Today was an excellent day! It all started off with Bowling with Bob, which is great because bowling is awesome and we bowled with some pretty cute girls... ha ha. And on Thursdays, I only have 3 classes, one is convocations which kinda doesn't count, so I was finished by 1:30! I put in practice time on the bassoon, which is rare and well needed, then had to get to work. Work flew by so fast! I don't think there has ever been a shorter two hours ever. After work, I went to D6 for a short bit until our plans could start ;) At 6, there was free pizza for all Snow Garden tennents for the welcome-back-to-a-new-fabu-frickin-tastic-semester party. The pizza wasn't very good, though, because they ordered it from the Little Ceaser in Richfield... so thats an hour drive.... plus Emily and Jen were saying that they left at noon to pick it up... gross. But a college student can eat anything right? ha ha after fifteen minutes of lite social interaction, we took off to the Institute to get good seats for the JON SCHMIDT CONCERT! SO EXCITING! It was so awesome! And probably the best part of it all was that it was free. So I got to meet a musical hero of mine and watch and listen to him play some of my favorite songs (like Waterfall, All of Me, To the Summit, Game Day, you know, the works). I loved to concert so much. I have one regret though- he asked for a jazz pianist to come play with him... at first I was so nervous to do it, and you had to know the blues scale to be able to play with him and I wasn't 100% sure about it, so I hesitated and some other guy got up to do it. I really with I would have just manned-up and gone up there because it would have been so fun! It was just an improv session and I could have done it, but its ok. I plan on going to another concert:) That is one reason, and the other is to buy the fourth book of his and get it autographed. I bought four of his books today... they were only $12 a piece!!! you can't turn that down. But I officially have Jon Schmidt books, and they are signed to Joseph Dale, JD, Borg, and oseph ale (long story). On the next one, I will get Jarbage under the "To". ha ha good times. Jayneann, Emily, Jen, Bradan, and Bird all went to the concert too and came with me through the line and helped with the signing of the books. I think Jon was a bit weirded out with the various names we gave him to sign for. When we got back, Bradan, Jayneann, Emily, and I went to the clubhouse and I gave a mini-concert with all the Schmidt stuff I had. It was so much fun being able to connect with people on the musical level. Emily can play too, so she had her turn after about an hour of my showing off:) Bradan asked us to leave while she was playing so he could be have a little more alone time with her :^O Jayneann and I talked for a bit, then I walked her home and life is just good at the moment. I am making new friends who are really cool and I don't know how I didn't know them last semester. and Kory Camp is a great roommate! He is funny and just an awesome kid. Plus I get to start my papers soon and I just found out I get to go to Florida for FREE!!! Very exciting. and to top it all off, it has been raining all day, and the rain makes everything mui bueno!

Starting Off a New Year...

New Year's Eve was really fun! I hit up two parties and didn't get back home til 4:30 in the AM, and didn't get to bed til a half hour later because of the ever so addicting Facebook. I didn't make it to bed before 1 o'clock for the rest of the weekend.

Thursday, the first day of 2009, we took down the rest of the Christmas stuff. Jesse cleaned up the inside decorations for his New Year's Eve party, and I was in charge of taking down the house lights and storing everything until next year. It was a sad realization that I wouldn't be the one to get them out next year, but I know that where ever I am, I will be in the right place. That night, after helping the padre with the chopped lumber and making an oh so delicious dinner (Chicken fajitas with cream cheese and cream of chicken soup... so easy a college student can do it), I went over to Lauren's house and played games. We played Mexican Train for a while, but the domino game can take forever, so we switched games and played Nines, which is a card game played with cards:) Its a really fun game, but on NYE, I didn't do too hot. But tonight, I was on fire! It was amazing. I got home late, as always, and went to bed late, again. But no complaints, just good times.

