As 2013 draws to a close...

I am finding it incredibly hard to believe that this year is almost over. Looking back on everything that has happened, it has definitely been my hardest overall year. A real roller coaster for sure. Here's to hoping 2014 is better!

Also, a side note. I usually use my journals to write these things, but I don't have the one that covers the first few months of the year with me, so events may be sparse...mostly in February and March.

January:

• Brought in the year by myself...in a blanket fort...and I'm fairly certain I fell asleep at like 10:30 haha
• I bought a car! Or, you know, I'm in the process of buying it. It's the first big purchase I've made, but I love that thing :)
• I had a TON of reservations about applying to Pharmacy school. Nerves, I guess.
• Finally finished the cross stitch of Christ I had been working on for years.

February:

• The application deadline for Pharmacy school!
• I turned 21

March:

• Interviewed for a place at ISU's College of Pharmacy
• Got accepted to said College of Pharmacy. Wahoo!

April:

• Was laid off when my company was forced to close its doors.
• Rediscovered my love of reading.
• Welcomed Porter Sheldon Owen to the world on April 5th :)
• And let's face it. April was basically occupied by being depressed about the loss of my job. I found it hard to get out of bed many days. Thankfully that didn't last long.

May:

• Started working at Ed Snell's Pharmacy Shop- the same pharmacy I had been observing at for 2 years
• Called to be the FHE coordinator in my ward.
• Found out that Rachelle was expecting a baby in December!

June:

• Baby sister graduated from high school!
• Was a witness in a court case...which was definitely a new experience. 
• Celebrated Thanksgiving in June! (Cause if there is such a thing as Christmas in July, there should be a Thanksgiving in June, duh)

July:

• Started observation hours at Advanced Isotopes of Idaho (a nuclear pharmacy)
• Also started my community pharmacy hours at Ed Snell's...cause they are awesome like that.
• Lagoon with two of my very best friends!
• And...most of July was filled with sleeping then volunteering then sleeping. 1:30-4:30 in the morning at the Nuke, 9:30-6:30 at Snell's. Sleep in between.

August:

• Began Pharmacy School!
• Finished official observation hours!
• Won a randomly drawn scholarship at White Coat Ceremony :)
• Learned to give flu shots...not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

Getting my white coat from Dr. Liday, my advisor.

September:

• Finally got to play floor hockey again!
• My family moved from Soda Springs to Blackfoot. It's nice to have them so much closer to the family!

October:

• Participated in flu shot clinics to get in some experience and hours for school :)
• Began a new cross stitch (Nature's Paradise by Thomas Kinkade).

Here is where I'm currently at on the cross stitch. Over half way done and only been at it for 3 months!

November:

• My stake officially finished indexing 1,000,000 names for the year.
• Gave my first presentation of my pharmacy career.
• Floor hockey again! Wahoo!

December:

• Attended the Forgotten Carols with Sunny, Sarah, Katie, and Amy. It was good to be reunited!
• Finished my first semester of Pharmacy School. Just 7 more to go!    ...eesh
• Baby Samuel Shadrach Owen arrived on the 14th :) So adorable!

I am not going to mince words, 2013 was hard. It beat me down in ways that I have never been before. Don't get me wrong, there were lots of good times. Lots of happy times! But there were so many times that I am just thankful I was able to keep my head above water. 

This year has made me stronger, that's for sure. For that I am grateful, but I can't wait to see what this new year has to offer. 

Happy 2014 everyone!

I'm Legal!

Well everyone, if finally happened! I am officially 21, that magical age where you can buy alcohol (as if that thought has ever entered my head) and have a driver's license that's actually turned the right way. Whoa...I just had one of those moments. You know, the ones where you all of a sudden remember back when you used to think 21 meant you were old...scary stuff man!

So, two years ago my older sister had a baby named Greysen Gene Thinnes. He was born the day before my birthday and is so SO special. I just love him to pieces. This is a picture from his moustache themed birthday party that was held on my birthday. We all had finger staches (as evidenced in the photo below) and it was just cute. Grey's shirt says, "If you really 'moustache', I'm two", which I just find hilarious! I felt pretty lucky to have so many family members gathered together in one place to celebrate Grey's birthday, and also mine kinda...I got my own cupcake with candles in it! It was a great time though, I loved it!

