At least I'm not Tonya Burgoyne!

OK, Tonya was this lady in our Liberty ward that would forget her bra. Not an easy thing because she's no size A if ya know what I mean! Of course you do...that's not code at all! Anyway, I have been so busy with finals lately. I had one on Thursday which was wonderful! I got a 96! Then today I had 3! Killer huh!? So, I had Sociology at 7:30 then Human Development sometime, and Comparative Cultures sometime. I studied my brains out for my Sociology test because it's my major so it's interesting information and I really wanted to do well on this test. The others I wasn't as nervous for so I didn't put as much effort into those. I went to bed just before midnight and set my alarm which is my cell phone for 5:50am. I wanted to have a calm non rushed morning. I wanted to get a good breakfast and also go over some of the material. Well, my phone has been acting a little odd lately so I should have thought to set some sort of backup alarm but I didn't. This morning I woke up to my roommate in the bathroom. I was so confused on why she was up so dang early. When I was coherent enough I realized that it was lighter outside than it should be at 5:50. I checked my phone only to find out that it was COMPLETELY DEAD WHILE IT WAS PLUGGED IN!!! I ran to the kitchen to see the time and it was 7:20. I yelled to Angela to see if she'd run me to class. She said yes and I ran into my room to get dressed. I threw on some pants, took off my shirt to put a bra on then I just put my coat on completely forgetting to put my shirt back on. I grabbed my pencil, glasses, a hat and was ready to go. For tests we have to buy scantrons which is just a bubble sheet paper thing. I didn't have one because I was planning on getting one from the bookstore before class. Luckily my other roommate Jana had an extra one she let me have. Angela and I ran out to the car and scraped the windows like mad women. Pretty sure we were scrapping so fast it was melting automatically! OK, I only wish. We get in the car and IT'S FROSTED ON THE INSIDE!! we scraped that a bit and drove to campus. She dropped me off and I sprinted to class like they do in the Olympics. I get to the classroom to find out that Professor Petrzelka had no more tests, luckily the TA had one more. I sat down take my coat off and start my test when I realized I felt a little funny. I looked down AND I HAD NO SHIRT ON!!! I let out a little squeal and started my test. I was sweating all through the test, not only because her questions were misleading and frustrating, but because I had my winter coat on!! I finish the test and realize I didn't bring my planner which had the times and the room numbers of my other finals. I had no phone to call my roommates and even if I did, I don't know their phone numbers. That is one downside to cell phones. I sprinted down the long icy hill home to grab my planner because I had about 20 minutes before I would have needed to be back up to my next final. I got home, checked my planner and thank goodness I was confused on the times because my next final wasn't until 11:30. So much for my non rushed morning! After I got properly dressed, I ate a bit of a pancake and started studying for the remaining two tests and this is how far I got.

The power of my eyes.

When I pray for missionary opportunities, I think my prayers will be answered in the form of teaching with the sister missionaries, sharing my testimony, being a good example, or lifting another person's burdens. The last thing that came to my mind when thinking about missionary opportunities was my eyes.

Last week, I was sitting at work in my little kiosk talking on the phone when this Mexican guy walked past and winked and waved at me. I was flattered, but honestly, a little weirded out. I noticed him conveniently shopping in all the stores that surround my kiosk. About thirty minutes later, this same young man and his friend came up to my kiosk as I was filling a cartridge and started asking various questions about refilling. He finally said, "OK, I know nothing about cartridges, the real reason why I came was because I wanted to tell you that you have the prettiest eyes I have ever seen." Of course this was all said in a Spanish accent. He introduced himself as Diego. After our formal introduction, w continued to talk about various topics. Mostly the usual "get to know you questions." But then, our conversation turned to families which I love talking about because I have a wonderful family, but sometimes I'm a little hesitant because not everyone has the same happy childhood and family life that I've been blessed with so it can make for an awkward situation sometimes. He asked where all of my siblings were located. I mentioned that my little brother was living in Florida. He asked why and when I said that he was serving a mission he said, "Oh, so you're Mormon!" I then invited him to church and he said he'd come. What really impressed me about Diego is that his English is superior. I don't think that Mexicans are any less intelligent than Americans, but sometimes the language barrier is an issue to understanding jokes, especially my lame jokes. Diego is really good at understanding and he's actually pretty witty. We talked for another twenty minutes and just before he left he invited me to a movie the upcoming week. I agreed and he left. I was a little unsure if he'd really come to church or not the following Sunday, but he sure did. I was a little nervous when he came because it was combined Sunday School, then combined Priesthood and Relief Society. He could only stay for those two because he had work. Our lessons weren't exactly "first Sunday at a Mormon church" material. One lesson was on obeying the law and being a good citizen and the other lesson was given by the Stake Patriarch about the scattering and gathering of Israel. I didn't even understand it, so I knew he was completely lost. He handled it very well I think, and he said he'd come back again, so that's a good sign.