The rest of the weekend was probably the best weekend I have had in a long time! First, some background: Last year (almost to the day), I stayed with a family, the Simpson's from West Jordan, while I attended All-State Band. Father Simpson, also known as John, was one of Mr. Thompson's (as in the band director) friends and Mr. Thompson hooked me up so that I could stay with him for All-State Weekend. During my stay, I befriended the oldest Simpson boy, Scott, and we have been planning another visit since. So finally, after a whole year, I trekked across the state to visit again. It was so much fun! I love their family so much. I left home about 1:30, and drove three hours to get there, but a half hour of it was spent lost in cities such as Daybreak, Herriman, Riverton... Anyway, after I locate where I am (well, more or less after Scott finds me. He met me at the library...) I find my way back to the Simpson's home. It was a warm welcome. Mama Simpson, also known as... honestly, I don't remember... anyway, she is very nice, and was the parental who first greeted me, for John was doing stuff for school... The Simpson's are hardcore Ute fans, so being that the biggest bowl buster just happened to be the Utes, we sat and watched the game. and what an amazing game it was! Very nice. Utah represent! Another family came over, the Thomson's, and they watched the game with just as much intensity as the Simpson's. The Thomson's have a kid who is a senior, Sam, and he plays an integral role in the rest of the night. More of Scott's friends came over to watch the game: Cameron and Jake, both of whom also have parts in the rest of the evening. After the incredible game, we went to the church to play basketball. I suck at basketball, but I try and I have fun. Another guy from the ward came with his son to play with us, and the game started. I made a total of four points... but I had a few assists and blocks and I got nutmeged once. And who is keeping track anyway? It was a fun game, and we played until 11:30. Scott, Scott's brother Josh, Jake, Sam, Cameron, and I went back to the Simpson household and basically pulled an all nighter. 4:30 is close right? ha ha well those five hours that could have been spent sleeping was spent playing this completely random game called Killer Bunnies, whose concept is too complicated to even begin describing on a blog, and a really sweet game called Ticket to Ride, which is much simpler, but I still won't elaborate. I also discovered the two huge blisters on each foot, which was gawked at and quickly bandaged. But this was after running the snow bare-footed. I was crazy and ran a half a block down the road and back with Cameron. My blisters were numb by then:) Though highly sparatic and quite loud, it was very fun. And stupid, but who cares? you only live once, doncha know. We all tried to turn in down stairs, the six of us on two futons, but we all talked for a while. I think I crashed about 4:30 maybe 5, but Cameron stayed up til 6:30 talking to whoever was awake at the time. ha ha everyone was annoyed, but I honestly didn't hear most of what he was saying. The funny thing is that Cameron had to leave at 10, and the rest of us didn't wake up til 2 in the PM! Holy Crap! Latest I have slept in for a long time. After a brunch, for it was a combined breakfast and lunch, Scott and I shoveled the sidewalks and driveway around the house. I told him all about how Sigurd doesn't have sidewalks, and having to shovel them is a new thing! Not that I haven't shoveled a sidewalk, I made a living off of it at one point in time, but I don't do it often. Scott and I went back and forth with the "Well, what do you want to do" and decided to go ice skating. We pulled into the Olympic oval only to remember that its not open skating until 7 so we took off to find something else to do to kill some time. We dropped by Mr. C's and got some Gelato, which was very good. I got Wild Strawberry Mango for half and Chocolate Orange for the other half. Mui bueno! (Sorry Julie, my Spanish is no bueno). We went back his house and got on YouTube and watched some pretty sweet marching band vidoes (he does drumline and is pretty hardcore about it). I want to do marching band and drumline so bad, and not just for parades. It re-inspired me. With 7 closing in, Scott, Josh, and I hit the skating rink. Me being a virgin to ice skating, I was quite nervous about, well, slipping so many times that my butt and my ego would be completely bruised, but I did amazing if I do say so myself. I didn't fall over once! Bwa ha! But I almost fell over a lot. We went back home and got The Best Two Years and watched it. Good movie. With a frozen pizza dinner in our stomaches, we retired about midnight to the downstairs and went to bed... well more or less sat on Scott's bed for another two and a half hours talking about everything. After that is when I went to sleep, not in Scott's bed, but the futon I slept on the previous night. Some more good news! Their church was reset to start at 9, which is a very good time to start church, especially for those who are travelling afterwards (ha ha After Wards, Afterwards, After the ward of church, after the church ward ends, afterwards. Just thought of that). Church was fun, even though I thought it was going to be semi-awkward because, well Scott is 16, and I am and Elder... but It was very fun. Sunday school was super chill; we dinked around and talked the whole time then had to quiet down for the last ten minutes of class so that we could have a lesson. But YM was super funny. They watched the mutual theme video, which was super cheesy and I made fun of it the whole time. It was like watching Sunday School Musical. Scott liked it, and I made fun of him slightly. ha ha we sang one of the songs during the One Voice rehearsal I visited the previous Sunday, so I was singing along, being super annoying and such. Then I helped Scott and a deacon with their Fast Offerings. When we got back, I took a short nap then dinner was ready. It was really good too. Chicken in some saucy-gravy like dressing with Stove Top Stuffing baked on top. Throw in a little broccoli and a crossant or two and you have a meal! After helping clean up, I took another small nap, and decided I should go if I wanted to beat the dark night. It was such a fun time at their house! I loved this weekend and I love the Simpson's. They are basically amazing. No big deal. With my bags packed and the short scare of lost car keys, I started my car and made my way home. I slid on the iced neighborhood roads a bit, but once out of the death trap, I was home free. Two and a half hours go by slower when your going home... even without the half hour of boing lost. It was so cold though! My car would not warm up. It would blow warm air, but I had to keep my jacket on to stay warm. Driving through Levan, my car thermometer read eight degrees below zero! and it was still sunset! I don't think the temp was in the teens the whole drive home... Ice Cold! But it was good to come home. I love my fam so much, even If I played on Facebook for like three hours. But its good to get back into reality every once in a while.

