living and loving it

new address

2010-11-01T18:37:00.000-06:00

A lot of things have changed in my life recently - new job, new apartment, newlywed.

As such, I deemed it appropriate to get a new blog address as well.

If you are interested in reading any future posts, please go to tiffandhunter.blogspot.com

something's fishy

2010-10-09T21:40:00.000-06:00

We are the owners of 15 little fish!

We bought the aquarium on Wednesday, set it up, and let the ecosystem start forming. Today I went and bought the fish. They are cute, tropical, colorful fish. I probably spent half an hour just watching them swim around once I put them in the aquarium, and when I fed them that was an adventure in and of itself. haha.

This promises to be a fun experience :)

where to begin

2010-10-05T16:12:00.000-06:00

I don't even know where to start on this update.

How about a few more engagement pictures? We were supposed to get this round of pictures taken when we got our first round of pictures taken, but due to complicated circumstances, we weren't able to. Even though I was weary to dress up and get my picture taken again, I'm glad we did because these pictures turned out really well.

My mom says that we embody the Taylor Swift Love Story personna very well in these pictures. haha. Kinda fun :)

Next, we can move on to wedding day events. After stressing about it for months, everything went so smoothly. I am sure that is due in large part to all the help that was offered from family and friends. It was beautiful, everything about the whole day.

And some pictures from the Salt Lake Reception:

This is just a sampling of the wedding photos. In fear of picture overload, I will let you see the rest on facebook. Everyone was so amazing and helpful-family, friends, bridesmaids, photographer-thank you everyone for helping to make the best day of my life so wonderful!

And so married life begins! We went to Kauai on our Honeymoon which was perfect. Hawaii is beautiful - the water is clear, the temperature is perfect. We had so much fun!

This last week we have been really settling in to our apartment. It has been such a fun experience setting things up together and making our house livable. While living with a boy is definitely an adjustment, I wouldn't change it for the world. What is really weird now is adjusting to real life again. Neither of us had to work much the first week back from our honeymoon, this week however; is different. It is weird to be home alone while Hunter is at work - not exactly something I am used to. haha. Also, I seem to have soooo much time now. While we were engaged it seemed like every minute of every day was planned and now I just hang out and do things at my leisure. Definitely not something I am used to.

Hopefully one side effect of all this free time of mine will be more blogging! Also, I have internet access inside my apartment now which should also help. Anyway, until next time (cross your fingers that it isn't December before I update again).

busy!!!!

2010-08-17T19:25:00.001-06:00

Who knew that as a bride to be life would be so busy? I certainly didn't.

Life is busy, but very very good. I think that between the two of us, we have every single day planned until the 18th of September. The wedding planning is moving right along, as it well should be since tomorrow marks exactly one month from the big day.

Since the announcements are going out soon, here is a quick snip-it of what some of the pictures look like.

I might be slightly biased, but I think that they turned out really well.

Anyway, quick as this update may be, I will hopefully be posting again soon!

love is in the air

2010-05-26T18:21:00.000-06:00

First off, I'm engaged!!!!!

Here is how it all went down:

I was in Europe from May 9th-23rd. This apparently gave Hunter plenty of time to get everything organized and all together. I had absolutely no idea what he was planning. I got home on sunday and spent a little time with him and my dad. The whole time thinking that he is still freaking out about talking to my dad. They both played the part really well. haha.

On Monday, I had to work from 5-3:30 and Hunter supposedly had a meeting that lasted until 6. My plan for the day was to go home, go running with my roommate, then meet up with Hunter and go to Cafe Rio (I was going through serious Mexican food withdrawals - apparently they don't have any in Englad, Ireland, or Scotland). My roommate and I go for our run in Memory Grove - this is a normal thing for us so nothing too out of the ordinary. About halfway through the run, she says that her toe (that had been injured in Europe at some point) was hurting so she needed to walk. I pass this off as completely normal behavior. Not long after that, I come around a corner and see a guy walking up the grove in a shirt and tie. I take note, think that it is kind of strange, and continue on my run as normal. As I get closer, I realize that this guy is Hunter. He comes up to me and gives me a big hug. At this point, I still have no idea what is about to go down. I just figure he got out of his meeting early and figured I was running at Memory Grove and decided to come meet me. Then Cherie comes around the corner and takes a camera from Hunter. Then I start to piece it together. He then proceeds to tell me he loves me, gets down on one knee, and asks me to marry him :)

Of course I said yes!

This is by far my favorite picture of the set. We just look so happy :) Which, of course, we are!

Afterwards, we walk down the rest of the grove to his car. He proceeds to tell me that Cafe Rio will be postponed until tomorrow and that I need to go home and shower and change into nice clothes so he can take me to dinner. Dinner was from The Roof, which is a much more fitting restaurant for having just gotten engaged!

That is our story! We are happy and in love :) More details and a date will follow, we are taking a little time to revel in the fact that we are engaged before diving head first into planning. Life is good!

tomorrow

2010-05-08T10:43:00.000-06:00

Dear England, Ireland, and Scotland,

Two weeks of my life will be spent in you - starting tomorrow. I will be perfectly happy with all your rain and mid 50 temperatures. I look forward to seeing the wonderful sights that are within your boundries.

Until then,
Tiff

no more please

2010-05-02T07:58:00.000-06:00

Dear Snow,

I am sick of you.

Love,
Tiffany

I work in Park City. I realized when I took the job that my drive up Parley's Canyon could be interesting at times - particularly during the winter. There were maybe 4 days total that I had any trouble (and by trouble, I mean it took me a little longer than normal, not once did I get stuck, stopped, or hurt) getting up the mountain before April. One particularly bad time in March definitely takes the cake, but alas, nothing I couldn't handle.

At the beginning of April there was a huge snowstorm that lasted most of my week on. Okay, I told myself, it is the beginning of April and we are in Utah afterall - this is to be expected. After that though the weather got all warm and nice, blossoms started coming out, and silly me thought that winter was finally coming to an end. How very wrong I was. Today is my 5th day coming to work this week and 3 of those days have included a snowpacked drive up. Really?? It is May Mother Nature, did you miss the memo?

Moral of the story, I am SOOOOOO ready to not drive in the snow anymore. I want it to be warm and dry. Please, please can we go back to the beautiful weeks of spring?

spring

2010-04-23T23:47:00.002-06:00

Random thought of the day: Spring is my favorite time of the year. Hands down.

false security

2010-04-22T20:35:00.000-06:00

As anyone who reads my blog will remember, I made it a point to become a runner last year. I feel like i successfully accomplished that when I finished a half marathon last August. Since then, I have been hit and miss on the running thing - until the last few months, which is when I discovered the treadmill.

Now, previously I was treadmill-phobic. It took me weeks to become comfortable even walking on the treadmill. Eventually though, I got there and was able to run according to my desires.

My first day running outside happened this last week. Worst. Run. Ever. Wow, had the treadmill led me into a false sense of security.

Rest assured, it will be a long time before I hit up the treadmill again.

update

2010-04-17T08:18:00.001-06:00

It has been far too long so here is a quick update on what the last month and a half of my life has been like:

1. I was diagnosed and cured of ringworm. Gross. I know.

2. I drove in some of the craziest snow we have had all year.

3. I also worked on perfecting the art of a toe side turn on my snowboard.

4. Spent a lot of money on hiking shoes.

I will admit though, they are pretty sweet. I had no problem scaling some pretty steep rocks.

Which brings us to...

5. Hunter and I went to Moab! We hiked around in both Arches and Canyonlands for a few days.

It served as a nice break from the cold.

While hiking around and having no problem scaling rocks in my killer hiking shoes, I got on a rather steep rock with 30-40 ft dropoffs on either side and couldn't quite get myself back down - turns out it is a lot harder to get down than it is to get up. The result of that was...

6. I suffered from some severe rock burn. Don't worry, Hunter caught me at the end of my slide down the rock so I didn't fall off any cliffs. At least it was only rock burn, right?

7. Upon returning to work after my Moab vacation, I went through IV training and then gave blood in the same day. If you were to look at my arms you would think I was a druggie. I promise that is not the case. haha.

8. And last but not least, I enjoyed some pretty amazing cheesecake, compliments of the Cheesecake Factory and my boyfriend last night.

Life is good.

Little Black Dress

2010-02-26T17:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Cherie and I went to the University of Utah School of Pharmacy Gala. All of the proceeds went to the Maliheh Free Clinic that we volunteer at.

This is Greg, one of the main nurses at the clinic. This man saves many lives.

View from the top. We were on the 4th floor above Rice Eccles Stadium. Our views out either window were incredible - the mountains on one side, the city on the other.

These are just a couple pictures we took at our table after we finished eating. We felt a little bit like traitors at the U stadium in our black and red, but all in all it was a very good experience. The food was good, the company was good, and it all benefited a good cause. I am so glad that I get to be a part of such a great organization as the Maliheh Free Clinic.

i heart hole in the wall

2010-02-05T06:09:00.001-07:00

I love, love, LOVE hole in the wall places.

For proof of this, there is a whiteboard in my apartment with all the little random restaurants that my roommate and I want to try. We do try these places out on a semi-regular basis.

The other day I went to this little bowling ally on 33rd South and about 13th East called Sue-Rich Lanes. I must say, it is the coolest little place. The owner was the cashier that helped us. We had very personalized service. Yes, the machines were probably older than I was and our ball got stuck a couple times, but it was still so much fun. I love that this guy and his wife started a bowling ally and have been able to keep it up and running for so long. I can't even imagine how much planning, time, and effort went in to starting up their little business.

Maybe I am just fantisizing about the beginning of this place, but I really like that little fantasy and it makes it so much more meaningful to support their business.

If you want to go bowling in Salt Lake, I definitely recommend hitting up Sue-Rich Lanes.

time, time, time

2010-02-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

Time...it is such an important part of this life.

Due to a recent change in work schedule, time seems to have much less proportion than it ever used to. Allow me to explain - I work 7on/7off, Wednesday to Tuesday, 5am-3:30pm. Seven ten hour days in a row. I know that at this point you are probably thinking "wow...that is awful". But, then I get seven full days off in a row. I love my new schedule, absolutely love it. It does mess with my sense of time though. Wednesday feels like Monday or sometimes Saturday. Today, in theory, should be a Monday but it too feels very much like a Saturday. I am learning however, to not put a lot of stock into what day of the week it is so I get far less confused. It definitely makes my life interesting.

Another thought I have towards time is that it goes by so quickly. It seems the older I get, the more quickly time flies. The fact that I will be 23 in just over a month isn't what gets me. It is the fact that my youngest brother now has a driver's license and that my sister is graduating from high school this spring. Weird.

In church yesterday, one of the speakers said something like this (not an exact quote, but what I remember) "time is an investment. What are you investing your time in?" I thought that was some good food for thought. Comparing time to money kind of puts a new perspective on it. We are really careful with our money - don't spend it on unnecessary things, invest it, save it, and a slew of other things. I don't think we are as careful with our time. Do we invest it in stock that will grow and cause us to reap the rewards later? Or do we give it to mind-numbing activities that will drain us of all emotion? Is the way we are spending our time now going to benefit us in the long run? I am sure that only time will tell.

something to think about

2010-01-11T09:47:00.002-07:00

While browsing msn.com this morning, I came across this quote from Karen Salmansohn.

"Have you heard about the famous research study done on a clique of young goldfish? They were raised in a luxuriously long aquarium with a pesky glass wall smack down its middle. Every time these goldfish tried to swim to the far side of the aquarium — ouch — they'd hit their little fish noses on the glass wall's hard surface. Eventually, the goldfish were resigned to their limited swimming options and stayed swooshing around in the half-size aquarium, which they now recognized as home.

"After a few months, the researchers removed the glass wall, allowing the goldfish full reign to swim wherever their little gills could gather speed to take them. Guess what? The goldfish never tried to swim to the other side of the long aquarium. Although the goldfish were no longer stopped by that glass wall, they were stopped by their limiting beliefs. They became prisoners of their past life conditioning!

"We humans are no better. Over time, we amass limiting beliefs about how life supposedly is — beliefs that are not valid. Then we allow these limiting beliefs to stop us from fully living our happiest lives.

"If you want to experience maximum happiness, more important than whether you see that metaphorical glass as half-full or half-empty, is whether you see a metaphorical glass wall in your way. After all, you could be the most optimistic person on this planet — consciously believing you deserve bundles of cash and heaps of loving — yet you can still remain blocked from getting all you want.

"How can that be? Because although your conscious mind might be thinking many, many fabulous thoughts about you, your subconscious mind can simultaneously remain very busy thinking its limiting glass wall beliefs."

Interesting, eh?

happiness

2010-01-02T17:40:00.002-07:00

What is happiness? It seems like the whole world is always on this constant search for happiness. It seems to me that everyone's definition of happiness varies depending on stages of life, past experiences, etc.

