B+

Late Night

2012-02-03T00:29:00.003-07:00

So tonight just might be my first (and only) college all-nighter. I just have so much due tomorrow and a ton of reading to get done over the weekend in preparation for midterms. yes, midterms already.

Where has the semester gone?

On the bright side, only 33 hours until Angela and I find out about Regency Apartments!
And only 2.5 more months until I get to cook my own food and move into my own apartment and I get to leave freshmen dorm life.

Growing up is becoming more appealing very quickly.

Anyways, too much to do to say a whole lot. Just wanted to share my new most-played iTunes song, which just also happens to be my midnight study motivation song.

Kelly Clarkson "Stronger"

By the way, BYU Men's Basketball won their game tonight against Gonzaga which was actually super exciting! And I have a game to go to on Saturday... :)

Sleep well world.

Housing Search Continued

2012-01-30T22:57:00.000-07:00

On Monday January 30th, 2012,
I woke up,
did homework,
went to geography,
did more homework,
went to spanish,
sat outside my Book of Mormon class for ten minutes before remembering that class was cancelled,
picked up Angela from class,
went apartment hunting,
came back to the dorms to make phone calls to various landlords and take housing notes,
put those notes into my apartment chart,
looked at other options just in case,
went to dinner where the Cannon actually made me happy for once though I can't remember why,
did more homework,
went to FHE,
did more homework,
started this blog post,
skyped Newel with Angela,
worked on blog post,
got chocolate milk,
did homework,
and so on.

The Highlights of the Day:

The housing search continues... I cannot wait for this week to be over and I will know where my life will be next semester. Anyways, today Angela and I went over and visited
Single Tree apartments for women. Literally half a block down the street from Regency, so location is great. Price, on the other hand, is a bit higher. They're a little newer, a little more spacious, but there are only a few units. Twelve to be exact. Anyways, some photos of the inside for you to enjoy.

The living room...spacious, comes with TV and couches.

Kitchen...granite countertops, slightly cramped, but about the same compared to Regency

Washer and dryer...yes, there's a washer and dryer IN THE APARTMENT. Big point for me.

Bedroom...each unit has two private rooms and one shared room.
But only one bathroom for the four girls.

The outside...looks quite nice actually.

The sign for the complex.

So when we went to Regency on Friday, I forgot to take pictures of the outside. This is what the complex looks like. Sorry the pictures are a little dark... I forgot to adjust my camera exposure.

So those are the two options right now. Still working out a bunch of details, but we will just have to wait and see where this all goes. We have one more option to go check out on Thursday, so there may be more housing pictures to come. Like I said, I can't wait for this week to be over.

By the way, the basketball game on Saturday is actually a women's basketball game against St. Mary's at 1:00 pm. Even better to honor my sister's birthday.

One major perk about Helaman Halls is that this is my backyard:

Pretty awesome. As pretty much anyone here can tell you, I really love the mountains. They are gorgeous with the snow on top, and then when it gets a little darker outside it looks so cool, and AHHH they are just amazing. I'll leave it at that.

FHE was...interesting. I'm hoping that as the semester progresses that more people will come. We combined with another FHE group tonight, and when there weren't enough girls, our "parents" had to modify the plans. So we ended up playing around the world - ping pong version. Quite entertaining. I had some fun taking pictures. Here's the lovely group below. As you can see, a little short on girls...

Essentially, you hit the ping pong ball, drop the paddle for the next person to pick up, and either run around to the other side of the table if you're down to two people, or simply take your position in line.

So besides the three more hours of homework I have left to finish before my 8 am class tomorrow...and the housing decisions...and my paper that's due later this week...and the chapters of textbook reading I need to catch up on...
...life is pretty fantastic.

Good night world...eventually.

Sunday

2012-01-30T00:53:00.004-07:00

I really love Sundays, so it kind of stinks when I don't feel that great.

Angela and I woke up a little late, and I think she's starting to get sick too. My new team teacher, Annabel, taught today, and I admit it was kind of nice to have a break from teaching Sunday School. Angela and I got in a nice, long, several-hour nap that both of us needed. A hot shower, and then some lunch at the Cannon with a few ward friends.

Did I mention that I really love our ward?

Sacrament meeting was amazing. We had fast and testimony meeting today since Helaman Halls has stake conference next Sunday. I am so lucky to know these people. I love my Bishop. He is such an incredible man, and I am so thankful for his love and support. My friends have such strong testimonies; each of them is an example to me of how to live a Christ-like life. I know I wasn't the only person touched during that meeting. It's looking forward to experiences like these, and remembering the times I feel the spirit so strongly, that pull me through the rough and stressful weeks.

After a nice nap and talking with my parents on the phone, I drove over to the Edwards' house to celebrate my Uncle Brad's birthday! Not only did I get to have a delicious, home-cooked chicken and broccoli casserole, but I also got to Skype with my family with everyone who was at the Edwards, and it was just a blast to spend some time with my cousins. It was also fun to see my grandparents from Oregon who are in town for the next two weeks. They came by a little later during visiting hours tonight to see my dorm, and later this week they will get to enjoy the Cannon dining experience. Lucky them :)

Another great part about today was my home teachers!! Last semester, my home teachers weren't that great about actually coming by to home teach. With people moving in and out and switching rooms, all of the teaching assignments switched. I am super excited for my friend Andy to be one of my home teachers, and I'm excited to get to know Tyler better over the semester. I'm just grateful for these guys who are wonderful examples to me, who are dedicated to the gospel, and who always honor their Priesthood.

And now, ending the night with a chocolate milk and homework party with Angela.

It's going to be a good week.

Exams and the Cannon

2012-01-29T23:46:00.001-07:00

After a productive and stressful Friday, I fell into bed exhausted. Woke up the next morning around 10:30 feeling even more exhausted and like my cold had simply become aggravated overnight.

The morning started out stressful as I had my first exam of the semester at 2:30 pm and still had a lot to cover in my studying. I do not like the fact that my spanish exams are now graded by computer. It's fine for multiple choice questions or fill-in-the-blanks where they provide options to put in the blank, but for the ones where you have to come up with the answer yourself, one misplaced accent gets the whole question wrong. Did I mention there was a writing portion? 150 word essay on an exam that is later graded by a computer? yeah, that was great.

Anyways, I have no idea how I did, but most of the content was review from my sophomore year of spanish, so I feel okay about the exam. Still not entirely confident about those written portions though. I do know I did well on the listening part (thank you Profe for forcing us to listen to all those horribly long and difficult to understand podcasts all year in AP).

This is a thought that was running through my head most of that morning. One of my favorite quotes by one of my favorite apostles. I love it.

I came back from the two hour test, took a short nap as I could barely think straight, woke up and realized that I hadn't eaten anything all day. I had some crackers while I was studying for the test, but other than that, nothing. So I headed up to dinner by myself because I was starving.

Dinner at the Cannon is always an entertaining time. Found a group from the ward to sit with which included a bunch of people I wouldn't usually go eat with. An interesting group, some fun conversations, ate some "Navajo Taco" and a salad. I was still hungry, but everyone else was ready to leave, so I made myself a waffle and went and sat with my friends, Brooke and Derrick.

Which led to me and Derrick staying for another hour in the Cannon while various people from the ward cycled through the table. It's always fun when you take a little longer to eat to just sit and visit with all the people who come to the table. We have such an incredible ward!!

It's also a lot more fun going to the Cannon with someone who hasn't been there before, or with someone who still thinks the food is wonderful. Derrick, for example, just moved in this semester and thought the "Navajo Taco" was delicious. I, on the other hand, have had it multiple times and don't find it all that amazing. Honestly, I only got it because the other options were a hamburger (which I typically try to avoid if possible) and some strange shrimp pasta. When you go with someone who still sees the Cannon as a novelty, it makes the experience a little more entertaining and you tend to come out with a slightly better attitude towards the food. Actually, just go eat with someone. It's more fun that way.

But honestly, I am so excited for when I get to cook my own food. I guess that's one perk of growing up.

More homework. More housing research. And then bed. Oh the excitement of my Saturday nights.

Apartment Hunting

2012-01-29T23:14:00.004-07:00

So my friends and I have pretty much decided that growing up isn't that great. This housing search is not fun. And it's going to be expensive. But I guess that's part of life right?

Angela and I visited our first apartment on Friday!!
Regency Apartments for women. It looks awesome! The complex is about as close to campus as possible (see map), seems to be super cheap in comparison to other places, and is also right next to two restaurants and a used book store for selling back textbooks. One of my friends recommended it for spring, and it looks super nice.

Amenities include:

extra storage in the apartment
extra freezer
grill and BBQ area
swimming pool
laundry facilities
lounge
exercise room
free Internet
gorgeous view

When we went to visit, we ran into a resident doing her laundry who was more than willing to tell us all about the apartments. She even let us walk around her unit for a little while!

Angela was wonderful enough to let me use some of her pictures of the apartments so you actually get to see what we might live in next year...or in 3 months depending on what we decide about spring and summer term.

The bedrooms.... comes with desks, nightstand, and shelf. oh, and a bed of course.

The desk.... lots of storage space!

The bathroom area... the sink and counter literally stretch the whole hall.
Two bathrooms which means two showers and two toilets for six girls.

The exercise room in the lounge upstairs... includes TV, weight machine, treadmill, and small trampoline.

The lounge... TV and sink area

The lounge... couches and soft carpet. I'm sold :)

Oh hey! This is Angela everyone!! I think this is one of our first pictures together since becoming roommates actually.

THE VIEW!!! You can actually see the temple from our apartments which is just awesome. Oh, the pool is there, too.

The apartments seem really nice, the only thing is that contracts are given out based on a lottery system. So there's no guarantee that we can get a spot here. Angela and I both are hoping we can get a spot here, especially for spring and summer terms.

Oh yeah, I'm staying for spring to work and take a few classes. Mom's still not sold on me staying summer term, but I'm pretty sure I'll be doing the same also. Which means I'll be in Utah pretty much permanently now.

Therefore, the plan moving forward:
- visit another complex called Single Tree which is literally half a block from Regency
- talk to the Regency management on Thursday

- decide between the two

- and then if we decide on Regency... go get the contracts signed on Saturday morning!

Once I have a place, I think I'll feel a lot better about this whole growing up thing. Particularly the fact that I can cook my own meals instead of eating at the Cannon...

Friday night, Angela and I went up to Salt Lake to see my old friend, Lia, in the BYU vs. Utah gymnastics meet. The place was packed! I was surprised, but I guess basketball for BYU is what gymnastics for Utah is. Anyways, just some pictures from the rival event: we lost by the way. Apparently we have only won twice in now 25 competitions against them. The Ute gymnasts are incredible!!

Jon Huntsman Center

BYU on beam

The Utah gymnasts were amazing! This was probably my favorite floor routine of the night.

Me and Angela (Angela and me?) at the meet! Two pictures of us in one day - wow!
By the way, does anyone know of any way to make glasses lenses anti-glare??

Saturday, by the way, is Megan's (my sister) birthday! Which means I will be going to the BYU men's basketball game in her honor. I'm putting this on the blog so you all can hold me to actually going. No excuses now.

Days 2, 3, and 4

2012-01-26T23:18:00.003-07:00

Ok so I haven't done as great for my goals. And there really isn't a great excuse for that except for the fact that I am getting sick. Don't panic - I'm not seriously sick, just a normal cold. I won't go into specifics of what I haven't done because that's depressing.

Instead, I'll focus on what I have done: I have been doing homework, I have been studying for some upcoming exams, I have researched housing, and I've been going to classes and figuring out the next few months of my life.

So besides a couple extra naps, it's been a fairly productive past few days.

Some highlights:

having a nice BYU guy scrape the ice off the windshield of the car before driving up to class
taking a friend to the Student Health Center and then to the ER. She just has a nasty case of the flu. She'll be fine, thank goodness!
I mailed in paperwork for a textbook reimbursement program. One of the benefits of having cancer.
eating for the first time at the Blue Line deli in the Tanner Building. Angela, her friend Will, Austin, and I all met there for dinner after my personal finance class. I do believe that will become my dinner place for Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Angela, Will, me, and Austin after the Blue Line.
Will broke his leg a few days ago, hence the scooter.

watching Angela make moccasins out of paper bags for her Visual Arts for Elementary Education (or something like that) class. yes, it is as entertaining as it sounds. check her blog for pictures on that.
cleaning the room for cleaning checks. I am so thankful to have a clean roommate and to have had parents (Mom) who taught me to be organized and tidy. It definitely makes getting ready for cleaning checks a whole lot easier.
ward prayer!! we actually had spotlights tonight, and a friend came to show us all how amazing he is with a whip. (yes, a whip. He's from a ranch in Florida.)
finding out who my new team-teacher for Gospel Doctrine will be...
talking with friends. eating with friends. driving with friends. lots and lots of time with friends.

And now, because I feel bad this post isn't media-rich with photos or videos, please enjoy this song that is currently my most-played song on iTunes.

Scotty McCreery - The Trouble With Girls

On another note, I was going through some old blog posts to look for some inspiration for my Book of Mormon insight paper. I came across this old post about chemo. I am so thankful to be done with that, even if it is only for a short while. It's nice to review those past events as a reminder that, with the Lord's help, I can get through these exams, classes, choosing housing, and other hard decisions that are fast approaching as I grow up.

Coming soon:

apartment hunting, apartment contracts signed, grandparents visiting, and more studying.

Looking forward to the weekend!

Monday. Day 1 Report

2012-01-24T00:21:00.006-07:00

To return and report on my progress with my ten goals for the week:

Out of bed at 8:03 am. So almost made it to 8:00 am. Personally, I think it counts.
Not all of my homework was done the day before. But some of it was. So not quite.
Plan schedule for the day. Check. see picture below
I read my scriptures for 30 minutes actually. But not this morning. But I still didn't fall asleep. So you decide if that counts or not.
Backpack ready to go this morning. Check.
Excess computer time: probably about an hour today. Still some cutting back to do.
Letters written today: zero. Though I did get to read two from missionaries.
10 minutes of "soul time" spent breathing in the freezing air and catching snowflakes on my tongue. Pure happiness right there.
Remember to live like Christ: I'm not really sure how to measure this one... I went to Book of Mormon today, I did my visiting teaching, I helped out a friend who was sick by taking her to the emergency room. I guess those are the kind of things I'm trying to get at...maybe.
And of course the most important one of all: at least 3 pictures. Check. actually, there are five today all for you to see how my day was. and there isn't a single one of the mountains (sorry).

The schedule and to-do list I made last night. Ready to go and got quite a bit checked off for the day!

This is me being productive in the maps section of the library doing my atlas exercise for geography. And listening to my country music to keep me focused.

By the way - please note the little white square on my laptop. Those are my goals. I've been reading them all day and they are pretty much ingrained into my head already. And it's only Monday.

I GOT A PACKAGE!!!! And I picked up the Housing Guide. Did I mention how much I love growing up? And the free copy of the Wall Street Journal from the Cannon Center that's a day old. Need to keep up so I can ace those quizzes in government. The last one...yeah I obviously didn't keep up with what was happening with national politics.

Contents of previously mentioned package: Nutella (apparently I am the only Holbrook who appreciates it so Mom sent me the leftover bottle from the food storage), t-shirts that didn't fit in my suitcase coming home, and magnetic clips I got from Santa for Christmas.

The Case of the Lost Wallet: A Humorous Narrative

This is a good story. Promise. I came home from dropping my friend off at the Health Center, and to may great dismay could not find my wallet anywhere. I searched high and low; in my backpack, on my desk, repacked and unpacked the package, looked under the bed covers, opened my food bins, even scanned the fridge and searched every nook and cranny of the car. I couldn't find it anywhere. I finally felt like I had left it at the Bookstore when I was purchasing a binder for my class and the wallet simply hadn't made it into the bag, though I was almost positive it had. Being family home evening, however, the bookstore and the lost and found were both closed by the time I came to this realization.

So I called my Mom who had me talk to Dad. That was a super fun conversation. Anyways, he cancelled the credit card and my debit card and told me what to do when I found the wallet.

I worked on homework for a while, watched a program on 401(k)'s for personal finance, and was going to read a book for a little while before I went to bed to lift my spirits and calm myself from the stress of losing the wallet.

I turned around with book in hand and saw this on the bed.

Angela and I both kind of freaked out. Promise - it hadn't been there an hour ago. Needless to say, I was incredibly grateful to find it. I then proceeded to spend a half hour on the phone reactivating my debit card. Dad took care of the credit card - isn't he wonderful? Love you Daddy :)

Lesson learned: don't ever lose your wallet again.

Another thought from the day: I am so incredibly thankful for the power of the Priesthood in my life and in others as well. It is such a wonderful blessing to have so many worthy young men literally a phone call away who are always so excited and willing to come give a blessing. I know miracles come through faith and the Priesthood combined - I have seen it happen in my own life and in others'.

