"Save a Life" Day

Today I felt very good about myself because I saved many lives. This morning I braved the very cold weather (in a skirt!) and walked to the temple to do confirmations and baptisms. I realized halfway to the temple that I couldn't really feel my legs. Brr! I do believe this was the first time I actually got to do baptisms in a temple other than the Lubbock Temple! I guess on vacations we just look at the outsides of temples or I babysit the kiddos while people do a session. I have tried to go do baptisms once before here, but I didn't have the time to wait in the long line.

Later I waited for a long time to donate blood. I had an appointment, which means I should have gotten through the line faster. Didn't happen. But, I still gave blood. At first my iron count was .2 below what it needed to be, but on the second finger prick, I was okayed to give blood. The shortbread cookies I got when I was finally done were divine.

I think I like the temple better; I did work for more people, it was faster time for each person (a baptism is seconds long while a unit of blood takes about 10 minutes), and it's not painful at all to get a little wet. Plus the spirit I felt was amazing. However, I'm glad I had the opportunity to do both. Perhaps Dad is teaching those people I got baptized for. Perhaps someone's dad (with cancer or not) lived a little longer because of the blood I donated.



What a good day.

George W. Bush in Midland, Texas

I don't know if I have the right to post this since Mom might have been planning a post about the very same thing. However, I don't have any personal pictures or stories from the event, so please still post about this same thing if you were planning on it, Mom. :)

As you all know, Barrack Obama became the new United States President this past Tuesday (Jan. 20, 2009). Unfortunately I didn't get to see any of the festivities live, because I was in class. In fact, I still haven't watched all of the speeches that I want to watch, but I'll have to find time to watch them on CNN later.

Once President George W. Bush was no longer the president, he headed home to Texas and was welcomed by a big crowd in Midland. I wish I could have been there! However, since I didn't get the chance to go, I looked around and found this video of some of the celebration. I absolutely love what ex-President Bush said, and I've seriously watched this video over and over. It makes me miss Texas and Midland, but I'm glad to be able to represent with my Texas pride here at BYU! :)

In the video, Bush made a comment about the send-off Midland honored him with right before he went to become President. I remember that day very well! Here's what happened:

I'm pretty sure most elementary schools took the trip to go see President-Elect Bush that day. It happened to be one of the days when I was at GEM, so I got to go with the people from that class. We went early and waited for what seemed like forever to get a spot to stand. It was FREEZING outside!! Since I was only in fifth grade, I wasn't wise like I am now (:D). Apparently I didn't know then that if you lock your knees, you will faint.

So, you do the math: me being an icicle + my lack of fainting prevention knowledge + standing / shivering in a long line = .....

Yup! I fainted. And you'd think fifth graders had never seen anyone faint before by the way my classmates reacted!! I remember that we were waiting right on the corner curb of the Marriott Hotel in downtown Midland, so my teacher rushed me in to the lobby. I laid on the couch trying to get warm and quit being dizzy while my teacher quizzed me as to what my home phone number was. I told her the number, but Mom wasn't home. I mentioned that my dad worked at the building just a few blocks away, but for the life of me I couldn't remember his work number. I was only able to tell her that it had a lot of '7's in it, and I think they had to look it up in the phonebook. Turns out that Mom and Dad were both at the office because Mom was going to watch the festivities from above. So, Mom being the amazing lady she is, ran over to the Marriott and walked me back to Dad's office.

Mom and I sat in this room (the Conference Room on Dad's floor) and watched a tiny, very unclear TV to see what was happening just a few blocks away outside.

I remember alternating between this room and running over to look out the window in Dad's office. Though the courthouse was in the way of a direct view of Bush, I could barely make out a big screen that was on one of the building walls. I had to keep running back to the Conference Room because we didn't have any audio reception except for that terrible TV. Until the speech began, Dad just sat doing his work. He probably thought I was a nut for how excited I was getting. :) I also got pretty sad when I learned how close my GEM class had been to Bush, and that I had barely missed out on joining them. I think I probably felt well enough with enough time that I could have rejoined my class, but it was SO cold outside! I opted against freezing my butt off.

Even now I am a little sad that I missed the celebration this past Tuesday. I think the Lee and Midland High bands combined and played for the event. (In fact, if you listen on the video, you'll hear a loud cheer after Bush mentions Lee High School. I'm pretty sure that's the band. :D) I seemed to have just barely missed being able to see Bush on both ends of his Presidency!

I'm so grateful that we live in a country where we are free to vote for our leaders. I'm also glad I was old enough to be able to participate in this past election. My prayers are with President Obama and all of our political leaders as they take on all of their new responsibilities!

Toothpaste

This is a test to see if you all "brush your teeth each morning, brush them every night, brush 'em after eating, keep them clean and white."

I use Crest Whitening with Scope to brush my teeth.

What toothpaste do you use?

Our Prophet

On Sunday, there was a CES Fireside and President Thomas S. Monson was the speaker. Knowing that the Marriott Center would be packed, many people waited outside just for the doors to open. I left with Bre and Stephanie to go wait in line around 4:00 (the fireside started at 6:00), and the line was already quite long. In fact, some weirdos from my ward were the first ones in line becuase the left after Sacrament Meeting to go wait in line! Doesn't it defeat the purpose if you're skipping church to go see the prophet?

Anyway, this first picture is a view of the Marrriott just a few short minutes after the doors were opened (I think around 5:00) and people started piling in. This is more full than I've ever seen it for devotionals! I've only seen it this full for basketball games, and it got a lot more full by the time the thing started.

This is of President and Sister Monson walking in. They're the center-most people of the group walking in. Elder Nelson and his wife were at the fireside, too, but I'm not sure if they're in this picture. I never realized how little hair President Monson has on the back of his head, and I was surprised to see how light Elder Nelson's hair has become.

This is after the fireside was over and President Monson was walking out. Not a bad picture, eh? Sister Monson is being helped down the ramp, and I think Elder Nelson is the one standing the 'furthest' away with his head turned to the side. President and Sister Samuelson are right next to President Monson.

I'm so grateful that we have a living prophet on the earth today! The message President Monson gave about our great expectations was truly inspired, and the Spirit was so strong in the Marriott Center. I'm also grateful for beautiful music. The choir's performance was so stirring, and it brought peace to the whole room.

Collie

I saw in the Daily Universe today that Austin Collie is going to the NFL instead of staying for next year's football season. Spencer, I'm too lazy to research and I don't know that I really would know what to research. Does BYU still have hopes of being a good team without Collie next year?

Gross

For a while now, the sink in my room has been really slow at draining. At first I just ignored it, but it was getting to be really bad. So, this morning I finally remembered to call Maintenance. When I came back from class, I knew they had come to fix the sink because of what I saw in the trash can:

SICK! I don't know who left all that gunk in the drain, but it most likely wasn't my roommate or me; Jenessa hardly ever even uses the sink area (except to brush her teeth), and I don't often fix my hair right over the sink. Plus, my hair ain't that color... Sometimes, living in the dorms is really grody.

p.s. Yes, those are my Brazil nuts from my stocking in the trash can. Who likes those foul nuts, anyway?