Monday
Parents went out of town on a "rewards trip" sponsored by my dad's work. 90% of the time I tell people they went to Bahamas, but they actually went to Bermuda. Oops.
This also meant I was "mom". My hardest mom duty was waking up Alie... haha. A hour is tough round here.
Last Friday, I was MIA at school and supposedly missed a whole lot of ugly between my student and her teacher. I quickly caught on to the drama. That was fun.
Back to mom duties...MAYBE if I didn't work at the office too, I'd actually make dinner...but ya know. So Nate got to pick where we ate tonight so we of course had Canes.
For FHE my gilbert ward played the game of "good, better and best". You start with a plastic spoon, knock on people's doors and see if they have something to trade you that's better. It's a competition of who can end up with the greatest thing. I didn't like the idea of bothering people but I also didn't want to go to my new ward's fhe. So I went to the gilbert one anyway. Everyone must have also felt unenthused because it was a weak turnout.
My group ended up being Lyndy, Colten and Mason. At the end, everyone would just give a nice object and tell us to keep what we had. Hahaha. So we ended up with quite a bit.
Chocolates from Switzerland, video game (dad stole from his kids), sea shells and cute basket.
We soon also accumulated candles, and a stuffed doll from Brazil (from the cutest Brazilian woman and her family who told us to come back whenever).
Of course all the FHE ditchers wanted an after party, we went to Colten's and played Jack A**. It was Trivia so I was basically the worst at it.
I left before the second game because #momduties. It's a good thing I left too because I came home to Nate finally working on his project he had put off. I was the #realMVP and printed out pictures of the Presidents for him.
Tuesday
It's definitely the end of the year which means less interpreting and more parties (or tests for my high school student).
In the morning, we had a school "talent show". Of course 85% of the talents were dancing, but there were a few randoms like solving a rubics cube in 2 minutes, game of bop it, etc.
I was pretty exhausted all day. All my missed sleep caught up to me. I tried to take a nap after school, but it only lasted 20 minutes.
It was my turn to pick what we had for dinner, I'm sure you can guess what I picked....Costa Vida. Although there was a new girl working and her portions were WAY off. It was all meat with a baby sprinkling of lettuce and rice. Now I need to go again to get my real fix.
I went to dance that night...of course. It's probably my favorite thing I do all week. This week was extra good because we had a guest teacher and she stretched us and taught a super fun dance. I had to learn how to do "falls" again and trust my momentum. My knees now have cute little bruises.
Wednesday
Sleeping in til 7 was the 2nd best thing to happen to me all week.
Once again my student got in big trouble and got sent to another classroom. The other teacher pitied her and helped her get started on the assignment. That 30 minutes of work time was the longest I have ever interpreted for my student consecutively. I left for lunch feeling real good (no sarcasm).
The office was busy, just like every Wednesday.
Nate and Alie ate without me because Nate had a small eating window. I had leftover Carolinas though so I wasn't really complaining.
That evening Jason had us over for swimming (hot tubing). I think I'm the only one who never got in the actual pool.
Swimming of course leads to hunger, so we had to go to In N Out after.
Thursday
The students made poems about themselves for their graduation. They had a template to follow with questions about themselves. I decided to also make one (just for fun) and it was a good little "get to know myself again". Haha.
Yet again, my student got in MORE trouble and had to stay til 4. Which also meant I stayed til 4....
It was a long day so I finally cashed in on my free 16 oz from soda shop (coupon from the school). I had to interpret something for my bishop and a deaf guy that has attended my ward. I spontaneously met with my bishop after and now have a new calling- stay tuned. I'm actually super pumped for it. I may or may not be speaking in church in a few weeks too...
Since my Costa Vida was SO AWFUL the other night, I treated myself to it again (I told you I needed my fix).
