I'm MYRA!

Beaches and Houseboats

2011-08-22T02:12:00.000-07:00

After we finished at Rising Star Christine and I stopped Kerala before leaving India. It was very green and the beaches were beautiful. We also decided to spend one night on a houseboat in the backwaters. We went looking for a houseboat in the early afternoon and we found one we thought was a decent price and was fairly clean, but we needed to pay in rupees. We didn't have enough Rupees, so the travel agent guy offered to give me a ride on the back of his motorcycle to an ATM. We were on a muddy path, so I thought he was just giving me a ride for the short distance of this path. I got on the back and waved good bye to Christine. After we got off the path and kept going for quite a ways I realized this ATM was far away.

Now I think I have mentioned before that driving in India is CRAZY, but riding on the back of a motorcycle in India is a death wish. We drove on the wrong side of the street and crossed multiple lanes of traffic (which is fairly standard for India). Now scary as this already was, it then started to pour rain, like pouring buckets of rain. I couldn't really see very well and I knew the driver probably couldn't either, so I was praying pretty hard. We thankfully made it back safely to Christine and of course it stopped raining, but I was already soaked. Christine and I laughed about it. It was all part of the adventure.The rest of the day was really peaceful as we just chilled on the boat while we drove around the backwaters for a few hours. There were some gorgeous rice fields along the water.

We docked for a bit to eat some lunch cooked by our wonderful first mate/cook. The fish was actually pretty yummy. We eventually docked for the night and while our cook was cooking dinner we walked along the path to visit a temple and we met a few people along the way. There were these people singing in their doorway as we passed. It was really beautiful. We ate some yummy prawns and even got to watch some TV. As we watched a movie I did some henna on Christine. It was a very relaxing and peaceful day. It was the perfect way for us to finish our adventure in India.

Sponsorship

2011-08-22T01:19:00.000-07:00

So this post is long overdo. I want to mention sponsorship on here for anyone who may be interested in an opportunity to serve. The children at Rising Star have the opportunity to gain an Education because of their sponsors. At the school they are taught math, history, physical education, English, and Computer Literacy –in India if you speak English and are computer literate your chance of success increases by 500%. Each child needs a few sponsors to help cover the cost of their food, school supplies books etc. It only costs $30 a month to sponsor a child.

These kids LOVE their sponsors! One little girl named Amsavilla treasured her cards and letters from her sponsors. She showed me the card and a photo of her sponsor whom she had never met. These children don't have lots of their own space to keep things in their rooms, so the fact that they save a letter from a sponsor shows how much they love them.When I told a girl I wanted to be her sponsor her whole face lit up and she hugged me. She said "Thank you Myra!" And kept repeatedly hugging me and saying "I love you." If you are interested in becoming a sponsor you can sign up here: http://www.risingstaroutreach.org/sac

Thank You India

2011-07-30T18:40:00.001-07:00

My last day at Rising Star was last Saturday and my last day in India was Tuesday.I have had so many thoughts and feelings since leaving. It is hard to put all these thoughts and feelings into words, but I am going to attempt it here.

India and Rising Star in particular has changed my perspective on life. One of our coordinators at Rising Star shared this quote and I feel like it sums up my change of perspective perfectly:

“There are some parts of the world that, once visited, get into your heart and won’t go. For me, India is such a place. When I first visited, I was stunned by the richness of the land, by its lush beauty and exotic architecture, by its ability to overload the senses with the pure, concentrated intensity of its colors, smells, tastes, and sounds. It was as if all my life I had been seeing the world in black and white and, when brought face-to-face with India, experienced everything re-rendered in brilliant technicolor.”
- Keith Bellows

Before this trip I had let my perspective get a little skewed. India has woke me up to the beauty in my life. There is beauty and joy all around in life, and it is just a matter of looking for it. India is dirty, hectic and pungent with smells, horns honking, chaotic driving, spicy food, and lots of poverty. But in the midst of this chaos there is vibrant colorful buildings, green trees, unbelievably green rice paddies, rainbow-colored clothing, and beautiful, kind, loving people.

The people will be what forever stand out to me from this experience. The way they love so quickly and freely amazes me. The past few years I have had some losses that may have led me to become more protective of my heart. I can see now that I have let myself become more guarded.The people I met at Rising Star and in India were the complete opposite of guarded. They have suffered so much more, and have so much less then me and yet they are not afraid to love completely with out hesitation.

The beautiful people that stand out to me are:

The children of Rising Star.The moment they met me(or any volunteer for that matter) they loved me. They asked my name and almost in the same breath said "I love you." They are so affectionate and greeted me with excited cheers every time I would see them.They come from poverty that I can't comprehend. They live in leprosy colonies( in India they are treated as the lowest of the low), and they usually only see their families for one month of the year, when school is out. Often they come from situations where they were taught to beg for money on the streets. Their lives are so much harder than mine and yet they love so quickly, without reservation.I love these children. I want to love people instantly like they do.

The people in the colonies.They are so full of gratitude and love. We could barely communicate with "Hello" and "thank you", but their eyes said so much more. Their eyes said "I love you." They would grab our faces affectionately and kiss their hands and put their hands on our faces and hands. There was a few people that stand out in particular.

I have already wrote about the man who shouted "Hallelujah" and is so full of joy. He is one that forever touched me. But there were several others. One women would just smile and laugh whenever we came to visit her in the old folks home in the colony. She was just so happy that it was contagious. They have a ulcers, and are missing hands, feet, fingers and toes, but they are so much more happy, grateful and loving then me!

The strangers we met on trains or other places in India. One family in particular helped us so much the other day. We were getting into a train station in India pretty late at night and we had no idea how we were getting to our hotel. This cute eleven year old girl with amazing English was so friendly and kind to us. She got her father to help us. He made sure we got a driver for a good price. And the girl told us if we weren't busy the next day we could come visit. They instantly loved us and welcomed us as if we were family, even though we were complete strangers! I want to be more willing to help people like these people.

I am so grateful for this experience. When I said good bye to my girls in my house it was sad. They asked me when I am coming back and it was hard to tell them "I don't know. I hope soon." I would love to go back and spend more time there. I hope to. But if not I will forever hold India in my heart.

True Love

2011-07-21T10:18:00.001-07:00

Today I met Theerthee's mom in the colony Barathala Purim.I actually put oil on her legs and feet. I showed her a photo of her daughter and she got this huge smile and her whole face lit up. Then she took her hands and kissed them and then put her hands on the photo. It was so sweet to see how much she loves her daughter. She doesn't see her daughter very much, because she stays at the school all year besides one month of their break.

Theerthe is the one in blue next to me below. When I told her about seeing her mom and what her mom did, she also seemed so happy. She then wanted to see a photo of her mom. I showed her and she did the same thing where she kissed her hand and then put it on the photo. This is true love.

*Warning: There is a gruesome image below.

Today at the colony we actually washed the leprosy patients feet and I put oil on them. The oil is supposed to help soften their skin and to help keep the bugs away. The flies love to land on their wounds and the oil tastes bitter, so they won't land their anymore.

This couple was just so amazing to watch. The husband was so kind and loving to his wife. He held her hand and made sure her sores were taken care of and her nails cut right. It was so sweet to watch. This is true love.

It broke my heart though, because she had a huge ulcer on her foot and it was painful to remove part of it today. She was crying as her husband comforted her. It broke my heart.

Today was eye-opening for me. The ulcers they have on their feet and the pain they have made me really sad for them. It has to be so hard to deal with this daily. I am grateful that we have a chance to meet them and see how loving and warm they are in spite of all their trials. I feel such love for them.

Grateful

2011-07-20T04:23:00.001-07:00

I have mentioned already several times how much I have realized that I take for granted. Even here in India I have so much! I was talking to another volunteer who came to Rising Star a couple years ago and at the time they didn't have the nice hostel we have to stay in now. They had air conditioning but the power would often go out all night long. The power goes out often here, but it doesn't last very long. I'm grateful that we have AC in our rooms and usually in the vans we take.

I love water, but I have always struggled to drink warm water. The filtered water we get at the hostel comes out warm or hot, so this was a struggle for me. But I am grateful for clean drinking water. And a few days after being here we found a source of cold drinking water at the children's dining hall. It makes me happy every time!

We have beds to sleep on and there aren't bugs all over our rooms. The little kids sleep on little straw mats on the floor and there is always tons of bugs in their rooms. I'm grateful for a comfy, clean bed!

We eat some form of vegetarian curry and red rice every night for dinner here. But lately we've had cut up fresh fruits and veggies. I'm so grateful to have food to eat and especially fruits and veggies!

I'm grateful to be able to shower everyday, even in bucket showers. And use the bathroom in doors, even the squatters!

I am grateful for a church to go to! It took about two hours of a bumpy ride to get there on Sunday, but so many do this or go further every week. I admire their dedication and sacrifice. It takes me ten minutes to drive to church when I am home!

I am grateful for my hands, feet, toes and fingers. This is something I don't usually think about, but here I do all of the time. Most of the people with leprosy that I have met are missing parts of hands, feet or sometimes their legs and arms. And yet they are still smiling. They still do beautiful artwork and can get around just fine most of the time. They've adjusted and it may take longer to do certain things, but they still do them. It amazes me.

I am so grateful for what I have. I'm abundantly blessed and I feel like because of this I should be doing more to help those who are lacking. I also feel like I should never complain about my easy life.

Oh and I am grateful for these beautiful little girls that I have been spending my time with the past few weeks. They light up my life!

Location:India

Shoes

2011-07-19T08:55:00.001-07:00

Today we got to go to three colonies to help measure the people for special shoes. These shoes should help prevent the patients from developing more ulcers and they should be more comfortable for them.

I loved spending so much time with the people in these colonies. In the first colony, Bethel Nagar, I helped the people put on their shoes after they were measured for shoes. I felt so much love for them. It is so hard for them to just get around, so I helped a few walk down the steps.

One of my favorite people from the colonies is the guy I called Nabu (that's not his name) that says "hallelujah" a lot. He was there today and he asked for my help to put in his eye drops because he has no fingers.

This is such an easy task for most people and for him it was such a challenge. But still he was so happy and he danced and sang for us again.

I love just talking to all the people in the colonies. They are so loving and kind to us. They always grab our hands and seem so grateful.

Christine and I danced and sang with this man. He kept talking to Christine in Tamil and he sang to her. I loved this experience today. I just feel so grateful for this opportunity!

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Septic Tanks and Parotha!

2011-07-18T03:32:00.001-07:00

We did some construction today at Bartala Purim,which is one of the most thriving of the colonies we go to. They fund there own community projects using money from the art school's paintings and other businesses in the colony. We just help with the labor. So today we helped build three septic tanks for some community bathrooms. We filled these holes with the cement cylinders and then filled the space around it with dirt. The filling it with dirt was the hardest part.

But we kept motivated by thinking of the parotha we would be eating afterwards. Parotha is my new favorite Indian food. Its a tortilla like bread that's layered. You dip it in some yummy curry and eat it with a little omelet. Its yummy! It felt really good to work hard today although I was pretty exhausted and dirty after.

This is my new friend Daviraj! He sat and watched us a bit while we worked. He, like all of the people in the colony, is very warm and loving.

We met a snake charmer in the colony. And I held this snake for about a minute and that was enough for me. Everyone else was much more brave and held two at once. I love the new experiences I have each day here!

Tonight during family time I was trying to help the little girls go to sleep. I told the little girls that my mom used to rub my eyebrows to help me go to sleep. Amsa and her sister Ravanthe loved this and kept wanting me to do this again and again.

Then they both wanted to rub my eyebrows. It was so sweet.

They both fell asleep holding my hands. It was the cutest thing ever! I love these kids. It is going to be hard to leave them in a few days.

Location:India

Hallelujah

2011-07-16T02:03:00.001-07:00

This man shouted "Hallelujah" when we came up to him. He told us his name is Nabu (in English). He then kept raising his hands with no fingers and crying Hallelujah! He proceeded to start dancing and singing with a little beat-boxing. It was amazing to see how joyful he was. He grabbed each of our faces to tell us good bye.

After we left our coordinator told us his story. Nabu was blind for twenty years. He couldn't see his children and had never seen his grandchildren. The doctors wouldn't operate out of fear that he might die in surgery. He tried committing suicide a few times and finally a doctor from Rising Star told the doctors Nabu would be happy even if he died in surgery,so they finally gave in. When he woke up from surgery and could see his children and grandchildren he just kept saying "hallelujah"! This man touched my heart. He was full of love and gratitude. Tonight I was showing one girl named Angel some photos and she said this was her grandfather. What a great connection.

I got to meet my girl Thrisha's mom today. She paints at the Bindu Art School and we got to see her paint.

I showed her a photo of Trisha with her chalk drawings from the other day. And when I came back this afternoon I showed Thrisha a photo of her mom. It seemed to make them happy.

You can see the resemblance between the mom and daughter.

