The time has come...

Hey guys!

Okay, I haven't posted on this blog in forever, so the time has come.  Plus, so much has happened in the last month.  Woah.  I don't even know what to tell you about.

Major thing - I moved to Omaha, Nebraska about three weeks ago.  Crazy, huh?  Well me and my dad loaded up everything I own and drove a moving truck cross country.  We started at 7 am, and made it into Omaha by about 10:00 pm on Friday.  That's a solid 15 hours on the road.  Yeah, we didn't stop much.  For those of you who don't know, the drive is over 900 miles, so we felt like we had made pretty good time!  So my dad was kind enough to drive me out, but he had to make it back to Cedar, so he actually flew out Saturday afternoon.  To make things every so slightly more interesting, I couldn't move into my new place until the next Tuesday, meaning that I got to camp out at a hotel for about three days.  It was nice because I got to totally relax since surviving the massive attack of finals, but it was also extremely boring.  Bleh.  I was glad to finally be able to move into my new place!

I would like to send special thanks to the awesome dental students, and some random guy driving by, that stopped to help me move into my place!  I spent most of that first day unpacking and putting together furniture.  I single-handedly built a table, four chairs, a queen-sized bed frame, a desk, and a bunch of bookshelves.  It was an adventure!  So I live in a one-bedroom townhouse which consists of a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room, and unfinished basement.  I have turned it into a pretty sweet little place, and I took a couple of pictures just for you!

This is my kitchen.  This is a confusing picture, just because there is a giant mirror taking up the entire wall, which makes my kitchen look twice as big!  Seriously though, this kitchen is bigger than the one I used to share with Amanda, Mary-Ann, and Catherine!  Yep, this is also the table where I currently do all my studying.  Awesome!

This is me.  Yay.  Well, acutally this is me in my unfinished basement, complete with washer and dryer.  (Wow, I need to tell that story!)  Any ideas on what I should do with the basement?

Still in the basement!  I have set up a little study cave, and in an attempt to make it more appealing, have decorated the walls with beach-related posters.  Okay, these are actually pictures from old calenders that I have been collecting for years.

Finally, this is my living room.  That is not all of it, and these aren't the best pictures.  Oh well.  I am finally able to put my giant surfer poster in the front room!  I was recently told that I am obsessed with blue... you can't tell from this picture, but I do indeed have lots of blue decorating my place.

Well the last thing I'm going to put up for tonight is to let everyone know that I now have a room-mate named Michelle.  She is staying in my basement for now, just because she didn't really have a place to stay for the summer.  The situation is that she was in med school last year, but got sick a missed several weeks of her gross anatomy lab.  She is here for the summer retaking gross anatomy at Creighton.  Anyways, I just felt like I needed to help her out, especially since I have plenty of extra space, and I actually have a spare bed.  I don't know how permanent she is, because there were other girls in the ward offering to let her stay with them, and it's a little bit of a service project, because I'm currently not really charging her rent.  Any ideas on how I could ask her on this?

Well there is a lot else to tell, but I'm bored, and I don't have any more pictures to post.  So maybe next time!

Finals Week!!

Oh man, finals week is so freakin' awesome!  I was just thinking about past adventures involving this most wonderful of weeks, and I thought I would shout out to them.

I believe it was 2006-ish, back when I lived with Amanda, Catherine, and Maryann.  We were all having a study party in the living room, and Catherine was eating some weird Chinese noodles.  Well they had these funky swirly noodles that she didn't like, so instead she made a creation with them.  Thus was the creation of "Mr. Happy!"  Ha ha.  Catherine and I thought it was so flippin funny!  This was likely because of our sleep-deprived, over-studied brains.  Maryann, however, did not find it funny, and I believe there was a comment made about sticking Mr. Happy on Catherine's butt.  Woah, man, that is what happens when too many people study for too long!

Another fun one - we will all remember the day that Catherine forgot about her O-chem final until the night before, then stayed up all night long cramming.  Also, she ate some weird feta cheese, and took an unintentional 3-hour nap on the love sac.

My favorite was probably the year when I spent all day studying for a genetics final, and we went to Ho Ho's chinese to celebrate when I got done.  Subsequently I felt sick (probably from the super-high-quality food from Ho Ho's), so I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the first season of Desperate Housewives.  I got all kinds of addicted, and Amanda and I kept watching all night until we suddenly realized it was starting to get light outside.  Yeah, that's probably the closest I've ever been to an all-nighter!  Ha ha.  Good thing we had 1-o-clock church, not nine.

Okay, there are plenty more, but I'm afraid I need to return to this year's finals adventures!  Good luck all you poor souls studying for finals right now!

So bored

Okay I would love to give you a glimpse into the life of a dental student.  First of all, I'm not complaining.  Okay, maybe just a little bit, but I would like to think of it as venting!  Ha ha.