Nate had his final junior high choir concert. The party crew included Janice, Alie and me. Nathan of course rocked both the songs and the cheesy choir dance moves. :)
When we got home I did half of a workout, laundry so mom wouldn't have heaps of it after her vacation, and watched Gilmore Girls. Even when I "stay home for the night" I still can't go to sleep before 11:30...Stupid me.
Friday
Party day!!!
I spent A hour looking up information about my new calling. I wanted to know all I possibly could.
At the elementary school we had...
-library in which they played on Ipads
-Volleyball tournament. actually super fun and we had all the "teachers" play and we kicked their trash
-Field trip at the junior high...boring
-pride assembly..also boring.
Regional YSA Conference
That evening was the start of the regional ysa conference. Cariann, Sarah and I were conference buddies. Cariann and I both went 3 years ago and it was PACKED. We anticipated it would be crazy getting in. We cut it kind of close and walked up to the arena 10 minutes before it started. Shockingly, there was NO ONE THERE. It was a really weak turn out. It was pretty pathetic. Our friend Jason saved us seats in the front row, and once we arrived, we understood how easy it was to get them.
The night started with a devotional. The first speaker was Bre Lasley. She had me crying and laughing (simultaneously sometimes). You have to read her story first hand though. I have tried retelling it 3 times now but of course she tells it so much better. READ IT.
http://www.momstrongutah.com/blog-1/2016/12/18/bre
The second speaker was Chris Williams. He is the guy who was hit by a drunk driver and lost his wife and 2 kids, but he immediately forgave the driver. He was also a great speaker, but I had already heard his story on an audio tape and it was the exact same thing. The last speaker was a member of the 70, Brother Durrant (ponderize talk). He didn't talk for too long though because we were already over on time.
After the devotional, they had "socializing" (new addition this year) including food trucks, live concert under the pavilion or hiking "A" Mountain. All the lines for the food trucks were out of this world so instead we walked to Mill to a Taco Shop. Jason works right by Mill, so he has the place DOWN. After we walked back, stayed at the "concert" for a second and decided to hike. It was 10:30 ish at this point, but YOLO, right? We walked back toward the Taco Shop and hiked up the little mountain. It felt a little wrong to be on ASU Campus all day AND on THEIR A mountain, so I threw a few beardowns throughout the night.
It was a quick and easy hike. Also very fun.
Jason conveniently left his car at his work which was conveniently right by A Mountain. So he was a gem and drove us over to our car at the institute. Sarah accidentally left her phone in his car, so we took a little detour on the way home to pick it up. Haha.
Saturday (Regional Conference Day 2)
By this point, we knew we wouldn't need to leave TOO early because it was such a weak turnout the night before.
The day started with a devotional from Steve Young (BYU star and NFL), Mary Cook (in the General RS Presidency before), some governor or mayor and then Pres Gilbert (BYU-I former Pres).
All our ward people congregated to us, so that was fun. We were also smart and got a row where we could put our feet up. But it was FREEEEEZING. I was using my little handbag to try to warm me up. It was freezing the night before so I was stupid for not being more prepared today.
The devotional had a common theme of speakers who got married later in life. Although I guess that is pretty relevant to a bunch of YSAs. Steve Young was probably one of my favorites of this segment-he talked about separation anxiety and how it has influenced his life. I also loved Sister Cooks who talked about LIVING life.
Next was lunch. Since the turn out was SO AWFUL, they practically begged everyone to get seconds or even thirds. No YSA was complaining about that problem... We all ate outside to defrost, but didn't last super long out there.
Following was the service project. Sarah and I kinda separated from the group, and ended up working together. The project was assembling backpacks for Native American students. The guy next to us was shamelessly flirting with the girl next to him and was high key holding us up. We would have a stack of 10 backpacks waiting for him. Come on kid.
The service project ended pretty early, so then we met up with some of our friends again and walked to the institute. It worked out great because then we were back in AC and had great seats for the workshops. Unfortunately we didn't know EVERYONE was coming, so we had to ditch some of them. The first class was with Jimmer Fredette. First off, he was HOT. I am way late to this game, but boy. He is very attractive.
