Graduation

Oh yeah, this happened...

No, I'm not really ready to talk about it yet.

Vacation: "Showing off for your muggle admirers, Potter?"

I had this whole list of things I wanted to blog about and I made little notes of them on a note pad. Then my family came to town before I got to blogging them and now I have no idea what half of those little notes meant. Oh yeah, I guess I should mention that all of these were in regards to the Disney/Universal trip. It'd be a shame to completely skip that on my blog, so you're getting the mass dump here.

One: I miss vacation.

I'm ready to go back. It was beautiful and only one day was unbearably hot. The hotel (Hard Rock) was awesome and spending time with Sarah was a blast. There was a water shuttle and Disney has the monorail and the ferry. Plus, real life is boring (and scary).

Two: The surprise.

The first day we got there was, of course, exhausting. Travel and getting up early and the plane and shuttling and everything make me want to sleep all day long. I was so happy to see the hotel and our hotel room.

(please excuse how awful I look)

We did have one confusion checking in when the guy told us we were staying for seven nights (we thought it was four). Long story short, I called Laurel and she confirmed that our vacation did indeed go seven nights, which we had somehow missed. Cue freaking out.

Three: First day

Since we were so tired and it was late w decided to go over to City Walk and grab some food. Once we had eaten (Moe's, if you care) we thought we'd just walk around Islands of Adventure (one of two Universal parks) for a little bit and maybe catch a glimpse of Hogwarts. Once we saw the towers I started getting goosebumps and couldn't resist.

We, of course, had to go into Hogsmeade. Because it was getting late there was almost no line for Forbidden Journey so we went on the ride (we're Harry Potter nerds, there was no controlling it) which was AWESOME. Amazing first day.

Four: Side note.

A brief break from the narrative of the vacation for a comment. Disney and Universal do so many things in such a genius way! Universal is extremely shaded and amazingly well air conditioned. Both places have water misters all over the place. Popular rides have conveyor belts and are constantly loading and unloading people without stopping which obviously makes it so the lines keep moving (the longest we waited was 40 minutes for a safari which was SO worth it). The decor and the tiny details leading up to the rides (hello, all of Hogwarts castleincluding moving pictures) keep the visitors entertained. So smart, way to keep us happy at the happiest places on earth. That is all.

Five: "I'm drunk on butterbeer."

The food was great on vacation. Most of the time Sarah and I shared a plate between the two of us which was plenty and makes it not really that expensive. I have to admit I didn't love pumpkin juice or butterbeer (though Sarah did). I will say, however, that the cream on top of the butterbeer is absolutely DELICIOUS.

Six: The happiest place on Earth.

Seeing Disney for the first time is amazingly exciting (even as an adult). It's hard not to act like a tiny child and be insanely giddy all time time and want to take a picture with every princess.

I now have a slight obsession with all things Disney (and Harry Potter, obviously). Also, the fireworks and the Main Street Electrical Parade and all the nighttime events are definitely worth attending. I maybe cried a little bit. Hush and stop judging me immediately.

Seven: Rides that shouldn't be missed/favorites.

Forbidden Journey (obviously, it's freaking Harry Potter).

The random dinosaur ride in Epcot (I think Epcot in general is AWESOME).

It's a small world (class for good reason).

The tea cups (you get pictures like this).

The carousel of progress (old school and gets really bizarre at the end).

Space mountain (I'm unique NOT AT ALL).

There were about a million others, but I can't and won't list them all.

Eight: Closing thoughts.

This trip was absolutely amazing. It wouldn't have been near as awesome without a few people. Of course my parents and the Alveys that helped make it all possible. Laurel - she put it all together and had the largest hand in getting us there. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Sarah. I wouldn't have had a fraction of the fun if I'd gone with anyone else. We had such a good vacation and she was even nice when I was sick one day and we stayed in the hotel room most of the day. To her, grat thanks and love. I could go on forever (or at least a really long time) about the nitty gritty details and happenings of my trip, but I'll stop. I'm no expert on Disney or Universal, but if you want my thoughts/opinions on something specific leave a comment or email me and I'll get at you. Also, go to Orlando. It's worth it.

Nine: Addendum

I don't know why the pictures are strange and varied sizes. It makes no sense to me as I stole them all from Sarah's facebook. She was the official picture taker while we were there and it was great because then I didn't have to take any (which I'm bad about). If you want to see more, go to her page.

I'm On Vacation

There will be some sort of marathon post (or posts) in the future about this amazing vacation, but I thought I'd take a quick second to update. Sarah and I went downstairs to one of the hotel's FOUR restaurants for an early dinner not too long ago. I had been a little sick this morning and we were exhausted so pretty much all day we were in our room (most of the time I was napping). So, we put our do not disturb sign up and chilled. Until dinner. When we got back from dinner (which was maybe about a half hour time block) BAM! our room was clean. What the heck? It was awesome. It's like people were prowling outside just waiting for both of us to leave at once or take our sign down or whatever so they could make sure it was all covered.

