oreo day.

today was memorial day, or oreo day as we johnsons have dubbed it. sadly i spent most of the day doing homework ... alone. but i did not allow myself to be deprived of what is really important on this holiDAY. OREOS!!! i went out and bought some just for the occasion and let myself indulge in them. it may not have been the most exciting memorial day, but it was a good oreo day.

today i am thankful for:
* oreos. and their deliciousness
* brothers who text to remind you that is oreo day so you dont miss out
* a day off of school (even though this usually means teachers think they should give you more homework)

<3.

train tracks take two.

today megan had to go back out to the train tracks to take some more pictures in a "different lighting" for her photography class. of course i was more than happy to join her in this adventure. it was raining, and beautiful, and i figured i could get some pictures of the train and the wooden building that i didn't get to last time. so we headed out and it was really fun ... again.

i really like how the rain falling down the sides of the train makes it look like a zebra or something.

this was megans rainy picture taking outfit. i liked it. i knew i wouldnt lose her.

it was very muddy and wet from the rain, and like any good college student, i definitely did not let this muddy opportunity pass. really i was surprised by a mud pit that looked like a firm layer of mud, not so, i feel i have a better understanding of how quick sand works though.

we also stopped on the way home and took some pictures of the beautiful tree blossoms. now this is something you definitely dont see in az.

im still not sure why i find taking pictures to be so entertaining, but it is definitely one of my favorite past times. its so calming and relaxing. and it is a good thing to do when you feel like you just need to get away for a few minutes, whether you need to get away from homework, roommates, or just life, its wonderful!

today i am thankful for:

* megan! (haha, it seems like i am grateful for her a lot, but i am!! im not really sure what this semester would be like without her!)

* rain!! i absolutely love the rain. it is pretty much my favorite thing in the whole entire world! and i love being able to just walk in the rain, there is such a feeling of freedom and carelessness when you walk in the rain, and it is wonderful!

* trains, while i do not like riding in trains very much, they do make pretty cool pictures. (not to mention when you are falling into the hidden quick sand mud pit they are very sturdy for grabbing on to so you dont totally biff it.)

* cuddling up with a big blanket and just feeling warm and happy. it is so amazing.

<3.

*

paulo freire.

today was my day to give my GIANT REPORT in my history and philosophy of education class. for this giant report we are given an influential educator and we must research them and then give a 5 to 10 minute presentation on them and also write a 2 to 5 page paper on them and how their philosophy influences me. i was given the brazilian educator Paulo Freire.

we have known about this presentation since the second week of class, but, like any good college student, i waited until yesterday to start working on mine. I have been thinking about it though, and how i wanted to go about my presentation, and what would work best with freire's philosophies and so yesterday i printed out about 8 articles either about freire, his philosophy, and his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. I sat down and read read read. I feel like I know this man inside and out. I put together a power point, which is what most of the other presenters have used for their presentation, but then, i decided not to use it. a stressful move on my part, but on the first slide of the powerpoint i put in part of his theory that says that "students should be involved in their own learning." so i got up for my presentation, pulled up my slideshow, told them who my educational giant was and read them the first page of the slide, and close it!! people looked very confused and could not figure out why i was not using my powerpoint. i then just pretty much told them it was time for them to get involved with their own learning and asked what they needed to know about freire to feel like they understood his philosophies. it ended up going really well and the teacher afterwards said she was impressed by how much i knew about freire. i was so glad! i had been so nervous!! ("all night" nervous to be exact, dont tell my mother;) but she actually ended up using both my paper and my presentation as examples of how people should be presenting. crazy!!! it makes me feel good, but at the same time i feel like the half of the class that already presented was glaring at me because their presentations apparently did not reach "my standard" and then the other half was glaring at me because now they had to make sure that their presentation reached "my standard". oh the difficulty of getting good grades. well, that is it for now. i should probably finish my homework for interior design.

today i am thankful for:

* the ability i have to function off of little to no sleep.