Me, Rache, and Linz

After I got home from the birthday party my roommates and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings and ordered appetizers and desserts. We had a great time cheering on the MMA fighter people, who we lovingly dubbed Monkey Fist and Fish Face, even though we were absolutely horrified by the sport. I believe Monkey Fist ended up winning. Fish Face got beat up pretty bad. Poor guy.

Also, the next big thing in my life is coming up this Friday! My mom, dad, and I spent the morning of my birthday picking out a new outfit for my INTERVIEW FOR PHARMACY SCHOOL! It's seriously so surreal...I can't believe it's actually happening. I was actually fairly calm about it until about Sunday. Then I started to get really nervous. That night my home teachers came over and when they asked that age old question, "Is there anything we can do for you?" I found my hand shooting up before I could control it. "I have a pretty stressful week ahead of me, both with the test and my interview. Since my dad isn't here, I would really appreciate it if you gave me a blessing." How lucky I am to have faithful home teachers :) 

And that is where I end this blog post...hopefully I will get around to posting a quick blog about how I think my interview went...and then a few weeks after that there will be a final decision made...EEEK!

I'm still alive!

Hello world! I have been a horribly awful blogger this year...but I am going to try to do better.

Summer has been nutso it seems like and now it's almost over...I just don't know how to handle this haha

Here's a quick rundown of what my life has been like as of late:

I am still working at Seasons of Hope in the billing department. We have undergone a lot of changes in the six months or so that I have been working there. It seems like just when I get a handle on how things work I get yanked into something else. It's a good thing I absolutely love the people I work with or I would have a total mental breakdown...good thing I work at a mental health agency huh?
I just finished my second week at a new position in the department. I am now the Psych Testing Coordinator! (Sounds super prestigious right?) When I was first approached about it I was super skeptical and not very excited because Psych Testing was always the one thing that seemed to baffle me the most, however, I have come to find that it's not completely impossible to figure out and it's pretty cool to share an office with the manager :) This means that I attend meetings almost every day...that is, until school starts up again. Then I'm going to have to learn how to cram 40 hours of work into 30. Oi! Wish me luck!
 Oh, one more thing. Dr. Sommer is quite possibly one of the coolest people on the planet. Somewhere along the road to becoming a Clinical Psychologist he learned to read people REALLY well. Or maybe I'm just super easy to read...that's also a possibility. Anyway, he always seems to know when I'm really stressed and says things that make me feel much much better. Like the other day when he saw me waiting for a meeting to start and he said ratherly loudly, "Emma! We like the Emma. We have even talked about cloning the Emma!" Kinda weird, but it definitely helped relieve some of the bottled up stress I have been feeling as of late.

This summer has just been a learning experience. I started kinda dating a guy in May...ish. We weren't official and then some things happened and I "ran away" from the relationship. Much to my surprise, we went official in June. We had a lot of fun together and I learned a lot from him. He is a computer engineer and even though he really doesn't like biological sciences like I do, he was willing to discuss it with me. It felt nice to have someone to talk to on that kind of level. Gosh knows that hardly ever happens. He is a really great guy, but I guess just not for me. We broke it off a couple of weeks ago (if you couldn't tell by my use of the past tense in most of this paragraph) and it has been a weird transition for me. I've been through all the emotions I can think of, from sadness to anger. I hate that anger stage...but it's so difficult to avoid when you've had time to think over the way things happened. Oh well, in my heart of hearts I know this is for the best, but I still have lots of weak moments that are set off by the most random things and I HATE that the most. It just kinda sneaks up on me. I know in time things will pan out and I will stop avoiding things that remind me of him, but until then I will just continue to grin and bear it when people say things that they think are comforting (that's just the way it always goes right?)

But enough with this depressing stuff right? Yesterday I went to the concert on the quad with my roommates and met up with one of my very best friends. I tried to keep my mind occupied through the opening act...the music just wasn't my style and honestly I couldn't understand most of what the guy was singing. The guitarist was really talented though, I could tell that much! And then *dramatic pause* LINDSEY STIRLING was on! You remember, the hip-hop violinist that was on America's Got Talent? Yes, one and the same. I was in awe the entire time, no joke. Her renditions of The Lord of the Rings, River Flows in You, and Phantom of the Opera were phenomenal!
 I think being a violinist myself made me appreciate it more than some others did. Unless you have tried to make those kinds of movements while playing you just don't get how hard it is. You have to be constantly aware of how much you're moving because if you move too suddenly your bow bounces and you get a horrible scratchy, bumpy, bleh sound. It was just awesome :)

Oh yeah, I was also called as the Second Counselor in the Relief Society Presidency at the start of the summer. It has been a real challenge trying to keep up with everything I am supposed to be doing, but it has also been a blessing. Of course, because the Second Counselor kind of oversees activities, all my dreams of getting away from planning the Relief Society Activities kinda went down the toilet, but it's fine. We played Water Balloon volleyball this week and even though only a few girls showed up, I count it as a success!