I love Brigham Young University. I love the mountains. I love the beauty of the winter snow, though it sometimes takes a little work to appreciate it. I love my amazing friends.

Life is good!

Goals for the Week

2012-01-23T00:08:00.002-07:00

So I still need to write down all my resolutions, but for now, I figure I'll let you all know about my goals at least for this week so I can report on them as I blog the rest of the week.
Updates on my weekend will come later. Probably tomorrow after I finish homework.

So here are my Ten Goals for this week:

Be up and out of bed by 8:00 each morning. Which would mean waking up around 7:30. Except for Tuesday and Thursday when I have class at 8. Then I'll be up by 6:30.
Take at least 3 pictures each day of whatever is happening. Does not include landscape photos of the mountains.
Finish homework the day before it is due even if I have several hours in the morning to finish. I need to get out of the habit of procrastination.
Plan out my schedule for the day each morning.
Read my scriptures for 15 minutes in the morning. I need to stop reading right before I go to bed - I tend to fall asleep which kind of defeats the purpose of reading my scriptures.
Pack my backpack the night before so I'm not so rushed in the morning.
Limit excess computer time to 30 minutes a day. Blogging and Blackboard/homework do not count in those 30 minutes. Does include, however, Facebook, email, and whatever else I happen upon.
Write letters to at least 3 missionaries. Which does not include sending a birthday letter to my cousin, Steven, who is currently on his mission in Tulsa Oklahoma, Spanish-speaking. So I guess I'll be writing to 4 missionaries.
Take ten minutes of "soul time" each day. This is something one of my friends mentioned at hall meeting today. It would include standing outside and enjoying the mountains, reading scriptures for a little extra time, playing piano just for fun. Essentially, taking a breath of fresh air from the craziness of the day.
Remember. who I am. who I want to become. Remember my Savior and show His love to those around me.

I literally just printed these out. They are taped to the top of my computer. I can't ignore them. I have been listening to the song "I Will" by Hilary Weeks a lot today. I am doing well, but there's a whole lot more I can do to be better. Here's to being recommitted to my Savior, my goals, and myself.

By the way... it snowed. And it's gorgeous.

Snow-Capped Mountains

2012-01-20T11:52:00.001-07:00

I forgot how incredibly beautiful Utah can be in the winter time. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I love the mountains. There is something incredibly majestic about these huge pieces of earth sticking out of the flat surface of the valley. I find them to have a protective feeling; I don't feel enclosed in a cage but more like I'm being held in a hug. Mountains are truly evidence to me of the incredible creations of our Heavenly Father and how blessed we are to be on this earth.

I took a trip after spanish today over to the new Heritage Halls and the Bean Museum parking lots to get some pictures of the mountains because they are incredibly gorgeous. And I played around with some of the editing features on my Mac, which was fun.

view of Rock Canyon above the Harold B. Lee Library

view of Y Mountain above the library. again.

from the JKB. there's actually a really pretty mountain back there, the clouds are just covering it.

the pretty mountain you should have been able to see in the previous picture. but this is a way better view.

the bell tower. it plays a different hymn every hour. love BYU!

Mount Timpanogos. in black and white. pretty gorgeous.

pretty snow covered mountain and me playing with my photo editing tools.

But honestly, the pictures don't do the view any justice.

Now about my day...

I realized that there are actually a lot of guys (particularly guys from my ward) who go eat breakfast between 7:15 and 7:30 am on Tuesday and Thursday. So it's nice to have someone to talk to (and try to wake up) in those early morning hours. So I ate, and then headed up to class with my friend Ben from my ward. I really enjoy government, and I am so glad that I do. Currently, the only thing not motivating me to go to that class is the early hour. Otherwise, I absolutely love it.

I did a lot of spanish homework today. Trying to get ahead still requires those hours, just at a different time than usual.

Met with my geography TA. Apparently I have an atlas assignment due tomorrow. Since I don't have the atlas...this should be interesting.

Picked up letters from the University Accessibility Center. Now comes the fun part of telling my professors "the story." I love people's reactions!

Book of Mormon celebration (kind of...) with Hattie. And Haley. We went and tracked down some Tillamook ice cream (the best cheese and ice cream in the world) at a local grocery store. And then came back and talked while we ate ice cream for the hour before ward prayer.

Haley after ice cream...

mint Pirouette cookies + Tillamook mint chocolate chip ice cream = happy Hattie

this should be a Tillamook ad. just saying.

that's me. happy college student showing off my school spirit while eating ice cream. yep.

Hey question: anyone know how to get pictures to go side-by-side in blogger?

Ward prayer with great friends and singing/figuring out songs on the piano and talking and dancing around like crazy people and playing chopsticks and staying up way too late. Enough said. Check out Angela's post here for pictures from tonight.

To end an awesome day:

I just want to say that I am incredibly grateful that I was able to come out to BYU at the beginning of last semester. So many miracles happened last year that made it possible for me to come to school for fall semester, and to still be here for winter. I am just so thankful to be here in this amazing place with such amazing people.

Go Cougars!

Starting Pictures and Book of Mormon

2012-01-20T00:37:00.004-07:00

So I started writing this last night and then decided I could think more clearly in the morning. And then I never actually published it until late tonight. Therefore, this post was completed on Thursday though it is a recap of Wednesday.

I did have a camera with me today. I guess that's a start. I just didn't take very many pictures. Angela, on the other hand, took several and you can enjoy her pictures here as I was with her for the majority of the time she was photographing everyone.

Dinner time with Hattie, Haley, Eden, and Drew. As well as Angela, Austin, Ken, Eric, Jeff, and Mike (not pictured). Dinner is one of the best parts of the day because I get to be with my awesome friends!!

Done with the second half of the Book of Mormon, meaning I read it all the way through (if you include my reading of the first half from last semester) during my freshman year of college.
And sorry this is backwards. I was using my webcam to take the picture and still can't figure out how to flip it. But that is the Book of Mormon, in case you couldn't tell.

I finished my Book of Mormon assignment: read the second half of the Book of Mormon (Alma 30 to the end, making 250 pages) in two weeks. I managed to procrastinate the assignment, ending up with quite a bit of reading to get done today.

But you know what? It actually worked out really well. I absolutely loved having to read straight through it all today. There were a lot more connections, the references made to previous stories or teachings are more fresh in your brain, and it just flows. I found that the closer I got to the end, the more reluctant I was to stop reading. I mean, I love the Book of Mormon, but I have never really sat down and read it for hours on end like I would with most other books I enjoy. This entire experience has built up my testimony of the Book of Mormon more than I thought possible.

I know, without a single doubt in my mind, the Book of Mormon is true.

Reading it for several hours straight today confirmed that. The Spirit is there every minute I spend with that book. I love the words of the prophets it contains. I love learning more about my Savior when I read. The time I spend with the Book of Mormon has had an incredible impact on my optimistic attitude; one cannot help but feel the joyful message of Christ and the gospel throughout the book.

Brother Merrill said on the first day of class that he hopes we will read the Book of Mormon (well, the second half at least) 5 times before the end of the semester.

1. In the first two weeks of class.
2. Reviewing the chapters before class.
3. Reviewing the chapters after class.
4. Reviewing and re-reading for the midterm.
5. Reviewing and re-reading for the final exam.

I cannot wait to start reading it again! Book of Mormon class starts again on Monday and I am so excited! And that's the life of a typical BYU freshman on a typical Wednesday night. Life's pretty good.

Reality, Missionaries, and the Book of Mormon

2012-01-18T01:20:00.003-07:00

Yesterday was a wonderful day off.

Today was a not-so-gentle return to reality.

8:00 am American Government and Politics.
I actually really enjoy this class. The professor is humorous, engaging, and loud enough that I don't start to fall asleep during lectures. I feel like I am getting to know a little bit more about the government structure and how politics work, which is probably a good thing considering I do need to register to vote this year. yikes. I even found a guy in my ward who's in the class. So I have a great professor, a friend to sit with, and an enjoyable subject which all motivate me to go to attend class.

It's just so early in the morning.

When I headed back to the dorms for nap time, I woke up Angela so she could get ready for her noon class, and I promptly laid back down to sleep for ten more minutes. I then proceeded to sleep through not just one, but three alarms, the devotional, and also spanish class.
Apparently this lack of sleep the past few nights finally caught up with me. It felt wonderful, but I feel bad about missing class. I really need to institute a good sleeping schedule. With all these guys leaving for missions, maybe I should draw some inspiration from them and start going to bed at 10:30.

And I still haven't watched devotional. Angela and I will be watching it tomorrow night. I heard it was fantastic and I'm excited to listen to it!

So besides sleeping, here are some other, slightly more productive, things I did and thought about today:

Personal Finance blows my mind every week. I can't wait until we get into the units that I can actually start applying right now (talking about a 401(k) currently doesn't have much application in my current unemployed stage of life).

I decided to switch geography classes. I was exhausted from government and staying awake through the class with a less-than-entertaining professor. So now geography is on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 11. I'm excited for the switch. Plus it just might help get me out of bed those days instead of sleeping past ten in the morning for spanish at one.

My friend Brandon came to visit today. He will be entering the MTC at 12:40 pm tomorrow to begin his mission. It was great to see him one more time before he heads out.
It's crazy to see all these guys (who, by the way, are my age) who are just amazing people choose to serve the Lord for two years. I don't know why, but for me, it is one of the most incredible parts of this Church. I love this quote, though I don't know who said it: "If the Church wasn't true, nineteen-year-old boys would have ruined it a long time ago."

I could talk about this for forever.

I am grateful to be here at BYU surrounded by such incredible young men.

Thank you boys for your examples and willingness to serve.

So you know, it's now past midnight here. Which means it is theoretically Wednesday January 18th here in Provo, Utah. Today is the day my friends Logan, Brandon, and James all head to the MTC. Good luck you guys. You will be amazing missionaries!

I also cleaned off my desktop today. Here are some picture quotes for you to enjoy and to also break up the text of this rather long post (sorry about that).

The other great thing about today (well, yesterday...) was a Book of Mormon reading party!! Yes it is as thrilling as it sounds. Hattie, Harrison, Hannah and I all need to finish up our reading of the second half of the Book of Mormon that is due tomorrow at 11:55 pm. We probably weren't as productive as we could have been in other circumstances, but it was definitely entertaining.
And a little more motivating to know there were other people reading with you so you can't actually fall asleep while reading your scriptures...

I admit. I am a Mormon nerd. Apparently it's quite visible if you watch me read the Book of Mormon. I can't help it though.

Captain Moroni is my hero.

I love all these lessons from the war chapters.

I literally cheer when I read about the stripling warriors.

I am thoroughly entertained by some of the wording and will laugh out loud.

I get incredibly frustrated when the Nephites start right back into the pride cycle.

But more importantly, I love all the incredible teachings within the book: faith, repentance, humility, the importance of prayer and fasting, showing charity towards each other, and, of course, the mission and love of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I just absolutely love the Book of Mormon, and not just the stories, but the lessons it teaches.
I know this book is true without a doubt in my mind. And I have loved every minute I have spent reading the entire second half over the past few weeks. This book is one of the greatest blessings in my life. I cannot wait until my Book of Mormon professor comes back from China and I can go back to class next Monday!

Sorry this is kind of long and word-heavy. I just need to start taking my camera everywhere with me around campus. Honestly, I wish I had had it this morning for the sunrise (one of the perks of an early class).
As a side note, Angela and I were literally just talking about this, so the camera is now in my backpack. Readily accessible at any point tomorrow.

If you care to know, I am currently listening to the soundtrack for Pride and Prejudice. Such amazing music from a pretty awesome movie. One of my favorites in fact.

Good night. Sleep tight.
Remember to smile!

A Day Off (sort of)

2012-01-16T22:53:00.004-07:00

Today I am grateful to Martin Luther King, Jr. Not only because he helped to shape the world that we now live in, but also because I got a day off of classes to celebrate his life. Which sounds kind of selfish... but I was very glad I didn't have to worry about getting to class today after a night of being sick from dehydration. So thank you Dr. King.

But honestly, here's a great quote from him that my friend shared today:

"Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way."

Again, thank you Dr. King.

All in all, today was a pretty fantastic holiday. I slept in, got a bunch of homework done, even started getting ahead in my spanish class. I got a nap in, talked to my sisters, went to dinner with friends, did a blog post, responded to some emails, went to FHE, and have been working on this post and various homework items since then.

Yes I really do have that much homework. And I'm not done yet. Probably because I pretty much ignored it all on Saturday as seen in this post. So I guess I made up for my lack of productivity on Saturday by getting so much done today.

Dang it. I just realized I completely forgot to wash my sheets today. The one thing I really wanted to get done today. Oh well... there's always tomorrow. Rudolph anyone?

Anyways...

Family Home Evening was interesting. It really actually was fun, we just didn't have our whole group there, so it didn't exactly go as planned. Lacy and Peter are my new FHE group leaders (hereby referred to as "my parents") and only six of us showed up: me, Annie, Haley, the parents, and Lexi. So hopefully next week a few more people come. I'll miss my old group (especially Newel and Logan who are heading out to the mission field), but I am really excited to get to know these people better over the course of the semester!

By the way, this is the forecast for this week. And I am so excited!!! I really love the cold. The girls in my hall tease me about how excited I get about the mountains, or the fact that I have to wear a coat outside. I honestly am probably the person who would move north (like Alaska north) for the summer. Or at least somewhere a little more mild.. anyways I'm excited for the SNOW to come!

I really love talking to my sisters. And the rest of my family, too, but since Skype failed today I really only talked to Rachel on Facebook and text today. We talk to each other a lot. Probably more than we should. Yesterday I think she sent me 20 texts while I was taking a nap in an attempt to wake me up. Today we talked via Facebook chat. Some snippets of our conversation for your enjoyment:

Words that come to mind:
avoiding studying for finals
distracted
tired (both of us...)
still trying to avoid studying
band geek

She's quirky. But I love her. I guess I'm kind of a dork too... haha. Thanks for always making me smile Rachel :)

Tomorrow is DEVOTIONAL!! And Sister Julie B. Beck is coming to speak!!! I'm super excited! Have I mentioned I love BYU? Because I really really do. Where else do you have opportunities like this?

Life is pretty much fantastic right now! And I'm super proud of myself for posting this before midnight. Just saying. 8 am government... here I come! Sleep well world.

Lessons, Naps, and Growing Up

2012-01-16T21:55:00.000-07:00

My sister texted me this morning rather upset that I did not blog yesterday. I figure I've missed only one day after starting five days ago, which is fairly good odds. Missing one day of blogging does not mean I have to completely give up on my resolution. I did start a post yesterday. Not this one, a different one which will be posted later. Moving on...

My Sunday was pretty fantastic. Except for waking up super early after staying up way too late the night before.

I still don't know who my gospel doctrine team-teacher is or will be. And I had a slight heart attack in sacrament meeting when only two new teachers were called and neither of them were with me and I was wondering if I was indeed supposed to teach that day.

But it's all good because they only had two classes yesterday.

The talks during sacrament meeting were all about what people learned from (not about) the Christmas season. Hearing them talk made me think about all that I learned from my break back home. All four of them talked about how they realized just how important family is. If there is one thing I learned over break, it's just how incredible my family is and how grateful I am for each of them and their own little quirks. I can't imagine not knowing that I can be with them for eternity. Every Sunday is just an awesome reminder about how much I love this gospel!

I feel bad I haven't really been posting pictures... so here are some from the break with my wonderful family!

My friend Sam did an awesome job for his first time teaching. The lesson was on Lehi's vision which is perhaps one of my favorite parts of the Book of Mormon. I love going to other classes and watching other people teach. I like gaining new perspectives on how to approach topics, different teaching methods, and just being inspired to be an even better teacher.

I've decided the food at the Cannon is not enough to get me to eat. It's a good thing I have great friends to go with, otherwise I just might live off of cheese and crackers in my room.

Hall meeting: discussion about the off-campus housing fair. yikes.

Naps are wonderful. Especially when both you and your roommate decide to take one at the same time and then wake up at the same time. And that nap lasts two and a half hours. Perhaps one of the greatest parts of Sunday is that nap time. So since my nap lasted so long, I didn't really get to blog yesterday. But it was totally worth it.

Angela and I went over to her brother's for dinner. It was so much fun, and it made me super excited for when I will have my own apartment (is that really only in four months?!). It was a great, relaxing end to a fantastic Sunday. While there I was introduced to William Joseph. Yet another LDS pianist I can aspire to be like.

Visiting an apartment for pretty much my first time ever really made it sink in that I'm growing up. A few friends and I are going apartment hunting on Friday and Saturday. Life is moving incredibly fast. I'm not always sure as to where life is heading, but I'm excited for the adventure.

Life is pretty good now. I can't wait for FHE tonight!!

An Uneventful Saturday

2012-01-15T01:15:00.001-07:00

I love those days when you can sleep in without worrying about an alarm waking you up to the three million things you have to do that day.

