A Very Important Update

Not surprisingly, I'm still not a faithful blogger. However, I have an important update that I should probably add to the blog . . . Justin got in to dental school! He'll be going to Roseman University of Health Sciences in South Jordan, Utah. I'm so proud of him!

Now we're looking for housing--I'm both excited and sad to be leaving the safe harbor of BYU.

I'll try to remember to post something when we find a place to live.

Are You Surprised?

Hi, Mom. I know I'm on your blog reader and that my blog is never updated--but this time it will be. Let's see if I can keep it up.

It's Sunday night, and I don't want to go to bed because I know that when I wake up, my weekend will be over. Thankfully, I already have my lesson planned and my copies made for tomorrow. I know I should go to sleep, but I can't quite bring myself to get into bed yet. To keep myself occupied, I've been looking at other people's blogs.

I read Ashley's latest post and was touched. I know she wrote it for herself, but when I read it, I felt like it was for me. I'm so lucky to have a friend who has such faith and who reminds me to keep faith when I don't know what the future holds. It is definitely scary waiting (still) to hear back from dental schools and to hear back from jobs for me, but beyond that apprehension, I know that Heavenly Father will take care of us. We don't know His plan for us, but I know he has a plan for Justin and me. Even though I don't know how things are going to work out, I know that somehow they will.

BUSY Week!

Planning Michelle's Wedding
So last week my wonderful mommy came into town so we could plan my sister's wedding (which is now less than three months away!). We had so much fun together, but it was quite an exhausting week. Michelle is an interesting combination of being extremely choosy and also not having her own opinion at the same time (or at least not being able to vocalize it)--traits which made some of the planning very difficult. For instance, when we went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to plan out the decorations, we got all the way through the meeting before Michelle mentioned that she didn't like the combination that we had planned--but luckily, it did not take long to tweak things so that she was happy. I'm very excited for her wedding dinner--it's going to be beautiful, kind of like this:













And the best part about the room is not even in the room: it is the view. The Salt Lake Temple is right outside the windows! It truly is awe-inspiring.

And then there were the flowers. Michelle loves flowers so much that she really could not decide what she wanted in her bouquet. It took two hours, but again, I know the result is going to be beautiful and that Michelle will be happy.



















The cake planning was probably the most enjoyable part of the wedding planning for me. It was easy and quick, and we got to taste several samples of delicious cake with all sorts of lovely fillings. So good!
Oh, and Michelle finally found a dress that she loves. I thought it would never happen! Michelle looks gorgeous, and I cannot wait to see the finished product after the alterations.
We pretty much planned the entire wedding in five days. Go Mom!

Student Teaching
I also got my student teaching assignment for next semester. I will be at a junior high, working with 8th graders. Last week, I got to meet my mentor teacher and watch him in his classroom. He was teaching a unit on nonfiction and had just started reading the story of Phineas Gage. One of the girls in the class got sick and had to go to the nurse--poor girl. Next week, I will be teaching my first lesson to the class, on the last chapter of the Phineas Gage book. I am kind of nervous, but at this point, I am mostly excited.

Because sometimes you just need a little girl time . . .

Last night I went out with Kirsten Browning (love her!). We got our nails done together and then we went back to her place to do homework--which actually did start out as doing homework but then turned into us playing with her new phone and then just talking. It was totally what I needed! And sorry to Justin for staying out until 2 in the morning, but like I said, sometimes you just need a little girl time.

Random Happy Moments

Last week, I was rushing to campus for my 8:00 class. I was a little frustrated that the construction around the McKay building had grown (because it would delay me even more), but it kind of turned out to be a good thing. I had to cut through the grass to get to the door, and as I was walking across the lawn, I crunched through some lovely fall leaves.

What a perfect start to the day.

True Nerd

Last week, I had to go to the library late at night to work on an assignment that I had almost procrastinated until the last minute (but I managed to get it in with about two hours to spare).

I was not expecting to have a happy moment right then (those random moments when you suddenly feel overjoyed about where you are or what you are doing), but I did.

As I was walking through the periodicals section I smelled that wonderful smell of old books, and suddenly, I felt so happy to be in the library, trying to figure out how to use the moving shelves. It was wonderful, and I thoroughly enjoyed my study evening. I am a true nerd.

Homework Never Ends

This is what my homework for this semester looks like--except imagine that the stack of books is twice as tall. I am not exaggerating. I have to read 30 books for my adolescent literature class. Don't get me wrong--I love to read, but that is a lot to do in under 2 months. That is 4 or 5 books a week. So far, I am behind. I have to read 5 books this weekend. I finished one last night, and it made me feel really depressed. So I am hoping that the other books will be happier, or at least not so dark. Next on my list is a science fiction YA novel called Unwind. It sounds kind of creepy--parents are allowed to have their children "unwound" between the ages of 13 and 18, which means that they can have their children's organs transplanted into different people if they are too difficult to handle. Apparently, transplanting is not the same as killing because they aren't technically ending life or something. We'll see how this one goes.

The good thing about getting all of these books is that I finally cleared off my bookshelf and it is now being used for books! I used to have a junk shelf. I finally worked up the courage to throw a lot of stuff away. (You'll be proud of me, Mom. I'm trying so hard not to be a pack rat!) Now my junk shelf is my YA lit shelf. It looks a lot neater too!