Since last week, I've just heard from him via text message through the week up until yesterday. He came to visit me at work. I was extremely busy yesterday at work so needless to say I was a little rushed/stressed/annoyed. He was very attentive and could see I was busy and didn't have time to talk, so he left. He came back about forty-five minutes later with roses!!! He said, I know you are a little stressed and I just want to make you smile. He is extremely thoughtful. I invited him to come to church again this week, we'll see if he comes. This experience taught me that God really does answer our prayers in mysterious ways. Even if that way is through my gorgeous eyes!

I live in Thanksgiving daily....

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone and I'm still full of thanks. On my mission I had an affirmation that I loved and adored and thought was absolutely hilarious. I got it from a scripture in Alma. My affirmation said, "I live in Thanksgiving daily.....and I eat like it too!" Not exactly the most spiritual but it made me smile. I didn't take the opportunity to tell anyone what I was thankful for this year, so now I'm going to. I'm omitting the obvious ones such as the gospel, my family, friends, house, job, my mission, America...you know the ones that I am thankful for but I'd like to focus on the smaller things that bring me joy. Here we go...

1. The sound of snow falling off the trees onto my umbrella. I was walking home the other day after it snowed and I walked under a tree and the snow falling off the tree onto my umbrella was the coolest sound. I'm not going to lie, the first time it scared me, but then I found myself going out of my way to walk under trees. I can't even type the sound it made, but it was wonderful.

2. Nutella and Pretzels. WOW! seriously, this is heaven in my mouth. I loooove it! I can't even explain how many endorphins were released when I discovered this goodness.

3. Compliments from cute boys. Who am I kidding, compliments from anyone are wonderful, but when it comes from a cute boy! Oh baby oh baby...nothin' better!

4. Children's laughter. Can you really hold it in when you hear a child laughing. The alarm on my phone is of one of my nieces laughing and I'm 100% sure that's one of the reasons I'm learning to be a tolerable morning person. I love how they laugh at just about anything.

5. Hookie 5. That's my favorite game. I love it! Even though my neighbors get mad at us for being to loud, it's totally worth it. Wanna play?

6. Fresh Bread. Come one come all, GET IN MY BELLY!! I know it's something to be eaten in moderation, but so is everything else! I eat fish VERY MODERATELY, like none at all, so I feel that for as much fish as I don't eat, I get to make up for that in eating bread.

7. Music. There aren't many genres that I don't like. Sometimes I consider myself a walking jukebox. Yes yes, Pandora and I are basically Best Friends.

8. Being simple minded. The other night I had one of the best nights ever! It was completely free too! Some of the most wonderful people I know were all in my apartment. We watched a silly movie while we were waiting for Jana to get home from her date. After the movie, we were just talking (and when I say talking I really mean paint balling the sidewalk with paint balls and my slingshot.) when Angela and I decided to build a fort out of the kitchen chairs and blankets. We climbed inside with our trustee mascot Judice, Kade, Rebecca, and Youtube. We giggled because every time we heard the slightest noise outside we figured it was them and we went from laughing hysterically at some movie to complete silence. OK, not complete...hello it's us! That's impossible to be completely silent around us. Silence is humor with us. When she finally got home, after an awkward moment involving a bodily function and fort rearranging, we decided that it would be a riot to learn the dance from the movie we just watched. Below is the evidence...

We should make a movie now because we are so much better! Well, I should say that I am so much better. Kade has always been amazing.

9. Steamers! Yum! They are at 7-11 by the hot chocolate. 1.06 for the smallest one. My friend Matt and I always get them and they definitely bring smiles to my face and warmth to my body.

10. Nicknames. I feel such a connection and bond for those that I give nicknames to and with those that give me names. A few of my favorites would be that each one in my family has a different name for me. My dad calls me Willa, mom calls me Beelers, Jamie calls me Julz, Jodi calls me Julia-Boolia, Darci calls me Bee, Emily calls me Goonie, and Morgan calls me Jewee. I love nicknames. The stories of how they come about are fantastic! (Most of the time that is.)

I am definitely thankful for much much more but I'm pooped...and also tired. So for tonight I say BEANS AND NACHOS! (that means goodnight in Juliaeese!)

My life is like Hookie 5...