Today was one of those days. And it felt wonderful. Having awoken so late in the day, not a whole lot happened. It was nice and relaxing to just spend time with my friends.

I had a long, hot shower (I am going to enjoy those for as long as I can before I have to start paying for any utilities), took a trip to Target with some girls in my hall, did some homework, went to Great Harvest, and ate at Legends Grille with Hattie, Haley, and Ruby. Ended the night watching one of my favorite movies, "Ever After," with Alyssa, my roommate from EFY two years ago and now my great college friend.

So I guess I did do a lot. It just doesn't feel like it because I haven't been awake that long.

My random thoughts for the day:

Pineapple does not belong on pizza. Neither do mushrooms. I am willing to pick them off, but I'd really rather not.

Attention boys: being obsessed with sports is not an attractive feature. Let me clarify: it's okay to like sports, it's unattractive to be completely obsessive about them. I do not need to see or hear you screaming at the television for hours. Especially if I'm at dinner and you're cheering at the television behind me. Not attractive at all. I don't mind if you get into the game if we're actually at the game. I just don't need to hear the stats on every player and watch every football, basketball, baseball, whatever game that just happens to be on. There's just part of my rant on sports.

Another thing for you guys: learn to like country music. It isn't always twangy or depressing. There are fantastic songs with inspiring messages. Like this one, this one, and this one.

The video below is probably one of my favorite Rascal Flatts songs. Given my history, you can probably figure out why I'm a sucker for a song like this.

I actually kind of am starting to like Debussy (a classical composer). Thank you Haley for your little recital tonight and for helping me with one of my resolutions.

Angela is such a great roommate. She inspires me to be more studious, more organized, and more friendly with everyone. Plus, our late-night chats are just so much fun.

I am super excited for tomorrow. Not only is it Sunday, but I will find out who is teaching with me for the semester, I'll find out who my new family home evening group members are, and I will have time to write letters, update posts about the new year, and read my Book of Mormon. Plus I am so excited for the incredible talks and lessons that I'll have throughout the day.

Life is pretty great here at the Y.

Reflections of Christ

2012-01-14T01:08:00.001-07:00

I wasn't really planning on sharing this tonight. In fact I wasn't even going to write about it until Sunday. But I can't get it off my mind right now so I figure I'd better share it all now before I forget.

Last Sunday, this girl, my dear friend Brooke, taught our Relief Society lesson on one of my favorite topics: Christ. During the lesson, we each received the letter below. As Brooke read it aloud to us, tears were shed as the power of our Savior's love for each of us as individual daughters of God touched our hearts.

Dear Lauren,

How are you? I just had to send you this letter to tell you how much I love you and care about you. I saw you yesterday as you were walking with your friends. I waited all day, hoping you should walk and talk with me also. As evening drew near, I gave you a sunset to close your day and a cool breeze to rest you. Then, I waited, but you never came. Oh yes, it hurt me, but I still love you because I am your friend.

I saw you fall asleep last night and I longed to touch your brow, so I spilt moonlight upon your pillow and your face. Again I waited, wanting to rush down so we could talk. I have so many gifts for you.

You awakened late this morning and rushed off for the day. My tears were in the rain. Today you looked so sad, so alone. It makes my heart ache because I understand. My friends let me down and hurt me many times too, but I love you. I try to tell you in the quiet green grass. I whisper it in the leaves and trees and breathe it in the color of the flowers. I shout it to you in the mountain streams and give the birds love songs to sing. I clothe you with warm sunshine and perfume the air. My love for you is deeper than the oceans and bigger than the biggest want or need you could ever have.

We will spend eternity together in heaven. I know how hard it is on earth. I really know, because I was there, and I want to help you. My Father wants to help you too. He's that way, you know. Just call on me, ask me, and talk to me, It is your decision... I have chosen you and because of this I will wait... Because I love you.

Your friend and Elder Brother,
Jesus

This is one of my favorite videos. The "Reflections of Christ" project depicts our Savior's life through various portraits and photos. The slideshow is set to one of my favorite hymns, "Come Thou Fount." Please take a few minutes to watch the video. I promise it's worth it.

I am so thankful for inspired teachers, no matter their age or status in life. I need that little spiritual boost every once in a while. It was a wonderful reminder about who I am striving to live like, who I want to return to someday, and all that He did for me. I am so thankful for everything I have been through, for each trial has brought me closer to my Heavenly Father and Christ. I hope to be able to communicate that love to all that I meet throughout my life. I am doing well, but I can be better.

I am so grateful to call Him my brother, my Savior, and my friend. He is the reason life is so good. And because of Him, we can make our lives even more incredible.

Temple Thoughts

2012-01-14T01:04:00.003-07:00

As terrible as Tuesdays and Thursdays are, Fridays are certainly going to be incredible. Not only do I have just one class, but I also get to sleep in.

But the best part is that I have time to go to the temple.

Before I get into the spiritual part of my day, let me just mention a few things.

I have the most incredible friends I could ever ask for.
I really love watching people's reactions to my health story. It honestly (almost) makes everything worth it (or at least a little easier) just to see people's faces when I tell them the story. If you haven't heard it yet, you probably will someday. Plus, it motivates me to make more friends. Just so I can see their reactions when they (at some point) ask about my history.
I need to impose a bedtime. Starting this week.
The food at the Cannon Center has lost all novelty. It is no longer delicious at all. Well, sometimes they have something that's pretty good. Particularly chocolate milk. But not today.
I really enjoy reading Alma in the Book of Mormon. Yes, it's a little long. But there is so much amazing stuff in there!!
I need to get some more piano music. I need something to practice, more songs to learn. Not just the same church and Disney and Jon Schmidt songs I've been playing for years. I am currently working on "Root Beer Rag" by Billy Joel.
This also means I need to improve my appreciation for classical piano music. *deep sigh*
I miss family prayer time with my family.
I love talking to the girls in my hall all the time (Hattie and Haley mostly...)

Brooke, Angela, Amy, Derrick, and I headed over to the Provo Temple in the late afternoon. We discovered that to be the busiest time of day when there were no disabled parking spots available. But because it was so busy in the baptistry, I was able to be at the temple for three hours. Which seems to be an extremely long time at first glance, but coming back I realized there really wasn't anything I would rather have spent that time doing than simply being at the temple. I spent my time reading the Book of Mormon and pondering on things that had happened.

That morning I received an email from my mom's old college friend, Kelley, asking me to come speak to her young women in about a month. I am so honored to have been asked to share my testimony with these incredible youth. There is so much I want to share, and I am hoping that over the next few weeks I'll be led to know what these particular girls need to hear. I am so excited for the opportunity, but a bit nervous. So that's been on my mind for a good portion of the day.

I love the temple. I feel close to my Heavenly Father and Christ when I am there. I love the spirit that is there. It is a beautiful place to think, learn, and grow. I love having the chance to attend often and with my dear friends. I come out feeling happiness and joy I rarely feel outside of the temple. It is an incredible gift to be able to attend the temple here at BYU, and I will be taking advantage of it far more often.

In my reading I came across this verse that beautifully sums up my feelings today: Alma 26:11.

Life is good. And I can't wait to see what adventures this weekend holds.

Thursday Recap

2012-01-13T01:10:00.001-07:00

I am convinced. Tuesday and Thursday are going to be the roughest days of the week. It's a good thing I absolutely love these classes and subjects or I would be completely unmotivated to wake up in the mornings. And it helps that I have a friend in both early-morning classes.

Note to self: be in bed before 11 on Monday and Wednesday nights.

Here's essentially how my day went (and how most of my Thursdays will look):

up and out of bed at 6:40 am. which is way too early considering the time I went to bed last name which will remain untold.
breakfast and driving up to campus with Hattie
grab my free copy of the New York Times from a nearby building for my government class (apparently they're all gone by 9 am)
government and politics from 8:00 to 9:15 am. way too early to be discussing politics, but the professor is awesome and it actually helps wake me up
geography from 9:30 to 10:45 am. I have my friends Francis and Sydney to keep me awake during class, but it's around that time I begin to doze off
so after class I headed back down to the dorms for a nap.
then worked on homework and ate lunch
and went to spanish at 1:00 where I seriously am having problems staying alert on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
back for another short nap, work on some homework, and talk with my friends before...
Personal Finance from 3:30 to 4:45. Why did I take all these 75 minute classes? but this class seriously blows my mind every time I go. Just all the cool things you learn about investments, 401(k), saving money, etc.
dinner with girls in the hall
then back for TWO full hours of Book of Mormon reading before
ward prayer!!

So that was basically my schedule for the day. But what happened in between all that?

I watched the sunrise. And it made waking up early completely worth every minute of lost sleep. Snow capped mountains with tints of orange and pink on them... it doesn't get much better than that.

I got a package. A surprise package from my mom and sister for my birthday! They made the cutest Shutterfly book for me about my life this past year. I love it so much! So many fun memories of 2011 (which will be in a soon-to-be posted post).

I discovered this little blog via my friend Hailey. It is wonderful. I couldn't help but think of my own dad and just how incredible he is! I am so lucky to have him. My future husband's got a lot to live up to.

I played a little game I like to call "epic mancala." Essentially it's a euphemism I like to use to make refilling my weekly med container seem a little less like a mundane chore.

My mom's old college friend emailed me today to ask if I would speak to her ward's young women in about a month. I feel so honored and blessed to be given the privilege to not only share my story and testimony, but perhaps even help a few struggling youth along the way.

I am getting a little better at reaching outside my comfort zone to talk to people. I made some new friends at ward prayer today with two of the guys who just moved into our ward. Ben is actually in my government class (yes that early-morning one), and Derrick (Derek?) will be coming to the temple with our group tomorrow. Got to love meeting new people here, especially those Mormon boys.

I love the fact that the temple is a two minute drive away. And that I can go every week to do baptisms without having to wait for a scheduled youth trip. It is probably one of the greatest blessings of being here at BYU.

It was confirmed to me (yet again) tonight that I am in the greatest ward I could have possibly ended up in here at school. We're all best friends, and we aren't afraid to be ourselves with each other. After ward prayer, most of us ended up hanging out in the lobby for a few hours and had a sing-a-long! Where else does anything like that happen?

All in all it's been a great day. Well, I guess it's now Friday morning. I should probably go to bed. Thank goodness for class not being until 1:00 on Friday afternoon... I love college.

Life is good.

Just FYI - this makes two days in a row that I've posted! wow. now if that can just carry on....

Return to Blogging

2012-01-11T23:48:00.004-07:00

I have not been great at blogging this past month or so. Actually, I haven't been very good at it just in general. I have not been consistent, and I find that I don't ever get through my posts.

Seriously. I have seven unpublished posts that are most of the way done. I could probably post them now and you wouldn't mind. But I would mind, so they sit, incomplete and unavailable to the blog world.

I think my problem is that my posts tend to be too long. There's just so much I want to share! So anyways, one of my New Years resolutions (which have yet to be posted...) is to become a more consistent blogger, as well as a bit more brief in my comments. My roommate, Angela, started a blog to use more as a journal and to post everyday about the happenings in life. Considering the fact that I am not great at journaling either, I figure this would be a great resolution to adopt.

So, here's to doing a blog post every day.

A short(ish) one. One that tells about what I learned and the exciting events of the day. I shan't bore you with the mundane details of my life. In keeping with this resolution, I redesigned the blog to (hopefully) inspire me a bit more to post more often.

Please note: the older posts that are currently sitting in my blogger account will be posted at a later date. I have some things to add to them, and they will be posted bit by bit when I have some free time. And since I don't really have time to talk about the first week of school right now, that will also be a later blog post. Look forward to those.

Let's get started.

Today was actually rather uneventful. I slept in and worked on homework most of the day. Wasn't feeling great, so I didn't end up making it to my one class today that didn't even start until one.

But I was productive at home.
Government and politics reading: done.
Geography chapter: done.
Spanish paper: done.
Book of Mormon reading: done.

And it's not even midnight.

Some things I learned over the course of the day:

I have discovered that making my bed every day actually does help in making me want to be productive instead of take a nap.

I also discovered that during visiting hours, there is an imaginary boundary that lies right before the bathroom. I have yet to see any guys cross that line. A few do, but it is a rather rare occurrence. Usually for home teaching. But it was still a fun night, and I love to see those who do brave crossing the line.

I am excited that I will be in bed before midnight (because that is what I will be doing right after I finish this) as I have to be awake by six tomorrow morning for my wonderful 8:00 am government class.

I love the fact that I can see my nerdy friends (namely, Hattie) every day. They help me feel not quite so nerdy... sort of.

I am also coming to the realization that it is never a good idea to procrastinate when you have two weeks to read the entire second half of the Book of Mormon. Fourteen days seemed like a long time to read 250 pages. The deadline is now 6 days away and I still have two hundred pages to read.

I also very much dislike the fact that I do not have Book of Mormon for two whole weeks. It is honestly my favorite class - I always wish it would last a little while longer and I could attend every day. It's incredible: the things you learn, the insights you gain from others, the time you spend studying with friends, the Spirit that you feel throughout the entire semester. I am so excited for January 23rd when I can go back to my favorite class again.

I love the fact that when I wake up, I will see the sunrise over the snow-capped mountains.

And life will be wonderful.

The Most Incredible Weeks

2011-11-06T23:32:00.000-07:00

WARNING: long post ahead. I've been meaning to blog about this for a while, but now you just get my two amazing weeks instead of one.
Just so you know I have only 39 days until I go home. Which means there are only 43 days until Christmas. And there are only 10 days left before Thanksgiving break. And I really need a break.
These past two weeks have probably been the most crazy, random, social, exciting, busy weeks of my experience here at BYU so far. Seriously.
Saturday night (October 29) I went to my aunt and uncle's house in Sandy to spend the night, go to church with them, and be with some family. Plus I got to shower in an actual shower and sleep in a bed that I could flop onto without having to climb up five feet. That was wonderful. And then I got to go to a family ward and it was wonderful to hear little babies and small children throughout the meeting. I do love my ward, it's just pretty silent during sacrament meeting. So that was fun!
Sunday night was a Hyde family Halloween event - all the kids came dressed up, we bobbed for apples, ate donuts off strings, decorated cookies, ate pumpkin bars, and "practiced" trick-or-treating. I loved spending time with family, though it was a little strange to not have my immediate family with me there... it'll take some getting used to.

My baby cousin Jackson!! Isn't he adorable?!

And my other awesome cousins in their Halloween costumes :)

Monday was Halloween. Probably my least favorite holiday ever. But no worries - I ended up in the ER. Woke up that morning feeling sick, got sick (puked, threw up, whichever term you prefer) multiple times. I finally decided I was dehydrated - I could feel the delirium setting in and I couldn't force myself to drink anything. So I called my friend to come give me a blessing (can I just say that I love having Priesthood holders I can call pretty much anytime to have them come give me a blessing? it's seriously the best thing ever). My mom called my aunt to come pick me up, and off to the ER I went where I proceeded to spend my day watching Nickelodeon Halloween episodes and trying to sleep. See, my IV was being positional so I had to hold the tube in place with one hand and obviously couldn't move the other, making my book absolutely useless and when I fell asleep, I'd let go of the tube and the IV wouldn't work. Fun times.
I'd just like to point out that I survived TWO WHOLE MONTHS before having an ER visit. Just saying that's pretty impressive for me.
Anyways, it took six tries to get an IV started (actually pretty good for the first time at a hospital) and my aunt left to go to my cousin's Halloween party at school so I just laid there for about six hours getting fluids. Not too bad considering I usually have to stay overnight. Some of the people from my FHE group came to pick me up. Seriously MADE MY DAY to see their faces coming into the room when they got there! And I went to the Cannon Center and had some soup. And lemonade. And water. And more lemonade. Staying hydrated is very important. And then that night I stayed up late to snag my classes at midnight! Got everything I wanted and I am SO excited for next semester!
Tuesday was HAPPY NOVEMBER 1ST which means I can start playing Christmas music and no one is allowed to get mad at me! hehe I really do love my Christmas songs though.
I love BYU Devotionals. And so far in my two and a half months at BYU, I've heard from three Apostles and.... yep. President Monson!! He came to speak to us that Tuesday! I was soooo glad they didn't keep me overnight at the ER. President Monson spoke about the importance of being an example to those around us. I was kind of entertained by the fact that he quoted Mufasa in his talk. It was AWESOME!
I didn't go to classes that day - kind of just stayed home, slept, and worked on homework. Then one of my friends in the ward wanted to watch a movie for his birthday. So a bunch of us went up to the JKB and watched one of the greatest movies ever made: The Lion King.
Seriously, only at BYU will a bunch of college kids get super excited about watching that movie. And then proceed to sing along to every single song. And get really excited at the part that the prophet quoted that morning. Yep that's BYU for you.
The next day involved a lot of homework, a lot of sleep, and a lot of late-night piano playing with friends in the ward :)
Thursday was probably one of the craziest days of my life. I had to go make up a psychology exam that I missed on Friday, finished around 5. Ran out the door to pick up my awesome cousins Christopher and Clark to come eat at the Cannon with me. It's an all-you-can-eat buffet and they're teenage boys starting into basketball season. Needless to say, they enjoyed it. Then ran back to Stover to watch my friend Newel open his mission call (which is one of the greatest parts about being a freshman at BYU) - Olangapo Philippines Tagalog speaking! After congratulating him and saying hi to some friends, went to pick up a friend in my leadership class and then dropped my cousins off at their home before heading to Target. Where we purchased the items for our leadership project the day and looked at Christmas lights (YAY!!! Christmas!!!!).
When I finally got back from Target and dropping him off, some friends from my FHE group and the ward came out so we could go run to visit my friend Andy who had had elbow surgery that day. He was a little out of it, but it was good to see him and make sure he was feeling all right. On the way back, we passed a Little Caesars, and our craving for some food besides the Cannon led us all to go to In-N-Out Burger. Good times! On the way out one of the guys asked about the disabled sticker (always a fun story to tell and even more fun to watch people's reactions). When we did finally get back a bunch of us hung out in the lobby, playing pool and messing around on the piano.
Friday (insert song here) was another crazy day. Went to the Provo Temple early that morning (I really love the fact that I don't have to wait for a scheduled temple trip to go) and took a nap. Then picked up my leadership group for our project.
And I'll end there for now...this is turning out to be way too long for one post.

