Adjusting to life in American Fork

Well, life is interesting.  I'm enjoying living in American Fork.  It's a good change after Provo for sure.  I have survived my first week of student teaching.  It was a good week as I got to know the kids in my class and how the classroom is run.  I love the teacher I'm working with.  She and I get along really well and have a lot in common. Here's a picture of me just getting to school on the first day with my teacher badge (can't see my photo ID in this pic, it's all official).  Yes, I'm a nerd :)  I ended up teaching 2 days when my teacher was not there and the aides in the class asked me to.  Later I found out that was not what I should have been doing.  Oops!  It was a good experience as far as I'm concerned so I'm glad but now I know better.

Along with starting school, I've started going to my new ward which seems cool. I haven't really met many people or anything yet but I'll start going to activities soon which will help with that.  I'm loving not having to go to Provo much. I am only there once a week for a class which I think will be a great class.  It's crazy that my life as a student is coming to an end.  I finally have Internet access here which will be nice although it was not bad at all walking over to my Aunt Jill's house to bum off of her wireless.  It was actually nice not having it all the time and nice going over there and talking to Aunt Jill and Marie. 

I feel like there are many unknown aspects to my life right now but I'm ok with that.  I guess things will work out as the time goes.  It will be interesting to see results eventually.  Until then, I'll just keep living life here and having fun.

WICKED!!!

The last main event of my trip home we (Josh, Michelle, Mom, and I) went to San Francisco to see Wicked. When we got there, we went to our seats which were not where I was told we would be. My family surprised me and we had first row seats! We were a little nervous about sitting so close and worried that we wouldn’t be able to see everything going on. That may have been the case but I did not notice. I absolutely loved sitting so close and seeing the faces on the actors. It added a lot of personality to the characters. During the opening song, I made eye contact with 2 different dancers which was fun and set the intensity for the entire play. There were certain moments when Michelle and I could have almost reached up and touched Elphaba (or others). We were nervous about the sound as well because there were speakers right in front of us but the sound was perfect! Basically it was just a perfect trip to see Wicked! Great way to end my trip home for sure!

My Best Friend's Day!

Holy cow!!! My best friend in the world, miranda, is married! Tuesday, August 17th was the big day and it was a great day!  I just love miranda and Joesneed.  They are perfect together and I am glad this day has finally come for them.  Being able to be in the Temple with my best friend was amazing.  I actually had the best seat where I was able to watch both of their faces. It was a great day at the Temple then fun lunch with them afterward. I can't believe how quickly life goes by.  I have so many memories with miranda, as I think back I don't understand how we are where we are today.  Things change, and life goes on.  Gotta love it!  Congratulations miranda and Joesneed!!!

Boxing Experience

Soon after I got home from my mission, I went to a big boxing event because Beaver (a family friend/great guy) was going to be the main event so we wanted to support him. He has gotten many gold medals and stuff through the Police Olympics etc. and told us about it. Well, a group of us went and I’m not a big boxing fan but it was pretty exciting/intense being there watching it. We did get into it and had fun for the first 10-15 fights, and then the main event came. Watching Beaver fight and get hit was extremely hard. The other guy was an ugly fighter and long story short, Beaver was knocked out in the second round (if I remember correctly). I was a little traumatized by this. It was one thing seeing other people get hit but when it was Beaver, I couldn’t stand it. Beaver is one of the nicest guys!
Fast forward to this week … Beaver let Josh (my brother) know that there was another match coming up. Badge vs. Badge, which he would be fighting in for a title belt. I happen to be in town and a group of us went. Beaver assured us that he would not be fighting the same guy and that it would be a tough match but a good one. Well, 6 of us went and got there early for good seats. The first row of the second section is where we ended up which was the cheaper tickets but still good. The expensive seats consisted of 4 rows of chairs so we were just behind them. The seats were certainly good enough. We were able to enjoy the first 11 fights before Beaver’s fight. Those were good; some were pretty entertaining I must admit. They were all quite different. Another guy from our hometown happened to be there which we didn’t know and he knocked out his opponent in 26 seconds which was surprising. He was the underdog and did so well. So the fights continued. Then it was time for Beaver to come out. Josh saw some seats up front and went up there. I followed him and sat with him. We had front row seats, right behind the judges. Man, it was crazy to be able to see their facial expressions and hear what the judge was saying to them individually during the match. The match was intense. It was a really good match as far as boxing goes but I was so nervous and hated whenever Beaver got hit. Long story short, they ended up calling the match a draw!!!! How in the world does that happen!?!? That was disappointing. Then there was one more match but it was over in about 35 seconds; ending in a knock out.

Near Death Experience

I almost got eaten today by a spider.  Usually I can handle spiders somewhat and stuff but today I freaked out.  We had just gotten in the car to come back from visiting Orion in the hospital and I was sitting in the back when I looked up at the handle right by my head.  Right then a HUGE and very UGLY spider crawled out from under the handle.  Man if I had grabbed it I would have passed out.  I yelled something, I don't even know what and before I knew it I had my seat belt off and I had jumped across the car to the other side.  Man it scared the crap out of me.  Josh and Mom couldn't figure out what was going on but Josh pulled over in a parking lot and as he stopped the car I flew out the door. That spider was a orange/golden/brown color and was just gross!  It freaked me out being just a couple inches from my face.  Josh came to the rescue like the wonderful big brother he is.  He hit it and it flew somewhere in the car.  Finally he found it and got rid of it.  Thank heavens for that.  He did tease me about the spider laying eggs in my hair and stuff so I will probably have nightmares now.  Such a dramatic experience with a spider!  I don't understand it, since I don't usually freak out that much about spiders.  Oh well.  I'm still alive for another day.

Grandma Rula's 90th Birthday Bash

Well, yesterday was my grandma’s 90th birthday party celebration with her twin sister. They don’t really turn 90 until October but we just had the party up at Apple Hill. It was an amazing party! Fun getting together with family again. Always a good time.  I loved being up at Apple Hill.  Many memories up there. I have many memories of playing cards with them which is always an adventure.  They can get really into the game.  I think I have more fun watching them than I do actually playing the game. I love Rula and Bula, they're just wonderful women.  HAPPY 90th GRANDMA RULA and AUNT BULA!!!! 

Temples

My favorite quote from church today was a lady who said, "It is less important to enter then temple than it is to let the temple enter you."  I really liked that.  The temple is such an amazing place. Then, after church I got home and picked up the Ensign for this month to see that the First Presidency Message as well as the Visiting Teaching messages are both on Temples!  Love it!  One quote from it is by George Q. Cannon, "Every foundation stone that is laid for a Temple, and every Temple completed . . . lessens the power of Satan on the earth, and increases the power of God and Godliness." How amazing it is to read that quote and think about how many wonderful temples we have in the world today.  Each of those Temples help diminish the power of Satan.  Of course the Temples help strengthen us against Satan and bring us closer to God each time we go if we do our part and attend with the intention of learning.  The power and blessings that come from the Temple are beyond comprehension.  I am very excited to be able to go to the Temple with my best friend in a week and witness her being sealed JoeSneed forever.  I'm so happy for them and so thankful I am able to be there with them for such an important day.  That is only one of the many miraculous blessings we have available to us through the Temples.