Whenever I hear the song of an Institute Choir...

So I went to this Institute Choir thing tonight to practice singing for our Stake Conference in about a month.
I don't sing, I never have.
But it was just so gorgeous. The spirit was so overwhelming while just practicing it; I wonder what it'll be like when singing it.
Of course the parts are hard, especially the arrangement of the Primary song "My Heavenly Father Loves Me." I can't sing high, and this song gets quite high. The arrangement of "Come, Come Ye Saints" is just gorgeous though. Some parts are really hard, especially when the Altos go from low to high to low... aye. But hopefully I can get it. I really want to, it's just such beautiful music.

This is the arrangement of "Come, Come Ye Saints" that we're singing.

insatiable

I have this unquenchable, unyielding, continual, resolute, insatiable desire to travel the world.
I want to get out, to explore anything and everything.
I want to go to a random foreign country and do something I never would've dreamed of doing.
To go bungee jumping. To see a wild animal that the U.S. doesn't have. To meet new people and become enveloped in their amazing, rich, colorful culture. To see mountains and valleys and canyons and forests and coasts and fields and everything, everything!

I can't stand knowing that there is so much in this world, and here I am, stuck in Utah not being able to experience it first hand. Let's be honest, Utah has never really been the most diverse place. Ever since I've moved to Cache Valley it's expanded a bit, but it's still Utah. I'm just glad I don't still live in Utah Valley. I think I would've gone crazy with lack of experience and adventure.

There are an estimated 6.7 billion people in the world right now. Billion. And Utah only has about 2.7 million. That means Utah has only about .04% of the world's population. It's crazy to think that people around here would rather stay in Utah than get out of here and discover the world. To meet people from everywhere and from every possible walk of life. I would love to meet my brothers and sisters in Africa, China, Norway, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Egypt, India, Australia, Russia, Jerusalem and everywhere else. I just want to meet a learn and love everyone that I can. granted I might not get along perfectly with everyone, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't love them and how lovely and beautiful their culture is.
Because face it- Utah is not the shiz.
It's not.

Anyways, I've been going absolutely and utterly bonkers lately over getting up and getting out into the world. I signed up for a program called International Student Volunteers, where I would get out and go do a service project in a foreign country. I can't even start to explain how much I would love to participate- to plant trees and watch endangered wildlife and try to better one part of the world at a time. The prospect of flying 7,295 miles down to New Zealand to plant thousands of trees and help preserve the environment is... indescribable. Incredible. Impeccably wonderful.

I just want to get out so bad. To learn something new. To meet someone new. To become someone new.
Ah, wonderful.

Dirty Dancing

This would be dirty dance #2 at USU.
The first was a foam dance, in which we didn't get dirty (mostly because we were soaked in bubbles), more like super super sticky clean. The "pudding dance" is normally the "paint dance" put on during Homecoming week, but this year they decided to change it to the Pudding Dance. It wasn't really a pudding, rather a cold jelly. Here's how it works:

• Step 1- Wait by mini pool for jelly to be filled up.
• Step 2- When you see the pudding carrier, crouch down near pool and prepare to throw.
• Step 3- After the bearer of blue jelly has fought their way through an eager crowd and dumped their bucket into the pool, grab a handful of jelly.
• Step 4- Throw.
• Step 5- Duck.
• Step 6- After 2.3 seconds, jelly will have run out. Go dance to Jai Ho and other said songs for 5 minutes until it is time for the pools to be refilled.
• Step 7- Repeat all steps until you can no longer feel your hands. When this happens, either a) run through sprinklers or b) go home and take a hot shower.
  

Chris and Dayton right after another bout of jelly-throwing.













Me and Mary before we got the worst of it. It was freezing outside. Not to mention the jelly itself was cold.
















Right before I spent a while scrubbing the blue off.

26.2

The Top of Utah Marathon.

Holy. Crap.