Tonight it was movie night and we watched a Tamil movie with the kids. It was also pouring rain and both these things made for a fantastic night! I didn't understand a word of the movie, but it was fun to cuddle with the kids and hear them laughing at the funny parts. A little girl named Abi sat with me and she was a little bored, so we started playing a clapping game where you can't show your teeth.

I tried to make her laugh by making funny faces and she was cracking up. It was sooo cute. And even when we started the game again she couldn't clap because she would start giggling. It made me laugh also.It was so fun to be silly with her!

I also played this game with Pria yesterday. It is my new favorite game. Here is a photo of her.These kids bring me so much happiness!

Hospitals and kids

2011-07-14T03:04:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a long day. We took a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to the hospital in Chennai to take some of the leprosy patients to the hospital. If volunteers from Rising Star don't go with them, sometimes no one will help them. Christine and I were assigned to this fellow named Pachai (?). We couldn't talk to him much because of the language barrier, but we followed him around the hospital making sure he got help. I felt an instant love for him. I just wanted to help him as much as I could. At one point he was having a hard time putting his shoe back on, because he has stubs for fingers. I helped him put his shoe on and his glasses. He seemed so appreciative. He said: " Thank you Madam."

Let me just say, once again, I take so much for granted in America. First off we had to drive two+ hours both ways to the hospital and the time spent at the hospital was about three hours. The hospital was dirty, old, and very crowded with people. Its set up very differently. We did a lot of moving from room to room and waited in several waiting rooms. Our poor patient just had an eye appointment and because of our lack of understanding the language we went back and forth between rooms a lot. I just realized once again how fortunate I am to have a clean, less crowded hospital to go to. We have so much.

Today we got to do some tutoring at the school. It was a lot like tutoring in America. Some of the kids had a hard time focusing. But it was fun working with them one-on-one.We got to go to lunch with the kids at the school. They eat Indian style with their hands and so I tried it out.

I love my little family I am assigned to. The girls Nitya, Amsa, Mymonisha and Theetri were excited to see me and wanted me to sit with them at lunch. It is fun now that they know me and I know them. I am starting to get more of their names.

I got to teach an art class to the girls in my house this evening. It was fun and they are some talented artists.

Tonight during family time tonight I played cards with my girls. I just love them so much! They give me hugs and kisses good night and say " I love you." I hopefully will get to meet Trisha's mom tomorrow when we go to the colony. I am going to bring her artwork to show her. I had a fantastic day today with the kids!

Joy!

2011-07-12T10:45:00.001-07:00

It's day two and I already feel like I have learned so much! I look at this photo and see joy. We got to go into one of the leprosy colonies today to do some construction. We had a little break when we got to walk around and visit some people. They were all so happy and welcoming. They smiled and laughed a lot. The thought today in the morning was: joy is not determined by circumstance. And these wonderful people from the colony are living examples of this.

We got to visit the Bindu Art School where people afflicted with leprosy paint these beautiful paintings. This man painted this although he is missing a few fingers. And some of them paint even though they have no hands. It is amazing what they do without fingers and hands! I take so much for granted.

This beautiful woman grabbed my hand during the photo. They have so much love to give.

I played some london bridges with the kiddos today.

She wanted to braid my hair, so I pulled a piece out for her to braid.
I love it here! I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Location:Rising Star

Instant Love

2011-07-11T10:38:00.001-07:00

I am here! After a two hour jeep ride with out A/C we made it to Rising Star! We met the kids this afternoon during play time. They instantly attached themselves to the volunteers. I played some games with a couple little kids. One named Abi and another little boy( I forgot his name) kept jumping up on me and wanted me to hold them. I instantly felt love for them. They are so easy to love because they give love so freely. We should all be a little more like these kids.

After this we ate dinner and then went to the children's dorms for family time. We are assigned a house with about twenty girls in it. I sat down when I got their and started to draw with a couple little girls: Amsavila and Remsha. They climbed on my lap and cuddled up close as I was drawing. They won my heart instantly.

The girls like to play a game called "Sally Walker" it has a little song, clapping and dancing with it. It was fun to play with them for a bit.

After family time it was time for them to go to sleep, so we sang to them. Little Amsa grabbed me and pulled me down on the floor (her bed) with her. I sang some twinkle twinkle little star with her. As I was leaving I gave her a hug and she said to me "Myra, you are my friend." Of course this melted my heart. What a great first day.

I already feel so much love. I already feel like I take so much for granted. These little ones sleep on the floor and this is good for them because they used to be in worse conditions. I have so much.

Green Jaipur

2011-07-11T09:54:00.001-07:00

Jaipur was very beautiful and rich with history. We saw a few palaces and temples.

Amber palace and fort.

The first snake charmer I've seen.

People ride elephants up to the palace

Beautiful Indian women and don't worry they charged me money for this photo.

Palace facade. Jaipur is known as the pink city because a lot of the buildings in the old part of the city are pink.

This is the largest sun dial in the world.

The city palace had some beautiful doorways.

City palace

This is a hindu temple we went to. I'm learning bits and pieces about their faith.

There were lots of elephants and camels on the streets in Jaipur.

I loved going to church in New Delhi, India. The people were so kind. Everyone came up to us to shake our hands and to introduce themselves.

Our next stop is Rising Star Outreach! The real reason I came to India!

Location:India

The Many Faces of India

2011-07-09T12:15:00.001-07:00

India is very raw and beautiful in it's own way. I feel like a spoiled American here. We have so much we take for granted.This is just their way of life. When I was talking to the guide about what it will be like at Rising Star I said they have bucket showers there. He and his friend started to laugh, and I asked "why?" They said those are normal showers for them. I have been snapping photos of the people. I love catching a glimpse into their lives. I am excited to go to Rising Star in a few days and actually get to know more personally some of the Indian people. Now that I have seen so many beggars and people struggling to make a living here I am ready to serve (in any small way that I can).Here are a few of my favorite photos of the beautiful Indian people:

Namaste

Crazy, Sticky,Busy, Holy Varanasi

2011-07-09T12:09:00.001-07:00

Day three of India we went to Varanasi. We actually walked around some of the streets in the heart of Varanasi and it was intense.

We then went to a prayer ceremony along the ganges river. Sadly the river was too high to ride a boat, but it was still a fascinating experience to see all of these people gathered together for the ceremony.

There were several kids trying to sell us stuff at the Ganges. It was hard to repeatedly say "no".

This girl was quite persistent and funny. I finally gave in and bought something from her.

A priest put a red dot on our foreheads and blessed us. If you can't tell it was very hot and sweaty standing along the ganges with all of those people!

"Welcome to India!"

2011-07-09T12:05:00.001-07:00

The only word to describe how I felt our first day in India is: overwhelmed. We flew into New Delhi and our very kind tour guide Praveen picked us up and took us around for a bit and then dropped us at the train station for our train to Agra. As we drove around the streets were filled with cars,bikes, motorbikes, people, goats, water buffalo etc all swerving in and out of lanes...well there aren't really any lanes here. Like our guide said "It's like everyone is trying to win a race here!" Everyone uses their horn here like an extension of their arm. Then after the drive through organized chaos we got to the train station and went to the platform our guide told us to go to. There were people lying on the ground all over at the station. Garbage lined the tracks, and sweat was dripping down my back. As I was taking a photo of Christine a man walked by and pushed me out of the way, and another man said "Welcome to India!" And we both laughed.

Day two in India was so much better! We had a fantastic day actually.We got up early to see the Taj Mahal and it was quite beautiful.

While we were there people kept staring at us and taking photos. A couple people were daring enough to ask to take photos of us. Here is one family that did. It was so funny. I felt like we were celebrities for a bit.

We then went to Agra fort, which is very beautiful with intricate designs and architecture. We could also feel a nice breeze in this spot, which made it even nicer.

We then went to a rug weaving factory and the man their had us try on some saris.

At the end of the day we had some time before our train, so our guide took us to a coffee shop where we ate a brownie and hung out. This was one of my favorite parts of the day. It was really fun talking to our guide Nitin and his friends. As we were sitting their two wedding parties passed by in the street. The second one had dancing. So as we were taking photos of them they pulled us in to join them. Christine and I danced and they were so excited about it. The girl below was trying to teach me some dance moves. It was sooo fun! They kept grabbing me to dance with them. One person would pull me one way and I would dance and then another would pull me another direction and I would dance, while they were taking photos. Again we were treated like celebrities. They thanked us profusely for dancing with them. This experience is in my top three favorite moments of this trip.

I love these people they are so kind and loving!

This is the groom on a horse.

Some of the women we danced with.

This is are amazing guide Nitin. He took such good care of us in Agra. He bought us water when we needed it, took us to the train station and waited for our train to come, and he even bought me a muffin, so I could eat it for breakfast the next morning after our night train. We have met such great people on our trip so far!

Chiang Mai=Love part 2

2011-07-07T09:28:00.001-07:00

Now I didn't think I could top our first day in Chiang Mai, but the second one was even more amazing than the first.

Chiang Mai= Orchids

There was a beautiful orchid farm that our tour guide took us to on the way to the elephant tour.

Chiang Mai= Crazy Food Markets

Our tour guide also stopped at a large food market so we could buy some coconuts to feed to our elephants. This market had some yummy fruit, but also some crazy stuff.

Would anyone like a cockroach? Or maybe a water grasshopper?

No? Then maybe you would like some bee larva instead?

Yikes! There was also some lizard, chicken feet and pig ears. Mmm my mouth is just watering thinking about it. This is our cute tour guide that took us around. He kept buying us food to try. He was so sweet.

Chiang Mai= Elephant Riding!!!

This elephant was my favorite one. She was a little smaller and not as aggressive when I was feeding her bananas.

Riding an elephant bare back was one of the most amazing experiences of my life! I loved feeling the rough skin and her flapping ears on my feet.

We rode though the jungle for a bit. We passed by fields of corn, banana trees, and lush green hills. It was beautiful. The elephant kept trying to eat and at one point she was trying to break off an entire tree and she started to raise up a bit. I thought for a few minutes that I might die, but it ended up fine. She got the tree and carried it around in her mouth eating it for a bit. Kind of like a dog with a stick, instead it was an elephant with a tree trunk.

Our tour guide took tons of photos of us riding the elephant, but he accidentally left his camera at the elephant farm, so hopefully with lots of prayers he will email us those photos. We also got to bathe the elephant in a pond and we stood up on top her when she was in the water. The whole experience was unforgettable!

This was some of the beautiful green rice fields surrounding the camp.

This is my new Thai boyfriend. He gave me some fried rice in a banana leaf and he said if I would stay there and he would cook for me!

Chiang Mai= Love! Chiang Mai was amazing! Next stop India! We have already had some crazy adventures in India, but you'll have to wait till my next post.

Chiang Mai = Love part 1

2011-07-07T09:18:00.001-07:00

After flights and layovers for over 30 hours when we arrived in Chiang Mai we were exhausted! But we hurried over to church first thing.We had about 20 minutes to get there after we were dropped off at our hotel. Miraculously we found it just in the nick of time and we knew we were in the right place when we saw a Thai sister with an Ensign in her hand. The LDS church always feels like home to me no matter what part of the world or what language it is in.

Chiang Mai= Scooters

Everyone and their dog rides a scooter in Chiang Mai. We were told that the best way to get up the mountain to the Doi Suthep temple was to take a scooter or a motorbike, but we were a bit nervous about driving one. We just randomly bumped into a couple guys (hot guys) who offered to let us ride on the back of their motorbikes with them up the mountain. I was a bit nervous, but I couldn't pass up such a unique opportunity (and I mentioned these guys were hot right?). The scooter ride was thrilling! We rode up some winding mountain roads covered with green trees. It was breathtaking! The guy next to Christine in this photo is the one she rode with, sadly my guy is not pictured, but trust me he was hot.

Chiang Mai= Monks

There are lots of monks in Chiang Mai. This is my favorite photo with one.

Chiang Mai= Temples

There were temples almost on every corner in Chiang Mai (It's kind of like Starbucks in America). This one is the Doi Suthep. Side note: there are also lots of stray dogs in Chiang Mai, which you can also see in this photo.

Chiang Mai= Green

When we first got to the top of the mountain the view was obstructed by clouds, but after being there for awhile(because Christine and I are obsessed with getting the perfect photo) the clouds parted and we got to see an amazing view of the city. It was a Christmas Miracle!

Chiang Mai= Generous People

We sat in the back of a taxi with this little family. They were so sweet. They gave us some of their baby corn and handfuls of boiled peanuts. Whenever we would run out of food they would just hand us more. It was so kind of them. The man could speak a little english, so we communicated the best we could. I was amazed with how kind they were to pretty much give away all of their food to us, who were complete strangers! And their little boy was adorable!

Chiang Mai= Huge street market

By the end of this first day in Chiang Mai we were exhausted, but we had to see the night market. At first we thought it was just this block or two of tents, but then when we were trying to leave the market we went down a side street and realized the market filled all the streets around this block. It was huge!