I love Hookie 5 (now I think it's called Wackey 6, and if you talk to my friend Sean he calls it loco quatros) In Hookie 5 which, according to the box, is "an excellent game for young women and children!" Anyway, most of the time it's a fairly fast paced moving game. You can work with a partner or you can be on your own team. You're racing against others trying to reach the same goal. Sometimes the other players will lay down just what you need so you can get a step ahead, and sometimes those other players beat ya to what you needed to do. How does this relate to my life you might ask? I don't know. But what I do know is that I love trying to figure out the different ways in life to achieve my goals when another player beats me to what I needed to do. So, here's what's going on. I met Trevor in January in the temple at my mission companion's wedding and I've have had a crush on him ever since. This is fairly odd, OK not fairly odd, but extremely odd because the longevity of my crushes rarely last 15 minutes. So for me to be interested in someone since January is quit the feat. I've always liked him and he's always liked me but we vary in the degrees of "likeness." Sometimes I like him a lot more than he likes me and sometimes he likes me a lot more than I like him. This past summer our timing was on and we officially dated this summer but we broke up when I moved back up here to Logan for school. Since then we've still been super good friends and this past little while we have been on the same page in likeness, or so I thought. Long story short, I was under the impression that we were going to get back together and I was really excited about that but when I brought it up he explained that he couldn't date me because he's got a lot going on right now and he's got a lot of health problems. I was of course sad, but OK with it. He's not the normal boy in that sense. If he says he still wants to be friends, he will. I really appreciate that about him. So since then when we had our little D.T.R (define the relationship) I tried to get over him because I knew it wasn't going anywhere, but he started treating me just as he had before like when we were dating so it made the getting over him part harder. Anyway, this past week, not to be cliche but "the ball was in his court!" He didn't really attempt to contact me. The few times I talked to him it was because I initiated conversation through text messages. I guess why this is so hard for me is because I've been getting so many mixed signals from him. He has no intent on pursuing a relationship with me but he sends me sweet messages, holds my hand, bought me a 30.00 SWEATER, and as a joke he took me ring shopping. Do you blame me for being a girl and being confused on the status of our relationship? I hadn't heard from him in like 2 and 1/2 days when last night he texted me this message. " Hey how was your week? OK, so I'm just going to tell you this now. Some days I like you and others I don't so let's just plan on being friends. Sorry I know this is random to say this but hey I might as well tell you this so you can move onto other relationships that come your way. I've just been thinkin a lot about us and that's the conclusion I ended up with. But you're awesome!!!" OK, let's just pause here a moment. WHAT THE HECK!!!! I can't explain how many emotions I have felt since he told me that. I wasn't a jerk back to him, but I definitely let him know that I wasn't extremely happy about this little situation we were in. So, that's what's going on with Trevor. If we were playing Hookie 5, this would be a situation in which someone just went out and I still had all 12 cards in my pile left.

Hooplah...of the Julia sort.

So, lately my life has been crazy, wonderful, crazy-wonderful, stressful, bliss, basically you name the emotion and it has managed to weave itself into my life life these past few weeks. Here's the update. Halloween was OK. I've decided it's not my favorite holiday. I enjoy dressing up but I definitely have to be in the mood. I love the colors and smells of fall, but I don't particularly enjoy Halloween. We managed to make it eventful none the less. Our ward had a costume contest/party/meat market mingle/FHE the Monday before Halloween. Thanks to Darci, Jamie got to me my Mr. Yes yes, I was Mrs. Potato head, and Jamie was my Mr. Potato head. We wowed the other ward members with our amazingness and ended up winning the contest. That was fantastic because the prize was dinner from the bishopric. On the actual Halloween day, I spent the morning studying for my giant sociology test. (I'll have you know I only missed 8. That was pretty dang good. I'm quite proud of this!) So I studied for a while, when I heard a knock at the door and it was my friend Niels. He's my home teacher and also dating my roommate Sarah. She wasn't home so he sat down and chatted for a while. While he was there we heard another knock at the door and whom should appear? That's right, the cutest little 50's kid's you've ever seen. (Except when I was a 50's girl.) We had a grand ol' time with the Johnson kids. After they left I studied for a bit more then had to go to work. When I got home, we already had plans to have a little girls night/anti-Halloween party. My friend Rochelle and Jamie and I watched a movie and ate Ore's. It was splendid. That was my Halloween. Good, but just another day. Oh! The day before, my friend Matt Smitheram came down from Pocatello to visit. We were just playin at Jamie's apartment when she got asked to go babysit the Adam's kids (Brother Adams is the 1st councilor in the bishopric in my ward.) When they (Jamie and Rochelle) left Matt and I decided they couldn't come back to a normal apartment. So we tried to build a tower out of books in the middle of their apartment but we didn't have enough books and the books we did have weren't strong enough to make a tower that would please Matt and I. So....I had some leftover string in my apartment and so we decided to string their apartment. We had so much fun. We turned up the music and made a giant spiderweb-thing.

