life. and everything that goes with it.

Whew.
snapshots of life this week.

monday.
skipped all my classes for the day to figure out what needed to happen to get my roommate and best friend Marissa well again.

tuesday.
grocery shopped, cleaned my room, went to school and work, then country dancing (so amazing. i loved it! There were tons of people there 60+ and lots of way good dancers) That evening, like most tuesday evenings, I stayed up waaay to late getting homework done.... maybe because I procrastinated... or maybe because my teachers think I have a ton of time and frankly I don't agree.

wednesday.
Marissa went to get a procedure done and I got a phone call during my Teaching Literacy class saying she would be hospitalized for the next week :( I finished the last few minutes of that class, then went to inform the professor of my next class I would not be there today. needless to say, i don't like him anymore, I shed a few tears and he didn't understand why I would prioritize my dying (ok, thats totally exaggerating) roommate above Children's Literature. Who would have thought? ugh. makes me mad just remembering...

also, I get a text that Kelli is having her baby!!! Luckily in the same hospital as Marissa!! Perfect.
Jeff and I run down to the hospital and visit Marissa for awhile, then he came down with me and met my mom (he shook her hand and was very gentlemanly and it was super cute <3>

thursday.
visited the hospital girls this morning, got to hold connor andrew yorgason, ya. he's sooo cute!
he's like a baby model! Look at that! so precious. <3

went to class, then work and just finished 2 - 3page papers in an hour.
I do have to go home to an empty room though. It may seem ridiculous, but I've roomed with Marissa for over a year... sleeping in my room by myself is quite sad. Maybe I'll pull my mattress into one of my other roommates' rooms....

tomorrow will be friday which means the weekend and hanging out with my family and Jeff and sleeping more and relaxing for 2 days! It's been an INSANE week, but I think it will all be ok in the end. In fact, I know it will be. It always is :)

next weekend. CALIFORNIA TRIP!!!

Cultural Diorama

This is for my Multicultural Education Class. These "artifacts" from my life tell a little about me as a person and the culture of my life.

My Label.

Happy Little White Girl from Huntington Beach, California

Artifact 1: A Penny

As a child, I remember a large coin jar in my parents room. It sat under their desk until it was needed. Whenever I wanted to buy lunch at school or needed some quarters for the ice cream man, the money would come out of that huge coin jar. You see, my family didn't have a ton of money growing up, but these pennies and quarters were for us kids to get treated sometimes. I did not know it at the time, but my parents sacrificed so much for me. A penny doesn't seem like much to some people, but I have learned from many pennies in that coin jar, about self control and sacrifice. I hope that those lessons are ones I will retain my whole life and will teach to my children one day.

Artifact 2: A deck of cards

All growing up, and to this day, the card game NERTZ has been a family favorite. This fast paced, competitive, crazy game was a family tradition. I remember playing with my cousins and grandparents and now I live at college away from my family, but my roommates and I have NERTZ nights every Sunday night and we've met so many friends through these game nights. Besides being a tradition and a loved game in my family, I think NERTZ shows true colors. Some would call me a quiet, easy going girl... but when NERTZ gets going, I get loud and competitive and I love it. These little hand held cards get me out of my box and allow me to be a little crazy for the hour or so the game lasts.

Artifact 3: Journal

I write in my journal almost everyday. I love it. It's like free therapy. I can write whatever I want, for as long as I want. My journal is a collage of movie stubs, notes I want to keep, pictures from my neice, to wrappers of the amazing English Chocolate I got to try. It is me. I write in my journal for myself, for my posterity, or sometimes I imagine that someone in the distant future will find it and discover a culture of my life they had never thought of before. I believe in keeping a record of my adventures and life happeneings. I believe in leaving something behind me when I go. This is how I do it. This is my way of being selfish as I keep these thoughts to myself, but generous as I donate my journal to the future archeologists of my room.

These things are just little pieces of me. My cultural diorama attempting to encompass my life and culture in 3 short paragraphs. I hope you enjoyed yourself. I know did trying to to think of things.

peace and love
<3

Rockin Around the Christmas Tree... with the Pitts :)

Merry Christmas!