Chiang Mai= Yummy Fruit Drinks

Last but not least, we drank several fresh fruit drinks in Chiang Mai. They are so delicious. I couldn't get enough of them.

On our way!

2011-07-02T00:02:00.001-07:00

We are on our way to Bangkok and then Chiangmai, Thailand. I can't wait to ride an elephant! I'll be posting pics soon.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Half Marathon

2011-06-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

I remember when my friend Amy did a half marathon 5 years ago I thought she was insane...impressive, but insane. I never thought I would do a half marathon! NEVER! I started running again in January 2010. I was running 4 to 5 times a week and loving it. It became very therapeutic for me. This past year there has been some ups and downs. And in the down times running has helped me to sort things out.

So going into training for this half marathon was more than just a physical challenge for me, it became a symbol for me conquering some of my other challenges of the past few years. It was a symbol of not giving up when things get hard. When I crossed the finish line all those emotions came flooding through me and I started to cry. Recommendation: Don't cry when you are out of breath. As I was crying I couldn't breath, so I sounded like I was gasping for air as I crossed the finish line.

I had to play my theme song at the end of the race. It says:

Happiness, hit her like a train on a track

Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back

The dog days are over

The dog days are done

The horses are coming so you better run

Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father

Run for your children for your sisters and brothers

Leave all your love and your longing behind you

Can't carry it with you if you want to survive

("Dog Days are Over", Florence and the Machine)

P.S. I loved running with Amy. She helped me to keep running the whole time.And these people are our cheerleaders that kept me going at the end! Thanks gals!

Generosity and Gratitude

2011-05-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

When I first heard about Rising Star Outreach my heart longed to go. Then when Becky Douglas(the founder) came to Las Vegas and spoke at a fireside, I knew I had to go. But I wasn't sure how on earth I could afford it. With the cost of flights alone being so expensive, on top of the amount volunteers needed to raise, and on top of that all my other traveling expenses around India it seemed out of my price range. And yet I felt like I should go, and so I took a leap of faith and signed up.
I've been praying for people to donate. And people have donated. People that I didn't expect donated. I am so amazed by people's generosity. I feel very blessed. This morning as I opened emails of people letting me know that they had donated I couldn't hold back the tears. I didn't expect so many donations and the outpouring of love I have received. I don't really have rich friends and family, and yet people donated. In this struggling economy, people donated. And for this all of you generous people will be blessed! Thank you! I know your contributions will make a difference in the lives of the people of India. Your generosity has touched my heart.

I am going to India!

2011-05-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

I’m going to India as a volunteer for Rising Star Outreach (www.risingstaroutreach.org). I heard about this organization a few months ago from a friend of a friend and it sounded amazing. It sounds a bit crazy that I will going to a leprosy colony, but here is why:

Leprosy in India is considered a curse. Those who contract the disease are outcast from society and are often consigned to remote leprosy colonies where they have no choice but to beg for their survival. Rising Star Outreach helps these families by educating their children, offering medical treatment, and, using micro-credit, giving parents a way to go from begging on the streets to becoming self-sufficient. I am thrilled about this opportunity to serve these people. Here is a video you can watch about it: http://youtu.be/V1OJ7qPHlG4

I will be leaving for India the beginning of July. I have been asked to raise money for the organization and have my money in to Rising Star by May 29, 2011. If you would like to contribute to this amazing organization you can go to this link www.risingstaroutreach.org/volunteerpartners and put my name as the volunteer. I am sooo excited for this opportunity and will keep my blog updated with my adventures!

Yes. I am still alive...for now.

2011-03-05T00:34:00.001-08:00

I used to be better at this blogging thing. My job as a receptionist was pretty boring, so I blogged at work. Now I teach and I seem to have forgotten how to blog. But for some reason I felt like sharring this with my blog. I signed up for my first half marathon this week. Gulp...I am nervous. It is June 11th in Provo. Maybe I will blog about it if I survive.
P.S. I am considering making blogging once a month a new year's resolution, even though it's a bit late for that.

Trading Spaces

2010-09-11T01:30:00.000-07:00

I decided to decorate my room this summer. I sanded, painted, painted, and sanded some more to make my furniture look antique. I had a lot of fun with the project. Here are some before and after shots:

Rice-a-Roni

2010-07-26T00:18:00.001-07:00

I loved San Francisco! And I loved catching up with Christine! We had a great time. We ate some yummy food,

Saw some pretty/cool places,

And my favorite part of the trip was riding bikes across the Golden Gate bridge.

Catch Up!

2010-06-13T23:08:00.000-07:00

So I have been slacking on my blogging...not that I have a huge fan club that reads my blog. There are probably like 2 of you out there...maybe..if I am lucky. But I am going to catch you up on my life the past few months.

I kept teaching art and loving it. The students did some clay projects that I was really proud of. We had a lot of fun the last few months of school. My friend (the music teacher) and I drenched all the teachers and the principal on Field Day.
And we danced our hearts out at the Fifth Grade dance. I am sure the kids were thinking "That is my teacher?!"

We went to the Clark County Fair...which I love every single year I go!

I went to see a couple musicals here in Vegas. Phantom of the Opera and Lion King. I loved them both!

There were a bizillion birthday parties for my close friends/family. I ran a couple of 5ks. One here in Las Vegas and on in California. I got my best time yet in the California one. I was proud of myself!

I am looking forward to many more adventures the next few months, because SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!!! Next Post: San Fransisco(I am heading there in two days!)

King of the Roosters

2010-01-23T17:34:00.001-08:00

I had my fourth graders make origami houses that they were to design as their dream houses. Inside their origami houses they had a secret room that they could put anything they wanted. As I was grading them I saw this one and laughed. Felipe's dream is to be the king of the roosters. I figured he meant roost, but then I opened his secret room and there is a rooster in it. So he really does want to rule over roosters.

Is This a Zoo or an Art Class?

2009-12-06T00:47:00.000-08:00

This past week as I was teaching I was talking with my first graders about self portraits and I asked them to tell me about themselves. One little boy raised his hand and said, " I can sound just like a parrot." I asked "Do you want to share with the class(this was a mistake)?" He then proceeded to talk like a parrot. Then all the kids got excited and started raising their hands and were nearly jumping out of their seats. I called on another girl and she said " I can make a noise like an eagle." And of course I had to let her do it. So she opened her mouth and tilted her head back and screamed a high pitch scream. She did sound like an eagle. I then tried to change the direction of the conversation, but the kids were so excited to share. Another kid shared his Jaguar noise, and another one a cat. Who knew this first grade class was going to be so talented at imitating animals. I love my job!

Life Imitates Art

2009-11-11T00:29:00.000-08:00

I saw this movie and loved it.

So I went to this roller derby and loved it.

Then I saw this movie and loved it.

Which led me to having the first graders do an art project on Wild Things.

And it inspired me to make this pumpkin.

Conversations on the Playground

2009-09-11T16:47:00.000-07:00

A conversation I overheard between some third grade students:

boy1: I have two girlfriends right now.

girl: (yelling as boy1 walks by) I DON'T LIKE YOU ANYMORE!

boy2: You just got dumped!

boy1: well I still have another girl.

boy2: psyche!

If only it was that easy to start or end a relationship as an adult...

Miss or Mrs.

2009-08-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

Here are few recent conversations with the little girl I used to nanny:
S: I don't think Ronald McDonald is human.
Me: Why do you say that?
S: Have you seen those feet? They are huge.
Me: Yes, they are pretty big.
S: I am thinking he is a Sasquatch or something.
Conversation 2:
Me: Are you standing on a stool?
S: Ya. It's not like I am standing on a midget or something?
Me: I think that is the funniest thing I have heard you say!

My first embarrassing moment as a new teacher:
I was at my school on Monday trying to organize my classroom when the janitor and the Principal came in to check on me. They asked me if they had got the Mrs. Bybee thing right. Now I didn't see this spelled out in a bubble above there mouths as they asked, so I just heard "Misses" and said "Ya that's right". They asked me a couple more times to make sure this was right. Obviously I need a refresher on the difference between Miss and Mrs.! It has something to do with a ring on my finger.
The next day as I am going into my classroom I look on my door and it says: Mrs. Bybee
Art Teacher. That's when it clicked. So I proceeded to tell the janitor and the principal that I didn't understand what they were asking. I tried to make a joke about it just bieng wishful thinking. The janitor then said, "Be careful what you wish for."

Lately

2009-07-26T20:45:00.001-07:00

This summer I have been working as a nanny for two wonderful little girls. I can't really publish pics of them on here, so I will put a blurry one from behind. We have had some fun adventures. We went to the shark reef aquarium the other day. I am constantly looking for new things to do with them. We have made cupcakes, been to a magic show, done art projects, made friendship bracelets, visited the pet store multiple times, swam, played at the park, been to multiple children's museums, made cookies, made play dough etc. I am starting to run out of ideas, but it has been fun for me. They have helped me bring out my inner child.

And it has prepared me for my new job in the fall. Drum roll please.... I got a teaching job! Hooray! I start teaching August 17th. I will be the Art teacher at an elementary school. I am a little nervous about it, but I am also excited. I am especially excited about having the summer off.

Oh and I went to Oregon last week. It is beautiful there. I think I will live there some day. Here are a few pics of the trip:

Sophie was walking around like this forever. I think she may have thought she was an animal or something.

Sophie and Olivia looking at a tiny shell.

Hobbit Olivia

We love this book store. I bought a cool old copy of Pride and Prejudice and some old children's books I will tear the illustrations out of and frame.

Eliza likes to match her food.

Sisters and Momason

Sophie with the sea lions.

Vinnie and Matt fancy dancing.

Sophie and Momason running from waves.

Watching the sunset.

"Cheese!"

Dancing and Fireworks

2009-07-08T23:49:00.000-07:00

I spent the fourth of July with my family. We had a blast. But I will let the photos say the rest: I have the world's cutest nieces

Vinnie a.k.a. Big Papa Nasty(our DJ)

They've still got it.

Having a great time.

One of Vinnie's many dance moves.

Even The Mom danced.

Eliza and I love dancing
Tess wouldn't dance, but I still love her.

I am not sure what to say about this.

Sparklers.

The Mom got a little crazy with the fireworks.

She thought it was so funny to throw snaps at me.

The world's cutest nieces.

Ch-Ch-Changes

2009-06-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

For some reason I have always hated change and loved comfortable. My family likes to tease me about how much I enjoy being comfortable; mostly because they have memories of me laying on the heater as a child...oh wait and as an adult....ok and using a blow dryer to keep my feet warm in the winter...ok fine also in the summer when the A/C is too high!

But the interesting thing about my disdain for change and my love for comfortable is that I am hardly ever comfortable and I usually end up grateful for change. This past year I experienced a lot of change all at once. A lot of things happened that I didn't expect to happen and I ended up in a place that I wasn't expecting to be in. And yet here I am kind of at the tail end of it now thinking: I am so grateful to be where I am .

I was recently talking to one of the first friends I met when I moved to Vegas almost 3 years ago(wow has it been that long?) and he asked me, "Are you happy?" I said "Yes." He then proceeded to ask what makes me happy right now. I tried to explain this with a list of people, opportunities and blessing. But mostly I realized it is because after a lot of pain I have learned to enjoy the sunlight so much more. I am learning to live in the moment and love the little things. I guess the stretching agony of change is what makes me enjoy the small moments of comfortable.

"This is the best day of my life!"

2009-05-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

I subbed for kindergarten today. At the end of the day we had some cupcakes and the kids played on the playground for this little girls birthday party. One little boy said to me "This is the best day of my life!" I laughed and thought to myself : "I wish eating cupcakes and getting to play for ten minutes in the hot sun was able to make me just as happy."

Saving Lives One Race at a Time

2009-05-03T22:22:00.001-07:00

This was my second 5K that I have ever done(remember our first one Christine) and I did better then I did at the first one 4 years ago. I am not going to divulge my time... but let's just say I was proud of my self for running the whole time no matter how badly I wanted to stop and walk. Christine has moved on to half-marathons on the Great Wall of China, but I am content with my small feat of shaving a few minutes off my 5k time. I am glad that my friend Cindy asked me to do it two weeks ago. My favorite part was the 80 year old man that was running who had a shirt that said "Men also have a breasted interest." We had a great time and I got a free cape out of it!

Nevada: A Place for Cheap Culture and Slurpees.

2009-04-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

Today I was driving and I saw a sign for the Nevada State Museum with an arrow on it. I looked in the direction the arrow was pointing and it was pointing to a 7-Eleven. I thought to myself "Hmmm. That makes sense that the Nevada State Museum would be in a convenient store."

Substitute Teacher a.k.a. Punching Bag

2009-04-17T23:23:00.000-07:00

I had my very first week of substitute teaching this week and boy it was a roller coaster. It started out with a full day of kindergarten and ended with Middle School Science.

