Homework! Oh Homework!

This is a poem I received as a group activity in my Children's Literature class. I thought it was really cute and thought I would share it...

Homework! Oh Homework!
by Jack Prelutsky

Homework! Oh Homework!
I hate you! You stink!
I wish I could wash you
Away in the sink,
If only a bomb
Would explode you to bits,
Homework! Oh homework!
You're giving me fits.

I'd rather take baths
With a man-eating shark,
Or wrestle a lion
Alone in the dark,
Eat spinach and liver,
Pet ten porcupines,
Than tackle the homework
My teacher assigns.

Homework! Oh Homework!
You're last on my list
I simply can't see
Why you even exist,
If you just disappeared
It would tickle me pink.
Homework! Oh homework!
I hate you! You stink!

Movin' Out!!

This is probably not an announcement to many people, but I thought I would write about it and share the excitement (as well as the nerves)!

In September last year, I decided to change my major. I then had to decide what schooling path I would take now that my plans changed. I no longer needed to be in the Mesa Grow Your Own Teacher Program, even though it was a great program and such an honor!

I could now leave Mesa and go somewhere else if I so desired. Well I did desire and I was planning to apply to the University of Arizona and move to Tucson. My parents and I went down there to go through the initial orientation and take a tour of the campus and the college I was going to major in. We spent the weekend down there and were able to get more acquainted with it.

Move forward to April of this year. My mom was searching on the internet and found that my major was an option at BYU. I have been wanting to go to BYU my whole life, ever since I was little. My mom's entire family's blood and mine runs Cougar Blue. Both my Grandma and Grandpa Johnson went there, my mom, her two brothers, and her sister. Also two of my cousins are attending there (well Jordan is on his mission, but he will still be attending there). And also two of my cousins on my dad's side are attending there.

It has been a goal my entire life to go there and when I wasn't able to, I felt awful. I felt that I was breaking a family tradition. Now, I know nobody else felt this way, but I did and it was so important to me.

Well anyway, back to the story... In April my mom found that my current major (Child Development) was available at BYU. Well, I jumped at this opportunity and I was so excited for the next week! Well, I have been excited since then, but it was especially exciting that whole week. We looked up what I needed to do to apply and found out that I missed the deadline for Fall Semester. Bummer! So I began applying for Winter Semester. It took me a little while to find the time to complete my application. So in June/July before I left for Pocatello for vacation I finished it. Well, I had several transcripts I needed to get transferred, so that took a little while and then I had a hold up on the transcript I needed from Augustana College (long story... ok not really). I waited for what seems like forever and my official acceptance finally came a couple of weeks ago!

So... I am moving to Rexburg the end of December/beginning of January! The people that I have told (which is quite a few) have asked me if I was crazy. Yes, apparantly I am! In the beginning of this decision, I was scared, not terrified like I was when I was planning on moving to Tucson, but still a little nervous. That is old news! Now I can hardly wait for Fall Semester to end so that I can get up there. I know this decision has been hard on some, like Janet who made it seem like the world was coming to an end. But that's ok because we have a great way to communicate and keep in touch and I would never just leave and abandon her.

I am so excited to be trying something new. Yes, me the girl who thrives in her comfort zone, is excited about trying something new! Miracles do happen. :-)

Vacationing in Idaho

I was able to go to Pocatello to visit my cousins for two and a half weeks. Well, on the 11th (of July) I flew to Salt Lake. I was picked up at the airport by my cousins and we walked around Temple Square for a few hours. We were able to take a tour of the Conference Center and go up to the roof, which was Tanner's favorite part.

My parents were going to be driving up on the 18th, but I thought it would be fun if I could go up earlier and spend a longer time there and it worked out that I could.

We had a lot of fun visiting and even though we were in and out of the house, when my parents got there we were still able to spend time with each other and have a good time.

We didn't get a ton of pictures while we were hanging around the house, but here are some that
we got.

My laptop was a popular toy, so it was used often.Here is Eliza being cute!!
Eliza loves playing with the faucet in the kitchen.