This semester we had eleven classes, although some of them were only half-semester long.  I don't think I've ever taken that many classes at once.  Starting April 14th, we have or will have 19 exams or quizzes within about 22 days.  I'm done with 7 of them which leaves 12 in 13 days.  Seriously, they are trying to kill us.  Bleh.

Okay, done venting.  I haven't updated my blog in forever, mostly because of the aforementioned testing situation.  Well things are getting crazy, which means that it must be finals once again, and then the semester will be over.  It is so weird to think that I'm nearly done with my first year of dental school.  Crazy, huh?  I'm 1/4 a dentist!  Ha ha.  I'm also thinking how sad I am to be leaving Salt Lake.  I've spent my entire adult live living in Salt Lake, and it's strange to think of leaving a place I love so much.  I must admit that I'm not entirely thrilled to move out to Omaha, especially since it's flat, and I have no idea which way is north sometimes.  However, I am ready for a new adventure.  Awesome!

Omaha Stylee

I found this sign, and thought it was funny.  However, I didn't go in.  Hmm, I'll have to do that when I move!

For those of you that don't know, Omaha Stylee is a 311 song.  I just thought it was funny because I am moving to Omaha in like 6 weeks.  Crazy, huh?  Well here are some pictures from my recent trip to Omaha.

So my purpose for going was to secure a place of residence for the next three years of dental school.  I checked out the school - which was awesome - scoped out some townhouses, and visited some places.  I should also mention that my dad went to the same school 18ish years ago, so I actually lived in Omaha for three years.  Therefore, the entire trip was a big ole nostalgia fest for my mom.  Ha ha.

The last day we were there we went to the Henry Doorly zoo.  It's this giant zoo that would kick Hoagle zoo's butt, and it was even more fun because I used to go there as a small child.

This is a picture of my parents in the "Desert Dome."  This is the big dome you can see, and I was extremely curious about it the entire trip.  However, inside wasn't terribly exciting because it all looked like Southern Utah to me!  Ha ha.  This is my favorite picture of my parents.  If you can't tell, my dad had the funniest look on his face!

Inside the Jungle place by a large snake.  I have an even cooler picture from when I was about 12 of me actually holding a snake of this magnitude.  They wouldn't let us hold any of the snakes at the zoo...

This is the Winter Quarter's temple, and it is really cool because it is built on the cemetery at Winter Quarter where all the saints are buried.  It was really sad, and really beautiful.

For some stupid reason, the only thing I could remember from Omaha as a child was this slide.  It's in the middle of town, and the slides are really big.  Great for kids, apparently!  My mom admitted that she only brought me there once, and had no idea why I could remember it so vividly.  I didn't slide down them this trip because I didn't want to compete with all the little kids (and one creepy older man).

So in conclusion, I did find a very nice place to stay.  It is in Village Green, the same complex where my parents lived (and me).  Seriously, my mom was telling stories up the wazzu.  I didn't take any pictures, but I am very excited about it!

My Favorite Movie Quotes

This is going to be an on-going post that I will update with quotes that I find to be hilarious, entertaining, or just plain memorable.

"This is the worst lunch I have ever had.  Don't you know I have had diarrhea since Easters?"

"Beneath the clothes you find the man.  And beneath the man you find his... nucleus!"

-Nacho Libre.  One of my very favorite quotable movies.  So very, very many funny things!  Seriously, I made my family watch it, and they love to use the "worst lunch" quote all the time.  Watch it!!

"Hold on to your butts."

-Jurassic Park.  This is the most random quote ever, and I found it hilarious!

"Why a spoon?"

"Because it's dull, you twit!  It'll hurt more."

-Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.  I just like the word 'twit'!

"Too early for flapjacks?"

- Groundhog day

"We'll stay up all night telling manly stories.  And in the morning, I'm making waffles!!"

"I'm a donkey on the edge!"

-Donkey from Shrek I.  I love both these quotes because my dad says them all the time!

"There's something wrong with this yogurt."

"That's not yogurt, that's mayonnaise."

"Right!"

-Notting Hill.  Jut picture nasty Spike chowin' down on some mayonnaise!

Not to mention the plethora of quotes from Austin Powers!

"Mole!  Bloody mole!  I want to chop it off, cut it up, and make some guacamole!"

"Stick that in your pipe and smoke it."

"Who throws a cupcake?  Honestly."

"What do you know about my father's where.... about.... s?"

"Mooooole...."

"Can't I get some frickin sharks with some frickin laser beams attached to their frickin heads?!"

"Unfortunately sharks were placed on the endangered species list while you were frozen.  However, we do have genetically mutated sea bass."

"Are they ill tempered?"

