Bah...

...still a slacker haha.  But whatever, this is WAY more than I usually write on here.  See, I'm getting better!

Anyway, it's been almost a week since I've gotten to my aunt and uncle's place, and we STILL don't have a flight for me all figured out.  Mom flies back to Brussels tomorrow, and hopefully I can get mine by tomorrow.  Not that I don't love my relatives, but I hate being in limbo and just want to be back home and not living out of suitcases.  But the guys that take care of my flights were out of town, and Mom said they thought that I was going to be done with school NEXT month, so they didn't know they'd be needing to get mine done.  Unfortunately it takes a couple of days for them to get from D.C. back to Germany, so we'll see how soon I'll fly out of here.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm kind of looking forward to the 8 hour or so flight.  I really do enjoy flying, and that means I'm on my way home to my family :)

So I'm really lucky, because at this moment the power cord (I almost spelled that "chords," and then had to spell check it.  Music nerd much?) to my laptop is actually working!  It's basically dying, but I'm able to get these spells where I don't even have to hold it in to my laptop to get it to work.  I'm just going to have to buy a new one once I get back to Holland.  I've been lucky that my laptop has lasted me all of college so far.  I still think I'm going to need to find a way to back up all of my files, though, just in case I have to get a new one sometime.  Anybody know of any online websites that will do it for free?  I know it's a long shot, but I really don't want to have to pay for it, and if my laptop crashes again like it did my freshman year (worst month and a half of my LIFE) I really don't want to be without them.  So if you have any suggestions, let me know!

So I know some of you probably don't care, but I am TOTALLY stoked for the royal wedding in the morning.  I'm excited for the dress, the ceremony, their kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace...I just think they are such a cute couple!  I'm really happy for both of them.  Kate gets her prince, and William finally gets to protect the woman he loves, which he couldn't do for his mom.  Okay, I'm super lame.  But I can't help it ;)

Gah...

...so much for me writing on here everyday. My whole entire weekend was very relaxing, needless to say. It's nice being out of school for the most part. I still have to finish up my independent study class, but other than that I am freaking done :)

It's been difficult trying to get me a flight back to Holland, so we still don't know when I'll be getting back yet. I'll hopefully be back by the end of this week, but we just don't know right now. I'm anxious to be back with my family one last time before Chris leaves on his mission at the end of this year. I can't believe so many people I know will be coming home from their missions this summer!!! I'm excited to see all of them next year when I'm back at school. It makes me hope that this summer will go by kind of quick ;)

So for my grateful thing for today, I'm grateful for children. I've been getting to play wi my cousin's son Grey while I've been here, and he is the cutesy little kid! I love how willing he is to love me even though he barely knows me, and I love how kids never make anything boring.

Anyway, that's all for tonight. I hope everyone had a happy Easter Sunday :)

Reflection time...

So today was the last and final day of the semester.  I seriously cannot believe how fast this winter semester flew by!  Winter semesters usually seem to last FOREVER to me.  But everything is packed, much has been stored, and now I'm just waiting to get a flight to Holland so the summer can really begin!  I decided to go back because Christian will leave on his mission at the end of the year, so this is our last summer together as a family before we all split up for real.

So I've decided that I really need to be better at blogging, because this is basically my journal, and we've been instructed to keep a journal, but I am just AWFUL at that.  And what really kills me is that we're told to do it everyday, but sometimes I just don't feel like I have something interesting to write, you know?  So what would I have to write about?  Well, when Nathalie and I were visiting teaching on Sunday, Nathalie said that a friend of hers said that when he was on his mission, he would always right something the Lord did to bless him that day, and he would recognize this blessing and write it down in his journal.  I thought that was such a marvelous idea!  Because honestly, we get blessed by the Lord everyday, so it shouldn't be hard, right?

So today, I was blessed because I got all of my essay stuff for English turned in on time, and was still able to go home, finish packing, and get my entire apartment cleaned.  The Lord really blessed me with the presence of my mother, because it would not have been possible without her.  She cleaned almost the entire kitchen for me while I worked on making my room spotless, and I am so grateful for that.  I don't know what I would have done without her.  Having her here during finals has been such a blessing, because she's been able to help me get my things put into storage for the summer, and she's been so sweet, buying me food and treats and goodies, and basically just spoiling me ;)  Of course I don't mind, but she doesn't have to do that, and I really know she loves me :)

I'm also grateful for Sue, my tia's sister, who was willing to store all of my stuff in her house for the entire summer.  She's never even met me, but just on Kathy's word she was willing to take all of my crap, and let me tell you, there is a lot of it.  It's no small favor, what she's doing, and I'm so grateful for her, she is a lifesaver.

