Valentine's Day

Monday: I was going to work with Ben when he told me I should go home because I still looked sick and looked like I was going to pass out.  I told him I was fine and went to work. I was there for a little bit before I really felt like I was going to pass out.  So, Ben walked me home where I drank lots of liquids and slept for a few hours.  I went to FHE and grocery shopping and shortly after, went to bed.

Tuesday: Happy Valentine's Day! I woke up to flowers and candy on my kitchen table from my wonderful boyfriend. :) I went to class then to Devotional which was great! We were lucky enough to have a Elder Kearon from the Seventy speak to us.  He is a wonderful speaker.  I went to class and work for the rest of the day until I got out at 8:00 that night.  Ben picked me up from school and took me to dinner at Cafe Rio.  It was so yummy :)

What I woke up to in the kitchen :) 

 And here is the cute Valentine I got from Ben's nephew, Aaron.

I got it last week but forgot to put up pictures :) 

Wednesday: I was exhausted all day.  I had my two classes in the morning then went home to have lunch with Ben and work on homework for a few hours before Ben went back to class. We had dinner and then I went to my late class and I got out over an hour early! Woohoo!

Thursday: I went to class then work for a few hours before going to an elementary school for my dance class.  It was so fun to be in the schools and to see the kids :) I got done way earlier than usual so I was able to talk to my friend Brittony from Marquette.  She's getting married! It was so great to talk to her. She was one of my best friends in high school and I miss talking to her. I picked up Ben from class and we ate the yummy chicken and dumplings I made for dinner before I took him to Star Wars in 3D for part of my Valentine's Day gift to him. We went with my friend Sydney and her boyfriend Jon.  It was very fun and Sydney told me afterwards that Ben was "just delightful."

Friday: I went to campus to work on homework while Ben worked. Then I did Jamba Juice with Alex and Sydney.  After that, I met up with Ben and our advertising group to work on a few things.  After our meeting, we went home and ate lunch.  I worked on homework pretty much all afternoon before we ate dinner and went to the Temple.

Saturday: After eating breakfast with Ben, we went to campus for him to work on homework and for me to study for and take an exam.  After that was done, we came home and ate a quick lunch before heading up to Lehi to go to Trafalga to mini-golf since the weather was so nice.  I won by one stroke :) We met up with my family after since they were coming up from Arizona.  We just kind of hung out before my parents took me and Ben to dinner.  We all ate too much and were very full but it was super good.

Sunday: Ben and I came up to Highland again to spend time with my family.  We ate breakfast and helped get stuff for dinner ready before eating some lunch and going to church. After church we just hung out for a bit and ate dinner followed by a birthday party for my aunt and little sister. After we cleaned up from dinner and dessert, we broke out some games.  We played Mormon Bridge (or Book of Mormon Thumps as my family calls it) and Pit.  I won both games :) After games we talked to everyone for a little bit more then Ben and I headed back to Provo because the weather was supposedly going to get bad.  But we made it back safe and sound.  No snow or ice on the roads.

Another Week Down

Monday: I went to an elementary school with McKensey for a class assignment.  We got to interview two kids who are English Language Learners (ELL students) and they were so cute! After our interview, the class was learning a folk dance and the teacher had me and McKensey dance with the kids and it was so much fun :) After that, I went to class and work and class and a review session for my Advertising class before our midterm.  I went to FHE and did some homework before finally going to bed.

Tuesday: Marriage Prep was fantastic. Devotional was great! It was given by Dr. Fletcher who is a chemical engineering professor.  He told us about his ancestors and told us seven things that he learned from them and their lives that we call all apply to our lives.

1. Be both good and great.
2. Do your best in school and at work.
3. Stay true to your testimony.
4. Serve faithfully in your callings.
5. Be devoted to your spouse.
6. Have a positive attitude.
7. Be humble and try to be like Jesus.

Work and dance were fine. My Foundations of Education class was interesting, as usual.  I really like how that class is driven by our discussion and what we want to talk about. After class, Ben walked me home and we studied for two hours for our Advertising midterm.