Count Downs

2011-10-25T17:19:00.001-06:00

It's that time of year to start my count downs!!! YAY!

7 days to decide what classes to take next semester
7 days until I can play Christmas music
31 days until Thanksgiving
33 days until my four-year heart anniversary
54 days until "official" end of finals
58 days until I go back home
62 days until CHRISTMAS!
72 days until winter semester

1 day until I need to take my psychology, physical science, and Book of Mormon tests. joy. I wish these other days came first...

Parents Weekend was this past weekend. It was kind of hard to see all the students with their parents visiting. So instead I went to the canyon with some friends. And watched a movie with some friends. And played games with friends. I'm glad I have so many incredible friends here.

So here are some incredible pictures from the trip up to Canyon Glen Park:

Trying to remember to stay positive and happy this upcoming week with several tests, lots of projects due, and attempting to recruit volunteers for my advertising committee. So much to do, so little time. A quote to help this week:

"When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place, or drop out of our lives." President Ezra Taft Benson

Here's to a great upcoming week! Remember to smile!

Oh, and make sure to watch Vocal Point's performance this past week on "The Sing Off" - it was incredible!!

Positivity

2011-10-18T12:10:00.000-06:00

My good friend posted this on Facebook the other day as a little optimism boost for our upcoming week of tests...

Wouldn't it be great if we could all have this attitude every day? Especially on a Monday morning...or any morning for that matter. But especially Monday. And Wednesday, the hump day.

As my cousin always says, Remember to SMILE!!!!

Mountains

2011-10-17T22:15:00.004-06:00

There's just something about those gigantic landforms sticking up out of the earth. They're incredible, majestic, beautiful, and at this time of year they are on FIRE! I LOVE IT!!!

Saturday was my canyon day. After an early-morning blood draw, I drove up into Provo Canyon and stopped at Canyon Glen Park. Stood on the bridge for a few minutes and just listened. And remembered when I used to do this with my family when we still lived in West Jordan. I have really missed this time of year in the mountains!!!! It's so picturesque, and just taking the time to sit (well, stand) still, listen to the rushing water and the sound of the wind through the trees and the rustle of the crisp leaves on the ground...it truly is an incredible experience. You feel so close to nature and more fully appreciate the beauty and grandeur of this world that we live in.

Later (waaay later) we had a birthday bonfire for one of my friends at the same place. Which was so much fun!!!! I love my BYU ward (see picture below) :) The canyon looked different in the dark - you couldn't see the fiery leaves and the tree-covered mountains - but the rush of the water was still there and standing on that bridge you could see the stars. I mean REALLY see the stars. I haven't seen stars that bright in forever!! It was kind of fun to find those constellations that I learned about in astronomy last semester (which reminds me, I should dig out those notes and review). I love looking up into the night sky, at all the mysteries it holds. Once again, you feel the wonder of this world and overwhelming gratitude for such a beautiful place.

The mountains are really a special place. You can remove yourself from the world, take time to slow down and listen, and feel near to the Spirit. I know there are hundreds of analogies with mountains, but they really are true. I love the Lonestar song (I'm a country music geek) "Mountains." The chorus says, "The good Lord gave us mountains so we could learn how to climb." It's SO true. And once you get to the top and see the view...wow. Everything it took to get there is completely worth it.

I'm going again. Very soon. I'm going to crunch through leaves and throw rocks in the river like I'm six again. I love every minute of it.

PS I will be taking pictures of the colorful mountains tomorrow. Simply didn't have time today but wanted to share this for sure!!

That's Life

2011-10-14T21:59:00.004-06:00

From Monday:
Sinus infection turned cold turned to swollen nose bridge that requires a doctor visit and CT scan. Which means I missed my three classes today and need to get enough sleep tonight to make it to psych and physical science. yay.
From Tuesday:

Which of course didn't happen. At least physical science didn't mainly because I decided to come back from psych and take a nap and didn't wake up until seven which was an hour into physical science. It felt amazing to sleep that long :) I love naps...

So now it's Friday. My nose is even more swollen than before and it's just on the right side so the ENT doctor I saw on Wednesday wanted to see me again today but of course the only appointment they had available was during my writing class. ugh. So I haven't been to writing at all this week so I have a TON of homework and catch up to do this weekend. Plus I've been really homesick the past several days mostly because my mommy isn't here to take care of me, but also just because it's finally starting to sink in that I've actually moved out. For the longest time, BYU has really felt like an extended-stay EFY...

I love my siblings...Can you find Nathan?? :)

Next problem: What should my major be??? or at least What classes should I take next semester?? Because registration is in two and a half weeks. yikes! I have my list of the 180 or so majors at BYU and have slowly been narrowing them down. And then there's the classes dilemma... *deep sigh* I guess that's part of growing up.

Growing up really isn't all it's made up to be.

On the bright side:

my good friend Kaitlyn came to visit me!!! We grew up together in West Jordan. It was soooo much fun to catch up with her - thanks for coming Kaitlyn :)

which made me really excited for when I get to see her, Deanna, and Danielle (my best friends when I lived in Utah) in two weekends!!!! woo hoo!!

Stake Conference is this weekend which means I don't have to teach!! I mean, I love teaching Sunday School but it's kind of nice to get a break. But the next lesson is on Ephesians which includes the Armor of God which is pretty much my favorite lesson ever :) I love the New Testament :)

You know life would be a lot simpler if there was a religious studies major...my mind would be made up by now.

I get to have home-cooked food on Sunday night!!!! Don't get me wrong, I love the Cannon Center, but I still need something that's a little healthier and, well, homemade. I'm excited :)

So those are some things I try to think about as I get homesick or my nose starts to throb...before I go to put on a warm compress, let me just say one more thing.

Vocal Point. If you haven't heard about the BYU a capella group, now you have. They are competing on the NBC a capella competition "The Sing Off" and they are AWESOME!!! I look forward to watching that every other weekend right now as I don't have time on Monday night and don't really have time until Thursday or Friday night. They perform again this Monday night!! and I'm really excited :) haha just youtube their songs from "The Sing Off" and you'll see why....

Photo courtesy of NBC "The Sing Off"

Good bye, good night. Off to another warm compress, to finish laundry, and to write some letters!

Of Science and Songs

2011-10-05T00:30:00.001-06:00

Never again. Never. Three hours of physical science just about finishes me. And I have a test this Friday for that class. So how do I manage to stay awake during my least favorite subject for three hours?
Here is last week's productive three hours (yes I did still take notes, but my professor tends to go off on long tangents about economics, fantasies, childhood stories, and other unrelated subjects):

Yes. I am an obsessive compulsive doodler. I do need some new doodling subjects - my psych notebook is also covered in fish and awkward triangle-chin people. Any ideas??

Tonight I took my computer with me and managed to get some of my essay written that's due tomorrow. And I still took down some good notes from the night. Now to study for that test...

On another note...
country music is amazing, but not as awesome as Christmas music. I couldn't stand the wait any longer and broke out into my Christmas playlists tonight while working on my leadership blog post (see the links on the sidebar). Among my favorites:

Amy Grant - Grown Up Christmas List
Mannheim Steamroller - Deck the Halls
Rockapella - Little Mary Snowflake
Michael McLean - Homeless (from The Forgotten Carols)

So go crank up those Christmas carols and start getting in the spirit! I'm not totally out of my mind - it will start snowing in the mountains by next week. And I needed a little pick-me-up tonight. Getting a little homesick.

Back to homework and updating my tutoring availability. And then bed. Sleep would be good...maybe.

It's still unreal...

2011-10-03T23:21:00.002-06:00

I am 1400 miles away from my family and feeling rather home sick. I can't believe it's been a month since I came out to Utah! It still feels like I'm at an extended-stay EFY (Especially For Youth) because that seriously is what BYU is. well, minus the hours and hours of homework. But other than that it's pretty much the same thing.

So I need to stop using Facebook so much (especially after being told so in General Conference) so here I am finally updating my blog. Hopefully this will become a more regular habit...

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!!! Everyone is so incredibly kind and friendly; the Church plays into every single subject (my writing homework this weekend is to analyze the rhetorical strategies of the conference speakers); people openly talk about testimonies, missions, and getting ready for church lessons; we have a Family Home Evening group; I can attend the temple every single week; and so on. The guys here are amazing. I'll leave it at that for now :) And no I am NOT planning on getting married this semester, nor next semester, nor for several more years even if I am at BYU.

So here are just a few of the activities I've been up to since being away from home.

Football. Yes I am learning to enjoy the games. Of course the only one I've been to so far is the University of Utah game in which our Cougars pretty much got run over, but it was still fun :) By the way Cody Hoffman is in my Book of Mormon class - there's my claim to fame.

My amazing friend Alyssa - we were EFY roomies last year and got our football tickets together.

Below is the view of the halftime show from my aunt and uncle's box seats. We were actually sitting on the very far left edge of the bleachers in the background.

I have been to a choir concert (incredible!), a Jimmer All-Stars Event (got lots of pictures for Megan), and to Target (a big exciting adventure for us college students who have our own little world here on campus). I went to Rascal Flatts with my aunt Carly - so much fun!!!!

I have been to several devotionals, attended the General Relief Society Meeting with my aunts, go to Ward Prayer each week, and look forward to Family Home Evening as the highlight of my Monday. Seriously, it's the only reason I get through my Mondays.

I have heard 2 apostles speak at BYU - Elder Oaks at a CES Fireside and Elder Andersen for a devotional. I have the incredible opportunity to attend the temple each week and go with some of the people from my ward. Picture will be taken SOON :)

Yes, I had front row seats to the Jimmer All-Stars game. I sat with my uncle and it was awesome!! Anyways, this is probably the best picture I got of Jimmer actually smiling that night :)

Rascal Flatts is amazing! What more can I say? This was them performing "I Won't Let Go," one of my favorites!! :)
And this is my FHE group - they are AWESOME!!! I love these guys :) We went bowling and I actually got a strike for once in my life!!! The rest of the game was pretty awful but I started out with a strike!! I was pretty excited :) Anyways, this is me, Annie, Logan, James, Alec, Angela, Newel, Andy, Austin, and Kyle in front.

So yeah. That's pretty much my exciting life. I have mountains of homework to do and it's a hard realization to see that everyone here is just as smart as I am so I have to now work three times as hard to get the grades I had in high school. My last test was a bit of a wake-up call...haha I've also realized procrastination equals late nights. I do not like late nights therefore my procrastination levels are going down. sort of. It's a work in progress. I also need to start taking more pictures of my amazing adventures at BYU.

By the way, General Conference was amazing!!!! Even though I was away from my family for the first time ever and missed going through 72 hour kit snacks (though I did not miss eating the MRE's or made ready to eat meals that we've had for six years now), it was an awesome weekend of listening to the prophet and apostles and other general authorities speak.
My team-teacher and I will be having a kind of conference review activity in our Gospel Doctrine class on Sunday - I'm excited :) Did I mention I love conference??? Oh yeah, I was called as a Gospel Doctrine teacher in my ward. LOVE that calling - I learn so much about the New Testament and teaching everyone and getting to know the people in my ward is just such an awesome experience!

Just to show how busy I've been...here's my calendar from last month. It's NOTHING compared to this month.

And yes that does say "Fon't Dorget" on the far side. It's a joke that Rachel (my sister) tells and it makes me laugh and therefore helps me remember.

I LOVE this Church and I love being here at BYU!!! Go Cougars!!!

And remember to smile :)

By the way....

2011-04-17T15:05:00.001-06:00

I'M GOING TO BYU IN THE FALL!!!!!

Updates

2011-04-17T14:09:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone

I know it's been forever since I updated, but right now we're just using our family blog to keep everyone informed about what's happening right now. Follow the link below

holbrookchicago.blogspot.com

Thanks!

Valentine's Day!! a few days later...

2010-02-14T16:05:00.009-07:00

So Blogger is being dumb and wouldn't let me copy and paste the post I typed up into the posting box so I had to completely retype the whole thing then I forgot that it only puts the pictures at the top of the editing box and that the box is so small you can't move any of the pictures. So all my pictures are stuck here at the top of the post completely out of order. You might want to scroll down and read the post first before you look at the pictures. Regardless, I'm sorry I haven't blogged lately - life's been kind of crazy.

Birthday gift...a horseback ride with Dad! For Christmas, Dad started this whole Barbie-presents-the-present theme, so Mom also wrapped up a Barbie in a dress for the dress she gave me (which we are going shopping for this weekend).

My birthday cake...isn't he adorable!
Megan broke her arm at a basketball game, but she's handling the whole thing really well! Ironically, I was the first kid in our family to break a bone - my right arm right below the shoulder got fractured when I missed a trapeze bar and landed on a sprinkler head.

Another one of my birthday gifts - this little adapter has six headphone jacks. One is always attached to an iPod, and the others are open for headphones for everyone! You can also attach a second iPod and play two songs at the same time.

The immense icicle that was hanging precariously outside my bedroom window.

My hair is finally growing back - it's about an 1.5 inches long now.

Happy birthday to me!

The finished cake....

The cake in the works.

Nathan trying on my wig - doesn't he look cute!

Our new ping pong table!

Christmas day breakfast - homemade cinnamon rolls and quieche. Yum!

One of my gifts was money to purchase a laptop when I go to college! Dad decided to wrap up a Barbie and the theme kind of stuck for my birthday presents, too.

Christmas morning!

My last CT scan was completely clear, and my last heart tests were perfectly fine. We're just working on adjusting some med levels. I caught laryngitis the day after finals and missed the first week of second semester, but my voice is back and I'm feeling great!

Christmas was wonderful - everyone was healthy and feeling good! I especially enjoyed the break from homework, makeup work, etc. We had so much food and treats and presents! It's always such a cheerful time of year. New Year's Eve was fun - Nathan got a ping pong table for Christmas so we played many games waiting for the ball to drop. Most of us slept under the Christmas tree.

Then we come to January 7th - My 17th birthday! I've now had my license for a year! We went to California Pizza Kitchen (my favorite - the Thai Chicken Pizza is delicious!) for dinner. Mom and Rachel (who stayed home sick that day) created an amazing horse head cake from two round chocolate cakes and one 9x13 funfetti cake. It was delicious and adorable! I got some fun presents including piano music, a dress, and a horseback ride with Dad!! Obviously we have to wait for some slightly warmer weather until that can happen. At least it's improving - today the sun was actually out as we walked home from school!

I finished off the first semester with a 4.0 GPA. We've started having college nights and I took my first ACT on February 6. I've been looking out for scholarships to pay my way through college. I actually found one for $1993 if you were born in 1993 - it's amazing the things they'll give out scholarships for. It's a little frightening to think at this time next year I'll know what school I'll be going to! Yikes!

Besides that, nothing much has happened. Mom went to Utah last Wednesday and was gone until the 16th (Tuesday night). Since they had to cancel my flight to Utah last summer, we had a free ticket that had to be used before April. So Mom went to help out my aunt and uncle and visit her family. This was probably my first Valentine's Day without her here! We managed all right at home...we had food to eat every night and didn't stay up TOO terribly late watching the Olympics.

Valentine's Day was exciting - another heart day for me to celebrate! I can't believe it was five years ago I received my second heart transplant!

