Make Sure You Eat Your Fiber!

Fridays are Fabulous

2012-01-27T22:46:00.003-07:00

Hello! It's me! So I've been spending my days with ten year old hoodlums for almost a month now, and I just want to tell you about it!

First of all I'm in love with this job. I really really love it. I have had some pretty late nights at the school, but it's all time well spent and enjoyed. I'm kind of maybe addicted. I should probably work on getting a little more balance. I'm just there planning lessons, and copying stuff, and laminated things, and setting up my classroom and grading math or writing-and I'm in love with every second of it. Poor Steve though, I haven't cooked an actual dinner on a weeknight in like two weeks.I think we finally have all the set-up and routines going, which is a HUGE relief. So maybe I'll get home before 8 from now on. :)

So my class-well, they are super crazy. 20 of the 25 kids are hispanic, 1 has hot pink hair-but she's just the sweetest girl ever, they all never stop talking, they are obsessed with hot cheetos and "party rock". And "skrillex", whoever that is? They try to convince you they weren't talking, or someone else was talking to them and made them talk. Or that their homework is done-but they just left it at home. It's really funny. They probably think I'm super mean cause I don't really entertain excuses like that. If they don't have their homework they do it during recess. Is that cruel? They only have math like three days a week though the big whiners! They won't die doing 20 minutes of math a few nights a week. :) Maybe they'll even get smarter!! :)

Our school is awesome. The principal is so invested and involved in the kids' success. It's really refreshing to see the leadership of the school so involved in things and dedicated to make good things happen! It's pretty common to have older leaders that just kinda "monitor" but don't really make the changes that are needed. This school really has it together.

I'll have to add pictures soon!

I am so incredibly lucky to have this class. This seriously is my dream job.

All the painful hours of BYU's Education classes have paid off and I finally get to do what I want to do! Did I tell you that one of my professors told me I wasn't cut out to be a teacher? That I was lazy and unprofessional and no school was going to want to "babysit" me? I dealt with her railing on me incessantly for two semesters. I wanted to change my major so many times- it was a tough road. I felt so strongly about sticking with it though, and had a few incredibly kind teacher friends that kept my spirits up-thank you kim, brittany, and shannon. :) Now it's all paid off. There is seriously nothing else I would rather do all day. I kind of want to flash my shiny diploma in her face and tell her to take a chill pill! Some people...sheesh.

I am so happy to be a real live teacher. :)

Day 6

2012-01-10T23:26:00.002-07:00

Well,I have been a fifth grade teacher now for six days. Totally my dream job and I love love it! But today was just too funny. So here's the stats for the day:

4 kids were crying at some point in the day

1 boy spent the last half hour of school hiding from me behind the computer cart because he was really mad at me- I made him take his language arts test just like every one else had to. I'm the meanest.

14 hours I put in today. I got home at ten.

20- there were about twenty times I wanted to kill some kids today. Argh.

50-I gave out like fifty gold star stickers to get kids to work. It started as a joke- at least I meant it to be- I had no idea fifth graders were still so motivated by star stickers.

59- this is the amount of classroom money in our fine jar- we have class money, they get two dollars a day, and it's a dollar fine if you are talking when you shouldn't be. Mind you today is Tuesday- the jar was emptied on Friday. It's only taken them two days to form over 59 dollars. Tough start to the week I would say. Let's pray tomorrow is better. My goal for tomorrow? No more than one person crying, less than$30 in our fine jar,and no one hiding from me cause they hate me. Wish me luck! :)

Oh my goodness, I'm dying here!!

2011-12-15T15:21:00.002-07:00

I have had SO many interviews. Oh my goodness, I just want something to work out!

2 were for candidate pools, in case their district ends up needing someone soon.

1 was a little crazy...a charter school where the interviewer basically spent the whole hour telling me why I should not work there, and why he wouldn't want to. I'm 100% serious. I think he was having a bad day, poor fella.

1 was for an awesome aide job, but it only offers about 20 hours a week. I really love the woman who interviewed me, she was so kind, and she offered me the job, but for the sake of being able to pay the bills I think I'm going to have to turn in down to find something with more hours. sad day.

1 was for the Kelly substitute teaching thing so I can sub next semester. I might end up doing that.

1 was for a school who ended up hiring someone else with more experience. They didn't like so much that I finished my degree four days earlier.

1 will be on Monday for another aide position at a school I really really like.

1 is for a super duper school super duper close to my house, and with a faculty that I know from student teaching and REALLY love! It's a really poorer area with a lot of spanish speakers- I love it!! That's what kind of school I want to be in, if that doesn't sound too crazy. The kind where they really really need you to teach them and love them and support them! The kind of school where the kids' home lives might not be so glamorous, but they know when they come to your classroom they are going to be getting down to business and learning, laughing, making friends, and feeling better prepared for their lives as responsible citizens. Oooooh cross your fingers they will hire me!! I would work my little tail feathers off for them, I know I could do a good job! AND, here's the thing, it's 6th grade. 6th grade is my FAVORITE. It would seriously be my dream job. Teaching 6th grade in a title one school with a lot of need and a lot of diversity. And I'm only 23. How awesome would that be to get your dream job a week after graduating and only being 23? oooooh my goodness. SOOOOOOoooo cool.

I guess I'm setting myself up for embarrassment though if I don't get it. Look, now anyone who reads this and finds out I didn't get it will know of my failure to procure my dream position. But maybe you will still respect me since I just used the word "procure" in a sentence correctly. :)

And cause I can name all the phases of the moon! Can you? huh? Ya, probably not many people except those teaching or enrolled in 2nd-6th grade. We are an elite few who can actually name those darn phases that are so confusing!

Anyway. I'm supposed to find out by tomorrow. Let's hope this next post is one with joy, lots of capital letters, and woohoo spelled with lots of o's.

I just want to teach! Is that really so much to ask? Someone out there: Let me teach your children! I'm nice I promise! And they'll learn lots n' lots!

Oh dear. I guess all newly graduated people go through this hiring circus!

I'm bushed.

2011-11-30T16:19:00.002-07:00

I am so tired.

Like this kitty.

Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever stop being tired.

It makes me scared to be a mom someday cause it will probably be this tired times five.

Yesterday I fell asleep on the couch while I was texting kyle. I fell asleep for 4 and 1/2 hours.

Yikes.

I feel like I'm herding caffeinated cats during the day, and exhausting my brain trying to create lessons that are effective once I get home. Yes, I'm whining. but I'm tired!

I like what I'm doing, and it's fun at times, and tough at others, but it's still tiring.

I found out today that my 6th graders thought I was getting paid to teach them. Ha. Ya right. I'm PAYING $2,000 bucks to spend my life planning for them and teaching them. Then when school is over I go to work. So that I can afford to pay to teach them during the day.

I just need like a week long nap.

And seriously HOW MANY times and ways can you go over the phases of the moon before they start to get it. We've done simulations, pictures, videos, drawing, labeling, matching, cutting and pasting, more simulations, rote practice, songs, powerpoints, pnemonics, whiteboards, so much repetition....I'm kinda get stuck here. There are 8 phases. I know it's tricky, but I'm plum out of ideas for trying to teach the names of those stinking 8 phases. Any ideas?

Life is going fast forward. It's seriously wednesday. The week is almost over? How!!? Talking to steve last night I literally could not remember what day it was.

My brain is melting.

Thank goodness I have cool kids. Our class is DEFINITELY the best behaved of the three 6th grade classes right now. That's so so nice.

Anyway. I'm done with my whine fest. I'm so excited to be done. I have seven days left of student teaching. Two of those days are fridays, which are like the end of the loaf of bread that you eat for fun, but it never really does much good for ya and isn't big enough to fit anything substantial inside it. It's just the end cap on the loaf. Friday's are the nice little end cap on the week- a time for testing or whatever else ya gotta finish. So basically five more days of substantial instruction. I can do it. Then I can sleep for like fifty days. wooooo!

Family is about laughing.

2011-11-20T21:47:00.002-07:00

Sometimes I think I'm really funny, but I wonder if others would appreciate my humor as much.

I think steve really deep down thinks it's funny, but he's trying to be the mature one.

For instance, you know how you create a fire and earthquake escape plan with your family? I think it would be funny to create a "dinosaur attack" plan. Like have good places to hide in case a velociraptor gets in the house. Or teach your family about how to hide from a dinosaur. Steve thinks it would make our kids scared of dinosaurs. I think it would be funny.

Or also, today I wanted to start creating the Hansen Family Constitution. Here is what we have so far:

Article 1. Always say I love you to fellow family members
Article 2. Hansen posterity will cheer for the Lakers. (Kellie Hansen is except from article 2.)
Article 3. No swearing
Article 4. We abide by the classic rules of dibs. Aka, shotgun, I call _____, stamp it, double stamp, etc. No challenging a "shotgun" call.
Article 5. Chocolate chip cookie, brownie, and cinnamon roll recipes are not allowed to be made in "half-recipe" quanitities. A full recipe must be used. (Article written by Steven)
Article 6. All Hansens shall participate in lighting fireworks on fourth of July.
Article 7. Hansen's must never leave a spill in the microwave.

We'll continue as important issues come up. :)

Also, for punishment when our kids are crazy, I think they should be required to untangle a ball of Christmas lights. It will teach them patience. I just thought of that today in church.
Who supports me on making these part of Hansen tradition? Maybe things will change once I actually have kids...

The perks of BYU Info

2011-11-15T19:33:00.004-07:00

I swear there are fewer frustrating things that trying to help an older person navigate the internet or a website over the phone. Oh wow.

A lady just called to help her daughter log on to Independent Study, and apparently it wasn't working when they tried.

Here's about how it went:

Me: BYU Operator
Lady: Are you like the operator to tell me places are closed now?
M: (it's 7:30pm) Well, most offices are closed, but I may be able to help you. What are you trying to do?
L: I am trying to log on to my daughters myBYU and it won't let me. It says it doesn't exist and I swear she just signed in two weeks ago. She's been taking this class since June.
M: Ok, well is it for an Independent Study class? (anytime it's a call where someone is frustrated about their class, test, or that they can't get access to their class they are usually talking about independent study)
L: No, she's taking some math classes. It's for a high school program.
M: (yep, Independent study). Well their office is closed right now, but I can try to help you. What website are you on right now?
L: It says myBYU, Brigham Young University. But it won't let me in. (yelling next to the phone) LAUREN! com'ere! come tell this lady what's your class thing.
M: Ok are you at the independent study website?
L: I'm just on the home page. It says brigham young university. but it won't let me log on.
M: Ok, try going to is.byu.edu (the independent study website)
L: where is that? What did you say? I don't know what you're talking about.
M: The address bar. It's up at the top
L: what? Do I log in? Where are you at?I'm on byu's page.
M: Where the website address is. Up at the top. You need to try this other website.
L: So do I not go to mybyu.education.edu (Ok, this is totally not even a real website, I have no idea where she was getting this from) They told us to go to mbyu.edu.education (she switched it this time...) I thought that's where I'm supposed to go.
M: Well if that's not working for you, I think this different website might help. It's a different website, So you have to type in the URL bar "is (pause) .byu (pause). edu"
L: Where are you looking? I'm trying to log on to my daughters class. (yelling) LAUREN!!! what's your ID for your class? It just says BYU.
M: Ok, do you see at the top, the long white bar that probably has "http://byu.edu" in it?
L: Um, ya, like http:? I, hold on, this thing is too dark, (to the side) Lauren, how to do I make it so I can see it? (me wondering if she is doing this on an iphone or something?)
M: Ok so where it says http://byu.edu- that is the address bar.
L:ok so I take it off?
M: yes, you need to delete it.
L: ok, so I have the https://
M: no you have to delete all of it
L: all of it, the whole line?
M: yes. So delete it and type "I" "S"....(waiting)..
L: i.........s...............
M: Ok, so IS.BYU.......
L: ......ok.
M: .edu
L: Ok, I got it. and it has her name on it?
M: That means that you are logged in, so go ahead and click on the "mycourses" link, and it should show the classes she is registered for.
L: courses,courses, ok, oh there's her classes! How come it didn't work before?
Me: Perhaps you were on the wrong website? I would use this one from now on.
L: But they told us to use the byu.education.edu? I'm supposed to use that one
M: Well since that one wasn't working for you, and this one is, I think it would be more helpful to just use is.byu.edu.
L: well I'm gonna have to give them a call next week and see what's going on.
M: well they'll be open on monday morning at 7am. (in my head: I know what's going on! your going to a website that doesn't exist! use this one woman! is.byu.edu! that's all there is to it! sheesh.)
L: ok well thank you. have a good night
M: your welcome, you too!

wow. some people struggle with technology. and listening.

Happy Birthday Jay!

2011-11-04T15:47:00.005-06:00

Today is Jay Wentz' birthday!

I am stuck at home today since Steve has the car at work, so I can't go take balloons or anything, which is a bummer, so that will have to wait till tomorrow.
But for today, I don't want his birthday to be forgotten.

He deserves a Happy Birthday shout out!
He would be 28 today. How crazy is that?

Once I remember Jay getting this big ol bag of taffy for his birthday. We were jumping on the tramp in our back yard and he had a bag of orange taffy. Random memory, but it paints a super vivid image in my mind. The peach tree was on the side of the tramp and we'd see if we could jump higher than it.

I remember how much he liked halloween. He dominated Halloween. He would get a pillowcase of candy and then gamble with it with us- we'd all put a piece in the pot, play paper rock scissors, and whoever won got all of it. He seriously wiped us out. Kyle and I still can't figure out how he always won. But the thing about Jay was that he wasn't selfish and kept it all- he'd make us say some surrender line like "Jay is the coolest ever, Halloween champion extraordinaire and I will give him all my money", and then he'd give it all back so we could keep playing (and he would win it all over again, but we never got tired of playing.)

I remember game days. Wentz game days were intense. Jay made all games/competitions the real deal. We'd play monopoly, parcheesi, and Life all day on Thanksgiving. We would play over and over and over. It was so fun. New Years day and Thanksgiving were always game days.

I remember lots of times that he would set a brownie mix or cake mix on the counter so I would see it when I walked by and he would say, "Huh, what's that doing there? You should make them!". :) That was his ploy to get me to make food for him.

I remember I really wanted to go to EFY (my parents weren't too into the idea, so I had to pay for it myself) , but I wasn't going to have enough money. Jay was talking to me about it and said that a lot of his mission companions really gained their testimonies at EFY, and he really wanted me to go. He said that he made a lot more at his job than I made at mine so he wanted to help me out, and he gave me $80 to cover the rest of the registration money. He said if I wanted to pay him back I could, but if not then it was just a gift. That's probably one of the sweetest moments I had with Jay. That's how he is. He isn't out for himself at ALL. You can't say that about too many people. He really is generous, and I knew he loved me.

Another time he wanted to buy a new camera (he is an AMAZING photographer), and I didn't have one, so I said I would buy his old camera. Well I bought it, but shortly after the screen got jammed and wouldn't really work. Most people would say tough, you bought it, it's yours now. Not Jay. He bought it back from me. I didn't even ask him, he suggested it, and said that he wanted me to have a good camera, not a broken one. He didn't have a lot of money then, he had just quit his job, and it was only $40, but to me that was a ton. And it showed his character so much. That's just how Jay is.

I remember when he learned that you could text via yahoo chat. He didn't have a cell phone then, but he had a yahoo email, and he would text me things from there. We had a cat obsession phase (our cat had just had kittens), so we would text back and forth silly poems about cats. It was always the best when I was sitting in a long class and I would get a kitten poem sent to my phone. I loved that. and I miss that. I still have that yahoo chat number, ya know-the number of whoever sent it to you, saved in my phone as Jay Wentz. :) I don't know if I'll ever delete it.

I admired what a good student Jay was and I always wanted to be like that. I learned that getting really into learning and going hardcore, like trying to "dominate" (that was his word) tests, or classes was actually really fun.
I learned to be passionate from Jay. He would get super into movies, styles, once he even got super into foreign chocolate. He loved calling himself a chocolatier. After all his studying he concluded that Milka and Symphony were the best.

I learned to take care of my stuff from him. He would make things last forever, and held on to cool little sentimental things. He had this little basket thing he had made for years after he made it.

I remember he would have Kyle and I drink a cup of milk but not swallow it, just keep it in our mouths, and sit on the linoleum by our front door while he did funny plays for us. As soon as he made us laugh enough that the milk would come squirting out he would consider it a success.

He was hilarious. Jay was totally the humor in our family.

He kept this notebook, the kind that's bound at the top and then you flip the pages up and over it, of all the words he really liked. He got an "Oxford American Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus" (he would always say the full name when he referred to it, again, he's hilarious) once, and went through and found the definitions to words he liked. It had quite a few pages. One day, I got the honor of taking over the word book. He passed it on to me to start writing words in. I felt privileged. :) I started a new one. In a little striped book. I have a couple pages filled, but I want to keep going. I want to show it to my students when we do vocabulary lessons to show them how cool new and awesome words can be.

I remember a few months after he passed away my dad pulling the bbq out of the shed, and when he opened it there were a couple pieces of bread sitting on the grill. Remember how I said Jay was an amazing photographer? Well we had found this album that had a bunch of cool pics he had taken, and this was one of them:

I thought it was a really cool picture when we first found it. He really liked making every day things look really cool using shadows and light. When my dad opened the grill he found these pieces of bread- I guess Jay had forgotten to take them off after he took it, and we hadn't used it since then. I never thought I would say that opening a grill and finding five stale pieces of bread would make me cry like it did, but that's totally what happened. It sure made me miss him.

At Hobby Lobby in American fork (That used to be Smith's), there is a waist high yellow cement pole right near the south west entrance. If you look at the top of it there are the initials "JW", and at the base of the pole there is a smiley face. Jay drew those in the wet cement when that Smith's was first built and he was a kid that couldn't resist wet cement or leaving his legacy. He would love the fact that it's still there today. :)

He would write his name underneath our kitchen counter with the date and year, and it was so cool when five years later we would happen to be under the table and see it. I wanted to be as cool as Jay. So did Kyle, we wrote our initials everywhere to try and be like him. I was not as discreet about it and did it with a green paint pen on the wall right next to our garage door opener in our garage. I think the only reason it's still there is that we're so used to it we don't even notice it anymore, so no one has ever thought to paint over it or wash it off.

I cherish my memories with Jay. And the fact that I know I don't get to make any more makes me want to hold on to those memories with everything I have. I don't ever ever want to forget them. Or forget him. I miss him so much. and I love him so much.

Happy Birthday Jay Wentz. We love you :)

Out of the mouth of 12 year olds.

2011-10-26T18:28:00.002-06:00

I'm in sixth grade!! Wooo!! Well I myself am not IN sixth grade as a student, I myself am in a sixth grade class as their student teacher! wooot wooot!! I really like the older grades. And my mentor teacher is amazing. If I can get even an ounce of her talent to rub off on me then I will be a much better teacher, I'm excited to get to learn from her for the next 2 months.

