Loving life.

Today is just one of those days when I am loving life.  Really every day should be like that.  Of course it won't be, but I've come to realize that we choose our attitude.  So I've been trying to be grateful, focus on Christ, and just love life.  Because we really are so incredibly blessed.

The holiday season is just so great!  First, Thanksgiving.  I'm pretty sure I appreciated Thanksgiving a ton more than usual.  Probably because it was the first week in an awful long time that I didn't have to do a news story.  But more than that, I got to go home and spend time with my family.  While it can get a little hectic in that Ostler household, I love it!  And I got to see so many people!  I swear I saw more people in the few days I was home than I see during my four month summers.  And I got to wear shorts.  Utah makes bad California weather seem glorious.  :)

After dinner with my mom and sister at the Americana.  :)

Leaves do change color in Southern California.

And now it's almost Christmas.  I LOVE CHRISTMAS!  Who doesn't?  We had our Christmas concert for choir.  I loved it.  It's amazing how spiritually uplifting Christmas music is.  And it's such a different experience to be singing about the birth of our Savior with 500ish people who understand the true meaning of Christmas.  Christ truly is the reason for the season.  I am so grateful for the Savior and his Atonement for every single person who ever lived.  What an incredible gift.  Here is an excellent quote from Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf in this year's First Presidency Christmas Devotional:

"He promises to be with us - to come to us when we need comfort, to lift us when we stumble, to carry us if needed, mourn and rejoice with us.  Every day He offers to take us by the hands and help transform ordinary life into extraordinary spiritual experiences...The celebrations of Christmas can help remind us of Him.  The hallowed Christmas season can be an opportunity, and should be one, to recommit to keep the fire of the spirit and the glory of the Son of God burning in our  hearts everyday throughout the year."  

And here is an amazing rendition of "Infant Holy" by Vocal Point:

Also, I get to go home in four short days.  Hurray!  This will be my third trip home in a month and a half.  And we made the long drive every time.  But it's all worth it!

Oh and did I mention it's basketball season again.  :)  So great.  I get to film sometimes meaning I get to sit on the court.  It's great.  Love my major.  :)  But sometimes it's great to just sit in the student section and cheer as loud as I please.  :)

And as if this post isn't long enough already...here are the rest of the stories from this semester.  :)

The following is my favorite (and probably best) story of the semester.

  

This was my "breaking news" story.  Everyone has to do one.  The press conference was at 11 a.m. and our news show airs at noon.  Enough said.

My last story and another favorite.

It has been one crazy semester.  And in case you're wondering.  I LOVE MY MAJOR!  Especially when I get to talk about sports.  Few things make me more happy.  :)

Well...Merry Christmas!  :)

The weather outside is frightful.

OK...not really.  In fact, it could be much worse.  It's only about 48 degrees right now.  But it is not the perfect 70 degree weather I love.  Of course I still wear flip flops and sandals.  I won't stop until it starts snowing.  Also, occasionally I still wear shorts.  I tend to think that if I dress for warm weather, it might end up being warm outside.  Sadly...that is not the case.  But here are a few things that have been on my mind due to the not so nice weather.

First of all, my apartment is all about keeping utility bills as low as possible.  Meaning we have yet to turn on the heater.  The thermostat currently says it is about 65 degrees in our apartment.  Not too bad, but definitely noticeable.  In fact, last night I was drinking water that had been sitting in a glass on the table for multiple hours.  And it was definitely colder than room temperature normally is.  Maybe once water left in a glass on the table freezes we'll turn on the heater.  :)

One of my least favorite parts of cold weather is the fact that you need a jacket.  I do love my jackets, but it is just one more thing you have to do before heading out the door.  That is 3 extra seconds that I could spend doing something else.  And a jacket is just one more thing to match to your outfit.  And if you know me, I hate matching.  Actually I love matching, I'm just weird about it and not good at it.  So instead of 3 seconds, sometimes it takes me 7 seconds.  Also, BYU tends to keep their buildings exceptionally warm which is not necessarily a bad thing.  But it does mean you end up taking off your jacket when you enter a building.  And then you have to waste another 3 seconds putting your jacket back on before you go outside.  Boy...what a hard life I have.  Ha.  Just kidding.  :)  Also, if you are briskly walking to the library or some other unusually warm building, you have to take off your jacket or at least unzip it 30 seconds before you get to the library because if not, heat stroke is a very real possibility.  OK...maybe not heat stroke, but it is definitely way too hot if you don't take the previously mentioned precautionary measures.  P.S. That sentence was not conversational and thus not good for a news story.  And this is why I blog...so I can be as non-conversational as I want.  :)

Finally, I wish to talk about jumpsuits.  Why are they not in style?  They are INCREDIBLY convenient.  Matching is no longer an issue when you wear one.  What could be better?  Anyway, I bought a jumpsuit for a costume back in high school.  I used it freshman year for Halloween and I brought it out for a Halloween dance last night.
 

For uncreative people like myself, a jumpsuit is a must-have.  In fact I would have worn it last year for Halloween but luckily my roommates are creative people and manage to come up with costumes for me.  :)  And did I mention jumpsuits are super comfy?  After the dance last night, I curled up in a chair and slept for about 7 hours.  Shoes and all.  In a chair.  For 7 hours.  Sleeping anywhere in any outfit is a talent I possess and one I am incredibly grateful for.  :)

Anyway...here are my most recent stories in case you missed them.  Didn't the first one freeze on such a lovely frame?  :)

Did I mention it's college basketball season?  That's definitely up there on my favorite things about winter list.      Do something great today!

Microsoft Word 2007

I would describe myself as a PC person.  Don't get me wrong.  If someone offered me a Mac, I would gladly accept it and use it.  In fact, I'm sure I would love it.  But, unless someone else is paying or I decide to be a professional photographer, I don't expect to be using a Mac any time soon.  And, I do not believe the claim that a Mac can never get a virus.  OK...maybe it's true.  Who knows.  But that doesn't mean a whole number of other things can't go wrong.  All I know is whenever I hear about a friend needing to fix a computer, it's almost always a Mac.  Maybe it's just because people who own a Mac tend to care deeply about their computer.

Anyway...back to Microsoft Word.  The point of the entire previous paragraph was to explain that while I do not shun Apple products, I am the proud owner of a PC.  And with PCs comes Microsoft Word.  And currently I use the 2007 version of the program.  This version is great except for one thing.  And that one thing is the default settings of the program.  Every time I start typing a paper, the font is set to 11-point Calibri.  Who in the world would ever purposely choose to use this font?  Never have I had a teacher who requested that I type a paper for their class in Calibri.  And if I wanted to be creative, I would pick a font that looked much cooler than Calibri does.  And size 11?  What a random number.  I prefer 12.  And so do the majority of people I have met.  If the default font wasn't bad enough, Microsoft Word 2007 decided that your document should also be not double spaced, not single spaced, but 1.5 spaced.  How do you even say that?  Now I've had teachers want something single or double spaced so if one of those were the default I'd understand, but 1.5 spaced?  Also, the default makes it so every time you press enter, you get an extra space in between paragraphs.  I guess this might be useful for some people.  But not me.  