Wednesday: My Multicultural Education class was fantastic. I always look forward to that class, even though it is three hours long and starts at 8:00 in the morning.  It is so interesting and fascinating to me. At the end of class, we watched a clip from Freedom Writers and a clip from a primetime special on the story.  It was so powerful and showed what a great teacher has the power to do.  I was on such a teaching high, ready to go change the world one student at a time.  Then I had IP&T which is one of the most boring classes in the entire world.  It is even more boring than my Civ. 202 class or my History 201 class.  After class I walked home and met up with Ben so we could have lunch and study a little more for Advertising.  I dropped him off at class on my way to the grocery store.  It took way longer than I was expecting so I just parked on campus and waited a few minutes for Ben to get out of class then we took our Advertising midterm.  I did pretty well :) So I was happy. We went home and ate dinner before I went to my late TELL class. After class, I went to Ben's for a little bit before going home and going to bed. 

Thursday: Marriage Prep was awesome! I learned so much! Work and class were fine.  Ben and I walked home together and I made Shepherd's Pie for dinner and it was pretty good! I was pleasantly surprised. :) After dinner, I went with Ben, McKensey and our friend Mikayla to the mall for our community project for Multicultural Education.  The project we decided to do was to go to the mall and only sign.  Both Ben and Mikayla have taken at least one semester of American Sign Language at BYU.  McKensey took a few years of it in high school and since Ben signs all the time, I have picked up on it pretty quickly.  So, McKensey and I were interpreters for Mikayla and Ben.  It was very interesting to see people's reactions to us.  When we went into stores, the clerks were going to come help us but then they saw that we were signing so they turned away and tried not to stare at us. 

Friday: I went to campus with Ben at 8:00 to work on homework while he did TA stuff. And I got basically all of my homework done! I went to Jamba Juice with Alex and Sydney :) After that, Ben and I went to our Advertising group's meeting to start putting together some stuff for our campaign.  After that, we went home and ate a late lunch and worked on homework for a few hours.  We ate a quick dinner as I was getting ready for our Valentine's date to the ballet (since I have class late on Valentine's Day).  We went to see The Snow Queen on campus and it was so wonderful! The costumes were beautiful, the sets were amazing, the dancing was gorgeous.  It was a very fun date. 

Saturday: What a great, happy day! I slept in and after I woke up, I started doing some cleaning since cleaning checks are next week. Ben came over for lunch and then we went to the library for a few hours to finish up some homework. After that we went home and got ready for the Men's Basketball game.  We won! AND we scored over 80 points, so after dinner we went to Yogurtland with Anna and her roommate Cassie and got five free ounces of frozen yogurt.  It was delicious. After we dropped the girls off at their stake dance, Ben and I watched 7 Brides for 7 Brothers.  I LOVE that movie :) And I haven't seen it in such a long time. Oh, and we also got valentine's from Ben's mom. (Thank you Sis. Nielsen!)

Sunday: I woke up to lots of snow falling which made me super happy. :) It was ward conference today.  We had really good talks and lessons in all of our meetings. We came home and ate a quick dinner before picking up Anna and going to Brooke and Gordy's to see Mike and Amy and the boys.  Aaron gave me a valentine and I got to hold and play with Bradley a lot. :) After seeing them, Ben and I went to ward prayer.  I had to leave early because I felt really sick and felt like I was going to pass out.  So, I basically spent the rest of the night laying on the couch until I managed to go to bed. 

Just Keep Swimming

Yes, Dory from Finding Nemo has been telling me all week to just keep swimming. Why is it that Winter Semester always seems to drag on? I am ready for the springtime: sunshine, flowers, bright blue skies, my birthday, bright colors, birdies singing, cool evening walks that only require a light jacket.  Ah! I can't wait.

Here is another week's recap:

Monday: A day filled with work and class, FHE and homework.

Tuesday: A guy was hitting on me on my way to Devotional.  He was sad to hear that I had a boyfriend. Devotional was good (as usual!).  At work I listened to Conference talks all day. It was great! My classes were great.  After class, Ben, Anna and I went grocery shopping.

Wednesday: Class and no work! After lunch, I did some homework and worked on a few projects before Ben was done with class.  We went to dinner at Zuppas then I went to my really late, long class.

