TWO WEEKS!!!

Who knew 2 people could have so many arms and watches!? We're magical!

I LOVE LOGAN!

Logan is the cutest kid EVER! This is him yesterday on his changing table. He loves it there! He just kept on smiling at the camera. Then he thought the flash was funny, so he'd smile again! SOOO cute! He is sure growing. He's in #2 diapers now. We have a box of clothes he's outgrown that we add to often. He got his 2 month shots on Monday (and he was AWESOME for those). He's 11 pounds 3 ounces and 23 inches long. He is starting to make noises. He's starting to outgrow his newborn cry. His neck is getting stronger every day (hard to imagine, I know). And he now recognizes Jared and my faces. And, he SMILES. Can't help but smile along too.

All Smiles

Pop Quiz

Who is this and what movie did we very first see him in?
Hint: (he played Frank).

Frank: I have a gut feeling something bad is gonna happen.
[farts]

---

Poot: Man, why do you always have to bite my moment? Did it taste good?
Frank: [Slurps] Delicious.

And what movie is he more notable in now? Hint: He isn't human.

I should be studying...

But is it a surprise to anyone that I'd rather write on this blog! Unfortunately, I'm not in a procrastinating enough mood to give you the detailed update on my dating life, which while not showing much progress is at least generally amusing. I did want to let you know that I got the awesomest belated birthday present ever! That's right, your one and only Man Thighs now has her own "HOT PRIEST CALENDAR!" Most of the priest aren't quite as hilariously awkward looking as the original (Father August is downright HOT!), but there are some classics! Its a good things these gentlemen aren't trying to have careers as models. and as an added bonus, there's an advertisement for another calendar called "ROMAntic cats" which is a collection of victorian women holding cats! it's priceless. Every time I see it I think of you guys and our collective awesomeness!

love you all,
Man Thighs

Oh and annie I'm letting you know now that I expect at least one post with some wedding photos! I'm sure you'll look even hotter then in your engagement photos (which would be quite an achievement because you are so chicken noodle in those).

Happy Halloween!!

This picture is actually from about 2 weeks ago - when I declared this as our first "Pajama Day." Logan and I stayed in our pjs all day (of course Logan went through about 3 of his pajamas, but the concept is the same). :) Okay, and my hair's not done - when it's done I look a lot better. :)
Alert and happy on his changing table.
A goofy little face! Maybe he was trying to scare us. This onesie glows in the dark too.
This was what Logan wore to our ward Halloween party on Friday. We didn't have to worry if he would get cold!
Jared dressed as Christopher Robin to match Logan's outfit. Aren't they cute?

Cute Little Boy

It's official: Logan's growing. This dinosaur sleeper (probably my favorite) is now too small for Logan, making it his first piece of clothing he's outgrown. Sad, but good, 'cause he's growing.

Wait a second, which Tigger is mine?
This is a couple weeks ago. Here Logan is on his changing table, one of his favorite places to be. After a feeding, we just let him lay there for 5-10 minutes while he does his business. He loves looking at his "Welcome Home" sign and smiling. While going to the bathroom, he employs 2 techniques. The most common one is featured in the picture below, with his legs perched up. Recently, he likes doing the position pictured above, his flamingo legs, with one leg extended and the other one perched. Whatever gets the job done. He's so cute.

Bathtime!!!

Sweet Bippy!

We just finished our unit on sexuality and sex therapy, and I'm about to start my ridiculous take home test, for which I have only six hours (which, trust me, isn't long enough to do a good job on each question). But during this fruitless studying, something good did come it.

A new addition to our unity ads:

Sex... a team sport.

oh no!

It's been more then a month since anyone has posted. And it was me! Okay, I guess we all have some pretty good excuses, grad school, wedding plans, nursing school, taking care of a brand new human being. But still we are roomies, sisters, and we must stay united. It doesn't have to be long, just post anything!

So last weekend I went on not one but two dates! and was asked on a third, while I was technically still on a date with another guy. Actually, the guy I was on the date with took offense to that and now there is going to be a dule fought in my honor. What can I say, I'm just the hottest person on the planet. Chicken noodle!

Adventures in Relief Society...

Yeah, Megnog and Merry had their baby! Finally little Tom is here, only his name is Logan!