The truth is you can change these settings in about 30 seconds max and if I were more computer-savvy, I'm sure I could figure out some way to set the default the way I want it.  But for now, I am forced to change four things every time I want to type anything.  But life could be worse...much worse.  That being said, I am thankful for my computer, Microsoft Word 2007 (including its default settings), and life in general.  Happy almost Halloween.  :)    

More stories.

So here are my two latest stories.  One is about the supposed "rivalry" between Utah State and BYU and the other is about lighting the Y for homecoming.  I have to do a story every Wednesday so there should be a new one by Thursday of every week on elevennews.byu.edu in case you don't want to wait for me to post them.  Anyway, enjoy...

A Summer Summary

So...this is one of those flashback posts.  First of all, isn't that a clever title?  I feel like someone has to have used it before, but I liked it and will pretend I was the first one to ever think of it.  Anyway, I thought I'd post about some of my favorite things this summer.

Sailing:  I had some completely random summer goals.  And sailing was actually something I wanted to do, but didn't think I would be able to do this summer.  But, my dad knew this guy who likes to take people sailing on his boat.  So, we (my dad, two sisters, and I) went sailing on the Pacific Ocean.  So fun.  I might live on a boat when I'm older.  I even got to steer for awhile.  It was great!

Leah always makes pictures extra special.  :)

Surfing:  I learned to surf this summer.  Another one of my goals.  I have spent just about every summer I can remember in Southern California in relatively close proximity to the beach and I just now learned how to surf.  And it was a Relief Society activity.  What?  Yeah.  I have a cool Singles Ward.  A bunch of dads from the stake let us borrow boards, wetsuits, etc.  And they taught us to surf.  I stood up twice!

Grant loves me:  You may remember I had mentioned that another summer goal of mine was to get Grant to love me.  I am happy to report that Grant repeatedly said that he loved me by the end of the summer.  And I didn't even have to make him say it.  :)

Body Spray:  I am sad to report that I did not finish off the body spray I had left over from my tenth birthday.  But don't you worry.  It's here with me in Provo.  :)

One of the few pictures from the Ostler camping trip.  :)

Ukulele:  I also learned to play the ukulele.  Another summer goal checked off my list thanks to the Ostler family camp out.  I'm not good by any means, but it's amazing how many songs you can play with three chords.  :)  

I also decided this summer that when I have kids, they will not refer to my parents as Grandma and Grandpa.  Instead they will call them Bobushka and Big Papi.  Perfect.  :)

I also learned to count to ten in Hungarian this summer.  A four-year-old taught me.  The things you learn while babysitting.  :)

I went to multiple Dodger games.  What's new?  Ha.  I think they won a total of four of the games I attended.  And I attended more than 15.  A little pathetic.  But Clayton Kershaw has been AMAZING.  And so has Matt Kemp.  And looks like we might end up over .500 this season.  I hope I didn't just jinx it.  And they won the last game I went to.  It was a GREAT game.  We came from behind to win.  We scored a run on a balk (always fun) and James Loney hit a homer.  And then Matt Kemp was the next batter and he hit a homer too.  And with that homer he joined the 30/30 club (meaning he had 30 homers and 30 stolen bases on the season).  He's a stud.

Some of my favorite people.  :)

And last but not least.  McCall came to visit me al the way from Pittsburgh.  I like to pretend like she came all the way across the country just to visit me, but she was in a wedding.  But we still had some good times.  Beach trip, lunch at Philippe's, dinner in Beverly Hills, wedding reception, etc.  

Oh and Maddy showed up too!  :)

So there you have it folks.  I had a most excellent summer.  And this post doesn't even begin to sum it all up.  :)  Oh and just so you know, the events in this post are not in chronological order.  Until next summer...  :)

It's been awhile.

So...yeah.  I haven't posted since July.  Whoops.  I'll try to be better.  I have 3 drafts that will hopefully be up soon.  But in the mean time I'll just give a quick update.  

I'm back at the great BYU.  I was a little hesitant (to put it nicely) to go back.  Don't get me wrong.  I LOVE MY SCHOOL AND ALL MY FRIENDS UP HERE.  But after an entire four months of not doing much besides hanging out with the fam, watching cute children, going to Dodgers games, and going to the beach, it was kinda hard to convince myself that I wanted to start school again.  And who could leave my precious little siblings behind in California?!  Anyway, Provo is just as great as it was when I left.  In fact it feels like I never left.

I find myself INCREDIBLY busy.  All of the time.  It's crazy.  I can't even figure out why I seemingly have no time to do anything anymore.  But...it's all good.  Somehow I manage to get things done.  

I am the Eleven News (KBYU) Wednesday sports reporter.  It's fun but a little crazy.  That right there was the understatement of the year.  But I LOVE reporting on sports.  We went on air for the first time last Wednesday.  Crazy.  The entire state of Utah could have seen me.  I'm sure a total of about two people watched, but hey...it's better than none.  :)  I know my grandma saw me!  Here's the link to my first story for all you out of state people or for all of you who happen to be busy at noon on Wednesdays.  I obviously have LOTS of room to improve, but I like it OK?!

BYU is just great.  Everyone is super nice and happy.  Campus and the mountains are GORGEOUS.  And my professors are great!  They are so darn smart.  While I could pass on the schoolwork, learning is so much fun!

It's football season too!  So much fun.  My Cougars are 2-2.  We won't talk about their second loss.  But we beat UCF on Friday.  The game conflicted with a concert I was in.  Let me tell you...I almost quit choir because of this.  I'm not even joking.  But I got to go to the first hour of the game before I rushed off to my concert.  And I got to watch a little bit of the game backstage.  I got to see BYU score off of a kick return to tie the game right before I went onstage.  I also watch Bronco's press conference every Monday morning now that I'm a real sports reporter.  Technically anyone can watch it since it streams live online but, I like to pretend I'm cool.  Ha.  

Emily and Kellie live in my ward now.  IT'S SO MUCH FUN!  I almost always stop at their apartment before I go home.  Just like freshman year!  Presh.  And Kellie cut my hair!  Our news director says short hair is professional so all the girl reporters are supposed to cut their hair to about shoulder length.  Usually I hate my hair for at least a few weeks after a haircut.  But Kellie, my friends, is GENIUS!  I LOVE MY HAIR!  I don't know how she did it, but it could very well be the best haircut I've ever gotten.  Let's just say the other night I showered after an intramural game and slept on my wet hair.  In the morning I got up and did absolutely nothing to it (I didn't even brush it) and walked out the door.  Now that is a good haircut.  :)  And did I mention she did it for free?!

