California Trip

Seeing how it is my (super) senior year of college, I am determined to have as much fun as possible. With classes and TAing, being on a research team and in charge of a campus wide service project, there is little time for fun. Fortunately though, my roommate Lacey has an aunt and uncle with a beach house in Oxnard, California that they let us use over President's Day weekend. I took long strolls on the beach, relaxed and did not think about school work or research, cheered for our Cougars at the BYU-UCSB volleyball game, enjoyed downtown Santa Barbara, suntanned but most exiting...we went to DISNEYLAND!!!!!!

I've been to Disneyworld a ton, but this was my first ever trip to Disneyland. I REALLY enjoyed myself. We went on Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain and of course Its a Small World (I think the Disneyland ride is MUCH longer than the Disneyworld ride).

After hitting up Disneyland we headed over California Adventure where were rode California Screamin...like 10 times, Soarin (which was by far one of my favorites) and Mickey's Fun Wheel. I'm not really sure why they call it Mickey's Fun Wheel because it should really be called Mickey's Ferris Wheel from Hell. I absolutely hated this. I hate ferris wheels in general but whoever thought it would be a good idea to make a ferris wheel that drops and violently swings is seriously disturbed. I can't exactly explain what the ride does because I had my eyes tightly shut the entire time and cried when it started swinging. Worst ride ever!

We spent the rest of the weekend just enjoying the beach. I was glad to get out of Provo but so very upset to have to go back. Now its back to the grind and the grind won't stop until graduation day. I'm just counting down the days until Friday, April 22nd.

Until then I will have to look forward to this.

and this,

....and this

March Madness here we come!

Awww Poop!

I started swimming lessons with a new kid tonight. I was super thrilled because giving swim lessons to cool kids is one of my favorite things to do. The kid I teach is the perfect age to start swim lessons...hes excited, capable and listens really well. Perfect scenario...that is until some other kid pooped in the pool. Yes it happened and yes it ruined my evening.

Called To Serve

The long awaited moment arrived this morning. Stephen got his mission call and has been called to serve in the Trujillo, Peru mission. He reports to the MTC on May 11th.

Sundance

There are few perks for living in Utah but one of them is being able to go the Sundance Film Festival. Its nice to get out of Provo for a bit and take a drive up the canyon (another thing that I will miss come May) to see some great films and a lot of creativity. Some of my friends and I saw a few films so far but the best day of Sundance had to have been last night at the Egyptian Theater on Main Street. We were waiting in line to get into the film when all of a sudden I see this man coming towards me walking down the stairs. I immediately get excited because its Ben Lyons. He works for E News and is their special correspondent for the festival and he was getting in line for the movie I was going to see. I don't get star struck...I could care less about celebrities but hes like my celebrity crush. Hes really tall and super cute and I was standing in line with him! I know its a little hard to see but hes the tall one with the funny hat. I was so excited to see him. By the end of the night I had seen a pretty good film (Homework) had gotten his photograph and gotten an autograph.

It was a great night.

Where Did You Go Award

When Katherine was little she signed up for the swim team, our parents paid for her to be on the team and she went to the first couple of practices but then never went back the rest of the year. To her credit she was only 5 or 6, but at the end of the year the coaches gave her the Where Did You Go Award. I feel like I deserve that award right now in many aspects of my life. Some friends have asked if I dropped off the face of the Earth, or if I was still alive, one even asked if I started seriously dating someone and spending all my time with them and the answer to everyone's questions is that I am still alive, I am still on planet Earth and no I have not started dating anyone and spending all my time with them. You would know if I were dating someone.

I'm not sure what I've really been doing these past few months but it seems like a lot. It seems like a lot every day...all day. This is not bad but it leave little time for fun and I LOVE FUN. So instead of fun I have...

Studied for and taken finals in

Cognition

Motivation

and

Behavioral Neurobiology

I am currently taking

Gender Psychology

Social Psychology

Stress Psychobiology

and

Completing My Capstone Project

On top of my course load I am...

A Program Director for a Campus Service Project

We bring 1,100 underprivileged 5th and 6th grade students to campus in March to encourage them to aim for higher education. This takes up a ton of my time.

TAing a Class: Performance Psychology

I get to read and grade a lot of papers written by BYU's finest athletes. This is always fairly amusing and I do look forward to reading what they have written every week. I also get to teach a few lectures on my own. This would be terrifying but I feel much more comfortable with it being me and 30 athletes.

Working for My Brother

I book and plan seminars and meetings. My official job title is Event Manager. This month's meeting is at the Portland Art Museum. If only I got to actually enjoy some of the art at the museum

On a Research Team

I get to read a TON of articles investigating cohesion in sports teams and the military which are both topics that really interest me so reading a lot about them isn't so bad just really time consuming.

So where have I gone? I'm probably in the SWKT and if I'm not there try the library.

If you need to reach me please email me and subject it something with the words

PSYCHOLOGY

RESEARCH

or

PROJECT YOUTH

and I will probably read it and maybe will respond to it within a few days...MAYBE.

EFY

Katherine told me the other day that I wouldn't make a good EFY counselor because I wasn't energetic or peppy enough and that I would hate the kids. I was a little taken back by this. (Don't worry I'm not actually going to be an EFY counselor). I think I would be great with teenagers...I'm fun and exciting, easy to talk to and pretty cool...and the list goes on and on. I do well with all types of people-I'm a psychologist all we do is deal with people and listen to their problems all day long. I'm pretty sure thats what being an EFY counselor is. I would be perfect for the job.

Just look at my picture on my blog. If that isn't energetic and peppy then I don't know what is!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving Stephen had swim practice so we were not able to travel back to Virginia. This was fine with me because frankly, I have my very own space here with my own bedroom and bathroom and wonderful house that I live in and at my parents house I am shuffled around from room to room depending on where there is space for me. Plus its hard to travel for a whole day both going and coming back only to have two or three days with my family. Sooooo....this year my mom flew out to Provo instead.

It was a lovely Thanksgiving filled with lots of activities. The following is a list of all the activities in no particular order. We went to the Carl Bloch exhibit at the Museum of Art (which was fabulous), Harry Potter, shopping in Park City, searched for shoes at DSW, visited the Sandy City Cemetery, ate at Maria Bonitas (which is a must do if you're in the mood for Mexican or just want to be called a Princesita or Champion by non other than Maria herself), spent a night in Salt Lake and went to the Tabernacle Choir Broadcast. All in all it was a wonderful weekend.

It was certainly a different Thanksgiving than I had ever had before. The only problem about having Thanksgiving here was that we missed out on all of our family. I don't get to go home much but when I do all the kids seems to have grown a ton, I've missed out on people's major life events and people's lives continue on even though I'm not there. I feel like so much just passes me by sometimes. Thats why I am really looking forward to Christmas and being with my entire family. I've been so lucky to have a family that is close and that we get along so well that its hard when I'm not around them.