Caramelized Bacon

Once upon a time I was really bad at writing in my blog.  I’m not sure what happened to the writing every day thing. I did say that I was going to try. So. Today.

Today was a good day. I woke up. Did homework. Took a nap. Did homework. Made pancakes. Then my sweet FHE brothers made all of us a Valentines dinner that consisted of ravioli and garlic bread and a delicious salad with caramelized bacon. Did you know there was such a thing? I didn’t. But it was good.  Then we went to Comic Frenzy. The talent here at BYU-Idaho never ceases to amaze me. There is no way I could be that witty on the spot. But some people can. Then we went back to their apartment and make oreo balls. Delicious? I think yes. And now we are watching The Princess and the Frog. This movie reminds me of Elder Dowdle. Probably because we would always watch it together.

But now my body is telling me I need to sleep. So now I am going to listen. Because when your body feels like it is over 80 years old, you need to listen to it. Or gets angry.

Goodnight.

Hello? Are you there?

This could perhaps be the first time I have written in this blog since September. September 4^th to be precise. Hmmmmm…. Could this be a problem? No, not really. Probably because there has been nothing very exciting to share about my life. Although I was thinking about blogs the other day and how great they are. And here is why:

When I am an old lady with 44 wrinkles on my face, I am going to be so excited to read about my day-to-day college experiences. AND when I have a daughter who is going through a rough time, I can say “hey, I think I wrote a blog about that” and I will whip it out and read it to her. And I will basically be the coolest mom ever. SO. Here is the decision. I am going to try to write in my blog every day. Every single day. Did you read the part that said try? Good. Because I think that is kind of a key word.

So since last September, here is what has happened in the Fall 2011 Semester:

1.       I moved to Autumn Winds.

2.       I had great roommates named Allysa, Emily and Kendal.

3.       Ashley Middleton got engaged to Matthew Davis.

4.       Ashley and I went on a talent retreat and sang “Good Morning BYU” for the talent show… totally won… just sayin.

5.       Quinci, Stephanie and I all went with Kiah to shop for bridesmaids dresses all day…

6.       I became the coordinator for talent and ran about three shows.

7.       I went on some with nice men.

8.       I played miniature golf in the Snow Building and almost knocked out my date multiple times with the golf ball.

9.       I was going to go whitewater rafting but I didn’t. Probably because I had a meeting.

10.   I met and became good friends with Hillary.

11.   I went wedding dress shopping with Ashley.

12.   I spent a few days with Quinci’s family in American Fork Utah.

13.   I tried Café Rio for the first time.

14.   I went to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights for the first time.

15.   I attended Kiah Griffith’s wedding on December 20^th 2011 to Ramon Tangiora.

Over Christmas Break:

1.       I spent time with my family.

2.       I went down to Eugene for Christmas day to spend time with my extended family.

3.       I read the entire book “The Help.”

4.       I watched “The Help” for the first time.

5.       I got a new Cannon camera for Christmas. And a massage.

And now THIS semester:

1.       I started my new job at the Language and Letters Academic Discovery Center as a secretary.

2.       I decided that I am staying up here for the Spring semester.

3.       I got the calling to be a Relief Society teacher.

4.       That’s it.

Okay. That is my life in about a page for the past five months. Oh! And here is some exciting news: Elder Jonathan Kiser and Elder Kyle Dowdle have both been serving their missions in Brazil for SIX MONTHS now!! This means that they are already ¼ of the way through their missions. Hip hip hooray!!!!!

Now for today:

It was a B-E-A-utiful  day. The it looked like Spring… almost. Well… it was trying. Church was great. Except I kind of have a hunch that a good portion of our ward didn’t come because it is Super Bowl Sunday. Indeed it is. After a church we attended a Break the Fast with my ward and had deli sandwiches, veggie trays, chips and cookies. And water. Delicious. Especially when you have been fasting all day.

After church I called my family and talked to my little brother Jordan who announced that our pinewood derby car didn’t win for the first time in almost ten years. Someone else must have cheated. Obviously. The Dentons are champions when it comes to the pinewood derby. Everyone knows this.

Then our apartment friend came over. We discussed marriage, rings, married housing, rings, his mission, rings, his mission, his mission, his mission. Yes. I think I may have indeed have finally met someone who is just as excited to get married as I was my first semester. I’m not sure how I feel about this. He got home from his mission in Peru last October. He just broke up with his girlfriend on Thursday. And now he is asking my roommate out on a date. He is back in the game ladies and gentleman.