Oooo and indexing still rocks! I can never get enough. The Relief Society and Elder's Quorum are having a competition this month to see who can index the most. I keep hearing rumors about how a couple of guys have already indexed over a thousand names. I honestly don't know who will win. It could be really close! I know one other girl in the Relief Society is just about as big into indexing as I am and has set a goal of 2500 names this month. I just passed my goal, but I have a few more days, so I might as well keep going right?

Aaaaanyway this post is way too long and has a complete lack of pictures...I will work on that for next time. Until then, it has been nice to get some of my thoughts recorded somewhere other than my journal. (By the way, I'm still going strong in the whole journal writing thing! I don't remember the exact day, but it's over 1530 :)

I came...I saw...I just wanna take a nap

This semester has been so utterly busy...I just don't even know.

I just finished my last final and while I am so dang excited that summer is finally here...I am probably more nervous now than I was during my last test. I just have one more hour until that fateful time when I go and see how I did. OChem, please be nice!

Honestly, there hasn't been a whole lot of excitement in my life as of late. I wake up, go to class, go to work, go to class, go back to work, and come home and do homework. Then I go to sleep. The cycle is never-ending! I did manage to squeeze in a little bit of a social life in there (probably too MUCH social life. That will be determined by my final grades :P)

All I know for right now is that I am so excited for SUMMER!
Some friends and I are planning on starting it out with a bang :) Hopefully there will be many posts in the coming weeks seeing as I have been completely absent almost all semester.

Now, to spice up this boring post a little bit, here is a picture that I thoroughly enjoy:

Look how cute she is!!

This now makes me the one and only girl in my immediate family who has never been crowned some sort of royalty at a dance. 

...I must have been too busy being a nerd *snort*

A Day in the Life

Wow guys, I am officially 20 years old. It's seriously so weird for me to say that.
20 means I'm actually growing up...*shudder*

Yesterday was the most epically busy day of my life.

I had to be to work at 8:00, so that meant waking up early to get ready. Gotta look presentable on your birthday. It's a must.


I worked on an EOB from 8:00 until 12:30. Then I had to leave to go to cadaver lab *shudder*
I swear, the happiest day of my life will be when I don't have to go to anymore cadaver labs.
We are studying blood vessels, so we were poking and prodding veins and arteries. My lab instructor compared arteries to al dente macaroni noodles. Forever ruined my appetite for macaroni.
We also had to draw the veins and arteries on a life sized chalk outline. My group finished super fast. We don't care if we don't win the doughnut prize for the best one.


By 3:30 I was heading back to work. I worked on that same stinking EOB until 6:30 when I had to get going to Microbiology lab.

I'm afraid I was a little bit scatterbrained through the whole lab. All I wanted to do was go home. My lab partner was very nice and put up with my absent-mindedness. Sorry Kylie!


Finally, at 8:13 I walked through the doors of my apartment. Sarah had cleaned the living room. Best birthday present EVER! However, all traces of my roommates were gone! I felt so so alone at that moment.

Sarah and Janalee eventually reappeared and we finished out the night by watching CSI, a late Taco Bell run my request, and eating cobbler that Derek so kindly made for me.

This new work schedule just might be the death of me. Good thing it's worth it.




Also, I didn't take any pictures of the celebration because, honestly, there was no celebration. However, I do have this picture from awhile ago for you to enjoy...

I went to the Utah State hockey game with some friends and this was the entertainment during one of the breaks. Little kids playing hockey= awesome!

Pinky wasn't very happy to be there though.

Sorry for the totally random picture.

Thursday Thoughts

Here are just a few of the thoughts that have passed through my mind in the last couple of days:

"Making an epoxide out of an alcohol can't be that hard, right?"

