Christmas 2008

This year was a fabulous Christmas. On the morning of Christmas Eve, my sister-in-law, Rebecca gave birth to her first baby, a sweet little 7 lb 6 oz girl named Marleigh Jane Fuga. Since I am leaving to go to Washington DC for my internship on Monday, I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to meet my new niece before I left because she actually wasn't due until after January 1st. But luckily, she gave me my first gift of the season by coming early enough for me to meet her.

This year for Christmas my parents, my brother Ammon, and I went to our sister Marian's house in Lewiston, Utah. We left on Christmas Eve and arrived at Marian's right before a huge blizzard pounded the whole state of Utah. We spent Christmas Eve playing Cranium and eating lots of yummy food.

On Christmas morning we drove a treacherous 2 blocks to my other sister Rachael's house to eat a delicious breakfast and to open presents. We had a lot of fun with my neice, Taylor, and nephew, Johnathan. Christmas is just so much more fun with little kids around. Mom and Dad got a digital camera (yes, we are forcing them to become part of the 21st century digital world) Marian and Rachael got new Bosch kitchen mixers, I got a pizza baking stone and some drinking glasses, Ammon got some new shirts, and Taylor and Johnathon got loads of toys, including a John Deere tractor set that both Johnny and Grandpa were pretty excited about.

After breakfast we went back to Marian's house where her step-children had arrived to open their presents. With six kids ages 17 to 7, and with Taylor wanting to "help" EVERYONE open their presents, it was chaos for a while.

After all the commotion, Marian and Vern and their kids left to go to Idaho to have dinner with Vern's family, we went back to Rachael and Clay's house, and then we watched movies and took a nap. It was a great day. The kids had lots of fun chasing and being chased by the "Grandpa Monster."

Rachael and Clay then argued about who knew how to make dinner better, but eventually dinner got made and we had delicious pork roast, ribs, rolls and green beans. Clay's sister, Tarin and her son Treyson came over to join in on the fun.

In all it was a fantastic Christmas. We were all glad we could be here to spend time with the kids.

Merry Christmas to all!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

A couple of weeks ago I made a batch of Chocolate Chip cookies that I had originally intended to bring to some of my friends. Well, I got busy and wasn't able to bring them to my friends when I had planned, so I had all these cookies just sitting out looking really delicious.

So, as I was rushing out to school, I would eat a couple for breakfast. When I came home for lunch I had a couple more. And then dinner time came and I just had to have another.

So the next day as I was driving to school (while eating a chocolate chip cookie, of course) I started thinking about how often I had eaten chocolate chip cookies, and my thoughts ended up in a rhyme. (They do that sometimes. I often think in rhymed couplets. It must be attributed to too much Dr. Suess as a child or something.) And then I even added a tune, but I don't now how to include the tune on my blog. Anyway, this was the by product of a bored mind with chocolate chip cookies on the brain:

I like chocolate chip cookies for breakfast,
I like chocolate chip cookies for lunch,
I like chocolate chip cookies for dinner,
and I eat 'em on Sunday for brunch.

I like chocolate chip cookies at midnight
I like chocolate chip cookies at noon
I like chocolate chip cookies in broad daylight
or under the light of the moon.

I like chocolate chip cookies with ice cream
I like chocolate chip cookies with milk
I like chocolate chip cookies in my flannel pajamas
or a nightgown made of silk!

Chocolate chip cookies! Chocolate chip cookies!
Chocolate chip cookies! I love you so! Yes I do!
Chocolate chip cookies! Chocolate chip cookies!
Oh chocolate chip cookies! To you I'm true!

Ode To Donut

So, for my ward Family Home Evening tonight we made donuts and wrote donut poetry. These two poems were my contributions:

Ode to Donut

O Donut, Dear donut
ring of goodness with a hole
with sprinkles or with nuts
your yummy goodness fills my soul

Filled with creme or frosted
or sugared powd'ry white
from Krispie Kreme or Albertsons,
You fill me with delight.



