so far in D.C...

I have been in Washington, D.C. since Friday evening. Good news and bad news. Bad news: I have allergies and I am not feeling so hot. Good news: My entire family is here! My parents and my two little brothers from Atlanta, me and my older brother from Provo, and my oldest brother, sister-in-law, and nephew from here in D.C.!

Its been a blast so far. My family is awesome.

The reason for us being here: my oldest brother's graduation with a Masters from George Washington University. 

Basically, he is awesome.  

Saturday was ceremony number one, and instead of going, my 15-year-old brother and I babysat our nephew. Right in downtown D.C. Super awesome.

We took him to the American Indian Museum.  I saw a lot of people doing double-takes.

Baby, me, baby, Sam, baby, me, baby, Sam.

It was pretty funny. 

Here are a few pics from our outing:

[Yeah, I know, I have the cutest nephew in the world. What of it?]

Then today I actually went to my brother, Steve's, graduation ceremony. 

It was on the front lawn of our nation's capitol. 

Can't get much better than that. 

We were a little bit worried.

Why you ask?

The forecast for the entire day: Thunder storms.

We lucked out though! 

We ended up having to move our chairs away from the blaring sun!

Congrats, Steve!

I love you big bro!

[Sorry, this was the best one we got. Also, the Washington Monument is behind us. Above my head. Too bad you can't see it better.]

Stay tuned for an adventurous day in D.C., then my trip to Atlanta!

P.S. Before I left I went skating with some friends. Ummm...so much fun!

Anyone else do random things with their friends?

p.p.s Wow this is a really long post!

Graduation, Easter, New Job

HOLY CANOLI! Sorry everyone I've been sort of MIA. I've been really busy and so I have chosen to spend my time with my family and friends instead of blogging. But here is what I've been up to!

Graduation

1. My boys: Logan, C-nug- and T-O-Double-D.   2. My bff and roommate, Jen and me.

3. Momma, little bro Ben, Big Bro Todd, me.    4. Everyone and families for a graduation feast at 5 Guys!

Easter

1. Cousin’s kids Easter Egg hunt.    2. Parker-This is the best picture I could get of this crazy kid.

3. Ryder constructing his masterpiece: Bunny Foo-Foo Cake.    4. The boys and their cakes.

5. Parker was completely obvious that a dollar bill was stuck to his foot.    6. Confetti-filled eggs...all over the place.

New Job

I got a new job! [Hence the title]

I am the newest preschool teacher at Just for Kids.

I will be given free reign to construct my own curriculum.

For those of you Elementary Education majors, you know how scary of a task this is! 

Elementary has a state core curriculum. Preschool does not. 

So this will be a huge learning experience for me.

But I am super excited! Wish me luck!

Graduations!

-I am done. Forever. No more classes. No more tests. No more essays. No more finals. I'M DONE!!

-I'm NOT graduating. Confusing? Welcome to the El Ed Major. I still have a semester of Student Teaching.

-My big brother graduates tomorrow! Hooray! He's awesome! Way to go, Todd! He's off to dental school in the fall. I'm sure going to miss having him live 100 feet away! Here are a few pictures of out BYU shenanigans:

Football games

Hiking Angel's Landing (&almost dying!)

Homeless Coming

DanceSport Competition

Themed Parties

Love you Big Bro! Congrats on Graduating!

-My roommate/BFF graduates tomorrow too! We've been roommates for 3 years, and luckily it's going to continue!! She is getting her Masters in Library Sciences in University of Maryland's online program. Here are a few of our BYU shenanigans:

Celebrating our birthday MONTH

Themed Parties!

BYU TrueBlue!

Hiking Angel's Landing (and other places!)

Football Games

Modeling for photographer roommate

I love you Jen! Congrats! 

p.s. read some of our funny quotes here!

-Life is great! 

Holi Krishna

Yesterday I got the opportunity to be a little bit cultured here in my BYU-Provo bubble.