"1335 a plague broke out in China. 1350, plague spread to Europe killing 25% of the population. 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue and spread small pox to the Native Americans, decimating their population..." (Important dates in Microbiology)

"Why is it already 1:00 in the morning?!"

"7:28?! *grumble grumble grumble*"

"That dude is such a creep!"

So...basically my life has been pretty absorbed with school and school work lately.

My eight o'clock class is killing me. I really try to leave my apartment by 7:30 so I can catch a bus to upper campus. I could totally walk, but I usually carry two textbooks with me along with 3 binders for all my classes and my backpack is super heavy, so stop judging my laziness! I have woken up at 7:28 twice in the last two weeks, so I've had to walk :P

Organic chemistry...is my favorite class. I am so enthralled by all the reactions we do. I am afraid I'm going to get behind though, just because there are zillions of reactions that I am trying to learn.

Also, that creep dude that I referred to earlier is seriously starting to weird me out. I have only seen him twice in my life, once a few months ago and once yesterday. He is this older middle age guy and both times I've seen him I have had to leave because he was constantly staring at me. I have never felt so unsafe! I really think I need to find some mace and carry it with me.

Oh, something kinda cool...I became an arbitrator in family search! I have been an indexer for a few months and I decided that it would be pretty cool to be an arbitrator. It took a little rooting around, but I finally did it. I can now go through and correct other people's mistakes, goodness knows I love doing that!

 Also, I have been reading a book called Scarlett, which is the sequel to Gone with the Wind, and I'm loving it! I hated on Scarlett, the character, the whole way through the first book when it came to Rhett Butler because she was such a jerk face to him and everyone knows they are supposed to be together...and now in the second one Rhett has left her because of her obsession with Ashley and he refuses to take her back...but now the problem is that Scarlett is desperately in love with her so she has to try to win him back. It's stressing me out!

Aaaaanyway. That's pretty much been my life lately, and now I really need to go do laundry and make dinner and do some Retrosynthesis. :D

Unfortunate Truths of College Life (or Life in General)

1) Sometimes you're going to have to take the garbage out in order to throw something away because the garbage can is just too full.

2) Sometimes you're going to have to vacuum every other day in order to keep the amount of hair in the carpet at bay if you live with 4 other girls.

3) Sometimes you're going to have to do the dishes every day in order to keep them from mimicking Mount Everest.

4) Sometimes you're going to have to put your Harry Potter marathon on hold because you have an 8 o'clock class all the way on the other end of campus in order to avoid being late for said class.

5) Sometimes the toilet paper is going to run out while you're stranded...this leads to number 6.

6) Sometimes, because the toilet paper ran out on you, you will have to replace said toilet paper with a fresh roll in order to save your roommates the humiliation of having the same problem.

7) Sometimes you are going to have a big test the next day, so no matter how much you want to, you're just going to have to live without having a social life at least until tomorrow night.

8) Sometimes the toilet is going to get clogged and you're going to have to plunge it yourself in order to save the sanity of your roommate.

9) Sometimes you're going to have to go without buying groceries for a couple weeks in order to buy textbooks.

10) Sometimes you're going to have to grin and bear it when a guy you used to date decides he'd much rather date your roommate.

11) Sometimes you're going to have to have some alone time. This is okay.

12) Sometimes you're going to pray the managers don't cash your check until the next day at noon in order to save your bank account from being overdrawn.

and last but not least:

13) Sometimes you're going to have to read a section in a textbook 800 bazillion times because no matter how hard you try to study, something somewhere else is always going to look more interesting to you than the endocrine system.

In spite of it all, I love college :)

2011...

This year has had lots of ups and just a few downs thrown at me. All in all, I feel like 2011 was a pretty good year for me.

January-

• I started working at Seasons of Hope on January 5. It has been a hectic year (sometimes it feels like a lot more than that) but it has been a great learning experience.
• Linz had her baby shower on January 8 :)
• Lyndsey moved into the apartment on January 9. She's become a very good friend.
• "Can you make it through today? Because that's all you have to do today." ~Quote from a fireside I really enjoyed.
• "God expects you to have enough faith and determination and enough trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. In fact, He expects you not simply to face the future (that sounds pretty grim and stoic); He expects you to embrace and shape the future-to love it and rejoice in it and delight in your opportunities. God is anxiously waiting for the change to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe." ~Jeffrey R. Holland Quote given to me by Ryan
• My roommate, Megan, turned 18 on the 24 :)
• I taught the Sunday School lesson for the first time

