Detour

This morning I dropped Whitney and Rebecca off at the Marriott Center for Women's Conference. Since I am only attending the festivities tomorrow, it worked out well for me to just drop people off so nobody would have to find a parking spot. I figured there would be traffic even though we were leaving 30 minutes before the first general session. Boy, was I right! Let's take a look at my route, shall we?

Point A is where we started, and Point B is the Marriott Center. According to Mapquest, the suggested route (blue) is only 4 minutes, one way. My real route is the red one on the map. I tried to cut through a parking lot, but 150 East (right by the SFH) was blocked off for a short section. Thus, I turned around once. I altered my route to curve up and around campus, turned right in front of the Marriott Center by the Victory Bell, dropped off Whitney, went a little further up and dropped Rebecca off--all with no problems. I turned around again to get out of there, and I reached the first wait. The street directly west of the Marriott Center was full of pedestrians, cars, and police who were guiding us all. While I sat in the long line of cars just waiting to get out of there, I noticed the MOBS of women and decided that Women's Conference is just like a giant-sized EFY with a lot of estrogen. Hmm... Anyhoo, once I finally turned left and got to go west on University Parkway, I thought I was home free since I'd no longer be in the midst of a bunch of crazed women (on foot and in cars). Lies. I turned south and tried to take my "sneaky" way back home, cutting through a parking lot like usual. Of course I had forgotten that the 150 East street was blocked off right in the place where access would be needed to "sneak" home. So I went back out of the parking lot, waited forever and just decided to turn right instead of left, flipped a U-turn (turning around yet again), and finally got closer to my destination of home. I eventually was able to get through the lights on University Avenue and turn left to get back home. Phew! By the time I got home, it was exactly 9:00. Folks, it took 30 minutes to get from Point A, to Point B, and back to Point A. What an interesting morning in the car.

p.s. I was kind of a wobbly driver, huh? Haha.

2011 Women's Conference April 28-29 at BYU

2011 Women's Conference April 28-29 at BYU

Anyone interested? I've never done it before, but I hear it's great. Plus, with my student discount, I can feel lots better about shelling out money.

p.s. This is the first time I've "shared" something to my blog. Usually if I share something (which isn't all that frequent of an event), it's on Facebook. Hmm... wonder how this will turn out.

A Bad Place For...

a typo: my Women's Health take home final. A True/False question. "The probability of developing invasive breast in the age category birth to 39 years is 1 in 210." You think it's supposed to be breast cancer? (Ah! Where did that breast come from?! lol. Like "sever" confusion... "Which arm got cut off?")

cleaning checks: the Saturday we will be out of town. The weekend trip right after we'll all have had a crazy week.

a candid picture: right in the middle of a sentence,

choir practice,

...or in the middle of.....um.. a field trip? haha ;-)

cold weather: it's the end of April, for Pete's sake.

a dried out orange Sharpie: right when I need it to finish making a cute card.

General Conference, April 2011

Wasn't General Conference just great? I love it so much. This year I spent all my watching time at my good ole abode in Provo. 'Twas lots o' fun. Rebecca, Becky, Nick, Jennifer, and I all watched together on Saturday, and Mom, Jennifer, and Rebecca joined me on Sunday. So many of the talks were answers to my prayers. Of particular joy to me were "Testimony," "Desire," "Waiting on the Road to Damascus," "The Spirit of Revelation," "The Holy Temple--A Beacon to the World," "The Eternal Blessings of Marriage," and "An Ensign to the Nations." Yeah, that's a lot, but there were just so many great messages! I'm sure I even missed listing a few of the ones that particularly were answers. I know my Heavenly Father is aware of me and knew what I needed to hear.

During the Priesthood Session, I did what I usually have to do on Conference Saturday after sitting and watching TV for so many hours--had fun with some girls! Rebecca, Becky, Jennifer and I went to the Malt Shoppe for some high calorie fun.

Jennifer

Me, Becky
(We were so excited to get our food that our necks disappeared!)

Becky

Rebecca, Me

Jennifer

(She had an interesting method of dipping her tater tots in the fry sauce without getting her fingers dirty. Lucky that she ordered a corn dog, huh?)

(Quick men! This was barely after the Priesthood Session ended. We even heard one guy ask the guys in front of him, "Did you even hear the closing prayer?!" They sure filed into the place quickly!)