So today we were learning about tree diagrams, and one of the questions on the worksheet was, "Ethel, Mike, Pete, Gary are lining up in front of a theater. How many different ways could they line up?" Halfway through figuring it out this one student said, "Gosh, does it really matter? Why don't they just get in line already!" It was great. :) They realize sometimes you gotta just do things the long way so you really understand.

Sixth is fabulous!

Country roads, take me home, to the place I belong...

2011-10-20T17:11:00.005-06:00

Ahem.

I am excited to say that Steve and I are up and moving to Fort Worth Texas next summer- Steve got accepted to medical school at UNTHSC in Fort Worth. WOOOT WOOOOT!!!

He got accepted to three schools, but after weighing them all out and trying to choose we just keep coming back to Texas. This school is it.

No, it's not because one of my life goals is to buy a belt buckle in texas.

or because there is a cowgirl museum/hall of fame two blocks from his school.

or because my heart has longed for the twang of Texas since my younger years.

or because Fort Worth is known as "The City of Cowboys and Culture".

or because I found this little blurb on a travel sight about it:

"One focal point, the Fort Worth Stockyards, named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, is composed of 15 blocks where visitors can experience the authentic American West. It is a one-of-a-kind location with a variety of attractions that make history come alive. The Stockyards is home to the Fort Worth Herd, the world's only daily cattle drive, where Texas Longhorns are driven down East Exchange Avenue by cowhands in period dress. Rodeo action and Wild West shows take place year-round in the Cowtown Coliseum and live music is featured at Billy Bob's—the largest honky-tonk in the world. "

but seriously, do we need any more reasons? Is there anything better?

Ok, ok. So, besides being a Cowboy wannabe's paradise, this medical school is perfect for Steve.
They have a huge anatomy cadaver program (Steve is a total anatomy nerd), incredible technology in their labs, they have their classes set up "systems based" which means that they study one system at a time- like circulatory, lymphatic, endocrine, etc. They first study the regular systems, then abnormalities that can occur in that system. It's really cool when Steve describes it- and the day he came home from interviewing from that school his face looked like it was Christmas- He was so excited about that place.

They start July 22nd, so we'll probably move out the beginning of July. We already have tickets to fly out and look at possible apartments in February.

So here's some perks to this place:

Steve is in love with this school
The people there are super friendly and he felt really welcome there
Texans really know how to BBQ, Steve's excited about that.
My heart longs to be a cowgirl. and Fort Worth is calling to me.
Housing is so cheap!
Steve's parents live 4 hours away. Fun weekend trips right?
Tuition is really cheap there too, a lot less than the other schools.
The Fort Worth School District pays really well and they say they have the most employees of any district in Texas. So I have a better chance of getting a job and getting paid better than in Utah.
We can help strengthen a ward out there. I'm really excited to live somewhere where we have so many more opportunities to spread the gospel.
It doesn't snow- it's warm. Ya hear that Utah, It's warm when it's supposed to be!!!!

We both feel really good about it, and unless something crazy happens, we're like 99.9 % sure this is where we are going. :) Look at us. We're so grown up, doing grown up things like moving to Texas. Woah.

YAY for Temples!!!

2011-10-01T16:12:00.010-06:00

I think it's really interesting how we think we know what we want and what we are becoming, but we have no idea what Heavenly Father is trying to help us become through the trials we go through. He has a greater work in mind for us, but we may have no idea.

I feel like that is kinda the case with the Provo Tabernacle! How cool is it that it's going to be a temple!! It was so sad to see such a beautiful building destroyed like that, but it's almost like Heavenly Father let it happen so that a new temple in Provo could come to be-nonetheless be at such a historic place in Provo! That is just the kinda thing that makes you wonder what Heavenly Father let's you go through so that he can make something wonderful out of you-but you have to go through the trials first.

I feel like this summed it up!

Between wondrous walls built with pioneer hands

was a palace of worship to hear God's commands.

From the front sacred music the choirs would sing,

From the pulpit the words of witnesses ring.

Prayers were felt and sermons preached

and into humble hearts they reached.

A monument to dedication rising from the bustling street

of saints who sacrificed to build a house for worship sweet.

For years it served huge populations

it’s beauty earning adoration

of those the Saints that in it served

and those not of the faith it preserved.

But mortal trial tragically brought

a ruined fate so sorely wrought.

Cruel flames did melt precious memories

that had accrued o’er recent centuries.

Though the outer walls did courageously stand

the inner was ashes that once stood so grand.

It cried to it’s King, “I have served you so well!

How could you watch as I painfully fell?

I did nothing wrong, only stood proud and tall

to welcome the saints into my halls.

I stood as a witness of the grandeur of your cause

and lifted mortal souls to more heavenly laws.

If I were in your constant watchful care,

why didn't you prevent the hurt I came to bear?

Now I stand with but a damaged border

and sorrow lining each row of my mortar.”

The King of all Kings felt the hurt of His creation

and knew the pain of its sudden deformation.

“Your service and beauty I certainly see,

you brought so many children closer to me.

You offered comfort to a sorrowing soul

you gave many hearts a place to feel whole.

Your beauty and your effort I delight to avow,

but you need to trust my purpose for you now.

I watched you endure this weight that you bore

but I allowed this pain so I could build you into more.

You’ve served as a home for worship and songs

and now you will serve a heavenly throng.

Your healing and rebuilding will make you supernal

for now you will house holy orders eternal.

You’ll be a place for endowment and sealing,

a place for baptism, learning, and healing.

You’ve been a beacon since the valley’s foundations,

and now you shall be a light for all nations.

My servent shall shine at the tip of your crown

sounding his trumpet- those lost shall be found!

I love you and wish you to reach your potential,

to be my home and house my work so celestial.

How great you shall be when your walls are once more

your hallway’s embellishments carefully restored!

Be patient and know that I watch over and care.

and am leading you to be something precious and rare.”

As a child of this King who's ways are much higher

I hope that to His will o'er mine I'll aspire.

How often have I asked why He let such things be?

When I should have dreamed what He’s making of me!

I wish humans had a month for hibernation.

2011-09-22T16:20:00.006-06:00

I slept for ten hours last night.
I just pooped out on the couch at 9:30pm while I was reading and woke up at 8am. Just in time to be late for school.

But I still feel like my eyes are going to fall off my face.
I think I have an idea why. I think I have 27 little reasons why. 17 of them are little boys and 10 of them are little girls. And like two of them can pay attention for more than 3 minutes. That's why.

My mentor teacher amazes me. I don't know how she does it. I have been at it for a few weeks and I feel like I'm melting.

Some days teaching is fun. Some days I want to duct tape half of their little bums to their chairs and threaten to melt their crayons if they don't just finish a worksheet. Just ONE worksheet! Write the words that go in the blank! Or trace the letter R! Come on! That's all I ask!!! But of course that would be cruel, so I let them have their crayons, and keep the duct tape to the posters instead of using it on little first grade booties.

So, the other day one girl kept coming up to me to tattle on people, so I told her to go back to her chair and glue her bottom to it so that when her legs wanted to get up she could say to them, "sorry legs! I'm stuck to my chair!". She gave me a funny look and then I saw her go get her gluestick-ha she thought I was serious. I stopped her in time and explained. I didn't even think that she would take it seriously! That was a funny day. :)

It's just so exhausting harping on little six year olds all day to hold still or listen or do their work or not talk. And knowing that the little chatty kid in the back isn't gonna know a darn thing when it comes to practicing what you just taught. It makes you so sad to know that the kids that need to learn this stuff most are the ones that won't listen or hold still or stop talking.

Every once in a while during a really great activity, or when they just barely get to the rug, or on a really good day you have a few precious minutes with all of their attention and you have to use and abuse those few minutes for all they are worth. Stick as much knowledge in it's simplest form into those little heads fast as you can and pray that they will find it valuable and give it priority over the fact that they are about to remember that their neighbor's cat died, or the girl sitting next to them has a rock in her shoe, or that they are going to be a cowboy for halloween.

It feels like trying to get caffeinated spaghetti noodles to learn and recite Shakespeare. Sometimes it feels bleak.

But sometimes they get it! and that feels so good. And sometimes this one little boy will be understanding his math and say "Oh man, that's all? this is easy peasy!". And this one little hispanic boy will come show me his journal and have five nicely written sentences with capitals and periods and all. That makes ya feel great. There is hope for these little spaghetti noodles. :)

Another thing about first grade- it's a bacteria paradise. They all have coughs and sneezes and "accidents" and you just wonder what else is going in your ear when the girl that was just out sick for three days whispers in your ear that sarah has a crush on isaac. lots of germies that's what. I carry hand sanitizer in my pocket. Is that a little overboard? Maybe. But it comes in handy quite a bit.

I really do love them, I'll be so sad to go, but sometimes they drive ya nuts. There is opposition in all things right? Overall though, I love it. Don't let me convince ya otherwise. But don't be one of those people that thinks teaching is just what girls do if their bored. It's really really tough. You really can't realize how tough until you do it. Especially with the little kids. I feel like the 6th graders were way easier that the 6 year olds.

Go thank a teacher you know. They probably work stinkin hard and wonder sometimes if it's worth it. I am sure thankful for all my teachers growing up. And I have a new found appreciation for all they did for me.

Really?

2011-09-15T21:05:00.004-06:00

So here's a little snapshot from my life for ya.

I came home from Parent Teacher conferences Thursday night and started working on a lesson plan. I was doing some stuff on the internet and noticed there was a tab already open. Steve had been using my computer since it gets better internet.

Here is what steve was doing on my computer:

If you can't see it too well it's a bunch of fancy pants equations and words from chemistry.

Here is what I was doing on my computer:

If you can't see that very well it's a bunch of leaves. and the words "We can write sentences!".

Sometimes doing 1st grade things while Stevey does college student chemistry pants things makes me feel ridiculous. But different is good. Different brings balance. :)

Camp Kesem 2011

2011-09-11T20:28:00.004-06:00

This is what I did for the week of August 15-20th. It was awesome. Take a look!

What is all this you may ask?
This may explain....

This camp was incredible, it's something I feel passionate about supporting. It changed my life, and the lives of these kids. If you ever want to be a part of it or donate let me know! Or check out www.campkesem.org/byu

Life in First Grade

2011-09-06T20:03:00.002-06:00

First grade is fun. Lots of letters, and sounds, and songs, and the teacher whose classroom I'm in is EXCELLENT with capital letters. She just has a way with them, and she knows how to explain things. I hope I can get her habits to rub off on me.

So being in first grade brings it fair share of randomness...Here's a few of my favorite things spoken by my class so far.

"Hold on! (mid lesson he jumps up and runs to the sink in the back and spits)...I had a lougey."

"TEACHER!!!"

"Teacher he said I was a grandma."

"Teacher he said he was going to kick me after school"

"Teacher, she was talking to me when you said to be quiet." and she was totally talking back to her. we have a tattle tale issue, but sometimes it makes ya laugh.

"Oh, wow teacher, you have beautiful earrings."

"I lost a tooth! look!"

"My cat had kittens"

her: "I have a dog, and a snake, and two cats." me: "Oh what are their names?" her: "I don't know"

talking about me to the teacher in front of the class, "Well she is old and knows more stuff than us, so it's almost like she is a teacher."

In the middle of a story about animals (this boy pulls out the most random stuff at the most random times), "Teacher! I am going to be a jail bird for halloween." Later that same day he raised his hand and said, "Teacher, I want to be a cowboy for halloween instead."

When the class was raising fingers depending on their answer, one little girl was getting so frustrated cause she just wanted to raise her three middle fingers, but couldn't figure out how to keep her ring finger up and her pinky finger down at the same time. She kept trying to hold them where she wanted, but to no avail. I wanted to just tell her, but it was too funny.

I'm catching on to the system of how the school runs and everything, and starting to get used to the schedule, so I'd say it's going well. :) Yay school.

WOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-08-11T16:12:00.002-06:00

Today is a monumental day! I finished my last class EVER at BYU! All I have now is student teaching for fall semester and I'm DONE!!!! FINISHED!!!! wooooo!!!! But no more coordinating homework for 8 classes, and tests and finals. I survived. Oh man. And now I get one sole focus: Student teaching. Yessss. I now have two and a half weeks before I have any more school obligations-the longest break I've had since last august. I've gone straight through fall, winter, spring, summer, and now I'll have fall as my grand finale.

I told Kyle I was done with class and tests and homework, and he texted me back- "congrats! Now you have the rest of your life to inflict those things on other people". Ha, I couldn't put it better.

Student teaching will still be madness, and the teacher work sample will be lots of work, but it will be doing what I love, and all about teaching kids.

Let's pray to high heaven that I get placed in a close school...that would be awesome since we're doing the whole one car thing. I love riding my bike, but it would be a wee bit difficult if I am wearing skirts every day.

Next week is Camp Kesem too-that will be awesome. It's a camp for kids whose parents have, or have had cancer. They come up to Camp Kastopolus in Salt Lake, cost free to them, and get to just play and have fun with other kids in similar situations who are dealing with the same things. Their parents get a week to themselves, and the kids get to play their hearts out-and we get to help them have fun! Lorren and I are in charge of arts and crafts- I'm pumped. I'll stick some pics up of our beautiful creations.

Oh ya we moved! It's AWESOME!!!! I have not killed one earwig yet! And the sink comes out of the counter, not the wall. And get this- THERE ARE WINDOWS!!! WOOO!! You wake up in the morning to NATURAL light coming in through the blinds. It's like the sun saying "hello! I've missed you! Let me just kiss you good morning old friend!". I love it. I'm so happy with it.

Also, I am pleased to announce that today I have my first sunburn of the summer! Ya, I'm a little behind, it's mid-august, but I've been kind of dominated by classes-not much time for sunburns ya know? We went to seven peaks finally, and it was a blast. and my shoulders are screaming for aloe vera. No matter how much sunscreen you put on, they still get the brunt of the burning. It symbolizes the start of summer vacation for me though- I have two and a half precious weeks to fit in a summer's worth of party, and the season's first sunburn is the kickoff! WOO!!!! I'll think I shall go eat some ice cream now. or an otter pop. or both. and wear shorts. life is wonderful.

Tidbits.

2011-07-13T22:05:00.005-06:00

Hello!

Wow, it's been a while. Summer has been crazy. I've been in classes and working, so it's been unlike any other summer. I admit I do enjoy getting to do my homework while sitting outside in the sun, or going to the library and there are actually tables and computer vacant! AH! LOVE that! BYU is a lovely place with so few people. I'm a fan cause I like being able to find a chair or table where you can eat lunch and feel like you're by yourself. That probably stems from my dislike of eating with other people...I just feel awkward sometimes eating food with other people. I've gotten over it a lot since being married, but I used to HATE eating lunch around random people at BYU. I guess I'm just self conscious. Anyway, back to summer. I've been learning lots of cool things, and doing lots of fun things, it's been really nice. I have a few thoughts to share...

I got a 4.0 for Spring term. My first 4.0 ever at BYU, and one of my goals on my life goals list that I get to cross off. YESSSS!!!!! I worked stinkin hard for that.

I'm in love with pinterest. So in love. I've never used the word "cute" in my life as much as I have in the past few weeks with my discovery of pinterest.

Did you know that poinsettias are poisonous to cats and dogs?

We are moving in August. I am SO excited. Our little shire/basement/bombshelter/cave is great, but it's time to live in a place where the faucet doesn't come out of the wall, where steve doesn't hit his head on our light fixtures, and where the windows next to the front door aren't made of thick plastic...And we will have two bedrooms for pretty much the same price. I'm stoked.

I'm averaging about 4 otter pops a day. The most so far in a day has been 7, but that was the night I had a lot of reading...I needed something to chew on. Have you ever eaten just ONE otter pop? No. no one does. that's ridiculous. Speaking of otter pops, I think this totally applies to them.

How perfect is that? :)

I have killed about 18 ear wigs in the past two weeks. And we had an ant attack. They were EVERYWHERE! and during out softball game steve got about 25 mosquito bites, and I had somewhere in the teens- Needless to say, I hate bugs right now. I love summer, but I hate bugs.

Steve, Syl, Sabrinna and tanner are in town and we raced boats down the BYU stream on the south part of campus. I would recommend that activity highly...

I made my first batch of homemade strawberry jam! I made the freezer kind, and it's delicious. I thought it was all complicated and hard to make, but It's totally not. It's like three ingredients.

For anyone attending BYU I have two things to recommend. One- SFL 345: Religion in the Home from Dollahite. I'm in it right now and it is awesome. It's about other religions and how they practice it in their homes. I knew none of these things before, but it's so great to realize how other religions are so similar to us, and I have learned to really admire their devotion and dedication to what they believe in. Two- Lisa Hale. She teaches English, and she's one of the best teachers I've had at BYU. I have Eng 313 with her and it's a lot of work, but so so awesome. If you have the chance, take a class from her. She is fabulous.

welp, I think that's it. Happy Summertime :)

growing up costs a lot.

2011-05-30T15:06:00.002-06:00

We did something huge.

Me and Stevey feel like grown-ups now.

We bought a car.

This car.

Yes, this ORANGE CAR! AHHHH!!!!! It's orange! That's my favorite aspect. We'll stick out like a sore thumb in parking lots. With our old car we could always find it because of the Laker's sticker on the back and the dent in the front. Now the color will give our car away.

It's a 2007 Chevy Aveo with only 60,000 miles. We went to this memorial day tent sale in Sandy for the Larry H. Miller companies looking for a particular hyundai elantra we saw they had. We also looked into Hondas and Toyotas beforehand so we could be ready to wheel and deal with these salesman people. We were hoping for something around 100,000 miles or so. Well we got there and our elantra had been sold. So we looked around a little more, test drove a Stratus, then talked the guy down on the price limit we were looking for. Most of the cars there were WAY over what we wanted to pay, but he said he'd check and see if there were any in our arena. He came back out of the office and said follow me and walked up to this little fireball and my heart leaped a little inside. :)

It's a manual, which we both love, and pretty standard for a little sedan car. We kept trying to push the price down and they kept wanting us to buy it so we ended up getting a good deal. and free oil changes. And tickets to the bees game. and donuts. and movie tickets and dinner vouchers.
They really wanted to sell this car. And we really wanted to milk it for the free perks. :)
Luckily the guy selling it to us wasn't paid on commission, he was just about numbers and getting the cars out of there, so I feel like we got a pretty good deal for a really healthy, low mileage, safe, dependable, awesome gas mileage, highly guaranteed (we got some sweet long term warranties), really cute car.

It's just scary to sign all those papers and it feels so binding! Ah! That's what growing up is about though I guess. We get to try to make smart decisions about buying cars. and I think we did. It's weird cause it's totally not what we expected to find, and it was a little more than we were looking for, but we feel like it's going to last us through med school and beyond and it was a worthwhile investment. And just to console Stevey we'll probably have to get a new Lakers decal sticker for the back windshield (like we had on our old car). We all have to make sacrifices I guess. Stupid Lakers.

But what a sweet car. Welcome to the family little orange friend. :)

Happy Things

2011-05-27T21:16:00.011-06:00

Be it the rain, be it a lack of a balanced diet, or be it hormones, sometimes you just feel poopy. And I feel that poopy times call for drastic measures.

