End of February 2010

Hi guys. The past week has been a bit of a blur, but here's an overview for ya...

Monday I went to my classes: Isaiah, swimming, Political Inquiry, Chemistry, and Islam. I left Islam early so that I could go to a ward activity at Soldier Hollow, which is a sledding place about 45 minutes from BYU. (I got to wear my snow boots for the first time, yay!!!) I drove a couple of my FHE sisters and some random other girls from our ward. When we were about halfway up the hill for our second run, the lift stopped. We waited for about 15 minutes, until it got too cold, and then went down the hill. Turns out two girls had gotten in a tubing accident and hit heads/necks/backs. One girl had a minor concussion while the other had a major concussion, was unconscious, and had a seizure. We got everyone together in the lodge and had a ward prayer. It was very comforting to have so many worthy priesthood holders there to give blessings to the injured girls :) After the ambulance came, a lot of people left, but my FHE sisters and I went on a few more runs. My blood sugar was ooc all night, but I had a marvelous time overall, and my enjoyment was curiously amplified by the comfort that the two hurt girls would be all right.

Tuesday my blood sugar was CRAZY. I missed my chem lab because my blood sugar was high and I felt awful, and then I couldn't play basketball because it went so low that I thought I was going to pass out! Gaah. I had the afternoon off so I did homework and calmed my blood sugar down a bit. I went to my art class and then went back to my apartment and did homework! So fun.

Wednesday was typical - I went to class, did homework, etc. I also took the final for my powerpoint class, which was very easy.Thursday I got out of my last class at 11, went to my apartment, ate an omelet with spinach, red pepper, mushrooms, and swiss cheese, and then read my first book of the semester. I got some homework done, and watched Hairspray with my roommates. I also watched the finals in women's figure skating while doing some chemistry homework :)

Friday I got up and went to the dentist's. Since my tooth was bleeding too much to finish the root canal last time I went, I had to go back and get it finished up. I watched the end of Madagascar 2 and then the beginning of Star Trek. It was pretty awesome. I got back just in time to do my assignment for polisci (not the greatest work I've ever done, but it was graded on completion...) and went to class. I studied for chemistry before class and at four I was done! I felt like going for a walk, because it was a lovely day - almost 45 degrees! - so I went to Regency to find out who my roommates will be for next year. Four of them are already rooming there together and there will be one new girl beside me. I also found out that two of my favorite FHE sisters (incidentally the two who I drove to the sledding activity, one of whom lent me the book I read on Thursday) will be two doors down from me, and one of my freshman academy classmates will be in the same ward! I went back to the apartment and contemplated doing homework for the rest of the evening. Just as I was getting depressed about it, Heidi called and so we made plans to go shopping and then watch a chick flick with her friend Katheryn. We went to Ross, Old Navy, TJ Maxx, and Target, but only bought things at Target - yay for college budgets. We got ice cream and pizza and then went to watch Just Jane, about Jane Austen, at Katheryn's house. While we were there we made plans to have weekly group date nights. This coming week we each have to ask a guy and we will watch the Bourne Identity. Also, after this week we will be having competitions weekly to make sure we ask out a broad variety of guys - the girl who invites the cutest guy will win on the night when we are competing for cuteness, for example, and we will have many other competitions, like wittiness, musical ability, most intimidating major, etc. (Don't worry, we aren't asking guys based on these criteria; we're asking them and then deciding on the competition afterward - the competition is just a motivating factor). We finally left at about 2 am...

Saturday morning I got up and went to the gym with Heidi again. I got home and then went to the BYU-New Mexico basketball game with my freshman academy. The game was so cool but so lame!!! We lost 81 to 83. But the good part is that a local restaurant, Magleby's, gives out chocolate cake if you bring a game ticket after the team has gotten 80 points. Since only 7 people showed up for our freshman academy thing and we had 26 tickets... Nyssa and Mattathias and I went to Magleby's and got a total of 11 pieces of cake before they told us we couldn't do that anymore. But we had a great time rebelling, and the chocolate cake was just a bonus. Then I went grocery shopping. My two favorite buys were .17 pounds of gouda cheese for a dollar, and a little bag full of yogurt-covered pretzels, which I now love. I got home and did some homework and was about to go to bed when I started a book. I think you all know me well enough to guess whether or not I went to sleep right after that....