February- 

• I met someone who changed my life.
• I had my heart broken, which sucked, but it was all for the better.
• "There is no room in the heart of a Latter-Day Saint for bitterness, for unkindness, for animosity towards any other of the sons and daughters of God." ~Quote that changed the way I felt towards someone who had done me wrong.
• Saw the ISU Symphony play the Four Seasons. It was amazing!
• My little sweet niece Phoebe turned 2!
• Lindsay had sweet little G-baby (Greysen...we called him G-baby forever because Ronnie wouldn't just let Linz win the name battle haha) on the 22nd, the day before my birthday :)
• I turned 19 on the 23rd and went to IF to see my brand new little nephew.
• We found out that Nate and Rebecca were expecting a baby in a scary way. We thought she was miscarrying, but everything turned out fine.
• Brendan and Witney got engaged (originally thought it was in April, but I was wrong)

March-

• I was called to be the Ward Bulletin Specialist. Probably my favorite calling to date.
• On March 7th Mom and Dad celebrated 30 years together!
• Elder C Scott Grow spoke at a fireside.
• On March 14 (3-14) I helped Kyle make 11 pies to celebrate Pi day.

• "Sometimes you have to be patient and let things happen." ~Brother Packer

April-

• Watched General Conference. It was a very healing time.
• Did a presentation for my GenChem lab at an elementary school about density. The kids seemed to really enjoy it and I felt like I could finally breathe when it was over.
• Pulled my hamstring playing volleyball...so not fun!

May-

• Greysen was blessed on May 1st.
• Osama Bin Laden was killed. I remember writing letters to soldiers in 4th grade about it. It's still hard to believe it finally happened.
• I started working with a wonderfully spectacular little boy. He wormed his way into my heart. I love him!
• Logan got a job :)
• I surprised Mom by going home for Mother's Day (I may or may not have fallen down the stairs.
• Baby Isaac was born on May 14. (Mother pointed out to me that I had the 15 written down originally. Simple typo, easily fixed)

June-

• I was called as the Relief Society Meetings Coordinator and released from the making the bulletin.
• I started observing at Ed Snell's Pharmacy. These guys make me so happy that Shaver's never called me back.
• Got whacked in the knee by a puck in floor hockey. Man I love floor hockey :)
• Mystie and John got engaged.
• I replaced a cup that my dad had in my childhood. Everyone thought it was awesome.

• I got recognized for my work as a DT :)
• I went with the Seyfried's to Star Valley to see Tyson, a friend I met in Washington DC when I was a Sophomore. He had just come home from his mission.

July-

• Went to Idaho Falls to see the fireworks with some good friends.
• Isaac was blessed on July 10th.
• Gwen also turned 4 on the 10th. I still can't believe how fast time has gone!
• Harry Potter 7 pt 2 came out on the 15th signaling the official end of my childhood...or at least that's what it felt like.
• I officially became a "Pharmacy Technician in Training"
• Tyson came to Soda for a visit and we got eaten alive by mosquitos. I feel like we still had fun anyway.
• My mommy turned *mumble mumble mumble* on July 31st!

August-

• I threw a boomarang for the first time! Super cool. I super stink at it too...
• The new roommates moved in.
• On August 12th Mystie and John got married.
• I worked with my favorite client for the last time before he pulled services. It was depressing.
• Classes started. OChem, A&P, Physics, and Intro to Lit.

September-

• Another roommate (Sarah) turned 18.
• I got an A on my first OChem test :)
• Rebecca had her baby shower in Idaho Falls.
• I volunteered at Brooklyn's Playground, a playground in Poky built with special needs children in mind. (I mostly helped with cleanup while other people built)

October-

• Hyrum was born on October 8 (Can you believe it? 3 baby boys in one year for my family)
• I went to Aberdeen to watch Maci play volleyball. Maci was really surprised.

• My dad had a birthday on the 18th.
• A friend of mine passed away. Still kind of hard to accept that she won't be in OChem anymore.
• Halloween party! I went as Celia from Monsters, Inc. but Ryan Marcum was the only one to guess what I was correctly.