In a lot less exciting news, I did promise stories about Relief Society. So on Thursday there was a massive issue of callings, seriously over half the ward showed up in 15 minute intervals to recieve callings from the bishopric (one of the crazies of student wards, and the council stake in particular). I of course already had my calling, but they encouraged us to be there so that we could greet people after they got their calling and just get to know people generally. I was chatting with one girl, Christy, and the exec. sec, Jarron. They were discussing how Christy was supposed to have gone next but another girl had taken her turn. I comforted her by saying, "Don't worry you can just beat her up when she gets out." This seemed to make her feel better. (See why I got this calling, it's my nurturing nature!). I think it shocked the exec. sec. though, he was all, "What kind of Relief Society President are you?" THE WOFYB KIND!!! yeah!

In hindsight, I don't know why I bothered to post this, since Megan is the only one who comments and she is obviously indisposed. Since it will take a while for her to read this I will tell a story about her. We hung out last (I know you're all super jealous) and as we sat on the coach she spread out some towels and explain it was in case her water broke. Is it appropriate to say she's Watching Out For Her Uterus? I thought it was a nice variation. Not as catchy though, and definetly harder to say in an outrageous Austrailian accent. Trust me. I've tried.

Unityads

Okay, so Annie's last post is hard to follow, so I'm warning you now that this post is no where near as awesome as her's.

One of my first duties as relief society president was to give a talk in church with the other presidents. My topic was Unity! And yes, I totally quoted a unity ad. I said, "whenever I think of unity i think of a sign my roommates and I had in our apartment, it said, 'unity exclude everyone else." It got the biggest laugh of my talk (which is quite an accomplishment, when I'm the one that's speaking). Of course I went on from their to talk about how the world's idea of unity is based on exclusion, rivalry, and competition, but that the Savior's is about seeking out the lost sheep. Many people told me I did a great job on my talk (and most of them even sounded sincere), so I count the talk a success, and of course credit my awesome roommates and our awesome unity for giving me so much inspiration.

Also, I officially have a spanish minor, will do my student teacher next semester, and graduate at the latest August 2010!
love you,
Man Thighs

BIG NEWS!

No, Megan hasn't had her baby yet, that I know of. The big news is ... I'm getting married! Some of you may have seen this coming, we actually were a little disappointed that we've basically not surprised anyone that knows us. Oh yeah, I'm marrying Brian! But I swear, he's not going to be wearing overalls in ANY of our wedding pictures. : )

He popped the question last weekend, but we didn't get the ring until this past Saturday, so that's when we made it public knowledge. We're getting married December 19 in the Birmingham temple. I'm sorry I haven't had time to make this announcement a little more personal, my school days run 12-14 hours long, and even sleep is an expensive luxury. But I do want you to know, so, now you do!

I have to go read over 100 pages for class tomorrow, so off I go. I'll try to get a picture up sometime soon. My family is going crazy and won't stop bugging me at least for a picture of the ring, so I'll do my best. Love you all!

WOFYB!
Dr. Nanny

First Day of School!

This was a couple days before school started. This is the sign he was going to use to herd all his kids. He has a HUGE classroom.
FIRST DAY! in his official CMS (Centennial Middle School) shirt.
Jared with his backpack. Isn't he cute? He LOVES getting his picture taken. I was sure to pack him a really good first-day-of-school lunch (with a note inside!).
Me spying on him getting into his car (it's the closest I could get to "walking him to the bus").
This is the first day ALL the students were back, 7th and 8th graders. So official with his name badge on!

9 Months . . .

It's kind of funny taking these pictures. I kind of feel like I should be holding a sign with numbers, like a convict. After all, there is a front shot and a side shot. Only my numbers would be months.
Anyway, this is last week when I was one more day until officially 9 months. This Wednesday, I'm 37 weeks, which is full term, so in theory, this mystery-name kid could come any time. We'll see.

Easy BYU Classes?

My sister Dani needs an easy class at BYU. She already has 2 religion classes, and she's taking a dance class. So, what's the easiest 3 credit class you've taken at BYU? The easiest one I took was probably the Family Finance you and I took together Face.

So, input? (I kind of need this ASAP if you can).

My Girth

My depth is now greater than my width. Meaning I'm bigger back to front than I am from side to side. Huzzah.