This morning I got up, went to my compassionate service meeting, had my visiting teachers over, went to hall meeting, went to church, and came home. My home teachers came over at five, and we had a marvelous time chatting. It's really great to know that there are worthy priesthood holders around :) My roommates and I have had a nice night together - I made a burger with all kinds of deliciousness, and though we all ate different things at different times we had a very harmonious dinner-making experience in the kitchen. Right now Amy and Kirsi are making peanut butter cookies, Madi is out (as usual), Ashley is doing homework, and Shyler is already asleep. We have ward prayer later tonight and then I have another compassionate service committee meeting. It has been a wonderful week and now I'm gearing up for a much harder one coming up. This past week I had no major assignments and (crazy!) no papers. This week I have a chem midterm, a political inquiry paper, and an Islam paper. But I will survive! You guys should call/email/comment so I don't go crazy!

I love you,
Eliza

President's day weekend

Hey guys, it's been a long time but no one has commented or complained, so...

I'll just give you a few highlights of the last few weeks:

I've written about three papers for poli sci, two for intro to Islam, and one for Isaiah. I took a chemistry test and decided to study harder for the next one. Classes are going fairly well, and my powerpoint class will be over on Thursday, when I will be starting my excel class. Last Thursday in basketball I was guarding/guarded by a guy who's 6'4" and very good. It was exciting and challenging, and I made a basket! That's about all the news for classes.

Last Saturday I got a place in housing for next year! I will be living in Regency Apartments, which is just barely south of campus. It is a good deal with great people and wards. I am in room 112, and I have no idea who my roommates will be. I would have chosen to be in one of the other buildings, but there were only three rooms with spots, and there was another Eliza in the building I wanted! Oh well. I'm sure it'll be great anyways :)

The most exciting thing in the past few weeks was visiting St. George last weekend. I went to Grandma Houghton's house and spent time with her and with Dad, who was visiting for her birthday. I got there on Saturday afternoon, and promptly fell asleep on the couch. When I finally woke up, we went for a walk and then went to eat at an amazing Thai restaurant. Then we went to Neilson's to get some custard (yum!) and to Aunt Marjorie's to play games. It was fabulous. On Sunday we went to Grandma's ward, which was exciting for me - there were people not between the ages of seventeen and twenty! Crazy. Then we went back to Grandma's, where Grandma and dad did family history, Grandma gave me a copy of all of her recipes (yay!), and I read The Number One Lady's Detective Agency. Then we went to Aunt Marjorie's house for dinner, where I ate salmon! Then we had chocolate-raspberry cake and played games. The next morning, we went to watch Dad swim the mile (I had a high blood sugar), and then ate breakfast and dropped him off. Grandma and I decided to have some retail therapy and headed over to Christensen's, where they had some President's day sales. They even had a rack full of women's size 10-11 shoes on sale 50% off! And let's just say that Grandma made me feel loved. My limited college budget would have held me back a lot, but she really helped me out. Thanks Grandma <3>

This weekend I went to see New Moon at the dollar theater with Heidi on Friday night, watched some Olympics, went to the gym and worked out, and went grocery shopping again. This was all done by yesterday (Saturday) afternoon. Then I got back to my apartment, made taco meat for my compassionate service dinner, and put together some pizza for Amy's birthday celebration. Her birthday was on Wednesday but we were all pretty busy so we did the party on Saturday. I went to the compassionate service thing and did some 27 dresses action, skipping between the two parties. Then, just as the party ended, the pizza came out of the oven, and Kirsi, Amy, and I went to see Princess and the Frog at the Varsity Theater. It was very cute, and we had fun eating pizza in the theater (which is allowed there). Then we came back to the apartment, watched some Olympics, and made a fort out of mattresses and blankets. Then we watched Ever After, which I am going to make us watch as soon as I get back in April. This morning I had a meeting and went back to sleep before going to church, eating dinner, having some more meetings, and writing this blog! Now I'm headed off to bed, so good night. I love you all, and would love to hear from you!

<3

Eliza