The drastic measure I wish to take here is simply this: I would like to just make a list (ooh I love lists if you didn't know) or a conglomeration of happy things. Things that are pretty, or happy, or lovely, or exciting. It shall be in picture form mostly, and my hopes are that if you are feeling the rainy day blues you will look at this list and feel a little sunshine in your soul.

Here we go:

Operation- Happy Things.

New little babies

The funny things my brothers do

gerber daisies

This dress is really pretty

I married Stevey for forever

chocolate chip cookies

I thought this was funny. :)

Palm Trees

A weiner dog as a giraffe

I could not stop laughing when I saw this

Tanner

Stevey

Steve and Syl and Sabrinna and Tanner

The Wentz Family

Sabrinna

This stinking cute sandal

Great Friends-I have too many I love dearly.

Ha, once again, Sabrinna and Tanner (yep, the one in the pink hat is indeed a boy)

We got engaged. Bliss.

I really love this game

I really love this musician. A LOT.

This is my favorite food: Philly Cheese Steaks

Cowboy Boots!

Ha, this was a funny cupcake!

Yaaay for happy things. The list could just go on-puppies, kitties, baby feet, pretty desserts, a brand new jar of peanut butter, a sunny day, a wedding, a new favorite game, Christmas, birthdays, sparkles, lace, friends, toenail polish, caramel, new earrings, Modern Family, a good book, the scriptures, pretty paintings, sunrise, pink, a good workout, the Prophet's voice, diamonds, an A grade, getting a really good teacher, sparkly gel pens, ginger ale, fireworks, roller coasters, otter pops, movie marathons, the last day of school, getting something for 50% off, a new house, a new cell phone, a text from an old friend, finding money in an old pair of pants, someone noticing you got a hair cut, finishing something really hard, anticipation of a big event, disneyland, homemade quilts, grandparents, beautiful photography, reading old journals, chocolate anything, paper lanterns, feeling twitterpated, love, the af cross country team memories, free food, modern medicine, traditions, cookie cutters, cherry blossoms, costumes, suprises, a clean kitchen, the Office, fields of sunflowers, barns, dance parties, running into old friends, kids, organizational supplies (post its, paperclips, folders), new bedspreads, cute shaped jars, buttons,.....

Ok, yea I meant it when I said the list goes on and on!

I hope you find what things remind you that there's so much to be happy about. :)

Pictures of California!

2011-05-27T13:38:00.007-06:00

Ok, here is a little snippet of our trip to California! I struggle with this blogging thing so they are in totally random order. I wrote all about it in that last post, but couldn't figure out how to include the pics, so here they are. California is a beautiful place!

David and Jessica and their wedding party taking some pretty pictures outside the reception center. Sorry, it's kinda hard to see much in this pic.

They had the cutest dessert table ever!

Hello. This is Me and Stevey.

Our final goodbye with our Nissan. It helped us out a lot, but I guess every car has it's time.

All the groomsmen looked great in their pink striped ties and hot pink argyle socks!

The Newport Beach Temple. It was so beautiful and perfect weather!

Oh we're just sittin on some rocks at Newport Beach. We saw a bunch of little crabs crawling around down in the cracks.

I love writing things in the sand. And I loved that we were both wearing sandals.

Steve on the Beach-His heart feels at home. He is such a California Boy.

We stopped by Downtown Disney! We didn't go to actual Disneyland, but just enjoyed looking around the shops.

Rattlers. Any place that serves their drinks out of Mason jars and decorates with cowboy boots is my kind of place!

Steve was so happy to be here. It's his all time favorite restaurant ever.

This was outside the Hotel in Vegas. I was so happy to be around palm trees!!! woooo!!!!

Ok so when our car died and we had called and were waiting for the tow truck steve decided to use the time to study (The MCAT was in 2 days). See how dedicated he is? I just drew cool designs in the foggy windows (since it was raining outside). I'm much less studious I think.

SUMMER TIME!!

2011-04-29T12:39:00.008-06:00

Alright, I wrote most of this at the end of April, and was wanting to post pictures so I procrastinated posting it. But now, finally, I shall update you on our lives for the past few months. Let's start with this older post:

Hello! Happy end-of-April! Ok, life is so crazy and great things are happening right now! Let me prove this point by sharing a few arguments as to why this is the case:

Exhibit A. Allie Barrett got called to Nicaragua!!!!! WOO!! Congrats! I love all these sister missionaries lately! Another Aly friend of mine is going to Dominican Republic. Hoorah for Sister Aly/Allie's!

Exhibit B. Autumn is having a baby! Holy cow, my best little friend since before we could cross the road by ourselves is having a little baby of her own. She's a blue eyed blond freckle face, and her husband is hispanic-that baby is destined to be adorable. Congrats Autumn. :) Heather Paulsen is also having a baby! Babies everywhere! She is due in October, and is one of the first few from my close friends in high school to have a baby. I'm so excited!

Exhibit C. Winter Semester is OVER! OH MY HEAVENS! Fall and Winter Semester were the most difficult semesters of school in my life. Fall didn't go so well, but Winter...3.96 baby. All A's and one A- (which I totally don't understand, but I'm not gonna go fight a teacher on an A vs. an A-, I'm content with the little minus sitting there next to my A). I have NEVER done that well at BYU. I had 18 credits, 10 classes, I worked 18 hours a week, and it was my last semester before students teaching and awfully difficult (in my opinion). I am quite proud to boast about my 3.96. I think it's due to the fact that I discovered the power in doing what you don't really want to do first-so it can just be done and you will have plenty of time in case it takes longer than planned- and then you can do the things you want to without the guilty feeling of homework hanging over your head. I wish I could have learned that back in Jr. high...I've always been a procrastinator. In the words of my friend Megan, "You just do it and then, WOAH! It's DONE!" said with a tone implying "and now you can do whatever you want since your done with what you HAD to do". Well, it worked well this semester, we'll see if I can keep it up.

Exhibit D. Kyle left for Mississippi a few weeks ago! He's heading down there for the summer to sell security systems with the guys he sold with before his mission. We were able to go to the Timp temple before he left since we'd never gone together before. It's funny, I forgot that two people our age together at the temple on a Friday morning makes everything think we are getting married, or we are married. As we were walking down some stairs quite a few of the temple workers were giving us these huge grins and you knew they were thinking we just got hitched. We're twins, but we don't look alike enough for people to assume we're siblings, they just always assume we're married. It's happened quite a few times since he got back from his mission actually. Anyway, he's awesome, and he'll do great in the humid, fried-food, spanish speaking south.

Exhibit E. Steve is still my husband. And I still like him. We just celebrated our Octo-versary last month! Ok, well I celebrated our Octo-versary, Steve kinda rolled his eyes at the fact that I came up with the word "octoversary". But I ate some ice cream for it, so that was celebration enough for me. :) And soon, well like tomorrow, is our Nonaversary (9 months!). Anyway, we've been living in the same little cave/shire/bombshelter-like basement that is the Hansen home together as the Hansen family for a whole eight months. How cute is that? I am a wife, so I get to remember things like octoversaries. And Steve is wonderful and remembers things like EASTER when I don't! I woke up sick on Easter and Steve had gotten me an Easter basket complete with candy and the Father of the Bride Duo set. And I, I had failed to think of doing anything for Easter for him. I'm awful. Our family never really did Easter baskets or anything, so I didn't put much thought to it. He got me a basket, was super nice to me while I was sick, and we went and ate dinner with him family-it was great. So, now I need to find an obscure holiday and do something cool for him for it so that he can feel like I really do care about him. Just kidding kind of, since he is golden hearted and wasn't expecting anything in return-but seriously, I still want to do something. Or I guess Father's day? Eh, we'll see. I'll come up with something great.

Exhibit F. MCAT Mania is happening at our house. Steve has been studying his brains out for a long time. He is taking it May 20th, which is just a few weeks away and has been spending every waking moment studying. He's covered pretty much every scientific subject you can imagine. He even posted a whole bunch of formulas that look like Greek alphabet soup up in our shower.

Exhibit G. I love this quote.

Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity. -Margaret Nadauld

I have ALWAYS had a huge admiration for Margaret Nadauld. She was a wonderful YW General President when I was in Young Womens, and I've always wanted to be like her.

So it's summertime now right? That means I've been able to let the craftiness inside me finally be free! I just want to paint things, and decorate things, and clean things.
I made a cool birthday calendar! So now I won't forget so many birthdays.

I made some picture board squares to spice up our bedroom a little.

I have a whole list of other things I'm hoping to get to. I love summer time. It's so much more relaxed. AND I get to wear sandals. I. LOVE. sandals.

OK, Fast forward a long time to Today! May 26th!

So we headed out to California last week!

It was an interesting trip. Our plan was to leave wednesday, stay the night in vegas, drive to California on Thursday, Steve takes the MCAT and we go to the beach and party on Friday, then go to our good friends wedding all day Saturday. Then we would drive home Sunday.

Well our car died in fillmore on the way down. An hour and a half into it our stinkin car dies! I had just gotten it all checked out and the oil changed and everything preparing for our trip. So, this nice guy named Joe towed us in, and luckily they had a rental car place in Fillmore so we got to drive a 2011 Altima for the weekend (SUCH a nice car!). They were gonna fix our car and then we'd pick it up on the way back. So we get to vegas and I was feeling sick, and Steve was stressed about his test, and our car was pooped out. Not quite as planned.

Well they called the next day and apparantly there was no compression in the pistons and our car was just dead. Boo. So we're currently on the search for a new car-which really is kinda fun, getting our first car together. :) We got to California the next day and went to Rattler's BBQ. Steve's whole family raves about it like crazy, but I thought they were all just overreacting. They were not. It's incredible. Every stinking thing. Their rolls, and their steaks, and their onion ring things. Wow. So good. Steve took the MCAT successfully the next morning and we'll find out his score mid June. David and Jess's wedding was absolutely wonderful! It was so happy and so pretty and I maybe cried even just a little cause weddings are the sweetest thing ever. I'll post some pics of it all. Overall it was a pretty good trip. It was nice to just be with steve for four days straight since we barely see each other with our random work schedules. AND I did absolutely no homework, so I guess that counts as a vacation to me! I hope you're all enjoying your summers!

It's not fair to keep good things a secret.

2011-03-31T22:05:00.003-06:00

If I found a really great ice cream flavor, I would tell you about it.
If I found the best sandwich I would tell you-Oh, wait, I totally have-The 'steak and everything' at the Italian Place. Best cheesesteak of all time.

Ok, so here's the thing. You tell you're friends about great things!
So why has no one every told me about asparagus?
Oh my gosh.
How did I know not how amazing asparagus is!!???

For anyone that doesn't know, this is asparagus....

And it's delicious.

So here's my recommendation- put a baby bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper on a couple stalks, then rub them together with your hands to spread it around and BAKE, yes BAKE them for like five minutes at 350. It was so good. You'll love it. If you are a veggie liker. But, if you don't like veggies then I don't really hold too much hope for you and this idea because it still tastes like veggies. Also, asparagus is only $1.59 a pound at Macey's. I got a bunch like that picture above for like a $1.20. And it's lasted like four days of me eating it. yum.
I hope you eat some asparagus soon. :)

WANTED: summer.

2011-03-25T19:51:00.004-06:00

Ya know those "lost puppy" signs, or the "wanted: outlaw" signs? Or even the "Missing: Have you seen me?" signs up at walmart that make you feel so sad?

I have a sign I would like to make kind of like those. It would go something like this...

MISSING: SUMMER!

Description: Bright, lovely, sunshine, sandals, shorts, sunsets, swimming, popsicles, palm trees, vacations, sunburns, ponytails, flowers, ice cream, trees, running in shorts, weddings, painted toenails, playing with friends, bonfires, picnics, happy.
Last seen? August, 2010
Reported sightings as of late: March 22-24 in Utah and Salt Lake Counties
Reward: SANITY and HAPPINESS!!
Alleged Kidnapper(s):

Snow E. Flakes

Rain Drops

Please report any information you have to the National Weather Service.

Do you think it would work? Would summer come back? I miss it.

Sun, please come out. We all miss you...

March.

2011-03-18T21:59:00.003-06:00

I have lately been obsessed with three things. Let me give you a pictoral representation of said things.

Exhibit A.March Madness is INSANE! How have I never realized this before?!? Brackets are incredible! They give you that same feeling you get when you go down a big drop on a roller coaster.
I filled one out this year and I just need to do better than Steve. All the games are these incredible buzzer beaters or total blowouts it seems. It's incredible. I'm pulling for Pitt to win it all over Ohio- You?

Exhibit B.

SCHOOL! Ah, holy cow my brain has been overcome by school. I dream about it every night without fail. I'm in Newman Elementary in Salt Lake, and my class is so awesome, and the teacher whose class I'm in is INCREDIBLE! I could not have been placed with someone more perfect for me to learn from. She is incredible at explaining everything, organizing and following through, she is THEE most consistent teacher I think I've seen in management and expectations. But she isn't a stress case or a grouch. She is fun, and she is realistic. It's a HUGE blessing to be in such a good situation for this semester since I've had this terrible taste for school and a bad case of "I want to change my major quicker than my next pair of socks" syndrome for the past couple months. So this is making me feel a little better about it, and thinking that I might enjoy it more than I have been thinking. It's still incredibly overwhelming and intricate to be able to do all that's asked from the university program as well as just of teachers in general, but I'm starting to figure out how to get a handle on it all. It's WAY scary, don't get me wrong, but I think a good way to fight scary is to stare it in the face till you figure out how to fight it down...

Exhibit C.
SANDALS!!! I just want to wear sandals!!! It's getting warmer and feeling like spring!! I have a pair of sandals from last year that I love with all my soul but they are kind of breaking. Well, ok they broke completely apart, but I bought a hot glue gun! I attempted to stick 'em back together, and it works for about two days of wearing them and then it comes apart again and I have to re-glue. It's becoming a sad reality they may not be able to be around much longer. I can't find any like them anywhere though! The minute I do I shall purchase them. That much is sure.

I hope you're enjoying March! Happy day after St. Patrick's day.
P.S. The tulip festival at thanksgiving point is April 15-30th...I totally want to go to that. Has anyone been? Is it incredible!??

Scaredy Pants.

2011-02-16T00:02:00.006-07:00

Yea, it's the truth.
A lot of times I'm such a scaredy pants. I let fear creep it's way into my head quite a lot. Do you ever feel like a wimpy little scaredy? Or am I the only one?

Do you ever get scared of things that others tell you are silly to be scared of, but they seem scary to you? Like for example- health, or careers, or being a little too chubb-o, or rising grocery prices, or people not liking you or being offended by you, or failing at something you work way hard at, or losing friends, or just not liking your daily work, or cavities, or I don't know, any of those daily things that you just get worried about? I think I get scared of some of these things when I know I shouldn't, I really should just look a little more logically at things.
But that's why I'm Kellie. I'm made up of a lot more percents of emotional than I am of logical.

That might be why I married ol Steve-o. He is quite logical. But he is also male. I feel this is a large contributor to the emotion/logic discrepancy between us. But good thing we have each other to balance, right? and this blog. So that I can tell you that yes, I'm kinda scaredy pants a lot of times, but there are these fabulous men called Prophets and Apostles that give us little gems of wisdom that just speak to our hearts and let us know that you know what? We don't need to fear.

Yes. That is correct Kellie Hansen and anyone who reads this. We have reason to safely put fear aside and not let it rule our lives. How great is that? Here are some fabulous supports of that statement. I hope they speak to your soul like they do to mine.

Romans 5:1-5
1Therefore being ^ajustified by ^bfaith, we have ^cpeace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

2By whom also we have access by ^afaith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3And not only so, but we glory in ^atribulations also: knowing that ^btribulation worketh ^cpatience;

4And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

5And ^ahope maketh not ashamed; because the ^blove of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Mark 5:36

"Be not afraid, only believe."

"Faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives."

-Elder Holland, The Best is Yet to Be (Jan 2009)

D&C 68:5-6

“Behold, this is the promise of the Lord unto you, O ye my servants.

“Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come.”

Because of Christ there is hope smiling brightly before you, and you need not worry too much about sickness, death, poverty, or other afflictions. The Lord will take care of you. Your responsibility is to keep the commandments, feast upon the words of Christ, and stay in the path to your heavenly home. -Julie B. Beck

Mosiah 2:41
"And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a stat of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

"The atoning love of the Savior includes his willingness to bear not only the burden of our sins-which would separate us forever from our Father-but also our day to day burdens of fear and anxiety-which would deprive us of peace and joy. As Sister Patricia Holland explains, giving our burdens to the Lord sometimes requires us 'to make that leap of faith toward His embrace when we are least certain of His presence...When we hand our fears and frustrations to Him in absolute confidence that He will help us resolve them, when in this way we free our heart and mind and soul of all anxiety, we find in a rather miraculous way that He can instill within us a whole new perspective-He can fill us with 'that joy with is unspeakable and full of glory'(Hel. 5:44)" -Jan Underwood Pinborough

So I've kind of discovered this pattern. If you're trying your best, and you're doing good things, you're taken care of. It's a goodbye fear, hello faith kind of thing.
Ok, no more scaredy pants, no more scaredy pants, (say it with me...)

Oh hey!!!

2011-01-28T17:32:00.008-07:00

Hello! Ok first off, remember how Christmas was about a month ago? Here are some pics from that!

Our first little Christmas tree in our first little apartment.

Steve was happy with some of his new Lakers presents.

We spent a lot of time playing with Cardon, Noah, and Annie-our niece and nephews.

This was at my Dad's house on Christmas Eve.

I hope you had a fun Christmas!! It was the nicest break I've ever had. I totally needed those two weeks off from school. Thank heavens for Christmas.

So, I haven't written anything since December? Who am I?
Well um, what do I say now? Here are fun things that have happened lately...

I learned to use Skype. Thank you Syl! That's kind of crazy you can do that. Technology nowdays is amazing. I'm not so great at it though. I admit it-I still don't know what a podcast is. But I just downloaded Itunes! That's progress.

We made crepes with Scott and Lorren. It took us like ten minutes to make about eight, and it wrenched my heart in gratitude for the saintly women who spent hours making hundreds of crepes so that we could serve them at our reception. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I cut stevey's hair. We bought some clippers and it was my first time cutting his hair. Wanna see just how bad he needed a haircut? Here you go.

Ya he looks like the 80's, does he not?

Mother Wentz is back in Utah. It's been nice to see her again. She keeps trying to get me to eat this organic soup she discovered- Wolfgang Puck is what it's called I guess? huh, organic has just never been my cup of tea. It's funny. Hello mumsy if you're reading this!

The blogger editor thing now has cute new fonts! I love good fonts.

I have decided to still be a teacher. This is a whole internal conflict that's been going on that I think I'm figuring out, but thank you Mrs. Moedl, and Kim E., and Brittany C. :) You people have lifted my heart more than anything.

I just want to make valentines crafties so so much. I have lots of ideas, now I just need to make them! I shall supply pictures when they are complete. I made cute sugar cookies! Check them out.