Channing Tatum: do you want the good news or the bad news?

So let's start with the bad news: our darling Channing is officially off the market. He was married this month to that girl who played Nora in "Step-up." They got food poisoning the first day of their honeymoon and then later got tattoos.

The good news: Channing does not intend his married to be the end of career in entertainment, not only does he have new movies coming out, but he's working on a very special project. That's right, Channing Tatum is writing a musical! The news article said:
"The actor showed off his fancy footwork in 2006 movie Step Up and he reveals he's been working on a song and dance project in his spare time.
But Tatum admits fans won't get to see the results for some time.
He tells Star magazine, "I'm sort of writing one. It's kind of a Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland-type story. A fantastical dance-ical - that's what I like to call it! But it's still a long way off."
This sounds like the perfect choice for a movie fest at 2:00 in the morning, or multiple trips to the dollar theater. What do you think?
love,
Man Thighs

You Know You've Been Reading Too Much Harry Potter When . . .

1. Your book is just out of reach, so you think "Accio book" would be nice.
2. Someone's spelling something out, and they say "S as in . . . " and you suggest Slytherin.
3. You're playing pictionary, and for "owl" you draw a bird with an envelope tied around its leg.
4. The movie "Lord of the Rings" is suggested to watch, but even though you love that movie, you have mixed feelings because you'd feel like you'd be unfaithful and cheating on the other fantasy book you've involved with.
5. There's a baby blessing in your ward and the couple names the kid Micah Potter and you think, "What a waste of a good last name."

So I am very proud of my accomplishment of reading ALL 7 Harry Potter books this summer. It was really very enjoyable. In fact, as I finished The Deathly Hallows, it was bittersweet: I was very proud of what I had done and loved reading the books, but finishing meant it was over. The books really ARE so much better.
Jared reread books 4-7 this summer. It was a bit of a bind when we were both reading Deathly Hallows and only had one copy, but we coped.

WOFYB

My belly is getting bigger. So much so, that sometimes when I'm slouched over, my boobies kind of rest on my belly. Sometimes when this happens, my little baby decides to kick upward, thus kicking my boobies. Word of the wise: watch out for your boobs!

Called to Serve . . .

My sister just got her mission call!!!!! Being a family of all girls, no one really anticipated sending off a missionary, but come November 18, we will be sending Annelisa, the first ever Sister High, to the Provo, Utah Mission.
Can you believe it? That's seriously crazy. It's a huge mission, going from a little north of the point of the mountain all the way down to a little south of the Utah border. Crazy.

I'm a celebrity...

That girl that served a mission with Lucky Buns is my Visiting Teacher. She said she was gonna mention to Sorella Buns that she'd met me the next time they talked. I said, "you should use my nickname then cause that's mostly what she calls me. I'm Man Thighs."Her eyes got huge and her jaw literally dropped, "YOUR Man Thighs! I've heard about you!" I felt so famous! She couldn't remember any exact stories, I was about to suggest they might have had something to do with peeing your pants, but they were on their way out the door and I didn't get a chance. Anyway, We're stars!

Birthday Update

So my dear Sis. Lis, how WAS your birthday on Sunday? And what movie did you end up picking for your Saturday night movie party? Sorry again we couldn't make it.

Here's an official HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Phylicia Sampson!!!!!!! YAY for you!!!!!!

Be A Mom!

So it has taken me forever! But here is the video of the song we sang for Meg Nog's baby shower... I hope you enjoy!

Funny Story

So I have a really funny story and when it happened I immediately thought, "this needs to go on the WOFYB blog!" So here it goes: It was the end of June and the first day of my pathophysiology class (it's a killer class). I had bought the book (which is a beast) and gone to class and was pretty much terrified for the coming seven weeks. It was going to be a hard class. So after class I went to Costco to pick up a few things. I went to leave and I backed out of my parking stall when suddenly Ruby (my car) started beeping at me. I looked around for flashing lights but I couldn't figure out what was wrong. By now I was at the end of the parking lot where no one parks, so I pulled over and looked around. Finally I noticed that my passenger seatbelt light was flashing. Apparently Ruby thought my Pathophysiology book was a person and so she started beeping and flashing the warning lights at me to let me know that my passenger was not buckled in. Needless to say, I now make sure that my book is securely fastened. "Buckle up, it's the law"

So I met this girl in my ward who served a mission in Italy. I said, "i know a girl who served in Italy...her name was Jenny...oh crap what was her last name? All I can remember is her nickname, which probably won't help you, we used to call her Lucky Buns"
And the girl said, "Jenny Stevenson?"
I just loved that she knew the nickname.
Man Thighs

Hey Y'all!

