HOME!

I got lucky this year, my first year in college. You see, I don't have to take any official finals. With two English classes and two professors who didn't want to give a final, things ended up to where I only have to write papers. I got to come home MONDAY! That is a full week sooner than a lot of people. Even though I've got a few papers to work on while I'm home, I'm quite happy that I'm here.

So, if you didn't already know this, my family is insane. More specifically, my brother Mitchell is a nerd. I came home and decided to go and play the piano. While I'm in there he comes in, holds up the cow from one of our nativity scenes and says, "Sorine, this is a cow. Kiss it." and he then puts the cow right in front of my lips. He proceeds to do this with the sheep, the horse and the baby Jesus. When he gets to Mary he bursts out laughing. "SORINE! KISS MARY!" he shouts. I was still trying to play the piano and he was starting to get on my nerves. "Mitchell! I'm playing the piano. I never get to play a real piano. Can you wait?" I thought that was a calm way of telling him to leave. "You hate me!" He said. That is his favorite saying. He is constantly informing me that I hate him. I don't hate him. He just knows that saying this makes me feel bad and I'll do what he wants. Somehow he got to where he wanted me to teach him to play the piano. He didn't want me to teach him notes or how to read music, he just wanted me to teach him how to play one hymn in the super simplified hymn book so he could "impress the ladies in seminary." We tried several songs but ended up playing "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet." He didn't want to learn hand placement either. So he plays the song with one finger, plucking out the top hand one note at a time. He sings while he does this and it is quite entertaining. As I taught him he would randomly pick up Mary and shout "SORINE! KISS MARY!" and then burst out laughing again. I would follow this by picking up a wise man and shouting "MITCHELL! KISS THE WISE MAN!" and then I'd burst out laughing. Oh, I love hanging out with him. Julia came in a little while later and sat on the chair and watched as we playfully made fun of each other. He started to push me around, shoving me off the piano bench, hitting my arm, etc. I told him he was hurting my arm so her pushed harder. "It is a good thing you are left handed!" he said as he pushed my left arm again. "I'm left handed? Since when?" I asked. I'm not left handed. I'm not really capable of doing anything with my left hand. "Since tomorrow." he said. So now that is our joke. Since tomorrow. :)

My car is broken so my mom had to drive down and pick me up. Somehow Spencer convinced her to let him join. When they got to my apartment I pulled Spencer aside and asked how he got my mom to let him skip school. "Well," he said, "I pretended to be really mad and I cried and I stopped talking to her." That never worked for me, but somehow he ends up getting his way most of the time. I'm still not sure why he wanted to come. He slept in the car and while he was at my apartment he didn't even watch TV, he just sat there. I think it was more of an excuse to get out of school, not to come and see me.

For the Christmas party on my Mom's side she is in charge this year. She decided that we needed to make masks. Those fancy ones... I forget what they are called. Anyway, so we go over to my grandma's house to make these masks. I'm not creative. Not in the slightest. So I play around trying to make my mask look good while Julia makes hers look amazing! She cut hers and made it look more like a mask than a black piece of plastic. When I was done with mine, Mom looked at it and said "I think Julia should cut your nose out." So I yell, "JULIA! Mom wants you to come cut my nose out!" Ha ha! Everyone was a little confused. Of course I didn't want my real nose cut out, just the one on the mask.

While we were there, Mom remembered she left some feathers in the garage and she wanted me to go and get them. I asked where they were and she said over by that window. So then me and Julia both put our arms up like chickens, flapped them, bobbed our heads and sang "Stack it up and block the window, stack it up and block the window." My mom rolled her eyes, but she still got the joke. :)

Anyway, this is getting much longer than I originally planned. I just like talking about my family. If you don't know them or appreciate inside jokes then this probably was very boring. I apologize. But, if you do know them you probably (hopefully) enjoyed this. I did, at least. I hope you all have a very wonderful magical Christmas! :D

Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck...