I'm in a volleyball class again and I'm playing intramural volleyball.  Gosh I love volleyball.  But let me tell you...my knees sure don't.  Right now we're at three dislocations since school started.  Two of which came in three days.  All my right knee.  The one I got surgery on.  Cool.  But whatever.  Something to look forward to when I'm resurrected.  :)  

Well, that's enough for now I'm sure.  The next few posts will probably be about stuff before school started. But enjoy your day!  Remember to smile!  Life is good.  :)

:)

This week has been slightly crazy to say the least.  And it's not over yet.  Here's a few things that have made my life great or at least interesting of late.

To begin with, Leah managed to fall through the entrance to the net around the trampoline and onto the cement.  This left a nice cut on the side of her head.  My parents had left on their cruise less than 48 hours before. Thus, Carrie and I got the privilege of accompanying Leah to the ER.  It was fun.  Quite the experience.  Four staples later and we're all good.  :)  We actually got to use the medical release note from our parents.  Definitely a first.  :)

The following conversation took place one day as Grant was leaving my room:
Grant: "See ya."
Bridget: "See ya."
Grant: "See ya Bridget."
Bridget: "See ya Grant."
Grant: "I love you."
Tell me he's not the most precious child on earth.  :)

Yet another Grant story:
Bridget: "Grant, how come you look so cute today?"
Grant: "Because I love you."
This kid is going to make an excellent husband.  :)

I was babysitting three little girls the other day who happen to moving to London tomorrow.  Lucky ducks.  Tangent:  Why are little kids so fascinated with stairs?  Especially when their in one's house.  These little girls were excited that their new house was going to have stairs and I also remember thinking as a little kid that having stairs in your house was super cool.  Now back to the point.  I brought two of my little sisters along to play with these little girls.  We decided to play a Toy Story Wii game (which is a great game by the way since it's super easy).  Anyway, it's comprised of a bunch of mini games in which you compete with people to see who can get the most points.  At the end of each game there is a screen that tells you who won the game.  The oldest little girl, who is 7, skipped past the score screen.  Wanting to see my score, I asked her why she skipped the screen.  She responded, "That will make someone cry."

While waiting to get staples in her head, Leah was talking up a storm.  She informed us that you can tell when she is sick because she doesn't feel like eating pizza.  Good to know.  No appetite for pizza is definitely the first way I know I'm sick.  :)

I was babysitting yet another family (can you tell I babysit too much?) and we were watching Sinbad (a DreamWorks animated movie).  The villain is this evil goddess woman.  At one part while she was being her evil self, the 5-year-old little boy said, "I wish I could call her the S-T word."  I'm pretty sure he meant the word "stupid".  Precious.  That's some good parenting right there.  :)

So obviously the majority of my time has been spent with small children lately and these occurrences is what makes it worth it.  Now on to the super good news:

My roommate from freshman year, Amelia Holt, is engaged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Now for a bunch of pictures of us.  Yeah I should be posting ones of her and her fiancee, Seth, but I like these ones too much. :)

Fake contention I assure you.

I seriously am SO excited for Amelia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Her fiancee, Seth, is an incredibly lucky man.  

That's about it.  Have the best weekend ever.

The sibs.

Today my 12-year-old brother, Justin, asked me what "fax" meant.  Made me feel kinda old.

Grant (3) is the best dinner helper.  My mom even lets him cut things.  The other day I turned around and he was cutting lettuce with a knife.  My mom trusts him a whole lot.

On another evening Grant was helping in the kitchen again.  My mom told him to stop doing something (I can't remember what it was) that he wasn't supposed to doing.  He came back with, "Mom! You're not older than me!"  What a nut.

I hate oil stains.  A lot.  They ruin perfectly good shirts.  And half the time you don't even realize it until after you wash them.  In order to prevent such stains, I often steal my roommate's apron when cooking with oil.  My birthday's coming up though and you could purchase this for me so that I don't have to steal my roommate's apron.  Yes I know it's technically for men who barbecue but it would suffice for preventing my clothing from being stained with oil.

My 6-year-old sister, Leah, has her wedding colors picked out already.  She'd fit right in at BYU.  :)  She says she's going to marry a "hot one" when she gets to college.

One last Grant story.  The other day I was pitching to him so he could practice hitting.  During this activity he announced, "You know Bridget, this is fun!"  Precious.  Perhaps this means he might actually love me.  :) 

The fourth.

Happy Independence Day!!!!!!!!!  The Fourth of July is truly a GREAT holiday.  I love America a whole lot and am so thankful for those men and women who have made incredible sacrifices to make our country great.  Thomas Jefferson once said, "Love your neighbor as yourself, and your country more than yourself."  I'm grateful for the men and women who truly put the needs of their country above their own.  

My Fourth of July was filled with swimming and BBQs and warm weather and our national pastime: baseball.  My family enjoyed a game of Dodger baseball and a SPECTACULAR fireworks show.  I've come to the conclusion that fireworks are 3,894,750,143,623 times better when accompanied by patriotic music.  A great day was had by all.  :)

It also just so happened that I managed to lose one of my retainers yesterday as well.  Let me tell you, no other small piece of plastic has ever caused me so much grief.  I'll preface this story by saying that I'm on my third set of retainers. The first set was ruined by boiling them.  I was carrying them around in my extra pair of tennis shoes.  Obviously, I wasn't about to put them in my mouth.  So I tried to come up with a way to sanitize them.  Our family commonly uses boiling water to sanitize toothbrushes (which are plastic) so why not retainers?  So I tried it and probably left them in the pot too long and they expanded.  The next set I almost left in a hotel in Ohio.  But we turned around and managed to find them.  However, I managed to leave them in another hotel in Santa Monica.  Lesson: Don't put your retainers in napkins.  Bad things happen.  So, yesterday I put my retainers on my bed when I woke up (bad choice #1).  Then I was cleaning my room and only found one of them.  I spent quite awhile looking everywhere around my bed.  I even had to go through the trash outside since I had just taken out the trash in my room that sits near my bed.  Disgusting.  My brother even helped me look.  After the Dodger game, the retainer was still lost.  I checked a few places and finally decided to re-look through the clothes I had hung up in my closet while cleaning my room.  And lo and behold, my retainer was inside one of my shirts in the closet.  Still not sure how it managed to get there.  Moral of the story: Never clean your room.  :)

Sports update:

Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw (my two favorites) were selected for the National League All-Star Team.  The All-Star game is great.  The three or four days without baseball that accompany it are not so great.

BYU Football became officially independent last Friday.  It should make for an interesting season.

Super old news:  Jimmer Fredette was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks.  He was promptly traded to the Sacramento Kings.  My feelings on this: I was hoping he'd go to the Pacers or the Knicks, but Sacramento was next on my list.  But really anywhere besides Utah was going to make me happy.  The best part about it all is that the Kings might be moving in the near future to Anaheim which is less than an hour away from me. 

That's it.  Have the best day ever!