Hey Dude

Today was my last Sunday before I head back to school. Kind of bitter-sweet. But mostly sweet. I really am looking forward to being in a STUDENT ward again. Not a SINGLES ward. Both are very, very different. I don’t feel like I am being hunted in a student ward by all the creepy older men. Which will be a relief.

My room is whirlwind of mess. For some reason I am leaving with so much more than I brought home. Oh yeah. Maybe it was because I went shopping yesterday. Lots of cool new toys? Check.

Today my family wrote to our two missionaries. My youngest brother Jordan wrote a little something that went like this:

Hey dude. I hope you are having a good mission. I hope you are hyper. I wish you were going to serve here in Oregon so I could beat you up. Tell your mission president to switch your mission to Oregon. Okay? Is the food good there? If they serve you cake, soda and ice cream, please bring me back some. I am eating ice cream right now.

                Love, Jordan

Ohhhh… you gotta love eight year old brothers. I sure love mine.

Welcome to BYU-I

I can’t believe it… a week and a half before I start school. 13 days. 432 hours. 25,920 minutes. 1,555,200 seconds. Am I excited? Yes. April to September. Six months is too long to be at home. I don’t care who you are. Going back to Brigham Young University – Idaho will bring many adventures. New roommates, new apartment, new classes, new friends, and… new dating experiences. Yes. It is true. Dating is part of college life. A good/bad part. For example: when you go on a date and he proposes the first date = bad. Do I know from experience? What? As a wise friend recently pointed out, dating is like a game at BYU-I. No wait. It is a game. At first it is incredibly exciting, but as time wears on, you begin to grow tired of the game. The rules are always the same. Ten steps to eternal happiness:

1. You see the guy for the first time. Whether he is in your class, or you seem him across the row at devotional, or maybe you just pass him every day on the way to your religion class. You think he is gorgeous/attractive/good-looking. Well, he is enough to catch your eye.

2. You play the eye tag game. He catches you staring at him and you feel flustered but you want to play it cool. So you smile a little as you look away. He is hooked. This can go on for days/weeks/months depending on where it takes place and the kind of guy he is.

3. He will finally work up the courage to talk to you. Or maybe vice versa. Either way, you will talk about classes, the weather, the devotional that you just had… trivial things.

4. He will ask for your number. You give it to him.

5. He asks you to devotional. You go with him. The devotional is about marriage. You feel kind of awkward.

6. He asks you on a real date. You go to Twizzle Berry. You find that you have a lot of things in common. You go on a walk around campus. He takes you home five minutes before curfew. You tell each other you had a great time. He will hug you. You do not let him kiss you.

7. He asks you to hang out. You oblige. You enjoy yourself. At the end, he asks you if you will go home with him to meet his roommates. You do so. They are nice. You take him to meet your roommates. As soon as he leaves, you all gather around and they tell you how they feel about him. Whether or not they think he is cute, if they think he likes you, if you should date him… etc,etc.

8. He asks you to hang out yet again. This time he suggests that you go home with him to meet his parents and family. You do. You like them. They like you. You invite him to meet your family. He likes them. They like him.

9. He asks you to marry him. You say yes. You get married in the temple for time and all eternity four months later.

10. You have five kids.

The end. The same. Welcome to BYU-I.

Do You Hear the People Sing?

Much has indeed happened since I have last written:

1. It is now August. The summer is almost over. My paper chain that I made back in May is getting very short. I leave in one month to go back to school. September 9^th. The same day Harry Potter left to go to Hogwarts. Just putting it out there.

2. I saw Les Miserables last Saturday night. It is perhaps the greatest musical ever conceived. No. It IS the greatest musical ever conceived. I cried and cried throughout the entire play. At the end I was a wreck. There was not a single dry eye to be seen in the theater. The hero of the story, Jean Valjean, is perhaps the greatest man ever known. No. He IS the greatest man ever known.

                Dear Victor Hugo,

Thanks for writing such a great story. I don’t know if you know this, but it has been turned into a musical. A good play. A little raunchy in some parts (okay… a lot) but a good play nonetheless. You are a wonderful, brilliant man. You should win a prize or something. Maybe a gold star. I just wanted to let you know that I am now reading your book. Yes, the unabridged 1222 page, three inches thick book. I’m not planning on finishing it for a while. Probably a few years.

