In Case You Still Read This...

Hello Internet!

I have recently spent some time working on my blogosphere, and I realized that I have FOURTEEN FOLLOWERS on this blog!

This post is for YOU!

If you're still interested in keeping updated on my life, you should check out worldofwalsers.blogspot.com , the blog where I talk about my/my family's life.

Feel free to "follow" me there!

That is all.

Freshman Year Revisited

I have learned about myself over the last few weeks that if I try to journal or blog with the purpose of catching things up from my last post, it gets way to daunting, and I simply won't do it. Instead, I'm just going to write when I want about whatever's on my mind. 

Another Fall is coming, and I am so stoked. Not the least of all because that means IT'S ALMOST HALLOWEEN AGAIN!!!!!

 It's the start of my Senior year, but more importantly, the start of my little sister's Freshman year. It is so strange to me to think that I've been here this long. I definitely still feel like a n00b frosh, but every now and again I get glimpses of how far I've come, like when I actually know where the buildings are, or when I think of how lonnnng ago high school was, or when I meet up with an actual freshman on campus, holding a map and confused. 

Still, it's very strange. I miss my freshman year, most especially my FHE family. 

These. Guys. Rock. 

Most of the guys are currently on their missions, and I'm lucky enough to be on the e-mail list for most of them. And the guys and girls that are still around I run into on occasion (I was excited to find that Danielle, Sidney and I all moved into the same ward after leaving Wyview!). 

I actually had a dream about a big FHE reunion a few nights ago. That combined with finding the puzzles we completed in the first planned-by-me FHE activity has set me into waves of nostalgia.

Outside of this family, I was so blessed to have met friends in my Y group that I carried throughout the year. I miss Nick and Cody so much. I'm so proud of both of them for serving the Lord abroad, but getting their e-mails home has me torn between pride and counting the days until they come home. So much has happened, so much to catch them up on! I'll have to write them soon (I'm awful at that).

I was also lucky to have the best roomates ever, and even more lucky that I still get to call them friends - best friends.

The World of Wyview was not one to be missed. 

My freshman year was amazing. It was so neat to learn to live on my own (mostly - I was definitely calling my mom every day for advice), and to figure out how to survive in college. In spite of the messed up wrist, the drama, and the difficult classes, it's a year I'd love to live over and over. 

  

Cassie, Melissa, and Brett left me this fantastic love note on my whiteboard. It's covered with all my favorite things - to help me feel better after messing up my wrists. 

It was also a blessing to have a roommate who could make me look gorgeous in any picture - even one with a broken wrist, sleeping on the couch.

I miss Wyview. I miss sharing a bunk with Cassie. I miss walking in on Melissa in the middle of a crazy art project. I miss being excited for FHE, for everyone being excited to sing Popcorn Popping as an opening hymn and.... what was it? Lean On Me? That we all argued wasn't really a hymn, but we finally gave in one day and sang anyway? I miss bottle-filled windows and Austie's gumbo and Kyle's sink full of dirty dishes.

I miss Friday night pizza night. 

Dagnabit, I even miss Halo. 

You guys made my freshman year one of the best of my life, and I don't know that I ever properly thanked you for it. 

I just hope Chrysta has as much of a blast as I did. 

Memory Lane

I have learned about myself in recent weeks that if I journal or blog with the intent of catching up from my last post, I will never do it. So, instead I've been writing about whatever's on my mind at the moment.

My younger sister is coming to BYU this year, and I'm about to start my Senior year. And it's blowing my mind. I have no idea how I got here - I still feel like a scared frosh. But when I think back to high school (a milllion years ago) or meet up with new freshman on campus, I realize that maybe I have actually been here for a couple of years now.

I had a dream a couple nights ago about my freshman FHE family. We had something really special, something that I haven't been able to replicate since (mostly my fault - I set an impossible standard for future FHE groups :) )

On top of that, I found some puzzles that I used in the first FHE activity I ever coordinated. I think I need to throw them out - they're kinda a silly thing to take up room with. But I've taken pictures of them so that I can have the memories forever.


I miss those guys. A lot. Especially my family/friends that are still out on missions. It has been so precious to me to get weekly emails from Kyle, Nick, Cody, Scott, etc. I've also been blessed to run into Sidney and Danielle a few times in the ward I moved to, and run into my other sisters. I am so proud of all of us, but sometimes I'm sad that we moved in such different ways.

I'm so excited for Chrysta to come and have the freshman year that I did.

Goblins and Ghouls

I'm awful at keeping this thing up to date... Ah well!

This semester I decided to take 17 credit hours. Probably the worst decision I could have made - I'll be taking it down a notch next semester (which I register for in just a couple weeks! Aaaah!). Anyways, it's made it a little difficult for me to do anything other than eat, sleep, and do homework. I'm a little scared for my G.P.A.... but I did a worst case scenario on a GPA calculator online, and it looks like I should be able to keep my scholarship, which is all that really matters to me.

I am living this year in Arcadia Apartments (#11, feel free to stop by!) with some really classy ladies:

Aubrey, McKenna, Myself, Claudia, and Kirsten

Any spare time that I am able to scrounge up is spent with these chicas. I've gotten to be a part of a hot springs adventure, and took some of the gang up to Salt Lake for General Conference.