I'm also grateful for my Uncle Ivan and Aunt Lori, whose house I'm at right now as I type this.  They just let my mom and I come tonight, and had everything set up for us to be comfortable.  And I might end up having to be here until the end of next week, and they are willing to let me stay for that entire time.  I mean, I know they're family, but still, they are so kind for letting this happen.

Basically, the Lord has just blessed me with so many great people in my life.  I don't know how I would get through this world without all of the amazing people I'm surrounded by.

He even blesses me in seemingly insignificant ways.  For instance, last night my mom and I got back from Fruit Heights really really late at night, and we had to try and find parking, which if you know where I live, is almost IMPOSSIBLE.  However, not far from my complex there was a huge spot open big enough for us to park our ginormous truck there.  At 11:00 at night.  You may not understand how big of a deal that is, but that is HUGE.  We didn't have to drive around looking for parking, and we didn't have to walk very far to get back to the apartment.  It was really such a huge blessing for us.

Anyway, it's late, and I'm exhausted after finals and all of the cleaning we did today, so it is time for me to hit the hay.  I hope you all can recognize the blessings the Lord has given you, especially at this Easter time as we remember His ultimate sacrifice for us.  Goodnight, everyone.

What the what?!

Soooooo...DID YOU GUYS KNOW THAT YOU CAN MAKE MONEY BLOGGING?!  And I mean a TON of money.  A girl in my English class today gave a presentation on Mormon Mommy Blogging, and this one lady makes so much from advertising on her blog that her husband was able to quit his job.  THAT IS INSANE.  You guys, I NEED TO GET IN ON THIS.  How do I make my blog awesome enough to make money off of it?

Also, did you know blogging is a GREAT way to procrastinate writing an eight-page paper?  Because it is!

Oh man...

...it's been a LONG while since I've written on here.  I can't believe it's April already.  There's only a week and a half of classes left, and then 2 reading days and then finals.  This has been the fastest winter semester I've ever had, which isn't a bad thing at all.  I honestly think it's because of all of my ballroom classes, they've kept me going all semester long :)  It's been really nice, needless to say.

So a lot has happened since I last wrote on here.  I quit/got fired from my custodial job, which has been super sweet.  It's been nice not having to leave my apartment by 4 AM haha.  I had DanceSport in February, and I did pretty well this semester.  I got to the quarter finals in Rumba and Waltz (competing a level up) and got to the finals for Quickstep and Triple Swing :)  And then I got a 92 on my Medals Exam for Latin, and a 95 for Triple Swing and Standard, which is basically like getting a 100, so I was pretty proud of myself.  I've made ballroom kind of like my minor; I'm not actually doing the ballroom dance minor, but I have to have 8-9 credit hours of classes outside of history and the humanities for my major, so I just decided to make them ballroom classes.  So I'll have three ballroom classes a semester for the rest of college, and I'm way excited about that idea :)  I'll actually be taking a class where I'll learn how to teach social dance in the fall, and hopefully I'll get to be a TA for a 180 or 280 class in the winter!  I'm really hoping that works out, and I'm REALLY hoping I'll be able to get onto one of the teams next year.  I think I'll just have to practice stuff over the summer and make sure I get into pretty good shape so I'm ready to go when I come back to school in August.

So yesterday during Conference my grandma passed away.  She was 96 years old and had been dying for years, basically.  We're glad she's no longer in pain and that she can once again be with my grandpa.  We know she's a lot happier where she is now.  I got permission to miss class from my teachers, so I'll get to go to the funeral on Saturday, which will be kind of nice, I'll get to see my parents and my two younger brothers, and I'll get to be in Arizona, which is MUCH warmer than Utah is right now, I'm sure.  We'll probably get to see some old family friends, too, which should be fun.

Anyway, that's about all for now.  I think I've pretty much summed the last couple of months up pretty well.  Basically, I'll finish out the semester, and then I'll fly out to Holland for the summer.  I wasn't sure if I would go there right away or if I would go to California and work for a couple of months, but then I realized that Christian graduates next month and he comes to the States right after to save up for his mission at the end of the year, so if I waited our family wouldn't be all together at all this summer, so I decided we should all have one last summer together before he leaves on his mission :)  On that final note, ta-ta for now!