This week has been pretty crazy! Monday we had school off so I went and saw the Tooth Fairy with a friend. It was hilarious and totally clean! I highly recommend the movie! On Tuesday Megan broke her arm at a basketball game so Dad had to take her to the ER while Nathan hung out with me at our Young Women's activity. He came in handy when he taught all of us laurels how to do the Hoedown Throwdown for our upcoming talent show! Wednesday I had the honor of staying at school for 13 hours while Megan was at home with her broken arm and Rachel was home feeling nauseous. Nathan even woke up with a sore throat, but somehow I managed to stay healthy - ironic, but YAY! I had a long yearbook night and then had to go to a two hour meeting to fill out paperwork for National Honors Society. We'll have to see if anything comes of it...

Hope you're all enjoying the last few weeks of winter and watch some Olympics this weekend! Spring is finally in the air. Remember to keep smiling!

What are YOU Thankful for?

2009-11-29T18:18:00.001-07:00

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving
Please watch this video on Thanksgiving that was recently produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is so much to be thankful for this year!
I'll post more on my life as winter vacation comes...I'm finishing up some last bits of makeup work - YAY!

My young women's adviser gave us this bit of advice in her talk last Sunday:
Ask yourself this question everyday, "What am I thankful for today?" You'll be surprised at the things you come up with and the little blessings that pop up every day in your life.

Let's remember to be thankful and express that gratitude, especially for our Savior and His sacrifice for us, as the Christmas season approaches.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cancer Free is the Way to Be (and Stay)!

2009-10-23T18:23:00.006-06:00

It's been forever since I last posted, so I figured I'd better do that.

First off, chemo is done and the cancer is still gone!Hallelujah! My CT scan was on Wednesday and the doctor says that all is well - except for one irritated, but non-cancerous, lymph node, but she just wants to watch it. My heart biopsy last Thursday was totally perfect as well! So transplant just wants to see us in one month at clinic for an echo and EKG, and the oncologist says we don't need another scan for three months!!! I do have to get labs done every week or so, but those are really easy.

So, of course, with this all being over and done with, I have little fuzzies growing on my head :) that are fun to feel for. They actually look blond, so it will be interesting to see what my hair grows in to look like.

The youth in my ward planned a surprise party, so my Young Women's president came up to the door just as I had switched into my comfy sweats and taken my wig off - putting it on the banister that you can see through the front door window, so she was a little freaked out when she first saw that :) She came in and warned me that people were coming, so I raced to get my wig back on. It was really fun! We played a form of pictionary where everyone wrote down something they were grateful for and then we used those words. I wrote down my wig :) They got ice cream cake for everyone - chocolate cake on the bottom with mint chocolate chip ice cream on top! Yummy! I love ice cream cake! It was such a blast and so great for them all to think of me. My one leader got balloons - black and yellow - and put bees on them along with writing B+ on them as well. We had to explain that one to everyone - most of them didn't know about my blog. It was so cute! Since I hadn't seen anyone in a while (I'd just returned to Church that Sunday) it was great to hang out with everyone! Thanks!

To celebrate, we went out to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen - probably my favorite restaurant. I absolutely LOVE their Thai Chicken Pizza. Then Mom and Dad gave me tickets to go see the Dancing Horses up in Wisconsin tomorrow! I'm SO excited!! The whole family is going, and we're going to spend the day up there, do some food storage shopping, and head back down for the ward Halloween party.

The story behind the Dancing Horses: Most of you know I'm a horse nut. I love pretty much anything to do with anything about horses (one of my favorite movies is Dreamer with Dakota Fanning). So over the summer, this show came to Chicago called Cavalia - it's basically the same thing as Dancing Horses, but it's a higher-profile, Cirque-du-Soleil type acrobatics on horseback. Of course, I was in the hospital the entire time it was here, and the tickets were outrageously expensive. So, even though my siblings are a bit skeptical about seeing horses dance, I am way excited! I've wanted to see these types of horses for years and I can't wait!!!!

After going out to dinner and opening up the tickets, Mom shared the story of the memorial made by the tribes of Israel after they crossed the river Jordan on dry ground. She wanted to make something that would be a memorial for us to remember our experiences and the miracles in our family. We ended up making the poster that's in the picture below. We all traced our hands and made a circle out of them, and then put a big red heart in the center that says "Miracles Happen." Mom's currently working on getting it framed, and then it will be displayed for all of us to see. It will be a wonderful reminder of this time of my life.

I guess I should explain the circle sign - Rachel made it. The "C" could stand for chemo or cancer, but either way it symbolizes the whole experience being done and over with! It's currently hanging upstairs in my room on my closet door.

Along with celebrating, I'm back at school full time. Next week I'll be adding seminary back in as well. I'm slowly, slowly, slowly getting caught up - the process takes forever, but I'm almost there! Math and chemistry are the tough ones, though - there's so many assignments and everything builds on previous chapters, so it's hard to stay with the class when I am in school. I'll get it done, though.

Also with exciting news, for our school's Charity Bash Week this year (we have a ton of activities to raise money for a certain charity during the first week or so of December) I nominated Make-A-Wish. So that's our charity this year. Last year the school raised over 44 thousand dollars for Muscular Dystrophy Association. SO because of that nomination, I've been asked to give a speech at the kick-off assembly (yikes!) and will be in the school newspaper, Bear Facts (double yikes!) as a main article. It will be interesting to see how everything plays out... I actually need to scan in some pix this weekend of my wish and me currently for the Bear Facts article. I had an interview with the person writing it and she had a ton of questions! The interview would have gone way longer than 45 minutes if the bell hadn't rang! She wanted to know my entire medical history (with all the wonderfully complicated technical terms) and moving around and who my siblings were and what I did on my wish and why I'm so positive and why I nominated Make-A-Wish...things like that. There's also a video at the assembly that I need to give pictures to the student council for, but no one has contacted me yet so I don't know what they want or when they want it or what they want me to say at the assembly! Again, it'll be an interesting month.

So that's pretty much everything that's going on. I'm currently eating a chocolate ice cream sandwich (Skinny Cow, very delicious!) and trying not to think too hard about the pear I have to color for art, the essay by Thoreau that I have to analyze for English, or the 100 pages of my US history textbook I need to read to get caught up. No - I'm not stressed at all. Just a little worn out. And not to mention the thirty or so seminary makeups to do.

But it will get done - eventually. Some day.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers - they have helped to make yet another miracle happen in my life! Here's just a cute picture of me and Rachel:

The Past Few Weeks...

2009-09-29T16:16:00.002-06:00

So although this is the last round of chemo, the past few weeks have been less than enjoyable. I somehow managed to get a flu-viral thingy that's basically kept me out of school for two weeks. I had been going to school as much as I could before it, but I still have a TON of make up work to get done - not to mention the work from the days I'm missing now! Especially in my chemistry and AP classes, but the teachers have all been great about makeup work and getting everything done when I feel up to it.
The past two weeks have been pretty miserable: I've been congested, achy, random bouts of nausea, extremely exhausted, and running to the bathroom constantly. So of course, I haven't felt like doing any sort of school work at all. Two Fridays ago, Mom and I went to the hospital to get some fluids because I was up vomiting for a while the night before from this virus, and I ended up getting some blood which helped me perk up for a day or two. But of course it went back to worse. Last Saturday was absolutely awful - I sat around reading pointless fiction all day while I forced myself to try and drink something so I didn't get dehydrated and have to come to the ER and while I walked around the house slowly for fear of collapsing from exhaustion and wasted muscle. But by Sunday afternoon I was feeling much better.
Now it's Tuesday and I'm feeling so much better than I have for a while - not quite fully recovered so I would be able to go to school, but still a lot more energetic than before. And I'm in the hospital getting chemo for the next five days. Getting chemo certainly won't help me feel any better, and sitting in the hospital bed isn't going to make me gain any muscle mass. Oh well. At least it's the last round!!!!!! YAY!!! We're so excited this is almost over. I can't wait until it's time to go home and we can celebrate and I can recover and I can get back to school full time!
I can't believe it's already October! Mom brought some fall decorations to put up in the room instead of her summer luau lanterns. :) It brings a little cheer and variety to the same blue walls in every room.

Quick News!

2009-09-11T14:17:00.006-06:00

Sorry I've been such a slacker. I've felt fairly crummy ever since the third round of chemo started and have been busy with school work, etc.
But TODAY we went downtown for a clinic visit and to get the third dose of one drug - velcade - to finish off the round of chemo. Dr. Weinstein (my oncologist) didn't have official scan results last Friday when we were hospitalized, so today she shared the following:

The cancer is GONE!!

So here's the plan: no more fourth doses of velcade (which will hopefully reduce the insomnia) which means I don't have to go back to the hospital for TWO WHOLE WEEKS! That's a new record for the past few months. :) Then we'll do one more round of chemo - a second preventative - just to be sure the cancer stays away. Another five day hospital stay and then the velcade a few days after that. Then after two or three weeks we'll have another CT scan to make sure the cancer is still gone. Dr. Weinstein mentioned that this was perfect timing - the following week she goes on maternity leave!

Thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers. This has truly been a miracle! I still can't really believe that the cancer is gone. I know that this was only possible through the faith and prayers of my family and friends. I can't thank you all enough or express how grateful I am to my Heavenly Father for helping me and my family get through this trial.

I will post more about the past week within a few days, but I thought I'd share the good news with you all!

Lyrics to My New Favorite Song

2009-08-29T19:33:00.003-06:00

I recently purchased the song "You Know Better Than I," sung by Dallyn Vail Bayles. It was featured in the film Joseph: King of Dreams. This has become my newest favorite song (I have a lot) because of the words.
The song is basically a prayer that Joseph says while he is in the prison. The film shows Joseph upset for a while about all the trials that have happened to him. He eventually humbles himself once he realizes the Lord knows what's best for him. Joseph once again places his trust in the Lord and he is eventually let out of prison and goes on to become one of the most powerful leaders in Egypt.
Below are the lyrics. I am working on getting a song player for my blog, so for now you'll just have to check out the song on YouTube.

I thought I did what's right
I thought I had the answers
I thought I chose the surest road
But that road brought me here
So I put up a fight
And told you how to help me
Now just when I have given up
The truth is coming clear

You know better than I
You know the way
I've let go the need to know why
For You know better than I
If this has been a test
I cannot see the reason
But maybe knowing
I don't know is part of getting through
I tried to do what's best
But faith has made it easy
To see the best thing I can do
Is to put my trust in You.

For, You know better than I
You know the way
I've let go the need to know why
For You know better than I

I saw one cloud and thought it was a sky
I saw a bird and thought that I could follow
But it was You who taught that bird to fly
If I let You reach me
Will You teach me
For You know better than I
You know the way
I've let go the need to know why
I'll take what answers you supply
You know better than I

I Survived!

2009-08-29T19:00:00.006-06:00

The first week of school...it's over and I survived (barely)! It was so much fun to see all of my friends after the summer! Everyone gets so tan - I'll never be able to, especially if I'm hospitalized every summer! My insomnia is still a pain, but I managed through the week even though I needed a nap everyday. Mom let me sleep in on Wednesday and Thursday I came home early because of nausea, but Friday I went to every class! I came home for two hours because of an assembly, so I just slept in my own bed instead of the nurse's office. It was so nice to sleep in this morning - I slept until 10:30!

My classes are great, all of my teachers are incredibly nice, and I have a ton of friends in most of my classes. The homework load is horrible, though. I've had to stay up until at least ten every night just so I could get everything done for the next day. I do have a study hall, but I'm always nervous that I won't finish the assignment and I'd prefer to use the study hall for a nap in the nurse's office! :)

Here's the list of my classes (in order of how my day goes): Honors Pre-Calc, Art Foundations, Honors Chemistry, AP United States History, Intro to Drafting, AP English III, and Spanish 4 Honors. I have the most homework in my AP classes and Pre-Calc, but the art and drafting rarely give any homework so it all evens out. I really enjoy art because we're just doing basic drawing right now while we wait for art supplies to be delivered. It's SO relaxing - especially after first period math. In drafting we're doing some basic drawing as well of simple 3D shapes. I can't wait until we get to learn to use the autoCAD computer program!

Tomorrow is church and a seminary kick-off fireside. Seminary starts on Monday - yikes! I'm going to die from lack of sleep! I have a biopsy on Tuesday, a PET scan on Wednesday to see if the cancer has shrunk, and then Friday I'm hospitalized for round#3 of chemo.

I still have a ton of homework to finish up before I go to bed, but I wanted to make sure I at least let you all know how the first week at school went! Below are some pictures - enjoy!

Rachel's first day of freshman year! It's been fun seeing her at school. She's hating geometry and the homework load, but overall I think she's enjoying the high school.

Finishing up some AP US homework during breakfast. Ugh.

Still at home...

2009-08-21T15:11:00.012-06:00

I love being at home!

Friday August 21 - We went to the hospital for a quick visit today - I just needed some labs drawn, one chemo drug, and a shot. They had trouble accessing my port which was very traumatic for me and then the nurse used my left arm for the shot, so my entire left shoulder area is incredibly sore. But we got to come home without being admitted! YAY!
The doctor gave me a prescription that should help with my insomnia. So far I've been sleeping all right with it, but it's only really helping me fall asleep. Hopefully the problem will be solved before Tuesday when school starts. I was given an amazingly silky pillowcase that has helped a lot, too!
On Friday I actually went out in public without hair. Mom and I made an impromptu stop on the way home and I had only brought along a hat. I felt like everyone was staring at me, but more importantly I learned just how much heat you lose through your head. The store specializes in fresh produce, so the building is kept fairly cold. I was FREEZING! I also learned that hats can fly off your head a whole lot easier when there isn't hair to hold them down.

Saturday August 22 - I got my actual wig to keep!! The company in California fixed it so that it fits my head a whole lot better. It's a lot more breathable than the loaner wig and so much more comfortable! I wore it the rest of the day (which was only about five hours) to see how long I could last with it on. I also went over to a friend's house where we watched Confessions of a Shopaholic - very funny and practically clean chick flick. It was a great weekend - and the best part was I only got sick once.

Sunday August 23 - And so we reach today. I went to church which is always exciting when you've been gone for five Sundays. I got plenty of hugs and "welcome back"s and it was so much fun to see all of my friends again! Rachel helped me do my wig with a cute braid going off to the side. Lots of people commented on how great my hair looked :) One of the members of the ward is bald and I used to tease him about it (all of the youth do - the other night at our youth activity I told him I couldn't tease him anymore and he just laughed) so I decided to give him a laugh for the day and asked him if he uses soap or shampoo to wash his head. (Honestly, it's something you'd never think about, but I really have no idea what to use. I've just been using shampoo.) He thought it was pretty hilarious and told me he uses soap. We had a family friend over for a while and had family home evening with her - Rachel and Megan were in charge of the lesson and had us act out the story of Nephi and his family going across the desert to get to the Promised Land and how Nephi and Laman and Lemuel had different attitudes about the whole process. Very fun and memorable!

I was supposed to make dinner and some cookies today but ended up passing the dinner on to Megan to make (she wanted to, but Rachel was disappointed that I didn't make breadsticks) and taking a long nap. I did get to make cookies, but I've been feeling nauseous all night so it wasn't as enjoyable as usual.

Tomorrow we go to the hospital for the last of this round of chemo and some other drug that's supposed to prevent some infection. Then the rest of the family goes to the beach while I finish up my math packet and summer reading book. Yuck. And get my backpack all ready which won't take terribly long. I can't believe school is going to start! I'm so excited - and I'm glad the first day is a half day so that I can try out my wig and see how long I last. Not looking forward to the makeup work, but maybe it'll be somewhat light the first week or so. I'm excused from PE (again) so I do have a study hall right before lunch - a nice two-period block I can use to go take a nap in the nurse's office if I need to.

Below is a picture of me with the new wig and no braces! It'll be interesting to see what people say on Tuesday...

More to come later in the week! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers - they're working! Cancer be gone!

I'm HOME! Again.

2009-08-19T19:05:00.006-06:00

Well, actually, I have been home for 33 hours, but I am trying to finish part of my summer reading book so that I can say I have had a productive day. I got home yesterday around 11:00 am. I took a hot shower, a 3 hour nap, and had salmon and couscous for dinner. A wonderful change from the hospital menu. I only slept 5 hours because two of the drugs cause insomnia and I can't sleep. My current sleeping helps are my iPod and reading my scriptures with the help of a booklight.
This morning I worked on my math packet and now I only have 1 page left! Then I took another nap - only an hour and a half, so hopefully I'll be able to sleep better tonight because I didn't let myself take another nap today. I also went to the high school today to walk through my schedule. I drove for the first time in a while and I couldn't drop myself off at the door, so we had to walk a long way to get into the school. School starts next week on Tuesday!!! Megan got her braces taken off today so Rachel is not incredibly happy (again). We had a wonderful dinner of pot roast and fresh salad that someone brought over. Delicious! You can never get pot roast from the hospital and I don't really trust their salads.
More adventures await tomorrow: going to Old Navy, cleaning out my room, and finishing my summer reading book (yay).
Hopefully Rachel will be able to cure me of my not-updating-blog-itis (Rachel's own word) soon, so that I can continue to keep everyone posted.