Some highlights of Christmas break this year...

1. Shopping before Christmas- mom, em and I did a lot of shopping before the rest of the kids came into town so it wouldn't be quite so hectic. Funny story. So we're at the mall and there is this table giving out free lipstick samples. I grab one entitled "Flirt Alert" and I convinced mom and emily to put it on with me while we walked around the mall. Cashiers and people around us were looking at us soo funny, but we couldn't stop laughing.It was the best.

2. Christmas Eve-I love christmas eve! My mom's side of the family comes over and we all eat red cabbage (and regular food too) we do the funnest pass aroudn gift exchange and they are the funniest people ever.

3. HOHOHO Merry Christmas! - Charlie my nephew went around saying this where ever he went! it was the funniest thing. I love him! Here's a video of it that I hope works :)

4. and of course, the best part of any holiday is being wiht family. I've laughed so much this break I might have a 6-pack haha With 13 people living in my 3 bedroom home and one of them 8 months pregnant, plus my oldest brother, his wife and their 3 children visiting most of every day.... we were crowded to say the least. and loud. haha But I loved every minute of it! Our family gets bigger and bigger and we're just sharing the love!! :)

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!!!

Dedication

This post is dedicated to my bosom friend

Marissa Campbell

Some things that you may or may not know about Marissa that make her my favorite...

-She is an excellent person to come to when you want to talk. Her and I have had countless hours where we're just laying in bed at night or sitting in the car... and we just talk about nothing or everything or life or boys or whatever is bothering us or whatever we're excited about.

-She is a great sharer. Basically we share EVERYTHING! and I love it. Conditioner, food, Pooter, our thoughts, name it. we share it.

-She is a genius. (Don't tell her I said so cause she is also very modest) She is majoring in Chemical Laboratory Science. She could tell you the chemical reactions of a thousand different things... its amazing. One day she is going to do a chemistry magic show for my elementary school class. I'm really excited for it.

-She does amazing flying hearts. I don't know if any of you know what I'm talking about... but freshman year I had my own room and she shared a room across the hall with Dana and when we went to sleep, if our doors were both left open, we could see each other and she would make a heart with her hands so I didn't feel lonely by myself. Those hearts have lasted these 3 years and now they evolved into flying hearts.

-She is a great roommate. Probably because she shares so well and we're like the same person. We have been roommates for 3 years now :)

-She is from Delaware. ya. How many people do you know from delaware?! I know 6 now.. but only cause I know Marissa and her AMAZING family.

-She is an amazing sports player. She has played LaCross and Feild Hockey. And one time we were driving from Utah to California and she offered to wallop any scary truckers with her lacross stick for us. That's a good friend if I've ever seen one :)

-She is very strong in the gospel. Marissa's testimony shines through her actions, her thoughts, and her every word. I love being around her because it makes me a stronger person. I can always have a good gospel conversation with her. In fact, most sunday mornings, we wake up and get ready for church and we'll be talking and she'll just whip out something she learned and blow me away with something new that I hadn't ever considered before. She is amazing.

-She can quote any movie ever. And she knows actors and actresses by their names. I don't think I'll ever gain that skill. Maybe if I hang out with Marissa long enough...

-Marissa has love in her heart. Sometimes we'll find ourselves in situations where people are acting ridiculous. My first reaction is usually to honk my horn or get frustrated... Marissa says "love in our hearts..." and I realize how awesome my friend is at loving everyone all the time. Or other times when our lives are so totally ironic and things just couldn't be more hysterical... she always reminds me "love our life..." haha.

I know that as she reads this she will shake her head and deny all of it... but why would I lie on my blog? I have the most amazing awesome friend ever and I'm so glad I met her. We were "randomly" roommates our freshman year at college, but I'm sure it was on purpose in the grand scheme of things. I don't think I could have survived the past three years without her. So here is to Marissa Laurette Campbell. I love you girl! I'm so glad I've got you around!

