I'm back.

I haven't read my last post...but I feel like I very well could have used the same title considering I don't seem to write very often.  My original plan for this blog way back when I started it was to use it as a journal.  But then I actually got in the habit of writing in my journal...which meant there was less need for the blog.  But, then I realized that it's rather difficult to put pictures in your journal.  So I could at least post some to the blog.

At the end of last year, it became quite the trend to post a grid of nine pictures from 2015.  But I decided that I was too lazy to search through them all and narrow them down to nine.  One reason for that being 2015 was a pretty darn great year (for one, I have a husband now) and I assure you I would have spent WAY too long trying to find my favorites.  So instead I've come up with the tentative plan to post my favorites from each month of last year on this here blog.  Key word: tentative.  This plan would entail 12 posts...preferably before 2017.  And seeing as I posted a total of one (scratch that...I just checked...I wrote two) last year...that might be a struggle.  But I'm going to try hard.  And I'll try to also add pictures from this year too.

All this talk of pictures and there are zero in this post.  Instead...enjoy the new layout.  Brad is a genius.  Blogspot makes it hard to customize things...but Brad figured out how to do it on his own.  Love him.

Another thing...I got to produce the 4:30AM show for KSL for a little over a month at the end of last year.  And the majority of that show is trending/viral videos and stories.  So, I might post a few of my favorites as well.

Anyway, wish me luck.  :)

You got lucky.

Why are you so lucky? Because I have something to blog about and that doesn't happen very often (as evidenced by my lack of blog posts for the last year). What am I about to blog about? I'll give you a clue.

Can you guess yet? If not, I shall explain my thought process. This is Gretl. The youngest Von Trapp child in the Sound of Music. The following is a quote from that blessed movie:

Max: Friedrich, Gretl, why don't you sing?

Gretl: I can't, I've got a sore finger.

I likewise have a sore finger. See the following picture.

That is 5 stitches in one finger.  It has served me well.  How did I motivate the kids in the 3rd grade class I subbed for yesterday to behave?  I told them I'd tell them what happened to my finger if they were good.  I will now tell you the story that really isn't all that interesting at all.

I was cooking dinner on Sunday night.  I opened a can of cream of mushroom soup.  Then my finger was cut by the lid.  Not really sure how.  All of the sudden it was in pain with blood spurting in all directions.  Just kidding.  But it was in pain and bleeding.  So I wrapped it in a paper towel and kept cooking.  Dang it cream of mushroom soup.  I don't even like that stuff.  Anyway, after about 2 hours, it was still bleeding so I went to the urgent care 15 minutes before it closed and they stitched me up.  Note of warning: numbing shots in your finger KILL.  But they are are rather effective in doing their job of numbing your finger.  After the shots I watched them stitch up my finger.  It was pretty cool.  And that is the end of my story.  Don't worry, it is normally covered up.

Being a real adult.

So...I'm a real adult now.  Meaning not really...but I'm at least a college graduate.

Before I continue...shout out to Brigham Young University.  It's been my dream to go to BYU since I can remember.  And it certainly lived up to, if not exceeded, my expectations.  I have met some of my best friends here and was genuinely impressed by the student body as a whole.  I loved my classes and professors.  (I'm sure there were days when I didn't think that, but looking back I feel like I did.)  I loved my major.  I loved my jobs that I had as a student.  I loved walking around campus and looking up at the gorgeous mountains.  I can't imagine a prettier place to go to school...except maybe Pepperdine...but aside from that...it's hard to beat.  BYU just makes me so happy and I will forever be proud to be an alumnus.

But back to being an adult.  I'll admit...job searching is the worst.  I've never liked it and I never will.  But once you get a job, life is swell.  Why?  One reason and one reason alone.  And that is no homework.  Meaning even if you have to work late, you still get to come home and not worry about doing anything else.  It's the greatest.  Nothing better.  I just get so excited every weekend when I realize I can do whatever I want and not even feel guilty for not doing homework.  If that's not motivation to finish your degree, I don't know what is.  :)

Anyway, hope this post is sufficient for those who have been anxiously awaiting one.  :)  Here are some random pictures from the past 3 years to catch you up on my life.  Ha.

One of our first Sundays as roommates. :)

Pictures don't even do it justice.  One of my many attempts to capture the gorgeous mountains.

Fun.  :)

The sacrifices we make to have our games broadcast on ESPN.  Freezing late games.  One time Justin came. :)

Last day of classes...ever.

Roommate Christmas pictures.  Ha.

First Christmas home from the mish.  :)

Being tourists in our own city.

Mis hijas de la misión.