Yet again, my student got in MORE trouble and had to stay til 4. Which also meant I stayed til 4....
It was a long day so I finally cashed in on my free 16 oz from soda shop (coupon from the school). I had to interpret something for my bishop and a deaf guy that has attended my ward. I spontaneously met with my bishop after and now have a new calling- stay tuned. I'm actually super pumped for it. I may or may not be speaking in church in a few weeks too...
Since my Costa Vida was SO AWFUL the other night, I treated myself to it again (I told you I needed my fix).
Nate had his final junior high choir concert. The party crew included Janice, Alie and me. Nathan of course rocked both the songs and the cheesy choir dance moves. :)
When we got home I did half of a workout, laundry so mom wouldn't have heaps of it after her vacation, and watched Gilmore Girls. Even when I "stay home for the night" I still can't go to sleep before 11:30...Stupid me.
Friday
Party day!!!
I spent A hour looking up information about my new calling. I wanted to know all I possibly could.
At the elementary school we had...
-library in which they played on Ipads
-Volleyball tournament. actually super fun and we had all the "teachers" play and we kicked their trash
-Field trip at the junior high...boring
-pride assembly..also boring.
Regional YSA Conference
That evening was the start of the regional ysa conference. Cariann, Sarah and I were conference buddies. Cariann and I both went 3 years ago and it was PACKED. We anticipated it would be crazy getting in. We cut it kind of close and walked up to the arena 10 minutes before it started. Shockingly, there was NO ONE THERE. It was a really weak turn out. It was pretty pathetic. Our friend Jason saved us seats in the front row, and once we arrived, we understood how easy it was to get them.
The night started with a devotional. The first speaker was Bre Lasley. She had me crying and laughing (simultaneously sometimes). You have to read her story first hand though. I have tried retelling it 3 times now but of course she tells it so much better. READ IT.
http://www.momstrongutah.com/blog-1/2016/12/18/bre
The second speaker was Chris Williams. He is the guy who was hit by a drunk driver and lost his wife and 2 kids, but he immediately forgave the driver. He was also a great speaker, but I had already heard his story on an audio tape and it was the exact same thing. The last speaker was a member of the 70, Brother Durrant (ponderize talk). He didn't talk for too long though because we were already over on time.
After the devotional, they had "socializing" (new addition this year) including food trucks, live concert under the pavilion or hiking "A" Mountain. All the lines for the food trucks were out of this world so instead we walked to Mill to a Taco Shop. Jason works right by Mill, so he has the place DOWN. After we walked back, stayed at the "concert" for a second and decided to hike. It was 10:30 ish at this point, but YOLO, right? We walked back toward the Taco Shop and hiked up the little mountain. It felt a little wrong to be on ASU Campus all day AND on THEIR A mountain, so I threw a few beardowns throughout the night.
It was a quick and easy hike. Also very fun.
Jason conveniently left his car at his work which was conveniently right by A Mountain. So he was a gem and drove us over to our car at the institute. Sarah accidentally left her phone in his car, so we took a little detour on the way home to pick it up. Haha.
Saturday (Regional Conference Day 2)
By this point, we knew we wouldn't need to leave TOO early because it was such a weak turnout the night before.
The day started with a devotional from Steve Young (BYU star and NFL), Mary Cook (in the General RS Presidency before), some governor or mayor and then Pres Gilbert (BYU-I former Pres).
All our ward people congregated to us, so that was fun. We were also smart and got a row where we could put our feet up. But it was FREEEEEZING. I was using my little handbag to try to warm me up. It was freezing the night before so I was stupid for not being more prepared today.
The devotional had a common theme of speakers who got married later in life. Although I guess that is pretty relevant to a bunch of YSAs. Steve Young was probably one of my favorites of this segment-he talked about separation anxiety and how it has influenced his life. I also loved Sister Cooks who talked about LIVING life.