For my life circumstances right now, I would consider myself happy. I am always striving to learn more and better myself, but overall I live a happy life. As I look to the future, which is commonplace - especially this time of year, I wonder what it is that will be my definition of happiness 5 years from now, 10 years from now. Granted, 5 years ago I probably wouldn't have placed myself where I am now, but life doesn't always happen exactly how we plan it - or even want it to. I sincerely hope that I will live my life in such a way that I can continue to experience happiness an joy for many years to come.

At work, I am the person that comes around and wakes you up in the wee hours of the morning to draw your blood, or the person who you come to see specifically so I can stick a needle in your arm. Not often is the person walking around with the phlebotomy tray anyone's favorite person to see. However; since I am in the position that I am, I am privy to observing a lot of human interaction.

One of my favorite type of patients to see are those with their significant others. More often than not, I am drawing the woman's blood with the man watching. I absolutely LOVE seeing how cute guys can be with their wives. The women that come in to test their blood during their first pregnancy with their husbands who are cute and protective and try to distract them while I draw the blood. The husband that makes sure I am the plebotomist his wife gets everytime she comes in because he knows I can succussfully draw her blood with minimal pain and sticks. And let's not forget the grieving husband silently holding his wife's feet,with tears streaming down his face, while the doctor accesses her after a snowmobiling accident.

All of these situations are so tender. The love and devotion that these couples have towards each other is almost tangible. With every word that is spoken I get to see how much they truly care about each other. One day I want to experience this type of happiness. I want to be the girl with the cute husband that the phlebotomist loves to see.Whether this day comes in 2 years or 20, I want to care about someone so deeply that it overtakes my whole being.

So, to Mr. Right, wherever and whoever you are, know this: I'm not really picky about what you look like or how much money you make. I'm sure that you will have a past because I have one too. Your car can be twenty years old or brand new - none of this really matters. What I am really interested in is how you will care for me. Your love and devotion to me will one day mean more than any of those superficial things ever could. I look forward to the day I meet you, and if I come off as a little stand-offish I promise it isn't just you, I come off that way to most people when they first meet me. I'm not necessarily an easy girl to catch, but somewhere inside I really do want you to sweep me off my feet.

cooking extravaganza

2009-12-21T11:04:00.001-07:00

6 stocks of celery
4 pounds of carrots
2 whole chickens
10 pounds of potatoes
8 onions
26 cubes of chicken bullion
10 cups of cheese
4 packages of fusilli noodles
garlic salt
parsley
salt
pepper

This, my friends, is the list that a friend and I took to Smith's on Saturday night. Needless to say, we got some funny looks at the store.

We are now well versed in cooking whole chickens and mass producing soup.

random thought of the day

2009-12-15T00:20:00.000-07:00

When I get the hiccups, I get the hiccups.

Not just one or two, but big hiccups that involve my whole diaphragm and last for an extended period of time. Also, whenever I get them once in a day it is a guarantee that I will get them at LEAST one more time.

I have had the hiccups six times today. Seriously. I am over it. haha.

a little taste of heaven

2009-11-30T13:47:00.000-07:00

Oh how I will miss you, beautiful island of Oahu.

tis the season

2009-11-15T13:35:00.002-07:00

I love this time of year. The older I get the more I learn to love it. I used to loathe the snow and the cold that comes along with it. Now I welcome it. Snow is a beautiful thing. Each and every snow flake is majestic and falls as if doing a dance. It covers all the dying shrubbery in a beautiful white blanket. Then there is the smell of the crisp fall air, the rosing of my cheeks every time I step outside, carving through the snow on a snowboard, and of course the fall/winter fashion trends.

Another welcoming trait of this time of year is the holiday season. Everyone is giving, loving, and charitable. It seems that others needs are better taken care of and looked after. It is a beautiful thing. As a people we seem to really embrace those around us.

In the spirit of these pre-Thanksgiving weeks, I thought I would give a little rundown of what I am grateful for.

My family. Each and every one of them. I love you guys!
Friends. You make everyday so much better.
A good job. I truly enjoy going to work.
The view from my apartment window. The mountains never looked so pretty.
Education. You have changed the way I look at the world.
Religion. I can be whole again.
Never ending opportunities. Life is so much more exciting because of them.
Life experiences. You have helped mold me into who I am today.

the good life

2009-11-12T00:12:00.002-07:00

I was talking to one of my coworkers the other day. He mentioned something that has stuck with me. He said "if everyone in the world were to put their problems into a hat and choose which set of experience they wanted in life, we would all want to have our own problems back".

The more I think about that, the more it seems to ring true. We do all have our problems - everyone; not just the obvious ones either. Everyone experiences life in a different way and we all have our own perception of things. Something that may be life altering for one person might not even phase another. One person might come out on top of an adverse event when the same exact thing might completely consume another. As such, we should always be aware of what others may be experiencing on the inside. I know for me at least, way more goes on inside my head than I will ever let out.

What I perceive to be the moral of the story is that you can't judge a book by it's cover. Anyone at any given moment might be going through a life changing experience that has no physical manifestations. There are times that we may appear rude or disgruntled that we don't even realize it. Everything that we do and say has to do with our perception of the world around us - the things we learn, the things we do, and the opportunities that we have. We become the people that we are because of the way that we experience life.

That being said, I do have to give thanks as well. I'm not really sure that life gets much better. I mean, it's pretty much guaranteed to as I continue to get older and experience more things. But, I do have to say this - my life is good. I have an amazing family and excellent friends. I love my job and my roommates. My ward is great, my apartment is great, basically life is just good. And I will be in Hawaii a week from yesterday. Does it get much better? Like everyone else, I have my problems, but really life is good. So good.

Food for Thought

2009-11-06T09:51:00.002-07:00

I came across a copy of this article at work yesterday. I found it rather fascinating - which probably has a lot to do with the fact that I work at Intermountain and live in Utah. It also adds some good points to the current healthcare debate.

Making Healthcare Better

my silent plea

2009-10-11T19:05:00.003-06:00

More holiness give me,

More strivings within,

More patience in suffering,

More sorrow from sin,

More faith in my Savior,

More sense of his care,

More joy in his service,

More purpose in prayer.

More gratitude give me,

More trust in the Lord,

More pride in his glory,

More hope in his word,

More tears in his sorrow,

More pain at his grief,

More meekness in trial,

More praise for relief.

More purity give me,

More strength to o'ercome,

More freedom from earthstains,

More longing for home,

More fit for the kingdom,

More used would I be,

More blessed and holy

More, Savior, like thee.

-Hymn #131, More Holiness Give Me

with love

2009-10-03T01:09:00.003-06:00

“Are you always in a good mood?”

“Do you think it spreads? Do you think it makes others around you happier?”

“I think it does.”

Those were the question posed to me yesterday at work. It struck me and caught me off guard. It caused me to turn inward to try and determine an appropriate answer.

Really, I just want to be there. I want to be someone that others can trust. I want to be the person that anyone can talk to and feel safe sharing deep emotion, or frivolous emotion – whatever is needed in the moment. I want to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ by example. I want others to be comfortable and happy around me.

I try to find the good in everyone that I come in contact with. The amazing housekeeper that strives to keep our lab spotless. The cute little old lady driving her car 25 in a 45mph zone. The adorable old couple walking hand in hand around temple square. The kind gentleman who I stick with a needle to draw his blood twice a week. My amazing and inspiring boss. My best friend who knows me better than I probably know myself. The phlebotomist that I am learning to love far more that I would have ever thought possible upon first meeting her. My roommates who were kind enough to ask me to live with them. My family that puts up with all my crap. My Heavenly Father who looks after my each and every move and is always there even when I stumble. The list goes on. I don’t think I could ever write a comprehensive one.

I am surrounded by amazing people that have done incredible things in their lives and continue to do so. So many of them have come in contact with such tragedy but get through it with flying colors. They all offer inspiration to me. I am a better person because I know them. They help to lift and inspire me to do good each and every day.

My deepest desire is that I can in some way return the favor.

picture memories

2009-09-29T01:46:00.003-06:00

My weekend in Federal Way with Emily goes as follows:

We made killer cake batter cookies. 1 package cake mix, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter, 1 tsp. vanilla, 2 eggs and you have perfection.

Return of the Sunday afternoon ritual. Beautiful. Emily randomly had a blue feather up her red dress. We were in the green grass on a plaid blanket. Go figure.

Frolicking in Seattle. Girls just wanna have fun, isn't that right Emily? haha.

Joining the gang of 10 BMWs that passed us on our way back from Mt. Rainier - going 70 on windy mountain roads around sharp corners.

Hiking to the Grove of Patriarchs.

There were lots of bees.

The trees were incredibly old - we are talking 1000s of years here.

...and also they were gigantic. They don't come like that in Utah.

Needless to say, I had a fantastic weekend getaway with my best friend. Thanks for everything Embed!

it's a good day

2009-09-22T23:45:00.003-06:00

I woke up abruptly this morning at 7:42.

It was one of those mornings that your bladder wakes you up. Also, i was STARVING so that probably had something to do with it.

Let me tell you how very glad I am that I woke up with a start this morning.

There is a free clinic in South Salt Lake, Maliheh Free Clinic, that Cherie and I have been wanting to check out for a while now to see if they have any volunteer opportunities. Today happened to be the day that we decided to do just that.

Since it opens at 9:00 a.m., we decided to be there right around then. We went in expecting to fill out some paper work, maybe have an interview, and really just find out what kind of volunteer opportunities they had, if any at all.

This is what happened:

We were taken to the RN in charge of the operation for the day. She was THRILLED that two Med Techs had walked in her door ready to help. She quickly gave us a run down of the purpose of the clinic and a little bit about what happens there. Then she took our picture and gave us shirts and applications. About this time, everyone realized that the person who was supposed to be running the lab this morning had a funeral that he needed to attend - meaning they didn't have anyone to cover the lab.

Enter Tiffany and Cherie.

Basically they said here is the lab, anything you will need can be found here, and set us free to run the lab all by ourselves. We drew blood, did some basic testing, and learned how to work their 20 year old centrifuge.

Every single person - nurse, doctor, tech - was so happy that we were willing to help. I was thanked more times today than I normally am in a month. It was so good to feel like we were really making a difference and helping all those people out.

Working in health care can tend to be kind of stressful. Hospitals have all sorts of rules and regulations (out of necessity) and people generally aren't happy to be there. Even one mistake can seriously effect the life of a patient. I think that health care workers (myself included) sometimes forget that everyone involved is doing the best they can and only want to the best for the patient. Don't get me wrong, I love everything about my job and I don't have any complaints. It was really cool though to be able to see the mentality of the free clinic. Everyone that is there is there because they want to be. No one is getting paid, there aren't any special perks. Everyone is a volunteer and is there to help people. By choice. And everyone is so happy and helpful.

When we left, about 3 hours after we first arrived, one of the doctors escorted us out. The RN in charge gave us big hugs and profusely thanked us. We truly made a difference today.

What they have going on at the Maliheh clinic is truly amazing and I am glad that I got to be a part of that today. I look forward to the many days that I will be spending there in the future.

vertigo

2009-09-09T19:51:00.003-06:00

Vertigo is a real condition and not just a CD by Vertical Horizon. I know this because I experienced it today for probably the first time in my life. I've been dizzy before, but nothing can quite compare to true vertigo.

I drive up and down Parley's Canyon every day. It is an altitude change, but nothing that I thought was a big deal. Apparently it messes with my ears and sense of balance. As a Medical Technologist I am pretty close with the microscope. Today for the first time in a couple months I sat down at a microscope. Let's just say that it didn't go over very well. After counting cells for about 2 minutes I was hit with a wave of nausea, then came the dizzy, light-headedness. Luckily, I was able to finish the slide I was looking at but not without a bit of strain.

As soon as I was done I basically ran to the office so I could lie down and let the moment pass. Lucky for me, our pathologist was in the lab today. She proceeded to ask me what was wrong, get a blood glucose done on me, make a diagnosis, and tell me how to treat my symptoms. Every one took very good care of me - offering me water, mints, and helping me get my lunch.

After about an hour the moment had passed and I was back to my chipper self. I got some sudaffed and gum that will hopefully clear out my fluid filled ears that are messing with my balance. I will find out tomorrow since I have to be on the microscope again.

Wish me luck!

nirvana

2009-09-03T20:50:00.003-06:00

nirvana: (according to Merriam Webster)

1 : the final beatitude that transcends suffering, karma, and samsara and is sought especially in Buddhism through the extinction of desire and individual consciousness
2 a : a place or state of oblivion to care, pain, or external reality; also : bliss, heaven b : a goal hoped for but apparently unattainable : dream

Today I found nirvana.

Since I ran my half marathon almost a month ago now, I have been seriously slacking on my running. I didn't have the motivation I had previously and I didn't want it to feel like a chore when I went. I wanted to enjoy it. Today I went for my first good, challenging, long(ish) run since August 8th.