SoCal

Today I went to the beach with my family, and I was reminded once again that Southern California is the best place in the world.  I mean there are plenty of awesome places to visit (ex: Spain, the rest of the United States, Dominican Republic, etc.), but I'm extremely glad I grew up in Sunny California and hope I end up here again in the future.  Anyway, here are a few bits of randomness for you all.  

First of all, a bug just attempted to fly up my nose.  Disgusting.  If there is one thing I dislike about summer, it is the fact that bugs are alive.  Especially little flies.  I don't like them at all.

Second, Target is the best.  Walmart doesn't even compare.  I'm sure I'd feel differently if I grew up going to a Walmart.  I just discovered that there is a Walmart 13 miles away from my zip code.  I'm finding this hard to believe.  Anyway, the point is I love Target.  It makes me want a house so I can buy all sorts of stuff from Target for it.  :)

Grant's birthday is on Sunday.  He's going to be a whole three years old.  I swear he's already four because he is way bigger than the other two-year-olds I know.  I can't believe he still has to wait two more school years before he goes to kindergarten.  He definitely seems old enough to me anyway to go this year.  Anyway, Grant has been looking forward to his birthday for a long time.  Especially because he knows he gets presents.  He actually thinks the word "birthday" is synonymous with "present" and uses them interchangeably.  He gets quite confused.

And what do you know?  It's July already.  I didn't even realize June ended.  Crazy how time flies.

Also, if you want something to do for the next 30 seconds or so, go ahead and vote for American Red Cross Utah Region.  My roommate interns for them and if they get the most votes they win a whole lot of money.  And who doesn't love the Red Cross?  You can vote once a day!  Do it!  I dare you!

Happy summer!

Breaking news: The Dodgers just beat the Angels 5-0 in Anaheim.  :)

The boys of summer.

Meaning the Dodgers.  I know you have all been waiting anxiously for another Dodger update.  Ha.  So here ya go.  :)

We'll start out with a Dodger great.  Jackie Robinson.

I just finished reading his autobiography.  He said once, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."  Let's just say his life was pretty darn important if we're basing it off the impact he had on others.  If I ever decide to buy an authentic Dodgers jersey, it will definitely be Jackie's.

Now about the current Dodgers.  Ha.  Their current goal is to reach .500.  But of course I still love them.  I'll spotlight a few of my favorites.  :)

Matt Kemp.

He's ridiculous.  In a good way.  He currently leads the National League with 20 homeruns.  It's almost expected that he hits one when he comes up to bat.  And his swing is perfect.  Exactly the same with every homer.  And to think he's currently not even a starter for this year's All-Star game this year.  You should vote for him 25 times.  I'm sure he'd appreciate it.  Plus if anyone deserves it, he does.

Clayton Kershaw.

Love this kid.  I know I told you all about him in a previous post.  So I won't bore you again.  But this picture is great, so I had to include it.  If you haven't already, read this article.  It tells you how crazy good he is.

Last but not least.  Dee Gordon.

Isn't he precious?  :)  Anyway, he was recently called up from the Minors.  He's great.  He reminds me of Juan Pierre.  (P.S.  I miss that guy.)  He's WAY fast.  He's #9.  He has awesome hair.  (I decided he probably has to have hair like that so he can see when he wears a helmet.)  And for being so skinny, he has quite the arm.  He's gonna be good.  I hope the Dodgers keep him up in the Majors for a long time.

OK, so Dee Gordon wasn't actually last.  I'm convinced my brother, Grant, is going to be a baseball star.  Check out the high quality (not) video below.  At least the first half.  That's where all the action is.

Happy baseball season.  :)

Since I was 4.

My family and I spent our weekend in Mammoth.  And we went skiing.  Not water skiing.  Snow skiing.  Yes.  My my family went skiing on the holiday often thought of as the beginning of summer.  Forget the beach.  Ha.  It was my first time skiing in at least two, probably three, years despite the fact I spent the past two winters of my life in a place with the "greatest snow on earth" as described by the state's license plates seen below.

P.S.  This design of the Utah license plate is definitely my favorite of all the variations.  

Back to skiing.  I LOVE it.  I forgot how fun it was.  I've learned to ski when I was four.  So logic would tell you that I should be pretty good 15 years later.  Lies.  Growing up, I was a big fan of speeding down the easy slopes instead of trying harder things.  But this trip I tried to challenge myself.  Haha.  Skiing is quite the workout when you actually have to try.  :)  May 30 was an EXCELLENT ski day.  Not too cold or windy.  Fresh 10 inches from the weekend.  Not crowded at all.  Pretty close to perfect.  :)

In other news...

Breaking news:  My six-year-old sister just lost a tooth.  And it is currently literally lost.  We can't find it.  :)

A word of advice:  Never take an astronomy class.  It is highly dangerous because you will be forevermore distracted by the stars at night.  While driving to and from Mammoth, all I wanted to do was look at the stars especially because we were in the middle of nowhere and it was super dark.  Unfortunately I was driving and couldn't stare for too long.  

If I could have any car, I would get a Dodger blue Toyota Camry.  The newest model.  I love them.  Yes, I know.  It's a strange pick for a dream car.  But I've recently decided that I also want a Jeep.  Or a pale blue convertible bug.  Both are perfect summer cars.  Luckily I won't have to decide any time soon due to insufficient funds.  :)

The other day I was driving one of the kids I babysit home.  His aunt works for the Dodgers so we were talking about her getting me a job with the Dodgers.  A little background information:  This kid is eight and is half Mexican but doesn't speak Spanish.  Thus, his aunt is Mexican.  He told me if I wanted a job I would have to ask his aunt in Spanish if she could get me a job.  I told him that luckily I spoke Spanish.  In disbelief, he told me to say something along the lines of "Can you get me a job with the Dodgers?" in Spanish to prove my fluency.  So I did.  After hearing my Spanish, he exclaimed, "You don't even look Mexican!"  Hahahahaha.  Gotta love those kids.  

Last funny story.  Yesterday, my mom and I were picking weeds in the front yard.  Grant was helping us.  My mom kept getting poked by some of the plants.  Grant then said, "Pokies don't kill me.  They don't have a gun.  Just a sword."  Hahahahhahaha.  That kid is a crackup.  And quite intelligent.  Of course "pokies" have swords because they are sharp.  :)  After laughing a whole lot, I said, "That was a good one, Grant."  With a straight face, he replied, "Thank you, Bridget".  :)

In sports news:  The Dodgers are on fire.  They've won two in a row.  And they've finally learned how to score runs.  It's quite miraculous.  I'm quite pleased.  :)

That's it.  Have a good day.  :)

Silver medal.

In other words, being second best.  In the world of baseball and any other team sport, it means losing.  Yeah.  The Dodgers have been doing that a little bit too often lately.  Let's just say the Dodgers are 1-4 for the five games I have attended this season.  The starting pitchers have been excellent, but the offence is another story.  To illustrate, earlier this month one of our pitchers gave up one hit in eight innings and we still lost the game 1-0.  Pathetic.  The offence has been so bad lately that I find myself cheering for every hit like it was a home run.  After one of their losses, I heard one of the hosts of Dodger Talk say the Dodgers got the silver medal.  It makes it seem less bad.  But I still have faith.  There's a lot of baseball left to play.  And they won tonight!!!!!!!!!!  So much losing makes winning so much better.  Ha.  However, I'd still rather they win more than lose.  Jerry Sands hit his first career grand slam too!  It was great!!!!