Once upon a time Sadie borrowed my laptop. While she was checking her email and such, I became extremely bored. So what did I do? I flipped my head upside down and put a pony tail on the top of my head. Of course I didn't want to be alone in this so I convinced Sadie and Kendra to join me. We took pictures, sang, danced, and made a few movies...most of which will be for our entertainment only. ;)

Now I am trying to load those pictures (plus ones from previous adventures) and one of the videos onto facebook. But of course this is being WAY slow. And I find myself writing a blog. Which is all I do lately. Haha! :D

In case you were wondering, this morning after I picked up Sadie to walk to class I found a lucky penny! And so of course my day was amazing! I found out I get to go home on MONDAY! YAY! I'm very happy about this. Also, all my finals are take home finals! Oh, and Katrina informed me that she saw Landon in the library today and she said hi. He said hey in response. Today has been a VERY good day. :)

A Story by SKAS...ie

Two people run across the apartment to see what the TV was playing on Friday. My brother was eating Popsicles, green jello, and purple butterfingers. I jumped over him far enough to see the people walking hand-in-hand away from the TV. Once the jello set, Melissa yelled "SNOWMAN!" and opened the front door. Running dinosaurs cried while laughing because she didn't actually talk like humans wanted her to. Robin loves my brother's helicopter, but he never takes me shopping or on the helicopter. Robin hates me when I try to eat jello through the straws in pajamas. Melissa wrapped candy with her snowman, but it got hot so the snowman melted. She cried hysterically. Robin tried jumping in jello when Melissa cried "STOP!" Robin didn't stop. She kept jumping because jello tastes funny when you laugh and cry at melting ice. Most of all my brother woke monkeys when he sneezed. They attacked TVs and little girls, but the people threw jello at monkeys before my brother ate bananas. This monkey wasn't mad, but he felt guilty so everyone cleaned bathrooms until the sun set on the month of May. That next day we sucked suckers, slept on concrete pillows, and built new blankets made of cow hoofs. Those cows were mourning the loss of pigs who flew from barns in Canada where helicopters crashed. My brother Tim cried because Melissa ate his finger. Robin puked up jello. Once Robin finished puking she laughed because the jello was now orange. We puked because we ate moldy butterfingers. Ryan is nerdy when he studies girls because they scare monkeys. The end.

EXPLANATION: in case any of you are wondering, SKAS...ie = Sadie, Kendra and Sorine...ie. We took turns saying words to write this story. It doesn't have a plot, if you couldn't tell, and the meaning is hidden deep. But there is a meaning. Hope you enjoyed it.

A Chance Encounter?

The following story may or may not be true.

Once upon a time there was a girl named Katrina. She was attending college in a small town and therefore spent most of her time on a small campus. In between her classes she would go to the library and study, people watch, or just read a book and relax.

Every day the same boy would come into the library and he would sit near Katrina. Of course she noticed him. He was tall with brown hair and brown eyes and wasn't bad looking in the slightest. Oh how Katrina wished she could get the courage to talk to him. It was pathetic, but she went throughout almost the entire semester without saying more than "Oh, I'm sorry" when he almost hit her with his bike.

Through means that we don't need to explain, Katrina's friend Katie found out that his name was Landon. Katie was determined to get Katrina to talk to him. The end of the semester was getting closer and neither one of them wanted Katrina to miss her chance.

Every day as Katrina sat in the library she would think of ways to talk him. She imagined herself casually dropping her pencil, or pretending her pen ran out of ink. She imagined that she wouldn't even have to talk to him first, that he would rush into the library and say, "Excuse me, miss, but I have been dying to meet you. And I must know, will you fill the empty seat on my bicycle for two?"

But Katrina knew that it wouldn't happen that way. Nothing ever happened that way. She knew that if she ever wanted to talk to this boy, she would have to make the first move. She started seeing Landon everywhere. Katie and Katrina would see him at Wal-Mart or at a function or just on campus. But no matter how hard she tried, Katrina could not get herself to talk to him. In fact, she almost had herself convinced that she would rather just admire him from afar.

But Katie had other plans. One day at Friday Forum Katie and Katrina ended up sitting right next to Landon, only an isle way was separating them. Katrina, of course, didn't talk to him while the lesson was being given, but she had decided that that was going to be the day. She was going to talk to him.