* a brain that, although it has difficulties sometimes remembering my life, is very capable of remembering the life of paulo freire.

* megan! (again, yes, it is true) and that she was willing to curl my hair (so i could look "professional" for my presentation) while i took a small nap. :)

* naps!!! i love naps. i love sleeping in the middle of the day! and today was one of the first days i actually felt i could nap because i hadnt slept much!

<3.

lime cilantro rice and steak marinated in soy sauce.

this is a real quick blog, just because i felt like blogging. today for lunch i had a most delicious meal! i made myself some lime cilantro rice and some steak marinated in soy sauce.

it is definitely one of my best creations so far this semester!!

today i am thankful for:

* food and all of the many delicious flavors in the world.

* curling irons.

* jayce!!! i love to text and talk to jayce, he is my favorite!!

* music music music. i have been listening to music a lot lately, and it makes me so happy.

<3.

big jud's.

since yesterday megan and i have been planning on visiting the filling station (delicious hamburger place) today after she got home from class. she came home and we headed off on our way. however, in the saddest turn of events in my life, we made it to the filling station only to find out that they now close at 3 monday thru thursday. we were very upset, but, megan suggested we make a visit to big jud's. i have not been to big jud's yet, although i had heard about it many times and have been told it is one of those, "must do"'s while up here in rexburg, so i decided this was good idea. now, big jud's is famous because ..... they have a ONE POUND BURGER!!!! i know what you are all thinking, thats disgusting. and you would be right, it really is disgusting. it is huge! not many people can finish a whole big jud's by themselves. so ... if you do finish a whole big jud's by yourself, you get your picture on the wall! and you get a t-shirt. so it is probably worth all of the sickness and, excuse my language, vomiting, just so you can get a t-shirt and get your picture on the wall!! well, needless to say, i was not even about to try and eat one, i got a normal sized hickory bacon burger. it was pretty good, but not as good as the filling stations bacon cheese burger! so good! anyways, right after you order your food they bring a small plate out for each of you, and some ketchup and FRY SAUCE!! (one of my favorite things about rexburg = fry sauce. i love it!!) megan explained to me that they bring you these things for you to have something fun to do while you wait for your food. this is what megan did.

and this is what i did!

i definitely was not bored while i waited for my food! i also enjoyed looking at all of the pictures on the wall of people who had eaten the big jud. i was impressed by a lot of them. the pictures of the people who have finished a one pounder probably take up a 2ft by 4ft space on the wall. then they have pictures of people who have finished a double pounder and those pictures take up a 2ft by 2ft space on the wall. and then there are about 4 pictures of people who have finished triple pounders, the most impressive there was a picture of a "team eating", but the two people who ate and finished a triple were two 12 year old boys! impressive! but, the most impressive, and disgusting of them all, was a father son team, (son was probably around 12 as well), and together they finished a FIVE POUNDER!! thats right people, five pounds of hamburger on a bun, and these two ate it all! along with fries and a drink, because you have to finish those too for it to count!. i think big jud's would be really fun to go to with a bunch of people, you could order the big jud, split it, and end up paying like 2 dollars a person. nice. all in all it was really fun, but i would rather go the filling station any day of the week.

today i am thankful for:

* a mother who taught me enough for me to know that trying to eat a one pound hamburger by myself is NOT a smart idea.

* megan!! megan is always willing to go places and do stuff with me, and it makes life fun!

* and again, megan! haha, megan helps me plan fhe every monday and i dont know what i would do without her help.

* stephanie, and the fun times we have talking in fake accents and watching boys skateboard around church parking lots.