It was amazing.

I found the coolest little place called Memory Grove which leads into Memory Park. It is a pretty little mountain trail that winds in and out of the trees with a stream along side that ends at a quaint little park in downtown Salt Lake. I had no idea where it would take me when I decided to run down it, but I am glad that I wanted to explore.

The run back up was a little killer, but it made me remember truly how much I have come to love running-and also how much I have missed it this last month. Running up the hill back to 11th Avenue and B street all I could think about was how perfect it all was. The run, the scenery, the time of day, the sunset, everything. Coming up the final turn I had a picturesque view of the Capitol building with the whole valley in the background. It was truly breathtaking.

I truly found nirvana today.

personality typing

2009-08-19T19:08:00.004-06:00

This last weekend, my roommates and I all took personality tests then had a rather enjoyable time reading through our results. It was kind of incredible how accurate they all were. The type of test we took was a Myer-Briggs (or something like that) personality test. Here is a quick summary of my results:

I am an ISTJ. That means that I am

INTROVERTED:

are interested in their own thoughts and feelings
need to have own territory
often appear reserved, quiet and thoughtful
usually do not have many friends
have difficulties in making new contacts
like concentration and quiet
do not like unexpected visits and therefore do not make them
work well alone

SENSING:

see everyone and sense everything
live in the here and now
quickly adapt to any situation
like pleasures based on physical sensation
are practical and active
are realistic and self-confident

THINKING:

are interested in systems, structures, patterns
expose everything to logical analysis
are relatively cold and unemotional
evaluate things by intellect and right or wrong
have difficulties talking about feelings
do not like to clear up arguments or quarrels

and JUDGING:

do not like to leave unanswered questions
plan work ahead and tend to finish it
do not like to change their decisions
have relatively stable workability
easily follow rules and discipline

All of the information that I have listed can be found here. There are lots of other places that you can find out more information about your specific "type". We had a lot of fun with it and learned a lot. And, like I said earlier, interesting how accurate it is.

the wrong girl

2009-08-18T18:57:00.003-06:00

Dear Jiffy Lube Mechanics,

You chose the wrong girl to try and sell unnecessary parts to today. Allow me to explain why:

First off, I am a mechanic's daughter. As such I know a thing or two about cars. Now, I do not claim to be knowledgeable by any means but I am not ignorant. Trying to sell me a new battery when my battery has been fully functional might not be a very good idea. I drove to your store straight from work - which means my car had just started without any problems.

Also, because I am a mechanic's daughter I have been well educated in the fact that not all in your profession are necessarily honest. I do like to give people the benefit of the doubt though so I started my car successfully three times after leaving. I am now beginning to question your honesty in this situation.

In the future it might be better if you didn't try and make extra money off of me (or any customer for that matter) when they don't need it. And just because I am a girl does not mean I am ignorant.

Sincerely,

Tiffany

things i have learned

2009-08-06T21:31:00.002-06:00

The last month or so has been a month of learning for me. Weird one might think since I just received my bachelor of science, but I learn something new everyday. It is surprising me how much I am learning about myself in so short a time in my new life.

1. I am much more of a baker than a cook. I always used to make the excuse that I will start cooking more when I have time. Turns out I cook just about as infrequently as I did while in school. But don't worry, I still bake. More than ever.

2. The important parts of my day are exercising, working, sleeping, and reading.

3. I love the temple. I can't go a week without it.

4. I can do things now. Like buy a season pass to The Canyons and randomly fly to Seattle. Just because I want to - and mainly because I have the time. Awesome.

5. I am not nearly as adult as I would have guessed I was. I still have so many things to learn and experience in this life. I may or may not be naive, but every single day I learn something new - whether it be about myself or the world around me. Getting a degree doesn't mean that I know things.

Life is good. Until next time.

broadway in the desert

2009-08-03T21:13:00.004-06:00

This last week was definitely a good one. I think that I can get used to not having to balance school and work.

One of the advantages is that I can go home whenever I want to and not have to worry about how much studying I am going to miss out on. So, this last weekend I went home. My mom, sister and I went to see Footloose at Tuacahn. I cannot tell you how AMAZING it was! We had so much fun clear up until the very end. None of us wanted it to ever end. Definitely something that I would recommend.

Brittani and I as Ren and Ariel. Aren't we cute?

Here we all are waiting for it to start. It looks pretty empty at this point, but by the time it started the place had filled up. They did a raise your hand survey to see how many people were from out of state and coming to see Broadway in the Desert and us Utahns were a very small minority. We thought that was interesting.

In other news, I decided to try and hide the awesomeness that my finger has become. Consequently, I went from this:

To this:

Better? I like to think so. Besides, it helps to bring out my gothic side that has been lying dormant for a while now. haha. AAAAAND the best part is that you can't even tell I have necrotic tissue and clotted blood hiding under my fingernail. Fantastic!

my faves

2009-07-27T18:25:00.007-06:00

The top ten things about my new life as a college graduate and working woman (in no particular order):

1. I work at this place. Pretty much it is a hospital in the form of a resort. Very suiting for the typical Park City resident.

2. I go to work, get off of work and get to do whatever my heart desires. It is a new found freedom that my roommates and I are rather enjoying.

3. I get to read what I want - no more of this book hiatus because I have to make myself study. It's a beautiful thing.

4. Jack's Mannequin + The Fray = amazing.

5. Random road trip to Idaho with my ward. Zip line and water slides were included.

6. This next one pertains more to this week than the other 2 that I have been up here - my finger doesn't hurt anymore! It still looks like it should be on a dinosaur rather than a person, but it is painless. That is all that matters.

7. I live in the middle of everything. Pretty much anything that I could want I can find within a 5 mile radius of my apartment.

8. Which brings me to my next point: I love Salt Lake! Particularly downtown...

9. New bedroom furniture!

10. And last but not least, every single weekend is a party. Pretty much every single week day is too if I am going to be honest with you. Life is good.

i am ready.

2009-07-25T22:32:00.004-06:00

Two weeks from today I will run in my half marathon.

After my run today, I am officially ready.

This next week is more of a week to let my body recuperate from 2 runs that were over 10 miles in 2 weeks.

But because I was able to do those long runs these last 2 weeks, I am ready.

Wish me luck!

black and blue

2009-07-23T17:46:00.006-06:00

I recently got into a fight with a door at work. Needless to say, the door definitely won. And more likely than not, my fingernail is going to be a casualty in this incident.

This is not a picture of my hand-but, a picture of my nail would look pretty similar. It is my left pointer finger and the nail is almost all completely blackish purple like the one in this picture. Also, the blood you see pooling on the nail in this picture is because this person melted a hole into their nail to relieve the pressure. I did this as well. I flamed a pin, touched it to my nail, and in it went. Seeing your fingernail bleed is definitely an interesting experience (and completely painless by the way), let me tell you. But I can no longer feel my heartbeat in my finger anymore so it was worth the gruesomeness of the procedure. I'm not going to lie, I was a little fascinated by the whole thing. And I have never lost a nail before so that will be interesting as well. That basically sums up my nerdiness in a nutshell.

Hopefully the nail will fall off soon so the rest of the pressure will be relieved and the inflammation will go down. That is what I am hoping for at least.

Moral of the story: don't smash your fingers. Especially in big heavy lab doors. The experience is pretty painful. I never even knew that my finger could hurt so much for so long.

But do not fear, I have gotten past the pain and I am now just fascinated by all the little changes that are taking place in my finger. It's kinda cool actually.

afternoon playlist

2009-07-09T21:49:00.002-06:00

My best friend Emily is in town. That always causes for at least a little adventure. Here is today's:

Because she rode to Utah with some family and didn't have a car, Emily ended up borrowing one of her friends. Turns out his car has a killer sound system. We always tell him to play girl music in it but he just doesn't ever listen. I don't even know why. So, because she borrowed his car today, we played the music that we wanted to - and at a really loud decibel.

Our playlist went as follows:

1. Mormon Tabernacle Choir, High on a Mountain Top. It was SOOOO cool on his sound system! It literally sounded like we were in the conference center with all the bass and surround sound. AMAZING.

2. Katy Perry, I Kissed a Girl. So we digressed pretty quickly from Mo Tab to Katy Perry. But, we had to play this one for old times, inside jokes sake. It also happened that we were driving past the MTC right at the time this was playing. Oops...

3. Kristinia Debarge, Goodbye. This one has a pretty funny story attached to it. We were driving down state street on our way to target playing this song (and of course singing and dancing along). We looked over at the truck next to us and the guys in it were singing along with OUR music. It was HI-LAR-IOUS.

4. Rihanna, Breakin' Dishes. We actually started this one pretty quietly, but then we were stopped at a light next to this guy in a nice Mustang who was trying to be all cool with his loud music and nice car. Well, you guessed it, we decided to blow his sound system out of the water with our borrowed one and turned our music right up. The next 30 seconds at the stop light he couldn't stop laughing because he knew our sound system killed his, and lets face it, it was a pretty funny situation.

5. Pussycat Dolls, I Hate This Part. We might have been blasting our music, driving a little faster that we should have been and ended up driving right past a cop. No worries, he didn't even think twice about our law-abiding behavior.

6. Beyonce, Single Ladies. This one took some effort because every time I would set my ipod to play this song it would play an Akon song - not quite what we were going for. But, eventually it worked out. We did have to drive around the block in order to hear the whole thing though.

Love you Emily.

life goes on

2009-07-06T20:06:00.002-06:00

There are big changes happening in my life. Change is good.

I am officially a registered Medical Technologist now.

I am an alumni of BYU - with a bachelor's degree.

I am moving to a new apartment in a new city in a couple days.

I start my new job in Park City one week from today.

Welcome to my new life. Funny how things change so quickly. It seems like I have been waiting to get to this point in my life for a long time and all of a sudden it just happened.

Weird. Exciting. Scary. Awesome.

I'll let you know how it goes.

sleep, sweet sleep

2009-06-28T11:29:00.005-06:00

Like almost every Saturday, my day started bright and early at 4:45. Unlike most Saturdays, my alarm didn't go off so my wake up call was the person at work wondering why I hadn't shown up yet. On the bright side, I did get an hour more sleep than I was expecting. Very exciting.

Last night I went to the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti with Krista, Daniel, Daniel's brother and sister, and one of Krista's friends. We went down in two separate cars (girls in one boys in the other). The ride down consisted of a lot of singing, mocking songs that we were singing, and laughing. Once there, we ate some tortilla sandwiches (compliments of Krista) and drank some delicious lemonade. While waiting for it to get dark so it could start, we played some catch phrase. I LOVE that game - I almost forgot how much fun it can be. Finally it got dark and the Pageant started at 9:30. It was fabulous, as it always is.

Our drive home started at around 11:30. Manti is an hour and a half away from Provo when there isn't any traffic. Both Krista and I are the type of people that go to bed early. If either one of us is awake after 10:30 it is a rare occurrence. It was my goal to stay awake and talk to Krista on the drive home so that she wouldn't fall asleep since we had both far exceeded our bedtimes. I did pretty good for the first little while. In fact, I was able to stay fully awake and even semi functional clear up until we got to Nephi - which, mind you, is about half the drive. After that though, it went downhill fast. I was in and out of sleep. But I was trying so hard to stay awake. One thing that you should know about me is that I talk in my sleep. On a pretty regular basis (just ask Emily - she will tell you all about it). My sleep talking abilities did not disappoint last night. I would randomly wake up and know that I was talking but have no idea about what. Or I would know what I was saying but not really know why or know that it definitely didn't make any sense. I really have no idea what I was saying to Krista most of the time. She assures me though that I talked and even sang along with the radio. She did say that she was grateful and that it helped keep her awake, even if I wasn't conscious at the time.

Deep down inside my tired mind running for almost 21 hours straight, I knew that I wanted to talk to her and help keep her awake. And don't even worry, I did my part. Whether it made sense or not, that is another story.

Thank goodness for late night adventures! There is never a dull day.

curiosity killed the cat

2009-06-21T06:29:00.006-06:00

The following should not be tried at home.

My roommate has an awesome protective father (so do I by the way) who has so kindly supplied our apartment with pepper spray. Last night one of my friends and I were intrigued by said pepper spray and decided to see just exactly how it works/what it is. He was anxious at first to spray it so I took it, held it away from both of us and gave it a timid spray. A few drops dripped onto the floor, but nothing major and it was actually very anticlimactic. Then my friend took it and gave it a good spray into my kitchen sink just to see what would happen.

Let me tell you, I sincerely hope that I never have to smell that stuff again, much less get sprayed with it.

