrament meeting and there's this one part in the song where only the men sing. And sometimes I get bored and don't know what to do, so I just sing with them. Afterwards, Isaac, my ward prayer co-chair, pulled me aside and said, I thought you sang great. Don't be embarrassed if you sing with the boys. Have you ever seen Pitch Perfect? Ok. I don't actually sing that low, which is why I sing super quiet. I like him though. He's really getting into ward prayer now that he has a co that will actually work with him (me). He came over to my apartment yelling like a Mexican and wearing a sombrero and poncho, nice note box in hand. His Mexican laugh is way louder than any vuvuzela. We had too many people at Game Night again. Everyone invited people and those people invited people. Including Zoram Dean, Bryson Moeller, and Matt Behling. One of whom wants to set me up with a guy who'd be perfect for me, after I get out of my missionary phase. Hm.
Monday my boss paid me two awesome cards ($2 free food each) to stay for an extra hour at work. Then kept paying me more because I'm awesome all the time. Mondays are my favorite days of work because I get to work with Caitlyn Roth (sister of Aaron, who used to be one of my best friends) and then Jacob (who is from Switzerland, which is close enough to France, and has excellent taste in music). Jacob was particularly ornery because we had nonstop orders of the same burger and he was getting tired of making it. He decreed that anyone who ordered another would be shot on sight. I studied at the library for once in my life and got home pretty late. Everyday I get home and my roommates are like, Where have you been? We thought you died! They'll figure it out eventually.
I took 2 tests this week. (I have 2 tests every week for the rest of the semester). One was Microbiology, which went super well. I love all things biology. Also all tests that include an essay section. Multiple choice bores me. And I took my French test, which felt good, but I never know with that one. I did have some extra time before my next class, so I took a break and ate a snack and kept trucking on that one. Jesse and I found out our friend Koa is a physics ace, so he came over and helped with our homework. All in all, things seemed extremely manageable this week.

Ben's to my right.

I got to hang out with BYU Men's volleyball and Provo High's soccer teams this week for my AT shadowing hours. Neither of which I liked quite as much as the Men's Basketball team. (Which is funny, because the other trainers say that the basketball team ignores them...) My finance teacher is having all the 'H's sit in the front this week so that he can get to know us better. I accidentally wore my neon construction t shirt and I thought for sure that he would call on me. But, it actually had quite the opposite effect. I think I really threw him off. My non-boss (that thinks she's my boss) at work threw away my ice cream. I went to a Glenwoods reunion for ten minutes and it was kind of weird and tea party-esque. I chilled with Hunter and Tanner for a bit and they fed me nachos and apple pie and refused to give me their pull up bar. I had an interview for the Y Serve videographer and everyone in the office started watching our Ward Prayer video. (I'm hoping it'll go viral, but we'll see.)

I told that one old guy that I would replace him when he dies.

Then I went on a date. Ben's in my ward and my AT taping lab and one of my six original friends. He's got like 8 siblings, all of whom live around here and love this group called the King's Singers. (They own all the CDs and go to all the shows.) And that's who we went to see on a group date with all of their family + dates. Cute. They were actually really entertaining. Afterwards, we tried to get pictures with as many of them as possible. And then we ate ice cream. It was fun. But I still feel like a missionary. I got home and stood there for a second and all of my roommates just laughed at me.
Saturday Lauren and I chilled all day. Doing my HW, and shopping, and filming videos for our future children (or birthdays). I went to a Spirit Animal Dance party for Myles' birthday. Then my roommates told me we had Saturday church, so I had to get dressed real fast and post this picture on Facebook:

Ok. Who wants to drive these attractive women to church tonight?