"I hope each of us will long remember what we have heard, but more importantly, what we have felt. May it become an anchor in our lives, a guide by which to live." - Gordon B. Hinckley

"I hope you will get your copy of the [Ensign] and underline the pertinent thoughts and keep it with you for continual reference. No text or volume outside of the standard works of the Church should have a more prominent place on your personal library shelves." - Spencer W. Kimball

Progress Report

Remember my list? Well, I've been wanting to see how I've been doing. You wanna analyze it with me? Here goes:

Red are the ones I've done. Blue, I'm still lacking. Green are my comments to enjoy.

• Eat at the Pendulum Court
• Play chess
• Watch "Freaky Friday" (the version with Jodie Foster)
• Ski
• Watch "Casa Blanca"
• Be in a Dinner Group
• Visit every museum owned by BYU....I don't actually know all of the ones that I've visited. Or, what ones there are, too. Ahem... I'm being told right now by a friend that I only lack the dinosaur museum, and the other things I imagine as "museums" are merely "exhibits." I still wanna see 'em, though.
  
• Watch a bunch of specific movies, the naming of which I will spare you ....ummm well wow, Heidi. You're so specific.
  
• Visit the fully completed Cannon Center ...but I still need to eat there now that it's all done. Yeah, I ate in the new part of the Cannon Center my whole freshman year, but it's gotta be a little different with a nice new wing attached and no construction around it.
• Play Badminton
• Go on a road trip with friends...California, baby! And in just a few weeks I'll do it again to Arizona. Hurrah!
  
• Play the cello
• Play the French horn
• Go to a concert (and not just a band or orchestra one :D)
• Get a tattoo.... HAHA. Just kidding! That's rill rill dumb. And ugly. And gross. And I really don't see why that is on some people's "life list." Okay, this whole thing is green because it's obviously ridiculous.
• Bungee Jump or Sky Dive
• Go to the East Coast and visit places like New York, Washington D.C., Boston, North Carolina, etc. I've heard so many great things about these places, but I don't remember it at all from the time we went when I was young!
• Go on a mission.....well I've visited my Mom's. Does that count?
• Meet the President (of either the Church or the United States, but more so the first)
• Get a pedicure
• Go through the temple......I've learned in my Temples class that this is not a great way to phrase what I mean. What I should really say is "Receive my endowment." I still need to do that!
• Get an iPod
• Decide on a major... and boy, do I love it
  
• Eat Greek food
• Make a slide show of cool pictures
• Take a photography class
• Build a house with Habitat for Humanity
• Write a song
• Read classic novels....again with the vagueness.
• Go to Hawaii
• Run at least three 5Ks within a year period.....well if I'm counting this year, I'm a third of the way done with this one. Gotta get busy in the next little while, I guess.
  
• Shovel snow
• Buy delicious smelling hand soap at Bath and Body Works
• Make a movie...like one that's better than a silly FHE-type one.
• Dance with a boy whom I love....and I guess I love different boys in different ways, so maybe I've actually done this one.
• Go ice blocking
• Go to every temple in Utah
• Eat at In-N-Out
• Memorize a piano song that is harder than the level I was at in Second Grade
• Visit every state
• Try an unfamiliar kind of cheese
• Buy a pair of boots
• Stay up all night
• Swim in the Great Salt Lake
• Hike up to the "Y" on the mountain
• Complete a scrapbook
• Get in a real, lengthy snowball fight
• Get a 4.0 GPA...and proud of it!!! Which, I had also technically gotten when I wrote this originally, but I wanted to do it in a semester here at BYU. Now I can say I've been there, done that. BOOM.
• Hear a Big Band (well, I don't know if that's what it's called, but like the one from the "The Great Mom Swap") live
• Watch a sunrise and a sunset -- uninterrupted and viewed from a place away from most other people
• Celebrate a Christmas with a live tree
• Plant a tree
• Eat an eggplant
• Go tubing or waterskiing.....I did the tubing, not the waterskiing. Clearly, by the colors.
• Participate in a Helping Hands project (the yellow LDS t-shirts, ya know?)
• Shovel snow..... how embarrassing. This one's on here twice. Guess I should get busy!
• Go sledding
• Attend a session of General Conference in the Conference Center.....now I need to do it not on standby
• See a Music and the Spoken Word production live
• Watch a show on Broadway (or traveling Broadway)

And now, adding to my list:

• Go to a Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra concert/performance, preferably with a cool guest performer
• Read The DaVinci Code, Tuesdays with Morrie, and other selected books (I'm currently making another list of things to do this summer, and I assure you these things are on it.)

Now, wasn't that fun? I guess I've done a few cool things in the last year or so; it looks as if I have a decent amount of "reds." What do you want to do with your life?