Thank you Hard Rock. I love a freshly made bed and fresh towels. Especially the fresh towels.

Sarah

This is Sarah and I at a basketball game at some point. It's virtually impossible to tell which one because we dress the same for all of them and almost always sit beside each other.

It's pretty much a miracle to have friends like Sarah. Actually, allow me to be more specific. It's a miracle to have Sarah as a friend. On many levels we can relate and on some things our views are vastly different, but it doesn't matter. To demonstrate her pure amazingness and great hilarity I would like to share what she wrote on my wall for my birthday today:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY HOORAY HOORAH! ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY!!! I HOPE ITS AWESOME. if i could get tj fredette to sing you a happy birthday rap while jimmer dances to it in his pink shoes, jackson emery flexes his arms, and jake heaps throws footballs into basketball hoops from 500 miles away, i would. buuut i can't. although now the image is in your head so thats the best i can do. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

I literally laughed out loud when I read this. Best birthday post ever? Yes, I think so. Sarah is just too much and I love her.

Fantastic Times

Good things that have happened:

• BYU vs. USU basketball game. Despite the fact that their fans were kind of rude there, we pulled out the win and it was a fun, intense game.
• Waiting in line for an watching Harry Potter with Sarah, Britt, Kyle, and Caroline. Freaking great. Want to watch again (Sarah? Britt? anyone else in?). I think I secretly love waiting in line for long periods of time. It's kind of fun (when you have other people to be with you).
• Opening of graduation present: SARAH AND I ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD AND THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER! Five nights and six days between the two parks and we get to pick the dates. I'm so stoked. Thanks to all who made this possible (I'm not positive who all is involved but I think Laurel came up with the idea and both sets of parents contributed).
  
• Craft night with Britt and Sarah (we made candle holders and ornaments. They are lovely and crafting is so soothing).
• BYU vs. New Mexico football game. We basically trashed them and somehow ended up with front row seats for most of the last quarter which was awesome and I loved it and next is the Utah game. I'll admit that I was complaining for awhile because I was freezing to death.
  
• SDSU nearly beat Utah. We killed SDSU. WE HAVE A CHANCE! I just need the Cougars to play well next weekend.
• Right after the football game was a basketball game against the Chicago State Cougars. Our seats weren't great, but we completely destroyed them. I was impressed when some of our fans started clapping for the other team's good plays. Way to be classy.
• I started decorating for Christmas today! So far I have my tree up and a bell mural thing on my wall and some tinsel garland and one of the twins put up a nativity. We'll see what else I can pull out in the next couple days. Love it.
• Soon is Thanksgiving. I haven't decided what I'm doing yet, but I get a break. Yes!

Westmore

Yesterday I started my second practicum at Westmore Elementary School in Orem. The cooperating teacher is essentially magic. I don't know how she does it, but she's a super star. Yesterday there were about 11 people in her class to observe her teach, she'd gotten back from vacation at 3am that morning, and somehow still managed to pull off a fantastic amount of teaching. I was reeling just from watching.

Not to mention I'm partners with Sarah, who (whom?) I just love so it's a good time. And the school provided us with a "treasure box" full of things we might need like tissues, band-aids, post-its, highlighters, pens, white board markers, tape, glue, crayons, etc. Then when we came in this morning there was a desk set up for us with two chairs, name cards, candy, and our treasure box. Seriously, our cooperating teacher is better than yours.

Today we went on a walking field trip with the other fourth grade class. Essentially we had about 60 people (most children) walking a mile in the snow to a theater to watch a play. The play was kind of cute, but a little weird in my opinion. Some of the kids were wild, some hated the walk, I know at least one adult took a little nap in the middle of the play. Then we walked back and had lunch and math and recess and that was pretty much it.

I'm learning all the kids' names finally. I know I've only been there since yesterday, but they tell us to learn all the names the first day (which I definitely failed at doing). Tomorrow we're going to sit down and plan out all of our assignments and the other stuff we have to get done before we go back to college.

The kids were introduced to their historical fiction unit today. One of their book options was this one:

I remember reading it when I was in fifth grade. I remember loving it (even though historical fiction isn't usually my cup of tea), and now I just want to read it again. Maybe after I finish Chains and get it back to Sarah I'll work on this one.

P.S. BYU basketball starting tonight? Yes please and yum.

Welcome back Nick Martineau. Mmm.

I Broke My Face

Once upon a time (July 19th) Sarah and I were going to see my favorite band Carbon Leaf at this tiny little venue in good old SLC.

During the opening act I started not feeling too well so I went to sit on a bench outside. Then I thought I might throw up so I headed to the bathroom. On the way across the parking lot I almost passed out. I tried to catch myself on a planter (you know, a thing that has plants in it), but in my woozy state I missed and hit my face instead. It was bleeding pretty bad. Someone went and found Sarah who drove me to insta-care. In case you didn't know, insta-care is crappy and told me immediately they couldn't do anything and because could have hurt my head i got transported in an ambulance to the emergency room.

Possible head injury means backboard, neck brace, and being taped down.