Even smelling into my sink from a distance sent both of us into coughing fits that lasted a solid 5 minutes - not counting the random coughing fits that came throughout the rest of the night. Once our coughing would calm down, just trying to say something would set it off again. It was CRAZY. After a long walk and some fresh air, both of us were feeling better and decided to go back to my house. The chemicals were still in the air enough to make us start hacking again, but not as bad as before. And I was able to sleep in my house last night without any problems. Don't worry, my sink is currently soaking in bleach to rid it of both the smell and the funny brownish yellow color.

Moral of the story: don't ever do anything that would make you get sprayed with pepper spray. It is a WAAAAY better self defense tool than I could have ever imagined - and I only smelled the stuff from a distance! I am pretty sure that it would incapacitate anyone who got sprayed for a good long time.

notes from europe (part III)

2009-06-14T11:41:00.003-06:00

Day 11: Day three of the cruise was another duplicate of day one and two. The difference is where we stopped. We went to Santorini this day. We rode something that is very similar to a ski lift up to the top of the volcano that is the island. We walked along all the little shops and bought some killer gelato before walking down the cliff. Sister and I both wore flip-flops and both of us fell straight on our behinds once and slipped many times. Flip-flops + Marble staircase = bad. And it was HOT! But it too was a good experience.

We were up so high! This picture doesn't quite do it justice, but it was an incredible view nonetheless.

You can get taken up the side of the mountain by donkeys as well. We opted for the ski - lift route, but on our way down we kept running into hoards of donkeys.

Day 12: We unloaded off of the cruise ship this day and toured all over Athens. We saw the first modern Olympic Stadium and the Parthenon with its surrounding buildings. It was very interesting to finally see all the things that we have learned and talked about in school all these years.

This is the first modern day Olympic Stadium located in Athens.

The one, the only, the Parthenon!

Our last night! We got to experience Greek life in real Greek fashion - we went to dinner and a show where everyone sang and danced in Greek. We even got all dressed up for it!

Day 13: Trip home! Our first flight (which was supposed to be to Frankfurt, Germany) was delayed which would have meant that we would miss our flight to Chicago forcing us to stay another night. So after some quick switching around, we were rushed onto a flight to Munich and then to Chicago, where we are now. In all this hustle and bustle a lot of luggage was lost - mine included. It took the original path to Frankfurt. Oops.

All in all, our European adventure was a lot more than I could have ever expected it to be. Everything about it was incredible.

notes from europe (part II)

2009-06-14T11:26:00.002-06:00

Continuing on:

Day 6: This day we went to Pompei. It was incredible to see how well preserved everything was and to realize the real archeological gold mine this little city is. After exploring all the ruins Pompei had to offer, it was off to the coast to board a ferry to head to Greece.

This picture was taken in downtown Pompei

Day 7: After sleeping on a boat for the first time in my life (I did very well by the way. Turns out I have a pretty strong stomach or something), we loaded on a bus and headed up to Delphi. On the way we stopped at a beach and played in the Mediterranean Sea for a couple hours. Everything about it was beautiful and so much fun! Delphi was such a cute little town and we thoroughly enjoyed being able to explore all over – we found this cute little café that we spent hours at eating ice cream, playing on the computer, and laughing together.

Yay for the Mediterranean Sea!

Day 8: After our day in Delphi, we went into Athens. We kind of just had a free day to hang up and catch up on some sleep. It was much needed. Before we left Delphi however, we were able to visit the temple of Apollo.

Day 9: Early this morning we went and got on board a cruise of the Greek Islands. I have never been on a cruise before so it was definitely a good experience! Our first stop of the cruise experience was at Mykenos. It is a cute little island where all the buildings are white. They say that they painted everything that way so that pirates would get confused when they were trying to raid and pillage the little villages. I can see how that would be very effective. Also this day we spend a lot of time under the sun working on our tans (or sunburns in my case...)

Everything is white!

Day 10: Day two of the cruise was very similar to day one. Our stop this day was at Patmos. We were able to get off the ship and play on the beach. Britt and I made it a point (along with a few other people from our party) to swim out to the little lighthouse/buoy thing. We didn't realize quite how far out it was until we were trying to swim back. It felt good to be able to go for a good swim though! And on the Mediterranean Sea nonetheless!

Fresh from swimming...

notes from europe

2009-06-14T10:43:00.005-06:00

Here are finally some pictures from my European adventure!

Day 1/2: we traveled. A lot. Clear across the world in fact. After arriving at our hotel we basically ate and crashed.

This picture was taken in the airport in Rome. Apparently this area is reserved? Right in front of baggage claim? I don't know.

Day 3: Rome! We were able to explore Rome with our group as kind of a free day. It was fun, but without being completely current on my Roman history, day 4 turned out to be way more interesting.

An actual picture that I took of the Pantheon!

Day 4: Again, we toured around Rome. We saw various places such as the Pantheon, Fontana di Trevi, the Roman Forum, and the Coleseum. It was pretty much amazing! We took tons of pictures and had SOOO much fun!

The Coliseum!

Making our wishes at Fontana di Trevi

Day 5: More touring around Italy. This day we went to the Isle of Capri. It was BEAUTIFUL! We walked all around the whole island. I love the island environment. It actually reminded me of a more expensive, European version of Hawaii. Weird I know. haha.

The beautiful Island of Capri.

time zones

2009-06-10T05:20:00.002-06:00

It is currently 6:20 in Chicago, which is where I spent the night.

I have been awake since 4:30-ish. We are talking wide awake here.

In Athens, it is 2:30 in the afternoon.

It would seem that I am going to have a fun time readjusting to the proper time zone.

Besides all that, I am once again stateside! The last two weeks were so much fun! I learned so much and was able to see so many things. Also, because my little excursion included a 3 day cruise, I am slightly tanner (only so much due to my amazingly white skin. haha.). I can't believe that we were gone for a full 2 weeks. It seems like it was so much longer, but at the same time it is really weird that life continued on without me here in Utah. I am definitely excited to be home though.

I have to go eat breakfast and catch my flight to Salt Lake, but I will post some pictures later and share the amazingness that is Italy and Greece with you! Maybe I'll do it in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow... (hopefully not though)

chicago o'hare

2009-05-28T17:17:00.005-06:00

My European adventure has officially begun! We are currently hanging out in the Chicago O'Hare airport and have been for three full hours. In a short two and a half hours we head off to Munich, Germany then onto our connecting flight to ROME! Yay for becoming world travellers!

And, p.s., Sister and I created a joint blog to document all of our adventures now and in the future. The address for it is tiffandbritt.blogspot.com. If I am a slacker at posting on this blog, be sure to check that one out! You should probably check it out anyways.

welcome to hematology

2009-05-20T17:18:00.003-06:00

Last week I started the last rotation of my internship! Hooray!

My last area happens to be hematology (which I am loving by the way). In hematology, the Med Techs assist the Pathologists with bone marrow biopsies. As a student, that means that I get to go along too. On Monday, I attended my first and second biopsies. Also on Monday, I came dangerously close to passing out for the first time ever. Allow me to explain.

Here is a quick run down on bone marrow biopsies: the Pathologist cuts into your skin above the superior inferior iliac crest (essentially the back of your hip bone). He/she then twists a big needle into your bone until they are the middle of it. At that point they pull out some bone marrow, then go back in with a bigger needle in order to get a piece of the bone to look at.

Bone marrow #1: Success. I watched with no problems and everything went smoothly.

Bone marrow #2: Not quite as successful. Getting the bone marrow was no problem, it was the piece of bone that was a little more difficult. During this biopsy, I was standing right next to the doctor helping to hold the patient stationary. I got to see EVERY twist and turn that he made. After about four times of going in to try and get a piece of the bone, I started to feel a little light headed. The fifth time, it got considerably worse. When he went in for a sixth time I couldn't take it anymore. I had to quickly leave the patient's side and walk to the stool at the back of the OR. It only kept getting worse after I sat down. I felt the blood drain from my face and started to get a cold sweat. Not a good sign if I wanted to remain conscious. I decided that I needed to lie down. I got up, walked to the OR doors so that I could lie down on the floor outside of the room. Naturally, since an OR is supposed to be sterile, opening and closing of the doors is regulated. I didn't think about that little fact. At this point, black started closing in on me. Luckily, one of the OR techs saw my plight and was able to open the door in time for me to make it out without passing out. A cold, hard hospital floor has never felt as good as it did in that moment.

I thought that I had a pretty tough stomach, but apparently some things can get to me (don't worry, I will spare you of any gruesome details).

Thankfully, I was able to avoid hitting my head or dropping to the floor. And, I can still say that I have never passed out - although, I was right on the brink this time.

I will probably never live this moment down so long as I work at Utah Valley Hospital.

vay-cay!

2009-05-17T10:51:00.002-06:00

There are only 9 days left until I leave the country.

Soon I will be exploring the Italian and Greek country sides - learning, playing on beaches, and frolicking around with my sister for two full weeks! I get to do touristy things, take lots of pictures, and see all sorts of historical places.

It is going to be pretty much amazing.

I can hardly even wait!

let the games begin

2009-05-15T16:59:00.004-06:00

I have officially registered and everything for my half marathon. The papers have been mailed in and the fees paid. There is no turning back now!

August 8th here I come!

Since it is official and all, I have also officially begun my training.

Let me give you a little background on my running experience. I have hated running my whole life - really hated it. I am slightly asthmatic and not terribly athletically inclined. Running was always hard for me and was a lot of work. One of my new year's resolutions this year was to become a runner. I started out slow, just like you are supposed to, and I have been constantly working up.

They say the first 2 miles are the hardest to get, but after that it gets increasingly easier to add on more miles. I would have to agree. After I got the first 2 miles down, 3 miles and even 4 miles came without too much more effort.

I think the milestone that no one mentions anything about is 5 miles. I ran 5 miles today for the first time ever. I was expecting it to be just like the last two miles that I had added on - relatively easy and strenuous in a good way, only adding on more time. Boy was I wrong! I was panting and wheezing 2 miles in. I did finish, but it was way more hard work than I expected to be.

Now that I have reached that milestone, hopefully the next big ones will come too. And next time, I won't be expecting it to be a simple 6 mile run!

Luckily, I have been increasing my endurance over the last few months so I can happily report that I am not going to give up simply because I had a hard day's run.

I will conquer!

i feel adventurous

2009-05-03T08:36:00.006-06:00

Every weekday for the last 4 weeks I have been carpooling up to Salt Lake as part of my internship (only one more week left!). When the weather is good or at least decent, there are almost always paragliders at the point of the mountain. Every day I watch them glide from the top of the mountain to the bottom. This has inspired me to want to learn how to paraglide. I think that it would be the most amazing experience to just be floating in the air! Call me crazy, I know.

So, I have recently done some research into paragliding. Turns out that you can take lessons and have a full day of paragliding. The small problem is that it costs around $125. But, I will not let that not deter me from my paragliding dream. My brother who is WAAAAY more adventurous than I am (he is perhaps the reason that I am as adventurous as I am now...) is going to go with me, there is a good possibility that my sister will go with us too (depending on age restrictions). Sometime before the end of the summer I will go paragliding!

Another adventurous thing that I am getting myself into this summer is running a half marathon. Anyone who has known me anytime in my life has probably started laughing out loud at this point and thinking something along the lines of:

"Tiffany, a runner? What? You must be kidding me."

Well, friends, I am doing it for reals. The big event is in the middle of August. I have been doing some basic training for the last few months and I officially started my half marathon training this last week. And it is going great! I never thought that I would say this, but I honestly LOVE running! Who knew how much fun it could be?

blame the pigs

2009-04-30T20:01:00.003-06:00

Dear Swine Flu,

As laboratory personel, I feel that it is my responsibility to let you know of the great increase of work that you have provided us. We have nearly as many influenza tests in the last few days as we did during the whole month of January - when normal flu season is is full swing. You have also caused the phone to keep ringing off the hook with all sorts of questions about testing for you; including things like how to collect samples (which I don't know-all I do is run the tests!) and how long it takes.

I would personally like to thank you for ensuring that I am not bored at work.

I would also like to thank you for the job security.

Finally, I would like to ask that you don't get any more severe and try your very hardest to avoid mutations of any kind. I'm sure that the general public would appreciate that as well.

Love,
Tiffany

i bake things

2009-04-29T21:36:00.003-06:00

I am on this kick recently in which I bake things - lots of things on a regular basis. For example, on Monday I made Easter Eggs (which taste like Mound's Bars on steroids according to Lauren) and chocolate cookies. I did the same thing last week, and the week before I made amazing peanut better cookies topped with a Hershey's Kiss and banana chocolate chip muffins. When I get bored, I look up recipes on line to see other kinds of goodies that I can bake. I don't really know what is driving me to do this. haha.

The problem is that I only live with one other girl and we don't eat a whole lot of goodies (not to mention that she tends to bake too...). So I feed my baked goods to friends and people I know.

Moral of the story: if you want anything baked or any sort of treat just let me know and I am more likely than not to have something for you!