Any SPARE spare time I have is spent with mi fantastica familia, especialmente mi sobrina, Allisyn:

She is so big, compared to last year! She's walkin' and talkin' and making my life fantastic. :)

My family has also come down occasionally to have adventures, most recently to catch the BYU homecoming game (which we won! Thank you Riley Nelson!).

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I started drafting this blog post a little before Halloween, and now it's December 3rd, so I'll just try and wrap up through Halloween quickly.

The first weekend of October is the LDS General Conference, and I scored tickets to the Saturday and Sunday morning sessions.

 We left way earlier than we needed to, so the drive up involved a lot of sleeping.

 Being there early meant we had time to traipse around Temple Square

In our seats! 

(I realize that I'm not in any of these pictures, but I promise I'm the one taking them).

I left straight from the Sunday morning session to get on a plane to Seattle, where I attended Grandma Till's funeral. I was so grateful for the opportunity to say goodbye, and for the chance to see my family. She is very much missed. 

 Brandi, myself, Grant, and Evan, at Grandma's house. 

At the graveside - before Grandma's death date was inscribed. Grant went back later and took another picture for me:

I came home and got back to work with school, but Halloween (my favorite holiday!) was coming up.

A girl in our ward decided to start a door decorating contest. I'm not sure if we ever took a picture of the finished product, but here's an work-in-progress-pic.

The end result was actually pretty fantastic... .we won! (partially because no one else decorated their doors....) Although we still haven't gotten our prize... (humph!). I'll have to find a picture of it. 

Our ward also put on a pretty kick-butt party. I was disappointed that the pumpkin carving fell through, but I still had fun dancin' with my buddies and getting to know other ward members better.

My FHE group also carved pumpkins, which was fun. 

Here are a few of the pumpkins I carved myself. 

I had carved a couple more by the end.... I'm obsessed. I'll admit it.

The day of Halloween, I saw the giant pumpkin drop at Hee Haw Farms

 This is what the car looked like after having two pumpkins dropped on it. :)

The Sunday before Halloween I made a big Halloween feast including, but not limited to:
Halloween-themed cupcakes, cookies, and jello, broomstick breadsticks, Jack-o-Lantern casserole, mummy pigs-in-a-blanket, and spider pizza.

This had a floating jello hand in it

 And this one was a skull

 We made a gingerbread house!

 Next to it you can see part of a skeleton that McKenna made from milk cartons.

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Ok! I think that's everything of interest to mention about Halloween. Oh! Interesting tidbit - I dropped a 2 credit class, so that made my life a little easier.

Rise. And. Shout.

Ok. So, to finish off my summer, I kicked the pants off of the chorus part of Sweeney Todd.

Then I toured the Mall of America with my dear, wonderful, gorgeous guy-friend Kyle. I had been told by a few sources that it wasn't that great, and that the Canadian version (the West Edmonton Mall, which I visited last year with my darling friend Carissa) was much better.

I was misinformed.

The Nickelodeon-themed amusement park was fantastic! Somewhere in between Six Flags and Oaks Park. The rides were a blast, and there were all my favorite characters walking around, including THE BACKYARDIGANS!!!!
The mall's aquarium was also fantastic. Less big animals (Edmonton had some sea lions), but some amazing sharks and fish, including a few species I hadn't seen before outside of books. I spent far too much in that gift shop, but I'm afraid it was like an addict in a meth lab.

What a goof-ball. After a bit of cajoling, he took me to lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Possibly the best restaurant ever. We were lucky to be seated right next to an aquarium/fishtank, and got to make faces at the fish.

Then, to start off the new year right, I chopped off all my hair, and went from this:

(I'm sad 'cuz my hair is so ridiculous (p.s., that isn't even all of it. Half of it is on a bun on my head)

to this:

You can tell I'm happy, 'cuz I'm kissing a moose in Park City.

Since getting back to school, I have moved into Arcadia Apartments, started hacking away at my class schedule (see below), made some new friends, including some fantastic roommates, and spent some quality time with good 'ol friends from last year.

My schedule... Not sure why it's being so small. I'll fix it later.

Austie took Cody, Nick, and I up to Eden, UT, where we ate at this Mexican restaurant, then headed back. It was silly, but a really great day.

The next day was Nick's farewell. Apparently, in UT, right after Sacrament meeting, you leave church and go to the missionary's luncheon. I didn't realize that until it happened, but I was pleasantly surprised.

These two boys saved my sorry freshman hiney last year, in so many ways. I am so scared of doing this year without them, but I know that them leaving me for the Lord is where I really want them to be. Nick is already in the MTC, getting ready to head to Guatemala City, Guatemala. Cody leaves in November for Lisbon, Peru. Oh, and remember Kyle, my guy-friend from before? He heads to Paraguay at the end of this month.