                Much Love,

                Rachel

3. One of my good friends is getting married. Soon. Before the year is over. Am I in shock? Why yes I am.

4. I have decided that next summer I am taking the Disneyworld internship (if I get it of course…). End of discussion.

5. I have decided that the next summer I am going to do study abroad. I will be going to Europe and traveling all around the different European countries.

Do you know what this all means? That I don’t think that I can get married any time soon.

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission...

Today I had the privilege and honor of saying good-bye to the world’s greatest soon-to-be missionary. Elder Jonathan Kiser will be leaving to report to the Provo MTC on July 26^th 2011. It has been a privilege to be his friend and I know he will be a wonderful missionary serving the good people of Brazil. Good-bye Elder Kiser! You are going to be such a fantastic missionary! You will be missed!

Yesterday, my family went on a wonderful boating trip all day. Can anyone say sunburn? Yes. I have never been more burned in my life. My thighs are so burned that they are swollen twice their size, and are covered in blisters. I have almost used an entire bottle of refrigerated aloe vera but it seems to evaporate right when I put it on. Ouch? You got it. This morning I could hardly get out of bed. It hurt so incredibly bad to stand up, my legs were so stiff and swollen that I couldn’t straighten them. My arms and shoulders look like a lobster. I have a pretty cool swimsuit line though. Luckily my face didn’t get burned at all. But was it all worth it? Oh yeah. I basically had thee best experience. We learned how to water ski, knee board, surf, and then we went tubing. Whoever thought of it deserves a gold star. What a great way to spend a Saturday with my family.

So now, all my good friends from BYU-I are back. Do you know what this means? Yes, it means we get to party, but it also means that there are only seven more weeks until I get to go back to school!!! Yee-haw! I am sooo close now baby! I can see the finish line.

Gavin. Dear Gavin. Gives me a panic attack almost every day. Yes. He has learned it. He has learned how to climb the stairs. This wouldn’t be a problem, except for the fact that there aren’t enough gates to cover all the staircases, and the stairs are all hardwood floor. I just feel like I can never relax unless he is sleeping. But the good news is this: he is at the age where he knows who I am. Whenever I pick him up he just cuddles into my shoulder and gives me snuggles. BEST part of the job. Right there. Makes it totally worth it. No matter how nasty his poopy diaper is. I am trying to teach him how to say my name. Except Rachel is kind of hard to say, so I am trying to just teach him how to say nanna. It is easy to say for a baby, even though it kind of sounds like grandma. Which I’m not… but nanny and nanna sound pretty similar. Don’t worry. He will learn how to soon. I will make sure of it.

Did You Know?

Did you know? In Disneyland while you are waiting in line to ride the thrilling ride Indiana Jones, all the props that you see are authentic antiques or movie props from the Indiana Jones series. Like outside is one of the German Patrol-Trucks used in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark. There are handlebars with golf balls on the top of the front bumper which were put there specifically for a car chase stunt in the film. Yes. I bet you did not know this. Well, now you do. You’re welcome.  Next time you go to Disneyland it will just be that much more magical.

Gavin can crawl forwards now. This is bad. If I don’t keep an eye on him he gets into things he is not supposed to. Like the electrical outlet on the wall. That seems to be his favorite.  Oh and the laundry room. You gotta love that laundry soap. On Thursday he called me momma. It warmed my little heart. Too bad I don’t think he knows what it means…

I am pleased to announce that I will be in Rexburg in four days. Four. It seems like an eternity away. I am so very excited to get out of Oregon and experience the beautiful Idaho weather. My brother is quite excited to go as well. But I think it’s just because of all the cute college girls he will be meeting. 12 hour road trip anyone?

Tyler just got back from EFY on Saturday which caused me to reflect on my own EFY experiences. I went three times… when I was 14, 15 and 16 and I went to BYU all three times. Ohh what a great experience they were.  It is funny how much time has passed. My COW is now on his mission serving the good people of Texas, and is doing very well. My one goal in life is to become an EFY counselor.  The end.

Also. I made a new friend. Her name is Aly Rutter.

Also. My birthday is a week from tomorrow. Woohoo. I will be the big one nine. Woohoo.