And, as a side note, this is my 6th blog of the month. I think that is a new record for me.

the after party

2009-04-25T18:03:00.004-06:00

After convocation on Friday, us moldy-oldies (that is what we call ourselves in the CLS program when we have made it to the point that we are in our internship) decided that we needed to have one last hurrah before we all went our separate ways into the world. Initially we thought that we wanted to go to the Cheesecake Factory (avoid the Provo graduation crowds, and who doesn't like cheesecake, really?). But when we got there to try and reserve a seat for 20 people, the wait was 3 hours long. No thank you! So instead we went to the Olive Garden across the parking lot. We all still had a fabulous time since it was the company that we were going for, not the venue.

This is what 3 cups of diet coke will do to you! Don't worry though, I was right there with Cherie on the 3 diet cokes thing. haha.

We have had so much fun, stress, laughter, anger, and shared sweat, blood, and tears among other things over the last year or so. You tend to grow pretty close to people that you spend 7 hours a day with 5 days a week.

This was our version of an after party, BYU style! (or something like that...)

We had to have one final outing. Besides, who else would talk about blood tests and Salmonella Typhi with us over dinner?

we sing, we dance, we graduate

2009-04-25T17:40:00.006-06:00

Warning: this post may put you into picture overload.

Enter to learn; go forth to serve.

That is the motto of the university I just graduated from. Yes, you read that right, I graduated from BYU this weekend. I can't believe how fast it has gone! It really feels like just yesterday that I started college, and here I am all graduated and stuff. Weird, but also SOOOO exciting!

I decided to do a picture documentary of what transpired instead of trying to describe everything in words. (thus the possible picture overload)

Here we go:

My graduating class-specific to my major. I love these guys!

Oh Cherie. haha. We took this picture in honor of JR, who was the third member of our group in lab but was a bum and didn't walk at graduation.

I included this picture solely for the beauty of the trees. Spring is my favorite season, and these trees are a big reason.

Me with my parentals

Oh sister, I love you dearly!

Our "more bars in more places" shot

My siblings plus one. Emily basically counts as a sibling though.

Mommy :)

...and don't forget dad!

I just loved this picture. It made my whole day.

All of the students had the option of getting a stole of gratitude (the white thing around my shoulders). The tradition of the stole of gratitude is that the graduate gives it to someone who helped significantly with their education. I figured since my grandma has been a huge help financially these last 4 years that she was more than deserving.

Emily and Brittani wanted to feel like they were cool too so they stole my cap and stole of gratitude. And turns out, it makes for a fun picture!

My classmates again. This was right before we started the procession into the Marriot Center for Commencement.

Well friends, that's a wrap. I am now a graduate. Not that it really changes what I am doing right now anyways since my internship lasts until July 3rd, but I can officially say that I graduated from BYU! Who ever would have thought that day would actually come!? I am so excited that I made it through this phase of life and I can't wait to see what the next phase will bring!

Happy graduation weekend everyone!

anywhere, anything

2009-04-18T10:16:00.005-06:00

The time has come for me to find and commit myself to a job. Not just any job though, we are talking about the beginning of my career here. The decisions that I make right now will effect me for the rest of my life. Kind of a big deal right?

The problem isn't so much finding a job as committing myself to one. The sky is the limit, literally. Medical Technologists are needed at basically every hospital and reference lab in the country. I can go anywhere I want and work in essentially any department that I want.

Now, the question is where do I go? What do I do? Do I stay in Utah and get a good job here or do I explore the world? Should I go somewhere on the east coast or somewhere with a beach? I have no commitments or ties to speak of really so it all comes down to what I want to do. I just don't know. All of these options.

Input will be graciously accepted and welcomed...

easter thoughts

2009-04-11T09:54:00.005-06:00

Since it is the saturday before easter and all, I thought that it would be approriate to share this video that I found at lds.org.

All of the commentary is from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's last conference talk. It is a powerful reminder of the Savior's atoning sacrifice. May we all remember that each and every day!

Happy Easter everyone!

it is an art

2009-04-04T09:32:00.004-06:00

If I had lived in ancient Greece I would have a special God/Goddess for massage therapists. Allow me to explain why.

I have two massage therapist friends. This comes in very handy when your neck and shoulder decide to go postal and make it so that you can't look from side to side. It is especially helpful when they are good at what they do, like my two friends are.

I woke up on Thursday morning and seriously couldn't even look from side to side. Because I am who I am, I decided to pretend that nothing was wrong and hoped that in doing so the pain would go away. Wishful thinking on my part.

Friday I decided that I needed some intervention. My lovely roommate Emily is a fresh graduate of UCMT and really knows her stuff. She was nice enough to help me out. After about 30 minutes of massage and marks from her fingers that looked strangely like hickeys we decided that we should give my muscles a little rest before working them some more. About six hours later, my friend Steve came over. Because my shoulder was still hurting and Emily hadn't seen anything like it before, we decided to see if Steve could tell what was up. Yet later still, my shoulder was still hurting. At this point Emily whips out her books from school and does some research. After assessing all of my symptoms, she gave it another go. Fifteen minutes later, and after a fifteen minute icing session I think that I am finally starting to heal.

Much thanks to all of my friends' dedicated work yesterday (and the follow up session later on today) I am able to function again. I can look all around me. Oh the things that we take for granted when they work as they should! Thank goodness for having a full range of motion!

it's official

2009-03-30T22:22:00.001-06:00

I am officially half way done with my internship.

I graduate in less than one month - with my bachelor's degree.

I will be done being a BYU student in 3 months. I will have a career.

I am a grown up. When did that happen?

my week as a phlebotomist

2009-03-23T19:07:00.004-06:00

During my internship I have the opportunity to rotate through all the different areas that a lab can have. This week is phlebotomy.

Allow me to tell you how day 1 went:

8:00 am: I arrive at American Fork Hospital. I go into the phlebotomy area and watch a few draws.

8:30 am: I am set free to draw people all on my own. I have drawn blood before because we did it every single week during class. This is something that I should be pretty proficient at, right?

Draw #1: A cute little old man came in for a simple blood draw. I do the whole phlebotomist thing, feel for a vein and confidently stick the needle in. Much to my dismay I didn't get any blood-meaning that I missed the vein. Awesome start.

Draw #2: See draw #1. Definitely not the start I was hoping for - and probably not what those men were hoping for when they came in to get their blood drawn.

Draw #3: This time I was successful! I even had to draw 6 tubes of blood and was able to fill all of them!

The rest of the day went much more smoothly. Apparently I just had to get it out of my system at the beginning. Hopefully the rest of the week goes as well as the last part of my day did today.

fixed at last

2009-03-12T19:39:00.004-06:00

Good news: my bumper is no longer held in place by a bungee cord.

the next mrs. cullen

2009-03-10T20:26:00.002-06:00

I would make a really great vampire.

Here is why:

1. I rarely see the light.

I leave to go to my internship in the morning before it is light outside. I go running before I go to my internship. I have to work afterwards (also at the hospital...), which means that I don't leave until it is once again dark. No one would even see me glitter. I could totally get away with living in a sunny place - like Provo for example.

2. I am surrounded by blood all day.

Not just any blood, but human blood. I run tests and pipet and mix it up all day long. What better of an environment for a vampire? I could just sneak some samples in my pocket and no one would notice. Lunch would be ready made.

3. I have very dark hair and pasty white skin.

Both of which are essential characteristics of being a good vampire. Everyone knows that.

Look out Cullen's...here I come! I am in line to be the next new vampire. I will even try to control my violent urges as a newborn. I don't make any promises though...

*Disclaimer: I'm not really sure where I stand on the Twilight books. I would like them except that I really don't like Bella. When you don't like the main character it is hard to love the books... But, I will say this - being the person that I am, I had to finish them once I started and the 4th book almost justifies my reading the other 3 even though I didn't really like them.

stranded

2009-02-17T16:43:00.002-07:00

My President's day weekend adventures can be summarized in this short list -

1. I went snowboarding at The Canyons with Emily, Hunter, Steve, and John.

2. Once we arrived at the resort (I rode up with Emily and Hunter) Emily realized that she forget her snowboarding boots. This is kind of a critical part of going snowboarding.

3. We go and rent boots for Emily.

4. If you have ever been to The Canyons, you know that it is a HUGE ski/snowboarding resort.

5. We began to work our way to the top and over a few lifts - making it so that we have to go up and down a series of lifts and hills in order to back to where the car can be found.

6. Emily falls on her elbow and then gets ran into, causing her to fall onto it again all within 2 minutes.

7. Emily can no longer snowboard down the mountain without potentially losing her right arm.

8. After the boys get to where Emily and I are, we try and come up with a genius plan on how to get her down the mountain since she can no longer ride. Said plan goes as follows: Hunter and I will go down the hill, get the car, and drive up to where she is - which is right by a rode, luckily. Flawless, right?

9. We leave the backpack (full of all our food) with Emily and John and head down the mountain.

10. 30 minutes later, Hunter and I are walking through the parking lot to his car when he realizes that his keys are in the backpack that we left on the mountain. At this point in time, the lifts are closed so we can't get back up the mountain to where Emily is.

11. John comes down to save us all from being stranded and gives us a ride to where Emily is.

12. The road that we need to be on in order to pick her up is part of a gated community. So, we sneak in behind a car that has access.

13. We successfully make it to where Emily is and save her from potential kidnappers.

14. John returns us to Hunter's car and we all make it home successfully.

15. Thank you everyone for a fun filled holiday! haha.

The end.

little blessings

2009-02-01T11:57:00.002-07:00

Every third weekend I can be found at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in the Laboratory. I am there working for twelve hours on both Saturday and Sunday. As such, I get to attend the little sacrament meeting hosted by the hospital branch. It generally consists of an array of hospital workers, patients and their families, as well as the branch presidency with their wives. The congregation ranges from about 10 up to 50 people.

It amazes me how strong the spirit can be felt in even such a small group. The hymns are sung loud and clear with no reservation despite singing capabilities. I love it! The people that come aren't always dressed up in Sunday clothes due to whatever circumstances they are coping with, but they are doing their very best to be there. The fact that a lot of those patients even come is amazing - they are very sick and I am sure that the Lord would understand them staying in bed for the day, but they still make the special effort to be there. During the sacrament you can hear the click and hum of oxygen tanks. There is special room made for all those in attendance in wheelchairs. Those who bless and pass the sacrament may be EMT's who are in on an ambulance run, housekeepers, or doctors. Hospital staff who need to return to work are excused after the sacrament. There is such a feeling of love and acceptance all around in that little chapel. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to take time out of my work to attend this little sacrament meeting!

fun in the snow

2009-01-19T17:16:00.004-07:00

Since we had a day off school today, we decided to go snowboarding! We got a tram pass - which I have never done before - and it is the coolest thing. You board this boat thing and it takes you to the very top (at least as high as they will let you go) and then you have any number of runs to go down and instead of having to go up the lift again and again, there is nothing but mountain to go down. And we wouldn't be the girls that we are if we didn't stop to take a few pictures along the way.

For some reason every time that we moved there would be random lime green snow. It didn't really make any sense and we couldn't tell where it was coming from. It was just green. Very green.

We stopped to take a little lunch break about halfway down. While there we got quite a few comments about being stopped. At one point all three of us (Emily, Allison, and I) decided that the next time someone commented we were going to offer them some carrots. Unfortunately, the opportunity never presented itself. In this picture though, it almost did as you can tell from the analyzing look on Emily's face.

We had so much fun today! I don't remember the last time that I went snowboarding with just girls - or if that has ever even happened before today. Normally there are boys present (and we love you boys!). But the problem when going with boys is that they like to go fast and do tricks...we are more the take your time and enjoy the ride type. That doesn't mean that we don't like to have fun though! And kudos to Allison for doing a killer job snowboarding her first time in years. This is definitely an event that will be repeated.

it came and went

2009-01-11T19:58:00.003-07:00

This last month or so has been quite the whirlwind. First with the holidays, which always livens things up a bit, but also because my little Jon reported to the MTC last wednesday. Being 21 and all, I thought that I had surpassed the age at which you send off a missionary. I think that the Lord had something else in mind though. Despite being a whirlwind, this last month has also been truly amazing. I was able to spend time with my family, I got more time off of work than I usually do, and I was able to have a very good last month with my boyfriend before he left on his mission. These pictures were taken a few minutes before he got set apart as a missionary so they are kind of fun :)

He told me that he had to take some good pictures of me so that he would have some while he was gone. He must not have realized that they weren't going to be good so close up! haha. The best part about this picture though is my squinty right eye. For some reason it closes more than the left one whenever I smile or smirk. Jon always liked to bring up this little fact, so the fact that he got a close up picture of it is very fitting and will be a fun reminder for him!

And one final picture before he could only shake my hand...