Thursday: I slept through my alarm and missed Marriage Prep :( That is my favorite class too! But, I made it to work on time and I won a $15 iTunes gift card in the Wilk. My dance class got out super early and the dinner I made turned out pretty good :)

Friday: Homework with Ben and Jamba with Alex and Sydney and more homework all afternoon.  Ben and I picked up our free pizzas from Pizza Hut for dinner and went to the Men's Volleyball game against Stanford.  They beat us.  After the game, we went to Ben's and watched Tangled :)

Saturday: I got up and went to the Temple with Ben.  It was packed! I have never seen so many people there before. After the Temple, we went to lunch at Firehouse Subs and got our free frozen yogurt from Yogurtland. Since it was nice and sunny, we went to Trafalga and golfed outside.  We came back home and did homework for the rest of the afternoon.

Sunday: Church was wonderful! I love going to church every week and I am so happy that I am part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! It is really where I find joy and happiness :) After church, Brooke and Gordy came to Ben's for dinner.  I made tomato basil pasta stuff that turned out pretty good.  I didn't burn the house down or totally destroy the dinner, so I consider it a success. After dinner we played Cranium.  Gordy and Brooke won.  Ben and I think it is because they are married. We drank smoothies and ate cookies then Ben got his hair cut (yay!) and Brooke and I talked about girly things :) It was a wonderful evening.

Are We Done Yet?

I decided this week that I will be in a permanent state of exhaustion until my children are out of my house. So, I might as well get used to all of this...

Monday: Our first FHE with our new families! Becca, my roommate, is my mom :) And the rest of our family is awesome! We have two guy apartments and two girl apartments. None of the other girls showed up :( But our brothers are awesome! We are going to have an awesome semester.

Tuesday: We had a campus forum instead of a devotional. The speaker was Mark DeMoss. He talked a lot about what being a Christian means and a lot about civility. It was a very good talk and it was so refreshing to hear someone who is not LDS share some of his similar views on society and the way we should conduct ourselves.

Wednesday: My multicultural education class makes me want to change the world. Well, I know I can't change the world but I can help one student at a time and that makes me so happy! My IP&T class (which is basically about how to assess students and track their progress) makes me want to fall asleep. And my super late TELL class (Teaching English Language Learners) makes me wish I knew Spanish better. I went to the grocery store and took a much needed nap. I also got the funniest text from Hannah:

Dear Meagan, in school we are in fake families for an immigration unit and I am married to a Ben and he is tall. In your face!

Ben laughed. I laughed. Who knew 8 year olds could be so funny?

Thursday: I woke up with a really sore throat and stuffy nose. Luckily the first thing I had was work at 10:00 that morning and I only had one class that got out early. After class, Ben and I went to my apartment where I made dinner for our dinner group. I made this Enchilada Lasagna. It was pretty good. The instructions aren't super clear so I kind of winged it and discovered that I need to layer the tortillas better next time I make it and thankfully I didn't buy the five cups of cheese like it says to, I didn't even use 2 cups and it was plenty. After dinner, Ben had to do some Elders Quorum stuff so I was unproductive with my roommates and it was great :)

Friday: I went to do homework with Ben on campus for a few hours then I met up with Alex and Sydney for Jamba. After Jamba, Ben and I went home to eat some lunch then we worked on some homework before going to visit Anna. For our date this week, Ben took me to Divine Comedy. It was really funny. Some of the shorter sketches weren't as good as past ones but it was still very fun.

I even got one of the big glow sticks from the show.

Saturday: I woke up and did laundry then picked up Ben from campus and we went to go take Anna to lunch and to see how her audition went. (She was auditioning to get into the piano performance major here at BYU which is really hard to do but she is an amazing pianist and she thinks she did pretty well :) After lunch, we dropped off Anna and went on a little adventure to Bridal Veil Falls. It was a really icy walk and pretty chilly but it was fun. We had a little snowball fight and took some pictures. We went back to Ben's to do some more homework then we ate dinner and went to the BYU Men's Basketball game. We lost :( We played terribly :( AND it was easily the worst refed game I have ever seen in my entire life (and I've been to and played in a lot of sporting events).

Sunday: I had kind of a lazy morning getting ready and I talked to Becca and Kensey a lot which was wonderful :) I love those girls so much. I was visit taught at 10:00 this morning. Then I did my usual Sunday things: index, start to blog, do some religion readings and eat lunch. I went to church. We had our Bishopric have a dating panel for all of us for our fifth Sunday lesson. Ben and I are doing everything right. After church, Bridger, Ben and I went up to Highland again for dinner and to celebrate my grandma's birthday. Dinner was good. My family was funny. Ben fits right in. When we got back to P-Town, Ben and I went to ward prayer and I finished up my visiting teaching for the month.