Highlights:

As I was reading aloud to a group of third graders I would stop every paragraph or so and ask them a question to make sure they were paying attention. I would randomly pick a Popsicle stick from a cup to call on a student to answer. At one point I called on a little girl and her answer was "Um....unrecognizable mumbling and something else made up..." For some reason(possibly exhaustion) I thought this was hilarious and started to laugh(*please note it is not appropriate to laugh at a student's serious answer). I tried to pretend I was laughing about another student who was jumping out of his seat to answer the question. I am not sure if they bought it or not... I really need to get a grip and learn to control my laughter better, especially when it comes to laughing at students.
Then I ended the week on a high note when I was teaching middle school science. After a couple periods I went to the bathroom and as I was washing my hands I realized that my sweater was in-side-out. Yes, my friends, in-side-out with the tag sticking straight out and the buttons on the inside! I am pretty sure the middle schoolers got a kick out this when I wasn't looking.

I SURVIVED! Here's to next week.

Peace

2009-04-05T21:32:00.000-07:00

Recently I took a class called "Universal Truths" given by Valerie Dimick. In this class she teaches a lot of great concepts and one of them is having the goal of peace. Since then I have been thinking about how you can find peace in spite of events or circumstances in your life. It has been a goal of mine for the past few months. If peace is our goal then we will find peace. But for some reason consciously or subconsciously we choose to make other things our goal. We get distracted or sometimes we don't realize when our thoughts are consumed on negative or destructive ideas that those thoughts unintentionally become our goal.

The greatest source of peace is of course Jesus Christ. Lately when I find myself thinking about negative things or even seemingly good things I have to ask myself: "Is this bringing me peace?" If it isn't then I try to replace it with something that will bring me peace. Here are some things that have helped me obtain my goal of feeling peace everyday:

The Temple- I get to go once a week for a sealing assignment. It has brought me such peace.
Walking/running
Reading scriptures/praying
Getting to know new people or just the old people in a new way
Laughing
My nieces
Talking in person or on the phone with best friends/sisters
Good music
Institute
Laying in the sun (I love the weather in Vegas right now!)
Living in the moment
Remembering what I am grateful for
Reaching out to people who have it a lot harder then me
Slurpees coupled with good conversations
Paying attention to all the people who serve me(thanks everyone!)
Painting/creating art
Writing in my journal
Going to Create every Monday
Talking/laughing with the roomies
Swimming
General Conference

Okay so what are some of the ways you find peace from day-to-day? I need some more ideas.

Trail Mix, Anyone?

2009-03-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

I started painting again.

2009-03-04T18:40:00.000-08:00

This is my first painting in a series that is called: The Ever-present Tree

Having a Bad Day?

2009-02-18T09:49:00.000-08:00

This should do the trick:

Warning Labels and T-Shirts

2009-01-19T14:57:00.000-08:00

My favorite Megan came to visit. We made shirts. I have always thought warning labels are ridiculously funny, so I wanted to make a shirt from one. CAUTION-THIS PRODUCT CAN BURN EYES. You really shouldn't try straightening your eyelashes with it. Also don't even think about using it in Canada!

The second hand unwinds...

2009-01-13T19:58:00.001-08:00

Sometimes your friends think it is 80's night at the local skating rink(not to be confused with ladies night) and it is in fact not 80's night. Then when you walk in all glammed up in 80's galore sometimes there are pre-teen girls who will laugh hysterically at you, so hysterically that one pre-teen girl might just fall to the floor in laughter.

But it was worth it! We had a totally awesome time!

6 Ways to Spread Christmas cheer:

2008-12-19T21:36:00.000-08:00

1. Massage lots of Christmas ornaments.

2. Decorate the brother with tinsel.

3. Do a Christmas tree interpetive dance.

4. Drink lots of Mexican coke.

5. Play in a Christmas tree box.

6. Oh ya, and decorate the Christmas tree.

Tyra Banks wants to be Oprah and Oprah wants to be God.

2008-12-02T15:33:00.000-08:00

Tyra wishes she was Oprah. She will scream out like Oprah does or try to do the Oprah profound moments on her talk show, but she is not Oprah. Do you know Tyra banks is afraid of Dolphins (look at minute 4 of this video). Oprah isn't afraid of Dolphins, so there is no way Tyra will ever become Oprah.

Do you remember when Oprah gave Brittany
Spears permission to have sex before marriage...who does she think she is ? This was back in the day when Brittany was claiming she was a virgin and was waiting for marriage.Then Oprah gave her permission to have sex and we all know how that turned out!

Or how about the time when she interviewed Tom Cruise at his Ranch and she blessed him and his family! What!? Who knew a talk show host had the power to bless people....See! I told you she wants to be God.

One thing I will say about both of them, they are both CRAZY! The proof is in the pudding. Look at these pics:

My Dad

2008-11-15T17:43:00.000-08:00

This is a hard post, but I finally feel like it is time
to share this with my blog friends.
I started this post awhile ago, but I kept feeling like something was missing. I have been scrummaging through letters from my dad, photographs and trying to find anything in my journal entries about him. It seems like I am trying to hold on to every piece of him that I can, so it feel less like he is gone and also so I don't forget the memories I have left of him. But still as I filled this post with memories I felt something was missing. And after watching General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints a month ago, I realized what this post was missing: Hope.

My dad passed away on July 29th, 2008. We found out at the beginning of June that he had Pancreatic cancer, so it all happened pretty fast. I went home when I first found out about it for about a week, and then once again the week before he died. That was a hard week. There is a line in a Death Cab for Cutie song that says "Love is watching someone die." I couldn't have said it better.

I find myself thinking about my dad a lot. I miss him terribly. I often wish I had had more time with him, or that I would have taken more advantage of his great wisdom. But instead of using this post to discuss how much I wish I could still see him and hug him again or how much my heart aches daily as I miss him, I just want to share a few of my favorite memories of my dad. And pay tribute to him. As my brother-in-law stated at the funeral, one word to describe my dad was: selfless. All that he did through out our lives for my siblings, my mom and I was with out a single thought for himself. Often he worked long hours just to make sure we had food on our table. Even towards the end of his life, when he was not feeling well he would still get up at the crack of dawn to work through the pain, because he loved us. In the book The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography by Sydney Poitier it says:"Of all my father's teachings, the most enduring was the one about the true measure of a man. That true measure was how well he provided for his children." (pg. 100)My dad measured up.

In the early hours of the morning on that dreadful Tuesday my mom, my siblings and I gathered around my father's hospital bed (which was in the living room). We sobbed and hugged each other. We sat in silence for quite sometime. There is almost a reverence to this time of death. It is somewhat similar to birth in that we feel a bit closer to the veil.

I kept looking at my dad's chest thinking it was going to rise and that he was just sleeping. Finally after a time of silence my oldest sister Sunnie suggested we all share favorite memories of our dad. So the stories rolled off our tongues and soon our tears were turned to laughter. My dad wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I am sure he was there with us laughing through the tears.

We all expressed how we all knew that dad loved us and always wanted us around. There was never a doubt that he loved us. As little kids my dad was the best dad a little kid could have. He was always playing with us. When he would get home from work each night, we would all excitedly drop everything we were doing and run to greet him. I remember jumping off the sides of the couch to jump into his arms. Our dad would tickle us, turn us upside down to walk on the ceiling, play outside with us, teach us, sleep under the stars with us and so much more. He was our best friend. All this time he spent with us as little kids will be something we will all cherish forever.

Some of my favorite moments with my dad in the past few years have been when my whole family was together and we would all get talking and laughing. Usually these moments would happen on Sundays when my dad would make the best meal we had ever tasted. He was an amazing cook. We would all be talking and my dad would tell funny stories from his childhood or other moments in his life along with the rest of us and we would all just laugh together. I remember when he was telling a story about some kids spilling sacrament cups all over the place when he was little and he started laughing hysterically. I loved it when my dad would laugh so hard that his laugh would get high pitched. I miss his laugh.

My dad was wise.Not only was he a walking encyclopedia. He also had the wisdom to know what to say when things were hard. He was great at giving advice. In fact I am pretty sure he thrived on opportunities to share his wisdom with his children. At a moment when I was feeling homesick after moving to Vegas a couple years ago he comforted me over the phone by reminding me that he loved me and that everyone missed me. I felt left out as my family all had their Sunday dinners together with out me, so that is just what I needed to hear at the time. He would always say "It isn't the same with out you here" and try to convince me to move back. He was good at making me feel loved.

One of my last conversations with my dad, when he was still coherent enough to form full sentences that made sense, he said a few things that have stuck with me. He let me know he was so proud of all of us kids. And he said " I know in whom I have trusted. He has never let me down before. If it is His will for me to die, then subsequently it is mine too." This statement gives me the courage to keep going in the midst of all the heartache of missing him. I love my dad. The last thing he said to me was "I love you buggy" and I knew he meant it.

I am not going to pretend this hasn't been the hardest months of my life, but I will say there has always been hope. Even if it was just a small glimmer of hope, there was hope. There have been moments when I wondered if the darkness would ever end, but in the midst of winter I have found an invincible summer.Christ is that hope. He is that light when everything seems dark. No matter how lonely I have felt the Savior, Heavenly Father and the Holy ghost have not abandoned me. I have hope. I have hope that we will see each other again. I have hope that my dad is still taking care of me and my family. He is a ministering angel still in our lives. He told my little brother Vinnie just before he died "A cowboys job is never done." He is still loving us and protecting us just as he did when he was on this earth. I think of that excitement we felt when my dad would come home from work when we were little and we would all run to greet him. And how much more excited we will be in the future when we run to greet him. I hope that I can learn to be as selfless as he was. I hope that in times things will get easier. I hope for good things to come. Against all hope I believe in hope.

*Note: I am a little nervous because this post is a little more personal then the ones I normally write, but I hope it may be encouraging to anyone who might be struggling in any way.

Elementary Scandal

2008-11-06T18:52:00.000-08:00

You know those little hand clapping games you did in elementary school, they still do them. I had the little girls repeat to me the words to the one they were doing today at recess and I had to laugh:

Mailman, Mailman,

Do your duty

Here comes the woman

with the African Booty.

She does the Pom Pom (with a nice action).

She does the twist (another action)

But mostly she goes

Kiss-Kiss (while placing to fingers on lips and kissing)

K-I-S-S (while spreading their legs farther and farther apart on each letter to do the splits).

This seemed a little scandalous, but then I remembered some of the ones we used to sing. Do you remember When Pebbles was a School Girl (also sung as Suzy or Lucy). At the end we would sing "Mrs. Pebbles had a steamboat, the steamboat had a bell. The steamboat went to heaven, and Mrs. Pebbles went to hell-o operator give me number nine and if you disconnect me I will kick you in the behind the refrigerator there was a piece of glass and miss pebbles sat upon it an broke her fat as-k me no more questions I will tell you no more lies. The boys are in the bathroom zipping up their flies." What are some of your favorite childhood hand clapping games you played?

So....I might have eloped this weekend...

2008-10-27T16:02:00.001-07:00

Trying to plan a wedding and a reception is such a headache especially with all of that paparazzi on your tail, so we decided to skip all that garbage and went straight for the chapel of love. According to George's rep we are really happy together.

All Things Pumpkin

2008-10-25T16:33:00.000-07:00

I would like to take credit for making up this holiday, but I am no Seth Cohen, the credit belongs to my roommate Mindy. All-things-pumpkin is a great way to make a holiday out of the entire month of October. We just make and eat pumpkin things all month long. There are so many things we can do with a pumpkin besides scraping out the innards and carving a face in it. Here is what we have done:

Mindy made some mouth watering Creamy Pumpkin and sausage pasta sauce with pasta

She also made some pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes...mmmm.

And I made some Pumpkin Mushroom Soup. It got a thumbs up!

So to any of you looking for a great time, you should really try All-things-pumpkin. I highly recommend it.

Conversations in the Classroom

2008-10-09T16:21:00.000-07:00

Boy J: How old are you Miss?
Me: Guess.
Boy J: 21...
Me: No. Older.
Boy J: 24?
Me: Nope... 27
Boy J: Mr. S. is 27 you guys should hook up!
Me: Just because we are the same age we should hook up?
Boy J: Yes Miss!
Me: Is Mr. S married?
Boy J: I don't know.
Me: Hmmm....kind of important information.
Boy J: (turning to his friend) If we get Miss Bybee to hook up with Mr. S. then she definitely won't leave!

I guess word has gotten out that I am leaving the middle school next week to start student teaching at an elementary school.

Girl 1: Miss you can't leave! I am going to lock you in a closet!
Me: Hmm....I am not sure if you could do that.
Girl 2: Ya, Miss I will help her.
Me: Hmmmm
Girl 1: Or if you do leave we will all just jump in the back of your car and come home with you!
Girl 2: Ya and we will eat all of your food!
Me: Laughing. You are going to eat all of my food? Oh no!
Girl 1: Or maybe we will just rent a house next to yours.
Me: Wow. With what money?
Girl 3: I make 25 bucks a week!
Me: You might need a little more then 25 bucks to rent a house.