November-

• I celebrated an early Thanksgiving with a client...well, actually I watched the kids and ate downstairs while everyone else ate upstairs.
• "We are the clay, and thou our potter, and we are all the world of thy hand." Isaiah 64:8
• I was stood up for the first time. To be honest, I was relieved.
• I met Hyrum for the first time. He is the cutest little red head in the world!
• Got pink eye and the flu :( Stupid pink eye didn't go away forever!

December-

• Finals almost killed me! But overall I was pleased with the grades I received.
• Maci turned 17! 
• Hyrum was blessed on the 23rd.
• Christmas was wonderful and hectic and everything I had hoped for. Christmas is a great time of year :)

Yes, I would definitely say that 2011 had more ups than downs. 

Here's to an even happier 2012!!

My Week of Miracles

This week has been such an eye opener to me.
On Monday in Institute we were talking about all the miracles that Jesus performed and how most people in our day and time write off our everyday miracles as coincidences.
I guess God just wanted to illustrate to me that we are surrounded by miracles every day, so He filled my week with TONS of miracles.

Last week: My OChem teacher announced that instead of having our test on Thursday, it would be on Friday instead. That opened up a whole bunch of problems. I had to work on Friday because...well, I always work on Friday. I made arrangements to take my test from 8-12 in the morning on Friday because that was the only possible time for me to do so.

Monday: I opened up my work schedule and noticed right off the bat that I was scheduled to work during my test review session. GREAT right? I would see to that later.
While at work my client's mother informed me that they would be going out of town on Friday and Saturday.
My first thought was about how over half of my hours for the week were scheduled that client on Friday and Saturday. There is NO way I would have been able to get by with that few hours.
After taking a couple of seconds to process what was going on I realized something else: This is my off week for A&P lab, which means I could work on Tuesday (Miracle!)
Together we were able to figure out a schedule that cut only 1.5 hours instead of the 8 or so that it was originally. (Miracle!)
Also, this meant that I could take my test at the regularly scheduled time instead of at 8 in the morning. (Miracle!)

Tuesday: My OChem lab instructor extended my lab an hour, so it started at 8 instead of 9. He lectured on NMR for an hour and when my lab group was supposed to leave to do a Spartan lab experiment (my lab is split into three lab groups. Every week there are 3 labs going on, so this was my week for the Spartan computer experiment), he gave us the option of staying and doing the computer experiment on our own time so he could help us with NMR interpretation. (Miracle!)

Wednesday: My client was supposed to go to see a specialist for an hour, but my client's grandma was in town for Grandparent's Night and was going to take him to dinner. That hour was cancelled, and I got to pick it up! (Miracle!)
I talked to the Front Office and Seasons of Hope and they were able to find two people to cover a couple of hours with my client so I could go to the class that I was originally scheduled to work during. Their schedule had changed just enough to accommodate my hours. (Miracle!)

Thursday: Commence freaking out...OChem test on NMR tomorrow.
After I got out of my 8 o'clock Institute class I went to do my Spartan experiment. My instructor asked me how my test went, so I told him it wasn't until tomorrow. He looked at me and told me to go home and study and do the Spartan on Monday. (Miracle!)

Friday: Hasn't happened yet, but hopefully another miracle will happen and I will magically get an A on my NMR interpretation :)


I know that most of these things might seem like coincidences, but I am a big believer that God is behind every coincidence. I've had FAR too many of them happen to me in my life (and especially just in this week) to believe that it just happened to turn out that way.

"...this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand.” 
~Paulo Coelho

There is DEFINITELY someone out there who loves me and wants me to succeed in my endeavors.

Crazy Life!

Is it just me or has life spun COMPLETELY out of control lately?

I was sitting in Organic Chemistry the other day interpreting IR and NMR spectra and I realized just how NUTS it was that I understood what was going on...or that I am even in that class. I remember when Nate was telling me how hard OChem was, and now I'm actually living it.

Another one of these moments came on Tuesday when I was holding onto the edge of a table trying to keep my composure as my A&P Lab TA poked and prodded a cadaver. It was definitely in the top 10 nastiest things I've ever experienced, but I thought I did very well. I fought a headache and a constant gag reflex, but I actually TOUCHED a cadaver. *hold for applause*

I'm constantly reminded of how much life changes every time I go to work. I started working at Seasons of Hope in January, where I there were 21 DT's. I was the newest and youngest there. Now I'm one of the oldies in the company...like seriously I'm 4 or 5 in seniority haha.