Tanner decided he wanted to match my dad every day. Here they are in their outfits for the day. It was so cute!

Here is an adorable picture of my dad and Eliza. The night before we left for Rexburg, my dad was looking through books about Yellowstone. Eliza was sitting in a chair next to him. She was looking through one of the books and kept saying "Cow cow cow," which is what she calls a bison. It was funny to watch and it was great to see how her and my dad were having a conversation.


We bought Lindsey a full length mirror and the kids loved to look at themselves in it.
We had a great time and we definitely miss it and of course we miss them (Jared, Lindsey, Tanner, Emma, and Eliza)!

Ok so...

Alright so I haven't been able to blog even though I have wanted to. Too much to do and not enough time. I recently got back from Idaho and I have plenty of pictures and fun facts to share, so that will be coming soon.

I just wanted to write and let everyone know that... yes, I am still alive. Don't worry. I hope everyone had a good, safe summer and that the first week or day of school went well! :-)

Happy Birthday!

Ok so this post is very late one, but that is ok. I didn't forget.



This year I decided to take my "sisters" individually someplace for their birthday. I put careful planning into each one, with a little (ok... a lot) of help from my mom, we have been able to pick out perfect places for each of them.


I took Jocelyn to Broadway Palm to see "High School Musical: On Stage." It was so much fun! We were able to eat dinner and then watch the show. We were even able to meet the cheerleaders before the show started!
Jocelyn was also able to receive autographs from the actors and actresses after the show! That was great!

Let's Learn Some More...

So, on Facebook, I created one of those "How well do you know me?" quizzes. Apparantly, I don't talk about myself enough to others because many people didn't do too well. So I am creating this post to inform my friends and family about my life.

Here we go...

Here are the questions from my Facebook quiz. See if you can guess the correct answers.

1) My favorite flavor of ice cream is...
a. strawberry
b. chocolate
c. rocky road
d. vanilla

2) How many times have I travelled out of the country?
a. 4
b. 0
c. 2
d. 1

3) My favorite sport to watch is...
a. basketball
b. baseball
c. lacrosse
d. football

4) What is my favorite store to shop at?
a. Barnes and Noble
b. Dress Barn
c. Target
d. JC Penney's

5) My favorite show on TV is...
a. Burn Notice
b. Home Improvement
c. Flashpoint
d. Law and Order

6) What city was I born?
a. Phoenix
b. Mesa
c. Salt Lake City
d. Sacramento

7) What country would I like to live in?
a. France
b. Australia
c. Switzerland
d. Poland

Ok, so here are the answers (with pictures):

Yes there are a lot of different pictures for each question, but I had so much fun finding them.



















1) My favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate. I will eat any type of chocolate. However, my ultimate favorite chocolate ice cream is Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie.

I have recently discovered that I love Cookie Dough ice cream, but chocolate is still my #1.
2) I have travelled out of the country twice. The first time was with the Toro Marching Band when we went to Ireland to march in the Saint Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin. The second time I was participating with the Arizona Ambassadors of Music. We went on a 16-day, 7-country tour in Europe. We went to England, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein (we stopped for lunch there), Austria, Italy (for about 4 hours), and Germany. 3) My favorite sport to watch is baseball. I have been watching baseball since I was little and have loved it ever since. I love the Arizona Diamondbacks and even though I am upset with their organization right now, I will not be a fair-weather fan, ever!

I miss this man!!! In my opinion he was fired for stupid reasons, but that's why I am not in charge. Anyways back to the point...4) My favorite store to shop at is Dress Barn. I could spend a ton of time and money in this store. If I ever have a ton of money, I will be in trouble!
5) I have an addiction... to Flashpoint, the TV show. I cannot get enough of this show. Some times, I may be a little to crazy about it. This show is great and if you haven't seen it, you should. You know you want to!!!
6) I was born in Mesa, Arizona on August 3rd, 1990 at Mesa Lutheran Hospital (the hospital that is no longer).
7) I would love to live in Switzerland! When I travelled there over the summer of 2007 (well for a couple of days), I totally fell in love with the atmosphere and the country.