A sign

I have been driving up to school for the last month but a week ago I started to notice some signs. I don't know what they mean but I thought they were nice. I finally took a picture of one. There are a few on telephone poles and a few on signs stuck into the dirt at the side of the road. Finally, a reason to smile while driving to school. :)

The icky cold

The lack of posting over the past few days is due to my having contracted the cold/flu virus. I hate being sick. I missed getting together with friends on the weekend and going to church on Sunday. Most of all, it nearly killed me when Isaac came to visit and I couldn't touch him or even get too close. I went to work today armed with anti-baterial hand sanitizer, tissues, throat lozenges, water, and cold medicine. Yuck. Now I am awake at 1 am because I accidently took the non-drowsy cold medicine. I am not tired and it annoys me to no end. Grrr.

Another cool card

As mentioned before, I like the blog "Indexed." Here is another interesting example of what is on that blog.
For the most part, I agree with this card. I have learned a lot of things in school, but not much that will help me with my everyday life.

A new ring

Not that many people will care, but I bought a new ring. I love jewlery, especially rings. Without a ring on my right hand it feels naked. A few weeks ago I decided to buy a new ring and after shopping around, I decided on a CTR spinner ring.

Mom's birthday

On Wednesday, most of my family gathered together to celebrate Mom's birthday. Because we children were forbidden from getting Mom a gift, I thought that it would be great for everyone to meet for dinner. After many an e-mail, most managed to meet for dinner (Brit and Josh had to work.) Everyone brought something and Dad picked up some amazing stuffed chickens. We had veggies and dip, potatoes, salad, cornbread, banana muffins, stuffed chicken, and cookies and ice cream. It turned out to be a lot of fun, but it also gave me a huge appreciation for how much work goes into a dinner for 14 people.

I'm just glad that everyone brought food so I didn't have to do it all. Anyway, I managed to get some good pictures. Mom said that it was one of her best birthdays ever. Yeh for us! It was nice to see everyone and how much the babies have grown. Thanks for everyones help.

Babysitting

On Saturday night I had the honor of babysitting Sid and Wy. Sid started out playing a computer game while Wy complained about the weather and the state of world politics. He then moved on to my hairstyle, then about how he was hungry. Luckily, I could do something about him being hungry. After Wy had a bottle, Sid and I played with her felt dolls. I ordered a pizza. While Sid and I ate, Wy was entertained by being in his saucer. Sid kept making him laugh but eventually finished her dinner. Wy was getting really tired so I changed him into his pajamas, gave him his meds, fed him, sang to him, and put him to bed. Then Sid and I curled up on the couch and watched "The Wizard of Oz." After it ended, she got ready for bed. While she was brushing her teeth, her parents came home. All in all, a good night. I just hope that next time I babysit the weather is nicer. I really wanted to take them to the park. I just love spending time with my nieces and nephews.

The lamp

When I got home on Friday night, the power was out at our house. It was actually a planned outage of the entire town. It was really strange to see no lights on main street or 2nd north. When I got home, I lit the kerosine lamp so that I could get ready for bed. For some reason, I decided to take some pictures of it using different settings on my camera. Here they are:

Thursday and Friday

On my way to visit a friend in West Kaysville, I noticed a lot of smoke coming from the mountainside to the north. I pulled over and took a picture. It turned out that a woman had decided to burn some dead debris and it got out of control. 400 acres and an arrest later, the fire was put out by firefighters and a lot of help from buckets of rain. I went to work on Thursday night and did homework after coming home.On Friday, I went to school amongst rain. Literary Criticism was its usual excitement. The discussion of "Jane Eyre" was finished in my Victorian Literature class. I love my teacher, Dr. Rogers. He has good insights and a good sense of humor. In my History of Christianity class we discussed the popular rise of hermits and the first monastery. For those interested, St. Anthony was the first famous hermit. The first man to build the first monastery was Pachomius, who lived from 292 - 348 AD.
After school I came home and did some reading for school. Alison dropped by with her darling son. She and Jordan left Isaac with Mom and I while they went to see a movie. Isaac and I read the paper together before he fell asleep. Mom made chicken pot pie (yummy) and Josh, Brooke, Jordan, Alison, and Emily (Alison's sister) joined us for dinner. I only ate a little since I knew that I would be going out to dinner with friends. Still raining, Ryan and I ventured out to Paces DairyAnn for food, then to John's to eat. Then John, Lawyer Ryan, Best Friend Ryan, and I went down to Bryan and Bald Ryan's house in John's car. (I think I know too many people named Ryan :) We stayed until a little after midnight but took a long time getting home because of the weather. There's nothing like hyroplaning on the Interstate to really get your blood pumping. I was glad that I wasn't driving. Ryan really kept his cool and got us home safe. All in all; a good night.

X-men Quiz

You scored as Rogue.