My goodness, I've had "post on WOFYB" on my to-do list for quite some time. Ha! So I apologize for my tardiness and MIA-ness. This summer has been a beast. I had heard from upperclassmen that it was supposed to be a nice, easy semester. Well then we all realized that our class schedule got flopped from theirs and we have the class of painful torture this summer. Plus in addition to having the worst class I have ever had (which includes 4 hours every Tuesday of sitting in a classroom with my 5 cohort members and a teacher that hates us, prepares NO lesson or teaching material (but rather asks, "so what questions do you have from the readings?"), and has one of the most boring voices to listen to, 200 pages of reading from a dictionary-like book (which Pipes, our teacher, says we should be reading 2-3 times before coming to class), and weekly quizzes on any random facts from the reading Pipes likes (seriously, one week a question was filling in the blank from a quote from the bottom paragraph on page 279, that's an exact truth)), Brian has also been living in Gadsden, AL - where he's from and where he has a good job for school breaks, which is 2.5 hours from Auburn. If you followed that sentence on the first read through you earn a gold star.

But since Brian and I enjoy spending time together, we trade off weekends and spend every other weekend in Auburn and Gadsden - with a couple Birmingham weekends in there to appease my family. So I have fabulous weekends spent entirely with Brian doing fun things. And then ridiculously busy weeks of crappy school and work. It's been weird and surprisingly difficult for me. As most of you know, I'm not a big crier, but there have been lots of tears shed on Sunday nights/Monday mornings when I have to go back to the reality of school/work. Anyway, the point of all that was to say I haven't posted because I've either been busy having fun with Brian or busy being depressed with school. Literally.

But there is only a week left of the semester, thank goodness. And then I'll have kind of a break. I have learned that when a thesis is in progress, there is never actually a break. Plus I"ll still be seeing clients when we're technically on a school break. But that's ok. So I'll have a break soon and the wonderful treats of the break involve a trip to Utah! It's going to be a quick trip, but hopefully packed full of fun. Brian and I both will be coming Saturday, August 8th and leaving early morning on the 12th (Wednesday). A lot of that time will be spent with family, but a trip to Utah wouldn't be complete without seeing as many roomies as possible. So MegNog and Merry, Man Thighs, and Phyllis- how many of you will be in Utah at that time? Can we all have a get together at the Merrills? And Meggums - can I invite everyone to your house? : ) I'm not sure what the schedule is yet, I haven't discussed details with Libby - too busy, but I'll talk to her soon and get back to you.

I need to go read before this ridiculous quiz today! You will all appreciate though, one of the five chapters we had to read today was on sexual/gender identity disorders! I've learned some interesting and SICK things! Possible good stories to come. : ) Love you all like candy!

Shenannykins

Anyone seen the new Harry Potter?

Any comments? Reviews? I was seriously injured in my attempt to see the movie. (Okay, maybe not seriously, but potentially seriously injured).

Marta Ann, what is your schedule for when you're out here?

that girl that farted!

Okay, so I've had this story for a while, but I haven't wanted to post it because I did the last post and I didn't want to seem like a blog hog! So you all need to post!!!!Okay?

So at my old apartment in Miller I was sitting in the kitchen with some girls that I live with and our friends. I haven't been friends with any of them for that long, so that means none of them have even heard me burp (because if i'd burped they would have heard it!). Anyway, so this girl comes buy whose going door to door trying to get people to sign up to vote in Provo. While she talking passionately about what led her to join this cause I realize that I really need to pass some gas. You know how sometimes you can tell if its gonna be loud or silent but deadly, well I figured this one was silent but deadly and since I didn't want to look awkward by leaving the table in the middle of her speech, instead I farted in the middle of her speech. And boy was I wrong! Silent and Deadly this was not! it was Loud! and Long! And all the girls (except for the political stranger) burst into wild laughter at my expense. I was actually even embarassed and you know how hard it is to embarass me. I just keep thinking about it from that poor girl's perspective. Just like I have stories from my mission about the woman that showed us her pacemaker and the girl that opened the door in her towel, she will ALWAYS remember me as that girl who farted while I was bearing my political testimony.