I'm not sure that these pictures do it justice for how cool it looked. So that was fun to do. They left it up for a while but their one roommate got frustrated with it and took it down. Good times were had by all. The next adventure would be our "Bride and Prejudice night." It's the story of Pride and Prejudice told by Indians from India. Of course we had to dress up for such an event so we invited our neighbor boys and a few other friends and danced our little hearts away trying to learn the amazing dances they have in the movie. We even put a dot on Judice the cat. She's our apartment mascot. We love her.

So, that basically brings us up to speed on what's going on in my life. Work is good, school is stressful beyond all belief but good still the same.

who knew the importance of a fridge...

this is our lovely new fridge.

we waited from Saturday night until wednesday night to get a new one. I didn't know I depended on the fridge like I do.

These are our neighbors Kwinn and Cody taking the old fridge to the dump.

Ode to the kids in my life...

I went to Georgia and Adam's primary program this morning. One word...SSSOOOO CUTE! oh, that was two words. Oh well. They did such a good job and next year after "the next sleep" Evan will be up there too! Kids are wonderful especially the kids I'm related to. Love you kids! and you KNOW I'm your favorite aunt!

Adam and I...

Ki and I...

Evan and I...

Amelia and I...




Toots and I...

Sisters!!!

I fed the sister missionaries yesterday. I LOVE them! Sister Graves is from California and Sister Wade is from North Carolina. They are wonderful. When I was a missionary I always wanted breakfast when we'd go to dinner appointments but I never got it. So, I made a promise that when I fed the missionaries it would be breakfast, so Wallah...french toast, eggs, and orange juice.

Comparative Cultures

This semester I'm taking a Comparative Culture class. We just finished learning about the French culture and now we are learning about Islam. Call me dumb for not knowing, but one thing that I've learned was that Islam is the religion and a person that practices the religion is called a Muslim. I didn't know that! I love this class a lot actually. The professor is SO entertaining to learn from. She knows her stuff and is super sweet. I really like her. She shared this video with us on Tuesday. We were talking about how a stereotype for Muslims is that they are ALL terrorists. Basically that they are all radicals and there is no such thing as a moderate Muslim. That's what this movie is about, so ENJOY!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4P5Mvt0fmc

Fabulous Fall

So, I love love love the fall. It's my favorite. I love the smells, the trees, the colors, the fun sweaters, and I love that it gets cold which gives me the opportunity to bundle up to cute boys! Oh ya! I can't think of fall without thinking of the wonderful fall I spent on my mission in Princeton. New Jersey isn't the garden state for no reason. There are so many trees and they are GORGEOUS! So, as a walk down memory lane, here are some rockin awesome fall pictures.


This was Thanksgiving day. It was in the 70's! This was an old road that we drove past once a week. We were on our way to Thanksgiving dinner when we decided that today was the day we were going to get pictures of our favorite road.

There was one house off to the left, but that's it. Wouldn't it be nice to be away, but not really away from it all? I love this dead end street.

Sister Brown and I were "doubled" into Princeton. That just means that neither one of us had been there before, so we had to learn the area together. We were two little Idaho girls in Princeton trying to find our way around. Needless to say we got lost A LOT! I really didn't mind though becuase look at this....it's GORGEOUS!

These pictures don't do my memory of it justice. Just trust me, you can't help but smile when you see all of the trees different colors.

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Tender Mercies abound!

"Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend." Mosiah 4:9
Yesterday I was walking to my marriage and family relations class in which we had a test. Honestly, I was a little nervous for it. I was just about to the Family Life building, where my class is, when I saw a couple walking across the Quad. They were what I'm assuming was a mom and dad with their baby. I think the baby was a girl. I'm not really sure, she was pretty young. This couple looked like they were struggling with life a bit. They were wearing tattered clothes, the dad hadn't shaved in probably three weeks and the mom was on the phone yelling at whomever she was talking to. My heart hurt for this family. I wanted to take them home, give them a good meal and let them shower. Mostly I just wanted to give the baby some love and attention. I'm sure they love her and pay attention to her but I just felt like she deserved more. When I got closer to them, I looked at the baby and she gave me the sweetest smile I have ever seen. It brought tears to my eyes. I've always known that babies are perfect, but at that moment, this scripture came into my mind. I KNOW that God lives, I KNOW that we are his children and the loves us. The image of her smile is etched on my heart and I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that loves me enough to let me share in that moment.