Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

To celebrate yet another winter snowstorm, we went for ice cream.

I recently bought this antique desk for my room.

Shenanigans

My good friend Lindsay has been doing an internship at the LDS Church office building and this is her last week. Before she finishes I decided to take final advantage of one of her perks and go on a tour of the tunnel network underneath Temple Square. There are underground tunnels that connect the temple and conference center with all of the church office buildings and underground parking. She and I wandered over to the conference center and decided that since we were the only ones in there (after that pesky tour group finally left) we should take pictures of ourselves at the pulpit as if we were speaking at general conference. As we were heading back to go to lunch, part of the tunnels were temporarily blocked off because the Prophet and Apostles of the LDS Church were getting ready to head back from the temple to administration building. We didn't want to miss an opportunity to see them so we ran around another way and were waiting on a corner in the parking lot as they passed by on a caravan of golf carts. President Monson waved and said hi and was the friendliest. The only slight disappointment: Elder Uchtdorf was not among the group. If you're not a member of the LDS faith this experience might not seem that cool to you, but I was incredibly excited to see the Prophet and Apostles pass by only five feet away. Thanks Linds for making this experience possible.

On my way home I took a wrong turn trying to get back on the highway and ended up in a parking lot to turn around where a strange man flagged me down and asked if I would give him a ride to a gas station because his car was out of gas and wouldn't start. I know the general rule for young women driving alone when strange men want to get in their car: NEVER LET THEM IN. So I thought real hard for a minute then decided upon, "um, ok." Why not add another story to the day's events? I took the man to get gas and we had a nice conversation despite the fact that he is a graduate from the U and a total BYU hater. I dropped him back off at his car and the encounter ended anticlimactically, luckily.

I've Had a Crush on Apolo Ohno for 8 Years

It was fun to watch him win a silver tonight--his sixth Olympic medal. No matter how strange the sport or how little I know about it,

I just love watching whatever is on during the Olympics.

Good thing I have this coming week off of school.

Let It Snow

There are ways to enjoy this cold weather. On Saturday I went to a freestyle mogul ski competition at Deer Valley. The way those skiers flew down the slopes , over the bumps, and off of two jumps in under thirty seconds left me impressed (and a little scared for their safety).

The best part of cold weather activities?
The essential hot chocolate stop afterwards.

"A Trip to London is Always an Option"

This has been my life mantra since I was sixteen. One Christmas break my grandfather invited all of the grandkids to come to Colorado for a week to go skiing. My sister and I opted out as we didn't want to spend half of our vacation doing an activity we did not really enjoy at that time of our lives. My grandfather told my dad that he would take us on another trip if we wanted. Courtney and I proposed London, and that following summer we spent two weeks there! Many of our cousins were upset, saying that they didn't know going to London was an option when they accepted the Colorado ski trip invite. My response: a trip to London is always an option. You never know what you can do if you don't try for it. Due to cancelled Friday classes we spent the afternoon in SLC. We had a delightful lunch at the Beehive Tea Room.
We then did some antique shopping where we discovered many treasures. I left with several items from a local crafty woman who makes clothing and accessories from vintage pieces. She sells some of her stuff on Etsy.

We rounded out the afternoon by catching a matinee showing of The Young Victoria. It was a fabulous film and I think one of the great romances of history. I thoroughly enjoyed our British-themed afternoon and almost felt like I spent the day in London. Almost.

I may be only half-way through my time in Provo, I may be overwhelmed by school and job searching, I may have very limited funds and free time, and it may be freezing outside, but I will continue to enjoy myself doing fun things with my friends. If I can think of it, I can make it happen because, well, a trip to London is always an option.

Some Christmas Highlights

Cooking, baking, and entertaining marked my Christmas vacation. I like these activities on my own, but absolutely love them with my mother and sister. The fam on Christmas Eve.
Grandpa Dick turned 80. All of my dad's siblings came in town to celebrate, along with some of the grandkids.

We made it up to Park city a couple days to go skiing. We had some great, albeit cold, weather; however, disappointingly we had more fresh snow on our driveway in the valley than on the slopes in the mountains.

I hope you all had a merry Christmas--I sure did!

First Day of Class

In class today the professor told this joke:

"Why aren't lawyers allowed to have sex with their clients?

To keep them from double-billing for essentially the same service."

I think I will like this professor. I have him for both of my Mon, Wed, Fri classes. He'll be gone the rest of the week and cancelled class so I have two free days. It's almost as if I have that third week of vacation I was wanting!