I want to run a half marathon. How bout the one in June, the Utah Valley one. Anyone want to do it with me?

Um, some exciting news....a certain member of the Hansen family (My in-laws who are Lakers fans and hate country music- aka how sad is that?) asked me for some country CD's. She claims that she likes Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood, but wanted to see if she liked any of the men singers.
So, you know how they say that that one drug is like the gateway drug that makes you want to start doing other drugs? Well, all drugs aside, Carrie, Taylor, Brad, and Rascal Flatts are "gateway country singers". Those who claim they hate country music might listen to Taylor Swift without meaning to since she is on more than just country stations. This is the same with Rascal Flatts and Carrie. You start listening to them, and you start liking them. Then, you start getting curious and you start listening to other country singers-such as Brad Paisley. That's what got me on country. Brother Kunz got me onto Toby Kieth and that led me to Brad Paisley. Kyle got converted by starting out with Brad Paisley, and now he goes country dancing all the time. This is the Kyle who said that "If idleness is the devil's workshop, country music is what he plays over the loudspeakers."
And my mother. She now loves country music. That's partly because of Dierks Bently, and party because we changed all the presets in her car to country stations and she doesn't know how to change them so it was forced upon her. We are still waiting for papa Wentz' conversion, but the only music he really loves is like the Beach Boys and Barry Manilow.
So, now there is a Hansen family member (who I was asked to keep anonymous) who is requesting some quality music. I am so excited to share the joy that is country music.

Well. That's all. See you later.

How to Not Hate School: A Pictoral Field Trip

2010-12-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

Tips for Not Hating School That are Mostly for Myself, But you Might Like Too in Case You are Having Your Mind and Self Esteem Blown by Finals Also

1. listen to brad paisley while doing homework.

2. Eat Chocolate chips while studying.

3. Try not to get angry at teachers. Try really really hard. but if you do, remember that you only have to be with them for a few hours a week, and don't let them ruin the rest of your life. Try really really really hard not to let them but a damper on your spirits. Think about the great teachers you have that try to understand you.

4. Sometimes you just need courage. School is scary, especially when it is determining your future career. If you botch it up a little bit, just pick it up, be more dedicated, have courage to do better and know you can do better from now on.

5. When writing a paper, or a study guide, or anything typed, that is SUPER boring, change the font to one you love, or that's more cute. You can change it back to boring when you print, but why not work with a more fun font?

6. Be patient. Wait for your work to pay off, cause it probably will. Wait for things to work out. In conference Elder Uceda said that patience was also “having the quality of enduring evils without murmuring or fretfulness” or “calm under the sufferance of injuries or offenses.”

So wait, and if while you're waiting someone is just a total rock in your shoe, then try not to "murmer" and stay calm. All of these really hard things to do combine into what is called patience.

One of the hardest things ever.

7. When you are struggling to be patient, or have courage, or not be angry-try and keep your lips zipped. It might keep you out of trouble.

8. Work really really hard. Sometimes that's all you've got left that you can control. President McKay said, ""The privilege to work is a gift. The power to work is a blessing. The love of work is success." You might not love it now, but maybe someday down the road you might start to. Any progress is good, right?

9. Remember how it good it feels when you DO do well. Think about that awesome feeling when you know you have mastered something, and you look back at all you have learned, and you know you are smarter now than you were before. Learning does feel good, it's just hard to remember that amidst mediocre scores and while at BYU, where you just can't ever seem to do as well as you'd like. Grades aren't everything.

10. Someday you won't have school anymore, and maybe you'll miss it. So enjoy what you DO like about it now. Even if it's the social life. I think that that's ok.

THE END. Good luck!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

So it was just Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving! I feel like it means that I need to tell you what I'm grateful for, which is a ton. I realize I've been incredibly lucky. Let me show you a glimpse of just how much.

Some things I'm grateful for...
Steven Hansen-and that I'm married to him.
The temple
The LDS Church-and that covers a lot- the Book of Mormon, Sunday meetings, ward members, missions, general authorities, hymns, relief society, priesthood, etc.
The Wentzie family
The Hansen family
Katy, Brookie, Emilie, Sas, Kris, Allison, Lex, Cally, Stacey, Heather, Danielly,
Syl, Lisa, Cheryl, Louise, Kandis, and Kim.
Cars
Contact Lenses
Lotion
Chapstick
That Steve and Syl, and Sabrinna and Tanner came out to visit. I love seeing them.
Robert Hansen and his tools and car expertise.
Heaters
footie pajamas-they are an impenetrable wall against the cold.
bikes
snowflake ritz crackers
frozen yogurt
debit/credit cards (instead of cash)
mail
blowdryers
earrings
my wedding ring
our apartment
flowers
cooking
froot loops
chocolate
music- all kinds.
art/ classy photography
painting, ceramics, crafts
medicine
hospitals and doctors
cell phones
mp3 players
internet
ebay
cowboy boots
backpacks
vitamin c
drinkable water easily accesible
hot showers
huge cozy towels
new socks
baskets
picture frames
printers
ribbon
sparkly things
eyesight
shampoo
hairspray
Christmas, well and every other holiday for that matter.
weddings
whiteboards
scotch tape
scissors
braces
books
skirts
shoes
microwaves
dishwashers
mascara
America
airplanes
clorox wipes
windshield wipers
kids
kleenex with lotion
waterbottles
ball point pens
bobby pins
Brad Paisley. I can't forget Brad.

Wow. I'm lucky. Ya know what I was thinking too, as Steve and I were moving into our apartment? That we had a lot of trouble fitting everything in. We had so much stuff and so many presents we couldn't fit them all-or in other words, we were blessed more than we had room to receive. I also thought about that at Thanksgiving dinner when Steve was laughing because he wanted to eat all of this food but he couldn't fit everything on his plate. I couldn't either! How lucky are we to have so much food that we can't even fit it on our plates? Once again, we were blessed more than we had room to receive. We are lucky little duckies. :)
Happy Thanksgiving!

Write in your Journal.

2010-11-17T20:55:00.003-07:00

So I swear I have heard a prophet tell us to write in our journals. Today I have a itty bitty inkling of maybe a reason why.

You know how sometimes you are super pumped about something and you know it's right and you have that absolute BURNING that you MUST do something!? So you write it down cause you know that later on, a few days, maybe months, maybe years, you might not feel the same, and doubt that that is really the right thing-but during that moment you were excited about it you wanted yourself to never forget to stick with it cause you KNEW it was right?

And then time passes and you feel like you kind of hate and want to change that thing you thought was right and loved?

I think maybe those old journal entries, or perhaps blog posts, are to remind you about that "burning" you had to stick with it-so that when you do feel differently you remember that once upon a time you knew that thing was right. And that might be one of the only things to make you stick with it-your own words from months past trying to remind you of how you felt. I think this could happen with a testimony building experience, or a big decision, or.....other things.

And sometimes you wish that you could just punch your younger self that wrote those words cause now you think, "what was I thinking!? I had no idea!", and you want to change your mind.
But you just swallow that little defiant, frustrated voice in your head and say to yourself, "self. We knew this was right once. Suck it up and stick with it. Maybe it will be worth it.".

Don't you hate when that happens?
I do....

I wrote this post February of 2009. That was almost two years ago.

"I have spent a lot of time in classrooms around utah county, mostly upper grades, but some kindergarten, and I absolutely love it. I have wanted to be a teacher all of my life, but I never realized what teaching actually included. I have had so many fears about it-there are aspects of it that I don't know if I could do very well, and so I have been studying it out to make sure that is right for me. I have most definitley looked into other careers that I think I would enjoy-ya gotta keep an open mind ya know. I love culinary arts, and have dreamed of going to culinary school. I love physiology and biology and would love to be a nurse. I think nutrition is fascinating and dietetics would be a fun career. I have searched out these different careers and thought they seemed great, but when I step into an elementary classroom I am a fish who has found the ocean. It just fits perfectly and I get so stinking excited!! I got to go tutor at Canyon Crest Elementary yesterday, and though I was only there for a little bit, I got to tutor, talk to the teacher about her job, and watch the kids out at recess and I just flipped. I HAVE to be a teacher!! I MUST!! I CANNNOT WAIT!!! I had the giggly/screaming thing (many of you have heard it...) coming out of my mouth in my car the whole way home cause I was so excited that I was going to be a teacher. I love everything about it. The kids, spelling, reading, writing, science, the creativity of it, the organization, the learning, the classroom, the friendships, the humor, even the paper work/grading part of it. I have never been so excited about it. Ok, ok, my point. I have lots of hobbies that I will enjoy as just that-hobbies. Of course I will have doubts as well, as school gets hard, and unexpected bumps happen, but that is why I'm writing this. I don't want to forget moments like this where I know I want to teach. So, I hereby declare that for my life's work, I want to spend my time in a classroom teaching kids. I am willing and excited to take the good with the bad in that all around package we call elementary education. I can't wait. :)"

That whole feeling I just explained above?...ya I kind of feel that right now. I'll let you know if that little defiant, frustrated voice inside my head wins. He's kind of in the lead...

Might a share a smidgen or two?

2010-11-15T20:01:00.002-07:00

"Dismiss the destructive and
keep dismissing it, until the beauty of the
Atonement of Christ has revealed to you
your bright future, and the bright future
of your family and your friends and your
neighbors. God doesn't care nearly as
much about where you have been as He
does about where you are, and with His
help, where you are willing to go....This is an
important matter to consider at the start
of a new year ‐‐ and every day ought to be
the start of a new year and a new life.
Such is the wonder of faith and
repentance and the miracles of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ."
-Jeffery R. Holland

"Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was
made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith “A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all,
nor be afraid.” "
-Robert Browning

....'nuff said.

I kinda feel like there are scrambled eggs in my head.

2010-11-10T19:50:00.005-07:00

I know it's annoying when people talk about their spouses lots, but can I tell you some funny things I've learned about Steven Hansen? just as the funny person he is? I love this man.

1. He spends more time in the anatomy lab with dead people than he does with me. that's kinda creepy if you think about it. yikes. but that's science classes for you. and He's a TA. So it makes sense.
2. He wants to name one of our children after a Laker's player. He loves Pau Gasol, and Lamar Odom. But why choose just one? He has decided on LaPau Gasodom Hansen. Ugh. I will veto that one, but thanks to espn for puttin that thought in his head.
3. He has five different deodorants. He claims that his armpits get immune to a certain kind after using it so long. In his words, " I have to keep my armpits guessing! ". He really said that. Ha.
4. We were out of cereal the other day and he told me he'd go buy some. When I got home I saw he had bought cookie crisp and marshmallow mateys. I would have chosen like total or cheerios? but ok, let's eat miniature chocolate chip cookies for a good wholesome breakfast. That won't put us in a sugar coma at all.
5. The other day at 1am we had to drive back up to campus to find his IPOD because it fell out of his pocket. He remembered where it might be because it was a corner where instead of walking on the sidewalk, he jumped over the bushes. Glad he "saved some time" by jumping over those bushes...

He's hilarious. that's why I married this hilarious man. I like the variety that's added to life when you get to be a part of someone else's too. :)

So guess what else? I have been teaching a little bit! I spend every day up in Salt Lake at the cutest elementary school.
I am in second grade, and my class is pretty funny.
So far we have had two, uh, "potty accidents", a tooth get knocked out by another girl's head, and a few kids accidentally wearing clothing items backwards and being really embarrassed when had to tell them and have them go change. We have a little bit of a lot of different cultures in our room, and I think it's kind of fun. There are two twin girls that dress alike every day, A little asian boy who always asks me how to spell things, and this little girl that looks JUST like I did in second grade who tells me almost every day that her birthday is in April.

I have learned far more about how to teach than any class could have taught me. Sometimes that's cruddy learning though cause the mistakes you make are even worse.
Today, my lesson that was supposed to be 20 minutes went for almost an hour. Things just don't go how you planned and sometimes it's just chaos. A lot of the time it's you vs. a class with a bad case of the wiggles and sometimes it feels like the wiggles win. But I have years to go, and to practice before I think I'll ever feel "comfortable" with teaching. You can't just fix what you did wrong in your lesson either! It's so frustrating! Once you've taught that lesson, you can't waste time teaching it again just because now you know how to do it. You have to just be able to apply that new technique you learned to the next lesson you teach. It's a big difference from being able to fix your answers on a test and resubmit it for full credit. It's experience, not paperwork. And it's way harder and more complicated that I thought. It's trying to remember 30 management strategies in your head while trying to follow a lesson plan, answer questions, and try to make sure they're learning-not just that you're throwing facts at their heads. Yikes.
I admire those teachers who do it well. Obviously anyone could be a teacher. Anyone can stand in front of a class and say things from a piece of paper in their hands. But it's incredibly hard to be a GOOD teacher. An EFFECTIVE teacher, and one that the kids will remember as learning from and loving to be in class with. Maybe someday I'll catch on to it.

Just a friendly little hello. or two.

2010-10-12T13:10:00.006-06:00

Hello October.
Hello pumpkins.
Hello leaves.
Hello apple spice EVERYTHING!
I love fall very most.

Hello also to lots of homework.

Hello five bagillion thank you notes that we are working on getting out. But how cool is that that we have five bagillion awesome friends that were so kind to us at our wedding. Thank you you five bagillion people, you! we love you most too. It's possible to love two things most. I promise.
Hello Salt Lake School district. I shall be with you in about two weeks. Who votes I might pee my pants the first day because I'm scared of kids? For the El Ed program we are going to be in the classrooms every day for about a month. I was assigned Salt Lake. Which means having to leave the house at 7am every day. Hello alarm clock.

Hello to my new devotion to undo what genetics has done and break my addiction to sugar. We have a Wentz gene where we are completely addicted to sugar, and crave it probably more than most people. It's funny sometimes to talk about, but I don't want dumb sweets to rule my lifetime. You always feel so sluggish and gross after eating treats, you remind yourself that you're never doing that again-until that feeling goes away. But seriously, when have you ever eaten a carrot and regretted it? The answer is never. Cause you don't feel awful, you feel like you just ate a little piece of life, and your insides thank you for looking out for their long term well being. So at least till halloween, I'm gonna have to break up with my beloved glucose. For health's sake. That's what, like 20 days? I can try that. I think that's possible. goodbye deliciousness. hello healthier kellie's innards.

Hello to NBA basketball season coming up. Hello Jazz. Please don't stink this year.

Hello to my attempt to be more charitable and less judgmental thanks to General Conference. I've fallen into an awful habit of being so critical of people and so quick to make judgments. That's not who I want to be-I want to be someone who assumes the best of someone, or who is patient and helpful to those who need it. I've been a little isolated in my own little world, and that's not how a Latter Day Saint should live. Read this talk by President Monson from the Relief Society meeting- http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1298-39,00.html
You'll understand why I'm feeling the need to improve this. I think we all can a little. I think I would be happier if I did. So I shall. I can have a happier spirit along with a happier body. :)
Good ol' Conference. I loved every second of it.

Well, goodbye procrastination technique, aka blog of mine.
Hello Chapter 9 of "The Study of Language"....

Stevey

2010-09-15T19:57:00.003-06:00

I love this man.

Tickets are the worst.

2010-09-08T13:12:00.002-06:00

I hate tickets.
Parking tickets and traffic tickets are the biggest waste of money for making a stupid mistake.
Like not wearing your seatbelt, or parking more than 12 inches away from the curb (ya I didn't EVEN KNOW that was any sort of law or anything! but some cop must have pulled out his measuring tape cause I was 14" from the curb dang it...), or leaving your car in a BYU lot overnight, or not having current registration on time, or speeding. Gah. Stupid mistakes that policemen catch and say "oh, you goofed. Pay me sixty bucks." NO! I will not! Except I have too within five business days or then they say "Late payment! Pay me thirty more dollars!" I hate you. Stinky coppers. Stop stealing all my dollars. I could have bought probs like three pairs of pants, and a couple shirts, and a cute pair of shoes with the money I've spent this year on stinky tickets. And that money just gets yanked out of your account online and you never see it again. With new clothes you get to wear them everyday and say hey, this is that fifteen bucks I spent-but I'll wear that fifteen bucks for like the next five years.
Oh booo. I know I need to be more responsible. It's my own fault-and that makes it worse cause you know when something frustrating happens and you know its totally your fault for being dumb? That just makes it worse. Here on out I'm going to be a driving/parking smarty and stop getting tickets. lame lame lame tickets.

Hansen. That's right- the name is now HANSEN!

2010-08-31T20:12:00.002-06:00

Dear world of mine,
First, prepare for cheese. I just got married-of course this will be cheesy. you've been warned.
Well, I am wed. I am now Kellie Ann Hansen. Oh my cow, I'm married to Steven Hansen, who is now my husband, and I am Kellie Hansen. wow. how wierd is that. I swear I'm not old enough for a husband. husband. haha, how wierd is that that I get to use that word. that's such a grown up word, and I'm such a little kid.
I do love the name Wentz. I shall miss it's uniqueness, and I don't know what some of my friends are going to do that call me "Wentz" instead of Kellie. I guess we all make sacrifices :) I also had to scratch out and rewrite my name on a few papers today because I forgot. It's gonna take some getting used to in lots of ways, but it's SO STINKING COOL!!!!!
Friday was absolutely perfect. and gorgeous. and wonderful. and happy. and such a party. and full of FABULOUS gerber daisies, and SO many people I love! All you who tease me and ask me why I'm always happy, I wish to confess to you right now I've never been happier than I was on that day. Hands down, THEE happiest day of my entire 21 years of lifetime. I think my cheeks wanted to jump of my face so my smile could get bigger- I struggled to not break my face by smiling so much. It's just full of all of those things I just said-all my favorite things and people! I just want to say thanks to anyone who helped out or came, or supported us in any way. You are definitely not taken for granted-my heart is bursting to tell you how truly truly grateful I am for you. I understand how much people did for me, and I will ALWAYS be grateful. I figure a good way of saying thanks will be by doing the same thing for others, so I hope I get the chance a lot in my life.

Well, now we're hitched, and it's so wierd that life revolves around one other person now. It's like, well, Family again. It reminds me of high school with kyle actually. Him coming and jumping on my bed when my alarm goes off trying to wake me up. (it would never wake me up, but it would wake him up in the next room and he'd have to come wake me up.) and when he was always waiting in the car outside to go to school while I'm hurrying but still make us late, and knowing I'll see him at night and talk about the crazy day. It's kinda like that same feeling. Just family, that knows you inside and out, and you do boring things together like laundry or dishes-but it's still fun somehow. I like family. Family is fun. and now me and mr. hansen hath become the Hansen Family. How cute. It's a really good feeling. I think it's cause marriage and family and the proper priority and respect of it is VITAL to Heavenly Father's plan-and when you do things Heavenly Father's way you get blessed like mad. It's pretty simple how it works really-but so stinking cool. We've already felt that incredible happiness-no, it's more than just like your everyday happiness, it's a feeling like there is this giant fuzzy quilt of JOY that hugs every little bone in your body and then feeds you caramel brownies and ice cream for a week straight. Ya- That's kinda more accurate of the feeling I'm talking about. Anyway, that comes from doing things right-like getting sealed in a temple. It was incredible in the temple that day. Nothing can ever match the feeling of love and the sense of eternity that you feel when you are being sealed with the priesthood to your best friend forever. Forever has become one of my favorite words. And now me and Stevey boy here get to be forever. and that's freaking sweet! I might be in this cheesy newlywed bliss mode for a while, and then it might wear off a little bit, but I'll never take for granted how lucky I am to be married to steven hansen. Life has never been better than it is right here and now-and thanks to proper priesthood power it can be like this forever. I love forever. yay for marriage. :)

Happy 4th!