School starts on Tuesday and I am officially not excited. All break, I was hoping for school to start sooner, and now that the breaks over, I want more time! I think its harder to go back to college rather than start going to college... But we have a new roommate to replace Jake (not to be confused with the Jake from West Jordan). Kory Camp just got back from his mission and is moving in with us. It should be a good time, but the heavy dose of reality is a little hard to swallow.

As bedtime draws near (determined by how tired I am, which varies, so I don't have a bed time) I have decided to end this epic blog. It is officially Monday now, which ends my most magnificent weekend.

And to all those who follow my blog... Chris lives in Elsinore, Christ still reigns in the heavens... Good thing there aren't any lightning storms during the winter...

The Tirteenth Day of Christmas....

I had a wonderful Christmas! Besides the fact I got everything I asked for, there was no family contention or fight at all! Usually, my dad ends up yelling at somebody, or my little brother decides to throw a fit, but nothing this year. Marvelous! But Christmas wasn't the eventful day; in fact, Christmas was over about 6:30 in the morning. The rest of the day was spent sleeping, playing with the new toys, eating, and other boring things. The 26th was most eventful. It actually started off normal. I woke up listening to my new iPod that dear old Santa so graciously left behind, got ready for the day (which has started about 1:00 the past couple of weeks), and went sledding with Chris Johnson, Sarah Curtis, Daniel Barton, and Nick Watkins. Chris and I planned this activity because we have been bored and the best thing to do when bored is hang out with other people who are bored as well. We just went to the MEC hill at the high school with a tube that Chris brought, a rickety death sled that Nick brought, and a slippery jacket that I wore. Because the number of people out-numbered the number of sledding vehicels, we took turns making runs and videotaping. This hill has two sides: the safe side and the not-so-safe side. The not so safe side has the mec on one side, trees on the other, and a pile of snow at the bottom. The snow bank was small, enough to propel you into the air, but us bigger kids went through it rather than over it. But, two kids of the smaller kind came with their nifty little sleds we assumed were also from Santa and they got some air! ha ha It was pretty much amazing. Anyway, the five of us decided to go up to the sawdust pits and try some of the hills up there, so we piled in our cars (Nick and Dan in Nick's truck and Chris, Sarah, and I in Chris's Mustang) and took off. Sarah wanted to get another sledding device from her house, so we stopped by her house. Chris parked on the other side of the road, leaving the passenger door out to the road. Sarah rode shotgun, and I squished in the back. Sarah ran inside her house, and I was trying to get out of the back seat. The door started closing, so I kicked it back open, and Nick took out the door in his truck. Wow... scary time in life. Nick was going to park right next to Chris, and with the door about to shut thought he was in the clear, but I had kicked it back open just in time... My foot was probably two feet away from the moving truck... Near death experience for me :). So with Chris's door now acting as a tire guard, we all gathered around the car to examine the damage. Sarah didn't realize what had happened until after she had went inside and gethered everything she needed, which is kinda funny because she was outside when the door was struck. We pulled the door off the rest of the way and placed it in the back of Nick's truck for the travel back to Elsinore (Christ lives in Elsinore...). The odd thing is that it didn't even phase Chris, even though he had spent the summer restoring the MUSTANG. I still hadn't gotten out of the car, so I was watching it through the now spacious window. Chris, almost happily, got into his one door car and drove home, in the cold, with no door, in the cold. Sarah took me back to my car at the high school, and I was about to go home, when Chris texted me wondering if I had gone home. Apparently, we weren't finished hanging out, so we all met back at Sarah's house and watched "Kong Fu Panda." ha ha not the greatest movie, but it made me laugh (JACK BLACK!) and I would recommend watching it. Afterwards, We went upstairs and played some cards and talked for a while. Nick took Daniel home after the movie, and Chris and Nick left after a while, so Sarah and I got to catch up. I heart Sarah Kay. Anyway, I stayed there til about 10:30 then went home. After a big day like today, I went to bed early, early being before midnight. I turned on my iPod and dozed into sleep.

