Thank Heavens for Boys

This is how my trip to Logan panned out this weekend:

First, Petey and I stopped at City Creek, in which I finally found a nice pair of shoes for my mission. Also, we (mostly Petey) had a hard time staying away from the Michael Kors clothing.

We got to Logan. We bought groceries, including a pack of fried chicken for dinner later.

I got to see my roommates (like I've said before, I still call them my roommates), which was fabulous. I haven't seen Shelly in ages, and last time I went to Logan I didn't see Katy that much either. So it was fun talking and playing Mario Kart with them.

We got ready for the Howl. My white makeup was harder to get even than I expected. Petey, Kyle, Natalie and I headed up to the Howl. We saw an awesome Halloween dance from the USU dancers. We watched a bit of the hypnotist. Then we went to the dance.

I'm the Greendale Human Being, of course.

Kyle: "What am I? It depends who asks.
Either a terrorist or a shepherd."

Some logistics team figured out that the most efficient way to get kids to the dance floor is to funnel us through the TSC out through a gated pathway into the Fieldhouse. We were almost inside the Fieldhouse when the security team/cops blocked off the entrance and yelled that no one could go in. We had no idea why, but we quickly started getting crushed by the crowd of people flooding in from behind.

A guy tried to force his way past the guards. They chased him into the dance floor. Not less than a minute later the door by the gates burst open and the green Letterman-adorned sneaky man was being forced out by the cops. Since the growing, costumed horde couldn't move anywhere, we all watched as they handcuffed the guy and arrested him. A little bit after that, they opened the barricade and let us in. We have no idea why they even blocked off the doors. But after that, it was pretty much smooth sailing.

Walking back to the apartment was painful. Our feet hurt so bad.
We chatted with Shelly and Katy for a bit and then ate fried chicken at, like, 3:00 am. It was delicious.

After waking up at noon and packing our stuff, we swung by Kyle's apartment to pick up our driver's licenses. You see, at the Howl you have to have an I.D. to get in, and since Kyle was the only one with pockets, he held on to them. Anyway, I made a particularly terrible right turn. It lead to a really awful left turn. Because of that, I decided against parking in front of his apartment and went for the lot in the back. I made a terribly tight right turn and hit the brick corner of a garden or something. The first thing I said is "I hope that didn't pop my tire, ha ha."

Well,
I popped my tire.

It wasn't a small pop either. It was an 8 inch long gash right through the rubber.

I didn't even know that I had an entire spare tire in my trunk. I was incredibly grateful it wasn't a donut. Because I didn't have enough money to buy a tire. I also discovered I had a jack in my car. Who knew! Good thing Kyle knows how to change a tire, because I can't remember hardly anything I learned in Driver's Ed.

The lug nuts were just the start.

After a battle with trying to get the stupid lug nuts off (it required much effort), Natalie drove us to the gas station to fill up the spare tire enough to not ruin it. When we came back, Kyle had jacked up the car and was ready to get the new one on. Except there was a problem: the tire wouldn't come off.

We poked, prodded, pulled, hit, kicked, and cursed at the tire, but I was convinced it was welded to the axle. IT WOULD NOT BUDGE. So we got a hammer and started hitting and kicking some more. We called parents. We put a rock under the tire, lowered the car and tried to bounce the tire on itself. It didn't work. So we put the rock in the tire. That didn't work. So we put a rock in the tire and a brick under the tire. It didn't work either.

We went to Walmart and bought PB Power Blaster. I soaked the son-of-a-gun with the extremely potent lubricant. IT STILL WOULD NOT BUDGE. We were perplexed: the tire was supposed to just slide right off. I read the Owner's Manual, thinking that there would be a section titled "What to Do if Your Tire Will Not Come Off." Turns out that it's not even supposed to be a problem at all. Petey resorted to actually touching the tire while yelling, "WHY WON'T YOU JUST COME OFF?!" It did not work.

I called my dad and told him to start heading up to Logan. He packed up a sledgehammer.

Petey and I both went inside to wash the grease and dirt off ourselves. [UPDATE: Kyle and Natalie went inside his apartment to eat 'lope steaks because it was taking so long.] When Petey and I went back out to the car, Kyle's roommate, BJ, was sitting on the ground with a good-sized mallet hitting the axle and pulling the wheel. He hit around systematically when I saw it: it budged.

