Miss Provo

For those of you inclined to miss Provo, here are a few pics of how beautiful the autumn colors are this time of year up in the canyon, my favorite place in all of Provo!

If there are fall leaves anywhere you are right now, go out and hike in them! Enjoy!

Bears Do NOT Tip-toe

Ward campout. Bedtime 2:00 a.m. after flirting around the fire, three girls, one 1 1/2 person tent. Tent mates decide they hear bears outside our tent. Suddenly I feel a body jump on top of me. Sleeping on top of everyone else is apparently safer. Personally I think if a bear came romping into the tent they would go right for the person in the middle before the outside, but whatever. I just tried to sleep through it, but I was in and out of consciousness. Needless to say none of us got any sleep because the two of them were poised waiting for the bear, ears strained for the slightest noise. The thing is, if there really was bear, he or she wouldn't have been on their tip-toes. They don't crawl up silent as a mouse, there would have been some serious breathing, tent ripping, body snatching, and blood. But whatever. We survived and actually had quite the fun time. But seriously, reminds you of those late night babysitting adventures where you think someone is peaking in the window or you hear phantom tires in the driveway. The thing is, seriously, when you do a hear a freaky noise, that's just it, you hear it. :D

Single Mormon Women

Okay, I know this is a really opinionated article and may offend some, but Ensign article on what it feels like to be a single Mormon aside, here is an interesting link to a blog about how hard it can be to be a single Mormon. Don't worry, there are graphs and charts to make it more intriquing!

http://smashgfunk.blogspot.com/2005/10/mormon-scale-of-attractiveness.html


Here is a little excerpt:

"Most LDS singles marry in the 20-25 year old age range. We marry young. Agree with the wisdom of this concept or not, mormon people marry young--except for those that don't. I, my patient reader, am one that did not. And, indeed, may not.

You want to know why, don't you?

Well, I'm sure all my friends and relatives have their own hypotheses. I'm abrasive. I'm combative. I look like I'm mad all the time. I'm too tall. I act like I'm smarter than everybody else. I'm cynical. My expectations are too high. I'm too prudish. I'm too slutty. I've heard all of these from "friends" or family.

Well, you're all wrong. The real reason lies in Emily K's Theory of the Mormon Scale of Attractiveness. Allow me to explain."

If you want more, go to the link and read on!

All in a Day's Work

Or a week's worth of work, but wait, it's only Tuesday.

So, yesterday I made a student cry for the first time. Okay, so maybe there are little kids crying every night over my classes and I just don't know about it, but I did make a real student cry in front of me today. She thinks I hate her! She has only shown up to class twice and she thinks I hate her. WELL, we got it all worked out and had an 1 1/2 hour heart to heart though my WHOLE prep period, but hey, all in a day's work. Turns out her boyfriend had just broken up with her too!

Today I had a group of boys who were definitely crossing over into the inappropriate for school conversation, right in the middle of group work in my class. It was just disgusting. I pulled aside, all four of them after class and let them know their conversation could be considered sexual harrassment (scared the pants off of them), and let them know we could all have a talk in the principal's office about appropriate school behavior if we needed to. Wow, I was mean. I feel good about that.

So, what's on tap for tomorrow, I mean next week, well, at least it feels like it should be anyway!

The Sarah Palin Thing

McCain chose Sarah Palin, what do we think? It is going to be so completely fascinating to see how this election will turn out! The media is already all over the fact that she is a mother of 5, the youngest with Downs Syndrome and whether she will have the remaining emotional energy to be a VP. AND they are making a huge deal over the fact her 17 year old daughter is prego. Huh, I don't really know enough about her at this point to make a huge judgement, but it is just so interesting! You could take this a million ways and I am sure the media will. Did he choose a woman to play the woman card? Are we automatically assuming she would do a worse job than Hillary would have just because she has five kids and a pregnant daughter? The whole woman in politics thing is just so intriguing. Will this cost McCain the presidency or gain it for him? Will she take some of Hillary's former votes because she is a woman? What is sexier for America, a black president or an old white guy with a woman for VP? Interesting, fascinating, intriquing politics! Sarah Palin's daughter has a Republican mother, she couldn't poltically have an abortion, could she?