Summer is officially here!

Well, Friday was the first official day of summer! And to make it even better, summer is finally making an appearance here in Rexburg. Yes, after 7 weeks of rain and the temperature never getting out of the low to mid 60s (on a good day), we now have sun and temperatures in the 80s. I starting to think I wasn't going to have to use my fan at all this semester!



To celebrate the warm weather, Holli, Em and I headed up to Yellowstone on Saturday. We had a ton of fun and saw lots of animals! Except we didn't see a moose...bummer. But we did see bears, a fox, a yellow bellied marmot (aka rockchuck), elk, deer, a buffalo.

I am no longer a fan of the buffalo since we, along with a million other people, we stuck behind a huge herd of over 100 for over two hours on the road. We couldn't turn around and the only place for the buffalo to go was straight since there was a mountain on one side and a river on the other. But finally after two and a half hours and only going 3 and a half miles in that time, the buffalo finally came upon a field where they could hang out. Because of this delay we missed two showings of Old Faithful and decided not to wait to see the next one. Maybe next time.

Happy Birthday!

Ok, I know I can be a slacker with birthdays so I though I would say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to a few of my family and friends that were born in June....

Happy 21st Birthday Kelly!!!!!

This is Kelly and her little one Jayden
Over the past 21 years I have watched Kel grow into the wonderful woman that she is today!

Happy 1st Birthday Streett!

Street is my cousin Krissy's little boy...He has grown up so much since I saw him last in December...I wish I was closer to home!

Happy Birthday Erica!

Erica was one of my first roommates here at BYUI. We roomed together for two semesters and last semester she lived in the apartment above me. She is now in Provo with her husband David ... and my life is not as lively since she has graduated and gotten married. I love your guts Erica Meacham Smith....Miss you tons!!!

Praxis

Well, tomorrow I am taking the Praxis II and the Praxis PLT tests. I am a bit nervous about them, because I have to pass in order to receive my teaching certification. So keep me in your prayers, I will be in the testing center from 7:30am until around 5pm...it is going to be a long long day!

Someone Pinch Me!

Can I ask a question? It is June 11th, right? I just want to make sure because when I woke up this morning it was horribly cold and there was this white stuff falling from the sky. So, I just wanted to make sure it is June and not January!



This is a picture of the roads here in Rexburg in January .... the weather forecast said more wonderful white stuff tomorrow but at least it is not sticking. I just think it is funny I have to wear my winter coat in the middle of June ... or I may start calling it Junauary, with the way the weather is going. However there is a silver lining to the great snow filled clouds in the sky...it should be in the 80s by the weekend!!! Woo Hoo!

Congratulations Smage!

I just want to say congratulation to my cousin Adrienne! This is a bit late but she graduated on May 23rd and I just wanted to say how proud I am of her! Way to go!



How exciting that you are on to the next stage of life! I love and miss you tons and wish I could have been there!

I have crossed the half way mark!!!

Well, I took my one and only midterm today and I think I aced it! It really wasn't that hard. It was for my assessment and evaluation class and we (the class) created the questions...to get practice writing test questions that don't have context clues, biased, etc...

So, now with that finished I am on a count down to the end of the semester ... 38 days left (including weekends)... then GRADUATION!!!



I am still not sure what I am going to do during my less than a month break before moving to Las Vegas...I may go home but I am not sure yet...any suggestions???

I just want to know....!!

I am becoming very impatient. I just want to know my student teaching placement! I know I am going to Las Vegas, but I do not know what grade or school yet. Last semester some of the girls didn't receive their placement until they were already in Vegas and were going to start in two days! The people staying local and those going to Salt Lake all know....ugh! Patience is a virtue and I need to work on it.

Ok I am finished gripping.

On the up side I will be moving to Vegas in 71 days!!! For that I am excited! I do know who my 3 roommates will be and we are going out to dinner next week to bond. They are all great girls. Cat is an elementary ed major, like myself. Andrea and Daisy are both early childhood special education majors. I have had several classes with all three and I am so excited to room with them.

Right now we have just hit mid terms (which I have none ... woo hoo!) and I realized today that there are only 6 weeks (as of tomorrow) left of the semester. Wow has the time flown! Well I am heading out to watch the sunset over the mountains!

Give Me New Orleans...this is for Lynley too!

This is a poem about one of my favorite cities in the world...it is one of my favorites because I grew up less than an hour there and have spent a lot of time there and made many memories with family and friends. A friend emailed this to me and it made me smile.