No, I did not run the marathon. Me, Kelsey and Mary waited at the end of the marathon and waited for Matt and Kyle to finish. We got lost trying to find the park and ended up walking too far up, too far down, then over to actually where we were supposed to be. We waited near the end and just cheered for everyone that came in. It was so crazy, seeing a variety of people running across the finish line. There were 60-year-olds, short people, really tall people, really thin people, average-sized people, and even a few "bigger" people (even though they weren't that big, because hey, they're still running a marathon). We cheered extra loud for the girl runners.

Kyle's parents found us cheering at the sideline and stopped to say hello. They told us that Kyle was at 25 miles, and that we would see him in a few minutes. I was surprised when they told us that Matt was behind Kyle almost 8 minutes, because Matt is more built for running than Kyle. Kelsey said he was technically "too tall" for running.
We soon saw Kyle running towards us, looking like he just wanted the race to end. We started screaming like crazy and watched as he crossed the finish line. I'm not sure his exact time, but it was something around 3 hrs and 19 minutes. Wow! That is super awesome.

We turned back to the race and kept waiting for Matt. Every time we got sight of a runnie, we'd ask if it was him or not. We started getting antsy, hoping that he hadn't injured himself and that everything was fine. About 15 minutes after Kyle finished, Matt came running down the street. He looked a bit happier than Kyle did, and we continued to scream and cheer as he crossed the finish line.

We found them lying on the grass eating Fat Boys a few minutes later. Kyle said his legs hurt too much to get a massage from the people, plus he said he didn't want anyone touching him at the moment. We talked to them and asked about how the race went, and they told us about different people they ran with, how it was super cold up the canyon when they started, the aid stations, and a bunch of other running dealios. Kyle was shaking and both of them were basically really slow in responding to us (or anything, for that matter), and seemed really exhausted for the rest of the day. I kept telling them how cool it was to be able to say that they had finished a marathon. Finished... a... marathon. So cool.

We went out to Angie's to lunch, where Matt basically got half a cow's worth of meat on a burger, and where we filled up, after me and Kelsey not having breakfast and the guys running since 7:00 a.m. We drove around town and hung out at the dorm or the creamery for the rest of the day, and I bid Matt, Kelsey, and Kyle farewell around 5:00.

Oh yeah, Matt's mom and uncle said they would pay him $30 to ride on the bus up the canyon to the start of the marathon wearing nothing but really short running shorts and a strand of pearls. He had to think about it before declining. He said he would've been too cold.

It was sure fun watching them run and complete the most treacherous 26.2 miles of a marathon. But watching the marathon made me wonder if I could ever accomplish anything as physically challenging (and crazy) as a marathon. I have problems running half a mile, for heaven's sake. I'm not saying that I ever want to run a marathon, but I think it'd be cool to do something I've never done before. I congratulate Matt, Kyle and everyone else who ran in the marathon, including Robert, Tairsa, Matt's mom and basically everyone else who had the guts to even try.
Good job, people. You're awesome!

Above: Kyle finishing the race.
Below: Matt and his ribcage finishing.
Sorry for the crappy quality of this picture... I have no idea what happened.

These are the guys just lying in my dorm, trying to relax.

rain and felines

Today it rained. A lot a lot. I didn't plan for it, so I had to walk all the way home in the pouring rain. So... cold. Like the backpack lines?

So today I joined a club called "Aggie Cats." They help trap, neuter, immunize, and maintain a feeding station for the cats. They neuter the cats so the feral cat population won't get out of control, they immunize them to help prevent the spread of disease, and they provide a source of foods so the cats don't roam around campus and also to give the cats a place to "live." I'm super excited, because 1) I love cats, 2) I love cats, 3) I really love cats, and 4) I love cats.