Bassons, Basketball, and Black Mambas

I am going to start with the fun and sweet, then move into the freakin hilarious, and nothing will be in chronological order; just whatever comes to mind first. Friday, after orchestra, I was tracked down by Dr. Jorgensen, the lady who organizes the wind quintets, and she asked if I was doing private lessons, for I had crossed my name off the list, and I said that I don't have much time and I probably couldn't afford it. I was honest on both- I really don't have much time (I probably would if I didn't mess around so much... ha ha ha ha ha) and it costs about $200 a semester for lessons. Being the push over that I tend to be, I gave in and agreed to come to the session on Saturday. At 9:30, I met the two other bassoonists in the Eccles building and waited for our teacher to come. I was told that he was a full time dentist that played in the ballet up north. He wasn't what I pictured, not that it was a bad thing. The four of us met together in a practice room and we were divided into half hour incremets. I was second, so I moved into a different practice room and practiced my orchestra and wind symphony music. When the time expired, I packed my things into the foreordained room, and started my practice. He is a really nice guy. I really like him. He asked what I was doing with music, and I said I do it for fun. I recited the ever quoted excuse, "I couldn't ever be a music major. It makes work out of music, and I don't want to have to work to do music. I just do it for fun." He said I had a very respectable opinion, and that he was advised the same thing. Then I mentioned that after this year, I was going on a mission. We talked vaguely about the Gospel for a little, and it was cool. I really loved playing with him. He said that I needed to take lessons (and I would love them), and that I should talk to Vance or somebody to try and see if I can work my way around the fee. My half hour ended, I put my things away, and I took off towards the apartment. When I was crossing the road just outside the music building, I noticed the Elders on their bikes riding down the street. I slackened my pace to say hi to them when they passed. The first two passed with a wave, but the last one, who was a few yards shy of the rest, pulled over and started talking to me. After a decent conversation, which taught me very much, they took off and I knew the Lord was with me. It was really cool, and it emphasized what Elder Holland said in his talk (in retrospect). When Bradan got back from his trip to the umbilical cord, he played 7 hours of non-stop blood and gore in the form of Resident Evil 4. No joke, non stop. Til the wee hours of the morning. Well... there was a stop. The neighbors Melissa and Kelsey dropped by and asked if we wanted to play basketball. It was 11 at night, and the court is not lit up, so it was very entertaining. It was boys against girls, and we got slaughtered, but we let them cheat... and we only played with our left hands.... ha ha. It was really fun though. The first try on a reverse lay up, I made it. And nobody else came close. :) I rock. There was a stray dog that kept bugging us. We tried to scare it away, but it just thought we were playing with it. We faked throwing things, and even tried to get it to not like that ball, but it just AirBudded that idea. It was a good time. Sunday came, and church was pretty good. They called all the major presidents and representatives, which was a half relief because I had money on me being Elder's Quorum president. Preisthood was cool, Sunday school was funny because the teacher just got back from his mission, he didn't say where, but I would pay money he went to Mexico because he talked just like a Mexican. And he kept saying and writing Spanish... ha ha. Then it was fast and testimony meeting. I really enjoy listening to testimonies. I can always feel the Spirit very strong. An area 70 "spoke" to us, just saying he was on assignment and that he just wanted to bear his testimony. When I got home, Jake was back from his football game in Arizona. Because he was told to dress this week, he got to travel down to Mesa with the team, but he didn't get to play because it was such a close game, but we pulled out ahead. Bradan and I listened to the game on 650 AM right after we made a trip to Wal-mart... ha ha good times. He went to church with one of his buddies because he missed our ward. I decided I was going to cook dinner tonight for our traditional Sunday dinner. I started after the fireside, which started at six and ended an hour later, and I slaved away for TWO HOURS getting dinner ready. I made homemade chicken noodle soup, and it took forever. I had to made the noodles, prep the corn on the cob, cut the veggies (after Chelcy suggested we put some in), and cook everything. Doesn't seem like a lot, didn't seem like it would take that long, but we didn't have dinner til after 9. But it turned out really good and I am really proud of it. During dinner, Luke and Bird came back and it suddenly got really loud. Ha ha which reminds me... earlier the newly ordained Elder's president and ward mission leader knocked at our door to come visit and drop off a flyer for a fireside next week. I was napping on my bed, and Bradan came and woke me up. The Elder's president was saying how he lived just next door, then asked, "Who is the loud one?" ha ha ha ha LUKE... Anyway, after dinner we just started messing around playing a little Guitar Hero (Bird FINALLY remembered it), Mario Kart 64, and Goldeneye. Good times reminiscing in retroville. After, Luke pulled out his Black Mamba, which is a sock with eyes on it that, when placed on the hand, turns into a slithering, face-smacking machine. Luke hit Snow while he was sleeping with it, and got it on video, and that is pretty good. Snow didn't even remember him doing it. Jake had this brilliant idea that someone should hop in bed and act like he is sleeping, then have Luke come in and try and hit them, but the sleeping beauty reaching up and smacking him out of no where. I was chosen to be the beauty (for obvious reasons... ha ha ha ha ha) and I got in my bed and waited. I put one of my Sunday socks on, hiding it under my pillow. We organized the whole thing. Bird, Jake, and Bradan would tell Luke how to do it, getting close to my face and pausing to say, "Black Mamba," just before striking. Well, my job was that when he said the cue, and when Bradan tapped the wall, I would pull my hand out from behind the pillow and hit him. Oh my gosh did it work!!! and we have it on video. It was so hard to keep a straight face and to try and not have my cover blown, but I did it. I hit him square on the face, knocking him back with the blow from space. Perfect 10s for amazingness. Luke had some random face paint and made another Black Mamba, Mama Mamba. We decided that we are going to make a family of Mambas: Albino Mamba, Flour Mamba (guess what happens when your hit...), Stoner Mamba, Baby Mamba, and so many others. It was so funny. I am almost afraid to go to sleep because I don't want to get black mamba-ed during the night, because Luke said I am on his hit list. Oh man... good times. Then, after a little clean up from dinner, we had the brilliant idea to go take the left over corn cobs and place them on everyone's door. We ran up to the top of C building and dropped a cob of corn on the doorknob of every person's door. Luke and Bradan hucked some up on the balcony too. It was basically amazing. I love my roommates. They are Crazy!!! which is why we have such good times. After all this writing, I think its time for bed. Its almost 3 in the morning and I have to get up in 4 hours.