The other day, the video highlight on the Dodger homepage was captioned, "Barajas jacks a solo dinger."  What?!  It was obviously a video of his home run.  I just found it entertaining that this caption out of context would be utterly confusing.  I do not understand why someone felt the need to use that caption instead of the simple "Barajas hits a solo home run."  Ha.

The last game I went to was last Thursday against the Giants.  The Giant's starting pitcher had a record of 0-6 coming into the game.  It was the bottom of the ninth.  Dodgers were down 3-0.  The starting pitcher was still pitching.  Losing is one thing.  Losing a complete game shut out by the starting pitcher who has not won a game during the season and is a Giant is quite another.  Also, losing when there are obnoxious Giants fans in your vicinity, doesn't make me very happy.  Anyway, we're down by three.  Bottom of the ninth.  Bottom of the lineup.  The first two guys up to bat get out.  Barajas is up and hits a little blooper that falls right in between the shortstop and the left fielder.  Man on first.  Still two outs.  Sands (the one who hit the grand slam tonight) gets up and doubles to deep center.  One run scores.  Dodgers still down by two with two outs.  They take the starting pitcher out.  Hallelujah.  At least if we still lose, it won't be a shut out and the pitcher won't have pitched a complete game.  The Giants bring in their closer, Wilson.  He's the "Fear the beard" guy.  Supposedly really good.  He proceeds to walk the next two batters which loads the bases.  Two walks!  In a row!  (I was on the edge of my seat/standing the entire time.)  We finally get to the top of our lineup.  The count is 2-2.  Jamey Carroll hits a line drive to right field.  It's dropping.  It looks like a hit.  This could potentially tie up the ball game.  But no.  The Giants' right fielder makes a diving catch to end the game.  Brutal.  We were so close.  

Yes, my blog is turning into a commentary on the Dodgers.  Sorry.  It's summer.  In other news...

Summer Goal #1:  Finish the rest of my Bath & Body Works blazin' blueberry cosmic cool body splash.  That's what it's called.  Not lying.  And the name is not capitalized on the bottle (side note directed at grammar Nazis out there including myself).  I received it as a gift for my tenth birthday.  I have at least a third of it still.  I think it's time to finish it.  Let me know if you could use some.  I'm very willing to share.  :)

Summer Goal #2:  Get Grant to say that he loves me.  He's my two-year-old brother for crying out loud!  Shouldn't he love me?!  He tells my dad all the time that he "just loves [him] so much."  But when I ask him if he loves me, he says no.  In fact he often says he hates me.  Ha.  What a kid.

I babysit two precious (most of the time) kids from my stake for about two hours everyday.  The four-year-old boy (who is in the Darling Duckling preschool class in case you were wondering) really likes numbers and telling me exactly how much different people (most often family members)/things weigh.  Don't worry, he has no concept of how much they actually weigh.  He also likes to tell me the ages of his family members.  One day he said, "A long time ago my dad was 20.  Now he's about 21."  This is probably one of those "you had to be there" moments, but if you know the kid, it would be hilarious.  The things that come out of his mouth.   

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that read, "Land of the free because of the brave."  How true.  Thanks to all the unbelievably courageous men and women out there who put their lives on the line to protect this great country.  I will be forever grateful.

I'm sure you've all heard of the recent tornado in Joplin, MO as well as all the other tornadoes in the Midwest.  These poor people.  There were something like 47 tornadoes in the United States on Sunday alone.  Anyway, I was listening to the news on the radio and they were talking about the Joplin tornado and how the 200 mph gusts were "stripping homes from their foundations and the leaves off the trees."  I don't know about you, but the "stripping homes from their foundations" gets the point of major destruction across pretty well.  The whole "leaves off trees" part is not extremely necessary in my opinion.  I'm almost positive people could care less about the leaveless trees when they don't have a home.  Just a thought.

That's all.  :)  Sorry for this being painfully long.

The dentist.

First of all, I am not aware of anyone who likes going to the dentist.  I'm sure some people don't mind it, but does anyone actually like and look forward to going?  I highly doubt it.  OK, maybe it's kinda fun when your a kid because you get to pick a toy and play video games.  But once you don't get a toy, it's not fun.  Perhaps we could look forward to the new toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss they are supposed to give you.  But guess what.  Today when I went to the dentist, they asked me if I needed any of that stuff.  They didn't just hand it to me.  Lame.

Another reason I am not particularly fond of going to the dentist is cavities.  I hate them.  As soon as I am aware of an upcoming dentist appointment, every small pain in my mouth makes me think I have a cavity.  I don't mind getting cavities filled, I just don't like the idea of having a cavity.  Luckily, I was blessed with killer saliva.  I am a firm believer that whether or not you are prone to cavities is largely based on genetics.  For example, I have had one tiny cavity in the 19 years of my life and I don't do anything extraordinarily special to my teeth.  I brush my teeth when I wake up and floss and brush my teeth before bed (if I don't fall asleep first).  Not brushing my teeth does not keep me awake at night.  And I only started flossing since that cavity which was only a few years ago.  But other people I know brush/floss their teeth just as much, if not more, than me and they get cavities all the time.  Thus, genetics is the answer.

My latest obsession is gas prices.  I love to compare them from station to station.  And it makes my day when gas prices drop.  I am happy to report that the price of gas at the gas station closest to my house has dropped ten whole cents since I got home!!!!!!!!!!!  It was $4.29 per gallon when I got home and today it is only $4.19!!!!!!!!  Whoever thought that gas at $4.19 would be something to cheer about.  In fact I got gas last night at a gas station on the other side of town and it was only $4.17!  What a bargain!  :)

That is all.  I hope that you all don't get cavities and that you find cheap gas!  :)

Grant.

Earlier today I was carrying two pairs of earrings to the car.  I realized in the car that I had lost one of the pearl earrings (don't worry, they were fake).  When I got back home I looked for it a little as I walked back up my driveway.  After searching through my bag  to make sure I hadn't lost it in there, I asked my siblings if anyone wanted to help me look outside.  Grant volunteered.  He ran to get his shoes on.  While he did, I went outside and searched where I had walked as well as I could.  I went back inside and Grant said he was ready.  I told him I had already looked and I went to my room.  He then came in saying he found it.  He had in fact found a pearl bead but it wasn't the earring.  Already thinking he was adorable and quite intelligent for finding a pearl bead, we decided to go look outside again.  As I was getting my shoes on, Grant told me my shoes were awesome.  That kid's a keeper.  We walked down the driveway and searched again.  At the bottom lying in the middle of the driveway in plain sight, he found the earring!  How I missed it the two searches before, I have no idea.  Anyway, Grant is great.  And super cute.

