Little more Vegas...

My favorite part of the whole trip to Vegas was probably the Bellagio Fountains. I could watch them all day. Unfortunately we only stayed for one song and then had to go, but here is a small clip of it. The sudden jerking in the middle is some girl elbowing me really hard...Oh well.


As a side note...I don't know why the last post was all one huge link. Turns out I can't work this blogging thing out so well.

The sun still shines in January. Just not in Provo.

I know, it's been forever since I have posted. Not at all as far as this semester, and I will come back and post about my new classes and clinicals and things (its all about babies!), but now I will just talk about my latest adventure. It is freezing in Provo. It just is. And I don't like it all that much. So...my roommate Shayla and I decided that we needed to go somewhere and warm up. We had a three day weekend because of Martin Luther King day, so it was the perfect time to take off. It was Shayla, me and our friend Michael Barney. So we decided to drive out to St. George and stay with her sister and her husband. It was so fantastic. We drove down early Saturday morning and dropped off our things at Shayla's sister's house and then went straight to Vegas! I have never been there, and it was a fun time...quite the experience. I don't really feel any need to ever go back, unless I get rich someday and go see some cool shows. But we had a great time.

We got into vegas around noon, ate lunch and then walked around. We saw a lot of the casinos and the hotels. We even went on a roller coaster at Circus Circus. Then...we may or may not have gone to "Slots of Fun" and lost 75 cents...I would never gamble...Actually, I just took pictures, since Shayla wouldn't let someone underage do it... So then we wandered around for a few more hours (8 hours walking around does a number on your feet). We went into the M&M factory store and watched a 3-D movie. Then we went to the MGM and saw the lions, got some food and by the time we went outside it was dark! We saw the strip in all its glory. Walked around some more, watched the Bellagio Fountains and the Mirage Volcano and then decided that we had had enough and left. We drove back to St. George that night and didn't get back too late.

Sunday, we took a stroll (in short sleeves and skirts, I will add), went to church with Alicia and Kyle (Shayla's sister and brother-in-law), and then went to the temple. After a marathon photo shoot, we went to the visitor's center and saw the Gordon B. Hinckley movie and the Stonecutter movie. Both were amazing! The difference between the two nights was a 360* turn around. Vegas was all about the world. I knew that it was ridiculous, but I could not have imagined how much. Everything was about fulfilling any sort of worldy desire. Lust was everywhere, and the basis of the entire strip. Then mixed with the gambling everywhere and the really tacky, gaudy decorations everywhere, it was just ridiculous. My favorite was the slot machines placed in the bar, where the servers were very scantily clad. Just mixes all of them together in one. Lovely. Then, on Sunday night when we went to the temple, it was all about spiritual. How much more refreshing it was. The movies that we watched were so great. Focusing on keeping Chirst in the center of our lives and sacrifice in the name of the Gospel, and not giving in to whatever pressures there are in our lives. The Spirit was able to attend and testify, where it simply could not dwell in Vegas. There is no way. But anyway, I would highly recommend the Hinckley movie. It was just an hour long and so great to learn a little more about his growing up life. That night we played some fun games with each other and just enjoyed each other's company.

Monday we got up, packed and decided to go "hiking". We had no clue where we could go, so we went up this hill to the "D" in St. George. We got in trouble for trespassing, which we didn't know we were, and so that hike got cut short. Instead of hiking, we went shopping and then got In and Out for lunch. It was delicious, and we sat on the curb in our t-shirts, short and sandals, loving lunch and loving life. We took off after lunch and had a fairly uneventful ride home. It was fun, but nothing special. UNTIL...10 miles out of Provo, we are driving along, and then out of nowhere, a dog runs out onto the freeway, and luckily, no one hit each other with their cars, but the dog was not so lucky. It was the car right in front of us that hit the dog full on and he flew. It was awful! I can't forget what it looked like. I am just grateful it wasn't our car that hit him because then it would be right in front of me. The dog was so dead and its owner was in the field just off the freeway and saw the whole thing. I felt pretty awful, but its the lady's fault because the dog was off its leash. But still horrible.

Getting back to provo was hard, mostly because of the temperature. We easily dropped 40-50 degrees from St. George to Provo. So sad. Wow, this is a lot of writing, sorry. Ill just show the pictures now for those that just go straight to them :) I tried to pick just my favorites, but there were just so many to choose from, so there are kind of a lot. Have fun!

We got to Vegas and we were starving...so we went to Wendy's. Kind of anti-climatic I know, but it was so good.Revolving doors are always a good time. Especially the huge ones that go to all the casinos...revolving door etiquette gets a little tricky.

The roller coaster at Circus Circus. I was a little nervous.

Taking a break from all the walking in front of Caesars.

Gambling??Slots of fun, wasn't so fun.

Cool mirror at Encore.Only one picture from the hundreds to choose from in front of the temple. So pretty!Cute roommate picture in front of the doorsShayla has awesome panoramic picture taking skills.

We shared a half-inflated air mattress for two days...sorry Shayla for taking up all of it.Getting a quick picture in before the trespassing Nazi called the cops...Grabbing some In-n-Out in the sun before going back to cold Provo.

The Meltdown

So the news is now calling this "The Meltdown" because the ton of snow that we had...is now melting. Causing major flooding and such. Its pretty incredible how fast it has all gone away. Here is a documentation of the snowman's demise... Its much like the Primary Song, Once there was a Snowman...
He started tall:
Then in the sun (and rain) he melted, (melted melted)...
Small, small, small.
Now our grass is pretty much uncovered, the streets are nice and clear almost and everything is mostly just wet. Like a proper Seattle Christmas should be.