College is going great. I am having such a great time and I am loving every second of it. Now, for some more college experiences. Last night, there was a big rain storm. It was raining and lightening and it was awesome. It was only Bradan and myself home at the time, and I was watching the storm through our patio window. A flash of lightening lit the northern sky, and I said, "I hope the power goes out," because I love it when the power goes out. Right when I was placing the period on the sentence, the lights dim and the TV shuts off. It immediately came back up, but Bradan was right in the middle of a game on his PS3 and it was cut short. It took me a couple seconds to realize exactly what happened, with my impeccable timing and the frustration of a lost game, but I laughed really hard when everything clicked. Bradan and I didn't go to bed til four, and slept til 11. Today, I finished my homework in spurts, a little here and a little there, while playing some Super Mario Brothers on the Super Nintendo. I kinda suck, and Bradan just laughed the whole time. Skipping a few hours til early evening, after the FHE BBQ, Luke decided to use his free RedBox rental, and Bradan, Luke, and I drove to Wal-mart to redeem the coupon. The drive was the best part; we put on the ping pong song- or "Do You Know What it Feels Like" by Enrique Iglasius- and were singing to it at the top of our lungs. But, the RedBox at Wal-mart was disfunctional and not working, so we had to drive to McDonalds to the other RedBox. Down Main Street, we sang "Sweetness" by Jimmy Eat World. We got "21" and drove back to our apartment. We used Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" to keep our vocal cords fresh. When we got back, Jake was eating his hamburgers he had made on the George Foreman (he had football practice and couldn't make it to the BBQ for FHE). The four of us were talking- Snow Bird hadn't gotten back yet- and Luke's phone goes off. His ring tone is the Power Ranger beeping call. It brought up many childhood memories. Jake was pro at the Power Rangers. He remembered all their names and all their animals, and even remembered the seasons. Bradan propped up his computer, and we searched up Power Rangers on YouTube and watched the first episode of Power Rangers. It was awesomely lame. 90's hair and cloths, cheap acting, and awful punch lines, but it was great to remember the classics. Skipping a few more hours til late evening, we were just sitting around, talking about whatever came up, and it reminded me of a time, merely days before, when we were sitting around, playing catch phrase. It was mainly Bradan, Jake, myself, and sometimes Luke. An earlier word was tennis, and Luke had Jake answer by saying, "Its a game we played earlier today." On my turn, the word was tennis racket, or something related to tennis, and I looked at Jake and said, "Its a game you played earlier," for the first word. He then said, "Spin the bottle?" Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I dropped the game- I was only sitting on the love sac- and asked him what did he say? He blushed and got embarrassed and insisted he hadn't played that game. I guess we will take his word for it. Back to the present.... While we were having our random conversation, Bradan jumped off the kitchen chair and jumped Luke, starting another UFC fight. They were all over, and in so many awkward positions. Bradan rammed Luke into the couch, Luke ripped the stretchy band off of Bradan's underwear and pulled it around his head, and Luke punched Bradan in the... ha ha ha. Bradan wants me to clarify, that out of the three rounds, he won the first and third one. The second one was lost by the torn undies... The funniest thing was that during the third round, Luke had secretly taken off his underwear, so when Bradan went for revenge, he got a face full of Luke butt. And that was when Luke reared back and punched Bradan in the... ha ha ha. Bradan, holding on to reality because of the adrenaline, grabbed the fleeing Luke's ankle, tripping Luke into the couch and holding onto the arm for dear life. The brawl exited the front door, where Bradan's adrenaline ran out, and he collapsed in front of the soda machine. Finally, they made peace... for the night. We sat around talking about other fights we had been in/seen/heard of. Bed time finally came, and Luke decided to take a midnight (well... one-o'clock) shower. Bradan hid his pillows, and Bird put a football under his mattress. Bradan locked our bedroom door, and, as expected, Luke pounded on it after he had gotten out of the shower. He finally found all his pillows, and was laying in his bed, when it started to roll around because of the ball. He came back into our room, football drawn and ready to strike. He assumed it was Bradan, and they got into another scrimmage, but smaller in size. Luke's butt was in Bradan's face, and Bradan reached around and hit Luke in the... ha ha ha. Luke ran over to Bradan's bed and tore it apart. The upset, revenge-struck Luke walked back into his room, with Jake yelling at him to go to bed. After reviewing the events of the day, and the memorable times from previous, I decided to blog. Here ya go.