I am really going to miss these kids.

Oh My Facial!

2008-10-08T21:28:00.000-07:00

I just got a European facial tonight and oh my, it was amazing! The candles, the music, the massaging, the hot towels, the massaging, the lavender, the hot steam and oh did I mention the massaging....

If you have never had a facial, I highly recommend it. I honestly thought I might start crying at one point during this facial, which might be a little strange,but it was just so therapeutic. I think this hour of facial was a lot cheaper than actual therapy, so I might just use this to justify making facials a regular occurrence.

Student Teaching Favorites

2008-10-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

favorite silly moment-

I couldn't remember this kids name, but I knew he was creating a comic book called "Lion Boy", so here is what happened:

Boy 1: Staring off into space, not working.

Me: "Hey Lion Boy! Get back to work."

Boy 2: "She just called him Lion Boy! giggle giggle."

Me: While looking at Boy2, "He is making a comic called Lion Boy. "

Boy 2: Giggle

Me: Lost it and started giggling too.

favorite compliment-

Girl: "If I paid you 5 bucks would you promise to never leave" (referring to when I am done student teaching.)

Me: "You would have to pay me a lot more then 5 bucks."

Favorite slang term-

"Balmy." I asked a boy who uses this term what it means and he said it is supposedly like garbage. They call everything they can Balmy.

Today I had a chance to break up the first almost-fight in my classroom. As well as deal with two students who ripped up one an other's artworks during class. Moments like this make me feel like a real teacher. It was a fun day!

Red! Red! Red!

2008-09-07T18:29:00.001-07:00

I dyed my hair. Can you tell? Some people say it isn't too noticeable, but I feel like it is so very different.

Absense makes the heart grow fonder.

2008-09-04T21:19:00.000-07:00

These were requested quite awhile ago....so here they are.
I love these two! And Amy promises she will be blogging again real soon. Helene took tons of photos with her fancy-pants camera, but she hasn't emailed them to me yet so what you see is what you get.

Remember when you would spend the whole day in your swimming suit.

2008-08-05T20:56:00.000-07:00

I miss these days. We we would go swimming in the backyard and then stay in our swimming suits the rest of the day. In these shots we were playing poker.... hmm maybe this was a foreshadowing of my move to Vegas.

My dad made us some fake money, by copying real money at the computer store he worked for. It looked pretty real. So real that my friend that is holding up the money in the first photo gave it to her Mom's boyfriend at the time. The boyfriend was a drug addict and we are pretty sure it was used to buy some drugs....oops. I guess that is why it is illegal to copy money, even if it is just for the purpose of using it for play money.

I think maybe my desire to never grow up is the same reason I still find myself doing things like playing dress up with my sisters.
Being a grown up is overrated.

I like the Plain and Simple things.

2008-07-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

This might be a little strange, but have you ever looked at things through a water bottle(the ones with ridges make it more interesting)? Or maybe when underwater in a pool, opened your eyes and looked up through the water at the sky? It is kinda cool. I also am fascinated by the way light comes through the trees and makes little circles all over the wall (or whatever other surface it might be casting dancing shadows/light upon). Anyway, this got me thinking of all the simple things that make me happy:

Gilmore Girls reruns right after work
Tart frozen yogurt
pens that click
night swimming (I think I need to do that tonight)
mix CDs from dear friends
singing loudly and dancing in my car
big earrings
reading by the pool
surprisingly shopping(well, if I find 4 cute shirts in one trip)
currently Mates of State's song "So Many Ways" is the greatest song ever written.
The smell of rain (Vegas has been wanting to rain all week)
cream cheese on triscuts
google talk/chat
riding down the stairs on an air matress
skinny dipping
emails from good friends
saying random things to Tess
comments on my blog(nudge-nudge wink-wink)
popcorn
Fresh n' Easy
Finding new blogs to read at work
long showers
painting (I have lots of ideas in my head for paintings so it is time to start doing that again)

Ok now it is your turn. What are some simple things that make you happy? They can be random, because we all know some of mine are.

P.S. I don't like that my bullet points are flowers on this blog template, but I don't know how to change it.

Lately singing this at the top of my lungs makes me feel better:

2008-07-09T08:34:00.000-07:00

"I am likely to miss the main event if I stop to cry or complain again. So I will keep a deliberate pace, let the damned breeze dry my face."
Thanks Fiona. I think I will name my first born daughter after you.

Some People Choose Delusion Over Despair

2008-07-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

Can you be in love with a fictional character? Oh, because I think I am. Jack Shephard is his name. Do you guys know him?

"At last, my love has come along

My lonely days are over

And life is like a song

Oh, yeah, at last

The skies above are blue
My heart was wrapped up in clovers

The night I looked at you

I found a dream that I could speak to

A dream that I can call my own

I found a thrill to rest my cheek to

A thrill that I have never known

Oh, yeah when you smile, you smile

Oh, and then the spell was cast

And here we are in heaven

For you are mine

At last "

Ska-doosh!

2008-06-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

The other night I got a text from Cassidy telling me to come talk to her in her room when I got home, because she wanted to tell me something. It was kind of late when I got home, but I still went in to talk with her.

Cassidy shares a room with Brooke and Brooke was asleep. Usually Brooke is a pretty heavy sleeper, so we both just thought she would sleep through our talking for a half an hour.

Brooke sleeps on the top of a bunk bed with a desk under it and Cassidy sleeps in a queen bed just across from it.

We are just laying there talking and giggling when all of the sudden I look up and see Brooke flying through the air in slow motion (just like on Nacho Libre when he goes flying through the air and lands on the other wrestler at the end). She had pounced off the bed and landed on top of me and Cassidy! Skadoosh! Cassidy screamed in terror and I just wet myself. We all busted up laughing and Brooke told us to shut our mouths and go to bed.

*Ok I might have just made that last part up, but it would have been funny if she had pounced on us. And she really wanted to hurt us at that moment, but she is too nice. Thanks for being so forgiving Brookster!

Understood

2008-06-20T08:45:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about understanding lately. We all just want to be understood. A lot of conflicts arise from the lack of understanding between people. I think it is so easy to assume people are acting a certain way because they are ________ (choose your own negative characteristic), when often there are hidden reasons for their behavior. Secret heartaches or insecurities that no one knows about.

I think we all need to try a little harder to understand each other. That expression of walking a mile in another man's shoes comes to mind. Or what Jesus said about doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. Maybe we could all be a little bit better at giving people the benefit of the doubt, instead of making assumptions.

There is a beautiful concept that is in the book The Education of Little Tree (I know there is a lot of controversy about the author, but ignore that):

"I knew that when I heard him late at night say 'I kin ye, Bonnie Bee,' he was saying 'I love ye,' for the feeling was in the words.And when they would be talking and Granma would say, 'Do ye kin me Wales?' and he would answer, 'I kin ye,' it meant, 'I understand ye.' To them, love and understanding was the same thing. Granma said you couldn't love something you didn't understand; nor could you love people, nor God, if you didn't understand the people and God.Granpa and Granma had an understanding, and so they had a love."
(Forrest Carter. The Education of Little Tree, p.38)

This is why we all want to be understood, because when we feel understood we feel loved. There is a reason the two great commandments are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself. Love is at the center of it all. Imagine if we were so consumed by and sympathetic to other people's troubles as we are by our own. What if we understood others the way we understand ourselves?

* Thanks for letting me go off again about thoughts I am having. My next post will be a little lighter. I promise.

"Hope is a thing with feathers that perches in the soul."

2008-06-13T00:26:00.000-07:00

Here I am thinking about hope again. Hope that he will get through this. Hope in a better world. Hope for good things to come. This time is filled with fear and heartaches, but there is hope at the bottom of everything. And against all hope I believe in hope. There is a plan that is better known by Someone greater then me. Someone with greater wisdom, perfect understanding and perfect love.

Thank you all my friends that have shown me such love and given me strength at the moments when my hope may be fading. You are all too good to me.

Turn Back Time

2008-06-02T20:39:00.000-07:00

Maybe we are trying a bit too hard to hold on to our childhood. These photos make me think of my childhood favorites. Here is a fun list:

Labyrinth

Pound Puppies

Michael Jackson

Cabbage Patch kids

Goonies

Rainbow Bright

slap bracelets

Ducktales

Cindy Lauper

Heman

My Little Ponies

silly putty

slinky

Punky Brewster(I was her)

The Cosby show

The Little Shop of Horrors(this is a strange one for a child, I know)

Bruce Springsteen

Friday Night Videos (does anyone else remember this show, it had music videos on it like MTV, but on a non-cable channel)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Ramona books

JEM

Smurfs

Never Ending Story

Garbage Pail Kids trading cards

Jelly shoes and bracelets

Gremlins

Care Bears

Alf

New kids on the Block

Banana clips

GI Joe

Transformers

Stevie Wonder

Side pony tails

Neon Colors

Wow this list could go on forever, but I will stop there. Is there any that I skipped that you would add to the list? Tell me your favorites?

Awkwardly Affectionate

2008-05-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

Have you ever made someone hyperventilate from being affectionate with them? No? Oh, because I have.
I am not sure when this started, but at some point in the past few years I have come to love being awkwardly affectionate. It may have started with Megan's shirt that said "Pet your dog, not your date." Because when she started to wear that shirt I liked to pet her on the arm all of the time, like you would a dog. I got a lot of strange looks from that one.

The photo to the right is of Erika, Megan and I after we kissed Edward with our blue robin egg lips. He had some issues with girls. He was freshly home from his mission and thought girls had cooties, so we were trying to "help" him overcome some of these issues by attacking and kissing him. Megan may have been hurt in the process.

Another fun thing I started to do when we first moved to Vegas was that anytime Liz was in on her bed, reading, talking on the phone or sometimes sleeping I would run in and jump on top of her. She learned to brace herself when she heard me coming.I think she really likes this. This might be more along the lines of violent affection, but we will save more stories about that for another post.

Alright, so now for the hyperventilating story. One night our apt and a group of friends decided to have a BBQ. Andrea brought along one of her friends that was visiting for the summer. I had met this friend a few times before. Let's call her Cindy, so she can remain anonymous. We were all just hanging out on some couches and Erika, Andrea and I were being awkwardly affectionate, by holding hands and cuddling with each other. This is just what we do.

Cindy kept giving us strange looks and calling us "weird", "strange" and "mean things, mean things, etc". We figured she was probably just feeling left out and deep down she just wanted some love, so we decided to give her some awkward affection. We started putting our arms around her and holding her hands and of course she was fighting it and telling us to stop. But we just laughed it off and kept doing it. She started to say "I can't breath!" and we just brushed it off as a joke. Why would anyone not enjoy this affection? It was so fun! All of the sudden we realized she was serious. She really was hyperventilating and being the nice ( or horrific) people that we are, we let go of her and she got up to go into the other room. I think she had to use a brown paper bag to get her breathing back to normal. Yikes!

Everyone else in the room (a few people we didn't know too well) sat there awkwardly and several were glaring at us like "Look what you did you little jerks!" Erika and I felt bad, but we couldn't stop laughing, which made us look like even bigger jerks. Luckily Cindy was super cool about it, forgave us and still liked us anyway. So if you really don't like awkward affection and you might hyperventilate because of it, please give me a forewarning and I will do my best not to cause anymore psychological damage than I already have.

A Revolution from Night to Day.

2008-05-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

When I first moved to Las Vegas I really didn't like it. I didn't like the dead desert with no grass or trees. I didn't like the the cockroaches in my bed. I didn't like driving around in the 115 degree weather with no A/C and sticky leather seats in my car. I didn't like missing Sunday dinner with my family. I felt out of place.

Those drives back from Utah(home) were too short and painful. On the trip back to Vegas all of my roommates and I wouldn't be able to talk for the first hour , because we were trying to hold back the sob in our throats.

And then something changed. I am not sure when it happened, but one of the first signs that it had was when I got in the car with my roommates to go back to Vegas and we could talk to each other in a jovial manner.

Here are some reasons why I now love Las Vegas (gulp, I can't believe I used Love and Las Vegas in the same sentence):

1.Whenever I start to think I have so many amazing best friends I can't imagine meeting anymore I meet more. There was a change in my attitude towards Vegas when I started to meet some of the most amazing girlfriends that I could meet (you know who you are). There was an instant connection. All of the sudden going to church felt like home again. Then we decided to step out of our comfort zone again (we are crazy) and leave that ward, but I am starting to get to know some new amazing people in this ward too.

2.I love the walking trail by our apt. I love going on walks or runs on it to just clear my head. The other day I needed some clarity and I found it as I walked on my little trail.
3.I live with some of the most amazing girls you will ever meet. People are baffled that six of us live together and get along so well. It is because each and every one of them is amazing. Guys are fools for not realizing this (well Joey figured it out with Amy).

