Return of the Queen (hehe)

Pardon the lack of title creativity!

My roommate's finally home from her mission! She called yesterday morning and we had a great chat. It's been about 4 months since anyone outside her family had heard from her...so I felt more than a little anxious. It would seem things are going well and she'll be back with us in no time. It took her about 20 minutes to get over the whole "you and Steve are actually married...weird" concept. Anyone that knows her will completely understand her disbelief and amusement. Actually, she seems excited about the idea. Good thing...because we are! The three of us spent most of our Freshman year together...generally playing silly games in the Cannon Center, eating gummy worms and Goldfish, and watching The Simpsons. She and I lived together our Sophomore and Junior year and then she took off for Montana leaving me with the RM version of Steve. That was quite and interesting week! Apparently she's decided that we need to have a set day every week in which we will get together and do important and silly things...in fond memory of those Freshman days. Could be a great last couple months as a BYU student...a return to our "innocent" age!

The Newest Monster

Friday night Steve graciously volunteered to let me attempt to play Warcraft III...not a pretty sight. Still, his patience was amazing. I am beginning to see the art of video games and the actual skill it takes (most of the time...at least for me) to play. Unfortunately, I am now a bit hooked on the whole idea and will find it even more difficult to get anything done academically. Steve has created a monster. At least now there's a benefit to Steve playing video games on the weekend...the computer is occupied and I can't waste my own time trying to be "good" at something I'll never be good at!

Happy 18th Birthday, Katy-Boo!!!

Yikes! The baby of the family is 18 today! I hope Mom and Dad are doing as well as she is...
It's strange that she'll be graduating from high school in June and attending BYU in August. I still think of her as the 6th grader I left at home when I came to BYU. She was so cute! Well, she still is, just not so much in a little kid way. She actually looks older than I do most of the time...and taller...
I love you little...I love you big...I love you like a little pig, Katelyn!

My Very Own Four Things...

Just for you Jon!

Four Jobs I've Had:
1. file clerk for an internal medicine clinic
2. "lunch lady" at the Morris Center
3. historic interpreter for the Beekman House
4. assistant secretary for ODF-Medford office during a very CRAZY fire season

Four Movies I Rather Enjoy:
1.Princess Mononoke
2. Ocean's Eleven
3. Lord of the Rings: Two Towers
4. The Incredibles

Four Places I've Lived:
1. Medford, Oregon
2. Redmond, Oregon
3. Pendleton, Oregon
4. Ashland, Oregon

Four Places I'd Rather Live:
1. Antibes, France
2. Switzerland
3. East Coast (I'm sure we'll live in Ohio at some point...so it's more of an expectation...)
4. Italy

Four of My Favorite Foods:
1. sushi
2. okonomiyaki
3. pisaladiere
4. chocolate...if that counts as a food!

Four Books I've Read Recently:
1. Artemis Fowl
2. Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident
3. Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code
4. Inkspell

Four Reasons I Don't Want to Go to School Today:
1. I'm sick
2. I would rather watch the Olympics.
3. I don't feel like walking in the cold...there's always the bus, though.
4. I'm afraid I'll fall asleep in class...

Four Reasons I Should Go to School Today:
1. I have a PDBIO exam next week.
2. I have D&C with Steve.
3. I have a research meeting at 3pm.
4. It's my last semester and it's silly to worry about my health at this point.

Four People I Know Won't Read This/Or Won't Continue the Trend:
1. Hayley (busy ferrying athletes around Torino)
2. English Muffin (home from England and doesn't seem to enjoy the online updates as much)
3. Michelle Kwan
4. Bode Miller

I hope this provided some great insight into the inner workings of my very tired mind!

Valentine's Day

For Christmas I received an "I LOVE STEVE" shirt...pink, no less. I figured Valentine's Day was probably the only time I'd wear it outside the house. So, naturally I wore it yesterday. In Psych another student asked if Steve was my husband...yes...why would I wear a shirt proclaiming my love for someone other than my mom, dad, or husband? I suppose "Steve" could have been my dog or something. Anyway, last night we picked Steve's dad up at the airport and then proceeded to dinner at La Carreta. As it would happen both (read: the only two) waiters in the restaurant happened to be named "Steve". Oh, the humiliation!

Welcome Home, Garrett!

He's back! We had a nice chat in which he detailed the things he found "weird" about being home: wearing "P-Day" clothes on the wrong day of the week, driving to the Post Office with alone with a girl (our sister), talking to me on a cell phone, being in the US and having to speak English ALL the time, calling me by a new last name. I guess I should explain that last one: my siblings have a funny habit of calling me by my full name when they answer the phone, thus, he had to correct himself and use my new last name. I can't wait for him to visit!!!

Ups and Downs of Midterms...

First, the "downs"...it is humanly impossible (well, nearly) to take 5 exams in 6 school days and be prepared for them all...not unlike finals...it's difficult to be patient with my husband when he wants to take a break from studying to play video games (mostly because I know I ought to be studying and am being severely tempted to blow things off in my final BYU semester)...lastly, I find midterms more stressful than finals simply because there's no immediate end in sight.

Now for the "ups"...not sure that there are many...this particular set of midterms has taught me a lot, they end tomorrow, and I've had more sleep in the last week than any average week prior to this semester...must be the flu...

ANNOUNCEMENT: My little (read: younger) brother returns from his mission in Sendai, Japan tomorrow afternoon! He'd better call me... Mom has a nasty sinus infection and probably won't be terribly engergized...at least the medication will help her sleep tonight...otherwise the excitement would have her up at 4am. I can't make it to Medford to be there, so I sent some balloons that say " Welcome Home, Elder" on them. Hopefully he'll see this little bit of Mormon culture/commercialism as amusing and not as a cop-out.

Package Update

Apparently we're still getting wedding presents in the mail. That's not a bad thing...it's just becoming a little crowded in our kitchen! But now we have a red heart-shaped muffin tin...guess we'll be having muffins on the 14th! Although Steve seems to think cupcakes would be better for a Valentine's Day breakfast. :)