Displaying his most recent piece of art.

He also draws on his stomach.  :)

Fathers and sons.

So last night was the fathers and sons campout for our ward as I'm sure it was for a million other wards out there.  So what do the girls do while the boys camp?  They go to a Dodger game.  :)  So my mom, Becca, Leah, Jimmer, and I went to Chavez Ravine to watch the Dodgers take on the Diamondbacks.  I wore my new Kershaw jersey t-shirt which was especially fitting since he was pitching.  Seven scoreless innings and eleven strikeouts later, it was clear I'd picked an excellent night to debut my new shirt.  :)  In case your wondering, this is the guy I'm talking about.

He's great.  He currently leads the Dodgers with 64 strikeouts.  The next guy has 42.  And did I mention he's only 23?  He's married.  Don't worry.  Anyway, to my dismay they only let him pitch 7 innings despite the fact he had only allowed 3 hits and they had all been in the first inning.  The bullpen proceeded to make things interesting by giving up 3 runs in two innings.  Luckily we still managed to win 4-3.  

And afterward we got to sit on the field and watch fireworks!  In case you were wondering, Jimmer loved his first Dodger game.  He was happy pretty much the whole time.

Well that's about it.  Hoping for another Dodger win tonight.  :)

Ok fine.

I'll admit it.  It's over.  The Lakers are out.  Good thing it's Dodger season.  :)

Other random news...

I have not found a real job, but I have a whole bunch of fake jobs.  Meaning:  I deal with a whole bunch of kids. Luckily they're cute.  :)

Justin, my brother, informed me tonight that he sang a solo in the primary program last October!  I can't believe I missed it!  He's so brave!

I was looking through a box of old pictures recently and found a picture of my first grade class.  It was in this little cardboard frame/folder thing that had spaces to fill in your name, age, favorites, etc.  A few of my favorites were interesting.  My favorite entertainer was Michael Jordan.  Haha.  I don't remember liking basketball back then, but maybe I did.  It did say under "Activities" that I went to some basketball clinic.  Then again, all of my answers are in my dad's handwriting.  So it could also be that because my dad likes basketball anything basketball-related was on the forefront of my dad's mind when I was asking for ideas as we were filling it out.  For my favorite movie, I listed Grizzly Mountain. What in the world?!  I don't remember anything about this movie, so I looked it up.  That must have been the movie I had seen most recently.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but one of my absolute favorite things in life is waking up before my alarm clock.  I know many people hate it because they are unable to fall back asleep once they are awake.  Luckily that has never ever been a problem for me.  I love waking up and knowing I still have more time to sleep.  It's the best feeling.  The worst feeling is waking up and feeling like you just shut your eyes.  Thus, when you wake up before your alarm, it sort of makes it feel like you get to sleep for longer.  Yes, I'm weird. Example story:  Once during freshman year some of our friends snuck an alarm clock into our room and put it up on this bizarre shelf thing right under the ceiling.  That description makes zero sense, but if you've ever lived in Helaman or seen it, you'll understand.  Anyway, of course they set it to some time early in the morning.  When it went off, I would have slept through it if it hadn't been for Amelia climbing on my desk trying to retrieve the alarm clock.  Was I angry?  Nope.  I was just happy I could sleep longer.

That's about it.  See ya.

It ain't over til it's over.

Don't count the Lakers out yet.  Why?  Cuz Kobe said so.

Livin' the good life.

Summer is simply fantastic.  And here is why...

1.  Baseball everyday (except Sunday).  And that is NOT an exaggeration.  Whether it's the Dodgers or one of my sibling's games, there is baseball going on every single day.

2.  Mangos.  (The plural form of "mango" can end in -oes or -os in case you were wondering.)  A member of the cashew family.  (Who knew?)  I guess they've recently been on sale at some grocery store so my mother has been kind enough to keep us stocked.  They are delicious.  With baseball and mangos every day, life is pretty close to perfect.

Haha.  I guess that's it.  Remember, baseball + mangos = happiness.  :)

Oh and don't you worry.  I have not given up on the Lakers.

Just because.

Yes, two posts in a row.  You are probably thinking that I must have something better to do with my life currently.  Besides writing missionaries, I do not.

Google docs were something I assumed only college students and adults (maybe the occasional smart kid in high school) used.  I stand corrected.  My brother in sixth grade uses them.  For whatever reason, this blew my mind.  Sixth graders can figure out how to use Google docs?  Guess so.

My two-year-old brother Grant is hilarious.  He loves to write (meaning scribble).  He is very good at t, o, and E.  He drew on my mom's bathroom wall with permanent marker.  A few mornings later, he drew all over his sheets and pillow with a ballpoint pen.  During this same writing adventure, he drew on his stomach, back, and feet.  And to top it all off, he drew on Leah's back.  She slept through the entire thing.  We decided he is going to be a graffiti artist someday.  He is quite the character.  He is also very polite.  It's precious.

I attended my first Dodger game of the summer last night.  It was great.  Minus the fact that we lost.  Better luck next time I guess.  At least Ethier continued his hit streak.  He has currently gotten a hit in 27 consecutive games.

Summer is great!  Have a superb day.  :)

Two freeways later.

Back in sunny California.  Here's a recap of the highlights of my last night in Provo and the drive home.

I managed to stretch my finals out as long as possible.  I finished my last final about 3 minutes before the testing center was going to close on Thursday, the last day of finals.  That takes talent.  Ha.  So after I got home I decided to make pizza in an effort to get rid of as much food as possible.  Unfortunately the dough takes about an hour and a half in the bread maker.  So the pizza wasn't ready until after midnight.  I also made scones.  I accidentally used baking soda instead of baking powder.  (It might have been baking powder instead of baking soda...I can't remember...I used the wrong one.)  They were still pretty good.  Finally I made rice crispie treats.  It was quite a night of cooking.  I also accomplished the packing of the majority of my clothes.  I got to bed about 4:30 that night/morning.

The next morning I made french toast to finish off my bread.  Thinking I was going to leave Provo around 7 p.m., I had quite the leisurely morning.  Around 1:30 p.m. I was informed that we were leaving pretty much as soon as I was ready preferably around 3:30.  Ummm...OK.  Believe it or not I think I made it out the door by 4:00 p.m.  This was quite a feat let me assure you.

Oh and I am happy to report that I managed to recycle all my newspapers.  I probably saved an entire forest.  I'm not even joking.

On our drive, I saw a license plate holder on a car that read "Product of polygamy".  What in the world?!  First of all what were they actually referring to?  The car?  The license plate holder?  The driver?  Also, I was unaware that being a product of polygamy was something to be proud of.  I guess I was wrong.