2010-07-05T23:23:00.003-06:00

Happy Independence Day! I hope you ate some BBQ, admired a flag, lit some things on fire, and relaxed with your families. I love fourth of July. I remember the awesome water balloon fights/bbq/cul-de-sac of fire at Bishop Packs house growing up. Those memories will last forever. Fourth of July is such a tradition holiday, it's awesome. It's great to have Steve and Syl out from Colorado too! I hope everyone had fun.
Oh, and we got our engagement pictures done. Steve was miserable. He hates pictures. His face in most of them look like I'm holding a knife to his back. It's kinda funny.

But then some are cute. Like this one.

Ah no, I'm one of those cheesy, crazy in love engaged people. Sorry if I make you feel like puking.

Also, great news-I narrowed down my bridesmaids to a final count...12. Yes. There will be 12. I know, it's a little not normal, but I couldn't narrow it any more from that, so we're gonna stick with an even dozen. We'll see how that goes...

Can I add a cheesy bit of info too? Of course I can. I do it all the time. It is MY blog after all. :) I got to spend a few days with steve's family down in southern utah boating and stuff, and it was really interesting to see what family meant to them. You could see how his family definitely has different personalities than mine, but they still had such a high priority for having a sense of "family". I have so much respect for his parents. Wow. They are wonderful people. His siblings-they are a ton like my brothers. It's not any of this gushy sensitive stuff you would get from a family of girls (he does have one sister though, but you can tell she grew up working hard to survive around them), it's a lot of the survival of the fittest that happened in my family-but it's so fun. Everything is a competition, and everything is way more intense than it would be with other people. You have to stick up for yourself, and when you're a Jazz fan surrounded by Lakers fans that just won a championship that is not easy.
It's harsh-but so fun. It makes me miss that with my fam a bit. Maybe it's just me, but do you ever sometimes you miss the way things were before, but you don't know what's in store for the future, and you wonder if maybe it's better, but you don't think anything ever could be? Woah, run on sentence. Anyway, I loved growing up with my brothers. I love them a lot, and I love how we did things. But that doesn't mean that I can't find even more of that happiness in the future just because childhood is past. Who knows, maybe my kids will be even cooler than me and my brothers were growing up. I figure if I'm doing all I can to live right I'll be blessed with bigger happiness to fill the shoes of the happiness I had growing up. I miss childhood. I admit it. So I'm kinda sayin this to myself, but maybe you've felt that too? But things get better, better than you thought they could. And it seems you only find yourself experiencing even deeper happiness than you thought you could before. Even the Beatles agree when they say "I have to admit it's getting better, it's getting better all the time." Ah, the profound Beatles. Love them.
I think that's true. Things only get better. I mean honestly. I'm getting married for heavens sakes! What makes you happier than that?! Ok, enough philosophy for today.
Enjoy the sunshine! Eat a popsicle. woot woot!

I conquered the fishies!!

2010-05-30T13:33:00.007-06:00

Last weekend Me, Steve, Stacie, and Shane Johnson trekked on down to the Messina Residence in Henderson Nevada!
My roommate Sarah is leaving on a mission on June 2nd to Paraguay, and her family was so nice to let us come down and spend the weekend with them so we could go to her farewell and have some fun in Vegas! Here's a little pictoral recap for ya:
Lake Mead-gorgeous. Oh man being here for a few days was way better than being at work, or Provo for that matter. There was actual SUNSHINE there, something Utah has been a little stingy on latley...

I'm actually scared out of my mind of deep water because I'm scared of fish. Intensely scared of fish (hence the fish Stacie hung in my room on april fools...cruel.). Brother Messina was nice enough to wait until after they talked me into getting into the water before pointing out these monster fish hanging out in the water. Oh my gosh if I saw these first I would have never gotten in.
But I put on my brave facade and got in and had a total panic attack. But panic or no panic I did it, mostly to impress steve. and he says he's still planning on marrying me, so I think it did the trick. but here is my proof-

I actually got up on waterskis! I was so proud. This was huge progress for me facing my fears. Thanks for letting me brag for a sec.
We also went on a cool bike ride through some crazy tunnels and stuff over to Hoover Dam.
This is Danielle and Sarah Messina and Stacie Purcell. They are incredible. Sarah is the one that leaves on Wednesday.

While we were there we saw my great friends the palm trees. There were like nine of them right by hoover dam, but I was only allowed to hug five of them so that I wouldn't totally humiliate our whole group. I chose this one. I wanted to take it home, but it was too heavy to carry on my bike. Someday I'll have a palm tree, just wait.

This is our crew at Hoover Dam. Um, I kinda wonder why so many people go see Dams. They are kinda boring. It's just cement, and water. Lots of it. I mean, I appreciate the engineering genius just as much as the next person, and it's cool to see if you're already there, but I wonder if people really say, "Let's go on vacation somewhere super cool...I know! Let's go see a dam!". I mean, maybe it's just not my style. But it was fun here with all my buds since we were already in the neighborhood.
Bike Riding-I learned how to properly shift down/up so your quads don't explode when going uphill. Handy trick, those little gears. I praise the man who invented that.

This is Heather and Stacie on Lake Mead. They were some of my favorite roommates ever. You can tell that from their lovely faces.

Welp, that's all for Vegas. Now it's back to work at Seven Peaks. We don't have many groups coming until July pretty much, so I'll be doing random stuff around the park until then. If you come to Seven Peaks I will probably see ya there!
Also, Kyle get's home in three months. August 26th. I'm so pumped! It's gonna be a huge welcome home kyle/me and steve's wedding extravaganza weekend!!
ok, toodles!

I have something to tell you...

2010-04-26T13:44:00.016-06:00

Hello! Ok, so remember the curveball I was talking about a few weeks ago? The twist in life that you least expect, and you wonder if it's a good or bad thing? Well that particular curveball was a good thing. A VERY good thing. In fact, let me introduce you to him. My life's biggest curveball, but I can say I'm so so glad it got thrown at me. I'll explain. but first, introductions:

This is Steven Hansen.This is also Steve Hansen. With his head in a bucket of dry ice fumes.

This is me and steve at our ward closing social for winter semester. Try to notice his fabulous green eyes. They are fabulous indeed. He is also a red head. I have always been partial to red heads. Oh and the front right tooth of his? The bottom of it is fake. He face planted on concrete while playing basketball in high school and there went his tooth! You'll see that picture someday.

Let me tell you about Steven Hansen.
He was born in Valencia, California. When he was 13 he moved to Vacaville, California. He is a total city boy, and I am a lover of open fields and cowboys. Well, it's ok. Everyone is different. He'll love country music someday...we'll see to that. :)

He likes soccer, basketball, baseball...basically every sport possible. Espn/sportscenter are his best friends.

He went on his mission to Baton Rouge, Louisianna. That's Elder Hansen with a cute little gecko on his tie. He learned spanish while he was there, and his testimony grew leaps and bounds. I am so thankful for his rock solid testimony. This steve boy with the gecko on his tie-he knows the gospel and he loves it. That right there you can be sure of, and that is one of the things I love the most about him.

Steve is a super smarty pants. I can only wish to get the kind of grades he gets at BYU, as well as in High School. But sometimes, his smarts don't keep him from things like this...

This is steve after crushing his face while playing broom hockey for a ward activity. Quite the stitch job, and lots of blood, but a really funny memory. Perfect for him though because he wants to be a sports doctor/pediatrician. We'll graduate BYU together in April 2012 and then we wants to go to med school. We have quite the road ahead that's for sure. But he'll be awesome at it. He's just genius like that.

Well no one is perfect. He does have flaws. His main downfall? The Lakers. But we try not to talk about that. Too bad his family makes sure they always bring it up. I declare here and now I will NEVER be converted to like the lakers. Never ever.

Steve doesn't like Seafood, or olives, or peppermint. Random, but good thing, cause those are also my least favorite things ever. He has a very "wentz" sense of humor. I can't wait for him to meet kyle.
He whoops me at every sport, but it's ok, he's super fun to play anyways.

This is me with Steve. I love Steven Hansen. You might say, "well if you love him so much why don't you marry him!"

Well... Ok. I Will!!
How about August 27th?

How about here?
DONE! It's scheduled! August 27th, at 11:00 am, here in the Mount Timpanogos temple I get to marry this Steven Hansen and from here on through forever become Kellie Ann Wentz Hansen!!!! wooooooooot woooot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got engaged on Sunday, May 2nd, and we're getting married in August! The day after Kyle gets home actually. He flies in August 26th. Ha, let's PRAY that plane isn't late. I'm excited for him to be here. He's my twin, he's gotta be!

Well, alright. Introductions are over. Now let's talk about the curveball.
Let me tell you a story... (it's kinda long, sorry!)

Once, during the first week of July, 2009 a girl named Kellie was walking down the hall from sunday school to Sacrement meeting. Summer term had just started and some new people moved in. One of them was named steve. As she...ok enough third person. I'm blowing the secret-it's me. I'm kellie. (that was a clever play on my blog's address too...haha itsmekellie? I'm so funny). Ok, as I was walking I ran into him talking with some other people in the ward. I was tired of the dating game, and was just focused on my calling that day and not paying much attention. But I said, "oh hey, you're new. What's your name?" He said, "I'm steve". Simple enough.
The very thought that popped into my head as I said "oh hey steve! Welcome." was, "oh he's cute...but he probably has a girlfriend. so who cares if I impress him or not. welcome to the ward steve." blah. I just felt like oh whatever.

The next day when I got off work I felt like going swimming. wierd. I hate swimming. super wierd. But it was nice out, so I went. And there was that red-chest-haired steve and his friends playing pool basketball. I was braved and asked to join them right as they started trying crazy dunks. Steve thought it was smart to try to get a running start and jump all the way across the pool to dunk it. He tried it and it made a huge splash that landed on a girl trying to sunbathe. It was hilarious. I remembered his name was steve, and we played basketball for a while. Afterwards we were just talking for a minute and he mentioned he was going to play soccer. I wanted to play! So our conversation ended with a "we should play soccer sometime" and we both left to get ready for fhe. Psshh, like we would ever acutally play. or talk again. but I just thought oh well, he was cool. (TOTAL BYU ward couple meeting...I know it). So that night at fhe he started talking to me again, I started wondering why this steve boy was talking to me so much. He couldn't have had a girlfriend. He was too flirty and he hadn't said anything about her. Then he got my number that night at our ward fhe at rock canyon park. SO zoobie. but oh well. I didn't hear from him again till later that week. He invited me to play soccer friday morning. My roommate brooke came too, and once we all met up and were heading to her car, I told them I had to run back to my apartment and get my water bottle.
I lied. I actually had to puke. I was SO SCARED to hang out with him (cause by now I realized he was pretty cool, and he didn't have a girlfriend-and he was talking to me ALOT), and when I get that scared I get way pukey. Well, I really liked him by now, and I was so nervous I actually went inside and totally puked. How embarrassing. To be so nervous to hang out with someone that you puke. Ya, I really liked him.
Then we played soccer, and all was well. He asked me on a date that day actually, but I was leaving to be an EFY counselor for the next 2 weeks. AWFUL timing! But we planned a date for the next saturday, and I crossed my fingers that he wouldn't find some way awesome girl in our ward before then and totally forget about me. After soccer we all went swimming again, but I had to leave cause I had a date. A picnic lunch date with someone else. How ironic. It was way fun, but steve was definitely on the brain. That night I got off work at 1am. All my friends were still out lighting fireworks (it was july 3rd), so I met them out there and steve was still up too. We sat on the porch and started talking. Everyone else gradually went to bed. We kept saying we should probably go to bed, but we just kept talking. Soon I noticed that it was getting light outside!! It was 5:30 in the morning! We had been talking forever, and it seemed like nothing. I really really liked this boy.
Ok, short story- I went to EFY for two weeks and he didn't forget about me. We started dating two days after I got back. And we dated for four and a half months.

Well, I wanted to marry him. We both felt that way. but the Spirit had other things to say and after a lot of thinking and talking-we broke up. The day before my birthday. Not a "we need a break" breakup, but a "this is the end, good luck with your life" breakup. It was done. and I maybe died like fifty times inside. but it felt right, and I tried to move on. Time to find new things in my life, and a new boy.

I honestly NEVER thought we would ever get back together. I was trying to move on. But moving on wouldn't quite happen...I had the steve bug bad. But move on I must because Kellie Wentz doesn't dwell, she pulls up her dang boots and keeps moving. At least I would hope so.

Welp. Then came the curveball. One sunday night about two and a half months ago, me and steve had a good long 4 hour chat. I was expecting another firm assurance that it was over. but I got square smacked in the face with a curveball-we started dating again.

Well, this is Long, cheesy, detailed, and very journal-like, but moral of the story is we got back together. I was stinking scared about that, but felt it was worth the risk. About two weeks into it I knew why. We were so getting married. It was only a matter of time. No one could be more perfect for me. and I knew it, and I felt it, and It made me so happy. I had prayed so much to stop caring about him-ya gotta move on ya know? but my heart never changed and I kept feeling the impression to be patient and give him another chance. I knew I still loved him, but I admit I tried REALLY hard to hate him! but it wouldn't work. good thing too. Cause now I'm going to be Kellie Hansen. And I am so stinking happy. It's my turn to build my own family. A family based on Jesus Christ, and the temple, and the scriptures, and love and patience and HOLY COW it's just going to be freaking AWESOME!!!! It feels so good to be so sure, and so happy, and know that what you're doing is completely right. August 27th. I'm pumped. I hope you'll all be there! Thanks for the congrats. I am so excited to be Kellie Hansen. :)

This week so far...in pictures.

2010-04-07T13:12:00.010-06:00

Well, classes end next week. Consequently this week and last week have been a little crazy. Here's a little pictoral representation of my current life...

My pile of homework still to do looks about like this....

The weather has felt a lot like this...

I have gotten four of these (which is a total injustice, I'm still bitter)...

I feel a LOT like this...

but also a little bit of this...

I'm addicted to these...

I've been hanging around with him...

I have high hopes for these guys here in the next few weeks...

I got a summer job here!...

Oh and I LOVED this...

loved loved loved it. :)

Welp, that about sums it up. Happy Wednesday. :)

Addendum to April Fools

2010-04-02T14:11:00.002-06:00

Welp, the day was not over yet when I wrote that post. Let me tell you how it ended..

I got off work and went out to my car- it was covered in tuna. I hate tuna. And honey was under my door handles. Punks.
When I did get home I opened my scriptures and screamed-another piranha picture right there in 1 Nephi 17 where I had left off. And I found other one on this weeks page in my planner.
I went to brush my teeth to go to bed and I couldn't find my toothbrush. Well you know it' April Fools Day when one of the places you think to look is in your freezer. There it was, encased in a thick block of ice.
This morning as I was hurrying to get dressed to get to class my pants all felt like they fit funny-It's because all my pockets were packed with packing peanuts. So I took em out and threw them on Stacie's bed while yelling to myself how happy I was April Fool's Day was now over.

I can't take that holiday anymore. And I'm still finding fish pictures. Kudos to Stacie. How was you're april fool's? Anything fun happen?

This is Ridiculous!

2010-04-01T22:40:00.005-06:00

Today is April Fool's Day. I have always loved April Fool's Day. Kyle and I would saran wrap everything, put shaving cream on everything, set water cups on doors, and put a rubber band around the sink sprayer and mom was always the one that got it. Jay would switch the sugar with salt while we were eating cream of wheat. It was fun. We all felt so sneaky.

Well today it was redefined. Heather Miller and Stacie Purcell, my current roommates have completely outdone themselves. All day long was absolutely ridiculous. Wanna know what they did? Let's bullet point this out so you can see the damage of what we did, as well as what was done to us. All trust was totally out the window.

Last night heather made pb cookies with extra salt in them. She put them on my doorstep so that when I came home from this date I saw them (we all have secret service people in the ward that we're supposed to do things for) it said to Kellie from your secret service person. How cute. So I went inside and ate a piece of one and almost died. I thought it was so funny so I went and told all my roommates how my secret service person totally got me! I told them to try some so heather went in the kitchen and came back with a cookie and she tried it and was fine. Then my other roommates tried it too and didn't notice anything. There was no way they were joking cause those salt cookies were sick. I was so confused! Then I started to notice that I recognized the plate the cookies were on. Oh my gosh. I had been dooped. I stood up and started yelling at he sneaky buggers that I knew that plate and they confessed! It was heather! The whole time! She made a plate of normal cookies too and that's what she had gotten and eaten with Danielle and Sarah. Oh my, she really got me good.
Last night Heather and I bought 18 ice blocks from smith's, and carefully stacked them in from of some guys in our ward's door. It got up to just above the door handle. So enough to block you from leaving. We poured water all over it to make them stick together and prayed that it would be cold enough to freeze them. I was very pleased to wake up and see snow on the ground. I walked past on the way to school and they were still in tact. I found out those guys were just climbing over it to get out. :) Nice job Heather.
We also wrapped everything in Danielle's backpack with princess wrapping paper. We wrapped some other random things as well and threw them in so she would have to open all of them during class to find out what was what.
I HATE FISH. Especially creepy deep sea fish. So Stacie hacked onto my computer and changed my background to this sick looking scary fish. It scared me so bad.
I came home from class and Heather, Stacie and I were all home together and we were just watching each other so bad. It was hilarious. No one trusted anyone. So Heather had made frozen pizza and when she went back into her room for a second me and Stacie lifted up her pepperoni's and shoved a whole load of basil underneath them. Well little did we know she eats her pizza by pulling the pepperoni's off first. So she saw it and scraped it off. shoot.
I couldn't find my phone for like two hours! Heather thought the mail had come so she asked me to come check it with her. We didn't want to leave Stacie alone because we didn't trust her, so we made her come with. We open the mail box and there is some mail and a package for me. I open it and there is my phone, amidst all the packing peanuts. Nice Heather, nice.
Heather fell for a cup on water on the top of the door-she got soaked.
soap was put behind the handle of the refrigerator.
The toilet was saran wrapped and icy hot put on it.
vinegar was mixed into a pitcher of water, I wonder if anyone has drunk out of it yet.
we put icy hot on Brooke's deodorant. and Heather's. Ha, that was a good one.
Once again with the fish, I came home from campus and Stacie had cut out the most disgusting fish ever and had them hanging from my ceiling. She also had one hanging at eye level in my closet so I opened it and FREAKED out. I don't remember screaming so loud ever. She also put on on my laptop screen, and it my wallet. It's the sickest picture of this piranha that gets me every time. She said there is still two more hiding as well that I'll discover.
We pinned and taped heather's coat to her ceiling.
We may or may not have lit 5 smoke bombs in a bowl and slid them into a boy's apartment where they filled the entire place with stinky smoke in no time flat.
We saran wrapped the Messina's (my roommates, danielle and sarah messina are sisters) computers.
Heather and Stacie put all the Messina's shoes in a box and duct taped it and hid it out in their car-leaving their keys at home was a bad idea.
we froze heather's retainer in a plastic cup then took it out and put it on a plate on her desk. :)
I got a couple of good, but really false, stories going with syl, katy, and staish. Sorry guys, I just had to have some way to say april fool's to you today!