4.I love Las Vegas in the spring time! Especially Summerlin with the blooming blossoms and trees. The perfect weather as early as February.

5.I love swimming every Saturday from March through October.

6.I love my job. Even though I get bored a lot, they have been really good to me. They let me go to part time while I went to school this semester and they even gave me a nice raise. I have some fun adventures at work.

7.The State Fair!

8.Close enough to home, but not too close.

9. We are 5 hours away from California/The beach.

10.Panera Bread, Capriottis, Claim Jumpers, etc.

11. Our dance parties.

12. The strip clubs.

And we all dance on!

2008-05-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

We dance at the fair.

We dance when we go bowling.

We dance with pegged pants and mary janes.

We dance in our house.

We dance in our sunglasses and 80's clothes.

We can dance everywhere.

You do not like to dance.So you say.Try it! Try it!And you may.Try it and you may, I say.

And I would dance in a boat.And I would dance with a goat...And I will dance in the rain.And in the dark. And on a train.And in a car. And in a tree.It is so good, so good, you see!So I will dance in a box.And I will dance with a fox.And I will dance in a house.And I will dance with a mouse.And I will dance here and there.Say! I will dance ANYWHERE!

Dinner and a Tramp Stamp.

2008-04-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

Ok. So instead of spending the next hour talking to Cassidy on google chat about how I need to write a new post I am going to be proactive about it and just start writing. There are a couple things I have thought about that I could write and I am just going to combine them.

What I ate last night for dinner:

This is buckwheat gruel. I am trying to eat healthy and I am an excellent chef. If you want the recipe let me know.

Now for the next thought:

If I was going to get a tatt, and I am not, I would get one of Provo, Utah. A few months ago Cassidy and I were at a hotel that my sister Eliza was staying in. We were waiting on the curbside for the valet parking attendant to come back with my car. We were waiting for quite awhile, because the first time they brought me the wrong car (although I considered taking the fancy SUV over my Saturn, until I considered the current gas prices).

While we were waiting another valet parker came up to us and started to flirt. Then one thing led to another and somehow he asked where I was from. I responded and of course was courteous enough to follow up with the same question (it is called reflective communication for those of you that don't know). It was like he was waiting for me to ask this question, because as soon as I did he pulled up his shirt to show me where he was from. He had a tattoo of Hawaii and he pointed to a specific spot on one of the islands and said "Right here." I then responded with an "ooooo" which came out as a flirtatious "oooo" rather then the shocked "ooo" I was going for. I need to work on the proper voice inflections.

From this experience I decided I should probably get a tattoo if I want people to really know where I am from. So don't be surprised if the next time you ask me where I am from I pull up my shirt and point to a map of Utah with a star on it to mark where Provo is.

P.S. Have you ever heard a tattoo referred to as a tramp stamp? I really like the term, so I will probably call my map of Utah a tramp stamp.

I loved this moment!

2008-04-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

There is still a smile on my face, because of last night's
episode. Jim is planning on proposing to Pam!!!
And I loved this moment:

Jim Halpert:
Where do you wanna go for dinner?
Pam Beesley:
I donno I kind of hate all our regular places right now. [pause] Oh, you know what? That one--
[Jim stops and gets down on one knee]
Jim Halpert:
Hey Pam. Will you wait for me one second, while I tie my shoe?
Pam Beesley:
I hate you.
[Jim catches up to Pam, both laughing]
Jim Halpert:
What! My shoe was untied. What is your problem? Oh my Gosh! You thought I was- Oh, no no...
Pam Beesley:
Ohh how could I have thought that? How could I have though that?

You're in love! You're in love with love!

2008-04-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't already know, I work in the Primary at my church. A few weeks ago I was sitting next to a little boy(4 years old) who looks a lot like the little boy from Jerry Maguire, but even cuter. I was helping him tie his shoe when all of the sudden he gets right up in my face and with a big smile on his face he says: "You're in Love!" I was a bit shocked as I replied "I am in love? Who am I in love with?" He then said "You're in love! You're in love with love!" I about died laughing. This four year old little boy knows what he's talking about. Who isn't in love with love?! We wouldn't watch all the chick flicks or read Jane Austen novels if we weren't in love with love (sure this comment applies mostly to girls, but I think mostly girls read my blog).

I like you crazy!

2008-04-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

What if I have nothing to write about and I just want to write a new post? So maybe I will just think about what I have done the past couple of days. Hmmm...
This is us doing what we do best: CRAZY! We are all good at crazy. Liz, Amy and I decided to have a contest of holding ourselves up on our shoulders. It is harder then it looks and I won by the way.
This is a conversation I had with Cassidy the other day:
Me:You are sooo weird!
Cassidy: Ya but you are just as weird.
Me(with a smug face): No I am not.
Cassidy: Yes you are!
Me: No. You are wa-ay more weird then I am.
Cassidy(in shock): Are you serious!
Me: No.
I think she was getting a little offended until she realized I was just pulling her chain. That would have been completely delusional of me to say that. I am weird and I am in an apartment full of weirdos. But I wouldn't have it any other way! I love the crazy stuff we do. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't have something to laugh about. Thanks guys!

BBQs make me feel like Summer

2008-03-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, in light of my first college spring break, I layed by the pool for two and half hours. Liz( roommate) and I were brave and got into the freezing cold pool all the way up to our waists. Erika dipped her feet in up to her mid-calfs... she is almost as brave(she is going to try to beat me up for this comment). If it weren't for our molten-lava hot tub we probably would have died of hypothermia.

I love living in Las Vegas in the springtime, because it feels like summertime already. Clad in shorts and flip-flops we headed over to Mindy's last night for an amazing BBQ. Mindy was nice enough to make some amazing shish kabobs and some barbecued peaches. I felt like I was eating summer with every bite! De-licious! I have a goal to lay out by the pool every Saturday this summer, as soon as my blasted Saturday classes are over. May 15th will be a blessed day!

Another poem

2008-03-02T21:57:00.000-08:00

It Ended on a High Five
By Myra Mayall (I had that name before I met you)

To be understood and to understand is
What I thought we had.
Reading my mind like a children’s book.
Similar stories to tell.
Silently talking.
Moments that were “already seen”
But our friendship ended on a high five.

I only saw you and you never saw me.
You always smelled of cologne for another girl.
But I put on my red shoes for you.
And it ended on a high five.

“I love you,” is reserved for lovers and kin
And I was never one or the other.
You proclaimed:” I love you,” twice and then those I love you’s faded, wrinkled and split into high fives.

I lost the pen you gave to me
And can no longer write with it.
You gave me too many songs to remind me of you and
You have none to remind you of me.
The journal writing and the familiar melodies ended on a high five.

Our secret place called vineyard
Is no longer undisclosed,
But is marked by a freeway sign.
You now have a secret with someone else.
We no longer share the same earphones.
And the drives on intimate roads are covered with ice.

I am not in on the inside joke.

I drove through the dark just to see you,
I am afraid of driving in the dark
And you couldn’t turn on the light to see me.
The eggs are cracked and the bike is broken.
They always were.

All my new CDs you didn't burn for me,
I will waste no more good songs on thoughts of you.
The looking glass no longer holds your image.
Because WE ended on a high five.

Traffic Music

2008-02-26T08:37:00.000-08:00

This weekend I drove down to the strip a lot, for class and to spend time with my family. On Saturday morning I hit a fun little traffic jam as I got off the I-15 onto Flamingo. I was stuck at one light for 20 minutes and I knew I was going to be late for class. The only thing that was keeping me from getting really ticked off was my music. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a middle aged lady in the car to the right of me and her music was keeping her happy too. She was intensely tapping her hands on the steering wheel and singing(well it looked like singing). This made me smile. I can handle traffic jams.

Offensive???

2008-02-22T09:17:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been having a lot of random run-ins with people that are a little bit mentally off (I am sure that is the politically correct way of saying it). We saw the red-headed-creepy guy at institute the other night, but luckily we backed slowly out of the room and he didn't see us. After dodging that bullet another kid that is a little mentally/socially off came up to us and started talking. He asked me, "How many people are in your family?" I told him "There are five kids." He then said "That's big!" I was courteous and asked "How many are in your family?" He then said "There are six." I said "Oh that is pretty big! I guess it is because you are Mormon!" When I said this he didn't even look at me and he just darted away like I offended him. I guess it is offensive to say Mormon families are big.

Then at work yesterday this guy that is a bit mentally off (because of a motorcycle accident) was talking to me. He was saying that my new desk was nice. I then said, "Ya it is like one of the best that there is!" and I laughed. I was just demonstrating some friendly banter, but apparently he took it the wrong way, because his reaction was a bit surprising. He said, as he was walking away in a very harsh tone, "Ya, sarcasm will get you no where!" OK! I had no idea that I was being sarcastic! But apparently he thought I was and he thought I was getting no where with it.
So if you need someone to offend a mentally-off person I am your girl.

Another serious post!

2008-02-08T11:23:00.001-08:00

Emily Dickensen wrote this poem about hope. Everytime I feel a little hopeless and there is a return of hope I think of this poem.

Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

I am sorry my last post was so cheesey!

2008-02-05T11:58:00.000-08:00

I will try to be better. I promise.

Forever Etched.

2008-01-24T16:03:00.000-08:00

Idaho will always be a symbol of my childhood. I went to my Grandpa's 80th birthday party in Idaho a couple weekends ago and it was fantastic. All of my Dad's siblings were there. They all haven't been together for years. I would estimate about ten years. So when I walked into my childhood home-away-from-home of my Grandma's house, I almost started to cry, because we were all together. Not all of my cousins were there, but several were. When we sang "Happy Birthday" to my Grandpa he got choked up and said "Thank you," as he held back the tears. This memory will stay with me forever.

I don't know what it is, but I feel this special bond with my cousins. We have all grown up, and apart in so many ways, but the common thread of our childhood still binds us together. When we were kids we did everything together. My family lived next door to my Grandparents and all my cousins lived within a half an hour of her house. So on a daily basis we would be outside playing together. We would climb trees, build forts, jump off the haystack, swing on rope swings, play in the chicken coop, try to break into a haunted house down the street, play in the drain ditch, push down the alph-alpha to make tunnels through the fields and so much more. We were like siblings because we spent so much time together.

Eventually the one family moved away to Oregon and then our family moved away to Utah when I was almost nine years old. It was hard to leave so many of my best friends behind when we moved. As time went on the distance in miles led to distance in our relationships, but there is still a connection that we have. We are cousins.

I'm cool like that.

2008-01-09T09:35:00.000-08:00

Have I told you guys that I have a handsfree headset at work now? I only wear it when I need to leave my desk. But I feel like such a freak when I wear it. I try to tell myself it is "cool", like when Madonna or Britney Spears wear one to sing(because they are both great role models). I had to wear it today so I could take people back to a big meeting they were having. I also had to wear it during our Christmas party. At one point in the middle of a gift exchange game the headset rang. I was standing up in front of everyone unwrapping something and I said "Good afternoon, this is Triple Five." Everyone started laughing and I couldn't hear the person on the phone, so I bolted out of the room which caused the laughter to increase. Ya. I am cool like that. And what better way to start the new year then with a photo of Britney Spears!?

Merry Christmas (Fa la la la lifetime)!

2007-12-20T19:22:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

This year has been an eventful one for the Fabulous Five. We have had our ups and our downs but all and all we have had a delightful year.

Cassidy moved here from Connecticut in September to join our cozy apt and immediately started searching for a job. It was such a blessing when she landed her dream job working on the musical RENT, which will be showing in Vegas in the spring of 2008. Rumor has it she will be singing a very touching solo about AIDS.

Erika has been working hard teaching for America. She is so busy trying to get her Masters degree, teaching and going to Championship fights that we don't get to see her much. We are really proud of her for losing her first adult tooth this past year when she was in a brawl at one of the BYOB Teach for America parties. The teachers of America sure know how to party.

Amy has been busy this year working hard to keep her secret identity as a Casino robber a secret. She hides this well by pretending to lose jobs occasionally, and living in a modest apt with 4 other girls, so people think she is poor. But her fancy car is a dead give away.

Liz has been eating, drinking, breathing, and living soccer. And when I say "soccer" I mean she is actually having a secret affair with David Beckham. Posh Spice is in for a run for her money, because Liz is super hot. So let's hope this next year holds for her a bright future as Mrs. David Beckham.

Myra has been working for Triple Five a.k.a. The Jewish Mafia this past year. She quietly sits at her desk pretending to be a receptionist. But little do people know she is actually working with her secret agents (that dress up as Rabbis) to rule all of Las Vegas and some day hopefully the whole world.

Merry Christmas from our dysfunctional home to yours!

Love The Myra

Thanks for your support!

