Cows & Cake

Last Saturday, for Halloween, we went up to our friend Stew's house up by Park City to go shooting and just hang out. We had already gotten our fill of costumes, parties and dancing on Friday night, so we decided to just shoot some old Jack-O-Lanterns and celebrate Halloween with guns. :) It was really fun. There were some cows around us that were not too excited by our decision to shoot on their land. Two bulls kept coming closer and closer and freaking us out. Michelle, Lindsay and I jumped in the cars when we thought they were getting a little too close. It was just like Jurassic Park- farm style. After shooting, Stew's wonderful mom made us dinner and we just hung out in the hot tub for a while. Great Day!

Last night we had a little birthday party for John, a great guy in our ward. I think that everyone had a good time. Here are a few pictures from our adventures.

The whole birthday crew

Blowing out the candles

Watch Out!

Michelle's first time shooting

the crazy bulls that were trying to get us

COWS!!!!

Linds kicked everyone's trash in the clay pigeon contest

get those pumpkins

Brandon's proud of his guns

Britt & Linds

we were a great firing squad

take that, pumpkin

Brandon, Linds, Josh, Stew, Britt, Michelle

gotta get rid of those pumpkins!

Check

Why am I not at school this morning, you ask? Well, our wonderful professor gave us a day off from his Strategic Human Capital class to work on our take-home midterm. Bless him! So, you would naturally think that I would be working on that, right? Absolutely not. I am sitting on my lovesac at 11AM still in my pajamas thinking about how I should have gotten that midterm done this morning before I have to go to my operations class at 12:30. Oh well. What else is new. I really need to learn to be more on top of things. At least I still have all afternoon and evening to get it done. On a happier note, I actually passed accounting. Yes, you heard right, I PASSED. Not only did I pass, but I got a "B"!!! Who would have thought that a person could get a 45.8% on the final and still pass with a "B". I'm am not going to complain. The best part is that I definitely did not get the lowest grade on the midterm like I was certain I would. I am so grateful that accounting is over with- at least for this semester. So now I can cross that one off of my list.

1- Not have to retake accounting- CHECK!

2- Get back on top of my life- Still trying to figure that one out!!

All Hallow's Eve Eve

The night before halloween it seemed like there were tons of parties to go to, so we decided to dress up on all hallow's eve eve. Two of my roommates, my friend Michelle, and I dressed up as the teenage mutant ninja turtles. I had wanted to be a ninja turtle for a while and then saw a picture of one of my friend's ninja turtle costumes from last year- so we decided to use her costume as a pattern and go for it. The costumes turned out amazing and we had a ton of fun. Lindsay dressed up as a spider because we couldn't find anything good enough for an April O'Neil costume.
We won second place in the stake costume contest at the stake halloween party. Everyone loved us. I rode the mechanical bull as a ninja turtle- quite a sight. We even had weapons that we could fight with. I had such a good time being a ninja turtle.
Heroes In A Half Shell- TURTLE POWER!!!

Our carport and our whole house reeked of spray paint!

gettin' ready

Lindsay- aka Charlotte from Charlotte's Web

Michelle, Michelle, Lindsay, Britt, Katie

I bet you've never seen that before!

Britt- aka Michelangelo

Michelle- aka Raphael

Michelle- aka Leonardo

Katie- aka Donatello

COWABUNGA!!

WHAT?!?

Before school started this semester, we spent 2 weeks in orientation. We had one whole afternoon devoted to communication skills and how to make a good impression. Dr. LeBaron played this clip for us. I thought it was just about the funniest thing I had ever heard. I just recently heard it again, so I thought that I had to share.
If only we could ALL find "one of the few men in the city who has nothing wrong with them"!!
OH, gotta love the dating game!!!