Words from the Midwest

Okay guys, today I managed to fly out to Omaha, Nebraska!  Awesome, right?  Well I had quite the mishap attempting to board today, making me much less of a fan of airports in general.  Bummer, right?  Well after standing in line for about forty minutes, the guy at the front tells me that it's too late to check my bag, and I that I'm going to have to make a run for it.  So I've got about 20 minutes till my flight leaves, and I've still got to get through security.  Sadly, I had my bag full of shampoo and other such items that airports are in desperate shortage of, therefore they took all of it, making me very sad indeed.  So there I am with my shoes off (they make you take 'em off) holding my computer, and two bags (because they didn't check it) and luckily my dad shows up to snatch my bag and lead me quickly to my gate.  We've got like five minutes, and I'm running like a mad crazy person - with no shoes - through the airport, on those awesome moving sidewalks, down the escalator, through the gate, down the hall, and out to the plane.  We totally made it with seconds to spare!  I finally got to put my shoes on and catch my breath, and enjoy my in-flight beverage and cookie!

Well now I'm in Omaha, and I got my first look at the place I will be living for the next three years.  First impression, I really liked it.  It wasn't as flat as I had anticipated, and there are some really cool old buildings, and delicious restaurants.  Plus, I really liked the actual dental school.  I also ran into one of the sophomores, and he greatly encouraged me by letting me know that apparently all of the other guys in my dental class are slackers.  Hmm, maybe that has to do with all of their drinking parties on the weekends!  So basically, I'm excited for school next year.  The living situation, however, is a completely different story.  First of all let me express how much I hate trying to find a new place to live.  Bleh.  It is like my least favorite thing ever.  So that is what I am attempting to accomplish during this trip, so I will most likely be in a better mood once I find someplace to live.

So today has been one of adventure, and I hope you enjoyed my narrative on the entire thing.  Oh yes, and I also need to tell you about my madness that occurred yesterday.  So I spent the first couple of days of my spring break in Cedar chillaxing with my brothers.  Yesterday (wednesday) I finally decided that it was time to go back to Salt Lake.  However, it was getting a little late by the time I finally pulled out.  So I was enjoying myself, because I actually prefer driving at night.  I even busted out my Angels and Demons book on tape, and was jammin' on down the freeway.  All of a sudden I saw something in front of me.  I slammed on the brakes, but it wasn't fast enough.  I hit a deer!  It scared the crap out of me, especially because you hear so many horror stories of deer totaling cars.  I felt very lucky that I was just fine, my car was only mildly damaged, and the deer ran away, so I can only hope that it was okay.  I guess someone has been looking out for me during my travels, and I feel very blessed to be safe during my travels!

I will try to post some awesome Omaha pictures when I get home.  Peace out, guys!

Spring break

Okay, I haven't wrote anything for a long time, so I figured now is as good a time as any!  I am currently in Cedar, and as usual, haven't got anything done.  Oh well, I am having too much fun with all my millions of brothers.  Seriously, we have so much fun.  On Saturday I took the two youngest ones to the piano festival, and they both did awesome!  We also got to go to Wingers with my cousin Kent, and his wife Alyssa.  Kent and I used to be best buds, and we haven't really hung out since before his mission, so it was AWESOME to hang out and mess around with him.  

Mitchell has also sucked me into Halo tournaments with him and his friends.  It has got to be the coolest thing ever because my parents have a projector screen at their house, and we hooked up the xbox and started killing each other!  However, Mitchell's friends happen to be good, or at least much better than me.  Ha ha!  I have also finally figured out how to hook up my xbox live, and have been battling it out with the dental students on Halo.  I am sorry to say that my halo skills are weak at best.  Oh well, I have fun driving the warthog!

Also, have you ever had a weird craving for something from like a movie?  Once I watched Secret Window and I was craving doritos and mountain dew for like a week!  Well anyways, I watched this 30 rock episode, and I've been craving a Mcflurry for like a month!  So get this, McDonald's has failed me repeatedly.  In Salt Lake, the one I went to was out of ice cream.  Darn.  Hmm, well I figured Cedar probably had some, right?  I even managed to involve Blake and Mitch on this particular adventure at about 11 o clock at night.  Too bad the McDonald's was closed early for some odd reason.  Good thing that everything but Wendy's closes by 11 in Cedar, meaning I got to enjoy some fries and a delicious "midget" frosty!  Excellent replacement, I must admit!  

Well today I did actually get some stuff done, such as start work on my preventive dentistry presentation.  I figured it was appropriate for the only female dental student to pick a topic about something female-related, right?  I'm going to present on some stuff that dentists should be aware of with pregnant patients.  Awesome, right?  I will let you know how it goes over.  I just want to get it done and out of the way.  This evening I unearthed my five separate scrapbooks, and had a good laugh at all the pictures I found.  I forgot how much fun I used to have!  I also got to fly some kites with the brothers, and I decided that the very best kite you could possibly own is the super cheap diamond kites.  They are only a buck, and they have cool pictures on them like Iron Man, and Buzz Lightyear!