Just Jessica

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

2011-08-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

For the near future this blog will be under construction to give it a new look and a new purpose/direction.

Look for me in the future but the not too distant one!

Love,
Jessica

We're Kind of a Big Deal

2011-07-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend our ward Girl's Camp. I definitely had a lot of mixed feelings leading up to it, especially when I knew that both of my parents would be coming up also. But my overall feeling was a happy one. One thing about Girl's Camp is that it is never what you expect it to be. You never know the mix of girls that are going and how well they are going to mesh together or which ones are going to have a particularly moody week.

Despite the hormones, the lack of outdoorsy-ness that our girls always seem to possess, and capacity for complaining this week couldn't have been more fun, enjoyable and rewarding.

I had the perk of just being an extra adult leader at a ward camp. Megan and I had been adult leaders 2 years ago at a stake camp which is a little bit grander scale so compared to ward it is quite a lot more manageable. Being a lot younger than the other adults and just a little bit older than the girls allowed me to "play many parts" (the award I got at the end) of being a camper/ leader. I fit in well with this group of girls. Some of them Megan and I had spent time with 2 years ago and Chantelle's two younger sisters there helped me feel quite welcomed. I got to be a goofball when I wanted (leading them in "Purple Lights") and take a back seat when, say, different years were assigned cleaning duties. I also got to play horseshoes and sneak off and do archery with the priesthood (my dad and two other brothers who I get along well with) while the girls were otherwise occupied.

I may be biased (and I am) but there is nothing like getting in touch with nature than in the Northwest. Even though I've lived here for most of my life I still am in awe with the beauty of this great state. Whenever I went to girl's camp I remember that I always felt closer to Heavenly Father because I was so close to all of his creations. There's nothing like the peace of walking in the woods or waking up to birds singing (whilst tuning out the girl's screaming that is.)
It's just the perfect environment for the spirit to feel you with peace, love and happiness.

I also took it upon myself to become the camp photographer. Equipped with my new-ish DSLR, which I am always looking for opportunities to become more familiar with, I saw this as a perfect opportunity to capture moments and learn about my camera. Switching from point and shoot to my many-mode and settings camera has been a learning process but I think this week taught me a lot. The weekend before this one I actually attended a photography workshop that told me manual mode is the easiest mode to shoot in and I'm beginning to agree. Although I saw it as a great opportunity for refining my camera skills I was really more grateful that I will be able to give the girls captured memories that will hopefully last a lifetime.

it's not a proper girl's camp with out braids, and lots of them

Dad challenged all the girls to a banana eating contest when we had bananas we needed to get rid of. This was the 2nd round. In the first round Angie, the girl in the white hat nearly won but I pointed out that she was almost done and my dad just shoved the rest in his mouth. He still gave her the $1 prize.

Best part of girl's camp: getting the priesthood to do whatever we wanted them to. Including dancing to "Single Ladies"
skits!

Archery was among one of the activities the girls could do

Service Project:
Pulling these viney burr plants from among the other wanted plants along the path.

MUDBALL/MUD WRESTING: (and who said girl's don't like to get dirty)

3, 2, 1.....

GORY HIKE (not for the squeamish at heart)

ROPES COURSE
brought to you by Sister Taylor

obsticle #1: Getting everybody over the wall (including two "paralyzed" girls). Only two girls at the top of the wall were allowed to talk.

Obsticle #2: Using a partner, get from one end of a tight wire to the other.
Obsticle #3: Getting everyone to balance on a giant plank of wood for at least 10 seconds

Obsticle #4: Get three objects across rope swings

Obsticle #last: Trust Fall.

All in all, it was an amazing week, full of amazing experiences and amazing girls.

Nanny Jessica

2011-06-04T13:34:00.000-07:00

Nothing has felt so good as finally getting to say I HAVE A JOB, and not some part-time, seasonal, temporary job. If you haven't already guess from the titled I am now a nanny. I had considered it a ways back (ps there are tons of sites to hire nannies) but thought I'd look for something else, but you know how that went. Everything about this job has seemed to perfect to be true. When I saw the job listing the thing that stood out to me the most was the schedule was exactly the schedule a. that would work with my other obligations and responsibilities and b. was doable.

The Family:

The Stellas, Noah and Laura

The Kids:

Dylan (age 4)

Abby & Gabby (twins, age 2)

Both parents are divorced and are now raising these three cute kids together. They had moved from Indiana when they weren't able to hold up financially after dad lost his job and moved in with his parents, Bama and Popi (I really don't care for wierd grandparent nicknames like "grampy" for instance but Bama for Grandma is a new one that I don't think I'll ever be able to get used to). The Grandparents live on an extension of the house but Grandma is just "coming back from the dead" after having terrible back surgery recovery complications and so they have limited mobility to watch the kids when Mom and Dad are at work. I get Wednesdays, weekends and every other Thursday off which really is what makes this job possible for me to do mentally. But the parents are both awesome people just trying to raise a family of their own and its just been a perfect fit from the beginning. They live 10 minutes away in Venersburg which means short commute, no traffic and a nice green Washington drive.

Sooo you all know what this means. This may very well become the outlet to all of the "fun" experiences that come with being around three kids, and being a nanny. And I haven't taken any pictures yet but you can bet they are on their way.

Most of all I just feel like I was given this job and I see it as a direct blessing from Heavenly Father. This job just was too easy to obtain and was too perfect not to be meant for just me. All I can say is that I am blessed, loved and grateful.

Lately

2011-05-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

Why hello blogging world! It always shocks me how long it is between my blog posts and how you all must think that I have just dropped off the face of the planet. Well fortunately or unfortunately I am still here, alive and breathing. I'm not going to lie that I did distance myself from blogging just because I felt like there wasn't anything really worthy of posting. But since the last time I posted there has been some activity in my life and thought blogging and me could rekindle our relationship.

As most of you know in April I graduated from college! I was fortunate to have both my parents and my brother and Cody make the trek out to Idaho with me. I love excuses to go to Utah and see the Taylor bunch. I wish it happened more often but then those times wouldn't be extra special. There's nothing better than being surrounded by the people that love you the most.

But it felt especially good to go back to Rexburg. I have and will always have a strong connection to that town and to my University. The person I became over the four years of going to school there has changed my life and I know has changed the rest of my life for the better. I had been missing that place quite a lot and just felt like I was going home. I got to see my very good friends and my roommates and was also lucky enough to spend a night in my old apartment. It just felt like everything came to a healthy and complete close. I also loved having Grandma and Papa John come out and attend the ceremonies. It was just a time that I felt very accomplished and very loved.

The whole graduation experience was quite surreal (I don't even believe it sometimes). I actually got my official degree in the mail a couple days ago and just stared at it for a couple of minutes not believing what I was looking at. I really miss school. I loved my classes, my friends, my professors and my life there. It has been a difficult transition, especially with a lot of plans not working out over the last 10 months how I would've liked them to but I feel like I have been blessed in many other ways.

Blessing #1 The Wadleighs (especially Olive)

After I left school back in July of last year I was sooo eager to come spend time with my new niece, and spend time with her I have! I love having another household to go and escape to when I just need a break. I especially loved being placed on Olive duty for Megan and Rusty's Sealing which forced me (as if I needed more motivation) to go spend time over there everyday for a month and very frequently afterwards. I feel like Olive is quite comfortable with me and we have a special little bond. There's nothing like getting greeted with an "I recognize that person" smile from that sweet little girl. Megan and Rusty have just created such a loving peaceful home that I always feel welcome at, which helps a lot on my down days.

an afternoon spent at lewisville park with megan and olive

Blessing #2 The Latest Job Opportunities

When you are post graduate all anybody wants to here is what you are doing for work and when you don't have an answer you feel pretty pathetic. I have always been on a great path education wise and life direction wise so when my life came to a crashing halt and I stopped having happy exciting updates about my life it got quite depressing. I learned a lot of patience and relied on my Heavenly Father and things have slowly but surely working out. I have been blessed with a very part time job that I think will open great doors for myself. I work in an after-school program called Northwest Children's Art. I worked one day a week (the downside with it being a very VERY part time job) at a school 15 minutes away with primary school aged children.

my goofy pupils

This last Wednesday was the last class of the school year so it was a little sad saying goodbye to the kids but I hope to resume teaching again in the fall. Kids are definitely a challenging group to work with but in the end I think the most rewarding. Even more excitingly (is that a word?) is that the Program Head has asked me to create the projects for the full curriculum next year. I mean that the dream isn't it? Getting paid to create art? (The answer is yes in case you couldn't figure it out). I also interviewed yesterday for a nanny job which would be I think the hardest job but also something that could become permanent (which would mean no more job searching!).

Also after many failed prospective job ideas/opportunities/frustrating dead ends Cody is embarking on a new adventure himself. Cody's mom works as a real estate agent here in the area (they actually sold Megan and Rusty their beautiful house) and her boss has offered Cody a position at the agency a soon as he gets his license. This involves an online class that we expect to take a week and then he just needs to pass a test and he's legit. We're not sure how constant the money flow will be in the early stages so he's still got a couple jobs he's trying for as more stable money in the meantime. So hopefully we can finally catch a break and the ball can start rolling in the right direction.

Blessing #3 Institute

Man was I going through Rexburg/BYU-Idaho withdrawals living in Washington. Religion classes were the highlight of my weeks there and I never missed a devotional so it was really hard when everything fell on me to fill that giant gap that formed after leaving that environment where it was so so easy to get spiritually fed. Church was good I suppose but I really needed more. The first time I went to Institute here I felt like I had found the perfect piece to fill that gap. We have an AMAZING teacher. Instantly I fell in love with the class and felt just as if I had enrolled in another religion class at BYU-Idaho. The class is filled with great people who offer great perspectives. I really think it helps being around people my age in my stage of life, like it is in college, as opposed to the older generations at church that are a marriage and couple children ahead of me. We also got a couple called as a YSA Sunday School teaching combo in our world that have saved me also. Sunday School and Institute has become the highlights of my week. I know the Lord has blessed me with both these three people in my life.

Blessing #4 The Love and Support of My Parents

I know it can't be easy for my parents to have a post-grad come live back at home seemingly stuck at the moment. They know that there's nobody that wants to move out and have her own place more than me so their empathy for my frustrations really help. They express they're love and support of me at every opportunity. I am so grateful that I don't have the parents I hear about that either harp on their children for not leaving home or make them pay rent or do other ridiculous things. Having a parent's love continuously present in my life is such a strength that I take too much for granted.

No more spotty posts every couple months or so from Jessica. I'm here to stay, to share, to show off happenings in my life.... and hopefully you enjoy

Merry Holidays

2010-12-14T23:23:00.001-08:00

Happy Christmas all and to all a good day!

It's me Jessica here reporting from Battle Ground, Washington. As of late I have been busy with working and school and soaking in all the family time around the Holidays that I've missed for the past four years of my life.

Work is good. I'm getting a lot of reading done. It's also been a great excuse to just sit down and get my homework done. Some might think it's the most boring job in the world but you know I quite love it. Yes, it may get slow with no one walking in for a couple of hours (mostly when it is down pouring outside) but it gives me some me time. And I never had time for a job at school (or a car for that matter) so I love feeling responsible and finally making some money of my own. I loved this Christmas that I could use my hard-earned money to spend on my family.

As for a school update I'm sure my dad has kept people posted but just in case you didn't know here's the deal on my graduating. Everything was all set up for me to graduate actually this weekend. But at the beginning of my semester I found out that my science class I was taking online was actually a nursing major anatomy class. Short story I was as close to a melt-down as possible and we sorted it out that I would drop the class and just take a couple next semester. (I needed 4 credits, but am now signed up for two 2 credit classes). But I was still going to walk in December, just not officially graduate until April. Well as time got closer, something about it just didn't feel right. There was the weather problem that we were trying to figure out, that if it snowed or the roads were icy we wouldn't be able to get down there and I would miss out. I talked to my friend who was in a predicament like my own and she said she had just moved her date to April. Well I thought about it and the more I thought about it the more right it felt.

So.............. I told my parents I was going to switch the date and boy you should've seen the look of relief on my mom's face. Usually our semester gets over with near the 13th or 14th but our semesters have been getting out later. It just felt like my graduation was getting crammed into the middle of all the holiday chaos and it was causing more stress than happiness. And now that it will be in April it will be more of a joyous occasion and Megan and Rusty have even mentioned coming out.
So there you go, I will be officially graduated in April.

Also, I am officially 22. Thanks to my mom and some visitors my birthday wasn't as ho-hum as I was anticipating. I think more of celebrating me turning a year older it's more seeing how much I am loved. We actually talked about it and I hadn't been home for a birthday since my senior year of high school. So it was pretty great that I got to be around family for it.

Happy holidays! I'm going to try and get more regular at blogging so wish me luck.
Oh and Utah, would you please send us some snow? This monsoon is getting old.

Day Four: Last Day

2010-11-06T23:08:00.001-07:00

Day Three: Tea Gardens, Museum and Free Time

2010-11-05T23:27:00.000-07:00

pictures just for now:

Day Two: SAN FRAN (aka museum day)

2010-11-05T08:16:00.000-07:00

Just pictures for now...

Day One: RENO

2010-11-04T23:07:00.000-07:00

So the adventures began like this: after lunch with my momma outside of the airport, got dropped off (felt kind of adult about that) got checked in no prob, got on a plane with a lot of old people and "girlfriends" ready to de-stress themselves. Sat front row on a plane next to a real life cowgirl (more of a cow-lady) and drank my Dr. Pepper while looking out at the pretty clouds and landscape wandering what it'd be like to rule over the little specks I was observing. Got off the plane and ignored all the slot machines calling my name (there were a ton). Successfully got my luggage delivered to me and then got nervous because from then until I met up with my group was when I was feeling most anxious. I didn't exactly know how I was going to get to the hotel but a taxi seemed the best option. Google Maps told me it was only 5 minutes away so I was pretty okay. Went outside and saw some taxis had a guy just take my luggage and put it in his van and he seemed to know where I going so I felt okay. Got to my hotel safely and called my professor who let me know the group was already there. On my way to the room I ran into another of the professor chaperones who asked if I was part of the group. I told her I was and then was informed that we were leaving in like 2 minutes to go to the first museum. Talk about good timing!!
First Museum: Reno Art Museum
Some highlights included:

my very first seeing of a Picasso in real life. It was one of his instrument abstracts, nothing too famous but I have to say it was a pretty neat experience

Punk Rock album covers
Portraits of Vietnamese done on leaves

Abstract Lichtensteins (our school owns a couple that I had to stare at for a whole semester)

Series of art done by doing mathematical equations to create the image (way too smart for me)

We've definitely lucked out on weather. It's been as warm as I would hope that California/Reno would be (especially after leaving rainy freezing Washington). After the museum we went to the Silver Legacy Casino for a buffet dinner.

It was the first time I had been in a casino and it looked, felt and smelled exactly how I could image it to be. Cody told me that I would fall in love with casino buffets and I'll have to admit that they're not too shabby. Started out with some prime rib and ended with a delectable chocolate mousse pie (and crammed a lot of food in between). All the girls are super nice. I share a room with three other girls and we all get a long quite swimmingly. It's everything I could've imagine and more and I just wish that it could last forever!!

Remember Me?

2010-11-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

Heyyyyy... yeah..... so.... I haven't really been the best at keeping up my blog.
I could come up with a billion excuses as to why I just haven't simply come on and just written at least a paragraph about what's happening to me. But better later than never at all.
So HERE I AM :) I'm back!!

Since the reunion (yeah, it's been that long since I've updated you) I have started my last semester online. Turns out going to school is way easier than trying to do some classes online when living at home. At least in Rexburg I was completely giving myself to education. It was my motivation for waking up everyday. But being at home there are so many more distractions and I just feel torn between doing 20 different things, one of those not being homework. But having these classes has kept me connected to Rexburg, which I miss dearly, and I'm learning some amazing things so it's really not that bad.

I have since got a part time job, thanks to a connection at church that saw my application and had it pulled. There's a new side of town called BG Village that their trying to make into a nicer part of town. It's much more trendy and chique. It work at a clothing store called BG Bop Shop (I hate the name) but it's the perfect job that I really needed.

There's not that much traffic but enough and on my shift I'm the only one at the store. So that gives me time to do homework etc. It is the epitome of a chill job. There was a lady that owned it before and pretty much should never have tried running a clothing store so the management that is there now is trying to save it and make it into something good.

They have a lot of cute clothes and purses but there's a lot of crap there too. Apparently the lady who owned it before would get these bundles of clothing (all new, most with tags still on) and she was promised so many high end nice things but then she also got all the rest of the crap that they threw in for a certain amount of money. Well she didn't really have an editing eye so we have a continuing sale to try and get rid of all the crap. But I love it. The worst part is having to listen to the radio all day. I kind of hate popular radio music. 80% of the time they are waaaay inappropriate songs and 90% of the time they are just dumb. My goal in my job is to avoid Katy Perry songs at all costs.