I was confused and delirious at this point so I smiled for my mom. This was after they had cut off one of my favorite shirts (Reading is Cool, Paperbacks are Hot) and my only white cami. that is my unhooked green bra that you see in the picture.

I had road rash and basically split the top part of my left nostril from the bottom part. Oh, and I busted my tooth and had to get a filling (a few days later) and still have a gum issue right now. It's kind of...pushed back from where i busted my mouth pretty good.

After many hours without, I finally got some pain medication (dilaudid for the win), the ER doctor told me he couldn't do my stitches, we waited for a plastic surgeon, and he pumped my face full of novocain (or something like it that hurt like the dickens going in) and stitched me up. 20+ stitches in all, both inside and outside my nose. Sarah held my hand.

When I woke up the next day I looked and felt like hammered dog s*** (that's a phrase my dad loves to use).

I thought I might get better with time, but sometimes things just get uglier and uglier. People kept telling me I didn't look that bad. Sometimes I just wanted people to say "Ooh. You look nasty."

I think that yellow eye makeup may be in next season. Anyone with me? (Note: I took most of these pictures myself shortly after waking up so my mom could get progress on my face).

I eventually did start to look better, but the stitches were still itching my face off.

But then I got the stitches out!

As of now I still have a kind of swollen lump on one side of my nose, but it doesn't look bad. the only problem is something with the scar tissue is making my smile weird. Maybe I'll take a picture and blog about that soon. Or just post a picture. It's a really awful smile.

I just want you to know that Sarah is amazing. Everyone should have a friend like her. I fell just before 8pm and Sarah stayed in the ER with me until after 2am. Like I said, she held my hand during the novocain shots and the stitches, and she only left when I almost threw up. Then almost three weeks later she spent another several hours in the ER with me. There is no way for me to ever show my gratitude to her adequately or to ever repay her for what she did.

Back in Provo

I have now been back in Provo for one week, almost exactly (I'm a few hours off). Let me tell you something, it is so good and I've done about a zillion things (and not that much at the same time). Here's what's I've been up to.

-Watching Chopped and Cupcake Wars at Sarah's since my cable doesn't work

-Watching Stadium of Fire fireworks from the side of the mountain

-Almost kicking the annoying kid down the mountain

-Helping Ashley move

-Realizing my brakes were shot and spending 300 bucks to get them fixed

-Learning to play euchre at Robbie's apartment

-Taking over Sarah's hand in euchre

-Having some strange agenda to beat Robbie at euchre for no reason

-Going to Salt Lake to see Ashley and T

-Making jokes about little chocolate tears (after going to Hatch Family Chocolates)

-Going to lunch with Caroline and Robbie at Zupa's

-Having a barbecue at Britt and Kyle's

-Kyle and Britt not being awkward

-Going to the freedom festival and buying stuff for the kids

-Watching "So I Married an Axe Murderer" for the first time ever

-Doing my very best to get the ants out of my apartment (including coating my cabinets and dishwasher in salt and cinnamon)

-Reading another book

-Trying to make plans with Steph and her being flaky (but I still like her)

-Hearing her hilarious story

-Seeing my ward friends again

-Realizing the ward has changed a lot

-Purchasing more Disney VHS at DI

I really could make a much longer list, but I won't (partially because Sarah listed many of the things that I too have been up to recently on her blog and I don't want her to feel like I'm copying her). I do love being back in Provo, though. There are more fantastic plans to come.

As much fun as Provo is, I still miss things like this:

Destiny being a model

And this:

Gabe and Tori cuddling in their mom's bed one morning.

New Blog

Hey all. This is not the birthday post. I just wanted to let you know that Sarah and I are now working on another blog too that's going to be pretty funny. If you're a fan of BYU and sports, check it out (or if you just want to check it out, check it out). Here's the link.

And a preview:

I Think About You in the Summertime

It is summer.  The weather makes me think spring, but it's warm enough that I can lay out in the sun.  I am already a closer to the normal color I should be.  Laurel would be happy.  I am the worst blogger ever, but you already know that.  Ok, back to the point.  Summertime.  I'm kind of loving it.  I have some classes.  Bowling (love it), children's literature (love it), foundations of education (tolerate it), and school health for elementary teachers (don't like the idea of it, but love the class discussion).  Here's the main problem with summer.  Sarah and me hung out a lot during fall and winter, plus some other friends that have since left.  And now I get out of class and do a lot of nothing.  This whole weekend, I've done nothing (but to be fair, I was sick).  So, I mostly hope Sarah comes back soon so I can get the heck out of my house.  I'm sorry, this post is the second most boring post in the history of posts.  

Oh, one more thing.  Sarah has gotten me all excited about football season.  Thing is, at this point it looks like it may be just me and Sarah for the games again.  We'll see.  Here's hoping for a better season for this guy. 

(com'on guys, it's Max Hall!)

P.S.  Got a letter from Cody yesterday. HOORAY!

P.P.S. Who knows what song lyrics the title of this post comes from?  No cheating.