The First Week of College

Last Monday, after a visit to the doctor and making any last minute errands, I drove the 44.82 miles to Ephraim and parked in the Snow Garden parking lot. I got my apartment key and was the last one in C2 to move into the next step of life. Jake Robinson was the first to move in- a couple weeks before- because of football practice. Justin Monroe (Bird), Bradan Allred, and Matt Snow (the only guy in our apartment not from Richfield, but from Grantsville) all moved in over the weekend, and Luke Johnson and I arrived Monday. I unpacked all of my stuff and took in the grand view out our apartment, even though we are on the bottom floor. The week since has been full, and I mean FULL, of surprises. One night, while Luke was taking a shower, Bradan had the brilliant idea to throw kool-aid on him. I said we should do red kool-aid because I remembered it stains your hands when you try to make it. I opened the packets into a bowl and Bradan unlocked the bathroom door and poured the powder into the shower. It was awesome. The shower looked like a murder scene, with red kool-aid splattered on the shower walls. Luke ran out of the shower, leaving red footprints on the rug and slight ones on the carpet, and tried to push open the door to Bradan's and my room, which was used as a shield from the red anger of the naked Luke. The best part was that the kool-aid left a big red mark on Luke's back and down his legs. Bradan was forced to help Luke wash the stains of Luke... ha ha ha ha. Good times. Between Chuck Norris jokes and getting ready for school to start, it was a good time. But sometimes it gets too out of hand. For example, Luke and Bradan were wrestling in Snow's and Bird's room, and when Bradan had Luke on his back, he tried to do the trick of beating your opponent against the wall to smash them, but, it wasn't Luke that got smashed, and neither Bradan. Bradan had such good aim that he rammed Luke right between the two studs inside the wall, which forced Luke through the wallboard, leaving a whole in the wall. We haven't repaired it yet, but we bought a Hannah Montana poster as a temporary fix. So many good times have already happened and the rest of the year seems promising.