Now for the exciting news. For the next five days I will be on the great adventure that is my Travel Art class!! We could choose to do an internship to graduate or this travel class they offer. There's one that goes to New York (usually for graphic designers), one to SLC (usually for poor college students) and one to San Francisco (for fine arts/general). So I'm going to San Fran! I'm leaving today for Reno where we'll make a pit stop and tomorrow morning make our way to San Francisco. So now for the next five days you will get updates on all of the awesome culture I get to experience. We have placed like the SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art), the Japanese Tea Gardens and so much more on our agenda. I'm really excited to show pictures and tell about the neat things I get to go see.
So you'll be hearing from me soon, pray that we're kept safe and wish me fun! :)

ILV2KYK

2010-08-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

After graduation Cody has since found a job working at a Dick Hannah used car lot in Vancouver. He loves it because he finally gets to do what he's been studying all these years and preparing to do. He's been really blessed just being able to get the job so fast and being so close to home. But now me best friendless with Cody working until 7 or 8 everyday except for a 2-day 'weekend' (the schedule rotates so his weekend lands on just two days in a row). I've tried not to go crazy with boredom and procrastination of the things I know I need to get to and trying to find a job myself. Change always takes just a little time to get adjusted to like always so it will be good soon.

This last week Cody's 'weekend' landed on Thursday and Friday and now that we only have 2 days to play we are trying to really take advantage of these days. Soooo this last Thursday we went kayaking!! Cody's family own four kayaks and couldn't come up with a reason why we hadn't gone out on them before. The day started out overcast and a bit drizzly but luckily half way through the day the sun finally showed up.

It was a perfect day. We drove up to Lake Merwin which is about 30 minutes past Cody's house up in the mountains. I've never been (which again don't know why I hadn't). It is a gorgeous open lake with a narrower part that leads off to the right and to some small waterfalls. I kept thinking I was going to tip but after about 15 minutes you get the hang of it and it's quite enjoyable.

i may look calm and collected on the surface but i was kiiiinda freaking out

Sometimes we go fast but mostly would leisurely take in all the Northwest beauty. Living in Idaho for a year really makes me appreciate all of the green everywhere. I feel really blessed to live in a such a gorgeous area.

water falling down a rock that we swam up to

my three loves

When we got closer to the falls we found ourselves in this super calm part of the lake so I thought it would make for some cool pictures. When I was getting my camera back from Cody I heard this wooshing noise, looked up and no more than 15 feet away from us flew a bald eagle and landed on a tree. It was one of the more magical parts of the adventure. We just sat for about 10 minutes looking up at him.

To get to the falls we had to park our kayaks (because you literally couldn't go any further due to some major boulders blocking the way. We chose this spot as our lunch location and then headed up to the falls.

after many attempts of me running back and forth from this rock to the camera (two rocks away) to take this picture, this was the winner.

I can foresee a lot of kayak adventures in our future because I simply had a blast. And once Megan and Rusty can steal away from little Olive we hope they would accompany us for a group kayak adventure.

Ah Crepe

2010-08-20T10:08:00.000-07:00

Every year we look forward to the time when all of our blackberries are ready to eat. Megan and I got inspired and decided to make some crepes to eat with the berries.

this would be the second batch of batter I made due to me accidentally dropping the little glass bowl full of melted butter into the kitchen aid mixer. I now know that kitchen aid mixers shatter little glass bowls.

Megan came up with the brilliant idea to heat up the blackberries with some sugar to make a yummy berry sauce

all of the yummy ingredients

Google helped us by finding some neat ways of folding your crepe and we thought we'd give them a try

Family Night with the City Council

2010-08-17T20:31:00.001-07:00

For FHE last night my dad invited our family to go to a city council meeting for an issue he had been fighting for for a long long time. He can give you all the details because he lived it but the short version is the high school wants an electronic reader board but our city has a restriction on having electronic reader boards in on main street.
It was probably one of the greatest FHE's I can remember. Even through the boring parts it was still neat to see how a city is run and the people involved. My former track coach who was mayor twice before is on the city council and also a good friend from our ward is also on the council. Highlights of the boring segment of the night came from the time allotted for anybody to stand up (they are limited to 5 minutes) and pretty much can just present/say anything. These were made highly more entertaining with frequent texts from Connor that forced us to suppress cracking up in front of the city council. First was garage sale sign conspiracy lady. She had had garage sale signs of hers taken down and she pretty much just wanted to know who the culprit was. Lady that was sad that a dog (named Bo) on her route to work was tied up on a short chain all the time and didn't have freedom to run around and wanted him freed. Clark County says the rope has to be 5 feet but BG's says 3 so she wanted that fixed. (Connor's best text: Let's Free Bo! Po Bo Chained No Mo!). This was followed up by some other guy who says his garage sale signs were being taken also. At this point I very much felt like I was in a city hall town meeting in the Gilmore Girls... just a little more official feeling.
After this part was over the first item on the next part of the agenda was the reader board (and you have no idea how grateful I was that it was the first to come up for discussion). Pretty much my dad gave an amazing speech. He was clear, concise, no feeling of rambling, points reiterated, even made everyone laugh a couple times (which he really can't help not to do) really just great. Some sign guy came up and just fed some information like how long it takes to read letters of a certain size i don't really know cause me and Connor couldn't hear him over his loud Santa beard. The high school's principle also went up and gave a good argument. And then hey I had a little something to say and my dad used me as a last point that he wanted to make so I got up and spoke for probably a good 20 seconds, but that was enough to make my hands shaky until the end of the meeting. Then the council discussed it at length. Apparently the by the last meeting it seemed like it was split 3 yes's and 3 no's (but there's 7 including the mayor). Then the actual vote.... which was very intense, I kind of felt like I was on a game show or something..... and

IT PASSED!!! all 7 were yes's. The people cheered, Connor and mom let out a couple of woot's but the best part was the big ol grin on my dad's face. After all his hard work and effort (going to a ton of meetings) it was so good to see it payed off. As a family we felt nothing but proud to have him as our dad/husband. It was just neat.

We celebrated with a delicious meal at Burgerville w/ some turkey clubs, blackberry lemonades and some pepper bacon cheeseburgers.

This is now remembered in my book as one FHE to remember.

we didn't start the fire

2010-07-14T09:06:00.000-07:00

June 13, 2010

"Firefighters at the Idaho National Laboratory are battling a range fire that has burned more than 47-square-miles and prompted the evacuation of employees.

INL officials say today's blaze got to within 300 yards of a mothballed test facility near the lab's Materials and Fuels Complex. Only essential employees are being asked to report to work at the complex on Wednesday.
Winds gusting up to 55 miles per hour were pushing the fire northeast toward Mud Lake Tuesday evening.

Shortly after the fire was discovered, all personnel at the lab's Power Burst Facility and two other units were evacuated.

The INL complex stretches across an 890-square-mile federal reserve and is located about 15 miles north of Idaho Falls. "

When we walked outside of the apartment we thought we had entered into a movie where a terrible monster was about to strike us while others conversed who's sinning caused this dark cloud of smoke to cover Rexburg. Everybody went outside to take pictures of the sky. It was actually really weird looking, it really did feel like a dream world. The ground and everything was heavily tinted orange. You really just couldn't stop looking at the sky. The smoke had blown from wherever the lab is and had completely covered Rexburg like a blanket making it look like night except when you looked to one side of the city you could see complete blue skies with white fluffy clouds. The blue skies it was made it really look weird, I'm pretty sure it would've been completely dark like it really was night but the light coming from the side kept everything lit..just eerily.
Here's some cool pictures even though it really can't capture how it really looked:

this last picture is kind of crappy but you get a sense of how the sky was all the way across
this is one that my old roommate took and put on facebook

i'm ready i'm ready i'm ready

2010-07-12T10:03:00.001-07:00

This week is my last full week of college. School isn't officially over until Wednesday of next week but I count this as my last normal week.
I'm freaking out. Partly from excitement and partly because I don't want to leave.

Why I'm excited to leave:

I'm exciting that I will never have to go through the 3-month rotation of new schedules.
I won't be told that I must be here at this time and here at the other.
I'm excited that I get to go back to my home. Idaho really makes you appreciate the good ol' Northwest. I think I've fallen more in love with Washington the farther and longer I've been apart from it.
No more having to listen to giant gross trucks and motorcycles and four-wheelers roar by my window making it impossible to hear anything for 5 seconds
I won't have to walk everywhere!! If I want to get somewhere I can drive!!
No more Rexburg winters. Give me rain and lots of it.
I'm excited to be around my family again. Going three straight semesters has given me a good strong case of the homesickness.
NO MORE HOMEWORK
Mostly I am excited to meet my niece! I've been showing her off to everyone I know. This truly is torture to see other people holding her and me not being able to.
and I get my kitties back!!! All of my prayers were answered for my kitties to be safe while I was away and now I get to go back and snuggle with them and get all of my clothes coated in a fresh layer of cat hair.

What I'm not excited about leaving college:

I love school. I always have and always will. I love learning new things. I love all of the exciting classes I get to take. I love the people I meet. And I always fall in love with my teachers. They are just neat people from neat backgrounds that have done neat things and have sooo much to teach me.
I love BYU-Idaho. I fell in love the first fall semester I was up here. It's always hard leaving home for a new semester but I wouldn't do it if I didn't absolutely love this place. I really can't explain why I'm so attached to this place, mostly the feelings are too personal for words.
No more taco bus, Fong's Chinese, teriyaki trailer or cheap sodas at Horkley's
I'm not excited about leaving all of the amazing people I've met and made relationships with up here. There's no more 'next semester' to see them and hang out with them. For the most part I won't see any of these people ever again in my life. It's kind of heart-breaking. It's like graduating from high school and saying goodbye to all of your friends but ten times worse.
I kind of like living in my own isolated environment. The words independent and adult comes to mind. No offense family, but I get to go where I want, when I want on my schedule (for the most part). I've figured out how to thrive in my own little world and I think it might take a bit of effort in transitioning out of it. There's no hiding behind family out here. You are who you make yourself and I think I've done quite well.
No more gorgeous temple able to be spotted from practically anywhere you go.
I have to start an 'adult' life. I don't want to leave my buffer between true adulthood and adolescence. College makes for a nice little limbo of just hanging out and having a good time (plus homework of course)
Mostly I think I'm just going to miss people. Their and my life will keep on going but no longer near each other. No more inside jokes with roommates or crazy stories about what happened on a date last night. No more small day to day occurrences that aren't dramatic enough to be posted on a status. Sometimes being facebook friends just isn't enough (I learned that after graduation high school).

Worst part of it all? cleaning and packing.

Happyversary

2010-06-28T10:22:00.000-07:00

Friday June 25th marked Cody and mine's two-year anniversary. Amidst the craziest of school, having projects due Monday, tests on Tuesday etc we still found time to celebrate our love.
We split the activities into two days, since Cody has classes until 3 on Fridays and the main activity he planned was going to take all day.

Friday, after classes, we headed down to Idaho Falls where a new Panda Express had opened. I cannot tell you how good that panda tasted. I felt like I had transported back to Washington to good familiar Chinese food. But the interesting thing about Idaho is that anytime anything partly major comes to town EVERYONE has to get a piece of it. I have never been inside a more packed restaurant. There was a huge long line that snaked around the tables and booths and tons and tons of food coming out nice and fresh. I'm pretty sure there was one guy that was just in charge of orange chicken and another just in charge of chow mien. After dinner (and the real reason we were in IF) was to go see Toy Story 3 in 3D. I could not have been more happy with the third movie... except for that monkey. As always the Toy Story people delivered an excellent balance of the Toy Story we first grew to know and love and more creativity and amazing animation than I could've thought. I'm still sketchy about everything being in 3D but I will always see computer animated movies in it. It is simply stunning what they can do now.

The next morning Cody told me to be ready by 8:30 in the morning to set off for our surprise adventure. Nothing starts an adventure off right than McDonald's. So of course we had to stop and get some breakfast. Honestly if there wasn't food involved right away I might not have been motivated enough to wake up.

Where were we heading exactly? Why no other than Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

The trip was so amazing and so much fun and a much needed break from routine. The drive was a treat in itself. It was countryside of Idaho and some Wyoming that felt like I was headed back to Washington. There was trees and mountain passes and having the sun beaming on us didn't hurt either.

Once we got into town we headed right for Teton National Park. Cody knew where he wanted to take me so I just got to enjoy the scenario and spot a couple of antelopes on the way. Inside the park we went to Hidden Falls at Jenny Lake.

You can take a ferry across or just one way so we chose to take the hike around the lake and then ferry back across. I'm glad we didn't cop out of a gorgeous hike.

It really was such a northwest-feeling treat to be back around trees and trails and water and most of all friendly out-doors people! I have always loved that when you're out hiking or just outdoors everyone is instant friends with you. Everyone you meet on a trail always gives you a big smile and hello. The fall was gorgeous. It was a giant cascading waterfall that just led into rapid after rapid down the mountain. It was especially nice of the waterfall to coat us with a nice mist after taking the long hot walk up to it. Definitely worth it. Definitely want to go back.

looking back on the ferry

After leaving the park we wanted to walk around Jackson just to see the cute little town and some of its stores. But first we needed to eat, which was apparently too much to ask for at 2:30 because all the restaurants don't even open until 5:30. Luckily we found a tavern and got to eat yummy cowboy burgers (BBQ sauce and onion rings on the burger) out on the terrace overlooking the square. The only crappy part was that was right when America was playing their last world cup game and every so often there would be exclamations coming from everybody inside and from the bar across the street also. So I had to make periodical visits in and see what all the commotion was about.

Don't be too excited Cody..

cool archway in the town square made up of antlers

We couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day. And I couldn't ask for a better person to share it with.

Spirit of Ricks

2010-06-24T21:22:00.001-07:00

This past week was Spirit Week on campus. I haven't participated in any activities in any of the semesters I've been here which kind of makes me feel lame... But for some reason at church when the paper went around to sign up for the Ward 50 Lap Relay I put my name down.
I'm actually really happy that I did it because it was a really cool experience.
I knew that all these events happened and I knew people got really into them but it was cool to be a part of it. Being on the inside makes it a completely different experience.
As you can tell from the name of the event it was 50 laps but a relay so ideally a ward would have 50 people sign up so one lap would go to one person. We had about 10 people who ran double laps and finished somewhere in the middle. My lap was really good for the first 250 yards... then I was reintroduced to my good friend the sprinting wall and then that good ol I want to puke and faint at the same time feeling. I think I ran like I was still in high school shape but was quickly reminded that I am indeed not.
This was the opening event so we got to see the giant torch get lit and were surrounded by wards in cleverly thought up attire.Most wards did colors, ours did 80's but the best ward dressed up like nerds. Not just pulled up pants nerds. We're talking different patterns and plaid matched with high water cords with giant classes and anything from harry potter to twilight t-shirts. They definitely won the most clever outfits in my book.

My roommates Kayla and Shaleena also participated.

Hurray for spirit.

To Me Pops

2010-06-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

For mother's day I gave my mom 23 reason why I love her (23 being the number of years she's been my mom). I thought it only appropriate to do the same for me dad. So here they are (in no order of importance):

23) You're my sports buddy. You got me into sports. You helped coached me and always made sure that you were involved in whatever team I was on at the time. You made sure you were at every game but the thing that meant the most was the after-game debriefing. You somehow always saw the same things I saw and always encouraged me to become better.

22) You gave me my Taylor button nose

21) You allowed cats (and various rodents) to accumulate in my life (despite your many arguments against them). I never got that puppy but the three kitties made up for it. Thanks for putting up with all of the spraying, barfing, rodent catching nonsense that you had to go through and thanks for being the one who cleaned it up. ps. i know you love them especially when they snuggle up when you're in your chair

20) All the many many many many many many many many many puns/jokes/jests ALL throughout my childhood. I attribute my quick witted mind to you. Although we do more eye-rolling than laughing we wouldn't love you as much if you weren't this way.

19) Papa Taylor. I love that any of my friends or people I knew from school could come over and instantly feel welcome. You instantly just tried to be buddies with them (even if they didn't get all the jokes right away). Just the fact that all of my friends loved you so much is a testament to what an awesome guy you are.

18) You picked mom :)

17) Although we never really picked up on it you always tried to instill a good work ethic in us. We curse Saturday Work days but I am glad for what you were trying to do for us. Even if you think you failed you didn't, some of it did stick.

16) You are a Taylor, which makes me a Taylor and there isn't anything I'm more proud of. I don't know why but I've always felt more connected to the Taylor heritage and it's roots. I love where I come from and am really going to be sad the day I have to give up the name (but I still will be one my heart).

15) I love that you work so much for our family. You always made sure we had everything we needed and even some wants. I truly appreciate that you provided for our family.

14) Thanks for letting me have the cliche dad that sits in his recliner and snores. I'm seriously not being sarcastic. I love that you were one of those dads.

13) BBQ. steaks, salmon, shrimp, chicken. Whatever it is, you're the best.

12) Thank you for being the priesthood leader in the home that I could look up to. I never doubted how much the gospel meant to you growing up. You always kept me on the right path, but still allowed me my agency. Thank you for being the dad that I could look up to.

11) It's cool that your middle name is just a letter... that stands for nothing but has the period after it to throw people off the scent

10) I loved driving around in the blue truck growing up and you sometimes letting me shift. This was the time you had your rad cowboy had and blue plaid coat. Just one of your classic looks (along with bronco's jersey and red/white/blue coat)

9) (No offense meant to the extended Taylors) But thank you for taking the leap of faith to bring us to Washington. I love Washington and I can't imagine living anywhere else and falling so much in love with it. If we hadn't have moved I wouldn't know the amazing people that I know.