College. College, college, college.
It's going quite well, actually. Some nights I'm stressed out because of my math homework, but most of the time I find time to do things and still relax. I started my chemistry lab today... it was a little frustrating. My lab group just argued with me over what we were supposed to do. I just read the instructions straight out of the book. And they argued with me. It was super super basic stuff, like measuring, weighing, and taking the temperature of ice water. WAY easy. But because the guys in my lab group decided to argue over everything, we ended about an hour after we should've. An hour. If it keeps happening, I'll maybe ask to switch groups. I hope it'll get better.

I just found out today that I have two midterms on Monday plus a lovely 3-hour chem lab. I don't know what I'm going to do... hopefully pass.

sarcasm

So I was looking up Far Side comics today... talk about hilarious. They've always been one of my favorites, right under Foxtrot. I have a nerdy/sarcastic sense of humor, so it works out well. Here are a few of my favorites:




I think the first two are probably my favorite. I always bust up when I read them.

Anyways... off to studying. Ta ta, mon ami.

recap

I bet you woke up this morning and said, "I wonder what Sarah did over Labor Day weekend..."
If that was the case (which I highly doubt it was), then I might as well tell you.

Saturday I woke up to Charlotte running around my room. Such a cute little baby...
I sat there and thought about what to do for a while, until I thought, "Hey, I should get a haircut." I was able to get a haircut within half an hour, in which I chopped of a large portion of my hair. Later that night Rebecca, Mark, and I went and saw The Time Traveler's Wife. I really liked it, especially since Rachel McAdams was in it (who is quite a talented actress, I must say).

Sunday I went to church. Yay! Later we had a BBQ with my dad's friends/boss and their families and the Fuhrimans. It was quite fun, even though Scott and Helen said they would be embarrassed by us if we were their kids.

Monday my mum made brunch for me and my friends so we could chill before we headed back off to college. I tagged along with Elizabeth and Dad as they shopped around for a lovely new vehicle for my Elizabeth. I've never been car shopping before (well, not really), so it was quite an experience. Luckily there weren't swarms of pushy car salesmen squawking at us to "Buy this! Buy that! Buy EVERYTHING!" When we got home we celebrated my little bro's birthday- the little lad is a whopping 15 years old. He still acts like he's 12 though. He's getting so old, it's ridiculous. I remember when he was just a little squirt who would take things apart and ruin them. Wait a second... he still does that. Mum bought him a new bike, I bought him a mini carton of Aggie Ice Cream. How loving...

Mary and I left for USU, making it in an excellent 2 hours. I unloaded all the extra stuff I brought up, and I put up a curtain in hope that it'll block out the light so I can finally sleep soundly at night. One can only hope.

revisit.

This is what happens when you discover your webcam.

So today I went home for the first time since I moved out, and boy must I say... not much has changed. My sister's pregnant belly got bigger, and my cat looks older. Other than that... nothing. Although I did get to watch Kyle open his mission call. Croatia?! Oh goodness, I'm so excited for him.
For real. It's so weird to see all my guy friends start going on missions. Once they're all gone is when it's going to get really really weird. But they'll have loads of spiritual fun, I know it.

Now for Labor Day weekend... what to do?

The happiest place on earth.

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY!
Talk about one exciting place.
There's much too much stuff to even cover half of it, so I have just a few pictures of a few events that have happened.




Left: This is Old Main. It's a building. You don't think that's cool? Well, it lights up blue when the good ol' Aggies win a sports game. Talk about freakin' awesome.

Right: This is the Big Blue, our mascot. Don't we look tough? Beat that, Cougars.

Left: I've received many tubes of chapstick for free around campus. This particular tube had our fight song in itty bitty print. I wish it had the "Scotsman" on it though...




Right: Isn't this picture just super flattering? This would be the foam dance. Gallons of coconut bubbles + college students + kinda moshing = suffocation. I cut my shin trying to get out for some air. Totally worth it.









Above: This is USU raging war against the U. Because you know what? True Aggies Bleed Blue. They also get awesome free t-shirts.

And of course...
... a whole lot of studying.