Anyway I'm glad I shared that with all of you. It almost makes me feel proud to be the star of such a great story.

Well I love you all.
You all need to write.
Face where are those pictures of your crappy pennsylvanian apartment?
Megnog, where are the scintillating details of your trip to Chicago?
Phyllis, does your niece have a name yet?
Shenanny and Sarahtops, where have you been all my life?
love, love, love
man thighs

correction

its supposed to be
"prostitutes had invaded every neighborhood"
seriously I seeing them coming in with chains and clubs, like a dictators army.

prostitution and 19-year olds

So for my History 490 class we got to read this awesome journal article on prostitution in Hawaii during WWII. I contemplated reading it in a very public place on campus with the word prostitution highlighted in the title, but decided against it in case I got in trouble for scaring the efy kids. Is it weird that I came away from this article with a lot of respect for these women? But seriously they got away with a lot in a time when women weren't allowed to do much. The prostitutes weren't allowed to live outside of a certain area, but during the war things were a little more lax. One madam moved to a really wealthy snooty neighborhood, made sure everyone knew her profession, and then made a ton of money when they paid her off to move out!
It was also just a funny article. Sometime intentionally like when they asked this one woman how she felt about "practicing prostitution," she said, "I don't practice, I'm an expert!" And sometimes its unintetional like when it observed that, "prostitions had invaded every neighborhood." That one gives me a really funny image.
So I'm living in the Spanish house for summer term, and I actually like it, which kind of surprises me. Except for when I found out that almost all the girls I've made friends with so far are 19!!! Holy cow, I was grumbling about the Spanish house but then I realized that in my last apartment we had a wide age group, but I ended up the best friends with the 20-year-old. So maybe its just me, maybe I'm just that immature! probable?

Sidenote

Something I forgot to post along with my side-shot photos: The other day I mentioned to Jared that it's getting really hard for me to see the bottom side of my stomach. So now sometimes when I'm standing, Jared likes to crouch down underneath my stomach and jeer, "You can't see me!" How supportive. :)

Mego the Prego

And now by popular demand, some side shots . . .

The top one was taken on May 5, when I was about 20 weeks. The one just above was the other day at Castle Rock, where Jared proposed. Tomorrow I'll be 27 weeks. My uterus is huge! About the size of a basketball, according to babycenter.com. Right now we're out in Illinois, Jared is working with his dad and his mom and I are hanging out. We all went and saw Up today (this was my second time). I LOVE that show and would highly recommend it.

How do I look as a 24 year old?

Hello there ladies...

My dearest ladies of the WOFYB Academy,

After watching our apartment video's at Face and Steve's Farewell party, it made me want to make another one. I thought it would be cool if everyone would email me a 1-2 page synopsis of what you have been up to since we moved out of Connection Down. I would also like you to include photos that go along with the various activities and things you have been doing. (the more photos the better) I think it would be great to add to our apartment video's. If you could get those to me as soon as possible I will make it and send them off to you. I love you all!!!

Nurse Phyllis

my email address is: phylsphoto@hotmail.com

or you could mail it to me at: 4755 W. Killarney Dr. Highland, UT 84003

Funny

Just some random thoughts. On the kids last vocab test, 3 girls in one class cheated. Ironically, one of the vocab words was "conscience."
Also, in her final essay, this girl is arguing why they should be allowed to chew gum. She says, "There are many reasons chewing gum is good, the main reason is that studies show that gum helps you relive stress." I think she means relieve.
:)

My Uterus

Just wanted to let you all know that according to babycenter.com, the top of my uterus has risen above my belly button and is now about the size of a soccer ball. Just thought you'd all want to know about my uterus.
-Nog

...I'm back

It's official now because I'm finally posting on the blog! I'm sorry that it's took me so long, and I have no good excuse, just laziness. Or maybe I was waiting for the perfect excuse to write (like procrastinating studying for my mid-terms like I'm doing right now).