Down south about 20 minutes is the Krishna Hindu Temple. Every year the Hindu celebrate the coming of spring in a festival called Holi, or, The Festival of Colors. In my research on this I read that it sometimes gets very out of hand, but I guess not here in Utah. 

During the festival music is played, and the tradition Holi Krishna song is sung. Here are the lyrics, its actually quite catchy when you are singing it!

Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna!

Hare! Hare! Krishna! Krishna!

Hare Rama! Hare Rama!

Rama! Rama! Hare! Hare!

So my friends and I joined in the singing and dancing. We then watched the burning of a witch. No, not a real witch, a fake one. It was to symbolize the burning away of evil in our lives. While the message was good, I never in my life thought I would be caught chanting, "Burn the Witch! Burn the Witch!" with a crowd of people. Well...I was caught. 

After they burnt the witch we threw the colors to welcome spring! The "colors" are powdered chalk. Let me just say, it was a mess, and so much fun! 

p.s. sorry if some of the pics aren't the best. my camera was in a plastic bag for protections!

this is before the color went up,

people just threw powder at each other

bennett&tanner!

kathryn, lindsay, jenkerr, macy, and lauren!

here I was trying to get a picture of my hair.

thanks jen and kathryn for making it SO much more entertaining!

ok now here is when we all finally threw a handful of powdered chalk into the air!

you couldn't see anything!

And now for a few after shots!

(all the group ones were taken on lauren's camera)

And to sum up the day...we got kicked out of Legend's Grill.

As we were walking out Bennett said to us,

"How embarrassing! I told you they wouldn't let our kind in!"

Haha. I love my friends.

Have a happy Sunday! 

And if you ever get a chance to throw colored chalk at people, take it!

also..check out my last year's experience here!

Why I Have No Time To Blog

Monday: On campus for 12 hours. More homework at home.

Tuesday: Campus for 4 hours. Homework. Work for 5 hours. Homework.

Wednesday: Campus for 13 hours. Homework. A little break!

Thursday: Campus for 3 hours. Homework. Work for 5 hours. Homework.

Friday: Campus for 3 hours. Homework. Work for 3 hours. A little bit of peace...

Saturday: Professor’s house doing schoolwork for 3 hours [at9am]. Homework the rest of the day.

Average sleep per night: 6 hours.

You know what, though? I am happy! I have so many little things in my life that I choose to let be a bigger determinant in my happiness than my stress and busyness. 

• My little brother bought me Subway for dinner. [Thank you, freshman meal plan!]
• I took a break late on Wednesday night to chat with some wonderful friends. [JenKerr, SM, Bennett, and Tanner]
•  The girls in my major help me to endure the three hour long classes and all the extra work. I love you all! [There are 18 of them so too many to list]
•  I learned more about my internship starting in the fall. Scared out of my mind. But overly excited.
•  My dearest friend Ahlin let me eat some of the wonderful pizza that she made.
•  Early Saturday morning class is not fun, but I got to hold a snake!
•  I take time each day to learn more about and communicate with my Father in Heaven, and He is definitely looking out for me.

Me holding a snake!

 [Ignore how I look. I chose sleep over getting ready]

who wore it best?

Once upon a time SM had a birthday party.

A hipster birthday party.

One man showed up wearing a thrift store coat.

Three people ended up wearing this coat.

Jenkerr, KyeKye, and myself.

thrift store clothes are the best. 

best roommate. best friend.

The other day I was having a not-so-good day. I went to bed not-so-happy. When I woke up, still not-so-happy. I considered skipping class, or at least sleeping a little longer and being late (3 hour class, didn't matter that much, right?). But of course, I couldn't fall back asleep because apparently I drank too much water the night before. I went into the bathroom and this is what I found:

How could I go back to sleep after seeing something like that?? I couldn't. So I got ready for school and had some much needed scripture study time. Turns out my roommates and the Lord know exactly what I needed that morning. 

Thanks so much Jen for being so amazing! Love you!