Oh, and Greysen is getting so BIG!:

Is everyone else aware that Rebecca is due in less than a week??:

This is a hat that my mom made for Hyrum.

She also made a pumpkin and a BSU hat.

Oh, and I'm a sophomore in COLLEGE. I guess I'm still trying to wrap my head around that one. College is such an old word...and I'm clearly not, as all of my friends are quick to point out.

Sorry mom, I'll try to take more time out of my nutso schedule to update my blog so you know what I'm up to :)

Look what ELSE I bought!

Goodness knows my apartment has been in dire need of kitchen chairs for like centuries (we had 5, but 2 of them were broken), so I finally took the initiative to go and buy some of my own.

Thank Youuuuu DI.

There were 4 of them for 12 bucks each, so I couldn't pass it up.

(My mind tried to tell me to, so I called my mom for support haha)

I love these things!

Get ready for a storm!

I have realized that I haven't posted about my life recently...like at all, so I really need to play catch up!

I've started reading more books lately.

I've always been a ridiculous reader,

I'll get caught up in a story, but then get bored.

I have to be reading at least 2 books so if I get bored I can pick up the other one.

My books right now, The Work and the Glory vol 4 and The Fire of the Covenant.

Both by Gerald N. Lund :)

Anatomy and Physiology textbook: $93.95

Anatomy and Physiology lab manual: $116.50

Web Access code: $57.50

iClicker: $28.50

Interactive DVD's plus a coolio picture book thing: Priceless.

Good thing too, cause I thought I was gonna cry!

No, really though. Books are ridiculous!

So...funny story.

Mystie got married!!

But that's not the funny part.

When I went to put her gift in the bag, the bag kinda sorta ripped.

I had to get a little creative with the wrapping.

I ended up wrapping it in tissue paper and then cutting the bag apart and taping it so it wasn't so transparent.

Oh, then I forgot the card, so I improvised with the back of a tithing slip (the only available paper in the WHOLE church building)

And, the last thing for this post is this:

I have been Cross Stitching a LOT!!

It's ridiculous how detailed these things can get, and I'm super proud of how far it's come.

Here's a close up on the face. 

You see all those itty bitty stitches???

Ice Blocking

"Hey Emma, do you want to go ice blocking with me and Jeff? The correct answer is yes."

"Okay, you talked me into it."

Lyndsey and I sitting on our blocks

Jeff in "Luge" position...kinda

Cars...and why I hate them

Cars are quite possibly one of the greatest inventions of ever!
Without them we would still be rockin' the horse and buggy...

However, they are also a gigantic pain in the rear.
One minute they are absolutely perfectly fine and the next minute they are dead.
As in doornail, dead.

So there I am on my merry way to lunch yesterday...
Bert decides it would be really fun to just, well you know, DIE!
So he does, right there on Quinn road.
I pulled around the corner and called my daddy because that was my first instinct.
I called him when the engine light came on for the first time, when the coolant light wouldn't turn OFF, when Bert suddenly had an unquenchable thirst for power steering fluid...you get the picture.
We still don't know exactly what is wrong with Bert.


When I got home after having Bert towed and eating some sympathy frozen yogurt from the parentals I very kindly asked Derek if I could possibly borrow his car for the time being.
He was way too willing...something about owing him big time or something like that.

So this morning...I get into Derek's car. I started it and everything was just fine.
For about five seconds.
His car just magically STOPPED running.
So I started it again. Same story.
And again...
And again...
Then it just stopped turning over.

WHY???????

He hasn't had any troubles with it that I know of...
So why me and why today?
Maybe it's because the universe sensed that I'm in dire need of doing my laundry.
Yes, that must be it.

Origami :]

This was my first attempt at origami for a long long time, but folks...I have succeeded in making a fish!

And to think all it took were three sheets of origami paper and YouTube!

Soda Springs Graduation 2011

On June 3rd I made the trip to Soda to see some of my best friends graduate from high school.

These are the gifts I made for Carley and Brianne.

As I've said before, I am not a poet, but I gave it a shot. 

I printed off the pictures and framed them.

If you want to see them full sized, just click on them :)

My dearest friend Carley and I after the ceremony.

I can't believe that it's already been a year since I was in her place!

She's going to be studying cosmetology in Utah.

Mr. Boulder and Miss Emeria had a little reunion!

