this weekend i went with my parents, brothers-1, and niece and nephew to our cabin on hebgen lake in montana. it was SO nice to get away from the city and live for a bit in god's country. we spent our time talking by the fire, taking walks, playing outside, making food, and taking at least three naps daily. there was no t.v. there were no computers. there was a lot more silence. and it sounded good.

well i'm about peeing my pants that it's only FOUR days away! ah, i never thought this week would come. here we go! bring on three more days of school, one day of driving, and a brilliant summer with the boy of my dreams.

to bang or not to bang?

i decided to bang! again. i missed my bangs and was tired of my straight, long, boring hair. tyler calls it my veil. risky decision, but i took it.



of equal importance as getting my hair did today, tyler is taking the mcat right this very second! he started it at one p.m. it's a five hour timed test so he's got about an hour left. for those who aren't familiar, it consists of three sections: biology, physical sciences, and verbal reasoning. it's pretty darn important as his score may determine his admission to medical school next year! maybe we will all get the pleasure of hearing from him sometime soon on how it went. tyler - i love you! thank you for working so hard!

there are four days of school left, two of which i'm not even teaching. on one of those non-teaching days all the seventh graders are going to raging waters as they won the competition (based off grades and crt scores) against the eighth and ninth grades. they made the announcement today who won and i swear i was more excited than the kids! i screamed and pumped my fists in the air like a wild monkey. ah, the joy of a break.

on that note, i'm off to watch the premier of sytycd.

i thought this was beautiful. i like seeing people take risks and do things that are new, hard, and different for them. and i guess i like watching contemporary dance too. just a little bit.

Oh, why can't I already be in Tucson??? Sun+heat+pool+Tyler = dream yet to come true. 11 more days...

i can do anything! maybe we all need to try this once in a while.

Yes! Thank you!

This story was featured on Fox 13 tonight. The Pointe, an acclaimed dance studio in Lindon, Utah and home of Odyssey Dance Theater, offers a dance class for autistic and disabled kids and teens. Through this class, the kids learn social and behavior skills, coordination, muscle-brain function, and artistic expression despite their apparent limitations. Parents of the students commented on how much it has improved their kids' social skills, helped them feel accepted, and increased their ability to creatively express themselves.

So tell me, why are so many schools cutting the arts? Oh, because kids don't sit on their butts enough all day. Or maybe because kids need to just use their head more and leave the rest of their body out of it all. Oh, I know: all kids learn the same way and no kid needs kinesthetic learning. None of that makes sense. Most crucially, without the arts creativity is becoming stifled in education.

Please be an advocate for the arts in schools. It's not an elective or optional part of education. It's a necessity.

i heart lee dewyze. he's going to win american idol. hallelujah! i like glee. it makes me laugh out loud, which so far only the office and the suite life of zac and cody have accomplished. i, unlike my usual self, am loving the heavy rain all day today. i like how it smells. it smells particularly good at my parents' house because there are so many plants and trees to soak it in. i love that it's almost ice cream time: my daily ice cream dose every night that involves vanilla, chocolate, and caramel.

there are some joys of living with my parents at 25 and married! like...my mom coming home with DQ dipped cones. yum.

the countdown continues...17 more days of school and 24 more days until i see tyler! i hate waiting for things...especially to see my own husband!!!

randomness

what am i still doing up? my bedtime is 10:00 sharp. i'm just thinking about life. listening to evanescence "you" and crying a little. thinking about when tyler proposed to me. i don't ever want to forget the details of that night. beach. full moon. lightning in the distance. sand. surprise. absolute love. thinking about people i know that i really don't know. appearances deceive me. i put on my own facade sometimes. does anyone at work know i'm just trying to survive? does tyler really know how much i miss him? why do i feel like i have to play hard to get sometimes still? i've got him! i feel like texting him all the time. all the time. but i stop myself. ah. i miss everything about him. well, maybe not his clothes strewn about all over the apartment. maybe just that. before i got married i loved being single. loved it. loved independence. loved focusing on me. i was not a crazy-for-marriage provo-ite. now i can't stand being alone. i crave his presence. thinking about the mission. thinking about what a beast of a trainer i was. i'm sorry anna. i've never felt so guilty in my whole life as i did on the mission. so many rules. they're necessary though. then there were those few days when i was filled with absolute happiness. thinking about how i can not wait to wake up to tyler again. stare at his baby face while he's still sleeping. then 10 minutes later hear him grunt, turn over, and say "why are you awake?" thinking about how i feel more purpose in life being married. and how i feel like i'll have even more as a mother. thinking about who my kids will be and what they'll be like. sometimes i wish i was already 80 and done with the challenges of life. but i'm loving the fact that i have the greatest person by my side to tough it out with me. random. i know. a lot of times blogging is more for me than anyone who reads this. great if you benefit or find some good here too but it just feels good to get thoughts out on the screen and let someone else know what's going on behind the appearances.

everyone showed up. tech crew was brilliant. cd didn't skip. red spotlight worked. everyone followed the rules. no one fell/tore their costume/threw up/had a meltdown/yelled at me. success.

i would have to agree with what's going on here

This is not good. I am in love with little kids lately. My precious nephew Cory turned five today. What a birthday party! There were bubbles and basketballs and pinatas and pop and a million little kids running around screaming and being a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e. My favorite were these little blond, high pitched and even higher energy, spastic twins. Drama Kings! I just wanted to take all of them home in my pocket! On Saturday my family and I went to Cory's soccer game. Ha! Six little boys trying their best to figure out what in the world's going on. Priceless. It's amazing how fast a crazy little kid can make you laugh. Am I baby hungry? No. Getting there? Maybe.

Sprinting. Tonight when I went running I sprinted. When's the last time I did that? Never. Oh wait, in the MTC every Wednesday on ice cream night. Anyway, I had some much needed to release tension. Today was one of those never-ending stressful days. Stress after stress after stress. Tonight when I was sprinting/crying/wanting to scream my lungs out I remembered something I learned my freshman year of college. That year was a dramatically transforming year for me. I remember realizing that all negative feelings come from the adversary. I really really strongly dislike (hate) him. If I give in to the negative feelings, however, I'm letting him win. It's been really easy to feel crappy lately, but such is life. My goal now is to not give in to those negative feelings so that miserable creature can't find any joy in my pain.