Just Another Week

Monday: No school! Woohoo!! Ben and I just kind of hung out and had a chill day.  Nothing too exciting happened.

Tuesday: Devotional by Sis. Beck! It was so good! Until I got sick and had to leave before it was over. Ben walked me home and I sat on the couch and slept all day.

Wednesday: My 3 hour, 8:00 am class got canceled! So, I only had to be on campus from 11-12:30 which was wonderful.  Ben came home with me and we ate lunch and did some homework until he went back to campus for class and I continued to do homework.  I went to my late class that got out 40 minutes early! Which means I was home by 9:00pm :)

Thursday: School and work and class.  Then Ben and I ate a quick dinner at my house before heading up to Salt Lake to go to the Grizzlies Hockey game.  I missed good hockey games and I am so glad we went! With our Pass of All Passes, we got free tickets to the game that were really good seats.  We parked across the street from the arena so we didn't have to pay for parking.  I entered one of those texting contest things to win a period of the game in the Maverik Suite.  And I WON! Ben and I got to watch the last period in the suite eating tons of free food (which was perfect because we had just been saying how hungry we were and where we were going to stop on our way home.) Grizzlies won and we even had a hat trick which meant that Pizza Hut gave us coupons for free pizza.  Definitely a very fun date :)

Us in the suite :) 

Friday: I did homework in the morning, met up with Alex and Sydney for our weekly Jamba Juice and ate lunch with Ben before we headed up to Salt Lake again to babysit his nephews while his sister and brother-in-law went on a date. Those boys are so cute and always keep me smiling :) They are easily the most adorable little boys I have ever seen in my life.

Saturday: I did homework for what seemed like all day. It was rainy and snowy and cold so I really didn't want to do anything which is probably why it took so long to finish my homework. That night, Ben and I went to the Men's Volleyball game.  We won! It was a very intense game that involved playing all five sets. There were plenty of amazing saves and plays.  It was super fun to watch.

Sunday: I made banana bread and our home teachers came.  Church was wonderful :) I know I say that every week but it always is.  I went with Bridger and Ben to my grandparents' for dinner which was delicious. My Uncle Justin was hilarious!

Exhaustion!

Only the second week of classes and I am totally and completely exhausted! Hopefully I can catch up on some sleep this long weekend and get ready for the rest of the semester.

Monday: I had my first advertising class and it was so great! My professor is super funny and I think I am really going to enjoy the class. The only downside of Monday was that I felt really sick and wasn't able to go to the ward FHE.

Tuesday: Campus devotional was by President and Sis. Samuelson and it was really great! They mostly talked about why they love BYU and it was a good reminder to make sure that we as students are always representing BYU wherever we go. I had class until 8:00 that night and was completely exhausted when I got home.

Wednesday: Wednesday I survived my two really long classes in the morning and had lunch with Ben after.  I did some homework and took a nap before going grocery shopping.  Then I grabbed some dinner and headed out to my late class.  By the time I was done with that at 9:30, I was again completely exhausted.

Thursday: Thursday I think is my favorite day.  I have my two favorite classes (Marriage Prep and Dance) and I only work from 10:00-2:00 and I am home a little after 4:00.  I made a delicious dinner (you can see the recipe here) after which, Ben took me to see the Young Ambassadors which is a musical, singing/dancing performance.  It was so good! I loved all of the music and the dancing was spectacular.

Friday: I was productive and got my homework from the week done by noon then I had Jamba Juice with Alex and Sydney.  I missed them so much! I am so glad we get to have our weekly catch-up chats :) After lunch, I went to the Temple then Ben and I hung out and ate dinner and watched a movie.

Saturday: I was productive and got my laundry done! Woohoo! Ben took me to lunch and since the weather was sooo gorgeous, we went up to Lehi to go mini golfing at Trafalga.  I won :) We got back to Provo and made some dinner and ate a little bit before going to the men's basketball game with Gordy and Brooke. It was such a blast! After the game they came over for smoothies which was also a lot of fun.