We watched in amazement as he freed the tire from the grasp of the axle. He achieved in less than two minutes what we tried to do in two hours. After that, it only took five minutes to put on the new tire, screw on the lug nuts, and even pump up my tire. I mean, this kid had a built-in air compressor in his car! We packed up the car. I forced BJ to hug me out of extreme gratitude and I quickly called my dad and told him that he could turn around and go home.

We stopped and scarfed down some burgers due to our unexpected hunger before heading home.
Psssh. And to think we planned on getting home early.

Thank heavens for boys.

OKAY.

OKAY.

I haven't been blogging not because I don't have anything going on, but because I have too much going on.
Surprise, right? October's been great. After a boring and uneventful September, I ventured into the land of super-fun October! I do love the Halloween season. Haunted houses, pumpkin carving, dressing up, corn mazes, Halloween movies, fog juice, zombies, special FX makeup, and all that jazz. Great stuff. Not to mention my all-time favorite Community episode is Epidemiology, aka the Zombie Halloween episode (Episode 2.06)

So with all the Halloween stuff going on and trying to get stuff together for a mission, it's been busy. And fun. Except that it's impossible to find clothes/shoes that I will actually wear. I decided I'm just too stubborn to wear anything I don't like.
Problems:

• I like dresses more than skirts. 
• Shoes. If you've ever gone shoe shopping as a sister missionary, you know what I mean. (Although there is a pair of Oxfords I'm willing to buy, unfortunately Utah County doesn't have a Nordstrom anymore and I don't trust buying shoes online. I'll have to go to Salt Lake eventually.)
• I'm seriously the most boringly-dressed person ever. Almost all my clothes are gray and blue. Just ask Petey.

Also, I bought an awesome suitcase yesterday. I never thought anyone could be so excited over a suitcase.

Besides all the Halloween stuff, it's been pretty awesome as far as spiritual stuff goes. 

First off, there was General Conference, which was fabulous. Saturday morning session opened with my favorite hymn, How Firm a Foundation, and I burst into tears. And then Russell M. Nelson had that fabulous talk "Ask the Missionaries! They Can Help You!" followed by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's "Of Regrets and Resolutions." Can I just say that with each new talk President Uchtdorf gives I find myself a new favorite talk. He has a wonderful gift of relating his life to everyone, religious or not.

Alongside the great talks, a huge announcement was made that the missionary age for the men was dropped from 19 to 18 and from 21 to 19 for the sisters. I've had so many people ask me how I feel about the age drop in the sisters, in which I always respond, "Now I'm going to be an old grandma in the mission field." Nah, but seriously, I'm super excited. I know that being in school for three years was the biggest turn off for me. I was 19 when the idea of a mission became less appealing. It took a lot of pushing and prodding from the Lord to change my mind when I was ready to turn 21. So honestly, let's get more sisters out there! Heavens know we're better than the men, anyway (I joke... kinda).

Look at this man! How can you not like him?

Secondly, I was able to go through the Salt Lake temple earlier this month. It was beautiful and wonderful.

Thricely, I was able to attend my sister's sealing to her husband and their daughter, Avalynn for time and all eternity. I have never witnessed a more happy and pure moment, and all I could feel was pure joy from everyone in the room. I definitely cried.

As well as the big spiritual events, I've just been able to see better the ways in which the Lord works miracles in my life. Big or small, they happen, and I'm incredibly grateful.

Until next time,
Sarah

Wednesdean

Just so you guys don't think I'm some sort of depressed, nervous wreck, I'm here to let you know that this week's been a good week. Such a contrast from last week, for which I am grateful.

I've been buying Halloween stuff lately. I have three different costumes I'm throwing around, two of which involve bald caps. And with all this bald cap stuff (and after talking about Community for 40 minutes with Liz W.), I couldn't help but post this:

    

If you're curious, these are my costume options:

the Greendale Human Being, Community.
I already bought a morphsuit.

Walter White (right), from Breaking Bad.

Dean Pelton (sans costume), Community. 

But if I do that, then I need a doppeldeaner/deanochang-er to go with me.

I couldn't find a picture of the doppeldeaner, but here's
Jeff Winger as the Dean...

I was going to show you pictures from my trip to Pumpkinland today, but my computer is being so slllllloooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwww.

just a chat.

I turned on my computer for one reason: to talk to you.
It'll just be a minute, I promise.

So, I only opened my mission call a little over two weeks ago. I was warned by my Bishop, Stake President, and others that from then on (and even beforehand) it was going to get tough. And I'm here to say: it is. It's getting tougher.