And then Carrie came home!!!!  :)

Jim.

One time we celebrated Presidents Day by hiking to Delicate Arch in the snow.  :)  Promise that's really us.

Arches National Park is GORGEOUS.  You should go.

Jim and me ready for our cruise.

Dallas, TX

So...I meant to post this a long time ago, but better late than never right?

As many of you know, I've been called to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have been assigned to labor in the Texas Dallas Mission speaking Spanish.  Ummmm...I am SO excited.  I leave October 3 which seems forever away, but it's only about 6 weeks down the road which means it will be here before I know it.  Crazy.  Anyway, of course I had to research the city of Dallas as soon as I got my call.  And of course I started at the most reliable source I know of, Wikipedia.  Okay, it may not be the most factual, but it's the most interesting.

It has a nice skyline.  :)

Here are my random thoughts concerning the mish and Dallas.

1.  My favorite Dodgers pitcher, Clayton Kershaw, is from Dallas.  I'll have you know that I well aware of this far before I read it on Wikipedia.

Kersh.  I've interviewed him a few times.  Super nice.

2.  According to Wikipedia, many Disney Channel stars are from Dallas.  Not that cool, but interesting nonetheless.

3.  According to Wikipedia, the Dallas area is home to the largest Jewish population in Texas.

4.  My mission basically basically the northeastern corner of the state of Texas and also includes small parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas which is cool.

5.  The closest baseball team to Dallas would be the Texas Rangers.  Unfortunately, their stadium is located in Arlington which happens to be very close to Dallas, but just barely outside my mission.  It's in the Fort Worth mission.  So this is good and bad.  Bad because I probably won't get to see it.  Good because I'll be less tempted to spend time there when the Dodgers play the Rangers in the World Series.  Hey, it could happen.  And, I'm sure you're dying to know if I'll become a Rangers fan.  Uh, no.  Maybe they can be my second favorite team.  They do play in a different league after all.  But that would mean second by a long shot.  A VERY long shot.

6.  I am SO excited to speak Spanish.  Seven years of Spanish will not go to waste.  Now of course, I may be in areas where I speak English, but the possibility of speaking Spanish is enough for me.  Also, my friend Nico called me from the MTC to test my Spanish proficiency.  After much discussion we decided to put me in the advanced Spanish courses at the MTC meaning I'm only there for 3 weeks.  Crazy.  The MTC will be funny since I know quite a few people who work there.  And most of them are in the Spanish department.

7.  Some may think that it's a disappointment to get called to somewhere in the U.S. of A.  Not me.  I love this country.  A whole lot.  Don't get me wrong, I would gladly serve in the DR or any other foreign country, but serving in the U.S.A has it's perks.  For example, I get to stick around for the election.  What an easy way to start up a conversation with people about the gospel.  Also, I don't have to get a passport or visa.  And last but not least, mail is fast, relatively cheap, and reliable.  There.  You all, or should I say ya'll, have no excuses for not writing me.  :)

8.  Also, Dallas has an NFL team.  Currently, I could care less about the NFL since Los Angeles is team-less for the time being.  So perhaps I'll turn into a Cowboys fan.  Who knows.  I hear they're the team everyone loves to hate.

9.  Will I become a Mavs fan?  Nope.

10.  People tell me the people are great and the food is great.  The weather...not so much.  The summers are hot.  Triple digit hot.  Plus they're humid.  Not as humid as other parts of Texas, but any humidity added to 100+ degree weather is not good.  Luckily I'll only be their for one summer.  The winters don't seem too bad.  Apparently they get large hail sometimes.  Sounds exciting to me.  :)

11.  My mission president happens to be a former BYU basketball player and the son of my mom's favorite BYU professor.  I think we'll get along.  :)

12.  And last but not least, Anna Schiess, my roommate who is a Texas native and was born in Dallas, says Dallas is the classiest city in Texas.  And I like to pretend I'm classy.  Ha.

Anyway, ya'll should come to my farewell on September 30.  It'll be the party of the year.  Meaning probably not, but come anyway.  :)

Rolling the mice.