Sunday, August 16 - Chemo Day #3

2009-08-16T15:00:00.006-06:00

Here's how the past several days have gone!

Thursday Aug. 13 - Still at home. Rachel and I walked through our schedules (fun, fun, fun!) at the high school. She is very happy that I don't really use my locker so she will be able to put her books in it. She'll be the only freshman with a half decent locker - hers is over in a tiny hallyway by the boys locker room. We picked up my retainers from the ortho - lovely clear plastic thingys that clip over my teeth and are a pain, but at least the braces are gone!!! We went out to dinner at Pizza Hut (YUM!) and visited with some friends from church and got some delicious ice cream from our local Oberweis. Mint chocolate chip - my favorite!

Friday Aug. 14 - Mom and I woke up at the crack of dawn so I could shower before coming to the hospital. We had an echo at 8:30 in the morning (ugh) which a fellow performed which means there was a teacher with him because he's still learning which means the echo took twice as long as it should have. Then we went and waited in the oncology clinic for vitals, seeing the doctor, getting my port accessed, having my PICC line pulled (YAY), and seeing the pictures of the CT scan to see how the cancer had shrunk. Even though I'm not a doctor, it was fairly obvious that the mass of lymph nodes is shrinking. The mass also had a less defined shape which the doctor says means that the cells are dying. Something called neucrosis... The chemo recipe this time consists of five drugs. I am currently on my fourth dose of the fifth drug. It's kind of crazy when you think about it - the nurses have to use these special blue gloves that are chemo tested and use special bags that say DANGER and yet they infuse it into my body. Of course, they try to flush it out as quickly as possible to let it kill what it needs to, but still, kind of ironic, don't you think?

Now more general on how the past few days have gone. I haven't been nauseous - YES! - and haven't gotten the mouth sores either - YAY! - at least, not yet. Hopefully none of that will happen. I'm getting pounded with anti-nausea meds before each chemo dose and I have this weird patch behind my ear that is supposed to help with nausea, too. I've just been lucky with the mouth sores. They eliminated one of the drugs that tends to cause really bad mouth sores, so that's probably why I've been lucky.

Dad stayed Friday night with me and most of the day Saturday. We played some games, I took some naps because I find it nearly impossible to sleep at night, and started watching the new Race to Witch Mountain. We've been catching bits of the Air and Water show - we saw some planes flying around yesterday and we've been hearing them all day today. We can't really see many because it's rainy and overcast, but a couple planes have come really close by!

Mom switched Dad out Saturday afternoon and brought tons of goodies - homemade carmel popcorn (no braces = carmel popcorn is allowed!!!) and zuchini bread along with some mail and these hats I ordered online from a gift certificate from a friend. There are three things: a pink sleep cap, a navy tie hat (it's basically a piece of soft cotton that fits over your head), and this hair piece that velcroes into hats. I'm really excited to try that out once I get home.

Here's the velcro hair that we kind of snuck under one of the hats I brought to the hospital.

This is the navy tie hat (which I have deemed the pirate hat) and my delicious carmel popcorn!

The Young Women came to visit today which was really fun! I got to see some friends that have been out of town for a while and some friends that I just haven't seen for a while because I've been gone. They were very cheering and a wonderful change from the dragging on of hospital days.
This is my Young Women's president, Sister Butler.

I'm getting an anti-nausea med in a few minutes that kind of knocks me out so we'll see how that goes. I'm getting the fourth dose of cytoxan (you can look it up if you really want to) in about forty minutes. The rest of the day consists of dinner, fluids, lots of trips to the bathroom, and a movie about President Hinckley.

Home Day #1 (actually #5)

2009-08-12T18:54:00.015-06:00

Today has been CRAZY!!! I did get to sleep in, though, so I'm not going to complain. Tomorrow will be another story....anyway. Here are pictures of the past few days, and then I'll go through my day.

First of all, I had a blast at mutual last night. It was so much fun to see everyone and the activity was so creative! It was fun to see all of the seniors before they leave.

Lincoln Young is about the cutest two-year-old on the planet! He was loving playing with the train set that we have - every little kid who ever comes to our house loves it! It's the greatest toy you could ever buy for your kids. It was such a blast having him and Jen visit, even though I really only got to play with them for a few hours once they got home from Nauvoo. Anyway, here's some cute pix of Lincoln and a video of him with one of the train set pieces.

Lincoln knows his colors - here he proudly displayed the blue train for Rachel.

Lincoln was SO cute with Dad - he went around calling for Uncle Blair in his cute little two-year-old voice and read some stories with Dad. He wasn't as cute reading stories with me, but it was fun to have an excuse to read some old pop-up books :)

Lincoln went around a lot of the night going "cheeeeeeese" with this smile. He especially did it while he ate his chocolate cake - YUM! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Now isn't that just the sweetest little face ever!

Funny story with this picture: Dad had a wonderful Sunday being Bishop - he came home smiling and singing and he wouldn't stop smiling all day and kept saying "I've had such a great day"- so when he got home and was done with all of his meetings, he got into the treats. Mom was teasing him about not eating anything healthy, which he admitted to, but then he pulled out the ice cream and started singing into a spoon. Maybe it was a had to be there moment, but it was funny at the time.

The next three pictures have to do with my PICC line. The first one, Mom is flushing my line - never a fun experience - with saline (salt water). The second one shows the levaquin antibiotic hooked up to the line. The last one shows how I truly feel about the whole thing.

And now we reach today. Mom gave me my 6 am meds which only need to be given because the pill has to be given two hours before another pill. A pain for her and me. Then she let me sleep until 9 (yes, that's sleeping in here) to take my 8 am meds. Then I showered - still so much fun to dry my head - and cleaned my room. It was covered in get-well gifts and cards, and this is probably the only time I'm going to feel like cleaning it. I was supposed to do a deep cleaning and go through my closet and some piles of papers from school, but those are currently on hold. Then I brought my math packet and AP english book down to attempt to make dents in them - neither are very fun especially when you're feeling crummy - but that didn't really work. I think I've done one page in the 12-page math packet and read two chapters in my 300 page book. Anyway, some friends came over to visit. Their kids are so cute. I grabbed some lunch before my friend from school came over. It was so much fun to see her! We talked for an hour and a half about everything - I haven't seen her since school let out!

Then we rushed to the ortho. I got my braces off today!! YAY! Rachel's only consolation is the fact that I have to get them back on. It was pretty awful - once they got the actual metal off they had to scrape all the adhesive stuff off the teeth. It was like nails on a chalkboard for 20 minutes in my mouth. But there was no pain. And they're gone so I get a retainer tomorrow and I don't have to worry about them for a long time. I got them off so that they don't add to the pain of mouth sores and the oncologist recommended taking them out so they aren't another source for infection. There's a picture below of all my bald glory with the braces gone. Uncle Jeff - I don't know why you're going in to ortho, but I hope you don't have to take too many sets of braces off that you'll have to put back on.

Megan took this pic because she didn't like the one I took of myself. This one is better, but it's hard to look good when you're bald and you have a lame yearbook t-shirt on.

I was exhausted once I got home so I took my daily nap. I felt a ton better afterwards. Then we relaxed for a bit and I worked on my math packet (yay) and Mom and Rachel fixed dinner. After dinner they left to go shopping and I've been working on updating the blog. So that's how today went!

So I'm starting to feel a little nauseous, but hopefully it will go away. Hopefully I'll be able to blog once or twice before I go into the hospital on Friday - we have to be there at 8:30 in the morning. UGH! Tomorrow Rachel and I are walking our schedules and I'm meeting with a teacher about Charity Bash - a two week period at our school where there are a ton of activities that are all focused on raising money for a certain charity. This year they chose Make-A-Wish because of a letter that I wrote so I'm supposed to give a speech at the assembly, but I might not be there. We'll see how the meeting goes.

Have a wonderful day and remember to smile and B+! I love you all!

CT Scan Today Shows...

2009-08-11T16:10:00.005-06:00

Today was the wonderful CT scan to see if the cancer has gone, shrunk, stayed the same, or grown. The preliminary results show:

IT SHRANK!!!!

So I'll have to do at least 2 more rounds of chemo, which stinks, but at least the chemo seems to be working. The doctor is going to call us on Thursday with a more definite plan (the recipe of drugs to be used) and we're scheduled to be admitted on Friday. This is kind of strange - we rarely have scheduled admissions. We always go in through the ER.

The next two days will be full of excitement: I'm going with Rachel to the high school to walk through our schedules, I'm visiting a young women's leader, I'm being visited by various people, and I'm going to mutual tonight! Hopefully I'll be exhausted by Friday and will just be able to sleep through the whole chemo experience.

Jen and Lincoln left to go home to Utah today. It was so much fun to play with them last night! Lincoln has the cutest face and was so talkative and cute!

I'm getting my braces off tomorrow - Rachel is horribly jealous, but I will have to get them back on. At least they won't get in the way anymore of my mouth sores which are pretty much guaranteed to come back with chemo.

That's pretty much everything that's going on! Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Home Again!!

2009-08-08T16:09:00.014-06:00

I got to come back home last night!!! I am so grateful for my wonderful bed with soft sheets and squishy pillow. I didn't sleep a ton, but at least it was in my own bed. I am also incredibly grateful for a wonderfully hot shower which has now been cut in half because I don't have hair to wash. :) And the food at home is SO much better than the hospital food - even if I have to fix it myself.

So here is how the first night home went: Mom and I got home around 3 and I went straight upstairs to sleep in my bed. Dad came home from work to help with getting prescriptions and other home-care stuff. Mom got my med schedule all written out for the night before she had to leave to go pick up Rachel from band camp. I came home with a PICC line - a semipermanent IV - which required some equipment from home health. When that was delivered, Dad figured out how to flush my line and run this antibiotic that the doctors wanted me to finish with the PICC at home. The drug - levaquin - is the weirdest thing. It comes in this ball that automatically infuses without a pump or beeping or anything. Here's a pic of what it looks like:

Dad and I watched George of the Jungle while that infused and I took all my meds. Rachel and Mom got home late so we all went to bed kind of late, but we enjoyed our night together. I forgot how much I missed my family members - Rachel just has that positive energy that keeps us all laughing! It's kind of weird only having the four of us home - Megan and Nathan are with Jen in Nauvoo - but it's been fun spending time with Rachel.

Today has been eventful because we got my wig!! YAY! The morning began with the home health nurse, Joanna, coming by to draw blood off my PICC (yuck) and then a nice hot shower! Rachel slept in, so I read for most of the morning while Mom went to the temple and Dad ran some errands. Mom has been amazing at figuring out my med schedule and getting everything done on time. My meds have overrun the kitchen table - tomorrow we will be finding a new home for them.

Now for the wig. My friend who lives down the street has a disease called alopecia which makes it so her body doesn't grow hair normally. Her mom runs a salon where she specializes in doing wigs and hair pieces for other people with alopecia, or people like me who lose their hair with chemo. She was able to get me this really nice wig and we went to pick it up today. She gave us a bunch of stuff and showed us all how to take care of it. Dad and Rachel tagged along, so at least four of us know how to take care of the wig. It'll be fun to wear it to church tomorrow! Here are pix:

It's pretty fun to be able to put my hair on the styrofoam head :)

The bandage on my arm is covering the PICC line - there isn't anything wrong with my arm.

That's all I have energy to write about tonight. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts and cards! I know I'm home and doing so well because of your faith and prayers.

Thursday August 6

2009-08-06T20:37:00.003-06:00

The past few days have been kind of rough, what with my hair falling out and just being sick of being in the hospital. Yesterday was just rough with me feeling depressed. Mom and I watched the Wedding Planner (very funny movie) to take our mind off of everything. My aunt and cousin and siblings came to visit again yesterday so it was fun to see them all. Lincoln was so adorable - he gave me the biggest hugs - in exchange for some candy of course :) They left for Nauvoo earlier today to visit my Grandma and Grandpa.
I had a heart biopsy scheduled for this afternoon so I wasn't allowed to eat until after the procedure. I was starving by the time I went back for the procedure at 2 in the afternoon! The morning was rough - I had two random nausea attacks which we quickly suppressed with some anti-nausea med which knocked me out for a while. Mom and I watched a cool Oprah today about animals that people have formed bonds with. One couple has a pet hippo and another elephant on a reservation was best friends with a dog. I caught up on emails before the nausea attacks, too. So I pretty much slept until the biopsy which didn't take too terribly long and then I pigged out on sandwiches. I haven't had a sandwich in so long - it was delicious!! Turkey with american and swiss cheese, two dill pickles and lots of mustard! YUM!!
Barb, the mom of the girl I got my second heart from, came to visit today. She brought me some chips and onion dip which I have had the biggest craving for for no good reason. So that just made my day even better!
Now we've finished battling with residents about medications and getting home tomorrow, so we're going to sleep and hopefully have another wonderful day tomorrow!

Video of MY HAIR!!

2009-08-04T21:09:00.003-06:00

I wouldn't wish this on anyone!!

The Pictures...

2009-08-04T20:11:00.007-06:00

Here are the pictures as promised. My head is ugly and mole-covered, but I can deal with it. I do already have a wig picked out and as soon as I leave we're going to get some pix with it on. But here's what we have for now.

This picture was taken Monday - the day I LEFT the hospital.

This is what has occurred since then - most specifically the past 48 hours:

It is the strangest sensation to put my hand to my head and feel little wisps. My head is kind of cold, but it's kind of nice to have the hair off of my neck. There are a couple of parts that are hanging in there, but I'm sure they'll be gone before long, too.

My nurse, Lindsie, brought in some hats to try on for fun.

This is the one we decided to keep - it was one of the less eccentric!

Thought you'd enjoy these two! We kept the orange bow one for laughs.

GO BEARS!

My adorable cousin Lincoln came to visit!! Along with my aunt Jen, of course. He is so big and talkative!

He was very helpful in opening up a present for me.

Isn't he CUTE!!!!

So that's what's been happening today in room 403!

Hopefully more excitement will come tomorrow!!

The Days Go On

2009-08-04T19:55:00.003-06:00

So I'm still here at the hospital, but at least it's me telling the story again and not one of my wonderful parents or siblings.
Sunday was a great day. Amber (my friend) and her Mom came to visit which brought much needed cheer! My hair began pulling away from my head in clumps that day which were extremely itchy and painful to sleep on. Sunday night we moved up to room 403 away from the noise and lights of the wonderful PICU. I slept SO much better with the help of some pain killers and ativan.
Monday was another wonderful day. I was finally able to sleep, so I slept most of the day. Mom and Dad swtiched each other out for the night. When I did wake up, we finished tearing out my hair which was an absolutely awful experience. I'm going to put on some pictures later. Dad and I watched National Treasure 2 (amazing movie!!) and then went to sleep. My head didn't itch for the night.
Tuesday has been another wonderful day. It was really hard to actually look in the mirror and see my two-and-a-half years of post-chemo hair was gone. So there's been a lot of crying today. My aunt Jen and her two-year-old Lincoln came to visit (they flew in to Chicago to go see my grandparents who are out in Nauvoo). He is so BIG and CUTE!!! It was rather ironic that I was supposed to be visiting them in their house today - not them visiting me. Oh well. I'll take a big vacation next summer. We pulled out the rest of what there really is to pull out and cut off the bigger chunks that looked awkward. We also tried on a bunch of hats which was kind of fun. I'll put on some pictures in the next post.
Thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers. Thanks for helping out my family during this trial. You are all amazing and I love you all! Tomorrow brings visitors and an echo - perhaps another step toward home!

Some Improvement

2009-08-02T13:20:00.004-06:00

Sunday afternoon - Aug 2
Lauren is showing great improvement today. She is moving out of ICU and is off all the heart support meds. Her body is responding to the antibiotics, although we are still unsure of the actual bug. This all could be just an inflammatory response to the chemo. You can always tell when Lauren feels better becuase she begins to talk and give directions. She can feel the effects of fasting and prayers on her behalf today. The saddest part of my day has been combing her hair and having tufts come out on the brush. We read 2 Nephi 4:20-35 and inserted phrases that applied to her life. It was a sweet experience. Renee

Friday, July 31

2009-07-31T14:27:00.002-06:00

This is Rachel posting again. Yesterday, Thursday, was a great day. Lauren went to try on wig options and found one that was really cute. She even played a game with me and Megan. However, then she was up half the night barfing. She had a really low blood pressure and her heart was beating extremely fast. In fact, her blood pressure was so low that our machine couldn't even get a reading. So, Dad took her to the hospital this morning. Mom thinks she was just dehydrated because she was throwing up gallons of loveliness. She is now in ICU where they are treating her for an infection that they aren't sure even exists. Her chemo lowers her white blood count so it makes it hard to fight infection. They are also giving her meds to help her heart pump better. They're also giving her fluids and she was feeling a bit better last time Mom checked. A closing remark from me: I get my mom for 16 more hours til she switches out my dad.

the end.

