Twenty Years Old!!!

Yep that's right! I am officially not a teen any longer! I cannot believe that I am old enough to be twenty though... I am constantly finding myself in the crossroad decisions that for all my life I have thought of them as a distant future.

My roomies took great care of me this weekend by throwing me a surprise party on Thursday(and it surprised me about 4 different times...). Every birthday Megan has decorated a surprise cake for the birthday girl and is getting very good. It was amazing!!! When they first went to "reveal" the cake they showed me an empty pan and Megan said, "oh no! The cake is lost!" The party was a luau theme corresponding with the cake. Yes, my cake was shaped and decorated like the island from LOST. It was pretty fun and rather exciting. :D I've never had a surprise party before. My roomies also took me to lunch at Tucanos between sessions on Saturday. That was a great meal too! (although it was just after we had listened to the whole "provident living" talk by Elder Hales...) I just love these girls and I also discovered that I do have friends. Believe me, that was a welcomed discovery. :D Thanks to all who came to celebrate with me.






After the party Ica, Bryce, Jake, and I all went out into the torrential rain and found some amazing puddles to jump in. A few minutes after we left we were drenched to the bone! We played until we got numb and finally went back in to dry off. For someone who is turning such an age, you would think I'd be over the whole puddle-jumping phase...



On Friday Bryce made me feel like a princess. :) He gave me a beautiful bracelet that sparkles a little and actually fits! (my wrists are a little on the small side...) I am quite impressed. :D After classes I was taken up to Luganos (Italian restaurant in Salt Lake City) for dinner and then to Monsters vs. Aliens 3D. It was a great movie I enjoyed it. The 3D was very much worth it, and Bryce agrees with me. ;) While we were standing there waiting to be seated a little girl came up to us and told me that I looked very pretty tonight and that I would love the movie! :D She was so cute and it totally made an already great day even better. It was a spectacular evening and I am so head-over-heels for that boy I could stay in the clouds forever... ;) (sorry a little sappy... but its true...)





Saturday Mom and I got to spend some time in the evening together. We ate a Zupas, found some cute shoes, visited with Grandma and Linda, and watched Mama Mia. Another great movie I really enjoyed. Sunday we celebrated Easter/Jessica's family dinner together. It was fun to have the family around. Plus, I got a giant skillet/pan... thing!!! I am so excited and I am currently hiding it from my roommates... I also got an adorable apron from my mom and I LOVE it! I will show it off as soon as I have a good picture...

All this partying has made me very tired... or I'm just getting old and can't get around as easily as I used to... (I personally think its the latter... but I am constantly told otherwise) *sigh* another year older, there is question as to whether there is wiser included... It is interesting to look back even just over the past year to see just how much I have learned about life and have grown in my testimony. Its mind-boggling to think about where I was a year ago... I can't wait to see what the next year will hold in store for me!!!

Cupcakes Can Kill You

BYU A Capella Club presents: The A Capella Jam!

A collection of different Barbershop and A Capella groups got together to perform for their audience. BYU is known as a "hotbed" for this type of music and as one could imagine, the groups were amazing! I did feel like Simon on American Idol... Bryce and I ended up discussing the different strengths and weaknesses with each performance, but I did thoroughly enjoy myself.

One of my favorite groups is a group of 9 girls who call themselves Noteworthy. They were AMAZING! Their harmony and blend was so in tune with each other that it was hard to recognize that you were not listening to music... just voices. Their percussionist, Courtney, was better than some men I have seen. As a girl, that talent is very hard to come by. I was very, very impressed. Their second song was an arrangement of Come, Come Ye Saints and when they sang I had goosebumps appear all over! I could just feel the song... *sigh* it was great!

(noteworthyladies.com)

Another performer was a sort of "one-man-band". His performing name is Mr. Tim and he is actually has shows in Vegas... (don't worry he's family friendly...) Tim had his apple computer there and demonstrated a live looping with himself to sing a song with himself... it was absolutely amazing and really fun to watch. His last song was all about how cupcakes can kill you. It was pretty funny... and he had close to 10 different things looping around with his song. During his song he had a ninja fight on stage with a hostess cupcake. He won, but only barely... It was pretty good. If you are interested, the link to that particular song of his is below...

http://www.mistertimdotcom.com/music/CUPCAKESmix03.mp3

Anyone who is familiar with music groups at BYU is also familiar with the group called Vocal Point. It is the top A Capella group that comes from our university. They, of course, were the finale group. For their first song they started out in the audience and came up like zombies while starting the song "Thriller". Their choreography was phenomenal and I forgot that I was listening to A Capella, not music... I am still trying to wrap my head around it! :D Of course their numbers were amazing and we had them on for an encore... Their encore piece was a Russian song that I have found on youtube.com. Its as good as I can find to show you how amazing this song was. I was very impressed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYTcYMheGt0&feature=related
(the musicians are a little creepy... but the singer is absolutely amazing)

Anyway, That's a whole lot of nothingness... just me babbling on... Maybe one day, I'll write something significant here... but what fun is that?

P.S. At least its a little new culture right?

Back in Time...

The spell of adventureless days seems to be fading into history... ironically that is exactly what broke our boringness spell... history, I mean...

