Dear Mom, (and Family, but mostly Mom)

Thank you so much for the amazing weekend. It was just what I needed. I feel like going home and being with you and Dad is the fastest most effective way to charge my batteries. Thank you for treating me like the powerful individual you know me to be, and for not accepting anything but my best. For not giving into my stories and sad songs. I left Jerome feeling empowered, feeling like there was no question in who I am, or where I'm headed. I am a member of the Carlisle family. A beautiful young woman who is decisive, and smart in making my life decisions. I am never alone, nor am I ever left on my own. Thank you for being my support network, and for reminding me of these things. Thank you for your spiritual, emotional, and temporal support. Thank you for having a home where I can feel the spirit, and always feel this love. Thank you for raising me and for all the sacrifices you make and have made for me. Thank you for the frog eye salad, the cheezeits, the pretzels, the rice-a-roni, and the spaghetti sauce. Thank you for saving a room for me for when I come home. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for knowing when to listen, and for giving great advice, and for letting me struggle when I need to struggle. Thank you for the way in that you and Dad show each other that you love each other. I hope that I can have a best friend like you have in each other when I grow up. You are the best mom and best friend I could ask for. I love you!

Mary

Alma 56:48 "...We do not doubt our mothers knew it."

Spring Break!!!

Disneyland was awesome! Dreams really do come true! I can't imagine a better way to spend spring break.

Oh wait....

It was just a dream.
There is no such thing as spring break at BYU.

Back to the books I guess.

Hot Dang

I almost died tonight. So there I was, in the hot tub with the cool rain falling oh so softly on my face. Lets face it, I got hot in the hot tub. So hot I thought I was going to puke or something. There was the pool...screaming my name...beckoning for me to test its waters. I should have considered the fact that it has been snowing, or that they just barely uncovered the pool last week, or that there was a sign saying "pool closed". None of these initial warning signs let on to how cold the water would turn out to be. I gave in to the sirens of fun and darted from the hot hot tub and plunged into the pool only to find it was cold cold cold. Like ice water cold. And I couldn't really breathe in it, and I kind of panicked and lets just say its a miracle I found the side of the pool and pulled myself out! I returned to the hot hot tub and my body kind of felt like I was being cruel to change its temperature at such a rapid rate. I'm sure there something in a book somewhere that warns against such frivolity.

Tapatio again...

My Tapatio died again. Same story. See the previous post. This time it was a mini bottle that I bought for 89 cents. Same story, it fell from the shelf shattering into a billion million pieces. I was overwhelmed with grief and depression in the instant that I heard the earsplitting crack of the bottle hitting the title. I would have collapsed to the floor but Allison was there to catch me in her arms and comfort me in my grief once again. May you rest in peace Tapatio.

Funny Story

For fun on Thrusday night Maddison and I decided to get in some trouble. The evening consisted of dreaming up ways in which we could prank the guys that live across the complex from us. We gathered some good ideas....(evil laugh)

One idea that I have always dreamed about but never actually brought to pass became a reality for us. We started off by going to DI, where we found a bowling ball for $2. What a steal! This was followed by a quick trip to Walmart where we purchased hot glue and Vaseline. We then proceeded to fill up the holes of the ball with the hot glue, and then cover the whole ball with Vaseline. Ha. aha ahaha. We put it in a plastic grocery bag, and then put that bag into a back pack. The rest was easy...too easy... The apartment we wanted to inflict this prank on only had two guys home, both of whom were not really that attentive to the environment around them. So Maddi talked to them while I went back to the bathroom and carefully placed the ball in the toilet. Yes. The toilet. I then wrote on their mirror with a dry erase marker, "You've been punked!" Then we laughed. A lot.

We also looked for this chemical called Methylene Blue, which apparently you can add to brownies turning the victim of your seemingly kind act of sharing's pee blue. However, in doing the research for this it turns out it can be dangerous, and some people are allergic to it. So we're putting this one on the shelf for now.

