Spooktacular!

Last night, I went with my roommates to the most incredibly cool Haunted House I've ever been to, the Haunted Mill in Teton, Idaho. We want to go again.
Here's the website: http://www.thehauntedmillinteton.com/Home.html
It normally costs 10 bucks per person, but last night was half-off so we got a screamin' deal. OK, that was a really bad pun.
But it was well worth 10 dollars. It was super creepy and super fun. We laughed and screamed the whole time and laughed at each other. I only wish we could've taken pictures. They have a "tour" link on the website that gives you a bit of an idea of what it's like.
It was so cool and so much fun!

Are you Ready?

I hope Mom knows it's OK to pull out my foam pumpkins and use them to decorate the porch.
I'm so excited for Halloween! I went grocery shopping, and I've noticed that the pumpkins here are a lot bigger than I'm used to in Arizona. The one I selested weighed 32 lbs. and the poor cashier and bagger had such a hard time muscling it around. I should really budget a bit of money for a pumpkin during October. I just can't help myself.
It's sitting on my nightstand in all its round, glowing orange glory, just begging to be carved into a masterpiece.
So get ready -a future post will contain photos of the beast.
Maybe it's a bit childish, but I love this stupid holiday!

Gratitude

Today I'm reminded that no matter how ugly things get in life, there are reminders all around us that we have a loving Father watching us from above.
There will always be something bad to despair over in this world -but the Lord surrounds us with good things that help us make it through. I just hate it when the bad things are all up in my grill looking me in the eye. I have to keep pushing them aside so I can see past to the velvet roses and lilac trees.
Life is such an adventure. I'm so blessed.

I've mentioned this before, but I love fall. The leaves are turning, the breeze is brisk and seems a little mischevious.

Bright orange pumpkin mounds line the outside walls of grocery stores, and I thrill at the thought of carving again.

New Post

I realize that I haven't been posting all that regularly for a good while. School has kept my nose in the books.
This week has been a tumult of frustration and emotion. I know it's only Monday, but still. Yesterday I was dished some crazy bad news, I had a huge lab project due, so last night I stayed up late trying to make sure I had everything right, and as a result, I went to bed fretting about the geometry and age of fault planes and folds. On top of that, my roommate was snoring, and once I finally did get to sleep, his alarm went off. All in all, I got 4 hours of sleep, then hurried to class where I had a major mineral identification exam. Then, this afternoon, I got a second helping of terrible news, and on top of that, the keyboard I'm using to type this will not cooperate.
I'm emotionally spent, and I've still got a week's worth of school ahead. I wish there was a motherly spider here to tell me to keep my chin up and keep old Mr. Zuckerman's knife at bay. I feel like someone wants me dead.
And now people are looking at me funny. If I tap the keys really hard, they work. But it sounds like I'm taking out my frustration on the keyboard. Can they blame me though? Honestly . . .

So Amazingly Groovy

This picture captures the essence of our Family Home Evening activity last night. We rented roller skates and went out for a night of fun on the rink in the Manwaring Center. It was a first time for just about everyone there. I was lucky -I never fell once.
I didn't think I'd like roller skating when I'm used to roller blades; it was way different, but a lot of fun.

The Weather is Here -Wish You Were Beautiful.

Today is snowy. Yes, it's started already. Goodbye nice weather!
Now it's time to stop messing with my blog and get back to studying.
Please drop by again soon!

Conference Weekend

I really do have a legitimate reason for the lack of posting. But I won't bore you with that. Let's get right to the good stuff.
For conference weekend, I caught a ride with my roommate to Salt Lake City. We got there in time for my mission reunion Friday night. It was good to see some of my companions and meet some other missionaries who served in the same areas I did. Since I didn't have a car, I caught a ride to Provo with one of the elders who's now at BYU. I styed with my friend Rex. I didn't have tickets for conference, but I was able to get into the AM and PM sessions on Saturday, as well as the priesthood session. It was amazing. It was a bit of a challenge getting from place to place down there, but it all worked out.
And now I'm back to my studies, more refreshed after having been to conference.