2007-12-14T09:32:00.001-08:00

Dear friends, family, and casual acquaintances,

Recently I have considered joining Mary Kay, Pampered Chef or Some Jewelry party company to make some extra money, but I have decided to go with a different route. Instead of asking you all to attend a party, you don't want to go to, and buy jewelry or products you don't really want, but feel obligated to buy, because you are my friend and want to support me, I have decided to ask you to just send me $15-$20 a piece(sorry for the really long run on sentence). This way I will get 100% of the profit, not just some small portion of it, and you can still feel like you are being a supportive friend without having to waiste your precious time at a party you don't want to be at or have to buy something you will just end up throwing away or using as a white elephant gift. Your support is much appreciated. You can send me a personal check or money order to(sorry credit cards aren't accepted at this time):

Myra Bybee
299808080999 West Cockroach lane
Las Vegas, NV 89666

Sincerely,
Myra Mayall Bybee

Christmas Checklist:

2007-11-30T08:48:00.000-08:00

Go to a Christmas parade of lights-of Houseboats on Lake Mead.
Watch the LDS Christmas Devotional.

Listen to Sujan Stevens Christmas cds box set.

Take family Christmas photos with roommates in ridiculous sweaters and turtlenecks.
Write a Christmas newsletter.
Go to the live Nativity.

Watch It's a Wonderful Life.
Roast Chestnuts on an open fire

Go to the Cactus Garden that is decorated with lights.

Buy Christmas gifts for family and friends.

Drink hot cocoa a lot.

Eat finger foods on Christmas eve.
Open gifts.
Give a lot of Christmas toasts.
Eat muffins and drink hot cocoa on Christmas morning.

Go around a circle telling each family member what I love about them and cry.

Spread Christmas cheer by singing loud for all to hear.

Play monopoly.

Help people.

Eat fudge.

Have a Christmas eve sleepover with siblings.

Find snow to play in.

I got tagged twice! Ok. I guess I will just do this!

2007-11-20T09:57:00.000-08:00

I got tagged by Jenifer and Valerie. The name of the game is to list 6 facts/habits about myself. And then tag 6 other people. So here is the list you are all dying to know:

1. I love traveling! I love seeing new places, trying new food, taking way too many photos and experiencing the culture of where ever I am via the people.

2. I live in Las Vegas and for the first year of my year and a few months here I have had a hard time seeing this desert as beautiful. But I love the weather here right now! It is November and it is like 78 degrees! Also since moving to Summerlin I have been finding myself saying "Wow. That is is pretty!" more often. There are great skies and sunsets here in Vegas and there are actually some trees and mountains close to where we live now.

3. I love to be silly! And sometimes that means I act like I am still in Jr. High. For example: Chasing my roommate in a sporting goods store, with a moose puppet(which is actually a golf club cover) while attacking her and making moose noises. Or the fact that I sit at my desk thinking of mean things that my bosses initials can stand for. She is a mean person, but how juvenile is that?!

4. A strange habit of mine that I have been catching myself doing lately is this strange dance I do when I am talking to people, especially people I don't know very well. I don't know if it is because I am uncomfortable or what, but for some reason when I am talking to some people I start to dance around like I have to go to the bathroom. One girl actually asked me recently, "Do you have to go to the bathroom?" And I was so embarrassed, because I didn't know I was doing this.

5. I sing really loud in the car to whatever I am listening to and I dance a bit also. Often I sing so loud it hurts my throat.

6.I make a goal to exercise in the morning almost every night, and I never actually get up early to do it.

OK I will tag: Vanessa, Erika, Kaylene, Brooke, Amy and Mo. Ha ha ha, you are it!

Question: is your name Dwight?

2007-11-13T09:42:00.000-08:00

On Friday a new accountant started at my company. One of the first things he said to me was, "Question:(pause) Which door should I use?" When he started his sentence with "question" and then paused I almost busted up laughing. "Question: what kind of bear is best?"

Now this is not the only thing that made me wonder if the new guy is secretly Dwight K. Schrute, but there are few other clues. He wears his pants high up and is a bit nerdy. But then today he put the cherry on top when he said, " Executive inquiry:(pause) where is the nearest McDonald's?"

I once again held back my laughter and in a very serious voice gave him directions to the nearest McDonald's.

I just wish my boss was Michael instead of Mary, and there was a hot guy sitting across from me named Jim.

H is for Halloween

2007-11-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Halloween. We decorated our car for our FHE trunk-or-treat. We got second place, although we deserved first place. Come on people, we had a pumpkin bum!

We also had a fun party on Halloween night. We are getting to know the people in our new ward quickly and they are all so great. Liz and I were long-boarding as we waited for the party to start...OK maybe I was barely moving on the long board, but it was fun to take photos of a fairy and a tri-athlete long-boarding.

H is for Hawaii

2007-11-02T14:51:00.000-07:00

As many of you probably know I went to Hawaii a week ago (October 19-26). I had the opportunity to go with my sister Eliza, her husband Matt, and my two adorable nieces Sophie and Olivia. The deal was if I helped babysit my nieces then I could go for free. I was hesitant to accept this deal, but with a lot of begging and pleading from my sister, I finally agreed to do it....

Hawaii is a very beautiful place as you would assume. A few highlights from the trip are:

1.I got to swim next to a sea turtle! I go so excited! I would have taken a photo of it, but I was a little too excited about my underwater camera and took way too many photos of fish before I finally saw a sea turtle and I was out of film. So I stole a photo of one from google images.

2. I saw one of the most amazing sunsets of my life (and I have seen some pretty amazing sunsets). The water and the sand were all lit up with pink. There are moments like these in my life that are so brilliant and beautiful it is hard to believe it is actually real. Some might say it was surreal...heh heh...It was one of those moments that is hard to describe, so I will just post a photo.

3. We drove to Hana (in Maui) on one of the days we were there. Originally Eliza and Matt were going to leave me and Olga(the other babysitter) at the house to watch the kids while they went to Hana. But because they are so nice they had us come along. Thanks Matt and Eliza for your sacrifice.Now there is something you should know about the road to Hana, if you don't already know, it is very windey. It is sooo beautiful, but so windey. It is these groupings of hills, next to the ocean, that are covered with trees, tropical vegetation, and waterfalls. As we were driving along I was trying to take in all the beauty, as well as entertain Olivia so she would stop crying. I should of probably kept my eyes focused out the front of the car, because all of the sudden I started feeling really sick. We pulled over so I could vomit, but luckily I didn't have to. As the long trip went on the kids were pretty fussy. It wasn't fun for them to be in the car for 6 plus hours. But once again I am so thankful they took us with them, because it was brilliant.

4. Eliza and I had some fun swinging on some vines in the jungle. We were laughing pretty hard as we attempted to do this. It isn't as easy as Tarzan makes it look.

5. I loved spending time with my nieces: Olive and Sophie. Olive has the cutest smiles. She has one that is just straight across that melts me every time. And Sophie and I had some fun bonding on this trip. We played outside and found a pineapple.She remembered my name the whole time, instead of calling me Sunnie. And she was cuddly with me the whole time, which always makes me happy.

So all and all I had a great trip!

I love Kool-aid face!

2007-11-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

Just looking at this face makes me happy! I heart the office! I have heard discussion of this season not being as good as the other seasons, but I think it is just as good. Different, but good! I feel like the writers did what they had to do to keep the show interesting. They couldn't just keep doing the same stuff over and over again. And how can you complain about a season that brought Pam and Jim together? Please tell me what your opinion is of this season of the office?

And I know I haven't posted for awhile, but I am going to be better. Hopefully tomorrow I will get a chance to post some photos from Hawaii and Halloween, because as you all know those two things go together. They both start with H.

By the way yesterday was my one year Blogiversary! Happy Blogiversary to me!

2007-10-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

*I got that word from Cassidy!

Mail

2007-10-09T15:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a bad mail day on multiple levels. Our office was closed last week on Thursday and Friday to celebrate a Jewish holiday, and The Postal service was closed on Monday to celebrate Columbus. With all this celebrating going on our mail was piling up. And guess who got to open 4 days worth of mail?! You guessed it:Me. I spent 3 hours opening envelopes and sorting invoices, junk mail etc. I never wanted to see another postmarked envelope again when I left to go home from work.....

But lo and behold what was there lying on my bed when I got home? A postmarked envelope from UNLV. I was a little bit excited to get mail, because I don't get mail very often. I opened the envelope and read the letter that ruined the rest of my night. UNLV rejected my request for Nevada residency, which means I would pay three times as much for tuition as a non-resident then I would pay as a resident. I can't afford that. Today I sent a letter of appeal in and I am feeling better about it all.

This experience made me think about mail. Mail can be the bane of my existence or the best part of a long day. I love getting letters in the mail. On my mission I would look forward to going home for lunch so I could check the mail, and when I saw one small letter for me my heart would flutter with excitement. It is too bad we don't write letters so much anymore. We have IM and emails, and text messaging. But those are quick and often thoughtless communications, lacking in intimacy. If I knew I was going to get a letter in the mail I would go check the mail everyday or even twice a day. Now I only do that when I have ordered some Cds and know they should be coming soon.

Moving Schmoving!

2007-09-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

Who likes to pack and clean and move heavy boxes and objects, and pack some more?

I don't.

Who likes to do this in the midst of living normal life: doing homework, job work, church work, life work ?

I don't.

Maybe next time I will try this method.

Boo creepy foot doctor! Hooray beer!

2007-08-30T11:39:00.000-07:00

Do you remember this. Megan, Cassidy and I laughed for an hour when we first saw it. Here is my take on it:

Boo exhaustion from not sleeping at night! Hooray long weekends!
Boo mean boss! Hooray having a job!

Boo creepy Rabbi's that hit on me! Hooray all the Jewish holidays I have off!
Boo classes on Thursday nights when I should be watching the Office! Hooray VCRs!
Boo nosy mailman! Hooray hour long lunch breaks!
Boo condescending to call me "honey"! Hooray elevating me to "The Myra"!

Boo people who don't like jokes! Hooray sillyness and laughter!

Boo Las Vegas peter pans! Hooray BEFF/BFFs!

Boo empty toilet paper holders! Hooray Brownie Fudge Sundaes.
Boo people who talk during favorite TV shows! Hooray The Office!

Boo Heidi and Spencer! Hooray Lauren!

Boo no one will come to our socially unacceptable party! Hooray awkward affection!

I have a driving phobia!

2007-08-28T17:29:00.001-07:00

Maybe the reason I love this Radiohead song, is because I can relate to it. Maybe this driving phobia is also the reason I didn't get my drivers license until I was 23.

p.s. I didn't choose the actual music video for this, because it is a little too violent for me.

I guess I am ready for lots of change.

2007-08-23T21:21:00.000-07:00

I have had some fun changing up my blog a bit! Hopefully you all enjoy.

I am tired of finding cockroaches in my bed!

2007-08-22T15:59:00.000-07:00

Last night I went through my nightly ritual of shaking my blanket out and checking under my pillows for cockroaches before I get into bed. I have become a lot more relaxed about checking, because I haven't found one for a few months. Sometimes when Amy is already asleep I have to do my night check in the dark, with my little flashlight. Last night she was asleep and lo and behold there was a decent sized cockroach under my blanket and it darted away from me. Of course I screamed(and Amy stirred a bit) and I tried to find it. It went under my comforter so I tried to lift it up without having the stupid bug crawl onto me, and it scurried out onto my bed again and in a panic I smashed it onto my bed. So now there is a nice cockroach stain on my off-white comforter!

My room mates(that I adore) were so kind to throw me a surprise party on Friday. When I opened the door ONE person was standing in the dark and screamed "RAAAW"! I thought "Alright, so one person is at my surprise party." Then a little bit after three more people yelled "SURPRISE"!!! So four people were at my surprise party. AWKWARD! HA Ha ha, it is quite amusing to think about it now. *note: More people showed up eventually and I am so grateful for all the work my room mates put into it.

So on that same note, I think I am ready for a change. Our lease at Eagle Crest apts is coming to an end and we are moving into the glorious Canyon Villas. It seems like a really nice apt, so I am hoping the rumors of them having some bug problems aren't true! Cross your fingers for me. My co-worker has scorpions in her house, so I guess I shouldn't complain. I guess it is this wonderful town of Sin city that just draws all of Satan's creatures in. Yes, I do believe cockroaches are of the Devil. Also hopefully our new ward will provide more friends to come to a surprise party if there is ever one to be thrown in the future.

Blog Tag

2007-08-16T15:07:00.000-07:00

Jobs I've Held:
1. Cougar eat crew supervisor (Subway, Sugar n'spice, Tomasitos and Scoreboard Grill)
2. Diamond Maker at Mega Diamond
3. Receptionist at Triple Five

Movies I Can Watch Over and Over:
1. About a Boy
2. Raising Arizona
3. Love Actually
4. Movies made by my roommates, my family and me.