<3.

freak snowstorm.

that's right. it is exactly what it sounds like. today, around two i left my house to go and take stephanie out to the fire chief's house to return some of his nephew's things to storage. as i left the house i was so happy about what a nice day it was. warm and sunny. perfect rexburg weather! stephanie and i drove out to the fire chiefs house and as i sat in the car waiting for her to return the items i looked around and noticed some, peculiar clouds, rolling in from the south. stephanie got back in the car and i pointed them out to her, and she told me they were rain clouds. if only if only. i should have known, rexburg does not believe in rain clouds. well, we went to sonic to get some drinks and the wind started blowing real hard. stephanie was sure it was going to blow my car away at any moment. but it didn't. then as we were heading back to stephanies apartment, it started to rain, but soon, the rain started to have a visitor, named SNOW! no big deal, it was little tiny snowflakes that melted as soon as they hit my window. we parked in steph's parking lot and in about 30 seconds the tiny snowflakes turned into giant snowflakes and stephanie, in her shorts and t-shirt, decided that she was not getting out of my car until it stopped! stephanie was also pretty sure that we were going to get snowed in to my car. so we spent an hour in my car while it snowed really hard, and we got a little bored. so we wrote things in the foggy windows, two girls came out from the apt. under stephanies and one was taking pictures and the other one looked quite upset about the situation, after a few minutes they went back inside. about 5 minutes later, the upset girl came back out and yelled, "WHY ARE YOU SNOWING???" on the top of her lungs and went back inside, it was hilarious. then stephanie decided that we needed to do a weather report. it was so funny.

just for your reference, there was no tornado, that we know of, and cars were not really sliding around the parking lot ... not yet at least. well, now here i sit, 430 and and the sun is back out and the skies are blue, and i am guessing that if i went outside it would be nice and warm again. oh rexburg, how you confuse me with your bipolar weather.

scripture of the day:
Alma 26:6 Yea, they shall not be beaten down by the storm at the last day; yea, neither shall they be harrowed up by the whirlwinds; but when the storm cometh they shall be gathered together in their place, that the storm cannot penetrate to them; yea, neither shall they be driven with fierce winds whithersoever the enemy listeth to carry them.

today i am thankful for:
* arizona weather, and not having to worry if it is going to suddenly snow in the middle of may.
* stephanie, and her ability to make being "snowed in" a car so much fun.
* fireplaces and blankets that keep you warm and toasty after you come in from crazy snowstorms.
* phones that can take videos.
* cheap cherry limeades from sonic!

<3.

microwave massacre.

today has been a great day so far and i just wanted to write it down before i go and do more stuff and forget everything else! today i woke up, just like any other day, got ready and went off to school. as soon as i was done with classes i went and picked up stephanie and we went to walmart and picked up some gifts and such, and then we went to the filling station!! so delicious! the filling station is this awesome little diner that used to be a gas station back in the day. they have the best bacon cheese burgers! not to mention amazing steak fries AND fry sauce, which is my favorite! so pretty much i guess you could say that the filling station is my favorite place to eat in rexburg!! although the taco bus does come close. but after that steph had to go home. so i came home and not too long after megan got home and megan, angela and i went down to the farmers market!! it was so fun. they have it every friday during the summer i guess and people come and just sell all types of things. mainly there are flowers, jewelry/accesories, food, and pottery. megan bought some really cool flowers

and i bought some very pretty gerber daisies.

i like that they are orange! my favorite color! after that we came home so that megan could get ready for zumba, and then she left and angela and i decided to go to MICROWAVE MASSACRE!!!!

i named it myself, it was actually a little event the physics department was putting on called, "things your mother told you not to put in the microwave." it was so cool! they started with three microwaves and ended up with one left "standing". It was actually really cool seeing the reaction from all of the different things they put in the microwaves. They put in a bag of marshmallows (bag and all), ping pong balls, c.d.'s, christmas ornaments, light bulbs, a glass bottle, black lights, christmas tree lights, matches, and probably some other stuff that i cant remember right now. my favorite was either the ping pong balls or the matches. the ping pong balls caught on fire and disintegrated and the matches caused plasma rays or something. it was really amazing. this is a video of the matches in the microwave.

all in all it has been a really fun night so far. i am looking forward to many more amazing nights this semester!

scripture of the day:
Alma 5:26 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?

today i am thankful for:
* pretty flowers from really cool farmers markets.
* angela and megan! i love hanging out with them and going to do cool things with them.
* physics!! i never thought i would be thankful for physics, but it allows people to do really cool stuff.
* creative people who turn old gas stations into very tasty diner's.
* my ability to write papers for school in as little as 25 minutes.