(we wish)

I'm HOME!!!

2009-07-28T17:51:00.002-06:00

Finally - after two weeks in the hospital, I'm back home and it feels so good! Over the weekend it was pretty much just getting chemo drugs and managing nausea and pain and dealing with residents and fellows (never a pleasant experience). I was supposed to get home Sunday night, but one of the doctors who told us we would be going home overlooked the fact that I was supposed to get 12 hours of hydration after the drug. So I went home 24 hours later instead.
A nurse from home health came to give me a shot which is supposed to help boost my blood counts until the next cycle of drugs. I have to go back for some heart tests this and next week, but I don't have to have a scan for a while. So I've been hanging out at home for the past day and my mouth is still killing me - any ideas for helping mouthsores? I coated my braces with wax and that helped, but you have to take the wax out to eat which is such a pain. I've been forcing down as much as I can, but very few things sound tasty. All in all, I'm just zapped. I went to bed soon after we came home last night and then I took a shower this morning - it felt SO GOOD!! Be grateful for your own bathrooms and showers - they're amazing! I've been sleeping and watching movies most of the day and now I am updating this blog. And that's pretty much all that has happened.
Rachel is hilarious - I forgot how loud she can be! She was telling me all sorts of stories about yearbook camp (yes, there is such a thing) and wondering what would be preppy for her to wear for her marching band camp. The trumpet section is supposed to dress preppy so any ideas would be welcomed. Megan is also becoming a little louder and crazier - she must have found her voice once Rachel left. And Nathan is just as cute as ever! They've all been great about helping me out at home.
Thank you to everyone else who has been helping my family. We all appreciate the food, the transport, the care, etc. everything. I'm so grateful for all of your prayers in my behalf. I'll keep you updated as the days progress!

Sunday, July 26

2009-07-26T16:25:00.002-06:00

This is Rachel posting becasue Lauren is feeling gross. Apparently, she threw up all night long and does not feel so great today. She keeps spacing out and is dizzy. Her blood pressure is really high and she feels achy all over. Hopefully she gets over all of it so she can come home tomorrow.

Hospital Photos

2009-07-23T17:20:00.008-06:00

So here are the pictures I promised! These are just of the hospital. Someday I'll be putting up pictures of Girls Camp and other summer activities. If you want to see the picture bigger just click on it.

In the fancy ambulance-transport chair - those things are amazing!

On the way to the ambulance!

Acting weird - I pretended I was having a serious problem where I couldn't breathe.

Here are the transport people putting me into the ambulance.

Being weird again - I was acting freaked out about being stuck in the ambulance :)

Here's the security guard from the ambulance story!

My backside looked like this a few days ago: the white patches are the lidoderm patches that contain lidocaine to numb the area and the gray circles are hooked up to the TENS machine that gives little electrical impulses that feel like a massage for a while.

Lounging around in a chair - I got sick of the gowns so I've been wearing sweats a lot.

Some of the young men in my ward came to visit. It was fun to see them all! Thanks for coming by you guys - it helped bring a smile to my day!

The cookies are delicious - a big thank you to Dad's company!

The cute flowers from the young women - thank you so much!

How I try to feel about getting the chemo...

..how I REALLY feel about getting the chemo.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! We'll have more to update you on tomorrow!

Update #3 - Day 1 of Chemo

2009-07-22T17:09:00.010-06:00

Wednesday July 22nd: The day I was supposed to be on a plane to Utah. Instead I'm stuck here in the hospital getting medication that will probably make me feel sick later. Oh well. The morning did not start out very fun - after having some labs drawn, I couldn't eat any breakfast because I was going under heavy sedation that would make me sick if I did eat. Around 8:30 I had the procedure which was a spinal tap and bone marrow biopsy, during which the oncologist also pushed some chemo into my spine. Thankfully, the spinal tap showed no signs of the cancer spreading anywhere into the spine, but we still haven't heard what the bone marrow biopsy results were. I puked once we got back to my room from the procedure, but only a little bit. We figured that was from the sedation medicine. That chemo in my spine was really the only chemo I received all day until later in the night.
I had an echo at 3:00 to check my heart function (yucky gel) and my siblings came to visit with Mom to switch out Dad. They brought some adorable get well posters (which I'll post pix of soon) and some fake flowers that the young women had sewn for their activity. They are ADORABLE! And they'll last for forever - thank you so much! You guys are the best! They also brought a cookie boquet that my Dad's company gave to me. Thanks to the Walgreens Team at Colgate - the cookies are delicious! My back pain was basically gone, though there was a still a bit a throb and my spinal tap site was still sore if I accidentally put pressure on it. Ron Blasinski came to visit after the echo - he's the Dad of the girl I got my second heart from. We chatted for a while and he brought us some chocolates which are fantastic! It was good to see him - I haven't seen him in forever because he's been busy working on his house in Indiana. Thanks for dropping by Ron - it was really good to see you smiling! Dr. Pahl, my transplant cardiologist, dropped off some movies that her daughters had picked out for us to borrow - they should keep me busy for a while!
We stopped one of my pain meds, Lyrica, because it can interfere with one of my chemo drugs, but the other painkiller, Tramadol (which was started yesterday) seems to be helping quite a bit. Around 7:30, we were moved to the fourth floor because they have the ability to do some certain tests quickly that would take days for the fifth floor to get done that are critical to continuing chemo. The nurse on the fourth floor, Margie, seemed to be really nice and it's nice to know that she knows exactly what she's doing in giving the chemo. I'm in room #405. If you want to call, you can reach me by the number 773-880-3230. You may have to ask for my room number.
We started the prednisone that night and the Rituximab was infused around 8. I did puke before the infusion was over, but we attributed it to the spinal chemo. The Rituxmab infusion took three hours, and I was given some Ativan and Kytril (an anti-nausea drug) that both sent me into a deep sleep. Later in the night, I got some Vincristine which was a one minute push along with some prednisone. The first day was finished with the Methotrexate which I get only once each cycle. This time I got it at five in the morning. Technically, that would be today (which is Thursday - yes I'm blogging late, sorry) but I'll just start that day now.

Thursday July 23rd: So today I was supposed to be going with Greg and Wendy to the temple open house. I hope you guys took lots of pics to email me - I was so sad about missing that event and seeing your family! Anyway, I slept soundly the whole night long and woke up with no back pain at all! It's a miracle - thank you to everyone for your prayers and fasting in my behalf. Now we just have to lick this cancer, and I'm good to go!
I got another echo around 7:30 (everyone wants to get everything done so early around here!) which showed that everything is fine and dandy with my heart. The nurse gave me some more Kytril around 9 in the morning, so I struggled to stay awake to eat and watch Oprah with Mom, but I just had to go to sleep around 10. I didn't even wake up until 2 in the afternoon. It felt SO good to sleep that long! :) I've been on fluids to help flush the chemo out of my kidneys, so I've had to run to the bathroom like crazy all day - that's what probably woke me up! :)
We got the PET scan results from Monday: the cancer is only in the spots where we expected it to be which means we caught it before it spread anywhere else! We've also been doing some research on me getting a free wig and I've downloaded the photos onto our computer so I'll be posting those soon. They also put me on this weird pill that sits in the back of my tongue that I'm supposed to use like a cough drop. It works like the liquid Nystatin, but it has no taste which is AMAZINGLY wonderful!
Mom and I are going to eat dinner soon - the food here isn't horrible, but I do crave something homemade. My bathroom on this floor has a shower and tub, but the walkway from the toilet to the sink is so narrow, I can barely squeeze past my IV pole to wash my hands! At least I get my own shower, though. The next drug doesn't start until eight o'clock tomorrow morning - unless you count the oral meds. It's going to be a fairly easy night again - I think they're planning on giving me Ativan again to help me sleep. Maybe we'll watch a movie.

I'll post some pictures tonight from the hospital stay. Enjoy! I love you all! And thank you for your prayers - miracles do happen and they are happening right now.

Update #2 - Chemo needed

2009-07-21T20:34:00.006-06:00

Tuesday July 21st: Today was a rather eventful day. As I said before, today the oncologist (cancer doctor) was going to come in with a plan. First off, I had a horrible night! The pain in my back kept me up most of the night and the TENS unit didn't really help - it just became irritating. Heat packs helped for a while, but I just am not comfortable in a laying down position, which I am craving so I can go to sleep. It's really hard to sleep when you're sitting up no matter how many pillows are supporting your head. So I'm taking a valium tonight to help me sleep better. Anyway, we officially woke up for the day around seven and had breakfast. Then I took a wonderful shower in boiling hot water that felt SO GOOD on my back! So that helped me feel a ton better. The pain doctors stopped my continuous dose of painkiller (that I believe I am now resistant to) which is one more step to getting home! A massage therapist came by around 10:30 and gave me a full body massage: head, neck, back (of course), legs, and arms. It felt SO good and put me to sleep. The IV team came and re-accessed my port after a late lunch. The ports are special because they are a prime target for infection, so the dressing has to be changed often, the caps on the tubing has to be changed every three days, and the actual needle has to be changed every week. Which stinks for me, but it wasn't too painful.
Then the oncologist, Dr. Weinstein, came in with her plan. The biopsy showed the PTLD which was also EBV positive and is a type of B-cell lymphoma called plasmablastic lymphoma. I have no idea what that means except that it is extremely agressive and can spread quickly - especially to the spinal fluid which would not be good. Surgery wouldn't help because lymph nodes really shouldn't be removed and they are tissue that has something that makes them difficult to remove. So no surgery. We've decreased my immunosuppression medication (the meds that help keep my body from rejecting the heart) to try and help with treating the cancer.

So here's the plan: we start chemo tomorrow. Dr. Weinstein is going to do a spinal tap and bone marrow biopsy on me in the morning as well as inject some chemo drugs into my spinal fluid. This will all happen while I'm under very heavy sedation. Then the first drugs will begin. She will be giving us a schedule tomorrow of the drugs I'm supposed to get and when, so I'm not exactly sure what I'll be getting tomorrow. I'll let you know. The medications being used in this "recipe" (for those of you who are interested in the technical medical info) are: prednisone (at a very high dose), cyclophosphomide, adriamycin, vinchristine, rituxmab (possibly), methotrexate, and I think there's one other that I didn't write down. The cycle of meds begins tomorrow and will last for 4-5 days. Each med is different: some are continuous drips, some are pills, some are quick infusions. After that first cycle, there's a rest period of 2 to 3 weeks which is when side effects, such as losing hair, will begin to show. The oncologist wants a scan two weeks after the cycle has been finished to see how the cancer is responding. She doesn't expect it to be fully gone, but she is very optimistic that it will have decreased since she is using a rather heavy dose of this chemo "recipe." The cycles have to be completed in the hospital, so I would be inpatient for 4 to 5 days with each cycle that happens. Hopefully we'll only need 2 or 3. Dr. Weinstein says that the drugs she's using are much less intense - when it comes to side effects - than the ones I was given last time with chemo, but it's hard for me to imagine that. Hopefully I won't be too nauseous and can just be knocked out of it the whole time by painkillers and anti-nausea meds. :-) The good thing about these drugs is that some of them are actually used in treating rejection, so the transplant team isn't terribly worried about my heart. The drugs basically dissolve or melt the cancer and then it exits the body through the kidneys and out as human excretement. That's the plan to get rid of the cancer and we're praying it will work.

On the happier side of the day, after that I was pretty much in pain for a while. After crying for a while, I took a nap again and Mom and I took a walk and played some Racko. We both have been working on some brain puzzles that Rachel so generously is letting us use (thanks Rach!). Dad's actually working on one right now and it's kind of funny to watch him think so hard at 10:30 at night. :) Dad came with Nathan to switch out Mom, and six of the young men in my ward came to visit along with the YM president. They brought some treats and visited for a while. It was very cheering to see some familiar faces from the normal world that I am currently not a part of. Once they left, Mom, Dad, Nathan, and I hung out for a bit and took a family walk, then Mom and Nathan left. I got unhooked from my IV painkiller for a while to see how I do (just until midnight) so Dad and I took a long walk to look at the skyline and explore the floor while I didn't have to push an IV pole around. So that's been today! Hopefully I'll sleep long and peacefully without pain tonight! Thank you for your prayers and fasting for me - they have been keeping me strong and positive throughout this experience. I love you all!

Hospital Update #1

2009-07-20T19:45:00.007-06:00

Since the fourth of July I've had this back pain along with some belly pain that's kept me up at night and made regular activities rather difficult. I made it through youth conference all right, and then was okay during the three-hours of Church on Sunday, so we assumed I would be okay on the trip to Nauvoo that would start on Monday. So here's the story of what's happened over the past week:

Monday July 13th: We were all packed and ready to go to Nauvoo so I was going to stick it out with my current back pain which wasn't horrible. We spent five hours in the car - the pain spiked once really badly, but it quickly went back down to a more stable and tolerable level. When we arrived, my pain began to spike again and it wouldn't go down. We visited with Grandma and Grandpa Hyde for a bit (they're serving a six-month temple mission in Nauvoo) and went down to the visitor's center to see one of the shows that the performing missionaries put on. After the show, my pain was again spiking (this whole time I was carrying a lime green squish pillow that Rachel so generously gave to me that helped the pain in my belly a bit) so Mom and Dad figured out where the local hospital was with the best emergency care: Keokuk Hospital. We drove there while the kids hung out with Grandma and Grandpa and Mom checked me in. While we were sitting there not feeling very good about our decision, this lady came out saying, "He's such a quack. He shouldn't even be a real doctor." That pretty much solidified our decision for Dad to drive me the six hours back here to my regular hospital, Children's Memorial. We ate dinner with my grandparents before we left, and it was nice that we had everything we would need (toothbrush, toothpaste, underwear, etc.) for a long hospital stay. On the drive we listened to my iPod until it ran out of battery and watched Eight Below (a very intense movie that is guaranteed to keep a driver awake even if he can just hear the sound) and had some pretzels and sunflower seeds. We arrived at the Emergency Room at about 1:30 in the morning.

Tuesday July 14th: I got rushed in to the ER since I'm a transplant patient and I got a nurse, Katie, who had been working in the OR where I had me biopsies done. So I got my port accessed painlessly and they gave me a dilaudid bolis (a big dose of a heavy painkiller) which pretty much knocked me out for a while. They took an x-ray which was very painful because it hurt to lay flat and I had to lay on this hard metal table with no support whatsoever. They also did an ultrasound of my abdomen which was fairly painful as well because of the belly pain I had been having. Eventually we moved upstairs to the fifth floor around 8 or 9 in the morning to the room I have always been in: room 517. They got me drinking some contrast for a CT scan which I had later in the day. That was a bummer because they had to give me a second IV for their special contrast and then I had to lay flat, but at least they attempted to make me comfortable. That was pretty much our day.

Wednesday July 15th: We received CT scan results which showed some swollen lymph nodes in my abdomen. They decided I needed a laparoscopic biopsy to test one of the swollen lymph nodes to figure out why they were swollen. The laparoscopic biopsy would be minimally invasive as opposed to a major surgery where they would cut me open. We met the surgeon and anesthesia people that would be doing the procedure, and they all seemed really nice. Dad left later in the day to go home to meet Mom and the kids who were in a rental car that needed to be returned. Mom came back to stay with me.

Thursday July 16th: Since I was an add-on surgery, my biopsy didn't start until 11 am. I was STARVING by that time since I hadn't been allowed to eat anything since midnight. I took a bath before the biopsy, and a massage therapist came by so I got a really nice foot massage; both helped ease the hunger. :-) I pretty much recovered all day long - some doctors came by to check on the incisions but that's it. The lymph nodes are really close to this nerve called the celiac plexus which stretches from the back to the abdomen - which explains the back pain. We started Lyrica - a pill used to treat painful nerve diseases. Mom stayed on that night.

Friday July 17th: Today started the days of waiting. And trying to find ways to fix my pain, or at least get it to a tolerable level, so I can go home soon! We started these Lidoderm patches which have a certain amount of lidocaine in them so they kind of numb the area. I've been keeping them on for 12 hours during the day, then I have to take them off for 12 hours at night. They seem to be helping a TON. We also began decreasing the continuous flow of dilaudid (the painkiller) that I've been getting through the PCA pump. The pump has me on a continuous flow which is being decreased and a demand amount that I can get when I push a button. We had another old nurse, Susan, who is so little and full of energy! Dad relieved Mom that night.