To get us back, the guys didn't really inflict any damage. They just stole Maddi's keys and put them in Jello. It was kind of weak sauce. They also moved her car around the corner. That had us worried for about a second. But only a second.

Sun

I am elated. Can you guess why? Well, I'm wearing a tee shirt, shorts, flip flops, and looking out off my balcony at the pool! Which is open!! I can go swimming every single day for the whole summer! It is a dream come true. It does pose a potential threat to my studies though...I would rather play outside than do anything else. Did I mention that there is a pool right out side my door? Or that I am wearing shorts? I am happy.

Water

This is gross, and I hate to publish graphic stuff like this, but there are a few things on my mind. First, there are new space tech bathrooms on campus with automatic everything. Even the toilet paper despenser is automatic. I just wanted to say, its a nice idea and all, but really, I prefer to pull out my own sheet of toilet paper. It freaks me out every time I go to grab some. I think technology has finally gone too far.

Second thing, I have been exercising my little heart out. Walkin everywhere, running about 11.5 miles every week, lifting weights, all that jazz. Yet my stomach is huge! I've figured it out today. Its my friend water retention. I looked it up on google to see how to fix it. Apparently having a diet with a lot of sodium will do this to you. Next I looked up a list of foods that are high in sodium. Sure enough, the list was exactly my diet. Plus apples. Apples are probably the only good thing I eat. Everything else is cheap, and therefore processed, (now I'm not taking potato chips but pretzels just so we're on the same page) which will eventually cause me to suffer death by bloating. Or death by sodium. I'm going to try to put more green things in my diet. Or more natural things at least. I don't want to feel gross anymore.

Oh if I were a fish

If I were a fish I wouldn't fail in my creative writing class. And by fail I mean lose a point on each assignment because I don't follow directions exactly.
If I were a fish I would never stub my toe or jam my finger. Also, I wouldn't really ever get paper cuts. If I did get cut I don't think it would bother me.
If I were a fish there wouldn't be room in my tiny brains to worry about stuff. About my future. All that I would need to watch out for would be hooks and fake worms and rubbery boots.
If I were a fish I wouldn't get bored. I could find a mermaid and become her best friend. We would go everywhere together and sing songs together.
If I were a fish I would have big creepy eyes that I could use to creep people out who I didn't like very much. And if I did like them I could try to seduce them with my opulent stare.
If I were a fish I would be a vegetarian. No more cows would I consume. Also, I don't think I would eat shell fish anymore.
If I were a fish my body would always be sleek and ready for swim season and the beach. No more dieting. Just a day full of swimming and sun.
If I were a fish I wouldn't live in Idaho. I would be a tropical breed where the water was always warm. I would probably live in a small secluded pond somewhere without sharks or pollution.
If I were a fish I would never have to shave my legs again. I wouldn't have legs actually.
If I were a fish I would live in a school of fish so that I didn't ever get lonely and so that I always had someone to play with who understood me completely.
If I were a fish I wouldn't be human anymore. It would be fun for a day probably, but then I would miss things that only people can do, like eating ice cream.

Salsa Battle

The one thing that I know how to make as good as Momma makes it is Salsa. I can replicate her salsa exactly. I take great pride in this. For some reason it came up in conversation with some fellow ward members. One young man decided to tell a nice boy named Choco that I talked smack and claimed that I could make the best salsa in the world or something. Choco approached me and we set up a time for a battle of the salsas to see who's was best. It was official. Choco is from Mexico and I really didn't think I had a chance, but it was too late to back out. Pride dictated that I should back out before I lost, but something made me follow through. Turns out I did lose... bad... but I'm convinced that judging was flawed although we had a very complicated system. Each judge was randomly selected from a group of applicants. They then were blindfolded as they sampled each salsa, rating it on a scale from 1-10, and finally cleansing their palate between each one with a piece of tortilla. My roommates still liked my salsa best. So there.

The Salsa

The Judges

Choco Himself