I totally agree!! ...However, I'm choosing this moment to brag about the fact that I made PEANUT BUTTER OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP cookies on Sunday aaaaaaand, guess how much dough I ate!

Go ahead, guess!!

NONE! Not even a little! Yes that's right. I don't know how, and I don't know if it will ever happen again, but it happened last Sunday! ( I swear, I have witnesses. )

Part I

I may have just picked my favorite temple, because...

(Mt. Timpanogos)

"The Life of the Party"

Yesterday was the day that I realized that I am 24. Not only did I realize that I am 24, but I realized that I am happy to be 24. I spent yesterday evening/night at Utah Valley University, watching this:

This was the best show of the night! First it was Parachute (loved it!), then All American Rejects (liked...the music), then Boys Like Girls (loved it!). Of course I can never leave anything at just one sentence, so, here goes!:

Parachute was great, GREAT, GREAT. It had all the necessary components of a good band/show: attractive lead singer (hey, I can be a little bit shallow when I don't actually know them right?), a piano (played by the aforementioned lead singer), a unique and fantastic voice (also the aforementioned lead singer), a smallish crowd, and amazing songs!

After Parachute, things got serious. The amount of people in the room, easily tripled, and I think, tried to fit into a smaller space...I'm not sure how the room got smaller, but it must of...at least that's what my rib on the right side thinks. Luckily we had a boy with us who pushed right up to the almost front! When the lead singer of All American Rejects came out (I don't know his name, but picture Russell Brand mixed with Weird Al with chin length hair, and with pants that are striped on the front and plain in the back-weird?), he started with the f-word, and really it just went from there. He definitely swore a-lot. I mean, like I said before, the music actually was fun! I figured out, however, that it was so fun because it was the music I listened to in junior high. So as I was jumping in this mob of a million people--because I didn't really have any choice but to jump with how close we all were--while Swing Swing was playing, it rang very familiar. Hmmm, was it deja vu? No. No I really had been in that exact same situation before. At BYU Idaho. 8 years ago. At EFY. Shoot... Shortly after, I was separated from Jess and Willie. It started out as just one very short couple (the couple with the elbow in my rib) between us, but then they got further and further away! I just decided to get out of the sweat ridden mass of teenagers and go for a walk around UCCU stadium.

Jess and Willie came out pretty soon, and we watched Boys Like Girls from the back of the room. It was SOOO much more enjoyable from back there! We could dance, talk, hear, breathe...you know, just a few luxuries... Honestly, this guy was awesome-He owned the stage! I couldn't even describe what he did, but it just worked! He was funny, interactive, an amazing singer, good timing, etc... (Ok, so maybe I will try to describe what he did?) I actually like Boys Like Girls even more than I did before!

But...that doesn't take from the fact that most of the people in that stadium were between 12 and 17. Again, shoot.

When all is said and done, the best part about all of that, was that I even though I could only think about how old I was the whole time, I am totally ok with being too old! Yes, it was fun-ish, but I just don't need it. I don't need the jumping, music so loud it changes you heartbeat, near-fights with people to get to the front, high school boys and girls, and screaming at the top of my lungs. This will probably make me sound super lame...but it is the truth...

Yes I had fun. No I probably won't go out of my way to go to a concert like this any time soon.

...at least for a few weeks...

P.S. But I still loved THIS part of the concert:

Sneaky Work Post

One of the things that I work on with kids is increasing their vocabulary. We can work on vocabulary in lots of ways: synonyms, antonyms, describing, categories, functions, differences, and similarities. So, since you all know how much I love my job, I decided to bring work home with me. Lets work on similarities! Here goes!

What do these two things have in common??

My house

A Buffalo (or a bison, I don't really know, lets not be too technical here)

Need a minute? I'll wait. ...          ...          ...          ...          ...          ...          ...          ...         

You might have said "they are both brown" or "they are about the same size." Well, you would be right (my house is pretty small), but that's not the one I'm looking for. Don't worry, you would have still earned an M&M though!

Any more guesses? 

Maybe your next guesses are "difficult to keep clean" or "always ready for a party." Again, you would be right, but not what this is about.

Here, I'll give you another clue

Yellowstone National Park

Do you have it yet? 

Alright, here's the answer: both the house and the buffalo make you think of Yellowstone National Park, because the places smell exactly the same! Unfortunately, specifically the bathroom and laundry room. Ew gross! That's not what I mean, not because of that.  The reason is this!

That is sulphuric acid. I went to Lowe's and asked for "the most potent drain un-clogger they have" (yes I did use "potent" and "un-clogger" in the same sentence.) I even said, "I need something as strong as stomach acid!" (I heard that stomach acid can dissolve razor blades, after all). What they gave me, was this bottle of sulphuric acid. It is so potent, in fact, that the caution statement says that you have to store it in this bag all the time, wear gloves and protective eyewear during use, leave the room right after pouring it, and put a pot over the drain after pouring it-just in case it explodes out of the drain. I am not even KIDDING! So, because of all the warnings, I was confident that this could take care of the shower drain problem--you know the problem, right? The one where by the end of your shower, you are ankle deep in warm-ish water? Anyway, so I was excited about this! Finally, all my problems would be solved! (Yes, I was that excited about the potential success of this.)
So I read the directions, and did exactly what I was told. Twice. Then I turned on the water, just like it said, and...the tub filled right up. It didn't work, either time! What?! It didn't work!? However, I found out the next day, that obviously it was able to get through the pipes, because I was in my laundry room, and I could barely breathe! It was a massive Old Faithful flashback. Don't get me wrong, I love Old Faithful as much as the next person...but not in my laundry room!

So, let's review, as a result of our vocabulary lesson, we learned that Devery's House, and A Buffalo have many similarities, but the most prominent one is that they both are reminiscent of Yellowstone National Park. Great job, you are such a hard worker! Go ahead and put a star on the board, take 3 mini M&Ms, and head back to class :) 

"Please Christmas Don't Be Late!"

Happy Holidays. Merry Christmas. Happy Kwaanza. Season's Greetings. Happy Hanukkah. 

Magic!

She's coming! They're coming! Today!

In less than 12 hours I will be headed here:

To see them:

It could only get better if I also got to see them:

Happy Fall Break :)

Are you watching?

#ldsconf
(click to follow)

A post about sugar

Just three more days! Maybe I will just take one day where I am allowed to have sugar, then I'll maybe try this again? It is actually not as bad as I thought it would be!

“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” 

Marcus Aurelias


“One can be the master of what one does, but never of what one feels.” 
Gustave Flaubert


“Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself.” 

Elie Weisel


“If you conquer yourself, then you conquer the world” 

Paulo Coelho


“Sometimes, you must refrain from doing things you want so bad.”

Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity


“I am a fan of overdoing something, but not running it into the ground. They are complete opposites with only a fine line separating them.”

Criss Jami


Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that's real power.

Clint Eastwood


By constant self-discipline and self-control you can develop greatness of character.

Grenville Kleiser