We have had a very good run these last seven months or so and I am going to miss this boy. He is in for the experience for a lifetime though, and I couldn't be more excited for him! Besides, how else was I ever going to learn how to write an old fashioned letter - sending a boyfriend into the mission field is the perfect way to learn how!

nostalgia

2008-12-11T19:59:00.004-07:00

Let us mark this day down in history.
It was my last day of class.

EVER.

My last day in room 888 of the Widtsoe building.
My last time running outdated lab tests.

No longer will I be surrounded by my fellow classmates every day all day.
No more friday morning cramming sessions.

In a few short months I will be a BYU graduate.
A six month intership is all that stands in my way.
I am moving on to bigger and better (?) things.

Look out world, ready or not, here I come!

winter wonderland

2008-11-05T11:00:00.004-07:00

There is something majestic and beautiful about the snow. I know that the only difference between snow and rain is the temperature at which the precipitation forms, but snow is truly beautiful (at least until I get sick of it that is...). Although, rain can also be beautiful. I dedicate this post to the first snow storm of November in Provo. Here comes the cold.

big news

2008-11-04T10:38:00.004-07:00

As you can tell from the backwards sticker in my picture, I voted!

I am glad that I was able to take part in the life changing election by casting my vote. Oh, and this is the first time that I have even had the chance to vote for president.

That is right, I made a difference in the world by voting today.

picture documentary

2008-10-30T19:47:00.002-06:00

here is a summary of the last week or so of my life...

we took random pictures in my car

the things a student will do for extra credit (like dress up as a parasite for example)

we carved pumpkins

and they turned out looking fabulous

and some more of girls night...

that's all.

girl's night

2008-10-21T10:10:00.005-06:00

Since it had been a while, some of us girls decided that we needed to play last night. So, Emily, Sarah, Kati, and I went out for a night on the town (well kind of...). To start it all off, we went out to dinner at Fazoli's. It was some pretty amazing Italian food. For some reason though, it took them ten minutes to make Emily's sandwich and only about 30 seconds to make everyone else's pasta. We were a little confused. Afterwards, to help Kati could get in her exercise for the day, we decided to go walk around the mall. We went into random stores and tried on clothes that we would never wear, however; they would have looked stunning in the 80's. It was kind of fun because we would piece together random articles of random colors and try them on. The best part is that we actually looked good in some of the outfits that we concocted (e.g. Sarah in the below picture).

Afterwards we went back to Sarah's house and helped her finish making the invitations to her wedding ceremony, which she reminded us is in 27 days...well, 26 now. We had so much fun and we will definitely be doing it again!

what dreams are made of

2008-10-18T11:00:00.004-06:00

It is a bad sign that as I was trying to fall asleep all I could think about was lipoprotein lipase? Or that when I woke up one of the first things I thought about was lipoprotein lipase?

Thank you compreshensive midterm exams.

nightmare-ish

2008-10-18T09:51:00.004-06:00

As requested, I have decided to resume blogging. I have been insanely busy with school and work and thus, my blog has been neglected. No need to fear, I have come back around to the good side and will try my best to keep it updated.

Last night, my brother called me and said that he was coming up to go to the Haunted Forest in American Fork with his friends, and wondered if I wanted to come. So, my Friday night was spent being frightened (well sort of...).

I am not by any means a haunted house enthusiast, but for the most part I was very impressed with the show last night. We ended up going to both the Psycho Manor and the Haunted Forest. A quote from their website (http://www.hauntedutah.com/forest.html) says this about just how terrifying it can be:

"Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a real forest overflowing with demons and ghouls. Caves, swamps, abandoned mine shafts, rundown shacks and other sights that will make your blood curdle. Haunted Forest is not an old supermarket maze filled with amateurs, this is the closest thing you will ever come to the real thing. Make sure to bring plenty of friends, because people rarely make it through alone."

Though this might be a slight exaggeration, if you like to get scared and feel the Halloween spirit, I would recommend this experience. Beware: they do have men carrying around chain saws. Yes, I know that they don't have their chains on them and that they can't even hurt you really, but I DO NOT like them. Not one bit. I can handle all the scary monsters and painted faces, even the people randomly appearing in front of me, but not the chain saws. They make me run every single time - without fail.

What really makes it scary though is the anticipation of being scared. While you are waiting line, they have scary music, gory movies, men with chain saws running about, and pictures such as the one above posted around the area. If we hadn't waited in line for as long as we did (probably only about 15) the whole experience wouldn't have been nearly as scary.

Other things - I am now officially halfway through my final semester of classes! I get to start my internship in a couple months and then I will graduate in April! How crazy is that? I must be getting old or something. haha.

yes, it's black

2008-09-11T20:43:00.004-06:00

I seem to have a hidden gothic streak that is finally making itself manifest. I'm not really sure where it comes from, but I have decided to embrace it. In July, I discovered black fingernail polish. Since then I have had black fingernails. My most recent gothic move was dying my hair black. That was a big one. So ladies and gentlemen, when you see me with black hair know that it was on purpose and not a dying experiment gone wrong.

sunday thoughts

2008-08-24T19:36:00.004-06:00

Abide With Me; 'Tis Eventide

Abide with me; 'tis eventide.

The day is past and gone;

The shadows of the evening fall;

The night is coming on.

Within my heart a welcome guest,

Within my home abide.

O Savior, stay this night with me;

Behold, 'tis eventide.

O Savior, stay this night with me;

Behold, 'tis eventide.

Abide with me; 'tis eventide.

Thy walk today with me

Has made my heart within me burn,

As I communed with thee.

Thy earnest words have filled my soul

And kept my near thy side.

O Savior, stay this night with me;

Behold, 'tis eventide.

O Savior, stay this night with me;

Behold, 'tis eventide.

Abide with me, 'tis eventide,

And lone will be the night

If I cannot commune with thee

Nor find in thee my light,

The darkness of the world, I fear,

Would in my home abide.

O Savior, stay this night with me;

Behold, 'tis eventide.

O Savior, stay this night with me;

Behold, 'tis eventide.

introspection

2008-08-22T17:11:00.004-06:00

I seem to be doing a lot more deep and thought out posts lately than I normally do. Maybe I have some unfulfilled need for introspection in my life. I don't know. Here is yet another deep, introspective post.

While at work today, one of my coworkers asked me what would seemingly be a simple surface question - "Are you enjoying your college experience?" My immediate answer was, of course, yes. But then I got to thinking...am I really enjoying my college experience? I have a solid three years of it now. I will spare you my answer but just think about all that is included in the simple statement of "are you enjoyoing your college experience?" I would venture to say that anyone's answer to this question once they thought about it would be pretty deep, pretty deep indeed. And if nothing else, it is a thought provoking question.

oye. the life.

2008-08-20T17:50:00.005-06:00

My recent lack of posts can be blamed on a couple things...

a. Work
b. Finding somewhere to live/moving

c. Sleeping-it seems to be sort of a necessity (believe me, I have tried to go without it and it just doesn't quite work as well as I would like it to)

So, I will play a little catch up in this post.

First off, we had our annual family Seven Peak's Day. My whole family and a couple of my mom's sisters family's came. We had a lot of fun like we usually do. Also, Sarah and I renewed our season passes for next year which is fabulous because that means we can go splash in the wave pool and lay out all we want. haha.

Next, we had the cousin's sleepover. Because Emily and I tend to act like an old married couple she came with me. We did all of the usual family reunion activities which included the Oak City Day's parade and an amazing pot luck dinner, followed by crafts and the farmer's market the next day.

My family dynamic spans three generations-the aunts and uncles, the cousins, and then the cousin's children. As a consequence, we have people of all ages at the cousin's sleepover. We got to play with the babies and talk to my other cousins about getting married. And at one point, my uncle was trying to tell me how he wanted his daughter to know his funeral plans. Like I said, all ages. It is so much fun every year!

The good and bad news is that my crazy summer is coming to an end. I will start my last semester of actual classes in a short week and a half. Hopefully my schedule will start to stabilize when school starts. Funny, but I never thought that my schedule would be less hectic while I was in school.

things you should know

2008-08-06T15:26:00.002-06:00

1. My coping mechanism is indifference. If I sense that I will be experiencing any sort of emotional pain, my brain closes off and becomes indifferent.

2. It is pretty hard to make me angry. However, one sure fire way to accomplish that is to treat me like I am stupid. That sets me off almost every time.

3. When I start things I have to finish them whether I like it or not. For example, the Twilight series. I was annoyed at the main character through the whole second and third books, yet I was among those who bought the fourth book on the day it came out.

4. Cleaning calms me.

5. I am slightly OCD. Anyone who spends any amount of time around me will be sure to notice this little fact.

6. I am borderline germ-a-phobe. That probably comes with the whole OCD thing though.

7. Generally, I am a very happy person. I have amazing family and friends surrounding me. All in all, I am very blessed.

spirit fingers

2008-07-26T21:12:00.008-06:00

As many of you know, my mom is the cheer coach at Parowan High School. As such, she needed an assistant to go to camp with her. Because I am a former cheerleader (and also her daughter...) she asked me to go along. So, last Monday I loaded up a 15 passenger van with 10 cheerleaders and all of their gear for the week's events and we took off to Flagstaff, Arizona. The course of events to follow reminded me eerily of my cheerleading days. It was kind of fun to be on the advisor side though and see how it all goes down from that angle. It definitely gave me a new perspective on things.

This is the classic Tiffany/Brittani (she just happens to be one of the cheerleaders) picture of the week.

Two days in to the four that are spent at cheer camp, one of the main bases hurt her arm. This wreaked havoc to the pyramids the little cheerleaders had been incorporating into their routines for pass offs and such. My mom then had this genius idea that, because I was there and had also been a cheerleader so knew what I was doing, I should take her place. After getting it approved from the people in charge I did end up taking her place in the stunts. It worked out pretty well because I looked more like one of the girls than an advisor anyways. It also helped that they had enough extra camp clothes that just happened to be my size so I matched the rest of the girls. And can I tell you, through basing for those last two days I worked muscles that I haven't in years. I was just a tad bit sore afterwards. I was able to pull off all the stunts that we tried though so I'm guessing that I was at least a little bit helpful.

I am the base on the right hand side for the stunt group right smack dab in the middle.

growing pains

2008-07-26T16:38:00.004-06:00

Going home this past week really got me to thinking. I was able to see lots of my high school friends and reminisce and catch up with everything that is going on in their lives. Through this process, i realized how much of a different person I am now than I was then.

Three years ago, I was freshly graduated from high school, and in my own little way I thought that I was pretty cool. I had graduated with honors and, as the senior class president, I even gave the welcoming speech at my graduation. I worked as an intermediate EMT on the Parowan Ambulance, lifeguarded at the city pool, and I had a full tuition scholarship lined up for me in the fall at the University of Utah. Everything was going in my favor. I didn't really have to try, things were just given to me. I was ready to move on with my life. I had closed the high school chapter and couldn't wait to start my college life. At the time, I thought that I had it rough when my friends wouldn't call to hang out with me. I had my struggles, but for the most part my life was really good and easy.

The next three years changed me in ways that I never imagined. I went my first semester without a 4.o. I had to support myself and make my own decisions. I was thrown into a new city with new people. I didn't have a curfew, I could date anyone I wanted, and I was living the city life. I fell in love, planned a wedding, and had my heart broken. I transferred schools and ended up at BYU. I fought with my mom more than ever before. I learned how to make new relationships with people while maintaining ones that I already had. I bonded with roommates quicker than ever before. I had to tell people things and rely on others to help me through hard times. My paypal account was broken into so I had to work to get my $850 that was stolen back. I totaled my car and now make payments on a new one.

Through all of this, I have grown exponentially. I am a much better person now than I ever dreamed I could be. Because I am a firm believer that there are no coincidences, I know that the things that I have gone through have all happened for a reason. I am exactly where I need to be at this point in my life. Three years ago if you had asked me if I would ever go to BYU or send off a missionary I would have laughed and told you that you didn't know me very well. But, now here I am and I am loving every minute. In a way, I have really found myself. Though I still have miles to go, I know who I am and what I really want out of life. I am willing to accept change and have an open mind. I also know that I deserve the best and I don't need to settle for anything less.

late night hunting

2008-07-18T16:50:00.002-06:00

12:15 a.m. Tiffany and Little Jon start out on a walk. They don't really think that it will be that long. Afterall, he does have to work at 8 in the morning. Oh, and side note-neither of them are wearing any shoes. They are both only sporting socks.

12:30 a.m. Jon has since taken off his socks because they are white and this is turning into a longer walk than expected. Part of the sidewalk is getting watered by the sprinkler along with the grass beside it. Jon gives Tiffany a piggy back over the wet side walk because she is still wearing her socks (which are black by the way) and doesn't want to get them wet.

12:45 a.m. They arrive at Kiwanis (spelling?) park. In order to get to the swings, they have to walk through a large field. Every sprinkler in the field is spraying away so they decide to run through the field in order to minimize how wet they get.