8) I'm glad you're good at computers. I've never felt lost around technology and whenever I had any problems I had a direct line to a helper person. You've saved me from a lot of panic/stress/clueless-ness that could've been a part of my life

7) Thanks for telling me my hair/outfit looks pretty on days that it did

6) I love that I had another person in the family that understood the importance of punctuality like I did. I would've gone crazy had I not had someone to sympathize with me

5) I loved take your daughter to work days!! And sorry for never knowing what you did more than "he works with computers"

4) Your willingness to sacrifice for this family, whether it be as small as being the last to serve himself up at dinner to make sure we all got enough to eat to having to put up with idiots everyday at work. You put us first and that means everything.

3) Thanks for all of the daddy-daughter dates over the years. I always loved when we'd go see movies together. Taking time just for me meant a lot.

2) You always supported me in anything I did. I've never been anything but 'awesome' to you. You always gave me praise when earned, but also knew how to push me to become better when I was less than the potential you saw in me. But I still never could fail in your eyes.

1) I am most like you. We get each other. We understand situations the same. There is no doubt that I am your daughter. I am my father's daughter. Little tendencies or opinions I have about things you feel the same way. We can totally identify with each other and understand each others frustrations. I can go to you with my problems and know that you'll understand.

I LOVE YOU DAD!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY.

heart,
Jessica

Lately

2010-06-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

Updates on the going ons around here

Memorial Day Weekend:
Cody's family thought that since we had a three-day weekend that it would be a good opportunity for them to come since BYU-Idaho and then we could all go to Yellowstone. Overall it was a very nice vacation... just a little stressful since I really needed that week to get some projects done and study for tests for the week after. I still utilized the in-the-car driving time to study and do some readings, because really I couldn't afford not to.
The first night they stayed in Rexburg where we went hot tubbing at their hotel. Then the next morning we took them on a tour of campus. It wasn't everything it could've been due to it being Memorial Day Weekend so Rexburg had turned into a ghost town and the student store was closed for the weekend. We still showed them all of the buildings we had our classes in and then we headed off to Yellowstone.
We got into West Yellowstone, checked into our hotel and then headed off for the day inside the park. Sadly enough it was rainy, cold and windy the whole weekend. We were blessed with breaks of sun whenever we would get out of the car to see something. Mostly we went to the hot springs and headed to Old Faithful with stops along the way.
Park Highlights:
-Upon entering the park we were stopped for about 20 minutes in a long train of cars that weren't moving. People were saying there were buffalo just standing in the middle of the road not moving. When we started going again and passed the buffalo, turns out one had given birth in the middle of the road. The little new pitiful thing was too cute. We couldn't get a picture of it thanks to "move along" ranger. But there was a whole tiny herd of mother and baby buffalo all matted and damp from the rain.

-Cody's mom was determined to see a bear. The whole time we were all on bear patrol and were to alert her in case we saw one. This resulted in us stopping and walking back from the car about 40 feet to look on an island where she saw two bears. The bears were stumps. And then while us girls were sitting in the car waiting for Cody and his dad to see more hot springs Julie started screaming she saw one in a tree... but this bear was in fact a raven (a monster sized one at that).
-I saw a wolf!! Cody's dad spotted it driving by so we pulled over and got his really nice binoculars out so we could see him better. And there he was just romping around the river sticking his paws into dirt holes. It was kind of magical seeing a wild wolf just out and about. (This was my favorite part)

It got a little steamy..

Too bad the smell doesn't translate into pictures

For dinner we went to Wild West Pizza, apparently a popular pizzeria, not over the top cheesy western themed (not going to lie I was a little worried). Then back to the hotel for the night.
Sunday we went to the park again to see the side we hadn't been to, looked at some painted pots, bubbling mud holes and more animals, then headed back to Rexburg. Cody's family was quite disappointed that no where in town was open for dinner (remember it's Sunday). We ended up eating at jack in the box and was reminded why I never eat there. But later felt stupid when we remembered Apple Bee's was open. Then more hot tubbing, which really might've been the highlights of my weekend.
It was nice of them to brave the 12 hour drive to come down, but I think Cody's mom really missed him. Julie really enjoyed seeing the place where Cody goes to school and overall approved of the place (good thing she didn't come in the winter, but saw it in it's pretty spring state).

My mommy sent me a care package that the Uskoski's delivered to me. Included were two potatoes and some potato rifles. Best toy ever. We just went outside my apartment and just went at it. People would walk by with either giant smiles or really confused looks. One girl asked if we were shooting potatoes at each other, which when we said yeah she just started cracking up saying "only in Idaho...haha". I ended up with potato bits all over my shirt and hair (don't wear black to a potato fight). But we're thinking of buying some more potatoes and making this a new hobby. :) only in Idaho.

Midterms are OVER!! I can't believe I'm past the half-way mark of my semester. It is quite bittersweet. I'm glad to have some projects behind me, knowing there is only a few left. But I really love my classes and the opportunities each of them give me. This is the last time I'll really be getting this kind of instruction from this caliber of teachers. I'm glad I'm almost done (believe me, I need a vacation), but I'm not glad I'm almost done. I'm definitely going to miss my roommates and just the college setting. This is the time of life that everybody says "enjoy, because this is the only time you'll get to do this". While I am enjoying it and it's going to be very hard to grow up and move on to other things.

Cody, his roommates Shane and Dan and me are all playing on a RecSports Soccer team. I really didn't think I was going to play sports this semester but I'm glad I chanced upon this team. It has been really fun. I haven't played soccer since high school and it feels good to be out there again. I thought I might've forgotten everything but it always amazes me at how much my body can remember. Cody and Shane are amazing forwards and players so it's really fun to watch them just go in and tear it up. I don't think I could've handled being in the hype of the World Cup and not being able to play, so I'm really glad I get to get all this pent up soccer energy out of my system. We've won 2 games and lost 1 (the last win coming down to a PK shoot out, with Cody scoring the last winning shot).

Really right now I'm just getting more and more excited about meeting my niece. It is killing me being so far away from it now that it's getting down to D-Day (or would it be b-day....).

Just forty more days until home.

To My Mom

2010-05-09T18:35:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you know exactly how much you mean to me but I'll try my best. Since you've been a mom for 23 years I'll give you 23 reasons why you are so amazing:

1) You are my mom. Nobody else has that title. Nobody will ever fill that position in my life except you. I'm grateful that you are mine. I don't know if you remember when I got my patriarchal blessing, but it said that I chose my parents. I chose you and I don't think I could've made a better use of my agency

2) You dress super cute. You never got into frump mom stage and I love it. You have a good sense of fashion and really cute clothes (cute enough for me to want to borrow your clothes and that's saying something).

3) Your hair. You rock your hair like nobody else could. I always like when you go and get it done because you tweak it in some small way but still has the jen-ness to it. Sometimes its darker, lighter, longer, shorter, a bit spikier, whatever. I wish I could have a cool hairstyle like you.

4) You blue mascara. I stole some one day and now I have tube of my own and every time I wear it somebody says how awesome it is. I always smile and tell them that my mom wears it all the time. I don't think I've ever met another mom who would even try wearing colored mascara.

5) Your laugh. You have your cackle, the screech, the hiss/snake and many others I'm yet to title (the people that live with you know what I'm talking about). We may mock you a little bit but it wouldn't be the same if you just had generic laugh.

6) Your love for helping others. You may tire yourself out doing it but really I don't know anybody else who gives as much as you do. I particularly think about Christmas time when our house is filled with clothes, toys, school supplies for so many kids that just don't have anything. Most people talk about helping others, but you do it.

7) Your husband. I'll expound more on father's day but I don't think you could have made a better choice.

8) You always let us pursue our dreams. No matter how short lived they were you exposed us to a variety of hobbies and activities. But the best part about it is you never forced us to do something just because you wanted us to. You always let us choose. You supported us when we wanted to do it, and you supported us when we said we didn't want to do it anymore.

9) This one is just a thank you for taking care of our pets. We know we said we'd do all the work, and obviously we're not perfect. So thanks for helping us out.

10) You taught us how important family is. Taking trips every summer halfway across the country really meant a lot to me. I wouldn't have the relationships I do with my relatives that I would have today if you weren't willing to drive all the way, by yourself, with a car full of grumpy complaining kids, listening to mulan and newsies over and over.

11) The little things. Maybe it was the treats after school got out, being woken up to a starbucks strawberry frappaccino, my own winter wonderland room, or taco bell at lunch during high school. Whatever it was, I noticed, and I knew it was because you loved me.

12) You love for crossword puzzles. I think I got it from you. My pastimes now are filled with crosswords and sodoku and I thank you.

13) Thank you for cooking for all these years. Now getting to that stage in my life where I know soon I won't be taken care of but taking care of everyone else I'm beginning to appreciate this a whole lot more. It cracked me up when we'd say we liked something and get it more frequently until we told you that maybe we try something else. I love all of your mom meals.

14) Momma Taylor. My friends loved you. They felt like you were a second mom and I think that just attests to how awesome of a person you are. It didn't matter who it was the instant they'd walk in the door they'd get a high-pitched sing song mom calling their name (Jordan Joy! Ben Alexander! Jeff Superchi!) followed by a giant hug, while I just sat smiling and feeling blessed that I get her everyday.

15) Game nights. I love Taylor Family Game nights. And I love our one on one Quiddler and dominoes games. period the end.

16) Getting put to bed when we were littler. I don't remember details I just remember being read a book and then getting back rubs and laid with. I know it was a sacrifice but thanks for staying with us until we fell asleep.

17) Thanks for giving me half of my stunning good looks.

18) Your love of old movies has also seemed to rub off. For the longest time I would walk in on you watching a black and white movie and just think that you were crazy and those couldn't simply be that interesting. But I get it now.

19) My middle name. It's not generic (though we may have to discuss the first name, though it is better than Courtney). It actually means something and it reminds me when I was born.

20) You are superwoman. From all your callings over the years, and doing carnivals and boyscout camps I've been blessed enough to observe how awesome you are. Not many can pull all of those things off, but you did and still can.

21) You're craftiness. Living in Utah definitely rubbed off on you. You can just create and create and create. Everything is so cute and clever and fun. If I could apprentice to your crafting for years, I would. I might constantly be bugging you for ideas and help, but hey that's what you sign up for when you got me.

22) Your testimony. We may make fun of you for crying every time you go up to the podium but your testimony of the gospel I know has helped me in gaining mine. Thank you for never letting me doubt for a second how you felt.

23) Nothing meant more over the years and has more of an impression on me than you putting us first. Nothing screams motherhood more than selflessness and you've seemed to be a natural at it from the start. You never were distracted by anything else. Whatever was happening with us was first priority. And honestly that is the only thing that I could ask for in a mom. If I am to be half the mother you are than I think I'm going to be a pretty darn good one.

10 weeks left

2010-05-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

This semester is a semester unlike any other. All of my feelings of being completely comfortable and in control of this little place I like to call college have dissipated and no where to be seen.

Everything that I never had to worry about before in any past semester seems to have been scooped up by Universe and dumped on me. I never had to worry about roommates not following rules. That has now changed with the addition of our two new roommates. Our ward has always had very fun mature people (mixed in with the other kind) but it seems like all the good people have gone and found another ward. Everywhere I look it's just a bunch of very childish people. Everybody said summer semester was SO much fun and everybody's happier, but what Cody and I have observed is that the sun brings out all the children to come out and play. It's just a whole different breed of people here it seems. AND everybody told me it was supposed to be sunny. It's summer semester for goodness sakes. It snowed yesterday, all day. And that wasn't even the first time it has snowed this semester. So help me the sun better come out... or ... else..

My classes are exciting and challenging. Many times I feel inadequate and not quite ready, but everything always seems to work out.
My Classes:
-Advanced Illustration (with Wade Huntsman who used to work for Pixar, and did conceptual and background art for Prince of Egypt, Sinbad and Spirit) Definitely most excited about this class but also most nerve racking because there is a lot of talent in there also.
-Head Drawing... And I thought Figure Drawing was torture. At least we had breaks in Figure Drawing (2 hour and 45 min class)
-Oil Painting- You know I didn't think I was going to like this class as much as I'm starting to. I love the teacher. He seems like he's not quite completely there but really knows his stuff and is just a nice guy. The first day he taught us a tool to use where you take a piece of a paper towel and fold it into a triangle and use it to clean up your under-drawing. It is called a tortillion (tor-teel-ee-own). He will use this word at least 15 times throughout the class.
-Readings, which should really be called Art Theory with my oil painting teacher. This class came with two really thick books and includes just reading, lecture and tests. I will count this class as a success if I don't fall asleep too much in it
-20th Century Art; As art majors we are required to take Art History I and II and then take one that is specialized in a certain period. This is the only one that had the teacher that I took for both I and II. He's one of those people that you know knows SO much and you just want to know it all too.
-D&C; I completely lucked out on this teacher not knowing who is was when I signed up for this class. I've heard of some dud religion teachers here (not many though) and I grateful to learn from him. He LOVES church history and knows so much and knows how to not take everything so seriously.
18.5 credits is quite a load but I manage. The heavens shined on me and allowed my schedule to be only Monday- Thursday. Which means every weekend = three day weekend. But I need it. All these classes don't come with lack of homework.

It's very surreal being in my second to last semester. I know one day this place that very much feels like a second home will just be a memory and if I ever come back to this campus will not have the connection I have to it now. It won't be my school but the school I used to go to. My apartment won't be home but somebody else's. I am going to do my best to soak in every moment.

Old Faithful and a New Semester

2010-04-26T18:52:00.000-07:00

I regret to inform you that I am indeed back in school. I know. Believe me, I'm as devastated as you are. Due to Mr. Uskoski being on track in the Spring I didn't think it would be too polite if I went home for the summer leaving him here. So long story short, I got onto Fast Grad (go all tracks until you graduate) and am now in my very first spring semester experience.
I'm taking an incredibly full load that may break my brain in the end but will allow me to graduate this coming December. I don't know how I got done so fast, but I did.
My classes this semester: Advanced Illustration, Head Drawing, Oil Painting, 20th Century Art History, Readings (Art theory), and Doctrine & Covenants.

The worst part about going to Spring semester is being denied the free time I would have had to do awesome activities. My roommates Kristy and Kalee told me that they usually go camping and do a ton of fun things so that made me feel better.
Our first fun thing: Yellowstone! If you want amazing pictures and way cooler stories about Yellowstone please refer to Megan's blog because my experience is nothing compared to her. But now I can say that I have finally been and saw Old Faithful!! I can see why my brother-in-law is in love with the place. It is absolutely GORGEOUS!!! We saw a bunch of caribou (or as the NW native americans call them "wapatee") and a lot of buffalo.

I'm expected many more mini-summers in my not summer. And now for pictures: enjoy

on the way

Kaylee and Me

in love at Yellowstone

roomies!

my very first Yellowstone buffalo!

Old Faithful!!

hey wait... what's adam lambert doing in Yellowstone......

Pictural Anecdotes

2010-03-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

First here is the latest in Creative Perspective. There are our 2 point perspectives. The first is an interior with the theme of Villian's Lair. We could use an already existing villain or create our own. I had fun with this one and the class loved it.

Then we had to do a 2 point exterior. This time the theme was construction/deconstruction. I chose to do an abandoned monastery.

Saw this at the store when we were checking out cheap steaks. Not sure who would want to eat this...

Saw a flier of this at Horkley's (local gas station that sells super cheap fountain drinks). Tell me if he looks like anybody to you...

Was walking in the Hart Building (P.E. building). Saw this and thought it should belong on failblog...

I have this red knitted scarf that Megan made for me. I didn't even know it was lost until I went into my figure drawing class and saw a really trendy looking bust...

Yesterday Cody and I got New Fong's (our Chinese restaurant that's right across the street). While we were eating Cody was talking about how he only wants to get rich so that he can eat our whenever he wanted. I just said that every now and then I like to have the treat of eating out. 5 minutes pass and we open our fortune cookies...

My fortune:

Cody's Fortune:

I think the cookies were listening to our conversation..

Now it's on to the last two weeks of school that include major projects and tests and papers. If I survive I will then get to go back to my family whom I miss very much and am not looking forward to going another 3 months without. Prayers are encouraged. Believe me, I'll need them.

art update

2010-03-11T10:17:00.000-08:00

Creative Perspective:
This is from two assignment ago but it got hung up on the wall (only 4 in the class got the honor). He put up our new assignments so naturally this one had to come down. I would show you the other assignment but that one made it up on the wall also! I can't tell you how good it feels to see something you put so much effort into displayed for others to see it. And it's also nice to know that the teacher thinks your work is worthy also. I'm excited to show you my last assignment (the one currently on the wall), the theme was villain's lair and let's just say I had a good time with it.
This is our one point exterior. I decided to do a giant cat jungle gym.

If we were going to include characters they had to be a seperate piece of vellum overlay,
so this is with the cats included

Figure Drawing......
Is killing me. Our teacher, to put it in simple terms, is a poop head. The hardest man to please and the toughest grader. Nobody really likes him. He's an adjunct which means he teaches a couple classes, not really a real teacher. Our midterm was to find an old masters painting and do a figure drawing with finished lines. This got me a B.

