Brothers and fun!!

here are some photos from when the boys came to visit! we had so much fun, and i'm glad that the weather was mostly good for their stay....

Calista and Stewart try to appear unfazed by the well meaning paparazzi (i.e. me!)
Calista ignores Kyle's pickup lines.

I have lots of pictures with Kyle holding a guitar. And a rock star face. Here he is jamming with Isaiah!

Stewart, in the ever-famous model pose.

it's all in the state of mind...

I'm so tired of failing.

"The most essential factor is persistence - the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come."
-James Whitcomb Riley

If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don't,
If you like to win, but you think you can't,
It's almost a cinch, you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you've lost,
For out in the world you find
Success begins with a fellow's will;
It's all in the state of mind.

Full many a race is lost
Ere ever a step is run;
And many a coward fails
Ere ever his work's begun.
Think big and your deeds will grow,
Think small and you'll fall behind,
Think that you can and you will;
It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you're outclassed, you are,
You've got to think high to rise,
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But sooner or later, the man who wins,
Is the fellow who thinks he can.

-C.W. Longenecker

Jammin

This weekend was the ultimate.
My brothers have come to visit, and I love it! I love that they´re so versatile, and that they make friends so easily. I´m so sad that they´re leaving! I hope that they were having fun, because I sure did. Before they left, they told me who they liked the most in the ward, and it was hilarious. I am so happy that they came, and I will soon post pictures.
Maybe they´ll move down to Provo.....
They´d better.....

One of those faces...

You want to know something funny? I think I have one of those faces that looks like everyone else's. At least once a week, (for the past year) I get a "have we met before?" from strangers on campus. It even happened to me a few times when I was on my internship in Moscow, Idaho!After 2-3 minutes of reviewing classes that we may had together, it always comes up that I just have one of those faces. Not that it's bad - it's actually led to a few hilarious conversations. And sometimes I get compared to really pretty people, so that's always nice. I just think it's odd. Funny and odd!

Another Daily Double!

Look! Another 2 for 1 day!

Good news abounds for me. I finally bought my plane ticket for HEIDELBERG!!!! (!!!!!!!!!!) <-uber excitement.
I'm flying from Portland ->Dallas->Frankfurt of the 24th of August. I leave early in the morning, so I arrive in Frankfurt at 8:30 in the morning. I'll have to stay up all day, in order to get on the Germany sleep schedule.... that'll be fun! ahahaha
Then, I fly home from London->Chicago->Portland on 21 December. See???? Almost 4 months in EUROPE!
I am so happy and excited. Now that I have the ticket, it feels so much more solid. "No one can stop me now! I have the ticket!"
It still feels surreal, but I keep telling myself that this is for real. Everything is falling into place perfectly, like a choreographed dance. I'm so excited for this!

For the geeky ones....

For those in my family who wanted pics Eddie (that's the laptop's nickname), here it is! My family are all inner nerds, and I'm the only one (well, maybe my Dad too...) who fully embrace the nerdiness. We're not ashamed. So, for you closet geeks, here are pictures of my computadora!

This is his good side.

For some reason, I just love that the volume and movie stuff are all touch sensitive, not buttons. COOL!

Ariel view. Check out that awesome keyboard.

I didn't think computers could be this much fun! I'm loving it! :)

New computer!

Today my new computer came! I am so excited! I thought it wouldn't be here for a while, but SUPRISE! It's here today! I named him Edison (after the great Thomas Edison). But we'll call him Eddie for short.
It's so fast and fun! I absolutely love it!

2 for 1 day!

So, there was just so much fun to blog about, that I'm breaking this up into two blog entries. I know how this must excite you....
First, skiing!
On Saturday I went skiing for the first time ever! Chase Spencer, a guy in my ward, took me under his wing and taught me how to do this daunting task. He is a great teacher, and I had SO MUCH FUN! (see below...)

So, we need a play by play. First of all, it is really odd to walk in ski boots. I had to get used to that. Chase and I got onto the ski lift successfully, and chatted on the way up. We must have been having a great conversation because I did not learn how to get off the lift. So, here we are, Chase hurridly describing how to get off the lift. Well, that was simple enough. Then came the next great obstacle - stopping. Here I was, off the lift, and going....going.....going.... getting closer to the snow bank, and NOT SLOWING DOWN. So, guess who crashed into the bank... ME! And I laughed really hard.

So, back to the skiing. Chase taught me how to go slow, control the slopes, and basically be the most awesome beginning skier ever. He said that I was pretty good, but I think he was just being nice. :) Anyway, I felt really good and I was having a blast! I felt like I had good control (even though I sometimes went to fast and couldn't quite stop). There were a few times when I went too fast and got really scared. But, I was always able to stop. Well, almost always....

After I thought I completely conquered the bunny slope, I said to Chase, "let's go to the easy slope!" He said ok, and off we went! What. A. Scary. Scary. Experience. We got to the top of the easy slope (3 times longer than the bunny slope.... and STEEPER), and I was going nice and slow. In control, and taking it easy. Then, I started going down this one slope, and it was uber steep. And I was tired. And I lost control! Going down this slope (at what Chase guesses was 30mph), and trying to not hit the other skiers was truly scary! Now, I can say that it was sort of thrilling, but at the time I thought I was going to crash into something and DIE! The trail kept twisting and turning, so I couldn't turn my skis and try to slow down. Finally, (FINALLY!) I got to wide space, turned my skis, and stopped. And then I promptly began to hyperventilate. Hahahaha that was funny. Chase calmed me down, and we made it down the slope VERY VERY SLOWLY. :) It was back to the bunny slope for me!

Overall, it was one of the funnest things I have ever done. One scary experience, one fall, and one great adventure! I can't wait to go again! Chase recorded a movie of one of my first times down the hill - so don't judge too much!

Addicted

I am so obsessed with Europe. I just spent an hour researching ("researching") on the internet, when I should have been studying for a test.
Silly me!
If I could leave tomorrow, I would. Why isn't August here yet???!!!?!