12:48 a.m. They get to the park. After they climb to the top of the fake rock, Tiffany realizes that her phone (which she bought yesterday) is no longer is her pocket. This is particularly bad because by this time, they have covered quite a bit of ground through out the course of the walk. The searching commences. Jon runs to the big field covered in sprinklers to start looking. Tiffany looks around the rock that they climbed then goes and joins him.

1:15 a.m. Tiffany and Jon have still not found her phone. They have called it numerous times to no avail. They are still looking in the big field with the sprinklers.

1:20 a.m. Still looking in the big field. Still no success.

1:25 a.m. Convinced that there is no way that they will find her black phone in the middle of the night in a dark field they decide that maybe, just maybe, it could have fallen out when he gave her a piggy back. As a last measure, they start to retrace their steps.

1:30 a.m. Tiffany and Jon arrive at the place where he gave her a piggy back. They start to analyze all the possible scenarios of how and where her phone could have fallen out.

1:31 a.m. Jon takes off in a run to a shiny black spot on the ground about 15 feet ahead of where they are standing. He bends down and picks up Tiffany's phone. They have found it at last.

weekend adventures

2008-07-15T13:47:00.003-06:00

Random road trips are perhaps the most fun ones. This past weekend, my roommate and I (along with our boys) decided to spend the weekend in Federal Way, Washington. Which, by the way, is where she is from. Consequently, we left Friday at 7 p.m. to begin our 13 hour drive. After arriving at 7 in the morning we decided that we should take a nap (or get a nights sleep? something...). When we woke up Emily showed us all around Federal Way. We played on beaches, had some slurpees, went shopping, and latin dancing. All in a days work. After church on sunday, our short time in Federal Way was up and it was time to once again commence the 13 hour drive home so that we could all go to work on Monday (or school in Emily's case). We had so much fun! Yay for roadtrips!

Little Jon and me walking along the board walk.

Emily and Nate showing off their mad heel clicking skills.

Our whole little group makes the "do I look different face?" but for some reason I just can't do it. I sure did try though.

Emily and me playing in the freezing cold, but beautiful, ocean.

eating quarters

2008-06-30T23:43:00.003-06:00

A few days ago I got a text from my mom that read "we are going to Oak City to eat quarters". Naturally, I was confused. I responded by asking why exactly we were going to eat quarters. As it turns out, we are actually making a quilt out of fat quarters for our annual Cousins' Sleepover. It will kind of be in memory of my Grandma (who, if you don't know, was basically the quilting queen and made all 34 or so of her grandchildren at least 7 quilts each and that doesn't even take into account her children).

So today, my family and I met in Oak City in order to start our process of quilt making. We each made 20 squares of the above design. When the time comes (middle of August) we will trade them with other members of my family that have also made some so that we can each have a big conglomerate quilt from various members of our family. It should be pretty cool :)
After cutting and sewing enough material together to make three whole quilts we decided that it was time to eat. My poor sister has strep throat, so this was particularly hard for her. If you can notice the difference in our tongues (hers is much more white than any normal, healthy person's should be) you can see the sickness. She does much better when she has some ibuprofen in her system. Seriously, it's like night and day.

All in all, it was a fabulous day with the family!

Oh, and I almost forgot. There was totally a snake on my aunt's kitchen floor today. I walked in to get a drink of water and almost stepped on it. I proceeded to scream "THERE IS A SNAKE IN YOUR KITCHEN! THERE IS A SNAKE IN YOUR KITCHEN AND I AM NOT KIDDING!" Shortly after that my brother came and took care of it. It was a rather interesting and unexpected experience. Thankfully I survived without any harm done.

the mourning pool and spa

2008-06-23T21:47:00.005-06:00

Love is not in the air. Due to a handful of my friends (my roommates included) recently going through break ups, we decided to open up a mourning pool and spa. Actually, the way that it really happened is that my roommate with the most recent break up had a little bit of a breakdown at Albertson's and bought a kiddie pool. Naturally, being the good roommates and friends that we are, we helped her to make good use of her new purchase.

This is why it is called the mourning pool and spa. If anyone needs to come and partake of the mourningness that is in our front yard please feel free.

pre-testing rituals

2008-06-18T14:48:00.002-06:00

Now I might be wrong, but I think that all of us have at least a little superstition in us. I also think that this superstition is often made manifest when we have to take a test. Take for example my pre-test ritual...

1. Do all of the big important studying in order to sufficiently prepare. It is in the final two hours or so that the rituals make themselves manifest.

2. T minus two hours: the final crunch begins.

3. I look through my flashcards again and again and all of the final study preparations are made.

4. I make the trek to the dreaded testing center (or the computer lab on the 4th floor of the Witdsoe depending on the time of year).

5. I take a drink of water. For some reason I have always done this. Perhaps this small bit of refreshment will give me a needed boost of brain power.

6. Now it is bathroom break time. My world would come crashing down if all I could think about while taking a test is how much I had to go to the bathroom.

7. My last little bit of nourishment before I go in to my doom is to eat some chocolate. I'm not picky as to what type...it can be a brownie, chocolate bar, or just some chocolate chips. I think that sometime in my life I have heard that eating chocolate stimulates some part of you brain so that you remember better. I could be very wrong.

8. I have to take another drink in order to wash down the chocolate. Having my mouth all sticky and dry would also distract me or something.

9. Finally, after like five minutes of non-studious activities, I walk in and get my test.

I'm not sure if all of this silly little routine actually does anything for my test taking ability. It is probably more of just a comfort/psychological thing that my subconscious would freak out about if I didn't perform.

let the serenade begin

2008-06-12T19:31:00.008-06:00

I had the privilege of going to a Secondhand Serenade concert yesterday and man, it was so much fun! For those of you who haven't heard of Secondhand Serenade, he sounds very much like Dashboard Confessional. It is basically the description of my type of music so I rather enjoyed it :)

Ferras was the opener. He was a very good opener and kept us all entertained for a while. However, I do think that he forgot that he was in Utah and I am surprised that he got away with doing some of the things that he did. Haha...okay, not really. But, we enjoyed saying that and laughing about it.

This is Emily and me in between the opener and the actual show patiently waiting for the moment to come...

And then it came. Can I just tell you that there is something very VERY attractive about a guy who is singing and basically bearing his soul and rocking out on a guitar in front of hundreds of people. Very attractive. We were in heaven. He could sing to me everyday.

This was the opening song, so all of the cameras in front of my are also videotaping. It was definitely a good way to start the concert out. Oh, and p.s. it is only a snipit of the whole song so it won't take forever to listen to.

He was born to tell me that he loves me. Isn't that sweet?

This song could very well be my favorite song by him. It nothing else, you should listen to the video to at least the part with the heart beat. I love it.

This last video is of the encore song. However, it just wouldn't be a Secondhand Serenade concert without hearing Fall for You, so it is a good thing that we had an encore. In John's words, we, the crowd, were "more than brilliant". Take that!

word to the wise...

2008-06-09T22:24:00.003-06:00

This last saturday my roommate and I decided that we would host a trip to the hot springs. We invited some friends and were all prepared for a good time. Now, if you know the hot spring options around Utah County, you know that there are some in both Spanish Fork Canyon and Lehi. We made the decision to go to Lehi. This is where we went wrong. Unless your idea of a good time in the hot springs includes floating dead fish, wading through mud puddles, and smelling like dead fish may I suggest to you that you make the trek down to Spanish Fork instead. And don't let the 2.5 mile hike deter you. Take my word on this one. Granted we were able to make the best of it. After sitting in the dreaded hot springs for about five minutes (ten tops) we decided that we had had enough and that we wanted a hot tub instead. Hot tubs are much more sanitary. So, to cleanse ourselves of the toxins that we were exposed to at the hot springs, we spend the majority of the evening relaxing in the nice, clean water of a hot tub.

My advice to you is this: unless you are feeling very adventurous, go to Spanish Fork and don't let the drawbacks of a hike or the possibility of people swimming around nude deter you. Just don't do it.

sister's week

2008-06-07T11:24:00.003-06:00

the wiggly jeep

2008-05-31T13:00:00.008-06:00

Last night we had a little gas incident. While on our way to Applebees, which had become a Friday night tradition of sorts, the jeep officially ran out of gas. We were sitting at the light at State Street and University Parkway waiting to turn left and rocking out so some music when it first started to happen. The jeep didn't have the get up and go that a normal car does when taking off. It was a little shaky, but we thought that we would be able to make it to the next gas station. As we were passing by Ken Garff Honda the shaking got considerably worse and progressed onto jolting. We pulled of into the parking lot right as the engine shut off. Oops...

Here is the jeep in all of its out of gas glory. And its surprised driver in the front seat.

While we were waiting to be rescued, we decided to put our time to good use. What better way to do that than by taking pictures?

Annali and Isaac came to our rescue. Thank goodness. We were starting to get some weird people stopping and asking questions.

We finally got some more gas and continued on our way to eat a fantastic appetizer combo and some desert shooters.

retail therapy

2008-05-22T09:19:00.003-06:00

Sometimes it just feels good to buy something for yourself. Something that you have wanted but just can't convince yourself to spend money on. This is the story of my life. For those of you that know me, you know that me spending money on something that isn't really necessary for my existence doesn't happen very often. But, I broke my long track record of not buying something new the other day. I was looking through my closet and realized just how awful all of my clothes were. I didn't have anything cute to wear and I was just sick of all of my clothes. So, I decided to do something about this. My mom, dad, and brother were in town and for some reason we always go to the mall whenever they are (my dad and brother love this by the way). So I went shopping. And the big news is that I bought something. Not much, but just enough for me to feel good about the contents of my closet again. Even though I just spent a lot of money by driving to California this last weekend, I bought myself a shirt. And let me tell you, it felt really great. No buyer's remorse here.

ode to the beach

2008-05-19T18:25:00.004-06:00

On thursday I got home from class at 8 o'clock at night. My roommate, Emily, mentioned that she really wanted to go to California for the weekend. While talking with Emily and my other temporary roommate, Val, we decided to go for it. So in the true spirit of being a college student, I took a roadtrip this weekend. It was high time that our presence was seen on the beautiful beaches of California.

The four of us left on Friday around 1 pm. We drove for twelve long hours. It was actually a rather enjoyable time. Time flies when you are having fun (even when you are cooped up in a car). It turns out that my car gets pretty amazing gas milage. We were all impressed and pleasantly surprised. While driving through the mountains to the east of Santa Maria, services are limited...including gas stations and cell phone service. We might have learned this the hard way. Fortunately we were able to make it to the gas station (and back into an area with cell phone service) after running for a good solid 40 miles with the low fuel light on.

On Saturday we played on the beach and in the ocean all day. It was really great. Due to our hidden, white, Utah skin we all left with some pretty good sunburns. And as it turns out seaweed has a texture that is amazingly similar to rubber.

Yay for road trips!

It was really great. Seriously. No really, seriously.

the saga continues

2008-05-07T20:46:00.002-06:00

It is a good thing that the gas company is so on top of things.

Conversation #1: Monday morning, requesting that our gas be turned back on

Info from costumer service rep: Because they were so busy, our gas wouldn't be able to be turned back on until Tuesday morning. But, they reassured us that it would be turned back on Tuesday morning.

Conversation #2: Tuesday afternoon, around 2 p.m.

Info from costumer service rep: She isn't sure why our gas isn't back on yet. However, the call to turn it back on has been dispatched. Once it has been dispatched it generally doesn't take more than a couple hours to be turned on. But emergencies do take precedence over general needs such as ours so if there happens to be one then turning our gas back on will be postponed a little longer. She reassured me that it would definitely be turned on by the end of the day. No worries.

I woke up this morning, checked the water and sure enough it was still cold. Seriously? Between my roommates and I, we checked it at least twenty more times before 3 this afternoon. Funny, but it still hadn't been turned back on.

Conclusion: it seems to be the season for gas emergencies so be sure to make sure that your furnace is safe. Either that, or the gas company just hates us.

lack of heat

2008-05-04T17:10:00.004-06:00

In the hustle and bustle of finals week, many people come and others go. This particular semester, a couple of my roommates moved out and a new one moved in. One of the above mentioned roommates that moved out had her name on the gas bill. I am sure that one day she mentioned in passing that one of us remaining girls would need to put our names on the gas bill in order to continue being serviced because she had removed her name (which only makes sense). Being the busy college girls that we are none of us thought anything more of this little encounter. That is until yesterday anyway.