Saint John the Baptist by Caravaggio

Pottery:
This is the funnest, most relaxing class I have taken. I feel more like it's play time than a class. I have a coil jar that I handed over to Cody that I need to take a picture of, but for now all I have is a picture of a vase I did. We worked on throwing and making cylinders. Once we made 3 good cylinders we got to shape them into vases. There's only one for now because I can't seem to find my other one to glaze. This is orange shino glaze on the outside with stoney white on the inside. When it came out (you never know how they're going to) I was happy to see that both the inside and out were speckled, which tied them nicely together. And now I have a cute vase to hold my pens and pencils in on my desk :)

the value menu experiment

2010-03-07T14:03:00.000-08:00

The Contestants

Cody and I have always talked about starting a seperate blog on our cuisine experiments. We both extremely enjoy food, but mostly when we get to experience it together. We love finding new and interesting restaurants but also finding places we can call ours. Our dream career would be to be food critics, I mean, paid to eat, does it get any better?... (I submit that it cannot).
We've scoped out Rexburg and know the good places, but still have some to test out. We have our chinese (fong's), mexican (taco bus), thai (original thai) and sandwich (quiznos) places. Well last night I was really craving a hamburger. But Cody and Jessica don't just go to the closest place to get a hamburger. No, no, no we make an experience out of it, we call it the value menu experiment.
Task: Go to each burger place in town, order their dollar hamburger and dollar fry and see which one is best. (best being price, amount of food, quality of each).

Establishments: Wendy's, Jack in the Box, Sonic, McDonald's, and Burger King. (Dairy Queen didn't have a value menu and we didn't want to get sick from Arctic Circle)

(Click to Enlarge)

Results:
Hamburger (Ranked on Scale of 1-5; 1 =best 5= worst):
Cody: 5- BK; 4-Jack; 3- Wendy; 2- Sonic; 1- Mc
-Cody was a little partial, his reason his #1 was mcdonald's was because it tasted like childhood
Jessica: 5- Mc; 4- Sonic; 3- Wendy's; 2- BK; 1- Jack
-BK would've won, but this trip the buns tasted burnt. Sonic would've ranked higher on my list but I didn't care for the ton of onion bits). Jack's ingredients were by FAR the freshest

French Fries (Same scale as hamburger): (the fact that these fries were not fresh when we ate them was taken into consideration, they might rank differently fresh and eaten at the restaurant)
Cody: 5- Wendy's; 4- Sonic; 3- Mc; 2- BK; 1- Jack
Jessica: 5- Sonic; 4- Wendy's; 3- Mc; 2- Jack; 1- BK
-Sonic and Jack's fries had a very natural taste to them. Tasted like potatoes not fried grease. Sonic's fries came with a packet of salt, and you needed it. We didn't know if that was on purpose, like season to taste or not.

Cheapest: Wendy's... $2.06 (The rest were $2.12)
Best Deal: Sonic, you get way more food for the money
Hamburger Details (What comes on it):
Wendys: Ketchup, Mustard, Pickles
Jack: Lettuce, tomatoes, mayo (little or no ketchup, needed to be dunked, I like ketchup with my red meat)
BK: Lettuce, Tomatoes, mayo, no ketchup, bun way too overcooked (not normally burnt, usually my favorite but that darn bun)
Sonic: Large patty to bun ratio (stuck outside of bun, compared to most with ton of bread with itty bitty patty), tomato, lettuce, pickles, onions, mayo
Mc: Got cheeseburger, due to no hamburger on their value menu, results may change with hamburger, pickles, ketchup and mustard, cheese
-Sonic made us wait the longest, but had the fullest bag + mint!
-Mcdonald's folded their bag to hand to us (more efficient)
-BK- no napkins in bag, SMALLEST fries, like barely any, but best tasting...
-Jack- Most pleasant night shift worker
-Sidenote, nobody gave or offered us any ketchup with our food... odd...

..... Guess which is from where...

Cody's Winner: Jack
Jessica's Winner: Wendy's
-This was odd that Jack ranked so well because normally I never even consider eating at Jack in the Box, but they did very very well in our opinion. Well done Jack, but I'll still go somewhere else. haha.

All Gone.

Keepin' it Real....Simple.

2010-02-21T18:23:00.000-08:00

I love the magazine Real Simple. Love love love! If there was one magazine I would get a subscription to it's this. My favorite part of the whole magazine is there amazing recipes. They have really creative, easy and super yummy meals (Megan can attest to this). One day at the grocery store I saw the little guy and just couldn't resist to buy it, especially since it was boasting recipes on the cover. So Cody and I have decided to make one of these recipes each week.

This week: Turkey and Been Chili. They spotlighted a turkey chili on the show Biggest Loser (one of my favorite shows) and I wanted to try it out myself. Lo and behold this issue of Real Simple had a turkey chili recipe. Ground turkey is a super healthy substitute for ground beef and way cheaper (we college kids like cheaper). It was quite delectable (just ask Cody who ate three bowls) and definately going to be a reoccurring meal in our lives.

This Blog Is Dedicated to My Dad

2010-02-18T21:15:00.000-08:00

It's crazy but midterms for this semester are already here. Our shorter semesters are nice but it's crazy how fast they fly by. By the time we get settled into our schedules we're out of here (or on to a completely different routine).
Just in case you think all Cody and I do is sit around all day here's some things we've been up to:

-Valentine's Day-
Since this year it landed on a Sunday we felt low-key V-day was best. I had a "special meeting" in my stake (wasn't a ward or stake conference, just a special meeting with Elder Costas of the Seventy) which was very good. Our stake president is a wonderful man and we got to hear from the Rexburg Temple president and matron. Cody just attended his regular meetings which was nice because it gave me time to get things ready. The previous day we had bought steak and lobsters (that were on sale!) and some asparagus for a quaint fancy at home meal. And may I say it was delicious! We exchanged hand-made valentine's cards and Cody lovingly got me a heart box of chocolates.

-President's Day-
I drew this. See if you can name all the presidents.

-Peking Acrobats-
A couple times a semester we get a couple big name shows that come to our school. This was by far one of the neatest shows I've seen here at Rexburg. When I was in China I saw the Beijing Acrobats so it was awesome that I got to the see the other company. They did some ridiculously awesome tricks that scared the crap out of the audience and left us sitting in our chairs with jaws dropped. If there's one thing Chinese can do well, it's put on a good show.

a little racist but we couldn't resist doing our best chinese face

-Cody's Birthday-
Long story short we went to the Hard Hat Steakhouse (best place for prime rib) for Cody's birthday. His mom had called ahead and arranged that we be brought virgin daiquiris and she gave them her credit card number to pay for it. We went and they had our reservation but didn't bring the drinks and didn't have her number down, but it was no big deal, because it was still a good meal. Well Cody's mom was really disappointed because she wanted to do something for her son's 21st birthday so she called and talked to the manager who apologized and said that it was a communication error. He told her that he would send Cody a $50 certificate and call and set up the whole deal to be done over correctly. Cody got a very nice and apologetic letter from the owner and we called to set everything up. Well we arrive to a pre-set up table (table cloths which no other table had) and in a private room. The whole night we were treated like stars. We had our own waiter, and the owner checking in on us constantly. He kept insisting on us getting appetizers, salads and after our meal dessert. (He really wouldn't let us say no.) At the end he told us that the meal was on him and we could keep the $50 dollars for another night. All in all is was the best dining experience of both of our lives. We were so grateful and were very appreciative to the owner who really didn't have to go to such great lengths to please us lowly college students. (sorry that wasn't that short).

and last but not least, the thing I have been getting crap for the better part of the last month the fruit of my labors:
The studio classes I'm enrolled in this semester are Creative Perspective, Figure Drawing and Ceramics.

Ceramics: This is the first piece I've been able to take home. I missed the 2nd day of classes because of a brain mix up thinking that I didn't have class that day so I had to whip out two pinch pots in an hour-ish. Craftsmanship isn't that good but oh well. Instead of glazing our teacher let us do this cool thing with our first pots which is called Raku. This is where you take your fired piece straight from the kiln and put it in a metal garbage can (or any other large metal container) and drop it into a pile of sawdust and cover it in sawdust. The wood ignites and causes the ash to stain the piece. What you're left with is a neat matte black ashen look as seen below.

Creative Perspective: This was our first assignment called Dream Studio. We could be literal or take a more fantasy approach. It was a one point interior space. Naturally being a northwest-er I came up with this:

Figure Drawing: I'm sorry this is a lot of pictures. But that's what we do. For 2 hours and 45 minutes we draw two minute poses, three, five, ten, fifteen, twenty and forty (with a break in between). The best way to get it down is just to do it a billion times.

bar hopping anyone?

2010-01-31T14:30:00.000-08:00

This week's highlight was on Friday when it was Cody's 21st Birthday!! We can now not only vote, and smoke but now drink and rent cars (hopefully not all at the same time)!!

School is keeping us both very busy (and by both I mean I'm doing hw or in class while Cody ends up just waiting for me). But we appreciated the break from the regular routine. Thursday night I went and got all the supplies for Cody's birthday which started off with a train-inspired happy birthday sign and some cheesecake. I had classes at 9 so I gave him something to look forward to upon waking up. Later I gave him my present which consisted of some gems from the dollar store which included a robot hat and shield, large army men and firemen (to battle), little toy dinosaurs, and some battling spinning tops. The cashier told me while ringing up my items that her nephew loved them. I just nodded and smiled not wanting to reveal that these were for a little boy trapped in a 21 year old boyfriend's body.
After classes we had a reservation at the Hard Hat Steakhouse.
Cody's family are prime rib connoisseurs, therefore it was his mission to find the best prime rib place in town. Upon arriving to the restaurant we found out idaho folk enjoy their themed restaurants. The hostess and door-lady both wore bright yellow vests and hard hats, as did the waiters. I think they took everything a little too far, but hey it was fun.

This is me trying to sneak a picture of one of the waitresses

The prime rib was good. I got the 16oz while Cody tackled the 24oz.

The waiter stared at us wide eyed when we ordered, and they were even wider when he came back to find that Cody had demolished his plate (I kept mine for left-overs).

Unfortunately I also had a game that ended up being at 10pm that night. Being a good sport that he is, Cody accompanied to my game which ended up lasting 2 hours and 15 minutes due to a girl dislocating her knee. We had our game in the field house that is known for it's less than ideal floors, definately not suitable for game play. But I felt very blessed as I sat on the bench and got to see a couple priesthood leaders hastily assemble and give her a blessing. An ambulance came and took her away, leaving the rest of us a little shaky but knowing she was in good hands. We ended up winning our game 75-52 with #30 (me) dominating the rebounds for the night. :)

So then at 12:15 we went back to Cody's apartment for cake and ice-cream. Just some roommates and a girl friend and a triple fudge cake topped with kit-kats spelling your name is really all you need to make a good birthday. Oh, and I can't forget the mormon bubbly (martinelli's) because of course, it was a 21st birthday party.

A New BYU-Idaho

2010-01-11T09:56:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, or could have assumed I have began yet another semester of higher learning. I was absolutely dreading leaving my family and home of fun and games and relaxation to go to freezing temperatures and assignments but i am here to report that I have indeed survived the first week! This I completely give credit to my new help meet, Mr. Uskoski. Yes! It's true!! Finally Cody is up here in Rexburg with me! This has been a long anticipated event and finally it is happening. Words can't explain my elation. This is going to be one hectic semester so having someone to help me not get too stressed will be much appreciated.

Events of the week:

To celebrate we made a fancy dinner, steak with sauteed mushrooms and onions.

Saw the movie "the box" with cameron diaz and the guy that plays corny collins in hairspray. I want everyone to see it just so they understand what I'm talking about when I say wiiiierd wierd movie.

Those $1 whopper jr's were calling our name one day at around lunch time
I changed into a skirt for devotional (I have a class that gets out 15 minutes before it starts) and left my pants in a bathroom stall in the spori. Luckily they were right were I left them when I figured it out 2 hours later
Cody got a hair cut because it was long enough to do this with it

It's been warm!!! well cold warm which equals dry ground and ice melting. We know it won't last but we enjoy it while we can
Went out to applebee's for a roommates birthday
We're both going to do competitive basketball, with tryouts being this week.

thanksgiving break part II

2009-12-02T15:44:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving break for me this year was a loaded week. For the first half of the week my goal was to soak in as much as home and family as I could because came Wednesday the Uskoski's swept me away to Bend, Oregon (much to my mother's dismay). We, being Cody's family and their close family friends the Levenon's, stayed in a town called Redmond in a nice little house.

This was to be my first skiing excursion, we meant to go Thursday and Friday but due to lack of snow we ended up just going on Friday. To make up for no skiing Thursday we got tricked into going on a "hike" to a waterfall close by. I put hike in quotations because normally you can drive up to the falls, but because it was icy the road was blocked off so you end up just walking down a slushy/icy/snowy road. The end result was pretty and worth it but we just wanted to play games in the warm indoors and drink cocoa all day. We would've been better sports had we been asked if we wanted to go but we got tricked into going. First it was a mile hike, then 3 1/2 then rumor that it was 5 1/2 .... we're not sure if we walked 7 or 11 miles.

this might've been a frozen pond that I tried to walk on that i might've dunked my foot into

Friday we set off early-ish to go to Mount Bachelor. I'm not going to lie I've had mini panic attacks everytime I thought about skiing for the last couple months. It's not that I didn't think that I could do it, I just have a very worse-case-scenario brain. All in all I had a really good time though. Cody was good and just stuck next to me the whole time and let me go my pace. I crashed a total of 4 times and it wasn't even by accident. I would just get going too fast and not know how to stop and just go down. I have mixed feelings about skiing because on one hand you're surrounded by GORGOUS scenery, the kind you feel blessed to be able to see but somehow gets a little ruined in the panic stricken/tense bodied experience of not wanting to crash as you fly down a hill. Cody and I stuck to the bunny hill for the first part of the day... mostly because my biggest battle in skiing is trying to psyche myself out. Some of those hills look REALLY steep!

i wanted a picture in front of this sign you can't read it but it says Marshmallow: Easiest Run Down... we found it quite entertaining

After lunch where I was called a wimp for not going on a run we decided to go on an easy one. So we went on the Marshmallow trail. Yes, I picked it on purpose. I just thought it was hillarious that they would give something such a fluffy baby name, especially when compared to devil's backbone! which was on the other side of the mountain. I feel twice, the last being my most epic which has left me the awesome souvenir of a huge wicked looking bruise on my right knee. It accompanies my skiing stories quite good.

I will definately go skiing again, but I don't think I'll ever get hardcore at it, I think I'll be more of a leisure skiier. After we got back from Bend I tried to spend a lot of times playing games with my family (it's what we taylor's do best!).

Now I'm back at icy/snowy Rexburg with a TON of work to do for the last two and a half weeks of school.

Now.......I just want Christmas.

fishes and knitted things

2009-11-08T20:06:00.000-08:00

Fishes: These koi were inspired by a park we went to in China called Peach Tree Island Park. There was a giant pond and a bridge where you could feed all of these swarming koi. It was quite neat. I had this picture that was just full of brilliant color that I knew I wanted to use as inspiration. The technique? Paint, sand off, build it back up, sand off more if you choose. A lot of us had a hard time sanding off the painting we had just spent hours doing but it gives it quite a look. And as a treat you get an art term for the day, when you have everything out of focus, and kind of blurry around and then a center point of focus that is in detail is called a vignette, as done in the fish picture.

knitted hat: I was super stoked to do this painting. Megan had taken this picture of herself to show off her newly knitted saggy hat and I just had to paint it. I have never done a human in a painting before and it's one of the most challenging subjects (especially without taking head drawing which I haven't). But I just loved the picture a lot and so did my teacher (he has to pre-approve our photo reference). It's supposed to be our own picture but I was running out of China ones that I felt I could do cool paintings of...and I figured my sister is close enough to me, so I hope you don't mind that I took your picture, but I think it makes up for it that it's a picture of you. I've always felt Megan is the prettier sister and so it was really fun to capture her beautiful profile into a painting. And it's an ode to her amazing knitting skills which really is impressive.

The technique for this one was called photo copy mount down. You take a photo-copy of your picture, or line drawing (i did a line drawing of this). Then you use matt-medium or gloss-medium to mount it to the board and put another one or two layers of it on top and it's ready to paint on. We also used wet and dry sand paper to give it a neat texture, it's hard to tell from the picture but it really turned out neat.

enjoy.

the right way to spend halloween at college

2009-11-03T11:48:00.000-08:00

I feel like I have been blessed up at college. I have gotten to be really good friends with my roommate Kristy. She's from Rupert, Idaho, which means she's heard of Almo and has been to the city of rocks!! She's possibly the nicest girl I have ever known (example our other roommate Jessica was struggling with her math homework and Kristy sat with her for like an hour helping her figure stuff out, I consider myself a nice person but I would've never done that).
So for Halloween I would've probably just stayed at home, but luckily we have these three guys in our ward that were our apartment's FHE brothers last semester. One of them called up Kristy and asked if we wanted to go to a haunted theatre in Shelley (a little outside idaho falls). We stopped by Dustin's grandparents house for treats (one should never refuse grandparent treats) and then we went to this old theatre that was turned into a haunted house. We definately were scared and I had Kristy death-clutching me the whole time. Afterwards we went to taco bell and just hung out at the guy's apartments and made balloons into creatures. I bragged I knew how to make a dog but somehow came out with a headless dog... I couldn't remember that part, I only knew how to make the legs... woops. Overall successful halloween free from slutty pirates and scandalous nurses. I just am thankful to have a good group of friends where we can have a good wholesome fun night of halloween.