Today was madness. I'm glad to be at work right now and away from the distrust and mischievous plots of my roommates. I wonder if we'll ever trust each other again. We were watching our backs all day long! It was fun!!

I don't really like baseball.

2010-03-29T15:44:00.004-06:00

This is how you hold a baseball to throw a curve ball.

Clayton Kershaw throws a mean curve ball.
Ben Sheets is also good at throwing curve balls.

Ya know who else is great at throwing curve balls.

Life.

Yes. That bully/best friend we call life.

Sometimes we love love love Life's curve balls. Sometimes we hate them.
Ya know the dilemma of today? I don't know whether to hate it or love it.
I'm stuck. But I can't just sit here in the line of fire of said curve ball forever or I'm gonna
get nailed right smack in the nose with the dang thing.

Sometimes you wish things worked out exactly how you planned or wanted them to. But then they don't. But time goes by, and life progresses and THEN your are all sorts of grateful that they didn't. And you like how things turned out so much better than they would have if you got your way. But then, a curve ball comes your way and changes everything. And you may end up getting what you wanted after all, but now it's even better. Or maybe not. It depends I guess.

How good are you at catching curve balls?

Oh, Life. You're so funny sometimes. You should go into stand up. You'd do really well. Anyone concur?

From taxes...to complex carbohydrates.

2010-03-12T18:39:00.002-07:00

So my life is pretty full lately. A lot lot lot going on. How bout some highlights? Ok.

I taught...eh...tried to teach P.E. to kindergartners at Park Elementary. It's like trying to make caffeinated jello do jumping jacks. Oh my gosh. All structure goes straight out the window and your standard for success drops down to making sure no one is crying, dead, or yelling. If you can do that, well, congrats, you made it. Better luck this week huh?
Tomorrow is the rex lee run! Also, I'm going to do the Provo Half Marathon May 1st if anyone wants in on it as well? Jake Cannon and I are going try and train for it, and some really important miles are during finals, so I hope we're ready in time!
I simply love emilie laura jackie lucille wright and allison suzette hancock.
Lots of great things happening in my friends lives. Congrats on the baby Berkeley(even though it was a while ago...) and Arista, the mission calls jade, wernsie, sarah, and erica, and the engagements sarah , katy, josh, jonathan, scott, jmac, kels, mindy, kevin, paige, colton!!!! yep, tis the season I guess. The next couple months will be quite the party! :)
taxes. I love getting money back from a tax return, but filing is just so complicated, and paying taxes bites. That's a def love/hate relationship. But something inside me feels all grown up and responsible while filing my taxes.
I have not been eating sugar lately, and I wanna die. I miss my old friend glucose, maybe someday when I'm a super fast runner and super skinny we might make acquaintances again. I hope so. but in the mean time I've been becoming great friends with veggies and whole wheat. It's funny how much better you feel actually. I would recommend a good healthy reconstructing of what you eat, it does wonders for ya. And it really gives ya peace of mind knowing all your wonderful little innards are being taken good care of.
On monday I teach my class a dance I made up, in our math class we're working on a project with our textbook entitled "The Number Devil". Our refrigerator looks like a 1st grader lives there because of my wonderful art projects. I am playing the part of Royal Magician Number 1 in Drama. Yep, I'm slowly becoming a real live teacher. I love it. And I know my roommates secretly do to. :)
Kyle comes home in Six months. Wow.
I can't wait for BBQ. I love that the weather is warming up!
I want to try and be a more classy dresser. So I have considered purchasing a brown cardigan. Nothin says classy like a cardigan right? But here's my shopping complex that I've developed. 1- I have to go to at least three stores, usually more, to find the best selection/prices. 2- Then I have to think about it for at least five days. In that five days I must analyze my current wardrobe and find at least four or five solid uses for it-something it will match or go well with so I know I would wear it often. For shoes they have to match 75% of my stuff. Some things can pass that test while I'm at a store, so that speeds up the process to about two days of think time. 3- But then it has to go up against "the list", which is a list of other things I have been wanting to buy lately, in order of priority from what I want/need most down to what's just a daydream. If this item isn't in the top five then it's usually a forgotten cause. Yes, this is the psychological road trip that happens with 90% of clothes I buy. I think it's a pretty solid strategy. Welcome to my thought process :) Now none of you will ever want to go shopping with me. Sorry sorta...
Welp, time to get back to math. Thank you for reading and being updated on my lifetime. Next time there will be pics for sure.

later!
-Kellie

I made a cake.

2010-02-16T21:26:00.002-07:00

Thank you to Kaitlin and Natalie for renewing my faith in myself and making cakes. I had gotten a bit discouraged about it since the last one I made was a disaster. But these two brought me the best book ever about doing cakes, and it was Scott and David's birthday, so I thought what the heck. I even got a little brave and tried my first fondant cake! Normal fondant is pricey and tastes awful, so I made homemade marshmallow fondant and OH BABY it worked like a dream! So friends, behold my first fondant decorated cake. :)

Oh for Heaven's Sakes,...this just needs to be said. Cheesy or not.

2010-02-10T22:41:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I hate agency. But sometimes I love it. Don't you agree? Sometimes I feel like Satan, and I so badly want to take someone else's agency and make their choices for them because I can see so clearly what would be best for them. Oh all you parents I feel for you, I'm sure you feel that all the time. I bet you would pay a fortune for a chance to make a big decision for your child because you know that is the best one for them. But, as I said before, that's exactly what the adversary wanted in the war in heaven. To make people's choices for them. So, when I feel like I want to do the same for those that I love, it's almost as if I'm trying to live Heavenly Father's plan using satan's tactics, or force them to live His plan, which is the same dilemma.
It's a paradox. I can't. I cannot choose for another person, I already decided a long time ago in that war to fight for the side of giving all men agency. I knew what it meant, and I treasured the gift of agency just like Heavenly Father did, just like Christ did. So why do I get so frustrated out of my mind when someone I love makes a decision that I know will only hurt them? What do you think Heavenly Father feels when we make decisions He knows are only going to hurt us? Probably frustrated out of His mind. Are you catchin on? And yet, agency lives on in each of us. That shows me that it is something far more sacred than I understand, and that I should respect the agency other people have as well as my own. That's where my next two thoughts come in.
1. People can make whatever choices they choose, but the consequences don't change. You will always have to deal with the consequences of choices you make. Hence, 2. I can still make my own choices of how to react to consequences. Whether they are consequences of someone else's choice, or of something completely outside of anyone's control.
Let's be one hundred percent serious for two seconds-crap will happen. I know, it's blunt and brutal, but who will disagree with me? It's mortality, it's what it's for! How miserable would your life be if nothing difficult ever crossed your path? That sounds backwards, but you know it's true, don't you? I know that mountains are thrown in our path so that we can climb them and enjoy the view from the top. Ya flat ground is nice and it's easy, but what are you becoming when you walk on flat ground for years and years? Definitely not what you could be if you started doing a little climbing. Thank heaven's we are given mountains. TRUST ME, life is better with mountains.
Ok, that said doesn't mean that mountains aren't tough little buggers to get your little self up. Ya, they hurt. Oh man I had no idea how much. Mountains are anything that really cuts to the core and shows us who we are. Or mountains are when you think you know what it means to have your heart ripped open and cut to pieces and then some jerk called life comes along and he throws a gallon of freshly squeezed lemon juice all over it. And you just think, Seriously? Are you really gonna be like this? Ah. COME ON!! But ya, it's real, and it's a mountain, and you get to climb it. That's kinda what life feels like sometimes. But ya know what, you accept it. You can't change it. Why on earth worry and stress over what you cannot change. If you can't change it, it's a reality, not a problem. You can only change problems-not realities. You deal with realities by opening up your heart to the Savior and letting the Atonement take care of those realities that you can't. Well, so here we are with a huge fatty big boy problem on our plate, and what do we do? Well what can you do? You start to solve it. One bite at a time. You have friends, family, a Heavenly Father,and a Savior to give a lifting hand. You have the scriptures and the Spirit behind you giving you the revelation you need. You have prayer 24/7 that works miracles because that infinite Heavenly Father hears and answers them. You have friends like emilie who when you text them telling them you need something they call you back ready and willing to do anything before you can even say hello. How do you ever tell those people how grateful you are for their helping hands? I'm sure grateful for these supports in my life. They rock the house. I love you all dearly.

Ok, sorry, HUGE tangent. but choices. Ah, choices. Here's where we are grateful for choices. No one can take from you your choice of how to react. You always have that. You choose your attitude. You choose your actions, your priorities, and how you spend your time. You can choose that no matter what happens you are going to do the very best you POSSIBLY can to be the very best you POSSIBLY CAN! Woot woot! That doesn't ever have to change no matter what.
I'm feeling a lot right now, but mostly I feel like pounding my fist on the dang table and publicly declaring that no matter what mountains I'm gonna have to get my big ol booty up, I'm going to climb them. So that when I start to wonder what I'm going to do about what mess I've gotten involved in, I can remember that I have already decided. I'm going to have a good attitude. I'm going to be a mom someday. I'm going to live the gospel. I'm going to be the best dang teacher my district's ever seen. I'm going to be a happy person-the real kind of happy that only comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm going to love other people. I'm going to have a celestial home where Jesus Christ is the very center always. I'm going to have patience, I'm going to take care of my body and mind. I'm going to love, appreciate, and be loyal to my family. I am going to be Kellie Wentz, and this is who I want Kellie Wentz to be.
So come on, throw your lemon juice at me punk, I'll take you down. :)

Hello Saturday.

2010-02-06T15:47:00.004-07:00

I LOVE these things.

I want to be a cowgirl. I know that's realistic, but I at least don't want to end up in a big city. I want to live somewhere with wheat fields and a sense of community. I want to put up our own wood slat fence in my backyard someday. I want to plant a garden, and sit on the porch on summer nights and look at the stars and talk to neighbors walking past. Mostly I want to run through a field of sunflowers in a flowy skirt and the country air in my face. Yesssss. Someday I will find me a field of sunflowers. If you come across any in these parts of provo utah you better let me know! Cause I want to find it, and frolick through it and take pictures of it in the sunset.

A few weeks ago we had a stake barn dance in a real barn in spanish fork. Oh my lands, dream come true. Yay for barns. I love barns. and the smell of dirt and wood, and dancing! It was one of the funnest ward/stake activities I've ever been to.

Aren't my roommates adorable? Yes, yes they are. I am so blessed to be at the Elms again with these awesome girls. I am so blessed to be at the Elms, period. I love it. and ya know what else I love? Good conversation. Like the kind where you feel like you really know that person a whole lot better after. I've realized I peg people for certain things, as in what they probably like or dislike or how they think. I love when you have a good chat with someone and realize they aren't quite what you thought. I don't realize how impressed I am with someone until after time like that together, and then I start to understand what they are all about-and I'm quite impressed. I love people I can talk to really easily, and who are good at having balanced conversation back and forth-not just dominating it and talking about themselves. It's really nice when you feel like they have genuine interest in your opinions as well. That is a sure fire fun time, and I love learning about people I didn't know very well before! I had one of these conversations last night. It was so much fun, and I had no idea such amazing people were out there, but it's a refreshing thing to discover. Three cheers for awesome people. They enrich my life and make me want to be better. Thank you all you awesome people you!

The first two weeks of school have dominated my time...

2010-01-20T09:42:00.001-07:00

My classes are great. I struggle with the really long ones, well I would probably die from the really long ones (which is all but one) if they weren’t so engaging. I really like that the teachers make them involved. We do some really fun stuff, but some of them are also kind of really hard! I’m not very good at all the psychology of learning stuff, and that’s what most of them are, but I’m catchin on. It will just take some time. And I like how the fun things actually tie in to what we’re learning-I feel like most assignments are really useful, which is great because I hate busywork.
Like for dance, I have learned 40 of the correct terms for “dance”, and used these terms and motions at the last White house dance party. My roommates know exactly what it means and looks like to use each part of Body-motion-energy-space-time cause they’ve seen it multiple times in our livingroom.  I can’t help it if I’m a really great dancer.
For art yesterday we made a life size human being out of packaging tape. I get to take it home next week to take pictures with it. I think I’m gonna take it out on a date.
Yep, those are the only dates I go on-ones with tape people. Great. At least it’s the most adorable tape being you’ve ever seen. We also have to keep a sketch book and practice what we’re learning. Last night on my way to bed I noticed brooke was asleep on the couch while reading her homework…so I pulled up a chair and drew her in all her sleepy cuteness. Shh..don’t tell her. She might not be my roommate anymore if she finds out I sketch her while she sleeps. Huh. Maybe that’s why my only dates are tape people….maybe. She also gets to be the one I come home from class to and show all my artwork that I’m so proud of.
For drama we’ve been learning about personality types, and I’ve been making everyone take my personality tests. I found out Cameron Carr is the personality most difficult for me to teach, and he makes sure I don’t forget it. I don’t think he’s called me kellie for a week-it’s now “teacher!!” in an obnoxious whiney voice with his hand raised waving around like a five year old.
For music we sang a song about snails, rattlesnakes, and parasailing. We also read a 20 page article about Public Policy that I barely understood.
Because of health class I have a whole bunch of tally marks on my hands. It’s to mark any lifting comments I make on one hand, and any degrading or put down comment on the other. I have a renewed awareness of how mean of a person I am. I’m working to get the compliments tally higher than the put down tally…
For math I had thirty pages of reading about what goes through a childs mind when faced with a multiplication problem, and what innate counting skills might contribute to their solving it. Ugh, I can’t do psychology, especially psychology of math. That’s def not my favorite. And we’re reading a novel called “The Number Devil.” Just you tell me that YOU have a textbook called “The Number Devil” and I will think you’re major is as much fun as mine.
Hooorah for educating the future masses!

Oh what a ride.

2010-01-13T06:25:00.003-07:00

Hello. My name is Kellie, and today is January 13th, 2009. I feel a lot today. Can I tell you about it? Ok, I'll take your silence as consent.

I'm realizing a little bit of why I need to be in the elms. It has been incredible. SO SO good. I am so glad I took the plunge and did it. It is exactly where I need to be right now, and I have felt so many good things come of it already-and it's been two weeks! Ah, I'm so stinking excited to see what else the semester will bring. It feels good to know you have made the right choice in something.

Speaking of right choices, have I told you that I'm going to be a teacher? Yes, I just started the Elementary Education program, and I, Kellie Wentz, can tell you right here right now that I have never made a more right decision in my life. I NEED to be a teacher. Every day, in every class, it is cemented more and more in my mind that my calling in life is to teach children. It is going to be so hard, and so much work (heck, it already is!), and thankless, and controversial, and discouraging, but SO WONDERFUL!!!!! I know it's going to be tough, but since when is anything worth it ever easy? I have committed to do the BEST stinking job I possibly can. I want my students to have the best teacher they could ever have that believes in them, and loves them, and will do what it takes to learn and prepare to teach them and inspire them to embrace learning as the light in their life that it can be. My heart it packed right now. All of my classes are sparking a lot of thoughts about how I want to teach, and what approaches I want to stand by, and all of that. But this is only the beginning! I have only had two weeks of teaching classes but I feel like a different person. I'm pumped to see what I can do with the next two years! Hopefully by then I will feel more prepared to become the type of educator I want to be! And when that day arrives...oh boy. Look out future classroom of mine-you won't know what hit you. :)

Another thought, I'm finally realizing who and what I am. Cheesy, I know, but just go with me on this. I know you have all felt it sometime or other. Since a, uh..."significant event" in my life about a month and a half ago, I have had A LOT of time to reflect, and think, and change. Look at me, I'm sounding like an adult. Well, don't be fooled, I'm still a ridiculous 21 year old Kellie Wentz, but I am growing up big time. I am realizing who I am, and what my goals and hopes for life are. Not that I didn't realize these things before, but they are finally becoming cemented in instead of being flimsy and changing. I'm realizing how personal my relationship with Deity is, and I have never been more thankful for it. I have finally found focus on becoming who I want to be, and the barriers have just started falling away. I don't know how to explain it. I've picked up this momentum from that said event that is blessing me leaps and bounds. I love my life. I love who I am, and all the things I have had to face, and how they have helped me grow. Things that I knew would start to make sense later but were so hard at first are doing just that-starting to make sense. and I'm even starting to feel grateful for them, just like I knew I would someday. I think I'm starting to figure out what I want in my life. Everyone always says how they never know what they want, ya know? Well I think I do. And I'm going to start going after it. I want to be a teacher, and I'm doing it. I want to be a runner, and more athletic, and I'm doing it. I want to be a peacemaker, and well, that ones a little harder, but I'm doing it-I'm getting better. I can't even explain it all, but I feel like all the things I've been planning and hoping for my whole life I am finally getting the courage to start going after. I know who I want to become, and I'm going to do all I can to become that person, and the hard things in my life are only helping me along. Alright, I'm getting a little carried away, I hope you slightly understand what I mean. I think in summary- I'm starting to really live my life-and I'm loving it. Every little piece.

Another thought? Well, a lot of you know me very well and you know that tonight/tomorrow is the two year anniversary of the hardest day of my life. I don't think, well I hope at least, that I will never feel again what I felt that night. It is indescribable. I don't know why I'm writing this on here, I know it's a silly blog, but I guess I just want you to know how I feel. The past two years have been a roller coaster ride like you cannot believe. The highest moments and lowest trenches have made it a refiner's fire that has shaped me immensely. I have never felt the adversary so overwhelming or the veil so thin as I have since that day. But I can honestly say right at this moment that I am grateful for it. I have grown a lifetime in the past two years. I have been forced to be an adult, and deal with other people's decisions, and nothing has stretched me more, but nothing has made me grow more either. I am a far better person today than I was then, and I can't help but be thankful for that. I know that things work out-the Lord works in such mysterious ways. Faith can be so hard, but it's worth it. I am thankful for it. I guess most of all I just want to say to anyone that reads this that in every moment of misery the past two years, I have felt an unyielding strength and support from a Heavenly Father. I love this gospel. It is all so true. There is nothing more important I could ever say than to tell you that I have felt it is so true. Jesus Christ is real, and I'm thankful for such an experience that has cemented that into my soul. I can never doubt again that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the absolute best and truest thing in existence. The Atonement is real and it is effective and it is more love than we will comprehend in this life. Jesus Christ is absolutely EVERYTHING-always. I absolutely love this gospel, and will stand true to it forever. I'm thankful for hard times. We can't grow without them.