Places I Have Lived:
1. Fruitland/New Plymouth, Idaho
2. Provo, Utah (The U.C.)
3. Chicago, Illinois
4. Las Vegas, NV

Shows I Enjoy:
1. The Office
2. The Hills
3. America's Next Top Model
4. The Office

Places I've Been on Vacation:
1. Europe (England, France, Switzerland, and Italy)
2. New York, Boston, Rhode Island, and Connecticut( same trip)
3. The Keys, Florida
4. Washington, D.C.

Favorite Foods:
1. Massiman Curry(or any curry with coconut milk in it)
2. Brownie Obsession from TGI Fridays
3. Red Robin's French Fries and Fry Sauce
4. Coconut Shrimp (from Red Lobster)

Websites I Visit (almost) Daily:
1. gmail.com
2. the blogosphere
3. lds.org
4. facebook

Body Parts I Have Injured:
1. My collarbone (my sister pushed me down and I hit a large rock)
2. My toes from wearing the wrong shoes (ingrown toenails)
3. Wrists from typing/writing etc.
4. gouged my hands working on linoleum cut prints....I seriously haven't had many injuries in my life. That is why these are pretty lame!

Nicknames I've been called:
1. My-My
2. Bugster
3. Miso
4. The Mya (this weekend my 3 year old niece said "There is the Mya" while pointing at me, I love having my name be made into a title!

Now I Get to pick 4 other Blog buddies to do this! Tag your it!
1. Cassidy
2. Amy Stevens
3. Erika
4. Mindy (and reveal to us your secret blog!!!)

I am sorry Mrs. Jackson I am for REAL!

2007-08-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

Most of you that know me, know that I am a very real person. I am terrible at being fake. When I have tried to be fake people usually can see right through me! Now you are probably thinking "Myra, that is a good thing." Well my dear Internet friends, you may think it is a good thing, but sometimes it is not. Here are a few examples of when it is bad:
1) When I have a crush on a boy I am not very good at hiding it. Like if I see him and am not expecting it, I usually turn a bright shade of red. But then again I also turn red over the most ridiculous things;If I feel at all uncomfortable or awkward the redness comes out!
2) When I really don't like someone I am not good at pretending I do. This is difficult when I have to interact a lot with someone that I don't like. I try really hard to pretend that I like them, but I am lousy at it!
3) If someone says something rude to me, that actually hurts my feelings, I am not good at faking that it didn't bother me.
4) When something is really funny, but it is inappropriate to laugh, I usually can't control myself and I just lose it! This can be really embarassing to myself and others. One time on my mission I was at a dinner appointment with my companion, two elders and A couple that were members from their ward that I hadn't met before. The woman started telling us about her dead mother-in-law and how sick she had become before she died (oh I just started laughing here at my computer all by myself). She then said that her mother-in-law used to be sitting at the table eating dinner with them and would just fall over out of her chair. For some reason I pictured this in my head and almost busted up laughing. As I am sitting there trying to contain myself, I kept coughing to hide the fact that I was smirking. Then as I think I am hiding it pretty well she asks me "Are you alright Sister Bybee?" And I lost it! I started laughing uncontrollably. I felt awful. Here I was a sister missionary, and I was laughing at her dead mother-in-law! This is just one of the many times that I have lost it like this. If something is funny I have a really hard time hiding it.
These are just a few examples of the many ways in which I am terrible at faking it! So I guess I will just keep on keepin' it real!
P.S. You guys should really do a google image search of keepin it real. There are some hillarious photos on there!

One Short day in the Emerald City

2007-07-26T10:33:00.000-07:00

One short day in the Emerald City.One short day to have a lifetime of fun. I had one of the best trips of my life this past weekend! It was the first annual BEFF(Best Ever Friends Forever) trip. This trip was so great, I am going to use two posts for it!

Amy and I took a late flight that left Las Vegas at 11:45pm and we arrived in Memphis at 5am, had a three hour layover, and then flew to New York and arrived at 12pm on Friday. We had little patches of sleep through out the night, but not a ton. If any of you have tried sleeping on a plane or in an airport, you will understand it is not easy.

Cassidy and Christine picked us up from the airport and we drove straight to Manhattan. We hurried over to NBC studios to stand in line for the Conan tickets. Cassidy already reserved some for us, but you still have to stand in line and get an assigned letter. We were so worried about making it on time to Conan and we ended up being the first in line. We got our assigned tickets and then were told to leave and come back at 3:15. We just chilled in the NBC studios, taking lots of photos as we waited.

We went back at 3:15 and had to stand in another line in alphabetical order. We were G, even though we were first in line....hmmm that doesn't seem fair. They finally let us go into the studio and I had heard that it was tiny, but you kinda have to see it to understand. It is crazy how they make everything on TV look so much bigger than it is, but it is tiny. We were sitting in the third row right by the stage. I was so excited. Conan came out and talked with the audience for a bit and he was like 3 feet from us. It is so weird to see celebrities in real life. He gave one of the guys in the audience a really long awkward hug, which I thought was hilarious, because I love awkward affection.

The main guest star was Kevin James and at one segment in the show Conan tells him he has his third grade teacher on the phone. As Kevin James is talking to his teacher, I keep thinking it sounds a lot like Adam Sandler. Then all of the sudden they show Adam in the red hallway we had seen as we came into the studio. He runs into the studio and down past us in the audience. After he had ran through and left the studio Cassidy and I both had the same thought, that we discussed later: "My mouth was open the whole time and I am going to look ridiculous on TV!" We checked later that night and we were definitely on TV(go here and you can see us), but luckily we were kinda blurry. I was on TV again, twice in one month....maybe it is a sign that I am supposed to be famous.

After the Conan O'Brien show we walked to Juniors to get some food. They had some huge burgers, so huge that I cut mine down the middle to make it a little smaller. From there we walked over to Broadway to go to the musical Wicked. As we were walking we got stuck in the middle of a group of like 15 or so teenagers. All of the sudden this guy held out his hand and said "Stop!" to this group. They all stopped and he and his wife crossed the sidewalk to go into the restaurant. At first I thought he was possibly joking, but no he was completely serious. He was kind of a rich yuppie guy, and it was almost like he was saying "You must stop for me, you low life poor kids. I am royalty because I have money." We got a good laugh out of that one. So ridiculous.

Wow! Wicked was soooo amazing! I loved it. I want to go

back and see it again. I had the songs in my head the whole trip and I still do. It is such a great story! I had been listening to the soundtrack for the past month, so it was finally nice to get the holes in the plot filled in and actually understand the whole story. I wish I could express how much I loved it, but I can't. So I will just say: Amazing! I think everyone should go see it. Find the nearest city where it is playing and go!

On Saturday we drove to New Port, Rhode Island. As we hit the bridge to the city I knew it was going to be beautiful. We walked along the cliff walk they have along the cost there. There are tons of mansions along there also, but I was mostly fascinated by the shore and cliffs. We also found Narnia while we were there. I just walked through these bushes and I was there. I really can't describe how great Narnia was, so I will just leave it at that. We walked around the quaint city for a bit and also ate some great seafood on the port there. Here are some more pretty photos.

By the way I am fascinated by rippling waves, especially ones with the sun shining down on them, so I really liked this harbor.

The rest of the trip is to be continued in the next post down.

Follow the Red Brick Line

2007-07-25T20:32:00.001-07:00

On Sunday we just hung out in Connecticut. We went to church there. I haven't been to a family ward relief society in awhile and can I just say middle aged women are crazy. After church we had a BBQ. Cassidy's sister Brooke and her family live in the midst of a Forrest(at least that is what it looks like to me). We just hung out and roasted Marshmallows in their beautiful backyard. It was a nice evening.

Monday morning we woke up early(well early for us) and drove to Boston. We met up with Cassidy's friend and ate some good food in Harvard Square. Harvard is a really pretty campus.

There is a statue of Harvard that you are supposed to rub his foot for good luck. We all rubbed it and I feel luckier now.

After this we started the Freedom tour. Which is a really cool thing to do in Boston and it is free. You just follow this red line all around the city(part is brick and part is painted). It takes you to all the historical sights of Boston. It is actually kinda funny that at times I actually felt like I needed to stay on the line. I kept catching myself walking the line and had to laugh at myself.
One of the first places we stopped was the Granary Cemetery. It is this really cool old Cometary. The headstones are really jagged stones, and they actually have skulls and crossbones on them, and really cool looking Gothic angels and such. Paul Revere, Samuel Adams and the Boston Massacre victims are buried there. We were all really fascinated by this place.

Along the way we saw several old churches, an old bookstore, and school house. Just the streets of Boston are so cool. I love the architecture and all the red brick. It just feels so quaint even though it is a big city. It is so rich with history also. I loved it. We stopped at the old state house. In front of this building was the Boston Massacre. It is marked by a star in the middle of the street. I just love how all this history is squished in the middle of these tall sky scrappers.

One of my other favorite parts of the tour was the old north church. This was where the two lanterns were lit to tell Paul Revere the British were coming. The church was really cool inside. They pews were in boxes(as you can see Amy and Cassidy were sitting it one). The reason for this was to keep the people warm. They also had the oldest working clock and organ in America in there. It was a cool church.

One other thing I loved about Boston was that in the North End the streets are actually lit by gas-light lanterns. I thought that was pretty cool. I really love Boston and will have to go back there again someday to spend more time there.

Monday night we went to a birthday party of Cassidy's friend Emily. It was in a building in downtown Boston, so that was fun. We actually ran into some people that were in a ward of mine and Amy's at BYU. The world is small when you are Mormon.

Tuesday Cassidy, Amy and I got some Manicures and boy they looked good. This was my second Manicure ever and I am starting to wonder if I should make it more of a regular thing. We then hurried off to the airport to fly back to Las Vegas. It was such a great trip, so it was hard to have it all end!

My third attempt to be famous/infamous!

2007-07-17T16:45:00.000-07:00

Well I think I finally am famous and not just by association with someone famous. You can see me being famous here. My acting debut can be seen at 6:47 minutes into the video, and again at 8:29. You should just watch the whole thing, because there are some funny moments. I feel like I have finally arrived, now that I can be found on google videos!

Amusing Phrases

2007-07-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

What do you think I am, made of money!

oh what a conundrum!

And what am I? chopped liver.

I'd rather eat my lungs.

WHAT?!

I love Lettuce!

Oh Hi.

Don't mind if I do!

seda sa seda sa....

This homework is raping me.

please bless!

That is kind of more-ish.

This is Phylis.

moons over my hammy

I'M MYRA!

pip, pip cheerio.

I'm a level 44 white wizard

A toast to you!

Taco Time, Taco time, I want to go to Taco!

Z like zebra

Ahh! I am from Mongolia!

Boo! Creepy foot doctor! Hooray! Beer.

You gotta baby in your belly don't get drunk!

I am just going to go home and bite my pillow.

Biddaly-Buppa!

Code Rainbow

The Fancy
Don't fall on your Kiester!

* I realize most of these are probably just funny to me, but maybe a few are amusing to you dear Internet friends also. I hope so.

I am almost as famous as the Little People!

2007-07-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

So last night I was on TV! I was a blur of white turtleneck in the background of TLC's Little People, Big World. I was SO excited when this episode of them going to Vegas came on, because I knew we would be in it! No one was there to appreciate it with me, Amy was in bed, Megan is in the MTC, and Erika was in Provo.... so I sat by myself beaming in my stardom! Good times...good times. I love hanging out with famous little people in the Venetian.

Out like Boyd Stout

2007-06-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

dedicated to Mindy.

Recently a friend of mine reminded me of my arch-nemesis when I was in Jr. High School. His name was Boyd Stout. Now I think it all started out, as all hatred for boys starts out, as a crush. I think I had a little crush on him while I was in elementary school. And I am not sure how this eventually turned into disdain, but turn it did.

Maybe it started to turn when he thought he was a "rappa'" in our elementary school choir program entitled "We're Going Green". He would dance around the stage singing "E-C-O-L-O-G----Y, Ecology!" I thought this was a bit ridiculous, although I was only 10.

All I know is that when we were in Jr. High we did not like each other. His posse and my friends would make fun of each other. He would call my one friend that was super tall "Tower" and when she walked by they would all act scared , and make sound effects like a giant was walking past. So in turn we started calling one of their posse "Earthquake" and when he would walk by we would all shake like it was an earthquake.

There was quite the war going on. He stole my locker combination, and in turn we stole his. He threw my headband down some busy stairs and so I of course threw his hat down the stairs. If I remember correctly my friend poured red cream soda on one of his posse members' head. I hit one of them on the head with my Bible. This was serious business!

Oh the arch enemies of our lives!

When my friend Mindy asked me if I knew Boyd Stout I still had a little quiver of disdain run through me. And apparently she doesn't even know him, but a group of Provoites is going around using the expression "Out like Boyd Stout". I am curious to know where this expression came from.

*Disclaimer: I no longer have ill feelings towards this guy, so if you know him or are him, please do not take offense to this. If anything this feud added entertainment to my life as a jr.high school girl.