Tape Technique

2009-10-27T17:58:00.000-07:00

Last assignment we were told to do cool shadow with warm light. This time around he flipped it. Warm shadow with cool light. It was a challenge because my brain worked with the other way but it took a little more energy to think about it on this one. The other focus on this assignment was texture.

First we start with a warm underpainting, mostly monochromatic.

Then you take packaging tape and cover the whole thing.

Next paint on your cool lights onto the tape.

Then using your finger nails, or any object you can find you can scratch off where you want to put texture.

The ball and owl were my in class practices. I kinda went crazy on the background of the ball.

I have some fixes to do but here are the bears. I told Cody it looked like desert polar bears and he said it was probably just a statement about global warming. :)

enjoy

supply for the demand

2009-10-21T16:16:00.000-07:00

Here's my two latest pieces I've done. They are both from my media experiment class.

This first one was a photo transfer technique. You take a photo or a line drawing and print it out on a toner printer. To transfer it you put it face down on literally any surface then take a blender marker and color over the picture. Then take a burnisher or anything else you can find to rub it onto the surface, transferring the picture onto it. After we had our picture we painted over it in acrylic. I kept mine really thin washes but you can go thicker to where you can't see the lines anymore if you so desire.

This was our first assignment that was a color assignment. We're all the way in acrylics now, where as before you could choose to do oil over your acrylics if you wanted. Our assignment was warm light, cool shadow and really exaggerate it. My professor saw this picture I had and told me it would be perfect for the next assignment (this assignment).

Our newest assignment we just got today is warm shadow, cool light and I'll be putting up pictures of that soon.

Oil Lift Out

2009-10-06T18:11:00.000-07:00

These two pieces are the newest technique we've learned called oil lift out. You start with a wash all over your surface with a mixture of oil and turpentine (which actually breaks down the paint). You then go back and lift out what you don't want dark. You can go back over it afterward with a wash of a different color or add more opaque paint to it to build detail.

This tree picture was my practice that I did in class. It shows how good of silhouettes you can do with this technique but if I wanted it to be a really good piece I would go back and add things because it's too simple in itself. We'll see what I do with it.

This buddha painting is actually taken from a picture I took in China when we were in Hong Kong and visited the Big Buddha statue. I did a dark blue wash over all of it and then I went back and added the purple background color. The neat thing you can do with this technique is what you can see in the sky. If you drip turpentine on the paint it breaks it up and does this little neat thing. You can also paint some on, tilt the board and then you get a cool dripping affect, or crackling affect.

so... ta da!

The Taco Bus

2009-10-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

What is this?..... Why it is the Taco Bus. When my dad dropped me off here at the beginning of the semester we drove past a silver bus. I looked at it and was like hmm... looks like a taco stand. It wasn't until I saw a gleaming "open" sign in the front that told me that it was actually legit.
My roommates with me agreed that we needed to check out this "taco bus." Everybody we mentioned it to knew exactly what we were talking about and apparently it was AMAZING so we had to go see for ourselves. And you know what? It's pretty darn fantastic.

The first time we went we were kind of nervous... I mean you never know about these kind of things. It was empty but as we were waiting for our food four other cars pulled up. Then today when we went two more cars full of people showed up. Apparently all the teachers and tons of students love it.

inside the taco bus.
They actually put benches and tables up so you can eat inside

Story behind the story, turns out that this couple (mexican) drove this bus down here after the husband lost his job. They then opened this taco stand and have been here ever since the beginning of this last summer.

i'm an art major!

2009-09-28T19:59:00.001-07:00

More so than other semesters I'm really starting to embrace my art-major-ness. I've got the drawing class and design/color class out of the way (pre-reqs for every other art class) which gives me the freedom and chance to take real art classes. This semester I am enrolled in Intro to Illustration and Media Experimentation. The first one is pretty self explanatory the second class has a big word title. I always saw art-work up from that class in the Spori (art building) and was so super impressed. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty intimidated by this class but am now grateful for it. We're going to do some super neat things that I'm so excited to share with all of you.

For Illustration we first had an assignment, "Fire". We could do any medium, any design, format whatever. I only had acrylics so that's what I chose to do it in. And you can't really see it but for the veins of the leaf I did the Chinese character for fire.

The second assignment that he has all of his classes do was a cookbook. We find a recipe and illustrate it only requirement was that it had to be in perspective. I love this class purely for the chance to just be plain creative. Other classes it's more about technique and then once you get that down you can go draw what you want on your own time. This class we'll have a lot more chances to show off our creativity. We got to choose the recipe so looking it up I stumbled upon this little gem and instantly had a vision of what I was going to do.

Now the best for last. For our first assignment in Media Experiment we started in oils. There are other oil classes offered here that teach you the gob on as much paint as you can technique but our teacher wanted to give us a different technique to have under our belt. This was more oil glazing with photo rendering. That meant we took a picture of a simple object (he said it'd be best with a fruit, or vegetable or just something with a simple shape) all I had was an onion so that's what I went with. After starting it I realized that this was going to be a challenge. But it definately paid off in critiques today in class.
(ps. my camera warped the pictures of them a little bit. the real photograph's colors are a lot cooler but when i printed it out on a 8X10 it really did turn the colors to that greenish gray, and warmer like in my painting...aka looks better in person)

enjoy.

Rexburg... blah.. blah.. school.. blah.. blah..

2009-09-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to give a little update on everything that's been happening in a little town we call Rexburg.

Today is the end of my first full week of school which means I have my classes, roommates and teachers down well enough to figure out how this semester's going to pan out.

I'm living at Tuscany again. They really are the best girl's housing around (other than the ridge but that's for the people that really don't care for the rules). My motto here is single rooms save lives. Because they really do. No matter how much you get along with somebody, it's always nicer to have a room to yourself. A nice little retreat and especially a quiet(ish) place to do homework. My roommates are AMAZING, and trust me when I say I'm not using that word lightly. This set of roommates is seriously the ones you dream of having before you go to college for the first time, but you know you're not going to get because you need to learn some life lesson or "people skills". We just all get along so perfect. I've never been in an environment where complete strangers are ALL so kind, nice, generous, helpful and fun. Usually there's one or two that you avoid, but thankfully not this time. (I'll share more about them later).

My schedule is do-able but is keeping me very busy with homework. I'm taking two 3 hour art classes, Intro to Illustration and Media Experiment. They are both wonderful classes that are going to benefit me a lot but both are crazily challenging and completely take me out of my comfort zone. I'm also taking an online Chinese Literature class (to complete the requirements for foreign language), a money management class and the second half of Art History. But the one that I want to brag to you all the most about is my religion class. I decided to take Teachings of the Living Prophets and as I was looking for a teacher on the registration site my eyes scrolled down the list of names and I came to one, Clark.... Kim Clark... well the only Kim Clark I know is the president of.. the.. school. So yes, I am taking my religion class from not only the ex-dean of Harvard Business, but the PRESIDENT of our school and a general authority! I really truly feel most blessed to have gotten into this class, and just by chance! Last class he had a budget meeting to go to, (he team teaches the class with another professor who is a good teacher as well), but today we had the full two hour class to ourselves with Pres. Clark. What I love most is first, just the presence he brings into the class. There's a certain level of authority that enters when he teaches. Also, he is just a good guy. He cares about us students so much, and not just our educational welfare but also our physical and spiritual as well. And he has a sense of humor. We can have fun with him while learning. I just feel super blessed to be able to learn from him every week.

Last of all, recent happenings. Last Saturday our town hosts what they call "Rexburg Unplugged". They take up a side street that connects to main street where local businesses have a chance to introduce themselves to the students. Chantelle and I went because you get a bag full of coupons and there's usually more freebies. We have a Paul Mitchell beauty school that does your hair crazy for free. (see picture). Also in the picture I'm holding not just an ordinary corn on the cob but they call it "Nacho Libre Corn". For any of you who have seen the movie you know what it is. But they cover it in butter, then what they call spanish parmesian cheese and then chile/lime powder. Chantelle was a little hesitant to try but I thought I'd take the risk. And you know what risks sometimes pay off! It was delectible!! I also partook in a night of Craigo's with a group of friends from our first semester here. Craigo's is kind of our thing. And I got to try my very first cookie monster. YUM! (think chocolate chip cookie bottom, with ice-cream, with whipped cream, with caramel and chocolate syrup on top in a pie pan...serves about 8).

my little bag of goodies and a tiger's blood/mango snowcone

So there's a quick summary of what's been going on. I'll be sure to give you some more depth later.

Back At the Burg

2009-09-09T18:06:00.000-07:00

Welp I have once again found myself alone back in good ol' Rexburg. I love the start and end of school because that means I get a little mini-vacation at my grandparent's house and get to see family (who I don't see enough of). I was lucky enough to have my dad bring me out and have my good friend Chantelle (went to China with me) come with us.

This semester I'm still living at the same apartment complex, Tuscany, but I switched rooms. I really loved my roommates from Fall/Winter last year but my very first roommate from freshmen year became available and I have wanted to live with her since my first semester. It's nice though, because I am just a tower away from my old room so I will go and visit all the time because 3/5 old roommates are there again.

It's looking to shape up to be a good semester room mate wise. I have Emily (my old roommate) who if you ask my dad he will tell you is full of giggles and happiness. Then there is Kristy and Kaylee who seem really cool and just really nice girls. There's another Jessica (I'll never escape the curse of the multiple Jessica's) who is a freshmen in her first semester. So we're helping her out. And Elizabeth makes six who is from Africa and loves to cook. She'll keep our apartment smelling nice which will either suck or be good depending on how hungry I am. I can't foresee any major problems happening other than all of us just getting to know each other better.

Today was nothing day so Chantelle and I just went to campus and got our books and looked around (I'll update you on the changes construction has brought here) and just hung out. Classes start tomorrow, I only have one from 3-5:45, Intro to Illustration, all I can say is SLEEP IN!

Next week when I've been to all of my classes I'll give a report on how they go. I'm really excited I think I have a good schedule and if I keep myself busy enough I won't get too homesick.

I loved seeing all of my family at grandma's. When I got to see everyone I realize how much I miss them being a frequent part of my life.

Cheers to the Taylor Family. ♥

happy america day

2009-07-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

Since the economy isn't doing so good lately we found ourselves with zero plans for the fourth. usually there's rusty's family, people at my dad's work, our friends do something or they have an awesome show at Fort Vancouver. But alas... we had nothing.

The first part of the day was a hit. My dad took us all out to a pretty driving range out in Ridgefield where you hit into a giant pond. Cody, and me had never hit before so it was a bit interesting, but still really fun. We then went back to the Taylor house for a gourmet barbeque. All different kinds of ingredients were present to make yummy little gourmet burgers.

As for fireworks we decided we'd just go up to Cody's house. His house is situated on the top of a hill in Yacolt with a gorgeous view that spans all the way to Portland. So we'd figure we'd bum off other people's shows. We told all our friends they could come if they wanted but didn't expect anybody else. It was perfect. My best friend from high school, Amy came, and our good friend Matt Moss along with Megan and some of Cody's friends... Oh yeah, did I mention a pool? :)

June 25th… The One Year Anniversary

2009-07-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

One year ago I was just barely re-adjusting myself to life in America again…and life with a new boy Everything’s just as perfect as it was a year ago..but it doesn’t feel like a whole year went by, as it often happens forever’s just not enough with Cody.

So for our anniversary, knowing me to the be the animal girl I am

We went to the zoo.

the rarest of all, the "cody"-ak bear, jessica donating a dollar via vulture and baby elephant

we have this place in our zoo where you can go into a little area of larikeet birds and buy apple juice nectar and feed it to them. for some reason everytime i've gone in i can just summon birds at will. this is me with the only two red ones that everybody else was trying to get. and yes the one on my right shoulder was licking my face, not biting, licking.

We ended the day with a lovely dinner at McCormick and Schmicks, a very nice seafood restaurant, down my the marina on the waterfront in Portland.

no i'm not dead.. just a disgrace to the blogging world

2009-06-19T11:37:00.001-07:00

I don't know how many "i'm sorry i haven't kept up my blog" posts i've done but well.. here's another.

i've been back since april 11th. that's over two months of adventures that you've missed out on hearing about.

I got a nifty new touch phone, the verizon dare, which doubles as a sweet little on the go camera so i'll let the pictures talk for most of it...

there was a beach trip (of course)

this is our ecola beach,

it's perfect because the mountains protect us from blechy wind

ate at doogers (good clam chowder)

some cool flowers growing on a rock

Cruised Portland a couple times... ate at Todai's (the best sushi in the area)

Went to Rhodendendron Gardens,

This was an option for Megan's reception, though GORGOUS, it was a bit of a drive and all of the flowers would've been gone by august.

still, it was a pretty neat place. As shown in the picture, the bushes were HUGE

Played Frisbee at LVP with our good friend Jeff

(some pictures we took after)

Saw a REAL life DeLorean,

proceeded to follow it through town to get this awesome picture, and creeped the guy out, everytime there was a stop sign or light he'd speed off trying to lose us.

bought this creepy "Lanky Cat" for Cody's sister for her birthday

She said she wanted a cat and since I couldn't get her a real one I got her this thing

it's creepy, but cute..?

some stuff that doesn't pictures to go with it:

-i have also looked for a job for the summer....and have failed miserably. I have a job lined up for our county fair working at a burger stand (we know the owners of the restuarant that put up the stand) So hopefully that works out.

-Cody and I are still marathoning Gilmore Girls. We're finally on the last season we have about 8 episodes left. Such the good show.

-Cody's been doing miscellaneous labor for his family earning a few bucks here and there.

-I've been taking up riding my bike (well megan's bike) around town

-We work out at our local gym three days a week

-Still play basketball on thursdays with our ward. Probably the highlight of my week. Don't under-estimate the Taylor sisters

-Cody and I have taken up playing tennis for funsies some days

-Hanging out with my bff Amy who's back from school in Canada

other than that we just keep on keeping on.

Highlight Blogs that deserve their own post to come in the very near future that I should've blogged about but failed to, Cody and Rusty's baptism, and my friend Katie's wedding.

FINAL(s)-ly

2009-04-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

It's here.

The end of the semester.

It's mixed feelings, but excitement is definately the dominate emotion. It seems as everything has been building up to the glorious day of Thursday when I have completed another semester. First General Conference brings an extra boost of uplifted-ness-ment (?). I love watching it at the Taylor chapel with my pal Chantelle. This session was absolutely amazing. As a couple of my teachers reiterated on Monday, there could've have been more hope and encouragement from so many amazing men of God. It's nice to know we have our Heavenly Father rooting for us.

I think Rexburg also senses that we need some extra boosts of energy because surprisingly since Saturday we have had gloriously sunny days. It's weird to walk outside and feel warmth instead of being slapped in the face by Mr. Frost. It's like everything in the air and all around us knows we're almost done and it's as if even the chirping of the birds are saying, "you're almost there, just hang on."

I have a couple classes to wrap up. English, Chinese, and art. I'll definitely put some pictures up of my art final when it's completed. But it's still bitter-sweet because this place does have a special place in my heart. I hated being done with my New Testament class. I've had the teacher for three semesters in a row, let's just say I enjoy his courses. I just really get to know my professors so well and enjoy seeing them almost everyday. And of course leaving people. I won't say I'm totally torn about leaving my room mates, but they are still good friends (just not ones that I totally appreciate living with). There's also the new friends in basketball and my Chinese classmates that I'll probably run into but won't be as tight as we were this semester.

But this is the most home-sick I've ever been and I'm definitely excited about that. I love that I get to have a pit-stop at Grandma's before headed home home. And as I hear it we might get some visits from some of the Utah Taylors?.... :)

eep!

and i miss this guy. ♥

highlights of the past weeks

2009-03-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

March 7-15- Cody Visits!
-Cody was on spring break and got to come visit me. Pretty much a high light of my month. It's so nice not only to have a boyfriend back but a best friend. We pretty much had a blast, like always. We saw a movie, went to a play, had some good food. But really.. all we need is a deck of cards, each other and we can go for hours. ;)

March 18th- Danu concert
-Chantelle and I went to a concert of a celtic band called Danu from Ireland. Chantelle would sell her soul to live in Scotland/marry a Scottish boy and well I just melt at the sound of their accents. They were super fun and a really neat concert. It was a belated Saint Patrick's Day present to ourselves. We love how we get the off-beat awesome concerts that come to BYU-Idaho and that we get to partake of.

March 24th, Tuesday
-The previous Saturday we won to get to the semi-final game on this day. We then preceded to lose by one point to make it to the championship game. Let's just say, it sucked.