Give Me New Orelans

give me a king cake smear
give me a beignet kiss
give me a french quarter morning that looks like this

give me the endymion krewe
give me the times-picayune
give me a lazy crawfish boil in muggy sticky june

give me a six pack of dixie
give me some abita rootbeers
give me a city where it only snows once every 10 years

give me a green neutral ground
give me a mardi gras ball
give me a medium rare burger at my grand old Port of Call

give me a glittery drag show
give me the streetcar line
give the House of the Rising Sun
give me a Tchoupitoulas sign

give me a shrimp and oyster poboy
give me lovebug season in May
give me New Orleans-
I will definitely stay.

A different kind of survey

Saw this on a friend's blog...
The rules are simple:
1. Go to http://www.flickr.com/
2. Type your answer to each question in the "search" box.
3. Using only the first page, pick an image.
4. Copy and paste the picture into your blog.
Here goes!

1. What is your first name?


2. What is your favorite food? (ok I had to show the place and the great burger there!)


3. Where did you go to school?


4. What is your favorite color? (all three are in this picture)


5. Who is your celebrity crush?


6. What is your favorite drink?


7. What is your favorite vacation spot? (I have a 3 way tie!)

8. What is your dream vacation?


9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
but if I have to...


10. What do you love most in life?


11. What is your favorite singer? (he also doubles as one of my celeb crushes)


12. What is your favorite snack?


13. What is your favorite sport?


14. What is your favorite holiday?


15. What is your favorite city?


16. What is your favorite flower?


17. What is your favorite smell? (here are two of mine...I know I should only post one but I can't help it)


18. What is your favorite movie?


19. What is your favorite view?


20. What is your favorite dessert?

Spirit Week Summer 2008

This past week was BYUI Spirit Week! This is is a tradition that happens every semester. It begins with the torch lighting ceremony

During the week there are many activities that happen ... a 5k run, a service project, a formal dance, a rodeo, the 50 lap relay race and spirit rally, and to wrap it all up a concert and fireworks show!! This year the concert was 1964 - The Tribute "the world's greatest" Beatles tribute band...that is what it said according to their official website. They have been together for 24 years ... and I must say I was not alive during "Beatlemania" but from listening to Beatles CD's and seeing video footage of their shows, I really felt like I was at a real Beatles concert. They had the outfits and the shaggy hair to boost! But one of the grooviest things about this concert is that it was Em's first concert ever!

Here are a few videos from the concert...

BYUI Traditions

At BYUI it is a tradition to dine at Big Judd's ... nothing like greasy burgers, fries, good friends and memories! (Andra outside Big Judd's) The original Big Judd's is located in Archer, Idaho...a VERY small town about 10 miles from Rexburg. There are mainly farms there, a few houses and a General Store that is also the US Post Office...like I said VERY small town.
We arrived there around 6 o'clock and there was actually empty parking spots! That didn't last for long....as soon as we were out of the car, five more cars pulled up packed full of BYUI students! Luckily we were seated and food ordered before the large group that came in after us were seated. I love the buzz at Big Judd's ... friends laughing, talking, couples on dates, families out for dinner....and the cute waiter didn't hurt! Andra and I shared the bacon cheese burger...I know it looks messy...it was and oh so delicious! We went here for dinner before heading to the 1964 ...the Tribute (they are a Beatles tribute band) concert that wrapped up spirit week.

With nothing to do on a Friday night, I was happy to receive a call from KJ to see if I had had dinner yet, which I hadn't. So we headed off to Idaho Falls and with both of us hungry and having no clue what we wanted, we decided to drive around to see if we could find somewhere to stop that sounded good enough to eat at. We were driving down Yellowstone Highway and low and behold we came across this...The North Hiway Cafe...with a lot of cars outside. We figured this was a good sign so we pulled in. Well, walking in we got a good laugh at the decor....all the seats were covered with this horrid fabric with horses and cowboys on it. However, the menu was actually pretty cool...full of delicious sounding burgers and home cooked food. I settled on the chicken fried steak with homemade mashed potatoes and KJ originally went with the beef stroganoff however the cook said it was no longer on the menu...well take it off then! So she went with the North Mile Hi Burger....two beef patties (or substitute one for a sausage patty), ham, swiss and American cheese and a fried egg....not to mention the tomato, lettuce and pickles. It was huge and a heart attack on a bun! KJ almost finished it...here is a picture of her first bite! She could barely fit it in her mouth!

I love a rainbow

So after all the rain we have received in the past few weeks (and with more rain in the forecast), I was so excited to see a rainbow in the dark cloudy sky on Friday. It made me happy :)