When I woke up yesterday morning, I noticed that my house was a little colder than it normally is. I looked at the thermometer and sure enough, it was a mere 62 degrees. Because our thermometer occasionally gives out and decides to stop heating the house I figured that was the problem. So, I hit it a couple times, made sure that it was set to 70 degrees and went on with my day thinking that this would remedy the problem as it has in the past. Later on I went to the gym. When I got home I was fully anticipating a nice warm shower. Unfortunately, that is not what I got. It was freezing right from the get go. Not even 10 seconds of warm water. This time I decided to blame it on my roommates thinking that they had probably both showered in the not so distant past and went on with my day. Not much later, with my house still feeling not so warm, I decided to check the thermometer again. It once again confirmed my suspicions by showing that it was now 64 degrees. It had been at least a couple hours and normally it has corrected its folly in that amount of time.

At this point I started to get a teensy bit suspicious. Freezing cold water and the heater not working? Something had to be up. That is when I put two and two together and realized that none of us had put our names on the gas bill. It was the beginning of a new month and as far as the gas company was concerned nobody wanted nor needed gas in our apartment. Then it gets even better. In my quick research to figure out how to fix this little situation that we were in I looked up Questar Gas and tried to find a way to let them know that we would appreciate our gas being turned back on. Turns out that Questar is only open Monday-Friday. Luckily it has been decently warm outside this weekend, unlike the last few, so none of us has frozen to death yet. Assuming that all goes well, we will be having warm showers tomorrow. Probably not until the afternoon though.

Good thing that it is May is all that I can say.

two more

2008-04-18T21:35:00.003-06:00

My friends, this semester is coming to a close. I took two of my four finals today leaving me with only two left! This is great news for my sanity. Having every minute of every day planned can start to become a little bit daunting. It will be (has been...all compliments to the university's reading days) nice to just sleep and not even have to set an alarm; waking up whenever I feel like it. However, I think that I am just a little bit different than the normal student in that finals week doesn't really stress me out. I think that it has something to do with the fact that there aren't any classes so there is much more time to study and not worry about being anywhere at a particular time. It is especially nice this semester because I have been taking tests every Friday and already had two rounds of finals so this week was a breeze. Yay for being almost done!

life of a 4 year old

2008-04-14T10:14:00.012-06:00

This weekend I had a family reunion of sorts. My dad's whole family, which consists of my Grandma, his one sister and her husband and their little boy, was in Parowan (they all currently live in Iowa). It was a rather enjoyable weekend. Leo, my little cousin, is one of the funniest little boys that I have ever met. He is four, but is convinced that he is five. He says some of the most hilarious things and keeps us all in line. Here are some pictures from the weekend...

My sister, Leo, and me

The whole fam at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in Southern Utah

My Grandma climbing up the dunes...she had to crawl because it was so steep.

I think that at one point, we all had to crawl to be completely honest.

My sister and me...we don't ever seem to get together without taking at least a couple of pictures of ourselves.

This video is of my brother and my uncle Dave. They are slaloming down the side of the sand dune.

My sister and I are both recording at the bottom so all of the commentary is compliments of the two of us.

As you can tell from the above pictures, we went to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes. They are down my Kanab. It was really funny because my little cousin was afraid of falling down the mountain of sand that we had just successfully climbed up and anytime someone would go running down it, he would get all worried and want to go and save them. The only person that he completely trusted with going down the dune was his dad. Needless to day, it was a fun filled weekend with lots of playing, running around, and eating out. Seeing family can always be fun :)

all at once

2008-04-11T17:37:00.003-06:00

It seems funny to me that everything seems to happen at the same time. Today is one of those days. With the semester winding down it seems to all be catching up to me. I had to take a practical test, continue working on my final practical in Micro, and take the two tests that I normally take every friday. On top of that, I had to go to work right afterwards (which is where I am now...) and I will finish my day at home in Parowan to visit my family and my grandma and cousin. But, I am definitely on the downward shope now so it is looking better now. The day wasn't nearly as bad as I initially thought that it would be. I just find it strange that things aren't really spread out at all. I can have one weekend with nothing to do but relax and another weekend with a whole list of things to do. Do not fear, I shall survive!

sweet mcdreams

2008-04-06T08:23:00.008-06:00

Last night was a night full of McDreamy. Sheri and I decided that it was time to get together and watch some Grey's Anatomy. While doing this we got to talking and realized that she hadn't seen Enchanted yet. Now, that wasn't acceptable so we quickly remedied the situation. And, we didn't even have to suffer by missing out on any Patrick Dempsey.

If you haven't seen Enchanted yet, I highly suggest that it move to the top of your must see list.

A.) Patrick Dempsey is in it
B.) It is incredibly funny. I seriously just sit there and laugh through the whole thing.

I'm not sure which character or part I like best. Here are the top candidates-

The chipmunk. The way that he is so surprised when he can't talk in the real world coupled with his acting out scenarios for Prince Edward work together to make Pip an instant classic.

Prince Edward. He is so full of himself it is hilarious. For example...Nathanial to Edward: "Do you like yourself?" Edward "What's not to like?" Between that and calling everybody a pheasant, he too is rather hilarious.

These are just a couple of the many highlights. Amy Adams also does an excellent job playing Giselle. I really laugh through at least half of the movie. So, if you are in need of a good laugh, my suggestion would be to go and rent this movie. It will not disappoint you.

Pictures compliments of http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/enchanted.

come and go

2008-04-01T18:36:00.006-06:00

Today is April Fools day. I haven't done a single thing to fool anyone. I must be getting old and boring or something. My favorite part of today was when I received a text from Kristen telling me that she wanted to put food coloring in the spray tanner at work and that got me thinking. I don't know if I remember doing anything April Foolsy in a long time. When I was little, between the ages of about 10-13 I would always pull the same joke on my dad. I would tell him that my best friend's family had decided to move to Nevada when summer came. Why I chose that same lie to tell no one will ever know. Either my dad was really good at pretending that he believed me or maybe, just maybe, I actually fooled him. I'm leaning more towards the first option.

Today also marks the two year anniversary of when I totaled my car. Now, that is not an experience that I would recommend to anyone. It was rather humorous that it happened on April Fool's day though. I was on my way to work and when I called in to tell them that there was no way that I was going to show up, they told me that I was lying and that I should just come into work. It took me probably a whole two minutes to convince them that I wasn't pulling a joke on them and that I had in fact crashed my car. My mom believed me when I first told her and was very good and supportive like moms are. But, she did call me back about fifteen minutes after I first got off of the phone with her just to make sure. The insurance company did believe me on the first go with no questions asked, other than the who, what, when, where, and why of the accident. My word of wisdom...don't hydroplane. Now, I know that it can be hard to avoid sometimes, but those cement barriers aren't very forgiving in my experience. Not even at 60 miles per hour.

Today also means that I have exactly two weeks of classes left of this semester, and exactly three weeks before I will be done with all of my finals. Hooray! This is great news for my sanity. Having every minute of almost every day planned can tend to get a little bit old. I am excited for some free time. Oh how I miss you summer! And another thought...since it is the beginning of April, that means that plants and trees will start blooming soon. This is my absolute favorite time of the whole year. I just love it when the trees are all flowering and bright and the earth seems to come alive again. That's all for now.

lions and lambs

2008-03-31T16:41:00.003-06:00

I went to bed last night with high hopes that I could wear my cute new skirt to school today. I thought to myself "It's March...sure, it's cold today but it will be all better in the morning." Silly thinking apparently. When I woke up this morning, the ground was covered in a beautiful, sparkling, white blanket of snow. Isn't March supposed to come in like a lion out like a lamb? Maybe mother nature is just a little bit confused this year. Do not fear though, as the day has progressed the snow is melting at a steady rate. It is March in Utah, after all. And, the skirt will come later in the week...I just need to give the snow a little time to melt perhaps :)

llama!

2008-03-26T19:31:00.009-06:00

Today I saw a rather unseemly sight on my way from my religion class to my blood banking class. I was on my way from the JSB to the Marb when I came upon two llamas. Since when are there llamas on the BYU campus? I found this rather amusing, as did a good number of other people I am sure. There were about twenty five of us who stopped to take pictures.

Now I have seen and heard of some strange things happening at BYU, but this one just about takes the cake.

my top ten

2008-03-18T20:52:00.006-06:00

Since spring has almost sprung I decided that I would share of my love for the season. Spring is my favorite season for any number of reasons and not just because of my birthday. Here are my top ten reasons that Spring is my favorite season (Letterman style and everything...just pretend that you can hear the music and the sound of symbols):

10. Finals-mainly because that means that I get to take a break from school.

9. Out come the flip flops!

8. Jackets and coats go into storage for another few months (this is particularly helpful for the cleanliness of my room since they tend to take up a lot of floor space).

7. It snows in the morning, but miraculously, by afternoon it is warm enough to wear short sleeves and flip flops. Well, in the case of a spring in Utah at least...

6. Everything starts to come alive again.

5. More Grey's Anatomy (this would be specific to this year considering the multiple month hiatus that was the writer's strike).

4. It seems that people come out of hiding...everyone is more lively and happier in general.

3. The gas bill goes down due to less usage of the heater.

2. It is warm! Yay for having the sun shine!

And last, but definitely not least...

1. There are all sorts of beautiful flowers of all colors, both on the ground and in the trees, that blossom and show off their beauty.

you did what?

2008-03-05T15:01:00.014-07:00

I have often been told that I should change my major. There are a number of things that brings this statement out of people. Most commonly it is the fact that I take 3 tests or so every Friday, and that doesn't even take into consideration the test that I take every Tuesday. For some, it seems, this is a major turn off. I understand this sentiment, but I guess that I have just learned to deal with the fact that it is my reality for the next couple semesters. Another common reason for people to tell me that is that we draw each others blood every week. Which means that if any of us had a fear of needles, it quickly had to be conquered.

Today, however; I am pretty sure that I have a new reason for people to tell me to change my major. The tests that we performed today were a bleeding time test and a capillary fragility test. The picture below is a picture of the cut on my arm, and yes, it is less dramatic that I thought it would be. This would be from the bleeding time test. It basically consists of cutting the patient and then watching them bleed and timing how long it takes for the bleeding to stop. It might be just a teensy bit barbaric...

The capillary fragility test was more barbaric, and also more painful i might add. For this test we left an inflated blood pressure cuff on our arms for five whole minutes in order to see if our capillaries could stand the pressure. If they didn't then we would have lots of little petichiae (little bruises). Lucky for me, my capillaries could take it.

This picture was taken about three and a half minutes into the proceedure. Yes, they are the same person's hands. And yes, the one is very much more purple. And finally, yes, I am still a CLS major. I wasn't scared away.

one of my favorites

2008-03-02T22:46:00.004-07:00

In church today we sang one of my all time favorite hymns. It is hymn #185 Reverently and Meekly Now. It really hits me every time that I sing it or hear it sung. The descriptive words that are used and the way that it is written makes the atonement so real for me and helps me to realize how much the Lord loves me.

Reverently and meekly now,

Let thy head most humbly bow.

Think of me, thou ransomed one;

Think what I for thee have done.

With my blood that dripped like rain,

Sweat in agony of pain,

With my body on the tree

I have ransomed even thee.

In this bread now blest for thee,

Emblem of my body see;

In this water or this wine,

Emblem of my blood divine.

Oh, remember what was done

That the sinner might be won.

On the cross of Calvary

I have suffered death for thee.

Bid thine heart all strife to cease;

With thy brethren be at peace.

Oh, forgive as thou wouldst be

E'en forgiven now by me.

In the solemn faith of prayer

Cast upon me all thy care,

And my Spirit's grace shall be

Like a fountain unto thee.

At the throne I intercede;

For thee ever do I plead.

I have loved thee as thy friend,

With a love that cannot end.

Be obedient, I implore,

Prayerful, watchful evermore,

And be constant unto me,

That thy Savior I may be.

Christ really is on our side. He suffered and died for us so that through him we might have eternal life. Most of the time it is hard to even grasp a tiny bit of what He went through for us, but some things help us at times to come even just a little bit closer to comprehending the magnitude of His sacrifice. This song is one of those things for me.

leap year

2008-02-29T20:49:00.006-07:00

I figured that since leap year only comes around once every four years that it ought to be celebrated in style. Rather than just observing the day like I would any other, I looked up some random facts about leap year and why it is special...

1. The chance of being born on leap year is about 1 in 1500

2. There are about 187,000 people in the US and 4 million people in the world who were born on February 29th.

3. The leap year phenomenon was created in 46 B.C, and later amended, when Julius Caesar realized that the number of days in a year did not exactly coincide with how long it actually took the earth to rotate around the sun.

4. It is said that on February 29th, ladies may propose marriage to any single gentleman, and he will be cursed with bad luck should he turn her down.

5. According to English law, February 29th was ignored and had no legal status.

6. There is now in existence the Worldwide Leap Year Birthday Club and the Worldwide Leap Year Festival.

7. Century years are leap years if they were divisible by 400. So, 2000 was a Leap Year, but 1900 was not.

8. Today our year is 365.2425 days, off from our solar year by .00031, or one day's error over 4,000 years.