March 27th, Friday
-We lost another basketball game this day which if we won we would've gotten to play for third place. Another kind of sucky event.

March 28th, Saturday
-Went to the men's championship game, which was way more legit than I thought it would be. I think if we had a school team we'd have one of the best college crowds around. It brought me back to the days of watching high school sports and boy do I miss it... (ps. before the boys game was the girl's championship which we caught the end of. The team we lost to by one point won. Sucks to our asmar.. (Lord of the Flies reference for you nonAP English kids)

Last Night
-Jim Gaffigan's special, King Baby. I now remember why I absolutely adore Jim Gaffigan. I was literally laughing my head off alone in my room.
Present, thoughts:
-I only have 8 days of school left
-I get home a week from Sunday
-I've never wanted home so bad in my life
-I can finally make a list of everything I need to do for every class to finish it off
-Yesterday we had a legit blizzard. Almost ruined my life
-Today most of it melted away, good thing too or else weather would've gotten a good punch in the face
-i'm sick of living with girls. i want a break from the 100% all the time drama drama drama.
-I want to go HOME!!!!!! :)

A Little Taste of New Zealand For Ya

2009-02-25T17:24:00.001-08:00

If you don't know who Flight of the Conchords is, they're a folk-singing-comedy-duo, or at least something like that. They do stand-up type stuff but with music and they have a TV show now (which I'll admit is a little wierd)

But they are HILLARIOUS. Ｉ can't get enough of them. Their first song I heard is called Jenny and my roommate brought it up the other day so I got the inclination to youtube some more of their stuff and found this little gem.
I've watched it probably about 20 times and I can't get enough of it. oh my gosh, I seriously can't get enough of it.

oh yeah and their accents are to die for. mmhmm.

enjoy:

We Tried..

2009-02-24T20:03:00.001-08:00

We've been trying to do this for about 3 FHE nights and we finally did it. Every winter they build an ice-rink by the upper fields here on campus. And we've talked about going ever since the beginning of the semester. First it was too cold, then people didn't want to and finally FINALLY we committed. But alas.. it has been a little bit warmer here lately (which means in the 30's not the 20's) and we go up to the rink and they tell us that the rink is a little wet and that it's not ideal to skate on. But we went all the way and we weren't about to bail out yet again so we go for it.

It was more slush skating than ice-skating, snagging your skates on a soft patch of ice every two feet. But it was fun. We got some good trains going and pushing each other around.

I call it a success just not when it came to the actual ice-skating. I got my pictures and that's all I needed. We then retreated back to our apartment when our feet felt sore enough for some good ol hot cocoa.

headed to the rink

i found this amusing

the fam

emily and kelly (above) emily and me (below)

holly, emily, jeanette, me and kelly in front

she fell on purpose

the brothers

random cat photo: this one wins for most what the heck random

happy valentine's day...if you have a date that it..

2009-02-15T08:26:00.000-08:00

Highlights of Valentine's Day:

-Played a JV game because only two of their players were in town.
Turns out Sojin and me have player connection. Every time she passed me the ball in the second half I scored. I got around 23 points (with the help of no defense of course). We were cracking up the whole time. At one time they even had me double manned.

-Ate lunch at Quizno's
If you haven't had their sammies yet I suggest you run out and try them immediately. I get the Italian with the vinagerate (i know i spelled it wrong) not the pesto sauce and the roadhouse steak. Oh my heck. They're to die for.
-Watched Gilmore Girls
It's what Cody got me for Valentine's day. The Taylor sisters (and boyfriends..and even Connor) have found a new infatuation with this show
-Left at 5pm to go to Idaho Falls to eat at Olive Garden
We're on a limited supply of them "fancy" restuarants here in Idaho. We just wanted something we knew was going to be good. Thanks to planning ahead we predicted the 75-80 minute wait.

-Went to Starbucks for Hot Chocolate
We figured if we were going to wait for 75-80 minutes we'd rather do it in comfy chairs with some raspberry hot chocolate next to a fireplace listening to oldie's music (the record sounding kind that i love) This was actually a surprising highlight to the night
-Ate at Olive Garden
Cody had the Chicken Con Broccoli, I had the Shrimp Mezzalunas. We held hands, we talked and had a delightful dinner.
-Went to Subzero
Chantelle showed me this awesome ice-cream place where they make the ice-cream right in front of you using liquid nitrogen. It's pretty neat.....and extremely tasty too :)
-Went back to the Apartment...
Only to find that the roommates were throwing their own party. We could barely fit ourselves in. I've never seen so many people in our apartment before.

-Got Claustrophobic and went and saw He's Just Not That Into You
A good movie but actually seriously depressed me. If that's what people think life is and love is, I honestly am sad for them

-Said goodnight and went to bed :)

Probably my best Valentine's day ever. It could be because I actually had a date this year or because Cody came into town or that I got a good dinner and movie and hot chocolate out of it. But i'll give all the credit to my boy. ♥

cat picture of the day:

i love cats

2009-02-12T12:17:00.000-08:00

If you want to know one thing about me, its that I love animals. Like way more than a normal people should. Cody and me joke that I'm three and a half because that's about how young I act when I'm around them.

Mostly though, I love cats. I don't know why they are just so cute and I can't get enough of them. I joke around that one day I'll go to the humane society, look at the cats, and say, "I'll take them all." The not funny part is though most people think that's just an exaggeration, I seriously would do it. It's probably a good thing that I have Cody to keep people from worrying that I'm just going to be Crazy Cat Lady Taylor. But you know what, I'd be perfectly content with a house full of cats. Don't worry, I know it's socially unacceptable.

I found this website a while ago and I can't get enough of it. I think these people made it for people like me. Its just a site where you click a button and it generates a random cat picture. I have come to love this site. Whenever I'm feeling blue I can just go here and seriously about 5 pictures in I forget whatever I was sad about. Some of these captions are in poor English or broken English so now I kind of think that that's how cats talk. Its hillarious. I don' know why, I can't explain, but I. just. love. it. I have to stop my impulse to take them all and save them to my computer.

here's the link to the site: http://blog.esaba.com/projects/catphotos/catphotos.php

And here's some of my favorites: (and believe me when i say i have to hold back from putting up all of them because they're all hillarious)

and for your entertainment and mine i will put one of these delightful pictures at the bottom of each of my posts. enjoy :)

goodbye january...

2009-01-31T12:06:00.000-08:00

January..you were a good month I have to admit. Not the best but there's nothing to complain about. You were full of the good and the bad but I learned from those bad so it makes it worth it. So thank you January. Thank you.

If I could use three words to describe this week they would be cold, freezing and hey just for fun let's go with cold again. We had gotten a good amount snow since we've been here but not this last week but the week before things started to warm up. We had our huge piles of snow on the side from when the snow was plowed but all the ice and snow from the roads and sidewalks had melted. We even had 3-4 days with blue skies, still cold but BLUE SKIES! without the snow everywhere it almost tricked me into thinking it was fall.
But alas this last week Rexburg has killed my optimism. We got a huge storm over the weekend and the couple days after that the snow just kept coming. We got 3 inches one day, then another 3 inches and more and more. But probably the worst day was when it was -7 outside walking to classes. I have never been somewhere where it has been so cold that I got a headache walking for 10 minutes in it. It warmed up to 6 degrees that day (yay??). It's gotten a little better but now we have a good inch of ice underneath everything which isn't going to go away anytime soon.
One good thing came out of it though. Right outside our apartments there's a round about and out one side of our windows is a street leading to it. This was right after it got freezing and the roads were way icier than people thought... so we may have spent a Sunday afternoon huddled around a window watching people crash around the round about. Some guy just went straight into the snow drift. There were a couple close calls with cars coming in too fast and breaking too late and almost hitting people coming around the round about. Some guy in a little bitty car almost went sideways through the round-a-bout. And we got to laugh at a couple goober pedestrians who fell on their butts walking across. We got pretty good at judging if they were going to fast and if they could break in time. We're not bad people I promise.

bless their hearts
construction on our new auditorium continues through the cold

the view from my bedroom window

we were going to go ice-skating for FHE but our brothers said it was too cold...
(L-R: Holly, Kelly, Me and our new roommate Jeanette)

Yesterday we had our second basketball game and although I think I did fairly well, not awesome, but not bad our team just couldn't put it together. It was just a combination of bad. Our girl that can't miss a shot kept traveling, we just couldn't get a good grip on the ball etc etc. We lost 88-68 but we knew this team was good and they were a bit stacked. Their star player (who's a really dirty player) is actually engaged to the coach so you know... whatever. We brush it off and we learn. I liked a quote my coach used at the end. He said you can learn a chapter from a win, but you can learn a book from a loss. We'll figure it out and rock the rest of our games. When we see these girls again they won't be able to recognize us. Oh yeah and I randomly have a ton of bruises everywhere. 1) inside left thigh 2) right leg inch below my knee 3) right leg inch above my knee on the outside 4) a major one on my right knee 5) on my right bicep. I never use to bruise this easily... oh well battle wounds. :)

ps. I miss my family.

This one's for you mom. It's little squirrel prints in the snow!! CUTE!!

Go Green!

2009-01-24T13:35:00.000-08:00

See this jersey,

this is no ordinary jersey.

This is the jersey of a winner.

I had my first basketball game today. I am on the Spartans in the competitive league here. I was a little nervous about getting into basketball again, for one because it was the last game of my senior year of high school that I tore my ACL and I hadn't really done any competitive sports playing since high school. (sorry dad, thursday basketball at the church doesn't quite do the job). But I have easily fallen into the ol routine and let me tell you, it. feels. good.

We played the Bruins today all in their nice blue colored jerseys and their tallness and stuff. But boy howdy did we rock their socks right off their feet. It was tied up for the first half but then the second half came and we turned it on. The final score was 77-63 (that's a pretty high scoring game for a girls team and the first game of the season). Our team chemistry was amazing. Our coaches said they had never had a team play so well the first game of the season. I scored 6 pts which were all in the last 10 minutes of the second half. I contributed more to the defensive side of the game for the rest. Tall girls ain't got nothing on me. I'm the tallest on my team at 5'9'' and this other team had a couple girls that were at least 6'. Oh and how bout this for a mouthful, three girl's names on my team Chanel, Shandy, and Sohjin, we just call her Sohj and Stacy. For the love.

aaaaaaaaaand its snowing. Last week it was blue skies and all the snow had melted except for the piled snow on the sides. Naive poor Jessica thought it was going to last. But alas it has been snowing all night and all day and we now have 2 more inches of that pure white cold stuff.

My Apologies

2009-01-16T12:07:00.000-08:00

I think I spend more blogs apologizing for not keeping up on the latest happenings in my life.
I just get busy and forget and then a parent nudges me and reminds me that I need to update my blog. So I'm sorry and I promise to try and keep up.

So since you last heard from me I have gone to disneyland and back for the New Year. I'll put up some pictures but there won't be a whole lot of new info if you keep up on Megan's blog. (She's always making me look bad...keeping up on her blog all the time.. psh.)

And now I find myself in my beautiful Rexburg. Chantell and I cannot believe that it was a year ago that we left for China. FOR CHINA. What am I doing here. Sometimes its this overwhelming feeling of insignificance and sadness in remembering that we were actually over there. We were part of something so much bigger than ourselves. But then we remember all of our good times and we know that they had to end sometime and now is our time to focus on other things in our lives, mainly education. I just look at pictures and can't believe that I got to see those kids and people every day. There will always be a string attached to my heart and China that is always pulling me there.
But all is well. I'm where I'm supposed to be. This is my first winter here in Rexburg (since last winter was deferred for China) and let's just say I wish I was on Summer/Fall track. I have gotten well acquainted with ice and snow, and an expert walker on ice without falling. :) I'm proud to report that I have not fallen yet.
My schedule is good this semester. It spaced itself out very well. I'm in my second semester of Chinese and we all got a rude awakening the first day of class that we were not in fact in 101 anymore. I do not have Shen Laoshi as a teacher, this year we have Bao Laoshi (Michael Paul). He went on his mission to Taiwan and then worked in China for a couple years. He is an excellent teacher and I feel like I'm going to progress a lot this semester. He is introducing us to a new routine of how class is going to work. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday are ACT days where we speak the language, go over dialogue etc. Which makes Tuesday our FACT day where he teaches the lesson and we get to ask all of our technical questions. Did you catch that? Tuesday is the only day we are allowed to speak in English. We can ask how to say things in Chinese but we have to ask it in Chinese. Zhongwen zenme shuo...? So its intense but I absolutely love it. I have a good study group of about 5 of us from our 101 class and we're all pretty good friends. There's just something that attracts me to this language (couldn't be because I lived there for 6 months could it? ;) But for some reason I retain these things amazingly well. It's that reason that I'm taking it and want to go farther with it. Sometimes I can't explain how I remember what this word is or what this means... I just know it?...
Other than that I'm taking a New Testament class from my Book of Mormon professor who if you don't know I absolutely LOVE his classes. Then I have a design and color class, the next step in being able to take higher level art classes. The professors good he's the kind of outdoorsy guy that likes fly fishing and I would assume painting pictures of Idaho landscapes. Just a chill guy who loves his red plaid flannel shirt. But he knows his stuff. Then I'm also taking Eng311 which is advance writing and reading but as I've come to find out this class is more about insightful learning, reading, re-reading, writing, re-writing. It's an awesome professor focused on us actually learning in a way that will change our lives forever. I'm also in an Art Seminar class which is required for art students to take 4x where you attend 4-5 seminars from different artists in different categories. And FA100. It's required for every BYUI student. You can take it for 0 or 1 credit. I'm doing 1 credit just because I didn't have enough for my scholarship. This class is going to concerts, dances, art galleries etc. It's to get you to experience art in many different forms. So I go to the events taking place on campus write paragraphs about them and turn them in and I'm good to go.

There will be more to come. Again I'm sorry for the crunch blogging trying to cram huge periods of time in a little paragraph.

Just know that I'm alive and happy. :)

A Winter to Remember

2008-12-21T17:05:00.000-08:00

So this has been a very rare winter in Battle Ground indeed.
We have had a good amount of snow consecutively through out this past week and that's not even our big "storm". That storm hit last night and has been going all through out today. We got a good foot yesterday then a good quarter inch of inch of ice on top of that and now it has been snowing all day on top of that.
Most years we're wondering if we even will see snow for the whole winter break.

We don't have to worry about that this year.

Cody and I found this amazing philly cheese-steak place called Philly Bilmo's
So we thought we'd treat ourselves before going to see Seven Pounds at movies. movie date!

The snowman in the background was megan's snowman from the day before but got a touch of snow on top of him

The snow was too soft to build forts so Connor let us bury him. he he he

megan helping pack down the snow

what a dork.

After the break out

Lord of the Rings Monopoly is our classic christmas past time

our heat source. the kitties love it

The End at Last

2008-12-12T18:31:00.001-08:00

Apologies for not getting a blog up for a while. As a semester comes to an end the work load just seems to pile so high that the top is no longer visible.
All of my energy was put into getting things done and not going crazy in the process. But I made it!! With little sleep and all energy exhausted I made it. I do appreciate finals. Having so much to do and then accomplishing all of those things just has a good feeling that goes along with it. I had a chinese project, chinese oral final, chinese written final, an art history test, a parenting presentation, a parenting final, and a book of mormon assessment, and the most time demanding of all 2 art projects with graphite (one taking over 8 hours to accomplish)...along with class and more assignments intermingled in between all the spaces. So you can see how I had to put all of my energy into getting through all of that along with one last craigo's night and saying goodbyes until next semester.

I just wanted to report that I am alive and well and finished out a very very good semester. One of the best. :)

(Just because I'm proud of myself and want to brag...here's some grades I got)

Chinese
Project: A
Oral Final: 15/15
Written Final: 92%
Overall Grade: 95%

Drawing
In class graphite drawing: A
Out of class graphite drawing: A
(Don't under appreciate these A's. I have gotten A-'s and B+'s all semester. These A's meant more to me than any other from this semester)

Book of Mormon 96%

Parenting
Final: 92 (and I didn't even study for this test hahahahahha)
Overall Grade: 95%

Art History
Last Test (not comprehensive): 96%

:)

the rest of the week goes as follows:

2008-11-14T12:59:00.001-08:00

Monday and Wednesday are exactly the same.

and Tuesday and Thursday are the same with the exception of Devotional which is only on Tuesday.

and Friday,
well we like Fridays. Why? Because I only have parenting at 12:45 and then the weekends begin.

happy day.

as days go by... (pt 2)

2008-11-13T13:02:00.000-08:00

.tuesday.

8:00am Art History with Brother Toone.
I was excited to take this class and its has been one of my most enjoyed classes (other than the fact that it's at 8am). I love learning more about art history. I get some weird satisfaction out of being more cultured than the general populous. The only thing about this class, now my head is full of random facts about ancient architecture that doesn't really interest me at all. I'm looking forward to when we get to go into later paintings and stuff like that. But it has been really interesting. We just finished up early Christian art, and today we just did Islam. This is a two part class so I'll have to take the 2nd half another semester (it didn't work out for winter). So who knows what my head will be filled with by the end. And probably the best part is my professor is a really really cool guy. He's older and one of those bigger guys, but he knows so much!! He's funny too. He kind of gets lost in his trains of thoughts a lot but I think it's just because he has so much information in his head. He makes what would be a boring class into very fun. For example when we started Egyptian art we started off class with the 5 minute video of Steve Martin's SNL skit of "King Tut" (hillarious) and the next day we watched the Bangle's music video for walk like an Egyptian. Kudos to teachers who make class extra fun.