Saturday July 18th: Another day of waiting...or so we thought. Nothing usually happens on the weekends, so we expected to just hang out and continue with helping the pain and getting stronger. However, one of the doctors came by and told us that the preliminary results, which turned out to be very official, showed signs of the cancer I had three years ago - PTLD. Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease. Just in case you were wondering :) To add to the depression of the day, I announced that I would not be going to Utah on the 22nd and that my EFY was also cancelled. I did walk 7 laps around the floor which was an improvement from half a lap the day before. My siblings came along with Mom to pull me up out of depression for a while. We played a bunch of games and ate dinner together in the tiny room that has the microwave. I actually got to go since I'm not in isolation - it's been great because I've never really been able to go to the acitivities that they have on the floor because of isolation. It's also fun to be able to see everyone's faces since they don't have to gown up or wear masks anymore! Anyway, they stayed for a several hours and went home with Dad around seven.

Sunday July 19th: Yet another day of hanging out. Mom and I went to the Brown Family Life Center which is a play area on the floor with movies and games and computers, etc. We saw some cute dogs that came to visit and worked on the computer for a bit and explored the room off the center called the Teen Lounge that had a TON of movies (including National Treasure!!) and lots of games that were in much better condition than the ones that smaller kids have access to. We came back to the room loaded up with Scattergories and a couple of movies. I made a calendar to track what we've done each day (the only reason I can remember everything that I'm reporting). We began using a second lidoderm patch to cover more spots on my back to help the pain, and we decreased my continuous pain med again. We called family to report and took several walks around the floor. We read our scriptures and had a very nice Sunday.

Monday July 20th: So I'm still bummed about missing my Utah trip, especially as the scheduled day draws nearer, but there's really nothing I can do about it. So I'm trying to stay positive. We had a pretty eventful day today, actually. Transport picked us up around 7:15 in the morning to take us to Northwestern - the adult hospital nearby that has the PET scan equipment. The scan went well, though it was a little painful to lay flat again. Once the transport team got me and my mom situated in the ambulance to go home, the ambulance wouldn't start. They tried to use the jumper cables with their portable battery, but they had no luck. So they asked a security guy to bring his car around so they could try to use jumper cables with his car. Mom was taking pix of the whole event, but when she took a pic of the security guard (only his backside) he whirled on her like she was some sort of criminal. She was like, "um, I'm just the mom. Just taking some scrapbook photos." He seemed a little annoyed but he just said, "I was going to call for back up. There have been some weird things going on lately." Of course, Mom and I found this whole thing to be quite hilarious and typical of something that would happen to us. The ambulance eventually started and one of the nurses that was with us felt so bad that she bought us lunch from this delicious Thai place. Once we got back to the hospital, it was past noon, so we ate lunch and then this lady came in with a TENS unit. There are four stickers that you put where you're having pain and they hook up to this machine that makes a little tingling that feels kind of like a massage. You can set it on different modes and one of the modes releases endorphins so it helps the pain for a few hours after you take it off. I tried it on this setting first for a while and it put me right to sleep! I must have placed it near a nerve that activates that part of the brain, or something like that. So I slept until about five and when I woke up we decided to watch National Treasure after a walk and a bathroom break. Dinner was leftovers from when the kids had come to visit which was delicious! We also decreased the continuous dose of painkiller once again. I might be able to go completely off of a continuous dose tomorrow!

So that's what's been happening so far. It's ten at night on Monday and Mom and I are heading to bed soon. Thank you for all of your prayers and fasting for me! They have been helping and a miracle will happen! I love you all! I'll try and update this daily, but it depends on if the internet here works and if I can get to a computer. Dad's supposed to bring our laptop tomorrow, so that should make it easier. Anyway, have a wonderful day, smile and be positive!

What a Sunday Night!

2009-05-03T20:15:00.001-06:00

So we have been taking care of Conner and Lily, my two cousins from Seattle for the past two days. And tonight, we had a gas leak, so just before they could get their ice cream, Dad yelled for all of us to get out of the house, and none of us thought to take coats or snacks, etc. I grabbed my scriptures and phone, and Rachel grabbed her camera.

Ninety minutes later, we are all finally back inside, slowly warming up. Conner and Lily are so tired that they forgot about the ice cream and are finishing up a warm bath. We were incredibly bored outside and it was FREEZING!! Plus the two little ones kept running off.

Just the basic jist of it. I'll post more this weekend with pix - I have my AP Euro final coming up this week - Wish me luck!

Pictures!

2009-04-11T16:26:00.015-06:00

So I decided to actually put some pictures on. They're in order of parks and when we visited them, but they got backwards! Then at the top are all the pix of my birthday and license and pre-spring break. The joys of blogger! Hope you all enjoy!

I got glasses!! I can actually see now! It's really amazing.

Celebrating my birthday - I really can't take anymore candles!

Driving with my family to Arby's - my dinner choice. I'm Thinking Arby's!

Where we stayed during our trip to Florida. It was really nice - the room that we were in was spacious and well furnished, and the beds were pretty comfy.

Our last family picture at DisneyWorld!

Hot, tired, and I had a cramping stomach. Great way to spend your last day at Magic Kingdom.

Nathan was explaining his plan for the rest of the evening with plenty of hand motinos

The lovely Cinderella with her slightly middle-aged Prince Charming. I missed the show - Dad and I stayed home for the morning sick - but I thought this picture was really cute!

Mickey and Minnie together - aww!

Everyone loves Tigger!

One of those great candids that is one in a million! Megan is mad, Rachel is laughing, Nathan's explaining, I'm drinking some water, and Dad is trying to talk.

Here's the hilarious giraffe! No one took a pic of his head in the truck, but he did stand in the way of a different truck for a while!

Four kids - we'd only been at the park for about an hour so we weren't terribly tired yet!

The Nemo musical was surprisingy cute. The puppetry was amazing!

The Festival of the Lion King is probably the best thing about Animal Kingdom. Get to the early show - no one was there because they all wanted to take the safari early.

Megan, Rachel, and Dad braved each and every roller coaster throughout Disney.

Here's a pretty good picture of the stunt show, but you have to see it to really enjoy it!

At the Lights, Motors, Action! stunt show, Herbie made an appearance and split in two!

You definitely need to see this show at MGM if you ever go to Disney - especially if you like car chases!

Indiana Jones stunt show - very cool to see how they make movies like Indiana Jones.

There were adorable topiaries everywhere! This one was on the Backlot Tour at MGM.

Goofing around in the gift shop

Main Street USA looks gorgeous with all of these lights!

Like I said, the fireworks were amazing!

Rows and rows and rows and rows of cars - there were a couple other lots this full!

Megan and I managed to stay pretty dry on Splash Mountain

The family favorite: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Watch out - they spit! they really did at the park!

First day @ Magic Kingdom - this was at the front gate.

We were all hot and tired!

Geckos everywhere! Megan freaked out whenever she saw one! :)

Everyone go "awww."

Nice shot of the ball and me and Nathan

The temple grounds were gorgeous - especially the palm trees!

Rest stop

Home of the Kentucky Derby - the biggest horse race of the year!

Make sure to watch this year's on Saturday May 2 on NBC!

Wow - that's a lot! Hope you made it through them all without going totally crazy!

Starting to Blog again...hopefully it WILL become a habit!

2009-04-11T14:40:00.007-06:00

Okay, so I haven't blogged in forever so I'm just going to start fresh with what's happened in this year so far. You can check the family blog for pictures: holbrookchicago.blogspot.com
In January I celebrated my 16th birthday! I went and saw Bedtime Stories with my parents (awesome movie by the way) and I got my LICENSE!!! So now I drive to seminary alone. It's kind of nice to have some quiet time in the mornings.
We were able to correct some intestinal problems, and since then I've been feeling great, except a little tired. So the kidney people decided to get me some iron infusions and now I feel a whole lot less exhausted. It's a very nice feeling.
My dad got called to be the Bishop, so we see a little bit less of him now.
I ended first semester being sixth in my class 582 - whoo hoo! My goal was to be valedictorian, but I'll live with the top ten. Now I'm in probably the best/worst semester of my life: love global issues and I'm learning a ton about current events. Did you know there are actually pirates? family joke My English class is actually quite interesting, especiall since we just started rhetoric - sarcastic writing. Health is probably the easiest class ever. I really like creative writing, but our fiction unit is about to end. We did this really cool thing called a 55 word story - it's actually really hard to write a story in 55 words or less! I strongly dislike science, but at least we don't have to do anymore lab reports and I managed to bring my grade up. This is the first time in a long time that I have ever had an A+ in math - I give all the credit to my teacher and her amazingly organized notes that actually make sense. AP European History is fun, but we're racing to the finish since our AP Test is only 27 days away. That's only 27 days to study over 800 years of history. YIKES! But I love my teacher (who happens to be my global issues teacher and is an absolutely amazing person) and the topic, sothe studying is worth it. Dad actually didn't know that you could take an AP test and get college credit, so to him, the $86 for the test is easily worth it - especially if I do well. Spanish is increidbly easy. We finished learning a new tense and our strange video project is done and over with. Now we learn about culture, which is so much easier than vocab and verbs. The yearbook has been shipped off to the printer, so that won't take up my Wednesdays until next school year!
Seminary is awesome! Bro. Rubow is a great teacher and does a great job at inviting the spirit and helping us (at least me) understand the scriptures. We just finished James, and we're getting ready for our big SCRIPTURE MASTERY event on Saturday. If anyone has any ideas on how to get a bunch of sleepy teenagers to seminary on time, I'd appreciate those ideas!! We're supposed to start at 6:15, but we usually start with one or two people around 6:20.
Break was amazing - again look at the family blog for cool pix! We went to DisneyWorld! But on the way there we stopped at the home of the Kentucky Derby - Churchill Downs racetrack! It was gorgeous, huge, and absolutely amazing! Even if you don't like horse racing, I would definitely suggest going to visit to at least say that you've been there. I loved the stunt shows and animation exhibit at MGM Studios. Mom and I got SOAKED on Splash Mountain. The last day, we rented a wheelchair because I was exhausted and having stomach cramps, so we got to go to the front of a bunch of lines. GET A WHEELCHAIR when you go to Disney - it'll save so much time waiting in line! A giraffe stuck his head in a truck ahead of us on Safari at Animal Kingdom - adorable! And the fireworks were absolutely amazing everywhere! We managed to visit all eleven countries at Epcot and we went on Test Track twice. Each morning we woke at the crack of dawn to get to the parks early. The opening shows were really cute, and we did manage to aboid some of the longer lines. We took a monorail break during our visit to Magic Kingdom - we took on to the TTC and then hopped on the one to Epcot. We rode back and forth about three times. We were all rested, and it had AC so we cooled down, too. All in all, it was really fun, and the road trip was definitely worth it. Dad learned from some bad Super 8's over our summer trip and booked some really nice Holiday Inn and Comfort Inn places to stay. Thank you Daddy!
I think that's pretty much it! We're on a four day weekend right now - Good Friday we have off and Monday is an institute day. So we're all hanging out and cleaning the house and making easter cinnamon rolls - YUMMY!
There's a guy named Paul Cardall who is waiting a heart transplant. He's an LDS musician with a little girl. Please pray for him and his family!
Forgot to mention: I got glasses! and my license! And I finished Personal Progress and received my Young Women in Excellence Award from my wonderful Bishop, Daddy.
Love you all!

Spring Break

2008-03-29T17:38:00.002-06:00

So, it's been quite a while! I'm back in the swing of things at school, and I just started driver's ed. I actually have my first test this upcoming week, and then I can get my permit later next week! YAY! I'm honestly a bit nervous about driving, but it'll be fun!
Spring break was awesome - I went and saw College Road Trip with a friend and I finally saw the 2nd National Treasure! Both movies were excellent, and definitely worth the money! I just got an itchy nostril and watery eye thing that's driving me nuts and making me miserable! I spent three hours in a hot gym today to watch my three siblings compete in their age leve spelling bees. Nathan got out on the word gradual, Megan got out on drawer, and Rachel won first place in hers with indomitable! It was pretty exciting :-) Tonight is the Young Women's General Broadcast, so Mom, Rachel, and I are going to snuggle in Mom and Dad's bed with the laptop to watch it. For Easter, the four kids got Webkinz, and they may sound little kid-ish, but I love the game, and it's completely safe even though it's online. You never know what can happen by giving personal information on certain sites online. The snow is finally almost gone, and it's suppposed to get in the high 50s next week! Spring is finally coming!
School has been pretty fun. My Broadcast journalism class is a blast - we're just finishing up our latest project, "Person on the Street" where we went around the school interviewing random people with a certain question. I strongly dislike my geometry class, and my biology class is just getting boring. I love world history, but the class is kind of hard and I don't love the teacher. My English teacher is rather eccentric, and we're about to start Romeo and Juliet (yuck). The best part of the day is definitely lunch - my friends are so great and fun to be with! It's too bad we don't have more classes together. I love learning spanish, and it's a geat way to end the day, although I come home and start speaking spanish with mom and drive my siblings crazy! The best part of the first semester is that I managed to finally finish making up work, and I pulled off a 4.2 GPA which places me as #4 of my freshmen class! YAY! I hope my grades didn't slip in third quarter.
For Personal Progress - I'm thinking of creating an entertainment blog for teenagers. There's so much junk out in the world, and the blog would have ideas of clean movies, clean music and singers, clean TC shows, and other media forms that wouldn't have any bad stuff in them. The blog would give teenagers a reliable source (the reviews and ideas would come from other teenagers) to look for good, wholesome entertainment that doesn't leave any feelings of regret. If you have any ideas, let me know!
That's just about it! Happy Spring to everyone!

Valentine's Day

2008-02-17T09:20:00.002-07:00

Hope you all had a very happy Valentine's Day! Mom and I spent the day together, just as usual. We went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch, though. I got a delicious Thai chicken pasta, but found a pieece of wax paper in it! The manager gave us a free piece of cheesecake! YUM!
I'm returning to church today. I'm so excited! Then tomorrow is a holiday, and Tuesday I go back to seminary! Everything is finally becoming "normal" again, if you can say anything in my life is normal. I'm finally on the road to a full recovery - YAY!

Update on my Life

2008-02-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! So I figured it was about time I got my own blog up and running since the family blog isn't updated terribly often and so that mom isn't always sending out update emails about me.
Everything is so normal this time around, it's weird for us! My heart has been doing almost as perfectly as any transplant goes. I feel like my heart is working a lot less, and I have more energy than I used to. Of course, I haven't returned to school yet, so we'll have to see how that goes. Waking up for early-morning seminary will be the killer!
Last week, I had my first PET scan post-third-heart-transplant. Everything was looking good! The scan was clear, which means I still have the cancer beat! YAY!
My last biopsy results were a 1A. That's not a perfect 0, but the pathologist said the bit of rejection she had to report was so minor, she almost didn't say anything about it! The nurses are still messing around with meds, but I'm slowly going down on the prednisone, and we were able to switch one of the rejection meds.
The three month mark is approaching, and I can't wait! Three months means back to school! I'm getting pretty sick of coordinating with teachers and tutors about tests and assignments. It'll be nice to not have to worry about making up work.
Plus, it's FREEZING COLD in this state, so Mom and I are pretty much stranded at home all the time. Supposedly it's going to start snowing later tonight, but we already have a foot on the ground! We did go grocery shopping today, but even then we were frozen just getting into the car from the garage! We're getting a little sick of being home with each other all the time! Speaking of which, I need some good lunch ideas...it's impossible to come up with something creative everyday when there's only the same options in the fridge! School cafeteria food is starting to sound pretty good!
My 15th birthday was certainly memorable! Mom and I went to see the movie Enchanted, which was very good. We were the only two people at the entire theater, except for a few employees. When we got home, Mom smelled a funny smell, and it turns out one of us had accidentally left our gas stove running! The fire department came over to make sure the house was safe, and we were fine. Sure makes for a great birthday story, though! I had a great birthday dinner the night before, and decided to go with good old-fashioned chocolate cake for dessert, along with homemade ice cream and hot fudge - YUM! Mom and Dad gave me a coupon to go to EFY, and I got accepted into the Tacoma session the week of June 30. I'm very excited!!! I also got a sweatshirt, a couple of CDs, some books, and some new piano books, too! All in all, it was probably the best birthday I've had in several years! My 10th was spent in an apartment in NJ where we didn't know anyone and all of our stuff was in a truck driving across the country. My 11th I don't remember very well. My 12th I got hospitalized on the day I had planned a sleepover. My 13th happened around the time I found out I had cancer, and we had just moved to Chicago last year, plus I got hospitalized a week later!
Besides school work, my day is pretty much spent looking up news on the internet, sending emails, playing on the Wii (which is a great invention - highly recommend getting one!), and watching Brady Bunch while I run on the treadmill! If you want, feel free to email me at lauren2hearts@yahoo.com! I love getting new emails!
Hope all is well with the rest of you! I miss everyone in New Jersey, Utah, and various other states where you've moved! I certainly never run out of people to keep in touch with! Keep watching for more updates - nothing else going on this week, but I just might post some interesting news I find!
I'll get some pictures up as soon as I can get some recent ones loaded!