ThePianoGuys

Thursday I ditched work 20 minutes early and headed to the other side of campus for an amazing concert by ThePianoGuys! aka Jon Schmidt (piano) and Steven Sharp Nelson (cello).  They were AMAZING.  One of the best concerts I've been to in the three years I've been here.

In case you haven't heard/ seen what these guys do, here are a few favorites from youtube... (okay, I started just putting up every one they have because I've decided I just love them all!  So watch these and then go watch the rest!!)

What Makes You Beautiful 

 The Cello Song

 Rolling in the Deep

 Peponi (An Africa spin on the Coldplay tune Paradise)

 Charlie Brown Medley

Love Story Meets Viva la Vida

A Feast for Fatties

Sunday dinners are the best.  Seriously.  After an entire week of eating sandwiches and cheese and crackers for meals, it's nice to have real food.  The meal tonight was provided by the roommates who left for the summer and subsequently left food in the refrigerator or freezer.  We basically just fried everything we could get our hands on.  I've never tried deep-frying different foods, so it was quite the experience.  We did chicken, carrots, cheese sticks, and Reese's and cookie dough wrapped in biscuits.  It was a fatty feast.  The boys did crockpot some chicken as well that was perfect with rice.  The combination of everything made for an excellent Sunday dinner!

Mmmmmmmmm!

The Reeses-biscuit combo.

Last of the Ice Cream Days

On Wednesday we went to Snoasis.  It's one of Brittany's favorites and I'd never been there...plus I had buy one get one free!  I got orange creamsicle and Brittany got half tigers blood, half lime.  Fun fact: I only like orange flavored things when it's mixed with cream and Brittany only likes plain orange flavor, like a popsicle.  I can't stand plain orange flavored things!  Anyways, even though this was shaved ice and not ice cream, it counts because we had cream added to ours.  Ice with cream= ice cream.  It works.

We missed ice cream on Thursday :(

Friday we went to Nielsen's Frozen Custard with Cindy and Wendy for a last roommate hurrah.

And as Friday night was graduation, this tops off our ice cream challenge!  We did it!  And we only missed two days in two weeks...that's pretty impressive.

Sunday Sunshine and Smiles

Brittany is graduating.  Cindy is going home.  Abigail is sad :(

So we went and took some pictures to celebrate our friendship!  Actually, we went to get some pictures of Brittany for her graduation announcements, and then decided it would be a good idea to have some pictures together.  Here are a few of my favorites :)

My paparazzi picture of Wendy (Cindy's twin sister) and her husband Matt.

The picture Brittany decided to use for her graduation announcements.

I also took a picture by this lovely little statue because I have pictures from my very first semester next to this same Greek-ish bust.  Enjoy!

Spring 2012

Fall 2009

Fall 2009

Ice Cream Challenge: Day 9

Today we went with our old roommate, Hillary, to Kiwi Loco.  They had a deal where you could fill a cup as high as you want, with as many toppings as you want, for only $2!  All of us had pretty fancy looking cups...and then we forgot to take a picture until we were finished.....oops.

Those shadows on my face are not doing me any favors....

Hillary is happy because she still has ice cream in her cup!

Ice Cream Challenge: Day 7 and 8

Yesterday was Sunday so we obviously couldn't go buy ice cream anywhere.  Thankfully we were invited to a friend's house for some!  Moosetracks :)  I think the pictures of me are hideous from this outing and so they are not being posted.

Today (day 8) we couldn't go out until really late...so we had a choice of Wendy's or McDonalds (the only two places open after 10:00).  Since I don't eat McDonalds, Wendy's was the obvious choice.  We both got junior chocolate Frosty's.

 And then I decided it would be attractive to give ourselves milkshake mustaches.....this picture proves how much Brittany loves me :)

Busy Tonight!: A New Philosophy on Dating

People are often surprised by the fact that I don't go on many dates.  Don't get me started on why, I have no idea.  Ask the boys, not me.  This is not a post to complain about a lack of dates.  This is a post about my new philosophy of dating.  My new and improved dating rules.  I haven't really had dating rules before, so anything I do must be improved!  Now, here's where my new rule stems from.  A devotional given by Sister Elaine S. Dalton, October 11, 2011 at BYU-Idaho.  I was in attendance at this devotional.  It's entitled Dare Great Things.  It's interesting because at the time, I was still deciding whether or not to go to Peru.  She talked a lot about stepping out of our comfort zones and all I could think of was Peru.  Dating was not on my mind.  Then, a few weeks ago, I remembered this devotional and what Sister Dalton counseled on dating.  I'm going to now share part of her address with you, my faithful blog readers.

"Now for my discovery about dating—nothing has changed really. And it’s precisely because you haven’t changed. You see the principle is that the structure is perfectly designed to get the results it gets. Let me illustrate this principle. Take this potato peeler—which you have to be familiar with here in Rexburg! See how it works. It is perfectly designed to get these results! Even this little point is designed perfectly to remove the eyes of the potatoes and look at these results. So in order to get results or dates here on this campus or any campus or anywhere there are young single adults, you have to redesign the structure for the intended results. And of course that means you must determine, and I mean seriously determine just what results you really want—really! So instead of talking to you about marriage and family, I am going to start on a more elementary level. Let’s just focus on getting dates. Dates for the purpose, of course, of finding an eternal companion, but let’s do first things first! Because you certainly can’t marry, and become parents of a beautiful family, unless you actually go on a date (probably a lot of dates). So let’s start there. I am going to suggest a structure change.
 