10:15 Chinese with Shen Laoshi
(see monday blog for details)

(go home for lunch)
12:45 Book of Mormon 122 with Brother Wightman
Last semester I took the first half of Book of Mormon with this same professor. I cannot adequately explain how much I love this class and what it has done for me in my life. There is a reason I took this second part with the same professor. I love him to death. He is a very enjoyable entertaining person. And he knows what he is talking about. He is one of the few people I have come in contact with that I would just like to go and have one on one lessons with them and just say tell me everything you know. I learned more in the first semester with this teacher than I had my whole 18 years of living. I continue to learn more everyday. If I just had this class and nothing else my schedule would be complete.

the view from where I sit

2pm. Devotional
Every Tuesday campus shuts down for devotional. It's held in the Hart auditorium but there are a couple overflow locations. Since my Book of Mormon class is in the Taylor and the Taylor chapel is used as an overflow I just watch it there. We don't get quite the all-stars that Provo gets but we are always blessed with amazing speakers. It makes Tuesdays a highlight of the week and just is an additional help to life.

Taylor Chapel
(for devotional there's a screen and the sides are blocked by black screens)

My beloved Taylor building

days go by...

2008-11-06T22:29:00.000-08:00

I know it's more than halfway through the semester but I would like to walk you through my typical week. So come, take off your shoes and put mine on for a little while..maybe you'll appreciate and understand me more?...ha. prolls not. (probably not).

.Monday.

First class: 10:15-11:15am Chinese 101 with Shen Laoshi. Probably my favorite class of my whole schedule. I walk in and am greeted by Thomas (a quieter but very nice boy), a boy that sits on my left and then Michael (total fun outgoing ASB-like kid) usually comes in a little after me. We're our own little study group, and a fun one at that. I love this class because our side of the room has some enjoyable people that all want to learn Chinese. This class is obviously my favorite because its chinese, somewhere in that 6 months that I lived there I picked up the addiction, and its also full of friends, which is just as important. Our teacher Shen Laoshi (laoshi means teacher) is a very cute and very very chinese lady. She's older and we have a lot of fun. She reminds me a lot of Tina (our foreign coordinator in china). It's like my own piece of china four days a week. :) it's made missing china not so bad (though it still hits hard sometimes.) Wo hui shuo yi diar zhong wen. (I can speak a little Chinese.) ♥

the class room i'm first seat, third row from the window

the first day I saw this poster I knew I had to get a picture of it. I literally laughed out loud when i saw it.
I mean come on people, could we be any more doom and gloom? haha it still makes me laugh.

then I go home switch out books grab some lunch and head out at about 12:30

Second Class: 12:45-1:45pm Parenting with Brother Gardner. I absolutely love this class. I took a family class last semester that was all about the Proclamation to the World and loved it. These classes seem so beneficial is more ways than just being educated about these things. They are so applicable to life, and the most important parts of it. Naturally its all girls with the exception of 4 boys and our teacher. We have two older parents (one's a bishop, another a very opinionated mom), 2 newer moms (each has 2 kids, one is pregnant with her third), we did have an expecting dad but his wife just gave birth to their first baby this past week, 2 other pregnant girls (around my age), and the rest hopeful future parents. I love my professor. He's not loud at all but he has a sense of humor and we have fun, and he knows his stuff. One day he actually brought in his 7 year old and his 14 year old and we got to question them about he's parented. Very enjoyable class.

Third Class: 2:00-4:45pm Drawing with Sister Cook. First of all please note the length of this class. Oh yes, many MANY art classes are 2 hours and 45 minutes long. That alone is just a huge red light in front of you. So drawing, like totally the easiest class on the planet. You just go and draw for about 3 hours. I mean I love doodling. It's a class where I can just do my hobby and get credit for it. Fun right? RIGHT?!! NO. Let me assure you this class is probably the total opposite of the spectrum of enjoyable-ness that I expected. Number one, I'm pretty sure we are Sister Cook's first class. I could probably write a huge long blog just on my frustrations and very very strong dislikement of her alone. Believe me I've vented many a time. This class is turning into the headache of my life. It has made me sit and actually think if I want to be an Art Major (which I am), but if all the classes are going to make me hate art as much as this class has then it is plainly not for me. We do construction drawings (you don't even want to know), pen drawings, we've just started room drawing and have gotten into value with charcoal. I've gotten into the groove now where we go, critique our homework for about an hour, then we just draw for the rest of class while I listen to music. But at the beginning is was mostly sit in these ghastly chairs that were designed by the devil himself while listening to bitter cynical first time teacher that just got out of the program herself and is taking out all of the crap she had to do on us. I know it's pretty much like I'm getting credit for partying really. Did I mention that our homework usually takes around 3 hours? Oh and don't even get me started on the "art majors". For the love.

the class room

designed by the devil yes? yeah try sitting in those for 3 hours two days a week and we'll see if you're in a happy disposition afterwards. it's as if the small inadequate cushions are mocking me.

these beauties took a good 3 hours to draw. enlarged from an 8x11 to a poster size piece of paper. no rulers allowed. (these are construction drawings)

we seriously spent 2 hours one day drawing rolls of toilet paper.

my first pen drawing. i think i only like it for the subject

pen drawing: turn this

into this

(construction drawing) make this

into this

more construction drawings:

more pen drawings:

this one is a particular favorite :) shoe face

Tomorrow: Tuesday

A Weekend of Goodness

2008-11-02T17:45:00.000-08:00

Saturday Chantelle and me went to see the African Children's choir. When I first read about this performance I knew that if I had to go see any of the performances here this one is taking priority.
The African Children's choir is made up of children from Uganda. In 1984 Uganda was involved in a very vicious bloody civil war that affected a lot of people and a lot of kids. Since 1984 this program has taken children and given them an opportunity of their lifetime. Kids that they find, or are brought to them live in a small community where they have housing and a hot meal provided for them everyday along with an education, something that these kids would've never even dreamed about having. Then every year a different group are picked from auditions to tour to the west to share their story. They perform in France, and Italy. This past year they performed for the Queen of England and for President Bush and his wife.

The current choir

I can't believe how lucky we were here in Rexburg to get the chance to hear these kids. My ears have never heard anything so purely beautiful. Their voices were beyond was words can describe and dang did those kids have rhythm. They did dances for countries all over Africa, along with narrative dances and some inspirational songs. I just still can't believe how beautiful and amazing their voices were. It was a very humbling experience, one that I will never forget. I just felt so lucky that I got to experience their love of dance and music.

yep, we still like each other

Then... Sunday night (tonight) I just got back from a party that my Chinese teacher hosted at her house. She told us that she wanted to celebrate it not being midterms anymore. So all of her students from us (101 kids) to her 300's class. Everybody brought food had a good time. I have a very good class full of fun kids and we got to meet a lot of other students studying Chinese, and we have a super nice teacher. She's adorable. So we just spent the night eating and playing number games and sharing stories. :) hen hao.

halloween festivities at the burg

2008-10-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

our fhe sisters (creepy contacts)..............Kip cracked me up & Pj's kid is hillarious

the old people

the FHE fam (L to R..front: James and Sabin; back: Paige, me, Emily, Alex and James)

the roomies...................me and captain america (yeah..he made it out of thermals)

1st councelor Bro. Ricks and his wife..........................awesome grandma's (the cup says world's greatest grandma)

Pink shirt = kid dressed up like Sabin; Hulk = Sabin; and James

Me, Emily, Paige and Kelly

awesome mullet kid.............................................................blue man group

Brother Webster as a skunk (His wife had a matching outfit) and our Bishop :)

Tuesday we had a ward Halloween party. We weren't sure if we even wanted to go, within the hour of it starting we all found costumes and hopped in a car and headed out. I feel dumb for not wanting to go because it was a blast. We had it in our 2nd counselor's heated shed thing?.. but it was decorated up right good. It was awesome. We had baked potatoes, music and a very very fun ward family. It's always 50/50 with BYU-I wards at things like these. We didn't know if people would show up and dress up. But turns out we have one of the funnest wards. Everyone was so creative with their costumes. I was so proud. :)

And before that on Monday for FhE we carved pumpkins. Every family was asked to have this be the activity and then one pumpkin from each family was nominated to be judged at the party.

emily and me

James, our FHE dad

wilfred the dinosaur. Did that one all by meself

i'm carving a pumpkin

Paige carving Harry Potter

its harry potter okay. ;)

Treat Yourself

2008-10-27T21:13:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I had absolutely nothing to do, and it just so happened that the BYU Ballroom Dance Company was performing on campus. The 7:30 was sold out so I bought a ticket to the 2pm performance. I remembered it last minute so I went by myself (we're going to pretend that it was by choice). So I enjoyed a nice little afternoon to myself. I walked around the Burg for a bit, treated myself to the Pita Pit (amazingly good) and went to the show.
I envy dancers so much. I am not what they call flexible, though I got rhythm. But these dancers just left me speechless. They were all absolutely GORGEOUS, their outfits were AMAZING. ugh. I just loved everything about it. I was moved to tears, laughed out loud, and felt like I was right on stage in the midst of the magic that I had the honor of seeing.

(excuse the pictures, i wasn't allowed to use flash)

yum. chicken ceaser

my view

you can't see it very well but the guys had awesome bright red zuit suits

awesome Hairspray medley

the finale

The Program:

"A Tribute to Fred Astaire" - Opener
"Summer Wind" (Foxtrot)
"Tail Feather" (West Coast Swing)

LOVE this song. Way fun to watch

"If You Could Hie to Kolob" (Theatre Arts)

This one was definitely the most beautiful dance of the program. Seriously stunning.

"Waltz of the Flowers" (Viennese Waltz)
"Regular Joe" (Lindy Hop)

This was the zuit suit dance. Way fun. I love the lindy hop.

"Oye Celia" (Mambo)
"Jealousy"

This was a cool skit/dance. It was like an office and a hot red haired lady got hired and all the guys were fighting over her, and the other office girl was jealous. The way they used their bodies to express conversation was amazing.

"Dance with my Father" (Rumba)

Very good song

"Pirates of the Caribbean"

Cool Cool Cool. It was like a fight dance.

"A Daisty in December" (Waltz)
"Hairspray"

Fun mix of a bunch of the hairspray songs. A girl actually sang "I can hear the bells". This was the funnest and got the crowd way excited

"Doo Wah Diddy" (Cha Cha)

Cool beat version of this song

"Puttin' on the Ritz" (Quickstep)

I love quickstep.

"MicGalaxy"

THIS WAS AWESOME. They had all the lights out and only black light. The only thing you could see was their outfits and put a UFO/alien twist on it. This was cool.

"It Had Better Be Tonight" (Samba)
"Vive Espana" (Ballroom Competition Medley)

This was their most recent dance for the U.S. National Formation Championship (which they've been undefeated since 1982)

"Drop the Beat" (Latin American Competition Medley)

Same as the previous dance (still undefeated since 1982)

"There's No Business Like Show Business"

last week's happenings

2008-10-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

Jessica's life was starting to get routine and mundane. Classes were going fine but there was something missing. She had her friends that she hung out with and she had some good times with her room mates but it still seemed like something was missing. That was until Cody visited.

Cody flew in on a Friday where Jessica picked him up at the Salt Lake Airport. They got to spend the night at Aunt Lori's house. The next morning they got to go to breakfast with Aunt Lori at Ruth's Diner. The wait was a little long but it was worth it because Jessica loves getting to spend time with her family, (especially her aunt). After breakfast Cody and Jessica set off to explore Temple Square. Jessica showed Cody around everywhere. It was snowing that morning but the weather gods always smile on Jessica and Cody and it was clear enough just long enough for them to see all that they wanted to.
After temple square they drove to Jessica's grandma's house. Jessica loves her grandma's house and was so happy she got to spend 2 weekends there. That first night Jessica, Cody, Papa John and Grandma all went to the Maddox. It's not a trip to grandma's without going to the Maddox.
Sunday night Jessica and Cody rode the shuttle down to Rexburg. Jessica planned it so that they got there in time to go to stadium singing, and that was just the beginning. The rest of the week was filled with Cody and Jessica spending a week of bliss together. Not necessarily doing anything big or exciting but Cody and Jessica don't need things to have a good time, they just need each other. Cody would wait for Jessica to get out of class and then they'd just hang out and enjoy each other's company. Jessica would cook for Cody, and Cody would take Jessica out to dinner. They'd play gin for hours or hang out with some of Jessica's friends she's met her in Rexburg. Cody got to go to Craigo's with the gang and got a taste of Office night and the infamous sausage dip. It was everything Jessica dreamed about.
The next friday Cody and Jessica rode the shuttle back up to Grandma's where they spent another awesome weekend. Jessica loves her grandma and is so happy that she lives so close that Jessica could see her and enjoy her company and Papa John's. That Sunday Cody had to go back home because his fall break was over. Jessica and Cody were both very sad but were so grateful they got an amazing 10 days together.
It was one of the greatest weeks Jessica has had in a long time and she can't wait for thanksgiving when Cody and Jessica get to be together again. :)

go here:
www.illuminatedheartproject.blogspot.com

Deserted Rexburg

2008-10-07T18:00:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was Conference Weekend which really means that a majority of Rexburg leaves on the great trek to Utah to watch conference. I've never been to conference at the conference center, but i want to someday. But its nice because when everyone leaves it feels like you own Rexburg because you're one of the only ones still around. I only had one other room mate who didn't go to Utah. So it was kind of nice just having a chill weekend and watching conference.

It was wierd though because Saturday threw us off, we kept thinking it was Sunday. Like we felt guilty doing homework, but then we're like um, its Saturday. Or going to the store felt like we were breaking the Sabbath. Overall though it was an amazing weekend. I go to the Taylor Chapel to watch it with Chantelle and her roomate came along. I went to all the sessions there except Sunday morning session Kelly (my room mate) made an amazing crepe breakfast and had some people over. The only damper was that it was the first miserable cold rainy weekend with even a short hail storm. The sad part is is that compared to what's coming it wasn't even that cold. Ooooh Rexburg. If there's one thing it's infamous for is its awwwful winters. Yay me.

Other than that Cody comes out this Friday, so we'll spend the next two weekends in Utah and the week here in Rexburg. Luckily I have some guy friends here that are letting him crash for the week. But I'm just so excited. Finally Rexburg will be complete in its happiness. :)

Favorite talks:

Dieter F. Uchtdorf's Saturday morning talk on Hope
Joseph B. Wirthlin's Saturday morning talk; Come What May & Love It
Lawrence E. Corbridge's Saturday morning talk on Christ (This one wins for my favorite talk of all of conference)
David A. Bednar's Saturday afternoon talk as a sequel to his previous conference talk on prayer (his last talk in april about asking in faith I have taught two lessons from and given a talk and used it as a reference, so I knew his previous one like an old friend so I was excited when he had more to add)
Russell M. Nelson's Sunday Afternoon talk got a lot of gasps in a crowd of BYU-Idaho students who hear nothing but marriage and all of us just sat there wide mouthed kind of like um.. did he just say that? as he compared marriage to shopping. lol. we found that particularly entertaining. but it was good nonetheless.
And it is also a pleasure to hear the words of our new prophet Thomas S. Monson

Overall, very good weekend. :)
oh p.s. the friday before my room mate Paige and I had the opportunity to go to the Rexburg Temple for the first time to do baptisms. Very good experience.

apologies to all

2008-10-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

thank you megan for keeping up such an awesome blog. not thank you because it makes people realize (*cough*dad) that Jessica has not written one in a while.

but behold I say unto you I LIVE!! I promise I did not just cease to exist after China, but I did feel a little as though my life was of no importance to report on anymore. I mean, come on, how do you top 6 months of adventures in China. You just can't okay. But I'll follow the example of my sister and make those everyday little things seem like a big deal. :)

I am back in Rexburg attending BYU-Idaho. My heart longed to be back here since the day I left back in December of 2007, but I think sometime between then and September my heart forgot why. But oh how I remember now.

There are not words to describe what BYU-Idaho means to me. It could be the people I'm surrounded by. It could be the awesome roomies I got so greatly blessed with. It could be that it's not cold here yet. But I know there's something much more to it here. This is not a university to learn what textbooks have to say. This is not a university where one grows in an educational sense. I remember back when I was a new freshmen, when I first got here they told us what this place was, what it had in store for us and what this place was all about. They told us that this is a student focused university. Teachers teach students, not get TA's to teach for them as they try and get published. All focus is on us, as students, not as students getting degrees (some of it is) but this is a place to grow as all of us should be striving to grow.

BYU-Idaho Mission Statement:
BYU-Idaho is affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Its mission is to :
-Build testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and encourage living its principles.
-Provide a quality education for students of diverse interests and abilities
-Prepare students for a lifelong learning, for employment, and for their roles as citizens and parents
-Maintain a wholesome academic, cultural, social and spiritual environment

Of all the focuses and missions BYUI holds it is their first stated mission that I treasure so dearly. This is a place where people become better disciples of Christ. Yes, its an ongoing process but its one that I rise up to with complete devotion and soberness.