Nathan is going to Carroll College to become an Orthopedic Surgeon :)

Bradyn  Bradyn Bradyn...he is going to USU to study aviation.

She got her diploma!

NOT!

I think just about every graduate has a picture like this.

(They have to turn in their gowns to the office before they get their diploma)

Brianne!

I love this girl so freaking much!

She's not sure what she wants to major in,

but she is minoring in Photography at BYU-I

Congratulations graduates of 2011!

For a look into my life during the last week, click here.

Tent Party!

Lyndsey said that she wanted to go camping the other night, but that wasn't an option.

So we did the next best thing:

This tent is set up in our living room!

Oh, and that's not Lyndsey's hand on my knee...that's mine.

Her arm is around Jeff and it just happened to line up perfectly with my hand.

Oh Grayden, you make me laugh!

We had a fun filled night of watching School of Rock and talking until like 3 in the morning!

It made getting up for work the next day not so awesome for Lyndsey, but it was definitely worth it!

10 Pet Peeves

1. When people say "I could care less"
  
  By saying that you could care less, you could in fact be saying that you care a great deal, which is obviously not what you mean.

2. Wen ppl type lyk dis

  Need I say more?

3. Yawn pokes

  Derek, this one's for you! Yawning is a beautiful thing and when it gets poked it ruins a beautiful moment!

4. When people measure a player's prowess by how many rings they've gotten.

  You know, you get a ring if you ride the bench too...just sayin'!

5. When people use the wrong form of there or your.

  We learned this in third grade people!

6. When white people think they're black and wear their pants halfway down their butt resulting in a Franken-duck walk.

7. When people make fun of Soda Springs.

  It may be small, but if you've never been there you can't (and SHOULDN'T) judge

8. When you're one card away from going down in Books and Runs (or Nasty if you belong to the Stoor family) and the person right before you goes down and OUT!

  I have ruined many a good score because of this!

9. When someone has a new boyfriend of girlfriend every other week and they claim to LOVE every one of them.

  No you don't. Don't kid yourselves.

10. Slow internet connections.

Encouraging words...

Man, this college stuff is tough!

I asked Nathan whether I should take Macroeconomics or Microeconomics and this is the conversation that followed:

"They both suck. Maybe try Macro. I seemed to like that one more."

"I figured they both would...dang! I think I'm going to take that next semester to get it out of the way. Whatever I do I'm going to have a semester with three labs."

"What classes are you taking?"

"Anat and phys, O Chem, Econ, and Intro to Lit is what I'm thinking for next semester. The one after that I will probably add microbiology."

"That sounds good. That should be pretty doable."

"I hope it seems like that when I'm actually doing it!"

"No, it will be horrible. But you will get through it."


Here I was expecting something like, "Don't worry, you'll be fine! If I could do it, you can do it!"
You know, words of encouragement!

Well...at least he was honest and he's not filling my head with false hopes right?

I have also decided to not take Macroeconomics for a little while...I don't know where it will fit into my schedule actually...maybe next fall.

Right now I'm registered for Anat and Phys + Lab, Intro to Lit, and Physics 111.
For my fellow Facebook-ers you will already know that I wasn't able to register for O Chem just yet.
Apparently I have to FINISH General Chemistry before they will let me enroll.
If that's not stupid I don't know WHAT is!

Who knows...maybe it saved my life!

I dunno what it is about Soda, but it seriously does NOT like me to leave.

I went back to watch the Distinguished Young Women pageant (which was AMAZING by the way) and when I was on my way out of town at around 10:30 I was caught in yet another snow storm much like the one I experienced the last time I tried to leave Soda.
This time, however, I did NOT want to get all the way to Fisher Road with Mystie, who can't drive a stick, and then freak out and have to turn around. Therefore, we turned around and stayed the night at Mystie's house.

We woke up around 7:30 this morning and decided to head out. We passed the golf course and were on our way when I saw Mystie reach for her phone.
Then it hit me.
My phone was on her dresser.
In Soda.
So, we turned around AGAIN to grab my phone.

Finally though, we were able to make it back to Pocatello.
I guess I will never know what would have happened if we hadn't turned around. Everything happens for a reason, right? So why did I have to leave my phone? Maybe a driver wasn't paying attention and would have hit us...maybe a herd of deer would have run in front of us...

I don't know why we had to turn back twice...but who knows...maybe it saved our lives!