Sunday: Church was lovely as usual :) I got new Visiting Teachees and set up appointments for next week. After church and dinner, Ben and I watched the CES fireside from last week by Elder Jay E. Jensen on the Holy Ghost.  It was a really good fireside that  gave me things to think about and an opportunity to look at my life and see how I am doing in certain areas :) After we watched the fireside, we went to Ward Prayer which is always good and fun. :)

New Semester

The new semester is underway and it looks like it is going to be a great one! I'm taking 18 credits and working 14 hours a week but I think it is doable.  We shall see how it goes.

Monday: I spent my last day in Mesa with my family.  It was 80 degrees when we left Phoenix :( My grandparents picked me and Bridger up from the airport and took us to their house where we talked and ate some cake before Bridger and I loaded up my car with our stuff and drove down to Provo.  Ben actually got into Provo at the same time we did so I was able to see him which was very nice :)

Tuesday: Ben and I had breakfast together before he went to work and I did a ton of things at my apartment that needed to be done: dishes, going through my closet and making DI bags, unpacking, de-decorating the Christmas stuff, re-decorating with non-Christmas stuff, making a grocery list, etc. I also got my books with Anna and we met up with Ben after work and we all found our classes on campus.  After that, we took Ben's car to a tire place to fix Gus's tire.  While it was getting fixed we took my stuff to DI and gave my car a bath. We took Gus back to Ben's house and were finally able to go grocery shopping.  After dropping off Anna, Ben and I unloaded our groceries and ate dinner and just had a chill night before our first day of classes.

Wednesday: First day of school! First day of school! I started with my only 8:00 class of the week. It is supposed to be 3 hours long but luckily, our professor wasn't there on the first day so class was cut very short. So I went to the library where Ben was working on TA stuff, and did the homework for that class. I had another class from 11:00-12:30 and after that I was able to go home and finish up some of my readings and I finally organized my filing system.  It has been awful the last year or so; it was much needed. I ate dinner with Ben (we didn't do dinner group this week) and then went to my really late class from 6:50 until 9:30.  Luckily, I found out, this class is only 10 weeks long so I should be done with it the first week of March.

Thursday: I think Thursdays are going to be my favorite days this semester.  I start out the day with my Marriage Prep class at 9:00.  My professor is fantastic and I am super excited for this class. After Marriage Prep, I go to work from 10:00-2:00 and then I have my El. Ed. Dance class.  My teacher seems pretty cool and I am very excited! I get to dance again!! I got done at 3:20 and waited for Ben who got done at 4:00 and we walked home.  That night, we went to the women's basketball game (we totally dominated!) so I could finally claim my free Blue Crew T-shirt. There were absolutely no people there.  But it was still fun to go watch.

Friday: I don't have class or work! Woohoo! I went to campus with Ben and did my homework while he worked on his TA stuff and I returned some books while he went to class. Since neither one of us really had any homework and the weather was gorgeous we went to Trafalga and played mini-golf outside. On our way home, Ben got a text from Gordy inviting us over for games and ice cream. After we ate dinner, we headed over there for a rousing game of Scrabble and delicious ice cream and brownies.  We watched My Favorite Blonde and it was good. I really liked it.  Gordy and Ben are definitely related. They both fell asleep during the movie and were out.

Saturday: I slept in! It snowed! Ben and I went to the Temple and had a lovely time. We ate lunch and Ben did some homework. Then we built a snowman! It was so much fun :) We went to Ben's friend's wedding open house in Spanish Fork followed by a left-over dinner and movie and ice cream and hot cocoa.

Sunday: Sunday was great! It was nice to be back in my ward again.  After church, Bridger, Ben and I went up to Highland for dinner at my grandparents'.  The food was delicious and it was great seeing my grandparents, aunt and cousins again. After dinner Ben and I went up to Salt Lake to Amy's for a little birthday get together for her.  It was fun to see Mike and Amy and those sweet, adorable, boys.  (Oh, and it was good to see Anna, Brooke, and Gordy too :) I got to hold Bradley, Aaron attacked me with his dinosaur that he told me was pretend so I didn't have to be scared and Max just sat on my lap and let me help him read scriptures and let me read him a bedtime story.  It was such a wonderful night.