President Hinckley said, "Life is like an old time rail journey...delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for the ride!"

Oh man I'm grateful for the ride. Life is great.

I'm so excited to be a teacher.

2010-01-09T22:40:00.002-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwghabw4N80

Who knows if it's real, but no one can deny that it's pretty accurate, and super funny.

Hello 2010!

2010-01-01T10:06:00.002-07:00

Welcome to a new decade! I love New Years. Fireworks are legal, we drink sparkling cider and act crazy, and stay up super late.

This years celebration brought a new challenge. I was able to successfully connect 28 bottle rockets together and light them at once. It was supposed to be 30 but two didn't light. It was quite spectacular. There was also a display of some other firework creations of mine. I love that part of the holiday. Also, one of my goals for this year is to not eat fast food, so last night I ate my last Del Taco chicken burrito for a while-too bad it was pretty delicious. I hope that goal lasts at least a couple months, I think it could save a lot of money and a lot of cholesterol.
This year also marks ten years since the year 2000. On New Years Eve 1999/2000 I made a time capsule at the Browns house while I was babysitting. I opened that up yesterday and well, it was pretty funny. One of the things in it was a survey I filled out. Let me remind you I filled it out when I was in fifth grade. Want to know what it said? Here's some of the questions and answers.
What is your favorite TV show: Sabrinna the Teenage Witch (still true!)
What is your favorite food: Mom's chicken nuggets
What is your favorite music: The Seminary Soundtrack Old Testament CD
What do you want to be when you grow up: a teacher and a mom

There were others but they were pretty general. Then there was a letter to myself. It said a little something like:

Dear Kellie!
Hi! I am in 5th grade and I like Drew and Jace. I am good at baton, spelling, soccer, and cooking things in my easy bake oven. Who did I marry? Am I married yet? Did I go on a mission? Remember you need to have two girls and two boys. Name one of the girls Molly. Am I a teacher? I really want to be a teacher. I love my mom. Never quit, you can do anything!!
-Kellie.

Huh. Well that makes me feel very...single. I guess I was pretty boy crazy then. Did I really think I would like have children by now? I guess I added ten years and figured I would be 21, so it seemed accurate in my mind. It's kind of cool that I'm going to be a teacher still! I have wanted that forever. It also had my favorite cookie cutter, a ring, some pictures, and this little chunk of crocheted yarn that I think was supposed to be a bracelet. I was a funny little kid.
Well, it's now January 1st, 2010. I love fresh new starts, and I have a really good opportunity to start everything pretty new here this year, wish me luck! I hope you had a fun New Years Eve/ New Years Celebration!

Sorry Sorta...

2009-12-30T08:35:00.003-07:00

After reading my cousin's blog for this morning (who is an excellent writer), I have realized that my writing skills have been terrible. I understand that my thoughts have been quite lazily slapped onto this blog in a way quite unbecoming of a future educator. I'm going to be teaching children how to read and write and I can't even use the right form of "they're/their/there"? I usually quickly throw thoughts on here as they come, not paying much attention to my writing skills. I think I need to start paying attention to things like that. Where better to practice, right? (Besides school of course). From here on out I will pay attention and write with a little more dignity. It still needs to feel like my voice, but I'll take more care not to write like one of those people that make you sick to read because it's so awful. It's not my strength-good writing and grammar-but I would like to get better at it, so I'm going to try.

Hoorah for the english language and using it correctly!

No More Pets

2009-12-26T22:45:00.005-07:00

I have made an executive decision-I am never having pets when I grow up and have a family. Sorry future children, no way. Right now I'm living at my parents house for the Christmas break, and George my dog, and boots my cat are here as well. They both shed like freaks. This is pretty much what george does...

and Boots is a lot like this...

Ah man I'm so sick of pet hair. Gross. You look at George and you're covered in like 1.7 seconds. It's like stinkin magic. No more pets for me. Yea, they're cute, and they give you that face that stops you from strangling them after they have barfed on something or meowed all night long. I'm being harsh. I know I love them. They're funny and cute, I know that. That's part of the problem-I always get attached. And then they run away or they die and I get so sad. Therefore, I decided I'm not going to let my kids have hairy monstrosities for pets, or any pets that we'll get attached to and bawl when they die. That narrows it down to....goldfish. I think I'll let my kids have a goldfish. They don't get their bodily fluids all over anything, and if they die you can flush them. And I wouldn't even be sad since I hate fish. It might lead to an early discussion about death when they wonder where the fishy went....but I am willing to take that risk. I've wiped too much cat hair off my bed and yelled for george to stop barking too many times. In fact as I'm typing this I'm sittin in the front room and the cat is staring at me while George is in the kitchen sleeping and snoring like a monster. Ah I'm such a scrooge. I'm a cranky old no-pet-patience scrooge. Maybe I'll change my mind tomorrow. For now? Bah Humbug.

p.s. now watch one of them will get hurt or something and I'll bawl my eyes out and feel so bad for being so brutal. It's just my luck, poor pets. Their cursed now because of my bad attitude. We'll save the apologies for tomorrow though, cause I'm just gonna be cranky pants about it tonight, and that is that.

Christmas brings some good memories.

2009-12-23T20:11:00.008-07:00

I was just on my couch before I went to bed last night thinking about past Christmases, and some memories. And then that brought other memories. Just funny family times.
You need to hear about these people. This is my family.

In this picture I'm trying to put my hand on kyle's knee and he won't let me. George and Sabrinna are staring at the same thing over on the left. I think it must have been a cat. My dad was getting something from his pocket. And the grass was wet so I believe we all had wet bums after it, but it's worth it. What a great pic.

Well two Christmases ago this happened:

Jay swore by Columbia brand coats. So him and kyle both put on their coats and sat outside, so see how long they could last the cold. They just sat there, and withstood the cold.

Well to keep themselves entertained they had the rubiks cube of course. That was the rubiks cube Christmas. Jay and kyle got it down to about a minute and a half. Let's see, there have also been Christmases of Ping Pong, Smash Brothers, Monopoly, Parcheesy. We go through phases. We wouldn't play once or twice, but over and over and over again. That's where the Wentz tournaments come in. We'll play a game like five times or more to determine a winner of the designated tournament, not just of a game. That's like the Budweiser Pioneer Day Open, or the Pepsi New Years Classic, or the Christmas Triple Crown (that had parcheesy, smash brothers, and I think ping pong?) was two years ago. Jay won that.

Actually,Jay usually won most of them. He was really good at beating Kyle and I at games. But it was fun to play so it was worth it. Actually, that same Christmas I was playing Connect Four with Jay for like three hours, and whenever one of us was about to go somewhere wrong the other person would say, "if you go there you'll lose". and we'd rethink it and find a better move, until we figured out our strategies so well that after the first three checkers were put in we knew who was going to win. So, we eventually stopped that night cause it became three checkers long per game, instead of until someone has four in a row. Ya know like in tic tac toe, it gets to where you can tell who will win after only three moves have been made? It was like that. Games at the wentz home are intense.

We kinda overdo things sometimes. Like once when Kyle, Jay and I were all sick, we decided the least sick among us should go buy us ice cream and a movie. Kyle was dubbed least ill and returned with bananna coldstone ice cream, and "The Incredibles".

We watched it six or seven times in a row. By the third time Jay would stop and rewind it at parts he liked and would show us how good the animation was and why he liked it. That was the funnest sick day I ever had.

Oh another Wentz Christmas thing? National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. Most of the vocabulary that comes out of our mouths between Thanksgiving and January 1st is from that movie.

Oh and when Steve and I would put up the Christmas lights we made them into a smiley face on the roof.

Peeking at presents? Masters. We were absolute masters. We would know every single present under the tree guaranteed. I don't remember ever not knowing what I was getting for Christmas. Mom would try and double wrap them. Ha, good effort. But we couldn't be stopped. We'd take a little pin and carve on the line of the design on the wrapping paper, lift up the flap, see what it was, and then put invisible tape on the inside and push it closed so you could never tell where the incision was made. We should be surgeons I tell ya.

My mom's fudge is delicious. We would eat so much we'd feel kinda sick, so we'd go lay on the couches or play nintendo to wait until we felt well enough to eat more of it. That's how it goes with candy corn as well. We were sugar addicts growing up. I think some of it is still lingering as well, I totally have a sweet tooth.

Well, this is long, and there are so many more funny things I have been thinking about. These are some of my favorites though. Holidays are just fun with my family. We won't even go into halloween or fourth of july. :) I love them.
It's really nice to have steve and syl and their two kids out for Christmas this year! So there are plenty of memories to make. I can't wait till Kyle gets home though. I miss the old days sometimes. It's different now, but that doesn't mean it can't be as much fun. Two days till Christmas, and lots of memories to be made.

Merry Christmas! Don't forget what it's all about. Best Holiday Ever.

yikes.

2009-12-19T12:11:00.002-07:00

Finals = done. finished. gonzo. end. boom!!!! I did it!! yee haw. That was a tough semester, but I did better than I have in any semester yet. Ah man it feels good to have it totally done. It took so much work though. Dang.

Last night? well, didn't even go to bed. yep. my first all nighter of my life. and the night before I got three hours. yikes.

How did I do it? Prolly cause my friend Jade stayed up with me cause she was workin on the same project. And it could have been the five bowls of apple jacks. I got them for two dollars at macey's. Best purchase I've ever made. My eyes still aren't focusing quite like they should. I need some sleep! But it's done. and that's what matters. and my grammer and punctuation is terrible. yikes. sorry sorta.

oh and I'm banning myself from facebook. no more facebook for a while.

oh and I'm choosing to have a good attitude about things. Like even things that are stinky. Remind me will ya? remind me that I'm gonna choose to be happy. :)

and I get to talk to kyle next week on the phone! woot woot!

and I start the El ed program in january! I'm SO excited for january! A fresh start. A new year, a new apartment, a new ward, new classes and a new program, new goals and fresh motivation, and a new chapter in my life. Every year on my birthday I make a list of goals. Goals for that year of my life. Like right now I just began my 21 year goals. and let me tell ya, 21 is gonna be a good year. I'm so excited to start the program and be so focused on elementary ed. it's gonna be fabulous for me to just jump right into it.

And we're moving back to the elms. That ward is so fabulous. It's so close to campus. So many of my friends are there. There are going to be some awkward cons to moving there-well mostly just one actually- I understand that, and that makes it seem kinda stupid to move back, but for some reason I feel like I need to be there. I feel sooo good about moving back. That is definitely what needs to happen for me, I guess I'll figure out why later. But even with some rather not so fun situations that might be there, it will be worth it for me I know it. I don't know why I just feel so good about it. yay for moving. That's gonna be fun.

Ok, this is random blubber. Mostly it's just fun for me to write out what I'm thinkin. Ha, who even reads this anyway? I think Sis Wilde, Emilie, and Syl. So hello to you. :) Ha I know berkeley doesn't cause it doesn't have any pictures. :) Sorry I write gibberish. but hey it's my blog, that's what it's for.

Merry Christmas everyone! Happy no more school for two weeks!!

This is style my friends.

2009-12-12T12:52:00.003-07:00

I REALLY want to purchase this hat. Wow. Have you seen a better lookin hat? No, you have not because this tops them all. Hopefully soon you will see one on my head, I just need to find somewhere that has them first....

Advice to myself again. Pardon the deep and cheesy.

2009-12-04T13:50:00.004-07:00

I know that finals are coming, and I have plenty to study. I know. I will get to it. But right now I can’t push aside some reflecting and thinking that is happening. Can I share a few thoughts? Of course I can. Well actually this is REALLY long, so it's a lot of thoughts, but it’s my blog. And I’m 21 now, so that means I can do what I want. :)

I have been thinking about goals. Improvement. Motivation. Bettering myself. Healing. Momentum. Change. Choice. Faith. His plan. Purpose. Destiny. The Atonement. Determination. A lot of self introspection happening as you can see.

I love those words. All of them. Something about goals and improvement just sparks something inside of me and I love it. What a great feeling it is to know that you can improve. You can change and progress. You literally can be whoever you want to be. And it’s all because of the Atonement. I am so thankful for the Atonement. Because we can repent, we can improve. Because of the Atonement and the fact that we have been redeemed from death there is a reason to want to be better because your soul is eternal. You will be you forever-a fact that comes with an underlying fire to want to become the best you you could possibly be. Because of the Atonement we have hope. We can overcome, heal, trust, and live because of that gift. I am so thankful for it. Holy cow I am thankful for it more than words can say. Maybe you know the feeling, so my words don’t have to say it. You can just feel it yourself drawing from your experience in life.

I want to be better. I want to be a better Kellie Wentz. A better student, sister, daughter, friend, and Latter Day Saint. What makes us better than looking at the experiences we have had and learning from them? Sometimes life is so hard. Wow. I wonder how we can feel the way that we do. It seems almost unbearable in those moments when you feel your heart literally aching for solace. Why do we have to feel that? My opinion? That’s life. Not in the cruel way like, “oh, suck it up, that’s life”. But as in, those little moments of heartache accompany those little moments of bliss, boredom, mediocrity, excellence, sadness, surety and laughter and make up life! Life IS little moments. You have to learn to love the cruddy along with the magnificent. I’m always looking and the future thinking , “when THAT happens, I’ll be living life!” No sir. I’m living it right now. Life is a like this big cookie that is made up of all those different ingredients into something delicious. Yes, salt by itself tastes super crappy, but its cause you aren’t supposed to eat it by itself. You add sugar and flour and chocolate chips to it and it’s fantastic. Those heart wrenching moments are like the salt in life. Yes, it’s terrible right in the moment by itself, but don’t let it be by itself for long. Notice the sugar and flour in other parts of your life in those times when salt is staring you in the face and you’ll be able to see the cookie. Does that make any sense? Life is delicious. I’m so serious. Life is incredible.

I like this quote by President Monson. “Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend . . . when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present—love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us [happiness]—the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth.”

You will ALWAYS have things you wish were better or more a part of your life. Why focus on what you don’t have? It makes you miserable. Like he says, you can experience heaven when you realize all you do have. Sometimes “life salt” blinds you from that for a little bit, so during those hard times you have to take the stinking biggest blind step of faith ever and trust that heaven is there, you’re just not lookin at it.

President Monson also said this, “If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly.”

Mom’s hate that laundry and messes and all of that. But what He says is so true. You will miss it one day. Maybe that cruddy score on your bio test is like dirty fingerprints on the wall and you hate it now, but it’s life. Its one of those salt moments that’s going to flavor your life down the road. I swear I would be happier if I would just find a way to be grateful for it now. I swear that’s why old people are so happy sometimes-cause they have realized all of this stuff about loving life that’s gonna take me years to really appreciate.

I love elder Hollands talk “Remembering Lot’s wife”. Oh MAN, that is the talk for my life. I can’t even write any highlights from it cause the whole thing is a highlight. Please read it. I want to focus on moving forward, while using the experience I have acquired, without looking back and wanting to be there. The best is yet to be. I believe that. That’s what I’m talking about when I talk about living life in the moments that make it up. If you are doing everything you possibly can right in your life, Heavenly Father will take care of you. No matter what. That takes faith, but it is so worth it.

President Hinckley said, “Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.”

Alright, half hour later, here is my point. Yes. Sometimes life is hard. Very very very hard. But sometimes life is very very very good! When life is hard you remember that hard and difficult is necessary, and it is just one ingredient that adds to your delicious life. I am thankful for hard things. I really am. Heavenly Father knows how to make me grow. He knows how to make me happy. I gotta trust that, even when I am blinded by hard things, and remember that life is sweet. Every moment. I love every moment that I’ve been given here. Someday I will even love those moments that tasted bitter. I’m trying to make my life the best stinkin cookie you’ve heard of, and for it to taste just right, I’m gonna need that salt. :)

Ophelia Syndrome.

2009-12-01T19:09:00.004-07:00

This is how I feel right now.

I'm tired of making choices. Like you know those times you have to make lots of choices, and they are all difficult, and you feel like no matter what choice you make something is going to stink. I hate those choices. Who wants to make them for me?
I could pay you as an employee. Think of it as a part time job. Applications open immediately. I need a"personal decision maker". STAT! Except you don't get holidays off. In fact you will probably have to work extra on holidays. I'll make it up to you by offering a cookie bonus. Like, I'll make you cookies. You don't want to miss this opportunity.

thank you.
sincerely, management.
just kidding.
sincerely, kellie.

Parental Idiosyncrasies...

2009-11-25T14:23:00.004-07:00

This is my family. I love them. They are great. One of my favorite things about these people?...I have really funny parents. If you know me, you probably know Stuart and Michelle, and that right there is nuff said. If you don't know them, well, they are hilarious. Since it's thanksgiving I wanted to highlight some of the reasons I am thankful for them, and love them. Mostly I was thinking of a lot of funny things they say or do. It makes me want to just go hug them right now. Maybe you can get a laugh from them too.

Once when I woke up before school in junior high, I walked down the hall and saw my mom on the couch eating hot fudge with a spoon straight out of the jar. I asked her why she was eating it by itself (meaning that it probably wasn't good for breakfast) to which she responded matter of factly, "well it's too early for ice cream."
Once at a ward function, there was smoke in the kitchen from something burning. My dad went in there to help them clean it up. He brought the vacuum with him and started to vacuum up the smoke. It didn't really work. ha I love my dad.
Most parents discourage the use of BB guns or explosives. When we got a BB gun for Christmas a few years ago my mom also bought us a box of those glass ball Christmas ornaments and a bag of little plastic animals to shoot. And we all had a great time setting them up in the back yard and destroying them.
Kyle would always tell my dad totally bogus facts about things, just cause my dad is really gullible. I think our whole family is pretty gullible actually. but it was hilarious when kyle and I would keep it going, and when he was falling for it, our dad would get this high pitched voice that would say, "oh come on now, you are pulling my leg!" or a low pitched drawn out, "Naaaaahhhhhhh. now kyle. I dont' know about that" if he was doubting.
Once at the carwash my mom and I spent about twenty minutes making fun of a woman who was taking boxes of blueberries out of her car. We aren't exactly the healthiest family, we enjoy mostly refined white flour and snack food, so blueberries were just hilarious to us. What on earth would you do with a box of blueberries? Well, we came up with some funny ideas. For days after that I would get texts or voicemails from my mom about blueberries.
Once when me and a bunch of friends were downstairs watching a movie, my mom came in the room carrying the BB gun and said, "Bell, you gotta come try this, this is really fun!". So I followed her upstairs, and she showed me how she had been shooting the snails crawling up our house with the BB gun. I think Emilie said something like wow, our parents think completely opposite of each other. :)
it's funny when my dad cries during touching movies. usually it's in remember the titans or another touching sports or Christmas movie.
Phrases my parents use:
You little turkey lip! -dad
this is a good quality item -dad
you little lazy bum -mom
men don't look under things -mom
men follow you around messing up what you just cleaned -mom
men don't think that far in advance -mom
stuart, I just said that -mom
you need to be a little more pleasant kellie -dad
hey belltone (one of mom's nicknames for me)! -mom, followed by, Michelle! she is not a hearing aid! -dad
mom's nicknames for me and kyle: kell, kell bell, beltone, beltini, bellisima, bell bottom, kelty, bells, ky, kyty, killer ky, tiny mite. This woman is creative I tell you. and I love it.