So I've been home almost three months now. Everyone at home kept telling me I was exactly the same as when I left. Which is either an insult (wow, you didn't mature spiritually at all), a compliment (you always were so wonderful anyway), or just a comment on how I haven't really changed physically since age 14. You choose.

So on to the big question..."How was your mission?" Everybody hates this question and I understand why now. Who on earth is going to say anything other than "good!" unless you're really arrogant or you came home early for having too many boyfriends (though I suppose you could also use the word "good" to describe that too). Anyway my mission was...GOOD! No really I love Fresno, I didn't die in the extreme heat or suffer too much embarassment from riding a bike in a skirt, and I met some wonderful, amazing, awesome people! (Did I mention the really wonderful, amazing, awesome people? I did. Good. Cause they were amazing.)

Since coming home, I stayed with my parents for two months where I miraculous had three jobs (all tiny ones). I was a nanny, a spanish tutor, and even taught some voice lessons. Calling wise I totally lucked out, I was a substitute seminary teacher! so I got to go to seminary everyday and brush up on my scripture mastery. And I got to take short trips to see my sister in LA and my brother in San Antonio (I remebered the Alamo! and mostly remembered how Miss Congeniality was filmed right there). So all in all I managed to stay pretty busy but am glad to be back in Provo, where I can really stay busy.

So I'm living in Miller Apartments (behind the Provo library), I live with some pretty cool girls (don't worry they'll never be my true roommates), I have crushes on at least two boys right now, and am managing to be fairly social. Oh yeah, and I'm taking two classes. Good life.

love you all,
no longer Hermana, but still your Sister Thighs forever

A Kicker

So I've been feeling the little guy inside me moving around lately. It's fun, but Jared has been feeling left out. When the baby's really active, Jared tries to feel him, but can't . . . until last night. Last night Jared felt him twice! Two really big kicks/punches and Jared felt them both. He was so excited that he felt his son move! Jared says he's practicing for soccer, I say he's doing kung fu. So maybe he'll be the future star of Shaolin Soccer II!

Just a hello

Hello All.
I don't have a special story or reason to post today, I just felt like doing it. Everything here in Auburn is going splendidly. It's been in the 80's all week, which, while a welcome change, is not a happy thought considering it's only April! This is our last week of classes, I have 2 to go plus one final and another paper. The end of the semester is within sight! After which I'll have a 2 week break and then I'm back in the saddle. the saddle of school. : )

Everything with Brian is great. We spent this past weekend up in Birmingham with my family. My dad's parents (and my only living grandparents) came down for a visit - as did L. Tom Perry! So we drove up Saturday, attended a fireside for YSA with Elder Perry, spent some time with the fam, and Sunday we got to sit with my family and his family at a stake conference with Elder Perry. It was pretty cool. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well. Congrats to Face and Steve on the move! Hope to hear from you all soon.
Love,
Dr. Nanny

Canyoneering!

This semester I decided to take my canyoneering class and we had our field trip a week ago. We went down to San Rafael swell and went through Ding and Dang, and Baptist Draw into upper Chute canyon. The weather for the trip was perfect and I got lots of good scrapes and bruises to show for it :). My favorite part of the trip was our 90 foot rap ell int Chute canyon. We also had a good time playing sardines in Goblin valley. Goblin valley is this area that is just rock with really cool rock formations to hide behind. Overall the trip was good fun and I'm hoping to go on at least one more canyoneering trip this summer. Here's some pictures from the trip.









In other news, Steve and I have decided where we're going! We'll be moving to State College, Pennsylvania. I'm excited about the move. We'll be 3-4 hours a way from big cities such as New Yourk , Philadelphia, and Washington DC. Sate College itself is really rural and right next to the Appalacian Trail so there will be plenty of backpacking in the area. I'll be studying Physics at Penn State and Steve is looking for jobs in the area. We haven't set a moving date, but we're thinking early to mid June.
Our most exciting news for this week is we finally graduate! We're super excited. That's all that's going on with me. Hope all of you are well. I miss you guys!