Rogue is a strong but tragic personality. She loves Gambit. Because of her mutant powers, she cannot touch anyone without hurting them. Therefore, she longs for human contact. However, this southern gal's strong personality has allowed her to deal with this. Powers: Absorbs lifeforce and powers by touch, Super strength, and flight

Rogue 60%

Nightcrawler 55%

Jean Grey 55%

Storm 50%

Most Comprehensive X-Men Personality Quiz 2.0

The weekend

Friday started out with another exciting round of classes. In Literary Criticism, we discussed poetry terms. In Victorian Lit we continued with our discussion of "Jane Eyre." According to my teacher, "Jane is Harry Potter." Some of the members of the class decided that this saying is going to be our catch-phrase for the semester. What the teacher meant is that the similarities in being an orphan, who is treated horribly by relations, and then goes to school is very strong. The Victorian novel is a prime example of "uppity teens," which are still written about today (think David Copperfield, Elizabeth Bennet, etc.)
In my History is Christianity class, we had a class discussion about Plato's influence on the writings of the early Christians. While they didn't live in the same time period, the idea of logic was still important when the early Christians (think 150 AD) were trying to figure out doctorine.
Ryan and I started Friday night by visiting his new nephew at the hospital. Steven and Stefanie are the parents of a darling boy named Keaton Laser Reid. Born on Thursday, he weighed 7 lb, 11 oz. I took a picture of he and his uncle. Afterwards, we went to a birthday party for Big Kyle. We started the celebration for my cute Air Force friend by eating at Iggy's in Layton. Eating together are (from the left side) Ryan, Bree, Corey and his wife, Kyle, lawyer Ryan, John, Katie, Tanya, Caleb, and I. Afterwards, we went to his apartment for cake and presents. Then we went out for some more fun. A couple of friends from Salt Lake didn't make it up and were missed. When I got home, the power was out. It was a planned outage because the city was working on the power grid west of I-15.
On Saturday, we all got ready for a visit from Aunt Linda and Uncle David. They had flown in late on Thursday night. I love these relatives but I don't get to see them that often. A big family dinner followed with some interuptions from some cute babies. We were not only celebrating a visit from Aunt Linda and Uncle David, but Jeremy's birthday. For his birthday, I decided to give him the gift of time. I decided to babysit Sid and Wy on a Saturday to let their parents take an evening for themselves. A gift for my brother, although I think that it was a little selfish of me. I love spending time with my nieces and nephews.

I thought this was an interesting sight: www.indexed.blogspot.com
This blogger has made different types of graphs on index cards and posted them. Here's an example:

Seeing friends

It's always nice to see friends that you don't get to see all the time. After work on Wednesday, I went to see Brittany for her birthday. My usual Barnes and Noble money card was her gift because she and I are both readers. Spencer, who looks like the lead singer of Rascal Flatts, was there with a funny shirt on. He was exploring the wonders of Brit's new laptop. Boys are so funny with electronic toys. When I looked at the picture of the two of them, I thought they either looked like cousins or a romantic couple. I couldn't decide.On Thursday night I studied for hours at the library, an odious chore, and then met up with some friends for sushi. I haven't had sushi or seen Aubri and Chris for months. Aubri and Chris were married two years ago and I don't see them very often these days. Strange how you can live a few miles apart but not see each other on a regular basis. They are moving to Texas in late October or early November. Brittany came in with her family when our meal was ending. It was strange to see my two friends try to ignore each other. Once upon a time they might have been friends, but too much drama has happened. Oh well, such is life. I guess not everyone is meant to be friends; only civil acquaintances. Anyway, it was nice to see my friends this week. I should be getting to bed so I can be bright and chipper for school tomorrow morning.

The longest word

The longest word in most English dictionaries is "Pneumonoultramicroscropicsilicovolcanoconiosis," which refers to a lung disease. Now we all just have to learn how to pronounce it :)

Saturday recap

Saturday was quite a busy day. It began early with a trip to the Bountiful temple with Dad. When Dad and I got home, he made pancakes. Jen, Lauren, Alison, and Isaac joined us. We put Isaac and Lauren next to each other to take pictures. There's nothing like three or four adults taking pictures at one time. It must have seemed shocking to these two darling kids.
Mom, Jen, and Alison started the process of making Salsa while I tried to clean up the yard and part of the house for the bridal shower. After cleaning up and playing with the babies, I decided to take a short nap. The short half hour nap turned into an hour and a half. When I was finally awakened, I had 15 minutes to take a shower before the bridal shower began. After a quick shower, I ran down to try to help the Allreds set up. After Trisha's bridal shower I went to meet up with Ryan's family. One of his nieces, Danielle, was baptized on Saturday and the Reid family got together for dinner. Afterwards, Ryan and I went to Barnes and Noble, then to pick up John for some fun.
The three of us then went to someone's house for a farewell party for Curtis. He will be gone to Qatar until January. It was nice to hang out with John, Ryan, Curtis, and Kyle again. They are such funny guys. By the end of the night, my stomach hurt from laughing so much. We left a little early because some of us were tired. I ended the night watching an episode of "Monk," a hilarious show about an obsessive-compulsive detective.

Red Butte Gardens

After I got out of class today, Mom called to invite me to go to Red Butte Gardens with the family. Since Dad had the day off, he and Mom had invited Alison and Isaac, and Jen and Lauren to go out to lunch and to Red Butte Gardens with them. I drove to Alison's house in South Weber where Mom and Dad picked the three of us up. We then drove into Salt Lake to pick up Jen and Lauren. Both babies were as cute as can be. Although it got a little hot, the five adults had fun strolling around with two cute babies. Isaac ended up sleeping almost the whole time we were there. Lauren only took a short nap but was in good spirits. I included some shots of Red Butte Gardens. If you have never been there, I would highly encourage it. It is a nice place to walk around and talk. By the end of the day, we were all pretty tired (as evidence of a yawn by Isaac that I managed to get a picture of.) For more pictures, see our Johnsen flickr sight.

Tomorrow, we are hosting a bridal shower for a friend of ours. Trisha is getting married in October to a nice man named Kim. Tomorrow night I hope to go to a farewell party for Curtis.Jen and Alison by the Pond

Some scenery pictures of Red Butte Gardens