Well, that's all that's really all I have thought of for now. They are so funny. I love my parents. I'm glad they both have such good sense's of humor, and love me. They are great.

today's fact for good health...

2009-11-20T22:30:00.007-07:00

The title of this blog is a reminder necessary for keeping good health, is it not? In keeping with the spirit of that, I would like tell you another fact for a healthy life.

This is a Daphnia, aka waterflea. They are really tiny little buggers, this pic is under the scope.

Disgusting? Yes. I am fully aware. I have had to stare at them for a long time today.

I have learned about him and grown to love him as a close friend the past little while as I have studied about him in my biology lab-despite his see-through grossyness. My group (which is me and two other girls)was assigned to do an experiment with Daphnia (multiple daphnia, in fact our teacher has a whole fishbowl full of 'em). We chose to see what substances would affect their heartrate, since you can see their heartbeats really well under a microscope.

In water his heartbeat is about 200. In apple juice it's about 50. And here's where we get to the health part.

this is a popular energy beverage of today's society.

Tasting of lime sherbet and smarties, it is packed with b vitamins, guarine, taurine, and caffeine.

We chose a little daphnia that was swimming around like a champ, put him on the slide and put TWO DROPS of rockstar on him. Boom. Dead. Heart stopped. kicked the bucket. gonzo. done. Poor little fella. It was fatal.

But maybe he was just wimpy, so we got another little guy and put him on the slide.

He swam around for like two seconds aaaaaand... croak. on to the next life. Do you think there are Daphnia in the spirit world? If there are, welp, then they had a flood of em coming home today, cause they just couldn't handle the process. Sorry sorta...
It was cardiac arrest I'm pretty sure. yikes.

OK, MORAL: aka, health fact.

don't drink Rockstar. Its a killer. Imagine what it does to your poor innards. don't do it.

Lifting Burdens-The Atonement

2009-11-12T00:35:00.003-07:00

How lucky are we to know all of these things? That we have Prophets and Apostles of God to give us such an obvious formula for happiness? We are SO lucky.
Most of the world doesn't have it, I bet half have no idea it's even possible to have such a blessing. I love this Church. I am lucky and I know it. :)

I love the fall!!

2009-09-23T00:21:00.008-06:00

(secret: I didn't actually take this picture. but it's gorgeous)

Fall is AWESOME!
By far my favorite time of year. Which sounds weird cause in reality its the time of year when everything is dying. It's getting colder, and the leaves are falling off, and plants are starting to reach their end, but it's BEAUTIFUL!!
I can't think of a whole lot I love more than seeing pretty fall leaves on the mountains and going up the canyon this time of year.
Do you know one of my favorite things ever? Possibly more than fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, or getting to sleep in- Driving up the canyon during a break between sessions of fall general conference. I already love conference so much, and I love the canyon, and it usually seems to be incredible weather during conference. I hope I get a chance to go next weekend cause conference is right around the corner.
Welp, I struck some good luck because last weekend me, Steve, Scott, and Cait went up to hike Stewart Falls, and I felt like a three year old on Christmas with all the beautiful scenery up there. We ended up not being able to find the trail, so we just walked around by aspen grove and took some sweet pictures. here's a taste test of our fun:

This is Steve. Me. Crunch-a-bunch. and Scooter.

Ha. Great picture.

We tried to be funny. Do you think we are obnoxious BYU students? I feel like this post and these pictures give off that vibe...don't believe it. We all get on photo shoot sprees every now and then.

One of my favorite parts was trying take pictures while we all threw leaves in the air. Here is the succession of how well that worked...

Try one.

Try Two.
Try Three.
Try Four.
HA. I sure got him. I hope that you will go outside right this second, scoop up a big pile of leaves (there aren't actually a whole lot on the ground yet in the valley, mostly just in the mountains), throw them in the air and dance around like you love this beautiful season. I sure do.

Advice to Myself

2009-08-22T13:44:00.004-06:00

I was reading through my old journal today, and besides noticing how dramatic I was and how much I liked boys, I was really impressed with some of the things I wrote. It is from April of my junior year, to last Christmas. So basically it covers the last year of high school on. Yes, I have funny stories and memories and such, but there was lots of like "advice" I gave myself, goals, thoughts that would come to mind about how to be better, or quotes I had come across and liked. It was good for me to read and remind myself of who I want to be, and what I have to do to get there. So, here is some advice, from me...to me. But I suppose you could take it too if you'd like. :)

Be too happy to permit troubles, and too noble for anger. Have a sense of humor. Live the gospel and all else will fall into place. Faith includes believing in his timing. Be IN the gospel- live in it, work in it, play in it, grow in it. Don't sweat the small stuff, and most of it is small stuff. Be confident about being solo, you don't have to follow others trends-confidence is everything. As long as I know I'm doing what's right I can be confident. Bring out the best in others-we all make mistakes, so who am I to judge? Be a builder and a light. You have no right to ever tear anyone else down. EVER. You cannot take another persons agency, or you are trying to fulfill Heavenly Father's plans satan's way. Let your passions shape you into the unique person you will be. Our motives need to be in the right place when we do good things, pay attention to your intentions. Let yourself be polished by the waves that will come crashing down-not if they come, but when. What is stopping you from being the YOU you want to be? Don't worry about tomorrow, live in today. Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday, so make it good. Don't let the world squash your enthusiam. You squish their bleakness with your spunk. Sometimes, its ok to quit, and sometimes, it's just not. Keep going with faith.
My personal favorite:
Maybe the things I worry about and fear aren't worth fretting over. Don't you think that if you are doing everything you are supposed to be doing that He is in control and He will take care of it? take care of you? In His own timing perhaps, but nonetheless things would be OK? Yes. I do believe He would.

Um, alright I have been rebuked. By myself. I think it's time for me to take my own advice and become better! I totally know what I need to do, sometimes I just forget, or get distracted by the things the world tells you will make you successful. I guess my idea of successful is different than theirs. But I like mine better. :)

work today. what a day.

2009-08-17T17:48:00.005-06:00

Hey so this is kelly thomson. I work with him. he is boy kelly and I am girl kellie. and it's convenient that we spell it differently. Oh and we have another kellie. This is kellie cash.She is also girl kellie. So things get a little crazy sometimes as far as identification is concerned. Usually in the office when someon says "kelly/ie" we all just assume they are talking about boy kelly. He just seems to be more popular to talk to than us. Or sometimes people will say kelldawgalicious. He goes by that too. Anyway. Kelly has a blog, and on his blog he wrote a post about things he hates that people say. I totally agreed with them too. And then we started talking about it in the office, and brittany said I say "um" alot. So now I'm self conscious about saying "um". If you hear me say it, hit me. I want to stop it. Well so Kelly asked if I had updated by blog lately, and I said no. So he told me I should. and I said what should I write about? and he said I should write about things I hate, just like he did. I feel bad writing a hater blog post, but there is one thing I hate that I thought of. So this ones for you boy kelly.

I hate kobe bryant. a lot. I'm not even gonna put his picture up just so no one sees it and gets the wrong idea that I like him.

Thanks kelly. I feel better now. hope you enjoy this post. in fact. you should write a comment about it! :) I love comments.

Favorites.

2009-08-11T08:50:00.003-06:00

Sometimes, I have some things that are my favorites. I'm at work right now staring out the fabulous new windows that we recently acquired, and thought about writing these favorites down. They are in no particular order, just a whole conglomeration of great things. In fact, Kelsey Celeste Jones, I might even make a toast to these things...:)

Stars
Sunsets
Daisies
Mountains
Cute rocks, not the ugly ones, but you know what I mean, you've seen em, the ones that make you say "oh how cute!"
Freshly painted fingernails
New socks, especially when you wear them on a hardwood floor
A perfectly placed witty comment. Not sarcasm as much, but irony- it's so much funnier.
When the underdog team makes a victorious win. For example, Boise vs. Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl.
Right after you shower after playing hard outside all day, and your skin feels hot cause you got sunburned. Does that make sense? I love that.
When a long standing prayer is answered in a way you didn't expect. It just shows the Lord has such a hand in your life.
Finishing something you have worked really hard on. Especially something that you were that close to giving up on, but you persevered.
Opening a brand new jar of peanut butter or sour cream and it's perfectly smooth on top, and then sticking a spoon in it and squishing it. That's fun.
The sound of a tennis ball hitting a racket.
A good nap
When people play with your hair
Freckles
Doing better on a test that you expected.
When snow is falling outside and it's silent and white and peaceful.
A good water fight
Working with Kelly Thomson. Sorry everyone else, he is just really fun to work with. Who else will make up fake vacations to the Himalayas with me in between calls?
Wrestling with someone and laughing the whole time
Finding a unique connection with someone, either something you both really love, or something you both can't stand.
People.
The school supplies aisle, especially when it's the mid-July. It makes you get excited for school again!
When something tricky works out in a way you didn't expect.
A random text that makes your day.
Running into old friends
Fresh paint
A fresh start
Emilie Laura Jackie Lucille Wright
When you are running you and you just feel awesome, like you could go forever.
Warm homemade bread
Other people's birthdays
Kids
Using a brand new pen
Finding a scripture that is just perfect for you right at that moment
Those moments when you actually realize, like it just clicks in your head and your heart, how much Heavenly Father cares for you, and how much He is aware of you, and your life.

There is so much more, but that is what's coming to my mind right now. Gah, I love life. And every single thing in it.

lately.

2009-07-21T07:50:00.003-06:00

welp, it's sure been a while. How about I post a little somethin somethin on this here bloggy. Ok, what have I been up to lately...

EFY. Oh my lands how incredible was that!? Answer: SO incredible! It was so hard at first, and really I had a rough time getting used to it, but by the end I could honestly say I love EFY. It was an awesome life learning experience I will cherish for the rest of my life. I loved the things that I learned there as well as the fun I had. The last week I did I almost peed my pants like three times I was laughing so hard. Thank you Sheridan Rockhill. :)
I miss tennis! I have been at EFY for so long I haven't gotten to play tennis in a while! I think my skills are atrophying since I haven't been using them.
Heather's bridal shower is coming up and I'm going to get to make some cool culinary creations. I love any chance I have to experiment making really pretty stuff. I'm gonna try out some sugar art and tuilles this time, so we'll see what happens.
My eye has been twitching lately...it's really wierd. It's prolly from lack of sleep. Ok maybe I have been staying up a little too late with certain distracting individuals...I'll work on that, but I can't promise any changes. I'm just gonna have to deal with twitching.
I'm flying out to Colorado to go visit steve and syl next week! That's going to be a great time. I miss Sabrinna and Tanner, that's for sure.
I really love Canada. Sometimes I don't really know why, I just do. I want to go to Canada someday. That would be fab if I got my mission call there. I had a dream a while ago that I got my call to Canada, but then again I had a dream that I got my call to Sydney, Austrailia too. And Tokyo. and California. I have a lot of mission call dreams.
I love American Fork, Utah. I know I am probably a little too in love with it. So I apologize to all of you who have have gotten "the tour" from me lately. I just stinkin love that place and want to share the joy that it is with everybody. That's all.
I have recently decided where my heart lies, and what things are my true loves. A. Brad Paisley B. American Fork C. Canteloupe. D. My cowboy boots E. Canada. There you have it folks. Kellie Wentz in a nutshell.

Thanks for being part of this update today. I hope you have enjoyed your readings. Have a fantastic Tuesday.

Fourth of July has Arrived

2009-07-02T14:40:00.005-06:00

Well my friends, my favorite holiday is coming up in two days, and I'm pumped. I love the warm weather, the BBQ's, Lagoon with my family, the food, the patriotism, the colors, and last but not least the Fireworks.
One of my favorite things ever is fireworks. I think part of it could be because I grew up with all boys who started buying fireworks at like age 9. I think I lit my first firework when I was probably 6. I got excited too for when my friends turned twelve and their parents would let them light them with me. I think part of it may just be genetic. I am drawn to fire, I just love it. I have had at least half my life to experiment with tampering with fireworks and making them do different things. I'm a big fan of the smaller ones that you can mess with, vs. the big fountains that you just light and watch.
Last year we went to wyoming and picked up some fireworks and it was the most fun I had had in a long time. I still have some of them, but my supply is getting low. I have a whole stash in a blue tote thingy under my bed. I also have a lighter collection to accompany them. I know this is wierd, but I blame it on how I grew up. Some families just didn't get into this sort of thing much, but I'm lucky mine did, and still does.
Since I live in provo now, however, people are much more uptight than in my hometown. In my neighborhood we will light five whistlers at once to summon all the neighbor kids that want to watch, and we all just had a great time.
Everyone here gets all antsy pants on you about how loud they are, or that we're going to catch something on fire. Seriously, it's fine. Everyone chill out and enjoy the show. They are a fun part of the summer, and we're not stupid with them-we are as safe as possible. I have never gotten injured yet besides a thumb burn from a lighter or something. I wish people appreciated them like I do.
Well ok, that's my soapbox. When you hear bangs and sparks going on in your neighborhood just smile, and know that someone is having a lot of fun right now. :) Thank you.

I love this Man.

2009-07-01T11:49:00.006-06:00

This is Brad. Brad Paisley. He is fantastic. A few years ago Nicole Redford gave my brother a Brad Paisley CD, and at the time I had just barely been converted to country (thank you Brother Kunz), and so I was curious, and listened to his CD. It was "Mud on the Tires", and I fell in love with this man's music. He's more of a comedian a lot of times, and I love that his lyrics actually say something about him, or tell stories, or make you laugh. Last year Steve and I went to his concert when he came to Salt Lake. It was incredible, and I am a fan for life. When his new album "American Saturday Night" came out a month and a half ago, I found a killer deal on it, and purchased it as my own. I love it, I have listened to every song and almost have it memorized. It's battling with my cowboy boots as my most prized posesion. Anyway, just wanted to share my love for Brad Paisley, and this new album. I love country music. :)

Sneezing.

2009-06-17T18:14:00.002-06:00

I sneeze a lot. I have seasonal hayfever like the nerds they make fun of in movies. Excuuuse me that my genetics aren't savvy with foreign particles in my face. Usually I sneeze five times in a row. That is the standard for my nose at least, but during hayfever season it gets a little more unpredictable. Since I do have this problem I have used the past few minutes to do a little research about this subject. I'm not in school right now so I think I'm just craving a little bit a research...crazy I know. But I love school. I'm going to be a teacher remember? Well, here are some things I would like you to know...

sneezing does not really kill brain cells, that is a myth. Or my brain would be scraping the bottom of the well right now to collect whatever cells I had left.
fact: a sneeze is expelled from your face at 95 miles an hour. And that is why you don't suppress it or the pressure might scramble your brains into mush. Ok actually that's a myth. about the mush. really it turns your brains into oatmeal. literally.
fact: people said "God bless you" when people sneezed cause they thought they were loosing their soul, or during the plague the person needed blessings cause they were ill. and it's just a polite thing to do nowadays. I get lots of blessings from people when I sneeze in fives.
you can't sneeze while you are sleeping. but you might wake up to sneeze. then cozy on back to sleep without realizing it.
sneezing doesn't stop your heart, if you think it does you are the prey of a common myth. It might change the rythm of your heart beat or blood flow however. crazy.
fact: you can't sneeze with your eyes open.
fact: I must be desperate for something cool to write about if I have lowered my self to list facts and myths of sneezing. brother.

Welp, there you have it. You are now a pro about sneezing. And anyone who reads this will probably notice the next time someone around you sneezes. Isn't that a funny word? sneeze. sneeze sneeze sneeze. Sneeeeeze. just like the word percolator. percolator percolator percolator.

Whatever happens, happens!

2009-05-30T12:04:00.004-06:00

Well, my dearest vehicle tommy the toyota tercel has recently kicked the bucket. A tribute post to him will be coming soon, but this is one just about how I have struggled without him. I wanted to go to the Provo temple this past thursday, but since I do not have a vehicle to get me there, I took my trusty bicycle. I wore jeans while riding there (you can't ride a bike with a skirt very well...) , thinking that there was a bathroom somewhere at that park just south of the temple where I could change into a skirt when I got there.
I got to the MTC, and decided to find a bike rack, and then walk up to where a bathroom was. Welp, the nearest bike rack was at wymount (BYU married housing), and my large orange bicycle stuck out like a monster sitting in the rack surrounded my tiny little tricycles from all the kids at wymount. It was really funny. So, when I got to the park, I circled several buildings looking for a door to a bathroom, but woe is me, there were none. Crud. What was I supposed to do? I couldn't wear jeans into the temple, I had my skirt with me right there in my purse, it was just a matter of finding somewhere to put it on. I thought for a second of just standing in between two cars and doing a quick jean/skirt swap, but I would feel awful if any of these temple going people had their spiritual experiences ruined by catching a glance of some crazy stripping in the parking lot.
I was stumped. I thought about maybe just going back home, but the thought crossed my mind, "I even shaved for this!" I had brought a knee lenght skirt, so I even went the extra mile and shaved before I left. I hate shaving. There was no way that was going to be for nothing. It furthered my determintation. There was no way I was going back home until I had attended the temple. There had to be another way...So I sat on the green electric box pretending to text (there was a couple watching me circle around the park probably thinking I was some terrorist) so as to dispel suspicions of my odd behavior while I thought of a solution. All of a sudden to my eyes appeared this lovely large pine tree just a few feet from me. It looked like this...
I remember learning once that if you crawl underneath the bottom branches there is open space near the trunk. Enough space perhaps to change your pants. I jumped off the green box and crawled on under the bottom branches, and behold! there was space! And no one could see me! I changed into my skirt and then climbed right back out. As I stood back up and started to proceed to the temple now, that I was dressed appropriately, I noticed that same couple sitting with their child a ways away on the grass laughing at me. They saw me go in AND come out. How embarrassing, but I was so proud of myself for thinkin of it. :)
I finally got to go to the temple, and I'll tell ya what, it was better experience because I kinda had to work for it! Ha, I think I appreciated being there more because It was so much trickier getting there than normal! Luckily I found some lovely friends inside who let me change in their car afterwards. It was a great evening at the Provo Temple. Ha, what a funny day. :)

Some Sweet Pics

2009-05-24T22:25:00.005-06:00

As I was looking through some pictures the other day I came across some that Jay had taken that I really liked. He had a way of capturing everyday items into awesome works of art. I thought they were awesome, so I wanted to share them with you! I think my favorite is the egg one.

A hikin' we did go!

2009-05-17T00:34:00.001-06:00

Today Me and the Hansen/Wentz clan went on up to Sliding Rock in Alpine. There were some crazy boys sliding down it when we got there, but we opted out of that and just played in the little stream down a ways from the main slide. It was a beautiful day and it was fun to hang out together before steve, syl, sabrinna, and tanner move.