~Face

Grey's Anatomy

So I don't know if everyone has been keeping up to date with Grey's, but last week, Derek finally proposed to Meredith. Normally I wouldn't think too much of it, but the way he proposed was, I thought, hilarious. Here is the youtube link for it. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbBvQt9a0rs

Nurse Phyllis

Grad School

Hi everyone, I thought I'd give a quick update on what I've been doing. The most important things is that I graduate in three weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited.
This winter I've been applying to grad schools and sitting around waiting to hear back. I'm planning to get a PhD in physics. So far I've been accepted to UC Riverside, Ohio State, and Penn State. I've gone to visit both Ohio and Penn. They're good programs, but I'm leaning towards Penn State. It has more options of people doing research that I'm interested in. The trick is finding a place where Steve can also get a job. We'll see how that goes.
That's about all the interesting stuff going on for me. Hope all of you are just fantastic.

~Laura

Guess who?

Over a month ago, I was watching You've Got Mail and I recognized someone. Go to the scene where Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks are in the grocery store (and she's avoiding him). You know when she is checking out and everybody gets mad at her because she's in a "cash only" line with no cash? Then after, Tom Hanks comes and saves the day? Well, you just watch that scene again and look who you can find. It was a shocker and I laughed out loud. Good luck! :)

STICK IT

Hello roomies. So the stick it is for all of you (dare I say most of you?) who do NOT check the blog. I mean really, I'm sure we can all check the blog and put a post up once in a while. I know there's exciting things going on in our lives -- Sam's back from the mish, Sarah's off adventuring (and learning) in Ohio (or Iowa?), Phyllis is in the nursing program, Face and Steve are preparing to leave Provo, Marta is learning to be the next great psychiatrist and she's dating a boy named Brian, and Jared and I are both teaching. Therefore, STICK IT if you do not check the blog, you will not know my news -- I AM PREGNANT! :) I'm about 14 1/2 weeks along and I'm due September 16th. Let me tell you, I have some good throwing up stories. I think after the Centovulation Book/Book of Comfort gets published (eventually, right?), I'll write another one on being pregnant. :) Anyway, I hope all of you are doing well in your own adventuring.
Love you lots, Megnog

A Belated Valentine's Day

So I figured I'd better get this post up, not only because it is almost a month late now, but also because I have a funny feeling we'll be getting busy reading up on Man Thighs! So a brief Valentine's Day review.

Brian and I started the day in my favorite way (I rhymed!), running a 5k race. We followed that race up with another lively jaunt - 4 more miles! It was great. Break. Later that day, we doubled with one of his good friends and her fiance. We made dinner at her house then played some games. It was a fun evening, and nice to be meeting the friends. But the best part of the night was the gift he gave me! I'm not sure if I've mentioned this already or not, but Brian is an architecture major, so he's very talented with his hands and quite the artist. And just to preface this a little more, I have a strong animosity for the train that runs through Auburn loudly blaring it's horn everyone hour during the night. One of our first dates was trying to smash pennies on the tracks (which that night, by the way, seems like the only night the train DIDN'T come every hour, we gave up). So for a gift, Brian drew me a picture of the train - and the corner we sat on when we attempted to have pennies smashed. I'm posting a picture, because it is seriously one of the best gifts I've ever received. I love it, and I get to see it first thing when I open my apartment door every day!


We also finally found success in the penny smashing. Here's a pic- from just this last Thursday.
Anyway, all is well in Auburn. I miss all of you dearly though. Just tonight while we were running, I was telling Brian about how much I miss you all and how there is nobody here that even compares. Hope you are all well. Love you!
Shenanny

Welcome Home Sam!!!

Welcome back Sam from Sammammish (probably spelt that wrong and I was too lazy to look it up)! I want to hear all about your adventures as a missionary and see how you are doing. I hope you check the blog too because we are in desperate need of posts. :) Love you!
Megnog
p.s. Not sure if you have my number: 801-400-6591. What's your number too?

Winter Camping

This semester Laura and I have been in a winter camping class. It's the only fun class I can remember taking at BYU. We have been learning cross country skiing mostly but also practicing principles of Leave No Trace camping and snow shoeing.

Monday was the last day off we have for the semester so we decided to try renting some equipment and cross country ski one of the routes we learned in class. Our class primarily meets in the dark and we wanted to see this route in daylight.