Then school started. I love all of my classes; I love all 9 of my classes. Killer, huh? I do like them though. I am really enjoying Calculus II, Wind Ensemble (which after auditions, made me first chair!), African American Literature, and my Institute class Teachings of the Living Prophets. I kinda like Western Swing, Fitness for Life, and English 2010. Orchestra today was not really fun, and I haven't been to a Quintet practice yet. I decided to drop my Percussion Ensemble class, for the mere fact that its the same time as Orchestra and we haven't had class yet, even though we have had two chances to. This first semester is going to be killer, but I am going to take it chill next term. I am excited. But its a long semester ahead. It seems like its been forever since school started, and its only been a week. Luke, Snow, Bird, and I have gone swimming a few times, and I can do a front flip of the diving board now. I tried to do a gainer, but I suck and have not been successful. I am having a really good time and I have met some really cool people. The other bassoonist I play with is pretty cool, and our neighbors are sweet. Chelcy Brown lives next door, and the other chicks there are cool. One night we were invited to play volleyball, and one of the girls that invited us to play was Marisha, who I debated against and who is Janell Rowley's cousin. Some other girls came over last night (I was napping in my bed and they woke me up) and said they were having a pancake/french toast party at their apartment and we could come over and get some. Its awesome meeting so many people.

I went to the 3rd Ward in the Second Ephraim College Stake (my new home ward) and that was pretty exciting. Snow and I went together, even though he slept through all three meetings lol. Come to find out, our neighbor is the relief society president. Who knew? It excites me, too, to get a calling and be able to do something. I haven't been able to play the piano much, and it sucks. I want to play for sacrament meeting or something. But whatever the Lord needs me to do, I will do. Institute is so much fun too. I have learned so much from my class already, and its only the been the third day (second for me. I accidentally skipped the first day, but I didn't miss much). Brother Fife is a really good teacher too. He is always pushing you to do better.

So I finally decided to post a blog because I am procrastinating homework. I really need to get if done, so I will have to keep you updated.

CHT: The Ending

Our last day of CHT started with our Sunday services in an upper room of the hotel, right across from the pool windows. It is so neat to be able to go to church with all your friends. And its even cooler when you get to hear all of their testimonies. We did another testimony meeting and it was really cool. We finished there, had breakfast, and started on our 16 hour journey home... long day ahead. I sat by Parker Poulson, Weston Prisbrey, and Preston Manwill during the various legs home. The day was full of sleeping, movies, and rest stops. It was sad to see all my friends go, especially the ones from Arizona because those will be the hardest to ever see again. They said they are four hours from Blanding, which is 5 or 6 hours from Richfield or 3 hours from St. George, which is still 3 hours from Richfield. They were really cool, and I am going to miss them dearly. We said good-bye to them in Denver, and we also lost our bus drivers, who needed to switch drivers to not over due the driving. I was on bus 1 (surprise, surprise) and the driver on it is Phil, who also helped with the confirmations during the baptisms for the dead. Even though I never really got to know him, he really loves all of us that were on the trip. We drove head-long into the Rocky Mountains, and to break from the routine of film and rest, the Henrys pulled out a trivia game called Mental Floss. I came in second, and it was kinda fun. After a few more rest stops and bus changes, we rolled into the tabernacle parking lot. I said my final farewells to a few of my friends, loaded up my car, and took off. Alan asked for a ride home, so after dropping him off, I hit the highway and shot to Sigurd. I got home about 3 in the morning, and after I brought my things in from my car, I set up a bed on the floor (because my bed wasn't made) and went to bed. I really loved CHT, and waking up the next day with out a schedule to fulfill or roommates to wake up was kinda weird; it made the past few weeks seem like a dream. It hit me yesterday during church that I probably won't see many of these people, my friends, ever again, even some of my own class mates. A scripture that Lauren Bytheway shared in seminary crept to mind and gave me comfort. D&C 130:2 talks about how the same sociality which exists on this earth will exist in the next life, except it will be coupled with eternal glory. It assures me that I will be able to see these people, my friends, again, if not in this life, but the next, and in the next life, I will be able to have so much more time to see them again and not have to worry about travel time or gas money. It kinda seems superficial, but friendships rock. Now its back to the normal life and the official start of summer!