The Paradox of Donut

Though you are empty
in the center
I do not find you
hollow

Favorite Quotes of the Week

One of the best things about being a humanities major is being "assigned" to read some of the most wonderful works of literature ever written. I often come across certain quotes in my reading that are so beautiful or so thought-provoking that I want to share them with everyone and exclaim, "Isn't that amazing!" Well, the beautiful thing about having a blog is that I can talk about whatever I want to, and then if people want to read it, they can. If not, then I don't have to bore them with my passion that might not be as interesting to them.

Anyway, so these are my quotes for the week:

This one is from My Antonia, by Willa Cather. I thought this was just a beautiful passage particularly appropriate for this time of year:

"All those fall afternoons were the same, but I never got used to them. As far as we could see, the miles of copper-red grass were drenched in sunlight that was stronger and fiercer than at any other time of the day. The blond cornfields were red gold, the haystacks turned rosy and threw long shadows. The whole prairie was like the bush that burned with fire and was not consumed. That hour always had the exultation of victory, of triumphant ending, like a hero's death-heroes who died young and gloriously. It was a sudden transfiguration, a lifting-up of day."

My next quote comes from Mark Twain's "The War Prayer." I thought this was particularly thought provoking during this time of economic and political unrest because it requires us to really think about what we pray for and why. The story is about a congregation that meets to pray for their soldiers who are going off to war. The minister prays for the safety and success of the soldiers. Then an old man in the congregation walks to the front and tells everyone that he is a messenger from God and that God has heard the minister's prayer. This is what the messenger tells the people:

" He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such shall be your desire after I[...]have explained its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of-except he pause and think.

"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two- one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this- keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can by injured by it.

"You have heard your servant's prayer-The uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it-that part which the pastor-and also you in your hearts- fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: 'Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient. The whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. [...]When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory.... Upon the listening spirit of God the Father fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

'O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle-be Thou near them! With them-in spirit-we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it- for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.'

(After a pause) 'Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits."

Now, I'm not really trying to make a political statement about the war in Iraq. Despite its cynicism, I like this quote because it really makes us think about what consequences others must suffer if we recieve all the things we pray for. So when you pray, be careful what you pray for because you just might get it-all of it, whether you really wanted it or not. (by the way, these images are courtesy of http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/)

My third favorite quote of the week is also attributed to Mark Twain, but I haven't been able to find an actual verifiable source that guarantees that he really said it. But whoever said or wrote it was very inspiring:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”


This quote has had quite an impact on me. I have been thinking for a long while now about going to Washington DC to do an internship. Since I will be graduating soon, I thought now would be a great time to try to do it. So taking that Mark Twain quote to heart, I applied to BYU's Washington Seminar knowing that it was something I would regret not taking advantage of if I let it pass me by without even trying to get accepted. So I filled out the application, completed the interview, and what do you know?! I got accepted! Now I just need to finish my applications for internships. I am really interested in doing something at the Smithsonian in one of their MANY museums in DC. So keep your fingers crossed for me and I'll keep everyone posted on what I hear back from them. As it is right now, it looks like I'll be leaving for DC in January, and I won't be back until April. That means I have to find someone to rent my condo for a few months and figure out what to do with Buster.

Well, thats all for now, folks! Until next time, au revoir!

Fall Fun

I love Fall! There's nothing quite like those fresh, crisp fall mornings, hazy afternoons when the leaves are ablaze with color, cheering at a football game, or biting into a sweet crunchy apple. These are the things I love about this season.

Ammon has been kind enough to share his friends with me, and we've all had a lot of fun going on hikes together and watching the football games (GO COUGARS). In the midst of the research papers and essays I am working on for my classes, these diversions have been quite welcome.

A couple of weeks ago we hiked all the way from Rock Canyon, behind Y mountain through some beautiful meadows, and then came out at the Y. It ended up being about a 6 hour hike because the trail forked several times and sometimes we chose the wrong path and ended up having to back track. One of the detours we took was well worth it, however, because we got to see a beautiful valley with gorgeous fall colored leaves all around that we would have missed if we had taken the other route.