A Matter of Perspective

Today, I went to lunch with one of my professors at a little dive of a mexican food place in here in Provo. It didn't even have a sign out front and our group was the first customer of the day. (The food was really good and super CHEAP- I am definitely going back.) In our MBA section, we decided that we would get groups of students together to take professors out to lunch and get to know them a little bit better. It was a really enjoyable experience and I learned a lot about my fellow classmates and Dr. Bingham. I have been thinking all day long about one of the experiences that he shared with us. He said that after he had received his masters degree at the U and worked for a few years, he decided to go back and get his PhD at Texas A&M. He had a few months after quitting his job before he needed to be in Texas to start school. He really wanted to take a job for a few months where he could learn a lot of valuable life lessons and also gain more insights about human nature. His first pick was to work at McDonalds, but he actually ended up as a doorman at the Grand America hotel in SLC. There he was, holding a masters degree and ready to begin a PhD program working as a doorman. He said that he was constantly amazed at the way people would treat him. They had no idea who he was or what he was doing with his life, but they looked at him as if he were nothing and definitely was beneath them. He said that one time, a really nice sports car pulled up to the hotel and out stepped a friend of his from high school. The guy threw the keys at him and, with his nose up, started walking into the hotel without paying any attention to the man who was going to be moving his car. When the guy finally did notice Dr. Bingham, he looked at him with this horror on his face and said, "Uhhh, I didn't know that YOU work here". I was really impressed with the insights that my professor had about the honor of work and how each person deserves to be respected for who they are and not for what they do or what their title is.
I have been thinking about this most of the day and reflecting on the way that I have treated people throughout my life. I have a stronger resolve to try to see people as the Lord sees them and recognize the good and potential in everyone. I am really glad that I got to have lunch with Dr. Bingham today. Although he may not even realize it, he impacted my life and helped me want to be a better person. That is just one example of the great people and professors that I am surrounded with daily. They definitely enhance my perspective and push me to be better.

Thoughts

I have been reflecting quite a bit lately on the blessings that I have in my life. I am a very privileged person. One of the things that I am particularly grateful for is my calling as a stake institute teacher. When President Lewis extended this calling to me, I was really nervous about being able to fulfill the calling in the way that the Lord would want me to. I knew that school was going to be very demanding and I wanted to be able to devote enough time and energy to this calling to enrich the lives of the people that attend institute. I am very critical of my performance as it is, so I wondered if not having lots of time to prepare lessons would make me even more frustrated with myself and my lessons. However, I have been so amazed at the grace that has been extended to me as I have tried to do my best (as limited as it may be). I have the most amazing co-teacher who teaches me so much as we prepare lessons and through his example. I am blessed to immerse myself in the scriptures and learn more than I could ever convey in a one hour class each week. I have gained more insights into how the Book of Mormon truly is another testament of Jesus Christ- everything contained in this book testifies of Him and His divine mission. And most importantly, I have come to know my Savior on an even more personal level. I have seen how the scriptures that we are studying each week have direct personal application in my life, and I have found many answers- some of which I didn't even know I was looking for. My testimony of the Book of Mormon as the word of God has been strengthened and I recognize even more now how privileged we are to have it in our lives. I have seen the hand of the Lord in my life more readily and been able to live in a way that brings me joy. What a wonderful blessing.

“Whatever Jesus lays his hands upon lives."

(Howard W. Hunter, “Reading the Scriptures,” Ensign, Nov. 1979, 65).

Bring on the WEEKEND!

This week was great, very stressful, but great. I found myself looking forward with great anticipation to this evening. Not that I don't love school and what I am doing, but I was excited to take a break from it all and just have fun for a night. We planned a date last week to go to Thriller up in SLC. It is usually a tradition that I go with my mission companion, Stevie, every year, but she decided to have a baby 6 weeks early on Wednesday- so she couldn't come this time. Both she and James (the baby) are fine and I even got to see her while we were in SLC this evening. I can't wait for him to get out of the NICU so that I can see him. We had pizza at Litza's Pizza in SLC and then went over to the show. I am so amazed with some of the dances. I wish that I could move my body the way that they do. After the show, the zombies roam around and scare people. I was determined not to get scared by them this year (it has never worked in the past- I am such a scaredy-cat) but sure enough one of them walked up right behind me and started breathing on my neck- NOT COOL!!! I jumped so high and fast. Zombies freak me out- even though I know that they are fake- I don't get it, but I can't handle scary things. I had a blast this evening and am so glad that I got to go again this year!

And the award for largest mouth goes to..........

Ray being attacked by a zombie. He was their favorite target.

So CREEPY!!

Best picture of Ray ever! Now this is fear

Pat, Britt, Juliette, Lane, Zombie, Katie, Jeff, Michelle, Ray, Michelle, Patrick