WINTER BLAST 08

The news seems to think its important to give certain local events cool, catchy names so that we sound more important than we actually probably are. That is what sparked everyone around here (that is to say, Matt, Jenna and I) to call it WINTER BLAST 08, just like they would on the news. I came home to a foot of snow, that has stayed around for several days. That is unheard of here in Seattle. We are usually lucky for a small dusting once a year that is gone within a day or two. Needlesstosay, I was really surprised to see all the snow and the continued snowfall. The trouble is, we live on a very steep hill. Getting up and down it is quite the challenge. In fact, we drove the 800 miles or so from Utah to Seattle, without any trouble, but the last 200 feet up our hill proved too difficult for our little car and we had to trek up the hill in the snow with all our bags and leave the car at the bottom. It works out because that is just the car we use now to go anywhere, because it is past the tough stuff. I am just hoping that the snow sticks around for long enough to have a white Christmas, which would be a very rare occurance around here. So when I got home and saw all the snow, I decided that there were some things on my "at-home" checklist that had to get done:
1) Play in the snow like I am 5 years old
2) Build a snowman bigger than me (I know, not too difficult...)
3)Gingerbread making contest (vote as to which one is better :) )

4) Read a book for fun in front of the fireplace
5) Finish Christmas shopping
6) Wrap everything.
7) Relax :) I really have done all of these things. Its fantastic.

So now that my checklist is complete, I am excited for Christmas and the fun that that is! We are definitely going to have a white Christmas, so it will be beautiful! Merry Christmas to everyone and I hope that you have a great day!

Whew! This semester is over!

The end of a semester is always a relief. The final push to the end is always the hardest and I am so glad to be done. All the projects and tests and evaluations are finished and I can breathe for a day or two before getting started on the next. And believe me, they already sent out assignments. Now I just have to get home safe and sound in the middle of a blizzard and relax. I can't wait to spend some quality resting time with my family at home. It will be great. And can you believe it, I only have to do three more semesters and then I graduate! Now thats really scary. Lets not think about it right now. Good idea. In the meantime I am just going to enjoy my small break :) MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Roommates!!!!

I love my roommates. Seriously, we are a funny bunch. And I get really lucky. I have not yet had a mystery roommate move in that I didn't get along with (knock on wood). We always have such a blast. And I have had my share of roommates too, and while it would be fun to talk about them all, it would take forever, so I will just stick to the current ones. I just think the whole concept of roommates is kinda funny. One day, you have no clue who they are but you share a room, and before you know it, you are great friends. You are in a sense forced into it, but I think its fabulous! My roommates right now are so fun. We laugh almost constantly. And lucky for me, a lot of plans to separate us fell through, so we are all going to be together again for another semester. I thought I would just post to show everyone who these wonderful ladies that I live with are! We took these pictures, with the prompt of "Romanian Orphan" . I don't know much about it, I think mine just looks scary. But hey, it was funny and they are now hanging on our wall.
This is Shayla. I love her. She is my room-roommate and we have a good time together. She is from Orem and is going to be a school teacher some day. Our favorite activity lately is singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart " by Bonnie Tyler at the top of our lungs and interpretive dancing for whoever will watch, or just with ourselves. Its a great time. She loves records and actually has a ton of them which she plays on her record player. Its awesome.And this is Kat. One of the coolest people you will meet. She was an actress who knows lots of famous people. Now she is going to be a lawyer and is in the process of applying to law school. I think she is the only one that truly captured the Romanian Orphan look in our pictures, which would make sense because it was her prompt. She shaved her head a little while back and totally looks awesome. I could never do that, but she is beautiful and pulls it off amazingly.And here is Suzanne. She has been my roommate for going on two years now, and its great. She is so optimistic and happy almost all the time, so its always nice. Super smart and always willing to share that knowledge with others :). She is going to India this summer to save the widows and I wouldn't put it past her to actually do it. I swear she never sleeps and somehow is still pleasant. Heaven knows I need my sleep to be pleasant.And here is my picture. I know, I know, its awful. I look ill, or drugged or something. I don't know exactly what happened, but it was after my flag football game and a long day at the hospital, so those are my excuses. And there isn't much to say about me except that I live with awesome girls. And I need to make honorable mention to Alison, who is, for all intents and purposes, my roommate :) She is a past and a future roommate, and I see her more often than my actual roommates probably. And I love her to death. Don't know what I would do without her!! So there you have it. Those are the people I see everyday and live with. And they are great!

Mother?

So this last weekend I went up to Laura's house and played mom for the weekend while Clint and Laura were in Hawaii. It was so much fun! The kids were great, of course, but being a single parent of three isn't easy. So lets hope I never do that... It went great, its just very busy. Especially church. Juggling a one and two year old during an hour of relative quiet is difficult. No matter what you brought to entertain them. A member of the bishopric kept looking down at me and smiling. I think he found the scene amusing. However, I will say that we were there early and the kids looked so good. And that night, I made an amazing dinner. Not babysitter-like, but mom-like. It was amazing and the kids liked it too. I felt so successful. Not saying I am ready for kids anytime soon, and I am glad they generally don't come three at a time, but it was so fun! I just love those kids.!!!
Also, this week Alison and I went to The Forgotten Carols by Micheal Mclean. It was so great. We both really enjoyed it. I hadn't seen it in so long and it was Ali's first time, so it was really fun and very festive. I am soooo excited for Christmas and this was a great way to kick off the season!