Trip to Madison & Chicago

So at the end of August I was able to visit my sister, Mona, her husband, Ben, and my two adorable nephews, Bridger & Carter. It was perfect weather in Madison. We had a great time seeing downtown Madison with its awesome farmers market, the capitol building, the museum of contemporary art, and of course the University of Wisconsin campus where we had hamburgers and hot dogs, and watched Bridger feed the ducks. Well, actually, Bridger didn't feed the ducks because he was scared of them, and after getting slimed when he accidently put his hand in a big pile of duck poop, Bridger decided to eat the bread himself (after we thoroughly sanitized his hands, of course) instead of giving it to those stinky old birds. He also decided it was safer behind his dad's legs than out in front closer to the ducks.

I also was able to go to Spring Green, Wisconsin where one of the homes of Frank Lloyd Wright was built. For those of you who are not art history nerds like I am, Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the most influential architects ever to come out of America. He is famous world wide for his innovative, if sometimes eccentric, ideas. His home there is called Taliesin, and it is definitely an interesting building. It has a tragic history though. The home was re-built 3 times because it kept getting burned down. The first fire was started by one of Wright's servants who was mentally deranged. In that fire, Mamah Cheney, Wright's mistress and 2 of her children were killed. The second fire was started by lightning. You would think after that, he wouldn't want to rebuild it again, but Wright was very determined. The home is now slowly deteriorating due to lack of funds to keep it maintained, but it is still pretty cool to see.

To get to Madison I flew into Chicago and then drove to Madison. I was able to spend a little bit of time in Chicago where I saw Wicked with my friend, Jeff. It was SO good! I highly recommend it to anyone. Jeff and his family were kind enough to let me stay at their house overnight, then Jeff drove me to Janesville Wisconsin where Mona picked me up.

On the way back home, Mona and Ben wanted to go to the temple in Chicago, so I babysat the boys while they went to the temple, then we all went together to explore the wonders of downtown chicago before I had to fly back home. Since we had a limited amount of time, the only thing we really got to see was the Hancock building. The views from the top were amazing, even if we did have to sneak past the grouchy security guards to get to the top. :-)

In all, it was a really fun trip. It was so nice to have a vacation from school and work, and it was even better to be able to spend time with Mona and her adorable family!!

St. George Trip

This past weekend I went with Ammon and his roommates down to St. George. We Hiked Angel's Landing in Zion's National Park, and then we went to the Tuacahn outdoor theater to see Les Miserables. It was SO good!!

The hike was really fun, and not as hard as I thought it would be. Its paved almost the whole way up until you get to the really steep parts where you have to hold onto chains to help you up. The view from the top was amazing! We had a lot of fun getting to the top where we took all sorts of silly photos like pretending we were falling off the cliffs, etc. Don't worry, we all survived!

Somehow I was miraculously saved from plunging thousands of feet to the treacherous rocks below.

That was the last anyone saw of Ammon.....

"Can you hear me now?" This is me demonstrating how the Angels land.

Luckily it wasn't too hot. We started in the morning around 7:30 or 8:00 and got to the top around 11:00-ish and then it only took us about an hour to get back down where we cooled our feet in the river then headed back to town.

Home Sweet Home

So I am finally moved into my new condo in Provo, and I have to say that I really do love it here so far. I am just one block away from a really nice park in Provo where Buster loves to take walks and where he is always a big hit with all the little kids. It takes me approximately 147 seconds to walk from my front door to the front door of the Smith's grocery store that is just 2 blocks away. I am 4 blocks from downtown Provo and 8 blocks from campus, so its a great location. Its also really easy to get to work, since all I have to do is go one block to state street and then follow that all the way up to my office. I am also just a few blocks away from the Provo River trail where me and Buster go running when I'm feeling ambitious.

My ward is pretty good too. I've only been there twice, but its probably the friendliest singles ward I've ever been in. My neighbors are really nice too. There are 4 units in my building, 2 of them are occupied by married couples, and the other by a really nice older lady named Peggy. My downstairs neighbors welcomed me to the building by bringing me cookies, and they also made these cute little doggy biscuits for Buster, which he loved and quickly devoured.

So for those of you who want my address, its 414 W 400 N #3, Provo, UT 84601.

My condo is 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, and about 870 sq. ft. so its nothing big or fancy, but it suits my needs just fine. Right now its just me and Buster here, but I may end up getting a roommate, because, lets face it, there are only so many conversations you can have with a dog before you start going crazy. :-P