We rented all the equipment which took about an hour to get through the line at BYU, then we drove up the canyon. Once we got there we spent 45 minutes trying to snap my boots onto my skis. One of the guys from my class happened to show up with his own personal skis and he confirmed what Laura and I were sure of, the boots were not made for those ski's. The kid in my class then duct taped my ski's to my boots. This might have worked except that the duct tape was wrapped around the bottom of the skis and this created drag so I was unable to slide.

We decided to give up and exchange the equipment, which would mean that we would have lost about 2 and a half hours. We got back to BYU and the guy working there gave us our money back.

Afterwords we went to Macy's so I could buy a shirt for an interview I had last week. When I went to buy the shirt I saw Elder Dallin Oaks there with his wife exchanging some shirts. It was pretty neat. He was dressed the same as the last time I saw them leaving the opera when we went to see Madame Butterfly last fall.

We also had a snow camping trip last week. Thursday we put on some snowshoes and hiked a short distance to a field. When we got there we had to start piling snow and packing it down. We had to make snow caves to sleep in.

Once we had enormous piles of snow we started to carve them out. I found out there is a certain strategy to carving them in order to make all of the cold air stay below you. The process makes you sweat a lot and also involves lots of snow dripping down your clothes and melting so you get pretty wet doing it. If you don't bring clothes to change into you can be pretty cold afterwords.

This is what happened to Laura's gloves when they were used to make a snow cave.


I was warm once I got into my sleeping bag. The next day was pretty sunny.

This is the inside of our cave with our sleeping bags. There was not a lot of head room.


This is the entrance to our cave from the inside.


Laura and I crawling out of the snow cave the next day.




Getting ready for breakfast

Scripture Power

http://broadcast.lds.org/churchmusic/Primary/PR_ScripturePower_eng.mp3

Bored at Home

Hello all. I called in sick today - I haven't been feeling very well - so I thought I'd update you on my weekend. Jared and I babysat our nephew Jackson and he is adorable! It was a lot of fun looking after him and interesting to see how much work a baby really is! Before we started watching him though, we went up to Park City for a pre-Valentine's Day celebration. Neither of us had ever been to Park City, so it was fun exploring. We went to Olympic Park and watched the World Cup for bobsledding. It was fun. It made me want to watch Cool Runnings, a classic of our youth. We also went to the outlets and I got some great shoes! It was an awesome long weekend. I'll post pictures soon.

Unhatted Picture

So far every time I have seen Brian since Megan challenged me to get a picture of him without a hat on, he has been wearing a hat. So last night I told him that I was on a mission to get a hatless picture of him and he suggested that I just swipe one from facebook in the meantime. So I'm still on a mission, but this will at least give you a view of his lovely locks. I'm betting he won't wear a hat tomorrow, so I'll make sure to have my camera in hand. Until then, lovely ladies, enjoy!

UNSHUN!

I'm not sure I should even post here, seeing as I have been shunned! I call for an "unshun" for a minute while you read this.

Really I just wanted to say hello all! Life has been SO stinkin busy, it's ridiculous. I've started seeing clients now - well client. I only have one, but we've had three sessions already. It's crazy to think that I'm someone's therapist! And despite what I always feared, I am getting used to being watched and recorded while I do therapy! So that's good. I also got a new calling - I'm now the 2nd counselor in the relief society presidency. It's kind of a biggie, but we are a small branch, so it evens out. Last week we had 5 sisters in rs at the beginning. We'd have more if we didn't have to fill all the primary and nursery callings with women too... Oh also, I have a new bf. His name is Brian and so far things are going really well. We've been dating a month-ish now. He just recently cut my hair for me (a man that can cut my hair earns A LOT of points in my book), and we're about to go running (and a man that goes running with me!!). We ran 5.5 miles earlier this week, and he kept up great, so I'm a pretty happy girl! He's great in other ways too, those are just the two I'm bragging about now. : )

So between church, school, and a boy, my time is pretty well spent. I think of you all often though, and hope you're doing well. I'm getting my current roomie hooked on Grey's Anatomy - unfortunately our schedules contradict each other, so I'm never around when she watches it. Currently she hates Meredith and Christina and loves Izzie. Wierd... All right. Here's a pic for your viewing pleasure. Love you all!
Shenanny

You can reshun me now.