Young women—stop hanging out. Stop competing with each other in a group for the attention of the available men in the room. Make yourself scarce. The boys won’t notice for a while and they’ll keep hanging out and then all of a sudden they’ll say—“Hey where are the girls?” Then they will huddle and brainstorm about whom to text to come and join them. When the text comes, don’t go join them—just text back: “Busy tonight.”

Then wait till they call you and personally ask you to go on a date with them. Not to hang out or congregate with a lot of others, just the two of you and perhaps one other couple—on a date. According to Elder Dallin H. Oaks, this is what this means, “Hanging out consists of numbers of young men and young women joining together in some group activity. It is very different from dating…Dating is pairing off to experience the kind of one-on-one association and temporary commitment that can lead to marriage in some rare and treasured cases.”


So what's my new rule?  No more Friday night hanging out.  I'm either on a date, or curled up at home by myself doing homework.  What constitutes hanging out versus a date?  Well I want at least 24 hours notice.  I might bend slightly up to 12 hours, but preferably 24.  If someone wants to take me out, then they can plan something in advance.  I deserve at least that much, don't I?  I'm not going to be the last minute call because some boy is bored at 9:00 at night and decides then that he should be doing something more than sitting at home on a Friday night.  Now, this applies for Friday nights only...and maybe Saturday depending on the circumstance.  I'm perfectly fine with someone wanting to do something spontaneous on a weekday.  Honestly, I have a harder time planning those because you never know how homework is going to go.  So a random ice cream trip, walk around town, or movie is perfectly acceptable...just not on Friday night :) 

Call me crazy.  I certainly think I am.  If I thought I didn't get dates before, I'm definitely not expecting many now.  And trust me, it's going to be hard to decline something fun on Friday night just because I was invited later than I've set as an acceptable time.  BUT, with time, maybe something will pay off.  And if not, I'll find someone somewhere else...and my homework will get done early :)

(If interested, you can read her full address here.)

The White Elephant Bowler

I received this email from work a few days ago:

"Mandatory After Work Bowling Extravaganza

Hey Guys,

Because you work for the best office on campus you’re invited to a bowling party this Friday, July 13^th from 5:30 to 6:30 PM at the bowling alley in the MC.  We’ll have bowling, fun, white elephant gifts, and Jason Meldrum promised to perform a musical number for us as well.  I think he said it was Party Rock Anthem or Call Me Maybe or something like that.

Spouses are invited, so bring them along.  (Unfortunately, Hilary you can’t bring your missionary).

Please RSVP to Jordan, Jeana, or Jason before Friday.

For the white elephant gifts, we need everyone to bring one so that we can exchange gifts. Jason wanted to clarify the definition of a white elephant gift.  Here are some examples to help you:

Jason Meldrum Action Figure

Basic rules of thumb:  Don’t spend more than one or two dollars at the most and ask yourself ‘Would any normal human-being want this as a legitimate gift?’  If the answer is ‘no’, then get it.

Thanks"

***

Do you now have a better understanding of the atmosphere in the office?  We really aren't a bunch of stiff, boring office people.  We're hilarious.  PS- Jason Meldrum is the counselor over all the students...aka Boss.

Well the party was a success!  I bowled a 104 WITHOUT bumpers.  Pretty impressive for me.  I had 4 spares in a row :)

Here's some pictures of the fun and of the white elephant gifts given....

Hillary, Kevin, Christina, Kaylani, Heidi

Loren, Jill (Loren's wife), Mari Ann (full-time counselor)

Bowling in a skirt...that's how I roll.

Award for top score (some random award Jason found who-knows-where)

My Little Pony??

Really creepy picture of a cat/dog/person/thing

"Doesn't anybody want to take my picture?"

Anti Monkey Butt

Indian doll?

Fake nails...good thing a girl got those

Workout videos

Of course the child picks the noise makers...his parents loved that.

Giant flyswatter

An award for putting up with Loren at work.  Kind of funny that Jason randomly got this one.

 I should also mention that I got an email on Friday detailing an office arm wrestling competition that had taken place that morning.  Apparently I made it to the semi-finals!!  Woot woot!

Ice Cream Challenge: Day 4-6

You know, I never thought I'd get sort of tired of eating ice cream...but it's tiring to eat it all the time!!  Especially when you have to find a new place to go every day for it.

Day 4 (Thursday): Otter Pops at Brittany's accounting society dinner.  Free food!  Not quite ice cream, but it was a busy day for both of us so we decided they counted. 

Day 5 (Friday): Nothing :(  No ice cream yesterday.  Again we were both busy and weren't going to be able to go until after 10:00 when she got back from her rehearsal.  Me, being me, went to bed at 10:00.

Day 6 (Today!): BRC's Frozen Custard.  Buy one get one free.  Score!  Brittany got a cup of mint chocolate chip and I went for Fudge Cookie (chocolate ice cream with crushed up fudge stripe cookies and fudge swirl).  Yummy :)

Ice Cream Challenge: Day 3

Day three we had to plan ahead a little.  Brittany's parents are coming into town this afternoon and conveniently my last class was cancelled, so we did a lunch date!  Brittany's never had Millhollow frozen yogurt so off we went.  I had a coupon for BOGO sandwiches and frozen yogurt so we got 2 sandwiches (Brittany- cold turkey; Abigail- hot BBQ pulled pork), 2 drinks (1/2 7up and 1/2 pink lemonade) and 2 yogurts (vanilla) for 12 buckaroos.  Happy day :)

I need a new face...this one kind of scares me.

PS- Notice the Peru shirt?  I've been home for THREE MONTHS now.  That means I've been home just as long as I was there.  I can't even describe how weird that feels.  Also, the man in the suit behind me is my stake president and one of Brittany's accounting professors.  Small, Rexburg world.