I struggled a bit at the start of this semester. I mean, I made friends last year, why should I have to do it again? With that attitude in mind, I'm sorta letting friends make me. I'm not going out of way to find people to fill the aching void (that's what family and OIMB friends are for =P ). Instead, I'm sort of letting friends make me, if that makes any sense. A couple new friends and lab partners in class, and new people in my apartment complex, and personalities of the ward, are all finding their way into my friend circle. I'm excited to make it to church next Sunday (I missed last week when I went to Nick's farewell), to make even more friends.

I am very much looking forward to the long weekend. I'm using this semester concentrate much more on academics and much less on the social scene. It's an especially good goal, as I'm taking so many more credits than last year. I've been able to keep up with all my classes thus far, and even get a little bit of head. So far so good!

What you've been missing

Here's the part where I try to sum up my entire summer thusfar in one tightly packed blogpost.

Readyset?

So, after returning from OIMB, and a short side-trip into Washington before actually returning home, I scurried down to Utah to attend my brother's fantastic wedding.

I'm so happy to add Nadia to our ever-growing family. It was a gorgeous reception, and a great opportunity to spend time with my family.

My next adventure was another great chance to be with my family - The Despain Family Reunion! This year we went over to Montpelier Idaho to spend some time together and enjoy the great fun that is Bear Lake. I was kicking myself for forgetting my camera, but you'll just have to trust me that it was fantastic. It was my first chance to go in about 2 years, and I'm so so so happy that I made it!

My next real adventure will be moving into my new apartment back in Provo - which can happen as soon as the 20th. Hopefully in there I'll also squeeze in a trip to Minnesota.

In the meantime, I have a couple-few background projects to keep me entertained.

My job - the fantastic OCDC. I usually have nothing but the highest praise for this fantastic institution, but right now I have this year's horrible death and puking disease. I should be happily back to work tomorrow. I love the kids, I love the business, and I love love love the chance to brush up my Spanish.
My other background project has been working along with After School Productions to put together a performance of Sweeney Todd. Check it out, come see it, show your support, and enjoy the FANTASTICNESS that is Sondheim!

Last but not least, I've been scanning in a bunch of the family's old negatives, in the hopes that eventually we'll get around to a big scrapbooking project. I haven't had a *huge* amount of free time, but hopefully in my time between ending work and leaving Mosier I'll be able to get more things done.

It is Slain!!!

Many of those close to myself and my family are familiar with this picture. My brother (click the picture to go to his blog) drew it for our small town newspaper in The Dalles during a district merger.

That particular image has been stuck in my mind all week, but my personal hydra seemed more of this variety:

Oh noes! It's the dreaded Ecology Journal!!!!

So here's whatall was due today:

Ecology Journal -

100 pictures of Ecological Events

100 descriptions of said events - handwritten on index cards

Species, Date, Locality, Tidal Level, and Event description for each.

Silly little borders for each picture

Chopping scrapbook paper into 50 8.5 x 11 sheets

Chopping the scraps into 1 inch strips for the silly borders

Draw lines on both sides of all of the newly cut sheets to have the cards and pictures be placed centered

Ecology Notes -

Formatted Notes (harder to do than you'd think... our professor is hard to follow)

Diagrams - done to Dr. B's standard, which is ridiculous. The man teaches a course on biology illustrations

Embryology Notes -

Formatted Notes (see above)

Diagrams (see above, and multiply by two)

Embryology Pictures -

Pictures of the developing embryo (stresssssful - I lost some of my pictures)

Sketches of said pictures (see above, multiply by four)

See why I liken this to a hydra? With every head I thought I was tackling, I found myself with more coming at me from all sides. The whole week was super stressful, and even though I'd thought I was making good progress throughout this whole course, and that I'd been fairly productive this week, I still found myself down to the wire at the last minute, putting finishing touches on a project that I wasn't especially proud of. I just know that I could do so much better! Hopefully I do fairly well with my grade, as our professor seems reluctant to give less than an A as long as everything is complete. I hope I'll have the discipline, however, to re-do the parts I'm not proud of so that I can have a journal that I'll be more proud to show off.

So THAT'S a huge load of stress off, but now we're moving on to the research project presentations. Which we're giving in front of many esteemed professors at BYU. We have two days to get everything done, and my group still isn't completely sure what our data proves.... oh well, I'll worry about that tomorrow.

My dad came down for the weekend, and my wonderful Aunt Pam is coming down Monday for "Dr. B's Bash". It was great to have Dad here, although I wish I'd had more time for him and spent less time with my journal. Still, I managed to get him to buy me a meal, show him the campus and the nearby beaches, go sea lion spotting, and tidepooling at my favorite pools, all in the about 24 hours that he was here! He also made it up to Bandon without me while I finished up my journal.

The lighthouse of Lighthouse Beach

I'm crazy excited for Pam to make it up here. I haven't seen her in a few months, and she and I don't get to hang out just the two of us very often. And this'll be a great opportunity to nerd out and be marine biology nuts together!

Random picture from a couple weeks ago - those of us who got wet at the docks.

It was requested by some of my peers here that I mention them in the blog. But I have to find a way to do it unforced... I think that'll be my next posting, a detailed, in depth description of all of my new pals and our shenanigans.

I'm so excited to finally have some time with no class and few obligations to spend with these amazing people! Too bad it didn't happen until there were only a few days left.... :(