Next was lunch. Since the turn out was SO AWFUL, they practically begged everyone to get seconds or even thirds. No YSA was complaining about that problem... We all ate outside to defrost, but didn't last super long out there.
Following was the service project. Sarah and I kinda separated from the group, and ended up working together. The project was assembling backpacks for Native American students. The guy next to us was shamelessly flirting with the girl next to him and was high key holding us up. We would have a stack of 10 backpacks waiting for him. Come on kid.
The service project ended pretty early, so then we met up with some of our friends again and walked to the institute. It worked out great because then we were back in AC and had great seats for the workshops. Unfortunately we didn't know EVERYONE was coming, so we had to ditch some of them. The first class was with Jimmer Fredette. First off, he was HOT. I am way late to this game, but boy. He is very attractive.
Thank you internet.
After his talk about his life, he challenged 2 guys and 2 girls to a shoot off. Of course everyone was going crazy. It was a good time.
The second "workshop", the 3 of us (cariann, sarah and I) moved to the back so our other friends could come back up. The speaker was Elder Dan Durrant (ponderize guy). I've actually been to his devotional before and he did the exact same thing this time, so I was pretty checked out. But I guess I needed a mind break anyway. We were also lucky we moved back because he was calling on people from the crowd.
The third was Al Fox Carraway (tattooed mormon). I have also read her book so I already knew her whole story. She was very animated in the way she told her story. It was honestly like a play.
We all needed some energy, so we considered getting soda from QT or something but decided we should get dinner first. So we got our Costa Vida burritos they were serving, then spontaneously walked to Mill to get ice cream sandwiches from Baked Bear. It did not disappoint and was our best decision all day. Jason poked a hole on his water bottle lid and that led to a water fight the whole walk over.
Next was the concert, but none of us were that interested. It started with Colten and I going outside to talk but then everyone followed. So we took off our shoes, sat in the grass and heard Colten's life story (prompted by nosy me). Most everyone in our group dipped after, but the real party people stayed for the dance.
The party crew was Sarah, Jason and myself. Sarah and I are a little crazy at dance parties but Jason survived and kept up. So props to him! Random people would join us throughout the night, so that was super fun. We went home real sweaty and gross of course. Haha.
I think one of my favorite parts of the day was seeing people I knew and brief little catch ups. It was fun to see everyone all day.
Sunday (final day of regional conference)
Every YSA ward service was cancelled and we were all supposed to go to the final meeting of the conference. While walking to the wells fargo arena, this boy who just barely moved here a week ago asked if he could join us. Turns out he thought it was normal church and was trying to go to the institute. Little did he know.. He was in for a real treat. He ended up being our buddy for the day and sat with us.
The meeting started with the main girl in charge talking, and then another YSA. I loved his talk but also don't really remember what he spoke on now.... oops (it was a long weekend, okay). Then two other people talked and I can't remember who it was... Both were members of the 70 though.
We socialized for a little bit after the meeting and eventually made our way home. It was weird having so much time before dinner compared to my usual 2 o clock church. I tried to take a nap, but only slept 40 ish minutes.
At dinner, I gave grandpa a little tutorial how to do the very basics on facebook. It was pretty funny.
We will need another the next time I see him. Haha.
My roommates and my gilbert friends both had game nights. I decided to hit up both so I didn't have to pick just one. My roommates party was packed. There were a ton of people and it got pretty loud! I stayed about an hour while everyone filed in. At the gilbert one we played my favorite game- the charades with 3 different rounds; first describing, then one word, then acting out. My team of course won ;) Everyone also saw my competitive side. Then we played States and that also got REAL crazy. And was super fun.
I totally lost track of time and stayed way later that I should have. Haha.
It was a great weekend. I ended Sunday night feeling high on life. It's so prime and fun right now. I love my life again. It feels good.
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