It is also time to bring my boy back into the story of my life... no don't worry, he didn't go anywhere. (We are going to school and sometimes that takes precedence over adventuring and fun... *sigh*) With the end of the semester coming up in a few weeks the light at the end of the tunnel is almost upon us! Unfortunately, no one told the Utah weather man... whoever is in charge of the weather is not aware that we have officially crossed the threshold into spring... please make up your mind! (and make it up on the warm idea...)

Today was a beautiful day and started very early for Bryce and I. Bryce called me at 6:50 in the morning to make sure I was up and getting ready to leave our apartments by 7:00 (and yes this is in the AM, for those of you who don't think college students don't know what AM is... we've read about it...) You see, time travel must start early if you are going to make it back to the 19th century... *sigh* OK, so we drove up to Salt Lake because the Living History Conference was scheduled to start with Breakfast at 8:00.

The Keynote speaker that started off the conference is the dean of history at Weber state. His latest book published is a biography of one of the most interesting characters I have heard about in the history of the Mormon church and Utah... He is right up there with Brigham Young, and Rockwell Porter... even J. Golden Kimball could keep his company. :) But I was very impressed by his story and I wish to share a little about him for those who actually care to read my randomness... This man's name was Jedediah Grant. He was converted in Europe and came over to the US with his family. At age 15 he served a 10 year mission through the eastern and southern states. When he came back to Ohio he married his childhood sweetheart and began the move to the Salt Lake valley. His baby girl died and was buried next to the trail, then his wife died... she made him promise to bury her and the baby in the valley. He drove back to find the baby but she had been found by the wolves, so failed to keep his second promise. (His wife is buried in the cemetery at This is the Place Heritage Park now...) When he got to the valley he was elected the first mayor of Salt Lake City and soon thereafter was called to be the second councilor in the first presidency under Brigham Young. This man had the opinion that being a Mormon was an all or nothing commitment. He was the key player in the "Mormon Reformation of 1856." This reformation started the second councilor "Jeddy Grant" traveled up to Layton where he met a congregation that he felt was spiritually dead. So, naturally... he stood up at the pulpit and told them that they had all just been excommunicated. He then said "if you are going to repent and become a good Mormon, then follow me down to the millpond and I'll baptize you back in." It worked... and Grant did it for multiple congregations all over Utah. Brother Brigham just shook his head and agreed to let him do it. I really want to read this book, it sounds so interesting. (It might be coming up on goodreads sometime soon... ;D )



It kinda makes you stop to wonder though doesn't it? I mean, would I be excommunicated if Grant came to me? Am I spiritually asleep and comfortable enough... am I in it with my all or just what comes easily? I hope I will at least be re-baptized... ;)

After that the man from the Gold rush taught a class on the 49ers and their impact on people in Utah. Did you know that Salt Lake City raked in 1/2 a million dollars in the year of 49... or 50... I can't quite remember... the point being, everyone was filthy rich... except who? the church members. Brigham Young didn't like the traders that set up shop in Salt Lake and didn't believe that it was right for the church to get involved. So the Church was experiencing hard times financially but the people benefited from the abundant economy. Yet another interesting fact... :)

I learned how to garden and how to irrigate. I have the pioneer tips and pointers, where and how far to plant your plants, how deep, and how to work the water, etc. My favorite part of my classes was the "Tea Parties and Military Wives" class. Bryce naturally went to learn about Military Drilling in the Civil War, while I attended this class... :D But I got to attend my first real tea party! It was quite the first experience for me. All the ladies at the table with me were also having a first time, so none of us really knew what we were doing. The hostess brewed 3 loose teas (mango, cherry vanilla, and a black current), also some raspberry tea bags were set out (technically the tea bags weren't invented until 1910...), and there was also hot cocoa and a punch bowl of lemonade. There were also trays upon trays of little snack-like foods... cake, crackers, strawberries, little cookies, etc. (all period). It was a delicate hour. I decided to try one of the herbal teas for the experience... Mango... it tasted like... mango water with a slice of lemon sitting in it... (which it was... ) we passed our bowl of sugar around our table about 4 times before everyone was able to get their drinks down... then we gave up and went for the lemonade... :D When I told Bryce about the food he was totally jealous and wished he had at least poked his head in... haha... that would have been a sight to behold... :D

My last class of the day was Millinery (hat making). I have been inspired to try out a project this year that has to do with seamstressing... I am no good at it, and I think it will be fun to try something that can be turned into a good sill.

With that the conference was over but Bryce and I had stuff to talk about all the way home and have come back to it every so often since. It was a really amazing experience for me and I am glad that we went. Isn't history just amazing? There is something for everyone to be found. It doesn't matter what your hobbies are, there is a history of it. If you know where to look you can find a great, educational experience that you will remember for a good long time. (*hint hint* This is the Place is a great place to experience this... ;D )

Anyway, in all fairness in warning... the historical information will start to be a regular occurrence around this blog... My job is looming ever nearer and excitement for it is growing exponentially. (woah... college word there... sorry, it just slipped out!) Sorry that my posts are so stinking long... just ignore the middle part and pretend you enjoyed it. That's just fine with me! :) Have a wonderful night and until next time!