<3.

canada eh?.

yesterday, as megan and i were contemplating the intricacies of life, (or venting about things or people or situations), we decided that what we needed was a nice vacation and so ...

CANADA!!!! we are going to go to canada, eh! no we have not gone yet, this is like a preview so that you will get excited and ready to read about the trip once it actually happens. we decided to go up fourth of july weekend! haha, we figured everyone else will be trying to come to america, and so we'll leave! i am very very excited about this adventure we will have! i just had to let everyone else know! i am so excited!!!

scripture of the day:

2 Nephi 10:23 Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves - to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.

*also see talk titled, Choose You This Day.*

today i am grateful for:

* megan! she is so wonderful! she likes to go places and have fun, and i like that too!

* my mommy! i had so delicious nachos for lunch, beans provided by my mom!

* school. as hard as it may sometimes be for me to wake up and go to class, i am always happy that i did. i love learning! i am so grateful for the opportunity that i have to be here at byu-i!!

* lazy days, and how they help people to just sit around and talk instead of run around trying to get everything done!!

* random people who compliment you and make you feel extra special.

* cute boys who talk to you in class. :)

* music. i love listening to music! it is always able to make my day better!!

<3.

sunday adventure.

so, at about 4pm yesterday, as everyone else was taking their sunday nap, i decided that i was bored and wanted someone to entertain me. so, i wrote a quick message to megan on facebook. i didnt think she was awake, or that she would even respond. i wrote it in spanish, because megan and i are helping each other perfect our spanish skills by only speaking the español to one another. so i send her this message real quick. "hola mi amiga. tu es muy bonita. te quiero! debemos ir a tomar fotos por el tren, cerca de los columpios embrujada. ¿no? (p.s. i stole that last sentence from a spanish translator. haha.) ♥ ."she then proceeded to respond, within about 5 minutes, with "Si! Vamos ahora! Pero primero, un pregunta... Que hora es? {Bahahahahaha! I mean...Jejejejeje!}" i laughed, because it is funny.

(if you are confused and are wondering how this is funny, then look up que hora es ep. 2 on youtube, and you will soon know.)

so i wrote back with, "hahaha. santa barbara! santa maria! santa claus! oh, mis corazona esta muy contento a causa de usted!! ♥ ." again, funny because of the youtube video. and then before i knew it we were off on our adventure. we drove out towards the haunted (or mystical) swings and took some pictures out by this train, most of mine are of my new guitar the i bought online for six dollars!! (shopgoodwill.com) it was really fun.

after we were done taking pictures at the train tracks we travelled through rexburg, past the "hidden valley" and found the bird house lady's house. and took pictures of the really cool bird house tree.

after that we came home and had a pretty quiet rest of the evening, but it was really fun and i was glad megan was willing to go with me to take pictures and entertain me!

today i am thankful for:

* Megan! because she is fun, and likes to go places with me and take pictures! and because she knows about cool places like the bird house lady's house.

* friends both near and far, and how much they help me, and that they trust me enough to help them too!

* my laptop and all of the things that i am able to do because of it.

* prayer!!!

* extra credit projects that help me boost my grade, even when it doesn't really need it at the moment!