We stopped in St. George for the night at the house of the friend I was driving with's grandparents.  It was located at Escapes at Entrada.  I was already excited considering that Escapes at Entrada is frequently advertised at BYU basketball games.  However, I was informed that the most exciting part of Escapes at Entrada is that it is the place that High School Musical 2 was filmed at.  I was staying in the very place where the golf course is located on which Zac Efron sang his angry song.  I visited the club house, the pool, the softball field.  It was quite the experience.

Guess what.  Have you ever realized that that phrase ("guess what") is a statement?  It's not a question.  It's a statement.  It is a command.  You are telling someone to guess not asking them to.

There are a few billboards south of Las Vegas that are about preventing animal cruelty.  One line on the billboard reads, "Animals are children too."  These billboards have been up for quite awhile.  Every time I drive by I think the same thing.  Animals are not in fact children.  While we should love animals and treat them kindly and with respect, they are not children.  Just thought we should clear that up.

Also south of Vegas are two towns named Jean and Primm.  These establishments are quite small and consist of a casino or two and a few gas stations and maybe some outlets.  You can see the entirety of each town as you drive past.  It takes about one minute max to drive through them on I-15.  My question is, where in the world do the people who work in the casinos, outlets, restaurants, gas stations, and hotels live?  In the hotels?  Do they commute from Vegas?  There are no houses in these places.  It is truly mind-boggling.

Before reaching my home, I saw two Dodger billboards.  They made the trip worth it.  :)

Electricity.

I just tried 3 electrical outlets before I finally found one that worked.  Electrical outlets that do not work are not very far up on my favorite list.  I am currently sitting on the floor next to a random outlet in a hall in the library since the outlets at tables have failed me.

I forgot to announce that I'm pretty sure John Bytheway was sitting a row in front of me at the baseball game last night.  Oh the celebrities that attend BYU baseball games.  Ha.

I swear I had about one million things to blog about today.  And now I can't think of any of them.

I worked my last 7 a.m. shift for at least four months!  Hurray!

I'm almost done with my take home Spanish final.  It has definitely been my least favorite of my tests for that class.  But parts of it have been quite entertaining.  For example, we have to listen to two different songs he gives us and based on the pronunciation of the lyrics, tell him where the singer is from.  Luckily the songs were pretty catchy.  One was a rap.  :)  My new goal in life is to become a Spanish rapper.  Hahaha.

A few minutes ago, I heard a guy snoring somewhere close to me.  I do not see anyone sleeping, but someone was definitely snoring.  Weird.

Recently I've often felt like I should be more studious by taking spring and/or summer classes.  Sometimes 4 months of summer seems like a really long time.  I also think that perhaps I should just stay in Utah over the summer since I already have a job here.  But then I remember the following:
1.  I don't have to pay rent in California.
2.  I don't have to pay for food in California.
3.  I don't have to pay for utilities in California.
4.  I don't have to pay tuition in California.
5.  If I go to spring/summer classes, I'll graduate even earlier than is currently the plan.
6.  Minimum wage is higher in California.
5.  The Dodgers are 633.7 miles closer to me in California than they are in Provo.
6.  The beach is way closer if I'm in California.
7.  My family's in California.
8.  Cold weather in California is sunbathing weather in Utah.
9.  And lately my mom has been wanting to take a tour of Dodger Stadium...I can't pass that up.
Thus I easily convince myself every time I think about staying in Provo that California will be by far the better option this summer!

Well, the study room I reserved should be open for me now which means I must go record myself speaking Spanish.  Someone is still snoring.  Ha.  Oh and by the way, this week has been the longest week of my life.

I can't stand the fact that you have to title blog posts.

I guess you don't have to, but they give you the option so...  Titles might be useful for people who blog about one thing at a time, but I don't.  Therefore I end up trying to think of something that encompasses the entire post and it doesn't often work out too well.  Anyway, it is way too late to be blogging especially since I work at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning, but I just had to.

First of all, to all of you future professors out there:  Please do not tell your class which chapters will be covered on the final and then have questions on the final from chapters you didn't mention.  Not cool.  Either tell us all of the chapters or none of them.

I learned this morning that I am now leaving Friday night!  Hurray!

I re-auditioned for Women's Chorus today.  You would think after doing about 30 million choir auditions, I wouldn't get nervous.  False.  I'm a wimp.  However, I did surprise myself on the sight reading.  I did pretty darn good especially since I haven't practiced that in ages.

I made homemade lasagna for the first time ever and it turned out pretty good!

My grandparents are the best!  I'm not lying.  They willingly took a whole bunch of my stuff to their house to store over the summer.  My friends are also the best.  I invited them over for dinner and before we ate, they all helped me pack up my stuff so my grandparents could pick it up.  I have never packed so much stuff so quickly.  We're talking about an hour or less.  It's amazing what can be accomplished under pressure.  And to think I could have spent about five times that amount of time doing the same thing.  The only problem is I ended up packing a few things I didn't mean to.  1.  My baseball mitt.  Hopefully there are a few extras at home.  2.  My textbook that I need for my take home final that is due tomorrow.  Luckily my friend is letting me borrow hers.

Best part of my day was the U of U @ BYU baseball game.  Emily was kind enough to accompany me.  :)  It was tied 1-1 when we got there.  Eventually, it was 6-6 at the bottom of the ninth.  And finally in the bottom of the eleventh inning, we scored and won!!!!!!!!  We could have won a lot faster had it not been for the 4 errors we committed.  Anyway it was great.  In fact I think I partially lost my voice from screaming when the winning run was scored.  I like baseball a whole lot.

Another great realization.  I no longer have to read aloud in Spanish for 15 minutes a day.  In fact, I could have stopped 4 days ago!

Two more finals to go.  Really only 1.5.  The end.  :)

Update.

One final down, three to go.  Just had to tell you that rain is no longer forecasted for my first full day I'll be home!!!!! A high of 71 sounds quite nice.  Yes my blog is turning into an extension of weather.com.

Oh and you know it's time to go back to SoCal when you get the Southern California edition of the AT&T magazine with pictures of Southern California on the cover and it makes you REALLY excited.  It is not very often that junk mail makes me so happy.  :)

So I wanted to make this picture my blog background, but it's not letting me so I'll just show you in this post.  Enjoy.

The Pacific Ocean.

Drawing a blank.

I figured I should blog before I start studying so that I will not have an excuse to stop studying.  Good plan.  I have 4 more finals to take in 4 days.  We'll see how that goes.  I am so close to going home that I can now just look at the 5-day forecast instead of the 10-day forecast on weather.com.  I can also start caring about weather at home.  And of course showers are forecasted for the day I get home.  It's only fitting since the majority of time I have spent in the supposed Sunny Southern California has been rainy. 

I sold back a book today and I made a whopping $3.  Beat that.  At least I only paid $4 for it originally. 

I also realized that finals are not the worst part of this time of year.  Packing is.  And if that isn't bad enough.  Taxes are due at the same time.

Also, Mondays used to be great due to the fact that NCAA basketball rankings came out on Mondays.  Now that the the season is over, Mondays aren't that great. 