Think of the place that this could be most accomplished. Can you imagine such a place? Where you get to hear from a wonderful member of the church every Tuesday to help you with this mission? To have religion classes that expand my knowledge and understanding of the most important subject? To have a temple no more than a couple blocks from your house?! To be surrounded by people striving for that same goal?

I can! I'm living it right now! I still can't believe how lucky I am to be here, to live here! To wake up everyday immersed in all of this goodness. I'm sure you think I sound a little crazy, and maybe you can't fully appreciate my excitement and appreciation for this place.

But just know that I know that I am supposed to be here. Yes, there are other places that I want to be, but I know this is my place for the now. And I can't imagine any place better.

Jessica the College Student

where the magic happens, and by magic i mean tons and tons of homework

where jessica gets a good night's rest to be ready for her classes the next day

the view from my window. tuscany must've known that sunsets are my particular favorite

my wall of everyone i love
(i got bored one night and made paper frames and hung them up with paper clip chains and thumbtacks. i was proud that i exuded such craftiness in one night)

rexburg temple

Back in America

2008-07-20T21:08:00.000-07:00

I'm home!
i'm assuming you all assumed that even though you havent heard from me in a while.

Life is good, just kicking back and enjoying the spoils of life in the states. I love having all of my friends back and family, but i miss china, like a lot a lot.

the adjustment wasn't bad. it's just all the little things i have to get used to, like not talking about people right in front of them, because now they can actually understand me, and having any edible food at my finger tips. but the funny thing is, no matter how nice things are here i would trade them all for more time in china. i just miss it a lot.

but i'm also enjoying life, don't worry.

oh yeah, and there's a boy. His name is Cody :)

at the airport with the family

Chantelle and Jessica back in AMERICA

SUMMER 08' (you'll get full blogs with pictures on these events soon):

POOL PARTIES

Petting Zoo's (yeah, thats a baby leopard on our lap)

Fourth of July's

beaches

hikes

mcdonald's picnics

Sunday bests

and parades of harvest and of battle ground

cooking at gary's

2008-06-14T02:56:00.001-07:00

we've been begging gary or tina to show us how to cook chinese food
and finally they did! yay.

we met tina and she took us to the produce and meat market. lets just say we're glad that we made it through the meat aisle without gagging. personally i think the pig legs look quite delectable

but it was actually a really good experience we got to see what real chinas like.

what was on the menu:

tomato and egg (our favorite!!)... cooked spinach ... cucumber salad... potato dish... green bean and pork... carrots and pork... fried tofu... white rice (the necessity)

what every house in china has. the rice cooker.

kitty in the kitchen please note the huge jug of oil that is being used as a doorstop

food prep

gary cooking

chinese cooking necessities, a wok, oil, oil, more oil, salt, soy sauce and you can not have the little packet of msg

hen hao chi :)

10 days left

2008-06-14T02:35:00.000-07:00

yeah. thats right. we're home in ten days and we're kind of freaking out. i'm really super excited to go home, but i'm already missing china. its nice living in kind of an escape from the real world.
probably the hardest thing right now is knowing every day that passes means thats one more day closer to having to say goodbye to our kids.
its seriously heartbreaking. its going to be so hard. they're just our best friends.

right now we're preparing for our end of the year presentation that we have to put on for the parents. we're doing the three little pigs and they're so good at it. it cracks us up. they're so
cuute!!

one of our kids andrew actually left on wednesday, because he went to england to learn english. it was really sad actually. he was one of my favorites. and i know mom, i say they're all my favorite. but he was. we were buds. he'd come up to me after class and tell me how many tokens he got for that day and whenever i walked by the classroom, even if he was in chinese class i could hear him yell,"Teacher Jessica!". he's a super mischievous kid, but he really is good. a lot of our kids had like personality flips over this 6 months. and he used to be a headache, still enjoyable but still a pain sometimes, but the last couple months he was so good! and he'd still be goofy but thats why i loved him. and just how hard it was saying goodbye to andrew, we cant even imagine saying goodbye 13 more times...

10 strikes and we throw you out the window....buh-bye andrew

yeah..remember the infamous andrew puppet

me and my andrew ♥

andrew :)

Qu Ni Sheng Er Kuai Le (Happy Birthday)

2008-06-04T22:40:00.000-07:00

Today was Karen's birthday. which means today was a very good day. We taught from 9:15-9:50, then we did play rehearsals (for the end of the year presentation for their parents) then at 10:30 Karen's mom shows up with the good stuff. Chinese kids school birthday parties consist of the mom coming in with a huge bag full of goodies (puffs filled with chocolate, milk or juice drinks, candy) and an AMAZING cake from the bakery in Guzhen. These cakes are seriously my favorite thing ever. They have the lightest frosting and chocolate and they top it with beautifully arranged fruit and sometimes vegetables (candied cherry tomatoes). A nd its always a white cake with two layers of frosting with chopped up fruit in it. Okay it may sound gross with the fruit, but seriously its amazing. They are the only ones that can put fruit and even vegetables on a cake and make it even more amazing than if it wasn't on it.

the cake.

So Karen's mom shows up and we had a mini birthday party, sang happy birthday in English and chinese. Qu ni sheng er kuai le (choo nee shung er kwy la) is happy birthday in Chinese. And we just ate and just had fun. Karen turned 6 years old and wore her new pretty pink dress that she had to twirl for anybody that came into the room.

karen and her mom cutting the cake

passing out the cake

me and the birthday girl ♥

paul, mike and ben

party :)
(mike, katie, yaya, blake, teacher apple, kid apple, tina's arm)

me and yaya ________________________________ me and paul

and probably my favorite picture ever.
this is me, and my apple ♥♥

is it stormy today?

2008-05-27T22:21:00.000-07:00

Every day for class we start off with doing opening. opening includes doing the calander (figuring out what day it is and what not), singing songs, and doing the weather. we have weather sticks, a cloud (is it cloudy today?), raindrop (is it rainy today?), sun (is it sunny today?), snowflakes (is it snowy today?), a cloud with wind (is it windy today?), and dark cloud with a lightening bolt (is it stormy today?). We have used all of the sticks except snowy and stormy.
Welp, we don't have to worry about them not understanding the concept of is it stormy today.
for the past 2 weeks we have had the CRAZIEST weather. its been ridiculous. it will be sunny then in the matter of minutes it will go to the darkest clouds and pouring rain, accompanied by the loudest thunder and lightening everywhere. we find it appropriate that the lightening comes to what else, but the lighting town ;)
But seriously its crazy. we'll have the biggest storm that turns Guzhen into a puddle because of all the rain and then an hour or two later it'll be sunny and hot again. we had at least 4 of these over the weekend. and we're like why cant we have these with the kids! then we could talk about it. well we got what we wished for today was the second time its happened in class. and they're so cute! it'll start raining and they look out and say "Teacher! it is rainy today!" and then it thunders and the kids scream and get scared, but then just start laughing. so we'll play-hide under the table and they'll run over and hold onto me.
So yeah we had a huge thunder storm today during class, with buckets of rain but as i am typing this i am looking out over a very sunny and hot guzhen. and lucky us, even when its rainy and stormy we still are hot and sweating due to the ridiculous amounts of humidity! thank goodness for a/c.

oh china weather.

aaaand some pictures for your enjoyment

ultraman (leo), me and karen

Jae's Class: Leo, Karen and Jodi (Andrew was gone that day)

my class (top: blake, stella and apple;
bottom: yaya (little bugger wouldnt smile), and katie)

me and my andrew ♥

ultraman! (Leo and Apple)

Earthquake Fundraiser

2008-05-23T21:41:00.000-07:00

This week Bond was asked by the Zhongshan Government if all of the foreign teachers would be willing to participate in a fundraiser to raise money for victims of the Earthquake. We were notified on wednesday that we would be in the program and singing a song... a chinese song. (eek) So we learned the song thursday and went to rehearsal that night in Shi Qi (shir chee). It was nothing like I had in my mind what it was going to be like. It was an intense thing they were putting on. There were several singing performances and people that would do readings as the voices of the victims. Luckily we were performing our song alone. There were four main singers that sang the main part of the song then it was us ILP/Bond teachers (about 20 of us), nurses and doctors (about 40) and about 15 kids from an int'l school that sung the chorus. We were kind of relieved when we figured out that we were just the chorus.

So Last night was the grand event. We took a bus from our school to Shi Qi at 7 and got to the building at 8 where we waited in a small VIP changing room that was meant for about 3 people, but fit all of us ILP teachers in it. There was a tv where we watched the program while we waited to be told when it was our turn.

It really was a really neat event. I feel lucky that I got to be a part of it all. Never thought singing for the Zhongshan Gov't was part of my agenda here in china, but you come to figure out that you cant really plan on anything in China, just take it as it comes. But it was a way neat experience and I really appreciated the opportunity of being part of this experience. There was a surreal moment, at the end of the performance (we were near the end of the program) we went back on stage for the last bit to thank everybody for coming (a ton of people on stage waving and whatnot) and they ended with their National Anthem. It was a neat experience, dont totally know the right words for it, a little intimidating. Looking out in the crowd with huge and little chinese flags waving and people clapping along to their countries anthem, was just a surreal moment for me. The pride these people have in their country, and just all of them coming together to help their country in distress was just a neat thing to have seen.

in the vans on the way to the fundraiser
(dont judge us. we got bored)

in our cute Bond polos

waiting in the dressing room watching the program

callie and tina

waiting to go on stage

wo ai wo de mama/ i love my mom

2008-05-11T06:59:00.000-07:00

to my mom:

number one, happy mother's day

i'm sorry i cant be there to give you anything physical and i feel selfish because the reason i'm here is because you've helped me get here. everything i have i owe to you.

i love you with all of my heart. i'm so thankful for everything you do for me and everything you've done and everything i know you will do.

i'm everything i am because of you.
no matter how much time i could have i could never repay you for everything you've given me.

i hope you have an awesome mothers day. maybe we can give you the mothers day gift you ask for every year, that we just not fight for one day, (that means its all you connor and megan)
haha

in the words of the 1st grade connor, the words that have adorned our fridge for so many years on a magnet:

I love my mom because I love her.

happy mothers day ♥♥

bu haotzi (no baby)

2008-05-07T01:29:00.000-07:00

kids stories from today:

we had a half hour break in our teaching where the chinese teachers took the kids out to a sandbox (gross i know) and we got to just play with them. They called it a "field day" but i guess it was just a do something fun day. So we went out and played with them for a bit. It was kind of amusing how each of them just broke off and did their own thing. A group of the boys just started digging a hole then there were single kids that would take the buckets or molds and pack sand in and turn it around. I didnt want to get in because i could just see one of the kids dumping sand on my head or down my shirt or something. But we got in there and played a bit. At one point i was sitting on the ledge and Apple came and dumped a huge bucket of sand on my leg. Go figure. Then i saw Jodie get that look in her eye so i booked it out of the sandbox and she got snipped at by one of the chinese teachers. Then Jodie was like "teacher jessica come help me." and I'm like okay. so we go over and I help her fill up a bucket and I show her how to pack it in and we dumped it over and she's like "oh!! so good! thank you. goodbye." Alright guess thats all I was needed for. Most of the girls would start making their own little hills or molds or whatever, which of course just caused a boy (mostly apple or andrew) to just come over and destroy it and then walk away. haha.

So all of our girls are pretty concerned with beauty. Are they beautiful, do they have pretty shoes, does the person they drew have pretty eyes etc etc. Jodi, one of the prettier girls is kind of the decider on things. She likes to be in control and she knows she has influence over the other kids. Everyone wants to be liked by Jodi. So today I'm reaching behind me to grab something while her class was at the table and she says, "Teacher Jessica, you is pretty." Haha. That was a nice little boost for the day. At long as I have Jodi's approval I'm good right?

and then,

We were lining up to go to next class and I had Jae's class in line (Andrew, Jodi, Karen and Leo). So we know we're bigger than the chinese women, obviously. So every now and then the kids will come up and feel our stomachs and whatnot. So Jodi touches my touches and says, "Baby?". I say, "No. That's my stomach. There is food inside my stomach but there is no baby." And I guess Leo didnt understand me very well because he looks up at me and says,"Baby?" while pointing to my stomach and then precedes to kiss my stomach. Just a little peck. I dont know why but I just busted up laughing when he did it. He did it so innocently and caring. Haha. I was just like Chantelle please take these kids.

Jiangmen with Flower

2008-05-01T21:18:00.000-07:00

Yes, Flower's her name. Our apartment building is owned by the school and its where a lot of the teachers live. We've gotten to know quite a few of them and they are SO nice. A lot of them are in their early 20's. Flower is our neighbor across the hall who lives in 704. She is SOO nice and so much fun. A lot of them come over and just hang out with us because they love having american friends. We love that we finally made friends with the teachers. The first couple of months were crazy so we never really got to talk and make friends with the teachers.

So when Chantelle and me went to Beijing Callie went on a day trip with Flower and Apple (one of our kid's teachers, she's way fun too) and some other teachers all went to Jiangmen. Flower went to school there and theres amazing shopping. So since we werent here for that Flower promised that she would take us sometime. So this week we got Thursday and Friday off for May Day and Youth Days, which rocked. So yesterday we hopped on an overcrowded bus, hopped on another overcrowded bus and went to Jiangmen.

First we stopped and Flower showed us where she went to school. And then she took us to this little stand place that makes this hand tossed bisquits. They were AMAZING. They fry up and flatten this dough so its kind of like a crepe, but thicker and then we ordered ours with an egg so they put them onto it and then they put mayo and ketchup on it and wrap it up. SOO good. I could've eaten a billion of them. Its a good thing they dont have those here in guzhen or else i think i would eat them all the time. But its okay cause they were only 4 yuan (like 60 cents). SO cheap! Then we headed to real Jiangmen. Yeah. Theres a lot of shopping. Every building is just clothes shop after shoe shop after clothes shop. Its crazy. At first it was outdoors and oh my goodness were there a lot of people. I don't think I can adequately put into words how crowded it was. It was the first time since I've been here that it has felt like there are too many people in China. It was seriously ridiculous trying to make our way through the crowds. But we got out safe enough. It was so funny Flower was so worried we'd get swept away and lost. It didnt help that people would just stop around us and stare either.

lady frying bisquits

crowded

This is a pile of sugar cane shavings. we bought a very little cup of pure sugar cane juice. I don't know how they can drink that kind of stuff but think jam is too sweet. Flower downed hers.

We went to this mall like place first, stopped at a couple of shoe stores (which actually make me angry and a little depressed because theres all of these really cute cheap shoes, cheap as in 15 yuan (a little more than $2) and i would buy them all except for my disgusting big feet.) Then we stopped at a couple of clothes stores and actually found some stuff our size. haha. Then Flower took us to this really cute place to eat for lunch. She called it a salad place, but they don't do salad here in China. By salad, they mean fruit salad. But they had other things like pastas and sandwiches. It was really really good. We ordered a couple of fruit salads, which is cut up fruit covered in this sweet mayo dressing stuff. Flower and me ordered these amazing chicken sandwiches, and Chantelle and me got these strawberry blended ice drinks, Jae got mango and this noodle dish. It was really quite delectable.

lunch

Then for the rest of the day we went around from building to building from little shop to little shop to little shop. It was such a fun day. Chinese girls are funny when shopping so much depends on their friends opinions. So like we go a little ways away and Flower would come find us and say "I was trying to find you! What do you think." So much fun. It was just a nice little girls day out in China. Flower ended up buying 2 pairs of shoes and like 3 shirts. And a bunch of other little things.

So we set out around 11 o'clock this morning and by about 6-ish our feet ached pretty bad so we figured it was a good time to go home. So we go and catch a bus (which was one of the most crowded buses yet) and we go to this bus station to catch one to Guzhen. (You can take buses from a bus station or there are tons that just run all over the city, how you know where to stand or which one goes where I have no clue how you would even begin to figure it out) So we get to this bus station, oh and before we caught the first bus it started raining, mind you the whole day it had been gross and hot so we're just a little perplexed on what mr. weather man was thinking. So we get to the bus station and its pouring and we have one umbrella between the 4 of us. So we go inside and all the tickets are sold out, to Guzhen, to Xiaolan, to Xiqi everywhere close. So we're like crap. What do we do. So we go and catch a bus that takes us back to Flower's school and we're hoping theres a bus that runs back to Guzhen. Its dark by this time and the bus driver said if the bus would come it'd be on the other side of the road so we go and stand on this puddled corner all four of us under one umbrella and we waited for about 40 minutes in the rain until we figured the bus isnt coming. So Flower said we might have to take motor taxis home, which is an idea i'm not liking so much seeing as I wore a skirt that day and i dont feel like getting soaked. But thankfully we found a taxi that was cheaper than if we would've ridden motor taxis and we all got home safe and well and thanked Flower for the awesome day.

Then we planned on having a movie night, Chantelle and me preparing by buying a bunch of junk food the previous day (oreos, steamed rolls, bakery goods, and chocolate soy milk). So we sat back and relaxed and watched Enchanted and Nacho Libre. So May Day was a successful fun girls day out. ♥