<3.

moose on the loose.

today as i drove out of my apt complex with my roomies, headed towards stake conference i saw a cop car with its lights on! now, you have to understand, this is rexburg. in the 5-6 months that i have lived here in my life, i have not once seen a cop car with its lights on, and i have only seen a total of about 3 cop cars at all! so i was very interested in what finally got the attention of the cops! as i strained my neck to see the car that this cop must be chasing i realized, only in idaho. it was not a car that the cop was chasing, but rather, a moose. yes, mr. moose had decided to come take a little vacation in rexburg and was busy breaking all traffic laws and getting the cops sure wound up. it was really funny. we took a little detour getting to stake conference and saw cop cars zooming back and forth looking for the loose moose. we just laughed and laughed! as we were driving by one cop car my roomie megan spotted mr. moose hiding in someones backyard behind a tree. we could not help laughing, it was so funny! the whole time i kept imagining one of the moose from brother bear running around thinking in its head, with a canadian accent, about why these crazy cars with lights were chasing them around. it was an excellent and funny morning to get us ready for a really good stake conference. it was a state wide stake conference, broadcast from salt lake. we got to hear from, c. scott grows, which angela pointed out is also funny because its like see spot run, only c. scott grow. anyways, we also heard from sister barbara thompson of the relief society presideny, and i think elder packer, but i just had a major brain freeze and cant remember, and then president monson! it was really good. One of my favorite things they said was, "don't risk being deceived by going it alone." and talked about how important it is to have the constant companionship of the holy ghost and to study the scriptures daily. it was a really good stake conference.

today i am thankful for:
* roommates who think a moose on the loose is as funny as i do! and are okay with detours to find mr. moose.
* technology and the ability it gives me to talk to people in different states and look up recipes for chocolate cakes with no egg.

* music that uplifts me and makes me happy.

* nannette and her delicious ability to make heavenly good food for sunday "supper".

* clean clothes!!.

haircut.

today stephanie and i decided to go and get hair cuts. here are some before shots, we forgot to take actual before shots for me, so i had to find some, but stephs we took right before we went into the hair academy.

when we started out on our day we had a plan set to follow. first i would get my hair dyed black, and then trimmed just a little. next, stephanie would get her hair trimmed and we would be done. simple enough? i think not. i got to the hair salon and instantly wanted a big change! i wasn't really sure what to do though because I had pretty much tried everything there was to offer. i had done short, i had done long, i had done lots of layers, i had done no layers, i had tried punk hair, and i had tried the professional bob, what could i do that would stand out and make people go, "oh my goodness! you cut your hair!" turns out that i really like to "shock and awe" people. so as i am sitting, getting the dye rinsed out of my hair, i see a picture in the book steph is looking at and start wondering. right when liz, my hairdresser, is about to start the process of trimming my hair, i say, "just a second." then i grab the book, show her the picture and say, lets actually do this. stephanie looks like she is about to faint, liz asks to make sure i am sure thats what i want, and i say, "yeah, what the heck, lets go for it." i sat impatiently as she cut, and grew more and more nervous as the minutes went by. stephanie kept laughing. i started worrying about whether or not i had made a good decision. after what seemed like forever liz was finally done cutting, drying, and styling, and i was given back my glasses and allowed to see the final product.

bangs!!! i saw a picture of this lady with bangs and thought to myself, "hmm, now there is something you haven't tried yet." and so i decided to give it a go! i am loving them so far, although it is a little weird! i don't think i have had bangs since i was probably about 7. it is definitely strange, but i like them! well, then stephanie was thinking maybe she wanted to do something new and exciting too. but she was too afraid because she had had the same haircut for like 6 years! and i will be the first to admit, that that first time you make a change is the hardest, and then it gets easier, and more fun after that. I finally convinced her to make a few little changes and in the end it looked so great! she was more nervous than i was i think, but now she looks awesome!!

we just added some swoopy side bangs and more layers. she wasn't sure she liked it at first, but by the power of three witnesses! haha, but seriously, i think she finally decided she really liked it once everyone started complimenting her on it. all in all it was a great day! it definitely didn't go the way we had planned, but i think it turned out better! i love change! i think it is so fun to be able to be one way one day, and a different way the next! i love that you can make life whatever you want! it's so fun to get to try out different looks, and different things and make changes just because you can. <3.