<<-<3->>

(thats how we do flying hearts text style)

(and that's how we do flying hearts real style =>)

The Dragon

yesterday
approximately dinner time
I got home from school
chicken out of the freezer, defrost it, put it on a cookie sheet to cook in the oven
preheat oven
get bbq sauce out
GRRRRRRRR
umm.. was that my oven growling?
yes
I call over my roommate
FIRE spits out of the oven
at us
SPARKS fly out of the bottom of the oven
bouncing toward us
WHAT TO DO!?!?
we scream
naturally.
Lyndi runs to the dragon we used to call our oven and turns it off
we both run next door to the boys house, wake up Jon and he hobbles over to our apartment
Jon diagnoses the problem
apparently the coil burnt in two...?
oven=broken
tomorrow the maintenance man comes
we will either get a new oven or a new coil
thus concludes the adventure of the dragon.

Yes officer?

So I'm driving home from campus, only to realize halfway there that I wouldn't be able to print out the pictures I needed for my project since my printer doesn't work right now (I need to buy more ink... umm who votes computer ink shouldn't cost $50? I!!!) so I turn around and head to the El Ed building (the McKay Building if you're familiar with BYU campus) and I figured I could go to the faculty parking since it would only take a minute to print what I needed.

I get to the street I turn into to get to the parking lot. And there is the police officer, talking to the car ahead of me. So he walks up to my car. He's like my age. 21-ish maybe. It was at this moment that I made a decision.

I decided to WORK IT.

I rolled down my window and he asks if I'm a student. I tell him yes and he continues to tell me that I'm not allowed in the back parking lot until 7 when parking is open to anyone. I look up right into his eyes and flutter my eyelashes a few times... bite my bottom lip for good measure and look genuinely concerned. "Officer, what if I'm SUPER fast? You won't even know I was there! I promise I don't do this all the time, I'm just really cramming for time..." (flash my pearly whites and dimples to clinch it) He pauses and looks semi nervous and goes "Ok, but you have to be back in 5 minutes. Give me your lisence so I know when you get back." (GOT IT!!!) "Thank you so much! You're the best" (And I flash my best smile at him again)

So I go print my papers and I drive back out and stop at the gate and he comes out of his booth and taps on my window. I roll it down and I kid you not. "So you're from Huntington Beach huh? I'm from Burbank! What a small world. Hey, so I wouldn't reccommend making this a habit, but if you ever need anything, I work every Tuesday night." I thanked him and assured him that it really was a one time thing and drove away.

O my goodness. I've always heard those stories of girls working over the police men. I'll be honest, I didn't think it would work!! I never knew I was capable of such sneakyness! I'm just glad I got that project done and I now have inside connections with the law system on Tuesday nights! ;) haha

I seriously love my life.

My Thoughts Today

so these are my thoughts.

life has been pretty crazy the past week. X-that. Insane. From 15 page research papers, to teaching PE to six graders today, to these crazy signs I have to make, to country dance... all while still trying to be my best self towards everyone around me and doing the rest of my school work... goodness. life is crazy.
Then I thought today. Here I am babysitting my two precious nephews (both are asleep so I really have nothing better to do than blog...I've already taken a thousand sleeping pictures of them haha) and I'm realizing what's really important here.
Perspective hit me head on.
I mean, let's be honest. Will I remember this horrible research paper? or the fact that the PE supply room ran out of soccer balls and I had to improvise my WHOLE lesson today 5 minutes before hand? probably not.
I will remember how I felt after being way too upset over a stupid frustration last night that I had no right to get riled up about. I will remember how I got to sit and talk with my roommate today over some lunch and discuss how life was and hear all about her cute boy story. And I will remember how sweet my nephews look while they dream :)
Overall. Life is insane. But when will it not be? Super early New Year's Resolution. Be happy despite it all. In the words of a very wise, wonderful man, I'm trying to "find joy in the journey" and I don't think it will be hard to do with my wonderful family, my awesome roommates, my sweet boy (who brought me chocolate milk the other night while I wrote that horrible paper <3)and the fall leaves.

Life is good today <3