As Friday Forum came to a close and the chairs were being stacked, Katrina began to doubt herself. Maybe talking to him wouldn't be a good idea. What if he rejected her in front of all these people? What if he wasn't as nice as he seemed? What if he saw her coming and ran the other way? Her mind was filled with doubts and she began to rethink her decision to talk to him. Although Katie was disappointed with Katrina, they left without talking to him.

The two girls walked back across campus towards their apartments. Katie talked on the phone while Katrina thought to herself. She decided that she could still be happy; a boy wasn't going to determine whether or not she had a smile on her face. She skipped, danced and sang to herself, waiting for Katie to get off the phone. She wasn't really paying any attention to her surroundings and as the turned a corner Katie suddenly got really excited and hung up her phone. "Katrina!" she yelled. "It is FATE! You have to talk to him!"

Katrina was confused. She looked around and only saw one guy - someone she had never seen before. He gave them a weird look and walked away. Katie was still freaking out so Katrina looked around again. And then she saw him. Landon was right there. Fate had brought them together. Or something like that. Katrina's heart sank and even though she was nervous, she wanted to talk to him. He walked just a few steps behind them and she tried to think of a way to say something without making it awkward.

"Do you want me to say something first?" Katie whispered.

Katrina couldn't think of another way to go about it, but she didn't want to miss her chance. It was going to happen. She was going to talk to him. "Yeah," she whispered back.

Katie quickly turned around to face to Landon. "Hi," she said, "I'm Katie." 

And do you know what happened next? Landon introduced himself.He wasn't rude. He didn't quickly run away. He just introduced himself and waited for Katrina to do the same. Katie walked on ahead, leaving Katrina and Landon to awkwardly have a conversation as they walked across campus. When they came to the corner they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

Katrina was more than happy. She skipped and danced and sang all the rest of the way home.

Was it chance that brought them together? Will they talk again? In the library later on, will things be awkward? Stay tuned to see what happens next.

Smile! :)

Life has a way of getting you down. At least, this is true for me. Especially through these last couple of weeks, I have been very down. It is hard for me to be away from my family. I miss just being able to actually see them. They honestly are my best friends and I've hated not being able to laugh with them every day. I've been sick, also. I know, nothing new. I get sick way too much. School has been stressful, with finals getting nearer. And then there is my lack of wanting to do anything but sleep. I was stuck in a rut and I didn't really care to get out.

The problem is, once I quit caring about one thing I quit caring about everything. I got to where the only class I really wanted to go to was institute (sounds a lot like high school...) and it was also the only class I was keeping up on. And of course, keeping up on institute is a very good thing. :) But, not keeping up on my other classes isn't a very good thing. I could go on about how I was stuck in this rut, but what will that do? It is how I got out that matters.

Last Sunday Kendra and I read a section from a book (for the sake of us not being made fun of, the title will remain unknown to all you readers) about how to start being happy. It said that we can either change our thoughts to change our actions or change our actions to change our thoughts. Smiling is the key. By smiling we give off the impression that we are happy. If you keep smiling, before you know it, you will be happy! Your actions (smile) will change your thoughts (attitude). Plus, the book said that it is impossible to be unattractive when smiling. ;)

So on Monday I smiled. Now, it isn't like I wasn't smiling before, I was. I just only smiled when something made me happy, I wasn't smiling to be happy. By the end of the day I was in the best mood ever! I felt confident, at ease, and happy.

I tried to keep this going throughout the week, and it worked. Even though I was sick and didn't want to move, I smiled and was happy. On Friday, I went to Friday Forum. Can you guess what the topic was? Happiness. I needed that talk. One of the things that was said was that blessed means how happy. I got thinking about all the blessings I have and I thought, well, I should be happy, I have no reason not to be. I am blessed.

So I challenge all you out there, the few actually reading this, to smile. Even if things aren't going the way you would like, keep smiling. It is possible to be going through trials and still keep a smile on your face. After all, you're never fully dressed without a smile! :D

2 Nephi 9:39 "Spiritually-Minded Is Life Eternal"