It's not like my life is crashing down; I'm not depressed and I'm not an emotional wreck, but it's certainly getting harder to not let things get to me. I can usually brush things off almost immediately, but they're starting to stick.

Satan knows that sight and/or situations aren't terribly effective ways to tempt me. He can get to others that way, but not me. If someone offers me a drink (yes, it happens), I don't falter. Because let's face it-- I'm pretty awesome. But it's all the psychological and emotional stuff. The doubts, worries, fear, persistent and consistent nightmares; the moments where I lack self-confidence that last longer and longer; and the creeping isolation and loneliness that don't actually exist.

I just keep heeding the Lord's counsel to "endure to the end" (Matt 24:13, 3 Nephi 15:9, D&C 14:7) and keep trying. Because even though it gets a little harder each day, I feel more and more blessed and I know without a doubt that I've made the best decision ever.

And I'm looking forward to General Conference now more than ever.

crazytownbananapants: A, A, A.

A Challenge...

Usually I only work part-time and watch Doctor Who (that's my current series), but somehow last week was actually filled with things. I agreed to a challenge (it's not quite a bet) not to watch t.v. or movies for a week, which meant that I had to find things to do. But as it turns out, I've done quite a few awesome things, such as:

• Becca Bam taught me how to make bracelets.
• Took fall pictures up the canyon. 
• Becca and I went to the opening of a Mormon mocha shop. I daresay I love fake iced coffees. 
• Haunted house.
• Helped my sister at the high school yard sale.
• X96 Big Ass Show. 
• Stargazing (I have since learned this is a code word at BYU...).
• FHE General Conference Jeopardy put on by the always-entertaining Grosland.

... A Promotion ...

Because I'm not going to school, work is pretty much the focus of my life. Last week was a pretty great week at my work. Not only did I get a raise, I got a promotion of sorts and am now a part of Inside Sales.
Yes, you read that right.
It was pretty cool being chosen to be part of Team IS (said "iz"), even if it is just a test team. Last week I started training, and I felt like my head was going to explode. Today was my first day of sales, and let me say it was pretty terrifying. Luckily most of my other team members don't have sales experience, so we're all in the same boat.
Sales. A fun new world.

On a side note: I do love my job. The best thing it's taught me so far is that attitude makes all the difference. I see some people go through training and their first day on the floor they say, "this job sucks." Well, they don't last long, and it's because they have a terrible attitude. I have great coworkers and fantastic supervisors, I've changed positions twice, and it's all because I care about my job.

... A Concert.

Saturday was a really long day. I had to wake up at 7:30 and never really slept that night. But the Big Ass Show was pretty neat. The main deal with the Big Ass Show is that there are two stages that you go back and forth between to see a bunch of different bands. 

If you read my Twitter, I over-tweeted the crap out of the show and probably know all of this. 

• The Wombats. We missed them. I was sad. 
• Eve 6. Yeah, 90's!
  (Remember this song? Unfortunately they didn't play it, but they were really good live.)
• Imagine Dragons.
  By far the best band of the night. I was incredibly surprised by their talent and ability to put on a great show. Plus they really electrified the crowd and made it super fun for everyone.
  (You probably know this song, but this one's my favorite.)
• AWOLNATION. I like this band, but their sound quality was pretty awful. I still can't figure out if the blame should be on the venue, their sound guy, or maybe they're just terrible live. But I think it was more of a combination of the first two.
  (You might've heard this, this, or this on the radio.)
• Grouplove. I didn't really bother to listen to them, but what I heard was surprisingly good. They sounded better live than on their actual album, go figure. This is when we took a break and I ended up winning two free Castle of Chaos tickets. Holla.
• The Used. Okay, I've always liked The Used. If you don't know who they are, you probably won't like them. They yell a lot. My brother-in-law Daniel and Mark both decided to go in the mosh pit, but it looked pretty intense so Liz and I stayed out.
  (The Bird and the Worm was on the radio a few years ago, but my personal favorite is Pretty Handsome Awkward. My sister and I screamed the crap out of that one.)
• Neon Trees.
  So disappointing. I like the majority of their songs, but they were pretty terrible live. Liz, Daniel, Mark and I all decided it wasn't even worth it to fight for standing room in the pit. We waited around to see how Animal sounded, but they hardly got better.

At the end of the night I could barely walk because of a shooting pain in my abdomen. My medical friend informed that it was probably because I wasn't breathing well. Which makes sense, because there was 15,000 people, tobacco smoke, and weed in the air. Becca can testify that I may have been slightly high.