Next Monday, I decided I am going to the beach.  Yes it probably will not be that warm, but just being there will be worth it.  Feel free to join me. 

Well, I really cannot think of anything else which means I should probably study.  Lame.  Well, hope your day is fantastic.

Reading day.

Last I checked, reading days are holidays.  It's not like you are supposed to study for finals or something.  :)

1.  One day we were having a debate about education in my class.  One girl made some comment about how the Lakers are the best team in the NBA because they have the most money.  Somehow she connected this to education.  So bizarre.  Now I do agree that the Lakers are the best team in the NBA.  However, this has absolutely zero correlation to education.  P.S.  Kobe's three that tied the game with 4.8 seconds last night was beautiful.  You should watch it.  And we're going to the playoffs!  :)

2.  I saw/read/heard this quote somewhere.  I like it.  "Make no excuses, make good."

So BYU beat Gonzaga to make it to the Sweet Sixteen.  Here are my favorite parts of that game:

3.  John Stockton's son was on Gonzaga's team.  Thus, he was in attendance at the game.  Someone made a sign that read, "John Stockton's really here for Jimmer."  Priceless.

4.  At the end of the game when BYU's bench got to play, Nick Martineau was taking the ball down the court.  Yet, the broadcasters said something to the effect of, "and Stephen Rodgers is taking it down."  This is especially funny because Martineau is super short and Rodgers is super tall.  Poor Martineau finally gets to play and they don't even get his name right.

5.  At the end of the game, the fans started chanting "You got Jimmer'd".  Yet the broadcasters said, "The chant you hear is 'We love Jimmer.'"  Hahaha.  Nope.

6.  My family came up to visit for their spring break.  A favorite quote from their trip comes from six-year-old Leah.  In reference to putting spelling words/vocabulary in alphabetical order, she said, "It gets my nerves out!"  I think she meant to say, "It gets on my nerves."  :)

7.  On Tuesday, my professor used a clip from the Office (the TV show) to supplement his teaching.  BYU professors love the Office.  I have seen more Office in class at BYU than I have seen outside of class.  What is this world coming to?

Guess what.  I have completely caught up on blogging.  I have no more lists of things to blog about.  It's probably because I haven't added to them too much lately.  Well, guess it's time to go back to doing nothing on this wonderful reading day.  :)
  

Out of necessity.

Believe it or not, I do not really feel like blogging right now.  But there is always the need to catch up.  So I will for the next 13 minutes.

1.  Once upon a time my parents went to Mexico on a cruise.  Someday they will invite their children to come with them.  :)  They brought back from this adventure souvenirs for their children.  I received a Dodgers bracelet.  Greatest thing ever.  Unfortunately I was unable to locate it for the better part of this school year.  In fact I hadn't seen it until probably last October.  Needless to say, I thought it was lost forever.  However, while I was cleaning up my room in late February I was refolding a sweatshirt.  I shook it out.  And guess what flew out of the sleeve.  The beloved Dodgers bracelet.  This is what I call the miracle of the bracelet.  Ironically, it is actually lost again right now.  I hope to find it shortly.

2.  On the way home from our February California trip I managed to stay awake for the entire drive home.  For those of you who know me, this is unheard of.  I have never done this every before. 

3.  Anyone who has ever sung a song.  OK, perhaps not everyone, but many people have heard that the suggestion to raise your eyebrows to help you not sing flat.  During a choir rehearsal, my conductor said something to the effect of, "Eyebrows don't help you [sing in tune], use your brain."  She speaks the truth.

4.  I mentioned in a previous post that the Cougarettes are super good and they have won a bunch of national championships.  I now have the number.  The Cougarettes are 8-time national champions.  That's a lot.

5.  Believe it or not, I still have not finished blogging about BYU's basketball season.  A sign that I enjoyed read, "Jimmer's off night = your career high".  How true.  Needless to say, I am extremely happy that Jimmer won Player of the Year awards for this fact alone.  No one else came close to his PPG average.

6.  A kid at BYU recently broke the school mile time record.  How fast did Miles Batty run the mile?  3:55.79.  I repeat, three minutes and fifty-five seconds.  Insanity.  How fast do I run the mile?  Answer: I don't run the mile.  :)

Alright, more to come en el futuro.  See ya.

Life is good.

At least for now.  BYU made it to the Sweet Sixteen.  I have nothing huge due this week.  My choir is performing at devotional tomorrow.  (Come if you are in Provo and if not, watch it on BYUtv at 11 MST tomorrow morning.)  My friend Nicole is coming all the way from California to visit me!  Baseball (BYU) has its first home game this weekend.  And my family is coming to visit next weekend!  Life is simply great right now.  List time.

1.  The second annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend California trip was a success this year.  Fun was had by all.  On the way home, we decided to make stops along the way if we saw something fun to do.  Our first stop was made shortly after leaving San Juan Capistrano.  We saw the Ferris wheel at the Irvine Spectrum off the freeway and decided to go on it.  Quite the experience.  Unlike any other Ferris wheel you have ever been on.  So that was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was still fun.  :)  Tangent: In case you were wondering, Ferris wheels are named after George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. who designed and constructed a wheel for the 1893 World's Columbian Exchange in Chicago.  End of tangent.  We also ended up stopping at the outlets in Barstow.  Now I know why my parents have never let us stop there before.  There are SO many good deals.  It's quite hard not to spend money.  Let's just say it's a good thing I have a job.

2.  Banana Republic Factory Store.  Best store ever.

3.  Having a job is great except for I often use it to justify my shopping, which is not good.

4.  Upon my arrival back in Provo, I ended up staying up until about 3 a.m. waiting for my stuff which was in another car.  Long story.  Anyway, because I had work at 7 a.m. the next morning, I was quite tired the next night.  In fact I was so delirious, I didn't even recognize James Anderson's name.  Let me explain.  If you can't tell, I love BYU basketball.  A lot.  I have their team poster on my wall.  That night of delirium, my roommate was looking at the poster and commenting on James Anderson, a bench player on BYU's team.  Now of course he doesn't get a lot of playing time, but I am still quite familiar with him and his name.  However, because of my delirium, the name James Anderson sounded so unfamiliar to me.  I couldn't believe there was a player on the team with that name.  And this is how you know when Bridget is tired.

5.  Singing spirituals is close to the best thing ever.  We are singing three of them at our concert in a little less than two weeks.  They make me SO happy.  Just ask my folder partner.  :)  Thus, you should come to my concert on April 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the DeJong Concert Hall at BYU.  I advise you to get your tickets soon though, because they are almost gone.  It's gonna be good.

Alright, class time.  Note: TGFF.  I mentioned this in a previous post.  Yes, I know that it is normally TGIF.  I failed to explain that TGFF was a new phrase we coined probably at a basketball game.  Sorry for the confusion.  Have the best day ever.  :)

Happiness in a picture.

When Jimmer's happy, everyone's happy.  Happy Sweet Sixteen!  :)