So it's summertime and that means I get to hang out with my three-year-old brother Grant all day.  At least until I get a job.  Grant's favorite activity is watching PBS shows online.  So I was watching him this morning and when I finally thought his brain might be rotten from so much TV (aka I wanted to get on the computer), I told him we should play a game.  He chose Charades for Kids.  Now normally I dislike Charades, but Grant always makes up his own rules to games so I agreed.  The game has a board that you move your little marker around and a die.  So we basically just rolled the die (or the mice as Grant would say) and moved our markers around the board, no acting involved.  Now that's my kind of Charades.  Grant eventually decided we should draw some of the cards and act things out.  To my delight, the actions included such simple things as "clapping your hands", "being sad", or "scissors".  I could get used to Charades for Kids.  Grant was an excellent guesser (or I guess you could say I was a brilliant actress).  The real problem arose when it was Grant's turn to act something out.  He'd have me read the card to him and then he'd act out whatever I said.  This made the guessing quite easy on my part.  Thus, the moral of the story is playing Charades with illiterate persons is very difficult (meaning quite easy).

Also, my dad informed Grant that he could use Justin's old baseball mitt.  Grant liked this idea.  After my dad wrote Grant's name on the glove he gave it to Grant who wanted to put it on his hand.  He asked my dad, "How do I get this mitten on?"  He's a cute kid.

Happy summer!

Incredible.

So...I'm completely done with finals and school for at least 4 months.  Hallelujah.  The last final I took was for my Music 202 class.  And before that I took the music and art ID exam for the second half of the class.  I love studying for those ID exams.  Does that mean I studied for it in advance?  Heck no.  But for the few hours I spent cramming I loved listening to the classical music and looking at all of the art and architecture.  There are some pretty dang talented people out there.  And yes I'm a nerd.  Anyway, this guy named Franz Liszt wrote some insane piano pieces.  I'm sure they're all great, but the one we had to know was "La Campanella".  This is by far my new favorite piano solo.  I will never be able to play it in a million years and don't know if many people can.  But if you can...you have mastered the piano and then some.  Anyway, the video is well worth your time.  It's crazy.  Enjoy!

Not too shabby...

It's that time of the semester when one realizes they haven't blogged in far too long and they have no idea where to begin.  Thus, you all are in for one very long post.  :)

So...the Dodgers.  Hello.  I am THRILLED to say the least that baseball season has finally arrived.
The fact that the Dodgers are 8-1 is just a nice little bonus.  8-1.  That would be the best record in Major League Baseball right now.  Not just the best in the National League West or the best in the National League...but the BEST in the Majors.  Yeah yeah yeah.  I've heard it time and time again...baseball season is long and it could all change very quickly...in fact I'm sure it will as soon as I post this.  (Knock on some wood please.)  But I will enjoy it while it lasts.  :)  Oh and remember how the Angels (who are currently last in their division with a 3-5 record) got Albert Pujols?  Well...he hasn't hit a single home run yet this season while Matt Kemp on the other hand has hit 5 in 9 games.  He hit 2 tonight in his first 2 at bats making that 3 home runs in 2 games.  Do I hear MVP chants?  He is crazy...or should I say cray.  Can't wait to get back to the City of Angels to see my team in person.

Some how the beginning of baseball always corresponds with the end of the semester.  And since my priorities aren't exactly in the correct order I probably watch more baseball than I should and do less studying than I should.  Oh well.  You only live once...right?  Don't worry...I study a lot.  Kinda.

Taxes also correspond with the end of the semester.  I'll have you know I am a tax pro.  Okay not really.  But I did my taxes all by myself without any help from a live human being.  That is quite a feat.  You would think they would make taxes less confusing if they wanted people to file them.  Guess not.  All I know is I made about the same amount of money as last year, but my federal tax return was about 4 times as much this year.  Thank you Mr. Obama.

Guess what.  I love my major.  I'm sure I probably said this 3 million times previously.  But seriously.  Who wouldn't want to watch sports highlights all day and then talk about them and eventually get paid to do it?  Sick.  You know you picked the right major when you can justify your sports watching addiction by calling it homework.

And now an ode to the Spanish language.  I just finished the last class of my Spanish minor.  I LOVE the Spanish language.  A big thank you to my mother for making me take Spanish in high school instead of French.  Best choice I ever made.  Now to get called to a Spanish speaking mission...that's the goal.  Just kidding.  I decided I really don't care where I get called.  English speaking would just make things easier.  Spanish speaking would make my Spanish a million times better.  And another language speaking would make me trilingual.  Oh did I mention I'm planning on serving a mission?

Also, have I mentioned lately that I have the coolest friends?  It's true.  I love 'em to death.

And my family...they're the greatest.  Also, my siblings are way cuter than your siblings.  Especially this guy.  :)

Oh and remember BYU basketball?  What a great season capped off with the biggest comeback win in NCAA Tournament history.  Down by 25.  No big deal.

Well...I'm currently loving life probably because the fact that I have finals coming up hasn't hit me yet.  But hey...at least I'll be done by Wednesday.  Have a lovely day.  :)